We have a nice canteloupe vine growing in the lawn at the foot of the basketball standard. We didn't plant it, but we look forward to eating it.

I'm going to have to drive up to the next county today. The initial plan to have that final interview in this town has been changed.

There are good things about that. For one thing, I can see just exactly how horrible I find the drive. Since I have the tiniest sliver of possibility of taking that job in my mind, the drive might get rid of it once and for all.

For another, it will give me a good opportunity to listen to the CDs from the Rosetta Stone program and give them a fair review, too.

I still haven't decided what to wear. Two suits for two interviews seemed like plenty, nd here I am having a third interview with the same person. If I'd been thinking about this sufficiently ahead of time, I could have made or bought a summer dress which would work with one of the jackets, but also be worn for the rest of the summer in other circumstances.

When I checked my email this morning, the first thing I saw was a response to one of my link requests. A link request is just an email to someone suggesting that your client (or you, of course)  has a web site that would be interesting to that person's readers, so they should add a link to your (or your client's) site at their site. Most people don't answer these at all. Sometimes including me. So it's nice when somebody answers. It's especially nice when they answer affirmatively.

This person had googled me and listed in her response several of the ventures I am or have been associated with, asking how my tech workshops had gone and why the link to the store redirected.

I was a little taken aback. I hadn't thought of the possibility of people I'm sending link requests to going to the trouble of looking me up.

Of course, it's always a possibility, and fortunately my life is an open book, and even more fortunately, I don't misrepresent myself when making link requests, so there's nothing wrong with it, but it was eye-opening.

Eye-opening is something I need today. Maybe another cup of tea will help.

I spent the day yesterday in this nice bookstore. I was plying the Dark Art most of the day, though I did buy some peaches from a local orchard and chat with a local masseuse about her need for a web site.

The bookstore is one of my clients, and I mind it for the proprietor when she's on the road. She's a one-man band, so it's good for her to have someone like me available. It's great for me that I can work anywhere there's internet access.

When she came in, we had a good conversation on ways to follow up on the contacts she collected from her conference, e-mail marketing, and point of sale software.

That stuff is very expensive. I had no idea.

I got one of the new-client reports done, communicated with several other clients, and had an email from the Computer Guy about my own web site, which he is building for me. He was stuck.

Apparently, my collection of images, which I delivered along with a request that he avoid symmetry and a few paragraphs on the impression I wanted the site to give, wasn't enough for him to come up with a visual plan for the site. He asked me to go around and look at other content provider's websites and tell him which ones I liked. This I was able to do. It was easy for me to determine, within seconds really, whether I liked them or not, and I could usually articulate what I liked about them. However, I question whether it is going to be useful information or not. The only thing I noticed their having in common (apart from asymmetry) was a preponderance of vague leafy things or tentacles encroaching upon the horizontal blocks from an upper corner.

It began to feel like some sort of psychological test. Yes, I like the minimalist pink and black one with the branch coming from the top corner. And I like the soft ivory one with ironic pencils and the strange gray tendrils swirling out of the corner. And the black one with brilliant smears of color and the arabesques coming from the corner. And the steel-blue one with the DNA spirals reaching out from the corner. And the bright purple one with the octopus attacking from the corner.

I made the octopus up. And I hated the bright purple one.

Still, once I looked at them all, it did seem as though mysterious things writhing out from the corner was what they all had in common.

Just in case you haven't memorized my recent posts, I offer you the images I sent to the Computer Guy. Maybe he can arrange for these things to writhe out from the corner.

Upon arriving at home, I found that my copy of Rosetta Stone French had arrived.

I am to review this, and of course I'll have to do quite a bit of it before I can give it a fair review. At the very least. I will have to do enough to have run into some new information so I can say whether or not it works.

 So I jumped right in and did the first lesson yesterday and the second one this morning. There are 48 altogether. It takes about half an hour to do a lesson, and it is enjoyable. It does get a little slow if you already know it all, but we know that I have the attention span of a gnat anyway.

Here's how it works: you sit at the computer with a headset on and read things, listen to things, click on pictures that match the things you read or hear, and repeat things.

Actually, by the second lesson, you're answering "oui" or "non." Presumably we will build onto this, and soon I will be chatting away with the computer about Descartes.

When I said "sandwich" with a "sh" sound rather than "ch" sound, which is how I've always said that word in French, the computer made a little sad noise at me, and also when I typed in "fille" rather than "une fille," but when you are correct it makes a little harp sound.

The pictures are very nice. You can imagine happy little stories going on behind the photograph of seven middle-aged people simultaneously lifting coffee cups or three women sporting about in the park. They all seem to be having fun, and the voices informing you that the men eat rice or the horses do not swim or whatever it might be are very happy about it, too.

So far I haven't encountered anything that was actually new to me, but I can say "Les femmes boivent" with complete confidence, where yesterday I would have had to say, "Les femmes..." and then pause for a long time to try to remember how to conjugate the word for "drink," so that's progress right there.

My third interview for that job is set up, or nearly so. At the moment, it seems as though I may be able to do it here in town rather than driving up to the next county, and that would be good. Client #2 says he is almost completely comfortable with my posting his blog every other week and foresees going to a weekly posting. Client #4 is almost through the purgatory of trying to get her domain transferred, and I'll tell you for free that without me it wouldn't have happened at all.

In the course of working for Client #6 yesterday, I came upon this very cool site: Saints Preserved. I immediately thought of some birthdays that are coming up, but there is also lots of interesting information. Much of it is about saints, but there is also what Einstein said about bees, and Celtic music, and stuff about passenger pigeons, and really I was quite fascinated.

Today is Wednesday, but I have no marathon this afternoon, as there is a summer break. Just one class. So I think I should be able to get to the gym and get in plenty of hours for my big client, and do my GTD processing and catch up on any things that need doing for my smaller clients, and then relax in the evening. That's my plan.

Do you like to talk about politics? I do.

Recently during a Scrabble game, a desultory conversation arose about a conversation we'd had earlier that day. Partygirl had told us that she knew a lot of Catholics who were "voting their religion" -- that is, voting for McCain in spite of his clear problems because he was less likely to favor access to abortion than Obama.

"She's a reformed Republican, you know," I said.

Now, I like to talk about politics, but I don't like to argue about it. I try not to say any Fighting Words, including words like "reformed Republican" if that would be Fighting Words to someone in the room.

The "someone in the room" bit is touchy, I know. My friend Elkhorn and I are both white women married to men of other races, and both of us have had the experience of someone's saying some racist thing in front of us and then apologizing on the grounds that they didn't know we were in mixed marriages. I don't accept those apologies. If you only make racist remarks when everyone in the room with you shares your ethnic background, or only say nasty things about some religious group when you think nobody present is a member of that group, or avoid making your sexist remarks in mixed company -- well, you're a bigot, that's what.

But inflammatory political remarks are part of our heritage here in Hamburger-a-go-go-land. And I was there in a room containing intelligent young people doing things like working for Legal Aid, so I didn't expect any of them to be Republicans.

One of them was.

"Really?" I said in a benign voice. "Did you vote for Bush?"

"Yes," he growled. "And it's not as though I'm not smart enough to defend myself."

There was a silence.

Not smart enough. Where had that come from? The guy was beating me at Scrabble. #2 daughter was beating him, of course, but she's a Scrabble shark. There hadn't been any threateningly intellectual conversations or anything. Physics had not been mentioned.

...to defend myself. And where had that come from? I had given him home-baked cookies. No one was wearing a gun. The guy's a law student, for heaven's sake. You'd think he would be familiar enough with situations requiring a person to defend himself that it would be clear that my living room, with cookies and Scrabble, wasn't such a situation.

Are young Republicans just feeling defensive these days?

The silence lengthened. I asked his opinion about McCain and listened respectfully and nodded a lot. We had a chat about vice presidential prospects. We moved on.

I've got to quit stereotyping.

Yesterday we sang "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" as a quartet in the early service, and then a Jane Marshall piece in the second service, did the grocery shopping and made further progress with the book audition, talked with #2 son on the phone, and then I went back to church for the ice cream social, at which I sang three pieces with the choir and eight with the choirlet, and then rang three pieces with the bells, following which I stayed and talked with people for a bit and then came home for a heart-to-heart with #1 daughter.

I have a lot to do today as well. I need to take a hostess packet to Partygirl, get Client #2's blog post to him, make a brochure for Client #5, and do four hours for my big client. That's leaving aside the question of going up to the next county to finish up the interview process, which I may not do at all.

One thing I am determined to do is to get to the gym. I've been getting in a walk or a gym visit about twice a week recently, and that just isn't enough.

#2 son asked me whether I thought that lack of motivation was the main thing that kept people from working out. I guess it must be. We all make time for the things we really care about.

But I've also heard that the people most likely to keep to a regular workout schedule are the ones with the best problem-solving skills. Where many of us let things like limited time or child-care issues or -- well, you can probably make a list yourself -- keep us from getting our thirty minutes a day, these stalwart problem-solvers just figure out how to manage it.

With them as my inspiration, I plan to drop off the hostess packet on my way to the gym, think through that paid blog post on the treadmill, and be back at the computer in plenty of time for a full workday.

Yesterday at the ice cream social, one of the guys was telling us about a retreat he'd been on. He talked about the old mansion it had been held at and the amazing guy who had been heading it up and his work with the Red Cross -- and I thought, oh yes, Rockfish does their web site.

So, yes, it might be good to trade some computer time for some gym time.

On the Summer Reading Challenge, I'm still reading Brain Wiprud. I'm now on Sleeping with the Fishes, which doesn't yet have the taxidermist hero, but which does have long descriptions of fishing. Not, so far, that great a trade-off. I used to go fishing with my hsuband when we were younger, but my part was lying in the canoe and reading.

There was no hike yesterday.

Instead, #2 daughter and I went to the fabric store to complete the shopping for #1 son's quilt.

Here are the fabrics, and I am using the traditional "Patience Corners" pattern. This is a block that uses two squares inside borders, and the print with the cool little Celtic knot squares will furnish just two squares per block.

Not that I am about to start a new quilt, let's face it. But #2 daughter is the only person I know who would willingly come with me to find the perfect solid color to go with the prints. She was also the one who could help figure out how much fabric was needed and how to distribute the fabrics.

This is one of those blocks that can look very different depending how you arrange it: see here and here.

We then went to buy the birthday vacuum cleaner, and had a call from an old friend of #2 daughter's asking us to  meet him for coffee, which we did. While there, I had a call from Partygirl asking us to drop in for mimosas, which we also did.

Next was lunch with my parents, and then we worked a bit on the book proposal, and rounded out the day with a long session of Scrabble.

In and among these activities, I got a little more done on Erin, which continues to vie for the title of World's Longest-Running WIP.

Today we have a lot of church and music. We have not yet arranged any cake, so that has to happen in there somewhere.

Yesterday went according to plan. I worked intensely for a couple of hours and then headed up to lunch with The Empress, That Man, and The Poster Queen. We hadn't all been together since the store closed.

#1 daughter had warned me not to appear too happy or successful, since of course that is irritating, so I took the opportunity to whine about the insecurity of being unemployed. The Empress spoke in strong terms about the unwisdom of accepting the job I'm currently in the throes of interviewing for. In fact, everyone I know -- except for the ladies at the church who said that the economy is uncertain so I should take what I can get -- has told me not to take that job. I intend to finish the interview process, at least, though the degree to which I dread driving up there on Monday ought to tell me something.

The book What Color is Your Parachute claims that jobhunting support groups are very helpful, and I have sort of thought that we displaced workers from the store could do that for one another, but we haven't done so.

My business cards arrived. I'm not 100% satisfied with them -- they seem less readable than I'd like, and the margins aren't perfect, but they are fairly cool-looking, and #1 daughter said, "Why can't you make your web site look like that?" That seems like a positive reaction. So as soon as my web site is live, I'll head out to do some marketing for myself, rather than other people, and see what happens.

If you are thinking that I was foolish to put my web address on my cards before the site was up, do not worry. I have my domain. it just says "under construction" on it still.

From lunch, I went to the funeral. It was a lovely service, and very touching. I didn't start crying in earnest till after we sang the anthem, which is all you can expect. It is hard to sing while crying: you tend to go off pitch, and the breathing doesn't go quite right. So it is best to hold off of thinking about the person in whose honor you're singing until after the major singing.

Then home and some intense further work for my big client. I have a Monday deadline from Client #2, but he emailed me that he was on the road, so I don't think it'll have to be first thing Monday. I therefore quit working when I got to quitting time.

I was very tired. This may be partly lack of sleep, but I think it was also partly the emotional fatigue of the funeral. I watched "Hot Fuzz" with #1 son, and then #2 daughter arrived with her pictures from the trip to Switzerland and Italy, and I got to hear all about it.

I'm still somewhat tired. The dog started whining in the middle of the night, and then I was awakened by a leg cramp.

This is when a muscle in your calf inexplicably ties itself into a hard and painful knot. My husband had this happen last week, and I told him it was from lack of calcium, making it sound as though it was all his fault. I had this happen last night -- in spite of having lived largely on pizza and ice cream lately -- and my husband rubbed it for me. He is clearly nicer than I am.

I intend to wake #2 daughter up and persuade her to go on a hike with me. We have a book proposal to work on, and also lunch with my parents,  and I plan to buy her a vacuum cleaner for her birthday. Not much of a gift, you are thinking, but the girl doesn't have a vacuum cleaner. If I buy it for her, then she can use the funds she would have spent on the vacuum to get something more frivolous for herself.

We must also come by a cake somehow. Janalisa gave me this amazing book of cake decoration, and #1 son said he'd help me make an amazing cake. Once we looked through the book, though, we determined that our skills were not at the level of the book, so I may swing by the bakery and hope that there is a cake hanging around waiting for us to need it.

We can have #2 daughter look through the book while she eats the cake, just in case it really is the thought that counts.

My second meeting with the regional director went well, and I got to meet all the staff at the closest site. They want me to go up to the next county to meet the staff there on Monday. I knew most of the staff there already, at least slightly, and they honestly seemed happy.

Yes, I have what amounts to a third interview, and I have worn both my suits. We'll see what happens.

I received my contract from the encyclopedia, got my hours in for my big client, checked in with several of my small clients, started the current assignment from my mdidle-sized client, and got some stuff done for the book audition.

Today I'll be out of the house quite a lot for nonwork stuff, so I hope to get an early start on the hours for my big client. I only have another week or two to work for them, unless my contract is renewed, so I am trying to power out and get lots done. Fortunately, I am not allowed to do any extra hours for them, so I'm not dealing with that temptation.

Yesterday was also the day for the Amazon Viners to hover vulture-like over the refresh button at precisely 2:00 my time. I don't always do the hovering, but last month I missed -- by seconds -- the silver bamboo drawing pad, so this month I did.

There was a delay of just about half an hour.

During that time, the Vine forum had about 112 messages. At first it was "Where's the list?" and then it was, "Can I go do something else for a while? I'm supposed to be having blood drawn but I don't want to miss it," and then there were speculations on what the month's goodies would be. After a bit the comments veered towards, "We're all going to get fired while trying to get free cashews."

And indeed I did have to add half an hour to my work day, because once you've sat at your refresh button for fifteen minutes you just can't possibly leave before the end.

I snaffled a set of the Rosetta Stone in French. I've looked at samples of the Rosetta Stone back when I was a bookseller, and we decided not to carry it.

However, I have been speaking French not very well for my entire life. I can read it pretty well, and watch movies, and I sound like a native, if you don't listen to how bad my grammar is, but my productive skill is very low.

So, since I have acres of free time, I figure I can quickly learn to speak French properly, or at least see whether the claims for the Rosetta Stone are accurate or not.

#2 daughter is coming down this evening. Caloo callay. Actually, I don't remember how to spell that.

Here's a picture from the last walk I went on, several days ago now. Sigh.

The interview went well. Not immediately, mind you, because I was late. This is because I had a lot of work to do before I left, and then I turned the wrong way and got a bit lost. I was glad to have my cell phone with me, so I could call and claim that I was lost, not late.

Once there, however, I was fortunate. The regional director gave me a tour of the site which afforded me the opportunity to ask perceptive questions and demonstrate that I was familiar with all their materials.Then we had one of those nice interviews which is more like a conversation between new friends. I like her very much. As I was on my way out, she asked my opinion of the marketing piece she was working on, and I had the opportunity to answer in a way that -- whether it was helpful to her or not -- showed that I know my stuff when it comes to that kind of question, and that I can give honest feedback in a pleasant and respectful way, which is always good in a management position.

I think they'll offer me the job. I don't know if I'll take it. Apart from the whole question of how hard it was to fit the interview into my workday, so maybe I shouldn't really be interviewing, there are a couple of negatives. One is that I'd be responsible not only for the local site, which is about 3 minutes from my house, but also for the one in the next county to the north.

Alert readers who never miss a day and have total recall will be thinking that most of my job opportunities have been in the county to the north. They are having a growth spurt. It may well be that commuting would be a feature of my life if I found a salaried job. Would the stress of commuting negate the relaxing effect of having a salary?

It is also a fairly high-powered job. I seriously doubt that I could combine it with my freelance work. It's marketing and admin, not direct service provision. There is a strong element of sales. I might enjoy it, but I am not at all sure that I would.

They had me come home and take a personality inventory online. This was interesting. I have by now done some online applications, and many of them have a section where you answer questions like "Agree or disagree: sometimes I just want to take a hatchet to difficult coworkers." I figured it would be one of those. It was not. It was a test in which you rank things from best to worst. The interesting thing about it, for me, was that the things being ranked were not comparable at all.

The practice set had the following items: nuclear war, cold coffee, a friendly greeting, an incorrect answer, a broken TV set. Then there were five or six real sets with about 18 items in each. They had you rank the relative worth of things like a father-in-law, a working refrigerator, and a mother's love for her child. Then there was one with statements like, "My work is meaningless" and "The better I understand my place in the universe, the better I am at my work."

I think it would have been fun to discuss. However, it was timed. We were told it should take 20-40 minutes, but I did it in 11. I think this is because I read very fast, but they may think I am a light-minded individual who doesn't think deeply before saying that someone who loves to kill people is worse than someone who completely destroys all food crops.

They are having me back this morning to meet the rest of the staff. How fortunate that #2 daughter helped me buy two suits! Going back in the same thing would really have made it look like that was my interview suit, which of course it was, and not as though I were the kind of individual who wears suits.

Unless my personality test revealed something horrible about me (okay, I admit it, I had a very hard time putting "a love of justice" above "correct grammar," and I'm not completely sure that I did so), we will probably have a conversation about salary. My plan at the moment is to ask to think about it over the weekend.

I have of course been thinking about how much they'd have to offer for it to be worthwhile I am a little bit shocked at how much higher this number is, now that I have been a computer guy for while, than it was when I applied for this position back in April.

I told the women in my afternoon class about the interview, and one said, "If you've got a job in this uncertain economy, you should keep it."

"I don't have a job," I assured her.

Several told me that with the economy as uncertain as it is, I should take the job. One told me that I should check back on the other things I've applied for and see whether they are also beginning to interview.

After the interview, I dropped by the Computer Guy's office. I came home after that, dissected the whole thing over lunch with #1 daughter, did the online test the company asked for, and then did my four hours for the big client, three hours of assorted music practice and classes at the church, and then another hour for another of my clients.

After this morning's callback, I need to pick up a key from another client. Then I have the four hours for the big client, and an afternoon deadline, and an online meeting about the book audition. Tomorrow I have four more hours, of course, plus lunch with That Man, the Poster Queen, and The Empress, and then I'm singing at a funeral, and #2 daughter will come down. I have a couple more hours to do for the Computer Guy before Monday, but there is always 5:30 Monday morning, which may still come to "before Monday" for him, though maybe not.

Where do I get the idea that I can fit a fulltime job into my life as it currently stands?

And that is of course the thing. If I take this job, I don't also get to keep my current life. Which as you know I really like a lot.

On the other hand, if I take it, I might also like what happens then. It might be an exciting job with security.

I brought up the topic of future contracts with my big client, and he told me that he intended to propose it to the board. He's happy, and if they give him the budget, he'll continue with me. It was the list of numbers I had for him, I'm sure. I also have a job interview today. Good thing I have a suit, eh?

Do I dare wear heels? I've scarcely even put on shoes in months, being as I am a Computer Guy now, and I don't want to be so distracted by sore feet that I can't be properly charming.

#1 daughter tells me that nowadays it is the done thing to wear red shoes with a black suit. However, she also has a pair of black pumps she'll lend me, in case I feel conspicuous when I put on my red shoes.

Fortunately, I haven't been successful at losing weight, something I have tried to do when I had time to think about it. My suit still fits perfectly.

And I'm minding a shop on Tuesday, and have several deadlines between now and Monday, and the jeweler whom I mentioned said yes, she'd like me to donate a couple of hours of work to her.

So, yeah, still busy here.

I don't know whether I actually will want the job or not. When I told the ladies of the choirlet about it last night, they were very enthusiastic. However, they are all nice ladies and would be encouraging anyway. It's education management. They thought I'd need to do bookkeeping.

I was taken aback by that. I guess I'll find out. At the moment, I'm mostly wondering whether it will be fun, whether the hours will be such that I could still keep plying The Dark Art, and whether they'd pay enough that it would be worthwhile.

Between now and time for the interview, I'll need to shift my thinking to what they really need in a director, and whether I can truly serve their needs.

I'm also thinking that it would be good to know whether my big client gets approval from the board before I get any extermal job offers.

Alissa wrote about shopping, and it was very interesting, too. If you haven't read it yet, you should. Her experience of shopping is very different from my own. In my case, I dislike shopping so much that I have to force myself to do it, so it is something of an occasion when I actually buy something.

Not that I went to a store and bought this. That would really be too much to expect. But I happened upon it online while doing something else, and saw that it was the shape of handbag I had been coveting for ... a couple of years, I guess.

A friend of mine had come into the store where I was working at the time with a splendid pleated bag. Hers was a $300+ work of art.

I made myself a couple of pleated bags, inspired by hers, and they are nice, but they aren't quite the shape that I wanted, and the pleats didn't go quite the way I liked. Also, I bought last month (with the assistance of #2 daughter, who loves to shop, and without whom I would not have succeeded at the task) a black suit for the suit-type occasions which may well be in my future, for all I know. So when I saw this bag, which is just what I wanted, I actually bought it. And it arrived yesterday.

I like it just as well in person. It's from Perlina, and it it's big enough for my organizer and also has a cell phone pocket. so it is practical as well as beautiful.

Another thing that I dislike and avoid is talking on the phone. One of the things that I really like about working with computer guys is that they email before they phone me, so I am at least warned. And then they don't usually want to talk much when they do call.

I reproduce for you a phone conversation with a computer guy yesterday, which I actually initiated:

"Hey, [insert my actual name here]." That's the computer guy answering the phone. He could see who was calling, of course, so there was no need for me to greet him or identify myself.
"Hey. Can you take on a church for a website?"
"Hosting or design?"
"Definitely hosting. Maybe also design."
"Yeah, okay."
"September?"
"Sure."
"Thanks."
"Thanks."

Now, that's my idea of a phone conversation.

I had to call him, unannounced, because if he had said no I would have had to march right back into the church and take back what I had offered them. I emailed him the details when I got home. He has also called me once without warning, so we are even.

The thing breaks down, of course, with my big client, from whom I am expecting a call today. He's a computer guy, but we  talk at length on the phone. I am inarticulate and awkward, and he doesn't necessarily answer everything I say, so that there are silences. But we do talk on the phone. I intend to have a good collection of numbers for him when he calls today.

However, I have another little business venture for which phone work is central. Last year, when my third kid started college, I needed a bit of extra income, and I began selling some excellent cookware. I got in trouble at one point for mentioning the company in my blog, so I won't say what company. But it was fun, and I made enough for the tuition and for Christmas last year, not to mention having a really well outfitted kitchen. 

In April, I lost my job and had a bit of a crisis over it, and then I was jobhunting and then working a whole lot on contract, and with one thing and another I have only been having one or two cooking shows a month, and not making any phone calls at all.

Last night I went with Janalisa to a meeting for this company. We got to find out about the new things coming in the fall (very cool) and also got a bit of a pep talk about sales calls. Janalisa is the high muckety-muck of our local branch of the company, and she had the brainstorm that we would all make these sales calls over the next two weeks, amassing 21 "no" answers, and then go to the movies together as our reward for braving rejection all those times.

I know there are some craftspeople reading this. If you approach galleries or stores with your goods and have trouble continuing in the face of rejection, you should try this. Keep track of all the "no" answers you get and reward yourself when you get a certain number.

Also keep in mind Gene Kelly and the "Gotta Dance" number, for the right attitude.

Anyway, my initial reaction to this project was that I should be excused on the grounds that I am working like a fiend and can't add anything more to my day, but I was not allowed to get away with that. I am therefore going to try to get all those phone calls made which I should have been making anyway.

Last night, I asked #1 daughter whether she'd like to have a show, and responded to an email from my accountant with a suggestion that she might like to join the company. #1 daughter said no immediately, so there's one no already.

This morning, since it is only 6:00, I haven't called anyone, but I did email a jeweler whose web presence I could definitely improve, offering to donate a couple of hours of SEO to her in return for permission to include her in the list of clients on my web site, which is currently under construction. If she says no, I won't be able to include it in my list of "no"s for the group calling project, of course, but I'm hoping she'll say yes. I think she'll round out my client list nicely.

I had a very busy day yesterday, and am expecting to have another such today. #1 daughter has agreed to start the day with a hike around the lake, so I'll get in a couple of hours of work first and then do that and return refreshed for some more hours of work. She's having a bit of a rough time. I think that some fresh air will do her good. Me, too.