September's still summer but the nights are like fall/ tell me your fall stories

My stories for this fall are all about gratitude. Peach cobbler with raspberries that I froze right outta my own back garden. Cooler nights. Max (our resident fraidy-cat) will now occasionally let me walk up and pet him, as though we have a normal cat-monkey relationship. Despite recent work challenges, I am one half of a rockin' team, with all the attendant laughing and weirdly seamless support that implies. I get to go hang with my gorgeous niece in a couple of days. Lizbeth and spook are folks I feel happy and relaxed and excited to be coming home to. spook continues to offer me generous love while I get my shit correct, a process which is both exhausting and satisfying.

Oh, and that Lucy girl--y'all get the updates on my white-knuckle babysitting for the first little bit, I'm afraid. I'm an anxious person by nature, and although I do have a groove for kids where I relax into it, it's taking a bit of stumbling to find it again. I keep doing this thing where I'm so focussed on supporting her neck that I end up holding her in a really weird, awkward way, and then I forget I can do the common-sense thing to adjust the hold so we're both more comfortable. Feeding her was pretty good, though, and fortunately for me I had Magic Uncle Paul for backup my first time. (Magic Uncle Paul makes Lucy stop crying. I dunno how. That's why it's magic.) Overall I'm still awed, something I have energy for because I'm not up with her all night every night.

I bought graph paper. It helps when I'm moving stuff around.

so howcome my *cranky* pants fit so well?

Oh, I have not been a joy to be around this week. It is doubtless that some of it was the disruption of my work routine making me lopsided, and that some of it was my inability to see a solution to the massive problem of merchandising we're having in my section, and some of it was sleep deprivation, and some of it was swallowing my temper about the snark from all quarters. Huh. Maybe that accounts for all of it, actually.

Next week I am planning on more sleep, some face time with the baby, and utilizing the giant brains of my friends to help sort out my geometry issues. Oh, and reasserting my rightful place in the world by sassing my enemies.

my return to wildlife/ by satellite/ by beautiful, moon-shining girl

So this is pretty much a shameless photo parade of my niece, who is even more gorgeous in person than in the pictures I had seen. And although her little head fits in the palm of my hand, she is very very long. It's cool. I don't have very much (read: almost no) experience with newborns and although kids themselves get more interesting as they come into focus a bit more, with the moving around and the talking, it amazes me how much she's already a teeny person.






Uh, a teeny person who is perhaps the Fonz. Ehhhhhh.

so high, so low

So, a while back, I asked if we could have some benches for the store. I dunno. Having people sit on the floor is not only irritating (why are you surprised that I don't want you to block off a whole bunch of shelves? Do you not feel that people should read authors whose last names begin with 'S'?) but sometimes distressing (uh, honey? trust me, you do not want your face anywhere near that carpet). Benches! Imagine my surprise when I showed up for work on Friday to discover that they had installed... well... benches of a sort. I was envisioning something a little less... monolithic. And then it hit me: instead of settling for benches, the company has built a ziggurat in my honour, cleverly disguising it by breaking it down into component parts. I was thrilled.

And then I went pants-shopping in the mall and came home feeling like a hideous freak because nothing ever fits right, the proud new owner of a dress and a sweater, neither of which are the pants that I need. Aargh.