This image happens to be the color scheme of my planned SWAP. I haven't started working on it, but I'm thinking about it in my spare moments, and I figure by the time I have enough time to work on it, it'll be so thoroughly planned and worked out that it'll be easy to do.

Last night's rehearsal was one of those you get toward the end of the rehearsal period. Brahms, we were reminded, clearly knew how to write a crescendo, so if he didn't write one, then he must not have wanted one there, even if the orchestra is going to crash right over us and no one will hear us at all at that point. Oh, and even though we won't be heard at all, we had better be together, because if we aren't, then we will certainly be heard not being together. And the piano section with the slight accents on the quarter notes? Don't increase the decibel level, but make sure there is a core to the tone, and lengthen the quarter notes slightly.

That kind of stuff.

I spent a fair amount of time yesterday with prospective clients, prompting the guys bent on world domination to send a nice little email asking how it was going. I'm going to get to them any moment here, and do a few hours before my meeting, and then a few more hours after my meeting, and maybe get them finished up. Nothing like getting your plan to take over the world all polished up and then having to wait for the copywriter.

I have to say, though, that writing 480 words on IT needs in Bristol (and 19 other towns) approaches fiction for me.

The copyediting jobs for the next month's online magazine have started coming in, and there is someone in Colorado writing about outdoor life opportunities here where I live, which is not very near to Colorado. Totally lacking in local color. Not terrible or anything, but definitely enough to make a reader think, "Hey, she's never even been there, has she?"

It is possible that IT needs in Leicester aren't really that different from the ones in Bristol, though. Still, if I were writing it for myself rather than by the hour, I'd at least try to get a sense of what is so special about the computers of Nottingham and so forth. I am so far resisting the temptation to make literary references for Guilford.

Yesterday I went to church and then came home and finished the ABNA reviews and graded papers. It was dark before I finished. I did go out at one point in the afternoon and read the paper on the porch for a bit, so I got some pleasure from the gorgeous spring day we had.

I cooked dinner and did laundry and started the second side of the Doctor's Bag.

Mine is going to be smaller than this, but I'm making it in the same yarn and all. 

This morning I got up and gathered all the tax deductions I could think of. Well, and had records for. The Empress is going to sort it all out for me.I'm hoping I won't have to pay anything in, and that I can figure out how to do quarterly payments this year.

So I haven't had a very frolicsome time since last I wrote.

Today I'll be using the computer projector in my classroom to show some useful search tricks and then -- I hope -- riding herd on the students while they track down some sources for their upcoming research papers.

Following this fun activity, I fully intend to get to the gym. Last week, I allowed myself to decide that I didn't have time more than once. That's ridiculous. So I'm packing up my gym bag and not giving myself a choice about this.

I've got an article to do about the local botanical gardens, so I'll stop in there today or tomorrow to refresh my memory. And I have to go grocery shopping at some point. And then of course I am assisting in the Brits' efforts at world domination, and otherwise caring for various clients.

So I may or may not have a frolicsome time till I next write.

I shouldn't make it sound as though all is so serious chez fibermom. I actually watched a couple of movies last night while grading, folding, and knitting: Mama Mia and That Old Feeling. Mama Mia was self-indulgent tripe, wasn't it? Most of the actors can't sing, and #2 son was comically disgusted by the antics of the assorted naughty old people. Since both the movies were basically about middle-aged romance, it was hard not to see that as the theme of the evening. Young people behaving badly on camera doesn't disgust #2 son nearly as much as old ones.

I did like the scene in which all the women on the Mediterranean isle drop their work and go dancing down to the sea.

Here's what I did yesterday:

I slept in until 6:00 and then answered email and headed up to the tech training.

At the tech training, I pushed buttons and waited while people all over the room were unable to find the buttons, or thought they had pushed the right buttons but got totally astonishing results, or were on the wrong screen entirely and had to be rescued. Then, when the next PowerPoint screen arrived, I'd push another button and wait some more.

I've been there. Most recently, on the phone with the Computer Guy going, "click parts? oh, quick parts, wow, I've never noticed that before... nope, I clicked on it but... oh, okay, start with a new document, got it..." Therefore, I wasn't cross or impatient or anything. I also didn't jump up and help people. I made myself a completely neutral face and kept it for five hours.

There may have been a shocked expression when I saw that the html for this program is absolutely stuffed with deprecated elements, but I like Blackboard way better than WebCT, and there are worse ways to spend a morning.

Then I came home and started in on the ABNA reviews, of which I have seven still left to do. The deadline is midnight tonight, so I'll be coming home directly after church to finish them up.

I stopped doing the reviews around 7:00 p.m. and went with #2 son to forage for dinner. We came home with frozen ravioli and "Burn After Reading."

Along in there someplace, Chanthaboune came onto the IM and told me about this amazing wonderful yarn she had bought: Wonderwool glanzeffect.

She had bought some in a color that I've had on my mind a lot lately. I'm planning my SWAP in blue, green, and camel, based on the colors in my fabric stash, so that I can dress properly for my five day a week teaching this summer without buying any new clothes. But the color I've been thinking about is rose beige. This yarn appears to be in that shade. Also, Chanthaboune said it was super soft, and subtly shiny, and felt like cotton candy to knit with.

I ordered some. It is all Chanthaboune's fault.

I had to come back. First, I needed to show you the color in question in the context in which I saw it and was smitten. Doesn't it look about the same, though perhaps a bit darker? and isn't is a marvelous color? I think we haven't seen this color around much lately, so it looks fresh and exciting again when perhaps we had all gotten tired of it last time it was in fashion, whenever that was.

Second, I had to point out, having been inspired by Princess Smartypants, that buying that yarn was my patriotic duty, in light of the recession. I bought it from a small business in America.

And what would I have done with that money otherwise? Paid taxes or my kids' tuition or something dull like that which wouldn't have assisted the economy at all.

Seriously, do you remember when the government was telling us that it was our patriotic duty to go shop in order to stimulate the economy? I thought at the time that it was pretty lame advice.

It is such a gorgeous day that now that I have completed the ABNA reviews -- yes I have! -- I am going to go outside and enjoy the gorgeosity of it for a while before I get to grading those papers and doing the Blackboard followup required for certification.

While it would be good if I were going to spend the day cleaning my house, baking, and cutting out my SWAP, I am actually going up to the campus in the Next County for a tech training. I am a student at this tech training, so there's not much pressure there. I am not even scared about driving up to it on the freeway. I anticipate being bored -- there are so many kinds of tech training I could really benefit from, but the last time I did this particular kind, it consisted of going to a screen and clicking on an obvious button, then waiting for a quarter of an hour for everyone else to find the button and click on it. Repeat until training ends.

It will be five hours of training. Last night I was trying to calculate how many hours I worked this week. I did five hours for The Computer Guy and twelve hours at oDesk. Those are easy because I have tools for keeping track of those. I also know that the college pays me enough in a week for me to count it as five hours. So I had 22 billable hours there. I also did stuff for three different fixed-price jobs, but I'm not sure how many hours each of them took -- call it another five hours. I had my Dark Art Lite clients, probably three hours there. I think I did 30 billable hours.

There were also unbillable hours. I had a client meeting and a brief trip to The Computer Guy's office. I did three posts at my professional blog. I graded papers and prepped for classes beyond the billable hours for the college. I did another of the tests over at oDesk and applied for some jobs there. I had lots of emails and IMs. I don't know whether I should count the ABNA reviews or not. And then I have the five-hour training and the hour of travel to and from it. I think I certainly worked 40 hours this week.

I went for one hour-long walk and got to the gym once. This is not okay. I had birthday cake a whole bunch of times, which is probably not okay, but it was my birthday. I had lunch with friends and a couple of trips to the fabric store. I had rehearsals and fun conversations

I was given presents,  or prezzies as my sister tells me her local population says it. Here you see the clever device Janalisa gave me. There is a charm on a chain to clip to your teabag so you don't have to fish it out with your fingers (yes, I admit it) and a dish to set the teabag on so you don't have to throw it dripping into the waste basket, sprinkling tea all over your papers.

You can also see the luxurious hand creams my sister sent to me, and a bunch of mess. What can I say? The Empress came over yesterday, and I started to apologize for the untidiness of my house, and had to give it up because I realized that it's been untidy the past four or five times she's been over, so my apologies were beginning to sound insincere.

If I only work 40 hours a week, I can keep my house decent.

Someone just said this to me at Twitter:

"Ugh...A grandmother?? "

I think I've been insulted.

It was MrSpreadsheet, by the way, if you want to go see for yourself and help me decide whether or not I was in fact being insulted. I think it's the "ugh" that makes it seem like an insult, though I am not in fact a grandmother.

Yesterday these goodies from l'Occitane arrived from my sister.

I've been thoroughly spoiled for my birthday, I must say.

The choirlet gave me a peace lily, and my mother gave me a stack of books, including Wrapped in Crochet, one of those pretty Interweave books, filled with scarves and shawls and stuff to crochet. CD gave me a gift card to Hancock Fabrics, which I took yesterday and used for some splendid drapey rayon to round out the SWAP I'm contemplating. I saw an article about sewing a wardrobe in a weekend which was quite inspiring.

Not this weekend, because I'll be doing a training for the switch from WebCT to Blackboard for my online classes, and also I finally heard back from my British IT guys, who need a whole bunch of words to use in their quest for world domination new business plan.

Seriously, they have done amazing things in the UK in the past year, and are now planning to roll out a North American initiative which causes me to wonder whether they have a clear idea of how big a place it is over here. Assuming they're clear on geography, it should be like being in on the startup of McDonald's or something.

And I still have a bunch of other work and the ABNA reviews and papers to grade, so I will be in this welter of wires and papers for the foreseeable future. The little pot of honey and lemon cream from l'Occitane which you can see in the mess by the mug makes all the difference. Even with it closed, I can smell it, and it adds luxury to the day.

Yesterday was a lovely spring day, too.

The next thing in the Life@Work book is an assignment to write a personal mission statement. Hmmm.

If it seems as though I haven't been reading much lately, it's just because I'm doing the Amazon Breakout Novel Awards reviews, so I'm reading a thousand words each of 40 novels instead of reading any all the way through. Once that's done, I have four books from booksfree, five to review, and six in PDF, so I certainly won't run out of things to read any time soon.

I am still reading Life@Work for my Lenten study. The section on being called rather than driven talks about characteristics of those who are driven. They can't distinguish what they do from who they are, they rely on their power or position for their satisfaction and are willing to compromise their principles to keep those things, their happiness depends on having everything turn out the way they planned. The called, in contrast, see themselves as stewards of their time and talents and careers, not as owners. The next question in the book is: thinking of our careers, our assets, our gifts, our health -- with which do we behave like stewards and with which do we behave like owners?

This is an odd idea, I bet, for people who aren't used to it. The basic notion is that God owns my time, my body, my gifts, my family, the earth, and I'm supposed to take good care of those things for God. It's pretty obvious that if I think in terms of God's handing me my health and saying, "Listen, would you take care of this for me? I'll need it back in a few years," then I'm not doing a very good job. "Here's some time, and I'd like you to make the best use of it, on my behalf." Hmm... not always doing the best thing there either, am I?

If we take this idea seriously and try to follow through with it, there is no doubt that I'd have to make some changes.

I had a very nice birthday. #2 son brought me a cake, with a candle to blow out as you see below, and both the boys sang to me. #2 son also went out and picked up Chinese takeaway for dinner so I didn't have to cook.

Xangans came and wished me happy birthday, and thank you all for that. It was lovely to have those wishes arrive in my inbox during the workday.

Friends took me out to lunch, and Janalisa came by with a present  and we had a very nice walk and talk. CD gave me a gift card to Hancock Fabrics, which I intend to use to get my SWAP underway.

I had plenty of work to do, and still have plenty today, as well.

My work life has settled down to a rhythm: I get up early and deal with whatever happened overnight (lots, sometimes, what with different time zones and computer guy work schedules), blog here, dress, and have breakfast. Then I usually go teach my class and/or have meetings, hitting the gym on the way home. I'm back at my computer between 10:00 and 12:00, and I do two to three projects. A project for me is usually one to five hours, and if it's more than that I'll generally divide it up so I come to it fresh.

Both the Northerners and The Computer Guy now treat me as part of their team, which I really like. I'm also getting there with the Flash Guy and The Developer. The Westerner treated me that way, too, actually, but then disappeared. That happens sometimes. I also have the odd random two or three hour project for various people, and my Dark Art Lite people. With my teaching, this comes to plenty of work, and I'm very happy about that.

I try to stop working when my family gets home around 4:00, since by then I've been working for more than eight hours for sure. After the evening's events -- rehearsal or class or what have you -- I may get back to the computer and do some unbillable work, like sending out invoices or doing reviews or grading papers (not always unbillable, but often it is). I do sometimes work on the weekends, I confess, but I'd like that to be more a time for reading and crafts and hanging out with my family. I do hang out with family a fair amount on the weekends, actually, and I laze around some as well. I need to get housework fitted in there someplace -- but I'm going to get exercise solidly back in my schedule before I focus on housekeeping.

Life@Work's next passage is about the difference between being called and being driven. You've probably heard the expression "being called" in relation to the work of a minister or a missionary. But it's just as correct to think of the work you do as your calling. If you're lucky, or perhaps if you pay attention, you can end up doing what God calls you to do in your work life.

It's easy for me to think of teaching as my calling. All the years I was in retail, I really still felt called to teach. I was, it seemed to me, supporting others in their teaching, and doing curriculum design and teacher training was still part of my work in education.

It's not easy for me to think of the Dark Art as a calling. "The Dark Art" is a joke, of course; Arkenboy told me, when I was learning SEO, that "SEO is a dark art" and that I wouldn't be able to learn it and should give up. We called it the Dark Art around our house for a long time.

It's largely marketing, isn't it? And it's hard to think of that as something God would call us to do. It seems trivial or possibly even harmful.

But there's another way to look at it. When I help to create something really beautiful entirely out of electricity and thoughts, I definitely feel satisfied with my work. When I help people to succeed in business and thus to care for their families or pay their hospital bills or keep their home or even just to continue doing the work they love, it seems worthwhile to me. In fact, my doing a job honorably that is often done dishonorably may be worthwhile in and of itself.

I don't have trouble seeing physical labor or housework as decent work that God calls people to. Jesus hung out with tax collectors. I guess I can see the work that I love as a calling.

And of course I am still teaching.

Today is my birthday, and I'm having a birthday lunch with CD and also going on a walk with Janalisa, and there is Tuesday class, for which I haven't done my homework. At the same time, I have a whole bunch of stuff to do for my Northerners with a 3/9 launch date, and papers to grade, and the ABNA deadline creeping up, and another website to do for The Computer Guy. I am therefore going to work fiendishly this morning in hopes of getting much of the work done before the playing begins.

We had a fairly good rehearsal last night, it seemed to me, except that there was someone sitting behind me (and slightly to the left) who was flat much of the time. It is not comme il faut to turn around in rehearsal and hiss "Tune it or die," especially among singers.

So, on to fiendish work.

My solo went well yesterday morning, and then we went to lunch with my parents. #1 daughter and I went shoe shopping, and I got into the whole spirit of the thing and looked at clothes with her and everything. Following that, I went to a meeting at the church at which we got to congratulate ourselves on what great progress we were making and then came home for a heart-to-heart with #1 daughter and sending out of invoices.

Also, yesterday, I met with CD to discuss the first session of Life@Work. She brought up some points I hadn't thought about much. One was the way we treat others. I think that I consider treating others well a basic, essential thing, and always make efforts to treat others well. But CD had talked with her family about it when they dealt with some extreme stress during the ice storm. They had articulated the stress and agreed not to get upset with each other because of that stress. What a sensible thing to do.

Another was the idea of underlying reasons for behaviors. CD is a counselor, so naturally she thinks of these things. Having to be available at all times and having little work crises might make us feel important. We might choose to focus on things we feel confident about in response to feeling uncertain in other areas of our lives.

I thought about last week, when I made a real effort to maintain more balance in my life, to get to the gym daily (except on Friday, when I succumbed to the "I have too much to do to take time for that" feeling), to stop working at reasonable times and spend time with my family, to think about things like sewing and music even if I didn't do much about them. The previous week I'd had no semblance of balance.

I definitely got more done the first week. But I also definitely felt better the second week. And I got enough done.

The second session of Life@Work talks about being multidimensional. Christ, the writer of the next section says, could certainly have been absolutely and completely focused on his big job, to the exclusion of all else in his earthly life. But actually he was probably a good carpenter. He had friends. He concerned himself with feeding people and didn't shoo away the children who came to him. And we, as people, are given examples like the Proverbs 31 woman, who was certainly a very multi-demensional person.

The image of juggling was the one that Life@Work used to start out the first session. The second session begins with a different image -- spinning plates. You get one spinning well, and then you have to dash over to another and spin it, and just as it seems to be spinning well, you have to rush over to another. Sometimes we might feel that it would work better to focus on one spinning plate and let the other things fall. And plate spinning, like juggling, requires continual movement and adjustment for success.

Both could, I think, be done gracefully, rhythmically, and joyfully, rather than in a frantic and fearful way.

So here are my new shoes. I'm going to be multidimensional enough to enjoy wearing them today.

Today I have a whole bunch of work to do, and I'm excited about the projects I have on hand. I'm also going to go to the gym. I have a rehearsal tonight, and I'm going to find time to make a decent dinner before I go do that. #1 daughter is leaving today, probably while I'm at class. It was great to have the girls here for the weekend.