*laughs* Well, I know I don't deserve the "Best Aunt Ever" title. I have 10 nieces and nephews, so I can't really spoil any of them like I might want to. BUT, in just 8 months time, I will become a Great Aunt. I'm so incredibly excited, I can't even tell you.

I'm doing a happy dance on the inside. As soon as I get home, I'll probably do one on the outside. It will likely look similar to our Masquerade dance, because, hey, wash two cats with one sponge, right? (I'm done with all that killing birds with stones business.)

laughingkat? Adam's wife is pregnant. How old do you feel now? ;)

You know what's better than free ice cream? Free or nearly free ice cream two days in a row. That's right, Ben & Jerry's is having a free scoop day tomorrow, while Baskin-Robbins is having their $0.31 scoop day on Wednesday. Woo!

Did I mention I'm on a tight budget? I have to take advantage of free food whenever I can (okay, so the drive down 101 to B&J's probably makes the wee free scoop a wash...).

In other, some would say less creamy, news: I'm fairly certain now that Maggie's freakout/health scare was due to a stingerless bee I found on the carpet near the corner where the cats' toys are kept. I could be wrong, because the thing didn't look... chewed. But the shock and the breathing problem could definitely have been caused by a bee sting.

I've started writing a few articles on HubPages. This is mostly to build up some writing samples to (hopefully) procure a part-time paying gig, but so far I'm just having fun. I have one up that's an overview of fanfiction, and another on making household chores fun. Not going for the Pulitzer here or anything.

I'm making headway on my Quidditch robe. Though I need to rethink the back panel. Seriously rethink it. But, you know, considering this is my very first garment I've ever made and I'm creating my own pattern (I must be insane), it's not looking too shabby... so far. Of course I've completely botched the bottom of the thing, so the hem should be... interesting to try to construct. But as Tim Gunn would suggest, I'm gonna make it work. :)

So my weekends plans were pretty light, but I'd designed it that way, having felt like I had too many plans last weekend. But apparently even my light plans were too many. On Saturday I got up,putzed around, then showered, shaved and dressed for a picnic in the park to celebrate the lovely jsmitty_o's birthday. And it was a beautiful day for it too. I was really excited. But it was a potluck, so I ran over to the store before heading for the park. After hemming and hawing over what to bring, I grabbed a 2 lb box of pre-cut watermelon, some hummus and pitas. As I was deciding which brand of pita to buy, my stomach gave a sudden lurch, I broke out in a cold sweat, and I considered leaving my handbasket on the floor and bolting for home. I recovered enough to pay for my items, made it as far as my car, and then, bolted for home where I got... well, rather spectacularly sick.

The nice bit was, after my stomach was recovered a bit, I had the perfect snack to help me rehydrate. And I discovered that yes, I am capable of eating two pounds of watermelon in one day. Though I didn't get physically ill again, the fever persisted until about 8:30 this morning, so I begged off of my yoga session with the girls today too. :(

Then, this afternoon, Maggie walked in from the balcony, sort of whined and then proceeded to try to hack something up. That was all fine and normal, but then she flipped out, tossing herself in the air, smacking her head against the wall, running into my shoe closet and climbing up on my luggage, and finally running into the bedroom to hide under my bed. Her nose was wet, her eyes glossed over and her breathing was rapid and rattling. Needless to say, I was extremely unnerved by this. She let me reach under the bed to pet her, but she was cold to the touch. So I resigned myself to taking her to the vet, got properly dressed and went to check on her... and she was, thankfully, much improved. A couple hours later and she's finally ventured back out onto the balcony and she seems just fine.

*sigh* Once again I reach the end of my weekend and feel like I need a couple more days off. But I'm going to put the Sharks game on and get working on my Quidditch robe. Hope you all had a better weekend than I did! :)

I think I'm getting sick.

Or, more precisely, fighting off my boss' cold (and her daughter's cold, since they were both in today).

Yeah, I'm going to leave in an hour, pick up a burrito (does Chipotle do burritos that are less than the size of your head?), eat it, and collapse in bed. And perhaps have dreams about Claudia Black applying cool compresses to my feverish forehead (it's not feverish yet, but that won't stop me from having this dream).

Not all that great a plan for a) my Month of No Spending, b) my diet, or c) getting ready for work tomorrow with the ability to see myself, but still, seemingly, my best plan of action.

Meh.

At least it will be several Green Hours in a row. ;)

First, a very hearty happy birthday to ginsu. May your taps run with perfectly mixed cosmos for the next 24 hours (showers will be sticky, granted, but that's not necessarily a bad thing). You are the manliest man I know who prefers pink drinks... I'm just sayin'.

Second, my sincere apologies to my fellow Sharks fans. You see, I watched the first game, could not watch the second game (but monitored it online), and missed the first several minutes of last night's game due to Tivo failure. In other words, the Sharks only do well when I'm not watching. I promise not to watch any more Sharks playoff hockey this season.

Finally, would you all take a minute to send ebonlock some good thoughts today? She's got a hell of a lot on her shoulders right now, and she could really use... a change of luck. I'll be lighting my abundance candle all this week. Likewise, if anyone needs good thoughts sent their way, let me know and I'll include you in my prayer-like thoughts.

That wasn't Stilton I ate last weekend. It was this. As soon as my No Spending Month ends, I am going to buy myself some as a treat. I don't CARE how many points it is.

I woke up this morning thinking about pleasure vs. happiness. I wasn't quite sure how I defined the difference at first, but I did know that pleasure is what I've pursued for the last year, and happiness is what I really want to pursue. This is due to the fact that I've been, by and large, depressed since my mom passed away. By pursuing pleasure I was putting a band-aid on an amputation, though; I see that now. Pleasure, for me, means nearly instant gratification with very little effort involved. Now that I'm looking for it, I see it reflected in nearly everything I've been doing -- in my eating, in my writing, in my gift-giving, even in my friendships. Happiness, on the other hand, takes work... but the rewards are so much greater.

As a small step away from instant pleasure (now I have Rufus Wainwright in my head...), and also as a step toward a greener life, I am going to set aside one hour each weeknight with no TV, laptop or phone. I can sketch, sew, garden, write in a journal or read. Or do chores which don't involve electricity. I'll admit, it's a bit easier to do this now that it's staying light longer. Maybe it'll last, or maybe it won't, but I'm going to try to keep this up until we "Fall back." Who knows, maybe I'll even extend it on some days. :)

This weekend I watched the two latest eps of Torchwood and the first ep of Ashes to Ashes (the Life on Mars spin off series).

( Spoilery reviews behind cut )

I've wanted this cut for the last several years. This morning I finally did it. I had trouble getting a decent picture of myself, but this should give you some idea:

So I saw a couple episodes or so of the first season, and I hated Torchwood. Why? They took a character I adored on Doctor Who, and mangled him beyond all recognition. It was a huge turn-off.

( My mini reviews of Torchwood Season 2 )

ebonlock has suggested several times that the Wraith menace could easily be resolved with one kick-ass Goth club in the Pegasus galaxy. As you can see, I concur:


moar funny pictures


moar funny pictures

Oh. Sleep. That's what it feels like. I overshot my usual time to rise and shine by a good solid hour and a half today by forgetting to set my alarm. Normally this isn't an issue as my internal alarm wakes me right up, the cats start to move about and I'm up and at the races -- but not today. So I emailed my boss and a coworker to let them know I'm skipping the morning and heading in after therapy. No reason to haul ass in there only to leave 20 minutes later. And considering I didn't take yesterday off altogether after the way I felt yesterday morning, I think I'm still ahead.

Now I'm off to rustle up some brekkie and take a nice, long, hot shower. :)

The icon use is meant to be ironic.

See, I got this spiffy new-to-me PC from a friend with the understanding that I would install my own version of Windows on the hard drive. I daisy chained my old hard drive into the master position and made the new drive the slave, but that didn't work. I switched them, reinstalled my copy of XP to the new hard drive and that didn't work either. Turns out my version of windows is engineered only to work with my old PC. The computer is working, but Overlords at MS have given me 30 days to comply.

My choices, as I see them, are as follows:

Poll #1136966 Windows Conundrum
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What should I do?

Okay, I meant to post this on Monday, but here we go, just in time for the weekend:

Show me what you're craving today in the comments. Tonight I get to have pizza, and here's a mouthwatering pic of my very favorite kind, plain and simple cheese:



In other news, I went ahead and bought myself a digital camera. I ordered this exact model (Olympus FE-210) for the office through the usual means. Once I got to play with it a bit I decided it was perfect for me. So today I went out and found it, plus a 2GB memory card, plus shipping AND tax for as much as my company paid for just the camera alone. :) Can't feel one bit guilty over that, and I've been meaning to get a new camera for three years.... I'm truly horrible about buying stuff for myself.

Had a really wretched dream last night that I haven't been able to shake, but other than that, I'm pretty good.

Okay, so the nitty gritty of our election process sorta makes my head hurt, but my understanding (which I've researched to verify) is that delegates are assigned to candidates proportional to the percentage of votes they received in each state. Why then, in Alabama, where Obama clearly won (56% versus Clinton's 42%) is Obama projected to get less delegates than Clinton?

I am sick enough to have brought my own box of Kleenex to work, but not sick enough to stay home. So, you know what I need?

Pie!

Just like yesterday's cookie post, please post images of your favorite pie in the comments.

Here, I'll get you started:


My mom sometimes served olallieberry pie with a slice of smoked Tillamook cheddar on top. A taste combination that has to be experienced to be believed, but once you do, you'll be a convert forever.

I wrote this slashy tag to the SGA episode "Harmony" for ebonlock today, at her rather wonderful prompt. Although I'm still new to writing in this fandom, I liked the results:

( Only follow this cut if you like SGA, slash and saw the episode Harmony... )

Something tells me ebonlock will like this one:

I can't really say I'm in a bad mood, but I'm sort of in a non-communicative mood. I can't even articulate why, but, well, that's a clue, isn't it?

If you need some information from me for planning or whatnot, drop me a comment here. I'm largely ignoring emails.