DLand - On a Scale of One to Ten It's Been ...

Could you take more really fabulous things and really horrible things and mix them up in three days? If you can then you've topped my past few days. Went to Gabrielle's to be all productive for Crusades. We set up our own little mini-sweatshop and got to stitching. Neither of us has been to this event before and neither of us trekked to the deserts of Pennsylvania in August so we're making the most of this small scale re-enactment war. Going to a war seems so surreal these days that I just focus on the pretty clothes I'm making and the nails and hooks my fabulously talented Sweetpea will be cranking out at his forge.

We got a reasonable amount done. My italian is re-boobified from it's poor fitting before. Unfortunately, it's one of those things where you cut an inch or two off of expensive fabric that is sewn into this gown that took you forever to put together and then stitch it back up and then reattach by hand the 52 lacings on the front to THEN find out if it fits better. Like Gabrielle said, if it doesn't fit, throw it in the street. So if you're some slightly smaller chested version of me, start cruisin' by my house this week because there my be a dark green velvet italian gown in the gutter. Or it might turn out okay and I'll be all babe-o-licious.

But other than that, got minimal of the main projects done. Bah. They must not be as important. I can check off staying up til 2am babbling about everything in my girl brain off the list. That one's taken care of for now (thanks G).

There was the bad news concerning Jeremy's parents. It's a soap opera that doesn't deserve going into here. But needless to say bad things happened and everyone is coping. Everyone is healthy and alive and just has a lot to sort through right now. I am only a satelite orbiting this problem and it muddles my brain. But in amongst all that we had an excellent dinner chez Sweetpea Mom (would that make her Sweetmom?). Surreal all around.

And Jeremy and I were having a hard time communicating last night. It was me. I felt like I was missing something that day and he would be able to change that. But if I don't know what's wrong, it's hard for him to don a toolbelt and fix it. It's all good, but I was a mope queen last night. That and the damn cat insisted on sleeping on my head and would not stand for relocation. Stupid snuggly wuggly fuzzball.

But today Jeremy calls and says that the head of the libraries here called him to be sure he applied for the technical support job, implying that he had a VERY good chance of getting it. I can't contain my excitement. No chickens have been pre-emptively counted, mind you. But this job would be full time with benefits and stability. I'll be floating on air. My own little tech support geek in the house!

So I'm going to spend the evening working on Sweetpea's wool houpelande and hosen. That way he'll have to work a lot harder to set himself on fire at the forge (wool is self-extinguishing). And he'll be the most handsome blacksmith on site.

DLand - How Do You Get a Doctor's Note for This?

Has your job ever made you physically ill? Sunday night you start counting the hours til you have to go back to work. You feel sicker and sicker. You can't sleep but yet that's all you want to do. And then when you wake up Monday morning like someone has a gun to your head. You'd give anything to stop time and just stay under the covers. I've been feeling physically ill at work lately. Some of it is sympathy pains for Bossman. And some is just this nagging feeling that any second some random customer is going to call in an unjustified maniacal rant over some unrealistic deadline for an impossible development task. And then I'll want to barf.

As the week progresses, my stomach has been getting less knotted at work. The queues of requests are getting smaller and the answers are coming easier than expected. It's all going to be okay.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that "being your own boss" is the greatest. Not having a boss (or working for a small company) is only a walk in the park if money grows on trees. The real world is many more shades of grey, my friend.

Overall I really do love my job. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I got a thank you card in the mail yesterday from a university. I didn't think the help I offered was monumental, but apparently my technical support partner and I did some great things for them that helped them sleep better. I hope she doesn't feel sick on Sunday nights.

DLand - Chanel No. 5? or Octane No. 89?

Ooh, what's the enchanting scent you're wearing? So I ran out of gas. It happens. Yes, I know it's bad for fuel injected engines to run them out of gas. Yes, I know that there's this neat little gadget called a gas guage (which works perfectly fine in my car). But it just happened.

So I'm about halfway between the gas station next to my office and the next gas station on the road when my engine starts to sputter. That's when I looked down at the gas guage. "That's right! I was supposed to get gas on my way home from work."

So then comes the great decision. Turn back or try to get to Texaco? Which would be a worse intersection to stall in? Hmm, decisions. Well, I plod ahead. I could spit on the Citgo when my car would go no further. Unfortunately, I was across the busy street from my mecca of petrol. Thankfully, Sweetpea saved the day. He was right behind me and pushed me out of the road only to drive me across the busy street to the Citgo.

Crazy Phillipino cashier woman greets me inside. She sold a lotto ticket to the cute guy in front of me and insisted that he called when he won. She only sold me a gas can for $3.99 and a dollar of gas. I was filling my little gas can when the cashier's voice comes over the speaker system to remind cute boy to come back when he won. I may stop by there after the lotto drawing too so I can be in the circle of good fortune.

So then Sweetpea drives me back to my car. Did I mention that we both really had to pee? I start to fill my tank but am obviously doing it wrong because Sweetpea takes the tank from me. Between the two of us and the gas can we put half of it in the parking lot some on the side of the car and some in the tank. I was laughing so hard it took all I had to not pee all over the pavement. So we got enough in the tank to get me across the street. Crazy Phillipino cashier was so nice to me earlier and chipper that I gave her back the gas can I bought to give to the next stupid sap who runs out of gas there. Hopefully, I won't see my own gas can again.

Somehow, this all seems kind of appropriate for my day. It's been one crazy thing after another today and all I could do was laugh and laugh and laugh. It feels good - try it.