Feel Good Friday!

Yay! Friday! 

What a long week! 

Here's the list:

1. Ordering dinner from our favorite Mexican place. It was so good and just what we needed. K4 is at a friends tonight, so it's just That Man and I. The funny thing is, she texted me and said they ordered from the same place we did. 

2. Warmth. That Man got our furnace up and going tonight. It's been pretty cold in here, but not seriously uncomfortable. I have an electric fireplace I use in my office and that's really all I need during the day. But it's supposed to get pretty danged cold overnight. 

3. Writing confab with the writing buddies tonight. We chatted and did timed writing sprints. It was a perfect way to catch up with my friends and get some words on the page. 

4. Light weekend plans. We have some house stuff to do. And K3 is stopping by on Sunday. But other than that, it should be a relaxing one. I hope! 

5. Which means, sleeping in tomorrow. I slept in today. I mean, not really, but I stayed in bed longer than I normally do on a work day. It was so warm in bed and I was so comfy. It was dark and rainy. I don't regret a second of it. 

6. Going into the office was fine. I put away supplies, did inventory, and talked to some coworkers. That Man and I had lunch. It was a nice diversion from the same old, same old. 

That's all I have. It's almost 8pm and I think the mailperson just came. Don't ask. It's been that way for a while now... Weird. 

Behave! 

Trick or Treat...

Tonight was Trick or Treat in our town. 

The borough left it up to each homeowner/resident on participation. 

We decided to turn on our porch light. 

It was a great decision. 

It's cold. It's rainy, though the rain held off for most of the time. I ended up wrapped in a blanket on the front porch and I'm still cold. 

But the kids were so cute! We ended up with a much, much smaller crowd than usual, but it was still fun. Everyone was respectful. Some wore masks, some didn't. It didn't matter. Kids don't know. We were giving doubles and we still have 2/3's of the candy we started with. 

Parents thanked us for keeping it normal for the kids, which was our intent. 

I have to say I totally miss years past though. Having a crowd using our house as home base. Making food for the crowd. Having a bunch of people on the porch handing out candy and interacting with the trick or treaters.  

This year would have been a lot more fun with the crowd on our new front porch, but whatever. Next year will be totally epic. I decree it! 

Other than that... I've spoken to all of my siblings over the past twenty-four hours and we had great conversations. I miss them. We will be making plans to get together soon. 

And I did manage to write tonight. 

Tomorrow is Friday. That's a good thing. I have a busy morning, but I need to go to the office after that. Which is good and fine. 

That is all. 

Behave! 

Almost Three Weeks!

Sorry for the silence! 

Not much has been going on around here. 

Pretty much same old, same old. 

Still working from home. Cold. Rain. Waiting on the part for That Man's car. Writing. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be our Trick or Treat night. We debated about participating and then decided we must. We have a plan, but then there's a chance it will be cancelled because of 150% chance of rain. Our boys have already opted out due to the rain. We're still prepared, so we'll sit on our porch and see what happens. 

My kid had a birthday! We're not talking about how old he is. He's my baby boy, so you get that, right? 

We're all on a fast track to the holidays now! What the heck? This is our off year from my siblings and our on year with That Man's siblings for Thanksgiving. Plans are beginning to form. And then there's going to be Christmas, and K4's 21st birthday. Holy crap! My lists are started though and I feel good about that despite having a zero prediction of holiday spirit. 

That is all. 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday

Well, here we are at Friday again. 

It was a long and busy week around here. We are relaxing tonight. 

Here's the list: 

1. Ordering pizza for dinner. Awesome for no cooking and clean up. 

2. My Jeep is fixed and it didn't cost my first born and my soul.. Though we do have to replace the rest of the lines soon, but it will wait until after the rest of the frame is fixed, which is coming up soon. 

3. K4's room. We've been working all week. Her bed came early and so did her rug. She is all set up now. There are a few things left to do, but she is sleeping in her new comfy bed in her nearly-completed bedroom "suite". And let me tell you, that bed is super comfortable. 

4. The new story is going well. I am digging it still. I'm adding pages every day, and not just one or two. I like the direction it's going. 

5. No heavy plans for the weekend. We have air conditioners to take out. Storm windows to put in. Sleeping in. The furnace to prep, and a big ole pork roast to cook. That's about it.... I love it. 

That is all...

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up...

 Well, that weekend went super fast!

I got a lot of things done on my list, but not everything I'd hoped for. 

1. The room - That Man is working on shelving. We're kind of at a stand still until the new bed she ordered arrives. And the rug she ordered. We have to finish the shelving (which will be part of her new headboard), paint the edges of the floor, and then... wait some more. The bed is due to arrive this week. The rug next week. But it is coming along. I did get the painting done last week. It's a different schedule, but we discovered some areas on the floor that we're not going to be able to paint over - hence the rug. 

2. Writing - I am digging this new story. K3 stopped by yesterday and we brainstormed a little, which was awesome. I didn't get anything done Friday or Saturday, but I'm heading there soon. 

3. Mr. B - I picked him up Friday after work. He needed a break from little Mr. B. (Who is super, super cute and funny, but very, very active) We had spaghetti with K3 & A, and watched Toy Story 4. It was an awesome evening. I woke up at 4 to use the little girls room and without making any noise, stuck my head into the guest room to check on him since his mom said he's been having trouble sleeping. I found him wide awake. Ugh. I told him he had to try to go back to sleep, but he said he had been trying and it wasn't working. So... We went downstairs and put a movie on. I expected him to go back to sleep, but no dice. We had a blast on Saturday though. He helped Pappy with the Jeep's oil change and helped me clean the porch. We played, cooked, and talked. He got to see his Rah-rah and Dee-dee, too. He's an awesome kid! 

4. Speaking of the Jeep. I had to sit in a super long line of traffic on my way to pick up B. My brake light came on, but I didn't think anything of it. The lights go on and off at random times anyway. As That Man was changing the oil, he realized that the brake line was leaking. Oh, not just leaking - spraying fluid every time you step on the brakes. Apparently, the line let go. Awesome. Not. So, now that will go to the shop to get fixed. 

5. And then, it will be That Man's car. He went to leave for the office on Friday and his car wouldn't start and gave him a "death" light on the dash. He checked it out Saturday morning only to find that his radiator tank is filled with oil & sludge. That's not right. No. Really. It's not. Ha! We don't know what that means at this point. It could be fixable, but it could also be the death of his VW. I really can't deal with anymore car issues. We just had our new car in the shop for an issue with the back brakes and I feel like all we've done for the last few months is pay for one car issue after another. Ugh. 

6. I spent a lot of time today bringing in my plants. I have all but the huge asparagus fern indoors. My office is filled. The guest room has a hanging basket. The rosemary is in the dining room. There are two small hanging plants in the bathroom. But that asparagus fern is a quandary. It's probably four feet long and super wide. It literally takes up a quarter of the back porch. I have somewhat of an idea of where I'm putting it, but it's so heavy and unwieldy that I can't quite do it alone. That Man and I should get it in tonight though. 

That's all I have....

Behave!

 

September the Last

 Last day of the month! This year has gone fast, which, I guess, considering how crappy 2020 has been, is a good thing!

Now we head into October, which is one of my favorite months! Cooler temps, warmer foods, fuzzy socks, no outrageous electric bill... 

I started a new story! I'm very excited about it. It's about a woman who wakes up one morning as the only person on the planet. So far it's going well! I will finish this one and then hit edits on Sector Two. 

On the room work - we didn't get as far as I'd hoped. Like I said, I knew I was aiming high. Ha! Progress is being made though. The walls are done. We just have some painting (painting I thought was done previously, but wasn't), and the floors. Then some trim. The hope is that she can start moving her stuff over there by mid-week next week. (The floors have to cure a bit) It's going to be great for her and she's excited. 

Last night I had the chance to meet up with friends via Zoom. These are my oldest writing friends. The five of us used to talk every day and meet at least once a month. It's been years. We all had to get jobs and crap. Some of them moved to a different state. It was a blast though. We laughed like crazy people. It was like old times. What we all figured would be a half hour conversation, turned into to over two hours and it was awesome! 

That is all!

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday...on Saturday

 I know it's not even 9pm, but I am ready for bed! 

Our day has been pretty busy. Since the fence is done and it was raining this morning, we tackled the other half of K4's room. It's been needing done for a while. She's running out of space and has a grand plan for the room. 

First thing was jenga-style stacking the contents of the space into the storage closet. A lot of it belongs to K1 & J, but they don't have room for it right now. (Neither do we, but whatever...) Then it was wall repair and a trip to the home improvement store for supplies. 

We started the walls when we got back. Got about 1/3 done before we decided to call it a day. What a pain! We're dealing with a sloped roof and many angles, so it's extra cutting and finagling. And frustration. We'll be back up there tomorrow and hopefully, maybe, hopefully, get the first coat of paint on the floor before quitting time. We shall see though. I am far more optimistic than realistic! Ha! 

We cleaned up our wall mess, showered, and ordered delivery from one of the restaurants we stopped at a lot before the pandemic happened. I miss fresh fries. And fresh onion rings. It was still really good and we didn't have to cook, so there's that! 

I am digging the grocery delivery thing. I know way back in the day I constantly talked about how awesome it would be if the groceries were delivered. It is as awesome as I had always hoped! I just scheduled a delivery for tomorrow, which means I don't have to go to the store instead of working on the room. Having the bags dropped at the door is way better than all of that work you have to do at the actual grocery store! 

Also, just this week I received a contract for the second book that was with my old publisher. WooHoo! That one took quite a bit more editing than the first one. But I still love that story. Now I need to figure out what I'm doing next. I am caught up on critiques and just have to change the hero's name in the first book I contracted (it's the same as Sector One. Ha!). I'm having trouble deciding what to work on next. Sector Two needs to sit a bit before I tackle edits. 

That is all! I'm going to bed now! 

Behave! 

Deep Into September!

Well, here we are on the first day of Autumn. Sorry for the radio silence. I don't really have an excuse, except for the break from social media. 

I do appreciate the cooler temps. In fact, the last few days have been amazing! It's been pretty danged chilly in the mornings. I'm wearing socks now. Well, not right at this moment though my feet are pretty cold, but I start the day with them. Ha!

We did get our front fence done over the weekend. It's pretty much the exact fence we had before, but new. It looks good, despite the slight wave in it and the variations in stain color. That's not a bad thing. The tree is trimmed out front and the huge weeds and the brace to keep it from falling down are gone. Also, the junk on the yard side of the fence is now gone, which is awesome. 

Our curb appeal is looking pretty good these days, which was our goal. And in the back, the old wooden swing set is partially down, but much of it repurposed into the fence. The yard looks bigger. And better. 

That's a strange thing. That swing set that our kids played on for years (and I mean years) is gone. Tons of neighbor kids, nieces, nephews, and friends played on that swing. Grandkids. It was a ton of nostalgia. Then, K3 stopped by and barely noticed. K4 came home from work and barely noticed. Same with K1 when he stopped over to grab some stuff. Though all of them said the yard looked bigger. I guess the nostalgia was just That Man and I. 

I have been editing and critiquing. I finished the book that didn't seem like it would ever end and then took a break. But I have critiqued a ton of stuff for friends, and edited my own stuff. (Not the book I just finished. Ha! That needs to sit for a while longer.) I have one more critique to do and then I will write a short story. I think. I'm not super sure what I'm doing next. 

Same old, same old around here though. 

Behave! 

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! 

One Down. One to Go.

Sold the one car today.

Well... technically. I have a deposit and a promise to return on Saturday to pick it up.

The guy came today. Took it for a test drive. And despite the issues the car has, made an offer. He seemed like a decent enough guy. Wore his mask. Practiced social distancing. We didn't talk a lot even about the car. That's fine. I'm happy with how things are turning out, but I won't be relieved until the money is in my hands and the car is out of my parking space.

The other listing is not doing quite so well. It's priced quite a bit higher than the one that sold, so that's probably part of it, though it's listed as OBO. I think once you get past a certain price point, the dynamics change. Plus it's an entirely different kind of car, which obviously, has an entirely different group of people potentially interested. It's definitely worth what we're asking, though it does need some work (which is why it's priced how it is). It's K4's old car and it was good to her, just like it was good to my niece before her. It was maintained very well and has a lot of new parts, and even parts in the box.

Anyway... It's been a stressful day. We had a ton of hits on the first car. Mostly people offering stupid amounts of money for it (Like super stupid) and asking questions that were already answered in the listing. I turned my phone on silent around 10pm last night right before we went to bed. At 6:30 this morning, I had a dozen new messages, including pings from people who felt I should have answered them sometime between the hours of midnight and five am. Really? Those questions continued throughout the day. Oy!

I also managed to get my Internet upgraded after about three weeks of hassle. Don't get me wrong, I like our provider. They aren't jerks. Except they have been the past few weeks. I do understand. The woman I spoke to today is working from home, too. And long-story-short, she fixed me up and I am happy and don't think they're jerks anymore.

It was also one of those days where everything hit at once. My boss was needing things, my project managers needed things, the salesmen, too. Voicemails were coming in one after another. My computer keeps dropping the Internet. At the same time my phone is blowing up, Messenger is blowing up, and the dog is barking at nothing.

It is Wednesday though. Tomorrow will be a better day.

That is all.

Behave!

Selling Cars

We have two cars we're trying to sell.

It's a huge pain in the behind.

I listed them both tonight.

Within a minute I had a guy interested in the one. He came and looked at it. Said he was going to buy it, and then sent me a message when he got home that his wife said no. Okay. That's fine. I've had several other messages on that one - mostly offering me hundreds below what it's listed for. The last guy offered a ridiculous amount and my response was a simple "negative".

Whatever. It's literally been up for less than two hours, so...

The other one has a person interested, but he won't be able to come and see it until Friday or Saturday. That's fine, too. I told him we couldn't hold it for him. Since there isn't a guarantee that he'll buy it, it's first come, first served.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

When I listed the camper it was insane. I had about a hundred messages, some of them repeating when I dared sleep and not answer them. But, the camper was gone within a day, so whatever.

I'm not expecting either car to sell that fast, but I hope they are out of here soon.

That's all I have for now...

Behave!

Venting Things....

I started this blog fourteen years ago and it's been of variable use to me. I still love it and am glad I have this forum to talk about ridiculous things and put things in writing that I might want to remember. It's my outlet and I have always have appreciated having it.

I had great hopes of it being one of the main ways to connect with readers, promote my books and events. Hence... Tall Tale Tuesday, and Two Truths and a Lie. Alas, times change and blogs seem to be going by the wayside in favor of other social media platforms. I hope it switches back to the old way, though I'm not delusional on that.

Which I hate. I'm not much for the main social media platform, as you already know. I'll post events, but I suck at interacting with people and keeping up. Heck, it will remind me that it's someone's birthday and I'll either text them or send them a private message because I don't want to show up on there.

Anyway... My point is, and I think it's one of the reasons I've been silent on here, is that I was talking with someone I considered to be a friend a few weeks ago. We were catching up and talking about this and that, and when I attempted to input about things going on in my life, I was cut off and told that they "knew" because they read this blog.

They proceeded to tell me that since they follow my blog, they feel like they know what's going on with me and that there's no reason for me to be repetitive and that I was a bad friend for not checking in with them more frequently since they already knew what was going on with me and I clearly didn't know what was going on with them. Really?

Repetitive as in how? My question was to the effect of do you really think I post everything going on to the blog? I hit the highlights. Some of them. Not nearly all. Never the lows. And I don't go into great detail. So how does that make you think that you know everything that's going on with me?

I was hurt. I still am hurt. Is that why we would only talk when it had been a few weeks between blog posts? Or what? Friendship is supposed to be a two way street. But the comment explains to me why I felt like I was the one listening and never had a chance to speak.

They thought this blog gave them a complete and total picture of my life.

Let me be clear in saying that it doesn't. It doesn't even come close. You can't say "oh, I read your blog" and believe you know everything that happened or is going on. You can't feel like you're connected to my life when you are getting the super-superficial.

I can't say I've completely parted ways with this friend. I've known them for a super long time and I do feel like the friendship is salvageable. I think I have effectively blocked them from accessing this blog. Which is for the point I'm trying to make. Are you really friends with me, or is it all about you? You only call me when I don't post. As evidenced by the call I received late last week. That I didn't answer.

The next time we talk, I want a give and take. A real conversation. Not an "yeah, I know. I read your blog". Because you don't know. You know the surface and nothing below.

Because I still love ya and I want the old relationship. (which means nothing since you can't see this)

I completely and utterly appreciate every single person who reads this blog. I know it's ridiculous and silly, but the fact that someone takes the times to read my bullshit and thoughts... well, that means a lot.

I guess my bottom line with this post is that... check in on your friends. The ones who post the crazy stuff on social media, the ones who don't post on social media, the ones that post pictures of their food and nothing else. Social media for most people my age is completely and utterly superficial. We still need read friends.

Thank you for listening to my venting!

And now we will return to our regular postings...

Behave!

Well...That Was Longer Than Intended...

You wouldn't think things would be that crazy...

They really kind of aren't. But kind of are, too. It's always something, I think.

What has been happening?

I have no idea. I can't remember half of it.

I'll do my best though...

1. The kid finally got her new wheels. After two horrible experiences. The last guy definitely had a conscience because he almost sold it while we were in transit to look at it. He told the guy that was there to give us an hour since we called first. So, she got to look and test drive. She fell in love and purchased it. She's got her own insurance and the vehicle is in her name only.

2. It's been hot! Damn hot! Air conditioners are running so we don't die.

3. The porch is still in process. The last trim color wasn't right, so we had to figure out what to do. That's on the list for tonight, so we'll see... Floor fixing & paint, shrubs, and some other trim work and we'll be done. It's going slow, but it's a huge job and there's limited time to be able to get stuff done due to the blazing sun.

4. Still working from home. No idea of a return to the office date yet. It's still going well, so there's that.

5. Our garden is producing tomatoes! Whoot!

6. Reservations being made for our September event.

7. Cool stuff on the writing front. I can't really share yet, but let's just say it was the boost I needed. The book isn't done yet, but there are some other things in the works. Just finished critiquing something for a friend, and then I'm taking care of a small project. After that, it's a much bigger project, and then another, and then I can finish the book. Sorry to be so cryptic, but I can't share anymore at this point.

8. Some book signing events coming back. Tentatively. I think at least four events were cancelled previously this year, so this one being on the calendar is awesome. I'm looking forward to it.

Other than that...

Yesterday was the anniversary of my Dad's death. I miss him. A lot. I wish he was here to talk over some things with. I could always count on him to listen and ask the right questions so that I would come to the conclusion I needed to. He rarely gave advice unless specifically asked. And if you did ask, and then didn't follow his advice, he never got upset. I wonder what he would think about everything going on in the world these days.

I'm trying to stay off of social media as much as possible. Except I had to list our old camper to get rid of. That was quite an experience. I had over 60 inquiries. A lot of people apparently don't read the description, or care when you tell them there's 40 people interested in front of them. They still ask for details that were clearly listed in the ad. Someone asked me if it had tires. There was a full picture of it with the tires showing. Also, we'd found a snake in it when we cleaned it out. I accidentally uploaded that picture and so many people commented on the snake... Some were downright funny and I appreciated it. Some were just weird. Luckily, the third guy that emailed me picked it up last night. He was appreciative and so were we. It's gone and having it stored at my sister's and in their way isn't hanging over our heads anymore.

Anyway - I'll refresh the social media page and immediately close out. Everything on my feed is ugly and I just can't do it. I am thinking about deleting my account and just keeping my author page...

That's all I have for now...

I'll try to get on here sooner than 10 days... Ha!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday...

Well... Here we are again... Friday. A day like any other, except with the potential for sleeping in tomorrow.

Here is my list:

1. Watching Jericho. I haven't watched this for years (like forever... at least maybe ten years?) and I am loving it. I am so happy it's still on Netflix. I just wish there could be more than just two seasons. The character growth in this show is amazing, but some of the stuff they do is just not possible and doesn't make sense, but I can forgive that. I do love this show. It speaks to me and it helps me write.

2. Ben & Jerry's canoli ice cream. Oh Dear God. I had to put it back in the freezer. I could have eaten the entire thing. I will probably have this for breakfast.

3. Getting words on the page. I've gotten quite a few tonight, but not enough yet. I am not pushing myself after such a long dry spell, but I am making progress and it feels good. I don't know that I will finish this weekend, but every word gets me closer. My friend made me take last night off last night and it did help. I feel more rested and focused and I found some back story that's relevant to where I'm at right now with the story, so that's good. But essentially, this story is a huge steaming pile of poo. Ha!

4. Getting to the bank. Finally. I have had several things to do there since before all of this Covid started. I forgot one damned thing... a new checkbook register, but other than that I feel pretty damned productive. I had to make an appointment. And they were super efficient and super fast. I had about six things on my list and I was out of there in twenty-five minutes. And the staff was awesome. I have always loved my bank, but I love them even more now. And, despite having to wear a mask, I felt normal for once in a long time.

5. A pretty average day job week. I was busy - busier than I've been, which is good. I did the training thing, which is weird because I can't be on the same program at the same time, so I'm training from memory, but it seems to be working out. And I'm training and have only been there seven months. And for three of those months, I've been working from home and making my own thing happen... so... It's all still good though!

6. Hanging with the kid. She kills me with her humor and intelligence. She has the most caring heart and a most compassionate soul. She is passionate in her opinions and beliefs and likes to debate, which I appreciate. She wants more cats, which I am severely opposed to. We have more than enough cats in this house. I did put my foot down, but I also know if there are kittens that need rescuing... ha!

7. My dog. She's a mess. My office is on the second floor and today, for the first time ever, she decided to check out what was going on outside by putting herself all up in the window. There is no screen there. And I guess it wouldn't really matter if there was. If she was determined enough, she would have busted right through a screen. But it freaked me out. And now I can't leave her in the office with the window up at all.

8. The potential for sleeping in tomorrow! When I plan to sleep in, I get up super early and am pissed. So my plan is to just lounge in bed for as long as possible. It's nice and cool in here. I have a television, my computer, and the Internet. I have a fire stick on my television, so I'm good. Ha!

That is all.

Behave!

Another Week...

Not much going on around here. Same old. Same old.

Work is work. It's still weird being home without That Man. I don't like him not being here, but him ferrying stuff to and from the office has helped me out a lot as far as things being done more timely.

The writing is not going so hot. I am so very close to being done with this book and I think the fact that I have been writing it for so long is what's holding me back from just pushing through to the end. A friend is giving me small challenges to get on the stick and get stuff done, and I have been doing them and I am determined to finish. I have a plan for the next few days so we shall see.

I'm not a fan of the heat we've been having. I know we're not quite at the hottest part of summer yet, and I won't like that either. I am super thankful for our new air conditioner we bought for our bedroom. The thing kicks butt and it's so nice and cold for sleeping.

That's all I have...

Behave!

Hump Day...What?

Today was probably one of the most unproductive days I've had since working from home...

I did get a lot of work done, but not nearly as much as I could have. Not nearly.

The server went down an uncountable amount of times. Then, just when we got back in around lunchtime, we were told to get out again right after lunchtime because one of the hard drives had fried. Then we were able to get back in.... and then the accounting software program failed and had to be rebooted, which took nearly the rest of the day...

My boss called during all of this to ask me to fix a problem. I couldn't do the research and have the documentation I needed. I couldn't even see his original email regarding it. I did manage to find an old print out that had part of the problem listed and began to take care of it from there. Now I just wait for him to respond... That wasn't fun. (and it wasn't a problem of my doing or within my control)

Then my buddy Fat Freddy started to feel insecure and decided that trying to open my office door and crying at the top of his lungs was the right thing to do. Nuisance! I had to go out and pet him and pay attention to him to get him to stop... I almost wonder if it's better to just let the cats into the office. But then... no...

It sucked.

They say Mercury in Retrograde will cause this. I'm not sure I believe that 100%, but WTF Mercury. Why do you have to mess with my work day? Jerk!

I miss That Man working from home with me. My days are too quiet. Though we could go hours without speaking directly to each other... It's still too quiet. I listen to music. It's still too quiet. I have the dog in the office with me. She snores. I take breaks. It confuses the dog, and she still snores. And it's still too quiet.

Ha!

We talk on the phone several times a day though. Today we Face-timed at the end of the day so I could tell him how to clear out the credit card machine. (the regular guy is on vacation) That call was hysterical because his left is my right and... ha!

I have more, but that's enough for tonight....

Behave!

Another Week...

Here we are at Monday again.

That Man is now officially back in the office. Things are getting busy and his boss needs him handy. Plus, his work space at home was very insufficient - even more so once things started getting crazy. I am still home. There's no word on when my department will go back. Some say July. Some say later. I'm okay either way. I love working from home. But I'm okay with going back to the office, too. We will see...

The weekend away with the ladies was awesome. We talked and laughed, played games, kayaked, ate, sat by the fire, and just enjoyed the break. I was nervous to drive the camper, but I rocked it. Everything was set up the way it's supposed to be and it was good. Packing up also went well. Sleeping was good because it was pretty cool in the evenings. It was a really small group (smaller than I originally thought) and it was good to get to know everyone I didn't know well. We had way more food than we knew what to do with. I made a cheese platter and a strawberry cheesecake poke cake, which was good because we hadn't thought of a birthday cake.

The porch is coming along. That Man did a lot over the weekend. We are super close to painting. Maybe even by this coming weekend. Whoot!

That's all I have for now. We got kicked out of the system for maintenance, so I'm trying to catch up on everything else. It's weird not having That Man here.

Behave!

Feel Good...Sunday? And Weekend Wrap Up...

I couldn't find any feel goods on Friday. I tried. I started several posts, but ended up closing down my computer and leaving it in the office. I was too raw and concerned. Nothing has changed with our friends since Thursday's post and I'm still sad.

The best I could do was get to the end of the workday and order some pizza.

So, I do have a list now...

1. Getting porch work done. That Man and I are super sore and hurting, but we're making progress. We got the upper outer portion painted and it's a huge difference. I'm amazed every time I look at it. We still have about 2/3 of the porch ceiling to strip paint from, and the floor, but every day we make progress.

2. Choosing colors for the porch. They are a "bit" different from the normal colors you see everyday, but will definitely put the house back to period appropriate and that's what we want. And no, they aren't gaudy or gross. I also found an outside rug for when the porch is done and I love it.

3. Cleaning house. I vacuumed, mopped, and did the things. K4 dusted, fetched and carried, and helped me do the things. We were an awesome team. And we knocked it out pretty quickly. The laundry is done, the house smells good, and it's clean.

4. Grilled shrimp for dinner last night. So very very good. Rice and asparagus as sides. It was delicious.

5. Zoom call with our Avo family last night. These people have been our friends for over 20 years. They were part of our brother-in-laws band back in the day and we hit every single show we could and became fast friends. Our kids grew up with Avo. We have had some of the best times of our lives with these amazing people. It was awesome to see them and have a real-time conversation. We talked for over three hours and it was so much fun. (Avo is part of the band's name)

6. Sleeping in today. Of course, I didn't get to bed until around 1am because of #5. No regrets, but I did enjoy staying in bed longer than normal.

7. Oh! And our car... We made our appointment to get our new-to-us car inspected last week. We went about three miles down the road to go to the store the same day after we made the appointment. The check engine light came on and the D light on the shifter started flashing. We did some research and found several possible reasons. That Man checked the fluids. We called our mechanic. He wasn't too worried. He thought maybe a critter got up there and chewed some wires. He agreed with That Man that the transmission fluid was gross and changed it with the "approved" fluids. We picked it up. Got maybe two miles down the road and the lights came back on. Turned around and took it back. He'd already bought the other part he thought we might need, but didn't want to put it on if it was just the fluid. He was so upset though. He kept apologizing and we were not upset and understood what his intentions were. He changed the part and drove it home and back and around town and no light. We picked it up and still no lights. We shall see... If that didn't solve the problem, the rest should be covered under the warranty. And yes, we made sure that we did everything according to the policy so the warranty wasn't voided. But still... geeze!! We've had the car six months and it's pretty much been in the driveway since March. (yeah... we know that might be part of it...) Ha!

8. Camper - That Man made a "deck" for the stairs today. Yes. The automatic steps need fixed, but it's a bigger job than he has time for right now. We need the "deck" so the stairs don't put too much pressure on the floor in the entryway. (It's complicated...) I am taking the camper next weekend for a girl's weekend with some crazy friends. I am close with exactly five of the ten people coming, so it should be interesting for me... I'm going to be the oldest one there and I will get to know the other people in this friend group. I have met most of them, but have never had the chance to connect, so maybe this will be good? I can tell you that this group of ladies made food for the family when our dad died and made food for the family when our mom died, and some of them came out and helped when we were cleaning out the house, so there's that. But our mutual friend is turning 40 (baby) and I am looking forward to hanging with these ladies and taking a break. And I am looking forward to sleeping in my camper and having the comforts of home. (bathroom! Whoot!)

9. In that same thread, hopefully July 4 will be a camping weekend! I hope. I hope. I hope.

10. Writing. I am less than 8K words with being done with this story. It's going well. It's going to need a crapton of editing. Like a metric crapton. But done is done. I am hoping to get it finished this week, though I am not exactly in the place I need to be to zoom to the end. But I am definitely getting there, so even if it takes longer than this week, that's okay. Done is done. And a blank page can't be fixed. I have many non-blank pages... ha!

That's it... Tomorrow is a work day. I need to get some checks written first thing and then we are heading into the office. I need to do a supply inventory and put away the stuff I ordered last week. It's hard to keep up on supplies when you're not there and the field guys are busy and need stuff. New challenge.

Behave!

So Much...

It's been a long week. 

I am done. 

I have seen families fighting and calling names over differing opinions and political views. I have seen relationships broken and damaged beyond repair. Families altered and now estranged because of a social media post and an inability to scroll past or at least offer a respectful response. 

Listen. I don't care about your politics. At all. If I like you. I like you. Most likely we can have a reasonable conversation about the things we don't agree on. And if, over the years, we've found that type of discussion is not good for us, then we won't have it. 

Actually, I would prefer not to talk politics at all. That's not why we're hanging out. 

That seems to work face to face, but when someone is hidden behind a screen, it's different. And it sucks. Just don't comment. Or hide that person so their posts don't up your ire. It's responsible and mature. 

And, just so we're clear, I'm not talking about racism above. That's a totally different topic and I won't have any kind of discussion with you, ever, if you think racism is okay. It's not. Ever. In fact, if you think racism is okay, I am probably not your friend at all. 

All of it just makes me sad. I know we're all sick of the Covid stuff, we're sick of politics, murder hornets, the tiger king, not being able to find what we need at the store... we're sick of how life has gone pretty much all year, but we cannot lose our humanity or our compassion for each other. 

Just scroll on by, for crying out loud. It's not that hard. Do not make horrible comments and call names to someone because their opinion is different than yours. Don't continually seek them out to further make comments. If you are that vehement about what they post, then do your research and have an intelligent and reasonable conversation with them. Or block them. The choice is yours. Calling people names makes you look like an *ss and makes you lose people in your life. And if that happens, you have no one to blame but yourself. 

I know people are passionate and can be vociferous when they are projecting their opinions. They are allowed. Just as you are allowed to post what you want on your page. It's their social media platform and they can post whatever they want. Their opinions might not line up with yours. That's fine. They don't care because it belongs to them and they are making that post for themselves. Not to you. Not to change your opinion. Or make you angry. Scroll on by. Or block them. It's pretty obvious that you're not going to change their opinion by calling them names. 

Like I said, it's been a long week. No, I'm not going to tell you what family I'm talking about. I highly doubt you would know them anyway. They are not people I ever talk about on here. My heart breaks for them and my hope is that one day they can work through this and be whole again.

Be kind to each other. I know you're a little cranky from being in Covid-land for so long, but reach inside and pull out that compassion. I think we're all going to need a ton of it in the coming weeks. 

Behave!

A Week?

I guess so... Humph...

Not much going on.

I'm writing.
I'm working.

I don't have much else...

Behave!

Quiet...

Well... except for the fire siren that has gone off twelve-hundred times so far today... Ha! That's not what I mean though.

I've been quiet. I was going to post on Mom's birthday, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't post on Facebook either. Just didn't want to...I think I said in a previous post that it's been a rough year.

We are supposed to move to Yellow Phase on Friday. It's weird.

Though a good friend's father is in the hospital with Covid. He's elderly and not doing well. She has symptoms and is awaiting her test results (he lives with her). That kind of brought this whole thing home and freaked us both out. She's an essential worker and has had to go to work every day through this. She's been worried about bringing something home to her dad. Though he could have gotten it through other means as well - the doctor's office, his therapist, his other daughter.

Looking forward to a long weekend coming up, though it seems weird not to be able to camp.

That's all I have.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

Let's get to it!

1. A brand new granddaughter! She arrived late Wednesday and she's beautiful and perfect. The whole family is doing well. Luckily, the had planned a home birth. She came so fast they would have never made it to the hospital. She also came on the anniversary of her Gigi's death, which has special significance. Now we'll have a happier memory to associate with the day and I can't help but think Mom had something to do with that.

2. Moving to the Yellow Phase next week!

3. Working on the camper.

4. Going to run errands at lunch today and driving the Jeep with the top down.

5. My downstairs staying clean and tidy since we moved upstairs.

6. Burgers on the grill for dinner.

7. Sleeping in tomorrow. We are putting the air conditioner in soon. Second floor after an 80 degree day is not a good sleeping arrangement.

8. Getting rid of $44 worth of one dollar bills today. K4 owed me money and paid me all in ones. When I ran into the grocery store to pick up a prescription and a few other things, I ran all of those suckers into the machine at the self check out. Whoot!

That's about it. Of course we will be home this weekend, but we have a lot of stuff to do...

Behave!

Five Years, Momma...

I miss you every day, Momma.
I miss our morning talks.
I miss any talk with you.
I miss your advice.
I miss your cooking.
I miss helping you with whatever you need.
I miss shopping with you.
I miss watching The Waltons with you.
I miss your random phone calls when something Dad used to take care of happened.
I miss family gatherings at your house.
I miss your optimism and your strength.
I miss the way you would jump in to help anyone and everyone who needed help.
I miss your hope.
I miss being able to call you just to ask a dumb question or hear your perspective. I could have used that many many many times since you've been gone.
I miss road trips with you.
I miss your face.
I miss everything.

This anniversary feels sharp.

Every memory is vivid and marked. Maybe it's because the days fall exactly the same. Sunday was our last Mother's Day together after an epic weekend of surprising you with an early birthday party. Monday was the day I called the ambulance. Today was the day you died.

I looked at the clock at the exact time, too. I did that several times today. "This was when we talked to the surgeon", "This is when they gave us the family room for our exclusive use", and so on... I remember heading back to your house afterwards and all of us just sitting in silence trying to wrap our heads around everything. I remember making phone calls and going to bed in the wee hours of the morning... not sleeping, but sobbing all night.

Next week, on your birthday, we had your services as requested by your brother and agreed on by your kids. The following day, we went to the crematorium and supported each other while the deed happened.

But I have also tried to stay busy today to keep my mind off of it. Only, like I said, everything is sharp and hurty. And I miss you so much.

Momma, I hope you and Dad are having a blast together. I hope you look down on us all and smile. I hope what I think are little signs from you all really are. You would have been 80 on this birthday. I think about that and how you'd be getting around, how you'd be doing, how you would react to what we're dealing with right now.

Actually we joke about that. You would be impossible to keep home. You'd always want to go and get more supplies to make more masks. You'd always be at the grocery store "stocking up" because you loved to stock up. You would be in your "helping" element. You would be going crazy without being able to see your friends or go to the craft store.

Oh, Momma. I know you're in a better place, but that doesn't help your kids left behind. I know you're there with your oldest, too, and I hope things are good between you now.

I miss you, Momma.

Behave!

End Of An Era...

I didn't renew my membership with the national writing organization.

There were many reasons. No, I won't list them. They won't make sense unless you are a part of the organization and have firsthand witnessed what's been happening since December (and before). I will give them kudos for trying to get things back to right, but I can't abide by being treated like sheep.

Anyway. With that change I also have no choice but to give up my local writing chapter. That was a HUGE decision because I have been a member for eighteen-ish years and I love my chapter! But, despite my love, I have come to the realization that I don't have anything left to give my chapter and I don't feel like I'm getting anything from it. (Not their fault. This is totally on me)

I was on the board for probably 13 or 14 years of my membership. I got convinced to take over being librarian within my second year (rules were different back then). I kept that job for probably five years before running for vice president. And then president. And then vice president again. I think I was secretary for a year. Maybe? I know I was never ever treasurer. But I pretty much did every other board position at least a few times.

I also ran the retreat for ten years or so. That ended. Mainly because the dynamic of our membership changed and no one needed or could afford the glorious retreat we had grown accustomed to. It happens. We started out as a young chapter. We all had little children. We all desperately needed writing time away from our families. And it really worked for a long time and grew and was absolutely amazing. And then, our kids grew up and were in high school or college or doing okay on their own. And we could write in the evenings and in our spare time, or if we were lucky enough to be able to write from home full time, the distractions were gone. Retreats were absolutely amazing and will remain my best memories ever!

After talking with my friends that I know I will see frequently regardless (well, I mean, once we can go to dinner or lunch again), we came to the conclusion that me leaving is like graduating from high school. You've learned your lessons, been bullied, and now are ready to strike out on your own. It's pretty much a perfect analogy.

I will miss my friends. I will miss so many things, but I know in my heart that I have made the right decision. So much so that I have written more in the few days since I sent my "goodbye"  email than I have in the past two weeks or so (since I realized it was coming up fast). As much as I love and have always loved my chapter, I feel like a weight has been lifted.

I can always go back. There is that. In the meantime, I have the lifelong friends I have made as a direct result of the whole thing - these are the people that I talk to nearly every single day. We text. We email. (We have our own email group - that's how committed to each other we are and have been for the past fifteen or so years) We check in with each other and we kick each other's butts when we're struggling. And we support each other no matter what.

I cannot explain our connection, but we seem to intuitively know if someone needs a hug or a push. And it always works.

Behave!

Happy May the Fourth...

...and we're still "sheltering at home".  We're at what 45 days now? At least for us.

Our industry began again today. They are well-equipped with safety gear and regulations. That Man had to be at the office early this morning to get everyone to sign off and recognize the safety supplies. The rest of us office people are still at home and will be for the foreseeable future.

I need my office space and hope to have it soon. I am done with the "coziness" of having my work station in my dining room. I want that space back. I want to be able to eat a meal at my table and I want the cats to leave me alone during my work day. Stealing pens, papers, chewing on stuff, and trying to remove my bank fob are unacceptable. And the hair! I brought a can of compressed air home the other day. We have so much fur in all of our stuff it was a necessity. Well, the first time I used it, it scared the bejeezus out of all of them. And then I did it again because I thought I was funny. I went to use it today because there is just so freaking much hair every-freaking-where and I discovered that they (the cats) had chewed the tube-thingy and it no longer worked. Ha! I just need an office chair and K4 to do some clean up in my office (her old room) and I'm good to go. Hopefully this time next week, I will be in there, despite it not being completely done.

It was a super nice weekend and I was so thankful! We worked on scraping the peeling paint from our front porch so we can paint. It's a terrible, terrible chore and despite doing very little scraping yesterday, I am still hurting. I did, however, do a lot - just not that - laundry, cleaning, making mac salad (thanks to my sister-in-law for the formula), making pickled eggs, etc. That Man, however, worked three times as much as I did on it yesterday and he is even more hurty. I also repotted a few plants and got some flowers taken care of. I need flowers though! And it's ticking me off that I can't get them right now!

We never got any alligators and The Wilds survived the flooding. Still waiting on word about camping. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

So now we have "Murder Hornets"!!?? What the crap is that? I looked them up. They are ridiculous! Who needs them at all? My only hope is that people don't see the cicada killer bees and think they are murder hornets. The cicada killers always live in my patio. They are non-confrontational and are cool to watch. They grab their cicada's and go back into their holes (we imagine a hobbit-like system underground, but that might just be a little silly). They are huge and scary looking though.

I did write tonight! I am so happy! It's been at least a week, if not longer. I hit a dead zone again, which is, I guess, normal right now, but not writing does not make me feel better about anything. I cut off at a point that makes me excited to get back to it and I'm not too far from the end, so there's that.

I also talked to two out of three siblings tonight, which is good stuff.  I mean, my brother butt dialed me, but we had been texting previously, so we talked anyway. Good stuff. I miss them all and can't wait until we can hang out together again. I also got hysterical videos of Little Mr. B. That kid is a freaking riot and I'm sure he's plotting to take over the world. I miss my boys!

That's all I have!

Behave!

Thursday... Why Have You Been Such a Long Day?

We went into the office today...

Had to get some supplies and do some things. That Man had a pretty big task and I had a bunch of stuff to do. We had to get our temperature taken as soon as we came in and sign the "book" to prove we had our temperature taken and record it. I totally get it. It just feels weird.

We were there until lunchtime. I was getting hangry because my large cup of coffee ended around ten. I took all of my drawer snacks home and hadn't brought anything else to drink. Finally got home and ate a delicious leftover hamburger for lunch and some potato salad.

Then we worked some more.

And then it was time to be done, though we both worked past our normal time. Me more than him, but he had later phone calls and stuff. And we both felt like we'd worked a solid two days straight. I don't know why - maybe the long morning in the office and then the long day working at home. We're both worn out and our shoulders ache. It was a damned stressful day.

And it rained all freaking day long. Our yard is a swamp. I'm just waiting for alligators to show up...

Our front porch is pretty big. That's where our mailbox is. It's covered from the rain. But, despite arriving home about ten minutes after the mail person came, our mail was so wet. Like, I had to set it in front of the little fireplace to dry wet. That will tell you how crazy the rain was.

Our "The Wilds' are flooding currently. The last update I got was that the flood was up to the pavillion. That's pretty far over the banks of the creek. Like over the road. The hope is that we will get to camp in 31 days, but we will see. It's a private space and the typical picnic probably won't happen, but there should be no reason we cannot camp in our favorite place. But... We shall see.

Tomorrow is Friday. I hope it's a quick day. But I am no convinced it will be. I have a pretty big list of things to do.

And I haven't written a damned word all week...

Behave!

Dear...

It's been a super long time since I've done one of these and since I'm out of creativity at the moment, this is all I have.

Dear Employer -

Thank you for taking us off the week-to-week schedule and keeping us working from home. I appreciate you more than I can say. There is a need to get my office back to right, but we are figuring that out.

Dear Neighbor -

Please put a damn curtain up in your window. Your light is bright and I don't need to see you in your kitchen all of the time. Also, please keep your trash can out of my yard. And please stop throwing the neighbor kids basketball into my yard. We don't have basketball playing kids despite having a basketball net.

Dear Virus -

Please go the hell away and stop doing what you're doing. We're all sick of you and we want our lives back. I think we all agree that we're going to be different when we get out of this. I don't mind working from home. I don't even mind the social distancing thing. But I do mind not getting to hug my grandkids and kids. Videos and Facetime aren't covering it.

Dear Weather -

I know you were nice today, but you're not supposed to be tomorrow. Please be nice enough so we can get the camper fixed. Please be nice enough so I can take my plants back outside. Please stop raining on the weekends so we can get some stuff done. And maybe get our garden done? I know you're doing your thing the way you now how, but it's time to be warmer out. It's time to be able to save my electric bill, too.

Dear Zoo Living in My House -

Please stop shedding. Your hair is driving me crazy. It's everywhere no matter what we do. I am so tired of having it stick to me constantly. Also, please stop being so crazy when we're working. I need that pen and those papers and I need you to get out of my box. Also. You're cute and funny and I love you, so whatever. Ha!

Dear Other Neighbor -

Stop yelling and fighting in the middle of the night. Stop parking in front of my house and hitting your lock button seventy-two times so your alarms beeps constantly. Stop doing the thing I'm pretty sure you're doing. Stop letting your very cute dog poop in my flower bed. Stop throwing your trash wherever. And get someone to come and finish cleaning up the tree in your backyard - though I get that is probably on your landlord and not you. Still. It's a mess.

Dear Summer -

Please be awesome.

Dear Writing -

Please come back. I did critiques of two very awesome books, but I haven't done my own stuff in a few days. I will, but I need an infusion of creativity stat.

That's all I have.

Behave! 

Day Four Thousand and Twelve...

Or something like that...

Today has been a tangle of frustration.

The working part is okay.

The home part is okay.

It's just one of those days.

I woke up around 2am to use the bathroom and when I looked out my window, I saw a pile of water bottles and a tea container on the roof to our front porch. I did my business, came back, and looked again. Yep. There they were, with a plastic grocery bag to my right. I laid in bed and tried to figure out how they had gotten there and who was going to retrieve them.

When I told That Man about it, he looked and saw nothing but the grocery bag. That is all that is out there right now and there is nothing on the sidewalk or in the street out front so it didn't blow off with the rain or anything.

I am losing my mind.

I made another batch of danishes. They taste delicious, but they look like... in K4's words... Octopi spawning. I used a layer of blackberry jam under the cream cheese, but my base flattened when it shouldn't have, so I need to think that one through for next time.

I bought the wrong conditioner. It's K4's scent. Not mine. And while I don't mind it, I do. So she now has a brand new bottle and I need to get some. I'm trying to order some online, but I can't seem to find my smell.

We are making gyros for dinner. Decided to cook the chicken a different way. We piled it up on a skewer poked into an onion and slid another onion on the top. I'm worried it's going to fall over, but so far so good. It smells amazing. The chicken has been marinating since Saturday, so I hope everything works out. Last time I made this I used the dill stems from the tzaziki sauce in the marinade and forgot to rinse them. The chicken was amazing, until you hit a bite of sand. With that, I was done. We rinsed the marinade off and it was still there. The dill was definitely rinsed this time.

That's all I have...

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

And it's actually on Friday!

Let's just hit the list!

1. Working another week. So grateful.

2. The massive amount of day job stuff I crushed this week. Except for Wednesday's glitchy issues, I had a very productive week.

3. The weekend. Hey! Guess what? We're staying home! hahaha! But I am sleeping in. And I hope it's warm enough outside to do some stuff. We will have to make a supply run at some point for the stuff I couldn't get with my grocery delivery.

4. Getting groceries delivered. It was a pain to actually get a time, but other than that it was awesome! We'll definitely do it again and will probably continue after this whole thing is over.

5. I made Cream Cheese Danishes this morning. They turned out so good. Definitely adding this one to my list of "make again". So easy! And I made raspberry sauce to go with them. I've eaten three of them so far and I really just need to back away!

6. Pringles.

7. Critiquing a friends book and getting a little writing done this week.

That's all I have.

Behave!

The Winter of Our Quarantine

Is it ever going to get warm?

The wind is howling. It's rude. We have a fire lit. It's wonderfully warm in here, which I appreciate, but at the same time I would prefer to have the windows open.

I am sick of it being cold outside!

I want to work in my flower beds.
I want to sit by the fire.
I want to plant vegetables.
I need it to be warm enough to get the camper floor in.
And replace the fence.
I need to sit in the sun. (I get brief moments, but it's not exactly what I need)

I can't remember if  it's usually warmer than this right now, or if this is just spring... I don't think this is normal though. Or maybe that has something to do with being on lockdown. I don't know.

But, again, I would do far better on lockdown if I could do the above... I don't need to leave my house. I don't feel the lack of socializing thing. I just feel the lack of sun and warmth.

I know. I'm complaining. I can't help it today.

We were supposed to be at the beach right now. That Man and I had rented a really sweet little beach cottage. On the beach. On our favorite beach. We were going to leave early this morning and we would have been there by late afternoon. We were so excited for this trip!

And we're not there... And the property owner refuses to answer me on a credit or refund. I don't expect a full refund. I understand, but the likelihood of us booking another trip without a partial refund/credit is highly unlikely... (We're not even going to talk about next month's already paid for hotel... )

I have a bunch of being bummed...

It didn't help that my work afternoon needed dynamite or something. Nothing wanted to work correctly and I spent the last hour or so in total frustration. The good news is that we're working next week too. I definitely won't complain about that.

So after a month or so at home and being jealous of everyone talking about how much stuff they're getting done at their homes, I finally, after it being on my "to do" list for probably two years, cleaned out my linen closet.

It took the most of my lunch break yesterday, but it's amazing now! I have one whole empty shelf. One shelf of sheets. One shelf of the stuff that goes in a linen closet - the iron, extra light bulbs, first aid stuff, etc... I went from a stuffed full closet to the bare essentials and I couldn't be happier. I can't tell you when I cleaned it out last, but it has definitely been a long while.

Today I tackled the vanity cabinet in the bathroom, which was actually super easy and quick. Took like ten minutes. But again, bare essentials, and it's good.

I can't tell you that I have big plans to do anything else... I don't. Between writing and the day job, there is not a lot of time or energy left...

Anyway... I am going to take my complaining *ss to bed now... It's been a longer than normal day...

Behave!

Actually...Feel Good Friday on Sunday

I realized that while I said my post yesterday was a Feel Good Post, it actually wasn't even close! So we're going to try again today...

Here we go:

1. Working another week. At least. We'll see...

2. Ordering delivery Friday night. Though... the computer never printed out my order. Two phone calls and almost 3 hours later we finally ate. They did comp us with a free 2-liter of soda though it wasn't their fault.

3. Sleeping in. I slept in yesterday and today, though I had a rough time sleeping last night.

4. Getting the words on the page. I did pretty good this week. Not as good as I wanted to yesterday, but still way more than normal

5. Ordering stuff online. The pet food came yesterday. I'm still trying to put my grocery order in and am not having a lot of luck. I'll keep trying though. I'd rather not go out if I don't have to. Most of the online ordering works well, but there are frustrations and delays that make me nuts.

6. The sun today. I need that.

7. Living through a slight case of the stomach crud. I started feeling crappy Wednesday after dinner. Won't provide any details, except to say the stomach cramps were horrible. It hit That Man Thursday. By yesterday I felt normal and he's finally feeling normal today. Just kind of scary if you think about it. We've both worn masks and gloves and hand sanitized every time we go out. And we don't go anywhere or touch anything we don't have to. We sanitize everything we bring in the house and we let it sit for a few days if we can.

That's all I have.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday on Saturday...

It's another cold and dreary day around here...

I don't think I'd mind quarantine so much if I could at least work in my garden or sit in the sun. I think I've said that before.

That Man had to go into the day job to get the stuff ready for the new regulations. Yesterday, we had to run out to get supplies for that. (We'll talk about that ridiculousness another time)

K4 is dealing with allergies. She's a mess right now. (Yes, I am absolutely sure it's allergies. She hasn't left the house in a month and this is her really bad time of year.) The dogwood tree in the side yard gets her every time and the various flowering trees in the neighborhood. Luckily, we grabbed allergy meds last time we were at the store, so she's dosed up and taking a nap currently.

I'm in my "nest" on the couch. I've already written a bunch of words and as soon as I switch laundry and check mail, I will get back to it. Since I had my epiphany, it's been going well, so I'm grateful for that.

The event I was supposed to be at today has been cancelled for this year. We have a date for next year and I'm so glad. It's a lot of fun and the delay means it's going to be so much more epic next year. I'm looking forward to it, even though it's a year away.

That's all I have for now. My timer is going off, so it's time to do the thing. 

Behave!

Thursday?

I'm aware I haven't done a "Working from Home" post in a week. Not much has changed on that front. The cats still harass us, steal our stuff, and sit in our boxes daily. The dog is always in the way. Our space continues to be too small for both of us. We are still working though and will work next week, too.

I had to go into the day job today. I needed some stuff and so did That Man. He went a different direction to deliver stuff to one of the crew. I was in and out with my list and back home quickly. I am crazy busy with stuff to do, so it's good we have at least another week.

Otherwise...

My wild story idea is going to be something I use. Not in this book I'm working on right now, but probably in the next one. But, that idea was just what I needed to kick my butt back into shape. What I had forgotten is that the story I'm working on is supposed to about rebuilding and new life, not death and destruction and I let everything going on right now color that perception. So thanks to the new story idea, I figured that out and I am again in a good place. I have written many words so far this week and I have a really solid idea/plan for the next book.

I call win. And I'm going with it. I feel a lot better about what I'm doing, so there's that.

It's freaking cold here again. One of the plants we took outside last week had to be brought back inside. It can't take the current temperatures. The others are fine though. I'm ready to plant flowers and my garden though.

That's all I have.

Behave and be kind to each other!

Happy Birthday to Me....

Yeah. It's my birthday. It's definitely a weird one.

I had no presents. No cake. No dinner or lunch out or work cake. I am still in my jammies and I'm not sure if I combed my hair today.

But I had a lot of awesome stuff.

And I am so grateful.

Texts from friends and family. A lot of them hysterical. Some super cute.
Emails from friends and discussions about movies.
Facebook messages.
Videos from my kids and grandkids.
Special pictures of things and people puking from my grandson. (omg. I laughed until I cried)
A socially distant visit from the oldest son today and the youngest son yesterday.
Phone calls from the uncle and aunt.
An easy work day.
Birthday emails from work people.
Hugs from K4. (She lives with us. It's allowed.)
A day long text session with my sister.
Tacos for dinner and no prep or clean up on my end. (I did make the guacamole, but I didn't have to)
That Man making a fire because it's cold in here and going to stay cold.

A wild story idea about geese and bounty hunters while standing on the porch with That Man that has turned into something I am actually excited about. We will see how this shakes out, but it could be good. It could be pretty awful, too, but for right now, I am pretty excited. (The story is not about geese at all)

Wait. I wasn't right about no presents. I did get the pictures from Mr. B. AND I got a bottle of toilet cleaner from my son and his family. Ha! It's a reciprocal gift of the meat, spaghetti sauce, and diapers we dropped off at their house on our daughter-in-law's birthday. And it's funny. And appreciated. We were out due to an accidental thing that happened the other day. (no explanation here. it's too weird to explain)

All in all, it's been a pretty good birthday. One to remember for sure.

Behave!

So... Happy Easter...

I guess?

I really missed my family today! A lot! We all texted about how much we love and miss each other. That made me even more nostalgic. We talked to our granddaughter twice today. Once this morning and then again a little bit ago. I talked to K3 and texted with K1. We didn't do anything for Easter as far as baskets go for the little kids. We'll make it up to the grandkids when we see them again. I did buy K4 a peanut butter egg at Sheetz the other day. I missed getting to Facetime with my boys today though. Their dad just started a new job, so things are discombobulated in their house right now.

I miss my folks a lot. Easter was one of Mom's favorite holidays. And we're entering the season where everything went bad for both parents, so it's still rough. My memories are good, but I miss them.

We made chicken fried steak and chicken fried chicken for dinner. Mashed potatoes. Fresh asparagus. The chicken fried chicken definitely took center stage. It was amazing. The trick is to beat it up and then soak it in milk, garlic, salt, pepper overnight... The milk soaks in and makes it so moist. (Yeah, I said the "moist" word) The gravy was okay, but I feel like I kind of ruined it. We had a lot of mushrooms to use up, so I cooked them off earlier and then added them to the white gravy. It was too much. It was still really good, but I wish I wouldn't haven added all of them. Now we have a week's worth of leftovers, which does make me happy.

I also made a lemon cake. Added lemon zest and juice to the mix and then made my own lemon icing with cream cheese and lemon juice. It turned out pretty good. I was happy and so was That Man. When we told K5 about the cake, she was decidedly jealous.

We watched like three Disney movies. I can't do anything but fluffy right now, so...

We also finished watching Picard. Which was super awesome and not fluffy, but familiar enough that it's good. It started slow for me, but once Riker and Deanna came back on the scene, I was hooked. It was good. I cried many tears though. Then we texted with our adopted son about it, which was cool.

Tomorrow is a work day for us. I do have to run out for a quick supply run at lunchtime. Hopefully it's quick, but they are only going to be letting so many people into the store at one time. We'll deal with it. That Man has to go into the office, so I will do the supply run while he's doing that.

I wrote last night. I managed a couple of thousand words. Today. Not so much. I kind of figured I'd take today off though. I cooked a lot. I ate a lot. I goofed off a lot. I also sat in the sun for a while. That was awesome. I talked to the kid about my story, too, and his encouragement was helpful, so there's that.

Tomorrow I will write more words. I will work the day job. I will not lose my mind. I will comb my hair.

That is all.

Behave!

Working From Home Survival Journal: Day Four Hundred and Twelve

I have no freaking clue what actual day it is... I don't care either. It doesn't matter.

We get another week of working from home, That Coworker and I. That's good and it alleviates some stress.

Despite the extension, our taxes are filed and paid, so that makes me feel less stressed as well. We have cars that need inspected though. There's not much we can do about that right now.

So many people are talking about what they "cleaned out", "painted", "fixed", blah blah blah. Not here. We're working. Same as normal. We finish our day. Rustle up some grub and decompress. Some evenings we go for a walk, but we have sucked at that lately, too. We do what we need to do on the weekends. The only difference is that the laundry is always done now and the house is de-animal-haired and dusted on a daily basis. We do try different recipes, though we always do that.

This morning we made homemade biscuits. They were very delicious, but flat. We were discussing what could have gone wrong - we used half and half instead of milk because we're out of milk. And then I looked at the container of Cream of Tartar. Umm. Yeah. It expired 10 years ago, so there's that... It's on the list to replace on our next supply run. Then we will make biscuits again!

But... Holy Wind, Batman!

My big plant blew off the porch. I kid you not, this thing weighs about thirty pounds. It broke the weld on the pot and bent the hook. The plant is fine. Thank goodness. This thing is like our baby.

The phone calls for service at work are insane! That's all we've been doing all afternoon. It's literally one after another. I guess with 60 mph (or whatever) winds, you will have this. Supposedly the winds are supposed to end around 6pm, but we'll see. 

Tomorrow is a half day of work and then the weekend. There will be sleeping in.

Sadly, no Easter family dinner this year. I'm sad. I miss everyone. I want to hug my grandkids, my kids, my siblings, siblings-in-law, nieces and great nieces, nephews... you get the picture...and hang out and laugh and talk with everyone. I know we will plan a big gathering when this is all over. We have birthdays to celebrate, and Easter.

That's all I have. Here's hoping working from home day fifteen (see I have it now) goes quickly. (I mean, my little nest on the couch needs me) Ha!

Behave!

Working From Home Survival Journal: Day Thirteen

I know it's been a week since I posted one of these... Everything is the same. Every single day.

Well, pretty much.

We're still working. We'll find out tomorrow or Friday if that will continue for another week or not. The week-by-week stuff is emotionally draining. I just have to keep reminding myself that we'll be okay in the end. Even if we do get laid off, we have jobs to go back to and the rest of it is whatever. We do have a half day on Friday for Good Friday.

The furry coworkers are literally hanging from the windows...
The big furry canine one is at my feet impeding the movement of my chair and making me crazy.

Moods are much improved. That's a plus. The irritation level has dropped significantly. We're casual (I mean really casual - I'm in striped fuzzy jammie pants and striped fuzzy socks). That Coworker at least gets dressed everyday. I do the basics, but haven't had jeans on since Monday when we had to make a supply run.

I did get an inbox added to my own since our controller is officially on maternity leave. Which means now I monitor three separate email accounts. It's kept me pretty damned busy today so far. It's okay. We have a brand new healthy office baby and mom and baby are doing fine. Obviously we won't get to meet him for quite a while, which is sad, but it is what it is.

On the to do list for today is to clean our "office". The furry office companions have been in destroyer mode. Half of my pens are missing and there are sticky note "bombs" all over.

That's all. My inbox is filling up so I need to get back to it.

Behave!

Thursday Random...

Today wasn't much better than yesterday. My scanner hates me. My printer decided to be a lousy b*tch. I got everything up and going again, but it was super frustrating.

I had to cancel our beach trip in a few weeks. I don't know if we'll get our money back or not. We paid in full when we made the reservation. I'm waiting on that one and will call probably next week.

I need to change our hotel reservation for our May thing. We also paid for the rooms there. (one for us and one for my brother and sister-in-law) It's telling me that the reservation can't be changed or cancelled. No money back. I did get trip insurance, so I hope that helps. But the hotel could do nothing for me and she was rude. I have to talk to the place I made the reservation through. Ugh. I will keep trying though. All I need to do is transfer the dates.

K4 made awesome sugar cookies. She cut them like mushrooms and decorated them with royal icing. They are so cute. We had made stuffed cabbage for dinner the other night, so tonight we made a soup out of it. So much soup. So very much soup. That Man dropped some off at a friend's house who just had a pretty bad car accident. We sent some to the neighbors. We have some for K1 and family. And still more leftovers than we'll eat. Because honestly, I do like stuffed cabbages. And the soup was good. But I am done with it. (Let me know if you want some... ha ha)

That's all I have. Tomorrow is Friday.

Behave!

Working From Home Survival Journal: Day Eight

Today has not been a good day.

Tempers are raw. Irritation reigns supreme. Nothing is going right.

The human coworker had to go to corporate again today. He is tired of having to go out. Quite frankly, he's worried to keep going out. We're trying to order the things he needs online, but some places won't let you do that, which means, despite him being an essential employee doing things for the safety of our crews, he's putting himself at risk. He hates that. It makes him cranky.

Nothing wanted to work correctly today. Our system had a huge lag which meant hours of frustration and ridiculousness.

We're not mad at each other mind you. Just irritated with today. We stopped speaking to each other right after lunch and communicated via notes. For a visual on this, our dining room table seats 6. We are working directly across from each other with the backs of our computers touching. He would send me a note to ask me to print something, and I would send him a sarcastic reply.

Yesterday I drew him a picture of a thermometer and said some crazy things on the note. He sent it to his boss. His boss told him he was on his own and that he'd better be nice to me.

What's frustrating? I mean, besides the system being slow... Not knowing if we will work next week. The traffic in front of our house being busier than it was Monday. Knowing one of us will have to go for supplies by the end of the week. Not having everything I need for work at home. There have been a few situations that I am not prepared for. I have figured it out and made it work, but it ticks me off that I didn't think about them when I covered every single other base.

What's good about working from home? Taking a nap at lunch time. That Man making me lunch. Being able to do laundry and start dinner. Knowing everyone else I deal with in my job is also working from home, so there's an empathy there. Being able to wrap up in a blanket while I work. (I can do this at work, too, but I haven't had to yet thanks to my handy dandy space heater) A more relaxed pace - though it's forced thanks to things being slow. I guess I'm learning more patience or something.

We laugh through our irritation and frustration, so that goes on the good side. We haven't said a harsh word to each other.

The Spawn Coworker has been checking in and doing her thing. She's made baked treats and done a lot of choring. She laughs at our weirdness.

I don't know...

Tomorrow's another day.

Behave!

April 1st

Wouldn't it be cool if we found out this whole thing was some kind of grand joke?

Yeah, I know.

I don't think too many folks are feeling like pranking anyone today. I know I'm definitely not. K4 just came down and said there better not be any April Fool's happening around here because she is not in the mood. The best I can do is text funny memes to my kids, family, and the besties. And typically I try to come up with some kind of joke for That Man...though admittedly most years it backfires on me.

Not a working from home survival entry yet today because or system is down and I'm not working yet. It is what it is, and frankly, I expected this to have already happened a few times by now. The fact that today is the first time in two weeks isn't too bad at all.

We ordered take out from one of our favorite little places last night. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love to cook, but we both needed a break. And we feel it's important to support our local small businesses that might not make it through this. The food was amazing. The system they have set up not so much. But That Man said everything was clean and everyone was being good with social distancing. So at least that's something. I'm not sure how many more times we'll do that, but it was a nice change.

Writing has not been going too well lately. Still. I'll have a few days with some decent words, and then a stretch of nothing. I know most of my writing friends are dealing with the same thing. It's still hard though.

Whelp. The system is operational again and I have a pile of work to get through.

Behave!