It's not Friday, is it? I'm having one of those weeks that just drags on and on. At least my back is starting to speak nicely to me again after all the driving last weekend. I would also like to register a complaint that the weather today is indecisive and unacceptable. Either rain or be clear, but this cloudy, hot, moist stuff is annoying.

Apparently, I'm cranky. Which explains why I'm cuddled up to (or curled possessively around, depending on your angle) my coffee mug. Ah, blessed caffeine, you are such a comfort to me in my times of need and my times of needing to hit people with a clue-bat. Metaphorically speaking, of course. I don't actually own a clue-bat... yet. (But my ideal clue-bat would be a cricket bat painted blue with the word "clue" attractively emblazoned on it in white. A blue clue-bat. Say that 3 times fast!)

The hosta pictured here is from my mothers garden in Maine. She really does have lovely gardens, despite the tons of rain that has been dumped on Maine in the past few weeks. Rain is good for gardens, yes, unless it comes in such volume that it super-saturates the ground for days or weeks and rots the plants. Dad's veggie garden is not doing as well as the flower beds.

My garden is looking okay. By transplanting my peppers outside late, I avoided the too-much-rain problem but the plants are still farther behind in their growth cycle than they should be at this time of year. The good news is that my chives came back this year! YAY! I do wish I had some space for a proper vegetable garden, but my cute little raised planters will do for now.

Cross posted from digital-tree.com ...

...for muffins. Yum.

I spent the weekend at my parents' house in Maine. It was lovely. The weather was gorgeous and considerably cooler than down in PA. The company was entertaining. The blueberry muffins were divine thanks to Mum's blueberry wrangling skills. I consumed tasty Italian sandwiches (Real Maine Italians, thank you very much) as well as steak as thick as my arm from Dad's grill. We also made a boatload of peanutbutter cookies for the boys. Yes, they are spoiled.

Saturday we saw a Tasha Tudor exhibit over at a little museum in Bridgton. Tasha's art is really tiny! Perhaps it's because Tasha's images were omnipresent in my childhood that I have this weakness for simply but intricately depicted scenes and illustrations. Totally worth the drive. We also stopped at Korner Knitters on the way home where I got to impulse shop some lovely and some silly yarn. (It was so nice to meet you, Darrin!)

I did not impulse buy a lake house, not that it was really a realistic option, but I was tempted. There are a lot of For Sale signs up in the Lakes Region. There are even some For Sale signs on some curiously tempting classic cars. Again, I was tempted.

Oh and the driving! The Clubman and I did not get any tickets nor were we even stopped! I'm pleased to announce that we can get get from the house in PA to the house in Maine on one tank of gas. Just barely, mind you, but it's a huge mileage improvement over the Subaru. The Mini does like to speed though... I'll refrain from mentioning numbers here because my mother reads this blog and will scold me. I will say I am very grateful for its visibility (super-duper fog lights) and maneuverability. On multiple occasions I got to zig and zag out of the way of impending stupidity. Why is it that people in New Jersey don't look before changing lanes?

The drive up to Maine on Friday took me probably 8.5 to 9 hours. I hit traffic in Connecticut and accidents in Massachusetts. The drive back to PA on Monday took me 8 hours. I hit a little traffic in CT where 91 dumps onto 95 and a bit of an accident on the Garden State Parkway, but other than that it was a pretty easy drive. Totally worth it for a weekend in Maine. And while the drive tired me out each way, I think I recovered fully on each with a good night's sleep.

Except that I'm reading books again (as in novels as opposed to short stories) and not getting to sleep as early as perhaps I should.

I blame you, Miss Juli.


Cross posted from digital-tree.com ...

( Fireworks w/photos )

Prettier formatting at: http://www.digital-tree.com/archives/543

Cross posted from digital-tree.com ...

I am desperately trying to adjust my sleep schedule to complement my desired work schedule. Unsurprisingly, the past 6 months have been very lenient on my need to get to sleep at what my mother would call, "a reasonable hour." My current contract isn't exactly demanding early morning hours from me... but I do like to get work over with as quickly as possible and no matter how late I stay up that means I'd still rather be done work by noon or 2 p.m. I've made some progress in the past 2 weeks and I'm falling asleep about an hour earlier now. Of course, I want to sleep about 2 hours longer now too which is messing up my morning mojo.

It's not even that I'm most productive in the morning. As a night person, I'm most productive and creative between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. Okay, that might be due to training in college as well. I perfected writing the 10 page literary analysis in those 5 hours the night before it was due. (I'm older and wiser now and actually write rough drafts, I swear.) But work is work and I want it to be done. I like to get a jump on things before other folks are at their desks and I like to be done first. FIRST, I say! Too often I've ended up working from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. because "things come up" throughout the day preventing me from leaving. This is somewhat worse at home where it's not so much a matter of leaving as it is a matter of finding time to get out of my pajamas, eat and maybe even stop work before dinner.

This is all coming back to me now, somewhat acutely, because in my current contract I'm working from my personal desktop computer. In the past I've had a "work machine" that I could pretend I would turn off at 5 p.m. Right now I've set up my work e-mail in Mail along side my .Mac e-mail. I have a couple of heavily-tabbed Firefox windows open for work purposes as well. (On top of this, my computer is not the most spry of creatures and I abuse Firefox horribly with the 6 million tabs I usually leave open.) So far I'm doing a good job of not falling into the too-man-hours trap on this contract but I am feeling the omnipresence of work stuff in my world.

Ultimately, the problem is that my desire to get a jump on work and be done first gets me up in the morning while my desires to hang out, read, play games and ... um... ramble on foolishly in a blog keep me up too late at night. I will break this cycle! I swear!

Right after I finish editing an article I'm writing that's rather late...

My wise words for the day are: If you get the funny feeling you should back up your files: DO IT. Either the Universe is warning you of impending doom or your subconscious is telling you your documents have become too important to lose.


More comics at: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

Just reassuring you I exist beyond providing regular doses of Monster Cat. ;) This is one of the roses from out front. I cut the all the blooms off this bush and put them in a vase in the kitchen to save them from the painter guys who are supposedly painting the porch. The kitchen has smelled of roses all weekend!

Summer is totally here. It's hot. I finally got my seedlings into the raised beds out back. It'll be a late harvest I should get some tasty peppers. I also planted some mint, basil (less than last year!), cukes and peas. We'll see if the latter 2 come up. They're going to be very crowded where I put them but hopefully I'll end up with tasty snacks. Next I need to start splitting the houseplants ... the houseplants that reside on the sun porch... in the sun... in the hot summer... oofa.

I have a new contract that was in place for a whole week before it changed rather radically. Never a dull moment, right? It's interesting and different than past problems... but kind of the same too. Everything always seems to come down to communication.

Monster Cat himself (because it's hard to exclude him, ever) has been through lots of cat scorn-provoking tragedy lately. He seems to be on the mend now but he spent a very expensive weekend at the vet's last weekend. Don't tell but he's going in for a follow-up Monday morning. He will adore it.

Speaking of last weekend, while my cat was howling away at the hospital, I went up to NH and MA for a wonderful bridal shower book brunch! (By the way, if I'd thought of the book brunch bridal shower thing before I got married, I might have not ducked out on that part of the tradition!) The loveliest ladies attended and it was indeed an elegant affair. I had a great time at the brunch and hanging out with the fabulous Juli throughout the rest of the weekend. Juli, for those who don't know, has the best shopping karma on the planet. She shares it. She rocks. I have a great little black dress with flowers embroidered on the hem as well as some other lovely things from our escapades. She also sent me home with a stack of books to add to my "To Read" pile. What a wonderful weekend!

Cross posted from digital-tree.com ...