Late today!

Sorry I was late posting today. I got my boobs squashed this morning (hate that, but know it's a good thing) and then went shopping, had lunch with my friend, went to Wal Mart and then came home and did some finance stuff with the business...

I'm finding that even though I'm now working from home I'm having less time to get everything accomplished. It's started to make me feel a little panicked. I had such a wonderful work day on Monday but then things went screwy with the kids and one of the groups I'm working with and it seems like nothing else has managed to fall into place.

So, I'll play this evening and then go to bed early and read some of my really good book (review will be forthcoming within the week) and hopefully relax so that tomorrow is productive...and that little creativity bug can start to come out and peek around and see what it wants to talk about and do--quilting, sewing, etc.

I can feel it...

...the creativity that I want to come out...I can feel it burgeoning there on the surface of my brain. It is straining, but it is telling me there's entirely too much stress in the way to come out. I almost feel like I did back in the spring of 2002 when I'd been at my first "real" job for about 4 months, spring has dawned gloriously with sunshine and buds and green, green grass. I had one puny window in my office that taunted me with azaleas in bloom...all I wanted to do was be outside playing and rolling in the grass, but instead I had to deal with this jerk of a boss who made me feel so low. The play I craved was my way of dealing with that jerk, but he was preventing me from being able to play because I was so miserably in his power.

In fact, one of the reasons I was looking so forward to resigning my position at USM was that I would have more time to be creative and have fun. That the projects I'd be working on would inspire me to be a better quilter and mother and wife and friend.

What I kind of forgot about is that indeed I will be at that place, but not before February 12th. See the 12th is when the last project I'm working on for USM is due. And then I won't have to spend any more mornings like today sitting in a meeting for 2.5 hours listening to people brainstorm how to make their project better all the while ignoring that they have a 17 page draft in front of them that is a really good start and a deadline looming its ugly head just around the corner. I will be happy to be rid of them, their annoying behaviors and the stress that they pile up on me. I will be happy to be able to let that litte creative bug come out and see what stories I can tell...I have so many piled up in there. But the waiting and the stress and the irritation with everything else makes it hard not to be a little bitter.

For the record, I had a wonderful productive day yesterday...it's today that's left me gloomy.

One of those Questionaires...

I thought I'd do the answers to the questionnaire that my friend Rose sent me...Feel free to comment on new things you learn about me!

1. What is your occupation? Consulatnt
2. What color are your socks right now? Blue
3. What are you listening to right now? Kid Rock (it's a new thing)
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Oat Meal Squares Cereal
5. Can you drive a stick shift? YES
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Periwinkle
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Diann Loper
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? but of course!
9. How old are you today? 37
10. Favorite drink? Diet Dr. Pepper
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? College Football, especially if the Aggies are playing
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Regularly
13. Pets? cats, Oliver and Lochi
14. Favorite food? Probably Italian, but whatever is on special at 206 Front Street
15. What was the last movie you watched? Austin Powers (I had to because of the kids!)
16. Favorite day of the year? My birthday!
17. What do you do to vent anger? clean
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Light Bright
19. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall
20. Hugs or kisses? Hugs, unless you mean the candy in which I love either but can't eat them
21. Cherries or blueberries? Cherries
22. Do you want your friends to email you back? Absolutely
25. Living arrangements? Old house with the family--2 15 year olds are difficult roommates...but we're coping
26. When was the last time you cried? Can't really remember. Since the hormones have been regulated, I haven't really cried that much...
27. What is on the floor of your closet? shoes
29. What did you do last night? went to dinner with David, drank some wine, played nintendo and went to bed early
30. Favorite smells? roses
31. What inspires you? setting a good example for my kids
32. What are you afraid of? spiders falling in my hair!
33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese
34. Favorite dog breed? don't really like dogs
35. Number of keys on your key ring? 4
36. How many years at your current job? 2 weeks!
37. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
38. How many States have you lived in? 3
39. Favorite holidays? Christmas and 4th of July
40. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? No

It's Friday...

But it feels like every other day with that added anticipation of a date with my hubby.

Working from home has some definite benefits. I can wear stretchy pants, t-shirts, and pony tails most days. I even look forward to putting on "real" clothes when I do have a meeting or lunch planned. I can listen to my music really loud, dance, sing, and otherwise enjoy myself--yes, while I'm working. I can take breaks when I need to to do important things like laundry, or start dinner. I can even sew when I'm in a particularly contemplative mood. I love having all my windows open letting in the sun. I can adjust the temperature so that I'm not freezing or sweating. My kitties are around me all day and they charm me with their cuteness on an hourly basis. I don't have to answer the "front office phones"...basically I'm having a ball and know that I made the correct decision in deciding to work from home.

But then there are other issues...like setting up the office was expensive and time consuming. I spent all of a weekend shopping for and buying furniture, computer equipment, etc. Then there was the actual seeting up of all that beautiful equipment and furniture which took another couple of days--all the while I have projects piling up with deadlines looming. But what's gotten me recently is that, well, if the computer stops working properly, I'm the one in charge of it...and while I'm getting the basics of accounting despite not being an accountant, I don't think I can get the basics of why my laptop refuses to connect to the internet despite the fact that it shows that it's connected, receiving signals, etc...or why it'll do it for 5 minutes and then quit for good. That's annoying because before I could have just called Justin and he would have showed up eventually to fix my problem. But now, I'm Justin and I don't have a clue!

But I do love Friday because after today I can relax on Sat. and Sun. and I get to go out and have a very nice dinner and some wine with my hubby AND come home to an empty house since the kiddos are spending the evening with a friend...and since we do have a computer that is connected to the land-line, I'll be ok...there's interenet access at least, even if I do have to fight David for it :)

Betty Asked...

And I will answer...

She asked in her comment to yesterday's blog: "Merle used to sing to you???"

And really, if you know my daddy, this IS a pretty funny thought. But yes, he used to sing to me every single morning. The following tune...

"get out of that bed and wash your face and hands, toodaloodaloodalooo!"

The verse could be repeated over and over again depending on how much of a response he was getting from me and almost always ended with a rapid flipping on and off of the light.

Daddy, as far as I know, sung under no other circumstance, except for two little ditties--one: "trailers for sale or rent" and another that you got something for a dollar...I can't remember the exact words. Anyway, one Christmas at his Sunday School party one particularly festive class member thought it would be really fun if we sang the 12 days of Christmas with groups drawing their day. My dad, me and Monica Allen's dad picked the "five golden rings." It was so horrible and sad and embarrassing, and I wanted them to stop so badly but no one else seemed to realize that my dad and Monica's dad couldn't find the tune if you gave them a map, tied a rope around their neck and drug them to it.

So, yes, imagine THIS person singing to you a song he made up with the added light show to boot--when you're NOT a morning person :)

A Morning Person I am Not

I have never been a morning person. I hate waking up. I love being warm in the covers with my kitty next to me purring. The whole thought of having to dress for a day of dealing with people, is overwhelming first thing in the morning.

This was so even when I was a child. I remember my mothering having to come wake me up over and over again. When I was really little--first or second grade--I would fall asleep sitting up in front of my dresser. Moving, much less dressing, was no fun.

My dad would always sing to me in the morning. I guess this was his way of overcoming my grumpiness, which was really bad. I hated getting up, I hated the whole process of having to put on makeup and fix my hair, though I would do it anyway--to the extreme so it appears from my pictures.

As an adult I still hate getting up in the mornings. I would rather take hours to get ready to deal with people, eat my breakfast, check my e-mail, catch up on the news, but I'm definitely NOT going to take those hours away from my sleep! Even now I wake up at 7am on weekdays and sleep until 10 or so on weekends.

But never have I done something really stupid in the mornings until today. I was putting lotion on my face--the closest approximation to makeup I wear these days--and had just taken my hair out of its bun that I sleep in when I remembered that my eyes were really sticky and puffy so I grabbed what I thought were my allergy eye drops only to question why it was so slow dripping from the stopper and then when it touched my eye I started screaming because I burned so badly! Normally the eye drops sting a bit but they don't feel like I've got a searing burn on my eye ball--and that's when I realized I had picked up the bottle of acne medication--salicylic acid to be exact. In the panic of "oh my god what do I do it burns so bad I'm going to die" I remembered that you're supposed to rinse your eyes really well when you get something in them, so I splashed and splashed my eyes for a good 5 minutes. I'm happy to report that besides it being a little red and sore, my eye is doing well.

Mornings and me: like oil and water!

Lochi, the Quilting Kitty

A few years ago for Christmas, David bought me a book titled Cats who Quilt by Judy Heim and Irina Borisova I highly recommend this book for any quilter who loves cats. It's so funny, even if you don't have a cat who quilts...but if you DO have a cat who quilts it's simply hilarious.

Just a few days after I brought Lochi home from, this is where she could be found:

She loved it when I was cutting fabric and would throw away the strips into the trash can under my table. At one point, she was carrying the strips of fabric from my trash can to this basket so that everything could be in the right place. She still naps in this basket if I'm sewing.

Just a little later, Lochi is still demonstrating her love of quilts in this picture. Here I titled her the Princess of Quilts for obvious reasons.

In this picture it isn't obvious if she found the pea or not, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Then today after sitting on the back of one of my chairs, she gleefully realized that the quilt hoop was just an easy step away and she has now ensconsed herself in the hammock that is a Katrina remembrance quilt (just something simple for me). Nevertheless, I was reminded why I put up the quilting frame...definitely a kitty with a passion for quilting!

And why I named a quilt after her (I'm taking this top this week to the quilter; I completed it a couple of years ago).

Book Review: The Constant Princess by Phillipa Gregory

The Constant Princess is about King Henry VIII’s first wife Katherine of Aragon, mostly before they get married. She is betrothed to Henry’s older brother Arthur at the age of three and grew up her entire life knowing that she would someday be the queen of England. Her first marriage gets off to a rocky start, but eventually she and Arthur learn to love one another and have a rather passionate four months together before he dies. It is at this point that Katherine’s fate is undecided. She is the right political match for Henry but she’s 6 years his senior, and since he’s only 11 at the time that’s a big deal. Henry VII, Henry VIII’s father, takes a liking to Katherine and proposes marriage to her after his wife Elizabeth dies in childbirth. Katherine at first accepts but then realizes that her power would be minimal with such a strong king and decides to wait for Henry to figure out that they should be married. Of course he does, they are betrothed, but Henry VII doesn’t make life easy for Katherine, keeping her in poverty by refusing her allowance and making life otherwise miserable for her. He soon dies, though, leaving Henry free to choose his wife, so he chooses Katherine. The story ends with Katherine’s triumphant victory over the Scots through a battle that ended in King James’s death.

While I really enjoyed the first half of this book, the middle and latter half really brought me down. Katherine suffered the plight of so many other of Gregory’s heroines: power greed. Gregory paints such a power hungry picture of Katherine that she ceases to be a “real” character for me and moves into the archetype that she created with Anne Boleyn. And while I don’t doubt that someone of Katherine’s station has to be power hungry, the overt manipulations, the decisions, the plotting, all get old after a couple hundred pages. And the epiphany on the battle field where Katherine realizes that if she were to lay waste to Scotland that she would be perpetuating her mother’s wrongs, fell flat for me. I guess Katherine had grown and matured by that point, but the switch was so abrupt that it felt lacking in sincerity.

So, while I would recommend this book to lovers of Gregory’s work, especially the Tudor era novels, I would recommend those who want a less stock portrayal of Katherine to steer clear of it. I will read her next book, the Boleyn Inheritance, because I like her story telling and can tolerate her women when they get greedy, but I would love a more holistic portrayal of the life and times of the Henry VIII court that what was found in the Queen’s Fool.

A Whirlwind Ensues

I hope all my family in Texas is doing ok with all the crazy weather out there. I don't miss ice storms that's for sure. I remember getting out of New Orleans from our honeymoon and driving through miserable rain all the way home and then waking up the next morning with ice on our windows. I couldn't make it to Christmas at my Aunt Betty's house because we couldn't drive anywhere. I don't miss the winter weather from Kentucky and am happy to be in South Mississippi where people get in a frenzy when the temps drop below 35 (of course these's the pesky hurricanes, but luckily we don't get those very often!).

Speaking of frenzies, I've been in one myself getting my office set up and unpacking everything while still trying to make progress on all these projects I have going. I hope to have some pictures of my new desk when I get everything set up. I've bought an ergonomic keyboard and am basically having to relearn to type which is frustrating considering that I'm a pretty good typist. I'm predicting that things will calm down next week sometime!

Book Club Book Review: Sorrow of Archaeology by Russell Martin

The Sorrow of Archaeology is about dealing with a debilitating disease while life goes on around you. Sarah has multiple sclerosis and has to address the issues of losing her ability to work, her ability to be a mate to her husband, and her ability to care for herself. Her husband Harry is struggling with all of these things, too, and the relationship dynamic is the center of this moving story.

Structured in a series of vignettes focusing on three areas of their lives, The Sorrow of Archaeology does a nice job of showing how a once healthy person (and relationship) changes in the face of disease. It is sad to watch Sarah blame herself for the failing of her marriage, while her husband, who isn’t the best of communicators, tries to cope but isn’t able to do so very well.

I liked the structure of the novel. I thought the comparisons between the different phases of Sarah’s life were very interesting. The sense of knowing a geographical place and living best within it was also a strong point of the novel. I did find some of the language to be a little stilted and there were mechanical/typographical errors that should have been caught in the editing phase. Overall it was a good book and a quick read.

My Stitching Treasures

Cross stitch on 40 count linen with silk thread, beads, buttons and charms. Designed to go on a box, but I'll simply frame it and hang it in my sewing room.

Book Review: A Rose for the Crown

A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith is one of those books that kept being recommended to me and I kept thinking “I’m just not sure I’m going to like it all that much because it sounds like a tawdry romance story.” I mean any story that is about a king and his mistress is all about sex right?

Well, not necessarily. This book is actually a very good historical romance. It deals with issues of class, forbidden love, politics, women’s rights/plight, geography, and growing up. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Though it is a big book it only took me a little over a week to complete, and I looked forward to every reading—in fact, I stole a few from my otherwise insanely busy schedule of late.

The basic story line follows Katherine Haute as she changes from a farmer’s daughter to the mother of the king’s son and daughter. She is sent to a cousin’s to be a companion to his daughter and there is educated and introduced to the finer things that wealth can buy while comparing those to the love she misses from her family. After she is married to man much older than her, she realizes that she can make the best for herself and does so in the few short years they are married.

He dies, though, and she is once again free. This time she chooses her mate, a choice that is not necessarily a good one for her, but allows her the freedom to embark on a love relationship with then King Edward’s brother, Richard (soon to be King Richard III). After Richard marries, however, he ends the relationship with Kate, but provides a life for their children at court.

A few themes I found really interesting about the book were the absolute lack of choice in life. Marriage was for merging of property and politics and while you could try to make the best of it, it was still tough. Another thing I found interesting was the definition of a “great” distance. The house that Kate moves to is only 10 miles from her childhood home, and yet she could only go home on very special occasions and then it was a considerable journey with the poor roads and means of transportation.

I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to the next production by Smith.

What kind of entrepreneur...

...sleeps until 10am?

Answer: A very tired one!

I had decided last night before going to bed that I would sleep late this morning, take the day off to quilt since I haven't been able to do that in a long, long time (I used to call them mental health days...), but I was thinking 8:30 or so...when I popped my head out of the covers and saw it was 9:45, I laughed out loud...guess I was tireder than I thought.

Happy new job to me! I think I'm going to really like it. Yesterday was great with meetings all day, and I do have lots of project to attend to, but nothing that will go sour by tomorrow.

To teach an old dog new tricks...

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I wonder what they think about a young-ish cat? I've never heard a saying like that...

Cats are really funny creatures. They are the most social animals, but they certainly don't act like it if they can help it. They need companionship and attention, though, and will often go crazy trying to get it. They like routines and won't change unless forced to--you can rely on a cat to remind you at the precise moment every day when you're supposed to feed it. And they are really smart, at least some of them are. (I do have one that's rather dumb...or lazy or something like that). But they can learn and will start to do stuff new if you give them a chance and keep them stimulated.

Last month when we went on our trip we boarded the cats. I was really worried about boarding Lochi because she is more set in her routine and she really likes to run around...and I mean run like a motorcycle, rip roaring around the house. She also isn't very keen on strangers and it takes her a very long time to like someone. Case in point--she has just within the year decided David was safe enough to pet her, and she's lived with us for three.

Anyway, the cats did fine at the "boarding house" and came home healthy if a little weak from sitting in a cage for days (which they quickly got over by jumping around on their favorite furniture). But Lochi, who has maybe meowed voluntarily three times in her life before this trip, meows all the time now. She walks into a room and says "me-ow, me-ow, me-ow." And here is where I wish I had a tape of her doing this because it's so funny. It's like she's learned to meow without having the meowing language so her meows sound "accented" and very precise. In the morning when she jumps on me to wake me up, she says "meow." When I get out of the shower, she's waiting on me with a fresh, loud "meow" (clearly meaning "don't you know that's WET? ICKY!") It's a hoot.

Sugar Free...1/2 Year

It's been a really hard 6 months without sugar. Sometimes I mourn for it, but then I think about where it's gotten me (or more precisely stated, where I got myself through consumption of the grainy white substance) and I know that I'm better off without it...but that doesn't always help when I'm feeling a huge craving for a big old piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Or when I'm traveling and all the stores seem to have is snickers bars and milky ways. Or when I'm celebrating my self-employment and I can't indulge in the caramel turtle cheesecake.

It's hard.

But it's also really really good...and this is where I try to rewire my brain when it gets to feeling deprived. I've lost 20 pounds since June. Most of it without even really focusing on the other kinds of food I'm eating. I'm walking 2.5 miles a day now and will continue to do that until I am ready to move up the 3 miles a day, and so on. As soon as things settle down (and they will within the week) I'm going to be eating on the "Dr. Phil" plan, which is really just eating healthily, but he throws in the necessary psychological tools to help you be successful at losing weight.

So, really it is good that I'm not eating sugar. I'm glad because I know that sugar has been the thing that sidetracked me all the other times I tried to lose weight. I know I'm not going to go on a binge that last for months because I have come to realize that I simply can't...

But it's not easy and it's a daily battle--that's been worse since the holidays--that I'm fighting. I don't know if it'll get easier or not, but I do know I'm not going to give up!

Before and After the Snow

The cathedral started by Archbishop Lamy when Santa Fe was originally declared a diocese--before and after the snow.

Palo Duro Canyon

The Palo Duro Canyon is about 20 miles south of Amarillo, TX. It is the second largest canyon in the United States. It was a beautiful, but windy, day when we were there.

Three Generations

Although a fairly decent tequila, the three generations I'm referring to is my grandmother, me and my daughters. Taken Christmas Eve, 2006. (and yes, I realize that I've skipped the generation that is my dad, but since he's not in the picture and four generations isn't a fairly decent tequila...)

More photos later this week...

Happy Birthday Alyssa and Elizabeth

I hope turning 15 is as wonderful for you as it can be...

To the rest of my loyal readers...I've been out of computer contact for 10 long days and today the internet at work wasn't working...I've been assured it will be tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have some lovely pictures from vacation to entertain.