hale pupule

Watched the pilot and second episodes of Firefly last night. Everyone who's seen it has said I would like it, and they were right! I'd normally blaze a trail through it, but with only fourteen-ish episodes and a movie, I'll draw it out a bit.

Spent a few hours in the garden today. Pulled weeds, fertilized the three front-porch plants, transplanted and pruned Mom's gardenia and orchid into bigger containers, started some spinach seeds, turned over the compost in the bin, and took some stuff to the dumpster. I'm now grotty, slightly sunburnt, and quite content, though the garden still looks a bit of a mess.

Basil is wilting despite my efforts to keep it alive, so I pinched most of the big leaves off and made bruschetta topping. Will nom it with garlic bread later.

Nice afternoon with Dad yesterday. Lunch out with each of us getting a dish to go as well as something to eat there, and then we went to the supermarket for enough stuff to get us through the week.

Fighter jets and stealth bombers flying overhead and three days of persistent, far-off engine noise means it's Grand Prix weekend! I missed seeing the planes this year, because they're overhead by the time you hear them and already gone before you run outside.

BBC Sherlock and John fanart is framed and hanging on my kitchen wall with my French art posters. The last Severus and Hermione Exchange piece will go under it as soon as the 6x8 frame arrives.

Made French toast with French bread today -- I normally just use sandwich bread. I always put so much cinnamon on it that I didn't think the kind of bread would make a difference, but it was a bit tastier than usual.

For once, the prevailing neighbor music is not the same Andrea Bocelli CDs over and over again. I'd thought to put an Eagles DVD on to shake mah bootay while I cleaned, but I'll just go with the neighbor's jazz instead of fighting it. (Right now it's Hugh Masekela's "Grazing in the Grass.")

Finally got around to watching episode one of Alec Guinness's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Friday night. I really liked it and will get through more this week.

Waiting for two fest assignments. I should be getting the craft one today or tomorrow, which is why I'm trying to get as much RL stuff done as I can now.

Back and knee aches are starting to manifest after the weed pulling and lugging of heavy pots. Brownies, Martinelli's, a Baker Street Babes podcast, and a bubble bath shall be my reward for a good day's work. *toddles off to beat the cat hair out of the rugs and REALLY earn some aches and pains*

So there's a weekend in a blog post from the most boring person on the planet. (That isn't self-pity; I like my little life.) I hope your weekends were even more enjoyable than mine has been. *blows kisses*

I've been more depressed than usual lately, so it's time for a Good Things list.

1. More of the world's first consulting detective. I watched Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes last night with great pleasure. ( A few vague spoilers this way. )

Now that I've seen this adaptation, I shall go back and look at sadynax's Sherlock comics again. (Any excuse.)

2. Lunch with friends today!

3. Alice in Wonderland at the Mysterium again tonight, and then Shannon's birthday party after. (Shannon was one of my daughters in Scrooge and Marley, and she's in tonight's play, too.) Snagged the last discount ticket from Goldstar, too.

4. Girl Scout shortbread cookies. They're excellent straight, but they're even yummier when I pile a few milk chocolate chips on top and then munch them one by one.

5. Silly physical comedy. This is a clip from the fourth series of A Bit of Fry and Laurie. They brought out Clive Mantle, who's just as tall as Stephen and Hugh, and then the next guest bounces out and thoughtfully makes it much easier for each of these men to kiss her hello (starting at 4:10 in this clip):



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=237GLvFUxi0

6. Happy, warm, purring cats, more episodes of Black Books, and avoiding dishwashing duties on a lazy Saturday morning.

7. Cheese popcorn! I bought three bags for me and Dad from my cousin's son for a Boy Scout fundraiser, and they arrived a couple days ago. It's not the best cheese popcorn I've ever had, but it's pretty good.

8. Blue toenail polish.

Sweet Mom brought a cold with her when she visited over the weekend. She usually stays away when she's sick, but since there's a three month old baby at the Jimbos', she kept the cold away from the Wee Beastie. And then stayed an extra day because she was afraid of infecting the rest of them. Fine for them, but it hit me like a freight train at 4 a.m. I understand, of course, but I'm still grumpy.

Could be worse. OTC meds are handling the worst of the symptoms. Sweet Dad went to the supermarket and got a few supplies for me, bless his sweet heart. (He even got organic celery instead of regular celery!) I've had juice, breakfast, and a quart of water since I got up again two hours ago. Now I'm improvising a chicken soup recipe from half a dozen recipes I've seen online and will set it on to stew (cooking the carrots and celery) for a few hours while I nap.

Edit: I promised earlier that I'd post the chicken soup slow cooker recipe under a cut if it turned out well. ( Read more... )

After four days of doing very little, Mom decided around six this evening that we've been sitting around too much. I didn't argue; all I've done since Boxing Day is embroider, read, cook, watch movies, and sleep. Spent all day Tuesday in pajamas. ( Read more... )

I made a chocolate cream pie this morning, and I just ate some of the leftover chocolate custard. This might be my best pie yet; the custard was really smooth. I've bought heavy whipping cream and will go at it a few minutes before noon to top the pie and then take it to the potluck at work.

I should make another pie and just go at it with a spoon. Maybe invite Phil over to celebrate his new job. He likes my cheesecake better, though, so maybe I'll try out the cheesecake recipe in cupcake proportions instead and use him as a guinea pig. I know for a fact he won't mind.

I'm not cooking for Thanksgiving, though. Mom wants to do something other than having us slave over a hot stove for two days, and though I'm going to miss the turkey and stuffing and all that, I see her point. Not sure what we'll do instead, but I'll make sure I get pie in there somewhere.

Past time to get my butt in gear. The potluck is in two hours, and I haven't even showered yet. PHPHPHPHBBBBBPPPPTTTT.

*points to icon* This is my mother. Lucky woman can sleep for ages.

Me, I get between six and eight hours of sleep, and then I wake up. O_O That's it. I've been out of bed for almost three hours, and now that I have stuff to do -- I'm baking cookies for some friends who are going out of town this morning -- I want to go back to bed. Oh, well.

I was very sad yesterday, and though I thought about Annie's Friday meme, I didn't do it. But I'm in the mood to do it now, so ... *shrug* So my five good things for this week are:

millennia2's chocolate chip cookie recipe

Stephen Fry sneezing like a duck (QI s1 e7)

Red Lobster's clam chowder -- yummy!

Mom's home for the weekend!

It's Saturday!

One of the Christmas/birthday presents I asked for was a waffle iron. I got it, and I finally pulled it out of the box and made the batter tonight. Once that waffle came out and I put the butter and syrup on it ... man! I scarfed that waffle down so fast, it was almost embarrassing; it was like ambrosia.

Nom nom nom.

In my travels today, I found the best thing in the world: Martinelli's sparkling apple cider in little individual bottles. It costs a bit more than the equivalent amount in the larger bottles, but it's perfect! A little six-pack of green bottles with sparkling cider in it. I discovered a month ago that Martinelli's is somehow the perfect thing to drink with chocolate. I like it even better than milk if I have a brownie, so I'm snacking on a bit of lovely dark brownie and a little bottle of apple cider as I transcribe more of QI.

I just set a chicken in the crock pot to cook overnight (thanks for the instructions, quietselkie), which wasn't an easy task with two felines twining themselves around my ankles. The Beastie Boys are looking up at me with puppy dog eyes and saying, "We smell the chicken. Why are you torturing us with the chicken? We know it's here somewhere; we can smell it, and we wants the chicken, Precious." (Yes, cats can make puppy-dog eyes. If you doubt it, come over to my flat when I open a can of tuna.)

( Little fandom rant: )

( She's talking about her flat again! Run! )

I like to post my to-do lists after I've actually done some of the items on them: ( If you click this, you must really be bored. )

The computers are in the kitchen, and the cats aren't allowed on the kitchen table or counters, so I've had to set up chairs on either side of me so the Beastie Boys can be close to me without sitting on the table itself. Boo-Boo is on the chair to my left, mostly curled up, but one of his front paws is stretched out and resting on my knee. The gesture makes me grin like the sentimental idiot that I am.