Dapper

 No post last week.  I was in Cleveland on business.  I really thought I'd have time to write Monday morning, but my prep to fly that day got away from me and I ran out of time.  

The weekend before the trip was like many others...I subjected myself to a long game of "does it fit" then a couple hours of ironing.  The goal was to look "dapper."  "Hot" is gone, "sexy" depends on a rapidly dwindling audience.  In retaliation, I kind of went to "dumpy."  Now, I'm going for dapper.  Dapper isn't just the clothes tho.  I mean that blue sport coat that I took as a "light jacket" did wonders and multiple people used the word dapper that night, but it's more than that.  It's oiling and brushing my beard and keeping it trimmed and neat.  Same with my fringe of hair.  It's standing up straight and sucking in my gut when I'm talking to people.  And, it's walking around with a smile instead of a 'resting tired face.'  It's the little things that I can do to get noticed for something other than "sweet old man."  And, I must have done something right because some kid guessed I was 55 and I almost kissed him.  Right in public.  In front of everyone.  

This is me, headed down to Monday night's casual reception.  Just look at all that confidence.  

There were 300 people at this conference and this is where we met.  It was such a large space that it made me feel a little dizzy when I walked in the first time.  

Our second night's dinner was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Lots of people didn't tour the museum, but I did.  It's pyramid shaped so the floors get smaller and smaller as you go up.  Unfortunately, spending an hour and a half strolling the exhibits and occasionally sitting down to enjoy some video kept me at the event too long and I saw drunk people behaving in ways that changed how I felt about them.  They tell us to be careful what we do when our kids are small, but we also need to be careful what we do in front of other people that we want to respect us.  

We had a very fruitful trip to Goodwill on Saturday.  I've been shopping for an electric skillet.  Granted, I've been looking at new ones, but whatever.  I used to have a really nice one, but didn't use it for a while and let it go because they take up so much space to store.  I used to make a mean chicken fried steak in that one.  When we were walking through Goodwill, I saw it and it had all its parts and I decided that for $9 I could give it a try.  Brought it home, cleaned it up a little and put some water in it and turned it on.  And, watched it while it heated up to make sure it didn't burst into flames.  When I saw it worked, I cleaned it up some more.  It is a Century Futuramic Automatic Skillet and Casserole.  

Inside

And, I bought a bottle of Wesson oil to use in it.  Because one time Florence Henderson fried a whole loaf of bread in Wesson oil and it only absorbed 1 tablespoon.  You know, just in case you weren't sure that advertising works.  

We also got a new cookie jar.  Our old one is a Santa and we'll still pull him out, but we thought this one was cute too.  

I also got these two quilty things.  They were in a bag, each facing outward and I couldn't really tell what was between them.  The one on the left is the paper patterns to make the appliqué quilt My Roses Have Gone Wild.  We'll see.  I'm in the middle of a 20 year flower appliqué project already and may not ever want to take on another.  I thought the one on the right was a pattern and some fabric to make a tree skirt..."Skirting the Point" right?  It's not that, but it is a very novel concept that I wouldn't mind trying out.  It has a large piece of fusible interfacing with a grid printed on it.  You lay your fabrics on the grid and iron them down, then you can fold along the gridlines and sew the seam.  It seems like it would make a very quick quilt and I may give it a try, just for the novelty of it.  Like when I want extremely straight seams and perfectly matching points, which is what the booklet says I'll get.  

Walked around a curve in the dark the other morning and came up on this.  I left them a little of the crap it scared out of me.  It was very dark.

I read this the other day and it really struck home with me, so I thought I'd share it.  

The constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.  A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong.  And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies.  With such a people, you can do whatever you want.  -  Hannah Arendt, German and American historian and philosopher.  

Don't believe the lies, y'all.  And, have a great week!  Find something to enjoy, even if it's a $9 toy from Goodwill.  

Lane