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May 31, 2006
Diversionary tactics.
Reports are that Mo is fine today, just a little "growly". I guess that's to be expected.
I don't like him not being here.
:|:
One of my usual online diversions is unavailable right now, so I'll distract myself by recounting this weekend, which was fun.
We went to the Pungo Strawberry Festival, which I keep saying is like a county fair with extra strawberries. We were careful to ride the ferris wheel before gorging on strawberry shortcake, strawberry filled crepes, and a strawberry parfait.
On Monday we went to Ft. Monroe after breakfast. It's both an historic site and an active Army base. The old fort has an actual moat, which is cool. Lots of great old buildings, including an abandoned hotel.
We went into one building called The Casement The Casemate. It's a museum. Upon walking in a strange smell immediately made me feel sick. The ceilings were very low, and it's a long rabbit-warren sort of building. After only one room, I knew I needed to leave (and J had commented that the entrance door locks behind one), and nearly panicked trying to find the exit. I'm a little claustorphobic.
J decided to try grilling this weekend. Given that neither of us know much about grilling, we did ok. Steak on Saturday night, and ribs on Sunday night. Both nights we roasted potatoes and green beans down in the coals.
And of course, birthday cake. It's actually scary how easy it was to make such a damn good cake. I wouldn't be completely immodest about it if the sheer rich goodness of the thing weren't a fact. Between the Krispy Kremes, the strawberries, and the cake, I think I've eaten my dessert allotment for the year.
:|:
Watching old episodes of The Saint isn't as much fun without Mo. Neither is eating breakfast without an alert, pointed face watching for the moment the bacon dish is free.
Well, he'll be home tomorrow.
Posted by lisa at 10:29 PM
May 30, 2006
RadCat pt. 2
It's official: my cat is radioactive.
I don't like medical stuff, so I was pretty anxious this morning. I also don't like being home without my cat there, so I was kind of sad, too.
Something nice happened, though-- just as I arrived home from dropping him off, the mailman came with an imp of BPAL's Snow Moon, a swap I made last week. It always cheers me up to get a little BPAL in the mail.
Anyway, they called just now and said he's fine. I had to laugh-- heartily-- when the nurse said "He got a little bit angry with us so we had to give him a little gas..." I totally forgot to warn them that he hates vets. My vet is so used to it and to me it is just normal for a cat to go on the attack with a vet. Oops. I did tell her I wasn't surprised by that at all.
Apparently now he's sitting in his cage with his legs crossed in front of him, as he always does, looking very calm and pleasant. "He has such a sweet face..." she said. "And then when we opened his carrier, he was like, RRRRR!" heh.
Posted by lisa at 01:18 PM
May 26, 2006
hot now!
it's been years since i had a hot krispy kreme at the store. there's just no other thing like it. astounding.
Posted by lisa at 11:44 PM
May 24, 2006
Goodbye to The Icky Sticky Stove
My house was without a doubt the nicest, most livable house I saw while house-hunting. There was one obvious eyesore: the stove.
I can't afford to renovate my kitchen, but I can replace the stove. Provided all goes well tomorrow morning, my bright, lovely new stove shall arrive, and the rusty hulking mass shall depart to the landfill.
I've posted a little ode to the crusty old stove here on flickr.
Posted by lisa at 10:03 PM
May 23, 2006
blog entry format #5: my day sucked, feel sorry for me.
i got paged 22 times today, which put right out of my mind the fact that my basement kind of flooded last night.
presumably, the water is still there, but i don't feel like going down there and looking and applying a plumber's helper to the floor drain.
Posted by lisa at 09:15 PM
May 22, 2006
BPAL: UNDERPANTS!
"MONSTER BAIT: UNDERPANTS — Who doesn't want a monster in their pants? Sexy sugar-smeared saffron sandalwood over lickable vanilla cream with a splash of butter rum."
I was so, so disappointed that I managed to miss this the one day it was available (April 1st, of course). Sneaky Sarah ordered an extra bottle and didn't tell me. I asked if she'd sell me a little sample bottle of it (thinking she just had the one bottle) and she said that that would not be a problem. Indeed! Well, tonight she came over and was like, surprise! Here's a whole bottle! This was especially generous because she could have easily sold this on ebay for two to three times what she paid for it, but she only wanted the original selling price from me.
Anyway! In the bottle it smells like CAAAAAAKE! I love cake. It's J's birthday this weekend and I am dying to bake him a birthday cake for both entirely selfish and unselfish reasons. Cake!
On my skin it smells like CAAAAKE! The sweetness backs off a little and the sandalwood comes out. It's like a spice cake. CAKE!
Posted by lisa at 08:53 PM
May 20, 2006
Farmer girl, Part 2
I went to the farmer's market in Raleigh today and bought quite a few plants. Since I'm starting my garden late (although is there really such a thing as late when talking about a cycle?) I decided that I should have a fairly large proportion of ready-to-go plants and rely less on seeds.
I got all plants and seeds in the ground, and set up a soaker hose left by a previous homeowner. The soaker hose is an experiment (actually, the whole garden is an experiment) and we'll see how well it works. I need to learn how low to keep the water flow, so the water kind of seeps out and doesn't shoot out and wash away the soil.
MORE...
Posted by lisa at 03:59 PM
May 19, 2006
RadCat
A week from Tuesday, Moses is slated to become a RadCat. It's clear that medicating him for the rest of his life is not going to work well. The dosage is a moving target; I get careless and miss doses or give them late sometimes. I'm human. It happens. Since J. found that study that demonstrated that the radiation treatment doesn't kill them any faster than anything else, I decided to go for it.
It's a week of bleeding money. The radiation treatment isn't cheap. Last night I looked at an electric range that a neighbor is giving away, and realized that I have my heart set on a new one (although the free one would actually be a step up from what I have now).
Spacepod needed a few things done before he goes out on loan to Xta's mom. He needed them anyway, and this is a good way to make myself just get it done.
Now that I've got the Moses situation settled, I feel like I can book the trip to Vegas. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be leaving town at a time when he'd need me here. Since I've waited so long to book it, I shudder to think what the prices will be. Maybe they won't be so bad; it's still over a month out.
Here's some perspective, however: my current re-obsession with BPAL has lead to a renewed interest in the BPAL online forum. In one thread, a woman wrote that her limit for her next BPAL order is... $750. Just think on that for a moment. Seven hundred and fifty smackers worth of fragrant oil. That's the better part of a mortgage payment, around here. More than two car payments. Well over half of Moses' radiation treatment. I could furnish and re-furnish my screen porch several times over for that price.
At least I'm spending my money on stuff that ain't just for smelling pretty.
Speaking of, today's scent is Zombi.
Posted by lisa at 06:57 PM
May 18, 2006
BPAL: Sudha Segara, Pink Phoenix, Nuclear Winter
MORE...Posted by lisa at 11:25 PM
May 17, 2006
When the saints come marching into your neighborhood to sell you an ice cream novelty
So, I have this nice newly-furnished screen porch, and the weather is very pleasant, and this naturally leads to me sitting out here surfing and reading and eating lunch on the weekends and nice stuff like that.
This has in turn lead to the interesting discovery that my neighborhood must have an ice cream truck. An ice cream truck that plays "When the saints come marching in" over and over and over and over and...
At first, I thought one of the neighborhood kids had taken up the recorder and was practicing the same song over and over. Then I realized there was a doppler effect at work-- the music would randomly get much louder from time to time. I realized it must be an ice cream truck.
How cool is that, that there's an ice cream truck in my neighborhood? Once again, I feel as if I am living in Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Well, some combination of Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
On the other hand, how annoying is it to listen to "When the saints come marching in" over and over, every time I use my screen porch during daylight hours? Well... it's pretty annoying.
Hey, at least I smell nice. Today's BPAL: Nuclear Winter.
Posted by lisa at 07:11 PM
BPAL rejects: Blood Kiss, Lucy's Kiss, Hamadryad
MORE...Posted by lisa at 12:26 AM
May 13, 2006
farmer girl
Before
After
I worked on the raised bed today, and it's all ready for planting. details can be found by following the "after" photo to flickr and clicking through the day's photos.
i think i want to grow herbs mostly. i may relent and put up a single bamboo teepee for a tomato and some string beans, maybe a little lettuce underneath (i have heard that salad greens don't like to be pounded by the sun too much, but i will have to check on that).
just think of it though... big piles of parsley, cilantro, and basil and the resulting masses of salsa and pesto and salad rolls. mmm yeah. twelve different kinds of mint mean twelve different kinds of mojitos and mint juleps. and catnip toys for days.
Posted by lisa at 04:27 PM
May 12, 2006
Tantalizing views from Houston
Sarah and Georg are down in Houston at the bigmamajama art car event, and as always I'm finding inspiration in the photos that are coming back. And of course, I am begging Sarah to get details on the ones that use intriguing looking techniques.
I spent an hour and a half working on the Westy last night, and spent much of my drive home today wondering if she'd really make it all the way down to Houston, or if she'd die halfway down there. At least this event is early enough in the year that the weather wouldn't be too brutal (a concern in the Westy since she doesn't, and won't ever have, A/C).
Also of note to me, this photo of a car with a wire sculpture on it. I want to do the same thing, essentially, except with wicker coated in silver paint and epoxy.
Posted by lisa at 07:01 PM
wtroadster
My favorite so far from Houston.
Posted by lisa at 06:58 PM
May 10, 2006
snorfle-ific
My favorite category on cute overload is... no, not kittens. not bunnies (although i think bunnies are running a close second after yesderday's all bun tuesday ). yes, it's hedgehogs! awww, the widdle noses.
i had this swedish friend, and any time she saw a small brown animal she couldn't identify, she called it a hedgehog. now that i have seen actual photos of hedgehogs, it's difficult to imagine how possums and groundhogs could have been mistaken for the wee tiny little prickly hedgies.
Posted by lisa at 11:13 PM
May 07, 2006
adventures in the bull city
this was the first year i've ever actually taken the tour (believe it or not). we made it through about half the houses, and wished there were time for more.
being a site captain was fine, but i think i won't do that again. it's stressful, even with a house that's off the beaten path of the tour, and just few doors down from my own. the best part was meeting my neighbors who were volunteers, especially the other docents on my shift, who both turned out to be very cool people.
when it was all said and done, i was beyond exhausted. i figured out that i was on my feet and talking to people for 9 1/2 hours. i was comfortable talking with people and giving tours, but i found it quite draining.
i finally got to see inside the Rice Diet house, which is the impressive Victorian mansion at the corner of Mangum and Lynch. this house has captured my imagination since i first moved into my apartment on lynch street a decade ago, and i was thrilled to see the inside. only the ground floor was open, and the house is in the midst of an intensive renovation. two rooms looked close to complete, with paint on the walls, but everything else is in progress. i really hope the current owners can follow through and complete a proper renovation. these very large mansions are so difficult to save because of the sheer size. we went through the Bull Durham house, a comparable Victorian, and although much of it is in great shape, it's also kind of a crazy jumble right now. The Victorian right across from the Rice Diet house was also a fairly disappointing jumble, with the house separated into three different living spaces, and some of the windows replaced with vinyl.
The bungalows were our favorites. These are everyman houses that one can actually relate to, and it was interesting to see what people have done with them. Although it was the simplest house on the tour, the house where I was site captain was once of the nicest bungalows we saw, just clean and simple.
It was the one on Trinity, with the deep turquoise pillars on the front, that was the biggest surprise. It wasn't my favorite but it was J's. The upstairs was nicely done but the rooms had no logical flow. However, head down the stairs and surprise! The basement has been finished into a master suite with a very, very nicely done bathroom-for-two. On a warm day, it was of course deliciously cool. I just can't imagine my basement ever being in that sort of condition. I need to find out who does their gutters...
My favorite house was the "bungalow gone wild" on bungalow row, Seeman St. Art Nouveau swoops in the living room, coffered ceilings in the formal areas, little cabinets built into everything, and the widest front door I have ever seen. This house is suspected to be a Sears Roebuck pre-fab house. One of the docents at my house lives in a Sears Roebuck bungalow that his father put up in the late 20's. He said he re-did the porch last year and he could see that each beam had been numbered.
after the tour, J. requested pizza for dinner so I got to introduce him to the palais de pizza, which went over fairly well.
:|:
this morning i really had nothing good in the house for breakfast, so we went to mad hatter. oh my, that was tasty. I knew that J was a big breakfast eater on the weekends, but I was amazed and impressed by the breakfast he put away this morning. i was very pleased to have one of the best waffles i've ever had, happily not drowned under a layer of sugary goo, just a few fresh sliced unsugared strawberries. i had a side of the best bacon i've ever tasted, although next time i'll make a point of ordering it extra-crispy.
J is very tolerant, but really, i should cook for him again the next time he's here. maybe i'll have braved the gas grill by then.
this afternoon we took reese the dog for a rainy walk to the park, but not the park we usually walk to. i decided we should check out progress on central park and show the boys the other side of the neighborhood. we walked past stone brothers, the old DAP, checked the progress on the new pavilion, then past the scrap exchange, the architect's and the central park school.
Posted by lisa at 11:02 PM
May 04, 2006
Of some note
MORE...Posted by lisa at 01:35 PM
Drought level decreased
Looks like our unusually wet April has helped– our drought level has been reduced from D2 to D1.
Posted by lisa at 12:52 PM
May 03, 2006
the fat man walking finishes his journey, and other items
The fat man walking arrives in New York on May 8th (give or take).
I've been following his blog since near the start of his cross-country walk. Way to go, dude.
:|:
ever since blowing off a little steam and tension last friday to the tune of two high-alcohol belgian beers at federal followed by a smidge of prosecco in front of christa's fire pit, my sleep schedule has been royally screwed up. staying up until 3am the next night changing out the look of my blog, and converting the templates to semantic markup did not help matters.
so count me mystified when i woke up at 6:40 this morning for no explainable reason. the neighbors were not yelling, the cat was not caterwauling, and the alarm was not... alarming? felt exhausted but could not get back to sleep.
after laying in bed for a while i started to hear noises above my head. skittering, scratching... sigh. squirrel invasion. great.
:|:
tonight I execute my site captain duties for the tour, part I: the walk-through with the docents. this means meeting with seven or eight people I don't know, at a house that is not mine, showing them the house, telling them everything I remember about it, and admonishing them to show up for their shifts ten minutes early, clean and well-dressed.
i have to admit, i will be glad when 6pm saturday rolls around, and i'm free to spend the rest of the weekend just lounging around with a certain person from virginia. although once my own docent shift is over at around lunchtime, the rest of the day shouldn't be too difficult unless someone doesn't show.
i'm also looking forward to taking the tour itself; getting to see inside the craftsman bungalows and victorian mansions in the neighborhood is going to be really fantastic. the house where i'm working is probably the most modest on the tour, so i haven't seen nothin' yet.
historic oakwood, eat your heart out!!
Posted by lisa at 07:23 AM
May 01, 2006
the upside-down day
You know that thing where you set your alarm, but when you set it you're really tired because you didn't sleep enough the night before and then you've stayed up until 2am again, so you set it for 8 PM instead of 8 AM?
I haven't done that in a really long time, so the time, so to speak, was ripe. This morning I woke up very peacefully to the sound of the cat pacing in the hall outside my bedroom door. His appetite has been huge lately (crazy metabolism problems!) and this is typical behavior, especially around say 8:30am, which would not be an unreasonable time for me to get up.
I looked at the clock, and it said 9:24. Given that the 10:15 meeting today was most decidedly non-optional, especially with the atmosphere at work lately, I was a little panicked.
Panic and rushing through the morning without eating breakfast was business as usual from the time I was 15 until about three years ago when I Saw The Light. Breakfast. Best Meal Ever.
Oh, how I love my breakfast. But this morning, there was just no time.
So tonight, I let dinner wait way too long. I came home from work, spent until about 8 removing a yard waste bin's worth of grape vines and other assorted unwanted vegetation from the front yard, and contemplated dinner.
Avoided the question until nearly ten. Did not want anything in the kitchen. Went out and decided I'd decide while I was out. Got gas. Went to the bank. Drove on down the road.
Then I finally realized that I needed the meal I had missed: breakfast. I love breakfast, but even better is breakfast for dinner.
I came home and cooked sausage, turkey bacon, and little waffles with butter and honey. It was so very just right.
Posted by lisa at 10:59 PM