Oh, I did that already?
I got online to post about the awesome places to live I’ve been dreaming about on Desire to Inspire, and then I realized I did that the other day. So…yeah.
a little bit random
Lazy Sunday afternoon
Going to a one-year-old’s birthday party today took all of the energy I had. I’m home, sitting on the couch, watching Geek & Sundry videos, and I just poured a second glass of wine I don’t particularly like anymore. I think I’m over the Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc, for those keeping track at home. I thought I was over it, then I enjoyed a couple of glasses of it a few weeks ago, and now that I’m finishing the bottle, I’m over it again. And yet I’m still drinking it. It would be wasteful to just throw it out. Right? Also, it would take too much energy to open a different bottle. Also also, the only other bottle chilled right now is super big, and I just don’t think it makes sense to open a super big bottle just for me. Not at the end of a weekend, anyway. 🙂 Also also also, if I put another bottle in the fridge (or freezer) to chill, I’ll have to wait for it. And I’d have to get up and do it. And have I mentioned that I have no energy? I think I’m going to work on my puzzle.
Isn’t January over yet?
I can’t multi-task anymore. I probably never could, but it didn’t used to be so obvious. If my brain isn’t ready for, oh, let’s say…work, then work isn’t going to happen. But when I’ve flipped the work switch to ON (and all connections have been made – no shorts here), then work is all I can do. It’s all I can do, it’s all I can think about, and it’s all I can talk about. It’s really annoying. It’s fine during the workday, of course, but REALLY not okay once I’m home. I don’t have that kind of job. And look what I’m doing right now! Stop it.
Hey, brisket sandwiches! Are a wonderful thing. I had one for lunch. And we’re having leftover non-Mexican chicken corn chowder for dinner. Because it turned out pretty yummy.
No segue. Just videos. (Both are from The Daily What via wherever those guys found them. Video 1. Video 2.)
My favorite people are the ones who danced with the guy. I think I’d be one of them.
This is fantastic. Question: could it really be the cat’s first experience with snow? How did the cameraperson know to be ready?
New career idea
Me to John as he was leaving for his boxing class Wednesday morning (I had to leave early to get to DC): “Kiss me now because if my car starts, I’ll be gone when you get back.”
John to me: “Sounds like a country song.”
True story.
Also a true story: I tried lots of different ways of punctuating what I said. I’m not sure I like where I ended up.
It’s just not that hard
As you all know (because I’m nothing if not repetitive consistent), I get coffee from Starbucks on mornings I go to DC. I just get a tall, so it’s long gone by the time I pull into the garage, and I always have an empty cup to throw away on my way to the elevator. The other morning, I was carrying it upright, as though it still had coffee in it, and I was reminded of how obvious it is on TV when actors are clearly carrying empty coffee cups. How hard is it to fill a cup with water? It would look so much more realistic. But it does give me the opportunity to pretend I’m an actor who’s pretending to drink coffee for the 30 seconds it takes me to get to a trash can.
Amuse me, Internet!
Miserable at home today*, but at least it’s drizzly and icky outside, too. Better to have the outside match the inside today. After I stopped working, I rushed for the internet looking for fun distractions. I was disappointed. I managed to spend several hours being distracted, but nothing stuck out as wonderfully fun today. I might not be in the right mood. I am in the mood for a fig newton, though. Hey, I might be hungry again. It’s amazing how much I don’t feel like eating much when I can’t taste anything. Anyway, the internet failed me this evening, and I just don’t know if I can forgive it. Also, I don’t know if I can continue making sense under the influence of cold medicine. I was about to wax rhapsodic about Stanley Tucci.
*Today was better than yesterday – I’m definitely improving.
Some actors will always be remembered for being naked
I had a strange conversation with a coworker in the car on the way to DC today.
Him: Have you seen that new Sherlock show on BBC? Isn’t it great?
Me: Yeah, I love it. Benedict Cumberbatch is fantastic. Did you know he’s the voice of Smaug in the new Hobbit movie? The dragon?
Him: Really? That’s cool. But that hobbit guy looks really weird.
Silence from me for a few seconds.
Me: You know, the guy who plays Bilbo Baggins is Watson in that Sherlock series.
Him: …That’s the power of make-up, I guess.
I went on to list other things Martin Freeman has been in, but the only response I got was, “He’s the naked guy in Love Actually? I remember him!”
It’s still Monday?!
Today has been the longest day. At least three different times during the workday (and again just now), I was convinced it was Tuesday night (or possibly Wednesday). That much has happened since I woke up this morning (which, admittedly, was earlier than usual because it’s one of John’s boxing days – more on that later). Actually, not that much happened today that’s of interest to anyone I don’t work with, but it was a super busy day. And I got my year-end bonus. 🙂 Yay me!
Man! I completely skipped my online morning routine, too. Pause while I check Woot and XKCD. Better, and only 10 hours later than usual for a Monday.
I’m trying to reconnect with whatever feelings of calm I found yesterday while I was getting my nails done. I went to my favorite place, and they were completely empty. I was the only customer and no one seemed to be in the mood to talk (which was fine with me). It was so peaceful, utterly quiet except the god-awful muzak they were playing (which I tuned out as much as possible), and now I have awesomely hot pink toes. However, I also have a rock band playing in my basement (for the first time in months), so peace and quiet are nowhere to be found. Instead, I will play online and watch adorable videos, like this one.
This is almost as good as the cat on the roomba.
Blah blah, complain complain, shut up already
Riley is going insane, I’m freezing to death, and I think I just heard “Gangnam Style” coming out of John’s office. The world is ending TONIGHT. Hug your loved ones and duck and cover. (Isn’t that what the Mayans said to do?)
Riley has been one uncontrollable bundle of annoying energy today. If he could focus that energy on keeping me warm, I could handle it, but instead he’s been bouncing off the walls while I sit at my computer and shiver. The thermostat says it’s 67 degrees in here. I don’t see how it could be. I’m so COLD.
[Pause while I wrap myself in a blanket. It’s times like these when I wish I had a snuggie. Kind of.]
Just got distracted by Bookshelf Pr0n and Better Book Titles. And my fingers are too cold for typing. So…sure, I’ll publish this disjointed and not very entertaining blog post. Don’t judge me!
I could be a red and splotchy version of Nightcrawler
I look like a lizard. Like a salamander. Or maybe a newt. It’s awful. Apparently, I’ve found another antibiotic I’m allergic to. Sure, that’s only two now, but one of them is amoxicillin, and that rules out everything in the -cillin family, which I think includes penicillin. (So someday I’m going to die because I need medication I can’t take because I’m allergic to it. Yay for me.) At least with that one, the reaction I have isn’t visible to anyone. With this one (bactrim), I turn into a lizard. A lizard on fire. Ooh, like a salamander! (I knew there was a reason I went for that one.) Seriously, though, I look scary. The doctor said I shouldn’t exercise for a few days (because I shouldn’t sweat – weird, right?), so I’ll be fat and scary. Good combination. Too bad it didn’t happen right before Halloween instead of right after. Built-in costume.
Roxy is still wearing her lampshade, but she’s doing much better. We gave her a break from it for a lot of yesterday (because we were home and could watch her), and we only had to stop her from licking her paw a couple of times. I’ll probably be home with her a lot this week. I don’t want to go out in public like this, so I will most likely work from home. Today is a sick day. Morning with the doctor, home for now, another appointment this afternoon – too disjointed to be productive at work.
Man, if I have to look like a mutant (and I totally do), I should at least get some cool superpower.
Ingenious
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
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.
All street names have been changed to protect the innocent
Heard on the radio:
A bear has been seen in the vicinity of Christopher Street and Evergreen Lane and at the Bob Evans on Millwood.
Really? The bear went to Bob Evans? I thought the Cracker Barrel was more the bear’s style, but maybe he was branching out.
Did you know…
…that if I don’t drink coffee/tea/something with caffeine in it on the mornings I drive to DC that I will be struggling to stay awake by the time I get to the GW Parkway?
…that Riley doesn’t like it when John plays his guitar? He gets all nervous and whiny.
…that we’re putting off watching the 2nd season of Sherlock so we’ll still have it look forward to?
…and that we’re doing the same thing with Doctor Who because of how freakin’ long we have to wait between seasons? We’re two episodes into season 6 and afraid to watch any more.
…that we haven’t watched the Downton Abbey Christmas episode yet because it seemed weird to watch it when it’s nowhere near Christmastime?
…that once I start thinking about TV I really like I apparently can’t stop?
…that Roxy can tell time and is nudging me because she knows it’s time for her medicine?
I’d better stop before I reveal too much. I’ve gotta keep some secrets.
Because it’s Friday
Oh, how I want this dress.
And I want to be a princess. And I want a pony. And world peace. I can’t have any of that, but I can have funny cat videos. It’s one of my inalienable rights as an internet user.
Also, if you have 4 minutes to spare, watch this. Jimmy Steward wrote a poem, and I cried.
And now the song is in your head
Noticed yesterday on Reddit:
On my way home today I saw a little boy run out of his house, open up his blue and red Spiderman umbrella, and then skip and jump down the sidewalk. It was a beautiful sunny day. Since an umbrella was clearly not needed, I can only assume he was trying to fly Mary Poppins-style.
Prepositions
Roxy is gazing at me sleepily (and adorably) from a square of sunlight on the floor in the other room. That sentence reminds me of an exercise we had to do in Language Arts class in middle school. I think we had to write a poem describing…something…using a ton of prepositions. My friend Nicola’s was the best. It went something like this:
To the house
In the front door
Up the stairs
Down the hallway
Through the door
On the toilet
…relief!
Something like that. We thought it was awesome that she wrote a poem about peeing and got an A. Mine might have been (hypothetical) directions to my (imaginary, totally made up on the spot) secret place. Kind of an over the river and through the woods kind of thing. (I was not the most original child.)
My skin is glowing
I had my first facial ever today. And a massage. It was a very nice afternoon. John got me a Massage Envy gift certificate for those services for my birthday (WAY back in February). I don’t know why it took me so long to use it. It was wonderful. I am seriously considering making this a regular thing. (I like being pampered.)
I had a really annoying song stuck in my head earlier today, and a friend of mine at work asked me which one. It was “I Love You Like a Love Song” by I don’t know who, and I told him that the part where she goes “beep beep beep beep beep beep” wouldn’t get out of my brain. I got corrected immediately. He said it’s by Selena Gomez, and she’s actually saying “repeat repeat repeat” there. We had a minor battle over who was more embarrassed: me for not knowing the words or him for knowing them AND being able to name the teenybopper who sings them. I let him win that one (he’s around my age).
Roxy just came over to say hello and would I please give her the crumbs from my sandwich. At least she said please. She also told me that I have no unifying theme today, so I should quit now. Smart dog.
Lemon or orange peels would work, too. And smell nice.
Did you hear about Cal Ripken Jr’s mom getting kidnapped (and returned)? Crazy, right? I wouldn’t bring it up except that I heard the best use of the wrong word in a news report about it. I don’t know who was talking, but whoever it was said, “She was approached by a man garnishing a gun.” I was immediately distracted by the image of a guy poking sprigs of parsley down the barrel and in the trigger of a handgun. Odd, but not all that scary. Or maybe it’s all the scarier for being so odd.
Posts here will probably be scarce (or at least very short) for the next few days, so to keep some pretty on the screen, here are some randomly selected pictures of Sparky’s other Scottish crush.
Apparently, he can’t keep his hands off himself. Can’t say I blame him.
Update
Had to add this one last thing from The Daily What. SO creepy and wrong.
Hypothetically ruffled feathers
A pest guy (guy in the pest control business, not a guy who’s a pest – although those guys are usually both) just came by the house selling pest control services (he was conventional like that -it would’ve been more interesting if the pest guy was selling, I don’t know, ANYthing else), and I got rid of him by leading him on a little (“Sure, give me your number. I’ll check the company out online and give you a call if we’re interested.”). I also told him I never make decisions like that on the spot, and as he left he said, “No problem. Just check with your hu – [big pause here] – whoever you need to check with, and let me know.” Nice catch, buddy. Never assume! Although he does still seem to be assuming someone else makes this kind of decision and not me. What? Just because I was home all day today? You don’t know me. I’m sure I’m reading too much into it, but it’s FUN to get hypothetically angry at the hypothetical assumptions the hypothetical real pest guy was making. How dare he?!
It is time for me to take on the enormous task of catching up on the internet again. It keeps getting away from me. In case you need help with the same task, I’m very happy to tell you that Jess has started blogging again. Like, yesterday (or a couple of days ago), but still – it’s a (re)start.