That nasty alien took up residence. . .
I think there were aliens abroad the other night, but I just couldn’t see them. They were invisible and the exact shape of some sort of cold virus. Now I’m down with a cold and am getting sick and tired of snot dripping out of my nose. Lovely. Just lovely. I better be better by Tuesday night! I don’t want to meet my hubby after a two week separation and be all disgusting and red-nosed and feverish. Bah on alien cold viruses.
Today has been a blessedly calm day, after the disaster that was yesterday. I cleaned the house and am proud to say this place is in great shape! I even cleared off the top of my dresser which was more like an archaeological excavation than a cleaning frenzy. I found my good brush that’s been missing for at least a week, a pretty necklace I didn’t know I had, tons of earrings, a shirt that I forgot I bought, a bunch of bras, and a whole slew of various Swedish cards that used to go in my purse. I suppose I could throw those away, but they are proof of my big Swedish adventure. We’ve only been back for six months, but already those days of darkness seem like something I only imagined.
My dear grandmama showed up with some plates for me. I was shocked. Yesterday she was telling me about a box of dishes that’s been sitting in her garage for ten years. Apparently she bought them at some sort of fundraising rummage sale and then never brought them into the house. She couldn’t even remember what they looked like. I told her that if she didn’t want them and they were half-way decent I might be interested in them and she got all nervous and starting saying that she might need them and they might not go with my kitchen and she might find a use for them. I didn’t pursue the matter. After thirty years of living around the woman I’ve learned that gifts from her are never gifts. They are obligations. I still get nagged at about the quilt I ruined when I was four years old. Her mother had made her a Dutch Doll quilt and I loved it so much I wanted it. She gave it to me and I dragged it around everywhere, until it just fell into shreds. Now, I understand it was a precious item and she is unhappy that it is gone, but does it really do any good to yell at me for something I did when I was four years old? Wouldn’t it be better to yell at herself for giving a precious heirloom to a four year old?
Anyway, back to the story. . .
She came over with four of the plates, which was a total surprise to me. I was a bit afraid of what they might look like, since they had been purchased at a rummage sale. My mom took all the dishes, so we only have a bunch of ugly plastic brown things that some old guy gave my dad. I keep thinking about getting my dishes out of storage, but that sounds like work so I never do it. I opened up the bag and was shocked to discover beautiful plates that look like new! They are not something I would ever pick out, but they are gorgeous. They are very Chinese looking, in bright bold red and orange. I’m quite pleased with them.
Of course, she couldn’t just give them to me. She had to tell me that if I use them, I must use a very plain place mat and table cloth so the design really shines. And I have to wash them after every use. And I shouldn’t let my dad eat off them because he pushes to hard with his utensils and will scratch up the fine, fine china. See what I mean about obligations? I don’t know who she thinks I’m serving over here. The queen of England hasn’t darkened my door in many a moon and the President has been too busy to stop by. I don’t think Mike and Daddy-o are too overly concerned about the ambiance at dinner time. Eating at the table just about exceeds our civilized quota every night.
Since it’s been a lazy day, I got some more work done on the next quilt I’m making. I bought this really cool grid thing that has tiny slits in it so you can place it over your material and run your rotary blade down the slits. It is the most excellent invention for quilters ever! It really speeds things up and makes things a lot more accurate. I’m really wanting to start another quilt, but I need to finish this stupid star quilt that I started. The picture was awesome, but my eye for color has not been developed and my stars look stupid. Hopefully I am just in the mid-making slumps and the finished product will be ok.
And now it’s time to go knock myself out with some fake Nyquil. If I take that stuff I may even sleep through the 5 am meow fest. Or maybe she won’t do her meow fest in the morning. Kitty is very angry at me. I put a bell collar on her this morning to prevent future birdnappings and she is not pleased. Did any of you ever read any Christopher Pike books when you were teenagers? There was this one book that featured a girl who looked in the eyes of an animal and somehow the girl and animal switched souls. The cat was looking at me so intently that I thought she was trying to steal my body. I can’t even imagine what kind of damage she would do in a human body. Scary!