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I can't predict when I have the time to post a new blog, but check occasionally. I'm going to try at least weekly.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Time passes fast when waiting.

Song of the day: “White Houses” by Vanessa Carlton. Had it before, and probably will again. Very catchy tune and fun to sing, can’t ask for anything better when it concerns being stuck with a song in my head.

I seriously overslept today. For some unfathomable reason I forgot to set my alarm last night so I was at least an hour late when I woke up this morning and blinked at the clock in confusion. I could have sworn that I set it before going to bed and yet…well, apparently I didn’t, darn it.

Since I was late, I pretty much hurried through the morning rituals…which were interrupted by grandpa, who delivered a package that had arrived today at the postal office. My book “W.I. Investigations: Volume 1-4” finally came. The post took 2 weeks, but luckily, it got here in time for me to send it out for Operation Desert Swap. It is so annoying that the publisher has made some sort of change in the mailing stuff. So send a single book to Spain costs me close to thirty bucks, for crying out loud…and I really need to get a few copies more for this kind of thing.

Ah well, at least I can support the troops on the “front line”. This way they’ll have something fun to do too, while they’re far away from home.

But anyway, once I’ve properly inspected the book and stored it again, I head down to the house for the morning chores, such as the laundry. The monster boxer is a tad annoying again today. For some peculiar reason she still thinks that, she has to put her teeth in something while we’re walking down to the house. Aaargh.

The morning chores over and done with, big brother and I get down to the most important thing of the day: proofreading! Yay. I know. This is so unusual…NOT. But what can I say, we want to be thorough, just in case the publisher wants to see the rest, and of course because we want to have the manuscript as perfect as we can possibly get it. Hah.

We work for a solid four hours before our brains begin to go mush from this particular task. While we were doing the corrections, I got this rather brilliant scene in my head for one of the sequels of “Saving Nina”…I have no idea what the title of the sequel is going to be, but the story is shaping up nicely in my head. I think it’s going to be a doozy, and I can’t wait to be done with both SN and “Commanding Morgan” so I can dig in.

After writing a page and a half for the sequel, it is time to head outside and figure out what it is we’re going to do first today. A short discussion ensues, a variety of possibilities come up before today’s pleasant weather makes it a perfect day for the chemical bath for the dogs. Considering that October means fleas, we really shouldn’t postpone it much longer.

Big brother drains half the pool…it was starting to turn green anyway, since we haven’t swam for almost two weeks now…and then throws in the vile stuff that is supposed to keep the little pesky buggers at bay.

Even though I don’t much fancy the idea of getting wet (it is inevitable nonetheless) and cold, there really isn’t much choice in the matter when the sibs start herding the dogs into the pool, with me dunking the mutts when they pass me on the stairs.
It takes a couple of hours, but then the task is done. There were several reluctant little buggers in the pack, of course, but in the end, it was a relatively painless venture for all parties involved. Once they’re all through, I head for the shower to wash off an get warm, and then it’s on to work on the veranda office and critter cages.

With the latter some haste is warranted, considering the rabbits are preventing two of the chinchillas to come down for food. I never would have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it myself. But rabbits, apparently, are a tad territorial. Heck, they’ll even attack human…without doing much damage, of course, but still.

While grandpa and big brother work on the cage, middle sister and I start clearing shelves in what is going to be our office. Little brother has offered to bring the excess stuff down to the storage room, and little sister makes a nice batch of tomato soup for our dinner.

After a couple of hours, with me hosing down the batch of drawers we found stacked under a batch of piled up…stuff, today’s project work comes to an end. Since mom likes to watch a show around this time, I take the small table from the courtyard and set it on the veranda, so I can work in peace and quiet, on this morning’s writing and the blog, of course.

Which brings us to a quick update of yesterday:
The publisher was kind enough to send me a "Got it" message...I'd asked in the letter, 'cause the last time the worrying drove me bonkers. So now it is all about waiting for the editor to read through the first few chapters and get back to me about whether she likes to see the rest of the manuscript.
I'm actually surprised at how accustomed I've become to the waiting. Yes, I'm still freaking out, but it's on the inside now, and no longer in the front of my brain, where it'll stop me from doing anything else. Hah.

Okay, gotta stop thinking about that. It needs to stay in the back of my mind, thank you very much. Grrr.

We were in the midst of finishing putting in the slats of the office wall, when a phone call from the garage disrupted the day. It brought the rather troublesome news that we’re going to have to shell out another 600 bucks (on top of the 500 we already had to pay for the repair job we’d brought it to the shop for) because the latter had caused damage to the new damage. Aaargh

So, instead of finishing up with the wall, and removing what was left of the big rabbit cage, (poor younger sibs had to finish it alone) we had to go to the village to check it all out. We also had to rent a car for the next few days because we really do not want another snafu like the last time, when we didn’t have a car. But boy, this is seriously going to eat into our savings. In all honesty we had counted on some repairs when we bought the Land Rover second hand, but it would have been nice if the “maybe” had stayed just that.

After talking with the garage, we decided to go to town too, and get some groceries that should tide us over until next week, when we have our own car back. Gawd, the tiny Hyundai really annoyed me. We barely managed to fit in a week’s supply, for crying out loud. It makes me really appreciate the big car. Aaargh.

The puppies were and are doing grand. They got some medicine for parasites and have shifted from porridge to puppy kibble, so their intestines are quieting down. Our tenant’s caregiver absolutely adores them; so the little ones are definitely loved, which is really the only requirement when it concerns pets.

So, that pretty much brings the past two days to an end. My dogs are exhausted…I don’t think they’re all that appreciative of our efforts to keep them parasite free, ‘cause even though they’re clustered around me (as usual), whenever I glance in their direction they’ll huffily turn away. Hah. Idiots!

That’s it, I guess. I wish I had grand news, but life is pretty much going on as usual over here. I am going to enjoy expanding about the office project in the near future, though. We’ve got a grand plan, that’s a fact.

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