I am making Naan today because John invited us over to his place for curry and DDR. Woo. What a nice day ... inside that is. The sun is all shiney and the outside looks crisp and clean and it makes the house seem all warm and welcoming. I even burned some woodsmoke incense to make it smell like wood smoke in the house. Cozy! It was the perfect setting to sit on the couch and write a story, which I actually completed. Sometimes you just need to get away from the computer.

Anyway, I should take a shower so that my hair has time to dry before I am shoved out into the cold cold night. Oh wait, Stargate is on tonight! Dang. I am going to have tape that before heading out.

Yum. I made some decaf lady grey tea. Maybe I will go knit for awhile while I am starting the bread and THEN take a shower. Yes, that is what I will do.

Koopa bit me! I can't believe it. The little brat. She is no longer afraid of me and was running all around and climbing the cage in front of me while I was getting her dish. Then when I put the dish in there, she reached over and nipped my finger! What? Just when I thought I was getting to her. You know you are supposed to be handle these little possums, but she is all spit and fire. I suppose you gotta take it one day at time. Next time I am wearing gloves and am going to leave my hand in there a bit so she gets used to that too.

What a little brat. Speaking of brats, Pluto was all bored this morning too. He was playing with a pipe cleaner when I felt sorry for him and gave him a rawhide treat. The baby ate it in under ten minutes. Geez. Now Migo is on my craft table to the left and looking at me with her green eyes. Sigh.

Last night we had visitors! The first one was a misdelivery and I sent him on his merry way. The second time the door was knocked I told Tim it was his turn to get it. (Ha. listen to me. You get it...I got it last time --- like we have visitors all the time. :P ) Tim got it and said it was for me. What? For me? Crap, I should look better or more presentable or something. Eh. I went in and saw that it was Liama! What was she holding in her hands but a birthday present! Wow. I opened it up and saw that it was a chinese/japanese? caligraphy/drawing set. Complete with the ink that you have to mix with water, and a little copper spoon and red ink to go with the L that she carved in the stone stamp. How neat! Plus she gave me paper to go with it. I would say it is rice paper, but since I can't read it, I will go with the generic description. Awesome! I then, felt like a little kid and had to show her all the art on the walls that was given to her and my other calligraphy pen that Tim got when he was in Brighton.

I am feeling like I have had way more birthday recognition than ever. What did I do to deserve it? *shucks*

On the craft front, I got our four little knitting needles and am going to attempt to knit a circular ... thing. Hm I have book that shows me 1001 croquet and knit stitches, but reading it is like reading a calculus book. That doesn't stop me from taking it out and leaving it on the coffee table like I know what I am doing.

This morning I got up when Tim did! Then went back to sleep for another hour.... come on. Rome wasn't built in a day you know. But getting up at 9.15 really made a difference. All my interent crap is done, I took a shower, took Pluto out and drank some coffee. Not to shabby, and it's just barely noon. I have the whole afternoon now! Rock on.

Tim had his review today and then tells me he was let go. Who thinks that's funny? Not me. He then said that the meeting went okay. What a chump. He gets so stressed over these things.

Last night I also made an attempt to make some new penpals, but as of this morning I haven't heard a response. Time will tell. The last time I put the call out....or looked for some, I got maybe ten responses, but only three ended up to be good keepers and one maybe. The others...eh. I did send a nice letter to my Mom, a letter to my unknown uncle chuck and a birthday card for the mother in law.

Okay, on to some writing.

Ugh. I just ate lunch which was Campbell's Chunky Chicken and Dumpling soup which filled me to the bones! Tim had the same thing for lunch and said that 1.5 hours later he was hungry again. The curse of soup, but since I ate lunch at almost four I hope that means I will still have an appetite for dinner. Speaking of which, I have to figure out what that is going to be.

I think we are planning on going grocery shopping tonight, but to be hones I don't want too. I don't want to sit down and plan the next two to three weeks of food. Besides I can make do a while longer, if I make breakfast in advance, unthaw some of the frozen leftovers and cook. Although I do think I will need milk and eggs. I guess I would like some more coffee too. I waver between actually getting these things, and pretending I am an isolated moutainer living in the wilds of Alaska and only get supplies like this once a year. Yeah....shouldering it through the tough winter.

This weekend was great! I learned how to make glass beads. When all was said and done I was left with eleven, beautifully handcrafted glass bead and the knowledge of how to do it. The only thing I have to think about now, is whether I want to do it more. I think I will have to think about that more though. There are ton of other things I want to do right now. But Liama is a great teacher and should hold her own workshops, and my god...does she know how to do a lot of craftwork. I mean, I thought I had a fair portion of how to do it, but I think I am pale in comparison. On the other hand, it's great to know another person that follows the "Jack of all trades -- Master of none" motto. :D

Sunday my friend Sarah took me out for lunch and shopping! Oh my gosh. I hadn't been shopping in SO long and she took me to DSW where I got my long dreamed of slippers and to Michael's Craft Store. They were having a 90% ... yes you read that right, , NINTY percent off sale on all Christmas items. Needless to say, I spent a good portion/chunk of my money there stocking up for next year. I won't have to buy ANYTHING for Christmas for a long time. How cool is that? Oh that made me so happy and put me in the shopping spree mood. However when I looked at the rest of the stuff, I was shocked at how expensive it seemed (because 90% off really makes it cheap....like they are giving it away). I did end up getting a new ink pad, a star punch, cards, stickers, two skiens of yarn, candy hearts, a party (gonna use it for craft) tray, a wood carving set for Tim and some wood nibblets to whittle with and ... is that it? Huh. Well the Christmas stuff really made a difference! Geez.

Oh, and on Friday I got Birthday .. oh wait, I told you that. The fishes are still alive though. :P Today the UPS man came with Dover. WOO! I love that shit. I got three post card books, two sticker books and a 12th Century Latin Bestiiary (Translated). Plus I got eight well wishes, in various forms from friends and family. Awww...how thoughtful.

So what do I want to do? I have this Uncle who I never met. My Mom's younger brother. Her older brother died when I was thirteen. Anyway, so I am inspired to write him because one of my Mom's second cousins wrote HER a few months ago (and now they write back and forth) out of the blue. Completely out of the blue. I guess I would like to know who Chuck is, and also see if he has information on my cousins from Uncle Larry (the one who died) contact information. Losing Aunt Janice made me realize that I do have other family out there, even if I have never met them or know nothing about them. Who knows, maybe one of my cousins is just like me and we would have tons in common. Maybe.

I have no idea how to start this card/letter or even what to say. None. Email me with Ideas.

Oh, and on a second note...I was asked to answer some questions for a sophomore here at the university regarding the possiblity of a casino in Madison. Thank god I convinced her to email the list of questions she was going to ask...but to be honest I feel like a bad person to ask. Plus, I don't know how I feel about her using my full name in this article.

It only takes two minutes to set up DDR, and yet I don't do it most of the time. Although I felt like dancing tonight, so I hooked her up. Wow, that is fun. The modification on the pads is going extemely well too, although Tim still is taking a long time to get used to it. Sucks that while he complains and moans about it, he is still consistently getting higher scores that I am. :P

Liama is coming over tomorrow to show me how to make glass beads. W0Oo! Tim is going to bake me a birthday cake (so he says) and he already gave me my present tonight. I got birthday fish! Three tetra's and a cory. He also picked out a great card. Two ladies are sitting on the couch and one says "My arm's jigglier" and the other says "No, mine's jigglier," and inside the card it says "It's your birthday. Mine's jigglier."

:D

What a sweetie. We also ordered pizza tonight. It was SO good. I ate it while watching an all new episode of Stargate SG1. Welp, tired now and off to bed.

It's cold! Man it is it cold. I took Pluto out and the patio had iced over and he couldn't come inside until he jumped on the back porch step. Poor boy. At least he did his duty fairly quickly. Brr. I can feel it in the house where we weren't able to put window treatments up. When we went back to Home Depot earlier this month to buy some more, they had sold out and weren't restocking them. That doesn't make any sense to me. Why would you not keep it in stock when winter is still here? Not everyone is responsible and prepares before it is really cold out. What about the last minute, I don't believe it will get that cold people? Geez.

Today I worked more on a story, read my "assignment" for tonights book discussion, played with the cats, cleaned the boxes and am thinking about cleaning the house a bit more. It's hard to keep up with the all that cat hair and dirt with wooden floors. I can just imagine how crappy it would be if we had carpet covering every surface.

If I keep this up, then I will lose all six of my faithful readers. Geez. :D

Today I cleaned the bathroom, and doing one load of whites right now, and am currently in the long process of making some bread dough. Tonight for dinner, we are going to have pumpkin soup in bread bowls! Neat. You see, when someone stays home like this, strange dinners are possible when you have the three and half hours to make them. I decided this year to print out a paper calendar and keep track of what we eat every day and on the back of it, I make a list of possible dinner options. It's SO much easier to figure out what's for dinner then, and makes it clear that we are not having dirty mac and texas hash every night of the week. In truth, it is more like once a month. It also helps to figure out how often we go shopping. So far this month we have only went shopping once and that was about 100 dollars.

Monday I was on goblin duty because of Martin Luther. The young one was sick and crabby and crying the whole day. The other one didn't take her pay attention medicine for a couple days and was in her own little world. Tough when the younger one wanted attention and wanted things her way. Normally she isn't so salty. At one point, she was just walking back and forth crying about "nothing was going right for her," and "there is no happiness for her" etc. etc. She is FOUR years old! And she sounded like a teenager. Geez. Finally I decided to pop in strawberry shortcakes - a berry merry christmas which is her favorite movie. Thank god she feel asleep. But as soon at the short movie was over the other one wanted to run around and dance and jump on the couch. No way was I gonna let the young one wake up (she really really needed that nap), so I let her watch another movie -- this time Hercules.

I think what struck me most, was my tolerance for letting them cry. Sometimes they just wanna cry and miserable and there is nothing you can do. On the good note, I earned 73 bucks for my efforts which will cover my birthday expenses. NOt that I am thinking I had to earn that for my birthday, mind you. I like to think of it as buffer for next month. Or something.

This last week I have also gotten TWO letters from people I NEVER get letters from. Amazing because they are the only mail I have gotten in the new year (aside from my Mom's letter and early birthday card). Usually I expect a little more. But then I guess I have been slacking a little too long inbetween the letters lately. Still, it's cool and I have been trying to make time and write and send out more. Which was easy while I was on goblin patrol because I didn't have anything else to do. Here, there is much more that distracts me. Cleaning, cooking, laundry and most importantly writing. So far I have three stories in the works (complete with research). Two of them I really like and the third I feel like I have to finish. Plus writing exercises galore to keep me in the mood.

Tim and I have been recruited into a reading group in which we get together with other "community folk" and students to discuss Globalization and it's Terrors and Prison Nation. This is a grant funded study and our first meeting is on this Thursday. Tim got the books yesterday and already read the first part and said it was extremely boring. Yah. What have I gotten myself into? Well, something. At least. It's been awhile since I have done something like this. I think the last real group thing I worked on was my writing group two years ago. We have to meet twelve times through the semester to discuss both of these books.

Hm. I went to the Inferno again last Saturday after I had vowed never to go again on my own accord. I will only go when it is Tim's suggestion from now on, and what do you know? Tim suggested we go. I think it helped that Ben and Jen, as well as Sarah asked if we were going to go. A little peer pressure goes a long way.

Tim joined a new gaming group. One of the people on his Mech League apparently lives in Middleton and has a group. So far he has gone only once (last weekend) and will have to go again before he can form a good opinion.

The animals are in a uproar! Restless, unhappy little buggers. Pluto looks bored most of the time. Migo wants to play constantly and yowls inthe middle of the night. Koopa runs for miles on her wheel and has been active a lot during the day time. The other two bitchs fight. I try to play with them and interact with them, but to be honest? It's boring and my attention saps after ten minutes. Migo especially needs at least 15 minutes a day because I have noticed she has stress spots on the back of her ears. Stress spots are when they lose the fur it it starts to thin. Speaking of which she has just licked my face and keeps headbutting mmy hands. I have to go. Blah;

Last night Tim and I watched The Happiness of Katakuri's. What is that about you ask? I can't describe it, so I am giving you Netflick's discription, ,which is pretty good. It would be better if Tim wrote a review for it (hint), but here you are for now:

Horror director Takashi Miike's decidedly nontraditional musical tells the story of the Katakuri clan, innkeepers who live on the depopulated slopes of Mount Fuji and who band together with tuneful Von Trapp-like determination when their guests keep turning up dead. Upon discovery of the first body, reaction shots of each family member are given the full music-video treatment … replete with dry ice and blue light!

And indeed it did have blue light and dry ice! My goodness...this movie was very entertaining. I noticed out list was getting low, so I spent a good chuck of time today planning and searching for other movies I may want to see. I have such gems as: The Grave of the Fireflies, B5 season 3, disk one and disk two, Whalerider, Koi...mil gaya , etc. Awesome.

So I decided for my birthday that I don't want to go out to Outback Steakhouse, because I would rather spend the money that would have been spent on a steak for me AND Tim. You see? This time I get twice the gift. So at first I was going to spend the forty bucks on doverpublications.com. I went there and browsed, but their website wasn't consistently working. I thought about it some more and came upon the perfect place to spend it. Bennie F! Yeah! They have everything and it is cheap. It's more like getting birthday presents if I go there for a shopping spree. I don't know what I will come back with. It is also kind of exciting to be spending the money instead of saving (like I normally do). If I save it, then I am not getting it, and it is not even a present that ... er.... Tim is giving...(yeah..giving) to me. Besides, I can cook. OR we can go to Arby's for a roast beef sammich and that is just as special. I know it is next week, but Ben Franklins is really exciting stuff.

If you are wondering where I have been, the answer is right here. I have been spending inordinate amounts of time writing. The past weekend, we went to Borders and spent our gift certificates on: calanders and a book called Writing Without the Muse -- it is a small book that is just filled with writing exercise ideas. It's awesome. I think it's so great because it has brought back how much fun it is to write. I love it. I love just being able to write crap and more crap, but at least not feel guilty about it because I know something will eventually evolve. I have also been trying to catch up on all my correspondence in the off time when I am not writing or managing the household affairs. The only thing I wish I could do is get up and STAY up when Tim goes to work. Instead I nod back to sleep and wake up between 10 and 11. Blah. I do get some strange dreams out of it though, but nothing that you could really write a story with. THis morning's dream involved my ex boyfriend Tom, Sarah C. and old roommate Dave M, ,oh and Madonna.

The life of a shut in isn't easy.

Been around the world and aahh ahh ......ahh can't find my baby.

Blah. I hate it when I get that song in my head, especially since it is that lousy puff fucker's ripped off version that comes to mind first.

Yesterday I had grand plans for doing some writing, but got caught up in a project I had been meaning to finish for years, and refound it when I was going through old zip disks. That also brought up another project of moving all those digital images over to the server and then eventually picking my favorite and burning it to a disk so that I can print pictures from them. But that is for another week.

I am trying to inspire myself by telling me that the sooner I get some shit published the sooner I will have the money and reason to travel again, to go to coffee houses and buy nice coffee and meet with interesting people, to go out to dinner and eat food that I haven't prepared myself. Oy. It's my biggest incentive and motivating force right now.

Cold.

Einstein needs to go out like every two to three hours. It's insane. I wonder how he managed when he is at home. His owner said she comes home at lunch and takes him out, but aside from the morning and when she gets home from work that is all. I wonder if accidents were something she neglected to mention. I am also going to be glad when Wednesday comes so that I can have the whole side of my bed back. We had kicked him off the bed when we first tried to go to sleep, but he paced and paced and paced until finally I made some room for him. Tim summed it up when he said "I am not going to start breaking him from bad habits." Yes, I think we can save that one for his new owners on Friday.

On the whole though, he is a good puppy. ..... Moments later.... Did I say he was good? Ha, I just caught the little bugger in the cats room helping himself to cat poo. Fuck. Then yesterday I caught Pluto outside playing his frozen turds again and trying to eat it. When will their obession with poop stop? How did they get it? Disgusting.

Life only begins when Tim comes home. Apparently I am not good enough for my canine companions. Pluto is much better today but still is not allowed out for walks or can run and play in the back yard. Cruel irony that the new, younger dog comes and gets walks and attention when Pluto must stay rested and house bound. Poor boy.

Today I: Cleaned Koopa's palace, complete with scrapping her poo off of the spinning wheel, and fed her. She get's fed every other day and today I noticed that the Can O Crickets is getting moldy. I guess we should have refrigerated it next to the meal worms. Eh.

Today I: Did the laundry and on one my trips downstairs caught Einstein peeing on the floor. He got yelled at and his basement privileges revoked.

Today I: Wrote some emails and surfed the web looking for good information sites on where to submit fiction.

Today I: Made a calendar.

Today I: Took a shower. Blah, I hate getting wet in cold weather, even if it was a hot shower. My skin gets so dry and I would prolong it more except my scalp goes into revolt.

Tonight I am going to make baked chicken, potato and veggies...and maybe some more tea.

Whoa, blogger changed it's posting screen....weird. I don't know if I like it. I am a creature of habit.

Today was a dog day. It all started out with Pluto going to the dark park this morning with Tim. They were there about a half an hour when a couple of irish setters came. Pluto went over to say hi, like the friendly dog he is, and was attacked by one of them. OH how he wailed (so I have heard) and then started limping. Tim took him home immediately where his limp steadily got worse. But not so bad that he couldn't walk on it. It only seems to be sprained and was swelling. Of course him standing on it all morning didn't help, but that was understandable because at 11:00, Einstein the lab mix came over.

He barked and was a vicious little beast. Both Pluto and I were ascared, but after about ten minutes of calming down he could come in the house. It took another 15 to 20 minutes before I could trust him and he seemed more at ease. It's weird having a small dog around the house. I know he isn't technically small, he is more medium size, but compared to Pluto he is like a baby! And SO much energy! He is only a year old and retains much of his puppy behavior. The cutest thing about him is that he sits and stares at you trying to be good so that you will give him attention or treats. The bad thing is can't walk on a lease very well -- he pulls the whole time, and he whines! Oh does he whine. I have a feeling he is going to test my patience a bit tomorrow when Tim leaves.

As for Pluto, well Tim overreacted and feared the worst and wanted to take him to an emergency clinic. I said that it was sprained and really only hurt him when we bent his ankle joint. After a while I convinced him to call some of the contacts that GPA gave us for advice, but none of them were home. Finally he called one of the women that usually go to the dog park on the weekends and talked with her. She suggested ice (which I had mentioned) and baby aspirin (which I didn't think of), and to see how it goes. Thank goodness for all my animal planet watching, and pet reading because honestly? There isn't much you can do for a sprain or bruised tendon but let him rest. So Tim went out and got the aspirin and gave to Pluto via cheese, and he finally laid down to rest, at which point we put ice on his leg. He has been laying down most of the day and seems to be a bit better. I hope that tonight really helps him and tomorrow. He does seem to be better and he was running around a bit before we stopped him. I know it sucks to be on bed rest, but our little puppy doesn't see it that way, especially when there is a near puppy staying with us.

That was the major excitement today. Poor Pluto, and poor Tim. Tim said that when he talked to Annabelle's "Mom" ( as she calls herself) she said a friend of her took a cat to the emergency clinic and was charged 500 dollars just for walking in the door on a weekend. My god. That is too much to humor my darling paranoia. Now if his leg was at an angle or he couldn't put any pressure on it, then it would be a different story. Tim was worried that we might cause irreparable damage by not going and having it checked out. I think to wait a few days, based on previous experience with the cats when they get sick and from what I have gleaned by research. Hmm, I guess we shall see. I think Pluto is a trooper and will be fine in a few days, provided he doesn't run around or go for walks.

Stinky dogs. We have Einstein until Wednesday night and luckily for him his owner found a couple who wants to adopt him on Friday night. It's also cute that he loves playing with toys. Hopefully Pluto will learn a thing or two from him about playing with them more. AND hopefully Einstein will learn a thing or two about being more calm. It's funny because Einsteins owner said "Pluto is the calmest excited dog I have ever seen."

My wacky Saturday night consisted of watching Chick flick on the Oxygen channel, making frozen pizza, a hash brown (since I was using the oven), popcorn and ice cream while Tim sat plugged into his computer moving fictionalized warrior bots around on virtual battlefields with other boys. After my teary eyed movie ended I moved to the computer to read way to much livejournal for people who aren't even on my friend list and talk with Erica is who is also stranded at home on a Saturday night.

Although she said it was okay for me because I am married.

Bah, as I have just proven it is no better than being a single old maid with a bunch of cats, snails, one lonely white fish and a dog. Speaking of dog, Tim offered to foster a coworkers dog because he is dedicated to helping out others find homes for pets when they make life changes. I said sure and went along with it, not excepting it would really happen. Well, guess what ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow morning at 11 or so, it is happening. It is a 40 pound lab mix and he will be staying with us for four days until Wednesday. I finish taking care of small children and move immediately onto dogs. Yah. This oughta be interesting.

You see, the reason Tim and I can both have pets is because ... well we like them. I love animals. Tim loves animals. However, I can be a bit ambivalent about living with them. Oh sure I take care of them and play with them and all that, but in the end I kind of treat them like siblings.

The Mom of the poppets said she would be a reference for me, and that I was really good at thinking of crafty things to do. While I agree I am good at that, I am also really really good of thinking of mini games to keep kids interested and active for all age ranges. That is if they want to play, I also know when they need their own time. I wonder if it is because I grew up with four siblings and they were all boys? Or because I have a very active imagination? Or because I like playing still? Who knows. Anyway, she said that this Red Caboose (a day care place) had been looking for someone a few months ago who would think of and do crafty activities with kids for 1 to 2 hours per week, and that she would recommend me when that kind of position opens up again. That would be AWESOME! We shall see if that turns out.

Um what else. I wanted to go to Barnes and Nobles or Borders today to buy a new calendar, but that didn't happen. I don't think it will happen tomorrow either. I wish I had a new calender. I like them. They help me keep track of my correspondence and make me feel like I have a social life.

I should write a letters right now instead of posting in this, but I don't think I have anyone to write to other than my Mom and maybe my friend...no wait..it is her turn. Yeah, that's sad. I should look for more, or better yet, forego that completely to just write and write and write. If I am going to have any chance of completing my new year's resolutions this year, I need to get crackin'.

Thank goodness yesterday is over. I never should have drank that much. "Never again! And this time....I mean it."

Heh. Right.

Tim was good though. He took Pluto out to the dog park, bought some ice cream and went over to Liama's to pick up leftover sushi (which I got to enjoy much later that night). I watched part of the Animatrix and then watched Soylent Green for the first time. I had to remind msyelf that this movie was made in 1973, so ... computers weren't really a viable part of everyday life. Which really, would have made a huge difference in how that society was run.

Now today I am faced with a very messy house. The house took a back seat in the whole holiday season. I straightned up a bit this morning in preparation for the assessment inspector. He looked around and asked a few questions and then said he would send the new assessment in April. Sigh.Watch the property taxes jump up. Blah.

I am alternately hungry, not hungry and then head achy, not head achy today. I bet it is a leftover effect from yesterday's personel hell.