Tag: Weekend

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?

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.

Friends, Humor, Weekend

Another One? But We Just Revolted 50 Years Ago!

“No, I won’t do it!  I’m revolting!’
“…I know what you’re trying to say, but you should know that’s not how it’s coming out.”
– Georgie and C.

Once a month J. and I get together with Angel and Hotty.  Hotty and J. are both from the City and were in Korea together at about the same time, although their paths didn’t really cross until they married Angel and I (respectively), but now we’re the coolest foursome of Couple Friends you ever did see.  We watch movies, treat each other to our favorite restaurants, and generally pal around.  Every once in a while one of us scores a deal and we all get to partake.

Last Friday, for instance when Angel got four tickets to the musical A Tale of Two Cities.  A night out at the theatre, good company, but no I wasn’t entirely transported.

Let's face it. It's hard to make this sort of thing enjoyable.

Why?  Because while I was sick with the plague I watched Les Miserables in concert for its 25th anniversary, and had just listed to the soundtrack of The Scarlet Pimpernel a couple of days earlier.  I like my French revolutions with either A) delicious foppery, or B) soul wrenching redemption.  You simply can’t beat the humor of The Scarlet Pimpernel, or the power of Les Miserables – fun family fact, Les Mis is the only musical to ever have made me cry.  Kiri and I watched it at the Queen’s Theatre in the West End and wept.  Buckets!

J. played along although he isn’t as big a fan of musical theatre as I am and made stereotypical American comments stereotyping the French.  Although I will grant him, they really never got their whole revolutionary act together (any sort of cultural event that gets lovingly nicknamed the Reign of Terror can probably be labeled a failure).

In any event, it was too like Les Mis for me, despite the totally different revolutions.  The downtrodden rise up, and it ends badly.  The most standout characters are villainous (In LM the Thénardiers, in ToTC a graverobber and his cronies).  Main character is a man who has changed his name to escape his past and is continuously running from it.  In both plays the characters are driven to their various acts of self-sacrifice for the love of a little girl.  Etc., etc., etc..  Oh I enjoyed it, but like I said, not entirely transported.

Probably because I strongly dislike Dickens…

Health, Humor, Weekend, Work

Walking. Wounded.

“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”
– The Buddha

Chinchillas!  I’ve just emerged from a four day bout with a sinus infection/cold/fever and things are still a bit woozy at chez Small Dog.

J. got it first, poor guy, and just when he was struggling free of it, bam!  I woke up Saturday morning with a fever and chills and it all went south from there.  No amount of vitamin C could put a crack in this thing and I ended up taking both Monday and Tuesday off of work – an unprecedented event.

Anyway, I may still not have hearing in my left ear, my throat may be clogged with gunk, and every time I stand up I may feel dizzy, but you should have seen the pile of work on my desk when I got in this morning!  I really couldn’t have left it another day.  Also, most daytime television is pretty terrible and I didn’t think I had it in me to watch The Price is Right one more time.

Small Dog’s Tips for Curing the Plague:

  1. Airborne.  I don’t care what anybody says, my clan swears by this stuff.
  2. Per Mum’s strict training, drink a large glass of water or orange juice every hour, on the hour to keep you hydrated and to clear out the grossness.
  3. Watch Jane Austen movies, or old black and white classics (my preference?  The Women – the 1939 version, avoid the 2008 remake like the very plague you are trying to expel).
  4. Ricolaaaaaaaaa cough drops.
  5. Chicken soup, not just for the soul.

Hope your weekend was a little more perky than mine.  What did you do?  Share and cheer me up a bit?