Grass and Sky

Okay, got most of a cup of coffee in me and I'm beginning to move on from omg!zombie stage. Mornings are hard, people! I felt hungover this morning and I didn't even have anything to drink last night. How unfair is that?

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I got some shopping done. The little mini-sweater I was looking at online wasn't to be found at Target and I'm not buying it online without trying it on and seeing how it looks, so I'm going back to the drawing board on that one. I did buy a bunch of knee socks, though. I've been wanting some because my lower legs get cold when I'm walking to work in low temps. I was tempted by the over the knee socks, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't work well with my somewhat less than ideally skinny legs.

I also went to Old Navy, where there were supposed to be some great clearance deals. Well, there were actually a few nice clearance deals but not on anything I actually wanted. So I walked away from there empty handed.

Then on to Best Buy, mainly just because it's there and it's my favorite store. They've rearranged the one in the Waterfront and I didn't like it much. Hard to find anything and the dvd section was much smaller than it used to be. Oh well, the lack of selection meant that once again, I was spared actually spending any money. I also looked at iPods, since mine has completely died. I really do need a new one, but by the time I got to them, I was deeply entrenched in a 'spend no money' head space. I looked at the tiny little nanos, debated the differences between ipods and itouches with the friend I was with, and walked away. I may just have to order one online, since I do need to get one if I'm going to start up running again any time soon.

Later in the evening I did some babysitting, for the same family I was with last weekend. The three-year-old was as delightful as always. Even before her parents left, she was asking when we were going to have more Meeshie days. After they left she told me she wanted to get into her pjs and watch a Steelers game with me. I told her she the game was next week, so she would be able to watch with her parents. "No," she answered, "with you!" So now I've got the little boy who insists on hockey every time I babysit him (such a sacrifice on my part) and the little girl who thinks we will always watch Steelers games together. It's hard to remember sometimes, how much I hated sports up until about two years ago, lol.

Another day off, tomorrow. I babysat for one of the toddler room's families this morning and I'll do a few hours for another family tomorrow. And tomorrow's family is in pretty close walking distance which means no one has to risk their lives driving me back and forth. Win!

As for the rest of the day, I definitely won't be making a life-sized TARDIS in my backyard, but if I get bored/desperate enough, who knows. K-9 maybe?

Oh, ouch. Banged up toe. Strained muscle in my back. Sore neck and shoulders. I'm feeling my years tonight.

Good weekend so far, though.

Girls' Night out last night with eve11 and people from work. Yummy food and drink. Then Eve and I came back to my place and pretty much crashed.

Today was all about shopping. Over the course of five hours and six stores I got: two bras, three pairs of winter weight cargos, twelve pairs of socks, a pair of Mudd shoes, three long-sleeve tees, one rolled-sleeve tee, one tee/cami set, three pairs of rolled-sleeve button-ups, and season one box sets of Eureka and Friday Night Lights. No more shopping for me until next year.

I had babysitting this evening and introduced a not-quite 2yr old to the joys of hockey. Pittsburgh vs. the Maple Leafs in Toronto. The Pens dominated the entire game and won easily, 5-2. I only let the little guy watch about fifteen minutes of the game, but of course there was a knock down, fists flying fight in the first couple minutes of the game. Try explaining that one.

I also fit in a Doctor Who episode, Image of the Fendahl. Another Fourth Doctor and Leela adventure, it found them in modern day England, dealing with a mystical skull and an old Gallifreyan legend. It featured Leela in a new outfit and hairdo, both of which I hated. Seemingly, so did others, because by the end of the episode, she was back to her normal look. It also had archaeologists, a coven, and a big silly sluglike monster. I liked it.

I have not yet managed to see Bones, Dollhouse, Numb3rs or Merlin from this week, so there will be lots to keep me occupied tomorrow, along with laundry, cleaning, and a little more babysitting.

I went to a barbeque today where the main entertainment was beer pong (try to throw a ping pong ball into your opponent's cup of beer across a ping pong table or other lengthy surface - if you succeed, your opponent must drink the beer). I can tell I'm getting too old for these things because my primary thought was, that ball is bouncing all over the driveway and grass and then into the cups and someone has to drink out of them afterwards? Ew! Of course, the players were dipping the balls into cups of water between rounds but still, after a few rounds, those cups of water had all sorts of dirt and leaves and grass floating in them.

It was, as I suspected, a somewhat awkward occasion. Fun, but everyone there was either a grad student or recently graduated, and I only knew the hosts and one other family with a sixteen month old baby. Needless to say, I played with the babies a lot. But since I like playing with babies, it worked out okay, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day for a cookout.

I babysat in the evening, which involved a trip to the playground where I played catch with a five year old. After I put the kids to bed, I watched the Pirates game (played in the afternoon, but aired in the evening, for some reason). The Bucs kicked serious ass to win 10-0 against the Braves. This was the second game in the series and they had a shut-out yesterday as well. After watching Hockey for a while, where I can mostly follow the game but never can pick out the off-sides and icings and penalties, it's nice once in a while to sit back and watch a game that I mostly understand and can easily follow. Listening to the announcers took me back to childhood and listening to the game on the radio in the car on long drives.

And now I'm home again. It was a good day but very little was accomplished. In theory, I should go shopping tomorrow and do housework, etc. It remains to be seen if any of that gets done, or if I just spend another day lazing around.

( I don't think I can get away with saying I don't like sports any more. )

( Dollhouse 1x07 )

I had babysitting tonight. A repeat family, 5yr old boy, almost 1yr old girl. And let me tell you, that girl is adorable, but I would never be able to sleep if I was her mom. I put her down in her crib and made sure there were no blankets or toys near her face. A little while later I went in to check on her (baby monitors do not reassure me) and she had completely flipped around to the other end of the crib and buried her face in a pile of blankets. So, I moved the blankets away from her face, she immediately rolled over and face-planted in them again. I moved them again, and for a third time she found the blankets with her face. I finally just gave up and let her sleep how she wanted. But I was popping into her room to check that she was still breathing so often it's a wonder she didn't wake up. And the baby monitor, totally useless. I had it turned up so loud I could hear the ticking of her clock louder than the tv, still couldn't hear her breathing. Probably a good think I'm not a mom. I'd be so overprotective of my kids it would be unreal.

Tomorrow there is more babysitting and then Monday it's back to work. Where does the weekend go, I ask you?

I went to a play, tonight. Okay, technically, I was babysitting the director's kid during the play. And also technically, it was a grade school play. But, still. It was great fun.

The play was How To Eat Like A Child and other lessons in NOT being a grown up. The kids were not the most talented group the director has had, she said, but they played with great heart and really impressed me.

This is a family I've babysat for fairly often, and the older son is in my room at work. He was hanging out backstage with mom, and I was with dad out in the audience, ready to run the baby (about seven months) out of the room if he got fussy. At first, the dad was holding Baby and I was just hanging out, sort of twiddling my thumbs. And I have to admit, thinking rather grimly that the only people who voluntarily watch grade-school kids at a play are their parents. But then, about five minutes before the play began, I stole the baby (he'd been craning his neck around to make eyes at me for a good ten minutes and I finally decided that if I was there to watch the baby, I was damn well going to at least get to hold the baby). I love this baby, and he was perfectly happy to come hang out with me for a little while. Then the lights went out and he got a little freaked out for about ten seconds. But then the show started and Baby just stared and stared and stared at the stage. Every now and then, if it got a unexpectedly loud (the volume was patchy) he started and gave me a little look, asking for reassurance, but he never made a sound. Two thirds of the way through, he fell asleep and didn't stir for the rest of the play.

So, basically, I got a free supper - we stopped on the way for food-- and paid (or I will, they didn't have the cash on them so they're paying me tomorrow) to hang out and watch the play. That works pretty well for me.

And the play? Was hilarious. It's based on the book by Delia Ephron, and it's really cute.

Yay! Talechallenges are up! Lots of great weekend reading! Okay, enough exclamation marks.

( An amusing little anecdote )

For those of you interested in doing a 24-hour hobbit Ficathon challenge this weekend, the challenge (to write a hobbity story using only dialogue) has been posted. I realize that with it being a Marigold Challenge weekend, there may not be as much interest in writing as there is in reading, but I'm hoping to see some stories by tomorrow evening. Anyone may post a story, you don't have to be a member of the community.

If you're not sure how to post to a community you don't belong to (I wasn't and had to search for instructions) you can go to the hobbit_ficathon user info page and click on the blue pencil. That will open an update journal page.