A Few Thoughts for a Nothing Morning

I wonder if the person who coined the term 'windbreaker' for that certain style of jackets giggles every time they hear it.  "farter'... hehehe

For some reason, Sawyer is obsessed with feet.  Socks on, socks off, shoes, no shoes.  He must have the feet.  Finn, on the other hand, is obsessed with used tissues. He couldn't care less about new tissues, but blow your nose in it and set it down... haHA.

I got the Boyz a couple of dog toys - a mallard duck and a raccoon.  The duck was the goal, but I bought the raccoon, so they'd each have a toy to play with.  Nope, they just love the duck.  The first time one of them grabbed it by it's neck and ran through the house with it... achievement unlocked.

By the way, the Boyz have been weighed.  At 8 months old, Sawyer is 11.5 pounds and Finn is 9 pounds even.  Sawyer's my chonky boi.

So, I was laying in bed last night not sleeping and thinking about the demise of my writing.  And wouldn't you know it, the answer of 'where the hell do I go with the next book?' hit me like a bolt out of the blue.  Of course, I am up to my ass in alligators, so finding time to write will be difficult, and I may be burned to a crisp if I try to write while doing everything else, but there it is.  

Speaking of busy, the past couple of days, I've been working 8 hours... with a half hour lunch in the middle... then coming home to do spreadsheets.  And finishing at about 8:30p.  Yeah, add writing to that... :snort:

Oh, and then I play with the kittens before going to bed, because I don't want to neglect the babies.  Poor Hubs.

And that's about it.  Time to call the Michigan office before I have to get ready to go to the Missouri office.  Yay.  

Thursday This n That

Wow.  It's been over a month since I posted.  

A couple days ago, I got back from a trip to Michigan - not a month worth, only a few days.  It was great seeing Mom and the sibs.  We did nothing but sit around, chat, watch TV, order in... like I said, it was great.  Here's me on my vacay...

Yes, I feel the need to curl my toes.

The Boyz are getting big.  Sawyer is a giant among kittens.  He's my chunky boi.  Just kidding.  He's not fat, he's all muscle.  And Finn's no slouch either.  My super-sleek house panthers.

Speaking of Finn, he's been distracting me from writing this post.  He's such a cuddle bug.

It's been super hot and dry here.  I guess while I was gone, the heat let up a bit, but it's come back in full force.  Blerg.

I was screwing around on Etsy last night and I saw a candle that you can buy in various interesting (good but different) scents - including maple bourbon, pumpkin souffle, and Fruity Pebbles.  The store had all sorts of sayings you could get on the glass the candle comes in.  I liked "I'd shank a bitch in the kidney for you." but I'm demented.

Mom watches a lot of those court shows - Couples Court, Paternity Court, People's Court, Judge Judy - so that was watch I watched while I was there.  It was fun.  Man, people have messed up lives.  

I also noted that up in Liberalia (aka Michigan) the commercials inundate people with social justice messages.  No wonder the populace up there is so messed up. It's a blitzkrieg of brainwashing.  Mom's got pretty good armor - I just feel bad that she has to sit through that crap to get to the shows she wants to watch.  

Yesterday, I was back to work.  Eh, it wasn't that bad.  Only like 26 emails and I had picked a slow time of the month to go anyway, so I wouldn't have to come back to a pile of anything vile.  Yay.  I had warned several of my customers I was leaving, so they wouldn't call to talk to me.  =o)

Speaking of work, I should probably start moving in a workerly direction.  Have a great day, everyone, and don't be such a stranger.  ;o)

Thursday This n That

I don't post very much anymore because I don't really have much to say.  Work, home, kitties.  The occasional trip to Wallyworld.  This is my life now.

Briefly touching on my old life, I signed up for the Smashwords sale next month.  50% off all my books during July.  (Although, if I read it right, any book that's 99c now will be free.  There are a few of those, so go for it.)

Today is my one-year anniversary of going back to work.  I should get my review today.  I think it'll be a good one.  I've hit my goals, my customers love me, and I take on whatever is thrown at me. If not always with grace than at least with style.

The kittens are slowly settling down.  Well, for varying definitions of 'settling down'.  Sawyer decided it was fun to jump down behind the tall dresser.  Unfortunately, once he was back there he couldn't get back out.  The first time, he accidentally fell back there.  The next several were intentional.  So this morning, I moved the dresser flat against the wall so he can't get back there.  We've moved or hidden so many things now.  Our spare room looks like The Room of Requirement.  I half expect to find a diadem in there.

Finn has become my little cuddle-bug.  He's such a good kitty that he sometimes gets less attention because we're constantly having to deal with Sawyer's antics.  Luckily, he's pretty much happy playing by himself.

We have baby turkeys.  Yay.

And fawns. Yay.

Okay, well, that's about all I've got for this morning.  Have an awesome day out there everyone.

Sunday Update - Week Huh?

Two Sundays in a row... I'm killin' it.

We saw our first fawn of the year today.

We introduced the spray bottle today in an attempt to curb the kittens' worst infractions - chiefly getting into the places where we have electrical cords that could easily zap them into kitty heaven.  After the first squirt, Sawyer now squints his eyes when I bring it out and seems less likely to get into trouble, but the minute our backs are turned, there he is.  He's a bull-headed little cuss.

I bought them a big, fluffy, decorative pillow to play with.  It looks like a muppet or one of those things on the cell phone commercial - no eyes, just blue fur.  Hubs named it the Blue Buffalo. Finn is already trying to kill it.  Sawyer fears it a little.

Work is work.  I'd talk about it more, but I can't.  

I booked my trip to Michigan.  It's been 9 years.  Time flies.  When I had the time, I didn't have the money.  Now I have the money and don't have the time.  Well, I made the time this time.  We can mostly thank Hubs for that.  He started it by going to see his mom and encouraging me to see mine, plus not worrying about the time I'll be taking off work.  These are the first vacation days I've taken since I started there a year ago.  (I had a couple days off due to illness and a couple due to weather, but these are the first days for just relaxation.)

That's right, it's been nearly a year since I started working again.  Whoda thunk it.  

Okay, that's about it for me today.  How are things in your little corner of the world?

Sunday Update - Actually Sunday For a Change

 Another week went by in a blur.  Let's see what happened...

Well, Hubs got home from a trip.  I try not to say beforehand if or when either of us is going to be away from home because that just makes good sense.  But I can tell you afterwards, so there it is.  He went to visit his mom for her birthday.  Yay.  And he had a nice time, so it's all good.  No, I didn't go and no, taking separate vacations doesn't mean there's anything wrong.  He needed to spend time with his family without me tagging along and it made good financial sense.  Plus, someone had to stay home with the kittens.  I'll go see my mom somewhere along the way.

So, I've taken a couple roadtrips back and forth to the airport - which is like 75-90 minutes away depending on traffic.  It reminded me why I hate the city.  Too much traffic, too many inconsiderate drivers and pedestrians.  

I've seen a couple of deer that look post-pregnant, so the countdown for fawns has begun.

Work is work.  The stress level seems to have reduced, which is good.  I'm enjoying knowing the customers so they feel like people and not a number.  I even had someone call in and comment 'wow, a real person and not a phone tree'.  Yep.  Although, they do get a phone tree if no one picks up before the 4th ring.  I try to make sure the 4th ring never happens, but I'm not a god.  

The kittens are growing like weeds.  And getting into everything still.  Except their growth means they've got the heft to knock over things they couldn't when they were smaller.  The trick is to distract them.  Take all the mischief energy and redirect it.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  Right this minute, I have distracted Sawyer with a jingly ball, so he's running around the house playing a solo game of soccer instead of trying to climb into the paper shredder again.  Okay, in the time it took me to type that, he's back getting into trouble.  :shrug:  Finn is so much less troublesome, but we love them both.  

Jumping back to the stress level... now that the stress is less, I'm gaining weight back.  Not necessarily the happiest of side effects, but I'll live.

Well, that's about it for me.  Time to start whatever passes for a Sunday around here.  Ink Master marathon!  I'm not sure why that show is addictive for me, but it is.  Have a great day whatever you're doing.  :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(

2023 - Books Read

It's that time again.  If you didn't already know it, I log every book I read throughout the year.  I've beem doing it since 2007. This is that post for 2023.  I start it when I finish the first book of the year and I keep moving it as I go along.  And there are links to all of these posts on the left side, underneath the books I've written.  

* = ebook
# = new to me and underappreciated (which means I haven't read this author before and it has less than 50 reviews on Goodreads)
if there's a number there, it's the book's place in a series (I do this if I remember, but I usually don't)

The book list is newest first, but they're numbered, so you can kinda guess that.  Last year, I had a goal of 75 books and I only got to 72.  This year, I'm going with a 50 book goal (because I'm now working full time.)  Feel free to play along.

Anyway, let's get this party started...

16) In Too Deep by Tracy Alvarez (5/21/23) - Romance*
15) Dead Set by Martin Shannon (5/15/23) - UF*
14) Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow by Dr. Jan Pol / David Fisher (5/11/23) - NF
13) The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt (4/30/23) - Historical Romantic Suspense
12) The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan (4/4/23) - Romantic Suspense
11) Cloudy with a Chance of Witchcraft by Mandy M. Roth (3/31/23) - Paranormal Romance*
10) Rainbow in the Mist by Phyllis A. Whitney (3/28/23) - Romantic Suspense
9) Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage by Sontag & Drew (3/24/23) - NF
8) The Road to Paradise Island by Victoria Holt (2/6/23) - Historical Romantic Suspense
7) Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams (1/31/23) - Cozy Mystery
6) Three Men Out (Nero Wolfe) by Rex Stout (1/20/23) - Crime
5) Domino by Phyllis A. Whitney (1/17/23) - Romantic Suspense
4) Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh (1/14/23) - Mystery
3) Kill Shot by Vince Flynn (1/8/23) - Political Thriller
2) What Lies Beneath by Adam Croft (1/2/23) - Suspense*
1) Snowflakes and Sparks by Sophia-Leigh Robbins (1/1/23) - Romance*
0) The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Silver James (1/1/23) - Holiday Paranormal*