Meltdown

Yes.  So.  Had a bit of a meltdown last night.  Our general contractor called about 9pm and said hey, since it's raining tomorrow, why don't I come over and spend the day ripping out your bathroom?  We said sure, great, why not?  But after we hung up, I started freaking out.

"What if we can't get the floor people in?" I demanded of Blair.  "What if we rip this bathroom out and then it just sits there for a month because we jumped in without having the other contractors lined up?  Then we've surrounded ourselves with mess and chaos for no reason."

"Well, call back and say we want to wait," Blair advised.

"Oh sure!" I said.  "You know the cabinet people want to be in by the 15th.  We've got to get this started."

"So we'll go ahead then," he said.

"How can we go ahead when we don't know what the floor people are doing?" I shrieked.  "Are you even paying attention?

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No!  I am not okay.  The books are coming in and I don't have the delivery materials and I've got to plan the launch and fix my website and I've got a million classes coming up to prepare for and you're working 14 hour days and are unavailable and now, in the middle of all this chaos, now is when we decide to rip the bathroom apart and you know how I feel about living with dirt and I'm the one that's going to have to make all the calls and deal with the headaches and scheduling and chaos and I'm just feeling stressed and waaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"  And the tears came.

Poor Blair.  That's all I can. I would run screaming from the home if I had to deal with a neurotic like me.  And when I get wound up like that, the nicer he tries to be to me, the meaner I get.  He tried to give me a hug and I almost decked him.

I'm feeling much better today.  I woke up and Blair walked in the room and looked at me.  "Feeling better?" he asked, warily circling the bed. 

"Yes," I said, feeling foolish. "Sorry."

So what the hell.  We'll have the bathroom ripped out today.  We've got another one we can use.  And just because it's messy and things aren't where they're supposed to be, I can breathe.  I'll deal with it.  For a short while, anyway.

Stay tuned.  Much chaos sure to follow!

THE BOOKS ARE COMING!!!!!

Praise the Gods, they're on their way!  I just hung up with the delivery house and Lessons In Stalking will be at my door this Thursday between 3-5.  (In a slightly painful aside, they actually could have delivered the books to me tomorrow, Wednesday, but I have interviews lined up in the afternoon. I had to grit my teeth not to cancel the interviews to be here for the books instead.)

I can't wait.  Wow.  I have so much to do.  Pre-orders to ship out, I need to get books to Amazon asap, buy shipping material, send out review copies...the list goes on. 

It almost feels like it's not really happening.  Sort of like Christmas as a child.  You wait and wait for what seems like forever, then it happens and afterwards you're like, "Wait.  That was it? What happened?" 

Everything feels new now.  For so long the mindset has been "Get the books in.  Get the books in."  Now the mindset is "Do publicity and call everyone and run here and run there and write a press release and mail out copies and on and on and on and on...."  Hysterical yet joyful chaos probably best describes today's mindset.

I have no idea how big a carton (or cartons) 2000 books come in.  This ought to be amusing when they deliver it.

Dena

Oatmeal-Raisin Cookie Madness

We have new neighbors and Blair and I thought it would be a nice idea to take over a housewarming gift.  So yesterday afternoon I baked oatmeal-raisin cookies and, once they cooled, we wrapped them in pink plastic wrap, tied them with a ribbon and put them in the basket with the cat toys and chew stick we'd bought for our neighbor's cats and dog, respectively.

One problem.  We didn't check to see that our new neighbors were home, which they were  not.  And I haven't seen any trace of them today.  I figure we have maybe a 48-hour window to get those cookies to them and still have them taste fresh.  The danger, of course, is that our new neighbors will not come home in time which would then mandate, naturally, that we eat the cookies ourselves.

This is bad news.  I ate half a cookie this morning before I went to yoga and was shaking while trying to do a standing balance pose.  The recipe I use calls for 1 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and gets worse from there.  I try to convince myself they're healthier than store bought because there are no dyes or preservatives but who am I kidding?  These things are essentially sugar particles bound together with a few oats.

So much for trying to be neighborly.  I suppose I'll just have to (sigh) whip up another batch when they do come home.  After I test a few for quality purposes, of course.

"Can You See Me?" Goes National

I have 2 stories in the newly released Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, one of which is called "Can You See Me?"  I just became aware through the publisher that this story is one of the few selected to be released to newspapers around the country as promotion for the book.  I Googled my name and the story and found a few magazines and newspapers in California that had run the piece.  Click here to read the story online.

And just as an FYI to family/friends who may be interested, Art Jewelry magazine has posted this month's marketing column I write for them online as well as an internet extra piece.  Just a chance to see some of my writing you probably usually don't see.  You can see the articles here and here.

Cheers,

Dena