Ahhh, I feel much better already. The white Sitcom Chic is done but for the picked up stitches/two rows of trim/button loop. It's adorable, I really like it. I'll finish it, give it a light steaming, and post a picture by Sunday, I promise. The red one, I think, is destined for a frogging - I'm still somewhat nagged about the gauge issue. I just have this FEELING I'd be happier if I did it on a size 7 needle, so rather than plug along with that faint voice of indecision nagging at me, I'm going to rip the three inches I have done and start over. Love the pattern. Bonne Marie is a genius.


The death certificates came in today's mail (how's that for a change of subject?) a mere two days after they were mailed from two miles away. But I must put that particular idiocy behind me.... I diligently spent this afternoon faxing and calling and forwarding them to the various entities that needed them, between conference calls and other legitimate work tasks - there are still more, but I'm pacing myself here, nothing is that urgent after life insurance and such are notified. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there's a survivor's benefit under his disability policy - that's like found money, since I didn't even know it existed. It's not that much, but hey, compared to the $255 "burial expense" from Social Freaking Security, it's a fortune. The big fat $255 showed up in my bank account today, so though they aren't very useful, I must say that Social Security does what it does very, very efficiently. I only signed and returned the forms at the beginning of this week, and they already paid out. I was really surprised.


Made a haircut appointment for the Bossy One. I'm on my....3rd groomer? 4th? I've lost count. And I'm NOT picky and the dog is not difficult - he enjoys being fussed over. I just can't find one that actually does what I'm paying them to do. The last one really pissed me off - $25 a trip and the last time I swear all they did was bathe and brush him - if they trimmed him it was a millimeter. I had asked for some specific trimming, to get his coat out of the wet grass when he goes for a walk, and when I picked him up I had to rush home to drop him off and head for the nursing home, so I didn't have time to bitch about the inadequate trimming. Here's some career advice - forget grad school, become a dog groomer. I called a shop that came highly recommended yesterday - grooming price for a Yorkie started at $35, but wasn't locked in at that price. That's just a base price. And for this we're talking bath, brush, scissor trim. I don't pay that for an audience with The Great One, I'm sure as hell not paying it for the dog.


Speaking of haircuts, mine is tomorrow. I brought in a picture for my credenza the other day - an enlargement of a nice snapshot of me and my husband, me with short hair. My assistant almost didn't recognize me in the picture, and now is egging me on to cut my hair that short again. (This is the same person who is egging me on to pierce my bellybutton to celebrate returning to my old "fightin' weight" - when I get there. I told her she'd have to take me and buy me a bottle of rum first, and not that Puerto Rican Paint Thinner crap, but something drinkable, like Gosling's.)


I'm not sure if I booked enough time for Great One to do a major transformation tomorrow, but I'll bring the snapshot size of the photo and say, "Remember this?" If he can't, he can take off a few inches and I'll come back when he has more time to shape it. He will laugh, I know - he has seen me short, long, in between, highlighted, natural mouse brown.... Every time I grow it out to a certain length I come in and say, "I can't stand it. Cut it." I am way past that length now, this is the longest my hair has been since high school. Today I somehow caught the hinge of my sunglasses in my hair and yanked out several strands. I cannot be trusted with long hair or long fingernails, it always causes injury to me or someone else.


And the Great One is called the Great One to protect his privacy and because he really is a wonderful person - when my husband finally got out of the hospital bed after his first long hospitalization, he was way overdue for a haircut. My husband was normally a pop into SuperCuts, just cut it short, basic haircut kind of guy, but I didn't think a walk-in chain haircutter was up to dealing with his special needs, so I called the Great One's shop and arranged to bring him in, in his wheelchair. The GO was just amazing, gave him a great shampoo and a haircut that would grow out gracefully, which was very desperately needed, and talked sports and current events and acted like it was totally routine to deal with a critically ill and practically immobile cancer patient every day. The Great One even offered to come to our house if my husband wasn't feeling up to coming in, but it was a matter of pride for my husband to be able to go for a haircut when he felt up to it. I took my husband back for semi-regular haircuts, and he eventually was well enough to walk in with a cane, looking almost healthy, and joke around and chat - for one haircut, before the brain mets came roaring back and then took him away. The Great One is definitely one of my heroes in this saga - someone who contributed greatly to my husband's quality of life, and made him feel "normal" when everything was way abnormal.


Bess What she said about why she blogs pretty much goes for me, too. How's that for lazy?