Ugh. I want my two hours back.

I decided to go do some laundry tonight over in Dorchester. I was hoping to also get a nice big bowl of pho while I was at it, but guess what?

It's the Asian New Year.

Every single Vietnamese pho place was closed for the holiday. So that sort of blew. But Happy New Year!

The second bummer of the night was that almost every TV at the laundromat were tuned to The Bachelor. I frickin' CANNOT stand that show.

All these perfectly nice women getting up to the most absurd shenanigans to get the attentions of this guy - the Bachelor - who frankly seems to be a major tool with VERY white teeth. And then at the end he has to bump a few of them off the show. But not before making them all sing to him, and make out with him, and then beg him to keep them on the show. Blech.

Ugh. Seriously. There is something about that show that really weirds me out.

Click on the images to make them warmer. I mean larger.

It is warm somewhere. And at some point it will be warm here too.

I promise.

Most annoying thing I heard today

Well, not really, but close. I hear a TON of annoying things in a day and this was what stuck.

It was: "I need you to do me a favor."

In my mind, one is supposed to request a favor. As in: "Can you please do me a favor?" Not tell someone they have to do something to accommodate a need.

It came out of the mouth of someone who acts smarter than they are, and it is impossible to tell this person anything because they think they know everything anyway. Which may also explain the annoyance.

Before you think that I am a complete phrasing madwoman, let me just point out that I am very good at saying things like "the proof is in the pudding" and "having your cake and eating it too".

Of course the proof isn't IN the pudding, but rather the proof is in the eating of said pudding. And really what people want is to eat their cake and then still have it for later.

All this just to say that you shouldn't tell people to do you favors. You ought to be asking. And I swear I am not this retentive about things in general. But really at the end of the day, our language is all we've got, so we ought to use it correctly.

I know that I am not the only one here...

Do those Iceland Health radio ads creep you out too? Creep-ola AND unbelievably irritating.

Basically the kindly folk of Iceland are soooo concerned about the health of us Americans that they are giving away bottles of fish pills. And to do so they are flooding the airways with radio ads that sound like Seven of Nine's younger sister, Twelve of Fourteen, talking - and struggling mightily with the words. Like a borg. Totally creepy.

Seemingly if you call an 800 number, or go online, you can get your free sample. I didn't see it on the website, but then again I didn't really look all that hard.

My theory is that the prime minister of Iceland is still pissed at his European "friends" for not bailing out his country financially, and now he is trying to win over the US. Or maybe he just wants to annoy the crap out of us until we send him a bailout package.

Well, I doubt if we'll assimilate into the collective that readily. Unless those pills really do counteract the effects of eating a cheeseburger.

Hooray for the little things in life.

There is nothing like a grim and freezing January to drive a person inside! But there are a few things about being indoors that I like, so I try to do those few things as much as possible.

One thing is taking a bath. Face it, it is too cold to go hanging about outside, so you find yourself sitting around inside... and well you might as well sit around in a hot bath, in a steamy bathroom, with a nice drink and a very trashy read. I recommend a tropical bubble bath like the Body Shop's Satsuma Foaming Bath, or the Sweet Coconut Milk High Foaming Bubble Bath from philosophy. A Dark & Stormy goes well with a bath, but a splash of Buffalo Trace in ginger ale is equally ideal. Any glossy publication from the drugstore will do, but be sure to remove those pesky inserts. If you are more bookish, I highly recommend any romance written by Jilly Cooper - overblown romantic cotton candy for the brain, but English and filled with watered silks and Wellies. For the music, well right now I am back to Audrey Ryan and Gretel because I love their music and plus they've gotten me through the gray months in the past. But you have to find music that makes you happy for this plan to work. Oh and wear sunglasses. I swear this is what makes ALL the difference!

Another thing I love is going to the gym in the evening. Since the days are so short it's going to be dark no matter when I get out of work and anyway the gym where I go is sort of full from about 5 to 7. I was trying to go early in the morning, but I just cannot do it in the cold AND dark. Brrrrrrrrrrrr. So I go at around 8/8:30pm during the week and it is great. The few people there at that hour seem friendlier than the early morning grouches. I know I am. So then I get nice and warmed up, come home, have a quick hot shower, and hop into bed by ten. Not only am I finally totally defrosted, but this plan forces me into getting a full night of sleep which is something I am pretty lousy about.

And finally cooking and listening to music. You can read about my cooking adventures and eating travels over at Calamity Shazaam. But the music part is the key component. In the warmer, outdoors, months I don't entirely feel comfortable wearing earphones because, well, I just don't. Furthmore I find that I tend to listen to the same thing over and over and over again when half my time is spent out of the house. Which means that when I am cooped up in the house I actually listen to the music and therefore need more variety. The best time for me to listen through the dusty recesses of my music collection is when I am cooking and sort of trapped at the stove or sink with dripping utentsils and boiling pans. I cook better to music, although occasionally this backfires, like it did when I listened to too much Bob Seger, which coincided with a black treacle explosion.

I know that there are other fun things to do indoors when it is digustingly cold outside, but that is a post for another day.

Besides my drink and bath are calling.

I have no excuse

I have not been exercising my blogging muscle and as a result Shamrag is starting to atrophy.

Sad but true.

I am working on it, but trying to find funny in January when it is 7 degrees and slippery out is, well, trying.

All I want to do instead of write (or anything else for that matter) is burrow under the blankets with a package of Ring Dings and a bottle of Buffalo Trace.

Which so far has been a perfectly lovely substitute for doing pretty much anything else.

When the snow squalls.

Last night I went over to Kimmaaaaaaayyyyy's house for spaghetti and crafts. She knitted, I crocheted, and we talked for ages.

On the drive back home it snow squalled. Nothing severe. It was puffy snow that blew about: sometimes in blasts, sometimes in swirls, sometimes slowly and in circles. It blew upwards, and downwards, and lashed across the road in long trails. It filled up all the air with fat white flakes. It was light and blowy and lovely to be in.

It stirred up a long forgotten childhood delight in the snowfall. I drove around for a bit, just delighting in the drifty, blowy, swirly, snow squall.

New Years Day Loveliness

I am supposed to be cleaning house. But it is New Years Day and as you are likely hungover, here is a little visual loveliness to take the edge off.



I am not entirely sure that I've ever stopped wanting a dress decorated with ostrich feathers...