Not reading LJ last few days. The Project from Hell has eaten my life. Well, actually, I've enjoyed most of the actual work I've done, but the deadline is killing Leslie, so it's at least wounding me. >_<

The book WILL go out today, by the gods. Just waiting for Leslie to send a pdf, then we talk, then I go in, and by all that's holy we will send this $@#!* thing off to Korea!

Then we shall all get drunk.

And there was much rejoicing.

*yay*

Here I am again. And so it goes... ^_^

Had a decent weekend. Elf was gone most of Friday and most of Saturday, but I kept busy with artsy things -- mostly, anyway. I didn't get as much creative stuff done as I'd hoped because uploading my photos took a bizarrely long time, and then I backed up my Amber Lotus files, which was deathly slow. Still, I have been doing more Apophysis fractals and have started posting to my deviantART account again.

We had Aleta, Doug, and Phyllis over for dinner last night (they were delicious!). Elf made mac and cheese from scratch, with bacon and leeks and cherry tomatoes. 'Twas scrumptious. It was basically just an evening of chat, which is always good with these folks. Phyllis had a nasty headache, alas, but othere than that, fun was had by all.

Today will be gym (I only went three days last week!) and Amber Lotus stuff. It's grey and cool, but not cold, and it was raining earlier this morning, though it's stopped now. Very lovely. We've had a very cool and cloudy August so far. Weird.

Okees. Must dash. Peace, all!

wtf am i doing here at 10:30 am w/no e-mail done and just fucking round in deviantart? okay, i slept for shit last night/this morning. is that enough? or am i just a pathetic lazy ass?

i've got most of my currrent covers done -- just dalai lama colour correction (wow! it's bad!), then i can go in and get two more covers. and if i run out of covers, i've got the rumi and sulamith pages to work on. no problem there. i did some kinda lame fractals and posted them to deviantart...amazing...

elf is gone again, dammit. well, only one night this time (last night, quelle surprise), but he won't be back until 9pm tonight. bleh.

10:45am

oh, i got a new wacom this weekend. cloning is now my BITCH. and masking, too. fear me!

there is sleeping in my immediate future, oh yes. i will make a swipe at the dalai lama photo first, though.

luff y'all. i am at least caught up in reading. ^.^;;

All hail to Elf, God of Computers!

I can play the Sims again! I can do fractals again! I can take a break from Filter Forge (yeah, right).

But now I'm late. I have to gym, then go to Amber Lotus. And I forgot to print my last bill. Dipstick.

So tired. I keep waking up at 5:30, then slogging back through pseudo-sleep until after 7:00. Ugh.

But Athene is back!

Man, yesterday I seriously kicked butt. I went from my usual Slugzilla persona to Ms. Almost-as-Motivated-as-a-Normal-Person, and was mind-bogglingly productive. It was...weird. ^_^;

List o' accomplishments:
- edited Jiko's article for Stillpoint
- went to the gym and whupped the elliptical's sorry ass
- picked up my prescription
- dust mopped
- vacuumed
- cleaned the Master bath
- dusted the Master bedroom
- cleaned the downstairs bath
- updated the budget board
- went grocery shopping
- did that languishing load of "delicates"
- put in some Amber Lotus time

All this and I got to play the Sims! Whoo hoo!

So naturally I'm behind this morning, but not too badly. I don't have as much to do anyway. I should probably rake and do Amber Lotus and go to the gym, not necessarily in that order. Dinner will be leftovers. Oh, but I need to call the eye doctor and work out that insurance snafu, get a gyn appointment, and order Christmas Revels tickets. But that's all! Maybe I'll do Photoshop tutorials or something. Ah, Photoshop...

Looks like this is going to be a good day! ^__^

'Cause I sleep a lot, I change my mind midstream, and I'm cuter than two hamsters wearing party frocks. That's wherefore! ;-)

I've taken a break from the Web recently. Elf came home Friday night (LAUS DEO) and since then I have sort of curled into my very immediate, physical world. Oh, and the catalogue stuff for Amber Lotus ships Thursday, so I've been rackin' up the hours. ^_^

So the Beloved is home. Yay! Yay! Yay! I'm insanely happy to have him back, and judging by how he's been much he's been singing the "Kitty Boo" song, I'd say he's pleased to be back as well. ;-D Sleeping has become an interesting proposition, however. When he was gone, Ezri got used to sleeping next to me, taking up a fair amount of room -- and now I can't scoot over to Elf's side any more to make room! I've been feeling a little hemmed in the past few nights. ^_^; Time for a King size? Nah, she'd just expand to fill the space...

The weekend is a bit of a blur now. I know I worked most of Saturday morning, while Elf was at a SOLV day at Jackson Bottom. Sunday morning was the Fall Sangha Forum, and of course I was there, both as a Board Member and as Secretary. I finally bought Sims 2: Pets, though I've only played it once, what with work and Elf and whatnot. Man, the pet-creation system is wild! 'm looking forward to having all my projects done for a few days (before the cards come in) so I can PLAY! ^_^

Monday: work. I did make it to the gym, at 3:30, 'cause I needed to get The Lakota Way done. Leslie loved it! Yay! Dinner of frozen veggies and sausages 'cause I hadn't had time to pick a menu item or go to the store. In the evening we watched Mythbusters. Yay! Then I stayed up till 11:30 researching Sims 2 mods and researching a possible case of plagiarism which turned out not to be, thank gods. ^_^

Tuesday: went to the gym first, then worked the rest of the day. Elf was a dear and went to the store (at least I picked out a recipe) and made dinner. Another Mythbusters, then I went up and finished eight background variations for the Collage calendar and e-mailed 'em to Leslie. ^_^ To bed at the reasonable hour of 10:30.

Today: must talk to Leslie about the backgrounds, then either do more work on them or pack everything up and take the files over to AL. Tonight Doug and I are going to MOMIX! Yay! I hope to squeeze the gym in there somewhere, but AL must come first.

Well. That's my life. I'm almost caught up on reading my flist, but haven't had time to respond to anyone. Sorry!

Saysh: congrats to your sister! Wow! What an ordeal...

Gemms: Congrats on leaving PL -- hope you feel better soon! Kisses to Poots...

Tea: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Beo bliðe, all!

Pretty productive again. Was smart and went to the gym first, right after I fed the cats, then came home and made Leslie's changes and finished placing the hi-res animals and sent off four jpegs for her. *gasp* She called back and said that, barring some objection from the calendar artist, we were good to go. She also said, and I quote, "It's fuckin' brilliant!" Heh. Since I have to wait to hear what the artist has to say before I go forward, I quit for the day and went out and raked the front yard in the cool, overcast afternoon. Very nice.

Doug's "little job" of the day turned into a major sleuthing episode, so he couldn't get home in time for us to go see The Ant Bully at McMenamins. Alas. So instead we went to Orenco Station Grill and would have paid waaaaaaaaaaay too much for what we got if we hadn't had that two-for-one coupon. Honestly, I don't know how that place stays in business, charging what they do for merely adequate food. And they're still using those crappy wonderbread "french rolls" for their sandwhiches, so I got a steak. It was fine, but not worth $20. It's too bad: I like to support local businesses, and the fact that it's in walking distance is another plus, but it's just so not worth the time and money. >:-P But we had a good time chatting and growling over politics and dissing the neo-cons. >:-D

When we got back we watched another episode of "Due South," which is quite charming, if I haven't already mentioned that. (Sweetheart, I'm going to borrow it from Doug when he's done (he has it for three more weeks), because I think thee'll like it. ^_^)

Then it was Sims for me and e-mail for Doug, a bit more chat, and now I'm updating this for my Beloved. Only 49 hours now, my love, less by the time thee reads this!

MISS THEE!!!

Very productive, though some things fell through the cracks because of it, namely the gym. I started work after brekkies, thinking I'd get another draft of Chinese Astrology and the tweak of Hafiz done, then I'd go to the gym in the afternoon. As if. I worked until 5:00 or so with breaks for a shower and laundry.

Actually, I overdid it. I kept poking and prodding CA till I got tired, frustrated, and stupid. This made me grumpy kitty in the afternoon. But in the end I got both jobs out out, and Leslie loves CA and only has a few tweaks...so far. ^_^;

After I'd called it a day, I unwound with Weird Al and Sims2. "Pets" was released today, but the only time I went outside was to walk to the store with Doug for chocolate and the mail. If I can juggle my schedule better tomorrow, I'll swing by Freddy's and glomp me a copy. I'm sure there will be more objects! ^_^

When Doug got home I showed him a bit of the Sims, which he hadn't really seen -- including the house I based on his house, which I had built in my thinly-veiled Portland neighbourhood ("Bridgetown"). Then we had broccoli and cheese ravioli for dinner and watched an episode of "Due South" that he had out from the library. Cute, in many senses. Leslie Nielsen was a guest star in this episode, and it took me a while to stop expecting absurd humour out of him. ^_^;;

We went and got the mail, then I came back and did more Sim building until eleven-fucking-thirty, because I am an idiot. It is now on the sliver edge of midnight. The cat pan is done and now, to bed!

Sweetheart, I don't know if thee tried Skype at 2:00pm, PDT -- I was working and completely spaced. I'm sorry. :-( Let me know if thee wants to try Wednesday. Love thee! Just 69 more hours! :-D

Ain'tcha all lucky? Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiity's here!

Okay, whatever. ^_^;;

So what's up with felis semi-domesticus? Not a fuck of a lot, but that's okay. ^o^

Sunday, Elf went away. Think I've already mentioned the brunch and stuff. Watched Monsters Inc..

Monday, I went to the gym and worked on Amber Lotus stuff. I watched Finding Nemo in the evening.

Tuesday, I did more Amber Lotus, then went to the eye doc for my follow-up. Everything's fine, laus deo, but Dr. M decided that she hadn't had enough therapy this week, so she told me ALLLL about the problems she's having with her partner. Said partner sounds nutso, but of course I'm only getting Dr. M's side of it. Man it was SOOOOO inappropriate to dump on a patient, but I thought, well, maybe it will make her feel better. I didn't do much commenting, just occasionally murmurring something neutral but vaguely encouraging. My gods, what do you say?

I forgot she was going to dialate my eyes, so I didn't do much the rest of the afternoon, though I did start in on work again before I was quite back to normal. Good thing I'm nearsighted. ^_^

In the evening I watched Toy Story 2.

My boss thinks I'm a jerk, I didn't get that raise.
I haven't changed my underwear in twenty-seven days!
And when I'm kissing you, I fantasize you're a midget.
I'm so sorry Debbie...I mean Bridget!

Man, I've been listening to Weird Al's new album non-stop. Hee hee. The lyrics above are from "Confession (Part III)." Trés amusant.

Wednesday: Today I got to the gym, then went straight to see Aleta and exchange projects. Must have work! (Anybody need Photoshop work done? Reasonable rates!) We had lunch, then I came home to a lurvely little chat with my Elf over Skype. Kewl! Then some work for AL, and some time for my own icons, which I haven't uploaded.

Mac and cheese for dinner. Hoped to watch "Ghost Hunters," but they were all re-runs, dammit. So now I babble here.

Douglas du Fromage will be here sometime tonight, to stay with moi until next Friday or so.

You know, it occurs to me that this Friday is Friday the 13th...in October. I kind of wish I hadn't told Doug to get tickets for "Metamorphosis" for Friday -- might have been fun to find something scary to do. ^_^

Okay, sweetie? Thee has an update from thy Kitty. Gripping, wasn't it? >;-D

La la la...More Weird Al. Yay. Off I go...

Much better today. Actually feeling even a little get-up-and-go-y, which is good because I blew off a lot of stuff yesterday because I was playing with the Ultra Fractals demo. Oooooooooooooooh, pretty! *drool* Oh, and trying to fix something I did wrong in the Orchids January file, but Photoshop kept crashing on me. Damn Alien Skin filter...

Already this morning I have watered the front garden and done the indoor plants downstairs. For the rest of the day:

- call Matt about getting together [well, e-mail]
- go to dentist appointment
- go to the gym after lunch [oops...I took a nap after I got back 'cause my cramps were killing me...^_^;;;]
- water upstairs and check palm's moisture level
- finish Aaron's birthday card and package everything
- package Grandma's photos
- shop for dinner
- do more Orchids work

Hmmm, looking at my allowance, I see that I could not only get Ultra Fractals 4.0 (without animation capability, it's quite inexpensive), but I could also get buZZ.pix or buZZ.pro... Ooooooooooooooooh, shiiiiiiiiiny...

This is my first LJ entry from Athene, my new laptop. I know that may not seem like much, but this is the first computer I've bought entirely with my own money. Being a hausfrau, depressed, diagnosed with panic disorder, and the proud owner of a Masters in Medieval Literature has made my job history less than exciting. But when I started doing stuff for Amber Lotus, the money went to my mad money rather than the overall budget. And so, several months of work have now translated into a laptop capable of playing the Sims 2! I'm ridiculously pleased and proud.

In real news:

Snow all gone. It was snowing pretty egregiously when I was on the way home from the Board meeting. Elf was even considering having a snow day Friday, but, alas. Just about everything was gone by Friday morning and the streets were completely clean. Oh well. ^_^ Fortunately, we did have another good frost last night, so I can still whine about the garden. ;-)

I've gotten two of the Amber Lotus jobs done. The last one is due Wednesday, so I expect I'll be doing some work over the weekend. Plus I have to type up the minutes. And on Tuesday must go to oral surgeon's. Wednesday Premier is coming back to fix the shades. And I have time to do all this...when? Heh.

I've got Rhapsody downloaded onto Athene; she's got better speakers than my old (nameless) laptop. Hee.

I'm trying out Opera to escape from Microsuck. So far so good. ^_^

Well, it's almost 10, so I best git. We'll probably be antiquing today, plus going over the "before Kitty leaves" honey-do list.

Hwæt!

I'm slowly getting over this cold. The goofiness and extreme lassitude are gone, thank the gods.

Saturday I was well enough that Elf, Aleta and I could go antiquing in Sellwood. It was a bust from the standpoint of finding a cabinet for the CDs, but we had a good time and it was a beautiful day. I got pretty wiped out though, so slept when we got home even though we'd stopped at Freddy's and picked up Open For Business!

Sunday was better. We went on a nice walk, saw Hollie and Greg loading up the new van with Goodwill stuff. Damn, I can't believe she's moving. But on the upside, she brought out Poppy, her baby turtle, who was just as cute as a -- um, well -- as a baby turtle! ^_^ It's an African tortoise, to be more precise, and will grow to be more than 150 lbs or something absurd like that.

Unfortunately, the cough is just not going away, dammit, so no gym AGAIN. I'm feeling slug-like, positively molluscine! Well, I'll try to get out and about by walking to Walgreens for my prescription and cough syrup, the bank for a deposit, and the store for dinner.

But first -- WORK! Yay!! When Aleta came over Friday, she left a huge wad of work. For me! Joy! I thought I was done for the year, but no! Hee hee hee hee! I'm quite giddy... ^_^

Okay, first lunch, as this has taken longer (duh) than it should have, or rather, to speak more precisely, the previous friends-only post took too long. Ah well. I will quite nobly forgo Open for Business until after I've finished my first work goal. But lunch now, and Mansfield Park! Hoy!

Today:

- gas car
- pick up prescription
- gym
- Dollar Tree
- Stark's?
- Post office
- bank
- bills
- start cleaning for Twelfth Night (Hollie, did you get the invite?)

No rest for the wicked. ^_^;

I had a dream last night that I was in a dungeon-crawl. I took out some orcs with laser-beams, but they kept getting back up, so I went and cut their heads off, but both the laser-beam and the sword were invisible, so it was only conceptual. I beheaded another orc, but he turned out to be a nice guy and we ended up talking a lot and making bad jokes about his headlessness. He actually had a head, but of course he didn't, 'cause I'd chopped it off, right? Dreams. I finally rationalised that there must be a pocket of magic around. I told him I was sorry I'd chopped his head off before getting to know him, but secretly suspected he only became nice after the beheading. Something about an old house and our cats. Whatevah. ^_^;;

Got the Amber Lotus stuff done that needed to be done by this week. I think I can get the "real" files to Aleta at Twelfth Night. It would be good if she could look at the Sulamith Wülfing so I can get rid of that stuff, too, but I know she's really busy, esp. with Leslie out till next Monday.

Feh. Must go. Have to get gas and pick up meds before the gym, 'cause I footled around and I was out of wellbutrin as of last night. Oops!

Man, slept for freakin' shit last night. Woke up every hour, starting at 2:20 (convinced it was 7 or 8), worried that Elf hadn't woken Sue in time to get to the hospital (surgery started at 7:00; Sue wanted to be there by 6:30). Kind of crappy dreams in between, from the "real-world-anxiety" type (has Sue made it to the hospital?) to vaguely unpleasant weird ones with more-than-vaguely unpleasant people in them (Draco Malfoy? Crabbe and Goyle?).

Yeah, Sue's here. I picked her up after she'd had a full day at the hospital, i.e. 9:00pm. She's wound pretty tight, no surprise, but I think she'll hold up fine for her mom. Her dad was being a dick all day, big shock, but Sue said a lot of people from their church were there and that they're really good people. I feel better about that, that perhaps Barbara will have cooking and cleaning help once she gets home.

The surgery is happening as we speak, I'm guessing. I'm guessing that open heart surgery, with rib spreaders and all, takes more than two hours. Sue didn't really give me a prognosis last night, so I don't know what her chances are. I do know that they found a second valve that's damaged and don't know until they get in there whether they can repair them or will have to replace them. Repair would be better than replacement. Sue will call when there's any news.

This has been a really weird Winter -- a really weird year. I haven't done ANY Yule shopping, and it's less than two weeks, and I have people I need to mail stuff too. No tree yet, either. At least I'm working on the card. I've got two more images for Amber Lotus to do, but luckily they're not due until the 30th. I got the Board Meeting minutes summary out, so the newsletter's apparently back on schedule. I just got to get shopping. Would help if I had all the lists, but I do have most. Must call John about CDs. Ack.

I'm so tired, but can't go back to sleep. I've got to stay alert today for Sue. I have to take the call when there's news, and if things go well and Sue needs a break, we're going to go downtown to do some shopping. This will be good, but I really just want to snuggle under the down comforter and make it all go away. At least there's tons of leftovers, so dinner's taken care of. Bills and laundry done, too. Go me.

Ah. Off to the gym. That might wake me some. ^_^;

The cold has finished its move from my throat to my chest. I am coughing more now. I am going to be a good little bunny and stay home from the gym and finish the Amber Lotus stuff. Yea gods, then I HAVE to finish the minutes and newsletter editing. gah.

Elf's taking tomorrow off, so we'll have 5 uninterrupted days together! Well, except maybe Thursday, when we might go to Dawn's folks' for Thanksgiving (if I feel up to it) and definitely Saturday, when we have the Gathering at Aleta's (whether I feel up to it or not ^_^;). Still, we'll be able to sleep in together...warm snugglies!

Must pick up the turkey today (free-range and all that). Pizza for dinner?

Go shower, get warm. Work in Photoshop, which is not really work but they give me money anyway!!

The cold has moved into my chest; the coughing has commenced, though not too bad yet. I feel like I'm underwater. Weird night last night, too, a lot of half-sleep and half-wakings. I think I'll take it  r e a l  easy at the gym today.

I've got the files set up for Amber Lotus, all the hi-res images scaled and placed. It shouldn't be too bad to get a lot of it done today. Luckily, this is the kind of thing I can do even with a cold. I also got the Sangha Forum notes done and have started on the Board Meeting minutes. Words are more difficult, though, so we'll see how far I get on that.

Oh, add to that that my period should be hitting around Thanksgiving. Yay.

Well, I guess I'm done here. I'm going to go see if I can do the gym without hacking up a lung.


Update update, 2:00pm:

The gym was exhausting, but it didn't make me cough, interestingly enough. Yay me. [snore]

My throat and chest are itchy, like I want to cough, but don't. Eh. But I did put in over an hour on the Amber Lotus stuff, so that's good. Go nap-nap after I let the dog out. yah.

uM, so I have a stupid cold: sore throat, fatigue, some stuffiness, ears plugged. but I have some more work, so that's cool. Still have editing stuff to do, which I'm not because 1) i'm tired a lot, 2) my brain is not 100% and 3) I'm a lazy shit.

Off to walk the dog. Heigh-ho!

Hmmm, a lot of my list isn't getting done: Aleta called with a new rush job. Yay! Okay, it's only a couple hours (1.75 billable), but it's work, though it has put a crimp on my schedule. At least I'm getting the sheets washed, and I'll have plenty time to go to the store for dinner makin's. ^_^

Hwaet!

Yes, folks, it's getting to that time of year again when Kitty begins to hibernate. I slept until 7:18 this morning and did not want to get up. And this is after a nearly 3 hour nap yesterday afternoon (headache/cramps). Too bad I have so much to do, or I wouldn't mind so much. ^_^;;

Yes, headache for two days. Bleh. Tuesday it came on in the afternoon and by early evening it was incredibly evil. Tension headache, which is my usual; it started at the base of my skull on the right side, then bored its way forward and up, to come out my right eyeball. The kind that hurts even more when you suddenly shift position and especially when you bend over. It was so bad when I went to walk the dog at 7:30 that Elf had to put on my boots and lace them for me. Heh. Aspirin didn't help. Naproxen didn't help. (Oh, and cramps too, through all this.)

Sleeping seemed to, though. I awoke the next morning feeling fine. Yay! So I went to the gym and slogged through. I noticed a ghost of the headache when I bent over, but hoped it wouldn't get bad. After gym, I came hope, packed up, then went out to Amber Lotus to drop off the Fairy Tale project. (Which, by the way, came out magnificently. The results made Leslie do a little chair dance. Hee!) By the time I got there, though, the headache was on its way back, and by the time I left I was in serious pain. Unfortunately, I had to stop by Woodcrafters AND McCoy Millwork on the way home, which I did, but it was awful. The man at Woodcrafters was very nice. At one point I jostled some wood trim and a short piece fell. Out of habit I started to pick it up, then thought better. "I'm sorry, I can't pick that up." He was puzzled, but got it. Then he tried to tell me the lengths they'd have to cut the trim to, and I just couldn't follow it. I apologised, telling him I had a "terrible, terrible" headache and couldn't think properly. He seemed sympathetic. Then I dropped one of my lists, and even though he was a few paces ahead of me, he turned and said, "I'll get that." I'd already knelt to get it, but I thanked him. That made me feel good, though.

The drive home (over a half hour) was horrible, but I didn't crash into anything, so that's good. ^_^; I stopped at New Seasons for food, then came home and had a glass of V8 and a piece of bread and poured myself into bed, somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00. Slept until nearly 5:30, but woke up feeling fine! Yay! And it lasted the rest of the evening! Yay!

This morning is tired, but no headache, thank the gods. ^_^ So I'll just finish up here and get meself off to the gym. (Kara's leaving, though! The only front-desk person I actually talk to there, and she's leaving after next Tuesday. Poop! >:-/)

Then, the list:
- gym
- Freddy's
- mail Beast's package
- birthday presents
- laundry
- Sangha Forum notes
- birthday cards
- dinner shopping

'K. It's only 9:25. Let's get this done, shall we?