Not dead, just semi-employed (temporarily)

No, I have not succumbed to any diseases, nor hurled myself off a tall building. For the last couple of weeks, I have actually been working - a nice change of pace from my normal sitting and staring into the middle distance. First I had to finish my humor column for the June/July issue of Quilter's Home, no small task in itself since I have now written a good number of these things and coming up with new material is getting harder. Then I got word that one of my QH editors was having a rather harrowing family emergency, and I offered to help out with any editorial tasks she might not be able to handle until things calmed down. My offer was absolutely sincere, but I never in a million years thought they'd take me up on it. They did, though, and for the last week I have been happily immersed in proofreading and copyediting and remembering why I love doing that kind of work so much. I'm grateful to them that they trusted me enough to let me help out, even though they really had no way of knowing whether I'd be any good at it, and if they have in the meantime decided that allowing me near their precious publication was a stupid call, I hope they'll be kind enough to not tell me.

When I haven't been contemplating dangling modifiers and serial commas, I have been working on my cross stitch project, which, thanks to several readers, has vastly improved, since I can now separate my threads without causing Armageddon and only occasionally get knots while I stitch, instead of all the time. The girls have been fascinated with the process, and I get a kick out of how sincerely they say, "You're doing a great job, Mom! Keep it up!" Thank you, Tony Robbins.

There's a whole lot that I am doing wrong, but I can't bring myself to care. There are places in the pattern where I'm just not sure what kind of stitch I am being asked to make, so I just make up something. It seems to be working out okay so far. When I'm all done, I'll show you a picture of the back, so that you can all laugh at me and feel superior. Don't say I never give you anything.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day. V-Day is a big bust around this house, as I have enough of a challenge getting my husband to give a shit about Christmas and birthdays. The girls get big to-dos at school and daycare, so I don't knock myself out like I would on Easter. But I may just spend my day reading trashy romance novels and eating chocolate so that Eros gets his due from the Dougherty household. I'm sure David will say there's another way we could give Eros his due - the obvious way - and frankly if I keep reading all this trashy literature I suppose we'll have to. Fortunately, David is of the "it's-all-right-to-get-your-appetite-walking-around-town-as-long-as-you-eat-supper-at-home" school of thought, so he'll be happy no matter what. It's good to be married to a man who's easy to please and isn't having a mid-life crisis.

So, what are you doing for Valentine's Day?