We'll all be lonely tonight, and lonely tomorrow

[lizblackdog]

You scored as General Jeb Stuart. One of the poster boys of the Civil War, you're almost like a son to General Lee. Then you screw up at Gettysburg and eventually die in battle. Easy come, easy go... </td> William T. Sherman 85% General Nathan Bedford Forrest 85% General Jeb Stuart 85% General James Longstreet 70% U.S. Grant 65% General Ambrose Burnside 65% Robert E. Lee 60% General George McClellan 40% Stonewall Jackson 30% General Phillip Sheridan 25% Which American Civil War General are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Nicked from zogblog. Seems obscurely appropriate. I've never really heard of him. Maybe I'll look it up when I'm feeling less apathetic.

Made some good progress on the kitchen. I've filled two bin bags with ancient bottles of herbs and spices, ten year old bottles of vitamins, old wine-bottle corks, seasoning sachets from long-eaten ramen noodles, yellowed, brittle shopping lists and the like. Everything has a half-inch crust of sticky dust on it. What's hardest to shift are the fossilised splatters of ancient, sticky cooking oil that have hardened into something resembling smelly amber, but, like everything else, there's a secret - start by rubbing on some Cillit Bang (lifesaving stuff, that, even though you don't want to get it on your skin), leave to marinate for ten or so minutes and then scrub off with a Brillo pad.

Spike and Squish are being characteristically unhelpful. The hole in the middle of the lawn is bigger than ever, one of them keeps removing all the sheets from Mum's bed (how? why? who? No idea), and yesterday Spike trod in something foul and tracked it all up the stairs and onto Mum's underblanket (since the sheets had been removed) - so I had to wash both the underblanket and his feet, which he really didn't appreciate.

Cleaning usually makes me feel better. There's a grim satisfaction in defeating the hordes of filth minions, in drawing the line in the dirt and then wiping the dirt out.

Maybe I need to try harder.