I did not have a bad weekend. Compared to most people’s lives, I had an entirely excellent weekend. However, I’m tired and crabby and feel completely unaccomplished, due in part to the fact that I didn’t get nearly close to everything on my To Do list done—even though I got many other things done that weren’t officially on the list.

I think I might be coming down with a cold. Sneezing.

I forgot my snacks (lately, celery with garlic/chive cream cheese, and a Granny Smith apple with Irish sharp cheddar, and I usually have a box of minibags of microwave popcorn) today.

I just got back from my daily walk with a co-worker to find an e-mail rejection of a story the antho has been holding for months and months, with occasional update e-mails letting me know I was still in the running.

On the other hand, I have in on reasonable authority that money (writing-related) may very well be falling through the mail slot at home, and let’s face it, one of the nicest things about selling stories is getting paid for them. (And getting praise for them. But none of you have written a review of Sex in the Sports Club, and I remain despondent.)

Thankfully I’ve already talked about Friday, because now I don’t really remember any of it. Saturday, I got up, made tea, checked e-mail, that sort of thing. Ken headed off to meet about 10 bike folks at the museum, and I called my hairdresser to see if there’d been a cancellation. Yes—but I needed to go right now. So I threw on clothes and dashed out of the house. I had just enough time to stop at Kathlean’s Tea House to pick up a rack for hanging tea cups and saucers. We have too many to display properly in the china cabinet, so we’re going to hang racks along the back. I wasn’t sure how many I’d need, so I just picked up one; now I know I need to go back and get another. Black wrought iron, very pretty.

Then I drove around the block several times trying to find a parking spot. Ah well.

Once beautified, I headed off to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients for the chili and cornbread. Got home after that to discover that I’d forgotten one essential thing: the chili mix. (I’ve tried many chili recipes, and nothing compares to the Carroll Shelby mix. Plus, my ex was obsessive about making things from scratch and even he swore by it.) I had one packet, but I needed two. So, I scarfed lunch and headed back out.

The afternoon went by in a blur of food prep. I even refrained from chugging from the bottle of tequila after I’d splashed some in the chili. Folks arrived, bearing beer and pie, and I put out the veggie and fruit trays that Ken had already bought, and everyone got settled in to eat, including me…

…at which point Teresa called to discuss a story we’re planning to collab on. And given how hard it’s been to mesh our schedules recently (she’s gone most weekends; I’m braindead on weeknights), I put down my chili and got on the phone. I just chalked it up to suffering for one’s art. At any rate, we made some good progress on the story details; now, to find time to start writing it…

By the time we were done, most folks were heading out, so I didn’t get much of a chance to socialize. By now, I don’t remember the rest of the evening; I think it involved some TV and computer work.

On Sunday, we did a walk-through of the house to make a comprehensive list of stuff we need to do for the Home Tour in two weeks. We cleaned a ton of stuff out of the dining room (some of it for Goodwill, the rest of it shoved in the sewing room for now) and cleaned out three (three!) “junk” drawers in the built-in china cabinet drawers. Much of it was “house” stuff—bits and pieces that belong with the house but we haven’t needed to put in/up yet. Like original light covers. Plus all the keys, both labeled and not. We found keys for a ’64 pickup. We decided we didn’t need to keep them… Finally, I cleaned out my t-shirt trunk and set about 2/3 of them aside to get rid of. I’d really like to find a place that’s collecting clothes for Katrina victims, but so far, no luck. On the plus side, I found some shirts I forgot I owned. I also finished polishing the silver, and started in on the big brass candlesticks. It was a good purging and cleaning day overall.

But yet I still feel like things didn’t get done…sigh.

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Ken made a kick-ass curry tonight. I can see it’s going to go in our stable of regular meals to make.

And now I’ve stayed up far too late working on a quiz for Crown Tournament this weekend. Thankfully I can sleep in a little tomorrow, because I’m working from home so I can go to a dr’s appt (just minor stuff) and a dentist appt.

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Now Reading: The Orchid Hunter, Sandra K. Moore (Silhouette Bombshell)
Lately Listened To: Big Bang Theory, Styx
Recently Watched: Graham V Norton