I hope you get to send time with them.

New plate permanently mounted on the birdfeeder.

Cats are already perching on radiators even though they're not on....

I want to see the Bowie exhibit again. I'm hoping that it will come to the EMP.

Colin's making a brief LA stop before a month or so in Halifax,

So wise that he comes here for the dark and rainy season.

Are you getting gentrified?

We are already gentrified, but this feels like a new level.

Tummy is better. And I am still working. Sheesh.

I am going to be more clear this week about how much work they can give me at any given time. Tim pointed out -- like many of alla y'all did -- that the kindly AMA folks probably keep piling the work on *because* I haven't told them to back off, and they just think "Hey, she's a workhorse! She can handle this!" So I'll let them know I can't handle as much as they're giving me. I just want them to know I'm responsible, a team player, whatever the current business jargon is to describe a team player. Because I am. I'm just not superhuman.

That is sensible, Teppy, and it's what they would want to learn. They don't want to burn you out, after all.

So far I have: gone running with my niece, done two loads of laundry, determined the skunk is yes, still underneath the shed, and made a pot of cassoulet for the week. Oh, and I bought an extension cord so now my OVEN WORKS! YAY. Which means I can bake again!

Although not today; it's not as hot as yesterday, but it's still warm. But yay, baking!

I may set up the bread machine to make some banana bread in a few minutes. After I clean the bathroom.

Later I will get my nails done, and maybe get some wine at the BevMo sale; I have rather a lot of "good" wine ($20-28/bottle) but not so much "weeknight" wine (under $14/bottle). And a cheap lamp at Target or something so I have more light in the living room...

That's good, Tep.

We are already gentrified, but this feels like a new level.

I guess that's what I mean, some kind of metagentrification. Something to keep an eye on, anyway.

I hope you get to send time with them.

Well, if it only takes willpower, we have that in aplenty. CFerg doesn't really have multiple people over at once, so I have asked him to tell me when his current guests are about to leave.

So wise that he comes here for the dark and rainy season.

He could have come a month later? He's doing one of those housebuilding charity shows, which is another diversion for his career. Good diversion, though--he's established himself with a number of charities, and this one is back home, so he's Mr. Good Guy.

That is sensible, Teppy, and it's what they would want to learn. They don't want to burn you out, after all.

When my boss (okay, and here's the thing about being a freelancer; the AMA is technically my client, and she's not really my "boss," but I can't get out of that mindset...and maybe that's a big part of my problem) sends emails to the whole group of freelance editors, she often uses the phrase "let me know how much work you will be taking." And that does position it as though we (the freelancers) have a say in this, *because* we're contractors.

It's been almost a year, and I think I don't have the mindset of being a contractor, as opposed to working for The Man. I think I need a How to Think Like a Contractor handbook.

Speaking of charities...we just got back from UCLA's Children's Hospital big shindig - They rent out the Santa Monica Pier and give away trunks-full of toys at the midway games. It was NUTS.