Interim

We had a good visit with my mom and aunt. We got to the Chicago Botanic Garden (best one I've seen yet), Navy Pier, and the ren faire. We were going to go to Millennium Park before they caught the train home yesterday, but the weather didn't cooperate. They're coming back, though.

So now I have a few days to remake the guest room and restock towels in the guest bath before Chad and Alex come next weekend. We're doing the ren faire one last time (Alex hasn't been yet, and Chad wants to go again), and then the guys are going to build a computer for Alex.

We've been approved to move next-door. The downside is we have 24 hours to move, sometime between Sept 17 and 27, and both weekends are shot during that window. Not sure how we're going to do it. Eric has asked if that 24 hour window might be a little more flexible and I don't know if he's gotten an answer yet. I'll start packing again after the guys leave next week, I guess. I'm still wrapping my head around it.

That's about it. After 5 days of company my brain is frazzled. Nothing new there. As the brain fog lifts I'll be able to get back to writing and organizing my life for the next couple of months. I got approval to come for the Ada Blackbirds signing, so hopefully we'll have a firm date for that soon so I can get cheap air fare. Believe it or not, it's less expensive and faster to get a cheap seat on Southwest Airlines than to take the train.

I'm not going to bother making goals for the week. There are too many variables. Hopefully we'll be back to our regularly scheduled routine soon.

Psychobabble

This hasn't been one of my more productive weeks.  I must have brushed my hands through something that responds like nettles while I was at the ranch two weeks ago, because that's what the itchy bumps on my hands resemble. If I take the generic Benadryl every four hours, I can hold most of the itching at bay. The rash on my neck is subsiding. Just in time to go back out to the ranch on Monday.  I think I'll wear disposable rubber gloves while I'm out there.  And long sleeves.

I think we've done all the work we can do for now on Blackbirds First Flight, Stephen put out the press release and took the website live.  I built a Facebook Author page.  Thanks for liking, Wendy. I also added a page to my Rantings and Ravings website for Readers. 

We're slowly pulling things together for setting up at the Giddings Swap Meet.  Since we're staying in a motel while we're down there, that will certainly consume any profit we make on the weekend, but when Mr. L showed me how easy it would be for someone to lock us into our trailer if we stayed there, I knew I had to make that suggestion, or he'd have worried me to death with that prospect.  Once that man gets an idea in his head like that, there's no putting it to rest.  I'll have to make a run back up to the house to check on the cats (scoop litter boxes and check to make sure Floyd hasn't tossed the water tower) and give Lady medicine at least once during the weekend.  As far as getting ready to go, Mr. L appears to be putting most of what we need to do off for the last minute as is his preferred working style (why did I not notice this before we married -- it bugs me to no end, but I've gotten better at not making it an issue for me).

I got very little work done on Kitty City -- something isn't resonating with the story.  I'm still making progress on Polar Bear on the Loose.  The week feels as if it's been very non-productive.

The Week Ahead:

• Get things priced and packed for Giddings
• Help Mr. L as much as I can get ready for the swap meet.
• Work on Polar Bear on the Loose
• Try to tease a thread of value into Kitty City
• Check the deer feeder and game camera at the ranch.
• Have fun at the swap meet.  We haven't set up at a meet in nearly twenty years, and we're doing it differently this time than we have in the past, but we're both looking forward to it. It don't anticipate having any problem making the cost of our spaces back, but there's virtually no way we will earn enough to cover the cost of our room and meals, so that part will just have to be for fun.

Posting early so I can check it off my to-do list.

I'm good. Mostly.

Feeling gobs better, but I'm living life in PJ pants that are two sizes too big because when I wear anything snugger my belly muscles hurt. I still get pooped if I move around too much and I have quite a lot of brain fog. I've recuperated otherwise and I've been trying to exercise, eat right, so forth and so on. I think it's helping. My final post op check is this week.

One improvement, just today - I seem to have conquered the crazy typos I'd been having. Makes posting/typing/emailing so, so much easier. Started with mostly gibberish, now I just have occasional transposed letters (which is normal for me). This was not a side effect I'd anticipated.

I'm not allowed to vacuum, much like Jean not mowing after her procedure. The rugs are gross but I haven't delegated that job yet. It's starting to bug me. I don't want to bother Bill, Laura doesn't do a good job. Sigh. Maybe I can after my appointment.

I finished a quilt project earlier this week and am hoping to get it mailed out Monday. I need to locate a box and I'm considering one of USPS's 'if it fits it ships' boxes.

We are getting too many political ads on TV and in the mailbox. Holy crap buckets, there's a LOT. Several pieces of junk mail every. single. day. I'm sure that's because we have a registered Dem, Rep, and Ind in the house, but dang, we're getting it from everybody. It's all going right to recycling, and don't get me started on the nasty commercials.

I'm sure you all heard one of my novels sold this week. Since I don't know who all comes by and reads this, I don't want to say much until everything's official, but I am DELIGHTED by this. It's a completely different reaction than the one I had when selling the Dubric novels.

Had my third straight week of weight loss. Still a long way to go to get back to where I was before the mutinous cyst started causing trouble. :)

Have a great weekend and a fabulous week! {{hugs}}

The Load Out

Everything seems like too much effort this week.  Mr. L shared his cold with me that he got while in Dallas.  He didn't like it much either, and he said by sharing it, it didn't lessen the effect any for him either.   Despite all that, he got a lot done this week while I was out of town, so kudos to him.  Me?  I rested. And watered. At least the poison ivy didn't spread from beyond where it was on Monday morning.  It even receded incrementally. Generic Benadryl and Mucinex have been my friend all week.

I got the yard watered; however, after three weeks of me not being there and no rain projected, I anticipate it will be quite crunchy when I return to San Antonio in September.

Walter (Big Gray) got trapped (he stepped on the shingle and tripped the trap) and taken the Dr Val who pronounced him healthy and took care of neutering and vaccinating him.  I think she took care of some ear mites and worms, too.  He came back to us a scared and healthy kitty.  When given the chance, he made sure the coast was clear and launched himself a good twenty feet straight off the side porch and disappeared under the house.  I've seen him at the feeder, so I know he's still around. Now, to figure out a way to earn his trust.

 My eyes were virtually unchanged from last year. A touch of astigmatism in my right eye -- a natural side effect of aging, the doc says.

129 Amselstrasse is now Quin and completed. Fog is now Melancholy. Blackbirds is now being proofed.  I plan to sign the contract tomorrow. It should be sitting in the printer now, but I haven't been upstairs since I sent it there.

I got about two hours of work each done on Polar Bear on the Loose and Kitty City.

The Week Ahead:

• I hope the brain fog clears
• Finish work on Blackbirds
• Sign contract and return it to Stephen
• Work on Polar Bear on the Loose and Kitty City
• Help Mr. L get ready for the swap meet

Unexpected quiet

I thought I would be at the Ren Faire right now, but our friend couldn't come after all. It might be for the best. It's supposed to be hotter today. Tomorrow afternoon will be much nicer, and Eric and I can go on our own.

We've all been talking so much on Facebook lately there isn't much new to say. There was the drama downstate. Apparently I was wrong to tell Alex to change the locks before the ex's lease was officially up. (It was over yesterday according to our new agreement.) He went to get the rest of his stuff Wednesday evening, and no one was home to let him in. So he called the cops, then called me, and then he broke in through an open window. I got a hold of Alex, who went straight home and supervised the removal of the rest of his stuff. Or, at least, that's what the ex told the cop--that he had everything. The cop told him he needed to coordinate with the residents if he forgot anything. He did take my first grandcat (Jeli) but the kids say that may have been for the best. She wasn't getting along with the other cats who live there now. I'm not thinking about her being all alone with him. And his girlfriend. And her dogs. I hope she pees in his bathtub for the rest of her life. For right now, it looks like it's over. I told the kids to hold onto the things he left behind for a little while, and then they could do what they want with it. Eric suggested they donate it all to Good Will. If he decides he wants something, he can go there and buy it back. I think Vicky was leaning toward burning it at Alex's girlfriend's farm. 

So that's about it. I'm glad to see Blackbirds coming together so quickly. We've got a good collection. This week I really need to get some work done on Willow before my mom gets here Thursday. Next weekend is already packed full of touristy stuff. If you need anything from me, get it before Thursday morning.

All clear

Had my post op check and everything's fine.

I had to stay overnight after my surgery because of high temp and blood pressure issues (I'm more likely to have the opposite problems) but all of that was fine today. The incisions were fine today. Everything but my electrolytes were fine today (so I now have to drink Gatorade. Whee). Cancer free, no infections, all looking great.

I'm still tired and a little dizzy (electrolytes) and have trouble remaining focused (electrolytes), plus I'm sore/achy (to be expected after fairly major surgery).

I go back in about 2 weeks for a final checkup.

Other than *that*, absolutely nothing of interest is happening. Been sleeping a lot, writing virtually nothing, and, well, more sleeping.

I'll try to get caught up on posts tomorrow. Right now, I think I need another nap. {{{hugs}}

Country Side of Life

I knew I was pressing my luck with visits to the ranch this year.  This week, on my fourth trip to the ranch this year, I must have lost focus while setting up the deer feeder, because I'm in the beginning stages of a poison ivy reaction setting in (intense itching) on my neck. Obviously, I brushed against the poison ivy with my hand then rubbed my neck -- probably to clear away sweat.  The only question remains is whether I have caught it in time, or will it get worse, requiring the usual trek to the doctor for a steroid treatment.

A mixed bag this week.  I spent all my writing time working on 129 Amselstrasse and am still not finished.  I did okay on yard work. The outside feeder has been cleaned and reprogrammed with fresh batteries.  The old batteries, even after a year and a half of daily use still had 1.4+V of power in them.

Big Gray (Walter?) walked into the trap several times and cleaned out the bait.  Without triggering it.  I have one more thing to try, and I figure I'll only get one chance, so I'm going to try it tomorrow night.  I'm going to use a wooden shingle resting on the trigger pad and baited with yummy Fancy Feast. I hope kitty will step on the shingle, and his weight will trigger the trap. I have to have the shingle far enough in so when the trap trips he won't be able to dash out before it locks closed.

I got a little done in preparation for the swap meet but not much.  There isn't much I can do.  Mr. L will have to do most of it. He needs my help with a few things, and he's not ready yet.

The Week Ahead:

• Eye exam on Tuesday
• Week in San Antonio
• Finish 129 Amselstrasse
• Think of new poem title
• Fend off poison ivy attack
• Try to think...

I'm so glad the surgery went well for you, Tammy.

nothing much

Now that I have my part of Blackbirds squared away, apart from the Fun Facts I'm collecting, life has settled back into something resembling routine. Eric had a migraine Monday, I had one Thursday. Wednesday evening was worship team practice (I'm singing tomorrow), and it was very much like rehearsing with the old praise band, even without the pair of teenagers. Fun, and very interesting indeed. Oh, and our church is prettier at night.

Yesterday I hopped on the train and we had dinner at an Italian place a couple blocks from Eric's office. It's sort of a high-end cafeteria, if you can imagine that. You stand in line to get your food, but the decor is much higher end than plastic tables and chairs. Prices are reasonable, too, especially for the city.

I did manage to work every day this week, even when I had my headache. Oh, and I found a park about 3/4 of a mile away. I walked there with my notebook yesterday, sat under a tree and tried to work on the beginning to midpoint part. It was nice to be in green space, but I think I'm going to hear traffic noise even after I'm dead. I may need to make one more run up to MI before the weather turns so I can sit on my mom's deck. I'm beginning to understand why so many people walk around with headphones.

Jean, Eric picked up some kind of crud too, so it's not just in Dallas. I don't know what it is, but he's been coughing a lot and feeling under the weather. He's absolutely no fun today, which maybe isn't such a bad thing because it seemed to come on quickly and I can't be sick until tomorrow afternoon, preferably Monday. The way he's coughing makes me want to Lysol everything.

If schedules remain as they are, this will be the last week of quiet. Next weekend, Jeff the Bard is supposed to be with us. After he leaves, Mom and Aunt Shirley come, and the weekend after that we'll have Chad and maybe Alex. That gets us to the beginning of September (and I want to know how that happened so fast). A week or so later, our next-door neighbor is supposed to move out, and we have dibs on her place, so we may move soon after that. It's too soon to say right now, but it is fairly safe to say we'll be moving twice in one year. OTOH, it should be the easiest move we've ever made! Since there are only two of us on this floor, we can barricade the cats in a room and prop both apartment doors open. Most things should move from one spot here to the same spot there since the floor plans mirror each other. After that, it's a matter of learning to turn left instead of right to get to my bedroom. It's times like this I think it's a good thing I don't have a job.

So that's about it right now. Y'all have a good week and get lots of words!

Old Days New

I got everything done last week I planned to get done -- at least as far as Createslate is concerned.  There was plenty I didn't get done, but what I committed to here got done.

129 Amselstrasse, after today's work, stands at nearly six full pages.  Of course, this means I'm going to go back through and flesh things out a little more to get that extra page in there.  I think I navigated the coffee shop scene acceptably to bring us to the ending.

I got very little done on Kitty City and Polar Bear on the Loose, but I did get some time on both earlier in the week.

Mr. L and I had to go out to the ranch yesterday to get some things from our car trailer out there.  While there, we sited where to put the deer feeder and game camera.  I'll probably set that up on Wednesday or Thursday this week while he's in San Antonio getting his stitches out.  I want to get going on our census-taking.  That will mean no more kitty pictures, but that means I'll start talking about deer and other critters.  I'm branching out.  Grin.  Mr. L is certain I'll be getting another game camera to track the cats, and he's probably right.

I had no luck capturing Big Gray (I'm thinking of calling him Frosty), but I did observe him in the trap, carefully picking the Fancy Feast off the trip pad with his paws. He'd allow it to stick to his paws, then eat the food off his paws.  He was very careful not to trip the trigger.  The cat is amazing.

The Week Ahead:

• Take care of Central Texas yard work
• Get the deer feeder assembled and installed at the ranch.
• Reprogram the outside feeder, because it just dropped food at 10 pm.  It's supposed to do it at 10 AM.  Oops.  That means it will probably drop at 3 am, because it was supposed to drop at 3 PM and didn't.  Definitely going to have to look at that!
• Work on Kitty City, Polar Bear on the Loose, and 129 Amselstrasse
• Do my best to trap Big Gray and get him checked out
• Do some prep work for setting up at the Giddings Swap Meet at the end of the month.  We have some pricing to do as well as making sure everything is gathered together and ready to load on the trailers.

Have a great week.  Tammy -- you'll be in my thoughts on Wednesday.

Quiet. For now.

We were supposed to have Chad back this weekend to go back to the Ren Faire, but he's been battling kidney stones. We'll try again over Labor Day weekend. What that means is we had no company this weekend, nor do we next weekend. Then we have three separate batches over the next three weekends.

It's been a decent week. It went really fast, and each of the days went fast. It seemed like every day I wondered how it got to be 3:00, and what was I going to make for supper? On the plus side, the new end of Weeping Willow is done. Now to work backwards to figure out the dreaded middle.

We saw Guardians Of The Galaxy yesterday, too. It was a fun movie, and I like Zoe Saldana much better than I like her in the Star Trek movies. I truly dislike the new Uhura. If I was Nichelle Nichols, I'd slap somebody. Oh, and I forgot to mention last week we saw Lucy. It's really good if you like mind bendy movies. It was sort of like Inception, except one girl kicked butt all by herself.

There's still drama downstate, but it seems to be coming closer to the end. Alex is there now, and he's having the best time messing with the ex. Vicky has taken the moral high ground, but Alex has no such compunctions. I can't blame him. The ex shut off the internet and took the modem and router, so they have no internet or TV. He also took a couple of our camp chairs and a bunch of DVDs, and then told Vicky if she wants them to come get them, but he's not telling her where he lives. The dummy apparently hasn't thought through the fact that Vicky has contact info for most of his family, and a lot of them like her better than him. He's going to be very happy to learn that the locks have all been changed, so he can't come in and steal anything else. Not only that, but the rest of his stuff has been packed. He need come no further than the dining room now. I offered to go down to be the heavy, but they have everything under control. Surely by the time we go down for the St Louis Games at the end of September it will all be over. I hope it's over before Alex goes back to school in a couple weeks. The really cool part about all of this is how my kids are a united team. It's such a blessing that they get along now, especially when I thought for so many years they never would.

So that's about it here. Y'all have a good week, and Jean, have a happy birthday tomorrow!

Mutiny!

Was a good if rather uneventful week until Friday morning, when the Mutinous Cyst began acting up with a great deal of localized and shooting pain. I ultimately ended up with an emergency ultrasound which showed not only the cyst larger than it had ever been, but about 1/3 full of a 'mass' deemed internal cyst bleeding. The docs decided since it's not unexpected or unusual (or dangerous) to have such developments in established complex cysts, they'll just keep me on schedule to get it removed Wednesday.

They gave me vicodin to manage the pain, and for that I'm thankful.

Otherwise, it was a good week. Went several times to the splash pool with LittleMiss, and we took her to the farm fair. Had a lovely night out with hubby to see Guardians of the Galaxy (we both enjoyed it quite a lot, it wasn't serious or deep, just delightful, flat-out FUN) and, truly, that's about it.

No book news. Still trying to wrangle the book into a decent screenplay, still a little achy, weight was down, sinuses are clogged (dang frisky corn!!).

{{hugs}} and have a happy week!