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I see from Facebook that someone ginger and someone tattooed (both of whom are devilishly attractive) have run off to Vegas to get married, which is as rock-and-roll as I would expect from the pair of them.
Oh, and I WANT PHOTOS! Particularly if the ceremony was performed by Elvis.
It is a gorgeous sunny Saturday, and so naturally I woke up turned to the Doc and said "Sweetheart, I really want to Febreeze the sofa today".
Because on closer acquaintance I found a label on the sofa that indicates it was made in 1975, making it as old as me, and the upholstery does have that distinct charity shop aroma to it. It's not over-poweringly terrible, it's just there and I would prefer it not to be. Also, as I don't know what cleanability code letter W designates, I am really hoping the Febreeze works.
So we went out to buy the Febreeze, and some lemonade to make Pimms with. At the same time we also stopped off at the video store to rent a selection of films with which to fully appreciate the new TV, and I bought the old fashioned un-popped pan-style popcorn. None of this micro wave or pre-popped nonsense for me, thank you!
From that shopping list I'm sure you can gather that our evening is going to be scintillating. We intend to kick back on a newly un-stinked sofa (I have just finished spraying, and used almost the whole bottle of Febreeze), with a bowl of popcorn and a glass of Pimms whilst we watch "Ratatouille", "Once Upon A Time in The West" and, if we can squeeze it in, "Hit-man".
Geeky Joy!
So, hypothetically, you have a sofa, you have a multi-region DVD player and you have a 26" flat screen television. What is the first DVD that you elect to throw in to see how that new entertainment package is going to treat you?
Well, technically we started off with Ok Go's treadmill video (from my PAL DVD) to make sure it truly was multi-region, and also to adjust the colour and sound.
But after that?
"Apocalypse Now: Redux". Doc's choice, but I think a sound one.
Two picture posts in one day? I know, Crazy!
This second shot is celebrating the fact that the sofa arrived today. A mere twenty four hours late, which I believe is what they call "Mountain Time".
Last night Doc C was furious about this, having waited in all afternoon for the sofa to arrive; but when the delivery guys arrived today and immediately started apologising profusely, all he said to them was "That's Ok, shit happens!"
That is one thing I love about The Doc, he picks his moments to have a rant very wisely and will otherwise simply opt to be very chilled out about things (People at The Booth are probably reading this and saying "Whatever!", but it's totally true... outside of ticket sales).
Finally having a sofa is great but, even better, the multi-region DVD player arrived today; so I think we might be going shopping for a flat screen TV after work. Eeeeeehhhhh!!!!
This Cardinal lives in the trees at the back of our house and he is always flitting about the place. He has a very distinctive call and appears to have a girlfriend or two.
He tends to flit around on branches that are level with our living room windows, and he'll sit staring for hours. We thought he was a nosy little thing keeping an eye on us; but then I realised he is trying to psyche out his own reflection.
Sorry the picture is a bit blurry, he doesn't like to pose.
This is our new coffee table doing what it does best - Holding an entirely random selection of our stuff about a foot above the floor.
If you go to the Flickr image (I've set it so when you click on this photo it'll take you straight there! The wonders of the new Typepad compose page are manifold!), I may have gone mad with the labels function. But that is what it's there for after all.
Cruisaid's Walk for Life is being held on Sunday June 1st this year, there are full details on the website.
It's a 10k sponsored walk through London raising money for, and awareness about, a great AIDS charity. I really enjoyed the Walk for Life last year, and if I were in London this year I'd do it again.
Should you happen to be in London on Sunday 1st June, I'd highly recommend it as a way to productively spend the day. You can sign up in advance or register on the day, but in advance means you have a bit of time to get some sponsorship money together. I'll warn you now that your legs may well ache a bit afterward, but it's a good ache really!
This year you can even combine the fun with some celeb spotting, I hear Danni Minogue, Four Poofs and a Piano and Alan Cumming will be there...
I put these two little figurines on our new dressing table, and thought they make quite a good visual representation of my split personality.
On the one hand, I love that sweet little Momiji doll; and her dress and parasol are both so pretty and pink! Plus she's called Sunshine, and she was my very mysterious Secret Santa gift from the last Christmas Do I attended at The Booth.
On the other hand, can you really get much more fabulous than a Mexican-Day-of-the-Dead-Cabaret-Singer figurine? She's wearing full-length black-glitter dress! She could easily be a Drag Queen! And I bought her on my first trip to Boston with The Doc, at a great shop called Buckaroos' Mercantile where the shop owner stepped in eventually to stop me buying stuff.
I also think that together (if they were real live people), they would make a fabulous Eurovision entry... sigh...
When a resident alien, such as myself, moves house they have to let USCIS know within ten days; failure to report a change of address is "...punishable by fine or imprisonment and/or removal." So I did that yesterday, and all it really requires is filling in a form on-line. Easy.
It's not a complicated form, I was fine with the past and present addresses, and even my alien ID number; but when asked the date of my last entry into the US and my port of entry I had one of those moments. I knew the answers to those questions, I really did, but for a few seconds I doubted myself and I certainly did not want to make a mistake on a form required by the US Government on pain of fine or imprisonment and/or removal. It might not look good.
That is when keeping a blog came into it's own. I opened up another window, went to Alien Spouse and was confidently filling out those official boxes within moments.
Thanks Alien Spouse! It's like having an actual memory!
Today got off to an excellent start when I was putting some of my things away, and found my blue glitter skull badge.
This was a present from the ever gorgeous Ginger Jen, and it was my "something blue" for my wedding to The Doc (he had skulls on his tie and socks too. Which makes it sound like a goth wedding, it really wasn't.) I had the badge pinned onto the strap of my little black satin handbag, but I took it off when we went out to our anniversary dinner a few months ago and have been looking for it ever since.
I have no idea how it got into my pink-with-brown-polka-dots satin weekend bag, but I was delighted to see it there.
Rich and Kev were shown the local sights whilst I was at work yesterday, and very much liked our small town and the university campus. In fact they are planning to come again, and stay long enough to fit in a round of golf.
Rich was slightly disappointed that they hadn't been able to fit the sofa on the truck, but as it happens we found one that we like in a thrift shop today. It's a three-seater sofa bed, which is upholstered in a beige, green, orange and brown plaid. It's as if they'd rounded up a bunch of golfers in the seventies and skinned them for their sports coats to make our new sofa. It's so tacky it has come back around to being really fun, it's very comfortable and it's being delivered on Thursday afternoon.
Plus it was $70 (With another $20 knocked off that, but then delivery was $20. So let's call it full price, with free delivery.) In the same thrift shop we also found a little square coffee table that could do with a polish, but that is otherwise in good condition.
So we are almost fully furnished! It's very exciting!
I've been having smoothies for breakfast since we moved in, and they are particularly delicious when drunk out of the Sailor Jerry glasses.
My favourite is the baboon-faced sailor girl, with the great legs.
The smoothie recipe tends to be a banana, a generous handful of strawberries and a good glug of orange juice, with either plain yoghurt or silken tofu to make it a bit creamy. The silken tofu works surprisingly well in this capacity, especially as I don't usually like tofu.
Naturally this is enormously healthy, but I must admit to a quite childish enjoyment in using the blender. It's just fun to make so much noise, whilst watching all the constituent parts whizz together to make a pretty colour.
We spent most of yesterday waiting for The Doc's brother Rich, and his buddy Kev, to arrive with some furniture that Rich was giving to us. He was driving it down from Boston, and we were told to expect him on Sunday morning. At about mid-day we got a phone call to say they were in Pennsylvania, so we knew it was going to be awhile.
Through out the afternoon we were anxiously watching the weather, because the furniture was being moved in an open-bed truck, with a tarp tied over the top of it. When it started to rain, we were concerned. When it started to rain really hard, we made detailed plans for how best to protect the brand-new cream carpets from the wet furniture. We were particularly worried about the sofa. How would we save a water logged sofa? Would there be any point in trying? How much Febreeze would it require to really get rid of that mildew smell? Which local thrift shops did furniture collection?
We got a couple of progress reports through out the afternoon that did nothing to assuage our concerns; the tarp had been ripped to shreds by the storm and they were stopping to buy a new one; they'd been the front car in a triple rear-ending, but it was ok and they were back on the road now.
In the end they arrived at about midnight, and immediately unloaded all of the furniture, which was surprisingly dry. Rich and Kev even lugged a chest of drawers, a dressing table and various bits of bed frame upstairs to our bedroom. Clearly to Bostonians driving for 17 hours is no obstacle to completing a job properly.
We needn't have worried about the sofa; it hadn't fitted on the truck, so they brought a small desk instead.
I am very much enjoying my new book on nutrition; mainly, I must admit, because the author advocates a diet extremely similar to the one I am currently enjoying. Which is gratifying.
I also very much liked the sale sticker. Who knew paper had pain sensors?
I knew I probably would find this week difficult to fit exercise into, what with the whole moving house thing, but as it turned out I didn't do any! The living room was filled with boxes all week, and I packed all of my exercise clothes on Tuesday, so it was pretty much over and done with then.
No doubt Matt would have a few things to say about commitment, and having to put in a sustained effort to get results, but I've decided not to beat myself up about it. We've had a very busy week, and I haven't had the time or the resources.
I did however buy a set of scales for the bathroom, which is unheard of for me. I have never owned scales before, but as I have a specific weight loss goal I think they are necessary. That doesn't mean I'll be adding my weight to each week's Kinetic round-up, it's just an additional tool in my personal weight loss project.
At the same time we bought a blender (Black and Decker, 20% off at Lowes!), to make smoothies with. Sometimes I just do not want salad, and a smoothie would be a nice change of pace. When I say smoothie I mean a drink made with fresh fruit and some vegetables (like spinach or avocado) with yoghurt and/or tofu. I'm not planning on adding ice cream and calling it health-food, or anything daft like that.
I also bought another book on nutrition, so stand by for my discovering some fantastic new food that will change my life forever. Actually I doubt that will happen, but I like the author's approach so far, and I may drop the odd tip-bit in here if I find out about some nutritional gold mine.
So in summary, a bad week for exercise, but a good week for overall intentions for my future health.
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