Another migraine from hell (the migraine gods hate me so bad), so no amusing weekend anecdotes or piccies of the wedding until I can be suitably drugged. Good news, tho…a surprise bit of money means I can actually fill my Imitrex prescription tonight. Let’s hope it works, or I’ll be forced to start asking large Hell’s Angels if they will please render me unconscious.

My favorite ex Robert & the delightful Claire are now married! Yay!

Pics & more commentary in a day or two, when I’ve recovered from the cold. *grin*

Since Robert & Claire are getting married on Sunday, in Claire’s hometown of The Dalles (rhymes with “pals”), I’ve been busy lately getting ready for the roadtrip out there. Since Geoffrey is going to be one of the groomsmen, and I’m going to be one of the bridesmaids, we have to arrive in time for the wedding rehearsal Saturday afternoon. So…here’s what I’ve gotten accomplished in the last 48 hours:

• Went to 4 different shops to find a dress that matches the other bridesmaids’ dresses in my size, had to settle for one that is almost identical and just a smidgen on the snug side
• Found a nice dress for Anxiety to wear to the wedding, and to her school dance tonight, plus dress shoes
• Made reservations for a motel room (thank heavens for Motel 6 and their super-user-friendly website)
• Got directions to the motel and the church (thank heavens for RandMcNally.com)
• Fed & watered Robert & Claire’s cats, bunny, and guinea pig (who all acted as though they were starving & woefully neglected, though I know they’re as loved & spoiled as my cats)
• Realized my car was an icky disaster, so cleaned out & scrubbed down the interior before wiping it all down with Armor All and spraying it all down with (thank heavens for!) Zero Odor…and spilled some Zero Odor on one of the seats *sigh*

I still have to pack, and pick up flowers for Claire and hosiery for Anxiety. And we still need to run out to Sherwood to take care of an errand before we head out to The Dalles. And, unrelated to the wedding weekend, I had a brief but delightful dinner date with Karel — between the holidays & various other challenges, we hadn’t seen one another for 4 weeks! I also booked the eldest demonspawn on Amtrak for her return from Seattle (where she’s been visiting a friend for a week) — I was quite surprised that Amtrak was cheaper than Greyhound! So the spoiled kitties will only be lacking human attention for about 12 hours before Angst arrives home.

I just hope this weekend turns out well…Robert & Claire deserve a really wonderful wedding!

Apparently a lot of kids in Portland were thrilled today — and a lot of parents in Portland were irked — because the public school district cancelled school due to weather, although there was virtually no snow and very little ice except in the higher elevations. There was no snow or ice near my house, or in most of SE Portland. But considering the negative response from most parents, I’d be surprised if the district closes school for inclement weather again without several inches of snow, or at least some black ice on the roads!

Yesterday afternoon, I got the migraine from hell. Definitely the worst I’ve had in many months. By the time midnight rolled around, despite the fact that I could barely walk across my living room without excrutiating shooting pain in my skull, I was seriously considering hiking the 15 blocks (about 3/4 of a mile) from my place (in below freezing temperatures) to the nearest 24-hour pharmacy to fill an Imitrex prescription. I was at the stage where I was praying for unconsciousness to escape the pain — OTC medication didn’t do a damned thing, and the icepack facemask wasn’t really helping either. But I forced myself to have a long, hot shower (raising body temperature can sometimes take the edge off the pain, as the blood vessels in your head expand), and bundle up warmly after I got out, and the rioting demons inside my skull decided to calm down just enough that I wasn’t whimpering from the pain anymore. I crashed out after finding a not-entirely-uncomfortable position to sleep in, but Geoffrey said I had a bad night because I kept kicking him in my sleep. My poor beloved!

And now for something completely TMI…

I wrote this out of frustration that so many of the books I’ve read (and loved!) aren’t on the book memes I’ve seen (and done). I don’t care if a book is a “classic” or a “best seller.” I don’t care if a book qualifies as “great literature.” All I care about in fiction books is that they 1) tell an entertaining story, and 2) make me think and/or feel. These aren’t the extent of my book collection, by any means — they’re just the 40 that I think are most worth recommending to others. So here’s my list (without bolding, italicizing, etc, since I’ve loved virtually all of these).

Bold the ones you’ve read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth’s Children series), Jean Auel
Ariel, Stephen R. Boyett
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Darkover Landfall (Darkover series), Marion Zimmer Bradley
Star Rebel (Rissa & Tregare series), F.M. Busby
Ender’s Game (Ender series), Orson Scott Card
The Andromeda Strain, Micheal Crichton
1632 (Assiti Shards series), Eric Flint
Native Tongue (Native Tongue trilogy), Suzette Hadin Elgin
Chicks In Chainmail, edited by Esther Friesner
The Gandalara Cycle series, by Randall Garrett & Vicki Ann Heydron
Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake series), Laurell K. Hamilton
Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire series), Charlaine Harris
Stranger In A Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Robert A. Heinlein
The Man Who Sold The Moon, Robert A. Heinlein
The Rains of Eridan, H.M. Hoover
Blood Trail (Blood series), Tanya Huff
Sing the Four Quarters (Quarters series), Tanya Huff
The Green Mile, Stephen King
The Shawshank Redemption, Stephen King
Arrows of the Queen (Valdemar series), Mercedes Lackey
Savage Empire (Savage Empire series), Jean Lorrah
Channel’s Destiny (Sime/Gen series), Jacqueline Lichtenberg & Jean Lorrah
1916 (Irish Century series), Morgan Llywelyn
Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern series), Anne McCaffrey
Crystal Singer (Crystal trilogy), Anne McCaffrey
The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley
The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley
Little Fuzzy, H.Beam Piper
A Hymn Before Battle (Human-Posleen War series), John Ringo
Sword Dancer (Tiger & Del series), Jennifer Roberson
Shapechangers (Chronicles of the Cheysuli series), Jennifer Roberson
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon (Callahan’s series), Spider Robinson
Deathkiller (originally published as 2 titles: Mindkiller and Time Pressure), Spider Robinson
Stardance (Stardancers trilogy), Spider & Jeanne Robinson
Drakon, S.M. Stirling
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington series), David Weber
Path of the Fury, David Weber

My wonderful friends have posted memes, so I must jump on that bandwagon also… *grin*

From the Imperial Princess of Cute:

ARE YOU :
1. A cuddler?: More than most, I’d say
2. A morning person? Not unless I’ve been up all night
3. A perfectionist? Sometimes
4. An only child?: Nope
5. Religious?: I’m devout in my faith
6. In your pajamas?: I wish
7. Left handed?: Nope

And now for something completely TMI…

If you have 6 minutes you’re not using, and you need a few giggles, check out this guy:

Evolution of dance

Why don’t I ever meet guys that can move like that? (I mean locally, Anthony. *grin*)

Anyone who has 2 minutes they’re not using, especially if they need a good laugh, should go look at this: Spiders on Drugs.

In other news, the eldest demonspawn is spending a week in Seattle visiting a boy in a rock band who apparently wants to worship her toes (a much better choice in how to spend her time than what I did at her age: eloped to Reno). The younger demonspawn survived the flu last week, and I really wish I had a dollar for every time I heard her say she wanted to go to school, as it’s not something normally heard from a 14-year-old. Jenn moved out from next door to a house a couple miles away, and Robert & Claire are doing their best to get Claire’s furniture moved in, and later this evening will transport in the big-screen TV that Robert bought from Geoffrey’s boss for a pittance. Hey, it’s movie night at Robert’s place, from now on! *evil grin*

And now for something completely TMI…

It seems like, most unfortunately, everyone is sick these days. Claire is unwell far beyond normal morning sickness, my Number One Internet Fanboy has a truly evil cold, and my 14-year-old came down with the flu on her last day of winter break and so has missed 3 days of school thus far. She’s frantic to go back to school, missing her friends and dreading the huge amount of homework she’ll need to do in order to catch up, but I can’t send her to school when she’s upchucking every few hours.

Geoffrey & I have apparently gotten off lucky — we’re only suffering the usual joint aches & pains of cold weather. I suspect the human body wasn’t designed to last much past 30; the difference between a base level of physical well-being at age 27 and age 37 is frighteningly drastic. Sure, I can still take on a whole day’s worth of busy physical activity — but at the end of the day, I pay for it in achy knees & back & feet.

But it’s still better than the alternative.

We love Geoffrey’s boss — and not just because he keeps giving Geoffrey raises. Because of him, we got a CostCo membership today (well, actually Geoffrey did)! Since we needed a few necessities, and I needed to pick up a prescription (I’ve gone to their pharmacy for a while now, since you don’t need a membership to use the pharmacy), we did a bit of shopping today. Wow, the sheer size of the place is scary.

Some of the deals they have there are phenomenal, just amazing. I got over a year’s worth of low-dose aspirin (which my doctor recommended I take daily) for under $4. I got over eight months’ worth of name-brand one-a-day vitamins for the same price that two months’ worth would have cost me elsewhere — and Kraft Mac’n'Cheese for two-thirds of the regular grocery store price, with similar savings on bagels & eggs.

Not everything there is cheaper, by any means. We glanced at the major appliances (since we’ll be needing a washing machine soon), and Best Buy is probably a better place to shop for those items. Fresh & frozen meat prices weren’t any better than you’d find at your average grocery store, nor were cheeses. And most items (such as catfood) had very few brands to choose from. But still, there’s plenty of good deals to be had!

I’m thinking Robert & Claire might want to consider going to CostCo with Geoffrey and stocking up on diapers. And any of our other friends who want to get stuff in quantity, too!