Thursday
Sep022010

Just Another Day In Small Town, USA

Yesterday afternoon. I'm sweating it out to a P90-X video. The doorbell rings. 

[As I general rule, my hackles go up when the doorbell rings. I don't know why. Maybe it's an instinctive "fight or flight" response or perhaps I've conditioned myself to respond with my, "I wasn't expecting a guest therefore it's a mass murderer" reaction. Anywhoo...]

A large portion of our front door is glass, so I peeked my head around the corner. I didn't see anyone standing there so I assumed the UPS guy had dropped something off. I went back to Tony Horton and my video. 

♫ Ding-Dong. ♫

Huh. Not the UPS guy. I peek again and see the shadow of a man waiting patiently by the door. I resolve to go shoo the mass murderer away. 

I open the door and am surprised to find David standing there. David is a brilliant writer/photographer in our area, an older gentleman who I probably run into once every six months, at which times we'll chat for maybe 5-10 minutes, max.

"Hey Dena," he said, as if we'd just met yesterday. He pulled out a pen and small notebook. "What did you tell me was the name of your web designer?"

I vaguely remembered discussing my website with David the last time we'd met. Six months ago. 

"Oh, uh, Melody Watson," I said. "At melodywatson.com."

"Mel-ohh-dee" he said, writing it down. "Got it." He turned to go, then seemed to realize the situation maybe called for a bit more. "You doin' okay?" he asked. 

"Yeah, great," I said. "Just exercising, getting ready for a big race. You?"

"Doing good, doing good. Well, nice seeing you." 

And with that, he turned and walked down the porch steps and was gone. 

Later that night I described the encounter to Blair, who laughed and said, "That's classic Madison."

Yes, it is. And a great reminder of why I love living in this quirky little town. 

Tuesday
Aug312010

Dressed for... Well, just DRESSED

Today I had the option of hanging out all day in pajamas, workout clothes or (my personal preference) a combination of the two. Lots of work to do, but nothing that required me leaving the house. I'd worked out, showered, and stood with dripping hair, pondering whether it was really worth it to blow dry and apply mascara when my chances of conversing with my cats was much stronger than chatting with a human being face-to-face. 

At this stage in my freelance career, I know better. I did full hair and makeup and grabbed the last bit of life from some dressy white pants before the Labor Day ban on white begins. Why all the bother? Because I had a busy day. Huzzah for freelancers who can work from bed. I'm not one of them. If I want to get anything accomplished, I'm much better off if I dress the part of a professional. I'm more likely to make phone calls, tackle to-do lists, and be flexible with my day. 

 And as it turns out, I did leave the house today to run to the bank, drugstore, and to meet my egg dealer for a drop. Nothing earth shattering, but if I'd had no makeup, frizzy hair, and pj bottoms, I would have put all the errands off, making some day in the future busier than it needs to be. 

I've also charged through today's work. Looking professional (well okay, I'm a writer so looking semi-professional with a little bit of artsy leeway thrown in) means I act more professional with my time. 

Anyone else experience this? Or has everyone except me mastered the art of working in t-shirts and fuzzy slippers?

Cheers,

Dena

Monday
Aug302010

Asleep Not Dead

This is Bear, our neighbor's cat, passed out on our front porch right outside my office window. Unlike other cats who slumber peacefully, Bear always looks like he's been slaughtered. I about had a stroke looking out my window. Rest assured, he's fine. Just napping. 

Sunday
Aug292010

Time to Share In the Harvest

As loyal blog readers may remember, Blair and I (read:Blair) put in quite the effort this spring to establish a square foot garden. Now that I'm fully on the healthy eating bandwagon and have a nodding acquaintance with the big shiny stainless steel thingee in my kitchen that gets hot if you turn the dials, we were all about growing our own food. Money smart, healthy, and very liberal-chic. Sign us up. 

And we've done it! I shared earlier this year our first perfect, beautiful squash. Now I share with you what three months of sporadic watering have gained us:

Yes, that's it. The squash, the carrot, and the rutabaga are what we have to show. 

You might think we'd be depressed, but you'd be wrong. We're thrilled. This is three times the amount of food we've ever managed to grow in the past. Smokin' success. 

Now that we've got the hang of this farming thing, I can't wait to see what Farmer Blair brings in next year. 

p.s. If you need carrots, let us know. I want to share in the bounty of our harvest. 

Saturday
Aug282010

Blatant Promotion for A (Funny) Friend

[Hmm. See a pattern in recent blog post titles? Nope, me neither.]

Brought in the mail yesterday and found my friend Ron Culberson's new book awaiting me, signed and including a snide remark about cats. (Let it go, Ron. Cats rule.)

His inexplicable preference for dogs over cats aside, Ron is a good guy. More than that, he's funny. Damn funny. Like, spit your coffee out laughing funny. All the really good jokes in my new book? Ron's ideas. We've been editing each other's work since we met years ago at an Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. Ron makes my writing funnier and I try to dull his work down so I look better by comparison. It's a great relationship.

My Kneecap Seems Too Loose: 365 random thoughts to inspire deeply shallow thinking is the perfect book for those of you who've ever wondered why it's necessary for coffee shops to announce they offer "fresh" coffee or why we say "Go!" when we look at a stopwatch. This book makes the perfect gift for a college grad, best friend, neighbor, or anyone you just want to mess with. If you can overlook the puns (Ron knows how I feel about puns), you'll love it! 

If you don't want to take my word about how funny Ron is, check out his websites: FunnierSpeeches.com and FUNsulting.com