WNBP: Pressurized

Happy Wednesday, Fellow Perusers Of The Inter-Webs!  Here we are, another midweek evening is upon us and I, your faithful Sheepie, am back to regale you with further tales from my ever-so-fascinating life.

Of course, if you are finding my life utterly engrossing, I would suggest you think about finding a hobby.  Perhaps something like skydiving or tiger mocking...you are in serious need of some excitement in your life.

Until you can manage the time for that, however, I'll see if I can keep you moderately entertained with this week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post.


*I am back to school.  The April vacation week came to an abrupt and unwelcome end as vacation weeks are wont to do.

*Yes, I have survived three whole days of semi-consiousness and actual work.  I am certain you are sitting there wondering just how I do it...

*I am also fairly certain that no one wants to hear me whine about how this is the most grueling time of the school year as we all start looking ahead to summer vacation and the kids start to realize that there is a limit to our influence over their lives.

*Oh, woe is me!  I have to work for another forty or so days and they will be ever so hard...however shall I cope???

*I won't say it.  Just know I'm thinking it because there is a lot to do between now and the final bell and I somehow have to do it whilst wrangling kids who are more finished with this school business than I am.

*Wait...I have to squash a fly.  It's one of those stupid little ones that likes to come in through the screen and sit on my computer monitor.

*There.  The little bugger is now paste.  I'm just going to ignore the smudge he left as a reminder of my callous treatment of small creatures.

*I awoke this morning barely able to breathe.  The best I could manage was a shallow, "Ha-HUFF!"

*It was like a big bag of gelatin had been placed on me in order to see if I could inhale and exhale around its gooey, clingy mass.

*I'd been sleeping on my back, something I pretty much never do.

*And I was really, really HOT.  Like sweltering hot.  Like, "I should really consider icing down this stupid bed," hot.

*I was half-asleep, convinced that my heart was finally giving out after all those years of ice cream dinners and trying to find enough breath to make peace with my maker when I realized the actual problem.

*Fat siamese sleeping on my chest.

This isn't the actual scene.  It's a re-creation for your benefit since I don't keep a camera in hand at bedtime, ready and waiting for interesting shots.

*This isn't a really accurate re-creation since he didn't have that artful ray of sunlight dancing across his features, nor is this even the end of the beast I was staring at.

*But, you get the idea...

*I didn't dare move him.  The Very Complicated Kitty has issues.  And a startle reflex that belies his girth and general good nature.

*He's more of a "Strike First Ask Questions Later" kind of kitty.

*I know this from painful experience.

*All I could do was continue breathing shallowly and try to ease an arm close enough to the clock radio that I might shut off the alarm before its blaring bleat caused the resting beast to rip open my aorta whilst fleeing the scene.

*I also spent some time wondering how my principal was going to react when I called in to say I would be late due to a poorly placed feline.

*He moved on his own once he realized I was awake.  He wasn't happy about it, but I suspect he knew that feeding time was close and that Mommy needed full blood flow in order to manipulate cans and bowls.

*On the plus side, I picked up some ice cream on the way home.  Now that I know the pressure wasn't from my heart exploding in my chest, I can dine as I please!

*And since I've pretty much given up on ever getting around to eating dinner before 7:00, I don't have to worry about cooking times.  Ice cream is ready when I am!

*Although the lunch I need to pack for tomorrow might take a little more in the way of prep.  Need to add that to the night's to-do list.

*I hate having a to-do list at night.  I want to relax at night.  I want to mentally prepare myself for supporting the dead weight of a portly cat.

*But I also hate not having a lunch on Thursday so I suppose I should just suck it up.

*I can't have ice cream for lunch in front of children.  Ice cream as a meal is only legal if you are an adult and I don't want them getting ideas in their tiny, little veggie-craving brains.

*I don't normally give in to peer pressure when it comes to reading material.  I pick what I want based on what I like.

*Which is probably why I'm the last person in the free world to realize that The Night Circus is pretty much freaking AMAZING.

*Found the audio version available for download at the library.  Since it's narrated by Jim Dale, one of my all-time favorite readers, I gave it a shot.

*Of course, I probably shouldn't have been listening while I was driving through the back roads of nowhere yesterday trying to get to a meeting for which I was already late.

*I told them I was going to be late, but that didn't make me any less anxious about the whole business.

*For the record, it matters not that I have been to this remote location for several meetings over the years and one but a few weeks ago.  I can get lost between my own sofa and the bathroom.

*There's this one turn...it's tricky.  It's not my fault!

*Plus I was listening to a really good book...

*I've also decided to finally get down to reading Dog Days (A Dog Days Novel).

*It's one I've been eyeing for years but never quite got around to purchasing.

*So far, so good.  It's kind of got one of those Wizard In The City vibes to it and I know there's a lot of those around these days.  

*But still good.  Engaging main character and who doesn't love a bad boy musician?

*No regrets on that purchase.


OK.  I need to start thinking about that lunch for tomorrow.  Not to mention my ice cream dinner, although I'm kind of hungry enough to be thinking that something more substantial might be in order.  No pressure, though.  I shall dine as the mood moves me.

Lord knows I've got enough in the way of pressing matters.  For example, working for a living like the rest of the world and cats attracted to my warm, beating heart...

SA

WNBP: Relaxing Hard

I've spent the last hour trying to figure out just what the heck I was forgetting.  I knew there was something...I couldn't put my finger on it.

Oh, yeah!  I blog.  And it's Wednesday.  I know it's Wednesday because last night was the premier of Deadliest Catch and that meant it was Tuesday.  Tuesday precedes Wednesday and I know it is Wednesday because I have a note on the coffee table reminding me that I was going to Family Lunch with Mommy and Daddy Sheep on Wednesday at noon.

I'm still burping barbecue sauce which would imply that I made that date.  Hence...it is Wednesday.  So, only a half an hour behind schedule, here is the Wednesday Night Bullet Post!

*I blame Spring Break. 

*The April vacation is the one that reminds me of summer vacation days to come and I get pretty darned relaxed once that realization settles in.

*I fear that, come June, I will descend into a coma if this is going to be the state of affairs...

*I was very tired last Friday.  It was a long week. There was a great deal of..."stuff."

*The Maine Autism Leaders Team conference which required travel, something I don't do without annoying levels of angst.

*Knowing that my Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty had already foiled the auto-feeder designed to keep not just him, but also his brother, fed at a reasonable rate over the course of my overnight conferencing.

*Returning from the conference to my classroom where I discovered that several of my students were less than delightful in my absence.

*Then the horrible email that said one of my colleagues was killed in a tragic accident on her way to work that morning.

*One of the very women I'd just spent two days with at the conference.

*The ensuing emotional overload from the people who knew her far better than I as she was a lifelong member of the community.

*Lots of...."stuff."

*Friday is Cake Day at the middle school.  I don't recall why.  It just is.

*I don't normally partake in Cake Day because, by the time I can free myself up to get to the teacher's room, the cake has been touched by more hands than I am comfortable contemplating.

*Or it has been savaged down to crumbs.

*There was a lot more cake last Friday than is usual.  Some of it was in "cup" form.

*Cupcakes tend to get touched less since everyone can just pick up the one they want and, if I strategically snag one near the middle, I'll get an unsullied pastry.

*And I really, seriously needed me some Friday Cake after spending time with the school librarian who was a neighbor of the deceased and who had pictures of her as a child to share with me.

*Cake.  I needed cake.  I even bought more on the way home from school because cake suddenly seemed medicinal.

*This, as I mentioned earlier,is vacation week.  There is really something very comforting about kicking off vacation and ending a stressful work week with cake.

*I got into the spirit of vacationing pretty quickly after that.

*I woke up Monday feeling like there was something I was supposed to be doing.

*It was kind of like the shouldn't-I-be-blogging feeling only a little more urgent.

*Then I remembered.

*Apparently the government wanted me to do my taxes and they are kind of finicky about timelines.

*At least the federal government is.  My state couldn't care less.  Unless you owe them money and then they feel strongly about people filing by the fifteenth.

*Thankfully, I don't owe the state any money but that wasn't going to help me with my federal tax return, now was it?

*Taxes are filed.  I had a near miss with a few figures before I caught on to the fact that I'd entered all of last year's information instead of the more current data, but that was easily fixed.

*Frankly, I'm kind of proud of myself for catching the mistake what with the flurry of accounting required to get the stupid things done before midnight.

*We are going to ignore the fact that I waited until the last minute and then entered information from last year's return because that does not make me particularly proud of myself.

* I'm on vacation. 

*Which, as we all know, is no time to be feeling badly about one's self.  It's not a law, but it should be.

*Wait...I have to go feed the cats.  I'll be right back!

*There.  That's done.  Things get ugly around here when the feeding schedule goes awry.

*I have been awoken every morning this week at 5:45 on the dot by the Feline Choral And Face Batting Society.

*They are happy to have Mommy home this week.  It's been quite the love-fest here.

*But that could all change should I dare to sleep past 6:00.

*I'm typing this on my school laptop.  You don't really need to know that.

*Except that the video of the AGK cracking the automatic feeder isn't on this computer and I'm too bloated from vacationing and cake to go get it.

*Too bad.  It's really quite humorous if you have 1 minute and 22 seconds to spare.  I'll have to see what I can do about getting that posted when I'm back on schedule and not sitting around eating cake.

*I actually haven't had cake since this weekend.  I ate all the cake.  There is not more cake.

*I've moved on to brownies.

*And I don't like "cakey" brownies.  I like "fudgy" brownies.

*So I'm not eating cake anymore. 

*In the spirit of self-indulgence, I decided to make up a quick sugar scrub to prepare my feet for summer sandal season.

*The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty loves all things sugar.  And raw sugar mixed with grapeseed oil is apparently no exception.

*I had to hide my sugar scrub because he was nose deep in it every time I so much as blinked.

*He was licking the sink in which I rinsed my sugary hands following my self-made spa experience.

*He tried licking my feet but I think that was a bit much even for my little carb-a-holic so that didn't last long.

*Thankfully.

*He has a problem.  He needs help.

*I'd switch to a salt scrub but, given his love of potato chips, I suspect he'd be just as happy with that.

*My Very Complicated Kitty hasn't licked the sink at all this week.

*He is the mastermind behind the early morning wake up calls, but he isn't licking the sink so he is my favorite right now.

*Plus he's been very snuggly since I've been home and I like that.

*Speaking of "home," it's nice to have Mommy and Daddy Sheep back from their winter residence.

*And not just because they take me out to lunch.  Don't get me wrong.  I like lunch.  It's the one meal of the day I am eating on schedule now and who doesn't like it when it's free?

*But it's also nice to have the folks around.

*The one thing about vacation that isn't so nice is the lack of commuting time.

*Well...I like not paying for the gas.  That part is good.  But I miss the audio book time.

*I was right in the middle of Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson, Book 7).

*Fortunately, I did a little driving about today so that allowed me to listen a bit.  That's good.

*Otherwise, I might forget what was happening and then I will be all confused come Monday morning.

*Monday is Go Back To School Day.

*I won't be on vacation anymore.  Or resting.  Or relaxing.

*I'll be working.  And it will be the final push before the end of the school year.  Which is always kind of stressful.

*That's OK.  I've got this week of relaxing under my belt.  It should tide me over until I can do it for real.


That about covers it, week-wise.  It's really been about feeding the cats, cake and relaxing until it hurts.  (It can hurt, you know.  I'm old.  When I sit in one position for six hours at a time various joints stiffen up dreadfully...)  I like to think of it as practice for summer vacation.  It is inspiring.

Although I'm thinking I should maybe look into setting an alarm or something so I don't forget things like Wednesday.  Or dates very important to the government. 

SA

WNBP: Sheep Interrupted

Let's do this one straight up tonight, sans bullet points if you will.  It somehow seems like that kind of day.  It's healthy to interrupt the schedule sometimes.  Other times, it is simply out of boredom.  And I guess it's appropriate at times too, now that I think about it.

So here's your Wednesday Night Bullet Post, now, for a limited time only, in a Bullet-Free formula:

I am a SWOC.  (Single Without Children)  As such, I generally find myself in the minority. Even if there are other SWOCs around, they are almost always decades my junior and there isn't much common ground. Unless, of course, I am willing to be one of those oldsters who pretends that age is just a number and that one can "blend" by merely using enough of the current vernacular or wearing skinny jeans as if gravity is just a concept and not a reality after 40. 

I know better.  Sometimes I forget for a little while, but I like to think I've caught on by now.  I am a SWOC without delusions of grandeur.

Truthfully, I am more of a SWOCAPHWTTYVM (Single Without Children And Perfectly Happy With That Thank You Very Much).  However, I find that this is a very long title and that the time required to explain it often sounds to others like a justification of one's lifestyle and that just defeats the whole purpose of being "Happy With That, Thank You Very Much." 

Mostly I just keep my head down and pretend to be fascinated with tales of potty training or priceless heirlooms used as fort building material.  As a coping strategy, it has served me well for quite some time. 

I knew that the Maine Autism Leaders Team conference was going to be more of the same.  Even if I hadn't already gone to an earlier session, I could have predicted it.  It's a numbers game.  The likelihood that I'd be trapped for two days at a table full of mothers is fairly high if everyone going is female.  Mentally, I braced myself for the maternal deluge. 

It was as I thought.  Lots of kid talk and me with nothing to offer save a one minute and twenty-two second video of my Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty foiling the locking mechanism of the automatic feeder I tested over the weekend just to see what really happened when I set the stupid thing.  And I doubted if anyone would be interested in that.  Oh, they'd watch it, just to be polite.  But, frankly, there is nothing sadder than a SWOC pushing cat videos on the general public.  It's worse than stuffing a middle aged butt into skinny jeans and pretending to know what a Kardashian is. 

By day two, I was getting pretty good at smiling in all the right places while not really listening.  Besides, I was genuinely busy by then.  I had a whole flu situation in China that wasn't going to monitor it self, after all.  I'll admit I almost missed it when the lady to my right commented on how her daughter didn't want her to come to the conference this time.  I was a little late with my perfunctory, "aww," but I don't think anyone noticed.

She went on to say how strange it was.  "Mommy," the little girl begged, "I don't want you to go all the way up there because I am afraid you are going to crash on the highway and DIE!"

Well, that got my attention.  Crashing was a little more immediate and personal than the flu in another country, after all.  Sure, we'd made it up there in one piece, but now I had the image of a little kid going all "oracle" in my head and that is not the kind of thing one wants to be considering right before we pile into our cars to make the drive back.  I think we all felt kind of the same way because it seemed like a very half-hearted attempt to come up with a reason why a little girl would suddenly get all maudlin without warning.  She is, by all accounts, a generally cheery little tyke, at least according to her mother.

Best to just file that one under Funny Things Kids Say and get back to talking about where Johnny pooped that time we went to Grandma's.  That is Normal Parental Chatter, in my experience.  But maybe I'm just hanging with the wrong crowd.  At any rate, we left the conference and prepared to go back to school on Wednesday feeling fairly confident in our chances which proves that some things are best left unexamined.

At least most of the time...

The superintendent sent the mass email before noon today.  Within seconds, every staff computer in the district was Googling and soon the details (or at least what was known at the time) were common knowledge, complete with images.  It was Life Interrupted.

It happened sometime around 8:00 this morning,  probably on her way to drop the kids off before heading in to school for that first day back. Just like lots of people did this morning.  Just like me, except for the kids part.

Except we did it without the unexpected disruption in the plan.

 It had to have all happened pretty quickly, at least that is what I'd like to think.  Maybe even fast enough for the kids to have not seen.  Maybe their injuries were the kind that left them unconscious.  That would be better, if not exactly good.  It would give purpose to their pain.

She was a good teacher, very good.  In fact, she's the kind of teacher I thought I was going to be once upon a time.  At least until I tried it and realized that my skill set lay elsewhere.  She was funny and really excited about going to The Olive Garden for dinner on Monday night.  When we weren't working on our comprehensive plan to revamp our services for students with Spectrum disorders, she was on her laptop pulling together the five million things that need to get done for the Special Olympics next month.  Her team t-shirt design collaboration is going to be kick-ass. 

Many of her students won't understand what happened.  They are young, but also the kind of kids that make other parents hug their own offspring and think, "there but for the grace of God..."  They won't understand, but they will miss her and some will wonder why she said, "I'll see you on Wednesday," but then never came back. 

We weren't friends.  We were colleagues and we were both on the same committee.  But, I liked her as far as that relationship went and it is surreal to think someone you spent two days with could be gone less than 24 hours later.  Just like that. 

As far as her daughter 's fears are concerned, I chalk that up to coincidence.  Horrible coincidence, I grant you, but coincidence nonetheless.  The sort of thing that happens sometimes even if it shouldn't ever, ever happen.  That, to me, is preferable to the thought of a little girl believing that she is somehow responsible for a tragic, three car wreck that took her mother.  I think she probably has enough on her plate without that. 

Coincidence.  It's quick, it's random and it's ruthless in its desire to interrupt the best laid plans. You never know when your expectations will be suddenly sidelined or that you'll sort of wish you'd gone along when everybody headed out to The Olive Garden instead of staying behind to watch TV because you were tired of being around mothers for a whole day.  That's just the way it is.

But I think I'm maybe going to be a little more open to getting to know my colleagues better and perhaps even listen more fully, even when they talk about their kids.  You just never know when the next interruption will come.  Or if you'll be able to resume the conversation.

SA

WNBP: The Sweetest Things

Hey, what's with all the doom and gloom?  Lately, it seems as though there's just been a whole bunch of negatives going on and I can't help but think it might be time to lighten things up a bit.  After all, who am I if not the queen of the silver lining???

This week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post is dedicated to the fine art of the bright side.  Sure, I might miss a few but I'm honestly tired of focusing on school budget cuts and meetings gone horribly awry!

*I do not like changes in my routine.  I do not like them at all.

*Unless they involve things like getting to take an unexpected nap or ten dollar bills raining down from the sky.

*Which is why I was thrilled when I learned that our school district no longer had the money to send all of our Autism Leadership Team to the mandatory conferences.

*I could still be on the team.  I just didn't "get" to be one of the "lucky" participants doing this thing for college credit and required to travel.

*Sweet!

*Until they decided that we all should go to the last statewide meeting.  On a limited budget.

*Which meant a downgrade from the hotel we used during the first conference.

*A hotel room that made me think changes in the routine might actually be kind of nice.

*It was on the plush side, at least by educational budgetary standards.

*Now I have to go on Monday and stay in a motel that isn't nearly so nice.  For all I know it's the sort of place where nefarious white slavers go to unwind after a long day of peddling human flesh.

*Or where there's no microwave in my room and the little shampoo bottles aren't worth stealing.

*I despaired.

*Until I got the email that said there was going to be a big assembly for all the kids.  It isn't at our school.  No.  It is at the high school.  First thing in the morning.

*It will require re-routed buses, an entirely new schedule and five billion phone calls to parents of students who tend to bring their kids to school late and who would arrive to an empty building if we didn't intervene.

*Staff are to drive to the high school instead of our own school and, according to the email, "park wherever you can find a spot."

*This extravaganza will require additional staff people and one of those computerized phone calls to all the parents the night before, not to mention all the follow up activities that will have to be organized.

*And it is scheduled for Monday morning.  Bright and early.

*Have I mentioned how thrilled I am to be driving five hours north to the motel favored by white slavers everywhere so I can attend a conference over content I've only half covered?

*Seriously.  I couldn't be happier about it.

*Clarification: I do not think that "white" slavery is any worse than the other kinds of slavery.  Slavery, I think we can all agree, is a horrible thing.  However, I am of the pale persuasion and when I get into one of my panicky, why-does-everything-happen-to-me states I become a little self-absorbed.

*Because, really...what white slaver wouldn't be all over the chance to put a middle aged school teacher with mild issues around routine on the block?

*It's a movie of the week waiting to happen, I tellya!

*I found myself sitting in the parking lot of the local grocery store last Sunday, all alone and confused.

*Where was everyone?  The sun was shining and there were groceries to be purchased.  Surely I am not alone in my Sunday shopping schedule...

*Oh...Easter.  Easter is a holiday.  The grocery store is closed on some holidays.

*I know this because I read it on all the signs several times during the week when I went to the grocery store to pick up odds and ends but not actually shop for things one might consider "necessary."

*I ended up at the drugstore with all the other people who forgot it was Easter Sunday.

*I know this because everyone was saying, "Gee, I went to the grocery store and no one was there."

*By my estimate, we all took approximately five minutes of parking lot time in order to reach this conclusion.

*Easter closures aside, it all worked out for me.  Candy went on sale fairly quickly and I love nothing more than clearance candy.  Egg and bunny shapes matter not to me.

*I have had candy for dinner three nights running.

*I'm not kidding.  I have LITERALLY eaten candy for dinner for three straight nights.

*I've stopped even pretending I'm going to eat a "real" dinner once I've satisfied the candy cravings.

*It's the very fantasy I had as a child.  Candy for dinner and no one to tell me I need to shape up and eat something with a greenish tinge!

*I feel a little sick to my stomach at this point, but I'm too proud to stop now.

*Did I mention how much I hate change?  I'm fine once things settle down, but the process is enough to put me off my candy.

*For five minutes...

*Mr. Principal announced his impending retirement at a staff meeting several months ago.  I've pretty much managed to stick metaphorical fingers in the ears of my subconscious and sing the "I Can't Hear You" song since then as a strategy for avoiding this professional field of land mines.

*Today we had a staff meeting.  We were instructed to close our eyes.  I don't like to close my eyes in staff meetings.

*Never ends well...

*I might fall asleep or become the victim of black market organ harvesters.

*Which isn't as bad as the slavery thing because you pretty much just wake up in a strange bathtub full of ice and with one less kidney, but it's still not something I want to experience.

*Although, I suppose it would result in weight loss.  After all that candy....

*Where was I?  Oh, yeah.  Eyes closed at a staff meeting and promises of nothing bad happening.

*Which is a necessary thing to say to a roomful of people being instructed to close their eyes.

*We were told that, when we opened them, we would see our new principal.

*There was a count to three and...

*IT WAS MR. ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL!

*Yay!!  That is less of a change and Mr. Assistant Principal is a good guy who won't change everything all at once on me.

*Although he did accidentally mess up my name and call me "Doody" last week.

*I'm not sure exactly what went wrong there, but I think he was trying to make a joke out of how I have lunch and recess duty every day instead of the much less rigorous rotation the other teachers have.

*But it just came out, "Doody" and that isn't exactly how I want to be remembered in those hallowed halls.

*I'm still glad he is my new principal, though.

*But you have to keep it a secret, 'kay?  The board hasn't approved the nomination yet and, although that is rarely an issue, we don't want to jinx it.

*So, mum's the word for a day or so.  It'll just be between us.

*Last week, I didn't go to a meeting because I wasn't invited to go to that meeting.

*And, much like other meetings that go on around that place, decisions regarding my day were made.

*A student was placed in my classroom with little in the way care and feeding instructions.

*The New Teaching Assistant was agog at this.  The Organized Teaching Assistant and I were outraged, but not particularly agog.

*This has happened a lot.

*TNTA said yesterday, "Seriously, I can't believe you aren't completely bugging over this!"

*I've run out of "bug."  I'm down to resigned exasperation which I express in the form of lengthy emails referring the recipients to other emails I've sent on the same issue.

*On the plus side, I get whatever I want for at least a month after one of these little incidents.

*My director redefined my current job to something a little closer to what I actually do (something I've been asking her to do for a while), finally clarified my incoming caseload and offered me my choice of positions for next year.

*And she is going to drive me to the conference next week even after saying she didn't want to drive to these conferences any more.

*I wanted to get a limo, but I thought that might be pushing things a bit...

*I am more ready for spring break than you can imagine.  I have a great class this year and I'm honestly not complaining.

*I also don't want to imply that I somehow work harder than other people and that 8 straight weeks of labor is something that should be admired by all.

*But Kid Time is hard time.  You know I'm right.  If I wasn't, there wouldn't be parents dancing in the streets on the first day of school all across this great land.

*I still have a couple more weeks to go.

*And I have been informed that I've only used three sick days this year.  Three.

*I had walking pneumonia last fall.  I've had a few doctor's appointments and dentist appointments, all of which I use sick days for.  It's easier than driving forty minutes back and forth and I know I've got plenty of time saved up for this kind of thing.

*My staff have used more than three sick days.  The Organized Teaching Assistant has used all her time and more.

*I've used three.

*What is WRONG with me????????

*I have a dentist appointment scheduled for the Friday before April vacation.  That was an accident. I fully intended to fix that since one shouldn't be absent the day before a vacation.

* I had to change my dentist appointment from this Friday so the Organized Teaching Assistant could be gone for two days.

*Oldest son is on college tours.  I can't say no to that.  Her son is a good kid and I want him to go on college tours.

*I am thinking, however, that I might not be so hasty about the appointment changing.

*Three days?  I have something like 90 of the stupid things.  What am I saving them for???

*Well...sickness, I suppose.  Middle aged women should probably be mindful of their sick time what with all the creaking and snapping of stuff.

*Plus I've been eating candy for days now and I anticipate some kind of repercussions from that which might require medical intervention.

*There is no need to find the silver lining when discussing my on-line library experiences.

*Even if they've changed their formatting a bit and it's kind of confusing.

*I am loving every minute of Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress, Book 4).

*Even better than Book 3.

*Which is good because my visual reading experience hasn't been quite as good as the auditory.

*Once Bitten (Alexa O'Brien Huntress Book 1) was a freebie and within my book buying budget so I gave it a shot.

*It's not bad, honestly.  But it's a little hard to follow.  It's like the author believes you already know everybody and that the back story will only confuse matters.

*But is willing to throw in a tidbit or two every now and again just to make sure you aren't completely in the dark.

*And yet it is holding my interest so it can't be all bad.  Now that I've picked up the thread of the storyline and figured out whom to like and whom to loathe, I'm kind of enjoying it.

*Plus it was free.  Did I mention the "free" part.  That is always a good thing!


Well, I feel better already!  The doom/gloom syndrome that plagued me throughout the month of March is almost lifted and I think I may one day laugh again.  Or at the very least stop growling and snapping at anyone who comes near me with the barest semblance of a smile.  That would be an improvement.  And maybe I'll even get rid of that sour twinge in my stomach that comes and goes with every stressful moment!

Of course, that could be the candy talking but I don't want to jump to conclusions...

SA