nablopomo survey

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So I guess that’s it, eh? Phew!

There’s about half an hour to go before NaBloPoMo is over for another year. This was my first time and it was actually quite fun. I didn’t feel particularly pressured. In fact, I enjoyed trying to think of things to post each day, which isn’t how I usually think about my casa az blog.

So just wondering . . . which post or posts did you especially enjoy (or seriously dislike) this past month? I’m just curious to find out what sort of stuff people who drop by here like reading about. In the interest of better blogging, doncha know.

Anyhow, it’s been great. Thanks to everyone who made sure to stop in and leave a comment (you know who you are!) and we’ll see you next month. Yep, that’s tomorrow.

Now I have to get back to online scrabble and Dan on IM . . . f_run.gif

gatito update

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Back to the vet’s tonight for last Saturday’s test results . . .

Which all in all weren’t too bad. Given Sunny’s age (14) and the fact that he’s overweight, the worst of it was some slight irregularity with kidney and liver function, but nothing scary. The vet prescribed the same liver meds Sunny was on the time he ate the poisoned cockroach (don’t ask) which is really expensive, but at least it’s only for one month. And she has also changed the daily kidney pills (which she says he’ll probably be on for the rest of his life) which are about twice as much as the supplements he’s been taking, but oh well. Also, his glucose is a bit high, so we have to change his food, which means changing Azar’s food as well, but the vet said since Azar is close to Sunny’s age (he’s 12) that the new diet would be good for him too.

Once all the new food and meds were added up it came to 150 euros ( gaaaa! that’s half a new 3″ viewscreen camera!!! ) but whaddaya gonna do, eh? At least it’s food for about three months and meds for one month. But now the gatito monthly maintenance has just doubled - yikes!

Meanwhile, I mentioned to the vet that I should bring Azar in soon for a checkup and she said that I should wait for awhile because, given his age, a blood test is sure to show some weird chronic stuff like Sunny’s did and she suggested that we ‘recuperate’ a bit from this initial financial outlay first.

So it looks like we’ll have to cut out at least one of our almost planned trips. Or else not get the new camera. How’s that for luck, eh nursemyra? ;) Actually, I’m just glad we can afford to take the boys for regular check-ups and look after them properly. I’d rather have them around for a few more years than anything else.

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ancient parchment generator

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The Ancient Parchment Generator

In case anyone is interested in having a bit of fun with this, as I did with Ian’s fabulous Desiderata for Bloggers the other day. Ian told me he could hear the paper crinkling. :)

travelling plans

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Suddenly we seem to be going everywhere! (well, maybe)

Yesterday I mentioned that Nog & I might be going to Granada over the holidays. Since then even more travel ops have turned up! f_bigeyes.gif

Today my friend Carmen said to me that as her husband will be working on Saturday 22 December, she thought this would be a good day to drive me to Gibraltar so I can finally buy some underwear. It’s no joke - ever since Marks & Spencer closed I’ve had to get my knickers sent to me from friends in England as M&S doesn’t deliver outside the UK. My two previous botched attempts to get to the M&S store in Gibraltar have been mentioned here and here. But Carmen has never forgotten my plight and so it looks like I’ll be getting new knickers for Christmas! f_somersault.gif Oh, and also see Gibraltar.

Then another friend Paco told me he’s going to be driving to Lisbon the weekend of December 28-30 because he wants his girlfriend to see the city in winter all decorated for Christmas. And Nog and I have been invited along because Paco knows how we fell in love with the place when we went there last June.

The planned Granada trip is also going to be with Paco as he and his girlfriend often go there to ski during the winter, so apparently we’ll have several weekends to choose from. Paco says they can just drop us off in Granada on Friday evening before they head up to the mountains and then pick us up Sunday on their way back to Sevilla.

And then, while I was talking about possible ways to sell some of our natural clothing stock this spring, it was suggested that I go down to Marbella. Carmen said she was there not long ago and there were several boutiques selling similar looking stuff, so I might have some luck there. And I remembered that my friend Manolo had offered Nog & I the use of one of his holiday apartments in Marbella for a weekend (well, as long as it isn’t booked) and said he might even be able to drive us there and back as he often goes to Málaga at weekends.

And so suddenly there are four possible trips to think about, none of which should cost much. In fact, all of them together should cost less than our Lisbon trip did. And since we’ll only be away two nights max (and no nights when we go to Gibraltar) we won’t have to worry about a cat-sitter. Ohhh, this is quite exciting! Hope it all works out as this would certainly make the coming winter months a lot more interesting. :)

thought for the day

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temptation . . .

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Gorgeous, innit?

And here are the specs.

I have to admit that a couple of the features (face detection, smile shutter) seem both silly and insulting, but the thing I love best about this baby is the 3″ viewing screen. And another big difference is that the one I have now has a lens that goes in and out, which I’ve been having trouble with for the past year or so. Unless the batteries are almost fully charged the camera keeps shutting itself off when I try to take a photo, though I can still view the pics on the memory card. So I thought having a camera with fewer moving parts might be a good idea. But mostly I’d like a bigger viewing screen as the one I have now is only a measly 1.5″ (about 4 months after Nog & I bought it the new models came out, all with standard 2 or 2.5″ screens. Grrr… )

I mentioned over here that I was hoping Santa would bring me a new digital camera with a 3″ screen, but after checking out prices Nog & I decided that it’s too expensive for a Christmas pressy, so we’re going to go halfers on it and maybe also give each other a weekend in Granada over the holidays (we’d be getting a ride there & back so we would only have to pay for the hotel and meals).

Last time we went to Granada I was still using my crappy old snapshot camera, so the photos should be much better next time. :)

how lucky are you?

A quiz and a question…

Your Luck Quotient: 62%

 


You have a high luck quotient.

More often than not, you’ve felt very lucky in your life.

You may be randomly lucky, but it’s probably more than that.

Optimistic and open minded, you take advantage of all the luck that comes your way.

How Lucky Are You?

So I was telling Nog I was posting a quiz today because I couldn’t think of anything else (and it’s getting late and we’re hungry) and he asked me if I thought luck actually existed. Hmmm… and I said, no.

What do you think? Does luck exist?

 

hate mondays?

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Actually, I don’t hate Mondays at all. In fact, I have quite a nice Monday schedule these days, starting with an 8.30 yoga class, followed by a bit of food shopping and then home to do the marathon cooking thing for the week that I first talked about here (still doing it - it works great!). I don’t have any English classes on Monday morning, which makes it possible. Then after I’ve done cooking and Nog has finished his morning classes, we might go out for a pre-lunch beer or vino. After lunch Nog goes off to his afternoon classes and I have an hour or so to obsess on the internet take care of a few things before my first class of the afternoon. On Mondays I usually work from 4.45 - 9-15 pm.

Anyhow, today it turned out that two of my afternoon classes had to reschedule so I was free from 6pm, and so after obessing on the internet doing a few chores I sent a text message to Nog asking if he wanted to meet me at the half-way point between his classes and home, as I had a couple of things I felt a sudden need for (comfy slippers and a new sweater). So I hopped on a rental bike and was at the mid-way point shopping centre in about 15 minutes. Found both comfy slippers and a gorgeous Liz Claiborne 100% cotton sweater (that I couldn’t afford, but I also almost never find 100% cotton sweaters here so I decided - ah, fuck it), and then met up with Nog to do a little pre-Christmas digital camera reconnoitering.

The plan after we finished was that we’d take rental bikes back to Catalina for a glass of wine before going home for dinner, but for some reason Nog’s card wouldn’t work, so we decided to have a race (me on the bike, him taking the bus) to see who’d get there first. Nog was there about two minutes before me because a bus came straight away and I had to stop for a red light. I’m totally loving this rental bike thang, especially as the first half hour is free.

Anyhow, got back home and I went - eek! I haven’t posted anything today! And so, here I am.  :) Just heating up some stew I made this morning (which was inspired by this one we had at La Estrella the other day) and then we’ll curl up on the sofa with hot stew, fresh country bread and a couple of cats to watch an episode of The West Wing. Then it’ll be a nice hot shower before getting into fresh sun-dried sheets (Monday is also ‘clean sheets day’ at casa az) . . .

How was your Monday?

the internet crash!

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More from Rum and Monkey, whence cameth the historical lunatic quiz . . .

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The Oppenheimer one is my favourite. :)

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