We’re getting hurricane rain, which is like regular rain except wetter, longer, and wilder. Porn rain. It’s the kind of day to read in bed but I have Things To Do: put the recycling out, do a HWSWA chat with Bob, make schnitzel, wash ten million dishes . . .
What’s on your ToDo list?
We were lucky and the worst of the rain missed us. Fingers crossed for everyone in its path.
I finished the rough draft of my fanfiction and realized it was going to be a long, involved project. I wasn’t sure if I was in the mood for that after my last project (that one started off small and snowballed). So, I set it aside to marinate. I may come back to it, I may not. Just writing the draft out seemed to satisfy a lot of the creative impulses.
I tried a couple different shortbread recipes and used up all the delicious Bon Maman cherry preserves. Definitely ready for a cookie baking break too.
My wonderful burst of happy energy is gone (still wonder what that was) and I’m back to my usual more phlegmatic, plodding personality.
So all that leaves is housework, a little everyday, and practicing Italian (a lot).
I’ve been doing a lot. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDgce-Hg57s/?igshid=1wjqx79v44wyz But me reading addiction has surfaced again.
Now instead of reading novels to the end at 1am, I read curated reddit and “not always right” posts till the battery dies. Argh.
I decided to add one of the reddit posts that made my laugh and how ended up sending it to the wrong whatsapp group. Commiserations welcome.
I shipped out the big cat quilt to my niece. It was a job to wrestle that thing into the box I had available to ship it with!.
I started a knitting project. I got about 4 hours in when I figured out my rhythm and looked back over my work. I then frogged everything back to the beginning and started over. I spent a lazy Sunday working on it and feeling better about how it was turning out. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep up the momentum.
I also stared at the mess I have of past and present sewing projects. I should put some time in to finishing / tidying / making it a better place to work in. Maybe that will happen this weekend.
A partial picture of the mess currently on the table behind my laptop, with gratuitous sleeping kitty.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDgw3YMhvob/
+kitty is a requirement of any on craft materials/finished products photo I take, apparently.
It is also a requirement at my house!
That is not a gratuitous sleeping kitty, that is your #1 quality control tester.
Work work. Work.
Same same same same. And starting to get my son ready to go back to grad school by making more masks.
Make that three.
I’m cleaning and tidying the house today, because On Friday, for the first time since mid March, someone’s coming into it – to stay for a couple of nights even. I’ve got through the genocide and slavery chapters in my editing job, and am onto the injustices of the global political and economic system. And I’ve hopefully saved my potato crop from blight by cutting off all the top-growth.
Also starting to brainstorm the plants I’m going to eventually replace the lawn with – working title being my Midtone Meadow (I’m determined, for photographic inspiration, to resist my perennial drift to red, magenta, orange & purple).
Sending out safety vibes for everyone in the storm’s path! We had the hurricane rains (and wind) yesterday, which knocked over a couple of tall trees that landed across our driveway. My husband has cut a pathway to get out if we need to. A chainsaw will be required for the rest of the job. And we just discovered there was some sort of weird leak that ran under one of our hardwood floors.
I’m doing what any good writer would do in this situation: ignoring the house falling down around my ears and focusing on my new story. 🙂
My area was not greatly affected by the storm. We never lost power, so my groceries were not wasted, and any downed trees or tree limbs were cleared before I drove to work. Weather to remain clear until I am at work tonight, then scattered and regular t-storms until Friday. Then we’ll get isolated t-storms. It’ll be a wet week.
August 5 is Oyster Day and Underwear Day. Y’all can have my share of oysters. I wear underwear every day. Maybe not all day – showers and such. But every day, because I am not a sun worshiper.
August 6 is: Root Beer Float Day; Indian Pale Ale Day; Fresh Breath Day. Root beer floats are always good, and so is fresh breath. I’ll skip pale ale, though. Something to look forward to.
It’s always good to have some leftover pasta in the refrigerator when your sandwiched out. Today I put together a pasta salad with chicken, sliced tomato, olives, an egg, shredded carrots and grapes for lunch. Doesn’t matter what vegetables you use it always works.
Last night we had winds of up to 60 mph, so naturally the power went out at supper time. My husband hooked up the generator for cooking and also to power up the kindles. It was turning dusk when I got out the candles and he was ready to plug in the refrigerator when the power was restored. Yay!
Finish laundry, tidy up a bit, then catch up here and with reading for fun, because I Am Done with my classes, and I got two A+s!
Well done! Hope they gave you gold stars.
Thank you!
“Porn rain.” HAH!
Beautiful sunny morning yesterday (outside Seattle), and the power goes out. ??? Turns out a large truck took out a power pole several miles from us, and darkened a couple blocks for an hour. I expect this behavior in our dark dreary winter months, but now?
On my To-Do list, I have flank steaks to marinate and freeze, pasta salad to make, and the usual subjects: laundry, email responses, dishes. My life was a lot more interesting pre-covid!
I have bonked my head on the keyboard three times. Jenny snuck that one by me. “Porn rain.” Just a punny way to say “Effing rain?” No. A punnier way to say “Pouring rain!” Or possibly a punniest way to combine both. Your “HAH!” made me look again. Hence the head-to-keyboarding.
I was taking it as overly competent rain because of the frequent use of competence porn. But a typo for pouring makes more sense.
No, it’s because it’s “wetter, wilder, and longer.” Porn rain. 🙂 Awesome.
Ha! I missed that. Trust Skye to explain it to the rest of us 🙂
Guh-ROAN! (More head-to-keyboarding.) Word play on So Many Levels!
Have baby blanket and dress ready to send out to niece in Hawaii tomorrow. (Did take a picture of the packed up stage, so DH could see the cute card I liberated from my boss’s stash – taken at work, hence cat free photo, and the poorer for it).
Got car back with replaced exhaust pipe so no longer sound like a teenage hot rodder from the 60’s. Drove said car to chiropractor and donut shop. Got a lead on another bakery close to the chiropractor’s office to check out after my next appointment. Nothing but good times ahead.
Oh, and did some actual work too, just for the record.
On my to-do-list is getting our stuff ready to pack our luggage for the upcoming holidays. Clothes to wash, lists to write (what to take with us), books to get out to pack: we will travel by train and will have to witch trains several times, so we will need to pack light. Which is easier when one travels south to e.g. Italy, where chances are it stays hot. But to the north? I’m not so sure. Germany can get hot, but quite cold easily (from 30 to 10 degrees via one rainstorm – no problem. So we have to be prepared yet still have to keep our suitcases small and light.
Plus: little daughter has managed to break one of her toes last Saturday while swimming in a nearby little river (the bone membran has held the bone where it’s supposed to be but an x-ray reveals that the bone itself is fractured nevertheless). I do hope dearly that she doesn’t have to need her crutches. Would be a nightmare traveling with Deutsche Bahn… Don’t think about taking the train when not fully mobile. It just doesn’t fit.
So I’m a bit apprehensive yet thrilled to be finally on holidays. And full of plans where to go next for short weekend-trips 🙂
My flexible clothing trick is thermal vest, silk scarf and warm socks. Small, lightweight, and warm you up in a cold spell.
Enjoyed ‘Six Cloves Under’ so much I made the roasted garlic bread which I am also enjoying.
Back in the office for a couple of weeks while my co-worker is on vacation. I get the entire summer off, so I don’t mind going in for some extra moola, and to give her a break.
Other than that, I’m avoiding work of all kinds.
This weekend I walked into my sewing room and noticed some of my quilting rulers had fallen to the ground. I had them hanging from one of those 3M hooks that you can stick to the wall. Apparently the sticky stuff gave out. So I finally got around to a project that has been waiting for years. I hung my ruler racks up on the wall. You can see a picture of them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/p/CDhiq9upSOB/?igshid=1az1on49ptkck
Otherwise, I have been doing work for work, switching planners and doing some reflection and goal setting, and I restarted my efforts to apply and take the project management professional (PMP) certification exam. I also watched the show Frankie Drake Mysteries which was delightful. I only got to see the first season because that’s all that was free on Amazon prime. The costumes are really well done.
We went to the dentist today and ran some errands in the big town. While we were doing that, Jim the concrete guy got the first skim coat on the back steps and the railings on the front steps put back on. Other than working at the day job, I’m not sure what I’ve done this week.
I finally got around to repairing my favourite dressing gown. My kids are doing a good job of being self-disciplined and organised with learning from home – not sure how that happened, but I’m chalking it up as excellent parenting 😛
And I’m wrestling with a sex scene in my fanfic and trying to decide if I’m copping out and not giving the readers enough payoff, or if what I’ve written is right for the story. I honestly don’t know anymore. I’m also not sure which are harder to write – sex scenes or fight scenes.
At baking camp this week 24 kids and I, with several adult helpers, have made dinner rolls, soft pretzels, and pizza dough. Tomorrow we make pizza. The kids are delightful. So are the adults really. But the dishwasher went out and I am TIRED of washing dishes. 24 kids each doing their own socially distant projects makes a lot of dishes.
Watching how to survive the zombie apocalypse videos on YouTube. Some are quite good. Although my roommates and I have stated we have no desire to survive zombies or nuclear war, there are always other apocalypses. Like a pandemic without strong, useful leadership. At least no one is trying to eat anyone else’s brains; well, I haven’t looked at the news in several days, so I can’t be sure of that.
I bought a sentence-a-day journal and a sketch-a-day journal … and I haven’t started either of them. Because a small thing every day is so hard.
BJ Fogg would suggest that the small thing isn’t small enough then. He wrote a book called Tiny Habits. The basic idea is that there is a point where the task is easy enough that you’ll do it. An example, if journaling an entire sentence every day is too much, try just one word or maybe even go so tiny as you will open the book. You don’t have to write a thing, just open the book. The other key to creating a tiny habit, besides being so tiny that you’re almost embarrassed if you cannot accomplished it, is finding the right time to do it. His “a-ha!” was to tie it to something else by doing it after that thing. So try different times. I will open the book after I wake up in the morning or after I crawl in bed for the night or after I have poured my morning beverage and sat down at the table. Good luck!
Running my artists’ cooperative, which is slightly more challenging during a pandemic. (And for slightly, read: Oh, dear god.) Writing the second cozy (ditto). Working on the garden. Mostly just working. Then drinking wine, eating chocolate, trying to sleep. Rinse and repeat.
The storm hit here as rain. A LOT of rain. I left a bucket out on the deck and when I measured it this morning, there was five inches of water in it. I thought that must be wrong somehow, until I took a walk and saw that the creek across the street, which had been very low, was now cresting its banks. (And by creek, read small river. No idea why they call it a creek.) Apparently my little town of Oneonta was actually on the weather news as being right in the path in upstate NY, since my parents called from California to tell me we were famous and marvel that the presenter had pronounced it correctly. And make sure I was okay, which was sweet.
In other news, SO grateful for the new roof.
It rained here a bit, apparently, but I am a sound sleeper and the windows in my condo do a great job of keeping sound out. (They should–we had a special assessment a few years ago to replace the original leaky ones, and it wasn’t cheap!) The weirdest thing was that there was an hour-long rain delay at the baseball stadium, but none of that rain made it here. I only live a few miles away. It’s possible that the rainclouds only appeared above the park.
I got an award at work, and today my boss announced it on our staff call and said quite a few nice things about me. It is nice to be appreciated, particularly during our busiest part of the quarter.
Trying to work out where to shop when the usual places are out of items on my list (though I was able to get plenty of bleach this morning, first time in months). Putting stuff through my brother’s dryer; mine quit. My laundry smells faintly of rose petals, which he will probably notice!
We were ready for rain, but we got mostly wind. So I didn’t water, and a lot of plants are wind-burned, and the Shasta Daisies are ruined and gone too soon, darn it.
As for other things, went to an craft supply store for miskit for watercolors, and came away with umm….a few other items. Which is why I never go in to bookstores or art supply stores.
Today we were the Good Parents. Our daughter is moving, and since we are relatively close to the destination, we looked at apartments. Luckily, the one we liked, as it’s in a decent part of town and not sketchy looking, is one she was really interested in and can afford. It’s also bigger than a breadbox. Where do people find all the midget kitchen appliances??
Walmart?
Target, Walmart, Kohls, and Amazon. Now is the perfect time for it to because it is going back to school time which includes college.
“Porn rain.” LOL
I started Monday with 90 emails in my work in-box so I’ve been, you know, working. But also working on a new thing that I started noodling with on Sunday and then was inspired by the discussion on narrative structure (which I’ll be going back to this evening, in search of enlightenment).
What I’ve done is actually outline the new thing. I’ve never done that before. I decided each chapter was going to do X thing for the story, and had to include Y, and I’ve mapped out the whole timeline for maximum conflict, which is also something I’ve never done before. The first scene I wrote was the ‘I love you’ scene which is chapter 12. The next scene I wrote was the first-meeting scene in chapter 1. Then I wrote chapter 11 which is one MC deciding he can’t do this anymore, and the consequences for both MCs.
I usually let my characters take me where they want to go. Only twice before have I started anywhere but at the beginning. Only once before have I written something centered on relationship conflict (as opposed to external conflict) and I started that one at the breakup scene. It’s very not-me which probably means it’s a good exercise. 🙂
I’ve continued working on my back yard, which I’ve been turning from a plain postage stamp lot into a courtyard surrounding by shrubs and garden beds where I’m growing lots of herbs.
Yesterday I did more planting: lavender, dill, mint, catmint, yarrow.
Still waiting to be planted: MORE lavender, arugula, MORE mint.
Recently planted: MORE lavender, rue, calendula, bee balm, lemon balm, lemon verbena, hyssop, epazote, sweet basil, Thai basil, parsley, thyme, several types of hot pepper plants, sage, chives, rosemary, lovage, sweet woodruff, sedum, brunera, white dragon lamium, stella d’oro, astilbe, gladiolas, begonias… and hydrangea bushes.
Looking at that… I’ve done a lot!