The Cat & The Cricket

Blair walked into the kitchen yesterday to find a small cricket swimming laps in the cats waterdish.  We've been unable to ascertain if the cricket took a dip of his own free will or--as we suspect--was tossed into the water for the viewing and entertainment pleasures of two female felines who shall remain nameless.

Lucy was very interested in the removal of the cricket, however.  She tagged along at Blair's heels as he scooped up the cricket and walked to the front door, to release it.  She looked anxiously up at him as she scurried to keep up, chattering the entire time: "Mow mrow mrow meow meow meow..."  Translation: You're not going to let him go, are you?  That would be a shame to let him go.  Tell you what, let's make a deal.  Wait, slow down.  Listen, you set the cricket down and look the other way and hey!  Are you listening? You set the cricket down and I can guarantee the non-shredding of a certain chair I know you to be rather fond of.  Deal? Deal??

I have no idea if the untimely release of the cricket had anything to do with the copious amounts of dirt we found scattered in the library this morning.  Someone had been having some fun with the plants.  Lucy sat across the room from us, avoiding eye contact as we scooped the dirt back into the pot.

"Did you do this?" I demanded, looking at her.

"Mrow."

"Let me see your paws," I say.

She bolted for the dining room. 

Yes, I think I know who the guilty culprit is.

The Cats Hate Me

I have ignored my babies for too long and now they hate me.  I'm sure of it.

This week has been crazy busy and I've had time to do little more than pat the tops of both cats heads in the morning before I head out.  (Usually each receives 10 minutes of individual play time and at least a 10 minute combing apiece).  For awhile, the cats would come visit me at the upstairs computer where I work. They would stare mournfully at me before slowly walking off, tail down, the picture of sorrow.

Such theatrics usually work on me and my typical response would be to fling myself at the cats feet with toys and snacks, begging their forgiveness.  But for the past 5 days I've just had to look at them and say, "Sorry.  Can't do it right now."

Well.  I just realized it's 11 am and I have not had a visit from either cat this morning!  Unheard of!!  I would usually have 2-3 visits from each by now.  Couple that with the disturbing incident yesterday where I left the house and called out my usual goodbye to Lucy who was looking out the window and she didn't even turn her head.    AAAUGH!  They're not even acknowledging my presence any longer!  Sniff.  Sob.  My babies!

Stupid work.  Stupid pay check.  Stupid writer's ego.  I need to get my priorities straight and spend some time with my cats.

What's Up With This Work Thing? (Plus: Stiletto's: Part III)

I started work at 8:30 this morning and here it is 8:49 at night and I'm just now closing down all systems.  What's up with that?  I entered this freelance gig to avoid that whole "working" thing.  No one ever mentioned 12 hour days were part of the plan.  (Although--tee hee--I never thought to ask.)

All in all, a good day.  I hit the road for my auto dealer interviews for our local paper.  They'll feature one employee from a different auto dealership each week in a sort of "behind the scenes" profile look.  I mentioned over the phone to every dealer I spoke with that it really would serve them best to not just go with their salespeople for the profile (the most obvious choice), but instead, mix it up a bit.  Have me interview someone from the finance department or a stellar mechanic from service. 

I still spent  most of the day interviewing salesmen.  This assignment is going to tax my ability to find new and creative ways of writing, "He took the job because he really enjoys working with people."

Still, I had fun.  The people were nice and I spent the day surrounded by new car smell. 

The one downside is my horrible ineptitude with the camera.  I seem to have a block in this area.  I met with the newspaper's photographer on one of my assignments today and she was wonderful with the tips she supplied.  Still, even I was aghast at the horrendous photos I took after she left.  I don't know when, but I have GOT to find the time to practice some photo taking.  Not at all what I feel like doing but they're only going to allow me to turn in the lowest of mediocre shots for so long. 

STILETTO UPDATE: Wore a new suit today, very professional looking.  The stilettos finish it off and add a great kick to it.  However, I didn't want a repeat of the teeter-tottering incident so instead of wearing the shoes, I carefully packed the box in the backseat, thinking I'd slide them on as need be.  Well, there never was a good time so the shoes spent a lovely day roaming the fair city of Greensboro in my car and taking in the sights.  Maybe next time I'll go so far as to drag the box around with me and open it to show people.  "These are my shoes," I'll say.  "Can't you just imagine how stunning they look with this outfit?"

This woman thing is way too hard.  We need a revolution.

Swamped!

The wind must have changed direction in the last 24 hours or something is up because I suddenly find myself swamped.

My auto assignments from the News & Record came in so I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon NOT making appointments as I'd planned, but rather leaving increasingly desperate voice mail messages for auto dealer managers to please, pretty please, call me back.

I have a big article due for a college magazine and have had trouble lining up a time to interview a primary source so that finally got scheduled for today (Saturday) at 10:30 am. 

The big thing though, is book promotion for Lessons In Stalking.  I have GOT to plan my launch party.  I'd like to have it at a bookstore but I may have waited so late in the game that I can't get in before X-Mas.  I'm going to tie it in with Hurricane Katrina animal relief and a local shelter, donating a portion of my proceeds.  I'm hoping I'll be allowed to bring in a few kittens from the shelter and have them at my authors table.  Not sure if a bookstore will got for that.  But it would be wonderful to find some homes for cats during my book launch.  (Or they could just come home with me!!!)

I'm kicking myself for a stupid, stupid, stupid mistake I made.  My friend Pam offered to stuff Lessons In Stalking postcards into a "grab bag" for publishers and book sellers at this Fall's SEBA (South Eastern Book Sellers) Association) convention.  So if you read the Kinko post, you know all about the hassle of getting the flyer done.  It ended up looking pretty good.  Until, I realized last night after Pam had already handed them out, I forgot to put the ISBN on the card as well as the name of my publishing company.  The effect of such an error is that my postcard will look extremely amateur.  Sort of like handing out a business card with no telephone number on it.  Just one great big DUH.

So I'm a little bummed about that but lesson learned and it will never happen again. 

The good news is that Pam said as they were stuffing bags a publisher came by and saw the LIS postcard and said, "This is so cute.  Can I have this?"  So I still hold out hope of thousands of orders coming in.  It would be stressful but in a good way if I went into my second printing only months after my first!

Dena