Friday, October 05, 2007

Five things I am wondering this week

  1. Why my kitchen still smells like onions a full week after I cooked anything with onions. (No, I have no remaining leftovers, and yes, I took out the trash. So explain that.)

  2. Why it is so damn hard at the moment to find black dressy shoes that do not have A. bows (fucking bows!), B. quilting (seriously, what is with the quilting??), C. patent leather shininess, or D. four-inch heels. In addition, I would like them not to cost more than $35, as I am morally against spending any foolish sum of money on shoes I will likely wear no more than twice. Is that so much to ask?? Apparently it is.

  3. How in the world women in the 1940s did their hair in those shiny pincurls and fancy pompadours without the help of movie-star hair stylists. For my friend's wedding tomorrow, I was going to try to abide by the couple's request and go vintage for the day. While my dress is new, it has a bit of a 40s taffeta party dress feel, so I thought I could try styling my hair accordingly. Unfortunately, I have no such mad skillz. Also, I am wondering why the first image that came to mind as I envisioned period-appropriate hair was that of Jennifer Keaton when Alex turned her girl band "The Permanent Waves" into an Andrews Sisters-esque group called "The Swinging Corporate Raiders." And also why this guy in the Czech Republic is apparently the only one on the Internet other than me who remembers this.

  4. Whether my old Saturn is going to let me enjoy one more year without a car payment or if the bumpy rattly ride it's providing these days is a sign that the damn thing is one loose bolt away from falling apart right under me. So much for Saturn, heal thyself. That damn car is making me more than a bit paranoid lately.

  5. Why Mn/DOT hates me so very much right now. It should not take me 45 minutes to reach the homes of friends who live fewer than eight miles away. Unfortunately, with road construction and detours and broken bridges in every direction from my house, it does. And I am not happy about this. Minneapolis, I still love you, but you're trying my patience, I say.

16 comments:

lizgwiz said...

I have wondered that about those elaborate 40s 'dos, as well. Of course, part of the secret is that once it was done, they left it in place for days and slept in hairnets.

Were they really, really strong onions? Do you have an attic fan you could use to pull the smell out? I miss the attic fan in my old house. (But I don't miss the mold and the sinking foundation.)

Hope the car hangs in for a while longer. Car payments suck. ;)

The Ex said...

You know, I kind of like quilting. I KNOW, I'm perpetrating an evil crime but alas, I cannot help it. It's so cute!

-R- said...

I love patent leather shoes! I have three pairs of black ones because I am a crazy person!

Maybe the car will heal itself again? Good luck with that.

Have fun at the wedding!

Anonymous said...

I love patent leather shoes, too. Also, I am tired, as I just typed out "shoos"> Yay, phonics!

Perhaps it's time to invest in a Lampe Berger? http://www.lampeberger.com/catalog.aspx. I love mine - it completely eradicates odors.

Mair said...

Piperlime is my new favorite site for shoe-shopping. Heather at Nabbalicious and I have been trading links from there all day! Free shipping/free returns, so like Zappos, but better edited selection (and prettier web site to use).

As discussed by e-mail, Saturn can blow me. My car feels exactly as you described.

And onions: Are there any in the disposal or down the sink?

Stefanie said...

Liz--True, I suppose, but still... how did they set their hair that way in the first place?? I'm baffled by it... though I suppose the pouf of bangs we all effortlessly curled and sprayed our hair into in the 90s will be equally mystical to future generations.

The Ex--You know, I don't really mind the quilting as an absolute rule; I just don't want it on the shoes I plan to wear to the wedding tomorrow. I got it in my head that I wanted some peep-toe pumps (as those are everywhere this year, so it seemed a good option, but almost all of them are quilted and/or patent, and neither is a great look for with this dress.

R--THREE pairs?? You ARE patent-crazy! :-) I think I just associate patent leather with the mary janes I always had as a kid. That and I just didn't like the look of them with this particular dress (see above re: not hating quilting in ALL cases either, but just not wanting it in this scenario).

Lara--Is that you, GG? (You really ARE kicking the alias now??) Or do I have another Lara reading who I don't know about? I have never heard of a Lampe Berger. The things I could learn from you...

Malia--Yeah, that would have been helpful, I suppose, if I'd actually planned in advance and started this shoe quest a bit sooner. Because I didn't, I didn't want to worry about leaving time for shipping. :-( As for the onions, I laugh at the idea that my house is fancy enough to have a disposal! I actually think I've narrowed to smell down to the garbage can. The scent must have stuck around even though I took the trash out. Boo.

Anonymous said...

My grandmother had me sleep in curlers once so she could do my hair like she did in the 40's. All I can say is, "ouch" and "thank goodness for the women's movement."

Stefanie said...

Noelle--The women's movement hasn't done anything to eradicate the ridiculous torture that is four-inch heels, but you make a good point: we have advanced beyond sleeping in curlers, anyway.

Paisley said...

They sell those curling irons that create waves. You could do that and smooth them down and put some swoopy side up in a hair pin. Might be cute....?????

As far as the smell...once my neighbor smoked SO MUCH that I constantly smelled cigarette smoke EVERYWHERE for about a month.

Other malady? Constantly smelling marinara sauce for another month.

Gah. That got old. It beat the time my mouth tasted like raw hot dogs for a long, long time. I have no idea what this means except I'm a freak of nature and may have some sort of brain disease!

Have fun at the wedding. You MUST post your speech.

srah said...

I love those old-timey hairdos!

Anonymous said...

I totally remember that Family Ties episode - remember Jennifer had some kind of weird net thing on her arms, like she didn't want to have bare arms or something? And they sang Mr. Sandman because Alex wanted them to, but then they decided to rock the house and play their own stuff.

Ah, 80s tv.

Stefanie said...

Paisley--Raw hot dogs?? Sorry, but that DOES sound like it falls under "freak of nature" territory. ;-) And yes, I will post the speech... as long as it doesn't totally bomb!

Srah--Yep, they're fun, but HOW did they DO them??

Anna--Oh my God; I totally forgot about that until you mentioned it, but YES! What was up with that?? My sister and I decided Tina Yothers probably had terrible bacne (a.k.a., back acne) or something. Odd. (Even odder that that's still in the memory banks!) :-)

srah said...

Wow, this seems way more complicated than I could ever do. This is why I don't even blow-dry my hair. Sigh.

http://www.sydneyswingkatz.com/hair.html
http://www.vintagememoirs.com/hair.html
http://www.nocturne.com/swing/hair/hair.html
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?s=e1f20d0fb93f52a4cceb93742d9c9b88&p=46988&postcount=13

Whiskeymarie said...

I once cooked something Asian (can't remember exactly what) that stunk up my kitchen for a week. And, it seriously got worse as the week progressed until it just, poof! disappeared on the seventh day.
I wonder where it went...

I love patent too. Sorry.

Stefanie said...

Srah--Exactly. I found a few similar sites, but I have no idea how you're supposed to get the technique just by reading some text and looking at a few jagged line drawings. :-( Oh well. Also, those ladies in the Fedora Lounge are amazing. If only I could have gotten one of THEM to come over and do my hair!

WM--Just magically gone on the 7th day? Weird. Also, I didn't mean to malign the patent. I just didn't want patent for this particular dress. You guys are sort of turning me around, though. Mob mentality may convince me; who knows.

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