1. Burying a 23yo who was in a motorcycle accident.
2. Trying to recover the body of a friend's dad who died in Oklahoma, but the medical examiners have the day off.
3. Preparing to have a new baby Wednesday.

You really straddle the edges of the worlds ColdChef.

Or as I've been telling folks all week, "I gots em coming and going."

1. trying to do all my work between before 9am and after 6pm. (Daycare is of course closed, but I am expected to do 8 hours today).

2. On top of that, just got reviewers comments back from the final paper from my last job, and have to revise and respond this week, pref today or tomorrow.

3. Need. Coffee.

(3a. Prob. going to Central Park Zoo this arvo with the kidling if anyone in NYC wants to join -- I have membership and can cover you :) )

So the name Wednesday has been decided on then? (~_^)

1. Coffee
2. Anxiously awaiting Coldchef's new arrival, but probably not as much as Mrs. Coldchef herself (and Coldchef and the Coldchef offspring, obvs).
3. Stupid work. Don't wanna do it. I'd rather bake all day and putter around my yard.

'Pode, why do you say the schools are closed 'of course'? Is today a holiday in NY?

1. Flexing time this week and taking today off.
2. Going to Chapel Hill/Carrboro (msali, you interested in a visit, despite your work?) for a day of used bookstores, visit* to a friend with 2-month old babbies (twins), oil change, local coop grocery wanderings, and good foodz.
3. Kitchen is a mess.

*This may have just been thwarted, as I have a visitor who may not appreciate the fact that my friend's other child is coming home from work with sickness.

(msali - Columbus Day is a federal holiday. Or is it extra special holiday-ish in NYC, I have no idea??)

1. Sick, but not sick enough not to work.
2. Am trying to catch up on overdue work.
3. Need to get off the internetz!

1. The sad thing about federal holidays is that there's no mail.
2. I went to bed early and suddenly last night. I was like, I'm tired, laid down, and that was that. Now I must wash off yesterday's makeup.
3. Must get to the gym today. Hmmm, hope it's open.

1. TPS, I've done that too. I just find myself lying down, relaxing a little and then I wake up, look at the clock and it's four a.m.

2. I wish I could take back the first 35 years of my life and exchange it for a better life.

3. Skipping dairy this week. Hoping this will make my skin look nicer. I'm so metro.

1. Home with Younger Boy as the daycare decided to have a "teach in" for their staff

2. COLD. I do not like it, Sam I am

3. Just hangin' out.

1. That was just the laziest weekend I have ever had the pleasure to call a lazy weekend.

2. We keep getting severe weather alerts for drizzle. I think there's also heavier rain involved later, and I guess there's issues with the wildfire areas possibly flooding even with a little bit of rain, but seriously: drizzle.

3. I finally triumphed and got the cat to pee *all the way inside* her litterbox the first time she uses it after I change the litter. She was fine after using it once, but she kept not quite getting herself all the way in the first time. Except for this morning, due to my new litter-wrangling skills. Victory! Sigh.

ColdChef, I want to squeeze in one last suggestion for a name:

Fomalhaut!! It's a star!

1. Head cold, bleh.

2. Was trying to clean up the house before the in-laws come but the head cold was making that difficult since I kept falling asleep all weekend.

3. Having the worst fantasy football season ever.

1) Last day of freedom before I start training for my new gig. I'll miss slacking but I won't forget how pointless and depressing the long days on the couch were before I knew if I'd ever find a job.

2) FACETS! FACETS FACETS FACETS! Me and the boy are going to take a long-for-my-lazy-ass bike ride to the indie/obscure/rare movie mecca to rent Polyester and Female Trouble. John Waters marathon!

3) Speaking of biking, I just ordered a Wald basket and I am so impatient for it to come. I daydream of coasting about with a striped shirt and beret with a small dog and a loaf of bread in my basket, but likely reality will be less French and more Dutch: a long coat, heavy scarf, and a basket full of root vegetables.

1. As Tweeted/Facebook'd, my word of the day after an extra therapy session this morning is: "Meh."

2. I volunteered to come into the office today on my scheduled day off (thanks, Christopher Columbus!) because there is a GINORMOUS stack of returned mailers that need to be processed so that we and everyone else knows never to send direct mail to the addresses again. I hope I can make a reasonable dent in the stack today. Please pray to the gods of paperwork for me.

3. I am so not ready for winter.

1. Ass over teakettle in this latest project at work, but I think I'm finally starting to figure out the filing system. Even if I haven't seen anything for cabinets 1-3 yet. (I've seen references and have books for cabinets 4-9, so I'm just thinking 1-3 were office papers and administriva, not drawings and such.) I'm quite excited about it, even if it's going to be a bitch sorting through the boxes.

2. I keep getting the battery and emergency brake light to come on in the Subaru when the RPMs are between 1000-2000. My brother was supposed to come by this morning and see what code the car is throwing, but he said he will be coming by tonight.

2b. I better plan to make spaghetti and meatballs tonight if he's coming over since he will steal my super tasty pizza from last night's dinner. Crap, I don't think I put the meatballs in the fridge this morning so they'd be thawed. Oh well, that's what microwaves are for.

3. Finally had a halfway legitimate dinner last night. It's an interesting change. (I've been living off crackers, cheese, and cake for the past few weeks since I didn't feel like going to the store.) I'm still undecided on if the frozen carrots have gone bad, but I didn't get sick last night, even if they tasted a wee bit off. I'm thinking about tossing them anyways, which sucks since I got them on sale for really cheap. (That store tends to put them on sale every few weeks though, so it's not the end of the world.)

I will post a baby update once it has arrived and been named. Hopefully we'll have a new kid by Wednesday morning.

1. Work is crazy busy and although there's a lot on my desk, I am well ahead on our closure targets, so no need to panic yet.

2. ANTM tonight! Yes, I know how pathetic this sounds, but I've been dealing with other people's misery all day, so a little mindless vegging in front of the TV is what I need tonight.

3. I paid for my salsa dancing today so I can't back out. It also includes - OMG! - a speed dating session before the dance club begins.

I believe ColdChef is naming the baby Lady Gaga.

4. The heating guy came today and pronounced our furnace DOA. And it's only 63 years old! Oh well, we knew we were going to have to bite that bullet sooner than later and we do have the money. Also the current one runs at 50% efficiency and the new ones are like 95% efficient so maybe our $500 a month gas bills will go down a little.

1. Worked most of the weekend, but had a nice, lazy day off yesterday. Also, we're over the hump on this project at work, so things should be easier for awhile now. Not a moment too soon.

2. My mom denies that she listens to AM radio "very much," but I can always tell she has been when she drops a completely bizarre current-events-related question into our conversation, as she just did on the phone a few minutes ago.

3. Have to go get cat litter on the way home today. Even though the weather sucks, cat litter is something you just CAN'T procrastinate about.

1. Went to my grandma's funeral this morning. Pastor did a craptacular job on the eulogy. He's been the pastor for the past ten years so it's not like he didn't know her. (She attended that church for fifty seven years. Holy crap.) She was 92 and had a mostly healthy life up until the last year. She hadn't been eating anything other than pudding since July so this was not an unexpected death. Grandpa appears to be mostly relieved. (They were married 73 years.)

2. Gonna take a nap!

3. Anxiously awaiting the birth of ColdChef's latest offspring - still hoping for the name IGOR! Or Astrid, Ingrid, Pauline, or some such.

1. Feeling relaxed because this weekend brought the first real days off since I started my new job. Saturday I went clothes shopping for some new work apparel, and got major deals. LT gave me some good feedback on colors I should wear. It was fun.

2. Yesterday was not a day "off" but a great day anyway, spent running a big Slow Food barn dinner in conjunction with one other nonprofit and a fantastic local chef and his restaurant crew. We arrived at 9 AM and gradually turned an 1840ish barn into a really magical rustic-but-elegant setting for a fine supper. The guests loved it, and we in the 'backstage' crew had a fantastic time drinking the remainders of some nice bottles of wine and cider and picking at locally raised beef brisket, really good blonde cucumber pickles, awesome bread and butter, and mashed potatoes and parsnips. A long day but fun and fall-y.

3. Spending today catching up on the boring life stuff...but it's just a sunny blue-red-orange autumn outside and it's so nice to be home and have a little break. Feeling grateful.

(((sorry fbk)))

1. I now have a cold on the heals of the flu. Blergh. Going to take a nap SOON.

2. The mister is making bread!

3. We're having Cornish game hens for Thanksgiving dinner and not much else. Neither one of us is feeling well so we didn't get to the grocery store for extras.

1. I just realized that the three men who have rejected me (over the past 4 years), even though I see them fairly regularly, pretty much refuse to talk to me or resume the precious friendships we had before the fateful discussion/kiss/rejection. I don't get it. Why can't we just go back to the way things were, and still be friends? Why can't you give me brotherly advice, such as how to find someone just like you? I don't get it.

2. Going to mom's to help her with her computer.

3. Drove to Vernon, Vermont yesterday. A bit windy, but nice weather and good scenery. I love long drives.

1. Went on a bit of a grocery spree and bought delicious things to cook, as improved mood > more energy > reason to do slightly more than toss an egg into a pan and stare at it until it congeals. Also, this is a three-paycheck month so I can justify more than the basic basics.

2. Have gotten around to reading My Mother/My Self (loaned to me by none other than... Mom) and am finding it weirdly exhausting, for a book, as though naps are required to emotionally process each chapter.

3. First day of new work. It is delightful to be in the presence of people (of various levels of responsibility) who all apparently do, and are good at, their jobs, as well as to get through a workday without either feeling, or being the target of, incoherent rage.

1. Miko's points have me wondering about fall vs autumn in US-speak. Is it a New England thing?

2. Metric crapload of work to do tomorrow.

3. Argh.

1. Trying to finish up all my work before leaving for a conference in beautiful Quebec on Wednesday.

2. Missing my doggie who is staying with my friends for two weeks while I am gone.

3. Making pasta with the leftover broth from the amazing dish of mussels I ordered over the weekend. So buttery, so lemony.

1. Glad to be working today, after an emotionally draining weekend.

2. Happily surprised by a flirtation this morning, that really made my day.

3. Tomorrow - Massage and Facial!! My birthday gift from Mr. V. I'm finally going to use it.

3b. not hijacking the thread, but Mr. V and I are calling it quits. Mutual decision. Still heartbreaking.

*hugs redvixen*
*hugs fluffybattlekitten*

(((fbk & redvixen)))

(((redvixen)))

(((fluffybattlekitten)))

*hugs redvixen and fbk*

1. Wish I'd known earlier that gaspode and podelette were going to the zoo.
2. Am somewhat reluctant to tell guy in the penthouse (who has most clout on condo board after the building owner)about the incompetent doorman (door unlocked/wide open late at night; super said "it was ok")due to my own issues with him.
3. Looking forward to my Carolinas trip.


When I was growing up in LA Columbus day was a Federal holiday but not a state one; we went to school, but no mail.