Alien Spouse

Evalyn and Hobbes.

I was thrilled to find a soft toy tiger that looks almost exactly like Hobbes for $10; but I must admit I am feeling slightly guilty too.  This isn't an official Hobbes, and has no mention of Bill Waterson on it's tag... But on the other hand there don't appear to be any official Hobbes available... So...

Doc C pointed out that this tiger has a beard, Hobbes doesn't, and I then noticed that this tiger has a white tip to his tail, instead of black.  I suppose that is enough of a difference to not be a copyright infringement? Really?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, Eva has a Hobbes to get into scrapes with so let's not over analyse, eh?

 

Love Asheville.

On Sunday I was working at the shop, and it was fairly busy which was really quite fun.  I was saddened to see that the clock hand earrings I'd been eyeing up had been sold since Thursday, but I probably shouldn't wear attractive dangly earrings around Eva McGrabby-Hands anyway.

Sundays are a nice day to be working in one of the coolest shops in Asheville, because we get a lot of tourists who are visiting for the weekend and usually by Sunday they are relaxed and chatty.  I really enjoy meeting people when they are happily chilled out, so it's a win-win.  This week I was wearing my new "Love Asheville - Go Local" t -shirt

Even better this week I recognised one of our customers, but I couldn't immediately place her.  Fortunately I realised who she was before she left - It was Go Go Ren of the Appalachian Roller Girls!  Squee!  I, of course, fan girled out, and told her what a great jammer she was.  Go Go seemed quite surprised to be recognised, but she was lovely and didn't skate a lap around the shop at top speed or anything.  She mentioned that she had retired her skates, and asked if I'd considered joining a derby team myself (Don't worry Mum - I'm a wimp, I'm highly unlikely to strap on the knee guards) It was a definite highlight of a pleasant day at work.

Asheville.  You have got to love it.

Sapling.

After a really lovely day with a happy Eva on Wednesday she became a screaming demon yesterday - We reasoned that perhaps she had enjoyed being around more people, so we decided to take her out today.  

We went back to The Treehouse with her this afternoon, and she had a lovely time STARING at the small boys who were running around in capes playing superheroes.  Whilst Eva was happily preoccupied Doc C and I were able to have a coffee and chat with Jessie, another new mum, who we orignally met at the CPR class and who we saw again at the Smarty Pants party.  Her baby boy, Sam, is six weeks old and he is such a little sweetheart.  It's really funny to see a baby that small next to Eva, because it is amazing to realise how much she has grown in such a short time and I just hadn't really noticed it because I was just to close to it.  Not seeing the woods for the trees indeed!

Eva's First Social Engagement.

Sunday was extremely exciting, because we'd been invited to a customer appreciation party by the fantastic diaper service we've been using since bringing Eva home.  It was at The Treehouse, which is a sort of play group, pre-school and cafe all rolled into one really fun space; you can bring your child to play on the indoor slide or there are classes in yoga, music and science offered.  Eva's not old enough for the classes yet, but this is a great find for when she's older!

We were a bit nervous because Eva hadn't actually met any other babies before, and, up until quite recently, whenever she caught sight of her reflection in a mirror, she would yell at it angrily.  So we weren't sure if she would just freak out at the sight of other infants, or quite what to expect.  As it happened she was fine, and was happy to just be carried around by either myself or Doc C whilst we chatted with other parents.  At first she seemed quite subdued, but was soon leaning as far forward as she could to really see everything properly and seemed particularly interested in the toddlers. By the end of the party Eva was definitely tired, and she slept for most of the afternoon, so I think she had a lot of fresh information to process.  It was a really nice morning out for all of us, and I'm really glad we went!

By nine thirty that evening Doc C and I were also exhausted, but we knew that Eva would need another nappy change and a feed at about eleven - So we set an alarm, and had a nap for a couple of hours, then got up again to actually get Eva and ourselves ready for bed.  Having a baby, let me tell you, it's a none stop rock 'n roll party.

ARG! Milk!

It's Thursday?  Really?  How the hell did that happen?  Babies really are the most incredible time drain, who knew? (I know that really everyone including myself and Doc C "knew" that but we didn't really know that, you know?)

Anyway...

Today Doc and I went for our initial check-up with our new doctor, who seems very nice and we both got flu shots whilst we were there.  Obviously we had to take Eva with us, because Edith and Nancy are really not stepping up to the task of baby sitting in quite the way one would hope.  I prefer to take a bottle of milk with us to this sort of thing, so that if Eva gets hungry she can eat immediately.  To keep the milk cool I like to use the coozy we got at the first Appalachian Rollergirl exhibition we went to see.

So useful! So cool! Love it!

Points of Articulation.

I am particularly fond of Eva's chubby little wrists, they are a nice clear visual that she is pleasantly well upholstered and I am therefore feeding her properly.  It is very gratifying.

Also, they look like the joints on an action figure.  If the Eva doll ever goes into production, it would come with accessories: a cloth nappy, a fluffy grey cat (with tongue sticking out so she can determinedly try to wash Eva's hair - particularly whenever the baby is crying) and several different hats.

A Weekend in November.

On Saturday morning Eva and I went with Doc C to do the laundry, which is more fun then it might sound because the laundrette we frequent also combines a bar and used bookshop.  Doc dealt with loading up the washing machines (he has a system) and I took care of Eva who slept for the entire time, so I got to browse the books.  

Last time we were there last time I found a book entitled "The Womanly Art of Breast Feeding" which was published in the early 80s if the hair and fashions in it are any indication, it was still there but Eva and I seem to be doing pretty well so I didn't bother with it this time.  Instead I flipped through a much more up-to-date copy of "What to Expect in the First Year", and it actually had some interesting information so I bought it for the bargain price of $2.

On Sunday we took Eva for a drive, because she was feeling a bit screamy and we thought the neighbours could do with a break frankly!  Plus, of course, driving in a car puts her to sleep after about 10 minutes on the road, because she is very much my daughter.  We turned the trip into a lovely Sunday drive on the parkway and picked up doughnuts as well to make it really decadent.

As you know I'm currently job hunting, and so every moment that I'm not taking care of Eva should be spent looking for something that might be a productive means of earning some money.  To help me with this Doc C has downloaded a super fun game that I've wanted for ages called "Quantum Conundrum".  It involves flipping between four different dimensions and the opportunity to actually use my brain to solve some nifty little logic puzzles.  It is really quite addictive, and I am trying my best not to get totally sucked into it.

Resuming Broadcast.

Doc C borrowed a lap top for me, so that I'm able to access the internet and blog, isn't that sweet of him?  He is the very best of husbands in my completely unbiased opinion!

To recap the last few days:

• On Friday we took Eva to get her first round of vaccinations - There was, of course, screaming but the nurse was very efficient and got the shots done really quickly.  Eva soon recovered her equilibrium and is her usual (mostly content) self now.
• We went to the storage unit and dropped off the Halloween decorations and picked up warmer clothes, boots and bedding.  I resisted bringing home the Christmas baubles for now.
• Doc C finished "Bioshock", and we found a second-hand copy of "Bioshock 2" for $8 so the adventure continues!
• I've been reading a lot on my Kindle,which is just an absolute necessity for bookworm mothers in my opinion. It is so easy to hold and "turn pages" with one hand whilst feeding Eva, or holding her, or whatever else she needs at that particular moment (although I haven't yet worked out how to read even the Kindle whilst changing her nappy though, that task requires complete attention).
• I considered buying new jeans on Friday, but as I can easily fit into my old jeans now (if you kindly gloss over the slight muffin top...) so I'll wait to buy more clothes when I have a found a job.
• Speaking of which, I updated my CV and Doc C printed off some copies so I can start handing them in to local businesses and applying for jobs.
• The weather is still quite pleasant but it is colder, so I don't like to have the door to the balcony open all day.  The cats have learned to miaow at the door when they want to go out, and then tap on the glass with their paw when they want to come back in.  They tend to want to go in or out every ten to fifteen minutes and are therefore driving me potty.

The Cutest Zombie.

My friend Kirsten was in town today viewing some studio space, so she came to visit Evalyn and have a cup of tea with me.  I was very proud to be able to offer some of the butter cookies I made yesterday to go with that cup of tea; and whilst Eva did occasionally fuss a little bit (she is baby after all!) she did put on a good show of grinning and cooing as well.  She's a good baby!

It was lovely to see Kirsten, because she is a good egg, and she also brought me a mug with it's very own soft toy zombie.  It is adorably creepy and I love it!

Eva's Un-Birthday!

Today is the 26th of August, which is/was Evalyn's due date.  From now on we will be celebrating it with a cupcake, and the annual displaying of the wrapping paper.

Doc C was talking to Eva today and telling her about all the stuff that we have ready and waiting for her, which includes her toys.  At the moment it's only a small collection, and she won't able to play with most of them for a year or so - Still, they are waiting for her!  She just needs to get here now!

Chicks!

Doc's sister sent us a really fun parcel of baby stuff today, and she definitely got the no pink memo! I love the chick theme, and I'm pretty sure she made the chick soft toys.

Car Seat : Mouse Tested!

Last week we ordered the car seat from Amazon, and we picked it up from the post office today!  Very exciting!  Neither cat has exhibited any interest in being a stunt-baby (in fact you might call their attitude to this idea "total aversion"), so we used Miss Mouse as a stand in for Eva.

She fits the new-born seat insert pretty well, doesn't she?  I imagine Eva might be a bit bigger, but not much really; so it's really weird to realise that she'll totally outgrow this seat before I'm even completely used to the idea that I have a daughter.

We chose this car seat because it clicks into a base in the car, so it's really easy to lift in and out, but also because there is a wheel base that goes with it so the car seat turns into a pram.  It doesn't hurt that it was actually one of the cheaper options we found, but we mostly were impressed by the reviews it got on Amazon and the ratings that Consumer Report awarded it.  We looked into this very thoroughly before committing to a choice as you can see, and actually I think it's going to work really well.  It seems to be well designed and sturdy, but it's still light enough for me to be able to carry it with one hand (you see this is where the cats would have come in handy as they are about the weight Eva will be when I'm lugging her around in the thing at first).

The car seat itself and the base for it both have an info-graphic on it to show the correct orientation of the seat, and that info-graphic is quite clearly of a Mini-Cooper. Doc C has been very much of the opinion that we HAD to change the car because getting a baby seat in and out of it would be too complicated.  I thought that this info-graphic might indicate that he was wrong about that, so we did practice setting up the base in the car and took turns putting the chair in and taking it out.  I'll admit it was not ideal, particularly because once the car seat was safely installed then you couldn't put the driver's seat back in place.  Hmmmm, Doc may have a point here.

Star Wars Baby Shower.

On Saturday our lovely lovely friends Laura and Randy held a baby shower for us.  Baby showers are not something we have in England, so this was a very pleasant new experience for me.

Again, people just giving you the things you need for your baby?  Amazing! I am so grateful for this tradition!

As you can see the cake had a Star Wars theme, and the little blobby things in the bottom corners of the picture are these super cute little Star Wars figures that Doc C has already claimed for his office (neither Eva northe cats should be allowed near these little guys, so this seems entirely reasonable and safe.)

Eva's First Toy.

How adorable is this?  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is such a classic of children's literature, so of course it was the first book I added to our Amazon baby registry and I added the wooden pull-toy Hungry Caterpillar because it was just so cute - And my Mum snapped them both up!

Yesterday Doc C picked up some packages from the post office, and in one of those were our caterpillars. Squee!

It is so simple and so beautiful, and I love the way it moves when you pull it along.  My only concern now is that I'll be so attached to this little guy by the time that Eva is old enough to play with him that I'll be reluctant to hand him over; if that is turns out to be the case we may need to look into getting a stunt caterpillar.

 

Checking In.

Doc C - Playing "Batman: Arkham City"
Me - Baking an aubergine and blogging.
Eva - Growing (presumably)
Cats - Asleep somewhere in the house

Yep, we're all fine! How are you?

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!

Please Be Patient.

I read a few different blogs, and they have all gone through the occasional fallow period which is kind of annoying when you want something new to read every day.

One of the very few celebrity blogs I follow is Wil Wheaton's, and from time to time he will write a post that essentially says "I have something to blog about, but it's a secret for the time being, so I can't blog about it right now, ok?" 

Well, that's where I am right now - I have STUFF to blog about, but, for some quite excellent reasons, I'm reluctant to for a few weeks more and nothing else is really interesting me quite as much (Ooh, apart from "Mod Nation Racers" on the PS3. Doc C and I have been racing each other every evening this week and I even beat him once! Amazing!) 

So, um, stay tuned and I'll hopefully get more entertaining in a little while! Thanks!

2012.

Happy New Year!

We spent yesterday evening at Randy and Laura's house with a small grop of friends. It was a very nice way to end 2011, and start 2012.

Today I slept late; finished playing "Arkham Asylum"; got half-way through "Genius Wars" and had a most satisfactory afternoon nap.

Doc started playing "Arkham City" (Catwoman! Squee!); made vegetable stock form the HF-W cookbook; looked on-line at houses for sale and has now settled in for a "Star Wars" marathon.

2012 is off to a cracking start!

The Dragon and The Unicorn.

Boxing Day is part of Christmas that I have come to appreciate more as a grown-up; because obviously as a kid the day after Christmas is merely the furthest possible day from next Christmas and is therefore rather a disappointment after the frenzy of Christmas itself.

Now I think I prefer it! It's so much calmer (well, not that Doc and I actually did anything exciting for Christmas this year) and there are still all sorts of little treats to still be enjoyed.

We went to Randy and Laura's house to play board games, and were introduced to "Chaostle" which is sort of a simpler version of Dungeons and Dragons. Not that I would notice any major differences having never played actual DnD, but this was pretty fast moving and I enjoyed it a lot.

I took loads of photos of the epic battles - Then when I looked at them later, it seemed that almost all of them featured either the Dragon or the Unicorn, so I thought I'd use the only skirmish that was between these two mythical brawlers (I believe the Dragon won here).

'tis The Season!

Christmas Day!

We celebrated with a late breakfast followed by the traditional playing of video games (Doc C - Arkham Asylum, normal mode); a long walk followed by coffee and cherry pie; the traditional playing of video games (Me - Arkham Asylum, easy mode) and now we are watching "Metropolis" whilst I cook risotto for dinner.

It's practically Dickensian, isn't it?

The Festive Season.

Last week was the last week of classes, so whilst there are still a week of exams to get through before the Winter break, there is a distinct scent of festivity in the air. Last week I went to a drag show, my department's Christmas drinks and the annual Christmas party of some friends of ours - These events, plus our usual Wednesday pub night, meant that we were out four nights out of seven and that is a lot for me. I felt distinctly unsociable and headachey by Sunday, so I wanted nothing more than to play "Arkham Asylum", read about animal communication and get my Doc Martens ready for winter.

When we were invited out to the cinema on Sunday, it sounded fun but it also sounded like I'd have to wash my hair and get dressed.  I really needed some quiet time at home, so we declined but it's so nice to have friends who understand that sometimes you just have to power down.

This week we've got Doc's departmental party, a haircut in Asheville and a Torchwood viewing party; so far there's nothing else on the calendar and that sounds just about perfect to me.

Edith in Action.

As the weather gets colder Edith gets distinctly livelier and wants to play more, she's currently loving playing "reaching through the stairs" and will play for as long as she has a human opponent.

Trivia Night.

This evening Doc C and I were invited to join Anna's pub quiz team, and I am very pleased to report that Stormageddon came third. Not bad for an opening gambit.

We have lulled them into a false sense of security, and next week we shall sweep to victory! Victory!

No Virtual Pain, No Virtual Gain.

One thing I really like (usually) about my Zumba video game is that it's very encouraging, the instructor voice overs prefer positive re-enforcement so you get praised for replicating the movements (or at least jumping around enough in a close approximation). The avatars also like to make sure you stay hydrated, and occaisionally remind you to drink water in between routines; this also gives you a few seconds more time to grab a drink and be back on your mark for the next song.

I was getting really annoyed at my virtual trainer for not giving me a drink break, which just meant whenever I did have some water I missed the first few moments of a set. I got so annoyed that I said "I bloody hate you!" just as I gave my hips a particularly vengeful shake, thereby activating the trainer to apparently reply "Good!" in a sadistically cheerful voice.

Sometimes this game is a little too realistic.

Weekend Status Report.

The Good: I am reading Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" and loving it. It's sort of a murder mystery with academic overtones, but whodunnit is never any sort of a puzzle. It's gripping.

The Bad: The weather this weekend has been really humid and sticky, my least favourite kind of weather personally. I cannot wait for Autumn proper to kick in with some nice crisp mornings.

The Ugly: The cream that the dermatologist prescribed causes a rash to flare up on my chest, and so it suddenly feels as though every single t-shirt I own has a scoop neck to it which hits me in just exactly the wrong spot. Yesterday I discovered that wearing a scoop neck backwards creates a boatneck at the front which conceals and protects the itchy bumpiness. This will look intentional with most of my tops; the exception being henleys, so if you should happen to notice that I have a row of buttons down my back, can we just pretend it's a new fashion trend from Europe or something?

The Fabulous: Monday is Labour Day, it's like Bank Holiday Weekend, and I have finally treated myself to a copy of "Portal 2" so I intend to be spending several hours of my day off in my pajamas playing that, with occasional breaks for coffee and toast.

Edith and Nancy - Because They Are Cute.

Edith is one of those cats who un-complicatedly adores humans, and she is very very clear about this. When we got home from Pilates last night Edith was in the mood for love, and she planted herself on my leg. I was sitting sort of cross legged, so she was just draped along my thigh, purring at top volume and with a totally blissed out expression on her face.

I didn't have my camera, and when Doc made a move to get it for me, Edith sat up to watch what he was doing; then promptly decided she felt like grabbing a quick snack and jumped off me. Damn it! Fortunately she came back a bit later in the evening and re-draped herself on my other leg, by which point I had my camera to hand and ready to take her photo.

Oh, how Edith loves!

Nancy usually spends most of her time in our bedroom, but she did spend a few minutes with us in the living room last night and we were treated to some ferocious kitten-cat hunting.

This is one of Nancy's favourite parts of hunting; putting herself behind an obstacle and r-e-a-c-h-i-n-g in vaguely the direction of her prey. It is, not surprisingly, ineffective.  She also does ridiculous little pouncing jumps which will sometimes segue into forward rolls, with the occasional hiss thrown in for added drama. Nancy would survive in the wild for as long as her stores of body fat held out, but I seriously doubt she'd be able to actually catch her own food.

Can't Talk... Gaming...

Doc and I are taking turns in being obsessed with the video games we rented at the weekend; I nabbed the PS3 straight after work and Portal-ed until it was time for dinner. Then I threw together some ginger vinaigrette to dress a salad with and handed over the play station to the L.A.P.D. under Doc's careful guidance - He just busted Greg Grunberg! I love watching Doc play "L.A. Noire" as much as I enjoy playing "Portal 2" myself, well, really both games are becoming somewhat of a collaborative effort and are all the more fun for that I think.

Travel Sick Whilst Stationary

So this evening I tried out the game I rented from Blockbuster, which was "Portal 2". I may have got a bit sucked into it.

It's really fun, super simple to understand and play, but it's series of logic puzzles really so it gets increasingly challenging. My only complaint is that first person perspective on video games makes me feel a bit queasy, sort of like being car sick in the comfort of your own home.

Playstation Sunday.

I earned three Zumba'd trophies during my 45 minute PS3 dance class today, which I am very proud of. I'm on the expert level now, which involves a lot more fancy footwork that I cannot get my head around. The best part of playing this on my own in the livin room is not being embarrassed that salsa will never be a strong component of my dance repertoire.

We've been using the Playstation on and off all day, I used it to watch the first couple of episodes of the BBC's "Being Human: Season 2", then it choreographed my cardio for the day and Doc has also played "L.A. Noire" a couple of times.

It might sound odd, but I'm really enjoying watching "L.A. Noire". We'd read a lot about how good the facial animation was, but also read mixed reviews of the game play itself; which was why we rented it first. Well, the avatars faces really are incredible and I am loving that I can clearly recognise many of the actors; particularly because several of them are from the cast of "Mad Men"! It's so nice to see another side to Ken Cosgrove! Doc C also is very much enjoying actually playing the game, which is after all the point,so we may end up owning this one.

Derby Day.

I was so tired last night, and that translated to me sleeping for something like 14 hours. Ridiculous.

This afternoon we went to watch our local Roller Derby team play their inaugural bout against a team from another city. Our girls were creamed, but it was very entertaining to watch. I may have even wooped once or twice.
Hopefully Doc C and I will be able to go to the next match which is in Charlotte, but Doc has a conference that day so it all depends on the timing.

After the match we went for burritos and then rented some video games from Blockbuster. Doc got "L.A. Noire" and I got "Portal 2", I can never resist rummaging through the ex-rental DVDs so we now own "The Brothers Bloom" and "In The Loop" for 99 cents each. I also got some cardboard speakers for 69 cents that Doc is highly skeptical of, but might do for when I'm workin in the store room at the office and I need some tunes.

All in all, a very successful Saturday.

Friday : And Relax...

Today I got stuff done at work, as one does.

When I came home I took off my make-up, put on my exercise clothes and watched last night's "So You Think You Can Dance" with a cup of tea. Then I Zumba'd, but I'm glad none of the judges were there to watch, I'd never have made it through the initial auditions.

I also played a demo of a PS3 game called "Flower", which just involved swooping around as petal on the wind and bringing other flowers into bloom. Not exactly good botanical science, but bloody gorgeous and very relaxing. I got Doc C to give it a go after dinner and he thought it was lovely too. Not something you say often of video games; actually Doc is playing the "Watchmen" demo now, and that involves slot more violence and mayhem.

Speaking of dinner, this evening Doc grilled burgers (veggie for me, naturally) and half a lobster tail each, with a large salad. Please excuse me now whilst I curl up like a cat and luxuriously digest the tasty.

Further Virtual Fisticuffs.

I am on a gladiatorial roll! I took out another opponent, but now I'm up against the big boss for the level and she is a very tough customer. I barely even scratched her before being knocked out, three times in a row. Yikes.

The main point of the exercise was to get some cardio (after 30 minutes of pilates. I was very focussed this evening!), so I didn't take the defeat to heart.

This time. But I'll be victorious, eventually.

Hard Won Virtual Victory.

After work this evening I had a cup of tea with a slice of banana bread, whilst reading Victorian detective stories. Then I changed into sports gear, turned on the playstation and did battle in the virtual gladiator arena. That sounds like I just sat in an armchair and pushed buttons, but actually I had to move furniture out of the way so I had enough space to flail around the living room with my virtual sword and shield. I must look like a loon to anyone who happens to look through our window.

I've been battling the same avatar all this week, and although I have won a fair number of the matches I didn't get all three if the possible gold stars. I don't move onto my next opponent without a full compliment of gold stars; that's my own personal rule, not part of the game. The really difficult part was that my opponent was the character I usually play as, so we were very equally matched, but after a lot of hard slog I won!

Doc C came out of the study just in time to catch me, covered in sweat, doing my gloating victory dance and laughing maniacally.

The Red Metal Cabinet.

Monday. Ugh.

Fortunately we don't have to dwell on the horror that is the first day of summer school classes, we have much more pleasant things to consider; such as our new TV cabinet.

I love being able to close the doors and shut away all of the wires, gadgets and accessories, it makes the whole room look tidier straight away. On top of that it's actually got a slimmer footprint than the hideous tables, so it takes up less floor space giving us about a foot more space in the living room.

Right now the only minor problems are the cats, who are both, naturally, fascinated by the new piece of furniture, all the more so because it usually has closed doors. Closed doors are an anathema to cats, and so whenever the cabinet is open both girls are drawn to it like a magnet. They didn't give a toss about the PS3 or the cable box before, this is purely because of the doors.

(By the way the images on the TV are from a game called "Red Dead Redemption", it's set in the wild west and I believe Doc C is currently hunting bad guys for the bounty on their heads)

A Relaxing Friday Night At Home.

After work this evening Doc C had some work to do (the man always has work to do, should anyone think that academics don't do anything over the summer they are very very wrong), so I watched "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" (2008).

Then we played petanque/boule/bocce/ on the lawn in front of our house whilst we drank a bottle of Corona each. I think Doc beat me, but we weren't very precise about keeping score, so I'm not 100% sure. We chatted with one of our neighbours, and her lovely dog, before playing one final round of bocce before Doc cooked burgers and sweetcorn on the BBQ.

All in all, a rather pleasant almost summer evening.

Slightly Chilled.

Today's weather was mostly notable for a twenty degree drop in temperature, which meant it felt really quite cold, and, even though I thought I had dressed for the conditions (a long sleeve dress, tights and tall boots), by the end of the working day I felt physically tired from just being a bit chilly all day. Naturally this called for Gentlemen's Relish on toast with a nice hot cup of tea and the second part of a time-travel adventure that I am enjoying very much.

After that I spent some time this evening decorating my Sack Person's Pod in "Little Big Planet" in a loosely steam-punk motif. If the Play Station Network was up I could take a screen shot and post it for you, but as it is you'll just have to take me at my word when I say it was half an hour very well spent; and that was before I even started playing the game itself.

My feet still haven't fully defrosted, but I have slippers on, with a fleecy blanket over the top and Edith sitting on top of that, so I hope to be less zombie-like by the time I go to bed.

Boules, Bocce, Petanque.

Doc C asked me to bring back some biscuits from England, but he really couldn't think of anything else he wanted. Fortunately Ridley's have a range of retro-packaged classic games, including this rather nice Boules set.

This is a particularly great present because it works on so many levels, first of all it's the real life version of a game Doc C enjoys on the PS3, secondly the box is lovely and well worth displaying and, finally, it just happens to be the perfect size to use as a bookend on the cookbook shelf.

So far we've only played a couple of games in the living room, much to the confusion of the cats, but I am really looking forward to playing on the lawn when the weather gets nicer.

Wednesday Day : Wednesday Evening.

First day back at work, after a fortnight's holiday and two sick days; I had 230 unread e-mails in my in-box, I kept thinking it was Monday instead of Wednesday and I'm still battling the last of my cold, so I am totally exhausted.

When I got home this evening I played some Little Big Planet, Doc C made me a blue cheese pizza and now we're watching the DVD box-set of "Mad Men" (season one). Fabulous.

Friday! Cardio! Legumes! Woot!

There is a philosophy conference on campus this weekend, which Doc C is attending. This means the cats and I get to party like rock stars in the house this evening and all day tomorrow! Oh yeah!

So far tonight I have Zumba'd at intermediate level for 50 minutes, then s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d for 25 minutes before having a nice hot shower and cooking myself some dinner whilst dancing around the kitchen to Kylie's "X" album. This evening's culinary experiment was chick peas with onion, garlic, lemon and tabasco over brown rice, which sounds SO dull doesn't it? As it happens it was really tasty, and I still have half a can of chickpeas left so I'll probably have it again tomorrow.

Meanwhile Nancy is on the bed and Edith is up in the loft.

Like I said, ROCK STARS!

Shake It 'Til You're Warm.

It rained all day today, so by the evening I felt cold and miserable. I came home and had a nice hot cup of tea whilst curled up under a blanket with Edith, but that didn't thaw me out.

Clearly the cure for this was to to do a Zumba workout for 25 minutes. After that I was MUCH warmer, in fact my biceps were toasty-warm to the touch (Doc was impressed!), and I was much happier because it turns out that dancing around your living room is fun.

Ok. Fine. I am enjoying exercising regularly.

There, I said it.

Boring Spreadsheet Code Aide Memoir.

This will no doubt sound like a ridiculously simple problem to anyone who understands how to write Visual Basic codes for Excel, but I don't know how to do that. I know just enough about Excel to be dangerous, in that I'm aware it can do some pretty useful stuff that should theoretically save me bunches of time but it will take me hours to find out how. Naturally I tried searching on-line, but usually what I want to do is clearly remedial level Excel and there are no internet Excel guides written in crayon unfortunately.

Today I really wanted Excel to compare two sets of data and simply tell me where there were any discrepancies. It took me freaking forever to work out how to get it to do that, and my solution is as simple as it could possibly be, so I'm prepared to bet that what I ended up with could be much more sophisticated, but it will do.

The code that I eventually got (with the aid of the Excel function wizard) was:

=IF(A1=B1,"Woot!","Boo!")

It's 25 characters, more or less, and I'm making a note of it here so I don't have to spend hours trying to find it again. What it does is look at cell A1 and compares it to cell B1; if they are equal it writes Woot! in cell C1; if they are not equal it writes Boo! (that's what this one does, my one at work checks for room numbers and course titles, etc, so it might say "Room?" instead of "Boo!")

Really quite satisfying, and all the more so because Doc C looked at it too and couldn't get it to work. It almost makes him beating my Little Big Planet high scores, as I am writing this, not sting quite so much.

Monday Pilates.

After work this evening I did Pilates with a set of evil rubber bands, to a video lead by a woman whose sole intention is to make my arms ache and I am tired now. This is good, in that I'll sleep really well because it's that nice physically tired feeling not just mentally fatigued.

On the other hand I meant to fight some gladiators before going to bed, and that is definitely not going to happen. Fortunately tomorrow I'll zumba, so I'll shoehorn the fighting in then. It's probably good to alternate nice stretchy pilates with ridiculously sweaty cardio, right? I want to keep my muscles confused, and my brain engaged.

Also Doc started playing Little Big Planet purposefully, and he's already beaten most of my high scores on the first level. This may be war. A very cute war.

Rich in B Vitamins * 100% Vegetarian

I got up early this morning to fit in some Zumba (and a bit of gladiatorial battle as well - Raaaah!). Doc C was still asleep and I didn't want to wake him up, so I cleaned the kitchen a bit.

That included washing the empty jars that are waiting to be recycled. Amongst them was the large Marmite jar we had just finished, which will not now be recycled but instead will live on the kitchen windowsill in all it's retro glory.

Then the Doc woke up and made me pancakes! Yay for Saturdays!

The Cure for Mondays.

There was a palpable Monday-ish to today, not to be totally unexpected on a Monday I suppose. It comes to something though when you are told that the lift you thought was broken is actually working and you think to yourself "Well that's just bloody brilliant isn't? Ugh!"

So I came home and played "Little Big Planet", then I got changed and did a Zumba routine. There is nothing quite like video games followed by crazy dancing around the living room to cheer a girl up.

Game Day.

Today we had arranged to go over to Laura and Randy's house to play "Arkham Asylum".  This time we were very focussed and actually remembered to play the game instead of just chatting which is what happened last time.  It's a really fun board game, and I very much liked that it was a collaborative effort on the part of every one playing to battle the ancient horror and it's minions.  True I did get eaten, or rather my character did, but my companions bravely battled on and were ultimately victorious.

After that, we went for burritos and frozen custard! Yay! It's great being a grown up and having exactly what you want to eat!

It was still fairly early in the evening, so I suggested that we all go back to our house and play video games.  Which was what we did, and Laura now understands my deep love of "Little Big Planet". 

It has been a very fun Saturday.

Tree Buds and Video Games.

We went out for brunch this morning, and then went for a walk to work it off again.

I noticed there were several trees in bud, which is really shortsighted on the part of the trees because we are expecting another bad cold snap next week. I was taking photos of the buds when Doc C pointed out a really tiny nest. We couldn't work out if it was a bird nest or an insect nest, but it's pretty impressive that it's so well built that it has survived the whole winter so far.

Then we came home and I had a lovely nap with Edith in the loft.  Then Doc C napped with both cats whilst I played "Little Big Planet 2", and it is SO cool. There is an whole level made of cake, Batternburg Cake, where you can grab and throw blobs of jam. Plus there is another great soundtrack, which includes the disco classic "A Fifth of Beethoven" which is so damn funky.

It has been a fun Saturday.

A Halloween Tree and A Gladiator Tournament.

We moved the furniture around in the living room, so that we would have more room to move when playing with the PS3 Move.  When we did that it meant the vases of Christmas decorations were in odd places, so I decided just to put them away a bit early.

Before I did though, I decided that I can't wait 9 months to see what my new Halloween decorations looked like on the black vinyl mini-tree.  And they look fabulous.  I cannot wait!

Whilst I was doing that Doc C was playing Bocce on the PS3, and then we swapped over.  I played the gladiator game, for about 45 minutes.  That doesn't sound like much, but I was competing for the bronze trophy and at the end of it I was an exhausted sweaty mess.  It was worth it though, I fought 12 duels and I won ten of them.  Raaaah!  So much fun!

A New Toy.

Damn it! As a "back-to-school" present to me (and let's be honest, to himself as well), Doc snuck out this morning and bought the PS3 Move bundle.  It's got a camera, a controller and the Sports Champions game.

We've been playing Bocce fairly competitively for about two hours now, and it turns out I'm just as wildly inaccurate when hurling a virtual frisbee as I am when it's the real thing.  Also the gladiator game is good, really good, but both of us would love it even more if there was a light saber and some Force involved.

I will, of course, be buying the work out game that goes with the system with my next pay check.  Unlike Kinetic, it's not affiliated to Nike; instead of a totally fictional trainer this time I shall be bossed around by an avatar of Mel B.  It's going to be like I'm on "Dance Your Ass Off", but with more leaping around in my own living room and a lot fewer sequins.

 

 

An Apprentice Error.

At lunch today I suggested that Doc and I should get a simple version of Dungeons and Dragons to play over the Christmas break, because I've never played it whilst he spent many a happy teenage hour as a Halfing Thief.  I said that one bonus was that we could then hold our heads up in the local comic bookshop, and brag about having "...a mage with plus five dexterity."

Doc C had to really wrestle with his inner gaming geek not to actually snort at such a very basic mistake, but the look on his face betrayed him, so I asked what was so funny.  Doc explained that a Mage really wouldn't need dexterity, that's an attribute for an assassin or a thief.

I mean, obviously.  Duh.

My Weekend in Summary.

This weekend I have spoken to my Mum; been to a Zumba class; walked a dog who I would love to adopt; eaten frozen custard; watched Miss Marple solve the mystery of "The Body in the Library; made a pair of clawed feet for crochet Yoda; bought comic books; finished a Dorothy L. Sayers book; played video games; and had a really nice nap.