Retail Therapy

Did you know there's a football movie (not Brian's Song, that's too obvious) that can make you break down and weep if you are totally hormonal? One word: Rudy. Swear to god, it's worse than Beaches.

"Rudy! Rudy! Rudy...!" Say that to me. Go ahead. Have Kleenex ready. A whole box.

Nothing much else is happening in the Ministry of Female Mysteries over here. Minimal bleeding, serious cramping last night (even with Motrin, still not bad enough to go to the hospital), yet...nothing. Last time it took exactly 30 hours, and when it was over, I knew (I will spare you the gory details, unless you're going through it yourself and wondering, WTH?!). So, a D&C might still be in my future. I have an ultrasound tomorrow that I may have to reschedule, or the doctor might just schedule surgery for me when she hears what's going on. I'm actually hoping for surgery, just to get this over with. It's torture.

Talked to my mom this morning. She's been through 3 miscarriages (I can't even imagine), that's how they ended up adopting me (I have two older brothers and a younger sister my mother managed to carry to term, though, so there's hope). It is so great having someone who understands what you are going through, even if things were different 40 years ago. Just talking, I've discovered, is a huge relief.

THANKS to all my peeps who wrote with their sympathy. I hope to see (most of) you on Tuesday, depending on what goes on with my body in the next two days. I hope it's all over soon.

Yesterday I couldn't bear the thought of staying home one. more. day. I had to get out of the house. I had stopped bleeding overnight and felt no cramping Saturday morning, so I took E's offer to skip his usual Saturday morning tennis game (trust me, that's like Billy Graham missing church) and watch Tess while I headed off to Auntie Amy's.

I was so depressed that for the first hour I just wandered around, avoiding overly crowded booths and make-n-take lines (m-n-t's are there to sell new, "hot" product, PERIOD), and not going through bins of cheap unmounted stamps (my utter weakness). I was almost proud that I would be able to go home without having spent even half of the $60 I'd taken out of the ATM that morning (including parking, $5, GRRR, show ticket, $6, and lunch, $4).

Lunch revived me, however, and I went on to spend the rest of my $60 (wait, I have a couple of dollar bills left, that NEVER happens) and dropping another $100 on my credit card. My take for the day:

• At Rubber Romance, a respectful number of unmounteds. I actually put some back that I really wanted. This was before lunch, though, so I was still restraining myself. I complimented the gal ringing me up on their classy line of "fresh" stamp images. I avoid all booths that hint "cutesy" (think "country mice"). I finally picked up the perfect mermaid stamp.
• I continued my restraint at Cherry Pie Art Stamps. Found a "Namaste: I honour the light within you" stamp to go with the cool India elephant stamp I got last year, and (not really thematically related, just the best ink for watercoloring and using markers on images) an India Black inkpad packaged with reinker. They had some really cool Halloween images, including a "Witches' Alphabet" stamp that I put back (lest I go wild with the rest of the Halloween line). I didn't even know there was a witches' alphabet...
• At Creative Mode (after lunch), I lost all restraint. Theirs was the very last booth I visited one year, completely out of cash AND credit, so I could not purchase their very, very cool Wonder Wash. This year I bought all three colors, then visited their unmounted bins. I had some images ready to put back when I got into line (the bins got crowded and I didn't want to try and find their envelopes, even though I'm usually good about doing that). Somehow, instead of giving them to the cashier to re-file, I heard her say "Fifty-four dollars and eighty-six cents, well, that's sure cheaper than buying them mounted!" and I had to agree with her...

Since I'd suddenly remembered GEE, these booths take credit cards, too! it was all over.

• Well, dang. Now that I had a TON of unmounteds, I was going to have to visit the Cowtown booth after all, for more HALOs velcro and storage sheets...
• Oh look at that, Wisconsin Stamp Supplies has cool inkpad storage systems (an expense I could not justify this year, but I took a flyer). And yay! waterpens cheaper than at Creative Mode...
• Why is everyone always hanging around dreamer's designs? She doesn't have a website, perhaps? Her unmounteds are unique (if a bit steep)? All that, and she carries a lot of things that I can get at my local store. Except for microscope slides, ooo-wee. I'm off to hunt for copper tape to wrap them...
• Next year I need to take a list of everything basic that I'm looking for and head to Gary M Burlin & Company right off the bat. Prices can be steep on some things, but lord, that man has EVERYTHING (except an online store). Including copper tape. And silver tape. And that Walnut Ink book I've been looking for. And a cheap Darice paper crimper. And glass microbeads. And Transfer Ink. And...and...and..

...I'm spent.

Now, off to get creative, so I can post some pictures later and share some of my goodies with you in an non-copyright-infringing way.