Sleep. Drive. Work. Drive. Write. Repeat.

Couldn't resist a brief update today, and along with it, a tiny peek into my world. The post title says it all, but the picture at the top of the page might help explain. (Note the bed that hasn't been made since August) What you cannot see are the dishes piled up in the sink, the overflowing trash cans, the clean laundry that never gets folded--just dumped on various pieces of furniture throughout the house, and the stacks of unopened mail on every horizontal surface between my laptop and the garage door.

BUT...and this is top secret...I think I might actually be making progress!!! Shhh--don't repeat that out loud. This is very important. It's sort of like when you get an unexpected financial windfall--a raise or a tax refund--you must NEVER, EVER discuss it in front of a major appliance or the car. They can hear you. This is why they enter into suicide pacts with each other whenever you have extra money.

It's the same with my thesis. If I say that I'm making progress out loud, all the files on my laptop and thumb drive will spontaneously corrupt and little kilobytes will start dribbling from my USB ports and I'll have to start over. So this is just between you and me: I met with my thesis committee chairman today and she LIKED Chapter 1!!! Not "it's good, but..." or "it's coming along..." or any of the other kind remarks that I just know she makes so that I won't slip into that catatonic stare again or start sucking my thumb. She said "IT'S GOOD! I LIKE IT!" What this means is the light at the end of the tunnel might actually be light and not an express train to the nut house.

SO. Once again--keep all fingers and toes crossed for me...but do it quietly...I think my laptop is listening....

I am thankful for laughter...except when milk comes out of my nose...

I must say, the response to my last post was extremely gratifying!! Thank you one and all for your comments, your giggles, and your expressions of concern--they meant more than you can imagine! Unfortunately, it wasn't until the week after I wrote that post that things really went down the crapper. It has to do with both the thesis (which I spent four hours on and managed to revise five pages---I have 70 more to go, so you do the math...) AND the fact that I'm digitizing old family videos. This means I'm watching my life (when I had one) all over again and missing my sweetheart and my babies so much I can hardly breathe.

SO. When I went in to work on Tuesday, God must have had me in mind. On the breakroom table was this cartoon:

I could NOT stop laughing! I know it's a really dumb cartoon and not anywhere near the best that Gary Larson can produce, but it did the trick. So tonight, I've changed the blog title picture to one of my favorites. That's my grandbaby Connor, running through my backyard, trying hard to avoid getting pelted with giant marshmallows expertly fired from slingshots manned by his big brother and sister (AND his Mom and Dad--note the little white objects on the lawn behind him--more missed shots...) and having a blast!

THAT day was a really good day and truth be told, I have lots and lots of them. I just needed to put things in perspective.

Enjoy the music!

p.s. I did leave "Masochism Tango" in the playlist. After all, I've still got 70 pages of thesis to revise...