It took several days, and the recovery has taken several more, but I'm finally in Indiana and sort of back to normal after the trip. Here are a few highlights.
We made it to Danvers, CT the first night, where we missed our exit and then drove in circles for half an hour trying to find the hotel. This gave us the opportunity to drive past the world's largest dairy store. The drive the next morning through the rest of CT, NY, and into Pennsylvania was gorgeous. We passed through or by a few interesting towns, including Lords Valley, PA and Frackville. We stopped to get gas, and everyone's spirits were lifted when I spotted a display of Tastykakes, the greatest snack food known to man. And available almost exclusively in Pennsylvania. (It was apparently not the first time the woman behind the counter had a group of semi-delirious travelers carry the entire contents of her snack cake display up to the register.) We stocked up on Krimpets and TastyPies and hit the road again.
Next stop was Hershey, PA, The Sweetest Place on Earth, and home to Hershey's Chocolate. Also home to Hershey Park, where I had such a good time as a child that my family still hasn't let me live it down. Wahoo! We drove down both Chocolate Avenue and Cocoa Avenue. Usually the whole town smells like chocolate, but they weren't making any the day we drove through. Apparently, they're in the process of moving the actual chocolate making to China. We also drove past a Dove facility.
The reason we were in Hershey is that my great aunt lives in the Masonic home next door in Elizabethtown. Wowza, is that place big. It could probably be a whole city by itself. Auntie was in fine form. 91 and sharp as a tack, she was overjoyed to have us stay with her for the night, even though Trouble decided to jump up on her bed and hide under her $1,000 hand stitched quilt. Otherwise, he was very well behaved. Except for the part when it was time to leave and he decided he wasn't going back in that damn carrier no matter what anyone said. He ran around Auntie's living room like his tail was on fire, while she crooned "poor baby" and my father and uncle alternately chased him and jumped away in fear of being bit. He wouldn't really bite anyone. Troub is a pacifist at heart, as well as being the original scaredy cat. But he did NOT want to go back in that carrier. (Can't say I blame him.) He actually growled at everyone, including me.
The next day was the miserable slog. Nine hours+ in the car, from Elizabethtown, PA all the way to Indianapolis. It was the long day, so of course my Crohn's decided to kick up about 15 minutes after we got in the car. Stupid stomach. We went through some tunnels, and we stopped at a rest stop where we stocked up again on TastyKakes and I found a Hershey Kiss magnet to add to my magnet collection. (I now have a magnet from every state I've ever lived in, except for Iowa, and a lot of other fun ones, too. I'm hoping to come up with a way to display them in my room that won't cost and arm and a leg. Large magnetic white boards aren't cheap.) I remember waving at Jenny and Lucy as we blew through Columbus sometime around 6:30 that evening. Other than that, the day is mostly just one long, dreadful blur. We rolled into the hotel around 9:30pm. I don't think four people and a cat have ever been happier to get out of a car.
And that is the story of my trip from Massachusetts to Indiana. I'd post pictures, but I didn't take any. (They wouldn't have been any good anyway. I'm a terrible photographer.) Sometime in the next 20 hours or so I'll try to fill you in on the house. I'm pretty sure we'll be moving out of the hotel tomorrow, and God only knows when I'll have internet access again. As far as I know, my parents haven't even contacted the phone company about setting up service yet. Oh, well. I guess that's why Starbucks was invented.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Come On, Get Happy!
My recent posts have all been grumpy, angsty stress-fests, so I've decided to do another 10 Happy Things post.
1. I've picked out my parents' Christmas present! They love Cook's Illustrated, and they love the TV show America's Test Kitchen. Well they've come out with a cookbook, and Barnes & Noble has it for 50% off with a coupon through the end of next week. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! $20 for a joint gift, plus a pair or two of hand knit socks for my dad, and Mom has been asking for some more hand knit face cloths made from Cotton Tots (which is really soft and cozy). The 'rents are done!
2. Glory, Hallelujah! Mom just came in and told me that everything is finally a go with the house! Closing is now set for Monday afternoon. Then we'll beat feet for Indiana, and close on the new house hopefully sometime late next week. Woo hoo!
3. Last night we went out for dinner and had a really good time. My uncle is here, helping us get packed up and ready to go. I've always liked him, but we've never lived close or visited much, so I don't know him very well. We laughed a lot last night, and I think it's the first time we've all really relaxed and enjoyed ourselves since he got here. Maybe now that things are getting settled with the move there will be more time for that.
4. Most of the packing got done yesterday, so even though a couple of movers are here again today finishing the dregs, it is much quieter. Yay! I'm sitting on my bed with my computer in my lap (I take that whole "laptop" thing seriously) and Mom walked by and said, "I keep forgetting you're in here-- you're so quiet." Quiet is good.
5. I also just found out that I will have a hotel room to myself this weekend. Bliss. The stress and noise and commotion has really had my hair standing on end the last couple of days. Plus, Shark Week should be starting any minute, and that always sends my Crohn's out of whack.
6. I love funny names for your period. Shark Week ('cause there's blood in the water), Aunt Flow, Commies in the Funhouse-- they all amuse me terribly.
7. I've read 395 books since January 1, 2007. That's when I starting keeping track in a cool little journal I got for being the last Cherry to cross the finish line of NaNo 2006. My goal for this year was to reach 400, and I will accomplish that easily. I may even get there before the end of this month. It just depends on how much reading time I get in the next few days.
8. The neighbor across the street cut my hair the other day. I hadn't had anything done to it since right before Christmas last year, and it was getting bad. She chopped off all the split ends and stuff, and now it's less scraggly and doesn't tangle as much. It still tangles. I think that's just the nature of curly hair. But it's much, much better.
9. I'm gearing up for NaNo next month. Last night I googled around until I found some numbers for how much I might make with stories at a couple of different publishers. Then I had a high old time crunching numbers for highly improbable scenarios, like whether or not I could pay all my medical bills and a few other small expenses if I sold a book every month all year long. It looks like I could, at some of the more popular epublishers, if I continue to live with my parents. Of course, the likelihood of me writing, polishing, and selling a book a month is not great. Even when my health was better and my brain was sharper that was unlikely. But it amused me to look at all of that. (I know. I'm weird. For many people these speculations would be depressing. For me, it's a what if.)
10. It's Thursday, and I still have internet! I know it's only because the move has been put off a couple of days, but it still makes me happy. I thought I'd be cut off from the world by now.
And that's what makes me happy!
1. I've picked out my parents' Christmas present! They love Cook's Illustrated, and they love the TV show America's Test Kitchen. Well they've come out with a cookbook, and Barnes & Noble has it for 50% off with a coupon through the end of next week. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! $20 for a joint gift, plus a pair or two of hand knit socks for my dad, and Mom has been asking for some more hand knit face cloths made from Cotton Tots (which is really soft and cozy). The 'rents are done!
2. Glory, Hallelujah! Mom just came in and told me that everything is finally a go with the house! Closing is now set for Monday afternoon. Then we'll beat feet for Indiana, and close on the new house hopefully sometime late next week. Woo hoo!
3. Last night we went out for dinner and had a really good time. My uncle is here, helping us get packed up and ready to go. I've always liked him, but we've never lived close or visited much, so I don't know him very well. We laughed a lot last night, and I think it's the first time we've all really relaxed and enjoyed ourselves since he got here. Maybe now that things are getting settled with the move there will be more time for that.
4. Most of the packing got done yesterday, so even though a couple of movers are here again today finishing the dregs, it is much quieter. Yay! I'm sitting on my bed with my computer in my lap (I take that whole "laptop" thing seriously) and Mom walked by and said, "I keep forgetting you're in here-- you're so quiet." Quiet is good.
5. I also just found out that I will have a hotel room to myself this weekend. Bliss. The stress and noise and commotion has really had my hair standing on end the last couple of days. Plus, Shark Week should be starting any minute, and that always sends my Crohn's out of whack.
6. I love funny names for your period. Shark Week ('cause there's blood in the water), Aunt Flow, Commies in the Funhouse-- they all amuse me terribly.
7. I've read 395 books since January 1, 2007. That's when I starting keeping track in a cool little journal I got for being the last Cherry to cross the finish line of NaNo 2006. My goal for this year was to reach 400, and I will accomplish that easily. I may even get there before the end of this month. It just depends on how much reading time I get in the next few days.
8. The neighbor across the street cut my hair the other day. I hadn't had anything done to it since right before Christmas last year, and it was getting bad. She chopped off all the split ends and stuff, and now it's less scraggly and doesn't tangle as much. It still tangles. I think that's just the nature of curly hair. But it's much, much better.
9. I'm gearing up for NaNo next month. Last night I googled around until I found some numbers for how much I might make with stories at a couple of different publishers. Then I had a high old time crunching numbers for highly improbable scenarios, like whether or not I could pay all my medical bills and a few other small expenses if I sold a book every month all year long. It looks like I could, at some of the more popular epublishers, if I continue to live with my parents. Of course, the likelihood of me writing, polishing, and selling a book a month is not great. Even when my health was better and my brain was sharper that was unlikely. But it amused me to look at all of that. (I know. I'm weird. For many people these speculations would be depressing. For me, it's a what if.)
10. It's Thursday, and I still have internet! I know it's only because the move has been put off a couple of days, but it still makes me happy. I thought I'd be cut off from the world by now.
And that's what makes me happy!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Odds and Ends
No big news to report today, just lots of little things.
Yesterday on Twitter I learned that Toni Blake has written a romance novel featuring a heroine who has Crohn's disease. The book comes out at the end of December. I'm hoping if things really settle in with Books and Bacon in the next 6 to 8 weeks that the author will agree to do a guest blog or an interview or something. I think it's so cool that someone has written a main character with Crohn's. Usually we're the weird, hard to solve problem on medical dramas. At worst, we're portrayed as drug seekers. It will be nice to see a positive, and hopefully realistic, depiction of what it's like to live with this disease.
In other book news, the latest Vorkosigan novel comes out today. And I just found out last night that all the first editions come with a CD that has all of the books in the series (well, all but one, which appears to have been left off for some reason) in ebook format. I wanted it before, and I've been checking Amazon pretty much daily to figure out when it would be available for Kindle. Now I'm foaming at the mouth for it! I don't particularly want the hardback, although I'm not totally opposed to the idea. But I really, really want those ebooks! I've been thinking about buying the whole series in ebook, since I got them all from the library and don't have my own copies. (Some of my favorite books, and I don't have copies!) This will save me big bucks. Amazon has it for a good price, and I've been trying to figure out what else I want to get to bring the total cost up to $25 for the free shipping. I'm thinking Wii game, since I'll hopefully be able to hook that up again soon, but I'm not seeing anything I really want that won't cost me $40. Maybe I'll just suck it up and pay the $3.99 for shipping.
The moving isn't going so well. There are problems with someone's mortgage up the chain. We're four days from closing, and we still don't have a written commitment to purchase the house. We're not putting all our stuff on a moving truck unless we're sure that the sale is going through. So as you can imagine, this is causing a lot of stress.
The cat went to "summer camp" this afternoon in preparation for the packers coming in tomorrow. (We're still packing, because we'll be up shit creek if we don't and the sale goes through. We're just not putting all the boxes on a truck.) I miss the little booger already. Although I won't miss him screaming in my ear at 6am because he wants his breakfast. I didn't have the heart to tell her, but Mom didn't make it any easier when she insisted on helping stuff him in his carrier. He loves his grandmom, but sometimes she freaks him out, too. She's not used to handling him. There was much scrambling around in my room for a little while this afternoon. And not the good kind.
Well, I guess that's everything for the moment. I should probably go stick something in a box, just in case we do end up moving to Indiana after all. I swear I haven't been sticking pins in a voo doo doll of the realtor, or hiring Witchy to cast a spell against the sale or anything. Really. I promise.
Update: My brother called tonight. He had a stomach bug yesterday that kicked off a round of seizures so bad that he doesn't remember the ride in the ambulance to the hospital. He's at home now, and he worked part of a day today. I love my brother, but he can be so FRUSTRATING with this stuff. One, his doctor is clueless as to why this is happening, but he won't switch doctors or get a second opinion. So his condition is only ever on the edge of being controlled. Any emotional or physical upset kicks them off again. Two, he's not always good about taking his medication, which only exacerbates the problem. Indiana leaves driving restriction to the doctors (Texas required a full 12 months without a seizure before you could get your license back), and his doctor is doing nothing. Which means my brother, who hasn't managed to be seizure free for more than a few months at a time since this started two years ago, is still driving himself whenever he wants. The "You could kill someone!" argument gets nowhere, because he claims he can feel them coming on and can just pull over to the side of the road. I don't know what's going to have to happen to make him take this seriously. The last time I talked to him about all this he said he didn't feel like it was something he had to worry about all that much about because they were only happening every couple of months. A seizure every couple of months is NOT acceptable. Not when your entire attempt to deal with the problem consists of one doctor shrugging his shoulders and saying, "I don't know." Grrr.
Yesterday on Twitter I learned that Toni Blake has written a romance novel featuring a heroine who has Crohn's disease. The book comes out at the end of December. I'm hoping if things really settle in with Books and Bacon in the next 6 to 8 weeks that the author will agree to do a guest blog or an interview or something. I think it's so cool that someone has written a main character with Crohn's. Usually we're the weird, hard to solve problem on medical dramas. At worst, we're portrayed as drug seekers. It will be nice to see a positive, and hopefully realistic, depiction of what it's like to live with this disease.
In other book news, the latest Vorkosigan novel comes out today. And I just found out last night that all the first editions come with a CD that has all of the books in the series (well, all but one, which appears to have been left off for some reason) in ebook format. I wanted it before, and I've been checking Amazon pretty much daily to figure out when it would be available for Kindle. Now I'm foaming at the mouth for it! I don't particularly want the hardback, although I'm not totally opposed to the idea. But I really, really want those ebooks! I've been thinking about buying the whole series in ebook, since I got them all from the library and don't have my own copies. (Some of my favorite books, and I don't have copies!) This will save me big bucks. Amazon has it for a good price, and I've been trying to figure out what else I want to get to bring the total cost up to $25 for the free shipping. I'm thinking Wii game, since I'll hopefully be able to hook that up again soon, but I'm not seeing anything I really want that won't cost me $40. Maybe I'll just suck it up and pay the $3.99 for shipping.
The moving isn't going so well. There are problems with someone's mortgage up the chain. We're four days from closing, and we still don't have a written commitment to purchase the house. We're not putting all our stuff on a moving truck unless we're sure that the sale is going through. So as you can imagine, this is causing a lot of stress.
The cat went to "summer camp" this afternoon in preparation for the packers coming in tomorrow. (We're still packing, because we'll be up shit creek if we don't and the sale goes through. We're just not putting all the boxes on a truck.) I miss the little booger already. Although I won't miss him screaming in my ear at 6am because he wants his breakfast. I didn't have the heart to tell her, but Mom didn't make it any easier when she insisted on helping stuff him in his carrier. He loves his grandmom, but sometimes she freaks him out, too. She's not used to handling him. There was much scrambling around in my room for a little while this afternoon. And not the good kind.
Well, I guess that's everything for the moment. I should probably go stick something in a box, just in case we do end up moving to Indiana after all. I swear I haven't been sticking pins in a voo doo doll of the realtor, or hiring Witchy to cast a spell against the sale or anything. Really. I promise.
Update: My brother called tonight. He had a stomach bug yesterday that kicked off a round of seizures so bad that he doesn't remember the ride in the ambulance to the hospital. He's at home now, and he worked part of a day today. I love my brother, but he can be so FRUSTRATING with this stuff. One, his doctor is clueless as to why this is happening, but he won't switch doctors or get a second opinion. So his condition is only ever on the edge of being controlled. Any emotional or physical upset kicks them off again. Two, he's not always good about taking his medication, which only exacerbates the problem. Indiana leaves driving restriction to the doctors (Texas required a full 12 months without a seizure before you could get your license back), and his doctor is doing nothing. Which means my brother, who hasn't managed to be seizure free for more than a few months at a time since this started two years ago, is still driving himself whenever he wants. The "You could kill someone!" argument gets nowhere, because he claims he can feel them coming on and can just pull over to the side of the road. I don't know what's going to have to happen to make him take this seriously. The last time I talked to him about all this he said he didn't feel like it was something he had to worry about all that much about because they were only happening every couple of months. A seizure every couple of months is NOT acceptable. Not when your entire attempt to deal with the problem consists of one doctor shrugging his shoulders and saying, "I don't know." Grrr.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Confession Time
In case you haven't noticed, I'm not too excited about moving back to Indiana. Even the possibility of meeting the Great and Terrible Fokker hasn't been enough to get me jazzed about it. I've known in my heart why this is bothering me so much, but I haven't shared it with anyone yet. Well, what is a blog for if not confessing your darkest fears and secrets? So here goes.
I was not happy when I lived in Indiana the first time. We moved there just in time for me to start my freshman year of high school, and I didn't want to go then, either. We'd been living in Texas, and I was really happy there. I had lots of friends, and starting over at that age can be difficult. (Of course, as I'm finding out, starting over at any age is difficult.) Even thought I lived there for four years, I never really found my tribe. I was in band, and I had band friends. I was in honors, and I had honors friends. But I never found friends that I really fit with. I haven't kept in touch with anyone I knew in high school.
So even though I know this move is the best thing for my parents, that they are retiring in a place where they have many friends and roots in the community, there's nothing like that there for me. Mom is over the moon that her two children will be in the same city with her for the first time in more than 15 years. I'm glad that I'll get the chance to spend more time with my brother and that I'll be able to get to know my sister in law, whom I've only met three times. But that opportunity doesn't outweigh the dread for me.
The biggest part of the problem, which I realize is going to totally contradict what I said above, is that I'm terrified of seeing anyone I knew in high school. I'm sick, I'm fat, I'm not working, and I've moved across the country to live with my parents. It's the perfect Hollywood vision of a loser. And I feel like a loser. And I don't want anyone who has ever known me to see me like that. I don't know why this fear is so strong. I haven't seen these people in nearly 20 years. They have no meaning in my life, except as people I used to know a long time ago. But I'm still afraid.
Somehow, I didn't feel this way in Texas, The people who know me there watched my life tank. They saw my health go down the toilet. They know me and have learned to accept my limitations. They love me anyway. But all these new people, they don't know me any more. I used to be slim (although I couldn't see it then) and energetic. I was in the marching band and Academic Decathlon and a million other clubs and activities. I was always going. And yet all that activity has lead to no where. I'm right back to where I used to be, living in Indiana with my mom and dad, having accomplished nothing. It makes me want to curl up in a corner and hide.
I was not happy when I lived in Indiana the first time. We moved there just in time for me to start my freshman year of high school, and I didn't want to go then, either. We'd been living in Texas, and I was really happy there. I had lots of friends, and starting over at that age can be difficult. (Of course, as I'm finding out, starting over at any age is difficult.) Even thought I lived there for four years, I never really found my tribe. I was in band, and I had band friends. I was in honors, and I had honors friends. But I never found friends that I really fit with. I haven't kept in touch with anyone I knew in high school.
So even though I know this move is the best thing for my parents, that they are retiring in a place where they have many friends and roots in the community, there's nothing like that there for me. Mom is over the moon that her two children will be in the same city with her for the first time in more than 15 years. I'm glad that I'll get the chance to spend more time with my brother and that I'll be able to get to know my sister in law, whom I've only met three times. But that opportunity doesn't outweigh the dread for me.
The biggest part of the problem, which I realize is going to totally contradict what I said above, is that I'm terrified of seeing anyone I knew in high school. I'm sick, I'm fat, I'm not working, and I've moved across the country to live with my parents. It's the perfect Hollywood vision of a loser. And I feel like a loser. And I don't want anyone who has ever known me to see me like that. I don't know why this fear is so strong. I haven't seen these people in nearly 20 years. They have no meaning in my life, except as people I used to know a long time ago. But I'm still afraid.
Somehow, I didn't feel this way in Texas, The people who know me there watched my life tank. They saw my health go down the toilet. They know me and have learned to accept my limitations. They love me anyway. But all these new people, they don't know me any more. I used to be slim (although I couldn't see it then) and energetic. I was in the marching band and Academic Decathlon and a million other clubs and activities. I was always going. And yet all that activity has lead to no where. I'm right back to where I used to be, living in Indiana with my mom and dad, having accomplished nothing. It makes me want to curl up in a corner and hide.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Why I Hate the Drug Companies
This afternoon I crossed state lines in an attempt to buy prescription medication. In the good old days (you know, like August) I could go down the street and get a prescription from my local pharmacy for $30 because I had prescription drug coverage through my insurance. Now I am uninsured, but I still need medicines, this one particularly, because it's a steroid and you can just stop those puppies cold turkey.
So I called around last week to find out who had my prescriptions for the best prices. Target was the winner with this one at $1011 for a one month refill. That's right. One month. So, plan B. I remembered I had a card from the drug company that would help me pay for this medication. So I took it to Walgreens, where I was picking up another prescription at the time, and asked them to check it out. Turns out the card is worth $500. Woo hoo! But it's good everywhere but Massachusetts, where I currently live. sigh. Time for a new plan.
So I take my prescription bottle with all the info on it and my magic card to a Target across the state line in New Hampshire. No big deal. It's not that far away, and my parents had errands they wanted to run in the area anyway. I give the bottle and the card to the pharmacist, explain that I'd like to transfer my prescription to Target and get as many pills as the $500 card will allow. Call me if there are any problems.
An hour later I'm sitting on a bench in the mall, waiting for my parents to do something or other, when I get a call from Target. They're very sorry, but they can't get the card to work. You must have primary insurance that will pay for at least part of the prescription, and then the card will cover the rest, up to $500.
Hell.
After suppressing the urge to throw things, I asked her how much one week of the prescription would cost. $232.26. Fortunately, steroids require tapers, and one week of the prescription as written is actually three weeks of medication for me. (You're supposed to take 1 pill a day for 6 weeks to safely taper. It's going to be more like 30 days.) So I gritted my teeth and bought the damn drugs.
And then I had a perfectly miserable time thinking of all the things I could have bought with that $232.26.
Bastards.
One good spot in all this mess-- I got a $10 Target card from the pharmacist. I think she felt bad for me. I'm going to save it just in case I need more of this medication. It will almost buy me one pill.
So I called around last week to find out who had my prescriptions for the best prices. Target was the winner with this one at $1011 for a one month refill. That's right. One month. So, plan B. I remembered I had a card from the drug company that would help me pay for this medication. So I took it to Walgreens, where I was picking up another prescription at the time, and asked them to check it out. Turns out the card is worth $500. Woo hoo! But it's good everywhere but Massachusetts, where I currently live. sigh. Time for a new plan.
So I take my prescription bottle with all the info on it and my magic card to a Target across the state line in New Hampshire. No big deal. It's not that far away, and my parents had errands they wanted to run in the area anyway. I give the bottle and the card to the pharmacist, explain that I'd like to transfer my prescription to Target and get as many pills as the $500 card will allow. Call me if there are any problems.
An hour later I'm sitting on a bench in the mall, waiting for my parents to do something or other, when I get a call from Target. They're very sorry, but they can't get the card to work. You must have primary insurance that will pay for at least part of the prescription, and then the card will cover the rest, up to $500.
Hell.
After suppressing the urge to throw things, I asked her how much one week of the prescription would cost. $232.26. Fortunately, steroids require tapers, and one week of the prescription as written is actually three weeks of medication for me. (You're supposed to take 1 pill a day for 6 weeks to safely taper. It's going to be more like 30 days.) So I gritted my teeth and bought the damn drugs.
And then I had a perfectly miserable time thinking of all the things I could have bought with that $232.26.
- 1/3 of a month's medical insurance premium
- a car payment on my beloved Toyota that I had to sell when I moved here
- one of the super fancy Tivos that I was drooling over the other night
- a month's supply of three other prescriptions put together
- almost 5 months worth of cell phone service
- 29 books for my Kindle
Bastards.
One good spot in all this mess-- I got a $10 Target card from the pharmacist. I think she felt bad for me. I'm going to save it just in case I need more of this medication. It will almost buy me one pill.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Picturepalooza
I'm not feeling particularly wordy today, and I just downloaded a bunch of old pictures off of my parents' camera, so congratulations! You're getting pictures today!
These first few are Christmas ornaments that I knit for my brother and sister-in-law as Christmas presents a few years ago.
And one last set of pictures to finish off with the Christmas theme.
These first few are Christmas ornaments that I knit for my brother and sister-in-law as Christmas presents a few years ago.
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| The "body" of this little guy is a wine cork I got from someone on Freecycle. Recycling at it's finest! |
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| Mini sock |
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| Itty bitty sweater! You'll notice that all the other ornaments are Hallmark. My SIL works part time at a Hallmark store. |
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| Troubbie the Wonder Cat Also, you can see a very *small* part of my yarn collection there on the left. |
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| My Christmas tree. Wasn't it pretty? |
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| We had Christmas crackers! Isn't it lovely how my paper hat matches my outfit? |
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| Dad had a hat, too, and he looks absolutely thrilled about it. |
Huge time jump!
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| Here's a picture of what will be my bedroom in the new house. I haven't seen it in person yet, but according to my brother, it really is as small as it looks. |
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| Closet! |
And one last set of pictures to finish off with the Christmas theme.
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| Snowman! |
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| Snowman butt! |
Monday, October 11, 2010
It's Almost Time
Three weeks from today it will be November. You know what that means. NaNo time.
I haven't really done NaNo since 2006. That was an excellent NaNo for me. I made serious progress on a book that I really loved, and only got a little lost at the end. As opposed to other years where I started out strong in the first week/week and a half and then scrambled to throw any old words onto the page to finish out the month with my 50,000.
I'm not sure what I want to do this time around. I've kicked around three ideas. First, there's the story that I've been working on in Discovery. It's a good concept, definitely one worth working on. But it's... big. Slippery in my mind. And I keep finding the most creative excuses not to do the homework for class. (Embarrassingly, I fell asleep in class yesterday and missed about half of it. Lucy, if you're reading this, it was all me, not you. I woke up long enough to type I'M A GREAT WRITER!!!! and then fell asleep for another two hours.) I strongly suspect that this is just too much story for me at this time. I haven't done any writing worth mentioning in almost 4 years. Maybe I need to start with something smaller, with less at stake. I really want to try something with this story, and to do that I need more confidence, more practice under my belt.
My second idea is to write anywhere from 3 to 10 short pieces aimed at the Harlequin Spice Briefs line. I don't mean to say that these are easy to write. It takes skill to take a small concept and turn it into a full story without any extraneous bits or feeling like there's stuff that's been left out. Not to mention these are hot stories, and if you can't write a heck of a sex scene, you're sunk. But I think this is something I might be able to do this year. Take a moment, a look, a touch, and spin it into a story. Too short for saggy middles. No wallowing around, trying to figure out what to do next. It starts, they do it, you tie it all up. At NaNo pace each one should take me anywhere from a few days up to a week. (The length requirements are 5,000-15,000 words.) But can I come up with 3 to 10 little fantasies to write about?
My third idea, which has merit just for it's ridiculousness, is to just wing something, some silly, fun story, and blog it. Let any commenters throw out ideas when I get stuck. Something that will be just pure fun. Strictly writing for the hell of it. That winging it, writing on the fly type attitude strikes me as particularly NaNo-ish. And provided I can keep going and actually find a way to wrap up whatever mess I've created by Nov 30, I think it could be a pretty satisfying way to jump back into the writing pool. The only problem is, I have not the tiniest idea what this story would be about.
So, what do you think? Set my self up for failure with the big scary book, go nympho for the month and write a series of sexy shorts with an eye toward submitting one or more of them by the end of the year, or should I go foo foo crazy and blog the results for all the world to see?
I haven't really done NaNo since 2006. That was an excellent NaNo for me. I made serious progress on a book that I really loved, and only got a little lost at the end. As opposed to other years where I started out strong in the first week/week and a half and then scrambled to throw any old words onto the page to finish out the month with my 50,000.
I'm not sure what I want to do this time around. I've kicked around three ideas. First, there's the story that I've been working on in Discovery. It's a good concept, definitely one worth working on. But it's... big. Slippery in my mind. And I keep finding the most creative excuses not to do the homework for class. (Embarrassingly, I fell asleep in class yesterday and missed about half of it. Lucy, if you're reading this, it was all me, not you. I woke up long enough to type I'M A GREAT WRITER!!!! and then fell asleep for another two hours.) I strongly suspect that this is just too much story for me at this time. I haven't done any writing worth mentioning in almost 4 years. Maybe I need to start with something smaller, with less at stake. I really want to try something with this story, and to do that I need more confidence, more practice under my belt.
My second idea is to write anywhere from 3 to 10 short pieces aimed at the Harlequin Spice Briefs line. I don't mean to say that these are easy to write. It takes skill to take a small concept and turn it into a full story without any extraneous bits or feeling like there's stuff that's been left out. Not to mention these are hot stories, and if you can't write a heck of a sex scene, you're sunk. But I think this is something I might be able to do this year. Take a moment, a look, a touch, and spin it into a story. Too short for saggy middles. No wallowing around, trying to figure out what to do next. It starts, they do it, you tie it all up. At NaNo pace each one should take me anywhere from a few days up to a week. (The length requirements are 5,000-15,000 words.) But can I come up with 3 to 10 little fantasies to write about?
My third idea, which has merit just for it's ridiculousness, is to just wing something, some silly, fun story, and blog it. Let any commenters throw out ideas when I get stuck. Something that will be just pure fun. Strictly writing for the hell of it. That winging it, writing on the fly type attitude strikes me as particularly NaNo-ish. And provided I can keep going and actually find a way to wrap up whatever mess I've created by Nov 30, I think it could be a pretty satisfying way to jump back into the writing pool. The only problem is, I have not the tiniest idea what this story would be about.
So, what do you think? Set my self up for failure with the big scary book, go nympho for the month and write a series of sexy shorts with an eye toward submitting one or more of them by the end of the year, or should I go foo foo crazy and blog the results for all the world to see?
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Better Blogging
I'm really enjoying this blogging thing, and I want to get better at it. So I did the logical thing and checked out a blogging group. Culture shock. They were all talking about stuff like marketing you blog, whether or not to pay to advertise your blog (do people really do this?), commenting on as many blogs as you can so that people will follow you back to your blog and comment.
Basically, it was all about increasing your stats and comments. Now don't get me wrong. I love comments. It always makes me smile when someone takes the time to comment on something that I've written.
But what I'm really looking for is suggestions on how to write a better blog. Maybe I'm naive, but I happen to believe that a good product, more interesting posts, will eventually build a larger readership. I want people to find my blog, through whatever means, and find it interesting enough to want to come back again. I don't want to spend my time trying to come up with something interesting to say about some random blog in the hope that the blogger will come back and comment here. Those comments are like the Twinkies of the blogosphere-- a brief rush but ultimately unfulfilling.
So what should I do to improve my blogging skills? Write better posts! Duh. But what is it that I'm lacking? Focus? Consistency? Is the tone too negative? Should I interact more in the comments?
Lay it on me, y'all. I can take it.
Basically, it was all about increasing your stats and comments. Now don't get me wrong. I love comments. It always makes me smile when someone takes the time to comment on something that I've written.
But what I'm really looking for is suggestions on how to write a better blog. Maybe I'm naive, but I happen to believe that a good product, more interesting posts, will eventually build a larger readership. I want people to find my blog, through whatever means, and find it interesting enough to want to come back again. I don't want to spend my time trying to come up with something interesting to say about some random blog in the hope that the blogger will come back and comment here. Those comments are like the Twinkies of the blogosphere-- a brief rush but ultimately unfulfilling.
So what should I do to improve my blogging skills? Write better posts! Duh. But what is it that I'm lacking? Focus? Consistency? Is the tone too negative? Should I interact more in the comments?
Lay it on me, y'all. I can take it.
Friday, October 8, 2010
And another thing....
I keep tripping over contests or donation schemes this week that require you to comment or follow or friend people. It's really bugging me. "If 500 people comment on my blog, I'll donate $500 to XYZ charity!" And then everyone in the world puts in on Twitter, and it ends up all over my Twitter stream. The blogger ends up looking like a good person, when all they're really doing is paying $500 for a huge number of comments and publicity. If you want to donate $500 to charity so bad, go do it privately. I don't need to hear about it.
Cynical. It goes with the cranky.
Last night a blogger announced that a book give away was just about to close. It was for a book I've been wanting, so I popped on over. All you had to do was comment, and you're entered in the drawing. Cool. But follow the blogger on Twitter you get x number of extra entries. And if you follow the author, too, you get x more entries. And if you friend them on Facebook you get this, and if you add them as a friend on Goodreads you get that, and by the time you're done, everyone who entered the contest had about 20 or 30 entries, and the blogger and the author's stats are through the roof. Annoying. This morning I checked my Twitter stream, and it's been totally overwhelmed by youtube videos and other worthless crap from the blogger and author. Super annoying.
And there are a couple people in my Twitter stream who I otherwise like and respect. They have interesting things to say, and I want to read them. But they keep sending out the same tweets over and over, flogging their blogs. Not, "I have a new post, come read it!" But identical tweets, about the same post or contest, over and over and OVER again.
I realize I am one hand, clapping in the darkness. I'm not an expert or anyone of any great importance. But really, people. Social networking-- ur doin it rong.
Cynical. It goes with the cranky.
Last night a blogger announced that a book give away was just about to close. It was for a book I've been wanting, so I popped on over. All you had to do was comment, and you're entered in the drawing. Cool. But follow the blogger on Twitter you get x number of extra entries. And if you follow the author, too, you get x more entries. And if you friend them on Facebook you get this, and if you add them as a friend on Goodreads you get that, and by the time you're done, everyone who entered the contest had about 20 or 30 entries, and the blogger and the author's stats are through the roof. Annoying. This morning I checked my Twitter stream, and it's been totally overwhelmed by youtube videos and other worthless crap from the blogger and author. Super annoying.
And there are a couple people in my Twitter stream who I otherwise like and respect. They have interesting things to say, and I want to read them. But they keep sending out the same tweets over and over, flogging their blogs. Not, "I have a new post, come read it!" But identical tweets, about the same post or contest, over and over and OVER again.
I realize I am one hand, clapping in the darkness. I'm not an expert or anyone of any great importance. But really, people. Social networking-- ur doin it rong.
Cranky
I can't help it. It's been coming for days, and I've been trying to suppress it, but it's just not working. I'm cranky. I hurt. I'm tired of trying to keep up with my parents' schedule and routine and of trying to be a helpful little monkey. I'm sick of being around people. I'm sick of shouting all the time because a) everyone is always trying to talk to each other from three rooms away, and b) my mother is going deaf. I am sick of being blasted out of my seat by the TV. I can be in my bedroom-- upstairs and on the opposite side of the house-- and hear the TV as clearly as if I was in the room. I've developed tinnitus, y'all. Seriously. My ears are ringing.
What I really, truly, desperately want is to close the door, pull the covers over my head, and not see another human until Tuesday.
What I must do soon is pull on a sweatshirt and a pair of shoes and go downstairs and greet people at this damn garage sale my parents are having. Every time they sell something they come in the house and holler up the stairs with the new sales total. We're up to $4.75. Yee haw.
Like I said. Cranky.
What I really, truly, desperately want is to close the door, pull the covers over my head, and not see another human until Tuesday.
What I must do soon is pull on a sweatshirt and a pair of shoes and go downstairs and greet people at this damn garage sale my parents are having. Every time they sell something they come in the house and holler up the stairs with the new sales total. We're up to $4.75. Yee haw.
Like I said. Cranky.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Great Googly Moogly
I spent part of the day today calling pharmacies and pricing my most urgent prescriptions now that I don't have insurance or prescription drug coverage. Never do this. It's too depressing for words.
I only priced the four that need to be refilled in the next two weeks. No point in going through the hassle if it doesn't need to be refilled yet, because the prices might be different in Indiana. One of my prescriptions-- just one prescription, for one month-- is $1011.49. And that's the cheapest price I could find for that one. It's a steroid, and I've been weening myself off of it anyway, so I may just take my last nine pills and hope for the best. I have a bottle of Prednisone for emergencies. It plays merry hell with the body, but it's cheap. If I start to crash and burn without the other steroid I'll just start up on the Pred. I could buy a couple of years' worth of Pred for the price of one month of the other stuff.
I will say one thing for my thousand dollar steroids. They make my $130/month Savella look mighty cheap in comparison. And the Savella, at least in the short term, would be much more miserable to go off.
I only priced the four that need to be refilled in the next two weeks. No point in going through the hassle if it doesn't need to be refilled yet, because the prices might be different in Indiana. One of my prescriptions-- just one prescription, for one month-- is $1011.49. And that's the cheapest price I could find for that one. It's a steroid, and I've been weening myself off of it anyway, so I may just take my last nine pills and hope for the best. I have a bottle of Prednisone for emergencies. It plays merry hell with the body, but it's cheap. If I start to crash and burn without the other steroid I'll just start up on the Pred. I could buy a couple of years' worth of Pred for the price of one month of the other stuff.
I will say one thing for my thousand dollar steroids. They make my $130/month Savella look mighty cheap in comparison. And the Savella, at least in the short term, would be much more miserable to go off.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Collage!
Check it out! I made a collage!
This was homework for the Discovery class I've been taking. My computer has been in the shop for most of the last week and a half, and I was feeling pretty frustrated. But I got my baby back today, and I was able to spend a couple of hours finding just the right images (I'd already picked out some) and putting them together. This probably isn't the end of the collaging for this project. There's still a boat load of stuff I need to figure out. But this feels like a good start.
This was homework for the Discovery class I've been taking. My computer has been in the shop for most of the last week and a half, and I was feeling pretty frustrated. But I got my baby back today, and I was able to spend a couple of hours finding just the right images (I'd already picked out some) and putting them together. This probably isn't the end of the collaging for this project. There's still a boat load of stuff I need to figure out. But this feels like a good start.
Friday, October 1, 2010
A review home of my own
I'm really digging this whole book reviewing thing. It's fun to take all those little conversations with myself as I read a book and put them out there for others to consider, too. It's fun to spend more time after I finish a novel really analyzing what worked and what didn't and why.
But from the first one it felt like this isn't the right place for them. This blog is only tangentially about books. It's called It's All About Me for a reason. I considered starting a second blog just for reviews, but since I've only managed, what, 3 reviews in the last six or eight weeks? Yeah, that'd go nowhere fast.
So here's what I'm thinking. A group review blog. The details can be worked out when it's more than just me babbling about it. But generally I'd like to find at least 4 bloggers willing to commit to one book review every other week. That should work out (assuming my math is correct-- something no one should ever assume) to two book reviews per week on the blog. If we find more than 4 bloggers we could either go with more reviews posted every week or back off the commitment by each blogger to one every 3 or even 4 weeks.
I'd like to be pretty broad about the genres. I read romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and YA. It would be nice if we all connected in some way with our reading tastes, so that there is some continuity. But I'd love to have co-bloggers who read in different genres, too, and review things I would never have discovered on my own.
What do you think? Sound good? Crazy rambling of a woman who really needs to get some sleep? If it's something you think you'd like to do, let me know and we can start talking details.
But from the first one it felt like this isn't the right place for them. This blog is only tangentially about books. It's called It's All About Me for a reason. I considered starting a second blog just for reviews, but since I've only managed, what, 3 reviews in the last six or eight weeks? Yeah, that'd go nowhere fast.
So here's what I'm thinking. A group review blog. The details can be worked out when it's more than just me babbling about it. But generally I'd like to find at least 4 bloggers willing to commit to one book review every other week. That should work out (assuming my math is correct-- something no one should ever assume) to two book reviews per week on the blog. If we find more than 4 bloggers we could either go with more reviews posted every week or back off the commitment by each blogger to one every 3 or even 4 weeks.
I'd like to be pretty broad about the genres. I read romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and YA. It would be nice if we all connected in some way with our reading tastes, so that there is some continuity. But I'd love to have co-bloggers who read in different genres, too, and review things I would never have discovered on my own.
What do you think? Sound good? Crazy rambling of a woman who really needs to get some sleep? If it's something you think you'd like to do, let me know and we can start talking details.
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