Scattered

Hey, remember when I was posting daily?! Ah, that was fun.

Things here have  been par for the course in terms of the RCI (Relative Crazy Index).  I'm trying to add in some true, quality down time for myself and family, though, so even though my world is not necessarily any more chaotic than it was, the moments that I was stealing for posting have been redistributed to the family.  And rightfully so.

So today will be bullets! Yay! (What? You don't love bulleted posts? Fine, we'll do numbers.  Better? No?!)

1. This past weekend was a lovely, unplugged weekend.  We played outdoors (it's been in the upper 80s here right up until today, when the highs will be in the 40s), sat still, cooked dinners, ate at the picnic table, flew kites, kicked soccer balls, climbed trees, took pictures, went to a friend's birthday party, and generally tried to enjoy life instead of maintaining a fever-pitch of freak-out.
2. Todd may be joining a big real estate "team".  They've got business and leads and processes to help him take the paperwork off his plate so he can focus on generating more business.  And they offer health insurance.  Which is HUGE. Because ours just went up. Again. For the second time in six months.  There's one more interview/Q&A type meeting that will happen either tomorrow or Friday, and if he takes the position, a 28-day training next month.
3. I had some big, big projects through an ad agency over the last couple of weeks that kept me super-busy and really engaged.  I love gigs like that.  Plus, it's fun knowing that some of you may already be reading and reacting to my work without knowing it! HEE!  It's a big ginormo company's campaign - so big I can't say who!
4. I'm a bit hopeful that there might be a long-term contract or potentially even a fulll-time job from aforementioned agency.  But I'm still feeling to jinxy to say much about that. (Not that there's really anything to say other than my fingers are crossed, and the clients have had great things to say about my efforts.)
5. My new company (providing professional and creative services to non-profits) is part way through our work with our first client.  It's challenging and fun and definitely a learning process.  They're a national civil rights group - well, international, really. And I can't wait until our rebranding is done so I can share that with you.
6. I think I'm going to start selling some images through ImageKind, so look for a link or something in the sidebar soon.
7. Speaking of sidebars, you may have noticed (if you're clicking through, ahem) that there's a tip jar up there begging soliciting sponsorship for BlogHer's conference this year. I was heartbroken to have to skip Mom Summit 2.0, and I'm determined to get out there and see what new horizons await me and this blog.  If you have any ideas about sponsorship or how I might give back if you were to sponsor me, please let me know.  Some of you mentioned ideas earlier in the year and I'd be happy to revisit those.
8. I'm reading through the Highly Sensitve Person book and decided to cut back my caffeine intake, since it seems I am quite sensitve to it.  I was down to a single cup of coffee in the morning.  But then we had two days of client meetings downtown that read more like counseling sessions, et voila, back to two cups or more.  I'll try again, though.
9. I'm also working out a bit in the evenings. If doing sit ups, push ups, and lunges counts as a "work out".  It's amazing how quickly I feel better about myself with so little work, relatively.
10. Taxes. UGH. We never heard back from our tax lady, so I'm about to have my parents' CPA look it over instead.  Lord help us, I can barely stand to think about that.
11. The girls' Standford accounts (with the money my parents had put aside for the college education) have been unfrozen. We're working on transfering those today.  My parents' church's account was unfrozen as well.  That's a big relief.  My parents' accounts, though, including all cash accounts, are still locked down.  And that just flat sucks.
12. We have moved into the most immediate of hand-to-mouth situations with our money.  I'm going to call credit card companies today to see if we qualify for any programs or can get some relief somehow, in the form of lower rates or... well, whatever.  Wish me luck.  I hate having my hat in hand.
13. Hannah is awesome. And brilliant. And sensitive. And perfect.
14. Caroline is hilarious. And quick. And beautiful. And too big now! And has now developed callouses on the tips of her toes... so I'm going to go ahead and call ECI.
15. Anyone wanna volunteer to ressurect my blog roll? 'Cause I really need to... but just can't seem to find the time. Shouldn't blog readers allow you to export your blog roll somehow?  Get on that, programmers.
16. Kudos to any of you who managed to read all of this. :)

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