I never thought I would say this, but I've had my fill of ice and snow. Don't get me wrong, I love the cold and the snow, and I have slept like a baby these past months, but the iced up and snow-blocked roads are becoming a menace.

Right now, I'm watching as Chr. frees C again after he skidded off the road this morning. We bought him an 8-pack of fancy beers as thank you, since he refuses to accept any payment, but it's becoming rather embarassing having to call him time and time again to come help us. *sigh*

How could I resist?

And yeah, I am pack - just ask Lia. :p

...with big yellow feet standing in the dark?

Yup, that's me outside at 6:00 in the morning, bare-footed in my caterpillar boots wearing just my dressing gown, trying to keep an eye on Lia through my one-glass glasses.* C did not have time to take her out before heading for his 8 hour North Sea fishing trip, but since he woke her up, she had to go. Of course there is no way I'm ready to be up and about at that time Saturday morning, so I had to improvise. Luckily Lia knows how to go on command.

After that little bit of morning friskiness, I went back to bed under two layers of blanket and slept until...erhmmm...late. Embarassingly late, but hey, it's Saturday!

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*Yes, I really need to get a new pair of glasses, and yes, being able to potter about looking like an absolute disaster is one of the advantages of living in the country and not being someone famous. The paparazzis would have a field day with me. :p


EDIT: My mother-in-law called and yeah, I picked up the phone and chit-chatted with her for 30 minutes. So, I've been good today!

Managed to get a bit of housework done yesterday evening, plus I baked banana muffins and took the dog out for her evening walk, so I ended up feeling semi-accomplished at the end of the day.

The last few evenings, I've been reading a book borrowed from a friend. I'm meeting her tomorrow (yes, you Patti) and would like to bring it back to her. I'm about 200 pages into it. So far...hmmmm, it's not a book I would have picked up myself, but I like the concept, the amount of research the author appears to have put into the book and the plot, which is clever, but so far, the writing and the POV characters are doing little for me, so I'm not loving it. Not yet at least.

Speaking of writing. Right now it's like pulling out teeth. I am not sure if my struggles are visible on the page, but I suspect they might be and I would like to apologize in advance to those of you who plan on reading Elpida, chapter 10. Sorry, please don't spork your eyes out.
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Orlando: ATTACK of brainless kitty!
May: Ow. Cut it out.
Orlando: *makes ninja swipes at May's face*
May: Lando!
Orlando: I am the dastardly Batcat! dadadadadada dadadadada BATCAT!
May: *scruffs cat* Cut.It.Out!
Orlando: dadadadada dadadadada
May: *lets go*
Orlando: BATCAT!
May: *takes cat and throws him out of office*
Orlando: Lemme in. Lemme in. Lemmeinlemmeinlemmeinlemmeinlem-
May: Oh for heaven's sake! *opens door*
Orlando: dadadadada dadadada....ohhh look MURPHY! BWHAHAHAHAHA! *pounces!*

Bad idea. Batcat meets his match.

Orlando: Maaaay! Maaaay! Help! Poooor me! OW! Help!
May: *waits a little before rescueing the menace*

Did my VAT statement for the last quarter of 2009. As always it's a huge relief to have it over and done with, and because I've been in business for a while and have been good girl, paying my VAT on time, I am from 2010 and onwards allowed to do send in my statement every 6 months instead of every 3 months. This means less deadlines to worry about, plus I can keep the money on my account for longer, which will earn me a bit more in interest rates.

The bad news is that I've otherwise been unproductive today, but there's still 7 hours left before midnight. :p

Managed to write a bit this morning. Elpida at her current WIP age is not cooperating as much as I'd like her to. I have my outline, so I know more or less what to write and where the novel is heading, but for chapter 10, the scenes have not been playing inside my head, apart from snippets and fragments.*

The older Elpida is coming across strongly, though, so I am allowing myself to write later scenes as well.

On top of all this a new girl has entered the stage of my brain. Her name is Pansy and she has been showing me novel opening scenes for a quite a few weeks now. To make her take a step back and stop competing with Elpida for my attention, I have promised her whatever time I have left after work, house-work, house renovation work, Lia, art** and Elpida.

Anyone have experience with working on different novels at the same time? How did it go?

(For those wondering; no, I am still just taking things easy. No pressure, no lists, no dead-lines, no guilt-monkeys - although they are still trying)
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*I have scenes playing inside my head. They will repeat themselves sometimes several times a day, and sometimes regularly for years until I write them down. It's a bit like thinking back on a movie I've seen and it is much easier to write exsisting scenes than it is to sit down at the computer and start to come up with something.

**C wants me to do some projects and I want to finish the bathroom painting.

C had planned to go on a 21 hour fishing trip in the North Sea this weekend, from Saturday night to Sunday night:

- for weeks I had been instructed to cook food from the freezer and not buy any new food to go in the freezer because we needed the space for all the cod he'd catch!!!! To those who haven't seen our freezer; it's the kind where you could easily hide a dead body or two. It even has a key so that you can lock it and ensure that your kids don't accidentally kill themselves while playing hide and seek.

- yesterday at work, he tried on a floating suit, which he barely got out of again, causing quite a state of panic and some worry about what he'd do if a customer came right as he was stuck. With the help of the butt of fishing rod and some serious wriggling he managed to free himself, but why oh why doesn't he try these things at home so I can get the pleasure of watching them?

- this evening he packed all his fishing gear, made a gazillion sandwiches - approx. one for each hour he'd be gone, ate bland food, packed immodium and tablets against motion sickness and wrote a will, plus instructions to me in case anything should happen*.

And the captain of the ship just called. The trip is cancelled because the wind will pick up over the next 24 hours.

So guess what we'll be eating all day tomorrow?

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*Yeah, that didn't make me worry at all!

Is it just me, or do some of these contestants look as if someone went Photoshop beserk?

http://tv.yahoo.com/the-miss-america-pageant-2010/show/45377/photos/1

It's been almost 8 months, but now I can snap my fingers again! Not only a snap, but a double snap. Tadaaa!

I asked my neurologist about my hand earlier this month. He said it was my hand joints and that with joints you don't measure the healing progress in days but in months, and then proceeded to tell me of when he fell of the bike, broke his collar bone and hurt a joint. :p

So apparently I might not have to "learn to live with it" as the doctor had said. Hah!

We went to Hereford Beefstouw with my cousin and her fiancee this evening. It's one of the more expensive restaurants in the area, but their beef is excellent. I had a rib-eye steak, medium, and it was succulent and tasty. The fries that came with it were so-so and I had expected better. The starter was okay, I had escargot in three varieties (garlic/parsley, goat cheese/terragon and musroom/almond) - all good, but the goat cheese/terragon combination was less successful and I have to admit that I questioned it when I saw it on the menu, but decided to trust the chef. One glass of housewine, nothing special, but still a descent red. No dessert, but a cup of tea.

C had carpaccio for starters, same main course as I, and a classical Danish cake (kransekage) for dessert, plus a glass of beer with his food. The beer was a disappointment, but beggars can't be choosy, as they offered just one type.

Overall verdict, the price was not that far off, but this is an old restaurant with a good reputation and it's supposed to be upper-mid range - upper range, and apart from the quality of the meat, it did not really match this. The menu was good and well-composed and the mains included Kobe beef, plus a lamb and a fish dish. The wine menu was extensive and the after dinner coffees included a nice variety, but for a restaurant of this type, I don't think just one type of beer and one type of tea is acceptable, also with the amount of fries they must have put over the counter sine 1971, they should have perfected them by now. They did look hand-cut, but I don't want stick thin, slightly overdone and over-salted fries. Please give me succulent wedges with a crispy crust.

So it's a 7 out of 10 from me.