I'm Buried in Paperwork

I ended up spending yesterday - the whole day - dealing with the finances and applications and supplementary paperwork and forms and doo-dads for the Payroll Protection Plan loan we are hoping to qualify for. I exchanged email after email with the loan officer in charge of this for my small bank. I'm eternally grateful that we do deal with a small, state-wide bank instead of one of the huge national banks. Apparently the big banks were getting one application every two seconds! 

I felt rather like Harry Potter, getting buried in his Hogwarts
invitations. Do you remember the scene? If not, click the link and
enjoy it again - it was a good one. 

But, despite what seemed like a million forms and emailed conversations, including a couple of actual voice exchanges, we are still up in the air with this loan application as of shortly after 6:00 pm last night when I responded to what I think was her final question. Now it's the weekend and I'm not sure if she's working on a Saturday or not. Although I answered her last question shortly after 6:00 pm last night, I'm not sure she's had a chance to read my response yet. Me? I'm totally drained and exhausted and rather "blah". 

While the pundits debate the efficacy of wearing a mask, almost everyone
agrees that wearing gloves can be beneficial. I'm seeing a lot more people
wear masks or facial coverings, though, and I don't think that's a bad
idea at all. 

Today I have to get myself back into balance. I need to go to the shop to mail a tax statement, pick up the mail from the Post Office, and get a prescription for DH from the pharmacy. I'll be wearing my mask and gloves, for sure. I did pull a pattern for face masks from the newspaper yesterday (yes, DH likes his newspapers in paper form - he lives for his daily crossword puzzles). I might try to unbury my sewing machine closet doors from the deconstructed boxes that are currently blocking the front of it. I keep my machine set up in there, ready to use. It was one of the reasons I loved this house so much when I first saw it. It would be pretty easy to make a mask or two or six if I can get to my machine. I have plenty of cotton fabric available. Maybe on Sunday. 

Not all fabrics are made equally. Here's a great article on what
fabrics are good and what aren't so effective for use as a facemask. 

In the meanwhile, I'll be back on Monday and I promise, I'll try to catch up on DW and LJ over the weekend. *Hugs* to all, stay safe, stay home, stay healthy. 

Was It Really So Long Ago?

This date made history. It was the first day of a multi-year franchise movie experience. On this date in 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone opened nationwide. Three young frightened and overwhelmed young wizards were walked up the central aisle in the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sat on a stool at the head of the room, put on an old, scruffy-looking hat, and were sorted into their houses. Suddenly kids of all ages who had read the book(s) were transported into a visual world where magic existed, muggles walked next to wizards completely head-blind, and wonderful people like Dumbledore and Hagrid existed to pull all of us out of our mundane existence.

What had been a popular book became a landslide movement. We lined up to buy each new volume, making sure that we were getting our copies when they were released at midnight. We stood in more lines to buy our tickets to each movie, and we watched as the three lovable kids we had first met on this date in 2001 grew in power, personality and magical skill. We celebrated their triumphs, we wept over their sorrows, and we cheered them on with enthusiasm.

The Harry Potter books are not the best written books ever thrust into the world's literary stage but they accomplished something important that few other books have achieved over recent years, they caught the imagination of children throughout the world. Kids voluntarily put their noses back into books. So whether JK Rowling wrote a masterpiece that will last through the years to come, or whether she only wrote a conglomeration of disjointed phrases, empty characters and poor plots, who cares? She got young people of all ages excited about reading a book again. I'll happily give her every ounce of credit that she so richly deserves for opening the door of reading to a generation of children. Thank you JK Rowling, and thank you Harry Potter.

Mischief Managed.

Passages

Yesterday was a real plus/minus day. I started the day out working on a project that I hoped to send in for possible publication in an upcoming book. There were two projects that I was working on, but one is complete and I'm happy with. This was the second one. Although it went together fairly well, I didn't like the end result. Something was lacking. I can't figure out exactly what was lacking or what I need to do to put it over the top, so I'll probably end up scrapping this for now and only sending a single project. I really needed the money from the second item (provided it would have been accepted) though, so I might send it anyway...or then again not. I really don't like the 2nd one enough to release it into the public yet.

My DH and I went out to dinner and then to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night. I enjoyed the movie, although the "Goblet of Fire" is still my favorite. They cut a lot out of the book though. I certainly see why they would issue Deathly Hallows in two separate movies - there is just so much that goes on in that book.

And a very dear friend, the Best Man at my wedding almost 30 years ago, has been fighting a valiant battle against melanoma. He was sent home to die with friends and family around him on Monday and he passed yesterday afternoon. Although I look at death as a transition to the next phase, it is still distressing for those left behind. I'll miss him and look forward to our being able to play among the stars together in later years.

Tonya - Posting the Carnival Blog only gets you credit for two days of posts. Get with your program and post on Friday!