Alien Spouse

Las Vegas Recap.

As you can see Edith felt very strongly that she should be coming to Las Vegas with us, and attempted to pack herself in to my suitcase on Thursday evening. She would make a fabulous show girl actually, with that plumey tail and gorgeous figure (it's hard to believe she's had kittens).

I didn't really take many photos over the weekend, because all the suff I'd want to have a picture of was either something I was prohibited from photographing (for example Doc C intentally scrutinising our crime scene at the CSI Experience) or something I didn't think would photograph well without some professional level lighting equipment (for example the jellyfish display at the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef Aquarium).

It was obviously imperative to take a photo of our hotel at night, because it was a quite ridiculous fake castle with turrets and other such nonsense.

It was annoying that I couldn't get a shot of both The Excalibur and New York, New York's Faux Liberty without the walkway's guard rail in it, but I think you get the point. Ridiculousness.

Work Clothes.

At work today I wore a scoop neck black t-shirt, a black cardigan and grey tweed trousers. I accessorised with a pair of black converse, my new glasses and a double strand of oversized pink pearls.

If I'd worked at Sterling Cooper, I'd probably have worn the same outfit - just swapping out the trousers and chucks for a skirt and heels.

The only constants in my work outfit are my rings, watch, silver bangle and, first thing in the morning, a cup of coffee in a travel cup.

Internet Black Out.

Edith does not approve of SOPA.

Blossoming Paper.

It's snowing quite hard, and my office is practically empty (Doc says we should leave at lunchtime) - So, naturally, I'm sitting at my desk learning how to make origami cherry blossom.

Rose-Coloured Spectacles.

I have been most remiss in sharing my new specs with you - Mainly because I haven't worn any make-up in the past couple of weeks, and these do look particularly good with a nice bit of eyeliner. Today I decided to just snap a photo and then edit the hell out of it in Picnik; which is why the frames are pin-sharp and the rest of the image is super soft-focus! Pores? My skin doesn't have pores!

As you can see the new glasses are slightly cat's eye, which Doc C thinks brings out my cheekbones (love that man), and they have a tiger grey exterior with a clear pink interior. That sounds like a car, but you see what I mean right? The outside of the frame is one colour (well, it's sort of marbled really) whilst the inside is another; so there are hints of that inside colour as I move my head and the angle changes.

As you can see here:

Again with the Picnik soft-focus, which I am especially grateful for here. It took me forever to get the angle right on this one, so you could see more of the edge of the glasses and less of the bags under my eyes - I didn't sleep very well last night.

Please feel free to reassure me that these are stylishly fun, without being wacky. I'm still a touch self-conscious about them.

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).

Coffee Morning.

There must be something about me that suggests that I enjoy home-made baking, because for Christmas I was given a dozen banana cherry chocolate chip muffins and a gift basket of assorted cookies. We finished off the last of the biscotti this morning, so I'm going to have to try out a recipe so we can make more of them.

Tasty little devils!

Happy Pink Cloud.

As I mentioned at the time, we went to Asheville this weekend, and I took a photo of this rather cheering mural. Obviously it was the happy pink cloud that caught my attention initially, but I particularly like the black half-cloud at the top left; it's painted on a bit of masonry that's sticking out slightly so there is a pleasing 3D effect.

It's always been my aim to have a photo up every day, but that has definitely been dropping off recently. The main problem I have with downloading and editing my photos at the moment is purely that I have to use the desktop in the study to do that, and it's a temperamental beastie at the best of times.If you plug in a USB before switching it on, then it crashes and Doc C has to physically take it to bits and re-build it. This sort of thing makes me wary of using it.

Anyway, I had read about memory cards that had built in wi-fi and would just automatically upload all your photos when in range of your home network (or any of the 32 other networks you can give it permission to use). So I bought one, and it's all set up and raring to go. So far I've just taken some test shots of an empty cake stand, but once I've got something better than that I'll post them here.

Just Ducky.

For Christmas the Assistant Chair of my department gave me a spa set, which is bubble bath, body cream, an eye mask and DUCKY SLIPPERS - I hadn't previously thought of Ducky Slippers as being a staple of a good spa, but now I shall demand them!

I'll give you two guesses which of the cats is a bit freaked out by these, and is very much on her guard whenevr I'm wearing them.

Students: Compare and Contrast.

 

Doc C checked Facebook last night and found this video on a friend's wall. I have watched it a couple of times this morning, posted it to my own wall and even listened to students in the hallway outside my office apparently prepping together to have this conversation with their professor en masse.

sigh.

Then a student, whom I know slightly, came into my office carrying a paper sculpture that she had made for an English class project, and was now giving to her professor.

It's Alice talking to the Caterpillar in Wonderland, and it was made from a maths book (which is genius in itself). There are different types of flower, different sizes of toadstools and a butterfly covered in calculus.

This makes me very happy.

 

Balsam and Dubbin.

I spent a good chunk of my Sunday afternoon applying Doc Marten's Wonder Balsam to every pair of DMs in the house. I also added some Doc Marten's Dubbin (which should help to weather proof the leather) to my lace up brown boots and I'm debating whether or not the new fleece lined boots need some too.

The tin didn't have very specific instructions on how to apply the balsam, but I gather from the internet that you rub on a good amount and leave it to really soak into the leather overnight, the next day you wipe off any excess with a soft cloth. I'm really quite looking forward to doing that when I get home tonight, the boots look so nice when they are all shiny and properly cared for.

Surprise Finger Monster.

One of the joys of on-line shopping is when you get an unexpected bonus item, and this is all the more true when it's something fun. I received a small box of daft gifts* today and, when I opened the box, a finger monster was on top of a heap of bio-degradable packing peanuts.

I particular appreciate that who ever it was that put him into the box was thoughtful enough to give him a snack; don't worry, the packing peanuts are made from potato starch, so it's probably safe for monsters to nom on.

*Since moving to the US I almost dread the annual office gift exchange, because it is so tricky to gauge what might be a good gift for a colleague. I can't fall back on that standard of impersonal British gift giving - A nice bottle of something.

Toning Down Christmas.

It occured to me this morning that I had not yet decorated the house for Christmas, but at the same time I'm right in the middle of reading "Miss Minimalist" (on my Kindle) and it just feels wrong to glitter the whole house.

So I compromised and hung up the faux vintage ornaments I bought in Boston last year on the twig arrangement from Halloween, then I added in a couple of other ornaments to balance those out and that's that.  

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

 I love the faux vintage ornaments almost more then I did when I bought them last year, they are delightfully tacky and rather adorable in their own very plastic way. Doc C is a particular fan of the angels, who are all holding their hands out in front of them in the manner of fisherman describing the one-that-got-away. They also all have black eyes, which gives them quite a creepy alien-being ambience.

Finally, on the dining table, I've put up the sad little Christmas tree beloved by Charlie Brown and all those who get a bit tearful when watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965) ...*cough*Doc*cough*...

Focus.

Another picture from Saturday morning which, again, illustrates the magic of human eyeballs.

This is a photo taken through the Mini's glass sunroof of the ice crystals that had formed rather charmingly on it. My eyes were easily able to focus on them, and see them as white - but I could not get the camera's auto-focus to understand what I wanted it to look at; so it sensibly decided it must be the tree branches overhead. The ice crystals that are the most in focus also look dark grey against the blue sky, instead of the frosty mix of white and clear that they looked like to me.

That's ok Little Camera, it's still a pretty picture!

My Eyes! My Eyes!

I had my eyes tested this weekend, because I noticed that my right eye felt quite scratchy after work sometimes. It turns out that my eyes are a bit dry, so I have to put warm compresses on them and use eye-drops especially if I've been staring at a computer screen a lot (So... That's pretty much every week day then). Well, if it's optician's orders, I think I can handle lying on the sofa with a warm flannel across my eyes, sipping a martini and listening to a vintage radio drama for half an hour or so in the evening.

I also tried on some new frames, I want to keep my current frames but I'd like some variety in my face furniture. I'm thinking about a subtle cat's eye, something a bit more sixties mod that would look good with lashings of eyeliner (my new favourite make-up technique).  Basically, I asked if the assistant helping me watched "Criminal Minds" and requested Garcia glasses, and after a quick google image search she was off to the races with that idea! I tried on loads, but as it was just after I'd had the drops put in to dilate my pupils, it got increasingly difficult to actually see them. Doc C came over to help, but it's not really the same. Anyway, I have to wait until next month before I get new glasses so the shortlist was noted down and I can try them on again when I'm in full control of my ability to focus.

 

After the eyeware fashion show, my irises were fully dilated, so the optician could see into my eyeballs. Which is SO weird, but I was expecting it this time, so, the minute I sat in the chair, I asked the optician if I could have the images of the backs of my eyes, because how cool is that? They look like alien planets, don't they?

Also - I SEE YOU!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Niet-O Graffiti.

Another plus of the snowy walk to the post office was that I took a slightly more sheltered route than I would usually have done, and saw this "Niet-o" stencil graffiti on the pavement. I rather like it.

Bright Art. Cloudy Sky.

The University has quite a few sculptures on campus, and this is the most recent addition being erected. I particularly like the cozy rug that's been used to cushion the art from the crane's pulley.

Also, I had my camera on the "pin hole" setting when I took this picture yesterday afternoon, so the sky didn't look that dark at the time. It does now though.

Happy Martini Haze.

Well personally I like keeping the gin in the freezer, it produces a perfectly chilled martini that definitely softens in flavour as you drink it and I rather liked that. This has a dash of Angostura Bitters in it, and that is just delicious.

Doc C made this for me, because I was covered in sleeping cats and he then brought it to me in the living room. This then presented somewhat of a problem; how to get a decent photo of the drink with out distracting background clutter and with out leaving my station as comfy cat bed. Fortunately one of the pieces of clutter on the coffee table next to me was a sheet of crumpled red tissue paper.  I put the glass on the paper and held that up as a backdrop with my left hand whilst taking the pictures with my right hand.

I'm just as pleased with the photos as I was with the chilled gin. A successful set of experiments all around!

4 Dance.

Students are always losing stuff, usually water bottles, books or coats, and this particular note must have fallen out of someone's bag when they were in my office.

I think it must be a comment card for a dance class, but I'd love to think that there is some random person wandering around in nightclubs (not that we have any night clubs here - that's where this daydream really loses touch with reality) and critiquing their fellow clubbers.

Either way I'm keeping this on my desk in case the student who dropped it comes back for it. If it were me I'd want documented evidence of my excellent lip syncing skills.

Flame Coloured Leaves.

This tree is right next to the main entrance to my building and it's easy not to notice for most of the day, because it's not until the sun moves around behind it in the laste afternoon that you really get the effect of the whole tree being aflame. Then you notice.

New Vintage Chair.

Having tidied and re-organised the mezzanine before the Halloween party (although I'm not really sure why now because it's not like anyone went up there), we had a nice bit of open space that was just begging to be used. Three of my bookshelves are there and it's probably the warmest place in the house, so it made sense to make it into a designated reading area; which obviously required seating.

I fell in love with this chair from Urban Outfitters, not least because it looks like it fell off the set for "Mad Men", and was even more enamored when one of the colour choices was inexplicably reduced in price to $199.99. Stylish and cheap? For me! On pay day I went on-line to order it, and was annoyed to find that despite there being free shipping on anything over $50 that my chair had been tagged with a $35 overweight fee - Well, this threw my very carefully calibrated purchasing budget for the month right out of the window, so I decided to spend Saturday searching the local antiques shops for an alternative.

The very first shop I went to, out of all three in town, had a very plain upholstered rocking chair outside that I liked straight away, but I carried on looking just to be thorough and then came back to it. Then I called Doc C to come and look at it (oddly he hadn't fancied trawling the antiques shops for hours, so he went to his office to write job applications), he haggled a bit on the price because it does need to be reupholstered (I don't think we'll have the spare cash to get it professionally reupholstered and re-sprung any time soon, so I'm probably going to DIY a temporary cover to hide that faded green nobbly fabric) and then we went to lunch to think about it. After lunch I paid $135 for it and stuffed it in the back of the Mini, so now we have a reading chair. Yay!

The cats disagree; they think we have a new cat chair and one or the other has been sitting in it pretty much constantly since we brought it home. I think this is an excellent sign that I chose well, because, as we all know, cats are discerning connoisseurs of comfort.

Halloween is Here!

I am really hoping that our electric pumpkin draws in some Trick-or-Treaters this evening! Yay!

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.

New Vintage Make-Up Case.

At lunch time yesterday I had a couple of things that I had to do in town, so I walked over from my office and on my way I decided to briefly stop at the large antique shop on the high street. Well, it says antiques over the door, but really it's a flea market and that's actually fine with me because I usually want something vintage and cheap, not appraised and expensive.

I was looking for something to store my make-up in, because proper make-up cases are ludicrously expensive and I really couldn't leave all of that stuff sitting on the side in the bathroom anymore. It was taking up all the space, and there was always the risk something would get splashed with water and ruined. I'd tried organising my cosmetics collection into a vintage thermos lunch tin, but I wasn't 100% happy with that. Anyway, at the antiques shop I found a number of oddly expensive lunch boxes, but none with a print that really spoke to me; a large vinyl doll case full of battered barbies that smelled strongly of stale tobacco smoke and then I found the Ugly Kitten Box.

It's another doll case, this one is designed like a small steamer trunk in tiffany blue enameled metal with white plastic edging, and metal corners. Gorgeous! The enamel is nicely beaten up, and the corners have a charming rusty patina to them.

I'm sure you'll be wondering why I call it the Ugly Kitten box, and I think that's a fair question. Let me show you:

!!!

It really could have been such a tasteful box, but then someone slapped a cartoon kitten with a bunch of daisies on the lid! I love it!

Plus all of my make-up fits inside neatly, but with room for my collection to grow and it was only $10. Happy sigh.

Making Halloween, Making Halloween - La, la, la It's almost here!

Last week I bought some very elegant willow branches to arrange in a vase with a few whisps of cobweb, but it really didn't have much of a visual impact. Yesterday it occured to me that I wanted to make it a much bigger, and wilder.

 So I went outside to collect small fallen branches from the maple tree at the front of our house, and added those to my arrangement. It looks as though I have a winter tree growing out of my bookcase now.

That's much more what I was hoping for!

Birds and Other Animals.

This is the bird feeder (that's what it was labelled anyway - but I think it makes a better bird bath than a bird feeder, because surely it's just going to fill up with water when it rains?) I bought in Old Salem yesterday, the shell is about the size of a hand and the little metal bird is probably a little bit smaller than life size.  It was only ten bucks! Score!

So far the birds have totally ignored it, but that's hardly surprising as it has nothing in it.

This is right next to our now empty seed holder, which Doc filled up on Thursday and which was then systematically emptied by the cheeky chipmunk that lives under our house. This morning I saw a squirrel hanging on the empty feeder - Sorry Nutkin, too slow! The chipmunk is quick and efficient!

Being animal-loving softies we are secretly rooting for the chipmunk, and so we didn't chase it away or remove the feeder when we saw what it was up to. Of course that doesn't mean we are going to refill that feeder any time soon, the chipmunk has more than enough to last it for quite some time and the birds won't really need our help until it snows.

 

Sadly, there is a down-side to being animal loving softies.  Apparently when you rescue a mouse from certain death at the jaws of your cat and release it from the front door, what the ungrateful wretch then does is run round to the back of the house and climb back in through the tumble dryer duct. I know this because I saw a mouse sitting in the middle of the downstairs bathroom when I got up this morning, and I am pretty damn certain it was the same mouse from last night.

I called Edith, who naturally ignored me completely, but when I got her and carried her into the bathroom she pretty soon figured out what I was trying, in my moronic human way, to tell her. The mouse slipped away under the washing machine, and Edith so has been on high alert ever since. She has been patrolling downstairs and checking all the likely places a mouse might hide, including a very close examination of under the sofa. She is very thorough.
If I were this mouse I would get the hell out of here, but, seeing as it came right back to where it was caught last night and then just sat in the open where even a dopey human could see it, I'm assuming it's Pinky and not The Brain.

Chocolate Frogs and Fat Little Chipmunks.

It's Fall Break, and my Department Chair said I could close the office! So I did and I have had a really fun day!

First of all I woke up really late because I'd turned off my alarm, then Doc C made pancakes. After that I had a shower and got dressed, before spending what was left of the morning making chocolate frogs and spiders. I am very pleased with how they look, I hand-painted the molds with different colours of candy melt to get the markings; the problem is that we only had chocolate chips in the house, so the texture is wrong. As everything I read about molding chocolate had predicted, the chocolates are just too soft and melt to easily. Well, I've bought some different chocolate to experiment with, so suppose that means I'll have to taste test chocolate all over again. Deep sigh.

After that I practised applying my new mineral make-up, watched the first episode in the new "Psych" season and finished making the party invitations.

We also spent a fair amount of time today watching the chipmunk that lives under our house. It discovered the bird seed that Doc C had left on the porch for it (the man is such a softy, but don't tell him I said that), the chipmunk had to make two trips and ludicrously overstuff it's cheeks to transport all the food back to it's nest, but that is a very determined little rodent. Edith was fascinated, and very excited.
Later I looked out if the kitchen window to see (probably the same) chipmunk swinging from the bird feeder. Again it did this a few times, so I got to watch it shimmy up the feeder's metal stand and then leap across to the feeder. It was pretty impressive.

Now I'm watching "Alien" (1979), eating smoked salmon pizza and drinking pumpkin beer.

It's been a bloody nice day.

You are Invited to a Suburban Nightmare.

This is one of our Halloween Party invitations, in fact I do believe this was the first card off the production line.

Let me walk you through my process.

Step One) I hand coloured the flamingo, because I didn't have any card in the right shade of pink; so I used a sickly shade of lilac and cross-hatched it with a hot pink gel pen. Then I used my iPod to find an image of a plastic flamingo, and traced the outline onto greaseproof paper; I used that tracing to make a template which I drew around. Finally I cut out ten flamingoes, by hand, from the now pink card and hot-glued cocktail sticks onto the back of them. 

Step Two) I used a round cookie cutter as a template to draw ten circles of the same diameter onto the mottled grey card stock, and then I hand-cut those out too. They were then stuck onto the invitations, trying to get them all in roughly the same position.

Step Three) I cut out ten strips of white card, and used a Martha Stewart paper punch to get the fence cut-outs. I folded the strips in half and stuck the back half onto the card so that the fence folded around to the front of the invitation.

Step Four) Having not found any suitable grass (I was really hoping to find bento grass food dividers, but then I remembered I live in a tiny town on top of a mountain in North Carolina), I was going to cut it out of green card. Then I found a packet of acid green shredded paper which I bought at Easter to pack cupcakes in boxes with and then never used - It's the perfect colour, and, hello, it says "Easter Grass" right there on the bag! Perfect! So then I had to pull out individual clumps from the tangle inside the bag and comb it out using my fingers, line it up and cut it in half before hot-gluing it to the card. Once in place I trimmed the grass, so it wasn't covering the moon.

Step Five) I hot-glued the flamingo to the card so it was silhouetted by the moon.

Step Six) I folded the fence up over the bottom of the grass and the base of the flamingo's stick, and hot-glued it into place.

Step Seven) Place in a row on the mantel piece to check quality control and uniformity across the production line.

Step Eight) Force husband to admire the damn invitations you've spent hours making.

And I still have four to finish.

Autumn Morning.

There are some mornings when both of your precious darling cats have thrown up in various places, and, whilst you clean that up, the kitchen fills with smoke because your breakfast bagel has burnt in the toaster.

It is particularly important on those mornings to take a deep breath, and also to appreciate a moment of unexpected beauty when you walk around a corner to see misty sunlight shining on autumn leaves.

Fat Nance.

Doc C took the cats to the vet for a check-up this morning, and they are both very healthy. In fact when the vet's tech weighed them and reported that both cats were exactly the same weight, Doc couldn't believe it; so they were weighed again. Both Edith and Nancy are both ten pounds.

Both cats are so very different from how they were when first saw them a the human society, Edith's personality has really blossomed but you can actually see the change in our Nancy.

Fat Nance was once this skinny little thing:

And now look at her!

Trees Within Trees.

Over the weekend we went for a walk, and Doc C spotted a large tree which has two fir tree saplings growing out of the fork. It's a beautiful adoptive tree family!

The Crack in the Wall - Now With TARDIS!

This weekend I made art - Well, I cut up a t-shirt with a print I really liked, stapled bits of it to canvases of various different sizes, and then hung them on the wall. That's art, right? Sort of?

Eh, whatever! I now have a panel of the TARDamask Threadless t-shirt hanging up on our bedroom wall right underneath a largish crack in the plaster. It couldn't be much better really could it? (Don't worry Moth, I darkened the crack in this photo to make it a bit more prominent.)

As you can see I also made some mini panels with just one TARDIS on them, this portrait one is ok, but I really like the square minis better because the whole design will fit diagonally rather neatly. I put one of those up too, on the other side of the bathroom door, so we have TARDIS whizzing off all over the place. That seems much more appropriate than them being entirely confined to nice neat rows, don't you think?

I still have half of the t-shirt left, it was a front and back all-over print, so I could make a larger panel, or a cushion maybe.

 

The First of October.

It being the first day of October Doc C has allowed me to kick off the Halloween decorating - It also helps that we got paid yesterday, because I needed one or two things to get this party started!

I'd already arranged the dried rosebuds, assorted foliage and ribbon (which all came from the lovely bunch of flowers I was given by a colleague who does weddings - So this is a recycled bridesmaid's bouquet!) onto the vine wreath, but it needed more. Specifically it needed moss, fake cobwebs and plastic spiders. The plastic spiders are rings that come in packs of 50 from the dollar store, but I had to get 2 packs because they ar a mix of the black spiders that I wanted and bright orange spiders which did not really work for this particular project. I wanted to make this look like a really lush wreath had been left on the door for years and was disentegrating, but was still just about being held together by the cobwebs -Actually the rosebuds kept falling out when left to their own devices, so the cobweb really is integral to this project.

With Edith's help (how do people manage to do any sort of DIY craft project without a cat around to helpfully try and eat everything?), it took me about forty minutes to get the whole thing finished and now it's on our front door.

I then spent a couple of hours watching old episodes of "CSI" and cutting the rings off the backs of the orange plastic spiders that I deemed totally unrealistic for the wreath. I then poked a whole in the back with my handy bradle and then stuck a cocktail stick in each one. I now have orange spider cocktail sticks, perfect for my Halloween party snacks and drinks! Thanks Martha!

Winter is coming.

Much as the end of Winter is signalled by a specific Groundhog leaving it's burrow, so too is the on-set of colder weather heralded by Edith Cavell-Cat's re-discovery of the cat tower.

At least, it is in our house.

 

Kitty Pride.

I read recently (on Wikipedia) that the reason Sanrio don't usually give Hello Kitty a mouth is because "without the mouth, it is easier for the person looking at Hello Kitty to project their feelings onto the character" and that "the person can be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty." I've just never pictured Hello Kitty as being a great solace during times of difficulty myself, but maybe she is to somebody.

I think the addition of the glasses make Hello Kitty look more scholarly, but also as if she will not take any nonsense. A fine role-model for any professional woman I'm sure you'll agree.

Today I am wearing jeans and a t-shirt (that both fit!) topped off by a waistcoat with a Nerd Hello Kitty badge on it. I happened to be wearing almost exactly the same thing when I was in a slightly awkward situation a week or two ago and I must say that I felt equal to the challenge because I had Nerd Hello Kitty in my corner (not to mention I was better dressed - Which I hesitate to note because it sounds a bit self-congratulatory, possibly outright bitchy, but, none the less, that was my honest opinion).

Turning Colours.

Autumn! Woot! Woot!

Red and Black.

You have got to appreciate working in an office where people bring you flowers.

One of our faculty has a side line in floristry, so these were originally bridesmaid's bouquets from a wedding this weekend. I do think this arrangement is lovely, but I will admit that the minute I saw the red and black colour scheme I knew that I would be using them after they had wilted as part of my Halloween decoration scheme.

Yay for multi-tasking flowers!

White (Chocolate) Bones.

Today's plans to stay in my pajamas and play "Portal 2" all day were modified slightly when it became clear that I needed to get more baking soda and vinegar to unclog the drain in the bath, so I got dressed and we went into town. Now if we were forced to go into town for boring things, then we were also going to look at Halloween stuff. I know it's barely even September, but the Halloween goods are on display already and I need to get the good stuff before it runs out. I've learnt from previous years that leaving the Halloween shopping until the day before results in a disappointing amount of orange plastic junk, and none of the good chocolate.

This year we are having a cocktail party with the theme of Suburban Nightmare, this only requires a very simple costume for me which I already have pretty much got together, and so now I'm focusing on the menu. I definitely want to make cupcakes with something poking out of them, and I think that something is going to be a miniature bone or two. I bought the mold this afternoon, and have successfully made two white chocolate skeletons.

I also got mini-cookie cutters to make hors d'oeuvres of grave stones crackers and cheese slice ghosts; as well as a baking tray which is supposed to make molded bone-shaped cookies, although I'm thinking of using that to make bone-shaped cheese straws.

Doc C is also getting into our theme, and has had some really good ideas for the decorations and ambiance of the house. This is going to be such a fun project to work on with him!

Vote Cranberry.

Brittany, my department's fantastic work study student, adopted a fish today and didn't have time to take him home before she came to work. So we've had a mini fish tank with a beta fish swimming around on my desk this afternoon.

He doesn't have a name yet, but Brittany liked my suggestion of Cranberry. She has joint custody with her room mate though, so there is going to have to be some serious discussion of the matter this evening.

Tiny Tasty Tartlets.

Doc C's department had a party this afternoon, which everyone brings some food too. This year Doc had checked ahead and ascertained that the main courses and side dishes would be fully covered, so that meant he felt honour bound to make two kinds of dessert. Damn.

He made coconut and almond maracoons, which were and will always be damn delicious; then he extended his baking repetoire to lemon meringue tartlets.

From the pastry cases to the lemon curd to the meringue, all you see was made from scratch in out little kitchen this morning by Doc C on a baking kick. My only note would be that the pastry could have been a touch thinner, but certainly not at all bad, particularly not for a first go.

Moody.

When we are at home, going about our tedious human business, occaisionally one of us will notice that there is a grey pool of The Malaise on the floor and the cry will go out "Oh no! Edith has Flopped!" to which the other person in the house will reply "Oh no! Edith flopped? Whatever shall we do?"

It is always Edith, probably because Nancy is so convinced that the entire world is out to get her that her little cat brain is full of conspiracy theories at all times and so she is always on alert; Edith knows the world loves her, and sometimes she finds this beyond tedious. yawn. She is the very picture of boredom in these moments, just staring blankly into space and generally behaving as if sighing were far too much effort. Usually if you throw a ball for her, or try to get her interested in one of her other toys, she'll just ignore the toy and give you a look that quite clearly says that you do not understand her.

I suspect that Edith in this mood is probably excellent experience for parenting teenagers. I should rent her out.

Flowers!

One of the faculty brought in flowers today for me and Amy to show her appreciation of us. That made me happy!

Face Paint.

I've recently been updating my make-up collection, in particular I'm adding more colours to my eye-shadows and I have bought actual proper brushes with which to apply the cosmetics once I've got them. Today, as you can see, I've gone with a simple pink wash over the lids with an asphalt grey shadow as an eyeliner and black mascara.

My main problem with every day make-up is that I get raccoon eyes from my mascara, yes even water-proof, but the very nice lady at Sephora in Charlotte (Hi Cindy!) gave me a sample of Urban Decay's All Nighter setting spray and that plus a mascara primer seem to have sorted me out.

I ran out of the sample on Monday, so I ordered a full-size bottle but went with De-Slick in the hopes that will also keep my t-zone in check. When I mentioned that I'd just ordered some more stuff from Sephora, Doc C asked what I'd bought. I hesitated for a moment, then said that I didn't want to tell him because most (straight) men don't understand make-up and he wouldn't get why I needed it. He laughed and admitted that was probably true, and that his question had been prompted by thinking that surely I had enough make-up already.

Ha! Poor fool! Enough Make-Up? There is no such thing as enough!

 

Four Pairs of Jeans - Breaking My Previous Personal Best!

Almost exactly two years ago, give or take a fortnight, I posted this picture:

This is a photograph of may wearing three pairs of jeans at once, because I had gone down so many sizes that it was now possible for me to layer denim over my hips and still get all of the buttons done up - Oh, and breath still!

I felt it was time to attempt a new personal best record, and can now truthfully say that I can wear four pairs of jeans at once. Should I ever be asked that.

The second pair of jeans in the more recent picture is the foundation pair of jeans glimpsed in the earlier photo. I don't remember if any of the other jeans were involved in both experiments.

There is no photo manipulation techniques employed, and I wasn't wearing any type of corset. I will admit to being very careful with my posture though, because my tummy still does have some fat on it and that fat will try to spill over the top of jeans if I slouch. The easiest fix for this is not to slouch.

And, of course, this is my new Facebook profile picture, I enjoy peer approval as much as the next girl.

Saturday Shopping - Jeans and Soft Furnishings.

After breakfast (see previous post for details) we fed our friends' cats, which is always nice because they are so very pleased to see someone after a night alone - My Converse got a particular thorough loving from Molly Cat, but they are still cats so as soon as we had fulfilled our function and filled their food bowls we were ignored.

Doc C and I then went shopping, and I confirmed my suspicion that I have indeed gone down an entire size of jeans. This naturally called for trying on jeans in Levi's (even though I can't wear Levi's because my hips untuck the pockets somehow), Gap, J. Crew, Banana Republic and Old Navy. I bought very skinny (and very cheap - $10!) black jeans and wide legged blue jeans. Score.

We also needed stuff for the house, we bought a classic bamboo steamer, a huge stock pot and some nice firm cushions for the sofa.

Doc C and I compromised on these - He chose the floral (Ralph Lauren...) and I wanted the two London monuments (No name designer...). I'm usually skeptical about overtly British design elements, but these stark graphicsare so very fun and they look great; even more importantly they are really comfortable too. 

Cake for Breakfast.

We decided last night we were going to go out for breakfast this morning, and I looked up our favourite breakfast place's menu on-line to ponder my options. I decided on a vegetable packed tempeh scramble, and was fully intending to eat that - right up until I saw the specials board and read the words "Pound Cake French Toast - with raspberry cooli and warm frsh peach sauce". I mean how are you supposed to turn your nose up at that?

 I, for one, have no idea, it was a really delicious french toast concept. Bravo!

Maude in Progress.

I don't generally post pictures of works in progress on-line, but I offered to make a pair of "Harold and Maude" (1971) amigurumis for Megg back in freaking NOVEMBER, so, you know, I thought I'd make an exception. 

This is Maude, I actually made her head when I was in England, so she's been percolating for a while now, and, after seriously months of internal debate, I finally decided to dress her in the outfit she wears to the second (I think?) funeral; so a classic trench coat with a pink silk scarf (not made yet) and a big yellow umbrella.

I still haven't quite decided how to dress Harold, should he wear the clothes he is in for the second funeral, or should I go for one of his more colourful and therefore fun outfits? He has a particularly great pinkish tweed suit that keeps jumping up and down in my mind, but I have no earthly clue how I would do that. Maybe baker's twine? I don't know. Fortunately I do know for definite that Harold will have very long legs, and they will definitely be clad in flares.

Door-to-Door Letter Opener.

I love this! It's another gem from the retiring professor's office, and it's a plastic letter opener with a molded decoration on both sides of the handle. One side is a travelling saleswoman and the other is a travelling salesman, and just underneath both is the logo for Fuller's Brush Co. I adore the "Mad Men" vibe on this, but I especially love the travelling saleswoman and her fabulous outfit. I want that dress, and those gloves. Gorgeous.

Naturally I did a little google research, and I discovered that these letter openers were promotional freebies from Fuller's, which is just delightful. These letter openers aren't terribly collectible and they are easy to buy cheaply on ebay, so I'm thinking I might turn it into a piece of jewellery somehow. I think it's too big for a necklace, but maybe a brooch or a bracelet.

Book Pile-Up.

I love books, but I especially love second-hand books. When I discovered Goodreads I was immediately smitten by the swap feature, which allows users to list books they no longer want and then other readers can pay the shipping and get the book.

It does still cost $3 or $4 in postage fees, so I try to limit how many books I request, but occasionally a glut of titles that I want happen to be listed in close proximity. This is how I ended up receiving Donna Tartt's "The Secret History", Sarah Waters' "The Little Stranger" and Tim Gunn's "A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style" in the post this morning, whilst I'm still only about half-way through "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.

Books! FOR ME!

Kivik - The Big Red Sofa.

This is is the new sofa in all it's red glory. It only occured to me today that the "God Save the Queen" cushion would look rocking on this.