Everything in Its Place

BE HAPPY ALONG WITH FIORELLA! She has made another massive step forward arriba en su officina. She had already pretty well tossed what she wanted to get rid of, but that left piles of various sorts around the room, and every time she started diving in again, she had to re-identify everything. The solution was staring her right in the face: the file cabinets, the ones she had bought years ago and had only used half of. Now, please excuse Fio while she makes up some file-case tags.
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One whole drawer in the cabinets is labeled with her father's family name. Many, many years ago, when Fio was visiting her Pennsylvania relatives, she gathered a lot of information about that side of her heritage, then tucked it away in the shelves in her office. Well, the wife of one of her cousins is interested in genealogy so Fio is sending her photcopies of her own research. This could be interesting because genealogists have so many more tools available now.
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Another drawer will be dedicated to all Fiorella's lost manuscripts, the ones she never finished or that are now out-of-date. She'll also start keeping her WIPs in their own drawers. And then there's her poetry and journalistic endeavers. Organized at last--is it truly possible?

All the News That's Fit to Print

Fio started cleaning out her office closet and discovered she will never need to patronize Office Depot again.  Paper, envelopes, file folders, binders--she's overflowing with them. She also discovered that she'd saved copies of her home-made Christmas cards for what looks like thirty years back. All this and, so far, all she's gone through are two shelves. What wonders await her in the rest of her closet? Narnia?
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Fiorella caught Husband watching a television sensational on the Caylee Anthony trial and blew a gasket. Having shoved that whole horrible, disgusting, sick episode into a dark room of her mind, locked the door, and lost the key, Fio did not appreciate Husband asking whether or not she thought that lying slut was guilty.
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Younger Son stopped by today for a long visit and Daughter is coming by tomorrow. Nice.
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Has Fio told you that not only do we have a cardinal who attacks our dining room window, but a whipperwill who tries to keep us awake when we try to go to sleep at night? And a bobwhite who awakes us every morning, whether we want to be or not?
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Fiorella cringes every time she drives by the land on our boondocks road which is being cleared for new additions. She understands that people need homes, but what about the carbon thing and global warming.

Here and There

Fiorella taught creative writing for two glorious semesters, but she got in trouble with the powers-that-be by not using a textbook because she believed--and still does--that textbook exercises and instructions are counter-productive when it comes to creativity. She wanted her students to draw inspiration from within themselves, not from textbooks.
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Has Fio ever told you that Husband is a second-generation birder, that his parents traveled all over the world to so his mother could add exotic birds to her list? That she was actually world-ranked at one time?
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As Fiorella has told you, she is now engaged in making her office livable, which means she's plowing through at least a ton of pages, books, and whatnots. Her old teaching stuff can go (although she's keeping the student evaluation accolades), but the books are mostly destined for donation to the Georgetown library, and the whatnots will be tossed or pawned off on friends and family. However, every precious page on which Fio has written an essay, poem, or story will be treasured forever.
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Fio was in a blue funk earlier in the day, frustrated by not being able to do anything about the school shootings, by the nonsense in DC, and by not being able to walk without pain because she'd been to the podiatrist the day before. Then, when she was at her lowest, Husband proposed driving over to Dairy Queen for dipped cones. Sonia Dog accompanied us (although she, of course, requested a Puppy Cup) and we all had a great time. Thanks, you, honey. Thank you, DQ.
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Fio has a hair appointment tomorrow with friend Deborah. Nothing like a stylist you've been going to for at least twenty-five years.

The World According to Fiorella

All  hail the mighty Fio! This last week, she not only turned in her book, but finished off the negotiations for the refinancing of the house.  And today she will (gulp) start cleaning up her office, the most daunting task of all.
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Fiorella has read that Donald Trump's poll figures are unreliable and his audience numbers are exaggerated.  How does he get away with it? By yelling a lot lot, like a spoiled child--he throws a Trumptrum,
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Have you ever noticed that in Doonesbury, no one ever gives birth more than once?

Truth to Tell

I am a writer. I work on my novel from noon till midnight every day. My Christmas decorations have yet to be packed away.  I have no idea what is going on in world news. My upstairs office is littered with notes and discarded pages, and my downstairs office is piled with the same. My husband has been doing the grocery shopping for the last month.  I haven't even been outside for three days.

This is not the way Hollywood told me it would be.