Cha, cha, changing clothes

Sunday I was a busy girl. The sheer number of times I changed clothes was enough to leave me exhausted. I was like a Victorian changing clothes for every event. I had a church outfit, a lawn mowing outfit, a shopping outfit, a making dinner outfit, and a eating dinner outfit.

First I dressed for Church, a very cute sundress I picked up for $6 at Hamricks, after I Church I noticed I hadn't melted into the side walk on the trip back to the car so I decided it was time to pull the trigger on mowing the lawn.

I changed clothes to mow the lawn, it looks much nicer now, even though it looked okay before, it looks nicer now but if it hadn't gotten cooler, it would still be okay.

Lawn mowed. Now I wanted to go shopping at a nice mall, time to go up market and try to look nicer. I could have just kept on lawn mowing outfit but getting followed around by a clerk is really chilling to my shopping experience, also I get treated better when I look like an adult. I could have just put my sundress back on but I decided to go with capri pants and a blouse because why not, as it was, I fit right into the rest of the people roaming the antique store. Capri pants are very hot among the antiquing crowd.

I was going to go back home and change clothes again for a trip to Wally, but I went straight on and kept on my upmarket outfit and just looked much, much nicer than everyone else at Wally. It did get the door opened for me and the guy at the door on my way out didn't even look at my receipt - which almost always happens, so why go through with the exercise? It means nothing!  But he barely dabbed my receipt with his highlighter and sometimes they do art projects.

Anyway. I came home and changed clothes into the tee-shirt I got from the Pup Crawl, and my lawn mowing shorts. I thought the last time I was going to change was into my pajamas. That was a nice thought to hold on to.

I was making dinner and splashed red wine all over my brand new white tee-shirt! I saved it though quickly zapping it with a stain lifter and dumping salt on the stain took it right out. But I needed to wear yet another new top in the mean time. So Change number what? Five times!

I wondered why I have so much laundry. And now I know, I am compulsive clothes changer or in a past life I was a Victorian and that person wants out. Be Gone!  Get Thee behind me Evil clothes wasting demon!

Weekend

I love the weekend. I spent Saturday running errands and going with Rocket to the second annual Cause for Paws Pup Crawl.

We had a good time, but I'm not a drinker and I don't go to bars and so spending an entire Saturday sitting around bars not drinking  is not as much fun for me as it was for some of the other dog people, who were clearly having a very good time and drinking a lot. It was also off and on pouring rain and we had to park in hell and walk through the rain at all the venues.

I do now know where four bars are that I didn't even know existed before are located and I guess I am now more hip than I was before, I am also most likely the oldest person who has been in any of them. Go me.

Rocket was a jewel the whole day, just a perfect animal and such a good boy and I was so proud of him. He had a great time and was totally gracious to all the people and dogs we met. Two drunk girls kind of molested him at the last stop and that was not particularly gracious on their parts! I mean, gawd, get your tongue out of his mouth! Jesus! Do you stick your tongue in your dogs mouth?

I did spend possibly too much time flirting with a teeny, tiny baby bull dog. She was the cutest puppy ever and didn't even look like a real puppy! She had no bones! She was filled with fluff!  But I didn't scoop the dog up out of no where like some drunk people did! I just fawned over her and babbled a lot. I controlled my dog napping urges. I was sober.

Speaking of Jesus.  I had a Come to Jesus meeting with a girl who was at the crawl without her dog. Her dog had possibly pulled a muscle and was on crate rest. She told me the dog wasn't happy about it and she hadn't been as  strict with the regime as she could be; I told her in my experience with crate resting a dog, that you have to be strict as hell with both the dog and yourself for it to work and it does work - if you work the program and the program is that the dog stays in the crate ALL THE TIME. You feed the dog in the crate, the dog spends the day in the crate and sleeps in the crate. The dog is always in his crate.

You take the dog out of the crate very carefully and only when absolutely necessary. It sucks, you should support with a towel or a sling which ever end of the animal needs to be supported while you slowly walk it out to do its business. She told me the dog was unhappy with this and so was she. I told her to ask her vet for a sedative or prozac for the dog, and that she might look into some for herself too, because she was just in tears and wasted and she did not need to be hurting like she was. She needs help because she can't help the dog the way she is now. I really hope she can pull it together.

She's going to need more help if she messes up the crate rest, she and the dog will be looking down extremely costly surgery and a painful post op world and  a lot of rehab - if she can afford it. I remember both of us being in a lot of pain when Daisy was going through the whole thing and it was very tough on both of us.  You get through it by getting through it and I really hope she pulls it together for her and the dog, whom she clearly loves very much and is her whole life.  I really feel sorry for both of them. Think a happy thought for anonymous, miserable drunk girl and her hurting dog. Amen.

Yes

A week that changed the nation http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/politics/supreme-court-gay-rights-change/index.html

Friday Cat Blogging

Cat Blogging

Phase I

I made a decision about the VO training. I am going hopefully volunteer with  The Lions Club radio reading project. I sent in my form today and I'm going to call them tomorrow. This will help me get some experience and see what areas I need to work on.

I'm going to start putting away money every month to save up for the training classes so I can pay off the costs faster and for less each month. I am going to shoot for a start of January 2016 as a start date - again, hopefully, I'll be able to start when I want to start, I don't know if this is an option. I'll know when I talk to the guy again on Tuesday, I'm going to ask if I can buy the studio stuff ahead of time, it s a way of making sure I stay invested in the idea because if I am all ready financially invested, it will damn well help keep my attention as well as letting me learn how to use the tools, also let me find a really good place for my "studio". I think I have an idea but I have some time to get these things figured out, I like that.

I really want to do this but I don't dive into water I don't know what the depth is. If I can get on with the Lions I can find out how into the whole idea I really am, what if its boring or I don't really like it or its not what I thought it would be? I mean, when I do this, I want to really want to do this.

Its a big deal, I do not like change really at all as much as I really need a change from what I'm doing now - It freaks me out and its scarey. This way I think I can make the road a little smoother for me and clear the way a little and allow me to hopefully start this new phase in my life.

Think positive thoughts about the Lions Club letting me volunteer reading and that the guy from the VO training being willing and able to work with my schedule. Let us pray.

Decision

I want to do voice over work. I have a chance to do it and I think I want to pursue it. I went and listened to a speaker and did some exercises with the class and I have a good voice,  I can read a script and I have a background in theatre - More than a "background" I have an almost unused BFA!

I checked out he company, they are very solid with the BBB, I found no online bitching  or lists of complaints about the quality of the training or the hardware the provide or the people who do the instruction. They were listed over and over as a good place to take the training. And you have to have training...

If I go through with the training, classes and coaching - I could, in theory, have a new way of earning money that I may very well actually enjoy, I might be able to earn enough to actually save for my future, I may be able to not be such a leach on my family. I could stop making everyone sad.

If, maybe, may. These are not strong words, they are not absolutes.  Its a very competitive field, you have to market yourself ruthlessly. I am not a self marketer, I am not in any way ruthless. I would have to, if I wanted real jobs, to hire an agent. You can't get an agent until you have a body of work to prove to the agent that the agent is also going to make money. You can't make money until you have made money. There are however a lot of ways of avoiding cold calls, there are dozens of web sites and the VO company helps you get started. I wouldn't be alone.

I need money. The classes et al cost money, a lot of money for me, but you can  pay it out over time, they have programs and time tables set up so that you don't have to have money upfront. But it means at the very least, a couple of years of debt and, a lot of it. I am not used to debt.

But. I could be good at it, I am trainable and I do have a good voice, I have heard that for years. Why not grab the ring and do something about it? I hate working in an office. I had nightmares about being buried in office work for my entire working life, so I worked /slaved in my field for pennies and left over hors d'oeuvres  for a while after college and subsequently lived with and off my parents for years and years after everyone else was happily independent and working for actual money in their fields, living as real adults.

An office job made me independent. It  gave me what I have today -  insurance, my own home, a life, depression, anxiety and high blood pressure. Is it wrong to want more?

Dog Dog Dog

Rocket officially lost whatever Big Dog status he may have had! He has now officially been reclassified as some sort of short haired hamster! I was in "his" room and out of nowhere this huge flying cockroach appeared! There is the very real possibility that it had touched me at some point before he became airborne. I screamed and tried to find a weapon, Rocket, the hunting dog, the  guard dog, the velcro dog! Wandered away while I was screaming and flaying away at the gigantic bug, it could have been an extra in Jurassic Whatever

I was being attacked by a pterodactyl and Rocket just went to the other room and lay down! I want to point out that I was screaming, flailing around and being very, very anxious and upset. And loud, very loud and he thought this was a great opportunity for a nap.

That I was "Upset" should have at the very least gotten his attention, anxious alone should have made him a little concerned, but the screaming and flailing, should have turned him murderous! He goes Male Dog because someone is walking a block behind us and the sight of me, his beloved mistress, his Mommy locked in a death battle with a insect the size of a slipper and he's unmoved by my plight! This is why we have big dogs! If we get upset, the dog is supposed to go all Cujo! There should have been even more pieces of dead bug all over that room than there were - I was pretty murderous! I beat the awful thing to death with a dog toy! And it did have to be beaten to death, I pounded on that disgusting thing and it kept coming back! A zombie roach! I'm still in recovery from the episode.

Rocket could have at the very least been worried about his toy! Nope. Napping, not at all upset that I was upset. The cat has shown more interest in my status.

And that led us into Night 2 of the Decrating

He really wanted to wander around. I really did no want him to wander around. I had an especially long day and now he wanted to make it an even longer evening. He got up, I put him back, he wanted to go see the cat, I wanted him to count sheep. I wanted to be asleep, he wanted for us to play his Dognition games!

We both finally went to sleep. I woke up because I had to go the bathroom and then I couldn't go back to sleep! So . Much. Fun. And since I couldn't sleep, Rocket suddenly discovered a deep well of  empathy or my selfish wakefulness was disturbing his slumber, and was now to be awake with me. He got up and I didn't have the energy to put him back. He also immediately fell back asleep, so much for feeling my pain.

I finally went back to sleep and he stayed on the bed. I made a trip to Wally and picked up a clearance leash, its camo, to  keep him in his bed. I have a whole wardrobe of leashes for him and every one of them has gone into hiding. Dicks.

We'll see how he reacts to being kept in his bed.

Training for everybody

And so how did Night 1 - The Uncratening go you ask?

Well.I put him to bed, he got out of  bed. I put him back into bed. He stayed there. I went to bed, he crawled out of bed, I was getting ready to put him back to bed again ( I am embracing that this is not going to be an easy change), instead he left his bed and slept on the carpet at the foot of my bed. This is okay with me.

At some point over night I got up to go the bathroom - the dark side of proper hydration! and dog was where he was supposed to be, but by the time I got up in the morning, he had gotten up on the bed with me.

I decided that at the very least, I did not have to get up in the middle of the night to get him out of his crate and he did not wake me when he got on the bed. Its a process, crawling before walking yadda, yadda.

What did I do this evening? I went to a Continuing Education class offered by Wake Tech. It met at a high school very near by  and was only $35. It was a chance to meet people and learn about a topic I'm a little interested in. Why not?

The class was called "So You Want To Do Voice-Over Work?!", and yes, yes I do! I learned that it takes investment in time and hardware, not everybody who is called to it can do it and there is a lot of competition for the same jobs. However, if I  invest in helping the dog reach his potential, I should be equally invested in exploring in my own potential. Its only fair and its about the same outlay.

And besides, I love to hunt for cheap stuff online and the field is rife with folks who are buying up or selling out. The computer is the most expensive tool and I already have that.

I also have, I have been told in the past, a not bad voice,   and after hearing some of the women in the class, I can also "act" with my voice somewhat more effectively than others, I didn't get a BFA for nothing, well, mostly it has been for nothing, but I did earn a BFA. I should hope I could read a script and portray some excitement about the topic!

The guy is going to call me,  and I know he's going to call everyone, because we all showed great "potential" and we were a "terrifically talented group", and yes he does work for a company that trains voice over actors, and he is one himself. I'm not daft, the class was an two hour infomercial for the company he works for.

The people in the class really did show some talent, no one was there because the Knife Work class had filled up. Some had all ready done some work around the periphery of the field or had been radio DJs or worked in advertising, one of the women was an actress who was finding herself aging out of her demographic and wanted to find a second act for herself and I bet she does. The 17 year old kid sitting next me could  legitimately get work as a  Justin Bieber look-alike, but when he opened his mouth he was James Earl Jones!  He was genuinely incredible and he needs to pursue the idea, he was amazing! He could work as a radio DJ tomorrow in a heartbeat.

I am not Janie Earl Jones, but maybe I'll chat with the instructor about my chances, its worth having something to dream about.

Monday

I went to see my parents for the weekend to celebrate Fathers Day with my Dad. I had a really nice visit, ate entirely too well and had a relaxing weekend. The chance to get a way is always nice and a change of scene, even for a short time, is very refreshing.

When I came home I felt empowered enough to make a Big Change with the dog. I decided that we are Done with The Crate! He wakes me up every night to get out of it and I don't love this. I started to think about it that since he spends so little time in it and it is such a massive space suck in the room, that we are going to see what life is like without it. Once he is out of the crate, he just goes back to sleep on the floor and I would think his dog bed would be more comfortable and hopefully, when the bed is no longer in the crate, he will spend more time on it. I would also really like to sleep through the night.

If he takes advantage of his freedom, I'll restrain him and if that doesn't work he'll go back to the crate, but I want to see if we can work on ways of keeping him out.  I think we're going to start with him not being restrained, and see if this works. If he needs to be kept from wandering, I'll just hook his leash to the bed and keep him from taking walks. I hope this works.

Friday Cat Blogging

He's hot and he blames you.

Garden Update 7 2015

SInce walking is out of the question, I left dog inside and  went to examine the garden and I'm not completely happy with what I am finding.

What I'm finding is blossom end rot which is from either too much water or no enough or too much heat or whatever, it happens, its just one of the the things you deal with, its mostly harmless.

. A new player in the arden is not familure or harmles. Its  some sort of bacterial spots on my fruits and yellow leaves.

These are not happy signs for the 2015 garden. Blossom end rot is one that I am familure with but its never something I want to see. The splotty problem is a new issue and I'm pretty sure that the reason I haven't seen it in the past is that in the past I used soaker hoses to water the plants and this year I am using the sprinkler.

The black spots are spread by wet plants and I haven't had wet plants in years past. I think that I will not have wet plants in future years. Snif.

Positive thinking time!

There are lots of tomoatoes! Big ones little sauce ones, lots of them. I did lose a plant, but it was one that came home with a half assed root system and I only planted it because I wanted to give it a chance.

Loseing that plant was a sad moment but,  when a door closes a window opens

Volunteer Plant! I don't know what variety of tomatoe it is, but its a tomaoto! I think this is neato.

On to the peppers!

Some of the peppers are doing fabualousely well

They seem very happy to be away from the looming, sun stealing tomaoto plants.

There are also peppers doing less well.

Yeah. Just not very happy and something went to town on them. I'm hopeing they will contiune to mature and hopefully will get stronger and produce for me. These are a different variety from the green bells, these are purple and I really like them. Happy Thoughts for the peppers!

The leeks look okay? I don't know what they are supposed to look like or what they need to get robust. I'm just glad they didn't all die. Most of them died.

The corn. The corn also asks for positive thoughts, its growing and there are baby ears but they don't seem to be growing in the right places? I'm not sure whats going on here.

I wanted to put something pretty in the yard and maybe draw in more bees. Well, I started out with two hanging baskets and within a couple pf days I was down to one hanging basket. Good thing they were cheap.

On to the front patio

My dead ferns are trying to come back! Im so proud of them.

I moved my ivy from its tiny pot into a big pot. It was happy in the small pot but I think it can live out its life in its big pot. Hat loaf thing in the pot is last years elephant ear that I tried to over winter and did everything I was supposed to do to make it survive the winter but it didn't.

So I bought new plants. They are doing very well. Go Plants! They aren't as big and lush as the failed experiment, but maybe it was too big and too lush and it just  peaked too soon and had no strength left to make it through the winter.

I bought some  marigolds for the front planters so bring some color.

Look at all those baby blueberries! I won't get to eat any of them, I have never gotten a ripe berry off any of the berry plants. Who gets all of them? The birds are going to eat all of them! Hateful birds.

Walking with the Egyptians.

I decided that Dog and I needed a walk tonight. We hadn't ventured out since Sunday and  that is too long to go without getting some exercise, yes exercising his brain was good for him but you can have a very sexy brain and be fat. I do not want a fat weim. Or a weim who has been house bound for a couple of days, it's not pretty.

As I was driving home home from work I had noticed thunder boomers floating around and it seemed quite over cast and I thought Its going to rain! I need to get the dog out before that happens and we can take advantage of the changing weather and get a walk in, finally!. I got the dog and away we went.

It got progressively sunnier as we walked. Sunnier and brighter and hotter . I had made a mistake.  I changed our route to take advantage of whatever shade I could find ( Thank You Lincoln Apartments! for taking up so much room and causing so much shade!) and while that helped, it  did not help enough. The dog was miserable and I wanted to die.  We kept it up for a mile and then turned around and went home, It was during this time that I decided we should not set out on long walks or any walks with the temps as high as they have been, without bringing water and a dog bowl with us, yes I'm going to have to pack that stuff in with us and I do not look forward to the weight of even my tiny pretend back pack, but if it keeps us from falling over from heat exhaustion, well, I can be my own sherpa.

Oh. After I recovered from the walk, I went to Verizon and made them fix my phone and then I spent the rest of the evening playing with it. Yay new phone!

New Phone!!!

 Sorry, no entry.  Am working on issues related to NEW PHONE!! - And there was great celebration throughout the land!  I had success in getting my email to appear, which it hadn't  worked on the old phone since mid May. However, I am out matched by getting the rest of the stuff from phone A to phone B. I just don't have the tech knowledge to do it myself, yes, everything is backed up to the cloud, thank-you-very-much, but I still can't get the backed up data to the new phone. Tomorrow I'm going to a Verizon store and have the "people" there deal with it.

Working out

Today it was very hot and its going to be hot for the next while. Not "hot" like I remember it being in Dallas, because that kind of heat is rude, but hot for Raleigh hot - I am real heat weenie now, it gets much about 90 and I am about to faint from the heat! I used to be much less sensitive to the heat and I could stand a lot hotter temps than I can now. I blame the humidity! Dry heat is much preferable and easier to live with.

It was 99 degrees! I can't take the dog out in that! he was born here, he doesn't have the heat training that I have or had. He's not built for this kind of stuff and he suffers from it. What kind of dog person takes their dog out in that? Not this one. Its just too hot and I don't enjoy it much  either anymore. The dog still needs to get his little work out, and if I can't work out his body, thanks to Dognition,  I can work out his mind - its equally exhausting for the dog.

Enter Dognition, and not because it was on TV  either. I've known about it from the Behaviorist months ago and I have been mulling it over. The heat made the decision easier. So, tonight we worked out his mind in the air conditioning.

I had been hoping that Rocket would sail through the "tests" and be the Poster Dog for Dog Brilliance. And no, he isn't. In their words he is an "independent thinker" and "knows the treats are there and doesn't need to check with me to eat them". He wasn't really interested in doing what I told him to. But, we just started and there is a lot of time to build his brain muscle. He will get mentally stronger, his physical strength took time and I need to give him the time to work on his mental strength. Patience.

This is the nice way of saying that right now  he doesn't follow subtle directions or care about my preferences. He also didn't yawn when I yawned! some dogs do.. not all, but about 20% of canines  will yawn with you, Rocket is not one of  "those" dogs . He does seem to prefer his left side and that was interesting to me. I think he also seemed better going to his left when we in agility too. So my dog is left handed and now I'm pretty sure I know that for sure now. So I learned that. He did very well on the Pointing with My Foot exercise, he did better with my foot pointing than with my hand pointed.

The site said that it meant he learned new things quickly. And he does, he does learn new things pretty quickly. I would have gone on to do more tests but he was getting tired so we retired for the night. Tired is good.

It would be easier if the instructions were for a single person and the dog. They can be easily done alone but it would be nicer if they illustrated the "tests" with just one person instead of giving all the directions with the presumption of two people taking part.

Bragging

Pretty much just  an excuse to brag about my progress. I joined Map My Walk a year ago in July and since then have walked over a thousand miles and burned over a hundred thousand calories and "worked out" 962 times. I have worked hard and made my goals. I now need to maintain the accomplishments and keep working to keep the territory I won. Yay me!

Friday Cat Blogging

Thowing Shade

The theme for today's walk was Walk On The Shady Side of The Street . Gawd love a high rise because they do throw shade. Today would have been a good day for Rocket to wear his sunglasses, but I'm not sure either one of us is ready for our big public reveal. I think we need more rehearsal time before we take out show on the literal road.

Besides, how does it look if the dog is wearing shades and I'm squinting? Too sad. Too sad is how that would look. My shades should be ready after work today and hopefully, these will be  as I ordered them and not so ugly he clerk fears a citation from the Fashion Police. Let us hope.

In the mean time, Rocket and I went down the shady side of Fayetteville Street and sniffed some very nice BBQ and met an even nicer Golden Retriever puppy girl named Sadie, she was  adorable . We got to the end of Fayetteville and were very disappointed to see that Rockets favorite street construction barriers had been removed! Who would have thought they would have finished the construction without as much as a fare-thee-well? I mean, how rude! They just snuck them away without any warning at all! Just finished their work  and removed the barriers!  Didn't they see us play on those every evening? Didn't anyone think of  how much they meant to the neighborhood? Or at the very least how much they meant to my dog? Rocket loved those! We played on those for months and now I have a disappointed dog! He actually lost a step and you could see him get sad as he searched for them when we approached the corner where they normally started and he didn't see them!

Its not easy finding appropriate obstacles for him to work out on, not everything is right for the job. Rocket doesn't love the other construction barriers that they have downtown. I think they are just too thin or  maybe a hair too tall or they smell bad  or whatever, but he won't get up on them. They suck. We're going to have to find other ways of keeping him in shape, nice long walks alone doesn't  do it to keep his boyish figure as cut  barrier climbing does. If he was a person he would have a six pack and thighs like granite and an ass you could bounce a quarter off...But for a dog, he is in terrific shape, even for a breed like his, he keeps it tight.

Wednsday

Instead of falling asleep after work, I kept myself busy by distracting myself by filling the car tank and  taking an extra long walk to make up for not walking on Tuesday. I turned right instead of left and I found where I am eating Friday and stumbled an event I am going on  Saturday, so that was a win. They are making a lot of changes on Peace Street and there are some interesting things going in,  its suffering from the same problem the rest of downtown Raleigh, too many bars, too many restaurants and not enough retail. It needs to be addressed. But  I found a hipster used book store that is having a birthday party for itself on Saturday and that looks like fun. It helps that there is a donut place across the street.

 And then I went home and hung up a lot of clothes and hid some laundry that needs folding from sight - I'll get to it.

 It made me feel better to not have it sitting there in the way, I think I was punishing it for being a pain in the ass and the longer it was sitting there being annoying, the longer it was going to take to put it away. Now it is more or less "away" and I bet that I deal with it sooner than I would have had it stayed in my face being a smart ass and being all I  need attention, I need you to do work, I need you to pay attention to meeeeeee! so I took it upstairs and put it in time out.

Then I emptied and filled the dishwasher. Then I paid some bills, lets hear it for a $33 electric bill!

I live the high life.

Hot, Hot, Hot

I didn't walk the dog today, I just didn't feel like going downtown again. This happens periodically, I get bored with the route and I need to take a break. I think for he next few days I'm going to bring the dog up to the Dix area and walk there for a few days to  shake things up a little. I like the neighborhood across the street from campus and its been a while since we walked through there. The area features many lovely retaining walls and shady sidewalks so its  winner for us.

Speaking of downtown, I  walked through the warehouse district and found a really enterprising store owner. He had a place featuring over priced sneakers and ridiculously expensive  silk screened tee-shirts, and now he has a place featuring over priced sneakers and ridiculously expensive silk screen tee-shirts and all the random stuff the people in the condos upstairs run out of in the kitchen and need right now!. There is no grocery near there and the young man who owns the place saw a need a filled it. No one needs his pricey boutique sneakers but they do need his spaghetti sauce and detergent and dog treats. I say good for him. He also does gallery shows on First Fridays, I will be back.

As for me, instead of walking three miles, I went all the way upstairs and move the cats litter box downstairs for the summer! My stairs are very steep and the cat box is not light. I then went to Petsmart and bought some new litter, on sale. I also found a gray skirt at TJ Maxx, and then walked all over the store, but that's besides the point, I bought a whole box of very heavy cat litter and carried it across the store and out into the parking lot and then hefted it into my car! And then, took it out of the car and brought it into the house, lifted it up and  emptied its big heavy self into a plastic container!  I think this counts as a work out.

Its cross training and  it is important and it counts. Damn it.

I'm just hoping the cat will be okay with the box being in a different place and maybe forgives me for whatever sin  I have committed this time . Mean little bastard holds grudge like a son-of-a-bitch. This silent treatment is getting old.

Cooking Channel Champ

So how did I manage to exhaust myself so thoroughly that I couldn't type?

Friday evening, I was supposed to go downtown with my friend and enjoy First Friday. My friend flaked and I was left on my own.  I had gotten a call from Sams on my way home from work telling me my sunglasses were ready, but I wasn't going to be able to pick them up.  I went to go get them.

They were awful! First the lenses were the wrong color - the clerk I ordered them decided that i was kidding when I told him I preferred gray. He thought I really meant brown. I didn't.

The new clerk also was horrified by how big and heavy the frames were! I had thought they looked good the week before and the other clerk told me they looked good so I went with that they looked good. They did not. The new clerk all but forced me to let her to pick a new set for me pick out a new set for myself. I get the new frames this weekend. Hopefully.

And then I went home and changed into something much cuter than I would have worn had I gone downtown with my friend, because reasons. I had a poem written for me by a man in a fox suit, I bought some nice art for my dining room and picked up a bitchin' new  to me dress. I was sad and I needed retail therapy. My evening turned out much better than it started.

Saturday I went to an art and garden show and did some more retail therapy. I wanted to support local artists! I bought for me and Alphagal. I helped the local art scene and got a new toy!

 And then I came home to cook.

I found what I wanted to make on one of my cooking shows but I couldn't easily find it online in print form. I had to look for a while but I finally tracked it down. I had never made Cornish Game Hens

It turns out they aren't hard to make, but they do get dried out really easy, hence the not pictured really tasty pork and lemon sausage stuffing, the "rice" is actually riced cauliflower and cheese sauce. I also made the gravy  the recipe called for: light ale and dijon mustard and honey. It was very good. The whole meal was easy and good. I will make it again.

Sunday I moved on to recipe number two. Chocolate Cake . This was significantly more involved then the chicken. I really wanted a sous chef, or more accurately, I wanted to be the sous chef. I am not enough of a baker for this. I was over matched but ready for the challenge. I grimly started my task, ready to fail.

Fake sugar, eggs, butter and 73 percent chocolate. Total. No flour, no oil.

  It wanted a spring form pan, but I don't have one of those. A regular pan worked well. I did butter and flour it thoroughly though.

Thank Gawd for my double boiler!  The chocolate bars had to be melted and the butter  added chunk by chunk.

 The eggs had to be separated,  thankfully, something I can manage. Then they had to prepared in two different ways. The yolks were mixed with half the sugar and stirred until "light and ribbon like", the whites then had to be "whipped into stiff peaks" and the rest of the sugar added. This was stressing for me!  the recipe wanted  me to  successfully produce meringue I  last  time I even  thought about meringue when I made it last in eighth grade home ec and I did not make it look right then either.

  Then the yolks and the chocolate had to be brought together, slowly as not to end up with scrambled eggs - Thank you cooking shows for teaching me how to do that! This was a tense few moments for me! When they were combined, it was time to add the whites.

It ended up with a lot more body than you would imagine.The picture makes it look kind of greasy and separated, but it really wasn't. It looked like normal cake batter

It bakes for 55 minutes.

I was not over matched by this! Take that Cooking Channel! It has the texture of cheese cake! It is very rich and dense and you can have a tiny slice and be completely satisfied.

Oopsy!

I spent the weekend  happily shopping and cooking and baking, and honestly, I am stuffed to the gills and exhausted! I will post the evidence and recipes Tuesday after I have recovered!

Friday Cat Blogging

Pretty pictures

Not Friday

And for about ten minutes I thought I was going to wake up to Friday. I took some now preliminary cat blogging shots and started thinking about what I want to get done this weekend.

This weekend is going to be fun, hopefully, looking ahead from Wednesday night. Friday is a First Friday and they are always fun, more now that its warm and its stays light for so much longer and walking from place to place is so much nicer and easier to do, it makes me want to see  more things and go to more places. Saturday I get my new sunglasses and I'm going to a neato garden/art show.  So I'm going to be occupied.

I  stayed up late and put the new sheets on the bed last night and they slept beautifully! So nice and soft and smell goody from the laundry, all and all a real win. New sheets are just kind of magic.

The kitty is worrying me. When I come home, Kitty is hanging out in the kitchen waiting for me. Twice a day, every day. Its very nice. When I came home from work this evening, there was no cat. He wasn't in the kitchen or the on the dining room table or on the couch. He was nowhere.

I saw him in the kitchen when I left for lunch, so I knew he was in the building somewhere. I looked under the couch and the bed and eventually the futon. I couldn't find him. This is very unusual and it scared me for a while. Then I sent him upstairs to "play" with Sweetie and when I went up there he was ready to go downstairs an hour ago. He deserved it for hiding from me after work. Dick.

Oh Sheet.

I washed my new sheets! I loaded my dishwasher! Wheee! My new goal is to strip the bed and put the new sheets on it. I would have stripped the bed  and washed those sheets too hut I didn't want to get a head of myself and  that would have been a lot of pressure to actually get something done.

I mean, what would happen if I couldn't get it together and ended up  all ready for bed in a bed with no sheets at all? I get ready to go to bed, its late and I'm tired and the bed is naked? I mean, how traumatic is that? I would have to go find other sheets - all the while really pining for my new sheets which are Gawd only knows where, probably trapped in the washer cold and wet because I always forget my laundry if I do it during the week, and I end up sleeping on a half made bed in sheets I don't feel good about. And my new sheets think I don't care about them!

How am I supposed to get a good sleep with sheets that I am ambivalent about? That's not okay. That is not restful. As it is, my sheets are in the dryer all warm and toasty and on my mind. I can't wait for them to be dry and ready for me to make the bed. I'm actually excited about making the bed with new sheets. I have old sheets that I could put on the bed but they are almost all winter sheets, or too big, I also have a problem with  sheets that are too big . I have a broad range of winter sheets that I am very satisfied with but almost no summer sheets I can feel good about. Its a problem.

Flannel sheets go on sale a lot more frequently then cotton sheets! And I can't say no to clearance flannel sheets! I'm guessing because flannel sheets are more  seen as more seasonal and cotton sheets can be used year round - by people who like being cold half the year, but some people like that kind of thing.  I do not, but I now find myself in a position of not actually having any sheets that don't come with zip out lining. You had a ski jacket? I have ski sheets.

But now I have the sheet version of a  a bikini! Yay for not being too hot! And for being cool.

Safe than Sorry

I went to Target to buy my coral table cloth. I figured that since I got my lovely coral rugs from there that they would surely have my coral table cloth because I really, really want one and the longer I am living in coral table cloth free world the longer I really feel that I need a coral table cloth in my world. Or maybe a gray one, but I don't know if they even make gray table cloths, I mean who has a gray table cloth? They aren't very festive. And there are so many grays in the world! So, so many! It would be next to impossible to find the correct shade. I will have much better luck with the coral. I need to be patient.

I had entirely too much trust in Target. I thought they had my back and I  was wrong. They don't even have my rugs anymore, which is tragic for the coral and gray color scheme community -  they have a table cloth with coral as part of the pattern, but I don't want a pattern! I want a solid coral table cloth. Its not too much to ask . I was going to to go down to Bed, Bath and Beyond but I  wanted to get home to watch my NYPD Blue rerun before it got too late, I can't enjoy it if it gets too late.

Also the poor dog was in the car and it was getting dark and I don't know how he feels about the dark, Daisy was afraid of it, so I try not to push it. Also, I have laundry I could be doing, I bought a new set of  deeply discounted summer sheets and I could he washed them and the set I have upstairs that needs washing, but I didn't. I decided to eat some cheetos ( low carb city!) and watch NYPD Blue instead. If I washed them I would have to remember they were there and dance attendance to the washer and I don't want to, I can do it maybe tomorrow or over the weekend.

I could live dangerously and not wash the sheets before I put them on the bed but I don't want to use all my "Living Dangerously" capital all in one place so early in the week.

Roast Quail  is going to be my next cooking project. I know they sell them frozen at Wally.

Big Time!

'Oh its so good to be back! I've missed Mr. Computer so much! You don't know how much you love your keyboard until its gone! Oh and the joys of Spell Check!

My mail box is again manageable and more or less empty and I can see the bottom of the list! I am giddy with joy!

When I wasn't doing the dance of joy with my keyboard, I got some chores accomplished.

1. Got my new lenses! Yay! Now I can see clearly! I could not see clearly for an hour in the mall while I waited for them to install my lenses, and that was a lesson. The mall is no fun at all when you don't have crystal clear vision. Its huge and busy and there is too much going on. The only reason I could find something to eat in the food court was because I knew where the McDonald's was. I might have eaten somewhere else but the signage wasn't clear and I couldn't tell what the places were.

I went into H&M and that was an adventure! Its not an easy place to navigate under the best of circumstances but impaired as I was, it was nearly impossible. I did find a very cute sundress though, I had to take selfys in the dressing room and then peer at the image to see if it worked or not. One worked one did not.

2. I got my first pair or prescription sunglasses! Thank You Sam's Club!  I'm really looking forward to getting them and being able to see and not squint and not have the extra weight of clip on shades to contend with. I will have to work very hard to not lose them though.

3. I made my first drop off of new un-needed furniture at Goodwill! I got rid of an end table and a lamp. The next drop off will be clothes I can't wear anymore.

4. I finally got the hose hooked up in the front and now i can take care of the plants I have up there much easier. I have been negligent with them and it shows.

5. Rocket and I took a two hour nap Sunday afternoon because he made me. I was fine to read my book and relax in front of the the fan but he forced me to nod off.

6. We took custody of Sweetie Pie. She hates us all and made it clear she doesn't want to spend time with us. She took over the upstairs and hisses at me from under the bed when I go to take care of her.