Song of the day: Someone you loved, by Lewis Capaldi. Such a gorgeous song.

Life. It has a way of getting away from you...or at least it does in my case. So strange the way the world has changed, even since the last past here on the blog. As of today we are once again in lockdown, nuts, I tell ya. Totally nuts! But, it is what it is, right? The powers that be make a decision and we must all abide by it. I just can't help but feel bad for all those people who really can't afford this shaite. For the people who suffer because of these lockdowns and are losing everything.

But, the old mantra still counts. I won't care about things I cannot change. It has no use.So, let's see if I can bring y'all up to date to life as it is at the moment. What all has happened since the last time I wrote?

First there was school. I thankfully passed my exams with a respectable average of 9 (out of 10), so that was over and done with. Actually got my diploma last October so I've got that sucker in my pocket at long last. Was nice to see about half of my fellow students again, and to have a bit of a social distanced party with a shot of booze followed by a beer.

Work. Well, we have a forced close now again, but before that I had two lovely months working in the Buffet restaurant again. The formula was different, no more free for all buffet, but a 3 course dining experience instead. Though different from usual (and what I love most doing) it was still a nice challenge...until the corona measures got tightened again, of course,  meaning that our restaurants had to close and we were only allowed to offer take-away to our guests. But that, of course meant that we had too many chefs in the kitchen. So what does that leave for Sammie, you might wonder. Well, luckily I can be bumped to TD, meaning I get to help big brother out with the hated morning shifts.

The 4:20 wake up call is pretty much killing me, but work is work...or at least it was, considering things will change again now with the new lockdown. I might get lucky and won't need to start at 6 am until January, which should be awesome. I don't mind work, in any shape or form, but I do hate the early morning. Ha. We'll see how that goes.

Had friends over for dinner the other day. I miss cooking special stuff, so it was the perfect occasion to have some fun in the kitchen. Decided on three courses that started with a lovely fresh pumpkin soup decorated with fresh herbs and a blot of cream cheese in the center. The main course was a lovely experiment of red beet risotto topped by a bit of Parmesan. This dish had strips of veggies on the side and a yellow creamy sauce with saffron and rose. Last but not least was a strawberry tartlet made from scratch with a bit of whipped cream on top. Was a wonderful evening with friends and good food, so that was a successful evening in my book.

Been experimenting with bread, partly because I am playing with the idea of starting to do some kind of catering, or food take away on the side. I already have several people interested in my vegetable bread, which would be great if I can get regular orders for that in the future. They would be more interested in seasonal veggies, though, so that meant I had to do some experimenting. Ended up with 3 new recipes from that. One with cauliflower and carrot. One of three types of cabbage, and one with pumpkin and parsnips. Definitely fun to try, and there might even be a restaurant interested in it, so I will keep you posted on that.

As for Mr. Whitney, the absolute gorgeous fella (aka golden retriever) I adopted this spring is still with us. He's amazing. Such good company and hardly ever a bother. He's adjusted well to his new life with us, absolutely loving our 3x daily walks, and enjoying his very own home-made food. He's no longer skinny. He's got muscles now and his confidence is still improving daily. He's such a marvelous addition to our lives, I can barely remember a time when he wasn't here. He's been making sure that we go on plenty of walks, which is of course very good for us since going to the gym isn't actually in the realm of possibilities at the moment.

As for the house. My...our lovely house. We got quite a bit done in the months that have passed since my last blog. First of, we have upgraded our electrical system, meaning that now we can have a proper kitchen when the time is right. Added to that all the walls in the living areas that had to go out are out, so we could put in new floors in the kitchen, the office and the living room. Which makes sooooooo much of a difference. No more cold tiles under my feet, not to mention that the first 3 floors are so much more spacious now. It is absolutely awesome. Basically we now have the house's base exactly the way we want it. Sure, we'll have to remodel the kitchen, still, and the bathroom, a shed, and the garage, but there's no rush. It's all very livable until we've got some savings to do them proper. Right now I have added a kitchen island that gives me at least enough work space, and painted everything that needed painting, too, so let's see how things go.

Dealing with mom's passing is a sometimes it's okay, sometimes it still hits me by surprise, kind of thing. Sometimes I can still not believe it, and now that we are dealing with the aftermath of the house in Spain and such, it is very much back in my mind, I fear. I wish it wasn't, and yes I am working at letting it go and accepting it, but still, it isn't easy. Alas.

It has been slow on the writing front, but I have started on a new book because I needed something new, something different, so guess what. I am writing a paranormal/horror/thriller. I kid you not. We've got zombie killers and all that jazz. So much fun to do. Got over 11k words now, so I'm pretty pleased about that. Will be getting a couple of the older manuscripts out of the dust piles so we can start sending them out in the near future, but until then I'm having fun doing the creative thing again.

Well, that's about it for today, I guess. Hope everyone is doing alright and is keeping safe. I'll be back...

Meeting my lovely Goddaughter

Song of the day: “Waves” by Dean Lewis. Gorgeous song, and often stuck in my head. There are way worse songs to have  as an earworm.

Life has been busy since I last wrote. One day flows into the next with such speed, that at times I have difficulty keeping track. Time is flying, the wrinkles on my forehead are the proof of that. Hah. Yep. I have wrinkles now. Whether they are from frowning in concentration too much, or simply because I am forty now, doesn’t matter, does it? Shall we say they give my face character?

Let’s see if I can bring you up to date on what has been going on, lately. The job is still to my liking, despite it not being easy, or even pleasant at times. I do long days, and feel them in my bones. More than ten hours at work is the norm, with a few exceptions. Luckily I only do three to four days of them per week, meaning that I get to recover a bit every time I’ve had a couple of shifts. Although I doubt, I would like to quit completely, I do look forward to the day that I will no longer be required to do this work, and can instead focus on writing full time. I do like the interactiveness with the guests, and the fact that the work is so diverse.

Which reminds me, I have been steadily working on the new project ever since we got back from the US. The manuscript had solid passed the 60K words mark. The characters are fully developed and quite real inside my head.  When an event is about to happen they will quite clearly tell me how they would respond to that given situation…however weird that sounds. I like them, though. They’ve got grit, a will to survive, and they have become fully 3D, just the way they’re supposed to. Added to that, the story has come to big OMG moment, which I had been working towards, so that is totally awesome. Now all that needs doing is work out how they are going to get out of a rather terrible situation, and rebuild their lives. I’m looking forward to that.

Celebrated my 40th birthday a little later in the month. Invited more people than showed up, mostly due to work,  but those that showed up made it a lovely evening of long talks and quiet lights. Really enjoyed it. And the food was good. And littlest brother was there too, which was nice.

My goddaughter was born in February, brought into the world via a c-section, due to the fact that the doctors were unable to get the labor started. She is a perfect little girl, whom I had the pleasure of meeting this eastern, when I visited her and her mom in Finland for a few days, so I could be there for her naming party, and accept my role a godmother. Was a bit startled there, in the middle of the party, sitting with the wee one in my arms when suddenly it turned out I had to join the other godparents in the center of the room during a speech. OMG, that is so not my thing. Hah. But no matter, I was there to meet her, and to see her mom, and that’s what it was about in the end.

As to the actual trip to Finland…that was pretty exciting for me. It was the first time I went on a vacation of sorts all by my ittybitty self. Had to get to the plane after big brother dropped me off at the airport (forgot my purse with money, ticket, credit cards in the car, aaaargh. Big brother had to return with it.) find my way to the train station in Helsinki, get on the train (was supposed to scan my ticket but didn’t realize it until after I got off to get on the long distance train in Pasilla) and transfer from the commuter to the speed train that would take me south to Turku. Half the time I stressed about whether I had the right one or not. I did. Thankfully, and arrived in Turku at the appointed time. Tiina came to pick me up, and we got chat while she drove me to the place I’d be staying at for the duration of my vacation.

Got to meet some really nice people, and we spent the evening prepping some stuff for the party, before calling it a night. Were going to do some prepping the next day, also the tour thing, see the future house (which was splendid, by the way. I was totally jealous, haha), the present house, see some of the area and then some groceries before we headed over to the log cabin that had been rented for the party and the night before. Gorgeous location in the middle of the woods. Big structure Had a lovely BBQ with friends and family before the night was through, and then we were headed in for the night.

The day of the party arrived. Tiina was already there when my hostess and I arrived to help out with the remainder of the party. Met more friends and family, spent some time with the folks I already knew (Tiina’s lovely mom and dad, and inlaws that I met last year or so when we all went to the zoo together. The kids were lovely, especially the little girl who was sooooo busy making a show now that she had such a rapt audience.) and generally had a lovely time.

The remainder of my stay there was spending time with my friend, getting to know the wee one, and then getting back home after our time was up. The trip back was a bit more eventful. Tiina and I thought to kill some time at a lovely thrift store, and the next thing we knew we had to rush into town to make my train. Regretfully we hadn’t calculated the fact that it would rush hour, so I missed my train by a minute. I ran, and jabbed the button but it would not open for me anymore. That meant I had to wait an hour…but at least it gave us a chance to say a proper goodbye. Repurchased a ticket and made it to the commuter train in Helsinki just barely. Seriously, had to run to make it from platform 6 to 2, and that was a matter minutes. Only made it because there was another lady who reached it before me, and opened the doors so I and two other ladies could board as well. Had forty minutes to spare upon reaching the airport. Security took only a few minutes, so I had time to rest and recover before we had to board. My feet were not amused about the entire thing, I tell ya. And when I finally arrived back in the Netherlands, there was more walking to do, because big brother (still sick) hadn’t been able to find a close parking spot. First thing I did when I reached the car, was change shoes. OMG.

Anyway, I arrived home after midnight, with the happy realization that I didn’t need to be at work until a day later, giving me one to recover. Turned out to be two. Apparently they had enough people at work for my chef to let me know to enjoy an extra day off.

My plants were looking awesome when I got back, by the way. When you see them every day, they seem not to change, but afterward they seemed so lush. Added to that, when I left nature was still sleeping, and when I returned everything had sprouted leaves, making nature sooooo beautiful. Spring is finally here, even though we are still being bugged by the occasional cold spell, loads of rain, hail and winds. It does not amuse me, especially not on days that I have to be at work. Nothing is quite as disastrous for my health as working in sauna heat all day, only to step out into the cold rain outside after a long work day. Been battling a cold that wants to sneak up on me. What with big brother having been seriously ill, Tiina and hers as well, it is bound to hit me any day now, but I am still hoping to avert it. I don’t think I’ll be that lucky, though. Been having some dizzy spells, a feverish feeling every now and then, but we’ll see.

Cooking has been infrequent, but as ever, necessary, of course. Had a rather lovely Asian wok BBQ last week for a friend’s birthday. She and another friend came over, and eating together in the lovely sunshine was our celebration. Marinated chicken in a sauce of sweet chili, apricot jam, shallots, soy sauce and some mustard. It worked out splendidly in the wok that I’d set on the open Asian ceramic bbq pot outside. Was a lovely evening.

Added to that I have experimented with bread. A lovely Mediterranean loaf, with sun dried tomatoes, loads of herbs and garlic, and some onion. Delicious. The same went for pizza cupcakes, which were awesome, buckwheat burgers, and tonight even vegetable pancakes that went down splendidly.

Been steadily working out over the past few months, although I’ve managed to go only once since my return…and the week before that also only a couple of times, because big brother was sick and I just couldn’t muster the energy. Been somewhat tired lately. Not eating enough meat, I fear…better that than anything else, anyway. If that doesn’t improve soon, I’m going to have to visit the doctor’s for a blood test, or something, to make sure that everything is alright.

Been working on the cars, and the house. Big brother’s car needed a new radiator, which he reinstalled himself. Yay! And I’ve been sorting the mess in the garage. We are way too good at hoarding stuff, and not taking the time to put it all away. Working on it, though.

Through it all, big brother has really been working a lot…as is his inclination. It means that when he’s off he’s tired, and frustrated about not having the energy to work on the book, but we’ll have to sort that out at some point. For the moment it didn’t help that our company is expanding, and he was expected to help out on the new location, which is massive. I’m curious about the new location, I tell ya. I’ve been hearing stories aplenty about the kitchens there. It should be a pleasure to work in them…even though the new staff is facing some problems of a startup.

Have visited with dad infrequently. What with him working so much, and us, too, it is very hard to match our schedules on any given day. Heck, just big brother and me, trying to match a day off together, every now and then, is a disaster already. But it doesn’t matter. We had a few good visits since the last blog, and that is what matters, I guess.

Also visited Tenant. She had some trouble recently at the home she lives at now. Her rooms, which overlooked the patio with a pond, and all its fauna visitors, were no longer available to her, meaning she had to move to a different spot in the building. She didn’t like it at all. Refused it, in fact, until she saw her new quarters and they turned out to be bigger, and overlooking the main entrance no less. It meant that now she could see who came and went at any given time, and that she liked a lot. Hah

Been making friends at work, and actually went to a bingo night with a couple of my colleagues. It was totally ridiculous, but fun, even though I didn’t win anything. There was loads of laughter, and relaxation, and an entire evening passed without me actually noticing it. I’m thinking we’re going to do it again at some point.

Watched some movies, including Hereditary with Toni Coletti. It was the first movie in ages that actually freaked me out. Seriously. The last time I was affected that way was when Event Horizon came out. Hadn’t expected it of this movie. In fact, I was already dismissing the whole thing as Coletti being mentally disturbed when it turned out it was something else entirely. OMG. Definitely a movie to see for folks who love a good horror.

Well, that’s about all I can think of right now. It’s late, and soon it’ll be time for me to get my behind to bed…hopefully feeling a little less sickly tomorrow.

Boxing sore...Yay!!!

Song of the day: “Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps” by Doris Day, of course. It’s been a while since I had this one in my head. Still a good song.

So…another time has passed, another blog arrived…with very little fun information, but we’re not here for the fun of it, are we. We’re here for life in general, whether good or bad, doesn’t really matter in the end. There’s ups, there’s downs, it’s how you handle the ride that matters in the end, right?

Well, let’s see what we’ve got. Made a wonderful apple pie crumble. A really big load of apples on a peanut, hazelnut base crust. Gawd, it worked out well. Just had my first piece and I really shouldn’t get another because too much sweetness really doesn’t help me much this late in the evening.

Good news is we have been doing a lot of workouts this past week. Last week we were too sick to do anything at the gym, but we hate waste, so to make up for the missed five days, we went there four days in a row. Added to that, I finally got around to asking the owner if there was a boxing bag I could use, and there was, so I spent the last two day kick boxing my behind off. Yesterday was great, first time in ages, made me nice and sore, and then when we went today, I got nice and warm from the normal iron pumping, which made me think, what the heck, I’ll do some more kick boxing…which I did, meaning that half an hour after the workout I was  so sore that even breathing hurt. Hah. No worries, though, the weekend is here so I’m free to recover for at least two days. Added to that, Monday we gotta decide whether to renew our memberships…which we are going to do, of course…and decide for how long. Either three months, or half a year. I’ll let you know what we’ll decide.

Been doing a lot of cleaning, lately. There were all these kitchen things that I’d bought, gathered for my future kitchen, all piled somewhere in a corner outside, meaning there was loads of grime to remove, branches, leaves and whatnot. It was a mess, and I haven’t gotten around to everything yet, but I’m getting there, slowly and steadily. I do have to admit to being really happy with the kitchen sink, because it’s making things so much easier.

Had a few trips involving donations, which took quite a bit of work. Can’t complain about that, however. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth and all that.

Been doing some serious cooking, including high protein stuff, considering we’re training and everything. Had some wonderful soups. A pumpkin one, and today a zucchini soup, both delicious, naturally. Also tried out a rather wonderful new recipe for green beans in a light cream sauce.

The weather has been wonderful…except since the day before yesterday when the temps suddenly dropped. We all know how I feel about bad weather.

Been writing every day, which is a good thing, really. The story is developing nicely, and yet my hero refuses to be the hero for the longest time. Instead he is being sarcastic, snarky, and indifferent to the ongoing disaster in the story. Poor guy doesn't know what toils lie ahead of him yet, does he.

Grandpa is still feeling poorly. He did finally go to a new GP, who referred him to a private hospital in Benalmadena, and an eye expert. Wow, what a difference from State hospitals (and I mean more than just the stunning prices that almost caused me a heart attack). Rather than waiting for some odd 6 to 8 hours, we were helped within half an hour, the problem was ascertained, and at least a temporary solution. Apparently grandpa, who has been refusing to go to an eye doctor because “that can’t be the problem” has glaucoma, which can be the cause of a lot of his problems. I get so tired from this stuff sometimes. I mean, I’m not all that keen on doctors myself, but if a problem persists…at least get another opinion to be sure what it is. With grandpa it is already almost too late. The damage done can’t be turned back, it is now all about preserving what is left of his eyesight.

Sitabah’s foot is rapidly healing now. She’s walking on it a little again, and making a pest of herself, naturally. Dax seems to be okay. With him the anti-parasite tablets I got at the vet’s seems to be working. Yet Jelly…I don’t like the look of him. I fear it is either Leishmania, or cancer, and if I don’t see improvement soon,  we’re going to have to have him checked out at the vet’s.

There was more cleaning outside, of course, which took time and effort to clean. There’s always more, for some reason, which is depressing because unless I actually start cleaning it myself, folks will see it, but not do anything about it. So much easier to just complain about it, rather than actually do something. I gotta admit to sometimes feeling like a glorified cleaning lady. Ah well…beggars can’t be choosers.

On the interesting news bit, I got a job interview next week. Don’t know yet how that will turn out, maybe it’ll be good, or it won’t, either way, I’ll let you know. I’m am not holding my breath for this one. It’s part time, and I responded to the ad more out of curiosity than anything, and was rather surprised to hear back from them, asking me for an interview. Like I said, you’ll be the first to know how it worked out.

Well, almost three in the morning now, and I gotta be up again within six hours, so I’m going to leave it at this. I’ll be back, though.

36

Song of the day: “Blame it on me” by George Ezra. Cute little song, even though I like “Budapest” better.

Approaching onto my birthday, yep, less than a day and I’ll be (brace yourselves) thirty six. Oh. My. Gawd!!! My, my. Does time fly. To celebrate the occasion a friend and I are going for a hike up on the mountain, and I have a tentative plan to take Knight II along, but it remains to be see whether I can take him or not. He has not been well lately, his feet troubling him to the point that I’ve had to start him on antibiotics once again. I hate putting him on antibiotics, in particular since I know that they are only a temporary solution, but then I remind myself that he is old already, and that any week, or month that the nasty things can give him is a good thing. For a while there, I feared he’d die, these past couple of weeks. Now he’s doing well enough under the circumstances.

If he can’t go along on the walk tomorrow, I’m thinking of Tadaika instead. Our fat girl needs the exercise for sure.

So what’s been going over here. Plenty, yet completely insignificant things with which’s highlights I’ll bore you.

First off, I made a rather wonderful strawberry/physalis/kiwi yogurt cake yesterday, but something was wrong with the gelatin I used, meaning that it didn’t set during the night in the fridge, much to my regret, in particular since the taste worked out so well. So rather than eating that cake, we were forced to make due with semi-smoothies. A bothersome task that, but we suffer through it. Hah.

So to make up for that little error, I made a couple of delicious apple pies today. Yay. They worked out awesome. Because I was short on apples, I added dried apricot pieces, raisins, coconut shavings and some almonds, which made for a sumptuous combination. Spent about four hours in the kitchen today. Not only for the pies, but also for patties (want to take some on the hike tomorrow) and a rather wonderful mix of red beets with sweet potatoes. I’m thinking of adding the latter to the food blog.

Which reminds me, the food blog isn’t doing bad, all things considered. Am rapidly approaching the triple digits for readers over there. Makes me curious if any of the recipes have been tried, and what they thought of it. Ah well, until someone posts there, we can only guess, right?

Spent a nice afternoon writing down some recipes, by the way, including a rather nice stir fry I experimented with during yesterday’s lunch. An explosion of taste, I tell you. Ah well. It was fun to try something different for a change, and since big brother had gorged himself on the left over macaroni from yesterday, I didn’t have much of a choice.

Oh, oh, we had this rather splendid idea of a pasta restaurant the other day. Can you imagine. I had this buffet image of a whole array of pastas with in front of it a massive selection of veggie sauces. My mouth watered at the idea, I tell ya. The marvelous thing about it is that you can probably have folks come in for 5 bucks per person and still make a nice little profit. Ah well. Thoughts like that are fleeting. Hah.

Spent a couple of afternoons working on both cars. First the Trooper, since it’s got carpet inside and therefore needed to be vacuumed. Then the Land Rover out of which we’ve started taking out the first excess bits and pieces in preparation of the pimping we’re planning. Quite a bit will have to be done, but it should be nice challenge.

Set up a new bed for grandpa. Like for me, his corner of the porch is small too, so he decided for a single rather than a queen. Luckily we had the supplies we needed to set one up with four drawers underneath, which should be handy for him. He’s a bit wary of there being too little space with his dogs, but like mine, they’ll get used to it.

Had some good moments working on cutting dog food. Figured that I might as well give Grandpa some free time, so there was bread to cut, veggies…everything the dogs need, except for the meat, because I really dislike the smell and feel of meat early in the morning.

Had some splendid workouts these past couple of weeks. Have been sore maybe seventy percent of the time, which tells me that I’ve been doing something right. Did the kicks, the punches, the stretches and even some jogging, so I’ve been a good Sammie. Even had meat a couple times. Yay.

Had a short term job last week, where we painted and furnished a shop in town. A friend recommended us, and I think we did a good job. Took a full day, mind you. First emptying it, filling up holes in the walls, then spending about three hours painting everything while big brother worked in the old store putting together shelving units with mirrors. The rest of the day was spent setting up the units, counter and cleanup, all of it in a single stretch (skipped lunch) because we had to be at the garage before 6 PM.

Added to that we helped a friend move house. Went from all over in Calahonda to a spot right at the bottom of our mountain, so going over every now and then will be way easier…first she needs to get settled, though, and will need a hand every now and then getting everything in the new apartment in order.

Had a bad cold once I got back from the UK, meaning I was a bit under the weather, but in the days that passed I had some naps…heck I even had a couple of three hour naps, which were wonderful…my dogs fully agreed with them too, crawling under the blankets with me because the temps outside have a tad nippy. Did have a lot of sunshine, too, though, which is grand.

As to the rest…there is of course the normal stuff. Laundry, as always. Cleaning up, cooking dinner, changing Knight II’s bandages every day, going to town and getting groceries, picking up some donations…for some reason the days are extremely full.

Which brings us to the end of today…well, it’s tomorrow already, so technically that makes it my B-Day, doesn’t it? Gotta go. Got an early morning planned tomorrow.

What do you think???

Song of the day: “Who wants to live forever” by none other than Queen, of course. You’d think that’s depressing, but it’s not, actually. It feels like there is change in the air, might have something to do with spring, or the fact that our one week notice at work is almost at an end, or something else entirely. Whatever the case, I’m ready for it. Let it come and…well, you’re guessing my next words, I’m betting: We’ll see. Hah

So, what’s been going on? Not much that I can tell about, I fear. A lot of it involved work, so that’s off limits, as you know. Dontcha just hate it when there are parts of life that one can’t discuss on a perfectly respectable blog? Ah well, no matter. Let’s see what else I can talk about.

The mess of what used to be the yard is basically cleaned up. Now we’re fully in the waiting game of when town hall comes to check on us. I do hope that they don’t dawdle. The waiting is friggin’ killing me. I want to be put out of my misery for once and for all, for crying out loud.

Knight II is back home, still very weak and skinny, but as of yesterday eating well again, thank gawd. He is still hacking up slime through out the night, which makes sleeping mighty interesting, and during the day he sleeps a lot. Like right now, he’s stretched out on my old porch, in the full sunshine, really enjoying himself. Big lug just loves sunbathing. Went in for his checkup today and the vet was pleased to note that his lungs sounded a lot better. Far more capacity than the last time, which is a vast relief.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous at the moment. The sun is out, the clouds at a distance, and the wind still nicely fresh. For as far as I’m concerned, it can stay like this forever…weather wise anyway. Hah.

Considering it’s my free day today (the way things look right now, my last free day before actual unemployment) I spent part of the morning making pattie dough. Did three varieties, lentil, bean, and chickpea, because it is just an easy thing to have when you don’t have a lot of time to cook. They’re healthy, nutritional , and, well, just jummy. Will be making some sort of veggie mash to go with it tonight. Something with peppers and zucchini I’m thinking. Maybe some sort of ratatouille. Hmmm. I’ll have to think on that some more before I decide. I also still have a beet salad in the fridge, might have to go for that one. We’ll see.

Like I mentioned the other day, the competition is now in full swing, I’m so curious what these reviewers will think of it. Might be they hate it, but I’m trying to maintain a positive attitude and will therefore maintain that they’ll think it splendid. Hah. The 18th will the date when we know.

Still haven’t heard from the cooking competition people. Whether that is a good sign or not…you’re guess is as good as mine, on that one.

A bit of sad news is that our oldest dog, Sama, a 16 year old husky that has been with us since 1998/1999, is doing worse these days, and is in pain, so we will have to take her to the vet one of these days, and if it turns out that her many ailments are too far gone for anything to help much, the dreaded decision will have to be made again. Gawd, I just hate it when that happens, but her life is now becoming a question of quality, rather than longevity. For a little girl with various cancers through her lifetime, an awful viral infection in the blood that almost cost her her life, she held out a real long time with relatively little trouble. Now she is blind, however, almost deaf and losing what was left of her mobility. Also the large cancerous growth in her stomach is rapidly progressing. She eats like a mammoth, and yet she is losing weight, and the pain is getting to be so that she’ll cry out every now and then. The time is drawing near, that’s a fact. Sadness…heck any emotion, should not cloud this decision, this about what is best for her.

Some nice news, we’ve decided to just go for it, and publish the book that was recently declined by a publisher. Sure, very disappointing and everything, blah blah, but that doesn’t change that I think some folks out there will enjoy reading it, so it’s going to happen one of these days. Big brother and I have been working on the cover and came up with this one:

1st option:

But there has been a word or two about the color, Big Brother included. I love this color, but this is not only about what I love, but also potential readers. Here are the other options:

2nd option:

3rd option:

4th option:

5th option:

6th option:

7th option:

Let me know what you think. Which one would totally draw your eye if you were looking for a lovely romantic gangster story set in the roaring 20s, in Chicago of all places?

I should probably be offering some sort of reward for the one that picks the “winning” color…a free book when it comes out? You let me know if you want one. *wink*

What else? Drawing a blank here…well, most of the dogs got rid of their cough. There’s some hacking going on every now and that, but that too should disappear in a few more days, a week at most.

Again I’m blanking out. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Finally I’ve got a moment to write this week’s blog, and the stupid head decides to forget most of anything remotely interesting to report. I mean, seriously, you don’t want to hear about the bill paid for Knight II (although, the vet, gotta love her, didn’t ask payment for his hospitalization, which would have been a mint seeing as he was there for almost a week.) or how I had to go to the bank four times this month because ever since the changes with the bank being bought by another, none of the automatic payments are being paid. *sigh* Very aggravating, that, by the way. Also, there’s nothing interesting about having to rush to our insurance broker because we were late paying our medical insurance, also due to the bank messing up. *double sigh*

No big news about Sally and tenant. The first is still alive, just barely, although she apparently suddenly did respond to cousin Ed, which had been ages, so maybe she’s still there somehow. Tenant and cousin Ed are both enjoying their dogs. Already there are plenty of stories about Sammie and Julia needing to get used to city living, which they had never done before. Can you imagine, always in the country, and then suddenly you have to behave. Hah. It’s good for them, I think. Change is vital to keep life interesting. Tenant did have a little bit of a scare. She and cousin Ed were swimming the other day, and she got a dizzy spell after which she wasn’t able to come up from the water, scaring the both of them out of two months of their lives…I can imagine. But apparently it is not unusual. The doctor said that it probably had to do with water in her ear, throwing her of, so to speak.

Oh, I had a work related road trip the other day. I got to see the area near Almogía, which was very different from here. Very bare, and remote, even though I was no more than twenty minutes away from Málaga. Always nice to see new places.

Well, this is going to have to be it. That’s all she wrote, as they say. Let’s hope I’ll be back same day next week, and remember a little more of the things that have been happening.

Merry Christmas

Song of the day: “Sunrise” by Nora Jones. This song is most prominent in my brain these past few days, and though I like it, it’s starting to get on my nerves. Hah.

Ah, Christmas Eve has arrived, and I had a free day allowing me to catch up on some long-planned activities right at home.

But first, let’s see what’s been happening these past few weeks.

Not a bloody lot. I mean, the days have been full, of course, but nothing that really stands out, if you get what I mean. There are the hundred hours or so at work, which I can’t talk about, even though I would love to, because there is much to say, but darn…I can’t! *sobs*

But anyway. The messes are more or less gone, except for the metal that we’ve gathered from all over the property which we are going to have to bring to the recycling guys in town one of these days, and the plating from grandpa’s old place, which we have to bring to the land fill. Right now we’re living very basic, with the dogs a tad stressed from the lack of space…not to mention grandpa who’s worried about his dogs not being outside enough. So worried is he, that he doesn’t even realize that my dogs are outside even less. *sigh* Sure, it worries me too, but this is winter, and what with all the fences within the property damaged or removed, there is little choice in the matter. Added to that, the weather is not cooperating, despite the fact that we’ve been having some sunshine at least. The temps are very low and the winds cold. Ergo, the dogs are spending a lot of time inside, the poor darlings.

Writing…well, editing is more accurate, I suppose. We’re about halfway through the paper edit, meaning that it isn’t going bad. I still like the changes, despite that there are little resemblances left to the original story. It used to be sweet, and innocent, which was the point. Now it is…less sweet, to the point of gritty. Not a bad thing, mind you. I like gritty as much as the next gal, but I really liked the sweetness that it was. You know, someday I’ll probably Kindle-publish the first version if…you ask nicely. Hah.
Would you like that? A sweet little romance (1st person narrative. I know, not my style, but there you have it) set in the rural twenties of Chicago. Well, let me know. If enough folks ask, I might feel an incentive. *winks*

Exercise-wise I’ve had three good ones…hmmm, technically I four, seeing as I consider hauling a bed up the mountain (not ours) on an endless stairs as exercise. Hah. As for the other three, big brother and I grabbed our bikes (did I mention that I bought a mountain bike a few weeks ago? Well, I did, figuring that it was a safer way to exercise for my foot. And it is) loaded them, Knight and Grandpa in the car, and then headed out to a good spot where we could practice. Never smart to just go on a public road if you haven’t been on a bike proper in a couple of decennia. Hah. But anyway, we went there, plonked grandpa behind the wheel, let Knight out with us and started. I need a new saddle. Whoever thinks that a racing saddle is the better option, is friggin’ insane…it came with the bike, you see…it was cutting up my butt within minutes. No matter, though. I quickly got a hang of it, and burst out laughing when I looked back to see Knight dither between the car following us at a distance, and me, up ahead. He couldn’t decide whether to follow me, or go back to the car where he could lounge in the back, silly boy. Made him run along for about a mile and then gave him what he wanted and let him back into the back seat. I did some more, about three miles I think, and I was downright proud of myself for having made it that far. Boy am I out of practice.
The other exercise sessions involved me air-kickboxing (because I can’t hang the boxing ball anywhere yet), bending like a pretzel for about half an hour and pumping iron. Yay! It was bliss, in particular today, which was my first free day in two weeks, thank you very much. You’ll be pleased to know that I am at least managing basics again, you know sit-ups, stretches, etc five times a week. Nothing like a real exercise like today, but some movement at least.

Have been busy experimenting with baking. I made several breads today. Yay! Three vegetable/herb breads, my old recipe, but with the variation of quark as the base liquid. It worked beautifully. The bread is absolutely delicious, and we’ll be enjoying it for several days to come. Since I was busy anyway, I also made onion/herbal bread, this one with mascarpone and yogurt as the base liquid, which worked out well too. Very tasty.
Added to that, I also made a sweet cranberry/quark based bread last night, which is working well as desert. *smirk* In other words, we’ve got fresh bread coming out of our ears. Hah. Definitely going into the cook book.

As for cooking. Lots of experimenting this week. There was the white endive with green herbs, chili pepper baked in cheese and cream. Yummy. And the carrot, sweet potato mix baked in green herbs with chopped leek, and the just barely done broccoli floating in a light cream sauce. Not to mention the pasta fungi I prepared the other day. Hmmm. I get hungry again just thinking about it.
Lately I’ve been seriously pondering making my old vegetable burgers again. It has been ages, and I do have a nice bag of bread-crumbs. Yeah, I’ll let you know how that works out.

Which reminds me. Do you remember that cape berry cheesecake I was thinking of making the last time I wrote? I did, and it was divine. A very good fruit for cheesecake. Made two, and they were gone within two days. Hah. And what I had left of the filling…or boy was it good dessert.

Knight II’s foot is not doing too bad. I managed to exchange his last sock before he ruined it, so he didn’t get a chance to lick it this time round, and while I put his new one on, I had a chance to ascertain that at least the wound has closed and is dry at the moment. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

What with my free day today, I finally managed to clean up my clothes a little. They were covering what little horizontal surfaces I have, and I took the opportunity to sort the summer clothes out and store them under my bed. Now if only I can get another free day to get the shelvings sorted as well, that would be grand.

Have been reading quite a bit, and as you must have noticed last week, I have been trying to be diligent in writing reviews for the hard working new authors out there. Posted one this morning, in fact, which I will post here within a few days. This time C.S. Marks’ “ The Fire King” which was an entertaining read to say the least. I’ll let you see for yourself soon. *wink*

As for everything else…the daily stuff, which is more than a little boring to share. Taking care of the dogs, of course, organizing our new living arrangements, daily routines (never forget the laundry, hah) and going out to get donations. A busy life with very little exciting to share with you, darn it.

Well, I better wrap it up. Past seven pm, and I still have to edit.

So, even though I don't have any plans other than going to work this Christmas, I do wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! and in case we don't speak before then: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Very Law & Order-ish

Song of the day: “Can you feel it” by the Jacksons, of course. Awesome song, still, so nothing wrong with that.

Well, first thing off, I got the weirdest message today. Apparently a fella I’d occasionally chatted with on the Amazon discussions, and Good Reads was arrested for murdering his wife. How strange is that, I ask ya. I mean, really. It all has a bit of surreal feeling to it. I just read up on the media reports about it, and though there is a lot of pooha going around already, I’m going to wait and see whether he’s guilty or not. These days you just can’t ever be sure. I mean look at the Zimmerman thing, not to mention OJ. You never know what’s truth or fiction, so I’m just going to let it slide, and try to rid myself of this Law & Order tune that has been going through my head ever since I heard about it.

So okay, let’s get to the normal daily business. Strange weather, both today and yesterday. Yesterday it was friggin’ hot until about six in the afternoon when suddenly the wind changed (from the south) and had the temperature drop drastically. Where in the early noon I was thinking about getting rid of my trousers, I later had to don a sweater just to be comfortable.

While big brother spent most of the afternoon in the yard, cousin Ed and I worked over my cabin trimming the semi-dead mimosas, dragging the dead wood away. Since there was still some life visible in the plants we decided not to cut them completely down, but dug big holes at their base so we can give them some extra water this summer, and hope that it was water shortage that is wrecking them.
Luckily, in this spot of the yard, working during a warm day wasn’t all that bad, since it is in the shade. The only not so nice part is that there is absolutely no spot where you can put your feet straight. But anyway, managed the feat without breaking out ankles, and so far my new sandals are working well. Bought them the other day, hiking sandals designed so that you can go downhill too, without slipping forward (works like a charm).

While working there, we immediately took out two plants that were in the way of the future water tank. And even planted a new small mimosa that should do a good job of filling any necessary gaps in the near future.

Had a rather wonderful workout yesterday morning too. Did a solid hour and a half of punching and kicking, and worked up a solid sweat what with the early morning heat already full in swing.

Tenant went for her second appointment with the dentist yesterday. If all goes well, she’ll have her new teeth by Friday, so yay!

Little brother enrolled at a driving school yesterday. He had planned to go in the village, but ended up going to the same one as big brother and I went to three or four years ago. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the teacher didn’t remember us at all. I always have this unreasonable fear that I’m so weird that people will remember me ‘till their dying day (not in a good way) so it was definitely good news for me. Hah.

Cooked a rather nice dinner. Ratatouille with macaroni on the side. While today we opted to go with veggie burgers on sandwiches with lettuce, cheese and tomatoes. Both meals went down nicely.

Spent both mornings, after feeding the dogs, working on Akata. The husky has been suffering from an infected ear of late, so we’ve been cleaning it properly and giving him medication to ease his level of comfort a bit.

We had a new rock hauling trip yesterday evening. The rocks looked a tad different yesterday. Older, I think, layered too, which is going to make its future wall look interesting to say the very least. Took Knight II along, so he actually ran a bit, which is a good thing, to say the least. Am seriously pondering taking Chaos along as well, because the Basset is getting way too fat.

Two edits past since the last blog, of course. Yesterday we did eight pages, and today, six, I think.
We’re halfway through the edit now, so, Yay! We’ll get there yet.

Middle sister has a bad cold at the moment. Seems like it went through all the sibs this past month or so, and I, for some strange reason, have developed a strange huskiness in my voice. Seriously, I can really do Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes” well at the moment. Hah. I better not be getting a cold, because I really don’t have time for that sort of stuff. *sigh*

This morning I was occupied making chocolate cake for middle sister’s birthday. I asked her the other day what kind of pie she would like and her face lit up, showing this crooked little smile and said, “chocolate” in this wishful way. So yeah, that meant that I spent two hours this morning, making cake with the help of tenant (caregiver was at her other job again) that had so much chocolate in it, you could lean against the scent. Made two different ones. One cherry chocolate, and one coffee chocolate coffee. I have had a piece of both, and I can’t decide which I like best. Regretfully everyone else who’s tasted it, has the same problem.
But anyway, middle sister’s b-day. Gawd, time goes so fast. I remember well that she was just a teeny little girl of two or three. *nostalgic sigh* All grown up now, and working on a career of a seamstress…or perhaps animal trainer. Hah.

I only had a short trip down into the yard today (needed that after two hours in the kitchen, really. That and helping tenant to my terrace where she enjoyed the sunshine, and a cool breeze most of the day) and harvested broccoli and sugar peas for us, along with a big batch of three different kinds of cabbages for today’s dog food. Was properly relaxed afterward, and even though I had wanted to plant a couple of trees on the edge of the property, there really wasn’t time.
Instead I had to weave some fence because tomorrow our last day at the fence-building-site. The owner asked if I could trim the rest of her trees as well, so since I’ll be going out there for that anyway, big brother is going to come along to do some final checks on the fence and help out. Hope we manage the thing in one day, that’s for sure.

The car is loaded, however, and since this will definitely do for today’s blog, I’m going to get ready for bed now. I’m definitely running on fumes.

Last day

Song of the day: “Jesus knows me” by Genesis, I think. Seriously, cousin Ed mentioned it in the morning and it has been going through my head ever since. Thank you Cousin Ed! Grrrr. Then there was “Call me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, which is a little embarrassing, but it was even going through my head when I woke during the night. Darn it.

This is so embarrassing, but apparently I forgot to write in my diary, so now I’m going to have dig deep in my brain to discover what all happened yesterday. Gawd, this is difficult as heck. Ya can’t expect my brain to remember stuff…oh wait. We did masonry yesterday, of course.

That small platform we started the day before, got finished, yay. It really is looking rather grand. Sorta like a tower of natural rock, about the size of the water tank it’s going to support. It took several hours, but I was only there for the beginning of it. First because I had to cut the veggies for the dog food, and then because tenant had finished cutting veggies for our supper, and I had to start on supper.

Tenant, on the other had spent most of the early afternoon in the sunshine, sitting in the old horse-paddock. I think she was a tad tired from the busy day she had before, going out to the village and walking up a long stairs and everything, so she dozed a lot. Hah. After several hours of that, she was ready for some action and offered to do supper’s veggies.

Food preparation only took about half an hour, at which time I decided to experiment with making tart. Yep. Again. This time lemon cheesecake…and boy, did that work out well. Made two, just so we could try it out prior to offering it to the visitors. I can honestly say that we devoured a whole tart with just the four of us. Hah.

Throughout the day the weather was acting rather wishy washy, which wasn’t something my dogs appreciated. They spent quite some time inside my cabin, poor darlings. Spent about an hour in the yard and greenhouse. Hunting bugs, harvesting some tomatoes and such. I think that was the highlight of my day. Hah.

We had quite a good edit, yesterday…or at least, it appeared to be a good one, since we managed at least ten pages of V.L.’s last edit…after which I headed for bed on time for a change and passed out before I even managed to write in my diary. *sigh*

Was only a little late this morning, making me rush a bit through the morning rituals. Laundry, cleaning, and digging up the spare coffee machine so I could take it up to tenant’s so we’d have a big pot of coffee when her daughter and family came over for the last time before they went back home. (Tomorrow)
We doubted for the longest time whether the visit was going to be outside, or inside (still that wishy washy weather, thank you very much) but finally ended up around the big wooden table in the old horse paddock. The weather cleared enough for it to be semi comfortable outside. Yay.

Had pie…mine and the one the visitors had brought along, hah. How’s that for like minds, eh? Took a piece of both, as the impending departure was discussed and last-minute arrangements were made. When I suggested I take the lot (tenant included) for a little drive into the country, it didn’t take too long to decide.

Hopped into the Land Rover, including tenant, and drove out into the “wild” towards that little river I’ve occasionally mentioned over the past couple of years. By the time we got there the sun was out in full swing, so to speak, so it definitely left a good impression on the relatives. Took the adventurous road back (had about two inches left on either side of the car while we drove home) and were back and hour after departure. It was well worth the trip, and by the time we got back it was time to say our goodbyes. Tenant was glad with how things had gone this past week, her daughter and family seemed content as well, so we said our goodbyes with smiles and exchanged see-you-soons.

Afterward big brother and I had to head on down to town for a pickup and to get some sewing supplies for mom. We got home way too late, meaning I didn’t have time to cook (we fried potatoes instead) and that, due to needing to blog, I didn’t have time to edit either. Blasted blog!

Well, I’ve gotta cut this off, because it’ is well past midnight, and I would like to be in bed before two in the morning. *sigh*
Things should be calming down a bit in the near future, now that the visit thing is over and done with, allowing for blogs that are a little more detailed.