Sunday Update - Week 32

Here we are at Week 32 and I don't really have much to show for it.

I did not write this week, despite every encouragement and a little poking in the ass.  Let's see if we can change that this week.  It goes without saying that AuGoWriMo is a bust for me so far.  I can salvage it if I get off my ass starting today.  START TODAY!  Part of the problem is the last words I wrote were such dreck, I'm having a crisis of confidence.  Derp.

Marketing was done.  It wasn't exactly productive.  I only moved 40 copies of WIOH, which is usually my best mover.  :shrug:  Not much I can do about it without paying for advertising.  I don't have a problem paying, but usually by the time I think about doing a freebie or a sale, it's too late to put an ad anywhere.  I need to plan ahead, which I am HORRIBLE at.

I did read this week, but I ended up DNFing most of it.

Cinnamon rolls were made.  They aren't the best rolls I ever made, but they're edible.  I halved the recipe, but while I was putting everything together, I used the whole measurement for the oil.  I tried to salvage it by adding more flour.  The result is a little weird.  We'll eat them and I'll try not to make the same mistake in the future.

On the activity front, I started out the week really well.  I walked three times for 3.5 miles.  Then it got hot again and I stayed inside.  Those miles put me at 50 miles even for the year, so far.  We won't talk about weight.  Heat makes me blow up like a water balloon, so even if I had weighed myself, it wouldn't really count.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The fawns are getting bigger and their spots are getting less defined.  I saw an opossum.  We also had several baby nuthatches in the redbud tree.  Yay.

Speaking of trees, my baby redbuds are doing well.  I still only have two tomatoes.  Those are getting closer to ripe, so yay.  Everything else is holding steady and not too big, but not dead.  Dang heat.

I think that's it for me.  How are things with you?

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 31

This is my 3200th post on this blog, by the way.  Not important, just sayin'.

It's Sunday again and I don't have much to tell you.  I was supposed to start the AuGoWriMo thing on Friday.  I failed.  I did write this morning, though, so that's a step in the right direction.  (Or the write direction... lol.)  Duke Noble 3 is at 16242 words as of a minute ago.  Woot.  I have greats hopes to get the first draft finished by the end of the month.

I did some marketing this week.  Unequal was free and I moved 41 copies. :sad trombone:  Eh, I wasn't expecting it to go gangbusters, but still.  This coming week, Wish in One Hand will be free.  Maybe that'll generate some sales.  

Not much reading this week.  I forgot to post yesterday, so anything I read this week will be on next week's post.

No baking.  It was too hot.

On the activity front, I was a busy lady.  Three days cleaning, one day I did some dancing, I took one walk, and I went grocery shopping.  I meant to walk yesterday, but I needed to run a couple errands and then I got lazy.  Weight: 171.6

In gardening, my tomato plants have loads of flowers and still only 2 tomatoes.  Bummer.  And one of my dogwood trees died.  I think it was heatstroke.  The redbud trees are growing right along.  The hickories are doing well, too.  The one unknown tree I planted is doing really well.  The green peppers are pathetic, but that was a fool's gamble anyway.  I planted too late.  I just pushed seeds into dirt to see what would happen.  Maybe I'll try again next year and start earlier.  This is all a learning curve.  Maybe year three will net me a good harvest of edible produce.  

Other than that, not much to talk about.  I watched way too much TV, but I'm having a lot of fun with the Roku thing.  Amusing myself to death, I believe is the phrase.  I told you Roku would be dangerous for me.  I need to find a way to balance the entertainment with the serious business of actually living.  To that end, I need to write.  And to exercise.  In between all the fun shows.  Umm... yeah.

Anyway, have a great day wherever you are.  And drop a note about what you're up to before ya leave, eh?

Friday This n That

I'm not dead.  I'm just lazy.

I woke up late two days in a row.  This makes me not want to do anything, but I had planned on going grocery shopping.  The jury's out as to whether I'll just skip over to the Dollar General for milk and postpone Wallyworld.

The news lately is fucking horrible.  Mass stabbing in Traverse City, mass shooting in NYC, some shithead killed two people in front of their kids on a fucking hiking trail in NWAR (northwest Arkansas to the uninitiated), four people were murdered by some asshole in TN.  Is it any wonder I don't want to go anywhere?

I dreamed last night that I had a third tomato on my plants.  Yeah, I lead a boring life.  Here's me dreaming about tomatoes.  One more tomato is an exciting thing for me.

I'm supposed to start AuGoWriMo today and write words.  I need to carve out some time to do that and I need to STOP watching Roku for a few hours to get that done.  I can do it!  Unfortunately, we found a new series to watch last night and it was awesome.  Drat.

A couple of days ago, I had a chicken breast defrosted to make Salsa Chicken, but then I realized I didn't have the right cheese, so I turned it into a kind of Chicken Parm.  Slap a chicken breast into a pan, cover it in marinara sauce, cover that all in mozzarella, bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.  I made spaghetti noodles and more sauce to go with it, and added those into the pan about halfway through.  It all turned out really yummy.  We ate the leftovers for dinner last night.  Yum.

Yeah, the lacking cheese thing is another reason I need to go to Wallyworld.  Drat.

During the making of the spaghetti noodles, I spent some time dancing around the living room to music in my head.  Sawyer was freaked out by this.  Finn just looked at me like I'd lost my mind.  Maybe I had.

Sunday Update - Week 35

Well, hell, it's Sunday again, isn't it?  I totally meant to work on this post yesterday and then didn't, but then again, I was deep in spreadsheet stuff and most of yesterday is a blur.  Most of the week is a blur right now, too, so let's see if I can rebuild what happened.  (Thank goodness for the log I keep.)

On the writing front, I finished AuGoWriMo inauspiciously, and started SeeMeWriMo with a bit of a whimper.  But I'm still in the game.  I wrote 24761 words in August but none of that in the last days.  I've written 2735 words so far this month.  And I've done 28% of this round of edits on CU.  I took yesterday off because spreadsheet stuff.

Not a lot of reading got done last week.  I can't decide what I want to read right now.  I tried that du Maurier, but meh.  I'll find something.  I did download what promises to be a fun cozy mystery, but right now, my Kindle is occupied with edits.

As for exercise and activity, I did four days out of seven.  All walking.  I made my best time ever going around the loop - 1 mile of hilly terrain in 22 minutes.  (I can do 1.6 miles in 29 minutes, but that's on my mostly flat, hard target walk.)  I kept the same pace I usually do, but I didn't have to stop on the uphills.  Go me.  Weight: 178.2.  That pound I lost to stress mostly came right back.  :shrug:

No baking this week, but I'm feeling a serious need for cake.  Maybe today.

No fishing either, but they're predicting a cool down soon, so there's hope.  I definitely wouldn't be fishing this weekend anyway.  Labor Day.  :shudder:  It's all peopley out there right now. 

I'm up to 2.4 million in play money at the poker site.  Would that it were real.  And I made a straight flush yesterday.  It's all luck of the draw, but still.  The skill comes in trying to extract as much money as possible from your opponents with the hand you have.  (And trying to avoid losing as much money as possible along the way.)

Like I said, I spent a lot of time yesterday on spreadsheet stuff.  Loads of typing stuff in and comparing stuff to make sure the numbers are right.  More of that today so I can finish this project and put it behind me.  At least the typing part is done.  Whew.

Well, it's time to start the day here.  What went in on your worlds last week?

Thursday This n That

I'm currently adding words to that mystery thing I started back in June.  For the most part, it's slow going, but I am still writing every day.  (Except Sunday.  I took Sunday off.)

Welcome to the next round of 'people have gone shitpants crazy' in America.

I did some much-needed weeding yesterday.  The last time I weeded was early June, so yeah, it needs it.  I had big plans to get a bunch of it done.  I did three smaller beds and quit because I was soaked in sweat and plum tuckered out. 

This is the last day Owl will be here.  Laundry and packing for her.  I'll be making pizza.  I think the old hands can take it.  And if they can't, well they need to get the hell over it.  Tomorrow, we'll head north to the airport.  Then I'll collapse. 

All this 'start, stop, start, stop' 'constantly wondering what's next' crap is exhausting.  Which, by the way, is the general consensus of people I've talked to around here.  Everyone is exhausted.

On one of my walks this week, I came across the teeny-tiniest, widdle-bitty baby snake.  Probably no more than 4 inches long and about the diameter of a piece of yarn.  It was a baby ring-necked snake - black with a pretty yellow necklace.  So cute.  I picked it up and it sat in my palm for a minute before it wanted down.  I set it off the road and it went its merry way into the long grass.  I'm so glad I didn't see it squashed in the road.  That would've given me a sad.

Well, I guess that's it for me today.  What's on your this-n-that radar?

Sunday Update - Week 33

Hello.  It's bright and early on Sunday here and I'm doing the Sunday Update post now because I forgot to write it up yesterday, like I forgot so many other things this week.  No excuses, just brainfarting out. 

One thing I didn't forget?  The writing.  Twenty-three days straight with an average of about 950 words a day and 21865 words total for August and added to Cinder Ugly.  And as of last night, I can officially say I'm finished.  The first draft of CU is 59789 words.  Everything's wrapped up as far as I can tell.  I guess I'll find out for sure in edits.  Still not sure what I'm going to do for the next 8 days of AuGoWriMo

No editing, no marketing. 

Reading was kind of pathetic.  Only one book finished.  And it wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it was going to be.  Last night, I started a Dick Francis mystery I picked up at the thrift store.  Haven't read one of those in ages.  So far, so good.  Until I get the first round of edits done, I'll be sticking to hardcopy books so my Kindle is available for this phase of book creation.

On the activity front, I really only did 4 out of 7 days of exercise-y things - all walking - and that one day of roadtrip, which shouldn't really count as activity.  Weight 178.6 as of Thursday morning.

This is the last week of Owl's self-isolation in the back of beyond.  Friday, she will be winging her way back to Michigan and her life as she knew it before with added 'rona stuffs (or deleted stuff due to 'rona as the case may be).  Our lives will also return to as normal as they can be in the midst of this crap.  Everybody send positive thoughts that it all goes off without a hitch, k?

Today, I'll be baking a 'going away' cake.  Chocolate oil with cream cheese frosting.  And I did oatmeal cookies this week.  Also... It wasn't baking, but yesterday I made mostly-homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes and green peppers (I supplemented it with Prego Traditional).  It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself and it got thumbs up from Hubs and Owl.

I'm over 2mil in poker now.  It's all two steps forward and one step back, so we'll see how that goes.  Like I said, it's strictly play money, so it doesn't really matter.  It just give me the illusion I'm accomplishing something.  And hey, it's something to do since TV is the shits and FB is mostly depressing. 

It's super quiet in the house right now.  Owl went to bed and Hubs is still sleeping.  Kira is snoring in her cubby hole next to the filing cabinet.  And here I am, chugging coffee and contemplating the universe.

What went on in your world last week?  Any plans for the coming week? 

Thursday This n That

August the 6th.  So far, it's been six days in a row of writing and activity.  Good start there.  Now to keep this up.  Yesterday, after spending the better part of the day crouched down over some spreadsheets, I so did not want to do anything, but I made myself sit down and write.  Then when my hands got crampy, I made myself go for a walk.  I will do this.  See?  I have a thing over on the right now to show my progress.  Yay.

On the docket for today?  Zucchini bread again.  Some other neighbors are supposed to be bringing us tomatoes and peppers, and I'd like to have a loaf ready for them when they stop by.  I can't have a garden - not with all the deer - so it's nice when neighbors bring us fresh produce.  And I like to pay them back by presenting them with baked goods.  Or maybe I'll make them oatmeal cookies and save the bread for the neighbor who brings us zucchinis.  Hmm.  I still have to make the bread because the zucchini is already defrosted, but...  Hmm.  I have to think on that.

I cut my hair again finally.  It doesn't look bad.  A little longer on the left than the right this time, but my head tilts to the right so it's not noticeable to anyone but me.

I have a note on my desk that says 'SSA waiting outside' (the next scene in CU), which keeps giving me pause this morning because even though I know SSA means Society for Sorceral Activity, my brain keeps defaulting to Social Security Administration.  And I can't figure out why they'd be waiting outside.  Derp.

One thing about having a new computer is that I keep having to add words to the dictionary I'd already added to the old computer's dictionary.  There's probably a dictionary file somewhere on the old girl I could transfer to this one, but I'm lazy. 

The fawns are accepting Hubs as part of the landscape now.  When he went to feed this morning, a mom and her twins were munching on the lawn and they didn't even run away.  In fact, one of the fawns approached him to see what he was doing.  And then it thought better of it and backed off.  Still, it's a pretty nice feeling for Hubs.  Me?  They at least don't run when I walk out of the house, as long as I don't walk toward them.

Okay, that's it for me today.  What's on your radar?