For once I’m starting early – I hate having to rush things, or finish after dinner, when I’ve quite lost the thread of what I was saying! So today, for a change – an early start! Let’s see… as I said last night, our first Christmas Day here at Stillwater was a great success, and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. Luckily, the loss of the air conditioner – the only hiccup of the day – occurred when all the fun and festivities were starting to wind down anyway, so apart from my (mostly minor) discomfort, everything went to plan. When the air conditioner finally came back to us, around 7.45pm, Julian ran around like a chook with its head cut off reclaiming his kitchen, and getting rid of all the mess, while I sat around like the lazy slob that I am, reveling in the restored coolth. As neither of us felt much like having dinner, after our luncheon of excess, at least there weren’t any dinner pots and pans and dishes to clean up – I had one mince tart, and half a glass of skinny-milk – Julian just had a mince tart! However, once we’d cleared up most of the day’s mess, and the Den had at long last cooled down a bit, I was finally able to write my blog – which I’m very sorry didn’t get published until after midnight – I did try to, though – I actually finished writing just before midnight – but by the time I’d previewed and edited it and got it into a publishable state, unfortunately it was after midnight 😦 Needless to say, we got to bed more than a little later than usual, but made it up by sleeping in a bit this morning 🙂
I think I like sleeping in… 🙂 then it was up and at ’em again – well, as much as the term “up and at ’em again” can be applied to a really lazy “bludge” day, anyway! 😉 I played WoW mostly, and got Dulcìnea up to level 20, and she’s now learnt to ride, at long last! Now there’s only one more level to go before I can try to sneak her over to Darkshore so that she can have her turn at Taming a Ghost Saber-tooth cat. You know, I’ve actually forgotten how I used to get the Horde girls over to Darkshore to get their ghostly cats! I think I have to get myself to Orgrimmar, the Orcish capital in Durotar, run through into the Northern Barrens (where I tamed Dishu a couple of levels ago) and then sneak my way into Ashenvale – dodging all the Alliance guards all the way up the coast, to Darkshore… and it’s going to take forever! 
Never mind – ends, means, and justifications, etc., etc…
Julian spent a lot of time this morning copying all the classical CDs that arrived from Adelaide the other day, so that he and his sister can share them (and so we can listen to them in the car – we have virtually no classical music ripped for car use!) then he went off to do some shopping (our remaining flat bread was getting stale, and there were no Ryvita crispbreads left) and I went for my second walk for the day – 2.08km this time. I’m still debating whether or not to do a third walk today, to make up for the one that I couldn’t do yesterday because it was too hot, without the air conditioner… I rather think not, as the purpose of the treadmill walking is not primarily to actually burn calories – its primary purpose is to boost and speed up my metabolism, which has always been extremely slow, and its secondary purpose is to get me fitter, which it’s certainly doing – the calorie burning is just a happy by-product of the main two purposes, so any walking that I do today is not really going to do anything to boost my metabolic rate yesterday, is it! (ain’t rationalisation wunnerful?! 😉 )
Anyway, the point is, we’ve both spent a relatively relaxed, quiet day, not doing anything in particular, for a change! Tomorrow, being Sunday, is our day for rampaging through Telara (Rift) or Azeroth (WoW) – we’ve opted for Azeroth, so we’ll be revisiting old haunts, with both of us racking our brains to remember how to get to places, and exactly what we’re supposed to be doing once we get there! With the lower level quests it’s usually me who knows these things – being an altoholic, I did all those lower level quests so many times that in the end, getting there and doing what had to be done became semi-automatic – and with a great many of them I can still pretty much give my mouse-hand free rein, and it’ll happily, and of its own accord, go through all the appropriate motions and gestures to complete the quest – a bit like a rat learning the path through a maze to get to the food! 😉 I’m told that Monday is a Public Holiday, so I guess we’re going to have a third day of quiet bludging (mind you, we could both do with a third relaxing and quiet day!) But I do have to make an appointment to see the doctor… I thought I had another script for my Warfarin – but it seems now that I don’t. They come in clearly marked bottles, the main dosages being 1mg, in a cream or light tan bottle, and 2mg, in a pretty light mauve bottle… and because Warfarin is basically rat poison, you have to be very, very careful with the dosage. I take 5mg daily – 2 x 2mg tablets, and 1 x 1mg tablet (and woe betide you if one of them gets stuck on the back of your tongue, because they taste really horrible!) Anyway, the script that I’ve run out of is the 2mg one – so that means that until I can get a new script from the doctor – and Monday is a Public Holiday so the clinic will be closed – I’m going to have to swallow five bloody little 1mg tablets! Five of them! I hate taking pills at the best of times – they always seem to get stuck, either half way down my throat, or on the back of my tongue! Five! (Winter exits stage left, muttering dire imprecations under her breath, with the word “five” heard often, and spoken with evil intent…)
Oh, we had an interesting little interlude this afternoon! We were sitting here minding our own business – I think I was busy writing this, and Julian was ripping away at the classical CDs – when there was a “ding-dong!” on the doorbell! Neither of us was expecting anyone to call in, so Julian went to see who it was… I could hear voices, and what’s more, I could hear Julian being pleasant and jovial, which he wouldn’t have been if it had been someone “unwelcome” on our doorstep (like a Jehovah’s Witness, or the Mormons – I quite like them calling in, but he doesn’t) but he wasn’t asking whoever it was in, and he didn’t (at that stage) call me down – then I heard a child’s voice… a child? I was intrigued – but I was also writing, so I listened with one ear, and continued writing… then Julian finally called me down, and there was a youngish couple, with a baby in a sling, and a small girl held by the hand – strangers? Well, I hadn’t seen them before! They are our next door neighbours, on our bathroom side – they were setting out on a family walk, and had come in to introduce themselves and say hello – they seemed very pleasant, and hopefully all the jack-hammering while Clarke and Paul were working on my bathroom didn’t keep the baby awake. I’m not adverse to meeting up with them again – it could be good to know one’s neighbours (hmm… I wonder if they’re keeping an eye out for possible baby-sitters?! I really hope not – it could ruin a beautiful relationship before it even begins, if they are, as I’m very allergic to baby-sitting, if they’re not my babies!)
Weigh-in this morning. As expected, quite a hike up! I went from 64.4kg to 65.0kg – but that’s OK, hopefully it’ll go back down once all the food I ate yesterday has been processed and… er… dealt with. I don’t think the heat yesterday afternoon helped either, as I had to drink a lot (of iced tea, actually! It’s a very good thirst quencher on a very hot day!) most of which I think my body retained… Oh well, let’s see what happens tomorrow morning!
Once again today, we had a delicious home-made “wrap” with the fresh flat-bread that Julian brought back from his shopping trip. He put in some sliced up left-over cold roast turkey, a bit of left-over quinoa tabouli salad, and some low-fat plain Greek yoghurt – and once again, it was totally delicious! Tonight for dinner we’re having something that I haven’t eaten in over a year! Julian’s making omelettes! There’ll be cheese, tomato, probably ham (or turkey! There’s quite a bit still left from Christmas Dinner yesterday!) and I don’t know what else, but I’m really looking forward to it! 🙂 Next week, weather permitting, we’ll be finally poking some roots into the soil in our veggie gardens! If it’s not raining, or too blistering hot, or meltingly humid, I want to go along to either Bunny’s, or a good nursery, because I want to get my little bay tree, and my kumquat bush in a large pot (I don’t think they come already planted in a large, ornamental pot – I think I’m going to have to get them separately!) And I want to get my very large herb and strawberry pot, too! It’s also time to look up what to plant at this time of the year! We may need to invest in some gardening books… any ideas as to which ones would be most useful to two novice gardeners with brown thumbs? 🙂 Anyway, once more that’s about it from me for tonight! Please feel free to drop in again tomorrow night – find out if I choked on those ruddy Warfarin tablets (five of the damn things!) and if my weight went up some more – or whether it went down or just stayed the same. Learn how we fared, rampaging around in Azeroth, and whether we got lost or not, and what other sorts of adventures we had – in the real world, as well as Azeroth! Until then though, do bee good (just for fun, this time 😉 ) remember to do as you’re told from time to time – just to confuse people, and don’t forget to drive carefully, to keep cool – or warm – depending on the weather, and to look after yourselves – but above all, don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 