Why is it that I can pound out a thousand words of a short story in no time flat without even trying (this time) but it’s like pulling teeth to get a thousand words of either of my current novels. There’s just no logic. I enjoy the novels too.
On a completely different subject did you know my new washer sounds like the TARDIS and plays me a little tune when it’s done washing?
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I just watched Sonja Foust do her Drunken House Tour. If I were a Blogger I could do a drunken house tour. Only my house looks like three dogs and three kids live there. That’s because they do. Plus I’m a lousy housekeeper. So my drunken house tour would be all about me apologizing for the state of my house. In a drudfnken (That’s supposed to be Drunken, but Pippin was “helping”) manner, sooo probably you wouldn’t be able to understand half of what I was saying.
On the up side I could also do a drunken barn tour, drunken tractor shed tour and druken huge ass garage tour. Wait – there’s more. Drunken Run-In Shed! Drunken Field. Drunken Neighbor’s Ginormous Horse Barn. That last one doesn’t sound quite right. Sounds like I have a drunken neighbor. Which I just might, but not that one. As far as I know.
There now I have stolen a blog post from the wildly popular Pintester. Without the video. Or Pictures.
Luckily I’m not a Blogger I’m a Novelist. So no one expects much from my blog.
Aren’t I special?
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It’s simple.
First five days to just sleep and watch TV, read, take walks. Somewhere warm would be nice. Somewhere with not many people hanging around. Quiet.
I say five days, but it could take longer than that, or maybe not that long. And I might want to hang out with friends some.
After I’ve dumped the stress and I’ve got some creativity back in my head a solid eight weeks without other responsibilities or distractions (read children) to write without interruption. And no dogs standing on the keyboard while I type.
I may have to spend some of the first five days teaching the dogs that the computer is off limits. Or get them their own computer. Pippin apparently has something she wants to say.
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Come see me at Poe’s Deadly Daughters today, where I’ll be talking about what happens when you break the rules.
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Originally, he was to be Captain Jack Sparrow of movie fame. Then the vet told us he was a she and we ended up with a cat named Sparrow. You see the irony here.
Sparrow( formally Captain Jack)
Luckily I never saw her kill birds, although she was handy at keeping the mice at bay. My husband was exceedingly embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to know that we had a cat named Sparrow, but I didn’t mind. The truth is stuff like that doesn’t embarrass me at all. Why should it. Sparrow is a perfectly fine name for cats and pirates alike. I’ve got a dog named Moose, for heaven’s sake.
The cats I have owned have all been affectionate and lovely animals. I hear from a friend who works for Petfinders that cats are thought of a second class citizens in the pet adoption world. They just aren’t on the radar the way dogs are. Today is I am a Cat Parent day at Petfinders. What I would love you to do is to click this link and give the cat adoption page at Petfinders some love today.
Because as much as I love my dogs, cats are people too. Lovely furry people who need not so furry people to bond with.
And if you go over to Petfinders you’ll be helping my friend Bethany out as well. Spread it around people – it’s cat parent day.
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Most of the time I’m pretty easy going, and stuff doesn’t bother me much. Except when it does, and then it really does. I can’t remember if it was me, or if I’m remembering a couple of my kids, but I think it was me, and the wrong socks could put me over the edge. Yep, I’m sure it was me. Tight clothes make me squirly.
I set of merrily each morning only to find half way through the day I want to scream. Well my job does do that to me sometimes, but ill fitting clothes do that ALL the time. In fact I’m sitting here in a form fitting t-shirt and too tight Bra (TMI, I know) and I could just pull my hair out. I’ll take care of that shortly.
But here’s what’s making my skin just crawl (and itch). Remember my broken leg? Well apparently I also tore tendons when I broke my fibula and they have not healed. I am back in a splint while my insurance debates the merits of an experimental treatment over surgery. Surgery puts me in mind of casts, which I’d rather NOT be doing again any time soon.
The thing about this splint, which is all very high tech and full of air like my last cast, is that it is very tight. Make me crazy tight. and if the plastic happens to rub my leg it makes my skin itch. It’s enough to make me permanently grouchy.
I can’t help thinking that if I was in a more reasonable frame of mind these things wouldn’t bug me so much. But, as Bilbo Baggins says “I feel like too little jam scraped over too much bread.” There are reasons for this and my rational mind would be able to jolly myself back to normal. But the obsessive compulsive side of me has taken over and we are doomed.*
*Okay, probably not doomed. I’ll take off the dreaded splint, stay off my feet and maybe watch TV all by myself and then tomorrow I’ll feel like plenty of jam again.
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ETA: Delia pointed out an excellent reference so I’m adding the names of the birds as I find them. Thanks D!
I walked out of the house this morning to a cacophony of sound. The first thing I do each morning is take the puppy out side. Normally it’s pretty darn quiet at that time of day – 6 or 6:30. This morning it was like walking into an aviary. I counted at least five different bird calls, and I wish I knew which birds they belong to.
The Twee, Twee or sometimes Twee, Twee, Twee is very familiar, and I’ve been hearing that little guy for a couple of weeks now. ( Blacked Cap Chickadee)
Then there’s the Whoo, whoo of the Mourning Dove and the tap tap tap of the woodpecker. Those are two I can identify.
One of them sounds like Chee Chee Come Here. (White Breasted Nut Hatch)
Another Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. (Downy Woodpecker)
Then there’s one that makes so many different noises that I can’t even begin to figure him out. (Robin – I think. Could also be a Gold Finch I’m hearing. I’ll have to listen more carefully tomorrow. Also could be both…)
I taped some bird sounds last summer, but the file was too big to load on WordPress. I wonder if I could make it smaller…
That has to wait until I get home, meanwhile do you know any of those birds? Can you name birds by their songs? I wish I could. Besides the obvious ones like doves and loons.
Another observation. This time of year is fabulous for star gazing. The sky is clear, it’s not so cold that you freeze to death and the bugs aren’t out biting yet. Because I live in the country it’s actually dark around me and the stars are brilliant. You should try it sometime. Last night I saw a meteor falling. Beautiful.
Not my house, but it could be.
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The laundry/pantry has come together fairly well. There will always be things to do in there, but it’s pretty functional. I need to put a cupboard over the fridge and some shelves in various places because I can’t fit everything back in yet. But like I said, it’ll probably never be done done.
The best part of this is that the old setup hid the window. We didn’t get any light from that side in the house. Bad. It’s much, much better now.
You wanted pictures? Okay then…
I’ve just realized that all those wine bottles make me look like a lush! I’m not (not that I mind if you are, just sayin’) but my uncle owns a winery and most of those wines come from there. The other alcohol is actually vanilla. I make my own vanilla extract by putting vanilla beans in vodka or brandy and letting it sit for three or four months. Oh, and that fiber one cereal? It’s gross. Don’t buy it. I’m not sure why it didn’t get thrown away…
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This morning I noticed that Buddha has appeared on my porch again. He’s a little early but perhaps he likes the snow. On the other hand the dwarf seems to have found himself a little shelter and only has the tiniest bit of snow on his boots. Although he’s awfully dirty. I wonder if he’s been planting already?
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My washing machine died last week. For a family with six people that’s pretty much a disaster. What am I saying, that’s a disaster for any family. So I “borrowed” money from my “Book needs editing” fund and bought a new one. That comes tomorrow.
Meanwhile as long as I was pulling my pantry/laundry room apart I thought I might as well put down a real floor in there. The unfinished except for multiple stains plywood is looking really ratty. And we HAVE flooring for that room. It’s been in the garage for ages and ages. So I pulled most everything out of there and got started.
I’m sorry I don’t have before pictures. (Actually, I’m not. I wouldn’t want anyone in the world to know what a slob I am. And there was a plethora of mouse poop, besides my untidy tendencies.)
Here are a couple of interim pictures. More to come later. Like when it’s done.
This is the old washer that I can’t undo and take out because the faucets are stuck open and I have to go into the god-awful basement filled with spiders to turn off the water. The fan is to dry the floor that I had to bleach. Please don’t look at the mess I made of the floor where the washer and dryer are going. I was tired and didn’t want to keep trimming bits of floor. I’ll make the rest of it look good. I promise.
I thought I was getting a paler shade of yellow. Guess not. A very little color goes a long way when you are dealing with yellow.
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Or contact me at Kate@kategeorge.com if you'd like signed paperback copies.
