Guess what I’m working on. Yes, I know you’re tired of hearing about. Imagine how tired I must be of writing it. Bob and I are both babbling at this point. He’s finishing up his part of Vermillion, and I’m ripping a major subplot out of Pink and writing a new major subplot in. Argh.
Tell me about something wonderful and fun and exciting and colorful you did this week. Or, you know, just what you did.
Mostly, I added to my gardens with Mason Jars and Horrible Puns and Grow Lighting. I had an algae bloom from Too Many Nutrients. I replenished my supply of distilled water. I harvested tomatoes and peppers and a few leaves of lettuce for BLTs.
I cooked, way too much, because I ate, also way too much, because it was delicious, way too delicious.
I read and listened to audiobooks. I watched the live-action Mulan again.
I paid bills. Bleah.
On Saturday I took a class and created a barn quilt – a quilt block painted on plywood intended to be hung outdoors as decoration. Apparently there are quite a few large ones around the country – you can even take a driving tour following a Barn Quilt Trail in lots of places. Here’s mine.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CinpjpoJgUA/
When you’re up close to it, you can see the wobbly lines, etc – but from a distance, it looks much better. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.
I have no idea where to hang this, so it is currently hanging out in the garage, where I see it every time I come home, and it makes me smile.
I also spent some time finishing up some quilt blocks I started back in June. I had a roll of 2 1/2″ strips that shaded from light orange to dark red. Now I have a total of 36 blocks. I’ll need a big space to lay them out and see how I want the shading to proceed. I also need to decide if I’m doing a 6 x 6 layout, or a 7 x 5 layout with one extra quilt block. I’ll probably go with the 7 x 5. Pictures in the next reply.
Here are my blocks lined up on the ironing board.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CixSRamO9eq/
A place where it makes you smile every time you come home sounds good to me.
Awesome. I’ve seen some of these hanging on barns.
I like that quilt block!
Unpacked boxes. Lots of books, yarn, and fabric.
I had to move because my landlord is moving back into their house – unfortunately the only house I was accepted for is only a five month lease.
So I’ll be doing this all over again soon.
But for a few months I get to live in a light filled house with gorgeous spring flowers and a creek at the end of the garden.
My heart needs that now.
I rescued one hive worth of bees from the three the bear distroyed, but I think I may have already mentioned that. I read a book I think maybe the arghers might like, but I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.
I took Oreo/Rollo to get her teeth cleaned and she was hilarious afterward. The dog version of the social media posts of people high on drugs after dental work. Poor little princess. Then we had a nice nap on the bed together with Pippin. Now I have to remember to brush the dogs’ teeth at least four times a week.
I harvested some of the last of the produce from the garden (the second half of the potato crop, not impressive, the virtually nonexistent onion crop, some gigantic purple beans, and a few tomatoes). Here’s a picture from Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ciut2_lOc-q/
Washed and put away the potatoes and onion-ettes (they’re tiny), and cleaned up the last of the garlic. Ah, the glamorous life of the famous author.
Yesterday I went to look at three houses, two of them way out of my budget, all of them unsuitable. My goal is to make or buy space to have a housemate, so it looks like I’ll probably be adding a room onto my existing house instead of buying a new one. Hey, at least I won’t have to pack and move all my stuff.
I’m working on prepping the novels and novellas I got the rights back to, so I can reissue them. But the person I was going to have do the covers, manuscript conversion, and uploading seems to have pooped out on me, so now I have to find a new author’s assistant too. ARGH.
Are you allowed to say ARGH on the Argh blog? Discuss.
I thought it was required? Or maybe that is just on Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrrh.
When is that day?? I need to find my eyepatch!
I think that it is October 18? Somewhere about there. Matey.
I had to make an arggghhh sound at least two or three times per day last week – it’s tradition when the Toronto Film Festival puts up the stern reminder against piracy for everyone in the audience to make that noise. So I’m well rehearsed for Pirate Day, now that the official date is clear. Ahoy and all.
You just missed it. It was a few days ago.
https://nationaltoday.com/talk-like-pirate-day/
2022-09-19
Dang!
Siri tells me International Talk Like a Pirate Day was September 19. Boohoo! I missed it.
To me, the printed word “argh” always looks like it sounds like someone prolonging a French “r” sound in the back of their throat. While the frustrated sound of being at one’s wits’ end is more like a prolonged flat “a” (as if stolen from ‘hat’ or ‘plan’ or ‘dammit’. Always spoken with eyes closed and forehead furrowed, looking up to the heavens.
Am I mentally hearing that wrong?
That is exactly how I pronounce it.
It is definitely encouraged. Am I right, Jenny?
I am easily confused. Do zombie pirates say “brainsarrrrr” and pirate zombies say “arrrrbrains” or is it the other way around?
Deb you sound frustrated with good reason! Hope you enter an ‘everything is falling into place easily’ cycle soon.
I don’t believe that cycle exists, lol. I’d just like “slightly less aggravating for $2oo, Alex”
Space for a housemate! Sounds like a big change – good luck.
And you don’t have to get the house in show condition. Pets make that more…argh.
Started rehearsals for A Christmas Carol: The Musical. It is 280 pages of music and apparently you’re just in every single scene even in the background and constant costume changes…sigh. I do have a wee bit of a solo and got a character with a name for half a page, which is literally the most I’ve ever gotten or will get at this theater. So, yay for that.
I started taking tap dancing, so that goes on today.
Other than that, I work at a college and today is the first day of school, which is always a phone-answering nightmare and I dread it so much.
Now I want to see a production of A Christmas Carol with plenty of tap-dancing. (I’ve seen some fairly out-there productions.)
That’s better than the show for which my sister learned (a little) to tap dance. It was a satirical revue put on by the NYC press core the year that they had a garbage strike. She and a few other reporters formed a line of tap dancing Hefty bags. It was an unforgettable sight.
Definitely nothing “wonderful and fun and exciting and colourful”. Instead…I’ve identified now that I have two separate issues in my basement – one, the previously discussed plumbing issues about which I’ll say no more. The City of Toronto says they will fix this in THREE MONTHS because it’s not a high priority. Whatever. The second part of the great flood now appears to be an ongoing leak in our furnace room because of a coil freezing and melting over and over again and then leaking onto the entire furnace floor, creating some of the ugliest mould creatures you’ve ever seen, and then wicking up a couple of feet onto the drywall and out under the flooring on the hallway in the rest of the finished basement, over onto the other side of the hallway and up the drywall. Yea. Our A/C has now been turned off, the flooring has been ripped up and the drywall has been removed. Now to fix the furnace and then to repair everything else. My nephew has had to relocate from his basement apartment to a mattress in his office. I’ve had an allergic reaction on my foot to the mould. Good times.
THIS is where you say ARGH!
You’re right about that.
SO MUCH ARGH.
I thought all was in the clear with our mice situation, but lo and behold, there was another one in the trap this morning. ARGH.
And Monday saw us making an emergency trip to the vet. One of our cats had urinary issues over the weekend and we were afraid that it was crystals and/or a blockage. Just a UTI, which was a huge relief. Treatment is much simpler and cheaper. Although I get the joy of trying to squirt various meds down his fuzzy little throat. Joy.
And I have a ton of tiny burlap wrapped canvases that I bought when our AC Moore went out of business. I miss it. But I started painting little black cats and jack-o-lanterns on them. So far they are looking unacceptably primitive. So I have been adding glitter and sequins and googly eyes. Better, but still not where I want to be.
Another ARGH. And warranted I think. And oh your poor fur baby.
The Argh was specifically for you. 😛
And the baby is much better. And we learned a valuable lesson about reading the internet for diagnostic purposes.
I love my specific Argh.
Pray tell, what was that lesson?
Probably that if you believe what you read on the internet, you will believe that you, or your pet, has everything.
My employer is out most or all of today on personal business, so despite some tasks left for me, I expected a calm day with lots of rock and roll in the background. Nope, spent hours on the phone and collected up more tasks that have caused me to not yet get to the original tasks, but better that than bored.
The non-profit for which I volunteer also just had our first live symposium since 2019 last weekend, and it was great. Both the live attendees and the people who only zoomed in for the morning presentations seem to be very pleased, so that was a great rush: wonderful and fun and exciting, moderately colorful.
Still working on getting my novel ‘Hungry Ghosts’ ready to self publish.
Got a break on the poetry chapbook I am getting ready to submit to publisher / contest. I was looking for a poem I wrote but couldn’t find. I found it and in the process found 14 other poems I had lost. And purged a bunch of useless stuff.
I came up with a possible title for the chapbook: Overly Fond of Prisms. Does that sound like a book of poetry you would check out?
That title makes the cover art easy because I am obsessed with a prism that slides up my wall everyday so I have lots of pics I could use.
In non-writing world- dust bunnies are still my spirit animal concerning housework. I still have clean underwear so laundry is not happening. Kitchen clean up is on the to do list as well as a trip to the grocery.
Not much happening otherwise.
Forgot to say I got a new pist up on my blog. In the process I read about Salman Rushdie being stabbed multiple times in August.
What the hell is wrong with people? He is 75 years old. If you don’t want to hear him speak just stay home.
Post not pist. Geez.
I love the title, Judy!
Thanks Deb!
I finally got off my duff (comfortable recliner) and got out of my condo! I’m one of those seniors who was first bored and frantic with the covid isolation, then got very comfortable. Too comfortable. Didn’t want to leave my nest. My duff was expanding! But I got over to my senior center, and I’m now volunteering as a grant writer. (After hearing my background, the director asked me to be the team lead; I asked that we take this in stages.). I’m excited to engage my brain again, and see more people. We’ll see how it goes.
In general I’m on a decluttering and cleaning kick.
Much more interesting was finally completing the binding on two of the three quilts I’ve just had back from the longarmer. Pics as requested by Nancy 🙂
Small, cute, easy, seasonal reindeer quilt started in 2021:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cix_8XQqJUi/
Large, involved, fairly epic, US-themed quilt started in 2013:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CiyB7PxKRwi/
Hope those links work.
I’m really pleased to have these done – it’s a real sense of accomplishment. I’m nearly half-way done with the binding for the final quilt of the 3 so will post a pic of that when it’s done.
In related news, I think that for the first time in my life I might have found a local quilting group to join! I’m an introvert, so joining groups is not the easiest thing for me, but I’m trying to be more social, especially since I still feel pretty new to the area. So we’ll see how that goes…
Looks like I’m going to be a temporary, part-time library assistant in the reading room at the state library commission. Not sure about the start date yet, but all my paperwork has been submitted.
I’m also not sure about going back to work a year after I retired, but it’s just temporary. And I requested afternoons instead of mornings. I don’t want to get up TOO early, after all.
Ironically, today is the only day of the last seven that I have NOT done any work. Too many annoying distractions.
But before today my one-a-day housecleaning projects continued, and I made a bunch of applesauce and apple butter and turkey chili and beef barley soup (with hardly any beef and lots of veg/grains) that are now filling my freezer. And I pulled the fabrics and tested out a new-to-me way of making Flying Gees for a baby quilt for a friend who’s due in December. https://www.instagram.com/p/CiqPQX8vevy/
Kinda niche comment for other quilters here, but I finally tried the four-at-a-time way of making Flying Geese, and I can’t believe how long I waited to try it, because it was so easy and so much less wasteful! So if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it. Except me being me, I had to change the cutting dimensions, because I hate cutting X+ 7/8″ instead of easier numbers to measure, so I rounded it up, added a little to the other piece to accommodate it the rounding up, and voila, I end up with geese that are 2 1/4″ x 4 1/2″ instead of 2×4, which is fine for what I’m doing. And it’s a lot simpler cutting a bazillion 3″ squares than a bazillion 2 7/8″ squares. Very happy to have that new method in my toolbox!
I have been watering the new plants I put in, every day, plus many other plants that look pretty sick. The Viburnum I inherited with the property at the back of the back yard is huge, and every leaf is wilting and curling. The good news is that there’s rain coming tonight, and maybe on Friday, too! And it will be in the 50’s in the mornings for the foreseeable future! I can get out the corduroy leggings and flannel shirts for walking. The chiggers will go dormant. I LOVE Fall!!! And my family from Arizona is flying in for a long weekend tonight. Oh, joy!! Son, DIL, and Grandkids! They are staying with the other son’s family, also a joy!!! I get peace and quiet, AND a dose of family. WOOHOO!!!
My new job decided to let me go at the end of my probation period (end of the month) for not being as experienced as they thought I was (I would argue they didn’t ask the right questions during the interview because if anything, I err on the side of underselling myself for fear of falling short in the actual job, but this is also just shifting blame. Sigh.), so I decided to buy tickets to the Lizzo concert I wanted to attend but couldn’t (before being fired) because I didn’t want to take the time off work. I can’t wait!
I’ve been having a much better time than many of you guys. I wish I could give you the good parts of my travels West.
Just back from a trip from MA to/from CA with following highlights. Best Meal of the Trip: David’s Bistro in London, Ontario. California Zephyr train from Chicago to Sacramento: watching the country go by. Mosquito Fire in CA hills: everything in sepia tint with the scent of roasting marshmallow. Freight railway workers’ almost strike: we were able to cancel our return train trip with refund. And, the workers got the beginning of a fair contract. North of San Francisco: CA route 1 along the rugged Pacific Coast, including stands of redwoods. Just beautiful. Train Convention in Modesto: Disappointment for my husband; however, I had no problem with 3 days of gorgeous weather and an outdoor pool. Now, it’s wonderful to be home again to celebrate the start of autumn.
I haven’t accomplished much worth noting. A bit of writer business over the weekend, a bit of housework, a bit of decluttering.
In the garden: impulsively murdered the unimpressive golden currants in my front yard. Their days were numbered anyway, and when I was out Monday evening to address the wisteria and water things, I thought ‘why not now.’ Thus the ceanothus has even more space into which to expand.
Working on the second installment of my Oleander Jones series for Falstaff Books. The first, Siren Bridge, will be published on Nov. 8. Think Maverick. With magic. In skirts. 🙂