My Unproductivity is Everyone Else's Fault

I can't be blamed.  I tried to have a productive day.  Okay, I can be blamed for being a doofus and forgetting everything is closed and locked down today, the first Monday of the New Year.  But if not for that, I would have had a super productive day. 

• I took my car to be inspected - closed
• Went to the Post Office - closed
• Went to deposit a check - bank closed (hmmm...I started to clue in...)

On the bright side, my eye doctor was open so I was able to make an appointment.  Need to update the 'ol eyeglasses prescription.  The only time they could take me is 10 AM tomorrow morning. I have to have my eyes dilated so I can ALSO blame tomorrow's lack of productivity on others, as well. 

And it hasn't been an unproductive day.  I worked my 2 hours on Millicent this morning and have spent the afternoon prepping my NSA University materials.  There was about a 12-minute period of intense rage when I couldn't get the scanner to work, but I've moved on.

My office looks like a bomb blew up in it.  Papers everywhere.  Lucy was nesting earlier in some papers on the floor until I realized they were handouts for my NSA talk and screeched at her to get her hairy butt off them.  Haven't seen much of her since.

It's a chilly, pouring-down rain kind of day--very good for staying inside and working. So I guess I'll get back to it.

New Beginnings

I love the fresh start of a new year, with its implications of a clean slate for you to write a new chapter of your life.  Even the fact that I have gotten off to a slow start this morning can't damper my enthusiasm.

We didn't get to bed until almost 2 last night, so we slept in until 7:30. Then up to read the paper and all dieting considerations went out the window as I heated up a slice of my friend Pam's coconut-walnut bundt cake to go with my morning coffee.  Maybe not calorie free, but an excellent first meal for the new year.

After the paper I crawled back into bed until almost 11 while Blair was a whirlwind of activity, doing laundry, cleaning house and making lunch.  He scooted out the door around 1 to go to work.  A bit of a let down that he has to go in today, but he's probably not thrilled about it either so I tried not to gripe.

As for me, I'm doing my own laundry and catching up on a bit of work so I can hit the ground running tomorrow.  This is a short week for me as I leave for Tucson on Thursday to teach for 3 days at NSA University.  Much of this week will be spent finalizing parts of my talk.

But I will find time to take a long walk today.  It's sunny and near 60 with a light, crisp wind.  Way too pretty to stay locked inside the house all day.  Then the Panthers play today and I'll catch the last half of the game as I am under strict instructions to call Blair at work and let him know who won.

And I'm excited about working on my second Millicent book.  I'll blog more about this in the future, but through networking, a friend recommended me to an editor at Random House who has agreed to read the first few chapters of my middle-grade novel, along with a synopsis.  I decided I wasn't happy with the book I had and decided to devote my efforts to a new book.  I've spent the last 3 weeks worrying out plot details, but I'm close to having a working outline in place to write from.   One of my New Year's resolutions I am most adamant about keeping is doing 2 hours of creative writing time each morning before hitting e-mail or regular assignments.

Today is a sweatpants and t-shirt, no makeup day.  Just a relaxing day of taking care of small details interspersed with fun activities such as reading, napping, petting cats, and listening to music. A perfect--if somewhat slow--start to the New Year.

The Cute Things Kids Say

Blair and I attended a Wake Forest basketball game last night.  As we're walking past the concession stands, I notice a little boy, blond-haired, about 5 years old, holding on to this huge vanilla ice-cream cone that's almost as big as he is.

He takes a lick and his Dad looks down and says, "Is it good?"

"Yeah!" the little boy enthused.  He took another lick. "Tastes like milk."

I laughed all the way to our seats.

Rejected Cat Toys

Came home from a writing session today with my friend Bernie to find that the cats (or "cat"--I'm pretty sure I know who the culprit is) had decided to drown one of their new Christmas toys in their water dish.

The toy is a cloth covered triangle with tufts of ribbons shooting out from each corner of the triangle.  I'm not really sure what it's purpose it... I vaguely recall the plastic it came in saying something about being a tug of war piece.  Well, the battle is over.  The toy was soggy and floating face down when I spied it.  Lucy sat innocently nearby.

"Why did you do this?" I asked.  "If you don't like a gift, you politely break it on accident like Mommy and Daddy do with the stuff Daddy's relatives give us.  You do NOT put it in your water dish to rot."

Lucy did receive one holiday gift she's pleased with.  It's a colorful stuffed square of material that feels like a bean bag when you pick it up.  You warm it in the microwave for 30 seconds and it's a warm mat for kitty to curl up on.  Not that Lucy would know this.  She hasn't moved her ample tushie off the mat since we opened it.  Every time we move near the mat, she leaps on it to cover it up.

The floor guy (yes--progress is being made on the bathroom!) was here the other day and as he walked into the room instead of running as usual, Lucy curled tighter on her mat and glared at both of us. 

"Oh for Pete's sake, no one's going to steal your mat," I told her. She gave me the evil eye and a follow-up look that said, "Move along."

Life with cats is never dull.