Wednesday update

I was up late Monday night sewing. I am now so unaccustomed to the activity that I was dreadfully sore across the upper back and shoulders all day Tuesday. It's begun to ease now, but for a while there it was rough. I was so very tired yesterday, and easily distracted on the drive home from work; I was nearly in two accidents as a result. Obviously I made it home, but it was touch-and-go there for a while.

I attended a "meeting" at Stone Bridge Tuesday night. The place hasn't officially changed hands as I thought it had, but the prospective and previous owners are treating it as though it has. The new owner is treating the business much differently and assembled a group of people to talk over ideas of how to improve the issues that the shop has had. It all comes down to visibility and value - as in more of each - and if the new owner can accomplish those, I think she'll make it. I preached from my usual platform of "know your market" and "fresh, local, seasonal" - even took in a few recipe ideas.

I'll be taking over the website. I'm thinking a Wordpress installation with all the right plug-ins will handle it nicely: calendar, video, audio. The old website is just images, and thus invisible to Google. The calendar was never updated, so information was never current. On the whole, a shitty job by the guy in charge.

I took a Sudafed about 8:00 before I went to the coffee shop, and so slept little last night. I rest better when I take it - I can breathe comfortably - so even though I don't sleep all that well, I wake feeling better. I anticipate crashing hard not long after lunch. Naturally, I hope that doesn't happen. I'll take the med earlier tonight and see what happens.

Remember the project that was seriously under-scoped and under-bid? Nothing was ever put in writing for the client and - just as I predicted - the scope of it blossomed yesterday from a bed of petunias to a pasture of bindweed. It was bid at twenty hours (without consulting me, the guy who would write it, remember) and as of this writing I'm at 41.5 hours. I'm about half done, and that doesn't even include the change in scope yesterday upon which DataGuy assures me he's going to put the kibosh. *sigh*

At least I'm employed.

And, speaking of employed, I've been hired to build a website for the Olathe FOP. Independent work is good.

Wednesday update

I was up late Monday night sewing. I am now so unaccustomed to the activity that I was dreadfully sore across the upper back and shoulders all day Tuesday. It's begun to ease now, but for a while there it was rough. I was so very tired yesterday, and easily distracted on the drive home from work; I was nearly in two accidents as a result. Obviously I made it home, but it was touch-and-go there for a while.

I attended a "meeting" at Stone Bridge Tuesday night. The place hasn't officially changed hands as I thought it had, but the prospective and previous owners are treating it as though it has. The new owner is treating the business much differently and assembled a group of people to talk over ideas of how to improve the issues that the shop has had. It all comes down to visibility and value - as in more of each - and if the new owner can accomplish those, I think she'll make it. I preached from my usual platform of "know your market" and "fresh, local, seasonal" - even took in a few recipe ideas.

I'll be taking over the website. I'm thinking a Wordpress installation with all the right plug-ins will handle it nicely: calendar, video, audio. The old website is just images, and thus invisible to Google. The calendar was never updated, so information was never current. On the whole, a shitty job by the guy in charge.

I took a Sudafed about 8:00 before I went to the coffee shop, and so slept little last night. I rest better when I take it - I can breathe comfortably - so even though I don't sleep all that well, I wake feeling better. I anticipate crashing hard not long after lunch. Naturally, I hope that doesn't happen. I'll take the med earlier tonight and see what happens.

Remember the project that was seriously under-scoped and under-bid? Nothing was ever put in writing for the client and - just as I predicted - the scope of it blossomed yesterday from a bed of petunias to a pasture of bindweed. It was bid at twenty hours (without consulting me, the guy who would write it, remember) and as of this writing I'm at 41.5 hours. I'm about half done, and that doesn't even include the change in scope yesterday upon which DataGuy assures me he's going to put the kibosh. *sigh*

At least I'm employed.

And, speaking of employed, I've been hired to build a website for the Olathe FOP. Independent work is good.

(no subject)

It's been an interesting evening.

We had a meatless supper of corn on the cob, zucchini, carrots (tri-color!) and black-eyed peas. It was yummy all around. I still don't care for black-eyed peas, but I don't actively dislike them either. Enough salt and pepper makes them tolerable. I was more okay with a meatless meal that I supposed I would be. Heck, I'd even do it again.

I did mow the lawn after supper. Hot as hell outside, but with a good breeze it was tolerable. I hope that the lawn goes dormant for the rest of July and August. I got through it without any difficulty in the heat; my joints are feeling it, though. Tomorrow I meet again with my orthopedist to see what he has to say. The drug he prescribed initially isn't cutting it - or indeed even sanding off the edges - any more. Arthritis, as if there were any doubt, sucks.

Michelle went to an autism support group tonight, and Katie's having a friend over to spend the night. This is a first for Katie. Most kids don't want to invest the work it takes to be friends with someone who is autistic, but Friend doesn't seem to mind, if indeed she even notices. An only child, she's accustomed to doing her own thing and, thus, when Katie checks out she takes it in stride.

In any event, I told Michelle to go ahead and go even though that would leave me at home alone with three kids. Katie's friend is a good kid, and they've been pretty much on their best behavior, but my nerves are still frayed.

Her friend likes to chat. I'm not what you could call chatty. "When's Michelle going to be home?" has come 'round about every twenty minutes. Re-read: "Are we there yet?" Fingernails on a chalkboard, that.

I haven't even really had to do anything; help make the hide-a-bed and provide ice cream, yet I'm still waiting anxiously for Michelle to arrive home which, thankfully, has just happened.

The new kitten, Sarah, has settled in to the routine and, while still a kitten, we're starting to catch glimpses of the cat she'll be. We have gone out of our way to find pets that are lovers, and I think she'll be one. She is sweet, lacking that crazy, chaotic-neutral, half-mean streak that a lot of cats exhibit. She can be very attentive, is more or less boneless in the way that only kittens and ferrets manage to be, and loves to sleep in the crevices a seated person creates while, say, watching Star Trek. She and the parakeet have reached what appears to be an understanding - neither appears more than mildly interested in the other. She got bitten through the bars of the birdcage tonight: call that detente.

Skipper would love to be friends, but Sara's not having any of that yet and Skipper treats her like old dynamite, careful to avoid setting her off. Shiner just waits for the couch to be cat-less before jumping up and going to sleep, though "jumping" is a generous description for that old, arthritic dog.

It took us a year to come around to the idea of having another cat, and, as it was with Skipper, when the opportunity arose there was no question in anyone's mind, not even really stopping to think about it. It was Right.

If there is a downside, it is that she is creative and quite liberal in her interpretation of "litter box". I'm hoping she'll get over that quickly. Nothing assaults the olfactory processors quite like kitten shit.

Michelle has declared lights out for the girls - Jami checked out ninety minutes ago - and I think I'll take her advice for myself.

...aaaaand, plans change. Katie's friend - on her first sleepover away from home - got terribly homesick as soon as the lights went out, tears and everything, so Michelle is taking her home. I feel bad for Katie: her first sleepover ever, and it falls through. I've assured her it's not about her - which I think she understands - and I'm sure she'll be okay, but she is mightily disappointed.

(no subject)

It's been an interesting evening.

We had a meatless supper of corn on the cob, zucchini, carrots (tri-color!) and black-eyed peas. It was yummy all around. I still don't care for black-eyed peas, but I don't actively dislike them either. Enough salt and pepper makes them tolerable. I was more okay with a meatless meal that I supposed I would be. Heck, I'd even do it again.

I did mow the lawn after supper. Hot as hell outside, but with a good breeze it was tolerable. I hope that the lawn goes dormant for the rest of July and August. I got through it without any difficulty in the heat; my joints are feeling it, though. Tomorrow I meet again with my orthopedist to see what he has to say. The drug he prescribed initially isn't cutting it - or indeed even sanding off the edges - any more. Arthritis, as if there were any doubt, sucks.

Michelle went to an autism support group tonight, and Katie's having a friend over to spend the night. This is a first for Katie. Most kids don't want to invest the work it takes to be friends with someone who is autistic, but Friend doesn't seem to mind, if indeed she even notices. An only child, she's accustomed to doing her own thing and, thus, when Katie checks out she takes it in stride.

In any event, I told Michelle to go ahead and go even though that would leave me at home alone with three kids. Katie's friend is a good kid, and they've been pretty much on their best behavior, but my nerves are still frayed.

Her friend likes to chat. I'm not what you could call chatty. "When's Michelle going to be home?" has come 'round about every twenty minutes. Re-read: "Are we there yet?" Fingernails on a chalkboard, that.

I haven't even really had to do anything; help make the hide-a-bed and provide ice cream, yet I'm still waiting anxiously for Michelle to arrive home which, thankfully, has just happened.

The new kitten, Sarah, has settled in to the routine and, while still a kitten, we're starting to catch glimpses of the cat she'll be. We have gone out of our way to find pets that are lovers, and I think she'll be one. She is sweet, lacking that crazy, chaotic-neutral, half-mean streak that a lot of cats exhibit. She can be very attentive, is more or less boneless in the way that only kittens and ferrets manage to be, and loves to sleep in the crevices a seated person creates while, say, watching Star Trek. She and the parakeet have reached what appears to be an understanding - neither appears more than mildly interested in the other. She got bitten through the bars of the birdcage tonight: call that detente.

Skipper would love to be friends, but Sara's not having any of that yet and Skipper treats her like old dynamite, careful to avoid setting her off. Shiner just waits for the couch to be cat-less before jumping up and going to sleep, though "jumping" is a generous description for that old, arthritic dog.

It took us a year to come around to the idea of having another cat, and, as it was with Skipper, when the opportunity arose there was no question in anyone's mind, not even really stopping to think about it. It was Right.

If there is a downside, it is that she is creative and quite liberal in her interpretation of "litter box". I'm hoping she'll get over that quickly. Nothing assaults the olfactory processors quite like kitten shit.

Michelle has declared lights out for the girls - Jami checked out ninety minutes ago - and I think I'll take her advice for myself.

...aaaaand, plans change. Katie's friend - on her first sleepover away from home - got terribly homesick as soon as the lights went out, tears and everything, so Michelle is taking her home. I feel bad for Katie: her first sleepover ever, and it falls through. I've assured her it's not about her - which I think she understands - and I'm sure she'll be okay, but she is mightily disappointed.