I have been on leave from my job for several weeks, but yesterday I went back into the office on a part-time basis - I'll work in the mornings and visit my husband in the late afternoon, or vice-versa, if there are meetings or other things I need to attend. I can't sit at the nursing home all day anymore, it serves no useful purpose at this point. He no longer knows whether I'm there or not. It felt really good to be back at work - I'm very blessed to really like my boss and my colleagues, though the work is often less than thrilling, yesterday was actually FUN - and there's not much fun in my life these days, as you can imagine. It was also very nice that people noticed I'd lost weight - considering I'd been on Weight Watchers for MONTHS before this latest crisis put me out on leave and nobody said boo about my weight loss, it appears that the South Beach Diet really IS making a difference.


I've begun the shoulder decreases and v-neck shaping on the Xanax Sweater - I LOVE working simple sweaters in the round, it truly is the most mindless sort of relaxation. I've been whipping through this one at a really rapid pace - yesterday my husband's nursing home roommate, a very quiet, sweet guy who is also way too young to be in such a place, couldn't contain himself any longer and asked, "How long does it take you to make a sweater?" I didn't realize he'd been watching the sweater's progress. I said that it's hard to explain to a non-knitter, sometimes it takes me a really long time to finish a sweater, but this one is going so fast because of the simple style and no complicated shaping - I can pick up a lot of speed on the long straight stretches of plain knitting. I still haven't started the Sitcom Chic or the other things I've talked about lately - apparently Startitis is like a fever, it spikes and wanes, or the insanely hot and miserable weather lately is just sucking the ambition out of me.


Re the car dealer rant - I am well-versed in the art of writing politely shitty letters, it is actually part of my job at times as well as a natural talent, and I think the answer to this one is a politely worded but pointed nastygram to the owner of this small family dealership, enclosing a copy of the service notice, and explaining to him that this is not the way to win the hearts and minds of female customers. They inadvertently gave me my "hook" at the bottom of the letter - I hadn't noticed when I opened it and threw it aside in disgust on Saturday, but at the bottom of the page are several coupons for discounts on services like oil change, etc. - clearly labled "Exclusively for [the husband who doesn't own the damn car, has never even driven it, and certainly has never brought it to the dealership for service]." Isn't THAT just a special little icing on the cake? That's also a hell of a fine hook for the nasty letter, which will be a polite and more businesslike version of the following message: "Dear Mr. Nissan Dealer, this is the second notice of this sort that I have receivd from your dealership. Note that it is addressed to my husband, who is neither the owner nor driver of the vehicle. Exactly how does my husband-who-does-not-own-the-vehicle rate discounts on its service, when I, the owner of the vehicle and the only person who has brought it to your dealership for service in the past, have never received these letters or offers of discounts? Perhaps you, Mr. Dealership Owner, are not aware of how your service department is slighting and insulting its female customers by this practice, and now that you are aware of it, I hope you will take steps to correct it."


But that's an entertaining task for another day, there are more important issues on my plate right now. But trust me, they won't get let off the hook.