Loki

cosmicavatar @ 6:38pm: Being middle-aged ain't too bad.
Many thanks to everyone who posted, left messages or sent texts regarding my birthday. Most kind!

Well, the weekend didn't go quite as planned, but it was still good.

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bally @ 1:47pm: Bones
On Saturday I read The Lovely Bones. On Wednesday I will be taking it to the charity shop.

cosmicavatar @ 7:12pm: There's A Mouse In My Piano; What Am I Gonna Do?
Well, my fears were confirmed. After a night of hackage, I woke up yesterday morning with a cold, a sore throat, a crashing headache (with earache and toothache thrown in), plus my first chilblain in over a decade. Whuh?

Most of the time since then has been spent sleeping. The only excitement has been when Treacle brought a mouse in last night. And let it go, of course. It promptly dived for the piano and went to ground. After divesting the piano of various panels to reduce its weight and pulling it out (with barriers around it to prevent further escape), we managed to flush our unwelcome guest out a couple of times but it kept darting back in before we or Treacle could grab it (well, she grabbed it twice and let it go AGAIN, the daft mog). After a while there was no more movement from the mouse and I discovered that one of our makeshift barricades had a gap in it. I put the barricade back just in case, but as it looked as though the mouse had made a run for it, we gave up and chose to wait until it reappeared from wherever it had got to this time.

Today (after another semi-drugged sleep until early afternoon), I was sitting at the computer when I heard a faint bass twang from the depths of the piano. "Is that what I think it is?" thought I. A minute or so later there was a trill from the treble section. I turned around with a sense of fatalism to see the mouse's head appear above the top row of key pegs. We regarded each other for a long moment, before mousey popped back down like a retreating jack-in-the-box. With typical maturity I crashed my hands down on the piano keys and amidst the resulting cacophony yelled, "Get out of my piano!" at the retreating rodent. And that's been all she wrote for a while.

Oh, well. At least we know the mouse is still barricaded in with the piano. I hope it hasn't been trying to make a nest out of it. I've set a couple of humane (take-'em-alive) mousetraps inside the barricade in the faint hope that our whiskery friend takes the bait...

drummergirl @ 12:43pm: NOT ENOUGH HOURS. ARGH,
Today:

- I spent 15 minutes de-icing the car before I could even leave this morning. Arrrrrrrgh!
- I was very productive on my course (which overran again, as people showed up late, and so we didn't leave until 12:45)
- I went to the new house to give some documents to the lady who's sorting out the kitchen (did I mention we bought a kitchen last week?) The boiler and radiators are all in (hurrah) and the house was actually warm! Joy!
- This afternoon I've managed to knock out some review sheets and poetry sheets for Chatterbooks tomorrow; god bless Publisher is all I can say.
- Now I need to bash on with my essay. Due date is MONDAY and my mum thinks she's coming up this weekend - I'll be out most of Saturday with my GSE team (America trip).

I can has rest soon? Please?

cosmicavatar @ 8:37pm: Every Little Helps (Except When It Doesn't)
Today I got some 5 x 9 " photo-sleeves for my convention and event photoshoots and a nice strong folder in which to keep them. I wasn't keen on keeping the photos in autograph protectors as they were sticking a bit, so I'm much relieved. Yay photos!

On the scabbier side of the news, I fear I am getting a cold. No-o-o-o-o-o!

cosmicavatar @ 9:55pm: Unbelievable
In keeping with the DIY bug with which I have been bitten, I am currently entertaining the idea of tearing down the wallpaper in the living-room and landing and painting the walls instead as a project for later on in the year.

I really ought to be committed. Right now.

drummergirl @ 4:29pm: *flail*
Still feeling weak and miserable but managed to babysit this afternoon just fine. We went for a walk by the river and I took my camera and let Adam take pictures of interesting things he found. Then we went for a coffee (ok, a tea and a hot chocolate) and came back here to print them out. (We also played with Lego inbetween.)

Compounded by the fact that I turned on Twilight Princess as a post-dinner slobout, and forgot that I'm stuck at the fish catching task. ARGH. Will someone come to my house and catch this goddamn fish for me, please, before I put the remote through the TV?

I didn't even want to go to the Snowpeak temple, but right now I really, really just WANT THE FISH.

Admittedly I'd probably be taking this a lot better if I could breathe through my nose and my face didn't feel so puffy.

ETA: I finally caught the goddamn fish!

cosmicavatar @ 6:53pm: Oooo, Me Back.
I am tired and my back is very sore. But it has been another achieve-y weekend.

Although my FarmVille addiction is sometimes appalling to me (when the Internet went down yesterday morning, I was like a grouchy bear until I got it and my farm back), it is reaping rewards; I was able to upgrade to the Mighty Plantation (the largest size currently available) and be in a position to design my Dream Farm at last. I love it!

I have also been busy on the DIY front. I have now stripped the lino from the lobby, the downstairs bog and all of the kitchen bar under the tumble-dryer, under the fridge and a patch in front of the living-room door. I wasn't originally planning to cover the downstairs bog, incidentally - it was only when I was stripping the lobby and realized that under the bog carpet was yet more lino that I decided it might be good to do that area too. That carpet is so manky now. Of course this means I now have to bring forward the scheduled painting of the inside of the bog door and jambs as well...

H had a very good concert on Saturday including a solo and duet part at various points in the pieces played. What with that, his own FarmVille achievements and the ripping up of the carpet tacks in the downstairs bog and moving of the dishwasher and whatnot so I could do my lino thing, he's been pretty busy too. He's currently finishing off supper for us; he made the most amazing pot-luck meal on Friday with scallops, onion, scrambled egg and tarragon. Tonight is pork loin steaks and blackberry & apple pie. YUMMY.

bally @ 12:44pm: Sign O' The Times
( Not so much 'long' as 'has many carriage returns' )

drummergirl @ 9:37am: Oh FFS!
I've picked up a cold. I'm not exactly dying or anything but I feel super-lethergic and miserable.

What should I do to perk myself up?

bally @ 11:46pm: Porcelain
Another week slowly rumbles into a weekend. This is a good thing.

Hope you're going to make time to enjoy yourselves this weekend, dear light-hearted reader.