Living a Life I Don't Know How to Live

I've updated my Life To Do list: Dreamwidth | Livejournal. It has some new goals as well as a few things I've finished since the last time I updated it. Biggest thing completed recently is getting a dog, of course.

Suggestions always welcome.

Adopting Izzy was the best decision in the world. When I come home from work, we cuddle, because she's missed me so much, and then we play fetch until she's worn out. Then she sleeps against me while I work (either more legal work or writing). We're still working on the housebreaking issue, but she's still the most delightful dog ever.

Unexpectedly, Kitty and the Underworld, Carrie Vaughn's latest Kitty Norville book, showed up today. I wasn't expecting it to arrive so soon, I'd gone to the office thinking a package of cleaning supplies had shown up, but instead, a book I really want to read. Alas, I need to get through this week before I do so. (Yes, yes, I know, book buying ban, but I made an exception for one of my favorite werewolf series.)

Finally bought living room furniture. Pictures of that later.

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Friday, I picked up my first grocery order. It's a little bit of a pain to drive to the store, but being able to order online and just pick it up when I get there was more than worth it. (If I can work out a way to be at home during the delivery hours, I may switch to delivery, but until they have weekend delivery hours, that's probably not going to happen.) I hate grocery shopping SO MUCH that a little extra money and drive time is more than worth not having to do it myself.

Niece H, my youngest niece (at the moment) had her fourth birthday party Saturday afternoon in Columbia, so I happily rearranged my normal Saturday schedule. Izzy and I went out for our walk at 4 a.m., and then Sarah and I had a few hours of writing time (we're working on our second novel, because the first one is with our first readers right now) before I had to take Iz to the vet. (Nothing was wrong, I just had to establish treatment with a vet per the adoption agreement.) She did really well with all the people, and absolutely charmed the staff. Vet started talking about how smart she is approximately thirty seconds after meeting her, and agreed that obedience training and then therapy training would be a good idea. I'm going to have to set aside some money for private obedience classes, because Iz still cannot stand other dogs.

I cleaned up the kitchen a little in preparation for cooking this week (originally, I planned to do it Sunday, but plans changed), and then Iz and I hit the road for Columbia, which is about two hours away. I love road trips, Iz loves road trips, it's a good combination. We found the park pretty easily, and Iz had her first experience at a park. She loved it -- until other people showed up walking their dogs. Oh, Iz.

Still, I was more worried about how she would do with Niece H, who is the first kid she's spent time with. (Nephew C, my oldest nephew, is a teen, and is the closest person to a kid she's met so far.) She did great with Niece H, who absolutely adored petting her and booping her on the nose. Iz also loved all the adults, and she was pretty good about not begging for food. (She doesn't get people food because it made her sick the one time we tried.) (Well, no, she does get peanut butter and Vet said I need to feed her some eggs, because she's underweight, but most people food is off limits.) I hadn't seen my youngest brother, Thomas, his girlfriend, Sarah, or Niece H since Christmas, so it was great to see them, meet some of their friends, and see their new place. Niece H was SO EXCITED that we showed up (Kris and Neal also drove up from Springfield), and we had a blast. Thomas grilled delicious burgers and hot dogs, and Youngest Niece picked out an adorable sugary ice cream cake. (I skipped that part, but it looked awesome. I'm not a huge fan of white cake or ice cream cake.) There was a unicorn piñata, and Niece H had a great time trying to break it. In the end, Thomas had to hit it, and he decapitated it, but still didn't break it open, so they ended up tearing it apart to get to the candy. I died laughing, and am so glad I recorded it, because it is adorable.

Kris and Neal came back to Kansas City with me, we dropped Iz off at home, and then went to iHop for a late dinner and a lot of talking. I haven't gotten to see them as much as we'd planned this summer, because Neal ended up getting this awesome job doing exactly what he wants to do, which is fantastic, but definitely cut into their trips up here. We had a great time hanging out, came home and talked more, and finally crashed in the wee hours of the morning.

Kris joined me on Iz's morning walk, I had a super short call with Sarah, and then we headed out to Bob Evans for brunch. The food was good, but the service was horrible; at one point, we were left for nearly a half an hour without being checked on, no drink refills, nothing. It ended up being really disappointing.

We showed Neal Lilo & Stitch for the first time (how MY brother-in-law managed to go this long without me forcing him to watch it, I have no idea), and he seemed to like it. He certainly laughed a lot. We grabbed bbq for dinner out at my favorite cheap and cheerful bbq joint, Rosedale BBQ (which I just learned has online ordering, SCORE), and then grabbed dessert from Culvers.

Back home, Kris and I did some SECRET PROJECT planning (more on this soon), and then we apparently taught Iz to play, finally, specifically to play fetch with one of her squeaky toys. She played again tonight when I got home from work, and I'm so thrilled. We have fun together.

After they left, I did some work, took Iz out for her nightly walk, and then we cuddled and read for awhile.

Tonight, I'm cooking and moving stuff around for my furniture delivery this week. Finally I'll have my gorgeous red leather sectional. I'm super excited, and will post pictures once it's here. I think Izzy will like it, too; she loves cuddling up against me while I work, and she can't do that right now unless we're at Jake's. I think we might have played too hard earlier, because Iz is sort of drooping around. I'll take her for a short walk right before bed, and let her relax quite a bit while I cook and clean.

(Right now I have apples baking and they smell delicious.)

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org with comments. Read the original post there. Comment here or there using OpenID.

I am absolutely delighted to find Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on Netflix. I used to love this show, particularly when I lived somewhere I didn't have much of a local queer community. Some of the episodes still really touch my heart; there's this one with a guy who wants to propose, and they really set up a fantastic night for him and his girlfriend, and he was precious, and he tried so hard, and I was just delighted. I love the combo of this and Clean House. (I also love that I really don't need cable television. Yay streaming shows.)

This weekend was really super productive. Saturday, like I said, Sarah and I finished our current edit of Woods. We're now working on the final few scenes we decided it needed, and I'm doing one more polish edit this week, and then the goal is to send it to first readers Sunday or Monday. I am surprisingly nervous about this; it's been such a long time since I finished anything and sent it off to be workshopped. (I mean, besides legal writing. I'm fab at taking criticism of legal writing, mostly because of all the time I spent having my creative writing critiqued.)

Then Sunday, we finished the outline of our second project, Horror on Holiday, and split up the scenes so we can start writing it. We've given ourselves a fairly tight goal to get it finished (not as fast as we wrote Woods, which was in less than four weeks, but still pretty fast), with the caveat that if either of us feel too pressured, we will push back our goal date. (My sister, Kris, pulled Sarah in to help keep me from working myself into another breakdown, and Sarah is taking this responsibility very seriously. You should be super proud of her and Craig, Kris.) We also started the outline of our third project, which requires some serious, complicated, complex worldbuilding. I never expected to be writing something like this, despite the fact that the initial spark of an idea came from my idea file, but I am very excited.

I also did a lot of home organizing this weekend, craft and art supplies, dvds, and books. I have definitely put a restriction on buying new books until I read some of the ones I have sitting around on my To Read Bookcases. I now also have a pile of dvds that need to be watched.

Finally, I cooked an amazing roast in the crockpot last night, and a chicken casserole that has tortillas and peppers and cheese and salsa verde and corn and all sorts of deliciousness. I took some for lunch today, and it was fantastic. Didn't get to try the roast until dinner, but it was also amazing. (A little too salty for my taste, but most things are, and I think that may be the soup base used in it. Next time I'll try to find a low sodium version and see if that helps. I hate the taste of salt.) Kris put together a meal plan for me awhile back, as part of her work as my personal assistant this summer, and I appreciate all the time and effort she put into so much. I love not having to think about it, just grab the shopping list for the week, shop one day, cook the next. It makes life so much easier.

I updated my 2013 reading list yesterday, and I really need to make a book post soon. I have read some awesome books and short stories lately, and I want to share them with you all.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org with comments. Read the original post there. Comment here or there using OpenID.

I have been trying to post more regularly, though it is hit or miss.

Last weekend, Jake came up to spend the weekend with me. It was the first time he's stayed in my new (but not actually new) place. Usually, if we spend the weekend together, it's down at his house, because Dad's down there and Jake's siblings and Oldest Nephew and our friends and often Kris and Neal are in town. Plus the Hawaiian restaurant we love (Island Style) is nearby. We've been hitting it up for great food, excellent company (the family that owns it has basically adopted us all, and they are delightful), and karaoke. Occasionally, I even sing, though mostly I just record and cheer on the others. (Oldest Nephew is freaking amazing. None of us had any idea he could sing like that.)

Anyway, Jake came up here. Sarah and I had a Skype session and writing time scheduled, as we almost always do on Saturdays, and while we worked, he organized my apartment for me. It was AWESOME. He sorted out the boxes, put away the ones I want to keep, took the rest out to be picked up, moved stuff around, set up my kitchen, including my new blender, repotted plants, but in new daylight LED bulbs where I read and write, helped me unload my car -- all in all, just made the apartment cozier. Plus awhile back, Kris picked up a bunch of art supplies and storage for me, and I finally sorted everything into the boxes and have all that set up. I still haven't purchased my living room seating, but the apartment is coming together nicely.

One of the things he did was move these two small bookcases I have. I was using one for my Get Rid Of Somehow Books. Now I'm starting to fill that one a second time, and the other one is being used as my To Read bookcase. I, uh, have more books to read than I thought. There was a point in time when I'd read every book I owned. Not anymore. I need to put some sort of limit on my book buying until I read some of them. At least the physical copies.

I'm up to more than 100 days of consecutive writing. I've also given up soda, and have replaced the fizzy drink with sparkling mineral water (sometimes mixed with flavored tea).

Apart from the organizing and writing, we had some good meals, bought a ton of groceries for me, and went to see Pacific Rim at my new favorite theater. (It has a bar! And red leather recliners! And is generally AWESOME.) I enjoyed the movie a lot, actually, though I would have rather it not been such a white guy movie. I wish some of the characters had been swapped out for men and women of color. It was a fun summer blockbuster full of explosions and pretty monsters and I absolutely loved both Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi. Charlie Hunnam was fun too, though he was fairly Jax-like to me in the role.

I have managed to do some reading lately, and I should do a post in the near future over books I've read and really enjoyed, because there have been quite a few.

Today I had a Skype session with Sarah, during which we finished our current edit of Woods. Now we each have a few more scenes to write, and I am still working on some of the description. It's almost ready to go out to first readers, though. Exciting. Tomorrow we're going to have another call. We may finish the outline for our next project then, so we can get started on writing something new soon. I then finished organizing art supplies, did some more sorting of books, and am sitting down to do more writing. I was going to cook a roast later, using a Kris recipe, but I'm still full from brunch (biscuits and gravy for the win!) and will probably just eat some fruit later. Tomorrow I'll make a roast, though. And some sort of chicken casserole thing.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org with comments. Read the original post there. Comment here or there using OpenID.

I was just talking to sunfire1216 about how I found her posts about cleaning and organizing a little every day very inspirational and I wanted to be back in my apartment cleaning and organizing. Then the conversation veered into positive versus negative thoughts and being the change you want to see and I decided that I think I'd like this year to be the year of me attempting to be more positive and the year of me saying yes to things I'd normally immediately say no to doing. I am very antisocial and prefer being alone, but I think I'd like to try to be slightly more social and say yes to more invitations, especially with the big move in the future. We'll see how this goes.

This comes at the end of a fairly frustrating and disheartening day. I've been editing a complaint to Delta Airlines and American Airlines and I've had to take breaks from it because it was so frustrating and terrifying, the way they treated the passenger and her dogs. I can't imagine having lived through it, especially towards the end of the experience.

I also wasn't able to get into the free clinic. They only had one doctor tonight and were only seeing eight patients. Also, even though I can never get through on the phone and they used to only take people on a first-come, first-served basis, they are apparently taking phone reservations now. I will be glad when I have health insurance again, because that's obviously going to happen before this country gets its head out of its ass when it comes to public health care.

Finally, Mom is not doing well, which is always a downer.

On the positive side, Mom and Dad's new dog is this tiny, adorable ball of brown fur. Her name is CoCo and she's so teeny and cute. Dad and I had a nice visit. I've managed to figure out how to end chapter twenty-three of M&M, my current novel-length project, am likely to finish it tonight, and know how chapter twenty-four will begin, at least. (Sure, I haven't figure out the transition scene in the middle of chapter twenty-three, but that's what draft two is for.) I may be working the rest of this week at the glass shop again. I have a giant stein of ice water and a large glass of diet Dr. Pepper to drink. I have the most awesome fingerless gloves ever. Pandora has given me five hours of excellent music in which I have not had to dislike a single song. On the whole, life is good.

Best thing about winter in Missouri is that I can walk outside at night and my eyes automatically find Canis Major. It's too cloudy in Michigan to see it mostly, but I love being able to look up and it being right there. (For those who don't know, I have it tattooed on my right leg. It has meaning for me.)

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Have some links! (I have approximately 500 tabs open, NO JOKE, so I need to stop hanging on to these and post them already.)

Justine Larbalestier talks about cover art.

Maggie Stiefvater talks about her top songs of 2009.

Isabel the Spy talks about how Lady GaGa isn't all that subversive when it comes to ideals of beauty.

Quote: i feel like there are limits, maybe, to how “hideous” an extremely skinny blonde white girl can be considered. and this isn’t a critique of gaga herself because it’s true that she for the most part can’t help these things and shouldn’t (though: she did recently say in an interview that she doesn’t eat, make of that what you will). but i see this argument thrown around a lot and i don’t buy it, because she’s still in that safety zone.

or to put it another way: picture a fat woman, or a black woman, or a Latina woman, or a fat black Latina woman, doing ANYTHING that lady gaga has ever done, and tell me people would still be talking about her as some kind of subversive artiste.

Justine Larbalestier talks about the music she listened to while writing Liar.

Drowning in the Shallow End: Third Wave Feminism.

(NB: I am not yet done reading this article, but I thought some of you might be interested.)

Karen Healey wrote a sweet, funny holiday story filled with warmth and light and family and love: Queen of the Kitchen.

(NB: Keep an eye on Karen, she is a fantastic writer and is going far. OMG You guys my friends are AWESOME.)

Thanks to mattie, I can never unsee Awkward Family Photos.

Catherynne Valente talks about the all-women authors upcoming Realms of Fantasy issue.

Based on this post by Sigrid Ellis about Vin Diesel, I've realized that I basically play a Vin Diesel-esque character in all my tabletop RPGs, except female. And also that I love the do him/be him dichotomy to my love for Vin Diesel.

V Magazine apparently has a plus-size issue this year? I do not know what V Magazine is or anything about this, but some of the pictures are pretty.

Justine Larbalestier asks for recommendations of books which are like her book Liar. So if you've read Liar and have recs, head over there.

For all my Glee hate, I like this fanvid: They Don't Care About Us, Brittany, Mike, Santana, and Matt. (Though the talking head bits drive me crazy.) I also like this Brittany/Santana vid. Maybe the thing to do is give up watching Glee (which probably I have already done) and instead watch transformative fanvids that address the issues I have with it?

Okay, so I got it down under 300 tabs. Jake's still not home from work (two v. v. long days for him in a row), but I think I am headed to bed soon. Especially if I'm working tomorrow.

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Man, I love my cheesy, angry rock SO MUCH.