Surprise Flowers

Last night I found a vase of flowers in my room, but not the kind you're thinking of.

The history:

Sometimes when I am in bed I feel like my mattress is too close to the wall. Rather than getting out of bed and moving it, however, I just put my hands on the wall and push. Normally this makes the mattress move.

When I tried this tactic sometime last year, it unfortunately didn't work. I made my hands into fists, placed them on the wall, and pushed... and made a hole in the wall. Some wall, I know.

The wall sat like that, kind of caved in at that spot, until last night, when I looked at it closer, and noticed something through the cracks. I peeled away the cheap wall chips like an eggshell, and found this underneath:


Cool, huh? It's nice to know that at some point my room had a personality beyond these ugly white walls. I love that there is a secret hidden behind them. It's also nice to know that if my landlord does an inspection I can cover it up with my pillow.

At some point, I'll need to buy a repair kit and fix that up, but for now, I'm going to leave it. For now, it makes me happy to think of it.

Elizabeth's Tea Shop

The first time I went to Elizabeth's Tea Shop and tried a Cornish pasty, I was elated--the atmosphere was warm and the food was delicious. Today, however, I received a distressing email from the shop (I'm on their email list)(formatting modified from original):

Elizabeth Bakery Announcement: New Change to the Bakery

Feb. 19, 2010

The past two years have been very difficult for the bakery and the bakery continues to run at a loss. Therefore as a way of trying to avoid closure we have had to lay off most of our employees. We have retained Tara and Rachel and have decided to concentrate on catering and take away orders for the present.

To this end we have had to close three more days of the week and so from now on the bakery will be open for take away orders only on Fridays and Saturdays and remain closed Monday through Thursdays. This will enable Tara to concentrate on filling phone in and catering orders during those days. You will be able to collect phone orders from Tuesday to Saturday by arrangement however. Friday and Saturday you will be able to come in and choose from the bakery cabinets to take away without phoning first.

We hope that at some point the bakery will re-open for eat in diners. In the meantime we hope you will still continue to buy and enjoy our unique range of English baked goods.

We would love to cater for your next party!

New Opening Hours

Take Out

Monday to Thursday: closed, collections by arrangement

Friday & Saturday: 9.00 AM 5.00 PM

Telephone orders: 801.433.1170 (Tuesday to Saturday 9.00 AM 5.00 PM)

Order fax line: 801.433.1171

Most special orders need 24 hour notice.

For questions call Tara 801 433 1170

Robin and Elizabeth Grey

Now, dear readers, I believe this calls for action! If you live in or near Salt Lake and have never visited Elizabeth's Tea Shop, now is the time! If you have been before, you know how superb the food is, so go back and get more! For my part, I am resolved to frequent them more often.

I could rave on and on about the food, the people, the fun British stuff in The London Market next door... but all I will say is this: GO.

Elizabeth's Bakery and Tea Shop

575 South 700 East

Salt Lake City, UT 84102

Peer Influence

Once upon a time, in high school, I was in choir. I can't remember where we were, but it was before a concert, and I was near a roll of Scotch tape. I pulled a piece of tape off and wound it around my finger.

"Why are you putting tape on your finger?" someone asked.

Not wanting to appear an idiot by admitting that I like sticking tape on my hands and then pulling it off again (it's sticky!), I said, "I'm starting a new thing. We should all put tape on our fingers to remind us to 'stick' together."

I wish I were making this up. It makes me feel better to know that I was 0% serious.

But you know what happened? My friends (God bless them) put tape on their fingers. And then other people did too. Seriously. Tape on their fingers.

We went out there like that, and I fingered my tape as I sang, thinking, "People are so weird."

Spiders

I just killed my first spider of the year, which got me thinking about spiders. I really love spiders… if they're in the wild and/or in no danger of touching me. In fact, one year in high school, I walked past a certain tree every day just to see how my big red spider was doing. But if a spider's in the house, the car, or indoors, it's not ok. I will kill it.

I'm kind of paranoid, actually, about bugs, and particularly spiders. There are certain places I am careful to look, in case any small arachnids are lurking:

1. The ceiling. A common place for spiders. If I notice a spot on a ceiling, I immediately check to see whether it's a spider or just a spot.

2. The bathtub. There's nothing like being wet and naked and realizing you need to smash a spider. Ick.

3. The toilet. When I was in fifth grade there was a spider hiding under the rim of the bowl at school; I saw it when I flushed the toilet. The thought of that spider haunted me—can you imagine if he had… *shudder*

4. My razor. Yes, once there was a spider on my razor, and I didn't notice until I saw the little (shaved-off) legs poking out from the blade.

5. The bathroom in general. Once, I was bent over drying off after a shower, and a spider landed on my back. I'm pretty sure I made some frantic noises and scrabbled at my back until I got it off.

6. Flippers. When I was little there was a black widow that built its nest and laid its egg sac in one of our flippers for the pool. I'm really glad I looked in that flipper before putting it on my foot.

7. Behind posters. One year I was away at girl's camp on my birthday, and my friends decorated my room while I was gone. When I took down one of the posters they'd put up, the most enormous, ugly, beetle-like spider crawled out and scared the knickers off me. I don't like those kinds of surprises.

8. The garage. Anywhere in the garage, really. Even in the boxes in the garage.

9. In glasses. This is why I store my glasses and cups upside down—I do NOT want to pour milk into the cup and find a dead spider at the bottom when I'm done.

The good news is that Anya likes to chase and eat spiders—and it's strangely pleasing for me to watch her crunch into them. The bad news is that she's not actually that great of a spider hunter (heck, she's not all that great of a cheese hunter, and cheese can't even run away), so I have to supervise to make sure one or the other of us actually finishes off the spider.

Where have you encountered spiders?

Shoehorn (Part 2)

I broke my shoehorn.

I guess I was playing it too loudly.

:o(