i am un chien andalusian

maura @ 4:19 pm

Today is a snow day. I took Gus + a pal sledding then took a short nap but woke up all grumpy, feeling like I need to get some stuff crossed off my list but not very energetic nor sure where to start. Hmph. Maybe I need some more tea.

Then I realized I hadn’t posted my twitterstream for a while, so here are the fruits of my procrastination, just for you:

Impatience: http://twitpic.com/15hfuj
about 1 hours ago via Echofon

@divanoir oh yeah. heading to the park in a few, after I finish my coffee.
about 3 hours ago via Echofon in reply to divanoir

@lwaltzer hmm, that’s a tough choice. the ds has been a big win for us, but the accordion has some serious appeal.
about 5 hours ago via web in reply to lwaltzer

@ms_tinamarie @s_francoeur yep, we finally got a call, too. yay!
about 7 hours ago via web

Kinda disappointed–have some fun stuff planned for today, but could really use a snow day, too.
about 9 hours ago via Echofon

Lots on my plate. Timmy, my imaginary assistant, where are you when I need you to clear my schedule? SO unreliable, the imaginary.
about 18 hours ago via web

My Devo color is red: Find out your Devo color at http://www.clubdevo.com/colorstudy/ (note: not at all happy about red. green is me!)
about 18 hours ago via web

@mikhailg glad to help out! such a great record (and film, too).
10:13 PM Feb 24th via web in reply to mikhailg

today’s assertion: there is no grumpiness that listening to the pixies cannot cure.
2:01 PM Feb 24th via web

Testify! RT @TheRepoRat: New BoT post: Librarians: down with the impact factor! http://dlvr.it/2S33
8:01 PM Feb 22nd via Echofon

Away for 4.5 days and the cats are relentlessly needy now that we’ve returned, omg!
11:54 AM Feb 22nd via web

Home from vacation, missing the snow, sniff.
9:08 PM Feb 21st via web

@zephoria not sure, but would love to hear what others suggest.
8:51 PM Feb 20th via Echofon in reply to zephoria

Blech, so tired of watching skating. Bring back skiing & snowboarding!
8:52 PM Feb 19th via Echofon

cramming a week of work into 1 day, w00t!
12:24 PM Feb 16th via web

The kid is at a playdate and I have 3.5 hrs to deal with a CFP, why are the dang cats acting so freaky?
10:37 AM Feb 15th via web

@lwaltzer Fun! We keep meaning to go but have never been (yet!).
9:34 AM Feb 14th via Echofon in reply to lwaltzer

@lwaltzer ooh, nice sharks! Where are you?
5:03 PM Feb 13th via Echofon in reply to lwaltzer

i miss it

maura @ 8:04 pm

Snow snow snow. I love the snow. I feel like the older I get the less I should love the snow. Like it’s unseemly for an adult to enjoy the snow, too childish. Or that the snow is just too cold and aren’t I getting to be too old for the cold?

But I can’t help it, something about snow is just too magical. The way it falls in big fat flakes and makes time slow to a crawl. Or the way it covers everything in glittery quiet. I never have been a princessy girl, but even I appreciate a little glitter now and then. Snow is especially awesome in the city, as a friend quipped, “it’s nature’s slanket.”

I’m writing this on our annual winter vacation to visit my dad + stepmom in Vermont, and it’s pretty snowy here. We were worried that it wouldn’t be wintery enough — there’s been much more snow down south since the new year than there has been up here. But there’s a good base and one night we got 4 more inches of fluffy dry stuff, just perfect for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, some of my favorite snowy activities.

Gus is seemingly eternally happy to play out in the snow. He loves to sled and skate and build snowmen and make snow angels, but he also likes just hanging out in the snow. Whenever we’re up here he’s out until it’s too dark to play, tromping around, looking for icicles, throwing snow chunks, etc. Often without a hat or with an unzipped coat — will someone please explain to me how a 50lb third grader with 0% body fat never seems to get cold?

Lately I’ve been wondering if we should take a warm vacation one winter. We never have before, we usually head north for our winter getaways. And there is something that sounds nice about taking a break in the bright sun during the gray of February. But I think I would miss the guarantee of snowy fun. Sure, we’ve had a fair amount of snow in NYC this winter, but that’s not always the case.

And there’s always Spring Break.

assorted tasty nuggets

maura @ 3:24 pm

It should not be 90+ degrees and 90+% humidity in June.

—

What’s worse than spending 2 nights (because we started too late for one night) watching a movie that had all of the ingredients to be hilarious but ended up being a total dud? The same PLUS awful-yet-catchy songs that get stuck in your head for days afterwards! That pretty much sums up Music & Lyrics, which we watched last week. It looked so good on the outside: funny cast (Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore) + promising set up (what could be more fun than mocking Wham!?). But something went horribly, horribly wrong with the writing or direction or something because it was just BORING. And the songs are driving me crazy.

—

The kittehs are great, thanks for asking. But it appears that Mr. & Mrs. Fastidious are having a somewhat rocky transition to kitten ownership.

It’s funny, if you’d asked me a few months ago what housekeeping task worried me re: cats, I’d have said sweeping, of course, because of the fur. But you know, these little guys do not shed so much, and the fur is not bothering me at all.

However, both Jonathan and I are having a hard time with the litterbox. I hadn’t realized that a bit of litter tends to come out of the box when a cat exits (even despite the little footmat thing in front of the box), and am finding myself sweeping the bathroom about 10 times a day. Jonathan’s bugbear is the stinky poop, which he rushes in to scoop the very instant that a kitten has exited the bathroom. We are both freaking ourselves out with the thought of poopecules: the (probably imaginary, but what if not?) microscopic fragments of poop that give us pause whenever a kitten jumps up on the bed or sofa. Quel surprise!

—

Yesterday was stoop sale day, yippee! We took in a decent amount of cash, and got rid of a ton of stuff between the sale and our now-traditional hauling everything that didn’t sell directly to the thrift store afterwards (nothing comes back upstairs – nothing!). I’m proud of our steely resolve this year: we didn’t even buy much from our neighbors.

This year’s bang-up stoop sale innovation: the quarter bin (i.e. everything in the big plastic bin costs 25 cents) and the free bin (ditto but free). These ended up being a great way to get rid of all of those little toys and doodads (ay dios mia, plastic party favors!), while drawing in potential stoop sale victims. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!