Just a lovely day

Really that just sums up the day. Mostly very slow and easy here at Greg and Janet's. Today has been their "leftovers and film noir" party. Around 1:30 Janet and I started rearranging furniture, I took over the kitchen making the various leftovers look even more tasty.

People have been drifting in and out with lovely conversations, yummy food. So far we have watched "Pick Up on South Street" which is an interesting tale involving the Cold War as a back drop - Thelma Ritter is amazing as usual and "Double Indemnity," which I hadn't seen in years. Written by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, it's easy to see who wrote the dialogue and who wrote the Fred's inner voice monologues.

We on an a talking jag now and still up for watching is "The Third Man" and "The Maltese Falcon". We shall see if we watch another tonight. I would certainly watch the Falcon again.

Lovely party, lovely day. Hope y'all are having a wonderful after the Festival of Stuffing Yourself Beyond Belief.

In which our herione has contracted the Black Plague

Oh my lovelies I have so much to tell you and show you but I have been afflicted most awfully with a terrible bug the likes of which I have not experienced for two decades. In between fevered thrashing and the ribs smacking coughing I think of all the writing I need to do and crawl back into sleep.

I have knitting to speak about with photos, a party I crashed (well not technically but...), seeing new and old friends, lovely ride shares. Just lots of things. But it will have to wait until my fever stops rising and falling to more than normal.

So everyone stay happy and well, send healthy thoughts.

In which our herione partied like it was...

it was the last night of 2007.

A few days before we had received an invite from Danielle, one of the lovely women of South Park. Then I heard from Chris and Julie asking if we were going. Well that clinched it in my book!

As it happened Sunday we went in search of St*ples, but somehow I would up at DSW. Go figure. Under the pretense of still being without winter boots I sauntered in. Since they had nothing that qualified I reasoned that just the other day I realized that should I ever get an interview I had nothing to wear on my feet that wasn't open toed sandals like or slinky f*ck-me pumps. Hence the hunt was on. Instantly I found something. The bonus is I now know what size I wear in Mudd. And they were another 30 or 40% off the sticker price.

So for the first time in forever I dressed up. For the first time in literally years I put on a skirt that actually bared my knees. Those who don't know me in real life, I don't generally show my knees. I do not wear shorts. I do not wear skirts. Except if I feel skinny, which is almost never. I didn't really feel particularly skinny Monday but I figure what the hey.

My outfit included my new purchase, which were positively commented on more than once that evening.

In a hunt for suitable clothing I went into the attic closet and rummaged through the black garbage bags of my belonging because I have yet to hang rods to turn it into a proper closet. For my birthday in 2006 I went to a good second hand clothing place on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley and bought this skirt on a whim (see above). It was just too cute to pass up. Since I now had appropriate shoes that were not sky high heels nor open toe (it is winter after all!) I thought just maybe I would wear it. Then began the hunt for black tights. Amazingly I had a pair with no runs. So along with a black lace tee shirt, a velvet jacket I wore the skirt.

Of course TGF assured me I looked fine. I chose to think I did too when in truth I knew that I was sporting what my friend Barrie referred to as "hooker legs" - thick legs peeking out of skirt thinking they are all that.

The party was great, fun, noisy, good conversation and lots of alcohol. If I had one cosmo I had at least four or five. Luckily they weren't very strong so they went down really easy. Danielle and Andy were great hosts, their children adorable, especially Asher who partied with us through the dropping of the ball. Hardy two year old. Whereas their eldest, Tess (age 7), asked TGF, Andy and I to keep it down during the house tour as she was trying to sleep. Lola the middle child, age 5, pranced around in a variety of costumes. Winter's husband Chris is our new best friend, and if he tries to get rid of us we will put those phone videos we took of him doing karaoke on You Tube.

Julie is still in a soft cast after some foot surgery and we had too much fun coming up with tawdry stories for her to tell about her "accident" because who needs the truth. It is just such a bummer that they are moving away this summer to Wisconsin. Part and parcel of academia. Chris works at Antioch which is having all sorts of fiscal issues and is mere yards from the chopping block. She wisely decided to be proactive, unfortunately it means moving from the neighborhood. Anyone want a sweet house with a rented cottage in back?

Around here people identify themselves by their homes (the yellow cottage on Oak, to the left of the green Victorian, number 314) or by their pets (Hi, I'm Shana, four dogs and two cats). It is really funny but really does help to break the ice. If people aren't proud of their house, it's their kids or their animals, or any combination thereof. After several meetings I finally know that Danielle is a philosophy professor at University of Dayton, which is a private Catholic university. Which is especially amusing as she looks about 25, has a Tigger tattoo on her chest and a pierced tongue. Have I mentioned that I love this area?

I cannot tell you the last time I went out for New Years Eve, hell there have been years of late where I don't even see midnight. This time, I partied, joked, drank, and I had an absolute blast.

When we left the winds were blowing wildly as we exited, not exactly tired but feeling we needed to get home to let the boy out and things were slowly winding down. We marveled at our luck at finding this place.

The next morning when the boy kindly woke me up around 9:15a.m. to go out we walked the green it was so quiet: no cars, no other people walking around. There was a light dusting of snow as we walked up and down the quiet path. It was a stark but somehow proper contrast to just nine hours earlier. The new year has begun.

It was a total blast!

As I mentioned sometime in the last week or so, we had been invited to a party in the neighborhood. Between the information of "the ladies" get together for dinner about once a month and the instantaneous way we seemed to be taken under the wing of the neighborhood, I confess to having a flash of fear that we had actually landed in a version of "The Stepford Wives" and we should steer clear of imbibing or ingesting anything being served at this shindig.

Pondering what to wear I realized that I still had not been able to unpack any of my clothes that hang since I hadn't drilled started holes to hang a few thick dowels in the attic closet. Very limited fashion choices faced me. Not only that but it's not like I could "put my face on" as I haven't unearthed my make up or jewelry. We also won't talk about how long it's been since I had my brows done (about three months) or a real haircut (a year). {Okay so I did just talk about it. Sue me!} So I had to shoot for pulled together casual but fashionable look. I'm not sure I pulled it off but I tried and that has to count for something.

Wandering around the house as we each hunted down things we needed to go before leaving, or find, I realized I had no idea of whether this was an on-time sort of group or what. TGF did NOT want to be the first, or even terribly close to first to arrive. We compromised by arriving about 6:15 for a 6pm start time. Things were in full swing! Lisa acted as mistress of ceremonies and herded us about insisting that one of the rules of such gatherings was that one had to have a drink in hand within five minutes of arriving. She also introduced us around, more than once, singly, as a couple, to a single person and groups.

Brett and Josh have an absolutely gorgeous home that has the distinct feel of gay male owned home - fashionable, interesting details, and meticulously staged for the party (though I suspect it looks a lot like that all the time. Damn them!). They also were lovely hosts, telling funny stories, mingling appropriately, making sure glasses were filled with various intoxicating substances.

It was great great fun. We were pointedly introduced to the other lesbian couple (we suspect a few women there were also dykes but who knows for sure), Julie and Chris who we great. We found ourselves drifting into conversation with them a few times. They are both research psychologists and though I have steered clear of such things I am grateful that I was able to name drop, as it were, SPSS. If I ever need to work with SPSS they apparently are the Queens of Statistics. Julie shared that she was so grateful not to be the only lesbian couple at these things anymore. I completely understand what she means as I have been in that role more times than I can count. Through them we found out that in our neighborhood live Kim Deal, and her sister Kelley lives in Oakwood. I mean really is that lesbian rocker street creed or what? Dayyum!

(Okay total aside, as I was looking up sources to link with Kim's name I found this: Tweak: So, Dayton — the Midwest's answer to Seattle? Did I not just say basically the same thing the other day??? Is that a riot or what?)

Anyway, we exchanged contact information with them and hope to get together with them soon. It also turns out that Brett and Josh used to own Therapy Cafe until just a couple of months ago - I was just there on Wednesday with DaintyKitty. Just amazing. Brett owns a hair salon which TGF swears she is calling on Monday to book us for a whole bunch of pampering. Suits me just fine because seriously, it's getting embarrassing to go out in public. Also Brett and Josh are involved with the Rubi Girls which led TGF to mutter how she must know them from her last incarnation as a Dayton resident.

It was absolutely a great time and there were a bunch of other gatherings mentioned that we were invited to attend. Clearly we have the makings of a social life here.

Baby steps

In my last post I mentioned creating a schedule for myself - it has built in times to study (three 1 hour slots per day, rotating my courses), garden, knit, clean, plus a list of other things that need doing randomly. In classic Dharma fashion I have not followed the schedule much at all except that I do use it as a guide when I find myself being aimless. Thus the last few days (even today and the weekends are not scheduled at all) have been pretty productive.

The other day I officially did more work in my Assessing Persons class than I ever managed to do when I first tried taking it two years ago. I actually read one entire article (out of the 5 articles plus 2 book chapters that are to be read for Unit 1 - we are not discussing how many units there are, nor how freaking big that course reader is, nope not doing it).

I just came in from working on the yard, well the sidewalk side of our yard - yeesh! What a mess and I didn't even get to that ugly section that neither one of us have been able to bring ourselves to deal with.

My secret project #1 got worked on for a bit last night, plus secret project #2 is more than half done - so knitting is happening. I will probably cast on soon for T'Mane's next garment. Last night I looked at the pattern and am not looking forward to casting on something like 225 stitches. Also it looks like I will need to buy a new circular needle for the project but first I will swatch on some straights to make sure of the size.

The biggest news is that I am actually in the bedroom at night before 11:30 (my goal is 11:00) and have gotten out of bed - including today which please note is a Saturday - at about 8:00am which is my goal. First thing I make coffee, feed animals, put a load of laundry in and/or deal with the dishes. It's amazing.

My loyal readers might have noticed I have been slacking in my postings, but have no fear, even blogging is on my schedule with a goal of three posts per week. If I am feeling terribly witty or have a serious rant it may be more often.

Yesterday I was rather crabby but rather than shrug it off and be sulkily silent which I can only imagine is terribly frustrating to TGF, I actually spoke to her before taking anything out on her. Novel idea, no? In part it is school and money the ongoing stressors at Casa de Cedar, but very specifically it was one week since Saana's death. Last night Marcelle was going absolutely crazy for some cookies TGF was nibbling on and actually used her paws to grab TGF's hand toward her mouth - a skill Saana excelled at. It was nice to feel like referencing her did not bring on tears.

I am looking forward to continuing on this path though there is about to be all sorts of things to disturb it. Sunny, my mother, is coming for a visit for about 6 days, starting a week from Tuesday. Yesterday we just found out that Jer, TGF's friend from Ohio is swooping into town for an interview and she arrives on the Monday before Sunny arrives and leaves Wednesday. For complex reasons Sunny will not be staying at Casa de Cedar but very close by at this hopefully lovely spot. This should help keep balance and sanity for all parties. Speaking of parties, we are having one in Sunny's honour, so if any of my readers who were thinking of visiting this would be a great time. I mean, the house will be clean. Plus Sunny will be here. Seriously what more could you want?