Joely Sue Burkhart

Y’all know I’m a Missouri girl through and through, raised on a little country farm.  The most exotic thing I’ve ever done is take some French classes at Drury a hundred years ago, which I sucked at, by the way.

So last night was our little adult dinner get-together with That Man’s brothers and their wives.  We had a little surprise:  his parents arrived unexpectedly from the Lake of the Ozarks.  We left the monsters with their cousins and headed to the Metropolitan Grill, my choice this time.  We’re having a lovely time visiting, when Aunt BB left to use the restroom.

She came back glowing with excitement.  “They have a bidet!  You’ve got to try it!”

Now this wasn’t any boring old bidet by any means.  This one was programmable with a heated seat.  Oscilliate or pulse?  Front or back?  Dry? 

I’m not kidding.  We giggled and laughed throughout the rest of the dinner, with BB encouraging all of us to drink faster so we could all try the restroom.  She challenged me to try it, and you know I never refuse a challenge.  Write a zombie love story?  I’m there.  Try an electronic bidet?  Ooookay.

They had a sign in the restroom with instructions on how to work the thing, and the header was “To Bidet or Not to Bidet.”  That cracked me up and I was sold.  Of course I tried it.

I don’t think they’re going to let me go back to the Metropolitan Grill.

Kidding.  I didn’t blow up anything.  But you know my history with power cords…

I’m cursed, I say, cursed.  I’ve had so many computer problems over the years, almost all involving power cords in some fashion.  This laptop is not quite a year old yet, but it’s been through hell. 

There was the coffee spill…  I was sitting outside in the garage while the monsters rode their bikes last summer, and Middle Monster ran into my chair on her bike, spilling coffee all over me and the laptop.  Brand new keyboard, but at least the motherboard was fine.  However, while it was in the shop, they had to replace the power cord for some reason with a junky replacement one.  The original Toshiba cord just quit working.

Then two nights ago, I was sitting here in my green chair writing while That Man watched TV and I heard a strange snapping sound.  Coming from my computer.  No, coming from the power cord…  YIKES.  The flexible bendy part had a short in it!

So I went back to the computer place yesterday for yet another cord.  At least he had one in stock that does fit, and it’s a better quality one than the other.  (Cost me double, too.)

Writers beware:  keep my away from your power cords!!

No issues getting home from my jam-packed trip to St. Paul for work.  I think we fell into bed around midnight last night, which makes for a long day.  I’ve got a load of laundry going, the monsters picked out their Build-A-Bear animals (so I didn’t have to bring home goodies on the plane), picked up the dog from the kennel (That Man refuses to keep him home if I’m not here), and I even made a trip to Bath and Body Works at the mall.

What a great trip.  I miss Minnesota already.  I definitely miss Wanda and all my friends and co-workers.  Sigh.  Sis, I think I could use a hug!!

The fifteenth floor of the hotel is sweltering.  I have my window open, listening to the traffic of downtown St. Paul.  It sounds strangely familiar, since we lived in an apartment here for over a year before Princess Monster was born, directly across the street from the fire/police station and across the freeway from a hospital.

Work has been crazy but fun as I get to catch up with people I haven’t seen in months, and some I’ve only talked to on the phone and never met face to face.  Today I have a 3 hour meeting and then another 1 1/2 hour meeting in the afternoon.  Sounds like fun, huh?  Meanwhile, of course, I have tons of programming, reading, and documentation tasks I need to complete.  I typically have to “go home” to get my “normal” work done. 

I’ve been getting up at 4:00 a.m. so I can write.  Yesterday I got 1264 words and finished a 713 word guest blog which will go up at Southern Fried Chicas Wednesday (huge thank you to Tanya for the invite!).  Today I got 1315 words.  Gregar is pleased but also pushing me harder.  I was hoping to get 10K this week, and a total of 50K by the end of the month.  I can make it, if I can keep up this pace.

Tonight I have dinner plans with several people from work so I have no idea how late we’ll be out.  Getting up at the butt crack of dawn has only been possible because I’ve been going to bed well before 10:00.  We’ll see if I can make it tomorrow morning.  I meant to go to bed at 9:00 last night but HAD to finish The Duke of Shadows.  Oh, dear, how I bawled.  Even Passion didn’t make my blubber so much.  THAT is the reason I haven’t been able to get my arms around RHP, because I want that kind of emotion and characterization in the story.  Unfortunately, my character was named Emmaline too.  So her name will be changing when I get back to those revisions.

I’m writing this blog entry from lovely St. Paul, MN where I’ll spend the week visiting the Evil Day Job home office.  Some notes about the trip up here:

1. Despite our lawn needing to be mowed, it was SNOWING when we left the house this morning.
2. We left the house at 4:30 a.m. so we could eat breakfast together at the IHOP.  It’s tradition.
3. It was FRIGID on the plane.  After a few minutes, the pilot came on the speaker and informed us the heater was broken, but he assured us the plane would warm once we were in the air.  Oh, goody, it’s always comforting to hear that something is BROKEN on the AIRPLANE.  Even something as little as a heater.
4. A few minutes later, the pilot came on the speaker again and said that since it was so cold on the plane, they’d emptied the water reservoir to ensure it didn’t freeze.  (Yes, it was that cold.)  And so they couldn’t make coffee.  I’ve been up since 4:00 a.m. and there’s no coffee???  *dies*
5. The flight was uneventful (and warm once we were in the air).  I’m reading Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran.
6. After landing, we sat on the tarmac for 10-15 minutes or longer.  I don’t know exactly.  I did say I was reading.  But Wanda definitely had to wait on me to hike out of Concourse C and find my baggage.
7. Wanda and I spent an incredible day talking, shopping, drinking coffee, talking, eating, talking, talking books, talking… 
8. So far, I haven’t needed my jacket HERE although there is still snow on the ground in places.  Okay, I did get a little chilly after dinner, but it was still bright and sunny.
9. I’m heading to bed shortly because I plan on getting up around 4:00 a.m. tomorrow to write before getting read for work.  Yes, I am insane but Gregar is adamant.  My biggest worry is that Caribou Coffee doesn’t open until 6:00 a.m. and so I’ll have to drink hotel swill. 

One year H&R Block lost our entire return…

The first year we moved to MO and had MN taxes to file at the same time, I paid an accountant over $250 to file both state returns.  The MO return was wrong (despite hiring a MO accountant!!!), and I had to pay penalties…

Another year, the “fast tax” place on the corner filed our child tax credit wrong and I had to pay penalties…

And so I’ve been doing our taxes ever since using TurboTax.  I figure I can’t do much worse than these other places.  Right?  RIGHT?

I always change my mind about midway through and kick myself for not hiring someone else.  I persevered, though, and the 2007 taxes are done!  E-Filed!  And we don’t have to pay!  *whew*

My reward:  watching Gordon Ramsey puke on Hell’s Kitchen.  Priceless.