Pulled weeds, pulled corn. Another week with the yard waste bin full and going to the city's composting program. Certain things I leave to them because they compost on an industrial scale with chippers and grinders and stuff, which I cannot.

Planted a half-dozen jalepeno plants on the side walkway where I pulled the weeds (grass and morning glories). It gets morning sun there, and while half the flowers (I'm not remembering the type/name ATM) my mom gave me to plant there didn't do well (four are still alive and blooming!), the volunteer mystery pepper plant has gone gangbusters. I'm hoping other pepper plants might as well, so for less than $3 I'm giving them a shot.

Went to the gym. Twelve minutes of pure exhausting pain on the elliptical of evil whose sensors are shot, then a more reasonable twenty-five minutes on the bike. Then upstairs to the weight machines, where I went through my repetoire except for the "dorsal flexer" (if I'm deciphering April-the-trainer's handwriting correctly), which someone else was on. Then back downstairs and waiting for Wonderful Husband to finish his bike time so he could hold my feet down for the side-to-side core flex sets, and ten situps. I cannot do situps or anything abs related without something/one to keep my feet down. Fail!Me.

Now to rifle through the fridge for dinner, hang that last set of shelves, and then have the pleasure of actually, finally putting DVDs on them. ^_^

Closet doors put back on! Unfortunately, the front door decided to be... difficult. And in the process of putting it back on the rails, it scratched up the paint on the back door.

Insert unpronounceable keyboard mash of frustration here.

Wonderful Husband is suggesting a touch-up in place at a future date. Since I'm guessing that taking it off, sanding it down, repainting, and then hanging it again will only lead to the same problem, take 2, I'm amenable to this. Just not today.

After door hanging was done, we went to the gym for the first time in months. I ventured, for the first time, into the pool area and swam for about fifty minutes. Wheee-oo, they sure don't stint on the chlorine! I showered after getting out, and I still reek of the stuff. But since most of the machines are out due to calcaneal spurs, it's either that or the weights. (The weights, incidentally, are directly above the pool. Which makes for some very disturbing thuds and bangs coming from the ceiling of the pool room....)

This morning, I went to the Farmer's Market and a couple of estate sales with my new(ish) coworker, who is somewhere around my own age. She's very talkative and extroverted, which is kind of the opposite of me; I only get chatty around people I'm comfortable with. It was okay; I kind of feel like she wants a little too much to be friends with me, and I don't know why. I'm not a particularly engaging person.

I've started on a deep-cleaning of the kitchen, which really needs it. (The whole house needs it, but one room at a time.) The long counter is now looking much better; I just have to do the rest of everything. Also, rescued a lizard from Paris. She is now 3 for 0 this year. Sushi needs to work hard to catch up!

Saw The Lorax at the $2 theater. It was a little heavy-handed on the "hey, this is an environmental movie! in case you missed that!", but overall not bad. I did tear up toward the end. And somehow the Lorax's tack reminded me a little of Adam, toward the end of Good Omens: the only way people are going to learn not to kill whales, is if they have to deal with dead whales.

Went to the gym (612 calories burned! most of which while watching Britney Spears music videos, which were preferable to Faux News on another screen) and used probably the last of the garden-grown snow peas in a quite yummy stir-fry for dinner. And now, bed....

Corn, round 2 (Stowell's Evergreen variety) now in the ground, along with cucumbers and a couple of Vanilla Ice melons. As I was finishing up putting things in the dirt, I turned around and there, in the water bubbling up from the finial of the garden fountain, was a hummingbird busily bathing itself. OMG so cuuuuuute~! I watched it for a few minutes and even called Wonderful Husband out to take a gander. I think this weekend I shall pull a hummingbird feeder out of the cabinet and set it in the garden....

Also, 572 calories burned at the gym. It was crowded tonight, but I didn't end up having to wait more than a minute for any of the machines I wanted, so it worked out well.

As with yesterday, it feels like I didn't accomplish much. But the roses out front are pruned, as is the monster rosemary bush. Sunflower seed bread got made, and the oven is heating for roast chicken for dinner. We went to see The Muppets, which was surprisingly complex for a kids' film, and went to the gym during the Superbowl. It was brilliant - there were maybe a dozen other people there. And the halftime show (very sparkly) was showing on four screens. I also caught the Ferris Bueller commercial just before we left, so I'm happy.

Mrah. Went out to the garage to check the oil level in my car and ended up reassembling the sewing machine. It's... better than it was. After the application of lubricant and heat. But it's still not working. Dragged Wonderful Husband out for a consult, and we think it's the section in the bottom that I couldn't disassemble to soak in Evapo-rust that's causing the problems. Solution is to measure the machine and find/purchase a plastic tub that will let it sit upright in Evapo-rust. We popped into Ganahl Lumber today and found some nice 1/4" plywood that will probably do to refinish the top of the treadle. Just needs staining and cutting to size.

I have also ended up buying a Singer 66 with somewhat faded red eye decals. It's rusty, but it was $10. Will see what I can make of it, after I get the 15 working.

I think I've finally reached the point of detachment where I can probably let go of both of the Touch 'N' Sew machines I inherited from my grandmothers. Neither has worked for years, and while I now have the money to get them repaired, it'll still be expensive (~$300 each) and given that it would be replacing plastic gears with plastic gears, I'm not sure it would be worth it. One of them goes in a small sewing desk that we have by the front door holding up an ivy plant and sheltering our shredder. The other is in a fairly substantial sewing desk that I would keep.

Thing is, I wonder if my getting into vintage sewing machines was a bad thing. Because it seems to be leading me toward avarice. There are two particular pieces I want at the moment, and while they're both relatively affordable, it comes down to the issue of space and use. This cabinet is one of them, and this chain stitch machine is the other. I want these two pieces very much, and the thing is, while I can afford them, that doesn't mean I should get them.

So I spent my time at the gym tonight meditating on want and Buddhist philosophies of detachment. I haven't come to any conclusions save that I enjoyed watching Pretty Woman (on one screen) much more than the Kiera Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice (on another screen). I did confirm, however, that a half hour on the elliptical machine leaves the soles of my feet feeling like I've been walking on knives. I only went to the gym twice last week, and am only ending up going twice this week, so I need to kick the calorie expenditure higher than usual, which the elliptical will do. (Ended up burning 650-ish.)

Start: 125686
Finish: 127011
Daily Total: 1325
Monthly Total: 18295

Next to last plot point hit; one more to go. And I've listed out the remaining scenes I need, and from whose point of view they should be. Four more scenes. Only four, and then it's done! But not tonight, because I have work in the morning.

Some days, it's just impossible to go fast enough/work out hard enough. Either that or the machines at the gym are mocking me. Difficult to tell.

( Grimm )

There's a very odd confluence of reality when you're listening absently to NKOTB at the gym and a cop show comes on and you realize it's the one Donnie Wahlberg is in. (For the record? Blue Bloods was actually pretty good.)

We watched the third episode of Once Upon A Time earlier, while we were eating dinner. The sheriff is definitely the huntsman. And Emma definitely got her toughness from her mother. (Though, a comment to the writer(s) of the last episode: liking cinnamon on your hot chocolate is NOT a genetic trait!) Though that really makes me sad upon reflection, because as long as she was single, Snow was kick-ass. Then she got married and pregnant and all of a sudden she was emotional and conflicted and dependent and by the time she hits the real world she's a total milquetoast. In the first episode I loved her being the one to draw the prince's sword when the wedding was interrupted by the Evil Queen; I can't imagine Mary Margaret Blanchard doing any such thing.

Gym'ed Friday and today. Skipped Saturday, which I allowed myself because I had my last bellydance class until January that morning, so I got my sweat quotient in.

Wrote a bit on the novel this morning, and also realized that in Deus Ex Machina, there's been something I've been fighting against happening... and that I should just let it happen. NaNo wordcount:

Start: 117012
Finish: 117400
Daily Total: 388
Monthly Total: 8684

There is a stray cat I've seen around a couple times now. I know she (I think it's a she; it's a tortiseshell anyway, so I've been referring to her as Tortie because I am a master of the obvious) is a stray and not a feral because she doesn't do the disappearing thing whenever I get within twenty feet of her. She's in very rough shape, limps on one paw, and I worry that something is wrong with her eyes because they're mere slits. Today I saw her on our back patio so I gave her some dry cat food, which she started devouring even before I got back into the house. I kind of feel like I should rent a trap and take her to a vet or a shelter, but then what? For now, I guess, I'll keep feeding her when I see her and see how things go.