So I went out to Ellicott City for my haircut, and as it usual, went into my favorite shops. One is a furniture and house stuff store, and of all things, I found a couple of whimsical books ( Encyclopedia of Useless Information and the dictionary of bullshit) which will be good for my brother and Dad. Then I went into my favorite antique shop and kicked myself again.

See, they have reclaimed stained glass windows from England. I keep meaning to measure my closed off transom so I can get one that fits there. I love the idea of rehoming something like that. Especially in an old house. ANYWAY, I looked through the glass and OMG, I found this fantastic burgundy and black one and it totally isn't the right size for my transom, but I've not seen one like that in there before and OMG, I was totally in love with it.

So I bought it. Who cares if I shouldn't be spending money of frivolities right now??!

And I bring it home, and it is going to fit perfectly in one of my 4 narrow windows. I need to put hooks on it so I can hang it in the top half.

And now I'm wanting to go back and see if I can find another that dramatic (it doesn't have to be the same) or maybe THREE MORE, and that will totally be what I use as window coverings for these.

Ok, crappy pictures from my laptop cam, since I was too lazy to get the regular camera and cord: [link] [link]

Also got a few odds and ends for the kids (found a Muno[?]) and now really all I have to get is ANYTHING for the parents. Uf. Oh, and go on an Amazon megaspree.

Oh, and I apparently locked Loki out on the deck for 2 hours this morning. Oops. He's so damned fast. Just glad it was only cold, not stormy.

Dylan on his new skates - [link]

That stained glass is gorgeous! What a lucky find!

Hec, Jesse's plan has women competing against men in their weight classes. Also it doesn't consider sports in which weight isn't the key differentiator.

It's time we moved to a weight/testosterone matrix.

One of the odd things of catching old baseball games on the MLB channel is to be reminded of what non-steroidal, pre-workout bodies looked like on athletes. Baseball players practiced baseball - they didn't have the gym culture of football.

They do now, of course. But not back in the seventies. They just look like....guys. A variety of shapes. Generic adult males who happen to have superior eye hand coordination.

sarameg, that stained glass piece is lovely. And somewhat phallic.

Aw! That kid flailing at the end? That would be me. But worse.

Aw! That kid flailing at the end? That would be me. But worse.

You can't really see it on the video, but he was trying to do a jump.

I am jealous of the skating, and of the stained glass.

Go Dylan! Go skatey boy!

Gorgeous glass, sarameg. I'm glad it found a home with you. It's clear you love it. It could've wound up with some high end decorator and wasted on an unappreciative millionaire.

Neat glass! And I love Dylan skating, so cute!

Am about to hit the shower and clean up a bit before I go pick up Megan Walker at BART. She is kind enough to accompany me on both dog walk and Christmas tree getting. And then we shall decorate and probably drink too much.