Monday, Monday ver. 830.01 (but written on Tuesday)

Ahh, fresh java made from real beans that aren't New Jersey snarky.

Woke up today in fine fiddle, but without an internet connection, mostly. Spent most of today without much of one.

Been peeling open mail, on the phone hither and yon, been to the grocery, talked to Bram(bo,) washed the car (yes, I repeat - I washed the CAR.) Worked on the website development, was invited to be the instructor of record nationally for mortgage courses by an online company, listened to a tax client freak out totally because the IRS sent him a dunning notice, and shredded a bunch of "stuff."

More trip reports:

My Aunt Kay, who's the size of a green bean and is always worried about her weight, told me just as she was leaving that I looked five months pregnant and needed to do something about my weight. My Aunt Jackie, who's a bit larger at a stalk of asparagus, said that they were worried for my health.

Not that they asked about my health at all.

After two days, my assembled aunts began to criticize my sister's cottage; a stain on a table cloth, a slight depression in a gravel walkway, etc. If it's not perfect (in their taste and viewpoint,) it gets a turd bomb. I was also informed Saturday evening that I should take the (volunteered) responsibility of preparing the evening meal AND cleaning up, which carries the statement that I needed to make up for what I had not yet done.

Saturday morning, my stepmother launched this turd bomb - my flight Sunday left ALB at 0630; that meant a checkin time of 0530. Being an hour away from the airport, it meant leaving the cottage by 0430, and arising at 0330. My sister's partner had volunteered to drive me (us, my cousin was also going) at that hour, and said she loved getting up that early. This was confirmed before I traveled up there, and twice while there.

At the breakfast table (where I was not) my stepmother announced:

1. It was unreasonable for me to require carriage to the airport at that ungodly hour
2. If I were considerate, I'd offer to take a hotel room near the airport and stay there overnight
3. However, if I were to make such an offer, I'm so irresponsible that she would end up having to pay for it

Later that morning, said partner o'my sister and I headed into town to pick up more .. something food oriented, and she said she was looking forward to having some alone time at their home in town to recover from the endless, shrill talking (my words, not hers) and commotion that she'd been dealing with for three days. She WANTED the time away, and taking me to the airport was the excuse.

My stepmother, therefore, made up a problem that didn't exist, created a solution for the non-existent problem that suggested , since hadn't proposed it, meant I was thoughtless, and then added on a SECOND (or was that a third) assertion that I was thoughtless and imposed on others unreasonably for not having the ability to pay for the solution to the non-existent problem (although she never asked if I could or couldn't.)

On the same car trip with my sister's partner (SSO for sister's significant other) I asked what their plans were for the holidays. She replied that they (she, my sister and her son) were headed to my dad's in Ocala for Christmas, and that they were likely just staying home for Thanksgiving.

For years (and I mean .. twenty) I've felt hurt and punished because I wasn't invited to these family events. HELLO!? (hits self with clue by four) THESE PEOPLE ARE OBSESSIVE NUTBALLS. Would I *want* to spend Christmas with my judgmental, brutal stepmother? Uh, no thanks. How about just dowsing myself in lighter fluid and voting Republican instead?

Less painful.

SO - FREEDOM from feeling like I'm not part of things. WHOO HOO!

I'll just hurl in unrestricted love bombs from afar "oh, here's an XM radio for your car .. just was thinking of you." "Oh, here's another $150 in hardcover novels - I've already read them, but thought you'd enjoy them." "No, I'm so sorry I can't attend - I'm busy launching another website."

Drop the shackles and step into the sunlight.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes.

So, while gone in the land of enforced social contact, I had lots of time to reflect when I wasn't trying to block out the cacaphony of three aunts and a stepmother talking simultaneously and endlessly about nothing at all. Some of the things I reflected on were:

• Things I'm no longer willing to put up with in myself
• That I need to work a lot harder
• I am committed to executing on my (unwritten) business plan to have my website(s) support me fully by the end of the year
• I have a TON of work to do to make that happen
• I was going to start with the mortgage exam prep and mock exam course for that

So, there it is. A few days spent contemplating the exam prep and mock exam; talked to Tom about it yesterday, made some other steps. Then, last evening, I have an email from a client who asks "don't you have an exam prep course?"

Uh, not yet, but soon. He wants to buy a copy.

Today, I have a scheduled call with the people on the east coast; oh - just as an aside, would I be willing to be their instructor of record as they roll out into forty some other states? On retainer?

Yep.

I got in two of the lamps for the outside yesterday; two more are in transit, I guess. The eBay seller isn't writing me back anymore.

So, lots done today, and nothing done. Craziness.

I'm reading a book about the influenza epidemic of 1918-19 in which nearly 675,000 people in the United States died. It's fascinating from any angle. I hope to finish the book tonight.

Okay, I'm tired of writing and tired of sitting here. I did write up the "Standard Sugar Daddy Agreement" today - everyone who's seen it has been floored.