October the Last

Bye, October!

You went by so fast! It's not even funny! I feel like I didn't get much of a chance to enjoy you with everything that went on. It seemed like we went from one issue to another. Yeah, we got a little stay-cation, but we spent most of that working on cars. It was over before it even seemed to start.

You're one of my favorite months, and it's sad to see you go.

Next starts the craziness.

As you know, there is no such thing as Thanksgiving anymore.

I find that very sad. I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it. I love the preparation. I love the cooking. And, of course, everything about the day. Except maybe the dishes, but they can be fun, too.

We're doing Thanksgiving here this year with That Man's family. It's our first year without That Mom, and it's important to be together. We're not even halfway through our firsts without her. I miss her terribly, but it's important to me to be the rock for That Man and That Sister like they were for me.

Already my mind is turning toward Christmas (and not in the "let's get our decorations up" kind of way, but in the "let's financially manage the expectations" kind of way). I refuse to go into debt to purchase gifts. That Man and I are discussing what's most important and how we can be fair and still not feel like cheap skates.

We'll figure it out.

I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about Christmas this year yet. I want to be excited. I want to go all out decorating. I'm just not sure I have it in me yet. We'll see.

That is all.

Behave! 

Tired Tuesday

Still exhausted.

The day job is not helping. It's like a swimming pool of stress. I'm not kidding. Three screens of absolute madness.

After work, K4 and I met up with a guy I went to high school with so she could interview him for her English project. That went well. I hadn't seen him in a while and it was good to catch up a bit.

That Man made dinner. We cleaned up. Took out the trash. Did laundry. Such a very exciting evening. I know how jealous you must be. Ha!

I did write a really good amount. I'm only a few hundred words away from meeting the lofty goal I set for myself at my writing meeting. We have elections on Saturday and I'm running for a board position.

Tomorrow is more of the lovely same... Joy.

That is all.

Behave!

Back To Normal...

Or as normal as it gets around here.

Got home before eleven yesterday. The drive was fine, but shifting hurt my poor shins. Chilled a little when I got home. No nap though, and I desperately needed one.

We were supposed to go to dinner with K3, but the place he chose was closed. He ended up coming over here for vegan noodle bowls. The dinner turned out well and I made him a pumpkin cake complete with coconut milk ice cream and vegan whipped cream (which is super yummy! I think I prefer it over regular whipped cream). We watched a movie. It was a nice evening.

To bed way later than I wanted or needed, so I'm dragging today. Woke up with a killer headache that took hours to subside. Crazy busy at the day job.

Now I'm going to write my words and go to bed.

Behave!

HallowReads - Day Three

Yeah, I missed last night. It was a crazy, but good, day.

To the venue a little earlier than expected, so headed out to grab some breakfast. Adorable little cafe downtown and had Cream of Crab soup for breakfast. Awesome!

Back to the venue for a day of workshops and laughter. It went well. When it was done, our little PA posse headed into town for dinner. At at a pub with awesome staff and good food. Then a stop at the wine shop where the ghost stories were being told. We didn't stay too long because it was raining and it was pretty packed.

We were going to get together with the rest of our crew later, but everyone was exhausted.

Today was long...and good.

Started early. I snored like a lumberjack last night, so I owe my roommate a nice bouquet of flowers for not killing me in my sleep. Seriously.

We realized our room fridge froze everything yesterday and while we were gone today, a soda exploded and opened the door. So now everything is warm. Awesome.

Anyway. Went back to the same cafe for breakfast this morning. I wanted the soup again, but opted for something with a little more protein to get me through the day. Seriously good food. Bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel like none I have ever had before.

Arrived at the venue and set up for the book signing. Then off to panels. I had two - one first off this morning and one after lunch. I think they went well. I was told they went well by friends in attendance.

We were supposed to have a food truck on site for lunch, but they cancelled. That sucked. So the coordinator ordered pizza's for lunch. Which was fine, but also the second day in a row I had pizza for lunch, so pizza is off the menu for a little while now. It was totally fine. I was just super disappointed that we had no food truck.

Grabbed food and booked it to my next panel, which was a lot of fun. After that, I desperately needed a break, so I went to the signing room and just chilled. Keynote Speaker was next, which also just happened to be Simon, so went to that. Then the signing.

I sold zero books, but a lot of folks picked up my promo stuff. I also met a lot of lovely people. I still call win, so I'm good. I did, for the first time ever, sign a baby today. Well, a baby's shirt. He was a cute little guy and his mom had come several years ago with his older brother and everyone signed his onsie. So she recreated it for her new son. It was pretty cool.

Then dinner with my writing "brother" and the gang. We laughed our butts off and talked about many things.

There was a haunted house after dinner, but my shins hurt like a mofo from walking the hills in town multiple times in boots, so I conned Simon into dropping me at my hotel on her way back to hers (her feet were killing her, too). I am told that it's a good thing I didn't go. There were like 2,000 steps to walk up to get to the facility. I seriously would probably be laying in the grass somewhere, crying in pain. I was bummed to miss it, but also, incredibly exhausted and I know I made the right decision to not go.

I had a blast here. It feels really good to be back in the world I want to live in with people I like and respect. I'm planning on returning next year and I'm excited about that.

Now to sleep.

Behave!

HallowReads - Day One

Well, technically it's not day one, but it counts since I am here.

Left the day job on time and hit the road. Made it in exactly the time I thought I would. Got to the hotel, checked in, unloaded, and went upstairs to find my roommate. Threw my stuff on the bed and then we left to meet the others for dinner.

Cute little Mexican restaurant. Awesome food. Awesome conversation. We were there for over two hours.

Back to the hotel.

I tried to pay bills but something funky is going on. I think it's the firewall on the hotel's wifi. Nothing will work. I think I managed to get two bills paid before everything refused to happen at all. Whatever. I will take care of them when I get home at this point. Frustrating though.

I did get my words in. Yay me.

Tomorrow is technically day one. There are workshops and ghost stories and all kinds of fun things.

Whoot!

That is all.

Behave!

Wednesday...

Tomorrow I leave! I'm still not ready, but I'm trying.

The bag is on the couch waiting for the last few things to be shoved into it. The laundry is in the dryer, but it just got put there, so I have to wait. Ugh, but it is what it is. The briefcase is waiting for the computer to be shoved into it. All charging cords are gathered and working (which is important. Last time I went out of town, my cube was fried).

Tonight has been crazy town. I rushed home from work to get to an event on time and started the laundry before I left. The event ended sooner than we expected, but still... the dryer takes forever. And I even put stuff on the rack to dry over the heater.

My book signing stuff is ready to go. Clothes are almost ready. Bathroom stuff will be ready in the morning. I need to get cash, gas, and a few items necessary for the weekend. But first I have to work all day. You know how that's going to go... clock watching...

When I get there and get settled in, I'm meeting up with a group of friends for dinner. I haven't seen some of these folks for a long time, so it's exciting.

I hope to post updates from the trip!

I'm so excited!

Behave!

Hallow Read

This is where I will be this weekend! 

I'm so excited. And a bit crazy trying to get ready! This is my very first time at this event, but from what I've heard, it's right up my alley! I have many friends going, and I'm looking forward to meeting new friends. 

I'll miss our Trick or Treat night, but That Man has that handled and everything else. I'm leaving right after work on Thursday and will find my roommate, and get settled in. Then we'll meet up with friends.  

Friday is workshops, then a bonfire.

Saturday starts with a book signing, and then panels. I'm on two. Yay! Saturday night is a haunted house. There are food trucks and a Wine Bin tour and dinner with friends. 

Sunday is coming home day.

Yeah, I'm a bit nervous since this is my first time and I haven't been to anything like this in about five years. It's going to be awesome though, and I think, just what I need. 

Then, in about a month, I'm in Shippensburg for a signing!

I'm making progress preparing, but still have a ton of stuff to do. Tomorrow night is crazy busy, too, so I'm not sure how I'm managing it all, but I will. 

Behave!  

Weekend Wrap Up...

Ugh. It's Sunday.

What a long weekend.

Saturday was baby shower day. It didn't turn out so great. I mean, it was super nice - we had great decorations, games, and food. It was just that very few people showed up, either due to work or last minute emergencies. It was sad and I feel really bad for my daughter-in-law.

After cleaning up from the shower, we headed up to my sisters to check on the progress of the car. They were done, so we headed to a friend's party for a little while.

Finally got back home and crashed.

Today has been chilling all day. We finally started a fire for warmth. Doing laundry. Writing. Ordered pizza for dinner.

It will an early bedtime. My head is killing me.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

Thank you, Friday!

It was a long day at the day job, but every day is long at the day job lately. Lots of crazy stuff going on. And crazy busy. The one thing that remains constant is that I love my coworkers like they are kin. I guess they are - just a different sort. I know I say this a lot, but that just means that I have the best coworkers in the world.

Oh! And did our kitten just have surgery? No way. He's acting like nothing happened and being as obnoxious as ever. We put him in solitary last night after he tried to go after Granny Cat, but that lasted until right before we went to bed. That's when we heard his terrible cries and him trying to get the doorknob to turn so he could get out. We figured he'd hurt himself trying to be with us and let him out. I slept with him on my chest most of the night. If he wasn't on me, he was on my sweatshirt beside the bed. So cute. He was soaking wet when I left for work this morning. I don't know what it is with this cat, but he loves water. He's either in the sink or the shower or playing in the shared water dish.

Anyway...

The feel good...

1. Cheese steaks for dinner. So good and so needed.

2. Mr. B and him being himself. He took over my office as the "principals" office and freely used my "easy" button, my crazy pen (which is now his) and a lot of paper. LOL

3. Prepping for the baby shower tomorrow. It's going to be good.

4. K4 coming home later tomorrow. She has to stay for open house and she's excited about that.

5. Sleeping in a little tomorrow. Not too much, but hopefully just enough.

And that is all...

Behave!

Too Tired Thursday...

I did do the writing, but not nearly as much as I did last night.

I'm exhausted.

Tomorrow is Friday! Yay!

Max is doing well post-surgery. He's supposed to be in K4's room in the quiet, but he's such a social cat that we felt like it was better for him to be with us. He's currently beside me, playing with a napkin.

Okay. Scratch that... It was really good for him for a little while. He loved on That Man, took a little nap in his lap, ate some food, and rested. Then... He decided he wasn't post surgery and heavily drugged and went after our old lady cat, wobbled a lot, almost ran into a chair, and had now been put to bed. Seriously... Go to sleep drunk kitten!

This weekend is crazy. Car fixing. Baby shower. I just hope Sunday turns out to be a real day of rest and writing.

Oh! And It's cold here! We brought all of the plants inside. They aren't all where they should be, but at least they won't freeze overnight. For example - my huge fern is in the bathtub currently. I'm not sure where it's going to go because as of right now, I have a ginormous asparagus fern and a crazy pothos in the bathroom and I don't think I have room for that in there, too.

I'm off to get my list together for this weekend.

Behave!

Word Count Wednesday

I wrote more words tonight than I have written in a long time!

The new story is, obviously, moving along well. The ideas are flowing. The excitement has remained. It's all very good.

Today was a super super crappy day at the day job. The only way to not wallow in that was to write my fingers off. And that's what I did. It's been a super long time since I wrote to escape the day job, so I take that as a very good sign. And I wasn't only writing crap. I was writing good story!

I ended up at the day job almost an hour later than my clock out time for conversation and discussion and reassurance. After a conversation with That Man on my way home, he cancelled our plans for tonight - not just because of my bad day, but because he was dealing with a bad headache, too. We ordered in for dinner, which was awesome. And we both have lunch for tomorrow.

Tonight, we've been watching people restore the kind of cars we love while I write and we talk intermittently about a lot of different things and plans for the weekend. It's cold outside, but warm in here. Despite it all, it's been a pretty decent night.

Max gets fixed tomorrow. He's locked in K4's room right now with a litter box, water, and a crate. I have to have him at the vet by 8am tomorrow. He had his super awesome treat tonight and honestly, I think he knew something was up. He's going to hate me the most tomorrow, which, I guess, is okay. He likes That Man far more than me anyways, despite me being the one to mainly bottle feed him in his early days. He did sleep with me last night - his purring helping me to actually sleep. (we won't talk about what a shit-show of sleep last night was - okay we will - it was awful. I didn't sleep and at that one moment where you think you're actually going to fall asleep... something happened - either the dog moved, or the kitten decided to bite me, or some random crap happened.... yeah...)

No. I'm not bitter about the lack of sleep. Ha! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sleep tonight.

That is all!

Behave!

Tired Tuesday

It's still cold. I'm not complaining. It's nice for sleeping and drinking coffee and cuddling up on the couch with a blanket and my fuzzy socks. And yeah, I'm perfectly aware that this is going to feel warm in a few months and I'll be freezing to death.

And yes. I'm tired. It's only Tuesday, but it's been an exhausting week at the day job for many reasons. I'll be heading to the big warm bed in a little bit... Because, guess what? I have to do it again tomorrow. Ha!

The new book is going well! I've managed to write every day but one in our 50/50 challenge. I didn't write Saturday because of the eye thing.

This time next week, I'll be prepping to go to an author event in Maryland. I'm super excited. I'm on two panels, and have volunteered to help out wherever I'm needed. I'm sharing a room with a friend, and will be hanging out with other writing friends while making new friends. I get to sign books, go to a haunted house, and check out a winery. I'm excited!

And that is all...

Behave!

Last Day of Stay-Cation...

Yes. It's a sad day. No more vacation.

And it's freaking cold. Like a forty degree drop since Tuesday.

Friday was car working and the part did not come. We ended up watching movies and hanging out, though we went to bed super early.

Saturday was another home day. I woke up with something awful going on with my eye and sinuses. We went and got eye drops and took a nap. It was a bit better when I woke, but still yuck. We did manage to go out to dinner, which was nice, but again, I was in bed by 8:00. And I slept until 8:00 this morning. It's better today, but I am still swollen and not right.

Today we've been prepping ourselves. There's some napping going on. Blankets are out. I'm moving onto the writing next before I make dinner. (Which going to be awesome!) (Both the writing and the dinner.) I started a new book and I'm excited!

That is all.

Behave!

Stay-Cation: Day Two

It's Thursday, but it feels like Sunday to me.

The parade was okay. Long. Hot. Buggy. Busy. Seriously, it was the hottest, most packed parade I ever remember. Usually we're freezing and drinking coffee, but not this time and we had squatters trying to overtake our space. Sweaty was the word of the night. There were a lot of good things - K4 getting things ready, my boss coming over with her crew, hanging with my sister, getting to see and hug K5 as she danced by, (awesome! her group came in second!), Mr. B - even though he was still not feeling awesome, knowing I didn't have to go to work on Wednesday.

Yesterday was Stay-Cation Day One. That Man worked a half day, so I slept in. Really not that long, but it was still nice. Got up and sat on the back porch drinking coffee and deciding what I wanted to get done before That Man came home. I started cleaning up our room - we wanted to move some furniture around and I got it about half-way done before That Man came home. Laundry started. Dishes done. More coffee. When he got home, we headed out to gather our things for going to work on the car. Still waiting for insurance, but the people are nice enough to let us work on it even though we're waiting. Ugh.

Did that. Made fettuccine alfredo for dinner at my sister's. We were home by 8:00 and I was in bed by 8:30. Headache. Exhausted. I don't know what's up with that, but K4 was sent back to her dorm by her shop teacher today for the same reason.

Today is Stay-Cation Day Two. Slept in, though since I was in bed so early last night, I woke at 2:30 and couldn't go back to sleep until 4. Ugh. But at least I got to sleep until I naturally woke up again. We drank a bunch of coffee and planned our day. Since we're waiting for insurance and parts, we decided today would be a home day. Ran out for supplies quick. We've been equally lounging and working. Moved furniture, went through our clothing and got rid of a ton of stuff, organized stuff, and soon we'll be making dinner. Since we're on vacation, we decided to have fun stuff for dinner. Yay! Except... neither of us are hungry yet. Meh.

Tomorrow. We'll we don't know yet. I'm hoping the whole vacation thing actually hits me by then! We will probably go and work on the car again, since the parts should be in. I want to do fun stuff , too. We will be sleeping in, but after that... We'll see...And it's only Friday, which means we have three more vacation days! We are totally missing the beach, but it is what it is. We're going to make the most out of what we do have!

That is all.

Behave!

Monday Madness...

Sorry I missed the weekend wrap up. I went to bed at a ridiculous hour last night thanks to an awful headache and feeling like I got hit by a truck.

We found a car for K4. Just need the insurance to do their thing. She's pretty happy. So are we. Despite it needing a little work, it's great on gas, great in snow, and will fit her stuff as she travels back and forth from school.

Chicken Pot Pie for dinner last night. K1, J, and Mr. B came for dinner. It was a whim thing and it was good. K1 had/has hives and needed benadryl. Mr. B wanted to come along because he misses us (and then he tried to convince us to let him stay over, even though we had to work today). We'd made a ginormous batch of pot pie and it just worked out. K1 took a nap on the couch after his medicine. J and I talked baby shower. They took a decent amount of leftovers home. (yay!) It was a nice evening, though I was in bed by 8:30. (see above) They are all not feeling good now. Fevers, more hives, headache, sore. Viral?

The work day wasn't too terrible. I caught up with myself. Yay! I also changed my days off to start with Wednesday, so tomorrow is now my Friday. We still don't know what our time off will hold, but at least we're off and ready. We will probably not be doing the fun thing, but the car thing, and that's okay. We'll be off work and together, so there's that.

Tomorrow night is parade night.

It's okay. I equally like and loathe it. I would like it a lot more if I were home all day to do my thing. But, sadly, I'm not. (though it is my Friday! Yay! ha ha) We didn't put out the word at all, so have no idea if people will really show up beyond the kids (and K1's family is an unknown right now due to the feeling awful). Everyone knows about parade night, and things have been crazy here, so it is what it is.

I still made an insane batch of chili. It's more meat than beans, which is fine. I also made a batch of vegan chili since K3 is supposed to come over. Now if it would just cool off enough to put away until K4 gets home tomorrow to warm it. Seriously. It's been on the counter cooling for two hours and I swear it's still hot enough to burn me. I've also been running around straightening things and sweeping, though I didn't get too crazy with all of that. There is no point.

Okay. That's it.

Ya'll do your thing... I'm going to bed.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Let's get to it...

1. Not cooking dinner tonight. We went the easy way out with store-made chicken salad and some chips...Whatever... It was good and easy and no regrets. That Man had stuff to do and I wandered around the grocery store for a long time before deciding to do the chicken salad over frozen pizza or stopping at the pizza shop. Ugh.

2. Friday! B*tches! It was an incredibly long week at the day job. We did our best to hold each other up and help each other, but the truth is... we're dying. We're insanely busy and insanely stressed out. Today was about making sure we were all within our "metric". And we did that. Even though I still have a box of returned product sitting at my desk (I brought it back from my trip) and I haven't had a chance to actually go through it and match it to anything else.

When 5:00 came, we were giddy and ridiculous. Just so glad to be done with the week and have two days off to prepare for what next week has in store for us. It's not going to get any better, folks. We all know that.

3. Still waiting for the insurance company to deal... Jesus. Come on already. Oh and Monday is a holiday. So... their decision could greatly impact our plans for next weekend. Damn.

4. Career plan talks. We made plans for each other, laughed, and had the best conversation.

5. Getting ready to start the book. Yay!

6. Planning baby showers... Oy!

7. Looking forward to new grand-babies! Yay!

8. OH! Though I am off from the day job Thursday and Friday! Short week for me coming up! I hope. I might have to turn those days in.

9. Tuesday is our Halloween Parade night! I equally love and hate this night! lol

That is all for now...

Behave!!

It's Almost Friday!

This has been one of the longest weeks ever! Seriously!

Between the day job and the crashing of the cars and the broken cell phone and the rest of the crap that happened this week... And dang it! I should be at the beach right now... well... Friday at 5 can't come soon enough.

Let's go positive though...

The good stuff is that I finish my anthology story, I have a writers meeting on Saturday, and I have an awesome author event coming up at the end of the month that I'm super excited about.

I have plans with That Man very soon and it will be awesome.

Oy! That's enough for now. I need to head back to mapping out my next book!

Behave!

Sorry For the Silence...

Gah!! It's Tuesday and it's October 2nd!!

Sorry I fell off the earth! There's a lot going on...

Friday was good - went with my other rep and saw some people. She took me to lunch and then I came home and worked the rest of the day. K4 came home. K3 came over for dinner. We watched a movie and talked. It was really good.

Saturday was my book signing, which was awesome. Then to the wake for That Man's work daughter's husband. Not very awesome. Came home and chilled. We were both exhausted.

Sunday... well... Sunday is a completely different story.

I was awakened at 6:24am by a loud noise. I jumped out of bed, looked out the window, but saw nothing. Was going to get back into bed, but decided I needed to go look out another window. And... Oh hell... There was a car crashed into the back of K4's car. I run back to our room, find pants, wake That Man and run out. I asked if the driver was okay and if anyone called the police. Dude was fine. I made the call.

I'm not going to go any further with this story at the moment. I'll fill in the details later.

Yesterday was like a Monday in Hell. I kid you not.

Today was a rough day the whole way around - two of K4's friends were seriously injured this morning in a crash on their way into school this morning. There have been no updates except the one was in surgery and the other was awake but really sore. K4 broke her phone. We have that figured out, though - it's just logistics at this point. Dealing with above. Day job. I'm exhausted.

But October is always a good month, so I'm going to give it another chance. It's only day two. We have fun stuff coming up and I have author events coming up. It's got to get better.

That is all for now.

Behave!