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great auntitude
May 11, 2015
I'm a great-aunty again; my oldest nephew and his wife welcomed a baby girl on Friday. Everyone is healthy, adorable, and pretty darned pleased. I am so happy for them; they are really ready for this, and it was a longshot, but everything went pretty well. And now they have a beautiful little girl. I need to pick out something special for a gift. I was conspicuously NOT invited to the shower for my side of the family (SSIL threw it), but that has nothing to do with the kids and how happy I am for them. They are big on fiscal responsibility (she's a CPA); maybe I will just send them a check for the little one's college fund.
I took Friday as a vacation day, just so I could work on my basement.
Didn't work on my basement.
Didn't do anything of significance, actually. Just lazed around. I'm so burned out that it is hard to get rolling. He picked me up after he got off of work and we ran to Pete's for dinner and over to Sam's Club for a few things.
Saturday was busy--I jumped up and went to work on the laundry and other housework, then got cleaned up and ready to go out, because the dog had his flu booster appointment at 10, and grooming appointment at noon. And when he got to the groomers, they told us they couldn't take him, because he had just had a shot!
So Spouse took him to the car, and I picked up a couple of grooming products to get rid of the smell, and we took him home. We had planned to run down to Costco while he was getting bathed, so he went into his crate and we ran our errands & came home. We were both pretty wiped from doing battle--we aren't used to doing our Saturday shopping in the afternoon, and fighting the throngs of people really sucked us dry.
We were both tired and hungry, so once we got home and put everything away, we grilled some pre-made pineapple-teriyaki chicken patties and threw together a salad, and called that dinner. And Spouse chucked a few potatoes into the toaster oven to pre-bake for morning.
Spouse has decided he needs a camera (Don't know why--he has the same excellent camera phone I do), so he spent a good deal of the weekend looking at them, both online and in the flesh. Found one he wanted at Sam's, found it online in a bigger, better bundle, and ordered it. I encouraged him, because it really seemed to be an outstanding value, and just what he was looking for. Sort of mid-point between a phone or point-and-shoot, snapshot-type of thing and the higher end DSLRs. Not outrageously expensive, and the package included a case, tripod, 32G SDHC, spare battery & car/house charger, and a bunch of other minor accessories. And free shipping. Whole thing was under $200.00. Canon Powershot SX-somethingorother blahblahblah.
On Sunday, Spouse & I got up and made a great breakfast--I made oven bacon, he made his amazing home-fries with herbs, shallots, and garlic & fried in bacon fat!!), we collaborated on the scrambled eggs, and he made the crunchy baguette toast.
And after we enjoyed it to the utmost (along with some excellent coffee), we cleaned up the kitchen, and then threw on our old grubby clothes and took the B to the dog wash.
He got a Nature's Miracle treatment, followed by the de-skunking solution they have at the wash station, and a thorough shampooing with special, skunk-odor removing shampoo. A thorough rinse, towel dry, blow dry, and a spritz of super-deodorizing pet spray.
It was hard to tell while he was still damp (that was pretty much all day!), but this morning it seemed like the odor was pretty much gone. He just smells like the lemon verbena & bergamot deoodorizing spray. And the house is smelling much better, too. Thank goodness! It was a looong, stinky week.
I'm so grateful for the Mobil station and their pet wash--soooo much easier and more efficient than trying to do it at home. You can get at him and do a really thorough job! Also, the extremely helpful Petsmart employee who helped me find the best shampoo and spray to get the job done.
Once we had him back home, Spouse ran back out with the Buick to get it filled up, then came home and had a much-needed shower. I took all of our dirties and threw them in the wash, and then had a shower myself. Spouse did a little make-ahead cooking while I changed his sheets--a small batch of his lovely pasta sauce. It made about 3 2-cup containers, which is plenty for three meals. One in the fridge for later this week, two in the freezer for a night when we want something simple for dinner.
We relaxed in the afternoon; Spouse stretched out on his bed with the B and his kindle, and I relaxed in the recliner with a cup of tea and my e-book of Random Harvest (This particular James Hilton novel is an old friend).
About three, he got up and started the dinner prep--he made pressure cooker pot roast. We ate about 5:00, and then watched TV for a while; he had recorded some shows we like to watch together. He rolled off to bed, and I did my prep for Monday, finished the rest of the laundry, & un-wound with some word games before bed.
I'm putting my foot down with myself. No more spending on pens and inks until June. (Paper, on the other hand...)
Seriously. I don't think it will be all that much of a problem, because I am enjoying my Conklin so much, and I have enough toys to give myself some variety. I mixed another custom ink the other day--took the Brilliant Brown, mixed in a bit of the brilliant red, and came out with a lovely rust-color similar to Noodler's Antietum. Bunch of pens, several inks, and more desire than time...definitely do not need another pen this month.
I was only half-joking about the paper, though. I found a great tablet at Walmart the other day, and I didn't spend the $8.88 on it, but I've been kicking myself ever since. It seemed like it would be ideal for a fountain pen-wielding southpaw. Cambridge Limited, Top-Bound double spiral. 8 7/8" x 11" white paper; legal-ruled 20lb. bond, 80 pages. Unpunched, microperfed. Linen cover, heavy backing.
So I will probably pick that up soon. I am having a hard time coming to terms with the price of really good paper, but I guess it isn't any different from the pens--you get what you pay for.
Reading:
Random Harvest (1937) by James Hilton
Listening:
I haven't been listening to much music. I'm getting frustrated with FM and I need to grab some fresh CDs for the car. (Did I mention how much I hate that the Buick doesn't have an audio jack?) Nobody much plays what I like on the radio, and I think it's because the kind of music I like is mostly popular with the millennials and post-millennials who don't get their music from the radio.
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