MatterBulletPoints

The week according to Matterdays:

Still have my job. There are a lot of layoffs planned for the next few weeks, mostly here in Seattle. One in our Accounting department, which is so hard to see happen. But my job still exists, for the moment.

This is probably because they realize I'm so neck-deep in work that I can't be laid off until I finish some huge projects. Of course, the daily emergencies make those deadlines look impossible. Maybe if I stretch them my job will be safe for a couple more months.

We took down the Christmas tree and decorations yesterday. It took quite a few hours. I was dreading doing it, but it's kinda nice now that it's done. Everything's ready for spring. I think next weekend I'll drag Scott to a nursery and start planning the spring gardens, or at least get a new house plant or two. (He doesn't need a lot of dragging). There are paperwhites blooming inside right now, which have me itching for spring.

We ordered out and had teriyaki last night. This makes us happy. The lady at the place we order from is undeniably the sweetest person in the entire world, and she always remembers us. She gives us extra sauce on the side and always takes about 5% off of our order for no reason.

With the decorations down, I could finally REALLY clean the house. After all the snow and rain lately, we had muddy puppy pawprints everywhere. The floors are mopped, the carpets are steam-cleaned, the laundry is chugging away. These are a few of my favorite things.

Scott's computer has gone tits-up. He had a Dell Geek out the other day, but he has to run a diagnostic that literally takes a few days. He's hoping to recover his hard drive, but it's up in the air right now. I need to get an additional hard drive and back up everything, and pronto. Scott's heartbroken to think that his music and pictures may be gone forever. Poor Scott. I hope we can find some of it.

Our neighbor E's dog Buster (a Wheaton Terrier) got out of their yard earlier this week and was hit by a car. A Good Samaritan called E and stayed with Buster until E could come and take him to the vet. They couldn't save him ... he died in E's arms 10 minutes later. While Buster and our dog Kitty have had their share of scrappy fights at our neighborhood camping trips, Buster was an adorable and sweet pup on his own. Out heart goes out to E, his wife K, and their daughters C and S. Heartbreaking.

And now - some MatterPics: