another egocentric sunday

(To the tune of “Pleasant Valley Sunday” by The Monkees)

I only recently found out that my EeePC has loads of fun and easy photo editing thingies (which is a very technical term, of course).

Also, I realised loads of you hadn’t seen my new glasses yet.

Edited to add

I woke up grumpy on Friday morning.  Ush was awake and trying to get me to be awake and I didn’t want to be awake, so I resented his attempts and responded by grumbling.  He shook my shoulders before hugging me and saying, “But honey, it’s your GREAT day!”

Oh yeah!!

Smile turned on; grumpiness dissolved.  And subsequently, alongside jeans/takeaway/newmobilephone/Christmastree day, it was also a good hair day!  So that’s nice.

Today will very likey be pretty great as well, seeing as I have a phone date with my mom and no immediate plans to change out of my jim jams.

Sweet.

27 days, 11 hours, 46 minutes

Just a bit of rambling on the agenda this evening. My days have been very busy with work and my evenings/weekends have been filled with things requiring my attention and so forcing my blog and most other Internet activity to take a backburner. And sometimes not even any burner.

But regardless, I like being busy at work (despite stressing every Monday after my boss has been in at the weekend and left me a truckload) and at home I appreciate the need to do what needs to be done, and I’m glad to do it, so life is good!

I sent a “Happy Thanksgiving” email around the office today, and subsequently educated loads of colleagues about Thanksgiving and also about Black Friday, a day which I don’t ever plan to partake in, by the way.

My Friday will be splendid because I’m going to put up my Christmas tree, something I’ve been looking forward to for days weeks ok, months! Tomorrow is also great because it’s jeans day (woo!), takeaway night (yum!), and I’m-finally-getting-a-new-mobile-phone day (hoorayyyy!).

My period of mourning after finishing the Harry Potter series has now passed. I still miss him, and the ache will surely return with the release of the remaining films, so I’m ready for it. I’m now reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. And yes yes, I’m sure I’ll read the Twilight series at some point. I don’t seem to jump on bandwagons until everyone else has already gotten off. Ho hum!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. In general, though still genuine, I am thankful for my family, my friends, and our health, security, and abundant blessings. Specifically, today I am thankful for my husband who I adore. He is the best part of my everyday.

SPTIGTBTTMS: Part 3

Stuff People Typed Into Google That Brought Them To My Site:

“Sexual obedience”

“Visible cleavage”

“I couldn’t agree more”

“adjectives for evil”

“man are like dogs”

And the second most popular one (second only to ‘gok wan’) is:

“mrs.american pai”

(Is that you, Mom? Do you not have me bookmarked? I need to re-organise your Favorites when I’m home at Christmas, don’t I? (32 days!))

the gestation period for homesickness

I can last about 9 months away from my family before I start to ache for them.  Note I said ache. I generally miss them, in varying degrees, every day of those 9 months.  But after that period, I really ache for them.

I miss hugging them, absorbing my dad’s adoration, sharing stories and running errands with my mom, all of us laughing til we can’t breathe, bonding with my brother.  I so want to meet his new love, to see the change in him.  I didn’t even know my mom was going to be on the Food Network today.

It’s the same old story I’ve been telling ever since I’ve lived here, and the annoying bloody paradox hasn’t changed either – I ache for my loved ones, but I don’t want to live there.  Not yet.

So, in the meantime, I maintain my countdown til I see them again.

33 Days, 17 hours, and 56 minutes.

Because I was almost flattened

Dear Teenager Who Almost Killed Me Today,

First of all, congratulations on now being legally able to drive and I see that your daddy bought you a shiny new Merc! How nice for you, darling, I’m sure you earned it.

But I’d appreciate it if, from now on, you and your Merc (or any other engine-powered vehicle, for that matter) wouldn’t go zooming down any more one-way, pedestrian-filled, cars-packed-on-both-sides roads where people often cross because its outside a busy tube station.

I’d rather not become a pancake on the road, thanks, so if you could work on that for next time, that’d be great.

Happy to be alive,
Stephanie

Doris Day

At first I cringed when I saw the result. Rizzo singing “Sandra Dee” came to mind.

Why couldn’t I be someone fabulous like Hepburn? Or sexy like Monroe? Or classic like Jackie O?

But then I read the result and it was almost spot-on… And I felt quite proud to be who I am!

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz…

You Are a Doris!

You are a Doris — “I must help others.”

Dorises are warm, concerned, nurturing, and sensitive to other people’s needs.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Tell me that you appreciate me. Be specific.
• * Share fun times with me.
• * Take an interest in my problems, though I will probably try to focus on yours.
• * Let me know that I am important and special to you.
• * Be gentle if you decide to criticize me.

In Intimate Relationships

• * Reassure me that I am interesting to you.
• * Reassure me often that you love me.
• * Tell me I’m attractive and that you’re glad to be seen with me.

What I Like About Being a Doris

• * being able to relate easily to people and to make friends
• * knowing what people need and being able to make their lives better
• * being generous, caring, and warm
• * being sensitive to and perceptive about others’ feelings
• * being enthusiastic and fun-loving, and having a good sense of humor

What’s Hard About Being a Doris

• * not being able to say no
• * having low self-esteem
• * feeling drained from overdoing for others
• * not doing things I really like to do for myself for fear of being selfish
• * criticizing myself for not feeling as loving as I think I should
• * being upset that others don’t tune in to me as much as I tune in to them
• * working so hard to be tactful and considerate that I suppress my real feelings

Dorises as Children Often

• * are very sensitive to disapproval and criticism
• * try hard to please their parents by being helpful and understanding
• * are outwardly compliant
• * are popular or try to be popular with other children
• * act coy, precocious, or dramatic in order to get attention
• * are clowns and jokers (the more extroverted Dorises), or quiet and shy (the more introverted Dorises)

Dorises as Parents

• * are good listeners, love their children unconditionally, and are warm and encouraging (or suffer guilt if they aren’t)
• * are often playful with their children
• * wonder: “Am I doing it right?” “Am I giving enough?” “Have I caused irreparable damage?”
• * can become fiercely protective

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Thanks, SAJ, for posting the quiz!

I feel like a puppet

…and Shonda Rhimes is the puppetmaster.

WOW, I have been put through the ringer during these last three episodes! I must be a bit of a glutton for punishment, but this is why I love falling behind and then watching 2-3 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy in a row.

Tonight, while Ush indulged in his latest obsession – the newest version of World of Warcraft – I watched and enjoyed episode 6, then went straight into episode 7. Lots of crying in episode 7. From me, of course.

The whole Izzie/Denny storyline (from season 2? or was it 3?) was probably my favourite in all of Grey’s Anatomy land. So the reappearance of Denny, even if only in Izzie’s mind, sent me reeling.

I needed to take a break. Leave the room, get a glass of water, allow the swollen eyes to rest a bit. And then I was back in for episode 8. Le sigh. I loved Izzie’s resolute “I will always love you, but goodbye” speech (and I’m crying). And Alex so beautifully tried to be supportive, even burning the sweater for her. Yet Denny remains. And she touches him (and I’m sobbing) and they kiss and my heart breaks into a million pieces.

And that is why this show is a fantastic piece of television wonderfulness – because they’ve made me believe that a dead guy is alive again and I want him to be and so for the next three weeks or so, until I watch it again, by golly he IS alive! Forever and ever Amen.

Frozen moments

I came across this series, 126 Photos Worth Freezing, whilst dosing myself up with all things cute.  It’s a great series (there’s a lot of ads on the page, just scroll down a ways and you’ll soon see the first pic), and I have one to add!

(This is Ush, back in his days with Mumcuss.)

They nailed it. No pun intended.

One of my favourite blogs is Looky, Daddy! (see Blogroll) and his most recent post made me LOL, as he has perfectly captured the male-female dynamic so common in marriage.

I don’t need romance, candlelight, or, “you know, sexy things” – just do some laundry, please!