Reading

(no subject)

Maybe there's something about having things to focus on during our busy weeks that actually calms my anxiety a bit, but this week, with nothing going on, has actually seen my anxiety up. -_- Not a fan of that.

Baby was a menace all evening, just a whirlwind of destruction. She tore up papers, and toys, and threw her food around the house, chased the cats, slapped everyone, and was just a terrorist in general. Many time outs were given. Thankfully, she went to bed without a fight, and I actually got to enjoy my evening a bit. Caught up on the latest episode of The Gilded Age, which was a good episode with a BLAM surprise ending. Showered, then snuck into bed.

Was startled awake by a recurring anxiety dream I've been having lately (the baby crawling around on our bed and then suddenly launching herself over the side and doing herself an injury - it always wakes me up because my actual real non-dream body lurches forward trying to catch dream-baby.) This woke up Carolina, who was snuggled against me, so she wanted out of the room for a snack, and letting her out woke up the baby. M had just finished showering, so we transferred the baby to her actual crib, where she fussed a bit before settling back down.

Then M, still being Mostly Awake, laid in bed with me and chatted for an hour. More stuff about work and jobs and savings and housing, and so forth, and it gave me more weird dreams after I finally got back to sleep, and I woke up in a sour mood.

Need to be home to watch the baby during one of M's meetings today, so a slightly later lunch time than usual.

In other news, called up Kate's pediatrician to get advice about her speech development. She's still babbling and not really using words yet, and she's about to hit 22 months and should have at least 30-50 regular words at this point. They referred us to Early Childhood Intervention, and they said they're processing our request and we should hear from them within the next couple of weeks.

BCBS is being fucky about covering the amniocentesis. I've already had to fight with them about lab work they didn't cover, then they decided not to fully cover the procedure itself, and now they're saying there's more lab work that's out of network, even though it's exactly the same provider that they've fully covered in the past. -_- Claim has been appealed. Need more Luigis.

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It's that time again!

I'm at Costume College. I'm exhausted! I don't think I've ever done so much the week before! And I didn't even sew much. Ha!

Entry tags:

life after the apocalypse

Office Closed July 31

Proofed 80 pages. Fed Trooper. Fed myself. Did one's duty to the cats. Refilled my red pen.

Otherwise, it has been a . . . slightly fraught day, and I will be closed for business tomorrow.

Everybody stay safe.

(no subject)

Went home for lunch at the usual time yesterday, even though baby was already in bed for her nap so there wasn't anything for me to do. Spent my entire break listening to M catastrophize about...well...everything. His boss comes back from maternity leave next Monday and he's wary of that, he has a new skip-level boss who is making them all appear on camera now during meetings, and he's spiraling over having to wrangle Kate during meetings, he's worried about his upcoming review, and the mid-year review after that, and if this thing and that thing go wrong it means we can't get a house next year and the new baby is going to have a rough start in life, and on and on and on and on. I hate when he gets into these doom cycles.

Thankfully, doom cycle was broken by the time I got home. He had spoken to his friend on the team he's interviewing for, and there was some drama, and there may be another opening as one of the only remaining guys is considering moving over to Product instead, and if that happens, M is practically guaranteed a spot. So he was in a much better mood after hearing that.

Baby had only napped for an hour and a half, and early in the morning, too, so she was completely zonked by the time I came home. Of course, she wants nothing to do with bed until it is exactly her bedtime, so she went down at her normal time. But, she passed out right away, no fighting, and she slept all through the night without a peep, which let M and I catch up on sleep, too.

Finished making the beef stew for dinner, and it was a great success. Having everything already chopped made things easy, and while it was simmering, M made a trip to the store to pick up a few things for the rest of the week. He came home with an abundance of fun foods like muffins, croissants, chocolates, and other splurge items. It was nice! We've been so utilitarian lately trying to stick to our house budget, it was really nice to have some fun foods again.

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One of these mornings, you're gonna rise up singing...

What went before ONE: Aaaand home.

Spent hours in Michael's. Which counts as a treat. Did not need to go to Target, because I found it in Staples. Toured Best Buy briefly to research tablets, because I think I'm going to buy a new tablet, though God She knows I have enough technology in this house to choke a camel.

First though! Now that Trooper, who met me at the door demanding to know WHERE HIS FOOD WAS, has been satisfied and is cleaning up, I've gotta find something to eat.

It is hot, and the air is thick, so I am glad to be back on Station Air.

What went before TWO: I am suddenly and for no reason bitterly tired.

So! Needlework was fun; we had a full house tonight, several new people, and some folks we hadn't seen for a while. I had been going to take my shirt to embroider, but, with one thing and page proofs, I didn't have time to make the transfer, so I grabbed my fox sampler and my traveling kit (the fox sampler may be five years old. I would bring it with me to cons, and work it on when we were on the train. At this remove, I'm not sure what I had in mind for the fox himself, who is maybe half-finished, so I just worked on some leaves this evening.

The cats have had Happy Hour, and I have poured myself a glass of wine. Tomorrow, there will be reading of page proofs.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Wednesday. Sunny and? Going to be warm. What a surprise. We are on Station Air.

Breakfast was a bialy and cream cheese, with a side a grapes. Lunch will be a veggie burger with cheese.

I slept a whopping 7 hours and 55 minutes, and I actually do not feel like something the cat drug in (as we said in the Land of My Birth, where "drug" was the past participle of "drag". "Flang," however was not the past participle of "flung." You had to go further south for that.).

The rosebush not only continues to survive, but there it's blooming its silly head off.

Today, there will be Reading, of (1) a contract and (2) page proofs. If anyone wants me, I'll be back in Steve's office.

What's on your schedule today?

Today's blog post title from "Summertime," from Porgy and Bess. The original from the opera is, IMHO, insupportable, but then I don't tend to much like opera. Here we have Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, which is Much More The Thing.

Rosebush, doing its thing:

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Done!

I finished the skirt. Closures were annoying, but it's done!

And yesterday the Pokestop I should've nominated years ago, the clubhouse at my complex, was approved and turned into a Pokestop. I can reach it from my living room sometimes, and if not, it's a few steps away. So that's fun!

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cross-stitching

Week 3

Here's where I left off last week:

“Santa’s Journey Stocking” progress - 7/19/25

And here's where I left off this week:

"Santa's Flight Stocking" progress - 7/27/25

I spent way more time cross-stitching over the weekend than I probably should have. That being said, the whole sky and most of the reindeer are half-cross-stitch and so go quickly.

(no subject)

Attempts to make dinner last night failed. I had a beef stew planned, but there was a reek from the dish pile when I went into the kitchen to start cooking, so I busied myself for far too long taking care of said dishes. (I guess one of the...um...up sides? of not having AC is that you can't let the dishes sit for more than a day or two before they begin to smell, so I have to be more on top of doing them.) By the time I was finished, it was baby's bedtime, so I wrestled with her for a while as she resisted. By the time she was truly down, it was after 9pm.

M picked us up some McDonald's for dinner instead, and I finished chopping everything for the stew so I can just throw it in the pot tonight and cook it up. Went to bed later than I wanted, but what can you do.

Baby was up early again today, it seems that this is becoming something of a habit. I got up and we brushed our teeth together, I made her a breakfast plate, got myself dressed, got M up to take over baby duties, and then was out the door.

Saw someone ahead of me in traffic plow into a racoon. Said racoon, instead of perishing, did a Matrix-like flip maneuver and then scurried off into the bushes seemingly unharmed.

The two very dedicated older men who are out with anti-Trump protest signs almost every day have switched from the afternoon rush hour to the morning rush hour. Can't say I blame them, it's too damned hot at 4pm to be standing out in the sun for long.

The little weather app on my desktop keeps showing "temps to drop" with a little blue thermometer on it. Deception! I don't consider dropping from 108 to 98 to be news worthy, little app.

M's having serious doubts that he's going to get the job he's been interviewing before. His friend on the team has been sort of wishy-washy with his responses, and there are two others ahead of him that have more experience with this type of role. I really hope he's wrong, I know he was pinning a lot of hopes on this job. We should know one way or the other by the end of the week.

(no subject)

I had a lovely evening laying in bed playing my silly little games, got up to eat and then returned, and finally around 10:45 my brain was tired enough to let itself turn off. I was so looking forward to that long 7 hours of unbroken, peaceful slumber.

Unfortunately, someone started making noise that sounded like they were trying to take the building down. I didn't put my glasses on to be nosy about it, but I THINK what happened was my new upstairs neighbour (on the 3rd floor) was having a big mad and stomping up and down the exterior (wooden, newly built last year) stairs and maybe kicking support posts? I'm not really sure. It made a low of noise, and then there was some Loud Angry Man Noises. It was 11:15pm. I'd dropped off just enough for my brain to reset and then I was awake until 2 something again, effectively making me awake for 24 hours.

BUDDY. This is not the vibe. Maybe it could have been someone else, but in almost 2 full years of living here, NO ONE has done what this asshole was doing.

As such I doubt tonight will be any better than last night. I need to do laundry and thankfully that is a low-energy task, mostly waiting around for the machines to be done. I also need to be creative with my dinner bc thankfully I had leftovers still for today, but no such luck tomorrow! (Actually I should just make the effort to prepare a sandwich and be done with it.)

Decided it was time to toss the pair of work pants I've been wearing that are ill fitting and also all the little snapped elastics in the fabric are really visible at the back seam. They have a mesh layer in front for tummy control or something, which I am going to salvage first nyahahaha. Even started that while the kittens were running up and down the front (enclosed) stairs, but black pants + black thread + my general tiredness means I will wait for better light + the general wherewithal to be patient.

Standing at the chair-drobe this am lamenting the lack of work-appropriate shirts to wear. Guess I better bump a few of those up the list too.

Entry tags:

Gone Shoppin'

What went before: Read 60 pages of I Dare, which got me to an end of a section. Wrote +/-540 new words in the WIP, which brings it to +/-65,080.

On the proofing front, I am definitely missing some of the places where there ought to be scene breaks marked, and I'm trying to figure out if I have anything around here that will serve as a guide. I'll look at the Meisha Merlin edition, but that one had, um, many errors. I'm just not sure if spacing was one of them.

Onward.

Rook collaborated with me in an after-lunch nap; he could have gone longer, but I felt the call of duty, and went back to Steve's office to work. Surprisingly, he fetched Tali and the two of them did the afternoon shift with me.

Trooper ate an envelope of bisque with his meds stirred in; a smol can of gooshy food, in two sessions, a couple of crunchies to keep his grandkid, Tali, company at the food bowl, and for Happy Hour, an envelope of stew and his usual serving of gooshy food.

He seems to be somewhat more alert today, OTOH, I spent most of the day in Steve's office, and he spent most of the day asleep in my office, so we didn't see much of each other.

Tomorrow, I believe I'll take a couple hours off and go to Augusta. Get out of the house for a bit, see people who aren't cats. There's a plan.

In the meantime -- everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

Tuesday. Sunny and cool, but heading for hot.

Woken by Trooper standing on my chest at 6:00. There were three other cats in the bed, all asleep, so I turned on my side, and snuggled Trooper under me, and we all got another half-hour.

Trooper has had (most of) his morning bisque-with-meds.

I have no idea what my breakfast will be, but I have a cup of tea with me here at the desk, so there's a start.

I will be going out to Augusta today, specifically to Michael's, Target, and -- Lowe's? There was something I wanted at Lowe's . . . sigh. It'll come to me.

I got a little crazy last night just paged through the Meisha Merlin edition of I Dare and found all the scene breaks, some of which are in the page proofs, but not all. Those are now all notated and marked, so I can concentrate on the text.

Speaking of I Dare, the new Baen edition will be a trade paperback and it will drop in December.

What else? Ah. I had asked someone on Etsy to make me a thing, and she said she'd be delighted, so I wrote back and asked how we were going to handle the details, and have heard nothing else. It's been a couple weeks, so I guess I'd better drop a note.

I'd been having an increasingly harder time listening to Devil's Cub, which I was attributing to the narrator, so I opened the book to refresh myself, and -- no, it's not the narrator; it's Vidal, or, rather, the whole cast.

It is permitted to be at the feet of the Divine Georgette and still prefer some of her works over others, and in fact, while I admire These Old Shades as a melant'i play, I believe I read Devil's Cub once, exactly, and did not care for it.

(These things are matters of taste. For instance, Steve doted on The Toolbooth; which I understood as little as his dislike for Bath Tangle, which I adore.)

Anyway, I set myself to analyzing why it is that I so dislike Devil's Cub, and I believe it is this.

In These Old Shades, we are told that Alastair is a Very Bad Man, with a Past. He had served in espionage during the late war, giving his gift for ferreting out secrets free range. We are told that he has a history with Comte St. Vier, that perhaps neither man was in what we will call "the right," and their enmity spans a quarter century.

With the exception of One Thing, we are never shown Alastair doing any of these Very Bad Things, though we are shown that he is very possibly brilliant, and is wearied (as who among us is not) by those who are less brilliant than himself. He is sarcastic and unapproachable, and it would be hard to make a connection with such a man, except we are given, almost immediately, an intermediary between ourselves and this unlikable, perhaps evil, man. Leon, running from abuse, seeking to escape a life that can only end in tragedy, is rescued by the Duke for his own nefarious purposes, and Leon loves the Duke. We, in turn, love Leon, for his wit, his temper, his devotion, and his courage.

The Duke of Avon could ask for no better lens through which to be viewed.

Now, that One Evil Thing -- His Grace of Avon sees fit to drive a man to suicide at a public party, but by the time he does this, we want that man to pay -- for the evil he has visited upon Leon. It's a masterpiece of timing, and These Old Shades is a good book and an excellent melant'i play.

Devil's Cub makes the mistake of showing us Vidal at his worst immediately, and we are given no balancing viewpoint, save his mother's, who may be excused for loving him, and even she knows he is "very bad," but -- he's her son.

I'm also irritated because it's been 24 years since These Old Shades, and Rupert, Alastair's younger brother, who had shown some promise of growing into a Better Man if not a very intelligent one, is stuck in a permanent boyhood -- still running himself off his legs, and needing to apply to Alastair for funds, and much the lesser of Vidal, who does, at least seems to possess a good pair of wits.

Since I'm using the audiobook as a sleep aid, I'll probably continue, and I may finish reading along side of it, to see if I'm being unjust, and Georgette does manage to put everything right. I do recall thinking that Mary Challoner could have done much better.

. . . and my tea's gone.

How's the morning going at your place?

This morning's blog post title is a vary on the classic sign "Gone Fishin'"

Entry tags:

Close...

The skirt just needs closures and two more decorative buttons.

I cleaned out under the bathroom sink today, which had wigs that didn't work for projects, and stuff that I have no idea why I saved. The drawers above where the litter box used to be are cleaned and now filled with things.

And that's all for a while. Whew.

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In Which Sunday is Monday

What went before: Um. I read 100 pages of I Dare today, and wrote no new words. I haven't read I Dare for more than a decade, so I hope I may be excused for laughing at Younger We's bon mots and pretty sentences (“Ah, I understand! A sacrifice upon the altar of duty! How like Shan, to be sure!”) (They were Liadens, right enough, with the pretty cantra pieces dandled like candies ’tween their slender elvish fingers and sweet words of flattery in their mouths.)

Trooper ate an envelope of bisque, most of a smol can of tuna and gravy, an envelope of stew and a spoonful of seafood in gravy for Happy Hour. Also, I saw him take at least two, and maybe four crunchies out of the buffet.

I ate meatballs in ginned up red sauce, with beans and rice. I have leftovers. They're not hideous. Win.

As soon as I finish up here, I need to go fold the towels and put them away, and then find something to eat again. Jeez.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

/S/u/n/d/a/y Monday, sunny and getting warm, thus late in the day. Windows in my office are open, but that's probably not for long, now.

Yeah, woken up before six because Trooper was getting sick in the hallway. Better than alarm clock, the sound of a cat barfing.

Breakfast was a slice of raisin bread, toasted and two cups of tea. I should've done better, but -- not awake. Washed my face and carried my second cup of tea back to Steve's office, where I commenced in to reading I Dare.

Y'know what? This is a great book. Yes, I'm saying it, as shouldn't. Everybody should buy it (yes, yes -- choir, preach). It should go into every Little Free Library on the planet, and in every public library. I dunno who these guys were who wrote it, but boy they knew their stuff. It probably shouldn't get awards, because then nobody would read it, and it really deserves to be read.

Taking a break now to do banking -- the April royalties have landed, which we see are continuing to shrink -- and to feed Trooper half a smol can of gooshy food, which he ate, so yay. Getting ready to go downstairs and do my duty to the cats, and take a walk, then back to reading.

Ah, someone, somewhere asked why the heck I've gotta be reading a book that had already been published. Surely, there are no errors to catch.

ROFLMAO

About that. There aren't many (that I've caught) this time -- but, aside a couple of smushed-together words, and some missing itals, the Big Problem with this iteration is! Spacing issues. Scene breaks are missing entirely, which is ... disconcerting, and yanks the reader out of the story, so, yeah, those have to be fixed.

And! Why is there a different cover? What was wrong with the Other Cover?

Um, well -- it's a new edition. And, yanno, some people didn't like the Other Cover, so this gives them a second chance to like a cover.

ANYhow.

How's everybody doing today?

Flirty Rookie:

(no subject)

Weekend was fine, if unproductive. Friday night we had a small miracle, as the baby put herself to bed, grabbing her blankets and pacifier and just going to her pack and play to go to sleep. Amazing! She went early, too, which meant I got to enjoy my evening a bit for once.

But, of course, that meant that she was up equally early, and between me staying up too late and her 6AM wakeup, I was dead tired. After our regular morning routine and a plate of breakfast, I was able to get her down for a nap around 9:30, but I was too tired to do much of anything while she slept, so I just became one with the couch and watched some TV.

I'd hoped she'd nap again in the afternoon since she'd napped so early, but nope, she was not interested at all. M took pity on me and picked us up some In-n-Out for dinner. The baby went down for bed at her normal time, and without much fuss. I went to bed early-ish to try and catch up on sleep.

Baby slept to normal time, so I managed a decent amount of sleep, but somehow I felt even more tired than I did the day before. I struggled with figuring out food stuffs for the day, so it was mostly grilled cheeses and fruit for the whole house. I managed to rustle up some pan-fried chicken and roasted sweet potatoes for dinner, and it just about did me in.

M left in the late afternoon to finally get all our laundry taken care of. He was gone the rest of the evening, so I actually got to put the baby to bed in her own room, take a shower, and enjoy relaxing in bed for a change, rather than our current routine of putting the baby to bed in the pack and play and then sneaking in a couple of hours later, trying not to wake her up, and crawling silently into bed to fall asleep immediately. I missed lounging in my own bed!

No real plans for the week except to attempt to catch up on chores. Every time I think I'm going to have the opportunity to sew, it ends up not happening, so I'm not even going to put it on my list for the week. No appointments, interviews, or other tertiary nonsense to deal with this week, either, and it will be nice to actually have a normal ass week for once.

Between the three of us, one of us being a tiny tornado, the house is feeling very small lately. I am very much looking forward to moving out next year, and into our own house. This apartment was great when it was just the two of us, but by the time we move out there will be four!

Entry tags:

thud

I finally started a skirt to go with the pink silk 1919 sweater I made a few years ago. It just needs a waistband and closures.

I unexpectedly mostly finished the bathroom. It was so much. Ack.

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books read in 2025

Books read in 2025

40 To Hive and to Hold, Amy Crook (The Future of Magic #1) (e)
39 These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer, narrated by Sarah Nichols (re-re-re-&c-read, 1st time audio)
38 Faking it (Dempsey Family #2), Jennifer Crusie, narrated by Aasne Vigesaa (re-re-re-&c-read, 1st time audio)
37 Copper Script, K.J. Charles (e)
36 The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer, narrated by Eleanor Yates (re-re-re-&c-read; 1st time audio)
35 Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard, Nora Ellen Groce (e)
34 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Winifred Watson, narrated by Frances McDormand (re-re-re-&c-read; 1st time audio)
33 The Wings upon Her Back, Samantha Mills (e)
32 Death on the Green (Dublin Driver #2), Catie Murphy (e)
31 The Elusive Earl (Bad Heir Days #3), Grace Burrowes (e)
30 The Mysterious Marquess (Bad Heir Days #2), Grace Burrowes (e)
29 Who Will Remember (Sebastian St. Cyr #20), C.S. Harris (e)
28 The Teller of Small Fortunes, Julie Leong (e)
27 Check and Mate, Ali Hazelwood (e)
26 The Dangerous Duke (Bad Heir Days #1), Grace Burrowes (e)
25 Night's Master (Flat Earth #1) (re-read), Tanith Lee (e)
24 The Honey Pot Plot (Rocky Start #3), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
23 Very Nice Funerals (Rocky Start #2), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
22 The Orb of Cairado, Katherine Addison (e)
21 The Tomb of Dragons, (The Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy, Book 3), Katherine Addison (e)
20 A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes (Lord Julian #8), Grace Burrowes (e)
19 The Thirteen Clocks (re-re-re-&c read), James Thurber (e)
18 A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17 All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&c read) (audio 1st time)
16 Destiny's Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15 The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14 A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13 Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O'Hea (e)
11 Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10 Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9 House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8    Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7    Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6 Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5    The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4    The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (e)
3    A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2    A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)

_____
*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.

1775 Pocketbook

I finished the pocketbook based on the one in Fitting and Proper that is dated to 1775. It's 22-ct petit-point canvas embroidered with crewel wool threads. I doubled the threads to fill nicely. It's lined with silk twill and bound with wool tape. The divider is stiffened with pasteboard. Everything is hand-sewn.

The date is the original, but I changed the initials.

Entry tags:

My beacon's been moved under moon and star

What went before ONE: All righty, then! Duty to the cats accomplished; walk walked; vacuuming and mopping done; grapes and cheese had for second breakfast; realized that every word I wrote yesterday is unnecessary, sigh, though the exercise did demonstrate what was necessary. Next up is my lunch, which will be a frozen box, because that's exactly how ambitious I'm feeling.

I did not put my latest embroidery into my book -- won't fit for one thing. Instead, I sewed it to the hoop and hung it in the bedroom, where I'll be able to see the Ribbons every day.

People want to know where I got the pattern, answering being "From a friend who was reducing her stash by increasing mine." But! If you search of "Tales from the Hoop" you will find the Etsy shop from which it was purchased.

Trooper nagged me for food throughout all of the above, and I did serve him, but he's not actually eating food today, just ordering it.

The weatherbeans that it's 82F outside and the AQI is 154. We are, yes, on Station Air.

This has been your mid-day check-in.

What went before TWO: I have no idea how many new words I wrote today. Somewhere north of 1,390, but since I had to frog a scene -- like I said: no idea.

The WIP entire now weighs in at +/-64,540.

In Other News, the page proofs for the anniversary edition of I Dare (first published by Meisha Merlin in February 2002) have landed and need to be back to the publisher by August 12. It's printing out even as I type this.

Word production on the WIP may slow somewhat. Also? Reading I Dare at this juncture is going to be Interesting in several ways.

I Dare of course was the seventh book of the seven book series Steve and I had initially intended to write, and is also the book that introduces Theo Waitley.

Good thing I bought ahead on Irish Breakfast Tea.

We have entered the Time-Space Continuum known as Coon Cat Happy Hour, so I'll be getting up to serve in a minute.

Trooper has begged for food constantly today, and rejects all but bisque. He has eaten three envelopes of bisque, so that's at least something. I am . . . not quite very worried. Not quite.

And on that note -- everybody stay safe.

I'll see you tomorrow.

What went before THREE: Oh, Skydance's conditions-of-sale guarantees actually helps me make sense of the farewell monologue from the host of After Midnight, in which she says she had honestly expected that the network would replace the host, not shut down the show. But the show's executive producer was Stephen Colbert, and the host was a female stand-up comic about whom I know nothing, but that is, honestly, Just Me. She seemed very genuine in her opening remarks, including the thanks to her team and her guests and educating the audience in exactly how much work goes into putting on a show every. single. day. She remarked several times that people had said she was the only person who could have pulled this show off, and that, no, there were many many talented people who could have done it, some of whom she had been certain would be tapped for her replacement. (To be clear: she had decided, after two years, to leave TV and go back to her True Calling, doing live Stand Up, so she tendered her resignation, believing she would be replaced as host.)

It's an interesting commentary. You can find it on Youtube.

But, Skydance! Skydance, as part of the conditions of sale has sworn to root out those in the former Paramount/CBS organization who are female, disabled, mean or sarcastic to little men with no souls, and abolish wokeness in all its flavors.

And, yanno, that's not scary at all.

Is it?

Sunday. Sunny, breezy, and not warm yet. My office windows are open for the cats, but I expect I'll have to go to Station Air mid-morning. We still stand, or, yanno, sit, beneath an Active Air Quality Alert. Apparently a Dark Plume of Particulates is extending itself over the region. Huzzah.

I slept for 7 hours and 44 minutes, it says here. Trooper did not smack me in the face, once. I attribute this miracle to sleeping with the covers pulled over my head, which was made possible by the cpap machine. Finally I find a good side to the damned device.

I've been kinda mooching around since I got up, doing the Sunday Slow Rise. It's been . . . different. Different is good, I'm told.

Breakfast was homemade whole wheat toast, cottage cheese, and grapes. Lunch will be I Have No Idea. I will say that my experiment of meatballs and red sauce over bread the other day proved that this concept, um, needs work. Sadly, I have meatballs and red sauce left over -- and absolutely no motivation to eat it.

As mentioned last night, the page proofs for the "anniversary" edition of I DARE (tradepaper, it says here, and I've written for confirmation that this is so), have landed. That's 433 pages and 16 days, which means I need to Absolutely Read 27 pages a day. I'll try for 50, because that will give me wiggle room, in case the sky falls and I can't read one day.

Because my office is in Middle of Book Chaos, I'll be setting the proofreading project up in Steve's office, which ought to confuse the cats, so that's worth doing.

So, recapping -- Today's to-do includes one's duty to the cats, finding something to eat for lunch, proofing 50 pages of I Dare, and, should there be time and brain power, writing new words.

How's your Sunday treating you?

Today's blog post title courtesy of Golden Earring, "Twilight Zone."

For rosebush fans, proof of life:

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Cuff done!

I finished the beaded cuff a few minutes ago!

In reclaiming the bathroom news, it's almost done. And spray on wall texture is quite fun. My mom is doing most if the current work, she claims to like cleaning and painting and things like that. She was worried about the patches showing where the holes for the hooks used to be, and I saw a can of wall texture by accident. It was hard to aim at first, which was funnier than it should've been. It wasn't really necessary because I just want the room clean, but I'm glad we tried it!

It should be ready for the litter box tomorrow. The current place is under what's supposed to be a vanity area. It will be so nice to have it moved!

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Peace and particulates

What went before ONE: So, I think this is done. I'll wait a bit and see if I'm Called to do the rest of the dots in French knots. The instructions say "not necessary."

EDITED TO ADD: Someone in comments said that the stars that are not graced with a French knot are further away, and that is brilliant, especially since I had been thinking maybe I should do the smaller stars with one strand, to give the field depth. And here the field already has depth. Duh.

What went before TWO: 500ish new words today, bringing the WIP to +/-63,250. Words really seem to pile up faster once you crack 50,000, don't they?

I am not feeling as well as I would like. I'm thinking overtired, here, so The Plan is to eat my dinner, and hit the bed. If I can't sleep late, maybe I can sleep early.

Trooper ate the tiny can of gooshy CD that I picked up at the vet's today, when I went in to pick up his meds (he's been eating the dry CD forever). I do know better than to buy a case of the stuff, because the next time I offer it, he'll turn his nose up, but I might want to go out tomorrow and pick up another can or two.

No snippet today, I'm afraid. Maybe tomorrow.

Everybody stay safe; I'll see you tomorrow.

What went before THREE: The Long Back Yard is very peaceful this morning.

Saturday. Sunny and cool so far, but They Say it will get warmer, later, and! We're under a Severe Weather Alert due to bad air quality, the villain being particulates. I guess I'll go on to Station Air in a bit. Right now, the windows in my office are open, and each one has a cat on the sill, observing the day.

I used my Audible credit to buy Devil's Cub, and went to bed early to listen, and eventually fall asleep. I don't care as much for this (male) narrator, who seems to think that all women must sound hysterical, which is fine for Fanny, but not at all a good look for Leonie. Still, I did fall asleep, and slept the night through. I woke up at 6, but not because Trooper was smacking me in the face. So that's already a better day.

Had my first cup of tea on the deck; the second is with me here at the desk. Breakfast, so far, was a slice of cinnamon-raisin toast with cream cheese. I have no idea what I'm eating for lunch, or for the rest of breakfast, actually. Sigh. Who is the Goddess of Food? We need to have a chat.

On today's to-do is one's duty to the cats, naturally; signing my ribbon dance embroidery and putting it in the embroidery book; taking an inside walk (ref Bad Air Day); and writing.

I still feel a little ... off. I'll take a page from Steve's book and blame the air. Given the AQI is 157, that seems to be a reasonable scapegoat.

Firefly has determined which drawer in my office chest of drawers holds the Cat Dancer, and was just trying to open it. I guess I have My Orders.

How's everybody doing today?

Pic of Rook and Tali, who really have buddied up, snuggling and squabbling like true siblings.

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thud

Nice calm morning, the cuff is almost done, then when I stopped at Lowe's I passed the curtain aisle which reminded me of how much I needed to do something about the shredding silk Roman shade in my bedroom so I did a brief search, found nothing like what I wanted (the same sort of draped Roman shade on a curtain rod), or custom we come to your house and measure, which, um, no, so I did what I thought about doing for ages and took the silk off the shade and recovered it with the same cotton print fabric that my small window curtains are and I'm so glad I did!

And here's a bad floor picture of my dress after I basted the skirt in.