Tag: chop wood carry water

We who are about to brain…

Proof of well-supervised work happening:

Did a lot of braining today. And laundry. Braining means less words, but better results. Laundry — well. You gotta have socks.

So, I see that DoorDash has lost a lawsuit 4 years in the trying, in which they were proved guilty of privateering during Covid. They gotta pay money to Almost Everybody, which is of interest to me because!

I have money on account with DoorDash, thanks to kind friends, and I am very careful to use it when I really need it — I’m on a drop-deadline, or I’m sick, or I just got back from picking up a cat in New Hampshire and drove home in the snow — you know: emergencies.

Over the last two days, I’ve been getting messages — and I’m talking about a lot of messages, “reminding” me that I have $X on account and that now! would be the perfect time to DoorDash a Big Mac. Or maybe I’d like a milkshake? Or somebody to pick up some Tday groceries for me? Or, or, or —

In other Convenient Food news, I got a gift card — included in the cat litter delivery — for $140 OFF my first box from Factor. How much do these things cost that they can give me a week’s grocery money off?

And third? Came in today’s mail and these folks are playing for keeps! They’re not only gonna send me premade dinners, they gonna give me a FREE “smart oven” to cook ’em in. All I have to do is open the box, sprinkle Stuff over what’s cooking, put the pans in the “smart oven” and scan the QR Code from the box. The oven will then smartly cook my meal to perfection.

The future is a lot weirder than I thought it would be.

Anyhoots. Coon Cat Happy Hour has been served. I am a tired woman, and am going to go pour a glass of wine and try to find the first season of the glass-blowing show and see if that’s less … people-y. I know that people make glass, and that it’s a competition, but I want less posturing, and more thoughts on the art or the process when I have to listen to the people, and more of the actual Happening of Art, which I think is more interesting than the finished pieces.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.

Not a negative word was heard

Saturday. Sunny and blue and my goodness what a pretty day.

I? slept late. I mean, I woke up at six, but couldn’t quite get ucouldp the gumption to throw back the covers, so I turned over for “fifteen minutes.” Three coon cats immediately and unanimously voted Aye, and I had Rookie against my back — that is one solid kitten we’re growing here — Firefly in the crook of my knees, and Tali under my chin . . . and the next time I opened my eyes it was 8:30.

So, hummus, naan, and grapes for breakfast, who knows for lunch. Writing is on the schedule. And also laundry. Evidence seems to indicate that I missed laundry last week. Well.

I watched two segments of “Blown Away.” There was a little too much with the people and too little with the glasswork, IMHO. I do realize that this is the standard format for reality shows, but — you’re looking at a woman who saw every hot glass demo at Corning for two solid days and was Sad that she couldn’t wrangle a third day.

The cats were mildly interested in the goings-ons. At one point, Firefly looked at me and you could see her thinking, “You did this? Are you nuts, Mom?” Guilty as charged, but I did have people who really knew what they were doing standing by to assist “the gaffer.”

So, that’s all the news from the Confusion Factory at the moment.

How’s everybody doing this fine November Saturday?

Today’s blog post title brought to you by Rhymin’ Paul Simon, “Was a Sunny Day“

Snow cats and book drop

Business first:  Tomorrow! CIVILIZED BEHAVIOR: Adventures in the Liaden Universe(R) #36, featuring three short stories set on Colemeno of recent memory, a speech, and an author’s forward will be released tomorrow in ebook from All of the Usual Suspects, and! in trade paper from Amazon.

Wednesday. Trash Day (holiday schedule). Cold and still. It snowed! overnight.

sigh

Breakfast was naan and hummus and grapes. I haven’t had naan or hummus, either, since Forever, but I went to the Other Grocery yesterday (where I got carded*, all 73 years and every silver white hair of me), because I was so tired of the Usual Grocery’s mediocre veggies and fruits, and also because I thought the Other Grocery would be a surer source for turkey fillets.

I was wrong about the turkey fillets, but I may have gone overboard on fresh stuff, and the problematic bottle of wine, and the hummus was right at my eye level as I turned a corner, and they had helpfully staged the naan right with it and — I was doomed. And it made a lovely breakfast, and I regret Nothing.

Today is another Real Life Day — Physical Therapy in a little over an hour, then a visit to the Usual Grocery to get the stuff the Other Grocery doesn’t carry (or, to be fair, that I forgot about yesterday). Then I have some phone calls to make — Fidium again! All three of the — repeaters? — are out, what fun — and then I need to adjust my Anthropic claim on account I have to Prove that Steve is dead.

I hate having to prove this particular equation, though to be fair, I’m not having to do it nearly so often as I had to, last year this time.

Tomorrow is also my last stained glass class, so I hope I’m discovered to be a soldering wizard.

Friday, Sarah will be by in the morning to help the cats clean up, and it looks like after that I’ll have Friday afternoon through Monday morning cleared to write new words.

If I was a smart writer — a point often in dispute — I’d not only work on doing the correx from the six-day sprint, but also sketch in the scenes that need to be written going forward.

I tried to watch TV last night, but had no brain (this is pretty bad, when you don’t even have enough brain left to sit passively and be spoon-fed a story), so I cuddled on the couch with the cats and listened to music until they jumped down for a snack and I went to bed.

So! All that said — how’re y’all doing this morning? Any snow at your place?

Wednesday morning cat census.
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*Busted:

Tuesday, with dinosaurs

Dinosaurs first:

Well, that was a surprise. One thousand five hundred new words between Jen Sin and the Uncle.

I have tasted the Hiberian Breakfast tea, and it was pleasant; a step up in whatever it is I seek in tea from the standard Irish Breakfast.

I then had a cup of Scottish Morn, which — may not have been wise. That’s — yeah. Quite a cup of tea. I’ll give it a chance on its own in a couple of days. Might be I’ll have to put milk in it, something I never thought I’d be doing.

Dental appointment at 1 pm, after, and depending on the state of the predicted “rain and snow,” I have a couple of errands, including the grocery, then back home and I’ll see where I am about what. It might be Enola Holmes tonight. I didn’t watch anything last night in favor of reading an article about old people “embracing” the single living lifestyle, which was — ultimately unenlightening. The article affected some astonishment regarding the fact that widowed men are more likely to remarry than widowed women. Which I find Not Surprising At All, though I have friends both male and female who have remarried after losing a spouse.

USPS would like me to believe that I am getting two deliveries from itself today. I will be surprised if that happens.

And I think that’s all the news from here. The cats all trooped back to Steve’s office with me this morning, took up their comfy spots, and I think that’s where they all still are.

I think that’s it for me. What’s it for you?

 

 

Sapphire Days, Peridot Knights

Weather first:  It snowed this afternoon.

Earlier That Same Day: Taking a break to bring the windchimes in for the winter.

Today is the 45th celebration of the day Steve Miller and I married. Against both of our better judgments, and yet, it was the only way to make certain we would each have someone to speak for us, if we couldn’t speak for ourselves.

I am once again thankful that we were often in the situation of having to put off Official Celebrations until whatever project happened to be on-deck was caught up. This means that working on the WIP is nothing out of the ordinary for an anniversary.

In honor of the day, I am wearing one sapphire earring and one peridot earring — my birthstone and Steve’s adopted birthstone (he didn’t like rubies). The air cleaners are on in the living room and the bedroom, and all of the cats joined me in Steve’s office to work.

I have a pizza, which I may or may not partake of this evening — pizza was the Official Standby Celebration Food — and now the sun has come out.

Back to work I go.

I hope everyone’s having a good morning.
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So! I rearranged the WIP, sorted what happens on which day, which was really needed. I pulled some scenes, and adjusted others. The whole manuscript in its new configuration is now printing out so I can do a read-through tomorrow.

For the moment, I’m finishing up my tea and cookies (note to self: find recipe for soft-baked lemon-sugar cookies; those things are yummy). After, I’ll go downstairs and do the cat box change out that I missed doing, what with the back and then the rush to catch up my stained glass. Then a shower, and then?

Maybe tonight is Kpop Demon Hunters. Why not?

I have decided that I will be making my own Thanksgiving dinner this year. There are certain things that I want to eat, and it’s not that hard to bake a couple of turkey fillets, pop a tube of biscuits, mix up a bowl of mashed, and another of dressing, if I wanna be Really Crazy, and throw some asparagus in a pan. Pie is readily available in Hannaford and Shaw’s and whipped cream is an easy buy.

So, this year, I’ll have what I want, as much or as little, while feeling neither forlorn nor bereft, and! I’ll have leftovers. And nor I won’t have to drive to Lisa’s or put up with Front and Main or The Senator. (All of these are very nice restaurants; I just don’t want to have to cope with any of them on Thanksgiving.)

That’s a Decision, then, and it even feels reasonable, which trying to convince myself to go to the buffet at Lisa’s just … wasn’t.

What else?

. . . not much actually. Days get weird when you prioritize writing.

I can report that it has stopped snowing — some hours ago, actually. Just a squall. Or a threat. Whatever.

So! Signing off for the night.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe out there.

Beeswax, Bunnies, and Lasagna

Monday, cloudy, breezy, and cool.

Breakfast was oatmeal and a cup of tea. Had a very nice errand-running session.

Went to Uncle Dean’s and bought three pure beeswax votive candles in their own glass holders (they even give you a pack of matches, which is very thoughtful; matches not being as common as they once more). Two of those votives are unscented; the third is scented with frankincense and lavender. I’m glad I noticed the lack of candles on Halloween; I have an anniversary coming up a little later in the week, and it will be nice to have a candle for that, too.

Also at Uncle Deans, I grabbed a loaf of sourdough/olive bread, a pack of “everything” English muffins, and! Yes, I could not resist — dried pineapple.

The morning being a bit chilly, I grabbed my very favorite not-winter-yet hand apparel — Pearl iZumi biking gloves — and I noticed that some of the grippy strips are coming off, transforming them into sticky strips. After I got over being appalled because these gloves are Practically! Brand! New! (I bought them when we were in Miramichi for our anniversary in I’m gonna say … 2001?), I stopped at TJMaxx to see if I could replace them. Long story short, I couldn’t, but! I was able to buy an eight-pack of bed socks (my feet get cold without other feet to put them against) at a good price, so — success of a sort. I also did not find a 2026 desk calendar, so that’s still on the list.

Paid my excise tax on the car, got my stickers, had a nice chat with the lady who heads up Waterville’s Health and Human Services office, went to the post office where a kind reader (I don’t use people’s names, usually, because some folks don’t like the publicity. You know who you are, and thank you!) sent me a pic of their tree-and-dragon tattoo and also a moon-and-rabbit coin purse, which the fact that the moon-and-rabbit is on a coin purse couldn’t be more perfect.

On the way home, I stopped at Holy Cannoli and bought a slab of meat lasagna only slightly bigger than my head, and two cookies, because I couldn’t decide between pumpkin chocolate chip or lemon-blueberry ricotta.

Next up is getting the cat litter from the garage to the house, doing my duty to the cats, and staging the trash for tomorrow’s trip to the curb. Then I’ll reheat part of the lasagna for lunch.

How’s everybody doing today?

 

Let’s do the time warp, again

Sunday. Sunny and chilly.

How is it not even noon yet?

Well.

Breakfast was cottage cheese, grapes, toast. Lunch will be soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Because I Can.

Wrote +/- 780 words first thing, which brings the total WIP to 105,500. Ish.

Wandered around the house making sure the programmable thermostats remembered their programming from last year. Updated my books read list. Dealt with email. Tried to figure out how much I’m going to be dinged for excise tax tomorrow when I go to buy my sticker at City Hall. Ordered in Scottish, Irish, and strong Irish tea. For Science!*

Still need to pay bills and do PR. And work on my glass project.

The cats were strongly in favor of gathering all together in Steve’s office first thing after breakfast, and that’s where they still are.

How’s everybody doing on this first day of the time change?

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*Science! The scale is: Brisk-Body-Aroma
Brisk: Does your mouth pucker?
Body: Does the tea fill your mouth?
Aroma: Does the tea have a robust scent?

Irish Breakfast Tea:        2-4-3
Hiberian (hi-test Irish): 4-4-2
Scottish Breakfast Tea:  4-5-1

Saturday Night

The foil almost makes it look like I know what I’m doing.

SPOILER: I do not know what I’m doing.

That’s about an hour and a half and I’m all foiled out. Time for a cup of hot chocolate in a comfy chair.
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Put the laundry away; washed the pots ‘n pans; locked Rookie in a closet; let him out again.

I think I’m done on the day. My back is grumbling, so I’ll be taking the hint and retiring to the couch with a book and the heating pad until its time to serve Coon Cat Happy Hour, which is coming right up.

Tomorrow, I plan to write, foil, curse the time change — and that should be enough for the first Sunday in November. Monday, I have errands which I guess I should get done early.

I should also sometime tomorrow or Monday make an order at Harney’s as I’m almost out of the oil that greases the wheels around here — Irish Breakfast Tea. I got sidetracked today into wondering if I might not like Scottish Morn, instead, which is said to be darker, given that I drink tea as a replacement for coffee… Well. Decisions for later.

Oh. The Sekrit Project is a Sekrit because the contract hasn’t been signed.

And! I do believe the mail has just been delivered.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.

The Saturday cat census and editorial chastisement committee photos may be found here

Sorry ’bout that

I didn’t mean to drop off the face of the earth quite so suddenly, and I thank everyone who wrote to check if I was OK, while I was locked out of the blog here.

For the record:  I am OK.  For values of which include an almost functioning back, but completely non-functional connectivity.  The problem is apparently mine own, and is somewhere between my router and the street, which requires The Fidium Guy.  Who has a V. Busy Schedule and will not be able to get to me until Tuesday.  Yes, even though I work at home.  Sigh.

In the meantime, I’ve been flailing around with my phone, trying to mobile-hotspot-it, and — yeah.  An adventure.

Yes, I’ll have to figure out an Emergency Protocol, for if this happens again.  But not today.

Saturday. November 1. Cloudy, cool, and breezy.

So! The Closers held. It was a near thing, though.

Last night I poured a glass of real wine, and lit the electric candle, since I seem to no longer have any wax candles. Digression: I could have sworn that I had a pack of beeswax tapers, but — the old woman who lives with me may have put them Someplace Else. Or I may have given them away when I was clearing the house in preparation for joining Steve at the New Place.

In any case — glass of nice red, candle. Firefly came up on my lap, which she hardly ever does, and we told the kids stories of those who had gone ahead: of Steve, and Sprite, and Belle, and Trooper; Scrabble — yes, even Archie. It was a peaceful evening, and I slept well, after.

This morning, I found something on my phone called “Extended” and toggled that on. It seems to be helping with connectivity — I’m typing this on my office computer, using the phone as a hotspot, and things are moving along right sprightly. So — fingers crossed that this just isn’t an artifact of nobody else is awake and on their computers yet.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and toast. Drinking my first cup of tea.

As soon as I’m finished here, I’ll be brewing another cup of tea and putting my attention on the contract that arrived yesterday, hoping to get it back in the snail today.

I also hope to get at least some foiling done. I forgot that this week’s class will be on Wednesday, not Thursday, so there’s no way I’m going to be able to foil all those itsy pieces before class. Last week I missed soldering, so — yeah, I’m really behind.

I ALSO need to go through the desk in this office, create some order and Deal with . . . whatever’s under — waves — All Of This.

I remember back when I was a kid and Catholic — today, November 1, we went to church for All Soul’s Day. And — weird kid, remember — I always thought it was because we were praying a lighted path to guide those who had come out for Halloween back home again. Which, actually, is a lot more gracious than the Catholic Church had ever likely been, but — weird kid, remember.

What did you do, last night?

 

 

Gothic Monday

What went before ONE:  So that’s +/-1,320 words on the morning. I’m not reporting the impact of these words on the WIP total because I don’t know exactly where they go.

The cats were all waiting for me when I got to Steve’s Office, and they stuck with me until I said, “That’s a wrap,” whereupon Rook and Tali got up, stretched, and followed me to the front of the house.

It’s now time to have lunch, then go downstairs to perform one’s duty to the cats, and monkey around with my glass for a bit.

The cloudy morning has become a sunny afternoon, though still cool.

And so it goes.
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What went before TWO:  Aaaand that’s enough fun for one day! I have finished cutting what glass I can. As Was Predicted, I did break the starfish — twice, but the second time much better than the first (Do not laugh. The bar we’re using here, as Miri Robertson once famously said, is the one that’s buried in that snowpile over there). So, rather than run out of glass, I shall take what I have with me to class, prepared to Learn Better.

There’s a horrifying amount of glass pieces in my scrap box. Honestly, I should go into the kaleidoscope business.

Also, the project got its tithe of blood today, so I was glad I had wimped in and taken my silly little first aid kit down to The Studio.

But! All that said — I’m for a cup of tea and a bun, and then I do believe I’ll read.

Everybody have a good evening. I’ll check in tomorrow.
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What went before THREE: New entry in Steve and Sharon’s Excellent Adventure, for those who are reading along: Eager Street
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Um. Monday? Cool and damp; rain in the forecast.

Updated my books read list — I have read my 50th book, which is something of a relief; I really didn’t think I was going to see that many.

Read the first eight chapters of the book club book last night. I really can’t tell if the … predictability is a feature or a bug. As in, yes, this; yes, this, too; no that’s pretty flimsy, but it gets us where we’re going; ok, yeah, they lied, what a surprise — is just the entrance ramp into the Real Story* (feature) or if, having begun, this is how we mean to go on. Well. I’ll find out.

In other news, I was inclined to feel Poorly Used when I got the news that my health insurance will be going up $30 a month in 2026, but that was before I read the newspaper and found out that this same insurance provider is dropping membership for half the state. Yes, the half that needs it the most, why do you ask?

Sigh. It’s possible that Mondays aren’t good for me.

P’rhaps I’ll go find a cup of tea and something for breakfast.

How’s everybody doing this morning?
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*I almost had a fistfight on a panel regarding the beginning of The Goblin Emperor, in which,** and my fellow panelist was insisting that it was Bad Storytelling because Basic Security mandates that you Don’t Do That, and my equally empassioned argument that this was just to “explain” how we got to the Unlikely Situation which was the Actual Story the writer wanted to tell. Wow, that was an exhausting panel.
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
_________
**The Emperor and all of his sons are on the same airship when it blows up.