This was our long weekend (Nick has every other monday off) and man, what a weekend it’s been! On Saturday, we went to Big Lots to see what sorts of lawn tools they had and they had everything we wanted for cheap! So, with our saws and loppers in hand, we came home and began to whack away at the evil privet. The next thing we knew, we’d been at it for several hours and we’d created several large piles of brush. We stopped around 6pm to eat and begin getting ready for the big closing party at the Chamber.

We get all gussied up and trot over to the Chamber at around 9:30 or so and paid our $40 to get in. Ouch! It was well worth it, tho. Everyone was there and I got a verra niiiiiice spanking from Master Chuck. I’ll have some pix up of that this week. I don’t feel like resizing and all that right this minute. We left the Chamber at around 2:30 and we were the walking dead!

We got up Sunday around 10 and proceeded to go nuts in the yard again. I have some pix of the brush piles, but we need to take them again with one of us standing next to it so you can get the sheer volume of what we did. It’s pretty impressive. Despite my fatigue, I still managed to crank out a website for our current client last night.

Needless to say, today we’re really the walking dead. We are tired to our bones! I got my hair done at the salon and it looks fabulous! It’s fire engine red with black underneath and cut into a long shag. It rocks. Again, I’ll post a pic when I get the chance this week. We went over to the Vortex for lunch and that really put us over the edge, fatigue-wise. Tonite, we have to do some more stuff for the client, but it’s slow going with us so tired. Nick is struggling with the vector files and he’s all pissy, so it’ll be a miracle if I can get the stuff sent out tonite.

All in all, I’d say this has been one of the most productive weekends we’ve had since moving in. Tiring, but very satisfying! :-)

Ok, I just learned that the Chamber is closing NEXT WEEK. How’d that get by me? We’re on the mailing list and everything and didn’t know about this!

WTF?? Any info about the circumstances of the closing would be appreciated! I’ll bet it has something to do with the raid that happened recently…

On to other news: I’ve given notice to the Salon, so I’ll be outta there at the end of the month. The Crescent Moon gig is picking up steam, so that’ll be a big chunk of my time for the next few months.

We went out last night for Valentine’s Day. I worked all day at the Salon, then Nick took me to a movie (Mystic River, very intense, definitely Oscar worthy) and then we went to Twain’s for drinkies. It was fun! He got me yellow roses and chocolate, too! Even the kitties sent me a card. Awwwww! :-)

It’s been raining for what seems like forever. I wish this weather system would move the fuck on. If I wanted to live with constant rain, I’d move to the Northwest fer chrissakes!!

The only other recent excitement has been the discovery of the Mr Clean Magic Eraser. If you’ve not tried them, you must GO NOW and get some. I’m not kidding, they are amazing. They are not rough like a ScotchBrite like I thought they’d be, they are soft, dense sponges (sorta like the foam you use to make cushions) with no smell and no discernible chemical content. ?? I have no idea how they work, but I can tell you that they ROCK. They are $4 per box, with 4 to a box. They will clean your nasty tub like nothing else. I hope the Mr Clean people see this and give me free Magic Erasers for the rest of my life!!! LOL

Well, I’d say my first dinner party at the new house was a success! It was in honour of David, my friend from forEVER! Happy Birthday, Dave!! Russ, Heather and Caroline attended – as well as Dave and his guide dog Bonnie. The cats took it all in stride with no fur flying or blood shed! LOL

I prepared lamb, zucchini, roasted red potatoes, tzatziki salad (cucs, onion and yogurt) and dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves). It all turned out very well! We had baklava for dessert.

After dinner, Dave and Russ brought out the guitars and we jammed for a while. It was just FABulous!!

I look forward to our next jam session!

Fun was had by all! :-)

Why is it always feast or famine? This business is funny that way. Currently, I’m working for Crescent Moon (admin) and Mimosa (cat wrangler) both p/t as well as taking on a new support client, trying to get started with Michaels Coffees, restarting Baseline Solutions’ corporate identity and web stuff, and trying to land the redesign of My Sister’s Room’s website.

Yikes! That really does sound like a lot, doesn’t it?? I tell ya, it’s like this or I’m doing nothing. :: sigh ::

And, of course the support gig will only be for a couple of visits since I’ll have everything ironed out by then and they’ll be sailing along just fine. I’m good at what I do. I’m not bragging, it’s a fact. I rarely have to go to a support client more than three times to get them completely fixed and running smoothly. I have, after all, been doing Mac support for 9 years!

The web gigs are pretty much swoop in and do the redesign for the big bucks then just tweak and update after that. I like it that way. I love doing project work where I can concentrate intensely on something, fix it, then move on to another project.

It’s kinda tricky to manage money when you never know what you’ll have. Which is precisely why I have to keep a part time position all the time, to keep our cash flow in the black. I totally dig working with Rob and I get to use many skills for Crescent Moon: admin, web design, BBS admin, cat wrangler, Rob-keeper-tracker. Plus, I get to hang with my buds while I do the work. Yay!

All in all, I think 2004 is going to be a good year. It’s started off pretty rough, but as the saying goes: there can be no growth without change.

For Imbolc this year, I’ve promised the Goddess that I’m going to try to be as productive, artistic and happy as I can. It’s one of the many traditions of Imbolc (or Imbolg). Imbolc represents the quickening of the Goddess with the seeds of spring (Ostara). It’s a time to celebrate rebirth, the end of winter, the coming of a new season of growth. It’s also associated with the Oriental Goddess Kuan Yin, who is a very important goddess to me. (I’ve got her tattooed on my left shoulder – look for Getting Quan Yin in the Gallery section of this site.)

I wish everyone a lovely Imbolc (albeit in pagan time – which means LATE!). Blessed be!