Insomnimusing: Allons-y!

Even though I dread the coming of autumn - because it means the end of warm weather and the beginning of cold weather - there are a few things I must admit I like about it. I love the bright orange and red and yellow leaves, even though it doesn't last very long before it's all a rather unattractive brown. I love that week or so when it seems all the leaves are falling at once, and the air is always filled with leaves raining down. I love the rustling they make as the wind shifts them all around the ground. And I love that smell. It seems odd to love any smell associated with something decaying, but that scent of the fallen leaves, especially after a rain, is somehow wonderful. Wouldn't it be nice if all decaying things could smell pleasant? So, it's no secret that I'm not a cold weather fan, by any stretch of the imagination, but it does suit my wardrobe better. I love sweaters, and they fill about 80% of my closet. I also love the cold weather foods - those w...

We're definitely keeping busy around here lately. Gin had her first cheer competition on Sunday. Both of her group's teams took first place for their divisions, so she was very excited. It was a long day for all of us. We went in to Sidney to pick up my mom, then spent about five hours at the venue before meeting up with my son, Pooh, for dinner at Noodles & Co. Mom says she's not hosting Thanksgiving this year, so Noodles & Co. was our Thanksgiving. I'm not sure, but I think that might be a crime. Good though. On our drive home, we got caught in a traffic jam for 45 minutes because of a crash on the interstate ahead of us. It happened just beyond an interminably long construction zone, so all the exits were closed, and no one could go anywhere. All we could do was wait. And wait. And wait. Yesterday, Gin had her cheer practice, so that meant leaving early and having to go back to the office with Munch while Gin was in practice. Today, I had to leave early so...

My heart is breaking tonight for my dear friend who has just lost her daughter. She was just 21 years old and the mother of a precious little boy who's not yet two years old. It's so strange for me because I have two other friends who have just had babies. One had a very difficult pregnancy and just three weeks ago had her baby, after a difficult delivery during which they both nearly died. But they are now both well and healthy. The other, he and his wife found out that there was a great possibility of miscarriage. She held on and held on and two weeks ago their baby daughter was delivered. She weighed just over a pound, but she is doing so well and such a strong little angel that we are all believing now that she will prove all the doctors wrong. So it was such a shock to learn that my other friend had lost her daughter. I still don't know what happened. I'd never met her, but I know that she was a person who brought nothing but sweetness and a brilliant light to a...

I could have written a post tonight about my friend's lovely wedding yesterday, about the end of a relationship, or about Manchester United's fantastic win over Newcastle today. I could have written about getting to work today and finding that Mitt Romney's coming to town, so my planned work day was completely shot while I had to scramble for the story, or about how my boss actually said "good job" to me about something. I even could have written about how the first freeze of the year is due to hit tonight and as of last night, my furnace doesn't seem to work anymore, so the house is quite frigid. But no. I got home from work, after stopping at the store for new furnace filters, and parked in my own driveway. I took in one armload full of things from the car and scampered about for five or ten minutes in the house before running back out to the car, parked in my own driveway and retrieving the rest of the things I needed to take in - only to look up and see t...

I ended up catching a break today and getting an early respite in what had promised to be a rather nightmarish week. Our staff sports guy is out starting tomorrow to have knee surgery. In our office, that means the news editor will be doing his job. So my fellow copy editor/paginator will be be doing the news editor's job. Which means I'll be doing both his job and my job, in addition to the job of the reporter who's out on maternity leave. And the job of the webmaster who was never replaced. All that's still on. So what was my break? Well, on top of all that, my editor (who has lost all grip on the reality of our staffing situation) assigned me to cover a trial that was scheduled to start today. Trial coverage means I can't do ANYTHING else. My fellow copy ed even had to post the news stories to the web last night, since I'd be out of the office today. He did it wrong, but I honestly don't care. Anyway, the trial was was dismissed. It's a civil case...