Meet Amy

Amy is the latest in my Christmas do-it-yourself accomplishments. She was not as easy to make, unfortunately since the directions were totally hosed up, and it took me literally a day or better to figure out how to make her head and her legs. The stitch counts were all off and two rows were missing on the head.

Amy is my statement against what is happening with imported Chinese toys. Today I heard that more are being recalled, this time because they contain dangerous chemicals that are literally putting children into comas. None have died thus far, but I suppose given the toy's popularity in both the U.S. and in Europe it's simply a matter of time.

I vowed when all of this started that I would not buy anything that was not American made, or that I did not make myself. This is the second of the do it yourself things, and there are two more to go, a sweater, and a hooded poncho.

Amy is not perfect, but Amy was made with love and she is not toxic. Even her stuffing was made right here in this country. I'm really rather proud of her, though I would hasten to add that given the time it takes to make one, she is not something anyone would make for other than the love of doing so or the love of the person for whom she is intended.

So anyway, say hi to Amy. I am sure she is glad to meet you.

I Had an Aha! Moment This Morning

I am sitting at my desk working on an assignment for Microsoft, when I had this Aha! moment.

The job I am doing is very complex. There is a pile of 40 some candidates for outstanding achievement awards. These are a lot of very important people. The job is mind-boggling because the write-ups are so god awful in most cases. Some are rather like trying to read a plate of spaghetti.

My job is to bring order out of chaos, discover what needs to be said that isn't in the documents before me, and then to contact the people involved, get the information, and complete the write-ups. And I have a bit less than two weeks to do it in.

Please understand that for this assignment, Microsoft came looking for me not the other way around. I'm a consultant. This was based on the smallest possible job I did for them sometime last year. I wrote up the proceedings for an off-site series of meetings they held. Someone there was so impressed that when this latest bunch of stuff came up, she asked for me by name, even asking my agency that if I were on assignment that I perhaps could work for them too on weekends and after hours. That was very flattering.

Deciding to take the job was one of my smarter decisions. Now to the aha! moment. I was busy firing off emails all over the globe to the director of this, and VP of that, then sending a suggestion to the manager I'm reporting to telling her of changes that need to be made in the process and volunteering (for money of course) to actually give some form to their current chaotic process (herding cats comes to mind) and write up a guideline to enable people to do a better job up front. That's when it hit me. In the past I have always been sort of overwhelmed by such important people and having to deal with them. I mean, some of these folks have world-wide reputations.

The aha? Well, I'm not only not overwhelmed by them any more, I don't feel at all inferior to them either. While I haven't accomplished the heady levels of technical and managerial they have, in my own way and in my own field I am just as good and just as accomplished. It's done wonders for my ego.

I think this happened in part because I am being treated as an expert and my opinions and suggestions are being respected with this group. They act as if I walk on water. I am referring to the local Microsoft group for which I am working, not the broader company or all of these technical geniuses with whom I am dealing. I honestly needed this. It's done an enormous amount for my self-esteem. It doesn't hurt that I get to work at home, set my own hours, etc. It also doesn't hurt to be told that people are so impressed by me and my work that they are asking my manager for a place in the queue for my services as each project is finished.

On some level I know my own expertise and worth. But on another I needed to hear it from someone other than the little voice inside my head. This next couple of weeks are going to be brutal. There is nowhere near enough time before the deadline. I'll meet it of course. I've already let management know I will be going into overtime and weekends. I have strategies for doing research until the answers to my emails begins coming in, and there are a very few of the nomination write-ups that are actually good enough and which contain sufficient information for me to begin the final drafts of those.

In the end I will do it. But I'll also turn around and refine their process so that next year whoever does this will not have nearly the hard time I am. In their defense, I should add that this program only started last year, so the guidelines have not really been set. They will be next year because I will set them. I feel very good about me this morning.

Frustration

I am frustrated enough to bite the dog today. I have a new assignment with Microsoft with a very tight deadline. I have 42 files to read, understand, research, rewrite, and turn in. I have two weeks from Monday to do it.

For some reason known only the the Microsoft network itself, the damned electronic babysitter will not allow me to access the site I need to be able to download the files I have to work on. The system administrator has worked for two days to try to remedy this and thus far we have failed miserably. This morning I still don't have access. Of course I didn't know that for two hours because the damned auto-update feature is also bugged and defective and didn't work, thus denying me access to any of the Microsoft site. Yes. I am being paid for that time. That's beside the point. Finally my daughter the systems administrator, fixes it for me and the updates get updated.

So I go out to the page I so desperately need. Still no access. For 20 of the files, I have paper copies. If things get desperate by Monday, I can enter these by hand and thus have files to work on. I have enough work for today and about halfway into Monday before I have to start doing this in order to move ahead. For those other 22 files, there is no way. If I cannot even see what they say, I can't assess what is good or bad, what is missing, or what research/interviews I have to do to bring them up to speed.

I am not terribly efficient when I am this frustrated, I admit. I need to start my interviews/research etc. on Monday once I am fully up to speed on what is needed on these current files. This I can do. However, with 10 working days to do it all, I am not happy with the idea that 22 files are out there I can't even read much less work on. I take great pride in the quality of my work. I work fast. I am willing and able to work long hours and weekends when necessary (nice paychecks btw when I do that).

So I have fired off a note to my boss and am going back to work on what I have. By the end of the day at least 20 files will be annotated as to who I need to contact, what information I need, and what research I need to do online to make sure that the story is written well. Monday I start on that and pray. I plan to hand enter only the file I most currently will be working on in the hope that somewhere along the line this mess gets fixed and I won't have to do all of them.

Grrrr......I don't need this.

I am So Excited

As many of you know, I am very political. I generally have an opinion on almost everything. Today I was listening to CNN when Jack Cafferty asked what we thought that the new embassy in Iraq, which has had huge overruns, has now had its opening postponed indefinitely. He asked what that said about the Bush administration.

I dashed off a response. Of course I didn't think to keep a copy of it. I just heard my entire comment read on CNN during the Situation Room. I was so excited. So I started dinking around with my mail program and found the original comment. Here it is:

"That boondoggle of an embassy will stand as a permanent monument to George Bush's ineptitude, and the failure of his policies in Iraq. It was started with inadequate knowledge and planning, carried out without oversight and apparently without a master plan for success, and in the end will stand empty as a hollow tribute to everything that went wrong over there. Mr. Bush cannot afford to fund health programs for poor children but he has no problem dumping money down a rat hole with projects such as this."

Yeah, I know it's a very little thing, but damn.

Meet Max

This is Max. He's a hand-made stuffed dog that I am giving my granddaughter for Christmas this year. I've been alarmed over the entire toy thing with all the poison paint and other things, and I don't know what is safe and what is not.

From my point of view, all the toys that are going to be put on the shelves for us to buy this Christmas season have already been manufactured and are either in store warehouses, already on the shelves, or in transit. We know from the reports that there are going to be many more recalls before Christmas is actually upon us. For that reason I determined not to buy anything that is not made in this country this year. I will not risk the well-being of my precious granddaughter for the profits of some greedy toy company who won't even do the basic quality control one would expect of any manufacturer, but especially for those who are importing toys from third world countries where safety and quality standards are all but nonexistent.

Max isn't perfect. Then again neither is his owner. On the other hand, Max is made with a lot of love, he's soft, cuddly, washable, and he contains nothing toxic. From his yarn to his stuffing he was manufactured in this country. He is safe. To me anyway, that's a lot more important than the fact he is not entirely perfect. He looks handmade. I suppose that's because he is. Funny how that works.

Anyway, Max meet the world. World, meet Max.

Another One Bites The Dust

In a good way this time. I got another one of my afghan projects for Christmas finished. This is for my ex-son-in-law and his new wife. It's pretty but I'm glad it's done and I can move on to all the other things I need to get finished.

It looks nice and will be something useful as well. I guess you can't ask for anything more than that.

I have had to redo the body of the stuffed dog I am making. I did something stupid and ruined the first one. But that is just one evening's work, so it's not that big a deal. I have also started yet another afghan. This is my next to the last one. From there I need to finish all the things for my granddaughter, and make my daughter's present as well.

This winter I will do something very unusual for me. First, and more important, I'll be working hard to finish Sewmouse's quilt for her. In addition, I plan to make a couple of sweaters and a couple of pair of socks for someone I almost never make anything for......me.

A Wonderful URL

Man, do I have a deal for you. If you're one of those who is inundated with credit card offers in the mail every week, there is a way out. go to this link and you will be able to opt out of receiving this annoying bits of paper for five years. If you wish, you can mail in a form that opts you out permanently.

Note the "s" at the end of HTTP. That's for secure. I just did it and can't wait to see if it actually lowers the numbers of these things I get virtually daily. It would be so nice if it did.

Moving Right Along

I just got back from Michaels, the local craft store, where I picked up the materials to make a cute crocheted basset hound. Thank you Sewmouse for that and the many other patterns you found and sent me.

I checked my Christmas giving list. I was able to delete one of the afghans I was going to send, but the yarn is now redirected to a sweater for my granddaughter. The timing will be tight because I am going to make all of her Christmas gifts this year, which I was not planning to do until very recently. I simply cannot justify buying any toys until this entire recall thing is resolved, and I am convinced that the contaminated Chinese-made toys are already in the warehouses and are going to be sold to us for our kids then recalled after Christmas.

I am nearly finished with one afghan, and have two more to finish by Christmas, plus all of Rachel's gifts. I'm going to be one busy camper for this upcoming season. Still, I have over three months, so if I really work hard, I'll get it all done in time. The little kid stuff can be done at the same time as other things, one small piece at a time, then assembled and stuffed at the last moment. My daughter can help me make some of the plastic canvas things. That should be fun for her as well.

I wish this were not the case, though I admit I'm having fun planning all of this, and will feel an enormous sense of accomplishment when everything is finished. I will be posting pictures of things as they are finished, so everyone can keep track of my progress. Wish me luck people, this is a huge amount of new work that I hadn't counted on having to do. Still, my granddaughter is precious to me, and she's worth the added work. I won't risk poisoning her for corporate profit.

Spin! Spin! Spin!

The Facts

1. At the beginning of the year President Bush proposed a troop surge of approximately 30,000 troops. His stated purpose was to provide additional security on the ground to give the Iraqi government the breathing room it needed to implement some hard diplomatic solutions to Iraq's problems.
   
   
2. At Congress's behest and with Mr. Bush's full and public support, 18 benchmarks were established that would provide a concrete and measurable gauge by which progress toward the stated goals could be measured.
   
   
3. Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki went on television in a widely viewed address to both his nation and the people of the United States and assured us that not only would they fully meet all of the benchmarks, but they would exceed them.
   

The above facts are indisputable. They happened and are easy verified by going back and reading the stories in the press during that time. So now we have the base established. The bottom line is, that according to Congress, Mr. Bush, and Mr. al-Maliki, the only measure of success is whether or not the benchmarks are met. That is all the surge was intended to accomplish.

What Happened?

The "surge" went into Iraq. It was shortly after the surge began that we learned that rather than working on the political reconciliation and other issues as they had promised, the Iraqi government was planning a two-month long holiday at the end of the "surge." This left no appreciable time from when the last of the U.S. troops hit the ground and they were expected to produce the results they promised. While Washington managed to bully them down to only one month of sipping tea and popping bon bons by the pool while our soldiers died, they still managed to accomplish virtually nothing.

Over the past week two reports have surfaced. One states that while the Iraqi army is making some limited progress, it will be from between 12-18 months before they can even begin to assume any sort of leading roll in Iraq's defense. In an interview with those who wrote the report (on Meet The Press) they estimate it will be 3-6 years before this transition can be expected to be completed. The same report concluded that the National Police, run by the Department of the Interior, is so corrupt and so sectarian that it should just be disbanded and reorganized.

The Iraqi government has fulfilled 3 of the 18 benchmarks and has made no progress whatever on the really essential ones. Large blocks of the government and the parliament has resigned or withdrawn because of this lack of will. Ethnic cleansing on the part of the Shiite militias in Baghdad goes on unchecked and nearly 2 million have fled the country. More than that have fled the city as one Sunni neighborhood after another are given the choice of either leaving or being murdered.

Since the beginning of Mr. Bush's "war on terror" (as if you can make a war on either an emotion or a tactic) terrorist incidents worldwide have increased 500%.

Most military leaders point to small and limited improvements on the ground and claim that the "surge" is working. The surge is working only if the Iraqi government has achieved its reconciliation goals and has completed the benchmarks. They have done neither.

The Spin

Mr. Bush, et. al have been been in a frenzy of spinning for the past two weeks. Mr. Bush now claims that any sign, no matter how small, of military progress on the ground is "proof" that the surge is working. Now I grant you if small or measurable success on the ground were the goal Mr. Bush, Congress, and Mr. al-Maliki had named as the indicator of success, then this would be true. Unfortunately however, it is not what they all said would measure success. Only political success would do that and there has been no political movement, much less success.

Most experts on the region agree that without a political solution there is absolutely no way for the U.S. to ever stabilize Iraq. Even now, were all of the foreign fighters to leave today, the levels of violence on the ground would barely abate because they are no longer the problem. Iraq is embroiled in a sectarian civil war. here is no solution to that other than a political one onto which all of the parties sign.

General Petraeus is expected to testify before congress tomorrow, and the ambassador to Iraq on Wednesday. They are expected to spout the party line that the surge is "succeeding" while acknowledging that only a few minor benchmarks have been reached and that no diplomatic moves have been made toward political reconciliation. He is expected to recommend (ala Mr. Bush's orders) that we leave the troops there to die for another six months or so to give the Iraqi government time to work on political solutions. I am positive he will not explain how this is expected to happen and why now when they have utterly failed to regard it as sufficiently important to even stay in session and work.

Mr. Bush and his crew of merry vagabonds continue to insist that the majority of the fighting on the ground right now in Iraq is the result of actions of al-Qaeda members in the country. Every civilian and military expert who has been there over the past six months agree almost to the man that this is not true. The violence now is between various Muslim sects and the divisions within those sects. In Baghdad, for instance, The Shittes are clearing out the Sunnis at a record pace so it's not surprising that when you couple fewer people with more military boots on the ground, the level of violence has gone down in some places there. Overall, however, the death toll of civilians last month exceeded the month before by quite a bit.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line that will be concluded by most reasonable people other than the 29%ers who believe Mr. Bush walks his dog on the lake every morning are as follows:

1. Given the stated purpose of the surge, it has failed. While there are a few small military successes to point to, military success was not why the surge was implemented.
   
   
2. The al-Maliki government either outright lied or misrepresented what progress they could reasonably be expected to achieve in the six months they were given, and that even then they didn't even try to meet the goals.
   
   
3. General Petraeus will concentrate on presenting congress with the rosiest possible picture of the conditions on the ground in Iraq, will lobby for more time, and will studiously ignore the real reason for the surge in the first place. He will pretend that military success on the ground is the reason for the surge.
   
   
4. Congress will conclude that the surge is a failure, but will almost certainly cave in and give Mr. Bush a blank check. All the time making (or trying to make) political hay over Mr. Bush's war, which a few of them honestly wish to continue and perhaps even get worse before the upcoming elections so as to generate a very real anti-Republican backlash.
   
   
   
5. Mr. al-Maliki will go on television sometime toward the end of the week, probably after Mr. Bush gives his blowing sunshine address to the nation either Thursday or Friday, and will appear openly defiant and repeat his offer for us to leave right now and his assertion that they can do just fine thank you without us. I urge the President and congress to take him up on it.

Conclusion

It might sound cynical to some, but I don't feel this dog and pony show will accomplish anything or will change any minds. Mr. Bush will get his blank check and our troops will continue to die. The government of Iraq will fall sometime within the next four months leaving the country in even more chaos than it is currently. The civil war will continue unabated until the country splits into three separate and warring provinces. Finally, we will be there, and we intend to be there, for at least the next five to seven years and probably more. Remember, you heard it here first.

Mattel Arrogance

"Mattel Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Eckert said in an interview that the company discloses problems on its own timetable because it believes both the law and the commission’s enforcement practices are unreasonable. Mattel said it should be able to evaluate hazards internally before alerting any outsiders, regardless of what the law says." Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2007

This is a quote that says more than I believe Mr. Eckert really wanted to say about how Mattel feels about this whole toy recall thing. The Consumer Protection Agency requires that all such discoveries be reported within 24 hours. What he is saying is that he doesn't care about the law; he clearly believes that Mattel is above the law in this instance, but also that he doesn't care that millions of our children are being slowly poisoned while Mattel executives and lawyers dither around trying to find a way to spin this information to their favor.

From everything I've read in the past two days, these recent recalls and toxic toys from China are merely the tip of the iceberg. There will be many many more of these in the coming months, and there is an extremely good chance that Mattel and the other toymakers already know about them, but are delaying the recalls. Again while our children suffer what could be permanent brain damage in the interim.

While thinking about this this morning, I realized something else. The lead-in cycle for toy manufacture, especially when the manufacturing has been sent all the way to China, is quite long. Months I would guess. Many of the toys being currently recalled were intended for this upcoming Christmas season. Then it hit me. I'm willing to bet that Mattel and the other big toy makers are going to put many of the toys that they know are contaminated, but which have not been declared with the CPA and recalled, on the shelves to sell for Christmas. Then, a month or two after Christmas they will "discover" that the toys are contaminated with lead and heaven knows what else, and will issue a big recall. Of course the money will already be in their pockets, and the last quarter earnings reported to Wall Street, so the stock will be much less seriously impacted.

The losers here? Well first and foremost will be our children, who will have all those months (as they had the past many) to become contaminated with lead and other unhealthy substances. Mattel apparently doesn't care about that, despite Mr. Eckert's avowal that he too has children. I will bet none of his children or grandchildren if he has any, were allowed to keep a single one of those toys a minute beyond the day that Mr. Eckert first became aware they were toxic. Too bad he didn't care enough to do that for our children rather than let them ingest this poison for what he admits were months.

I for one will not be purchasing any toy made in China this coming Christmas season. I will also not purchase any toy which I cannot determine the country of origin immediately. Sewmouse has some cute patterns for kids toys that are either knitted or crocheted. I am getting them from her and will make my granddaughter some for Christmas. Then I will make her a cute fuzzy poncho, and a nice knitted sweater. I won't risk poisoning her so Mattel can have a good bottom line.

I urge any parent or grandparent who loves their children to do the same. Don't trust any of the major toy manufacturers. They have already proven themselves willing to endanger our children for their own arrogant and selfish reasons. Buy your toys at craft fairs, from friends and neighbors, make them yourself, or seek out the small toy manufacturers who still operate in this country. You can find them on the Internet. Don't risk poisoning those you love. The toy manufacturers have proven they don't care about these children; it's our job to protect them until this mess is sorted out.

The Depths of Stupidity

There are some sorts of stupidity that seem to defy time and situation. I ran into the same one in two places this past weekend.

You all remember my daughter's ungrateful friend. The one I wrote about a couple of times here. She's the one for whom "thank you" is a difficult concept, and personal responsibility a mystery. She's with a guy right now who will, one day soon, hospitalize her. He becomes more violent and more abusive toward her every time he gets drunk which is several times a week. But that's another story. She has also lost custody of one child who simply didn't like her lifestyle (she was with an abusive lesbian for a while) and voluntarily gave up the custody of her 8 year old son because he was an inconvenience to her new romance. Well, Ms. Bright As Hell, now may be pregnant with Mr. Abusive's child.

It's difficult to believe that in the 21st Century there are still people who don't equate sex and pregnancy and take one of the many avenues of birth control available to anyone. This woman has no more right to bring another child into this world than I do considering marrying Tom Cruise. The difference is that I wouldn't have Tom Cruise. She's too irresponsible to have another child. Yet here she is, potentially pregnant because she was too lazy and too stupid to take a simple precaution.

I said two....remember? Well, the second is my great nephew. He just graduated from high school, was headed off to college, and was going to be the first (possibly only) of that generation to do so and what happens? He gets his girlfriend pregnant. Exactly what part of birth control is such a difficult concept to grasp? It's not as if he wants a kid at this age. It's not as if either of them do, but again we have too lazy, too stupid, and too irresponsible to take simple precautions.
I find it next to impossible to believe that any adult in this country doesn't know about the ready availability of birth control and doesn't realize how thoroughly having a baby when you don't want one can screw up your life. Of course neither of these people who do not believe in birth control believe in abortion either, so one and possibly two more unwanted humans will grace the planet. One will probably be well cared for and loved at some point, but the other will not and will at best be neglected and resented. That's really a bad start for any life.

Rule number one in life is "people are stupid." If you are ever amazed at something someone does, simply refer back to rule number one.

Am I Being Thin-Skinned?

I've been wondering this past week if I am being a bit thin-skinned. A couple of weeks ago my daughter's friend was given an assignment at work. She was supposed to update a report that was originally written by one of their regional managers. She had no idea about how that could be done and my daughter volunteered to help her out.

Personally I thought she should have told her manager the truth; she doesn't have a clue as to where to even start and probably couldn't do an adequate job. This girl is a bit light in the loafers in the intelligence department to begin with. I don't mean she's exactly stupid, but she has no interest in this kind of heavy thinking and analysis. However, she was not willing to do that. She figured my daughter could update the report, then she'd take the credit for it at work.

Well, my daughter started and figured out that she can't do it either. Given enough time she probably could have done something that would be at least adequate, but while she's very bright she's not a writer. So guess who volunteered to help out? I've been doing this type of research and writing for well over 20 years. It wasn't exactly rocket science despite me not having access to the expensive statistics the original writer had.

The report took me about four days to research, think about, then write, edit and assemble. At my current billable rate, that would have cost the company quite a bit had they hired me to do it. It's an acceptable analysis but nothing exceptional in keeping with the idea that this woman is going to present it as her own work.

Now we come to the gist of this story. Even though I kept the vocabulary and even the depth of the report on a level with what she might be expected to produce, it still turned out a lot better than anything she could have managed. Some of the things I discovered and wrote about will be useful for the managers who are using it for planning for the upcoming year. The problem is this young lady doesn't understand much of what I wrote. She was supposed to sit down with me and ask questions so that she understood well enough not to look stupid if her manager questioned her. She never did. She turns the report in later today (I'm having another sleepless night which is why I'm writing this at 2:00 in the morning).

So to my question: am I being a bit thin-skinned because I am miffed that this girl has never spoken directly to me about this project? She's never asked a question, commented on the quality of the report, or....the big one....so much as said thank you. I don't expect her to act as if I'm some wonderful person etc. for helping her out of a tight corner, but is an email saying "thanks for the report" too much to expect for four days work? She was here picking up some of her things last night and never even bothered to say a word to me though we were in the same room several times.

When I get paid for my work, I still generally get some comment on the quality of the work I do and often get thanks. Is it too much to expect a simple thank you when someone bails your ass out of a tight situation? Again, I am not talking anything effusive. Just two words to acknowledge that I bothered to take the time and effort (which I will not do again as a result of this).

Political Ads

There are two political ads showing up on the cable channels recently. One has a woman claiming to be the mother of a soldier serving in Iraq and the other is supposed to be a soldier serving over there. The gist of their comments is that the current "surge" is working, showing amazing progress, and laying a path for the end of the war, and more or less imploring people to be more patient and that things are working out. More or less same stuff different day.

But then the tone changes, and they each begin explaining that the reason we have to stay in Iraq has to do with 9/11 and they try very hard to say without every saying it that Iraq was somehow involved in 9/11.

This is a very old administration tactic that has been repeated continually even while those saying it are confirming that they know this is a lie. The Bush administration wants very much for us to tie the 9/11 attacks to Iraq so they have some justification for their continuing this war. It's unfortunate for them that it's been proven beyond a reasonable doubt by anyone including Mr. Bush that this simply is not the case. So while they cannot make the claim directly, they can make it indirectly by talking about the two events in the same context without ever saying that they are related. Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney do this constantly.

So what has this to do with these ads? I wanted to know the same thing. There is a new website out there called politFact which resides at politfact.com; I went there and posed the question to their people, describing these ads and asking who was behind them. That was this morning. This afternoon I heard from the Washington Bureau Chief for the St. Petersburg Times. He said he had heard that these ads were going to be coming out, but didn't know that they had hit the air. The person behind them is Ari Fleischer, Mr. Bush's former press secretary. By extension that means at least that the Republican National Committee has its mark on them somewhere.

The guy from the site is now checking this out to find copies of the ads and to determine exactly who is doing what. I kind of like that. While my part in exposing this is teensy, it allows me a temporary illusion of being a politico or perhaps a mini-reporter. Talk about fulfilling a dream. *big ol' grin*

I was a little self-indulgent

I'm not generally the self-indulgent type. I buy things because they are something I need and then I toss something else out so the dresser and/or closet doesn't get overloaded. However, yesterday I bought something for no reason other than it was really pretty. It's a nightgown and robe set. Off white with pink and purple flowers on the hem and a few other places on the gown, and as the base of the robe. It's soft and feminine. Not two of my better traits generally. I haven't worn the robe yet, but the gown is really soft and nice.

Today I've been working on the area we just cleaned out. I've almost finished tossing all the old mail, bags, boxes, etc. Will do that by the end of today. If/when we do get my things out of storage, I already have an area mapped out there for my big oak bookcase. It will replace two smaller and not very pretty ones that sit there now. Lots more space and looks better. We're just chipping away at things and they are getting done. I like that.

Today I need to run up to Office Depot for some folders. I need them to finish the reordering I'm doing in my own room. It's like 90% finished now. Makes me feel good and it really looks organized and cool. Yay for organized and cool.

I really do need to measure and figure out where to get insulated curtains for my bedroom. That would look terrific and would be a boon this winter when it gets really cold in here even with the small heater. Every time I try to find something the sizes are all wrong or the hardware is ridiculously overpriced. I really do want something very very simple.

It's Another One of "Those" Days

I have bored to death today. I am not exactly sure why since it's not as if I don't have plenty to do all the time. It's more a matter of deciding what I can manage to get to every day than finding things that need to be done.

I still want to get more organized. I tend to pick away at it and it gets a bit better as time goes on, but it's more two steps forward and one step back. I really want to write more and I'm working on that. I've managed to do something like a page a day on my book the past several days, which is nowhere near what I actually want to accomplish. It's funny. I typed that last sentence, noiced a messy spot on my desk and stopped typing this to lean the place up. It looks a lot better and now a lot of things I don't really need are resting in the waste basket to be tossed out tomorrow morning.

The good news is that I will finish another project probably within a week and a half. That's one less major thing to worry about. It will reduce the number of afghans I have to make for Christmas to three, one of which is quite small--more of a lap robe than a real afghan, but a very pretty pattern. I also have my daughter's present to sew, but as involved as it appears to me at the moment, I have a sneaking suspicion that once the zipper is in properly the rest will follow.

My daughter's friend moved her junk (well a lot of it anyway) out of the house today. She's been using the place as an unpaid storage unit and Susan got tired of it, particularly after her boyfriend again attacked my daughter verbally calling her some pretty foul names and then obsessing over the size of her boyfriend's penis. That last one strikes me as odd as I can't imagine why he would care if the guy even had one or not.

This boyfriend (her girlfriend's boyfriend) is a time bomb as far as I am concerned. He's already shoved her around a couple of times, and has been extremely verbally abusive to her as well. The girlfriend is a nice enough girl but she's one of these people who allows life to simply blow her from place to place and she simply sticks wherever she lands for as long as she can before she's blown on. One of these days he's going to go over the edge and we'll be visiting the friend in the hospital. It's not a matter of if, but merely a matter of when. The guy becomes more abusive every time he has one of these episodes.

It's still cold and damp here, but the weather is due to take a turn for the better and might actually break 80 sometime toward the end of the week. We haven't had much of a summer but when I see what the rest of the country got, I am not going to complain too much. Ours is preferable to theirs any time.

Right now I am going to read for a few minutes then get my butt into bed. I promised to take my daughter to the park and ride in the morning since her regular ride will be on vacation this coming week. I don't mind. It will give me a perfect excuse to stop by Starbucks on the way home and treat myself to a special coffee. I don't do it often, but I think I will this time. I deserve a treat to start my week off.

It's Good News

Today I took my daughter's dog to the vet for a checkup. The last time he was there his liver enzyme levels were so high they were dangerous. The vet suggested we try something natural first which takes the form of fish oil capsules and a dietary supplement called SAM-e. Today (two weeks later) we were going to see how this worked.

The word fabulously would be the best choice. From having levels elevated two and three times normal, everything is back within normal ranges. He's doing very well on pure dietary supplements. We'll take him back for a follow up about Christmas time or there about. The bonus is that the fish oil capsules also fixed a problem he was having with dry skin. Now his coat just shines.

It's about time we have happy news in this family. My daughter has lost two dogs in a year and a half. This one is her baby and his loss would have been utterly devastating. But for once things worked out. I'm a happy camper.

Sometimes Things Really Do Work Out

Last night my daughter and I were discussing an item in the news about a five-year-old Iraqi boy who was grabbed by masked men, doused with gasoline, then set on fire. He survived by is horribly scarred. The story spoke of how he went from a happy little kid to someone afraid to go outside, and said he was so scarred and ugly that he wanted to die, even at that age. The pictures bore out the horror of what had been done to him.

We both hoped that since this story was making the rounds on television and on the Website that maybe someone here in the U.S. would find the good will and the money to bring him over here and fix him. Today I got a note from her and went to find the story. Sure enough; a major burn center here in the U.S. is flying him over here and will pay all his expenses to fix his face and the other areas of his body that were so horribly burned.

The child's mother said that he's not smiled or laughed since the attack, but today he was running through the house laughing at the news. He is very excited, and what's most exciting for him, as I suppose it would be for any six year old, is that he gets to go on an airplane.

The burn center says it's going to be a long road for this child, but the prognosis is fairly good that they can make a huge difference. Sometimes things really do work out. Now if someone could only find those who did this to a child and douse them with gasoline. I would volunteer to be the one to toss the match.

Another Week Shot to Hell

I managed to get through another week relatively unscathed. I've been thinking for a while that I need to get away for a weekend or something like that. I'm not sure exactly where I would go though. I even considered checking into a hotel in the downtown area and then using it as a base of operations to visit the market, do some shopping, etc. Two things stop me on that one....first is that crime in that area is way up for some reason, and second because they are redoing the main freeway between here and there and traffic is an utter nightmare. There are other places. I shall persevere.

I planned to get much more done this week than I actually have. This isn't exactly new but things kept coming up. I finally got the cigarette lighter thingie in my car fixed. Well sort of anyway. They removed the broken lighter, which I don't need as I am not dumb enough to smoke (other than when I am on fire, of course) but I do need some way to charge my navigation unit. Now I have one. It was rather neat. I am considering taking the car back to the same place to get the heater repaired, but in this state we have like 4-5 cold days a year and the heater works on other than those days. Not sure what's wrong with it. It was a bummer when I lived somewhere where the temperature could be sub-zero for weeks on end.

More mess with my daughter's dog. His liver enzymes are way up. It has nothing to do with the last poisoning episode, and the vet doesn't know what it might be. We'll know more in a week. I would hate to see my daughter lose the last of her three dogs so soon after the last. This one is really her baby. For now he's a happy camper because he gets a new mini-meal in the morning when I give him the pills. It's easier than trying to stuff them down his throat. He weighs over 60 lbs. so you can see the problem.

I even managed to get stuff done on my story. I'll have Ch. 21 done today. This is progress. I really want to do some stuff on getting my car entirely cleaned out. For today that's going to mean getting stuff out of the trunk that's been there since half past forever, putting my roadside and first aid kit into a nice bag I bought for them, and bringing a couple of baskets into the house.

Other than that, I'm not interested in doing to very much.

A productive weekend

I actually managed to get some things done this weekend. In addition to what I discussed before, I managed to empty my bedroom bookshelves, sort through them, reshelf those I'm keeping, and put four canvas shopping bags full of books in the other room pending a trip to Half Price Books tomorrow sometime. Tomorrow I'll do the same thing to my desktop, cleaning out the papers and things I don't need, tossing other things, and cleaning off the dresser. At some point my bedroom will be clean. This is a good thing.

I've been chipping away at my other big project, my car, for the past week. I have the interior cleaned out and have used Armor All on most of it. Still a bit remaining on that. I bought a bag the other day, and it will hold my roadside emergency kit and the first aid kit. Right now the emergency kit is in a big unwieldy plastic thingie. That's just the beginning. I have to get the entire trunk emptied out. That's when the real work begins. From there it needs to go to a place near here where I can vacuum out the entire interior and trunk. Then I'll run it through the carwash.

From there it needs to be polished. That's going to take me some time because I get tired. Finally, when all of that is done, I'll use some shampoo I have to clean the seats, and buy new floor mats. Mine are shot. Poor old car deserves some TLC. I already have the polish and the seat cleaner. It will be nice to see it looking more like a car and less like a rolling trash bag.

I'm rather proud of getting some of the detailed cleaning done. I have other areas in the house that need to be tackled too. There is a never-ending supply of them unfortunately. Still, it keeps me off the streets and out of the bars, so I suppose it's not all bad.

Finishing Things

I'm please that this weekend has been one in which I actually got some things finished. Finished is a nice word.

I always have a ton of projects going at any given time. I have a fairly restless mind and get bored easily. Lots of years ago I figured out that if I had many things going there was always something else to pick up if I got tired of what I had in my hands.

Right now, the infamous striped socks are finished. I finished two parts of a sampler afghan I am making for Christmas giving and I pieced together half of the finished afghan. This one has 16 pieces which are then sewn together, and finished with a nice border. It's pretty but it's fairly intricate. The piece I finished was the 9th piece. I have the 10th started. I still have three afghans to do by Christmas and one sewing project.

I managed to finish a major part (maybe all) of a chapter of a book I'm working on. This is important because with my sleep problems, finding the energy to be creative is often a difficult situation, and this was the second day in a row I was able to write and to write things that were fairly good. I have also been able to do more reading and more outlining and work on story ideas that have nothing to do with this particular story. I have three stories in play at the moment and two more in the background, all of which could be books if I could just get them finished. The current effort is on Chapter 21. It has some holes, but is more or less half way finished. One other story has 8 chapters finished, all quality work. the two in the background are fully developed stories, but only one has any writing finished, and that is a completed screenplay. The other is fully outlined and ready to go, but it doesn't feel ready yet. The last one is a work in progress. I have the basics in mind, but there are major answers waiting to come into being before I can consider it a story rather than just a good story idea.

I did something yesterday that is very rare for me. I found a pattern and bought some yarn to make something for myself. I rarely make things for me. I'm not sure why, but I just don't. This is what is called a "bed jacket". It's crocheted, which I was not happy with, as I'm on a knitting kick. However, it is perfect for what I want. I tend to like to sleep with my arms outside of the covers, and my arms get really cold especially in the winter. This will help. I am thinking of actually knitting myself a sweater in the dead of winter this year after I finish Sew's quilt and the pile of Christmas afghans and other handwork projects. If I can manage the time, I might make my granddaughter a pair of these crazy striped socks. Not sure since they are a lot of work.

Finishing things is important for me. I need to do more of it. I have a number of projects I want to get done. Some are handcrafts, but others are things such as cleaning out my bookcase, sorting the books and getting them back up in some sort of order, and hauling a pile of them to Half Price Books. I have way too many books and some are ready to wend their way to the book store where someone else can benefit from them.

Right now, however, I need to finish this entry and to get myself into the shower. I have quite a bit I want to finish today, even though it is Sunday. It's cloudy and cold today and has been raining, so working in the yard is out of the question today. I need to do inside stuff for a while.