I made plane reservations for Sookie and me today to fly to Seattle on Wednesday, Nov 30. I still need to ship the two guitars I kept, some clothes, and a box of keepsakes. I have less stuff now than what I took for my first year at college 35 years ago. Overall, I think that's a good thing; so much stuff is just clutter.

I got to work this morning and found out they were about to do LAYOFFS in my department today, so the fact that I came home tonight still employed makes me insanely fucking happy. And I thought the most stressful part of my day was going to be showing my current project to the company lawyers at noon. (That part went without a hitch, so yay, we're on track to air next weekend.)

Me and my housemate just booked a trip to Budapest for a week in February!

I'm getting a free iPod nano replacement!

One of my 5-yr-old horses, Serenity, "got" lunging yesterday! Much sooner than I expected, since she's been soooo slow to learn new concepts up to now. I'm so pleased :) Serenity is a draft cross, and ... not clever. But she tries really hard, and it upsets her rather a lot when we ask for something she doesn't understand, so she finds introducing new concepts kind of stressful. I go really slowly, and do my best to make it easy for her to get the idea, and make sure I let her know that she's doing fine even if she isn't doing quite what I ask yet.

I'm so proud of her for getting this idea down. What a good little girly.

Struck out last night, but at least I took a swing. ;)

Going down to London in the morning and will take my son to Copenhagen on Dec 1st. Also, should hear whether I got a promotion in the next few days.

I have two papers to do right now, instead of three.
Now if only I could actually make myself do them. God god, I don't want to work.

Doing physical therapy! Getting stronger! Forever! Go, me!

Little daily pleasures really buoy my spirits. Right now in my kitchen, there's a batch of pumpkin-ginger muffins and two loaves of homemade wheat & white sandwich bread, fresh from the oven. In my living room, three loads of clean laundry, sorted and folded. In the bedroom, a new set of sheets. Expected in today's post, an eBay package containing a long-lost game from The Fella's childhood (a Christmas present).

And generally, I've been really experiencing thankfulness lately. I opened my fridge last night and was swamped with the amazing luxury that it contains, the cheeses and butter and jams especially. To my ancestors (and to too many people right now), those little packets and pots of richness would be an unimaginable feast, and I have them just sitting in there waiting for me. I have a shelf overflowing with the spices my ancestors coveted, a shelf of flours and grains, all clean and finely milled, a jar of coffee beans and a tin of teas. I turn on a tap and hot water pours out; I am about to go soak myself in a tub FILLED with hot water. When I really stop and think about it, it gets a bit mindboggling.

Aaand Firefly, my other 5-yr-old, did really well when I rode her today. They're both coming along so WELL. What good, good babies.

I made a pot of Tom Kha Gai tonight and it is just the thing I needed in me. Wow. Best soup.