Drat.

[shadesofmauve]

I had almost a whole beautiful day to myself, and I seem to have frittered it away without accomplishing much more than a load of laundry and sticking my foot in my mouth on the internet and dying in minecraft lava.

Last night I had serious stress dreams about showing up late for jury duty this morning, but the bike ride was even quicker than I'd guessed and I was 25 minutes early. It was very exciting -- we watched a little movie, and sat in two different rooms, and, I used the bathroom three times, and then we were sent home because the first defendant decided to plea guilty and the second never showed up.

The judge overheard me talking to the woman next to me as we left about whether we could play hooky from work in good conscience, and he said "As far as I'm concerned, you were in court the whole day!"

It was 9:30. Justice system FTW.

Since I was in a bit of town I'd never ridden in before I decided to run some errands and do a little exploration -- probably the most productive part of my day. I found a path cutting from the auto mall to the SW neigborhood that'll save me a giant hill and a nasty intersection next time I want to run errands on the west side, bought fabric dye, and stopped at the froofy natural pet store to see about anti-flea stuff (where the employee helpfully admitted that non of the froofy natural remedies actually work well and I should keep doing what I'm doing).

When I got home I realized I didn't have enough salt to set the fabric dye, the yard's too much of a disaster for me to see what needs doing, and, hey, there was STUFF on the INTERNET.

I did manage to call the city permit office again with a few code questions. The bad news is I can't put a window any closer to the shear wall corner than the door. The good news is I don't need much of a header, so I can make the windows taller. I'm not any closer to a decision, but it's good to have info.

Now, time to buckle down and write. I'm finally getting somewhere with the chapter, I just have to plug away at it.

Oh, and fold Mt. Laundry.

Comments

[t-c-da.livejournal.com]

I had almost a whole beautiful day to myself,

It now being Tuesday down here, I spent Monday tootling around the south end of the North Island on what is called a Quilters Shop Hop, which involves visiting each of 6 quilters shops, spending at least $11 in each and collecting a couple of patches to make up a quilt.
Telling a quilter to spend at least $11 is a bit like telling an alcoholic to have one drink - $WIFE came home with a pile of fat quarters about 4 inches high, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with any of her current projects.
And I got to drive the car for almost exactly 500km at 6.6litres/100km (which 2l/km less than out usual average - our Peugeot 206 includes automation that tracks such things,which thrills my geeky heart) and have a delightful lunch in a little cafe in Dannevirke that looked most unpretentious yet had had excellent food. (The car is usually the preserve of $WIFE - I get to take the bus to work!)

you were in court the whole day!

In all my years I've never once been summoned for jury duty, and now I'm considered too old for call-up...

fold Mt. Laundry

My eldest daughter (with 6 kids) calls hers Mt Washmore...

[shadesofmauve]

Oh, Mt. Washmore is delightful! Since I've washed it, though, it's now Mt. Laundry, and is on the bed instead of on the laundry room floor. I'm always terrible about the folding-clothes stage (which leads to Mt. Washmore, because things end up on the floor and I put them back in the dirty pile because I can't remember and it's better to be safe than smelly). Recently I've been trying to bribe myself by watching comedy on hulu/netflix while I fold. Since I don't normally watch TV, it's a substantial bribe... but I'm afraid that "Shows I like" will run out before the laundry.... and that's with no kids and only two cats.

It's very funny you mention quilt shops, your wife, and the fat quarter problem (And it IS a problem, no matter what she says). There should be a Fat Quarters Anonymous.

See, what I didn't mention about my errands was that I picked up another fat quarter at the same time... for the one quilt project I have, which has been a project for over ten years, and which I haven't worked on in years. It's the colors, you see -- kind of magpie thing. I can't resist all the colors! Besides, you never know when you'll need that *exact* color/pattern, right?

I don't think there is such a thing as 'too old' for jury duty here. I'll have to check. I suspect one of the gentlemen in my section today was in his 80s, at least. He looked older than my grandparents, anyhow, and they're mid-70s.

As much as I enjoyed my unexpected day off, I was actually really interested in the whole process. I certainly wouldn't have minded seeing it out.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you should come in to the shop and check out our scrap baskets when you're up here. There's some cool stuff in there.

Edit: Actually, you should come in anyhow, the quilts are amazing.