God, I haven't posted in aaaages! I must get better at remembering to do so.

Meanwhile, here's a short update on what's going on in Layleeland:

• I'm still internetless at home and I'm not really missing it, except for those nights when I'm watching a movie and I can't remember the name of the actor playing the second best friend or some such. That's when I really wish I could jump onto IMDB to find out, although the feeling subsides after I'm ambled off to make a cup of tea.
• Mousey Mousey has reared his(her) ugly head again. Every now and then I see a flash of tail or whiskers and I've become paranoid about wiping the kitchen bench down ever since I found some suspicious looking black deposits near the tea caddy. Grrr!
• I'm going to a conference in Brisbane in September, yay!
• I'm also going to a 'We're not getting married but mum offered to throw us a party anyway' party in Adelaide in October. Note to self: you'll be with your very stylish sisters-in-law. Buy new dress and shoes!
• My bike wen't through a period of need new pedals and needing a service and breaks failing. Who'd a thunk that owning a bike could be just as complicated as owning a car?
• My internetless state has seen me become obsessed with knitting gloves to while away the hours at home. I can't stop buying wool and trawling the intertubes for new patterns. I may be a wee bit addicted to knit one, purl one :~\
• I've just been invited to my 25th year high school reunion. Oh god, I'm not that old am I???

I think there may be possums in my roof. Bloody big possums, judging by all the thumping that's going on. And I also suspect that Mousey Mousey is back because I heard a scratching sound coming from the spot where he used to get into my kitchen before I blocked it up.

Why is nature picking on me?

It's possible that Delia has blown a head gasket which will cost many $$$ to fix. Like Scarlett O'Hara I'm going to think about it tomorrow.

These things never happen with a bicycle.

Meanwhile I am marginally cheered by this post in scrggle's journal that confirms what many fangirls have speculated about for a long time; yes, indeed, Callum is a boob guy.

I'm also contemplating adopting the cat the friend of a friend at work is trying to find a home for. P&O said they'd feed her when I go visit the family on the weekends and it'd be nice to have a friendly face to come home to in the evenings. And it would certainly solve the Mousey Mousey problem.

Why haven't I got any chocolate?

GAH!

My essay is driving me insane, work has morphed into this weird limbo state while I wait to go on leave for two weeks before I start my new job, work colleague is driving me insane with his incessant outrage at just how f**d up the place is, even though we already know that thankyouverymuch!, and I've developed this odd obsession with Jensen Ackles' freckles and the scar on his chin.

Also, I'm trying to write this fic and I keep getting distracted by homework. Shouldn't it be the other way 'round?

About the only sane thing in my life at the moment is the fic that's being generated by sn_playbook and the knowledge that in ten days this degree will be toast. Oh, and the Riva coffee commercial which I find wonderfully daggy in the extreme.

At least I didn't find any more traces of Mousey Mousey when I got home tonight, which is something I suppose.

I think I've solved the Mousey Mousey problem with the purchase of some special Mousey Mousey food and by blocking the hole through which he (she?) could get into my flat popper via the hot water service cupboard. When I looked in there today all the special food had been eaten so I'm now assuming that Mousey Mousey has gone to a better place that isn't my flat.

I've also downloaded the newest version of Firefox and my God I love the automatic spell check. Writing an LJ entry just got a whole lot easier thanks to the squiggly red line that now pops up under spelling errors and being able to right-click on them to correct or add them to dictionary.

*huggles cleaver browser*

I spent the day in the law library, writing my essay and doodling a list of DVDs in between paragraphs. I now have nearly 1000 words of the essay and have pretty much spent the pay rise I get with the new job before I've end started it :~\

I haven't had any chocolate today and I'm feeling oddly incomplete. I may have to go for a walk to the BP in a little while. Or make a cake. One of these things is a definite.

I spent way too much time online over the weekend and have achieved only around 5% homework, and most of that consisting of wandering around google scholar for a little while and printing out a couple of articles. I've got my last ever class on Tuesday and then it's less than three weeks until I'm finished for good. I really do need to knuckle down, don't I?

I won the dress I was bidding on eBay, and for less than my maximum bid. I'm very pleased about this because it's a great dress and they were selling for around $300 new. I kept to my plan of waiting until the absolute last minute to bid, but you should have seen me. I was practically shaking from the effort to not bid until the last five minutes, and after I finally did put in a bid I was obsessively refreshing every few seconds until the auction ended. I just hope the damn thing fits me now! But if it doesn't, one of my friends at work said she'd take it off my hands. She had the same dress and basically wore it to death so she'd be happy to have a replacement, even if it is a different colour.

My weekend has also been strangely filled with pumpkin, firstly via the date and pumpkin muffins that I made on Saturday, and with the pumpkin soup I made for dinner on Sunday. I still have more pumpkin. Maybe pumpkin risotto might be the go for dinner one night this week.

But I had an absolute panic attack this morning as I was getting ready for work because I discovered that my office keys were missing! Eeep!! I couldn't remember seeing them at all over the weekend, and they were in none of the bags I usually use. I think I did a personal best riding to work this morning, and you have no idea how relieved I was when I saw them sitting on my desk.

Oh, and on the Mousey Mousey front, it's time to bring out the big guns. The cleaver little bugger has worked out how to get the tasty morsel I leave on the mouse trap without setting it off and I found droppings on top of my fridge again this morning. I have moved the fruit bowl to the very top of my cupboards so there's no pears to chew on, but short of borrowing a cat for a few days I think the only other thing I can do is go with the lethal substances. Not my preferred option, but I have no desire to be over run by mice.

Anyone got a cat they can lend me?

Mousey Mousey is back.

I was watching TV (well, yes, Supernatural) last night and noticed something out of the corner of my eye and there it was: my unofficial (and very unwelcome) house guest. At least I think it's my old mouse. It looks somewhat bigger than it did last time I saw it, although I suppose I should be grateful that it isn't 'mice'.

Guess who'll be making a trip to the hardware shop for a mouse trap today?

*sigh*

I think I had about four hours sleep last night.

You see, I went bowling with the boys yesterday and had rather a lot of beer. Then C dropped a ball on his finger and so we went to Hungry Jacks, and after that B nearly electrocuted himself while he was changing a light bulb, and when I got home it was about 11.30 and I went straight to bed. I fell asleep fairly quickly, but somewhere along the way my Whopper with cheese didn't agree with me and I was a bit thirsty, so I got up, had a drink of water and hoped my dinner would stay put.

Fortunately it did stay put and I was nearly sleep when I heard this rustling noise that sounded like it was coming from under my bedside table. I immediately thought, OMG Mousey Mousey is back and eating the cord on my lamp, so I switched on the light and had a look, but no mouse. Big sigh of relief, but after that sleep failed to return and I tossed around for a good four hours. I think I drifted off again at about 5am, but woke again when my alarm went off at 7.30.

So yeah, not much sleep for Laylee last night. But I made the bestest chicken hotpot for dinner tonight that was so yummy with the polenta I cooked to go with it, and I made a start on the beanie I'm knitting for the niece, plus it's a public holiday tomorrow so I can have a sleep in!

Meh, I knew I shouldn't have gone out last night, not when I've got this stupid essay to finish. 500 words to go and do you think I can be bothered? Not really.

It might help if I actually got off the couch and had a shower. Oh, and get some coffee, which I can do when I go for a walk to buy a fruit bowl.

Why a fruit bowl, you ask?

A fruit bowl because not only is Mousey Mousey still in residence (support by the two sightings last night), it turns out that Mousey Mousey has finally worked out how to climb the fruit/veg stand my sister gave to me a few Christmases ago and get into the top basket where I keep my fruit. So I'm going to buy the bowl and place it on top of the microwave, which is on top of the refrigerator. Hopefully that'll be a bit too high for Mousey Mousey to climb and my bananas will survive un-moused until I get to eat them myself.