04.35 pm
Goodness, I was going to start writing about ten minutes ago, but got slightly… distracted by an email from one of the ten-trillion-and twenty-three (well, sometimes it ruddy-well seems like that many!) authors from that “get free books” list that I signed up for. So, what was it about the email that managed to distract me for ten minutes? Oh, nothing much, really – just Chapter 1 of her book – “Configured” – the first book of a planned trilogy. I was a bit surprised to see “Chapter 1” splashed across the middle of the email, but having been a cat in one of my previous lives (well, I must have been, because I’m insatiably curious! 😛 ) I thought “I’ll read the first few lines…” and ended up reading the whole chapter – and now I’m impatiently awaiting Chapter 2, which she says she’s sending tomorrow, because… I wanna know what happens next! 
I admit it – I am a book-a-holic! E-books have truly been my saviour, because I no longer have terrible recurring nightmares where I’ve run out of bookshelf space, and am facing the horror of having to cull my books! I don’t think I’ve ever thrown a book out – ever! I’ve passed a couple of them on to my two very favourite daughters, but there are still too many books to count, still packed away in boxes from two house moves ago, because Julian’s decided that we don’t need bookcases anymore, now that we can store all our books electronically on our Kindles! It’s not really the same though – because there’s nothing more comforting or satisfying than a room packed with bookshelves – from floor to ceiling – overflowing with books of all shapes, sizes and genres – new, or dog-eared and “well loved” – duzza-matta – they’re books, and I can’t bear to part with any of them! And as if my “book fetish” wasn’t enough, we have to go back to my confession of having been a cat in one of my past lives, because I’m so insatiably curious – all I have to do is see an interesting sounding book title, read the “blurb” (a brief synopsis of the story) and I’m positively frothing at the mouth to go and read it “right this minute!” I find myself sitting on both hands, so as not to click on the “Buy now with one click” button on the Amazon site – and even sitting on both hands isn’t enough sometimes, and I find that I’m squirming around in my seat, using my elbow, or sometimes even my nose, trying to click my mouse on that wretched button! I think that currently, I have more new, and totally unread books stored on my Kindle than I can possibly live long enough to read – but you can bet your sweet bippy that I’ll give it a damn good try! (hmm… I wonder if I could persuade the powers-that-be to let me take them with me? 😉 maybe if I smiled very sweetly… *shrug* s’pose it’s worth a try, anyway…)
So – apart from getting distracted by books, what else did I do today? Well, I played WoW this morning, and got Ellrevienne up to level 40 – though as yet I haven’t taken her back to her home city – the Exodar – to learn how to ride really fast horses, because by that stage I was starting to get a little bit “lonesome” to play a Horde character again… Now, I’ve deliberately not rolled a Wynterthyme account Horde character on Saurfang, because I’m not sure what sort of resources I have available for them. I was pretty sure that there was a Horde Guild, and Guild Bank – but what was in it was pretty much unknown. So I went and logged in to my other, Tinselfluff, account and had a look. Yes, there is a Guild, and a fairly sizable Guild Bank Vault – not that there’s that much in it though – there’s about 600-odd gold in there, and a few sundry useful items – so hiking back to my primary account (Wynterthyme) I bit the bullet, and created my only Horde character on that account – a Blood Elf called Aliriah! (who’s now level 7, and doing her “baby training” in the Orc Training Area!) and by then it was lunchtime, and Julian had just arrived back from his shopping expedition, so we had lunch!
Let me explain… originally, we were going to be going out and doing some shopping together – but Julian needed to go to Doncaster for coffee and Dry Cleaning (amongst other things!) and I wanted to go to Knox City, because they have a really nice fresh fruit and vegetable market there, and I’m starting to get a little bit desperate for some decent fruit. We also needed to see our Solicitor in Nottinghill, as there are a few bits of paperwork that still need to be taken care of; and we had to pick up some more of Flipper’s medication in Blackburn. I elected to stay home, and go up to Knox City tomorrow – and having decided to go up to Knox City tomorrow morning, I then get a call from my Podiatrist’s Receptionist, to remind me that she’d be calling in tomorrow afternoon, at about 4.30 pm! Then, not to be outdone in the awkwardness stakes, Julian tells me that he’s organised for the Vet to pay us a visit tomorrow morning at 11 am, to give Flipper her anti-arthritis injection (I wonder if the Vet would give me one too, if I asked nicely?! …probably not… *pout*) clip her claws, and shave out any mats of fur that we didn’t want to have to handle ourselves. So, it looks like we have a pretty full dance card tomorrow! On Monday, the cleaning lady will be here in the morning, and my very favourite eldest daughter will be over in the morning too, because not only will Josh be doing my hair when he comes over on Monday afternoon, but he’ll also be cutting her hair, and “refreshing” the colour that he’d put through it about two months ago – so that sort-of takes care of Monday! On Tuesday, I’ve finally got an appointment to see a Physiotherapist about my wretched (and still sore!) right ankle! I’m seeing Polly, the same Physiotherapist that Julian was seeing when he wrecked his ankle, some time ago. Hopefully she’ll be able to (a) give me some exercises for it, and (b) let me know if it’s safe for me to get back on the treadmill again – I haven’t dared to do so yet, without an “official” say so, because I don’t want to make it a lot worse! I’ll also be asking the Podiatrist about my ankle tomorrow, though I suspect that she’ll just advise me to see a Physiotherapist!
Small aside: Nespresso have got their three special Christmas “Coffee Variations”, and Julian brought home a tube of each, to see if we liked them – I’m drinking one of them as I type. They’re supposedly “based” on three favourite Austrian desserts: “Sachertorte” – which is pretty close to the Ciocattino that I usually have (sort-of a little bit chocolate flavoured!) “Linzer Torte”, which is another type of cake that usually has a “lattice” top on it – we thought we could definitely taste “cherries” in that one, and last but not least, “Apfelstrudel” – or apple strudel – which as the name implies, supposedly has a slight apple taste – and which, surprisingly, it does! Having only had one cup of each so far, at first “taste”, at the moment I’d rate them in this order: First: Linzer Torte – I really liked the (very slight) “cherry” taste. Second: Apfelstrudel – again, I like the very slight “apple” taste, and Third: Sachertorte – don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely – but too close to what I drink all the time for it to be much of a “Special Christmas Variation”!
Getting back on track again – regarding next week – and we’re seeing the Solicitor on Wednesday! And on Thursday, I think I’ll just stay in bed… 😉
So that’s our busy week roughly mapped out for you all! Julian was just saying today – he’s retired, he doesn’t go out to work anymore – so how come he’s always so busy, and however did we cope when he was working! “But… Is… a… Puzzlement!”
And now I’ve finally got you all up to speed on our comings and goings, I can get onto all the “good” bits! 😉
Food stuffs. Last night for dinner we had pasta – spirali, actually, not “wind-round-your-fork” spaghetti, with tomato sauce and a little bit of grated parmesan cheese. For dessert I had one of my remaining Corella pears (quite a nice one, actually!) and an Apple Le Rice. For lunch today we had our usual naughty Baker’s Delight fare – a half each of two different savoury rolls, and one of the baker’s Delight delicacies – a fruit and white chocolate scone! Tonight for dinner – and we probably shouldn’t be having it because we only had pasta last night – but we’ve been waiting ages to make this again! Lately there seems to have been a bit of a “run” on minced lamb in both Coles and Woolworths, and we haven’t been able to get any for nearly a week – however Julian did manage to get some today, so he’s made one of our very favourite recipes – Lamb and Harissa Lasagna with Feta and Oregano! It’s just finished cooking, and is “resting comfortably” in the oven with the oven door open, and boy, does the house smell yummy! For dessert I’ll have my last brown Nashi pear, and a Vaalia Lemon Creme yoghurt.
Weigh-in this morning – on day 3 of my “Pilules Horribilis”. Still taunting me! Still teasing me – pretending one thing, whilst waiting to dash my hopes and dreams into smithereens! I went from 67.3 kg yesterday… to… 67.0 kg today! Tomorrow is going to be horrible! I just know it!
And as I’ve already told you all about tomorrow, and the day after, and next week, and all – the only things I have to catch you up on are Flipper, who gets her jabs tomorrow, here, so as not to upset her too much – and Auric and Dapple, who are both perfectly behaved, as always! 😉 And really – that’s about “it” from me for this evening (I’m hurrying this bit as Julian has stalled the News for me and is starting to look a bit anxious that his Lamb and Harissa Lasagne with Feta and Oregano might be getting…. cold…!) Do call in again tomorrow though, to find out how our ultra-busy day went, how Flipper reacted to her little “visit”, and what other adventures we managed to squeese into our hectic schedule! Until then, do try hard to bee good, don’t forget that the better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world, and remember to look after yourselves, to keep warm and dry when the weather gets stormy, as it does on occasion here in Melbourne, and to always drive carefully…. but above all… please remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 