insists Attila the Hub. "When I said I wanted to experience you as a 'painted lady,' I didn't mean get a job doing faux finishes in Manhattan Beach and come in at the end of the day smelling of turpentine, with specks of brown and gold and green on your clothes, and streaks of 'Goof Off' in your hair."

Now he tells me.

[Purists will insist that I shouldn't blog my husband's witticisms, but please recall that California is a community property state, and half of his jokes are mine by law.

My jokes? Also mine. Fair's fair.]

Posted by: Attila Girl at 06:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've always loved the week between Christmas and New Year's. Even when I've had to work regular office hours, I've enjoyed the fact that offices are often sparsely populated around then and one can actually get things done: catch up on filing, or really focus on that whatever-it-is.

And when it's been a vacation week it's always been sweet, with most of the hustle/bustle of Christmas over with. There's always a cool gift or two to play with or read or wear or eat, and a sort of fat and happy contentment. I usually have some late cards to send out. (This year is no exception: as a matter of fact, since we didn't really send cards or a holiday letter this year I'll likely be producing little personalized notes and cards well into March. But so what? This way, I can enclose my business card for copyediting/proofreading without it being too gauche.)

I'm winding down, now. I'll be getting up at an obscenely early hour tomorrow, and doing my fun physical job most of the day. Feel free to tell me how glamorous my blue-collar charm is: I'm packing a lunch! I'm wearing my painting clothes! I have a cap I'll wear to cover my hair, since I tried a bandana and it just looked too lame. (I mean, it was very 1920s Eastern Europe, but how can I expect my friend's clients to get that joke? One should try to look semi-professional, even with colored paint flecks around the edges of one's clothing.)

My goals for the day: 1) learn to do something other than sanding and final light coats of polyurethane, 2) no drips, this time: B. should not have to touch up my mistakes, or he'll be losing money on my presence, and 3) no caffeine on the way home. Stopping at Starbucks twice is lovely, but I have no business having chai latte in the afternoon—either biochemically or financially. (That one is the morning is absolutely necessary.)

I'm a little sugared up, here: can you tell? I myst go stabilize my blood sugar and read something really, really boring. Then sleep, with a little luck.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:32 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'll be finalizing my decision tomorrow on my husband's phone system. The candidates are V-Tech, AT&T, and Sony. We'll be getting him a main phone (the mother ship) with integrated answering machine, and an additional phone to go downstairs in his office. The main concerns are cost, reliability, and a signal that will go through a couple of walls and one floor.

I also need to get him a 4-in-1 printer within the week. The idea here is to get the best value, taking into account the fact that both HP and Epson make most of their money on consumables: cartridges are part of the calculations, here.

Obviously, I'll be interestsed in any extraordinarily good (or bad) experiences you've had with these brands, or any other insights you might want to share.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:15 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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. . . can be very satisfying. Two days in a row of it knocked me out, though. Who knew that cleaning and paint prep both involve lots of deep-knee bends?

The paint-prep work also means getting up early, but it's a full day, so it ends up being more lucrative. I charge $40 to clean in the Pasadena area, and $50-60 to clean in West Los Angeles/Santa Monica. Paint prep work in Manhattan Beach netted me $123 for a full day at the bottom rung as an unskilled laborer. (That is, if I learn to do stencils and specialty finishes it'll be more.)

Of course, copyediting/proofreading/fact-checking pays $25-35 an hour, but requires top-notch communication from clients in terms of what level of checking they want. Oddly enough, many publishing houses just don't know. They think they do, but they don't.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Tired like backpacking tired. Minus the clean air. But when I finally sleep, it's going to be nice.

And I earned enough to get us a small tree, and a few gifts. So I'm stringing up lights tomorrow and buying a turkey. Yeah—Attila the Hub likes turkey for both holidays, even though they're only a month apart. And turkeys are so cheap and easy it's not like I can argue.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:51 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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. . . to learn a useful skill. Maybe. Wish me luck.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:30 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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and thinking, "that's it. I'll need to rest a lot, but I'm able to at least function now." Flu effectively over.

That conviction is generally followed within minutes by: "holy shit; I'm exhausted. I'd better get back to bed."

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:51 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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We flew back in Wednesday evening, and spent the day yesterday getting re-acquainted with our home—in as physically passive a way as we could manage it.

I did end up going to a clinic while I was in Honolulu. Actually, I was taken there by a husband who didn't like it when I tried to throw up into the hotel trashbasket. (Nothing happened, since my tummy was empty at that point. The incident may not, however, have been the erotic high point of our relationship.)

Now I'm on Tamiflu and an anti-nausea medication. I still have the flu, but the symptoms are easing up at a rapid rate, so I'm semi-functional aside from being very tired.

Posting may be sporadic until the last of the virus has been driven, screaming, from my body.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:05 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Joy: Are you panicking?

Attila the Hub [blandly]: Sure.

Five minutes later:

Joy: Are you still panicking?

Attila the Hub: No. I stopped.

Joy: Well start up again! If you respected me, you'd panic. At least make yourself useful, and try to figure out what I'm going to forget, so I can remember it!

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:50 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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