One more edit over and done with

Song of the day: “Walk on by” by Bryan Adams, of course. Don’t have him in my head all that much, but his music goes down well.

So what did we do yesterday?
Weeeeell. It was my B-Day, and I celebrated by making three cheesecakes, one lemon and two forest fruits that worked out extremely well. I am totally writing those down for my cook book. Hah. As to the activities of the day. We did a good edit, almost finishing, with just a few pages to spare. Were a little on the late side. And then the pie making cut into the day to, meaning that we didn’t leave for the village until about a quarter to four. Arrived at the job around four, giving us two hours to get this big closet apart and out. Didn’t go all that bad, either. Still had enough time to get out the scrapers and start on the wall. Most of it was easy enough, except that in places the mold was so bad that the plasterwork fell right off. Are going to have to do something about that before we can do any painting. By the time we finished with the wall for the day, and loaded up the debris of the closet (cleaned up a little) into the car, the across the street neighbor came over to ask if the place was going to be rented out. We talked for a bit, and I walked her through the house so she could see how many rooms were there. Turns out she has twins, with a new one in the oven. She and her husband are looking for a bigger place, so I told her to give me her number so I could send it to the home owner. She was a nice enough woman.

Afterward we had a quick run to the vegetable distribution center, before we headed back home to lemon pie for a snack and unloading, right before we had to head into town for another donation. Once home again, rather late, we had pasta and sauce for supper and tried a few more pages on the edit. One more to go at the end of the evening when I just couldn’t keep my eyes open a moment longer.

Was a restful night, with me waking up a little on the late side.
There was the usual…oh my Gawd, I need to write this down before I forget again. Remember the Wednesday market? Well, I was headed to a small restaurant there to make use of the facilities, (it is at quite some distance) when I walked past a young dude going the other way. I kid you not, he looked me over from my toes to my head and then did a “Joey” (from Friends) by practically winking and nodding his head in approval. Seriously, I almost laughed right then and there, but managed to hold it back until I went around the corner. Gawd, I thought stuff like that only happened in movies, but there you have. It was hysterical.

Okay, back to the original course of the blog. Where was I. Late side, right.
There were the usual morning chores, of course, along with feeding the dogs. Finished the edit. Yay. There’s still some checking to do of the changes we made on the story, but the main edit is DONE. Double yay. Worked a bit on the pitch, checked out what would be the excerpt, and went over the rules of the contest once more. We should have it all done, but what the hey. We’ve got two more days to go, and then we have to get up at four, or five in the morning, so we can send it out before six AM…jeeeeeeez. The things you do for a possibility, right?

After today’s edit, we got to work on the kitchen, adding more bricks, the tubing and a good row of natural rocks that bring the total up to most of half of what’s left of the project. That is not counting all that will need to be done on the inside, of course. Hah.

That done, we headed out for a jog (didn’t go splendid, but did it regardless) and to pick up a load of cement bags. While I was there I also asked how much metal doors for an oven would be, and he would look into it.

Since we ate leftover spaghetti and sauce for lunch, we had supper on fried stuff with bread, with desert of forest fruit cheesecake topped with a massive amount of whipped cream. Hah. In one word wonderful.

Mom and the sibs their van isn’t here yet, something with a meter for the cooling liquid that still had to be installed. If all goes well, they’re picking it up tomorrow. I’ll make a pic for ya. Hah.

So, the end of the week is there again, isn’t it? Gawd, that goes fast. So much to do, so little time to do it in. Ah well, wouldn’t want to be bored anyway.

34 and counting

Song of the day: “Amazing Grace” by the Maverick choir. Didn’t see that one coming, did ya? Never think that my brain can’t come up with a proper ear worm. Hah.

Alright then, Saturday…drawing a complete blank for a moment here. Darn it. I’m going to have to grab my diary…
Okay, we’re in business.
Dreamed of Ireland. Yep, now I remember. Gawd, I was in a really nice and green place somewhere in the southwest. There was this big old homestead and I was walking through the woods, which was rather amazing…not to mention beautiful. I was really regretful of waking up.

Well, I got up regardless, of course, and started on the day doing such mundane stuff as laundry, feeding the dogs, and then editing, of course. Didn’t go bad either, finished it (at the end of the day) with only 12 pages to go.

Did some work on the kitchen, hauled rocks down there, along with bricks and concrete blocks before starting on some masonry. Added more to the wall. Changed my mind on one side and am going to make it concrete, rather than halfway with glass on top. No use putting I glass if there’s a closet and fridge in front of it.
Added to the edge, poured some more concrete there and then had to go out to check on the new job location.

Tiny, yet quaint little house in the middle of the village. You could totally do something with it if ya put in a little time and effort. As to the job, it will be doable. Wall scraping, painting and then a general cleanup. I’m going to ask if it’s okay if I take pictures for the blog. Hah.

On the business side of things, mom and the sibs have bought a van for their markets, so that means that Cousin Ed and I can use the Land Rover in the future, which is way better. Yay. Personally I find buying a van in this economy, and with the markets slowly bleeding dry, a dangerous risk, but then, it is not my risk to take, but theirs. They saved up, made a decision and went for it. Their company, their choice. For them, I definitely hope it works out.

Cooking yesterday involved leftovers of the day before, one a crust with mozzarella on top, grilled. A rather wonderful dish, actually.

So that brings us to today.
Had to get up at six this morning. My dogs didn’t much agree with that, but thankfully weren’t too noisy in their disapproval. *sigh* Didn’t much feel like breakfast, so I just nibbled on some serial, hooked up the wagon and left.
Arrived at the market on time (only drove wrong once) and quickly got to unloading. Not a particularly pleasant day, weather-wise. Loads of winds, even there in town (more so at home, apparently) which made the day a busy one while we tried to keep track of everything that was inclined to blow off at the least provocation. Didn’t park the car there today, by the way, seeing as cousin Ed had to go to some sort of charity thing today to see if she could arrange help for Sally.
Personally I walked through most of the market. Bought a nice stack of glasses for bargain prices, along with a really sturdy cooking pan with a proper size for big meals. I would say it’s hotel size and has a long single handle, which is handy when you’re cooking. Managed to haggle on the price (I have no shame these days) and brought it down from fifteen to ten. Not bad. Also bought myself a pashmina for my birthday tomorrow…well today, actually, it’s past midnight. Hah. 34 years and counting.
Talked with only a few people. Unlike Funny Beach this is not the type of market where folks stand together and talk. Basically it’s the difference of a small town market and a chain-supermaket. The first is cozy, the second impersonal.
The general consensus amidst market folks is that the markets are bleeding to death, which is a shame. It doesn’t help that most of ‘m started out as being run by market holders, only to have been shoved aside by town hall wanting to have the dough and the control. *sigh*
Pity.
As to selling. Sold a mini dog bed of 10 bucks, which basically makes up the “rent” of our spot, a doll and that’s it. Hah. The guy who bought the bed was a nice one. I don’t think he actually needed one, but he had a Beagle (loved it to pieces) and when he heard how many dogs we have, he insisted on buying something.
Also talked to a nice lady who’s in a bit of a fix because she is moving back to Austria and can’t take her dog along. She’s looking for a new home. She asked if I might know of someone. *sigh* Poor doggy.
Another nice girl was the stand holder across from us. We bitched a bit about how folks find everything to expensive, despite the fact that her stuff wasn’t second hand, and the stuff I had wasn’t factory-made. I get the haggling, I really do. Heck, I do it myself. But I also understand the frustration of the stand holders who are trying to make a living. This girl ended up buying a tiny Winnie the Pooh elephant. She couldn’t resist, since she was a sucker for elephants. Despite the fact that it wasn’t really for sale separately, we have a whole Winnie the Pooh set going after all, I let her have it for a buck. Hah.
From noon I was on my own, but since nothing else got sold after that, it wasn’t all that big a problem.
Cousin Ed returned before the end of the market so we could load up together and head back on home. What with the wind blowing, the decision to head onto the highway wasn’t the smartest idea, that little wagon swayed like mad, so we got off again ASAP. Arrived home after three, unloaded and made supper of pumpkin. Soup.

Considering big brother had a dentist appointment today, he picked up some bread on the way back, which worked well with the pumpkin soup later in the evening.
At the end of the afternoon it was time for us to head out for a donation…dog veggies. A store sorts through what it can’t use at the end of the day, and most of the time we can take home a load that goes well for the dogs.

That done we got home, had supper, and managed about one page in the edit before it was time to write the blog. Meaning that this is the end of this one, and I’m going to hit the sack. Yay.

It's a go

Song of the day: “Beneath your beautiful” by Labrinth feat Emeli Sandé, still actually. I would like to say that it’s starting to bore me, but since it changed places with Enrique Iglesias’ “Heartbeat”, which started tumbling through my head last night, I still like it.

So I was staring at this big gaping hole in my right lower arm, wondering how on earth I could have gotten such a massive cut without noticing it. But there it was, not necessarily bleeding but filled with a somewhat pinkish, watery liquid that came up from the depths of the wound. Carefully, using my left hand, I unfolded the pieces of skin and peered down to what, in my head looked practically like bone. Seriously, I was really, really freaked out, and boy did that hurt.
I poked at it, in particular since I saw a strange sort of pinkish lump at the bottom of the hole. It looked like skin, but it was shiny, of a rather rough texture, and when I poked at it, it felt downright slimy. It was then that I realized that the rough stuff was not actually skin, and after poking some more, I carefully slipped two fingers around it and with a lot of difficulty managed to extract the 4x4 inches…I kid you not…SNAIL! Eeeewwww! And hurt. I swear, my arm was pounding like mad when I finally WOKE UP and ended up examining my arm for a full minute to make sure that it was only a DREAM. Gawd. I was freaked out for a solid three hours before I finally managed to shake it off. Grrr.

Talk about freaky. Jeez. Got up a little early on Saturday morning, because there was plenty to do, in particular since we wouldn’t be able to do anything on Sunday. Managed a 14 page edit in the morning, which was good what with the “slow” days these past couple of weeks.

There were the normal chores, of course, but mostly there was the yard that needed attention (I kept thinking about the freaky dream, by the way) plants that needed watering, weeds that needed to be pulled (found several snails in there, yikes) and harvesting some broccoli for supper.

Had to leave for a donation, which was not a lot, but handy for the dogs anyway.
The car had to be loaded up, of course, which didn’t take as long as usual, despite the fact that we could take more this week because mom’s and the sibs’ market wasn’t happening due to the 3 kings festival.

Afterward there was supper to cook, followed by lighting the fire for the dog food and then some more editing before going to bed early.

Sunday morning started early, too, just past six, with basically only the dogs to feed, and ourselves, before heading out to Funny Beach Marbella. As hoped for, we got our old spot, the one we had when we first started the market, yay. It was fun being there again, in particular because it meant that we could basically have the car standing right there for unloading. Hah.
Took less than an hour and a half to set it all up.

We were in the midst of negotiating with an English bloke, who considered it the blame of the economic crisis that he wanted to pay sixty bucks for two dog beds (one of 35 and one of 40) rather than full price, or the five buck discount I’m free to offer. So I told him I’d ask, and got permission. I’m not opposed to negotiating, mind you, so I looked him up, said I got permission to sell it for 65, which made him laugh and finally agree. Funny thing is, when he got back to our booth, he said, I’d like to have that one (40 bucks) and that one (30 bucks) rather than the one he had picked before. Since he didn’t ask for the price of the new one, I didn’t bother to point it out to him, and just packed the whole lot up. Hah. Fun stuff, negotiating. Keeps ya on your toes.

Had some nice chats, including with the organizer…we’re back to our usual spot this Sunday…and the occasional customer. Mom and little brother came for a visit. They’d not been before, so it was something different for them, eh.

Big brother and I managed to get some edits done while sitting in the restaurant. Did need two coffee apiece, but what the hey.
By the time we packed up and came home, I had a massive headache, and no idea why. No matter though, we didn’t have a donation to pick up, so once we were home, it was eating food and trying to get another page or two done…after greeting the ecstatic dogs, that is. Hah.

As for today…more yard duty. That is, after the smaller chores such as feeding the dogs, laundry, ya know, and of course another edit. Only managed six pages this morning partly because we took too long discussing our plans for the day. *snort*
Again there were plants to water, some small harvests to gather, and a few more fruit trees to trim. Still a couple more to go, but I’m getting there.

Managed another bit on the kitchen today, too, so yay! Finished the side wall at least, and big brother has been busy preparing the places where we’re putting in the tubes for drainage and water.

Had to pick up a small donation, then got home in time to cook supper. Worked out well too, despite the fact that I wasn’t all that hungry. *sigh*
Only got another page or two done, and then it was time for the blog, darn it.
Ah well, I’m ready to call it a day anyway.

As to the impending job…that’s a go, so next week is going to be a busy one. There will be moving involved, cleaning and painting, and not necessarily in that order. Hah. Ah well, it gets pay in, doesn’t it?

Hmm. Technically I’ve got two more days to go before my birthday. I really have to start thinking about making pie.