Alien Spouse

Late Summer Knitting Project.

Knitting has been on hold over the past few weeks, because it's just been too hot to even look at wool.  On our flying visit to Asheville I bought six skeins of lovely cool cotton in hot pink and turquoise.  It's three skeins of each colour, so whilst I am aiming for it to be a raglan sleeve sweater, but it might become a sleeveless tank top.

Or quite possibly a scarf/shawl with some really wide stripes.

I really just want to have something to do on the drive to Atlanta this weekend. And these were such pretty colours! *happy sigh*

On Ice. In Paperback.

For various working-in-a-university reasons, that I probably shouldn't go into for professional ethics reasons, by the time I got home what I really needed a stiff drink and a nice trashy true crime.

All that I had to hand was a G&T with vermouth, and a second-hand copy of "Party Monster".

Ahhhhhhhh!

Perfect!

Where Sunday Went.

How did it get to be 9:40pm on a Sunday?  I haven't baked the cookies for our office's student worker birthday or done any laundry or played any video games at all!

Well, today we visited the humane society with David and Cameron to visit the cats I've been trying to persuade David into adopting.  Then we all went to the cinema (well, we didn't bring the cats) to see "The Expendables" which was just awe inspiringly terrible, as I had fully expected and hoped.  I mean if you get 10 action movie stars together in one film, then the audience should not expect Ibsen.  They should expect 'splosions and bone snapping, and those things "The Expendable" richly delivers.

Fortunately David also reminded us that Doc C had a department party to go to this afternoon, so we swung home to get changed and then headed over to that where we ate some great food before coming home for a nap.

That was our Sunday.  Damn it!  I want a three day weekend to be standard issue.  Is that really so much to ask?

Swatch. So cute. #ProjectRunway

As any long term fan of Project Runway will tell you, Swatch is the resident dog at Mood, the fabulous fabric shop that the designers buy their fabric from.

Tom and Lorenzo tweeted this photo of Swatch, and I just had to grab it too.  Look at that face! Adorable!

Hair Cut in Asheville

Today we went to Asheville, mainly so I could get my hair cut.  This seems an awfully long way to go for a salon, but I just can't find anyone here to cut my hair short enough and to understand when I say I want some "volume and texture" I do not therefore mean "BIG HAIR".  I'm from England, not Texas.

So I searched on-line for a hairdresser that stocked the hair products I've become very attached to, Bumble and bumble, and that was how I found the website for Ananda Hair Studio.  I liked the look of their portfolio, and the bios they'd written for the stylists; so I rang and spoke to quite possibly the most helpful receptionist I have ever come across.  She asked some very good questions about my hair and the type of style I wanted, and also broke down the different fees for me.  She then suggested Naomi would be a good stylist for me, so I went with that and she was spot on.  Naomi was so cool, she was wearing a navy tank dress with white stripes, a red headscarf knotted round her neck and high red wedges; it was sort of punk sailor girl look, which I wish I could pull off.  She also turned out to have pretty much exactly the haircut I wanted, so I relaxed the minute I sat down at her station.

After that we went shopping, I bought three books and some yarn; whilst Doc C declared again that he is totally over Urban Outfitters.  On the way home we got Dunkin' Donuts, which were pretty much dinner, so it was a very fun day but I am knackered now.

Almost the Whole Chocolate Box.

We went to dinner at Kim and Jill's last night, and stopped to pick up a nice bottle of wine on the way.  Somehow we ended up with three nice bottles of wine and a block of gourmet dark chocolate with chili pepper.

This was mainly because Doc was shown around the shelves by one of the guys who work in our local specialist wine store; whilst I gravitated straight to the bottle with the coolest label.  A Chocolate Box Sauvignon Blanc, with a fabulous pin-up girl label.

Naturally when we got to dinner, mine was the one that got cracked open so Doc could have a glass of white.  I usually prefer red, but the bottle sat between Doc and I for the whole meal and we shared it.

It was only this morning that I realised that meant Doc C had one glass, and I had about 3/4 of the bottle.  Plus some vodka cocktails before dinner and a benedictine after.  That's far more than I have drunk in quite some time.

In some ways I was quite grateful to Edith for insisting I get up to feed her at 6, because I had a glass of water then; so by the time I woke up properly I was already on the road to hydration.

Where Friday Went

Work, cup of tea, change of clothes, make-up and now we're going to a dinner party. This is a busy week!

Where Thursday Went.

Work, pub, nap and now "Project Runway".

Ummm, I shall not be writing a blog post this evening.

Smart Women Desk Set.

The second day of classes was still pretty damn hectic, but I surfed the wave of questions and it was invigorating.

The best part of the day was a present from one of the professors!  It was to thank me for scanning the hard copies of her notes for the semester after her computer's hard drive became corrupted and ate them all.

I actually was really interested in her class, so I very much enjoyed doing the scanning, but a beautifully wrapped gift was the quite literal ribbon on top.

It was a Smart Women stationary desk set, with just the most fabulous retro artwork on it.  I love how it looks almost authentically fifties, until you notice little details like the blue anchor tattoo on the leg of the lady sitting at her writing desk.

I particularly love the eraser:

Look at the hair and the specs!  Both of those women could have walked right out of the Sterling Cooper Draper Price typing pool!  SO fabulous!

Fall Semester 2010.

First day of classes.  Really hectic in the office.  So many questions!

Home now, so I'll just be on the sofa vegging out.

With a glass of something probably.

Cover Art: The Strangled Queen.

The book table in my office hallway, where people leave books they wish to release back into the wild, hasn't had anything new in a few of weeks.  However there was one particularly splendid piece of cover art that I spotted a while back which I finally remembered to take a photo of this morning.

As I say it's been there for a while, so I thought that I would be able to come back later and note down some of the plot points from the back cover blurb - But, when I did, the book had gone.

I could probably look up the synopsis on-line, but in the meantime, and purely based on the cover art, don't you think the title should have been "The Dead Mardy Queen"? She looks like a right madam, mind you Prince Valiant doesn't look like a ray of sunshine either; so they are probably perfect for each other, but refuse to admit that until around page 117.

Cat on a Wooden Beam

Before we moved in we were certain that the cats would enjoy walking along the beam across the living room.  Of course they do, but it doesn't go anywhere exciting so they don't bother very often.

This morning Edith was chasing Nancy all over the house, so Nancy decided to retreat out onto the beam.

She stayed there for about ten minutes, and I'm sure Nancy doesn't yet realise this is a dead end; so I am very glad Edith didn't follow her out there, as she very easily could have done.  That's a feline drama for another time.

Nancy by the Window

Nancy is loving the new house, which I'm really pleased about.  We were worried that it would be too shady for her, because Miss Wake-Cat is very much a sun worshipper, but there seems to be enough patches of sunlight to keep her happy and she loves the new windows and stairs.

I did have to make her an appointment with the vet last week, because her skin condition was playing up again.  I was at work, but Doc C called me from the car (the Mini has a built in hands free mobile phone set up, which I love and Doc dislikes) to say she'd had a cortisone shot, put on more weight and was notably happier about getting into the cat basket after the appointment than she had been before.

Nancy seems a lot more comfortable now, and her fur feels fine.  As ever her life would be perfect, were it not for that bitch Edith.  Occasionally I think it would be handy to be able to actually communicate with cats, usually so we can explain that it's atleast three hours until their dinner time, but realistically that would just leave us open to a never ending stream of whining from Nancy about Edith.

Edith on the other hand would just flex her paws and purr "I love you, you fool!  Pay attention to me!" so there would be practically no difference.

Doc C is Down with the Street.

Whilst playing a video game we are all prone to talking to the characters, and Doc is not immune to this urge.  Usually I don't even notice, but this evening I was really very amused to hear him address a gentleman in full armour with the deathless phrase:

"Bitch! All my shit is real significant!"

Yes indeed, my husband who holds a Phd in Philosophy was talking to smack to an avatar.  I could not stop laughing.

Pencil Tip Sculpture.

Clearly it is art week here at Alien Spouse - And this hand carved pencil sculpture is particularly awe inspiring.  The patience involved!

Saturday Afternoons Alright for Platform Video Games.

It's a rainy Saturday and, because the semester starts on Tuesday, the whole town is swarming with students and their families.  We ventured out for breakfast (well, I'd already had some yogurt and muesli so it was second breakfast for me really) and the diner was packed.  Then we were going to go shopping, but soon changed our minds when we realised the roads and car parks were just bumper-to-bumper with out of towners who had no idea where they were going.

So we came home and I fully intended to tidy the house and do some laundry.  Instead I played Little Big Planet for 5 hours.  Time very well spent because I cracked a couple of levels and collected a shed load of new swag.

Mostly Filler on a Friday: IKEA and Mad Men

I've been browsing the IKEA website and salivating over some pretty large pieces of furniture that we could never get in the Mini; which is a pity because the nearest IKEA is in Charlotte, so about 2 hours away.  There has been some discussion, with Randy and Laura, of borrowing a truck to fill with boxes full of flat-packed treasures.  Failing that we could definitely fill up the car with assorted soft furnishings, and I think that should include a soft toy version of a can of cat food.  I particularly enjoy that the lid unzips.

The alternative to physically shopping for furniture is ordering on-line, so I took a moment to peruse an item or two in the Mad Men props sale on e-bay.  There are still two days to go, so I wouldn't be surprised to see prices sky rocket, but right now there are some absolute steals and quite a few items have free shipping.  Don't imagine that anything from Don's office will be cheap, but you could get Peggy's desk or Pete's turnatable... Wait, I retract that, the record player was about about a hundred bucks when I looked at lunch time and now it's over a thousand.  Well, ok then!  Maybe this would not be such a fabulous and thrifty way to decorate after all.

My Vote for the Fourth Plinth.

The rolling debate over what should go on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is always interesting, and there are six more candidates to be voted on.

I, naturally, adore this one.

Brian Griffiths - Battenberg

"Proposed materials: a unique collection of glazed and unglazed Victorian, Edwardian and contemporary bricks from around the United Kingdom, coloured render.

The Battenberg cake was invented on the advent of the marriage of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter – Princess Victoria of Hesse – to Prince Louis of Battenberg in 1884. As such, the pink and yellow cake is a humble commemoration of the Victorian era and a link with a British past that has slowly crumbled. Yet this past still influences contemporary life, not least in our cities where we are surrounded by Victorian public sculpture.

Increased to gigantic proportion, fashioned from a selection of traditionally made household bricks and placed on a plinth alongside other Victorian statues in Trafalgar Square, the cake becomes a wry monument to monumentality. It highlights a much- changed contemporary Britain while gently questioning the role of contemporary art in today’s late capitalist society where our perception of culture is as a consumer experience.

The sculpture transforms the Battenberg as a symbol of teatimes past, into a contemporary comment on commodity, commemoration and collective identity. It poses a reflection on how even the most outmoded objects persist and come to talk about our life, our dreams and aspirations as a nation."

Creepy Dummy Torso Training.

This morning I had CPR training for four hours, mostly it was watching the training DVD demonstrations and then practicing what we had learnt on those creepy dummy torsos.  The creepiest thing being they sort of have my hair do, but in molded flesh coloured plastic.

After the practical there was an exam and I was very pleased to see it was all multiple choice questions.  To pass the course and have earnt the American Red Cross certification I need to have got 80% on all three sections of the exam.

The answer sheets are being sent to the Red Cross, so I won't know for a while if I passed or not - But if I do then I'll get a little ID card to carry around.

Little Big Internet.

We went to a house warming party this evening (I wore a polka dot dress and we took a gorgeous blueberry pie from our favourite bakery) which was really fun.

I logged onto Little Big Planet for a bit before we left the house, and somehow I found myself playing on-line, which is one of the features that makes PS3 unique.  I honestly don't know how that happened, but I just went with it.  Then some other players joined the game, and they tried to talk to me but I don't have a microphone set up sort I just sort of waved at them.  They were friends, and I could hear them chatting to each other and occasionally they'd try to talk to me again, mainly asking if I was a boy or a girl.  Just based on that I think they were fairly young.

I think they got a bit frustrated with the game, and with me not talking to them, so they understandably went a bit feral - Nothing mean spirited, they just wanted to play fight really, but I couldn't retaliate very well  so I tried to leave the game.  What I didn't realise was that if I just went back to my home base they would get dragged with me.  It was SO weird having other sack people in my pod!  I quickly jumped into another game to keep them busy whilst I worked out how the hell to get off-line.

Playing Little Big Planet with friends would be so much fun, but I need to get much more skillful and I really want to team up with somebody I actually know for the first couple of on-line missions so they can hold my cyber-hand.  Do any of you want to volunteer?  Go on!  It'll be really fun I promise!

Links - Two Set of Three.

It's a rainy Tuesday; Doc C is playing video games; Edith is asleep on my feet; Nancy is asleep on the stairs and I don't have a lot else to say about today really.

So here are some links!  Yay!

First food links - Because I haven't had dinner yet and I'm getting peckish.

1. Artisan tonic water - Q Tonic.
2. The Observer Food Monthly's Top Ten cookbooks of all time.  We don't have any of these!
3. Pictures and Pancakes. Gorgeously styled and photographed food from a couple, who happen to be a food stylist and a photographer. And to your left you will see Chocolate Guiness Cake.

 

Now onto the Dragon Con links - because I'm getting quite excited now.

1. One of these t-shirts from Think Geek, or both?
   
2. The Skeptrak schedule of panels sounds particularly interesting.
3. This is the guest list for 2010 - So much squeeee in one place!
   
   
   

The Doc's Elaborate Ruse.

Whilst I was getting changed out of my work skirt and into shorts Doc C put "Little Big Planet" on the PS3.  It's a ridiculously addictive game, and he had no intention of playing it himself, it was a trap so I'd get sucked into playing and he could have the laptop.

And it worked.

I played for two hours, and then I decided to quit the game and read a book.  Instead I re-designed my character and her outfit; then I decorated my home pod.  It's red, orange, light blue, black and hot pink paint splotches, with white stencils of diamonds.

It looks lovely, but this may be why Doc is reluctant to give me too much of a free hand in the way of decorating the house.

Stupid Spiders.

I didn't go running this morning, but I did get up early to do some yoga and after breakfast Doc C and I went for a walk; so I feel like I've had some exercise.

We then went shopping for a few things; mainly I wanted an extension cable and a clip lamp for the loft, but we also had to get some sort of bug spray.  I've currently got three large bites on my right leg and they are itchy as hell, Doc C suspects spiders.  I am most annoyed by this, because I am nice to spiders damn it!  I try not to damage their webs (unless they are in really stupid places that I can't avoid) and I regularly rescue them from the bath.  Why would they turn on me like this?  Actually I wouldn't really care if the bites didn't itch for days, that's the bit the I hate.

Anyway, Doc won't have me being snacked on and the cats are showing no aptitude for spider hunting, so bug spray it is.  sigh.

Little Big Planet.

Damn it!  I bought a new PS3 game today, "Little Big Planet", and it appears to be extremely addictive.

I had no idea when I bought it that a) Stephen Fry was one of the voice artists, b) the characters look like cute little toys, c) it has the music from "Take Hart"s The Gallery and d) you can dress your avatar as Ada Lovelace (who was the Victorian equivalent of Claudia on "Warehouse 13" or Penelope on "Criminal Minds")!  C'mon!  That is genius!

I doubt I'll be doing anything else this weekend.

*Update* It's ok, Doc C got the controller off me by the simple expedient of handing me dinner, which was just a clever ruse so that he could play the new character he'd made for "Dragon Age: Origins".

Well played this time Doctor, but we shall meet again...

Still Too Hot.

Currently Edith and I are on the mezzanine, lying on floor cushions in front of a large fan.  The only reasons I currently contemplating moving for are 1) dinner and 2) Project Runway.  Edith got fed an hour ago but she might have some important chasing of Nancy to do I suppose; otherwise I don't see her going anywhere.

Fantasy Interior Decorating: The Eero Aarnio Ball Chair

I got up early this morning and went for a run, so naturally now I'm really tired and browsing for comfy chairs on-line.  I really quite fancy a sixties classic: The Eero Aarnio Ball Chair.

Realistically, in the highly unlikely event that I do seriously look into buying one, I think I'd be looking at a reproduction, because an original would cost a few thousand dollars.

How comfortable do you think these actually are though?  Maybe that's why all of the Number Twos were so grumpy really, I mean look George Baker here:

He's all knees!

Although why am I even bothering to imagine sitting in it myself?  We all know Edith would commandeer it the moment that it came through the door.

Loft Stair Curtains.

Ah Edith.

Edith, Edith, Edith.

I've been looking into ways for giving her easier access, or more to the point, an easier exit route from the loft bed, because obviously that is now her favourite place in the whole house.  My initial thought was to look at very tall cat condos, but those are pretty bulky and usually cost a couple of hundred dollars.  Then I found a Cosy Cat Climber which is designed to hang from a door, and I read in the comments that one owner had hung it from her son's bunk bed, so that her cats could climb up to the top bunk.  Perfect - But still between $160 and $240 (these are much more expensive if ordered directly from the manufacturers by the way, which seems counter-intuitive), because I'd want it in the "limited edition" white so it wasn't too obtrusive.

So we have options, but to be blunt I'm reluctant to spend that much on a willful cat!  Fortunately the shower curtain seems to be working well, and I thought I'd work with that for a bit longer.

I cut the curtain in half length-ways, then used five plastic shower curtain rings to attach it to the second to last rung.  That way it's not going to get pulled down easily by madam, but I can simply shove it to one side when I want to climb up there.

Once up in the loft the curtain can be left to one side, if you want Edith's company, or pulled back across to keep her off.  She doesn't like that though, Edith hates to be left out of anything.  So I let her come up for a while this evening, and she was a very happy little cat.

Found Poetry

There is a house on our way into town which is a shop, and we know this because of the large yellow sign outside advertising it's wares. I took a photo of it, so I could accurately repeat the wording to you.

Gifts * GIFT BAZAAR * Gifts

Huge * Persian Rug Liquidation * Huge

Bird Houses * Bird Feeders * Table Lamps

Wind Chimes * Wind Bells * Candle Lanterns

Furniture * Chess Sets * Eagles * Fountains

Majolica * Chintz * Oriental Gifts * Pictures

It's like found poetry, and it just gets better every time we drive past it.  Doc is very fond of the red line with it's bookending "Huge"s, where as I like the stream of consciousness feel to the whole thing.

What are your favourite lines? "Bird Houses * Bird Feeders * Table Lamps" is quite wistful, don't you think?  The longing to house and feed birds, perhaps the ultimate symbol of freedom, whilst oneself is shackled to the ground by material possessions such as the evocative "Table Lamps".  Gorgeous.

Even without the conceit of reading it as poetry, it's still really funny because it's such a massive sign and yet the information is so confusing.  I for one had no idea there was such a vast difference between Wind Chimes and Wind Bells that they both need to be name checked. Given the specificity of that line it seems odd that there is so much vagueness in the rest of the sign; I mean they sell Eagles?  In what sense?  Live, stuffed or objet d'art depictions of Eagles?  Ooh, maybe that's a typo that should actually read "Eagles Fountains"?  A very large bird bath for Eagles?

We have yet to actually stop at this shop by the way, because that would ruin the whole thing for us I think.

Edith - The Amazing Climbing Cat!

I am so tired.  I was fully intending to go for a run this morning, I'd laced my new trainers up and laid out my gym kit all ready to go, I'd set my alarm to go off at 6 and I'd read up on stretching.

The best laid plans of mice and cat owners.

I probably went to bed at about midnight, which was later then I had intended but not a disaster, and was just about to fall asleep when Doc asked where Edith was.  Because she usually sleeps on our bed, and she wasn't there.

Doc went to check if she was in the living room, and when she wasn't he climbed up the ladder to the loft bed.  Edith was up there having a wash.  I came and helped him get her down, then we went back to bed.

We had just switched the light off when we heard a very distinctive noise; paws climbing wooden rungs.  sigh.

Doc said we should just leave her up there until she realised she was stuck and miaowed for help down.  If he'd stopped talking there, I'd probably have gone to sleep because I was really tired by this point and still hoping to get enough sleep to go for a run.  Doc C's brain tends to be a worst case scenario generator, and he carried on talking.  Maybe Edith wouldn't make any noise when she wanted to get down.  Maybe she'd pee on the futon mattress up there.  Maybe she'd hurt herself trying to get down.

Ugh.  Well I couldn't leave her up there and go to sleep with those scenarios cycling through my head.  So I got up, and carried Edith back down the ladder.  Doc still hadn't actually seen Edith climbing the ladder, and since she was clearly in the mood to, we both climbed up ourselves and called her up.  She was very happy to demonstrate her ladder climbing, which, whilst it's not graceful, is effective and she was very quickly up the ladder again.

Well.  What to do now?  Edith was clearly determined to get up to the loft, and the ladder is bolted in position so we couldn't just move it out of the way.  Fortunately we had bought a new shower curtain that afternoon, and not yet thrown away the old one; so I wrapped that around the ladder and tied it in place.  Edith watched me very closely, and stayed on the mezzanine when we went back to bed.  Again.

There was silence for a while, presumably Edith was eyeing up this new obstacle before making another attempt.  Then there was a scrabbling noise when she was trying to climb the ladder over the top of he slippery shower curtain.  She gave up on that fairly quickly, and then tried something else which didn't get her up to the loft but did knock over several rolls of wrapping paper I hadn't found a home for yet.

Then she gave up and came to sleep with us.

Stupid cat.

Nancy!

I realise that I have mentioned Edith quite a lot in my posts since we moved, but Nancy hardly at all.  Don't worry she came too!

Nancy seems to be very happy in the new house, and was rolling around displaying her tummy on the first night here.  That is a very good sign that she is feeling relaxed, and I think that the Comfort Zone Diffuser we plugged in before we brought the girls over has really helped.

The only thing that Nancy doesn't like is that Edith has developed more of an appetite since we moved here, so she doesn't get to finish off Edith's food any more.  This is good though, she needs to go on a diet - Actually Jason nicknamed her Fat Nance when he was visiting!

Sunday Trading.

Today we went shopping to pick up some necessities we'd forgotten or not found the day before.  I bought new Saucony trainers so I can go for a morning run around the ponds, and a set of plastic drawers to keep my yarn stash in.  I failed to buy a dressing gown.

We also bought doorstops, because Edith very quickly discovered the bathroom door upstairs doesn't lock or even latch.  She hates being shut out of any room, so this makes her very happy.  It makes whoever is in the bathroom less happy, as I'm sure you can imagine.  Let's hope an old fashioned wedge baffles her.

The big purchase of the day was relatively unplanned, although we had been discussing it.  It's a Playstation 3.  I spent an hour or so rolling up Katamari Damacy Forever stars after lunch, and Doc C is currently RPGing as an Elf called Kallian, as she slices her way through an army of bad guys.

Oh, which reminds me!  Doc C submitted a paper to Dragon Con, which he heard today has been accepted.  So we are going to be geeking out in Atlanta in September!

I loved this photo from last year's con, which featured an after hours visit to the Georgia Aquarium, but I never considered that I might go myself.

What to wear, what to wear...

Mezzanine Storage Area.

You know last weekend I probably would have told you that packing was the most tedious thing ever; this weekend I have learnt that un-packing is in fact the most tedious thing ever.

Ugh!

I did have one moment of startling genius however.

We had decided that the bookshelves would go on the mezzanine, and I've been trying to work out the best use of the space up there.  It's a balcony that runs the length of the house and it's probably about 7 or 8 foot wide at it's widest point.  Our walk-in wardrobe takes a cube shaped bite of that floor space (the loft is basically the top of the wardrobe cube) and that left a little strip that I just couldn't see a use for.  It's dark and it's narrow, so putting a book case there wouldn't work and it would be really claustrophobic to sit there.  Then it occurred to me that it was slightly wider than the bookcases I was putting up there, and I could line one of those up with the wall, leaving a slightly concealed storage area behind it.

Today I put sliders on the bottom of one of the bookcases, so even when it's full you can quite easily slide it out and get to the nook behind it.  Then I took all of our empty suitcases and boxes and stacked them back there.  It all fits perfectly!  Very satisfying.

 

Edith Can Climb.

As I tweeted earlier today I climbed up to the loft for a nap this afternoon, and when I'd been up there for a while I could hear Edith messing around on the mezzanine (I worked in a bookshop that had a half floor that we referred to as the mezzanine for three years, so I think it's a perfectly reasonable way of describing it; Doc keeps asking if that's really what we are going to call it) climbing on all the boxes.  So I looked over the edge of the loft at her, until she looked up and saw me.

Then she had to try and get to me.

She walked all round the mezzanine trying to find a way up, and occasionally miaowed in frustration.  Finally she sat at the foot of the ladder and just gazed up at me.  I thought that would be the end of it, because I didn't think she'd even try to climb the ladder by herself.

Oh how wrong I was.  She just launched herself onto the first rung, and scrambled up until she reached me and was clearly very proud of herself.

We stayed up there for about an hour, and when I climbed down I carried Edith down with me.  She hated that, but I honestly don't know how else she could get down from the loft.  Of course now I'm worried she'll climb up there when we aren't at home and get stuck.

Stupid cat.

Star Wars: A New Lamp.

After work today we browsed for lamps and soft furnishings, and Doc C pointed out a really nice petrol blue lamp with a blue-and-brown shade.  When I got home I thought about how that would fit in our bedroom, and suggested he have that lamp on his bedside table.

Doc said that actually what he'd like is the same lamp that I have, but full of Star Wars figures.  Which I'd suggested, ooh, when I bought my own lamp 18 months ago, so of course Kmart don't sell them any more.

So he googled for "Martha Stewart Terrarium Lamp" and the top result was Alien Spouse, with a photo of my bedside lamp.  Which is funny, especially because that post even mentions the Star Wars figures, but not terribly helpful in finding one for the Doc.

Home Internet Access. Yay!

Oh Internet.

You have returned to me, and we have so much to catch up on.

For one thing I'm almost a week behind on Chateau Thombeau, I am starting to suffer from a Vitamin Glamour deficiency.

We Just Need a Title To Create Some Buzz.

Over the summer the University campus plays host to a number of different associations and camps.

This week we have both Cheerleader Camp and the Eastern Apicultural Society Conference (a helpful e-mail explained that this would involve beekeepers, and several swarms of their charges, congregating on a lawn close to my office).  This means we have both overly excitable teenage girls and hives of bees within fairly close proximity to each other.

I don't know who is in charge of scheduling these things, but clearly they have never seen a low budget horror movie.

One More Day Without TV and Internet.

Damn it!  I forgot that I had to write my post at lunch time, and instead I slept for an hour.  I cannot wait until Charter connects our TV and wifi access at home tomorrow.

There had better not be any further delay, or I will be seriously displeased.

Moving Saga.

When we got home from work yesterday we had a cup of tea and a choccy biccy before settling down to our allotted tasks.  Doc C had a lecture to write, so he got on with that whilst I continued unpacking.  Mostly I wanted to get the study clear, so that the Charter engineer could hook up the wi-fi with not too much hassle when he came this morning, remember this salient point.  First I had to interrupt Doc to get him to help me drag the futon mattress up to the loft.  It fitted perfectly!  It is so comfy up there now, all I need is a lamp and a steady supply of snacks, and it will be bliss.

After that it was fairly easy to arrange the study, it just took ages.  My own personal favourite furniture ninja move was putting the wire shelves (the ones that Doc had bought them for his plants, so they were in front of the living room windows in the old house) under the stairs.  This doesn't sound particularly brilliant, but I positioned them so that we can use the shelves from the kitchen AND Doc can still easily fit his bike under the stairs.  It was extremely satisfying to see that work in real life almost as well as it had in my head when I thought of it at 2 in the morning.

I also carried several box loads of stuff up to the mezzanine, which is where I'm going to be keeping my bookcases and craft stuff.  This was made considerably less easy by the cats, who continue to adore lounging on the stairs and being annoyed if made to move.

Once that was all done, we settled down with a glass of Pimm's and "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962).  Doc insisted we had already seen it, but I am equally certain that I hadn't ever watched it before.  It was one of those debates that is impossible to prove any part of your argument in, beyond the simple fact that is is highly unlikely I would forget forget Angela Lansbury being that evil.

Of course the punchline to this story is that we didn't get the phone call we expected from Charter last night, or this morning.  When Doc called them and asked what time to expect them, they said "Today?  No mate, Thursday" (I paraphrase).

sigh.  Two more days without TV or internet access at home.

Sunday Cleaning.

So tired.  So very tired.

Well we got the majority of our belongings moved to the new house on Saturday, thanks to the aforementioned super-friends Kim, Jill, Randy and Laura, so then all we had to do was grab the last couple of car loads of random stuff and clean the old house.

That's all.

We split up the work between us, so Doc C was vacuuming whilst I cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen.  It took forever and ever and ever.

Towards the end of the day we were loading up the car and I packed the vacuum cleaner first to make sure it would fit.  Doc asked where it was because he needed it to vacuum the one more room.  So I got it out of the car again.  Then we carried on pottering about, and we moved the only piece of furniture left in the house from the spare room to the kitchen (Hey, does anyone want a really ugly heavy wooden desk, that I'm pretty sure smells nasty?  It's free to anyone who wants to collect it!  Hurry this offer will not last!); then I went back into the spare room, picked up the vacuum cleaner and packed it into the car.

Pretty much as soon as I'd done that I realised that Doc hadn't had time to use it since the last time I got it out of the car, and that's when I got the giggles and could not stop laughing.  Doc thought I'd finally lost it, but we were almost finished, so that was OK!

After we'd emptied that car load we were finished for the day, so we had showers and headed into town for something to eat.  On the way Doc asked what I wanted for dinner, and pretty much my only caveat was "Not pizza, because I don't want to chew that much".  So we had nice soft pseudo tex-mex and a bottle of beer, and it was very nice.

Quick Moving Update

Our friends are super stars! Thanks to Kim and Jill,and Randy and Laura we got all off the big stuff moved by about 5 yesterday. The cats were the first to move, we drove them over at about 8:30 to let them explore before we started bringing in furniture. We'd already plugged in one of those soothing cat smell generator thingies, which I think really helped. Nancy was rolling around on the carpet by the end of the day, so she's far more relaxed than I would have expected! We slept in the new house last night, which was very comfortable but neither Doc or I slept well. Mainly because the cats kept jumping on and off the bed as part of their late night explorations. Oh, and Nancy popped the screen off our bedroom window at about 2, so that got our adrenalin pumping! She's fine, just a bit annoyed we closed the window after that. Today we clean the old place. sigh.