My beautiful, cute, new Circa journal arrived today, while I was at the doctor’s office over my horrible back problems (more on that later). The good news is that my notebook is perfect and lovely. I even realized that I could tear some pages out of the flower journal, trim the pages, punch them, and add them to the new notebook.
I remembered that I had a rolodex punch from my days at Daedalus. I dug it out, and it works perfectly for adding pages. Okay, so I have to punch it 7 times, but I already own it. I wanted to keep the spending very low until I was certain that this is what I want to do. I may eventually get a punch from Levenger’s, but this seems quite perfect for now. Now I just need to transfer information over from the old notebook so that I don’t have to carry them both around.

On to the doctor. I did something to my back. AGAIN. I don’t remember doing anything. In fact, I’ve been overly careful, and while my sister was here, I didn’t lift anything. She carried all the stuff that needed carrying. Whatever it is, it came on very fast this time. I feel like someone is poking a fork into my lower back and twirling it so the muscles knot around it and tighten (like you’d twirl spaghetti on that fork).

I couldn’t even get to the office till 1, and within 30 minutes, I knew I was in deep trouble. I called the doctor, and through some miracle, they had an opening at 1:40. So I went off to the doctor, who gave me prescriptions for Flexeril and Darvocet. She also said I had to go get x-rays and do physical therapy. :( The x-ray tech was very nice, and while it was very, very uncomfortable, it wasn’t as bad as the last time. No word on the x-rays till the doctor sees them though.

After all that, I went back to the office. Partly because I knew that if I went home, I would just go back to bed, but also because I knew that my notebook was out for delivery, and I wanted it. I didn’t last till 6:30 though. I left around 5. It just hurts too much, and I couldn’t think. Took a nap when I got home, then I got up to play with my cute notebook.

I sure hope that the drugs start working soon. It’s hard to walk around in the house. How on earth can I walk around the office? It’s really painful and hard :(

Got all the reviews for the Teaching Media-Savvy Students kit on Friday, so I finished the revisions today. It’s off for the finally proofreading by the editors tomorrow. Should be in the online store by the end of the month. And no, I don’t get royalties, but I’m eager to see it finished and for sale.

Also wrote my Ideas section for Inbox, but I’m not telling you what it’s about so that you have to come back tomorrow to find out.

I’m still suffering from the acid reflux. I’m trying to eat really, really bland things until it straightens out again. I’m remembering that I ate some honey mustard last week. Maybe that was part of the problem. Whatever it was, it’s accompanied now by a side order of major back pain. I didn’t do anything improper, so I’m dumbfounded by the back issue. All I can think is that it’s the changes in my bed. My sister and I raised it so the top is elevated 8 inches, as all the acid reflux information advises. Maybe it’s causing me to sleep differently and I’ve caused the muscles to tighten up or something? I’m sitting with an ice pack tonight and that seems to help some.

Thanks to John’s comments yesterday, I realized that I needed those Circa notebooks too.

I have spent days looking for a notebook that I liked. I’m surprised that I didn’t get thrown out of Pages for all the testing I was doing—trying to decide if it would lie on the desk properly, would stand up to wear and tear, had pages that turned easily, etc. I finally decided that I was just going to have to settle for something that I was only lukewarm about and make do. It’s a cute flowered spiral journal, but not really perfect. Not what I wanted.

I never understood those Circa notebooks, so they didn’t seem like an option. A former employee at NCTE swore by them and had all the employees she managed using them; but they just seemed pricey with no real benefit. I thought they were silly. After all I can tear paper out of my notebook now, why do I need a fancy system. John’s explanation suddenly made it make sense. Especially given the standard stuff that I have to just copy over and the running lists that I need to keep. As I understand the Circa system, these notebooks will simplify things for me.

I got the shipping confirmation this evening so it’s on its way—one junior notebook and a pack of dividers. I decided to buy the cheapest basics to start with just to make sure I like it.

Even though I like the idea of being able to arrange the pages and whatnot, there’s this manuscript lover’s voice in my head that is hesitant. Naturally, nothing I put in a notebook will matter in the long run. No one is going to study my papers. Still, I have this feeling that it’s just wrong to rearrange pages in a journal. It kills me to remove a page from a notebook&#151especially the bound kind where you have to cut out a page for some reason. It’s like some crime against humanity to take a page out of its original place. Very paper-based and linear of me really. I’m trying to convince myself to get over it. After all, my notebook left the FEDEX ramp in Fort Lauderdale at 21:52:00.

First, I must admit that I did indeed steal green tomatoes from my neighbor’s yard on Wednesday and send them home to my mother. They were on my side of the fence, and she needed them I assure you. Perhaps I’ll go to hell, but at least it will be for a good reason.

I seem to be punished for it. I have had an evil return of the acid reflux problems—burping and acid and boiling. I can’t figure out what I’ve changed greatly about my eating. I promise that I didn’t eat any of those tomatoes. Both of them went to Virginia. All I can think of is that I was perhaps eating regular meals while my sister was in town, and my schedule is all wacky again now that she’s gone. I also remember trying a tropical punch Fuze Tuesday night. It contained some pineapple juice and turned out to be a bad idea; but could it have caused all this? It doesn’t feel good, and I am really quite unpleasant to be around. Good thing I don’t have friends around to listen to this horror.

Yesterday, I went to Pages for All Ages, the local indy bookstore, to take advantage of my birthday discount. I got two YA books that dabble in multimodal kinds of writing in some way:

• i can’t tell you by Hillary Frank is a multigenre novel that consists of a range of notes that the protagonist, Jake, writes—including e-mail messages, notes on dry-erase boards, napkins, tablecloths, and even upside-down calculator messages.
• Confessions of a Boyfriend Stealer [A Blog] by Robynn Clairday combines blog entries and message boards with connecting narrative to tell how the blog author, Genesis Bell, loses her two best friends.

I also bought Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I’ve always thought that the book looked freaky and wasn’t interested in reading it as a result. Lisa got a copy along with a huge pile of books for a graphic novel project we’re working on. Sharon said that she and her son liked the book, and there was a Terry Pratchett quotation on the back. So I decided that maybe I should try not to look at the pictures and read it anyway. Maybe if I put it in that cloth paperback book cover I have… We’ll see.

All this is sort of silly. I have 21 books on the table that I need to write reviews of for my other site, and I have 13 books lying there that I haven’t read yet. 15 books if you count the books in the Bromeliad Triology separately. Just noticed that the next book in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy is due out in January. I’m not sure about buying it though. Book one seemed somewhat pushed and obvious. Fortunately, I have months to decide.

Cleaning the old notebook

I’m in the process of starting a new notebook for work, which means that I have to go through and copy over the info that I need to keep. These are assorted things that I found in the process and wanted to save for whatever reason. If you’re not entertained by the list, try the Bush Speechmaker instead.

• “Teaching you how to rest and teach you how to achieve a sense of proportion.”
• “It’s easier to leave than be left behind.”
• multimodal literacies. what tools count for whom, for what purposes. how children & adults interpret, navigate, and produce meaning about themselves and others w/ digital multimodal text.
• Sausage Bacon Bites
  Line dish with foil. Cut bacon in thirds. Wrap around little smokies. Smother in brown sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

So that’s how today started. Every machine I touched crashed. I never really did get anything concrete done. Had a few meetings. Crashed machines. Talked to IT folks about crashed machines. Finally gave up and came home early. I’m sure it’s all related to the fact that Snuffles has gone home to Virginia :(

So the weeping began about 11 AM, when my sister and Snuffles the poodle loaded into the car and started the trek back to Virginia.

My house is very empty, and there is no one at my back door. :(

Just a pic of The Mystery Machine for Beastie, the world’s best lover of Scooby Snacks.

Error! Error!

Whoever came up with this obviously got something wrong…

Today’s Horoscope
Whoever said that it’s impossible to have it all clearly never met you. As one of the most can-do signs in the zodiac, you’re able to set your sights on a goal and get there. Your trick? You never let yourself get overwhelmed.

Herewith are assorted poodle pictures. When there’s a poodle in the house, you have to do what the poodle wants you to do. It doesn’t matter if you had plans of your own. Poodles decide for you. Mostly, they apparently want to have their ears rubbed and for you to give them whatever it is that you are eating.

I’ve also snuck in a picture of my new USB lava lamp :) A birthday present from my sister and niece and nephew.

Today we did get some things done in spite of poodle interruptions. Most importantly, I got a new chair to sit on at the desk. My old one was (1) dirty and resisting cleaning, and (2) no longer letting me adjust it. It had one height setting, the lowest one. This new one seems to have better back support, though it doesn’t tilt back like the old one. I think it will work however, and it wasn’t very expensive.

We also got some pillows and such stuff to try to adjust my bed further. I’m supposed to be sleeping with the head of the bed raised 8 inches because of the acid reflux. I’ve put wedge pillows between the mattress and box springs. That seems to be working, but my sister is going to help me put some non-slip padding between the two so that the wedge pillows quit sliding the bed down. Going to try to fit the pillows in better and make things more stable. The pillows made all the difference for my sleeping without problems, so I need a more permanent solution.

I did actually open a lesson plan today, but I never got anything done on it. I blame the poodle.