SuperEggplant

Well, Peter safely returned from his monthlong sojourn in England! He thoroughly enjoyed Chaucer Camp and learned a lot, so if you are ever in the mood to discuss Chaucer, you know who to call. It’s hard to believe he was gone for a full month, maybe because I wasn’t particularly productive. I didn’t even make it through the chore list he left me (and yes, he left me a chore list).
But anyway, he brought me some goodies, and it’s clear he knows me pretty well. The candy bar above is by Nestle, and apparently the whole “It’s not for girls” marketing campaign has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Peter and I, however, thought it was really funny, and poo on you, Nestle, because I ate the WHOLE THING with nary a man in sight! It is a nice, solid milk chocolate bar. Tasty.
And of course how could Peter go to London without visiting the Liberty store for me? He told me I would have crapped my pants, and he’s probably right. He got me two nice pieces of Liberty fabric. He felt the floral was representative of British prints, and he knows I like paisley and orange colors.
He also brought me some tea from Harrod’s, a little tote emblazoned with teacups and saucers (the photo is on my flickr site if you are curious), and some fun wrapping paper, some of which I cannot really display, as it has inappropriate language on it (some of you probably don’t know this, but I have a great fondness for cuss words). He also brought this instructional and authentic (it has grease smears on it) guide to pasties:

Sunday I helped my brother and mother clean out a small portion of their basement. My father, you see, was the sort who became agitated whenever anything left the house. This is one of the reasons why there was always a large stack of paper napkins and ketchup packets next to his seat at the dining table.
Anyway, we unearthed a bunch of junk and a few goodies. The lemon twist in my mother’s hand there is kind of junky now, but I am thrilled to have found it, since a childhood friend and I had just recently been discussing the great virtues of the lemon twist. I think we’re ready for a big lemon twist comeback, don’t you?
Ahh, the Twist Board. It is designed to trim your waistline! You stand on it and, you know, twist back and forth.
And this is kind of an awesome patch, but I don’t really get it. Is it because there’s a sun on it? That was the mistake, since the sun doesn’t come out in Oregon? Huh?
We also found a bunch of crazy, vintage drinking glasses still in their boxes. Most have never been used! I put photos of the tumblers plus more junk on my flickr site.

I’m sure this will surprise you, but I’m kind of a sucker for gimmicky deals. So, when I read about the Something Store, I was so excited I could barely breathe. Basically, ten bucks buys you “something.” I guess it’s kind of like a grab bag, and yeah, I love grab bags! The mystery of the unknown! The anticipation of what could be!
My something came the other day. It’s a USB mug warmer! Luckily, my father-in-law is totally in love with mug warmers, so he’ll be getting this one to add to his collection (I don’t think he has a USB one). I also sent “something” to Chicken. I kept it a surprise, of course, but then I finally had to ask her if she got SOMETHING in the mail. Well, turns out she did, but she thought it was from a crazy stalker. Apparently she got a blue satin prom handbag or, you know, something? Anyway, it’s all in good fun, and there are some awesome somethings out there!

I am going to have 7 extra goofing-off hours per week for 4 weeks this summer (see this), because Peter is going to England! For a month! I would like to say that I will use those extra hours for sewing or knitting, but truthfully I will probably just sleep more. But anyway, Peter is heading across the pond to study Chaucer with a group of geeks other teachers. He’ll be in London for 3 weeks then in Canterbury for a week. If anyone out there has any travel tips or interesting tidbits to share, please feel free. This will be his first trip to Europe!