Alien Spouse

Colour Change.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have red hair!  Well, actually it's decidedly ginger, which is what I wanted and I love it!

I have always wanted to try being a redhead, but just never got round to it.  Doc C has been encouraging me to branch out with funky hair, so when I went to get my hair cut yesterday I mentioned it to Naomi.  We talked about colour, and then chose a nice vibrant semi-permanent red - Fifteen minutes later and I'm a Ginger.

Squee!

Faux-Hawk!

Doc C dressed Eva today, but he was shamelessly pandering to my taste and I was particularly smitten with this outfit.  Look at that faux-fur faux-hawk!  Ridiculous AND Adorable!

We actually had to go out this morning to get blood taken for some blood tests (nothing interesting, just standard tests for the medical we had with our new doctor yesterday) and we weren't supposed to eat before hand - So we were very motivated to leave the house early today.  

Eva slept through the whole thing, and only really woke up when we went out for breakfast, and even then she was really good.  There was a bit of crying, but only because she wanted to get out of her pram and STARE around the restaurant at people.  She is definitely getting really interested in other people and what they are doing, which is really fun to see.

She wasn't quite so good when we later had to go to the chemists to pick up our prescriptions, but who can blame her?  Walgreens is really not as much fun as the Early Girl Eatery!

This Small Victory is Mine!

The temperature has dropped noticably over the last couple of days; and Eva does not approve.  That's the only reason I can come up with for her being so inconsolably grumpy every time I try to put her down, I think she wants to be held so she can leach my body heat. Basically, what I'm saying is that my daughter is a cat or possibly a lizard.  I have been calling her Reptile Brain (Affectionately!  Her other nickname is Milk Breath), so I may have brought this on myself.

Yesterday I didn't ever manage to calm her down long enough for me to have a shower until it just seemed a bit pointless especially as I wasn't going to be leaving the house or seeing anyone anyway, and so I just changed into a warmer set of pajamas.  Today though has been a victory of baby wrangling and time management - I've eaten breakfast before noon, had a shower (AND I washed my hair and put some styling product in it!  I know!) and put on clean clothes that are not designed purely for sleeping in.  

I feel like I have accomplished so much.  It's funny how your goals and standards change isn't it?

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!

Asheville Saturday - December.

Journey - We drove to Asheville today for my haircut, on the way we stopped in a shop that we've been interested in going to for a while because it also serves slices of pie with coffee. The pies are baked in house and are really delecious; we both got pecan pie this time, but I'm going to have to try the coconut cream pie next time.

Shopping - Even with a stop for pie, we still were 45 minutes early so we shopped for books. I scored two kids books by Catharine Jinks and "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. Doc C was giddy to snap up a $2 copy of a Bertrand Russell book, so that was good too.

Haircut - Seeing as I won't be at work for a couple of weeks, I asked Naomi for a slightly edgier cut than I usually get and I think she enjoys having a bit of creative freedom! She took a couple of photos with her phone for her portfolio.

Food - Sushi! We ate miso soup and seaweed salad, then an excellent selection of sashimi and sushi. So delicious.

After that we came home.

It was a good day.

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.

Saturday Lists.

Morning - Tea. Toast. Honey.

Afternoon - Asheville. Sushi. Window-shopping. Haircut. Iced latte. Home.

Evening - Pizza. "Eureka". Cats.

Asheville Feeds Me.

I always book my next haircut with Naomi on my way out of the salon (Ananda - Who are lovely by the way), that way we have our next trip to Asheville set up before we've even left town, and when I booked my haircut last month I happened to choose the weekend that the Americana Burlesque and Sideshow Festival was in town. That sounded like our idea of a good time, so the Doc booked a hotel and I threw an evening dress and two bags of make-up into an overnight case. However, we couldn't find out if there would definitely be seating at the main show at The Orange Peel on Saturday night. I know that sounds a bit needy, but really I don't want to be standing for three hours at the best of times and it would really kill Doc C's back. We really did try to find out, we scoured the website for clues, and asked at the box office on the day, but no-body seemed to know and we didn't want to plonk down $25 apiece on the off-chance we'd be able to snag a chair.

So we got dressed up anyway and went for a curry at Mela. There was considerably less nudity on display, but the Malai Kofta (Ground almonds, cashews and paneer cheese formed into balls and cooked in a rich almond spice sauce) with a Mumbai Mojito was so delicious I barely noticed that. I am a girl who liked her food, it makes me very happy to eat a really nice meal.

Speaking of which, we went to Table for brunch this morning. You know when I say it like that it sounds easy, but we weren't at all certain they would be able to fit us in because we didn't have a reservation. To be sure of a tasty breakfast we got there half an hour before they opened and made sure we were the first people through the door. They hadn't even printed off the day's menus, that's how ahead of the game we were this morning!

Doc had a breaded pork loin with a fried egg and avocado, which was delicious; at least that's what he tells me, personally I was too focussed on my bagel with lox, goat's cheese and a hard-boiled egg to really pay any attention to anything else. So delicious. I'd already eaten half of the bagel, all of my salad and a good number of smashed-then-fried potatoes before I thought to take a photo.

So delicious.

happy sigh.

Hair for a Melodrama.

I look really awful with long hair, in my opinion, so I usually have variations on the theme of a pixie cut. Last time Jason cut it for me, which was back in July, he suggested leaving the ringlet that forms naturally on the right side of my face. Which I have done, with Naomi's help, and its getting really long now!

This is the intentionally cropped and pixelated version of my current Facebook profile picture to illustrate the ridiculous corkscrew. 

When I'm wearing khakis, with a navy t-shirt or sweater and a peacoat, I'm really in costume as a plucky Victorian young lady who has run away to sea dressed as a cabin boy, but whose ringlets are about to give the game away.

A Blow to the Christmas Spirit.

Today Doc C and I were on somewhat of a mission, we made a list of everything we needed to buy, loaded all the recycling and rubbish into the car and then we went to town.  The list was mainly things that we might need whilst snowed in, which there is not a sign of so far I have to say, and included such necessities as whiskey, apples and draught excluding stuff.

We completed our mission within the alloted time frame and then came home to put up the lights on the veranda before the hotly anticipated arrival of snow.  

Whilst helping Doc to wire the lights through the kitchen window, I managed to hit myself in the head.  If this were a sit-com it would have been something seasonally appropriate, but in real life it was actually a very large wok which I knocked off it's hook and onto my head.  Doc came running in, and made me sit down then he checked me for any signs of concussion, but I think I'm ok.  Bit of a headache, but that's about it.  Edith kissed it better, well, really she just likes the taste of my hair product I think so it was more an affectionate grooming.

We were planning to go to a friend's party this evening, but the wok to the head took the party mood right out of me, so we stayed at home instead.  I put up some of the draught excluders, but I've left the rest to do in the morning.  Oddly putting up insulation is far less fun then putting up decorations, weird that eh?

A Haircut and Some Chocolate.

We drove to Asheville today to go to my hairdresser and pick up a terrarium.

Whilst there we also visited the Chocolate Lounge.

We had a macaroon and a truffle each, my truffle was ginger and Doc's was raspberry.

It was delicious.

A Purgative of Mental Objects.

Edith woke me up at 5 this morning by miaowing pitifully, which she never does, so I went downstairs to check she was ok (she was totally fine, I don't know what that was about at all) and then back up to bed; but I couldn't fall back to sleep.  I just did that dozing thing, where you have your eyes closed but your brain is churning away.

Mainly I was thinking about life, the universe, and, you know, everything.  A recurring theme was blogging and what exactly I'm trying to do in this little bit of of the internet.  I read a lot of blogs, web comics and cyber-zines so I've observed there are as many approaches to maintaining an internet site as there are people on-line.  I've never wanted to stick to a particular theme, because my blog was more about keeping an open diary.

When I wrote about going to the hospital with Doc C on Wednseday evening he wasn't very pleased that I'd done that, but it was in defending those 2 posts that I came to the conclusion that I haven't been writing about the things I've been actually thinking about.  I don't really know why I'm censoring myself so heavily because all it means is that when I open the compose screen I'm stuck with a very limited selections of topics to write about, and it sort of feels like I'm making endless small talk.  Which is exhausting.

So I think it's time for a cathartic blurt of my current recurring thoughts:

• Doc C and I are going to try and get me pregnant in 2011.  This is a very weird thought.
• I haven't been home in over three years and I just have a small but constant lump of homesickness in my throat that I have to try and ignore or I'll just wallow in it.
• I've been on anti-depressants for 18 months mainly to cope with the homesickness, and that certainly helps, but it's still there.
• I don't like living in a small town, because I really miss being in a big city.  The job market means we are unlikely to move anywhere soon, so I'm trying to make the best of it all but it's not my ideal lifestyle.
• Only one person seems to be talking to me from my last office here on campus, and that makes me really paranoid.  Did I do something awful or are they just cross because I changed offices?  No one's actually mentioned anything to me, but it's a hard feeling to shake.
• I like my current job but I always planned to have got somewhere in an actual career by this stage in my life, and I'm getting a little bit panicky that I'm in my mid-thirties without any idea what the hell I'm going to do next. Part of the problem is that the only career option that seems viable in a small university town is becoming a university lecturer.
• I'd need to complete at least an MA, which would involve taking classes, researching and writing essays and doing student teaching whilst working a full time job.  I need a nap and a large gin just thinking about that. 
• I would like to start a small business but I'm not sure what I should try to do.  I'm always being told I should sell my Amigurumis or other stuff I make, but I'm just not sure if that's really what I want to do full-time.
• I'm not a very good house keeper, because I honestly don't notice that stuff until it becomes clear that it really needs to be done.
• I don't like my wardrobe.  The only place I ever seem to buy clothes here is Old Navy, which is fine for jeans and casual tops; but all of their skirts are too short.  I'll never be cool and that's fine, I just want to look smart and sensible, but also a bit funky or at least interesting.  
• I can't find time to exercise regularly.  Going to the University gym is free, but it opens at 7 so I can only fit in 20 to 30 minutes in the morning before I have to get ready to start work at 8; the gym then closes at 3 and I finish work at 5.  I can't run because my plataar fascitiis flares up again.  I want to take Pilates, but one studio just won't get back to me and the other isn't offering classes until next year now.
• I'm a natural blonde and, as is natural, my hair is getting darker.  I occaisonally think that I'd like to dye it a fun colour, but I've never bleached or dyed my hair and I'm not sure I could really be bothered with the necessary upkeep to keep it looking good.  Plus that sounds expensive.
• We will be in Boston for Christmas, which means we will be seeing the Doc's family and he hasn't even begun thinking what we could do for presents for all of them.  Actually when I mentioned it this morning he said he would tell them not to give us any, so we shouldn't need to get anything for them.  This strategy never bloody works, and I find it mortifying to be given gifts when I don't have anything to give in return.
• Edith keeps pooping on the bathroom floor, I'm trying not to get angry with her because I know she's just trying to tell me something, but I don't know what she wants now. This makes me feel like a bad cat owner.

Ummm... Yeah, there's other stuff too I'm sure, but that'll do for now!

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.

Blah.

I love that "blah" makes such great cartoon character hair.

The side curls are particularly pleasing.

Asymmetric, Almost Disconnected.

I had my hair cut today, because the fringe was out of control and it was driving me crazy.  I actually have a choppy pageboy bob type thing going on now, because I decided to let it grow a bit longer.  This is mainly because Doc C has never seen me with my hair longer than a pixie cut before, and he's intrigued.  Still when I get sick of it, I can just get it all cut off so I don't mind trying something different.

My usual hairdresser, Sarah, has had the temerity to leave since my last haircut; so I have a new hairdresser Jezebel.  She turned out to be lovely, and a fan of "The Wire" no less, but I did have some concerns about how to dress for the initial meeting.  I wanted to say "Professional" but also "Slightly Funky", in the end I went with by black-and-white gingham pedal pushers and a black t-shirt scoop neck because it was just too much pressure!

Speaking of Crazy Cat Ladies...

... Does that necessarily mean the lady herself is crazy, or might it be the cats who are the nutters sometimes?

Edith loves my hair.

I lay down on the sofa for a nap after our shopping trip, and before I actually fell asleep Edith jumped up on to the cushion I was using as a pillow.  She pawed and sniffed at my hair for a bit, before eventually falling asleep with her nose buried in it. 

When I woke up and rolled onto my back to read, that woke Edith up as well and she started pawing and grooming my hair.  It was like a creepy feline shiatsu massage.  I think she likes my hair styling products, which are from Bumble and bumble so they are organic and ingesting a small amount shouldn't hurt her.

Yep.  If anyone is crazy in this relationship it is most definitely the cat, not the lady.

Cropped.

Yay for short hair!

I think it's sort of a choppy Eaton Crop, but I have to try styling it by myself to be completely sure.  That may sound weird, but at the moment it's in full-on "just stepped out of the salon" mode, which involves a lot more volume then I usually go for.

Tomorrow it'll be back to giving my hair a light spray of product, flipping my head over and blow drying it with some scrunching.

Haircut Research Day.

I need a haircut.  Fortunately my hairdresser can see me tomorrow afternoon, so now all I need is to find a style.  Last time I googled for "choppy bob", "pixie cut" and "razor cut"; then download the pictures to my iPod to show my hairdresser.

The problem with that technique is there is no way of knowing what the model's hair is like, and what will work on thick hair won't on fine hair; so this time I've taken a different research tack.  Having observed Michelle Williams over the course of her acting career, I have noticed that her hair behaves in a very similar way to mine, so I did an image search for her and came up with a gallery of images.

I really like the choppy bob on the bottom row, and those are all from the same photo shoot.  The top row is Miss Williams with slightly longer hair, which I think is how that photo shoot hair grew out.  And I would love to look like that!  Well, not the top far right picture if I'm completely honest, but that is the photo that really convinces me that Michelle and I have similar issues with our mops.

Of course then all I'll need is a stylist, make-up artist and lighting tech to follow me around everywhere, and I could look just like that.  That's an entirely reasonable expectation for a haircut, right?

Do NOT Drink Me.

I bought this water-bottle a few weeks ago, as it happens it was just a few days before I caught Mono.  At the time I bought it simply because I love my skull-and-crossbones stuff.

The timing is somewhat ironic, as it's now the bottle I'm using at work, because of course, it is a Plague Bottle that is covered with Mono Lurgey (American Translation: Cooties) now.

Halloween on the Brain-Slug Planet.

This is the brain-slug wig I made for Doc to wear this Halloween (I picniked in the Frankenstein mask to protect Doc's anonymity).  Doc was really pleased with the whole thing, and has already said that this is going to be his costume for years to come.

The wig itself was five bucks from KMart, and I think it's supposed to be an Elvis wig, but really it was just a curly mop.  I definitely couldn't have made anything better, and, a couple of times at the Ghost Train, I forgot Doc was wearing it and lost him for a minute or two. 

Obviously the crocheted brain-slug really added that touch of verisimilitude that a cheap wig needs to be convincing.

Breakfast and a Haircut.

Saturday!

But not just any Saturday, this is a Saturday when I've got a haircut booked and I left time for us to have a delicious breakfast out first.  Any day that starts with hot wholewheat waffles and fresh fruit salad has got to be good.

I also seem to have finally convinced my hairdresser that she really can cut my hair into a short choppy pixie cut and I won't freak out about it.  I think what did it was having a photo of how I wanted it to be cut, along with a picture of how I thought that would grow out.  Now the first picture was a very pretty model and the second picture was Cate Blanchett, and there is only so much a hair cut can do for a girl, but I think the fact I  demonstrated a solid grasp of the life cycle of a hair do convinced her that I could handle it.

I feel so much happier now!  There is something so oppressive about not being able to do a thing with your mop.

Ready to Party in Under Twenty Minutes. Let's Go!

We went to the engagement party of our friends Jack and Amber last night, which was really nice.  Before we went I decided to have an afternoon nap, because warm weather saps my energy reserves by a ridiculous amount.  Doc was working on a paper and lost track of time, so I was expecting to be woken up in time for a light snack before getting ready to leave, and instead we had to go! Now!

I had already planned to wear a mini-dress I bought in the Philadelphia H&M, so I pulled that on and shoved my feet into my black low-top converse.  All I had to do now was put on some make-up.  Quickly!  I was just applying blusher when Doc said "Don't you usually wear tights (American translation: Pantyhose) with that dress?" Yes, I did when I first got it in the Autumn, but it's too warm now.  "Oh, Ok.  Are you going to put on a belt?"  No.  And what the hell are you trying to say?  Should I not wear this?  I thought we were in a hurry, why are you double-guessing my wardrobe choices?  Hmmm?  Doc hurriedly explained that he hadn't meant a thing by it, that these were entirely innocent questions and that I looked very pretty.

However the biggest problem was now what to do with my hair.  I hadn't put any styling products in that morning, and we didn't have time now; so, don't tell Jason, but I grabbed an Alice band to wrangle it into some semblance of a Do and we left.  And that is why I attended a social gathering without hair product.  Did I learn nothing from living with a hairdresser for 7 years?

It turned out to be much easier to handle my hair that way, so I thought perhaps I should reconsider my daily styling routine.  The main problem is my right side starts going off at a tangent, so I thought I'd try flipping the parting from the left side to the right.  That should make the right side less heavy, but it will also counteract the effect of driving with the car windows open.  I may as well try to work with it rather than against it. 

Of course Officially Pronounced Dead, lists Paul McCartney's hair parting jumping from the left to the right as one of the clues that he was replaced by an imposter in 1967.  Don't worry though, even when my hair is parted on the right, I'm still me!

The Force is Strong with Threadless.

This T is on my way to me now!  Or will be in the morning, anyway!

Not only is this my very first "Star Wars" T-shirt, but I love how happy Princess Leia looks, and the long suffering expression on Chewbacca's face under those rollers.

Hair Spray! (Well, Actually It Was A Gel)

It's the first Saturday after pay day, so naturally I had an appointment to get my hair cut today.  All this week Doc has been dropping subtle hints such as "Are you sure you need to get it cut?" or "You look so pretty with your hair longer", and "I think I like your hair this length".

Well, that's tough luck Sweetie!

Because once my hair gets to a certain length it goes really flat and loses all body, which drives me crazy, so it needed to be cut today.  This time I compromised with Doc somewhat and kept some of the length, but asked my hairdresser to take out a lot of weight and put in more layers. Of course when you go to the hairdresser in a Southern State and say that you want more volume, they really take that very seriously.  I think my hair is probably adding an extra half inch to my height right now.

Right now Doc is pleased that I haven't had it all cropped off which is my usual default mode, but he's not going to venture an opinion on the compromise cut until I've washed and styled it myself.  He's a very sensible husband.

My Predictions.

We saw "Terminator Salvation" this evening, and "Star Trek" in Boston last week.  I'm sure you'll agree that that places me in an excellent position to anticipate the near future of mankind.  

What I've learned is that Anton Yelchin will be around almost as much as Former Aussie Soap Stars, and that there will be a lot of explosions.  I've also ascertained, from close observation of the women of the future, that there will be huge strides in both lip gloss, false eyelash and hair care technology, although eyeshadow seems to be regressing somewhat.

You heard it here first.

Barely Coherent.

I slept really badly last night, but we are in the home stretch now.  Only a few more hours until we get back to our nice little house, with our comfy bed and our high-handed cat overlords (Is there a female equivalent of "overlord"? I feel like there should be, but I can't put my finger on it when I'm so sleep deprived)

In other news it is getting warmer the further south we head, and there are thunderstorms forcast for every single day of next week.  Humid heat, eh? I look forward to a week of impossible hair styling. sigh.

Cat Mini Spa Day.

Today is mini-spa day in the Alien Spouse house!

By which I mean that I plastered on a moisturising hair mask (Marilyn from Lush, my hair responds very well to a weekly treatment I find) when I got up, so it'll have a nice long soaking in period.

Then we had breakfast (Crumpets! Yum!) and I suddenly decided it was time to bath the cats, because their fur still has an undercoat, and it's starting to get hot so we need to get that off them before we get into the shedding-furballs-puking cycle that all cat owners know so very very well; plus they both smell like cat food and frankly that's not delightful to my nose.  Doc has been talking about actually putting the cats in a bath with water, and personally I would love to watch him try that but I'll have no part of it because I think it would end badly all round.  There would be a lot of indignation and hurt feelings in both the feline and human camps, and I'm fairly certain everyone would say things they didn't really mean. 

Instead I got out the bottle of dry shampoo we'd got free with the Furminator.  Now it's called dry shampoo, but it's actually a liquid that you spray onto the cat, rub in and then allow to dry before brushing it out along with the loose fur and dirt.

Can you see any design flaws there?

That's right!  You try spraying your cat with a liquid and see how far you get.  They hate it.  I quickly worked out the only way to get this done was to spray some into my hand and then rub it into the fur.  That they will tolerate, although with no good grace.

Then you have to brush the stuff out.  Both of our cats don't mind the first stroke or two of a brush, but then they get annoyed with it.  Nancy believes you are trying to kill her with kindness, and Edith just tries  to kill you.  Note to self:  Miss Edith Cavell-Cat requires both a manicure and a pedicure before her wash-and-set, and she does not suffer mistakes gladly.

 

(Doc glanced over at one point to see what all Edith's fuss was about and said "Baby! You've got a really nasty scratch on your arm!" I was all  "Yes, Love, I do know.  Thanks.")

Still both cats look a lot better now, very sleek and shiny, plus they smell like they've just come back from the hairdressers with that expensive fruity coconut shampoo smell.  So to re-cap I am bloodied and neither cat will come anywhere near me, but I think it was worth it.  Just look at the size of the hairballs I've pre-empted!

A Very Damp Saturday.

It started raining on Wednesday, & it's supposed to stop on maybe Monday or Tuesday. And by rain I do not mean a light drizzle, rain is serious business in the mountains.

Still feeling like our feet would never be dry again didn't stop us for accomplishing our tasks for the day:

• Breakfast at favourite breakfast place (taught our lovely waitress Hannah to say "innit")
• Shopped for towels & socks, which somehow ended up including five new tops for me. One of which is a "Ghostbusters" t-shirt, with a distressed logo.
• Haircut! Yay! Although there was some back combing involved, then straighteners & hair spray were deployed. Doc see was slightly worried when he first saw it, but it's calmed down now.
• Went to Verizon to get Doc a new phone.  After much debate the one he chose is like a prop from "Star Trek", it's silver and slides open in a very satisfactory manner.
• Went to the kitchen stuff shop to buy a griddle and egg rings for Doc C, so that he can attempt to make... CRUMPETS!  Squeeeeeee!
• Fed our friends cats and played with them for a while.
• Came home.

I think I need a nap now, but I had coffee with my breakfast so I can't actually sleep right now.

Side-by-Side Fur Comparison.

When we first got our cats I naturally e-mailed their pictures all over the admin offices of the university, it was a slow day in the office, and several people asked me if they were sisters because they are both grey.  This was something that hadn't occurred to me at all, because they look so different to me.

We mainly chose our girls because of their personalities (although Edith had us totally fooled, we thought she was sedate!  Ha!), but I did like the idea of colour co-ordinated cats.  True they are both grey, but as far as the shades of grey go; Edith (on the left) is a dusty, almost yellow-grey, where as Nancy (on the right) has a lot warmer brown shade to her fur, not to mention her white markings.  Of course they are both lovely, and I am very pleased with how glossy and healthy their coats are, they are both very pretty cats.

By the way, as I'm in a crazy cat lady mood I may as well indulge it, current favourite things about my cats:

Nancy - Nose bumps are just so sweet, she also gives Doc C ear-bumps but I've yet to get one of those yet.  She also climbs up things with a very determined look on her face when she can't jump.  My absolute favourite thing is how pleased she is to see us in the morning, and how vocal she is about that, which always makes getting up a bit more fun.

Edith - Plays with the tinsel balls all the time, but if one goes into the kitchen she can't follow it.  The kitchen is also a safe place for Nancy to run to.  Just to be clear Edith is more than happy to go into the kitchen when there is a human in there, so she isn't scared of the kitchen, but when something she'd chasing goes in there she won't follow it.  I love that she's made her games a bit more fun by adding an arbitrary rule to them.

Time for a Re-Do.

My hair has just hit the annoying stage again, so when I got home I clipped it back out of my face. 

I am so glad that I have a haircut booked for Saturday morning.  It's still not the same as having my haircut by Jason (who is in Japan right now with Stu and Lee, I cannot wait to see their photos!), but I've found a salon here I do quite like.  My first hairdresser, who was great, left to move to another state and the stylist I saw last time was really nice.  I'll be honest I was nervous when she first picked up the scissors because her own look seems to be based on Jem (without any backing from The Holograms though), but she looked at the pictures I'd brought with me and gave me the cut I asked for. 

Now all I have to do is work out what I want her to do this time around.  I'm thinking short, with a choppy fringe.

Crochet or Crochet Not, There is No Try.

This season Yoda is wearing a cotton crochet robe, with a hood, and is favouring crazy white acrylic hair, with no product in it.  Master Yoda lives on the planet of Dagoba in a small round hut; represented in our picture by the Royal Albert Hall and wooden trees of the Muji London set, which we can highly recommend for all of your Amigurumi photo shoot needs.

I spent most of the weekend on this and I'm most pleased with the way he has turned out.  Doc C really likes him too, which is what I was aiming for.  The bit I was most worried about was the hooded robe, because I was cobbling it together from two completely different patterns, and I had never tried the hood pattern before.  It was easier than I was anticipating, and the hood actually fits on his head, which is extremely satisfying.  Nerdy, but extremely satisfying none the less.

A Peculiar Moment With Edith.

I suspect there may be catnip in one or other of my hair products, because Edith just jumped on to my chair and started sniffing my head. Then she started purring loudly, before trying to actually eat my hair.

So either I inadvertently used catnip shampoo this morning, or Edith's been watching late night zombie movies and got ideas about how delicious spicy brains are.

In any case it was most disturbing, particularly because she had got a really quite determined look on her face.

Almost Complete.

This is my amigurumi with hair and a mouth, so she is looking a bit more like herself.  And herself is Lady Macbeth.

She isn't finished yet, because she is going to be a birthday present for my friend David, so I'm going to let him choose how I do the eyes and what accessories I should make.

I love that the bouffant is bigger than her body!  Actually I was going to sew the hair to secure it in this style, but Doc C said I shouldn't do that, because he thought David would like to be able to style her hair himself.

It Was, I Believe, Shaken.

We went to see the new Bond movie last night, and I am pleased to report that it was pretty good.  Personally I think it would have been helpful if they had done a bit more of a recap about what happened in "Casino Royale", because whilst I remembered that Vesper had been a very morally conflicted character who ended up dead, I couldn't really remember any specifics, and the plot of this film really does follow straight on the heels of that one.  So maybe it would be helpful to watch "Casino Royale" again just to refresh your memory before seeing this one.

But really all you need to know is that Bond is brooding a lot and has gone rogue, then just sit back and watch all the explosions and pretty girls in nice frocks.

I must admit to expending a fair amount of my concentration on the costumes and jewelry, and I definitely want to be M when I grow up, Judi looked great!  I was also delighted to see that Gemma Arterton's red hair doesn't look anywhere near as fake on the screen as it had done in the publicity shots that I'd seen.

After the film we went to our favourite bar for drinks, and as they have just started serving mixed drinks, I ordered a Martini.  Doc C told me after he'd paid the bill that it was only $5.50, which he commented would have made it practically free in London.  He'd asked why it was so cheap and it turn out the standard Martinis they serve are bought pre-mixed in a bottle.  If I'd asked for a specific type of Martini that required them to summon the mixologist on duty, then it would have been more expensive.
I'm sure Martini purists would shudder at the thought of a pre-prepared bottle, but I liked it and it went straight to me head, which I believe is the point of the exercise.  My favourite part was the olive at the end, that was just delicious, I could have eaten several of those.

Boo!

I've had a lovely Halloween so far!  I re-deployed all of the decorations from last nights Dorm of Doom, so we had a nice scary office; and I've inherited the Fortune Teller's magic 8 ball, which perfectly matches the rest of my black and white office stationary.

Tonight we are going to the Ghost Train again, but this time we are going with a group of friends.  It started with just one other person, and has grown to six.  Mostly it's faculty from the Philosophy and English departments, but we do have an intrepid teenager coming too despite the distinct possibility that we will be very nerdy.

I don't really have a costume as such, I couldn't think of anything warm enough but still fun. In the end my solution was to just pile on the eyeliner, put too much product in my hair, accesorise with as many skull based things as I own, and go as "A thirty year old woman who thinks she can get away with being a bit Emo".  I have no doubt it will be the scariest costume of the evening!

p.s. I'll be skipping the photo post for today, because I'm hoping to have a lot from the Ghost Train to post tomorrow!

The Nitty Gritty of Cat Owning: A Product Review.

Mrs K recently expressed her interest in the concept of flushable cat litter, and I have to say it makes owning a cat much more pleasant.  We started out by trying Pet Ecology Kitty Litter, which I am as happy with as one can reasonably expect to be be with such a product. Apart from being just incredibly light weight, it also has the two golden words on it's packaging; these are "flushable" and "clumping". The flushable is self explanatory, and the clumping means that the litter forms a neat little ball when any, er, um, liquid is introduced to it.  If you know what I mean, which I think you do.

So then you just scoop out anything, er, um, lumpy from the litter tray into the nearest handy toilet, and it flushes away.

It's still not exactly fun, but it's less of a chore than it could be.  The arrangement I came to with the Doc is that I will feed the cats and scoop the tray in the morning, and he will do it in the evening.  I noticed that he kept putting off the scooping, until I pointed out that I was scooping at 6 every morning, so by leaving it until midnight he was scooping 18 hours worth of kitty treasures, whilst meant I only had six hours worth to dispose of.  He scoops at 6pm now.  The cats seem to regard this as a suitable surface for their ablutions for five days, and then on the sixth day they indicate that they would like it to be changed now please.

As for the CitiKitty, it is in place on the toilet but the cats haven't automatically discovered it and immediately divined it's purpose yet, they aren't that intelligent.  I'm going to wait for another couple of weeks, before I start trying to get them to actually use it in situ; however this morning I put the CitiKitty on the floor whilst I was cleaning the tray and flushing contents, then Edith wandered into the bathroom and went straight to it.  She planted her little paws right into the kitty litter, stuck her fluffy bottom out over the edge of the tray and peed on the floor.  Damn.

Fortunately we also bought a spray bottle of this cleaning fluid called Nature's Miracle - Just for Cats (I think it sounds like a range of specialist fur dyes personally), which uses enzymes to help break down any little accidents.  That stuff is freaking AMAZING.  I've discovered that once I've sprayed it on the offending substance, I have to leave the spray bottle next to it whilst it soaks in and works it's magic, because by the time I come back to blot it up I literally cannot see where it was. 

Finally have I mentioned how great the Furminator cat brush is?  Edith loves being brushed with it, and it is making such a difference with her shedding.  Two thumbs up!

Grooming as a Means of Self-Defense.

Today we went to buy some more cat stuff.  In particular we needed a rubberycat brush (we got the Zoom Groom which is what we had in London for Kitkat, they are really good - Particularly because you can use the non bristly side to get fur off clothes and furniture), a different scratching post because they just ignore the other one and some claw clippers.

I've never clipped a cat's claws before, but I've only ever had outdoor cats before, and clearly running around outside keeps them nicely filed.  Our girls have wicked talons on them, which wouldn't be a problem if they didn't love to pad so much on us.  Nancy was sitting on me this morning, turned to start washing her back and carelessly put all of her weight on one claw; she may be tiny but news flash, it really hurt!  Edith on the other hand likes to display her beautiful fluffy tummy and then attack any thing foolish enough to touch it with rabbit kicks, and she has been known to casually impale the offender on her front paw claws to make her point, whilst purring loudly.  So I decided we would give them a little manicure.

I was warned that you should only clip off a small amount, and be careful not to cut the vein that's in the center of the claw.  With that in mind I very carefully snipped off a tiny bit from four of Edith's claws and I think 4 or 5 of Nancy's.  They don't seem to mind the clipping itself, but they do object to their paws being manhandled, so they keep walking off in a huff. 

It's going to take me a while to get them all done I think, but I have the time, I have the clippers and I have the determination.  We shall see who will win, little grey kitties! Oh yes, we shall see!

A Post About Cat Sick. You've Been Warned!

The cats were left alone in the house today, because I was working an event and Doc came with me.  We were a bit concerned about what we would find when we got back, particularly because Edith had been looking like she wanted to be sick just before we left.  On the way home we stopped at the local pet shop and bought all the things there little kitty hearts could desire in the way of toys and home comforts, as well as a spray bottle of cleaner specially designed to deal with puke, poop and wee.  Lovely!

When we got back though we were pleasantly surprised to find that no cat had done anything destructive or icky whilst we were away.  After we'd been home for a while Nancy scooted off to the bathroom and threw up a hairball; not nice, but the good thing was that she actually seemed to chose to be sick on the tiled floor rather than the carpet!  Isn't that the best cat you have ever heard of?

We will still obviously be trying to limit hairballs in the house, however good the cats maybe at choosing a good location for it.  One of the things we had purchased at the pet shop was a very specific pet brush called The FURminator.  We'd heard really good things about it, and certainly the pictures on website are impressive, but it wasn't until I actually used it on Edith that I could believe the hype.  It took SO much loose fur out of her coat and she absolutely loves being brushed with it, so much so she fauns around it and rolls over so you can get her tummy as well.  It's ridiculous, I've never had a cat that liked to be brushed that much.

By the way, the CitiKitty is in place on the toilet in the spare bathroom, but so far we're just happy the cats are using the conventional litter tray which is next to it.  I don't want to thoroughly confuse them by rushing them into using it, but it's there should they feel the urge to experiment with exciting new litter tray experiences.

Rain Day.

We were planning to go on a day trip to the next town over today, but we woke up to heavy rain that hasn't really let up all day; so Jason and I stayed at home instead. 

We had a leisurely breakfast whilst watching "Cash on the Attic" (it was a really old one because Alistair Appleton was presenting, what on earth is he doing these days?)on BBC America, followed by "You Are What You Eat" with the gnome-like Gillian McKeith.

Jason had thoughtfully brought his hairdressing tools with him, so he gave my Do a much needed tune-up.  Then I demonstrated my new method of mopping floors with the dutch rubber broom, which I think Jason was honestly interested in seeing.  Well as as a flat mate of mine for 7 years, me cleaning was probably something he didn't feel he'd seen often enough, so this was by way of a rare treat for him (Note to Mum: I am much better at cleaning than I used to be, and now I have an independent witness!)

If he's really lucky I may vacuum later.  Wild times.

Of Television Shows.

There are only really four television programmes that I am really bothering to keep track of the schedule for so I don't miss anything.  Fortunately for me "The Daily Show, With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" are on every night back to back, so it doesn't take a lot of effort to catch those.

The other two are on Bravo, and Bravo are the world champions of repeating stuff, so there is no danger of me missing anything vital in "Shear Genius" or "Project Runway" but I still like to catch new episodes as soon as I can.  Which is all a roundabout way of saying that I've made a small effort to  watch every week, and there is some emotional involvement now and so last night was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. 

Last night I was very disappointed to see Paolo knocked out of "Shear Genius" because he was my favourite.  I was taken in by the tough outer shell for a week or so, but it soon became clear that the man is just a big old fluffy kitten underneath.  Paolo is great with the clients, pretty much the only contestant all of the others seemed to genuinely like and I am very sorry to see him leave the show.

On the other hand next week is Drag Queen week on "Project Runway" and I spotted Miss Varla Jean Merman in the trailer!  Ohmygod!!!  I adore Varla Jean!  We first saw her in the hilarious and gleefully offensive "Girls will be Girls" at the annual London Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual Film Festival, and then actually got to see her live at the Soho Theatre about six months after that.  She is magnificent, I really hope she gets paired with a designer who can create something really gorgeous for her.  I am really looking forward to this episode of the show, because there are bound to be some Drag Queen meltdowns and it's going to be extremely entertaining.  How on earth am I going to be able to wait a whole week for this?

Doctor's Orders.

I'm at home in bed with a cricked neck, you know it's surprisingly hard to type when lying on your side and unable to turn your head.

What's really annoying is that I know when I did it, but I wasn't paying attention, so I don't know exactly what I did.  I was towel drying my hair, and planning a post about Doc C's nightmare last night (He was fighting a ghost that kept playing the piano, and apparently I woke him up just at the point when he'd got the thing cornered.) The next thing I know the left side of my neck suddenly started hurting.

Being of sturdy English stock I battled on and carried on getting ready for work, but by the time I'd managed to pull a wrap dress on Doc C had decided that I should go back to bed with a couple of tylenol to help relax the muscles.  Once I was comfortable, he brought me the laptop then made sure the TV remote, my phone and a glass of water were all within reach before he left.

I hate being ill.  Stupid neck muscles.

Summer Hair Cut

I got my hair cut this morning, and it was exceedingly good timing because Courtney, the lovely hairdresser I had last time, is moving to another state straight after work this evening.  I snagged the very last appointment slot available today!

The hair cut she gave me last time was great, it had lasted really well, and I wasn't yet at the total desperation stage of needing a haircut.  My hair was just going a bit flat on top, and generally looked too tidy, I prefer it to be very short with lots of messy layers, to help give it some volume and shape.

After I left the salon I went to pick up the post, and I called Doc C to let him know.  Whilst I was waiting at the pedestrian crossing and talking to the Doc, I could see out of the corner of my eye that the woman next to me kept shooting glances my way.  When I came off the phone she turned to me, and said "Your hair is really pretty.  Did you get it done in town?"

Isn't that exactly what you want a total stranger to say straight after you've had a hair cut?  I was chuffed!  Naturally I directed her towards the salon, with a very big smile on my face.

My New Favourite Reality TV Show

This is very late in the day for me to be posting for the first time, but I was unable to use the computer because Doc C was writing a philosophy paper or two.

Whilst he was busy writing those, I decided to watch cartoons on the TV in our bedroom, and as I was channel surfing looking for an animation fix I happened to stumble across a TV show called "Shear Genius".  This turned out to be exactly the same format as "Project Runway", but with hairdressers.  I wasn't specifically looking for this show, I just happened to switch on in the middle of a challenge in which the stylists were cutting hair whilst blindfolded.  One contestant managed to hack his own hand up quite a bit, whilst all of the models were looking distinctly nervous as they watched what was happening to their crowning glories. 

So, naturally, I stayed to see how that would turn out (the results were, um, interesting), and the presenter of the show turned out to be Jaclyn Smith, one of the original flavour "Charlie's Angels".  Whilst I have no clue why Jaclyn is presenting this, it did seal the deal for me.  I loved "Charlie's Angels".

As if the blindfold challenge wasn't hard enough, that didn't even really count for anything except that it decided the order in which the stylists could choose their models for the elimination.  This was also hilarious because all of the models had cards with pictures of a famous hair cut they wanted to emulate, and the big reveal was that all of the pictures were of cartoon characters.  It was brilliant, you can see photos of the end results here.  My favourite was Charlie's version of Marge Simpson's beehive which involved a cloud of fake blue hair styled around it to get that proper colour and height, but I think the most wearable was Daniel's Wilma Flinstone Do that ended up winning the round.

I can see I'm going to be hooked on this, as there is clearly going to be some fabulousness going on, but also because I really miss living with my favourite hairdresser, so this is very soothing for me.

Plus next week Kate Smith is a guest judge, and I want to see whether she looks as good as Jaclyn.

Organised.

I was getting ready this morning when I realised just how regimented my bathroom cabinet is, and I thought that would probably really freak out my Mum and former house mates, so here is a picture:

If you click on the photo a link will take you to the Flickr page, and I've put some notes on to identify the different stuff.  The basic categories are (left to right): hair styling products, deodorants, moisturisers and facial cleansers.

On the shelf underneath this I have arranged things neatly as well:  Back left corner, hair clips and alice bands; back right corner, clean face cloths; front left corner, wide elasticated head-band to keep hair back whilst washing; middle front, comb; front right corner, three different sizes of nail clipper.

I won't go through the whole cupboard, but you get the idea.  I think I might possible have finally grasped the wisdom of the saying "A place for everything, and everything in it's place."

Oh, and yes I do like Lush products in particular.  How did you guess?

Added Bonus: Another Twenty minutes in Bed.

I worked out last night, so I had a shower in the evening and when I woke up this morning I had clean but pretty spectacular bed-hair which I would never have been actually able to recreate through conventional styling methods.

So I simply spritzed it with a little bit of organic firm-hold gel-spray to maintain it's quiff like glory, and away I went.

I love having really short hair.

Haircut - Second Salon Rocks!

Ok, that is my new salon.  Excellent suggestion April!

The hairdresser I had was great and I felt very comfortable with her taking off all of my hair with a razor.  Plus they actually charged me exactly the same as the other place, and didn't try to push products at all.

Only thing is there was no motorcycle in the window.  I have no clue where I got that idea from.

Haircut Review.

Mum pointed out that I hadn't updated Alien Spouse about my recent haircut.  That's because I was giving it a couple of days to settle down before I made a pronouncement on it, but I think I can safely say that it is alright.

I mean obviously it's not a Snelling Do, but then I couldn't really have hoped for that now could I?  That's an unfair point of comparison, so I'm trying not to do that. 

As it turned out my hairdresser, Will, was a really nice guy.  He had a GoGo Fraggle doll on his work station counter, he'd been to Manchester and he was a massive Cure fan.  On top of that he even dropped Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" into the conversation at one point.  All excellent signs I'm sure you'll agree.

Whilst I was waiting at reception I found a photo in a magazine that was pretty much what I wanted, and I did actually get an accurate approximation of that cut.  If I wanted to be ultra picky I'd say the fringe could do with being shorter, but overall I'm very glad to have short hair again and the Doc assures me it's pretty.