not really sure where the week went

I've been gearing up for a big work project, which necessitated doing four training presentations in two days (Friday and Monday). Meanwhile, other projects demanded attention, too, including some number crunching for this morning's shareholder's meeting, a longish (but productive!) executive work session last week, and a spate of conference calls brought about by some weird confluence of planet alignment. And then the usual end-of-month data analysis that marches ever onward no matter what other things are on my plate.

Things at home aren't much quieter. We have about a summer's worth of projects to try to cram into the upcoming weekend -- we were supposed to start on our to do list last weekend, but neither of us felt like doing anything so we...didn't. I did some writing (not much...I ended up getting distracted by other diversions, which is generally a sign that I'm kind of blocked) and Sal brewed another batch of beer. We watched some movies and relaxed a whole lot, and that's pretty much it. So a productive weekend, I say, even if our to do list doesn't reflect it.

More importantly than all of that, however, we received news of a death in Sal's family on Monday, and that has understandably been our focus for the last couple of days. He'll be heading out of town for the funeral and to spend a couple of days with family (wishing I could go, too, but it's just not in the cards, unfortunately) so we're getting things together for him to be gone for that.

Everything taken together has meant that the smaller, daily tasks of life have fallen to the wayside. Things like grocery shopping, for instance. Or in our case, grocery ordering. We have a crazy amount of beautiful and delicious produce, but pretty much nothing else, especially now that I've cleaned out the fridge for today's lunch. Sigh. And of course the weather's turned cooler and we've had a spot of rain -- autumn is definitely in the air -- so I'm feeling all nesty and cozy, wanting to make rustic casseroles and big pots of thick soups and to bake nutty cakey things.

lunch, black strawberry:

• ham and lettuce wraps on picks
• molded egg with carrot and cucumber as gap fillers
• tomato wedge
• orange sections
• dark chocolate covered raisins

It's a testament to just how pathetic our cupboards are at the moment that I have two cups of raisins in my lunch instead of one. I'm just completely out of everything I would use for gap fillers, from berries to dried fruits to nuts to granola...even peas, for pete's sake! I'm never out of peas. I mean, it's meant a double-chocolate day so I'm not going to complain about that, obviously, but it doesn't make a very well-rounded lunch (and there are more gaps than I'd like overall). At least it doesn't have that weird greenish cast that the last few pictures have had. Must remember not to snap a pic directly under the fluorescent in my office....

This will be rectified tonight, however! Tomorrow will be a very long day at the office, necessitating lunch AND dinner bentos, as well as a snack sidecar. Possibly even two! (It's going to be a very late night.) Eep! Which means I must stop by New Seasons today at some point for at least a few things if I'm giong to get through tomorrow with my sanity. Wil I manage it? Tune in tomorrow to find out....

I still need to get the pictures and write-up posted about our wonderful family weekend, especially since Sister was so kind to send me pics before she left for vacation. And of course I haven't posted about our trip to Mt. St. Helens in July during our vacation, which included many lovely pics, as well. Y'know, because I already wasn't feel enough like a slacker....