Irony is the Shackles of Youth

I worked about 2hrs longer at my contracting job than I wanted to because some people couldn't get me the inventory I asked for four weeks ago. I wound up having to cross check four different sources, none of which agreed. That meant I had to catalog the differences and send them over so someone could tell me which items are supposed to be on the list and which aren't. That took all the hours I had planned on working today plus an extra two hours.

My only consolation is that I got to charge these suckers per hour. You make me do more work, you're going to have to pay for it.

It is over 100 degrees (F) outside.

There is no way I am going to yoga tonight. Not when the AC has been finicky at best and barely a breeze at worse. Not going to do it.

Today at work I named a folder I was making "New Hampshite" instead of "New Hampshire" and didn't noticed till four hours later when I went to add some data to a map. And honestly? That's just how this week has been going.

Having to read and annotate 100 pages of gov't bureaucratic bullshit that touches on your field of expertise but was written by people who attended a talk once about what you do so that makes them experts should be its own special level of hell.

Book ends are really designed for people who do not fully fill every shelf in their house with books.

I am not one of those people.

I am making Vermont Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread and after kneading that bad boy for 10 minutes, my hands smell like cinnamon and yeast. I kind of want to lick them, but that is frowned upon in polite society. Also, I know they will not taste as good as they smell, which honestly, is a bigger incentive to not lick my hands than polite society. Fuck polite society. I am societal goblin.

Proof, my bread. Proof. I want to bake you until my house smells delicious.

It's the time of year where I want to murder each and every bird singing outside my window at 5am. They are the reason I am posting this early on a Saturday.

I decided that since there is a three day weekend, it would be the perfect time to harvest and dry some catnip for the cats. I might start another plant because this one got stressed over the winter and there's a lot of dead stems I can't get rid of. I got only two dehydrator trays full of cat nip. The cats were super helpful while I trimming the plant. Not.

I'm going to have to take out and replant the cat grass in one of the containers soon. It's beginning to turn yellow which is the sign it's past its prime. That might get done this weekend or it might wait till next. I found a really nice cat grass seed mix from Sprout People. I like it because it has a variety of grasses in it, so it stays green about 5 times longer than the grass you get from the pet store. And my cats love it. Seriously, they will give me sad looks when I take up the dead grass, reseed, and then hide the pot until the grass grows tall enough again.

At the community garden sale they had a pot of aloe for about $2. It didn't look... great. I grabbed it because I saw that the issue was that the main mother plant had created about 18-20 pups and the pot was just crowded. Last weekend I got two shallow dishes and separated out several of the smaller plants. Still too crowded in the main pot and now I have more aloe plants than I know what to do with. Oh well. Aloe is useful to have around and not just for sunburn. I'm sure I can find a use. Might even give away some of the plants as gifts. It definitely means I need to get a few more pots.

Anyone want some aloe by chance? :D

Have you ever seen a commercial on TV and immediately thought "Wow. Not a single woman was involved in the making of this commercial."

There's a fairly famous national jewelry store that is running these ads for Mother's day. Only this commercial is so lacking in taste it is a amazing. I can't imagine this bumping up their sales for Mother's Day. I can't imagine this ad campaign bumping up their sales ANY day.

Picture this: you have a woman, mid- 50s, not much make up, sitting on a bed with a bathrobe on. You could believe this was a mom. Then she starts speaking.

"You know what I'd love for Mother's Day? For you to get engaged to Rachel."

Wow. Just... wow. I mean, listening to a second time I guess it's slightly better because I honestly thought she was telling her daughter, Rachel, she needed to get engaged. Like "You need to pressure your boyfriend to marry you now, sweetie" which shouldn't be a trope in real life, but somehow is. It's not though, which doesn't make it much better. That's just what the world needs: more stereotypes about moms pressuring their kids to get married. That's healthy! Who doesn't love it when their parents are overly invested in their ADULT childeren's romantic life? Not creepy and controlling at all.

Then we have the next line. "But if your not 'ready'" - and yes, she does do the finger quotes here - "you know who else likes jewelry? Momma."

There are seriously no words.

Who green-lighted this? No seriously? Multiple people had to have seen this commercial and thought "This sound like a great idea. It will be funny." Only there's nothing funny about the way this ad is played. It's creepy, desperate, and makes me want to cut this woman out of my life watching it and she's not even involved in it. Holy shit.

Finally, the tag line. "Get engaged this Mother's Day." Sweet Jesus it hurts to even write that out. "Or get mom something special." Yeah, like wondering why her kids have cut her out of their lives and she never sees her grandkids.

Good gravy.

Today has been cool and grey and rainy. I've spent most of it being a slug. Not helped by the fact that last night, I accidentally took a double dose of allergy medicine. I didn't mean to. I was trying to take pain killers and my brain went on autopilot and took allergy medicine instead. Nothing serious, but I've been feeling it most of the day.

I did make lunch and vacuum the living room. That counts for something, right?.Right.

I have the galley for my book to review which means I only have to read this story ONE MORE TIME before it's published. I'm sure I'll find some minor typo. They seem to multiply when I'm not looking. I am so sick of reading/rereading this story at this point. But! It will be published May 1st and then I'll be done with it. If I don't write a couple of short scenes about the characters afterwards. No promises.

I have the option of doing a dedication. I'm seriously thinking of doing one to Editing cat, who so helpfully sat in front of my screen every time I had to work on the book. Thanks cat.

The book can be preordered here. Which makes me nervous. I don't know why. The point is for people to buy the book and yet I am nervous about people buying the book. Sigh. Anxiety, why you gotta be like this?

There is the possibility I will not bake bread today. I didn't realize how low on flour I was, especially given the baking I did yesterday. I do have bread flour though, so I'm looking to see if there's a good recipe using bread flour. I have a possibility so we shall see.

I hate doing taxes. Especially since I switched jobs, got unemployment, and was self-employed all in the same year, so I knew they were going to be complicated. So what have I done? Waited until the day before they are due to do them. I R SMART!