Contentment

That's synonymous with nirvana for me.  It's a rare state, but I'm grateful to be experiencing it now.  It's nothing short of a miracle.  I think it's because I'm in a sweet spot for a few days.  It's too late to order xmas gifts from Amazon.  Bank accounts are fine.  My fridge is full.  The Daddler is happy.  My property taxes and Kiddo's tuition are paid.  Things are good with FF.  I won't see him for the holiday, but I'm cool with that.  It just feels nice to have a BF during the holidays (even if, according to JoJo, he's not a real one).  Reality can be overrated.  And sometimes, it bites.

Besides, I'm totally obsessed with watching Lost on my Kindle Fire.  Amazon Prime makes it free.  From the very beginning.  I never watched a single episode before my Kindle.  Within a week or so, I'm to Season 2, Episode 8.  I keep thinking I'm gonna walk away.  But it's good.

I rented The Help.  Bought Simon Birch (loosely based on A Prayer for Owen Meany).  Play Words With Friends.  An e-version of Scrabble.  Might play w/ FF.  So far, I've just played with random opponents, and I think my W/L percentage is 50/50.  But it pisses me off when people come up with random words like Xi.  Who ever heard of that?

Gonna go now.  I hope I'm not the only one in the home stretch.  It feels good to be so close to home...

You'd better not pout!

I'm determined not to.  Just yesterday, I realized that I haven't attended a single holiday event.  No Sunday School or office parties.  No school events.  No black Friday outings (not counting Walgreens that night).  No cocktail parties or gala events (not my thing, anyway).  No Christmas concerts/cantatas/plays.

Instead, I've been quite content ordering random things on Amazon.  Including my new, super-duper, three-in-one Shop-Vac.  It blows/vacuums/mulches.  Leaves.  Wet ones or dry ones.  And I have plenty of those.  It's ginormous.  I'm going to spend considerable time figuring out lots of creative uses for my new gadget.  I'm thinking I could convert it into a carpet cleaner, pressure washer, air purifier, chimney sweep, dryer vent reamer, dog groomer/bather, gutter cleaner, ceiling fan duster, white noise machine, air duct cleaner...  The possibilities are endless.  Like my imagination.

Speaking of dogs.  Only in Memphis.  The missing pit-bull, who was stolen by a city (animal shelter) employee at 2:00 a.m. (caught on surveillance, no less) named Kapone (gotta love a hip-hop sounding dog name), was recovered today.  In, of all places, Senatobia, Mississloppi.  This is stranger than WM3.  Really.  I've been to Senatobia.  Pit bulls, corrupt Memphis city employees and rural Missssippians don't mix.  Maybe I'm wrong.  This could be the New South.  Maybe we all just CAN get along.

Pit bulls are on my mind.  I decided to take my money-pit-of-a-lemon-Subaru to a mom & pop shop instead of to the evil dealer.  I won't digress except to say, there's the devil you know, the devil you don't know, and the satanic car you sell your soul to maintain.

So... Pit bulls.  Mom & Pop.  After a week and a half of waiting for the autopsy of my lemon, I finally got the go ahead to pick it up.  I was greeted by two very muscular, slobbering, snarling, scary dogs.  I was assured that they were "sweeties", and that they couldn't reach my jugular, but nonetheless, I didn't complain about my $1,600 bill.  Nosirrreee.  I even thought about adding a tip.  Clever marketing ploy, I must say.

Kiddo was with me and I told him to roll in a ball if the dogs jumped over the counter.  He had an air of false bravado.  Didn't fool me.  Or the dogs.  They can smell fear. 

Enough about that.  While we're on the subject of our neighbor to the south, rednecks, corruption and breaking news stories, check this out.  The mayor of Southaven.  Just google it.  Connect the dots.  How embarrassing.  It even makes me cringe.  No schadenfraude here.

But...  Which came first?  The lemon drop martini or the gay porn?  I'm sorry.  I couldn't resist.  I'm not a hater.  Except when it comes to smarmy politicians...  And pit bulls...

All for now. 

Bah, Humbug.

That's how I felt early this morning.  My pre-lit tree wouldn't light.  The electrical outlets in the corner I'd planned to put the tree in didn't work.  Even after I went out in the cold to the breaker box and flipped everything back and forth.  I didn't realize those outlets didn't work.  I rearranged the furniture so I could put the tree near a working outlet.  After I finally found the right tree stand and fit all the parts together, I plugged it in, and nothing lit up.  So I walked away.

Later on, it worked better.  Some of the limbs, anyway.  And then, later, when I was fluffing the smushed fake branches, some more lights came on.  Kinda scary, huh?  Maybe I'd better put the smoke detectors back up.  I've given up on finding the source of the beeping.  And we've been flying without a net for the last four days.  Thank god the house hasn't burned down.  But the smoke detectors wouldn't help, because I've become inured to high pitched beeping sounds.  And The D is deaf as a doornail.  Which isn't all bad.

All of a sudden, I'm exhausted.  I've been up until all hours reading the last in the series of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."  All I can think about is finishing it.  I have a feeling the book will hit me in the nose within 30 minutes.  With any luck, I'll wake up early and finish it in the morning.

All for now...

Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-changes...

...they're on my horizon.  After waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning with a terrifying, sweaty, heart-pounding nightmare about my difficult client, I decided it was time to cut my losses and follow the yellow brick road.  Something like that.  Anything to get a good night's sleep.

I had a very, very sad Thanksgiving.  Mother died on October 21st last year.  You'd think that would've been the worst.  I think I was numb.  This year was excruciating.  So very lonely.  Extenuating circumstances, but still, there's no avoiding the pain.  I wallowed in it.  Spent about 36 hours in a close-to-comatose state.  The one bit of relief was watching Elf on TV.  I really identified with him.  Crazy, huh?  I can think of worse characters to be like.

Ok, somehow, I've listened to some Reggae song called Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego 15 times in a row now.  In case you're wondering, it's not the same one we learned in Vacation Bible School.  Or was that called "Daniel in the Fiery Furnace"?  Heck, it's too confusing.  I'm just hoping Desperate Housewives is new tonight.  November sweeps - should be.  I should check my DVR for last week's episode.  Antiques Roadshow is a good bet, too.

The Daddler's had din-din.  Vegetable beef soup - the broth was "too thin", but otherwise, it was "all right."    He's a regular James Beard.  Kiddo is back at school.  I'm biding my time until the holidays are over.  My Black Friday just involved a trip to Walgreens for an overdue prescription.  From what I hear, though, the retailers did ok without me.  Let's hope the stock market reflects it tomorrow.

Stick a fork in me.  I'm done...

Out of the Frying Pan...

...into the fire.  Hmmm, it just hit me that my newest gadget is the Kindle Fire.  Maybe that's a coincidence.  Or not.

I have a 7:00 flight in the morning.  I won't go into details except to say that I'm more than a little anxious about it.  Besides the fact that I need to pack my bag, clean the toilets, get Deb situated (she's subbing with The Daddler), figure out how I'm gonna get to the airport at 5:00 on a Saturday morning (JoJo is out of town, or I'd make her do it - she owes me big time in Airport Shuttle points), be sure I'm back in town in time for Deb's surgery at 6:00 Monday morning,  and change purses.  Changing purses might be the biggest undertaking of all.  Except for the surgery, of course.

On that note, I need to go change purses.  Pack bags.  Check cab fare.  I have a feeling I won't get around to cleaning the toilets.  First things first...

Hopefully, my next post will be joyful. 

Feeling Better

And once I make it through the next few days, I'll take a huge sigh of relief.  So much to do, but I'm having a surge of energy.  I've been able to focus on getting my life in order and I've made profound progress.  I'm even sleeping through the night.  I did, however, wake up at 4:00 this morning, but I went to bed at a crazy early hour.  I love my new sound machine.  I did the meadow sound last night, complete with chirping crickets.  The rainfall setting is good, too, but sometimes it makes me need to pee.  I'm reading my second Kindle book - You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney (I added a link to his blog at the right.)  Unfortunately, it's precipitated some strange dreams which I can only interpret as a reflection of my insecurity.  I'm happy to report, though, that I'm not the average person when it comes to the way I think.  Who knew?  Not to say I am so smart, just different.

I'm not sure if the book has triggered this, but I've had some really creative ideas for great inventions.  I just need to work on some prototypes, then a biz model/plan, do a capital raise, and get busy making my ideas a reality.  Hint, I have two really good ideas.  I've decided not to research them in case they're already out there because, like my art, I don't want to be influenced by others.  Not yet, anyway.

I'm taking a quick trip this coming weekend.  I'll be back in time for Deb's surgery early next week.  I'm way more worried about this than she is.  She's still mourning Mufasa Henry Waffles (poor dead cat.)  She can't even talk about him.  She'll be staying with The Daddler and me, and I've told him he's going to have to help me take care of her.  And he will.  I remember the time I was flat on my back with the stomach flu.  He brought me jello several times.  So sweet. 

He's been so much sweeter lately.  Of course, I spoil him rotten.  And it's been over a year now since Mother died.  He loves his church and they love him.  They had their monthly fellowship lunch yesterday and Deb went.  I was so sore from my manic raking Saturday, and when the church members asked about me, she told them that I had strained some muscles from raking leaves.  Genius.  With any luck, some of them will show up to help!  I know, I know.  I'm an opportunist.  Actually, the leaves aren't too bad here at the Good House.  Oaks are slow to change colors and fall.  The old house, however, has leaves so deep that the yard chemical people couldn't spray pre-emergent.

I need to do some major work on that house so I can get busy trying to rent it.  I got one quote for a new roof and it was $7,000.  I was shocked.  I'm gonna get a couple more.  And check Angie's List.

Christmas and tuition are coming up.  I think I'm going to be cranking out watercolor paintings for Christmas gifts this year.  And recruiting friends to paint (walls, not paper) in exchange for beer and pizza.  The 2 for $10 kind!  Why do I have a feeling they're all going to be busy.

Oh, I did keep the client I was on the verge of dumping.  Even got an apologetic email.  Not from the PAW (Passive Agressive Wi... er, Woman) but from the author who wrote the original scathing email.  It probably helped that I resigned.  There's nothing like being ready to walk away to shift the balance of power.  I'm not done though.  I'm going to have a little sit-down with Ms. Emailer (who thinks she's the boss of me, and happens to be buds with PAW.)  I will be very diplomatic, calm, and professional, but I am going to explain that I need to be able to expect cooperation from all staff members, because my only goal is to protect the assets of the organization and to provide accurate and timely information to the leadership teams.  That I will not tolerate disrespect in the form of stonewalling and passive aggressive behavior.  And that if someone has a problem with me, they have an obligation to act like a professional adult and come to me directly before filing "formal complaints."  That I refuse to play games in the form of political manuevering.

Art

I took this photograph in April.  It's so much more beautiful than anything I could paint.  I didn't have a fancy camera or special lighting.  It was all about the subject.  Beautiful plants nurtured by a beautiful person.  Someone very dear to me.  Somehow, though, I want to capture this perfection through the imperfect, distorted lenses of my eyes and brain and brushes.  But that's another day.  For now, though, I'm exhausted.  Content.  Weary.  But not unhappy.  I couldn't ask for more.