Down to the wire…

My circular to-do list is never ending, and always too long right before a trip.  There is so much to get in order before I leave, family issues, bills and contracts, exhibit entries, a house to clean, I have to look ahead at least 10 days to make sure everything is covered in my absence.  I love my job.  And I’m really really grateful I have work, when the economy tanked in late 2008, I didn’t have any for a number of months.  These last couple of months though, have been almost too much, the work isn’t the issue, it is trying to juggle all the events that make you a well rounded and grounded person, like family, friends, celebrations, and sadly, even funerals.  I was so grateful too, that I was able to attend my son’s graduation from Boot Camp in late March.  I came skidding into the airport, and then right back out on another plane, but I made it.

The down side of what I do, is basically just what I described.  I plan very far in advance.  Sometimes two years.  How do we ever know what the next couple of years will bring.  And even though I’m looking forward to my next trip, to Memphis, TN followed immediately by a trip to Jackson, MS, we found out today that we will both have to miss my daughter’s induction into the National Honor Society.  My husband will be on the road as well, his plane leaves two hours after mine, and he is heading to the other side of the world.  The invitation arrived in the mail today.  The good news is my son will be home from artillery training, so he will be able to accompany her.  The bad news is, we will miss his homecoming as well.  And my mom’s 80th birthday.  The list goes on.  But those we love, know we love them, and that we are always there in spirit, the world is just a little smaller and manageable with email, and texting, and cell phone calls, blogging and Facebook posts.  And there is the occasional snail mail card as well.

I spent the last few days furiously printing and binding handouts and monographs, as usual, and cutting pattern paper and interfacings, and shipping four boxes out to the two locations.  In addition, I have agreed to be the first regular columnist for Weavezine Magazine and I had to upload my first article there before I left, so we can begin the editing process while I am on the road.  The working title for the column is “The Weaver Sews”, but that isn’t laid in stone.  Stay tuned… And my 32nd wedding anniversary is tomorrow.  And right now my husband, my dear dear technological god of a husband is on the top of my priority list.  This man has spent hours, upon hours, well into the night, night after night, working on my blog fatal error problem, and with the help of all of you faithful readers who logged onto my duplicate blog site under my other domain, (huge apologies for all the subscriber notices that kicked out to all of you), my husband has figured out that the root of the problem is our host server.  He has trouble shot (is that a word?) a couple of issues, and sent copious notes and reports and error logs to the hosting server explaining where the problem is, and largely we get back emails that show a bunch of geeky guys scratching their heads and really showing that they have no idea.  The host server that handles my daryllancaster.com domain works perfectly, no fatal errors, and no memory problems.  Which means, that when both of us return, we will change host companies, moving the blog, and my CubeCart online store, over to a new host.  I know that’s more information than you need to know, but we are close to a resolution, and hopefully you won’t see that dreaded Fatal Error message below, which just actually popped up as I write this post.  Grrrrrr………

So I’m off to see the world on Friday morning, and hopefully there won’t be any severe weather in Mississippi like there was last week, Jackson is just south of Yazoo City where the tornadoes did all of their destruction.  I’ll be back on Mother’s Day, and I’ll have the best present in the world, a chance to hug my son!