(You know, the non-flaming-wok portions!)

So, let's see. Got up at 7:15, and got my car to the dealership juuuust after 8am, so go me for that. My "account manager" is smarmy and only jokes about money, so that was annoying. I had promised Maintenance Guy that I'd be here around 9 so he could work on my bathroom walls (he only spackled them up yesterday, he still needed to sand and paint.) But the delightful people at the VW place forgot about me, so I sat for almost an hour waiting for a ride back to my place. This was doubly annoying because 95% of the time I carry a book and a fiber project. Today I had nothing. Well, actually I had a knitting project, but it was almost done, so I finished it in 5 minutes. Grr.

Got back here, immediately ran into Maintenance Guy who said he'd be over in a few minutes. An hour later he showed up, sanded, did something with a spray can that was smelly, and left, saying he'd be back in a while to paint/finish up. I napped 'til 1:30 (didn't mean to quite so long. Oops.) Then A. came over just after 2pm, bearing strawberries. Alas, flurije was not feeling well, and so decided to not join us for the first part of the SPN Summer Marathon. (To be clear, this is the marathon to (re)introduce A and F to SPN, not the one that I'm separately doing so that I can join in re-watch conversations at TWoP. Yeah, just go with me.)

A. really likes the show. We watched the first three episodes (the pilot, "Wendigo" and "Dead in the Water" [this last of course amusing her because of the house which also appears in Devour, which I had also made her watch in the past]). It's so awesome watching SPN with someone, especially someone who hasn't seen it before. Also, she encourages my Yarn!Chesters (whereas most RL people just look at me funny, and Flurije calls me a nerd.) While watching said episodes, I sewed Papa Yarn!Chester up (arms! legs! attached to the body and head! along with his overshirt!) and started to crochet his (removable!) jacket.

A. wants to finish the rest of season one this weekend, having already made plans for us to watch as much as possible on Friday and then finish up on Sunday. I don't know that this is a feasible plan, but hey, I'm more than willing to go for it. :D Also, A. reports that she feels like she is cheating on her husband because of the way she is attracted to Dean. Being the pragmatic sort, I said a girl's gotta do... because her husband is off at navy training and she's not going to see him for months.

Maintenance-Guy did eventually return, around 3:30, to paint/finish. I like Maintenance-Guy, mostly, but his work ... shoddy. Granted, I grew up in a house that my parents were constantly remodeling, but damn, even I could have spackled better. You can totally tell all the places that they had to cut into the walls. Oh well, whatever. You know why I don't care? BECAUSE IT IS DONE.

Too bad my oven isn't working.

Alas, we didn't have time for a fourth episode (which doubly sucks, because, like me, A. is from PA (well, A. is from all-over, but a lot of that is from PA.) where 1.04 is set {Nazareth is just a few miles from where my parents grew up, grandparents live, and where I lived for a time, etc. And the airport is one I fly out of all the time. Of course they filmed in Vancouver, but still, they were representing PA} -- and because I feel like 1.04 is where they start to hit their stride. (The pilot is great-- it holds together well as a pilot and as an episode, and lots of shows can't say that about their pilots. I've never been a fan of "Wendigo", although I can't quite put my finger on why. I like Haley. There are some great lines. We of course get "saving people, hunting things: the family business" from it. But there's something about it that just doesn't work for me. I like "Dead in the Water" a lot, too, and more each time I watch it, actually. But not until a few more episodes do I think the show really gets it. Dunno.) ANYWAY, we didn't have time for a fourth, even though A. wanted it, because my car was done.

On the car front, good news (I guess.) While fixing all the things I actually took the car in to get fixed, the mechanic fixed a bunch of seals that were only reachable because he was replacing a gasket cover. This is part of what took so long in getting my car (although I have never gotten my car back quickly from this place.) Unfortunately, while he didn't charge labor, that's another $50 worth of parts on top of the estimate (which was an already quite sizable $620.) And of course no one had asked me if that's what should be done. (I'd have said 'yes' I suspect, but still, it's the principle.) Fortunately, Smarmy-Account-Manager finagled the bill (via labor, I assume) to make the whole thing only $10 more than the estimate, rather than $50.

Of course, this could all be total bullshit. I wouldn't know where to look in the car to find new gasket covers, let alone the seals that are apparently below those. Sigh. Still, Smarmy-Accounts Guy apologized profusely for the wait this morning, and I rather suspect that had somethign to do with this pricing snafu. Well, that and the fact that the mechanic made an executive decision without clearing it.

On the bright side, they oiled my driver's side door. I kept meaning to ask them to do that-- it started squeaking a few months ago. But then it stopped squeaking, and there were a lot more pressing issues to keep on top of with the car. But now the door swings open really easily, which is mostly great, but almost caused me to swing it open into someone else's car at Target, which is where I went after picking up ze car (there I just got some necessary odds and ends and priced iPod docks for the car. They seem to range between $25 and $80, and I don't know why.) I forgot to pick up the tea I wanted for my iced tea (but found a reasonable alternative that I hadn't thought of, in my tea cabinet, so that's good.) Fortunately, I remembered to pick up cat treats, so now Callie-Cat will, hopefully, stop acting so disappointed when I leave the apartment. (Whenever she knows I'm leaving, she dashes around, chirping, and rolling about in front of the door in the expectation of treats. For the past few days I only had some left from a while ago, which I know that none of the cats particularly like. She chases them, like usual, but then instead of eating them immediately gives me this baleful look. Most of them are gone when I get back, so evidently someone eats them. Or perhaps the cats are stockpiling them for some nefarious purposes.)

Then I came home because I wasn't feeling particularly well suddenly. After checking my email, I had the Crap! Dinner is ON FIRE incident. Then I made dinner properly and joined A and flurije in some Puzzle Pirates. For some reason I don't find it nearly as addictive as I did back in 2004, when I first played. This, and the fact that I'm broke, would be why I haven't bothered subscribing. We only puzzled for 1.5hours, and we only won one pillage, which was really weird. Those who puzzle more than I posited that it was because of the recent upgrade of PP-- all the bots seemed to be set on Impossible To Beat.

Afterwards, I watched some of SPN season 2-- more than I meant to, but I got wrapped up in working on ami!John. I finished making his coat: this includes the body of the coat, the black collar, and some detail work to make it look like it has seams and pockets. I really like details. Also, I'm still ridiculously proud that the coat is removable. (Yes, I'll likely go back and make coats for Sam and Dean later.) I also stuck pins in his head to indicate to myself where his hairline and part are, as well as his facial scruff. He looks quite freaky with the pins, but this is my usual modus operandi. Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I might be able to finish him and post pictures. Woot! We'll see, though. No promises. But it will be done soon. (I can't work on the current knitting project until after I've laundered it several times to felt it, anyway. So, Yarn!Chesters!)

Tomorrow evening I'm going to a fellow Ta's house to watch Tis Pity She's a Whore with the rest of the Renaissance Colloquium. I will undoubtedly take something crafty along (I cannot watch tv/movies [except in a theatre] without something in my hands to work on) but I don't think I'd want to work on ami!John's hair there (the hair is the fussiest part for me) so I might start working on Chuck's head and hands (the easiest bits.) Tomorrow I should also collect some appropriate pictures of Chuck-- I have no idea, for example, if he wears slippers or what. (Of course, this sort of question is often irritating on SPN, and I would assume most shows. Filming tends to be from the waist or chest up. Took me forever to figure out if Papa Winchester even wore jeans. (He does.) I just guessed at his shoes.

Foster-Kitten-Dean is playing with a jingle-ball and I am quite sleepy. Time for me to head for slumberland. Here's hoping I don't end up with another dream like this afternoon's in which a wedding party (for my pseudo-sister, who really is getting married in a year) ended up dancing a techno/hip-hop version of Hava Nagila. After waking up, I figured out that that must have been my subconscious working in the ring-tone of my cell-phone that I had used as an (ineffectual) alarm. Not nearly as cool as the song-and-dance-routine dream of a few days ago, but it does explain it-- I suspect I slept through various ringtones and they were incorporated. [Note: No, my cell phone does not actually play Hava Nagila.] I really need to buy a new alarm clock. I considered buying one today at Target... I could get a $20 clock/radio (and I never use the radio.) Or I could get a $40 clock/radio/iPod dock. This latter was, obviously, tempting. But I don't have a spare $40, so that was out. But my current clock/radio is old (I've had it since starting college, when its predecessor, the exact same clock/radio but a generation or two older, died) is untrustworthy. [What I really want is the one I saw online somewhere which rolls off of your dresser and around the room so that you *have* to get up to chase it and turn it off.]

Right. Bedtime.