Gimme a freakin' break!

Dear Mandella,

Life has been crazy. And that's the nice word for it. Both of my jobs have me busier than a .... OK, let's just not go there. On top of that, I had one of those mornings when nothing went right

• I overslept
  
• I ordered a bacon & egg biscuit sandwich (no cheese) at a McD's but they gave me a sausage, egg, & cheese biscuit sandwich — which I didn't discover until I was zipping down the Interstate highway at warp speed, trying to get to work (the full-time job).
  
• At the office, I had to log on to a special site in order to take an annual bit of training. My logon info had expired.
  
• OK, now I have to call to get everything updated except that the phone number on the web site doesn't work.
  
• I locate a toll-free number, finally get through to the person who can help me, finally get the new logon and password, I get to the right site, get logged in, and then the network goes kablooey.


• I keep trying the web site (I get a little further each time before the dreaded "TCP/IP" error shows up), and finally get the training done, something that takes 2 hours instead of the usual 20 minutes.


• I try to print the certificate at the end, but the printer keeps giving me an error.


• Then I found out that I'd misprinted a name on a hand-painted name card at my other job and they need it redone ASAP.

Honestly, I gave up at that point. I took off for the remainder of the day (it was 11:00 a.m.) -- I'll make up the time this weekend -- and drove like a madwoman to the stationery shop (the part-time job) and reprinted the name tag.

And that was when I learned that one of the people who would have worked from 1:00 to 8:00 had major car trouble and couldn't come in. I went home for a shower and a short nap, then came back to work from 3:00 to 8:00. And I'll still be in tomorrow afternoon from 2:00 to 6:00 because I have 400 name cards (for a different event) to print up.

None of this takes into account the political posturing that's going on by everyone with half an opinion on the big $700 bazillion bail-out of failing financial institutions that our lovely government is planning.

I don't have time for any opinions on the current economic crisis, the current presidential race, the civil wars in various countries, or any of that because my life has enough of its own crises, races and wars.

I'm wondering whether I can get a bail-out. And not just the money. I need to be bailed out of my life on days like today.

But, the bright spot (and you just knew there had to be one) is that I finished up the lovely shrug for my sister Mary.

Is that just too lovely for words? Modeled by Louise at String of Purls (who is test-knitting the pattern for me using Rowan Kid Silk), it is everything I had hoped it would be.

As if that weren't enough, did I show you the quilt top I'd finished?


*sigh* Something beautiful in a crazy world. I need that.

Hugs and good news to you,

Judith