Finally, Some Sun

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I've been feeling a bit down this week. As usual, it's probably attributable to several factors. I just finished 7 sales tax returns at work and now I'm going through lists of tedious stuff for the New York State sales tax auditor's return next week. This crap is so boring and unfulfilling, I'm surprised I can stay awake. This audit was started last year but that auditor, whom I liked, was reassigned. This new one had his first visit while I was on vacation. My boss paints a grim picture of him so I'll be interested to get my own take on him.

Meanwhile, it's boring and tedious work. But - it won't last forever. (Just feels like it will, right?)

The bake sale I organized to raise money for one of our company projects, The American Heart Association, was today. We raised about $50, which isn't bad, isn't great. We'll put the leftover baked goods out tomorrow so we'll probably raise a bit more. I tried to spice it up this year by holding a contest within the bake sale. Each item costs $1, which buys you one ballot so you can vote for Most Delicious and/or Most Creative. I have to say it did raise the bar on the few baked goods that people brought in. I made peanut butter cookies with one half dipped in dark chocolate, then dipped in chopped peanuts.

Our office is pretty apathetic, always has been, but it's gotten worse lately. That's okay though, because that's how I feel too. I believe in being philanthropic, but we're all adults and can give when and how we choose without some organized thing at work. This is my last fundraiser activity. It's no fun anymore. Never say never, but time to give it a rest.

On a happier note, I will say that our company raised close to $5000 to help that Buffalo employee with the sick daughter, Grace. I posted about the quilt signing and purple ribbon sale here. We have about 50 people in our office and the turnout was actually better than I expected, considering very few of us have met this employee. He's fairly new and being a field engineer, our paths just don't cross. So clearly, our Buffalo office was very successful since they raised the vast majority of that $5000. I'm happy about that.

Another factor for my blues is this is my icky, bloated, lethargic week of the month, which is just how I feel. Blah.

But after a few inches of unseasonable snow earlier this week, I'm happy to report the sun shone brightly today. It was a balmy 45 degrees, I think, with promises to reach almost 60 degrees this weekend. I was working in my studio tonight, admiring our new pond so I took a picture to show you. As you know we live surrounded by a Christmas tree farm. As beautiful as that sight above is, it's not really a pond, just a low spot, more flooded than I've ever seen in our 7 years in this house. I'm glad we live on higher ground.

Last night I was taking my dinner dishes into the kitchen and looked out the window to admire the pond and saw 4 deer running towards our yard. We see deer in the fields on our street all the time but rarely in the pines. I think those four were so freaked out about that new pond, they were disoriented. I don't know. But I just loved the timing that I happened to be looking out the window when they ran by. Reggi saw them too but knew they were beyond the Invisible Fence line and way bigger than she wanted to tangle with anyway. She didn't even ask to go outside. She was content to stare intently from inside the house.

I love my new camera, as I've said, so I was wishing for more interesting stuff to photograph. Instead I found this. These chairs are on our lower deck and quite often Steve and I sit here in our big fluffy robes after we've soaked in the hot tub. Not when there is snow on the deck but other times, even when it's in the 30s. We sat here just last Saturday morning, before that heavy set snow settled in.

Steve is the King of Gadgets. He loves all those silly catalogs. Silly, until I thumb through them and see all the neat things that I certainly don't need but sure look like fun. This is his most recent purchase - a cat fountain. As you can see, the water squirts out and hits that little platform. I tried it on the floor first, to serve the dog and the two cats. Well, Reggi would just about lap that thing dry in one sitting. So we put it up on the shelf where we feed the cats. I still see Verona drinking out of the bigger Reggi bowl of water. Needless to say, Steve is more intrigued with gadgets than the cats are.

That goes for the dog too. Steve's previous gadget purchase was a bottle you fill with water to take with you to give your dog a drink after a walk. It has a little bowl attached to it that you fill with the bottle. We tried it once and cracked up because Reggi wanted nothing to do with it. We started making up 'thought balloons' for Reggi. "Oh Christ, Steve's been ordering from those damn catalogs again." Or "Oh pulllease, get that cheap piece of crap out of here!" So now it hangs in the hallway, by Reggi's leash, mocking Steve.

It sounds like Steve's obsessed with watering the pets, but it just happens that those are his last two purchases. I know he's found some good things. If I think of what they are, I'll show you those sometime. Yeah, that's it, I'll get back to you on that.

Wow. I'm even boring myself with this entry.

Time for bed. Which will bring us to Thursday, one day closer to the weekend. Yay.

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