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Via Reddit.
Weekend Open Thread
61 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”
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What a nice sweet face to welcome one in the morning!
I’m off to celebrate with my friends, the R&R children’s band for whom I did the CD cover – “The Cat’s Pajamas – Kitten Kaboodle”. They’re having a CD release party and concert today and my job will be to draw kitten whiskers and pirate mustaches on small children. My husband says I’ll be the “Arrrr-r-rtist in residence”.
What a lovely thing to be doing! Enjoy!
Sounds like a blast, Murray C! Please let us know how it went!
I would like some kitten whiskers too, please. Where do I get in line?
Hi everyone. It’s grey and cold here in Montreal but no snow, we had some earlier this week but it melted.
I’m going out later for a birthday lunch for my 97 year old mother-in-law’s, thankfully my eye is much better, it is still a little swollen and discoloured but it’s gone down enough so I can wear my regular glasses. ( I mended them with tape so I look like the nerd I am LOL!)
What is not better yet is the rest of the face, it’s num from bellow the eye to the upper lip, including the right side of the nose. It’s a funny feeling because it’s num but it hurts at the same time, I guess I must have bruised a nerve when I fell.
Well that’s about it for me, the rest of the weekend will be quiet, hope all the rest of the Cutetropolis walking wounded feel better and keep mending to!
Happy birthday to your MIL! 97, that’s a very nice age to reach — and to still enjoy a birthday lunch, too. I’m glad you’re feeling enough better to be able to go.
Gosh, GiGi, I hope it all clears up soon – have you been to see anyone about the numbness? That’s disconcerting. You may be right about bruising a nerve – your glasses may have been pushed very hard against your face in just the right spot. I Hope the lunch was wonderful.
No I haven’t gone to the doctor yet, I’ll give it another week and if there is no improvement then I’ll go. And the lunch was great, some cousins I hadn’t seen in years were there and we got to catch up.
Hello all! Love hearing all about your different endeavors!
I am spending this weekend trying to keep calm in the face of the work that will keep snowballing up to December 24th, when I get on an airplane to the States. Last weekend I graded 23 tests and 40 essays. During the week I created and gave three new tests. Now those 50 tests are sitting on my desk. I have to create new tests for Monday and for Tuesday. Preliminary grades must be submitted by Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursday we have parent teacher conferences (3 hours) and I also have my evening class. On Friday I zoom off to Vienna where we will celebrate BF’s father’s birthday, and Sunday one of my classes arrives in Vienna with their form teacher for a week (19 15-16 year olds who will push all the boundaries – I am one of two chaperones). One more test to create and give on the 21st, which I will grade on the plane.
tl;dr – I’m hella busy!
N. Fritz, this is why I had to get out of the professor business–wayyyyy too much work! Especially at end of term. And everybody saying, Oh, you get nice long breaks and don’t have to work in the summer!
Take care of yourself through all the crazy.
Thanks, DebG! I wish I could go back to my “easy” academic life (3 classes a semester) but I am living proof of the “publish or perish” philosophy. My passion is teaching, but publishing an article about Roman tombstones that three people worldwide might read – now that is too much work!
Oh my heavens, no rest for the weary, N. Fritz! I wish you the grace to get through it all to be able to enjoy your time back here in the states.
Thanks, MurrayC! I was very good to myself yesterday… I read some pages of the William Kent Krueger novel I’m on (totally hooked on the series, I’m on #5 of 15!), went for two walks, bought necessities for this week and then cleaned my apartment (including doing laundry, running a load of dishes, sorting three months of school papers, taking the paper and bottles to the recycling center). I needed a day without any work to get my bearings!
Happy Saturday everyone. Love this beautiful kittie, she looks similar to the one we had either last week or just a few weeks ago. If she’s handling IT, I’d be screwing up my computer everyday just to get a visit from her.
Got a busy weekend ahead – got some shopping to do then late this afternoon I’m volunteering at our History Center during December Nights at Balboa Park. This is a 2 night annual extravaganza to kick off the holidays here. A little background – Balboa Park is a little smaller than Central Park and has many of San Diego’s museums, the zoo, an artist’s village, and international houses. During December nights, the entire park throws a party – museums are open for free, artists are selling their wares, there’s dancers and music and choirs and lights and more lights and vendors selling food. I think they said about 350,000 people total attend over the 2 nights. This is my first time either going or volunteering so hopefully I survive the madness.
Then tomorrow I recuperate plus doing the usual errands. I think going back to work on Monday will give me a chance to take a breather, lol.
Hope you start feeling better soon Gigi and enjoy your MIL’s luncheon. And happy start of the holiday season to everyone.
I was just in San Diego for Thanksgiving and visited all the Balboa Park museums (and zoo!) for the first time. I had an excellent time and saw so many cute animals. Good for you for volunteering, it sounds amazing! I really enjoyed an exhibit at the photography museum by local youth, and the Cannibals exhibit at the museum of man.
Happy Saturday! I am off to meet my sister halfway between our two towns to do our annual advent calendar exchange. Then off to dinner and a movie with an old friend (Murder on the Orient Express). Should be a good day. But the house is a mess, the halls are not yet decked, there are leaves to rake and I’m feeling guilty about enjoying myself in the face of incomplete chores. Oh the burden of my work ethic: it’s heavy.
“oh the burden of my work ethic” – can I quote you on that, Birdcage?!!
At last! My book “Fairies in Cabs”, a collection of comical and curious extracts from the theatrical newspaper “The Era”, is available in both print and digital versions on Amazon. The next volume, “Crocodiles in the Green Room”, is now in print and I’m in the process of setting up the ebook.
From “Crocodiles in the Green Room”:
“Much to the regret of the kiddies Charles Lauri is not to play in town this Christmas. His services have been secured for the Grand Theatre, Leeds, where will be produced a pantomime version of the story of Robin Hood. The ‘Garrick of animal mimes’ will play the part of a poodle to a band of outlaws, and there will be several novel scenes, including that of a dogs’ home. It was at the Lyceum a few years ago that the popular Charles played a collie, whose death caused so much sorrow amongst the little ones that they petitioned for the animal’s recovery, and in obedience to their request he survived his heroic struggle against the forces of pantomime evil.”
The Era, 7th December 1901
I’m looking forward to visiting the Grand Theatre in a couple of weeks to see a ballet version of “The Little Mermaid”.
Just ordered your Fairies in Cabs ebook, and look forward to the e-version of Crocodiles in the Green Room! And now, off I go to rehearsal …
Congratulations Alice Shortcake! I am in the process of trying to order three Kindle editions (one for me, and two for friends).
I actually got the hard copy of Crocodiles after you first mentioned it, and I can attest to the fact that it’s chock-full of entertaining tidbits. Congrats, Alice Shortcake, on a fun and different kind of publication!
Oh, good – I want to get hard copies for a friend of mine who is deeply into Music Hall and theater of that era. He was the person who put on the 40 years of Music hall productions I was part of (I took part for 30 years or so) In February we’ll be doing a show of Harrigan and Brahms songs – Ned Harrigan was an impresario and lyricist (American), his father-in-law the composer in the oh, 1860’s to the 1890’s or so. He was the man about whom George M. Cohan wrote the song “H-A-double R-I-G-A-N Spells Harrigan” He had many theaters in New York and was hugely popular in his day and wrote songs and playlets about immigrants in the Lower East Side of NYC.
By the way, today with the kiddlies went very well but no one wanted a mustache – I was rather disappointed.. The concerts was boffo – my friend who leads the band did extremely well despite having had to be silent for the past 5 days with laryngitis and on prednisone! The whole band is so good – they had a fabulous tuba player (besides the lead singer, my friend Janet) there are 9 other musicians) and little kids were bopping all over the place. They had put out polka dot balloons and they were batted about, kids were dancing around – heck, adults were dancing around, myself included. An altogether joyful experience.
Alice S, any chance you can allow Fairies in Cabs to be purchased on Kindle at Amazon.de (Germany)? Or is it too late to make changes to the e-book availability?
I was under the impression that an item on Amazon USA/UK was automatically available everywhere else, but I’ll look into this. Thanks to everyone who bought a book!
Totally OT, but has anyone else seen the almost unbearably cute Christmas ad for L’Occitane products?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fcfqQbayUw
Thanks for looking into it!
Here it is:
You are a dear, thank you!!!!
Sad news: My cousin’s kitty, June, (who was at Thanksgiving) who I posted about last weekend had to be put to sleep on Wednesday. 🙁 I don’t know what her first 10 or so years were like, but at least she had a good six years with my cousin and his wife.
On a lighter note, I found a t-shirt for us:
https://www.snorgtees.com/t-shirts/animals-of-the-world
Fabulous! I’m getting one.
Formal chicken. How brilliant is that?! ???
Aw, sorry about the kitty – she did look a bit on her last legs in the photo you posted – tho’ with cats you never know.
LOVE the animals of the world!
Yeah. She was also draped over someone’s shoulder in that pic. I wish I had gotten a better shot of her curled up on the couch …but you wouldn’t have been able to see her because she was almost the same color as the couch.
I liked the shirt that says “Hedgehogs – Why Don’t They Just Share the Hedge”
Me too! And then I watched the L’Occitane ad above, and it seems hedgehogs really aren’t hogging anything! They’re angels of generosity.
So sad about the kitty 🙁
And agree that the shirt is awesome. I’m going to go boople a kitty snoot now….
“Trash Panda” is my favorite insult in the Guardians 2 movie!
Danger Noodle, ha!
Hello all. I haven’t been very chatty around here lately because of some hard life stuff. My beloved grandmother, and the only one I had left, passed away from cancer a couple weeks ago and I was busy dealing with funeral travel and coping with that. I seriously have no Christmas spirit this year either. Bah humbug!
On a happier note, I have a hair appointment today and I think I’m going to color my hair teal. Because I can! And I’d also like to say SQUEEEE over this beautiful little fluffball. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
I’m sorry about your grandmother. 🙁
Teal hair sounds fun. I say go for it!
I’m sorry about your Grandma and go for the teal hair. Hopefully that will lighten your mood a little. As someone once told me, our loved ones may no longer be here with us but we always carry them in our heart.
Teal hair! I don’t get what all the fuss is about with hair color. Do what makes you happy and if it wasn’t the right decision, it’ll grow out! When I see my 16-17 year old students with plugs and tunnels in their ears, I realize how harmless changing your hair color. Go for it!
I’m sorry for your loss Puddleglum and I think teal haire would be marvellous!
My sympathy on losing your grandma, Puddleglum. It’s never easy, but I know you’ll remember her with lots of happy memories.
And teal hair is great! It’s my favorite color, so I’d love to hear how it turns out. I’m tempted to try a temporary dye myself, one that wears off — our teenage dogsitter regularly comes up with a different hair color, and I think it’s a lot more sensible a way to express yourself than, say, compared to some of the truly unfortunate tattoos I’ve seen!
So sorry for your loss, Puddleglum. And go for the teal!
When I was in college, I used to use food coloring on just one lock of hair. It was great until I started to sweat and ended up with yellow or purple drips on my face. Yes, it was the 80s; why do you ask?
Aw, Puddleglum, I’m sorry about your Grandmum. Can’t say as I blame you for lacking in Christmas spirit – but remember, she’d want you to keep your chin up and enjoy yourself. And getting teal hair may be just the ticket. I saw a young woman today and she had sort of tipped her longish hair with pink and it looked really pretty.
So sorry to hear about the loss of your grandmother. 🙁
Today, Duckie has no idea where her emotions will rest.
It’s been a very confusing week for me. Hubby has gotten a job to tide us over the winter, until he goes back to his seasonal job. I know this is good, as any income is better than none, but I was SO looking forward to a few months where the two of us could just rest and be together. I’m feeling very irrational about this, and the child in me is throwing a temper tantrum while the supposed-to-be-adult is being encouraging and supportive.
Today is supposed to be the last day of rain here. I am making great plans for Monday, to go out, Christmas music on MP3 player, and limp around WITHOUT an umbrella!
I’m budgie bird sitting for the weekend, and last night, when I went to tuck Blue in, he was sound asleep on his perch. He opened one eye to look at me, and then closed it again. I was so thrilled! Before, every time I went in, he’d be upright on his perch, ready to move if I looked like I might think about getting close to him. But last night, he stayed all fluffed up and sleepy. He’ll probably freak out this morning when I go to feed him, but I’ll always have the memory.
Diane Duane, one of my two favourite authors, has several ebooks out. I emailed her early this week, and she wrote back, telling me that two of those ebooks will be in print on Amazon next year. I’m saving my nickels already (Canada not having pennies anymore). I LOVE her “Young Wizards” series so much, both the human and the feline wizards. For some reason, my eyes do not like ereaders. Even computer screens cause headaches after about twenty minutes. So I stick to my physical books.
Yesterday I went out on the deck to tell a squirrel that he was being too loud, and discovered my crocuses are coming up. I’ve been worried about them, as blue jays keep burying peanuts in the pots, but I guess they’re okay. And my baby trees are doing well.
My neighbour across the hall, with the cockatiel, bought the bird several new toys. I think one of them was a squeaky dog toy, because now, when she’s out, I can hear the bird making squeaky toy sounds. I can’t go in her place, because she smokes, but I love being in the hall and hearing the variety of noises this bird makes. I hope one day I can record him and his repertoire, because he is hysterical.
Have a great weekend all, and hopes for a wonderful week to come.
You just reminded me, Duckie – I saw a forsythia bush in bloom yesterday. How depressing is that?
Sounds adorable to hear the bird playing with his toys! SO cute.
And it is good news about your hubby’s job, despite your feeling glum about it. I hope you can cheer up soon – he doesn’t have to go away for the work, does he? You’ll just have to be creative with the time you do have together.
Duckie and Murray C – where do y’all live that you’ve got crocuses and forsythia in December??? The Christmas roses (Helleborus n.) in Austria are blooming early, but we are expecting temps in the teens this week (plus snow AND rain) so I expect they will make a speedy retreat!
I live in SE Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. This happens once in a while when we have warm spells in early winter but this year is ridiculous. We’ve only had one frost and it was a deep freeze – into the 20’s – and it froze the leaves on the trees before they changed color (that process was already way late!) so all these drooped leaves were on trees that should have been ablaze with autumn – pretty depressing. They’re only now falling and raking in December just seems so wrong!
Cert shenanigans eh?
Hi all. I know I’ve been awfully quiet lately; I was so burned out from nonstop work that when it ended, I spent a couple weeks vegging in my knitting chair listening to audio books and trying to work on the baby blanket for our niece. I was so tired I made tons of mistakes, so ended up ripping out as much as I left done, so it’s still not done. Oh well, I have till February!
Sebastian has started going on therapy visits and he LOVES it. It’s so exciting, he comes home and crashes. He’s usually always looking for mischief, so having him too tired for that is very nice. But I’m really glad he enjoys it so much. The young woman who gave him up to us (she loves him but couldn’t give him the time he needed) is beyond thrilled! It’s nice to know he had such a loving human before he joined our crazy little family!
It sounds like a lot of you are getting ready for the holidays. I still haven’t got my holiday spirit back, after last year when my mom passed away on Christmas Eve and my MIL two weeks later. But I’m trying! If the weather would cool down from these near-record highs, it would help. Oh well, that’s just an excuse, I know.
Everyone have a great week!
I ordered some tea on Monday and had it sent to my parents’ house. My dad has been duly keeping me apprised of its not having shown up each day.
This is the text conversation we just had:
Dad 3:11pm: No package
Me 3:13pm: [checks tracking online] Says out for delivery
Dad 3:14pm: Post office? We got our mail
Me 3:15pm: It’s FedEx but it goes through USPS
Dad 3:16pm: Well. We got mail. No pkg.
Dad 3:18pm: Just got pkg. Separate from normal mail.
😀 😀 😀
This totally sounds like a text conversation I’d have with my Dad, Allein! Did you see this gem from BoredPanda? https://www.boredpanda.com/homemade-bread-conversation-tweet-krista-ball/
So sorry for those who mourn family members, whether human, furry, or otherwise. And best wishes to all who are struggling with work ethics, pain, or other difficulties. We will all get through this. Alice Shortcake, congrats on your book! Ive been eagerly awaiting the ebook.
I’m still sleeping too much in the daytime and then can’t sleep at night. Going to try to reset the clock this weekend so I can go back to work Monday. Will try a brief grocery store run tomorrow to see how driving goes. I’m so used to bouncing right back—even after January’s finger incident—this slow recovery feels like it will never end. First time with general anesthesia, at 52; hopefully my last!
Thank you, gorgeous little kitty face, for making me squee.
Fortunately these days many surgeries are done with local anesthesia. For all the times I’ve been sliced and diced, I’ve only had general twice. Meanwhile I’ve had surgeries on my hand, foot, and even a total knee replacement with a local. I actually woke up (feeling no pain) halfway through the knee, and was quite annoyed that they wouldn’t let me stay awake when I spoke up and asked where they were in the surgery. ?
My dad was the brave one, though — when they first developed the surgery for Parkinson’s, he had it done, brain surgery — that he had to be awake and alert for! It helped him a lot, too, although unfortunately his Parkinson’s was advanced enough by that point that he didn’t last too much longer.
Yeeks and yeeks!
I was awake during my lasik surgery, but it happened so fast, there was barely time to feel uncomfortable/scared. My then-boyfriend was able to watch the procedure on a TV monitor and he was bummed to hear that they didn’t get pix of my appendix last week.
Getting over a cold here, and trying to make the best of it. I don’t really enjoy being cooped up on the couch. I did venture out for a birthday dinner with my parents at a delicious new restaurant nearby. They were still figuring out their service and we ended up waiting 30 minutes for a table even though we had a reservation – but they treated us sooo well and my parents were patient and polite as always. And there was cheddar beignets and rye cocktails.
Gearing up for my writing retreat, which is 5 whole days in a beautiful mansion in Mill Valley with other writers! It starts on Wednesday and I’m very excited. Gotta write a big section of the novel to be ready for my editor in January.
Happy belated birthday, Heather – have a great time on your retreat – sounds very inspiring.
Cat Bowling
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Too, too funny.