Dog Days

Of summer and in my life right now. Riley and I are doing "morning" and letting G sleep in on his first weekend off since starting his new career. I don't have the "play time" thing going yet so Riley is a bit unsure of his morning routine. He does know that when I turn on the television to watch cooking shows or West Wing that nothing dog related is going to happen so he just sighs and takes a nap. Okay with me.

Riley likes to go out and relax on the back stoop and watch over the back yard. Even in 90 degree sun. YES. We are having summer weather, finally. I don't let him stay out there very long. If I go out with him, (which he likes very much), he will go out on the shaded lawn and chew his sticks. But only if I am also out on the lawn.

So, I was up and dressed by 7 am. And I have made the coffee and mixed and am baking a Kahlua Chocolate Cake for my daughter's birthday today. Later today, she and I will drive to Augusta to do some mall shopping and have a birthday lunch. Sam was born on the same weekend as the huge Woodstock event. Not at the event. But still, our very own little hippie rocker baby. She even had her own little love beads. Until I realized she could choke on them.

I read an entire book yesterday starting at about 3 pm. "Die For You" by Lisa Unger. Her first book "Beautiful Lies" was so exciting but this one, while it had a very interesting plot idea, just fell flat about 3/4 the way through. Where ARE the book editors? Really! Where are the editors. Nearly every new release I have read this year starts out great and then completely goes to crap at the 3/4 mark. Sometimes even at the halfway point. I guess the editors figure you "bought" the book and if you don't get a good read, so what. They have their money.

A friend gave me her copy of "Olive Kitteridge". A good, depressing read. I am so NOT going to read that. And she gave me "The Tattooed Girl" about racism and hate. Not going to read that one either. The books I do want to read are stalled in the library waiting game.

Some of the college kids have worked their last days. The schedule is in flux. We, the more senior employees, are waiting to see how things shake down for the fall season. We only have three "boys" right now. And our leader has promised "full time" to a few employees who are only getting 28 hours a week right now. I continue to be scheduled for two days a week (14 hours) and sometimes I get the 8 hours on Saturday also. Like next weekend.

I'm right on the edge of not wanting to continue working at the greenhouse. When we are busy, the days fly. But when business is slow, it's a LONG day. But Christmas is coming (isn't retail strange?) and Christmas was very exciting last year and it smells awesome. Then I get laid off for 3 months. I wonder what Christmas 2009 will be like? Will people buy things? We see a lot of "sale only" shopping at the greenhouse but still have quite a bit of full price buying. This may be the true test of whether the economy has turned the corner.

My cake is done and I poured the melted butter, sugar and Kahlua over it. And now all the cake has to do is cool for four hours. It's a very moist, dense, fudgey chocolate cake. Excellent with best quality vanilla ice cream. And birthday candles.

Happy Birthday Sam!