Creativity & Productivity - elusive beasts...

I have a number of things that I intended to get done this weekend. But it's 9:30PM on Saturday and I've accomplished one small bit that I meant to get done and that got done last night. Tomorrow brings the no longer avoidable chores... Have to do the grocery shopping. Have to do the laundry. Have to do the poopsmithing (putting this off right now cuz we need kitty litter).

I did do some lounging in the tub bath product testing this afternoon. I think that's one of the best part of producing bath products.... making sure the products perform as you hope that they will. For the most part, I am pleased with the latest couple of batches. Unfortunately, I am out of packing tape (have to get that while I am out shopping tomorrow) and so can't get things packed up and out the door.

I think I have mentioned before that Willow is aka Helpful Cat. Tonight, Helpful Cat decided that the laundry in the laundry basket needed to be vigorously subdued. He pounced the basket and then pawed at it vigorously. After he was satisfied that it was duly subdued, he wandered off to go chug water out of the water bowl. Both of our cats are disgusted that they do not have a fancy schmancy Drinkwell™ fountain. I may eventually get one for them, because I think that they'd really enjoy it but the Drinkwells™ are a tad expensive and I'm trying to hold off on big purchases (cat water fountains and a DECENT vacuum cleaner) for a while.

Tomorrow I am going to try to get out of the house a little earlier than last week, do my trip to the coffeehouse, then do the grocery shopping. Hopefully, I will catch things at a time whilst everyone is being holy and not when there are unruly children having a meltdown at SuperTarget. I also have to remember to get some chinchilla food tomorrow because if I don't, I will have one very unamused chinchilla on my hands. I don't think I want to find out what a disgruntled chinchilla is like.


It's on-call weekend for Mr. POSSLQ and the chucklefucks have been out in full force which is making for a tense and unhappy weekend at The Little House on The Hill. It also means we've not cracked open a bottle of wine, nor did I go to the wine tasting today. Probably not a bad thing that I didn't go to the tasting because we have quite a bit of wine we have to find food to go with (what? Yeah, we know that people USUALLY buy wine to go with their food... we just have another method, ok?)

Weedy is singing Emo Kitty Opera to Mr. POSSLQ.... wonder what's up. Guess I'll go investigate. I anticipate their being a coffeehouse post tomorrow... have a great Saturday Night, Internetz!

Belated F-Word Friday

Hello Internetz.... it's a late edition of F-Word Friday... The F-Word is "futz". As in, I was futzing around with labels on lip butter last night and failed to make my F-Word Friday post.

I suppose that somewhere out there are the correct size labels for the tubes. But I only have one type of labels at the moment and didn't want to put off the project any longer figuring that I could get everything all labeled and then box stuff up. Except... I need packing tape... so, the tubes are labeled and I will need to go out and get packing tape so I can pack things up and get them shipped off (maybe this weekend yet).

I didn't get to the second part of what I wanted to get done last night because I got sidetracked. I have a horrible case of ADOS (Attention Deficit OOOOOH! Shiny!) and before I knew it, it was way past bedtime and the project remained undone.

This morning, I was putting new chinchilla chewy things (they gnaw on mineral chews and wood stuff like apple tree twigs, it keeps their teeth trimmed) in the chinchilla's cage and she was holding onto the kabob and trying to gnaw as I was reinstalling it which made things rather interesting. My chief concern, of course, was not being mistaken for something she she be gnawing... chinchillas have some SHARP teeth and I am rather attached to keeping all of my fingers intact.

Eventually, I will have to figure out a plan for today. I think key on the list is washing some bedding, though I think the blankets will wait til tomorrow so I can hang them outside. I also think some lounging in the bathtub bath product testing will be happening this weekend.

I continue to slowly work my way through The Artist's Way. I know the content here is still the same ol' schlock... hopefully you, the readers, get some enjoyment out of it. There is a lot brewing behind the scenes, so bear with me!

Have a stellar Saturday, Internetz!

TMI Thursday - Whoa, BABY!

***Alright, folks, you know the rules. Join us all in humiliating the crap out of yourself every Thursday by sharing some completely tasteless, wholly unclassy, “how many readers can I estrange THIS week??” TMI story about your life. Or hell, about someone else’s!

Just link back to the hub with this link (FYI- link has changed a bit!), so your readers can read ALLLLLLL the TMI glory, and I’ll make sure to link to you.***

A long while ago, there was a young mother. She was very naive in the ways of babies. She didn't know that even if you were only going to be out "a few minutes" with a baby, you take half a box of Huggies because the little monsters angels can be prolific poopin' machines.

She set off with BabyGirl for a quick outing. She was only going to be out a very little while so she didn't bring a diaper bag at all. She changed the diaper at home before she left. She was sure she would be home before the baby leaked from any orifice. She was going to drop something off at a friend's house... only be a second...

Except....

The Young Mother got lost and she finally got BabyGirl out of the car seat and got to her friend's house and then people wanted to hold the baby and coo at the baby and all the things, apparently, that NORMAL people do when they see babies (what did young mother know? she was a freaky babies-are-ok-I-guess-sortve gal not an OMG!TEHBABIESARESOAWESOME sortve gal).

And that's when it happened. BabyGirl had to go. She got the "I'm poopin" face and let loose. In fact... VERY loose. BabyGirl had an assplosion. An assplosion that came oozing out of her diaper and all over the poor guy friend who was holding BabyGirl. Both guy friend and BabyGirl were covered in baby assplosion... and then, for good measure, BabyGirl decided to spitup all over poor guy friend. The Young Mother was mortified. And had no diapers. And had no clean clothes for BabyGirl. And had a guy friend who was covered in baby blorp.

Fortunately, the person she was visiting had leftover baby supplies and so, after an impromptu bath in the bathroom sink, BabyGirl was re-diapered and re-dressed and The Young Mother slunk away and, actually, never saw pretty much any of those people ever again. Partly because her life took her down paths away from that group of friends, partly because that whole experience pretty much killed her desire to travel with BabyGirl and partly because she is, to this day, completely mortified by the whole experience.

And that, Internetz, is the straight shit for THIS TMI Thursday...

Drama Llama GO HOME!

There has been some pretty hardcore drama in my life lately (more than usual) and I am just so over it and want it to STOP.

I don't want to be wondering "what's next"? I don't want any nasty surprises. I don't want any late Sunday Night phone calls telling me that Armageddon is about to go down. I don't want to have to come up with solutions to problems I didn't create and am tired of having people make veiled threats (no, I would not prefer outright threats, thankyouverymuch).

I have enough things of my own doing to deal with. I have problems to solve. Dilemmas to deal with. A life to live. I don't want to be constantly looking over my shoulder and/or waiting "for the other shoe to drop..." I can't stand living that way. I don't mind an occasional surprise (especially if it's something like winning the lottery) but this constant "what crap is coming down the pike" is getting very old.

I have projects that need work, I have creating to do. I have a household to keep going, critters to tend, Mr. POSSLQ's chain in the kitchen needs the occasional polishing. I'm a busy woman who cannot be bothered with trifling bullshit. Additionally, I would like to be able to "be there" for the people I choose to "be there" for and being pulled into this drama swirling in the Tidybowl of life is not something I care to expend energy or emotion on.

Work has been insanely busy this week and shows no sign of letting up... I just got the notice of when the month's expense reports are due, I have a bunch of equipment to order, I am supposed to be planning the summer company event.... chaos reigns...

So, the drama llama can pack up and leave ANY TIME NOW... (and if it takes Mr. ExMan with it, so much the better).

It was an Omen...

You may all remember the Kevin Bloody Wilson song from a few weeks ago (it's at the bottom of the post)... That song is on my phone (my phone is also an MP3 player). This morning, I got in the truck to go to work, I hear the song start to play. I laughingly said "that's an omen..." Sadly, it WAS an omen for how the day was going to end up going....

First off, I woke this morning to the news of a relationship ending. I have very mixed emotions about it and intend to stand by the friend who will be walking a path I've walked before. If I can help and point out potential pitfalls and or time/sanity savers, I certainly will. I know, though, that she has worked very hard to save things and I also know that at some point you just have to step back and admit that no amount of work is going to make a difference.

Also, there is drama happening that I won't go into the details of here but it was sparked by Mr. Exman. There are people involved who think there is a very simple answer to the issue and that answer just is not viable. There is a backlash that's kicking MY ass here and this is really not something that is MY issue. This isn't something I created. It is not my problem to solve and this is a continuation of a decade and a half pattern of people being upset with me about things that are not really my issue to solve and, frankly, if I had made Mr. Exman deal with his shit back then, maybe he'd be more prepared to step up to the plate and deal with it now.


Work today was a continuation of the clusterfuck that was begun yesterday and promises to continue into tomorrow. I have 17 days to come up with and execute a "Family Friendly Outdoor Summer Activity", on a Saturday, for the company I am working at... plus, come up with a viable "rain alternative". That sounds like something that someone would post on FML... (I'd been asking for WEEKS for the date for this event and just found out today...)

I had to do the breakroom stockup shopping this morning. They're doing construction on the building I work in so we have to use antoher, much less convenient, door to enter and leave the building. So, as I walked toward the door, laden with a very heavy small rolling cart, a heavy bag and a big flat of baked goods, I realized that the door was going to be an issue. As I juggled things around to try to open the door, there was a guy standing behind me. I noticed him when he sighed a very grumpy sigh. I stepped aside to let him in the door and instead of being POLITE and/or HELPFUL and holding the door he could see I was having difficulty opening he opened the door and walked through briskly. I tried to catch the door but it shut too quickly and so I had to juggle things around and hope they'd stay balanced long enough to let me get in the door. Once in, I had to manuver into the tiny hallway, swipe my security card and then try to grab the door and hold it open as I wrestled myself, rolling cart and packages through. As I walked down the hallway, a man approached on the same side of the hallway from the opposite direction. There is NO WAY that he could have NOT seen me. Instead of him moving to the other side of the hallway, he flattened himself against the wall with an annoyed sigh as I passed. WTF, mister? I have both my hands full, am manuvering a heavy cart which is not easy to just suddenly change directions with and he would rather be grumpy and flatten himself against the wall than move to the other side of the hallway!

It should not feel like a long week on a Tuesday. Hope your day was better than mine, Internetz!

Maddening Monday

The whole idea of getting up this morning was monumentally unappealing. Especially as I had woken up about 4:45AM and never really got back to sleep and had some pretty horrible nightmares in the twilight between being asleep and awake.

Got to work early and went about setting up the desk for The New Guy. Wasn't sure when his laptop would be showing up but hoped it would be in time for him to log onto it for the training stuff that he needed to accomplish today. Alas, that was not meant to be (the laptop arrived, but there were issues).

Took The New Guy to get his badge. Security Bitch said they'd never gotten the request. DAMMIT!

So, I ended up spending the day troubleshooting mostly. That and trying to figure out what the hell to recommend to do for our "company summer activity". The thing that's hard for me is that I HATE being outside too much (Thank You Sun Allergy + Heat + BUGS!) and there just aren't alot of things to do on The Frozen (temporarily thawed) Tundra. Not to mention that I really have no desire (nor, honestly, does anyone else) to spend time outside of work with the people I work with or *shudder* their children. I don't mind that people have kids... but I'll be 100% honest and tell you I am not at all comfortable around children and don't really like to be around them. Hell, I complain that my cats can't do me the simple courtesy of learning ONE word of English (water) because, ya know, that one word would really help human-feline relations in my house. I deal with the poopsmithing in my house cuz I love my crazy critters. I have NO desire to be in close proximity to the potentially stinky, almost inevitably sticky children of my co-workers. I have no desire to be shown to be the "kid hater" in the office. (Although I have to admit I think THIS is a brilliant idea! And would likely suggest tickets to it be raffle prizes for the Company Summer Activity)

Bright Spots in the day were THIS and THIS!

That's it for tonight, Internetz!

Sunday Coffeehouse Post

This is a rather strange Sunday Coffeehouse Post because I am here by myself... usually Mr. POSSLQ is part of the Sunday Coffeehouse Experience but the idea of going out today didn't appeal to him so I am coffeehousing and then doing the shopping. I was going to skip the coffeehouse but figure I can count this as my very first "Artist Date" (as mentioned in The Artist's Way) and reality says I should get over my trepidation of being out in public by myself.

One of the reasons I hate going out on my own, though, was illustrated as I walked into the coffeehouse this morning. There was a woman on the patio out front with her older teen daughter. As I walked by, mother turned to daughter and said "You keep going the way you're going and that's how you're going to end up... old, fat and alone". Daughter was nowhere near overweight and that was a terrible thing for her to say to her kid, even if we take me being used as the example out of the equation. I sortve liked daughter's response, which was "at least she has a laptop...."

It's been a pretty nice weekend thusfar. Yesterday we went out to the wine tasting and picked up another couple bottles of wine (not that we NEEDED more... but we got more anyhow). We were laughing that we buy food to go with our wine, when most people buy wine to go with their food. Mr. POSSLQ picked up a bunch of roses for me (local store has a rose sale every year - yay for affordable flowers!) and we had our once a year super posh dinner for our anniversary (we save our change all year, cash it in and have a really nice dinner). There was a table of older ladies in the section we were in. Made me think of my mom and hope she has friends she goes out with and gets to let loose a little. Also made me wish I had some female friends that were closer than the far-flung reaches of the Internetz. Got a mojito that had fresh mint in it which made me think that next year I should really plant some mint.

Will go out later this afternoon and do some weeding around the tomatoes and maybe install a few ties to help support the plants. Going to check the sale flyer online before I head over to the grocery store.

I have a couple of things I want to get done this afternoon (other than the gardening) but I'm just gonna enjoy the coffeehouse experience for a while and then go do the shopping. I have nothing on my agenda today that is super critical... oh.... except LAUNDRY. Yeah... can't forget that. I don't think my co-workers would be too happy if I showed up for work with no clothes (then again, they're engineers... I don't know if they would even register it if I showed up without clothes).

Have a stellar Sunday, Internetz.