Month: October 2012

Still here!

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We made it through the big storm unscathed.  Well, I haven’t been outside yet, so I guess there could be some damage, but we didn’t hear anything, and John went in to work both days, so he would have seen something.  Last night was the only time the winds really picked up.  Even the rain is finally letting up.  That’s very good news, since Riley is a little stir-crazy.  He spent a lot of today gazing longingly out the front window.

I did a bad, bad thing today.  I opened the giant bag of mini Snickers.  I kept it in the other room, but that didn’t stop me as much as I was hoping it would.  I will be doing my best (over John’s objections, I’m sure) to give away every last bit of this candy tomorrow night.

It doesn’t look all that bad right now

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I’ve seen the weather maps, and I’ve read the forecasts, and I’ve seen the pictures.  I know it’s supposed to get really bad, but I thought that was supposed to have happened by now.  It’s been raining steadily since last night, and we’ve had the occasional wind gust, but so far, that’s it.  Maybe I should shut up right now and stop tempting fate.  The power flickered three times in a row about half an hour ago, but it’s still on, and we still have internet.  For now.  Yes, I just knocked on wood.

Batten down the hatches

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You can’t tell by looking out the window today, but apparently, the world is going to end soon.  Probably Tuesday.  Judging by the crowd at Wegmans this morning, though, everyone is pessimistic about that and planning for the apocalypse to occur tomorrow.  Yes, I was part of that crowd, but not for the same reasons.  Not out of panic.  I went because we had NO food in the house.   You know, the normal reason you go to the grocery store.  Something I’ve been avoiding for the past couple of weeks because, I don’t know, going to the grocery store sucks.  I went, and we have food, but we’re still going out for dinner tonight because I told one of the neighbors we were (as my excuse not to go to her house for bunko).  She lives across the street, so we kinda have to actually leave the house.  Damn.

 

Book Club is coming

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Hey, guys, I have to dive into my book, so I’ll be in hiding tonight (except for yoga class).  Possibly tomorrow, too.  Book Club is this Friday, and according to my Kindle, I’m only 12% into Wild.  Not cool.

Have a video (from The Daily What):

Can you imagine?  I’d like to think I’d turn into Spiderman and be halfway up the elevator walls if I thought the floor was dropping out from under me.  I’d at least be hanging on to that rail for dear life.

Costumes are fun

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I’m exhausted from last weekend.  May I have another?  I promise to rest for much of it.  No?  Too bad.

Friday night we went to a costume party.  We were pretty happy with our costumes, but the party was a little awkward at the start.  It got better, and we had a good time.  All that’s minor.  Let’s stick with the important stuff.  For the most part, our costumes were created from things we had at home.  John went as Wolverine.  We had to buy his claws (would you believe we didn’t have a spare set at home already?), but that’s it. 

John realized that I had everything I needed to be Hermione except the wand.  I’d forgotten about the scarf I bought at Universal over the summer.

Not crazy about my hair here. I left in braids all day to get that kinda curly messy younger Hermione look, but I think it came out a little too much like Weird Al.

Classic Hermione pose coming up.  I know!  I know!

Notice I’m holding a wand?  Yup.  That’s ’cause John made me one.  An awesome one.  Because he’s wonderful.

Check it out!  He even burned the Deathly Hallows into the end.  Because he’s the best.

Now, I think our costumes turned out pretty good, but my first choices for us were Dr. Horrible (me) and Captain Hammer (John).  Unfortunately, we don’t have ANYthing we need for those, and we didn’t have enough prep time to get them.  Maybe next year.  I really want to be Dr. Horrible.

Who’s voting for Ronnie for President?

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It’s that time of year again.  Time to duck all calls that may be coming from some politician’s campaign (which really means duck all calls that come in on the house phone).  I don’t care if the call is coming from a candidate for President or for Congress (I was going to go with something more local than that, but apparently there aren’t any really local elections in my area this year).  I don’t want to talk to any of them.  That means they all go to voicemail, and my Vonage Visual Voicemail service gets to try to translate.  This is a direct quote from my email (from a call today):

“I’m calling from Ronnie for president. This is Susan. She is a real daughter. And in 2008. She voted for Barack Obama, Obama, Groom, Cesar Lane everyday and I would appreciate it but I don’t think that he’s done anything to, to undo the damage. I think maybe he had and I have you listing plan and wasn’t able to implement it. I think that we want to get his leadership before years and they are selves deeper and dad. I I think we got our losses. This call is paid for by Ronnie for president Inc”

Susan is a real daughter!  Unlike all those fake daughters.  I have no idea what she actually said there.  Also, if I could vote for Obama every day, I totally would, but I don’t know who Groom and Cesar Lane are.

I’m calling Romney Ronnie from now on.  Awesome.

Taking the night off

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I’m supposed to be going to yoga tonight.  I don’t want to.  I had a facial today, so I’m plenty relaxed, and I want to stay home.  I want to stay home and read and play on the internet and watch TV and do laundry (okay, that’s more of a need than a want) and stay home.  Also, I want to stay home.

Toast and tea (decaf English Breakfast) for dinner.  Yum.

Giving up for the night

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Why do I always think this will work?  When I don’t have any great (or middling or even bad) ideas for the blog, I think I’ll be inspired by something on the internet.  An hour later, I’ve got nothing.  But at least I lost that hour.  A precious hour when I could have been reading.

Sorry, guys.  This is pathetic.

 

Ingenious

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Whoever designed the scotch tape dispenser was a genius.  That hole in the middle is the only thing that allows you to wrap a present without help.

Hold down the fold in the wrapping paper with three fingers, index finger through the middle of the dispenser, grab the tape with the other hand. So simple. So brilliant.

I don’t really have anything else tonight, so I’ll leave you with this pearl of wisdom.  (Make of it what you will.)  A sparrow is no match for a hungry dragonbat.

Boots and livestock

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I found my boots!  And I’m never shopping again.  Seriously, I am all shopped out.  So back to yesterday’s trip to the Waterford Fair:

Pop quiz, Jess: What kind of chickens are these?

All I know is they were cute and fluffy and not at all phased by the crowds of people streaming by.  This sheep wasn’t particularly bothered by people or dogs, now that I think about it.  I guess the people of Waterford socialize their livestock.

Frosty the Puppy was terrified of the big bad sheep.  They eventually went nose to nose, but then the puppy ran away.

It was cute.  Because puppies.  Also cute?  Ducks getting into water for the first time ever.

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain

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Oh my god, guys, the high for Sunday is only going to be 51 degrees.  It’s 80 today.  Is the world insane?  (Yes, but for other reasons.)  Are we all going to get sick now from the temperature ups and downs? (Again, yes.)  Am I going to make sure I spend some time enjoying the warm air this evening?  (Very much yes.)  I may also stop by DSW on my way home.  The weather may be nice for the last time this year, but I’ve got priorities.

 

 

All shopped out

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My friend Stephanie and I spent FIVE HOURS outlet shopping today.  We tried on all the clothes at the Ann Taylor and Banana Republic Factory Stores and bought half of them, and then we visited every single shoe outlet there.  Struck out on shoes, though.  I’ve lost track of what I’m looking for, except for a pair of black pumps that I can wear with anything for work and a pair of boots.  I didn’t find anything remotely like the boots I want.  I’ve been noticing people wearing them, but I don’t know where they’re from.  I’ll be heading to DSW again soon.  I checked Zappos and they’ve got what I’m looking for.  I’d just like to try some styles on before I order.

I’m looking for something like these:

Type Z Mamie

Lucky Brand May

Romantic Soles Brooke (Wide Calf)

Gabriella Rocha Abbey

Enzo Angiolini Visco

They’re casual, something I wouldn’t be afraid to really wear (I don’t want to have to worry about scuffing them, so I want boots that can take it), looks good with jeans…  I love boots.  Before I buy anything else, though, I’m going to clean out my closet.  For real.  I wear the boots I have, so they can stay, but most of my other shoes will go.  I mean it.  Clothes, too.  I’ll be ruthless.

Only at my house

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Background: Yesterday evening, I got up to make some tea.  (Good background, right?  I mean, that really sets the scene for you, doesn’t it?)

Me, to John: What size mug?

John: Mexican.

Let me explain.  We don’t do sizes the normal way when it comes to mugs.  Oh, no.  Small, medium, large, tall, grande, venti – those are not descriptive enough. Here’s a selection of the mugs we use most often:

  • In the front row, from left to right, we have littlest and little – these match our dishes.  We’ve had them since we got married.
  • In the middle row, also from left to right, the answer to the mug size question is college (the last remaining dishware from our college years – I think the rest of those dishes went to Tom after we graduated), Jess’s (no one uses those but her), Mexican (we bought them  in Mexico, I swear), and big Mexican (same as the others, but bigger)
  • And in the back row, we have the more obvious self-explanatory descriptions: Superman, Beatles, Mad Hatter

We have entirely too many mugs.  Okay, now I need to know how many.  Hang on.

You can let go now.  41.  We have 41 mugs, not counting travel mugs.  And how many people live here?  Yeah.  TWO.  Ridiculous.

I still have paint in my hair

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I think someone cheated and skipped a few days in September.  It went by awfully fast.  What I remember of it was nice, though.  Especially last weekend.  The weather was perfect, and we spent the majority of those two days outside painting the porch.  Not normally my favorite thing to do, but we had a good time.  (Let me tell you a secret: I like spending entire days with John, just us.  It’s fun.  Shh.  Don’t tell anyone.)  We finished the second coat yesterday, and I went for a long bike ride, and now my butt is sore.  I can’t decide if I want to keep doing that.  If I do, I think I might need to invest in those padded bike shorts.  Just checked – those can be kind of expensive.  Also, they look kind of ridiculous.  But not as ridiculous as I look when my butt hurts.

On to the opposite of ridiculous:

I WANT THIS DRESS.  (Thank you, Tom and Lorenzo, for giving me a style goal.)

Not the shoes.  I don’t like the shoes.  (I totally just spelled shoes “shoose”.)  The dress has a Grace Kelly-esque silhouette and have I mentioned how much I want to dress like Grace Kelly?

 

Of course, I all too often have paint in my hair (all too often = every time I paint something), so I shouldn’t really be allowed near nice clothes.