I barely own anything pink, I swear, though you'd never know it from this post

Oh, Target Dollar Spot, thou hast forsaken me!

The last time I was there, they had four-packs of Panasonic AA batteries. I bought two packages, thrilled with the bargain and looking forward to a couple of months worth of digital camera powering.

Alas! Said batteries will not power my little digital picture-taker! Brand new, from an unopened package, AA batteries that immediately caused my camera to shut down and warn, "Shutting Down! Insufficient Battery!" All eight of the new batteries.

Do I have the receipt? Of course not. Do I have any recourse? Just this: Dear Readers, do not buy Panasonic batteries, from the Target Dollar Spot or anywhere else. They are crap! Dear Panasonic battery people, may the power of my intense bloginess poop all over your inferior product!

The point of this, of course (other than starting my own personal Better Business Bureau), is that I could not take pictures of my crafty progress this morning when I wanted to. Since I had to go into the lab today anyway, I stopped at Walgreen's and got some handy dandy Duracells -- on sale to boot! I guess this was a sign from the battery commerce gods.

So, now, sufficiently powered up, I present pictures of the recently completed Parfait Purse that I totally like, but do not totally lurve.


I sort of even accomplished photographing it in natural light (which would have been much better this morning but, you know, the battery thing). Oh, and pay no attention to that mess in the background -- I managed to pull a drawer clean out of my desk and I haven't gotten it picked up yet, what with the earnest crafting and battery-buying!

I lined it with a fabric that I'd had for awhile but had never really found a use for. I got it in a 99-cent remnant roll, and originally thought it just had high-heeled shoes and pithy little sayings on it. However, when I unrolled it, I realized that, while it did depict both of those things, it primarily contained the designer's name and "Winter '98" all over it. So, probably not a skirt. But for lining a stash-buster purse, it will totally do.


So, yay! I have a new purse! I trotted it out for my jaunt to the lab and Walgreen's (for Duracell batteries, let's not forget), and it seems to fulfill all my purse-carrying needs. Huzzah!

Next project, much less labor intensive: As New Friend Veronica can attest, I've tried to find a pair of skimmers that are cute (no problem! So many of them are sooo cute!), and stay on my feet (huge problem). What V doesn't know is that I actually already own a pair of skimmers which fit me. I got them to wear as part of my costume in Honky Tonk Angels last spring. The problem? They are kind of a putrid pink and are covered with sequins which, frankly, makes them look a little "straight out the trailer".


No, really, see the sequins??



But I've been thinking quite a bit about them lately and finally decided to just remove the freakin' sequins and see if they aren't just cute as a button without them. So that's what I did:


And, I was right, they are perfectly cute little crocheted skimmers once those pesky sequins came off. Which leaves only one small gripe. Have you ever wondered how the poor sweat-shop workers know where to place all the tacky sequins on something so that they are symmetrical and match the other shoe? Well, wonder no more. The answer is: They mark the shoe with a Sharpie.



At first, I was ticked as all get-out that my newly cute shoes were marred by annoying black dots. Then I decided that if anyone was looking at my feet that closely, then I didn't want them to be impressed with my shoes, because I've known those kind of people and, really, it ain't all fun and games.

So happy feet, happy purse, happy all around! What a wonderful day in the neighborhood!

Now I'm researching nearby Mongolian barbecue places for V and I to try tonight. She just got back from Cali and she's going to tell me all about it! If I remember to, I'll take pictures (but no promises, because I totally suck at that)!!

Ooh, and tomorrow I'll have a flake and everything!!

_____