Alien Spouse

A Dozen Six-Sided Dice.

Over the summer Doc C attended a seminar on re-designing classes, and there was a segment on how to restructure a group exercise. He texted me at the coffee break because his mind was a blank, and I texted back "When in doubt, go with a zombie apocalypse!" So, today Doc C's class will be dividing up into teams which are trying to re-structure society following a zombie apocalypse, and they will have to roll dice to add elements of chance to the thing. They get various advantages and penalties depending on the score they roll, and it also determines how much food they gather or hunt.

We purchased a dozen dice yesterday and Doc was very careful that they were easy to distinguish from each other. We then spent some coming up with names for all of them. In his class today the student groups will be writing the name of their dice on the top of their sheets, so Doc C knows where they all are and who to chase up if one of them goes missing. Mostly they are named after sci-fi species (Suliban) or cartoon characters (Invader Zim, Harley Quinn), but we also have Disco, Smokey and Blue Plate Special.

Game night at our house, when we ever get around to hosting such a thing, will be epic!

Bebe!

Today was my monthly check-up with my ob/gyn and everything is going well. It's oddly reassuring to hear the little bugger's heartbeat, particularly because I'm only just starting to occaisionally feel some vague fluttering when the kid moves around.

On Monday we have an ultra-sound booked, when we will hopefully finding out the gender. Exciting!

Literature and Vintage Bling.

This photo combines two of my very favourite things, which are reading and shiny things.

As you can see my Kindle is clothed in it's own leather case, which just happens to be a muted green. I was hoping when I bought my bag that the two would match, or at least co-ordinate, but actually the different shades of green hate each other and clash in a rather sickly way. No matter, I am still fond of both of them. 

As I am sure I've said before (and will probably say again), it took a while for me to come around to the idea of a Kindle, because I adore books as objects almost as much as I love reading them. However, my Mother was right to suggest I would like the format and the Kindle is a prize above rubies for a voracious reader.

Of course if I were to be offered rubies in addition to the Kindle I would not turn them down, because PRETTY!

Kindle and Bangle - Action shot.

I am extremely fond of classic jewellery, and I sporadically, as dictated by my bank balance, collect vintage costume jewellery. This bracelet is a thin slice of tortoise shell plastic (probably it's lucite, definitely it's man-made & not real tortoise) with a simple pattern of diamante studs on both sides.  It's unusual to have the decorative edge be the one vertical to the wrist, whilst the edge which is horizontal to the wrist is so slim and plain; this means it would get lost in a stack of bracelets but works really well alone for some under-stated glitz. In other words, it is dreamy and it was only $18 on Etsy. What is not to love?

It's surprisingly difficult to get a good photograph of a bracelet whilst you are wearing it, so I thought I'd take a picture of the bangle held up to the light to catch the textural translucence of the lucite. Isn't that lovely? 

The Apple Augury.

I think my Mac is trying to say something. This is the second morning in a row that it's kicked off the wallpaper rotation with the "Is Life Good?" flowchart; this is previously unprecedented, it usually never repeats an image from the previous day. Please also note that it has a hundred and twenty other images to choose from here!

I tell you if I switch the thing on on Monday morning, and it starts dealing me Tarot cards, I won't be a bit surprised. Well, maybe a bit surprised, because Macs aren't usually that heavy-handed.

Examining the Boiler Entrails.

This morning we were woken up about an hour before the alarm went off by the sound of rushing water. I immediately thought that one of the cats had jumped into the kitchen sink and somehow knocked the tap on, if only it had been that cartoonish a solution. What had actually happened was a pipe on our hot water boiler had burst, and was busily flooding the downstairs bathroom and study.

I sleepily turned to Doc C and asked if he thought it was an omen. "An Omen of what?" was his response, and I had to admit I didn't really know because I'm not au fait with omens as such. Probably the fact that I'm re-reading Douglas Adams' "Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" put such a notion in my head, the plot mostly involves Norse gods, so there are a fair amount of portents in it.

The boiler flood was very exciting, but once we had the water turned off at the mains there wasn't much else to be done and I still had to get to work. With no shower to be had, I tied my hair up in a scarf (it would appear that two days of dry shampoo is pushing the boundaries) and went with a slight Rosie the Riveter vibe to my clothes (red t-shirt, jeans, blue canvas jacket and brown Doc Martens) to make the head scarf look intentional. My fashion theory is that you can get away with nearly anything, as long as it looks deliberate.

Doc drove me to work (only to turn round once he got there to come back home and tend to the boiler), and I made it safely to my office; where I switched on my Mac. I've set it up so that images are selected at random from a file of photos and wallpapers to display as my desktop background. The first one this morning was this flowchart:

OMEN!

And that is a whole hell of a lot less ambiguous, isn't it?

(Update on the boiler: It's been replaced already, but can't be switched on until tomorrow - So we get to use the shower in the house next door, which is vacant. This is a bit weird, but I've been dying to nosy around the place, so, actually, kind of cool)

Me Without Me.

Every weekday I go to Doc C's office to have lunch; I usually also have a nap, so I always take off my glasses, earrings and watch, and take my keys out of my pockets. These items are so integral to my day-to-day self, that this is practically a self portrait, just without me in the picture.

You already know about the glasses and the watch, I go absolutely nowhere without these.

The earrings are from Rhubarb's Etsy Shop ( there will be nothing left on Etsy after I'm finished), and they are my new favourites. These are vintage grey glass drops, which were originally listed with long kidney hooks, but the seller was happy to swap those out for the leverbacks. I love that about Etsy!

The green skull is a Fred and Friends silicone key cap (It glows in the dark and came in a pack of six, so I had five more colours to hand - what is with me and the greens at the moment?), only one of my keys has a cap on it, specifically so I can find the key to my office door without looking at them. I highly recommend this, it saves valuable seconds of thinking time.

Accessorises.

I bought this vintage Samsonite travel bag on Etsy specifically to use as my carry-on luggage when we flew to Vegas. After we got home I simply never transferred my stuff back out of it again, so it's become my everyday handbag.

It's ironic that I think this bag is so fabulous when it is only a shade or two brighter than the green that made my school uniform so very hideous and despised. Seriously, who dresses an entire girl's school in mushy pea green blazers and skirts?

The shades have long been a favourite of mine, but I could only wear them when I had my contacts in - until I got prescription lenses put in! Also just in time for the Vegas trip! 

It's Going to be a Comedian, isn't it?

Ok, so you know how I'm expecting a baby at the end of August, right? (woot!) Well, the lease on our current house runs out in mid-July and whilst it's a nice house for a couple and their two cats, it's not really perfect for a nuclear family. At one point we were quite seriously talking about moving all the clothes from our bedroom's walk-in wardrobe and putting the baby in there for a few months.

What? It's not like it would have known (until we showed it the photos obviously), the wardrobe/nursery would have been right next to my side of the bed (so convenient), and there is a door so we could keep the cats off the kid at night.

Anyway, we are probably going to move house instead. Six weeks before I pop. In the middle of the hottest time of the year here.

I tell you, this kid's timing is impeccable.

Pie Day.

My legs were a little bit achey after Pilates yesterday, so naturally we decided to go for a short up-hill hike! This might not have been my best idea! My legs feel like they want to fall off now!

On the other hand, we did stop for lunch on the way home and got a slice of really delicious Coconut Pie.

Spring Break Tuesday.

I feel like we've got a lot of stuff done today; the cats are brushed, the living room is vacuumed, the kitchen is clean, the bathroom is well-scrubbed (the wooden floor has even been hand-waxed), Edith has been outside, pre-natel Pilates has been done, and a slightly crappy murder mystery has been finished.

Now I'm sleepy.

Weekend in the House.

It's Spring Break - And I've taken the week off. There will be a lot of sleep.

This weekend Doc was getting over a cold, so we spent two days in the house. I had a bath, napped (a lot), watched some great television mixed with some fairly awful horror films, and I read a bunch of books.

Doc is feeling a lot better, thank heavens, so we did leave the house today.

Dry Shampoo.

When we went to Las Vegas in January I spent most of my money in two shops; Lush Cosmetics and H&M (Maternity Wear Department). Yes, I went to Vegas and came back with a great deal of fancy soap and a pair of maternity jeans. I think, perhaps, I misunderstood the point of Vegas, you know?

We can put the trip to H&M to one side, you don't need an essay on how comfortable maternity jeans are, but Lush had a revelation in store for me this time. I love being able to browse in an actual Lush shop, because, whilst I know a lot of their products really well at this point, there is always something new that I either haven't heard of before, or that I want to smell &/or ask questions about before I buy it. This time I discovered they had brought out a dry shampoo, No Drought, which seemed interesting.

Ok, so WHY didn't anyone tell me about dry shampoo before? Did everyone know except for me? I have very fine hair, I've been washing it every day for years now and that then necessitates putting products in to try and get some volume and texture.  It turns out that if I wash it every other day, and then use dry shampoo on the second day. That works really well, and I'm starting to think that my hair looks better on the second day.

This is great for three main reasons; first of all it saves me time when I'm getting ready on the alternate mornings, secondly I'm bound to use less hair product this way and therefore save money and, thirdly, this is the perfect excuse to buy a retro-glamorous shower cap (I know point two was about saving money, and point three is about spending it - But this is a one-time purchase of a shower cap at $23, as opposed to repeated purchases of, say, textured hair cream at $26 a tube).

This may seem trivial, in fact it is trivial, but it's important to find and appreciate the small things that make one happy (especially when one isn't allowed a martini). A good book? Captivating! Birds singing? Adorable! A blue sky? Enchanting! Your hair behave the way you want it to? Luscious!

Edith in the Red Wagon.

Last summer I bought a Radio Flyer, which is one of those red wagons that are an apparently integral part of an iconic American childhood according to films, comic strips and Norman Rockwell paintings. Of course I REALLY wanted to get a photo of one of the cats sitting in it, this naturally means they have avoided having anything at all to do with it (apart from hiding underneath it during skirmishes).

Originally the wagon was next to the fireplace in the living room, and we used it for dumping our bags in when we got home from work. As it got colder and we started using the fire more, I decided to move the wagon, because I worried about the wheels melting. I put it on the mezzanine, and used it to hold the floor cushions up there. An unplanned bonus of this is that Nancy can use the cushions as a ramp to climb up to the railing, which she and Edith like to use as a catwalk.

When I came upstairs to go to bed last night I found that Edith has re-discovered how comfortable the floor cushions are, and she was elegantly lounging in the Radio Flyer. FINALLY!  I had to act fast, but I knew that if I ran to get my camera, that would prompt Edith to jump out of the wagon. Fortunately Doc was still at the foot of the stairs, next to my bag with my camera in it, so I called down and asked him to grab my camera for me. 

The light wasn't great, but I could steady my hand on the bannister, and Edith happily posed for several shots, so happily in fact she started purring. I know she can't possibly understand what a camera is, but there is no getting around the fact that she likes it when I take photos of her. Somehow Edith knows that the camera loves her, and she loves it right back!

Fly My Pretties!

On the way home this evening we saw a bumper sticker that read "Protected by Flying Monkeys", which is a great bumper sticker.

It immediately started me thinking about making a Flying Monkey mobile to hang in a baby's bedroom, I have an Amigurumi pattern for a monkey in a waistcoat with a fez already. All I'd have to add would be a pair of wings, possibly the ones from the Cthulu pattern!

Doc C liked that idea, and noted that Flying Monkey would be a great Halloween costume for a toddler. I could make a balaclava with monkey ears, and sew the fez straight onto it!

I think I've found our nursery theme (not that we are likely to have an actual nursery, but you know what I mean).

Green Queen in London.

Friday of last week was a pretty awful day for me. I made a silly mistake, and, yes, it was really a daft thing to have done, but it was just blown out of all proportion and became a far larger issue then it needed to be (No, really it was! I can be objective!) To add to the melodrama my tear ducts muscled in on the act and I was crying on-and-off for most of the day, which may possibly have had a little something to do with hormones. 

Anyway, I spent the whole weekend trying very hard to relax, because stress is bad for the baby (blah, blah, blah), but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't utterly dreading Monday.

On Monday morning I checked my hotmail account, and there was an e-mail from Ella who was the winner of my Mystery Amigurumi contest three years ago! Ella and the Green Queen have since moved to London, and there were photos attached! It made my morning, and I was in a great mood all day!

Ella said I could post the photos, so here is my favourite of them - It made me laugh so much!

 ^{Teeny Tiny Green Queen between the paws of a Great Big Lion in Trafalgar Square.}

I'm telling you all right now, start a blog and it really doesn't matter if you never become Dooce or Mimi Smartypants and you get ridiculously excited when your page counts hit 364(!) for one day (The day in question was 8th November 2010! I have NO idea why!)

What will happen is that you will "meet" people who are interested in your story, and will share parts of their story with you; then maybe on a Monday morning you were tense about you will get a nice note and some funny photos e-mailed to you, or you'll get a friend request on Facebook from someone you know from the comments, or you'll get to meet up for a coffee. This is a good thing.

Cake and Asheville Therapy.

Here is a nice slice of cake from a hippy cafe that we went to in Asheville. (Well, I say it was a hippy cafe, all of the lovely smiley girls behind the counter had dreadlocks and/or tattoos of trees, but then it had a very clear "brand identity" and logo, plus really plush bathrooms so it was distinctly upmarket hippy.)

 

This was a chocolate almond cake made with beet sugar, which is why it looks slightly pink. This adds fuel to my theory that Red Velvet Cake really does not need to be made with three bottles of cochineal in it, but that the same effect could be achieved in a much less artificial manner. It was quite dense, not too sweet and altogether a nice bit of cake. 

 

This was the introductory snack to my Asheville day trip therapy which also included:

• A two-hour drive there, listening to Kylie all the way (I was DJing, obviously, and in dire need of some handbag pop)
• A haircut from Naomi
• Browsing second-hand books
• Delicious lunch (I had really good fish-and-chips, Doc C had shrimp stuffed salmon that he was just ecstatic about)
• Shopping for maternity clothes (a striped grey dress, a skirt, a blouse and two t-shirts) and anti-stretchmark body lotion
• Unexpected bonus purchases of make-up and a picture book about London.
• A two-hour drive home, listening to Ok Go (I was DJing again, but being kinder to the Doc)

My lobbying for us to move to Asheville has been moved up a notch.

A British Thing (?)

Rough day at work? Comfort food is required! For dinner I had a fish finger sandwich (brown bread with salad cream) with baked beans.

Doc C was kind of horrified.