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The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread (TGTSSB)

I already knew that Greg was fantastic, but recent events merely confirm that he is The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread (TGTSSB):

- Given my major deadlines and stressful work life going on at the moment, I declared no more cooking or other hobby-ing for two weeks until all of my deadlines have cleared
- He replied that he would take care of it
- I said thanks, we'll have fun eating out more
- He said, no, he'll cook. And shop. And take care of the dogs. And do all of the cleaning. And basically just let me sit in the office for two weeks and work without having a single responsibility, stopping in every once and a while to give me a hug and ask me how it's going

Not only did he say he would do this...but he actually has done all of the things listed above. Everything. Cleaning, shopping, everything. He's not just cooking, but he's cooking* the way I like to cook so that I can get the food that I enjoy (and boy am I a foodie): healthy, nutritious, mind motivating food. I am currently enjoying a fantastic packed lunch.

Gosh I love TGTSSB. Thanks to Greg for being awesomely supportive.

*also occasionally bringing me fresh glasses of water with sliced lemon. He's a keeper.

I am a mean, lean...err, blogging? machine!

Okay, so I've had a little trouble lately. Well, a lot of trouble. Between the wedding, some general meloncholy, PMS, other sorts of "women troubles", and I don't know what else...I have been completely and utterly unable to concentrate.

Normally this would not be such a terrible thing. I blessed with a fairly flexible, albeit extremely low paying, job that I can make my own hours in and get work done when I want to. That's all great. Except for now. When I have a huge deadline. A major, major, gigantic deadline. Something unavoidable. Something that I am entirely and singularly responsible for.

So I started early. Real early. I was quite proud of myself. I got a good running jump into the project, hit brick wall, sat back for a minute and decided that, hmm, what I really need is some perspective. I'll take a few weeks (2) to do some other things, return to this, and bang the whole thing out in no time at all.

Yeah right.

2 weeks turned into 3 weeks. I returned to the project, expecting it all to fly by so quickly... and realized that I am just as burned out now as I was 3 weeks ago, only now I have 3 less weeks with which I can make this all come together.

I have been struggling to say the least. And I have been in a terribly mood as a result. And I have also been succeptible to all sorts of distractions.

Until now: this lovely saturday morning, where I am sitting holed up in my office with ~100 journal articles categorized in neat little piles on the table in front of me and a 20 page report that needs about 10 more pages and all-of-the-figures-completely-reworked like a blinking little reminder on my laptop.

I am doing fantastic. I am a mean, lean, writing machine.......

Errr.

I am a mean, lean, keeping on task machine......

Uhm.

Okay.

I admit it.

I'm a mean, lean, blogging machine!

(Somebody save me!!!)

Sam The Fish: RIP

Just recently I mentioned that one of the things that I love about Greg is how he insists on keeping the one tiny fish alive that we have sitting in a huge 50 gallon tank (all of the other fish got The Ick and died several months ago). This tiny little thing, no more than a few cm's in length, had a tremendously traumatic day... which ended by his eventual demise in a much smaller (but better decorated) home.

Here's how the day proceeded.

8:00am Humans feed fish. Best Part of Day.
8:50am Humans gone for the day. Swimming, swimming, swimming . . .
1:00pm (Approximately) Strange splitting noise... that's odd. Swimming, swimming, swiming . . .
1:10pm Sound of dropping water. Where's that coming from?
2:00pm Volume of house appears to be decreasing slowly.
3:00pm Rapidly losing water!!
4:00pm Water everywhere! Dogs confused! Nowhere left to swim!
4:30pm Somebody come home! Situation getting dire! Fish can't swim around anymore!
5:30pm Humans return. Mop up water. Can't find fish. Tank is ruined, almost no water left.
5:45pm Humans locate fish! Save little critter (now named Sam) in small glass jar.
6:20pm Human female delights in locating larger glass house for fish: decorates with pretty clean pebbles and lush green plants. Smaller house, but nicer! Better real estate too.
6:30pm Human conditions water, tests for pH and ammonia. Looks good! Pours little Sam into his new home
6:40pm Sam free to swim around in new home
7:00pm Following apparent suicide attempt, new home is covered with heavy book.
9:00pm Humans return to check on Sam, find him Belly Up at the bottom of his new clean house.

What a sad day for that little fish!!

Mind Mush Madness

Dear someone please save me from this mind-mush-madness.

My mind is total mush. Completely and utter mud. I can't think, analyze, or write. I am quite able to waste hours upon hours of time surfing the net, looking at Italian villas, or cooking way too fancy meals that are quickly consumed and require cleaning up after . . . but I seem to be incapable of work. Any kind of work. Even knowing that I have a very serious deadline rapidly approaching - knowing that I am reaching the point of no return, when there's literally not enough time to prepare the things to have them finished in time for the deadline - even then, I can't seem to focus.

Is this a function of the wedding planning? The bad weather? My almost always varying mood? Maybe I'm just burned out or something... I did work really hard in the weeks leading up to my currently general malaise. Or is just PMS?! (something I think all women recognize, but hate to admit)

Whateva' it is, I don't like it!

(P.S. I think my MMM title is fantastic. I've always appreciated strings of words that all start with the same letter)