New Beginnings

I found this little thing making noise in the nestbox when I got home from work tonight:

Hamlet and Violet's first chick after all these years. There are 2 more eggs in the box, pipping away. I sure hope they make it. I had given up hope that they would ever have fertile eggs. The parents will be getting massive quantities of millet and soft food for a while. I don't really have time for handfeeding!

I snuck a picture of my workstation:

My world is grey. Things have been really busy this week and I am getting pretty stressed out. However, I would still rather be stressed there than back at the Bad Place.

And I have been meaning to show you the pretty plants outside the office doors.

I don't know what they are, but I just love that color.

Photo journalism

The car the day of The Incident. The bumper is caved in, the trunk smushed in and the lights winged out. Sigh. I particularly like the curliness of the license plate. It hardly looks like $2,300 worth of damage from this angle.After a week at the body shop. New, shiny, freshly painted, and the license plate hammered flat. I guess I should have given them the pristine one that lives in the glovebox. They painted the rear bumper by mistake - it looks great! Too nice to put new bumperstickers on. A random picture from my trip to Maui a couple years ago. How many different shades of blue are there in the world? I think they are all in this photo.

Hangin' on

A beautiful day today: sunny; windy; warm; but not too much of any. Knit a few rows on the purple sweater. It might finally be time to measure soon. Did my best at work today but still had some pretty big errors... might be due to the nearly 60 hours I put in last week or maybe to the incessantly ringing phone & being behind. It was still my best.

Saw the most beautiful full moon this morning (at 5:30 am) - cream colored in a black sky and hanging low on the horizon.

Had some good Cheese time in WoW tonight - decided to fish & chat and not worry about tasks or dungeons or leveling or whatever. Of course right after that I was jealous as hell I wasn't invited to the ICC run. Pah. Much like laundry and doing my taxes, I want to run heroics until I puke when I am at work, but when I get home I lose all motivation.

Got in some good parrot snuggling time. Kiwi is good at flying to me from the swing and then back. Not so confident flying around the house (scary!). Showed Beaker how to crack a pine nut... I am not sure if he is hesitant or just not strong enough to crack them on his own. The tiels and budgies are looking good but probably want some walkabout time here pretty soon.

I think I forgot to eat dinner. Off to find a snack.

Winding Down

Two hours past bedtime; curse you, afternoon nap. Wandered by Borders and picked up "Monty Python & the Holy Grail" this evening, then got some groceries and dog food. I totally forgot that there is a movie theater right over there - maybe I will go see "Alice in Wonderland" this week.

Didn't get much done in chores-ville or bills-ville, but tried to catch up on some sleep at least. We will find out in 6 hours if I succeeded and get up on time.

The Ravel'd Sleeve of Care

Too tired to sleep. I hate that. *yawn* Nope, still awake. It is hard to sleep when the sun is out.

Stopped by the bird farm on the way home and picked up some treats for the flock. It turns out that I buy more stuff for them when I am hungry! Restocked the small hookbill mix and got a small bag each of peppers and pine nuts for the parrots to try. A bag of bermuda grass for the rabbits and cavies rounded out the shopping list. They had a very friendly DuCorps' Cockatoo for sale who wanted endless scratchies, and Beeper the Galah is still for sale, as is Clyde the white capped pionus (a cousin of Beaker the Maximillian's pionus). Clyde is just so beautiful. If I had a 'spare' $400 I would take him home.

Took Beaker outside to enjoy the fresh air on the porch this afternoon. The upside to flying like a potato is that you get outdoor privileges. He gave an apprehensive look at a rampaging balloon, but I promised to protect him. I've heard that running around on concrete works a charm for dulling sharp parrot toenails.

No knitting lately. No spinning or weaving either. I suppose I should see when Fair entries are due. Right after I evict the cats from the closet. It is amazing how small a gap in the door they can slide thru... even the tubby ones.

Shiny

The car is back ! So fresh and sparkly! It is nice to be home.

Worked from 5am to 8pm today. Exhausted but taking the time to check the blogroll. Tried to do a good job today - we were slammed but I did my best to be cheerful, patient, kind and understanding.

Have to sleep - back to work at 6. Dog is in her kennel, barking incessantly. Maybe I should toss her another cookie?

My feet hurt way too much for someone who sat on her ass all day.

Why does the neighbor have to run a power saw at this hour?

Frazz-licious

Wore comfy yoga pants today. Worked my buns off at work. No knitting today. Car ready tomorrow. Going to be at work at *gulp* 5am so I can take the time to go get it in the morning. Watching a few minutes of 'Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story' before bed.

Lessons

Time for another post of 'things I have learned at the new job'

• Being pretty is the most important thing. Everyone needs either more surgery, less surgery, to gain weight, to lose weight, to date above their level or to date below their level. Also, the closer you are to 'perfect', the smaller the imperfections upon which you will be judged.
• It is OK to have a prayer meeting and take communion right in the office during the work day. Bonus points if the phone is ringing.
• Bragging how you give a dollar to a homeless person - but only if they do not ask for it - but won't support social aid programs is hip.
• Saying 'Can you get that? Thanks' means that you don't have to answer the phone, no matter what you are or are not doing.
• By the time I drink enough coffee to wake up, it is time to curtail caffeine intake so that I can get to sleep later.
• When tanning, don't forget to hold your buttcheeks open so your crack will be tan too. Bonus points for slathering on tanning oil and roasting. However, if you put sunblock on your face, you won't get cancer.

In other news, my car might be fixed tomorrow! I am not entirely sure when I will be able to go get it, but it will be nice to have it back. Time to go bumper sticker shopping.

Dress Up, Dress Down

Today we had prospective clients in the office so it was Dress Up day. Pretty easy for me since I have so few clothes - changing my shoes switches between business and casual. The rest of the month is 'month end casual', time for yoga clothes and hoodie sweatshirts. Although I have so few clothes that right now I actually have more slacks in the clean pile than casual pants.

Came home, pulled some weeds, chatted with the neighbor, now making a mini pizza and headed to bed before 9am. Errr pm. Guess I am more tired than I thought. Added a few rows to the purple sweater... every little bit counts. At this rate it might be ready for Mabon.

Quickie

Home from work on time, but have to go in early tomorrow, so it is early bedtime for me tonight. Might make some dinner in a bit. Snuggled the parrots - Kiwi showed off *two* new whistles for me and Beaker went through his repetoire of whistles, birdcalls, mock phrases and the laugh that cracks me up.

Made some progress on the purple sweater today at lunch while relaxing to some Dave Stringer Kirtan music. It makes fantastic driving music (this disc at least) as it is very calming and meditative. He will be in concert Apr 3 in San Diego - I am planning on a road trip!

Choresday

Laundry? check
Dishes? check
Pets fed? check
Parrot snuggling? check
Birdseed for the goldfinches? check.

Ostara

Happy Spring! Maybe tonight or tomorrow I will have a little ritual, but so far today has been quiet. Work in the morning, home by noon, a little nap, walk to get groceries, eat said groceries, now some blogging and WoW. Glad I don't have anywhere to be, as the Bad Neighbor has blocked in my car with a gorram moving truck.

The new parakeet (Echo) seems to be settling in well, but he and Skye are not all snuggly yet. Violet and Hamlet are still brooding eggs in the nestbox, but no baby cockatiels. Beaker is chatting up a storm; he can say 'BeakerBeakerBeaker', 'Beeeeeeakerrrrr', and has several whistles. We are working on 'WOW' and 'Good Morning'. Graham and Pretty Bird are their usual adorable selves - he does one trick, and that is to 'help' me with breakfast time by pushing the food dish out of its slot.

Week's End

I actually got called in for overtime tomorrow, so it isn't the actual end, but close enough for me. Some pictures to entertain you....

Beaker being adorable at the local knitting store last month.

My new sweater project at my lunch break today. I finally decided to explore the park across the street

The very attractive commute home. I haven't even gotten on the freeway yet and there are cars as far as the eye can see.

GRRRRR

My internet seems to be down; 'borrowing' an unsecured signal from the neighborhood. I pay for the service, I should get the service. Can't it go down while I am away from the house? Perhaps it did.

8pm and finally getting settled in for the night. Enchiladas cooking, catboxes cleaned, internet borked. I was thinking about watching a movie and doing some knitting, I guess that is being decided for me.

I hate to pay to rent the car for the 2 days of the weekend so that it can sit in the driveway, but can't think of a good place to go for a day trip sans doggies. Maybe the Huntington? The estimate on the car repairs is up to almost $2,000. I am sure glad I have insurance! And that I was not at fault; fingers crossed the other driver's insurance will cover my deductible.

Moving along

Having a beer and jamming to some Kyuss on the cd player. Dropped the car off for repairs today and picked up a rental for the week. An okay day at work, and now some pet time and WoW time. Happy STP day!

Moving Right Along

Got a bunch of things crossed off the 'to-do' list today: Called the dmv and made an appt to renew my license, called the auto shop and made an appt to get the car repaired, picked up the accident report at the police station so I could finally have the other guy's insurance info, sent in my census form, bundled up a netflix and got checks ready to go into the bank. On the way home I picked up cat food, bought Skye (the budgie) a companion, made dinner - with vegetables- and snuggled Kiwi while washing some dishes. Felt like I was finally getting the hang of my new tasks at work and had a generally Good Day.

Monday

A quiet, pleasant day. Got up late, did some stuff around the house, got the mail, went to work, felt capable, came home, now watching some Eddie Izzard, eating a BBC (bagel, bacon and cheese sammich) and getting ready to grab a beer and play some WoW.

Discovered Netflix streaming (ooh must remember to change my atm card number) now carries one of my very favorite movies, "The Passion of Joan of Arc". Right now they just have the silent version, but I think if you get the dvd you can play the musical track. I assume it is the fabulous one by Richard Einhorn. I have seen this movie twice before - once at the world premiere in Northampton (thank you Gina for dragging me through the blizzard!) and once at a performance in Orange county. Each had a live choir and the composer in attendance. Very cool.

Goal for this week (well, forever really) is to not use disposable dishware / cutlery at work. No more iced tea on the way home, so sad. Using a travel cup, so rewarding!

Checking In

Wow it is a beautiful not-quite-spring day here today. The sky is blue, the sun is warm, the wind is howling, groceries have been procured and lettuces harvested from the garden. I bought real cream *gasp* for my coffee, so am feeling particularly pampered.

A baby picture of my darling Beaker


The trouble I have been instigating with the Cheese Vendors


Some knitting has been done, but no picture taking. The front of the purple blouse is done and work on the back continues. The sleeves are short, so it shouldn't be too long now.