I find the worst thing about hot days is that no matter how much I drink I just can't assuage the thirst. I feel like I'm sloshing inside, but still thirsty...

I've had the cubs home for the past couple of day. True, they weren't that sick, and they almost certainly could've gone to school today but I was the one needing a rest so we stayed home. <g> But, they're going to school tomorrow, first because I want to go and see Goblet of Fire, and second cos it's going to be hot and the school's got air-conditioning.

(I've just giggled my way through the first episode of Blackpool. David Tennant's really quite a good actor, isn't he?)

Interesting dream last night. While I was attending a sort of combination oil painting art class/exhibition it dawned on me that, hey, I could learn to paint! But, as I was preparing an old canvas to reuse, my enthusiasm waned when I couldn't think of a subject I wanted to paint. I didn't want to give up on the idea too soon so I wandered around a bit looking for inspiration and found it in a couple of carved marble architectural details in a graveyard. I was just working out how I could represent that detail when I woke up.

Egad. 1st of December tomorrow. Cubs are anticipating putting up the xmas tree, and starting the advent calendar. Wot fun, eh?

... I've been listening to one cub coughing all evening, and the other's just come out of bed to tell me he's not feeling well. <sigh> Housemate was ill last week - oh joy. Eh, we'll see how they go; a couple of days off probly won't hurt.
As long as it's not on Thursday cos if I can't go and see GoF I'll be miffed.

Cubs' father was watching ID4 this afternoon. What a silly movie - I had great fun snarking.

Handsome President ™ giving pre-battle speech: "We won't go quietly into the night. We will not give up without a fight..."
Lutra 'No Respect' Tenshi chimes in: "And everything will be all right!"

Which earnt me a look from the cubs' father who quite likes this movie. "Have you ever been stirred by a speech?" he asks. "Oh yes," I chirp, "The one in Branagh's Henry V ("We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...") is marvelous! Makes me want to go out and kill Frenchmen...!"
Tra la la.
We decided - after one cub expressed surprise there was no kissing in the 'marriage' scene to which the other one said 'Thank goodness'! - that this must've been the Director's Cut for 10 year olds: more violence, less kissing. <g>

Soulsis brought me some loverly things on the weekend including a gorgeous pink Thai silk goldfish cushion cover, and a pure silk sari! The sari's pale-beige with large mustard and ochre dots - not really my colours but, dang, it feels wonderful. I thought I might dye it an Autumny sort of colour. Yeah, that'd be nice...

Three and half weeks 'til the end of term. Eep.

(Thanks, Joules for the ™ code! ™™™ Hee, new toy...)

Thanks, GoodTwin, the cubs love the calendar! They were very excited. <g>

I was ridiculously pleased the other night to hear a snippet of the Kingdom of Heaven soundtrack being used in a news program. Hee. See the fangrrl squee.

Speaking of fangrrly squeeing - a dilema! <hand to forehead> I was planning on seeing Elizabethtown next (tightarse) Tuesday but then I noticed that Doom is also playing. Orli-squee or horselord? <sigh> I decided on Elizabethtown cos I'm a sook. Doom is rated MA and I remembered the video-game could be really gross - I think it can probly wait for DVD.

KittenKong's slinking about, still twitchy cos there was a dog here earlier. <g> Soulsis came 'round this afternoon, bringing with her my nephews and Snoops, who's quite big now but still a bit daft.
Soulsis made us an Advent Calendar! Nice big wooden one with hooks to hang the numbers on. : ) And a groovy bag with gold fringing for the cubs to go rummaging around in of a morning. So much nicer than the chocolate and cardboard things for sale in the supermarkets.

Half-way through chapter 30...

Is it just me or is this week dragging itself along by its fingernails?

Okay, this is weird. My CD ROM won't read disks but I'm still able to burn files. Course, I can only check that fact using someone else's 'puter, which was a drama in itself. (On the cubs' father's machine my SFSG file didn't show up at all, not even on the updates where I knew the info was saved. Reconfiguring the thing to read hidden files did the trick. Then I stopped panicking.)
Tch. Eh, at least I'm able to back-up my work.

One of Penny's treasured cats caught a skink the other day. The wee lizard's extended and lumpy stomach wasn't cos it was sick - as Penny thought - but because it was carrying eggs. Unfortunately the skink died but now there's half a dozen thumbnail sized thingies being incubated under a lamp. It'll be lovely if they hatch - wee baby skinks!

I went to a Xmas decoration making workshop a couple of days ago. It was fun but not quite what I'd expected. I'd initially signed up cos I'd been shown tempting photos of felt camels but it was decided that as this was a 'beginners' class we'd start simple.
Too simple, perhaps: 2 piece angels with beaded wings and wooden-bead heads. Yes, fun, but I wasn't really learning anything new (except how to dry-felt coloured sheeps wool to make really wild looking angel hair! However...) And I can't take twee Xmas angels seriously anyway - camels are much more interesting.
But there was enough interest from the participants to warrant another workshop, making felt animals this time. : )

Chapter 30 is moving along more easily now, thanks to a solid [poke] from Joules about an unconvincing plot-bunny. <g>

More HP fic-sniggers. Good examples of why it's important, nay, vital to have a beta reader.

"... the hollowed walls of Hogwarts."

<snerk> I know the place is riddled with secret passages but that's ridiculous! Hallowed walls, perhaps?

"Cleaver fingers pinching and lightly tugging..."

Ouch! <smirk> Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...

Heh, cubs' father's birthday tomorrow, and the end of year school disco. Cubs are looking forward to both. : )

Right, <satisfied> that's chapter 29 done. Almost 145k words, too.
When the first draft's finished Joules has promised to have at it with the virtual red pen. I know she won't be gentle or sparing of my feelings but I trust her not to mangle my delicate ego.
<smirk> And I've promised not to get precious, too, so that should help.

I know daddy longlegs are opportunistic, but making a web in my ladle? Tch, cheeky thing...

Cubs and I went into the city again yesterday. It was the M cubs turn to spend his money on train bits. He got a troublesome truck and another couple of pieces of track. Both the cubs really really want to get an engine but I've told them they have to save up. I also keep telling them they'd have regular pocket money to save if they cleaned their room. : )

Here's a lovely story, sent to me by Alarice:

Once upon a time a girl asked a guy "Will you marry me?"

The guy said, "NO!"

And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank vodkas, always had a clean house, never had to cook, had sex with whomever she pleased and farted whenever she wanted.

THE END

Ah, there's something in that for all of us...

Oh dear, found a couple more howlers in a fanfic.
"... a fowl mood." <snigger> Does that mean he was clucking mad?
And - "... sleep depraved": is that what happens when you get too much sleep?

And there was an interesting typo in a recent Horrible History magazine. There was a snippet about Captain Cook and how he took a goat along on a voyage so the crew had fresh milk. Then came this: "The goat had been on voyages before - but this was his longest."
His longest? I sincerely hope that was a typo. I mean, it'd be useful to have a good source of high-protein readily available, but really...! The poor creature would be exhausted... <g>

<chirpchirpchirp> I feel like I've achieved something today. Chapter 29 is almost finished but more importantly I've written out my xmas list. Hah! This is a good thing; now I know what I'm 'sposed to be looking for and roughly how much it's going to cost. I even know what I'm getting my nephews and the cubs' father for their birthdays. Just as well - that's all happening in the next week or so.
(<blink> Dammit. And I've missed Toby's birthday again, haven't I, Jayde? Tch, sorry. Absolutely bloody hopeless...)

The cubs and I were wandering around the shopping centre this afternoon to see if we could find any steam train calendars. No luck, but I pointed to the Orli-squee one and said I'd like that. The cubs, bemused, asked me why (I mean, he's not a steam train, how could I possibly be interested?).
"Because he's cute," I said. "Like a bunny rabbit."
The look askance my children gave me made me laugh... : )

When Joules started work on 2AC I knew I'd eventually need to rework my own parts but I thought I'd have plenty of time. I conveniently forgot just how quickly she can work when she's having fun...
Ack! <flail> I'm going to have to think about it sooner rather than later!
I am looking forward to it though, having the chance to go back and get it right this time. A lot of what I initially wrote didn't tally with later events, and of course the character/race concepts evolved as it went along and had to be unsatisfactorily smooshed about to achieve some vague cohesion. It'll be fun to finally tidy it all up.

I've been thinking about what sorts of things will need attention when I start tweaking SFSG. For one I'll need to sharpen up the character descriptions. I don't do too badly at evoking a feel for times and places but the people - with the exceptions of my obvious favourites - can be a little hazy. I should probly write a character list with accurate descriptions while I'm at it; sometimes it can be deuced tricky trying to remember the eye colour of a little-used character.
The story could probly stand a few more lemony bits, too, given it's about a porn-star. <g>

Tee hee hee. Remember how I was sniggering a while ago about fanficers improperly using nutters and starkers? Found something else to snark at. 'Drug' has no relation to the verb 'to drag'. It doesn't - I've checked. <rolls eyes>
(And on a different, but related, tangent: why is there Gryffindor goodies readily available but nothing for the other houses? <grump> Not everyone is a slavish Harry fan.)

LOL! Half-watching a documentary about cheetahs. After a year and a half of keeping her cubs alive, Mummy cheetah wanders off one day while they're hunting (her work here is done...) They eventually notice she's gone and there's much piteous mewing and calling from the male - until he's distracted by a terrapin. <smirk> I see that the attention spans of young males are constant throughout.

Lawks! I got down to one teabag on the weekend. How did that happen? I've usually got boxes of the stuff lurking in the cupboard.
Dammit, and I'm out of coffee too.

I had a dream last night about Ferraris and drag. Not drag racing. Drag. As in the drivers were wearing ensembles that would make Mitzi green with envy.
I have no idea why I dreamt that. Unless... there's an awful lot of machismo associated with Formula 1 racing...
Nope, still don't get it.
I woke up giggling though: 'Ooh, pretty car... Ooh, fabulous frock!' <smirk>

Night before last's dream was rather involved, too. It started with me looking out for a group of children, street performers essentially. I took it upon myself to collect the money thrown to them, to count and distribute it equally. That was hard to do cos I kept getting distracted...
Visited a familiar dream-theatre where they staged plays based on movies. The company always had enormous, beautifully detailed statues as props. The statues were carved from polystyrene but made to look like plaster or marble. Lovely stuff. This time they were showing 'Prisoner of Azkaban' but were rehearsing 'Goblet of Fire'. I got to join in the rehearsals! Flinging myself about the huge, marble-faced atrium, 'flying' on wires. (Incidentally, that's about as close to flying as I get in dreams. I'm usually tethered, or in an enclosed space, but I think that's more an issue of safety rather than entrapment.) That was loads of fun, but I had to get back to sorting the money for the children.
The dream ended with me on a construction site, where I was still trying to get the money organised, as well as trying to wash and sort a bundle of old shirts, and still keep an eye on the children, especially once it started raining and the holes in the ground starting filling with red mud...
Too much to do - I was almost glad to wake up! <g>

<sigh> 2 days 'til the next dribble of cash - 2 days 'til I can buy some tea, and coffee.
Ooh, and cake!

"Mum! There's a man outside wrecking our weeds...!"

<gasping with laughter> Yes, that's a quote. Our very nice next-door neighbour was mowing the front lawn today; as he does regularly. How the cubs have missed the activity all this time I can only put down to male-pattern blindness...

Blimey, it has been a while since updates. (<waving to Soulsis> Yes I am alive, just not very sociable... : )

Cubs and I went into the city on Saturday morning to visit a couple of hobby shops. The S cub had broken into his money box and found he had enough to start his model railway collection at last. He bought his first piece of Hornby rolling stock (Clarabel, one of Thomas' coaches) then generously leant his brother what was left so he could get a few pieces of track. (The M cub, incidentally, didn't have any money that day cos he couldn't find his stash. His father was going to lend him some but I vetoed that. Cubs have to learn to be responsible for their own things and that's not going to happen if they keep getting bailed out. But he wasn't too fussed about it, especially when I said we'd make another trip in when he did find his money.)
So, very happy cubs. <g> I keep getting presented with lists - verbal and written - of everything they want/need for the layout. And I've volunteered to help make scenery. Now that I am looking forward to!

After we got home and had lunch I cracked the whip and got them to help clean the lounge room. It's much better now and guess what? The M cub found his money. : ) If it's not too hot next weekend we'll go into the city again...

Dammit, is there a canon reference to Lupin's eye colour anywhere? I can't find one. Fanon seems to favour brown - tawny, honey, chocolate, coffee, amber etc: - but he's also been graced with blue, or blue-green, probably cos of David Thewlis. (He's 6'4"? Mmmm... Where was I? Right...)
The Prisoner of Azkaban movie doesn't bear much relation to the book - it's a completely different story that heads vaguely in the same direction. I'm not complaining, I like the movie, it's given me some wonderful visuals for when I'm reading.
And this could simply be a perspective thing but am I wrong in thinking that Snape fanciers aren't in your 12-18 year old age group? Snape-centric fics seem to be, generally, better written and more mature than those focusing on the students.

Discussing the difference between lycanthropy and were-creatures with Joules:

Joules: <shakes head> just had awful image of a were-gerbil....
Lutra:<blinkblink> Bwahahahahahahahaha!
Ooh, it'd be a mean little bugger! <eg>
Joules: <growl>
<STOMPSTOMPSTOMP>

<wiping eyes> Ah, dear me. She'll happily face down a mucking great spider but small rodents are her undoing...

[Watching National Geographic Channel.]
...snakes obviously don't have gag reflexes.
And baby tigers are just the woogiest! <squinch>

Chapter 28's finished and I've begun 29. There could be as little as 5 chapters to go before SFSG is finished...

<cringing> Every time I look at the telly tonight I die a little inside...
Gods this is awful - and housemate has insisted on watching it every week cos he favourite object de lust is a contestant.
<whimper>
I'm going to bury myself in slash until the horror is over...

[Later:]
Phew, it's finished. Right...

There was drama on the bus this afternoon coming home. A couple of male Tech students were sitting up the back being loud and mouthy, dropping the occasional real word in amongst the swearing. An older man sitting near them got up and walked down to the front of the bus. I didn't think too much about it until the bus pulled over - not in a designated stop. The older man, followed by the driver, marched back down to the boys and told them to get off. I couldn't see the ID he showed but I assume he was either a member of the Transit Police or a regular copper. There were more words and insults but the young men eventually did as requested.
What bothered me most about the whole incident was not the swearing but the middle-eastern looking boy rounding on the older man and asking him disparagingly if he was a Jew...
Cubs watched it all wide-eyed but seemed to take it in their stride, especially after I explained the 'code of behaviour' expected on public transport.
And there I was thinking the other day that we never see the Transit Police on the buses.

Meep. Okay, this could be interesting. I've stuck my hand up for a Snupin challenge at Master and the Wolf. I wasn't going to, really, but I read through the list of suggestions and one just... leapt out at me. I had the plot worked out within half an hour.
I have until the end of January next year, which is fine, but as this is my first HP fic I'm going to be sweating the details. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep everyone in character but I'm remembering my first Professionals fics and the myriad of clumsy, thoughtless mistakes I made. Mind you, I'm a more conscientious writer now so perhaps it won't be quite so bad. <g>

Speaking of fanfic - some links.
First from Sue, the Good Omens/Professionals fic she mentioned in the comments recently.
Discovered in a Bar Fight, by Shay Sheridan.
This was very funny!

"...Violence, not the minuet, may well be the supreme achievement of mankind."

Tee hee hee. I enjoyed this, thank you, Sue.

And this one: Harry Potter and the Plumbing of Doom, by Darth Maligna. An excellently snarky MST of Chamber of Secrets.

Summary: Voldemort shows Harry his enormous snake.

SNAPE: "If I may say so, Headmaster? perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Various confused fangirls in the audience consult the patented Villain-Love Handbook, trying to figure out if this inexplicable change of attitude makes Snape more sexy or less sexy...

<gasping> So funny!

Well, despite distractions I've managed a page of chapter 28 but I do have this chapter planned out so it's just a matter of expanding on the points I've noted down, innit?
Heh. Riiight.
Anyway, only 6ish weeks 'til the end of term - better get a move on if I want to finish the first draft by then.

It was hot yesterday so I put a small bottle of frozen water in the piggle's cage. She sniffed it, licked it, gave it a tentative nibble then having discovered it wasn't edible, ignored it completely. The possibility that it could provide relief from the heat seemed to elude her, but then, she's a piggle of advancing years who wasn't that bright to begin with. <g> It might take a few attempts.

Yay! Finally got my turquoise star on eBay! Someone finally gave me that one piece of positive feedback needed to nudge me up to 100. It was from a recent win, too, not one of the older ones. Tch.

OkapiPrincess was in my dream the other day. I was browsing at a department store: there was an almighty crash as a big stack of lovely terracotta pots fell down, smashing all over the place. OP was standing nearby and I got the impression she was disappointed cos she'd been going to buy one of the pots...

I sat down for a couple of hours yesterday and worked on one of the quilts. It's been weeks since I've done that and it was very grounding. I really do need to exercise my creativity both mentally (writing) and physically (handcrafts). When I don't, my ability to cope with all the niggling little irritations diminishes quickly.
But, for the moment, Lutra is in balance again. : )

Nicked - in a round'about way - from Rakina:

You Are 30% Boyish and 70% Girlish

Even if you're not a girl, you're very feminine. You're in touch with your feelings, and your heart rules you. A bit of a emotional roller coaster, one moment you're up and the next you're down. But no matter what, you try to be as cute and perky as possible.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead... But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself. You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place. You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

How Machiavellian Are You?

<snerk> 'Somewhat' Machiavellian...

Heh, finished chapter 27. Made myself sniffle.

Good Omens.
<rolling around laughing> He lost the anti-christ!

I've just finished reading Gray Hawk's Lady, by Karen Kay. (Yes, it's a drivel but before I have to give anyone the Glare of Messy Death for sniggering, it was a sacrifice made for research, m'kay?)
It made me laugh, though I don't think that was deliberate. Let's start with the cover. If that guy's Amarindian then so am I. And I'm not, therefore... <shakes head>
You expect a certain amount of purple-tinged silliness in drivels but this bit just made me snigger.

"She swooned, arching her back and pressing her breasts to him in open invitation..."

Pardon? Unless her breasts are down near her stomach I'm not quite sure how this is sposed to work, especially as he's got his hands around her arse "...pulling her in closer." Unless it was just her upper back that was arching away? But if so, then perhaps the author should have been a little bit more specific? Eh, maybe I'm just being picky, but then there were other omissions, I found. 1832 - corsets were derigueur for women but aside from a mention about the heroine's 'uncomfortable' clothing as she's being dragged across the plains by her captor nothing is said about this essential item of clothing. Not even during the obligatory washing-in-the-river scene where she takes everything off, and everything is listed except for the corset. Just daft.
Eh well, it didn't take long to knock this book over, I spose that's one good thing about drivels.

Heh, well the cubs are back - tired and happy to be here, I think. They said they had fun, but they also mentioned in passing that they were teased. <sigh> But, they were happy to talk about the good stuff, and laugh about some of the bad stuff ("I only ate a little bit of my desert on the first night because... <dramatic pause>... it was fruit salad!" ) and they weren't traumatised by being away. On balance it was probably a good experience for them, even if they did get a little sunburnt. I'm glad they're home though, I missed them more than I thought I would. Wasn't so bad during the day, or at night, times when they're either at school or in bed, but the late afternoon and evenings were very odd.
Heh, but their clothes are washed and I have two small sea-snail shells beside my monitor - presents from my children. : )

It's been a disjointed few days for me. Without the daily structure needed to keep the cubs on track I became aimless very quickly. A foretaste, perhaps, of what it's going to be like when they stay regularly with their dad on the weekends? I'll probably be less distracted though, cos I know they'll be with someone who cares for them.
Didn't spend all my time sleeping or reading (HP smut) however - Penny and I had a fun day out on Thursday. We headed East, to the Dandenongs, stopping at a couple of op-shops on the way and having afternoon tea at the Patchwork Teahouse in Warburton.
Picked up some neat stuff from the op-shops, a bundle of material and several books including a Jo Verso cross-stitch book. Very pleased with that - her patterns are lovely and quick. Also picked up a book about the history of Australian Nurses, and another titled "Grammar for People Who Wouldn't Have to Worry About It If they Didn't Have Children." <g> Could be interesting. There was another book I almost didn't get but decided to pick it up anyway because, well... "Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity." Here's the blurb on the back:

The dwarf, the disfigured, the blind man, the homosexual, the ex-mental patient and the member of a racial or religious minority all share one decisive characteristic: they are all socially 'abnormal', and therefore in danger of being considered less than human. Whether ordinary people react by rejection, over-hearty acceptance or by plain embarrassment, their main concern is with such an individual's deviance, not with the whole of his personality.
Stigma is a study of situations where normal and abnormal meet, and of the ways in which a stigmatised person can shore up his precarious social and personal identity. Using extensive quotations from autobiographies and case studies... argues that stigma is intimately associated with stereotype, and that both are related to the unconscious expectations and norms which act as unseen arbiters in all social encounters.

Could be useful for research. The book was written in 1963 - I'm fascinated with 'old' medical etc: texts, they can be such an insight into a society's attitudes and mores.
Spent more money at the Patchwork Teahouse than I'd planned but <happy sigh> such lovely stuff! Penny had cooked chicken curry and rice for dinner then we settled in to watch Princess Mononoke on DVD. I'd not seen it before and I was very impressed. The backgrounds in Studio Ghibli works always look so deep, even if the human characters always look the same.

But anyway, it should be back to normal now, at least until the Summer holidays which are too close for comfort. Heh, I'd like to have the first draft of SFSG finished by then. Not far to go now - the penultimate story arc is winding up...

Oh dear, the guinea-pig's melted.
Not literally, obviously, but she was sprawled out along the base of her cage with the heat, poor thing. Eh well, it's supposed to be cooler tomorrow.

Tch. 11 p.m. The cubs should be asleep by now.
I do miss the little buggers.

Call me overly suspicious but the announcement today from Little Johnny about 'threats to Australia' seemed particularly well-timed. He's been pushing for legislation to protect us from the threat of terrorists but there's been some niggling opposition by moaning minnies bleating about 'civil rights' <insert sarcasm>. Golly, but now there's an actual threat - carefully unspecific as to origin, date, perpetrators - looks like he might get what he wants. >: (

Sorry, Joules, I had to eat the chocolate. It'd gone soft and you can't put chocolate in the 'fridge - it's sacrilegious or something, so Swiss-descended Niki tells me, and the Swiss are experts on chocolate after all so I have to believe her - but it was delicious, thank you. : )
I want some more now...

So - <checking the time> - the cubs should be at the campsite by now.
I don't know if I'm fretting as such but I'm not... content. The problem is, I think, they're away from me in an environment I have no control over. And I'm worried they won't use their sunscreen and get horribly burnt, or that I've forgotten to pack something vital. <sigh> They'll be fine, I'm sure. I should have more faith in the teachers going with them but... an adult:child ratio of 1:10? No, they'll be fine.
I don't think I'll be rattling around the house like an unquiet ghost but this will give me the opportunity to see just how aimless my life is without my children. <g> I'm sure I'll find ways to occupy myself.

Oh! And before we left this morning a parcel arrived. I was getting dressed so I let the cubs open it, warning them that it might not be all that interesting (I was expecting some embroidery thread I'd won on eBay.) It wasn't thread though, it was Yule cards and chocolates from Joules and Kai! Cubs were thrilled, it was a very nice start to their day. And I love my card - have I mentioned that holly is one of my favourite plants? As for the Guylian seashells... Mmmm... Astonishingly I haven't opened those yet - it's too hot to enjoy chocolate right now. I'll wait 'til evening when I'm at a loose end. Thanks, Joules!

It was a lovely quiet day at Niki's yesterday. Too hot to do much so we nibbled on sausages and fruit, and the pack crowded around the 'puter playing games while Niki, Soulsis and I chatted - and eventually - napped. Heh, forgot about the horse race until I got home. Not that I've ever been passionate about the event anyway, it's just a day-off as far as I'm concerned. : )

Bleurgh. It's hot again. And I'm going to start rambling if I'm not careful...

Because tomorrow is a public holiday lots of people also took today off, and they were all at my shopping centre, getting in my way! Slackers! <grumble> Why can't people walk in straight lines?

Eeep! We have two huntsmen in the house! One's in the lounge, which is fine, I can keep an eye on the beastie but the other's in the cubs' room! Ack. I told them not to worry cos it'll keep the mosquitos away. (Translation: I am not negotiating my way over the mountain of rubble in there, at night, to try and catch the stupid thing. I'll have a look tomorrow. Maybe I can chase it outside with a broom...)
I'm very carefully not thinking about how close that spider is to my room, though.

I've been trawling some excellent Snupin (Snape/Lupin) fic in the Chocolate Frog archives. It's well written and enjoyable even though there's a couple of plots I've found so far that are - to my mind - largely improbable.
Mmm, I do like Dom!Lupin though...

I was enthusing to Penny the other day that I'd found a place where I could buy rolls of polypropylene book covering. Yay! And then all I'd need was a database program and I could finally get on with cataloguing my collection...!
She looked at me and shook her head. "You really are a librarian, aren't you?" Hee! Give me half a chance...

I decided that, because I'll be taking 98% the kitchen stuff with me when the cubs and I move out, I'd be generous and help their father restock. To that end I've been looking in op shops for cheap crockery etc. Found some the other day, a nice, sensible (boring) pale grey dinner set - but what was more tempting was an even cheaper set of 'Country Garden' style crockery. It had ducks on it: kitschy 80's white ducks with blue bows... <big evil grin> The cubs' father will never know how close he came to having this <cough> quality, tasteful product gifted to him. I think he'd appreciate the joke, but no, better to keep him on-side.

And again I forgot to mention Soulsis' generosity - a handful of pink and purple neko bells (shiny!); a small fish wall-plaque mosaiced with bits of mirrors (more shiny!); and a cat's face dangly thing with marbles for eyes. <g> The sort of thing you hang in trees to keep the birds off your fruit. Thanks, Soulsis!

<sigh> It's supposed to be hot for the next couple of days - low 30's. I'm not anticipating that with any pleasure, but still, once this first flush of heat is over it'll mean I'll have less trouble adapting to the Summer temperatures later.

Heh, I think we're being kidnapped tomorrow and taken to Niki's for a Melbourne Cup Day get-together. Should be fun!

<sniffle> Just watched the last part of Casanova.
Now that's the sort of happy ending I love. I'm going to be sniffling for days...

I pandered to my inner 12 year old today. Schleich produces a wonderful range of realistic plastic models - animals, knights, smurfs <g> - and I've now got 4 of their horses on lay-by. I haven't really been a horsey-girl since I discovered pop-stars but the Schleich horses called to me. Meh, perhaps I'm hankering after a simpler time - I might pick them up and think "What the heck...?". If so, then I've got a niece who'd probly appreciate them. : )
But they are really lovely...

Gah, I'm fretting over the cubs' upcoming camp, not cos they're going to be away from me but cos they're going to be with people - kids - who don't have much respect for them. And the cubs can be oversensitive when they're wound up and tired. <sigh>
No, no - I'm only borrowing trouble, aren't I?
Gods, the preparation for it though! Everything has to be labeled, not to mention being found and cleaned ready for packing, or it has to be bought. I was trailing around the shopping centre, watching my money dwindle while the 'list of things needed' didn't seem to be getting any shorter. I think we have everything now, including runners (joggers) for the cubs which should be interesting cos they can't tie their shoe-laces by themselves yet. Not that I've made much effort to teach them - they always wear pull-on boots. So, guess what we'll be doing this weekend? Oh well, at least they can shower/clean themselves without help.
<huggle> Thank you, Soulsis, for the loan of the sleeping bags! The cubs love them - they've already tried them out. : )
I've organised with the cubs' father to drive us all into school on Wednesday, that'll stop us having to muck about with suitcases et al on the bus. Luckily Tuesday is a public holiday so I can spend the day stressing without being interrupted by having to take the cubs to and from school. Tch, is it any wonder I want to be 12 again?

Found this short comic on my favourite snarking site. So funny! Sparklypoos! <smirk>
It came from this site - check out the other comics, and the HP fan art. I'm still giggling over some of it.

Oh, this came from the same site...


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Awww... I like Lupin

LOL! Just heard on the Lenny Henry show:

Did you know Sagittarius has git in it?

I know a couple of Sags. Tee hee hee

I am outraged and appalled!
The cubs and I went into a big chain store today to have a look at the toys, as is our wont. The cubs pressed the buttons on everything, as is their wont, and... Bob the Builder had an American accent! For the love of National pride, why? Wasn't the degradation of Winnie the Pooh enough?
Grrr...
Anyway...

The cubs are moving into the gruesome little boy stage. We were looking at flower buds on an agapanthus and it was noted that, fully closed, they looked like birds' heads. Then I'm gleefully told that, partially opened, it looks like the bird's vomiting, and, fully opened, look, the bird's exploded!
... riiiight...

Saw the most amazing cloud-formation this morning as I was coming home from dropping the cubs at school. There was a back-drop of slate-grey rain clouds and in front of them was a series of white cumulus clouds. Startlingly white when the sun hit them; absolutely beautiful! It stopped me in my tracks.
I like clouds. : )

Hn, it's that awkward time in fresh produce where the Winter fruits are out of season and so are more expensive but the Summer fruits aren't in yet to take up the slack. Oh well, at least the Lebanese cucumbers - my Summer staple - are half the price they were last week.

In my dream a couple of nights ago I was chatting/traveling/hiding from lions with a group of people. One of the women tossed me a large plastic spool and mentioned something about our time together in the fabric mill. I knew what she was saying was true but the memories were so far back, so distant, I couldn't recall them with any clarity.
I've never set foot in a factory except to tour it, not in this life at least. I'm not saying for sure it was a past-life echo, mostly because before I went to bed I was watching a documentary on the history of photography. The programme included a segment about photography being used to bring to light the terrible conditions mill and mine children worked under at the turn of the 20th century. An interesting dream though, even so.

By golly, chapter 26 is tripping along nicely. Should have that finished soon.

Okay, well I didn't have dreams about rampaging frozen mutant cockroaches, or their sea-going relatives, but I did dream I was a music teacher at a school of yoga. : ) I was asked to demonstrate my musical ability, which made me pause because, you know, I wasn't really a musician, but when I sat down at a dinky little student's piano I found my fingers knew what to do and I was able to fumble through a simple piece well enough to make people think I was just a little rusty. <g>
See? Another dream about pretending...

Yay! Finished chapter 25 and already 2 pages into 26. This is the second-last story arc; once that's concluded there'll be one more event then it's on to the final bit. Woohoo! Not only that I've actually plotted out some future bits so I won't be stumbling about trying to string things together when I get there.

Why are children still taught the times tables up to twelve (1x1 - 1x12)? No denying it's handy but we don't really use base 12 anymore. Is it just to keep the 12x12 reference grid on the back of exercise books neat and square? I think it would be better to have them learn up to x15 as standard.

After putting it off for weeks I finally got 'round to starting the repairs to the M cub's blankie. The first part was easy enough - patching the bald spot in the wadding, tacking down the loose bits of material - but when it came to trying to attach the new cover there was frustration, and language that made the cubs gasp. I've tacked the new covers on and while the shark material is nice and smooth, the green is going to be puckered. Ah well. The effort will still be appreciated, I'm sure.

I'm watching the first part of Casanova, with David Tennant in the lead role. I'm really enjoying it, it's wickedly funny in places and DT's very good but I'm still not sure I can see him as Dr Who.

Couple of quiz things nicked from Joules.

Hee.


You are Dea dubiosa, the Goddess Sue. All
the power of heaven and earth is at your
command, which doesn't stop you from throwing
tantrums, or explain why we've never heard of
you before.


What Species of Mary Sue Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Er...


Which Slytherin Mary Sue Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And this one was contrived - I just wanted to see where all the Snape questions led.


Which Slytherin Mary Sue Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Truly, Joules and I do have some interesting conversations on ICQ.
To set the scene: I was querying a word I'd used in SFSG, wondering if it could be considered too Terran for the setting. Joules agreed but as it was very late, and she was very tired she couldn't think of a suitable substitute...

Joules: Nah - brain go 'bampf'. Ask me tomorrow?
Lutra: LOL It's bampfed to the bahamas?
???<blink>???
Actually, 'bampf' is what Nightcrawler does when he teleports.
That's what I mean. Your brain's bampfed away.
... ah... right - undertandee a bit maybe...
nope - no Bahamas...
Maldives, yes
Lucky thing, sunning itself on the sand, being mistaken for a jellyfish...
<growl> My brain does NOTNOTNOT look like a jellyfish....
<smirk>
<THWAP>
<yip!> All right, it doesn't look like a jellyfish!
Though I have seen some washed up on beaches here that are reminiscent of brains. If brains were see-through and smooth.
My brain is neither see through nor smooth. Nor does it exist in only the four usually Terranly discernible dimensions.
Now that I can believe! <nods> Tardis brain. Yes. It's the only way everything can fit
Quite! Insult it at your peril!
<sarcastic quiver>
<eyebrow of dooom>
<snicker> What's it going to do? Come and get me?
<incline head> You think it can't?
....
Oh thank you, now I'm going to have nightmares about being pursued by a brain that doesn't look like a jellyfish!
... I hesitate to ask, but you think brains generally look like jellyfish?
<patpat> Keep taking the tablets...
Well, no, but it was the only washed-up-on-the-beach sort of thing I could imagine a brain looking like...

Conversations like this aren't really atypical, either. <g>