Relatively early update, yay!

Song of the day: “7 years” by Jasmine Thompson. I know that originally it’s someone else’s but this is the one worming in my head right now. Hah

Yes. I made it here earlier. I did it. I’m here without a solid month having passed since the last blog. Yay!

Not that a lot happened since then, naturally. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

Anyways. At the moment I am enjoying a few days off. What with having worked pretty full time the past few months, my region manager and I agreed that I would work a little less this month, which suits me just fine. Been behind with a lot of stuff on the computer, and in most cases I was too tired in the evenings to do more constructive stuff than the bare necessities.

Well, still working on the finer details of the book that we’re pitching to our editor. Though she likes the idea, some elements in the first chapter don’t work for her, so we’ve been brainstorming and working on adjusting it, and came up with an idea she would like to see in writing. Which is what has been keeping me busy for the past couple of days since my days off started. Got most of it rewritten, deleting big parts, and replacing it with over ten pages of new material. Personally I think that it will work, but of course Big brother has to go through it too, and we need to discuss, argue and probably fight about the finer details before we can send it back and await the editor’s verdict.

For my part, I have been enjoying the writing bit a lot. Actual writing (rather than editing) is such a rare thing these days that when I actually get to do it, something inside me actually sings a little. Hah. Gawd, nothing feels quite like having a scene playing in your head like a HD movie, and then writing it down, hopefully in the way that you see it. First only flow of consciousness, which can be confusing at times, but after one or two tweaks afterward it definitely starts to get close. Then another edit of two together with big brother and I get pretty psyched by the result. * sigh *

I sure hope I get to do more of it in the near future. Wouldn’t that be grand, earning enough with writing so I won’t have to keep up the part-time day job.

But that would mean that the book(s) would have to sell really well, and I doubt that will be the case with the first one, or two. Would be nice, sure, but I doubt I’ll be that lucky. We can hope though.

It is reassuring that we managed to think of a solution to the thing that the editor didn’t like in the 2nd book. Basically we went farther back to the original idea for the story, with a backflash as the prologue. I like how the tone is getting more different from Girl in the Mist, every time I work on it. The drama is way heavier. So much sadness from the heroine, and so little chance that she’s going to make it in the end…and I will have to leave you to wonder about that, rather than spoil the end for you. * wink *

On ascension day we had friends over for the afternoon, which was fun. Got to make some special stuff for lunch and dinner. The first involved a rather wonderful broccoli puff pastry with a carrot salad on the side, and the second a lovely saffron rice, topped by baked chard and a sweet corn and bell pepper salad on the side. Added to the good food, the company was fun, with a promise of another visit soon. Which we should keep to. Time goes so fast, and before you know it you run out of it, right? Anyway, we all promised to see each other soon again, so let’s hope that we can make that work out in a decent amount of time.

What with having a little more time off, I have also been gradually increasing my workouts. The normal qigong that I have been doing for more than a year now—still love it—followed by and interspersed by bodyweight exercises, and some weight lifting, just because. I still haven’t got a spot to hang my kickboxing bag, but I really and determined to think of something soon. I miss boxing like crazy. Soon, very soon.

Finally found a nice new (2^nd hand) rug for our work area. The old one was really starting to wear from our office chairs’ wheels, so I took that one from there to the kitchen, where it looks rather nice along with the rattan chairs at the white table. It is also very similar to the one that I have in the kitchen, so it really lightens up the whole room. The one that is now in the oven is a nice dark blue, which separates it a little more.

Rearranged some of the plants, which was necessary too, because a few of them were not really flourishing in their allotted spot. Hope that the new spots do better. Did find a wonderful new plant, a Pachira aquatica. We already had one of them, but this one was way bigger. It was standing in the corner of the supermarket, and, if my guess is correct priced wrong for such a big plant. It was really a bargain, and so gorgeous. Neither of us could resist. So basically we bought ourselves a present.

Talking about presents, also went to Decathlon, a big store for all sort of sports apparel, and got us some necessities. Yoga pants, because mine were really starting to be worn down. I still have two from Spain that are basically threadbare now (use them as PJs) and a couple that I bought two years ago before we moved up north. So, high time. Also got socks, a bathing suit (also still had the one from Spain) and a few more assorted sports items. Was strange to buy something new. Hardly ever do that anymore these days, so I would say it was well deserved.

Did a fair amount of cleaning in the past few days too, as usual a necessity after several weeks of work. You don’t really feel like vacuuming the house after you have run around at work for hours on end. But got it done, and that’s what matters…until the next time anyway. Hah

The tension between big brother and me has lessened a little, thankfully. I think that the pressure of the book proposal was weighing on us, and now that the pressure of work has let up a bit too, seems to have helped. Neither one of us is about to go off with a short fuse when we work on something now. Thankfully. Maybe it was something in the air. I for one am relieved.

We have been having some absolutely lovely weather. Sunshine, warm temps…heck today was a rainy day and what with all the green even that was gorgeous. Driving through the woods today, with all the new spring growth, shiny from the downpour was almost magical. Wish I’d taken a picture, but regretfully that didn’t occur to me.

Had a huge computer crash the other day, which totally freaked me out. Took big brother most of the day to solve it, involving some serious reinstalling of programs, leaving the computer with some problems still, but functioning at least. It seems that the last update went wrong for some reason, which totally ticked me off. Seriously! There is nothing I hate more than a computer that doesn’t work. Well, cars, too. And plumbing. And…well, anything that can malfunction I guess. Hah.

That about sums it up, I guess. Tomorrow is an in-between working day for me, despite me being off until Friday. They needed an extra hand on Monday, so I agreed to come to work anyway. Do have to get to bed on time if I want to be worth anything afterward, though. Been getting way too little sleep again lately, despite having slept in the last couple of days.

Gotta go. I’ll be back, with hopefully some nice news in regards to the new book, eh?

Not all bad...

Song of the day: “International love” by Pitbull and Chris Brown, of course. Not the deepest song you can imagine, but what the heck.

Right. Lots of time past since my last post, hasn’t there? Well, I’ve been keeping busy, a necessary thing also because I get bugged a lot (in my head) if I don’t keep active. Rather annoying, but since I get paid to work anyway, I’ll consider it a good thing.

Sooooo, what’s been going on? There have been some trips into town. Basically getting the necessities that any workshop needs. Haven’t been able to find a proper work bench, either on-line, or at the local shops, so I decided to wait until I find something affordable, and good. Instead I’ve put together a couple of work benches from old pallets, and dove into the big pile of wood that was meant for burning in the near future to take out old wooden beams that have now been incorporated into perfectly fine work benches.

Did buy some wood. First to heighten gates that the dogs have been scaling. Managed one without needing to buy anything, but I simply didn’t have enough for two. Secondly, the main house needs proper shelving in one of the cupboards, so I need to get those cut…by hand, mind you, because I don’t have a circle, or a jigsaw yet. *sigh* Life is hard when you’re cooping. Hah.
Also been sorting through the meager supplies of tools, so far, digging through rubbish and finding old ones that are perfectly fine to use too. I’ll get this set up yet.

Also ordered three proper shelving units. Sure, I could have made them myself, but I’d have needed more tools too, along with wood, etc, meaning time. So I’ve got three proper units, nice and sturdy, that I’m putting together bit by bit.

Since the digs through the waste stack in the yard, I have managed to scrounge up some workable woods, which is reassuring. Not by far enough, but I can work with it at least.

Been trying to familiarize myself with the area. Went out a couple of times…first time I got lost on all the tiny little roads, found my way back, thankfully, and now there’s a TomTom in the car making that a lot easier…of course the second time I went out I’d tried so many roads the first time that I already knew where to go without it. Hah. Will be handy for new locations, though.

The supermarkets are very different here. The sequence of how the products are placed, the products themselves, the people, lots to learn…like the other day I had to gas up and couldn’t get the blasted thing to open. So I asked three guys that passed if they had a clue, and they either looked annoyed with the question (didn’t have a clue in other words) and one looked frightened as if he was expecting me to rob him, or something. Anyway, in the end I found this little lever under the front seat that opened it up. Phew. What a relief. Also had to “top up” my phone. Didn’t know it was called that, so the poor boy at the gas station was all confused when I asked if it was possible to charge my phone there. Had a good laugh about that later.

Had a visit at a builders supplier, which was fun. I’m going to need a friggin’ dictionary because they use completely different words for everything here. I asked him about certain sizes, materials, and the poor guy looked at me as if I was talking Chinese. We did figure it out in the end, though. And though they doubted that it would be possible before the weekend, the next day they came to deliver the lot for me. Yay. Then I didn’t have my work area yet, though, so all I could do with the stuff was put it away, but still. Yay. Nice fella. Will probably be seeing more of him in the near future.

What else. Well, I’ve been doing some tree pruning. I know, not the right time of year, but some of these babies are looking completely neglected, and I just can’t help myself. Spent about an hour doing that yesterday, and since the sun was shining that was rather nice. I mean, what more can you want, right? Sunshine, a bit of music, plants to talk with. I was very relaxed afterward.

Since no one is vying for the honor of cooking, I’ve been doing a lot of it, which is nice. Had a nice curry yesterday…I know, curry’s are not my favorite either, but it went down nicely enough.
Also, there was a rather impromptu dinner for a supposedly picky eater (nothing too spicy or too strong in taste), which came out rather successfully. There were jokes of stealing me away as a cook, so, I’m thinking it went well. Hah. The meal did work out nicely. I had a starter rainbow salad (all the colors I could get basically) with deviled eggs. They are very fond of their eggs here, apparently, so that whetted the appetite for the main course. A penne pasta with a white wine/cheese sauce, tastefully enhanced by fresh garden herbs. I was told that the guest didn’t like spices or herbs at all, but the way I figured it had more to do with the combinations and effects of said spices and herbs. I kept the tastes mild, soft, and creamy, and it was good.

Today I made a pumpkin soup for lunch, because I am trying to maintain my diet of proper feeding despite me keeping busy and sometimes forgetting to stop and eat. Luckily around six the work day comes to an end, and I can focus on cooking something that will keep my nutritional intake up-to-date, so to speak. Hah.

So far the weather has been relatively mild. There’s been rain, sunshine and lots and lots of clouds…which reminds me, there are lots of air balloons around these past, just yesterday one almost landed on top of us, which drove the dogs here a wee bit bonkers.

As for the proper attire over here…I’ve got myself some willies, aka rubber boots, (yay!) a good wax raincoat, and a matching Australian bush hat of real leather that is supposedly water proof. Let the rains begin…well, not right this instance, and not permanently, please, but I’ll take ‘m all for a “test drive” just as soon as the opportunity arises.

Hauled around some trees…nothing big, mind you. 5-6 foot long at most, ten, maybe fifteen inches thick. The gates here are not properly installed to keep lively dogs inside, so I needed to put in some emergency thresholds. They won’t be permanent, since it needs to look better than this, but for now it’ll do. I call it a workout. *wink*

Been working with the animals some as well, in particular obedience training. They are eager to learn but working with bigger groups than just one or two, is difficult. You’ll have the full attention of a dog, and are trying to make it sit, or lay down, only to have it be distracted by some other nimwit jumping at the treat you’re trying to use as a lure to make it obey. Hah. Still, all things considered; not bad.

I might have good news in the near future, but I don’t want to jinx it, so I won’t share just yet. Might be nothing too, so it has no use to get you all excited about it anyway. Hah. We’ll see.

Will be going home for a visit in September, by the way. First big brother will come to visit, help me out a little, and then I’ll fly back with him to be home with my lovelies for a day or two. Can wait to see my Knight and Sitabah and Daxie…even Tadaika, and Indigo, and Jelly, and all the others. Very difficult to be away from the lot like this.
Less than six month to go, I have to keep reminding myself of that.

But, it’s not all bad. I am adjusting, I think. There are moments I can just let go and enjoy the scenery, or the work. Right now I’m still running on a basis, “be busy or crash” thing, but even that should get less bad at some point…I hope.

The foot…well, on that part things are pretty good at the moment. I wonder if it has to do with the flat ground, or the softness of it, or something, because despite the heavy boots I’m wearing most of the day, I’m not suffering from extremely painful conditions. How’s that for strange, eh. A positive thing.

Well, that about sums up the past week. Sure there have been unpleasant moments, and frictions and human interactions that might have gone better, but I rather focus on the nicer stuff, ya know. Heck, I even got some edits done.

Saying that, I have some concerns about the home front. Apparently Knight II is having some trouble eating, which could have to do with the warm weather there, but still. And grandpa had himself a scare while he was out in the yard. He stubbed his foot somewhere and ended up bleeding all over the place. Makes me worried that his blood thinners might be doing their job a bit too well. Apparently he had to apply pressure a long time before it stopped bleeding.

As to anything else. I’m too tired now…sorry. I’ll be back.

Way late

Song of the day: “Someone like you” by Adele. I know. I’m no fan of her at all, but the song (I don’t really like it) has been stuck in my head for the past couple of days. I’m not kidding, I’ve been trying all sorts of things to get it out of my head, but I can’t manage it. Darn it.

I’m incredibly late today, it’s like a quarter to twelve and…well, let’s get to it, shall we.

Yesterday…well, I’ll skip yesterday. It was grocery shopping day, and I’ve described it a few dozen times already. Not as if there’s a lot of difference between any of the trips. Seriously, there was the rush into the yard, harvesting what had to be harvesting, watering the youngsters, so to speak, and then out to the car to head on out. There were fifteen stores or so, seven to eight hours, (with a trip to the garage to see about a trailer hook on the back of the Opel in the near future) and then the day came to an end after cooking supper, trying two pages of edits, and then basically passing out in bed.

Which brings us to today. Woke nice and early, and headed on down for the usual chores such as…well, you know, laundry and such. *sigh* Yeah, yeah, very exciting. What can I say, life as usual. Luckily I don’t mind all that much. In fact, it was rather nice and peaceful this morning.

After breakfast, feeding the dogs, unloading the car and generally getting ready for the “big thing” of the day. Gardening! Yay. Seriously, as soon as we managed the other stuff, it was heading down the mountain and going into the vegetable yard.
First off, there was the greenhouse to check, water and to pluck ripe tomatoes. Nice and hot in there, thank you very much.

Next it was out into the yard to water the whole lot. What with the past couple of days so busy, we only got to do the absolute necessary, and it definitely was stretching the limits of the plants their endurance…of course the heat didn’t help them much, but it looks like most of them survived the ordeal. Hah.

I enjoyed it, in particular the planting of the young seedlings, and the harvesting and then heading on up the mountain again to start on supper. Made mushrooms in a cheese sauce over spaghetti, which was absolutely delicious.

Supper over and done with it was making a wooden standard for cousin Ed (she’s also doing a market tomorrow) on which she can hang secondhand clothes. What with the table big brother made the other day, she is going to have enough stuff to display her goods on…I hope. Once the standard was done (took me about two hours) we helped load the car, which was a hilarious event, to be sure. It was loading, redoing it when stuff didn’t fit (the Opel is tiny, you know) and then redoing it again, because it still didn’t fit. I had this image of a car commercial I saw once where they were stuffing a car full, and then with the last bit, the car literally exploded. Ours didn’t but in my head I saw it. Hah.

We managed in the end, and well, afterwards it was time to get to the edit (did a solid six pages before I had to start on my blog) and by now, well, I had put on Disney’s Tangled (not too bad) while I wrote this, I’m just about ready to get horizontal. The dogs, for one, are impatiently waiting for me to do so. Hah.
I’m outta here.

Poor puppy...

Song of the day: “The voice” by Eimear Quin. There was something else earlier this morning, but by now it has faded into the bustle of no other than Grocery Shopping Day. Yay.

Yep, it is that time of the month again, and though I would have gladly postponed, it had to be done. For me it was a long day for sure. First of I had to head for the doctor’s (podiatrist, really) to pick up my insoles. The nice girl doctor was there again, but regretfully she forgot to bring my old ones in, meaning I have to go back around Monday to pick them up again. I got the new ones today, and at the moment, after walking on them for a solid eight hours, I am not pleased with them. Hah.
Seriously, they look cheap, as if they’re made of some sort of stuff that will fall apart within a week, and though they are softer (after a fashion) they are not all that comfortable. Seriously, it felt as if I was starting from scratch with the blasted things, and to add to the insult, they were twenty bucks more expensive. Grrrr. If I pay for something like that more than I do for the average shoe, I would like to see smooth edges, nicely trimmed colors and whatnot.
Ah well, no helping it now, I guess. I’ll just have to get used to them…or better yet, find a way to heal the effing foot. Yeah. That’s a much better idea. Hah.

But enough about today. It were just groceries and that really isn’t all that interesting. I mean, really, we went into stores, out, packed, unpacked, loaded, unloaded and again once we got home. All very boring…like usual, but since I can hardly just repeat any other grocery shopping day that I did before, we’ll just skip it.

Let’s do yesterday…which wasn’t all that more exciting but at least it was different. Hah.
Also an early day, by the way. We had an appointment at the MOT (blasted government demands that you have an all terrain vehicle checked every six months) and had to leave a little early because we wanted to stop at the gas station to pump the tires. Then it was off the Málaga where we arrived at the exact time of our appointment. Yay. There was some waiting involved, along with a short chat with a guy who also had a Land Rover and who was waiting for his turn. He ran a touring agency, like safaris through the local country-side. Got to talking a bit, since I was curious as to where he was located and how business was going these days. Though slower in the winter (which is normal, apparently) he was doing well. Good for him! By then our license plate number was broadcasted and we had to get into the hangar for our turn.

Gawd. The mechanic checking us over was there with about five percent of his attention, where he was with the other 95 percent, I don’t know, but he only checked the absolute basics, stamped our papers and sent us on our way. Now, personally I didn’t mind all that much, seeing as I consider the car’s condition/safety to be our responsibility and not that of the government, but I paid the obligatory 45 bucks for that check, and got a guy for it who stood staring vaguely in the distance the whole while.

Ah well, no matter. The brakes work, so do the lights, and that’s the stuff the cops look at, right? But anyway, we got our stamp and our sticker so we started homeward with only a slight detour to a Chinese food store to get coconut milk and a variety of noodles. After that it was on to home where the sun was shining beautifully and grandpa was waiting for help up at the storage. Big brother went there, while I headed down into the yard to water the greenhouse and raised seedbed, and then the sowed alfa alfa fields lower in the yard. Such a wonderful way to relax. I really wound down ‘round then.

The yard seen to, I headed up to the storage and helped sorting through panels and such which could be set in the sections big brother and grandpa had put together. It took until the end of the afternoon, but it was well worth the effort. It looks way better there now. Hah.

While we were busy there, the lady from the other day drove down with the her car. She was a bit upset seeing as she had found a podenco puppy by the side of the road. It was tiny, she said and had a ripped ear. And she was wondering if we could take him. We couldn’t, of course. We have strict rules about new dogs, and we made a decision not to take any anymore.

So I explained to the woman that we can’t risk a dog that isn’t vaccinated (seriously, we’ve had several contagious deceases raging rampant through the pack, and it’s not funny). She then of course offered to get him all his shots and whatnot, if only we’d take it. She clearly didn’t realize that getting the pup vaccinated wouldn’t do anything until a minimum of two weeks (which is the incubation period of most diseases) but ideally a good 3 months.

But that was all beside the point. We are trying to get less dogs, not more, and thankfully she did understand in the end. We ended the conversation with me giving her directions to two good vets in the village, and after she cooed a little with Knight II (who was being his beautiful self, of course) she departed with puppy and all.

So sad, puppies being dumped…gawd, the horror stories I could tell…but you can do only so much. There have to be limits, and ours is our present pack at the moment.

While big brother and grandpa finished up in the storage Cousin Ed and I went inside to start on supper. Noodles with veggie under a rather spicy satay sauce. Yummy.

There was a rather turbulent edit, where big brother and I really got into a row about several sentences. What I consider to be suspense, he thought tedious, which of course led to some serious discourse. Moments like that can make a body despair, and then I have to remind myself that every edit makes the story just a little bit better, so it really isn’t for nothing. *sigh* Sometimes there are moments I forget, however. *double sigh*

Well, I’m going to leave it at this. My doggie are demanding attention, and I for one wouldn’t mind an early night at all.

The hunt was on

Song of the day: “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse...which sucks, since I only know parts of the song, making it a repetition of the same bit, over and over again.

Not much fascinating stuff going on…not that there’s much of that on any other given day, but what the hey. I’m going to tell you about it anyway. Hah.

First of all, Kollosus is in heat, meaning that she’s driving Arthur bonkers. Poor Breton, doesn’t know what to do with himself, he does. I do her interests stick with Arthur, or else we’ll have half the males going bonkers around her.

Panni, one of little sister’s cocker spaniels had to be operated today. A rotten tooth and a rapidly growing tumor that appeared just last week. It worried the vet a little, so they decided to do it fast.

There’s been quite a bit of moped hunting going on. What with grandpa’s moped close to the eternal hunting fields, (so to speak, anyway) getting an affordable replacement is starting to get a necessity.

We hunted through a variety of stores looking for something that would cost us a kidney, or maybe a liver. *sigh* Grandpa of course liked the Hondas and the Piaggios, but seriously, 1400 bucks, adding IVA and whatnot to get it on the road (leading up to a whopping 1600) would cut in our budget waaaaaay too much. So yeah, seven stores and three days later, we struck gold, figuratively speaking that is, and found a nice little Keeway Milan that will do trick…I hope. It won’t be here until the New Year, since grandpa insisted on a black one, rather than the readily available white one, but what the hey. Patience is a virtue and despite the song, you don’t die from it. Hah.

Cooking: Nothing really special, just throwing stuff together at the end of the day because we were hungry and not feeling too picky.

We did finish hanging those doors in front of the little storage, and though they still have to be painted that’s about done, finally. All this needing to go out is taking soooo much time, if we manage to get one thing done during the day it’s a lot.

There is of course always getting wood, the laundry, the dogs, the edits, and well everything else, but that really doesn’t feel all the interesting to tell about at the moment. To me, what with all the going away bits, it feels like I’ve wasted a couple of days, despite the fact that they were of course necessary.

I should get some reading done, I think I can because I finally warmed up (practically sitting with my butt against the stove here, hah) a bit, and then…well, I don’t think that there will be a lot of edits done since big brother is trying to fix the program of his Mac, which has been giving fits for months now. This means that nothing is working properly at the moment, and if he does manages it, he’ll be busy the rest of the night reinstalling all his programs. *sigh*
According to him, things are looking good, though, so with a little luck we’ll be doing edits again tomorrow.

Okay, a bit of news about my upcoming interview with author C.S. Marks. As soon as I get the answers back (I’m wondering when that will be btw, I haven’t a clue) I am free to post it on the blog whenever I want, so I’m thinking before Christmas, or otherwise between Christmas and New Years…ah well, we’ll see how that goes.

Big brother just reminded me that a nice tidbit to add in today’s blog was to mention that we slayed two dragons today, but who would believe that, right? That seems so totally out of there, not to mention like space fill, so scratch that…it wasn’t filmed anyway. Hah.

Well, I’m clearly starting to get a tad giddy here, (must be the blessed heat that’s making me sleepy too) to I better quit while I’m ahead.

Out and about in the yard

Song of the day: “Aint’ that a kick in the head” by Westlife, again. I’m having a lot of classics in my head these days.

Right, yeah. (Do not blank out again, Sam. I’m telling ya. Focus, darn it!) Yesterday…well, no workout then. We came home late the night before, and I didn’t get to bed until three in the morning. Consequently I couldn’t drag my butt from bed before nine in the morning, meaning that I had to forego the workout and skip immediately to the morning chores, such as (hold your breath, the suspense might just kill you) laundry, yes, the highlight of every persons day, and mine…*snort* Seriously, I like laundry, as you know so I was just messing with you. Hah.

Yesterday was a lot about busywork, really. Walking back and forth since we had to unload the car, sort through the whole mess and get it all down to the terrace for mom and the sibs to sort through again.

I fixed a nice wall lamp, which will be suited for mom’s room, providing quite a bit of light once I get around to hanging it. While I was working on it, mom joined me for a bit and we ended up talking about politics and such, which usually is the case. Hah.

Next I gathered foodstuffs for supper, asked if tenant needed anything else (she opted to stay up by her bungalow for a change) and then went down the mountain to work in the yard. That was nice. Sunshine and wind, and working in the dirt on bare feet (it’s an experiment to see if that works better for my friggin’ foot) the hours just flew by with me yanking weeds, watering fields and gathering veggies for supper.

I was downright sorry to see the day end after that. But supper had to be prepared and cleaning had to be done too, since we had been neglecting that for quite a bit. Hah. There is a lot of stuff that needs to be seen to, stuff we had to “let go” during the summer. Now that winter is approaching it is time to get stuff that can’t stay outside when the rainy season start.

But anyway, afterwards there was a nap for me, boy was I tired, and then there was reading of the review books, which is going well. This particular indie writer does have some interesting political views, which could make for some fascinating debates. Hah.
What followed were edits, and then around one in the morning it was finally time to go to bed. I was totally psyched for some peculiar reason.

Which brings us to today at last. Yes, there was time for a workout. Yay. Did a full hour and a half, punched, kicked and pounded that ball, stepped, jumped and slid, did push ups, pull ups and pumped iron, so I was nice warm and limber through the majority of the day.

First off we had to go to town to get some sewing supplies for mom, and then a few groceries to see us through the last of this month until Grocery Shopping Day is upon us once more. We got home after two, at which time I was more than happy to head down the yard and spend some time in the greenhouse.

Knight II was a little bonkers today, I don’t think he’s getting enough exercise because he’s got so much energy that sometimes I’m afraid that in his enthusiasm he’ll run right into me and break something. *sigh*

But anyway, after the dogs got over their usual enthusiasm, all quieted down again, and the groceries were put away. Once I was done in the greenhouse, once again there were leaf miners, and one of the tomato plants died because of it, it was time to start supper. Decided on pasta with veggies, by the way. Was nice.

That done, we had a little time left so some weeds got yanked in the onion paddies, which was wonderful. Bare feet again, on the warm moist soil, butt in the air and hair in my face. It got me laughing since my pants kept rolling down my hips. I really shouldn’t wear some of them without a belt. Hah.

Next we had to go to the village to pay an outstanding bill at the vet’s, and then headed to our pick up spot for rocks and letting Knight II out for a walk. Of course he’s incredibly lazy and after five minutes was traipsing around the car, practically begging to get in to relax and get his “dainty” paws off the dirt. Seriously, he’s such a city dog. If I head into the bushes, he looks around in search of a paved path for crying out loud.

Well anyway, I should get some more reading done, and edits, of course. I sure hope I’m going to get to bed in time tonight, because we just might have an extremely busy day tomorrow.

Hospital...no thinking...and dialogue

Song of the day: “I can read you” by Daniel Beddingfield. I know, it’s and oldie, but seriously, it is a good one. I in particularly enjoy the diversity of the song which starts out softly, then becomes incredibly loud, and goes right back to soft again. Anyway, for as far as songs stuck in your head go, this is not a bad one.

At the moment I’m sitting at the dentist, in the waiting area no less. Last night big brother’s back tooth fell to pieces. It was a reconstructed one, so luckily he wasn’t in pain, but it is a bugger. But anyway, since we had to pick up the Opel anyway (the muffler/tailpipe didn’t arrive until late yesterday afternoon) we drove together. The Opel, thankfully, is done, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is the last trip with that one. We are going to need to do the brakes of the Land Rover yet, but that will be an afternoon at most.

What else? Well, today was a rather wonderful day spent in the full afternoon sun, working in the yard while a fresh breeze from the sea kept things pleasantly cool. I mean it, I think that today was by far the nicest weather we have had so far. I was out in shorts and a T, barefoot, standing in the dirt while taking away loads of dying tomato plants and a big batch of reed sticks that had been keeping them up-straight for the duration of summer.

What with diseases coming for them, there really wasn’t much of a choice. I managed to save three that still have some nice growth going. They will stay where they are for a few weeks yet, hopefully giving us a few more tomatoes this fall.

Before heading out into the yard, I spent a bit of time in the greenhouse…it was wonderful in there too, in particular since the morning started off a little chilly. While doing the laundry in the shade of the courtyard roof, I’d become decidedly cold…transplanting broccoli, kale and cauliflower. They’re doing well, and the tomatoes I transplanted the other day, well, one’s already a foot high. Boy, I hope they’re going to work out this year. It would be so grand if we didn’t need to buy tomatoes this winter.

A bit of fun news: grandpa has his birthday today. I had planned to make him a cake, but then I pondered his teeth and wondered if maybe a bought one was a better idea. In the end I decided to go for a small cheesecake and a cream and chocolate ice cake. He’ll just have to decide for himself which he likes best.
We did order a gift for him at Amazon, but since it hasn’t arrived yet, I suppose it is going to be a late present after all. *sigh*

Okay, distraction over, what happened before the greenhouse…well, I already mentioned it, didn’t. Laundry, duh.

Right. Yesterday. I’m totally going to mess this up in sequence, because the first thing I remember of yesterday was of course our worth-mentioning trip to the hospital.
Dani offered to go along with grandpa and me, which was good since my Spanish is iffy, and we headed out at eight thirty in the morning so we could go past town and drop the Opel off at the garage. Though I had planned the take the quieter country road to Marbella there really wasn’t time anymore, so we decided to risk rush hour and headed down the coastal highway hoping we would be in time regardless.

Turns out we were lucky. We made it in record time and arrived at the hospital forty minutes ahead of schedule, a good thing too, considering they had rearranged their parking areas, meaning that you either needed a card, or had to park underneath the building, which was 202 cm high, about fifteen centimeters lower than the Land Rover, thank you very much.
Added to that, the other public parking area was also covered with these corrugated metal roofs, meaning that the car wouldn’t fit there either (later big brother told me that there was a section where we would have fitted after all, but since all appeared full anyway) I finally dropped grandpa and Dani off at the ER and set out to hunt for a different parking spot.
First, I thought fate was on my side when a station wagon pulled away from a spot at a roundabout, but though I almost got it in, it was about a foot too small for maneuvering, so I continued on my way. I finally managed to park in a side street and locked up. It took me about ten minutes to reach the ER (was up the mountain the entire way) where grandpa and Dani were waiting for me. Of course by then my coffee had settled, meaning that a trip to the bathroom was vital. Jeez, seriously, I don’t know what I would have done if the waiting area hadn’t sported one.
But anyway, we showed the doctor’s reference paper at the front desk, only to hear that we had to go all the way round the hospital to a big entrance with lots of people with a sign saying consulta sisterna. Huh? Seriously, we had no idea what he was talking about, seeing as the doctor had said to show the paper so the guy could show us to the oftalomologia (sp?) section, or some such. But anyway we followed the instructions and ended up at…the mortuary. Uh-huh. Yeah, that got me laughing, and we were joking that it was really a bit early for THAT.
*Snort*
So yeah, finally we came at the MAIN entrance where the woman behind the register was laughing about consulta sisterna (that’s what we had too) since there was no such place. She pointed us in the right direction, and we waited there for about half an hour (I took the opportunity to start reading a review book I promised to do) before we were called inside the doctor’s office. I can honestly say that I have never seen a woman with a worse hair day. I would say that she rolled right out of bed and then used gel to make it worse. Now I don’t have the best hair at the best of times, but I do draw the line at that single pluck in the middle of a head in the back. Hah. Not that it mattered, considering she was actually a rather nice woman.
She looked at grandpa’s eye for a bit, grabbed a little thingy and promptly took out the foreign object. It was tiny. Half the size of a grain of sand, and shaped like a kidney. You should have seen grandpa’s face. He was so relieved that it wasn’t any more serious thank that, and that he was send home with a bit of cream to put in for the next three days. Phew. Big relief.
But anyway, we were back home around noon and happy for it, thank you very much.

The rest of the day was spent working in the carport putting together tenants new lamps. We have been meaning to for several weeks, but we finally got around to it. After that there was a quick cooking session, which was totally experimental on my part. Turns out that we have purslane growing in the yard (it’s considered a weed, but in the past it was also a veggie), and together with nopales (cacti, remember?) I mixed it through our veggie mix meal. It was yummy, also the purslane, which reminded me of Chard stems. Will definitely be eating it again.

That done, big brother went for a nap (we had gotten way too little sleep) and I headed down the yard with Dani to water the plants needing it. Treated ourselves to a melon, of course, hah.

Next it was my turn for a nap, but since I dreamed of driving the Land Rover onto a roundabout, where I somehow ended up driving straight into a white Citroen DS. Startled wide awake, leaving me to wonder what the heck that was all about.
Ah well, who needs sleep anyway? Hah.
We did an edit afterwards (the Opel wasn’t done yet, so that was one trip less, thank you very much) and then had to hurry to get to our appointment in town. Picking up the second hand supplies took longer than expected and when we finally got home I could barely keep my eyes open.

Luckily I did get a solid seven hours of sleep last night, meaning that I was semi-human this morning, and ready to start the day. First thing up was a big batch of laundry, because, let’s face it, I didn’t have time for that yesterday. *sigh* I hate interrupting my schedule like that.

Next thing, after coffee and breakfast, and saying good morning to grandpa (it was his B-day today) and tenant, we headed out into the yard again…hey, wait a minute, I already described this, didn’t I?

Oh well, the dentist turned out to be only a short distraction. Big brother got his tooth fixed and we headed out…with me wondering why big brother was heading up the mountain while we still had to head back into town (preferably with only one car) to get some sewing supplies for mom. Sure, we’d gotten the pie already before heading for the dentist, but the supplies still had to be done.
But anyway, we were halfway up the mountain before he remembered and promptly turned around (making a U turn that I followed immediately, mind you) leaving me to wonder why he was heading up the highway when we should only take one car.
So, following him up the highway, muttering all the while, “Why are you going there for crying out loud, you could have parked where we did the U turn, or the shopping center, or the gas station. And why do you insist on not having cell phone? Why didn’t you take grandpa’s and then…I lost him on the highway. So yeah, I decided to head into town anyway, hoping that he would go to the shop as well, only to remember that I only had five bucks in my wallet and I didn’t know how to get to the shop either until I got to a herboristeria we often frequent, from which I know how to get to the McDonalds, where, just about the time I rounded the roundabout, I passed big brother on the left. *double sigh*
So I gestured I would wait down the road for him, and five minutes later we joined up by the side of the road and discussed where we would park. Finally we ended up at the aquapark where we took just the Opel to see to the supply trip.

Me: “So what were you doing?”
Big brother: “Not thinking, apparently. I kept wondering where I could park so we could join up in one car.”
Me: “You mean the shopping mall didn’t do?”
Big brother: “Like I said. Not a thought past the wondering.”
Me: “Right. Glad we got that out of the way. Do you know where we’re going now?”
He gave me a “duh” look and went to the store.

Everything done, we finally headed home where we had ice-cake with grandpa and then headed to the terrace in front of my cabin to start on the day’s computer work.
The dogs were psyched that we got home, of course, and they have been going bonkers ever since, sticking to us as if they’re attachments, or something. Ah well, everyone needs a little attention now and then.

Stormy weather...sounds like a song.

Song of the day: “Little girl” by Enrique Iglesias. Literally a song that makes me go awww, every time I hear it…even in my head. Hah.

Yep, yesterday was that day again, that particular time that comes by twice a month and that we simply can’t get around (darn it) Grocery shopping day…aaargh.
We’d printed out a list for a change (all properly prepared and everything) went through all the right motions, looked for sales, went for the bargains, and only went over budget a tad because we had to get a new water boiler: the old one gave the spirit the day before yesterday, stupid thing.

Now, I wouldn’t mind all that much if they made the blood things fixable, you know what I mean, a rubber ring here that you can replace, a switch you can get out there, spray some silicone, whatever and you’ve got yourself a fixed boiler. No such luck with modern day boilers, however, they’re of cheap plastic, cheap metal and just about ready to dump after three measly years of use. That seriously POs me, I tell ya.

Well, all the necessary stuff got done (I missed a few, what with the lists being different that usual and everything) but I managed to correct the errors at different stores, so we won’t be without anything in the near future. I could of course write down everything that occurred yesterday, but since it was basically a repeat of grocery shopping three weeks ago, you might as well skip that way and get the gist of it, hah.

The only difference was that town was busier than usual, and so were the stores, which meant that we took seven hours to get everything done, even though we had three stores less, darn it.

Okay, onto the next item. Sita is still staying at the vet’s…they suspect that the virus, bacterium, whatever the heck it is called (they say it has no use to check because the treatment is the same) has come out of incubation and she had a 40 C temperature yesterday, diarrhea and vomiting, just like Niobe, only without the massive amounts of blood. Poor little girl, she looked so darn miserable when we came there for our daily visit. And the smell…OMG, I don’t know what the heck it is, but the smell is definitely unfamiliar to me.

Which reminds me (visiting Sita, I mean, not the smell, hah) that on our way back home the other day, we took the forest path and got pulled over by the coppers. I don’t know what the heck is going on these days, but the cops are literally all over the place. It’s like they’re ambushing us in the most unlikely places for crying out loud.
But anyway, they pulled us over…not hard to do, considering it’s a narrow path and there really isn’t anywhere to go even if we are inclined to such things *snort*…asked for big brother’s license, then who little brother and I were. Then the chubby cop asked what was in our TOOLbox in the back of the car, what the boards in the trunk were for, and then sent us on our way with a rattled apology for “molesting” us. Hah.

Okay, these guys crack me up at times, really. Here they are looking for nefarious criminals, stopping the big white Land Rover with a bunch of foreigners in it, (and looking for some action by finding terrorists, or something, hah) only to find a car full of construction materials, garbage, construction debris, wood, or whatever the heck else we are hauling at the time. Disappointing for them, I tell you. Especially since the Guardia civil can still be the macho types who like to throw some muscle around. I swear I always see disappointment in their faces, and a distinct drop of animation when they figure out we’re foreigners from “up the mountain”…sometimes I wonder if our reputation precedes us, hah…They’ll mumble something like, “Oh, right, okay, move along, and stop bothering us.”

Maybe I should feel insulted that we harbor so little interest, I mean seriously, some cop abuse would be so much more interesting to write about.

So this morning, I woke to the sound of thunder (a lot of sound, in case you’re wondering) and it has been raining off and on for three days now, with a constant downpour that started around six this morning.
Seriously, the thunder is deafening at times, and it has been roaring overhead at regular intervals for the past six hours. Quite impressive.

We only managed a short edit yesterday morning, by the way. We got up early so we could get some done prior to leaving for grocery shopping, but if we did two pages, it was a lot. It wasn’t a bad edit after all, though. Short but sweet, hah. We’ll get there yet, even if we have to bash each other in the brain to achieve it.

Other than that, some of the dogs are feeling a tad poor. I think that the bug is making its way through the pack. Carla (cocker), Gada (Labrador), and Sitabah (weimaraner) are coughing, so we’re starting on some mild medication to see if it helps. Knight II isn’t feeling well either, and like him, Dax appears to be a bit lethargic. Those immune systems better kick in fast, darn it.

Well, time for me to start on the day, maybe do an early edit and then on to helping big brother hand the new boiler.

Groooooohoooooceries!!! Saw it coming?

Song of the day....well, there wasn’t any. What with it being grocery-shopping day, I’m not surprised either.

Yesterday was a pretty good day, all things considered, though. Started off a little late, what with summer time throwing me out of whack, and my alarm giving the spirit, but all in all lots got done.

My bed got a solid remodel, and now sports a big storage underneath a huge spring that actually manages to lift up with mattress and all. It took some designing, fixing and them wood work to hide the metal contraption, but now it looks downright pretty and solid.
When I finally finished with it ‘round eight in the evening (in full daylight still, hah) I was so darn tired from it (illness is such a persistent little bugger) I could have crawled into it right then.

I didn’t, of course: always lots of other things to do…in this case editing, naturally. Managed a solid nine pages during the last four hours of the evening, which was good enough for me, all things considered. Still sick and then still managing a four-hour edit is not all bad, and only one hour less than usual. 70 pages in the full 330…we’ll get there yet. Hah.

I am pleasantly surprised at how very few errors there are in the manuscript. Seriously, this is the rough material, completely unedited, unread, and let’s face it, unseen, seeing as I wrote it straight through without ever once going back to check…and yet there are only few errors: some typos, a missing word here and there, a sentence turned around, of course…but nothing as bad as I’d expected and feared. There are actually entire paragraphs that don’t need work at all.
Suffice it to say that I am properly stunned about the entire thing.

Added to the wonderful realization that it is pretty darn good already, is that it feels like reading a book for the very first time. Hah. Seriously, I’m going over pages I wrote thinking, “huh? I wrote that? When?” It’s great!
Going to bed last night was a wonderful reward after a job well done.

Which brings us, inevitably to today, darn it: Grocery shopping day! Lemme just get it out right now: Aaaaaargh!!!
It was a long one, I tell ya. It started off early too, seeing as we had to go to the bank as well. Took us a full hour too, and then we still had to head for town to get two weeks worth of supplies for nine people.

So yeah, I’m always complaining about grocery shopping day, so I figure I might as well take this splendid opportunity to share the experience.

Shop # 1:
The hobby shop: mom needs oil paint and this is our first stop of the day. We rush inside, get the sap green, black and white, and then are back outside on the road. It doesn’t really count as the first shop, though. It is minor, all things considered.

Shop # 2:
This is the biggest shopping we do on this particular. We used to save it for last, but then we realized that we might as well start with it while we’re still fresh, rather than drag our butts through it when we’re already exhausted. We hit it (little sister, big brother and I) with three carts and separate sectional lists of the supplies that need to be gathered. I head off to the canned section, the fresh produce and then slowly work myself to the back of the store, picking up little sister n the way until we come upon big brother by the fridges, finishing the last bit of his list. Yay. Talk about excellent timing, eh? We headed straight for the registers, unloaded everything on the treadmill counter (for the life of me I can’t recall what they’re really called), reloaded and then hauled the lot out to the car. There we could unload again, putting everything in boxes and bags, and then at long last into the car. Half full we depart.

Shop # 3:
Is a small speciality store from country of origin, where, miracle above miracle we only move out of with a minimal of two tiny bags. Hah. Getting there took twenty minutes, though, and heading back takes the same amount.

Shop # 4:
Big supermarket chain that mostly caters to foreigners. It also holds the DVD rental, where we need to return Surrogates with Bruce Willis (oddly enough for a Bruce film, it was disappointing, darn it) and rent a couple more.
The only things we need to buy in the store are hair paint for our tenant’s care taker, mom, and some sunscreen 30 for our tenant.

Shop # 5:
Big frozen specialty shop fifteen minutes further into the city. It takes a good fifteen minutes to go through it, pack up five big bags and pay before we’re outside and head across the court for some do it yourself articles. *snort*

Shop # 6:
Hardware store. Yeah, now we’re talking. I drool at the power tool section for about five minutes, we buy three boxes of screws, varnish and a shovel. Another twenty minutes lost, darn it; time goes too bloody fast. We were starting to lose steam ‘round here, considering we’re all still coughing occasionally and the weather could have been better. I did enjoy what little sun there was, though.

Shop # 7:
A foray into the massive media store; peering at laptops, blinking at huge TV screens and then heading on over to the back where the TDT machines are stored. What with Spanish TV going digital officially, as of this year, there’s dire need for one of those nifty little machines that just freak me out when they’ve got fifty different brands (and prices) for the same darn thing. Stupid machines.
Nothing gets bought in this store, thank gawd.

Shop # 8:
Luckily there was no need for the pet store today, yay. The smaller pets are still supplied enough to get through to the next shopping day. We did need to check out sales in the third supermarket, because this particular one often has sales on laundry detergent and such.
Only a few items get added to the supplies in the end, seeing as the stuff we need isn’t on sale, and before you know it (sucking orange juice) we’re back on our way to the next place.

Shop # 9:
Fourth supermarket, specializing in mostly fresh produce. Veggies, bread and cereal (the younger sibs’ favorite) are added to the pile; a whole cart full no less, and by this time it is already past five in the afternoon (four and a half hours after our departure) and the smaller stores are open again after the three hour “siesta” break that is normal ‘round these parts.

Shop # 10:
Chinese Euro shop. We love this place, especially for garden stuff, a watch for little sister and cheap underwear that will actually stay in place. Hah. Big brother needs a calendar to keep track of our gardening schedule and I need more paper.
We are also regulars, and the girl behind the counter is always laughing and chatting (in Spanish, even though she knows we seriously suck at it) and offering us a present by the time she’s tallied up our purchases and we’re about ready to depart. Such a nice girl.

Shop # 11:
Last shop of the day, yes, another supermarket; a German one this time, where we buy a nice batch of vegetable seeds, some teas (they have the best chamomile that is still affordable) and a sale on coffee. If all goes well, we won’t need to buy any for a month now. Hah.

And that concludes today’s shopping, thank gawd. Four less than the last two times, and due to a reroute on the way home, (darn road works have been going on for a full year now, darn it!) it took us almost an hour longer than usual.
I can tell you that I was seriously bushed by the time we got home, unloaded the overfull car…we’d actually put down the back couch, leaving only one seat for little sister…and put everything in place. Seriously, I’m amazed I even managed this blog, ‘cause I was looking at the entire writing of it rather bleakly.

Well, I’ve got to go! We’re watching 2012. I’ll let you know if I found it remotely interesting.

Out of the blue: R.I.P. Trin Trin.

Well, yesterday was a crappy sort of the day: Trin Trin, my sweet Monster Boxer passed on to the eternal hunting fields (for doggies), so to speak. Stuff like that really messes up my head, and I cried buckets for the annoying, frustrating, insane dog that will now no longer bug me. I find it so strange that a dog with which I basically had to watch my every single step 24/7 (lest you end up with a bite-mark somewhere) could hurt so much to lose. I mean, seriously, she drove me nuts at times, and she spent the majority of her life on a leash because she couldn’t mingle with the pack all that well, but still I loved that monster to pieces…and now she’s gone.

I’m still a little numb, I think, ‘cause through the course of the day (both yesterday and today) I kept having this feeling of, forgetting something, and then realizing that it was Trin Trin who wasn’t bouncing around me.
I mean, now I no longer need to carry the tube (she tended to hang in it every morning for years now) didn’t need to latch her on the leash in the living room, didn’t have to watch out that one of the other dogs didn’t come near her, didn’t need to put a water bowl there, let her out in the lower garden during the afternoon, and all those little things that the monster needed.

As a matter of fact, last night when I came up in my cabin it took me all of ten minutes to remember that I didn’t need to put out an extra bowl for her anymore…which is when I lost it for a moment. It just got a bit too much and I spent about fifteen minutes crying my eyes out. I hate it when that happens, considering it doesn’t help any, my eyes become puffy and I end up with a massive headache that degrades me down to Neanderthal status. I had to take a painkiller for it, which is the first time in almost six months that I need help with a headache, darn it.

Now, if crying was even remotely helpful, I wouldn’t mind all that much, but since it doesn’t, well, blast it! Seriously, it’s not like crying will make Trin Trin feel loved, or anything…for crying out loud, it is just emotions getting tangled up and making me feel miserable longer than is necessary.
It should be enough that I loved the stupid Monster to pieces while she was here…but apparently it doesn’t work that way. Pesky emotions.

Of course, I couldn’t keep it dry either when I sat down and the dogs were sniffing me, and looking a mite confused that Trin Trin wasn’t anywhere to be found. Then it feels even nastier because I know that they sense my sadness and want to comfort me…the sweethearts.

Sorry for ranting a bit here. I find it a rather pleasant way to throw it all out, right here on the Blog and then move on; so, let’s do that. Moving on:

Considering I couldn’t get my brain to function properly (yesterday) I called the writing session of the day (for the, as of yet, untitled story) quits, two hours prior to usual, and headed up to the terrace in front of my cabin to do some work that didn’t require a lot of thought.

In the hours that followed, I built two cabinets (still for the sibs’ rec-room), doors, shelves and everything, that were put in place immediately after completion. Afterwards, once the sibs were civil, after their usual early morning grumpiness, little sister and I headed up to her room to continue with her new floor.

It took a while, a lot of measuring, (hand) sawing and fitting, but in the end we managed to put in the entire floor, minus the borders because by then it was getting too late to continue, right down to the last board. I think that, all tiny leftovers combined make up one last laminated board, which means that we calculated it all to perfection, and didn’t mess up once while putting it in.

What I like about such work is, that for at least seven hours of intense work, I didn’t think of Trin Trin’s passing once…which means that, if I can help it, I will get a lot of work done in the next few days. Getting something good out of such a situation is always a plus.

The night was exceptionally chilly. Only eleven degrees and I was already freezing my butt off. Luckily, later in the day, the sun breaks out again, and gradually the temperatures rise again to a more comfortable level.

So today was another one of preparing a couple more query letters and packages. These are mostly packages by the way. The first batch we sent out were mainly queries and synopsis, now it’s time for the pubs that want to have the first few chapters added to it. Since this takes more time (because for some reason we can’t get the paper size US letter ‘round here, and we need to cut them by hand from A5 sheets) we left these for after we did the letters. I honestly don’t get why the popular size A4 can hit off the wrong note with a potential editor, but apparently appearances matter just as much as the material you’re sending. *sigh* So exhausting.

But the day’s session was successful, we got another handful of envelopes to send out, and then we can finally return to reading and correcting the last few pages of the manuscript.
After several days of going over letters, details, addresses and whatnot, I am actually looking forward to it. It’s a good sign, I think, if you can reread a story over and over again and still find enjoyment in it.

But of course, stuff gets in the way of proofreading. While big brother is cutting paper and printing out stuff, I work on writing more for the untitled story. I’ve got a solid start going now, and I kinda like the fact that I’ve actually got a name for the female lead. Hah. The guy I already had, but the gall…well, sometimes it takes a while for a character to take shape, and considering she wasn’t in the story until today, and was just an abstract idea, it is no big surprise.

What else…well, considering we ran out of ink, we had to postpone the printing and decided that after inside work we would head for town to get new cartridges. First, there was little sister’s floor to finish. Together we managed to put in all the borders, and I gotta say that it looks grand. Almost like she has an entirely new room, rather than just a new floor. I also like it that she’s enjoying it so much; it makes the effort worthwhile.

It took us several hours—measuring and sawing those tiny slats always does—but afterwards it was a job well done for the both of us. Middle sister and little brother were both otherwise occupied (different projects aplenty) and so was big brother who was putting in two sections in the carport for the dog food storage. Those heavy bags keep toppling over, so having enough of that, it was decided that we made separate compartments for them that we can actually shut off against the dogs. There are those who have figured out a way to open the thick plastic bags and just end up standing by one they’ve torn open to feed themselves. Hah.

Soon the afternoon turns into evening, and in the hour before closing time we quickly head to town to get ink cartridges. At a big department store, we first head into the supermarket…where the stupid things are out of stock. So, we get instructed to head for the third floor, where there still might be some left in the big computer section. Success, and with four cartridges, weighing heavy on the ol’ wallet (for some reason the stupid printer won’t work unless it has all colors, whether you’re using them or not, aaargh. Makes me wish back to the day where there were still printers with only one black cartridge) and then get the heck outta there.

Within another hour we’re back home where big brother resumes printing while I go through the Blog, as usual. Yep, and that was about it. Not the most cheery kind, I know, but it can’t all be sunshine and starlight, I guess. Much to my regret reality (still) doesn’t work that way. Hah.

Forgetful me.

Song of the day (well, the day before yesterday): “I love you but I don’t like you” by Right said Fred. A funny song, but it drove me bonkers all through Thursday.

I know, I’m a day late with the Blog, but because of some inexplicable reason I completely forgot last night. Very bad of me. I’m shocked that I forgot, really. Very unlike me…in particular because I’m usually making mental notes throughout the day, so I’ll have a general idea what to write about. Well, let’s just try to compound it all.

Lots of carpentry these past three days. Middle sister’s closet is almost done, it was primed just last night, and today the light yellow paint will be slapped on. It’s starting to look pretty good, allowing for lots of space once we get it into her room.

Little brother is hard at work with those lamps I mentioned the other day. They all need fittings, and power lines, but he’s steadily slugging his way through the lot. Two are already standing on the veranda as of last night, and they look pretty darn cozy.

Big brother and grandpa are working on the outside fencing and have got four poles in the rock ground, and have fixed the side gate so we can use it, whenever the dogs are crowding the big one. Yay. Big brother figures he’s going to need some practice with the welding machine before we start on the new main gate, so this was an excellent start.

Little sister’s birthday went by without a hitch on Friday, and the cheesecake was a bloody success. An excellent desert for the pasta and fresh tomato (from our own yard, by the way) sauce she prepared herself.

Her birthday resulted in a trip to town yesterday, because she really wanted to have zipper sweater for the winter, so we did some relaxed shopping by roaming through a department store. Since there was a late sale, I bought a body warmer for myself, ‘cause, let’s face it, I’m a total whiner when it comes to the cold. Hah.

The puppies are getting along famously with the other dogs; the pack took about fifteen minutes to sniff them up and down, nudged them a little out of sheer curiosity, and before you know it, lost interest in favor of snoozing around us while we worked on the ongoing projects.

The weather is downright gorgeous this past week. Sunshine, fresh breeze and temperatures in the high twenties (C)…which has the sibs in a snit, while grandpa and I are downright thrilled. Hah.

So, what else was there these past three days? I’m trying to think of something here, give me a sec…oh yeah, managed to get a new second-hand wheelchair for our tenant. It was damaged some, (which explains why we got it practically for free) but after a short examination of the old and new one, I quickly managed to make one perfectly fine wheelchair of the two. Tenant and her caretaker are thrilled, of course, since the new chair is far more comfortable than the old, and you can almost imagine that this one isn’t second-hand.

Yesterday’s song of the day was: “You’re my mate” also by Right said Fred. I don’t know what’s up with that. I mean, the songs are fun and all, but having them inside my head for several hours on head is, like, wahay too much.

We did another garbage run, of course, got this huge load of new, strangely cut MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) boards that are going to be a pleasure to work with in the near future. That stuff is so darn expensive, and yet, there it was, piled so high in a garbage bin that we could hardly fit it into the car. Insanity of a shop-aholic society is the wet dream of the do-it-yourself home-improvers. Hah.

There were a couple of days involving lousy proofreading, and then yesterday, we suddenly (much to our surprise) managed two full chapters again. I don’t know why one day it will work, and the other it feels like mounting the Himalayas, but there it is.

Lots of ticks again: The ugly little parasites seem to be breeding by the dozen. Why, just yesterday I petted Njanna (Golden Retriever) and removed fifteen big ones that were sitting on him like big warts. The same goes for old Ambah (Cocker Spaniel) who had about the same amount small and big all over his face and shoulders. Gawd, I hate those things…and the stupid chemicals are obviously not working. We might start using the natural way again, one of these days. We found this rather interesting recipe for a spray that we really have to try.

Today’s song of the day is: “Blame it on me” by Maria Mena…or at least, I think it will be because I woke up with it.
With a little luck we’ll finish the new closet today, get another session on the book done, and then…well, we’ll see how it goes.

Something to do with groceries?

Song of the day: There was none. Strange huh, but I guess it was just a bit too busy for the ol’ brain to think of something.
Grocery shopping day, again…gawd I’m so happy we only do it once every two weeks, ‘cause if we didn’t I’d be screaming. Hah.

So, yeah: I was on time this morning and big brother and I managed to do a solid edit of four pages or so before we headed out to start on the bimonthly chore.

First stop, small speciality store where they have a sweet soy sauce that the entire family is addicted to, hah, so it simply has to be bought, just like it has been since I was just a little girl. Good stuff…surprisingly we didn’t move to Spain until the sauce was actually available over here. Do you suppose it’s fate? (Just kidding around a little.)

But anyway, during the course of the next five hours…yep, doing groceries for nine can take a good five hours; it will take you through ten stores, and yes it is definitely EXHAUSTING. I’m serious, cutting reed for a couple of hours, weaving it for three, heck, even building a rock wall is not half as exhausting as having to walk to and from store to store, through them…aargh. And it seemed to go so infinitely slow for some reason.

Luckily all was successful, we got the supplies we needed, some bargains that came in really handy, such as a hand axe and a tree saw…we’ve been keeping our eye open for them for several weeks now, so it was wonderful to finally find both at an affordable price.

Foodstuffs, some clothing items (bought for 90% off), lemonade and everything else that will see us through the next two weeks gets piled into the car, until in the end dusk approaches and we’re finally done; with the shopping part at least.

Afterwards comes the hauling it into the house, storing it away and of course the laundry, because I was stupid enough to forget it this morning. Darn it.
Be that as it may, close to eleven in the evening I’m relieved to be able to sit down at last for a much needed breather, and start on today’s Blog while watching a rented DVD (Meet Dave, it was not half as bed as I feared) and the latest episode of “Lost”.

Well, I’m going to leave it at that, I’m thinking. I’m running way behind and I really don’t have anything remotely interesting left to mention, so this is what will have to do for today’s Blog.

Some pics of the new banister...great edit!

Song of the day: “Sing, sing, sing” by an unknown artist, I would say, since I looked it up and got to hear the original voice that I didn’t recognize at all. Hah. But anyway, it’s a cool song, very cheerful, very SWING, so I guess that put me in a good mood.

Like yesterday I was about half an hour late waking up. Forgot to reset my alarm on my usual time, and left it where it stood. Ah well, I could use the extra sleep, so it was not necessarily a bad thing.

After the morning rituals, doing a quick cleaning of Bommel’s ears (poor bobtails, their ears are always a horror) and getting through the morning chores we have to postpone the day’s edit, and head for town instead. Yesterday we noticed that a payment was made to the Ford Ranger’s insurance, so now we head for our insurance agent to inquire after it.

Upon arrival, it turns out that it is an automatic payment and that we have to go to my bank to cancel it, while, on the other hand, the new insurance bounced for some reason, darn it, so that means that tomorrow we have to go out again to look into the matter, darn it.
It is not a huge problem, but it does eat into editing time when it really shouldn’t, darn it.

But, since we’re out anyway, we decide to drop by the supermarket to get a batch of veggies for the next few days, so with a little luck we should be able to stretch the groceries, ‘till at least Friday, and hopefully even Saturday.
Once we get home, I take a quick dip in the pool and then we dive into the edit for the next couple of hours, before the time to work outside arrives again.

The weather is still remarkably mild, all things considered; a wonderful 27 degrees and a cool sea breeze still blowing land inward. I don’t get it, but I do appreciate it. This particular effect of climate change sure helps our electric bill. Hah. Heck, during the nights it’s downright chilly.

I make a batch of cement by hand…as I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks…and for the next few hours we work on doing some touch-ups to the wall, where the fence floats. We attach the last bit of the fence to the banister and then admire the end-result since the sibs have spent their time painting the wood in the same color as the cabin and the carport.

Things are definitely starting to look great…though I gotta admit that it has a zoo-ish overall style. I swear I wouldn’t be one bit surprised at seeing a giraffe, or an elephant behind that fence. Hah.
Here, have a look/see:


The view from the pool. It's a little blurry, 'cause it was really late, but I do love the way it looks. This was prior to painting.



This is the new terrace in front of my cabin. Oh my, I can actually walk there now. It's just so...flat! Hah. Chaos in front, Bommel in the back, and Gadah on the right with Amri's butt.



Banister on the side of the tower. It may have come out a little higher than intended, thus the Zoo-like look.



Banister on the opposite side under the Mimosa tree we had to mutilate.



The short section on which we worked today. It needs to be painted still, but it's solid at least.



The small wall by my cabin. So handy to have a tap there now, and I thought the rather peculiar pattern looks quirky.


The middle of the banister. Knight II, right there in the middle, surrounded by Amos (on the right) and Planni (on the left). Our big lug!


But anyway, as we have promised ourselves, once we finish up nailing the last piece of fence to the poles, we get in the car (little sister comes along) and drive farther up the mountain to get in a quick run before the end of the day. So it’s a good run, downhill at the start and up going back, so I’m seriously out of breath when we return to the car and spend the next thirty minutes or so doing the cool down exercises.

That done, and dusk almost there, we head home in time for a late dinner that mom prepared, and watch an episode of “Bones”. It’s a rerun, but since we never saw the beginning of the show, this isn’t a bad thing for a change. I try to trim Touri’s ears, which are a disaster areas, but the cocker spaniel acts like I’m going to ritually slaughter him, so I finally release him and resign in the knowledge that I need to get tranquilizers from the vet in order to get the task done soon.

Before I know it the evening has come to an end, and I head up to my cabin. We manage a solid edit of five pages, yay! Okay, I could barely keep my eyes open, throughout the procedure, but it was grand.

By the time we bring up the day’s quota to, not five, six, or seven, which would have been grand on any day, but NINE. Count them, 9! Yay. But then it’s time to get to bed. I’m definitely feeling the full day, but that’s a good thing; it’s the ol’ bod letting me know that it gave everything it could on this day. Hah.

Emergency trip to the vet. *sigh*

Song of the day: “Dream a little dream” by The Beautiful South. Cool song. I’ve had it off and on in my head ever since the movie “French Kiss”, which featured the song on the soundtrack back in the day.

Okay, it was a rather unpleasant way to end the evening: Big brother and I had been working on the edit in the courtyard, when little brother came outside, saying that he was more than a little worried about Lapis (big black, ten year old, Cocker Spaniel).

The poor dog has been having some health problems, like being skinny, an ear infection that keeps persisting, no matter what…gotta try the vinegar treatment…and eye infections, and this evening, to add to problem, his gums had turned white and he refused to eat the chicken that had been made for him. Seeing as chicken is a favored dish for each and every one of our dogs, the fact that he didn’t want this is a clear indication that something is wrong.

So anyway, I leave big brother to take care of my computer and take little brother and Lapis to the car so we can head for the vet around eleven in the evening for an emergency. In light of what happened the other weekend, we really didn’t want to take a risk, so there we went, arriving at the hospital where Lapis is suddenly acting a lot like his old self again.

Now this always happens when we decide to do a preventive trip, and today was no exception. Basically the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with him, but after listening to the symptoms and checking Lapis out, he decides to draw some blood and bone marrow so he can do some tests.
After he gives the Cocker an injection in case it is the dreaded ticks disease, we are back on our way home, fifty bucks lighter and shaking our head. It might have been paranoia that made us pull out after-hours, but at least it reassured little brother a little.

Which ends the evening well after midnight, seriously late to write today’s blog, which means that today we’re going to do a quick sum up of the overall day.

There were the usual chores, naturally, and an excellent edit that brought the semi-done pages up to fifty-eight. We finished a rather good scene, which is always pleasant when editing. Hah. Afterwards we added another foot or so to the pillar; it’s looking rather massive at the moment, and I promise I will post pictures in the near future from start to finish, hah.

Just as soon as the rocks started to float again, we took the remainder up to the cabin where I added a few more rocks to the small wall under my cabin. At the same time big brother and grandpa were working in the carport: The new car is definitely higher than the last one, and though the previous adjustments we made were adequate we’ve decided to bring the roof up another four inches or so, rather than risk damage to the roof.

Using the car jack, the pillars get raised and a rock is placed underneath, making the height of the carport perfect for the Defender, which we can now ease right in to the very end. The end result it rather fetching, considering that the whole looks remarkably roomy.

Around seven in the afternoon, it is time to head out to the village, where grandpa’s moped needs to be picked up and then we’re off to town so we can return the rented DVDs and then head for the home improvement store. In order to completely finish the wall and the banister that needs to be put on top, we need new fencing, along with some light bulbs. That done and a slight little mishap of becoming lost in the maze the town calls streets…with the Land Rover it is not all that easy to maneuver through tiny little streets…over and done with, we head on home.

Dinner is consumed, some more chores done, and before you know if I was sitting behind my computer for the edit…which brings us to the events I started today’s Blog with. Ah well, tomorrow’s another day, I guess.

A poor excuse...I know.

Song of the day: “Ugly” by Maria Mena. It wasn’t a constant, but a funny song anyway. For the rest of the day there was some sort of classical tune in my head that I just can’t identify the composer off. I do know it is used in a lot of movies at balls… 1700s and all that. Vivaldi? Albinoni? I can’t remember.

Today was grocery shopping day, so I’m pretty much running on empty.
I don’t know what it is about this particular task that takes it out of me, since it isn’t necessarily a heavier occupation than…building a wall, for instance…it just does.

I was right on the dot this morning, went to the edit and dealt with fifty pages worth of colons an semi-colons, which is definitely a good editing day for me. Then it was interrupted abruptly, of course, since we had to get ready to head for town where the massive bimonthly grocery-shopping chore had to be done.

We did nine stores…a record, based solely on the fact that we don’t much like the idea of having to go out again for basic stuff for at least another two weeks…and got everything we needed, piled high in the back of the truck in four hours.

Admittedly most of the space was taken up by laundry detergent, which was on sale. We decided to stock up, so now we won’t have to buy the stuff for the duration of summer at least, and saved up to fifteen bucks because of it. Hah.

We also bought a large batch of milk and yogurt, which I made into panir tonight. It’s a rather delightful dish that will be divine tomorrow when we bake it. Making the stuff is rather time-consuming-cook and curdle the milk, pour the mix in hang cloths and then let the moisture drip out until you’ve got beautiful round, cheese-like balls.

The dogs thoroughly enjoyed the leftover liquid and have been drinking it most of the evening. Hah. Luckily, the stuff is incredibly good for their intestines.

Since we rented a few DVDs, we watched the latest James Bond “Quantum of Solace” which wasn’t a bad action flick by any means, but still didn’t feel like a Bond film. I just wish it had held my attention better than it did.

Well, I’m going to turn in early…or at least try to, because I really can’t do today’s Blog justice. Besides, Blog-wise, it’s boring material. A tired writer can do only so much. Hah.

Grocery day...yipee. ::-)

Back to usual, I guess, considering I decide to get up half an hour later due to staying up well past my bedtime last night. I don’t know what the heck is wrong with me, but for most of the day I’m exhausted, and then, when it’s time to hit the sack, I lose track of time. Very frustrating.

Trin Trin, the Monster Boxer is being her monstrous self this morning, of course, tearing the bottom of my beautiful dragon quilt. Now I’ll have to repair it again And Knight II decides to throw himself on top of me when he deigns it time to get up, the big lug.

So, dogs are let out into freedom, the morning rituals get done, and the trip down the mountain is made. What follows is the usual breakfast, some quick chores and then the much-needed mug of coffee while I set up the computer and sit down to get to work.

We manage four pages of the rewrite/edit today. It surprises me, considering we were at a point where it felt as if we got stuck every other sentence or so (another fight scene. They are so darn complicated to get just right) but the next thing I know we’ve passed the first section of the scene and breeze right through it.

The female protagonist is once again back to the “difficult”, somewhat aggressive character, so the male protagonist is doing his very best to try to keep her safe, when she tries to run headlong into danger at every turn. Frustrating for the hero, loads of fun for us, since it makes for excellent dialogues and sharp remarks.

We’re still at it, when middle sister announces that we have a new addition to our Chinchilla family. I don’t know how the “mommy” manages to catch us by surprise like this every time, but a gorgeous little baby is hiding in the large cage, doing it’s very best to stay behind the nest and out of sight. Adorable.

No building for us today, grocery shopping day has arrived once more, so instead big brother and I decide to stop editing a little early in order to head on out to the forest path for a quick run with little sister in our company.

It’s mighty hot when we depart, and though there is still a refreshing breeze coming from the west, by the time we arrive at our usual spot, heat is literally shimmering over the rocky path. Properly daunted we only do a few warm up stretches and then start on our way.

Little sister and big brother manage to keep up the pace pretty well…it once again made that whiny voice in the back of my head want to call out, “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll catch up”, thus making me chuckle and fall behind again, hah…but whenever I’m too much out of breath I manage to keep up a decent enough stride to satisfy me.

Got a little farther today (a hundred yards at most) and then start on our way back, time rapidly passing. Once again, back goes a lot better, since it’s downhill, and I actually manage a stretch of at least four hundred yards without falling back in a quick walking pace. Progress! Yay.

Properly energized and weary at the same time, we arrive back home, where we only have a few minutes left to wash up, change clothes and head on out again to start on the bimonthly shopping spree. Lots of places to visit today…what am I saying, this is the bimonthly; there are always a lot to visit on that day.

First runner up is a small specialty store that will close in less than half an hour. We rush through it, getting the necessities and then are on our way again to the second store.
Next is the store that holds only frozen goods. It might be cheating, but there really isn’t anything quite as handy as having fresh vegetables on hand, already cut and ready for use after a hard day’s work.

Third store’s a Chinese bazaar. Our tenant is in need of some decent summer clothes, and since we (me, mom, and both brothers) are out anyway, we figure we might as well see to that particular task. Also, middle sister needs headphones and some underwear, so it’s not like it’s out of our way. We depart from the store with everything we set out for and head on over to the big mall on the edge of town.

The pet store gets a rush visit, too; turtle food and parrot food are both running low so it is really necessary. Next comes the massive supermarket across from it. Our tenant is also in need of sandals and sneakers since her rehab counselor is now working on getting her back to her feet. I manage to find both, and even nab another cute little top for her that’s on sale.
At last, we pick up laundry detergent (also on sale, yay) and are back on the road in less than fifteen minutes.

A low-priced supermarket, followed by our regular one finish up the day’s “adventures in grocery shopping” and we’re heading back home at last where the task of unloading still lies ahead.

After the usual ruckus of the overly enthusiastic pack, we get to put everything away. It takes a while, but what with the sisters already having done some serious cleaning and organizing during our absence it is not as hard as it could be. That dealt with, we have a quick dinner of last night’s leftovers. I made mashed potato and red cabbage oven dish and it was darn good, if I do say so myself.

Only enough time is left to watch a recorded episode of “Criminal Minds” and then it’s back to my cabin for what will hopefully turn out to be an early night. I really need to start bright and early on the seemingly everlasting edit. Can’t get all that much done if I’m yawning all the time. *sigh*

Busy days, they’re exhausting, but rewarding in their own way.

Slight mishap.

Philosophical thought of the day:
If life flows, as it will with the passage of time, what good does worrying about the future do?
It’s an honest question. It’s been bugging me all day and the only answer I can think of is that worrying about anything does absolutely nothing.
Which brings another question to the surface: Why do I(we) worry at all? It is so unconstructive in the end, because worries don’t actually make one do anything. Or does it?
Food for thought.

The day:
I get up half an hour late this morning, considering I was procrastinating sleep again last night. Stupid, I know, but what can I say, I got distracted and forgot the time. I pay the price today in spades, I admit. That extra half hour really doesn’t cut it. Hah.

But that’s beside the point, I guess. I head on down to the house so big brother and I can start on the edit asap. We manage to go over two chapters of “Saving Nina” in the read-through edit, which is less than I wanted, but more than I expected, in light of the chores that kept us from really getting into it.

Since big brother and I intend do go to town today, trying to search for shoes (his size is a pain in the butt to get) so we have to start with building a little early. The sibs have only just arrived when we head on out to commence making cement and preparing the site for today’s session.

When the sibs join us, the first batch of cement is already made, and with a lot of silly jokes going back and forth, we all pile more rocks, while big brother searches for just the right ones he needs to make the stairs that lead to the patio door.

I’m only just getting started, really, adding about three feet to a section of the wall when our time’s up (our tenant needs to be picked up again in two hours, so we’re on a tight schedule) and we need to hurry to get ready.

Finding sneakers for big brother is, as expected, more than a little difficult. We visit over five stores and come up empty. We’re about to visit the last possibility too, when the phone call comes in that we have to head on up the mountain again to pick our tenant up from the bar where the ambulance has dropped her off.

Traffic is pure hell today, jamming up at practically every turn because, as usual, when summer’s approaching road works are all over the place, rerouting traffic and cutting it off at random intervals. It gets so bad at one point that I’ve no idea where we are. Luckily, we make out a familiar building in the distance and start winding our way through tiny streets until we once again return to the main road that leads home.

Our tenant…in good spirits after her third rehab session…gets delivered on her front step, and we’re about to drive onto the property when we hear that there was a slight mishap with a couple of the dogs while we were gone.

Apparently, Ama (a Viscla pointer) and Adma (a pocket Beagle) got into a bit of tussle through the center fence. This resulted in Adma grabbing Ama’s ear and tearing a corner shaped piece of skin out that now dangles down. She bled all over the place. Seeing that this particular two-inch cut is not something we can handle ourselves, big brother and I decide to take the dog to the veterinary hospital immediately.

Ama, though trembling with fear, behaves bravely throughout the drive and the following examination. With her tail between her legs, she settles in her cage, since it is near closing time and we have to leave her there for the night for her operation. With the reassurance that we’ll come back in the morning to pick her up, we depart and head back home.

Little sister has prepared dinner of mac ‘n cheese with veggies, which is a dish we both favor, but since it is already so late, I manage to eat only a little. We’re just barely in time to watch an episode of “Burn Notice” and then, before I know it, the day is over.

Time. How come it flies when a day isn’t exactly a success, too?