Alien Spouse

It's Sunday Already?

The event yesterday seemed to go reasonably well, and I actually lasted the whole day! 8 to 5! I feel like death today, but I can just about do it!  This means I am well on the way to being able to work a full week, and then I'll be back en route on a full paycheck and perhaps even start accumulating some leave time!  So then I can go and see my Mum!  Yay!  So you see working a Saturday event was actually a good thing!

Of course the main way I kept going was drinking coffee, and eating way too much sugar.  I tried to be good, and I'd made sure there was a good selection of semi-healthy food on offer too, but somehow those peppermint patties just kept unwrapping themselves and jumping into my mouth.  Don't you hate when that happens?

Not Really Friday.

  You know having to work an event that starts early on a Saturday totally takes the shine off a Friday evening.

Plus I have yet to decide what I'm going to wear, it needs to be fairly formal office wear but I'd like to come up with something with a bit of élan to it.  Fairly easy, except it would also be nice if it were comfortable as well because I will almost certainly be running around a lot and quite possibly shifting furniture.  I always have to factor in the distinct possibility of shifting furniture on the day of an event, it's just a given.

So far, I'm thinking my brown DMs, and then either; my green-pink-and-purple floral skirt and my pink wrap cardigan, or my khaki green print skirt with a black top. 

Either of those outfits would say professional yet fun, right?

But if I'm working on a Saturday then the Doc Martens have to be incorporated one way or another.  I love those boots.

The Accidental Snow Day.

I took an accidental snow day today.

The snow started again yesterday, and when I woke up this morning the very first thing I did was look at the University's website to see if there were any delays.  All classes were canceled until 12.30, which based on previous class cancellations meant the snow equivalent of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was marauding around campus.  I thought the storm must be a lot worse in town than it was around our house at that point, so I simply checked in with my office by e-mail and went back to sleep. 

As it turns out this entirely logical assumption was mistaken.  It's a bit of a mystery why the University canceled the whole morning, because apparently the roads really weren't that bad; so my colleagues made it into the office quite easily.  I did not know that until well into the afternoon however, because we lost power for a few hours, and I wasn't able to access the internet or e-mail. 

It could have been worse.   I had power for long enough this morning to make a huge cup of tea, and watch "Shaun of the Dead".  Then I had a lovely nap, until the power came back on and woke me up by sounding the smoke alarm (which indicates that it's wired directly into the mains, which I hadn't previously realised).  By that point there was nothing more to be done with the afternoon then have another cup of tea, put a load of washing on and watch some police procedurals.  Lovely.

Of course tomorrow I have GOT to get to the office, because I will have a ton of stuff that has GOT to be done for the event of Saturday.

Tooth Marked.

Hmmm...  Call me paranoid, but I think someone grey and floofy has been chewing my needle protectors. 

This is a relatively new bad habit that Edith has acquired, and I have to be very careful to put my needles away or it will only a matter of time before she ends up doing some damage to something other than a lump of green rubber.

Not Exactly a Taste of Home.

A British themed pub has opened in town, and so naturally one of Doc's colleagues picked up a menu for me when they went in there.  It starts off strong by labeling itself "Pub Grub" and a cursory glance at the names of the dishes seems to indicate all is well.  However, a closer reading of the descriptions of the food has worried me.

I'm hopeful that the fish and chips will be ok; but the "Black Blue and Bacon" is a hamburger with cheese and bacon served on an English Muffin.  What kind of madness is this?  Equally the Ploughman's Special is "Your choice of roast beef or turkey stacked high on our fresh baked bread with cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato and mayo served with English chips." Mayo?  What the hell is MAYO doing anywhere near something calling itself a Ploughmans?  Where is the Branston Pickle, or even pickled onions?

And that's just the Pub Grub standards - I haven't even mentioned "Cambridge Chicken Caesar" which is a normal Caesar salad with a poached egg on top, or the "Wings over Britain" which are chicken wings served with celery and bleu cheese dipping sauce.  I wouldn't call myself an expert on the regional cuisines of all of England, there are many things I may not have tried, but these two things are news to me.

There is a possibility that I'm being overly critical here, particularly as I haven't been anywhere near the place yet, but I'm sure you can see my concerns here.

Red Brolly.

Replacing the Ugly Kitten umbrella was not easy, and this time I've gone with a graphic white on red pattern.  Even better this is a Paperchase umbrella, which I found in Winston Salem on Friday.

The design of circles and dots goes well with my polka dot bag, but I have to admit I'm still not 100% certain about this brolly.  It's just that it's, well, tasteful and almost grown-up.  I am very happy that it's so brightly coloured though, you will not miss me in a rainy day.  Especially when I track down a pair of yellow wellies and a yellow rain coat.

Oh yeah, you'll be able to see me from England!

Spotlight on Amigurumi.

Amigurumi Dorian Gray has been getting some love on the internet recently, which is nice!

I already had set up an amigurumi set on my flickr account, but this made me think I need to also have a creature feature photo album here.  So if you look over in the left hand column, there is a link to my new "Alien Made" photo album.

The Journey to the Thirteenth Colony.

This weekend we started watching "Battlestar Galactica" and watched the whole of the initial three hour mini-series in one sitting.  Which was sort of unintentional, but we just couldn't turn in off.  We've got the next disc from Netflix already, and we want no spoilers, thank-you-very-much.  I have tried to avoid paying attention to the trailers for "Caprica" to avoid any canonical information, and I haven't read any reviews or fan forums.

I have a horrible feeling that, despite my best efforts to remain a tabula rasa, I already know a major twist.  I haven't said anything about it to Doc C and I'm trying to sublimate, so it can be a surprise to me too.

Mmm... Donut...

I can get so much visual enjoyment out of a donut with sprinkles and a cup of coffee, I find the colours and the shapes very satisfying.  When we stop at this particular Dunkin' we nearly always take the table by the window so I can set up an impromptu photo shoot.

This time I actually asked the barista (is that what they're called in a Dunkin' Donuts?) for a more photogenic donut.

And you have to admit, the camera does love this particular sweetie.

Isn't It Ironic?

Today we got a whole bunch of stuff done (shopping, recycling and looking at houses), which was great, but by the afternoon I was feeling tired and headachey.

We were washing the car when we got a text asking out for dinner, which I didn't feel well enough to accept unfortunately.  So we came home and were having tea with some Girl Scout cookies, when we got a call from another friend inviting us out to see Lily Tomlin's stand-up act and go back stage to meet her beforehand.  After much debate we turned down that invitation as well, because there just wasn't enough time for me to sleep and see if that made me feel any better.

Honestly, nothing happens around here for months and then something really interesting happens and I need to have a little lie-down rather than actually be involved in it.

Happy 60th Dunkin'!

One good thing about having to drive for two hours to get to the specialist's office was that we could detour via Dunkin' Donuts. 

It's Dunkin's 60th birthday, and I love the paper cups with all of the fabulous logos they've employed in that time.

I'm also quite keen on the chocolate frosted donut with heart shaped sprinkles, but obviously only because it makes a great photographic opportunity.

Specialist's Appointment.

Another doctor's appointment, another six vials of blood taken for testing.  Ugh.

Dr. Marx asked me a lot of questions, then showed me the test results from my previous blood samples and explained a bit about what they indicated.  I'm not sure what the fresh blood was taken for; my personal theory is that my blood is just particularly tasty.  You know, like Bella.  Once again the nurse complimented me on my nice veins, and I didn't faint this time.

The appointment was supposed to be about 45 minutes, but poor Doc C was sitting in the waiting room fretting for two hours.

There isn't really much else to report until they call me with the results of the tests.  All I do know is that the general consensus is that I've had a really nasty virus (although interestingly there is some debate about exactly what virus), which is on the way out, but taking it's time.

Tree Car - Month Three.

The tree car art installation is still evolving, it's now a tree car snow drift.

And here is the artistic process in gif form:

Make your own animation

Months of Mono.

Quick summary of symptoms:  I'm still sleeping for an hour or two in the middle of the day, getting headaches if I don't sleep enough, my spleen is still uncomfortably achey; and, let's not forget, that I have had a mildly sore throat since freaking August.  That's seven months of feeling under the weather.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with a Infectious Disease Specialist, to see if he can work out why this stupid Mono is being so tenacious.

Rather brilliantly the specialist is called Dr. Richard Marx.

Airing My Clean Laundry.

The snow is never ever going to end.  Ever. 

I am so desperate for something colourful to take photos of that I am now prepared to use my laundry hanging on the dryers as a subject.

As you can see this was a red, pink and purple load.

more snow. Let's Talk Food Instead!

I spent one whole hour in the office today, before the snow sent me home again.  Actually, if it had been up to me, I'd probably not even have got in the car; but Doc C was a man on a mission, and that mission was to teach his three o'clock class.

Before we left I checked the university's website which said classes before ten were canceled, but proceeding as scheduled after that.  By the time we got into the office, about half an hour later, the whole day had been canceled.  I called Doc and gave him the happy news.  He was not amused.

Ah well, I did quite well out of it all, carbs wise.  I got a small soy latte and a scone on our way into the office, and the lovely Sybil (who is temping in the office for a few weeks whilst I'm still at half-strength from the Mono) had baked a butter pecan cake.  Yum!

The food theme carried on, because I've spent the afternoon curled up on the sofa, watching "Cold Case" (I cannot believe that might not be renewed next season, I adore the retro crime scene flashbacks and soundtracks they use) and started planning the refreshments for a couple of events coming up.  I'm seriously considering ordering a pseudo-wedding cake for the larger event, but with a graduation medal motif rather than roses.  For some reason I was very nervous about planning big events when I first started this job, but now it's one of my favourite tasks.

Twitter Wallpaper Query.

What I want to do is set this wallpaper as the background for my Twitter account, but I can't work out how to make it stretch to fit different size monitors without tiling.  I don't mind it becoming a bit pixalated or stretched but tiling just ruins the whole thing!

Any tech tips?

And Now It's Tuesday.

I am so tired that I cannot think of anything remotely interesting to write about this evening. 

All I've got is the reclaimed navy blue knitting, Edith's sudden enthusiastic embracing of miaowing, the new desk configuration in my office (with a side note about the dried carpet) or how we just found the cable we've been looking for to get better sound when we watch on-line videos through the TV.

Eh.  I think you get the idea.

Un-Knitting.

My latest craft project is to deconstruct a sweater, to reclaim the yarn which I will then knit into a sweater which will hopefully fit me better than the original jumper.  Fingers crossed, or I'll have just wrecked a perfectly good woolly.

I would post a photo, but navy blue wool doesn't photograph well in artificial light, so you'll just have to imagine the unravelling fun.

The Most Mondayish Monday Ever.

This morning started with what our local weather guru was referring to as a "Saskatchewan Screamer", which in our neck of the woods was a high wind with powder snow.  Lovely.  Apparently it's perfect for skiing in, but it's not so much fun to be walking around in, and when Doc eventually found a parking space it was less of a space and more of a snow bank.  Which he had to dig the Mini out of later.

Anyway...

When we had battled our way through it to the office, things just got better.  My office was in total chaos, with two of the University's handy-men taking my desk to pieces.  They had to do this to get to the leak that had sprung in the radiator, which was covered by my desk.  So I spent the whole day perched on the work surface in the work-study room, I wasn't able to access my calendar, or print anything and my e-mail was patchy.  It was so frustrating!

The good news is that it did prove that the behemoth desk can be dismantled into three separate pieces, which gives me a lot more flexibility with the layout of my office.  As soon as the carpet dries out, I'll try out some new furniture configurations, whilst trying fervently to ignore the smell of damp ten-year-old office carpeting.

Soppy Valentine's Day!

As tasty as bread can be, I think we do need a bit more of a traditionally romantic photo as well; so here is a pretty flower, with Picnik's bokeh heart-shaped filter over it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've let Doc off a card this year (which may prove to be a tactical error), but we did have some heart-shaped bread for breakfast.  That's the chocolate and cherry sourdough twisted with the white chocolate baguette.  I don't know which is more delicious!

Small Wooden Crate.

At Christmas we bought a small crate of clementines, for one thing because clementines are delicious and for another because I thought the crate would be good to store our fruit and vegetables in.

Which isn't very exciting, but at least the photos are more colourful than picture of the continuing snow.

 

Packaging.

I'm combing through my jpeg files to delete anything I don't need, and I found a picture I took on our trip home from Boston. 

We picked up some snacks when we stopped to refuel and I could not resist this artwork.  Isn't that great?  Mama Zuma looks like a fifties pin-up Zapatista, which may be anachronistic but is fabulous none the less.

The crisps were deceptively sweet at first, but there was definitely a kick to them.

Escape to Bakery.

Doc C and I actually managed to leave the house today!  The escape was momentarily jeopardised when the front screen door wouldn't push open because of all the snow drifted up against it, but Doc and I shoved at the same time and managed to get it open.

I'll be honest.  I was mainly pushing that door to get to the Valentine Bread before it sold out again.  We got to the bakery in good time and I am very much looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.

Orange with Pink Stripes.

I have finished the orange with pink stripes wig hat!  Yay!

This is the second time I've started this project off from scratch, and I ended up cannabalising the bottom of the hat to finish the top.  The problem being I only had one ball of the orange acrylic, and whilst I could easily buy more, I didn't want to because this is the only thing I really wanted to make from it.  So when I ran out of yarn, I started unravelling the hat from the bottom and then knitting the re-claimed yarn into the top.  Doc C was looking at me as though I were insane, but it was an interesting exercise in creative problem solving.

The pink stripe was tricky, because I wanted it to go along the ribbing instead of across.  I started off knitting the pink stripe in, which was ok on the straight needles, but totally infuriating on the circular needles.  So instead I finished from the bottom of the fringe (American Translation - Bangs) upwards in the orange, and then stitched the pink over the top where I wanted it.  The annoying yet gratifying part is that the embroidered pink stitches look a lot neater than the knitted pink stitches.

This is definitely the last time I make this particular hat.  I may well make another wig hat from this pattern, but the orange and pink monster is finished.

Snow and Glitter.

We got our snow.  And it doesn't look like it intends to stop in the near future.

I slept late, then cleaned the bathroom and now I'm going to curl up with some knitting and "RuPaul's Drag Race".  We don't have Logo, the channel it's on, as part of our cable package, so I was delighted to find complete episodes on-line at the Logo website.

What with that and the cupcake websites I've found today it's turning into quite a shiny afternoon.

Rock - Hard Place.

We have been anticipating a major blizzard all day, and I'm kind of exhausted by it now.  It's just been hanging over the whole day, so I just want it to start already.

To be honest, I want to know is whether I'm going to be able to get into work tomorrow, or if I can turn off my alarms and sleep in.  On the one hand the sleep would be nice; and on the other, when I went to the bakery this afternoon, they had already sold out of all of this week's special bread (a Chocolate Cherry Sourdough twisted with White Chocolate Baguette) and I really want some.

You can see my dilemma I'm sure.

Blooms in Winter.

There are more snow storms predicted for the next couple of days, and we've still got a couple of feet from the weekend.

Fortunately Doc C planned ahead, and his window boxes are inside.  These flowers are gorgeous little bursts of colour against the monochrome winter landscape.

My Sweetheart and I.

Our favourite bakery sends out e-mail newsletters every week with the bread schedule for the week ahead, and once a month they have a customer of the month spot.  Doc C and I are the customers of the month for February, which is really nice, not least because we get a gift voucher!  Yay for free tasty baked goods!

Of course, the February newsletter is promoting the Valentine's specials, so it's all hearts and pink.  Our customer-of-the-month profile is suitably gushy, and we are described as "Lovebirds", which is very sweet I think.

The really hilarious part, to me at least, is that Doc C loathes Valentine's Day and here he is as the poster boy for smoochyness.

Goodbye

Our last morning in LA was literally washed out by the torrential rain, I mean it's no ice storm but it was pretty intense none the less.  This was made all the more problematic by my having to throw away the Ugly Kitten Umbrella, after years of loyal service.

Why would I do this?

It stank to high heaven.  Because somehow or other a cat, oh let's be frank, Edith had managed to pee on it.  How I didn't notice this is a mystery; however the fact remains that adding a palpable aroma of cat urine to it's already hideous decoration was just a step too far.  There is comedic value, and then there is "crazy cat lady who doesn't know when she smells like cat pee" territory.  That's really not a good look, or perfume, for anyone.  Anyway, the umbrella stayed in in the rubbish bin at the hotel, and we caught the shuttle to the airport to begin waiting for our flight. 

Great!  That takes care of the stinky right?  Well, yes and no.  I was no longer carrying a stink bomb with me, but on the way home we drove the car into the Bog of Eternal Stench.  About half an hour into the two-hour journey home, there was a loud bang as we hit something on the road and the distinctive aroma of dead skunk rose to greet us.  That smell is bad enough, but it also takes days for it to fade.  We toughed it out all the way back to our town, and then took the Mini through a frosty car wash in the hopes of at least minimising it.

All in all, it was a smelly day.

LAX-ATL-CLT

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression "As pretty as an airport."

Douglas Adams - The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.

So true. 

Let me reconstruct our journey through the non-pretty...

LAX - Nothing really momentous happened on our way through check-in and security, apart from discovering that the TSA actually don't give a toss if the liquids and gels in your hand luggage are in a one quart clear plastic bag; ours certainly weren't, and no-one blinked an eye at us.  So then we went to our gate to sit and wait.  Boring.  Except it was a pretty busy lounge in the terminal, and when a seat opposite us became free a man sat down who I immediately recognised.  Doc C and I have got to get some sort of subtle code going, because I couldn't think how to alert him to a quite excellent celeb spot without being totally obvious and uncool about it.  Fortunately the actor in question stood up to make a phone call, and I could mutter at top speed "Have-you-seen-"Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"?-Because-there's-a-serial-killer-sitting-opposite-us!"  Doc C thought I was unusually rude about the gentleman in question for comedic effect, but soon realised what I actually meant and I have to say I was particularly pleased that Doc knew who he was too and we could both geek out.  I delights me to be able ton confirm that Michael Rooker is my first celeb spot since October 2008, and I was starting to worry that I'd lost my celeb spotting knack from lack of practice, so this was very reassuring.  And damn cool too!  The man has had an amazing career!  I have no idea where he was going though, he wasn't actually on our flight.

ATL - We had a stopover in Atlanta, and that felt like the longest part of our journey.  I just hate hanging around at a half-way point like that.  Plus there were no celebs to spot, and instead we had two groups of rednecks in quick succession on the seats opposite.  I wouldn't normally stoop to using a derogatory stereotypical description like that, but one woman was incredibly rude to Doc C and frankly I hope her team loses at the Super Bowl today.  There!  I said it!  I'm sorry Colts, but at least one of your fans is a very poor ambassador for your team, so I shall be rooting for the Saints.  In a vague "I don't actually care" way.

CLT - Finally we landed in Charlotte, I hope no-one wanted a coffee because Charlotte airport, supposedly a travel hub, had not a single concession stand open.  Fortunately we only had carry-on bags, so we could just sprint off the plane to our car and away.  I was wrong when I said we'd get home at 11, it ended up taking a little bit longer than that because we actually landed at 11pm so there was no way we were getting home before 1am.

Heading Back East.

Back on the plane at 1pm, we should be home at, oh, 11pm.

What with the rain, my mono-mandated need for sleep and Doc's schedule at the college, we haven't really explored Pasadena.  This is a pity, because from what I've seen it's our kind of town; let's just hope we get to visit again for longer.

LA Rain.

Doc C is back at the college this morning, and I'm planning to pop out in a bit to get myself a smoothie and a shot of wheatgrass. I've also been told there is a shop that sells British food near here, I may have to check that out. 

It's raining in LA today, and apparently this is regarded as bad weather in Los Angeles - Ha! Back in North Carolina the University is closed for the whole day because of snow.  It's quite nice to all I have to do is throw on my trench coat and grab my ugly kitten umbrella before stroll over to get that smoothie, rather than putting on boots, a scarf, a hat, a coat and find at least one pair of mittens.

Napping in Pasadena.

Today Doc C left the hotel before 9 to go and meet with the Philosophy department of a local college, so I hung out in the hotel.  We've stayed in loads of hotels, but this one definitely goes the extra mile in terms of pampering.  The room has lovely bedding, with complimentary soaps and shampoos in their signature fragrance of white tea and aloe; all of which, and a lot more, is for sale through the hotel's website, which I think is genius. 

I slept until about 2, and then I went to find food.  Pasadena is great for wandering around, and everyone was so nice.  I ended up at a local supermarket, which had a really good deli; so lunch was an antioxidant chopped salad and low-fat rice pudding.  Yum.

My only complaint so far is that Bravo is not one of the channels available to watch.  which means that last night I missed the actual finale of "Launch My Line" and the season opened for "Shear Genius".  And if that's the only problem I can think of, I'm sure you will agree, we really have nothing to complain about.

Hurry Up and Wait.

Today has been a very long day.  It was broken down into sections of travelling, eating, napping but mostly waiting to do one of those three things.

• We drove for two hours to get to Charlotte airport, then flew to Atlanta where we had a two hour lay-over before our flight to LA.  Then we caught a shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel.  That is a lot of roaming for one day.
• The main problem when travelling is finding veggie food, it's lucky I eat fish, eggs and cheese because if I were vegan we would have to plan all of our meals before leaving the house.  Still it's been totally impossible to eat what you might call a healthy diet, whilst on the move today I've eaten a doughnut, half a breakfast burrito (scrambled eggs, potatoes, cheese and salsa in a tortilla), a tuna melt, french fries and a chocolate milkshake.  Dinner was a small shoal of sushi.
• I've slept sitting bolt upright on the plane, which meant my mouth kept falling open (I hate that) and curled up on a seat in the airport with my hand luggage has a pillow.
• The waiting involved a lot of waiting.

Doc and I had to sleep as soon as we got to the hotel, but what really helped was sitting in the hotel hot tub.  I think I could definitely get used to whirlpool hot tubs.

So far I like LA, anywhere that has flower beds full of Birds-of-Paradise on traffic islands is ok with me.

Airplane!

At the airport, waiting for our flight to board. I'm a leetle bit excited; pity Doc C. We had to leave the house at two, so all he wants to do is sleep and I'm full of over-tired manic energy. I really hope I crash on the plane or the poor man will snap before we get to Atlanta, let alone LA.

Packing. I Really Hate Packing.

Packing for LA is going well, because we are only there for three days so it's not like I need a lot of clothes.  I need

1. One rocking dress to go to dinner in. Tick.
2. One pair of pedal pushers. Tick.
3. T-shirts. Tick. Tick. Tick.
4. Swimming costumes.  Tick. Tick. Tick.
5. PJs. Tick.
6. Undies. Tick.

Ok.  Good!

Preparing for a Long Weekend in LA.

This weekend I did a lot of knitting and not much else.  It was very nice.

What I should have been doing is getting ready for a trip to Los Angeles, because we're going on Wednesday and unless my laundry dries super-fast I'm not going to have anything to wear.  I'm not sure I have anything suitable to wear in LA anyway, but I'm guessing something is better than nothing.  Right now the only thing I have ready to pack is three swimming costumes, because our hotel has a swimming pool, a whirlpool hot tub and a sauna.  I am going to look like a wrinkly lobster.

I also need to have decided what to pack by tomorrow evening, because our flight is at four o'clock in the freaking morning.  Which means we have to leave the house before two.  This is the part of the trip I'm not looking forward to, but what can you do?