Alien Spouse

TV Confidential.

I add things to the Netflix queue all the time without consulting Doc C first, and I reorganise the order too.  I try to be fair about it, and if I know there is something he really wants to watch, I will bump it up to the top.

So I added both DVDs of the TV series "Kitchen Confidential" a while ago, and it's been slowly moving up the list.  When the red square envelopes arrived I was really pleased, because it has a phenomenal cast and I know that the book by Anthony Bourdain that the show is based on is very well regarded by many chefs, whilst also revealing slightly too much about the restaurant world for the squeamish.

Doc C, however, had never heard of the book or the show, and he wasn't keen to watch it.  So the discs have been hanging around for a while, and we only saw the first show this evening. 

It pretty much rocks.  We've pretty much finished the first DVD already.

Doc likes it too, which means it must be pretty damn good.  This is clearly why it got canceled before the first season even ended.  Well done TV executives, what a truly great decision.

Furniture is for People, Not for Cats. Yeah, Right.

After work today Doc C collected me from the office and we went over to the vintage shop to pick up a chair that we have been stalking.  It's a sixties classic in dark wood and mustard upholstery, and it has a matching ottoman.

There was no way we were going to be able fit the chair in the Mini, so we will have to see if we can borrow a bigger car from a friend to transport it.

 However we could bring the ottoman back, so we did, and within perhaps 90 seconds of it coming through the front door Edith had staked her claim.

She loves the ottoman.  It is her new throne, and she only got off it when Doc made her so he could try it.  And, even then, Edith jumped back up and wedged herself on the edge of it.

I can only imagine how excited she will be when the actual chair arrives.

If You Didn't Come to Crochet, Don't Bother Knocking At My Door.

Today has been a very long and busy day, and I haven't had a moment to crochet more of the Mystery Contest Amigurumi.  Tomorrow will probably be as busy, if not more so, so I hereby declare this Sunday will be Crochet-Palooza. 

Oh yeah, I know how to party.

Found It!

I am very pleased that I found my leaf print wrap dress, it had somehow buried itself in the basket I keep my woollies in.  Very sneaky.  You were a worthy adversary Leaf Print, but I believe this round goes to me.

Naturally I will be wearing this with a t-shirt or a vest (US Translation: camisole), and I'll probably layer it with my black shawl.

That says competent and professional, right?

The First Eight Rows.

I am loving the contest entries I've had so far!

Also I forgot to say please feel free to leave as many comments/guesses as you'd like.  This is a free for all type deal, and the more entries the better.  Someone has to win!

As you can see I have started off with the pink yarn, which naturally means I'm using the blue and white stitch markers to keep track of where I am.

 

CSI: Wardrobe.

On Saturday I have to be at work all day for scholarship interviews, and I also have to dress smartly for the occasion.  Having considered the matter carefully I decided that I would wear my new boots, with my black wrap-dress with the brown leaf print on it.  Perfect, business-like yet funky and warm.

Which naturally means I cannot find that dress.  I have no idea where it is.

How can I have lost a whole dress?  Of course, to be completely honest, all of my recently washed clothes are currently in heaps in my bedroom because I haven't put any of them away in a week or so; however, I haven't worn this dress in a couple of months so it really shouldn't be in one of those heaps.

What I need is Catherine Willows, Stella Bonasera and Calleigh Duquesne to be redeployed, so they are all together at last as a crack Fashion Crime Scene Investigation team.  They could find my dress and, maybe, give me some hair and make-up tips, all whilst making dry comments and being generally fabulous.  Of course Willows and Bonasera would have to be very supportive of Duquesne, she's had to work with Horatio Caine for 7 years and that's got to leave it's mark on a woman.

Three Colours: Yarn.

These are the main colours I'll be using in my next amigurumi.

The first person to correctly guess what I shall be making will win it!  Yes, it's Alien Spouse first give away contest!

W00t!

It should take me about a week to ten days to make it, I'm hoping, and the contest will remain open until it's completed to my liking.

Mum, I'm sorry to say you are disqualified because I've already told you what I'm planning to make.  But I'll make you one too, if you'd like!

***Post Script*** Doc just asked if he could enter the contest.  After having picked up the pattern and correctly identified it from the illustration.  I would like to clarify that Doc C is also disqualified.

Baked Goods and Ex-Pats.

Whilst picking up lunch yesterday (we both had a slice of focaccia with mushrooms and thyme, I had a cup of green tea and Doc C had a oatmeal and raisin cookie) I was chatting to one of the lovely women who works at our favourite bakery about an order for an event I'm organising.  As I was doing that a woman and her daughter came in to get coffee, they heard my voice and the mother said "Hello! Did I hear a British accent?"

It turned out that she was also British, and had been here for thirty years.  She still hadn't picked up the accent, which I was pleased to note!  She gave me her phone number because she's going back and forth to the UK fairly often at the moment, and she said if there is anything we want from the UK to let her know and she will see what she can do.  Doc C immediately mentioned McVities Caramels, the man knows his priorities.

A Picture Paints A Thousand Words.

Instead of a photograph today, I have made an Alien Spouse Wordle!  It was fun!

Curiosity Did Nothing to Harm The Cat.

Bloody Edith!  She has just taken years off my life!

I saw her heading towards the downstairs bathroom, and thought nothing of it (other than I would soon be scooping) but then there was an ominously loud thump.  A few days ago Edith had flipped the whole litter tray on to it's side in her frenzied efforts to cover things up, so I went to check she hadn't managed to do that again.

When I got to the door I could see the tray and that was fine, but I couldn't see Edith.  The door was slightly closed, so I thought she had gone behind it for some reason.  As I pushed the door open to see, something big grey and fluffy fell from above my head brushing past my arm on it's way to the floor.

Edith had somehow got on top of the door.

I'm very happy to say that our little nutcase landed on her feet and ran off, she also seems totally unhurt from having fallen from the top of a door to the floor.  I, however, got a horrible scare, and really had to take a minute to get my breath back

My best guess on how she did this is that she jumped up from the sink, which must be over three foot.  Plus she did that in the dark, with no idea what was up there.  I have no clue why she would think this was a good idea, but maybe that's because I think like a human and she thinks like a cat. 

And this is what she's like without catnip!

And Take Your Roses With You!

On my way back to the office at lunch time today, I noticed a bunch of roses that had been thrown away into the flower bed just outside the building.  My immediate thought was that someone had a dramatically bad break-up over the weekend.  And, of course, I decided to come back with my camera on the way out.

What was funny was that when he came to collect me at the end of the day, Doc C walked past them as well but he picked one up and brought it to me as a present.  It's a good thing we both have the same dark sense of humour.

Which meant that we both cackled until we were breathless, because our hearts are black as coal! 

Bloody Thespians.

Honestly actors are so inconsiderate! I'm sure having the Oscar ceremony on a Sunday is convenient for their schedules, but what about the rest of us who have to work the next day? True I watched the last hour in bed, but I was still up past midnight on a school night, and I am really tired this morning.

Still it was worth it just to see our Kate win something and hear Sean's acceptance speech. Hoorah!

A Cup For My Chocolate Milk.

Our favourite local bakery (try the focaccia, it's amazing!) had more vintage juice glasses, and we bought another six of them.

Of this new half dozen the one I like best is this glass mini tea cup.  It's just fun!

Pardon? What? Never Mind, What The Hell Is She Wearing?

I am really looking forward to watching the Oscars this evening, but I will have to turn up the volume because I woke up this morning with my left ear ringing and it won't stop, so I can't hear properly.

I suspect it's the last remnants of my flu, as I'm also coughing a lot at night.  It's the weirdest thing, during the day I'm absolutely fine but just as I'm falling asleep a coughing fit keeps me (and poor Doc C) awake.  It is so annoying!

Still the best part about the Oscars are bound to be the red carpet clothes, and I will probably enjoy those even more without the inane interviews.  I am really hoping that the Fug Girls have plenty of material to work with, but I'm sure Tinsel Town won't let us down.

Twilight (2008)

I have just got back from seeing "Twilight" (2008) which I enjoyed immensely, because it was so very very bad.  It's hard to know where to start, but I think the plot and the dialogue were probably where the problems began; you know according to IMDB the script was written in six weeks.  And, even though it was based on a book, that time frame explains a fair bit actually; however I think the director took that half-baked mess composed of equal parts creepy teenage obsession and flawed reinterpretation of vampires, and really made something special out of it.

Of course the director is only one part of the creative team and she was very ably supported in her efforts here.  I particularly enjoyed the quite appalling pale vampire make-up that made the entire audience at my screening laugh every time a new vampire was introduced, and that Jill pointed out actually stopped at the chin, and left a nice tanned neck on all of the vampires.  I also feel I should mention some very fine smell-the-fart acting on all counts, but with special mention to Robert Pattinson in the first biology class scene and Cam Gigandet in the decoy chase scene.  I was slightly disappointed that the vampire stand-off during the thunderstorm didn't turn into a Jets Vs. Sharks style choreographed rumble, because for a moment there I was fully expecting it too.  That would have been spectacular.

I can't wait to see it sweep the boards at the Oscars tomorrow.

ANTK.

This morning being Saturday, after I had fed the cats, I went back to bed, and, once Nancy had finished her breakfast, she came to join us.  She loves crawling under the covers and when she did that this morning she looked really sweet, so I reached for my camera and the moment I did the little madam ran off.  No photos!  Why won't the paparazzi just leave her alone?  Is it too much to ask that she have a little privacy?

Well, yes it is, frankly.

I was determined to get a good shot of Nancy, so this afternoon I had a mini photo shoot with her.  It was exactly like an episode of "America's Next Top Model" (I watched several back-to-back marathons of "ANTM" when I had the flu; it's entertaining enough to occupy your mind, but doesn't really require any intellectual exertion.  Perfect when your feeling under the weather and lethargic.)  It wasn't easy, Nancy doesn't know her angles at all, and she has no clue how to smile with her eyes.  I can almost hear Miss J Alexander and Nigel Barker criticising her poses, but I think Twiggy would have been quite supportive. 

Eventually we had 9 frames I was happy with, although the first one I just find amusing because she'd been washing her ear and turned it inside out.  I love when cats do that! 

I took on the Tyra Banks role and told Nancy that she was still in the running to be America's Next Top Kitty, but frankly I think we all know that Edith has this one in the bag.  The minute she saw me taking photos Edith came running, and fawned all over me; then she sat in a shaft of sunlight and worked it for the camera.

I'm honestly not sure that Nancy really wants this enough.

Through The Round Window.

The cats had totally destroyed their cat scratcher and Doc C threw it away at the weekend but the pet shop had none left until today.

So they were ecstatic to see the one we bought for them after work.  It's exactly the same type, so it's a cardboard box, in a wedge shape, with a replaceable scratching surface on top, and it has a window on each side.  Inside it has a paper ball, attached by a length of elastic.

The first time Edith gnawed through the elastic to get the ball within 48 hours, and it became one of her favourite toys; which lasted right up until she batted it into her water bowl and turned into mush.

As you can see, she's already eyeing up her next victim.

Books!

My friend Michael posted this as a note on Facebook, and whilst I don't usually do meme type things (mainly because I am not really clear on what they are exactly, or why they are so popular), this is book related and therefore almost irresistible.

Michael's note-title was "Apparently the BBC reckons most people will only have read 6 of the 100 books here." which is a red rag to a former book seller!

There are fairly simple instructions:

• Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
• Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
• Star (*) those you plan on reading.
• Tally your total at the bottom.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X +
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible X (To be honest, not all of it, just the bits deemed necessary by my school which is more than enough)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman X +
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller X
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare *
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier X
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X +
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh X
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres X
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden *
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins X +
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan X
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons X +
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon X +
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov X
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding X
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson X +
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath *
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome X
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray 
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro X
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X +
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton X
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks X
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole X
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Well having worked through that list I feel that I have been unfairly penalised for not liking Dickens.  There are six Dickens titles on this list, and I'm pretty sure that I have started every last one of them, but I just don't enjoy them enough to slog through.  Funnily enough I have the same reaction to Stephen King as well.

And why is Hamlet on there at number 98, when the complete works of Shakespeare is already listed at fourteen?

Still, by my count, I've read forty nine and a half of them (The half point is for the Bible),and that's respectable enough.

Mmmm... Spicy Jewellery...

The director of my department is also a neuroscientist, and when she goes to conferences she sometimes brings us back cool presents.

Like this fantastic brain brooch which she gave me!  It goes with everything!

Play School

On Wednesday evenings David usually comes over to have drinks and watch "Top Chef" (Or "Project Runway", whatever Bravo show we are currently engaged with). He hadn't been able to for the past couple of weeks, so we had a couple of episodes to catch up and, as an added bonus, Kim and Jill came over too.

So naturally I got out the Ker-Plunk, and none of them had played it before!

As I fitted all the sticks into the tower and added the marbles, I explained the aim of the game. We soon had four University professors fixating on which stick to pull out so they wouldn't get any marbles. It got quite competitive.

The Finest Marmite Known to Man.

We haven't had a supermarket post for ages have we?  Let's fix that!

As you can see this is a photo of a shelf displaying, for want of a better term, fancy goods.  On the left we have lumpfish caviar (black and red), pate, tinned snails, liver pate, eggplant appetizer (that would really be aubergine of course) and finally marmite.

Of course I am always delighted to take note of supermarkets that sell my beloved yeast extract, because otherwise what would I put on my toast?  However, please note that this would be the smallest jar of marmite available in the UK, and it is more expensive then any of these other delicacies with the exception of only the black lumpfish caviar.

It's little things like this that make me feel as though I am through the looking-glass sometimes.

I Sense... That Nancy... Wants More Food...

When we were in the pet shop the other day buying the cats some stuff, I noticed a little business card holder buy the till.  There is one particularly pet sitting service that all of our friends who own cats swear by, and I can never remember what they are called, so I keep an eye out for their business card (that sounds weird, how can I keep an eye out for a business if I don't know which business I want?  But whenever I hear the name I recognise it, so that would work).

Anyway, I was drawn to the card for an Animal Communicator, which I took and put in my wallet so I could ponder it later.  I went to the website and it turns out that the animal communication is done psychically, so actually consultations are three-way phone conversations between the animal, the psychic animal communicator and the owner.

I would love to know what Nancy and Edith think about, and how they see their relationship with us.  I'm pretty sure I can guess, but it would be great to hear a psychic commune with Piggy Big-Eyes and confirm that she hates having set meal times, and that she doesn't understand why Edith is always chasing her.  Personally I think Edith is very conflicted, because on the one hand she is a young cat and responds in a very kittenish way to many things but on the other hand she has had kittens herself and was apparently a good mother.  So sometimes she's quite maternal towards Nancy, she'll snuggle up to her and sometimes wash behind her ears, but then she'll suddenly feel like chasing something and Nancy is just so convenient for that.

I have to say though that I am somewhat sceptical about this service, mainly because on the business card the website address is misspelled.  If that's the level of human-to-human communication, which one would imagine would be the most straightfoward part of the equation, I don't think it bodes well.

Anti-Triskaidekaphobia

Today I wore my new boots to work, with a knee length denim pencil skirt and a green top.  I also accessorised with a brown belt and my skinny pink, gold and brown striped scarf (It's from M&S, so it's a lot more tasteful then it sounds I promise).

Whilst sitting at my desk I was playing with the straps on the back of my boots, because one was standing up whilst the other was flopping over and I wanted them to be uniformly floppy.  As I was messing around I found two tiny stickers, which I expect were put there to indicate the boots had passed quality control.  They just had the number 13 on them.

I knew I loved these boots!  I don't really have a lucky number, but I do like the number 13.  A few years ago I bought some Emily Strange patches and sewed them onto my wheelie suitcase, and I put almost all of them on the front of the bag.  There was loads of space, so I could have easily fitted all of them on the front, but I thought it would be a good idea to put one on the back too; so I choose the 13 patch to go there, because I vaguely thought it wouldn't be seen by any overly superstitious fellow passengers and avoid freaking anyone out.  The funny thing is that whenever I've been waiting by an airport carousel for my bag to come out, it is invariably lying on it's front, so I spot that little red and white 13 patch coming towards me and it always makes me happy.

deLicious.

Just before I came down with the flu I got my Girl Scout Cookies.  I'd ordered a box of Thin Mint and a box of Caramel deLites, although not having been a girl scout myself I was foolishly spelling those as Delights.

I thought the Caramel deLites were ok, and I liked the Thin Mints, but Doc C really liked the Caramel deLites and ate three quarters of the box.

So it was lucky there was an adorable moppet, with her mother, selling Girl Scout Cookies outside the local hardware superstore at the weekend.  Doc C invested in two more boxes, and we still have one of those left!  Which is very restrained of him, don't you think?

Silver Band.

Every night Doc C takes off his wedding ring and puts it on the bedside table, because he's worried that it will fall off his hand and get lost.  Except when I had the flu and he was sleeping downstairs, he took his ring off and now has no idea where he put it.  It's been missing for about a week, and we have looked everywhere; this evening we moved the sofa to look underneath it and Doc went through all of his pockets over the weekend.

I've been teasing him a little bit, but I haven't flipped out, because I know he's already very annoyed at himself for losing it; and anyway he's just worn his original wedding ring whilst he's looking for the silver one.  Of course the reason he replaced the original ring is that it turns his finger green, so it's not a long term solution to the problem.

Personally I suspect that he put it on the coffee table and then someone, who loves playing with shiny things, *cough* *Edith* *cough*, probably batted it onto the floor and chased it.  And I have no idea where in the house she hides her special shinys, so it's probably gone.

I might take him ring shopping this week and we'll see if we can find him a nice antique band this time.  With maybe a box to keep it in at night.

Carnation.

After a week away from the office with the flu, my manager was so pleased to see me that she gave me a carnation as a "Welcome back to work!" present.  I brought it home with me on Friday, and now it's in a vase on the mantelpiece. 

I love the hot pink edging to the petals.  I think it might be my new desktop wallpaper.

I Would Call It Fuzzypeg.

Today we went over to the Humane Society and walked Buddy and Trouble, two little black Pomeranians.  The dogs had only been at the society for a week, they were both very matted and used to being carried everywhere.  It's really sad to see animals neglected and let get into such a mess, particularly when they are so trusting and affectionate towards humans.

To be honest I have never really liked small fluffy dogs, because they just look so silly, but I was given Trouble to walk; and he really won me over, because he was just so much fun!  How can you fail to be amused by an animated teddy bear that runs circles around you, and does handstands whenever it wants to pee?  He was just bursting with personality and was just hilarious!  Buddy on the other hand did a lot of standing still and staring at Doc C, clearly pleading to be picked up and carried.  Doc was very patient and didn't force Buddy to do anything, but equally didn't baby the dog either, by the end of the walk Buddy was walking to heel quite happily.

The staff at the shelter know us quite well by now, and asked how Edith and Nancy were getting on.  I told them that Nancy is getting a little bit pudgy, and about Edith's cupcake rampage yesterday.  It's good to know that they are really interested in hearing how the animals are doing in their new homes.  That's one of the things I really like about the shelter, that they make sure the animals are adopted by the right people and that they follow up on that too.

After lunch we went to the pet store to get a new cat scratcher to replace the one that Edith has almost totally destroyed.  Whilst we were in there I noticed that they had a hedgehog for sale, and we were both very taken with the idea of a pet hedgehog, but I have no idea how the cats would react to it.  Or rather, I have an excellent idea of what they would do, and I'm not sure it would be a good thing for any of the pets involved.  Still, wouldn't a pet hedgehog be sweet?  Snuffling around the house, snoozing in it's little house or running in it's little wheel!  Cute!  So cute!

The Valentine's Cupcake Massacre.

Every year for Valentine's day Doc and I have a huge debate about why I like Valentine's cards, and whether Doc should HAVE to buy me one.

This year we just side-stepped that circular argument by buying Valentine cupcakes from our favourite bakery.  Aren't they lovely?

I carefully held them on my lap all the way home, and put them on a plate to take a photo.  Unfortunately I put the plate on the floor near the windows to get the best light for my shot, and then I went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea.  This was a mistake.

Edith had found the stash of catnip, and then rolled around in it until she went totally loopy.  First she destroyed the cardboard cat scratcher, and then started zooming all over the house.  In fact she just zoomed right through the middle of the cupcakes.

There are still red pawprints all over the living room, because it took me a while to stop laughing long enough to catch her and clean the icing off her paws.

Stupid cat.

Valentine's Day Snuck Up On Me.

Usually I really like getting ready for Valentine's day, and I make cards for friends and work colleagues as well as Doc C.  This year I haven't done any of that, mainly because I've been ill, but also because this town desperately needs a craft store.

I actually have a meeting on Wednesday that I was intending to make mini Valentine cards for, so when Doc asked what I wanted to do today I immediately said that I wanted to go to a card shop in the next town over that I thought might have some scrap booking supplies that I could use to make the cards with.  I was really hoping I'd be able to find a heart shaped hole punch, which isn't something I've just made up, I actually have two or three of them in different sizes in a box at my Mum's house.  No luck though, the card shop had nothing Valentiney at all, it was bizarre.

I'm not panicking yet though, because I have a back up plan, which is cookies decorated with red sugar hearts.

Back to Work.

Today I went back to work, and I think it went quite well.  At least, I didn't drool on any important paperwork, which is a good place to start, and I was pleased to see that my e-mail in-box hadn't exploded. 

At lunch time I went to Doc's office for a nap, he had been asked to cover a course at another university today, so he wasn't there.  Which was a pity, because I overslept,and it wasn't until I had a nightmare that I had fallen asleep at my desk that I woke up and actually did go back to my desk.  Fortunately I had announced to my manager my intention to sleep through lunch, and she thought that was a good idea and had even suggested I curl up in the conference room.  I am extremely lucky to have colleagues who understand that recovering from the flu is exhausting.

Of course, the most exciting thing about today is that it's the first episode of Joss Wheedon's new series "Dollhouse" is on in twenty minutes.  O - M - G !  So exciting!  Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

New Boots!

When Doc C came home yesterday he had two parcels for me, one from Lush and one from Doc Martens.  The Lush parcel smelled really lovely, and I had run out of some of my skin care staples, so it was extremely welcome.

From Doc Marten I had a new pair of boots, Doc C had decided he wanted a pair of classic DMs and when he was on their website, he saw some boots that he thought would suit me.  I already have a pair of red DM boots that I love, because they are really practical and comfortable, and they still look like new after two years of running around in them.

The boots I chose this time are mid-calf lace-ups in a gorgeous chocolate brown.  The style is called Beatrice, and I think that reflects the very prim and proper air they have to them. 

So far I've been clumping around in them with my pyjamas, but I'm planning to pair them with jeans and skirts.  What I really need are some great woolly tights, and I think stripy tights would be particularly fun with these.

Finally.

You know what?  I feel so much better today!  I'm still breathing through my mouth, and I am very tired, but I no longer have a splitting headache and I don't sound like I was the runner up in this year's Bea Arthur impersonator contest.  For all intents and purposes I am a functioning human being, which means it's time to get out of bed and face the world again.

So I think I'll go back to work tomorrow.  There's nothing quite like seizing Friday the 13th by the horns is there?

The Silver Lining.

One good thing about this horrible flu has been that I just haven't felt hungry all week, and so I haven't been eating very much.  I've probably lost five pounds this week.  Hoorah for the nasty medicine and soup diet!

So Very Very Tired.

I have been asleep all day, and I think I'm going to go back to bed after I finish typing this post.  I have to say the worst part about this flu is it feels distinctly like a hangover, but it's lasting for an inordinately long time and I haven't had so much as a sip of wine in over a week.  So unfair! 

I just want to be able to breath properly and for my head to stop aching.  Is that so much to ask?

Doctor's Appointment.

I really like my doctor, and the office staff at the surgery are all really lovely too, which makes so much difference.  Apparently my nose and throat are really red and swollen, which is making it hard for me to breathe properly.  My doctor gave me a prescription for a bottle of really horrible medicine; as everyone knows the worse the medicine tastes the better it must be for you, so this stuff should get me back to work by the end of the week.

Which is good, because when I called the office to tell them that, they said I have a massive pile of work on my desk.  Great.

Still Not 100%.

I am feeling better than I did on Friday, a lot better than I did on Friday, but I still have a sore throat and I have no appetite at all.  So I'm going to go and see my doctor tomorrow and see what she thinks.

Pump It Up.

It turned out that the maintenance guy had moved, and not given us his new number, but fortunately our neighbours had his new address.  All that had happened was that the fuse had tripped on the pump, so all he had to do was flip a switch and we had running water again.

So simple when you know how.

Such A Good Husband.

Poor Doc C! Not only is he looking after me, but he's having to sleep on the sofa to avoid catching my flu; then last night he went into the kitchen, turned on the tap, and nothing came out.  Our well has dried up, or there is silt blocking the pipes, either way we don't have any water.

Doc went into town first thing this morning to get gallons of bottled water and some baby wipes, so at least we have enough water to drink and we don't smell, even if we can't have showers.  He's called the resident's association and the handyman, but so far no one's called him back.

He's not having a good day, but he's making sure I have plenty of hot honey and lemon.

One or the Other.

This bug is really tenacious, so this morning Doc C called my doctor's surgery to see if she had any appointments today, but no luck.  If I'm still not well on Monday, we will try again then.  In the meantime I have been on the NHS direct website (so I could get nice soothing British cyber healthcare advice) and my symptoms point to either the flu or the black death.

Either way the treatment is pretty much the same, I need to drink plenty of fluids, rest and watch "CSI:NY" back-to-back marathons.

Bugged

I still feel awful, and I'm exhausted so I think I might have a bowl of no chicken noodle soup and then go to bed. No virus is going to break my NaBloPoMo commitment though!

Kitten-Cat.

Doesn't Nancy have a pretty face?  I'm so pleased that she is responding well to the change in her diet, and her eyebrow fur is growing back.

She looks like her kittenish self again.

Mac and Robin.

Thanks to this week's bug, I've been at home all day, swathed in layers of fleece and watching "Teen Titans" on DVD and "CSI:NY" on cable.  Just when I think I've seen every episode of "CSI:NY" another one will turn up, today's was set on the Statue of Liberty and was ridiculous, yet brilliant.  That is exactly what I hope for from any of the "CSIs"

Apart from that I couldn't really tell you where today has gone.  I hate being ill.

A Different Lurgey.

I've put myself to bed early because I feel unwell again.  One of my colleagues told me a while back that for the first year he and his wife were in town they caught every bug going because their immune system hadn't previously encountered the hardy strain of germs that live up in the mountains.

I like that theory, but I've been here for 16 months now: Come on Immune System, get with the program!

Anyway, I can't think of anything funny to say, and I didn't take any photos today; so here is a picture of Edith lying on her back and waving her paws in the air, as if she just doesn't care.  Don't be fooled, this is her ploy to get people to rub her tummy so she can rabbit kick them.  That's hilarious to Edith.

Apart from the belly thing, she's quite a relaxed cat, and just look how glossy her fur is, her paws look like silver!

Also, yes, we actually did deliberately chose the blanket that would clash most horribly with the sofa.  We honestly stood in Kmart looking at the fleece blankets in the Martha Stewart Everyday collection and discussed which would be the loudest clash.  The cats adore that blanket.

Her Morning Elegance.

I know that many many blogs are linking to this video, but I thought it was something my Mum would enjoy so I am linking to it as well.

Make It So.

I don't remember where I got this brooch from, it might have been from that period where I went insane on e-bay and had massive bidding wars over pieces of vintage costume jewelry.  I haven't done that in a while, and now I think of it I do need some earrings...  Hmm...

But back to the brooch, I realised today that one of the things I like about it is that it looks like a Steampunk Star Trek Communicator.

It would be even better if it really did connect me with the crew of a steam dirigible that is exploring the final frontier.  That would rock.

It's A Big World After All.

For the most part I like Americans; in fact, to paraphrase Victor Kiam, I like them so much, I married one!  However (please, you knew that was coming), there is a tendency for some Americans to believe that the United States of America is the entire world.  I was reminded of this when I saw an TV advert for the Superbowl, which used the phrase "The World's Most Popular Sporting Event" without a whiff of irony, despite the fact only America competes in it.  I mean, really!  There are so many events which are competed in by sportsman from around the world, but the Superbowl is frankly not one of them.

It's a bit like when we went to the hardware store in November, and we started chatting to one of the guys who worked there.  I asked how the day after Thanksgiving had been for them, because over here that is when people go insane and try to do all of their Christmas shopping.  He said it had been busy, and then he very matter-of-factly said that it was "known all over the world as Black Friday", because it was such a major shopping day.  Hmmm, I hate to be rude, but I actually came from somewhere else in the world, and the only Black Friday I had ever heard of, previous to living in the US, was when the stock market crashed in the 80s.  The Black Friday shopping frenzy is not a worldwide phenomenon, no Toys-R-Us workers were trampled to death in Swindon on that day last year I can assure you.

This is also one of the things I've always found bizarre about the Roman Polanski case, because he skipped the country before his trial for sex with a minor, there is still a warrant out for his arrest in the US.  This means he can never come back (well he could, but he'd be arrested), and the way some Americans talk about that you'd think it was worse than death, in fact they nearly always use the term exile.  I always think this is most odd, because Polanski has been living and working in Paris, and has been perfectly happy with that arrangement for 30 odd years.  Paris is really quite lovely you know, even if it isn't part of the Land of the Free.

Gosh.  Rant over.  Clearly I've been holding that one in for a while now!

Out Damn Spot.

This is not a phrase I ever thought I would use in relation to the completion of a soft toy, but I am really pleased with how the bloody dagger came out!

I used different size red sequins to create a blood stain on Lady Macbeth's dress, and I hot glued the dagger on top of that.  Then I hot glued tiny red sequins to the dagger, with a red thread from those leading to the blood stain and I put more hot glue over the top to create some texture, which I coloured in with a red marker pen. 

And there you have it, a nice gory accessory.

Happy Toast T-Shirt Day!

The main difference between what I consider appropriate to wear in the office, and what I wear in my own time is that none of my work clothes have pictures on them, but nearly all of my favourite, none work, t-shirts do.  It is most annoying that Doc C can go into work wearing a t-shirt depicting a skull poking it's tongue out (and how does that work anyway?  If the skull doesn't have any skin on it, why does it still have a tongue?  That's just stupid), but I need to be smarter for an office job.  I suppose this is really why PhDs are a good idea, well either that or a media careers.

When it comes to Ts I don't really do slogans, but I love a good graphic.  A few years ago I thought maybe I was getting a bit old for graphics, then I discovered Threadless and thought "Whatever!" and bought a whole bunch of their Ts.

Today's Threadless t-shirt is lemon yellow with a picture of a happy piece of toast spreading jam on itself.  I resisted buying it for some time, because I didn't think that the shade of yellow would particularly suit me; but then it was in the sale, so I bought it anyway, and I was right! That shade of yellow really doesn't suit me!  So I don't tend to wear it if we are going to be doing something with friends.  However I find the happy toast so charming and it makes me happy, so I still like to wear it, which makes it perfect for walking dogs on a Sunday.  Especially if I put my blue hoody on over the top, so you can still see the print without acres of lemon yellow on display, and because dogs are colour-blind.  It's a very cheerful piece of clothing, but I think I would like it even more if they printed it on a nice shade of light blue.