Memento Mori

I have brownies in the oven. The fact that they have almonds in them makes them healthy, right?

Also, the weather today makes me feel like bellowing,

Falling leaves,
And fading trees,
Goodbye, Summer!
Goodbye!

[/Egelbauer moment] (Go to 2.39 and 3.58 ish)

Reason I love fall:

It means winter is coming.

Reason I love winter:

It means it will be cold.

Reason I like cold:

It means my love for snuggling deep in a pile of toasty warm blankets in bed can be fully realised without the slightest discomfort.

If we got more snow here in Lebanon, everything would be just perfect for a Me. But I won't complain, anyway, because life is good.

***

Slept fairly well last night despite waking up several times. Spot cuddled but stayed out of mischief and I managed to avoid having to actually get up to pee until Dan's alarm went off.

Oh, and we watched "Insurrection", which was much fun. Spot was quite engrossed in it for a long time, too, which was really funny to watch.

Time to begin the day.

Dear Mirror with Glass Doors in my room,

Thank you for having the courtesy to let me know Just How Fat I Really Am right now. I only ask that you try to break these things to me more gently in future. It's kind of a shock, because looking DOWN I don't think I look that big. From the side I look like a bloated, slightly wobbly mass.

Again, thanks for the revelation, and the unspoken reminder that it only gets bigger from here.

Iffy kind of love,
Jael

***

We watched "Fireproof" this evening after hiking at McDowell Creek Park. The acting was, as Andrew promised, pretty bad. It had some good points, but at the same time I wasn't completely sold on the whole thing. I think it could have been better, but at the very least it did promote good values, the need for Jesus to be central, and - I am sure - will help a lot of people to rethink the way they look at their marriages. If nothing else? The salt and pepper wedding cake topper was THE BEST.

Spot did quite well walking today and we got him a tin of salmon as a reward. We aren't, obviously, giving him the whole thing. We had some ourselves and some left over, so he can have another treat of it tomorrow. I've never had tinned salmon before. It was interesting. Not disgusting, but definitely far short of freshly cooked salmon. Makes me wonder if I'd think less of tinned tuna if I tried fresh. Better not tamper with a good thing.

We also bought him his first bag of Grown Up Cat food, so we can start making the transition - he'll be a year old in a few weeks here, so it's about the right time. And some thank-you cards from the Dollar Tree.

Time for bed.

Well, I went to the library again today, returned Psmith, and came home with four more books. A friendly librarian urged me to use the self-checkout, which was a fascinating experiment that almost didn't work. I like the middle-aged librarians much better than the younger, blond one who is almost always there and (I'm gathering) is in charge because I have often seen the others defer to her. I can't quite lay my finger on what it is, but I think she would start grating on my nerves very quickly if I had to work with her.

The lady who helped me today was very chatty and started talking about one of the authors I had selected and recommending other of his titles left and right. That was certainly not expected and I liked it. It reminded me of Sherri, the librarian in Pinehurst when I was little, who was always so chipper and would go to great lengths to find books for my avidly book-devouring family.

I'm really tired right now. It's starting to warm up. Glad I went to the library when I did, because it's too hot to go out now. Besides the fact that my internal water balloon causes me aches and pains when I get up and move around.

So I've been sitting, reading, and periodically watching some infant extremity protrude fleetingly through my skin like a Space Special ragtime alien about to emerge.

*hour later.... I got waaaaaay too sidetracked watching Mel Brooks clips on YouTube.......*

Spot is a ball of energy this morning. He's out front now writhing around on the pavement and making squeaking noises. I'm almost done cleaning up the kitchen and then I'll have to make lunch and get the rest of the raspberries in the freezer. 15 quart bags so far (the fifteenth not quite full). Yummy.

It's Bastille Day. I feel like I should be watching "A Tale of Two Cities", but I'm not sure I could handle the emotional overload. Hmm. On the other hand, it would give me something to do to motivate me to do kitchen work while watching the movie play. (I've got iRene down here in the dining room because we are iBook-less until Donna comes home.)

Yeah... maybe. I'll think it over.

Just when I think it can't get any worse, it gets worse.

I woke up at like 3.30am with my throat so sore I could barely swallow, so I warmed up a glass of cranberry juice with a Walborn tablet in and that was really helpful. I was able to go back to bed and rest (though I didn't really sleep much after that).

Now, though, it's bad again.

I feel like my computer has become EMERAC. I keep typing actual questions into the Google box. I have Desk Set on the brain lately and I don't own it and that makes me sad. I may have to buy myself a copy. But I don't want to pay shipping and Ginny always mocks me if I buy something else just to get the free shipping. *sigh*

Guess I better go find something I can eat. Taking my vitamin is going to be a joy this morning. Blah.

Well, the dude and his friend who were to come at some point today have yet to show. He called me last week to say he needed to get measurements for his best man so they could know what size they needed to order. First of all, I think that's just bizarre, because anywhere you rent a suit, I would THINK the proprietors would take care of the sizing for you. Second of all, he lives in Bend and I'm clueless why his friend, who apparently lives here, can't just come on his own?

I'm kind of hoping he doesn't show up, because it's really a pointless job for me. Still, it's annoying to have to hang around waiting for him to appear.

We did a double feature. We did a slightly strange double feature. We rented "Prince Caspian" (the Disney one from last year) and then watched the BBC version of "Prince Caspian".

I'm fascinated by the contrast. While I felt the BBC was generally more faithful to the book inasmuch as I can remember, it was insanely short. Still, I think it takes talent to condense into about half an hour what Disney told in grand, lush glory in two and a half hours.

Disney's, naturally, was chock-full of special effects and Lord-of-the-Ringsian-ness. I was like, what's with making Caspian look like a copy of Elijah Wood? CASPIAN WAS BLOND. Thank you. And very young. Still, I was surprised that it actually was quite good with Christian themes intact. The story was pretty close to the book, but it was massively rearranged to suit the flow they needed for all the additional battle scenes they decided to throw in. Aslan was pretty good. I could tell he was animated, but he was certainly no worse than BBC's stuffed one. Liam Neeson was a good choice for his voice, that's for sure.

Biggest complaint? The retardedness of Susan/Caspian having the gazing fests, and also the song that played at the end, which seemed to belittle the reality of what just happened.

The scene where they called up the White Witch... I actually found the Disney one less bothersome on that scale, weirdly enough. Perhaps because it really brought home the point that sin is seductive and alluring. BBC rushed through the scene and repeatedly used the term "calling up". Okay, so that's what they did in both versions, but less emphasis on the spiritist-calling-up aspect is good by me, thanks.

Between the two, I'm not sure which I'd choose. The simplicity and straightforwardness of the BBC version appealed to me, but there were certain things about the Disney one that were excellent as well.

I know they're planning to release Dawn Treader either this year or next. We're curious whether they plan to do the entire series. Does anyone know? BBC stopped at "The Silver Chair". I'm thinking that if they plan to do all of them, they should really do "The Last Battle" and "The Horse and His Boy" soon before the kids all get too old for the parts.

I did Go to the Library and Get My Card, Take Two this morning. It went beautifully. Of course, once I got into the library I kinda got sucked into a black hole. I found the Chris Van Allsburg books in the children's area and of course had to revisit those. They didn't have "The Stranger", but they did have the Harris Burdick one. Seriously one of the best books ever.

Got a book on knitting at the library and went to Hidden Treasures to see if they had a pair of knitting needles. They had. Went and got some money from the bank to get them. $2. At least I'm reusing someone else's needles rather than going to Wal-Mart for new ones. Right? ;-)

"What Would Jesus Buy" is really making me think a lot about just how commercial we are - even me, who doesn't have TV to give me a lot of commercial exposure. Dan is pretty good about just not buying things. He likes to buy local produce and avoid Asian-manufactured products as much as possible. Obviously, you can't totally cut that out of your life because there's so little made here anymore. But the less we support it, the better off the country will be. Reverend Billy is extreme and perhaps a bit crazy, but he wasn't afraid to make himself heard, anyway. I need to finish watching it today.

So I came home and got the laundry going while I made six more jars of applesauce. The goal is 30 jars of applesauce. Not sure how many we have so far but probably about half that. Not sure what on earth we're going to do with the rest of the apples. Maybe juice? I'd enjoy that.

I need to make the bed and get going on a few more doll dresses today. So much to do.

So I ended up just staying home yesterday and going back to sleep because I was so ridiculously dizzy every time I moved. Sleep helped. By evening I felt better and we went to Harriet's to see some fireworks show. We were anticipating something rather amateur and went away duly impressed. It rivalled any professional show I ever saw... lasted about half an hour and the finale lasted 20 minutes of that. Veddy worth the long drive out.

Then we came home and watched "We're No Angels" which was happy making and went to bed after midnight.

32 hours until Weird Al.

This morning was Girl of the Golden West, and Dan didn't click with that one too well. Said the beginning was too confusing and he couldn't understand what was going on. I can't say I blame him, although I much enjoy it myself. After lunch we went walking in downtown Cambridge Springs. It was really bright outside, so we went into several shops to be out of the sun. It was fun to look around, and I found a set of the Risë Stevens love songs record at the junk shop. Yay. It's a little mildewy, but I hope that can be remedied.

We came back and took a nap, which left me really dazed when we did get up. We dressed in our tuxedo shirts because Ron and Barbara were doing a concert that night after dinner. It ended right at sundown, so we stole away. Robert had called Dan though about his server and that crisis had to be remedied. Then we went upstairs and I had my bath and we enjoyed each other's company until we decided to go to bed.

( Pho Toes )