And the Yentala thinks SHE'S in Shvitzville? Come on down here girlfriend, I'll show you some shvitzin! 96 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, and yet somehow it's also really, really humid. Why isn't it raining? Don't know. Want to know when it will rain next? The Amazing Catherine will tell you. It will rain like hell on Monday or Tuesday, because that's the next rumored appearance dates of the rare and exotic concrete truck. My patio is due early next week (I feel like we're giving birth to it) and of course the past few days have been ideal for pouring it but the truck, alas, was not cooperative. Remember, the last attempt was canceled due to monsoon-like rain, then the truck went deep into hiding and had to be lured out with many phone calls from my contractor. I am SO going to love this patio, if I ever get it.

The vegetable garden is dead. I'm surrendering to reality and ripping it out. Maybe next year, when I'm on a hiatus from indoor improvement projects.

Yon contractor is due tomorrow to put in my under-cabinet lighting, then cabinet installer lady comes on Monday to install the final cabinet and trim pieces. Boy will be here for that work, I can't do it because....

THE SECRETARY STARTS ON MONDAY!!!!



Words cannot describe the happy happy joy joy about this on the wee construction litigation team of The Boss and Me. He is merrily making lists of things she can do and things he can then offload onto me. I am sprung from Secretary Duty just in time, since I have two document productions scheduled for the coming week. I can actually spend some quality time drafting pleadings and reviewing project files and otherwise doing what I am far better qualified to do. I am a lousy secretary. It's a different skill set, it requires an ability to organize and track and pay attention to detail that I am sadly lacking. The only one who lacks it worse than me is the Boss. We need a keeper. I hope she has a good sense of humor. We will try to refrain from liberal use of the F Word and acting too openly insane until we get to know her.

Meanwhile, this is shaping up to be the weekend of hurting my back. I ordered a put-it-together-yourself dresser for the future guest room, and received notice yesterday that it had shipped. I figured okay, it'll be here Monday or Tuesday. I came by at lunch to walk the dog and found a 120 pound box blocking my front door. Yes, I got it in the house myself, there wasn't anybody around to help. My back feels fine now, but I suspect I will pay for this in the morning. Right when I need to move junk around in the two empty-but-for-tons-of-crap back bedrooms, to make room to assemble this dresser and put it in place in the room. Next step is ordering the trundle bed - this one looks like a winner. I priced one in Costco tonight, I didn't even like it much, way too little girly, but it would be $100 more than this with mattresses, and because this ships from South FL the shipping charges are reasonable. The room is small, about 10x11, so the trundle bed and dresser will be pretty much it for furnishings. I want a trundle so I can accommodate more than one grownup at a time, but at the same time I don't wan't to fill a room with another real bedroom set. This seems like an efficient compromise. Girlchild's former room will become something else, as yet to be determined. (Possibly Girlchild's future room for a transitional time after graduation.) But the other room will be a fine television and computer space for a transitional adult offspring, too.

After I have comfortable accommodations for overnight guests I am DONE messing with this house until after Girlchild graduates next May. I am saving my approximately ten remaining vacation days for this year so I can take off time around the holidays and so I can finally make a trip to Tallahassee during the High Holy Days That Are Football Season. Students get blocks of tickets, and this is my public announcement to the Girlchild that her mother is coming up there during football season. Finally.

Knitting? Crocheting? Oh yes, this is a fiber-related blog. I'm making progress on the All Seasons Shawl and promise photos this weekend. I've done a few inches of the back of the Manos-like-product Lo-Tech sweat. That's all that's in play right now, shawls and Lo Tech, and somehow it's not what I'm in the mood for. I may have to start a felting something.