Every Silver Lining Comes with a Cloud

Well, it turns out I have mice. This is peculiar because I also have three cats. Mice are supposed to be afraid of cats---the very smell of them is supposed to act as a deterrent. Unfortunately, these mice must have inactive vomeronasal organs, because this is not effective.

It's probably because the cats are sleeping at the foot of my bed instead of working.

I interviewed the cats to see what was happening and here's how it went down:

Cat 1: What? You expect me to chase and catch mice? I'm a lover, not a fighter.That's not in my job description (obviously, he's a GS cat).

Cat 2: They taunted me and hurt my feelings. My mother was not a hamster (sniff)!

Cat 3: Couldn't be found anywhere. She's pretty skittish, so I just chalked it up to her usual behavior.

Later, I found this paper on the stairs to the basement.

I called in the professional assassins.

It's officially a war.

Stand by.

Automotive Genes Raise Their Ugly Heads!

Holy moly. Anna must come by her automotive knowledge genetically.

She correctly identified a Fisker Karma yesterday ("in disgusting yellow," she added) while I was driving. And today she's telling me that Bentley Continentals are "beautiful."

She's told everyone her dream car is an SLR McLaren Roadster.

I hope she is able to find a really wealthy boyfriend because she hails from lowly Ford and Mopar stock...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcPbE2rFBWc

Two Kids in a Full Cube

At least I got them to smile for the camera. They were quite irked that I made them help me with moving. Anna and Drew despise moving and I'm right there with them.

You can see we packed the Cube quite nicely. Not nicely enough, though, on a previous pack because we managed to ding the screen of the LCD television. Oh, well. I guess I'll see how much it costs the replace the screen.

We're almost done emptying the apartment---we only have the freezer and a few large pictures to move to the new house. I have Drew's old bed and desk on Craigslist and two people interested, so I'm hoping they will go today. We also have a stack of items to go to Goodwill (which, fortunately, for us) is quite near. And then I can turn in the keys and hope I get my deposit back.


We didn't invest in a whole lot of boxes like we did for the move a year ago. It hasn't turned out to be a bad decision, just many small trips to pack the Cube, as you can see in this photo.

Zou Bisou Bisou at the French Embassy

Zou Bisou Bisou is loosely translated "Oh, sweet kiss." For $20, I entered the French Embassy last night and drank two St-Germain cocktails.  I listened to some very interesting music by Margot MacDonald, watched a little burlesque, and listened to some sad French music played on a ukelele by Victoria Vox. She was accompanied by a cello and that, I believe, made all the difference.

This video doesn't have Katie the Cellist playing with her, but it's about a bull at a bullfight----at least, that's what Victoria said!
http://youtu.be/6Lb41kH4vL4

I loved the lace teepees and the fairy lights after it got dark. I loved the people watching. Lace shorts are very trendy right now.

I'll break out my Pfaff and try to move in the same month

Happy Mother's Day and Selective Sloth

My industrious children surrounded by evidence of my sloth.

I have a wonderful life.

I was reading this article from Kyria on sloth. Me, slothful? No way. But I'm guilty of selective sloth---"diligent in a few areas of [my life] while [I] procrastinate terribly in others."

I'm not guilty of maintenance procrastination, but I definitely fell into the developmental procrastination---and last year was my comeuppance. I was complaining a few weeks ago that I wished I'd felt the way I feel now last year. My colleague asked me if I would have taken the time to do what I've been working on this past year and I said no, my MO is to go full-tilt, balls-to-the-wall all out. "There you go," he said. "You have to pay the piper at some point."

Getting Cultured: Al Fresco for PM @The TM and Arias with a Twist

One of the things I promised myself upon return to the Real World was to take advantage of all the culture available in the DC area. I haven't been a slouch! Anna and I saw "Mr and Mrs Oki's Fabulous Trip" and ate sushi in the garden of the Textile Museum. Anna loved all the restaurants we passed (we got off at Dupont Circle) and wanted to stop at one before going home, but it was getting late.

Unfortunately, this picture was taken before we sat down, but we were at the far end of the picture, sitting behind the man in the white shirt who is holding his arm up to his head.

This is a lot of fun and we would do it again! I'm scheduled to attend a lecture at the TM on 31 May: Faces, Mazes and Neural Networks. I think I'm going to have become a member.

I'm also on the Korean Embassy list for events. The next night I was scheduled to attend "Arirang: 17 Women Artists, Opening Reception  Gallery Talk." Unfortunately, I also scheduled myself to attend the show at Woolly Mammoth, "Arias with a Twist." That wouldn't have been a problem normally, but the Metro started single-tracking early and I left work late, so I didn't want to chance missing dinner and the show. That meant I bailed on the reception.

That was the the wrong choice. I would have much preferred the reception to the show. The show had gotten rave reviews because of Basil Twist, a renowned puppeteer. If I wanted to watch a good puppet show, I should have chosen Petrushka or Dogugaeshi. The only good thing about it was the sheer pleasure of watching a drag queen who thoroughly enjoyed being a girl.