Monday, May 19, 2008


Their usual Saturday sitter being out of town Saturday, I was privileged to spend the day with niece and nephew. We had a feast at Cheesecake Factory, and the boy concluded with a piece of chocolate cake which had "tower" in its name, appropriately, because the cake was about 8" tall and must have weighed over 10 pounds. It was a beast, but nephew bore up manfully and ate a few mouthfuls before declaring he was simply too full, but he wanted some popcorn at the movie, by the way. Being the hard case I am, I didn't even pretend I would have denied him the popcorn. Niece chose a Kalhua coffee cheesecake that was marvelous. Cheesecake Factory also has a Kobe beef burger that's amazing. The Kobe beef in the burger, by the way, is not to be confused with Holly's Kobe beef dog, which is a large, black and super-pampered thing. Anyway, it's great to have time alone with the kids, and I'm hopeful to do that a lot more this summer. They are the best thing about my entire life, and I hope that I'm secretly their favorite Auntie.
After lunch we went to see Prince Caspian, which is a visual feast. It's been decades since I read the Narnia books, so I can't say how well it stuck to the story line, but it was spectacularly rendered, and I highly recommend seeing it on big screen while you can. Several times during the movie I did think wistfully, however, of Mr. Tumnus and his furry britches from the first film.
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Things are coming along in my apartment. Sunday afternoon I vowed to spend an intense 4 hour session cleaning and organizing. I started slowly listening to PJ Harvey's White Chalk straight through a couple times, but I decided I needed to step it up, so I switched to a Feist cd, which is much more lively and more conducive to industry. I cleaned several pieces of furniture with a wood conditioner, I vacuumed enough dustbunnies to make a whole 'nother doglet, and I did laundry and unpacked 4 more boxes, re-filling one of them with stuff for Goodwill. So, basically, considering all I accomplished Sunday, I was acting like someone else.
I've still got a lot to go toward being truly organized, and I'm trying to get all the regular stuff sorted before I tackle the Herculean task of sorting through all my studio stuff. This really needs to come together in the next week, because I must get my jewelry back into production mode so I can get my work in some more galleries.
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I had to work part of the day Saturday because I had to get a memo out to the residents about the first attempted break-in to one of our apartments, ever. The resident was home and chased away the would-be intruder, but this was unsettling, to say the least. I'll be installing a lot more lighting on the property, including some motion-sensitive lighting. I never was naive enough to think such a thing wouldn't happen, but now that it has, it's-- well, it's just eye-opening. I have some ideas about augmenting my own personal protection, and although I can not say so pointedly, I hope my residents do, as well.

Some days it's harder to like people than others.

11 comments:

Christina RN LMT said...

See, YOU don't have to be a hard-case, you're Aunt Phlegmmy, and can spoil the kiddies rotten, feed them enough sugar to have them bouncing off the walls, and then take 'em home to mom and dad! Brilliance.

Watching Prince Caspian is definitely on my agenda, sometime this week hopefully.

Good for you for making so much progress, that's really outstanding.

I'm sorry about the attempted break-in, at least you're informing the residents...I find out about stuff like that here from the people it's happened to...like my downstairs neighbors, whose car was stolen TWICE over the past year.

You're right about the difficulty of liking people some days. On some days, it's utterly impossible.

Lin said...

Oh, I'd LOVE to see that movie. During our first cold winter out here without a computer connection, Mark read the series aloud to me, a few chapters each night. Now that's MY idea of being spoiled rotten.

Glad fate was kind in giving you a heads up on the possibility of intruders. I know you are wise enough not to let that incident go without further thought and planning for contingencies.

Anonymous said...

Sweet looking kids. Of course you're the best auntie, they get loads of sugar and a movie with popcorn.

Sorry to hear about the attempted break in. Hope you get the lighting set up soon.

Some people make it hard for others to like them.

Have a good day :)

Anonymous said...

Phelm,

While you can't expressly recommend any options for security, would it be possible to work out a discount with a local gun store/training facility for your residents?

Maybe include it in as part of several options for discounts, martial arts studio, pepper spray, etc.?

Anonymous said...

You did right.

That "clean up your plate" meme leads to fat adults.

You shouldn't have to finish the whole thing off once you aren't hungry.

Rabbit said...

For perimeter security, my preferences lean more toward motion-sensor activated Claymores, but I'm restrained by the fact that my dogs and cats move around a bit.

There's always a cheerful thought in hardened door jambs and steel doors. Of course, the old 'broomstick-in the window/patio door' thing is old school. If Charlie gets inside the wire, so to speak, the Little Red Dot of Happiness attached to something loud provides a strong visual aid and encourages evacuation of several forms, especially when backed up by an audio presentation involving sliding action breeches and strongly-worded commands.

Additional outdoor lighting is always good, but my warped sensibilities always make me think of 'enhanced lighting' as stroboscopic.

Quit talking about sorting and tossing- it just reminds me I have boxes in the garage and I'm too busy to think about such things right now.

Glad y'all enjoyed the movie; seems like the chirrens put you in a wonderful mood any time you're around them.

Regards,
Rabbit.

Buck said...

You have a great looking niece and nephew, Auntie Phlegm!

re: Some days it's harder to like people than others.

Truer words never spoken. I'm not naïve enough to believe it can't happen here...but it hasn't...yet.

Rabbit has some GREAT ideas, too! ;-)

Barbara Bruederlin said...

You just had to remind me that I never did finish de-crapping the basement, didn't you? You deserve a cake with tower in the name.

Carteach said...

There's something freeing about sorting the crap, and tossing the flotsam.

Now, when I clean my space, it's for me. No one comes along and makes a mess out of it again but me.
It's funny how satisfying that is... not to be treated with disrespect by folks who don't care how it gets clean, or if.

g bro said...

Man, that Rabbit has a way with words!

Not looking forward to our eventual move, either. Stay after those boxes and continue to provide inspiration.

Seems like those chilluns are almost growed compared to the last time you posted pictures.

Unknown said...

That's scary to think about someone trying to break in to one of the units, esp. when someone was home.

I'm on the fence about Narnia, as I was a little underwhelmed by the first one but my co-worker said it was pretty good.