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Day 1102: Under Construction
Jan. 19th, 2014 11:05 amMy house. Is under construction. Ish. My parents, who are awesome and kind of genius, drove up on Monday and stayed till Wednesday to help fix my bathrooms. The downstairs bathroom no longer looks like something out of a prison cell - now the new sink has a nice cabinet so I can store useful things like spare rolls of TP and soap. There are also shelves to store things, and also towel rods, because those are super handy as well. They also installed a new showerhead and mom figured out how to get the gunk out of the shower. Apparently it was caulking the renovator was too lazy to clean up himself. (I have been scrubbing at it with lime-away for literally months, and then Cody said, nonchalant as can be, "I could've told you it was caulking." NOT HELPFUL.) But we spent time with Mum and Dad, and we had dinner together a couple of times, and we talked (debated heatedly about the new gay marriage turn of events in Utah - I told all my friends Utah would not be the last state to legalize it) and had fun, and it was good. Ivy was, for the most part, pretty well-behaved, but she's spent a lot of time this week either in her kennel or banished outside while we did things inside, so she's feeling a little unloved and neglected.
After my parents left, Cody and I got a last-minute invitation from his brother to go to a ska concert. Reel Big Fish were the headliners, but I think I had fun with Suburban Legends the best. Bob and Sean were there, and they looked after me when I was in the pit. (Bob looked a bit terrified about holding my hand so as not to lose me in the crowd. Sean, whose sense of personal space has been broken by years and years of kenpo, just grabbed my hand and dragged me into the pit.) I wore the new kicks my sister bought me for Christmas, and they have proved themselves worthy of being my kicks. Cody's younger brother was also there, and I think jumping around in the pit was good catharsis for his broken heart, poor kid. A mosh pit is always a curious study in boorishness and chivalry. On the one hand, Reel Big Fish has a song about punching little girls in the pit (at which point some girls in Bettie Paige dresses and sporting victory rolls dragged me to safety), but on the other hand, whenever the pit got super rough, a big dude would plant himself in front of me and act as a buffer until I could get my sea legs again. I did spend most of my time on the edges of the pit - and sometimes in the pit - with my hands up in a kenpo guard, because my face is pretty much at elbow height, and dancing in the pit does involve a lot of elbows. Afterwards we went to Denny's and talked and hung out, and by the time we rolled home it was 2 AM, so the fact that I was useful at all the next day at work was a miracle.
(I had my annual review this week, which consisted of a ten-minute phone call in which I was instructed to be more 'thorough in my research' for the non-legal minions and also informed that I received a small raise which has basically again been negated by the increase in insurance premiums, but hey, at least they like me enough to give me a raise, right? Interest rates are going up so origination has been slashed by about two-thirds this year so there isn't as much money to go around, and whoa, that makes me sound like the most boring person ever.)
I got some crocheting done - started on a tiny mock-up of a skull-patterned corset from a pattern a friend bought me. Certain baby clothes are easy to make at once, but after the disaster with the baby denim jacket of doom, more complicated outfits should have a tiny mock-up just in case. So if I ever lose the pattern, hey, at least I have a tiny model to work from, right?
I started watching Battlestar Galactica at the suggestion of my friend Jenny. I tried the 1978 version but couldn't do it. The modern version looks better. I like Tahmoh Penikett a lot and was kind of excited to see him in the latest episode of SPN (which...urgh). Also I am excited for some Mark Sheppard.
And then, because I was feeling weird on Friday, I started watching this Korean drama that popped up on my Netflix dash, called "The Great Doctor". Which is awesome. And kind of terrible. I can't tell if the acting is bad or good, because I don't really have a baseline for quality Korean cinema, but the animated portions are cool, and it involves time travel, which is one of my favorite plot kinks ever. Cody even started watching it with me while he stitches sheathes for his knives. Whenever a romantic moment is going to happen, an overblown pop song plays too loudly in the background, and Cody has taken to making up his own translations for the songs while they play, which is hilarious. I will have to see what other Korean dramas are kicking around on Netflix after this, because I am having waaaaay too much fun with this. I am pretty sure that the dramatic music they have going is cribbed from Pirates of the Caribbean, and it makes me giggle every time I hear it. But I also scream at the screen a lot, which is a good sign that I'm having fun with the show.
My girl BenTen sent me the poem I need for my novella, which means I now owe people edits on my novella. Since I am also the lawyer, the arrival of the poem resulted in a flurry of legal typing, and someone needs to get back to me on the model forms of those contracts pronto so I can go ahead and get the paperwork signed for my novella. I also spent a good chunk of time typing up GPOAs and AHCDs for my sister and her husband, because yesterday their family came down. Wayne is a master electrician, and he helped Cody install a ceiling light in our living room, which has been super dark since we moved in. Now that the light is also a ceiling fan, the room won't be a vicious sauna in the summer. My sister and I hung out with my niece. I taught her to vaguely play the drums, and we played some Chaos Rings on my iPad, and watched 3/4 of Mulan (but apparently Marina didn't like the singing? She had her fingers in her ears, and it was hilarious) and 2 episodes of BBC Merlin. At Wal-Mart we browsed the toy aisles (and bemoaned the abundance of white princess dolls, and then conspired to watch crazy Barbie stop-motion comedies on YouTube), and we tried Marina on a bicycle, but she refused to pedal and instead scooted herself with her feet (in her defense, she has a scooter, so it seemed a logical method of locomotion to her). Then we went to the park and blew bubbles, played on the swings, and slid down some slides.
...I am not Marina's mother, but following her around the playground was terrifying. Up high there were some spots where she could have easily fallen (and I am not too fond of heights myself) and I was always afraid she'd fall. But she climbed the fake mountain and liked the dinosaur bones hidden beneath the mountain (she thinks dinosaurs and dragons are interchangeable, which is a fair mistake to make; she's not the first), and she liked "driving" with the two steering wheels randomly attached to the playground equipment. She drove one car and insisted the other car belonged to "Uncle Cody", but I was allowed to drive it. (If there was two of anything, the first was hers, and the other was Uncle Cody's. She also thinks every store we go to is Home Depot.) Marina is getting much better at speaking, but her enunciation is kind of fuzzy sometimes, and there was a seriously awkward moment or two when she wanted to go see the big clock (there was a toy clock on the playground as well) and I had no clue what she was saying, but I was pretty sure it was inappropriate for a two-year-old to say.
After the family left, it was just Cody and me, Cody feeling terribly ill - the installation took ten hours instead of five, poor Wayne - and me exhausted from making sure my niece didn't, you know, die. Cody had a fever and put himself to bed after I gave him tea, and I cleaned up as quietly as I could. Now that he's awake I can vacuum stuff up, but he was pretty miserable. I gave him tea and toast this morning, and he's going to skip the last two hours of church so as not to infect, you know, everyone. We were supposed to have dinner with my cousin and his family, but I called and begged off, and now I think we have been saved from dinner forever but I have a standing invitation to pop by my cousin's office if ever I'm on campus. (Usually I am not on campus. Usually I am just driving by campus, and I pull over long enough to inform Cody that he must pet the puppy if he wants his laptop or his lunch, since he forgets those often and Ivy likes to go on car rides.)
In other news, Ivy's mom got knocked up again, and we have claimed one of her litter as a little brother for Ivy, so Ivy will have someone to play with. She got into the pie this week, but she didn't get much of it before I caught her and sent her to jail.
After my parents left, Cody and I got a last-minute invitation from his brother to go to a ska concert. Reel Big Fish were the headliners, but I think I had fun with Suburban Legends the best. Bob and Sean were there, and they looked after me when I was in the pit. (Bob looked a bit terrified about holding my hand so as not to lose me in the crowd. Sean, whose sense of personal space has been broken by years and years of kenpo, just grabbed my hand and dragged me into the pit.) I wore the new kicks my sister bought me for Christmas, and they have proved themselves worthy of being my kicks. Cody's younger brother was also there, and I think jumping around in the pit was good catharsis for his broken heart, poor kid. A mosh pit is always a curious study in boorishness and chivalry. On the one hand, Reel Big Fish has a song about punching little girls in the pit (at which point some girls in Bettie Paige dresses and sporting victory rolls dragged me to safety), but on the other hand, whenever the pit got super rough, a big dude would plant himself in front of me and act as a buffer until I could get my sea legs again. I did spend most of my time on the edges of the pit - and sometimes in the pit - with my hands up in a kenpo guard, because my face is pretty much at elbow height, and dancing in the pit does involve a lot of elbows. Afterwards we went to Denny's and talked and hung out, and by the time we rolled home it was 2 AM, so the fact that I was useful at all the next day at work was a miracle.
(I had my annual review this week, which consisted of a ten-minute phone call in which I was instructed to be more 'thorough in my research' for the non-legal minions and also informed that I received a small raise which has basically again been negated by the increase in insurance premiums, but hey, at least they like me enough to give me a raise, right? Interest rates are going up so origination has been slashed by about two-thirds this year so there isn't as much money to go around, and whoa, that makes me sound like the most boring person ever.)
I got some crocheting done - started on a tiny mock-up of a skull-patterned corset from a pattern a friend bought me. Certain baby clothes are easy to make at once, but after the disaster with the baby denim jacket of doom, more complicated outfits should have a tiny mock-up just in case. So if I ever lose the pattern, hey, at least I have a tiny model to work from, right?
I started watching Battlestar Galactica at the suggestion of my friend Jenny. I tried the 1978 version but couldn't do it. The modern version looks better. I like Tahmoh Penikett a lot and was kind of excited to see him in the latest episode of SPN (which...urgh). Also I am excited for some Mark Sheppard.
And then, because I was feeling weird on Friday, I started watching this Korean drama that popped up on my Netflix dash, called "The Great Doctor". Which is awesome. And kind of terrible. I can't tell if the acting is bad or good, because I don't really have a baseline for quality Korean cinema, but the animated portions are cool, and it involves time travel, which is one of my favorite plot kinks ever. Cody even started watching it with me while he stitches sheathes for his knives. Whenever a romantic moment is going to happen, an overblown pop song plays too loudly in the background, and Cody has taken to making up his own translations for the songs while they play, which is hilarious. I will have to see what other Korean dramas are kicking around on Netflix after this, because I am having waaaaay too much fun with this. I am pretty sure that the dramatic music they have going is cribbed from Pirates of the Caribbean, and it makes me giggle every time I hear it. But I also scream at the screen a lot, which is a good sign that I'm having fun with the show.
My girl BenTen sent me the poem I need for my novella, which means I now owe people edits on my novella. Since I am also the lawyer, the arrival of the poem resulted in a flurry of legal typing, and someone needs to get back to me on the model forms of those contracts pronto so I can go ahead and get the paperwork signed for my novella. I also spent a good chunk of time typing up GPOAs and AHCDs for my sister and her husband, because yesterday their family came down. Wayne is a master electrician, and he helped Cody install a ceiling light in our living room, which has been super dark since we moved in. Now that the light is also a ceiling fan, the room won't be a vicious sauna in the summer. My sister and I hung out with my niece. I taught her to vaguely play the drums, and we played some Chaos Rings on my iPad, and watched 3/4 of Mulan (but apparently Marina didn't like the singing? She had her fingers in her ears, and it was hilarious) and 2 episodes of BBC Merlin. At Wal-Mart we browsed the toy aisles (and bemoaned the abundance of white princess dolls, and then conspired to watch crazy Barbie stop-motion comedies on YouTube), and we tried Marina on a bicycle, but she refused to pedal and instead scooted herself with her feet (in her defense, she has a scooter, so it seemed a logical method of locomotion to her). Then we went to the park and blew bubbles, played on the swings, and slid down some slides.
...I am not Marina's mother, but following her around the playground was terrifying. Up high there were some spots where she could have easily fallen (and I am not too fond of heights myself) and I was always afraid she'd fall. But she climbed the fake mountain and liked the dinosaur bones hidden beneath the mountain (she thinks dinosaurs and dragons are interchangeable, which is a fair mistake to make; she's not the first), and she liked "driving" with the two steering wheels randomly attached to the playground equipment. She drove one car and insisted the other car belonged to "Uncle Cody", but I was allowed to drive it. (If there was two of anything, the first was hers, and the other was Uncle Cody's. She also thinks every store we go to is Home Depot.) Marina is getting much better at speaking, but her enunciation is kind of fuzzy sometimes, and there was a seriously awkward moment or two when she wanted to go see the big clock (there was a toy clock on the playground as well) and I had no clue what she was saying, but I was pretty sure it was inappropriate for a two-year-old to say.
After the family left, it was just Cody and me, Cody feeling terribly ill - the installation took ten hours instead of five, poor Wayne - and me exhausted from making sure my niece didn't, you know, die. Cody had a fever and put himself to bed after I gave him tea, and I cleaned up as quietly as I could. Now that he's awake I can vacuum stuff up, but he was pretty miserable. I gave him tea and toast this morning, and he's going to skip the last two hours of church so as not to infect, you know, everyone. We were supposed to have dinner with my cousin and his family, but I called and begged off, and now I think we have been saved from dinner forever but I have a standing invitation to pop by my cousin's office if ever I'm on campus. (Usually I am not on campus. Usually I am just driving by campus, and I pull over long enough to inform Cody that he must pet the puppy if he wants his laptop or his lunch, since he forgets those often and Ivy likes to go on car rides.)
In other news, Ivy's mom got knocked up again, and we have claimed one of her litter as a little brother for Ivy, so Ivy will have someone to play with. She got into the pie this week, but she didn't get much of it before I caught her and sent her to jail.
