Turning the Ship

Denver is supposed to get about 1,000 inches of snow this weekend. I say bring it on.

Plans for this morning involve a honkin apple fritter and finalizing our taxes and after that? It's pj's all weekend long, baby!

Thanks to two incredibly stressful weekends in a row, involving every Austen novel known to man, this weekend I only have to read one novel, and it's not one of hers. I also have to finalize the next few weeks of class stuff because big papers are due on Tuesday and we're starting a new unit.

All of this can be done in pj's. While double fisting the diet dr peppers.

I feel like, after a year of some crazy transitions, the Wright ship is finally starting to right itself. We've been turning, turning, turning, and any day now, our ship will be on its new course and the crew can break for happy hour.

A lot of my tutoring has been transitioned, and the clients I still have are manageable. There were actually a couple of nights this week when I got to come home after work and class! Instead of driving all over the place. I actually didn't know what to do with myself. (Don't get me wrong - I pretty much live in a state of ignoring a good 75% of my homework.)

I've also managed to work in a fair amount of tequila during the week. This is not a good long term plan for me, as it is not conducive to...well...anything productive.

The writing consultant job is still incredibly stressful, but good. My goal is to stay there for the next several years, and to move up within the ranks as soon as possible so that bunny mama can afford her new tequila habit and also so that we can maybe take another vacation before we turn 65. I have been given some hard projects and some really hard workshops, so there's never a dull moment.

And this introvert is exhausted all the time.

But it's a good kind of exhausted.

I try to explain this to G as I shuck out of my work clothes and into my pj's at 7:00 p.m. and hop onto the couch to "read" my school stuff (i.e. intermittently nap and read for several hours while Lucy glares at me). I am at a place of happy exhaustion. I'm not sleepy because I'm depressed or anxious or needing to escape my current reality. I'm sleepy because I've used up my word quota for the day and need to recharge by reading feminist novels and slave narratives until 5:00 tomorrow morning when it starts all over again.

I am so, so glad I left my career to do something new.

I am so, so glad I took the biggest risk of my life.

Now, if we could just find a rich benefactor...we are in need of someone to finance our lifestyle and also elevate it about 3 notches. We're thinking: international travel, eating in nice restaurants, flying on elite air carriers, and renovating significant portions of our house. If you're interested, please email me immediately. I'll set down the apple fritter and we'll get started.

TGIF, people!

In case you're wondering, this is what a bunny looks like about 15 seconds before she goes berserk and gets into all kinds of trouble.

Another Honkin Change

Today, I woke up to this:

It is obviously the most romantic Valentine's Day Present, ever. Except for when I got Season 1 last year. G is a man after my own heart. Especially since Vday isn't even a thing around here. I ain't turnin down some DVD goodness, is all I'm sayin.

There were donuts for breakfast and then a romantic day of G nerding it up and me getting my hair done. There was this, at the salon:

You know I was down there on the floor, loving her up. Foils in my hair and all. She was precious.

Later in the day, we got new tires for my car. See? I told you! It's all romance, all the time.

Then I took a 3-hr nap after reading 1 page of Sense and Sensibility.

Can't you go outside and sleep, mom? Do you have to do it down here on my couch?

So, there's been another big change. Actually, it hasn't been fully resolved yet; it's currently changing. I've decided to quit most of my tutoring. Ever since classes started, I've been burning the candle at both ends, trying to keep up tutoring in conjunction with everything else. Which has meant that most nights of the week, after working a full day, I end up driving all over creation. It's no longer sustainable.

I've been waffling about quitting, though, because I like my students and their families and I've helped them actually make progress in school! It's a hard thing to just quit. But, earlier this week, G and I went out to dinner (GASP! That never happens!) and talked it over, and I felt really good about my decision. For the past couple of days I've been working out the details with the families, and on Monday I'll contact the tutoring companies.

I have been growing more and more comfortable with my decision, and then, I got our taxes done last night. Yes, on a Friday. It was misery. It took hours. I loathe taxes. I sit there and radiate bad energy. I feel for the accountant and yet hate taxes so much that it cancels out my pity and the whole experience is, let's just say, very negative. Everyone is happy when it's over.

Anyhoo, although the taxes worked out alright - and I use that term oh so loosely - I lost a lot of money on tutoring in 2014. Mostly because of mileage put on my car and the cost of research and supplies in support of the lessons. I put over 6,000 miles on my car! If you knew how little I get paid for tutoring, you would be reaching for the shot glasses right now.

So.

That totally affirmed my decision.

Does this mean you're going to be home more? **sigh**

There are a couple of clients I'm going to keep, but my work load will be much more manageable.

Yesterday I also had an interview for a teaching opportunity in the summer. Cross your fingers for me.

And that's all I got. If I don't hop to it on this latest Austen novel, I can kiss grad school goodbye. So, I'll end on this note...

Some snapshots of life, lately:

TGIF, people!

Holy Roman Empire

Remember like 1,000 years ago when Saturday Night Live used to have that running skit with Mike Myers (I think) dressed up as the older Jewish lady? He would mention some kind of a topic and then say, "Talk amongst ya selves..."

Well, there was one that we used to mimic in high school. He said, "The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire..."

That's how Lit Society was last night.

You know the drill; it's all about the book and the food. Well, I hadn't read the book (what, with reading 4 novels the last 2 weeks - not kidding) and we weren't planning on going all out with the food. So, it was an unusual, but much needed, night!

I say we weren't planning to go all out with the food, but then this happened. A lobster pasta that I basically double fisted into my mouth within 5 minutes. This is what Chef Campo calls "whipping something up." Really? To me, whipping something up involves a call to Papa John's.

Thanks to a recipe from A-Peep, I brought the bomb of all desserts. A chocolate chip cookie crust, topped with double stuffed Oreos, topped with a dark chocolate brownie. It's elastic waistband all the time around here.

We talked a bit about the book (the review must wait 1,000 years until I have the time to read it) and mostly just caught up. My life is not all that manageable right now, and I needed a sanity check from my peeps. Things are good, just a bit out of control, and the Type A's don't like it when things get out of control. The Type A's want to reel it back in and force it into submission. And life just doesn't work that way.

Anyhoo, is this the cutest little bun bun you've ever seen or what?

Also? The weather has been magnificent lately. Like, in the 60's and 70's. It has felt like spring and has been super sunny. I think it's supposed to snow today or something. Because, you know, it's Denver.

OK, time to chug my coffee and go do the writing consultant thing. I'm so tired, I want to be like, "Here's the thing. I'm going to nap under the table while you write an introductory paragraph, OK? Thanks."

Break

Yesterday I took a much-needed break for a ladies' day with The Russkie. First there was brunch - BRUNCH! The best meal ever created! - at Boulder Cafe.

It occurs to me that, since most of you don't know her, you might picture The Russkie with a thick accent, toting a flask of vodka under her fir-trimmed hat. That's not actually the case, but go ahead and keep picturing her that way, just for fun! I call Putin "her boy" which she totally loves, let me tell you. And when Russia is in the news, I call her out on what "her people" are up to. It's a miracle she's willing to be seen in public with me, like, at all.

Southwest Eggs Benedict. Be still my beating heart.

Russkie got this egg quiche tortilla thing that was divine.

Then we saw the movie. Which I totally want to talk about, but first, I want to give props to the crunchy and organic people of Boulder for their outstanding movie theaters. We just went to the regular ole theater, nothing (I thought) fancy. Um, wrong. Um, I'm going to all the movies in the future at this place. They served Starbucks coffee (!) and real Boulder Creamery Ice Cream (!). What?? So, you know, THIS happened.

I used my waffle cone as a spoon. I may have also made grunting and snorting sounds.

The stadium seating was super steep as well, which I love, because then I don't have to grind my teeth during all the trailers, waiting for a giant to plop down directly in front of me. And the seats were super duper cushioned! More cushy for the tushy!

So, the movie: American Sniper

Source

The Clint Eastwood-directed film is based on the true story of Chris Kyle, who became one of the Army's most successful snipers in all of history. I've mentioned this before, but I have this thing about going to see certain based-on-real-life-current-war-movies (Zero Dark Thirty, Lone Survivor) because it helps me really picture what things are like, and what people go through. Even though it's Hollywood's version, still. I think many people appreciate the movie as an "experience" like I do.

Bradley Cooper did such a great job. Wow. Just, wow. The beginning of the movie was really slow as they developed Chris's character. This is truly a movie about him, not just his Army service, so there was a lot of cinematic attention paid to his youth and home life that I wasn't expecting. The movie, even while watching it, felt slow. But the cinematography, acting, screen shots, effects, everything, were superb. I recommend this with a caveat: there are some scenes with kids that might offend you (violence).

All in all, I need more days like yesterday. I will pay you $1,000 to clean my house and do my taxes for me. Also, please ensure that we get a $10,000-$20,000 refund in order to take several vacations next year. Thanks.

TGIF <--- this one's for the kids

This is how Lucy plays.