Okay, I know I’ve been late with the posts a lot of times this summer, but I’m fighting about six different fires here, so I’m distracted. The one I’m trying to fight today is a rewrite of One in Vermillion because I left it too late, fighting other fires. Bob is being an absolute gentleman about it, but I know he’s ready to kill me. So today I hit him with massive e-mails explaining my approach to the rewrite, and he says he’s good with it, so my work today is getting Vermillion rewritten because it’s good stuff, it just needs organized. And okay, some rewriting.
So what are you organizing or whatever this week?
I am on the fourth rewrite of an essay I intend to submit to an essay contest sponsored by Writers Digest. I read it in 2 different forms on 2 different critique sessions. Then rewrote again. And again. Now it is with editors. Big sigh I may have to rewrite again. Deadline to submit to contest is 9/1.
The work of 3 arghers is referred to and footnoted and I sent initial notices to 2 of them. Will redo and send to all 3 before submitting. (Jenny herself, Gin Jones, and Deborah Blake.)
In other news I am mostly doing what I need to do to be safe form hurricane Idalia. I am a twenty minute drive from the coast so mostly just heavy rain and wind. We have had worse storms. Power is still on.
We too had nasty storms. Only minor damage, thankfully, but it has been a crazy year for them.
Fall and Halloween has started to hit the thrift stores, so I am trying to visit more often. Good vintage Halloween is hard to find. And it’s my favorite.
Otherwise, I am trying not to lose my mind. The problem with going on vacation is that you have to come back…
@Lupe, when I was at the supermarket on Sunday I spotted a black cat pinata that I was very, very tempted by. 🙂 But we do not decorate for Halloween, so I resisted.
This morning I have achieved several small important things.
1. applying anti-flea goop to Miss Kitters O’Scruffian because after almost four weeks her small pre-intake injury has healed and she has gained weight and she’s up to it. She is holding a mild grudge, though.
2. initiating link to the credit union so I can transfer my share of rent to DH instead of writing him a check.
3. deciding which books to put on sale for September (it’ll be the Co-Stars, four books featuring my anchor characters Andy & Victor).
4. sending instructions for my two monthly advertisements.
Also fed birds, scooped litterbox, and checked my wishlist for anything on sale, of which there wasn’t anything, which is just as well because my TBR is truly ridiculous.
I bought black cat napkins. I have a black cat, so I figure I can use them all year…
This week has been about preparing to go away, driving down to Bristol, exploring, helping my friend relearn how to use her camera (in the Botanic Garden today), and then preparing to go back home tomorrow. The bits in between have been good, and I’m hoping to visit a garden and nursery on my way back, though it’s probably going to be wet.
Next week will be about whether and how the holiday in Scotland is going to happen, since one of the friends I’m going with has just lost her brother. Must also see if there are damsons to be had, though I fear the harvest’s going to clash with going away again.
I’m working on organizing information about livescribe pens (they record audio as you write) into a Libguides (a specialized application for libraries that I dislike). The pens are to be loaned out to students who may need help with note taking. They’ll be able to record what the professor is saying while they write the notes. Then if there was something they missed, it has been recorded. They simply tap on the paper and the audio recorded at that point will play. The pens are a bit fiddly but I can see them being very useful. Now I’m stuck writing instructions on how to use them – but really linking to YouTube videos that demo them.
I also spent time over the past 7 days doing a sew-a-long for a sweet pea pod. Because they seemed cute and quick, I prepped the material for 12 of them. So, when I was ready to stop after 4, I persevered and did them all. Eleven of them will go to my quilt guild for the show we’re having in October. It’s in Mason, MI on the 13th and 14th if you’re interested and care to pop in. 😉 Here are the sweet pea pods: https://www.instagram.com/p/CwkuV5pr40-/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Your sweet pea pods look wonderful. I’ve seen them made before, and those zippers can be fiddly! Congratulations for pushing through and getting them all done.
It felt wrong to pull the zipper pull off the zipper. However, getting it back on wasn’t that hard. I was just thrilled. I had a couple of zippers with double pulls in my stash.
Those are cute! And very pretty.
Welp, I start tech for Something Rotten tomorrow, followed by tech week next week.
Other than that, I am finally circling finishing this vest I’ve been doing for like a year.
The office. Still. Maybe today, all done.
This week we revisited Home Moanership III, which was electrical problems with the new abode. Monday we began suffering flickering lights, just like last winter. It was in fact the very same problem. We spent much of Tuesday without power. The solution turned out to be remarkably easy. An ethical electrician said it was entirely a Dominion Electric (Dom-El) problem. That Kryptonian organization dispatched a super technician who replaced components in the meter base and installed a new meter in a trice.
Problem solved! Possibly resolved. Best of all, there was No Charge. Hmmm… Let me rephrase that. There was No Cost.
This week we built a fence around the deck to keep the dogs off. In the winter they peed there a lot (when it was covered in snow) and that ate away at the waterproofing like crazy.
We got our new nightstands yesterday afternoon and put them together. Now we just have to figure out what we want from the old ones and put them in place. The old ones were about 25 inches wide and had 2 drawer. These ones are 15 inches wide with one drawer.
We were thinking that the bed would be here today, probably also being delivered through Canada Post. Nope, no such luck, it went via a trucking company to a town, oh, 2.5 hours north of me AND, this is the kicker, it has the name of that town on the shipping label, it wasn’t just that someone accidentally loaded the box onto the wrong truck. The town names are no where near similar and neither are the postal codes. I was just gobsmacked when the truck driver called me and asked where my street was in Falher. I thought he was joking. He was not. Bed should be here Friday.
We are getting our new picture window installed today which is a win. The old one wasn’t very energy efficient. They don’t look particularly different but the new one is triple glaze and the side vent opening windows are large
On Saturday I’m going with a friend to watch some Model T car racing which looks like a hoot, and then we are going apple picking. It should be fun.
I used to get UPS packages for people two streets away. I redelivered, but then decided that it was not going to stop unless I made UPS fix it. It was like pulling teeth- long-distance. So sorry about your bed!
I’ve prepping for a quilt retreat starting tomorrow. I got one quilt mostly cut out, and started working on another when I said to myself, “hey, wait a moment, you could do this at the cabin.” So, nothing to show you of that.
I’ve also continued to plug away on the knitted shawl. I’m almost to the point where I was when I ripped out a bunch of rows. I even had to slowly, stitch by stitch, unknit a row because I miscounted and ran out of yarn. I sure hope I like this when I’m done!
It’s hard to believe that it’s almost September, but with apple picking on the agenda for at least one argher, I guess it must be fall!
I would just like Jenny to know that when a post is “late” I just assume that Jenny is (a) really really busy, or (b) asleep, because she has been up all night doing something like moving to another state, or (c) arguing online with Bob who has dire plans afoot to add zombies to a rewrite of something. I know she’ll get to it.
Jenny, are your ears burning? Jo Walton (in her Tor column) has been singing praises to your Lavender and Pink. All justly deserved.
It really was a nice endorsement!
Well said, Jinx. I concur.
I mowed again. It was not quite as tall, but still stalled the mower a couple of times. Maybe I should not have lowered the blade a level. Next time, I hope the wait is not so long, and it goes smoothly. (Autocorrect, is snoothly really a word???) 😆
This week, my doctor made a second referral to an ENT (Ear, Nose Throat) and they got me in next week! The first one’s earliest appointment was on October 13th!!! I still have the sinus problem, but it’s not as bad. Doc refused to give me any more medicine till I saw an ENT. Imagine my despair at the October appointment. It will be going on 8 weeks for this. I will be glad to see it disappear.
I was out shopping the other day and found what turned out to be a 96”x50” drapery panel in the bargain bin at a local store. It’s a pretty blue/white toile-ish pattern and I couldn’t resist the $9 price tag (marked down from $197?????).
Now I just need to decide what to make out of it, since I don’t really have a window that needs just one drape. If nothing else, the pattern will look very pretty on throw pillows and the fabric is very sturdy.
Before I do that though, I have to work on building a small backyard utility shed. I went through my woodpile yesterday and pulled out all of the random lumber that could be used for the project Now I need to “measure twice cut once” and get the assembly started.
I didn’t really organize anything today. Well, I sorted through some papers but didn’t get rid of them or put them in any kind of order. It’s really time for me to go through all my receipts etc. from the last three months and shred what I don’t need.
And I finished Pink. Very entertaining. Loved the Vermillion teaser. It’ll be fun to see if any of that’s rewritten.
Time to get a look at the super blue moon.
Thank you!
I’ve been working in the kind of stuff you have to do after 2 weeks away and you’ve come back to the busiest weeks of the month at work. I let myself get distracted at the end of the day and reorganized my to-do drawer at work so that I can get everything off my desk because I hate coming to work and seeing the pile of stuff to be done. I know it’s there.
I’ve been tasked with dispatching my great-great…great? (apologies to the family archivist) grandfather’s stamp collection.
I don’t think anyone expected me to become quite so invested, but it’s all the joys of passport stamps mixed with the smell of old paper.
I can’t help but wonder how on earth a screen salesman in Ohio managed to acquire stamps from isolated African and South American countries, though.
I feel a bit like Charlie on the lookout for a golden ticket. And while I’m not in danger of philatelist contagion (I hope); treasure hunting is a different story.
Limited editions, inverted misprints, particular grille plates…there’s so much information to take in! How can I just get rid of them without determing their value?
Can’t let great^3 grandpa’s hard work go to waste!