It’s been exciting around here lately.

We got our first Request for Proposal. That really just means that we put in a lot of work and aren’t even the only company trying for the jobs, but it’s the first time we’ve ever been included. I also have my first client in Asia. I mean, I’ve worked for lots of Asian people, but this is an IT company in India and my bid was twice their budget. But I got the job,and must finish it up today.

Also, one of my developer clients had a brainstorm for a new tech thing he and I can do together. It’s one of those internet ideas that could make lots of money, or nothing at all. The web business is like that. We’ll see where that goes. I probably need to get advice on how to arrange to get some of the money if it makes a bunch.

I also have lots of ordinary new jobs coming in all the time, all of which are fun, and the education website is doing well — though again, it’s the sort of thing that could eventually make money but currently doesn’t. It is, however, a source of exciting work and adventures of various kinds.

Among them is my membership in the Google Earth Influencers group. we had an assignment a couple of weeks ago to make a KML. So far I have failed miserably. Mine either do nothing, or send me to the bottom of the ocean.

So today, once I grade a million papers and calculate the final grades for my eight week class, and finish the Indian IT job, and take care of my Aussies, I will learn how to do a KML correctly, if it kills me.

That’s the plan.

Over the weekend, we played Malarkey and Carcassonne and otherwise worked and/or hung out.

On Monday after class and blogging  #2 daughter and I went to the Cherokee Cultural Center in Tahlequah. We were taking her to the Optometry School to check out a startling improvement in her vision which was bothering her. It was quite interesting, especially since I was working on an optometrist’s website at the time. I asked the worst case scenario and the guy doing the tests said, “Aww, why do you want to know that?” Apparently, it could have been the case that there was swelling behind her eyes that would push them out of her head.

I found this a comical idea, though it probably isn’t.This is why he didn’t want to tell me, but I wanted to know.
 
At the Cherokee Cultural Center, we went on a guided tour of the Ancient Village. The guide had a shirt and some  knee-high boots of soft, thick leather, but no pants. We didn’t ask why. I’ve seen lots of pictures of the ancient Cherokee, and none of them strolled around with naked thighs. He also told us, almost in the first sentence, that “women ran freely” in the ancient village. We disliked him from that point on, as we later discovered when we compared notes in the car, but the village was interesting.

Since #2 daughter seems to be fine, it ended up just feeling like an outing.

I got back too late for rehearsal. The next day, #1 daughter took a three month job managing an electronic gift type store for the holidays. This should make life less suspenseful financially and help out with the spell during which, though there is plenty of work, people don’t tend to pay.

Immediately, my inbox was filled with work.

At last night’s rehearsal, we met “The Rune of Hospitality.” Quite difficult, but pretty.

#2 daughter arrived safely, and she and I are meeting #1 daughter for a local concert in a few minutes. We also plan to do a couple of videos for FreshPlans: building a pyramid with sugar cubes, and something about boat design — not sure yet, but we’ll come up with something.

We also have a challenge: to build a KML for the Google Earth Influencers group (I’m one of them, and how cool is that?) We don’t know KML, but it’s always fun to learn.

Have a great weekend!

The stupid dogs woke me up at 3:00 a.m. I am therefore still tired. Sigh.

I have a couple of websites to write today, and a class to teach. Then #2 daughter is coming in for the weekend.

Mostly today I was blogging and writing a newsletter for a client, but we did take a couple of hours this morning to attend the Insect Festival  on behalf of FreshPlans.

We used to go to the Insect Festival every year when the kids were small, but it’s been a while. We had the opportunity to enjoy Insect Theater, to talk with wildly enthusiastic entomologists (they all are, though I don’t know why; maybe they drug them before the festival), and to pet hissing cockroaches, though we passed on the last opportunity.

We also had lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant and discussed the ways in which FreshPlans is like Facebook as portrayed in the movie.

I made some very nice soap and matching foaming bath oil. The photo doesn’t do them justice, because I am still horrible at photos, even though I now have a nice camera. Sigh.

I worked on the Christmas sweater for #2 son and caught up on The Big Bang Theory. 

I skipped rehearsal. I was tired.

So today I got to class to find myself locked out. This happens a couple of times a semester, and I just hold class out in the hall. Unfortunately, I had planned to use the computer lab (also locked), so I not only had to teach in the hallway, but to do so without a lesson planned.

When I got home, I worked on a newsletter for a software company (they’ve just done some work for Microsoft, which is pretty big news), a website for a community foundation off in another state, an article for a local medical professional, and some blogs. I had some mild tech conversation with my sister and also with a guy –

And here I have to add some information. Last night #1 daughter and I went to the movies with a bunch of the local web workers. We went to see The Social Network, the movie about Facebook. It was quite good. Among the participants was a friends of #1 daughter’s, a nice man whom I kept introducing to my colleagues as “a network guy” or “a hardware guy.” It turns out that he was actually a software engineer. I had to apologize to him about that, so of course I seized the opportunity to ask him a question about the newsletter for the software company.

– who came to the movies with us last night.

Then I went to bells, passing on the way through the church pumpkin patch, and then to choir practice up the hill.

So it was quite a normal day.

We’re having a gorgeous Fall day here, the bikers have retreated, and #1 daughter has moved into her new apartment. It’s a very nice place, with a pool, a built-in desk, a panic button by her bed, and a balcony.

It’s Kids Room week at the HGP. Here’s the list of holiday jobs:

• Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
• Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
• Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
• Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes.
• Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
• Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
• Check smoke detectors and clean them, change batteries if needed.
• Make “goody basket” for guest bath, from samples found in abundance in stores right now.

I’m keeping up pretty well, actually. I picked up the jewelry findings I needed on sale at Hobby Lobby and finished up the red vintage bead jewelry set you can see here.

I also tried out a foaming bath oil recipe. Basically, It’s liquid soap and almond oil in equal measures with scent and glycerine in smaller quantities. It’s very nice — so often you have to choose between harsh with bubbles or moisturizing without. I’m going to make up some bottles of it to put together with soap using some nice Cybilla scents — my sample is Grapefruit Lily, and it’s very pretty but also a bit sharp and green.

But I feel sure that the main question on your mind is the same thing that I’ve been thinking about: what were hymn writers of the 1980s thinking? This morning we sang “O Praise the Gracious Power” which has not just an insipid tune but also some really bad poetry:

I’ll leave you to contemplate that. I’m going to go read for a bit.

It’s a work day today: content for a website, SEO plan and probably a rewrite for another, and blogging for my Australians, as well as some Vine items to review and some work on FreshPlans.

Housework, too. #1 daughter has gone on to her new apartment, so the office should be shifted back to being an office, and it’s the end of Master Bath Week, and there’s just the usual amount of cleaning up and errands to be done.

The bikers are here in force, so the dogs were whining last night — not just our dogs, but the whole town’s dogs — plus the noise of the motorcycles. Makes it hard to sleep. Some people leave town, some stay home cursing the noise, but it’s also possible to embrace the whole thing, on the theory that noisy events are more fun for participants than for people who are just being kept awake by them.

I’ll try to think of that as the motorcycles rev outside my window.

The event is, in theory, for charity, but analysts claim that it generates only forty eight cents a head. It is also, in theory, good for the local economy, but the same analysts say it’s only good for the bars.

There’s a lot of music going on, though.

Today I got up at 4:00 a.m. to grade papers, then drove up to the Next County for class. I do this every Friday, but this time was different because we have our annual motorcycle festival going on. This meant that we were lined up on the shoulder for miles before we could exit: the off ramp was too crowded. I spent fifteen minutes there, waiting, with bikers behind me playing Elvis Presley loudly and of course making loud flatulent noises with their motorcycles.

It took me over an hour to get home. I missed an interview in the course of that drive.

However, people paid us today, just in time for #1 daughter to move into her pretty single girl apartment. And to pay tuition, of course.

I didn’t finish all my work, so I’ll have to work tomorrow, but I got a lot done, and after 12 hours of work I quit for the evening. It’s a beautiful evening. I’m going to read and work on #2 son’s sweater.