More random stuff:

I wonder if it's possible to have a sensitivity to that tooth-cleaning stuff they use at the dentists? Does anyone know if it's just like plain toothpaste or if it has added stuff to it?

I went in for a checkup and cleaning on Tuesday afternoon and my stomach's been upset-ish since. (And no - I had no cavities, nothing wrong with my teeth, so it's not dread-of-another-appointment-where-there-will-be-pain that's affecting me.)

I suppose it could be some darn virus. There are a lot of them going around. I never get VERY sick with them but I'm kind of "off my feed" (I had a yogurt and a handful of peanuts for lunch; that was all I could manage).

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I got my "HCICBISSMMAYG*" "reward card" from Target yesterday. I need two more of their little Mission style bookcases (Yes, my house is now pretty much in Total Bookcase Domination mode. Every room but the bathroom and kitchen and they miss it only because they're small and the necessary appliances take up too much room.

(*"Holy crud, I can't believe I spent so much money at you guys'")

I'm debating whether to call them (to make sure they've got them in stock) and go this afternoon, or whether to wait. It looks kinda stormy out and the certificate is good until June 11.

(Actually, the Target Visa is also the card I use for Paypal transactions and buying gas, so it's not all boxes of Archer Farms Organic Dried Fruit Strips that are contributing to that).

I'm also contemplating - now that my income-tax refund has come in - buying a new, digital (and possibly HD) television set. I know I need to get a new one sometime, because come 2009, the tiny Samsung I've been using for years (and which my parents used before me) will cease to be functional. (shaking fist at FCC for changing things). Not sure what kind I'm going to go with - I'm kind of in decision-paralysis right now, because I've heard that plasma sets "burn in" if you're not careful (like, if you watch too many hours of letterboxed stuff, you get ghosts of the letterboxes burned into the plasma). And LCDS have other problems. I'd really like just a plain old CRT type screen if they make those in digital compatable sets.

And it has to be less than 36" total. Even with moving one of my bookcases that's all the room I have for a tv. And I don't love tv enough to totally reconfigure my room for a giant tv.

Once I make that purchase, I think I AM upgrading to digital cable - I would get BBC America, and TCM, and IFC, and National Geographic channel, and all of the Discovery 'plexes. And that's the kind of stuff I like to watch - not so much the "all news, all the time" channels, or the music-video channels (I'm so far out of their demographic anyway).

(ooh, and I'd also get Ovation television, which I've never heard of before, but which is apparently devoted to the fine arts. Woot.)

Of course, if I could get my head around what kind of TV I wanted, and if they carried it at Target, I could get 10% off, which would be a good deal, considering what tvs run these days.

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I've also discovered the joy of ordering patterns online, to be delivered as .pdf files. I bought a Roxycraft critter pattern (her "emo amigurumi" set - very small animals, each with a particular expression) and I also ordered (and just got) a couple of Australian animal patterns (a budgie and a bilby. Okay, so budgies aren't so very Australian but they were awfully cute) from a lady who sells them on Etsy, with some of the proceeds going to wildlife conservation.

(You know? If I ever wanted to actually make-and-sell patterns, or even finished stuff online, Esty seems like a good way to go).

Etsy is kind of my new big discovery of the week, along with the Craftzine blog. I totally (heart) that there are all these people out there selling stuff they've made. I've not bought any actual objects yet (just patterns), but I might sometime.

(You do have to register to use Etsy but it's free; I suppose that's to prevent anonymous people from fake-buying things.)

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I should really just go home. I'm not getting anything all that useful done.