The festival's Staff Account, Madhuramba (we all call her Madhu -- pronounced ma-Doo), invited us to her home to celebrate Navratri (you can read about it at THIS WEBSITE, if you're interested). Today was the fifth day of a nine-day festival.

They (she and her husband) live in an area that has a NW Portland address, but was actually way out (beyond the Oak Hills neighborhood, closer to West Union). We had quite a time following the directions (Google maps had one turn completely wrong), but we finally found it. In fact, Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I were the first Staff members to arrive. (The invitation was for 5:00 p.m., and we were there just at five!)

We got to see their prayer room (upstairs) -- and the display of dolls on five steps. Then we had traditional food and discussed the Hindu religion with Madhu's brilliant husband -- and also watched a CD that talked about the 'Lost Temples' of India. We were there until close to 8:30.

Several people showed up, including Amy (arrived almost at the same time we did), Jessica, Carol (and her husband Brian and daughter, Aisha) and Lilia. (Sara had plans, Jodi couldn't make and Rich had told us he had another engagement. I don't know about the others -- like Jeff -- who didn't answer the eInvite.)

I love the fact that they invited us into their home and then shared a TON about their culture and this festival with us. At the end the women were presented with gifts (this is a Goddess festival that focuses on women), and Madhu gave me a ring box, mentioning my love of rings. (smile)

Hopefully I'll get one of the photos taken of all of us to share at some point. I didn't take any pictures myself, I'm afraid...

We're now headed for a much-needed nap (!!!). It's been a busy, busy week.

I'll talk about Friday (event load-in) and Saturday (preparation and the actual Auction) soon. The event was a success (whether we made budget or not) -- and we were praised for our PowerPoint repeatedly.

Marilyn gave an amazing speech -- I was very, very proud of her. (She's simply a great speaker at any time, but give her a topic she's passionate about and she really, really ROCKS it.)

(I have to say that I feel really sorry for family and friends who missed hearing her speak...)

Anyway, more about all of that soon! Nap time! (I'm still fighting a bug, and running around barefoot at Madhu's probably didn't help...)

Okay, I'm going to get political for just a moment. So if you're not an American or don't want to read about politics, you can certainly ignore this.

For those still reading, I have one big, important question:

copperwise

It's Wednesday, which is garbage and recycling night. (It's picked up fairly early on Thursday morning, in other words.)

I'd forgotten we were out of kitty litter to change the cat boxes (!!!), so Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I had to make a mad dash to the store at 10:45 p.m. -- which is 15 minutes before closing! (yikes)

Anyway, it's now almost 1 a.m. and I've just finished up. I'm in a bit of a lather, because it's cool outside and seems rather warm in the house to me. (It was very close today -- over 80% humidity.) The weather is supposed to be turning, getting wet and cold.

(I need to 'stick' the oil and figure out when we should order more. We figure we'll be using the furnace again soon... sigh...)

Marilyn said she heard something on the weather about high winds for Friday night and Saturday.

WTF???

You know, it's one thing to have it rain on our load-in and Auction (which has never happened before this), but now there might be a wind storm, too? Oh, brother.

Marilyn feels lousy. And our Sister Sue just phoned and is feeling crummy with her extraction from today. June wrote me an email that said Jim's toe is shocking to see. I need to pray they're all better soon.

I'm pretty convinced that Sue won't make the Auction after all. But it would be nice if Marilyn could feel better, considering she's speaking on behalf of the appeal.

Tom and I are going shopping tomorrow to buy him a suit to wear. We're both hoping it won't take too long...

Once that's done, I'm having him drop me by the office. Marilyn and I will try to get away in time to go to the reception held by friends for their business (an open house and first anniversary celebration), which is rough considering all we need to get done before Friday...

It's late and we have another big day, so I should head to bed now.

I've done the festival website changes that needed to be done, so that's a good thing.

I have all those Court pages to finish, though. But I'll need to wait on Leslie for some of it, related to the (new) FAQ we've been creating.

As a matter of fact, Marilyn mistressmarilyn is currently in a Court meeting with Leslie, Meredith, Diane and Kristen (!!!). So I got some Court-related things I needed from Leslie before she went into the meeting.

Kristen doesn't actually start back here at the festival until mid-October, though. But she's here for the meeting and will be working on Saturday (for the Auction), too -- which is fantastic! (I'm very excited that she's back. Which just shows that you never know! She was one of the people who lost her job last year -- and now here she is, back again.)

Sunday we went to Jodi and Rich's house for their party. Tom went with us (he drove), which was cool. I had a weird accident while there. We sat in some chairs and Tom's was wobbly (seriously so) -- so I switched with him. Later on the chair collapsed (long story as to how), and I went down to the ground. Nothing serious, though my hip wasn't too thrilled. (smile) Anyway, the accident didn't take away from having a GOOD time. And I really love their house (and yard). It's lovely -- and perfect for the two of them.

Anyway, getting back to now (and work), one of my tasks was to check out the new traveling printers that Sara arranged to get for the festival. At first I had a hard time getting the one to work, but I finally managed to have both of them up and running just fine. (There was a minor problem that's too complicated to bother to explain. Anyway, it's fine now!) Sara did a great job. Those babies print so damn fast! And she got BOTH of them for $120. We still need to get a printer cable (happily, I had one of my own from home that we can use for one of them) and some more toner cartridges, but they'll still be an amazing bargain. Good deal!

I've got tons of IT-related boxes packed up and ready to go -- plus all four of the computers sitting in places where we can easily find them to move them out. Which did mean moving some heavy towers around today (sigh), but that's okay. Luckily Tom will be moving them on Friday and Saturday, so I won't have to deal with that.

(Have I mentioned recently how much I love Tom???)

Sister Sue had a tooth pulled today and it didn't go all that well. It sounds like she's a mess, poor thing. At least Dr. Mary didn't have to cut the bone! But she split Sue's lip and had to dig like mad to get the tooth out. So Sue's going to be pretty swollen for her clown stint at the Auction. (I'd actually feel fine if she didn't manage to come, considering!)

My friend June left me a message that she and hubby Jim are back, which is good news. But Jim's foot is awful, which is bad news. They basically got off the train, came home and then went DIRECTLY to a doctor's appointment. (June said she was looking forward to a shower, but she felt they couldn't afford to wait. Yikes. I'm worried about him!)

Marilyn bought me macaroni and cheese for lunch. Isn't that lovely? And I've been eating raw zucchini, which I like.

I saw a fascinating piece on how everyone seems to be both buying and eating 'comfort foods' right now. Apparently fatty foods actually help reduce stress (!!!) -- and Campbell soup stock went up the day that everything else was crashing. Interesting, isn't it?

The bad news is that I'm out of Starbucks again. (sigh)

I almost forgot to mention that we played our PowerPoint presentation for the Auction appeal for everyone here and they were all very pleased by it. The reactions they displayed were exactly what we hoped for, so it's all good! By the way, I keep telling Marilyn that IFEA needs to make a new category for PowerPoints, because I really believe we'd be getting Gold, hands down. (heh)

Well, it's headed toward 6:30 and that meeting is still going on. (sigh) I'm tired and need a nap. But I guess I'll get back to work. There's always work to do, after all!

( But you know what? Work is a good thing. )

Hopefully the meeting will end in a bit and we'll head home. I haven't been getting enough sleep lately (who, me?), so I'd love that nap I mentioned. And Marilyn doesn't feel well (and hasn't for a couple days), so it would be nice if she could lie down. I didn't give her much chance yesterday, what with working on the PowerPoint!

Well, back to work. (And, yeah, I'm happy to remind myself how lucky I am to have truly rewarding work to do.)

It took all day (I lost track of how many hours), but it's done. And it turned out great, if I do say so myself. Marilyn mistressmarilyn made a ton of changes to what I did this morning -- we make a terrific team.

I was ready to nap, but kept waking up. So I finally just gave up. I got up and 'packaged' the PowerPoint presentation. Then I put it on a jump drive. Then I put it on the Presentation Laptop (that I have here at home right now) -- and I tested it. It's working great, so hopefully we won't have any issues with it.

Then I opened my email for the first time since early this morning -- and found I had website work that needed doing. It really couldn't wait until tomorrow, so there I was at past midnight coding it and FTPing it. (sigh) Great to have advance notice on my deadlines, isn't it?

I'm working in the office tomorrow.

I really need to go to bed, as it's now past 1:00 a.m.

There was no time today to do anything else (like read at LiveJournal), so I hope all is well with my friends!

Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I really hate getting these done (smile), but we both had our manicures and pedicures this afternoon.

It had been six weeks (tomorrow) since we last had manicures (and in my case, my pedicure, too). We both track these via our blogs, actually -- so it's easy to check and see how long it's been.

We needed to get them before the Auction next Saturday, so it's great to have that out of the way. I did my usual 'pearl' on my manicure (rather than the normal French manicure with white tips), and I did RED for my pedicure!

Usually I do gold for my toes, so it's a big deal when I use any other color. (smile)

We haven't done a JOT of actual festival-related work today, which considering I was working on the PowerPoint until 3:30 in the morning yesterday is a pretty big deal. I admit I've been itching to open it up and look at it, but if I do I'll be tempted to work on it, and that's NOT happening today. We'll get plenty of it tomorrow, I'm sure.

It's going much faster than expected (!!!), so I think we'll have it done tomorrow. We'll see!

We did go u-pick green tomatoes today (two big bags), and also bought zucchini and a few peaches. Rain is due the end of the week, so there probably won't be many more green tomatoes this year. (sigh)

Speaking of the rain that's due, it's going to rain both on Friday and Saturday. Thanks, God. (sigh) Friday we load in for the Auction and Saturday is event day. We've never had it rain on our Auction before, so this is disappointing. But event people are like farmers -- we can't control the weather! (We just spend a lot of time bitching about it!!!)

Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I have started work on the PowerPoint presentation for the Auction appeal.

Let's just say there aren't many people around making PowerPoints like this one.

No, that's not at all humble of me, but it's the truth, even so! I'd been worried that we weren't going to match the impact of last year's presentation, but I think we'll blow everyone's socks off, frankly. It doesn't hurt at all that we're featuring the parade (!!!), of course. But the new 'carnival-style' background, the fading from black and white to color effects and the rose animations? They're wonderful. (smile)

It all suddenly started to come to me the night before last. As Marilyn says, you need inspiration to do this sort of work. I think it's an art form -- sort of like making a movie. Marilyn is my Producer/Director -- and I'm a cross between the set designer and the performers (actors), I guess. (grin)

We're such a good TEAM when it comes to making these things!

Well, I've got to stop messing with it for now and go get ready to go to Rich and Jodi's party, which is this afternoon. I'd love to stick with it, truth to tell -- but I wouldn't miss going to the party for the world. It's just a busy, busy time right now!!! It's hard to leave off work when you're on a roll...

Tuesday we'll really put in a full day (and maybe night) on this -- and pretty much get it under control. We think we've got a minimum of 20-25 hours for construction, then another 8-10 hours for the timing, which is necessary when you set it to music.

Gotta dash for now! I imagine my blogging will suffer during the next week. At least I feel pretty prepared on the IT-side of the Auction! (Go, me.)

Yes, it was another busy day!

Marilyn mistressmarilyn had her appointment to get her hair done this morning, so I had her drop me by the office on the way.

There was a guy there to clean the outside of the building. What a mess! I'm sure he thought he could get it done on a day when nobody was around -- but considering we're only days away from a major event, that was a poor assumption. Amy was there when I arrived, and then Carol came in with Jessica. He was power spraying the breezeway when I arrived and I got wet from the hose/gun and from all the crap dripping down from over my head. (ugh) Later when I was fixing my hair and putting on some makeup in the bathroom, I found paint chips in my hair and on my clothes... (sigh)

I started doing some work on the PowerPoint presentation today. We're actually about a week behind on it -- but both Marilyn and I work really well under pressure, so I'm not concerned. I'll start plugging away and I feel it will roll along just fine.

Unfortunately, the PowerPoint on my work computer kept crashing. That makes it pretty near to impossible to make a PowerPoint presentation, I'm afraid!

My poor damn computer!

There's no time right now, but the plan is still to upgrade to MS Office 2007 prior to the new fiscal year. (The festival's fiscal year starts on November 1 each year.) I haven't had time yet to push this plan, but I've got another month to get it done. If not, we'll roll it back into the next fiscal year, I guess. My research shows that the issues with some of the computers will most likely be resolved by the upgrade to Office 2007. There are some 'bugs' in both Office 2000 and Office 2003 that Microsoft didn't bother fixing. (I think I discussed this before during one of my 'I Hate Microsoft' rants. I was pretty stunned when I discovered that the only way around the issues with some of our computers was to upgrade to Office 2007!) Anyway, we've been using Office 2000 for ages, except for the office-wide use of Outlook 2003. So it's certainly time to upgrade, anyway! (After all, we're heading into the end of 2008...)

When Marilyn got back from her hair appointment, we headed out to Salem. We stopped briefly on the way to get Starbucks and did a tiny bit of shopping (Marilyn got some new shoes). While shopping, Tom called -- and I'm happy to report he's feeling better today! It looks like he'll feel up to going with us to Rich and Jodi's house tomorrow, which is a very good thing.

We managed to follow the driving directions with no problem and arrive at the library in Salem just in time to see the festival's Living History performers (David and Mary), Mayor Harry and Georgie, audition for the 2008 Oregon Library Performer's Showcase. (Every two years performers appear to audition to be on the list of resources for libraries throughout the state. The performers each have five minutes, timed, to show what they'll do if hired to appear at a library.) We got there just in time, as David (Mayor Harry) was being announced just as we entered the auditorium! Yes, timing is everything!

Besides seeing David and Mary do their thing, we also got to see Angel do his clowning thing. (smile) And we saw several other performers audition, too. What an interesting program! I was fascinated by the variety of performers and just how many talented people there are in this state.

The drive to and from Salem was lovely, considering the nice weather! I'm happy for Rich and Jodi that they'll end up with a sunny day for their event tomorrow.

But I'm bummed that it's supposed to rain next Friday (for setup) and Saturday (the Auction). You'd think we could luck out and get some nice weather, wouldn't you? (sigh) But I'm not ready to borrow trouble yet. Who knows? Things could suddenly improve, after all!

We were really tired when we got back. We went next door and took care of the cats -- and spent some time with Cleo -- then we came home and both had long naps!

What a difference a nap can make.

I'm excited to tackle the PowerPoint -- and I did come up with some things today that should be fun. These PowerPoints are a collaborative effort -- and Marilyn and I make a perfect team. It really lets us be creative, so though it's work, it's also enjoyable. (I wonder what my now-deceased art teacher Gertrude would think about projects like this and the eNewsletter? Who would have guessed about all these new methods of artistic expression?)

Well, I think I'll go and try a few things. I need to get the music ready, but that can wait until tomorrow. Right now I just want to see how the one effect I'm going to use turns out... (grin)

It was a VERY busy day at the office today!

I got the auction software installed on all four of the computers we're going to take to the venue this year. And I got all the other equipment ready and piled near the door of the IT Room. It should go really smooth. I'm glad we're not going to use any equipment that actually belongs to a Staff person (considering the issues last year). And I'm pleased that we're getting 'traveling' printers to take there, in place of moving the very valuable and heavy printers from the office.

I had my meeting with Leslie (which part of the time included Meredith) concerning the new Court pages for the website. We have a few additions and tweaks to make, but Leslie was very pleased by the work and said it was as if I'd taken the actual ideas out of her head and put them up at the site.

Cousin Linda dropped by (very briefly) to get her birthday card and gifts. Hopefully she was pleased by them...

I got my hair cut by Dorine, who I hadn't seen since May.

I set up Amy's computer for Remote Access -- and found the computer setting that was blocking my own Remote Access.

Actually, I've become something of an 'expert' about the whole Remote Access thing. I've no clue how my own computer suddenly got blocked (I've had to Remote to Jenny's computer this past week) -- but due to an article I'd read a couple days ago, I was able to find where the 'hidden' setting was to change it. It was cool to come home and discover it had WORKED, and I was back to using my own office computer for Remoting...

The funny thing was that the article I'd read wasn't even about Remote Access, so it's interesting that I ended up trying it to 'fix' the problem.

We had some weird IT-related stuff going on today, but it's cool. I'm continuing to learn more and more, so hopefully I'll figure out why the odd stuff happened. It's okay. Shit happens, as Marilyn mistressmarilyn pointed out.

I've got some exciting ideas for the PowerPoint presentation we'll be doing for the Auction Appeal! I can't wait to try them. I've hauled home a (huge) photo book from work (no, not the 2008 book, which must stay in the office), to gack some photos from over the weekend.

Leslie gave me a Court photo CD today -- and Meredith let me DL some photos directly from her laptop to a jump. That's good!

Tom is sick. I don't know in what way (we didn't talk -- but he texted me). Both Marilyn and I are worried, though. He still had to work, which made Marilyn nuts. She wondered why he couldn't just call in sick. Good question!

We're hoping he'll feel better soon, as we want him to go with us Sunday to Rich and Jodi's party...

Jessica hurt her ankle today. She was bringing a box over from storage and fell down. The ankle is wrapped and she's on crutches, so hopefully she'll be better soon. The ground is very uneven there. I've tripped more than once myself going back and forth...

Paul continues to come in at noon to work as a volunteer in the office. He's been covering the front desk, answering phones and doing other work. What a huge help! (We all love Paul.)

Several Auction folks were in doing baskets today, including Arthur, Faye, Meredith and Leslie. Amy and Carol were busting their asses (as always), too.

Jodi came by today! She started her new job yesterday. She'd cut her hair off and it was darling! Very youthful looking.

Sister Sue is at a local cribbage tournament starting today and running over the weekend.

June phoned while Marilyn and I were next door tending to the cats. She and Jim seem to be having a lovely time.

Marilyn and I went to see "The Dark Knight" again tonight. I love it more every single time I see it! Heath Ledger really deserves the Academy Award for his work. But there's great acting all through that film. I could go on and on, but it's bedtime, so I'll force myself not to.

But I will mention that this time around I was very much struck by how HOT Jim Gordon is... (smile) Obviously I find Bruce Wayne and The Batman very hot -- and I also think Harvey Dent is hot. But there are many hot characters in that movie -- and much slashy goodness going on. (grin)

I wouldn't mind dreaming about Gordon tonight... (heh)

Sweet dreams, all!

As I mentioned before, I've got the new Court pages for the festival website almost done... (Thankfully!!!)

I spent several hours today alone working on them, to be as ready as possible for my meeting with Leslie tomorrow (Friday). In all, there are 11 new pages that simply need to be viewed and cleared before going 'live' at the website. (Yes, it was a TON of work, but I'm hoping Leslie will be pleased with what I've done.)

And yesterday I coded the News item about Carol (that also went out as a Press Release), so it's (finally!) up. Actually, I'd been going to put it up and going to put it up -- and I'd already had it coded at one point, but then it didn't happen. So this is a very good thing. And I'm glad it went out to the media, as well as up at the website, because Carol really deserves that! Talk about your hard-working people. (whew)

So, aside from the four pages I coded for the News item, and the 11 pages I coded for the Court section, I also added a bunch of photos, changed some copy and cleaned up some 'bad' code for an additional 5+ pages (I'm not really sure if it's more than 5 pages...). For those keeping track (smile), that's a total of 20+ pages of code.

That's one hell of a lot of website work, I have to tell you!

The photo aspect takes a lot of time -- and the photos Mandy had sent me to use were so damn big that they crashed my computer REPEATEDLY when I tried to save them. (sigh) I did create a new header for the Court pages, that features the 2008 court and Queen. (I finally have the 'official' portrait of the Queen, which I pretty much needed to do this project.)

Marilyn mistressmarilyn didn't feel well

Ortho Home Defense Max

Outdoor Granules

This is the simply amazing product that helped me control my ANTS problem this year. I've never used anything that worked even close to as well as this!

About this Product

Cleopatra (who is rarely ever called that) is June and Jim's INDOOR cat. Cleo (which is what I call her for short) adores me. She always has. So it's perfect for me to be the one to look after her while they're away.

(No matter how inconvenient that's been at times... smile...)

I was taking care of her on the night before our parade, as well as the day of the parade (as I mentioned HERE).

Anyway, Cleo's 'Mommy and Daddy' left on the train on Monday, so I've been taking care of her for three days, so far. Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I will be taking care of her until October 1.

A member of l_j_for_dummies asked how to create a 'box' containing colored text. As it's not possible to use the proper coding in a comment (!!!) to explain, I'm posting the 'How To' here in my own blog, so I can link it as a Reply.

Creating colored text inside a 'box' can be done easily with a combination of HTML and CSS. I do this all the time in my own LJ blog. For example, take a look at THIS entry, where I've actually used a background image behind my text.

Two Very IMPORTANT Notes:

1. If you're changing colors EVER in your blog, keep in mind that your LiveJournal Friends will be using their own 'Friends View' to read what you post. This means you need to ALWAYS set the background color (using background-color), so you can be sure the border and text will actually be visible in the colors you want to display.
2. Having set a background color, you need to be sure to set a color for the text and the border [see the example below].

Earl was here again working today. He got the door in the hallway (furnace access) hung. (He custom cut it to fit) And he got the vent in it, too. He also created and hung the filter access door (in Marilyn's mistressmarilyn bedroom). And finished up the drywall and did a first coat of mud. Tomorrow he'll sand that and do the second coat.

We've had a hole in the wall in Marilyn's bedroom since we moved in. Way back when, I'd found an unpainted louvered door that would almost (but not quite) cover it. I painted it and managed to get it to stay where we needed it, even though I never installed it correctly. I'd put white tape on the wall on either side, because the door wasn't quite wide enough... (sigh) It's incredible not to have that hole now -- or the ugly louvered door! What a change. I can't wait until the room is painted -- and we've hung a picture of some sort (poster or whatever) over the small door that's there to access the furnace filters.

First thing this morning I had to empty one of my kitchen cabinets, full of casserole dishes, bowls, a whole shelf of mugs and more. It was literally coming down off the wall (full of dishes)! Some of these belonged to Mom (and Dad) or were gifts from them, so I certainly couldn't replace those if we'd had the whole thing come crashing down!

One of the families who lived here before us had a guy who was a really BAD 'Do It Yourself' type. So we've been fixing his mistakes ever since we bought this house. Earl had to take the whole thing down, nail it back together (the back had separated from the rest of it), put a wooden reinforcement inside, find the STUDS (duh guy who did it in the first place) and then use long, long screws to attach it to the studs.

Well, that thing isn't ever going to come down now, even if we have an earthquake! (smile)

Earl also glued down the kitchen floor where it was coming up. They cut the flooring too close when they did it, clearly. Same thing where the same flooring when down a short flight of stairs to a landing and the door that goes into our garage. It was coming loose in three places on the stairs! I wish I could go back to the people who did it and complain -- even if it is years later -- but they aren't around anymore. (I wonder why???)

Tom came by with the chips for the Auction today (that he's donating). We drove them down and I got to introduce Tom to several people he hadn't previously met, which was cool. I love to show him off, frankly! And I love days when I actually get to see and talk to him.

The bad news for today is that our dishwasher went out. (sigh) I've been having issues with it leaking, but I thought maybe it was something that could be fixed. Not so. We really can't afford to replace it right now, but I'm checking out the prices on line. It's pretty impossible to live without a dishwasher. Oh, sure, I could go back to washing dishes by hand, I guess. I did it for most of my life, after all! But I don't much want to.

Anyway, Earl could do the installation for us if we got one soon, which is a good thing.

Oh, as a total aside to all the rest of this, I did finally color my hair on Monday (September 22). And I'm getting it cut on Friday (September 26). Both of these are very good things! (smile)

For the record, just because one is familiar with HTML (and CSS), doesn't mean one will be comfortable with XML.

Here's what the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) says about XML, specifically at W3Schools.Com:

I have more than one community that I belong to that has layouts I just hate...

Look, it's not just about 'the pretty,' it's way more about people who insist on setting the font size so damn small that you need a magnifying glass to read the entries.

And that so makes sense in fanfic communities, doesn't it???

But if you take the actual URL of any LiveJournal entry (ending at .html) and add ?style=mine, then you'll see that entry displayed in your OWN style.

Here's an example!

Go from this:
http://community.livejournal.com/batfic100/56281.html?#cutid1

To this:
http://community.livejournal.com/batfic100/56281.html?style=mine

(I added the highlighting so everyone can see EXACTLY the part that needs to change...)

Yeah, it's a still a pain to need to do that, but at least then you can READ what's in the entry!

I'm putting it here for easy gacking:
 ?style=mine 

Both Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I belong to one (fic) community we follow a lot that has tiny (tiny) text, so we'll be using this a lot. (heh)

Yeah, I've known about it for ages (I've belonged to lj_nifty for years), but I never have used it much. But that's going to change -- hopefully before I go blind from squinting at tiny print! (grin)

By the way, I found it interesting that my friend kerryblaze just mentioned it HERE (in her blog). A case of 'great minds think alike' -- or what?

Earl has done an amazing job on the drywall work. He fixed both walls, using new boards and the old chunks of drywall. He also cut down a door to fit in the hall and hung it. He's having to build a small 'door' in Marilyn's mistressmarilyn bedroom that we can open to reach the place where you switch out the furnace filter.

He clearly knows his stuff! It's coming along really well so far.

Our hope is for him to finish up on Tuesday (Marilyn still gets Mondays off, so we're not going to have him over sooner). Then depending on how much stuff we get moved out of the downstairs (Marilyn's bedroom, walk-in closet and our family room), we'd love to have him do the painting next week -- or at least start it.

As for me, I spent much of the day working on those website pages (the ones that I've known were going to be due -- and that I got the phone call about earlier today).

It's a total (so far) of ten new pages -- so that's no small thing!

They aren't totally finished yet, but I'm getting really close. (Go, me.) I want to add a couple Flash slide shows, plus photos -- to spruce stuff up. (smile) That section is already large, with seven pages. When I'm done, it's going to be up to 17 pages (minimum). I know it's a lot, but the only way to do a detailed FAQ was to answer each question on a separate page. I tried to avoid it, but there was no way around it. I suspect it's going to make it easier to maintain, too, so that's all good.

I'm surprised by how many hours I can look at coding. It's almost scary! (smile) And the necessary graphics were a breeze to make. This past year of coding -- and web graphics -- has been so good for me!

By the way, I (finally) got this book:

I just had lunch, happily. I was starved! We didn't have a bite to eat yesterday until after getting home from the vet (after getting home from work at the office). And then we didn't eat all that much. (I had half a baked potato and some Corn Nuts. And I'm really not sure Corn Nuts qualify as actual food!)

So, Earl got here around 10:00 a.m. this morning. Then he went off to buy supplies and has since been working away.

Sister Sue came over so I could make her a new billing (using Excel). The original one was submitted to the City of Eugene (Oregon), but the cost of using her was actually split between the City and the Union -- so I had to make a bill (cut in half) to be presented to the Union. Hopefully they'll finally PAY HER for her work. That would be nice!

We got Starbucks and McDonald's -- and even some baked potatoes from Wendy's (I'm hung up on them right now). I ate a sandwich and am now back at work (as is Earl). (Sue got sick after lunch. She did her burping thing and finally threw up, then headed off to pick up Nicole from school and head home.)

Poor Colin (Kitty) is terrified by the work, for whatever reason. Sweet little wuss. He's been sneaking around on his belly, hiding in weird places. I have no clue where he is at this moment in time. (sigh)

Okay, I went to check and he's actually hiding in my closet (on top of some 'clean' clothing). Good boy! That's much better than behind Marilyn's mistressmarilyn desktop computer, among various electrical wires (!!!).

Speaking of Marilyn, she has a very busy (and hard) day today. We've text-messaged back and forth a couple of times and talked (briefly) once. She sent me this message at one point:
OMG. My head will pop.

I hear that!

( Diane phoned this morning... )

( I'm burned that... )

Earl is moving along nicely downstairs with the drywall project. If we can get things moved out, then we hope to have him get to the painting soon (maybe next week?).

The final step will be having the carpet installed. But there's a TON to move before that happens!!! (yikes)

I've been having issues with using Remote Access, which is how we connect to our work computers (and the Server at work) when here at home. I do a ton of my festival work from here, so I really need to have that available. (Plus I can do some of the IT-related work from home by connecting as the Administrator to our Server.) I'm not sure what's wrong, but I was finally able to connect to another computer (not mine) at the office -- so I need to check the settings (again) when I'm at the office next. (Which probably needs to be this weekend.)

( We also have this anomaly... )

I just had to hunt for Colin, who moved out of my closet. He found the cutest place to hide! He's under my bed, right where the comforter comes down and meets the floor. He's managed to pull it down where it's lying under him -- so he's in a soft 'cave' of sorts. I hope he stays put!

Well, I need to get to work. More later (I hope).

If you've ever wanted a software (or service) that could convert a PDF to Word, then THIS at GiveAwayOfTheDay.Com (for TODAY only, mind you) is something you should check out!

I've tried it on two files and it worked like a charm!

(Plus FREE is a very good price... smile...)

First off, Henry (Tudor Cat) is fine -- and his problem with his nose is just allergies. (The same is true for his ears, apparently. So when he's digging at them, it's not about mites or some other BAD thing...)

Marilyn mistressmarilyn had a really bad allergic reaction to being in the lobby at our vet -- so she had to go sit in the car. Dr. McCoy, great guy that he is, went out to the parking lot to talk to her about Henry! I love that man. I really do.

I had a reaction, too. Dr. McCoy said they weren't using any new cleaning products (our first guess), so it might have been the two birds. It's totally a guess, but it's never happened to either of us before.

It was a busy (busy, busy) day at the office today. Marilyn was in almost constant meetings, and has a hugely busy day tomorrow, too.

I was dealing with a ton of IT-related things. I also started the process of getting our ClubRunner account (a website that can be used for our Board Members to 'self-manage'), which we're all really excited about. Some of the IT stuff is frustrating, to say the least. But when I solve a problem that seems impossible to solve, it's a very good feeling. (I had that happen again today, so it's all good...)

Staff Meeting was a celebration of our recent 2008 Pinnacle wins, which was cool. Jessica had the Christmas card Gold award by her (it was her concept and my artwork -- we're both very proud) -- and I had the eNewsletter Gold award by me. I also had the Silver certificate for the website by me. (smile)

Jeff shared some insights from the IFEA Convention and we had treats.

Paul was in the office volunteering today, covering the front desk and phones. It was GREAT to see him -- and to have him there to work. I love that guy.

Amanda came tonight and I slept through it. I basically came home from the vet and took a long nap...

That's about it for today! Bed soon. I've got Earl here tomorrow doing the drywall. I didn't get everything done I needed to do this week at the office, so I'll need to get in (again) this weekend, but that's okay...

Oh! And Marilyn is loving the new laptop -- and being able to work in the family room.

Life is (as always) good!

(Busy, but GOOD!)

(smile)