Weekend Wrap Up...

 Tomorrow is Monday. Again. 

The last Monday in August. Weird. Come Tuesday, it will be September. Also weird.

Here's the list:

1. The. Book. Is. Finally. Done! 

Of course, it's a hot mess, but that's okay. It will sit for a little and I will work on something new (I just don't know what yet) and then I will got back and edit it. And it will be awesome.

2. My new coffee cup. It's hot pink! It holds 30 ounces! I love it! And it has a straw, a silicone attachment for the straw, and a straw cleaner! I haven't tried it with hot stuff because I've been on an iced coffee kick lately, but it definitely keeps ice for a really long time. I had it full of ice water all day yesterday and left it on the counter when I went to bed. When I got up, there was still a ton of ice left in it. I ordered That Man one, too. His current cup is awesome, but it's very tiny. 

3. A pretty decent weekend. We did a bunch of stuff - re-potted plants, refinished a table for the porch, found some cool stuff for the porch at the surplus store. Did the shopping. Did the vacuuming. Did a bunch of random stuff. 

4. Labor Day is this coming weekend. There are potential plans to see my siblings at my sisters. Things are up in the air right now, but we are doing all we can to make it. I miss everyone so very much! I haven't seen them all together since... well... it's been a really long time. 

5. My very first pineapple upside down cake coming out looking awesome! I have no idea how it tastes and probably won't. That Man and I made it for a coworker's birthday tomorrow. He's in the office. I'm not, so the chances of me getting to try it are slim. But it looks amazing! I used a "brown butter" cake mix for the cake portion, which, until today, I had never seen before. It uses almost an entire stick of butter in the batter. I hope it tastes good! 

That's all I have! 

Behave!

Feel Good Friday - Last Friday in August

Can you believe that? The last Friday in August? I mean... Come on. The. Last. Friday. In. August.

That is too weird.

Time is so strange these days. Over five months of working from home. Over five months of this virus stuff. Over five months of missing out on so many things...

Anyway. Not to delve too deeply into that stuff, let's do the Feel Good list...

1. Grocery delivery. Though I forgot some stuff. It's super nice to be able to order online and have it dropped off on my porch. I don't mind paying the delivery fee. I don't mind tipping the driver. I absolutely adore not having to go to the store, load the groceries into my cart, load them through the checkout, and then load, and unload them from my car. Granted, I won't use it every week, but it's nice to have the option when I want to use it. 

2. Getting through the work week. It was rough in spots, but on the whole okay. It's nice that it's the weekend. I have had to put my "manager" (yes, I am the manager) hat on a few times this week. One result was good. The other is still unknown. 

3. Rain tomorrow. Hopefully. Please. I have been wishing and hoping for rain for weeks now. We finally got some this afternoon, which definitely cooled things off, but I want an entire day of rain and thunderstorms. That would mean naps on the couch, movie watching, snacks, and more naps. We haven't had a day like that for a super long time, so I want it. 

4. Making the decision to hide the main social media outlet. I took it off my pages that load when I open my computer browser. I hid it on my phone so I would have to really think about it before I open it. I will check it only twice a day now. I am a lot less stressed and distressed now and it's only been a day. Also, my eyes don't hurt anymore from all of the eye rolling. Ha!

5. Amping up the word count this week. I swear this book will never end though! I am far, far beyond my projected word count and still have not resolved anything. The big bad guy is taken care of. That's the only thing done. The romance-y part is not settled. The heroine has no idea what she's doing. Neither does the hero. It's a huge mess. And it won't end... lol And it will need a mega-nuclear ton if editing. 

6. Grandkids. I got first day of school pics. Silly baby pics. And random conversations. All good. 

That's all I have... 

Behave! 

Well Then...

Yeah... Almost ten days again... No excuses except... whatever. Time is fluid and means nothing. 

I mean it's almost September already! The last I knew it was March! I have officially worked from home longer than I have worked in the office. Ha! 

No progress on the porch picture. Of course, I haven't really been trying either. 

I've been writing. Critiquing for friends. I did do an author event at the bookstore - totally safe - masks and distancing - and kittens. Sold a few books and got to talk to some author friends I haven't seen in forever. That was super nice. 

The porch is still awesome. Some things still need done. We're working on that. Can't find what we're looking for though. Of course, it's not like we really want to go actual shopping. Grabbed a few flowers at the home improvement store. They are fall flowers, but they match and I don't care that it's still August. 

Got to see K5 last weekend! That was awesome. She came Friday night. We walked a block up the street to the food truck thing one of the local churches does. It was horrid as far as waiting and the heat, but the food was good. K5's mom hung out and ate dinner with us. That was super nice. We haven't gotten to just hang out with her for a long time. 

K5 stayed the night. K5, K4, and I had to run to get sneakers and a few things for K5 for school the next morning. I hated every second of actually being in the store. It was weird. But we had a good time. That Man picked up Mr. B and the kids got to spend the afternoon together. They played in the hose, painted stuff, ate a bunch, and had a blast. It was really fun and the kids were so happy to see each other. We dropped them off at their respective homes and came home and absolutely crashed. 

That is it. 

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up...On Tuesday

 Yeah. Another week. It's been a busy one around here. I thought this posted on Sunday, but...

The porch is 95% done!

The big shrubs are gone. We just need to dig up the roots. And touch up some paint. And figure out the landscaping (that'll be a spring thing though. It's too late to plant stuff now.) And fix the sidewalk on the side of the house. And the fence. And trim our huge pine tree. And replace the screen door. 

But compared to what we've done already, that list is small! 

It's so nice to be this far done! I am trying to post a picture, but it keeps rejecting it. 

I will keep trying though! 

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up

Sunday is still the same mix of sorrow and joy, so that hasn't changed since the pandemic happened. That Man has to go to the office tomorrow. I have to start my day super early. 

So let's wrap up the weekend, shall we? 

Saturday - 

Absolutely zero sleeping in. In fact, we both woke up super early and proceeded to torment the other much to the annoyance of the dog. She was not happy with our shenanigans at all. 

Got up. Coffee. Porch decisions. Waiting for the guy to come and look at K4's car. 

He was late. Had other interest in the car in the meantime. He finally showed. The money was paid, the title was transferred, and the car was gone before 10am. Whoot! 

That Man primed the porch. I went to do the grocery thing. We waited for the primer to dry, then hit the porch with the first coat of paint. Yeehaw! Neither of us were sure about the color. That Man still isn't sure, but I love it now. It dried darker than it went on, and now that the sides of the porch are also painted, it looks awesome. We have some more work to do - the valance, the landscaping, etc... So hopefully by this time next weekend we will be done. I hope. 

Signed my contract. Finished my edits and sent them off for critique. 

We cooked awesome chicken on the grill. Had a fire in the backyard. Talked to a friend I never get to talk to anymore. 

It was a busy, but good day.

Today - 

Slept in a tiny bit. 

Made an absolutely insane amount of zucchini bread. I mean an insane amount. My recipe called for 2 cups of zucchini for 2 loaves. of bread I ended up with 8 cups of zucchini. Yes. 8 loaves is what I mixed up. One is gone already. We were all dying for it and pretty much devoured the first loaf that came out of the oven. 

That Man is taking one to work tomorrow. We also put a bunch of batter in a foil pan and made a "cake". In addition to that, I have four full loaves. (that's 6, plus the huge cake pan) I wish I would have picked up the smaller foil loaf pans when I was out earlier. But... next time. I was so excited that K4's best friend's mom sent the zucchini home for me! I think I lost my head for a minute! Ha! 

We put the second coat of paint on the porch. Whoo!

That Man did some work on his car.

Made some awesome burgers for dinner. Laundry... blah, blah, blah...

Talked to K1 for a while. The boys are coming over on Wednesday. So excited! 

It's hot again. I hate it. It's decent in the house, but since the oven has been on most all day to bake the zucchini bread it's not as nice as it should be. Still better than being outside though. 

That's all I have for now!

Behave!

Okay. Now It's August... Feel Good Friday!

 Not sure how that happened. Wait. 2020 is insane, so even though I don't know how August got here so soon, I do know... Crazy sh*t/time travel! (I have not seen a single murder hornet in my backyard though... Just saying...)

But it's Friday. Again. 

So what is happening? 

1. Car one sold. And gone. Nice. 

2. Car two has interest. In fact, talking to a guy right now about it. I lowered the price, though it's definitely worth what we had originally listed it for. It needs to be gone, so we'll see what happens. We're not really willing to go much lower than what it's listed for now. 

3. We got the new Internet installed. No more cable at all. And such nice savings! The tech even took our old equipment, which was super awesome. New wiring was ran. We're supposed to get some kind of new streaming box. I have no idea on that. The lady told me about it, but I wasn't sure what she was talking about. Internet is super fast though and our family tech guy set everything up for us, which is sweet. 

4. At the same time #3 happened, I woke up to absolutely no Internet. We were supposed to have it until the tech came, but we'd had a major storm overnight which is probably what knocked it out. (hence new wiring). I worked from my phone all day, which was a pain, but the job got done. 

5. A few weeks ago I hinted about some good news on the writing front. Well... my contracts expired on some of the first books I published. The publisher actually closed under dire circumstances. (The owner died, everyone quit) I pulled my contracts and found that they'd expired 3-4 years ago. So I emailed my current publisher and asked if they would be interested in doing reprints. They were. And just the other day I got a contract offer for one of the first stories I published. It's been renamed and will be re-edited (again), but I am so excited. I have an additional book currently undergoing edits, too. And I hope we have the same good news from that one. I will post more info once I have everything set!

6. Editing the next story! I am halfway through with entering the changes I found. Once done, I will send it out for critique before sending it to my editor! 

7. We are hoping to do the final painting on the porch this weekend. The humidity and heat have pretty much stopped us in our tracks. The primer has to be done under a ridiculously low humidity and temperature level. It's like these people who make this paint don't live in our state! Ha! We are So. Close. to being done...

8. Ordering food this week. It showed up hot and on time and was cheaper than actually going to the restaurant. It was a good break from cooking/cleaning up. 

9. The hope of sleeping in tomorrow. 

10. Oh and the Venting Things post from the other week. Nothing has changed. There's no access for them to see my posts now, or then. I have triple checked it with multiple sources. But Geeze. I think I need to re-evaluate this friendship and cut ties. That sucks and it's sad, but I just can't deal with that kind of stress in my life. 

11. Weekend... I know some people live in perpetual weekend, but we don't in this house. Despite me working from home, the weekend is still celebrated. Sleeping in is the best. 

That is all...

Behave!