So now what do I do?

The big push at Hyphenated Corp. is over. If it's going out this year, it's at Manufacturing by now. Today I cleaned up the administrative details from the two-volume book and four CDs I did this week, and then took a bit of sick time to try to recover from the cold which hit me Wednesday night.

I am anxious, though, about what I will do from now on. What if they fire me because there isn't any work for me? That may be an irrational fear, but it's how my mind works.

Oh, and to Becs: if you can't bitch, whine, moan & worry in your blog, where can you do it?

I hab a code id by dose

Plus sneezing, an itchy face and itchy eyeballs. Yesterday, I worked nine hours, fought my way home, took two benadryl, had a minty bath, took four more benadryl and went to bed. I woke up around 11 in mid-asthma attack (my first in over two years) and eventually went back to bed clutching my inhaler like a teddy bear.

This morning, I got up early, went to Giant Eagle and picked up our lunch, had a terrible time checking out and went to work. Lunch went over well. I received thank-you e-mails from the women on the team, and Blondezilla asked if I minded if she made a sandwich. Mind you, she asked with her mouth full of Swiss cheese from the tray, but she did ask.

My new book was built, and next year, it will not be a new book, so if I am still at Hyphenated Corp, it will be easier. Soon I will find out what jurisdiction(s) will be my responsibility in 2008, and what the job of team librarian entails.

Right now, I want another bath and another early bedtime.

Easy gift-giving

Apparently, my team doesn't do any sort of present exchange for the holiday season. I decided that as I don't know anyone that well, I'm not going to even try for minigifts this year.

Instead, since tomorrow is the big "Everything has to be to Manufacturing" day, I am bringing a "picnic lunch" consisting of a meat & cheese tray, a veggie tray, pasta salad and cookies. Nobody has to go out and get lunch or worry about packing, they can all just nibble when they have a moment for a break.

Maybe next year I will know everyone better and feel comfortable picking out minigifts, but this year, I'm doing it the easy way.

Fragments

I have moved my Paypal and (hopefully) my direct deposit to my new checking account at my credit union. The minute I'm sure my paycheck is going into the new account and that all outstanding checks have cleared, I'm closing the account with Big Box Bank and saying good riddance.

When I told Mom about yesterday's irritation with Blondezilla and the reason for the collection, she said, "Get me an address. I'm going to mail that family a contribution of my own." Sometimes I just love her so much I could burst.

The L'Hermittes is still active. I frequently feel as if someone injected large amounts of a carbonated beverage under my skin and I don't enjoy it.

Bigfoot's tail continues to get furrier and appears to be fully healed. One of these days, I will forgive him for scaring me half to death.

Given the amount of work involved with the new book, I'm really glad the other one got built last Wednesday. Still, having a three-day weekend made me long for a week off instead of re-energizing me.

Damn, my life is boring--thanks to the two or three people who made it this far.

General growliness

I don't mind when the senior editor check on my book turns up stuff I've missed--that's what it's for. I do mind, rather fervently, when people then check on me all damn day to see if I've fixed it yet!

A very sad thing happened right before Thanksgiving. One of the cleaners who worked in our office building was hit by a car and is not expected to live. She has five children between the ages of one and fifteen, and so there was a drive posted to buy grocery store gift cards for the family. I contributed the amount I had set aside to buy BPAL perfumes. I figure that was money that's better spent as a contribution, and I can still save up and get my goodies later. Today, Blondezilla came and offered me my check back, announcing that I gave too much because most people just contributed fifteen or twenty dollars. I turned her down politely, but after she left, I couldn't help but seethe. What difference does it make what other people give? My contribution was what I could afford and wanted to give.

Grrr.

Profundity

This was going to be a thoughtful Sunday night post about something philosophical.

Then I got on the scale.

I've lost one hundred fifty pounds since July 6th, 2006.

I'm too giddy to be philosophical.

*squeeeeeeeee*

So this is Christmas...

That's one of the few John Lennon songs I actually like. Jimmy Buffett's version has been playing as I de-filthify Casa de Jammies in preparation for a decorating orgy tomorrow. I haven't been a Christian for a long time, in fact I haven't been anything religious for a long time. But I like the idea that once a year, it's okay to have silly, gaudy decorations all over your house, and to spend your time thinking about what you can give to others to make their faces light up, and to celebrate that yes, it's the darkest time of the year, but hey, the sun's gonna come back.

*grin* Given that I just had sausage gravy for lunch, maybe what I'm really celebrating is Hogswatch. That's okay too.

Happy holidays, my friends, whatever you may or may not celebrate, I promise that the sun will come back.

Didn't even buy anything and I got stuff!

That's the best kind of Black Friday. *grin* Several packages arrived today and the poor sub mail carrier staggered down my driveway under the load. Alessia the lovely returned some books, my friend Mickey Mouse sent my Christmas pressies early, my final package from two group orders with Lisabella arrived, and my box from Julphia arrived.

Thanks to an embarrassing incident two years ago, I know not to post anything I bought as a Christmas present in my journal. However, I will say that Megan was over-generous as always with the samples, and I've fallen absolutely in love with two of the scents and very much in like with a third.

Also, in the box from Lisabella was the second ingredient I've been waiting for in order to do more mad-scientisty things, so that's on the agenda for tonight. I wonder which dog I should re-name Igor?

Mad Scientist time

Lately, I've been playing around with making my own sugar scrubs. At first, I was just taking bath creams from various e-tailers and blending them with sugar. However, I've had two blocks of Lush shower jellies in my refrigerator for a year now, because while I love the scents, I don't like the formula. Using the equivalent of Jell-O in the shower just seems wrong, plus they tend to squidge out of my hands and fall down the drain before I get any use out of them!

Last weekend, I took my Champagne Snow Showers jelly out of the fridge and put it in a bowl, started up the hand mixer, and kept adding sugar until I had a good scrubby consistency. I wound up with enough sugar scrub to share with Maresche and KellyGirl when we met for lunch last Saturday. Then I received a gift from my forum friend Mouse of a cauldron (Halloween special) of Isle of Eden's R.I.P. This product is a sugar scrub which is supposed to smell like lavender & mint, but in this particular one, all I could smell was lavender. Given my success with the CSS jelly, I decided to mix Lush's sadly (and hopefully temporarily!) discontinued Deep Sleep Jelly with the R.I.P. and some more sugar.

That one was even better than the CSS one, probably because Isle of Eden's sugar scrubs have a bath cream base. Again, I wound up with a huge amount of scrub, and so I took some to work and shared it with Vintage Girl and the co-worker who does our book covers. I don't know about Cover Girl, but Vintage Girl said to me on Wednesday that she had showered with the scrub that morning and that not only did the lavender calm her down at what is a very stressful time of year for all of us, but that she wondered how she had lived all of her life without the wondrousness that is sugar scrubs! *grin*

I have more CSS to use up, and another Isle of Eden Halloween-only scrub in black currant on the way, and I plan to blend those two. One note on that and on noses--to me, the IoE scent is a perfect match for Lush's Comforter bubble bar. Maresche agreed with me, and accepted a decant of the bath cream. Her husband, however, could only smell cookies! Everyone's nose is always so different.

Ah, well, as MamaFlannelJammies always says, "If we all liked the same things, there would be a world-wide haggis shortage!"

D'oh!

No wonder I've been whacking nerves--I just discovered my auto-injector was set at 10mm instead of the recommended 6mm. That means I've been driving the needle in nearly twice as far as it should go. That's definitely one for the "dumb things I've done" file.

On the other hand, I built one of my books eight days early today, and added a form and fixed some of the references in my other one. Plus I got a lovely surprise in the form of a Thanksgiving card from a friend, saying she was thankful to have gotten to know me. *blush* And she sent chocolate, too!

Speaking of Turkey Day, it looks like NE Ohio is in for some very nasty weather tomorrow, and I've decided I don't want to be northbound on I-71, in the dark, with the semis, driving through freezing rain. So I've informed my sister-in-law that I won't be there, and instead I am planning to go get my five hours for Bosstopus out of the way. After that, I will have a three-day weekend, in which I shall alternate being a complete slug and cleaning Casa de Jammies. My kind of holiday. *grin*

Gossip central

Goldilocks called me at work today to tell me that Snoopy quit. Apparently, he continued to call her at home on the weekends after she'd asked him not to. Finally, she had Vegan Lawyer talk to him, and he just turned in his keys and walked out.

It's going to be a scramble around there until VL hires a new law clerk.

Sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss.

My team coordinator started the senior editor review of one of my books today, and discovered something I was too new to know. Specifically, the new book I'm working on with Enigman is too long for one volume, and has to be split into two. To judge from the groans of sympathy when I mention to someone that I'm doing a new book, and the gasps of horror when ReunionGal said that the book had to be split, I should be terrified and/or irritated by the whole process.

Instead, I'm excited by learning new stuff, and by the responsibility of a whole brand new book all to myself. Maybe I'll feel differently the next time I'm assigned a new book, but right now, I'm thrilled.

Carelessness = OUCH!

I was talking on the phone to Captain Crossword, who had Annabel on his other phone, so that we could coordinate the signups for shore excursions when we take our family cruise next month. I'm actually doing one thing by myself, which I think is sort of brave of me. Anyway, I was yakking away and went to do my shot while I was talking. CC handed me off to Mom for a minute, and while I was talking to her, I hit the button on my auto-injector and apparently slammed the needle right into a nerve.

There's a line of pain running right down to my fingertips at the moment, and I am one sorry Jammies.

New rule: even though you've done it close to a thousand times before, don't multitask while you're doing your injection.

Ow.

I just hurt myself laughing

Thanks to Zayrina, who found this.

Yum!

My wonderful Saturday started with me sleeping in until 6:45, which was extremely good for me. Then I put in my time at Mom's office, and I was appalled to discover that where Vegan Lawyer has all the 2008 law books from Hyphenated Corp, Mom's are all from our biggest competitor! Shame on you, Bosstopus!

After work, I had a wonderful lunch with Maresche and KellyGirl at The Melting Pot. We had cheddar/beer/garlic/mustard fondue to start, then salads, then chicken breast strips in coq au vin broth. Everything was perfectly yummy. We were all too full to try the desserts, but I think it's probably worth a visit just for the chocolate fondue someday.

After lunch, Maresche headed home because she had a beastly headache turning into a migraine, and KellyGirl and I went over to Lush Beachwood. I was fairly restrained and bought some Christmas presents and a few things for me.

Speaking of presents, not only am I almost done with my Christmas shopping, but I have found birthday presents for Mallie, Jeeves and my mother. As soon as I have the money to buy them, I'll be all set. *grin*

So many books, so little time

is no longer an amusing bumper sticker but the stressful reality of my life. My team has around fifty books to build by November 29th, which is the last day to send a book to manufacturing. Two of those are mine--one easy, one not. The easy one is hanging out waiting for its time to come around, and the not-easy one bit me today when I picked up printout from the copier in the mailroom. It's 2,016 pages, and I had to print two hard copies, one for each editor. Lucky Enigman, my attorney editor on this one, gets to send the copies out to the authors.

At Hyphenated Corp, we have a new guy in the mailroom who is really nice, and some office politics in which I am tangentially embroiled, which is not nice. Mindful of the fact that this is public, I am not going to say anything beyond, "BLEAH."

Speaking of public, the latest issue of "Momentum," fka "Inside MS," recommends that you not have a blog at all in case someone from your job finds it and you get fired for having MS. Erm. Too late for me to not have a blog, and I'm not going to stop posting in it just because of paranoia. Besides, if you do the MS Walk, your name is up on their website with a fundraising page, so why worry about a blog?

Besides, you all know that it's my work persona that is the fake, and Jammies is the real person. ;)

More than anything else,

I want to crawl back into bed and stay there. Not because of work, that's going fairly well right now, if a bit frustrating. No, it's because the L'Hermittes is really acting up. I never know when this happens if it qualifies as a full-blown MS exacerbation, and I'm afraid to ask my neuro in case I wind up with an IV full of solumedrol in my arm for the next three days. But the tingling drives me crazy, especially when it's in my face. It's everywhere else, too, but the face is what makes me want to go back to bed and spend as much time as possible sound asleep.

Bleah. I hate my retarded white cells.

Higgledy-piggledy

A very apt description for the state of my breezeway at the moment. The breezeway is full of houseplants, and there are still four in the garage and one in the foyer. It looks as if the big jade will survive, but it is so very rootbound that I am going to have to wait until next spring to cut it out of its planter and repot it. Or, I may wait until JammiesFest and have someone help me (please note that I am NOT naming any names, here, Jay, Rob).

I love the way the breezeway looks when it's stuffed full of healthy houseplants. However, I do need to rearrange a few things so there is at least a pass-through from the garage to the house as well as a place for me to sit and watch the world go by. I've been invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Pickypants Manor, but I have Black Friday all to my lonesome, and I will either sit like a leaden lump in front of the computer, sleep the day away, or possibly peel the 1970s Chinese restaurant red & gold foil wallpaper off the foyer walls. Watch this space for exciting developments!

(or not, it just depends)

A new family member

The Pickypants family has a dog now! He's an American bulldog, adult, and a rescue. I shall be meeting him on Thanksgiving. He sounds like an absolute cutie, although my sister-in-law says he's got a lot in common with Marley from "Marley and Me." I told her that even Bigfoot, who sets the standard for wonderful dogs, has his Marley moments.

Every boy should have a dog, so now my nephews have one. For that matter, every dog should have a boy, and now Ralph has two!

I believe in the hereafter

...as in walking into a room and thinking, "What am I here after?"

I had a thought today for a meaningful blog entry, and by the time I got home, changed, tried on some clothes that don't quite fit yet, I'd forgotten what it was. I'm sure the poor little thought was lonely, up in my empty head, and ran off to find some friends. If it comes home, I'll post it.

Another wild night

It's possible I've killed my venerable 25-year old jade plant by not getting it inside fast enough. I hope that's not the case, but we shall have to see. The breezeway is returning to its usual overcrowded winter condition, as I stuff all of my plants in there and arrange and re-arrange, trying to find a way for all of them to get sunlight while leaving me room to pick up/vacuum up dropped leaves and petals.

Every year, I acknowledge the fact that I am at my full capacity for houseplants, and every year I succumb to the lure of the pots and baskets everywhere I look in the spring. This year, I went a bit crazy, and got two new geraniums, one white and one pink, two different helichrysums, a "black" sweet potato vine (burgundy leaves), an English Ivy and then I rescued a volunteer geranium that popped up in one of the gladiolus beds.

So now I have plants in the staging area, aka the garage, as I fuss and shuffle and arrange the breezeway. Prisoner of my addiction for sure, and likely to wind up as a prisoner in my own house if my buying sprees continued. I won't be a crazy old cat lady, I'll be a crazy old plant lady!

So proud I could burst

My nephew passed his test today and received his gold belt in Tae Kwon Do. He looked so adorable and serious out there, saying "Yes, Sir!" in a loud, clear voice and doing everything asked of him. I'm definitely going to the next belt test/ceremony.

After the test, we had a celebratory lunch, and the self-possessed young man in the gi turned into a semi-rotten little boy who had to be told three times not to pick his French toast up off the plate and lick the sugar off of it, but that's how it goes when you're seven and a half.

When we returned to Pickypants manor, Mom & Anabel and I looked at all the potential activities for our Disney cruise next February, talked about who wanted to do what and what clothes we are taking, and then Mom & I came home. Overall, a lovely way to spend a fall day.

Book day!

Yup, I built my book today, and then did the CD of forms to go with it. It's pretty comfortable, doing probate books, given my four years working for Bosstopus. I also volunteered to take over as team librarian in 2008, which is very appropriate for me. Everyone except me and two of our attorney editors was either not at work today or gone by 2:30, so it was pretty quiet. I stopped by the old office on my way home, and grabbed my spare box of checks out of the filing cabinet where I haven't remembered to get them for three months. Bosstopus wasn't there, but I walked out with Goldilocks and listened to her complain about Snoopy. I was kind of jealous when she said she and my replacement went to Don Drumm's together. *sigh* I know that's selfish of me, but I couldn't help it.

When I got home, my books from Barnes & Noble were waiting, so tonight I can finish Madeline L'Engle's Time Quintet while I listen to Saving Jane's new CD. Then tomorrow, Mom & I are going to my nephew's karate graduation. We're working together on Sunday, and then I have to clean and do the work I brought home for the afternoon.

Of course, I also have to manage two blog entries for the blog equivalent of NaNo. ;-)

Boring work stuff

I got in this morning, and one of my books had been taken over by MegaBookMan. The minute she got in, Reunion Gal came to tell me that, and to assure me I didn't do anything wrong, it's just that it was an annocode book and they're complicated and I hadn't done one before. I think she was worried that I would be offended or something, but I was mostly relieved, and a little guilty about adding more to MBM's workload.

Now I just have my Tennessee book to build tomorrow and then one Nevada book and one Kentucky book to build at the end of the month. Hopefully, I can work it so they don't both build on the same day.

Oopsie

I attended my first ever dinner for Hyphenated Corp tonight and I seriously overindulged. I had three cups of coffee! It's going to take both Benadryl and a hot bath to get to sleep tonight, that's for sure.

Overall, today was a very good day. I got my hair cut & styled before I went into work, and then just worked straight through until it was time for the dinner. Scary Boss Lady complimented my haircut, and then told me that the peanut-butter filled pretzels I've been bringing in were addictive. I rode up in the elevator with Mr. Rubicund, the bigbig boss who's in from the home office and I don't think I made a complete fool of myself. I fixed all the goofs from earlier in the week and got my book ready to build on Friday and fixed an error in one of the other books I'm working on.

Then, at the dinner, instead of sitting with my team, I sat with a mixed group from other teams and got to know some people I'd only seen before. One of them was nice enough to say that we'd spoken in the elevator and that I was charming. Plus, one of the other women at the table is now interested in Julphia, so I'm going to take in my sample bag tomorrow and let her sniff things.

Tub time!

Wild night out there...

glad I'm in here, reading Madelaine L'Engle books, listening to percolating puppies and happy not to be outside. It reminds me of the night four years ago when I drove home from my second MRI, through freezing rain and wind so wild I was worrying about driving the mile and a half home from the hospital where I had the test.

It's just good to be home, safe and sound, and relax and breathe.

Ragged tail

Mine this time, not Bigfoot's. I got chewed out twice today, both times for jumping the gun and sending out page proofs before they were totally ready. I am trying not to be all defensive about it, but that's still something I need to work on, even after years of knowing it's part of my personality.

Ahh well, it is miserable outside, with a cold rain bucketing down, and I am inside with warm puppymonsters, garlic bread fondue for dinner, and comfy grubby clothes on. I'll live, and hopefully learn.

Cast of Characters

For my few readers, the people around me:

The famdamily:

Flannel Jammies, aka Bosstopus, aka Mom. A lovely woman I admire, with whom I am fortunate enough to have a good relationship, and who occasionally makes me nuts.

Plaid Jammies, aka Dad. A gruff, bearded guy who is trying his best to be a curmudgeon, but still cries at "The Nutcracker." Frequently exasperating, and we butt heads a lot, but he's still my dad, and he does lovely dad things for me.

Middle liddle brother, aka Jeeves. Father of two, worker's comp attorney, possessor of a dry and biting wit and examplar of the Jammies' family self-deprecation technique.

Anabel, aka Mrs. Jeeves. A lovely, intelligent, thoughtful, empathetic woman who nonetheless married my irritating brother. I love spending time with her, and am thrilled, although puzzled, that she was willing to become part of my family.

The Awesome Nacho. Ten year old son of Jeeves and Anabel. Smart, cute, piano-playing black belt who is currently reading a very large non-fiction non-picture book about the battles of WWII, and thinks Justin Bieber is "a wuss."

SuperDoughnut. Seven year old son of Jeeves and Anabel. Smart, cute, piano-playing, drum-learning, stubborn and cuddly kid who loves music and has come a long way since his diagnosis of PDD at the age of three and a half.

Liddle liddle brother, aka Captain Crossword. Looks sort of like Jonathan Frakes, but handsomer. Makes beer for a living, is amazingly intelligent, sweet and funny.

Bookworm Mathgeek, married to Captain Crossword. Very smart, loving woman who shares my interest in books and bath products, and was also insane enough to marry into my family. Poor her, lucky us.

Princess Mathgeek and Princess Minnie. Four year old and twenty month old daughters of Captain Crossword and Bookworm Mathgeek. The most adorable, lovable, smart and amazing nieces in the world.

Local friends:

Amy and Josh. My dogsitter and lawn guy, respectively. Amy is an amazing friend who has been there for me through thick and thin. Josh is growing on me, provided he doesn't talk about killing things.

Doc. My oldest friend. We've known each other since second grade, and while our lives have diverged quite a bit, we can end a conversation in July and pick it up in December without a single dropped stitch.

Vegan Lawyer. The other attorney who shares the office with Bosstopus. Very intelligent, very passionate, a little dogmatic. She's a very giving person, but she tends to be judgmental and not particularly forgiving. Has three sons and a daughter, The Crown Princess, who is youngest and nice but incredibly spoiled.

Goldilocks. Secretary to Vegan Lawyer. Single, lives at home with a very quiet mother and a father who (at least reading between the lines) differs very little from the infamous Fred Phelps. Quiet, rather passive-agressive, but sweet and has become a teeny bit more outspoken in the time I've known her.

Snoopy. Vegan Lawyer's law clerk. Incredibly nosy, divorced and I can see why. No sense of boundaries whatsoever, but very book-smart. Acceptable in small doses, but drives Goldilocks crazy.

Long-distance friends:

KellyGirl. Living with the charming Snickers and their adorable dog, a rescue who shares a name with one of my guys. A baby lawyer, from the platinum blonde hair to the ruby-red lipstick to the perfectly round boobs, she looks like the quintessential California girl. Then she opens her mouth or starts typing, and blows you away with her intelligence, passion and compassion.

Snickers. IT geek, very quiet, very sweet. I don't know him well, but I'm impressed with his brains and his caring for the lovely KellyGirl.

Zayrina. Gorgeous stacked blonde in a nurse outfit who has put up with me since 2001 when I was a total internet newb. Actually slept on her couch so my dog and I could sleep in her bed when I visited her. Intelligent, brave, bossy, outspoken and honest. Has a marshmallow heart, but it's armored. Also has a gift for funny writing and needs to update her blog, damnit.

Mallie. Big giant heart, beautiful long hair, smart sexy geek girl, writer extraordinaire and so good with pets Littlefoot almost hid in her suitcase. Tactful but honest, open but not embarrassing, and someone I adore. Married to:

Scarecrow, aka Jay. Handsome sexy man who has gotten into the habit of hiding his big brain. Frequently stuns me with his insights, and fills out his new jeans quite nicely.

The World's Best Heather. Canadian, which means she has a good toilet, smart, pretty, tiny, blonde, and so sweet you can't hate her for any of the above.

Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia, aka Her Maj. Fellow MS'er and one of the funniest and most rawly honest bloggers out there.

Becs. My almost-twin. Loves autumn, adores cats, writes like a pro, wrestles with corporate silliness and knows what depression can do and fights through it anyway. Also has a weakness for bath products.

The Evil Alpaca, aka the Booty Llama. Surprisingly cuddly and thoughtful for a demonic camelid bent on world domination. Also a good writer, funny and a good friend.

Captain Spaulding, with too many akas to list. Baseball and hockey fan from Eerie, PA. A great guy even if he does like giant mutant felt animals (sports mascots).

kogijiki, aka MegaKogiMonster. A beautiful, talented potter with a huge, giving heart, a twisted sense of humor that complements mine, and fatal weaknesses for perfume and bath products.

Lisabella, aka Yisabeyya. A fellow otter-lover who actually has access to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a fellow bath product addict who has her stash listed, and a thoughtful and loving friend.

Rogue, whose smart ass is amazingly funny, and who is one of the most supportive people I know. Very cute for someone who bears a striking resemblance to Marty Feldman.

Mickey Mouse, aka Mousie. Loves anything scented with Pink Sugar, and is as sweet as her favorite fragrance. Supportive beyond belief, and always there for her friends.

MaryMargrt. Incredibly giving, dryly funny, has her own team of trained walrii in kilts.

Fiery Lioness, aka Lioness. Brave enough to work retail without Kevlar, BPAL addict, charming, articulate, and shares my geekitude with regard to Pratchett & Lackey.

The Romantic Heretic, aka Rob. A published author of erotica, a charming Canadian with an old-fashioned courtesy and charm seen all too rarely nowadays.

Impressive, aka Imp. A smart, sexy, honest and charming writer who also gives the best girl-kisses anywhere.

Rosy Cheeks, aka SnidelyBabyMama. A schoolteacher with a heart bigger than her pregnant belly will be next May, thoughtful as can be. A lover of bath products and amusement parks.

My Ninjaz:

Mamacat. Sweet, beautiful, talented mother of two, with a caring spirit and a knack for making art both permanent and evanescent.

Tempete. My scent-sister, a bright shining star who shares my love for certain BPAL blends, my frustration with sloppy authors, and who utterly eclipses me in the brains department.

Clever_Girl. A shy person who is beautiful both inside and out, her intelligence is only outdone by her generosity.

Katestamps. The Voice of Reason, a practical, good-smelling knitter who appreciates shoes, cheesy novels, and black currant scents.

Yvaine. Absolutely fearless, incredibly intelligent and amazingly lovely, this young woman has done more with her short time on the planet than others have done with twice or thrice the years.

Vampkat. A tiny, talented henna artist and dedicated Goth.

Queenie, aka Tramp. An indomitable spirit who has faced a ton of trials and come through them with class, grace, a really wicked cane and a hatred of squirrels that rivals my own.

Owls. Funny, funny, funny. She's also intelligent, direct, deep, cute, and incisive, but what strikes you first off is her sense of humor.

Tarak. Bright, loving, smart and with a well-developed sense of the absurd (with her kids, she needs it!).

Clowder. Generous, warm-hearted, brave and witty.

Girlygirl, aka GG. Strong, caring, talented in so very many ways.

The folks at Hyphenated Corp.

Maresche. My fellow Lush addict who let me know there was a job opening. Smart as a whip, recently promoted, mama to an adorable little girl and married to a cute geek who's doing NaNo.

Khover Taegent. Knitter, interested in vintage clothing, books and bath products.

Wilson. My cubicle neighbor, a scarily smart man who's been with the company forever, has a nurturing streak a mile wide, is a great tutor and quick to kill cubicle-invading spiders.

The Little Mermaid. Andersen's mermaid in her non-speaking phase. Miles of curly blonde hair, extreme competence at the job, preternaturally quiet, has a little girl and two cats, and much in love with her husband. A fan of '80s metal and nostalgic about the clothing. If you can get her talking, she's wicked and cynical and fun.

Otis' dogmama. The co-worker who was hired before me but started afterwards. Exhaustingly young, energetic and smart, but cute as a button as she starts out her "grownup life" living with her fiance and their Italian Greyhound mix, Otis.

MegaBookMan. Very smart, but prone to forgetting that other people have a learning curve, which is odd because he's also an English teacher.

TC. My team coordinator and direct report. Very approachable and easy to work with, provided her team is honest with her.

SoccerMom. One of our attorney editors, with a five-year old daughter who is just getting into soccer. Very experienced, quick to help out a co-worker, smart as hell.

Vintage Attorney. Lots of fun to work with and never shy with praise or help. Loves vintage everything, dogs (both her own and others') and is someone I can call friend.

Enigman. Attorney editor, pleasant, easy to work with, very dry and sarcastic sense of humor, does not reveal much about himself.

Hoosier Lawyer? Bouncy, fun, charming attorney editor who hides a wicked sense of humor behind an innocent grin.

Blondezilla. Bossy administrative assistant with as much sense of 'place' as a Dickens character.

Baklavette. The department head. Stick-thin because eating takes time away from work, nice but terrifying, makes great baklava and brings it to all of the department get-togethers.

Last but far from least, my dogs:

Bigfoot. Shepherd/Malamute mix, January 1990-May 11, 2009. He was my heart-dog, the one I loved since he was an awkward five-month old puppy, all legs and ears. He was stubborn, headstrong, much too smart for his own good and very expensive, but also loving and sweet.

Littlefoot. Chow/Golden?/Shepherd Mix. Almost thirteen, but aging gracefully, my eternal puppy, all bounce and petmepetme. Not smart, but a complete cuddlemonster and as adorable as a teddybear.

Little Miss, aka Underfoot. Shepherd/Lab/Who Knows? mix. Tiny compared to dogs I've always had (between 45-50 pounds), but extremely smart and energetic. Also very loving and charming, despite some bad habits I'm trying to train out of her.

Pretty autumn day

And I've done very little that's productive. I did get the grocery shopping done and two boxes mailed to Canada, and as soon as this is posted I shall go make Satin Balls for Bigfoot, but otherwise I have been lazy.

I rarely get hits from Google searches, but it was especially nice to see that I got one Friday night. Someone was looking for Kogi mugs and came here! I'm proud to know Ms. Kogi, and happy that she's getting some recognition for her lovely mugs.

On the subject of being proud of friends, Ms. Yisabeyya actually fell asleep last night without sleeping pills, which is a big brave step forward, Sherri sold a short story, and my friend Megan is well enough to re-open her shop for a short time to take holiday orders.

Yay and way to go to all of my friends.

Where have I been?

Yesterday, I had kibbie (or kibby or kibbi) for the first time, and it was wonderful. Now there are two things from the local Lebanese restaurant I know I like, which means that next time I'm there, I'll be torn between getting one of the two or trying something else new!

I have to make more puppykibbie, aka Satin Balls this weekend, along with mailing some packages and making & mailing some Willies. Plus I have to work for Bosstopus as usual. Hopefully, I can get the cleaning done as well.

This month, I have three books to build, maybe four, but for one of them, it depends on last year's publishing specialist getting me the front matter files--all they sent was page one of both files I need.

At least I have the worry of the 'Foots being overdue on their shots out of the way. I dropped 'em off this morning on my way to work and picked 'em up on my way home. Bigfoot is up to seventy-three pounds and Littlefoot is down to fifty-nine, so I'm feeding them the right amounts, at least. At the moment, they are sacked out in poses of utter exhaustion because today was such a big day. I'm tempted to go have a nap myself, but if I do, I know perfectly well I won't sleep tonight, and since I have to work in the morning, I'll just have a cup of coffee and push on.

All Souls' Day

And appropriately enough, I realized that I've sold my soul. This realization came when I said, with a straight face, "The BFP for TPR on the DCL in SAP has always been eleven-two."

Ack!

This is crunch time at Hyphenated Corp. as we work to push books out before the end of the year. All the books that were pushed back earlier owing to problems of various sorts (frequently but not always due to authors being late with manuscripts) are now at their last chance to be published this year, along with all of the books that were already scheduled for the end of the year. My team has fifty-five books to build by November 29th, and four of those are mine. There are outbreaks of cursing, cries of anguish, and every now and then we get an e-mail from our team leader, who's gotten an e-mail from whoknowswho, asking us to keep it down because we are disturbing other people. Feh. Just as an example, Maresche's team has fifteen or sixteen books to build for this year--I think the only team that has more than we do is the Ohio team.

Despite a few roadblocks, and some moments where I really feel idiotic, I'm still glad I took the job.