Just found out I'm getting some more states added to my territory. I used to have Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. Now I also have Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska!

Wow!

The good news is maybe at some point I can swing a business trip to the St. Louis or Kansas City area and see Chris and/or his parents.

The bad news is this is a LOT more work. A LOT more pressure. A LOT more stress.

I have to learn to delegate.

Delegate. Delegate. Delegate.

Funny thing is that my old boss - sorry, SLH - my previous boss used to tell me that I had to learn to delegate. Guess she was right.

Guess I have to learn.

Yay. A challenge.

Feeling better...

Not.

Okay, truthfully, I do feel better. My cough is, well, not gone, but certainly on its way out. My swollen neck is less swollen, and I almost have my usually negligible amount of energy at my disposal.

BUT.

Yesterday was a vacation day. On vacation I'm supposed to - okay, not vacate, but certainly rest and relaxation should show up somewhere in the vicinity of a vacation day.

But they didn't.

Saturday - We picked up our red oak floor with the natural stain and hauled it up to the lake in 10 boxes of 20 square feet each. We laid them out on the floor to acclimate. I started cleaning the lake house with the intent of getting rid of the contruction dust that has begun to permanently embed itself between the floorboards.

Sunday - Jack spent ALL DAY (yes, ALL DAY) laying our hardwood floor in the guest room. IT LOOKS AWESOME. Pictures to come in a day or two...

Monday - I have no idea what Jack did all day, but I PAINTED OUR BEDROOM. TWICE. Isn't there some law that the second coat of paint has to be applied a week later, by another person, not the same day by the same person??? My legs hurt from squatting and standing, my back hurts from bending and reaching, and my arms hurt from stretching and painting.

But my room is now the sunny color called "Lemon Delight," which will look awesome with my yellow, green and blue blanket, the yellow crocheted blanket my sister made for me, and the yellow and white blanket my Mom made for us. And by the end of the week, he will be working on the floor in our room, after which we might even be able to move our bed upstairs from what is now our dining room to what is supposed to eventually be our bedroom!

Which means we can move the dinette set into the dining room and I might even be able to schedule a MeetUp or Scrapaholics meeting at my house sometime soon, instead of hauling my butt all over to someone else's home...

And then we'll have to get the floor for the sitting room and then we'll get the railings and then we'll have a housewarming party for our nearest and dearest...

I'm sick again... Can't wait to not be sick again... (sung to the tune of Willie's On the Road Again)

Went to the doctor yesterday. Another strep test, no fever, swollen glands (for the very first time in my 47 years!), clear lungs, slightly elevated blood pressure (due, he thinks, to the decongestant in the cough medicine I was taking), and bad sinus pressure in my head. Yuk.

So here are my meds:

1. Z-pack once a day
2. Coricidin every 6 hours
3. Zyrtek once a day (it seemed to take the pressure away but took longer than my no-name Loratadine from CVS)

Then I asked him about the pain in my arm. Without an MRI [which we'll do if icing each night, no exercise (darn!), and anti-inflammatories don't help], he suspects a slightly damaged rotator cuff, probably just a few small tears. Boy, Jack really suffered with his - hope mine repairs itself...

That whole growing old thing? It sucks! Now I'm a firm believer in "you're as old as you feel," but being sick like this makes me feel old. When I look in the mirror, I don't see a 47-year-old. I look the same (or close!), for all intents and purposes, as I did when I was 20. Well, I certainly feel the same, minus a few aches and pains, but nothing I can't handle. I can't imagine turning 50 in three years. That just might be the one that actually hurts. It's just such a big number. I know there are bigger ones. But I had no meltdown when I turned 21 (like my college roommate did), nothin' when I turned 30, 35 was a bit bothersome (but not debilitating), 40 and 45 were proverbial pieces of cake!

But 50? I hope I'm healthy and still as happy as I am now, if not more so. 50 just "sounds" old to me. I remember all the people I knew were 50 when I was younger and they were old. I know I won't be that old when I'm 50, but still...

(added later)

I also went to the dentist yesterday. I broke a double crown sometime in the last few days. I'm thinking now it might have been on the remains of a cough drop. I haven't had any popcorn or hard candy lately, so that's the only think I can think might have done it.

I LOVE my dentist. For the record, I've told him he absolutely cannot retire until either (a) he replaces all the teeth in my head with false teeth that will never have a problem, or (b) I'm dead. He's got his nephew working there now; I'm sure the intention is for Dr. Mike to take over for Dr. M. when it's time, but that will never be acceptable. Never. Ever. You hear me, Dr. M.?

Puppy dogs...

Here are some pictures of my sister's puppy dogs. I guess I shouldn't really refer to them as puppy dogs since Miko weighs in at a hefty - what is it, P? - 85 pounds!?!? But their personalities are puppy-like and I had so much fun with them that I just have to call them puppies!!! I'm also including a picture of one of her cats, Daisy, laying right up next to this dog-person.

It's like I said, puppies and kittens and babies - they all love me!!!

Let's talk organizing...

I met an Internet friend...

Those of you who know me well might not think of me as organized (and you'd be right!). I'm a pack rat, I like clutter - well, I have a high tolerance for clutter, although it's starting to decrease as I get older! - I like being surrounded by my "stuff."

But at work it's a different story. I'm constantly on the search for just the right organizing tool, something to keep my desk neat and clean and orderly, something to help me stay on top of the myriad number of tasks I do every day, some way to manage my time more efficiently and ensure that the 20% of my clients that account for 80% of my business aren't dropped to the wayside while I send title information to the 80% of my clients who are 20% of my business!!!

So I read books - organizing books, time management books, books that can help me become the super-organized, clutter-free individual I know I can be. And I visit internet sites, sites like these blogs: Neat and Simple (http://blog.neatandsimple.com/2007/12/just-released-i.html), Organizing Queen (http://organisingtips.blogspot.com/) and Let's Talk Organizing (http://letstalkorganizing.blogspot.com/), just to name three. All of these blogs have links to other great organizing sites, too.

Well, in the not too distant past, I won the "Let's Talk Organizing Total Control Package." That put me in touch with Suzanne at Let's Talk Organizing (http://letstalkorganizing.blogspot.com/). And she's great! So easy to talk to, full of great ideas to help me save time, make space, and get organized. She opened some new offices in Gilbert, AZ, and I just came back from Arizona! I emailed her and we got together for a few hours at the Wildflower Bakery (yummy!)! Here's a picture of the two of us (I'm the less-put-together-one on the right!) after our delicious lunch!

We talked, and laughed, and talked some more! We talked about organizing and planners, and bookstores and stalkers (don't ask!), and we've each made a new Internet friend! We probably should have discussed organizing more than we did, but we still had a great time! I was able to show her a new planner I picked up - hopefully it will help me manage my time and keep track of everything... We talked about purses - too large vs. too small, one good one vs. many not-so-good ones, what we carry in them (too much or too little), etc. We talked about list making - she helped me create one at work a few months ago, one that works better than the sticky-notes version I was using before.

Thanks for a great afternoon, Suzanne, and have a TERRIFIC trip to Scotland - can't wait to hear about it and see some pictures! (Suzanne has arranged to meet up with another organizing guru while on her trip - how fun!)

Well, it's time to go to work (according to my planner!), so off I go! Toodles!

She's baaaaack!!!

Back in sort-of-sunny NJ.

Not only did I miss my DH so very desperately, he really missed me, too! Our DD texted me last night to tell me that "the ladies" who work with him are so glad I'm home 'cause he was depressed all last week. (Of course, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the g*d-awful 7th graders he was dealing with and everything to do with me being away...) I got in early enough yesterday morning to get home before he left for work, which was a nice surprise for us both! (I had planned to drive in to school to surprise him in the afternoon but since I got in at 5:35am and made it home before 7am, I got to sleep 'til 10:30am then take my mom out to a late lunch.)

I've been home a little over 24 hours and I think we've said "I love you" a hundred times, and "I missed you so much" at least a hundred times, and "I'm so glad to be/you're home" over a hundred times!

Now I had a loverly time with my sister, don't get me wrong, cyberpals. But other than a few three day business trips in the past couple of years, this is the longest we've been apart since we got back together in 1993.

Of course, on the up side, it's the longest I've spent with my sister since she moved out to AZ twenty years ago so that was really a big plus and made it a bit easier to deal with Jack being at home... AND I got to spend several days with her fluffy family: Kazia and Miko, her two Samoyeds, and Daisy and Lana, her two cats. Kazia and Miko are so affectionate and loveable; Miko is like a great big fluffy white teddy bear! Daisy is a pretty cat who certainly knows her own mind, but was very affectionate with me - we have a great photo I hope to share of her sleeping right up next to yours truly (who isn't really that much of a cat person!). And Lana? WOW! She crawled right up on my heaving bosom (I was hacking up a lung after getting sick in San Diego) and laid there for, oh, I don't know, a good half hour, maybe? And my sister said that she's real shy and doesn't come out much and certainly doesn't really lay down with strangers... Huh. So there. I guess I'm not only a dog person but cats like me, too!

It was so nice to see P for all that time, instead of for a few hours here or there, when she's in NJ for an event (birth, wedding, graduation, etc.). I got to spend some time with her and a couple of her dear friends, M and T, and we had some yummy pizza, some great shrimp toast and grilled shrimp and calamari at Feast, and some dee-licious biscuits and gravy and potato pancakes at Aunt Millie's... (Funny how my most memorable memories are food-related...)

Once my pictures are ready, I'm going to try something different, perhaps post a link to my album so you can see them all, instead of just a select few, if you're interested... Not sure I can do it; I seem to be having some difficulty with the download. For now, though, here are a couple of my favorite shots...

Hello from an un-named city in the Southwest!

Just checking in with a quick and detail-less update 'cause I'm using a laptop that belongs to someone else, waiting for the Korean Spare Ribs to thaw so we can have some dinner... Wait! Too many details for this entry!!

Got to San Diego last Saturday, worried I'd brought too many winter/fall clothes 'cause when I got off the plane and into the cab, I started to glow. Ultimately it turned out I was garbed just fine 'cause it was chilly-ish in the mornings and warmed up in the afternoons and my jacket was okay for the evenings...

Conference was fine - details to come.

Sister arrived Sunday after minor road worries - details to come.

Some good meals, some good company, some good cocktails - details to come.

Visited Cabrillo National Monument and the San Diego Zoo - details (and pictures!) to come.

Got sick. Visited Immedicenter. On antibiotics. Details to come.

Traveled to that unnamed city in the SW - details (and pictures) to come.

Visited the place someone works, dinner with that person's friends, met with new blog-friend - many details and pictures to come!

Walking in Race for the Cure tomorrow, then traveling to NJ - details (and maybe some pictures) to come.

Talk with you soon.