For all y’all who are e-mailing and calling me, I hope you read here, so you’ll know that I’m not ignoring you, and I will respond, just slowly. I love hearing from you, I truly do, and I appreciate hearing what’s going on with you (if only you all had LiveJournals!). I’m just overwhelmed right now with the writing stuff. It’ll get better.
I did take a little break on New Year’s Eve, my least favorite holiday of the year–though it’s always okay if I keep it low-key, and I did. Lynne brought Greta the Dowager Doberman, Sparky, and Minute for a slumber party with Margot and Guinness. You can’t pay for comedy like that. Greta’s got some continence issues, so she has a snazzy snap-on diaper that she wears in the house. No pictures, because she IS the dowager and deserves to hold on to some shred of dignity. Sparky’s blindness didn’t stop him from playing hard with Minute, but it also didn’t serve him well in a strange place with hazards he can’t see, like steps, bushes, brick walls, and other dogs. Margot sometimes wanted to play, but mostly she just arranged a pillow on the bed and perched on it like a princess, staying above it all. Guinness by turns wailed, barked, and passed out–which is what many of you were probably doing on New Year’s Eve, too.
After we prepared and ate a Tex-Mex feast, Tim went back to the Satellite Office to continue writing. Lynne and I got to Lindsey and Rhonda’s minutes before the year changed. Lynne played The Simpsons Clue with Lindsey, Ileya, and Adam, while another of their guests approached me with, “Did you used to work at Bookstop?” Amazingly, after all these years, I was able to recall Patrick’s name and met his cool wife, who was patient with us while we reminisced, as former Bookstop employees are wont to do. She also had the coolest black leather trench coat.
As we were leaving later, Rhonda and Lindsey offered us one of their remaining bottles of champagne, so we got to come home and share a toast to 2007 with Tim. Lynne and her canines went to bed shortly afterward, and Tim and I sat up until five a.m. talking about the things that Tim and I talk about (conversations that often get repeated by characters a year or two later).
Monday, Lynne and I hung out and talked about the things WE talk about. After we made a trip to Whole Foods, she went back to Green Acres with Greta, Sparky, and Minute. I did a dash to Shady Pines to make sure my mother got her black-eyed peas and greens on New Year’s Day. Tom got home safely from his trip to see his side of our family (and to bring more fabulous presents to me from them, including a big stack of canvases, YAY!).
And now it’s all about work, because TJB5 is due January 15 and Coventry 2 is due March 1. I’ll probably be a horrible friend for the next eight weeks.
Maria and Bonnie, alter-egos of Lynne and Lindsey.
Rex pretends to drink Lynne’s champagne after she decided to crash.
Guinness and Margot believe a sofa that turns into a bed is about the best thing ever.
On to 2007. Thank you to all of you who were the best of 2006. =)
Maria looks toasted already. Yet, she still managed to kick our collective asses at Simpson’s Clue.
Happy New Year to you and the Compound!
I know better than to worry about you calling me back any time soon. I called about 2 months ago, and I still never heard from you. 😛 But hey, I know what writers go through, to some degree. I just email you. That seems to work better. I am sure other people understand too.
Rutlie would LOVE to be on a sofa that turned into a bed. He had such a great night for New Years. He went insane with people here and wanted to play with everyone. It was funny. He was the only dog at the party, sadly, but then again, he was spoiled well by everyone.
Ooh, books! Goodie 🙂