Not necessarily in order of importance

I've thought of a only a few different reasons why I might do this shoulder thing all the time. Maybe I miss burping babies. Maybe I'm cold sometimes. Or maybe I really do have my hands full like everyone says I must so I start using my shoulders. I very, very often am seen with a fold of fabric, a dishcloth, or a lonely sock waiting to be matched on my shoulder. I will leave it there forever, waiting until I'm in the right spot of the house or studio to unload it without making a special trip. And just like pushing your glasses up your nose once your contacts are already in, only to find there are no glasses there so you poke yourself between the eyes, I often reach to unload my shoulder once the whatever is already gone. All seems normal enough, right?
Last night Juliana and I did our bi-weekly trip to Costco for our typical giant quantities of food that I will see vanish all too quickly. On the way there she warns me through her sneaky smile that she IS getting a bag of blow-pops. No. Then we have a verbal duel over how normal it is for a 15 year old to stash massive quantities of candy in their rooms. No. It's not normal to store blowpops in your room. We only had 45 minutes to pile everything in before closing time, and in so doing, we forgot Gatorade for Bela who isn't feeling well. We opted to swing by the local grocer down the road for yet another stop on the way home. Inside we were greeted by a seasonal display of candy and some kid Juliana knows who works there. She talks to the kid, I grab a small bag of candy corn and head for the sports drinks.



About halfway to getting the Gatorade, I pass a gentleman who kinda smiles at me in passing and glances down at my shoulder then makes a face that says he doesn't know what kind of face to make next. After passing him, I couldn't figure out the weirdness. Then something clicks in my brain, and I reach up to feel the bag of candy corn that I was balancing on one shoulder walking through the store. Not normal. Didn't even know I had done that. Its like my shoulder is this empty spot that needs to be filled as I'm always trying to keep my hands free to type, cut, sew, draw, cook, and comfort. Juliana catches up to me and I'm just standing there in the aisle laughing at myself. I told her what just transpired and she said "thats it, I'm getting blowpops". And she did. I felt like she won the normal contest so she got the stupid gum-suckers. I'm not even going to tell you about the fabric I had around my neck and on one shoulder when the former drummer for the Counting Crows showed up at my door a few weeks ago.



Here is some more fall sweetness and thanks to so many of you who told me about it. The October issue of Country Living has a pretty display of fall fabrics including Choc Pop and they go on to talk about patchin' fashion and the influence of craftiness in the world of style. But we knew that didn't we?
Okay back to writing and my bowl of candy corn. Whew, glad I got all that off my shoulders.
Enjoy your weekend my friends, oxoxo,AM