Kick 2014 Out the Door

The good news is that we were let out of work at 3 today, the company's regular-but-unoffical-and-we-won't-say-it-ahead-of-time* habit the day before a holiday. The bad news is that this morning, as I was getting ready to leave for work, I did *something*, by which I mean nothing, that tweaked my left lower back/hip, which was then ouchy all day, and is so still. Sigh. Getting old, man. I've had some stiffness in my left shoulder for the last few months (chiropractor, and stretching, helps), and now this. I don't want to know what's next.
*Seriously, if they always do it, and they always do, I don't know why they can't admit it ahead of time. Instead they send out a self-congratulatory e-mail the morning of, for some reason.

And now it's New Year's Eve, which ... actually means little to me. It just isn't my holiday, and I don't mind a bit being in tonight, in sweatpants, preparing to knit and cat-cuddle and watch hockey. I fully expect to be asleep before midnight. I was happy to get out of work early, and to have a day off, and ... yeah, that's about it. I also don't subscribe to the theory that on 1/1 you should do only things you want to do in the coming year. It sounds like a great excuse not to do what you don't want to do, but I'm pretty sure I will have laundry in 2015 whether I do some on January 1st or not. Sleeping in, yeah, that I can always get into. Doing some knitting, cat cuddling, watching a movie maybe. Nothing big, which is fine. It's freakin' cold out; I'll stay in.

And on Friday, the six of us who are planning to be in, are planning to go out to lunch. So that will be nice.

Maybe I'll feel more look-forward, look-back tomorrow. Right now, I just want to go get my back comfortable. And oh please, let the Bruins play tonight like they did on Monday. Fingers crossed, so hard.

Happy New Year, y'all. See you in 2015!

...man, can you believe it's 2015 already? Do you know the webcomic Doghouse Diaries? You shouldn't miss today's.

Happy All the Holidays

I picked up a few things at Wilson Farm tonight, and when I got home, I noticed that their holiday bag is not messing around.

Side one, the classic.

Side two, equal time.

Side three was unexpected. (Bodhi Day?)

And side four? Well. You tell me.

I think it's safe to say, they have all bases covered.

Crank-a-saur

The cats seem to be teaming up to be as annoying as they possibly can. I can't decide if it's worse when they take turns, or when they are simultaneously annoying, but certainly the maximally annoying period around 5 AM, whichever way it was (and I don't really remember) took the cake. Tonight Carlos is being all sure that I will give him more ... something, something special, something wonderful, and despite having been given food and some treats and love and scritches, he is being Super! Annoying! Cat! until I want to throw him out in the hall to fend for himself.

I'm not really in that bad a mood, but boy, they are tromping all over that last nerve. The Bruins are holding onto a lead, can they keep it up, and although it's nasty chilly out I'm in, and though the Mondayness of the morning was accentuated by a frost so heavy that I couldn't scrape it off the windshield until I sat in the (cold) car for several minutes waiting for the defroster to take effect ... well, things could be worse. I know.

But stay tuned tomorrow to see if I really do kill one of the cats, either His Lordship, or the one the petsitter tactfully called "a chatterbox" (probably because she was afraid "that mouthy bitch" might offend me).

I doubt riding the bike will improve my mood, but that's where I'm off to. Envy the glamor, eh?

So, Where Were We?

It's always hard for me (and, I suspect, most people) to shift out of the holidays. Not that they're quite over, but I've never been one for much New Year's Eve partying, and though I have a few more Christmas cards to send out, and I get Thursday off work, it's mostly over, really. Back to reality, such as it is.

I've spent a lot of the weekend with one cat or another, at their requests. A little while ago, I was sitting at the kitchen table doing something when Belmont came along and was so loud for attention that I lifted her onto my lap. She isn't usually much of a lap cat, but she settled in quite happily until I was done and we could move to the couch (where she still is now).

Carlos has of course also been vocal about needing me, and you should have seen his face Friday night, when I was crashed on the couch trying to gather my energy to get ready for bed, Belmont purring by my shoulder. "I want you, and instead you're sitting there ... with her?" But a good few nights of snuggling, plus assorted other hours, has soothed him somewhat. He came along when I was on the couch this morning reading the paper, and I pulled him onto my lap for cuddles. Once he was purring, I got out the clippers and trimmed his claws, and although his tail got a little flippy, he didn't even stop purring, and he stayed for another half hour before getting down for the traditional catnip reward.

Belmont woke up when she smelled what was going on, so I nabbed her to trim her claws first, to only mild protest, then rubbed her head the way she likes it for a while, to give Carlos a good long chance at the nip before she barged in. Once they were both doped up, there was a little fussing at each other, but not even as much as a normal day, so it's all good.

As for Florida? It was grand, naturally. I love spending time with my family, and if it has to be there, well, I'll suffer through.

We enjoyed Christmas done Florida-style:

And, as always, I picked up some shells.

 

And threw back more than one that I suspected were still occupied.

We pondered, not for the first time, why we all grew up thinking of "an orange" as a thing with no variety.

Just three of many varieties...

We spotted an actual, apparently functional pay phone, in the wild.

We noted people with positive attitudes:

Why, indeed?

And it is always five o'clock somewhere.

We didn't do tons of presents, since the trip really is the gift, but a few things were exchanged. My brother enchanted me with some new fun for the fridge:

And a toy for the bike:

Can you tell what it is?

It meows, and the eyes flash. Fun!

He also socked me, as well as our mother.

I got some knitting done on the trips, though not much while actually there. I decided to bring the little cashmere scarf for on-the-plane knitting. It grows, slowly.

And, with a dip in the water and some pins, the pattern stands out more, to better indicate how it will look when done and blocked.

The purse sock got its time, too, and is now to the heel.

And now that I'm home, it's back to the bike sock, which is slightly farther along.

The color is somewhere between this and that.

And speaking of biking, time for me to get to it. Miles of beach walking were great (though my legs and hips disagreed), of course, but not practical here. Back on the bike. At least I have the new toy for it!

Home Again

Here I am, trying to get settled into routine life again. It's always such a challenge, after being away, and the holidays and all. Having the weekend helps greatly, and it doesn't hurt that I'll work three days next week and get a day off before working one day and then it's the weekend.

I'm mostly unpacked, and I got groceries today, and tomorrow I'll do laundry. Tonight the Bruins are blowing their chance to make it three whole wins in a row, because that's how they are this year, though perhaps they will surprise me in the third period (unlikely).

I haven't gotten photos off the camera yet, so that will have to wait, but meanwhile, merry-christmas-aftermath to you.

Happy Merry to You!

Odds are that I'll have other things to do tomorrow, and so might you, but I wanted to wish y'all a merry Christmas, Florida style, by sharing two things. First, this tree, which we saw on the beach.

Wouldn't that have been rather a lot of work? But pretty neat.

And the Christmas cards that actually arrived here yesterday! If you're going to be getting one, I'm spoiling the surprise, but I expect you'll forgive me. Here it is:

(I know that Belmont may be hidden by sidebar stuff; click on the card to see it by itself.)

Obviously, using my pictures, but the "furry and bright" was one of Vistaprint's options, and I couldn't resist. Worth the delay, eh? I know *I* don't mind getting holiday cards in January, and hopefully others will agree. Happy whatever-you-celebrate!

A Good Day

Not surprisingly, this has been a good day. Up late talking to mother and brother; slept in; coffee cake and raspberries and fresh OJ for breakfast; a walk on the beach, with a break to drink lemonade at the beach bar; out for a late lunch on the water; back and relax until time for dinner, with more talking and generally enjoying each other's company. And the weather, well. I'll just say, nice. Like shorts and bare feet, until the sun went down anyway.

And now I'm off for more hanging out. I hope you have had a good day, and are looking forward to more.

Things and Gifts, To and From

Though Christmas is not yet here, I have given and received a few gifts. For instance, did I show you what I chose to put in the yankee swap?

Mmm, chocolate! The person who opened it was pleased, and then the person who "stole" it was, too, so I call that a success.

A friend gave me some pretty earrings, which I already wore once to some admiration. And *I* like them, too!

Another friend demonstrated just how well she knows me by giving me a trial membership to Audible (I love me some audiobooks, both generally, and while riding the bike), as well as these two delectables:

Yummmmm. The butterscotch is going on the plane with me, and I'm already dreaming of the sauce* with brownies and ice cream.
*Isn't it funny how sauce and cause are easy to type for each other? Or is that just me?

I found some fun wrapping paper to use:

For the party today, I made chocolate chip meringues: surprisingly delicious, and not hard to make. Anyone want the recipe?

You can tell by the advent calendar that the time approaches. Not many days unopened!

Another present came in this week, from my aunt, who noticed when I mentioned on the blog that the Yarn Harlot had linked to some nice interchangeable needle cases, and got me one for Christmas.

My previous method was to have the various tips and cords in a zipper pouch, and that did keep them all together, but it was growing more and more messy as I got more sizes. This way, the tips fit neatly their own pockets.

More space on the other side, awaiting the ones that are currently in use.

And the bit in the middle that I flipped over is a zip pocket to hold the tools and all that go with it. Much better than my previous "system," isn't it? Hooray.

And while I'm putting up pictures, here's Belmont, napping. Just because.

 

 

That is all. Good night!

Made it! To the Weekend, to Vacation, to Christmas

I did a couple of loads of laundry last night, and a couple more tonight, so I'm more under control there than I was. Also tonight, I made cookies for the party tomorrow, which I will try to get a daylight picture of so you can see, and I've been transferring numbers from my old cell phone to the new one (he tried to transfer them, but it wouldn't go). And I've been listening to the Muppet Christmas cd, and to the Bruins game, which they are currently not winning, so we'll see if they turn that around. And I want to get the current purse sock to the toe, so I don't end up with it much longer than my foot. So, I will leave you with this thought from today:

I had to contact a customer service person today, and it made me think how I would hate that job, basically because I prefer to be the only cranky person I have to deal with on a daily basis.

The reason I was chatting with cust-serv was that my not-totally-last-minute-but-on-the-late-side Christmas cards did not show up, as ordered. I placed the order last Tuesday night, and was told to expect them in 5 business days. Given that today was business day number 7, and that the tracking link gave me no information, I reached out to ask if they were still coming. The answer was, apparently, that they couldn't tell, not a satisfying answer.

She offered to rush-reprint them, and though at first I declined, since I'll be away, what we ended up doing was having her send them to my mother's, supposedly arriving by Wednesday. For no extra charge, and they also refunded my shipping fee, since after I asked if the original order might in fact still be coming, and she allowed as how they might, she mentioned that "if they do not get to you on time, you may contact us for a refund of the amount paid," and I pointed out with only mild snark that, "Well, they haven't gotten to me on time, have they?"

Assuming that at least one of the orders shows up, I will call it an acceptable, if not an ideal situation.

Near the End of Prep Time

At work, we had our holiday lunch today, and after last year, when I ended up doing all the coordination with the restaurant (and it was all at the last minute, and plenty of work), I've been enjoying not having anything to do with the planning and prep. I didn't even know what restaurant we were going to until I noticed it on the calendar notice this week. Ahh. I made sure to thank the woman who did do all the work.

We had a yankee swap, and the boss gave us all small gifts, and the food was good (we were even in a small private room, which was so nice to have), and she also said we didn't have to go back to work after, which gave me time to run a few errands and still get home before the usual time. Time? that's a gift in itself, this time of year.

So I work tomorrow; tomorrow night, make cookies for a holiday party on Saturday, and I should do some laundry (hell, I should do some tonight, and I should have last night, but, not, or not enough). Other than the party Saturday, I have packing-and-prep things to do, which will continue Sunday until I leave for the airport. Whee!

*****
Boing Boing comes up with the most amazing variety of things; by the nature of variety, I am not always interested in the posts, but surprisingly often I am.

For instance, I never thought about how hand-made candy canes are made, but it was pretty cool to watch. I know ten minutes can seem a lot at this time of year, but I do think this is worth the time.

2014, Q3 Review

Ah, thinking back to July! Warmth, and warmth, and warmth ... How I miss the warmth. Well, time to get to it.

In July:

• I tried to balance learning new job and integrating cats, and was mighty tired by it.
• I had a bad headache episode, but some perspective on it, too.
• The new editor started at work, and I was so glad to like her. Still do, in fact!
• Went to watch the Bruins development camp, for a taste of hockey in summer, yay!
• I was so, so over all the hissing. Still am, really.
• I mused on uses for worn socks, and came up with two.

August:

• I was working on decorating my new space at work.
• After a long crazy few days at work, I crashed with both cats at once, whoa.
• I shared pictures from the work trip into Boston.
• Good times at the fiber revival!
• Had my annual mammogram, uncomfortable but happily tolerable and boring!
• I ought to bullet-summarize more often.
• I talked about knitting myself another sweater, as I now am, and showed off the awesome Bergeron poster from Mary Ellen.
• Carlos got possessive. More so, anyway.
• Socks and more socks.
• There was the last post before the SF trip, and that was it for August.

September, I almost remember.

• Lots about the trip! Here's the last post about it, which has links to all the others, if you really want to delve.
• Though I also interspersed other things. Randomness, as I like to do.
• I shared a video about the making of ballet shoes, because it fascinated me.
• I delved into the let's-get-a-reliable-car process.
• And brought it home. I still haven't put on the bumper stickers; I need a non-raining, above-freezing weekend day. See you in May, probably...
• And, there at the end, mentioned a wonderful book I read (which I have since read again, and liked just as much the second time). (I haven't given Kali that other book yet, either: make it happen in January, we must!)

Zoom, another three months gone! Doesn't the year fly by? I seriously can not believe that December is more than half done...

A Break Between Year-in-Review Blocks

I've been thinking some more about the cat issue, and you know how I said the other day about how in hindsight, I probably wouldn't have brought Belmont home, since she and Carlos don't get along? I think I've been forgetting just how needy Carlos was, when he was here alone. He doesn't exactly get along with Belmont, true, and he still wants my company and attention, but in a way I think he's better than he was. Maybe.

In knitting news, I am having serious second thoughts about the blanket I started for my friend who's getting married. How did I pick this pattern, given my dislike for seed stitch? The overall pattern is an easy one, but for me, I have to pay too much attention to seed stitch for it to be enjoyable. The project is sitting while I rethink my options. Major waffling time. Not much time should be spent on waffling, though.

I did, finally, finish casting on my sweater, and join it in the round, at stitch and bitch last night. Away we go! Maybe that should be my knitting for the plane? I know, it will get bigger, but not all that fast; I won't be working on it much this week, and have a couple of inches of ribbing to do before it even starts on the body (it's knit from the bottom up) ... Decisions, decisions...

Meanwhile, I got Chinese takeout for dinner tonight, and here are the two fortunes I got:

Rest has a peaceful effect on your physical and emotional health.

And

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

In other words, no, I won't be making it to the end of the Bruins game tonight! (It doesn't start until 8, anyway.) Time to get a few things done before bed, though.

2014, Q2 Review

Following up on the first quarter of the year, here's a look back at the second quarter.

April:

• Given the way the Bruins have been playing lately, I'm a bit jealous of my April self, who wrote, "They're on such a hot streak, and it is So Much Fun to watch." I want to be able to say that again.
• The job frustrations continued. My, how I do not miss that job!
• Then, after some general nonsense of the type for which I am known, came the first inkling of what would be My New Job. Hooray! See, I knew things would get better in Q2.
• I was still knitting plenty, unsurprisingly.
• Hey, how about coming in for an interview? I guess I could.
• Then I was gone for a while, celebrating Grandma's 100th birthday, and returned in a daze, which was at least helped by hearing more about the job.
• In retrospect, is it a little odd that a dentist in Philadelphia commented on this post? it seems more like a legit comment than spam, but it's funny all the same, isn't it?
• April finished with a quite good second interview, ahhh.

May I talk about May?

• Waiting, and waiting...
• Seriously, the titles from this period! "No News" and "Waiting" and "Not Really, No. Not Yet" and then, finally, "Waiting Rewarded" with an offer!
• The Bruins were eliminated, ouch, by Montreal, ow-ow-ouch, but at least it was at the same time I was giving notice at that job. Silver lining!
• And in the midst of all that, I went off to New Hampshire for the 2-in-1 sock knitting class at the Knitting Lab, and had fun! Hey, there's the cashmere for the little scarf I'm knitting (maybe that should be my plane knitting next week). I also bought a lot of yarn there.
• I finally got official word of when I was leaving that job: end of May, yaaaayyyy!
• After all the stresses I'd been under, it was a relief to feel things settling down.
• I took a look at my stash of sock yarn, and considered the possibility that I have rather a lot.
• The first mention of the cat Belmont, and the prospect of bringing her home. Eh. She's a sweetheart, mostly, and it's worked out far better than George did, but in hindsight I probably wouldn't have gotten her, since she doesn't fulfill the basic purpose of making life better for Carlos. Oh well.
• I got the little tablet, upon which I am increasingly reliant. When I went out Saturday night to get groceries, I passed a holiday-based traffic trouble spot, and came home a different way because I'd forgotten the tablet, so I couldn't check and see if that spot was still backed up. Not a big deal ... but I've come a long way.
• And to end May, I ended the old job, joyfully! Two notes to follow up about this: although I still have not seen my old boss (about whom I wrote, that day, "I NEVER HAVE TO SEE AGAIN, NEVER NEVER NEVER, ALLELUIA, do you hear the angels singing or is that just me")--I actually had a dream recently where I went back to have dinner with a few people there, and the head of the office was giving my boss a hard time about how she had to do something or other, and though I still didn't like my old boss, I felt some compassion for her, since it was clearly not what she wanted to be doing. And second, back in October, someone I used to work with updated me as to how the clippings I (or, rather, Seymour) left behind were doing. Our little green legacy:

June!

• I got ready to start the new job, and started the new job, and recovered from starting the new job. Whew!
• I brought Belmont home.
• And a few days later, I let them get face to face, a little.
• I was almost as tired after the second week as the first, with added hissing and growling in the background.
• Cat juggling continued, but overall, it was going well.
• Three weeks in, the new job was going well, if still exhausting me.
• I did still get headaches, of course. Boo.
• And ended the month on a cat note.

Halfway through the year!

No, Really: Mumps in the NHL

Have you heard that the mumps are going around the NHL? Strangely enough, it's true. Apparently in the US last year, there were 584 cases, but so far about 13* players in the NHL have it, a number that now includes Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby, who looked like this on Friday as he said that, no, he didn't have the mumps, he wouldn't be practicing if he had the mumps, come on.
*According to the Globe and Mail today, anyway.

Sunday the team announced that he in fact has the mumps. Okay then.

Now, the exact math escapes me, but if 584 out of 317,292,487* people get a disease, and 13 out of ~500** people get that disease, well, it's against the odds, isn't it?
*US population at the end of 2013
**30 teams, 20 players on each roster; even with changes, it wouldn't be over, say, 650.

Math people, help me out. Am I right?

2014, Q1 Review

While I don't quite have the time or energy to do a full month-by-month blog-year-in-review, I thought it would be interesting to do some looking back at the past year, and see what I remember and what I'd forgotten. As I get ready to leave in just over a week for Christmas in Florida, it's fun to look back at last year's visit, anyway! And since I wrote that summary on New Year's Day, it counts.

Other January notes:

• I came back with that bad cold or whatever it was, so I was still dragging when I went to the MFA for the Sargent exhibition.
• I wrote more than once about how I was sure Carlos needed cat company. It's a little disturbing for me to read, knowing how rocky the year has been in that respect. Not quite like yelling "don't go in there" at the movie screen, but along those lines.
• There was the day we had the mouse in the office, ew.
• A really cute cat video!
• Also unnerving to read about applying for jobs I know I won't get, but it made me smile to read how I was hoping to have two W2 forms when I do my taxes for this year, "the one from this job and one from the new better job I will get this year!"
• I knit a shawl for Grandma, and was pleased with how it came out.
• Brought home a cat! (Guess what? It didn't work out for us. Sigh.)

And February:

• To quote myself, "If 2014 is The Year the Migraines Weren't a Big Thing for Me Anymore, that would be so amazingly awesome, words fail me." And it's been pretty close to it, really; at least, Much Less of a Big Thing. I just looked at the numbers: in 2012, I had 31 terrible-headache days; in 2013, I had 18; to this point in 2014, I've had 6. JUST SIX! ... Words really do fail me.
• The (old) job finally gave me a laptop, so I could work from home during storms. Of which we had so, so many.
• Winter, and the lingering cough I'd had since Christmas, were getting me seriously down.
• I had hopes for the cat integration. (Guess what? It still isn't going to work out. Sigh. Too bad, he was a cutie.)
• I went on a spirit-lifting mission to the greenhouse, to remember non-winter. Oh, the color!
• I realized that with the company laptop, I could work from home ... any home ... my mother's home ... Florida, here I come!

March!

• I am really, really hoping that this coming winter does not hit me like last winter did. Or I may in fact have to move to Florida sooner than later.
• I decided that I was going to have to give the new cat back. Still sorry about that, though it was for the best. Especially for Carlos.
• In a break from the relentless winter-and-job complaining, I had a great time yarn crawling!
• And by complaining about winter, I mean things like this:

...30 with a brisk wind on Sunday, if by brisk you understand I mean, "Step outside and you will lose all feeling in your face, as well as your will to live."

• I went to Florida, yay!
• And came home to the baby, and that was March.

It only gets better, I think. We'll see how Q2 goes.

Phew, Friday

It really has been quite a week for me; how about you? I'm not sure if it's because of adding Christmas things to everyday life things, or whether I may actually be fighting off a bug, too. The only "symptom" I have, other than being so tired, is some congestion and a little sneezing, which could just be related to dry winter air ... it's hard to be sure. It was dispiriting to be so super-tired yesterday, after 10 hours of sleep; today wasn't actually quite that bad. Weekend should help, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A random thought:
Why is it that when I get into work on a Monday, I can hardly remember what I did on Friday, and yet, when I read the name Milton Packer, it made me think of Milton Bradley, which made me think of Parker Brothers, and suddenly the commercial for the board game Bonkers, which I adored in about the 5th grade, is running through my mind, word for word? How can I remember that, but not where I parked, or what I had for dinner last night?

Leftover pizza, by the way. But you know what I mean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been wrapping Christmas presents tonight, though rather than the usual Christmas carols, I was listening to an audiobook instead. (I love the audiobook of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, and keep borrowing it from the library; if the Overdrive app could talk, it would be saying, "Seriously? Again? Don't you have this memorized by now?")(The answer to that is, only here and there.)(Ahem.) All the things I've ordered have come (except for cards, which I delayed deciding on*, but they're on their way), and it's time to get things in the mail already--there are almost two weeks to the holiday, but I leave in just over a week, so time to get it done. Which is the fun kind of work.
*Should I or shouldn't I? I like sending cards, but I haven't the last couple of years, it was just Too Much. Decided to compromise and do photo cards this year. I'll show you when they come.

When I say "all the things I've ordered," I mostly mean presents for others, but a few things for me slipped in. It's hard not to, isn't it? Here's what really tripped me up: I get catalogs and emails and notifications from all sorts of companies that make things I like, and just like everyone else, they have sales at Christmastime. So I'm browsing online for others and whoops, 30% off, that's such a great deal, how can I resist that? Or I'm ordering something from Amazon and, to get the free shipping, I throw in a book I've been wanting for myself. It's an easy trap to fall into. No wonder I usually have to tighten the fiscal belt in January. And I found out this week that my condo fee is going up next year, too. Lovely.

Well, let's not get too depressed tonight. I have some photos to take tomorrow, when I'll get to see daylight and maybe even sunlight again (not only is there work during the week, but it's been cloudy all week, often raining or snowing, and I miss the glowing thing in the sky). Pictures! Yarny things! Yay!

And no alarm going off in the morning, almost better. Ahhhh...

Funny, or Heartwarming?

I offer you both! In the spirit of hockey, since the Bruins are playing tonight after 4 days off. In fact, with last week's late games, I've been able to watch about three games in the last few weeks, which is Not Enough. (And of course tonight, even after 10 hours of sleep last night, I'm still tired enough that I'll probably listen to the third period on the radio, from bed. But still.)

For the funny, remember the goalies who did the leapfrogging recently? Well, one of them, Julius Hudacek, did the Macarena with some fans on the ice after his latest win:



Ever think you'd see that? Me either. (Oh, you did not.) Also, how about those adds all over his uniform, even on the rear end?

For heartwarming, here's one of those "talk to your soldier husband from overseas, oh wait, actually he's here" moments.



Gets me every time!

What. A. Week.

I woke up around 3:30 this morning to go to the bathroom, nothing unusual there. I had a very slight headache and upset stomach, nothing that notable ... except I couldn't get back to sleep. Could. Not. And those few hours of sleep time? I needed them.

Plus today I had a 4-hour meeting/class/conference call/thing, and it killed the brain cells I had left.

Which means that it's 7:15 and my brain is ticking with fatigue. If I'm to hit my goal of being in bed by 8, I have to get going. So here's something completely random for your amusement.



I like that the cat is smart enough to figure out how to make the water come out, but then doesn't understand why there's water running down the front of the machine...

Don't Burst My Bubble

Tired tonight. So tired. Watch this (as seen on the Juniper Moon Farm blog). Made me smile.



You too? (If not, don't feel you have to tell me. 'Tis the season to be fragile.)

Ugh, Monday

I stayed up too late last night (10:30, ooh, rebellious), and as a result had a dragging kind of day. It didn't help that I had one of these moments this morning:

I know, I know, it isn't even "winter" yet! But, hey, do you really want to call 18 degrees and snow flurries "fall"? I don't, because that makes me feel like I hate fall, and I don't, not the morning chill but trees changing and sun and crunchy leaves image that fall likes to project. Damned trickster.

Anyway, good night, all. May tomorrow be better.

Trying to Avoid Facing Sunday Night

Last night, while watching the Bruins game (which they won! holy cow! As Stanley Cup of Chowder wrote on Facebook, "Wait, what does it mean when the Bruins have more goals than the other team at the end? Has that ever happened before?" Exactly), I realized I hadn't gotten on the exercise bike yet. I didn't really want to (not that I ever do), but I looked at the calendar and saw that I'd only done it four days that week.

Now, I never said I'd do it every day (that's asking to fail), but I've been doing really well lately, five and six and seven days a week. The last time I "only" did four days in a week was the week I went to the conference and basically walked my legs off. I didn't want this week to be below that, so I got on the bike. And hey, it was as hateful as always, but I was really proud of myself for doing it anyway. Plus I got past the cuff of the second sock. Yes, I finished the first sock of this pair in about a month, by far the fastest I've done on the bike. Woohoo!

I'm now looking Sunday night in the face, with the usual amount of pleasure at so doing. Time to think of happy things. Like, little tree!

Hooray for the little tree. I will be ornamenting it, yes, but for tonight I'm just happy to have it.

Another happy thing: I just caught a glimpse of the full moon, ooh. It's pretty damned cold out, but I'm in now and it's nice to look at.

I did go out earlier, to have coffee and knit with friends, and look what one of them gave me!

Mmmm, pretty. (My own gifting is not quite ready, and although I'm not knitting for anyone I am doing something that I couldn't show you yet anyway, but I look forward to showing you some things, after they're given.)

I got a new phone! Not a smart phone, but a slightly less dumb phone. Touch screen, even!

I switched from Verizon to AT&T, getting slightly more at the same price as Verizon. And the people at the AT&T store were so much nicer than the VZ people, it's amazing.

Time to go off and finish my weekend, doing some of this and some more of that, and eating and biking at all. Here's hoping we have a good week, every one.