if i had a million dollars...

it's like rain on your wedding day. or something....i do my best to save money and pay off my bills, and what happens? cow gets sick :(
so i took him to the vet yesterday - as luck would have it, as i went down to the subway, i hear "subways closed, go back up! subways's closed!" There had been a "small fire" at exactly the wrong time for me! so i decided to walk to mass ave and catch the #1 bus home instead. I called my mother and she was like "hi sara! how are you?" and i, half jogging, answered "baaaaad." after i told her what happened, she said that she would give me one hundred dollars, to help foot the bill and also to take a cab to the appt. god bless her!
so we got to the vet, and it was so scary - the vet was all squishing his tummy and saying under her breath "please don't be blocked, don't be blocked"...basically, in male cats, they can develop "crystals" in their urine, which build up and can completely block the urethra. if it becomes blocked, then the urine goes back up in to their kidneys and they die within a few days. so i was holding my breath too. then she goes "oh thank god, it isn't blocked!"
but they did need to keep him there for the day to run urinanalysis, etc. When i took him home, he was all doped up on powerful potent pain pills, and was adorably affectionate...like ten times more so than normal. when i got home i took him out of the carrier, and he squished his body up as close as possible/half on top of me, and just started purring away.
I have to go back to the vet to pick up antibiotics and special food for the cow. many dollars.
but at least he will be okay.

Bad Cat Owner!

i am such a bad, bad cat owner. :(
So for the past couple of days, cow has been acting funny - basically, in his litterbox all the time....in and out and in and out, and it's annoying as hell. Cowboy, in general, treats his litterbox like a fun toy : both to play AND to pee in! He also enjoys scratching at the walls of the litterbox, which both a) accomplishes nothing, and b) annoys the crap out of me. then again,that may be its purpose...he might actually be an evil genius.
so, basically, i wasn't too worried...i gave him more wet food and decided just to monitor it for a couple days before taking him to the vet (and effectively me to the cleaners). But then, after three nights of being woken up because cow can't stop hanging out in his litterbox, he actually followed me around the house meowing as i was getting ready, and THEN he tried to pee in the damn fireplace! so i called the vet and told them the problem, and they said that not only do i need to bring him to the vet, but i need to do so TODAY...or else it might need emergency surgery, or else he MIGHT DIE. so i have a vet appt. at 1 pm . at first it was at six pm, but then i imagined taking the cat on the subway at rush hour, and also i got back to my desk and almost started crying because i feel so bad for him. so i am biding away one more hour before i can leave. i feel like the worst cat mama ever.

you know

you know, there's nothing quite like getting to work and wishing that it were the end of the day.


lovely.

happy presidents day or something

wow, weekend. that certainly was a change of pace.
it seems like there's a lot going on here. My mother is coming to visit me in about three weeks, i look forward to seeing here. she'll be here for about 3 days, which is IT in terms of how long we can co-exist peacefully, but I'm in a good place right now, and am looking forward to sharing it with her. she's going to arrive on a thursday afternoon, so i was thinking that we'd go to the ICA in the evening (free!). i am making a list of things to do with her...maybe on friday we can go to the organ recital at Trinity Church, maybe lunch at Teavana, and i'd like to show her the McKim side of the public library. we can go ice skating at the frog pond, and walk around harvard (of course, everyone loves harvard), or davis, since it is nicer. we can go to ZuZus and get the super duper yummy hummus plate, and maybe walk around the north end (both my parents love the north end), and get a cappucino or a cannoli.
i think this will be her best trip up here yet. the last time she was here was last march, and it was horrible. marc had left literally like 6 days before, and i was just inconsolable, pretty much. and she was having issues also, so we were like the grumpiest bunch of unhappiness ever.
but this year is good. and she'll be able to appreciate the new england winter one more time while i am still here. yup yup.

this morning i woke to the sound of a car engine revving, somebody chopping into ice, and a lot of loud cursing. at six thirty. thanks, dude. then i walked outside, and i discovered that all the cars which had been parked in two feet of slush were now locked in two feet of ice!
last night i went with jess to the burren for a show called "love stinks" featuring some really good local artists...i thoroughly enjoyed the show and stayed out far past my bedtime. at one point i might have become a tad morose....but really, the combination of blizzard, valentines day, no kisses, and a nice glass or two of vodka is bound to make a girl a little depressed! I went to sleep around midnight, and woke up with NOOOO hangover! yes! my doctor has cured me of the "drink one beer n' get a migraine" experience
i have once again become a free-a-terian (credit to ashley for that phrase)..i will eat almost any food, provided that it is free.
i have got such an itch to travel...i'm investigating all the ways i might go about it. it's not even that Preservation is the driving force, any way that i could do it is fine. i wish i had a pile of cash - i would just go backpack it for awhile :-\
god that would be great.

growing up

i am pleased with myself!
i have decided to take more financial responsibility...i have been living beyond my means for awhile - not terribly so, but enough that i've racked up a bit of credit card debt. as i now plan on leaving the country as soon as it is feasible, my goal is to relearn how to live within my means - for real- and to pay that shit off!
i didn't start off the year with any goals, but somehow i've been accumulating them. one goal was to learn to cook, and that's going along swimmingly, and it's also helping me eat better. i'm taking better care of my health (aka going to the doctor), and i'm also doing this here money thing. i'm making it into a game...how little money can i live on?
Ad i can only imagine that all this brainstorming is doing me good - for instance, i discovered that with my "reward points," i can credit 75 dollars to my credit card ! and whereas i don't think i can retreat back to my ramen-eatin', sewin' my own clothes kinda ways that got me through my broke, broke college years ( i seem to recall getting my furniture of of the street), i can think of lots of ways to save....eat more tofu, less chicken...more whole grains, less frozen meals. return library books on time and not NOT purchase books. same goes with starbucks. don't eat out. don't DRINK out. don't buy soda from the vending machine...etc. etc. etc.
so i am sorry, friends, if you are slightly underwhelmed by how much fun this seems. but if you wanna hang out and catch up, cook dinner, or go thrift store shopping with me, well....i'm your girl.

For that's all i'm wishing to be owning

wow, i was really happy that it was valentines day, as i am but a silly girl who will celebrate any and/or everything at a drop of a hat (eg. the day of the dead! boxing day! friday!)...and so i am wearing pink and i made exceptionally cute pink cupcakes with chocolate hearts for the office....and all of a sudden, BAM! incredibly depressed.
like, i kind of want to puke and then cry for awhile. and just feel sorry for myself for whatever reason. and i haven't even eaten any cupcakes or anything yet, so don't go blaming my blood sugar.
it is snowing, for real though...but a minute ago it was sleeting, and so it has become, oh, the dreaded wintry mix....i woke up at two when the cats got ito a fight in my room, and i realized that the sky was ORANGE. i was slightly concerned that the end of the world was nigh. but it was beautiful, even in it's alarming-ness.
i am going to go listen to some sad bob dylan, sad joan baez, and maybe some sad ani difranco now.

the vicar or whatever

yesterday was sunday, and a pleasant, quiet one at that. i made hummus, i watched tv, i talked to my mother for an hour. i peeled chickpeas the entire time i was on the phone with her...which she thought was ridiculous; "really all you need to do to make hummus is a can of chickpeas and some olive oil..it's going to take forever to peel all those!" "well yes, mother. that's the point. it's winter in boston and all of my friends are either out of town or sick. i am looking for a project that will take forever"
and the hummus, with the peeled chickpeas, fresh lemon juice, toasted and ground cumin, and tahini...it is delicious.
what else did i do....i knitted for awhile, then unraveled the scarf i was working on. i htink i should go ahead and buy smaller-gauge needles, or bigger yarn, as i am having lots of trouble with what i have. i took a walk down to whole foods on prospect street purely to buy parsley and vanilla extract....then i made ribollita, super good veg. soup(essentially street food) that i have only had in florence; i think mine came out pretty good, and i was glad i went out of my way to pick up the parsley. it translates to "reboiled"...so it's meant to be leftovers!
i took a bubble bath. i read Real Simple and drank a martini (or two). i vacuumed the rug in the living room. i practiced my mandolin for awhile, which thoroughly upset bella. she took to crouching in kat's room and glaring at me.
that's it. that was the weekend. and it was nice.

i don't love anyone

just sayin'.
well, this has been a nice saturday.
yesterday the dude called and canceled on me...just another case of premature chicken counting, huh....so last night i did not do laundry (take that!) - since there would be no reason for anyone to be seeing the a.p.t.
i didn't sleep very well though.
so today i knitted, and i read, and i took a very long walk all alone. i tried to go to the Mt. Auburn cemetary, according to mapquest it is 2.3 miles from my house, i figured it would be a good way to soak up the relatively warm weather of 30 degrees....but i think i got lost. i walked like i was going to harvard, but then went down mt. auburn, then followed memorial drive (which runs along the cambridge side of the charles river) but then i got to a very tricky intersection with no lights and fast cars and bridges and i had been walking about 40 minutes already and i had used up my tissues (cold weather = runny nose) so i decided to turn around. on the way back, i saw people investigating exactly how frozen the Charles is.
i had a grocery list with me; in my day of dallying i decided to plan some recipes. i have planned to make my own hummus (

and i saw my shadow next to yours

the sun is going down boylston street, and is only hitting projecting parts of buildings. It doesn't quite reach the pedestrians, who are bundled up in furs and quilted coats. it's cold out, but at least it is nearly 5pm on a friday, and i have hopes of a migraine - free weekend...and a date! today hasn't been so bad; i've been formatting drawings all week really, and it's a tedious process that doesn't require much thought, so i am relieved that i got a reprieve on it - in the interest of getting a revised drawing set out next week (ha!), i don't have to do the last third of the drawings.
tonight i will go to the art store and pick up some new yarn for my next knitting project. then, i'll stop by the Harvest and pick up some milk and hummus and bananas to tide me over (ok maybe an avocado too...we'll see). and some juice to mix with vodka to make myself tipsy enough not to mind doing laundry on a friday night.
last night jess and i made...wait for it..."spiced millet with cauliflower and almonds" - it claimed to be indian but i would have called it morroccan or even afghani (sp?). it would if i haven't already told you, i am in a grain phase. grains are yummy. i have even been convinced to try cous cous again, now that i have been made to understand that many grains do need to be highly spiced. The Harvest, my little organic grocery store/co-op (which is exactly three feet away from one of the subway exits) has a great bulk item section with 15 kinds of grains and 45 kinds of spices and a million types of flour.
i have officially applied to ICOMOS. part of me realllllly wants to do it, part of me thinks that i SHOULD do it, and part of me wants to say screw it. and stay here until october.
i guess we'll see. there's no use in counting chickens yet, now, is there?
but geez... so much change is coming again. sigh. maybe one day i will find that mythical place that i won't want to leave....

sooo sleepy

this morning i went to the doctor for my Migraine Attack 2007 - how, lately, i've been having one to three migraines a week. when i get a migraine, i have to go to sleep for a couple hours with ear plugs, a face mask, and powerful potent pain pills....so, anyway, the doctor DID find something wrong with me (ha! it's so satisfying when there is actually something wrong)...and now i have to change a whole bunch of stuff to make them go away. alas. i really really hope they go away though....
in addition, now i am all learn-ed about laboratory lighting, from the lunch and learn today. Tonight jess and i are cooking dinner and making valentines. yesterday i called the boy and got his voice mail, but then he called back within a few hours! hurrah. we have plans to go candlepin bowling and eat eithiopian food on saturday, which i am looking forward to very much.
i am incredibly sleepy, which is probably why this doesn't read well at all, but rather like a stream of conciousness. i am reading A Sun Also Rises, which i like a great deal more than A Farewell to Arms. the end.

as hemingway once wrote

it is a beastly temperature. (ok, i think he was referring to somebody's personality, but whatever). it is very, very, VERY cold here. it's the kind of cold where you wear knee socks and long underwear and a sleeping bag parka. you wear a knit hat under the hood of said parka, pulled down past your eyebrows, and a wool scarf pulled up to just below your eyes...and you kind of wish you wish that you wore glasses to shield your eyes from the wind. It is so cold that you go home and immediately get into the tub; everytime you go outside for more than a few minutes, you become exhausted and get a headache. It is the kind of cold that doesn't necessarily feel cold - like when you stick your hand under water that is so cold it actually feels hot - it just registers as shock. Non lo gradisco.

spaghetti-o's are nasty

so why do i always expect them to be super yummy? i buy them like once a year with great expectations, and find them vile. alas. the 11 year old in me still thinks of them as a super treat.
the weekend was okay, no migraine to speak of, though some headache on sunday. i am not drinking beer anymore, though i did have one bud light at the super bowl party and survived unscathed.
friday i went skating with googler and another work friend, met up with some others at the frog pond, and had a rollicking good time until it started slushing or whatever you wanna call that uber-wet snow. saturday, i woke up to discover that all the sidewalks in all the world were slick with ice. it was around 20 that day, and rather windy, and i lost my february T pass somewhere on my trek to Whole Foods, which blows...
Jess's party was that evening, luckily for me at the commie bar, and it was rather enjoyable. i stuck to vodka and i had 3.5 drinks, i believe. and two slices of HiFi pizza, and half of a coconut cupcake and half of a chocolate cupcake. and like 5 skeezy guys hit on me...which, you know, i appreciate and all, but i really didn't want to deal with them. kissed max on the way out at 11pm.
Sunday i did laundry. Go Me! and had a mid day martini, and napped a lot, and read even more than i napped. i made rice krispie treats for the superbowl party. kat made her spinach dip. i am trying to make rice krispie treats my signature dish (for now) as they are simple and everyone loves them. the party was at kat's friends' condo in Jamaica Plain. It was the best superbowl party i have ever been to - probably because it was slightly fancy and i didn't watch the game at ALL, at least not the parts that didn't consist of Prince covering every song ever. over half of the party consisted of folks not of an american persuasion...there was a Japanese guy who spoke little english, a very cool canadien girl (who said that the weather here is worse than it is in Ottawa), and several people who hailed from holland, and lapsed into Dutch on occasion..and mocked the flemish. isn't that funny? to eat, we had the aforementioned snacks, as well as Naan and mint chutney and mango salsa, bruschetta, sandwiches with prosciutto and mozzarella, and japanese noodles. i had a great time, and was pleased when Jeff gave us a ride home (15 minutes by car, or an hour by subway)
and now it is monday. swell.