Dress No. 4: Black dress, ruffles (Rick wants me to call them tiers instead of ruffles), asymmetrical shoulders was worn in the end. At least it won’t have the dubious aura surrounding it as the I-got-drunk-in-the-cobalt-blue dress does. I may never be able to wear that cobalt blue dress in mixed company again. Well, at least not the company I was with last night since they all know the story now.

Back to clothes with dog hair and dog slobber on them today to finish up the business of raking/blowing leaves. In other words, back to normal life on four acres in way-out-of the-suburbs New Jersey.

“X” marks the spot over my house.

Okay, you wanted pics, so here they are. I did my best at photographing them and I know you would rather see me in them, but that ain’t gonna happen folks! Please read previous blog entry for this all to make sense to you if you haven’t already.

Dress No. 1: with “slit-down-to-my-navel” cleavage.

Dress No. 2: classic black A-line with cap sleeves

Dress No. 3: cobalt blue with stone necklace neckline aka “the dress I was drunk in.”

Dress No. 4: black dress, ruffles, asymmetrical shoulder

So, there they are. Which one??

What follows is basically a discussion that Rick and I had when he came home from work tonight. I was asking him what I should wear to our “Champagne & Candlelight” evening out at Skylands Manor on Saturday. It went something like this.

Me:
What should I wear? Something fancy or not quite as fancy? (Note: I spent three hours down in Wayne today trying on clothes with nothing to show for it.)

Rick:
You have a closet full of things!

Me:
Uhm… okay. I have a a handful of dresses that might work. Some are really party dresses.

Rick:
You have tons of stuff to wear!

Me:
Okay. I have the little slit-down-to my nearly-navel little gold number I wore to the Opera last year.

Rick:
Yeah, I really like that one. Maybe too much for this event though.

Me:
Okay, you’re probably right. Too much cleavage for this crowd.  I have the little classic black dress, you know, the A-line one with the cap sleeves that I wore down the shore this summer?

Rick:
What’s A-line mean? What are cap sleeves?

Me:
Hmm. Okay, never mind. Or I have the the cobalt blue dress with the stone necklace neckline with the ruffles. Remember, I wore it on vacation in Cancun? I wore it the night I got so tipsy before our flight back that you had to pack for me? (It’s still a tad wrinkled from your packing.)

Rick:
No, I don’t remember that one. What’s a necklace neckline? (Excuse me, who was the

tipsy one here?)

Me:
Okay. Great. How about the black dress with the asymmetrical shoulder, ruffles, that I wore when we went to New Orleans?

Rick:
Don’t know. Don’t remember that one. But I do know what ruffles are.

Sigh.

The question is: what should I wear? Any votes?

My very first ever giveaway! Do you have visions of sugarplums dancing in your head in anticipation of the coming holidays? No? Maybe you need a little help then. A nudge in the right direction, shall we say. Look no further than this yarn:

Interested? Well, it can be yours! 80 yards of scrumptiously soft candy-cane-colored handspun yarn. I believe it’s wool plied with mohair and a thick-and-thin consistency. Super soft and fuzzy! Enough to make that little something for the girl that has everything, or use it as trim or edging on special handmade Christmas presents.

Spun with tiny glass beads sprinkled through out ...

little “gingerbread” ornaments ...

tiny glass sugarplums ...

candy canes and peppermint balls.

I bought this yarn a few years ago from a seller I was hooked on. I tried her website the other day and it seems that she is no longer selling her handcrafted yarn. I had always planned to use it on something Christmasy, but now I am thinking it would be better off with someone who could put it to better use. So, I am offering it up to a lucky “someone” out there in blogland.

If you are interested, please leave a comment for me and tell me you’d like to be in the drawing for the giveaway. If you’d like to tell me what you could or would do with the yarn if you won that would be wonderful! Leave your comment by Thanksgiving and I’ll draw names the day after.

Good luck!

Oh boy. The directions sent home with Bella after her spay recommend that she only be walked on leash and only when necessary. No normal activity for one month after suture removal (which is in two weeks). Tell that to Bella, would you please? She’s ready to resume “normal activity” now!

The first day after her spay she was content to sleep and stick very close to us. Every time we changed rooms, so did she. She had a little bit of a restless night Saturday night trying to get comfortable in her now-too-small-crate. She banged around and woke us up pretty often. Yesterday morning she literally came bouncing out of her crate ready to take on the world—and her back yard—again. She was ready to go out there and chase squirrels! Can’t let that happen, but yet she was bored silly yesterday. Rick and I took turns taking her out. Or should I say that she took us out.

It was interesting to see where she took me. My normal mode is to open the door and let them outside, not really wondering what they do when they are out in the yard. Not since she was a small puppy and couldn’t be trusted by herself in our huge yard has Bella had so much scrutiny! She obviously has her favorite spots and smells, and I got to see them first hand this weekend (and will continue to for several weeks). It was interesting following behind her, and I got the idea to dust off the little camera and take a video of it. The video consists of three parts and if you get bored just hit the pause button. In the first video I say “prior to her spay” but of course, as usual, I was confused. The second video is the longest at almost four minutes. So if you’re so inclined and need a walk, please join us.

You might notice that I now have more work to do with the leaves!

Repeat at least six or seven times per day. Maybe more.