AARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Picture this on a baby-blue carpet with slightly less plant material, and you'll see what the cat woke me up with last night. Yup, she climbed up onto a 6 foot tall bookshelf (don't ask me how, I have no idea... she is NOT a jumper), and knocked the pot right off the shelf. AFTER we had all gone to bed, of course. Every time something like this happens, I ask myself again why we keep this cat. I don't LIKE the cat, she's the most destructive creature I have ever had the misfortune to come across. She makes me unhappy and very, very angry. She poops just over the edge of the litter box so it ends up on the kitchen floor (which is gross). At first, I thought it was because we weren't cleaning the litter out often enough, but now she does it with fresh litter in the pan. 

If I'm honest, I really, really freaking HATE this cat. Sure, she's cute. But she destroys everything she comes in contact with, goes after my yarn and knitting (that alone is a reason to boot her to the curb, but I've learned to lock everything up in a room she can't get to), and she beats my cat up on a regular basis. The problem is... she's my son's cat, and he adores her. The second he walks into the house, he's got her in his arms and she follows him everywhere. Argh.

She even looks evil - the long-haired one on the left.

I went through my bookshelves last night and came up with two boxes of books to get rid of. I haven't even gone through the boxes of books in my closet! So I've reorganized the yarn stash and the book collection, which may sound like a waste of time when I'm supposed to be getting the apartment into shape for renovations, but it got a WHOLE lot of loose stuff out of circulation in the common areas of the apartment :) 

The granny square lap blanket is taking shape :) I've used one whole skein of yarn and it's about a 2 foot square at this point :) It is surprisingly warm for an acrylic granny square, and I like how it's looking :) I haven't touched the baby blanket or the kitchen curtain because those are at-home knitting projects, and I'm trying to get more cleaning done, so very little knitting time lately. Maybe I'll take a bit of time out and watch a movie or something this weekend so I can work on the baby project :) 

On a positive note, I (and Rob) will be walking in the 2012 Walk to Fight Arthritis in Ottawa on June 10th. I'm all signed up and registered, and I've started fundraising, so if anyone was so inclined to sponsor me, you can do so online by clicking this link - I've already started to make a dent in my fund-raising goal! Thanks to everyone who has donated so far!!!

Evening quickie...

Well, most of the cleaning done this evening involved my stash. Yes, I went through my ENTIRE yarn stash, reorganized everything (it's amazing how much more is put away in bins now!) and chose a whole seven balls of yarn to get rid of *blush*.

Not my stash, although I probably have as much... 

So now there aren't stray balls lying around all over the house, and everything I've bought in the last year has found a home. Five of the seven balls I'm giving away have even been spoken for (if nobody claims the other two in the next week or so, they'll go into the goodwill bag).

I watered the remaining plants. My last, lonely tomato is deader than a doornail :( Stupid cat. One pot of cilantro is also completely gone, but the other pot is hanging on (for dear life). (The empty pots were relocated to the balcony until the seedlings are ready). The basil is still going strong, but I'm not sure about the parsley or chives. The cat ATE all the bloody chives (and amazingly didn't puke them back up), so I'm hoping they'll come back up. But even if they don't, the new plantings should start to sprout in a few days. I've got six parsley, six chive, four marjoram, four oregano, four rosemary, six cilantro and I think six more basil.

The kids cleared out the recycling that was cluttering up the back room, and I've been taking the compost down on a daily basis. I may run the dishwasher before I go to bed and cycle some laundry through. I've finished one entire ball of the granny square lapghan, but my wrist was complaining a bit at lunchtime, so no more knitting or crocheting tonight. Now it's time to go read something!

and apparently I'm gullible....

I read an article online. I got all mouth-frothy over Ann Romney's stupidity and how she was single-handedly putting the women's rights movement back about sixty or seventy years (I wasn't aware we still needed a women's rights movement, but apparently we do. Arizona and Wisconsin, I'm looking at you.)

I posted this epic blog post about Romney's stupidity and basically begged my American friends to vote for the other guy (I still think y'all should vote for the other guy, because Mitt is a scary, scary person).

The speech that Mrs. Romney supposedly gave to a Moms for Mitt gathering on April 17th in Philadelphia, PA? Never happened. The site the article appeared on was a political SATIRE site, and there is no proof anywhere else in the innernetz that there is any credence to the quote attributed to Mrs. Romney.

I haz egg on mah face. Please excuse me while I go wash it off.

Sad plant update *sigh*

Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/tetedefromage/39408608/  

So I came home from knit night on Friday to find my son's cat STANDING in my pots, busily digging out the tomato plant. She had also destroyed my chives, but shown very little interest in any of the other pots. I tossed her down out of the pots and went to find something to clean up with. The SECOND I turned my back, she was back up on top of the freezer, digging in the tomato again. ARGH.

I already knew I was going to have to buy some tomato plants, but for pete's sake, cat, can't you leave this stuff alone for like TWO WEEKS? This is why I've NEVER had houseplants. The cats destroy EVERYTHING. Some people find this endearing, some find it a necessary evil of having pets. I hate it. And I'm starting to REALLY hate the cats. I have to admit, George didn't show the slightest bit of interest in this batch of plants, but she destroyed all my pumpkin and squash seedlings a few years ago. *sigh*

I was pretty frustrated and ready to give up then and there until I talked to Rob. "Well, it's not planting season yet, you have time to start some more!" Yeah... like I felt like starting more just to provide the cats with hours of enjoyment destroying it all. But he had a point. By the time THIS batch of seedlings was big enough to transplant, the plants could live outside full-time (and not just during the day because it still gets too cold at night). So today I went off and bought pellet refills, plumped them up, and planted some basil, cilantro, parsley, marjoram, rosemary, chives and oregano (three of those were new seeds I picked up today).

I've also started reading the new Jean M. Auel book, The Land of Painted Caves. I love this series so much! I have my friend Bob to thank for handing me Clan of the Cave Bear when I was a young, impressionable fourteen-year-old. I've been addicted ever since. HIGHLY recommended.

The granny square blanket is growing by leaps and bounds. Not so much the garter stitch blanket, but I blame stubborn circ cables for that one. It's so frustrating to have to unkink the cables every couple of minutes because I twist the knitting as I go. I have to get moving on it though. Mom is about 6 months along already! The kids are playing at the park, and I think dinner is going to be a simple affair... pork chops, some swiss chard sauteed with some jalapeno cheese whiz (it's awesome in scrambled eggs!) and maybe some rice or quinoa to go with it. For a relaxing Sunday, I'm pretty tired!

Actual Knitting Progress!

(Incidentally, this is my 100th blog post! Yay! Cupcakes for all! - oh, and apparently none of you want to read about recipes and plant pictures - noted!)

The plants spent last night inside the house (not protected behind closed doors) and the cats didn't eat them :) I am cautiously optimistic. It was necessary, since the temperature was meant to dip down below freezing last night, so I hauled them all in and put them on top of the freezer. Lynx was curious, but once I yelled at her a couple of times, she stayed away.

We got about half the livingroom done last night before we ran out of garbage bags. *sigh* I will be heading out shortly to purchase more (I hope... stayed home from work today with what I suspect is a stomach bug). I got a few loads of laundry done... now I just have to fold them and put them away! This is always the part that doesn't get done. I had a bit of a meltdown last night because Zachary left a cup full of chocolate almond milk on a chair in the front hall and Skye knocked it over. Both are at fault here, and I'm equally pissed at both of them, but I went off on Skye because rather than acknowledging the mess she made or, you know, trying to clean it up, she ignored it and left it there. I discovered it about half an hour later. ARGH. They will be scrubbing the stain out of the carpet this evening (carpet spray is something else we'd apparently run out of).

Groceries got done and almost entirely put away last night. I still have a pile of baby bok choy in the fridge, and this week I picked up some kale and red Swiss chard. I'm totally impressed that the kids got the freezer stuff put away this time before I discovered it thawing on the kitchen floor! Maybe something is sinking in here! (Then again, they left their pudding containers on the couch and floor after dinner, and Skye even left her half-uneaten plate on the couch until I yelled at her to come pick it up.) Zachary even replaced the cat litter the first time I asked him!

So on to knitting... the curtain hasn't gone anywhere. It's just on a time-out because it requires just a little more thinking than I'm able to devote to it right now. So this is what I've been working on:

This one's a baby blanket I'm doing using the basic dishcloth pattern found just about everywhere. It's Bernat Softee Chunky in the Tropical Twists colourway (which is AWESOME). It's for a co-worker who's about 5 1/2 months along, and I'm hoping to finish it in the next week or so. It's pretty mindless stuff. Straight garter stitch with a yarn over 2 stitches into the beginning of each row. The trick for me comes with deciding when to switch directions and start decreasing. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it :)

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my very first granny square! It took me about two hours to get it going last night (I kept ripping back because it looked like ass). It still looks like ass, but it's the nicest ass I've ever produced, and once I get the tension down, I think it'll look fine :) The one in the picture is four rounds, which is where I left it last night. Right now, I keep picking it up, doing a round, putting it back down, and it's up to 7 rounds :) I think it's meant to be a baby blanket, but I'm not sure yet. It'll tell me when it's done. For my next trick? I want to learn how to do different rounds in different colours. I haven't learned how to add in new colours using crochet yet.

Sarah (shmoopsie-pooh) has lent me her Knitted Monsters book. I am LOVING these guys!!!! There are so many babies coming into my life right now, I may just decide to knit these instead of sweaters or blankets (because as cute as baby sweaters are, they make me froth at the mouth, and blankets seem to take forever!) Oh, and I recently heard that one of my nieces may be pregnant again? *squee* (although I'm still one grand-nephew behind! I swear, Nahte's gift is being ruminated as I type this!)

What's your favourite go-to project for new babies? Do you have different projects for family and friend babies? Throw me a bone here, folks... I'm surrounded by teh preggers!

Pictures, plants and a recipe!

First, the recipe! I've had a couple of people ask me what I was eating for lunch yesterday (posted on my facebook that I'd made a sort of stir-fry from asparagus, onions and baby bok-choy). It was absolutely delicious. In fact, I made it again today! I'd hardly consider it a recipe though....

Veggies ahoy!

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Snap one bunch of white asparagus and one bunch of green asparagus into 2 inch pieces and add to pan. Slice one small onion and add to asparagus. Roughly chop 2-4 baby bok choy (depending how many people you're feeding... good rule is one bok choy per person) and add to pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender and asparagus turns bright green. Stir in 1 Tbsp oyster sauce (you could use rooster sauce or black bean sauce if you can't have oyster) and season to taste with freshly ground black pepper. Takes 5 minutes, and it's REALLY good. Makes a great side dish, but if you want to make a main dish out of it, toss in some cooked shrimp or chicken and stir the whole thing into pasta.

The seedlings got transplanted last night after the kids and I cleaned the front hall (all the potting supplies were in that room). I'm not sure how well they'll do, but they all seemed okay this morning after spending the night outside!

The healthiest cilantro seedlings. I thought I'd killed them, but they're still hanging on!

My lone, pathetic tomato. I may have to buy a friend for it.

Not sure the parsley will make it...

This is Mom's basil. Mine is in a bigger pot :)

Chives, the cilantro I'm not sure about, and my basil.

 Each pot has a bed of stones at the bottom, and I've placed fertilizer spikes in each one as well. (I even bought spikes particularly for tomato plants!). I'm hoping that I won't have to bring them back inside (keeping them away from the cats would be tricky) but I'll keep a close eye on the weather network!

As I briefly mentioned above, the kids and I got right to work when we got home, and the front room is now clean. Four bags of garbage and four bins of recycling went downstairs. Tonight, I'll see if I can get the bloody vacuum to work and dust the shelves. I took measurements needed to cut shelves for the last bookcase, and my dad said he'd cut those for me, so when Rob comes back in June, all we'll have to do is install the shelves and move the books in! I need to go through my books and purge somewhat. I know I have too many. It just hurts to say goodbye to them LOL

Tonight we'll be focusing on the kitchen and back room (the kids started in the back, but there's a LOT of work to do yet) and try to get some laundry done.

Spring Cleaning Redux...

Remember how a few months ago, I had this whole spring cleaning frenzy and was all gung-ho for it? Well, this is how I feel like my apartment looks right now:

NOT a photo of my house! This is from Hoarders.

It's not quite that bad, but there's an obstacle course in the livingroom, the only portion of the bathroom floor that's visible is the arc where the door opens and closes, and I'm tired of having to shout repeatedly to get the kids to take the garbage out (I'd do it myself, but this is their chore, and they need to start taking responsibility). To explain the bathroom... my washer and dryer are in there, so the floor is covered in dirty clothes. The kitchen floor is relatively tidy, but every available surface in my house is covered with stuff, there are piles of stuff everywhere, and I can't even walk into the children's bedrooms without injuring myself (therefore, their clothes end up in a jumble half-in and half-out of their dressers, because I can't seem to get them to put the clothes away properly).

In reality, my apartment is probably a bit more like this:

Not mine, obviously.

But either way, it's gross and I don't want to live like this anymore. If I'm honest, I've NEVER wanted to live like this, but I guess I'm too lazy to do anything about it? Part of the problem is that I work two jobs, I go to school, my kids have swimming classes (and I go to the gym) and I have two kids and two cats. I'm never home, and there's a tag-team going along right behind me making a bigger mess in the small space I've just cleaned.

I spoke to my landlord yesterday, and it seems he's itching to do some major work on my apartment (YAY!), but in order for him to do that, it has to be clean and uncluttered. He's agreed to lend me one of the big rolling garbage bins and one of the big rolling recycling bins from outside (we have eight garbage and six recycling bins outside) to get things going, and he's being really awesome about all this. Most people probably would have just booted us and had a cleaning crew come in. Last night, I talked to Rob about all this, and ended up blowing up at him after describing what I was doing to get the kids to help, and hearing "that's what you're doing wrong" several times. (I don't tend to react well to that). *sigh* I know he's trying to help, and he's RIGHT (that's the kicker). I just wish he could find a way to say so without saying "you screwed up". If I'm honest, I'm damn lucky he's still around considering how bad my apartment was the first time he came over.

All this is very embarrassing for me to admit, and it's humiliating whenever anyone enters my home (especially Rob). So I put on this facade like it doesn't bother me, because really? What am I going to do? Break down sobbing and curl into the fetal position? That's not going to get my house cleaned. If I'm going to change the situation, I can't just sit around being overwhelmed anymore. I have to get my ass in gear and start getting shit done.

Morning score:

Dishes: 0
Lynne: 1

:D Let the games begin!

TV Nostalgia...

Tonight, I've been googling old TV shows I used to love as a kid. There's one that had been bothering me for MONTHS. I couldn't remember what it was called, and I could only remember vague details about it. I knew Dracula and the Wolfman featured heavily... I remembered a hotel-like mansion... I decided to exercise my google-fu. The first hit I came up with was Monster Squad. I watched a few seconds and realized that really wasn't right. Then I found it. I had TOTALLY forgotten that Vincent Price also featured heavily (at least during the opening credits). I used to recite that whole thing along with him!

The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, filmed entirely in 1971 (the whole 130 episodes of it), was a Saturday morning staple at my house. I doubt my younger brother would remember it, since I remember watching this from ages 3-7 (which would have made him 2 when we moved on to American cartoons). Now, nobody who grew up outside of Ontario will have ever heard of this, and that's tragic. It was an awesome show :)

From there, I was reminded of Ed the Sock. Ed's still on the air today. I remember Ed from when MuchMusic first hit the airwaves :) He used to interview celebrities, and eventually got to the point of nearly imitating the American Mystery Science Theater 3000. But I'll always have a soft spot for Ed :) (I'm not going to link a video, you can still watch him!)

Then there was my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE cartoon when I was little. My dad and I used to watch this together. I have never seen anything to rival it, I still vividly remember complete episodes, and I still love all the characters...Mark, Jason, Princess, Tiny and Keyop... Much of my fantasy life as a 3-5 year old centered around them :)

Battle of the Planets (circa 1978), also known as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (or G-Force, which was what I thought the show was called when I was little). One of these days, I have GOT to get this series on DVD.

One I've been trying to get Rob interested in that he's just not buying was Rocket Robin Hood. I used to watch this after school every day at the babysitter's and it was pretty ahead of its time :)

This one ran originally from 1966 to 1969, but was syndicated forever (it still runs on Teletoon Retro, I think). I always loved it :) Rob isn't impressed. (Granted, his favorite tv show is Speed Racer, so there's no accounting for taste.)

One of the cartoons I could actually get my dad to watch when I was a kid was the version of The Lone Ranger that aired in 1981. Lorne Greene did the intro :D

Call me crazy, but I had a huge crush on Lorne Greene when I was a kid :) Between Bonanza, Lorne Greene's New Wilderness (and the intro to Lone Ranger), I LOVED Lorne Greene. I mean, it didn't hurt that he's from Ottawa either...

And to mollify Rob, since I mocked him for liking Speed Racer (I'm sorry, it was really bad... almost as bad as Astro Boy), here you go:

I haven't yet seen the live-action movie, but I think I'm going to have to sit through the entire series with Rob at some point, and THEN watch the movie. Because as I'm looking back over my own childhood favourites, it appears that I like some pretty bad TV too ;)

A weekend in photos...

Pic-heavy, but I did promise.

Ray being "fancy" at Seder.

There was a lot of this going on - for the record, I'm not upset here, I'm laughing hysterically...

I get this look from Rob a lot when I have a camera in my hands... not sure why he's so yellow though.

Ray's birthday "cake" had re-lighting candles. This shot was caught an instant before he squealed at finding flames between his lips and threw the candle LOL

Saturday, we went to the cemetery to get pictures of Rob's father's grave. I didn't take a picture after I placed the stone because I felt it would be disrespectful.

Flower arrangement I made using store-bought sunflowers and daffodils from Rob's front garden. Yes, it's in a tomato can.

Velda, if you read my blog, know that I was thinking of you the entire time I was picking, arranging and photographing these.

Sunflowers are my favorite :)

Rob's brother got a gag gift from their step-dad. Classy. Rich, if you want to get rid of that thing, I'll give you $20 for it! I have an artist who would very much like to get his hands (no pun intended) on one.

Sadly, I didn't bring my cameras to the second Seder I attended (there are pics in existence on Facebook... if you look for pics I'm tagged in, you'll see the group photo). Rob's step-sister is a professional photographer, and both my cameras were giving me trouble. There's also no photographic evidence of all the cooking I did, but that's likely for the best, since I left Rob's kitchen a mess again. Until tomorrow!

It'll be just like starting over :)

This song made me happy today, so I'm sharing!

In other news, I've been reminded a few times that I haven't been posting about weight loss efforts, etc. Well, there's a reason for that. I've been in a bit of a funk where I've been eating everything I could get my hands on. Yeah, I've been going to the gym and exercising, but it's a two-prong system (hah - got that from my boss) and I need to be more careful about what I'm eating. I know that academically, but when I'm feeling like crap about myself, it just seems easier to shove whatever I feel like into my face rather than make smart choices.

So today marked day one of starting over. I was at 283 when I woke up (which means I didn't gain anything while I was visiting Rob and actually managed to lose a few pounds). Did some groceries and have a plan :) It's staying in my head though, because whenever I share a plan with anyone, I end up moving heaven and earth to sabotage it, whether I want to or not. So I'm keeping mum!

Starting from here! Seems quite fitting somehow that I'm sitting at the dinner table surrounded by food...

Plants.... well, the last of the cilantro managed to die while I was gone (not Jeff's fault... I had mostly killed it all before I gave it to him). My lone tomato is stubbornly clinging to life as is the parsley. The chives and basil are still going crazy though! I may buy a tomato plant or two when the garden centre starts carrying them, and I can always start again with the cilantro and parsley. I still have seeds for those.

On the knitting front, I have done VERY little *sigh* I knit a row or two on the kitchen curtain while I was at the airport, but did no knitting at all this weekend. But class ends next Monday (I think, more on that in a minute) so I'll have a bit of knitting time before the next one starts up on May 1st. As for school.... the strike is ongoing. I've missed three classes now. Next Monday is supposed to be the final exam, but we've missed nine hours of class time and a lot of material that still has to be covered.

Anyway, that's where things stand right now. Pics tomorrow!

Chicago, Chicago....

So that's where I've been since last Thursday! I left work at lunchtime, and hopped a cab to the airport. Two flights and seven hours later, I was driving up North Michigan Avenue in search of the famed Red Apple Buffet. (Sorry, the website SUCKS, but the restaurant is great! Food was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC.)

Friday, we puttered around the house a bit, went to pick up his son, hit the cell phone store (Rob's hard on phones LOL), hit Fiddlehead Yarns in Kenosha, WI, and then bought a ridiculous amount of groceries. I cook a lot when I go over to fill the freezer so that the boys don't end up living on manwich. Friday evening, we went to Passover Seder at Rob's parents. It was... an experience :D Rob's stepfather Alan began the evening by stating that THIS YEAR, we were going to have a serious, PROPER Passover.... and you can imagine how things went from there ;) The boys (both the adult and the teenaged ones) seemed to take that as a challenge. The verdict: Matzo ball soup = AWESOME. Gefilte fish = edible, but ... um... well, it's fish brined in lye. What do you expect me to say?

Saturday, I started the day by making a huge batch of spaghetti sauce (which is now residing in the aforementioned freezer). We went out to lunch with Rob's genealogy group harem (he has a group of women who follow him around and vice versa... they're all older than his mother, but I still like to tease him!). They are the funniest, coolest bunch of girls, and we had a blast. Saturday afternoon, we went to the cemetery where Rob's father is buried and I took pictures of the grave site for his genealogy files, and placed a stone on his father's  marker. I was glad I'd gotten dressed for Seder before leaving, because it felt somehow more fitting that I was visiting in a dress, nylons and heels. We went to Seder with Rob's step-sister and her family and it was every bit as much an occasion as the previous night :) This group takes family seriously, and they really are a fantastic bunch of people. (I had gotten yelled at the night before for trying to blow out the candles after everyone left the table.. this Seder? no candles! SWEET! No one confusing the shiksa!)

Sunday morning, I made a cheesecake for dinner and a batch of chili that joined the spaghetti sauce in the freezer. Rob and I walked to the grocery store (about a mile, round trip, I think) to buy a bottle of pop (what can I say? I was thirsty!). Sunday afternoon was mostly spent doing house-type stuff, shopping for new towels and then making my seafood rosée pasta sauce (most of which is also in the freezer, but some of which was dinner). The lemon sauce I made for the cheesecake ended up wayyyy too sweet (like jarringly sweet), and I've determined that I need to stop using the Philly cheesecake recipe and find a proper one. Other than that, we had a good time :) We planted some flowers around the house and garage (hopefully some of them will come up!) and watched an episode of Speed Racer and then it was time to pack and go to bed.

4am this morning, we were (Rob was) up and getting ready to head to the airport. I slept very badly last night, so he went and showered, shaved, ate breakfast and THEN woke me up. I win :) Two flights later, I was back home with the kids and attention-seeking cats. The strike is still on at school, so no class for the third week in a row. This worries me, because NEXT week is our final exam, and we haven't covered a lot of the material necessary :( There's also our final project due next week, and I'm nowhere near done. *sigh* I am home, and while I'm happy to be back, I'm not happy to be alone. Pictures will follow after I've got them off the cameras and sorted out. So see you later, Chicago!

Murphy's Law

Today did not start out in the best way. It started with me curled into the fetal position in an incredible amount of pain. That continued for several hours (until after lunch) and made me want to drive off the nearest cliff. Fortunately for me, there's a distinct shortage of cliffs between my home and office. I have no idea why cramps make me want to die in the morning but always seem to disappear in the afternoon.

Work was largely uneventful, until my supervisor set me to a task (telling me it was super urgent) and then disappeared before I was done. I can understand not feeling well and leaving early... what I can't understand is not saying anything when I spoke to her TWO MINUTES before she left. Granted, that's not about me, but I've had a shit day, so I'm internalizing it. The urgent document? Is now sitting locked up in my file cabinet, so what was the point of rushing?

Picked up my daughter at daycare (where apparently the stomach flu had ripped through the place all day and nobody said anything to me) and then went to pick up the ex to do groceries. Got to his house and phoned him to come down, but he was still 15 minutes away on the bus, and we ended up having a huge fight (mostly my fault, but not entirely). Joy. The store was out of mint Aero (Rob and his son really like those) but I figure the Cherry Blossoms and maple candy will likely make up for that one.

Classes were cancelled again this week due to the strike. *sigh* I need to contact my prof to make sure I can still pass the class. Bought myself some sushi for dinner, but as I sat down to eat it, the bottle of sparkling water I'd bought overflowed and I managed to drop the tray of sushi trying to contain the mess/protect my laptop. Sushi all over the carpet. So no dinner for me. That, and soda water all over the laptop. (That seems to have been remedied nicely though).

I have a HUGE surprise for Rob, and I really really really want to spill the beans (I suck at delayed gratification) but I know it will be so much more of an awesome surprise if I DON'T tell him, but I really want to! I also managed to kill most of my cilantro and three of my four tomato babies by underwatering them :( I have one viable specimen of each left. I may buy a tomato plant or two when the nurseries start carrying them. Hopefully Jeff's cats will be able to resist eating everything while he's plant-sitting (they need to be watered daily or they dry out, so I can't leave them for four days).

All first-world problems, to be sure. But the cumulative effect made the day suck. Then I poke around on a news site, and I discover that my day would have sucked ever so much more if I lived in Dallas County, Texas. And I am ever so thankful that I live here and that I am fortunate to have only first world problems.

Word play...

I feel like such a dunce! The first Harry Potter movie came out eleven years ago. I never read the books before that, so that was my first introduction to the series. It has taken me THIS LONG to sort out that Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley were plays on nocturnally and diagonally.... Now let that sink in.

Jo Rowling is brilliant.