Domestic Life – Page 61 – Allegra Sloman's blog

All is merry and bright

Paul gave me and Jeff motion detector lights; the upgetting to pee is now a lot easier. Paul’s approach to Christmas gifts is to buy a bag of useful objects and let you pick which one you like – this year the theme was light, so it was headlamp, motion detector light or keychain flashlight.
I was really resentful about ‘having’ to do Christmas dinner, and then I asked myself what it would take to be less resentful. I immediately thought “If I don’t have to buy the turkey and lug it home!” To which Paul happily agreed, and Keith lugged it over here. Resentment vanished, I went to Granville Island with Tammy for the rest of the veg and happily lugged that home.
I made vegan squash soup – there wasn’t enough for everybody and it was damned good.
so much good beer – pumpkin ale, winter ale, shipwreck IPA! Tammy brought some nice wine.
The turkey was good – the meat delicious, the skin like an advertisement – but what was really amazing was the gravy. I ended up eating it cold as a side for leftover pie, and it was SO GOOD. It was pan dripping gravy. I stuck the pan drippings in a blender, added a tablespoon of cake flour and about half a cup of milk, blended the shit out of it and then nuked it for a minute. From such pedestrian beginnings came a voluptuously smooth gravy with a meaty and almost nutty flavour.
Mike and Tammy and Paul and Katie and Keith and I sang and played afterwards, and Alex grooved along. He really really likes music, and he is most fabulously strong. He apparently likes his Christmas present, which was a stuffed T Rex. Paul introduced Tammy to Never Set the Cat on Fire, which was wonderful.
Wine was spilled on Granny’s linen tablecloth… horrors! and it came out again the next morning with some Amaze. Tablecloth is clean, folded and ready for use.
Earlier this week I got the lobster dinner I have been drooling for, except it was lunch, and it was with Tammy, so it was pretty much perfect.
Although the kitchen is once again the habitation of orcs this morning, I HAD cleaned up and ran a dishwasher and got rid of the empties and straightened out the living room the next morning and returned some sanity to the proceedings.
Today I hope to get cat litter. With two cats, more shit. It is the law.
Autumn is a boy. He is now Buster. Jeff and I are fine with this, but not fine with not noticing earlier. He will be snipped in a week or so.
He has been to the vet for suturing because he’s already gotten in fights. Margot was disturbed by him before, but with a cone on his head she is Miss Hissy each time he approaches.
I am really enjoying everybody’s pics of how happy their Christmas has been. The various traditions from around the world and around the various ethnicities of my friends and flist make me happy in their variety and conviviality.
I am sad to have missed Christmas Eve service because it was the last time a certain church member will ever provide music for us, because he is awesome, but also sick. As sad as I am about this, I made happy memories in my own home with my loves and kin.
Keith was sober, and he was Mom’s taxi. He: ferried Tammy to and from Edmonds, drove his sister home, drove Rob to Church and drove Mike and his Dad home. As happy as I was to see Alex, Keith did a lot to make the evening perfect, and I am now considering (which I can do here, since he never reads my blog, haw haw) how I shall appropriately reward him for his service.
A car was stolen from in front of our house at 3:30 am Christmas morning. I spoke to a Burnaby RCMP officer about it… Jeff and I were asleep at the time, or in no position to see what was happening. I thanked her for working Christmas Day and wished for her to stay safe out there.
I made chocolate cake. I am thinking perhaps cinnamon rolls later. The turkey soup is made and in the freezer.

This concludes my report….

I said to Paul IF YOU WANT ME TO COOK IT YOU MUST BUY IT. So there’s a fresh turkey in my fridge, and I now have Katie, Alex, Keith, Paul, Rob W, Mike M, possibly one other person from Mike’s work and I hope Tammy for Christmas Eve dinner. It’s a family plus orphans dinner!!!

Today I have to buy vegetables and hopefully I’ll remember the cranberry sauce. Also I need to lay on at least a couple of bottles of wine and some beer.

I’m seeing Tammy for lunch at Granville Island today. Hope it’s the Keg, I am dying for lobster.

If you like Downton Abbey, you must see the Christmas Text to Santa special, in which George Clooney appears. Happy sigh.

Andrew Wakefield, you are POND SCUM. Or, a carelessly formed biofilm of dubious utility.

Family drama is blergh. But I like watching it sometimes anyway. My reaction. (Sorta for Jeff, who’s doing a complete TNG rewatch). I’m talking other people’s families… I am doing okay.

Chocolate cake for breakfast, FOR REASONS.

Heavy sighs for all the dust I’m going to raise getting the living room ready, har har.

Sleepovers and trash

Keith and Paul and Mike dropped by last night for pizza, movies and conversation, and it was wonderful to see them all.

I’ve done a lot of things wrong in my life, but picking my friends hasn’t been one of them.

Keith slept over – I put a bunch of Woly shoe creme on his work shoes, which are so trashed by salt water that the leather is starting to come apart in layers. There must be six bucks worth of it on there… I hadn’t even opened it and I’ve had it three years, so I’m glad to be using a resource.

One of my fave Beaconites, Dina Davidson, local midwife extraordinaire, got some press time on her favourite subject.

Katie cut her dad’s hair yesterday. Given that she and Paul hadn’t spoken in the best part of a month – immediately after the birth of the first grandchild – I will leave you to parse that as best you may.

I am doing coffee at church tomorrow. I think I’ll make a cake, but make something else to leave here so Jeff doesn’t come looking all expectant with no treats. So I have to remember to immediately put on bread dough the instant I get up tomorrow, because if I do it today, it will be gone tomorrow. Treat Logistics.

I am learning to my horror that the second section of the book is in disarray, and the timelines are all squidded up, and I appear to have TWICE written the same scene twice without incorporating the necessary elements from the other draft. It’s ugly and I’m frustrated. I think I’m going to need another writing week without the siren song of Agents of SHIELD to fix this mess (although we are close to the end LOL) so I’ll be checking in with the mOmster to see when would or might be convenient. Won’t be until after my homily January 4 though.

Autumn, who may really be Peaches, loves Agent Coulson. She sits on the back of the sofa and gazes at him adoringly.

I have laundry. I’m doing it, I’m not digging it. I have to ditch a whole bunch of my clothes because they are not meeting my needs, but that in itself makes me sad. I should just take a picture and move on.

I’m also hoping to walk over to 6th and do a mini shop.

We’ll see what happens when Keith gets up… he may want a late brekkie. I can definitely help out with the coffee.

There’s been an update to wordpress, the engine that runs this blog, and it allows me to have an empty screen when I’m typing, which is actually kind of cool and gives you a nice electronic typewriter feeling.

Haunting

I find this haunting. Someone has tried to reconstruct Babylonian song.

Yesterday I saw Sue in Little Women the Musical. Unfortunately the book was not as good as the actors and musicians. Fortunately I was able to argue my points with the actors afterwards without being dishonest or unkind, and it widened into a broader discussion of the challenges and rewards of musical theatre. Ten years ago I would have said, Oh it was great, it was great. Now I have the brains to respect people enough to be honest and the social intelligence to be honest without being a cad.

It was in Granville Island. I had half an hour to Christmas shop. I got an Alexosaurus (stuffed T Rex) and a kazoo. Strangely, that is what I wanted. I have rarely had a briefer and more pleasant Christmas shop. The weather was crisply glorious and I likely won’t get to Granville Island again until Tammy comes.

Jeff and I walked to IHOP and back for breakfast. It was very pleasant.

I think Riddle Number II is a cloud. What do you think?

Work on the trilogy continues. Kima is pregnant – with more than 100 zygotes by three fathers of two different morphs. This presents any number of social, emotional, physiological and ‘race’ issues.

I had a pleasant recent conversation with Dave JD. He has joined the ranks of the unemployed. I tried to get Facetime to reduce the expense of talking to him and repeated and lengthy attempts to purchase it were fruitless. I really loathe anything to do with Apple customer service. When I want an Android app or book I press a button, and free or not, it appears on my phone in about five minutes. (I’m still on the first chapter of the Piketty book -if anyone wants to mock me… go ahead).

I can’t really deal with heeled shoes any more so I took two pairs of Fluevogs into church yesterday (the bus DIDN’T COME at 10:03, or even five minutes earlier according to the guy I ran into so I was 25 minutes late for church, screw you translink). Anyway the teenaged co-congregant who had admired my steampunky shoes got about 300 dollars worth of footgear in a little bag, and if I did nothing else yesterday I made her very happy. Her socks MATCHED the second pair of shoes, in a most gratifying way.

How do you detect an extrasolar planet? With objects found in hardware stores and Nikon lenses and software and a little something something to remove blur.

Yesterday morning I awoke to a dream in which Hitler’s mustache was crawling up my door frame. I woke up for real and spent a disoriented couple of seconds looking for it. Very odd, and not a little disturbing.

Breakfast of writing champions! Peanut butter cookies warm from the oven and fair trade coffee with real cream. Ha!

We think Autumn may be knocked up. It’s always something.

a whole new world of religious tolerance

Check it out – o great flying spaghetti monster!

We are crabby here. \malware

Yay, it’s an Alexander day!

Alex will be at church with Katie, or so it was arranged and I piously hope will come to pass. I do coffee today so it’s even money whether or not I get to be upstairs for the homily portion. Sue is taking me in early and I’ll do an inventory and see if there’s enough of whatnot for coffee etc., then cross the street and pick it up. Happy daze. Should be a good homily though. Marilyn asked me to do another homily for January 4 – one of the worst attended days of the year – so I’m going to do what I can to boost the numbers. If you’re reading this, why not come to church that day!!??

THE GREAT YULETIDE COOKIEPALOOZA happens next Friday. It will turn into a filk. A messy messy housefilk, with crumbs and greasy thumbprints on the music. Yes, indeed. Thanks to Tom and Peggy for hosting. We will also have the AMERICAN CONTINGENT, being the uber crafty Jeri-Lynn and the suavely geeky Jeff. Who are just so awesome. Cindy and possibly others will attend also.

It’s raining. After yesterday’s glorious sun (which I got to walk around in, thanks to Paul not understanding that the Brighton Costco parking lot at 11 am is the worst fucking place in the known universe and how long precisely has he been living in Burnaby grumble grumble, but no harm done). I drove through the parking lot and then drove back to Planet Bachelor and walked home from there, accompanied by Keith who just felt like continuing the conversation, which was pleasant, and made the walk back go in an eyeblink. I needed the exercise. I really wanted to pick some stuff up at Costco because there’s some bread there I can’t find anywhere else plus cheap butter and you know, baking, but perhaps I can borrer the car. Apart from the walk and the abortive Costco trip I basically stayed in bed crying all day, but I’m feeling much better now. Tammy is coming in December! Conflikt 8 (I can scarcely credit it…) is coming! And I still haven’t registered or figured out how I am getting there. If I’m staying extra long I may need to like, bus it. Bleaaugh.

I love my mOm and pOp. mOm provided the correct stream of unfiltered bubbliness (occasionally going off mike to inform pOp of my responses) to assist with my bad case of the Marthambles – why, she’s better than a dose of Dr. Tufts finest elixir.

Still no cat. I suspect what has happened is that the daughter has flung herself on the ground and pleaded her mom not to let Autumn go and the mom has been too embarrassed to tell Jeff she’s changed her mind, but perhaps Jeff is right and it’s just taking longer than expected. Sometimes I think this culture is so indulgent to its children because these are the last good days and everybody’s trying to make them seem extra special.

I removed an incredible amount of hair surplus to requirements from Margot yesterday. She was not amused.

Day five of Vitamin D, Vitamin C, B6, probiotics and MSM. I am definitely feeling less achey, except for my hands, which is making me not want to play my Otto.

Jeff’s playing computer games on line with somebody, I assume Andrew – I can hear him talking to somebody on the headset. “I think we just combined to kill one of our own tanks!” is the latest.

With sadness, I have cancelled the piano lessons. He wasn’t listening to my course corrections and I’m not paying a man $35 bucks an hour to ignore me when I can have it for free any time I want on the internet.

My most recent painting is an unmitigated disaster. I am going to paint over it. I got the colours right but the design has much suckage – I think I’ll paint over it as a zombie heart.

Now to make a chocolate cake for church and figure out what I am going to wear. And I have to remember to take a tape measure, for I mean to measure some crania, I do, I do, for future hatmaking endeavours. Hats and spats. Cravats with cats. Fingerless gloves and pleather utility belts. I have to figure out how to make a living, and since there seems to be an inexhaustible interest in the steampunk aesthetic, I shall pursue that hobby for a while.

More packing

Yesterday Paul and I moved some furniture upstairs. Katie was asked if she wanted the apartment Keith and Paul are vacating and she didn’t call the landpeers, so nothing happened. We shall see what transpires. Perhaps it was for the best. The upstairs apartment is much nicer and much bigger. It’s more of course but Keith has essentially been sleeping in a cubbyhole for the last few years and it’s time he got more room. Lucky duck gets the ensuite, too.

The baby shower is this weekend. I feel very conflicted about it. Paul is not going. I don’t know who else from the family is going.

Philae landed, and the world can be an awesome place if I just let it.

Church & Happiness

Church was very, very good this morning. The homily was on how rationality is not anywhere close to being the most important thing about a person, and how presenting a reasoned argument is no way to win one. I had a lovely long chat with a newcomer, and did a shop afterward, learning that Halloween candy is GASP 75 percent off. And Downton Abbey is back so I’m all happy. I’m happy to hear that Hell on Wheels is getting another season, but they are splitting the air dates out to 2016. Boo, hiss. See how frequently my mood swings? My mood swings, let me elucidate their prolix fluency.

The rest of the day included a roast beast dinner and Margot making weird noises and asking prettily for her treat.

I vacuumed the kitchen and washed the rugs, heaven knows they needed it.

No writing today, but much musical noodling.

Weird clouds this morning

Random Hallowe’en notes:

Bought $28 worth of candy, got rid of all of it. Most of the kids costumes were store-bought, but one made a Mardi Gras like impression. No pic… but she said she was a peacock fairy, and yes, that is what she was.

NO MUSIC. But lots of convo with Lois, and I even dragged the coffee maker upstairs from its place of banishment in the basement.

Birds are too shell shocked to sing this morning.

Score! One of the kids recognized my mask as being from Assassin’s Creed.

Score! Keith came over and he announced that pufferfish are back in stock. I loves my boy.

Score! Chili was a massive success, and as it proceeds through the colons of my loved ones, it will move from success to success.

Score! Paul brought apple pie from the Mexican bakery in the Quay. And Lion Winter Ale, duh.

Score! Wrote a filk to Robin in the Rain.

Riding in the rain
I don’t mind the weather
I have got a 12 volt heater
underneath my leathers
dodging all the bicycles and trucks and cars
weaving ’round the drunks as they come out of bars
Riding in the rain
I don’t mind the weather
even when it’s getting dark
I am a commuter in a first person shooter
but I have a place to park! (with apologies to Raffi).

Now I must write. It’s NaNoWriMo, kittens!

Laundry list

Spoke to Sandy, and how good to hear from her. She has a strapping German lad as a volunteer now.

Spoke to Lois; she and Paul will visit folks in these here parts for a while and then Friday we’ll have a get together here which will feature MUSIC. Lovely home made music, yippee! Jeff please copy. Don’t know if Katie, Daxus and the GLD will be here, but I will invite them formally and see.

Did laundry, which is good because I was plumb out of towels.

The sun came out! it was most delightful while it lasted.

I think I’m going to nuke a bowl of that beef stew.

An annoying day

Cleaning shit off the cat. Other jangly annoyances. Then Sue appeared out of nowhere and performed marvellousy in assisting in logistics for returning the rental car. Honestly, it was like she dropped out of the sky. All she was doing was returning the cloak I loaned her (came back as I lent it, I’ll add.)

I got some lovely foodstuffs at the Costco and there was a beef stew in the crockpot as of 5:30 this am so there should be food in about an hour. It really hurts my hands to peel vegetables. I am feeling a bit weird about that. Dishes are washed and put away, the laundry is on, life proceeds.

Mike called the other night. He has a rather bleak three weeks in front of him, travelling on business. I don’t know how good a job I did of cheering him up, describing Alex’ tremendous gas (I am not exaggerating by much to say that he rattled the windows in the fOlks’ sunroom) and otherwise burbling; he described Rhonda’s memorial service in such a fashion that I had many reasons to have wanted to go and one really big showstopper reason not to. Apparently Konrad was there too; I haven’t seen him since that MEGA AWESOME EPIC miniature camping trip some 7 or 8 years ago.

I should go move the laundry; the wretched clothes don’t wash themselves. Although if I take the long view, someday they will.

Would you believe that close

Oh, man, Jeff would have laughed his ass off if he’d seen me doing the trash yesterday. The garbage truck comes down the alley one way and then back up t’other, so I had some warning, but I ran around like a hopped up honey badger throwing the garbage and recycling together. I spent so much time cleaning out the fridge in the early hours of yesterday morning (and by Toutatis, it needed it) that I didn’t actually have things ready to go when the truck rumbled by. Fortunately everything was in order when they came back up the hill. And even more fortunately, the lingering smell of DEATH, CORRUPTION AND HORROR in the kitchen should be entirely gone as everything narsty is gone as well.

Yesterday I went to the single most bizarre job interview EVAR. It was a masterpiece, a confection of weird, a symphony of surreal. JUST IN CASE I get the job, I shall not describe it further. I was already in New Westminster, so I phoned Katie and she said c’mon by, so I did.

Alexander farts a lot. He also blew his first raspberry yesterday. (We howled.) He is already lifting his head; he’s average size but holy crap he’s strong.

Then I walked over to the beer store and went home.

I have printed off the first section of the novel and will be mailing it the the editor today. Heaving sighs.

I am also going to be sending something to Sandra, but she doesn’t read this blog any more so it will still come as a surprise to her. I still have some t’s to cross.

John Caspell would have been 63 today

He was taken from us too soon, but it was still a privilege to know him.

And Elizabeth.

And Sue.

And Derry.

And Michael.

And Glenda.

And David.

And Bareld.

I don’t mourn for the aged dead, who went when they were ready.

Today is a day for fasting from social media and contemplation of mortality. But only for a bit; I still haven’t completely mucked out the kitchen from Thanksgiving and I’ve got a piano lesson today at one. I’ve other chores as well.

Balloons go up until they come down

The ongoing crisis looms a little closer to North Americans. Sell your Airline stock. I’ve asked Paul to retire. Or to consider it if and when we get an Ebola sufferer coming through town via YVR.

Katie is having a rough go, poor lassie, not getting enough sleep.

Turkey soup is bubblin’ away.

Jeff’s at work and going to bring home treats. I am going to curl up with Thomas Piketty.

Alexander’s First Thanksgiving.

Comments having nothing to do with Alexander:

Margot likes babies. She doesn’t even leave the room when they cry. Every time I think I know my cat she reveals unexplored depths of character and personality.

It was so good to feast the folks, including Mike and Casey. The meal consisted of (because mOm will want to know, not because I am a food porn type): Roast turkey stuffed with parsley, one head of garlic and a lemon, boiled and roasted yams, brussels sprouts parboiled in chicken stock and sauteed in butter, sauteed parsnips, iceberg lettuce salad, stuffing made in the crockpot (sadly lacking onions, but still damned good), boughten cranberry jelly, homemade gravy and possibly the worst – the most gluey and lumpy – smashed potatoes I ever made. Everybody else ate them so it’s not like they were inedible, they just weren’t choice. Absolutely no sweets, but white and red wine, plus beer, to go with the meal. I did promise Paul his mother’s lemon snow recipe for dessert but that will wait for our next meal together; he very kindly did veg prep and ran people ’round town and brought wine glasses and suchlike, for which I offer thanks and praise.

Keith got off work early; Katie turned up around 4, so we all sat down together around six.

The carcase, less the sandwich making leftovers, is in the stockpot; I made beef and bean burrito fillings yesterday as well, so I don’t think I’ll have to cook for a while, yay me! I mean apart from deboning the soup ingredients.

Around 8 Katie got toothpicks, and Casey was in the same boat, so Paul took them home. For another hour Mike, Jeff, Keith and I sat around downstairs and watched Archer, and then since the boys both work in the morning, off they went.

It was not a spectacular meal, but it wasn’t one that anybody else in our group would have WANTED to cook, so I’m glad I stepped up. After I could sit down, I had a lovely evening.

And Alexander was there.