I have a crappy sense of smell. I will notice scents when they're pointed out to me or if they grab me by the throat and wring the life out of me.... but otherwise I just don't navigate by it. Maybe I smell everything and just don't pay attention. Maybe it's a defense mechanism since perfumed crap gives me migraines... I dunno.

Anyway, I'm currently sick as hell. Got this sore throat and crappy cough out of NOWHERE (no one at work has it, none of my family has it, nothing...) -- and it's completely messing with my head. Wherever I go today, I smell oranges.

I'd never even really noticed what oranges smelled like before - but I think this must be it.

My partner keeps looking at me like I've lost my mind. Apparently I'm the only one who smells this.

We don't even have oranges in the house.

Weird.

Kind of a nice smell, though.

I don't think I've watched any of the Disney flicks since I was in high school. In fact, my Special Anniversary Edition Beauty & the Beast DVD has been sitting in its wrapper since Dad gave it to me for Solstice four years ago.

Last night I dragged it out because my partner had yet to actually see the movie. That struck me as a shame, since I consider it the best Disney has to offer. (Tied, of course, with Robin Hood... and perhaps with Mulan for the sheer chick-power value.)

I was completely unprepared for how young Belle looked. The Beast is 21, but they never mention how old she is. Still, Disney heroines tend to run on the mid-teenage side, so one can make an educated guess....

My gods. The whole pack of the highly-advertised Disney Princesses are about half my age.

That's just... disturbing.

(And don't even get me *started* on the Disney Princesses thing. Letting aside that lots of them didn't even achieve the princess status until the end of the movie -- and I don't think Mulan was a princess at all -- do we really want our daughters to aspire to the helpless bullcrap of Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty or Snow White? Fairy Godmothers and princes will not save you. Learn to do it yourself, or you're screwed. Grrr.)

I have a tradition of tackling a random home improvement project on the 4th of July. We get the 4th off from work, you see, and one day off mid-week is NOT enough to get your weekend on. Might as well accomplish something.

Last year I assembled the bookshelves for the living room.

This year I tackled the bedroom.

I've been contemplating a Moroccan tent theme, and to this end have been collecting cheap fabric for the walls and ceiling. This is not as easy as it may sound, as the fabric needs to be a good color and an interesting texture. I still don't have QUITE enough to finish it, but I spent all of the 4th making a very good go of things.

The result?

In the words of my partner, "We have the coolest blanket fort ever."

Unfortunately, my beloved travel alarm fell victim to a misplaced chair leg, completely ruining the liquid crystal display. Not that I like travel alarms in general, but this one had HUGE numbers - I could read it with my glasses off. Which, strictly speaking, meant it wasn't terribly portable... but hey.

I discovered that although Target carries a dizzying array of travel alarms, none of them have numbers as large as my old one combined with a temp display. Boo. So I settled for a slick little black foldable thing that is VASTLY easier to set than the Dearly Departed, which required removing the bottom panel. This one even has a little display where it tells you the alarm time. Handy. The alarm sound is tinnier (which I don't particularly love) but the pattern of beeps isn't quite as psychotic (which is nice). Overall I think I traded up, but I'm going to miss the numbers the length of my thumb.

*Whoompa, whoompa, whoompa, whoompa*
*Bing!*
Noah!
Somebody call?
*Whoompa, whoompa, whoompa*
Noah!
Who is that?
It's the Lord, Noah
Right! ....Where are ja? What you want? I've been good.
I want you to build an Ark
Right! ....What's an Ark?
Get some wood build it -- 300 cubits by 80 cubits by 40 cubits
Right! ....Whats a cubit?
Let's see... a cubit...I used to know what a cubit was...
  --- Bill Cosby, "Noah"

You might recall, a few months back, when I was at work and got a call from my partner asking where the crappy towels were, as the toilet was flooding into the hall.

At that time, flooding the hall = got a little of the carpet kind of damp

This time, flooding the hall = water slooshing up between my toes with every step for a good half of the hallway, and a respectable corner of the bedroom (damn walkthrough bathrooms)

Yeah. It did it again.

Thank the goddess for rug doctors. Rented one from Cub and have spent most of the morning making passes to get up as much as we can. I think we probably saved ourselves considerable expense by renting it pronto.

I'll be doing laundry for the next few days, trying to get all the emergency towels (and other things recruited as towels) to stop smelling like pee.

Good thing we celebrated fathers' day with my dad on Friday....

Anyone want to see the ugliness that was the eagles on my walls? C'mon, you know you do... it's like a train wreck, somehow you just can't look away....

Before-and-after pictures of Home Sweet Home... and the four-legged furries that reside therein