Alien Spouse

Klingon Opera and Unwelcome Insects.

There is a possibility that we've been watching far too many of the series in the Star Trek family of TV shows, because Eva has developed a taste for Klingon opera and she spent most of last night treating us to a impromptu performance.

It's really sweet and no doubt an important developmental stage, but my goodness it is LOUD.

Naturally Eva was as fresh as a daisy at six o'clock this morning, whereas Doc C and I were pretty shattered.  Fortunately this is a very rare occurrence, but we do have an agreement in place that covers just this type of contingency; one of us will get up with her for two hours whilst the other parent sleeps, then we swap for two hours.  By eleven thirty we were all up to speed, and able to get on with our day.

It was pretty exciting actually - Doc C did the laundry and I got my hair cut.  It's amazing to think that this time last year neither of these things would have warranted mention, but now I am proud to log those achievements.

Oh, also; I have declared war on the stink bugs in our apartment.  In the summer I didn't mind them, in the autumn I almost admired their tenacity but now it's winter and I have had enough.  They really brought this on their own insectoid heads because a couple of them have climbed INTO my clothes, whilst I was wearing them no less, on two separate occasions.  And if they can do that to me, then they could do it to Eva and my protective mothering instincts have kicked in at the mere thought. I am not having that.

Sunday Evening.

Sofa. Ice cream. Deep Space Nine. Not being screeched at.

And...

Relax.

Beam Her Up Scotty!

Oh!  I keep forgetting to blog about Eva's pointy ears!  Look how cute they are - My daughter is a Vulcan!

Evalyn does actually have a Star Trek Science Officer (the blue uniforms) onesie that our friend Danny gave her, but she's a bit small for it right now.  Naturally when it fits her I will draw on some Spock like eyebrows with an eyeliner pencil and take some more photos.

Missions Accomplished.

Today I -

1. Read a couple of chapters of a YA novel and flipped through one of my Pilates books
2. Tidied the living room
3. Swept all of the wooden floors
4. Did a pre-natel Pilates routine
5. Watched an old season of "The Biggest Loser" (and was very disappointed when my two least favourite contestants won all of the money.  Damn it!)
6. Stopped Edith playing with a large bee
7. Started making Eva some sock/bootie things
8. Realised the yarn and crochet needle I have are entirely the wrong size for the sock/bootie project
9. Took all the plastic tags and stickers off some new baby clothes so that they can be washed
10. Had two cups of tea

Today I did not - 

1. Give birth

That's about it really, Doc C is home for the weekend now so we are at Evalyn's disposal should she decide to hit her due date.  Tomorrow morning I have a doctor's appointment, so we might get some idea of how likely that is.

Homewares.

Whilst I'm not entirely sure whether or not I'm nesting at the moment, I am definitely invested in getting the flat thoroughly organised and so today we went out in search of those canvas storage crate things.  I specifically wanted two large ones (one for my bewilderingly large collection of belts and one for my entirely necessary assortment of bags) and a small ones (especially for headscarves), and it was but the work of moment in the home goods section of Target to find exactly what I wanted in a jaunty multi-coloured polka dot canvas.  Score.

This means that I've emptied the top drawer of the small chest of drawers and Evalyn's socks now have a designated home.  Eva's not even born yet and she's already got an entire (although small) chest of drawers to herself, whilst Doc C and I are sharing the large one.  I decided this was necessary when I was packing her hospital bag, because I couldn't find her red socks and the Wonder Woman onesy will look so much better with red socks!

We carried on with the home improvement shopping by purchasing some outdoor furniture in the form of two cheap-and-cheerful plastic (but entirely recyclable) adirondack chairs.  These are surprisingly comfortable, and I've spent a lovely late afternoon sitting in the shade of a tree, drinking lemon barley water (Thank you World Market!  You are magnificent!) and reading some essays by G.K. Chesterton on my Kindle.  The cats are very taken with this novel development and love having us outside with them, Edith in particular is ecstatic and has been perched on the railing right next to the chairs just gazing at us lovingly.

At one point Edith moved along the railing a bit to get a better view of something, and her profile was beautifully framed against the sky.  She looked like she was composing poetry, and I was irrestibly reminded of Jordan Catalano from the nineties teen drama "My So-Called Life" .  Edith, I feel sure, would lean beautifully if she were a human.

Eva's Heart-Beat in Asheville.

Fine.  "Downton Abbey" is streaming on Netflix.  I'll watch it, otherwise I'll never be able to understand every other reference on half the blogs I read.

Still too hot here, but we got a bunch of stuff done today.  We had an appointment with my new Ob Gyn where we heard Eva's heart-beat and discussed the swelling of my feet (totes normal for this stage of the prgnancy AND the current heat etc etc).  I also completed the on-line pre-admission for the delivery in ONE MONTH'S TIME. OHMYGOD.

Re-Watching The Next Generation.

When we move we are seriously cutting back on non-essentials, and I'm just as surprised as anyone to find myself easily agreeing that Tivo and cable television are non-essential.  This has been made immeasurably easier by two things: 1) The is NOTHING on TV over the summer and so we have been mostly watching stuff on Netflix streaming through the Playstation, and 2) There is so much to watch on Netflix streaming that we will be entertained for months without missing cable at all.

One of the things we have started to watch from the beginning is "Star Trek: The Next Generation", which although I have watched some of I really didn't pay much attention to.  However I did remember that in an early version of the uniform there were micro mini-dresses which were worn by both women and men, (these weren't worn by any of the main characters - I suppose Councillor Troi is the most likely to wear a short skirt, but these were too short even for her).  It would just be an anonymous crew member striding around in the micro mini-dress, and I specifically remembered an asian gentleman in a red command/helm uniform. Doc C never believed me when I mentioned this, so it has been very gratifying to be able to point him out.

Also, some of the early episodes are really freaking weird.  There is one that it is practically "Carry On Star Trekking" because it is so full of double entendres and odd acting choices.  It's really quite fun to watch.

Breaking the Wire.

Last night I think I probably slept for about 4 hours, and it was probably less - But that's just good training for when our new commander-in-chief, Eva, is born right?  Mostly I just sort of lay there, on my side but propped at angle by my pillow fort, then I tried browsing the internet on my iPod and couldn't find any good celebrity gossip and, of course, I got up several time to go to the loo because Eva was dancing on my bladder.

This is always a good opportunity to keep an eye on the suspicious neighbours down the street, whose house I can see from the bathroom window.  At one point I was convinced they had a well-to-do meth lab set up, but now we've started watching "Breaking Bad" and I no longer think this is the case because there are never any strange gas emissions coming from over there.  I do still want to know why their lights are always on though.  They can't possibly be sleeping with the main lights on in all the rooms, so what is the deal?

Admittedly I have been the most suspicious neighbour in the world since watching "The Wire" and I suspect that "Breaking Bad" will hone some suspicions whilst disproving others.

Television.  it's very educational.

Eurovision Anticipation.

Hello Friday! I am SO pleased to see you!

And it's not just because tomorrow is the Eurovision, but I will admit that does have a little something to do with it.

Actually maybe quite a lot, because Doc C and I have plans to curl up in front of the computer and revel in a glorious celebration of Euro Pop.  I actually rescheduled a haircut specifically to make sure that we didn't miss a single moment of the wonder.

Bring it On!  Squee!

Weekend in the House.

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

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

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

House of Half Recovered.

Mum called today to check how we were because I hadn't updated the blog, sorry about that! I wasn't trying to leave you on a cliff-hanger there!

Anyway, Doc C went to hospital yesterday afternoon, after going white as a sheet and generally scaring the hell out of me. He'd already been given some tramadol, so he could still feel the pain but he just didn't really mind that much. This apparently was what stopped him from screaming, so I'm really quite grateful to the urgent care doctor he saw on Friday.

At the hospital he had a whole bunch of tests, and they eventually decided he must have already passed the stone, so he came home. Woot!

Meanwhile, I stayed at home, because my sinuses are still swollen and I'm breathing through my mouth, so it seemed like a bad idea to expose me to more germs. This meant I spent the afternoon watching a reality TV show marathon, because all the episodes blend into one after a while and it feels like you've only been on the sofa for an hour instead of four or five. Don't worry though, I kept it classy; it was about a tattoo parlor in NYC, no bickering over-privileged "housewives" for me thanks! (I'm a reality snob, but I'm very idiosyncratic in my prejudices - Jersey Shore = under no circumstances; Bethany Getting Married = hell yeah, despite her former housewife status)

Oh, by the way, I'm having ridiculously complicated nightmares (teeth falling out, exams I've forgotten to revise for, horrible murders etc etc) whilst I'm ill, whereas Doc C's painkillers are an opiate so he's been having lovely dreams. Apparently for the past two nights in a row now he's had the same dream, where he is professing his undying love to me. How sweet is he?

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.

Face Off.

I have to go to a dermatologists appointment at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning, so naturally Doc and I are unable to stop watching a TV show we happened to TiVo amarathon of.

"Face Off" is a reality contest for special effects make-up artists. It is impossible to stop watching this marathon! SyFy is evil! Evil genius!

Oh! There's Just One More Thing.

Today I finally buckled down to the really super boring job of re-organising the contents of five filing cabinets. Ugh. I hate filing. On the other hand I really hate poorly organised data, and so it needs to be done. Double ugh.

As a reward for suffering through getting paper cuts from manilla foldes, I'm relaxing at home with Doc C, Edith Cavell-Cat and a very early episode of "Columbo". I really love Columbo.

Work. Sleep. Sixties Television.

First day back at work was fine, but tiring - I went upstairs at 5:15 for a nap intending to be awake by 6:30. Three hours later...
On the positive side, the cats thought it was entirely for their benefit and very much appreciated me staying still for so long.

Now I'm watching "Mission Impossible" on Netflix streaming. I loved the series as a kid, but Doc's never seen it so we're kicking off from episode one. I was shocked to find that everyone in the team was in place - except for Peter Graves. It's weird to see some other bloke as team leader, but the presence of Greg Morris is reassuring.

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.

 

Nero Greenback Visits Appalachia.

When we were walking yesterday I was taking photos of tree roots, and I notices a fuzzy white caterpillar. I think this is a picture of it's head, but I'm not really positive of that.

Anyway, I think it's Baron Greenback's evil pet, Nero, or at least a close relative. Could someone in London pop a note in Danger Mouse's letter box please, or perhaps e-mail Penfold?

(By the way I made none of these jokes at the time because Doc C has never seen "Danger Mouse". I know! Can you imagine?)

Pizza and Tardis.

This evening we are going to eat pizza and watch "Doctor Who" with Randy, whilst Laura is away. Don't worry she knows that we're cheating on the TV viewing whilst she's not here, but, I won't lie, it does feel wrong to be watching River Song without her.

As for pizza, Randy and Doc C share a love of Hawaiien, so they always have that. I have recently discovered Mellow Mushroom's Mega Veggie, this is a "Red Sauce base pizza with Mozzarella, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, Green Peppers, Mushrooms, Onions, Black Olives, Roma Tomatoes, Broccoli, Feta, Banana Peppers, Artichoke Hearts and Tofu." which is delicious once you ditch any form of pepper from it; tofu on a pizza I can handle peppers (other than jalapeño)? No, not for me thanks.

Sneaky Office Blogging - Shhhhhh!

Doc C has called Charter and made an appointment for a house call tomorrow morning - So I am hoping against hope that we will have blissfully uncomplicated internet access this weekend.

Apart from that it's been a fairly quiet day in the office, hence the quick blog break, but I am really looking forward to going home because we've got last night's "Top Chef: Just Desserts" Willa Wonka reunion special to watch. Squee!

Also, red lipstick. I don't want to wear it everyday, but, when I do feel like it, I find it makes me quietly confident and happy. Useful to note.

Saturday Lists.

Morning - Tea. Toast. Honey.

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

Evening - Pizza. "Eureka". Cats.

I Wear a T-Shirt Now. T-Shirts are Cool.

I love this Threadless t-shirt design, and I am seriously thinking about buying one, but how much more would I love it as actual wallpaper. I wouldn't do a whole room, that would be a bit much, but an accent wall in Tardis flock (or foiled!) wallpaper? That would be epic!

Maybe I'll get the t-shirt, but, if it doesn't suit me, I could then stretch it over that spare canvas I have knocking around.

 

The Eleventh Doctor.

We are about to start watching the first of new "Dr Who" on Netflix, which we haven't seen since Matt Smith took over.

This may be a mistake because I was vaguely intending to sleep at some point, and once we start watching we may not be able to stop.

The Red Metal Cabinet.

Monday. Ugh.

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

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

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

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

Cold Snap Saps.

It's been cold and rainy all day, and that sudden change in weather has made me really tired. I mean it's only just gone 9 and I've already brushed my teeth and got into bed.

Admittedly I have commandeered Doc's iPad (he was given it by his department, but only after I convinced him to actually accept the thing) to watch "RuPaul's Drag U".

Still tomorrow will be warmer, apparently, and then maybe I'll find some energy.

Middleton-Windsor.

When I got up this morning Nancy was meowing and meowing and meowing, so I turned on the television for her so she could watch the Royal Wedding. Nancy loves the Windsors. I watched it with her whilst I had my breakfast, and I saw Kate arrive at Westminster Abbey before getting ready for work.

At work the Royal Wedding was a very popular topic of conversation, so I ended up looking up all sorts of stuff on-line to properly perform my duties as resident British person. I found photos of everything - the dress (gorgeous!), the earrings, the bridesmaids, the cake, the cake from a different angle, the guests, the guests' hats, and the crowds. It was all quite lovely I thought; not necessarily the best use of several million pounds, but quite an impressive bit of pomp and pageant.

My opinion is that Kate seems like a very nice girl, and I also think William has done rather well. Also I think this whole think this makes me feel old, because I remember going to London for the day with my parents to see Charles and Diana's wedding. And that was 30 years ago.

Mad Fans.

We've really got to start pacing our episodes of "Mad Men", we have watched the first three this evening already and there only nine more. If we carry on like this we'll have seen the whole of season three before the end of the Easter weekend. Also I think Doc is going to learn to make Old Fashioneds.

Prepping for Philly.

We're going to Philadelphia tomorrow for a conference and we will be there for four days. Neither of us has packed yet, and the house needs to be tidied before we leave. 

Naturally, I've baked some cookies and we have watched 3 episodes of "Mad Men" so far this evening. I have managed to do a load of laundry though, so there is some hope that I'll at least have clean clothes to throw in a bag as I run past the clothes horse in the morning.

Portrait of Queenie.

I bought the Queenie t-shirt that Vivienne Westwood designed for Red Nose Day with the specific intention of stretching it over a canvas to hang on the wall. Today I bought a canvas and a staple gun, and it took about 10 minutes to attach the t-shirt to the canvas. It worked out really well I think, and now we have Miranda Richardson over the fireplace. 

It's Dark... And We're Wearing Sunglasses.

I have a glass of red wine, the rest of that bag of Montezuma's giant milk chocolate buttons and season one of "Mad Men" on DVD.

Edith is on the sofa with me, and Doc C is stretched out in front of the fire.

Friday.

Catday.

I am delighted to be able to report that Ruby is fine. The first thing the vet did was check her teeth, and she has gingivitis; so she's probably been avoiding eating because her gums are sore and that has run her down. Poor cat! I thought her breath was terrible, but I didn't realise that was the main thing that was wrong with her. I held Ruby whilst the vet took her temperature, so she wouldn't associate Mum with that indignity. The vet gave her two injections (which she hated), and prescribed some pills for her to be given. I'm already playing the bad guy, what with the trimming of claws yesterday and the holding down at the vets today, so I shall probably give her the pills as well. May was well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb, I s'pose.

We dropped Ruby off back at home, and went into Norwich so I could take a skirt back to M&S that I bought in the haze of the fifty percent sale. This time I tried on a white skirt with blue and indigo bird silouhettes on it, and two pairs of lovely shoes embellished with gorgeously shiny beads; they were very tempting but I decided that they weren't really the best use of my limited suitcase space - so I resisted. sigh. Being a grown up is very tedious.

Marks and Spencer's food hall is the stuff of dreams, my actual dreams when I'm back in NC and just a pleasantly euphoric bubble of browsing now I can really truly visit one. For starters they have supplied the Battenberg Cake I've been craving, and that will be sliced up tomorrow to star in a very special photo shoot with a cup of tea. As if that were not enough they have all of the Easter and Mother's Day chocolate and cakes out now, and they are adorable. For example it is simply ridiculous how cute this white chocolate Hello Kitty is -

Her dress is made from SPRINKLES. Look at that! I'm smitten.

After getting sandwiches from M&S (Prawn for me), we went to John Lewis and I spent a good deal of time stroking all of the yarn. It is a magnificent selection of colours and textures at very very reasonable prices. I was most tempted by a gorgeous merino wool in what can only be described as a Bagpuss colourway, maybe that would be fun to make into a fake fox stole? Or would that be weird? Hmmm...

 

A Day Out in Aldburgh.

We got a whole bunch of things ticked off my "To-Do whilst in England" list today! This included some of the more important items, such as a visit to a Norfolk beach, have fish and chips on said beach, go for a walk and then have a cream tea in a proper tea-room.

The picturesque seaside town of Aldeburgh provided all this and more, and it was a lovely place to go for a stroll with my parents. The tea-room was even having a tea-cosy beauty contest, but fortunately they were a bit too busy to press us for our votes because it would have been a very difficult decision.

I also managed to track down a Vivian Westwood t-shirt printed with a picture of Blackadder's "absolutely divine and regal, and yet and at the same time very pretty and rather accessible" Queenie, and a Liberty print silk scarf; both of these delightful items are on sale to raise money for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day next week. I'll definitely wear the scarf, but the Queenie t-shirt is going to be stretched on a canvas frame and hung on the wall when I get home.

Speaking of Elizabethan beauty, here is Aldeburgh's cinema and gallery which happens to be housed in a gorgeous Tudor house. I've always liked the incongruity of that.

 

 

A Toaster's Wake Up Call.

This alarm clock is £14 in the Habitat sale, and it is quite clearly a Cylon alarm clock.

I have thus far restrained myself from buying it, because I don't really need it myself, but should Doc C want it he need only say.

Two Hours in Norwich.

Mum had a meeting this morning so she took me into Norwich with her, and turned me loose for two hours. It's always disconcerting to realise how much a city has changed, but I could still find my way around without too much difficulty.

One of my first stops was Waterstones, where they had a Dalek plonked next to the escalator apparently browsing the Classics section. He was suitably grumpy, and threatened to exterminate me, which was thrilling. There was a sign taped to the front saying to please be gentle with him because he was very old, but I don't know why he was there or if he was an original cast member or anything really. Still, a DALEK!

Then I went to the bank to see if I could remember what the PIN for my cashcard might be. Now sometimes when one is writing a blog one has to consider the likely audience, and I know this week that Doc C will be reading this, so I'm almost reluctant to blog about this... But I thought it was funny, so bugger it!

I put my card into the ATM, and typed in the PIN that I thought was most likely. The machine happily brought up the screen asking how much money I wanted, I decided on £50, whereupon it told me by card had expired and spat the thing out. Oh. Hmmm. Good thing Doc C gave me his cashcard and PIN before I left, eh? That worked beautifully, so I do have access to British currency whilst I'm here. Hoorah! Iknow that Doc will now fret about what i would have done had he not lent me his card, but I'd have been fine. If necessary I was thinking I could have transfered the money into Mum's account and she could get it out for me. No problem, just a touch more complicated.

Pretty Good Tuesday.

Today I have been to work, did an upper body Pilates routine, read a nice chunk of "The Virgin Suicides", watched "RuPaul's Drag Race", cooked twice-baked potatoes with gruyere and mushrooms and now I'm watching "Tabatha's Salon Takeover" before bed.

The Reality of Cats.

I haven't been able to find my phone all weekend, but it turned up today.  No word of a lie, Edith was sitting on it.  Clearly I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on Miss Floofy-Knickers around my shinier belongings in the future, but on the other hand there may be some money to be made here.  I can just see this as the surprise reality TV hit of 2011.

Do you think I should pitch the show to A&E or Oxygen?  I'm thinking that "My Cat is a Klepto" would slot in nicely on either, but would probably do better on A&E between "Hoarders" and "Intervention".

Last Day of The Hols.

I was up and in the shower before the alarm went off this morning, because I want to get home to my cats and all the television shows that were tivo'd whilst we were away.  Why don't any hotels seem to have Bravo in their cable package, damn it I thought it was a basic cable channel?  All I want is "Top Chef: Any Variety" and "The Fashion Show:Wrath of Iman" and I would be like a cat in a cardboard box.

Anyway...

Hopefully we will be home at a nice sensible time.  Tomorrow I'm back in the office at the inhuman hour of 8 o'clock in the morning, and I expect to be in a fugue state for the rest of the week.  Quite frankly I doubt there will be much going on, but that a good opportunity for me to write up all the fun stuff we did in Boston that didn't get a post of their own at the time.  And a photo of the stack of lovely new books I have.

Pre-Christmas Monday.

Today I tidied the study and the cupboards whilst listening to Goldfrapp, and then I put together the dough for cookies whilst watching "Miss Marple" (Thanks Moth!) Now I'm baking the cookies whilst watching "Leverage".  There's just something about pastry made with a crime drama playing in the background, that's the secret to my butter cookies actually.

Tomorrow I'll probably do some laundry whilst making mince pies, and watching "Psych" or maybe "Cold Case".

It's all go!

 

Mackenzie.

This is the amigurumi I made for my work friend Amy's Christmas basket.  She's based on a particularly terrifying small girl featured in the reality television series "Toddlers and Tiaras", who has become something of a by-word in our office for the majestic power of a well timed strop.  It's worth pondering from time to time.

My Weekend in Summary.

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

 

TV and Movies.

I keep forgetting that Doc C has never seen any of "Blackadder", which makes it's being available to watch through our PS3 Netflex access all the more welcome.

Also we went to see "RED" this evening, and I am once again reminded that Helen Mirren is totally fabulous in all ways.

Fantasy Interior Decorating: The Eero Aarnio Ball Chair

I got up early this morning and went for a run, so naturally now I'm really tired and browsing for comfy chairs on-line.  I really quite fancy a sixties classic: The Eero Aarnio Ball Chair.

Realistically, in the highly unlikely event that I do seriously look into buying one, I think I'd be looking at a reproduction, because an original would cost a few thousand dollars.

How comfortable do you think these actually are though?  Maybe that's why all of the Number Twos were so grumpy really, I mean look George Baker here:

He's all knees!

Although why am I even bothering to imagine sitting in it myself?  We all know Edith would commandeer it the moment that it came through the door.

One More Day Without TV and Internet.

Damn it!  I forgot that I had to write my post at lunch time, and instead I slept for an hour.  I cannot wait until Charter connects our TV and wifi access at home tomorrow.

There had better not be any further delay, or I will be seriously displeased.

Moving Saga.

When we got home from work yesterday we had a cup of tea and a choccy biccy before settling down to our allotted tasks.  Doc C had a lecture to write, so he got on with that whilst I continued unpacking.  Mostly I wanted to get the study clear, so that the Charter engineer could hook up the wi-fi with not too much hassle when he came this morning, remember this salient point.  First I had to interrupt Doc to get him to help me drag the futon mattress up to the loft.  It fitted perfectly!  It is so comfy up there now, all I need is a lamp and a steady supply of snacks, and it will be bliss.

After that it was fairly easy to arrange the study, it just took ages.  My own personal favourite furniture ninja move was putting the wire shelves (the ones that Doc had bought them for his plants, so they were in front of the living room windows in the old house) under the stairs.  This doesn't sound particularly brilliant, but I positioned them so that we can use the shelves from the kitchen AND Doc can still easily fit his bike under the stairs.  It was extremely satisfying to see that work in real life almost as well as it had in my head when I thought of it at 2 in the morning.

I also carried several box loads of stuff up to the mezzanine, which is where I'm going to be keeping my bookcases and craft stuff.  This was made considerably less easy by the cats, who continue to adore lounging on the stairs and being annoyed if made to move.

Once that was all done, we settled down with a glass of Pimm's and "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962).  Doc insisted we had already seen it, but I am equally certain that I hadn't ever watched it before.  It was one of those debates that is impossible to prove any part of your argument in, beyond the simple fact that is is highly unlikely I would forget forget Angela Lansbury being that evil.

Of course the punchline to this story is that we didn't get the phone call we expected from Charter last night, or this morning.  When Doc called them and asked what time to expect them, they said "Today?  No mate, Thursday" (I paraphrase).

sigh.  Two more days without TV or internet access at home.

We Have The Keys!

Doc C picked up the keys to the new house today, and got the ok to start moving our stuff in!  Yay!

He also got the TV and internet sorted out; this was slightly more involved than one would think, because basic cable is provided as part of the rental arrangement of the house.  Great!  Except it confuses the hell out of the cable company when you then try and get the internet hooked up as well, because their records show someone is already registered at the address.  Doc managed to explain things to them eventually, but then called me with the tragic news that we might have TV but probably not the internet until TUESDAY.

TUESDAY!

I think I can cope, but don't be surprised if blog posts are patchy over the weekend.  I may try texting posts from my phone, but I'm not going to promise anything at this point.  We have a lot of boxes to move and I may well just be asleep when I'm not physically carrying stuff from point A to point B.

Ah, moving day...

Mad Men On Demand.

We are moving in four days - But it's really humid, so naturally I'm curled up on the sofa watching TV.

I got sucked into "Mad Men" by Tom and Lorenzo's analysis of the costumes in their Mad Style posts.  So then I caught up by reading my way through all of TLo's episode re-caps, and now I'm watching season three, because I've just discovered cable's On Demand service. 

It's probably a good thing that only the last season is available to watch.  I really should be putting things in boxes.

The Art of Covers

Thursdays are gym days, so I should go to bed early on Wednesdays; but last night I stubbornly stayed up to watch "Work of Art" (Bravo - Why won't you repeat this at a decent hour? Repeats between 1 and 8 in the morning do not help me at all, and you're not streaming episodes on your website or Hulu.  What is the problem?). Don't worry, I won't spoil it for you if you intend to watch it (good luck with finding a repeat or a web-streaming version though. Grrh!), but I will say the judges on "Work of Art" do not seem to appreciate the contestants biting the hand that feeds them and being snarky in their pieces.

The challenge this week was to design a cover for one of six different classic novels "Alice in Wonderland", "Dracula", "Frankenstein", "Jekyll and Hyde", "The Time Machine" and "Pride and Prejudice".  As an ex-bookseller and a collector of books I have a lot of strong opinions on this matter, and I found the whole show fascinating as a result.  I was saddened that barely any of them had read the books, but, you know, not everyone enjoys reading and that's fair enough; however I do think almost all of the titles have a strong presence in contemporary media (the exception would be "The Time Machine" I think), so when one contestant mis-named a central character in her chat to camera, I was mildly annoyed.  Then she photographed herself, half-naked, with an anachronistic hat that ended up being the wholly inappropriate focal point of the whole cover AND she mis-spelled the author's name on her final piece.  There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in my house at this point.

The grand prize this week was that the winning design would be used on a Penguin edition of the book, which seems very appropriate as covers are really so central to the Penguin brand.  Before I watched "WoA" I had already photographed my most recent vintage book purchases, which I bought solely because they were crime novels in the classic green-and-cream thirds of Penguin Books and I don't see those very often over here.  Weirdly I had never heard of the author before, and he's popped up on Pop Sensations this week, although the featured Dell cover is really a lot more lurid, so now I'm quite intrigued to read these.

Eleven Doctors.

Ooh!  Look what Megg Quiddity found:

"The ultimate Doctor Who collectors set! Features all eleven incarnations of the Doctor presented in an impressive Tardis display box with a small bio of each Doctor.

Set Includes:

-William Hartnell (1963–1966)
-Patrick Troughton (1966–1969)
-Jon Pertwee (1970–1974)
-Tom Baker (1974–1981)
-Peter Davison (1981–1984)
-Colin Baker (1984–1986)
-Sylvester McCoy (1987–1989, 1996)
-Paul McGann (1996)
-Christopher Eccleston (2005)
-David Tennant (2005–2010)
-Matt Smith (2010-Present) 

Look for this set from Underground Toys to be released in August."

Humid, With Scattered Outbreaks of Natural Disaster Movies.

Today has been bad movie day.  

First I watched "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" instead of the USA v. GB match, and then the SyFy channel played a blinder with "Category 6: Day of Destruction" followed by the marvelously named "Stonehenge Apocalypse".  After this it's "Annihilation Earth", which I don't think we'll be watching actually, but I do appreciate the whole Armageddon theme they are going for this evening.  I bloody love the SyFy Channel.

That may sound like a very lazy day, and it's true I've done very little today.  In my defence it's been warm and humid with thunderstorms, which means Edith and I have been listless and sleepy because neither of us do well in muggy weather.  The pair of us flopped in the living room with the ceiling fan on all day.  I've napped and knitted, Edith has napped and tried out every possible piece of furniture in the quest to find the coolest seat in the room.

Nancy on the other hand loves this weather, she has been rolling around in a classic display of small cat hedonism.

Before They Had A Plan

Dinner at the pub after work this evening turned into a spontaneous "Caprica" pilot viewing at Randy's house. Special squee shout out to SyFy for finding a new and exciting way to Caprica up my life! And you've thrown in Eric Stoltz for good measure! You guys!

Buffy in the Office.

She may only be a foot tall, but Buffy Summers is sworn to protect my desk-tidy and in tray from the Forces of Darkness.

Apparently they are on a really small Hellmouth.