(no subject)

Today I ought to have gone to see the doctor, but I'm not going to do so... too much lethargy. Instead I'm going to run a few errands a little closer to home. Will do med stuff tomorrow....

CJ + niecelet did not come over last night; they got a late start, and there is one road between here and there that is kinda scary (dark, twisty, and forested), so niecelet flipped her lid and freaked out so much that CJ had to turn back before they got here. I have Hello Kitty Strawberry Pocky for niecelet, that I bought yesterday at the Japanese grocery store. However, even the lure of "a present" was not enough to convince her to get in the car again. She's 3, so I'm gonna give her a pass on this one. 3-year-olds are weird. They're supposed to come over tonight, BEFORE it gets dark... we'll see if it works out. If not I might go over there, I guess.

I am having some problems with my eczema; normally it starts in my ear canals, then picks up on my scalp, then shows up around one or both of my eyes. Yes, this is as gross and uncomfortable as it sounds; a weird pill and diet regimen usually clears it up, but I have to be consistent, or it comes back. Anyway, it showed up in a new spot the other night: around my labret, or rather on my chin just below the piercing. ICK. Hydrocortisone is helping, but I think this is going to wind up requiring that I go on the full-scale food-sensitivity-elimination diet, which sucks. Especially around the holidays, because it rules out cookies, cakes, pies, hot cocoa, and hot cider. :( Maybe if I'm extra-careful between now and Thanksgiving I'll be able to eat potatos, stuffing, rolls, and pie without getting too stinky and itchy from it!

Forgot to mention that arwen_isobel embarrassed herself immensely after her grooming session (where she was an angel) last night. On the way out of Petsmart, we ran into: ANOTHER SHELTIE! This dog was very beautiful, compact, a good 10lbs smaller than the Wenzel, who is slightly oversized for her breed. I thought the dog was a puppy, because she wasn't footstool-hairy and was so small, but she was actually 5 years old. The owner assured me that the Wenzel would calm down quite a bit around her second birthday, and that her own Sheltie had been every bit as hyper and naughty as mine when she was 1. During this encounter, the Wenzel would go up to the other dog, sniff a bit, then try to hide behind me and twist her leash around my legs, but she remained relatively calm throughout, no aggression or warning-shyness. Then, all of a sudden, she squatted and pooped on the floor, which ended our pleasant encounter with the Grown-Up Lady Sheltie, whose owner understandably took her out of the area. This came as a complete shock to me, since she usually only does That once or twice a day, in the morning and/or late in the evening... and she had already done That on the floor in the house like three hours earlier. ONE accident is uncommon for her, but two in one day? Practically unheard-of. But at least she was well-behaved for the groomer and reservedly friendly with the other dogs. She really needs some dog friends.

home decor query

OK, here's the scene.

My bed is a futon that is about.... 8" or so off the ground, on a platform. I love this; I know some people look down on futons, but I really like having a bed that is set low on the ground, and even with a "real mattress" I'd want to use this kind of base. For a nightstand, I have identical blond-wood-veneer cube tables on caster wheels, one on each side. These are about 6" taller than the upper surface of the bed (which is maybe 14" or so off of the floor).On the side of the bed I use most often, I have a lamp, which looks like the Eiffel Tower and has a square black shade (which I have to replace, because the movers didn't pack it correctly and it's completely ruined). The shade is like... a faux nubbly silk, and the square echoes the shape of the table and the shape of the base of the lamp.

My question is: given that I have an identical table on the other side of the bed, and this is My Furniture for the forseeable future, should I pick up another Eiffel Tower lamp for the other table? They don't cost that much. However, having two sort of works against the novelty of having an Eiffel Tower lamp in the first place. I could go with no lamp on that side (which is really unbalanced from a decorating standpoint, but suits my lifestyle), or I could put a harmonious but not identical lamp over there (I'm thinking some kind of silver "candlestick" lamp with the same shade on it).

Any opinions or ideas?
Another Eiffel Tower, a similar but different lamp, or nothing?

crack thy cheeks! crack them! you heard me! what kind of a slacker wind are you, anyway?!?!?

CJ and the niecelet just left. Niecelet is painfully cute, but it's easy to make her cry, and I can't joke around with her pretty much at all because she's too sensitive and doesn't understand. & then it's like, "I am a terrible person, I made a 3-yr-old who adores me cry." She enjoyed her Hello Kitty strawberry Pocky, though. We were all going to go out for dinner, but just as I was getting my coat on, the wind picked up, whirring and howling, and it started to rain. Niecelet and doglet got nervous. I got exasperated (with the weather, not the small individuals). CJ suggested ordering a pizza (because why go out in icky weather yourself when you can make someone else do it?), and I remembered that I had a good frozen pizza, so we cooked that instead. I had to drag the side coffee table into my tiny kitchen for the niecelet to eat at, but after that everything went fine. It's hard to have people over for dinner when you don't have a dining table yet, but we did well with the kitchen counters.

After that, we went over to Half Price Books, which is one of my favorite places in the world: cheap, cheap books. I got a stack of topical books for intensefragilty, all sorts of seventeenth-century-England science and lifestyle books. I felt bad spending two lump sums in one day, because I already bought a purse today, and it was a splurge. But I needed a nice grown-up purse (all mine are still in storage and I need to look for a job in the next week) and this is a really great, high-quality one that I got at a good price. & I didn't spend that much at the bookstore.

The wind is blowing in a fierce Shakespearean way. It's not too cold outside, but the atmosphere is spooky and stormy. I'm happy to be inside, curled up with some tea, hanging out with the pets, knitting and watching TV and playing around on the computer. It's a night to be indoors, definitely. :)