Thursday This n That

Since we got the boys, I can no longer keep pens laying around.  They LOVE pens and would very much like to nom on them.  The pen caddie that used to sit on my desk is now on the top of a bookshelf and the one pen I use is in my desk drawer.  But hey, they're a writer's cats, so the fact that they love pens should come as no surprise.

I'm trying not to think about the fact that this book I'm writing has no clear direction and I have no clue where I'm going.  (And I'm pretty sure that it's awful.)  Thank goodness for edits, eh?

I woke up late again today.  Of course, late for me is 6am.  Derp.  I can't remember the last time I slept until 8.  I slept until 7 once last year.  It was a weekend, so yay.  When I was a teen, I could sleep until 10 in the summer and that was awesome.  Oh, well.  Getting older sure does have its quirks, eh?

I saw a fox in the neighbor's yard on Monday.  

Gah, the heat.  I mean, it's been a lot cooler these last couple of days because of the storms, but it's jacking back up again.  :shrug:  It is July, after all, and this is generally a hotter region than either Michigan or Colorado, so I guess it's not unexpected.  Still, we do like to gripe about the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter.  It's a national pastime.  ;o)

Why does pastime only have one S?  Since it's used to pass the time, shouldn't it have two Ss?  

Don't get me started on the upcoming election or we'll be here all day.  Okay, just one thing... if a person is not mentally sharp enough to be held responsible for their actions, then how can they possibly be sharp enough to hold the fate of a nation in their hands?  Jus' sayin'.

Sawyer is an attention whore.  And he generally prefers negative attention.  I try to give loads of attention when he's being good, but he enjoys getting into trouble.  He actually purrs harder when he gets caught being naughty.  Silly boy.  Finn on the other hand is such a lover muffin.  Yesterday morning, all he wanted was pets.  And when I stopped, he'd head-bonk me until I started up again.  And when I tried to go do something else, he followed me - head-bonking and rubbing against my legs all the way.  Also, Silly boy.

Today's post has been a kitty sandwich, I guess.  Start with cats, end with cats, with layers of other stuff in the middle.  Hope you enjoyed it.  

Ju-Lo-Wri-Mo Day 10:
Starting word count: 11063
Ending word count: 11797
New words: 734

Thursday This n That

Shit, it's Thursday.  Where did the rest of the week go?  Seriously.  I swear it was just Monday.  

Yesterday, I left work at the same time as one of my co-workers.  She got into her car and rolled down all the windows, then yelled to me that it was 114 in her car.  I have manual windows, so I was walking around my car rolling all my windows down at the time.  When I got in, it felt like 130.  And of course, my old car doesn't appreciate it when I run the AC.  Of course.  Callie Cavalier growls at me when I try to run the AC... the bitch.  So, I hopped in and drove.  The air coming in the windows... Well, you know that whoosh of hot you get when you open the oven to check whether the pizza is done in the middle?  That's about what it felt like.  Lucky for me, I only have a 5-7 minute drive.  By the time I got home, my lighter was hot to the touch, as were the metal bits on my purse - both of which were inside with me all day.  Hell, I was hot to the touch.  We won't discuss how hot the steering wheel and gear shift were.  

It's bill-paying day.  Woohoo.  As soon as I get this post finished, I have to go do that.  Then shower.  Then work.

Hey, my new sheets and shorts arrived yesterday.  We have two sets of sheets we rotate.  One of them developed a hole in the fitted sheet, so that's relegated to 'drop cloth' duty.  I ordered a new set to use as the main set and we'll take the older set and use them as backup.  I also developed a hole in the butt of my favorite shorts, so I ordered two new pair.  Hubs is washing everything right now.  Yay.  After this morning's shower, I'll put on a pair of the new shorts and tonight we'll be sleeping on new sheets.  

We have a baby bunny living just off the yard.  Not sure where, but close enough that we're seeing her frequently.  Yay.  

Speaking of babies, the fawns are doing fine in this heat.  Of course, Hubs is refilling the water pans like 3 times a day.  And we do live near a lake.  Still, the water is fresher and cooler here.  

Okay, well, I should probably start me day.  Have a great one!  

Sunday Update - Week 31

It's morning.  Hubs got up at 5 and I was going to roll over to snatch some more Zzzs.  Then I heard thunder.  Then I remembered I'd moved my big tomato plants out to the middle of the deck.  Sat up, pulled on a pair of shorts and out I went.  Good thing, too, because about 5 minutes afterward, the sky opened up and it splooshed hard.

It took me about an hour to remember it was Sunday.  So here I am...

In writing news, I'm making slow progress on my edit notes.  I think I'm up to 14% of the book and about 11 pages worth of notes.  Hubs joked that I'm going to need another notebook soon.  I got it covered, man.  

The marketing of my sale for the Dennis Haggarty books was a bust.  I did sell two books, though.  Got me a buck twenty-nine.  Woohoo.  Hey, that's more than I made in the month of May. My recent Amazon deposit was $1.17.  Someday, I hope to be able to afford a cup of gas station coffee.

No reading last week.  It's a slump.  :shrug:

I made chocolate chip cookies last week, except by the time I was ready to start throwing batches into the oven, I was too hot to go through that whole process.  So I smushed all the dough into a 9x13 and made bar cookies.  They're awesome.

I was only active one day last week.  Gah, I was such a toad.  At least the weight is holding steady at 183.8.

The Olympics has been a thing here.  I turn them on around 8am and they're on all day for the most part.  Unless every channel is showing something boring - like basketball and volleyball.  (I'm so over volleyball now.)  

When I'm not editing or focused on the TV, I've taken to doing crossword puzzles.  I found an old book of them in my stuff when I cleaned and now I'm working through it.  They're semi-easy and I cheat, so not really brain-taxing.  

It's been super hit here.  Like 97 with a heat index of 105 hot.  Needless to say, I'm blaming the heat for my lack of gumption.  Hey, I'm still tending my plants - ungrateful wretches that they are.  This thunderstorm is supposed to bring a slight cool down.  Maybe that'll make my plants happy.  It'll certainly improve my attitude.  Well, maybe.

Nothing else of note to talk about here today.  What's up with you?

This n That on a Friday

Okay, so I forgot to post yesterday, so here's the This n That, but on a Friday.  

I've been up since 4 and I'm only just now beginning to be awake enough to be human.  Thank goodness for coffee.

Hubs has been up since 3.  Right after I got up, he started the laundry.  Friday is sheets and towels day.  He just threw the sheets in the dryer and now he's collecting all the towels.  Get 'er done.

Shout out to Suni Lee who stepped up in the gymnastics and is kicking ass.  (No, I don't want to talk about why she needed to step up.  I'm just glad she did.)

To all the Olympic athletes... don't bite your medal.  It's crass.

Speaking of which, anyone else notice they not showing the medal ceremonies this year.   I thought I was missing them because they were showing them late, but then I saw gals wearing their medals after the competition and no ceremony.  I guess I could Duck-duck it, but I don't really want to know the reason because it will probably piss me off.

Editing is going slow.  It seems like every other paragraph needs some kind of tweak.  Blerg.

Halfway through a cigarette just now, it tasted like goat butt.  I hate when that happens.  Gag.  Luckily, it only happens like twice a year.  And since I smoke a pack a day and there are 20 cigs in a pack... well, it's too early to math, but you get the idea.  Every rare once in a while a cig tastes like pot.  Makes me wonder.  I have to put those out, too.  Pot makes me barf in a most spectacular way.

I both get why people do drugs and don't get why people do drugs.  They want to lose control and blank out.  I hate that feeling.  Which is why I quit drinking in addition to not doing drugs.  If you're trying to escape reality because you think it sucks, it's still going to suck when you sober up.  I guess that whole 'escape reality' thing is also why people are in such a rush to try and warp reality.  Doesn't work, but they still try.  It'll still be there whether they try and change their view of it.  :shrug:  

It's been HOT here.  Like 97 yesterday with a hear index of 105.  Gah.  And as I was laying in bed last night I realized I forgot to water the garden yesterday.  Here's hoping that once the sun comes up this morning I still have a garden and my one tiny tomato didn't wither up and drop off.  

Thank goodness for the exercise bike or I'd spend all day sitting on my ass in the AC.  I'm up to 42 miles.  Which is more than I walked all this year so far.  So much for hitting 100 miles walking this year.

Okay, that's more than enough out of me today.  What's up in your world?

Sunday Update - Week 22

Let's just say it wasn't a great week, k?  The world's gone mad and I'm even more inclined to crawl into my hermit hole and pull really big rocks over the entrance.

This said, is it any wonder there's no writing or editing or marketing in the update again this week?

I only finished one book in time for last week's Reading Wrap-up, and I finished one yesterday afternoon.   Go me.

Because of the swollen lake, there was no fishing.  All my spots are underwater and the one spot where I can fish has no shade.

I was active 5 out of 7 days - yard work, walking, grocery shopping (which totally counts when you're pushing a full cart) - but I gained about a pound.  I need to cut back on the snacks and the size of my portions again.  Weight: 177.  Still down 5.6 pounds for the year, but up 4.4 from my low in March.

The only baking I did was a batch of granola bars.  Oh, and I made a pizza.  I think I overworked the dough, though, so it wasn't exactly my best pizza crust.  :shrug:  We're out of oatmeal cookies, which Hubs totally loves. Unfortunately, it's getting hot, so baking is not high on my list of things to do right now.  I'll probably still get him his cookies.  As long as I can be done with them first thing in the morning.  Not today.  But soon.

Speaking of heat, mid-90s is a bit ridiculous for early June, wouldn't you say?  Ah, well, it's supposed to drop back into the 80s this coming week.  Poor Owl, having to be here over the summer.  She isn't acclimated to this and our spare room faces west for a full blast of afternoon sun.

Mom got back to the office this past week.  Thankfully, Sis had been holding the fort all that time, so it wasn't total spazz-ville.  Luckily, through all this, Mom's a roll-with0it kind of gal.

I think that's about it for me.  How did your last week go?

Thursday This n That

It's too freakin' hot.  Yesterday the heat index here was 103F.  More of the same today.  Yuck.  It's freakin' JUNE for petesakes.  I am not looking forward to July and August.

Speaking of July, Independence Day is next Wednesday.  They started shooting off fireworks here last weekend.  Meh.  I hate fireworks.  It gets dark after 9pm.  I go to bed at 9pm most nights.  See why I hate fireworks?

I do love Independence Day, though.  Birth of the greatest nation and all that.  Just not thrilled with the banging and the booming people use to celebrate.  Yeah, yeah, 'rockets red glare', 'bombs bursting in air'.  It's our national anthem, but it refers to a battle in the War of 1812, not the Revolutionary War wherein we became a great nation.  Know what I'm sayin'?

I was having a devil of a time finding those whirling flower thingies that are supposed to drive away moles.  I mean, I found some online, but they wanted a small fortune for them.  My Mom found them near her, bought some, and shipped them to me.  They're red, white, and blue.  That's the kind of celebration of our country I can get behind.  And I haven't seen much mole activity since I put them in the ground.  Win win.

Despite the heat, I have an overwhelming urge to bake something.  I found a recipe for something with pumpkin and cake mix (both of which I already have in the house).  Yeah, yeah, pumpkin is for fall, but I want pumpkin now.  If I can remember to make it before the house heats up too much.  Having the oven on when it's already hot doesn't thrill me.

My bird of the day is the American White Pelican.  I don't know if any of you have ever had the opportunity to watch pelicans fly, but it's an awesome thing.  They fly in formation - not like geese and their V, but more like the Blue Angels.  Four or five pelicans flying together, turning together, and landing together as if it's choreographed.  Pretty cool stuff.  We don't get pelicans here as far as I've seen, but I used to watch them when we were at the beach in FL.  I kind of miss it.

Okay, time to start the day before the day heats up to much to want to do anything but sit in the AC and read.  What's up with you?