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 29

 It was an extremely lazy week last week.  Okay, maybe not 'extremely'... but lazy nonetheless.

I only wrote 840 words.  Then I hit a 'I have no idea where to go from here' spot and fell apart.

I did do some marketing.  DE was free and I did my marketing version of swimming with both hands tied behind my back.  Oddly, the second day, downloads took off and I moved 189 copies that day.  Not sure what happened there, but I'm okay with it.  I also got a couple of really nice reviews for DE recently and one of the reviewers bought FG, too. So yay.  Not sure what I'll be doing this week.  Maybe nothing.  Tune in tomorrow.

Reading... I finished another story in the big book of Hercule Poirot mysteries.  I also DNF'd some books.  I'll try to remember to post about all that next Saturday.  

In baking news, I made a yellow layer cake from scratch.  It turned out pretty tasty, if a little dense.  I frosted it in vanilla buttercream and slathered strawberry jam in the middle.  I'd do it again, but cake mixes really are easier, cheaper, etc.  I also did what I'm calling 'open-face pizza subs' and those are yummy.  Yesterday, I made pulled pork.  I had mine on toast with cheese.  Hubs did his over mashed potatoes.  Livin' good in the rural 'hood, and all that.

On the activity front, I only walked once this week.  I also did some cleaning and gardening.  Weight: 171.8  :shrug:

Ah, the gardening...  My first tiny tomato made an appearance, followed by a second.  #1 is about kumquat size now and #2 is a little bigger than a pea.  A couple of the plants have several flowers and the other plants look like they're trying to make flowers, and flowers lead to fruits, so yay.  I also repotted all my little pepper plants.  I planted 18.  An hour later, it rained torrentially, and one got smooshed, so 17 plants.  I know it's late to get plants like that going, but I'm still hopeful I'll get at least a few peppers before it gets too cold.

Other than that, it's been too hot to be really motivated to do anything physical.  Mentally?  Well... Okay, fine... I've been letting myself get sucked into the Roku vortex.  So many good things to watch...  :drools:  I'm catching old movies I haven't seen or haven't seen in decades, awesome new-to-me mystery/crime shows, fun home and cooking shows...  Yesterday, I found Dragonslayer (1981) and saved it to watch later.  I saw that movie in the theater when I was a kid and haven't seen it since.  I hope it's still awesome.

What's been on your agenda lately?

Thursday This n That

 I keep having to stop myself from doing all the little things I used to have to do when the internet was slow - like closing tabs all the time and expecting long wait times.  It's glorious and I'm still giddy.  (Probably won't be as giddy when I see the CC bill for all this, but... :shrug: It'll be worth it in the long run.)  Yesterday, after we aligned the dish, we were pulling over 300mbps.  WOOT.  If any of you friends of mine want an invite to Starlink, shoot me an email.  (If I don't know you, sorry, but I'm not inviting strangers all higgledy-piggledy.)  If you use an invite from me, you get a month free and so do I.

I'm still humpin' and stumpin' on the marketing thing.  Accidental Death is my best moving book so far this year.  With two days still left on this freebie offering, I've already moved 145.49 copies.  Woot.  Would that they were all pay sales and not freebies, but hey, beggars can't afford to be choosy.

Yeah, I've been distracted and depressed and under the weather, which are all awesome excuses for not getting any work done.  I need to cut that shit out.  Pull up my big girl britches and get back to work.

Finn is being a bad boy and getting on the kitchen counter - something he hasn't done since he was a kitten.  I need to put the fear of god into him, but he always looks so offended when I scold him and he's so cute, it's hard to do.  I think he knows this and that's like carte blanche to be naughty.  I swear these cats are like Pinky and the Brain from Animaniacs.  (If you don't know who that is, here's a link to their theme song.)  Finn is, of course, the Brain.  A criminal mastermind if ever there was one.  I know he's the one who knocked the cough-syrup cup off the counter, even if Sawyer was the one playing with it when I woke up.

Off-brand Delsym tastes like crap.  Orange, my ass.  

I need a new day planner for 2025.  I just keep forgetting to get one.  Derp.

Okay, I think that's about it for today.  Have a great one out there wherever you are!

Thursday This n That

Happy Halloween.  We're not doing anything, but hey, this is a better holiday than Labor Day, even if you don't automatically get the day off.  I did buy a couple Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins and a couple Russell Stover Marshmallow Pumpkins, so life is good.  

I'm in the middle of another freebie thing.  I really should be posting marketing stuff right now, but I'm tired, so I'm blogging instead.

Speaking of tired, I didn't get out of bed this morning until almost 7, which meant I had like 10 minutes to get to semi-functional before I called Mom.  

The DirecTV bill went up again.  Bastards.

The temp when I got up was 59.  It's only supposed to get to 66 today.  Woot.

I'm not sure anyone is still seeing my posts on Facebook anymore.  Every rare once in a while, someone will react to one, but not like they used to.  Between my marketing posts and my political posts, I think FB has throttled my reach.  Bastards.

Old Pervy Bill was up in Michigan stumping for the Hyena and admitted that the economy was better under the Big T, but Bill said we should all still vote for Hyena because reasons.  Go away, ya perv.

My cats are obsessed with pens.  I thought I'd hidden the pen I keep on my desk well enough, but nope.  It was pilfered in the middle the night and found on the floor.  It already had little teethmarks on it, so no harm done.  I don't think they're interested in chewing it enough to get to the ink.  They just want to perforate it a bit.  On a lighter note, it's fitting that a writer's cats should be pen-obsessed.

Some days, I'm not sure if I should call myself a writer.  I'm not actually writing much.  Hell, I'm not even editing much.  I'm just lazy.  I think I'll do like an Edit Wri-Mo thing for November.  Give myself 30 days to get this book done and ready to publish.  It's doable. We'll see.

Okay, I'm off to wreak havoc elsewhere.  Have a great day.  Eat some candy.  Watch a scary movie or something.  

Thursday This n That

Yesterday while I was out running errands, a neighbor stopped by with a big coffee cake thing to thank Hubs for something.  Streusel goodness on the top, stuffed with a cheesecakey type mixture.  So yummy.  But it needs something fruity.  I'm thinking cherry pie filling.  Or strawberry.  I forgot something at Wallyworld, so I'll be heading to Dollar General anyway.  

Heh, like either of us needs coffee cake or pie filling.  Eh, who cares?  I'm eating it.  Test me, and I'll put ice cream on it, too, just for spite.  LOL

I've spent the past two days basically on my ass.  Here in the desk chair or in the recliner or in the car.  I wasn't feeling bad, I'm just lazy.  But, here's the kicker... I am stiff and sore today.  I have to move this body or bad things happen.

Getting older blows.  But it's better than the only alternative reality offers us.  Wouldn't it be great if we could just stay a good age physically while we grow mentally?  Alas, it doesn't work that way.  We age, we corrode, shit falls apart.  In my misspent youth, I used to say something like 'I don't care about my body.  It's just there to carry my brain around.'*  Well, stupid, it's not good for carrying around your brain if you don't take care of it.  Like maintenance on your car.  If you don't do basic maintenance, it won't be able to carry you around for as long as it should.  Derp.  Sometimes I'd like to go back in time and flick my younger self in the ears.  

*Of course, I was saying that before my car accident when both my body and my brain took a hit.  

My mom and I have been enjoying some lovely chats lately.  Going over the past - both hers and mine.  I like to think talking with her about all those things from long ago helps keep her sharp.  I know it helps keep me sharp.  And she's been telling me stories I'd never heard before, which is awesome.  I'm getting stories about her time as an Air Force wife and her time stationed with Dad in France.  Post -WWII Europe stories and pre-Vietnam stories.  Interesting stuff.  I should probably write it down somewhere so it doesn't get lost.

One thing we were talking about yesterday was my childhood and how I lost most of my memories of it in the car accident.  About the only memories I have of certain portions of it are the bad parts.  Bad stuff sticks more firmly than good stuff, doncha know.  I don't have any good memories of my grandmother, for instance.  Oh, Grandma was a pip, but she couldn't have been all bad.  I just wish I could remember the good times with her.  Dudes, hang onto your memories tight.  You'll miss them when they're gone.

And on that wise note, I'll let you go for today.  Have a great one.  And if you aren't doing anything worth remembering today, take a moment and reminisce.  Jus' sayin'.

Stuff to Do, No Urge to Do It

So, it's morning again.  Funny how that keeps happening.  Thank goodness there's coffee.  

Okay, so I sat down to write this post about 40 minutes ago and then got distracted by the internet.  Derp.  I think I'm having a Short Attention Span Theater kind of morning.  This does not bode well for the rest of the day.  

I have this problem.  It's not a unique problem.  It's also a pain in my ass.  Every time I have a shitload of stuff to do, I get stalled by the amount of things I have to do.  Where to start?  How am I ever going to get it all done?  And then I give up and go watch TV.  It helps sometimes to write a to-do list and just start tackling items on it.  Sometimes making the list is about as far as I get.  

This happened to me yesterday.  I had a bunch of stuff to do and did nothing.  Okay, so I did the dishes.  Gotta do the dishes or we won't have anything to drink from, eat off of, or eat with.  That and the piles in the sink get to me after a while.  Every time I walk into or past the kitchen, there they are... judging me.  Also, the longer you wait on dishes, the worse they are to do.  

Sometimes I have a load of things to do, but bypass them all for some other task that I don't really need to do.  Clean the house or go outside into the fresh air and sunshine to throw logs?  Easy choice.  We have quite the stack of firewood now for a home with no fireplace.  Meanwhile, the house is covered in dust and the floors need vacuuming again.

And now I have all this writerly business work to do.  Did I do any of it yesterday?  Not a chance.  And the weather sucked, so I didn't even do outside stuff.  

On occasion, I can get myself to do stuff simply by bitching about not doing stuff.  (Hence, this post.)  For some strange reason, it helps if I sing Bruno Mars' The Lazy Song in my head.  (And there went another 5 minutes looking up and watching that video. LOL)

In reality, I know I need to approach all this like eating an elephant... one bite at a time.  Maybe that's the way to accomplish it all.  Stop thinking about how much I have to do and pick one thing.  Do that.  Pick another thing.  Do that.  Slowly but surely, it'll all get done.  As long as I don't give myself time to think about what a slog it all is.  

Oh, hey, look at the time... the morning 3-hour marathon of Grey's Anatomy is starting...

Sunday Update - Week 36

So, here we are in the middle of September.  Not sure how that happened.  I guess publishing four books in a year (three down, one to go) will do that to a gal.  Well, that and other things.  :shrug:

Okee doke, here we go...

I slacked off last week on writing.  I'm at just over 27K words.  I hit that thing I talked about earlier in the week over at OTB and fell flat on my face.  So, I spent some days not thinking about it.  Friday and Saturday I sat my ass down with a notepad and really thought about where I was at and where I was headed. I'm hoping to get some major writing done today.

Work began on the cover for Unequal.  Umm... yah.  I know what I want to do, but I don't think it'll be what dystopian readers are looking for.  Lord knows, I thought the first cover I did for Blink was awesome and it flopped.  The second cover of that ain't blowing people's skirts up either.  If my cover artist wasn't up to her eyeballs in work, I'd see what she could do.  I do have a slot in her schedule next month, but that's supposed to be for the cover of UatB.  And I need that done, so I think I'll leave it.  Cross your fingers for me on Unequal's cover.

I finished reading four books last week.  Three of them are on my reading update and the fourth got finished yesterday.

I've been trying to think of some kind of marketing plan for this month, but meh.  I should've been thinking about Sept marketing in Aug.

The ol' activity thing fell down last week, too.  Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday I did some form of exercise.  Wednesday I cleaned.  The other days I sat on my ass for the most part.  Still, I managed to reach a milestone on Friday and finally got below 180.  Two-tenths of a pound below, but hey, there's a seven in the tens spot after about a decade, so I'm ecstatic.  Anyway, I think I lost some weight (technically, about a half a pound overall) despite my laziness because I ate smaller portions of smarter foods.

Oh, hey, one of this year's fawn has tiny baby buttons*!  He's so cute!  I love it when you can finally tell their genders.  Unfortunately, they're all losing their spots, too.  My babies are growing up.  :sniffle:

We've been seeing a lot of different birds in the yard again, so I'm declaring migration is in session.  At least here in MO.  We've had a girlie tanager hanging around (not sure if it's a Summer or a Scarlet) and a vireo (either a Warbling or a Red-Eyed) and some different little warblers.  I love migration season.  Soon, we'll have Bald Eagles again!

Well, I guess that's it for me this week.  How are things in your little corner of the world?


*Antler buds.

Sunday Update - Week ???

I'm not sure what week it is and I'm too lazy to go look.  It was a week, the first one of May.  So there.  =op

I made a little more progress on Sleeping Ugly, but not much.  As I've said before, it will get done by the deadline, but I'm guessing RIGHT before the deadline.

Once again, I'm in a reading slump.  It's not that I have nothing to read or that none of it would interest me.  I even have a pre-release of the 18th book in a series I've been following for years.  I'm just in a spot where reading itself isn't blowing my skirt up.  Or like the gal at the feed store said, "I'd read more, but it's too lovely outside."  Maybe that's it.  Maybe it's that I have too much to do outside to be inside reading.  :shrug:  This, too, shall pass.

And I'm still not fishing.

What exactly am I doing?  Hell if I know.  I did a bunch of gardening stuff.  I've been exercising.  There's been some spreadsheet stuff.  Shopping.  Cleaning.  I did the windows last week.  And some dusting.

Oh, yeah, and last week was the well thing.  The well pump went kerplooey.  But they got it fixed quick so we were only without water for 24 hours.  Of course, then the well had to be chlorinated, so we had a few more days on bottled water until the bleach was washed out of the system. But it's all good now.

Spring is in full swing here.  The trees are no longer naked.  The flowers are blooming or getting ready to bloom.  Hubs has already mowed the yard twice and done the first bug-spraying of the year.  The birds are stopping by on their migratory route.  The bucks' antlers are growing and so are the does' bellies.  Life is good.

How are things where you are?