How was your weekend? Mine was actually refreshing. We spent Saturday morning at a house sale that netted us some amazing, beautiful things at real bargain prices. We piled two chairs, gorgeous window coverings, crystal glasses, and some plates into the convertible and sped home to meet my friend, who’d come to show us her photos of her latest Scotland trip. What I loved is she was in some places we’d just been a few years ago. So nice to reminisce.
Yesterday we dashed back to the house sale, picked up one more of the window coverings (they really are great), out for coffee/tea at the local coffeehouse, then back home. We both got about 25 minutes of lawn mowing and gardening in before the heavy rains hit. So back inside to find something else to do. We had the drapery panels stretched out in the foyer and we were measuring and cutting as the heaviest storms came rolling in. It knocked out our power, and our ability to see what we were doing, so we read on the Nook a little (it has a light). An hour or two later, the lights were back, so we went back to cutting, pinning, and sewing. Then we headed off to the movies.
Let me just say I like experimental themes and treatments, but as I was sitting through The Tree of Life, I was wondering if that 20 minutes or so of the birth of the world, which has nothing to do with the loose story told in fractured snippets, was a modern take on Fantasia. I see where they were going with it, but they lost nearly everyone in the theater. When the credits rolled, I whispered “Thank God” but the entire theater seemed to echo with incredulous laughter and comments. It won an award, but really? I’m not seeing why. It’s two hours I won’t get back, that’s all I know.
Despite that, I feel like we accomplished a lot and didn’t avoid fun at the cost of getting everything done. Today I have to coordinate a photo shoot and get some basic info back on an article, then get some more of the larger project going. I’m a bit concerned that the delay on this project will cut into my trip to Ontario, but I’m going to schedule it anyway. I’m making sure it’s after our due date should they get it to me. However, I’m not going to sweat it if they bring it to me and I’m out of the country. I will warn them of my impending absence. The rest is in their hands.
How was your weekend? What’s in store for you this week?
Challenging, although I got two articles out the door and have a breather before starting the ones due in September. I'm on site this week, and trying to get a good chunk of the next Annabel Aidan novel done. Challenging situation here. And that's all I can say about it.
Sorry it's difficult for you, Devon. Let me know if I can help.
I have been playing catch-up due to all my techie problems and some of that spilled over into the weekend.
I've decided to take back the iPhone4 as it won't do what I need for the business side – who knew using it for appointments would be so difficult? So that means more hassles ahead.
I have a white paper I am behind on, a client who is dragging their feet on getting what I need for a ghostwritten article and another that still hasn't given me feedback for edits on a brochure sent a month ago.
But, other than that, it's great. 🙂
Don't want this to sound all whiny-I am grateful I am coming off my best two months ever-it eases the pressure that comes with techie problems & delays. Have a great week, everyone!
Cathy, thanks for the warning on the iPhone 4. I was considering one, but I've been waffling between that and an Android. All the Android users were telling me how great the phones are. All the iPhone users were telling me how great the iPhones are. It's good to hear sensible feedback! I want to know what they do and don't do, not how cool this or that is. Coolness doesn't make me richer, nor does it make my life easier if the features I need aren't there.
Keep me posted on what you get and how you like it.
I'm glad you're coming off a great two months! I'm coming off a super August. Look at it this way – the client dragging the feet gives you time to get the white paper done. It's all a gift. 🙂
Lori, I saw TWC highlighting how much rain your neck of the woods has had in August. Yowza. Some states would be happy to get that much rain in a year!
I had a productive Friday night and Saturday – I became obsessed with digging up every piece of evidence possible to protest my property taxes.
Step 1) I uncovered that several larger, better-maintained bungalows – with central air, which I don't have – all within one block of me pay far less in property taxes than I do. I knew that was true two years ago when I successfully protested, but hoped my "lower" assessment would equalize it. Nope.
Step 2) Realized the protest form only allows room for three comps, so I had to figure out how to choose the best three.
Step 3) Compiles supporting evidence, including details on how four (of the six) properties on my side of this block alone were vacant for a year or more and/or foreclosed during the three-year period my new assessment covers, and noting the problems these properties have caused.
Yes. My inner lawyer came out. Today I need to call the assessors office to ask two questions about the form. Their language is a bit unclear, and if I assume what I think it means it could compromise my protest. (They'll look for any excuse to reject the claim.) I don't take this lightly since the folks living on blocks that had no foreclosures or vacancies int he same period pay significantly less per square foot of assessed living space, which can add up to several hundred dollars per year.
This week, it's more marketing – and filing my property tax protest, which could wind up saving me hundreds of dollars each year from now on.
Lori, I am so with you on ToL. Through most of the second half I kept thinking, this would be a good place to end. Is it over yet? It must be over now. Apparently a theater in Connecticut ran the reels out of sequence and nobody knew the difference.
What a great weekend this was! Won a 1st place writing award from the Florida Magazine Association, found a new and perfect venue for my jazz series, and was told by a chef (very enthusiastically) that because of a suggestion in my review she's changing one of her recipes (powdered sugar on Vidalia onion rings, oh baby). Life is pretty damn good.
I spent the weekend working, trying to play catch up after two days last week with sick kids home from school (already, and we're only 2 weeks in!) and taking my mother on her errands. I'm still trying to find a balance so that I maintain productivity in my business while taking care of my kids & mother (maybe when my husband finally gets here it will be easier – I hope!).
That means very little unpacking was done, but on a positive note: my increased marketing did bring me 2 new client projects this week.
Go get 'em, Paula! I know you'll win if you stick to it.
Joseph,congratulations! That sounds like one damn fantastic weekend, sir! Love it. 🙂 No doubt you'd win any writing contest, but even better that a chef appreciated a suggestion! Great stuff!
And about the movie – exactly! LOL I kept thinking "Yes!" Then you'd see that cat-eye-screensaver thingie and no, we were still being subjected to the story. Lord, I really wanted to leave when the dinosaurs started their own little sibling rivalry. I mean, I couldn't even eat the popcorn because you couldn't hear the three words they spoke every few minutes. In discussing it afterward, I said to the husband and stepson, "You realize we've just spoken more in five minutes than anyone in that movie over two hours?"
Kim, haven't heard much since your move. How was it? Sorry you're fighting off sickness ('tis the season!), but glad you're getting things in order.