Brain Clutter

They're doing that thing again where you list the states you've lived in and visited.  Someone was all like "I'm not putting that info out there for the hackers".  I'm ambivalent.  If the hackers haven't already seen this about me, well, that's how it goes.  Anyway, I made a map.  Red dots are where I've lived and blue dots are where I've visited.  (The placement of the dots is random and don't indicate exactly where I was in any given state.)

Six states lived in (MI gets two dots because I lived in each peninsula at some time or another.  Not every Michigander can say that, doncha know.)  I'm done moving around and pretty much done traveling.  I might still drop into OK, but only because it's so close to here it wouldn't be a haul.  For as much as I'm in AR, that dot ought to be like purple or something.  LOL

In further interest of putting things out there the hackers could always play with, today is my anniversary.  18 years of wedded bliss.  And no, that is not sarcasm.  I love Hubs more today than the day we married and I'll love him more tomorrow.  No matter the ups or the downs, we remain strong together.  Oh, and tomorrow is my birthday.  I joke that I made him marry me the day before my birthday so he would never forget one or the other.  I'm 52.  If the hackers don't already have that info, I'd be totally surprised.

I saw something on FB.  2022 is as far from 1970 as 1970 is from 1918.  Let that sink in.  

Some days I feel old.  Some days I feel like a kid.  Either way, the prevailing thought is 'there's no way I can be x years old'.  But I am.  I finally bit the bullet and listed 'gray' as my hair color on my fishing license.  The ol' DL still says 'brown', but it really is more than 50% gray now.  I figure when the gal at the DMV tells me my hair is gray, I'll put it on my driver's license.  Since MO licenses last for like 9 years, that'll happen next time.  LOL

Something struck me the other day.  The longer you live, the more memories you have to clutter up your brain.  Yeah, it's obvious, but I hadn't really thought about it.  No wonder I can't get to sleep.  The ol' brain is constantly flipping through the memories - on random.  Mom's got 30 years on me, so I'm not sure how she ever sleeps.  Imagine how many more memories her brain has.  Sheesh.

And on that note, I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled lives.  Lord knows, I've got a bunch of stuff to do today... that'll probably turn into stuff I need to do tomorrow.  LOL

Have a great day!

Tuesday Stuff n Junk

I do posts like this when my brain is incapable of holding a single thought long enough to write an entire post on one subject.

Yesterday, a comment to yesterday's post arrived in my inbox for moderation.  They said something nasty about me and then tried to coax me to their religion by implying it could fix me or some such nonsense.  ROFL.  You'll note the comment did not make it through moderation.  Comments like that are deleted.  My readers don't need to see that crap.  

I'm kinda derailed with my writing/editing/etc. Thus, my previously stated schedule for having Duke Noble out is on pause.  This may be due to my not being able to hold a single thought in my head for any length of time.

In release news, my friend Silver James' latest Red Dirt Royalty: Twice the Temptation (through Harlequin) is available in ebook format as of yesterday.  (Paperback due out on the 9th.)  Also, the children's book my friend Cedar Sanderson illustrated - One Hungry Werewolf went live today.  And another acquaintance Sarah A. Hoyt has a new book out today, too - Draw One in the Dark (urban fantasy).  Yay for all of them!

Facebook keeps trying to suggest pages that are supposedly 'for me'.  Umm, no.  About one in five, they get it right.  Like the Michigan photography page or the lighthouse page.  Eco-freako pages?  Nope.  Feminist pages?  Nope.  Trans-whatever pages?  Ut-uh.  Leftist loony pages?  No way.  Football pages?  Yeah, they missed the part where I quit football cold turkey and never looked back. 

Speaking of football, until this morning I had no clue who made it to the Super Bowl.  The Chiefs, apparently.  And that was because they're Missouri and a news-weather site I follow said something about the weather on game day for the Chiefs.  Meh.  I have no clue who they're playing and I don't really care.

I know I mentioned thinking about creating a garden.  I'm not sure if I mentioned I'm leaning toward a container garden I can set up on my deck.  It would get rid of the need to fence the damn thing to keep the deer out of it.  Anyway, it's an idea.  It wouldn't be too hard, either.  And we have most of the stuffs to get it going, or we can get the stuffs cheap at the thrift stores.  Basically, I need dirt and seeds.  And probably those platforms with casters so I can roll the plants around to get the best sun and protect them from storms.  

PBS is showing a new version of All Creatures Great and Small on Sunday nights here.  It's a pretty good show, if you can distance it from the books.  (If you never read the books, you're home free.)  They've also got a show called Miss Scarlet and the Duke - a mystery set in the Victorian era, I think - that's kind of fun.

Okay, I probably better get a start on my day.  What's up with you?

Mental Meandering

 I'm brainfried this morning.  So let's do some mental meandering... or more this n that, if you will...

Yesterday at about 3:30 in the afternoon, the phone started blowing up with phone calls.  Nearly all of them leaving a message on my answering machine about a breach of my iCloud account and telling me I needed to talk to an Apple advisor.  And if I didn't want to press 1, then I could certainly call them at their toll-free number (315)232-8257.  1) I don't have an iCloud acct.  2) No Apple devices in this house.  3) 315 isn't toll-free.  It's an area code in NY state.  All the calls came from different 'local' numbers, so no exactly blockable.  I did some internet research and discovered this is an old scam.  And apparently the only way I can stop it is to order some blocking thing through my phone company.  We turned the ringer off.  From between 3:30 and 5, then again between 8 and 9p, we easily got 20 calls.  Add in the calls we're getting from what I assume are pollsters and telemarketers and Medicare enrollment hucksters, and it's a noisy house here.  Ring ring ring ring.... answering machine picks up and I get to hear my lovely voice telling people what number they've reached and to please leave a message... followed by the message if there is one or the dial tone if they've hung up.  Yay.  Not.

By the way, I've shifted most of my internet searching to Duck Duck Go.  They're okay.  A little slower than the behemoth G.  But they work for basic internet searches.  I still use the G every rare once in a while, when I need to know things like definitions because G puts them right there at the top.

I'm about this close >< to staying away from social media until after the election.  Unfortunately, I'm working a sale right now for which I'm using FB as my main advertising outlet.  

People really have gone batshit crazy lately.  I can think of several politicians who should've already been brought up on charges of sedition and treason.  Then again, it seems like there are lot of crimes these days for which no one is punished.  =o\

I'm old school, what can I say?  

Goodness this coffee tastes yummy this morning.  Hubs made it.  Not sure why the coffee tastes better when he makes it, but it often does.  It's not like we're using different coffee or more/less than the other person.  

I haven't moved my car in over a week.  I should probably do that so it stays in good running shape.  I know when my mom doesn't run her car often enough, the battery goes squonky on her.  

I tried the Salonpas patch thing on my shoulder yesterday.  It worked pretty good, except it left a red rectangle, which, according to the package, means I should stop using it.  "If redness occurs..." that sort of thing.  I think it's the adhesive.  I have a problem with adhesives on my skin.  The Blue Emu isn't working nearly as well as I had hoped.  Back to Aspercreme.  I mean, you'd think that something that costs as much as Blue Emu would work better than something that costs like $5.  If I'm paying four times more, it should work four times better.  Right?

I could yatter more.  Apparently being brainfried does not equal having nothing to say.  But I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled lives.  Have a great day.

And feel free to drop some meanderings of your own in the comments.

Just Some Stuff

:crawls from the primordial sludge:  Mornin'.  I can't make my brain work, so here's some interesting stuff.

Okay, I can't think of any interesting stuff.  So here's just some stuff.

Coffee is my friend.  This morning, though, it seems to not be working.  Coffee versus the evil of morning.  Sometimes the forces of evil are strong, so we must make the coffee stronger.

This morning, I thought my favorite mug was broken.  It's a black mug and it had white on it near the bottom, which I thought was a spot where the glaze had chipped off.  I was seriously bummed.  So, I took it into the kitchen to pour my coffee into a new mug so I could further investigate.  Turns out the white was a piece of napkin stuck to the bottom of the cup.  No idea where that came from.  But that's how my brain is working this morning.

Sunday I tried to get back to being active by actually walking the loop for the first time this year and then later doing some work in the woods.  I so wasn't ready for it.  Leg muscles... ugh.  There's two ways to think about getting rid of muscle pain - take it easy until it goes away or get back to work and it'll work itself out.  I tried the 'get back to work' thing yesterday and did more tromping in the woods.  Nope, hurts again this morning.  Not sure which path I'll be taking today.

My friend, Silver, has a recipe for no bake cookies on her blog this morning.  I love me some no-bakes.  Yummers.  And I've been thinking about making some, so this is timely for me. 

And that's about all the stuff my brain can put forth right now.  Oh, I almost forgot... today's the last day of the Project Hermes sale.  Tomorrow, Blink of an I will be free. 

:wanders off in search of more coffee:

Pre-Christmas Stuffs

I'm getting ready to send out Christmas cards.  If you've changed your address in the past year, or you're a friend who should be getting one and never have, email me your address.  Obviously, I can't send tons, but I hate to think I might've forgotten someone.  In the age of the internet, there are people I care about that I've never physically met and that I have no idea about where they actually live.  If you're one of those, I'd really like to send you a card. 


Other people's cards have started to arrive.  Yay!  We already have three under the tree.

The baking of Christmas gifts is done.  I made two loaves of pumpkin pie bread, two loaves of apple cranberry bread, a batch of oatmeal cookies, and a batch of granola bars.  Who gets what is the big surprise, I guess, since I pretty much outed my prezzies here.  One package is already in the mail.  The other two packages will go out today or tomorrow.  I am not done baking overall.  As we run out of baked goods to eat, I will make more.  Cuz I'm a baking fool. 


The Kid's box was the first to go.  I always send her a box early and send it Priority Mail.  And she knows she can open it on arrival.  That way she can enjoy her prezzies all the way through the Christmas season. 

I may have said before that Hubs and I don't give each other gifts anymore.  Of course, anything out of the ordinary in regard to purchases gets joked about as being a present.  This year, we got each other a new coffee maker!  It's the gift that keeps on giving.  Literally.  I mean, no one should be subjected to me without coffee.  (Either way you take that, it's true.)

Really, though, we don't need anything, so what exactly would we give each other? 

What are you hoping to get for Christmas?  Are you giving any awesome gifts this year?  Do you do Christmas cards? 

Thursday This n That

I've been watching the game show The Chase lately.  I totally rock it most days.  Some days I can't get the answer out of my mouth in time, but hey, that's fine.  It's not like I'm actually on the show or anything.  And The Beast?  Big, nerdy, teddy-bear even if he is a little growly sometimes.  I love it.  I could totally hang with that dude.

While working on deeper edits for UatB, I found two tiny typos in SU.  Ugh.  They're fixed and uploaded now, but geez.

Got some good news last night, but I don't have the okee doke to share it publicly, even if it was shared on FB - but not 'public', only 'friends'.  Not my page, not my news.

It's been a week of busting my ass this week.  More on that Sunday.

I don't think I drink enough water, especially now that it's hot.  And it is HOT right now.  Blerg.

We spotted a new pair of fawns.  They're noticeably new fawns because they're so tiny compared with the other two sets we have.  So, near as we can figure, eight fawns so far this year.  Yay.

Oak mite bites suck.  They are the itchiest bites I've ever gotten.  Bastards.  I just researched oak mites... You don't want to know.  They're totally gross.  And I am totally itchy just thinking about it.

Years ago, I interviewed for a job in Baltimore.  They offered me the job.  At the time, though, it ultimately wasn't enough in compensation package to make me move from FL.  I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I'd taken that job.  Regional Sales Manager... I sure as hell wouldn't be a hermit, lemme tell ya.  Plus, I'd be city folk.  And then there's the whole living in Baltimore thing... :shudder:  So happy I didn't go that route.

Okay, I think that's all I've got today.  How about you?

Stuffs

Sorry I'm late.  I had a spreadsheet to do and this one takes a lot of time.  Hunting down invoices so I can find part numbers.  Hunting down zip codes so I can assign it to the right person.  That sort of stuff.  I have a spreadsheet of invoices and another of zip codes, so it's not hard, but it's time consuming.  Yeah, yeah, there's probably an easier way involving macros, but I have a loathing of macros.  Nasty, nasty little macros hurt the precious.  :hiss:

Such is life.  It funds the writing, and that's all that matters.  Speaking of which, I'll be getting a bill from the cover artist soon.  She sent me the proof of Cinder Ugly's cover, which I need to approve sometime today.  It's hard saying if the cover is exactly right when I haven't even started writing the book yet.  I'll cross my fingers and send a wish out to the universe for it to be what I need by the time the book is done. 

In other news, I spent some time yesterday creating a hellbeast.  It popped up in the story, so I need to figure out what it looks like so I can accurately describe it.  Right now, I'm going with 'looks like a longhorn screwed a poodle.'  I'd post the image, but I cobbled it together from images I don't own, and I don't want to infringe on anyone's copyrights.  Picture a longhorn bull with the head of a standard poodle and the tail of a lizard.  I think I'll make it pink. Or maybe puce.  Mauve?  :shrug:  I guess we'll all find out at a later date.

And now it's time for me to call the office.  What's up in your world?

Short Attention Span Theater

Since my attention span is short, I thought I'd offer you what I like to call 'Short Attention Span Theater'.

I am mere pennies away from hitting the $3K mark for sales since I started this in 2015.

Yesterday, someone bought all four books in the Once Upon a Djinn series.  In paperback.  Yay.  And thank you to whoever you are.

The cat's UTI seems to be all gone, but she still has two days left on the meds.

She's still trying to spit them at me.

Still haven't attempted the Christmas cards.

Yesterday, while someone was buying my books, I was out raking leaves.  I'm sore today.

They're predicting a winter storm for Friday.  Supposed to get 4-8 inches.  Of snow.  Gah.

The other day I was frying up some ham to go with breakfast and a tiny piece of it jumped out of the pan and landed on my arm.  Not pleasant.

Speaking of burns, I was watching a baking competition and on one episode, a woman grabbed a pan without a potholder, burning her hand pretty good.  She stood there, holding it and waiting for a medic.  There was a sink RIGHT THERE.  Get that bitch under cold water.  Sheesh.

I burn myself a lot when I'm cooking. Remember the time I forgot that a burner had been on and I put my hand right on top of it.  Yup.

Another bird ditched into the picture window.  A chickadee this time.  He wasn't broken, just stunned.  I held him and kept him warm until he felt well enough to fly away.

I hate that birds keep flying into that window, but I do enjoy holding them.  Except when they poop on my hand.  :shrug:

I've noticed that as it gets closer to Christmas, more of my spam has to do with package deliveries I'm not getting and online orders I didn't make.

Any short things to add?

Stuffs

Since I can't seem to hold a cogent thought for long this morning, here's some random stuffs...

Whoever's beating me with a stick in my sleep needs to stop.  (Not seriously.  No one is beating me with a stick.  It's just feels like someone has beaten me with a stick when I wake up.)

My camera battery died.  It actually, eventually, said 'Battery is Exhausted'.  Well, ain't we all?  (The new batteries will be here tomorrow, so no worries.)

Something is wrong with the neighborhood well.  It went out yesterday afternoon.  El Presidente of the Water Association is on it and the well people will be here this morning, but right now, it's a pain in the buns.  Luckily, we're prepared people and have jugs of water stored for just such an emergency.  Bottled water for drinking and coffee, etc.  Huge amounts of water stored in old kitty litter containers for flushing toilets.  Also, through luck and foresight, El Presidente has made sure there's enough in the water association fund to dig a whole new damn well if need be.  Hopefully, it's just something minor.  We'll make it through.  And, if worse comes to worst, the park opens today and they have showers over there if you're a paying camper.  So, for like $16 a day, we can wash ourselves if need be.  (Hubs is El Presidente.  Which is why I'm not worried.  It might take a few days, but it'll be fixed.)   

Had to take q-tips to my computer's fan vent.  So much dust was clogging it, it was starting to make funny noises.  And the only things that'll reach are cotton swabs.  (You know, in case yours needs cleaning, too.  Or am I the only one who still has a desktop computer these days?)

Things generally go wrong in threes, so I'm hoping the computer thing was an 'almost went wrong' and I've avoided the third thing.  If not, another thing is on its way.  (Yes, I am a bit superstitious, why do you ask?)

Anyway, I hope y'all have a lovely day.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, k?  (You know, if you're into that stuff.  :wink:)

Sunday Update - Week 14

Here we are again at the beginning of another week, wrapping up the week before. 

I did some editing stuff at the beginning of the week, but then I got derailed by work stuff.  I'll probably put off working on Sleeping Ugly again until after Early Grave goes live later this month.

The work stuff... Imagine getting a box full of papers no one else has had time to work on since July of last year.  Then take that pile and create spreadsheets out of the majority of the papers in that box.  That's what I'm doing.  Some take longer than others, depending on the amount of information that has to be typed.  I should be done today.  Once this is complete, life should be easier at the office and my work will slow down to its usual trickle. 

Other than work stuff, my week got derailed by a minor bout of food poisoning.  It was partially my fault.  You see, on March 31st, I had purchased a couple bottles of salad dressing up at the local grocery store (instead of Wallyworld), trusting that the food I was buying was safe.  My trust was proven foolhardy Wednesday night.  After I was stricken, and Hubs wasn't, we talked about what I had eaten that he hadn't.  Other than ice cream, which I'd already eaten half of the container worth of, it had to be the Greek dressing I had on my salad at dinner.  I checked the sell-by date - December of 2017.  Ack.  The other dressing, which I'd eaten the day before and not gotten sick off of luckily, was dated January 2018.  Double ack.  I returned the bottles Friday, got my money back and very little satisfaction otherwise.  I won't be shopping there ever again.

I didn't read anything last week either.  I'll be starting Silver James' latest book - Montana Moon - today.

Also in the derailment category, Kira came down with another urinary tract infection, so I had to take her to the vet on Friday.  Well, actually, I had to drive her 30 miles to the vet and leave her there, then pick her up again later in the afternoon.  She's on antibiotics now and doing well. 

Friday was a busy driving day.  One trip north, three trips south for a conservative estimate of 160+ miles on my car.  Saturday was spent recuperating and working on spreadsheets.

Today is more spreadsheets, watching golf, and reading.  What's up with you?

Thursday This n That

I have a new idea.  Every time I think about eating when it isn't time to eat, I need to get up and clean something.  We'll see if I implement this today.  Either I'll have an incredibly clean house, or because I hate cleaning so much, I'll stop thinking about eating just to avoid it.  ;o)

Computer glitches irritate the crap out of me, especially when they aren't on my end and I can't do anything about them.  And I need to go figure out Google Chrome because it's giving someone else an error and I need to learn how to explain over the phone how to fix it when I have no experience with Google Chrome.  Why do computer/software companies have to make everything so damn difficult in their quest to make everything 'easy'?  Argh.

Right now, I'm reading a novel by Anne Morrow Lindbergh - Charles Lindbergh's wife.  Yeah, I didn't know she wrote fiction either.  Apparently at least 3 books, because the one I'm reading mentions two others on the cover.  I'm about halfway through this one. So far, it's pretty good.  Well written, definitely.  She really puts me in the character, if you know what I mean.  I hope it all comes together and ends well.  It would suck if this doesn't end well, since she's gotten me kind of attached to the main character.

Thinking about the above, I realized that I like reading unexpected books.  A novel by a famous aviator, a novel by a famous jockey, a mystery by a man known for SF.  And I have a novel by Winston Churchill I keep meaning to read.  By the way, if you haven't read it, Willie the Shoe's (Bill Shoemaker) novel is pretty good.  I don't have it anymore and I don't remember the title, but it shouldn't be hard to find.  Have you ever read a novel by someone you wouldn't have expected to write fiction?  It kinda tickles me.

I need a new keyboard again.  This HP one's letters rubbed off way fast.  And the space bar keeps sticking.  Bleh.  Oh, and I have to pick up a new mouse for Hubs.  His right click button only works intermittently.  Oh well, at least they aren't major purchases.  But still...

What's on your this n that radar today?

Stuff n Junk

Stuff n Junk is sort of like This n That, but it's Tuesday. 

I'm totally scatterbrained right now.  I could blame writing, but I don't think it's that.  I could blame the heat and humidity which seems to be sapping my energy for anything but laying around.  All I know is things are scattered.  I thought I had a blog post written and scheduled for yesterday, but no.  I have a note on my desk - PAY BILLS - which I wrote on Sunday but have not done.  I really need to get my head out of my armpit.

Are there Spanish-language songs in the Top 40 right now?  Two of my 'hits from today' radio stations intermittently play Spanish-language songs.  It's really confusing because I don't speak Spanish and when I land on those songs it makes me wonder if 1) the radio stations changed their format in which case I would need to find new stations for those car buttons or 2) I accidentally screwed something up and landed on a Spanish-language station by mistake (we have plenty of those around here) OR 3) the gremlin who lives in my dashboard has changed my button sets again (it happens about twice a year - I'm driving down the road and my buttons are all set to stations I know damn well I didn't set them to, and it ain't Hubs doing it either).

It's tourist season here.  Part of tourist season means reading about unnecessary accidents happening to foolhardy people.  A teenage girl seriously injured when she flew off the tube she was riding on that was being dragged behind a boat (that was probably going way too fast).  A teenage boy who rolled the golf cart he was driving on a road (who was too young to drive a car on a road and how the hell do you roll a golf cart???).  The two people who were injured when their boat's gas tank blew up (who weren't paying attention to the fact that they'd spilled gas when they refueled and who were also keeping empty gas cans on their boat... Boom.)   I just try to stay out of their way when I'm out and about.  I hope they don't act like this in their everyday lives, but I suspect wherever they live they're a real treat for their neighbors. 

I keep reminding myself that tourists are the reason the park stays open.  We almost lost the park a couple years ago when the Army Corps of Engineers decided not enough people were visiting it and closed it.  Lucky for me, the state took it over and reopened it.  I love that park.  I can fish elsewhere, but that's the only place with bathrooms, so not having it open seriously puts a crimp in my day.

Okay, that's it for me.  Any stuff and junk you want to share?  Any comments on my stuff and junk?

This n That Thursday

I just heard a strange sound from the living room - like Hubs opened a shaken can of pop.  I'm too lazy to investigate.  By the time I go in there, I'm sure I'll forget to ask.

The way our house is laid out, the office is at the other end of the house from the living room, and my desk is on the far wall.  The phone is on a table at the far end of the living room.  If the phone rings while I'm at my desk, you can be pretty sure I'm probably not going to get there before the answering machine - unless I run. And I don't run.  I figure anyone who cares will leave a message.  Then Hubs' brother calls.  I see his name on the caller ID, but he doesn't leave a message.  I call him right back.  "Why didn't you leave a message?" "I never let a phone ring more than 4 times." "It takes me longer than 4 rings to get across the house." "Then you need to learn to walk faster."  ROFL  Ri-ight.

My crepe myrtle - the one I thought I killed when I transplanted it to a sunnier area?  It's covered in buds and should bloom sometime this week.  I'll try to post pics when I have them.  Oh, and the little hydrangea is full of big leaves.  No flowers this year, but maybe next year.

The dove slaughter I talked about Tuesday?  I found another place covered with feathers. Right in my marigolds. My theory is the falcon knocked the dove down there and then flew underneath the black walnut to eat his lunch.  Head's still there.  Gross.

I really need to weed, but it's so damn hot here right now.  I took Max out for a walk and damn near melted.  Max was happy to get back into the air conditioning, too, let me tell you.

Great Blue Herons make the most godawful noises.  There are a group of them who've set up a rookery in the trees behind my neighbors' house.  Sounds like someone is killing a giant toad over there. 

I went for a walk yesterday to check the river level.  Here's a couple shots to give you an idea how high it is:

Last fall:

Yesterday morning:

Pretty gross, eh?

What this n that do you have today?

Hodge Podge

I'm trying out a new system where I post here on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, and over at B.E.'s Writerly Space on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  With Saturdays off.  Sure enough, I almost forgot today here.  (Which isn't surprising since I totally have no idea what day it is most days anyway.)

For some reason, despite the freakin' cold, I have a bunch of itty-bitty baby crickets in my house.  On the upside, they're keeping Kira amused.  She's under my legs as I type this trying to figure out where her latest toy went.  (If they don't move, she loses them in the carpet pattern.)

Hubs and I were talking yesterday about what either of us might want for Christmas, and he started listing all the clothing items he needs.  I was all like 'that's stuff we can get any time we want - we don't need to wait for Christmas'.  So yesterday we hopped in the car and did an impromptu shopping trip.  We still don't know what to get each other for the holiday, but hey, we have new socks and junk.

BTW, every day is special.  Don't wait for the BIG days to do nice stuff for the people you love.  K?

Another thing we did yesterday was buy all the stuff for Thanksgiving dinner.  Turkey, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, the fixin's for pumpkin cheesecake.  (Crap, I forgot the whipped cream.)  It's just the two of us, so we don't really need all that much, but hey, leftovers are awesome, so we go for it.  As always, Hubs is the TGD cook.  I stay the hell out of the kitchen and he presents me with awesome eats.

I don't know if y'all know this, but I'm a big fan of Jeopardy!  Have been for years.  This week is the Tournament of Champions - and they're down to the last three.  I'm rooting for the tall guy.  I used to root for Arthur Chu - when he was on the first time - but then I followed him on Facebook and found out he's a twerp in real life.  I hate when I find out someone I like on TV is a twerp or a jerk or an ass.  Totally ruins them for me.  (Don't get me started on Brett Favre.)

Any hodge podge things going on with you right now? 

Sunday...

Okay, so it's Sunday.  I'm busy working on polishing Djinnocide again because damned if I didn't find TYPOS in it on my re-through.  I'm also hip-deep in the edits for Nanotechnology.  Basically I'm switching off - working on one and then the other - as I sit in the living room watching football. 

Of course, I have to go back over last night's notes because some numbnuts decided it was a good night to have a party and the whole neighborhood sounded like an '80s version of MTV Dance Party.  So, I know I wasn't concentrating on the work.  (I really need to find out who that was, so I can casually park my car outside their house at 5am and turn up my Wagner CD.  Ride of the Valkyries out to do it.  Nothing like a little opera to wake stupid folks up.)

:pokes the negativity with a pointy stick so it deflates:

Anyway, I'm making what I think is good progress.  If all goes well, I should be shooting queries for Djinnocide back out again this coming week.  And I should have the first 50 pages of Nano edits typed into the computer at least.

I was going to do yardwork today, too, but it's supposed to be 95 here today and, well, I don't feel like sweating.  Thank goodness for AC.  Instead, I'll work on writerly things and watch pro-football. 

Hope it's as good as yesterday's college ball.  GO BLUE! 

What are you up to today?

Mixed Bag

Okay, so I'm finally getting around to reading the books that have been in my TBR pile forever.  If you want to get my take on Out for Blood by Kristen Painter - a book I've had since October and only just finished - head on over to Killer Chicks where I'm doing a Random Fandom.  Right now, I'm reading Last Kiss Goodnight by Gena Showalter (that I've had at least since my daughter was still living with us).  The final really forgotten TBR book is How to Drive a Dragon Crazy by G.A. Aiken - sitting in my possession since last September. 

In the Springfield, MO paper this past Sunday, they had an article about the top jobs for introverts.  I don't know if these were in order, but Writer was listed fifth.  Well, duh.  The only issue I had with the whole thing is it said the median income for writers is $55K a year.  Umm, suuuuure.  I'll be expecting that check from my 'employer' forthwith.  I could use a cool $55K.

I got excited yesterday because I got a check in the mail for a little computer consulting I did.  A whopping $100.  And it was from my mom.  (No, I don't charge my mother for helping her personally.  She doesn't even own a computer.  What she does do is take care of the family business and I consult for that.  When I do, she shoots a little scratch my way.)  I cashed it, bought lunch and then paid for this week's 200 lbs of deer feed.  So much for being a little rich.  LOL

I didn't tell anyone this, but I entered a contest last month.  It was called Femme Fatale and Gemma Halliday was putting it on.  I got notified last night that I didn't make the cut, but the race was pretty tight.  Win or not, it was fun to enter and hope for a little while.  I'd like to thank Gemma for the opportunity and for such a quick turnaround time on that sucker.  No waiting there.  Hallelujah.

The doe I've named Scarlet (because she has a couple large scars on her sides and calling her 'Scar' was making me feel bad) shows up almost every day, but I assumed she hadn't had a fawn this year.  I mean, she never had one with her, so I made a logical assumption.  And of course, I felt bad for her.  This morning, though, she had her own fawn with her!  Yay for Scarlet!

I didn't write a single word all weekend.  (Well, not a word having to do with fiction.  I wrote blogs and emails and junk.)  Consequently, my goal of a chapter a day ended up two days behind.  Bleh.  Yesterday, in an effort to catch back up, I rewrote about 5K words.  Only a chapter behind now.  Of course, my hands are sausages today, but I will keep forging ahead.  (As long as the Aspercreme keeps doing its job.)

Yeah, even with not working all weekend, I still managed over 16K words for the week of the 7th.  Woohoot! 

Anything in your mixed bag today? 

Oh, and if you haven't stopped by The Guide, Maria Zannini did an excellent post on finding the right cover for your book.