Yubsie's Yammerings

So today I was starting in on my CLEAN ALL THE THINGS! plan for the weekend. And discovered that despite changing the filter, my vacuum cleaner really doesn't seem to be up to the task any more. So, on the assumption that the internet contains all knowledge, I turn to you, flist.

Does anyone know of a good vacuum cleaner that is effective in dealing with cat hair? Our carpets are light grey and Schroedy is black and white, so it really shows. THe only thing is... we also need to get a vacuum cleaner that is affordable on a grad student stipend soon after tuition came through.

How I Met Your Mother made me crave cupcakes. So today I... made cupcakes. This would be brilliant except for the part where it was thirty eight degrees with the humidity and thus having the oven on was an exceedingly poor idea.

But I can has cupcakes once I make frosting! And that's the important part.

Also been watching DS9 because I'm kinda sorta maybe probably gonna app Quark in Glaxcin. :p

I have achieved fudge! It's so much easier when there's no soft ball stage. :p It's yummy!

Bagless vacuum cleaners are so overrated. I had to empty mine today and it was NOT fun. But I managed to get my living room all vacuumed! Huzzah! It was long overdue. Next project... uh, the bedroom...

I think the heater isn't working right. It's starting to get cold in the living room, which ISN'T as crazy drafty as the bedroom. That and the neighbour I actually like came by and asked if there was any heat coming out of OUR heaters, because there wasn't any coming from hers. Not a good time of year for this, building!

I watched the movie version of The Best Little WHorehouse in Texas last night. It's a very fun movie. I had fun going "There's Tess!" :p

And I have completed two of the three major quests in Avernum 2! Take THAT too stupid to live Empire! They did have one set of smart soldiers though. They saw my party and RAN AWAY. :p

Sooooooooo much cake. It's Ryan's birthday, so I spent a great deal of time kitchening. I was going to draw a TARDIS on it. Unfortunately, this plan involved picking up blue decorator icing (I made the rest of the icing) on the way back from church. I discovered when I went in that the grocery store I wait for the bus in front of closed yesterday. :p This also meant I didn't pick up toothpicks and had to test the cake with uncooked spaghetti.

But hey, I got all the dishes clean!

In between kitchen toiling, I played the sims. I've decided Billy and Remington's offspring are going to be named after Doctor Who actors. THis started when I named Billy's surprise alien baby David because I was watching Doctor Who. I thought Remington's current baby was an alien, so I decided on Catherine for a girl and Patrick for a boy. Of course, I forgot that it was actually a cheated baby with Billy because I was sad Billy's face wasn't going to have a chance to be passed on. But I named her Catherine anyway. So now poor Elizabeth is the odd one out. If I'd realized I was going to do this, I should have named her Elisabeth. :p

I also got a portrait of the entire Washburne clan. Did you know if you have 33 sims and a cat on lot live mode is so NOT happening?

( But I got my picture! )

Also, they're doing Maguyver myths on Mythbusters. It's roughly fifty seven frillion kinds of awesome. :p

I has a bed! Is super comfy! I'm a happy Ewok. :p

I also made cookies. :D

It's the little things in life. :p

After a fun time of dishes, I decided to attempt fudge again. I've basically come to the conclusion that this recipe takes one to two days set, so I have no clue if it turned out or not. It's a bit caramelly right now, but it's not the rock hard stuff I got the time I overboiled or the goo I got when I underboiled. :p

Doug is visiting right now, so he gets put to work on our dishes. :p It amuses me that HE was the one to suggest the very studenty midnight pizza order. :p Somewhere among all our fast food business story swapping, he pulled out Sam's flash cards and decided he wanted to try to stump us. It took a while for him to realize that "Wait, I'm helping you guys STUDY, aren't I?"

I squeezed in some Sim time while writing up my flashcards for Japanese today. As vaguely frightening as the prospect is, Sim River had a baby. A little boy named Anthony for no real reason. :p I think the game may be slightly biased towards boys. Out of the natural born babies in that neighborhood, there's been six boys (Daniel Washburne, Thisland Washburne, Billy Washburne, Amos Tam, Timothy Tam and Anthony Sloane) as opposed to three girls (Helen Washburne, Ruth Washburne and Marigold Tam), and I had to reload Marigold three times to get her to be a girl. :p Tess, you will be amused to know that I apparently managed to hire the only competent nanny EVER in that game to babysit for a day. She took care of the baby! She fed him! She changed his diaper! And instead of sitting around watching tv, she cleaned the house! :p She's like the antithesis of your Sim nannies!

Then I popped over to the crazy, crazy Washburne house. Daniel is currently crushing on Susan (one of Book's orphans). He's so UTTERLY a Knowledge Sim though. :p He's crushing on this girl, yet his Wants panel is all "Do homework" "Get into private school" "Gain a skill point". Meanwhile Helen, who doesn't currently have a potential love interest on the horizon, has the stuff like "Have very first kiss". :p Zoe got promoted to astronaut, which amuses me greatly. :p Of course, she's CURRENTLY on maternity leave. :p (This is number six, for those of you keeping score at home. Which is how many she needs to even ATTEMPT to fulfill her Lifetime Want. :p)

I HAVE ACHIEVED FUDGE! :D :D :D :D

I thought this was another failed attempt, though one of the more edible failures. Apparently it just took like two days to set, because it wasn't fudge last night, but it definitely was today.

TAKE THAT, RECIPE! I WIN!!!

I made pancakes this morning... well, this afternoon. :p They were all yummy and chocolate chippy! I'd never made pancakes before, though according to Sam, that may not entirely be true. We apparently made them at Guide camp at some point, and from the sound of the story, I had been REPRESSING that memory. These ones turned out great though. My 1950s copy of The Joy of Cooking has never let me down yet. :p I was also reminded that when Snippy claims she doesn't eat something, that is subject to change if I put chocolate chips in it. :p

Someone needs to remind me to check the length of songs BEFORE I decide to parody them for the House Cup, incidently.

Well, I'm mostly recovered from the House Cup now. Mostly. :p Had to work either way, after all. :p

admiraljello is very cool. He sent me a late birthday present... of a stuffed Ewok! Wicket has a friend now! He also sent me a smaller keychain version, which joined the rest of the geeky cute stuff on my purse. :p It took a bit of time to find a place for it. This is not a problem normal people have. :p

I made fudge last night... but I ran out of evaporated milk, so it's very dry fudge. Still tastes decent, but... I guess I'll just have to try again when the pan is clean. At this point, it's a matter of honour! :p

I'm hoping I'm making some progress on isolating my compound at work. Playing the waiting game right now, basically. But the waiting game is boring, so we want to play Hungry, Hungry Hippos! :p The Quest for Boron is in the same place as ever though. Steve gets back tomorrow on Thursday, at any rate. :p

Vicki found a really awesome Disney music site. I've been listening to this particular song over and over because it's cool. :p