If someone ever asks you to be their Power of Attorney? Don’t. Do not. It’s a nightmare. You do not need to deal with the blood-pressure-spiking stress of it all. Yeah, you’ll thank me later. I promise.

This really was a “quick” book for me, as it was under the 800-page minimum I seem to have set for myself this year (1Q84, 11/22/1964). Anyway, my friend Robin recommended that I read the new Louise Erdrich novel, “The Round House.” I got it from the library — it had a “Nov. sizzlers” sticker on it, and there was another copy so I suggested it to another woman lurking around the new-releases — and for the first 40 pages I wasn’t convinced, but once it got over the “we’re Indians!” references every paragraph the story sucked me in and wouldn’t let go, like a faulty swimming-pool drain. A terrific page-turner and educational, too. Also, the best ending I’ve read in a long, long, long time. LBJ says, “check it out!”

Recently, I’ve been re-acquainting myself with a lot of people and things. Like work for which I’ve studied (MFA @ SJSU) and been trained to do. It’s been great getting back to my writing/editing professional projects after a two-year hiatus to take care of MFM in the midst of her Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

(What a joy to be able to leave the house! They don’t tell you that when you care for a shut-in, you become a shut-in yourself.)

I’m not leaving the house much anyway, having been chained to my computer for most of the month, but that’s fine. The fact is, I *could* leave the house if I want, even just to run down the street or buy a gallon of milk. There is a freedom in that the likes of which a 40-year-old shouldn’t have to know about.

In hopes of landing new clients and letting old work friends know I’m back on the marketing/PR bandwagon, I’ve spent quite a lot of my spare time on LinkedIn, or, as I like to call it, Facebook for grown-ups who have jobs. LI has a new (?) feature where you can do one-click endorsements. I’ve been taking advantage of that, endorsing folks. I’ve also written a number of recommendations. Many gracious people have responded in kind. It’s wonderful, the kindness of people you haven’t seen in 15 years. One of my buddies from Aimnet wrote:

“Smart, innovative, solution provider. Lynn has a passion for writing,
with the ability to focus on what’s important. Winner.”

So awesome.

Another friend — one I lost touch with for a while, but who was nothing but magnanimous to me, particularly when I lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains and my well would break so he’d let me take a shower at his apartment — not only wrote me a recommendation, but also sent me an email letting me know that he’s kept his nametag from my 25th birthday party in his desk all these years.

He even sent me photographic proof.

Such a compliment. It’s amazing to know that even the silly things I’ve done through the years have resonated with… anyone.

I lost 15 pounds this summer when I was caring for MFM. Not the best way to drop 15 pounds (in two months!), but it happened. I was mostly maintaining the weight loss but the scale was starting to creep up a bit, so I got back to the gym last week.

Now I’m down a total of 17 pounds, and the scale is at its lowest number that it’s been since I was pregnant with my first child, 7+ years ago.

Again, I’ll take it!

What I *should* be writing are the edits on a document that I’ve already edited once, and then they sent it to someone else who added a ton of new info. But the document is only in PDF format, and if you’ve ever Post-It-Note edited a PDF doc, you know that by the end, it looks like the dog’s breakfast. (funny, I’m typing “dog’s breakfast” and our 18-pound cat comes in right then to rub against my ankles… someone thinks a small mammal is being fed and IT’S NOT HER.)

So, what I’ll do is create an MS-word doc with a map to where all the additions go.

Speaking of writing, this weekend Monstro (my husband, for those of you new to this ballgame) mapped out the entire plot of his new novel, which has the BEST title in the whole world, and I’m not going to spoil it here.

Also: Walking Dead was grue-some last night. I say last night because we do not have cable (bye, $100/month bill!) so we’ve bought the season pass on vudu, which is great because it’s commercial free but it’s also delayed gratification because we don’t get to watch it until Monday.

Also: Someone needs to invent an on-the-fly spellchecker that does NOT undo the hyphens or creative spelling that this MFA does because she already knows *all* the rules and therefore is allowed to break them as necessary.

Time to go work. xoxoxo

Lex and I went to church by ourselves yesterday — Monstro’s down with a cold and BK’s ears still hurt — and on our way up the path to the sanctuary, Lex complained bitterly.

“There’s a pin poking me in the butt!” he said.

“A pin?”

“Yeah! Something’s poking me!” And then with every step he let out an “ow!”

“Let’s get in to church, put down our things, and go to the bathroom to check it out.” So we did that, and hot-footed it into the family restroom, where I had him take down his pants and underwear.

There sure were pinpricks on his bum. About 10 of them. I looked inside his undies and saw a tiny black spot that I thought might be a flea (if you’ve ever suffered multiple flea bites, you think fleas are the culprits for everything), but no, it was just a speck.

Then I had him pull up his underwear.

And Viola!

There was a feather that was sticking into the fabric covering his left bum-cheek.

I pulled it out and showed it to Lex.

“Honey, look at this. I washed your underwear with my featherbed cover — a loose feather must have stuck to this so the quill could poke you in the butt.”

He looked astonished for a moment, then laughed and laughed. I gave him the feather, he put it in the garbage, and then we fastened his pants and went back to church.

Seriously, you could have knocked me over with a feather!

I had a pretty good week. Actual work was involved — work that I am trained to do and (if I do say so myself) damn good at.

Monstro had a shit week. The work that he is trained to do (and damned good at) is unappreciated and ignored at his current place of employment. A “hey did you get my email” turned into a round of bullying by his boss’s boss the likes of which I’ve never heard (the guy’s an a-hole, obviously).

So, now we’re on opposite sides of the coin. Again.

“We’re like Ladyhawke,” Monstro said the other day. “When you’re up, I’m down, and vice versa.”

I guess between us, we round out to zero.

I love to play Words with Friends. Ever since The Master Theorem went on hiatus (sob, sob), Words with Friends has been my lifeline to using my brain. Of course, when my thoughts were scattered like so much chicken feed, it was hard to organize letters, so I’d rely on the Words with Friends helper. A lot.

Monstro would come into my office at our old house and see me using the site. “Oh, playing some Cheats with Friends, huh?” I laughed, because it’s only the truest things that are funniest.

I don’t hide my cheating, though. I often proclaim it on Facebook. And, when I went in for the interview for my dream job that I didn’t get, during the exam I told the HR person that “I have my study notebook here but I’m not using it. I only cheat on Words with Friends.”

She did a double-take. “Me too!”

Alas, it did not help me to get the job.

I’ve picked up some new-client work and I’m very, very thankful. This month is two birthdays and Thanksgiving. I need the scratch, man. I’m particularly happy because most of the work is editing things that other good writers have written, which for me is like playtime. I love making other peoples’ words flow more smoothly. It’s been a real confidence-booster, too, to do work for which I was trained. I feel like I’m still shaking off my spate of PTSD from caring for MFM, and there are still some nights that I can’t get to sleep from residual stress of it all, but slowly I feel as though I’m getting back to myself.

Also, I’ve gone back to the gym. I’ve run something like 6.5 miles this week. Hoo-ah!

It figures that during a hellish 2012, my birthday falls on Black Friday this year.