Today's juxtapositions...

1. I fiiiinally got paid from those mo-fo's who now own Alternative Medicine magazine. w000t! $400 I've been waiting for since January. No more threatening phone calls do I have to make. :D nice to go to the bank to put something *in* the acct.

2. One of my best friend's dad died. I called her for a little chat today and found out. It was unexpected. He was my 7th grade English teacher...you always think those teachers will live forever. She's devastated, and I wish I could help, but they had to fly to Phoenix, where her folks live. Think I'll drive up to Morgan Hill for a few days when she's back--also offered to have her come down here, for some break-time. We're now heading into that time of our lives that the parents will be dying off. A bit of a brainfuck, that one.

3. We came home last night to Amnityville horror action on our dining room wall. Looked like someone had exploded a beer or a soda or creamy coffee across a very specific area of the wall. N and I took 409 to it, but didn't come off. Was sort of drippy, too. We noticed that it wasn't anywhere else, though, not on the pix on the wall, the table under the area etc. Called the pet sitter and he denied all involvement -- and I believe him, since it seems that the stuff is oooooozing from the inside out. WTF??? Cannot figure it out, and we painted it freshly in the last year... Inspected the outside wall (is the garden patio) and there's no clue there. Could be some oozy creature has set up shop between the outside stucco and the inside plaster, but, eh, doesn't make sense. We are going to use KILZ on the area, burn some sage, and repaint. Freakin' weird.

4. I made a kickass dinner tonight with many ingredients fresh from our garden! I harvested multi-colored chard, purple basil, broccoli and bok choy -- used it in a red beans and rice sort of concoction (was actually lentils and black soy beans with red rice). Garlicky and hot peppery and savory and hot damn, I am good. I love it when I make shit up and it is delicious. Mwah!

5. Had lunch with my last labor doula client -- the one who delivered amongst the crazy storms in January. Gotta say, Essau's diner in Carpenteria is mmmmmm. I'm also fond of their orange naughahyde booths. Had great catchup with client/friend and got in some good baby snuggling -- he's HUGE and cute and edible. I refrained from ordering up a side of sautee'd baby, but I did sniff & kiss on him bunches. I didn't even lick him. Heh.

Still have the touch, it seems. I was able to calm him in just moments when he started to get overtired. I like this capability. Yay for me.