I'm back! And I'm still eyeballs deep in work! Thus the silence since I returned from Pasadena on Tuesday night, I'm afraid. You would not BELIEVE how full an inbox can get when you're gone for three whole work days. Or maybe you would, I don't know. At any rate, it's been a mess, and things will continue to be a mess for awhile yet.

To recap in brief: I had a marvelous time at the Children's Institute event, where I got to meet my awesome Scholastic publicist and a number of outstanding book buyers/vendors/reps/etc; I had an uneventful return trip; I had a freakout upon my arrival home.

Apparently I was wrong about some flooding damage. To wit, our house was the victim of a deluge a week ago - I mean, water up to the windows in the den deluged - and no, we don't have flood insurance.* Why the hell would we? We live on the side of a mountain, FFS. It was just a freak phenomenon where we caught the brunt of a flash flood at the rear of the house; and at first, it looked like everything was solved with some towels and some fans.

But the moment I came home, I knew we had a problem.
A wet, musty problem.

Oh yeah. It took the wood and its subflooring a few days to swell, and now we have to rip out maybe a third of that lovely oak we installed a year and a half ago. I'll find out how much this is going to cost us tomorrow, when a dude comes out to give me a number and make me cry.

Then on Monday a different dude is coming out to tell me how much a new gutter system and a French drain behind the den will run us. We've had "new gutters" on the to-do list** since we moved in - not that it would've done us much good last week - but the drain should help protect us from future freak water events.

Besides all that mayhem, my husband dashed out of town for work as soon as I got back, so it's been back-and-forth trips to the airport, packing and unpacking, and general freaking out for everyone! [:: throws confetti ::] He comes home again tonight, though. So there's that.

In other news, since my return to Tennessee - besides clearing the email backlog - I also batted last-minute cleanup on the I Am Princess X audio content, and then I went diving in headfirst on [secret project] with a deadline at the end of this month. I hope I make it.

Anyway, things aren't all hectic doom and gloom around here, for today Greyson had a playdate with Briley! A marvelous dog party ensued! So let's end on that note, eh?










* Even if we could con the insurance company into paying out, it'd come back to bite us in the ass when our premiums shoot skyward.
** It is a very SEXY to-do list.