Alien Spouse

Vintage Accessory - Navy Blue Stripes with Flowers.

Another vintage scarf from the same Etsy seller I bought the polka dots from.  This one is a square of very soft and fine fabric, so it drapes beautifully.

The print is probably the most conservative of my collection, but I find colours in the bouquets are varied enough to co-ordinate with a lot of different outfits.  It's fun to throw this on over the top of something that I thought was slightly too casual for the office, and be able to get away with it.

Announcement.

I can throw together a bloody amazing chocolate rice pudding. That is all.

Vintage Accessory - Polka Dots with Rose.

Drawing a veil over the whole suspect crabcake issue, let's move onto our picture post for the day!  Yay for something glamorous!

This is another vintage scarf, this one I bought from a seller on Etsy; it's a classic polka dots scarf with a big flamboyant rose and designer's signature stamp in the bottom right corner.  I have no idea who this Paoli guy is, I'm guessing a big name in Italian headscarves during the,..  hmmm,.. 70s/80's?

I love the print on this scarf, and it's a good size but to be honest the fabric isn't great.  It's clearly a man-made acetate which is just slightly too stiff, whilst still having a slippery silkiness to it; which invariably means the damn thing unties itself!  The stiffness makes me think it's not been worn very much and I'm hoping that it will soften up through usage, so it's doing it's time as a neckerchief at the moment.  I like to tie it so that the rose is either just a pop of red on the knot or the whole flower is clearly displayed on "bow".

Icky.

I have come home, after a staggering thirty minutes in the office, because I am feeling distinctly unwell. 

Back when I was at University my friend Hattie would have blamed this on a dodgy last pint; but as I only had the one pint and it seemed perfectly fine, I'm going to say it might have been the crab cake.

Either way, I'm back in bed now and I am just hoping that lying flat helps me to feel less nauseous.

Vintage Floral Accessory.

This is the vintage silk scarf I bought in Asheville this weekend.  I like how it has a fairly simple print, but with tasteful clusters of insane neon tinted roses. 

I'm not sure if the roses were that colour originally, or if a previous owner got creative with some felt-tip pens. 

Either way, it is pretty rocking.

Wherein Edith Welcomes Us Home. Loudly.

The cats are really glad to have us home, Edith decided to miaow that at the top of her lungs at 5:45 this morning.  Usually she only does that when she's wreaked some particularly impressive chaos, but this morning all she wanted was some attention and fuss from her humans.  It's really nice to be loved, but it was hard to really appreciate it knowing that Edith would spend the rest of the day snoozing and I had to go to work.

Doc C doesn't remember a thing about any of this now, although at the time he was less than impressed.

So, thanks to the early wake-up call from Edith, and the pint of beer I had with dinner to celebrate Kim being made full professor (Yay!) I am VERY dopey now.  Thankfully the only thing worth watching on TV is the SyFy marathon screening of the original "V".  I think being too attentive might not actually be a good thing when it comes to mid 80's cheesy science fiction.

Asheville - Double D Cafe.

Overnight In Asheville

Doc C suggested we go to Asheville for the weekend, so I threw a t-shirt, a pair of pants and some socks in my bag and away we went!

I slept the whole way there, so the first thing we did was get a coffee at the Routemaster-Bus-That-Has-Been-Converted-Into-A-Coffee-Bar.  I tried to chat with the barista, but they were having none of it.  As the Doc said later, the one place where you'd think the accent would have some sway would be on a imported red double-decker, but apparently not.  Fine.  Nice coffee though, and the conversion of the upperdeck to the main seating for the cafe was very nicely done.  I took pictures, but I forgot my cables so you'll have to wait.

Then we went bookshopping, first stop was to look at shiny new books; where I found a book on cable knitting.  Thrilling I know, but I think cabling is perhaps the key to not getting bored during the long dark front of a large sweater.  One thing that I personally think you have to watch out for when knitting is getting caught up in a technique that is really fun to make, but produces a hideously overworked end product.  I think cabling gives you a nice blend of fun to make and interestingly textured textile, without getting too fussy. 

From there we moved on to the second-hand book shop.  I found three murder mysteries, one Tey, one Sayers and one titled "Knit One, Kill Two" which combines murder with knitting, and features a recipe for cinnabon buns at the back.  I'm not expecting high art from that one, but I think it could be fun.  I also got "Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul" which is a craft book with a Mexican edge to it.  There is glitter.  There are sugar skulls.  There is a lot of stuff I want to make already.  Doc found two philosophy books, so he was really happy too.

After books we did clothes, and I was trying to find a cheap swimming costume because I'd forgotten to pack mine and that meant we couldn't use the hotel swimming pool.  I found one in Urban Outfitters (Which we had no idea had even opened in Asheville, so Score!) but it was hideous and involved lace down both sides in an ironic nod to the 80's.  I think.  In one of the super cool vintage stores I got a great floral silk scarf which, although very pleasing, will not be so useful for swimming unfortunately.  No hot tub for us.

Finally we had dinner.  We went to our favourite curry place, Mela, and I had a delicious vegetarian taster selection with sour lime pickle, which I was sad to not be able to finish.  I'm not usually a huge fan of vegetable curries, but I was right to trust Mela's chefs, they do amazing things with chickpeas.  After the meal we window shopped for a while until we had made some room for desert at the French Broad's Chocolate Lounge.  Doc had a latte and I got a chai hot chocolate, both of us had coconut macaroons.  We've been meaning to go to the Chocolate Lounge for ages, and I really liked it.  Especially as one of the girls behind the counter had a cool key tattoo on her arm, and we bumped key tattoos in a sort of clumsy high-five!

Now I am lying on the bed back at the hotel, surrounded by books and full of tasty food. 

Oh yeah!  Asheville always delivers Baby!

"Keep Calm and Carry On" - Black and Gold.

Last week I found a company on-line selling framed prints of "Keep Calm and Carry On" in a wide variety of colours for $20.

I'd already been thinking about getting a framed print  for my office, because it is a particularly great motto for highly-strung students to bear in mind in moments of stress.  Not to mention staff in an office that deal with highly-strung students in moments of high stress...

This particular colourway choose itself really; black-and-gold are the University's colors.

The print arrived this morning and I hung it up on a nail that happens to be protruding from the wall above my shelves.  It's not it's intended permanent position on the wall, It's going to be centered on the feature wall, but I just had to see how it looked against the stone!

I rather like it.

Beautiful Blankets.

These blankets are AMAZING.  You have got to look at them.

The landscape blanket, the hooded blanket for two people and the beard balaclava are particularly piquing my urge to emulate and re-interpret.  I'm thinking nice chunky yarns...  I'm thinking soft, cosy and colourful...  Ooh! Maybe crocheting to get a more free-form graphic, and then felting to get that lovely thickness...

Wow. This could get time consuming and expensive.

Lock Box.

Doc C went home after his classes this afternoon to meet with the estate agent, so she could take photos and put a lock box on the screen door.  Doc C and I were both very intrigued by the lock box, and we were speculating at some length on how it might work this morning.

As you can see it's a small box which attaches to the door handle like a padlock.  Inside the box is a set of keys for the front door; so when the estate agent comes to show someone round the house, they open the lock box with a key card and the bottom drops open to give them the door keys.

Isn't that clever?  Doc was concerned about having the keys just hanging off the door, but the lock box seems pretty sturdy.  Even niftier the key card is unique to each estate agent, so it's possible to track exactly who has visited the house with each card.

You may be wondering how the cats are going to be effected by strangers walking around the place.  Well, actually it's really not a problem because they both adore the estate agent.  Edith loves all humans, so that wasn't a huge surprise, but Nancy is usually a lot shyer with new people so I was really quite impressed that she immediately took to her.  Doc C said that the pair of them loved having visitors, and there is a note in the house file to warn everyone not to let them out.

Early Pre-Planning for Halloween

It's only March and already I am already well on my way to getting a Halloween costume together.  I mentioned when Mum sent me the "Coraline" DVD that I was considering dressing as Coraline herself as my costume this year.

It would consist of jeans, a yellow raincoat, yellow wellies and a hat/wig, which would be perfect for our annual trip to the ghost train!  I bought some great royal blue yarn for the wig last month, it's even got a nice strand of tinsel spun through it, and so now all I need to do is get the coat and boots.  Today I found great examples of both on-line today, so I'm thinking this is practically a done deal.

Now all I've got to decide is if I want to make myself button eyes, and work out some way of getting them to stay on.  Do you think a cheap pair of round shades painted with the four holes would work?  Oh, this is going to be GREAT!

Is A "P-20 Tigerehark" Even A Thing?

When I haven't seen anything else I want to take a photo of, I can rely on the great beauty of Edith Cavell-Cat to shine through.

Even when suffering the indignity of being dive bombed by a polystyrene fighter plane.

Shiny Things Nice.

This week at work continues to be not much fun, I'm not actually involved in the main horror event, but I'm getting hit with the odd bit of shrapnel.  sigh. 

Fortunately I've discovered a full proof method for cheering myself up no end; listening to the cheesiest Euro-pop available (How cheesy?  Gina G, Whigfield AND Aqua were involved.  And, yes, one of those is not technically a European, but Gina did represent the UK for Eurovision so I think we can give her honorary citizenship for the purposes of music categorisation) and browsing vintage jewelery on Etsy.

This evening I snapped up a gorgeous sweater guard, which has to be the worst name for a piece of zuz ever.  Essentially a "Sweater Guard" was an accessory made popular in the fifties which is both practical and pretty. It's two matching brooches with a short chain or string of beads between them which you wear clipped on either side of a cardigan to help secure it.  The one I happened to find today is two diamante clips with a strand of pearls; with the added fabulous bonus that the clips happen to be an exact match for a set of three vintage brooches I already own.

I am already building outfits around my latest find, so I hope the seller is able to get to the post office first thing in the morning.  I need glamour, damn it.

Work and Relaxation.

Today felt disconcertingly Monday for a Tuesday, this might be because I'm trying to get back to working longer days.  This week I'm going in at 8:30, taking a two hour lunch break (to accommodate a mid-day nap, lunch itself and then a medicinal afternoon coffee run) and then leaving at 5.  My contracted hours are 8 to 5, with unpaid lunch hour; so I'm still 90 minutes off a full working day which adds up to seven and a half hours out of the week.  I'm losing nearly a whole day a week still!  Grrh!  So near and yet so far!

I was very glad to get home, especially because I had thought of a new variation to Jamie's basic rice pudding recipe I wanted to try out.  We had some maple syrup that needed using, so I used that instead of the sugar, added less vanilla and nutmeg but then added in cinnamon and raisins.  So it's got a sort of cinnamon toast influence to it, and I'm quite pleased with it.

I've also started to knit the sleeves of the navy blue re-claimed sweater project, which is exciting.  Well, maybe exciting is phrasing it too strongly; maybe it's more like personally gratifying.

On The Road That's Where I'll Always Be.

Doc C's Dad stopped for a quick visit on route between Florida and Massachusetts.  He dropped off a tomato plant for Doc, bought a t-shirt from the University giftshop and then was on his way again.

The Scariest Thing on TV.

One really good thing about having cleaned the house this weekend is that I can watch "Hoarders" without Doc C making jokes about me ending up like that.  I know he's is only teasing, but I much prefer being able to watch it in relative peace. 

...And like he's one to talk!  Hmph!

Have you seen "Hoarders"?  It's just unbelivable!  Every episode has two different cases, and it's always overwhelming to watch so I really cannot imagine what it must be like to live or see someone you care about descending into.

Bedside Lamp of Terror!

My crocheted Angry Muffin has found a home along with the Day-of-the-Dead Cabaret Singer, and the Glow in the Dark Wind Up Scaries.

It is, of course, my bedside lamp.

I really like adding stuff to the terrarium, but it's going to get crowded soon.  I may have to make a small platform for those little guys at the back.

By the way, I heartily recommend this light for anyone who owns cats.  It keeps things safely displayed with no danger of them being knocked over or gnawed on.  I also like that they can't get dusty, but that's more of a personal house keeping issue...

House Cleaning Frenzy - Completed and Explained.

The reason for the intense housecleaning this weekend was that our landlady was bringing an estate agent to look at the house, so she can try and sell it.  We have first refusal, but really, although this houses is nice, it just isn't quite right for us.  We can't let the cats outside here, the neighbours on the left have a psycho yappy dog that is allowed to pee everywhere (The recent snow demonstrated most pointedly that this particular dog is indeed all piss and vinegar), and the neighbours on the right have a Tree-Car!

The main problem with the house itself is simply that it has almost no storage, and we are people who need plenty of storage.  I'm increasingly confused as to where the architect expected the people living here to keep such necessary items as mops, buckets and vacuum cleaners; let alone any actual belongings one might have.  Today we ended up stashing a car-full of stuff in the Mini, and all of the boxes for the TV and computers in the unfinished cellar (American Translation: dirt-floor basement).  I don't know if I've mentioned that part of the house before; but then I tend to forget about it, because to get to it you have to go outside, walk round the neighbour's house and then scramble down a small but steep hill.  It's not really what I would call convenient for storage actually.

Anyway, long story short, when the landlady e-mailed last month to ask if we were staying for another year and if so she would be raising the rent; we decided it was time to look for something else.  We've arranged to stay on a month-by-month contract until we find a new house to rent, and in the meantime we'll have to keep the place looking nice for people coming to view it.

Of course this also means that at some stage in the not too decent future I am going to have to pack again. 

sigh.

I bloody hate packing.

Spring Cleaning

We've spent all day cleaning the house. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate without really meaning to. The only things we couldn't obliterate were the scrabbly claw marks from the banisters. It is apparently impossible for a stain or filler to match cheap pine.

Cocktail Hour.

This evening we went out for cocktails to celebrate Laura having got a job with the University.  This is very exciting. 

Laura has been teaching in Florida, whilst her husband Randy has been here in North Carolina; so Laura getting this job is really great news for them.  On a more selfish note, my friend Laura will be in the same state!  Squee!

I had a martini with two blue cheese olives to celebrate.  I dispute any claims that having one martini made me in any way squiffy - Don't listen to Doc C.  He doesn't really drink, and so he always overestimates the effect alchohol has on me.  I'll admit to being happy, but under the circumstances I believe that is entirely appropriate.

Cabled.

This evening, whilst catching up with "RuPaul's Drag Race", I taught myself to knit cables!

Note to Moth:  No cat fur was intentionally incorporated into this swatch, but Edith was sitting on me; so I can't promise that a strand or two didn't creep in accidentally.

Haute Cature

I brushed Edith yesterday, which produced a very happy cat (Edith adores being brushed) and a nice big ball of grey fluff.  Edith fur is so fine and soft, that I'm sure it must be pretty similar to angora rabbit fur.  It just seems like such a waste of a natural resource to throw it away; which, naturally, leads me then to ponder the practical possibility of spinning it into wool and then knitting with it.  Would that be creepy?

Obviously I doubt that I'll actually get round to doing it, because I'd need a lot of fur to make a decent amount of yarn and that would involve collecting it after every grooming.  Then I'd need to store it somewhere between groomings, and frankly I can't see Doc C agreeing to me storing sack loads of fur in the spare room until I've got enough to spin with.

So, you know purely theoretically, would it be creepy to knit a sweater from my cat?  I'm thinking yes, but it would be such a pretty colour to knit with.

Podcast Recommendations Request.

Ironically, given the last post, I realised that I'm actually not reading as much as I used to, mainly because it's hard to knit/crochet and read at the same time.  Instead I tend to have the TV on in the background, and I want to get out of that habit.  It's fine if I'm making stuff whilst watching something I want to see, but sometimes I just choose the least worst thing on and find myself watching back-to-back episodes of season 3 of "Housewives of Good Grief Why Are They ALL Shouting?".

Instead I'd like to listen to some audio books, but they all seem so expensive (Not that they aren't worth the money, I can understand that recording an unabridged audio book would be very time consuming, and naturally I want to listen to a talented reader, so I do get why there is a cost attached) so I'm reluctant to buy them until I know I will really use them. So then I tried podcasts and I found a couple by the simple expedient of browsing through iTunes, but I always find that a little bit overwhelming.  Are there any really great podcasts out there I should catch up on? 

Any suggestions in the comments please!

Book Badge.

I asked Doc C to bring me back a badge from New York, and he choose this one for me.

As you can see it's from the Strand bookshop, and it's red with white lettering.

Essentially it's just showing off about how many books are housed there.  18 miles of books...  Just think of that... sigh...

An Hour Less.

Today was not just a Monday.  It was not just a Monday after Spring Break.  It was A Monday after Spring Break AND the clocks springing forward. 

In other words it was hellish.

Clocks back I get; an extra hour of sleep?  I am on board (And it's not just extra sleep, I also fondly remember the occasion at university when we thought the change in time would mean an extra hour of dancing and we were extremely disappointed when the club's clocks didn't change, meaning it closed as usual.  sigh.)  Losing an hour? On a Sunday?  That's just masochistic.

It seems to take an extra toll on me in the US, which maybe because subliminally I can tell I'm out of sync with the whole of Europe for two weeks.  It's very disconcerting.

Hannah and her Hat.

Hannah finally got her finished Orange-with-Pink-streaks hat/wig today.

I think she liked it!  She wore it for the whole time we were there, and my omlette was free.

Thank you to Laura for the photo, I completely forgot to take one!

Given The Choice.

It turns out I would far rather watch a really gory horror movie based on a Clive Barker story and starring an almost entirely silent Vinnie Jones; than a family-friendly comedy starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and an adorable little moppet with ringlets.

I am yet to be convinced this is a character flaw.

Damn You Fowler!

We just watched the season one finale of "White Collar". USA you had better not keep me waiting long for season two with that cliff hanger waiting to be resolved. Also thanks for bringing Diane back! Yay!

Lost and Found: Mitten.

I found a glove outside my office this week, and I scooped it up and brought it inside for safe keeping.  It's been sat on the hallway sideboard for a few days now.

I'm pretty sure it's hand-made, because of some of the details to it.

In particular that little bit of light blue in the top stripe speaks to me of someone finishing off a remnant from their stash.

Of course I shall be submitting it to Unloved Glove; which is geographically based in Winchester and was pointed to me by Mum (who is in Norfolk), after she read about it on @ctramsey's (who is here in NC) Twitter feed, because I had traded tweets with him about the magical properties of toast.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if that convoluted chain of communication somehow lead to the mitten being re-united with it's twin?

Doc C Has Landed!

Doc C just texted to say he'd landed and was on his way, so he should be home in two hours.  He also asked if he should stop on the way to pick up some Dunkin' Donuts.  My response?

"Umm... HELLO?"

Thursday! Thursday! Thursday!

It's Thursday!

Doc C will be home from NYC tomorrow!

"Project Runway"!

There is a branch of H&M opening in Raleigh! 

It's only 6:30 and I'm already in my pyjamas!

Girly Monkey with a Mohawk Jazz Hands!

Threadknits: And The Winners Are...

...not me! No, I didn't place in the Threadknits contest, but after I saw some of the most recent entries I wasn't particularly surprised by that.  I mean if this didn't place either, than what hope had my Psycho Muffin Amigurumi?  Bloody hell, there are people out there who can do some impressive things with yarn!

You should really check out the winners, which are all on-line here.  Personally I think the entry based on "Use Your Brain" was robbed, because it is quite amazing.  Disturbing, but amazing!

Anyway, if Nancy were judging I'd have won.  She loves her crocheted grenade, and that is the most satisfying prize of all.

Cupcake Aftermath.

To thank everyone for driving me around this week I ordered cupcakes from the bakery-across-the-road; which is pretty cool, but even more so because they only do cupcakes for Valentine's Day and St Patrick's Day.  The bakery very kindly let me buy five of the St Patrick's cupcakes a week in advance.

They were really beautifully decorated and packaged, so it's a bit of a shame that I didn't take any photos before I took them to our staff meeting.

Because all that was left after the meeting was this:

Experimental Cookery.

With Doc C away I am cooking just for myself this week, and I am experimenting with some new recipes.  Tonight for dinner I had mushrooms on toast, with wilted kale and I covered everything in lemon juice and black pepper. 

Before dinner I made a new large batch of rice pudding (the same Jamie Oliver recipe I used last time), but this time I stirred in some frozen raspberries about ten minutes before taking it off the heat.  I also toasted some chopped almonds and sprinkled a handful of those on top.  SO yummy.  I think that milk chocolate would work well with this too, but I'm very happy with how it tasted without that.

Office Space.

Today was very active.  One great thing about Spring Break is that with no students on campus there is a lot less foot traffic and phone calls to the office.

So we went to Staples and bought office supplies!  Yay!

I got a new chair, a set of shelves, an index card box and some jazzy binder clips for myself; a clock with multiple time zones and a red Swingline stapler for the Director; a cordless phone for Angela and Zack chose some ethernet cables for himself.  It was very fun.

I put together the chair and shelves by myself, and I took before-and-after photos of the chair.  The before picture is time stamped 3.39pm and the after picture is time stamped 4.08pm.  That's right I put that chair together in just under 30 minutes.

Then I built the shelves and put stuff on them before 5pm.  I am a flat pack construction demon.

My office looks so efficient now.  Of course now I have to actually get some work done in it.

Spring Break at Home.

Doc C is away this week, because he's taken a group of his students to New York for spring break.  Yeah I didn't want to go, because you know NYC is just too much fun really and who would want to visit all of those art galleries and museums?  Or be forced to eat delicious food? Or perhaps do a little light shopping?

So instead I'm staying at home to spend some quality time with the cats, and I'm getting lifts to-and-from work all week.  My manager is picking me up tomorrow morning, which has the potential to be the best excuse for being late ever.

Today was sort of weird, because I had a doctor's appointment and my plan was just to call for a cab to pick me up from the surgery.  The receptionists got out the yellow pages for me, and we started making some calls.  Staggeringly the only taxi firm that actually answered wasn't available for a couple of hours, and every other number we tried either went to voicemail or was disconnected.  The nurses on reception were equally surprised, but we all agreed that we didn't want to call "Taxis by Bubba".  In the end I called back to the office, and asked the last person there to come and get me.

Now that would never happen in New York.  Never.

Watching the Academy Awards at Home.

It's Oscar night.

We have pizza. We have beer.  We have a big TV.

Sorted.

Khakis.

My navy blue knitting is coming on reasonably well I think, but it occurred to me that part of the reason I didn't wear the original navy fisherman's sweater was that every time I wear a navy top with a pair of jeans I feel like it's too much of one colour.

Then it suddenly struck me that there are, in fact, other colours of trouser out there in the world.

So today we went to Old Navy and I bought two pairs of khakis.  One pair of distressed boyfriend khakis (which is such an hilarious garment name, don't you think? "Have you seen my distressed boyfriends?") and some classic bootcut khakis.  The distressed boyfriends were on special offer this weekend and the bootcuts were 50% off; because they have a mark on the cuff of the right leg, which I'm hoping will be coming out in the wash at this very moment, but if not... Well, it's not too much of a problem, because the mark is on the back.  I'll just reverse out of rooms and no one will even notice.

Snow Cat.

Today I let Edith out for a minute or two, under my supervision of course, to investigate the snow.  Quite honestly I assumed she would not like the feel of the cold under her paw and change her mind.

She actually didn't seem to mind the snow too much, not even when she misjudged the depth and disappeared up to her arm-pits (paw-pits?). 

Edith is intrepid.

Spring is in the air and...

..The Tree-Car is starting to bud!

I am not even joking.

Tie a Yellow Ribbon.

The storms this winter have wreaked havoc on the trees around here, and we have quite a lot on campus.

Over the past few days the landscaping crew have been assessing the trees and putting yellow caution tape on any tree that looked particularly badly damaged with dodgy branches still hanging on.

Which gives the appearance of an active crime scene after a tree-hating psychopath has done their worst.

Well, it does if you've been watching far too many cop shows recently.

Dr. Mario Phd.

Today my friend Zack was preparing to teach a class, and he needed someone to help him test the tech.  So I asked Doc C, because the tech in question was a Nintendo NES and a cartload of cartridges.  Zack's co-teaching a class on games, so it's important for the students to get a thorough grounding in the classics.

Zack had set up the NES in one of the classrooms at the end of the hall from my office, and they both went scampering off to play check that everything was really working properly in two-player mode.  Yes, I was working on budgets to the soundtrack of 8-Bit music.

Doc thought the technical consultation took fifteen minutes, but it was actually an hour and a half.

My Cat was Traumitised by a Laxative.

Before I left the house this morning I put some laxative on Edith's paw, which I do a couple of times a week to stop her getting really bad furballs.  The only difference this morning was that it was a new brand of laxative, and it was more syrupy than the old one.  I didn't really think much about the difference in consistency at the time, apart from thinking I'd have to be really quick about applying the gunk.

I didn't think about it at all.  Until I got home and saw that poor Edith had gummy clumps of fur all the way down her right paw, because the stuff had dried like glue.  I feel SO guilty.  It took about an hour for me to wash some of the tenacious goo off, but I still didn't get all of it.  Edith is understandably reluctant to let me handle her paws right now, and I don't want to upset her any more than I absolutely have to.

This is almost as bad as the time when I put glitter on our cat Megan (in my defence in that instance I was only about 6 or 7, I didn't use any glue and I honestly thought she would like being all pretty and sparkly.  She survived the indignity unscathed), but in this case I feel both guilty and indignant.  On the one hand I knew full well Edith didn't want that stuff on her paw, but I also know it's necessary to keep her healthy.

So, um, can anyone recommend a cat laxative that won't upset my cat to the point that she won't talk to me?

Alien Edith.

The box that Edith has been using as a climbing frame slash play house is looking very shabby now after several months of being jumped on.  Today Edith finally burst through the base, it was very birth of an alien.

Then she turned round and started gnawing the hole she'd just forced her way through.

Because she is a nutter.

Creamy Carby Deliciousness.

This week I've made myself a basic rice pudding.  This doesn't sound like a huge challenge, but when you start researching recipes you quickly find that every food write out there has a very definite opinion and a slight variation on the recipe.  Just the cookbooks we have in the house disagreed wildly, with Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall flat out contradicting Nigella and Jamie Oliver going off on a totally different tangent.  After a great deal of thought, I went with Jamie, if only because his version called for the fewest ingredients (rice, milk, sugar) and I wanted to start off as simply as possible, so then I could tweak it by trying out the different variations.

I also wanted to make this batch on the stove, because that would take 30 minutes as opposed to 3 hours in the oven.  The only downside to the stove version as opposed to oven version is that it doesn't produce the skin on top, which I love.

The most difficult part was working out which rice to use, because in the UK I'd simply grab the bag marked "Pudding Rice", here the only pudding rice I could find was a pre-packaged Uncle Ben's box mix.  So I trusted in Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall's emphatic assertion that "Short-grain rice is essential. You cannot make a respectable rice pudding with the long-grain variety" (Neither of Nigella's recipes are for respectable rice puddings then, she must make the floozy version), and went with... Sushi rice.  Of course.

It was a gamble, but that was the only short-grain rice I could find and it actually worked really quite well.  I didn't rinse the rice first so there was enough starch to thicken up the milk nicely, and the rice maintained it's integrity and didn't turn to mush.  I made enough to have some for mid-afternoon snack at work every day this week.  Yummy!

My First Mac.

When I got into work today there was a large cardboard box on the sofa in my office.  Inside it was a new Mac.

It's just gorgeous.  It's got a lovely big clear screen, a compact keyboard that is really nice to type with and a wireless mouse.  The mouse is a white glass lozenge, and the whole top of it is touch sensitive, it is SO cool.  AND the selection of pre-loaded wallpapers included Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks", which I love (Mum and I went to the Hopper exhibition at the Tate Modern a few years ago.  It was beautiful, and I bought one of those 3D cardboard viewers of Nighthawks in the gift shop).  How cool is that?  PCs always have pretty pictures of flowers or fields but Macs go straight to a classic of film noir influenced modern art.

I'm still making friends with my Mac and I'm sure there I've only scratched the surface, but already I feel very comfortable with it.