Labor Day

Marketing Monday has been pre-empted in favor of this post.  In Deep Wish is free now through Friday, though.  Jus' sayin'.

Labor Day... I don't celebrate it.  Don't get me started.  But it's a day off for a lot of people, and when I was working, it was a day off for me, too, since the businesses were usually closed.  As a writer, I don't have holidays or days off or whatever when I'm working.  Every day can and sometimes is a work day.  (Not right now.  I've been a toad.)

I did get a good deal on some clothes this morning, so thanks for that, Labor Day.  I have two new pairs of pants and a shirt that should be here Friday.  This is for a trip I'm taking down the road apace, but I couldn't turn down 40% off.  I'm a sucker that way.

So, basically, Labor Day is good for shopping.  It's also good because it marks the end of summer, which means, for me, the summer people go home.  Yay.  Of course, it also means that this weekend is seeing my neighborhood full of strangers in strange cars and someone has been shooting off fireworks and firecrackers.  :eyeroll:  Tomorrow... Ahhh.

I can't see much purpose in having this national holiday otherwise.  Another day for government workers to take off, I guess.  Oops, I said 'don't get me started' and yet, there I go.

Anyway, have a great day wherever you are and whatever you celebrate.  And if you're on vacation somewhere, be courteous of your fellow humans, eh?  The world will thank you for it.

Thursday This n That

 I obviously have no idea what day it is.

This coffee is strong this morning.  Yay!  (Of course, I made it, so yeah, not surprising.)

The toadiness is strong with me.  Is it my superpower?  Slower than a sleepy snail, weaker than a reused teabag, able to ignore all tasks with a single yawn... It's ToadLady!  :ribburp:

Anyway...  

Ever since I cancelled DirectTV, they've been sending stuff to us in the mail.  Kinda reminds me of an abusive, old ex-boyfriend - 'I still love you, I'm sorry, I've changed, I can do better, I'll do anything to get you to come back to me'.  Meh.  Like I told the guy on the phone when I cancelled, there is nothing they can offer me that's better than free.  Unless they want to start paying me to have their service.  Wouldn't that be something?  Heh.

I saw something this morning... a teacher who was told she can't mark the black kids as tardy anymore because 'it's part of their culture'.  Wow.  You have to laugh at this stuff or you'll spend your life crying.

It's Labor Day Weekend.  I got all my shopping done early in the week because there's no way I want to be anywhere near town right now.  Vacationers abound, getting in their last hurrah before fall settles around us.  Go forth, ye weekend people, get it out of your system for another year.  See ya after Memorial Day 2026.  Woot.

Someone let two geese roam around the neighborhood.  There was a gray one and a white one, and they had trouble staying out of the road.  A few days ago, Hubs pointed out the profusion of white feathers that started just south of our driveway and ran for about a hundred feet south of there.  No blood, guts, or corpse, but I doubt the goose survived the encounter.  It either got hit and something dragged it off, or it got attacked and the winner took the spoils.  I'll say again... people shouldn't let their domesticated animals wander free in the wilds.  It never works well for the domesticated animal.  I have a feeling it's the same dude who let his guinea fowl roam.  (Btw, he no longer has any guineas left... wonder why?)

Okay, I'm starting to wake up.  Thanks for being around for the process.  Have a great day and an awesome weekend.  Stay safe.  :hugs:

Monday Update - Week 16

 Since yesterday was a holiday, here's a Monday Update...

No writing or editing.  Yes, I have been thinking about writing, but that's usually only when I'm trying to get some sleep.  I did some marketing for SLEEPING UGLY, which was free last week, but I didn't move as many as I would've liked.  :shrug:  I forgot to set anything up for this week.  We'll see if that changes.

I did some reading, but I forgot to post my Saturday Reading Wrap-up.  I'll do a two-weeker this Saturday.

No baking this week.  Yeah, I meant to make a cake for Easter, but that didn't get done.  I did make some awesome stuffed chicken breasts for dinner yesterday, which went into the oven, I maybe that counts. Or maybe that just counts for next Sunday's update.  Derp.

On the activity front, I started the week gangbusters, but then dropped to nada.  So, yeah, 4 days of activity - mostly weeding gardens and stuff like that.  I did one hard target walk, which brings my total mileage for the year to 6.55 miles.  That's kinda pathetic, but I'm not whipping myself over it.  I'm doing other active things.  And my gardens are starting to look good, so yay.

Speaking of gardens, I got the shade bed and the cedar bed weeded.  (Okay, Hubs did most of the cedar bed, but it's weed-free now.)  Then I planted the seeds I had intended for the cedar bed.  I also bought some more seeds to go in there, which I'll try and get to today.  If the rain is actually finished.  

Speaking of plants, I have 4 viable dogwood trees in pots.  They're only about 3 inches tall, but they've each got two leaves beyond the seed leaves and one of them is working on a second set of leaves.  Also the two cedar trees - Cecile and Clyde - are doing well, with plenty of new growth.  

And the rain... Oh holy crap did it rain.  Sploosherama big time.  The dogwoods and the cedars are currently hanging out in the sunroom.  I didn't want them to drown, poor things.  

Okay, I think that's it for the news of last week.  I need to get motivated this morning, but my gumption won't turn over.  It sputters and dies every time I try it.  ;o)

Have a great day and if you're motivated, feel free to drop a comment.  

Happy Easter

Happy Easter for those who celebrate.  For those who don't, Happy Bunny Day.  Enjoy whatever fits your chosen faith today.  Us?  We're chilling out and hiding from storms.  We'll eat something fun later - either French Dip sandwiches or stuffed chicken breast.  I haven't decided and Hubs' doesn't care.  

Anyway, here's a pic I snapped of the Easter Bunny taking a break after a long night of hiding eggs and chocolate treats*.  As you can tell, he's bushed, but satisfied.

Let's give him a hand for all his hard work. YAY!

*Not rabbit raisins. 

Merry Christmas

From my house to yours, I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas...

and a Happy Hanukkah, too.  Or Happy whatever you celebrate that makes you happy and brings peace into your world.  

It's quiet at the Sanderson household this morning.  Well, quiet other than Finn playing with the packing paper and his 'rolling ball on a track' thing.  Sawyer's sleeping.  I hope all is quiet and peaceful at your homes today, too.  :hugs:

Sunday... err... Monday Update

 It's Memorial Day, so you know what that means, right?  It's Monday but it feels like Sunday.  And I'll be screwed up all week as to what day it actually is.  Awesome. :note sarcasm:

Anyway, there hasn't been an update in a while because 1) I keep forgetting and 2) there's really nothing much going on in my life that you don't already know about.  I work, I come home, I wrangle kittens and I watch TV.

I had an interesting (for varying definitions of interesting) thing happen yesterday.  Well, two things really.  First, I got online to find all my saved passwords had disappeared, so I had to re log into everything (after a virus scan, of course).  While I was waiting for the scan to run, I did check my email.  Nothing there.  So, being bored, I decided to clean out my spam folder.  There was an email from an old boyfriend, asking me to properly attribute a photo I had posted to FB as being a photo taken by him.  The photo was from a trip to Yellowstone in 2003* and I have no way of knowing whose hand my camera was in when any of those pics were taken. (And neither does he, by the way.)  Anyway, once I was sure my 'puter wasn't infected with anything, I got on FB and deleted said photo along with any other photo that may have potentially been taken by him.  Problem solved.  I also went back through my blog archives and deleted same.  :shrug:  No skin off my nose to delete them and it was way easier then trying to determine which ones were his and which ones were mine and putting verbiage with each.  Plus, I don't need or want his name splashed all over my social media for all eternity.  

Oh, and the virus scan came up clean, so here's hoping it was just my old computer and the fact that nothing supports my Windows version anymore.  I suppose eventually I will be forced to use the latest Windows version, but I like 7.  It works for me and, like the car I've had for 20 years, I'm comfortable with it.

Let's see... what else... Oh, the deer are super fat-pregnant.  Should be any time now that we'll be seeing fawns.

Other than that, not much going on.  I think I'll go call my mom and then maybe do some gardening.  We'll see.  Have a great day.  

And remember, if only for a moment, why we have this three day weekend and all the freedoms we enjoy.  

* Yes, Mr. Petty decided to claim a photo taken twenty years ago on what was basically a 'family' trip.  :eyeroll:  He must be an extremely sad and lonely old man.  =o(

Sunday Update - Week Cat

 Well, we did it.  Yesterday, we got a cat.  Okay, we didn't get A cat... we got two - Finn and Sawyer.  

Both boys.  Both right around 14-15 weeks old.  Finn is the all tabby and Sawyer is the tabby-n-white. They're supposedly from different litters because they came in from different sources, but I wonder if they aren't brothers.  Finn was brought in as abandoned on 3/21 and Sawyer was owner surrender on 3/26, so they could conceivably be from the same litter.  :shrug:  They act like brothers and that's all that matters.

Last night was our first night with the boys.  Needless to say we didn't get a whole lot of sleep.  But we got more than I had expected.  The boys curled up between Hubs and I, and slept for most of the night.  The brief interludes where they weren't on the bed, they were chasing each other around the house like madmen.   They didn't wreck anything, so yay.

We are no longer smoking in the house, which makes mornings really hard.  I'm used to sitting here puffing away while I do my online things and drink my coffee.  But we made a commitment to not smoke around the kittens, so there ya go.  (Although, I smoked around Kira when she was a kitten and she lived for almost 18 years.)  We also promised the shelter that we weren't going to smoke in the house and a contract is a contract.

Work is work... now with 50% more busy.

Activity?   Does cat wrangling count?  And I haven't had a chance to weigh myself in a few days, but last weight recorded was like 159.8.

I forgot to do my reading wrap-up yesterday.  Cat brain, doncha know.  I finished two books last week and got back on track.  Whether I'll be able to read with two kittens in the house is anyone's guess.  

On the way from from work on Friday, I saw a coyote.  Yay.

Oh... Happy Easter.  I'd forgotten until just now when I remembered that I'm supposed to call Mom this morning.  Anyway, however you celebrate it, have an awesome day.  I'll be celebrating with my two Easter Kitties.

And that's about it for now.  I'll post more pics along the way.  What's up in your world?

Thursday This n That

 Ugh, it's Thursday.  How did that happen?  Where did the week go?  

I feel like the underside of a public picnic table.  I woke up at 3 feeling gross, but I made myself go back to sleep.  I woke up at 4:15 feeling grosser.  After several cups of coffee and more than a few cigarettes, I'm feeling a bit better, but meh.  I cannot miss work, so this better go away.

You know how I was really busy at work?  Apparently, I didn't know what busy was.  The office is about to be one short until they hire someone new.  And another short for the next week due to a planned vacation.  For the past week or so, I've been training on some of person A's job in addition to my regular work, so I'm already behind.  Hubs reminded me yesterday that I can only do what I can do and if things fall through the cracks, that's not on me.  I reminded him that I don't work that way (and neither does he, btw).  Not being able to accomplish everything I am given feels like failure.  Even if the reality of it is that I'm being given more work than a single human can accomplish in 8 hours a day.  Or 9 hours a day, if they approved overtime.  Which they didn't.  

The hunt for a cat has stalled.  The cats we expected to hit the website yesterday did not, so they either got adopted right away or the vet didn't clear them to be adopted.  :shrug:  We might try again this weekend, if we call and they say they have more cats not pictured on the site.  

I keep forgetting that Sunday is Easter.  Which means my Saturday shopping trip is probably going to be packed with people.  Blerg.  Now that we don't have kids, Easter isn't really a thing for us.  Oh, we do something special for dinner, but not really any other holiday happenins.  

Two days ago, it was 87F here.  This morning, the heater is kicking on.  Ah, April in the Ozarks.

There was a show about rabbits on PBS last night.  There's this gal in England that raises giant bunnies.  She's got one that, when he stands on his hind legs, is about 4 ft tall.  Now, that's a big bunny.  

Okay, I think that's about it for my this n that.  What do you have in your this n that today?

 

Sunday Update - Week 47

 At least I think it's Week 47.  :shrug:  Anyway...

How did the week shake out?  Hmm...

Well, we started out last week with a walk in the woods.  First time since the Spring, so yay.  Nothing major to report down in there.  All the paths are leaf covered.  Not much new deadfall.  

I read some last weekend and finished two books.  I finished another one yesterday.

I didn't bake anything, which was weird because, for the first time, we had Thanksgiving with no dessert.  :sadface:  Well, I did have ice cream, but I always have ice cream.  Hubs roasted a most excellent turkey, though.  

In addition to our walk in the woods, I got active on Friday when we cleaned and decorated the office.  Total exer-cleaning day there.  I haven't weighed myself since Thanksgiving, but at last check... Weight: 158.8.  I haven't been in the 150s since like 2006.  

Speaking of weight loss, my new sweat pants arrived.  They fit.  But it's weird wearing sweats that fit now, so they seem too tight.  What I really need is a pair with a large waist and XL legs.  Ma legs need room to breathe, doncha know.  And before you remind me about the drawstring, there comes a point when no matter how much you pull on the drawstring, your pants still fall down.

Okay, so cleaning and decorating, I got to work at 7:30, slapped some Christmas music on, and got right to it sweeping.  I started on the right, and swept every room but one.  (And that's because the other gal was doing her own office.)  Then I dusted damn near everything.  I took breaks to answer the phones (they weren't ringing that much) and to do a few actual office things that needed doing.  After lunch, we decorated.  Then I went back to work on that big box of filing.  Then the mail arrived, so I dealt with that.  And then I got back to filing - which I finished with a few minutes to spare before clock-out time. Yay.  The office is so merry and bright.  And tidy!  (I still want to wash the windows, but cleaning time is over.)

I spent yesterday reading and relaxing.  And recovering from my exer-cleaning. Who-waa, I found muscles I'd forgotten I had.  We're also working our way through all those turkey leftovers.  Yay.  Today will be more of them same.

How was your week?  Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?

Thursday This n That - Thanksgiving Edition

Despite what you and the folks at WKRP might think, turkeys can fly.  Wild turkeys can anyway.  I think the big, white, domestic turkeys have been bred to have such large breasts that they can't fly anymore, hence the carnage at the Pinedale supermarket.  

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I am sad for you.  Go forth and find the episode online* and watch it.

This is a wild turkey:

This is not:

Both pictures taken the same day (11/27/14) and both are hens.  The top turkey went on to live her life.  The bottom turkey went into our bellies.  And there was much rejoicing.

Hubs really does make the best turkeys.  Today, he will be using his magic on a 14.5 pound Honeysuckle White.  It's been thawing in the fridge since Saturday and is ready to go.  Mmm, turkey.  

I was telling the folks at work the story of the one Thanksgiving where we had a whole rafter of turkeys in the yard while our own turkey was in the oven.  They were all like 'I'm not sure I'd be able to eat a turkey with all those turkeys watching'.  We had no problem with it.  And neither did the turkeys. LOL

Speaking of turkeys, here's another picture.  It looks like that big ol' turkey is about to attack that poor, defenseless squirrel.

Don't be fooled.  This was taken a second after the squirrel had attacked the turkey and that tom is trying to get away while the squirrel acts all innocent.  Shortly after, the turkey left to find easier food to eat.  

Anyway, I hope you all have a glorious Thanksgiving Day, with loads of food and the people you love.  :HUGS:  And that neither the turkeys nor the squirrels give you any trouble today.  ;o)

* I found it for you.  (Actually, someone on FB posted it.)  It's not the whole episode, just the good part.  You're welcome.

Tuesday Update?

Okay, so I totally brainfarted out on the Sunday Update and then I was going to do it yesterday, but I forgot.  So here we are.  Stupid holiday weekend.  Don't even get me started on 'Labor Day'.  

I spent a lot of this past weekend reading.  Finished the book I had been reading last week on Sunday.  Made it most of the way through another book yesterday.  Good times.

I baked a lot, too.  Well, on the weekend anyway.  I made cake cookies on Sunday.  Then yesterday, I made biscuits in the morning and homemade pizza in the afternoon.  Something went wonky with the pizza dough.  I used all the right measurements, I swear I did, but the dough was really wet.  I added more flour and more flour and still more flour.  And I probably kneaded the damn stuff for 15 minutes.  (Which I am paying for this morning with ouchie arms.)  In the end, it worked out, though.  I was afraid it would be bland, but I brushed the dough with a butter, garlic salt, Parm mixture and it was yummy.  I did end up with two pizzas out of it.  I did one pepperoni, mushroom, olives and the other pepperoni, ham, mushrooms.  Loads of leftover slices.  Yay.  Lunch and dinner!  

In the realm of activity, Hubs and I took a walk one night after dinner.  Then Saturday, we worked together to clean the car.  We did the windows and vacuumed and scrubbed the dashboard.  Detailing... yeah, that's it.  Anyway, Callie's the newest looking 19 year old car on the road, man.  After we were done, Hubs took her for a spin and got gas for the lawn mower.  Then he spent yesterday mowing the lawn.  Oh, and I lost some more weight.  Weight: 170.2.

Because I had the time, I did some research for work, too.  Saves me from having to do it today, so yay.

The fawns are starting to lose their spots.  :sniffle:  

I saw a frog.  That might not seem noteworthy to you, but it was a big leopard frog and I probably haven't seen one of those since I was a kid.  I spent a lot of kid time playing with leopard frogs.  Sadly, this one did not want to play with me and he hopped away.  We get lots of toads here and the occasional tree frog, but leopard frogs... I knew they were in Missouri, but I'd never seen one here.  Yay.

And that's about it.  Exciting stuff, eh?  How have things been in your world?  Did you have a nice long weekend?  

Sunday Update - Week 24

Well, here we are again.  Another week of 2022 in the circular file.  

I didn't get anything even remotely writerly done this week.  My brain has been elsewhere.  

I did get some reading done along with a few DNFs.  

In baking news, I made blueberry muffins, blueberry buckle, and a batch of suet.  I screwed the muffins up.  It called for melted butter.  I thought it was cool enough to be added to the eggs and sugar mixture, but alas, when I added it, it sorta scrambled the eggs.  Rookie mistake.  But I put my finger in the melted butter and it didn't feel that hot.  Sheesh.  Anyway, they're edible but they have an eggier taste than they ought to.  :shrug:  The buckle, which I'd never made before, turned out awesome.  Not too sweet.  Just right for breakfast or brunch instead of dessert.  I'd post the recipe, but I haven't typed it up yet and I'm not inclined this morning.  Sorry.  I also made a vat of chicken rice soup and pulled pork.

I think I already mentioned that we went blueberry picking.  There's a place 13 miles from here (we checked the mileage) where you can u-pick blueberries and blackberries.  The blackberries weren't ready when we were there and the blueberries that were ready to pick weren't the big ones, but we managed to get about 2.5 pound worth.  Yesterday, I heated some up with sugar, lemon juice, and corn starch and we put it over ice cream.  Yummy.  Anyway, it was hotter than hot, but we had fun and it was a nice couple hours away from the house.  

On the activity front, I did 4 active things.  One was the blueberry picking... well, the walking around the site to get to the blueberries really, not the actual picking.  We also wandered around the yard for a while, which totally counts.  Hey, I was sweating.  I vacuumed the house on another day - hard floors and carpeted.  And I watered the gardens, which involves dragging the hose all over the yard.  This heat is playing havoc with my weight, by the way.  Yesterday I weighed myself and I was 183.  This morning I weighed myself again and I was 181.6.  Bloat.  It's a thing.

The big news of the week and the main occupier of everything in my head was the job thing.  I sent the resume a week ago Friday.  They called on Monday to schedule an interview for this past Friday, so I spent the week angsting over that.  The interview went great, I thought.  To my surprise, I'd already met the gal doing the interview and I liked her.  I like her more now that I've talked with her more.  All the job duties seem like things I can do, have done, or could easily learn to do.  Plus, the office is like 5 minutes from here max.  She's supposed to let me know tomorrow.  So, I've been angsting about that since right after the interview.  Fingers and toes crossed.  

If I get this job, I'll be working full time outside the house again.  But since most of my blogging is done first thing and most of my writing is done at night anyway, I don't see too much of a problem.  Hell, I've been slacking off on both of those things this month anyway.  Who knows, maybe having a job will force me to do the slacky things when I have a chance to do them.  You know, instead of sitting around with all the time in the world and no gumption to do anything.  This might be the shot in the ass I need.  Yay.  

And on that note, I should probably go do something constructive before it gets too hot to want to do anything.  Lordy, it's been hot here and more hot is ahead.  Today's supposed to be the cool day this week and that's 90F.  Blerg.

How was your week?  Got anything exciting going on?  Oh, and Happy Father's Day.  Both of our dads are gone and Owl is absent, so it's not something we're planning on celebrating.  What's on tap for you today?

Sunday Update - Week 18

Good morning.  And Happy Mother's Day!

The week started out gangbusters and then fell apart.  I did write for 5 straight days and the book is over 10K now, so I'm not kicking myself.  Much.  It is what it is and I have a clue where it goes from here.  Basically, I need to kick myself in the butt and slap that ol' self-doubt down.

I didn't do much reading.  Finished one book last Saturday.  I did acquire a bunch of books, but I haven't been reading them because I'm trying to keep my brain on my own story.  Eh, like that's working.  Blerg.

No baking.  Hubs is still working on the last batch of granola bars and of zucchini bread, so it's all good.

I got some activity in.  Not a lot, but it was something.  I spent a couple hours weeding and moving rocks one day.  Another day, I washed the kitchen floor.  Yesterday, Hubs and I walked the loop, which added 1.1 miles to my total and rolled me over 15 miles for the year.  

Speaking of walking the loop, we were on a riverwatch mission.  We've gotten so much rain recently that the lake has jumped about 11ft, so we thought it would be a good idea to see how the waterfront neighbors were all fairing.  The water's still a few feet from any of the houses, so it's all good.  It's supposed to be dry all week.  Whew.  Too much more and that one house is going to be flooded again.  And after all the work they put into remodeling it after the 2017 flood, too.  Bummer.  We got to see a couple kids fishing from their yard, in their yard, which was kinda cool.

We have free movies this weekend, so we've been partaking of that.  And golf.  Right now, we have the channel for that and I can watch foreign golf, senior's golf, and regular golf all day Thursday thru Sunday if I want to.  Eh, it's quiet and non-taxing to the brain.

Anyway, that's about it for me.  I hope you all have a nice Mother's Day with the ones you love.  I'll be calling my Mom shortly and later Hubs will call his Mom.  It's all good.

How was your week?

Monday Update - Week Something or Other

Due to yesterday being a holiday, I postponed the usual Sunday Update to today.  Hence, the Monday Update.  And frankly, I'm too meh to go look up the week #.  Considering how boring I'm about to be, I'm not sure why I'm bothering with an update, but you came here for a post, so a post I shall present.

I didn't do anything writerly last week.  Which calls to mind a scene from History of the World Part I, wherein Mel Brooks' character is applying for unemployment as a stand-up philosopher.  "Did you bullshit last week?" (If you haven't seen the movie, it's comedy gold, folks.)  

In reading news, I did finish a couple books, but for the most part, the week was wasted on DNFs.

On the baking front, I did a chocolate oil cake with super fudgy frosting.  It was totally necessary.  I also did a batch of biscuits and a batch of cake cookies.  

Of course, there wasn't much activity either.  I did some yard work one day.  I haven't weighed myself yet this month.  I don't expect any good can come of that.

My last blood-related aunt passed away this past week.  Mom's little sister.  She was 79.  Her memorial is this coming weekend, but it'll be in Michigan, so I won't be there except in spirit.  She was a good person.  In a way, she was like a hummingbird.  Always moving, always active.  I don't remember her ever being still.  May she rest in peace.  My thoughts go out to her six kids and their kids.  And, of course, to my mom who has now lost both of her younger siblings.  Getting old blows.

Yesterday was Easter.  We didn't do anything special other than a special dinner.  The store didn't have the kind of ham I wanted, so we went with steak and shrimp along with a side of cheesy-chive mashed potatoes.  It all turned out really good.

And that's about all I can think of from last week.  Meh, meh, and more meh.  

Anyhoo, on that note, I'll leave it to you to comment and tell me about your week.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  If you don't celebrate, Hoppy Bunny Day.  

Unimpressed Cottontail Rabbit, Colorado 3/20/2012

If you're not into holidays or bunnies, here a picture of some pretty daffodils from the same week:

Either way, have a great day.

(Due to the holiday, Sunday Update will be on Monday this week.)

Sunday Update - Week 51

We're almost done with 2021.  Yay!  That's the great thing about the end of one year... There's always hope for next.

This past week... the week of Christmas... went about as expected.  I did some editing, but not as much as I would've liked.  I got thirty-seven pages done and added about 300 words.  I'm at pg 116 out of 351 pages now.  I spent part of Friday undoing some things I did book-wide because I got to a part where the changes didn't make any sense, so I undid them.  

I uploaded 5 books to Draft 2 Digital.  There are only 4 books still wide with Amazon - the SCIU books and Project Hermes.  If you haven't read them in KU, you better get started.  DE and EG drop out on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.  FG drops out on January 14th and PH drops out on 1/20.  

It was a pretty good reading week, but with Christmas, my update was delay to tomorrow.  I hope to finish the book I'm currently reading today so it can go on that update, too.  We'll see.

On the baking front, I did cake cookies with chocolate stars pressed into the middles and another pumpkin cheesecake.  (Note, do not buy cheap brown sugar again.  It's missing flavor.)  I also did a stuffed turkey tenderloin, a pot roast, and yesterday's big ol' ham.  Wow, that ham was amazing.  If you can find the, I totally recommend Frick's Meats... a company name that lends itself to my calling it 'the best frick'n ham'.  (I think it's a waste the company doesn't use that slogan.  Hubs says it's in poor taste and they don't want their hams to taste poor.  Ba dump bump.)

In activity news, we spent four days this week working on the front flower bed.  It's all dug up and new dirt/fertilizer/etc. has been added.  Hubs has about 2/3rds of it turned so the new dirt mixes with the old.  He'll do that to the rest of the bed today.  I also did a little cleaning.  Weight: ?  I'm not crazy enough to weigh myself right now.

One day this past week was spent driving to the county seat, so we could visit the title company and close on our new strip of land.  .32 acres worth.  It was our Christmas present to each other.  This coming week, we plan to take our pretty pink string and run the property line, drive a few stakes in... you know, mark our territory.  Part of the problem with that is a few large trees that have fallen across the line.  We'll figure it out.  We always do.  

This coming week ought to be filled with year-end stuff.  I never did work on those spreadsheets like I wanted to earlier in the month, so I have to do them now.  And I have to clean.  I've been such a toad about cleaning lately and the dust is starting to pile up to the point that I got sick of it and did some spot cleaning yesterday afternoon.  Gah.  Christmas cleaning?  No one is supposed to clean on Christmas.  Hell, I didn't even do the dishes.  Which I need to do right after I get this post finished.  LOL

Anyway, I hope you all had brilliant holidays and I hope the end of the year does right by you.  If not, there's always next year.  :hugs:

What were you up to last week?  Get anything good from Santa?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, wherever you are.  (Yes, even if you aren't in the US or celebrating it.  Just be happy and be thankful already.  Geez.)

It's Wednesday

For those of you who are like me, today is Wednesday.  (And yeah, Wednesday is usually an Outside the Box day to post, but I have nothing writerly to say, so here I am.)  Knowing the day of the week this week is especially difficult because tomorrow is a holiday in the U.S., so it feels like a Friday.  

So close on the heels of the time change, this week is a total clusterfuck for figuring out the day and the time.  Make sure to cut yourself some slack this week.  It's not your fault.  You're stuck in this weird timewarp thing.  

Personally, I had to remember to send my timesheet to the office last night because I usually send it out Wednesday night, but payroll is today instead of Thursday because of the holiday.  Which was something the office had to deal with, shifting the payroll day and all.  

Poor Hubs was on the phone yesterday making plans for things that have to get done and he started talking about getting together with the person on Thursday when it struck him that's Thanksgiving.  Oops and apologies to the other party.  It'll have to wait until next week.  

We have some stuff we have to get done today, because otherwise, it will either have to wait until next week or we'll have to venture out into the shopping orgy on Friday to complete our errands.  And nobody wants that.  Plus, one of the places we have to go will be closed on Friday, because it's not just a one day holiday for businesses that don't sell things people might put under the tree.  Which is why my office is closed until Monday.

I'll still be working.  I have a project the big boss handed over yesterday and I'd like to make some headway on it before the office reopens on Monday.  My part has to be done before they can do their part and all that.  

Not working a normal job certainly doesn't help with the whole 'what the hell day is it?' thing.  Writing and spreadsheeting can be done anywhere between when I wake up to when I call it a day.  And it frequently is done outside of office hours.  So holidays don't really make that big a difference in the flow.  They still screw up what day it is, though.  Blerg.

So, consider this post a kind of public service thing.  It is WEDNESDAY.  What you do with that information is up to you and whether you hold it in your head?  Well, by lunch I may be back to thinking it's Friday again.  :shrug:

Thanksgiving Then and Now

I had an awesome idea for today's post.  But I didn't write the post or write the idea down and, of course, I forgot it.

So, let's talk about Thanksgiving.

I don't remember a lot of my childhood.  And not for the same reason a lot of people can't remember the '70s LOL.  I think Thanksgiving was always sort of a big deal, though.  What I can remember was a house full of family and loads of awesome food.  

We'd start the day watching the Macy's parade and then whatever was on - usually some movie or other on one of the four channels we got - to stay out of Mom's way in the kitchen.

Mom would make a huge turkey - which I loved.  Candied yams - which I hated.  Pumpkin pie, easy on the spices.  And cranberry sauce right out of the can.  There may have been other staples, but I don't remember those exactly.  Corn?  Green beans?  Mashed potatoes?  :shrug:  

We'd eat and then Dad would watch the Lions play whoever on TV.

As we got older, and hooked up with special someones, more people would be there.  Then the babies started arriving.  It was something of a madhouse sometimes in my parent's home.  I do remember hiding in my room to escape the chaos.  Then dinner would be served and we'd all sit down - the adults at the big table and the kids at the card table.  

We'd eat and then Dad and the other men would watch the Lions play whoever while the women cleaned up and then had coffee while they chatted around the big table.  At some point pie would be served.  Then everyone would depart for their own homes.  Taking leftovers with them.  

In 2001, I moved away from Michigan.  No more family holidays for me.  It was during these years that I discovered I suck at making turkey.  I never have the patience to leave it in the oven long enough so the center isn't still bloody.  (And I never trusted the pop-up thingy.)  Thank goodness I never gave anyone food poisoning.  Thank goodness I married Hubs because he makes an awesome turkey.  

These days, it's just Hubs and I.  He does the turkey, I do the dessert.  We have stuffing that he makes and crams into the bird.  And canned, jellied cranberry sauce because that's how we roll.  (I take care of that, too.  I'm such a chef.  LOL)  And that's pretty much it.  No corn.  No mashed potatoes.  Definitely no sweet potatoes.  Bleh.  Sometimes we have rolls that I've bought at the store, but usually the rolls are left for tiny leftover turkey sandwiches.  (Hubs puts cranberry sauce on his, I just use butter.  Butter and turkey sandwiches... mmmmm.)  After we digest some of the dinner, we have dessert.  This year, I'm making pumpkin cheesecake.  Last year, we just had pumpkin bread.  It's not like we really need dessert.  Lord knows, we're already pretty stuffed after dinner.  Which we usually eat around 1:00.  

And that's about it.  This year, I bought a 14.5 lb turkey, so we'll be eating leftovers for a good long time.  Woohoo.  

What about you?  Any good memories of Turkey Day?  What's your holiday like now as opposed to when you were a kid?

Sunday Update - Week 45

I broke down and looked up the week this time.  Yay me.  Forty-five weeks in, seven left to go.  May 2022 be a better year.  (Lord knows, 2021 sure wasn't.)

Anyway, thanks to a kind and friendly poke in the ass, I got some editing done this week.  I input 7 pages worth of edit notes and I'm through to page 129 of the manuscript.  Don't get excited or anything.  I'll have to go through and make a whole 'nother round of notes and input those before I can even think about sending it to beta readers, whose notes I will also have to input.  

No marketing, no sales.  

I seemed to have a better reading week.  3 books finished.  But I'm still 8 books behind on my goal.  I've read 58 books and my goal was 75.  Oops.  

In baking news, I made a tube of cinnamon rolls I picked up at the Dollar General.  Those were pretty good.  I also did a batch of zucchini bread, but for some stupid, brainfarty reason, I only put 2 cups of sugar in instead of 3 cups.  It's not horrible, but it's also not right.  Oh, well.  We have two loaves of that, so those'll get eaten before I try again.  Luckily, Hubs likes it.  And I don't hate it.

Let's see... what else is there?  Oh, yeah, activity...  I was active 5 out of 7 days.  4 days worth of woods work and one day we went fishing.  Let's not talk about weight this week, eh?

The woods work...  Hubs and I dismantled our top-most wood pile.  8 years that thing has been sitting there, building and decomposing.  We pulled out the best logs and set everything else in a better place, where it's not brushing up against any trees.  The best logs are now in a couple of other stacks, drying out and waiting for us to saw them up.  Hubs figures we're at a cord of wood now.

Oh, and that tree I thought might be a persimmon, based on the bark?  It dropped a fruit near where we were sawing wood.  It was a persimmon fruit, so it has to be a persimmon tree.  Mystery solved.

As for the fishing, we went out knowing a cold front was on the way.  The front arrived just as we got out of the car.  Woohoo was it ever windy and COLD.  We weathered it for about an hour, got some bites but no actual fish, and then went home.  It was fun, but cocoa when we got home was so necessary.

The yellow-bellied sapsuckers are back.  Yay.  Now we wait for the eagles.  I thought I might've seen one on my last trip to Wallyworld, but I couldn't confirm it, so I'm not counting it.  The robins are also stopping on their way south.  They've cleaned the berries off all the spicebushes already.  Voracious little buggers, they are.

Thanksgiving is this week.  I have all the things needed for a yummy TGD.  And the turkey is now defrosting in the fridge.  It's 14.5 pounds.  The smallest I could find for the price of 78c a pound.  I thought I was pretty smart for getting it that cheap.  Then my mom said they got theirs for 33c a pound.  Doh!  We also have cranberry sauce (jellied and canned, of course) and stuffing (Stovetop) and rolls.  That's about it for our feast.  I mean, I have corn and rolls, but we've been ignoring those these last few years in favor of pigging out on turkey.  LOL

Oh, and I bought the stuff to make pumpkin cheesecake.  I'll get that done on Wednesday.  (If I make it sooner, we'll eat it sooner.  I'm trying to be good here.  LOL)

And that's about it for me.  What's up in your world?