Category: Weekend

Friends, Humor, Movies, Weekend

Bump in the Night

“So, was it [the movie ‘The Woman in Black’] good?”
“Well, yes, in that I refuse to go outside to do the laundry now because it’s dark.”
– J. and C. 

I have remembered why I don’t regularly watch scary films. Quite enjoyable, but the reviewers who said it wasn’t creepy are lying.  Also, surely we can all agree on a few basic truths when confronted with the paranormal?  Angel and Margot, with whom I saw the film, and I all came to some suggestions:

If the house is supposed to be empty and someone (or something) is in it, leave.

If there are banging and screaming sounds coming from upstairs, don’t go up.  And certainly don’t keep going up over and over again.  (Idiot.)

You can’t fix crazy, in this world or the next.

Children never, ever do frightening/dangerous things in unison, it’s a bad sign (have you seen ‘The Shining?’).  Avoid such young’ins.

If all the locals warn you not to go somewhere, burst into weeping at the sight of you, cross themselves, etc., listen to their Cassandra-like croakings and don’t go to the creepy house.  Locals know things like that: best restaurants, good inns, places that could lead to a loss of soul or life.  You know.

Dilapidated manor houses where multiple deaths have occurred, surrounded by unwelcoming family graveyards, on virtually unreachable islands with no hope of rescue are bad news.  Pick a different vacation spot.

Harry Potter's work as an Auror depicted.
Humor, Weekend

Past and Future

“What is a weekend?”
– Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham

I spent the weekend playing with Catriona and Bear (who were in town from Florida), scouring the local library’s annual book sale and donation drive, cleaning, shopping for a birthday present for my niece and a just-because present for Marie, baking, and watching Downton Abbey.  I have thrown up my hands in despair at all of the characters besides the indomitable Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess.  I have decided that I am going to be her when I’m old.  Although I have heaps of other characters and personalities to try on before I get there.

So fabulous it hurts.
Humor, Weekend

Can I Pintrest You in the Following?

“Dear me, how pintresting…”
– Facebook status of an unnamed friend

So, I mentioned my new found addiction to Pintrest (compounded by an unusually low crime rate and therefore low paperwork rate at work).  But even a good thing comes with hiccups, my pumpkins, and amidst the plethora of recipes, funny links, and project ideas, are some very weird things indeed.  So, because it’s Friday afternoon and we’re all tired and feeling the tiniest bit snarky (don’t deny it), I submit for your pleasure some of the more odd things I’ve discovered surfing the site this week:

Do you, for example, get tired rushing about during your busy workday?  The modern world is a tiring thing, piglets, and we must take time to rest and recuperate.  “But, C.,” I hear you asking, “how, if I am so busy, am I to take a nap?”  Simple, my friends!  Use this thingy.

It's apparently called an ostrich pillow. For those time when you need to bury your head (and dignity) in the sand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or!  Are you a helpless lass being chased by brigands (through the highlands of Scotland apparently…) suddenly in need of help?  Behold, my lady, your weapon:

I hardly need tell you that I'm all about saftey and protecting yourself, right, ladies? But something that looks like a gun might inflame the situation. Alternatively a pink gun will definitely confuse the blackguard before you unleash a world of hurt on him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, as we all know cats are a naturally aquatic species, but sometimes need a little help when getting tossed into the pond.  Protect your feline with the following:

Armed with the flotation power of soda bottles, your cat can't possible be upset about you chucking him into the lake. Cat owners care.
Family, Friends, Humor, Husband, Life, London, Weekend

Rest, Recovery, and Salt in the Wound

“Seriously.  I had to schedule a breakdown, and then I had to cut it short!”
– C.

Minions, I have neglected you.  But last Friday the world sort of stopped.  I was stressed, I was tired, I was anxious, I was overwhelmed, and I literally worried myself sick.  I went home early on Friday and spent some time in bed.

Of course, I had only a limited amount of time to recover from the vapors because I had stuff to do.  Saturday I had a wedding (in addition to Venice’s birthday) and errands to run, Sunday was dinner at my godparents’ house (a 4 hour event at least) after which I had to dash home and make appetizers for… Monday after work, Sadie and Pieter had a Honey Do couples shower.  Classic me, I made it all the way to GS’s house before I realized I’d forgotten the food in my fridge.

But health, good-humor, and cheerfulness have begun to return, and so, updates.  Margot landed a full time teaching job (no small prize in this economy), Marie’s husband also got a job back East, Hambone had her baby boy, my sister-in-law had a dry run for her future lung transplant and got an emergency plan in place (still scary, but less so now), Dad, Venice, and J. all got older, and J. is going to Les Miserables tonight, staring Alfie Boe.

You know, the one who managed to stand out among these guys:

Wait.  I’m sad again…

Humor, Life, Weekend, Work

Attempting to Rehabilitate

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.”
– Kurt Vonnegut

Possums, I have abandoned you lately and I prostrate myself before you begging forgiveness.

By way of explanation, two weekends ago we went hiking in canyon country and I managed to roll one ankle, strain the opposite calf, and capped off the whole performance by blacking out – which was a peculiar experience.  Angel moved to Hawaii and therefore a last hurrah was in order.  All last week, you may recall, I was swamped with work, and this past weekend was spent with J.’s family as a sister and brother-in-law were in town and nieces and nephews must be played with!

Also, we are officially in crunch time.  J. heads off in three and a half weeks and life just got the tiniest bit hectic.  We had to get him a new suit plus fittings.  We just bought my ticket home (boo!) in addition to tickets to the East Coast (as the original plan was to drive out there, but that was scuppered pretty finally).  We have to register the car for this year (more money), store all of our books and fine china, and try to find J. a place to live in London.

In other words, I’m stressed, tired, not sleeping well, and getting obsessive compulsive about some really ridiculous things.  More on that later.  In the meantime I have a tic in my right eye, an odd twitch in my leg muscle, and apparently I’ve started grinding my teeth in my sleep.  Send something distractive my way, please?  Update me on your life and times!

Friends, Humor, Travel, Weekend

The Play’s the Thing

“Lord, what fools these mortals be.”
– William Shakespeare

The Shakespeare Festival was delightful as always!  Margot, Wrench, J., and I saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and enjoyed every minute of it – a fabulous production!

But it must be said, this vacation wore me out.  Hours of driving (though J. took care of that), ridiculous desert heat that meant we couldn’t be outside for long (me especially since I overheated stopping at a gas station to refuel!), and the brief scare of our Check Engine light turning on in the middle of bleeding nowhere.  Late night conversations, movies, entirely too much ice cream and candy, and way too much money spent eating out.  All very fun, no doubt, but exhausting just the same!

Yesterday was an academic break which meant I didn’t have work, so I tried to repair damages to my house as best I could.  But in spite of a load of laundry, two dinners made and frozen for the coming week, the whole house vacuumed, dusted, the kitchen cleaned, the floors all mopped, and grocery shopping, I didn’t get half the things on my To Do List done.  By the time J. got home I threw my metaphoric hands in the air and we escaped the remaining chores to go see Harry Potter 7.2 before crawling into bed.

How was your weekend, kittens?

Friends, Fun, Humor, Weekend

Bonnie (and Margot) and Clyde. Guns and a Roadtrip. Unrelated.

“Do we need to stop at a grocery store and pick up anything for the weekend?”
“I’ll ask Margot.”
“And dinner tonight?  Have we any plans or are we just going to stop somewhere on the way.”
“J…look.  We’re going to have an adventure, ok?  Just got with it!
“I was going to ask you these questions yesterday but you weren’t feeling well and then you were sleepy.  Food is very important!”
“I promise I will feed you, ‘k?”
– J. and C. email chain

Yesterday some of the officers took Hennessy, Susie, Wise and I to the shooting range just for fun.  I got to shoot an AK47, an M4, and an Uzi.  Also, there were flash grenades!  We were out in the desert sun for nearly 4 hours and I got heatstroke afterward, but it was worth it.  Pictures forthcoming.

And today we are going to head to Cedar City, Utah for the weekend for their annual Shakespeare Festival!  Margot’s grandparents have a home in the area where we are crashing for the night, meeting up with her non-boyfriend-significant-other-gentleman-caller Wrench and frolicking for the weekend.  J. loves Southern Utah, his family are all hikers, rock climbers, and campers and have spent many a holiday in the area.

I for one am glad to be doing something.  I’ve turned into a housecat recently, and like spending weekends at home doing the mundane things I never seem to manage during the week.  And yet…I’ve had a hankering to go and do!  Explosions and Shakespeare rose nicely to the occasion.  What are your weekend plans, kittens?  Staying home with family or friends?  Summer fests?  Water parks?  Barbeques?  Sound off!

Family, Humor, Weekend

Week. End.

“I’ve ridden the tiger ragged.  That tiger, it’s rolled over on its blazing back and put up its paws and just asked me to stop.”
– Glenn Duncan, I Lucifer

Dumplings…I’m exhausted.  Well and truly, body aching, felt like I haven’t slept for days, worn out.  Most weekends J. and I do some grocery shopping, clean the house, and take a nap on Sunday – usually falling asleep, watching Planet Earth, to the soothing voice of David Attenborough.  Relaxing, yes?

Well, this weekend we had a dinner/movie date with Angel and Hotty on Friday night, crashed at my in-laws’ house in the city so that I could be up in the morning and head over to my godparents house.  Pieter and the clan all made it home after their jaunt abroad and Fairy, naturally, was throwing a party.  Saturday was spent hauling rocks, re-mulching flower beds, scrubbing the vinyl fence free of bird droppings, powerwashing said fence, and running about a million errands.  J. went golfing with Atticus.  Punk.

Thankfully my in-laws took pity on me and fed us dinner that night because I was so tired I nearly fell asleep in my curry.  Of course, I compounded the problem by staying up late to watch Dr. Who, but you don’t judge me for that, do you, kittens?  No.  We understand one another.

Sunday we were up with the sun and back over to the godparents’ to slice up watermelon, buy ice, dump lemon slices in water pitchers, stuff croissants with ham and cheese, and arrange artisan cookies on trays.  Fairy throws parties!  A few hours later the house was crammed to bursting and I was playing with Elle on the trampoline, chatting with GS and GBIL about their time in Paris, and acquiring a rather nasty sunburn on my neck.

An absolutely stellar weekend, minions, but one which I will require another weekend to recover from…

Do not disturb.


Humor, Money, School, Weekend

Weekend Wrap-up and Coming Week Countdown

“A host is like a general: calamities often reveal his genius.”
– Horace

There is very little that can crush the spirit of Small Dog, minions, but taking one’s car in to be serviced and having what one has long suspected confirmed as true – it needs new tires – is a spiritual and financial blow.  I handed over the credit card with clear eyes and teeth clenched.  It’s awfully hard to keep improving one’s savings when one’s car decides to be disagreeable.

And I absolutely did not mistake cyanide for baking powder. Enjoy!

And then, because my cup was not yet full, we had a couple of people visit from the parish yesterday.  I was just finishing up dicing cheeses and fruits to broil on french bread slices (Palm Sunday pretensions, kittens, because I was in no mood to cook a full meal) when they knocked.  I figured they wouldn’t be staying too long so I’d let the oven heat up while they visited.  Ten minutes later, I smelled burning and realized that I had left my pizza stone in the oven and that the oils in it were beginning to smoke.  The fire alarm went off.  All the windows had to be open.  I joked and laughed the whole thing off, but I was secretly mortified.

That pizza stone (which has given me no end of angst) is now at the bottom of the trash bin.  Cheap pieces of….

J. has only one more final and then we are done (free!) with his undergraduate degree!  Thursday and Friday are his graduation celebrations, and then we throw ourselves full time into grad school preparation – in spite of car related financial irritations.

How was your weekend, my loves?

Fashion, Humor, Shopping, Weekend

March. Hare.

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!'”
~Robin Williams

After months of self-imposed austerity, the fashion gods decided to toss temptation my way…and I threw up my hands in defeat.

In my defense, it wasn’t a fair fight!  J. Crew sent me one of their promo cards for 20% off and Gap Inc. did their 30%-off-and-5%-goes-to-charity sale, so what was I to do?  J. needed new jeans and khaki trousers, and I needed a couple of summer work shirts.  So Saturday I headed into the City and indulged before returning home and atoning by doing massive piles of laundry and watching the NCAA tournament.

Of course, this faint whiff has revved my appetite and I can’t help noticing that cute new clothes are popping up like daisies.  And to make it worse, the weather has started feeling like Spring too – prompting the desire for vivid skirts, glaring cardigans, and cute sandals.

Calm down, C.! You know your winter-fogged brain can't handle this overload!

Spring always makes me go a little crazy, and not just with clothes.  I want to rip anything I own in black, navy, or gray to shreds because I’m sick of neutral and sensible.  I want to eat tons of vegetables and fruit in chilled pastas and smoothies and never see a pot roast again.  Hearing birds after months of silence makes me giddy (starlings and sparrows roost in our building’s roof, J. hates waking up to them, but I love it).  Seeing the grass slowly, teasingly turn green thrills me.  And, freak that I am, Daylight Savings Time makes me happy.  I’m no longer driving home in the dark – which makes me want to curl up on the couch under a blanket, snack on junk food, and refuse to make dinner.  Instead I get home with at least an hour of light, which makes laundry feel doable as opposed to a drudgery.

Autumn is still my favorite season, but Spring always wakes me up and I love it when it comes.