Friday This n That

I'm not dead.  I'm just lazy.

I woke up late two days in a row.  This makes me not want to do anything, but I had planned on going grocery shopping.  The jury's out as to whether I'll just skip over to the Dollar General for milk and postpone Wallyworld.

The news lately is fucking horrible.  Mass stabbing in Traverse City, mass shooting in NYC, some shithead killed two people in front of their kids on a fucking hiking trail in NWAR (northwest Arkansas to the uninitiated), four people were murdered by some asshole in TN.  Is it any wonder I don't want to go anywhere?

I dreamed last night that I had a third tomato on my plants.  Yeah, I lead a boring life.  Here's me dreaming about tomatoes.  One more tomato is an exciting thing for me.

I'm supposed to start AuGoWriMo today and write words.  I need to carve out some time to do that and I need to STOP watching Roku for a few hours to get that done.  I can do it!  Unfortunately, we found a new series to watch last night and it was awesome.  Drat.

A couple of days ago, I had a chicken breast defrosted to make Salsa Chicken, but then I realized I didn't have the right cheese, so I turned it into a kind of Chicken Parm.  Slap a chicken breast into a pan, cover it in marinara sauce, cover that all in mozzarella, bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.  I made spaghetti noodles and more sauce to go with it, and added those into the pan about halfway through.  It all turned out really yummy.  We ate the leftovers for dinner last night.  Yum.

Yeah, the lacking cheese thing is another reason I need to go to Wallyworld.  Drat.

During the making of the spaghetti noodles, I spent some time dancing around the living room to music in my head.  Sawyer was freaked out by this.  Finn just looked at me like I'd lost my mind.  Maybe I had.

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 21

 I missed last week, which messed me all up, but I'm pretty sure last week was week 21.  Anyway, here goes...

I did some writing.  Not much, so don't get yourself too excited.  Still, it was better than nothing.  I also did some marketing.  Woot.  

Loads of reading, but not many books finished to show for it.  Hey, I did remember to do a Reading Wrap-up yesterday, so go look at that.  I finished a book yesterday, but that'll be on this week's wrap-up.

Last Sunday, I made pizza.  Yesterday, I made pulled BBQ pork.  Woot.  Other than that, nothing exciting to speak of in the baking/cooking category.  I really need to get off my butt and make cookies for Hubs.  He's earned them.

On the activity front, I walked three times for 3.2 miles worth (20.10 YTD), I gardened some, and did a bit of cleaning.  Weight: 172.4, down 1.2 from last week, so whatever I'm doing is working.  Increase activity, decrease food intake.

Gardening... Well, I've been working on cleaning up the rock path in front of the front flower bed.  That's slow going.  Lots of shoveling to turn the rocks over and then bending to pick out the weeds, then smoothing it down and tamping it down.  Patch by patch, so it's still walkable between exertions.  (I can't do the whole path at once anymore.)  Week before last, I repotted a bunch of the little trees into bigger pots.  They seem happy.  My tomatoes are getting big.  I'm seeing some new growth on most of the little trees.  And yesterday, I planted green peppers seeds from the green peppers I used to make deconstructed stuff peppers.  If they grow, they grow.  If not, not much time or money wasted.  

Yesterday, we saw our first fawn of the year.  It was Lumpy's!  Yay!  Then later, when I went for my evening walk, I heard a fawn beeping and looked for it, and there it was with what had to be Sissy.  (She's so tame, it had to be her.)  Double yay.  They had to have been born within the last couple of days.  Aww.  Unfortunately, it's been raining.  And raining.  And raining.  I'm a little worried about those little babies.  They're so tiny. 

Also, we had a HUGE raccoon on our porch the other night.  That hasn't happened in a while.  And we had bobcats tussling in the backyard one night.  Spooky, but cool. 

Okay, I think that's it for me.  I'm sure other stuff happened.  (Like I turned 55 in there somewhere and we had an anniversary.  Oh, and I got TTW's print version approved and up for sale.)  I'll try to be better about posting this week.  I hope you have a happy rest of the weekend and a nice Memorial Day.  :hugs:

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 19

First off, Happy Mother's Day.  

Next, I didn't get any writing done this week, but I did get a boatload of editing done.  And a cover made.  Then formatting, etc.  Thus, as of last night, THICKER THAN WATER is live on Amazon.  Here it is in all its glory:

Family ties and blood… Duke Noble’s had more than enough of both.  When he receives a frantic call from his mother, Duke’s not the kind of man who can simply ignore her pleas.  But discovering a body in his brother’s apartment wasn’t at all what he expected.  Wondering whether the body belongs to Harry means there’s no turning back.   He’ll have to work his way through both secrets and lies to get to the facts.  Even if it means digging up truths better left in the dirt.

Which brings me around to marketing...

Starting tomorrow Rumor Has It will be free for 5 days.  I'll be marketing that.  Last week, I marketed Song of Storm and Shroud.  Here's hoping RHI does better than that did.  I could use some sales this month.

Today, I'll be formatting TTW for print and getting that process underway.  This week, I'll get back to working on Duke Noble #3.

Now back to my regularly scheduled updatey stuff...

Reading - check out yesterday afternoon's post.  It was a good week for reading, and I'm now only 6 books behind on my reading goal.  Woot.  

No baking this week.  I'm trying to cut back on the breaded products for a while.  Not sure how long that will last.  I do love me my baked goods.  Not baked, but I did make a lovely beefy-rice dish that I'm jokingly referring to as Beef Risotto.  I also made a vat of turkey/chicken noodle soup that was quite yummy.  And a pulled pork that was so good, I was walking around going 'mmm...meat candy'.  

On the activity front, I was an animal.  There was only 1 day that I didn't do anything active.  I walked, I gardened, I did yard work, I moved some furniture around.  I walked 3.8 miles last week. Whoa.  Weight: 173.2 - you'd think it would be lower, but meh.

Gardening... my little trees are doing well.  The baby redbuds are about 4-5 inches tall and have several leaves now.  The dogwoods are about 3 inches and have about 4 leaves each.  The oak is looking good, but only 2 leaves so far.  The cedars are thriving, of course.  The tree seeds I planted last week aren't doing anything yet.  Yesterday, on the way home from Wallyworld, I stopped at the feed store and bought a flat of Roma tomatoes.  Those went in pots when I got home, so hopefully one or two of the six will flower and fruit, giving me yummy treats.

Well, I think there's probably more to update you on, but that's probably enough out of me for now.  Look for a marketing post tomorrow.  Have a great rest of your day and if you're a mom, I hope you get to spend time with the kids today.  :hugs:

Sunday Update - 2025 - Week 10

It's like 7:30 and I'm just now getting around to posting because it's NOT actually 7:30 to all the little grey cells and other parts of my being.  Damn time change.

Anyway, I've been motoring along on Edit Notes - Round 4.  (Which I just now realized I've also listed as round 3 and round 5, depending on the day and how tired I was when I backed up the files.  But I actually think it's round 4.  :shrug:)  As of last night, I passed the 50% mark in notes.  Yeah, I thought this would go quicker, but it's not.  I keep finding stuff I missed and finding places where I said something early that I didn't explain later.  Derp.  Anyway, I've made progress, which is always good.  It'll be published when it's published.  Oh, and I think I have the title... Duke Noble P.I.: Secrets & Lies - how does that grab ya?  It grabs me better than any of the dozen or so titles I've played with, so there's that.

I did my usual week of marketing.  Okay, so I didn't do as much marketing as I should've.  I still moved 306 copies of Wish in One Hand this week.  Time will tell if that equates into sales later.  The freebie I had for DE last month has gained me some sales this month, so I'll keep doing it.  To that end, I'll be starting another freebie tomorrow.  I think one of the Ugly books.  We'll see.  Update: CINDER UGLY will be free starting tomorrow and going through Friday night.

I actually started reading a book this past week.  It's my new-to-me old copy of a Sax Rohmer novel.  I meant to do a Reading Wrap-up yesterday, but I forgot.  Maybe this coming Saturday, I'll remember.

In baking news, I made another batch of cinnamon rolls.  I think I nailed the inner goo.  (Embrace your inner goo.)  I also did beef stew one day and chili another.  Yummers.

On the activity front, I spent about 4 hours over three days digging up the south garden.  Another hour should see that bit finished.  Also, we spent about 45 minutes walking around in the woods.  And I did a massive grocery trip.  Unfortunately, despite the actual activity, I gained 2 pounds somewhere along the way.  Weight: 175.2 - damn cinnamon rolls.  LOL

Gardening... Well, I've dug up the whole south garden bed to a depth of about 12-18 inches, thrown all the weeds out, and shifted all the irises.  Somehow, I ended up with a pile of dirt in the middle, so I'll be moving all the irises out of the east side, spreading the dirt around, and replacing the irises today.  (I've already done this with the west side.)  I'll be using the middle of the bed for my new gladiolas and my old lilies.  Once I get this done, I really need to start potting the tree seeds I started last fall.  I've also found two volunteer cedars that need to be potted or pulled.  They can't be allowed to continue growing where they are.  One of them is under the deck, for petesakes.  Oh, and I need to start cleaning out all the other beds. One thing at a time, eh?

In other news, Woodstock, the wren, is still in the garage.  Despite our best half-assed efforts, he will not be moved from his new home.  :shrug:  He's in there singing right now.  The cats are fine.  Hubs is fine.  I'm fine.  

How are things in your world?

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 8

Woke up late, got distracted, and here we are...

I finished inputting the second round of edit notes this past week, and I started making the next batch of notes.  This batch is the one where I make notes and then go enter them, so I'm done with about 61 pages worth of manuscript now.  Woot.

Marketing this week was focused on Blink on an I.  I only moved 50 copies.  :sad trombone:  I don't have anything set for this coming week because the majority of my books are set to renew their 90 days in KDP on Tuesday.  The only book that isn't with the others is SSS and I'm not sure I'm up to another week of lackluster downloads.  I'll probably wait and hit the genies books starting in March.

Still no reading.

In baking/cooking news, I made some awesome soup that I've now decided to call Chicken Cheddar Chowder.  Say that three times fast.  With that, I whipped together some biscuits.  Yum.  And later in the week, I did Parmesan-crusted pork chops.  Mmm.

On the activity front, I cleaned the dishwasher.  (If you don't think that's an active thing, you try getting in there and scrubbing the inside of your dishwasher.)  I also went grocery shopping - also an active thing if you do it right.  And yesterday, I went into the woods.  Walking up and down the hill in melting snow with mushy ground underneath will certainly get you using muscles you didn't know you had.  I'm feeling it this morning, lemme tell ya.  No stepping on the scale this week, though.  It's too cold to get naked unless it's for a shower and I'm not showering first thing in the morning until the temps rise.  

Speaking of temps, this past week gave us here at Sanderson Inc. LLC a low point of MINUS 5.  (Which was about on par with my mom in Michigan, but way too cold for SW MO.)  We also got like 6 inches of snow.  On the upside, we're supposed to hit the upper 60s sometime this coming week, so most if not all of the snow will disappear.  The robins I saw this week will certainly appreciate that.

Oh, the reason I went into the woods was to see if I could locate tracks near the hole where I suspect some critter has taken up residence.  Well, if they have, they've been inside since the snow fell because I didn't find any tracks near there that I couldn't identify as deer.  Coming back up the hill, I did see fox tracks, though, so yay.

Well... I think that's about it.  Sorry I was late today.  Have a great rest of your day, wherever you are.

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 1

It's the first Sunday Update of the year and, of course, I'm getting a late start.  I woke up late and then I had marketing to do.  So here we are...

I'm still not writing, but the editing is zooming along at a turtle's pace.  Last week, I edited every day but one, for a total of 39 pages edited.  I'm at page 173 now out of a current 191 pages.  The manuscript is at 58016 words.  When I started this edit round I had around 47K words and 133 pages, so you can see why this might be taking me a while to finish.  Every time I think I'm getting ahead, I wind up with the same amount of pages left to do.  But I'm adding words and making it awesome, so it's all good.

I'm also in the middle of a freebie thing for FERTILE GROUND so I'm marketing a lot.  It's going okay.  Books are moving and people are reading pages.  It's all good.  Oh, and starting Tuesday, IN DEEP WISH will be free.  I need to jump on that and make some marketing materials.  Speaking of which, this is the thing I made for FG this morning:

creepy, huh?

No Saturday Reading Wrap-up yesterday because I am still reading the same book - Child Star by Shirley Temple Black.  I crossed the halfway mark yesterday.  Woot.

In cooking news, I made a thing that I'm calling Italian Spaghetti Bake.  And yesterday, I made a vat of Turkey Noodle Soup.  Today, I'm hoping to do a chocolate oil cake with raspberry jam and vanilla frosting.  Either that or cinnamon rolls.  Maybe I'll get crazy and do both.  

On the activity front, I did something active 5 out of 7 days.  Sure, some of the stuff I'm counting isn't super-active, but hey, whatever it was, it got me out of my chair and my blood pumping.  I weighed myself to start the year: 174.2 - which is up 13.2 pounds from 1/1/24.  :shrug:  I was working and stressed then.  Now I'm home, relaxed, and back to grazing. 

This creeping crud thing that Hubs and I have just won't die.  Neither of us feel too bad, but it's a lingering thing that's just annoying.  I'm going to firebomb it with meds & vitamins today and see if I can't kick its ass.  By the way, Rikola Honey Herb cough drops are the bomb.  Rikola Honey Lemon Echinacea cough drops are GROSS.  They taste like weeds and lemon rind.  Blech.

Okay, I suppose I'd better get doing something, even if it's wrong.  Have a great day and drop a comment about how your week went.

Sunday Update 12/15/24

T minus 16 for launch on 2025.  I repeat... T minus 16 for launch.

Finn's in my lap and making it difficult to type, but we'll see if I can't get this post out anyway. 

Actually, I don't have that much to talk about this week.  I didn't write or edit or market.  I take that last part back.  I did some marketing early in the week as I wrapped up my Song of Storm and Shroud freebie offering.  I ended up moving 87 copies and saw a some KU action for this and previous freebies.  Woot.  I need to figure out a plan for the rest of the year.  Your guess is as good as mine.  On the bright side... we'll all be surprised.

I did some reading, which you can find out about by looking at yesterday's post.  I'm one book away from reaching my reading goal for the year.  

In cooking news, I made more Rolo pretzel turtles.  I also did a vat of chili yesterday.  Hubs is still working on last week's blondies, but I plan on making more stuff.  I have the fixin's for chocolate cake cookies with the mint patties in the middle, so there's that.  Also, I'll do more blondies using a different recipe.  The last ones were good, but not spectacular.  We're searching for spectacular here, folks.

No activity worth talking about.  I did weigh myself, though, and I'm sitting at 174.4.  No real change in the old fat level despite being a toad, so I got that going for me. 

We're still working on putting the Starlink up.  We'd planned on getting outside with it yesterday, but it rained all morning and then the roof was a wet mess.  We'll see what today brings.  The clock is ticking on our 30 day return window, but we still have plenty of time.

When I first woke up this morning, it looked pretty clear out there in the woods, but as I sat there smoking, the fog slowly rolled in.  Within ten minutes, the woods were filled with a thin fog.  Now, about a half hour later, it's pea soup.  Pretty creepy, man.  And kinda cool.

Okay, that's about it for me and my boring life.  What's up with you?

 

Sunday Update 11/10/24

I feel like there isn't enough coffee in the world to make me human this morning.  Ah, well, let's muddle forth anyway and see where the day takes us.

I'm still not writing, but I am back to editing.  I actually put together three days in a row and edited 25 pages this week.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but considering the fact that I'm changing everything from third person to first person, I'm pleased with the progress.  And I've complete almost 6 pages of edit notes.  Little yay.  I still haven't decided whether this will be book 2 or book 3.  :shrug:

My marketing fell apart this week.  I did a couple of days worth of marketing on Project Hermes and sold exactly zilch.  Ah well.  In happier news, I sold a paperback copy of Dying Embers, and people are currently reading KU pages of both Sleeping Ugly and Blink of an I.  Yay. Oh, and before I forget, Early Grave will be free this coming week - 11/11-11/15.

In reading news, I finished two books this past week - a Perry Mason twofer and a Zane Grey western.  Woot.  Not sure what I'll pick up next.  I really need to get some new ebooks.

I didn't do any baking this week.  My ever-widening ass does not need to calories.  I did do a batch of pulled pork and used the leftovers to make Cuban sandwiches last night.  Third time's the charm, as these turned out awesome.  Mmmm.

On the activity front, I managed to get out into the woods and drag some wood around.  Not much because I am back to being stamina-free, but it's a start.  I also joined Hubs for a walk and did a mile worth.  I haven't bothered to weight myself.  I don't need that kind of negativity.

This past week, we got a boatload of rain.  I think we ended up with like 7.5 inches total.  Sploosh.  

Also, this past week, we had the election.  Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with the results.  Let's start moving this country back to where it needs to be.  I don't expect immediate results, after all, he still needs to get inaugurated, but if she'd won, we would move farther away, so any progress will make me happy.

And on that note, I'm going to wander away, refill my mug, and try to wake up somehow.  Have a great day, everyone, and drop a comment if you're so inclined.

Sunday Update 11/3/24

 Good Morning.  :sips coffee:  Welcome.

This wasn't the most exciting of weeks here at Sanderson, Inc. LLC., but there should be some things to talk about today.

No writing.  I did some editing... one day.  I'm having a crisis of confidence again.  Blah blah blah... meh.  It's not the first time and it probably won't be the last.  Anyway, I've gotten 11 pages done now.  I'll try to get over myself and get some work done today.

On the marketing front, I did the 'posting to FB Groups' thing again.  This time for Sleeping Ugly.  I moved 116 copies.  Last night someone read 12 pages of SU, so there's hope.  Tomorrow, Project Hermes goes on sale for election week.  It'll be 99c.  (Or 99p for the UK folks.)  I need to work on some graphics for that today.  We'll see if I can move copies that people actually have to pay for or if I'm only popular when I'm free.  

I actually read some stuff that I didn't write this week.  See yesterday's post.  

In baking news, one day, I made chocolate oatmeal cookies and pizza.  Yummers on both.  Another day, I made ham and scalloped potatoes.  Mmmm.  

As for activity and exercise, my knee was still squonky from the fall back on 10/19, so I didn't get much done.  Then I said 'screw that crap' and yesterday, I went into the woods.  I got the remainder of that pile of sticks moved to the other pile.  Consolidating, doncha know.  No weight loss this week, but no weight gain either which is a win, I guess.  Weight: 175.2

Also, I did some gardening.  I took all the seeds and stuff I'd gathered, went through the steps, and got some stuff planted in pots.  The redbud seeds and the spicebush seeds are in the dirt, along with four acorns.  Meanwhile, the dogwood seeds and the buckthorn seeds are in baggies in the fridge for what they call stratification.  (Cold shocking to make the seeds germinate.)  Now, we wait.

Here in the states, Tuesday is election day.  I'll be glad when it's over.  We'll either see the country start to move back toward being America again, or we'll know for sure that the country is done for.  And at least the phone calls, the ads, and the whole 'vote yes on..., vote no on...' stuff will stop.  We'll trundle ourselves on over to the big auditorium behind the Baptist church and cast our votes.  Then we wait.  And we wait... because I have no illusions that if the Big T wins it'll be accepted by the other side and they'll drag out the actual notification of the winner for as long as they can.  I will have done as much as I can.

Oh, and in case you weren't paying attention, the time change was last night.  I hate this crap and I wish they'd just be done with it.  I'm not sure I know anyone who thinks this is a good idea, so why are we still doing it?  Ask the bureaucrats, I guess.  Derp.

Not much else going on around here.  Keep on keepin' on.  Hang in there.  And all that.  :hugs:

Sunday Update 10/27/24

 :blink blink: I just woke up, so bear with me.

Still not writing.  In editing news, I finished the first round of edit notes on Friday - 21 pages worth of single spaced notes on college ruled paper.  Not the most notes I've ever made on a book, but still, that's lots.  Yesterday, I sat down and started inputting those notes. Then I had to refer back to Rumor Has It about something and I discovered, to my dismay, that I wrote the entirety of TTW in the wrong person.  Should've written in first person.  Wrote it in third.  Derp.  Much swearing occurred and then much laughing because really, how silly can one gal get?  Sooo... I need to fix that, too.  I did manage to get one page of edit notes entered and five pages edited for notes and POV.  

I almost forgot... SLEEPING UGLY is free starting tomorrow.  Kind of a Halloween thing.  

I read a book this week.  Unfortunately, it doesn't count toward my goal because it was a book I volunteered to proofread for the author.  It's now out for sale, and I bought a copy, so I'll read it again and then count it.  The book?  Oh, it's Silver James' Moonstruck Mafia: Boston.  It's wicked awesome.  Pick up your copy today.

This week in cooking, I made a vat of chicken soup, a crockpot worth of pulled pork, and applesauce bars.  Oh, and I used leftover pulled pork to make Cuban sandwiches, which is no small effort.  (I mean, if I had a panini press, it wouldn't be hard, but I don't, so it is.)

On the activity front, well... you see... Falling on my ass in the woods and twisting my knee kinda put the kybosh on that.  I did get into the woods once and I went for one walk, which wasn't far and I had to turn back for home because my knee was being a whiny little bitch.  Sitting on my butt and eating copious amounts is not helping my overall physical well-being.  Weight: 175.2

The reason I went into the woods is to start putting my 'grow your own trees' scheme into motion. I've been researching what needs to be done to grow these trees from seeds, so I'm working on that.  I gathered seeds from the redbud in our front yard, a couple of spicebushes along the side, the buckthorn up front, and then went down into the woods to gather dogwoods seeds.  Yesterday, I separated all the redbud seeds from their pods, put them in a coffee mug, and doused them with boiling water.  They need to sit in that for 24 hours and then I can hit the next step, which if memory serves is to put them in dirt.  The other seeds all require different magic, so I could be remembering wrong.  Dogwood seeds need to be cleaned and scarified (i.e. the process of artfully damaging the seed hull to allow for germination), then they need to live in the fridge for 3-4 months.  Same with the buckthorn seeds.  The spicebush seeds just need to be cleaned, I think, and then chilled.  As I do this, I'll make sure to apply the right method for each seed.  Should be fun.

I'm also thinking about doing wood carving in my spare time.  Right now, I'm researching the tools and trying to see which ones to buy.  We'll see if I keep at it or get bored before I even start.

Oh, we went fishing this week.  It was only for a couple hours and I only caught one fish, but it was good to get out again.  And now I have nightcrawlers, so I can go whenever and not have to worry about waiting for my bait shop to open up.  

While we were driving to the fishing hole, we saw two bald eagles flying low and dancing in the air around each other.  It was AWESOME.  We also saw yellow-bellied sapsuckers this week, so yay!  I love fall migration.

Okay, that was a lot of read, so thank you for getting all the way down here.  Have a great week!  And feel free to drop a comment to let me know how your week went.

Trying New Things

 First off, I'm trying a new marketing image:

Pretty snazzy, eh?  Whatever I'm doing seems to be working, so there's a win for the new images, I guess.

Then last night, I tried making battered fish fillets.  I mean, I'm an old hand at breading stuff, but this is the first time I tried battering.  And I didn't use a recipe, so you can imagine.  All in all, it was pretty good for a first try.  They were pretty damn tasty, even if the breading turned out more like pancake batter and the pan was too hot, so the batter was done waaaay before the fish was cooked through.  I nuked them to get the fish done, which un-crispied the batter.  :shrug:  And tilapia probably wasn't the best fish for this experiment.  Like I said, they were tasty.  And there are leftovers, so lunch is taken care of today. 

A while back, I tried putting raspberry jam on a chocolate cake.  First I tried spreading the jam when it was cold.  That did not work.  I heated it in the microwave and then spread it.  That worked fine.  Once it all cooled, I put vanilla frosting over the jam layer.  It was super nummy.

The point here, I think, is that trying new things is good for you.  Sometimes they work.  Sometimes they don't.  But you've gotta keep trying.  And no, I'm not advocating getting rid of the old things.  Old things and old ways are good, too.  Sometimes the old ways can get boring, though.  Shoot off the beaten path and explore new horizons.  You never know what you'll find.  Jus' sayin'.

Sunday Update - Week 10

 Ten weeks in.  Hard to believe, eh?

Okay, so it was a week.  I did my 40 hours of work and not much else, but let's see if I can't turn this into something more interesting.

I wrote words yesterday!  514 of them all in a row.  Actual fiction words!  (Not work words, which I do all the time.)  I'm not sure what this is or whether I'll actually finish it, but I don't care.  I had a thought, I sat down and typed it out then added to it and the next thing I new, I had a whole page (single spaced because who the hell cares).  

Yesterday, I also exercised.  Shocking, I know.  I did 9 minutes on the exercise bike.  1.8 miles worth of pedaling at between 10mph and 13mph.  I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but I probably shouldn't have done even that much, because I am feeling it today.  Blerg.  Weight: 160.2

I usually do Wallyworld on Saturday, but the weather was so gross, I pushed my shopping back to Sunday.  I mean, the stuff falling from the sky was actually splatting.  Like raindrops with slush in them.  Gross.  I'll do the grocery thing later this morning - sore legs or not.  

I'm still reading that submarine book.  I'm about 2/3rds of the way through now.  I mentioned something in it that had happened in the '60s and Hubs remembered it, so I told him the story that wasn't made public back then.  Pretty cool.

Oo, yeah, I also made pinto beans yesterday.  I tried the slow-cooker method using unsoaked beans.  Put the dry beans in the pot, added enough liquid so it was about two inches above the beans, set it to low, and let it cook.  The instructions said 5-6 hours.  Dinner was 9 hours later and the beans were still not done.  11 hours.  They took 11 hours and that was only because I turned the pot on high for the last 3.  I won't be doing this method again.  Soak 'em overnight.  Boil 'em until they're soft and creamy - 45-60 minutes.  Voila.  

I did use beans in last night's dinner.  I took some of the slightly under-cooked beans and threw them into a pan with ground beef and green onions.  They mostly finished cooking that way.  Just a little more texture than beans ought to have.  I served it over rice.  It wasn't the taste sensation I was hoping for, but it wasn't bad.  Ya know, there are shockingly few recipes online for Pinto beans that aren't chili or refried beans.  Such a versatile little bean, you'd think there'd be scads of ways to fix it.  :shrug:  I'll figure something out.  They're cheap and they're chock-full of healthy shit.  

Today, I have to make granola bars.  After groceries because we're out of condensed milk.  

Exciting life I lead, eh?  

Anyway, that's it for me.  Nothing much else going on.  What was your Week 10 like?

Sunday Update - Week 8

Eight weeks into the new year.  How 'bout that?  I wouldn't have thought we were past week 5.  The days are just flying by.  Derp.

Things are pretty much the same here.  No writing.  Nothing writerly.  Work.  Home.  Meh.

I didn't finish any books this past week.  I'm still working on that NF about the submarines.  It's pretty interesting, but not a fast read.

I got some activity this week.  I swept the office.  I went for a walk.  I did some minimal lifting.  Weight: 158.8.  

In cooking news, for shits and giggles, I'm trying this new low-sodium thing.  Lord knows, I probably eat way too much sodium as a general rule.  But I do like my snacks.  (Did I tell ya about the nacho cheese pretzels I found? OMG, so yummy.)  So I'm cutting back where I can control the sodium.  Yesterday I made a low-sodium spaghetti sauce.  It's only about 165 mg per serving.  (Yes, that is low.  One freakin' chocolate cupcake from Wallyworld has 310 mg, for pitysakes.)   Anyway, the sauce was okay.  It needed salt.  I added some parm, which helped.  I also made a salt-free vinaigrette which I thought was yummy.   I'm not sure how long the low-salt thing will last, but it's keeping me out of trouble for now.  ;o)

(Before you ask, I didn't mean health trouble.  I meant this is keeping me occupied.)

I was out at the feed store yesterday and they were super busy, so while I waited for my order to be filled, I sat on the loading dock and played with their kitties.  I love the gray one.  She's awesome.  I picked her up and put her on my lap.  She has the softest purr I've heard (or hardly heard) from a cat.  The calico kitty, who's usually standoffish, decided she wanted in on the action and started head-butting me.  So I had both hands going for a while there, petting them both.  Finally, calico had enough and flopped down behind me, pressed up against my back.  Awwww.  KITTIES!

The eagles are still here.  For how much longer, I don't know.  We're still getting a boatload of deer.  Thankfully, things are starting to green up around here, so maybe the deer will start finding alternate food sources.  My daffodils are loaded with leaves.  My hyacinths have buds and are starting to shoot them up.  Looks like all the purple ones survived and none of the pink ones.  Oh, well.  The lilac has leaf buds.  Spring is coming.  Yay.

Other than that, life is pretty bland around here.  How are things in your neck of the woods?

Monday Update - Week Whatever

 Sorry I missed both Saturday and Sunday posts, but I had other things on my mind, so here it is on Monday with no books read and no update.  Missing Saturday was no big deal from my end because I didn't finish any books last week, but I do like reading about the books you read.  And I'm sure you like talking about them.  So... :hugs:  I'm sorry.

As for the Sunday update, not much went on last week that I'm at liberty to talk about in the online public forum.  The stuff I'm not at liberty to talk about took up a lot of my time and brain space.  Be assured that it is now over and all is well.  And we'll leave it at that.  

Like I said, I didn't finish any books last week.  I'm still reading that book about submarines and the Cold War, but I'm not making tons of progress.  Maybe this week.

In baking/cooking news, I made a batch of granola bars.  I also roasted a chicken in the crockpot.  And I created a salt-free salad dressing - kind of a red-wine vinaigrette - that I think is pretty yummy, but that Hubs is unimpressed with.  :shrug:

Not much on the activity scale again.  Weight: 160.4.

Work is work.  

The deer are coming in droves.  (How many are there in a drove exactly?  :shrug: With deer, it's about 25.)  All of them are looking healthy, so that's good.  It's too early yet to see any hint of pregnancies, but I know all the does are probably pregnant and that accounts for a majority of the drove.  We might have like 2-3 buck fawns from last year hanging around.  

I'm starting to hear our springtime bird visitors, so that's a good sign winter is almost over.  Yay.  I've had about enough of that crap.  

Other than that, life here is pretty boring.  How are things in your life?

Sunday Update - Week 1

Well, hello there.  The first week of 2023 is in the can.  Onward and upward.

No, I'm still not writing.  I'm not sure if I can while I'm working.  It feels like the entirety of my brain space is taken up with the job and my creativity has curled into the fetal position in a corner. Every once in a while it mumbles something to itself and I try to write that down, but I'm not getting more than a whisper of an idea here and there.  It's been a while since I even got that.  I think it's comatose now.  It's funny (in a warped-sense-of-humor way) that before I went back to work, I had scads of time and no money. Now I have money but no time.

Anyway, I'm working 40 hour weeks with 2.5 hrs of lunch.  Bills are getting paid, the fridge is full, and that's all that matters.  Downtime is for decompressing.

I am reading in my downtime.  I've already completed two books for 2023.  I set my goal for 50 this year.  I should be able to do that even if I find myself too tired to read here or there.  I hit St Vinnys yesterday and came home with 8 books for $6 - a Vince Flynn I didn't already have, a couple of Phyllis Whitneys, a couple Victoria Holts, an Anne Rice, a Rex Stout, and a Ngaio Marsh.  Yay.  I'm reading the Flynn now.

In baking news, for New Years, I made a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting, and I substituted wine for some of the water needed to make the cake.  It turned out a little denser, but was pretty tasty.  I also made beef bourgignon for dinner that day.  (Someone gave me a bottle of Pinot Noir, and since I don't drink, I figured I'd better cook with it.)  It was super yummy.  

As for weight, I clocked in the year at 165.2.  Then I made a pig of myself all week.  (Pizza and donuts at work, cake at home.)  I'm a bit afraid to step on the scale today LOL.  No activity to speak of.  Hubs and I did take a walk early in the week, which was good.  I need to up the activity level before my arteries clog and I give myself a coronary.  

I'm currently doing genealogy again.  Yesterday, I discovered my great-great grandpa had a middle name.  I found his wedding certificate - in German - and using both an online translator and a print-out of German characters as they equate to English, I parsed it out.  Yep, Adam August was my 2x grandfather and just plain Adam was my 3x grandfather.  Genealogy is like working a puzzle combined with solving a mystery.  Right up my alley.  I found out another grandfather had fought in the War of 1812.  And I got one branch of the tree all the way back to a man who was born in 1475 and his sons all have Sir in front of their names.  

Yes, I could be using that time to write, but refer back to the creative portion of my brain being comatose.  I'm all analytical now, so this pastime suits me.

Oh, and I got a new-to-me wool dress coat yesterday.  It's a Larry Levin, or something - which run like $150 and I got it for $8, so woohoo.  Mid-thigh with a cross-button thing.  All I care about is that it's warm and that it goes with my dressier work clothes - for those days when I can't wear my leather jacket.  (My leather has never seen the rain/snow and I don't want it to.)

Well, this update thing turned out way longer than I meant it to, but I wanted to address some things and I'm feeling chatty.  But I think I'm done now.  Have a great week wherever you are.  :hugs:

Sunday Update - Week 11

Well, here we are again.  Another Sunday in 2022.  Almost exactly two years from the start of this crap.  Two years ago last week was when I was out in the pouring rain amidst the lunatic fringe, trying to find toilet paper, and I locked my keys in my car.  Two years ago this coming week was the circus of trying to get Owl from up there to down here.  Blerg.

Anyway, that was then and this is now.  

I finished inputting my beta notes on Monday.  Since then, I've spent every day this week going through SSS with a fine-toothed comb and really trying to catch every little thing.  110K words worth of every little thing.  I'm up to page 219 out of 377 now.  158 pages left to go.  I did 81 pages yesterday, with brief breaks for food, baking, and a walk.  Nothing else much is getting accomplished, but hey, the book is nearer to publication every day.

I also wrote like 4000 words on SCIU 4 early in the week before I started pushing to get SSS done.  And I reworked my blurb yesterday morning.  Busy busy busy.  I tried editing and writing on the same day, and I am totally not up to that speed yet.  I'll keep trying, though.  Just not this week because I want... no, I need to get this done.

In reading news, I finished one book last Saturday and read most of another book before I leapt into the deep proofreading on Tuesday.  I'll read when this manuscript is published.

On the baking/cooking front, I made a roast chicken, pizza, my version of Mexican pizza, and yesterday I did an Applesauce Coffee Cake.  Yum.

In activity news, I did something active 5 out of 7 days.  Mostly it was walking.  I put over 4 miles on my legs this week, which is about half of what I've done so far this year.  Woohoo.  No weight check.  The scale and I aren't friends these days.

That's about it.  Time for me to get back to proofing.  I proof from early morning until lunch and then I veg until about 3 then it's back to proofing until dinner.  I eat then I proof.  Then I take a break for a walk.  Then I proof until about an hour before bed.  I'll be so happy when this is over and the book is published.  

How was your week?

Sunday Update - Week?

Sorry I'm late.  I forgot it was Sunday until just now.  Derp.

Anyway, it was a week.  I managed to get 88 pages edited and I'm through pg 137.  Out of 371 pages, of course.  Everything is getting more fleshed out.  Deeper and richer.  Ditching crutch words and lame phrases left and right.  Since I started this phase of editing on 1/25, I've only missed one day.  And I'm still only a third through.  Blerg.

No marketing.  No reading.

When I wasn't editing, I was doing a lot of cooking.  I made a chocolate oil cake with super-fudgy frosting, a batch of zucchini bread, pizza, snack mix, and I roasted a whole chicken in the crock pot.  LOL, you should've seen that bird.  It just barely fit in the crock pot.  I sprinkled it with pepper, salt, and paprika.  Jammed a couple tablespoons of butter inside it, and then dotted more butter all over around it.  Jammed the lid on and let it cook for 5 hours on high.  So tender and juicy.  And we have tons left for other meals.  Plus, the bones and broth for making soup.  This morning, I should probably make a batch of granola bars.  Or maybe oatmeal fruit squares.  Or maybe both.  

I didn't get a lot done in the activity realm.  One day, Hubs and I took a short walk from our house to where the snow hadn't melted off the road yet.  Maybe a half mile round trip.  Other than that, nada.  But I weighed myself and I'm back down to 182.2.  :shrug:

Yesterday afternoon, I took a loaf of my freshly baked zucchini bread next door as a kind of housewarming gift.  We stood and chatted a bit.  It was nice.  They're nice people.  And they have a cute dog.  Copper is a red-bone coonhound.  Since they've lived here - in another house - for longer than we've been here, I actually met the dog years ago.  (And the husband, but not the wife or the kids until recently.)  When he was a puppy, he got loose and decided to visit us on one of our walks.  All floppy ears.  Awww.  They also have a nice little girl.  I think she's 9.  And a little boy who's like 2, so I haven't really interacted with him much.

Oh, and I almost forgot.  Yesterday, Hubs was getting ready to go outside and there was a downy woodpecker on the suet.  When he opened the door, the bird didn't move and he had to almost get within touching distance before it flew into the redbud tree.  I saw it land and crouch way down, like it was laying on the branch.  Then I saw a flash of brown as another bird swooped down on the woodpecker.  The downy darted off and the flash followed it.  I jumped up to ask if Hubs saw what I saw and he was pointing into one of the trees.  It was a merlin, which is what I thought might've been after the downy.  I ran to get my camera and got some really awesome shots of it.  Here's one:

To give you some perspective on the size, those oak leaves are actually past it by a few feet, and they might be 6-8 inches long.  Merlins are little as far as birds of prey go, but they're fierce.

Other than that, not much going on here.  Stuff.  Now that the snow is gone, I should probably get off my buns and go in the woods again.  Meh.  One thing I know is I should take my buns into the living room and get some more edit notes made.

How was your week?

Sunday Update - 2022 Week 2

Here we are with the second week of 2022 ended and dare I say it?  Things might be looking up*.

In my own little world, nothing happened of national importance but there were a few things of personal note...

Fifty pages got edited and I'm now within 80 pages of being done with this round.  Can I do 80 pages this week? Tune in next Sunday to find out.  Once this is done, I'll have to do another round of edits to make sure everything I did this time makes sense and to clean up any lingering typos.  Then maybe it'll be ready to send to readers.  I may take a break from this and do some writing of new words.  Go back to Duke or Dennis or SCIU for a change.  We'll see.

I uploaded Fertile Ground and Early Grave to D2D yesterday afternoon.  EG is already hitting some other outlets.  We'll see how that goes.  Most of the other books are available at everywhere but Hoopla (they take forever).  DE and RHI are still waiting on a couple, but not any of the major ones, so have at it.

As for reading, I finished three books and DNF'd a couple others before the wrap-up went live.  Then I DNF'd two books yesterday.  Blerg.  But I downloaded a bunch of yesterday, too, so I have plenty to keep me busy.  You'll hear about all that on Saturday.

In baking news, I did honey corn bread - this time upping the honey and the sugar to 1/3 cup instead of 1/4 cup.  Yummers.  As for other cooking, I made a vat of chili and a stroganoff fail where I dumped the uncooked rice right into the beef/sauce mixture in the crockpot and left it to cook.  It ended up as mush with crunchy bits.  I know better, but I was being lazy.  I'd say lesson learned, but I've done it before and I'll probably do it again... in a couple years after the taint of this has left my brain.

On the activity front, I did something every day last week.  Woods work and log work mostly.  Then yesterday it was dealing with the snow.  I haven't weighed myself since the 5th, so I'm not going to bother dropping a weight here right now.  Maybe later.

Speaking of snow, around dark last night we had about 4 inches worth of yucky, dense, wet white stuff.  Mid-afternoon, Hubs and I were out knocking it off the cedars as far up as we could reach on the big trees and off all of the smaller trees.  It was still snowing then, so we'll see if my little cedars are laying on the ground this morning and whether any of the big cedars lost limbs higher up.  =o\

Also, speaking of woods work, I discovered a hack.  The nozzle on my can of WD-40 broke, and when I zipped over to the Dollar General, they didn't have any.  I bought some Goo-Gone to clean the blades, but I still needed something to act as a lubricant.  So I bought a cheapy can of non-stick cooking spray (NSCS).  It worked like a charm.  Every time the blade started to choke up in the wood, I sprayed it and it went back to zooming through the wood.  Afterwards, I duck-ducked whether substituting non-stick for WD-40 was a thing and IT WAS.  I'm so cool.  Then the fridge door started squeaking, so I zapped it with NSCS, too.  No more squeak.  Also yay.

And that's about it.  I can't think of anything else, so I guess I'll just wander off in search of more coffee.  Have a great day, everyone.  And drop a comment to tell me how your Week 2 went.

* The Supreme Court decision against mandates and the newly-elected people in VA doing their jobs.  Yay.  They're little spots of hope.

Randomosity

So apparently Facebook went down yesterday for about six hours.  I noticed because as I play poker, I like to scroll through the feed when I'm not in a hand and when I tried, I got a note from my browser that there was no Facebook.  I shrugged and went on with my day.  I totally forgot about it until later when I clicked my link and in my feed people were talking about the outage.  Some people are joking that Facebook banned itself.  Others are joking that this outage was due to some whistleblower and Zuck needed to shut down to delete stuffs.  

Last night I made a dish for dinner using chicken, onions, baby potatoes, and mushrooms sauteed in butter with salt, pepper, and basil.  Dished it up and drizzled BBQ sauce over it.  Pretty yummy stuff there.  Hubs has been off chicken lately, but he said it was good, so there's a win.  Yay.

We're at that point in the year where I have no idea what to wear.  Too hot, too cold, too hot, too cold.  Shorts and then sweats and back to shorts.  Put on a sweater, take it off.  

I'm up to almost 300 million in poker now.  When you're playing with 20 mil at a whack, it's easier to go up quickly.  There's also the chance you'll go down just as quickly if you aren't careful... and lucky.  Like I was at 200 million and went down to 91 million over the course of a day.  And it took a couple weeks to get back to 200 mil.  :shrug:  Yesterday, I jumped from 245 to 298 thanks to a couple good hands and some other minor wins.  Waxed a couple of people when I went all-in with pocket aces.  That netted me 37 mil.  Got another 10 mil with a flush on the river.  I was third on the leader board for the week for that buy-in level last I checked.  Go, me.

My arms are still pretty much toast from the work I did.  This makes reading hard.  Holding up a book or an ereader for any length of time exacerbates the ouchy.  Typing for too long is also a no-no.  This is the excuse I'm using for not writing again yet.

Yes, mousing is also hard, but I try to limit that when I play poker.  And I don't play for too long at a stretch.  Play a little, take a break.  I think this might be the key to getting back to writing/editing.  Do a little, take a break.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  We'll give that a whirl today.  Maybe.

I cleaned my bathroom.  This is notable because I haven't done it in months.  Because reasons.  Now it's so pretty!  Makes me not want to take a shower in there and mess it up.  

I really need to cut my hair.  This, too, will mess up my bathroom with hair bits which I will have to vacuum up.  Which reminds me... I have to shave my legs, too.  Blerg.  Too much information?  LOL

And on that note, I'm going to wander off.  Got anything random to add?

Thursday This n That

Yesterday I made turkey stew and drop biscuits.  Hubs was happy.

In case you're not familiar with drop biscuits, they are what they sound like - you drop heaping spoonfuls of biscuit dough onto the baking sheet and throw it in the oven.  Drop biscuits are for when you're too lazy to make rolled biscuits.  I used the same recipe minus the whole flouring the counter and rolling the dough out and folding it and rolling it and folding it and rolling it.  Less work and less mess.  Have to note, though, that they take less time in the oven.  Last night's batch was a little overly browned.

I find making rolled anything is a huge pain in the buns.  Which is why I bought cinnamon rolls yesterday.  I have had a huge craving for cinnamon rolls and I've looked at numerous recipes for same.  But every time I think about making them, I think about all the rolling and mess involved and then don't make them.

Ahem, my pizza does not require rolling and I knead the dough right in the bowl.  Less mess. I take the risen dough and slap it onto the middle of the pizza pan and then gently coax the dough to the edges of the pan while constantly turning the pan.  :shrug:  It works for me.

The story I posted a snippet of yesterday is rolling along.  1400+ new words last night.  Like I said, it's noir and it's kind of a throw back to Spillane and his contemporaries.   

I mailed my Christmas cards out yesterday.  The final count, if I remember right, was 27.  If you got one last year and don't get one this year, blame the USPS.  They're off to MI, FL, CO, CA, OK, NM, and one to Nova Scotia.  (:waves at my lone Canadian friend:  You probably won't see it until after Christmas, but that's how things go for us.)

While doing cards, I turned on Christmas music for the first time this year.  Still haven't put up the tree.  Maybe today.

Apropos of nothing, I'm up to 4.6 million 'dollars' in play money poker.  Considering I only play at the table where the most I can buy in for is 20K, I think that's pretty sparky.

Okay, I've run myself out of things to yat at you about.  What's on your mind today?