Do be do be do be over

Another bad thing: There’s a big multicultural celebration going on in the park so (a) loud Spanish is reverberating down the street into my house and (b) there are stupid people parked all around my house.

Okay, other good things, too:

• Morgana liked her birthday present (which I’m not going to describe because other people are getting similar ones for Yule).
• I picked up a jar of Patak’s Jalfrezi Curry sauce at the British shop (our local shop doesn’t carry it).
• Curled up and watched Must Love Dogs w/Ken whilst eating pizza and drinking wine. Movie was…scattered, but amusing enough. The best part was not having to think for a while!
• Now going to snuggle in bed with a good book and the cats (and Ken, natch), and then dream of a better tomorrow!

Requesting a do-over

Can we have a do-over, please?

I woke Ken up at 7:30 this morning because I was snoring. I’ve been having some weird breathing issues ever since I thought I was coming down with a cold last month—even though I can breathe fine through my nose, I’ve been mouth breathing, my breath catches on the way out at times, and I get dry mouth, meaning I have to get up several times a night to (a) drink water and (b) pee. Frack.

We went back to the thrift shop and the chair I wanted to buy was gone. We did pick up a filing cabinet for the sewing room, but the chair was the special thing. Frack.

We were running late but were ready just in time to meet up with folks to caravan to Santa Monica for Morgana’s birthday tea. Except I had it firmly in my head that it was at The Tudor House, when it was actually at The King’s Head across the street. Frack.

Found out someone had misinterpreted something I’d said and passed on misinformation as if it had been verbatim from me. Frack.

On the way back up the coast, Ken and I had a disagreement. Frack.

When we got to the bike dealer to pick up his loaner bike, they weren’t actually open until 5:30 (we got there at 5:17). They’d closed at 5, and don’t reopen until Tuesday. Ken’s supposed to fly home from Colorado Tuesday after returning the bike there. Which means he’ll now have to change his flight, which will cost money. Frack.

Also on the way, my car starting making a weird noise and smell. Still drivable, and we had to get it back to the dealer for a few other minor things next week, but this is also an added expense plus I can’t drive it to the LARA meeting in Encino tomorrow morning. Frack and double frack.

Oh, and while we’re at it? Four friends at the Styx show in Vancouver last night—the one where we had the offer of front-row tickets but turned them down because we were paying for an ailing cat instead—failed to call me during the show.

On the plus side, tea was lovely, and it’s overcast and cooler today. I suppose now I should throw caution to the wind and go down to my study and try to write…

Dazed and confused

My brain seems to have gone walkabout, except for short stretches of time. Sigh. I blame this Mercury-going-retrograde thing, for want of a better victim.

Tuesday morning I took Eostre to the posh vet for a recheck. Her values were still up, and although she didn’t appear to be dehydrated, there was something else that showed up that normally does if a cat is dehydrated. So, now she’s on three medications—along with the first two (each once a day, although one of those is ¾ of a pill, so I have to give her a half and then a quarter), the third is three times a day. Worse, she’s now getting subcu fluids twice a day.

Grimoire handled the subcu fluids well. He loves sitting on people’s laps, so the lap time and scritchies often made him purr, even when the needle was in. Eostre, on the other hand, likes to be near you. Maybe touching you with one paw. No laps, no real cuddling. So it’s already A Bad Thing, and Then There is the Needle and the Fluids. She’s gotten a bit better, but there have been times when I’ve been reduced to tears afterwards. :-(

Anyway, Ken arrived home Tuesday afternoon, and there was much rejoicing. Morgana and Brian invited us over for dinner, and then we hung out at Textile Guild. Lots of people there, and it was great to just hang out with friends. I feel blessed by all of them.

What did we do Wednesday? I know in the afternoon we went up the hill to drop off the bike Ken borrowed at the dealer (he used the wheels and carried the final drive in case of his own failing during the rally) and pick up a new laptop charger for him. And since we were in Thousand Oaks, of course we had to have dinner at Cho Cho San. Mmmm, suuuushi!

Thursday we were very good and went to the local Farmer’s Market (two blocks away) and stocked up on yummy fresh things:

• green grapes
• small watermelon
• cantaloupe
• strawberries
• broccoli
• salad greens mix
• green onions
• little yellow tomatoes
• Japanese cucumbers
• corn on the cob
• fresh tamales (two beef, two chicken, two Jack cheese-and-chili)—they were supper tonight along with the corn and some Spanish rice I whipped up. Nom!

We also went grocery shopping and have food for the next few days. We forgot to factor in that Ken will be leaving sometime Sunday to ride to Colorado to return that borrowed bike. Oops! Well, some of it will keep.

We were going to go to the movies that afternoon, but I was feeling all out of sorts because I wasn’t getting as much work done as I needed to, so I sat at my writing computer until my eyes bled (at least, that’s what it felt like). Mercury, retrograde, ptui.

I went thrifting with Morgana this afternoon, and lo, our thrifting fu was mighty! Actually, mine was okay, but hers was definitely mighty! I came away with a hat (to become a steampunk hat), a black lace scarf (for the veil of the hat), a couple pieces of antique linen, a couple of Halloween decorations, and some magazine boxes (to split with Morgana). I also found a fantastic wing chair for $10 that Ken and I plan to pick up tomorrow. And possible a filing cabinet for the sewing room. Need to double-check that.

Huh. I was ready to fall over at 8:30 tonight, and somehow it’s almost 11 now. WTF? ‘kay, I’m outta here. Tomorrow is Morgana’s birthday tea in Santa Monica, and it would behoove me to get up at a decent hour and get some writing done before we leave…

In the Flesh write-up

The write-up of last month's In the Flesh LA reading has been posted. There's even a picture of Sophie (well, kinda) and a couple of me as well. Enjoy!

Adventures in Spokane

I am such a dork! First I thought the restaurants at GEG were before the security checkpoint, so Ken came to the airport to have lunch with me before I flew out. Nope. We made do with a coffee kiosk that had sandwiches. I wasn’t hungry yet, so I just bought a mocha for now and a sandwich and water for later.

Water. Before the security checkpoint. Doi! Hard to believe I fly an average of once a month. It broke my heart to leave an unopened bottle behind, but what can I do? I firmly believe TSA is getting kickbacks from the bottled water companies for this ridiculousness.

~ ~ ~

Other than that, a wonderful weekend! I got to the hotel Thursday and met up with our friends Ernie and Pauline, who plied me with wine in the hotel bar before we went our separate ways. I checked Ken’s SPOT tracker and figured out when he’d be in, then set the alarm for 6. (Ugh.) The three of us were outside in our Team Meese shirts to see him swoop up to the finish/check-in at 6:59 a.m., squeaking in right before the penalty period started. Whoo! Ernie and I both got some good pictures that I’ll upload soon. Some riders arrived looking completely knackered and zombie-like, but Ken had a huge smile on his face.

After he went through his paperwork and got scored, he was ready for a nap, so I settled into the hotel atrium, caught up on e-mail as best I could (the wireless was slooooow), and got some work done. Then it was time for pre-banquet drinks, at which Ken was pulled into a room with nine other riders… So yeah, we knew going in that he’d made the top ten. Just didn’t know where yet.

Our friend Margaret also finished, despite losing two days (!) to a bike problem. She thought she was out, but then she got the bike fixed and she managed to finish. (You have to hit a minimum number of points to finish; it’s not enough to just hit the checkpoints. About 1/3 of the starting riders didn’t officially finish.)

Have I mentioned I’m so proud of Ken! ::beam::

After the banquet I hung out with Ernie and Pauline more while Ken had his picture taken and was congratulated a million times. We were both still exhausted, though, so it was still kind of an early night. Also, he had a 7:30 a.m. appt to be interviewed for the DVD.

I slept in a little longer, then met him and Ernie and Pauline for breakfast. They headed out after that, and Ken and I headed to the nearby Riverfront Park, a lovely large shaded green park along the river. (Hence its name.) This weekend was the big annual Pig Out in the Park frenzy, with about 60 food vendors, some merchants, carnival rides, etc.

We wandered through and found the gondola ride, which took us over the Spokane Falls and back (and gave us some smooching time :-) ). Then we left the park on the other side to visit the historic Davenport Hotel, built in 1914. The Hall of the Doges ballroom, inspired by the Doge’s Palace in Venice, was gorgeous! We had a great time wandering around and looking at all the historic photos, too.

Back in the park, we grabbed some food (soba noodles and fresh veggies for me, a slice of pizza for Ken, and chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick to share), then rode the historic Looff Carousel.

After that, we were wiped—plus it had gotten pretty hot—so after swinging back through the merchants so I could pick up a couple of holiday presents, we headed back to the hotel, changed into our suits, and hit the outdoor pool, which had a fun slide and a waterfall to plash under. We soaked in the indoor jacuzzi (where we ran into other IBR folks) before going back to the room and collapsing for a while. We’d toyed with going back into town and having fondue for dinner, but neither of us had the energy or inclination. So we hit the hotel restaurant, where he had fish and chips (and was a heathen because he put ketchup on them!) and I had an amazing pesto scampi ravioli to die for.

Back in the room, Ken fell asleep at 7:30 and was out for 12 hours. :-) I stayed up for awhile catching up on blogs and Twitter and Facebook, since I simply didn’t have the brain power to write. (I thought about it, though!) I still fell over pretty early (for me), though. It was nice to get a full night’s sleep—haven’t done that in a long time.

~ ~ ~

Is it wrong that I just correctly answered a history trivia question on the plane because of a Sting song?