This n That

 Yeah, I forgot yesterday was Thursday.  :shrug:

Tuesday is election day. Go vote (if you haven't already). If you're thinking about skipping it because 1) it's the midterms and so doesn't really matter, 2) the polls are showing that a) your candidate is already going to win and doesn't need you or b) your candidate has no chance of winning so your vote won't matter, 3) you have better things to do, 4) you hate standing in line... GO VOTE.  It does really matter, it doesn't matter what the polls are showing because they're notoriously wrong, there is next to nothing better to do, and standing in line is a small price to pay to protect America.  

I have peppers!  At least one of my pepper plants has the beginnings of tiny peppers on it, so yay!  It's the plant way in the back, so I'm not sure what color peppers they are - green, yellow, or red - but they're all bell peppers so it doesn't really matter.

A while back, I gave a friend some cans of wet catfood that The Boyz wouldn't eat, so her neighborhood cat who eats anything could have yummies.  Yesterday, she asked me if I have anymore food my cats won't eat because her (kinda) cat loved it.  LOL

Sawyer and I are currently having a test of wills.  I bought a shitload of food that he swore he liked and right after it arrived and I'd taken it out of its packaging, he decided he didn't like it after all.  So, I've vowed to not buy any more wet food until every last can is gone.  He can eat it or not, but it's what's being served for the near future.  On another note, his intake of kibbles has gone up.  

I keep getting distracted while writing this.  Then again, I keep getting distracted doing most things.  :shrug:  I'm highly distractible.

There's a grammar rule for whether/why a word ends in ible or able, but I can't remember what it is.  Anyway, distractible looks wrong with ible instead of able.  :shrug:  

I have no clue why some words look wrong to me when they're spelled right.  They just do.  Go figger.

Anyway... I should probably wrap this up.  Have a great day and a wonderful weekend.  Later days, dudes.

Thursday This n That

 I'm up early and I remembered to write a post. That's one for me. You can thank the cats, darling little turds that they are, for getting me up.

Ut oh.  It looks like Sawyer is stalking my desk chair.  He thinks it's his kitty bed and he's more than prepared to oust me from it whenever the mood strikes him.  His standard operating procedure is to jump onto the back of the chair and then pat at my shoulders until I move.  If I don't move quick enough, he slides down the back of the chair behind me and thunder-butts his way onto the chair.  I usually give up and switch to my back up chair.  Life's easier when you just let him have his way.  Spoiled brat cat.

I haven't weighed the brats in a while, but I'm pretty sure Finn finally caught up to Sawyer.  I like big cats and I cannot lie.

I'm pretty close to the end of Old Magic.  (Not final title.)  I just need to scrap the last 1300 words I wrote and re-do that scene, then write the ending and the denouement.  I'm not going to try to guess how many more words.  It'll be what it'll be.  Maybe when I finish the first draft of this, I'll finally edit DN3.

The fawns are losing their spots.  :sadface:

This heat has got to go.  It's the middle of September, for pitysakes.  I mean, this is getting a little ridiculous.

And I walked away from the computer and forgot I was writing this, so an hour has gone by.  Derp.  I'm like that all the time.

Which reminds me, I've been watching Steven Wright videos.  He slays me.  If you don't know who he is, go forth and find him.  Watch the videos of him.  If you don't laugh, you're probably not going to get me either.  :shrug:

I've also been finding videos made from old footage of people doing things in the old way - an 80-year-old guy in Kentucky making a chair, a group of dudes in Finland building a log home.  Those two were made in the 1970s and they're pretty awesome.  Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.

Okay, I know I thought of other things to put on this post this week, but I can't remember them now, so they'll have to wait or remain lost to the recesses of my addled brain.  Have a great week, wherever you are.  :hugs:

Friday This n That

 It's... :looks at a calendar:... Friday?  Okay, if you say so.  In case you didn't notice from my Marketing Tuesday post, I've been off by one day all week, so you shouldn't be surprised I missed posting on Thursday again.  Derp.

Mmm, coffee.  Too bad it's not doing its job.  Lazy coffee.

I happened to walk around the yard the other day.  Between the heat and the deer, my outdoor gardens are all roached.  My poor irises... =o(

The cats are enjoying being allowed out onto the sun porch.  They're not allowed out there without parental supervision, though, so we scoop them up and bring them inside when we're done smoking.  With Finn, I just say OUT and walk toward him and he scoots inside.  Sawyer tries o hide under the tables/chairs to avoid being carried out.  Silly kitties.

I don't know if I said, but they re-chipsealed our road.  It's made the whole thing infinitely more noisy.  And dusty.  And for tailgaters, they're risking getting a stone chip to the windshield.  All in all, though, I guess it is better.  :shrug:

Speaking of tailgaters, I hate that.  I never tailgate.  (Okay, maybe when I'm in the city and you can't really help it there, but even then I leave more space than anyone else.)  Out here in the back of beyond, there's really no point in tailgating.  You'll never encourage me to drive faster that way.  In fact, I drive slower when I've got someone inches from my back bumper.  It's safer.  (And it pisses them off, which is an added benefit.)  Pass me, you dumb shit, and enjoy your speeding ticket.  I'm rarely in any hurry.

Yes, I am rarely in a hurry.  Yes, I still speed.  It's usually 5 over.  I don't know why, really.  It just is.  I'm not committed to it, though, so yeah, you'll also see me doing 5 under because it's a nice day or what have you.  If I ever get a ticket for it, I'll accept it as the price I have to pay for being a rebel.  

ROFL

Oookay, I should probably go start my day.  At some point, I have to hit the bank and deposit my check.  I might swing into the DG on my way home.  Exciting times, eh?  Have a great one, wherever you are and whatever it is you might be doing.  :hugs:

Thursday This n That

 I remembered again.  Here's hoping I actually post this at a reasonable time.  

In my local paper this week, there was an article about 'social isolation', like that's a bad thing.  I read the article out loud of Hubs, and we laughed and laughed.  Yeah, we show most of the signs of this so-called bad thing called social isolation.  Know what?  We don't care.  ROFL

Speaking of social, I ran errands yesterday.  I spoke to several people - the pharmacy gal, the bank chick, the postmaster, the chick at the library, the gal at the thrift store and the one at the DG.  The day before I did Walmart and the feed store, and I was my chatty self at those places, too.  See?  I'm social.  Unfortunately, my social tank is now empty and I will happily go without seeing another person besides Hubs for at least a week.  Whew.

Speaking of the post office, I actually wasn't there to harangue the postmaster about our shitty service.  I went there to verify my identity so I would be able to access my own damn information on the Social Security website.  The postmaster didn't think I could do that at that location.  He even went to a different location himself, just last week.  Anyway, it turns out I can do it there, but I needed to bring an email code they should've sent me when I signed up for the site.  Except I don't remember getting any damn email code.  Gah.

As for the library, I went there to prove I was who I said I was because my Hoopla has been out since the end of June, and I figured it was a thing with my local library.  When I signed up with Hoopla, they did kinda hint that I should stop by my local library to finish the process, but I never did.  So, when my Hoopla went tits up, that's what I figured had happened.  Nope.  My local library system is no longer providing Hoopla.  It's too expensive or some such rot.  The gal had some suggestions - like inter-library loan of DVDs of programs.  1) I never did set up my DVD player.  2) I don't get to that town often enough to not incur late fees on borrowed library items.  :shrug:  I'll be trying to connect through another library for my Hoopla fix.

ARGH! Sawyer just filled the litterbox.  Man, can that boy poop.  His new name is StinkyButt.  (Not really, but you know how it goes.)

I did my yearly fall earlier this week.  Don't ask.  Anyway, I have some interesting bruises on my thigh and my upper arm.  I told Hubs he needs to start calling me Gracie Lardass.  (It's French - Lar D'ass.)  Anyway, nothing's broken.  To borrow a phrase from Toy Story... I'm into 'falling with style'.

Okay, that ought to be enough for anyone.  Have a great day wherever you are.  Peace out.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 29?

 I think it's Week 29, but I'm too lazy to check.  Anyway...

I wrote 8379 words this week.  That's writing 6 out of 7 days.  Woot.  I skipped Wednesday because I was frickin' tired.  I was frickin' tired Friday night, too, but I made myself sit down here and at least try, and I got 875 words down, so yay.  Old Magic is now up to 15666 words.  :muppetflail:  Last night, my brain decided to shift the title to a series title and try thinking up other titles.  I amused myself by remembering an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where he mixes magic words up... ABRACA-POCUS!  HOCUS-CADABRA!  So maybe I'll use one of those.  Teehee.

Marketing... Meh.  I did it, but it didn't result in too much movement.  Only 17 copies of WIOH went out the door, which sucks.  WIOH usually moves more copies than that.  :shrug:  This month, sales started out really well and went downhill fast.  I don't think I'm going to market anything this week.  I'll focus on writing instead.  Let's see if I can't get over 10K words out this week.

In baking news, I made a loaf of Banana-Raisin Bread.  Yum!  I also did another batch of OCCC.  And I did a vat of pulled pork.  Life is good.

On the activity front, I wasn't really all that active - mostly watering the greenhouse garden - then I did some cleaning yesterday and I moved some furniture.  I haven't weighed myself.

On the subject of moving furniture, basically, I rearrange the dining area.  I like what I did, except for the artwork.  When I moved the table, the big painting over it didn't look right anymore, so I put a couple smaller pieces up there, but it still looked wrong. Today, I might rearrange the living room.  We'll see.  

As for the greenhouse, it's still doing okay.  I'm watering every other day to keep everything happy.  The heat means I'm not currently getting produce, but the plants themselves are green, so that's a win.  We'll see what happens when the weather starts to cool again.  Last year, I got my best output from the tomatoes after it shifted toward fall.  Fingers crossed.  Oh, and I moved my last few redbud trees back out onto the deck.  They didn't enjoy being in the garage - mostly because I kept forgetting to water them.  They seem happier outside again, the rat is leaving them alone, and they're growing new leaves.  Yay.

The fawns are getting bigger.  Lumpy still has her adopted kid, which is still weird.  But it seems to continue to thrive, so :shrug:  Our little foxes are still coming around.  They're so funny.  We'll look out the window and one of them will just be sitting there in the yard, staring at nothing or scratching, and then it'll wander off.  It's so cool that they're comfortable here.

This morning, I clipped Sawyer's claws.  He was being a turd and trying to push me out of my chair.  Well, I usually let him do that, so I can't complain, but this morning I didn't want to give up my chair.  I grabbed him up and went to put him on the floor when something startled him.  He ended up perforating one of my boobs and an arm.  I swore a great deal and bled a little.  After I applied anti-bacterial cream, I wrangled him up and clipped those stilettos of his.  Later, I'll do Finn.  Ah, the joys of cat ownership.

Okay, I think that's all I've got on my hit parade.  How's things in your world?

Bright Ideas?

 Me and my bright ideas... We had a 'feather' topper on our bed, but we hated it, so it's been sitting in the spare room. We also have the flat sheet to a set of flannel sheets where the fitted sheet was roached years ago. Bright idea? Use the flannel sheet to make a 'pillowcase' for the feather topper and turn it into a cat bed.

I thought I'd pin it and then sew it. No pins. I could've sworn I had a box of pins leftover from my previous sewing adventures. Nope. I had safety pins, though, so off I started.

The cats, being cats, were deeply interested in my goings-on such that I had to shut them out of the bedroom where I was working. Meowing insued. I let them back in and Finn decided he wanted to sleep in the middle of my work. Sawyer, seeing that I was distracted by Finn, proceeded to stick his head in my coffee cup and slurp away. They were promptly kicked back out of the bedroom and I ignored the caterwauling.

I get the whole thing safety pinned, flip it right-side out, and try to stuff the feather monster into its new home. A half-hour of wrestling later, it was in there. It ain't pretty and it's incredibly lumpy, but it's done. (For now. I may actually sew it later.)

Finn loves it. It jumped into the middle and laid there like he finally had a bed worthy of his royalship.

Thursday This n That (delayed)

ACK!  I started this post yesterday morning and never finished it.  Derp. Here's what I said then...

I made pizza last night and now my hands are killing me.  It was totally worth it.

Yesterday, my new greenhouse arrived.  I'll work on putting it together today, I think.  We'll see if the hands allow it.  Then we'll see if it works to foil the critter's plans.  Our new mower arrived, too.  That's Hubs' job.  We'll help each other if we need it.

We're going on 22 years married.  For the most part, the us part has been pretty easy.  That's what happens when you're with the right person.  Yay.

And now for the stuff I didn't write yesterday morning...

I did put the greenhouse up, put blocks around the base to hold it down and keep critters out, and populated it with plants.  This morning, no signs the critter has been back, but it's early yet.

No sign of the marauding mouse from the other night.  

Hubs put together the mower and mowed a little to see if he had the height settings right.  It works like a dream.  Yay.

Gah, Sawyer's being really annoying this morning.  This is an especially bad morning for him to be a turd, as I am really sore from the activities of yesterday.  Putting together the greenhouse was pretty easy, except for being on my feet for so long, and then the moving of all those pots, and the sweeping beforehand. 

I really should go grocery shopping today, except the aforementioned soreness is making me really not want to go.

Bitchbitchbitchbitch.  Why yes, I would like some cheese...

What's on your this-n-that list today?

Totally Forgot Thursday

 LOL, Totally Forgot Thursday should be a thing and it should always be posted on Friday.  I could make it a list of things I totally forgot, which would be long... if I could remember to write down all the things I forgot.

Pedro Potato fell over yesterday.  I totally didn't think about staking him up and how does one stake up a potato plant that's already a couple feet tall without staking potential potatoes??  I managed it, I think, but time will tell whether I harshed any spuds.  Anyway, he seems fine this morning, so no harm done, I guess.

I went out of my way to hit the other local thrift store and while they did have a lot of books, I only found two I wanted.  What a waste of gas.  The books, you ask?  The Surgeon by Tess Garretson and a three book volume of 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain.  Cost?  75c.  I would've made out like a bandit if I'd been into Danielle Steel or James Patterson, but alas, I'm not a fan of either of those authors.

Sawyer woke us up this morning at 4am.  He was trying to jump to the top of the big chest of drawers.  He missed... he always misses... but he managed to knock the bottle of antacids on the floor.  Scared the crap out of himself and woke us both up rather rudely.  Sometimes... to the moon, cat.

I hate when I get an email touting 'free shipping' and it's only on order over a certain amount.  This last one seemed like it was for any order and only for a limited time, but it's their regular free shipping amount.  Dirty pool, chaps.  That's one way to get me to not buy anything from you ever.

Sawyer's being a picky eater right now.  Turd.  I mean, Finn's always been a picky eater, but Finn also doesn't bitch when he doesn't get fed his favorite foods.  He simply chooses not to eat what he doesn't like.  Sawyer?  Nope.  'FEED ME... I don't LIKE that... FEED ME SOMETHING ELSE!'  He's my problem child.  We do love him, but ugh.  (And before you wonder, he's fine.  He's also not in danger of starving to death.)

Ugh, I meant to take a shower yesterday, but I wasn't in the mood.  I figured I could take a shower when I got up this morning.  This morning?  Thunderstorms.  Blerg.  That'll teach me.

Okay, that's probably enough out of me.  Any snippets of wisdom from you?  Anything you totally forgot that you'd like to mention?  Comment away.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 12

Hello.  I'm up obscenely early for a Sunday, but that's on the cats.  They didn't like last night's food, so they're being turds.

I thought about writing and editing this week.  That may be a sign that I'm jones'n for it.  Shhh, don't frighten the gumption away.  Marketing went crickets on me.  I only moved 15 copies of UNEQUAL.  :shrug:  Tomorrow starts a 'series bonanza' - something different I'm trying - wherein all the books in the A Model Curse series will be free for 5 days.  I've already set up tomorrow's post on that.  

I started reading a book.  Woot.  I'm about a quarter of the way through Leadership by Rudy Giuliani.  

No baking.  I did make a really tasty sweet & sour chicken dish, even if the breading on the chicken did go pear-shaped* on me.

On the activity front, I was a little active this week.  It was mostly garden work - removing detritus from the outside beds and working on the potted plants on the deck.  We did walk once, though.  Go us.  I haven't weighed myself.  Weight: Fat

The potted plants seem to be doing okay.  I'm not sure if I mentioned that 3 out of my 4 pots worth of tiny carrot plants died, but the 4th pot is doing good.  I will be thinning that this week and replanting the other pots with new carrot seeds.  I have 1 tiny potato plant coming up, which thrills me no end.  The repotted green peppers are all doing well.  All six of my redbud trees have leaves.  The redbud I thought was dead is trying, so yay.  Both of my remaining dogwood trees have tiny leaves.  The three mystery trees are all doing really well.  I'm no longer sure that one is a black cherry, but I'm getting more sure that one is a buckthorn.  We'll see.

I did try to do some carving this week.  I was really getting into it when the gouge slipped and I perforated my thumb knuckle.  That'll teach me.  Of course, I wasn't wearing the safety gloves.  I hate gloves when I have to actually do anything with my hands.  Of course, I'll be wearing them the next time I carve, because while I am sometimes foolhardy, I'm not stupid.  Live and learn.  Thankfully, it wasn't a large perforation and I'm a good clotter.  I'm just waiting to be 100% sure it won't open back up before I go back to strenuous hand activities.  

Other than that?  :shrug:  I hope you had a good week last week and that this coming week is amazing for you.

*a British phrase that I appreciate, so I'm gonna use.  What's English if not an opportunistic language that rummages through the pockets of other languages looking for spare phrases and shiny euphemisms?

Thursday This n That

Facebook is screwing with me again.  Now, it won't let me react to any posts, including my own.  This is the image I screen-captured:

I mean, how ridiculous.  I can post and comment and share, but I can't like, love, or make angwy* face or wow face... turds.  If I didn't need FB to market my books, I'd chuck the whole damn thing.

Finn's walking around the house meowing like he's lost.  Silly cat.  Kira used to do that from time to time, and I never did figure out why.  Oh, the mysteries of the feline brain.

And Hubs just informed me that Finn had jumped up on the bookshelf to get beside the TV and was sitting there like the RCA dog while Sawyer watched from down below.  When I went to investigate, they both ran to the treat cupboard like they hadn't just committed an act of pre-vandalism.  I swear... those boys... bang zoom, to the moon.

I had someone comment on a marketing post for AD this morning, giving me a cover critique like I'd asked for his help.  As if I didn't know what that cover looks like.  I gave the guy what his opinion was worth and blocked him.  If that's a new method to get me to engage so that he can spam me, he's sadly mistaken.  A friend of mine calls that sending them to Blockistan.  Heh.

Have you ever been with a guy/girl who critiques everything you do so you'll never believe you're worth anything and therefore never leave them?  I have.  It's a dick move.  Classic mental abuse.  Don't buy it.  Ever.

So, Monday, it was cold, so Hubs and I went into the woods and worked at clearing out the wet-weather creek so it isn't all junky looking.  Afterwards, we both paid for it.  And I learned something - you never know when you're overdoing it until after you've overdone it.

And on that note, I'll leave you to get on with your day.  Make it a good one.

*I meant to spell it that way.  It's what I call this 😡**.

** Blogger call this 😡 'pouting face', which is just stupid. It's angwy face.

This n That Friday

Okay, so I woke up this morning and was all like 'wait, yesterday was Thursday???' cuz I totally forgot to post.  I'd blame the flu, but we're pretty much over it. (Except for the cough which boomerangs back on ya like bad Kung Pao chicken.)  Part of it is the flu, though, because it got me all off track - well, worse off-track than I'd already been.  Anyway, I'm here and so let's do some this-n-that, k?

Sawyer does this new thing where he feels like he has to be in my lap in the mornings when I'm at my computer.  This makes typing fun.  Sixteen pound cat between me and the keyboard.  On the other hand, Finn is seriously focused on something underneath the dishwasher this morning.  I'd like to think it's a cricket, but I fear it's a mouse.  I just hope he doesn't try to dig for it and end up breaking the plastic sheet that hides everything underneath the dishwasher.  These cats have broken more things, I tell ya.  Back in 1988, when I graduated HS, I worked at a restaurant with these two really old ladies.  (Bear with me.  This ties in.)  One of them gave me a set of antique, metal frames with pretty patches of what looks like either wrapping paper or wallpaper in them.  She wasn't rich, so it was all she could give, and I assume they'd been hers.  Anyway, she was a wonderful old lady and I've cherished them all these years.  They're hanging on the wall here in the office.  Well, a couple days ago, Sawyer must've jumped up the wall off the side table I have there and knocked one of the frames off the wall and broke it. The actual frame, not the glass.  Turd.  Not sure how I'm going to fix that.  Anyway...

It's been warm here.  Like 70s warm.  And windier than all get out.  Today and throughout the weekend, it's supposed to be cooler, so we can finally get back into the woods.  We have things to do before summer and we'd like to get them done.  Sheesh, Mother Nature, get a grip on your seasons, will ya?

I ordered a book on whittling.  Yep, I am going full-on redneck.  Anyway, we've got all this wood and I'd like to do something with it other than burn it.  The start of that is a how-to book on the simplest mode of wood carving - whittling.  Once I get that under my belt, I'll look into actual carving tools and more involved instructions.  Eventually, I'd like to make walking sticks and maybe staves.  Things I might sell.  We'll see how it goes.

Okay, I think that's enough out of me today.  I should get cracking on other stuff before the day gets away from me.  Have a good one, and a great weekend.  =o)

Things My Cats Have Taught Me

 The following is a list of things The Boyz have taught me:

- never leave coffee unattended.  Even if there are no cats in the vicinity.  Even if the cats in the vicinity are sound asleep.  If you leave your coffee, you will return to find either a cat with its paws/face in the mug or coffee splatters everywhere and fur or litter in your cup.

- focus on the warm spots.  If you get up from a chair, you have a 90% chance of finding a cat in the chair when you return. If there is a cat in your chair and you change chairs, the cat will want your new chair.  Or, if you have multiple cats, you'll find another cat in your new chair.  The same applies to getting out of bed in the middle of the night.  The cat will find your warm spot and fill it.

- trespassers can't be trusted and should be eliminated whenever possible.  If there's a bug anywhere in the house, the cats will find it and kill it.  This goes for mice/shrews/moles and birds (and once, when we had Max, a squirrel) as well, or anything really that's unlucky enough to try to come inside.

- sleep whenever you can / naps are important.  The Boyz are usually sleeping.  Except when they're keeping me awake.

- work whenever you can.  It seems like anytime I sit down at the computer, one or the other of The Boyz will come over to either a) get on my lap and make it impossible for me to type or b) get into trouble right behind me so I have to stop working to chastise them for being naughty.

- being naughty has its advantages.  When The Boyz are naughty, they get attention.  Sometimes they get treats (that's a slippery slope, I know, but sometimes it's the only way to redirect their attention).  

- never take things too seriously.  Not that The Boyz don't take things seriously.  Sometimes, they take things way too seriously - especially 'fraidy-cat Sawyer, who'll jump at the slightest sound, or Finn, who acts like I've set fire to all his hopes and dreams when I scold him.  Their reactions are what have taught me to not take things seriously, if you catch my drift.

;o)

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 1

Well, we wrapped up the first week of the new year and lemme tell ya, I didn't have this stuff on my bingo card for the year (i.e. the Venezuela stuff, the Iran stuff, the Minnesota stuff).  Wow.

Anyway... Writing didn't happen, because I just finished a book and I took the week off.  Editing was supposed to start yesterday but, while I did email the book to my Kindle, I didn't do any.  I did write a short blurb.  And I think I have a title - JUSTICE: PAST DUE.  (Sucks, doesn't it.  Titles suck.)  I do hope to have this book done by the end of the month, so I'd better get cracking.

Marketing happened.  I moved 30 copies of PH.  I also sold a copy of DE and someone read pages of both TTW and PH, so yay.

I finished that book I was reading, so I have a new Books Read post for 2026, and I'm currently reading The Night Manager by John LeCarre.  It's pretty gripping.

In baking news, I made Raisin Pecan Quick Bread.  It's super yummy.  Yesterday, I did a vat of pulled pork.  Also yum.

On the activity front, I did three days of woods work and one day cleaning.  Woot.  Hang on, I have to go weigh myself...  Ack... never mind, you don't want to know.  I know I didn't want to know.  Weight: 177.8

Speaking of woods work, I moved the summer clean-up pile to the permanent pile.  (Summer clean-up pile is for any crap that falls in the yard during the hot months when we don't go into the woods due to ticks and snakes.)  Hubs went through all our old firewood and threw out anything that was roached, then reorganized the pallets for more efficient wood use, which gave us a couple of empty pallets for the newly sawn wood.  That black cherry tree is probably going to be a couple cords alone.  (Don't ask me.  I never did figure out how many chucks a woodchuck could chuck or how many logs are actually in a cord.)

The Boyz are currently fighting in what I've begun to call The Box Maze.  Some days.  Ugh.

Other than that, not much going on.  It's pretty same-same here.  How are things in your world?

Oh.  It just occurred to me after I hit Publish that this is the 11th, so I had to come back to add this.  It's my accident anniversary.  32 years today.  :shrug:  Ya know, this used to be a bigger deal, but now I'm kinda over it.

Friday This n That

I totally brainfarted out that yesterday was Thursday.  Thus, realizing that today was Friday, it occurred to me that I never posted my this n thats.  Derp and all that.

I'm not dead.  Not even close.  I am, however, in a stupid place.  You know the one where you're not doing anything and you're feeling guilty about not doing anything so you don't do anything?  Maybe that's just me.  :shrug:

The prezzies I bought for the neighbor kids are wrapped.  Now I just need to get the prezzies from here to next door.  I also have a tin of cookies for the across-the-street neighbors and I package of cookies for Mom that need to be mailed.  And yet, here I sit.  (Of course, right now it's too early to do anything... excuses excuses)

Sawyer decided that this morning was a good time to revisit his old vaudeville act wherein he pats rhythmically on the front of the dresser ad nauseum. This act was followed by a song routine of old favorites by his partner, Finn.  I thought we'd moved past this, but apparently not.  Silly cats.

I have a song stuck in my head.  (Not Finn's.)  So I looked it up, because I hear it on the radio a lot, but I have no idea who sings it or anything.  It's called Too Sweet and it's by Hozier... Hozier?  Really.  Okay, my brain is now channeling The Mackenzie Brothers, but whatever.  (Yes, I know... their word was hoser, but still...)  Apparently, it's the dude's last name and apparently he's some kind of social justice warrior.  Damn it.  This is why I don't go looking into celebrities.  

And now for something we hope you'll really like...  (If you don't know where that phrase comes from, I'm sorry.  Maybe if I start it out with 'Hey, Rocky... watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.'  :RAWR: 'Looks like I need a better hat.')

My hands hurt.  Unfortunately, not from writing.  Pulling a sled with logs on it used muscles I didn't know I had and there ya are.

Speaking of logs, Hubs and I were just joking around about what to do with the big trunks - especially the black cherry that's still standing.  It's beautiful wood and it would be a shame to cut it up for firewood, but it's so heavy, we'll never be able to move that stuff on our own.  So, we got the idea to carve it where it is.  I said something about doing a faun/satyr, then he said something about a tableau of woodland creatures.  Then we both said something about turning it into a totem.  With Trump's head on top.  Then Reagan, Lincoln, and Washington. :gigglesnort:  We're so funny.

Okay, that's probably about all I'm worth today.  I need to get back to marketing.  Last day for DYING EMBERS freebie and all that.  Have a great day wherever you are.  Hasta la bye-bye.

Thursday This n That

 I have a 20 pound cat in my lap.  (Okay, he's probably closer to 18.  I'm rounding up.)  It's hard to type with a large cat in your lap, so bear with me.  And all mistakes are his fault.

I spent part of yesterday ordering Christmas prezzies, because like the nimrod I am, I forgot.  I still have to order for the Moms.  Their presents are picked out, but I didn't have the heart to add another charge to my account that day.  I'll do it today.  

Part of what I ordered was for the kids next door.  I've never bought them prezzies before.  I just wanted to.  They're good kids.  They're each getting a book and I found awesome books for under $10 each, so yay.  I hope they don't already have what I ordered for them.  And no, I don't get prezzies for my own kid anymore.  She's 32.  She can get her own prezzies.  She gets a card, like everyone else.  Maybe if I was rich, but I'm not, so there ya are.

I also ordered a book for myself.  I bet you're like super-surprised there.  What you might find surprising... or not as the case may be... is the book I ordered is on woodworking.  Yes, I have been talking about maybe starting my hand at woodworking for a while now.  The book might help with that.  Oh, and I got a book for the both of us on art - famous art masterpieces in a coffee table book.  Ho-ho-ho.

Speaking of Christmas, if you haven't seen the movie Fatman yet, you should probably do that.  It stars Mel Gibson as Kris Kringle (aka Santa) and a bratty, mean kid hires an assassin because Santa didn't bring him what he wanted.  And the hitman has something against Santa anyway.  This version of Santa is totally badass.  It's kinda gory there for a bit, but that's the kind of movie it is - an action flick for our times.

"No, Sawyer, you can't have my coffee, and get your tail out of my face."  For the longest time, I wished that Sawyer would be a lap cat.  I got my wish.  LOL

Okay, that's about it out of me right now.  I need more coffee.  :wanders off:

Thursday This n That

I sometimes wonder what the people who gossip to me say about me when I'm not around.  I don't care.  I'm just curious.

Yesterday, I saw a coyote.  I was driving down the highway and it was standing in a field.  It actually looked quite majestic.  Coyotes are always the rangy, scaggy things they're portrayed to be, ya know.

It was an outstanding coyote.  It was out standing in a field.  ROFL

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers... Their bellies aren't really all that yellow and they don't actually suck sap, they lick it.  But vaguely-yellowish bellied saplicker doesn't quite roll off the tongue.

There's nothing quite like waking up in the morning, wandering toward the bathroom, and stepping in cat puke.  Thankfully, I stepped in the smallest bit.  After I turned the lights on, there were several piles.  Not sure which cat urped all over the kitchen, but thankfully, he didn't urp on the carpet.

I keep receiving emails from scammers, trying to get me to buy their services for books that aren't even mine.  This morning alone, they wanted me to hire them to promote something called After Midnight and something else called Hurricane Secrets.  ROFL... what boobs.

And now I seem to be out of things to this-n-that.  Feel free to drop your own.  And have a great day!

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 46

Six more weeks left of 2025 and I'm okay with that.  This year has pretty much been a wash anyway.  

Still no writing.  Every morning, I tell myself that I am going to write today and then I go to bed that night without having written.  I did some marketing, though.  Huzzah, I guess.  I'm still marketing today.  For instance, UNEQUAL is free through the rest of today.  I'm not sure which book will be marketed tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Very little reading was done.  Loads of TV watching, though.  Maybe I should do the 'hey, I watched this' instead of the 'hey, I read this' thing.  :shrug:  Anyway, if you're in the mood for a quirky family movie, try Papadopoulos and Sons.

Last Sunday, I made chocolate banana bread, which was a yummy quick bread.  Thursday, I made chocolate bread - a pretty good, if not chocolatey, yeasty bread.  I'm thinking about trying to make Irish soda bread this week. We'll see.

As for activity, I managed some work in the woods and some sweeping, plus a minor amount of gardening.  And I went grocery shopping.  Not really anything major or calorie burning, I guess. Weight: I don't want to know.  I feel fat.

The gardening for the week was taking the last of the tomato garden apart.  I snipped off the remainder of the above-ground parts and dumped the soil + roots into big pots so they can decompose over the winter and be ready for planting come spring.  Or soon, if I decide to overwinter potatoes.  I was reading up on that yesterday and it seems like a possibility.  We'll see.  I also read somewhere that you can overwinter carrots, but I'm not sure where I would get carrot seeds this time of year.  Potatoes can be gotten anywhere.  You just use a grocery store potato.  There's more to it than that, but I don't have all the ins and outs yet.  We'll see.

:pause for cat coughing:  Ugh, I hate that.  No barfing this time.  Sawyer must've just gotten a tickle (or a piece of fuzz) in his throat.  Ah, the joys of cat ownership.  Anyway...

Regular firearms deer hunting season started here yesterday.  I can hear shots this morning.  Keep your fingers crossed Sonny makes it through.  I have no problem with legal hunting, but I'd hate to see Sonny get killed.  He's such a nice buck and the herd needs his genes.

Okay, well, I'd better go locate some gumption and get something productive done.  At this point, I'll settle for anything.  Too bad it's too warm to go into the woods.  I need to throw logs.  

Have a great day!  And leave a comment so I know there are other human beings in the world.  ;o)

Thursday This n That

The other morning, just before sunrise, the crows were kicking up an unholy riot out there in the woods.  I tried to see what they were freaking out about and they were pretty focused on one tree.  Just then, I saw something large fly out of the tree, surrounded by crows.  It landed on a leafless branch. Silhouetted by the sunrise, it's species was clear. It was a great horned owl.  Awesome.  It didn't stay long because the crows were divebombing it, but there it was.  Yay.

That's one awesome thing about Fall - leafless trees.  We can see all sorts of stuff in the fall and winter that we can't see all summer.  We're seeing stars again, and birds of all kinds, and planes.  Woot.

Another awesome thing about Fall is the cooler temps.  Well, cooler than Summer anyway.  Yesterday, it got up to 75F.  Blerg.  Pardon me while I whine... I want to go in the woods and play!

I was playing rough with Sawyer and now my hand is scratched up.  He likes to lay between my legs and attack my hand.  I usually cover it with a shirt or something, so it's not too bloody a game, but he got past the cloth.  :shrug:  Oh, the things I do to please my babies.  For some reason, after we play rough for a little while, he settles down and goes for a nap, instead of constantly circling like a shark.  The boy needs active play.  Sure, he's got Finn, but Finn's a lover more than a fighter.

French toast sounds good today.  I probably won't make it, but it sounds good.

The sapsuckers have returned to my woods.  Yay!

I don't think there's enough coffee on the planet to keep my awake today.  Not sure why.  I mean, we stayed up like 15 minutes past our bedtime, and I think I got to sleep okay, but I am pooped.  Derp.

In the spare room, there's a container of green tomatoes.  They're ripening one by one, which is okay.  There's just enough of each tomato to make slices for hamburgers.  Next year, I'm planting potatoes and carrots, too.  Fingers crossed it all works.

Okay, that's enough out of me.  Have a great day wherever you are, and feel free to leave a comment to tell me about your thisses and thats.

Thursday This n That

 I woke up tired.  I hate when that happens.

Mom has lived in her apartment since 2000 and they just now replaced the carpet that wasn't new when she moved in there.  

Sawyer's being a turd today.  He goes through cycles where he's just a naughty kitty.  Luckily, his naughty-kitty times are getting shorter and farther between.  But when they arrive, I'm tearing my hair out.  Ugh.  Finn, on the other hand, is pretty good all the time.  It's all about balance.

The rut is here.  We're seeing bucks chasing tail - literally.  There are three identifiably different bucks.  One of them is Sonny, who we've watched since he was a little-bitty fawn.  The other is slightly younger.  The other is slightly older.  

I love the Canadian sit-com Corner Gas.  It's a total hoot.

I'm terminally lazy right now.  Today, I really should vacuum and dust.  We'll see if that happens.  Yesterday, I said I was going to make bread and that didn't happen.  Make of that what you will.

We're starting to hear geese as they migrate through.  I love Fall.

It's cold enough this morning that I can actually go in the woods.  That may jump the queue of to-dos... because it's more fun than cleaning.

If a rooster lays an egg on the peak of a roof, which side does it roll down?*  (An old riddle that I was recently reminded of by an episode of Corner Gas.  I think Dad pulled this one on me when I was a  kid.)  

And on that note, I'll let you go.  Have a great day.  And I hope all your this-n-thats are fun.

*Riddle answer:  Roosters don't lay eggs. ;o)

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 43

Eleven weeks left of 2025 and, ya know, this is the first year in a long time where I'm not actively looking forward to the year ending.  Anyway...

I got some writing done.  Not a lot and not every day, but writing was accomplished.  2615 words, to be exact.  Not great, but better than the week before.  Unfortunately, I kind of stalled after the last scene, so I'll need to figure out where I'm going next and all that.  Wish me luck.

I did marketing.  It was all :sad trombone: and I only moved 19 copies of RHI.  Oh well.  This coming week, Wish in One Hand is up on the freebie parade.  It's kind of a Happy Halloween thing.  I mean, what's better to read on Halloween than a paranormal suspense with genies and efreet, filled with snark?  Jus' sayin'.

As for reading, I did read, but I ended up DNF'ing the book.  I got maybe 2-3 chapters in and realized I'd already read it.  And while I did like it the first time, I wasn't inclined to read it again.  No clue what I'll pick up next.  

In baking news, I did cinnamon rolls.  I forgot to allow for cooler temps and didn't let them rise enough, though.  Cinnamon roll fail.  They taste okay, but they're not light and fluffy.  Hubs has been eating them because he doesn't really care.

On the activity front, I went into the woods twice last week.  Once, I did some sawing and log throwing.  The other time, I just wandered around.  I also finished the sunroom window-washing project.  Not a huge calorie burn, but better than nothing.  I haven't checked my weight this week, so who knows?

Speaking of being in the woods... Man, there's a lot of downed trees we need to take care of in there.  We already had the downed sycamore and the black cherry.  Now we have what looks like an elm.  In addition to those whole trees, there are numerous limbs down.  Ugh.  On the upside, I'll get a lot of exercise once the weather turns cold.

Right now, the cats are tussling.  It's sounds like two alleycats going at it.  ... Okay, I broke it up.  Silly boyz.

In weather news, it's been raining cats and dogs, which makes me just want to sit in front of the TV.  I need to get over it.

Okay, I think that's it.  My life is pretty boring.  Sorry about that.  

Have a  great day wherever you are!