The Last Day

If all the stars have aligned properly, today should be my last day working on helping my friends with their move.  I'm totally ready to be done.  Like I told him, I'll miss them, but I'll be glad when this is over.  I'm a walking bruise and my muscles feel like I've gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson.  But hey, I lost 4 pounds in the past month.

They're supposed to call when the movers leave so I can go over there and help clean their house.  Then I can come home and fall apart.  Yay.

I have some ideas percolating - both for the writing and for the business aspect of it.  We'll see if any of them come to fruition in the weeks/months ahead.  

What I'm looking forward to most is sitting down with a book and spending the whole damn day reading.  That may be tomorrow.  Or Friday.  Or both.  ;o)

Still Not Dead

I know I've been absent a lot lately.  Sorry about that.  The end of this adventure is near and I should be back to some semblance of normal soon.

Today should be the last packing day.  Tomorrow the U-haul arrives and we load that.  Wednesday the movers arrive to take all the large stuff and I clean the house.  That should be it for me.  The new owner takes possession on Thursday and they take possession of their new house then, too.  Yay.

I'll probably be toast Thursday through Sunday, so don't expect great things.  If you don't see me before then, see ya next Monday.

Question Everything

Pardon me for a moment while I wander through some stuff...

When I was a kid, they were saying we were entering a new ice age and we should all panic.   By the time I was a teen, they said the planet was heating up and we should all panic.  Now, it's 'climate change' is bad and everything bad weather-wise is caused by man but nothing good weather-wise is, so we should continue to panic.  

When I was a kid, they were saying eggs were bad for you and we should all stop eating them.  Later, egg whites weren't so bad, but the yolks were awful for you, so stop eating those.  Then egg yolks were okay if you only eat a little of them.  Now, eggs are super foods.  Eat away.

When I was a kid, fats from dairy products were bad - whole milk, cheese, ice cream - and you should stop eating those.  Today, I read an article that said studies now show fats from dairy products can actually prevent cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.  

There's a hole in the ozone layer, we should all panic and ban CFCs.  Oh, wait, there's always been a hole in the ozone layer and it fluctuates... we'll just stop talking about that.  But we'll keep the ban on the CFCs cuz we don't like those, even though they work better and make our lives easier.  

DDT is an evil thing and it's killing baby birdies, so we should panic and get that horrible stuff outlawed.  Except the data was faked, no birdies were dying, and it never harmed people.  Well, we'll still keep that outlawed even though it worked really well and without it, tons of people are dying of mosquito-born illnesses.

These days, they keep talking about following the science.  Well, they don't actually have a good track record over the course of my lifetime, so what science should I follow exactly?  The science of today?  The science of yesterday?  Which scientists?  The government paid ones?  The lone outliers?  

They're also saying 'the science is settled'.  That phrase alone should send you running for the hills.  Science, such as it is, is never truly settled.  Hell, their own track record on that proves science is never settled.  

It really makes me wonder what else they've said over the years that is patently untrue.  Long before I was born, cigarettes were okay.  In fact, doctors were recommending them.  Now, they're spawned from the depths of hell and no one should ever smoke one lest they be cast into the pit of unholiness.  Is it true?  :shrug:  Mom's been smoking since 1958 and she seems fine.  Dad smoked since he was 10 - unfiltered for a large part of those years - and not one of his ailments was ever related back to his smoking.  Yet, Hubs' best friend never smoked a day in his life and he died from esophageal cancer.  I had an aunt who never smoked, but she died of cancer, too.  (Lung, I think, but I can never remember for sure.)

Hell, they said being out in the sun was bad for you and would give you skin cancer.  Now so many people spend so much time out of the sun, they're suffering from a lack of vitamin D and calcium.  (You need the sun to process vitamin D and you need vitamin D to process calcium.)

All that's anecdotal of course, but it makes me wonder.  And science is actually supposed to be about wondering and questioning and thinking about possibilities and stuff.  

So, now we're here in the 'rona ages.  In roughly 18 months we went from 'it'll kill you' to 'it might kill you, but it will kill kids and old people' to 'it'll definitely kill old people' to god knows what.  The truth?  It kills some people, especially if they're old, infirm, or obese (usually a combination of those things).  But according to them, we all need to get the vaccine and mask up anyway.  (The social distancing thing seems to have been dropped somewhere along the way.  Personally, I want people to stay 6 feet away from me whether there's a virus around or not.)

What's the point of all this?  :shrug:  Question everything, perhaps?  Especially if something sounds hinky or feels off.  Follow the money, think about the motives, consider the sources, and do your own research.  It's hard work, which can be scary, but it's definitely less scary than the world they're presenting to us.  

And don't take my word for it either.  If anything I've said in this post, or any other, seems off to you, do your own research.  Just don't come back here to argue with me about it.  I'm so over arguing with anyone about anything.

Peace out.

Thursday This n That

I just noticed something... I keep seeing people use the word 'partner' instead of 'husband' or 'wife' or 'spouse'.  In terms of language it's kind of right, but not exactly right.  All husbands and wives are spouses, all spouses are partners (or they should be), but not all partners are spouses.  (And spouses are broken into husbands and wives, so not all spouses are strictly one or the other.)  Specificity, folks.  Hell, you could even slide another level in there - significant other.  Put it between partner and spouse.  As in, all spouses are significant others, but not all significant others are spouses.  When partner can also include business relationships - company ownerships, law offices, etc. - as well as law enforcement, using partner when you mean significant other/spouse is lazy language.  Or it's a further degradation of our way of life.  Either way, knock it off.

Sonny the buck is almost totally unafraid of Hubs now.  True, Hubs can't pet him yet, but it's to a point where the buck is getting within mere feet of my husband.  I may end up watching Hubs' back while he puts out food during the rut.  I'll go out there with my big walking stick and that alone should keep the deer back.  They're still terrified of me.  My mere presence in the window makes them walk away.  Scary scary lady here.

Speaking of my walking stick, we were out at the lake a while back and I found this stick that had washed up on the shore.  It's about 5 ft long and just the right diameter, tapering down to a solid point.  Both ends show distinct beaver gnaw marks.  It's awesome, so I brought it home.  The beavers did the work of removing all the bark for me.  Hubs stained it for me last week.  I can't wait to use it.

I have another one my oldest brother made for himself out of an ash tree he cut from the land where we grew up, and I just assumed custody of it when he left home.  My oldest brother is 6'8, so you can imagine how big this thing is.  I can't actually wield it as a walking stick.  Staff?  Anyway, it's a piece of home, so I've carted it through every move since 2001.  It's standing in the corner of my living room behind the TV.

Today's my mom's 81st birthday.  I sent her a rock.  Yep, a rock.  And a loaf of homemade zucchini bread made with my zucchinis.  And some homemade granola bars.  The rock is a long story.  Suffice it to say, she liked it and that's all that matters.

Okay, I should probably get some stuff done before I have to head off to the Packing Show.  Have a great day, ya'll.

My Life is So Exciting

It's Wednesday??  Blerg.  Not that Wednesday is necessarily bad.  I just feel like a turd because I missed Monday and Tuesday.  Sorry about that.  Not that you really missed anything.  I spent Monday working and I had yesterday off with much decompression happening.  (Code for total vegetation.) 

I did hit the thrift store yesterday.  Picked up 5 old books, 3 of which I already had.  I can never remember which Vince Flynns are in my library, so I keep picking up the same ones over and over.  At least some good comes of this folly.  If the new copy is better, I trade it out for the worse copy.  Aside from the VF novels, I got a copy of The House of the Seven Gables (paperback) which I didn't have.  And an Alfred Hitchcock anthology in hardcover.  I love those things.  They're about the only anthologies I really enjoy.  I also found two gorgeous coats for cheap  ($9 total).  One is waterproof and lined so its toasty warm.  No more slogging out in wet snow and getting soaked.  Yay.  The other is also nice and warm and lovely.  Lined with faux fur.  

I also hit the bank and then drove over and paid the trash bill.  I don't mail that bill because the company's office are right on my way to damn near everything.  Just park and throw the bill in the handy-dandy box they have for that purpose.  

My life is so exciting.  

Sunday Update, I guess.

 Okay, so yesterday morning I detailed what I've been up to lately - with photos.  It's not all that interesting or exciting, but it's keeping me out of trouble.

I spent 6 hours yesterday loading a 14' trailer with Hubs.  Well, actually, half of that was spent loading and the other half was unloading part of it and reloading different stuff.  We had a decided weight problem.  

You know those big ass tool boxes - like 6 foot long and five foot high and filled with various tool stuffs?  Well, we loaded it, but after we got everything else on, the trailer was sitting way too low to safely move.  So, we unloaded the stuff we'd put in after the toolbox and then the toolbox.  Then we loading up again.  

Along the way, we read the specs on the trailer and discovered it was only rated for about 3000 pounds. Umm, the toolbox was probably at least half that.  Blerg. And even after we got it off, we couldn't load as much as we would've like to.  Trying to maintain the right balance, doncha know.  Stupid trailer design.  

I guess there's a reason why the moving company said they would NOT move his toolbox.  He'll have to figure something else out.

We left before the trailer got moved.  I can only hope they didn't need to pull more off of it after they lost their movers, but we were exhausted.  Thank goodness today is an off day because I don't think I could lift a box of feathers right now.

Unfortunately, they're moving in 10 days and there's still a boatload of stuff to do.  They'll call me tonight and we'll go over the game plan for tomorrow.  I'm almost out of Asperceme.  Time to hit the Blue Emu.  And the Aleve, of course.

I'm still a goddess.  The Goddess of Bruising and Pain.  LOL

In other news, because this is the Sunday Update, I guess.  I made zucchini bread yesterday morning before we left.  Active 5 out of 7 days.  Weight: 182.4 as of yesterday a.m.  I did see 180.6 this week, but it went back up again.  

 I got up over 200 million in poker then went back down to 91 million.  I'm making my way back up again, but it's slower going up than it is going down.

I didn't read anything, but I did do like one and half crossword puzzles.  Woohoo.

And that's all I can think of right now.  Another 10 days and I should be back to regular life and regular posts.  

How did your week go?

Beating My Own Drum

This morning, I'm going to beat my own drum.  I worked hard for it, so no apologies.  

I spent the last several days helping sort their garage into keep and throw.  The 'throw' stuff ended up in a trailer to be taken to the solid waste transfer facility (who will then take it to the dump).  Yesterday was the day it went.  The trash in the trailer weighed in at 2400 pounds.  And most of that I had a hand in.  Over a ton worth of junk, thrown in over the course of two days and the third morning wherein we dragged an old nasty piece of carpet over the whole thing so nothing would fly out during transport.  

Here it is before the carpet...

I forgot to take a pic after the carpet went on.  But trust me when I say it added at least another hundred pounds or so.

I am a goddess.  

A tired and sore goddess, to be sure, but still a goddess.  

Today, a covered trailer is being delivered and we'll start moving the 'keep' stuff into that for storage until they're ready to move it to their new home.  

Here's the deck we stained last weekend:

It's bigger than it looks from this angle.  I'd say about 350 sq ft worth, but I'm bad at eyeballing distances.

I didn't take a pic of the other deck we stained the weekend before, but here's the garage we painted the weekend before that:

Also bigger than it looks from this angle.  It's a deep 1.5 car garage and it was mostly dark brown, so two coats on that puppy.

None of the above includes the packing we've done inside.  Or the two trips we've already made to the thrift store with a packed-full, four door mid-sized sedan.  (All kudos to the gals at St. Vinny's who helped us unload.)

Needless to say, Hubs and I have both been deities up to this point.  Especially considering our combined ages equal 117.  Add in my BFF and her husband and the total age is 240.  Old folks can still kick ass.  

I've been at this an average of 4 days a week for the past 4 weeks.  It feels good to actually be physically productive for a change.  Yes, even as tired and sore as I am.  Bruised but unbroken.  Go me.

Like I said, today's another day chockfull of work.  Tomorrow might be a day off.  I think I might need one.  LOL

What's up in your world?  Any drum beating of your own you'd like to do?

CHILL

 After I got home yesterday, I saw a post in a reader/author group I follow that went something like this: "I ordered an author copy of my paperback from Amazon on the 1st.  It didn't ship until the 13th and it still isn't here yet.  It's only got to go from IL to CA.  Should I demand a refund?"  

I'd like to go over this.  First off, author copies take time to print.  And how fast yours gets printed depends on how many other books are in the queue ahead of yours.  It's not magic.  You don't snap your fingers and poof there it is.  I think they say it normally takes 10 days to print a book.  

Second, Amazon ships paperbacks via the USPS First Class Mail.  Nowhere in the normal scheme of things does first class mail get from IL to CA in 3 days.  Never has.  Doubt it ever will.  It takes 4 days to get from MO to MI, for petesakes. On a good week.

Thirdly, notice the words normal and normally in there.  This is totally not normal as we once knew it.  Normal things... everyday things... take longer now.  Unless whatever you want is in electronic form, it's going to take a while.  

My advice?  Chill out.  Seriously.  CHILL.  The world would be a better place if everyone just chilled out.

No, I did not say that to the author in question.  I blocked her stupid, entitled ass so I never have to see her whiny shit again.  Yeah, I need to chill a little myself.  I have no patience for stupidity, entitlement, or whining.  I used to have a little, but as I've aged, the little patience died a horrible, violent death.

Your book will get there, lady.  No need to go all litigious on Amazon.  Or the postal service.  Yet.  I mean, if two weeks go by and your book still isn't there, by all means, demand your money back.  Until then, get into the lotus position (figuratively, of not literally) and chant calming things at yourself.

And yes, I do understand that you can't set the book for sale until you approve it and you can't approve it until you receive it.  You want it and you want it now so you can start maybe seeing money from it.  (That will take two months to actually reach your account, by the way, so more waiting and chilling.)  It's aggravating and it's frustrating, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

This whole thing is not for the impatient.  On the bright side, at least this isn't traditional publishing which can take a whole lot longer.  

Thursday This n That

I probably shouldn't be allowed on FB at 2 o'clock in the morning,  My urge to argue with people overrides my need to ignore them.  I probably shouldn't play poker either.  LOL

I spent the previous two days shifting around heavy stuff.  Boxes of books?  No sweat.  I can throw those around like they're pillows.  (Okay, not really. but they're not too big a deal.)  We took a carload of stuff to St. Vinny's yesterday.  I would've sworn that box of encyclopedias wasn't half as heavy when I put it into the trunk on Wednesday as it was when I took it out of the trunk on Thursday.  Blerg.

Thank you, St. Vinny's for accepting that set of encyclopedias.  I wonder if anyone actually uses those anymore.  If they'd been an older vintage I might've taken them myself, but 1985 wasn't old enough to warrant bringing them home.  I have a 1957 set I won custody of when my parents moved out of my childhood home.  

If you don't know what St. Vinny's is, it's St Vincent de Paul thrift store.  They were awesome for me when I was in college and needed things for my apartment.  I give to them here when I can and I love shopping there.  Or at least I did before the 'rona hit.  Now that I see the workers aren't wearing masks anymore maybe I'll go back to shopping there, too.  So many awesome books.  

One of the worst things about getting older is eating.  I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted, whenever and wherever, without worrying how it would affect my digestive system (or my general poundage).  I ate at a freakin' restaurant yesterday and my stomach is staging a revolt.  Which is why I got up at 2am.  I spent hours throwing around boxes and lumber and whatnot.  I was feeling pretty awesome about it all.  Look at me look at me, I'm young and vibrant!  Then I get sucker punched by damn restaurant food and I'm feeling every bit of those 51 years.  Not sure if it was the super yummy burger with its awesome bun.  Or the cheesy spinach and artichoke dip.  Or the yummy chips.  Blerg.  If you asked me earlier, I would've said it was all worth it.  Now?  Not so much.  So, here I sit, drinking baking soda water and hoping to maybe go back to bed and catch another couple hours.  

By the way, the food was so good, after lunch, I ordered takeout from there for dinner.  A grilled chicken sandwich for me and a bacon burger for Hubs.  So yummy.  Screw you, stomach.

Also, by the way, we tried a new restaurant.  (Well, not new since the waitress told us they'd been there 6 years, but neither of us had ever noticed it before, so new to us.)  One thing I learned when I was a road warrior was to eat at places where worker dudes eat.  If there are worker dudes having lunch there, it's good food.  Those dudes know.  They don't have time or patience to eat crappy food on their lunch breaks.  This place had lots of worker dudes.  Some people think 'eat where the locals eat', but that's not always the case.  You have no idea what the locals are used to.  Worker dudes?  They know.

Worker dudes = UPS drivers, construction guys, salesmen, etc.  They travel around enough to know where to eat and where not to eat.  When I was on the road, I could've pointed out both in my sales territory.  Trust me, when you're in the middle of a job and miles from home, you do not want to eat at a bad restaurant.  And all apologies to that poor gas station on Woodward Avenue that I had to stop at after eating in a bad restaurant back in 1999.  

Okay, I should probably try going back to bed now.  See y'all later.

Random Rantings Before It's Back to Work Time

Okay, so while I'm away from the computer the world continues to spin itself into a miasma of crap.  I keep hoping for a bright piece of news, but no such luck.  

Newsom is still governor, thus proving either that the majority of people in CA are batshit crazy or elections are no longer free.  Or both.  Could be a tremendous case of Stockholm Syndrome on a statewide scale.  

I don't get it, but I am damn glad I don't live there.  And all hugs and stuff to my remaining CA friends who, I assume, are unable to flee for reasons of their own.

OCrazio wore a dress that said 'Tax the rich' to a gala event where the ticket cost was $30K each.  And the rich people she was hobnobbing with loved her for it.  They must've or they would've kicked her out.  Well, they either love her or hate themselves so much they think she's right.  Someone on FB intimated that OCrazio must have balls the size of NY to wear a dress like that to an event filled with rich people.  I don't think it's balls.  I like she knows full well she won't be attacked or even chastised for promoting the idea.  Socialism stands on the bodies of those they've trained to hate themselves.  

Norm MacDonald died.  :shrug:  I never thought he was that funny.  

I read something the other day... Biden (or his handlers) said food prices are definitely not up.  Well, not up if you don't count MEAT... And produce is at the same price it was at the end of last year.  You know, year end prices are the highest prices of any year because it's WINTER and plants are kind of on vacation during winter.  We haven't even reached the end of the growing season when produce is plentiful and prices should be at their lowest point of the year.  I shudder to think of what they'll be at the end of this year.   Those of us who actually buy groceries KNOW food prices are higher.  I paid over $2 for a pint of strawberries when they're usually well under $2 at this time of year.  Go sell your Shinola somewhere else Biden-ites. 

Gas here is $2.79.  Which I understand is still lower than most other parts of the country, but that's because MO doesn't tax the hell out of everything.  January 5th, gas was $1.78.  January 7th, it spiked up to $2.58.  But they want us to believe the rising price of gas isn't the fault of our benevolent overlords.  Feh.

If you read my post yesterday, you already heard about the dearth of tires around here.  WTF is up with that?  I bet you can guess my theory as to why.

Bette Midler is calling for women to stop having sex with men until the TX abortion thing is overturned.  I saw a photo of some morbidly obese woman holding a sign saying that she is refusing sex for the same reason.  I'm not sure what men are clamoring to have sex with these types of women, but whatever.  As others have pointed out, abstinence is the best form of birth control and the easiest way to cut down on the number of unnecessary pregnancies anyway.  So if the idea is fewer abortions, then the liberals are doing their job for them.  And what happened to the idea of Safe Sex?  Unwanted pregnancy is just one of the many reasons to make sure the gift is wrapped before you accept it.  

I'm pro 'mind your own damn business', by the way.  I'm also pro-'don't be stupid'.  If you're having sex with random, anonymous partners and not using a condom, that's just stupid.  AIDS is still a thing, isn't it?  Herpes, the clap, etc.?  Don't be stupid and you don't have to worry about any of that.  If you're not being stupid and an OOPS happens (or it's due to rape), get it taken care of immediately and you don't have to worry about the whole '6 weeks' thing.  (Yes, there are other extenuating and rare cases, but I'm not going to detail them all here or you'd still be reading this post next week.)

For me, I'm here slumping boxes and getting grubby dirty every day.  I have an incredibly tan, I'm losing poundage, and the muscles and stamina are improving every day.  Life is good.  And as long as people leave me the hell alone, it will continue to be good.

Nuff said.  Peace out.

Why I Forgot to Post Yesterday

Wow, I totally brainfarted out and missed yesterday entirely.  This is Tuesday, right?  Yep, my computer says it's Tuesday.  

I did remember it was Monday at some point yesterday because I called the office.  After that, yesterday was a blur.  I started out my blurry portion of the day by calling my usual tire shop to find out if they could get me in for replacement of my two front tires.  The only tires they had in my size were made by some company I'd never heard of that we discovered were located in China.  I called the other place - which is right across the street from the first place.  They had no tires in my size but they could order some and have them in later in the week.  And I'm all like 'I only have one day to get this done', thanked him, and hung up nicely.

So I called Wallyworld.  They only had two tires left in my size.  (It's a popular freakin' size, for pitysakes, so WTF?)  And they were a brand I have used before, albeit not the brand Hubs was hoping for.  I told the Wallyworld dude to hold on to them for me and I'd be there in 30 minutes.  (It was actually 45 because I forgot I needed to get dressed, too.)  Since I was already going to be there, getting tires put on the car, I told him I needed an oil change, too.  Saved myself another stop, so yay.

After I get there, I tell the guy again that I need two front tires.  He informs me that it's Wallyworld policy to never put new tires on the front.  The newest tires should be on the back.  Which is anti-intuitive considering my car is front wheel drive, and I told him so, but if I wanted these two on the front, I needed to sign a disclaimer holding W blameless.  Whatever.  Fine.  Put the new ones on the back and rotate the back to the front.  "That'll be $5 extra."  Fine.  Whatever.  And off I go to do some shopping while I wait.

After getting all my non-perishable goods... because I so did not need my ice cream melting while I waited for my car... I went back to the waiting area to sit and eat the breakfast sandwich I just bought.  I walk in and some other dude goes 'do you own the Cavalier?' and I'm all like 'yeah'.  Well, he informed me that because my back tires were old, they couldn't put them in the front because it's against W policy.  They'd be happy to put 4 new tires on.  (I bet they would.)  Or I could just put the new ones on the front and sign that damn thing.  Okay.  Fine.  WHATEVER.  Give me the damn form.

I also got a stern warning that my oil was low when I pulled in.  Like not registering on the dipstick low.  Which is kind of impossible since Hubs just checked that and he doesn't let my car get low on oil and it doesn't leak oil - it just burns it faster than a new car, so he adds it when necessary.  

After I finish my sandwich, I reach for my phone to call Hubs and let him know where I am in the process only to find that my phone is not in my pocket.  It's not in my purse either.  Heavy sigh and big hopes that nothing goes wrong between W and home.  (I didn't lose it.  It was on the charger when I got home.)

So, I finally get it all done and am free to go on about my merry way.  I pull around to the front of the store, go in and get my ice cream, produce, and other refrigerated items.  Go through the same cashier.  "Miss me?" I said and she laughed.  Vicky's awesome.  

I leave there with my stuffs and head for the feed store.  When I pull up in front of the warehouse doors, I can see there might be like 4 bags of whole corn left.  I'm not so lucky.  In the store, the manager is helping another customer, so the secondary dude who loads feed into cars tells me in a snotty voice that they're out of whole corn.  If I'd been there Wednesday night, they had some.  If I'd been there Thursday... or Friday... or even Saturday morning... they had some.  He seemed almost gleeful that I'd missed the boat.  I should've told the manager to fire the dude.  Anyway, the manager finally gets done with the other customer and I ask him if they have corn chops in stock.  (Same stuff, only chopped up instead of whole and about 30c more a 50 lb bag.)  He says sure.  I get 4 of those suckers and head out to where the primary feed loading dude can put the bags in my car.  Primary dude is awesome. 

Two and a half hours from the time I left, I'm home.  But my brain is fried.  

So that's why I forgot to post yesterday.

Sunday Update - Week 37

:blink blink:  Hello there.  You're still coming around, eh?  Cool.  I should rename this the 'Moving Friends Spectacle', but this will pass and I will someday be back to writing.  Not today, though.

We finished staining the decks - two coats in an Autumn Brown that kind of looks like cedar once it dries.  Looks lavender in the bucket and when it first goes on.  My friend hated it when we first put it on, but it's growing on her.  Or at least the idea that no matter what color it is or whether it clashes with her tastes, it's done and she won't be living with it for too much longer is growing on her.

We've been going to bed at 7:30pm a lot this past week.  Last night we went to bed then and I woke up at 12:30am.  Hubs got up at 2.  Then he went back to bed at around 4 and I went to bed at around five.  I was up again just before 7.

Turned on the TV at 3.  Nothing was on, so I selected Sumo wrestling on the Japan channel.  Live from Tokyo.  But in English, thank god.  Two massive mountains of flesh in tiny attire, grappling and trying to push each other out of a circle of sand lined with rocks (it looked like rocks).  It was like watching the bizarre love children of hippos and grizzlies fight.  Massive muscles underneath mounds of quivering flesh.  Both gross and entrancing.  One guy's thong thing was way too loose.  Another guy's was way too tight.  One guy was super hairy, which I thought was against the whole Sumo thing but I guess not.  One guy reminded me of Jaba the Hut.  For the most part, though, they were well-shaped but incredibly fat dudes.  In one bout, one was 177kg (390lbs) and his opponent was only 130kg (286lbs) and I was sure the larger guy would throw the smaller one around.  Nope.  Skinny (for varying definitions of skinny) dude won.  All in all, it was interesting.  Then Hubs went to bed and I watched the end of The King and I.  Sad.

One of my tomato plants has two new tiny tomatoes.  Yay.  Same plant that gave me the other tomato.  Most of the garden is still alive, but I can tell time is growing short.  In news for next year's garden, I got a bunch of big plastic planters from my friend, so my plants will have larger growing spaces.  

Today or tomorrow - I have both days off - I have to go get the car serviced and buy two new tires.  If Walmart has the tires I want in stock and can put them on today - and if the oil change place is open on Sundays - I'll go there.  If not, I'll get tires closer to home and then drive down for an oil change and groceries tomorrow.  Or I might just veg out today and get it all done tomorrow anyway.  

I'm pretty worn out, so two days off will be nice.  Back at it on Tuesday.  Luckily, it's only packing and cleaning from this point.  No more painting.  No more ladders.  Just some lifting, which should be easy since I am strong like bull - moreso now than when I started this adventure.  I'm also sporting one hell of a tan with tank top and shorts lines.  Actually, it start out as one hell of a sunburn, but aloe took care of that and now it's brown.  (And no, I don't worry about skin cancer, so don't go there.  Let me enjoy my sexy tan.)

I've also lost 3.5 pounds since 8/10.  Loads of activity during and after which I am not inclined to eat a lot.  Weight: 181.2

I finally actually know someone directly who has the 'rona.  He said he felt pretty gross there for a couple weeks, but he sounded about done with it.  I hope it's true.  Hubs will call him today and see if that's the case.  

Well, a creepy, orange-red sun is rising here.  We're getting the wildfire smoke again.  Whoopee.  And I should probably toddle off.  Have a great day wherever you are.  And tell me about your week, if you're so inclined.  :hugs:

Working for Other People?

I have the morning off.  I'm due back at work at 11, to finish the first coat on the deck railings, spindles, etc. and maybe get a second coat on, if there's time.  She had errands to do, which is a good thing since I am feeling every minute of this week's work this morning.  Blerg.

They are happy enough with our work to suggest we do this as a side business.  I told them, and it's every bit the truth, there aren't enough people in the world we like to do this as a business.  I can't imagine doing all this work for customers we didn't know or people we didn't like.  That would be awful.  Then I'f not only be physically tired, I'd be mentally tired, too.  Bleh.

I remember the days I worked for someone else.  It was definitely better, no matter how hard the job, if I liked the people I was working for and with.  

When I worked for Dial America... yes, I was a telemarketer... Well, I managed telemarketers more than I actually telemarketed... I hated the job and I had little respect for most of the people I worked with.  There were only like 3 I liked - my direct supervisor and 2 of the telemarketers.  Liking them kept me from going insane doing that job.  But I needed the money and it was the only job I could find at the time.

As a writer, I work with no one.  Sure, Hubs is sitting like 3 feet away but he's at his own computer doing his own work.  And I like him, so even when we do work together, we work happy.  Even then, we never work together on writing stuff.  I can't even imagine doing a collaborative thing with any of my friend authors.  In certain aspects, I'm a control freak.  Writing is one of them.  So, I don't dare to collaborate.  Hell, I have a tough time packing a box with my best friend.  Rein in it there, B.E.  

It's probably for the best that I am self-published.  I control all of this.  It may not work out exactly like I hope, but it's all on me.  Every word, every comma, every page break.  Editors may suggest changes, but I can accept or deny them as I choose.  I have full control.  Bwa ha ha.

So, yeah, don't expect to see Sanderson and Sanderson Painting and Staining* any time soon.  

Unfortunately, don't expect to see any books out of me any time soon either.  I saw a funny meme thingy on FB this morning.  It showed the tan lines of various pursuits and when it got to Writer, the poor dude was white as a sheet.  Right now, I have the best tan ever, if that tells you anything.  October may be a good time for getting back to the writing/editing business.  This month is shot to hell for that.

* a division of Sanderson Industries, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sanderson, Inc. LLC. (Not real companies by any stretch of the imagination.)

Thursday This n That

My world is pretty much pre-moving tasks, poker, and music right now.  (In case you're just coming into the story, I am not moving - a friend is.)

Ate lunch in an actual restaurant yesterday.  Chinese food!  Yay!  I had this chicken dish - I think they called it Hung Su chicken? - that was pretty tasty.  Breaded chunks of chicken in a savory but slightly sweet sauce with veggies.  Very few veggies, but I needed mostly protein so it was good.  And crab ragoon.  Loves me those deep fried pockets of crabby, cheesy awesomeness.  And it was large portions so I brought about half of it home.  Hubs had it for dinner.  He thought it was pretty yummy, too.

I haven't eaten in an actual restaurant in years, so yeah, big deal for me.  

It was the first time I was in a Chinese restaurant that was playing country music.  Weird.  

I've been playing poker in a higher stakes room.  5-10M buy-ins with 100K blinds.  Right now, I have around 200 million in play chips.  About a year and a half of playing took me from 25K to here.  Like I've said before, I wish it were real money.  But it's illegal in the US to play online poker for real money.  Thanks for that, Obama.  Turd.

As for music, I'm enjoying listening to music while I play poker.  This Jango internet radio thing is kinda cool.  Not only does it give me the bands I like, but it gives me the occasional independent artist, too.  Okay, so most of those are pretty bad, but every rare once in a while, I find a gem.  I think what I'm tuned into now is called 'folk rock'?  Lumineers, Phillip Phillips, Of Monsters and Men.  Those have been on the radio, so I was familiar with them.  Another band I'm enjoying is The Head and the Heart.  Oh, and The Strumbellas.  Pretty cool stuff and I haven't heard most of it a million times so it's fresh.  I really need some of this stuff on CD so I can listen to it in the car.

Yesterday, there was nothing on TV, so I tuned in to a biopic about RUSH.  That was pretty cool.  I'm probably the last person to learn that 2112 was dedicated to Ayn Rand.  Gnarly.  Hubs has never been a fan of RUSH, though, so once he came into the room I only made him watch a little before I changed the channel.  He did enjoy some of the folk rock (? alternative country? gothic folk? :shrug:) I played for him.  He likes Phillip Phillips.  And he enjoyed when I played 'Ho Hey' by the Lumineers for him.

Hey, if you've never heard Boyce Avenue, give them a whirl.  They do acoustic covers of a lot of songs.  Here's them doing Dust in the Wind.  Pretty!

Okay, well, I'd better get my buns in gear.  I have to do dishes, what few there are, and then grab a shower before I have to go north for cigarettes and then west to resume my packing duties.  Have a great day.  And leave a comment, if you want.  I'll approve them when I get home.  

Speak the Truth

I want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  And I can handle the truth.  If you can't tell me the truth, keep your mouth shut.  If I ask whether my butt looks big in this dress, I actually want to know.  For godsakes, don't let me go out in public looking like I have a big ass.  

The little lies we tell each other.... Sometimes they're okay.  "How are you?" "Fine" when you're anything but fine is okay because not everyone needs to know all of your woes.  

Sometimes the really big lies are okay.  When a Nazi asks if you're hiding Jews in your basement, the answer is always NO whether you have none, one, or a dozen.  If the government shows up to take your guns away, guns you legally possessed until some shithead changed the rules, you have no guns.  Someone points a gun at your head and asks your feelings on a particular subject, you lie your ass off so they don't blow you away.  

But as a general rule, lying is bad.  I shouldn't need to say that.  I think most people would agree with me and mean it.  I think even our government would agree, but they'd be lying.  To some people lies are only bad if you get caught.  And even then there are certain members of our populace who can lie their asses off and get caught at it and still go on about their merry way.  :shrug:

Now, I'm not saying you need to speak the truth all the time.  Sometimes keeping your thoughts and opinions to yourself is the better part of valor.  But if you can't speak the truth, stay silent or change the subject.  Until it's time to speak the truth.

The other day as we were sorting through my friend's clothes, she held up a blouse and asked me what I thought about it.  I asked her if she wanted me to be honest.  She said yes.  And I told her that I'd seen it on her once before at work and it looked horrible on her.  Seriously bad.  She's an attractive lady and that thing not only didn't do anything for her, but it looked awful on her.  I kept my mouth shut then because she didn't need to know what I thought of her clothing.  It would've served no purpose.  I reserved my opinion.  Until she asked.  And she didn't get pissed.  She simply chucked the blouse into the pile to go to the thrift store.  Life's too short for ugly clothes.

Sure, sometimes the truth hurts.  Lies hurt worse in the long run.  

In Limbo and Definitely Not Ranting... Umm...

These days I really only have two things to talk about - my friend moving and the state of the world.  I'm sure you're getting bored with the former and the latter is probably something I should stay away from or I'll be ranting until my fingers fall off.

Never have I ever seen, nor would ever imagine, such rampant stupidity.  So much so that I accidentally invented a new word when trying to describe it.  Hellfuck.  As in 'What the hellfuck is going on?'  It popped out when my brain got so befuddled by stupid news that it couldn't decide whether to say WTH or WTF, so it merged them together into WTHF.  (Not to be confused with my novel WHTF, which stands for Wish Hits The Fan.)  I like it.  It fits with the world right now.

Anyway, I said I wouldn't rant, so I won't.  

I should hear shortly whether it's back to work today or whether I'll have the day off.  There's some sort of kerfluffle with the buyer's loan and the appraisal/home inspection.  Suffice it to say, I am thankful every day they go through this that we didn't have to deal with loans and crap buying this place.  If hell ever freezes over and we sell this place, we will not accept any FHA offers, that's for damn sure.

Ahem, I guess that's a kind of rant, too.  Sorry about that.

Needless to say, I'm in limbo right now.  How are things where you're at?

Sunday Update - Week 36

If you read yesterday's post, you pretty much know what my week looked like.  I spent a lot of time over at a friend's house, helping her get ready to move.  Added up, it amounted to 23 hours.  Which isn't like a full work-week amount of time, but it's more time than I've spent on anything in one week in a long time.  (Well, except for the week before when I spent 29 hours over there.)  

Yesterday, we put the second coat on one deck, then Hubs worked on prepping the other deck for staining while I did more packing.  Since Friday was a long day, we'd intended to make it shorter yesterday.  It ended up longer.  It's good to something productive for people who deserve it.  And physical labor is good for the soul.  But by the time I got home, I couldn't brain good.  And the putting together words into sentences thing was hard.  And I'm up now because sleeping and aching weren't going well together.  This too shall pass.

I have today off.  It rained a lot of tonight so far and it's supposed to rain more.  We all need a day off anyway.  They're tired.  We're tired.  We'll coordinate over the phone and decide about tomorrow when tomorrow morning comes.

No writing.  No editing.  No marketing.  No reading.  By the time I get home, I'm toast.

I did make granola bars one day when I had the day off.  And a huge vat of spaghetti sauce another off day.  And I prepped five zucchinis for shredding.  (I need to shred those today and get them in the freezer.)

On my way out Friday, I discovered some numbnuts had hit and killed a guinea fowl.  Poor bugger.  It's not like they're fast and dart out in front of cars.  They're just too stupid to move out of the road, so you have to be patient.  I called Hubs and told him, so he could give it a proper burial.  The duo of Laurel and Hardy is no more.  Since they looked alike, I can't tell which one died.  I haven't seen the other one.  Since they don't like to be alone, he probably went to where the others are in an enclosure.  Maybe if they hadn't escaped, the one would still be alive.  =o\

The deer are still going fine.  Yay.  Some of the little bucks are starting to show their buttons.  And the fawns' spots are starting to disappear.  

It's Labor Day tomorrow.  Only a communist holiday would celebrate working by not working.  Since I work for myself, I usually work on holidays - even non-made-up, government ones  - so this probably won't be any different.  I just won't have to call the office for the pay-job.  They're off because why be in the office if there's no mail and most of the companies they do business with will be closed, too?  Derp.

Long ago, I worked in a business owned and primarily staffed by Jews.  They took off all the Jewish holidays and all the Gentile holidays, but they were open on the Jewish ones, so we merry few non-Jewish employees had to work.  Kind of unfair, but I got paid by the hour and no paid holidays, so I was happy to get the extra money.  If they'd been open on Christmas and Easter, I would've worked those, too.  You gotta do what you gotta do to make money if you want to live.  :shrug:

Not much else went on this week.  Sorry I'm pretty boring right now.  How are things in your world?

No Reading Wrap-Up Again

Sorry.  No reading wrap-up again this week because I have definitely not been reading.  Feel free to talk about what you're reading in comments.

Yesterday was a physical trial.  I started out the day by peeling and gutting zucchinis, because it had to be done.  Then I went over and helped pack until 11.  At 11, I went home, grabbed a bite to eat, loaded Hubs into the car and went back.  From noon to two, we painted.  From two to five we stained.  Well, he stained for a while and I did some more packing before heading out to help him stain.  

Unfortunately, their home inspection was Thursday, with one garage wall still unpainted and neither deck stained yet.  Hopefully, those things won't screw the pooch for the guy trying to buy their house.  Apparently FHA requires no untreated or raw wood exposed.  But hey, we can only do what we can do, time and weather permitting.  They explained stuff to the inspector and the dude seemed okay with promises to have the work completed before closing, so fingers crossed.  

As much as I'll miss my friend, I totally want this to happen for her.  And if I wasn't there helping her, and this stuff didn't get done, she'd still move.  So I help her.  And now that I've gotten to know her husband, I'm doing it for him, too.  They're good peoples.

I'll call her in a minute to see what the game plan is for today.  It rained a little last night and they're predicting more throughout the day, so painting and staining might be out.  There's still packing to do, but we've got almost 4 weeks to get all of that done.  Might be a day off.  Might not.  We'll see.  

Again, sorry there's no reading today.  I'm just not in a place where I want to read.  Not yet.

Have a great day out there in the world, wherever you are.

Thursday This n That

Unexpectedly had yesterday off.  I took the opportunity to get some shopping done and then I made a vat of homemade spaghetti sauce - enough for 4 meals.  You see, a neighbor brought us another big bag of tomatoes.  So first I had to parboil and skin those.  I had so many, it just made sense to turn them into sauce.  They also brought us 5 more zucchinis from the plants I gave them.  Not sure how many zukes that is now, but man, my babies produced.  Well, my babies produced as long as someone else was raising them.  He said he's turning over the garden today, so that's the last of them, but I have bags and bags of zucchini in the freezer.  Yay.

Oddly enough, we did not have spaghetti for dinner.  We had hot dogs and french fries.  It was too hot to actually want to eat a big carb-loaded meal.  

Last night, my friend called.  I have today off, too.  I think I'll take care of those zucchinis and make another batch of bread.  Maybe I'll clean my bathroom, too.  Or I'll vegetate and rest up for tomorrow.

I have today off because their pre-sale home inspection got scheduled for today.  Fingers crossed we did enough to satisfy FHA and what we didn't do, but still plan on doing, will get them through to the sale.  We still have one wall of the garage to do and both decks to power wash and stain.  We'll get 'er done.

One of our fawns has visible antler bumps now.  Baby buck!  Yay!

Remember when nobody stuck their nose into anyone else's health business?  Pepperidge Farms remembers.  I think it started with cigarettes.  Maybe it started with eating.  What you do with your body is no one else's business.  You really are not your brother's keeper.  Yeah, yeah, health insurance ties us all together somehow, which is wrong.  

Speaking of which, did you get a health insurance refund?  I looked it up and it seems that insurance companies didn't spend as much as they were allowed to spend versus the amount of premiums they took in last year.  Why?  Because fewer people are seeing doctors for non-essential things now.  One of the things they listed was elective surgery.  I thought elective surgeries were never covered under insurance.  :shrug:  So, it seems like more people are treating medical care like I've treated it for years - don't go to a doctor unless you actually need a doctor/  Huzzah.

What a world.

Anyway, that's about it for me.  How are things with you?  

The Best Advice

 I just read an interesting article on people who target authors telling them that if they don't cough up money, the people will then bomb their books with 1-star reviews.  I've heard it before and it's disconcerting, so the article wasn't really anything new.  At the end of the article, the writer of said article then pimped her own 'how to make money selling books' book.  Not cool, man.  I mean, I felt like she only wrote the post about this disconcerting thing to draw people in so she could pimp her book.  Maybe I wouldn't have felt irritated by it if her book had been about how to defeat these trolls.  But no.  Just another book about making a million writing and selling books by a chick I'd never heard of.  And if I've never heard of her, how many novels has she ever really sold?  

This, of course, followed me reading a FB post by a best-selling author talking about his early years and all the 'how-to-write books' books he'd read in his early years and how many of those were worthless.  He threw out all but two.  His advice basically boiled down to: 'If you've got the knack for writing, you've got it and if you don't, you don't.  If you've got it, hone it and the readers will come.'  Not helpful, per se, but honest.  More honest than 'hey, I've never written a best-selling novel, but buy my book about how to write a best-selling novel'.

Here's a big admission:  I've never read a 'how to write books' book.  Not even the definitive 'On Writing' by King, which apparently every other writer has read.  When I was a teen, I subscribed to Writers' Digest.  Read every issue cover to cover.  And what I learned was... After reading articles on how to write, I was writing exactly like each article said to write and my voice was lost completely.  I was too young then to know about voice, but I knew something was wrong with my writing when I started sounding like someone else.  So I stopped writing.  For years.  

I've been writing and publishing long enough now that my voice is pretty hard to shake, but I still don't read 'how to' articles or books.  I write.  My own way.  If that sells, then awesome.  I've had enough people tell me they like the way I tell my stories to keep doing it the way I've always done it.  The more I write the better I get at it.  

Actually, that's probably the best advice I can give another writer.  Write tons.  

Of course, I'm not writing right now.  I'm busy with non-writing stuffs and it's taking up all of my brain space.  I try to make myself think about writing, and that lasts about 30 seconds before my brain is off thinking about other things again.  This will pass.  And I'll write again.  I can't not write for too awfully long.  

I've got 16 books published now.  If I average their word count out at 75K each, that's 1.2 million words.  Add in the unpublished and unfinished stuff, along with the short stories, etc., and I'm probably at over 2 million.  Just in fiction.  Not counting these blog posts I've been writing since 2006, comments on other people's blogs, FB posts, etc.  

If this writing thing is your dream, keep writing.  I can't guarantee you'll ever become a best-seller, but you'll have some measure of success.  Eventually.  Maybe.  :shrug:  Also, read tons.  Of fiction, not of the 'how to' books.  See how other writers are achieving their dreams by reading what they've written. Maybe what they write will spur you on to your own successes.  

And if this is really your dream, don't quit.