"Are you going out today? If you are, then don't forget to take your umbershoot."

If my mother said this to you, you would probably look at her with a great degree of puzzlement. If my mother said this to me, I would know that we were supposed to get rain that day.My mother can be dour and serious. She was the eldest of four children, and her unasked-for position of seniority required her to be the caretaker of her siblings while her parents ran a small store.

As a result of that caretaking, I can vouch for her excellence at it.

She graduated from high school in 1961, when in Arkansas, the propriety of the 1950s hadn't quite been overtaken by the gaiety and looseness of the 1960s. She was unmarried, and through casual comments she made, I gather that her family despaired that she would ever marry.

As Gareth's workload didn't ease up on him today, I ended up driving alone down to Birmingham to see the 3:50 showing of Memento.

First, a small definition. Ever noticed that on Velveeta there's a note that says it's "pasteurized processed cheese food." Remember—it's not cheese, it's cheese food - what cheese eats!

Today I got one step closer to getting back to work on my latest work of fiction. For the past two weeks, I have made the conscious decision to put my fiction work aside in favor of making good on some website/graphic design debts owed to some friends.

Admittedly, I haven't hated the work. I enjoy graphic design, site design, and all sorts of artistic conundrums. But after finishing a logo (for Brad), site designs/layouts/greymatter implementations (Kat's and Sean's sites), and another greymatter implementation (for Jessica), my brain is just about worn out.Not only have I not picked up my pen in a few days, I haven't even wanted to. The lack of desire to write tells me what I need to know; the creative portion of my brain is zapped, and needs a recharge.

Guys, it's been six months of work. It's over. domesticat.net is finally skinnable.

First off, I owe two people massive hugs, thanks, appreciation, and probably a dinner and a few drinks apiece:

Brad.
Gareth.They each know why, but I feel like telling the world anyway.

Oh, dammit to hell.

I am so close. I wanted to finish up the skin code for the site tonight and to call it a weekend and walk away. But, instead, I'm stuck with half-working code (the half that works is courtesy of Gareth) and a sick spouse who will probably beg out of our movie plans tomorrow.Lesson: what I attempt to do in thirty lines of code, Gareth can do in twelve or so. Ouch. Guess I got a bit of a reminder of why he's a coder and I do graphics stuff.