Alien Spouse

Exterminate! Exterminate! Extermi... Cat Pee? Yuck!

We went shopping today, for a weird little mix of things that had become necessities:

• Wellies (1 x pair)?  Tick.
• Black Converse (1 x pair)?  Tick.
• Two torches (one battery powered and one rechargeable)? Tick.
• AC Charger for the iPod?  Tick.
• Enzyme cleaning spray to deal with little kitty surprises? Tick.
• Small cat litter tray to facilitate toilet training?  Tick.
• Vegetable stock cubes?  Tick.
• Hippy butter (That's what Doc calls the butter spread with no trans fatty acids in it.  And he won't eat it.)? Tick.
• Drawing pins?  Tick.
• Portable UV Light?  Cross.

I could not find a UV light in our local hardware supermarket, or Radio Shack (purveyors of fine electronic geekitude); where else would you get one from?  I didn't think it would be this hard to find one.

You may wonder why I even need a UV light, which is a fair enough question.  Well you know how in all of the "CSI" series they are forever spraying luminol around to check for blood at a crime scene and it makes it glow?  Well, apparently UV light does the same for cat pee.  I am pretty certain the girls haven't been peeing anywhere that I don't know about, because they are usually very good, but after Nancy's little protest last week I would like to be 100% positive of that.

I quite honestly think the best thing to do now would be to order a Sonic Screwdriver on-line, that way I could combat both cat pee and Daleks, and I am all for multi-tasking. 
Unfortunately I can't buy a real Sonic Screwdriver, however much I want to believe in their existence, but you can buy a pretty cool toy one that comes with a pad of psychic paper.  One end is an invisible ink pen, and the other end is a UV light that makes the ink glow.  Which, cat pee aside, sounds pretty damn cool doesn't it?

Citikitty: This Weekend's Project.

After we left work this afternoon (Actually we got to leave early today because of the snow.  It's pretty and it's gets me out of work early?  I love snow!) we went food shopping, so we didn't have to worry just in case we did get snowed in. 
We also bought bird seed to keep the local birds happy and a large box of cat litter, because I am not going to be trapped in the house with two cats and no litter.

Then we went to the local hardware store to buy firewood, and I bought a stanley knife and a small handsaw.  I will be using them this weekend to customise the cat's litter tray this weekend.  I am absolutely determined that the citikitty training will continue and that it will work.

The cats have yet to comment.

I Finally Make A Series Of Decisions.

I finally made a decision about what I wanted engraved on the back of my iPod, and Doc C likes the second line so much that he asked if I'd mind him getting it printed on a t-shirt; so I'm fairly pleased with that.  However that was just the tip of the decision making ice berg; because I then agonised over which protective case seemed least likely to obscure the engraving, whilst still being of some functional purpose.  After that monumental decision I spent some moments debating where to get it delivered to, and whether to list my mobile number or my office number because it only had space for one phone number on the order form.  Eventually, and after much prompting by Doc C, I hit the confirm button. 

Which means I should have an iPod Touch by this time next week.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

My First iPod.

I have been wanting an iPod Touch for a while now, and now that I'm working full time again I can actually afford to buy one.  Yay!

There is only one problem: What do I get engraved on the back?  If you buy it from the Apple store directly you can get two lines of text laser engraved for free, which seems silly to turn down, except that I have been trying to decide what I want for nearly a week now.  I think I've got the first line sorted now, but the second line is giving me a bit of trouble.  There is only enough space for 29 characters in each line, and it is really hard to come up with some thing pithy, yet meaningful and/or funny in that small amount of space.

Any suggestions gratefully accepted!

Christmas Is Coming. Be Ready.

Christmas is starting to creep in already, honestly that Christmas is so sneaky!

Over the past few days I've noticed more shops putting out all of the Christmas accoutrements, there are trailers on TV for Christmas specials, and the municipal enormous glowing snowflakes were put up in town over a week ago.  To cap it all I watched, well more like listened to, an animated Christmas movie whilst I was cleaning the bathroom today.

I have to admit that I am finding myself capitulating to the encroaching festivities; yesterday we bought our first Christmas decorations of this year.  In my defence when I first saw gold glitter hummingbirds I resisted them, but then it occurred to me how fun they would look hung in the living room windows.  So the next time we were in that shop I bought three of them, actually I wanted to get 9 but they were $4 each and I could see Doc was not going to go for that.

Don't worry I haven't actually put any decorations up yet, but I am definitely in the  planning stages and this year I believe the theme is going to be tasteful gold glitter.  Which I don't happen to believe is an oxymoron.

Why I Am Very Excited.

My lovely friend Laura is going to be in town for a few days, and she offered to host a birthday party at her house tomorrow evening for Doc C and I!  How can you turn that down?  And when I asked if we could have a pinata, make Dia De Muerto skull masks and eat tacos she thought that was a great idea!  Hooray!  It's going to be a very faux Mexican birthday; except I think The Doc plans on making another pecan pie, but it would be churlish to turn up my nose at Doc's pecan pies just because it doesn't fit a theme.

So I've been very busy this evening disembowelling a tissue paper bull and stuffing it with sweets and tacky plastic stuff.  Edith loves the pinata, and keeps rubbing her face up against it, but Nancy has ascertained it has no cat biscuits in it and is therefore totally uninterested.
We actually had quite a difficult time choosing our pinata because there were some excellent options.  I think Doc would have preferred the pirate, but I thought we should go traditional for my first pinata.  Neither of us wanted to get a Dora the Explorer pinata, because she had an oddly grey face and it was creepy frankly.

The Polka Dot Courier Bag Has Landed!

This morning when Doc C went to check our post office box he collected three parcels, and one of them was my new courier bag.  Isn't it fab?  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Who would have thought hole punch reinforcers and a pot of paint would work so well?

My new bag is a small standard courier bag.  Which means it's about the size of a tote bag, has one large main pocket and a further five pockets on the inside, as well as a carabiner key clip.

I know I've said it before, but honestly Courierware are the best.  Eric at Courierware encouraged me to customise the fabric exactly how I wanted to, and then made the bag for me.  So he made not only made it possible, but did it within two weeks of me shipping the painted cordura back to them and at a reasonable price.  I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Compelling and Delicious Data.

I know there have been a lot of polls indicating that Obama is currently in the lead against McCain, but you know most of these polls are conducted via telephone and one of the problems with that is that telephone polling companies are not allowed to use machines to dial mobile phones so they are mainly calling landlines.  As I'm sure you know many people in their thirties and under are no longer bothering to have landlines installed, so there is an inherent flaw in these polls.

However, out favourite local bakery has started to conduct some research of their own.

The Democratic's party symbol is the Donkey, the Republican's is the Elephant, I have no idea why and I am not going to wikipedia it right now.  The bakery made sugar cookies in the shape of elephants and donkeys and sprinkled them with appropriately coloured sugar.  They then sold the cookies, and kept a record of how many of each were sold.

Need I point out that the donkeys are almost gone, whilst there are three piles left of the elephants?  If that wasn't indication enough, please note that the blackboard tally (Which is annoyingly slightly blurred, I'm sorry) indicates quite clearly where the local lovers of fine baked goods stand on this issue.  I think you'll agree that that method of data collection is absolutely flawless.

Obama '08.  Yes We Can Have Cookies.

My New Bedside Lamp.

We were in Kmart at the weekend to buy some Halloween stuff (I really wanted a skull shaped cookie cutter, but no luck there), and I bought this bedside lamp to replace the hideous maroon monstrousity that has been blighting my bedside table since Doc's brother gave us some furniture.

The new one is a fabulous terrarium lamp from the Martha Stewart Everyday collection.  It comes without anything inside it, and you simply unscrew the base to put anything in it that you like.  Which in my case obviously called for glow-in-the-dark wind up skeletons (and Mummy!) and a Day of the Dead Cabaret Singer.  I don't think that's quite what Martha had in mind; the box had a tasteful display of black rocks and a bleached white starfish.

The really nice thing about it, is that you get to display the things nicely without them getting dusty or knocked over, plus the lighting for your collection is always fabulous.

Doc C is now considering getting one too and filling it with Star Wars figures.  Vintage only, of course.

P.S. Also on my bedside table, as ever, is my current book.  Right now I am reading "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" by Jeff Lindsay, having watched and adored the first two seasons of the TV series.  A murder mystery told in the first person by a charming serial killer with a code of ethics?  And it's funny?  Count me in!

I'm British - The Weather is Endlessly Fascinating.

As I mentioned yesterday the weather is starting to get a bit colder.  I've broken out the cosy undershirts that I like to wear layered under t-shirts and hoodies, so I am keeping warm.  One thing I really like about the change in weather is that it makes the cats much friendlier.  Nancy was taking an hour and a half to forgive me for giving her the bubble-gum pink antibiotics previously, but this evening she was on my lap within thirty minutes.

The cooler weather also means that I have an excuse to crochet up a storm!  Doc C wore his scarf last weekend, and said it was very warm.

Today I took my skull and crossbones scarf to the wool shop with me to ask the nice lady behind the counter how much more wool she thought I needed, and whether blocking would help lengthen it.  When I took the scarf out of my bag and unrolled it along the counter, the two other customers in the shop came to have a look.  One of them was a sweet little old lady who peered at it, then gave me a big beaming smile and said it was very pretty.  I'm not sure she had her glasses on, bless her heart.

I bought the two balls of wool it was agreed should get the length I want for my scarf, and I also bought some lovely Scottish wool to make Doc a nice warm hat, which I think I'll attempt to felt.  However the hat wool was ten dollars more expensive per ball then the wool I made the scarves out of, so I think I'll do a practice run in nice cheapo acrylic first.

Halloween Records. Want!

I was thrilled when I saw these in a record shop window the other day.  They are, respectively, the soundtrack to the classic vampire time-travel soap opera "Dark Shadows" (I've only seen the remake, but I have heard tales of the originals genius) and a sound effects LP full of bloodcurdling! Terrifying!  Horrific!  "Sounds to Make You Shiver".

As it happens Doc C had the sound effects album as a kid and loved it, which explains a lot about his lack of reaction to horror movies.  I also know someone in London who would probably love the "Dark Shadows" soundtrack on CD, but I doubt an LP would survive the journey, even if he had a record player to spin it on.

I also can only apologise for the glare, Picnik helped dissipate the worst of it but I was craning around a rack of second-hand coats and just could get the right angle to eliminate the glare from the sun altogether.

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!

Sourdough and Juice Glasses

On the way home from work Doc C and I stopped off at the local bakery to buy some sourdough bread.  Do loves sourdough, but when he tries baking it he can't get it quite like the bread we buy from this bakery; so he asked how long they left the dough to sour for.  The girl on the till didn't know, so she nipped to ask the baker, who said they'd started the starter dough when the bakery first opened seven years ago and it had been kept alive ever since.  That is pretty impressive! 

Whilst The Doc was getting baking tips, I was looking at the display of vintage glasses they had on the windowsill.  They were small molded juice glasses (about twice the height of an egg cup), which I thought were just lovely and Doc agreed.  They were only $1.75 each (That's less than a pound each), so we carefully choose six that we liked.

The owner of the bakery saw we were buying the glasses, and came over to tell us how much she loves the ones she's got at home because it's so easy for everyone to keep track of which drink is theirs and they are really sturdy.  She does use them to give her children juice in, but I think we'll be using them as slightly over-sized shot glasses.

I have no idea when we'll have six people in our house all sipping whiskey, but when we do I think I'll be using the glass second from the left which has a row of tiny stars around the rim.

On-Line Shopping Delivery Day! Woo-Hoo!

When we were paid on the 1st of the month I ordered a couple of things on-line, and it all arrived today!  When Doc drove over to my office to pick me up there were two interesting looking boxes on the passenger seat.  Hooray!

Of course I knew exactly what was in both of them: The first held MOP (Modern Organic Product) hair styling products, I love their range, but they don't sell the two products I used in the UK over here, so I am trying a couple of other things from them.

The second was from Amazon, from whom I'd ordered a couple of books and a DVD.  I almost hate to say this as a former bookseller, but I bought the books mainly for their cover art.  Even worse they are both TV tie-ins!  It's as though suddenly publishers have realised that these don't have to be absolutely hideous all of a sudden and these are both great images.

The DVD is a lovely little film that I saw a few years ago on one of my early dates with Doc C (Before he even was Doc C!).  It's a Dutch film that was originally called "Minoes", which has been translated to the rather less appealing "Undercover Kitty".  We saw it at the cinema with subtitles, but I think this is probably a dubbed version. 

It's a children's film about a cat who is magically transformed into a woman, albeit still able to talk to cats and with some feline character traits, and through her network of feline informants is able to help a young journalist break a story about corruption in local government.  You know put like that it sounds sort of insane and a bit boring, but is one of the sweetest films I have ever seen.  We still reference the cat names to each other, so at one point Edith and Nancy were a mere whisker away from being Minoes and Jakkepoes but we had an 11th hour change of heart.

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.

The Political Satire of Doc C.

Doc C and I are at the supermarket on the way home, and as we wandering down the canned vegetables aisle Doc turned to me and said:

"Do you want to stock up on tins of beans in case the economy crumbles and the fabric of society splinters? Oooh! M&M's!"

He then zoomed off to grab a large bag of the peanut and chocolate treats.  Do you think that's what happens at script meetings for "The Daily Show, with John Stewart"?  Someone is right in the middle of an amusingly scathing riff about the current political situation, when they get distracted by sugary snacks?

Of Cats and Birds.

After work today we went straight to the local pet shop to see what manner of things they had for cats.  The Humane Society will give us a ten percent off voucher in the cat's re-homing package, so we didn't want to buy too much today.  We came away with just the essentials: a litter tray, flushable litter and a scoop.  I fully intend to use the Citi Kitty to train the cats to use the toilet, but they need to feel settled in their new home before I try to do that.

After that we went to the garden centre to buy a bird feeder, some seed and a couple of bungee cords to attached the thing to the railing on our balcony.  Doc C has been wanting to buy a bird feeder all summer, but I insisted he wait until Autumn because you have to be very careful about feeding birds when there are still newly-hatched chicks around that can't handle large seeds or nuts.

When we got home Doc C immediately filled up the bird feeder and carefully positioned it in full view of our sofa; so I think the living room windows are going to be like a wide-screen entertainment system for the cats.

Monday. Ugh.

Today was fairly awful, for boring work related reasons for me, but I found that pretty much everyone else was having a bad day too.  It seems to me that ever since I heard that Paul Newman had died, everything has just been wrong.  For example Jason e-mailed to say that he had got home ok, but his suitcase hadn't.  Again.  What is it with Delta, and the inability to fully co-ordinate a change of flight?  I haven't heard the suitcase's full itinerary yet, but I expect you will be seeing Jason's first book "Places My Suitcase Has Been Without Me" in airport bookshops in time to catch the summer tourism trade next year.

However today I did discover what could well be the perfect alarm clock; I currently use the alarm feature on my phone, but it literally scared me awake last week (I sat bolt upright and whimpered according to Doc C.  I dispute the whimpering) and I hate it.  I've been thinking that I really needed to buy a good alarm clock as an alternative, and whilst looking for one I stumbled across the website to the Voco.  It has a voice chip in it loaded with 150 different phrases read by Stephen Fry in Jeeves mode, and that sounds to me to be the most delightful way to be awakened.  If you don't want to buy the clock itself, you can also just download the phrases and a bit of software and it will play through your iPod instead.  There are different versions for Sir and Madam, as well as a Horoscope and Bible version (Stephen Fry doesn't do the Bible one though, which I was quite glad about actually).

 

Antiques, Cat Training and Petrol Shortages.

Doc C was teaching this afternoon, and this morning he had a meeting so Jason and I went into town with him when he went to work and I showed Jason around the local antique shops, restaurants (we covered one for breakfast, one for lunch and a bakery for a sampler selection of their finest cookies) and the university campus.

We also picked up the post from our post office box and the CitiKitty I ordered last week arrived today.  All we need now is a cat or two, and I will be able to report back on whether or not it is indeed possible to train a cat to use a toilet.  Oh, let's hope!

We were planning to go to Asheville on Saturday, but it turns out that the petrol shortages that have been effecting other towns in America has finally reached our town; so we may have to be more careful about the distances we're going to drive over the next few days before we go to Charlotte airport.  Otherwise Jason may be here for considerably longer than he had anticipated, which would honestly suit me perfectly well!

Day Three of Jason's Visit!

This evening we introduced Jason to Kim, Jill and David, "Project Runway", our shiny new grill and smores.  It was very fun!

Tomorrow I will take Jason out to my favourite breakfast place, then around campus and the antique shops in town, before we go bowling in the evening.  More fun!

Humming Birds and Halloween Fripperies.

The weather has been behaving itself beautifully (knock on wood) and we've had some nice bright sunny days.  Jason has been enjoying sitting out on our deck and watching the hummingbirds putting on their aerial displays.

After work today Doc C and I came home to have a cup of tea, and then took Jason into town to see all the Halloween stuff that's on sale.  We went to Kmart first of all and explored all the Halloween themed baking goods, candy and costumes.  Then we went over the Lowes hardware which has a great life size animatronic witch (stirring a bubbling cauldron) and some utterly ridiculous inflatables, but unfortunately the life-size mummy (with moving eyes, that mumbles at you when you move too close to it) had already been sold.

Tomorrow I still need to be in the office, but then I can take Thursday and Friday off so Jason and I are going to explore our town and the next town over.  Then on Saturday we'll see if we feel like exploring further afield on a day trip, before we take Jason to the airport on Sunday afternoon. 

Jason Arrives!

We drove to Charlotte today to collect Jason from the airport.  We parked the car, walked through the main entrance and I immediately spotted Jason at a luggage caousel.  His suitcase, unfortunately, had not made it from New York to North Carolina, so he gave them our address and they'll deliver it to us tomorrow.

Apart from that small hiccup, I think he's had a good trip so far.

I Dream of M&S.

Last night I had a dream that I was working in a really nice office in London, then I went for lunch and realised that I was just round the corner from Covent Garden.  I went into a really lovely and huge Marks and Spencer (That's the point I should have known I was dreaming, much though I love the Covent Garden branch of M&S it is very small and the building is weirdly designed), before realising I had been on lunch for two hours.

When I got back to the office everyone was taking an afternoon nap.  I didn't have a duvet with me, so I went downstairs to the submarine and helped the polar bear work out how to send biscuit tins through the speaking tube.

It was an odd dream.

Then I woke up and had a lovely chat with my Mum, before starting to clean the house in preparation for Jason's arrival tomorrow.  I am very excited!

Multi-Task Saturday.

It's been a very busy day today.

We bought some wool (although not quite enough for my scarf), and then I went to Staples to buy some office stuff and that took quite a while.  It is surprisingly hard to choose document holders, who knew?  I did get some super cool bulldog clips though, they have retro style typewriter keys on them.

After we'd dropped those off in my office, we got some lunch from our favourite bakery and drove up to the Parkway to have a picnic.  That was really nice, and after lunch we went for a stroll.

There were lots of acorns on the ground, and Doc C picked up on of the acorn cups (you know, those things that look like hats for pixies) put both his thumbs over the top of it, if you know who to do owl whistles he held his hands sort of like that, and then proceeded to produce one of the most ear-piercing whistles I have ever heard.  It actually hurt to hear it.  Naturally I requested that Doc teach me this very valuable skill, and soon we were both whistling like loons.  Very fun!

Then we came home, and I started sticking the hole enforcers in a grid pattern on what will be my new bag whilst watching an appalling Harrison Ford Movie.  I went off to eat dinner half-way through and when I came back nothing had happened.  Literally when I left there were two men in suits walking round a bank, and when I came back thirty minutes later they were still walking round the same bank.  Wow, that is one slow moving plot for a thriller.

Before I go to bed I have to make cookie dough, so I can bake cookies for Doc's departmental soiree tomorrow afternoon.

Very busy day.

Friday! Friday! Friday!

I cannot believe it is Friday already, this week has flown by.  Bob started driving back to Boston today, because he'll be taking a couple of days to get there; unlike our fourteen hour marathon last time we went.

This weekend I shall be getting some more wool to finish off the scarf I am crocheting for Doc C and to start off the one I've decided to make for myself.  I shall also be positioning stickers, and using them to paint polka dots on the fabric for my bag flap.  The piece of cordura arrived this morning and  extremely thoughtful people at Courierware have even chalked in guidelines for me, so that I don't polka dot anywhere that's going to be hidden.

Apart from that I am intending to sleep a lot, but I don't know if that's going to happen because I drank half a litre of coffee at this morning's breakfast meeting.  That was at 8am, and I am still feeling wired.  I drink tea every day, or I might have a latte once or twice a week, but half a litre of strong filter coffee is clearly not a good idea for me, and yet I manage to forget that and do it again every five years or so.

Note to self:  This is your brain on too much caffeine, Eeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bookcases As Far As The Eye Can See. Beautiful.

Today we went to the D.I.Y. superstore to see if they had another two of the white bookcases in stock, which, very fortunately, they did.  So we bought those and then I played with all the Halloween stuff that they already had in stock.  I'm pretty keen on getting the small fog machine and tiny strobe light, but I also very much liked the polystyrene gravestones and string of skull lanterns that played the theme from "Halloween" whilst flickering on and off.  I am already getting very excited about the prospect of Halloween, and I really want to have a party this year.

Back to the bookshelves, I put them together this afternoon, and immediately put my books on them.  I have to say this is the first time in my life that I can remember having more shelves than books, and I am very excited to have all that space to fill.  Doc couldn't believe that I didn't have more books here, but as I pointed out I had to get rid of several box-fulls before I moved from Brighton to London, and even more when we moved from the UK to the US.  Plus I've left some in storage with my parents, Thanks Mum!

As you can see our bedroom is quite a rich shade of blue, and all of the bedroom furniture is dark wood (That's the foot of the bed you can see in the foreground of the photo).  When we first moved in we were worried about that blue, because it does seem really dark when you first see it, and I don't think we would have chosen it ourselves, but, hey we're renting, so we've just got used to it.  Still I didn't want to try and match the dark wood furniture with the bookcases, because I wanted to lighten the room up by echoing the white of the skirting boards and ceiling.  I really like how it looks, so I'm pleased we went with that idea.

Finally, yes I did put the photo through Picnik, that's an effect they've just added called Panography-ish.  I really like it!

I Used To Be A Doctor For Pretend.

Generally speaking I am not a fan of the way that some channels in the US have of putting a commercial break every seven seconds in programs.  Why run the opening credits and go straight into a break?  I do not understand that at all, and the same thing happens at the end.  There will be a break followed by a final snippet of the show and then the closing credits.  It's just weird.

However, I do have a current favourite advertisement which features Dr Horrible himself, Neil Patrick Harris.  I find that I just really like NPH these days, and his line delivery in this amuses me greatly. 

As I'm on a roll with the embedding of YouTube clips at the moment, please enjoy:

Courierware Rock!

I mentioned yesterday my master plan for getting the polka dot courier bag of my fevered imagination.  As part of that I e-mailed Courierware over the holiday weekend to ask if they knew which paint to use, and Eric from Courierware e-mailed me back today with some recommendations.

But that wasn't all.  Eric also suggested that rather than buying a whole bag to paint straight onto, which would risk ruining a brand new bag, that instead I buy just the piece of fabric that would eventually become the flap.  Once it's painted to my satisfaction I can send it back to them, and they will use the pre-painted fabric to make the bag.

Isn't that brilliant?

You just don't genuinely helpful customer service, and very good quality products very often these days, but Courierware delivers both.  They really do rock, and no I don't own shares in them.

More Polka Dots.

I am definitely on my way to owning a black-and-white polka dot courier bag.  I'm going to order a bag from a company I really like called Courierware, they make great bags to customer specifications and Doc C has been using one of their bags for six years now.  I cannot imagine him not having that bag, fortunately they are virtually indestructible and have a lifetime warranty.

One small confession I already own a large red courier bag (perfect for carry-on luggage when flying), and a small hot-pink walking bag (perfect for carrying stuff whilst walking dogs) from Courierware, but what I need a medium size bag for work. 

Hi.  My name is Jen, and I am addicted to bags.

Anyway, Courierware do offer a great range of colours in cordura, and will work with other fabrics; but what I want is a bag made from the waterproof cordura, and cordura doesn't come in polka dots.  I did some internet research, and eventually found a bike courier's forum thread that was discussing how to stencil onto cordura bags.  This is exactly what I am intending to do, so I was pleased to find that other people reported good results using gesso.  Artists use gesso paint to prepare canvases, it comes in different colours, and it's quite cheap.  Perfect.  I don't really know hard wearing it will be, but I can easily touch up the bag when needed.

We went to an art shop today, and I bought a pint of black gesso, a pint of white gesso, a paint brush, a sheet of acetate, an exacto knife and a self-healing cutting board.  I also bought a ruler and some punch hole reinforcements from the supermarket on the way home.

I've pretty much given up on finding a cheap polka dot stencil, there is one on e-bay but I've already been outbid on it and I don't fancy getting into a bidding war for the thing.  Instead I used the hole reinforcer stickers to stencil a row of three practice dots on the inside of my small walking bag, which is also made of cordura.

I'm really pleased with how the dots came out, the hole re-inforcers are really simple to position and the dots were nice and crisp.  All I need to do now is order my bag from Courierware, and then spend a few hours ruling a grid on it with tailor's chalk and positioning the stickers.

In the meantime, I'm going to be stenciling the pink bag, and this time I'll be using the acetate to make a stencil.  The original design was going to be a stylised black cat, but now I'm thinking about doing something else.  Maybe an off-center black, white and hot-pink Union Jack, but I definitely need to practice that a few times first though.  Can't have a wonky looking Union Jack.

Did It Myself.

I don't know who designed the two bookcases that Doc C and I bought on Friday, but despite the fact they look identical, the designers apparently thought it would be amusing to make the method of construction for the white bookcase slightly different to that of oak veneer bookcase.  Needless to say it was also slightly more difficult.

But I still managed to build it, with minimal swearing, and we now have a bookcase in our bedroom.

Ha!

Slightly Dotty.*

I have woken up this morning with a sudden obsession for polka dots.  I am attributing this to two recent purchases which feature polka dots and both of which are making me very happy.  I've already mentioned my black-and-white polka dot Converse, and they have become a favourite item in my wardrobe by the simple method of enlivening many an ensemble.

When we first moved in practically the first thing we bought was shower curtains, and we didn't want anything too wacky because that's just jarring first thing in the morning. Initially I was greatly enamored of a metallic silver shower curtain, but when it came to the crunch, I choose an opaque white shower curtain with glossy white polka dots.

Having lived with these two items for several weeks now I have come to appreciate the polka dot more than I had previously.  It adds some visual interest without being overwhelming, and it is a pattern that plays well with others in small doses.  Plus whilst polka dots clearly have a retro appeal, they somehow still look fresh.

Right now I am trying to track down a polka dot stencil, because I want to buy a new courier bag. A black bag would be the most sensible choice for work, but I've decided that I want to add white polka dots to it to make it a bit more distinctive.  I don't want to make the stencil myself, because I know I wouldn't be able to cut out the dots sufficiently accurately for my liking.  I've found one which seems to be reasonably priced in itself but the postage is surprisingly expensive.  Does anyone have a top tip for a cheap polka dot stencil.

* Post title chosen in honour of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch.

Shoes and Books.

Before we talk about anything else, can we please discuss this chandelier? 

Isn't it ridiculous, and hideous, and bizarre?  I am pretty certain that I would have begged to be allowed this in my bedroom as a small child, but despite it's undeniable campness I have to say that now I think it's atrocious. 

It's not so much the idea, because I can sort of see what the designer was going for, but the execution is so appalling.  The colours and the construction just look cheap and nasty.

I saw this particular treasure in the local DIY supermarket whilst we were shopping for bedside lamps and bookshelves.  We didn't find any lamps that we really liked, but we did buy two small bookshelves.  We need more than two, but that's all they had. 

On the way home Doc said "So when we get back I'll play video games, and you'll build bookcases right?", I said Ok, and Doc was all "Really?  Because I didn't honestly think you'd go for that!".  Luckily for him I am very much my mother's daughter; so whilst he was battling gladiators, I happily unpacked the instructions, the bits of wood, and all the various widgets and grommets. 

It said on the instructions that the makers estimate that it would take an hour to put together.  It took me 35 minutes.

New Broom.

Last month I bought some booksfrom Amazon, and the only one I haven't really mentioned since is the one on Organic Housekeeping.

That's mainly because I haven't yet been able to fully implement the ideas in there, because I have been having trouble buying all of the things that I need.

The item I have had most difficulty with was what the author of the book called a dutch rubber broom.  Which (as you can see from the picture) is a rubber broom with an integral squeegee, I eventually gave up trying to find one in the local shops and turned to the Internet.  I still had some problems, but the Target website, even though they don't mention the Dutch or rubber at all in the description, did have the Deluxe One Sweep.  As soon as I saw a photo of it I immediately knew that was what I was after.

It arrived yesterday (the handle dismantles into 4 sections, so it packed into a much smaller box than I was expecting), so I haven't really had a chance to put it through it's paces but I did use it to give the kitchen floor a quick mop and I think I might love it.

Over the weekend I'll clean the bathrooms, and report back. 

Washinton 10 - (Finally) Bullet Point Number Ten

As we came out of Lush directly across the road from us was a branch of Urban Outfitters and we briefly discussed going to see if they had anything we wanted, but we agreed that really on the last couple of occasions we'd had looked round an Urban Outfitters we had been really disappointed with the selection and quality.

Thinking about it later Doc C said he felt that the main problem was that they sold too many t-shirts with slogans that "...Frat boys would think of as witty".

Which probably means we are not the target demographic anyway, so we carried on to Barnes and Noble instead.

A Lucky Woman.

You know what's nice?  Having a husband who will buy you a book of crochet patterns for men's clothes, despite knowing that means I shall undoubtedly now make him something, then expect him to wear it and damn well like it!

All that, and I also have a very thoughtful mother, who sends me nice greeting cards that make my eyes just little bit watery.

Washington 10 - Bullet Point Number Nine.

Before leaving on the trip I had gone to the Lush website and found the addresses of their shops in DC.  There was one in Georgetown, and I think Doc wanted to take me there anyway, so we stopped off on the way home.

I really like Georgetown, it's like a nice English market town, if they'd had a Waterstones, a Monsoon and nice tea room (and if the traffic was on the correct side of the road), then I would have thought I was in the home counties.  sigh.

Even better the Lush was between an American Eagle Outfitters, a clothes shop which does Doc C's current favourite cut of jeans, and a Barnes and Noble bookshop.  Heaven.  Doc bought three pairs of jeans, whilst I bought three books and a pilates ball, not to mention a tidy sum of delicious smelling cosmetics.

It was a very good day of shopping and we both left very happy.  Next time we go to Washington I really want to spend much more time in Georgetown.

It's Like Freaking Snow White Around Here.

Today has been a really exciting day.  We walked two really sweet dogs, and I was very pleased to hear that one of my favourite dogs has finally gone to a good home.  Then we went to the cat room, and one of the cats that I really like made a bee line for Doc's lap and started to win him over too.

Then we went to the garden centre to buy plants, we choose a nice trailing plant with purple flowers because the butterflies seemed to particularly like it, and a pink one because Doc liked the way the bees were climbing all the way into them to get the nectar.

We also decided to get a hummingbird feeder as well.  I put it up as soon as we got home about an hour ago, and they are already using it!

I got one blurry picture of a hummingbird hovering just below the feeder, but the moment they see any slight movement in the living room they zoom off.  So Doc and I are just sitting very still on the sofa watching the feeder.  It's amazing!

Gas Grill Mark 2.

Doc C was very excited about the gas grill we got from our friend's neighbours, but upon closer examination it was a bit disgusting.  He could not work out how to get it satisfactorily clean, and he really didn't like the idea of cooking on it.

I suggested Doc go to the hardware store and see if there was any way he could salvage it, and, if not, consider buying a new one. 

So now we have two gas grills.

He's building the new one now, in the living room right now.  He seems to be enjoying himself immensely.

A Saturday in Washington.

My feet are aching.  It was such a fun day, if a little too blazing hot for me.

We left the hotel a