Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Productivity

I wrote a post yesterday.  Thought I posted it and went on about my day.  Long about 1pm, I sat down at the computer again and realized it was still sitting there unposted.  But the time had passed, so I shitcanned it.  

Since my friend had errands to run and so did I, we agreed to take yesterday off of packing, etc.  I hit the grocery store and picked up a lot of meals I could throw together easily after a day of packing and whatnot.  Fried chicken, roast chicken, burger.  Forgot the eggs.  Forgot salad.  Derp.

I really am a total toad lately.  Still a walking branfart, too.  Thank goodness I'm at a point where I don't have to cogitate too hard.  I'm a happy packhorse.  Not too bright, but ready to work.  Then I come home, strap on the feedbag and veg.

The other day, chatting with their roofers, I did manage to do a little marketing, so I've got that going for me.  She got a bookmark and I got to talk books.  And my friend was right there telling the gal how awesome my books are.  Whether it turns into sales?  Not yet, but there's always hope.  

It feels good to actually get in there and get something visibly productive done for a change.  Today I'll go over there and survey the painting, which she says looks really good, and admire our handiwork.  I'll probably find a flaw or two, but that's me.  As long as she and her husband are happy, I'm good.  Then her and I will get back to packing and sorting.  

It's not writing.  But maybe right now that's exactly what I need to get back on track down the road.  

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Sunday Update - Week Somethin' or Other

I don't have a boatload of time, since I have to be back to work at 7.  

No writing, editing, reading, baking, etc.  I spent a lot of time over at my friend's house packing, power-washing, and painting.  More of that today and next week.  I have tomorrow off so I can do stuff for my own house.  

I spent 9 hours yesterday devoted to either painting the outside of a garage or to taking a break from such.  I'm tired, but there are two more walls to paint.  I'll get 'er done and fall apart tomorrow.

Anyway, sorry I've been boring this week.  How did your week go?

(Since I'm busy away from the computer, comments will be approved at the end of the day.)

Friday, August 27, 2021

Motoring Through

I spent from 8:30am to 4pm yesterday out of pocket.  No TV on.  No radio playing.  Just working on packing, and stopping now and then to smoke and chat.  We made good progress.  Long about lunchtime, we piled the first load of stuff into the car, filling the trunk and the backseat, and took it to the thrift store.  Then we went to a little mom-n-pop pizza joint and had a supreme.  It was hotter than blue-billy-blazes, but it was fun.

Then I came home to the news of what had happened in Afghanistan.  WTF?  I was disgusted and angry... I am disgusted and angry.  But I'm also unsurprised.  They have no fear of retaliation, so why not?  We currently have a cabbage in the White House.  Terrorists are laughing at him and at us.  I expect many more such acts before this is over.  If it's ever over.

Today, they've extended the heat advisory through tonight.  After so many days of heat advisory, I'm like meh.  It is what it is and we'll motor through it.  This morning, friend and I will be power-washing their garage so Hubs can paint tomorrow morning.  The heat will bake it dry by then.  After power-washing, we'll go back to packing.  

And not paying attention to world events we have no control over.  

Do the best you can to motor through all of this.  Focus on other stuff.  I mean, keep one eye open to what's going on, but don't let it stop you from living your life as best you can.  For me, that means helping a friend pack and pretty-up their home for its new owners.  Even if it's super hot out.  

What are you up to these days?

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Thursday This n That

I got the urge to cut my hair the other day.  I think I went a little too far, but it's not awful.  Short for the height of summer is all.  I think Hubs' reaction was 'wow, you went short this time'.  Not quite as short as 2001, but close.  I think this is the shortest I've had my hair since we got married.  Here's me in 2001, by the way...

You know, back in the day when this was the best way to take a selfie... in the bathroom mirror.  ROFL

I've spent a lot of this week over at a friend's, helping her pack up her house so she can move away.  :sadface:  Since I've moved like a gazillion times, it's old hat for me.  Still, I'm having nightmares that something I packed will get broken in transport.  It's never happened, but she has so many beautiful things, the fear is real.  Most of my stuff is cheap and easily replaced.  I think today, we'll be tackling her back bedroom. You all know the room... the 'room of requirement' we all have in our homes, where everything we don't use on a regular basis gets shoved because we're sure we'll still need it someday.  

I don't have a room like that anymore.  I have a walk-in closet of requirement.  LOL

I keep finding little bruises.  Moving bruises.  Thank goodness I'm not the one moving.  Hubs and I swore when we moved here, it was our last move.  Ever.  The other day, we were talking about the housing bubble that's going on right now and whether we should sell this place.  By about halfway through, I was laughing so hard I was crying.  You'd have to have been there.  The only way anyone will get me out of this house now is to render me unconscious and pack me in a box alongside my books.

Owl turned 28 this month.  How on earth do I have a child that's almost 30?  I swear I'm too young for... Umm...  Never mind.  Here she is at her first Easter:

That's me helping her with her Easter basket, with Dad in the background.  What a little baldy she was.  And my hair was so dark.  Now, it's mostly gray.  Time marches across us all.

Edy's Salted Caramel Pretzel ice cream isn't as good as I'd hoped.  Too salty.

It's been so hot and humid here lately my mouse-arm is sticking to my desk, so I put a piece of paper there.  Which is fine, but I've been writing on the paper, so it's kind of trashed out now.  Still, it's a good place to jot things.  I'll probably switch it out for another one when this one gets full.  Heaven forbid I use one of my umpteen notepads.  LOL

Okay, I think that's quite enough out of me this morning.  What's up with you?

Monday, August 23, 2021

Short Random Post

It's morning.  It's Monday.  Not sure what the day will bring.

I hadn't weighed myself in almost two weeks because I've been eating and not exercising.  And I didn't want to see what that meant for overall poundage.  Well, I weighed myself this morning.  Lost 2.4 pounds.  Go figger.  Stress for the win? :shrug:

I spent a lot of time this weekend watching movies.  I finally sat down and watched Chronicles of Riddick.  I thought it was before Pitch Black, but it wasn't.  Then I saw Riddick was on, so I jumped into that partway through.  It was a lot like Pitch Black.  I mean, I liked it, but it wasn't really wildly new ground.  We also watched The Razor's Edge with Tyrone Power.  It's based on a Somerset Maugham book.  Interesting.  Not something I'd watch again, but I'm glad I watched it.

I just got a call that something I've been waiting on is ready to go, so I'll be jetting out of here shortly.  Sorry for the short post.  See y'all tomorrow, depending on things and stuff.

Since I'll be AFK (away from keyboard), if you leave a comment, I'll get to it when I get home.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Sunday Update - Week 34

 It's been a week of hurry-up and wait.  And I'm still waiting.  Basically, I didn't get much of anything important done.  No writing.  No editing.  No reading.  No baking.  Let's see what I did do.

I did some marketing for the freebie of WIOH.  The free thing moved 57 copies.  And someone read Wish Hits the Fan all the way through in KU, so I've got that going for me.  Now we wait to see if more page reads or sales of the other books come through.

I only did one active thing this week.  Hubs and I took a walk.  I did not weigh myself because I've been such a slug.  And I've been eating a lot.  When the active stuff I'm waiting for actually kicks in, I expect to burn a lot of calories, so no worries.

I spent a good portion of time the other morning taking care of the veggies a neighbor brought.  We had like 5 zucchinis, 4 green peppers, and about a baker's dozen of tomatoes.  I shredded two zukes and came up with enough for 3 more batches of bread.  I parboiled and skinned half of the tomatoes, diced them and put them in the fridge.  Two of the peppers went into a deconstructed 'stuffed pepper' casserole dish.  The other two will either end up that way or I'll dice them for later use.

Two of my tomato plants are blooming, but no more fruits.  My one tiny tomato stopped growing at about the size of a racquetball and it's turning orange now.  Can't wait to eat it.  I still have lettuce and I'm picking it here and there for addition to iceberg lettuce salads.  This week I will decant my carrots and see if any of them are big enough for more than a snack.

Another thing that took up some time this week was online house hunting for a friend of mine.  I sent her probably 10 listings to look at.  That was fun.  I like looking at houses.  I think she's found the one she wants now, though, so I'm done with that unless I hear otherwise.  I wonder if I should hire myself out to people who don't have time to look for houses themselves.  I'm pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.  (Even if she didn't pick one of the houses I found.)

Other than that, I spent too much time playing poker.  I moved up to the Elite rooms and now I'm playing with 10mil in chips at a time.  My bank of play chips has grown to 71 million.  Would that it were real.  

I'm still a walking brainfart.  And I still can't sleep.  These may be related.  

So, what's up in your world?

Friday, August 20, 2021

Change of Plans

So, it turns out that I was mistaken.  I will be around today.  

I don't really do well with plan changes.  I spent yesterday getting stuff done so I wouldn't have to worry about it while I was busy today and now I'm at loose ends.  I guess I could make more zucchini bread.  Or cookies.  I could tackle some of the long-range to-dos I have.  I could read a book.

But changing gears is hard.  The older I get, the less able I am to shift quickly.  

:shrug:

It's no big deal, really.  Things happen.  I'm just wondering when my gears got so hard to change.  I used to be able to roll with stuff.  Now?  I don't appreciate change.  Don't want it in my life.  I'd like everything to proceed as it has always proceeded without hitches.  Change causes hitches.  Change puts bumps in my otherwise smooth road.  Blerg.

Okay, I'm off to do something.  Have a great day and a great weekend.  There probably won't be a post tomorrow, since I haven't read any books this week, so I'll see ya Sunday.

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Thursday This n That

I spent yesterday morning offline and away from my computer.  After I got home, I remained off social media for the most part until after dinner.  When I got back on, it was like sludge washing over me after I'd already taken a shower.  Yuck.  Unfortunately, I can't stop wading in because I don't want to get blindsided, but I am looking forward to this week where I'll be offline more.  I won't be around tomorrow, for instance.  Probably not Saturday or Sunday either, if the weather holds out.  

Umm, yeah, I can't do the offline thing today.  I still have marketing to do - WIOH is still free after all.  Except I woke up with a decided lack of gumption.

The neighbor who's fostering my zucchini plants is doing an awesome job raising them.  He brought me 3 more zukes.  One of them is huge, so that'll be bread.  One got chopped up with one of the others he brought us over the weekend, and they're now in the freezer.  The last one will be going to a friend later in the week.  Said neighbor also brought me 4 green peppers and a boatload of fresh tomatoes.  I'll be turning half of those 'maters into chunky sauce for freezing today.  And we'll be having stuffed peppers for dinner tonight.  Yay.

Last night with dinner, I made a salad of store-bought lettuce mixed with lettuce from my garden.  Yay. And yum/

The biggest lie we tell ourselves is probably "I don't need to get up and write that down.  I'll remember it in the morning."  And I know better, so I have no excuses.  One thing I thought of when I was trying to fall asleep I did get up and write down.  The second thing I lied to myself about and now I don't remember it.  Derp.

The thing I wrote down?  Yeah, my brain was puzzling over how to paint the back of a garage when there's a sizable carport attached there that you cannot walk or stand on.  And the roof needs work.  Roller on a pole, baby.  Or we can wait until the roof gets fixed, which is scheduled for shortly.  (Not my house, so no worries about me.)  Personally, I'd rather try the roller on a pole than try painting while hanging over the edge of the roof.  Vertigo.  Blerg.

I thought I was going to get to spend the whole day at home today, then I remembered I have to go get cigarettes. :shrug:  Liar liar pants on fire.

I'm still a walking brainfart.  But I'm better than I was the other day.  Ugh.

Okay, time for you to talk.  Comment away.




Tuesday, August 17, 2021

I'm Not Dead

I'm not dead.  I'm just scatterbrained and up to my armpits.  I totally forgot to post this morning and I'm posting this now in case I don't get a chance to post tomorrow.

I'll be back on Thursday.  If I get a post scheduled beforehand.  If not, it might be crickets then, too.  But everything is fine with us.  Honest.  No worries or anything.  

Carry on, my wayward friends.  ;o)

Monday, August 16, 2021

Digitizing the Past

Yesterday, I talked about the slide project I've been working on.  Like so many others in a certain time, Hubs' Dad made a lot of slides.  At one point, he divided those slides and sent them to his sons.  Recently, one of Hubs' brothers bought a device that allows for digitizing those slides.  Bro1 did his and then sent the device on to Bro2, who did his slides (as well as their Mom's) and sent the device along to us. 

So, I took the device - finally - and converted all the slides we had.  Bro2 also sent a memory card thingie with all of his digitized slides.  Between Hubs and Bro2, they had 743 slides in total.  Which I am now looking through and noting what each slide is for future reference.  The important thing is all the slides are now on media and will be going to the safe deposit box.  

It's neat walking through the past like this.  It gives me a richer knowledge of Hubs.  I look through the pictures and we talk about his childhood and his father, who I never got a chance to meet.  Makes me wish my dad had been into slides so I could do this and Hubs could get a richer knowledge of me, too.  And he could know my father better, who he never got a chance to meet either.  

I think his dad and my dad would've liked each other.  It's nice to think of them somewhere, fishing together and shooting the shit.

The next project will be to scan all the photos.  I have tons of photos.  He has photos.  Scan 'em in and make them safe from flood and fire.  And make it easier to flip through them all.  Dragging out the albums is a pain.  

Years ago, my brother scanned in a bunch of Mom's pictures.  I can visit those any time I want from the comfort of my desk chair.  There are pictures in there I don't ever remember seeing.  Like this one of what I assume was the church choir when my father was a teen.  (He's in the top row, just to the left of the adult.)

Neat.

I mean, I knew Dad was in choir, but having a picture makes the knowledge richer.  Know what I mean?  

What about you?  Do you get a kick out of looking at old photos?  Have you ever tried to digitize the past?  


Sunday, August 15, 2021

Sunday Update - Week 33

 At least I think it's Week 33.  :shrug:

I'm still plugging along on the edit notes for Untitled Fantasy.  I think I'm at 49%.  I had a new idea last night that would seriously slow this whole thing up but might make it all so much more awesome.  We'll see if I move forward with that.

Tomorrow marketing starts up again with the freebie deal for Wish in One Hand.  

In reading news, I actually finished a book last week.  Woohoo.  Go me.  

On the baking front, I did cake cookies in bar form and zucchini bread this past week.  Yes, the zucchini bread was from one of the plants I grew from seeds.  But it was one of the ones I gave to a neighbor.  

One of the things I spent time on this past week was a project Hubs and I have been thinking about doing for a while now - converting all of the slides his Dad left him to digital format.  One of his brothers bought a device to do it with and after he did his, he sent us the device.  Which was weeks ago.  Part of the delay for us was looking through all the boxes to find the slides.  Which I did a while back.  Then I procrastinated.  Then I sat down to do it and realized the cable was not in the box.  Ordered a new cable and waited for it to arrive.  It arrived Friday and I got to work.  All the slides are now digitized.  Yay.  Then I made a spreadsheet key to what each of the picture files actually is.  Tada.  I need to do a key for the files his brother sent us.  Next up... scanning our photos so those are digitized, too.  

Another thing I've been busy with is cleaning.  Specifically, dusting.  I started dusting early in the week and then noticed how cobwebby the ceilings were.  So I high dusted the house.  Then I was too tired to complete the regular dusting.  I did finish the room I was working on when I stopped and another room.  I did the rest of it yesterday.  1500 square feet of various flat surfaces, knick-knacks and tchotchkes, bookshelves, etc.  It's a bear, but it looks nice when it's done, so that's why I do it.

Another thing taking up my time was watering the gardens.  It has been hot-hot-hot.  I do the container garden every day, but with this heat, Hubs pointed out that my in-ground gardens were looking peaked.  So, I've been outside, dragging the hose all over the yard drenching my plants.  Takes me about 30-45 minutes.  Between that and the dusting, there's my activity for the week.  Woohoo.

I also did a Wallyworld haul.  Man need food.  Ug.  

Other than that, it's been a lot of laying around in the AC trying not to melt.  We did get one hell of a rainstorm a couple days ago, which cooled the temps off some, which helps.  

And now I'm off to get back to my cleaning to-do list.  What was up in your worlds last week?  Anything exciting for the week ahead?

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 8/14/21

:yawn:  Good morning, folks.  I just woke up, so bear with me.  Sorry I missed last week, but I didn't have anything to say so you didn't miss anything.

I picked up one new ebook this week - a mystery.  I still have a boatload of ebooks I haven't read yet.  And all those hardcopies, of course.

Books Read:

50) A Curse, A Key, and a Corkscrew by Anna McCluskey (8/8/21) - Paranormal Mystery*# - 5 stars.  New to me and underappreciated.  Free off the ENT newsletter.
Review: "
A quick and fun read."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... nothing.  Well, my own book for editing purposes.  Still.  

What was on your reading list this past week?

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Thursday This n That

I read an interesting post yesterday over at the Mad Genius Club.  Not sure who the chick is that wrote the crap Sarah posted and filleted, but she should be hanging by her thumbs in a bell tower somewhere. Preferably at midnight, so she gets lots of loud noise in her ears and also bats in her hair.  Why?  Because some poor schmuck somewhere is probably going to listen to her  and believe what she says - on the basis of her assumed 'authority' and all - hate themselves and quit.  And she should be punished for murdering someone else's dreams. 

Then again, if your dreams can't stand the opinions of one or several numbnuts, maybe it wasn't your dream after all.  Only you can really kill your dreams.  Or they kill you.  One or the other.  

Yeah, I'm still not even kinda sorta Positive Polly these days.  Negative Nelly, maybe.  Piss-off Polly, most assuredly.  With a touch of Sarcastic Sue and Cynical Cindy.  But yeah, Polly is nowhere to be seen.  I killed her and then I ate her.

Heh, I used to say that when people would call asking for Miss Meissner (my maiden name).  I wouldn't say it to them.  I'm not crazy.  I'd just say it to myself.  'This is Mrs. Sanderson.  Miss Meissner no longer exists.  I killed her and then I ate her.'  I'm demented that way, but Hubs loves me exactly as I am - demented and all.

It's Wallyworld day.  This should be fun.  :eyeroll:

Blue Pepsi is kind of addictive.

I got kind of pissed yesterday when I saw, yet again, a news station post a reminder for people to check their backseats so they don't accidentally leave their kids in the car on these blistering hot days.  How stupid have people become?  Or maybe it should be 'how stupid do they think people have become?'  Maybe they're trying to make people stupid by doing all their thinking for them.  :shrug:  The nanny state is reducing the populace to morons.  Morons are easier to control, doncha know.

I still want a dog.

Adulting is hard.  If I wasn't such an adult, I'd already have a dog.  Damn responsibleness. 

Got anything for the this n that list today?






Tuesday, August 10, 2021

The Landslide

 I'm finding it increasingly hard to stay positive.  About anything.

Yesterday, I started out the day reading that the unvaccinated should be lined up in front of a pit and shot.  Followed that up with the suggestion that all self-published authors are SCABS and are taking food out of the mouths of the traditionally published.  Later came the news that studies show no one likes ebooks.  And then another zippy note that the unvaccinated should be tied to a hill and left in the sun along with a suggestion that eugenics is a good idea when it comes to the UV.

I keep hearing the refrain 'if only everyone would get vaccinated, we could return to normal'.  Umm... I don't think the people tweeting as if this was the late 1930s and the UV were Jews will let anything return to normal.  Ever.  But they're happy to let you believe that if everyone simply complies, we can have all our rights back.  (As if rights are trading cards they can give and take at their leisure.)  They like the new normal.  It gives them power.

As for the suggestion self-pubs are stealing from trad-pubs by their mere existence... Umm, yeah, right.  Here's the deal... traditional published authors have the weight of their publishers behind them with all the money, and therefore marketing, that comes along with that.  If people are choosing to read self-published books instead, perhaps the trad-pubs need to turn their lens inward.  Write better books.  Price them so they're more in line with what the common man can afford.  Be flawless in your editing.  Tada, you sell more books.  

And the other thing... It's a non-issue.  This isn't the first time there's been a study that 'shows' people don't like ebooks.  They're put out by the people who have hardcopies for sale that they can't sell at the price they want and they're trying to convince people to eschew the evil ebook so they can make up the money they've already invested plus a profit.  Look at the sales numbers for ebooks.  I haven't seen them in a while, but I assume ebooks are selling fine - especially for the self-published (whose numbers are never included in these studies.)

Not sure what's going to happen down the road.  I don't want to look down the road at this point.  Give me today.  I can deal with today.  I can maybe deal with next week.  Farther than that?  It's a crapshoot with loaded dice.  

Speaking of next week, it's Wish in One Hand's birthday, so I made it free for five days.  That's about all I can do to try and combat this negativity.  One little thing at a time.  One tiny pebble moved from beneath the landslide so I can breathe.

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Sunday Update - Week Lost

I have no clue what week it is.  Hell, Michigan, I'm not sure if there even was a week.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  

I'm still plugging away on the edit notes for Untitled Fantasy.  I think I was at 29% last night.  Not sure how many pages of notes that makes.  Copious amounts, to be sure.  I was sure Hylani was the big, burly blonde, but early on, it was Frola.  Gotta fix that.  That whole scene where they're debating what kind of magic X has, well, it's got to go.  They know what she has.  There's a whole thing nearer the beginning where everyone knows what everyone else has - well, except for that one chick...  Anyway, it's a lot of work, but it's moving along.

Sorry I forgot to do a reading wrap-up yesterday.  There was nothing to report, but I know you like to read it and put your own books on there.  Here's hoping next week is better.

No baking last week until yesterday when I did granola bars and then made a pizza.  I added about a tablespoon of honey to the pizza dough this time.  It was pretty good, so I'll probably do that from now on.  Between stirring the bars and the kneading pizza dough, my arms are feeling it today.

On the activity front, I only did two things last week.  I biked one day and I walked another day.  It was my first walk in like 6 weeks and I could definitely tell.  Ugh.  I'm up to 40 miles walked and 46 miles biked.  Of course, I'm not counting taking care of the garden in my activity.  I did that every day.  So I got that going for me.  Weight: 184.4

Speaking of the garden, no flowers on the zucchinis now.  I do have buds.  I'm hoping to get a mix of male and female flowers this time.  One of my from-seed tomato plants has flowers.  On the store-bought tomato, the one tiny tomato is about golfball sized now and the other tiny tomato is about pea sized.  

The Olympics are over for all intents and purposes.  I think they're probably doing the closing ceremonies as I type this.  Anyway, we ended up with 113 medals - more than any other country - and as of last night, we also have the most gold medals.  Huge shout out to all the awesome athletes who went there to represent our country and did an amazing job at it.  Nerts to the others.  They don't matter in the scheme of things.  Super special shout-out to Molly Seidel who brought home a bronze in women's marathon - something we haven't had in decades.  And to Nevin Harrison who kicked ass in women's canoeing.  And to Richard Torres, Jr. who literally kicked a bunch of guy's asses to take silver in heavyweight boxing.  And to Alison Felix who said goodbye to her long Olympic career by leading the gals to gold in 4x400 relay.  And to the gal who was shouting about how much she loves America.  And to all of the others who are too numerous to mention by name.  You guys rocked it out this year!  USA! USA! USA!

I'm really not sure what I'm going to do with myself now that the Olympics are over.  Work harder at editing perhaps?  

On that note, I probably should go do something constructive.  How was your week?

Thursday, August 5, 2021

Thursday This n That

Well, the shit that went down earlier in the week has derailed me.  Why blog if they're just going to kill it for no real reason (or for reasons I'd rather not contemplate)?  Anyway, here I am.  I have a job to do and I'm going to do it.  

And now, as I write this, it's in the back of my mind whether each thing I write is going to piss someone off.  People can get offended by anything and these days, they do.  :shrug:  I gotta be me.

We've been totally wrapped up in the Olympics.  Hell, the TV is already on and we NEVER turn the TV on this early.  But Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of us, so our morning is their night and things are popping over there - medal matches and whatnot.  Woohoo.  Not sure what I'm going to do with myself once they're over.  Sunday, I think, is the last day.  Bummer.

The Westcoast crud that's in the atmosphere has me all garbaged up.  It's supposed to be going away shortly.  Not shortly enough for me.  Seriously, I do not want their air.  Or their people.  Or their politics.  Okay, some of their people can come.  Refugees looking for a better life who don't want to turn middle-America into the places they left.  I'm okay with that.

All I want is to be left alone to live my life and do my thing.  I'm not over here bothering anyone.  But the more they crack down, the more they make me want to get all radical and in your face.  The Zucker wonders who radicalized us?  He, and people like him, did it.

:deep breath:

The deer are happily munching corn - mamas, babies, bucks... the whole shebang.  It's awesome.  Lumpy and Sonny and Shady.  Uno.  Whitelegs and her gang.  Spot and Stripes.  It a great day at Sanderson Acres.  (I was going to say beautiful, but it's all hazy again.  Smoke. Blerg.)

Something is killing my spiders.  We have two corpses hanging in the windows now, their abdomens deflated like spent balloons.  Creepy.  My little orb weaver got a big beetle this morning and now she's busy wrapping it up for later meals.  Yeah, spiders are gross, but they're also fascinating.

Okay, I probably should go do something constructive.  What?  I dunno.  Somethin'.

Anything on your this-n-that today?


Tuesday, August 3, 2021

It's Baa-aack

So, this morning, I got a nasty-gram from Blogger, telling me this blog violated their rules - on Phishing, no less - and that they'd killed it.  I went through their hoops and it was reinstated a little while ago.  Read all about it over at Outside the Box.  (Which they hadn't killed yet.)

If you ever can't find me here, go there.  If that's gone, too, try my gardening blog.  If that's gone, too, my old version of The Writing Spectacle still exists.  If all my blogs are gone, you can still find me on FB or MeWe.  

If those are gone (maybe with FB but MeWe is safe for now), try emailing me.  Although, my email is through the Big G like my blogs are, so they could knock me out in one fell swoop, if they felt the urge.  

I could shut my mouth and be a good little girl.  Stop swearing.  Stop posting things the current regime finds obnoxious.  Stop calling a spade a spade - as in shovel as opposed to a pick, for those fantastic freakin' morons who don't know the difference. :shrug:  But that just wouldn't be me.

It's still possible all of this was a glitch.  I'm not banking on it.  Why, yes, I do feeling a persecution complex coming on.  Why do you ask?

Just know.... I won't go gentle into that bad night.  Rage and burn against the dying of the light, my friends.  And stay radical out there.  You know, as radical as a 51 year old white chick who gardens and bakes, living in the boonies can get.  As the new saying goes, 'If you're coming for me, make it quick. I've got a pie in the oven.'  

Monday, August 2, 2021

Crankypants

It's morning and I'm feeling all crankypants, so rather than bore you with my bullshit attitude, here's a nice picture.

It looks tilted because my yard is slanted and he's standing on a slope.

How are you today?  Got anything good to share?  


Sunday, August 1, 2021

Sunday Update - Week 31

It's morning.  Hubs got up at 5 and I was going to roll over to snatch some more Zzzs.  Then I heard thunder.  Then I remembered I'd moved my big tomato plants out to the middle of the deck.  Sat up, pulled on a pair of shorts and out I went.  Good thing, too, because about 5 minutes afterward, the sky opened up and it splooshed hard.

It took me about an hour to remember it was Sunday.  So here I am...

In writing news, I'm making slow progress on my edit notes.  I think I'm up to 14% of the book and about 11 pages worth of notes.  Hubs joked that I'm going to need another notebook soon.  I got it covered, man.  

The marketing of my sale for the Dennis Haggarty books was a bust.  I did sell two books, though.  Got me a buck twenty-nine.  Woohoo.  Hey, that's more than I made in the month of May. My recent Amazon deposit was $1.17.  Someday, I hope to be able to afford a cup of gas station coffee.

No reading last week.  It's a slump.  :shrug:

I made chocolate chip cookies last week, except by the time I was ready to start throwing batches into the oven, I was too hot to go through that whole process.  So I smushed all the dough into a 9x13 and made bar cookies.  They're awesome.

I was only active one day last week.  Gah, I was such a toad.  At least the weight is holding steady at 183.8.

The Olympics has been a thing here.  I turn them on around 8am and they're on all day for the most part.  Unless every channel is showing something boring - like basketball and volleyball.  (I'm so over volleyball now.)  

When I'm not editing or focused on the TV, I've taken to doing crossword puzzles.  I found an old book of them in my stuff when I cleaned and now I'm working through it.  They're semi-easy and I cheat, so not really brain-taxing.  

It's been super hit here.  Like 97 with a heat index of 105 hot.  Needless to say, I'm blaming the heat for my lack of gumption.  Hey, I'm still tending my plants - ungrateful wretches that they are.  This thunderstorm is supposed to bring a slight cool down.  Maybe that'll make my plants happy.  It'll certainly improve my attitude.  Well, maybe.

Nothing else of note to talk about here today.  What's up with you?