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Yesterday was nominally spent getting ready for having folks over for the yearly relaxathon. I have this every year on the New Moon before Chrismahanukwanzakah but, oddly, it never seems to be very well attended. Dang it, it's imperative that people realize that they do not have to be all party-going high energy shopping machines for the entire month of December, and the relaxathon is my way of reminding everyone of that. Of course, folks might be taking my message to heart and staying home and slacking. This is fine, it just means I have more crackers and M&Ms left over. So you all are taking it easy when you can, right?
Anyway, so we spend the morning noodling around and cleaning up. Hub got the back porch, which was in severe need of a clean-up. Now it looks livable! I'm continuing to work on the pool and get it clean; the water's blue but cloudy. The cedar elm has dropped most of its leaves into said pool which is no doubt contributing to the problem. But it's about dropped the final ones so hopefully things will clear up soon. I cleaned up the kitchen and folded laundry henge. We had some nice afternoon shagging that left us both unconscious; after I revived I managed to clean off the very cluttered fireplace and when hub got up we went to pick up a few things.
First, I wanted to check out the new rock shop. There is a Natural Treasures in a used-furniture store down on 5th that I've been to many times. I saw that they were opening up one north at Braker and Kramer, but Kirby didn't seem impressed. But I wanted some tumbled rocks for my rock bowl and figured they could probably manage that. They could, and in fact they had quite a nice little shop. The guy at the counter was clueless, but he was very friendly and rang things up accurately, which is all I require in a counter guy. I got a couple of .25 tumbled rocks (citrine and blue tiger eye which is apparently also called 'hawk's eye') and others (obsidian, aquamarine, sandstone) ranging up to more expensive, including a very poor quality tumbled ruby the size of a small peach pit and a very high quality piece of lapis. They even had a whole bunch of tumbled ametrine, a stone I'm very fond of. I got 2 pieces of fluorite, one a small tumbled piece and another bigger chunk of lovely bluish-purple for a good price. And last a little amethyst cluster that looked like the chunk that's leftover when they take a flatish piece of amethyst crystals and carve out a cylinder for a tea light to sit in. So it's all points on top and tea light shape on the bottom. And the points have little specks in them; I'm sure the crystal wonks can explain the significance of this but it just looked neat to me.
We wanted to grab dinner, and the novelty of the Wienerschnitzel appealed to us. They do hot dogs, and make no pretense of being good for you. It was refreshing, actually. Then to the store to get snacky things, which got me home just in time to start a batch of wassail when people showed up. Then Kirby called to find out numbers to call in at work; someone's apparently in very dire straights and she needed to help out with support and possible containment- I hope I hear from her soon to find out how things went. 3 people showed up to come see the lights on 37th Street; hub decided to stay home and bake cookies like a good husband. The lights were colorful and chaotic as ever. By the time we got back cookies and wassail were ready and I made hot chocolate for those looking for something more chocolaty. I had high-quality fare too; both Dr.Chocolate powder and Butternut filched from work. They're both excellent hot chocolate mixes, though still not as good as Natalie's Mexican hot chocolate which I think involves actual chocolate and even has an egg in a batch. I will have to see if she'll give me the recipe for next year, though I've been trying to call her for some time and not getting an answer (no machine either). I hope she's okay.
The relaxing went well. We sat around and listened to ambient music and I lit a bunch of candles and just chilled out. Folks admired the tree, which I think I've gotten the kitten to stop climbing, but I had to be mean to her which sucked. Nothing makes you feel like a big jerk more than being mean to a kitten. Well, me anyway. But it was nice to get the house in good shape; hopefully I'll be able to keep it that way for Yule. This is the last Sunday I have to work; I'll work Sunday through Tuesday this week and not have to go in 'til Wednesday of the following week. I'll be doing my Yule vigil like every year from Monday night through Tuesday morning, and I plan to make some incense and fix up a mirror for my cubicle so I will be able to see people sneaking up behind be since I'll have my back to an aisle. I have stained glass paint and I'm not afraid to use it!
Anyway, so we spend the morning noodling around and cleaning up. Hub got the back porch, which was in severe need of a clean-up. Now it looks livable! I'm continuing to work on the pool and get it clean; the water's blue but cloudy. The cedar elm has dropped most of its leaves into said pool which is no doubt contributing to the problem. But it's about dropped the final ones so hopefully things will clear up soon. I cleaned up the kitchen and folded laundry henge. We had some nice afternoon shagging that left us both unconscious; after I revived I managed to clean off the very cluttered fireplace and when hub got up we went to pick up a few things.
First, I wanted to check out the new rock shop. There is a Natural Treasures in a used-furniture store down on 5th that I've been to many times. I saw that they were opening up one north at Braker and Kramer, but Kirby didn't seem impressed. But I wanted some tumbled rocks for my rock bowl and figured they could probably manage that. They could, and in fact they had quite a nice little shop. The guy at the counter was clueless, but he was very friendly and rang things up accurately, which is all I require in a counter guy. I got a couple of .25 tumbled rocks (citrine and blue tiger eye which is apparently also called 'hawk's eye') and others (obsidian, aquamarine, sandstone) ranging up to more expensive, including a very poor quality tumbled ruby the size of a small peach pit and a very high quality piece of lapis. They even had a whole bunch of tumbled ametrine, a stone I'm very fond of. I got 2 pieces of fluorite, one a small tumbled piece and another bigger chunk of lovely bluish-purple for a good price. And last a little amethyst cluster that looked like the chunk that's leftover when they take a flatish piece of amethyst crystals and carve out a cylinder for a tea light to sit in. So it's all points on top and tea light shape on the bottom. And the points have little specks in them; I'm sure the crystal wonks can explain the significance of this but it just looked neat to me.
We wanted to grab dinner, and the novelty of the Wienerschnitzel appealed to us. They do hot dogs, and make no pretense of being good for you. It was refreshing, actually. Then to the store to get snacky things, which got me home just in time to start a batch of wassail when people showed up. Then Kirby called to find out numbers to call in at work; someone's apparently in very dire straights and she needed to help out with support and possible containment- I hope I hear from her soon to find out how things went. 3 people showed up to come see the lights on 37th Street; hub decided to stay home and bake cookies like a good husband. The lights were colorful and chaotic as ever. By the time we got back cookies and wassail were ready and I made hot chocolate for those looking for something more chocolaty. I had high-quality fare too; both Dr.Chocolate powder and Butternut filched from work. They're both excellent hot chocolate mixes, though still not as good as Natalie's Mexican hot chocolate which I think involves actual chocolate and even has an egg in a batch. I will have to see if she'll give me the recipe for next year, though I've been trying to call her for some time and not getting an answer (no machine either). I hope she's okay.
The relaxing went well. We sat around and listened to ambient music and I lit a bunch of candles and just chilled out. Folks admired the tree, which I think I've gotten the kitten to stop climbing, but I had to be mean to her which sucked. Nothing makes you feel like a big jerk more than being mean to a kitten. Well, me anyway. But it was nice to get the house in good shape; hopefully I'll be able to keep it that way for Yule. This is the last Sunday I have to work; I'll work Sunday through Tuesday this week and not have to go in 'til Wednesday of the following week. I'll be doing my Yule vigil like every year from Monday night through Tuesday morning, and I plan to make some incense and fix up a mirror for my cubicle so I will be able to see people sneaking up behind be since I'll have my back to an aisle. I have stained glass paint and I'm not afraid to use it!
