Between six and eight

Rebecca tagged me for the seven things meme and it's one I can do. Much as I like being tagged, I'm a bad bet for these things overall. I'll either forget or think it's too hard of come up with some story I'd like to tell instead. But I liked that Rebecca moved the rules to the end and her blog was new to me, so let's give this a shot.

1. I rarely rise above my inclinations. If I feel lazy, I'm generally useless. If I feel productive, I'm generally insanely busy. Yet I did battle past the apathy yesterday - I sent out a refocused Problematic Paper to co-authors, I made notes on the fellowship application, I took a walk, shopped with Friend and cleaned a bit.
2. I can achieve ridiculous amounts of pleasure out of random things. Case in point - my old vacuum wasn't working well at all. Friend said she didn't like Dirt Devils and suggested a buy a Bissell. Friend knows random stuff like that so I placed the bulky box in one of our two Target carts. I came home, asked for a bit of help putting the handle on, then vacuumed. I continued to exclaim over how clean my floors were. It's delightful! When I woke this morning, I shuffled down the hall slowly until I noticed how dirt-free my carpet is and grinned widely.
   
3. Between Friend and me, $500 was spent at Target last night. It would have been $55o were it not for my 10% coupon I get for using my pretty, shiny Target credit card. "Wow." I said as we each pushed a full cart toward my car. "I'm glad I didn't calculate that as we were going along." She nodded in agreement and I decided I'd simply think she spent $400 or so until I calculated the totals and found otherwise.
   
4. Apart from my previous and much beloved new vacuum, I purchased Rice Krispie Treats for myself. I should just make them, but I don't have a nonstick pan big enough to melt marshmallows. Maybe I could ask for one for Christmas... I did get many gifts for four children - the two cousins and the two nieces. I think I'm basically done.
5. Sprout is a real cat. He sometimes thinks himself a dog, but his true feline nature shines through. "This is what I mean." I said, not glancing up from wrapping presents at my kitchen table as Friend walked in to get more vodka. "Always with the noise. He's into everything all the time!" I said of my stripey pet. I glanced down and smiled without meaning to. "Is he all the way in the bag?" Friend replied that of course he was - he is a cat. And I saw a little face with pointy ears poking out of an Old Navy shopping bag full of Sprout the cat. He's a sweet little guy sometimes.
   
6. I prefer clouds to sunshine on most days. I'm therefore pleased with the weather this morning. I think it's because my pupils are abnormally large and the sun hurts my eyes. Now that I wear glasses 99% of the time, I'm not able to shield my abnormal eyes against the sun, so I don't like it. (I do not have prescription sunglasses. I am considering a new contact prescription so I can wear them more often though.)
7. I should do at least one random item since I really played fast and loose with the rules of this meme. Um...I have many, many, many bags. Purses and totes and laptop carriers and backpacks and overnight bags. I can see two in the living room, there are two in the kitchen and another three in my bedroom. My closet holds at least 10 more, but the seven that are out are ones I use often enough. I'll often decide on an outfit based on what bag currently holds most of my stuff. I received a free brown tote in quilted material from Dove, I think, and rather like it. So I've been wearing a lot of brown lately so I can carry it to work.
   

Who shall I tag?
Friend - who will in all likelihood ignore me since she's buried in work lately. I was lucky to see her at all yesterday and had to schedule in advance.
Charlie - who will in all likelihood ignore me since he's also buried in work lately. His voice brightened when I identified myself on the phone last week - I'm not sure if he was pleased to hear from me or if he was just grateful I wasn't the colleague he expected to call at 8PM or so.
DocInTraining - who is smart and thoughtful and sent me a much-too-generous gift certificate in response to my sending her used books.
PPB - Her writing is so utterly exquisite sometimes that it makes me cry. Here's a recent example.
Lucy - When I started reading Lucy, I was afraid she'd think I was stalking her since I made my way through so many archived posts one night. She's terribly sweet and funny and sincere and was always kind when I asked her to read the book I wrote.
Cee - Who also read my book, bless her heart, and had the most wonderful post of Christmas ideas recently.
And JustMe - She actually does the memes with which she's tagged - at least much more reliably than I do. I find her bright and adorable and very much hope her December goes quite well.
(And if you want to play and I didn't tag you, please leave a comment and I'll add you to my list. I don't think very many of my tags will stick, quite frankly.)