Crafting is the best thing ever. I love reading craft blogs, I love buying craft supplies, and I love daydreaming about all of the crafts I want to make. However, I never actually seem to do any crafting. It’s more of an abstract ideal than an applied principle. Now that the semester is over and I’m rolling in free time, I made a vow:

Side note 2: The pencil scribbles are advanced eBay math where I calculated the amount I should bid on Jade-ite dishes. Stay tuned for the results of that adventure!

It was 7:00 and I still hadn’t made anything yet, and the weight of my unaccomplished day’s objective weighed heavily on my soul. I began digging around in my bead box.

Nevertheless, I got my act together and made a pair of earrings to wear tomorrow. It turns out I’ve gotten pretty rusty at wirework (hyuck, hyuck. Kiki’sDemolition.com: come for the lack of crafting, stay for the lackluster puns!). That’s okay. The point is I made something, right?

To check out people who actually do make things, you should browse the menu of the Mid-Century Supper Club. The kitschy recipes they attempt fill me with joy, if not hunger. The Ham and Egg Combo exhibits a fine attention to detail, the Fun Franks demonstrate a novel use of the noble frankfurter, and the Deviled Eggs prove that there is no limit to what you can do with food coloring.

It all began with a mug.

After a yummy dinner at a funky local restaurant, we popped next door to browse the restaurant’s gift shop. Scattered throughout the store were these beautiful, milky green glass mugs. I asked if they were sale, and found out they were “vintage new” mugs from a hotel in Texas that had bought them in the ’40s but never used them.

Some Googling revealed that these were Fire-King Jade-ite/Jadeite/Jadite mugs manufactured by Anchor Hocking from the ’40s through the ’60s.

They’re completely gorgeous and unfortunately collectible. My arch-nemesis Martha Stewart discovered them before I did, and it sounds like the price shot up after she featured them on her show. I scoured eBay this evening for deals, but most of the styles I like are pretty expensive.

Still, I’m going to have to get one of the mugs and one of the chili bowls. And also the the teardrop bowls and the square plates and the square bowls and the round pitcher and….

A Kiki can dream, right?

I have vanquished the enemy. I have slain the dragon. I have conquered the demon.

MY PAPER IS DONE.

First order of business:
Queueing up “I’m Free” from The Who’s Tommy, cranking up my tinny laptop speakers as high as they’ll go, and dancing around my room.
Second order of business:
Spooning up a bowl of peppermint ice cream, sitting on the floor of the kitchen, against the heat register, and idly flipping through an L. L. Bean catalog.

The freedom, it is intoxicating!

9/25/08

11/22/08

I’ve decided to stop eating chemicals and start eating food! Fruits and vegetables are delicious! Who knew? It just goes to show that there’s hope yet for even the staunchest Twinkie supporter. You can teach an old dog new tricks!

Several influences have sparked my recent interest in whole foods, but I’d like to give a shout out to Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, which has given me food for thought (mmm!) lately. When I’m done with this book I’ll probably look into The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire.