Oh, my. One of the bloggers I most admire, FTS, has spotlighted my blog this week. And here I am, with my blog a complete mess. I haven't dusted off my thoughts, or sorted out the good ones from the ones that need to be thrown out. Swept out the cobwebs? Organized my ideas? Ha! There's probably even a participle or two dangling around here. But please overlook the disarray. You are very welcome here.

Today's good news is that I am no longer the only woman in the sales force. The new hire is on the east coast, so I will only get to see her once a year at sales meetings, but it's nice to have her in the group. It's even nicer because my boss' wife told me confidentially last summer that he was so pleased with my performance, he was eager to interview more women for sales. As one who remembers when job listings were divided into "Help Wanted -- Men" and "Help Wanted -- Women" categories, and, even worse, when job applications had a whole section asking very personal questions about your periods (how heavy, how often, did you get cramps, etc.), I find the old phrase "you've come a long way, baby" floating happily through my head. (Avoiding, I hope, those pesky dangling participles!)

I saw 8 turkey buzzards perched on top of the house at the end of my street. Of course, by the time I went home to get my camera, they all flew away, presumably to dine on the finest of road kill. Two of them took off from the roof as I drove by. They are huge, with wingspans that must be five feet across. I know scavengers are necessary, but that doesn't mean I have to like them.

The weekend was very nice. I bought a set of coppery orange sheets, some reddish orange towels, and a bright orange outfit. Yes, I am very attracted to orange right now. Kritter and I went to the ballet Saturday night. I have a dreadful sense of direction, and they would not let me exit from the parking garage at the place where I could have found my way home. Instead, I went about 30 miles out of my way before I figured out where I was. (For those of you from Houston, I wanted to get to Seabrook, but I ended up going west on Memorial until I hit 610.) Yesterday I cleaned out part of my closet and filled two trash sacks full of clothes, some of them still with price tags on them. I very seldom shop, and still I have all these excess clothes hanging in my closet. I donate everything to the women's shelter. I was struggling over whether or not to get rid of my red "power suit". I haven't worn it in a long time, but it gave me confidence at some critical times, and I had a sentimental attachment to it. Then I imagined that some woman with her confidence in tatters would put on that suit and go interview for -- and get -- the first good job of her life. I'll never know if that actually happens, but just the possibility made that suit go into the Donate pile.

Well, I warned you that I hadn't organized my thoughts! I hope everyone has as happy a day as Monday can be.