Writing by Ear

OK, so it’s 10 days later and I’m way past due to replace my 9/11 post. (Not that I want you to forget, mind you. Please, always remember 9/11.)

But…overdue is overdue. Unfortunately, no time is no time.

Work decided to explode over the past few weeks  for the first time all year, with multiple clients clamoring for attention at once. It’s a relief to have the income potential; it’s exhausting to have to earn it.

And doubly wonderful timing since, as I explained, I decided to feng shui my office right before the deluge. So most everything I had in it is jammed in the spare room and upstairs hall, except my giant desk and lateral file, which we moved to the center of the office so I could paint. My printer is on the floor, much to the cats’ fascination. And I can’t do anything else until we move all of THIS out and paint the floor.

My brain hurts.

Oh, and did I mention we are in the midst of replacing our boiler? Mike has been sweating over this decision for years (no pun intended) — nothing was wrong with our old boiler, except it was 1950s era and not particularly efficient. No kidding, hours and hours of research and back-and-forth on his part. We decided, finally, to replace it with a new, high-efficiency boiler because we could qualify for a PA energy rebate this year as well as a federal tax credit. (Free money, it’s the American way.) So…our basement is all torn up as the installer works to get everything done this week so we can send in the rebate form. They give you 30 days from the time you apply for the rebate to complete the installation and send in the form or you lose the money. It has to be postmarked by this Saturday. Tick tock.

Oh, and we have storm windows for our stained glass windows arriving on Friday (for Mike to install, of course — how he’s not keeling over from the pressure of everything he has to do is beyond me.) Bear in mind these windows have not been covered in the 85 years since they were installed (nor painted it seems — after the storms are on, we still have to cover them in aluminum like all the other windows). But hey, we are all about protection and energy savings and pretty much never having a weekend to ourselves. Mike has spent the past several weekends scraping paint and preparing them for the install. Fingers crossed they won’t just up and crack when we’re done from the shock of being so well insulated.

And then there’s the cherries — I fell victim to Walmart’s produce section yet again a couple weeks ago and ended up paying $6 for some stinkin’ cherries (I though I was buying a pound for $2.98, but apparently the scale I used wasn’t quite accurate.). So, they’ve been living in the fridge drawer taunting me. I finally pitted them last night (only lost a few to my 2-week delay) and now have 2 potential recipes — cherry tarts and cherry almond scones — waiting for me to get up from my desk and get bakin’.

So that’s what I’m going to do right now, having determined that Mike will likely not be home from work again until late and I have zero desire to make dinner.

But hey, at least I blogged. And I can think of worse dinners than a plateful of cherry almond scones. And maybe some ice cream to boot. It’s amazing what you can convince yourself you “deserve” based on a little too much stress in your life.

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.
~ Chinese Proverb