Sorry for going dark for a couple of days. Suffice to say, Ken had to sit me down and gently point out to me on Sunday that I’ve effectively been working 65-hour weeks (if you count the commute), I routinely overbook myself on weekends without allowing for catching up on things, much less allowing myself some downtime, I’m too hard on myself, and I need a vacation. While I’m not sure about all of that, I agree that I need a little time to figure out a daily routine and a reasonable deadline schedule for myself.

I hate it when he's right. I also love it when he's right. Dammit.

But all that will be changing soon. My company has offered me part-time work, at home (except for trooping up here once/month for a meeting/face time), dealing with one project and managing one person, for about six months. Hard to argue with that, really. Work in my pretty house, and no commute? I’ll lose benefits, of course, but if anything, the pay will cover benefits.

This week, I'm going to keep writing, as much as I can. Friday's my last fulltime day at work. This coming weekend, I'm taking a vacation. No writing. No nothing except what _I_ want to do. Then, next week, I'll start with small goals. It'll take some adjustment to figure out when's my best time to write, when's my best time to do publishing work, and when's my best time to veg. I'll add to the goals as I meet them, and keep challenging myself until I find my comfort zone, the place where I'm writing steadily and comfortably. I still plan to finish this novel by the end of December and get my trophy.

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The rest of the weekend… Wednesday, we bought a stereo receiver/tuner at the Good Guys that’s going out of business. (After seeing them when he bought my camera, Ken did a bunch of research to determine what we wanted and what the best deal was.) I spent some time with the DVD recorders, but after research, we decided that none of the ones on sale were exactly what we wanted. (Lohr, what kind do you have? What features does it have?) Saturday we toddled off to Salzer’s, as I mentioned earlier. Sunday, we broke down and bought a Wusthof-Trident knife set (including 6 steak knives)—and the cashier used the 20% off coupon, even thought it says on the coupon that you can’t. (I commented about that before she rang everything up, and we discussed how it was W-T that didn’t want the coupons used, but then she said, “Nobody told me I couldn’t use it.”) We loves Bed Bath & Beyond, yes we does, my precious. I wonder how long it will be until I cave in and get a KitchenAid mixer and attachments? Cat and I also went to Staples and I picked up another Yule present, plus I ordered a few online during the weekend. I’ve got a few more to finish up, but we’re definitely ahead of the game this year. I love Yule shopping!

I made an excellent lasagne on Friday, and another killer batch of brownies Saturday night. And Ken cleaned the hot tub recently, so we’ve been soaking quite a bit. Ahhhh…

Ken, meanwhile, was hip-deep in projects all weekend. After the rewiring triumph of Thursday, he went on to work on two wordworking projects simultaneously: a gate to keep the cats out of the living room and dining room (because they like to sleep in there, and they shed all over the sofas and chairs, and then we have to run around with a vacuum when people drop by), and shelves for the media room closet for all our CDs/videos/DVDs (and it’ll be lovely to finally unpack and arrange all of those).

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My custom waist cincher/corset is done! I get to pick it up next week! Whee! Now, to find outfits to wear with it for the concerts in February. (My burn-out velvet goth dress is just a wee bit too see-through to be appropriate. Not to mention the fact that it’s February in Canada, and I’d likely freeze my semi-visible ass off.) Suggestions welcome. What does one wear to a rock concert with full orchestra?

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What Have I Done Today to Make My Writing Dream Come True? Correspondence.
Currently Reading: The Seventh Unicorn, Kelly Jones
Lately Listened To: not much, really
Recently Watched: Supernatural; CSI: NY; a woodworking show; Bad Girls; Charmed (over the course of many days)