Downton Distraction

It's been a frustrating "can't believe it's this cold and snowing" week around here.  The weathermen say spring is still weeks away.  We've all been a little down.  The kids have been bundling up to walk to the bus-stop as much this week as any week all winter long.  Depressing.  I'll leave it at that, but that's the state of mind around here.  Not great for blog-post writing.

Our around-the-corner friends lent us(me) Seasons One and Two of Downton Abbey, and so I've been catching up, and doing my thinking in a British vernacular, so to speak.  A bit of this, and a bit of that, and out of sorts, and oh, Lady Violet -- do you really not know what a weekEND is?  I actually pulled my ironing board up to Season One yesterday, and got quite a lot of ironing done -- and quicker than they get it done in the laundry room at Downton, I daresay.

This stew that I've been in has put me in such a state that I am laughing out loud one minute, and sobbing the next as life unfolds at Downton Abbey.  But, as Lady Violet would say, "Sally dear, you're a woman with a brain and reasonable ability.  Stop whining and find something to do."  (Is Maggie Smith not BRILLIANT in that role?  Brilliant, I say!)

my daughter spotted these at Anthropologie and snapped a picture

In other business, the Time has come to stop accepting "anonymous" comments.

I hate to do it because some of my family and friends use anonymous commenting.

However, in the last week or so, I have fielded several comments... some of them leaving links to ?business? websites or blogs.  I don't click on them because they seem a bit sketchy.  Others are wildly inappropriate and link to things that I wouldn't click on in a million-trillion years EVER.  Nor would I want any of my dear readers to be subjected to them.  Some of these comments have gotten through the s*am-guard, and that's what really worries me.  This type of comment does not come from a blog-follower, but rather from somebody who is posting things for ?personal gain? -- things that don't have anything to do with my blog or the subject matter. It's a warped sort of thing -- and I'll just leave it at that.

From now on, you will have to be signed in with Google (or one of the other accounts listed) in order to comment.  Most of those who know me and comment regularly have my e-mail address anyway, but if you don't know it, it can be accessed by clicking on the "Contact Me" tab near the top of the blog, or by clicking the envelope icon in the sidebar under "Visit Me Here."

Thank you for your understanding.

And now, for Season Two.