In the past month I’ve had two tummy bugs, a cold and two sore throats.  Nothing I’ve passed on to anyone else, just the start of the winter ill-health season for me. Knowing this, I’m now on my second bottle of Dettol hand sanitizer and have become vigilant about applying it whenever I’m in public.  If I sneeze or blow my nose, out comes the hand sanitizer.  If I use a public toilet, out comes the hand sanitizer.  If I hold on to the rail on the LUAS, out comes the hand sanitizer.  And most certainly before I eat food, out comes the hand sanitizer.

All of this hand sanitizing, while I know it’s for my own good, does become a little embarrassing.  Particularly if I have to re-apply a couple of times in the same place (long lunch, meeting over coffee) so there’s the potential for others to see me looking like some sort of obsessive compulsive neat freak.  A couple of times I’ve really wished I could stand on the table and announce “You know how the people dying of swine flu have underlying conditions?  I HAVE UNDERLYING CONDITIONS!”

But somehow that seems more embarrassing than just applying the damn hand sanitizer.

More of my 101 Things In 1001 Days to cross off.

34.  Make a recipe involving tofu/beancurd. Completed 31/10/09.

We decided to make fried tofu with Larry’s own concoction now named “soy sauce asparagus” on the side.  Meh.  I think next time we’ll use the tofu in a stir-fry.  (Meh was to the tofu, not the asparagus.  The asparagus was, as always, delicious.)

93. Listen to all songs in my iTunes library. Completed 4/11/09.

You wouldn’t think this would be hard, right? The songs are in my library after all, I must have been the one to put them there. And there were only a little more than 1,600 of them. But it took me ages.  Finally I’ve gotten through every last one of them. I found some good stuff hidden in there, and some stuff I chucked immediately after listening. So, a useful experiment if nothing else.

44. Wear red lipstick. Completed 4/11/09.

In honour of listening to all my iTunes, and Liz bringing me some DuWop Private Red Lipstick, I put this on and went out and about. Larry said it was “nice,” the pharmacist’s assistant told me it was “lovely” and the Starbucks lady said something unintelligible but pointed to her own lips and smiled, then gave a thumbs up, so I’m taking it as a compliment.  Alas my own “private red” seems to be really rather dark, almost a burgundy, when I was hoping for a fire engine red but I guess some things are not meant to be.  (And when they say “rich pigment” they mean it – if you use this lipstick I recommend scrubbing your lips before you shower or else your poor towels might be in for a surprise afterwards.)  I’ll continue to wear it though, because it made me smile.

There.  I know you wanted to know all of that.  You can thank me later.

After the horror of that last ad, I thought I owed you one that I actually like.

“Hello Margaret” gets me every time.

Just wow.

Sween In The Bean recently did a post about simple pleasures and since it’s been work, work, work for me the last few weeks I thought I’d take a minute to remind myself of the little things.  Five of my favourite simple pleasures are:

- Opening a new book

- Personal letters and cards in the post

- Fall leaves

- Hot soup on a cold day

- Falling asleep to the sound of rain

Larry made his first jack-o-lantern this year, and in doing so discovered the fun of pulling out pumpkin guts. Here is his brilliant work of art.

Sadly, my “help” meant that the lid fell into the pumpkin so it looks a little bit like a cannibal. Oops!

Just thought I’d share one of the most frightening films of my youth: The Electric Grandmother.

(Start around :28 for the creepy part.)

I still can’t watch this clip without wanting to close my eyes.  Larry had never heard of this movie, so I briefly described the key plot points and he agreed with my initial assessment – who in their right mind came up with this movie madness?!  And for children no less.

Suddenly the Disney cartoons don’t seem nearly so twee.

(P.S. I know it’s based on Bradbury’s I Sing The Body Electric.  I know it’s won awards.  I know it, but that doesn’t mean I like it.)

Laurence was not a huge fan of this photo when I took it (“Beth, it’s ivy.  What are you doing?”) but I like it.

And do you see that sun?  Yeah, it’s awesome.  But it’s the end of October.  I should not be wearing a short-sleeved shirt today!

I know, but I couldn’t help myself.  The canal looks so pretty and peaceful.