WNBP: Covered In Waffle...

I am absolutely stunned to suddenly find myself in the last week of summer vacation. It's been a long one this year.  We got out early and are going back later than usual.  That said, the whole thing seems to have passed in a blur.

My sudden and obsessive need to Finish All Things Or Die Trying continues unabated, but I fear I might be reaching the point where a bit of a sit down is in order.  Since I've been able to reset my router enough to make internet happen for a while, I'll kick back and enjoy a nice Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  Maybe that will be enough to reset my internal router and let me stop with the "doing of stuff" for a little while...

*I've been doing stuff.

*Today should have been Farmer's Market Day, but it wasn't.

*I was obsessed with doing stuff and decided that trip would be more stuff than I could handle.

*Fear not.  I went last Saturday.  I got tomatoes.  I made sauce.

*I've done the math and figured out that this sauce rings up at roughly twenty dollars a pint.

*It's not about the money.  It's about making tomatoes into liquid.

*That amuses me beyond all reason...

*So yesterday I found myself in a kind of weird situation.

*I was standing in the middle of my bathroom and covered in Belgian Waffle when I suddenly said to myself...

*HOLY CRAP, I AM PAINTING MY BATHROOM!!!

*I've been thinking about it for a while.

*I'm good at thinking about stuff, but usually not so good with the follow through.

*How I ended up standing in the middle of my empty bathroom with a paint roller in my hand and peachy/brownish paint up to my elbows is something of a mystery.

*I found the receipt for the paint so clearly I purchased it that morning.

*But I refuse to believe that it was I who did such a meticulous job of taping the edges.

*That just doesn't sound like something I would do...

*The paint color is really called Belgian Waffle.

*I'm thinking about getting some Fresh Baked Pumpernickel to do a couple of accent walls.

*I firmly believe that walls should have a high carb content.

*I'm not going to buy any of the paints named after fruits.

*We'll see if I suddenly end up in the middle of a some other room with pumpernickel on my elbows any time in the near future...

*Meanwhile, the bathroom walls look pretty good except for that one spot.

*You know the spot...the one that never seems to come out the same color and you have to go back over it.

*Yeah.  That spot.

*I haven't gone back over it yet.  I'm hoping the magic that is drying paint will somehow even it all out.

*Painting the bathroom walls means everything else looks kinda grungy.

*So I had to scrub some stuff.

*Then I took a nap.

*Then I woke up because my back was so sore I thought I'd suddenly aged forty years over the duration of a forty minute nap.

*On Monday, I finally broke down and went in to school.

*A classroom will not set itself up without teacher assistance no matter how far we've come as a society.

*It was hot.  It was sticky.

*It was infested with hornets.

*Lots and lots of hornets.

*They come in through the spot where they had to board up that window.

*You know...the window.  The one that kids break and that they keep telling you they will fix so you'll stop complaining, but they never do.

*I finished setting up the room over the course of three hours, killed a dozen hornets with my flip flop and headed down to see Mr. Principal.

Ms. Sheep:  Hey, Mr. Principal.  How are you?

Mr. Principal:  Why, hello Ms. Sheep!  I've missed you and your sunny disposition over these dreary summer months.  What delightful news do you bring me today?

MS:  Well, I thought I should give you a heads up.  My room couldn't have any more hornets in it if it were an actual hornets nest.  I've been up there for three hours and now I have to clean my flip flop.

MP:  That is horrible!  We should do something about that!!

MS:  Yeah.  It might be a good idea.  They keep coming in through that boarded up window.  The one with the rain soaked plywood over it.  I haven't gotten around to stuffing it with paper towels yet what with having to set up the whole room and all.

MP:  Paper towels?  In the window?  Ms. Sheep...that is ridiculous!  We should fix that!!

MS:  Well...I may have mentioned that once or twice over the last few years.

*With my luck, the hornets will all hide when the custodians get in there to check it out and they will have taken with them the bodies of their fallen comrades previously littering my office floor.

*Or they will discover that the hornets are coming from somewhere else and I STILL won't have a window in the main classroom area.

*If I am lucky, one of them will sting me and I can fake an allergy or something.  That could be good for a sick day or something...

*My idiot neighbors are working on their car and revving the engine with great gusto.

*There is also a great deal of whooping and chortling involved.

*My back hurts too much to go down there.  I'll just glare at the window periodically and I'm certain they will get the message.  They'll probably feel just horrible about their behavior...

*Do you realize that, this time next week, I will be back to school full time?

*With the kids.

*And the hornets.

*Neither of which really want me around long term.  It's more fun for both kids and hornets when Ms. Sheep isn't there.

*And neither understands that I don't really have a choice in the matter.

*I'd much rather be home covered in Belgian Waffle even if I don't fully understand how I ended up in that condition.

*I was pleasantly surprised by A Dirty Job: A Novel.

*Most of Mr. Moore's stuff is on the edgy side and more than a little irreverent.  Sharp witted and sarcastic but in a good way.

*This one had all that, true.  But it was, dare I say it...sweet.

*Really sweet.  And a little bit sentimental and I couldn't help but genuinely like almost all the characters even if they were representing Death's interests on earth.

*I found Fire Burn And Cauldron Bubble: The Jolie Wilkins Series (Volume 1) hiding in my Nook library last weekend.

*I don't use that account very often and totally forgot the first two books in that series were in there.

*I've already read them, but I like a nice re-read every now and again.

*And, with commuting season almost upon me, I borrowed an audio copy of Moon Called (Mercy Thompson) from the library just to get myself back in the swing of listening to stuff in the car.

*Surprisingly good and adequately read.

*Will probably try to get others in the series at some point.

*Summer is short.  The school year is long.  A girl needs something to pass the time once the Waffle High wears off.


Well, that's about it for me sitting in one spot.  My back doesn't seem to like it and I'm getting the urge to go see if there is anything that needs "touching up" on my waffle-walls.  Besides, no one is really sure how long my internet connection is going to last (the techs at my service provider included) so I suppose I should upload while the uploadin' is good.

Tomorrow I am taking the car in for service but that is all I have on the docket.  For now anyway.  It's the last week of summer vacation.  Who knows what urge will overtake me in these dwindling moments of freedom?

Or if it will come with a side of bacon?

SA

WNBP: A Clean Sweep. And Mopping. And Dusting.

Oh this should be a good Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  I am following my usual pattern of summertime insomnia: issues at the start/issues at the end.  If I managed two hours of snooze time last night, I'd be shocked.

First I was too hot.  Then I was too cold.  Then I couldn't stand to be in the bed and had to get up.  This, of course, caught the attention the resident felines and scrambled their simplistic understanding of feeding times.  For the record, just because I get out of bed, this doesn't mean it is time for breakfast.  By the time, I was ready to hit the sack again, they were frisky as all get-out and racing about like graceless dervishes.

This went on for most of the night.  I would imagine my downstairs neighbors are less than thrilled.  I'd feel badly about that, but I am too tired to work up a good care.

I'm just going to head right into this week's bullet points and let them take me where they may.  Apologies in advance for any lack of clarity.  And trust me.  There will be a lack of clarity.  I fail to see how it can go any differently right now.

*I made brownies today.

*I know what you're thinking:  Sheepie!  Brownies on a Wednesday?  That is just wrong on so many levels!!!

*I have been doing a great deal of housecleaning lately.

*And I don't mean "straightening up and a little light dusting."

*I mean "heavy duty cleaning that involves gloves and squirming underneath furniture."

*The whole thing started with the smoke detector.

*A couple of weeks ago, the combination of steam from the bathroom and the already humid weather conditions set off the smoke alarm several times.

*Hint:  It is really a heat detector.  And it really hates my bathroom being right next to it.

*I really hate it, too.  Even more, I hate that my smoke detector is wired into the electrical system.

*It was going off so often on this particular Sunday morning, that I actually ended up flipping the breaker to reset it.

*This was harder than you think since the breaker box is located behind my bedroom door and I've stored quite a bit of stuff in that general and somewhat hidden area over the years.

*Then I got to thinking, "Gosh, what if there was an emergency and they needed to get to the breaker box?  I'd be just mortified if anyone saw my storage area!  I should move all that to the closet where it will be out of the way and invisible to prying eyes trying to locate my breaker box."

*That would have been a good plan save for the fact that I was already storing stuff in the bedroom closet.  And under the bed.  And in every other closet, nook, cranny and corner of the manse.

*I've lived here a long time.  I found myself visiting stuff I haven't seen since I was a young slip of a girl with my whole life ahead of me and lots of shopping to do.

*Apparently, I have shopped quite a a bit over the years.

*We are two weeks into The Great Purge of 2012.  It has sort of been a "one thing leads to another" kind of deal.

*You clean one area and suddenly another looks dingy.  Next thing you know, you are scrubbing down the bathroom walls and wondering exactly when things got so completely out of hand.

*I have removed approximately twenty bags of stuff from this place.

*Big bags.  Contractor sized bags, in some cases.  We can only hope that the condo association spies don't have someone watching the dumpster because I'm not entirely certain I'm supposed to use it for this level of purging...

*I haven't gone to the Farmer's Market for two weeks straight.

*I was going to go today.  Made it as far as the grocery store and that was all I could stand.

*Two hours of sleep is kind of like being intoxicated, sick and stupid all rolled into one.

*That said, two weeks is too long to forgo my regular Visit With The Vegetables so I am going to have to suck it up and go on Saturday.

*I hate going on Saturday.  The other humans are there.  They get in my way and hog all the good tomatoes.

*Early yesterday evening, I heard Christmas music.  Being that this is August, I found that odd.

*Even more disturbing, however, was the fact that it was coming from my own computer.

*The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty somehow managed to open iTunes with his hindquarters and send out a little holiday cheer.

*This is alarming and could possibly account for the insomnia situation, now that I think of it...

*Yesterday, was my absolute limit regarding my slow Internet speed.  I finally broke down and made the call for assistance.

*Step One:  Explaining a Mac.  And why I am not using any form of Windows.  And how they haven't updated their manuals since Apple put out version 10.8.

*And that my name isn't Kristy.

*A repair ticket was issued and I was assured that it was highly unlikely a home visit would be needed.

*Message on the machine today said a technician would be at my home sometime before 7:00 pm on Thursday.

*Internet is working rather well today.  Quite speedily, actually.  Debating whether I should cancel the tech, but I can't help but believe that the moment I do, the whole system will suddenly implode.

*The realization that a technician was coming to my home forced me to start cleaning the living room.

*I wasn't going to do that.  I was going to wait.

*But the amount of stitch markers and yarn snippets in the general area of the router made me rethink that plan.

*Have we gotten to the point where we forgive me for eating brownies on a Wednesday yet?  I mean, I was crawling around the wires and dust bunnies for over an hour, people!!!

*I have used my library card more in the last couple of weeks than in the past ten years, I think.

*Yay for finally being able to get digital library loans!

*I started reading Perdido Street Station.

*It is very good.  Very, very good.  Exceptional, really.

*But I found it disturbing.  I could see it going to a dark, dark place.

*With the insomnia situation and my new found obsession regarding people judging my storage habits, I decided that this was the wrong time to read that book.

*Returned it with a click of the mouse and checked out The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove instead.

*I read the first book in this series years ago.  That one wasn't available to refresh my memory, but I figured I'd catch up.

*Lighthearted and inappropriate in all the right ways.  A good choice for my sleep deprived brain!

*And, as it was a quick read, I was able to head right into The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror without missing a beat.

*Except for the times when I was crawling around rescuing dpns and cable needles from the dust bunnies, that is...

*I don't love all of Christopher Moore's stuff, but he does have a witty way about him.

*If you are OK with a great deal of irreverence.

*Which I am.

*The Cheerful Teaching Assistant loves Christopher Moore.  She went to Boston to hear him speak last spring.

*I wish we were going to be working together this year so I could tell her I read about the Lust Lizard and the Stupid Angel.  Maybe I can email her...

*God, I'm tired.  And I am itchy and sneezy from all the dust I've battled today.

*And, if I'm being perfectly honest, I really kinda, sorta want another brownie.


That is probably my cue to close this down for the night.  Once you start yawning, itching and craving carbs, there is little hope for further blog sense.  With any luck, I'll be able to convince my brain to power down tonight and the sandman will come for a visit.  I could really use some sleep right about now.  I'd welcome that particular guest with open arms.

If sleep cannot be had, I guess I could invite Mr. Sandman in for a brownie and show him my very organized storage areas.  That could be fun, too...

SA

WNBP: Recovering, Discovering And Cash Lay Out

Hello, Wednesday!  It is so very nice to see you.  I don't suppose you might bring with you some decent prime time viewing this week, would you?  No?  That's OK.  I wasn't really expecting it.  I'll just continue to entertain myself with ongoing errands and back to school nonsense while you carry on with the last of the lame summer programming.

I'll manage.  If nothing else, the Wednesday Night Bullet Post will kill a little time.  Further, it will allow me to process all that has occurred since last I meandered over to this blog...

*Today was Family Lunch Day.

*I like Family Lunch Day.  I get to visit with family and Mommy Sheep buys my lunch.

*This will be my last FLD for a while given that the state has decided I should go back to educating its children next month and the lunch thing generally occurs whilst I am laboring away in the salt mines.

*Another reason to curse the end of summer vacation...

*Looking forward to this year's ever-so-slight pay raise, though.

*It is the time of year when I suddenly discover just how much I've enjoyed summer vacation and how many August financial obligations I've managed to forget while I was doing it.

*Tuesday brought the annual Visit With The Cat Whisperer.

*Last year we didn't see TCW.  We saw another vet.

*She was not popular with Da Boyz.

*TCW is kind of an odd duck, but I bend to public opinion under certain circumstances.

*Da Boyz love TCW.  Deeply.  Passionately.  Embarrassingly so.

*First on the table was the Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty.

*Who, I am pleased to announce, is now the Appropriately Gi-normous Kitty.

*Low carb has agreed with him.  As has his brother's tendency to snitch his food from time to time...

*He also rocked his rabies vaccine.  I didn't even realize he'd had it, so calmly was it handled.

*Claw clipping, on the other hand, was less than delightful, but better than last year.

*No mask was used upon his tender snout and, unlike last year, TCW was able to clip all his claws as opposed to the three that we snagged in the previous visit.

*On the negative side we count his disgustingly lovey-dovey behavior towards the vet which involved chirping, cooing and nuzzling.  Not at all manly.

*Worse, his teeth have reached critical mass and cleaning is imperative.  They are in the "severe" stage of gingivitis.

*Frankly, I think he did it on purpose so he could go back for a visit.

*Next up, was the Very Complicated Kitty.

*Still fat.

*Probably still needs his anti-anxiety meds.

*Just waiting on the blood work to see if he can tolerate it.

*Speaking of blood work, are you familiar with the term, "Oh no, we just blew a vein?"

*It was no one's fault.  I was watching and, even to my eye, it was a good needle stick.  Some veins just prefer to leak as opposed to obediently gush from the needle into the designated container.

*The VCK handled it well, but there was flinching.  Flinching isn't good under these circumstances.

*Kitties who flinch end up in The Bag.

*With their little shaved leg sticking out.

*Worse, someone decided that The Bag should come in festive red and green so now you've got the world's most miserable Christmas present rolling around on the examination table.

*The Cat Whisperer was more heartbroken about the whole thing than he was but it had to be done lest I take home not only my cat but part of a hypodermic needle.

*He let her kiss him on the head when it was over so I think he understood...

*While all this was going on the AGK alternated from leaping happily onto the counter to nuzzle the struggling vet and opening the cabinets in search of cleaning supplies.

*I spent more at the vet yesterday than I will at my own doctor's appointment next week.

*I have a cleaning scheduled with my dentist the same week as the AGK gets his.

*Again, I shall undoubtedly spend more on his oral hygiene than mine own.

*I didn't go to the Farmer's Market today.  I had the lunch thing coming up and was cleaning my bedroom.

*Plus it was raining and I was feeling fragile.

*Over the past few years, my bedroom has become less a place of a repose and more of a repository.

*As much as I might have liked being the sole curator of the Fashion From The Eighties To Present exhibit, the pay wasn't enough to justify continuing.

*Seriously, there were clothes in the back of the closet that couldn't even be donated.  It would be a cruel jest to clothe the needy in my neon green 80's leggings.

*The needy would probably hunt me down and strangle me with my own Madonna-style lace gloves.

*Then they would finish the job by pummeling me with my burnt out crimping iron and I doubt a single soul would step in to assist considering that I actually owned a crimping iron and was willing to let others know about it.

*Obtaining a digital reading device has done wonders for decreasing the clutter around here.

*But I missed being able to use the library.

*It's been several years and more than a few local budget crises, but my teeny tiny local library finally managed to finalize membership with the state library.

*And that means....

*Free digital loans!!!

*The upside, of course, is the free access to books, both audio and wordy.

*The downside is limited availability since, apparently, others are also allowed to use this service.  Not just me.

*"Digital" doesn't mean "unlimited."  There are licenses and whatnot to consider.  Wait lists still apply for popular titles.

*That said, I've managed to do pretty well for myself over the last week.

*I listened to Damned over the weekend.

*And finished the audio version of House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings) whilst in the car today.

*I also checked out a copy of Reaper Man for some actual reading of words on digital paper.

*The required app works beautifully on my iPad and Adobe Digital Editions lets me read it on my simple, but much beloved Kobo ereader.  

*Happy Sheepie.

*Although Sheepie can't help but wonder why this marvel couldn't have come unto her back in June when she had the whole summer ahead of her for reading.

*OTOH, I do most of my audio book enjoying during the school year when the forty minute commute requires entertainment.

*The prospect of spending less on said entertainment this school year might even take a little of the sting out of September...

*And, with the vehicle repair bill coming up fast on the heels of the vet extravaganza, I think it will be all to the good.



There's another week summed up.  The cats have recovered nicely from yesterday's adventure and appear to have forgiven me for the bad parts.  (They never blame The Cat Whisperer.  No matter how bad it gets, she's always the good guy in this situation)  With a free lunch in my belly and free books on my digital devices, I think I'm in good shape here.

And who knows?  Maybe August will be extended this year and lacy Madonna gloves will make a comeback...

SA

Frantically Not Finishing, Orange Nails And Squash

Boy, these Wednesdays surely do sneak up on me!  Even on a day when I know perfectly well that it is midweek, I still find myself leaping off the couch in a panic when I realize that it is past time to compose another Wednesday Night Bullet Post.

I suppose it's the whole "end of summer" thing that is making me feel like each day is one of the last during which I can do anything of any real import.  It is also the time when I realize that I haven't done half the stuff I swore I was going to accomplish during the endless days of summer.  I tend to get a little frantic.  I try to cram as many projects as humanly possible into the day and, before I know it, night has fallen.  I tumble into bed, exhausted from not really finishing anything because I need to get my rest if I am going to get up tomorrow and not do it all over again.

The WNBP sometimes gets lost in the shuffle...

However, I somehow managed to remember it and I don't want to waste any more time with flustered excuses.  You never know when the urge to re-tile the bathroom will suddenly overcome me and posting will, once again, be forgotten.

*Niece Sheep has promised us a baby soon.

*She is doing her best but, as I understand it, the infant needs to be on board with the whole thing as well.

*Great Niece Sheep is not going to be an easy child, I fear.  I look forward to seeing how things work out in her teen years given her lack of cooperation thus far.

*In my day, contractions and whatnot meant childbirth.  There was none of this "oh, I'll be there when I get there and you can't do anything about it" nonsense.

*Kids today...

*Nothing to do but wait.

*And no.  I still haven't finished that baby blanket.

*Don't judge.  I've decided it is a Christmas gift.

*In fact, I have decided that this is what it was going to be all along so everything is just fine here, thank you very much.

*I painted my nails a vivid shade of orange today.

*Internet was down.

*Stuff happens when the Internet is down.  Sometimes it is the total breakdown of society.

*Other times it is orange fingernails.

*My iPad is so used to the missing wifi that it has started automatically defaulting to the neighbor's signal.

*This does not bode well for my continued subscription to this particular service.

*There was a bit of a heat 'n humidity situation at the end of last week.

*In my current state of August related panic, I saw this as the ideal opportunity to put up six quarts of beef stew.

*I know.  I need help.  The professional kind that requires insurance.

*According to every social media outlet ever invented there seems to be a great deal of distress over NBC's coverage of the Olympics.

*I think I can help with that.  Just repeat after me:

*It's sports.  Who cares?

*I haven't seen a single second of the Olympics and I am not the least bit distressed over delayed broadcasts.

*Somehow, I doubt that is going to really soothe anyone, but I figured it was worth a shot.

*You know, my orange fingernails look quite funky-fresh against the keyboard...

*There were the cutest little patty pan squash at the farmers market today.

*I bought a couple, unable to resist their pie-like shape.

*For dinner tonight, I layered slices of fresh, mild onions and squash in a baking dish, dotted it with butter and sprinkled it with fresh basil.

*Before baking, I sprinkled it with just the barest hint of Parmesan cheese so as not to overwhelm the delicate flavor of this summer delight.

*It came out of the oven looking beautiful.  I admired it for a full minute.

*Then I ate it slathered in ketchup because, in the end, squash is just a damned vegetable and needs all the help it can get.

*I think I was kind of irritated because, in spite of its shape, patty pan squash is not at all like pie.

*I don't have any pie, nor did I want pie until the whole squash thing.

*I downloaded my copy of Odd Apocalypse: An Odd Thomas Novel over the weekend.

*And finished it yesterday.

*The last few books in this series don't have quite the emotional impact that the first three did but this was still one of the best books I've read in a long time.

*And there is this one moment, right towards the end, that is everything Odd Thomas is about.

*I sat up and cried, "YES! This is awesome!!  Do it!"

*Then fell back and moaned, "No, no, no!  You mustn't!!!"

*A mere sentence later, I squealed, "Seriously...you'd be an idiot to not go for it, Oddie!"

*I had barely passed the punctuation mark before admonishing, "Some things are just wrong...you know that.  If you do this, you will regret it for the rest of your life and then some, given the nature of your interesting existence."

*A fantastic moment for followers of this series.  Just fantastic.

*My only complaint is that the book had to end and that I was stupid enough to read it so quickly.

*I've been eyeing A Madness of Angels for a while now.  Along with lots of other titles, though.

*Since I paid full price for the new release of Odd Thomas, I decided that this less expensive digital book would be a more responsible thing to purchase.

*I've not gotten too far so I can't really pass judgement yet, but it seems pretty good.

*Kind of hard to follow, but that may due to my having gotten so used to the rhythm of the Odd Thomas' narration.

*I'll keep you posted...


As enamored as I am with the sight of my orange fingertips typing merrily away, I am starting to find this chair a bit uncomfortable.  Besides, the resident felines have begun their Dinner Time Chorus and I probably also should go see if there is a baby related text somewhere on my new phone.  This is as good a spot as any to wrap this thing up, I think.

Besides, that bathroom isn't going to re-tile itself before tomorrow morning, now is it?  And I suddenly have the urge to bake a pie...

SA

WNBP: Where Did August Come From???

I honestly don't know how we got here.  One minute, I was merrily going about my summer vacation and the next...AUGUST!!!

I am always a little sad when August rolls around.  It is still summer and there is certainly ample vacation time left unto me, but the clock is ticking.  I have to adjust my whole mindset.  It isn't as if I just stroll back into the classroom come September 1st and begin teaching with gusto.  Teaching, with or without gusto, requires a great deal of planning.  Everything I do from this point forward is going to be tinged with a hint of education and I can't understand how it got to be that way so fast.

Whatever happened to July, I ask you?  Shouldn't there have been a whole month between "Yay, I'm done with this working business" and "Where did I put my respectable shoes?"

Meh.  There isn't anything to be done about it.  August is here and I might as well get used to it.  It probably won't last any longer than stupid July did, anyway.

Let's celebrate the first Wednesday night of the month with a bullet point post and pretend that time isn't moving at something like warp speed...

*Yesterday, I bought a new case for my new phone.


*Cost more than the actual phone.


*There is a lesson in there somewhere, but I am too tired to look for it now.


*Also bought an external battery because I have a little issue with remembering to charge my cell phone.


*It is a disability, I think.  But it isn't covered by any sort of insurance I have unearthed.


*Now as long as I remember to charge the external battery, everything will be hunky dory!!!


*There were eggplants at the Farmers Market today.


*Eggplants!


*Visions of fried eggplant virtually danced in my head and, before I knew it, several of the purple buggers were in the car with me.


*The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach called to see if I wanted to "do something" today.


*I think it is good to periodically put on mascara and wear something other than yoga pants so I said, "yes."


*We went shopping and had Chinese food.


*For the record, going to Chinese food restaurants with TWGSALC is interesting.  She speaks Chinese.


*I do not speak Chinese.


*While I do not believe that people of a certain ethnicity always know others of their same background within their geographical area, it certainly does seem that TWGSALC knows a lot of Chinese people.


*I have no idea what anyone is talking about when we go out for lunch, but I enjoy myself all the same.


*We get extra hot and sour soup which is also really good.


*Note: TWGSALC is very careful to switch to English as quickly as possible when I am around.  She says it is the polite thing to do


*I did not make fried eggplant for dinner tonight.  I am still stuffed full of soup and chicken and pork and broccoli and cabbage.


*I don't think that piling eggplant on top of that, fried or otherwise, would be beneficial to the environment.


*I vowed to not spend any money today, what with having shopped yesterday.


*When we entered Ye Olde Girly-Girly Bath Shoppe Of Frou-Frou things, I honestly thought I was safe.


*But I left with thirty two dollars worth of lip balm and assorted fragrant things so obviously there was a chink in my armor...


*Query: Does anyone else think it is weird that the Very Complicated Kitty jumped up on the counter yesterday, picked apart my sandwich (that I only left for a second) in order that he might abscond with....a tomato slice?


*Tomato????


*I could see if he wanted meat.  Or the bun.  Heck, even the cheese might make some sense.


*But...a tomato?


*I shooed him from the kitchen, picked the mangled slice up from the floor and resolved to guard my lunch more carefully from this point forward.


*For the record, however, I do not feel like tomatoes are things that require protection from cats.


*I've hidden the eggplant.


*And I worry about what is going to happen once August is done and I'm not here to personally watch over the produce.


*I don't love everything that Dean Koontz puts out there, but the Odd Thomas series is a definite favorite.


*You can imagine my joy at learning he has a new one coming out this month.


*Something to make August worthwhile...


*I figured I'd break down and read the serialized novella he put out a while ago to celebrate.


*I generally find serialized novellas kind of irritating, but what are you gonna do?


*Odd Interlude #1 (An Odd Thomas Story) is, I believe, available through download only.


*Worth it if you happen to have an ereader. And now you can get the whole thing instead of having to wait for another installment to be published.


*The Odd Thomas series plays fast and loose with the rules of good storytelling.  The author breaks the third wall and directly addresses the reader.  He reveals some of the underpinnings of the story and almost guarantees you won't be surprised by anything.


*But you are surprised and not always pleasantly so, at least in the long form novels.  Every single character is engaging beyond belief and you can't help but hope things are going to work out for them.


*And, when they do, you cheer.


*Koontz writes dialogue better than almost any author I've ever read.  Witty, sharp and quick.


*Since the new book won't be out for a bit, I figured I'd give The Hunter (The Legend Chronicles) a shot.


*A bit of a Steampunk change-up.  Generally, these sorts of stories take place in more urban areas and you can almost always count on everyone having a British accent.


*This one takes place in the old west and, thus far, I've only noted one Brit.  Kind of a nice change of pace and who doesn't love a clockwork horse?


*The downside is that it is a little bit too much with the lovey-dovey stuff.  


*I get it.  Emotionally stunted demon hunter falls for the succubus with a heart of gold.


*Now show me some zombies, dang it all!!!


*Or at least make the horse run around with steam coming out of its nose once or twice.


*That said, it is a nice little story with some cool steampunk elements.  


*Also a cheap download which is good since I spent all that money at the frou-frou store and don't see a raise in pay until September rolls around.


*No extra money in August, I fear.  And there is a vet appointment coming up.


*I'll probably have to spend the rest of this month dragging the VCK to nutritionists and therapists in order to deal with his tomato obsession.


*Which will, undoubtedly make the month seem longer, but not in a good way at all.


So that should cover things for now.  I must now head off to enjoy what is left of this Wednesday and prepare myself for Thursday.  That will be the 2nd of August.  Which precedes the 3rd.  And so on and so on...

How did it get here so fast???

SA

WNBP: The Apple Of My Eye

Greetings and a happy Wednesday to all.  I say that with an inordinate amount of optimism given that my internet connection is a bit dicey at the moment.  In all likelihood, I will not be able to even publish this due to my having heaved a router out the window.  That will probably be followed by a keyboard and a monitor if it gets to that point.

It is a shame, really.  I have lots of good things to report this week and it surely would be nice to share.  I suppose I should take a nice deep breath, channel my inner patient person and just give it a go.  Perhaps the internet will allow me a Wednesday Night Bullet Post given the circumstances.

If not, then you can read all about me on the news.  If nothing else, you will have received an update of sorts...

*Niece Sheep had me a bit nervous with her premature labor, but things settled down in time for us to pull off her baby shower last Saturday.


*No.  I did not finish the baby blanket.


*For those of you who spend your sleepless nights wondering if Sheepie still knits, rest assured.


*I do.


*I even finished a couple of things in time to gift my soon-to-be-great-niece.


*I am not really a Baby Person.


*I find babies perplexing and lacking in conversational skills.


*That said, I almost came undone when I finished these:

Wee, darling little baby hats!

*I had a brief moment of complete cute overload and only came to myself after having Googled "fertility treatments for the very old and desperate."


*Thankfully, common sense returned before I did anything crazy.


*Sadly the skull buttons I planned for the baby sweater were too small and I had to go with the butterflies instead.

I guess it was for the best...

*Having not really done much in the way of needlework lately, I went with a the simplest of patterns.


*The shower guests were all non-knitters so I looked pretty brilliant in spite of it all.


*My niece asked me if, after knitting for two boys, I was glad for a change in color schemes.


*I hate to admit it, not being much of a pink type, but I really did enjoy this!


*Sweaters and hats...probably not going to be the most useful of things now.


*Baby is coming early.  There is no doubt about it.


*I am thinking good thoughts for an early and frigid autumn.


*Or the rampant use of air conditioning.


*I had to be quick at the Farmers Market this morning.


*I was expecting a package and didn't want to miss the truck.


*I meant to get some fruit, but I forgot what with all the excitement.


*I just got the tomatoes and green beans.


*Then I sat at home staring at the driveway.


*Looking for trucks.


*And wishing I had some fruit...


*My life is kind of powered by the good people at Apple.


*Computer?  Mac.


*Tablet?  iPad.


*Mp3 player?  iPod.


*But my cell phone?  Blackberry.


*Wrong fruit.


*I've been wanting to get an iPhone for a long time.  It really made sense considering the overall operating systems here.


*But they are spendy and sometimes a girl has to be practical.


*Even my wireless carrier was concerned about my old, clunky 2G phone.


*At least one would assume that considering the amount of email and snail mail I was getting from them urging an upgrade before I became utterly obsolete.


*I don't spend a lot of money on cell phones.  And I tend to get a little clingy with them.


*I also forget to charge them so it is really kind of a useless thing upon which to spend my hard earned cash.


*I always charge my iPod because it has my sounds of relaxation app on it and I can't sleep without that.


*A charged iPod does little good when a person is stranded on the highway and the zombie apocalypse has begun.


*That, in and of itself, was reason to by an iPhone.


*Which I did, but don't be too impressed.  I stuck to my miserly ways.


*It is the old 3G model that you can get for pretty much nothing.


*I think you can even find them in cereal boxes now...


*Still better than my old phone and I'm pretty sure I will charge it more regularly.


*Now I can sleep to the sounds of nature while the phone charges and be fully prepared for the undead hordes come morning.


*I really enjoyed reading Blood and Bullets (Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter).


*It is rough and I can see where some people found it to be a bit unpolished, but I felt that added to the charm.


*There is a great line in the second chapter about how stakeouts are really boring because you can't knit or anything.


*Deacon Chalk doesn't knit.  I'm certain of that.  He was probably being ironic or something.


*But still a great line...


*I love urban fantasy and, oddly enough, prefer the stories with a male protagonist.


*Hard to find nowadays, what with the genre being more focused on the female fighters for good these days.


*I've been meaning to read Chimera for a while now.  I like Rob Thurman's other novels.


*I just never got to it.


*Until I ran out of other options.  Then I did.


*Really good stuff.  The writing is much more crisp than in the Cal Leandros series given that the narrator is a bit older, I think.


*I liked it so much that I read it in a day and picked up the next one immediately.


*I'd link to that title if the internet was cooperating at the moment, but it is not.


*The internet apparently prefers us to be illiterate and capable only of texting.


*Actually, I don't think the internet really feels that way but I was starting to get that pesky urge to fling routers and needed to vent a bit lest disaster strike.


*This may be a good time to wrap it up, now that I think of it.


*Perhaps the whole slow connection deal is a sign that things could always get worse.



So, on that note, I shall spell check this sucker and see about saving it in forty seven different places lest I lose it.  I'm certain that the internet will eventually sort itself out.  It should.  It is the least it can do for me.

I did, after all, feed it several Apples today...

SA

WNBP: Move Or Melt

We've been experiencing some rather hot and humid weather over here in my corner of the globe.  This has resulted in an overwhelming desire to simply lie on the sofa and give up.  The fact that melting into the sofa cushions is a distinct possibility doesn't matter a whit.  Melting is a easier when the humidity is so thick that walking to the fridge to get a glass of water is like traveling through gelatin.

You kind of just give up the will to remain cohesive.

I fought it, though.  I did my best to ignore the steamy conditions and keep moving.  I figure that walking through viscous air burns more calories.  That should justify the amount of ice cream I've been eating lately.

Here's what I've been up to in Wednesday Night Bullet Post format:

*I already mentioned the heat.


*And I think I may have also touched upon the humidity.


*It really wasn't all that bad until the last couple of days, truth be told.  I think that I'd used up the last bit of cold air by then and there was nothing left but sticky stuff.


*I held up better than the fan in the back bedroom, though.


*It did its best but I felt like it might be time to retire it.


*Pieces of the grill kept falling off and clattering around in a most alarming fashion.


*That is a key fan here at the manse.  It is in the room that has shade and that is the coolest air available.


*I need a fan that isn't consuming itself on a regular basis.


*Bought a new fan today.  Fans are popular right now, but there were plenty to go around.


*I guess there wasn't much call for non-self-destructing-box-fans-to-go-in-shady-windows...


*The weather people say that the heat will break tonight and temps will fall markedly.


*I plan on sleeping on the lawn in my underwear.  That seems perfectly reasonable and I would be willing to bet that there will be loads of people doing it.


*Met the parents and several other Sheepish relatives for the monthly family lunch today.


*The retired folk get to go all the time.


*The non-retired folk get to go in the summer.


*Excellent lunch and I always enjoy getting to go places where I am the youngest person at the table.


*I am a woman closer to 50 than 40 and I refuse to apologize for enjoying the little things these days.


*It also amuses me to hear my mother tell my great aunt that she will remind her about the next scheduled luncheon through Facebook.


*Mommy Sheep was on FB long before I.  She is cooler.  I accept that.


*I went to the Farmers Market last week.


*I bought cucumbers.

Which, logically, had to become relish.

*OK.  It is reasonable to think that a single person might not need 7 half pints of relish.  Very reasonable, in fact.


*But I like relish and I maybe went a little overboard buying cucumbers so there you go.


*I went to the Farmers Market again today.


*I bought carrots, potatoes and tomatoes.


*I did not buy cucumbers.


*I also made some more plum sauce while I was canning last week.  Remember when I made that back in April?


*I gave one to The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach as a hostess gift and proceeded to scarf down the rest myself.


*Plums went on sale last week.  Seemed like a good time to make more sauce...


*We have accepted that my niece is going to have her baby kind of early.


*I have further accepted that I am not going to finish that baby blanket in time.  There is only so much time in the day and only so much limberness in the digits.


*I did not do a gauge swatch for this blanket.  I did not do this because it is a blanket.  An inch or two either way doesn't matter on a blanket.


*I was off by a heck of a lot more than an inch or two.


*Now, in order for this blanket to be in proportion, I need to knit a lot more than I figured.


*The baby shower is Saturday.


*The mother-to-be insists on randomly going in and out of labor.  I find this disconcerting and highly inconvenient.  And what baby wants to be born in this ridiculous heat and humidity anyway???


*I've done the math.  I've considered all the variables.


*I'm not going to finish the blankie on time.


*Good thing I screwed up the gauge.  Now Baby G can take it to college and it should fit a dorm bed nicely.


*It is like I planned it all along!


*I'd already ordered my lunch today when I was struck with a horrible realization.


*I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow.


*If I am going to be stepping on a scale in front of real live humans, then today's meal planning really needs to be carefully considered.  I virtuously removed my chicken from the bun that surrounded it and limited my cole slaw consumption.


*That said, I still ate all my fries.


*If worst comes to worst, I can always "accidentally" bump into the scale, causing it to crash to the floor or perhaps out a handily located window.


*Or maybe I've melted enough to justify the french fries...


*I stopped on the way to the restaurant to purchase buttons for the baby sweater that I kinda-sorta-closer-than-the-giant-blankie-anyway-finished.


*If putting skull buttons on a baby sweater is wrong, I don't wanna be right.


*I'll fight anyone who tells me different!!!


*They are pink (ish) so it will all be fine.


*I've been somewhat stymied with reading material of late, but I did find a good one to share with you.


*The Doomsday Vault: A Novel of the Clockwork Empire.


*Stumbled across it as a recommendation during a desperate cruise through Amazon.


*Very good.  A few folks seemed to have some problems with it and I will admit to a bit of repetition regarding the protagonist's background early on in the story.


*But, overall, I was very pleased with it!


*There are zombies, but they are the Not Dead, Just Sickly variety.


*Hence they seem more pitiful than scary.


*Frankly, I was intrigued by the idea of plague-induced "Clockworkers."


*There is a sequel, but I don't have it yet.


*Will let you know if I do.


*Gonna give Blood and Bullets (Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter) a try first.


*Frankly,it will be pleasant to read anything while resisting the melting effect.


And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a somewhat comprehensive list of the things I have done to avoid becoming a puddle.  The trick is to just keep moving and not let the desire to give up and just start dripping get the better of you.  It also helps to have things like relish and lunch with family to look forward to.

Failing that, a good and intact fan is always inspirational...

SA

WNBP: I'm Being Berry Good

I know I complain about calendar dysfunction more than I should, but this time it is very serious.  I honestly don't have the foggiest notion what day it is on a regular basis now.  It all got really bad last Wednesday when, due to the holiday, I decided it was Sunday.

I've been hopelessly off track ever since.

To make matters worse, I'm coming into this week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post woefully unprepared.  I know that the quality of this blog has suffered over the past year or so, but I honestly do try to think up a few things before I put fingers to keyboard even on my worst of writing days.  Today? Not so much.  Were it not for the helpful reminders provided by the television programming guide I consulted a few moments ago, I would have let this whole thing go without a backwards glance.

I'll do my best to come up with something kinda-sorta-sense-making...

*I woke up this morning feeling kind of...off.


*Not sick exactly.


*In spite of the raging allergies I seem to be experiencing this summer...


*No...just "off."


*I couldn't figure out just what was out of whack until I spent some time reviewing my dietary choices of late and then it hit me.


*I've been a little heavy on the carbs and protein lately.


*And disturbingly light on the fruits and veggies.


*As in "I think I had some watermelon a few days ago but, otherwise, I am a poster child for scurvy."


*I remembered it was Wednesday this morning even though I forgot by the afternoon.


*Wednesday is the day of the Weekly Visit With The Vegetables.


*Farmer's Market.


*Today, I went with a mission.


*After purchasing the prerequisite garlic and basil followed by the cukes I shall need to make relish this week, I went on a fruit hunt.


*There is little in the way of fruit this early, but there were berries.  I got "blue" and "rasp."


*The latter required that I take out a second mortgage, but it will be worth it if I can get myself back in some sort of equilibrium.


*Berries are not going to help my sinuses but you can't expect fruit to do everything.


*I am very serious when I tell you that, if I have to knit another inch of pink and green houndstooth pattern, I shall go utterly mad.


*Keep an eye on the news people.


*Because I have, by my estimation, another 15 inches to go.


*Plus a border but that's not houndstooth so I think I'll get through that.


*I call this the Hounds (of Hell) Tooth Pattern.


*This situation is my own fault.  I underestimated the time before the deadline.


*Not to mention overestimating my ability to produce vast amounts of pink and green houndstooth in sport weight yarn.


*I am seriously reduced to wearing a wrist brace now.


*Wrist went numb due to excessive panicked purling.


*I love my Very Complicated Kitty.


*And am grateful that he now lets me sleep until 6:00 in the morning as opposed to enforcing the school year schedule.


*But I found his reaction to my slumbering until 6:10 a little bit of an overreaction.


*Bit me hard enough to leave a bruise.


*The VCK is a biter.  He bites out of love.  He bites out of irritation.  He bites out of boredom.


*Those bites I can tolerate.


*The hunger bites are not working for me.


*How hungry must he be to start in on my forearm?????


*Feline Initiated Behavior Modification.  


*In between gulping down blueberries, frantic knitting and explaining to my cat that I am most certainly not on the menu, I've been getting in a bit of reading.


*After reading the first in the Dante Valentine series, I decided to spring for the omnibus edition and just get through the whole series.


*Wrapped up To Hell and Back (Dante Valentine, Book 5) last night.


*I was stuck for a bit after that, but then remembered that another new book in a series I started last summer was out.  Actually has been for a while, but I got distracted by other stuff.


*So I'm rereading Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and Johannes Cabal the Detective.


*That way I can be ready to enjoy Fear Institute (Johannes Cabal 3).


*These books raise the concept of Snarky Anti-hero to a new high.


*Johannes has maybe one and the three quarters of a redeeming quality.


*But I love him anyway.


*Enjoying the reread!


*Except for the guilt I feel over not knitting or feeding the cats when I should.


*And not eating a balanced diet like Mommy Sheep taught me...



Well, it's back to the grind for me.  I promised myself five inches of (Hell)houndstooth before bedtime and I know I'm due for another dose of berries.  Plus I see a couple of cats and I don't like the look the chubby one is giving me.  I think it is almost the dinner hour by their reckoning.

Time to be on my best behavior


SA

WNBP: Let Freedom Ring!

Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans!  It is the 4th of July and I somehow managed to remember that today is Wednesday.  That is actually more of an achievement than you might think considering how lost I've been regarding the days of the week.  Frankly, the Wednesday Night Bullet Post is the only thing anchoring me at all.

I am not distressed by this, however.  Having to rely so heavily on prime time television programming to figure out the difference between Monday and Friday means that I have finally gotten the hang of this summer vacation thing.  I like it when that happens.

Here's your bullet points for this week:

*As I said before, Happy Independence Day!  We do love us a good Fourth of July over here!


*It means having a cookout at Mommy and Daddy Sheep's house.


*Oh and that whole "winning our independence as a country" thing...


*This year's gathering was quite small, consisting of myself, the 'rents and Niece Sheep.


*NS is really two people these days given that she is with child.


*But little Baby G isn't really much of a conversationalist so I don't think she counts.


*I'm not casting aspersions or anything.  No one who hasn't been born yet is all that chatty.


*Too bad there weren't more folks there.  The steak was the best I've had in a looooong time.


*Wait.  Strike that.  It is a good thing that it was a small gathering.  More steak for me!!


*I finally got my hair cut on Saturday.


*The poor World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach was horrified by the state of my tresses.


*She had surgery and couldn't stand up for a while.


*Hence, I have not had a trim since January.


*We made plans to go out for lunch on Monday.


*Which we did.  There was sushi involved.


*For the record, I did not wish to shop.  I am currently being a Very Responsible Adult regarding my money.


*But TWGSALC is nothing if not a very bad influence.


*Plus I'm growing my hair out and I don't think she approves so I felt I had to shop with her to make up for my follicular rebellion.


*God, it's hot in here.


*Everything was cool 'n comfy until the thunderstorm started and I had to take the fans out the windows.


*We are now in a very muggy kind of situation.


*I wonder if the torrential downpours will affect the amount of fireworks terrifying my Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty tonight...


*Doubtful.  The recent decision to make fireworks legal is probably going to lead to some celebrating.


*My town chose to ban the personal use of fireworks.  No one really seems to care.


*The novelty of it all hasn't worn off yet.


*No Farmer's Market today.  It is a holiday.


*One cannot visit with the vegetables on a holiday.


*One might consider going on Saturday if one can get her keister out of bed to do so.


*Or remember that it is Saturday at all...


*I am so totally on vacation now.  Freedom!


*But I'll probably forget a lot of appointments...


*I've started knitting again.


*Alert the media.


*It's been a long time since I've knit like this.


*I think I missed knitting.


*I also think I forgot a lot of important knitting-related information.


*Let's hope I can recall this stuff before the need to do a provisional cast-on presents itself!


*I realized today how lax I've been with blog commentary.


*I had a schedule of sorts during the school year, but it kind of fell apart once the summer vacation got closer.


*Apologies to all those I've neglected.  I'll try to do better!


*I was struggling to find something new to read after I finished  Blackout (The Newsflesh Trilogy).


*The downside of reading a smartly written book is that so many others will pale in comparison.


*There were a few duds to which I'm not even going to bother linking.


*Then I stumbled upon Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine, Book 1)


*Cheap download.


*Not as good as Mira Grant's series, but still quite compelling.


*Fair warning:  This book openly challenges common religious beliefs and might not be a good choice for those who have strong feelings about that.


*I understand if that is a deal breaker.  I have certain topics that make a book intolerable to me so no judgement here.


*But, the world the author built is an interesting one and fits with the tone of the novel.


*I liked it so much I bought the series.  (Dante Valentine: The Complete Series)


*I'm up to the third book now.


*I like being on vacation and free to read whenever I want!


*Although, at the moment, I think I might be less than free.


*If I don't go open the windows back up, I am going to die.


*Which will seriously impact The Feline Feeding Frenzy and that simply will not do.



It really does look as if the worst of the thunderstorm has passed so I think I will get some air circulating in here before I expire.  I might be all footloose and fancy free, but that doesn't mean I don't have one or two obligations.  Feeding Da Boyz is not negotiable.

Plus I think there is some leftover steak waiting for this particular free citizen!

SA

WNBP: In Lieu Of A Schedule....

I am having a hard time settling into this summer vacation.  As problems go, this is pretty minor.  It is nothing when compared to, say, war or ingrown toenails.  But I still can't help but feel as if I should be on some sort of a schedule now that I'm fully immersed in Week Two.  I just can't seem to get a foothold.

Maybe the Wednesday Night Bullet Post will help.  Sometimes indulging in a little stream of consciousness allows one to see a pattern.  A nugget of normalcy will show up as one pans through the crazy.

Of course, it could also result in my confirming that I've gone full-on crazy pants, but I'm hoping for the former.  Let's see how it goes...

*It's the insomnia that is getting to me, I think.


*New meds have led to some "interesting" moments here at the manse.


*I'm either a brain dead zombie or a chattering monkey girl on caffeinated bananas and neither one is lending itself to establishing a summer routine.


*It has gotten markedly better as the days go by, but true sleep still eludes me.


*Getting in a few extra Zs in the morning would make things ever so much better, but that isn't going to happen.


*I'm sure you can guess why.

They lurk in the darkness and pounce without warning.  

*And no.  Shutting them out of the bedroom isn't going to help.


*Shutting them out of the bedroom only results in furry bodies slamming themselves against said closed door until someone gets up and makes it be open again.


*And that is the Least Creepy Version.  In the Very Creepy Version,  The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty gets his paws wrapped around the doorknob and starts rattling it like a serial killer.


*I don't care for that.  Nor can I sleep through it.  That's the thing with cats and serial killers...


*Fortunately, insomnia is a temporary thing.  Eventually, I will sleep.


*Even better, I see something of a pattern!


*The cats are getting me up at the crack of omigod every morning without fail!


*Would you believe I started this post almost an hour ago?


*And that I've lost it three times?


*That is also a kind of consistency, but not the good kind.


*Let's hope things go better from here because I'm not entirely sure my addled, sleep deprived brain can stick with a task as complex as rambling on in print for anything longer than an hour.


*Have you ever wanted to go running through the streets shouting, "The new garlic is here!  The new garlic is here!"?


*I have.  I wanted to do that today.


*Went to the Farmers Market and the new garlic was there.


*I actually made a cooing noise and petted it.


*I am fond of new garlic with all its mild flavor and intoxicating aroma.


*Not as effective against vampires, but very tasty.


*Also got some potatoes.


*Have you ever knit something so unbearably cute, so tiny and sweet, so itty-bitty and darling that you just wanted to give in and have a baby of your own?


*Yeah.  Me either.  But I have been knitting a few baby items of late and I find them unbelievably adorable in all their wee sweetness.


*Niece Sheep is having a girl child.


*First baby of that flavor to wander into our sphere in a while so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to do things all girly.


*This is cute, too.

*But don't try to put a little pink hat on him because that will not end well even if you just want to see if it will fit him and how it looks when worn.


*Cats don't wear hats.  Unless they are on the internet and then only if it's YouTube.


*Another constant.


*I am not going to have a baby even if he/she would consent to wearing a hat because I'm pretty sure I can find a small melon or something that would work just as well and not demand to be put through college.


*The up side to not sleeping as much is that I've had ample time in which to read.


*I finally figured out why I was so mad at Queen Victoria while I was reading that other book a while back.


*I knew there was a reason, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.


*Then I remembered.  It wasn't that book that made me hate the queen.  That book had a nice queen.


*It was The Affinity Bridge (Newbury & Hobbes Investigations) that made me hate that mean old Victoria!!


*And she doesn't get any better in the next two books either.


*I thought I was going crazy hating on the queen like that.  Turns out I was right.  Sort of.  If the real Queen Victoria was scheming, half-dead, barely human what with all the clockwork machinery keeping her alive and bitter beyond all belief anyway...


*At long last, I finally indulged in the book I've been waiting for.


*It was something I wanted to read during summer vacation because it was last summer when I read the first two.


*Since I was awake and had nothing better to do at 2:00 in the morning, I figured I might as well go for it.


*Blackout (The Newsflesh Trilogy)


*This trilogy has a surprisingly complex plot and I probably should have gone back to read the first two books before starting this one, but I couldn't wait.


*I'm catching up with stuff pretty well.  It almost doesn't feel like it's been a year since last I checked in on poor George and Shaun...


*Here's the thing you should know about these books:  The first one is amazing.  The second one is crazy good.  The third one is very, very good.  In that order.


*And the third one has a zombie bear in it.  Seriously.  He's sort of offstage, but still.  It's a ZOMBIE BEAR, PEOPLE!!!!


*I'm not quite finished, but it appears there are far fewer of the dead things in this book than the others.  It isn't really about the zombies at this point.  It's about the live humans and the nasty stuff they do in a world gone utterly mad.


*I think some people might get turned off because of the Walking Dead angle, but don't be a hater.  I think this series will appeal to more readers than one might think given the breadth of the conflicts and the brilliant writing.  The characters are some of the best developed I've seen in a long time.


Well, I don't know as I've really managed to come up with enough of a pattern to develop a summer routine, but I guess I didn't expect I would.  I'm tired.  I almost left the house in my slippers this morning.  Really high level thinking is beyond me these days, but I don't feel too badly.  There were glimmers of something in all that rambling.

Of course might be the glimmer of a tin foil hat, but let's see if I can get a little sleep tonight before I start down that path...

SA

WNBP: Postcards From The Manse

When last we left our intrepid Sheepie, she had managed to muddle through the last two days of poor student behavior, the emotional departure of the Cheerful Teaching Assistant and the packing up of her classroom for yet another summer break.  All that was left to her at that point was two days of teacher workshops, a Saturday dinner to celebrate Father's Day with various family members and the knowledge that she could stay up an extra hour on Sunday night if she could somehow keep her eyes open during the day.

I feel like I let people down with my summer vacation plans.  I'm often asked what I'm going to do during my months of downtime and I rarely have a good answer.  I'm a putterer.  I'm not a world traveler.  I hang around the manse and periodically do stuff that may or may not make my habitation here more tolerable.  That's about it, except for the rampant appointments I seem to schedule during my vacation.  But those are unavoidable if I wish to remain healthy and able to drive my car without warning lights flashing at me in an alarming fashion.

As boring as it may be, it is what I have to offer in this week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  Let's see if I can make it all sound a bit more glamorous...

*It has been a very mild spring here.  Even chilly enough for the electric blanket on several nights.


*That is over.  The weather has taken a turn for the Triple H.


*Hazy.


*Hot.


*Humid.


*It all just came crashing down on us today.  I, however, keep remembering the searing temperatures of last year and keep it all in perspective.


*Tomorrow promises to bring more of the same, although I hear tell a sea breeze might make things more bearable.


*I am using much of my newly acquired vacation time to catch up with Coronation Street episodes.


*I was running about six months behind, but recently decided to skip ahead a bit.


*It's not like I haven't been cheating and reading story lines on the website anyway...


*I was not, however, going to take the trip forward in time before seeing Becky bring down that horrible, no-good Tracy at her sham of a wedding to good-hearted, but seemingly stupid Steve!!!


*It seems that the good people at ITV were not particularly open to my viewing this.  Apparently they suddenly got all picky about copyrights and whatnot.


*Which is so totally unfair because it is not my fault that my ancestors decided to wander over to this continent all those years ago, thus rendering me incapable of watching certain programming without the help of YouTube.


*Thankfully, there are kindly people across the pond who don't hold my citizenship against me and found a way to post that episode.  It took some searching, but it was WORTH IT!!!!!


*Now I can fast forward without regret or the feeling that I'm missing something wicked awesome.


*I hate to violate copyrights.  But it isn't my fault.  Plus I've linked to them.  I'm sharing. This should ease my pangs of guilt...


*I sat through two very long days of teacher workshops last week.  Very long.


*I knit a hat.  A very tiny pinkish hat that I cannot photograph at the moment.


*It is cute.  Trust me.  There is fuzziness and something that isn't quite a bow involved.


*One of the "getting to know you" activities at the workshop was that game where you tell two truths and a lie.  Then you see if people can guess the lie.


*My lie was that I am getting married next month.


*You'd be surprised how many people believed that.


*Wee, little hat might have confused matters...


*I wonder if they will throw me a shower of some sort once school reopens.


*If so, I hope it is a wedding shower and not the other kind.  I could use a new toaster and some napkin rings.


*Diaper Genie...not so much.


*I gave myself two days off before starting in with all the appointments I try to get out of the way during summer vacation.


*I napped a lot and canned some chicken.


*I'd show you a picture of the chicken, but there is nothing more disgusting that looking at a jar of chicken.


*It tastes really good.  Very tender.  And it keeps for a long time.


*Which is great when the weather is nasty and you can't go shopping.


*Or the zombie apocalypse finally happens like I've been saying it will for years now.


*No one will be laughing at my home canned chicken during the apocalypse.


*They might gag a bit, but they won't laugh.


*Today I went to see Doctor Judy for a med review.


*Meds need changing.  Sheepie has developed a tolerance for her current prescription.


*Now instead of my nice time release pill, I have to take two.


*Probably better to adjust to that schedule during the summer instead of trying to remember to take a pill at school.


*I can be like the kids and go see the nurse at lunchtime for meds.  That would be fun.


*Standing in line then having her check to make sure I took it...


*It's not really like that.  There aren't that many kids on medications, contrary to popular media myths.


*It's just the image of it that makes me think I need to practice taking a pill two times per day.


*Today was my first trip to The Farmer's Market and the Weekly Visit With The Vegetables.


*There weren't many vegetables.  I found some strawberries since those came into season early this year due to all the rain.


*Then I bought a basil plant.  Then I bought a rosemary plant.


*Need something to entertain my new grow light.


*By the time I got to the guy who actually had a few veggies, I was out of cash and too hot to keep standing in the sun anyway.


*July is the better month for most veggies here.


*Also better to go before it is almost closing time at the market.


*Next week I will be more organized and won't' have a doctor's appointment in the middle of it all.


*The strawberries are delightful and I will probably eat them all before I get around to making something with them.


*I'm OK with that.


*I happen to have some caramel sauce.  It all worked out.


*More time to read these days.  I decided to go back and visit with my friends over at the Twenty Palaces Society. (Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel)


*You kind of have to be in the mood for these books.  A few of the characters are a little off-putting.


*And my heart bleeds for the narrator, at least in the first book.  He is just so...put upon!


*Take heart.  Things get better for him!


*Then I discovered that The Janus Affair: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel was out and, while Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel wasn't my absolute favorite book in the whole wide world, I didn't hate it.


*Of course, I'd forgotten more about the first book that I realized and was confusing it mightily with at least two other series, but I eventually got the hang of it all.


*Worth the download and certainly good for summer reading!


*I wouldn't say that reading steam punk on such a steamy day is wise, but it only gets bad if you start thinking about it too much...



It is really just too hot to type anymore so I'm stopping there.  I think I've managed to prove my point regarding my vacation aspirations.  What can I say? There is a marked lack of conga lines in my version of summer break.  It is the best I can do.  I'd like to tell you that things will get better, but they probably won't.

Tomorrow I'm going in for an oil change.  Maybe next week I'll get that giant crack in my windshield fixed.  Then there is the summer bone density testing to look forward to...

SA