Thursday

One of my co-workers was so together with the sisterhood yesterday. She poked her head in my door, looked at me and said "You look Tired".

How do you respond to that? I was like "I feel fine". Because I did, its kind of hard to tell how I "look" in my office because I don't use the overhead fluorescent light and instead just use a floor lamp. My office is not well lit.

And so who was she to tell me that I "look tired", it was also 3:45 in the afternoon, who does not "look tired" at a quarter to four? And its not at all being a good member of the sisterhood at all. We're supposed to empower each other, not tell each other we "look tired". SHe could have said "You look like you have been working really hard today" or "Doing a great job today, Diana!", or  "Wow! You are tearing it up Diana! Good work!"

But no, she went with "You look tired".  Whatever. And I was fine, it was last in the afternoon and I did want to go home I was looking down a staff meeting so my day was not over yet. Normally, I go home at 4pm - not so much that day. Sucked being me.

But. That was so excuse to tell me I "looked tired". Because we all know  what that means and it is not a compliment - It does not say "Gee, your skin looks great today! Totally glowing!", "Are you useing a new make up? You look fantastic!", "I love that top on you, the color is great on you!". There are a lot of things you can say to someone that does not tell them they look like death warmed over.  Because that is what we all want to hear, it doesn't matter where in the day we are.

What if I had been totally feeling myself right then? What if I had just just got back from the bathroom where I had just been admiring myself in the mirror? What if I had just finished a whole pile of work and was feeling very professionally  accomplished and good about myself and she comes in a tells me that I "look tired" . That would be crushing.

Its a good thing I had only just finished a pile of work and was feeling professionally accomplished.  Good thing to know I also "looked tired".

Wednesday

Yesterday I drove up to the house after work and I thought "Wow, the yard looks really nice", which is weird because lately when I've driven up to the house I've thought "Wow, I really need to mow the yard, I think I'll do it after I walk the dog". And then I come back from walking the dog and I say "Wow, the yard doesn't look all that bad, I think it can wait until the weekend", and then the weekend rolls around and it rains.

But yesterday the yard magically got mowed without me. How often do the yard work fairies actually come out and actually do the yard work you aren't going to do? I mean, for real? The yard work fairies mowed my yard! I hope and pray for them all summer and lo and behold they appeared in the spring! When I didn't hope of pray or even need them. Those yard work fairies!

In real life, the yard work faires did not mow my yard. The Lawn Mower guy mowed my lawn without asking and then I had to pay him for essentially trespassing on my property and mowing my lawn without permission. What if I didn't want him to? What if I had been planning on doing it myself? What if I had a contract with someone else to do mow the lawn? I mean, there are a lot of what ifs in the play here. The man took a pretty big gamble here. I could have just taken it as a gift, like free address stickers in the mail, I didn't ask for it, yet, he did it anyway. I owe nothing for the service provided.

But I paid him and now my lawn looks very nice. He wanted to mow the back and I told him No. I have the back and besides, it looks okayish for the time being. He can mind his own business for now. I'm half surprised he didn't go back there just for yucks. Or he did, decided it was too yucky and turned around, I wouldn't blame him. I could pick up the dog shit but it feels like I just did that  and its so not that much fun, I prefer to wait for it to turn to fertilizer - sadly, that takes a while and in the mean time it is a hazard. I don't spend much time back there after dark - but why would I spend much time back there after dark? Its dark! I don't think Rocket likes the dark anyway, he's weird that way.

New curtains! Aren't they swell? The only problem is, my fireplace is the wrong white. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture but in real life you can tell. That might have to be the next project after painting out the hot pink with a new gray on the back walls of the built in book cases. And spraying the little picture frames gray. Or black or red. It depends.

March For Our Lives, Raleigh - March 24, 2018

Saturday I went to the March For Our Lives in Raleigh, it was great! The organizers put the tally at 13,000 - which is really awesome!, and considering there was another march in Durham and another in Fayetteville, really impressive that we got those kind of numbers.

I took pictures, not very many because the crowd was really big and the signs were not, um, really interesting and they were for the most part really serious in nature, mostly because of the theme "Please Stop Killing Us" of the march - it really didn't lend itself to the more zany creative expressions that the other marches had. Thus fewer fun signs to get.

Also, it was really crowded and hard to get around and it was cold. But this is what I did get. And, also I noticed other people were much more zealous about going around and getting photos of signs than I was and those photos are everywhere, search  for "March For Our Lives Photos".  My photos are primarily of the march itself.

Friday Cats Blogging

TGIF

I'm so excited!

 In Gun Control orange too! I should have gotten it in M and not L, but sometimes the sizes of stuff you get online can be so wonky, I didn't want to end up with a tiny top I couldn't wear, this way, I can absolutely wear it and I can through it at least once, into the dryer.

I'm hoping that I'm not the only one who shows up.

Hello, Wednesday!

Okay, so todays reason that there is no real post is that I had to pick up the dog at daycare, again, and so I didn't come straight home and then I had to inspect the plumbers handiwork - First Rate! As far as I can tell, I don't know from plumbing work, really, as long as I am not wading in water I think its first rate work. I am not a good judge of such work. Ask me which author write which play and I am your girl. I did very well on a Buzzfeed quiz on that the other day, I only missed one and that was a very contemporary playwright that I doubt anyone outside grad students in feminist theory had ever heard about and I bet they haven't seen her damn plays either. Ask me about Miss Firecracker, I can identify who wrote that damn it, Beth Somebody.

Anyway. Because the dog spent two consecutive days in daycare, he is in a coma, he does not need a walk and would have refused if I had offered. It is also newly re-cold and I didn't really want to go out anyway. So instead we curled up in front of the TV and watched down my DVR. Much better, much warmer end to the day.

Later, I caught up with my plumber and paid him, about a third of what I thought I was going to pay him! A really good end to the day.

Tuesday

I had a great weekend. I started Friday night with a concert by the NC Symphony Orchestra playing Irish music, accompanied by a  tenor, and Irish Dancers, actual adults! I've seen lots of kids in parades from schools but never adults here, and even better they weren't bedecked with the bouncy curly wigs they make the kids wear, they were very good too but I wouldn't recognise good verses not good Irish dancing, there was also a- sounded-good-on-paper-wasn't-a-good-idea-in-reality-should not-have-made-it-pass-rehearsal-dramatic-reading-segments.

It was great though, I only paid $15, and got sixth row seats. Thief. Stole that seat.

Saturday I went to the tail end of the parade, it was fun and then it rained, walked back to the car, went home, took a nap. Lovely.

Sunday I went shopping for replacement paint for the bookcases in the living room, a lovely dark gray  "Aviatrix" by Sherwin WIlliams, that will great with the new curtains and will go on the back of the cases, the TV stand and the doors of the table next to the chair as well as the pulls on it. I just have to actually do all of that.

I almost went with white as the backing color but the curtains themselves  are white and I thought that a contrasting color would be better. It will look nice when I finally do do it.

And then late Sunday night, I was finishing up some laundry in the basement and I heard a drip, drip drip . Should be no drip, drip, dripping in the basement! I looked up and tried to figure out where it was coming from, couldn't immediately tell, so in my bathrobe, I went outside, outside was not drip, drip, dripping.

Tried to figure out what was above the drip, drip, dripping. 


The Kitchen sink.

I pulled out the accumulated clutter of 16 years to discover that there was a matching drip, drip, drip at this end as well. But it wasn't nearly as steady a drip, drip, drip that was ending up in the basement, so whatever I was seeing was clearly not the real leak. I tried, in vain, as it turned out, to turn off the water, and it continued to drip, drip, drip. I put a bowl under it, because that was going to help, and went to bed.

By morning the drip, drip, dripping had stopped on its own.  I called my plumber. He tried to make it restart, he could not, but he did suggest replumbing the kitchen sink to solve the problem and replacing the rotten wood in the bottom of the cabinet.

 Blech.

Friday Cats Blogging

TGIF

Strong wind is not nearly as off putting if it is warmer when it is strongly blowing you about. It was warmer today, so it wasn't as sad as it has been.

Cold is sad. I remember being happy about the cooler weather back when I was tired of being hot - Clearly, I was out of my mind at the time, heat does cause brain damage - because right now I would be very happy if I could be warm. Warm would be very nice. It isn't even warm at work! I mean, I can deal with been less than entirely toasty at home because I am cheap as all hell and I can, have and will  warm myself by my  bank balance, the the damn state of NC could shake some pennies loose and turn the heat on! The building is old and drafty and I am sure a heat and A/C nightmare but that is what those facility guys get paid for and if they didn't live for that bullshit they wouldn't still be working at Dix and the ancient drafty buildings there on.

I would like not to casually wear outerwear as just wear wear, I am tired of wearing my coat like all the time, I would like to take it off sometimes. Layers are a bummer. And I bitched and complained all summer about how hot it was and how tired I was sweating and how much I was looking forward to be cold again! What an idiot! Cold sucks! cold is the enemy! Cold is sneaky and evil. I know that hot is also evil and it gets into a space and takes over and in a few months I will be tired of sweating again, because I am an idiot - But to just be warm again would be nice, to be outside on purpose and it not be unpleasant would be a treat.

As it is, I'm going to have to find something to wear to Easter that is warm. I wonder if I can find some pink, flowered corduroy dress made for an adult and find it in two weeks? I've looked online and most corduroy dresses are jumpers and not pink. And not cute. Corduroy does not lend itself to attractive clothing design in the least, it seems to lend itself to work-a-day jumpers and utilitarian skirts and clothing that looks best in browns. Corduroy does not come in frivolous colors or fun patterns  for adults.

It had better get warmer by Easter, I do not want to wear earth tones to Easter Mass.

Grumble.

Sorry. No entry today. I walked the dog in the cold in the morning,  and then went into a cold office, then I came home and I walked the dog in the cold and wind in the afternoon and then in the evening I took him out to pee in the cold. I just decided I was tired of being cold and decided that what I really wanted to do was not be cold.

So I stayed on my chair under a  warm blanket and warmer dog and cleared off my DVR. If you aren't watched  LA to Vegas, you should be.

Cold.

Today was an errand day. I ran errands at lunch and after work! But now, I have meds and cat food, so thats good, I ran out of cat food just about all the way and I really needed more cat food on Monday but MOnday I had to make a wild goose chase in the opposite direction to Sam's for the one med refill I actually did need but they wouldn't give me - they had three others they were more than happy to give me, that I didn't need, and didn't want. I love going there and getting nothing but greasy pizza for my trouble.

But today I went after work and skipped the pizza step and  I got all four refills! and at lunch I got new cat food and after I got home I had my first long walk of the season with the dog. And it wasn't raining or snowing! It was too cold and kind of windier than I would like and I should have been wearing a hat - but it was okay. I had time before we left to change clothes and get dinner started enough that all I had to do was throw it in the oven and turn on the stove when I came home.

In a week or so, I'll be able to prepare, make and eat dinner before our walk . Today I probably could have, but I am in the habit of coming home and just leaving. It takes a while every season to get out of the habit.

What I am really looking forward to getting out of the habit of is being cold and flipping through my wardrobe of coats Is it really, really cold? and while its that cold, is it dry or is it wet, I have two choices here. Is it just cold? is it cold and windy? Is it raining? Is it cold and raining? Is it just raining? Is it merely cold? Is it just cool? Is it windy? This sounds more fun than it is and I don't really live in a cold climate!

And lets not even get into my vast collection of  various degrees and varieties of gloves and mittens and hats and hat things and scarfs and ear coverings and whole face protection. They don't all offer any real protection but some are very cute. The less cute they are the more protection they offer, its a double edge sword. You can be cute or you can be warm. If you are successfully cute and warm you are under the age of seven or you aren't afraid of looking like a seven year old.

What I do look like is the Michelin man . But its okay, because no one ever said the Michelin man looked cold.

Monday

Well. I go my taxes done. It just took two days and two people and I didn't bring he most important piece of paper with me, but you know, bygones and in the end, it didn't' matter because it didn't affect my bottom line one iota. I blame Donald Trump.

On the upside, I do get money back from the state the year, last year I got nada, this year I get $20. In years past, like 15 of the 17 years past I have drawn $300. I hate our general assembly and the Republican Party for which it stands.

Today I bought my official March for Our Lives Raleigh T-shirt, in orange, for the March 28th march, so go me.

I just noticed that my TV reception came back. hat means that I do not have to watch TV on my phone! Yay! TV was never really meant to be watched on a three inch screen. Bu itsn' it neat that if you have to, you can? I'm also not sure that DIY is available for streaming, they just don't seem that advanced. I am glad I get to watch The Alienist on the TV though, that is too good to watch on my phone. It was standing by though, I was ready to go on that if I had to - You have to have your Plan B ready to go at a moments notice, especially if you have a satellite dish that gets cranky when it it snows.

And it was/is snowing. It seems to have slowed way down and it didn't stick to anything that was not my dish. But that's fine, the dish is feeling much better now and that's what is important.  I think its almost all gone now, it was not fun while it lasted.

Friday Cat Blogging

TGIF

The dog and I are engaged in a battle. My argument is I just took him out. We were just in the yard, He asked to go and I took him out because I believe strongly in the idea that if the dog asks to go outside that you should take the dog outside to reinforce the message that if he wants to go out, all he has to do is ask. He asked, I took him out, and he dug around in the shrubs, I stood around in the dark and we went inside. He now wants to go out again.  The problem is that he went out there to play around and not do what he needed to do, I let him the leash  and he dug in the garden, the next time he asked to go out, I let him off his leash and he ran to end of the lawn and ran back and dug under the shrubs.

I said, fine, be you and left the yard and stood on the other side of the gate to see how long it would take him to notice I was not in the yard anymore. He stopped playing and ran to the gate, super awesome, because its cold out and dark and the yard is not fun.

I understand his issues, we didn't get a walk because I needed to get my fabric for my new curtains and the fabric store is in BFE and they close at 6pm and away we went.

Do you know how much space a bolt of fabric takes up? A Lot. For some reason, I was thinking it would be folded up? No no , not upholstery fabric, it comes on a bolt. Bolts are big, you can't just find somewhere to put a bolt of fabric! Do you know what Rocket would do to a bolt of fabric if he was left alone with it? I can guess and do not want to give him a chance to discover the possibilities on his own. I put it in the back seat and him in the front, he was not impressed. There is not enough room to spread out properly in a bucket seat. He pouted all the way home.

And its not just one bolt, I had to get liner fabric as well. That means two bolts of fabric, two bolts that are not easy to get into your car. And this fabric, these bolts that are in my life now, they are both WHITE. White fabric might as well be able to grow legs and dip itself in spilled ink. I don't even have any bottles of ink and I know the fabric is going to find some to dip itself in.

White curtains! What was I thinking! But look at the birds! I love the my birds! I did get heavy black out lining so that they will be heavier when they are hung than the fabric looks  now and they will fall well and have some body to them.

Band Aids.

I think my bathroom is too dark. I put make up on in my bathroom and look okay and then I go to work and see myself in that bathroom and it becomes clear that I have to make sure that no one sees me in bright light or up close today.

This is not a good way to start off the work day. Not a confidence builder.

Well, that was easy. One of the bulbs was burned out. Was, now its replaced. New bulb, it looks brighter already. Its going to hurt my eyes in the morning but its going to be worth it - I am starting to see why a couple of the others wait until they get to work to put their make up on now, it is very bright and had very nice mirrors as well as some diffuse natural light. Its probably ideal for application, somewhere there is a beauty vlogger who would love to have such a great space. Too bad.

Tomorrow is a different day. Hopefully tomorrow I won't look like a quilt  or a beagle.

My thumb is a pain in my hand. I hate wearing band aids because whenever I have one on, the finger gets a terrible case of  claustrophobia! Terrible, the finger gets the sweats, starts freaking out, pacing and hyperventilating . It is okay for a while, a good few hours - a huge improvement over what it used to be, so fingers have had a lot of personal growth, Yay fingers! However, fingers can not go indefinitely being in a bandaid . Fingers go a few hours and then they really, really need that band aid off, off off and they need to take a walk and have some alone time, as much alone time as a finger can get. They need to be naked, fingers are nudists. Band aids are very offensive to fingers.

Today I only went through three, or four. I think it was just three? Sometimes they wear out really fast or get wet and then they have to go, or they lose stickiness- that is an immediate death sentence for band aids. There are a lot of reasons why a band aid has to go, sometimes they start out in the wrong position, crooked and aren't straight and that is not okay but they are on well enough so its okay and the finger is okay with it, despite its wrongness but time goes on and it will eventually really wear on the finger and is very upsetting to the affected digit. And sometimes the band aid is too big - Oh, Gawd! The whole hand is affected now! Everything is an issue with claustrophobic hands.

So now, I am dealing a claustrophobic, offended thumb. I can't go without a band aid because the wound can get sensitive and there is the potential for very minor blood loss and gross flappyness hat no-one wants to be around.  The thumb is okay with a band aid for a while, but after a while just gets jumpy and really wants out of that band aid! It can't help it! I have claustrophobic fingers! I don't have any control over that. I just have to remember to bring back up band aids because the last thing I want to do is have to explain why I keep raiding the first aid box -  of band aids I bought in the first place. Its a whole thing I don't want to get into.

Grant me the serenity ...

Friday, being the good and observant Catholic that I am, I went to McDonalds and dutifully ordered a Fish sandwich meal, plain, meat and bread. A plain fish sandwich, just meat (such as it is) and bread. Actually, not a bad fish sandwich, one of the better fish sandwiches offered for the Lenton market.

What I got. A slab a fishesque meat topped with their bright yellow cheese product, fish sauce and a pickle presented in the middle of a styrofoam platter.  No fries.

I took it back and reminded them I ordered it with bread and without yellow cheese product, fish sauce and a pickle. I chose to go without the fries because they really aren't good for me. It wasn't what I ordered, specifically, but I didn't get charged for it anyway, but it was the principle of the thing. She didn't listen!  The staff was confused by my order and even more confused when I refused it when they brought it out.

They were a bit put out, but remade the sandwich this time with  the bread but without the yellow cheese productor or the pickle. They insisted that the fish sauce was super important to the totality of the whole fish sandwich experience though - or they just were not smart enough to follow instructions again OR they just being smart asses. But I doubt it, they would have to be smarter than they were exhibiting to pull off smart ass behaviour. These people made rocks look good.

It wasn't a language issue either, I was dealing with a really stupid issue. These people are just not very smart. The cash register person couldn't figure out the pictographs on the register.

I have worked register at a fastfood place, I feel their pain. They do not send you to school or offer real training in How To Work Your Register before they set you loose on your register, They say "Here is your register. Get comfortable, if you have any questions, ask me!" Then they go on break and never come back. Eventually, if you are not a rock, it gets very easy. Because it is easy. And if you can't figure it out, there is always someone who will be disgusted with your newby stupidness and will shove you out of the way to do this themselves because deep sigh you are slowing down the line!

It does help if you can read, you don't even have to do math. If the power goes out, its industry practice to either close down or give food away for free because math is hard and you can't ask the counter help to do math. Reading is fundamental though, if you can't read, you can't work.

They can teach and do  McDonalds level English to the non-English speakers  and quite a few of the English speakers learn Spanish, which only helps them moving forward both professionally and personally -  but I do not know if McDonald's has a literacy program.

2018 Academy Awards Winners

Best Supporting Actor-  Sam Rockwall, 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, MO

Best Hair and Make Up -  Darkest Hour

Best Costume Design - Phantom Thread

Best Documentary Feature - Icarus (Russian Federation doping )

Best Sound Editing  -  Dunkirk

Best Sound Mixing - Dunkirk

Best  Production Design - The Shape of Water

Best Foreign Language Film -  Chile , A Fantastic Woman

Best Supporting Actress -  Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Best Animated Short film -  Dear Basketball

Best Animated Feature Film - CoCo

Best Visual Effects -  Blade Runner 2049

Best Editing - Dunkirk

Best Documentary Short Subject -  Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405

Best Live Action Short Film -  The Silent Child

Best Adapted Screenplay -  James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name

Best  Original Screenplay - Jordan Peel, Get Out

Best Cinematography -Blade Runner 2049

Best Original Score - The Shape of Water

Best Original Song - "Remember Me", CoCo

Best Director - Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water

Best Actor -Gary Oldman, The Darkest Hour

Best Actress - Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, MO

Best Film -  The Shape of Water

Friday Cat Blogging

TGIF

Two rainy after works in a row! How wrong! DO you know just unnatural it is to come right home, change into comfy clothes and fix dinner and then cuddle up in front of the TV for hours? It just seems so wrong. And it feels so right.

So, so, right.

I was thinking of taking the dog around the clock but it was raining just enough to make Rocket not have any interest in walking at all. He would barely go out to relieve himself and then he would only partially relieve himself.

I really didn't want to go back into the rain, but if he can hold it, I can not go back into the rain. The little bugger waited hours for it to actually stop raining. I did appreciate not having to spend more time slogging around in the rain, the rain is so not fun. I had really, really hoped that by the time I came home from work that the whole rain thing would be over and I could walk the dog like a real person.

I feel bad not walking the dog! As much as I enjoy becoming part of my chair earlier than usual and  watching several hours of uninterrupted Without a Trace reruns, its not just right and I know my fitbit is completely over me. It doesn't even send me texts anymore. I think its given up on me.

Wednesday

I felt bad about missing the free pancakes. But there is a solution and it is not paying for pancakes - although, now that I am thinking about it, pancakes does sound like a good Lenten dinner Friday night! I mean I can't have sausage for a side, but I could have fish sticks as a protean, I wonder is IHOP has fishstick sides?

I bet they could... I wonder if they serve fish sticks? I wonder if they would serve fish sticks a la cart? Does IHOP do a la anything? How gross would fish sticks be with panackes

Anyway. I could make pancakes my own self at my own house. I would have to get myself a griddle though. I don't think I have a proper pancake making object currently in my collection. I do however have proper pancake mix

And sugar free syrup so I can enjoy the  whole pancake and syrup experience more or less guilt free.  Pancakes are probamatic and are never going to be a perfect food, but they can be made to eat less like  a dessert and more like meal.


I think that when I am at the IHOP on Friday, I might go to the efficantly located TJ Maxx ij the same parking lot, and pick up a griddle, because you know they most likely have one somewhere in there, and the the next time I have an urge for pancakes, I'll make them myself.