Polyfill and Powerball - It's a "P" Day

Today I Get Polyfill (aka Fiberfill) - it's on my shopping list. I'm going to find the absolute smallest bag I can possibly find in the entire universe, spend my money, and allow myself to progress on this project because it's driving me crazy. I know I own some. I know approximately where it should be. But I've been looking for it for almost a week now and haven't had any success in actually finding it. That ends now!

Just look at this great photo from the Chicago lake shore. The mist from the
waves has frozen on the fencing. So beautiful. So cold. 

On a brighter (or more bleak) note, it's also damned COLD. Our wind chills have been in the -22F range (-30C) and in anyone's book, that's cold. So we're officially into "bundle up" season. If the wind would die down, it actually would be much better - only -7F right now (-21.6C). Yeah - it's cold. Maybe I'll just drown myself in hot soup for lunch ...

I'm thinking soup might be perfect. Unfortunately, I doubt
it will be this Hot and Sour soup. Nom!!! 

DH went grocery shopping yesterday, meaning the freezer is stuffed to bursting with munchie food for the upcoming football games - divisional finals, conference finals, and finally - the SuperBowl. I has been going to pick up another few frozen meals for myself, but he's taken my space up with non-nutritious (but pretty darned good) snack food. *sigh* It's a hopeless cause. I'll be stuck at this same weight for the next six weeks because of his football munchies.

Power Ball is getting too large to ignore. I'll probably buy one ticket - just one. 

Are you buying a PowerBall ticket today? The jackpot is a ridiculously high number - in the range of $1.5 Billion - that's with a "B", folks. Now - I don't play the lottery, or for that matter, any type of gambling thing. I have no luck at those things at all. But I am tempted to hand over my $2 for a single ticket. I have as much of a chance with a single ticket as those fools buying multiples. Owning more tickets does NOT increase your chances of winning, only decreases your cash on hand. But maybe I'll put in my $2.

It's Wednesday and that swimming pool water
is going to feel great! 

Since it's my "day off", I have 1000's of things on my list to accomplish. I'd probably better stick some pics into this and head out the door, wrapped in down to the max, with a few extra sweaters for good measure. I'll be thinking of all of my friends in the Southern Hemisphere sweltering through their summer while I'm freezing myself to death on the frozen tundra today. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Rainy November Days Should be Relaxing - NOT!

It's wet and getting colder. The good news is we're not cold enough to have all of this rain turn to snow - YET. It will happen, but right now we're fortunate enough to just be dealing with rain. I'm doing the happy dance. I'm really not in a shoveling mood yet.

I am NOT a pluviophile. That's why I don't live in the Pacific
Northwest. It's lovely to visit the area, but it's too damp for me. 

Yesterday I set aside two hours to work on my Solstice cards. It was a total disaster. The central element of the cards was a stamp of a hearth with fire that I had purchased from a trusted supplier over the summer. But the stamp itself was very shallow, and over several impressions, never gave me a good image. I only have so many cards I can waste, so after several poor impressions I gave up and went to my computer to find a different image. One has now been ordered, but it won't be here until next week. More delays and the clock for Solstice isn't slowing down.

I try to anticipate problems, but this one can be a real wrench
in my schedule *sigh*. 

I'm going to have to shift over to a different part of the project, so I'll be sending out a call for addresses a bit sooner than I had expected. Keep an eye out for that, it will be coming today or tomorrow so that I can set up my file and get going on the envelopes for the cards.

I'll need to change direction and work on a different aspect of the
project. Some things will be delayed, but others will just be pushed
ahead. I'm still unhappy about this, though. I wasted two hours of
time in a very tight schedule. 

So as I dress for the gym and listen to thunder (yes - thunderstorms in November), I'm organizing in my head. I'll get things figured out and hopefully this set-back won't be too terrible. But a setback is the last thing I needed on a tight schedule. Here's hoping each of you has a wonderful Thursday!

Increasing Acceleration

I enjoy speed - a lot - I'm sure that's one of the reasons why I began driving as soon as I could.

Speed - yes, I love it! 

I live my life at high speed too. I tend to allow my love for speed to splash over into my project schedules. As an example, today I'll be taking Part One of my holiday cards and pushing for speed. I brought my materials for this section home with me last night and I'll be arranging the components along every horizontal surface I can throughout the house (with protective paper below) and then making my way through them with my paints to get the first piece painted.

My components won't be nearly this interesting, but they'll
take up much less space. The space for me comes in the
quantity, not the material. 

My goal? Having the first part painted, dry and possibly glued onto its backing card by the end of the day. If I can get a rhythm going, I've good a good chance of success. If not, this could be the beginning of disaster. Guess I'll be wearing an iPod and listening to tunes while I paint today. Isn't life grand? LOL

I love mac and cheese. That might be one good meal (or two) to
have while I'm on the soft diet portion of my prep days. 

Originally I was scheduled to have my colorectomy this morning, but I changed the location of the exam to one more convenient for DH and me, and it's now scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon instead. Of course that means a soft diet beginning on Sunday and a liquid diet on Tuesday. Can you say "Boring," sigh? I'll be reviewing the instructional sheets carefully, but I'll buy all of my various materials and over-the-counter medications today while I'm out and about. Maybe tonight I'll try to look up some appropriate recipes for pasta that would conform to a boring and bland diet. I like pasta and it's on the list of approved foods. I suspect not even a bland diet will get me to slow down for long (although I might lose a pound or two over the exam prep time.)

It isn't enough to just set goals. Using the SMART criteria, you'll
not only set achievable goals, but you'll actually also set yourself
up for success. I set my goals up with specific steps that need to be
achieved before the next step can be started. Crazy? Maybe. But
it's the only way I can achieve my art in the little bits and pieces of
time I have to devote to it. 

Speed is nothing without an end goal in sight so that I can accelerate through the steps to achieve that goal. I'll be speeding through my day today. I hope by the end of the day I'll have accomplished a great deal of progress in my current goals, allowing me to continue speeding towards the end point. Here's hoping you have a wonderful Wednesday. I'm off to the pool!

Day Off? No - Cleaning and Studio Day

I'll be trying to maximize my time and schedule today. I have SOOOO much to do! After the pool first thing this morning, I'll get the store powered up and do a bit of work there. Then a quick stop at Target and at the grocer before I get back home to ...

I love shopping at Target. The original Target store - the first one ever - is
often the one I shop at. It's actually my local store. I'll choose Target over
WalMart or Costco any time. 

Clean - today the main bathroom and vacuuming are calling my name. I also want to start cleaning my dragon shelving and I need to continue working on Sharon's room. She assures me that I don't need to clean, and she's experienced my house as a disaster before, but there are some things that have to be done - no choice.

Scrubbing the shower is one of my LEAST favorite
things to do, but it's got to be done. *sigh*

Experiment - I need to experiment with one of my pieces of equipment and a new use for it. I'm planning on using this in my holiday cards, but if it won't work, I'd better find out now! I'm trying all sorts of new things for this year's card - some techniques I've only read about, others that I've learned over the past year. I really hope this comes together the way I'm envisioning. The only way to make that happen is testing, testing and testing.

I love watching MasterChef. I have no real skill in the kitchen and
am always amazed that the contestants can just pull these wonderful
dishes together. 

Finally, after making dinner and having an hour of relaxed conversation with Aearwen, I'll settle down and watch MasterChef. The premiere of the new season of Ghost Hunters is on at 9:00, but I'm so exhausted that I doubt I'll be able to stay up for it. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Update and A Day For Myself

A quick update on my eye doctor appointment. Finally getting in to see the doctor yesterday was a good thing. He gave me two prescriptions (that's scripts for my UK friends - *hugs*) - an antibiotic pill that I take once a day and an antibacterial ointment that gets applied to the eye twice a day. The ointment is a bit of a PITA because the world becomes blurry and I'm trying to do detail work with blurry eyes. I go back to him on the 4th of November so he can take a look without the swelling and inflammation and he'll determine if I need any surgical procedures at that time. So - one step forward at least. Thanks for all of your positive thoughts.

I don't like seeing through blurry vision. It really makes my detail work
hard to do. But I'm going to fight through it because a day that I can craft
is a rare day. I can write in many locations, I can't spread out with
glue and glitter as easily. 

Since I am seeing blurry, I'll continue to work on my Holiday Cards for the morning today, but in the afternoon I'm going to put on my Craft-Optics and work on that beading project I've been wanting to get to. I can do that because....

I get a vacation day! Yeah me! 

I have a DAY OFF today. I'm actually taking a Vacation Day to indulge in what I want to do. I worked on my Holiday Cards for several hours yesterday and got quite a bit done. Every time I thought "Oh, the next step is xxx", I followed that thought with "But tomorrow is a vacation day and I can actually do the next step tomorrow!" This was followed by a happy dance. So I'll have coffee in the morning, type out the paychecks (for some odd reason, my staff actually likes to be paid on the 16th), and do the final tally for the Bead Shops Hop in the early morning. I'll accept the delivery I'm expecting before 9:00 am, and then I'm off! I'll be doing my OWN THING for the rest of the day and I couldn't be much happier.

I love sparkle. My cards will have sparkle (of course) and beads sparkle
beautifully (it's part of their nature) so I'll be a very happy, sparkle Queen today. 

So there you have it. Short, sweet, written through blurry eyes, and generally happy. It'll be glue and crystals, thread and beads, and maybe glitter for the day. I hope your Thursday is magical!

What Goes Around...

Today is my day off and I start off with a bang. I phoned my eye doctor yesterday requesting an appointment for my eye and they didn't have an opening until October 28th! After telling them that was remarkably unhelpful, I disconnected and continued on with my relatively busy day. Around 4:00 pm I got a phone call from the receptionist at my eye doctor's clinic saying they had an opening at their Bloomington branch today at 8:30 am with a doctor who did some eye surgery for me in the past. I grabbed it. So instead of a somewhat relaxing morning, I'll be fighting rush hour traffic to get across town. But it will be worth it.

I'm off to see the eye doctor. At this point I don't care what he might
have to do. I need the swelling to go down and my eye to feel good
once more. 

Thanks to all of you for your helpful suggestions. I've been hot packing my eye when possible and it has been helping, but I will still feel better when a professional has a chance for a look. I'm hoping some antibiotics will nail this to the wall and I'll just look back at this as one icky episode in a usually lovely life.

Two days in a row off! It's such a rare thing for me. I brought all of my
card makings home with me last night and I'm ready to continue
working on them. I can hardly wait! 

I'm off from work today - my usual day - but I'm also taking tomorrow off as a vacation day. I want to sit down with creative projects for an extended time period over the next two days. I won't be writing, but I'll be beading and working on my solstice cards and I'll be as happy as can be. I'll plug in my ear buds, either listen to albums or Sirius, and boogie down while indulging myself in some creative activities. I can't wait!

Today will be more normal - laundry, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, etc. I'll get some creative work done this afternoon, but it will really be tomorrow when I pull out the big guns. I want to get things much farther along before I start NaNoWriMo in November.

I'll have to read about how to play before I link
up with her. It's been a long time since I played
Scrabble and I'm not sure what the colored
tiles mean or do. 

A casual friend invited me to play "Words with Friends" yesterday. This on-line scrabble-type game is played on my phone. I downloaded the app yesterday, but haven't yet linked it to my FB account. When I do, I'll do a call-out to her and start playing. Do any of you play this one? I only know it from the "Big Bang Theory" where Sheldon plays with Stephen Hawking. It has the potential to interest me - I enjoy word games sometimes. I'll at least give it a go.

My muse and her companion are shopping for a new fall
wardrobe, They don't seem to care that I miss them and would like
them to return. 

I haven't been writing over the past three weeks. I just haven't felt up to it and I've been rather "meh" about it in general. I suspect that my muse is just gathering her fall wardrobe and that when she returns from her shopping trip, she'll hit me upside the head with a vengeance and the words will flow like crazy. But in the meanwhile, I'm just trying to post my daily blog and catch up with friends' comments.

Have a great Wednesday - hopefully without traffic issues - and I'll be back tomorrow.

A Storm of a Day - My Day Off Whirlwind

It's my day off and I have housecleaning, jewelry repair and errands to do. No grass growing under my feet today. I got WAY too involved searching the web and reading my emails this morning, so I'm SUPER late. Just a few frantic pics for all of you before I hit the door running...

Look at this roll cloud as it passes over a road in Missouri. To me that's
almost more frightening than a tornado, maybe because it is so rare.
It's really scary to look at one of these, though. 

Look at this stormfront. This is a supercell over an Iowa farm. At least
that's what the webpage said. I think it's a bit flatter than Iowa and I
would be placing it in Nebraska or Oklahoma. Either way, those clouds
are scary! 

Storms near large bodies of water can cause waves and swells. I love
the way this photographer decided to go with black & white for impact. 

Storms are a world-wide phenomena. This supercell was photographed
in Kashmir. It looks totally wicked - almost like a scrub brush from above. 

Just because I have to have at least one tornado, I have this picture of
a waterspout out in the ocean. How kewl is this? 

So there you have it - wind storms for a day where I will be rushing through things ASAP so that I can get some housecleaning done. I hope each of you has a wonderful Wednesday and I'll try to have a more substantive post tomorrow (no promises, though).

What to Do? What to Do????

It's the first day off I've had since the first week of the month and I'd love to say I'm at loose ends and have a day full of possibilities stretching in front of me.

There's something so elegant about a harpsichord. The sound is
lighter than that of a piano, and they are usually so visually
decorative as well. Compare this to a black Steinway piano. The
harpsichord is as easy on the eyes as it is on the ears. Here is
artist Kristian Bezuidenhout from South Africa. 

Of course, that's not necessarily inaccurate, but things still have to get done and I have writing deadlines that are looming which I will spend a few hours trying to proceed with this afternoon. But, as I sit here, listening to Jean Philippe Rameau Suite A Minor 1728 on harpsichord, I have to smile. I may have all sorts of errands to do today, but heck! It's a DAY OFF, and that is glorious in itself.

Although there are non-metallic finger braces (and given my metal
allergies, I may have to do this type of splint instead), the metal
styles are so much prettier. 

I'm thinking about getting a finger splint for one of my fingers to help halt the bend that my osteoarthritis is putting into it. Finger splints and braces are used by people for many reasons, but arthritic countermands is one of them. When I was a much younger beader, attending my very first Bead & Button Show (actually, it was still called 'Embellishment' at that time), I met a lovely petite whirlwind of a young woman. This redhead with enough energy to power an office building was Jennie Might, and she was tiny, bouncy, and active in many things. She also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and was under doctor's orders to exercise her fingers for X amount of hours every day. Thus, she was an accomplished pianist and a very talented beader, using those two methods of exercise for her hands. She had just published her first book at the time I met her, and went on to publish another three in the series.

The first two of Jennie's books are here. I still sell four of her books
in this series, these two and the two additional volumes. They are
really cute designs and I love knowing that so many people I knew
made the samples for the books. 

What brings her to mind for me? Well, she wore finger braces on all of her fingers and they were quite lovely. They looked like pieces of jewelry on her hands, but they were jewelry that helped to save her hands from deformity and halt the crippling of her RA.

This picture shows many different types of finger splints. I think
I might spend a bit of time today visiting the website of one of
these manufacturers and possibly get a non-metallic splint to see
if it helps my dodgy finger at all. I think it's time to try and reduce the
pain and maximize the finger use. 

I never met her again in person, although I heard about her from mutual friends and acquaintances for several more years as she continued being active in the bead world. I forgot about those finger braces. But I read a book on my long list of books to be read about one or two months ago which featured a character with a particular brittle bone disease. He wore finger braces and that brought them back to mind. I was curious, couldn't really remember that much about them, so I Googled them and yes - then I remembered them and how much they had helped Jennie.

Some of the finger splints can be quite beautiful. This particular
style is sterling silver and very attractive while still performing
a vital function for the person wearing it. 

So as my own arthritis starts to become more and more intrusive in my life, I'm thinking a new piece of jewelry might be just the trick. In the meantime, I'm off and running to get my errands done today so that I can get some writing accomplished before talking with Aearwen later this afternoon.

Those hills just won't go away. They are on their way to the Alps for the weekend, so this is a
bridging stage between Monday's mountains and the Alps proper. Only Cat 4 and Cat 3
climbs today, but with Froome and now Contador out of the race, it's turning into a bit
of a free-for-all. 

Of course, Le Tour de France is back in swing today with Stage 11. Here is the profile for all of you addicts. Happy Wednesday to all!

Couples - A Photo Blog

A photo blog today because I'm already running late and I have a million (or what seems like a million) errands to run today. After yesterday's great discussion on sexual comfort levels, today I give you a variety of couples for your photo viewing.

This picture was just sweet. 

Although this is from an ad for sexual counseling in New York State, I
thought it was too pretty an image not to share with all of you. 

It's hard to resist good animal couples and this mouse and
frog were a great pair. 

How about these fabulous Inca Doves by Suzanne Britton? I love the
coloring of the wings and the soft details of the chest. 

Finally, just because I really like these two lovers, here's a picture
from Washington state on the date same-sex marriage licenses were
permitted and marriages could be performed. This great couple were
among the first in line to get legally married. 

So there you have it. Couples for the day. I'm running all over town today, doing some beta work for my ever-patient friend Lai, talking with Aearwen, and doing my usual laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, etc. It's a busy Wednesday but I hope yours is excellent and filled with good memories by the end of the day.

OY! - I'm Running Late at 5:00 a.m. - Dreams of Egypt

There should be a law. It should be illegal to be running late at 5:00 a.m., but that's what's happening in my life. I stayed up late to watch a wonderful episode of "Secrets of the Dead" about Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Here's the blurb from PBS:

Tutankhamen's golden burial mask was such an outstanding example of
the skill of the Egyptian craftspeople at that time. When I think of the tools
that were in use to make this, I'm awestruck.

Ultimate Tut

Ninety years ago in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, the greatest archaeological find in history was made: the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb and its golden treasures. It made Tutankhamen the most famous name in ancient Egyptian history. But the real story has become shrouded in myth -- with many mysteries around the tomb unsolved to this day. This two-hour special combines the latest evidence from a team of archaeologists, anatomists, geologists and Egyptologists to build the ultimate picture of Tutankhamen. Blending 3D graphics, stylized reconstruction and action-adventure forensic investigation, the programs take a 21st-century approach to ancient history, following new scientific research and presenting fresh insights into how Tutankhamen was buried, why his tomb was the only one to remain intact and the enduring enigma around how he died.

It was totally fabulous, but I'm also completely exhausted because I stayed up later than usual. Both DH and I were yawning by the end of the show, but too fascinated to turn it off.   I allowed myself an extra hour of sleep this morning since it's my "day off", but I'll be running hard this morning. Then, once I get home from my errands, I'll be doing load after load of laundry and working on clearing up some of this massive computer backlog from my vacation. I'd like to be current once more so that I can keep up and even comment on people's journals in a somewhat timely manner.

So here are just a few minor pics of my favorite place - Egypt.  Here's hoping their new government will allow the country to once again be peaceful and celebrate their amazing heritage with the rest of the world.

The Great Pyramid and the pyramid complex outside of
Cairo is inspiring, despite the fact that the city of Cairo is
practically on the doorstep now and air pollution is becoming
ubiquitous. Check out the people and animals on the far
left for a sense of the scale of these monuments. 

At the far southern end of the country, near Nubia, is the temple of
Abu Simbel. This amazing structure built by Ramses II is a prime
example of monumental architecture, Egyptian-style. Twice each year the
sun is in the precise position to shine directly through the doorway and
illuminate statues of Ramses II, Amun Ra and Rah-Harakhty, leaving a
fourth statue, that of Ptah, associated with the underworld, in darkness. 

Not all of the Egyptian pantheon were male. This is the lovely Temple
of Isis at Philae. It is an island where the temple used to be only accessible
by boat. When the Aswan Dam was built, a construction project was
started that protected the temple from the waters and the broad
avenues and vast pillars can be accessed by foot now. 

One of the largest temple complexes in Egypt, and one of the more iconic
because of the appearance of its large columns in multiple films, is the
Temple of Karnak. Each Pharaoh added to this temple and the far end was
the inner sanctum of Amun Ra, principle god. This particular image is
by Eduard Hildebrandt from 1852 and was painted with watercolors and gouache.
(Follow the link above to see it in larger format.)

I have to get going and start my busy day, so that ends this small tour of Egypt. Have a wonderful Wednesday and see you tomorrow!

Isn't This Much Fun Illegal?

I've mentioned before that I love meeting keyboard friends in real life. Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet and spend several hours with the TOTALLY FABULOUS Huinare and I had a really good time. We met shortly after noon at a local coffeehouse and immediately started a road trip of missing turnoffs and going around a few blocks to get oriented correctly again. It was going to be a theme for most of the drive to the museum, but it was OK. The weather was beautiful, the neighborhood was very pretty, and each second try resulted in success.

Directional accuracy was strained a bit in the beginning. 

Finally arriving at the museum and getting our entry tickets scanned and our "They're OK, they paid the proper bribe to the gatekeepers" bracelets fastened around our wrists, we entered to attempt the search for dinosaurs. The gatekeeper had told us we could take the elevator or the stairs. We tried the stairs. Bad idea.

After reversing our steps, approaching the gate keeper again (at which time I realized I had dropped half of our tickets and was hoping that he had them at his little stand - fortunately he did and we were back in business), we tried the elevator with greater success. Dinos awaited.

Dino skeltons - more than fifty of them - were displayed along with information
about each individual dino type. It was really interesting to see the large
variety in types and the differences over time. 

The exhibit was really cool - lots of skeletons of dinos I had never heard of before with wicked-sharp teeth and coming in sizes ranging from a toy poodle to mind-boggling humongous. All of the latest technologies were in place including these really awesome pull-up computer screens that you could direct at some of the skeletons to see what the dino might have looked like with flesh and blood. Really very cool animation.

The exhibit wasn't crowded - our time frame was just perfect with gaggles of children leaving the museum just as we were entering it. That allowed us to really spend our time with the critters and indulge discussions about limb rotation, possible food sources, and teeth - lots of varied and very strange teeth.

Ghost Ranch NM is a stunning area in the north-central part of the
state. I took a Navajo weaving course over a week here many yers
ago and have visited the area periodically over the years since. You
may know it as one of the areas where Georgia O'Keeffe produced many
of her iconic art pieces. 

After the dinos, we went upstairs to the Omnitheatre to see "Dinos Alive" which was interesting in its own right, although not one of the best Omnitheatre films I've ever seen. Still, it was fun to watch the dino re-inactments as well as to see the Gobi Desert and a place where I've actually spent time - Ghost Ranch in north-central New Mexico.

Georgia O-Keeffe celebrated the beauty of New Mexico in brilliant color
and wonderful shapes. She lived at Ghost Ranch for many years. 

We then wandered the gift shop, falling in love with several of the small, robotic toys they had available, but we were good and bought nothing. Hitting return traffic at 4:30 pm made a 20 minute drive turn into an hour-long drive, but by 5:30 I returned Huin to where we had met and after fond farewells, continued on to fight the insane traffic back home. I was home just in time to toss the pan with my chicken into the oven and turn on the clothes dryer for my final load of laundry. By the time the chicken was finished baking, DH had just returned home and we settled for a relaxing evening. It was a wonderful day.

I really hate driving in rush hour traffic, but there was no avoiding it
yesterday. I actually got home just in time, though, and everything I needed
to get completed was done by day's end. 

Why can't all of my days be this fun? "Oh! Wait! I know the answer to this," she said, bouncing up and down in her seat and waving her arm in the air. "If you didn't have bad days and horrid days, you'd never be able to write anything with angst!" Oh....that's probably right.

"Oh! I know the answer! Pick me! Pick me! "

Happy Thursday to you all!

80% Should be Good - Right?

Eighty percent accomplished should be a positive thing, right? But 80% accomplished on my day off means some things just didn't happen and that's actually a problem. I had a long list of things that I had to get done on my day off - lots of fiction to write, a diary entry to fill in and post, and some beta work for a friend. I got the fiction written, edited, edited again and finally fine tuned and posted. So "Yeah Me!", one thing went well. But those two items - a drabble and a 550 word smippet, ended up taking most of the day. I didn't get to the monthly diary entry, and I didn't get to my beta work for my friend. I guess I'm a poor friend after all!

Perhaps I should have shifted my schedule around and done the
beta work first. But then the two fics wouldn't have happened. I have
to grab the writing muse by the tail as she whips past me. 

Tonight I'm determined to get that beta work done. The diary can wait until this weekend - it's already late anyway. But I hate to let a friend down and I know that I won't be able to get another chapter done for her until after I've returned from Milwaukee next month. So I owe her some of my time. "Tonight, tonight." as Maria sings in "West Side Story".

West Wide Story is NOT my favorite musical play of all time. It doesn't
even crack my top ten. But the song seemed appropriate here...

On the home front, the sale of my FIL's house is scheduled for tomorrow morning. I'm thrilled that we'll finally be rid of it. I brought the cleaning supplies and a card table home from there yesterday late, and that's the end of it. We'll take meter readings of the gas and electric as we go home from work tonight, and sign a bunch of papers tomorrow (actually, DH will be signing, I will only be the chauffeur and witness to all of the hoopla). Then our lives will be our own once more and I'll never have to see the inside of that house again! Happy, happy me!

Not only our house sold, but my sister-in-law's home directly across
the street has also been sold within the past two weeks. The family
is leaving their long-time neighborhood. 

I'm telling all of you this because I'm not sure how much of a blog post I'll be able to do tomorrow. I'll do something, but it may very well be stressed out animals or something similar because I'll have too many things to think about and a very tight time schedule.

The Mayo Clinic is now a huge complex of hospitals, labs and testing
centers. Quite the step up for two doctors who started their practice in
a small Midwestern town out of a house. 

So, today Chickie is at Mayo Clinic for her annual checkout. She's got this chronic, rare disease thing that gets her entered into the hallowed halls of the Clinic and affords her the opportunity to see lots of Department Heads who look at her records and try to look wise. Since she's been suffering more than usual distress with her sinuses and has had a lot of balance issues as a result, I'm sure that will be one more thing they will "Hmmmm" about as they look at her this year.

Chickie is gallivanting around the Mayo Clinic today. She usually treats
herself and Chickiemama to a steak for lunch at a nearby cafe. Good
luck with all of the tests, etc and I'll see you on Friday, Chickie! 

So while Chickie and Chickiemama are gallivanting through the clinics and labs of Mayo, I'll be holding down the fort with my Manager at the shop. That means I'll be working my tail off today since he usually is more effective working in the back on purchase orders or in the warehouse checking stock. I only call him out to the sales floor if I get flooded with too many customers and can't keep up easily. Days spent working with him always wear me out.

Have a totally fabulous Thursday!