Q&A

(Cross posted at 51313 Harbor Street)


I don't know how you get anyone to buy your book. I mention this because I get asked a lot about selling by various people who have their own books. And due to my modest success at self-publishing, they ask various questions. Here are a few questions I was asked at the Chisholm Trail Book Festival as I wandered and spoke to the other attendees.

What's your most effective way of selling books?
Online with my blog, Facebook, and emails, which basically just tell my family and friends that my book is available and they'd better buy it if they know what's good for them. And secondly, book signings. For the most part, I've always had good book signings. And finally, begging on the street.

Do bookmarks sell books?
No, I don't think so. Not directly. Mostly I use them as a gift for the purchasers and at the local library. Every bit of publicity helps, but I've only had one purchase that I know of that I can link to my bookmarks. But like my girlfriends, they're pretty and not too expensive and I like them.

What about postcards?
Once again, not sure. I mail postcards to 100 libraries in Oklahoma and a handful in Texas and Arkansas. I know I've received a few sales from them because of my book(s) being listed in those libraries. Recently I started sending postcards to independent bookstores. No sales that I know of yet, but at least I know that I'm helping the postal service carry on.

Does your newspaper do a story on you?
Yes. They've always been good about publishing stories on me. They keep checking the police blotter, but I haven't show up there. Yet.

Ever done radio?
Just once. I was very nervous and didn't do a good job. It wasn't effective. When I think of it, it makes me cringe. Thanks for bringing up such a painful subject.

Does your publisher do much to help you?
No. They do provide listings on their website and provide a sample news release (that I've never used), but that's it. You can purchase other publicity from them, but I never have. They keep offering it to me, almost pleading for my money, but too many creditors are before them.

Have you ever purchased a publicity campaign from an agency?
No. I know several authors who have, and they have been disappointed. Of course, I've heard of that exception who sells thousands of books from a campaign, but it's as rare as a honest Congressman.

Why do you write?
Keeps me from planning the overthrow of civilization. Many NSA agents purchase my books just to keep me occupied.

Seriously, why do you write?
For the hot babes and the luxurious lifestyle.

Really?
Ah, no. I write because I write. Hasn't been a time in my life when I wasn't writing or thinking about writing. Just made that way, I think. Yeah, I know. A rotten trick on me.

Why do you write mysteries?
I like the intellectual puzzles in good mysteries. And murder is always interesting, don't you think? I mean, not in your living room because blood stains are hard to get out of carpet so look for a hard surface before you dispatch your spouse, but overall murder is interesting. Why are you moving away from me? That makes me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry.

Do you write anything else?
Fantasy because I read a lot of fantasy. Never anything published, but maybe someday ... when I'm old and gray ... grayer, I mean.

And that ends that Q&A. Hope you enjoyed it. You did, didn't you? Cause if you didn't ... that makes me angry ...

Sept 24 tambometrics

Wow. September's almost over. It's passed quickly.

Writing

No writing. Agent hasn't sent me notes for changes yet, but M has gone to two other publishers. One is especially intriguing for me, so I guess we'll see. Trying to remain upbeat.

Life

Not much postal going on, mostly because there's no way to get the newest gossip and news. Bill's been out of town on a fishing trip with a friend since Wed morning and I really miss him. LOTS. When no one called to say they got there, I called Thurs morning to check in and his buddy (we don't have cell phones) was in town getting something, Bill was back at the lake. Tonight I called to see if they were gonna make it back tonight or tomorrow (there was some question when they'd left if they were gonna stop in KC like Joe wanted or drive on through like Bill had suggested) and Bill sounded grouchy even tho we only talked for like 20 seconds. Maybe. If that. Was it me? Was he getting tired of his friend? Was it his hurt back? No idea. I hope he wasn't mad at me for interrupting his guy time, but I miss him lots.

Echo's incision abscessed and opened, which was one. more. thing. Poor kitty.

My crazy neighbor lady received some really bad legal news and, on Facebook, posted she was locking herself in her house, pulling the shades, and breaking her 21 year sobriety. She has no one, no family, no friends I've ever seen or even heard of outside of Facebook (and she'd often made vague suicidal comments), and I know she'd been depressed over lots and lots of things, so I tried to help, but she wouldn't come to the door. She'd taped paper to all of her windows. Phone calls went to voicemail. No answer on FB pings. I was really worried and had no way to tell if she was watching crappy movies and crying into a beer, or trying to drink herself to death.

Trying to make sure she was okay was not a fun way to spend my Wednesday. Gak, it seems like it's been longer than that!

Had to cancel the Dish because of money issues and they finally turned it off this week. I don't normally watch much TV, but when there's no money, nothing to do, I can't sew, no words, and I get sick of the internet... It's just another thing that's screwed up and off kilter here. And, of course, the TV's remote is packed somewhere in the storage facility. I went and bought a universal remote - no channels up here, other than a brief, grainy respite with an ancient episode of Matlock - but it is working with the TV.  Laura brought down the DVD player and we've watched some DVDs. Bill's supposed to put up a big antenna on the garage Monday, I think, assuming his back isn't worse. Maybe then we'll have something to do besides sitting around worrying and dwelling on the mess.

Some days I feel like I'm cracking up. Back to crying a lot again. Is it stress? Is it hormonal? Heck if I know, but it sucks.

House

No calls or looks at the house. None. We haven't had an official 'walk through' since July, other than last weekend's open house which was mostly neighbors. Scary and very worrisome. The weather's really turned chilly and we've already had frost. Winter will be here soon.

Health

EA Sports Active 2 is going well and I made up last week's missed session, only to injure myself a couple of days later, so I've missed one this week. All in all, one missed in 4 weeks is pretty darn good, I think. Since tomorrow is a rest day, I will most likely try to make it up and be totally back on track.

I'm down 4 lbs from where I was a week ago. Yay! Still sniffly, but I'm pretty sure it's allergies since the fields are getting harvested.

Everything Else

I don't need any more 'else' ;)

{{hugggs}}

Week 38

Thirty-eight weeks out of fifty-two in the year.  Next week, I'll be reporting from somewhere on the road between here and PA.

Polar Bear on the Loose - Nada. I've temporarily set it aside to begin preparation work for NaNo.  I'm not as much of a pantser as I thought I was, and I need to do some prep work to be able to get through 50k of story in November.

750words.com - I got the writing done each day

Internet Responsibilities - Did a few light administrative duties at FM, found a problem on my personal site, and Margaret told me what it meant, and I was able to fix it, and actually got a blog post done this week.

Pets - The kids are all doing well.  They are preparing for a long stay at their respective camps when we head out on the annual trek to Hershey later this week.

Property -
I don't know what hubby did in SA.  I puttered this week, gathering stuff to pack for the trip and mostly not really getting much done.

Health -
- I'm still doing terrible on points.  I couldn't weight last Saturday, and when we got home, Monday morning's scale reading was TERRIBLE, so I posted Thursday's reading to WW, hoping this morning's reading would be a little better.  It was.  The scale says I lost a pound from last week.  My behavior for this week does not support that, so I'm still looking at what's going on in my head and trying to see how I can head off what I fear is impending disaster for achieving my goals. 
- I had my pre-vacation rheumatology appointment on Thursday.  The plan was to get my knee injected, and that went very well.  The doc asked if I had any concerns, and I told him I was feeling a little apprehensive.  He asked if I'd ever had any injections before, and that triggered a memory of getting a couple injections for plantar fascitis about ten years ago.  That went very well, didn't hurt, and I felt better almost immediately.  That put me at ease, and the whole process went very well.  My knee feels pretty good.  I can still feel the bones sliding on bones and crunching a little, and that is just disconcerting.  The kicker, he reminded me that X-rays confirm that my right knee is my GOOD knee.  The left knee has much worse osteoporosis.  Thankfully, it rarely bothers me.  The key now will be to see how long the injection lasts for.
- I did take a few moments to mention I was NOT happy with him after I stopped taking the Aleve.  He said, it's a good medicine, but it's not good to take it everyday.  You're only half way through this game, and you don't want to damage liver, kidneys, heart, etc.  He did say if Extra Strength Tylenol isn't cutting it, I can take Arthritis Pain formula Tylenol.  He's also okay with me taking the Aleve the way I've been taking it -- to alleviate significant discomfort once in awhile. 
- I'm doing the ultrasound treatments on my foot.  I'm looking forward to being back in two shoes after the first.

mid-week update

I'm home for a little while in between stuff. Dad's surgery went very well. His L5 vertebra hid slipped nearly half an inch, but it slid right back into place. The surgeon fused L4, L5 and S1. It was, to be blunt, a hellishly long day and we're all glad it's over. Dad was still high on morphine and in quite a bit of pain yesterday when I saw him, but the nurses told him that the first day post-op is the worst. The physical therapist had him up and walking, and taught him how to get in and out of bed on his own without twisting his spine. He's got 6 months of recovery ahead but he's going to feel a lot better. Thanks for your prayers. They helped a lot. On a lighter note, my little brother and I spent 10 hours together and we didn't argue once. Maybe he's growing up after all! ;-)

Week 37

Thirty-seven weeks out of fifty-two in the year. 

Polar Bear on the Loose - Nada.

750words.com - I got the writing done each day

Internet Responsibilities - Virtually nada, but not quite that bad.

Pets - The house remains standing (barely) after leaving the four cats to manage things without adult supervision while we were gone for the weekend.  I pick Millie up from camp in the morning.

Property -
Hubby got some more work done on his parts department at the shop. 
I got some watering done. 
Hubby got some puttying done on the front of the house. 

Health -
- We were traveling, so I don't know weight for the week.  Inches were close to the same or a little worse on a couple measurements.  The last two days were horrendous points-wise (my bad choices).
- Thursday night, we got back to the hotel room, and I hurt everywhere.  I took two Aleve, and I felt mostly okay on Friday and still do.  Tylenol just doesn't cut it, but I'm leaving the Aleve off for now until I'm just very uncomfortable.  That reduces how much I take in at least.  I will be discussing this with the rheumatologist on the 22nd.
- I'm doing the ultrasound treatments on my foot.  I can't tell how well they are working, but they aren't hurting.  The boot is a pain, but it should be helping, too. I walked the swap meet and Grapefest all on Friday and felt no ill effects.  The boot got wet in the rain, but it dried well overnight -- better than my shoe did, but the shoe did okay; just a little damp in the forefoot in the morning.

General Stuff -

We're preparing for the annual Hershey trip.  I'm not dreading it as much as usual.  I'm trying to find productive ways to cope with it.  Hubby loves the trip.  I'm along for the ride.  If I try to inject anything I want to do, he usually complains about how hard it is to plan, yet, he'll bend over backwards to meet up with his friends or to find something he wants to do.  I've decided it's not worth the stress it adds for me, so I'm trying to "go with the flow," and do the driving while being ready to swing a quick u-turn to check out yet another antique store that I probably don't care about.  The moment I complain too much about not wanting to prowl an antique store, I find a polar bear I don't have that I want to pick up or something else, so I'm trying not to complain -- it gives hubby "I told you so" fodder, and he doesn't need any more of that.  Smile.

My challenge for this year is to make sure I get my 750 words per day (I did it last year, so that's not really a problem) AND to figure out some way to do something writing related each day -- this is something I'm having trouble balancing.  When I'm available to make hubby feel loved (stand beside him and hand him things or chat with him while he works -- when I do that, he doesn't complain about anything else I do or don't do), I'm not getting my writing done (but I do manage to find time to hangout on line, so it's MY time management problem).  I'm also doing some regular reading that I want to continue accomplishing on the trip.

September 17 tambometrics

Another week, another post ;)

Writing

I actually wrote a whole paragraph this week. Go me! ;)

In other writing news, M received another declination and my agent has sent it off to two other publishers. We talked on the phone earlier this week about making the book more palatable to editors and he's going to go through it again and give me some suggested changes to make it more 'straight fiction' as he called it, which would open up a LOT more potential publishers and editors. I think that'd be great!

I'm also letting an idea for a Dubric/Lars short stew in my brain - a serial rapist who leaves calling cards (actually blue dice) in the vaginas of the girls he rapes. I have the opening scene riveted in my mind just don't know where it'll go. But I don't think it'd be novel length, so that's good.

Life

More fun posty news. Bill is no longer allowed to carry mail because the clerks are supposed to do it instead. The last sorting machine was unplugged yesterday, so he's now sitting. And sitting. And sitting. Whee. He is, however, taking a few days off to go on a fishing trip with a friend. It'll do him good to get out of the house and unwind a bit.

Echo got spayed this week but Peanut was too small. We'll probably have her done next month. Gozer had a seizure yesterday - VERY scary - so there's been some pet drama. They're all just fine now, though. :)

House

Open house was today, along with cold, windy, almost-rain-sputtery weather. Three sets of people looked at the house. They all liked it a lot, but I dunno if any will actually be interested. 

Sales here totally die off in the winter - which is understandable - so we're going to pull it off the market  and maybe refinance since interest rates are so low, if it hasn't had an offer (or at least a definite uptick in showings) by mid October so we can get this done before snow falls and the baby comes. We currently have a 15 year loan (12 left to go, sigh) and refi-ing at a 30 year with current rates will save us about $300 a month. That'll come in handy with a baby in the house. We'll have to re-arrange things again since we'll be pulling all of our stuff out of storage, so we've been talking a lot about all of that.

Health

Still doing the EA Sports Active 2 but I missed one day this week (Wed) due to just life. Too many distractions, especially with getting the house ready to go and working with agent and and and and and. But I'm all right with missing one day in three weeks. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good for me. It's moving to 'the next level' on Monday. Hopefully I'll survive. :p

No change in the scale, but, today, while scrambling around town taking Echo in to get her sutures looked at and an errand and all the other life nuttiness, Laura and I stopped at Hardee's. I had a burger and onion rings, and, maaaaan, my gut and head and everything did NOT like that! Been eating too healthy for too long and it just didn't sit right. Had a salad for supper, so I feel a bit better now. I think I'm trying to catch a cold, tho, but with all the water I'm drinking (and I added in OJ tonight) it shouldn't hit me too hard. In theory. ;)

Everything Else

I think that's enough. I'm still rather foggy, but I'm getting things done. Not as much as I'd like, but who does? ;)

{{hugggs}}

super quick

Checking in quickly before getting on the road. I'm hanging out with Mom this weekend before Dad's surgery , so maybe there will be a little fun to be had. Prayers for him Tuesday would be strongly appreciated, and for his girlfriend Linda over the next month or two! Dad's a lousy patient. This week has been all about getting ready for travel and making sure everything here is covered in my absence, so there hasn't been much to report in that areas of writing or de-cluttering. In health news, I'm back down 2 lbs. Certainly not 58 like someone we know. Possibly the most surprising thing is that for all the hair on the floor Tuesday at the hairdresser's, the loss of it didn't show on the scale. I feel lighter but apparently I'm not!

So that's about it. It will probably be about 10 days before you hear from me again, and then it probably will be a whimper before I crawl to bed! Behave, y'all!

Roundup

Here's my roundup.


Writing:
Mostly spend last week getting ready for the weekend role-playing event "Brave New World: The Vampire Sanction." It went okay. I made $45 from fees, which was nice and unexpected. I had too many puzzles and not enough action, but still, everyone seemed to enjoy it. I just thought the pace lagged a bit.

This coming Saturday I will be signing (and selling) books at the Chisholm Trail Book Festival. Hope the Festival draws a lot of people. It's the second year for it.

Also, starting tomorrow, Writing Comes First. Which means I will write before I do anything else (chores, watch TV, read, etc.) in my day, unless it's a doctor appointment or an emergency. If I really want to be a writer, then I'm going to have to choose to write. I need to finish Murder by the Mile. Got to so I can move on. And sell it for a bit of money. Cash is tighter than squeaky.

Health:
Added machines to my exercise routine at the gym. Now I'm walking 2 1/2 miles a day, riding 10 minutes on the recumbent bike, and doing 20 reps on the curl machine. Going to hold at that for two or three weeks until I adapt -- I've been barely able to function after going to the gym so I need a bit of time to let my body adjust -- and then I'll add another machine focusing on upper body strength.

Still having trouble sleeping. Very annoying.

Life:
Well, being busy has kept the Black Dog Gang mostly at bay. That and plenty of green tea, Vitamin D, and sometimes a bit of caffeine in the morning.

That was last week, and now we're done with Sunday and heading for Monday. Hope we all have a great week.

Week 36

Thirty-six weeks out of fifty-two in the year.  And all is well. 

Polar Bear on the Loose - I meant to work on it, but I didn't.

750words.com - I got the writing done each day

Internet Responsibilities - I worked on the 2012 Marathon Schedule for Forward Motion.  We're trying to make some changes that should be more useful to site members.

Pets - Lady loves being in San Antonio.  She gets to explore the back yard and play with Millie.  Ajax and Natasha love the back yard, too.  Tarzan detests the back yard.  He likes to look out the window.  If we put him outside, he runs back to the door, and leaps up on it and clings about window level until we peel him off and bring him inside.

Property -
We're in San Antonio.  I'm working on watering the lawn and weeding.  Hubby is working in the driveway.  The boundary is laid.  He got all his buckets of rocks and dirt sifted.  I head back to Central TX tomorrow.

Health -
- Weight remained the same this week, but I lost a little on the inches.
- Overall pain levels aren't as bad as they were last week.  Knees, hands, and neck are still uncomfortable. 
- I'm doing the ultrasound treatments on my foot.  I can't tell how well they are working, but they aren't hurting.  The boot is a pain, but it should be helping, too.

duh

Hi from Duh Land, where I think I just saw Tammy! Hi, Tammy!

Writing: Bits and pieces of the usual stuff. I changed something in the story and it snowballed into a bunch of other details that have to be changed. Go figure.

Clutter: Um, yeah. I still have it.

Health: I was down another pound and a half, but then we went out last night. I thought I was being good. I ordered grilled veggies over mashed potatoes. I didn't even finish it all. I splurged on a glass of wine. This morning I weighed in two pounds heavier. The moral of the story, apparently, is that I must swim. I think I went twice last week, but I worked an extra shift on a swim day. I also haven't been to yoga in a couple weeks because of the allergy sleep disturbances and the fact that the class is too stinking early. So I need to get back into a routine. Later, after the excitement dies down. I'm still at my goal weight so all is not lost.

Misc: I'm getting my hair cut Tuesday morning. I'm practically counting the hours. I'll post pics on Facebook.

I did get my allergy meds changed and they seem to be helping, but I'm still foggy. I have more nights when I sleep than don't, so that's helping. I've gotten pretty vigilant about eating a couple teaspoons of local honey a day. I'm not sure if that's enough to make much difference, but some is better than none. I figure over time it's got to have some impact.

Eric got a job offer from the company taking over the contract. It's a little less than what he's making now, and he'll have to start from zero on vacation time, but it's a job, and in this economy, that's all that matters. He's still looking for openings with his current employer, but it looks like he'll be starting this month with the new guys.

I think that's about all the news that's news, unless you want to hear about the jewelry I got from my boss's Stella & Dot show.

September 10 tambometrics

I'll try to keep this short.

Writing

Um.

How about them Cubbies?

Life

Not a whole lot has changed, I guess. We're managing with the super-low food budget and I've discovered that happiness and security, at least for me, is dependent upon Viva paper towels.

I love Viva Select-A-Size. They scrub. They wipe. They dry things off. They polish. They even have a super-soft side that doesn't kill my nose if I need an emergency blow. They're also rather pricey. I was down to my last roll, was rationing them as if they were more than just fluffy hunks of processed paper, but, oh, that cardboard core was coming and how could I get through a kitchen cleaning stint without them?

Que Bill to the rescue. We were at the store to get milk and, as we're heading to the checkout, we're walking down the paper products aisle and I pause to examine the super-cheapy paper towels because, well, I only had maybe half a dozen half-sheets of Viva left. I don't like cheapy paper towels, they just turn to mush and fall apart waaaay too fast (hence my undying adoration of Viva), but Bill looks at me all perplexed and asks me what I'm doing. I explain I need paper towels, almost out. He motions down the aisle and informs me that 6 packs of Viva Select-a-Size are on sale for seven bucks. I shake the 'food money' pouch at him and remind him it's not in the budget. My darling hubby then rolls his eyes and grabs them anyway, informs me that it'll take three times of the cheap ones, and that, at three times the cost of the cheapos, the Viva's are a bargain, and screw the budget, he'll spend his own 'allowance' on paper freaking towels. Which he did. I spent less than 5 bucks on milk and laundry stain remover. Bill blew most of his allowance on paper towels. For me.

And you know what? My mood became a whole lot better and has stayed that way. I have plenty of paper towels, therefore everything will be okay. How screwy is that? lol I'm still foggy and 'stupid', though. I don't like not being able to think. Bugs me. I keep losing things and forgetting things, but, by golly, I can clean my microwave. ;)

We're all hanging in there. The posty office has been making Bill carry mail, so at least he's not sitting around bored and grumpy all day. Laura is very bored, but we're trying to send her out of the house to run errands when they need run. 

House

We have had no showings since late July despite the price reduction 2 weeks ago. We're having an open house next weekend during our community yard sale, I'm making a LOT of free cookies, and we're all hoping someone will come look at it.

Health

I've been doing EA Sports Active 2 for a bit more than two weeks now and while it's not totally kicking my butt as bad as it was, it's still not easy. I have more energy and less overall joint pain, but haven't had much movement on the scale.

Everything Else

I really should sew, but it seems like too much effort to drag all the stuff out only to put it all right back again. I don't want to do much of anything, honestly, but at least I'm not bawling all the time anymore.

That's about it for me. Happy mid September, happy writing, everyone!!  {{hugggs}}

Better late

I meant to post, Wendy! Really I did. I just forgot. But I've been busy. Does that excuse me?

Here's what I did last week.

Writing: Worked on Circles, Murder by the Mile, and Debt Free At Last: A Beginner's Guide to Money Management. Sent Darkness, Oklahoma off to another agent. Worked on my family newsletter, the August issue. Yes, it's running late, but I should send it out Wednesday or Thursday. Worked on The World of Kiegarth: The Vampire Sanction, the first real adventure in my new fantasy role playing world.

Health: Walked two miles and rode the recumbent bike 10 minutes each weekday. Been hard to do that 10 minutes, but I could see improvement. Slowly does it, but eventually I'm going to surprise everyone. Including me.

Clutter: Selected more books to sell in the garage sale I'm planning for October. Was going to try to have one last weekend, but the scheduling just didn't work out. Going through my CDs and DVDs next. And then my crafting supplies. Trying to cut back to essentials and things I really love.

Life: Continued to take the Vitamin D and drink my green tea and get out in the sun. The cooler weather helps my spirits immensely.

And that's all I did. When I write a lot, there's no time to do much of anything else. Hope things are going well for all of you this week.

Elevator pitch for Hope

(Wow, that title sounds like some kind of twisted fundraiser. I'm seeing something inspired by Highland games...)

Does this cover all the bases, and does it make sense?

An Indian captive is traded to a white family to save her life, but what they really save is her soul.

Mixed bag

It's been a strange week. You know the main points--Jeli, Eric's contract, disturbed sleep and allergy woes.

Writing: I've been working on editing and adding Frank into the story. I actually counted words some, but it's mostly been editing. I'm about half done on the one page, and I still need to come up with my elevator pitch.

Health: I lost another pound. I doubt I'll be down the whole five in just under 3 weeks, especially since I'll in Michigan in two weeks for Dad's back surgery. I'll be happy with whatever I get; I'll be able to wear the banquet dress I didn't think I would get into. Amazing the difference a couple of pounds made.

Clutter: Not much progress. In fact, I have some extra clutter since Eric brought home a tub of stuff from the office, just in case. Most of what's left the house this week has been trash, but it's a step in the right direction.

Misc: It's just Eric, the cats and me this weekend. Vicky's gone camping with friends. I'm getting a taste of the empty nest and realizing I don't want to live in a house this big when it's just the two of us. There's too much open space.

Eric told me today that the prospect of losing his job was a good wake-up call. We've gotten complacent with our spending, buying things on impulse and eating out whenever we feel like it. It's too bad it took a clue-by-four to get us back on track.

I'm getting down to the wire. This week will be about tying up loose ends. The following week will be laundry, packing for the conference and my trip north, and doing what I need to around the house to make sure things run smoothly in my absence. I leave two weeks from today, will come home the following Wednesday, and start the conference Thursday. It seems so far away, but when I look at the timeline I realize how little time I have left to get my crap together. Hopefully the doctor will get me on some meds Tuesday that will help me break this numbing mind fog.

Week 35

Thirty-five weeks out of fifty-two in the year.  And all is well.  At least for me, personally, but things are still troubling for others.

Polar Bear on the Loose - I worked to add conflict to a couple of the weak scenes.  Not a lot of progress, but at least a little.

750words.com - I missed writing on the first.  Plumb didn't get to it, then I forgot about it in the evening.  I blew an almost three month streak this time.  Sigh.

Internet Responsibilities - Pretty much the bare minimum there.

Pets - Everyone is doing well. 

Property -
We're in San Antonio.  I'm working on watering the lawn and weeding.  Hubby is working in the driveway, digging the trench to mark the next boundary for digging out and laying brick.  Once he gets the boundary laid, he'll be digging up two layers of asphalt and about a foot of gravel to get the driveway down the level he needs for laying the brick.  It will be gorgeous when he's done with it.

Health -
- Finally.  I've achieved a new low and have one pound to go until I reach my next goal.
- I'm no longer lugging 8 extra bags of flour around. (YAY!) I am, unfortunately, still lugging around 18 extra bags of flour.
- I saw the podiatrist on Tuesday, and he ordered the bone growth stimulator and a boot for my foot.  I drove up to Austin yesterday to meet with the company rep and learn how to use the device.  I'll use it for the next two or three months while wearing the boot to immobilize my foot.  I hope it works, because the boot is really messing up the alignment of my knee and lower back.  Some days, I feel like I'm disintegrating.
- I am easing off the Aleve.  I'm not sure how well that's working.

tambometrics September 3rd

It's another shortish post for me.

They're removing the processing equipment tomorrow (Saturday). And that's the end of that. All jobs in his area are locked everywhere he's looked, the post office is only allowing voluntary transfers within 50 miles (of course there's nothing within 50 miles), so we sit until someone, somewhere, decides to make him work someplace else.

Can't you tell we're thrilled?

Otherwise, we're all okay. Laura and the baby are great, I've been exercising all week (EA Sports Active 2 for the Wii - it's kicking my butt!!) but haven't written anything, or sewn anything. Still no offers on the house and it's now almost a month since the last look-see. But the price is lowered to $116k and we're really hoping something happens soon.

That's it for me. How are you all doing?  {{huggs}}