Ya Know - I'm Having Fun

Again, it's all little things - just the small stuff that comes along in a day that makes it worth getting out of bed.

Last night I went home feeling lousy. My legs hurt as if I'd done about a billion squats - the long muscles in my thighs, from skin through to bone. I felt like a kinda sorta wanted to kneel before the porcelain princess in the loo, but wasn't queasy enough to make the trip. I just felt like crap - and like I wanted to curl up in the nearest corner and sleep.

There's a bug going around and I got in its way. It flattened me - first on the sofa at about 6:45 last night, and then in bed from about 8:30. Sleeping all night straight is unheard of for me, but I did. Between the getting up from the sofa at 8:30 and collapsing into the bed was no more than about ten minutes, and I was asleep as soon as I settled into position. I didn't wake up until the first alarm went off at 4:45. At the third alarm at 5:45 I debated, then sent an e-mail saying, pretty much, "you'll see me when you see me" and then I went to sleep again, and slept some more. In all, it was probably twelve hours. Not bad for me, since 6.5 is normal.

When I finally did manage to pry my eyes open at 7:30 I felt a lot better. The achiness in my legs was gone. The general malaise and yucky stuff had passed. I didn't have a fever, so it was good.

Getting to work I still felt like I'd left my brain on the pillow - 2+2 was an advanced mathematical formula at that point. Since then, though, I've started feeling better, more alert and think I can figure out 2+2. I might even be able to manage 3+3 or 4+4.

I solved a few problems that were lurking, then got a project out of the way. After that, I got started in on the growing pile of other stuff waiting.

I do have to say that, right now, I feel as if I'm standing at the bottom of a col in the Swiss Alps and there's an avalanche heading directly for me.

(Aside as a sanity check: yes, 'col' is a word. It means a narrow gap between two mountains - narrower than a pass.)

See? There's another cool word. I love words, but then I've mentioned that a time or two before. Another point in my favor today - I got to use a rarely used word. Yay me!

Back to that, though, it's coming in faster than I can process it, so the stack is growing and it's getting a bit scary. Of course, it is month-end, so that's part of it. At least I'm busy. That's a good thing, too.

We're supposed to get rain here tonight. Again, as I have for the past couple of years, I'll believe it when I see it, but 'they' keep talking about it. First, it was supposed to be rain - with an 'r'. Now they're saying sprinkles - with an 's'. A baby water-falling-from-the-sky event but at this point, we'll take whatever we can get.

It is cloudy outside right now.  What I don't get though is when people say "it looks like rain" or "it feels like rain". I hear that and it's a head scratcher.

Maybe because I'm from California and it's drier here, we don't get that heavy, damp feeling before a rain very much. When it's cloudy, it's cloudy and there are few times when it "feels" like rain. Sometimes, when the clouds are thick and heavy looking it will "look" like rain but, for me, because of how literal I am, unless it's actually a water-falling-from-the-sky event, it doesn't look or feel like rain. It's dry until it's not is an easier way of saying it.

But that's me and I'm not you so if you like saying 'it looks like' or 'it feels like' you go right on ahead. I'll ignore it and just smile, nod and maybe, if I'm so inclined, will say, 'yep, it sure does'.

The countdown to NaNo is getting shorter. My fingers are itching to cheat but my character is saying, 'no' even though I am starting to wonder how on Earth I'm going to get 50,000 words written in the time allowed, along with working full-time, commuting ten hours per week, and trying to have a home life with the family. I guess I'll just have to type really, really fast.

Another really nice gift from today is that I've been asked out to lunch tomorrow - in thanks for saving someone's bacon. They were doing something, it didn't go well, I stepped in and saved the day for them. In thanks, they're going to feed me. I love being fed, so I didn't say no, even though I did try the, 'oh, you don't have to do that!'.

So, the good things all lined up for today are:

Maybe some water falling from the sky
Being fed
Being upright without feeling like I'm about to fall over.
And I got to use the word 'col' in a sentence.

Yep. It's been a pretty darned good day. So, on that note, I hope your day was equally filled with little blessings and that your getting out of bed this morning was worthwhile.

Best~
Philippa

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A Day for Counting

I have decided enough negativity is about twenty times too much, and I have spent the last ten days or so whining, bitching, moaning and complaining. Therefore, I am going to make a determined effort count the flowers today.

• I woke up early, feeling rested.
• I got my chores done in good time.
• I have my eyesight
• It's a beautiful day outside.
• I have my mobility.
• The laundry is hanging on the line, absorbing the sunshine.
• I have my marbles and play with them regularly.
• I've spent hours writing, working on 'In A Green & Shady Place' before I set it aside for the month of November.

Tomorrow I have a couple of meetings and a big stack of work, so I won't go in and cast around for something to do. That's always a good thing.

Yep. Overall, life is very darned good, and I'm pleased.

One of the things I want to do in the next week or so is come up with a recipe for baked potato soup. I've had it from a restaurant, and it was good, although a bit too salty for my liking. On top of the salt in the bacon, I suspect they added more for "flavor". I've also had it from Safeway - their story version. It's quite good but I like my soup thicker. Progresso makes one, too, but that one's full of chemicals and crap to keep it "fresh" inside the can.

I want rich potato taste, thick broth and lots of savory flavor. I have my ideas, so I'll give it a try next weekend. As with everything having to do with cooking, if it's edible when it goes in, it will probably be edible when it comes out, even if it's not palatable. Fortunately, my palate is pretty forgiving and I very rarely end up with something I refuse to choke down.

Instead of heavy cream and/or half-and-half, which some recipes call for, I'll go for whole milk and yogurt instead of sour cream. There's no avoiding the bacon, * snap of fingers * oh darn! Celery, a bit of green onion for the milder flavor, sauteed together in butter since this is not something that will permit olive oil, unfortunately. Lots of black pepper, because I like black pepper, and lots of potato so it will be thick. Mmmm.

Right now, though, while it sounds good it's not mouthwatering. There was left-over salad from a catered lunch on Friday. No one else wanted it, so I bagged it up and brought it home. It was pretty limp by yesterday, even worse today, but it was still tasty.

And I keep telling myself that the calorie count really isn't that bad. It's all in the dressing, right? I'll ignore the croutons and shredded Parmesan cheese (it was mostly Caesar salad).

I managed to convince hubby that I didn't want to do more house clearing this weekend and he agreed. It was a grudging agreement, but it's Sunday afternoon and he's only complained once. By next weekend I expect we'll be nearly done and he can call for the bin. I just hope it doesn't rain once the bin arrives. But it probably will. That's how these things go, right?

The NaNoWriMo exercise is getting to be a challenge. I haven't started because that would defeat the idea, but my naughty alter-ego is pushing me to start. My angel side keeps saying, 'no, not until next weekend.' Fortunately, with the intervention of a week of work, I should be able to keep my honor intact and not start before November 1. Next Sunday. One more week and then...

I've played out what the first chapter will be in my mind, and I know what will come next and next. It's just hard not to put it down on paper. But I won't. Not until it's time and the starting gate lifts.

Looking in on the NaNo site I get the sense that some people are pushing the boundary. That they've started their writing. One even said they'll "reduce their November word count" by whatever number they have before then. Uh, yeah. Uh huh.

Sorry - but if you're going to cheat once, why would I think you won't cheat again?

Whatever. It's not really a competition with others. It's a competition with self - a how much quality can I put down on paper in thirty days? My goal is to get the 50k down in ten days and then spend the next twenty days editing and cleaning. That's pretty ambitious. Five thousand words per day, consistently. I just checked, copying from 'Shady' and discovered that five thousand words is roughly eighteen pages in Word. That's a lot of pages everyday and everyday.

But, it's a goal - not a requirement, so we'll see.

Anyway. Life and hubby are calling so I'm going to wrap this up. I hope you have a lovely day. Take a minute and count your blessings, too. Even the little ones have value - never take the good for granted.

Best~
Philippa

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Picking Flowers from Rubble

I honestly don’t know what made me think of this. Perhaps it’s a ‘count my blessings’ exercise or, as I prefer to say, flower collecting in rubble.

In any case, I was pulling out of the driveway of my office yesterday afternoon. I’m careful because we’re in a mixed residential / industrial area. There are kids, it’s summer, and I don’t want to run any ankle biters over. Nor do I want to get plastered like a bug on the front of a semi. So I’m careful.

Pulling out between our building and the one next door, what happens? Yep. As if by magic, a pair of young, around six or seven-year old, ankle-biters appear right by the front fender of my car. They’re on their skateboards so I don’t know if they were merrily whizzing along and I nearly slobberknocked them, or if they had paused to get a cold drink from the coffee shop that’s right there, by the driveway. No matter. All I could think was ‘Where did they come from!?’ Fortunately, I did not hit them, they did not hit me, no one got hurt, but it scared me.

Whew! I backed up to let them pass, checked again – left, right, left – as the protocol in the States requires. It’s clear so I pull out and drive down to the plant to deliver what I need to deliver.

I finish up down there, get back in the car to reverse my process and… ‘Where the Hell did that come from!??’ It’s a UPS truck that looks HUGE as it just about slams into me.

There are bushes along the property line between our property and the property next door. No fence, but the bushes are tall and full – you cannot see down the street, and no one coming down the street can see you, until you stick your nose out. He didn’t see me. He’s there for our daily pick-up. He usually drives like a bat out of Hell and today was no different. Fortunately, I was going slowly, laughing to myself that I had to be careful not to run over any ankle-biters when he just about plows into me.

Again – no paint was traded, but it did scare me. What is up with that? Two near misses in less than five minutes? Geez! What does this bode for the drive home?

I already had this done to me:

Compare pictures two and three, those are the most telling. Three is the passenger side, rumpled but the trunk (boot, in case you're British) is still discernible. Two - well, the entire back end of the car from the back bumper to the back of the tire is gone. Smashed in so it's not recognizable - and that is the driver's side. For a reality check, you can get an idea of the length of metal that's missing if you compare the open trunk lid to the frame. About 18-inches or so, give or take a couple of inches.

That was done to me on the freeway in 2013, the end of a great four day period.

On Friday afternoon, I found something that was supposed to be in my boss’s In-box. I wasn’t supposed to see it, but it was in his Out box by mistake. After I distributed the stuff, I got some of it back. When I looked through it, to determine who should get it, I was shocked to see that it was a draft letter notifying me of my termination. Surprise!

My boss was out of town that week, so I couldn’t go talk to him about it. I got to fret all afternoon, and then all weekend. I was still fretting Monday morning and I did talk to him.

There was nothing to be done about it. It wasn’t me or my performance. The company is a government contractor and because of Sequestration they were terminating a number of people. Oh joy! Shared pain makes it so much easier to bear, doesn’t it?

So I get through the day and am on my way home. It's a three lane freeway - two through lanes and one carpool lane along the center divide. Because of the number of cars getting on and off, I'm hanging out in the center lane, as I usually do.

Traffic is heavier than usual so I’m leaving room between me and the car in front when the guy ahead of me slams on his brakes so hard his back end lifts up.

For me, at forty-five miles an hour, it’s either slam on my brakes and risk having the guy behind me, who’s following too close, ram me. At which I would probably run right under the van that has its butt up in the air. Or, I can pull into the HOV lane – which I always pay attention to ‘in case’. I pick the HOV lane and get safely over.

Traffic that was stopped starts to move. I start to pull back into the center lane when KA-BAM!! It’s like the End of the World I tell ya! The End of the World!

I left skid marks about thirty-feet long. I’m disoriented, feeling like part of me is over there and some of me is over there. Rather like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz after the flying monkeys get done with him.

Long story short, I get hauled off to the hospital in an ambulance, back board, neck brace and the whole nine-yards.

So there’s a pile of rubble for you. I had just learned a couple of days before that I’m going to lose my job. I talked to my boss who basically shrugged and said ‘sorry’. My car has been totaled and I am on my way to the hospital with God only knows what injuries.

Yeah. So cars and accidents and nearly hitting and nearly being hit kind of wind me up a bit.

The good news that came out of that period is that I got a sanity check pretty soon after the accident.

At the hospital they did an MRI and x-rays - nothing broken, nothing injured, just take it easy for a few days. Here are some pain pills, if you need them.

I got back to work the next morning, despite everything, and got a heroes welcome. Sort of. Unfortunately, ironically, the first person who saw me was the woman who drafted my termination letter.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in obvious surprise.

Looked her square in the eye and quietly said, "I still work here, right?"

Yeah - I'm a bitch. Or I can be. And it didn't feel very good, not as good as it should have because I knew it wasn't her choice, either.

Anyway, the sanity check.

My husband and the cops hadn’t gotten all my stuff out of the car, so I had to go to the wrecking yard to get what was left. I felt work early on Wednesday afternoon and when I got there the gal behind the counter took me out into the yard to show me where the car was.

She took one look at the wreck, looked at me and then back at the car. “You walked away from that!?”

Yes I did, so given her reaction, I guess it could have been a lot worse. It would have been better had I not gone through that, but having done so, I know it could have been a lot worse.

Like today, a chance for flower counting.

I did not squish kids on my windshield nor did I get squished on a truck’s front end. Life is pretty darned good when I look at it like that. So, yeah. That's the start of a bouquet right there.

Have a safe, accident-free and lovely day!

Best~

Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories