Back to the Races

And....we're off! Again. I don't know why, but I continually hold out hope that at some point in life I'll be "caught up."  That all projects will be behind me, the house will be spotless, and empty days full of undefined promise will stretch out before me.  Right. Hasn't happened yet.

Stuff keeps coming up. Like work. I've gotten 3 new assignments in this week. Not bad for someone who started out the month with the goal of "easing back" on her work schedule.  I keep thinking, "I'll finish this project and then that will be it." But you darn people keep wanting to pay me money. What's a greedy writer to do?

Last month I had the hazy idea in my mind I would ease up around mid-September, when the craziness ended. Then near the end of September, I had the thought of December being pretty much a free and clear month.  The new goal as of today is January 1st. I will have all projects done and completed by January 1st and I will not accept new work after that. I will be "caught up."

Some people fantasize about hot men/women (take your pick). I fantasize about an empty calendar and clean desk. Go figure.

Mandarin Oranges

I found two 6 oz. cans of mandarin oranges in our pantry. How they got there is a mystery. I can only assume that at some point I bought them with the intention of using them in a recipe. Yet even this seems suspicious, as I can't quite imagine myself looking at a recipe with mandarin oranges and thinking, "Yes. That looks good."

Nevertheless, they are there. So I decided to do the only thing I know to do with mandarin oranges--make some orange Jello and dump them in there.

I used to eat that dessert all the time as a child. It was one of my favorites. Here's a heads up: While all the sugary cereals you enjoyed as a child stand the test of time (never will come the day when I'll refuse a bowl of Trix or Lucky Charms), mandarin orange Jello dessert--not so much.

It doesn't taste bad per se. It's just one of those flavors that really, you can live without.

Blair's comment as I proudly showed him my tupperware bowl of orange Jello with floating oranges was, "Nasty." 

So now I've got this bowl of welcome-the-season Halloween orange Jello with baby oranges sitting in my fridge. I hate to waste food and just throw it out, so I'll likely let it sit there for the better part of 5 days, decide it's past its healthy-to-eat date, and then throw it out. Less guilt that way, although don't ask me why.

Meanwhile, I still have a lone can of mandarin oranges in the cupboard. If you have a recipe that calls for such an ingredient, let me know.

I'll be happy to express mail it to you.

First Blood

I'm an official trail runner. On Wednesday, I took my my first tumble and slammed my left knee into the dirt hard enough to draw blood. My running partners were elated. "Don't brush off the blood, don't brush off the blood," exclaimed one. "Wait until we get back to the car to photograph it."  (Which we did. Michael--where's my photo??) =)

I showed Blair the bloody knee. "Stop running!" he said. "You're picking off body parts one by one."  He's referring to the fact that I've also lost my first toenail (I know, gross), a common runner malady, plus the blisters and soreness that send me hobbling around the house. Sometimes I feel like Quasimodo, lurching around from room to room.  Blair asks why I do this and I leer up at him from my hunched over, contorted position and answer, "For my health."

But that's a lie. It's all about ego. "I will be a healthy, heart-happy person" will not take me over the finish line. "I am going to be one of only 400,000 people in the country to finish a marathon" will.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go dab alcohol on my wounds...

Under Attack

My blog is under attack. From spammers. Viagra, male enhancement enlargers, diet pills, drugs... you name it and it's been posted to my blog.

Most of you won't see this as the way the spammers work is to add posts to old entries. However, I have my system set up so any comment posted anywhere on my blog immediately appears in my e-mail.  This morning there were 17 spam entries waiting to greet me. I deleted them and three hours later, there were 8 more.

I wonder if there is any "vengeful" posting going on? I received a couple of spam posts this weekend, found the IP address and banned the address. (Meaning people with this computer address are no longer permitted on my site.) It was after I banned a couple of addresses that the flood of spam appeared. Have I angered the spam people or is it just a coincidence?

For now, it's a battle of wills. It doesn't take but a minute to log on and delete all the spam posts. But it's annoying to have them clogging my e-mail. I experienced a similar problem a few months ago. It died out on its own so hopefully that's what will happen here.

Deer stands, spam... we're all so intrusive on one another's lives, don't you think?