Laura

1) The universe can stop crapping on my friends, their pets, and my pets. (No new news on Babe, and Apple's fine. I just didn't want to exclude Babe from the list.) Honest to pity, this is more than enough.

2) Well, my removed moles have officially caused me pain...but only because the bandaids I used (to replace his, after I had a bath - one of them had bled a little and I wanted to be sure) had perniciously strong adhesive that hurt like heck coming off. *wry* Other than that they're fine.

3) Today I'm wearing a denim skirt and the patterned shirt that I sewed up the neckline on. I like the outfit, it's cute. I still need to convince this shirt that my bra straps aren't worth displaying, but right now I'm just lounging about the house, so enh.

4) I wish my iPhone would let me load my old, beloved ringtones (which aren't FROM songs so I can't just buy new copies of them, they were composed AS ringtones). Even the workarounds that I've found online don't work. They do load it to the iPhone but it ends up with X copies of the first one, where X is the number I uploaded total. I may do it anyway, just to get the default ringtone I'm used to onto it, at least. So far, that's one of only two things to really aggravate me about the iPhone, and it aggravates me a lot more than the other (which is the tiny size of the digital keyboard coupled with its tendency to often be one key off coupled with its horrid inevitably-wrong-and-useless auto-correct). I don't actually LIKE the idea of having bits of songs as ringtones, I like ringtones that sound like themselves and not like anything else I listen to. Most songs, as far as I can hear listening to them, would make shitty ringtones. (This is ignoring the cost of making a ringtone from them through the store; I mind less that they want to make money, and more that they are screwing with my ability to have ringtones I would actually consider to indicate that my phone is ringing!)

5) I like radishes. Hey, how else can this be random babble than if some actual random babble creeps in?

I started out getting photos of me in my new shirts, and of Babe because, well, kitty. Apple shoved her way into some photos, too.

The back of Babe's neck, showing the shaved patch

The most expensive of my thrift-store shirts. And snuggling Babe. And my favorite Babe expression from the three photos I uploaded of this shirt. Silly cat is silly (her, and me).

And another new shirt, not from the thrift store. The pattern is somewhat busy, and Apple is sneaking into the photo...so she gets scooped (I love this shot of her). And then Babe gets a turn on my lap, in the computer chair.

Have I mentioned how much I love these cats? :)

Failed to find the work shirts I wanted locally. So be it; catalog it is, as I know I can get something that will suit. Joy. But it'd be nice to replace the worn one, and the couple I'm not so fond of, with something nicer.

I finished reading The Well of Ascension last night. I finished at almost midnight. I could not stop reading once I hit the final stretch because omigosh evil author. I was almost breathless at a couple points, usually from shock but at least once from horror. This is a really, really, really good series and I want the next book because sheesh what a place to stop! *whine*

You know, I'm still disappointed about the discontinuity in the Briggs stories. But, it wasn't that important to Moon Called - it was a throwaway line, and this reality conflicts with that one only on that page - and every time I reread this story I want the book (which will be next summer) now. (I have now reread the story, in part or whole, so many times I have no idea even an approximate count.)

I felt rather sorry for a truck driver today. He had a cab with a crane on it, and was pulling an empty flatbed trailer. Good thing it was empty: the pickup truck in front of him did one of those "ohnoes my TURN!" maneuvers, slamming on the brakes and snapping on his signal. Alas, he didn't sling himself around the corner. The (big) truck had following room to work with - but apparently wanted to be sure (I can't blame him!) given what happened. I had no problem slowing (I had distance enough, and anyway my car brakes a little better than a truck for some reason!), but I didn't have enough time to free a hand and shut the vent off before I was in the cloud of smoke from his tires. That's gotta be a bit rough on them, and probably no good for the driver's nerves.

I just discarded a book after five pages because it hit me with so many cliches in those five pages that it drove me bats. (Eileen Wilks, Tempting Danger. I admit, I wasn't really expecting to love it - but hers was the "tolerable" second story in the book with Alpha and Omega so I thought I'd give her a chance. Enough of a chance.) As I told dormouse_in_tea this may have been a mistake, because at the rate she was slamming cliches into the story, I think she'd have shortly run out and been forced to be original. Except, of course, the things are infinitely reusable and I've already hit my threshold for tolerating them. Too many, too fast.

I want to go to Saturday Market. But I'm on call. So that will be next weekend. I want to go to a farmer's market, but see previous. Of course, I can do these things while on call. But it's not as convenient, for me or for the client. Neither of these are things I have to do this week (in fact, the farmer's market would now be silly since I bought produce at the grocery store today), anyway.

I went to the mall and Burlington Coat Factory today in my quest for business shirts. The mall where BCF is located is, of course, where Beaverton Powell's used to be before they moved out to Cedar Hills Blvd in Beaverton. Well. The building Powell's used to occupy near BCF has now been fully torn down and replaced with parking lot, and instead of being folded in with odd nooks as it used to be, it's now going to be a standard stretch-along-the-back-side-of-a-parking-lot mall. They're still doing construction on the buildings but it's starting to look pretty striking. And I no longer feel any attachment to it, because it doesn't remind me any more of Powell's, which was my main reason for thinking of it as more than a place to sometimes go shopping if I needed something. But it does look nice, which is more than I can say for some projects of that sort.

I took the remainder of the Pendleton jackets to the dry cleaner's today. I gave them one last week to see how they did with it - I'm very pleased, they get the rest. These were Mom and Dad's, but they're very nice jackets in varying weights/warmths. I grew up with them and used to borrow one (much too big for me) when I was really cold, to huddle in. Pretty children's coats are all well and nice, but these things pack some serious warmth. Of course, I made sure the pockets were cleaned. And was very surprised to find in one that was normally Mom's, a fencing staple - you know, the big nail-width type staple used to hold fence to a post. Not sure what the proper term for those is. I can't imagine why it was in there after all these years, I don't think she did anything with a fence in a decade. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe Dad used it even though I mostly remember her in it.

My printer is back in for repairs again. I have a loaner. I hope I get to return the loaner. If they cannot fix the printer, they will replace it instead, probably with the loaner. The loaner is a perfectly nice C88 (I have a C84, so this is not a huge change). But I have almost two years exactly left on my warranty, and the replacement will get only the one-year manufacturer's warranty. The first repair the C84 needed was at 1 year 3 months so I don't care for the idea of a C88 with a one-year warranty. I have two years left and if I have a problem I get a loaner. I don't have to deal with just the manufacturer's warranty. If I had less time left, I would take the replacement, but...not really wanting to. We'll see, though, whether it's something they can still fix in terms of parts available.

I should have called a couple companies today, but I didn't. Well, I tried one and got an answering machine. And then I got distracted and didn't follow up. But I need to get a chair reupholstered, and I want a couple desks downstairs that need to fit in very specific spaces, so those will have to be custom. I'd whine about the price, but I'm too pleased by the idea of moving the desktop computers downstairs. I've liked having the laptop down here. I feel less isolated, and I can be nearby when the gaming group is here (or I can pack the laptop upstairs and hide). And when the gaming group isn't here, I have a cuddly cat when I'm at the computer. Just need to get a proper place for them and bring the desktop computers down.

Well. Well, well, well. I can still sew a button on. And even manage not to lose my mind.

For those of you who know how easily I grow restless with a task that doesn't give me some form of mental distraction, this may be surprising news. Don't worry. I still don't have the patience for cross-stitch, and any attempt I make at sewing beyond button-attachment is still a joke. :)

I have a blouse, which I got used, which was a medium blue with silvery buttons. Alas, this is a cowboy look, and I don't care for such; and far more important, the silvery buttons were plastic with a painted-on silver color. Which flakes after a while.

Why, then, did I get this blouse? Why, because even I can sew on a button. All those have been removed, and replaced with dark blue plastic buttons, very understated. I like it. I tried it on before I applied the fabric glue to the knots, don't worry, it is not permanently adhered to my skin. Hee.

So next weekend when we do the laundry, the glue will have cured for the required five days, I will snip off the trailing threads a bit closer (after tucking them in), and I will have a newly-redone shirt.

Did I mention that I did this without scissors or wirecutters or pliers? The latter two are relevant because the buttons were wired to their paper backings. The wire is supposed to flex, allowing you to pull the buttons off; alas, paper is far more yielding. Only two of the ten buttons I sewed came off as prescribed. The rest came off with the wire still in, because the paper tore.

Fortunately a small screwdriver (flat) can be inserted and used to pry the wire up and get it out of there. :)

And an exacto knife is great for cutting thread....

Ack. Yes, this is about par for the course around me, I'm afraid. At least it worked!

It's time to clean my closet out, too. I have too much crap, and should donate what I won't use, and use the rest.

Don't you love a day that starts out with the clothing wars? You know the kind I mean - you can't find what you want, or it doesn't fit, or somehow, despite the fact that it has hung in the middle of your closet since the last time it was laundered, it has managed to acquire what looks like a fresh jelly stain on it. (Don't ask. I didn't.)

Well, this morning was my turn at the wars. First it was the socks. You know socks - those things you almost never have because the washer and dryer, between them, snack on most of them. I was sitting there, with socks on my lap. Lots of socks. And none of them matched, even superficially. Two very soft socks, with shimmers of rainbow hues in the fabric over the main color, very subtle. Alas, as for the main color, one was blue and one was black. One white sock (which would have looked absurd with today's outfit, but I was desperate). One plain dark blue sock. Four black socks; one had flowers embroidered on it, and the other three had very distinct and unmatching patterns of bunches on the upper part. (Once, I thought these were designed to help hold the sock up. Having seen their performance in that area, I now understand their true purpose: to prevent the socks from matching and force the purchase of more socks after only mild loss to the laundry machines.)

At least the rest of my clothing was more cooperative. This time.

Have a good day, and don't let the dryer eat you.