More treasure

Went into the garage looking for cast-off fabric suitable to wrap my niece's Hermione Robe and homemade magic wand in. Didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find my tennis racket, which I've been trying to locate for more than 6 months. Also found two full bags-worth of inbox "read-and-route" papers and articles that I had brought home to read while at my last job. Maybe it's wrong, but it was a delightful discovery...never read them, never returned them, and I'm sure they weren't missed!

You won't tell on me, will you Janie and Miss D?

Birds take the brunt

I was just cleaning up the yard, raking up fallen branches and cleaning out the planting beds when I came across the huge weird clump of stuff. It took me a minute to realize it was a bird's nest: an interesting combination of leaves, branches, the funny pages and some cottony bits. (I think the cottony bits came from Roxy's, the dog next door, torn-apart stuffed toys that are strewn around their backyard.) Anyway, the nest smelled funny -- a little like dirty socks -- and had wee spiders crawling through it.

Anyway, I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Should I leave it so the birds can salvage their building materials for a new nest? Were there eggs in there? (No.) Would they be returning at all? I decided to go ahead and put it in the garden bin with branches and things, as it was a pretty damp, mildewy mass of a bird home.

I don't think birds faired very well in the recent windstorm. I hope they've been able to rebuild elsewhere.

To whom it may concern

In case you (you know who you are) aren't sure about that last Christmas present, here's a short list.

"Would You Rather..." game
End Note software
workout clothes (indoor)
slippers
argyle socks
massage
car detailing
floors and counters

Favorite Frou-frou

I've been celebrating since the end of finals (mostly during our trip to Portland for the weekend) and have froufrie cocktails on my mind. My all-time favorites include:

Hot Spiced Wine
Spanish Coffee (this weekend's drink of choice)
Limeade and Malibu Rum
Amaretto Sour
Appletini
Margarita
Bloody Mary
Bailey's and anything
Wild Pear drink at Cactus
White Russian (the first drink I ordered in a bar, in White Rock, BC; age 18. Oh wait, not counting that school jazz choir trip to Vancouver, BC when I was 16, and nearly the whole choir went to some semi-seedy nightclub called "Red Light" where I ordered a Heiniken and later got suspended from school for it.)

WWSD

My sister, to her five-year-old daughter: "K., what do you want for Christmas?"

K: "I want a doll."

S: "What kind of doll?"

K: "Oh, don't worry. Santa will know."

S: "Well, in case Santa needs a little help, tell me what you have in mind."

K: "Oh no, he won't need any help. He'll know."

(My sister is just going to wing it...)

So tired

Exhausted. Two finals down and one to go. I'd been wearing the same sweats for 4+ days, now finally retired to the laundry bin. I've spent way too much time at my computer, coming up with graphs and charts and stories to remember everything. And there's only 17 hours to get ready for the next one including 6 hrs for sleep, 1 hour for eating meals, and 1 hour for showering, etc. which leaves me with 9 hours to study.

Oh. I can do a lot with 9 hours to study. Probably need all 9 though.

Blublublublub.

Fakey Fake

December 8th marks the beginning of Christmas at our house (as it's the day after Ray's birthday). We decided to stick with the homemade fake tree this year -- basically it's a wrought iron garden spire wrapped with a few fake garlands. It's not bad, honest.

The garlands were a little dusty, so I decided to try cleaning them while truly fake-ifying the tree...cedar-scented Pledge! Fake looking AND fake smelling! I thought about burning a few candles to lessen the Pledge smell, but maybe the fumes and flame aren't a good combination.

(Okay, okay, I'll go back to studying.)

It's only Tuesday

One of those days today. I have a cold. I lost my Husky Card (student ID/bus pass). I found a few discrepencies in some data we just finalized. I left one page of important data on the copy machine in the library. And I can't get motivated to study.

Here come finals!

Since I'm starting to gear up for the end of the quarter, I am thinking about a million things that I want to do other than study. Blogging, for instance. Here's what I would be blogging about.

In memory of...
My friend Sheila's son named a stuffed animal after (she thinks) the late great Ramon the cat. He calls him "Ray-mon" but the name seems to have appeared during one of Ramon's stays with Auntie Sheila. Aw shucks...that's so cool! I miss my Mony.

"40-year-old Virgin"
What would you do if you were a member of Peerflix, and someone sent you a pirated copy of "40-year-old Virgin" given that a) it was a movie you really wanted to own, but b) someone lamely has been getting "peerbucks" for downloading and burning movies and sending them out.

Incidentally, I adore this movie. It has some of the best improvisational scenes I've seen. It reminds me of old friends who used to forget I was a chick and engage in guy talk around me.

Moving
We met with our real estate agent yesterday and we're starting to think about selling the house and the condo and finding something bigger in the neighborhood. Exciting, but scary amounts of stuff to do before we're ready to move. Eeek.

Endolyne Joe's
We went here for dinner last night and I had a side of mashed potatoes for dinner. Guess what? They tasted just like (as they should) the 5 Spot's mashed potatoes that I blogged about recently. I can't say enough good things about this local restaurant group that includes these and a few other fine eateries in town. I'll eat at any of these places any time, as many know about me. I'm still pissed that Jitterbug is gone. Sacrilege.

Birthday
Big birthday coming up this week...I keep telling him old is just a state of mind.