the sun will come out tomorrow

You guys, it’s almost laughable, but I feel GREAT today!

Yesterday’s so very low mood is such a distant memory, almost as if it didn’t even happen!! (cue Fleetwood Mac, “Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone!”)

After I wrote that post, the evening plodded along pretty much as usual.  Ush and I decided to forgo our usual Friday night takeaway and had leftover chilli instead (which was, by the way, the best chilli I’ve ever made.  I make it differently every single time, but this particular recipe is a keeper! The secret is using the canned kidney beans that come in a chili sauce. WOW so good!!  Thanks to my best work friend for that recommendation!)

Anyway – I did some laundry, cried again for no reason, we watched some TV, watched the dogs play with some of their new toys that I had bought earlier, played a new game on the DS that Ush bought, and eventually went to bed.

This morning, I had an appointment at 9:30 to get waxed, after which I planned to run some errands and make my once-maybe-twice-a-year visit to Starbucks.. Toffee nut latte for the win!!  It was very tasty, but not something I’d have any sort of desire to partake in regularly. Hence the once maybe twice a year.  The best drink I’ve ever had there is the cinnamon dolce latte, and if they don’t have that, then there’s very little point.  I like tea and I can make that at home.

ANYWAY.  All that said, I did all my errands this morning in an inexplicably great mood, complete with smiling at strangers and everything.  Bought a new dog bed because Sadie shredded yet another one (This is the 3rd time we’ve had to replace one because of that little butthead!  Still, at least she’s destroying HER stuff and not mine!)  Went to Sainsbury’s for some milk and decided I’d get something for Ush to cheer him up (his back has been acting up again, really bad this time.. he’s going to try to get a referral to see a neurologist.. Looks like surgery may be an option to look at now.)  The bakery section was mouth-watering this morning, so I got some sesame seed bagels and some salmon, cream cheese, and lemon.  And it worked – he was very pleased!

So I think I feel a new Saturday morning ritual coming on!!

And did I mention I’m in a great mood?  Because I really am!  The sun is shining very bright (brightly? Which is grammatically correct here?), the dogs are basking in it, Ush is playing FIFA 10, and I am going to curl up with a book.

In summary: Yesterday, everything sucked and would never ever get better.  Today, everything is great and I couldn’t ask for more!  Funny how that works, eh?

To all you men, be glad you’re men, ok?  And be patient with the women in your lives – they can’t help it.

today was one of THOSE days

<whisper>also known as day three of my period</whisper>

Thankfully things began alright this morning.  The hair was cooperating, it’s Friday which means I could wear jeans to work, and I had a cute new top to wear for the first time.  These are all good things – otherwise I might have completely fallen apart before I’d even gotten started.

I don’t think I’ve felt so NOT in control of my emotions since I was in high school.  That’s like 10 years ago, people.  When I was a teenager. Eww.

But that’s how it was today… I was not in control of my feelings, my reactions, my ability to deal.

I would have been furious if I hadn’t been so busy trying to feel nothing at all… because if I let myself feel something, anything, I’d start to tear up.

And if I couldn’t stop the eyes welling up, I’d have to slink off to the bathroom to regroup.  I’d done that three times before noon.

My favourite work friend (who works in a far away part of the office, so it’s not his fault he didn’t notice sooner) caught on around 12:15 and asked if I was ok.

And, obviously, someone showing concern was another on the list of many things that made me well up.  So I tried to honestly and quickly to assuage his concerns and shut him up.

When lunchtime rolled around, I walked down the road to the pet store to buy some treats and toys for the pups.  This made me feel a teeny bit better, because I knew it’d make them really happy.  I went to the grocery store and decided I would not hold back:  I bought comfort food.  A sausage/bacon sandwich.  A bag of crisps.  A brownie.  I went back to the office and ate it all.  This made me feel much more noticeably better. (Ah, the magic of fat, salt, and sugar.)

The afternoon was much easier to get through than the morning.  Still, though, on the tube ride home with aforementioned buddy, I was feeling shattered. Weary from holding it in all day.

I stepped off the train, up the stairs, across the bridge, down the stairs on the other side, and across the dark parking lot towards the road leading up to the house.   And then I cried.  I got to the house and I was still crying.  Dogs jumping and crawling over each other to try to be closer to me.  Still crying but then laughing a little bit too.

And now I feel better.

Regardless, I’m glad today is almost over!

Worse than beards

Apparently some guys at work are thinking about participating in Movember.

This grossed me out a bit, but I figured it was okay since most of them are in different parts of the office, so I wouldn’t regularly be faced with it.

(Don’t get me wrong – it’s a good cause and all.  But, with a few exceptions, I’m really not a fan of facial hair on anyone except my dad.)

I mentioned their plan to Ush, and he told me they may be doing it at his office too!!  Except with higher stakes – those men who don’t participate have to buy Nandos for the rest of them!!  He added that he was planning to grow a fu manchu.

Me:  “Oh Ushwin… Please, no!”

Him:  “Honey, I have to!  I don’t want to buy Nandos for 80 people!”

Me:  “Ok.. so you don’t want to have sex in November then?”

Ush:  *shocked and horrified silence*

Haha!  Now we wait.. I’ll personally write the cheque to whatever men’s health charity he wants, just please don’t grow a mo!!!

How to be British

Ush:  [making some comment about how he's a useless twat]

Steph:  Aw, honey, [*cheeky pause for emphasis on upcoming punchline*] you’re not useless!

Ush, acknowledging and appreciating the joke:  But I am a twat?!

Steph, ignoring the question:  Don’t you love how British I am?!  I regularly insult the ones I love!

–

It’s true, you know, that’s how it’s done.

I remember the first time I saw Love Actually, when Liam Neeson’s character had recently lost his wife and began to cry, and his friend, Emma Thompson’s character, put her hand on his shoulder and said (something to the effect of), “Hey… no one’s going to want to shag you if you’re crying all the time.”  And I was kind of shocked by that!  How cruel!  What an uncaring friend!  Now is NOT the time for jokes like that!

But that’s how they do it!  They’re there for you, they listen, and then they mock.    And it’s all done out of love.

Quote of the Weekend

Ush is good at making up words.  Often instead of just a plain old curse, he’ll shout out “Ass burps!”  or “Wank jungles!”

He also makes up words when he can’t remember what the actual word is.  For example, he used to tease me for my affinity for the music of “Jason Wiggleywam” (Mraz), “Michael Bubblehead” (Buble), and Dogturd McGinty (Gavin Degraw!).

This weekend, he spouted another beauty!

“Oh, hey, your favourite author has a new book out.”

“Which favourite?”

“Umm.. You know, Audrey something… Audrey Nippletassles!”

*dies laughing* “NIFFENEGGER!”

“Yeah, that’s what I said!”

Oh dear.

the extent of my sewing skills

And I use the word ’skills’ losely!

Basically all I know how to do is hem things, which I need to do fairly often because of my height deficiency coupled with my slight inability to wear heels.  (Eg: I bought a pair of red linen-ish trousers from the Next petite range – and I still needed to take them up an inch.  Le sigh!)

Anyway, Mom taught me to hem years ago and I can do it like a pro. (And by ‘pro’ I mean ‘well enough that it holds together and hopefully no one notices any errors.’)

Last night yielded my best ever hemming ‘creation’.

I took a skirt that I bought when I was 18 (for our senior banquet!) – floor length with splits to the knee on each side – and chopped it at the splits, hemmed it, and now it’s perfect!

Because of the way it sits across my waist/hips, from the front it looks a bit like a pencil skirt, but when I turn to the side, it looks like an A-line!!  Hooray for not emphasising the bum!!

Happy girl, right here.

And I’d post photos, but I still haven’t hooked my camera up to the computer to try to download (upload?) the photos. So… maybe someday.

(Woo! New old skirt!)

On adding a third animal to our household

Ladies and gents, the new addition:

Isn’t it beautiful?  I mean honestly, it’s magical.  And I’m on cloud nine! Or cloud eleventy-hundred-and-two!

It all started about 6months ago-ish.  Inexplicably, our nearly two-year-old vacuum started emitting a horrible smell when it was on.  It still worked well enough, but just really stunk up a room!  Counterproductive in a way, but like I said, it was still ’sucking’ like it was supposed to.  I considered taking it in to get fixed, but when you don’t have a car these sorts of tasks are a bit tricky.  There’s a place down the road that does hoover repairs, but I didn’t really fancy rolling mine down the high street so I kept putting it off.

I secretly figured I’d just wait til it conked out, assuming that must be imminent, and then I’d be able to get a new one.  A Dyson [or something similar] was merely a twinkle in my eye!

Months passed.  It hadn’t yet died, and was emitting less of a smell.  Phew!  But also, damn!  It continued to work fine as well, so I had to accept that it would probably be with us for quite some time yet.

Months again.  Toby was diagnosed last year with mild indoor allergies (eg: dust, dust mites) (and also a severe allergy to fleas and flea saliva) (we think he might have some food allergies too, but that has nothing to do with this post).  We’ve tried loads of ways to control his itching – diet changes, medicines, supplements, etc.  Always on the lookout for new ideas or tips, Ush rang up a behaviourist named Annette, who has helped us out loads in the past, to see what she thought.  One of her first tips was to buy a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter.

When Ush told me this, I inwardly jumped for joy.  (Only inwardly because I was at work and he had phoned me to quickly tell me about his conversation with Annette before he forgot everything she said.  I took notes.)

Later that night, I went online to some consumer review sites and such to figure out what kind of hoover would be best.  Ush joined me halfway through my search and I happened to be on the Dyson website, having read quite a few positive reviews about the Animal and the Allergy models.  He said, “Honey! We’re not getting a Dyson.”

I knew he’d have that reaction.  All either of us previously knew about Dysons was that they were supposedly the king of hoovers and the price reflected it.  He couldn’t fathom spending that kind of money on something that provides a service so unimportant as cleaning!

I showed him what I had learned during my research – about what a HEPA filter is and what it does, about air watts and Root Cyclone™ technology, about Dyson’s commitment to customer service (just in case the thing breaks down), and most importantly, the fact that Argos currently had the DC27 Animal on sale!!!  He didn’t say so, but I knew by the next day that I had my ‘permission’ when he saw how ridiculously giddy the whole idea made me!

So, I waited out the rest of the week, knowing that Saturday was going to be Hoover Day! And to my pleasant surprise, my sweet hubby came with me to Argos to bring that bad boy home.

He left me alone in the lounge to unpack my new treasure, and went to the computer to post the following as his Facebook status:-

What do you buy the woman you love?  Diamonds? No – that’s for losers.  Holidays? Nah – that’s not romantic.  Dinner at a fancy restaurant? Pfff.  A Dyson Vacuum Cleaner? ……. Yep – It’s making Steph ejaculate.

I’m pleased to report that I have never experienced such elation and sheer joy after spending the rest of the morning vacuuming every inch of carpet in our lounge as well as the couch, around the crown molding, behind the TV, and also the dogs’ blankets.  It was a wonderful, magical thing.

relegate this

I’m trying really hard to come up with something non-Twilight-related to blog about.

But I’ve got nothing.  It still fills up a lot of my free thinking time – which is more than usual because I’m still out of work due to this stupid virus (which, my doctor confirmed this morning, can’t be helped except with rest and time). I tried to go back to work yesterday and failed miserably.  Twilight is my comfort blanket.

Ush did teach me about British football last night, though.  The different divisions and leagues and when the season starts and how teams can advance or be relegated blah blah blah.  This conversation took place in the dark last night before sleep came, and I’m honestly rather impressed that I managed to retain all that information about a subject that I really don’t care about one bit!  I guess it’s sort of nice to now be able to translate some of that football gibberish that I so often hear flying around.  But I’m still not that bothered either.

Anyway, after the football conversation, I soon fell asleep and returned to my Twilighty dreams.  And -confession time- I’ve now read through the first three books a second time and will tonight start my second read through Breaking Dawn.

*waits while you all roll your eyes and call me lame*

They’re just as good if not better the second time through!

And honestly, what else do you expect me to do with my time?! I’m supposed to be resting, and I can’t sleep too much or I won’t be able to sleep at night.  Daytime TV sucks and anything else besides reading is more effort than I’m allowed to exert.  So Twilight it is.

***EDITED TO ADD***
Oh man, you guys, when Jacob starts to run towards her, growling, and she screams, and he leaps over her and phases!!! Holy crap.  My pulse races and my heart climbs up into my throat!!!  It’s the first time I ever even comptemplated Team Jacob… Wow!

So I Married A Death Eater

The other day, whilst walking the dogs, I asked Ush – If you had the ability to perform just one spell from the Harry Potter series, which would you choose?  (It was a fun discussion, but his answer was most distressing!)

Following on from that conversation, a few days later, we had the following exchange:

[We were both laying on the couch, with one dog sprawled across us and the other scratching at the door to be let outside.  As usual, we each argued our case about why the other should be the one to get up and let the dog out.]

—

S:  Ah, if only I could just Accio! the door open.

U:  Or I could just Imperius you and make you do it.

S:  *horrified gasp* Honey! I told you, you can’t be a dark wizard!!!

U:  Why not?!  It’s so much better!

S:  No! Dumbledore says its wrong!

U:  Dumbledore is batty.

—

Yes, I know, we’re a little bit ridiculous.  And yes, I know, you obviously wouldn’t use Accio to open a door! (You’d use Alohomora. Duh.)

its that day, but I’m not in the park

Whoops! Another week gone by without blogging.  I don’t know what’s gotten into me.

Sorry! I’ll make it up to you…  Here’s a photo of Toby looking cute and a bit forlorn.

He hides away in the corner sometimes when Sadie is going slightly mental.  He’s afraid he’ll catch it, like swine flu. Or alternatively he’s afraid of getting caught in her whirlwind; he’s no storm chaser, my friends.  He’s a delicate flower (and I love him for it).

Anyway!  All better? Good.

This week, Ush and I formed a band called Meat.
(I wanted us to be called The Short Rounds, but he was the one who had the game controller.)
We bought Guitar Hero World Tour (similar to and -ahem- better than! Rock Band) and also bought (thanks Ebay!) the drum kit and microphone.  My rocker is named Sue and she’s pretty foxy.  Ush made his character (whose name consists of a whole bunch of letters forming no discernible word/name) as ugly as possible with a tattoo on his forehead that says SPAM.

Singing isn’t as fun when you’re trying to do it right, I’ve discovered.  So I’m gonna have a crack at the drums next time and see how I get on.  Guitar is still my favourite.

Oh, and in other news, I don’t tweet anymore.  Since coming back from the cruise, I never bothered updating it and so I figured I’d stop.  Actually, I just now spent 20 minutes on my page reading the recent tweets of my favorite tweeters. So I may try to keep up that way, but there probably won’t be any tweeting from me.
And for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry.

Before I go, this made me giggle:-