Here's what I did yesterday:

• did a few blog posts for various clients
• went for a walk/ strategy phone meeting
• had two client phone meetings, including an initial interview for a new web site
• arranged domain registration, hosting, and logo design for said new web site
• planned a year-long series of customer support emails for the British IT company
• moved a blog
• did an SEO strategy plan for a client
• graded papers
• did last-minute rewrites on a couple of articles after people I'd given up on answered emails
• watched Equilibrium with #1 son.
• talked on the phone with daughters #1 and #2

Yes, it was pretty much a perfect day.

Today I saw the following conversation between two of my tech guys:

"Does she use html and php? If not I may will do that"
"Yes, she can move around in html/php."

So there it is, actual tech guys say I can move around in their world. I find that much more convincing than the whole html certification thing was, though I still plan to retake that test to improve my score.

It's a year since my website launched, my business is doing well, I'm having some semblance of normal life... what more could I ask?

Actually, I am trying really hard to pay some attention to my physical health. Yesterday and Monday, nice walks and reasonably close to proper meals. Web Worker Daily says we web people often suffer from "broken body clocks" so we end up delaying or skipping meals, eating any old thing that won't require too much time out of our 14-hour workday, and not getting any exercise.

Yes, I had noticed that. They go on to say that we just need to apply our tech skills, batch cooking healthy food just as we batch process our files, keeping healthy snacks and water in the office, and tracking our exercise online. I'm actually doing those things this week -- except the water jug, which sounds like a good idea to me. I'll do it today.

Breakfast now -- the article included a particular mention of how we are inclined to get involved in answering emails in the morning and forget breakfast. Really easy to do.

Here's one of the products I'm working with. Lucky me, eh?

I've also got a llama farm to make a website for, and that ought to be a lot of fun. Other new jobs yesterday included a writing assignment for oDesk marketing; that was an audition, really, where they'll compare my work with that of cheaper options and decide whether I'm worth it. No pressure or anything.

I also was hired yesterday to work with another British IT company. I have an extremely fun assignment for them today, and it could end up as a steady job.

So with those three possibilities popping up yesterday, I was pretty happy. I also got my October magazine stories in under the wire, set up the marketing for The Firm's new project, and did my usual stuff.

Speaking of usual stuff, I got to class yesterday to find that all the doors were  locked. We held class in the hall. We're working on a Web 2.0 project on the topic of 21st century skills, and one student suggested that our ability to do that, using cell phones to check data when needed, was an example of 21st century skills.

This is possible. In any discussion of 21st century skills, I tend to have trouble with the idea that things like critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skill are actually more important now than they were in the 20th century. Or the 16th century, for that matter.

Good rehearsal last night.

Here are the gargantuan, floppy, pre-felted slippers. I got these finished up yesterday, and made cookies to donate to the AAUW's Gridiron Show, and  put two casseroles in the freezer, and took the smaller dog for a walk.

Much of this knitting took place while I watched Leverage. I'm enjoying this program a lot. The hacker reminds us all of #2 son, in his attitude and self-presentation.

#1 daughter is under the weather, but #2 and I had a bit of a meeting on a little project we're attempting. We think we've figured out how to help artists and craftspeople get a usable website at a low rate. I'm excited about the idea. We have so many local people who have no website, or one that doesn't help them at all, and just scrape by with their businesses. It's a bit of a mission for us. It could also turn out to be profitable; we'll just have to see.

It's Master Bath week at the HGP, so we should clean the master bath thoroughly. We should freeze another meal and another batch of cookies. We should buy extra canned goods for the Holiday and Charity boxes. We should continue spending an hour a day working on our homemade gifts.

This is also the week to make sure that everyone in the family has something to wear for holiday celebrations, and to make a thoughtful list of things your kids might need, in case relatives ask.

We should buy 1/8 of the presents we plan to buy, wrap and label them, and have them ready for mailing ig they need to be mailed.

Just letting you know.

Today I have lots going on. However, I think I always have lots going on, and I want that to continue to be the case. Therefore, I intend to make it to the gym anyway.

Yesterday was a lovely day. I wrote a website and fielded some correspondence, but otherwise had a domestic day.

I bought a size 13 circular needle, since really big dpns were not to be had at the big box craft store and the LYS is down in the thick of the biker festival.I had actually planned to go down there with my husband when he got back from work, but int he event, he went by himself and I had the house to myself.

So, having gotten the giant knitting needle, I went on to the grocery with a power cooking grocery list from Self magazine, and came home and cooked all the stuff. I'm pretty confident that my menfolks won't eat Chickpea and Vegetable Ragout with Whole Wheat Penne, but I have some in the freezer for more enlightened guests, and I also have shepherd's pie with sweet potatoes and Adobo-glazed Mini Turkey Loaves, which are quite good. I lost steam before I got to the Enchilada Bake, but I made the sauce and I intend to put it together today. You can click on the link at the beginning of the paragraph for the shopping list and all the recipes, and I recommend it. It's designed for single girls, I think.

The I read, took a walk in the fresh if noisy air, and came back to watch Leverage and work on Christmas presents.

I have to be at church in mere minutes, so I guess I had better eat and dress and stuff like that. Pictures later.

I got up at 4:11 today, since my husband had to go in to work early, but I went back to sleep and didn't get up again till 7:24. This means that I feel groggy, but I hope that I'll end up more rested than if I had stayed up and worked.

I do have to work today -- I have a website to write and an article to interview people for -- but that's not what I'm going to write about.

Actually, I will say that I interviewed for a couple of long-term jobs at oDesk and both felt I was too expensive, but the agency I have the website for today had increased the fee from what I quoted, "just to be sure you're covered," so it was easy for me to refuse to negotiate on price. One of them is giving me a two-hour assignment as a test, and the other is thinking about it. In any case, I have plenty of work.

Today I have a crafts report.

My Christmas present yarn order arrived. It's so nice to get a box of wool. And I did set right in last night working on one of the presents, but that doesn't mean that I'm well into getting my holiday prezzies made, because the largest needles I had were 8s. 8s make a nice normal-sized object when used with worsted, but I was going for the giant Sasquatch-type object to be felted down to normal. For some reason, I can't find my giant needles. Since I only use them for felting and I hadn't made any felted things in a while, I might have loaned them out or left them in a forgotten knitting bag somewhere, Anyway, I had to frog everything I knitted during Monk last night, and today will go buy a pair of 11s. 

I have the special Crazy Aunt Purl Christmas Present Filter installed on this machine, so if you're a family member, you won't be able to see your own present, only those intended for other people.

This year, I will probably only be making things for family members. I'm trying to be realistic.

However, I am not overdoing it with the old realism.

I am also considering adding some applique to the Dutchman's puzzle quilt.

I like pieced things with applique.

The Dutchman's Puzzle quilt has this border of plain pink, and I have a bunch of little 6" x 2.5" bits of the fabrics from the Jelly Roll I used for the quilt.

So I'm thinking that I could do a twisty vine in the green (sort of a pear green shade) of the quilt, and add leaves or flowers or something in the various other fabrics.

I actually have several books containing patterns for this sort of thing -- I like it, so I'm inclined to buy books that feature it.

   My William Morris applique book has this nice sinuous leaf, and the little stack of fabrics you see near said leaf is almost -- like within a 16th of an inch -- big enough for it. I could copy it off at 98% and have nice little leaves.

However, for some reason I'm thinking that leaves wouldn't really go with the windmills design.

I have no idea why  I think this.

The whole reason that I like the applique plus piecing thing is for the contrast of the angular piecing with the curvy applique.

And leaves just go with everything, don't they?

Maybe not. Maybe I need a bunch of yo-yos or polka dot kinds of flowers instead. or teacups or something. it does seem as though it needs round rather than ovoid shapes. Or something.

I'm contemplating. I do have to work today, and I'm also planning to do a bit of Power Cooking to get both this week's and next week's freezer meals into the freezer so as not to be behind on the HGP. I also hope to finish getting my bedroom organized, since that's the room of the week. I can't contemplate quilts while I write stuff, but I can certainly do so while I do manual labor.

It's a gorgeous day today, and I may go on and get out to do my errands before they close the streets for the bikers. The closed them last night, but I'm assuming that they open them back up in the mornings. I'll wear sneakers in case I have to park and walk.

Last night we bathed our big dog.

The dogs have been having a rough time lately anyway, since we have been descended upon by bikers and they roar up and down the street at all hours even though we live on a dead-end road and there is nowhere for them to go. The dogs spend a lot of time barking and whining at the excitement that's going on outside, from which they are excluded.

And then, just when she had gotten a wonderfully ripe smell, just the way she likes it, poor Fiona gets hauled off and bathed.

She stands like a martyr at a stake, patiently waiting.

First, she runs off and hides and has to be dragged out from under the furniture. And she pulls back and has to be dragged into the bathroom and pushed into the tub.

But once she's there, she stands in patient resignation, refusing to make eye contact with the evil people who are slathering her with Pomegranate Passion shampoo and cooing to her. It is clear that she is leaving it up to God to take vengeance on us.

She pushes her nose into the shower curtain, trying to shut out the world as we rinse her and dry her with fluffy towels and tell her how beautiful and fresh and sweet she is.

She won't trust us again for days.

I've lost (or completed) three Dark Art Clients this month. This isn't a bad thing at all, for a variety of reasons, but it did make me think I might need new jobs.

Fortunately, I have a new website to write for a new agency client, and have also been asked to interview with an agency in the U.K.

I like agency work. Of course, I also tend to like whatever I'm doing at the time. I'll be writing something and think how nice it would be if I just wrote all the time. Then I'll be plying the Dark Art and I'll think how much fun it is, like a video game, and that I should do that more. And I'll be in class and think how much I enjoy teaching.

Really, I like the variety a lot.

Yesterday I interviewed a billionaire. He raised his initial stake by being a football player, and then bought land which became a mall. Or possibly bought the land and built a mall on it. Either way, he became a developer and built lots of stuff and now owns 32,000 apartments. That means that he could house our whole town, assuming that some of the apartments contain families.

I didn't ask him how he became rich, but he volunteered that he just found a model that worked and kept repeating it. Then he just does his best and works hard and treats all his people with respect. I'm passing this on in case you want to become a billionaire yourself. I don't know how essential the football part is, but I expect it leaves a fellow with a good amount of capital.

I'm investing a little bit of capital in a new idea myself. Not much, because I have to think a lot about tuition, and if I had ever had much more than what I need for tuition, I'd have to think about doing that dental work. However, when I look back at the investments I've made in my business so far, they've all paid off, so I'm being fairly cheerful about this one.

Right now we're having to decide whether to hire someone to do our video, or to do it ourselves. I'm waiting for a quote from The Computer Guy for the intro, and we've had a quote from another guy for the camera work.  The Northerners also do fine video work, though I haven't asked them for a quote yet. Meanwhile, I'm playing with my new video software. Amazon Vine has given away lots of camcorders, but not to me. However, my camera takes video. So does my phone, I think. Mostly, though, I'm playing around with the software's automatic creation of movies from still shots.

#1 daughter questions whether it makes sense to try to do everything ourselves. She thinks that outsourcing will probably be more profitable in the long run. I'm mulling it over.

My new Tuesday class isn't much on deep discussions. We had the question, "What does it mean to say we're made in God's image?" in our materials, and I tried to explore the question of what conclusions we could draw about God's image from current evidence, and the other ladies clearly thought I was crazy and possibly insane.

"Good thing she usually just stands up there and sings," they were thinking. "We had no idea she was a loon from loonyville."

But seriously, some people think that God must be humanoid. I don't know about that. If we look at all the life forms around, and imagine that they are predicated on God's ideas about how life forms ought to be, we might be able to say that God is probably symmetrical. Or if not, then follows the Fibonacci sequence. I don't know that we could go further than that, and even that has some big assumptions.

Since the ladies weren't enjoying the conversation, and in fact were sort of backing away in their chairs, I came home and discussed this with #1 son instead.

He suggested that God was probably energy. This, he said, would help out a lot of religious positions, from the point of view of logical consistency.

Having fully discussed this, we then turned to the question of whether "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is essentially an update of "Seinfeld," as "Burn Notice" is essentially an update of "MacGyvor."

Your views on all these questions are solicited.

This not terribly enthralling video is what I made with my new toy, Corel Digital Studio 2010.  I notice that xnaga cut off the last couple of seconds, so that I say "That's all there is" rather than "That's all there is to it."

You can also make fancy things with titles and music, and actual video, for that matter, but this is just my first attempt.

It's fun and easy. I highly recommend it.

#1 son tells me that he thinks too much. #2 son and #1 daughter also have worried about this at various times. I figure, you're awake, you have to be thinking, what else would you do?

But in fact, having received this review copy in the mail yesterday and had a little time to play with it between work and rehearsal, I thought about it even when I was asleep, waking up at various times during the night with wild ideas about how to use it.

The main thing we plan to use it for is to make instructional videos for our new website. This one is a concept -- I stuck it into the template of the website in order to make sure I could do it. I can. We've been quoted $200 as a price for making one of these babies, but I think that once we have it all planned (which we'd have to do even if we hired this guy), we could do it ourselves in ten minutes.

Pride goeth before a fall, of course.

Anyway, this is a very fun toy. I think it costs $99, and you can make snazzy videos of your home movies and picture albums, so you might add this to your Christmas list if you have that kind of household. It has all sorts of special features and fancy titles and things. So far, I've had trouble with importing things into it -- it's frozen my computer a couple of times, and I haven't been uniformly successful in choosing what I thought it should import. I have Vista, though, which is always skittish with new programs, so this probably says nothing about the level of difficulty or of quality of this program.

There is a fun spell when it takes all your pictures and sorts them out the way it thinks they ought to go. Stuff shifts around on the screen as though it were thinking, "That could go here -- oh, no, wait -- that's a dog. It should go here."

I made a little silent movie for the Chocolatier's site, too. We launched yesterday, praise the Lord. If you go over there, you will find chocolate recipes amid the other stuff. I'd love it if you made comments at the blog. I write about chocolate over there every day, so you can find stuff about chocolate and your health, chocolate history, how to use chocolate at your parties, and as I say, recipes. Maybe I'll see you there.

The cat, Nadia, was very relaxed yesterday.

I wasn't quite that relaxed, but very nearly. I cleaned the living room (though I didn't succeed in getting my menfolks to help me move the office furniture out of there), made a nice spinach and mushroom quiche, bought a new vacuum cleaner (amazing sale at Target), and did a good bit of work on the new forthcoming website, as well as on the chocolatier's site.

I answered some potential clients. I graded lots of papers. I caught up on the laundry.

Apart from that, I rested. I now feel quite my old self again.

In fact, there was one point last night when I just felt so happy because my stomach didn't hurt and I could think clearly that it almost makes having been sick worthwhile.

Not quite. I have a looming deadline for a subject who's really hard to get hold of. I got a call Friday afternoon saying he'd see me if I'd rush right over, but I was in bed and missed it. I called back a couple of hours later and he had left for the weekend. I haven't yet engaged a photographer, though I have some emails out. I think this will provide the main events of the day.