Ice Princess

For anyone who missed seeing the news elsewhere, Aromaleigh has decided to close up shop. I'm not terribly surprised; she has been steadily discontinuing product lines for months now, and has made reference to numerous personal issues occupying her attention. Once the foundations were discontinued, that was pretty much it for me anyway, as the foundations were the reason I became a customer. But if you need to stock up on anything still available, do it soon, as stuff will sell out very quickly. Use the code ADIEU35 to get 35% off an order for the next two weeks.

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The period of intense work I've been in for the last six weeks or so ended yesterday. (It actually ended Friday, because we got stuff finished early, but yesterday was the official delivery date.) There will be things to occupy me for the rest of the summer, but it won't be as intense and jam-packed as these last several weeks have been. It's always a litle weird coming down off one of these long stretches of work; I have to re-learn how to have free time and relax. I'm sure that says something less than complimentary about me. But it's not really anything new.

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My new Fluevogs (the reward to myself for making it through the work madness) were supposed to arrive today, but UPS screwed up and now they're arriving tomorrow. I ended up getting the lilac Pearl Harts. They weren't my actual final choice, I had come to a decision on the black Pilgrims, but by the time I made that decision, the black Pilgrims were sold out in any size I could remotely wear. I have no doubts I'll love the Pearl Harts anyway.

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I bought gingerbread liqueur yesterday. It does taste like gingerbread, albeit gingerbread that is far more cloyingly sweet than I would ever make. It won't be suitable for drinking on its own. So I'll just have to mix it with lemon or ginger vodka.

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Shylah had a fairly routine vet appointment last Friday (that is, it wasn't because she was ill), and the bloodwork results came back yesterday. She has some arthritis in her hips and needs to strengthen her back legs, and there's a small possibility of hypothyroid issues (the numbers were low but not conclusive on that, and she has none of the most obvious symptoms). Aside from that, and some dental concerns, she is in really good shape for a 12-year-old large-breed dog. Now that we know where she's at, we'll be taking steps to try and ensure she stays in good shape as time goes on, but it's still good to know we're starting from a solid base.

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Finally, as your reward for all this blather, a little amusement (courtesy of rocza). Here is a recall notice for a dietary supplement called "Magic Power Coffee." This might seem not particularly worthy of attention. But you'll want to actually read the notice for why they're recalling it. The money shot, so to speak, is in the second paragraph.

Still far too busy. Still having to put shedloads of things off to the side because I don't know when I'll be able to get to them.

Highlights of the weekend:
--Snow leopard cubs, penguins, arctic foxes, up-close raptors, bears, a sleepy jaguar, mini-donkeys and mini-cows gobbling romaine, and morthael's ongoing appeal to goats.
--A serendipitous encounter with bork and her filling us in on all the little secrets of her neighborhood (which isn't that far from our neighborhood and we should visit).
--New books and chai cupcakes.
--A gorgeous fluffy tiger cat named Luke with incredible amber eyes, who reached through the bars of his kennel for us.
--Babygoths in vinyl on the Ave in the middle of a Sunday.
--Passing a blustery afternoon cozy on the couch with our new books, a bottle of cheap German gewurztraminer (slightly too sweet, but with an interesting grapefruit note on the finish), and 1940s music.
--A nostalgic look back at our days as WWE fans.
--Snuggly kitties and a silly dog making our home delightful.
--Building new desks and figuring out space issues.
--Spicy Thai on a miserable night.

Lowlights of the weekend:
--Continual work.
--Poor sleep for both of us.
--Periodic crankiness for both of us (which was probably related to the previous item).
--Recurring old difficulties with no easy solutions.
--Human stupidity regarding animals and how to behave in public.
--morthael injuring his ankle as a result of the above.
--Not bringing the fluffy tiger cat home with us. There are a dozen reasons we shouldn't get another cat, but it broke our hearts to walk away from him.
--An ongoing comedy of errors with the building of the desks, involving three trips to Storables, phone calls for measurements, and accidentally ripping down the curtains in the office.
--A Forever Knight marathon on Chiller. I can't really decide if this was awful or awesome. Probably a bit of both.

And then today I worked even more. I've worked enough already this week that I'll only need to take two days of PTO for the Tennessee trip instead of three.

The RSI issues are better with the new desk setup, but not completely gone. I can't tell at this point if the ergonomics are still the problem or if I'm just so inflamed from so much work that things haven't had a chance to calm down. The trip should give me a break and hopefully I'll be a lot better when I get home.

Tonight I still have to go through my toiletries and see if there's anything that needs filling up or replacing and try to get one more load of laundry done. Tomorrow I have to do even more work than I did today, do more laundry, run out to get anything that's missing and, I hope, get to Ballard to pick up the beloved boots that I handed into the care of cupcake_goth's favorite cobbler for rescue (which were ready a week and a half earlier than I expected, and which I don't want to leave sitting there for another week and a half because it will be that long before I can get out there again), pack, and do all the house tasks that need to get done before we go.

Someday there will be more than being this busy. But not for awhile yet.

This weekend, SoapNet is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Luke & Laura's first wedding, and is showing a few old episodes. Right now they're showing the episdoe where they spent the night in the department store. We watched the wedding itself on Friday.

It's fascinating to revisit this stuff. So many characters and actors long gone, and the way those still around have grown. (I am particularly fond of the actor who played Edward Quartermaine back then; he reminded me of my grandfather. The current Edward isn't as appealing.) The change in production values is also interesting; the music then was a few canned clips (and really dreadful cheesey ones at that) that got re-used wherever it was vaguely appropriate, the camerawork isn't always sterling, and I've spotted a few excellent production gaffes. (During the wedding, there's a shot where you can clearly spot a floor director trying to duck out of the way of the moving actors.) And of course, the general differences in fashion and style and decorating, and cringing at them. (The bridesmaids' outfits for the first wedding are true horrors, and yet I'm sure I was enchanted by them at the time.)

What I'm most struck by, however, is Luke and Laura. They really weren't particularly appealing characters on their own. Laura was a selfish, spoiled-brat princess (though, interestingly, not quite the mold of the classic soap suffering heroine), and Luke was a fairly skeevy small-time hustler. And yet, the two of them together created magic that's actually sustained for a quarter-century. That's a tribute to everyone involved, to Tony Geary and Genie Francis for capitalizing on the chemistry they had, on the writers for recognizing it and making something of it, and to everyone for carrying that through for all these years, even during the times one or both actors were gone from the show. For all that I will mock this show (and both my husband's and my own interest in watching), the power of a soap opera lies in its characters, and making characters the audience can connect with is a great achievement. I have great respect for everyone who has made "Luke&Laura" the entity such a powerful thing for the audience for all these years.

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Somewhat astonishingly, I have *not* had to spend every waking moment this weekend working; I have to wait for others to work through their parts of the process, and with all the other books done, that means some actual free time. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with myself at first when I was told it would be awhile before things came through. Last night I was able to get laundry put away, and then I actually cooked dinner for the first time in I can't remember how long. I'd hoped to get a couple of errands run this morning, but the weather is rather inhospitable, so I guess I'll have to wait till later in the week.

I found out at our Friday morning meeting that the delivery has been pushed out an extra day. While I'm not crazy about having to do this for even one day longer, it ultimately works out better--I won't have to be in Bellevue on Monday and worry about getting stuck in traffic and being late for/missing flamenco. Either way, it should be totally done by the end of next week. The question after that is whether there will be any new work to do. Always flood or drought.

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Squish came and joined me in bed again early yesterday morning, once again after Kevin had left for work; this time he curled up in the crook of my arm. He didn't stay there till I woke up, but he was there for a couple of hours at least. And last night he joined us shortly after we'd gone to bed, with Kevin there, and laid down by my side where I petted him till we fell asleep. He did get freaked out when Shylah got on and off the bed and fled again, but he's definitely getting the idea that joining the rest of the family in bed is a nice thing. We know he's still freaked out by Shylah, and I don't know that anything but time will address that. He also seems to be a little afraid of Kevin, partly because Kevin isn't here as much as I am and partly because of a general hesitation about male humans. Kevin's actively working to get Squish more comfortable with him, by spending time petting and cuddling with him.

This morning, Squish discovered the bathtub. He was quite fascinated by it, particularly the rubber mat, which he kept trying to pull up the edge of. Kaga jumped up on the edge of the tub while Squish was in it, and I thought for a moment we'd have the best battle ever (seriously, cats fighting in a bathtub, how much more hilarious can it get?), but after sniffing at Squish, Kaga just ran off, and a moment later Squish sprang out of the tub and followed him. So we're just having run-of-the-mill elephant stampedes up and down the stairs.

Last night, Squish and Kaga shared the bed (until we came along and disrupted it), and Kaga briefly licked Squish's head and one of his paws.

This morning, Kaga is engaging in some serious dominance actions, specifically grabbing Squish by the back of the neck. This is a little worrying to me, but as long as it doesn't get beyond that, I won't interfere.

Three steps forward, one back. It's still progress and I'm trying to keep that in mind.



When did the food at Serafina get so...pedestrian? My mother took us to dinner last night, and while the food was all right, it really wasn't what I've always expected from them--just kind of "okay," with assorted little missed beats of various kinds. But damn, do I love the dining room with all the sconces and fairy lights swatched in organza. Such a lush, romantic atmosphere.



We have to deliver two books in a week and a half, and one of those books is only halfway through first layout (never mind proofing, corrections, and review of corrections). I think this is where I start panicking.

Okay, here's another thing that's getting on me right now, and I've been meaning to write about it for weeks. (This is uber-nerd stuff, incidentally, and not in an interesting way.)

Stacks.
( I'm stacked, but that's not what I'm talking about )