Wrought Iron Microwave Stand

So, those of you who know me¸ know that I love grapes and vines. As a fruit and plant in general, grape vines are one of the prettiest things to me. I even tattooed them on my foot and ankle. I’m fairly fond of a cheap bottle of wine too. But at the moment I would like to talk about my kitchen!

I finally have my own apartment and will do anything to maintain it, hence the reason I’m only taking two classes and trying to work full time. In the last two weeks I’ve decided my apartment should no longer look like a box. I bought some gently used furniture, accessories and plants for my living room. Spent two hours, Saturday night, cleaning my bathroom - forty-five minutes scrubbing my roommate bed-tanned skin from the tub and walls and the rest of the time vacuuming cat litter from every crevice imaginable.  I don’t really have a dining room, but I do have a super tiny little kitchen.

When I went into Wal-Mart this weekend, to get soap and conditioner, I left with plates, kitchen accessories and ridiculously expensive face-wash too! I decided my pastel purple Goodwill plates had earned a dusty spot on the top shelf because I wanted new Corelle plates that I can’t break. (Knock on wood because I am a clutz if ever there was one.) They aren’t the classiest, but they aren’t bad either, and I’m working with Wal-Mart and Fred’s here! Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw what looked like a grape on a mat. There was this incredibly cute kitchen mat, with three bushels, half tucked under something else and looking like it need me to take it home; had to have it. Upon side stepping back towards the plates, I noticed a seven piece set of dishtowels and oven-mitts with grapes and leaves too; they looked homeless as well!

Then my mother piped in and told me to leave. Keep in mind, I’m a poor college student with a shopping problem, so even though I was only in Wal-Mart and not Macy’s or Pottery Barn, the need to decorate my kitchen was overwhelming. I tend to call my mother and Grandmothers when I’m shopping. For company, but mostly to metaphorically slap me when I “ooo and ahh” at cheap crap I don’t really need. So, my mother finally got stern and no matter how old I am, that voice makes my eyes get big and my lip stick out. Thus, I proceeded straight to the checkout with my tail between my legs.

For the last couple of day’s I’ve been trying to make my kitchen look nice. This includes forcing myself to clean, because I don’t like to and I’m really not good at doing it immediately. The first set of plates I got was black and white and didn’t match the green and mauve grapes at all. The second set was pastel blue and green and didn’t work either, even though they are the same plates my step-papa has and I love them. The third set would have matched ok, but I decided to go to Fred’s for a look before anything was concrete. Three sets of dishes, means three trips to Wal-Mart in three days. (So sick of that place and I still have to go back to get a mirror and wall-hook-stickies for the shower because my new roommate isn’t allowed to shave in the bathroom sink.) I just wanted to check before I got all the way back to Douglas…and sitting there was perfection from heaven with a halo!

The perfect set of dishes. They would be 110% right if the green was darker and the white was cream, but they are the absolute best I can do in Juneau, without online shopping and spending tons of money. My kitchen is coming together wonderfully. But I would like to move my fourteen year old “free-be microwave” onto a stand to make room for my hand-mixer base and soon to purchase Cuisinart! Well, the chandelle in my “dining area,” if you can call it that yet, is wrought metal, so I would like a black/green metal microwave stand with grapes and vines that holds wine too. I looked online for half an hour and finally found a “wine table” on lowes.com. Its $152.40 plus shipping to ALASKA. I want it. But I can’t get it just yet.

Then it dawned on me that my mother has the exact stand I’m looking for and her stand has shelves too! So, I went on her facebook, which she only made yesterday, to ask her for it. One of our cousins’ in California thinks it’s a good idea and that I “soooooo” should have it. (Me too!!) But here’s the funny part, “Hey Ma! Wanna dismantle your microwave stand and mail it to me from Massachusetts? Please!”  I guess I really better save my pennies for the one on lowes.com. But if I get it in the distant future, with my Cuisinart, this means I have to get a stainless steel or sleek black microwave to set on it. I’m such a consumer it’s not even funny!

I guess I better keep my fingers crossed for one of those eight jobs that I applied for yesterday, so I can stay in my apartment beyond December 1!!

Diamond-hard Contradictions

My summer job is ending and I’m reflecting on the last six months. I’ve fallen in love with so many people on so many levels, for the second year. One coworker in particular means the most, but he’s another blog all of his own. These people drive me up a wall, but I love them so much. Each of them has an individual place in my heart.

I work for a seasonal diamond broker. The largest in Juneau and pretty much in Alaska. We have over 130 stores across the Caribbean. We are one of 86 companies who buy rough stones directly from mines. Once, I was proud to be a part of this. Once, I loved it, breathed it; it was all I wanted. Now, I just don’t know. The saying “it takes one apple to spoil the bunch,” is true. One bad manager made me hate my job, made me miserable when I was there and did her best to control me when I was on my own time.

There can be such good times in this store. Just plain, loving one another fun. But there’s always got to be that one cunt that stinks up the atmosphere. Sucks the love out of the air like some mythical Harry Potter beast. Lucky me, I happen to have that manager this season. We know I have a problem with demanding people in general, but this was over the top. And I can only take part of the blame.

This has been one of the hardest summers. And I’ve had some rotten summers in my past. When you wake up every morning and beg your roommates to call you in sick, you’ve got it bad.

But, I can’t only complain because there are the people I need. The people, I smile to see every day. The ones I hug and love and coddle and pray for. These are the people who drive me the most crazy, but that’s only because they mean so much. I can have the sourest look on my face and it only takes one of them to come say something stupid and flip my emotions. This is what makes my job so worth it. These happy people that I’m in love with. I party with them, sleep with them, eat with them and work with them ten hours a day, six days a week. Some of them, I can’t get enough of!

And then there’s the one I really love. The one I know is in the room because I smell him before I look up to see him. The one who calls/texts when I think of him. The one whose expressions I can read before he vocalizes what he wants. The one who had leopard eyes when the sun hits them at the right angle. The sketchy one, who took my heart in an afternoon. The one who won’t let me in because he’s afraid of too many things and too insecure to ask for my help. Nonetheless, I love him.

This is what I’m giving up. Last year when the season ended, I clung to the idea that they would all be back in April. And they did come back. But this season, I’m relieved they are leaving because I want that energy off my rock. I want Diamonds International to leave Alaska and leave me alone. Get out of Juneau. I feel bitter resentment towards the company because of one manager. I don’t want this, because I truly love my job and would be glad to do it again next year. Or even travel with them. However, her damage is done. She pushed and pushed and got her way. When I say don’t push me, back off. I exploded so many times because I had no other option.  She may have won this battle she created, but Karma never rests. All she’s done to me, will come back and bite her in the ass when it’s ready and she least expects it.

I can’t dwell on the angry, but I’m sure not ready to forget it. I am going to miss so many people and really the sadness is setting in. Last year I had an anxiety attack on my last day and I think I will this year too. Oct. 2 is just around the corner. I guess bitter-sweet is the way to describe this. I want them gone but I will miss them.

For nothing.

Welcome to Our World!

Some are born in rough places, but shine despite. Like diamonds. The world’s most prized natural element. They come from dirt, from pits. They are hard beauties, resilient, nearly indestructible.

Diamonds must be dug from the earth with detail and care. Gently washed, weighed and whisked away for clarity and shape categorization. Then they are cut.  Sliced with precision from all directions; angled, pointed, perfected. Polished and mount into a rhodium plated setting. A serial number microscopically etched into its side, to assure its place in GIA history. And then it’s polished some more, tagged and stuck in a case for all to see.

This is my story. Though, I’m still in the cleaning phase of this “ground to pedestal" path. Next on my list, is to lose the extra layers that make me so ugly and even from those chips will come something precious. One day I’ll make history, all will know my name, where I come from. I'll be tagged as his own and mounted on my setting. finally, placed on the perfect case for display and I'll be complete.

Welcome to Our World.