What's up with Tam?

Howdy.

Life is, as always, its own brand of ups-and-downs-and-all-arounds here and I decided to give everyone a quick update.

To start off, I have a new agent, Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency. I am incredibly excited about this new phase in my writing career and Laura is going to shepherd me into becoming a major thriller author. She currently has two of my novels, a Mainstream/Speculative Thriller titled SPORE and a quirky New Adult Thriller titled MORGAN'S RUN. Since I've pretty much promised to stop screwing off and actually write two books a year, I've begun another Mainstream/Spec Thriller with a working title of SLIPPAGE.

Yeah, yeah, I know none of those are Dubric books. As much as everyone loved the series, it's currently considered non profitable and I just can't keep beating my head against a brick wall that doesn't want to get written and has virtually no hope of selling even if I can get it done. I am not giving up on Dubric and Co - there are a LOT of things I still want to do with the series and characters - it's just not happening right now in my head, my heart, or my life, and I really need to get moving forward again, instead of circling the same damn story. I mean, crap, I've been fighting Stain of Corruption for almost eight years now without making real progress. I need to move on. Maybe I'll get back to it, maybe not, but I'm not doing anyone any good kicking at it but not making progress.

SPORE has the potential to be a breakout blockbuster novel and, in fact, I had four agents wanting to rep it, and me, after my original agent decided it was time to retire. FOUR. This could be a very, very big deal here and I am happily writing totally new things. It's exciting and wonderful and if, someday, Dubric, Dien and Lars start banging on my brain again I will definitely write their next foray into the dark. Until then, I must move forward and write cool kick ass books (oh the twists in SPORE and SLIPPAGE!! *swoon*).

So, anyway, the writing is going pretty damn fantabulous! :)

I do have some great Dubric news, though. I recently agreed to an offer from a major German publisher for all three novels. They'll come out as three separate trade paperbacks, in German, with all new covers and everything. With one phone call I became an international author, and that's pretty damn cool. I shall do my best to keep everyone updated as news develops there.

I did my first ever 5k over the weekend and it was awesome, other than I've found myself with shin splints. I do not like these shin splints at all, but I'm stuck with them for the time being.

Before the 5k with a friend.
I'm the tall one. ;)

Our daughter got a job - YAY!! - which means I get to babysit my almost 2 year old granddaughter more. Which is also fun, but often exhausting.

I'm up for re-election for city council this November, but there are four of us running for three seats. Not sure if I'm going to make the cut or not, and, really, win or lose, I'll be fine either way. It's been an honor to serve and very eye opening.

My Write Your Novel class at the community college begins October 17th. It was originally slated to start in September, but not enough people signed up, so they've pushed it to a later date. Frankly, I think that most anyone who wants to take a novel writing class doesn't have the money for the tuition (I have absolutely no control over the price) but we'll see what happens in a couple of weeks. I don't want to push the start into November because there's too much likelihood of crappy winter weather and it's already a pretty long drive for me, let alone the potential students.

Sewing is going all right, when I can carve out time. I've been making smallish, sort-of-artsy quilts for specific people and they've turned out well. They keep me sewing, when I can.

It's about 22" square, if I remember right. All batik.

I'm still taking a monthly block making class at the quilt shop. Here's what I sewed in September.

Two six-inch blocks.
Yep, even that one with all of the diamonds. Six inches.

Frankly, it's the only guaranteed sewing time I have. Wish I had more.

Health is great. Been drinking protein and fruit smoothies every morning, exercising most every evening, and although my weightloss is still stalled - damn you plateaus!!! - I feel awesome. Other than my shins. They're still hurting.

We have a new cat, a rescue named MeowMeow (she came with that name). She's all black other than a few white hairs on her belly and is Very Friendly. I really need to take some pics. ;)

I don't like to end on a downer note, but this past month I lost my long-adored desklamp (it was a miniature draftsman's lamp that I could move around however I wanted) and my granddaughter dumped a full glass of Crystal Light on my Mac keyboard, shorting it out. I have had no luck finding a replacement lamp that I like (sorry, they're all fugly or too big) and I do not like the replacement PC keyboard I'm typing this post on. The command/alt/control/function keys are in the wrong place and, frankly, it can't keep up with my typing or the keys are a slight difference apart or something. I'm getting screwy ass typos which I never used to get and my shortcuts don't work, so I have to pause and find the right key combination. I know it's a nothing first-world kinda problem but it's still aggravating. But we'll be down to Des Moines at some point and I can get a replacement Mac keyboard.

All in all, though, I'm glad autumn is here. I like fall!  {{hugs}}

Three months

That's apparently how long it takes me to make myself write a blog post.

Too long, I know, but even after a decade of doing this, I'm still not a comfortable blogger.

I have a rather mundane, quiet, non-eventful life, and that's just fine with me. It does, however, make blog topics tougher to root up, since I doubt anyone cares about folding laundry, yelling at the dog to quit barking his fool head off because some other dog has dared to pee in his yard, or cooking porkchops. Which we had for supper tonight, mostly because they were in the front part of the freezer and Bill loves porky chops.

I'd asked a few friends yesterday about potential blog topics, and have decided today to talk about where we live. In June of 2008, we moved from the 'Des Moines Metro' (which in our case meant unincorporated almost rural dead-end dirt road nowhere a few miles outside of Des Moines) to a small town in Northwest Iowa, because of Bill's job. He works for the post office and he used to fix the mechanical parts of the mail sorting machines (belts, hoses, chains, etc) but the move came with a promotion to fixing the electronic parts (wiring, computery bits, switches, etc) and a pretty hefty pay increase.

To say we 'jumped on that puppy' would be an understatement.

So, anyway, we moved up here, and bought a pretty cool Victorian house on a large lot near the middle of a very small town. We went from an acreage to 'in town', and it's something all of us still struggle with, but for different reasons. For Bill, there's Not. Enough. Outdoor. Space. and he feels kind of fenced in and claustrophobic even though we have one of the largest lots in town. For our daughter, who grew up 10 minutes from movies, shopping, restaurants, and countless buildings taller than 2 stories, it's 'too country'. For me, it's just about right, other than All. The. People. which I'll get to in a moment.

Plus there's no good barbeque up here. The closest is more than an hour away. Seriously, that bites.

Anyway, there are less than 600 people here in our little community and it's, roughly, seven streets running East/West crisscrossed by seven streets running North/South in a sort of cockeyed, jaggedy-edged fashion. I walk the outskirts most evenings around dusk, and, including walking from my house to the west edge, then back to the house again after making the complete circuit, Google Maps says it's a 2 mile trek. So it's less than 1/2 mile on a side. Ish. That's pretty small. We have the stereotypical one church and one bar (plus a gas station/convenience store that sells chips, pop, candy and a few non-perishable staples at slightly higher prices than the grocery store 10-12 miles away) a feed store, a grain co-op, a post office (only open a few hours a day), a fire station, and a very small library which doesn't carry my books. The town is bisected by a N/S highway (in Iowa that means 2 lane blacktop) and an E/W highway. The next closest town is about 8 miles straight East and they have a quilt shop. I'm there quite a lot. Between us and any of the surrounding towns are miles and miles of corn and soybean fields. Oh, there are a few farm houses and a stream or two (and the occasional grazing cow or horse) but it's pretty much all crops. This time of year, and after our lengthy and very wet spring, the fields are pretty much all mud. Normally, everything would be planted, but not this year. Not yet, at least. And there's worry there may be no soybean crop at all.

You get the idea.

Our house backs up to the largest of three city parks - no close by neighbors that way - but we had single, retired women on each side of us, until one of them moved to Western Arkansas last year. Or maybe it was Eastern Oklahoma. I honestly don't remember. The gal on the one side is still here, and she's very much into lawn work and has a GORGEOUS yard. Manicured lawn, flower beds, decorative do-dah's. It's just lovely. She has a little Westie named Mookie. Mookie is quite cool, but he and our Gozer (big, gruff lab mix) do not get along. She has a friend a couple of blocks away who picked apples from our tree the fall after we moved here and is super nice. The other single gal's house was put on the market last year and had a renter, then a contract buyer, but it just sold this past week. I think the new owner and his teenage daughter mowed yesterday. We all nodded hello, but didn't talk.

Across the street is a couple about our age with grown children and a lot of dogs. They both work and aren't home much. They're on a corner. Across that street from them is the Lions' Club secretary and his family (I think he works at a lab. I think). Beyond him, I have no idea. Next to the gal who has moved's house (and across our street from the Lion's Secretary) was an older guy and his adult daughter. I believe he was an over the road truck driver, and she came back home after a divorce/breakup/job loss, but no one's seen them for a long time so I guess they've moved. They had a couple of big mixed breed dogs.

It's weird, I know people by their dogs. lol

On the other side of the middle aged couple with all of the dogs is an elderly man (pretty sure he used to work for the grain co-op because the trucks always honk as they pass his house) and his middle aged daughter. She works at the community gas station. They don't have a dog. Past them on that side of the street... I don't know anyone, but I know their neighbors let their dogs loose to potty and of course they cross the street and come over here to pee on our maple tree and drive Gozer bugshit insane. They are friendly dogs, tho.

Past the lady beside us with the Westie and the gorgeous lawn is an older couple with 2 Daschunds. He is a semi-retired teacher, and I have no idea what she does. We've actually only talked to them because last summer he fell off a ladder and she knew I was home so she ran over here asking for help. That's how we met. Really. Otherwise I'd have no idea. Their dogs are cool though and every time we walk up the alley they rush at the fence, barking, and we laugh about the attack of the ferocious wiener dogs. They're not ferocious at all, just wiggly and waggly and barking. Very cute. Our cats like to tease them. The house past them (on the corner) has two old retriever mixes and a wire haired fox terrier looking mutt dog. And a gorgeous calico cat. Across the alley from them (toward the park behind our house) has a LOT of kids, a different calico cat, and a friendly mixed breed dog. Across the street from the folks with the retrievers and wire-haired mix is a younger family with two gorgeous Dalmatians. I dunno what he does, but she works at the lab and is on the city council.

On the far side of the park, at the corner, is the Lions club president and his family. He's the only one we've ever met. A block or so west of the park is the city maintenance guy and his family. His son just became and Eagle Scout. A couple of blocks north and one block west of us is the mayor's house. He and his wife have two daughters (they frequently come to our door selling stuff for church, school, girl scouts, etc) and they have great danes plus foster cats for the humane society.

Oh! Right next to the park (across the street from the big house with lots of kids and the friendly mixed breed dog) is the house with the camper and two Boston Terriers, both of which are sometimes loose and running the town and have tried to bite us as we take walks. We do not like the Boston Terriers much. Gozer chooses to pee on them instead of opening the can of whup-ass like he does with little Mookie next door. It's actually kind of funny in a twisted kind of way to see the PITA terriers frozen in fear and getting peed on. But Mookie does talk a lot of smack while the Boston Terriers are pretty much silent, so I guess it makes sense in doggy logic.

That's pretty much everyone we know, usually via their pets, other than the other city council members and a couple of firemen, who we know on sight, but have no idea where they live in town. Oh! I've spoken a couple of times with the local Pastor, who is an incredibly nice man, and there's a house across from the library who have cut a hole in their garage to help feed and shelter the local stray cats, plus the couple across from the fire station who make a point to keep cat food out for the strays (we do too) so we sort of but not really know a few cat people too. And the gal who babysits and brings the kids to the park behind our house. My granddaughter and I go over to play with them most mornings.

So we've lived her five years this month and know only a handful of people. Which, frankly, was just fine with me. I am incredibly introverted, but, um, well, I'm also political. And apparently personable or friendly or something. Because in March I was, sort of appointed to the City Council, much to my introversion's terror.

Two people had just left the council, one in retirement, one because of moving to follow a job, and the council needed two more members, pronto. I was approached by our city clerk (she lives in a town about 10 miles north of us) asking if I'd be interested in taking a seat until the elections this November. I agreed, mostly because I am rather political (I go to caucus, I vote, and I try to pay attention to issues) and because I feel that as a citizen, there are certain things that, when asked, are duties and responsibilities. So I said okay.

Five of us apparently said okay, because five of us showed up for the two open seats and the mayor decided to put our names in a hat (actually it was a coffee cup) and draw them. I was drawn first, then the other new councilman (who I think, but am not certain, owns the troublesome Boston Terriers).

Then, at Easter, the Lions Club had their annual Easter Egg Hunt and, with the candy, included a note explaining they were down to a scant few members and if they didn't get more members they'd have to disband. I'm pretty much pro Easter Egg Hunting, and Halloween Parties, and Christmas Parties and, well, generally Pro Kid Activities, so now Bill and I both are also Lions.

While I'm delighted to help, I'm not sure I like all of this Public Exposure stuff very much. Just this past week, I found myself in the middle of an issue between the local bar, fire department, and Lions simply because I agreed to do someone a favor.

Sigh. I do not like drama.

Anyway, I love our little town, it's the perfect size for me, but I'm not sure yet if I'll run for reelection this fall, or how long I will be a Lion. Guess it'll depend on how much socializing I can take. When I walk into the gas station for a pop and people there greet my arrival with 'Hey Tammy!', it's a bit much.

So we'll see.

But my microwave is under warranty!

Way back this past April, Bill and I bought a new microwave/hood to go above our stove, mostly because the old one occasionally shot sparks, which surely were not a good thing.

Totally loving the microwave, btw. It's an Amana, it's white, and it nukes things quite well. Installing it was a bit of chore (it's taller than our old microwave and Bill had to cut and remove ceramic tile to get it to fit) but it's worked beautifully.

Anyway, a week or so ago, I noticed that there's a little, itty-bitty crack forming near the bottom of the handle. We had this problem before with the microwave at the old house, and it became kind of a PITA to use the microwave once the handle snapped completely off. I'd rather not go through that again, so we went to Menards to see if they had any suggestions.

Well, our microwave comes with a full one year warranty, and they said we could either order the part directly from Whirlpool for free, or call for a free service visit and have it fixed. Okay, we thought - knowing how crazy-nuts our life has become and how Bill already has too many 'fix it' projects - we'll just call for service. So we did. Last Wednesday or Thursday, I believe. And the service guy was supposed to come today, sometime between 1 and 5 pm.

Did I mention we've been kinda busy lately? Bill's working overtime, Laura's working and has college, I have writing, quilting, errand running and quilt-shop duties (plus the ever looming quilt show that's coming up) and, well, we haz thingz to do! Especially during those prime hours of 'thingz to do!' time. ;)

But we made a point to be available all afternoon. Bill stayed up until I got home from writing while Laura was at school, and I busied myself downstairs while the clock ticked along. Gozer, the poor guy, was banished to his pen in the back yard in case he decided to attack the service guy, or, more likely, lick him to death. All in all, folks every day face the 'wait around for the service people' issue, and it's really not a big deal, other than Goz desperately wanting in the house instead of being alone, in the rain, out back.

He was crying. It bothered me, okay?

About 5 minutes 'til 5pm, I called to see if they were gonna make it out today, mostly so I could let Gozer in. It's not like I have anywhere else to be this evening. Really, my life is VERY dull and I was kinda looking forward to watching the 'microwave handle removal and installation procedure'. Hey, you never know when something like that might happen in a book. Anyway, I called, and they had no idea what the bleep I was talking about.

The guy on the other end of the phone keyed in our phone number and had no service call listed. Nothing. And the information that popped up was for an address I'd never heard before in a town that's about eleven miles away for a name that's definitely not us, and they had no record of requesting a service call today. So he ran our address, which gave him some random non-local phone number and name. Our name turned up something totally not matching anything resembling our lives, and whenever he tried to re-enter information to match *us* instead of the whomever the computer said we were, it wouldn't let him key it in.

So, we and our microwave apparently do not exist, and if we *do* we never had a service call for today.

About twenty minutes and much confusion later (it's rather surreal to give someone your address several times and have them repeat it back each time as something totally different) we're supposedly scheduled to get a new handle tomorrow. Between 1 and 5. And all names, numbers, addresses, and things repeated back match our information. Finally. Here's hoping they'll still match tomorrow.

Gozer, however, will stay inside this time, I think. No reason to traumatize him twice. ;)

Classes and such

Been a really busy couple of weeks. I'm working part-part-time at a local quilt shop and, tonight, am attending a class there where 30 of us share strips of fall fabrics to make an autumnal quilt. I spent one day most of last week cutting those fabrics (each participant supplied 2-1/2 yards of their fabric which I then cut into strips) and I know that some of the fabrics are severely cool. Mine is kinda funky (see the pic to the left) and I bought extra for borders or binding or whatever. There's one leaf print that's omg amazing and a pumpkin print that I wish I'd seen on the bolt so I could buy a ton of it too. I'm really looking forward to tonight. If nothing else, it'll help round out my fabric stash. ;)

Since I've mostly been sewing on large or complicated projects lately, I've kind of taken over most of the kitchen with my sewing stuff. Bill has suggested rather strongly that I might want to move the whole operation downstairs since there's more space. I've started packing and moving things to get that going (gotta clear out the back living room closet, find new homes for all that stuff, pack all the fabric and such upstairs, sort the misc crap I've accumulated... you know the drill). That's my big goal for this week, to get the upstairs office emptied of my sewing stuff so Bill can rewire it and maybe turn it into a guest room. In case we have guests. lol. (I think it'll end up being more of a reading room than anything else, a bit of quiet with someplace soft to sit or lie down).

Stuart's quilt is finished other than about 4 feet of binding (which I should finish up tonight) and it even has a label. I always seem to forget the labels, but not this time. ;) I also finished a doll quilt for Vicki's child care business, and got the foiling on an art quilt I'm making for the show (from a class I took a couple of weeks ago by Ilene Bartos). I also sewed a lap quilt top in French Country fabrics, and a table runner, and have three more tops ready to stretch and quilt. And another big quilt is about due to be back from the quilters, so I'll have to sew the binding on it, too.

I've written Secret Project M through the end of Chapter 8, so that's coming along, if slowly, and I wrote about a thousand words this afternoon while waiting for Laura to finish up at school. She works almost full time and has decided to add one community college class to her already kinda busy schedule. While she's in class, I've committed myself to working on the book so, at the very least, on Tuesday and Thursday, from 11:30-1:30 I shall write.

The three ebooks have had a LOT of sample downloads and a few purchases, which still boggles my mind. Their numbers have taken a HUGE jump since they appeared on BarnesandNoble.com. Please remember that all three short stories are available for free if you email me at tambowrites AT gmail DOT com.

Still trying to decide what to talk about at the conference in a couple of weeks, but my books have arrived. I purchased 10 of each title so I'd have something for folks to buy, should they want to, and even if they don't it's nice to have some around the house for a change. I almost never have copies of my books around, which is really weird when people ask about them. Uh, yeah, I wrote three novels but I don't have any. Oops! ;) Seriously. My only copy of Ghosts is a red-covered galley with my notes in it. Not cool. And my copies of Threads and Valley are both ARCs. I tend to disburse any actual books I acquire, but I think that, should any be left after the conference, I'll put one of each aside for me. Maybe.

I've also been really busy with my two writers groups. Not only did I spend a fun couple of hours with the Sisters In Crime gals down in Des Moines, I spent last Tuesday evening chatting, laughing, crying, and generally gabbing away with W at the local group meeting. She's just awesome and great to talk to about all the angsty crap rattling around in my head.

Mostly, it's just keeping on keeping on, and keeping busy. I hope you all are having a great week, too!

Almost done sewing

I completed the outer portion of the bag yesterday, so today it's making the lining and handles, and finishing binding on the remaining quilt. I think Bill *might* want to get some landscaping stuff at Menards and there's no telling what Laura will have planned, so it looks like a pretty good Saturday in the making!

Crazy busy day

It seems like I've been running since I got up this morning. None of it was exciting - unless you consider putting double-borders on a quilt 'exciting' since that was one of the major highlights of my day ;) - but just been BUSY. And I'm very tired, yet awake. Which sucks. Body wants to go to bed, brainz spinning a million miles an hour. Tomorrow I'm working at the quilt shop cutting a mountain of fat quarters. Yay! Tanya got some gorgeous stuff in this week and I'm very excited to get to play with it. Plus, sometime tomorrow, I need to stretch and baste at least one of these baby quilts I've pieced. They're starting to pile up. lol

Weekend Road Trip!

One of Laura's really good friends is getting shipped out to Kuwait in April. He's currently stationed in Oklahoma and they haven't seen each other in months. She wanted to be able to tell him goodbye and, with Bill and I being how we are, decided to make a family road trip out of it.

We left bright and early this past Friday morning and spent some time with the kids late that evening (was about a 13 hour drive). Saturday, Laura left with her friend to hang out on base and play video games, so Bill drove me around southern Oklahoma and northern Texas to lots of quilt shops. Saturday afternoon/evening we met up with my friend Moosey at Olive Garden, ate too much pasta, and talked and laughed and talked shop until the waiter started giving us dirty looks for hogging his table. It was a totally awesome day!

Sunday, we were out the door at 7:30am to head back home, making a pit-stop in Topeka to eat barbeque with Monica. Monica is amazing, just totally funny and cool, especially when the topic turned to corn and french fries. I don't think that Bill will ever look at food the same way again. lol ;). We could have stayed there all day if it wasn't for having to get back home sometime this century, so we piled back in the car for the remainder of the trip north, finally arriving home about 10pm. And the dogs were missing. They had, again, broken out of Fort Stewie, but Janna (our neighbor who'd been watching them) said they were there just a few hours before so we didn't worry. Much. Gozer and Stewie wandered back home not long afterward, and it was off to bed for the travel-fatigued Jones's.

It was a fantastic if exhausting weekend. I'd been wanting to meet Moosey and Monica for what seems like forever and both are great writers, great women, and just awesome friends. I got some really cool quilt fabric and templates for a Dresden plate block. Bill was sweet and charming all weekend - even when stuck listening to boring writer talk, Laura was her usual chipper self, and even I maintained a great mood after three days in the car. AND we stayed within sight of our budget!

It's good to be home though. Too bad I have to drive to Des Moines tomorrow! ;)

Pretty peachy

All in all, things here are pretty dang good. We've received - and approved - bids for painting the house, moving the breaker box, and getting some trees trimmed. I'm sewing up a pile of baby quilts - seems like most every gal I know who's in the 18-35 year range is pregnant. That's a *bit* of an exaggeration, but not much because I've added two new mommies to the baby quilt list in the past week or so.  This coming weekend is both the Northern Iowa and Central Iowa shop hops, and I haven't yet decided which hop I'm gonna do. Probably the Northern one so I won't have to drive so far, but there's a particular batik I want that's in the Ankeny shop... I guess I could call Jenny and have her just mail it to me. lol

Laura almost certainly has a full time job with bennies lined up - just has to pass the background check which should be totally effortless, so we're all excited about that. Way to go Laura!!

I've written a smidge more on Stain (link to an opening snippet for those who missed it last week) and am currently polishing up the second installment on The Ringer.

Exercising with the Wii is going well and Bill and I have added 'walking the boys' to the mix, which the dogs LOVE. They get very excited when we grab their leashes.

That's about all that's happening here. What's up with you?

TURNIPS!!

Bill loves turnips but I rarely find decent ones at the store (I buy them fairly regularly at farmers markets, though) but, today, they had LOTS and they were on sale so, tonight, we're gonna have Bacon Turnip Mash with supper! Woot!

My progressive-lens/bifocal  headache isn't as bad today - thank goodness!! - so that's a definite improvement. Laura talked with the local community college and it looks like she's gonna start on the Medical Assistant program in the fall, plus take some classes over the summer to streamline her schedule for the AAS degree (a step above the regular med assistant certification) and improve her GPA. She nearly has enough money to pay cash for the entire curriculum, so we're all pretty excited about that. If it works out the way it's supposed to, she'll graduate next summer and just about be guaranteed a job since CMA's are really needed around here. Pretty awesome collegiate visit, I must say and she's VERY pumped!

I'd pulled a muscle in my mid/lower back late last week (especially the right side - owie!!) and took the weekend off from exercising - since all the internet medical stuff said to 'not exercise' if it hurt. But it felt pretty good last night, so I got back on the Wii Sports Active schedule and, well, the first exercise in last night's routine was Alternating Standing Knee Crunches or some such thing and, um, they aggravated my !(@*%^ back. I kept going, however, through the whole program, and by the end it really wasn't hurting much at all. So I think those standing crunch knee things are the problem. I'll just be more careful. Felt good to exercise, tho, after a weekend of sitting on my butt and I'm much more chipper and energetic today. Back's still a bit stiff on the right side, but a little ibuprofen seems to knock it down to a dull grumble.

I wrote a little while driving Laura around to all the places she had to go today, was just longhand in my journal, but that's something, right? I've cleaned the cat boxes, planned some quilting projects, drank a ton of water, even managed a game of sudoku, and I'm about to tackle the mess that's my kitchen. My mood is pretty damn excellent, which is nice. Probably because 1) I can mostly see and 2) I don't hurt. ;)

So, all in all, today's been a better day. :)

Not having a very good day

Spent pretty much all of yesterday driving to and from the Iowa City area, with a stop both directions in Dallas Center (about 8+ hours total drive time). Today, we're all kinda cranky. Just one of those things, I suppose, and I didn't even have any Diet Coke (I did, however, have a Sugar Free Sunkist Lemonade, but I really don't think that's the problem). Maybe it's the weather, I dunno. Just can't wait for today to be over and tomorrow to be a better one.

I've sorted down some fabric for future quilting projects. I've cooked lunch (and will soon cook supper) and I've taken a nap. That's pretty much all I've done all day. Sigh.

Today

Today, we did two weeks worth of grocery shopping, hauled it all home, and put it all away.

Today, Bill and I walked to our teeny small-town library where we donated the four books I've just read (PUSH, Shutter Island, The Blind Side, and Julie & Julia) and a pile of science fiction Bill cleared off of his shelf.

Today, Gozer broke out of Fort Stewie and Stewie was quite happy to follow him to freedom.

Today, Laura had another job interview which I had to drive her to.

Today, Laura upgraded her cell phone, and we got to purchase it for her.

Today, I woke up too early and ended up taking a nap. I think I need another one.

Today, the shower grout was all fixed and I got to have my usual long, hot shower.

Today, I shall do a little more sewing, starting the piecing of a baby quilt, and continuing on a bag for a display at Tanya's shop.

Today I shall at least look at the book in progress.

And, so far today, no one has pooped, puked, or peed in the wrong place, dumped their food dish, broke their water glass, lost their keys, chewed a pair of shoes, ruined any soup, had a melt down, gotten lost, or spent too much time starting mindlessly at the tv.

Today, I am tired.

But that's okay. It's been a pretty decent day. :)

Wednesdays are apparently better than Tuesdays

Today's gone pretty well so far. I've made lunch - nice, safe, impossible to screw up frozen pizza - cut up fabric for a baby quilt, sorted a stack of papers into the recycling bin, giggled with Bill (who's taking a long weekend off work) and even managed a little housework.

Laura has a job interview this afternoon - I get to drive, go me! - and, afterward, Bill and I are heading out to attend an auction, which should be good fun. I LOVE auctions, even tho they usually make me bring home all kinds of cool things that I really don't need. But that's okay, they're a blast!  Most likely, we'll eat supper out and then I'll get back to reading Julie and Julia, which I've almost finished.

I have seen the movie, though, just night before last when it was on pay per view because I'd promised myself that if I noticed it there, I'd make time to see it. And I did. That said, I didn't like the movie all that much, it was cute and all, but I found the Julie character to be really annoying. I loved Meryl Streep as Julia Child, tho. They could have made an entire movie about her and that would have been awesome. Since seeing the movie, I am finding the book's Julie to be a bit more annoying, even tho she hasn't changed any. It's just seeing her and her meltdowns and self-centeredness (and she's exactly the same in the book, only my brain fuzzed out the annoying aspects of her personality) has really made me notice her now. But I shall press on through because it is a good story. I just wish there was more about Julia Child instead of Julie, but it is Julie's book, so I can't complain too much, I guess.

Bill found a leak in the shower this morning, apparently a crack appeared in the tile grout because our hundred+ year old house has settled a bit, but it's all fixed. We just can't shower again until tomorrow, which shouldn't be a problem, as long as we don't play in mud or grease or something. I have to admit that I am incredibly spoiled because I never worry about such things as shower leaks or bad light switches or cracks or whatever because Bill Will Fix Them. I definitely recommend marrying a handyman, especially if he's cute, bearded, and smoochable. ;)

There are a lot of little things we want to do to the house, upgrades and minor remodels, like making a real room in the basement for the bathroom, instead of having a toilet and sink sitting open and exposed in a corner, and replacing our front door which is VERY modern and doesn't fit the look of the house at all. Bill can and will handle those things and others, but we're going to hire someone - gasp! - to paint the house this spring and, most likely, someone else to move the breaker box because it's right where Bill wants to put the basement bathroom wall. I think the idea of hiring someone to do the work bothers him, but I'm totally cool with it. It'll be a lot less stress and frustration (and I really don't want him on a ladder on the porch roof to paint the second story). And, maybe, if the painters' price isn't too bad, I'll have them paint the rest of the downstairs, too, and the stairwell. Because painting the interior is my job and I'm delighted to hire it out. lol

I am so not witty today...

I had planned on posting something witty, funny, or insightful today - planned to do so as I stood in the shower under lovely hot water which is always the best time for me to think such things. Instead, after my shower I made Potato Leek Soup - which I totally screwed up by accidentally pouring in about half a cup of salt instead of a few sprinkles so the whole panful was wasted. Then we went to the Soup and Sip for lunch (thank you, Tanya, for staying open for us!!). Once we came back home, I rotated around laundry, then putzed around online awhile, still steaming over my ruined soup. Then, unable to muster the gumption for anything productive, I took a long nap.

So here I am, nothing accomplished for the day except washing two loads of laundry, making perfectly good soup inedible, and napping.

I'm ready to go back to bed.

Brightening things up around here

In case y'all haven't noticed, I decided to go with a custom blogger template instead of the standard blue tic-tac one I was using. I think I like this better. It's perkier, if nothing else. ;)

The book is stalled. Again. And I'm pretty sure I know why. It's getting waaaaaay too personal. That was a huge problem I had writing the Dubric books, the constant pouring of my pain, shame, anger, and history onto the page, it just got awful. I don't want writing to be awful any more, so I'm trying to find a way to make this book not be so flipping autobiographical, even tho it's not - the main character and her problems really aren't anything like me and mine, but her reactions, oh yes, that's me all over the place. So. Anyway. It's still a struggle.

Been sewing quite a lot, actually, this past week or so. I made some strip sets that I cut up for a curved piecing project I have, plus I finished a couple of the UFO's for the guild, and I sewed a purse from scratch. I'm going to write more about those things, and post pics, at my new 'creativity' blog, so come over and see, if you'd like. :) I'll try to get something up, on the sewing projects at least, yet tonight.

I am enjoying Julie and Julia VERY much and it's wonderful to read again. Not sure yet what my next novel purchase will be, especially since the only books for sale in the area are at Target, Walmart, and the grocery store. We'll be heading into Des Moines again in a couple of weeks for a bigger shopping trip so, hopefully, I'll be able to convince Bill to go to Borders or something. We always go to Half Price Books when we're there, but I rarely find anything that clicks with me. Still looking for more suggestions for great books - especially mainstream/lit - if anyone has a good read in mind!

The world here is starting to thaw and things are getting sloppy with slush. It's a messy, messy time of year, but it's lovely to be able to go out into the world with just my denim jacket again and not be all bundled up.

Bill and I both finished the 30-day Wii Sports Active Challenge and I decided to take a couple of days off since I'd be out of town, but Bill upgraded to the 'medium' level this morning. Which about killed him. So he'll be back on the 'I'm a fat lazy slug' level with me again when I get back on the exercise horse tonight.  It's good for me to move around and get my heart rate up, but, damn. It's really messing with my wrists and hands, tho, that constant holding and manipulating the wii-mote, so much so that I went out and bought support gloves. Which Gozer ate three days later. So I'm back to hurting. Again. Ya know, I wrote three huge, long, rambling novels - and tons of other bits, pieces, stories, essays, and words through the years - PLUS made hundreds of quilts without a bit of carpal tunnel trouble, and a freaking wii-mote does me in? WTF?

But spring will come soon and I can walk instead of sweating my butt off in the TV room, which really isn't big enough for being an exercise space anyway. ;)

Lastly, it's National Craft Month and the good folks at CT publishing are putting up a pattern a day. Today's pattern is for a Cupcake Quilt! Which I MUST make. No idea what I'll *do* with a cupcake quilt, but it's too freaking cute not to make. Sorta like cupcakes. ;)

2-for-1 medical special!

My mom had cataract surgery this morning. The whole procedure was totally uneventful, other than Kelly and me flipping her crap while we sat around waiting, mostly because it's really fun to flip Mom crap. She calls it 'giving her a measure of shit' and I particularly liked the part about how her new clear eye patch they taped onto her face to keep her from rubbing her eye is the Mom equivalent of a cone around a dog's neck so they won't lick their stitches. So, Mom, do NOT lick your stitches!

Edna had her breathing tube removed this morning and I went there after Mom was done and heading home with Kelly. The tube removal was not a success because her throat is so enflamed and bruised that it kept closing up. So, tomorrow, they're putting in a trachea tube. They'd drained some fluid off her lung Friday and she looks LOADS better, thank goodness. I got to chat a bit with her locally-living boys Chuck and Clark, and daughter Becky who is up visiting from Texas. Was nice to see them. Edna held and squeezed my hand the whole time I was there. I got a hug. Was a nice visit, even tho it was in ICU.

Being Monday in one of the most problematic winters in recent memory (one where every Monday seems to bring an ice storm or blizzard), of course I was in Des Moines, a hundred miles from home just as another winter storm decided to hit. Was supposed to be flurries, and, at first, it was, but by the time I crossed Hwy 30, heading north, it had turned icky. And was icky all the rest of the way home. I drove from just past Hwy 30 to Hwy 20 - about 28 miles - right behind a plow/sand/salt/spray truck, and I was happy to stay there. Visibility is awful, but it's not slick at all behind one of those. I just wish he could have moved a smidge faster, I really wanted to get home before dark. Slow road-conditions truck and all, I made home safely, with about 45 min to spare! Wooohoo!!

Now, tho, I'm off to nap with my sweetie! Hope y'all are staying warm and safe! {{huggs}}

Wii little problem

 Laura has a Playstation something or another, a Nintendo cube thingy, various hand held systems, her own computer, and so forth and so on. Bill plays tons of games on his PC. Me? I have my Macs and my Wii. It's even named Tammy's Wii. I have a few games, but mostly I got it to shoot zombies (it's a real stress reliever to blow the brainz out of undead), play WiiFit and, after Jeans recommendation, Wii Sports Active. Only problem is, no one locally seems to have a Wii Sports Active.

Back to Des Moines

Bill and I are back to Des Moines in the morning because of the car. It's making a weird, somewhat loud Whoom-Whoom noise in the front end - we thought it was the wheel well or wheel bearing that wasn't repaired right after the collision, but, apparently it's neither of those things. Toyota is running a full diagnostic something or another in the morning and will - hopefully - determine if the noise is collision related (covered by insurance) or drive-train related (covered by warranty). My luck, tho, it'll be our fault because we didn't give appropriate sacrifice to the transmission gods or something.

I cannot afford to repair the bleepty-bleep car right now. Don't get me wrong, I really do love our Prius, but I'm not so in love with our bank balance. Here's hoping whatever's wrong is covered and won't cost us anything at all.

So. Like, today...

Yesterday I sat on my butt getting this blog tweaked and writing two rather long posts. Today, I have to play catch up.

My fun filled and exciting list is below the cut ;)