I guess I've been more in touch with my mean side lately (yeah, I'm gonna work on it) and I've got a few questions:

Have you noticed the huge growth of interest in "organic" fruits and vegetables. I'm all for eating healthfully and all, but I have to wonder: did everyone misread "organic" as "orgasmic" and then were too embarrassed to admit they didn't care how their apples were grown?

Have you noticed that lesbian women on TV are drop dead gorgeous? And the gays on the news protesting the passage of Prop 8 in California ... um... aren't?

Have you noticed the abundance of articles on green living written for six-year olds? I mean, everyone else pretty much knows from common sense that it's better to run a full dishwasher load and to turn out lights when you're not in the room and to turn down the cold water instead of turning the hot water up when you're trying to get the right temp in the shower.

Have you noticed that food safety experts tell us to immediately refrigerate leftovers but energy saving experts tell us to wait until leftovers have cooled off to put them in the fridge? What's a leftover lover to do? Waste energy and enlarge our carbon footprint or risk food poisoning?

Wow. I feel much better and kinder now that I've gotten that off my chest.

Have you noticed

I know I don't post often enough. I know not all my posts are about marriage and relationships.

But I know some other things as well:

I know I can't do it all.

I know what I'm good at and what I'm not.

This is the first day of November. November 1-15 is crowded on my calendar. That makes me feel stress. But I also know that I get more done when I'm already busy. I take care of things right away so they're not hanging over my head, just waiting to be forgotten. I like working with a deadline.

So, in the next 24 hours, I have to hem a pair of jeans, write 3000 words on a project, make 1 phone call I've been putting off, dry the sheets and make the bed, walk, go to church, go to the local library fundraising dinner, set the clocks back, feed the dogs, feed myself, sleep, and write an email.

I'll get most of it done.

The rest will wait.

Two dogs live with us.

Seamus is old and cranky and he loves me to the exclusion of everyone else. Wherever you see Seamus, you can be sure I'm within eye and/or ear shot.

Harry is actually our lovely daughter's dog but while she's on an academic quest, Harry lives with us. He is very intelligent. You can see it in his eyes sometimes, he's calculating and figuring out how to get us to do what he wants.

We often joke and say if he had opposable thumbs Harry could rule the world.

I'm not so sure he needs the thumbs, just a smarter family.

A couple of weeks ago, he delegated something from his to-do list to me. I wish I knew what it was. He followed me around for four days and never took his eyes off me. If I sat at the computer, he sat next to me and stared, his head cocked, his eyes saying, "Well??" If I was at the kitchen sink, he did the same thing on the floor next to me. Living room recliner: ditto.

I apologized many times for not knowing what I was supposed to be doing.

I think he finally gave up and took care of it himself. Now he naps when I'm on the computer or in the recliner.

I can only wonder about his next assignment for me. Hope I don't botch it up also.