The Home Stretch

Well, it's almost here... The end of November.  If you're doing NaNo, this particular time of year either has you dreading the next few days or relieved you can finally pry your butt out of that chair and take your clawed hands off the keyboard.

Or possibly you'll be dancing because you did it.  You wrote a novel in November.

Perhaps you didn't finish.  You put your head down and wrote as much as you could, but life got in the way.  Celebrate anyway.  Dude, you wrote stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.

I didn't NaNo this year.  I was smack in the middle of my WIP when the month started (almost literally), and I couldn't take the time to work on something new and shiny.  I'm in my own homestretch.  I didn't think finishing this would take all of November, but it did.  Now we're creeping up on 11/30 and I'm two chapters away from typing THE END on this rewrite.

Another writer and myself talked about doing a NaNo like thing in December.  If I get this rewrite done, I could do another 50K next month.  Lord knows, I did 50K in October.  I'm almost up to 50K this month for Djinnocide.  All of that shows I can do it again.  But a part of me weeps when I think about spending another month typing furiously.

As long as I ignore that part, I should do fine.

So, if she's up to it, I'm up to it.  And if she's not?  Well, I still need to be up to it.  Because that's what writers do.  We write.

Anyway, good luck as you hit this homestretch.  I'm standing online the sidelines, waving my pompoms and cheering like crazy as you approach the finish line.  And I'm looking forward to a finish line of my own.  We can do it!

Black Friday?

Husband and I were talking yesterday, wondering when this whole Black Friday business started and why they feel the need to call it that. 

Black Monday was a bad day.  In 1987, the stock market crashed and traders were throwing themselves out windows.

Black Tuesday was a similar bad day.  In 1929, the stock market crashed and threw the country into the Great Depression.

Black Wednesday is supposedly the biggest teen binge-drinking day of the year.

1929 wasn't a good year for days, and it had a Black Thursday, too.  Of course, with this year's overflow of Black Friday sales onto the day before, they're starting to refer to Thanksgiving night as Black Thursday, too.

And you may not know it - unless you're down under - but there's a Black Saturday, too.  So named because of raging brush fires in Victoria in 2009, it was the worst day for wildfires in the nation's history.

Black Sunday was a fictional bad day.  Terrorists plot to blow up the stadium where the Super Bowl is being held.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that all the other 'Black Days' are black because something bad happened.  How could a day of shopping, spending, getting bargains, and generally being good little capitalists be bad?

Okay, sure, some people get crazy and make the experience bad.  It seems like every year fights break out and someone gets hurt.  Last year some woman got trampled to death by the crowd trying to get into a Walmart for extra bargains.  That, my friends, would make any day dark.

But really, unless you choose to make today a bad day, it really shouldn't be 'black' for you.  I think we should call it something else entirely.  My husband suggested 'Good Friday' but that's already been taken.  So how about we call this 'Best Friday' because for bargain hunters like me, it would be the best day of the year.  (You know, if I like didn't hate crowds and totally avoid shopping on days like today.)

What do you think we should rename this day to?  Why do you think they call it 'Black'?  (And no cheating by asking Google the origin of the name.  I'm looking for creative thoughts here.)

Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving may be a North American holiday, but there's no reason why those on other continents can't enjoy a feast and remember all the wonderful things going on in their lives.  So to all of you, I say...

**Image Deleted**

Happy Turkey Day!

And remember, today is the day for kicking back and eating until you're uncomfortable, so the below aren't really sins...

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Enjoy!

Super Easy Pumpkin Pie

I know all y'all are probably already done buying and baking for Thanksgiving, but I made a new recipe today I just had to share.

Super Easy Pumpkin Pie

1 can pumpkin (15oz)
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14oz)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash ground cloves (to taste)
1/2 tsp salt
1 9" unbaked pie crust
1 tub whipped cream

Preheat oven to 425F.  Beat together pumpkin, condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt in mixing bowl until smooth.  Pour into crust.  Bake 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temp to 350F.  Continue baking for approximately 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Top with whipped cream.  Keep leftovers in the fridge. 

I haven't cut into it yet, but the batter before I poured it into the shell was Awe Some.  For me, I had more pumpkin mixture than would fit in a pre-made frozen regular shell, so I used the rest to whip together a quick pumpkin cheesecake, too.  So maybe if you used a deep dish shell it would work out better.  If you try it, let me know.

And have a wonderful holiday tomorrow, everyone.  :HUGS:

Snippets of Wisdom From the Movies

Thinking about something I was discussing with the daughter the other day got me to thinking about wisdom I've found from movie quotes.  So, I thought I'd pass certain ones along today.  In the comments, feel free to contribute any movie wisdom you use.

"Be nice until it's time to not be nice." - Roadhouse

"Never give up.  Never surrender." - Galaxy Quest

"Never say die, but very frequently say 'Ouch'." - The Thief and the Cobbler

"An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure." - Steel Magnolias

"Stupid is as stupid does." - Forrest Gump

"Have fun storming the castle." - The Princess Bride

"There is no try.  There is only do or do not." - The Empire Strikes Back

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Lyric Tuesday on Thursday

I know I haven't been keeping up with the Lyric Tuesdays and this is two days late, but I thought we could all use these words today.

Without further ado, I give you...

Keep Your Head Up 
by Andy Grammer.

I've been waiting on the sunset
Bills on my mindset
I can get deny they're getting high
Higher than my income
My income's breadcrumbs
I've been trying to survive

The glow that the sun gives
Right around sunset
Helps me realize
This is just a journey
Drop your worries
You are gonna turn out fine
Oh, you'll turn out fine
Fine, oh, you'll turn out fine

But you gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh

I know it's hard, know its hard,
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh eh eh eh

I've got my hands in my pockets,
Kickin' these rocks
Its kinda hard to watch this life go by.
I'm buyin' in the skeptics,
Skeptics mess with, the confidence in my eyes

I'm seeing all the angles, starts to get tangled
I start to compromise
My life and the purpose
Is it all worth it,
Am I gonna turn out fine?
Oh, you'll turn out fine
Fine, oh, you'll turn out fine

But you gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh

I know it's hard, know its hard,
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh eh eh eh

Only rainbows after rain
The sun will always come again.
Its a circle, circling,
Around again, it comes around again
I said

Only rainbows after rain
The sun will always come again
Its a circle, circling,
Around again, it comes around,

But you gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh

I know it's hard, know its hard
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh

Keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh

Keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down, eh eh

Keep your head up, oh oh
And you can let your hair down

ETA: lyrics pulled from the YouTube video page I link to in the title - with a wee bit of proofreading by me

This Too Shall Pass

I've been a bad little blogger this week.  I did write two posts, but discarded them as too whiny and/or too ranty for public consumption.  Suffice it to say, it's been a strange week or so here in Neverland.

My car had a coronary.  Lucky for me, a fuel pump transplant was possible, and Callie is now back in working order.

My kid sprained her ankle.  She'd just hung up the phone with me as she was walking back from class, and she tripped off the edge of the sidewalk.  For a bit, we thought it might be broken, but thank goodness, it was just a sprain.  Gimpy girl is on her feet, limping from class to class - perhaps a little bent, but unbowed.

Max got in another fight and once again managed to go all abscessy on me.  Plus, according to the vet, he tore a muscle.  So, he's in rehab. 

Yesterday, I ate something that not only disagreed with me, it argued.

And then today I woke up with a massive sinus headache.

Still, I haven't had the worst time of it.  A friend of mine's cat died.  It might seem like a small thing in the scheme of the universe, but I know it hurt her.  I can't imagine how much pain I would've felt if I'd reached into Max's box to find him more than injured.  That kind of put it all in perspective.  No matter how craptastic my life has been, all my loved ones are with me.  We have a roof over our heads, we have food and warmth, we have a paycheck coming in, all our debts are paid and our bills are current.  Life, as weird as it can be sometimes, ain't so bad here after all.

I just need to remember whenever a little shitstorm hovers over my head that this too shall pass.