Updating my life

Well, maybe I haven't updated my entire life, but I've updated my web page, something I don't do often enough. I'm particularly aware of this because the same recipe stays on the recipe page for way too long. But this time I've added information about the e-book versions of Sue Ellen Learns to Dance, updated my bio, changed the recipes and the cookbook page. Of course, I didn't do all that--hats off to Claudia Butts, graphic designer, who did it. I wish I knew how to do it, but as Brandon once said to me, "You really don't want to learn HTML and I surely don't want to teach it to you." My neighbor, Susan, came for happy hour tonight. She's having web pages lessons at the Apple Store and says it's easy--you don't need HTML. The program does it for you. But she's on a Mac, and I'm on a pc. Anyway, check out my newly updated web page at http://judyalter.com/. If that doesn't work, just google Judy Alter. They did that the othr day at the Bill White campaign office and were so surprised to see the page that they decided they had a celebrity in their midst. I assured them it was not true and told them one of my more humbling stories.
I spent two hours this morning at the campaign office. Just like last week, I talked to many people who either had or were going to vote for White and only one who was going to vote for Perry. I don't know where this list comes from or how heavily weighted it is, but I found this encouraging. As I drive around town I see a lot of yard signs for White, very few for Perry. But I understand Perry is charging for his--you should pay for the privilege of helping him campaign? Arrogance again!
A wild gastronomic day--a reuben for lunch (the kind with lots of kraut, so good!), hummus with pesto (my new discovery--homemade pesto) and Manchego cheese for happy hour, and a bowl of really spicy chili, courtesy of Susan's husband Jay, for supper. Hmmmm. Hope I sleep tonight. Maybe all that mixture of food is why I feel so weary! It astounds me to realize that from now until Sunday night, I will only eat supper at home Thursday and lunch Friday. Big times ahead. I'm busy picking out my wardrobe.
Back to the novel--I think I quit at 57,000 words last night. Not feeling ambitious tonight, so maybe I'll settle for a thousand.

Coming home is hard, gubernatorial campaign, and a dog/child problem

I'm not a good traveler. I don't like to be away from my house, my animals, my own bed for very long. But I often find coming home is harder than leaving. After a wonderful three nights in Austin with Megan's family, Jamie's girls, and glimpses of Jamie, I got home yesterday about 3:15 and had less than two hours before Jacob arrived for the night.
The trouble with me, I confess, is that I'm almost obsessive-compulsive. If it needs to be done, I want to do it NOW. I come home, no matter how long I've been gone nor how much computer access I've had, to tons of computer work to do, bags to unpack, animals to reassure, the "to do" list I made while traveling--and I bigosh have to get it done that day. Last night, poor Jacob suffered from it--he was watching TV but I told him to come get me if he needed me, which he did about ten times. I was tired, and I'm sure he could tell I was losing my patience, because at one point he asked, "Juju, are you happy?" He, poor baby, had an ear ache so wasn't at his best either, and it was not our best evening together. I did get him down by 9:30--pretty good for a school night. And this morning? Nothing on my desk seemed that urgent.
Jacob pounded on my leg to wake me about 7:45, announcing that it was wake-up time and seemed offended that I didn't spring right out of bed. Somehow it was almost nine before I got coffee and my morning yogurt. Finally, at 9:30, he was off to school, and at ten I went to make phone calls for Bill White. I'm pleased to report that I only talked to one person who was voting for Perry and quite a few who were voting for White. And a few undecideds actually listened to me tell them why we needed White and thanked me. My main talking point? The state is $18 billion in debt, a fact that never comes out in Perry's rosy ads about how well Texas is doing. And now more and more of Perry's underhanded deals are coming out. Want to check the veracity of ad claims? Go to shootstraightTexas.com. It gives the truth about both sides and their campaign claims.

I've got a dog problem. Jacob loves Scooby and says "See? Scooby loves me!" but Jacob is also a bit afraid of Scooby. When I gave Jacob a handful of four treats and told him to take them to the office, he kept throwing them at Scooby to keep him at a distance from him. But once Scooby was in the office, Jacob wanted to stay and "play" with him. Well, Jacob makes Scooby as nervous as the other way around. Scooby reverted into the panic mode he used to show during storms, getting under my desk and pawing at me. I finally put both of them in their respective beds, but I'm thinking some desensitization training is needed. Scooby is 11 but I think I can teach an old dog new tricks with his training leash and soothing words. The problem will be to get Jacob to be calm, slow, and loving. Guess I'll work on it this weekend. Scooby is actually the most loving dog in the world, but because he was abused in his previous life, he has some real quirks and fears. A report for dog lovers will follow next week.
Writing a mystery? What's that? I swear I'm going to get back to it.

Campaign work and an email day

Fun doing phone calls at the Bill White campaign headquarters today. When I first started several weeks ago, I was the only one in the room (which I kind of liked) but today, as the election draws near, there were about ten people in there making phone calls (a bit distracting for my challenged ears). Still, I talked to lots of people who were going to vote for White and one man whose disparaging comments about Republicans I can't repeat. Then there was the lady who said, "I've had enough of the other guy. Haven't you?" I assured her I'd had more than enough. Sure, there were about three who told me they knew who they were going to vote for and it wouldn't be Bill White. So be it. I was nonetheless encouraged by the support for him I saw.
Lunch with an old and good friend and then home where I surely dealt with 100 emails between 1:30 and eight tonight--mostly Sisters in Crime and Guppies (going to be published). They're time consuming, but I'm afraid to skip any because some have valuable information. A nap, a bike ride, a supper of leftovers, and I'm back at my desk, hope to get to read tonight.