Athene Numphe

Last week lordaerith and I (mostly Aerith) installed our new microwave. It is pretty and shiny and matches our stove. It also is a convection oven, which is strange but cool.



We didn't set out to buy a new microwave this year. It certainly wasn't in the plan. Our old one was working just fine. But then...

My mother was visiting us from New Orleans for Passover/Easter weekend. It was Saturday morning and we were prepping for our monthly game day and Passover Seder that night. Mom decided to bake a sweet potato in, you guessed it, the microwave. So she put it in for 30 minutes, intentionally, and went to take a shower. I think her thought process was that if the sweet potato would take 90 min in a regular oven, it should take a third of the time in the microwave. I guess she didn't notice the microwave actually had a potato setting. She also didn't poke any holes in it.

So she's taking a shower and Aerith and I are watching something with Little Prince when we start to smell something burning. We go downstairs and there's a few inches of smoke at the ceiling, and the smoke detector isn't even going off. We start freaking out that something is on fire but we can't figure out where the smoke is coming from. I get LP downstairs in case there is a fire and we have to get him out and run upstairs to tell mom. While she's getting out of the shower she tells me that she had the potato in the microwave. Go back down stairs and sure enough, there is a nice lump of charcoal in the microwave and the microwave itself isn't looking too good. So we open all the windows, burn incense, Febreeze things and work on making the house smell better. Aerith and I take out the old microwave and he does some research with mom and then goes out to Home Depot to order a new microwave.

It's amazing how much we've come to depend on the microwave. Just a few days without one made me realize that. The new one got delivered last Wed (and they took away the old one) and Aerith and I (ok, mostly Aerith again) installed it on Thursday. This past weekend he baked banana bread in it. Now the house smells much less like smoke and much more like banana bread.

In conclusion, sweet potatoes are not to go in the microwave for more than 5-6 minutes and always poke holes in them first. Also, still no idea why the smoke detector didn't go off as we tested it and it seems to be working fine. But no one was hurt and we can tease mom about this for years to come.

The guys are napping and I should be either napping or doing dishes or unpacking (oh the unpacking), but I had an urge to do some good old fashioned journalling. We'll see if it lasts.

This morning I woke up at 6:30am and realized I couldn't remember when over night my Little Prince had nursed. I really don't want to jinx it, but I'm pretty sure he slept through the night (or mostly through the night)! I got up and fed the boy-cat so that he wouldn't annoy us in bed. Then I went back to bed and breastfeed LP on and off for a while while I tried to doze a bit. Then I couldn't decide if I should get out of bed and shower or just play on my phone. Eventually lordaerith woke up and motioned for me to go shower (at 7:30) so I did. Came out of the bathroom to a wide awake LP.

Got LP changed and set up in his high chair with breakfast, got breakfast for myself and Skyped with mom while Aerith became human again (aka showered and had a cup of coffee). Aerith started a warm wash. Then we made a shopping list and headed to the store. It was drizzling when we got into the car. It was raining when we got into the store. It was POURING when we left the store.

Got home and prepped Turkey, Yam, and Apple stew and had leftover Chuy's for lunch. LP seems to really like their refried beans.

Tried to put LP down for a nap at his usual nap time, but he was NOT having it. Worked with Aerith to get our closet more organized while LP played in the closet. We've made some good progress.

Decided since LP wasn't napping or showing any signs of being tired to curl up on the couch-as-a-bed and watch Monsters, Inc (and at the end there must have been some dust in the air, which is why Aerith and I were teared up). Much better than watching the Saints game (from what I could tell). LP watched some of it and played on the couch-bed and on the floor for the rest of it.

Called my MIL to say hi. Started to talk to her about the idea of having a big family and friends party for LP in New Orleans for his birthday - Memorial Day weekend.

Finally got LP (and Aerith) to take a nap. I'm sure it's going to mess up their bedtimes, but they were both so exhausted. I wish I could have napped with them, but I wasn't falling asleep and there's was a cold wash to start (it's in now) and dishes to be washed. But for now I'm just enjoying sitting at the breakfast table looking out the window at my soggy suburban neighbourhood.

I've been meaning to write a update for a while.

Mom came to visit for the long MLK weekend. It was nice. I love hanging out with mommy. Over the weekend went shopping on South Congress, went to Kreuz Market for yummy bbq, and made King Cake. On MLK day, Mom and I dropped lordaerith off at work and then drove down to San Antonio. We visited the Alamo and walked around the city a bit. After lunch we headed back and stopped at San Marcos to visit the Outlet malls. Almost found shoes that fit perfectly, but they didn't. Oh well.

Last Saturday byskwik and I ran around like crazy trying to put together costumes for the Steampunk Ball at Elysium. Couldn't find goggles anywhere, but I found some awesome gloves at Goth-in-a-Box. The Steampunk Ball itself was really awesome! There were so many people dressed up in awesome costumes (tiny hats FTW!) Ran into some friends that I expected to see there and a few that I didn't, so that was nice. Also, the DJ's played Airship Pirate by Abney Park which totally made my night.

Monday night Aerith and I went to one of those karaoke places where you rent a room with friends. It was an interesting experience. They had a lot of songs, but many of them were in languages we didn't know and the remote was tricky to figure out. Also they had these weird videos playing in the background of the songs that made us laugh.

Tuesday night jack08180 (aka Camera) came over and we watched Serenity (I cried, as usual). He has now seen all of Firefly/Serenity.

This morning I made pancakes. I tried to add raspberry gel to some of them for Aerith. It worked okay.

Stuff on the job front is going okay. My resume is all updated, I've updated my profile on places like WorkinTexas and LinkedIn, and I've even started applying for jobs. We'll see how it goes. *crosses fingers*

Last night Mommy and I (did I mention that Mom's been in town since Sunday??) went to the Harry Potter party at BookPeople with Bubbles and FireCat. Unfortunately Bubbles lost her voucher and so she decided to leave. The party was crazy huge. Over 1200 vouchers had been purchased. My number was 1170. There were a lot of people who had dressed up, which was awesome. I didn't get my book until almost 1:30am. I came home and read two chapters in the bathroom so I didn't wake up lordaerith, but then a warm husband in bed won out over the book (shock, I know), so I went to sleep.

Other than that, I've been having a good week. Still recovering from hugging the rock on Sunday. Getting to hang out with mommy is awesome. Haven't really gotten to show her too much of Austin because I've had to do stuff for my TAship, including teaching two lab sessions. But I think she's having a good time. Did get to take her to UT and to Karaoke with Bubbles, FireCat, and Punk on Tuesday. lordaerith took her furniture and outlet shopping on Wed and Fri while I had to work. Also took her to Half Price Books (v. dangerous).

Ok, time to shower and get back to HP7.

Just so y'all know, this is the website of the town where my mother is staying.

Coushatta

well, my toe still hurts. I've been keeping it up and iceing it once in a while. It looks a lot better today than it did yesterday. I can walk a lot better today. It'll probably be fine by monday.

in other news my mother had her operation to remove her thymus yesterday. That also went really well and according to her friend who called me, she is recovering faster than they expected, which is good.

Also, the deadline on my 10 page paper got pushed back to during exam period. Hurray. This means that I have 8 pages, not 18 pages, and a final and a presentation and two performances due next week.

In acting yesterday we delt with the question of the audience. Can i just say that I would never like to perform to a group of Paranoid Schitozophrenics. It made me really nervous (just thinking that they were the audience) espcially when I had to say "depression" and "epidmeic" and "suffering". Some of the scenes turned out so funny!! It's such an interesting theory that I've never had delt with in an Acting class before. Gives me something to think about.

talked to my mom. She is doing a lot better. That makes me feel better. She is going to be fine. She helped me with my paper. I love her so much! My heart feels lighter now.

thursday my sis and I went to the mall. We drove WAY past the exit on the highway and had to turn around and go back down Vets. We finally made it to the mall. We had the best time wantering into all the stores at Lakeside that we have visited hundredes of times before. Express is selling thier long sleeve shirts again. Anyone in NoHo want to go to the mall with me so i can buy more of them sometime after I get back?

Then we went into Vicky Secs. There were these really beautiful corsets there and they came in all different colors. We started looking for smalls in the sky blue (for me) and the red (for cim). A sales lady came over to us and asked us if she could help us. We explained how we were looking for smalls, but it is so hard to find them. In the corse of taking to her, it came out that we were sisters (no shock there, we look like sisters!). Finally, I found a small in the blue but Cim couldn't find one in red. We went into the dressing room so she could help me into the corset. Then the sales lady started calling out for her "sisters". She had rememebered that they always put smalls on the manaquins and so got Cim a small. The two of us hooked eachother up and tightened the laces and so on. it was SOOO Victorian!!! We were laughing really hard. Then we showed the sales ladies how we looked. We looked good. I wish we had a camera. But, alas, the corsets were $78 each! We had to talk our way out of them pretty quickly. I think they are still on hold for us at the store. oops. i should call them about it. oh well.

Then I drove us to Linen and Things so Cim could get a shower tote. We must have spent half an hour there before she finally decided on the one that was the first one i pointed out to her. :)

Yesterday I got up late and cleaned up and stuff because the relatives were coming around 10pm. Mom went out to dinner w/her lady friends. I showed Cim Invader Zim which she had never seen. The episodes were ok, not the best ones i've seen.

Then Z-dude (as Cim's b/f will now be called) and Blue-Skunk (as my "brother" will now be called) showed up. Z-dude had just driven in from ULL. He and Cim disappeared into her room (no surprise there), but not before the discovery that they were both stoned. So, Blue-Skunk and I went out on the back porch and smoked up. hehehehe. Then Cim and Z-dude went out with friends and Blue-Skunk and I went out to Ninos's. I had never been out while stoned before. Very interesting experiance. We got home before 10. around 10 my aunt, uncle, cousins, and little 2nd cousin (who's three) showed up. Then after aunt and uncle left (they are staying at Grandpa's), mommy showed up. Cuz J, Blue-Skunk, and I went out on the porch and made Cuz S worry that Cuz J is going to get kicked out of the Peace Core before she even goes to Africa b/c of a non-existant random drug test. But we had fun. And then tried to watch Monty Python. Way too much for us sometimes *G* SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM! Well, Cuz S and little-dude are up, so i should get off of the computer and hang out with them.

I just got back from the bathroom and there was a little flower on my keyboard and a note saying "Jason was here :) " It's amazing how little things like that can just put the biggest smile on someone's face. I wonder if he's going to show up again. He is a lot of fun. and he has the two teath next to his upper front teeth missing, just like my sister does (but she has a retainer w/the teeth on them. she can pop it out and make really funny faces with it - like the rancor from SW:ROTJ)

talking about the bathroom...the one at work has this window that is partway infront of the stall part and it looks out onto Elm Street. Now, normally, i'm just like whatever and close the shade when i go to the bathroom. but recently the shade (which is on one of those annoying pullstrings) has chosen NOT to work. so there i am going to the bathroom and when i stand up i'm worried that someone will see me. probably not, but there is construction across the way and i've read enough stuff about secret web-cams to be nervous.

the weekend was fun.

Friday: wyldeblade and his friend drove up from NY. Aerith knew they were coming but forgot to tell ThreeGee and I. Oh well. And Aerith and I got the Nerf Guns that Adan was talking about in his journal. fun fun fun.
Then we went to a party for Dave. there were a lot of people there, including this girl Lisa who i used to hang out with a lot and then disapeared for a few years. It was sooooo cool to see her again!!!

Saturday: Went to the first Miller's Reach event of the season. It was supposed to be this big two day thing, but it started raining really badly and there were flood warnings and stuff so we left. But before then I helped bring magic back. that made me happy because i usually feel that my character isn't that important, but he(she) was at this event :) :) :) :)
Since it got cancled, a bunch of us went back to our place and we hung out and watched Tank Girl on DVD. I LOVE THAT MOVIE SOOO MUCH. Aerith and ThreeGee were about to kill me b/c i kept quoting along with it. tee-hee-hee.

Sunday: Aerith and I did some MAJOR cleaning of our room. hurray, there is floor space. maybe he won't be so cranky anymore.
I got to talk to my mommy for a while which was cool. she's started reading the Harry Potter books. Hurray. My mom's not a huge reader. I hope she really likes them.
Then Kiten called and we ended up picking her up and going swimming. we had WAY too much fun, teasing with the lifeguard, fliping, doing handstands. Kiten and Aerith could stand on the little ball, but i had a lot of trouble doing it. Maybe i just weigh too little.
Then A LOT of people came over and we made way too much food and hung out. I played Blackmore's Night for people and we watched some Cowboy Bebop :)
The funniest thing was when i walked into the living room and there were 4 people all reading magazines. I felt like it was a doctor's office or something.

So, all in all it was a good weekend and so far it's been a pretty good day.