Did I mention that I got a bag full of free books today (and learned, in the process, that I am not the only person who reuses those nifty little Starbucks bags)?

There are three rules I have when it comes to reading:
1) Read something every day, even if it’s just a blog entry, an article in a magazine, or a chapter of whatever book is in the bathroom.
2) Read a little bit of everything: comedy, drama, chick-lit, serious fiction, biographies, non-fiction…it’s all good, and limiting yourself never is.
3) Never, ever turn down free books.

The unwritten fourth rule of books is to share what you read – either by passing books along to others or writing reviews. The bag I got from Deb this afternoon comes with the requirement that most be reviewed for All Things Girl, either the ‘zine or the blog, and I’m really excited about doing so.

Between Zorro being sick and both of us being sick (we keep passing a cold/sinus/thing back and forth, I think), and just not sleeping well, my schedule is skewed beyond the normal funky hours I tend to keep, which is why I, the one who generally doesn’t work past noon on Fridays, found myself writing news about life insurance policies at 6 PM last night, and working on a music video for a project at eleven last night.

Today was a mix of business and pleasure. We put the order in for the new carpet for the lower hallway and stairs (a commercial grade variegated color called “moss” for the first floor – a mix of sage, clay, coffee and cream, and slate – the swatch looked amazing when we put it near the walls and the cherry floor it will touch.

The upper hall and stairs will get cushy-soft residential carpet in a color called “mocha mist” which is swear is NOT this year’s version of condo cream or apartment gold. It’s a caramel-y warm neutral, but deeper than any of those “we’re about to sell this house” colors, and while it goes well with the current color scheme, will allow us to change the walls without having to redo the carpet AGAIN, should we desire.

It takes 10 or so days for the carpet to arrive.

I cannot wait.

I also met Deb for coffee (this time at the Border’s in Arlington Highlands, where there was an actual bagpiper piping in the square. Apparently, he’s a high school student and a member of the Scottish Rite, and this was some kind of extra credit thing. He was adorable, in the way that freshly scrubbed teenaged boys in kilts tend to be, and somehow it was a perfect cap to a sunny, springy, February day.

We just got back from grocery shopping (London broil 2 for 1, ditto the high-grade chicken breasts. Yay meat!) and I’m doing some pre-cleaning before Fuzzy steam cleans the carpets for the last time. Well, THESE carpets, anyway.

In April, we’ll be tiling the formal dining room.

From my stepfather…

Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

The good news is, Zorro’s lungs are clear. No pneumonia this time.
He does have a slight cold.

Vet was unable to determine if coughing is cold related or heart congestion.

As Zorro is already on an ACE inhibitor (enalapril) we’ve got another ten days of antibiotics, and more cough meds.

If this doesn’t kill the cough, we’ll be putting him back on Lasix.

Still this visit was only $65, and half of that was the enalapril refill.

And he gave kisses to the vet.

And the Starbucks guy (I stopped for a medicinal mocha on the way home) gave me 4 chocolate cupcakes for the price of 2.

Thank you for your good wishes for my little Z-dog. He really is the sweetest creature.

His wet, hacking cough is back. He coughed all night, and it started to ease as light came, but he’s still doing it just not as much. He seems exhausted.

When I hold him, I can feel the heart murmur without “looking” for it.

We go back to the vet with him in a bit over two hours.

Despite everything he’s frisky and seems happy.

But I feel like there’s an hourglass over his head with the sand draining out all too rapidly.

There were no raindrops or roses in my yard yesterday, though for a while the clouds were teasingly ominous, and technically the package I received in my mailbox was sealed with adhesive, not tied up with a string, but a package is a package, and even though I was in migraine hell, cranky from bad sleep, and suffering from lack of protein (we never got around to grocery shopping on the weekend, and so our refrigerator has yogurt, bottled water, eggs, and assorted condiments, but not much else, and I wasn’t in the mood for eggs) this package made me giggle with joy.

What package?

Why the two t-shirts I ordered from The Robbieverse, the collection of gear (t-shirts, mugs, and the like) which happily sports the playful, whimsical, colorful are of one Rob Wolf, known as “ArchanglRobriel” in LJ environs (and not linked as his LJ is mainly friends-only. Big thanks to Jeremy for introducing us, though).

Not only are these two designs as cool in person as they are on the page, but the t-shirt style chosen is big enough to keep certain female parts comfortable without feeling like they’re bound in mummy-wrappings, but isn’t eighty gazillion feet long, which is an issue with many t-shirts when you’re short and busty.

CafePress is pretty simple to work with, and even though my target arrival date with standard shipping was this Friday, they arrived earlier, and when things are early I’m always delighted.

Especially when it means I get to pimp a friend’s artwork.

Go check out The Robbieverse. Buy stuff. It will make you smile.

Again from SpaceWeather.com:

On Wednesday night, February 20th, the full Moon will turn a delightful shade of red and possibly turquoise, too. It’s a total lunar eclipse—the last one until Dec. 2010. Sky watchers in Europe, the Americas, parts of the Middle East and Africa are favored for good views of the two-hour event.

Wanna know when to stare at the sky? Go to Shadow and Substance for an animated timetable.

So we decided on this tile for the dining room, which is currently painted deep goldenrod and will eventually be dark terracotta.

The kitchen will keep its dusty blue tile as will the foyer.

The back hall is getting commercial carpet in a moss/cream/blue pattern, so traffic won’t show and dogs can’t dig it up. The stairs and upstairs hall will be “mocha mist”.

Am so excited!

Usually we only ever do stuff like this when we want to sell. This time, it’s for ME.

From SpaceWeather.com:

If all goes according to plan, space shuttle Atlantis will undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday morning, Feb. 18th, at approximately 4:30 am EST. This is good news for sky watchers across North America who will be able to witness a rare double flyby on Monday evening. Atlantis and the ISS will appear as a tight pair of lights, as bright as Jupiter or Venus, gliding in tandem across the twilight sky–an unforgettable sight. Favored cities include Los Angeles, New Orleans, Dallas, Jackson (MS), Pensacola, Philadelphia, Reno, San Diego and others. Double flybys continue on Tuesday, Feb 19th, albeit not as tight because the shuttle will be moving away from the ISS as it prepares to land on Wednesday, Feb. 20th.

My regular readers know that I often refer to my day job as making me feel like a paid hack, and while that’s mostly in jest, I do sometimes feel that I’m plodding along on a virtual treadmill, but with none of the benefit of exercise. Well, except for a paycheck.

When one of my favorite webzines, All Things Girl put out a call for new editors to help with some of the sections, recently, I contacted Deb, who lives in the next town, and whom I used to purchase MT skins from, and applied for the section I was most interested in.

I also reminded her that I hadn’t contributed in a while, and explained that I often felt my snarky/sarcastic/wry world view wasn’t always a good fit.

Deb is so amazing that she not only said I could have a humor column (think softly humorous observations, like Dave Barry, but with breasts), but gave me a Sr. Editor title, which basically means I help wherever she says I’m needed. I get to contribute reviews, be a third pair of proofreading eyes, and help generate buzz for the ‘zine and the site.

Now, there’s no money in this, but it’s a great zine, and the folks who contribute are amazing writers. It’s also really good exposure. I mean, this isn’t just a neat blog with a magazine layout. The cover interview for the current issue, for example, is Deborah Harry. How cool is that?

I’m really excited because it means I’ll get to know Deb and the other contributors better, and because it will force me to submit stuff, and do stuff, and not hide behind my blog so much.

I’m also excited because I know a lot of the people reading this post are amazing writers, and this gives me an excuse to tell you to check out the site, and maybe contribute submissions of your own.

All Things Girl wants you!