wordinista

I like being busy. I do. But MY GOD I would just love one day where I could do absolutely nothing, with no interruptions.  Last week went by so fast, because EVERY DAY there was some project I had to start/continue/finish.  I got part of my homework done, but not all of it, and so I'm chained to my desk this morning, determined to finish my assignments in a manner that will not require me to work right up to the very last second before leaving for class.

Yeah, I know. Updating my LJ is not the best way to that goal.

First and foremost, HUGE HUGS AND CONGRATULATIONS to everstar3.  She knows why.  <3

Second -- our living room is now painted.  It's gorgeous and I LOVE IT.  Two walls are a dark green (think British racing green) and the other two are more of a sage green color.  We rearranged a few things and got a new area rug (omgsomuchlove), and it just.  I love it.  This place is slowly ceasing to look like the rental I've been bitching about for two or three years.  Foyer is done, living room is done -- next up?  The kitchen!  I'd really love to get the cabinets refaced, but I don't think the landlord will go for that, so I'm going to prime and paint them.  I'm thinking about maybe doing a faux finish on the cabinets -- an antique crackle effect, maybe.  I don't know for sure.  I need to decide on a color scheme first.

Also knocked off of the "TO PAINT" list is our bathroom!  Oy vey, Mom and I started renovating the bathroom in October.  But then she got sick, then I got sick, then stuff happened, and things had to get done in a very piecemeal manner, and now FINALLY the walls are painted.  Actually, wait.  That sounds really bad.  It did not take nearly a year to paint the bathroom.  No, we took out the sliding shower door, ripped out the vanity, took down the wallpaper, removed the godawful ugly ceramic towel holder thingies, patched up the holes, repaired some water damage, installed a new showerhead and dial, AND painted.  There, that sounds better.  Now Mom is going to put up a new... bullnose?  Basically a new tile border for the shower.  And we have a new lighting fixture to install, and then the new vanity goes in and OH MY GOD WE'RE GETTING OUR MASTER BATHROOM BACK. 

Tora's brother and his girlfriend are coming to spend Labor Day weekend here, so that should be fun.  He told Tora that he did NOT tell their parents that they'd be in town, because, and I quote, "We don't need the drama."

And in closing, Tora made dinner for me last night.  After another day of painting and inhaling fumes (and oh, my god, my hand is so stiff today), he made grilled Salmon filets with fennel and coriander, and a grilled salad (yes, grilled) of radicchio, romaine, and red leaf lettuce in a dijon-honey-balsamic vinegar dressing.  (Bon Appetit magazine, you are my new best friend.) 

I have. The best. Husband. Ever.

My Good Omens scents arrived today (best hubby EVAR), and ... okay, I put on Crowley first because I'm weak like that.

From the BPAL forums:

Nothing about him looked particularly demonic, at least by classical standards. No horns, no wings. Admittedly he was listening to a Best of Queen tape, but no conclusions should be drawn from this because all tapes left in a car for more than a fortnights metamorphose into Best of Queen albums. No particularly demonic thoughts were going through his head. In fact, he was wondering vaguely who Moey and Chandon were.

Crowley had dark hair, and good cheekbones, and he was wearing snakeskin shoes, or at least presumably he was wearing shoes, and he could do really weird things with his tongue. And, whenever he forgot himself, he had a tendency to hiss.

Infernal musk, red patchouli, lilac cologne, mahogany, lemon rind, oakmoss, leather, and vanilla husk.

In the bottle, the lilac and patchouli came through most strongly for me, and even though I liked Aziraphale better at first sniff, Crowley went on first because... Crowley. 

When I first put it on, the vanilla came through a little more strongly, but as it warmed to my skin, the musk and mahogany and the leather (omg the leather) are the strongest notes.  If I close my eyes and inhale, I can pick out the lemon and the vanilla, but only just.  The lilac fades and I can't really make out any mossy scent at all.

It smells sexy and indulgent, and words cannot express how much I love this scent.  Best. Husband. Ever.

I'll review Aziraphale tomorrow, if I don't wear Crowley again.


Also saw HP today.  Um.  Given the other movies, I kind of went in with rather low expectations.  I actually had no problems with it, probably because I did not get around to re-reading OotP like I'd planned.  It's exactly what I expected from an HP movie -- a decent plot, spiffy effects, and key details either glossed over or left out completely.  Frankly I was more outraged by the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice movie.

Why is it one of my favorite songs still has the power to make me cry, after all these years?

This weekend was pretty low-key, but nice.  Tora-kun and I played the Lord of the Rings edition of "Risk" Friday night, and it was a lot of fun, even though it was the first time we'd played, and the rules were... there were a LOT of rules, and I think we screwed up the rules for about the first hour of gameplay, and then figured out we were screwing up the rules, but by that point I'd already started to lose. ;)  Funny thing was that the game really followed how the battles went -- except that the dice hated me, and I got my ass handed to me on a platter at Minas Tirith.  *sigh*  (Of course, I have no doubt it was amusing to watch me yelling at the dice and the tiny little gamepieces.  My preferred invective of the night was, "Sonofawhore!" and was directed at the dice, my Elven archers, my Rohan riders, and every one of Tora-kun's victories.) 

Seriously, though -- FUN GAME.  It comes with a replica of The One Ring, and ... okay, it's a bit small, right?  Tora-kun held it up:  "And the one pinky ring shall rule them all!"

Heh.  Guess you had to be there. ;)

Saturday was nice -- went around looking for a park so Darwin could get some exercise without overdoing it and re-hurting his foot -- we ended up at the dog park during a nice lull when the only other dogs there were a Weimeraner and some sort of Setter mix.  The Setter started playing mean with Darwin, so the owner took him home, leaving the Weimeraner and Darwin to play, and it was so sweet, because Sammy (the Weimeraner) had just the best temperament and basically let Darwin do whatever he wanted -- tackle him, tug on his ears, wrestle him, chase him, catch him...  We ended up leaving once an influx of dogs showed up (there was one -- and Aussie mix named Tesla -- who is a darling, but riles Darwin up, and I didn't want to risk him going into overdrive, which he would do with Tess there).  Then went got some takeout (Darwin started barking like a maniac at the poor girl who was just trying to give us our food) and went home and just sort of sacked out.

Sunday was much of the same.  I did some laundry and we signed up for Netflix, and watched some old flicks we hadn't seen in a while ("Gladiator" has the best music for a film I didn't like all that much, though Joaquin Phoenix is OMG SO DELIGHTFULLY CREEPY).  I made pizza and got adventurous with mine (mushrooms, green peppers, zucchini) and it was a lot better than I thought it would be, so next time I might experiment with eggplant and zucchini, which is a pizza topping combination I've wanted to make for a LONG time now, but I've just been too chicken.

Aaannnnd there was something else I wanted to post about, but can't for the life of me remember-- OH!  I remember now.

1.  If anyone wants to be added to original_niamh, I'm planning on doing some more on that blog, so just let me know and I'll add you.  Likewise, if anyone would like to be taken OFF the f-list for that blog, let me know. 

2.  To those people ON that journal's f-list -- I've been a bit stuck on something, and have done some rewriting on the last few chapters of UT, and while I'm a little better, I'm still stuck.  If anyone might be available to listen to me babble at them while trying to brainstorm a solution, and who isn't afraid to tell me "That's a really stupid idea, Bunneh," drop me a line, because I've been talking to myself a lot lately, and ... yeah.  I end up thinking most of my ideas are stupid.

3.  Would anyone on that f-list mind if I posted something that... has no outline and ... okay, I have no idea where it's going or what I'm doing with it. I'm still working on UT, but this ... it just... a muse piped up and stalked me for a bit, chattered at me, and then ran away, and I've been waiting for her to come back.  The story has no title, and, as of yet, no discernible plot.  A willing party to brainstorming would likewise be appreciated in this quarter.  Mostly it's my attempt to write a vampire story that doesn't suck (because, as we all know, so many of them do, despite the awful pun of it all).