some weeks fly past

This week was a busy one but I'm not sure why. Last weekend was pretty calm except for the gambling bash we went to on Saturday night.

Work has been a little crazy. When I started at River Rock, I was trained to do everything from counting the money for the bank deposit to washing dishes. Gradually those things have been deleted from my job description so I can focus on marketing and promotion. I knew practically nothing about those things, having spent my career in education teaching sex offenders: not a thing for which you search for clients. I have had to learn a lot especially since we're not a big corporation and don't have a huge advertising budget. I have learned to look for opportunities to promote River Rock and its mission.

It takes a lot of time...more time than there is in a day. A few days I got up very early and did some work in the dark and quiet. I have books to read and a marketing plan to write. A marketing plan. Right. I entitled it: A Marketing Plan as Written by a Poet. I'm not really a poet but I'm not really a marketing genius either.

Tiffany and Eric went to a holiday gathering for his work last night so I picked Elliot up at his pre-school. He was so excited to see me. He talked all the way home, pointing out American flags and big trucks and Spiderman that he saw in the window of BuyFun. When I said I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, he said, "Wow! Delicious!" We had a fun evening.

I'm taking a class on writing vignettes. One of the other students is a woman (maybe 85?) who ran a restaurant for years in Cleveland. She reminds me of my Aunt Vi. We're a little mutual admiration society...she likes my vignettes and I like hers. We're going to have coffee together before class in two weeks.

I have a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to Mary's Flowers and I think I'll take it down there today and buy some yellow tulips. I hate this gray weather. I know the more I talk about it, the worse it gets and I can say in my head that it just is what it is but I hate it. And I'm still not done with Travels in Siberia. The damn book is as long as the country.

Here is my plan of the day:

• Go to the bank
• Go to Mary's Flowers
• Go for a long walk
• Stop at the coop
• Pick up the house
• Set the table
• Buy some wine for dinner (ribs)
• Write a couple vignettes

It looks like some of these things that involve moving around town could be done on the walk. There you go.

I have a ton of old vignettes hanging around that I have written over the years but I am resisting the urge to resurrect them. When I mentioned it to Regis, he didn't think it was a bad idea to get out some of the old ones and re-look at them. We read an article last week about geniuses (not that we are one...haha!) but it said that if you are doing something creative, it's a good idea to set it aside from time to time. 

Going to take the dog for a walk.

I want a winter like this!