The war against cat hair is ongoing. We spent most of yesterday brushing the cats until we built a cat golem out of fur and set it free in the trash bin. Then I attacked the apartment with a lint brush. And today I forward thrust with the vacuum, filling bag after bag with hair.

Now to clean the bathroom.

It's been a domestic day. We went grocery shopping and now I'm cleaning up, but it doesn't look any cleaner. At least no choking on cat hair for a few days.

I'm listening to Ani DiFranco as I clean. Feels a little wrong, like I'm wasting my aural empowerment on domesticity, but it's keeping me going. Fun fact about me: not fond of the cleaning. It's almost worthwhile for once because it means I'll start the New Year with some shit done and I would like this to set the tone for the year. This is the year I get shit done. For realz.

Yay, I'm home! I have my cats around me and my coffee and my laptop and I ordered myself some Le Creuset as a reward. I borrowed a book of chili recipes from my Mom and I can't wait to try some. I'm afraid I'm not adventurous enough to try the one with armadillo as an ingredient (9-banded works best), or the Lake Havasu coot (my research indicates is a type of bird -- no other coot will do) or the vegetarian chili whose first ingredient is ground beef. I am a boring cook.

It was good to see family, but it is really good to be home. It is good to use my shower, surrounded by my things. It is good that it is cold and the sky doesn't burn my eyes, and the smog doesn't burn my lungs. It is good to just sit here in silence and pet my cats and drink my coffee and Baileys and not have to be anywhere or do anything. Very good.

What can I tell you about our trip... We ate a lot. We drank a lot. You could say the theme was gluttony. I took some photos, and when I say some, I mean hundreds, but mostly of people you wouldn't be interested in. The best thing I ate in a restaurant was a chili tamale. A beef tamale drenched in chili and cheese. The best thing my dad cooked was fried chicken, the best thing my mom cooked was probably the carnitas or the eggnog cake, maybe the raspberry cake. Honorable mention goes to the prime rib at my Uncle's house, or the fish he caught in Cabo and smoked for the appetizer.

I got to see my cousins, which was cool, although at 10 and 11 they were flirting with Jer hardcore. They kept calling him Jer-Jer and asking him for his phone number. I thought it was hilarious. I offered to step aside so they could fight over him proper. He could do worse than my little cousins.

Most of the trip we spent indoors, watching television and expanding our waistlines. We also visited Jer's family and played with their dogs. They have a new French bulldog which liked to pose. Mostly though, we played with their cats. They gave their Persian a lion cut, which you just kinda have to see, and Jer was enlisted for computer repairs.

And that's pretty much that.

Well, I'm here in sunny San Diego, already uncomfortably overstuffed and still digesting yesterday's epic meals. Having a good time. Watched a lot of Doctor Who yesterday and that's about it. Our flight in was an hour early. Now I think I'll go eat my Mexican food leftovers, because damn, yum.

Merry Christmas.

The weather continues to be insane. Now it's added windstorm to its repertoire and caused severe power outages in the area. Jer and I escaped the worst, but most of my coworkers have been affected/afflicted with flooding and downed trees and no power. Jer is at work on a Saturday trying to resurrect some servers which didn't fare so well in the weather anarchy. And I am at work because, hey, deadlines.

I have an hour until my bus comes. Public transit is great and all, but damned inconvenient. And it's cold out there. I can't muster anymore energy for clothes shopping even though the best shopping in Seattle is at my fingertips. Poor me.

Since we're flying to California soon to see our families, Jer and I will be celebrating Christmas tonight or tomorrow. Our reasoning is that we want some time to enjoy our gifts before we have to jet off and leave it all behind. I think that's fair.

My knee is better but still hurts on stairs. I can walk in a straight line though, which is excellent news in case of a DUI checkpoint. Which would be sorta random, since I ride the bus. "Everybody off the bus, now! If any of you assholes been drinkin, it's straight to jail wit you."

No, I don't know why my imagination talks like that.

Good news! Jer just called and he's picking me up now. See ya later, sucka fools!

psa

I forgot to mention the weirdest thing about yesterday. Somebody hacked my ebay account and posted a bunch of crap I didn't authorize. Like 50 items. Ebay took fast action, removed the listings, and I changed my password, but damn. For about five minutes, I was thinking worst case scenario, which means paying all seller listing fees (about $150 and rising -- the culprit was still posting up until ebay locked my account) and losing my perfect feedback score that took three years to build. Luckily, ebay is awesome and took care of it immediately. So if you use ebay, you might want to change your password today and make sure it's pretty frelling hard to guess.

The end.

When you're sick you get asked how you're feeling a lot. And frankly, I'm not sure. I was a little worried yesterday about all the coughing, but the main thing I was worried about seems to have gone away on its own. Now I'm relying on Delsym, cough drops, and a lot of water to see me through. The only thing on my schedule today is a lot of rest, television, and trying not to cough. Though that sounds like I actually wrote that in my schedule somewhere, and I didn't. It's the schedule in my mind.

Yesterday was a long day. There was a big meeting and then I got my hair highlighted and then Jer and I went to his company Christmas party, which reminded me of a high school prom -- if my prom were in a very large conference room/banquet hall. On the plus side they had mini corn dogs. On the minus side there were a lot of people. I think there are about 500 at his company -- they didn't all show but still, add the ones that did to their dates and you've got a lot of people. And Jer works in an isolated area so he knew about five of them. Also, we arrived late and missed out on the drink tickets. But, eh. I shouldn't be drinking anyway, at least according to the warnings on the back of the cough syrup.

This was kind of funny: almost everyone we spoke to casually mentioned last year they'd had an open bar. They said this with a wistful expression and a half-smile, often recalling drunken shenanigans, men and women passed out in the halls, inappropriate dancing, the stuff of company legend... Then their face and eyes got hard, "But not this year. This year we have drink tickets." And I felt them die a little inside.

So it's the next morning, as it goes, and since I didn't shower when I got home, my face is still makeup-ed and my hair is full of hairspray. I feel like I should be stumbling back to my apartment on the cold, dark streets in evening wear before my roommates wake up. Not that I ever did that before...

This hasn't been the best week ever, but it hasn't been the worst either. I screwed up my knee at the gym and now I limp a lot. Also, I got the flu. Also, I just cut my thumb trying to open a box. That's three! So I should be safe now.

It's not bleeding so bad, but it is bleeding. Jer noticed the Neosporin is 3 years past its expiration date. We should probably invest in a new tube; I used it anyway.

Tomorrow night is Jer's company's Christmas party. I'm having my hair lightened a little and I'm carrying my dress to work in a garbage bag. w00t.

Have a good weekend!

I am in a battle, and the enemy is cat hair. Any day now I expect someone will find my cold, blue body and fur lined throat, hair clumped and stuck to my tongue, eyes rolled back in my head. Any day...

Send vacuum bags.

Also, I won a bottle of wine. In a sweater. It is a bottle of merlot actually wearing a knitted sweater. Back off ladies; it's all mine.

I spent a couple hours on the balcony scraping moss into a plastic bag. I gathered about two pounds of it. I wish I could think of a use for a bag of moss... maybe if I had a Secret Santa gift exchange this year... or a Christmas stocking... Nope. I give up. I got nothing.

books r sexy

I shouldn't have looked because no good can come from looking. The OED is on sale through the end of January. It's $895 instead of the usual $1500 and I covet all 20 volumes. I even found the perfect stand at Levenger.com.

Sure, I could buy it on CD, but that just isn't the same. It just isn't, okay? I need to see it and touch it and make sweet love to-- excuse me. Not sure where that came from. But maybe, just maybe, it's high time for a cold shower and a chocolate bar.