kareina

Yesterday, about 5pm, as my co-workers were heading home for the day, I suddenly felt like I needed a break from working, and had a strange impulse to go be totally frivolous and spend money I really can't afford to be spending. I also felt like eating more food, never mind that I'd already has as much to eat over the course of the day as I normally do. So I suggested to clovis_t that he put down his computer and we walk into town and see if there was a caffè or something open, so I could indulge the odd impulses to spend and eat more than usual in one fell swoop (restaurants don't open that early in Italy, and that would have been more food and more money than I wanted, despite feeling impulsive). He agreed, and we set off, walking first north to one of the main shopping roads, and then east into the city center. As we reached the shopping area north of my neighbourhood we saw a store devoted to clothing made from natural fibres. Since I'm a total fibre snob, and was in one of those rare "shopping" moods, in we went. He was appalled at the prices. I didn't bother looking at them--I knew that they'd be dear, but just tried a few things on. Nothing I tried on got better than a slight sneer out of him, and while the fabrics were nice, the styles were not quite what I'd have them be were I actually going to purchase (other than one item where I like the cut but the colour was unacceptable), so on we went. Or next stop was a toy/game store, where we considered but did not purchase an Italian-language version of the Munchkin game, and I was amused to note that in the kid's book Prosciutto o Uovo Verdi (Green Eggs and Ham)the main character's name was changed from "Sam I am" to "detto Ferdi" to maintain a rhyme with one of the food words. And more amused to note that I'd never before *noticed* that "Sam I am" rhymes with "ham". Ok, so it has been many decades since I've read the English version of that story--back in those days rhyme was something that may have made the story easier to read aloud, but I didn't pay any attention to it.

From the toy store we wandered on towards town and soon saw a store called "house of cashmere". Having enjoyed looking at the cotton, wool, and hemp fibres at the hippy-clothing store, I decided to go have a look at some nice wool. When we entered I remembered to say "Buona sera" (I've been told that failing to offer a greeting when entering a shop in Italy is considered rude (and something that only Americans would do)), to which the reply was (in English) "May I help you?". I said that I was only looking, and proceeded to look at the many shelves of neatly folded stacks of wool, reaching out to touch a bit of fabric, and commented to clovis_t how nice it felt. At this point the saleslady suggested that they had quite a variety of styles available--t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, v-neck, round neck, with and without buttons. On a whim I suggested that I'd like to look at something in dark blue or black, long sleeved, with buttons, and she quickly went to the correct shelves and brought out several for me to try on. The first one was too loose, the second a good fit, but too short in the waist, but the third was decadently soft, long enough and a perfect fit. At which point she suggested that this particular style comes as a set, one t-shirt, one button up long sleeved version together for 190, or 120 for only one of them. Then she punched some buttons on a calculator and suggested that she could go as low as 175 for the pair of them. Remember the part about feeling like spending money recklessly? I also remembered a nice wool sweater I'd purchased years ago in Ireland which I adored, but which failed to follow me home from the airport once. Even though it had been getting old and worn out, I was still very sad to have lost it, and have been thinking of replacing it with something as nice for a while now. clovis_t, he who merely sneered at the clothes in the other place, commented about this sweater that it "looks quite nice". So, on a lark, I decided to purchase it. I got out my wallet and asked the lady "how much was that? 170?", to which she paused a moment, and said, ok, that is fine". When she saw my bank card she explained that at the end of the month the bank would give me an additional 10% back, because the business has a special arrangement with the bank. I'm not certain I understand, but if that happens it will be nice.
Wearing my new soft, lovely, beautifully blue, warm layers we continued on our stroll into the city. As we neared the Duomo (cathedral) area we started to see caffès with menus out front. The first few we looked at were uninspiring, but after we passed the Duomo we came upon another which had a few more items to both of our tastes. As we looked at the menu a waiter came up to us and asked us (in English) if we'd like a table. Looking at the risottos on the menu I told him about my "allergy" to wine and vinegar, and asked if their risotto recipie contained either of those ingredients (as so many do). He went in to ask and soon returned with the news that their recipie was safe for me to eat. So we got a table. He started to show us to one of the outside tables, but that is the smoking area, so I asked if he had something in a smoke-free area, and he led us up a cute spiral stair-case (I love spiral stair cases!) to a little inside dining room, with lovely crystal chandlers and real table cloths (unlike the outside area, which was crowded with smokers and had plastic table clothes). I choose the risotto con asparagi and he had the lasagne with a hot-chocolate. The waiter asked if he wanted cream on the chocolate, and he started to say "no", but I suggested that he did want it (since I'd happily help eat the cream--I may not like chocolate, but I adore cream). The cream was added on in amazingly generous proportions--the stack was twice as high as the chocolate itself. It was, alas, sweetened, but only lightly so, so I was still able to enjoy it (no, I didn't eat all of that cream myself, he helped me with it, and seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. Looking at his beverage, it appears that Italians like their hot chocolate the same way they like their coffee--seriously concentrated and in small volumes at a time. He seemed to really like it that way. Being a light meal for two at a caffè it was cheaper than a restaurant would have been, but at 33 Euros was also more than three times what I normally spend a day for food for one of us. But since my goal was to go be frivolous with my money, I couldn't complain, and I very much enjoyed the evening. We left the house a bit after 17:00, and returned home a bit after 21:00, having had a nice walk, some minor adventures, and goals achieved. Then we did yoga early and went to sleep before 22:30. I didn't wake up till after 09:00, so, for the first time in weeks, I'm actually caught up on my sleep! Today I've re-arranged some of the values I'd set aside to various "savings goals" to cover yesterday's spending spree, and then spent most of the day reading fiction published in the live journals of my friends. But there are a few hours left before it is time to head to the "un birthday party" a friend is hosting, so perhaps I'll manage to either finish my Italian homework or do some uni work (or both!) before heading out this evening.

I got up bright and early on Thursday morning and went into the city. I was running low on my muesli so I needed to go buy more ingredients, and I had a variety of other errands that needed doing as well. Among these were getting a new PIN for my new debit card for my new bank account. Commonwealth Bank is very kind about that--they will let you bring your card in and change your PIN to a number of your own choosing, even if you have not yet received the letter they sent out telling you the pre-assigned PIN. This meant that I was then able to accomplish the other errands using my new debit card (but if they hadn't have been that kind, I could have simply pulled out cash to cover it, so all would have been fine, if less convenient).

Another stop was a second-hand store, where I found two pairs of jeans which fit. To properly appreciate the miracle in that sentence you need to understand that while I wore jeans most of my childhood, I haven't as an adult. Why? Because they were nearly impossible to find in a size which fit me. I was blessed with a very small rib cage for my height, and was a slender child. I became somewhat chubby with the onset of puberty, but, because of my small ribs and the way the chub was distributed (primarily on my thighs), starting around late highschool any pair of jeans which would go over my thighs was much too large for my waist. So I switched to skirts, which were easy to fit to my waist, and much more comfortable for most purposes. A few years back the fashion for jeans switched from waist bands high on the waist to riding down around the hips, give or take a bit. As a result my mom and sister bought me a pair of jeans which mostly fit just before I moved down to Tassie four years ago--I needed only take them in a little bit at the small of my back and they were quite comfortable (this because my hips were closer to the expected size relative to my thighs than my waist is). However, about a year ago, since I was tracking everything else I'm doing as part of my goal to get this PhD complete, I started tracking what I ate. I wasn't specifically trying to lose weight--I was within what is considered the "healthy" range for my height, if at the upper end of it, but I was very much interested in seeing what balance of the various food groups I was eating. Oddly enough, when I started writing down every bite I ate, I started losing weight. Not very fast (which, to my mind is a good thing), but creeping off a bit at a time, including in the thighs. Yesterday's purchase gave me not one, but two pairs of jeans which fit, are flattering, and didn't need any taking in at the waist/hips whatsoever! This is a good thing, because all of my skirts are wearing out, and I haven't time to make new ones, so I need something to wear. (one pair is marked size "8L", and will need to be hemmed at the cuffs as they are quite long, and the other is marked size "10" and are the correct length to start with).

After I finished my morning errands I went in to uni and crushed rocks for fun and profit, getting seven of J's samples ready to have their zircons separated out. I'll need to repeat this for the other 14, before going on to the next task she wants done, so I'll be busy working on her stuff regularly for a bit longer.

After all that I went home, intending to do lots of uni work with my evening, but instead went "splat" and didn't really accomplish anything, other than a walk around the block, during which I met one of the neighbours, who was riding a young horse. They walked with me around the block--apparently the horse is still new to this whole leaving the paddock and having a passenger thing, and is happier to walk on the road when there is someone to follow. It made for some nice company.

This morning I had intended to do the vacuming, but I slept in, and clovis_t's mum was already doing it when I got up. When I mentioned that I'd planned to do that she suggested that I sweep the sun room at the back of the house instead. The sun room has been left all summer as a storage area, and place the dogs hang out when their feet are muddy, but now that we are coming in to winter, it would be nice for that room to be usable again, as it has a lovely view of the cliff. So I not only swept, but scrubbed the floor as well, and am very happy with the result. The rest of the afternoon slipped past quickly, with the highlight of the day being charmed by a colt. I'd walked up hill on one of the side streets, and on my way home the young horse (only just about my height tall at this point) came up to its fence to say hello, so I stopped and visited with it. What a charmer, and so affectionate! Though, I think the attempts to nibble my fingers were because they probably still smelled of blackberries I'd picked at the start of the walk. Not having carried any of the berries, I offered the colt some grass from my side of the fence, and (s?)he (I didn't think to look) seemed to appreciate it. It was rather later in the day before I started doing uni work, but once I did the time slipped by even faster than did the rest of the day, and now I'm sleepy once again. However, I've put uni work down mid-task, so with luck, I'll pick it up straight away tomorrow. Hope so, it is only by actually working on it that it will get done.