Sunday Update 10/27/24

 :blink blink: I just woke up, so bear with me.

Still not writing.  In editing news, I finished the first round of edit notes on Friday - 21 pages worth of single spaced notes on college ruled paper.  Not the most notes I've ever made on a book, but still, that's lots.  Yesterday, I sat down and started inputting those notes. Then I had to refer back to Rumor Has It about something and I discovered, to my dismay, that I wrote the entirety of TTW in the wrong person.  Should've written in first person.  Wrote it in third.  Derp.  Much swearing occurred and then much laughing because really, how silly can one gal get?  Sooo... I need to fix that, too.  I did manage to get one page of edit notes entered and five pages edited for notes and POV.  

I almost forgot... SLEEPING UGLY is free starting tomorrow.  Kind of a Halloween thing.  

I read a book this week.  Unfortunately, it doesn't count toward my goal because it was a book I volunteered to proofread for the author.  It's now out for sale, and I bought a copy, so I'll read it again and then count it.  The book?  Oh, it's Silver James' Moonstruck Mafia: Boston.  It's wicked awesome.  Pick up your copy today.

This week in cooking, I made a vat of chicken soup, a crockpot worth of pulled pork, and applesauce bars.  Oh, and I used leftover pulled pork to make Cuban sandwiches, which is no small effort.  (I mean, if I had a panini press, it wouldn't be hard, but I don't, so it is.)

On the activity front, well... you see... Falling on my ass in the woods and twisting my knee kinda put the kybosh on that.  I did get into the woods once and I went for one walk, which wasn't far and I had to turn back for home because my knee was being a whiny little bitch.  Sitting on my butt and eating copious amounts is not helping my overall physical well-being.  Weight: 175.2

The reason I went into the woods is to start putting my 'grow your own trees' scheme into motion. I've been researching what needs to be done to grow these trees from seeds, so I'm working on that.  I gathered seeds from the redbud in our front yard, a couple of spicebushes along the side, the buckthorn up front, and then went down into the woods to gather dogwoods seeds.  Yesterday, I separated all the redbud seeds from their pods, put them in a coffee mug, and doused them with boiling water.  They need to sit in that for 24 hours and then I can hit the next step, which if memory serves is to put them in dirt.  The other seeds all require different magic, so I could be remembering wrong.  Dogwood seeds need to be cleaned and scarified (i.e. the process of artfully damaging the seed hull to allow for germination), then they need to live in the fridge for 3-4 months.  Same with the buckthorn seeds.  The spicebush seeds just need to be cleaned, I think, and then chilled.  As I do this, I'll make sure to apply the right method for each seed.  Should be fun.

I'm also thinking about doing wood carving in my spare time.  Right now, I'm researching the tools and trying to see which ones to buy.  We'll see if I keep at it or get bored before I even start.

Oh, we went fishing this week.  It was only for a couple hours and I only caught one fish, but it was good to get out again.  And now I have nightcrawlers, so I can go whenever and not have to worry about waiting for my bait shop to open up.  

While we were driving to the fishing hole, we saw two bald eagles flying low and dancing in the air around each other.  It was AWESOME.  We also saw yellow-bellied sapsuckers this week, so yay!  I love fall migration.

Okay, that was a lot of read, so thank you for getting all the way down here.  Have a great week!  And feel free to drop a comment to let me know how your week went.

Thursday This n That

Wow, it's Thursday.  I thought it was Wednesday.  Derp.  This does not bode well for the rest of the day...

I got up around 4am today so I would be alert enough to do a bunch of marketing posts early enough for them to be effective.  I just noticed a typo in all the posts to 20 or so groups.  Go to group, find my post amongst the others, delete the freakin' N, save... lather, rinse, repeat.  Guess I still wasn't alert enough, eh?  :takes off the red, rubber nose and floppy clown shoes:

I stepped out to check on my plants and scared the crap out of a deer.  They really shouldn't be hanging out in the south yard.  I hope she didn't eat my lilies while she was over there.  

There is not enough coffee on the planet today.  Personally, I think it's cruel that I can't grow my own coffee.  If the world ever takes a shit, I'm going to be one unhappy camper with no coffee and no cigarettes.  Yeah, that's what I worry about when I think about the collapse of society - coffee and cigarettes.  Shows you where my priorities lay.

Lay... lie... whatever.

The tree we thought was a Bradford pear has fruit this year... plum shaped fruit... I guess I was wrong about the species of that tree.  Or maybe I'm wrong about being wrong.  No clue.  Derp.  I also learned the trees I've been calling Royal Paulownia trees are not those.  Looking at those now, I can't imagine why I ever thought mine were that species.  Derp.  I haven't gone looking for what the real species is.  

I'm feeling especially derpy today.  Need more coffee.  Maybe a nap.

Sunday... err... Monday Update? Week 12

Wow, I totally brainfarted out there yesterday, didn't I?  Last night, I was sitting here playing poker when something flashed in my head like a mental meteorite strike...  "It's Sunday, isn't it?" So, here we are on Monday with the Sunday Update.  Sorry about that.  For some reason, I thought yesterday was Monday.  Don't ask.

Anyway, I have finished all but the formatting and uploading of Rumor Has It.  And I still need to do a Goodreads listing.  I had planned to do all of that yesterday, but yesterday didn't go as planned.  Obviously.  I was so totally not in a place to do anything that required thought.  I printed off my formatting checklist in hopes that eventually my brain would turn over, but like a sad car, it just kept doing that rrr rrr rrr noise.  Of course, as soon as my head hit the pillow the old brain was all like 'Hey!  Hi!  Remember when you did that one thing in 1982... 1975... 1999...?  Let's revisit those events from every possible angle!  And plan a garden!  A think about the cat!  And decide what to do about dinner! Did you remember to do that spreadsheet?  I want a puppy!"

Anyway... the plan is to drink loads of coffee and get to work today.  Except I have to run out for smokes at some point.  My brain, having been up all night, is ready for a nap, so I'd better get this post done before it falls asleep again.

Those of you who are anxiously waiting for Duke, have pity on me.

As for the rest of the week... 

I read a couple pretty good books.  And I'm in the last half of reading another good one.  

I made apple bread again.  

On the activity front, I've started working in the gardens again.  Getting the leaves removed and weeding.  I also took a couple walks.  Weight: 184.6 - down a pound.  

As for gardening, I bought a new peony and planted it yesterday.  I also bought some more hollyhocks which will go in as soon as I clean out the garage bed.  And I bought three packs of vegetable seeds and a bag of dirt to start my container garden.  Hubs went into the garage and found a boatload of old containers I'd kept from all the plants I've planted over the last eight years.  So we're good to go on that.  To start, we'll have a go at tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots.  I'm also going to try planting zucchini in the rosebed.  I'll talk about the plans more tomorrow or something.

During said yardwork, I torqued my wrist or something.  I have craptastic wrists, so it's not surprising or even concerning.  It is however, hard to do anything with my hands when my wrists are being stupid.  I spent a lot of yesterday with my old friends, Aspercreme and Aleve.  I also trotted out my really old friend Ace Bandage.  It's better today.  

I'm sure there are other things that happened, but it's Monday, and I really need to get going today.  (Which is why I generally write this posts on Sunday.  Derp.)  Have a good one.  And if you're inclined, leave a comment.  =o)

  

Got Stuck in a Time Warp or Something

Wow, I totally brainfarted out yesterday.  This morning, I was all like 'time to write the Tuesday post'.  Except it's not Tuesday.  What happened to Tuesday???  Seriously.  It was like I got caught in a time warp or something because Tuesday is totally lost.

How the hell are all of you?

Oh, and I have a sale starting today.  Wish in One Hand is free and all the other genie books are 99c for the next 5 days.  If you were looking for something fun to give someone, there ya go.  Loads of fun without a load of expense.  Cuz, lord knows, we don't need any more expenses right now.  Am I right?