It's Gettin' Hot in Here

The air-conditioning at our place bit the bullet earlier this week. Since Jon is on vacation, he's been able to see a parade of contractors and sales people come in to make estimates for repair and replacement. Our landlords will be the ones to review and decide on a plan of action, but we'll be facilitating it because we're local. The existing units are probably original to the house and at least 30 years old, so they will likely be replaced.

The big negative is that it sounds like it will be at least a couple weeks until we can get on the installation schedule. I hope to make due without until then. The forecast for the next 10 days is pretty consistently temperate, with highs in the 70s and 80s but lows in the 60s. If that's the case, I think we'll be fine. I mean, people did survive thousands upon thousands of years without air-conditioning. What's a few weeks?

Gettin' Etsy

So, after talking about it for months, I finally listed one of my cards on Etsy. For those of you unfamiliar, Etsy is an online crafts marketplace. It's like the most awesome virtual craft fair ever, providing artists and crafters with the tools and interface to sell their creations. There are so many inspiring things there that I worried my work wouldn't do well. Imagine my surprise when the first card I listed sold within a few hours.

Now that I've taken the plunge, it's going to take all of my effort to finish up my current projects (40 custom note cards, 35 baby shower invitations) and regular work before posting more cards. And posting more work is a bundle of projects in and of itself: setting up a little card photography studio, perfecting my logo and ordering a custom stamp, and developing a design for The Paper Jay. So much work! Happy, inspired work, which is the best kind.

Hot Town

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

It is absolutely disgusting today. The air-conditioning in our part of the office was having problems first thing in the morning and although they said it was fixed, it hasn't improved much. I can feel that there is air circulating, but it just keeps getting hotter. We're up to at least 77 degrees inside and people are really starting to sweat. We've closed all of the blinds, but I can feel the heat rolling off the windows. It's just shy of 100 degrees outside.

Lunch Break

Today's lunch break was the best, most relaxing break I've taken in ages. I waited until almost 1 to head down to the cafeteria with The Great Gatsby, which we'll be covering in book club this weekend. It's pretty gray and drizzly outside, so I grabbed a table next to the windows and sat down with some soup, salad, and the book for nearly an hour. I wanted to stay for the rest of the afternoon, not to avoid work, but because I was so comfortable and relaxed. It was so nice that I think I'll do it again tomorrow.

Add Some Elastic!

I'm wearing a pair of over-sized linen pants today and they won't stay where I want them to. The built-in drawstring would be a logical fix, but not as effectively as it should. My torso is fairly squishy and constantly changes shape, so drawstrings make lousy belts. Heck, belts make lousy belts, unless they're stretchy. Then I thought that a bit of elastic in the back would be great. Which led me to question why there wasn't elastic in all of my pants. The only thing I can think of is that elastic waistbands are for "old ladies" and therefore harder to find where I shop. Hrm. Maybe I'm an old lady already.

Life is Good

I can't believe how good things are today.

The weather is sunny and mild. I had lunch with friends. There's plenty of work, but no big rush on any of it. I'm taking an afternoon ice cream break at Cold Stone with a few co-workers. The weekend is still wide open. And sharing some of my troubles more privately has really lifted a weight off my shoulders. Although I'm most excited about a relaxing weekend, I'm really glad that I'm not dreading next week.

Inconvenience

One thing this job has taught me: how to spell inconvenience! [co-worker]

So Many Things to Say

Despite protesting that I live a simple life where nothing ever happens, things have been happening. And I haven't been documenting them very well. I think part of that is my denial. I want things to be simple, so I try to overlook things when they're not. Classic avoidance.

I haven't been at a total loss for words because I've started several posts in the last few weeks about things at work and in general. I just never finish them. I struggle with what I should talk about publicly and what I shouldn't, get frustrated, and leave the posts unpublished. Each time I do that, I end up feeling guilty about that one thing and avoid posting about all of the other things happening too.

I know a lot of my friends keep more private journals that they restrict to friends (and sometimes family) but I've never really wanted to do that. Since I'm struggling so much with public journal entries, does it make sense to start using a more private journal?

Like a Round Peg in a Square Hole

I started to write a long post reflecting on the last few weeks at work, which have been a true test for me with my only teammate gone for two weeks, but realized that it was all a lot of uninteresting navel gazing. The project didn't blow up and I survived. It also wasn't as terrible as I feared, at least not in the ways I expected. But really, the details of what happened are just boring filler when compared with my realization that I am a round peg being forced into a rather square hole. I sort of fit, but not in the ways I need to.

Clickier

While writing an email about click through rates and lamenting a publisher's click averse audience, Outlook recommended an unusual grammatical substitution:

more clicky visitors becomes clickier visitors

I didn't even know that "clickier" was a word, let alone a better option to my first, admittedly poor, choice.

Just One Word

You Can Only Type One Word: Now copy, paste, change the answers to suit you, and pass it on.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? adorable
3. Your hair? straighter
4. Your mother? mom
5. Your father? pa
6. Your favorite thing? creating
7. Your favorite flower? poppy
8. Your favorite drink? beer
9. Your dream/goal? retirement
10. The room you're in? office
11. Your ex? MIA
12. Your fear? time
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? alive
14. Where were you last night? bed
15. What you're not? short
16. Muffins? top
17. One of your wish list items? house
18. Where you grew up? michigan
19. The last thing you did? contract
20. What are you wearing? brown
22. Your pets? shed
23. Your computer? mac
24. Your life? slow
25. Your mood? fair
26. Missing someone? family
27. Your car? noisy
28. Something you're not wearing? pants
29. Favorite Store? crafts
30. Your summer? quiet
31. Like someone? everyone
32. Your favorite color? changes
33. When is the last time you laughed? earlier
34. Last time you cried? weeks
35. Who will/would re-post this? everybody

Pizza! Pizza!

I probably shouldn't have, but when I was in Manchester on Saturday I stopped to check out the Little Caesars. It's just down the street from the Paper Tree and you have to stare at it while waiting for the light and the end of the exit ramp from 293. When I stepped in the door, it smelled the way I remember every Little Caesars back home did: spicy and sweet, just like the sauce they use douse the pizza and crazy bread.

They had one-topping pizzas ready and waiting for just $5, so who was I to resist? The best part, aside from the general tastiness, was that it tasted just the way I remembered. It was an instant trip down memory lane, especially the cold pizza the next morning. Little Caesars's is just so different from the pizza you get at all the New England pizza joints. Everything about it is more substantial: the crust, the sauce, the cheese, and even the toppings.

Now I just have to figure out how to burn off all of those extra calories.

Salad Recommendation

I have always shied away from the salad kits they sell in the grocery store, figuring they weren't as fresh and that I could easily do better. Last week while Jon was away I took a leap and tried a Spring Garden Kit from Dole with baby lettuce, almonds, and a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. It was awesome. I split it into two side salads at work, but you could easily make just one large salad with it for a tasty lunch. The lettuce was just as fresh as any other I've had from the grocery store and the dressing was better than most of the bottled varieties I've tried. The Light Caesar, which I had today with some leftover chicken, was just as good. And at 200-300 calories per bag, those kits are a new lunch option for me.

Rough Start

This morning really got off to a rough start. Despite my best intentions and a very insistent alarm clock, I could not will myself out of bed at 6:30 for yoga. I snoozed, showered quickly, then crawled back into my warm bed for more snoozing. I wanted to be out of the door by 8, but instead I was still standing in front of my closet, staring at the piles and piles of clothes I didn't want to wear. I did that for at least 15 minutes before settling on something that was just OK.

Why is it so much more difficult to put together a decent outfit when you're running late? Or am I the only one that has that problem?

Bonus Challenge - Weekend

One last card for Linda's bonus challenge. The only rule was the weekend theme. Since Jon and I went out driving on Saturday, it only seemed natural to put the golfer in the convertible with the scarfed lady.