Too little sleep.

Song of the day: “Die hard” by, I don’t know the band’s name, but it’s the song for the movie Die Hard movie. It’s hilarious and…well, it was thoroughly stuck in my head. Hah,

So let’s get yesterday over and done with shall we? It was grocery day, so after the morning read through of Saving Nina, where we managed a solid two chapters by the way, we had to hurry through getting ready to leave for town.

Though they are pretty used to the procedure, the dogs were looking at me as if I was abandoning them (as usual) and kept dogging (no pun intended) me through the house until I was finally done and ready to depart.

Though grocery shopping day is a nice change from the daily routines, I don’t much enjoy the chore that is going to take us a solid work day to get done. I mean, sure, we could break it all up and only do the shopping for one week, or so, but since that will only break up two days, instead of one, we opt for doing it only twice a month every time. And boy do we pay for it.

From the moment of departure to our return takes approximately six hours of constant activity, since there are many stores to visit. It takes out a big chunk of cash, but in the end we save quite a bit actually. When daily shopping will cost about fifty bucks a pop, this will bring costs down to at least half of that per day. It always amazes me how this works, since we don’t actually appear to buy more when we do it day to day, but looking at the expenses, it really is true. Buying large amounts saves…a lot.

But anyway, both brothers and I breeze from one store to the next, buying the necessities that have been listed and start piling it in the back of the car. It starts out as just a few bags, but then, as the hours progress, the cab gradually fills up with every stop at the discount supermarkets…one had veggies on sale, the other fruitjuice, laundry detergent and so on and on. Boy, buying groceries for nine people is definitely an interesting venture. Hah.

About half way through the walking through massive stores, parking lots and streets are starting to wear on body and mind, but with a soda and some potato chips we managed to make it through…just barely…well past ten in the evening, with only one store foregotten. Wow. That’s an accomplishment, what with at least nine stores behind us and the variety of purchases, which we tend to remember in our heads rather than lists.

But anyways, ten we start on our way home and arrive home near eleven. The fun isn’t over then, of course: the stuff needs to be unloaded and put away in storage yet. Luckily the sisters have already prepared everything for our arrival (cleaned the shelves, organized the leftovers from the past few weeks…not many of them, by the way…and cleared the fridge) the way they tend to do on this particular day.

Setting everything in their place takes about 45 minutes, and by then my feet feel as if I’m standing on bare bone, so sitting down and having dinner (mom made mashed potatoes with spinach and cheese through it, yum) is beginning to become a prerogative.

While I eat I go through my messages and since we rented some DVDs while we were out, “Wolverine” is put on at this time. It wasn’t bad, but not as good as I’d hoped. I mean, sure, I like Hugh Jackman…I have since I saw Paperback Hero…but regretfully the man needs a solid counterpart in his movies. On his own he tends to blend into the background a bit-much to my regret.

I often regret that movies these days seem to be lacking some in character development, and those who do have them…well, those really aren’t my type of movies. I miss the oldies like “Romancing the Stone” where you had a bit of everything. It’s as if, these days they have niched movies so tightly that you have to have either one or the other, without an option inbetween. I’m not entirely sure, but the last movie I remember “having-a-bit-of-everything” was “Lucky number Slevin”, which was a pleasure to look at.

Die Hard 5 had “it” too, now that I think of it, but it’s becoming rare that some average movie grabs me by the throat and yanks me into a story. It’s been dwindling little by little since “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Matrix trilogy” and it sometimes makes me wonder if they were just so good that nothing compares anymore. *sigh*

But then, maybe it’s me, I don’t know. Maybe I am just not able to get “into” a movie the way I used to, but whatever the case is, I regret it, a lot. There really is nothing like loosing yourself in a good action flick with interesting characters every once in a while.

Be that as it may, yesterday evening was cut short, I was too tired for any proofreading, and considering that I needed to get up two hours earlier today because our tenant had a doctor’s appointment and needed a ride, to Marbella hospital.
It’s a bore, I know, but I get to drive, and I had some spare time while I waited to write part of today’s Blog.

Good news for our tenant, who was told that she has made such excellent progress that she can start trying to use a cane for moving around on her own. Tenant was thrilled of course, and it was a beautiful compliment to get. She was literally gloating, which is always a pleasure to see.

The drive home was uneventful and I managed to read a full chapter once I got home and dosed myself with a decent mug of coffee, but afterwards, when I was about to start with the second one, when fatigue hit me in the face and I basically fell asleep seated in my chair. It was rather weird, since I hardly even noticed it. In the snooze, I was still actually correcting minor errors.

I think I snoozed for about forty minutes, startled awake when the dogs barked and tried to read some more. When it became clear I couldn’t-neither could big brother for that matter.

So, we quit early and headed out into the yard to plant three wheelbarrows filled with plants that we’ve found on the waste pile behind the local plant nursery. It’ll be great if fifty percent of them make it, but still the yard is definitely starting to look marvelous. I can’t wait for them to start growing.

That done, three hours later, we head inside to continue with some work on the office. Middle sister and I hang the cabinet I made the other day and was positively thrilled that it fit on the first try and that we managed to attach it without trouble.

Big brother and grandpa worked some more on the terrace doors, preparing the rounded sections that they’re gonna have to make in order to close the wall off.
With some painting I finish off the evening’s task, head for the kitchen to eat the meal little sister and brother prepared, at which time we put on “Race to Witch mountain”.
Not bad, so far, but we’ll have to see how it ends to make sure.

Yep, another day gone, with a little luck some more reading later tonight, and then, hopefully and early night. I’ve been going on little more than four or five hours a night and it’s wearing on me a little, hah.

Sitting in the office, yay.

Song of the day: “You can’t break me” by Bryan Adams. Very appropriate, considering that emotionally my mood has been a tad…ehm, iffy, these past couple of days.
I mean, seriously, for the past forty-eight hours everything FELT like a huge problem, even though my mind is very much aware of the fact that it’s not. Everything is just fine, it’s just my emotions which refuse to agree with my tangible me. Ps me off, really, makes me wish I was a Star Trek Vulcan…boy would life be easier that way. Hah.

But anyways, let’s get this thing rolling and see if I have something to report that is even remotely interesting.

First off: this morning’s edit went downright horrible-or so my friggin’ emotions told me, aaargh-as it turns out, it wasn’t all that bad, just not as smoothly as usual. We did manage two chapters, just like yesterday, so that is always a plus in a read-through. Of course this morning FELT as if we were right back where we started, but since it wasn’t progress was made. Four days into the final read through and we’re at chapter nine so what the heck.

Worked on the shelving again yesterday. This time a nice island kind of thing over the desk where we’ll put in spotlights, or other types of lights. Whatever we decide on in the end, at least we’ll have proper lighting for a change. The bonus of the suspended island-thing is that on top of it we’ll have room to store supplies.

Now, today I spent the entire day hanging three similar white file cabinets against a wall that’s (not so) appropriately crooked…it’s the style of the house, I swear. Since we were going for old style finca back when we built it, the walls are delightfully rough and crooked so it was not by accident…at least not really. Hah.

But yeah, hanging the damn things was a bitchy job on my part. I had to redo it twice because I’d calculated wrong the first time and ended up with a bulb in the wall that demanded I shift the bottom two cabinets outward another inch. Grrr. Very frustrating. Be that as it may, they’re now hanging neatly in the corner like a nice pillar of small drawers, just as planned…sorta.

Big brother and grandpa are still working on the round terrace doors, which aren’t cooperating either. Yes, the things are gorgeous, but like the cabinets, they’re a bitch to put in. Luckily, the hinged part is now hanging properly, giving me a rather cute view of the house while I sit at the new desk and work on today’s blog.

Throughout the construction the dogs are in varying states of bliss and frustration. The bliss, due to the fact that they love being underfoot and the frustration due to the fact that they LOVE being UNDERFOOT. Oh my God, I don’t even want to count how many times I had to get one dog or other out of the way just to get stuff done.

While little brother and middle sister helped me with the more tedious parts of hanging stuff, little sister spent some more time painting walls…the hallway this time, which is looking decidedly clean for a change. It won’t last, I know, but for a while at least I can enjoy the view.

The desk turned out well, I’ll admit. I’m sitting at it right now, and even though I am surrounding by piles of tools, papers and even a small garbage bag (I used it to gather debris before I sat down, hah) it is rather cozy to sit here. I really can’t wait for it to be finished. I wanna work here more in the near future, when it’s all neat and clean…but until that time comes, I’ll just enjoy the process leading towards that rather lovely end result.

So yeah, last night’s read through was just as disastrous as this morning, meaning that I am not entirely looking forward to tonight…which is ridiculous, since yesterday says nothing about today, but still-it’s those pesky feelings again. Rather than face the problem, big brother and I have opted to go on a garbage run after the blog and see if a nice drive will clear our heads.

Considering that I have been working a solid eleven hours with only bathroom breaks now, I am looking forward to hitting the sheets soon, ‘cause let’s face it, busy days do have a wonderful way of making one exhausted enough to just drop face down on the bed and pass out…just the way I like it, hah.

For a while, I considered taking pictures of the office project, sort of like a before and after shot, but since it would have been embarrassing to show the disaster area that it was, I decided to forgo it and wait for a wonderful “after” once we’re done. You’ll thank me for sparing you, believe me, hah.

As it turns out the damage to the windshield of the car will be repaired by the insurance, so that’s reassuring at the very least. For a moment there, I feared that it was going to cost us (more) money and would put a serious crimp on the coming expenses, but it won’t so… Phew.

The weather has been fickle these last couple of days. We’ve had blessed sunshine, blasted rain, beasty wind and boring clouds, but that’s to be expected this time of the year I guess. Added to this the nights are getting to be downright chilly, which I find vastly annoying. I’m already sleeping under three blankets again for crying out loud.

And regretfully I can’t think of a singe thing to write about now, so I better wrap it up and get to my messages before big brother gets impatient and start telling me to “hurry up”. Hah.

Seeya the day after tomorrow…’cause we’re gonna do grocery shopping tomorrow afternoon and…well, you know how that goes. Shopping: the bane of my existence, for sure.

Shelves and painting.

Song of the day: “Escape” by Enrique Iglesias. Yeah, “you can run, you can hide but you can’t escape” hah. Well who wants to anyway.

So let’s get down to business, ‘cause I’m way behind today, and I’m sure that you have better things to do that read this stuff…or not. Whichever is the case, I need to hit the sack, like, fast. I’m starting to look cross-eyed.

Luckily today and yesterday were pretty much the same. Yesterday I made shelving for the office, and today I hung them…which was a bitch to do, ‘cause I had to drill holes while standing on a chair, way over my head and then balancing precariously. It felt like friggin’ exercises. Every little muscle in my stomach was shaking at the end.

Had a sneak peek at the puppies, which are growing rapidly. Adorable little buggers. Soon they’ll get an introduction into the pack. I’m gonna have to properly describe it when the day arrives, usually the response of the other dogs are hilarious.

Ehm, yeah, big brother and grandpa put in the rounded terrace doors today, and they’re looking grand, even though we’ve only got half, so far. They’ll still need a lick of paint some sanding, shaving etc. but then they’ll be all done.

The small round table that is going to be mom’s working station was painted too, today. The file boxes got put together and were placed on top of the new shelves in the eaves of the veranda. They fit, by the way (it’s always iffy when I don’t bother measuring it first, hah) two on top of each other, with less than a centimeter to spare on top: Success!

The desk got painted a second time now too, and I think it is going to work out well once we start working there. Lots of light-due to all the windows and light colors on the walls-space, and easily closed off for the dogs whenever it proves necessary.

Cleaning is always a big part of such projects, of course, so for the six hours a day that are spent on work, a full hour follows for the resulting clean up. The same goes for the younger sibs who have been painting wall for the past two days, making the whole look rather fresh and clean.

We managed to stock up on a lot more wood too, in the past couple of days, grandpa’s piles rapidly growing, resulting in shopping-like trips to the old horse stable where neat stashes are set together. Soon we’re going to have to start on the fencing of the area. In winter there is a problem with thieves in this area. All through the year scavengers steal metal all ‘round, but when the colder months start settling in, there’ll be those who look for wood and will take it if there is no fencing to speak of.

We had a minor little mishap with the car today…darn it. There’s this big crack in the windshield, which means that we’re going to have to buy a replacement soon. Hopefully the insurance will cover it, but otherwise we’re going to have to do a patch job of sorts ‘till next month.

Got through the big proofreading today, which is like, awesome! Now all we have to do is do another random read through and then we’re all set in case the publisher wants to see it. Hah. We succeeded…thankfully.

And I’ll quit now, before the words actually start to get out garbled the way they’re already looking to my somewhat blurry eyes. I’m sure that I forgot several far more interesting tidbits that I could have written down, but I really need to get to bed! Aaargh.