1. The weather is close to catching up to the date. We've had unseasonably warm temperatures for the past six weeks. Today is cool and rainy and I love it.
2. We have had international visitors in our home for the last three weeks. They left to go home yesterday. While it is very nice to have my house back, I do miss them. They had already become part of our household routine. Plus, the wife has been teaching me to cook her favorite dishes, and I could have used a few more lessons.
3. Our friends' departure really marks the start of a busy period for us. We have so many commitments between now and the end of the year. Looking at our schedule fills me with no small amount of anxiety. One of the cool things on our schedule is an extension course at the local university. Last night was our first class, where we discussed the films made from Henry James novels. I am a James fan, my husband is not, which led to an interesting discussion after class.
I hope everyone is having a good week.

1. I appear to have caught the plague that is going around right now. It has also taken out one of my coworkers and my boss mentioned he might be getting it too. I'm staying home today in the hopes that I might not infect the one health coworker that we have left.

2. My mother is coming to get me in about 2 hours so I can go to the grocery store. I didn't go last week and it turns out that my house is out of cold-soothing things. I'm almost out of tissues, completely out of soup and cough drops and OJ, and I require something easier to eat than crackers since my mouth hurts too.

3. This cold/ick needs to seriously hurry up and GTFO. I have a show this weekend and I really need to prep for it and practice and I've got 3 other shows this month and basically I don't have time for this sickness crap.

Going to the New Yorker!

Avoiding work on novel by working on novella.

Not totally over head cold but doing well enough.

1. I obviously didn't get the last really good job that fit my skills since they haven't said anything. And now I'm figuring out that I may be screwed by NC because of their approach to the ACA. Le sigh.

2. Still dealing with my Mom and her health issues which fortells things to come.

3. I've crockpotted my specialty: scrap soup which consists of a bag of misc. frozen end cuts, seasoning, plus whatever else needs using and usually milk or stock. Cooked down and blended, it makes a thick bowl of love. Nice comfort food is good for everything.

1. Have started the process of naturalization. Off to get fingerprinted and photographed today. I was worried that the offices would be closed bc of the govt shutdown, but nope.

2. Got a nice compliment last night from a parent of one of my daughter's classmates. We have a school facebook page, and she said to me "I've been wanting to meet you because I think of you as the voice of reason". Heh. Obviously she is not a facebook friend and doesn't see my ranty personal page.

3. I ate ostrich for the first time on Saturday. It was delicious.

(feel better soon, sperose! Boo for not getting the job, mightshould. Hope something even better comes up and works out for you.)

1. Ongoing low level anger at the TP and fainthearted Boehner for the shutdown and failure to address the impending debt limit. This is actually personally meaningful to us as we are leaving Saturday for a long planned trip to visit Civil War battlefields, all of which will be closed.

2. A helluvalot to do this week given the upcoming trip.

3. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here. Indian Summer deluxe. It is rainier today but I am loving my daily walks to and from the bus stop.

1. Job hunting, again. From the same company that I got laid off from five years ago. Should have learned my lesson the first time. Tech job market is pretty strong here in the Burgh so I'm not real worried at this point.

2. Working on healing my back, going for an MRI tomorrow, neurosurgeon next week. Got insurance through wife's job so no problem there.

3. Fostering two cats for my son's girlfriend (long story) and our two cats are not pleased about this development. Lots of howling and puffed up tails.

1. School is going well. Enjoying my courses, reading, and classmates. Was going to work on some homework at lunch but left the part I started at home, doh!

2. My sister is having a baby! I'm going to be an aunt! The baby will be born in China, so I won't get to meet him/her for awhile, but I think they're planning to come to the US over the summer, so I'll definitely meet baby then! It's been fun giving my sister advice on baby stuff. Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl!

3. Nothing "fun" on the calendar in the near future. I hate when that happens. My parents are coming to town for Thanksgiving, but that's such a long way awaaaaaaaay. Which is how I justify putting off figuring out where exactly they're going to sleep.

1. Doctor's visit was an unmitigated success - lower weight and lower blood pressure than I expected to report (especially since I was anxious going in), and I actually get to CUT DOWN on two of my too-many meds.

2. Tried to celebrate diet success by going off it after I got home... tasted nice, but felt crappy for the rest of the evening. Oh well, I got one unhealthy item out of the freezer.

3. The weather is looking Autumny AT LAST, and the forecast includes a 30% chance of rain tomorrow (after which it goes back to 0% - or maybe that's because all the Weather Service forecasters are fuloughed). We need rain so badly around here - which is an almost embarrassing thing to say with all the Killer Storms elsewhere.

4. Woke up this morning to see KittECatt staring at me and I noticed something I'd never before... a patch of black fur on her chin. Yep, my cat has an evil goatee. (Why should I be surprised?)

5. Morning RSS run included more than the usual things to make me laugh:
Cat and Girl adds some silliness to the usual cynicism (and I love the Quantum Leap reference)
Found one of my all-time favorite (and oft-censored) Looney Tunes bits: "But I can only do it once."
And it has been noted that this commercial doesn't make Samsung's 'Smart Watch' look very futuristic, does it?

(like Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books, that was my 5-part trilogy)

1. I've been training for a new part-time job that I didn't think I wanted, but I've really been enjoying the work. (Except for the 7:45am start time. That I'm not enjoying at all.) And it's working with patients with psychotic disorders (mainly schizophrenia), which makes me feel like a bit of a therapy bad-ass. :-)

2. My kitties have decided that the hour or so before my alarm goes off is serious snuggle time, which is lovely.

3. A friend sent me a recipe for "Easy Chicken Pot Pie" and I'm giddy about making it for dinner tomorrow. It looks like perfect comfort food.

1. mrs chewie starts a 2 week break tomorrow from work which she really REALLY needs & deserves. we leave for the NC coast on Monday (bearwife, make your trip a little derail & come visit!) for a week.

2. I reconnected with an old designo acquaintance & tomorrow morning he's introducing me to a shop that might be interested in producing my new cabinet line. I'm nervous & excited all at once.

3. Hairy creatures are hairy & clingy & it's finally under 70* here. Cats will stay here but pooches will go to the beach with us. Gator the black lab has never been so that should be entertaining to see her reaction to sand & really wiggly water.

4. I'm really looking forward to reading books and walking and being a gigantic slug at the beach & doing my very best not to let my BP go up over all the Boehner idiocy. If the world crumbles, it will crumble no matter where we are.

Cheers and sounds of commiseration where appropriate (tps aunt, sickness sperose, mightshould & octothorpe job hunt).
I like the idea that Octothorpe is a burgher.

I think my 5 yr old daughter looked very festive in the dress I bought her.
≡ Click to see image ≡

The orientation for my next round of cardiac rehab is tomorrow. My cardiologist's orders to the techs is to let me find my limits and they are to monitor for problems. This is yet another push to get back to work. If I can get my weight under 200, I can probably go all the way this time.

jouke: festive and *adorable*

Jouke: What gaspode said.

Aww, you know just what to say to a proud papa who misses his daughter very much.

I love her little accessories! So cute.

She chose them herself.
Her mother is a tomboy who doesn't like dresses.
So I guess this penchant for feminine attributes come from me through some papa-daughter gender mirroring.

That young'n is a true fashionista.

Kudos to Dad!

Heh "kudos to Dad". That reminds me of going to Ukraine for a near-shoring IT project. The local female project leader was single mother of a 1 yr old. So naturally I told some stories about how I missed my own 2 yr old and showed some pictures. "you make beautiful babies" was one of her flirting remarks.
Flirting can be very different around with 30-something women.

Re fashionista: that may have something to do with being taken care of by au pairs during the day. These were 19-20 yr olds who sometimes would prepare to meet their boyfriend or go out dancing. And I guess she absorbed all these getting ready rituals. I've seen her walk past a mirror in pumps that she was grudgingly allowed to wear (but only in the house). And she looked over her shoulder to see what the heels looked like from the back. I thought that kind of thing would only start at age 15. Not 4.
Or she would bob her hair in front of the mirror as woman would do to make it look more full. Or she would lean in to a mirror and inspect her lips and ask her mother for a chapstick.