Kocur.net Blog

So here I am again. I don’t do well with sick. I am forcing myself to rest and therefore driving myself crazy. I had about as much TV as I could stand. Daytime TV is depressing. With the exception of the episode of Gilmore Girls I caught earlier, there was nothing worthwhile on. I wish they had a Gilmore Girls marathon today. That would make me happy. The witty banter on that show makes me laugh. I wish the whole world would communicate like that.

Drew texted to see how I was doing. I told him restless, and he said it was either nap time or time for a mojito on the porch. I tried the nap, and just couldn’t sleep, so I opted for the front porch, with toast and water in place of the mojito. I don’t think alcohol is a wise choice today. So here I sit, on my makeshift patio cushions (two old pillows), waiting for the birds to attack the feeder like they did last week. Not much action today. Maybe the clacking from the keyboard is keeping them away. I am being stared down by my neighbor’s dog. At least he’s quiet.

One thing I hate about being sick is that I hate not being productive. I feel like I should be doing something, but that negates the whole resting thing. Also, sometimes being alone when you aren’t feeling so hot is awful lonely. I’d love for Drew to be home with me, stroking my hair and working his husband magic to help me feel better.

Look dog, I am clearly no threat to you. Please go away. Your beady eyes are making me nervous.

I figured a little more blogging and writing might be good for my restless brain. (Oh good, random noise chased little beady eyed dog away. Phew.) Here comes a bullet post.

– I started a cake decorating class with my sister last night. It was my birthday gift from way earlier in the year, and we’re finally getting around to taking the class. It was enjoyable, as enjoyable as first classes for anything go. There’s always a bit of nervousness being around new people and what if I’m no good at this sort of mentality. I enjoyed the first portion of class and was focused, but had a harder time for the second half as I started feeling weak and way tired. We learned some cake basics, such as how to make the icing we’ll be working with, and the different consistencies. I did fine for the lecture and book part of the lesson. It was when we had to break out the box of goodies that I started struggling. My sis had some issues at first too, and we fumbled through and figured it out eventually. Have to learn the cake lingo. At the end of the lesson we had to put icing in our little tube-y thing (after assembling said tube-y thing with the correct star squeezer point thing) and practice making our first decorations: stars. I was kicking butt on the plastic template practice thing. Piece of cake! (pun intended). Then we had to break out the cookies. Putting stars on curved sugar cookie surfaces proved to be a bit more difficult than the plastic template. I kept glooping icing everywhere and I think I had air in my bag because I forgot to twist it after putting the icing in. After some trial and error, I think I figured out what my problems were and hopefully how to fix it. I tried to make the fancy design ideas in the book, and everything seemed to turn into some lopsided heart. Sis seemed to be getting the hang of it and was making cookies with the initials of her two boys, as well as some other fun designs. I think I will do better next week when I’m a bit more rested and well. It should be fun, if I don’t go broke buying cake accessories and being buried alive in cake batter and icing. Perhaps I’ll take some time this afternoon and practice my star making ability. I’d post pics of my pitiful cookies, but unfortunately they all slid around in the car ride home and the icing is all one big gloop. Perhaps I should scrape it all off and give it another go. Maybe I’ll post pics of the re-dos.

– Halloween was pretty fun this year. I wish I had more energy, as I would have loved to have gone to a pumpkin patch and carve a pumpkin and put some fall themed decorations around the house. As it was, I used all my energy to help plan a Halloween party for work. I did wear a costume for the party on Friday. My boss and I teamed up again, and were bacon and eggs. She was the bacon, which is funny since she’s a kosher Jew. It turned out pretty cute, although many people couldn’t figure out what we were. When we told them, they laughed. I have pictures, but on the work camera. I’ll try to post some soon.

– On the actual eve of Halloween, we went to my sister’s house. We had been invited to a party at a friend’s house, but had no energy to come up with a costume. We opted to just hang out with family. Plus, I really wanted to see my nephew’s costumes. They were Mario and Luigi, and were really darn cute.

I think it’s the mustaches that make it so cute. I walked for a little while with the kiddos and parents as they trick or treated, taking some video. Then I walked back to the house, where Drew was relaxing on the couch and passing out candy. My sis and bro-in-law appreciated it, as they could both be out trick-or-treating and not feel like Halloween scrooges (like our darkened house… glad we didn’t get egged.) We were glad to help, and had fun.

– I am so glad election season is over. I think it’s my least favorite time of year. I am not political minded and avoid political discussions like the plague. Basically because I’m so ill informed. Current events make me snooze, which I know is terrible. I know I should keep up with the goings on in the world, but I can’t seem to make it through a news article without my mind and eyes wandering to the ad on the adjoining page or just jumping ahead to the comics. And I hate news channels because they’re usually so biased. So I usually stay clueless. Then election time comes and I find myself cramming like for a final exam that I put off all semester. It’s hard to sort through all the mud slinging and corruption to know who the best candidate is. I usually feel like I’m going for the lesser of two evils. Luckily, my husband keeps up with current events way better than me and will usually give me the abridged version of the ballot. He sat with me this week and went through all the poorly written amendments that  I can never comprehend. He didn’t tell me how to vote; just let me know what it was about. I felt more informed with I got to the polls.

– Which was a stressful experience. Since I had a change of address and hadn’t changed it on my voter registration card, I needed a change of address form. Which I should have received at my new precinct. When I went and inquired, they sent me to my old precinct. They were annoyed at the old precinct (not at me but at the people who had sent me) and gave me the form I should have received at the first precinct and sent me back there. When I arrived back at the first precinct, they started to go through the same motions they had that morning; looking me up in their huge voter book and seeing what precinct was in print there. I stopped them and informed them I had already been through this and had to make them understand I needed to vote at THIS precinct, because of my new address. After a phone call and some additional confusion, I was finally allowed to turn in my form and then was handed a ballot. I know the poll workers are volunteers and I was trying to be patient with that fact, but driving across town twice when I was already not feeling well did not help my day any. It was almost enough to make me give up on voting altogether.

The fall air has been good for me, but now the gnats are starting to find me. I think it’s time to move this party back inside.