Feel Good Friday!

Hi, Friday! I'm glad you're here! 

It was a week! And that Irritations post I did... well, I could add about a hundred more things to it. (like people assuming stuff and being cryptic) But I'm not going to go there because I'm trying to be positive. 

So, let's get to the Feel Good list, shall we?

1. A little extra sleep tomorrow. 

2. Getting the steering thingy fixed on our truck tomorrow. Well, hopefully. 

3. Easy dinners. 

4. Even though it was a crazy work week, it was okay. Things got done and done the right way which says a lot. 

5. Seeing old friends. 

6. My dog being happy. Her hips are bad, sometimes she leaks urine, and she has some significant tumor growths - like going from the size of an egg to the size of a tennis ball in a week - but she's happy. We already know how this ends and we're not ready for it. The goal is to keep her happy and pain free and we'll go from there. She's almost 12, so...

7. Writing this weekend. Hopefully I will overcome the hurdle I'm dealing with and make some serious progress. 

8. Air conditioning. Yeah. I said it. It hasn't been as hot as it was, but it's still too much. I am looking forward to cooler temps and sweatshirts. 

That's enough. I'm searching to find things to be "feel good" about, so I should stop before I go back into the irritations. Ha!

Behave!  

Tuesday Irritations...

Here's a random list of my current irritants...

1. Spammers. Stop it. I don't have any unpaid parking fines, turnpike tolls, nor am I concerned about the size of my p*nis. Also, that info you asked me about? Freaking google it. 

2. Traffic. Why do people drive like they're the only ones that matter? 

3. People who ask dumb questions when, as above, the power of google will serve them well. You're lazy. Do the work to find out the answers you need and stop bothering people. You are welcome to ask a legitimate questions. Please do. But do not end it with... And. Go..... GAH!

4. This goes way higher than #4, but this list is in no particular order... People who leave children and pets in hot cars. 

5. People who poke holes in produce at the grocery store. No, Karen, the tomato might not have been ripe, but now it's garbage because you stuck your filthy fingernail inside the skin. I hope you get botulism. 

6. Children running wild in public places. Look. I get it. Kids are crazy and sometimes they're crazier than other times. But FFS, Karen, get them under control. It's not my job to parent your spawn or tell them not to touch things. That's your job. Either do it or stay home. The next time I have to deal with your drooling goblins, I'm giving them each a huge candy cane and a sugar drink. I mean it. 

7. People.

I could go on and on and on, but I think it might get ugly. 

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up

Oh, Sunday! Why do you have to be the last day of the weekend! It makes people hate you, you know? And who decided we needed to work five days and only have two days off? A psychopath, that's who! We need to find that guy and beat him up! 

So yeah, the weekend went way, way too fast! 

Let's get to the recap...

1. Not cooking on Friday. That Man and the kid took care of dinner and clean up. 

2. Sleeping in on Saturday. Yeah, it was only a half hour or so, but it was nice. 

3. Picking up the axle, plus unexpected parts, that we need for my Jeep. 

4. Vehicle drama. Not mine. 

5. Writing time. I didn't get done as much as I wanted to, but I feel like I'm on the right track here. 

6. Getting some housework done. 

7. Sleeping in a little this morning, but only because I couldn't fall asleep last night. 

8. Lunch with friends. 

9. Getting the grocery shopping done. 

10. Little B time and Mr. B time. 

And now it's now. I need to get some words down before I crash. It was a busy day and I'm going downhill fast. 

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Yay for Friday! This week can stuff itself into a hole! It's been a long one!

Let's do the list:

1. Friday. 

2. Some sleeping in tomorrow. 

3. Focusing on the horsemen story. 

4. Weed whackers.

5. Finding some of the parts we need for my Jeep. 

That's it. A quick list. 

Behave! 

Almost the Weekend!

Yay for almost Friday! 

It's been a long week. At least the weather has been pretty decent. That's going to end come next week so prepare yourself for more complaining from me about how hot it is. Ha!

I'm trying to get this book into shape but it's fighting me tooth and nail. I know the answer I need is right there, but it won't pop out. So I'm starting at the end so I can get to the beginning. If that makes sense. 

This weekend will be book wrangling, weed pulling, and I might get to see my grandboys. I'm also going to sleep for as long as I can on Saturday. Ha! I'm sure I'll be up by 6 or 7 anyway. But I'm going to try. 

That's all I have for now. 

Behave!

Monday's Suck...

That's pretty much all I came by to say...

Today has been the Monday-est Monday I've had in a long time. 

That is all...

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up!

I could have sworn I posted on Friday with my feel good list. Apparently not. I intended to, but it was a busy day. 

Now we're at Sunday again. Booo! 

This weekend flew by. There was vehicle maintenance, dinner with friends, grocery shopping, laundry, writing, and more writing (while watching Supernatural--Oh, how I've missed those boys). (I'm still writing, but taking a break for this.) Also, continued Jeep deconstruction where we discovered more damage that's kind of costly to fix. But we'll figure it out. I did the grocery shopping while That Man wrenched and came home to the bad news. 

The weather is pretty decent. I'm not complaining. In fact, I've worn a sweatshirt almost all day. Nachos for dinner and everything has been put away and cleaned up. I'm waiting for the last load of laundry. And I'm ready for bed already. Ha! 

So...pretty boring stuff. I have not gotten as much writing done as I wanted, but the vehicle maintenance stuff took precedence since it was kind of an emergency. And I'm still at it. 

That is all...

Behave!

Thanks, Mother Nature!

The temperature is sooo much better! The breeze is amazing and I can't wait for the storms, though they'll likely miss us. 

Today was our company kick ball game. It had been rescheduled twice already because of the heat. There was worry about the rain, but we got it done with none and no one passed out from heat exhaustion. Our team won for the second year in a row. No, I didn't play. My job is to take pictures and help the organizer. 

We were home far earlier than expected, and I took a nap. Not on purpose. It kind of just happened. We opted for no dinner since we ate pizza late this afternoon as part of the event. 

So I've been writing/editing. It's going pretty good. And tomorrow is Friday! Yay! It'll be busy at the day job since we closed at noon today, but whatever. I guess it'll make the day go faster. 

That is all!

Behave!

Dang! It's Hot!

Okay, Mother Nature! I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we're over this heat! 

I know there's a prediction of cooler weather coming in later this week. Please don't disappoint. We can't take it anymore!

I'm ready for sweatshirts and comfy pants. I'm tired of sticking to my chair and running out of ice. I'm tired of my office being almost as hot as outside by the end of the day. I'm ready for putting on the heat in the morning on the way to work and campfires. I'm tired of my electric bill and the air conditioners not keeping up. I'm ready for windows open and cool breezes. 

That's all I came to say...

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up

Here we are at Sunday! Oy! What a weekend! 

1. Wedding rehearsal Friday night. It was where we used to live - an hour + away. We stopped for dinner on the way up, which was nice. Did the thing, and then hit the road for home. 

2. Arrived home pretty late and about three minutes before K4. Her and That Boy came home to stay. He has a job starting Tuesday and they're resting here while they get their ducks in a row. There was a ton of activity unloading vehicles (K3 & S went to help), and our house quickly filled up with stuff. It's slowly being whittled down and put away and I know we'll have a little chaos for a bit. And it's going to be weird having two more adults in the house. 

3. Slept in a little Saturday. Then up and getting stuff done before making the drive again. 

4. Wedding was nice. Hot, but nice. Between her son, her man, and us, we managed to surprise her by helping to plan her son coming in to walk her down the aisle. We've been in contact with him for the past month making plans and passing info. It was a really sweet moment. And yeah, I cried. 

It started pouring five minutes before the time to start, and continued for a long time. Long enough that plan B was put in motion and everything was moved inside. And of course, then the sun came out. It was hot and no ac in the building. But still, it was good. 

5. Left there and stopped to pick up B. Came home to change, get the air conditioner going in the spare room, and then he wanted to go to dinner at the same place we went to Friday. The hostess laughed because she recognized us. 

6. Grocery store. Taking B with us makes the end total so very much more. But whatever. It was, again, late when we got home. 

7. B hung out with his aunt playing video games for a while. We had root beer floats and watched stupid tv while it stormed. And went to bed so very late because we got hung up on a weird show. 

8. Slept in this morning. Or not really since we went to bed so late. Hung out with B, ran some errands, did some yard work and now it's now. 

I haven't gotten much writing done this weekend. Gee...I wonder why? Ha! Almost through the craziness and writing will be front and center going forward. I have two projects to edit, and two to write. (Actually three to edit, but that one's going to wait a bit)

Back to the day job tomorrow. That Man said he'd gift me some vacation time if I need a few days to get writing done and I'll likely be taking him up on that very soon. 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday!

It's pretty much crazy-o'thirty now. Well, maybe a few more minutes of calm before the chaos begins. 

Here's the list:

1. Having a great time hanging out with the ladies last night. We swam, sang, ate, laughed, and talked a bunch. 

2. Maybe sleeping in a little tomorrow. It's going to be a late night tonight. 

3. Making progress on the four horsemen story. I have notes, and ideas, and notes. 

4. After Tuesday coming, our obligations should slow down considerably. Which is good because I absolutely need to write as much as humanly possible. 

5. It's hot. Which is not feel good, but it is what it is! I cannot believe we're almost through July though! 

Behave!

Weekend Off Rails!

So our aunt and uncle ended up coming in this weekend. We all knew it was a possibility...well, not for this weekend. We'd talked about catching a show together on a different weekend. Then... crickets... Until Friday afternoon. 

We rearranged our plans, not that we had many beyond pulling weeds and household chores, and headed to my sister's to wait for their arrival. They finally showed up hours later than expected, but whatever. 

A lot of the family came Saturday to hang out. It was a blast. More family came Sunday (and the Saturday family came back) and it was also a blast. It was so good to hang out with everyone. It made me remember how much I adore my family. We always have a great time and there's a ton of laughter.

Thanks to super cool bosses, That Man and I were able to take off work Monday and Tuesday. My brother came back Monday and we all went to dinner, which was fun.  

We packed up and hit the road for home early Tuesday morning and spent the day trying to catch up on the stuff we'd abandoned Friday. 

Our poor puppy got her nail stuck in the heater vent in the camper Sunday night and ripped it out--like completely ripped off the quick. She's still in pain, but she seems okay. I'll call the vet if it stops being okay. 

Besides being exhausted, it was a really great weekend. It's unlikely our aunt and uncle will come back this way again anytime soon. It's a lot for them and our uncle's mobility is not great. 

I'm also doing some edits on my four horsemen story. It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm hopeful I can push it to the next level. I'm also waiting for critiques of the old lady story and will start subbing that as soon as I get those changes done and a synopsis written. I'm pretty sure I can balance working on both. 

Today started another round of craziness for us. We had a work event, which was fun and luckily I managed to almost get caught up before it started. (That Man didn't, but I'm not sure he's ever caught up). Then tomorrow I'm heading to a friend's house to organize a meal train for another friend having surgery. These ladies did the meal train for me after my surgery and it was much appreciated and humbling 

Then Friday we have a wedding rehearsal. That Man is walking the bride--who is the sister of his best friend that passed away. The wedding is Saturday and then we're picking up B. Sunday is an event involving roller skates and derby type stuff--don't worry, it's not me. And then things should settle down again. Ha! 

I cannot believe it's almost August! 

That is all! 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday!

Holy cow we made it to Friday! 

What a long week! 

Here's my list:

1. Rain. That was nice. It can stay away for the weekend though. 

2. The temperatures predicted to be cooler. 

3. Sleep. 

4. Being caught up (for now) at the day job. 

5. Writing time and making progress not just with actual words, but with story content. I hope to make serious progress this weekend. 

It's not a long list. Obviously. 

That's all! 

Behave! 

Mid Week...

It's raining! Yay! 

What a hot week so far! And busy! 

I've gotten writing done. And weeding. And laundry. And I'm making a cake for one of the guys at work. (Birthday tomorrow) Among a dozen other things. 

The day job has been hectic and there's no signs of that ending. 

That's about all I have for now. I'm tired and the air conditioning in our room is calling to me. 

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up

Here we are at Sunday evening again... 

Waiting for the rain to come in. It would be nice if it cooled things down, but even if it does rain, it'll likely turn the air even more into swamp-like. Ugh. 

Saturday came too early. We headed down the road to procure K5's birthday gift. That went awesome and we got exactly what we wanted. A stop at the store...well, three of them... and then home. It was too hot and gross to work outside, so we did some inside stuff. And I wrote. 

Today was errands. Took a little longer than we wanted, but whatever. Got home and weeded two flower beds that were looking shabby. Well, let's be honest, everything looks shabby. Those weeds are taking over. Transplanted some lavender and other things. Hopefully avoided the poison ivy. Cleaned the dust off the front porch. Laundry, sheet washing, and an amazing dinner. 

Writing. And now it's now. Still waiting on the rain. And no nap today. Though I did sleep in a bit this morning. 

This week is a busy one. Well, the next three weeks are busy with both work stuff and home stuff. But hopefully we'll be able to take K5 out to dinner early this week to give her the present. 

That is all. 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday

I don't really have much today... Yay, it's Friday.

I'll try though...

1. A little bit of sleeping past the usual alarms tomorrow. 

2. Making really good progress on Daisy last night. 

3. Excellent dinners - we managed to pull off two pretty darned good dinners this week. Just stuff we kind of made up and with lunch leftovers. 

4. Porch sitting.

That's all. 

Behave!

Thursday Ramble...

It's hot and it looks like it's going to be hot for the next week. It's either too hot or raining... And it's hard to get anything done outside. My weeds are out of control and the outside jobs we thought we'd have done by now are not done. Ugh. 

But it's Thursday. 

This weekend is scoping out K5's birthday present. Our original plan came crashing down, so we had to start over. It's fine. We'll figure it out and she's well aware of everything so it's not like she thinks we forgot or anything. 

Then we will work on the Jeep. And potentially get some of those outside chores done. I will also be writing. 

I've spent this week re-reading Prelude to make sure I have all of the details correct with the main characters backstory. I'm glad I did. I'd forgotten lots and lots of things. The cool thing is that I have threads to run with. It's not a sequel by any means, just a loosely related story. 

That's all I have. 

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up - On Tuesday

Well, that went fast! Ha! 

Okay, first off--it's stupid hot again and I hate it. 

Our holiday weekend was full of grandkids. We had an absolute blast with them! 

Also, I got zero writing/reading done, and still haven't. But I will. 

There was also no sleeping in. 

And there was rude neighbors, but that's nothing new or different. There doesn't have to be a holiday for them to set off fireworks or fight or harass everyone in the neighborhood. 

Anyway. That's all I have for now. Nothing exciting for sure. 

Behave! 

Holiday Weekend!

We'll get out of the day job early Thursday and then no work Friday. Nice. I don't think there will be sleeping in. We're picking up K5 early Friday and get to spend all day with her before taking her home early Saturday. 

Her birthday was last Sunday. It's so hard to believe she's 15. Her gift from us is two part. She'll (hopefully) get one of them Friday, and the other is still in the planning stage. 

I have gotten words this week. Not too many, but enough to keep my finger on the pulse of the book. I need to reread the original haunted campground to ground myself in the characters since it's been so long. Oh yeah, the new book is a haunted campground with the second sister from the first one. Not a sequel at all, but lightly linked. 

Weekend plans are to read Prelude, write, figure out what to do with the dead plants, and who knows what else. 

Today is the funeral for our work friend. His wife was our human resources person for nearly two decades. He was here for maybe five years, and his brother has been here for five years. His wife retired when he retired from the military. Needless to say, they didn't get the retirement years they hoped for and it's unbelievably sad. He used to sit in my office and get stuff off his chest because he knew I don't gossip and we had a running joke about what he was doing with the credit card. 

That's all I have for now. 

Behave!

Tuesday Already...

This week is flying by! And it's July already! 

So yeah, I didn't get any more words on Retreat (I knew I wouldn't). I slept crappily again and got up earlier than expected. So I went home. Which was good because we had a lot of stuff to take care of. I did squeeze in a little rest time, which was good and much needed. 

Back to the day job yesterday for a busy and fast day. At least it's a short week. 

Thursday is the funeral for our friend who passed away on Friday. Very sad. A bunch of us from the day job are going. 

That's about it. 

Behave!

Retreat: Day Three - PM

What an awesome day! 

Yeah, it got hot for a time, but this house has lovely air conditioning and I stayed inside. Well, except to go out and pet the kitty. And find baby bird feathers on the porch and a smug look on the kitty's face. 

Now it's storming and it's amazing. The thunder just rolls through the valley and the lightning is pretty epic. And the storm cooled things down, which was much needed. 

I now have a title for the new book and am a solid third of the way through. It's going well despite not really knowing where it's going yet, but I have an idea of where and I'm loving it. 

My brain is a bit broken though. But it's a good broken. 

I'm heading home in the morning. That Man and I have things we need to take care of and I miss him. So while the others will stay until early afternoon, I'll jet shortly after I get up. I'm okay with that. I need to recharge and think at this point and the home list is long. 

I don't know if I'll be back on here tomorrow or not. Don't expect it, but you never know. 

Behave! 

Retreat: Day Three - AM

Last full retreat day!

I slept like crap. Well, I slept good when I actually fell asleep, but that took until around 2am. Ugh. So I slept a little later than I wanted, but that's okay.

A full day is in front of me and I have a really decent start on this new book. This book without a title and with only a medium-solid premise.

But...here we go!

Behave!  

Retreat: Day Two - PM

It's still day two for another hour! 

Today has been a little crazy for me. 

I chucked the book I thought I was working on. Submitted the book I had sent before I learned my publisher was closing, which meant I had to write a synopsis and query letter. 

Then I was lost. I took a nap and wandered around trying to decide what i wanted to do. I read through old story starts and old manuscripts trying to get a spark, but it wasn't coming. 

I finally stumbled on two sentences I'd written on an idea. And by the time we finished dinner, I had a full blown direction. And I've been writing it. 

One more full day and I'm hoping to fly. 

But first I should sleep. 

Behave!

Retreat: Day Two - AM

Good Morning!

Wow what a difference in temperature! I think I might have to put my sweatshirt on and I love it!

Slept in this morning. Needed that. Well, I guess I slept the normal amount? It took me a while to fall asleep. But I was comfy and the room was cool, so there's that. 

Now I'm getting ready to get to work. Feeling kind of brain boggled and am not sure I'm heading down the path I want to go with the book, but I'll figure it out. 

That's all for now!

Behave!

Retreat: End of Day One!

Day One is in the bag... Kind of...

Two of us are still up. Just talking and being a little silly. 

I have five thousand words under my belt so far and I'm getting a handle on how this story needs to go. Currently I'm "pre-writing", which is what I do until I figure out my characters and what they're all about. Overall, I'm pleased and we brainstormed possible directions for this story, so all good. 

It stormed awesomely here earlier. And it cooled things down. It was amazing to watch the thunder clouds roll across the valley.

We had our traditional nachos for dinner and a lot of awesome conversation. 

And now I'm heading to bed. I've already advised everyone that I'm sleeping in tomorrow and I'm looking forward to that! 

More tomorrow!

Behave!

Retreat: Day One

Yay! I'm here!

I worked this morning for a few hours and then hit the very busy and dangerous road. I almost died. Twice. Once this big truck with a pod thingy on the back signaled and started for the exit. Last minute, he decided that was the wrong exit and whipped his truck back into the lane. Ugh. 

I stopped at the grocery store. I had added things from my retreat friends to my list. The store was closed. Then I miscalculated and ended up going the wrong way on a very busy and very touristy road. I mean, not against traffic or anything, but the wrong direction.

But I made it. 

We were at this house last year, so it's nice to know where everything is and have the same bedroom. Though they did rearrange it, and I think I like it better. 

I was going to stop for lunch, but was so frustrated by the traffic and my plan being thwarted that I didn't. But when I got here, everyone else was eating lunch so I had my cheese and crackers with them. 

And that is all for now. 

Time to get to work!

Behave!

Almost Time...

It's still hot and that sucks! Everyone is grumpy. Our bathroom is like the ninth level of Hell, complete with its own lava flow. The air conditioners aren't keeping up. Turning on a stove burner or the air fryer increases the inside temp far more than it should. 

Anyways...

This time tomorrow I will be in a very air conditioned house for the first day of retreat! 

I still have to pack. And go to the store. Well, go to the store again because I forgot stuff last night. And do laundry. 

I know what I'm working on and I'm ready to go!

Behave!

Wait For It!

You know what I'm going to say, right?

It's hot!

Yeah, disgusting. The AC's barely keep up. The dog is disturbed. The squirrels have been hiding out until almost dark. It's supposed to be like this for most of the week I think. 

On Thursday I leave for retreat. I'll work a few hours in the morning and then take off when our IT guy gets there to install my new computer. I'm still in the process of figuring out what kind of food I want to eat and how I want to pack stuff. 

I'm also super excited to start my next book. The Old Lady story is going to get one more read through and then sent to my critique partners (after retreat). I do have a little bit of this new book down, but I'm feeling like I'm going to start it in a different place so I'm probably just going to freefall with it.

I'm looking forward to a productive time! It's been a year since I've been on retreat and we're at the same house we were last time I could go. So I know what to expect and where everything is. 

That's all. I hope you have air conditioning! 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday!

Let's get to the list:

1. The sun is out! Woohoo! (Though we won't talk about how hot it's supposed to be next week)

2. Finishing the Old Lady story! Woohoo! 

3. Deciding what I'm working on at retreat. And now I have this weekend and a few more days to rest my brain before I hit it hard and fast. 

4. An easy day yesterday. We had no obnoxious parkers. No one asked to use our bathroom or sit on our front porch. We worked at the dining room in the morning and then spent the afternoon together talking and stuff. 

5. Less than a week until retreat!

6. Friday! Some sleeping in is going to happen tomorrow for sure. 

7. Weekend plans. I'm not really sure what's going to happen yet. There are a few options and it's going to be hot so we'll see. 

That's about it.

Behave! 

It's Raining Again...

Is it ever going to end? 

I mean, the nice thing is that I haven't had to water. And the grass seed we just planted has been amply watered. But... 

That Man just cut the grass on Saturday and it's ready to be cut again. There are things we'd planned to get done this week and... And the constant rain has kept my groundhog remedy from working so he's eaten my cone flowers almost to the ground. 😠

This week is our town's huge street fair. Ugh. We decided to take the day off so we wouldn't have to fight to get home. (One year the rent-a-cop patrolling the end of our street didn't believe us when we said we lived here. He said "doesn't everyone?" We ended up driving around him to pull into our drive. What an *ss.) Another year, someone blocked our driveway and didn't leave until the next morning. Jerks. (I have so many stories) 🙄

Well, we're working from home for a half day. Both of us have to answer phones anyways. The whole company is shutting down early for the annual kickball game. Which we'll miss, but there's not much we can do about it. If we tried to go, we'd get home even later and that would be disastrous. If they reschedule kickball because of weather, That Man will make it next week, but I will be on retreat. I do feel sad to miss it. It's a lot of fun, but I'm also not giving up precious retreat hours.

I'm very very close to being done with the Old Lady story. 😁I'm ready to start the final read through before sending it off for critique. I'm excited to be done. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to start on retreat, but I have a pretty good idea. We'll see.  

(and yes, I just discovered I can put emojis in here.) 

That's all. I'll try to check in with anything interesting that happens on street fair day... It's supposed to be hot and thunderstormy. 

Behave! 

Happy Father's Day!

I miss my dad. I know my siblings miss our dad too.

It's been 11 years since he had to go. It's been 15 years since That Man lost his dad. It sucks and there's nothing else to say about that. 

I do have a lot of awesome dad's in my life. That Man is at the top of the list. My son, my brother, my uncle, my brothers-in-law, and good friends. I texted them all this morning. Well, texted most and talked to my son since we have his youngest all weekend and Small Boy wanted to talk to Daddy.

Not sure when they will get here. B won both games yesterday but they lost this morning, so I don't know what's going on yet. 

We're having a chill day so far. There's a list of things that need to be done and we're thinking about it. Ha!

That is all. I might update later...

We'll see...

Behave!  

Feel Good Friday...on Saturday

Yay for Saturday!

It was a long week, but I think you probably gathered that. Ha! 

Here's a list:

1. We have the Small Boy this weekend. His brother is in another state at a soccer tournament. Last time I checked the score, they were kicking butt. The Small Boy is currently running the loop around our downstairs. It's kinda rainy so... He's been so good and we're having fun. 

2. While there was no sleeping in this morning... The Small Boy woke up at 5am. We were in bed really early last night. There will be no sleeping in tomorrow either. 

3. Making super progress on the old lady story this week. I have a bunch of scenes to add and I have a critique to do, but so far so good on getting it done before retreat.  

4. Knowing we have a day off coming up this week. We took off for our town's annual street fair. Not to go, but to defend the parking. Our niece and a friend have to work a booth downtown so they'll be parking here. Other than that, hopefully it's a day we can get some stuff done. 

5. Dinner in the crockpot and a plan for tomorrow. I do have to run to the store, but that's a tomorrow problem. 

6. K4 and her man coming home this afternoon. Yeah, she was just here last weekend, but I miss her. 

7. Hopefully seeing K3 and A tomorrow. I know they have a full day, but their planning on stopping by to see That Man. 

8. I don't know when K1 and J and Mr. B will be back tomorrow. It depends on how the games go. If they win, they have an afternoon game. But we'll get to see them at some point when they pick up Small Boy. 

9. Getting a text that said Mr. B's team won the first game!

That is all...

Behave!

Tuesday...

I saw a meme the other day that resonated with me...

"Everyone complains about Mondays, but Tuesday can go f*ck itself too"

And yeah, that's right. 

We were at the grocery store earlier and the cashier (we usually do self check out, but I was too tired to fight with the 'put your item in the bag' bullcrap) asked how our week was going and I said 'long and I know it's only Tuesday'. Ha! 

Why do the work days go so slow and the evenings go so fast?

Which isn't entirely true. Today went fast at work, but I still was counting down the hours until we could leave. 

We got home to a strong smell of cat pee. Yep. My fat boy...displeased about something...God knows what...decided to pee on the kitchen rug. So that's outside and has been hosed off. Gross. I honestly don't know what his problem is. We've tried all of the things, including multiple trips to the vet. She gave him meds, but giving him the meds stresses him out even more, not to mention it makes him a zombie cat. He's such a sweet boy and I wish we could figure this out. 

Work on the Jeep is commencing. I'm so excited to have her back. It's going to be a while, but it'll be worth it. And the pile of parts will be gone from my living room. Ha! 

I took last night off from writing since I'd had a terrible nights sleep the night before. But tonight I kicked butt. I'm close to the end of what's already written, but I have quite a bit to add. My goal is to finish before retreat (two weeks!) so I can start something new and I think that'll happen. It might not be fully edited and ready for critique, but I'm okay with that. 

And that is all...

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up...

Oh Sunday... Why do you come so soon?

We're in the last few hours of the weekend. I'm tired, and I want another weekend day. 

Let's get to the weekend list:

Friday night: Grocery store. Quick trip for just dinner stuff since neither of us wanted to go anyway. Good dinner. Writing. Bed early. 

Saturday: Mr. B's soccer game in the rain. Pizza shop for lunch. Actual grocery shopping. Jeep stuff. Writing. K4's man made dinner. 

Sunday: My boys coming to help take the old furniture out. Tacos for lunch. Hanging out with my kids and grandkids. Grass mowing. Plant tinkering. Laundry. Writing. 

Oh and I got a shot on Saturday. I haven't had a tetanus shot in probably twenty years. My old doctor kept saying I need one, but she never followed through. My new doctor, upon having an actual conversation with me and finding out how often I'm doing weird stuff in the yard and that I'll be wrenching on the Jeep, insisted I get updated. Let's just say I'm happy with the doctor change. It's really nice when someone actually listens to and hears you. 

That is all. 

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Hi Friday! 

I know I've been lame and vague all week. It's been a busy one. Like every single evening there's something we need to take care of or do. 

Monday - Eye doctor appointments. K5 softball game.

Tuesday - Pick up Little B from school and wrangle him until his family picked him up. This meant a pizza shop dinner, a trip to the park, and ice cream. And dirt digging. And hilarity as he told me babies are blind until they're three and that there was a baby "looking at him like a psycho". 

Wednesday - Take the camper to get inspected. Grocery shopping. 

Thursday - Pick up camper after paying a ridiculous amount. I finally get some writing done. 

Now we're here. And guess what? We've got nothing. Well, except a mountain of laundry. 

I will say, everything was good except for paying to pick up the camper. It was a lot and I'm still stunned. 

I am looking forward to sleeping in a little tomorrow. And to clarify, when I say "sleeping in" I mean I'll get up at 7am instead of 5:30. It's very rare for me to sleep past 7. 

Mr. B has his last regular soccer game tomorrow, so we'll be going to that. And then it's Jeep stuff and yard stuff. And writing. 

And that is all...

Behave!

Here Comes the Heat...

It's currently 86*. 

Summer is coming! We have on air conditioner in. We'll get the rest soon. 

That's all. 

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

It's Friday! 

I am very glad. I am very tired and have a massive headache. This is the first weekend in quite a while that we don't have any obligations except for what we put upon ourselves. Well, and that's kind of massive and comes with a ton of pitfalls, but it is what it is. 

We're talking about poison ivy and a lot of it. We've got to remove it. So that's what we'll be doing...among a ton of other things. 

Anyways... Here's the list:

1. The pup continuing to improve. She's graduated from the cone of shame. At least for now. If she starts licking again, it'll go back on, but the area is looking almost healed and she's left it alone consistently. 

2. The sun is out! (Shh... I know we're due more crappy weather this weekend. I don't want to talk about it right now)

3. Making progress with the old lady story. My goal is to get the edits finished before retreat so I can start something new there. If we do get the crappy weather, I can make mega progress, but we'll see. 

4. Apparently there's a bear running around our town. 

5. Oh yeah, and sleeping in tomorrow. I need that.

That is all!

Behave!

Short Week/Long Week

Why does a short week feel so long? I keep thinking today is Friday... 

Not much going on...just trying to get through. I have gotten quite a bit of writing/editing done this week. 

It's cold and rainy. Dreary. We had to turn the heat on last night. I'd like to see some sun, please. Of course, it's supposed to get pretty hot next week. 

Our pup is on the mend. All the swelling is down and she's acting like a normal dog. 

That's all I have...

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up!

I don't want the weekend to end! There's still so much I want to do. 

But here's the wrap up:

1. The dog is doing so much better. Her leg is still pretty swollen, but she seems to be on the mend. She hates the cone of shame, which is understandable. We only put it on her if we're not home or at night. Or the second she tries to lick. She's eating well and doing all of the dog things, though she's a little bit entitled now. Ha! Since her leg is no longer draining, she's back in bed with us. Which is good because she sleeps so much better. (and so do I) 

2. The kids were all here for dinner on Saturday. It was a really nice time. They helped with some heavy lifting and we had a chance to actually hang out. 

3. The wedding was beautiful. The weather, the venue, the grooms. It was very small, but everything about it was nicely done. We were honored to be invited and I can't wait to see their honeymoon pictures. 

4. We did a lot of yard work today and we're both done in. Also laundry and an excellent dinner. 

5. I got a lot of writing done too. I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm at. My goal is to be done and have this sent out for critique before retreat. That way I can start something new there. And I think I know what. 

That's all. Tomorrow it's back to the grind. At least it's a short week. 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday

Long weekend commencing!

Here's the list!

1. It was a rough week. The old gal got an infection in her leg. We truly thought we were going to lose her. Her leg was super swollen and she did not want to move. There were no tail wags and barely any eating. Vet appointment. We had pre-warned the kids that she was not good. We really expected the worst. Two shots, antibiotics, and pain pills. She's on the mend, though her leg is draining like crazy. I'm really glad we don't have carpet. She's more herself today, though she has to wear the cone of shame. At least it's a soft one. Otherwise we'd be covered in bruises. Now it's draining since she licked it open. Blech.  

2. Sleeping in tomorrow. That wasn't part of the original plan. We were supposed to have Little Man tonight, but Mr. B's games were cancelled for the weekend. We would have still taken him, but with the dog not being great, we figured it was for the best to keep her as calm as possible. 

That Man has been sleeping downstairs with her so she's not stressed by going upstairs or trying to get on our bed. I think that will continue tonight since the thought of the wound draining on our bed is gross. 

3. We have a wedding on Sunday. K3's best friend. It's going to be a really nice wedding, I think. K3 thinks so too. He's in the wedding. They did something really cool. Instead of a registry, they had a "Gift us an experience instead of a toaster", so you could donate to specific things for their honeymoon. I'm looking forward to it despite only knowing the grooms, K3 & A, and maybe one other person. 

4. Getting a little writing done this week despite the stress. 

5. Obviously no camping. So much rain...

6. So that means...more yard work tomorrow. But we have help since K4 is home. 

That is all...

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up...

Well...it's Monday again. 

The weekend was pretty decent. Here's the list:

1. Being able to get K5 overnight last minute. Coordinating seeing her has been a challenge due to her sports schedule and our schedule. The last time she stayed over was the week after my surgery. At her insistence. She said it was her job to help take care of me, which is super sweet. Friday night we watched movies and then Saturday we headed up to our camping spot because she wanted to fish. Then lunch, ice cream, and general silliness. It was awesome. 

2. We chilled Saturday night on the patio. 

3. Sunday was lots and lots of yard work. We trimmed hedges, cleaned out flower beds, mowed, and transplanted some flowers. (There's still so much to do) Made a trip to the mega mart, and stopped in to an open house for the new firehouse going up in our town. 

4. I tweaked my back. Picking up a shirt from the basement floor to put in the washing machine. The joys of getting old. It still hurts but not as bad. 

5. I didn't get any writing done, though I had the best intentions. 

6. It's starting to look like camping won't happen. If it rains this week, things will be a swamp. It was bad Saturday with squishy grass and standing water. We're going to continue to prepare as if we will camp, but...

7. It's kind of okay. We'll have Little B and he would be muddy. And we have the wedding on Sunday. 

That's about it. Now to get through the work week. It's a bit shorter than normal with an early dismissal on Friday, but it's still busy. Plus we have eye doctor appointments as well. 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday

Oh Friday! 

1. That Man and I had the most wonderful time on our trip. It was just the two of us and we had awesome food, awesome beach days, and so much fun. We stayed in the same little house we did last year. It was even nicer because they're doing construction on the bridge for the main road, which is pretty much in front of the house. So once the construction workers left for the day, it was so very quiet. We got to watch Canadian Geese hatch and see their fluffly little babies take their first swim. So cute. The trip was much needed. 

2. Mother's Day was nice even though it was thrown together last minute. No one realized the date so ideas were being thrown back and forth as That Man and I traveled home, but they got it figured out and it was a nice day with my kids. 

3. We came home a day early because we had to go to the wedding of a coworker. That was nice. We found a funky but super cool gift on our trip. 

4. I don't feel like I've had more than two seconds to myself since we got home...

5. I have gotten a decent amount of writing in this week. I even got some done on our trip on the day it poured buckets of rain. 

6. Campout coming up! We'll have little B for at least one night since Mr. B has a soccer tournament. We also have the wedding of K3's best friend, so we'll miss the picnic, but I'm still looking forward to the quiet by the creek. 

That's all I have for now. The calendar is filling, but there are a lot of good things on there. I have my first and only writing retreat of the year coming up. We have one more wedding after the next one. And we have a ton of stuff to take care of in the backyard. 

Behave! 

Kittens...

Here's a few of the kittens when they were babies...

We called this one "Boots". He went to live with K4's friend.

Here's a baby Fred.

We called this one "friend". My sister adopted him and now we call him "Filth Collins". He is also very special.

Then we have the moustache cat. I can't remember what we called her. My sister adopted her too. She's tiny and a sweetheart. 

Here's the kitten train. I can't find an individual picture of Regi when she was that little...She's in the front here. There were five kittens in the litter we rescued. 

And this is Max. He wasn't part of the litter. We found him the year before behind my Jeep howling up a storm. His momma left him. We bottle fed him. He's a good kitty. Though he makes the rules. Ha! 

And that's all...

Behave!

Old Gal

Here's the old gal. 

This was taken during the pandemic when I was working from home. She's much grayer now. Not that you can tell from this picture...

Behave!

Cat #3

This is Regi.

She's from the same litter as Fred. She's one of the most normal out of the whole litter, though one eye is a different color. She's a sweetheart and she loves That Man. 

On this day, a ladybug had made it's way into the house and she was perplexed by it. She was going to eat it, but then changed her mind. Or something like that. 

Behave! 

Here's Your Sign

I meant to post this ages ago. 

We were traveling and stopped for dinner at I guess was a regional chain restaurant. The food was good and not overly priced. 

Upon returning from the ladies room, I spotted this sign...

Ha! 

Behave! 

Cat #2

This is my baby, Fred. 

I always wanted an orange cat. I love this chonky boy, but... He is seriously brain damaged. I really think it has to do with the severely dehydrated and near death state we found him and his litter mates in. Not a single one of those cats are normal...

I mean, I know orange cats are special, but Fred is a special kind of special...

And I love him...

Behave! 

Random

 I take care of the supplies for the day job. While doing my weekly inventory to see what we need, I came across this in the store room... I have no idea! 

Behave!

Cat

We bought the dog a new bed...

Behave

Tall Tale Tuesday

I used to do Tall Tale Tuesday when I had a lot of weird and funny things going on at the Homestead. 

Not so much of that happens anymore, though I might be able to come up with one a month. I'll have to think about that... And pay attention in other places. 

Like the day job. Because someone taking the center of a donut is definitely a Tall Tale moment. 

Stay Tuned...

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up

Heading fast for Monday morning... Oy! 

The weekend has been pretty good. Little B was a riot and wore us out with his constant-ness and hunger. Ha! 

We got a lot done but are completely wore out now. I have showered and now we just need to figure out dinner. 

And that is all...

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday

Yay for Friday! 

(I hate that I feel like I'm wishing my life away waiting for the weekend!)

Here's the list:

1. Sleeping in a bit tomorrow. It's much needed. 

2. B's soccer game tomorrow.

3. Looking forward to keeping little B overnight. He very rarely gets exclusive Nana & Pappy time. He's a riot so this should be fun. 

4. The rain in the forecast. 

5. Gardening plans...providing it doesn't rain all weekend. 

6. Getting quite a bit of writing time in this week and hoping for some this weekend. 

7. Ordering dinner. 

That's about it. 

Behave! 

Stuff & Things...

Obviously I'm trying to do better with posting. But it's hard. I find I don't have a lot to say. I mean, I do have a lot to say, but this isn't the place for it. If that makes sense. Anyway. Here's a list of stuff & things...

1. Spam messages. I am so tired of them. I'm going to guess that out of all of the emails I get, only about 2% are actual good emails. The rest are spam. I hate them. On Sunday (for some reason) I must have deleted over 100 spam emails. 

2. In the same vein... junk mail. Well, a lot of mail whether it's junk or not. What a waste of resources. Please don't send me your catalog unless I ask for it. Political mail is the absolute worst. The day job is a place where I see a ton of wasteful mailings. One company sends their ginormous catalog to everyone who has ever purchased from them, even if they don't work there anymore. I'll get a mail bin full of these monster catalogs. I do my best to distribute them, but most of them get recycled. It's such a shame. 

3. To balance out the negative stuff... The glorious weather we've been having. My flowers and plants are all coming up nicely. 

4. That Man and I have a trip coming up. Just the two of us. I cannot wait. 

5. Grandboy time this weekend. 

6. We have two weddings to attend in May. I'm looking forward to both of them. We have another one in July. And I think that's it. 

That's about it. 

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up... On Monday

I was going to post yesterday. But I was too tired. Holy moly we worked our butts off this weekend! We still have a long way to go, but progress has been made. 

We left the day job early Friday, hit up the warehouse store, and then got to work on the driveway project when we got home. We still have about 11 feet to go, but it's getting there. We opted for an easy dinner, which was a solid plan. 

Saturday was many errands, which is funny because we weren't going to go anywhere, but then we started thinking about what we might need for Sunday and did we want to brave the crowds then, so we hit up the home improvement store. And then the farmer's market. And the recycle center for mulch. Thankfully we'd already planned our food for the weekend, so we didn't have to join the craziness at the grocery store. 

The front of the house is done, including transplanting ground cover to the new dirt and mulching. And scrubbing the porch. I'm going to need to do something with the cushions on the outdoor furniture next year. The fabric has eroded so horribly and cushion is showing. The rug will need replaced too. Which is all fine because we're going to have to repaint next year. 

And the carpenter bees!! Holy moly! There were dozens of them buzzing around! We've been fighting them for years and so far this is the worst we've seen them. We're not going to have any wood left if they don't back off! 

Sunday was more working. We got the big flower bed taken care of and moved some things around so we can see the flowers along the shed. It was a beautiful day. Well, both days were. We had good food with little clean up and then rested. 

The only downside was that I didn't get any writing done. 

That's all I have!

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday

Here's the list:

1. Short days.

2. Sleeping in.

3. Lists.

4. Getting stuff done. 

5. Warmer temps.

That is all...

Behave! 

I Guess It's Thursday...

This week, man. It's a weird one. The days pass by quickly. And slowly. I don't even know what to think. Today is Thursday. Part of me wonders how that's possible and the other part wonders why it took so long to get here. 

Tonight is errand running. (Again) We have no plan for dinner yet, though we have chicken in the fridge to cook. We have to go to the mega mart. I have a list. We only go there maybe 3 or 4 times a year because we both dislike it. I've been sending him meme's all day...you know the ones I'm talking about. Ha! 

Tiny progress on the Old Lady story. 

We get out of the day job a little early tomorrow, which is nice. Hopefully we'll have all of the running around done before then and can focus on our chore list. We'll see... Ha! 

Obviously I decided against posting my social media rant. Well, maybe just decided against for now. And again, I don't say anything mean, call anyone out, or say anything even remotely controversial. I think it's just that there's already so much negativity going on...maybe I just don't feel like adding to it? That's probably it.

And that's all for now. 

Behave! 

Tuesday Tax Day

Did y'all get your taxes done? 

We did ours old school and on paper. I refuse to pay for "extra forms" for one line on each of the forms, especially when we typically owe. I can do them just as efficiently without paying so much more.

The face is healing but still hideous. I don't want to talk about it. 

I guess Easter is coming? There's nothing going on for us this year, which is fine. Easter is my least favorite holiday. The mere thought of it makes me groan and I'm not a fan of ham. We're staying home to finish up some projects we've been working on and we'll probably make something on the grill for dinner. I imagine we'll see the grandkids at some point over the weekend, but likely not until B has a soccer game. 

This week is a lot of running around. I hope to get back to the Old Lady story tonight, but we'll see how long it takes us to get the choring done. Ha!

I think that's it for now. 

Behave! 

Face Plant Sunday

I'm not going to show you the picture, but I screwed up my face. I tripped over a brick, hit a metal flower pot, and then got tangled with another big flower pot. And I went down. On my face. Hard. I have scrapes from my forehead to my chin. My glasses dug into the bridge of my nose and my eye is super swollen. So is my lip. It hurts. I also have a giant bruise on my surgical leg. Everything else seems fine with my leg though. It happened so fast! 

We got so much done before that. We made a potting area beside the house in an area that usually gets forgotten. We laid cute little rocks, a solar light, and an antique sink. We worked our butts off and it looks so awesome. I love it. I repotted a bunch of plants and we split some of the big hostas and moved them. Today was a trip to the big hardware store -- yeah, I went looking like I did sixty rounds with a heavyweight. That man has been working on his driveway project and I've been bopping around here and there. I helped stack some bricks, made some soup, did laundry, among other things, and so far I have taken two naps. 

My face hurts. 

The soup is for our dinner and some will go to our friends. He's been given less than two months to live and soup is one of the things he can keep down. She asked that we not bring too much because she doesn't want it to go to waste. It's so sad. 

I got a tiny bit of writing done, but concentration is difficult. And I'm going to have to explain why my face looks like this over and over tomorrow at work. 

I think that's it for now. 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday

Happy Friday! 

The weather is yucky and I do not like, but other than that...

Let's just get to the list...

1. There's 100% chance I'll be sleeping in tomorrow. 

2. And Sunday. 

3. Weekend plans - they are light and home related, but need to be done and are not unpleasant. 

4. The plans revolving around food for the weekend. We're trying out some new recipes on ourselves before we think about exposing others. Ha! 

5. There's also 100% chance of writing time this weekend. I've done pretty well throughout the week, but had to take a break to do an emergency read-through for a friend. 

I can't think of anything else worth sharing here. I'm still working on my social media post. I'm just not sure if it's worth posting. 

That is all...

Behave! 

Tuesday Thoughts

It's cold. 

My plants all had to come back inside. Instead of the impossible task of dragging them all back upstairs, we sequestered them in the dining room -- closing the doors and hanging plastic over the smaller door. That has made the feline population insane. They are currently working on a plan to get into the dining room. You can see it on their faces. 

This weather is making me crazy. I'm so tired of being teased with a warm day only for it to turn arctic overnight. Yeah, I know it's spring. I know it's like this every year. I'm just over it more this year, probably because of the way this year has gone so far. 

I'm working on a ranty post. I don't know if I'll actually post or not. Suffice it to say I'm fed up with social media as a whole. 

In an effort to balance the negativity of above with some positives... I have been a machine of productivity today, which feels awesome. I hit my step count by like ten am, which is also awesome. I have texted with many of my beloved family over the last twenty four hours, which is always awesome. Those things make me smile. Well, I'm smiling on the inside at least. Ha!

Behave!