lazy days

I took a couple days off around Independence Day because I was about thisclose to going postal at work. It has just been so bad there lately, and even working at home doesn't mitigate the fact that we were working about three times more than we usually do, which is saying a lot. The worst part about being so busy is that we don't have time to follow up with fact-checking and such, so we end up with more errors, which means more nasty e-mails from readers about how stupid we are. That doesn't help when you're already feeling unhinged.

I have done virtually nothing laborious with my extra time. The weekend was a total bust in terms of thinning out the jungle garden, Saturday was spent driving around a lot and making the purchases for my appliances and some lighting so that everything will be here when the remodel starts. Also got a hair cut and stopped in at the pet store right next to the salon to see about some stuff for Olive's intestinal distress. Then I went up and watched the Dr. Who finale with gattagrigia and movies_michelle, and that was much fun, but I was mystified about the face of Boe reference so they showed me Gridlock as well, and that was fun also. Tennant is growing on me a bit, but I still have this visceral reaction to him that isn't pleasant. I wish he would unclench his jaw from time to time and enunciate a bit more, as I miss half of what he's saying. He can do that old-skool British guy quite well -- that "spiffing gulls, eh wot?" thing, but when he talks very quietly or rushed, I miss a lot of it (I've noticed that people who talk between their teeth, no matter what the accent, cause me problems -- there's something I'm missing in the lip movements, or something.)

Then on Sunday I went to a Twinless Twins meeting and met some new people, and we talked, and I met the west coast chapter president, who also lost her sister to ovarian cancer. It is helpful to go to these things, but it's also hard because people tell me stuff I already know, but those things don't make much difference in how I feel. Then I came home and did at least do one useful thing, which was to make myself miserable with my dad putting in some cove moldings on the newly naked floor, and it has turned out to be a colossal pain. Nails don't always want to go into the 60 year old pine; other times, they go in like budda, but after struggling with too many a nail that wouldn't go in, I gave up and left the bedroom and office as is.

Yesterday i totally wasted my day -- I went downtown and shopped at all the fancy-ass furniture stores on Western Ave. , ostensibly to find a dining table, but also sitting in too many jazzy, hipster couches just for good measure. It's amazing how quickly salespeople's disdain turns to helpfulness when you tell them you're doing a remodel -- where before you just looked like a poor, stupid single woman, suddenly you become a player. She has money to burn! I stopped in at Watson & Kennedy, my favorite store in all of the Northwest, and found this exquisite French tea line they're carrying, so had to buy that of course. I am helpless in the face of good tea. Also stopped in at the health food store for some psyllium husks for Olive to see if I can get that tummy trouble under control, and also to rest from climbing the damn Pike Place hillclimb stairs. OMG, so many stairs and such a hot day.

Apparently I did have money to burn, as I went up to check out the new Barney's New York space at pacific place. Wow, so much bigger and so many more things you can spend ridiculous sums of money on for no reason. That was my sister's favorite place to go, and so every year now I try to make the Barney's birthday memorial tour and buy at least one thing, but yesterday was v. bad. I ended up looking at the Cle de Peu stuff because I've heard raves for years about their concealer, and next thing I know, I'm getting a makeover and skin care facial from this lovely Thai girl who was just so thrilled that I knew about Thailand, and we talked and talked. Their entire system went down for a very long time, and while we were waiting for it to go back up, she gave me the full makeup thing, a hand and arm massage, etc. and i walked out of there after spending a gajillion dollars on creams and potions. I have to say, it's beyond ridiculously expensive, but damn if a lot of my lines did in fact lessen, so i figured what the hell, give it a try. Plus, I always love buying some new Red Flower or Molton & Brown lotion, so picked up something there too. I don't want to see my bill. Since the system wasn't going up anytime soon, I left her with my credit card # and haven't yet seen the full tab. It's going to hurt. I even signed up for a Barney's card, not that I need a card, just that it would give me 10% off, so it might be a tad less ouchy. My sister really screwed me over, getting me dependent on that store. Fortunately they rarely have clothes that will fit me, so I'm safer there.

I do like Barney's, though. The clothes and handbags and jewelry people are sometimes snotty, but the shoe and makeup/housewares people rarely are -- they have always been incredibly nice and accommodating, and the makeup folkds give you piles and piles of samples, even if you don't buy anything. I've really never had a bad experience with them, and they have never made me feel like I was just this old ugly fat chick looking to buy high-end makeup or skin care that wouldn't help her.

Oh, and I also bought a pair of flatter sandals at Nordy's. Even on hot days like yesterday and today, when I know I'll be walking a lot, I won't wear even my comfiest Dansko sandals, because my instep/arch is so high that inevitably I end up with red marks and pain where the strap or shoe top hits my instep. I wanted to get something that might work for lots of walking, but they didn't carry the one I wanted most, so I got these in "metal" instead, which to my mind look like they came out of the Rome accessories catalog. They really do look like metal leather, rather than metallic leather. The elastic seems pretty forgiving for the instep, and I've had excellent luck with Naot before and they feel quite comfy.

So all in all a totally unproductive and spendy day, but fun. And i still keep coming back to my beloved Kasala for furniture, anyway, so i don't know why I went to all those other places. Then I came home and Olive attacked my face and ruined my day. She scratched and bit at my face when I picked her up, and then did it again and drew blood, as if the first time hadn't resulted in the correct "put me down, bitch" behavior. I had thought she was too gentle and wasn't a serious biter or scratcher, but apparently I'm wrong. I picked her up under the arms so she couldn't hurt me again, and said, "BAD" and I think she definitely knows from my tone what I meant, but I'm ignoring her now, for the most part. Maybe it's me. Maybe I just make kitties nasty and mean. I want to shower them with love and affection, and they just turn mean somehow instead. It was kind of depressing.

I got up late this morning and have putzed around enough, and now need to slap on the sunscreen and get out in the garden. C'est la guerre.