The Cutest Little Thing in the House

It's official: Murphy is no longer the cutest little thing in the house. He'll have to settle for being the cutest canine (as well as the only canine). Here's the Pocket DJ, next to my itty bitty cellphone for scale:



It's very easy to use. I'm of the "RTFM only as a last resort" school and so far I haven't had to touch the instructions, I could figure it out by looking at it. I was somewhat peeved to find that Dell shipped the player but not the earphones and case I'd ordered, no explanation. After some swearing and online searching I figured out that those items are on backorder until who knows when. I need a case for it before I dare take it to the office, I don't want to scratch it on Day One, so I ordered a backup case that IS in stock. I can do without the alternate earphones until they ship, the basic earbuds are okay for now. Maybe I just have funny ears, but I find earbuds very uncomfortable and they don't like to stay in my ears.


I am awake way too early after a 3 a.m. coughing fit that would not quit. Please, please, don't let me get the Boss's crud, I have places to go and things to do. The good part of waking at such an ungodly hour is that it motivates me to get into the office extremely early and get OUT early too. Then I can stop by the gym and check out whether it has changed in the oh, three years since I've been a member. Three years. Wow. I had to do the math, and it shocked me - my husband died 1.5 years ago, I quit working out about six months into his illness, so yeah, three years. I'm way overdue, and no wonder I'm so out of shape. My weight gain and flab isn't some mysterious affliction, it's just reality - middle-aged bodies require regular maintenance or they degenerate. I am fine with being the age I am, but I'll be damned if I'll get OLD. Time to get off my ass and quit making up reasons why I don't have time. I have time.


I did make progress on the crocheted throw pillow cover after the coughing fit subsided:



I haven't figured out what I'm going to do as a closure yet - I'm thinking a flap and a row of buttons, but tunisian stitch does have a tendency to curl at the edge. Maybe I should be ambitious enough to put in a zipper. A removable cover is vital because I know the cats will sleep on it, they can't resist a new throw pillow.

Tonight is the prayer group at my neighbor's. I will go check it out, mostly out of curiosity. I did ask her if there was a program or format she was following, and the answer was somewhat vague. I gathered that her church has some sort of evangelization program, it was sprinkled with the usual buzzwords, and one of her statements was along the lines of "If you are satisfied with your church maybe you'll feel this isn't for you." Well, I AM quite satisfied, thanks, I'll come check it out to be polite, but I'm thinking maybe this is more of an Evangelical Amway Pitch than simply a neighborhood prayer group. She started telling me about the many groups and activities at her church, and I said yeah, we have all the same stuff. I'd be happy to participate in a true ecumenical prayer group, if it's not just a sales pitch for a particular non-denom church, but I really don't need to explain endlessly that yes, it's true, Catholics do have Bible study and prayer groups and all that stuff "just like you guys," and I'm not church-shopping.
But I'm game to meet the neighbors and find out what this is all about, so I'll go at least once.

And now I will make good on my ambitions and get into the shower early and into the office by 7:30.