Cleaning day.

I’m pretty damn frustrated when I wake this morning. I had a bare minimum of three hours of uninterrupted sleep because the weather made the dogs restless. In particular the two monsters that decide to make my night miserable by waking me every hour–at least–and end up actually dragging two of my blankets to the floor.

Much to my chagrin the floor is wet from the consistent rain spraying into the room from the open back door, which stupidly I forgot to close before going to bed.
Suffice it to say that I am not in a pleasant mood when it is time to rise and I head for the house half an hour early.

There’s a big load of laundry, and that of the day before yesterday still hasn’t dried so the new batch takes up more than half of the lines available. I’m fuzzy, sleepy, and moving at half speed while I have breakfast and give Yadzia his extra feeding of the day.

Though I settle behind the computer around my usual time, I’m not expecting to get much done today. Due to the stormy weather, the internet connection is iffy at best, and in order to get a single post on the site takes up to thirty minutes since every time I press “post” the little antenna signs in the program appear, indicating that the connection needs to be acquired once more.

It is so damn frustrating that I can barely stop myself from swearing out loud throughout the many futile attempts. Still, my eyes droop, joints ache with exhaustion and half an hour into the useless endeavor to get something of the new story down, I switch to a new file and attempt a detailed query letter for one of the done stories, which big brother and I discussed the night before.

This doesn’t go well either, and the two mugs of coffee I pour down my gullet have no effect whatsoever. At long last I give up on the computer tasks and put everything out of the way to get some active work done instead. With my six-year-old MP3 player on my arm, blasting full volume in my ears, I head for the veranda and tackle the mess gathered there.

Big brother, who is intent on frying himself French fries, suddenly rushes to the kitchen and tosses his fries in oil that has become much too hot. A large burst of fire flares, just barely doused by the lid that is thrown on the pan, and turning off the gas. It could have been quite a disaster that is a fact, but luckily, except for the rather disgusting smell of burnt oil all through the house, the kitchen is none the worse for wear.

Though it is big brother's birthday today, we have decided not to do anything for it. He couldn't care less, and birthdays aren't that big a thing with the family anyways. Were it not for birthday reminders on a variety of forums and such, the day would actually be forgotten entirely. Hah.

It has been months since anyone had the time or the inclination to do any cleaning on veranda–we rarely use it–so it takes me quite some time until there is a semblance of neatness to look upon. Knowing full well that if I sit down now, I won’t be able to keep my eyes open, I tackle the spider webs, once again spread through the house. It is so strange, but in the months that have past it almost seems as if spiders are working overtime.
The webs aren’t small either. No. They’re huge, spanning actual yards, and sometimes it seems as if the house has been uninhabited for fifty years.

While working on the spider webs, I’m pretty horrified by the thick layers of dust everywhere, and get a bucket with soap to tackle the living room entertainment center that’s covered with the vile stuff.
Three hours after first starting with the cleaning, I finally decide I’ve had enough of this particular task and move to the kitchen to make French pizza bread for everyone.

Little sister helps, and in record time dinner is ready. By the time we’ve eaten my eyes are once again drooping, and since I have no idea what else to do, and know I won’t be able to get through the evening if I try to watch TV, I settle in the comfortable chair with Dax and Mosha on my lap, and promptly doze off.

I sleep for almost two hours, barely aware of all that is going on around me, and blinking my confusion when I wake up to find that most of the evening has already passed.

Switching the MP3 player back on and start cleaning the kitchen. There’s sawdust all over the place so it keeps me busy for quite some time as big brother rereads our first vampire story by standing beside the storage cabinet holding his computer on the top.
He’s thrilled at finding only three minor errors in the whole and is looking forward to starting his reread of the second story to make sure that it is up to par as well.

Once cleaning’s done, I settle behind my computer and do a quick edit and out loud read of the new vampire story, finding the beginning to be pleasant and inspiring for more writing in the near future…under the premises that I don’t feel like working on the full-length psychic novel, of course.

I get to see the first cut of the new fan trailer for W.I. Investigations/The Martyr, and am properly impressed by what I see. It’s not done yet, and it is completely different from the one for Shape Shifter, but once again the story is brilliantly shown in such a relatively short time. I can’t wait for it to be finished and up for public viewing.

The evening draws quickly to an end, and the rain has stopped long enough for me to head up to my quarters without getting soaked. While dogs are eating, I read a bit for relaxation, and then start on the night’s last session on line.