Marathon work session

I'm heading to the airport in a couple of hours to fly to Dallas. I've packed my coffee press and a good supply of my favorite coffee. Tomorrow I'm going to try--again--to nail down the final plot of Sword and Scabbard with Scott. I thought we had it (twice) but he keeps coming up with more ideas. This time, I think, I'm going to have to put my foot down and say enough. I have no idea what to expect because I don't know what he's done on it lately. We've had a series of technical difficulties that have prevented him from getting inputs to me. It's been a year since our last face-to-face. I really wanted this to be done and over with by now.

So, tomorrow will be a full day. I pretty much have this evening to look over his inputs, tomorrow to hammer everything in place, and Sunday morning we'll have a few hours for tying up loose ends. I'd love to say I'm coming home with a very rough first draft, but at this point I just don't know. I don't know what the problem is--if it's me or him or neither or both, or if this delay and drama is a God thing. I didn't think it was until Scott mailed me a disk and it didn't arrive. It wasn't returned, either, and he sent it three weeks ago. All I know is that these characters have been in my head for a decade, and I'm ready for this to be done.

Normally I look forward to getting away for a couple of days. Not so much this time. The Boss told me to have fun in Texas and have some nachos and Margaritas for them. I don't think there will be time for that, but I am thinking that after I turn in my rental car Sunday, I'll have time to sit in the airport bar and have a Cosmo before my flight home!

Speaking of cats

Less than five minutes after I posted, I ran across this. Gemmak is the one who designed my blog template, back when she did that stuff, and I believe is one of the few people in the world who loves cats more than I do!

Why I like boys more

The only girl cat I've ever had that came close to doing this was Rylla, and she was 10 when we got her. She wasn't big on lap snuggling unless it was cold, but she did sleep with me. I don't know how many times I woke up, verging on spontaneous combustion, with Rylla curled against my stomach and Eric against my back! I don't know why she didn't sleep with him; he's a walking space heater.




Anyhoo, all three of my boy cats have been lap snugglers, and all of them felt free to jump in my lap if I was sitting, even for a minute. The only place it's not authorized is the dinner table, and so far Ryan is the only one who's tested that. He's about three now, and while he's technically not a kitten, he still has a lot of kitten in him. He's smart, though, and has picked up enough words to make life a lot of fun. Because he's a big boy (about 12 lbs--you can see he's a lapful in the pictures), we nicknamed him Bubba. I can stand in the middle of the house and say, "Bubba! 'Mere!" and if he's not hiding from scary weather, he'll usually come. The other night, Vicky and I were playing with him, and Alex, always the wisecracker, chimed in from the kitchen in a cheesy accent, "I am the Supreme Sultan Bubbamere!" Vicky and I cracked up, of course, and in less than a minute had dubbed the girls 'Empress Chloemere' and 'Princess Diva Tessimere.'

I had no idea, when I got hornswaggled into bringing Rylla home, that cats were so much fun! I can say, though, that it's hard to take a picture of a napping cat without disturbing him.