Busy Week, Pretty Fantastic!

Well, as noted, the last of the guests left Tuesday afternoon. Which left me to do a rewrite on my next cover story Wednesday and Thursday before I got my next assignment Friday--though I won't finish rewrite on my 4,200 word cover story till next Tuesday. (As my kids note: Dad, that's your life! You always have a story due or a draft due or a rewrite due or an interview or 20 to do! You just work every day! Why ain't you rich???)

But Tuesday night I got it into my head to call Cl and I had wine and was exhausted and though I thought it was a fantastic 3 hours--not without glitches, but then I'm never without glitches. I make Joe Biden look like he's never misspoken!!!--and I loved every minute of it, I woke up Wednesday thinking she probably will never want to speak with me again. And that made writing on Wednesday very very difficult.

But I had a good time on Wednesday evening with Madeleina, just watching television and shooting the breeze over an easy dinner of steak and Jasmine rice with broccoli and organic cherub tomatoes.

Thursday was definitely knuckle-down day for the rewrite and just as I was getting knuckeled-down, Italo showed up to try to fix the truck he's been working on so it will pass the damned inspection. We've changed sensors, wires, valves, cleaned injectors, taped tubes....still couldn't pass. And with him came his baby Taylor Rain and Chepa's youngest, Alexa. So what's a granddad to do? You got to play with the kids, get them paints, feed them, get them to the toilet, get paint off the floor and generally entertain them WHILE at the same time making calls, doing rewrite of a difficult story. And in between, Italo needed me to help move the bed off the pickup and generally pitch in to get the work done.

Know what? It was easy. I don't just multi-task, I move like the wind when I need to. And so I flew around the house with the kids, carrying the phone, talking with state officials and the like and worked the stove like a pro while I was taking a break from the truck and phone.

And when Italo thought he'd fixed the last problem with the truck, he went and took it for a full hour drive and then brought it to the inspection place and in exchange for that I made him beef hotdogs with left over sliced steak, smashed potatoes with garlic and three eggs over easy.

AND THE TRUCK PASSED!!! I'm street legal again! I cannot believe it but I am! And when I took it out to shop late that afternoon, two cops spotted me and questioned me--they knew I was way past inspection prior to that--and they just shook their heads and said "Way to go," and "Good for you, Mr. Gorman," and I was flying high on the joy of not having to avoid the local gendarmerie. And I wrote Italo emails and left phone messages praising him to the freaking heavens for being able to figure it out and keep at it till it got fixed. I LOVE MY KIDS!!!!

And now, waiting for my boss to get back to me with the new revisions she wants, I've spent the day cleaning house, cleaning rugs, putting on corned beef and cabbage for dinner and paying bills and I am one happy guy.

I also got the first deposits for the January trip for the mountains in Peru and sold a few copies of my book. And I picked up my trophy for garnering 3rd in Journalist of the Year for Texas from the Houston Press Club.

So things have been tough, but great.

And I hope they are great with all of you as well. Because it's a beautiful night here in bucolic Joshua, Texas.