Bloody Crafty

My Obsession

 I haven't even watched Gossip Girl yet this week - I kind of like to wait so I can savor it coming.  But I'm still obsessing over Blair's dress at the Opera last week.  It looks okay in this picture but the full view was awesome!  Ruffles, orange, v-neck - it screamed Melanie!

After much digging - I found it in the '09 Resort collection from Dior.  And realized it would look even better with a dark (really dark) tan.  I have studied these photographs in ridiculous detail and I don't think I can make this myself.  But I did wonder if that holiday dress at J.Crew was still available because i could use it as a shell (I just checked - it's not).

Because I will not likely have this dress, but I will be combing vintage stores in 10 years looking for it, I settled on a headband today as my homage to this month's best dressed among all the red carpets and beyond!  xoxo

I Dream of Meryl

It just occurred to me that I haven't commented on the Oscar nominations nor have I posted my Golden Globes rant.  Well that is here.  In summary, the Oscar nominations were a bit mysterious with nothing for Revolutionary Road (not that I've seen that but the critics liked it) and a lot for something called Frozen River that I've never heard of.  Only three song nominees excluding Bruce Springsteen???  With Hugh Jackman as the host and no big winning stars, I predict Slumdog Millionaire to win everything and the night to be a bore.

Last night's SAG Awards weren't that much better than a snore.  I mean when Katie Holmes is the surprise hidden guest presenter instead of Tom Cruise there are issues.  Though she did look lovely - skinny but lovely.  I would like Tina Fey to stop wearing strapless dresses - she's got a great body but horrible posture.  I think Sean Penn was drunk.  I love Kate Winslet but I'd be fine with her going back to not winning. I just think Taraji Henson should win in that category.  I loved her in Benjamin Button and she was probably the best dressed last night - smoking hot!  Apparently I'm into white this awards season.  Some examples of my favorites:
 
But the highlight of every awards show is Meryl Streep winning.  Every speech is a triumph.  She's kind and funny and sincere and surprised and happy and cynical.  It's all just perfect - dress or no dress.  In fact, based on some past fashion decisions, no dress might be better.  I don't even care what the movie is - she can win for Mama Mia for all I care - but Doubt is just as good or obviously better.  The next time someone asks me if you could meet anyone dead or alive I will say without hesitation: Meryl Streep.  I'll keep my fingers crossed on February 22.

Toothful Craftiness

My confident kindergarten-er has yet to lose a tooth and he's nearly six and a third years old.  But now his two middle bottom teeth are super loose, like to the point of being disgustingly hanging by a proverbial thread known as human tissue.   Every day we pick him up from school expecting him to be less of a boy with a small hole in his mouth, but it's hanging in there.  Still, I decided we should be prepared for the tooth fairy.

A few years ago when the second grader's teeth began falling out at the normal age of five, I was adamant about him having a tooth pillow to put his teeth in under his regular pillow.  I am certain I had a little pink pillow where I placed my teeth. It had a pocket that held my awesome gift of a quarter the next morning.  (Other people, including Eric, claim this is not normal but I disagree.)  I looked all over the Internet for something similar and all I could find were girly pink princess-y pillows so I resorted to making him one with some rough directions on a craft site. I didn't bother digging up the directions for this new one, I just kind of traced around the existing.  Side by side, you'll see that it lacks perfection.  For those of you considering tooth pillow construction, I would warn you to use caution when buying googley eyes and make sure they have button hooks in the back.  The eyes I had on hand did not and I had to be dangerously crafty to get them on here. I simply could not risk the lack of eyes on the tooth pillow if the tooth would spontanseously just fall out.  It happens.  So now we have two pillows.  The little pockets are attached with velcro so the toothfairy gift can remain secure if removed from the pillow.  It is my experience that that never happens, so again if you want to make your own - you can just sew it on there.

Considering my pending unemployment, Eric and I wondered if maybe the secret to my future millionaire status was a tooth pillow mecca.  Don't worry, I'm going to keep looking for a real job.  But they are cute!

The Last Day

Due to the recent joint venture between my company and Miller, a ton of jobs have been eliminated.  Not mine - my job is just moving to Chicago without me.  But I'm hanging in there as they build out a new fancy building that they like to brag about.  It's easier to brag about that rather than the dozens of people left with paralyzing decisions to uproot families in affordable places like Milwaukee and beautiful places like Golden or to be stuck in a job search during a tragic economic period.  And they'd certainly rather report savings to wall street than discuss displaced loyalists. 

Yesterday was the last day for the Customer Information Center employees.  My cube backs into their group on the cusp of the marketing department.  I've been sitting here for nine months and have rarely seen any of these people, but I've heard them all. I know about their daughter's lacrosse schedule, their brother's tragic murder, their father's struggles with cancer, their vacations to Las Vegas, Stefan's family in France (he took the Canadian calls).  I've heard them discuss their next steps, how they were replaced by computers in India despite years of detailed record keeping.  Yesterday, I listened to hugs and pictures being boxed up.  "Send me your home email address."  "It was so nice to have known you." 

We all live (well lived) in a cube village, so just over five feet of cloth covered foam separated us, but it was closed off.  I never saw into their world - until today.  Today, a slight door was opened near my desk so I walked into the silent world - and it was confirmed that these people had been there a long time.  I felt like I had tripped upon 1982.  The desks were all smaller and different than mine and the cubes more open than marketing.  But the best part was to see what tools they had access to - compared to me.  No ipod docks or wireless headphones.

I won't miss these people whispering about Obama's ties to terrorism or praising George Bush or constantly updating the status of the "Dow" - but they were here every day and I could count on them.  Now I'm just alone.

Dear Direct TV,

I have been a quiet, happy customer for the past year.  Always pay my bills on time. Never complain.  So you can imagine how disappointed my experience has been the past few weeks. 

I won't trouble you with all the specific details - like how I invested in a new sound system, 37" HD TV, and new TV Stand over the holidays - but I have a few pointers for you in the realm of customer service.  My first problem occurred when I tried to upgrade my service to an HD receiver and DVR - only to find out that I had been paying for that since day one despite not having any of the hardware.  The cordial man on the phone said he would kindly go back 30 days on my bill and credit for that overcharge.  Ummmm, try 12 months!  He put me on hold and then offered me 60 days of credit.  I explained I was trying to spend more money and how NOW might be a great time to deliver service.  He put me on hold and forwarded me to someone who actually did help me - but Step 1: EMPOWER YOUR EMPLOYEES.

My HD installation seemed to go fine - considering that when the installation man arrived he found we already had everything but the HD receiver.  Hmmm, that explains the billing issue.  We enjoyed beautiful HD programming on our HD TV for two full days.  It was awesome - I told all my friends.  Then on Saturday, right before the first NFL playoff game was to begin I noticed that none of the local HD channels were working.  After waiting 45 minutes in a holding cue, I finally made it to a group you have called "Technical Service" - a more appropriate name would be "Technician Schedulers" - I left out all the defining adjectives because that would just take longer on the painfully irritating onhold system.  I actually dealt with these unprofessional twits twice - the first time I wasn't in front of my TV because some of us aren't chained to our couch the way you would prefer, the second time the 17 year old girl had me reset my receiver - for the fourth time as I explained i had tried that and she flatly said, "A technician can come out on Tuesday to look at it."  I requested to speak to a supervisor to help me further because clearly that's unacceptable - the first woman mentioned several things we would try if I would have been attached to the device.  She rudely responded, "Fine - but they'll say the same thing."  Click, click, click.  Then Josh arrived and I can't tell you how angry I was as the game had already begun and that's kind of the whole point of this huge investment - sports and special effects - i don't really need The Real World in HD.  He scolded me and my temperament.  STEP TWO: CUSTOMER SERVICE EXISTS TO HELP PISSED OFF PEOPLE - TRAIN YOUR SUPPORT PERSONNEL TO EMPLOY EMPATHY AND PATIENCE WITH UNSATISFIED CUSTOMERS.

I made my appt for Tuesday.  And I was very angry!  At about 5:30 that evening, all the local HD channels amazingly started working again.  On Sunday, the same thing happened.  Nothing during the day, everything at night and early morning.  Clearly there is a satellite issue.  I went to your website and found a very informative discussion board that listed several similar problems all around the country.  There were more troubleshooting tips there than anyone in Technical Service attempted to provide.  I'd get rid of all those fools and just say - "check our discussion boards for more helpful answers or remain on hold indefinitely until someone will simply tell you to schedule a technician appointment so you miss more work and life only for it to maybe be fixed."

It took the technicians four hours to get our local HD working on Tuesday - something about a transmitter.  Three hours later we had NO SERVICE through the HD receiver.  No local.  No national.  And American Idol was about to begin.    We called the technician who apologized and had no idea what could have happened in three hours but kindly offered to come back the next morning and try again.  But something else went awry and he never showed up.  So I called and spent over 10 minutes wading through the voice activated system and is so f*cked up that I can't even begin to explain the detailas (what's wrong with an escape path - you are WASTING MY TIME!!!) and someone asked if we'd be around that afternoon - I mean we've already invested 72 hours of waiting for you people with NO TV to watch - what's another four hours - who has a job anyway?  STEP THREE: HIRE EMERGENCY SERVICE PEOPLE TO DEAL WITH UNSOLVED PROBLEMS.

My service is working now - but I have NO FAITH in Direct TV, your programming or your service.  And for that, you suck.

Barely cordial,
Melanie Taylor

Felice Anno Nuovo

Eric and I rocked into the new year (with the Bahamas and US East Coast) playing Rock Band this year.  He on drums and me on guitar.  The second grader likes to sing but has only mastered "Roxanne" in a very loud horse voice - so we decided to conquer the Wii alone.  So far we've made it level seven (albeit on easy - but that's just details)- I think we're in the limo or something - but we're getting quite good.  All the while being distracted by wandering children and "2009 for 2009" on VH-1 Classics.  We'll continue to work on this through the new year - one of many goals for the new year.  Below are some others - maybe putting them in writing will force me to accomplish them.  In no particular order:

1. Sell stuff on Craigs List. Specifically the Kelty Backpack, the Glider, and the old TV Stand.  But there's really no limit.
2. Get Eric on Wheel of Fortunte.  He's the best at it - and someone needs to start teaching people to STOP buying vowels.
3. Blog with consistency.  I have a few ideas here - like moving my daily costume journal to my blog for all the world to see.
4. Be happy.  In a world of chaos, I have very little to be unhappy about.  This year I will remember that.  I tend to get whiny and bitchy and forget how lucky i am at times.  I will be happy.
5. Get a challenging, well-paying job.  My current job is set to expire in June this year.  I hope to find a replacement that utilizes my few talents and ability to appreciate the whole picture - ideally outside of media.
6. Build a treehouse.  Or more specifically help Eric and the boys build a treehouse.  Then, hide in it with a good book at least once.
7. Stain the front porch bench.
8. Pay off a lot of debt.  That's a collective goal with Eric but we've got a plan.
9. Get a new car that is NOT a Corolla.  (This sounds so easy but will be so hard - it's all I know.)
10. Continue to embrace a slower pace.  I think I've started to do this but I've got a long way to go.  Colorado runs slower - there's little stress unless you inflict it upon yourself.  By nature, I'm kind of a go person.  I've been trying and will continue to focus on being present in the moment - focusing not on the past or future but on the now - and trying to enjoy it, improve it, and soak it in.  We all know - we don't get it back.

Well that's an ambitious list - but I think 2009 deserves it.  Plus in late January, it becomes the Year of the Ox -which symbolizes "prosperity through fortitude and hard work"!  Clearly, I'm ready.