A Ticket For Rush!

 
Image in Public Domain. Click here to Download hi-res.  

What if you want to donate more than $1?
You can email us to arrange that; FYI we'd love to talk, but a response might take a little while. Don't give up hope!

http://www.aticketforrush.com/

The Light Bulb Factory Is turning On In San Francisco!!!

An Invitation To Join

The Light Bulb Factory

The Light Bulb Factory is a think tank for highly talented and underemployed individuals that meet once a week to discuss and spark ideas as well as pool resources in the area of making a living in the city of San Francisco.

Topics will include:

Starting your Own Business

What Type Of Business To Start

Your Unique Skill Set

How To Work With, Find, Or Get OPM (Other People's Money)

Your Fears And Dreams

(photo from Inclusive Solutions)

 

Are you in?

Please, send an email with days and times during the week you are free for one hour on a weekly basis to:

lynnore@ispyvintage.com

My Article in Today's Vintage

I am very happy to write for Today's Vintage, a magazine (in print and online) that features many articles about vintage items. I have a terrible time coming up with decorating tips that have to be whittled down to teeny-weeny bite size bits for easy swallowing. I have always found it easier to write twenty pages than have to say exactly what I mean in 500 words or less. To put it in perspective, five hundred words is about a page and this blog post has 784 words.

Writing this latest bit about how to decorate a baby's room with vintage furniture, kicked my ASS! I am not a baby person, per say. I think that might have come out in the article, because I could tell that it was edited in a way, as not to offend. For instance, the title of the article I submitted was not published. In retrospect, that is probably a good thing.

However, that is not the worst thing about the published article. I don't like the layout, it is very messy and they added photos of objects I would never (in a million years, even if my life depended upon it) ever use. They are far from what I would consider stylish elements, IE the lamp and S is for Sweet Pea thingy.

Other than that I am happy...the few other parts that were changed enhanced the piece. However, they didn't like my crack about eating babies...

Wait a minute...I spelled a word wrong in my original title, how embarrassing!

Here's the link for the online version http://www.todaysvintage.com/decorating/contentview.asp?c=266500

Below is the version I submitted to them...

When The Bough Breaks

Your home is finally exactly how you want it. Each room is furnished with vintage finds you have carefully selected over many years that cleverly express your unique style. It hasn’t been easy, especially when your cat decided to dig to China through the 1960 Swiss shag rug made from New Zealand wool, or when the movers reduced the 18^th century corner table into kindling right before your very eyes, and even after your boyfriend moved in with all of his tools and his fourteen-year-old dog.

Now, that a baby is being thrown into the mix, you might be wondering if sticking with your vintage style may be shelved, like jogging or clubbing.  You know you will be able to find adorable vintage pieces for your little bundle of joy, but your biggest concern is whether they will be safe. Have no fear vintage can be baby friendly! 

Here are a few tips that might help you maintain your sense of style while gaining a family. 

1)    Find baby furniture with a natural finish. Lead paint was not banned in the United States until 1978. Leave it natural or choose one of the non-toxic paint or finishes entering the market.

2)    Make sure everything is thoroughly cleaned with no repairs or rickety parts.

3)    Vintage crib bedding should be in the original package, unused.

4)    Follow the Consumer Product Safety Commission crib safety measures

a)    Crib should have a firm mattress that fits tightly into the crib.

b)    Make sure that the crib is assembled properly and that no parts are loose, missing or broken.

c)    There should be no more than 2 3/8 inches between the slats of the crib and there should be no missing or broken slats.

d)    The crib should have no cutouts in the headboard or footboard, in which the baby's head could get trapped.

e)    Doesn't have decorative knobs or corner posts higher than 1/16 inch.

You might not want to go with authentic baby furniture from the early 1900’s, but if Victorian is your style you may choose a new crib and decorate the rest of the room with antiques. If your place is already decorated with classic mid century modern pieces, Knoll kids is the place to shop for the scaled down and hypoallergenic versions of the classics manufactured just for children. An iconic theme, for example, vintage Winnie the Pooh sheets, curtains, lamps, clocks, etc. never used, are very accessible. Plus, there are stores online that carry vintage wallpaper from 1950 cowboys and Indians to 1960’s Peter Max type images.

Remember, stick with styles you already have in your house and pick a theme. The pieces do not have to be from the same era, unless a particular time period is your theme. If, you cannot pick a theme, start with one piece and build the room around it. Don’t worry, I am here to tell you that it is all do-able, you can have your baby, I mean cake and eat it, too! 

Full On Homemade Vegetarian Dinners On Tuesday and Thursday!

I know, I know I promised to make complete vegetarian meals every Tuesday and Thursday. 
Three veg days have passed and I only cooked once...and it came out terrible!

The menu was as follows: 

Baked Tofu With Pear Sauce Over Rice

 Vegan Creamy Broccoli Soup

Salad with Red Leaf and Baby Mixed Lettuce, Goat Cheese, Raisins, Grape Tomatoes, Pine Nuts, and Homemade Dressing

I have to say, I was a little bouillon cube crazy. I normally use vegetable broth or stock already made that comes in a carton. However, I  thought it would be more cost effective to just buy the package of vegan bouillon cubes with sea salt.

OK, let's start with the Baked Tofu...I had made the pear sauce before, but it was a little too sweet. This time I mixed up a bouillon cube with warm water, ginger, and the pear all fruit, hoping it would balance out the sweetness.  Then I threw some whole pieces of Star Anise into the sauce while it was simmering over the baked tofu. However, the sauce never caramelized, so the flavors never blended together. I did throw in pear slices, but I don't think it was the right time. Nothing really came together...Oh and the rice! I'm not sure if putting a bouillon cube into the rice worked or not. I was too focused on the tofu thing to really figure that one out.

Now, on to the Vegan Creamy Broccoli Soup! 

I found the recipe online at http://www.care2.com/greenliving/creamy-broccoli-soup-recipe.html#  and I added garlic and used 6 bouillon cubes in 6 cups of water instead of 6 cups of vegetable broth. I believe I might have put way too many cubes in the pot, because all I could taste was the sea salt. It was so gross neither one of us ate it. 

I really liked the salad, but in the midst of the stress related to the other dishes coming out so bad, I messed up on the dressing. I just didn't have the patience to stream in the oil and it never emulsified. Hence, basically ruining the salad. 

So, that is another accounting of my experience making full on homemade vegetarian meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

Tonight I hope it all comes out better! I'll try to take it easy with the bouillon cubes...

SALUD!

Homemade Vegetarian Dinner On Tuesday And Thursday!

I made a promise to make full vegetarian meals for Thomas and I every Tuesday and Thursday. This week was the third week of this experiment. However, Thomas had undergone oral surgery on Tuesday and was relegated to soft warm foods.

He was in a lot of pain and was basically starving by the time dinner came around. I really didn't want to take any chances, so I decided to repeat a winner from a few weeks ago, the vegetarian Shepard's Pie. Instead of carving out EAT Me on the top I just made a heart. For dessert, we had tangerine juice bars that doubled as an ice pack for his mouth. On Thursday, I made my old standard, lentil soup thick with red and green lentils, red onion,  purple, red, and baby potatoes, garlic and baby carrots. It is always a hit on cold winter days when you might be a little down and in this case unable to chew food. We topped it off with chocolate soy pudding I bought in snack packs at Rainbow.

I regret I didn't take any pictures, but it just didn't seem like the thing to do. By the way, let me know if you would like any of the recipes I have mentioned.

Norma's Cookies

While Thomas was explaining to me how he felt about his family being so far away, I recalled another story he told me that included the care packages his Mom had sent him every Christmas full of homemade cookies. She had stopped sending them when her health started failing.

So, all day on Saturday we made the exact cookies she had sent him annually for so many years, many years ago. We made three different kinds of cookies Peanut Butter with Hershey's Kisses, Rainbow cookies consisting of three layers--one with Maraschino cherries, one chocolate, and one with pecans--and Cornflake Marshmallow Holly cookies.

I might have had the Peanut Butter ones before, but I have never had the other two kinds. However, the Cornflake Marshmallow Holly cookies are basically Rice Crispy Treats with cornflakes instead of Rice Crispy's. Just so you know these are not health food cookies. As a matter of fact they are the opposite of health food, the anti-health food snack if you will.

They were really good!

Homemade Vegetarian Dinner On Tuesday and Thursday!

I have been a vegetarian for nineteen years. Over the years I have gone through periods when I'd cook quite a bit, other times I would go out to eat for every meal, and recently I have been eating food already prepared out of a can or the freezer.  Clearly, just nuking my food was the only option the two months after foot surgery, but I have been a lazy vegetarian for a few years, now. I don't (ever) eat fish, chicken, or anything that had eyes, but I tend to depend on quesadillas and mac and cheese a little too much and the extra poundage I have acquired proves it.

Cooking full vegetarian meals just for me, feels weird. Now, that I can walk around my house, stand long enough to cook a full meal, and have a guinea pig to experiment on, I mean cook for I am determined to do so. Thomas, my willing participant in this cooking venture, is also a vegetarian.

So far so good, as I have already prepared two full vegetarian meals this week. Neither of us have ever really gone out with vegetarians who are really into food before, so this is a real treat for both of us. Both of the dinners were things I created without recipes and have never made before this week. I forgot to cut off my Spud account and they delivered the set box with organic veggies I do not usually order, so I had to get creative and just use what I had.

TUESDAY

Salad

Green leaf lettuce, plain goat cheese, red onion, pine nuts, and Mandarin oranges with homemade dressing

Roasted Root Vegetables

Red beets, yellow beets, baby potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, red onion, garlic cloves, leeks, whole sprigs of Rosemary, Thyme, and Dill

Baked Tofu

Tofu cooked in a pear and ginger caramelized sauce with fresh pear

THURSDAY

Salad

Green leaf lettuce, plain goat cheese, unsalted and raw cashews, apples, and grape tomatoes

 

Veggie Shepard's Pie
Vegetarian Sausage (Gimme Lean), celery, red onion, garlic, baby potatoes, and sweet potatoes

EAT ME
It's barely legible in this photo

Tomorrow, Thomas and I are off to the Farmer's Market at The San Francisco Ferry Building to figure out what we are going to eat next time.

SALUD!

Christmas With The Goldfarbs

I feel compelled to do a type of recap of my life as a post on this blog, because I haven't written anything for almost two weeks. However, that type of literal writing simply isn't my style. I mean, I take great pains to make sure everything I write is clear, concise, and easy to read. However, simply listing or recounting the things I have done, seen, and experienced on such a public arena seems like an exercise in masturbation and boredom. Two places one gets to that shouldn't require very much work.

I have been with my family and friends in the Los Angeles area since December 21st and having a great time. The weather is perfect and I am visiting all of the people and friends I had planned to see. I love my parents, they are like little kids, always a lot of fun. However, how do you know, if your parents are getting Alzheimer's, if they are eccentric in the first place? What, if growing up your Mom or Dad used to stand at the back door (everyday for thirty years) trying every key on the key chain, before finding the right one, even though that door was never kept locked? If they never recognized their house key when they were in their prime, then what are the signs to look for now they are old? What if my Mom always ate ice cream sandwiches for breakfast in the summer? Do we think she might be losing it, if she starts eating them in the winter or at a different time of day?

I love coming home no matter what, because it makes me see clearly how much I am loved and missed, by these crazy people I call my family and friends. Is a marriage over when your husband is addicted to phone sex, cyber sex, and real life sex with other women? Is it OK to call the guy you are having sex with your boyfriend, even though he spends days like Christmas, New Year's, and his birthday with other women?  My three year old cousin squealed uncontrollably when she saw a present for her wrapped in purple and pink sparkly wrapping paper.

I am going back home to San Francisco on Saturday and I can't wait to see my cat and the guy I made out with right before I left. I hope they are just as happy to see me as I am to see them.

Birds Are Wiser!

One of the pictures I posted last night reminded me of Dorothy Draper. 

I really like this quote.

"Birds are so much wiser than we! A robin builds a nest for robins. A seagull builds a nest for seagulls. They don't copy each other - or build themselves nests as described in The Birds' Decorating Magazine."

Dorothy Draper, In the Pink (1940)

Freewheelin' On One Crutch!

It is amazing how not being able to walk while holding something in my hand has affected me emotionally. I'm a wreck. Since, I can't go anywhere I thought more people would just come over to hang out and keep me company. I had lots of company and help at the beginning, but who wants to just come over and do nothing or someone else's chores? The sheer amount of help dwindled quickly after about two weeks. I have been unable to do normal things for SIX weeks.

However, Sunday I decided to walk with one crutch, like a cane. It is amazing to be able to walk around (albeit very, very, very slow) while holding something in my hand. I vacuumed yesterday for the first time since the operation and for the first time really liked doing it. Eating in the living room was like planning a family vacation. For six weeks eating a meal in a room other than the kitchen, meant full out planning with my bike messenger bag, a thermos, and Tupperware. If it couldn't go in the bike bag I'd have to eat it in the kitchen. Getting my morning coffee to my desk was like going on a Walkabout in the Australian bush. I was always a better person at the end of it.

 From the movie Walkabout (1971)

Check It Out!

That is an Xray of my foot (not the toe) between the ankle and the base of the big toe.

A stainless steel screw was inserted. Can you see where they cut the bone?

What More Do You Want?

 

I don't know who took the picture I found it online

I Am Definitely Stir Crazy!

I need to put it out in the ether that I am very lonely...sigh.

It has been five weeks since my foot surgery and my being ambulatory. I can only walk with the use of crutches. Which means I can only go so far, I can't drive and I can't carry anything in my hands. Most of my close friends have been very helpful. The ones I'm not real close to, plus a few people I considered very close are leaving me dangling with empty promises. They do that thing of volunteering much more than what is expected and I guess when I take them up on their offer, they rethink the situation and then blow me off or they were just talking and really meant nothing by saying they wanted to come over or take me out.

It is very sad to toy with the emotions of a cripple. And toying with my emotions they are. I can't say they won't be my friends, but I can say they are not to be relied upon. Actually, what is taking its toll on me emotionally, is how hard it is to organize rides to places I need to go.

I know I am being overly dramatic, but think about it...I am overly sensitive when I feel fine. However, of course there are those who I was just nice to when I have seen them in the past, who are stepping up to the plate in leaps and bounds. It is the gesture or lack there of that is so meaningful.

Write About Porn To Get Hits

In the last couple of days this blog received hundreds of hits. Normally, I am lucky if I get over six people in one day clicking on my blog and most of those are my friends.

A couple of days ago I wrote about being spammed by a sex cam site. I didn't write about porn or even the site. I simply talked about the stupid emails the porn site sends out. So, now I have a bunch of pervs checking out my blog. Geesh!

I Heart Annabelle!

Look what Annabelle brought me back from Europe!

I don't know where she got them, but it looks like they were made in Hungary.

Two  Chocolate Bars With Poker In English On Them

She also gave me (on loan) The Boy In The Plastic Bubble DVD starring John Travolta.

That's a pretty funny DVD to loan someone who is basically housebound.

 I heart Annabelle!

Four Weeks And Two Days After Surgery

This time the bandage was on for two weeks.

It looks to me like the incisions are healing well and my big toe could not be straighter.

I just can't wait to wash my foot.

This is Kidra, Dr. Donatto's Assistant who made special socks for me that go over the bandage and mailed them to me when I accidentally left them there.

Secret Blog for Lynnore

OK, I got this today. Do people really fall for this shit or do men just see this and think, Oh goodie another porn site?

I think this whole set up is rather interesting. For instance, the subject in the email header is somewhat personal, but then it is sent to undisclosed-recepients. The whole thing reads so ridiculous. First it starts with an email with instructions to click over to a private blog letter made especially for me, and then in the blog letter I am directed to click on a website that might ask for my credit card number and birth date.

As I kept reading and it got stupider and stupider, I kept imagining the worst about the web site. In my mind it went from a phone sex site to weird looking men with small heads, pursed lips, and squinty eyes holding their big dicks in their hands. I was eating breakfast when I read my private blog letter just for me, yogurt to be exact, so I was a little apprehensive about going to the site.  However, to my dismay when I finally clicked over to the website it was just a sex cam site with women. I think I would have been turned off if it was men, but I was still disappointed, mostly because it is just the same old crap.

    From:     young5above81955@aol.com
    Subject:     Lynnore i hope this isnt a mistake
    Date:     December 3, 2009 2:25:24 AM PST
    To:     undisclosed-recipients:;

Hi Lynnore.....
I'm not guaranteed if Im still going to submit this email, although I must write it or Ill go crazy....I dont understand how else to mention this.... I have a crush on u. been thinking about you always and Im petrified to let out my feelings to you...youll know why if you knew who this is. I may regret this another day, though I think I should to tell you now. I posted a private blog letter for you ...here it is
hidden blog for Lynnore
I truely believe I'm not making a terrible decision but after planning this I know I have to click Send

Secret Blog for Lynnore

LAST UPDATED: TODAY

Lynnore...
If you're reading this I guess you got my e-mail. I'm still not completely sure about this but I can't hide my feelings any longer. I want you to guess who I am and approach me yourself. To help you out with your guessing I made a few pictures and videos with Lynnore written on my body. Theyre kind of risque photos so I had to make a profile at http://www.newfriendly.com and post them there. My username in the members area is ILuvLynnore09. Its a free website but you might need a CC or Debit to verify your age because I had to. Sigh. But anyway sign up at http://www.newfriendly.com and once you are inside search for me. I want you to guess who I am and then approach me yourself. Im shy and this is the bravest thing Ive probably ever done but you need to do the rest.
POSTED BY SECRET ADMIRER

The Stitches Are Out!

I just had the stitches removed yesterday.

(The purple is from the pen the Dr. used to mark the incisions. It's not permanent.)

Sarah Handicap (Curb Your Enthusiasm)

I couldn't believe it when the nurse at the state of the art Presidio Surgery Center, who had swiped the fancy wand across my forehead to take my temperature and showed me the tropical scene on the fluorescent light fixtures overhead, handed me a pair of crutches right out of the dark ages. I think the United States and some third world countries are the only ones that still use the underarm crutch. All over Europe and Canada the forearm or elbow crutch is standard.

                              Tiny Tim, holding a crutch against his armpit

As soon as I could, I started looking for the forearm crutches on line. There are not a lot available here in the US. Most of them are very ugly and instantly evoke images of polio survivors or the kids with hip problems who used them like two canes, walking  with a swivel and a side to side type of gait. Crutches have come a long way since Dickens' Tiny Tim and a time when we would just call anyone who had a walking problem a cripple. However, you wouldn't know it, if you aren't able to walk with both legs here in the good ol' U S of A.

American Forearm Crutches

(Only come in grey)

Sunday, my friend Smithy decided I needed to get the hell off of my couch and out of my house. She doesn't have a car, so we were going on this field trip with her driving my car, for the first time. Once she adjusted the seat, mirrors, checked everything out, and pulled the car around to the top of the driveway and I very clumsily sat down and shoved the crutches in the back seat, we were off. But, we didn't know where to go or what to do. So, after a lot of "what do you want to do," "I don't know, what do you want to do(s)" we went with our old standby, the beach. Half way there I decided I wanted to just go to the movies, because it seemed easier.

 

European Forearm Crutch

(Come in many colors, but very expensive)

What a joke! First, when Smithy pulled up to the curb (about 8" away) I couldn't figure out how to negotiate the gap with my crutches, so I made her get closer and that helped. I hobbled over to the box office in West Portal, while trying not to get bumped by the minefield of people walking all around me like Zombies, mindlessly talking on their cell phones. I finally got in line and I had to wait on an incline, which is not easy to do standing on one leg with crutches under each arm. A slight breeze or brush from a cell phone talking Zombie would have knocked me over.

Once I got the tickets and made it inside I waited for Smithy. It took quite a bit of time for her to find a parking space. Soon after she got inside, the ticket girls (there were three) gestured to the theater and Smithy noticed the steep little staircase entering the theater itself. She pointed to the stairs and I freaked. There was no way I could get up those stairs, not to mention how the hell I was going to go down them. I asked the oblivious ticket girls if that was the only way in and why they didn't tell me about it. They said "yeah" and that they didn't have to tell me, because on a small sign posted on the box office window that lists the movies, I am supposed to look for the little wheelchair icon and if there isn't a wheelchair next to the theater, then it is not handicap accessible. I guess they have never been on crutches...Assholes!

By the time Smithy came back with the car and I fell in it, I just wanted to go home. However, Smithy wasn't going for that and we ended up at The Century 20 Theaters in Daly City. The people working there were much nicer and the ticket guy reassured me that there weren't any stairs, just an escalator and an elevator. I chose the elevator. Of course, the theater we needed to get to was the furthest out of twenty. Oh, and the handicap seats are basically in the front row. However, I got used to the seats real fast. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend staring at George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, and Kevin Spacey for an hour and a half, when you feel like shit.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

FRANKENFOOT

Surgery went well and I think my foot looks pretty good. However, I was very disappointed when the bandages were removed and I could plainly see that the Dr. didn't fix the hammer toe, right next to the big toe. I freaked out, but he reassured me that it will be fixed. He explained that the big fix was the bunion and the hammer toe will only take 15 minutes with a local and I'd be able to walk on it the same day. Unfortunately, that won't be done until this is healed in two months. He also told me that I will be using crutches for two months.

Check out the pictures, he had to cut into three different places on my foot. I believe bones were broken, rotated, shaved, and pushed into the correct places.

One Week After Surgery

Bruising By The Ankle

The View From My Doctor's Office

Kidra Taking Off The Bandages

Kidra Getting Closer

No Swelling

The Yellow is the Adhesive, the Purple Marks Incisions, The Red is Blood

He Forgot To Fix The Hammer Toe
(The purple on the big toe is bruising from the bandage being too tight)