Poor lug.

Song of the day: “Bruises” by Train and Ashley Munroe.

Well, it’s been a while since I wrote a blog, isn’t it? Seems like an eternity, but it couldn’t be helped. What with the latest deadline from town hall, I haven’t had a day off until now, and every spare hour that I did have was spent on finishing that edit for the ABNA competition, and then a few days ago, after finally finishing that edit, starting on a new book. It is such a relief to be doing something new after all this time, my mind slowly shifting and whirling into motion as I start thinking about new plotlines, characters and whatnot. It’s wonderful; escapism in its purest form, that’s a fact. For now I've decided to start working on the "Gun" story. I know, the title doesn't say much, but it's a working title, we'll see what else comes up once the story has developed some more. I'm definitely looking forward to so mindless voilence, humor-filled action flick.

So, you’ll be happy to know that I am a competitor in the ABNA competition under the name of Samantha Night. Way more suited for a PNR, I’m thinking, and have entered my vampire story if for no other reason than to discover whether it is remotely good. Sure, there have been some beta readers, but one has to be fair and admit that however honest Beta readers try to be, and however much appreciated their efforts, they are slightly biased…which is why we love them so much. Hah.

I wonder if the reviewers will notice that the story is no average vampire flick, but that it is all about the characters, who could have been the milk man and the librarian, for all the importance the surrounding story has. Sure, there is some plot, but on the most part it is a glimpse into this wonderful Irish family that everyone just has to meet. They bicker, they talk and they fight, but beneath it all they love each other, and the reader will be able to feel as much, I hope.

But okay, so we’re officially competing, and though I am at least hoping for some intelligent reviews, the dream is of course that publishing contract at the end of the tunnel, so when the time comes, and I even make it that far, do cast a vote in my favor, please, pretty please with a cherry on top.

The cooking completion, gawd, I better not forget telling about that one. We went to Gibraltar, wonderfully on time, only to discover halfway there (30 miles, I kid you not) that we had forgotten our passports, aaaargh. So we had to go back, had mom meeting us halfway to give us our passports. And off we were again, speeding down the highways and arriving to the border of Gibraltar ten to six, ten minutes before my audition. Grrrr. Luckily we basically only had to wave our passports and drove straight through. When we got stopped by a traffic light, we exchanged places, argued a little about the direction we had to go, and then hurled out into the street we needed to be without turning wrong once. I arrived at the restaurant at exactly 17:59, and even had time to use the bathroom and wash my hands because they were cleaning up after the last contestants.

The interview went much the same as last year (I’m afraid I can’t do bubbly in real life. In writing, yes, but in real life it is just not possible…yet) and the majority of the judges recognized me from last year. It was fun. I don’t have a clue if I did it right seeing as the results are not in yet. I kid you not. I got a mail the other day that the judges are postponing their decision so they can do more casting. So either we were all horrid and they just need to find new people, or they just didn’t have a big turnout. Ah well, we’ll see how that goes, won’t we.
But can you imagine it, Sammie on TV. I can. Face red as a lobster (seriously, it is embarrassing how fast I turn red, even when I’m not in the least bit affected, grrr) and smiling big regardless. I keep repeating my mantra: “Let the lighting be good” over and over again. Hah.
But back to Gibraltar. Twenty minutes after my audition I was out again, after which we had to walk all the way back to where big brother had parked. Before you know it we were back on the road and ended up standing in line at the border for a solid two hours. Luckily we both had our phones with us, meaning we spent that time reading. Yay. Did treat ourselves on McDonalds afterward. It has been six years after all, and since we were splurging on the trip already, an extra fourteen bucks wasn’t going to make a difference.
Didn’t get home until after eleven in the evening seriously running on fumes. No matter. I had fun, which is all that matters.

In regards to mission impossible: Cleanup.
It’s pretty much all done now, so thankfully it wasn’t as impossible as it seemed. All that remains of the old buildings are floors, and a road that tracks down the center of the property. It’s nothing if not depressing every time I get home from work and see once again all that is gone. But then, such is life, I suppose. One moment you have this, the next it’s gone. One moment you have nothing, and the next you have everything. You just never know, and to try to hold onto something when fate has decided against it is nothing but asking for trouble. I’m letting it go to see where the next path will lead me, if you know what I mean?

No workouts since the last time I mentioned it, much to my regret. I do so want to do one, but if it is not a work day there are so often so many different things to do that I just can’t find the time for that either. Like my last free day was wasted on groceries and a visit to my bank, which is something that I need to waste my next free day on again too, darn it. Ever since the downfall of the economy, and our old bank got bought by another, all the automatic payments have gone friggin’ haywire. The same goes for our insurance for which I will also have to go to town at the earliest convenience. Bugger was that yesterday was a holiday here in Spain, everything comes to a standstill then.

Bad news is that last week we had a dog coughing, the next day four, the next day nine. One of which was Knight II who is now in hospital with a serious pneumonia. Poor ol’ lug. He has a massive fever, hasn’t eaten in three days (lost a total of 10 pounds in the past week) and is now on a drip at the vet’s for the remainder of the weekend. I hated leaving him there, but there just was no other choice. His friggin’ health is just such a precarious thing. I swear every time he gets something, the fear hits me anew. “Oh gawd, I’m going to lose him this time.” Which is of course always an option, but shouldn’t weigh so heavily. I mean, seriously, it comes down to a fifty percent chance, since there are only two options. Either he makes it, or he doesn’t. Everything else is just dramatics, for as far as I’m concerned.

We did manage to find a buyer for Sally’s old cabin. Basically the price we bought it for, but with our building services included to put it back together again sometime in March. That won’t be easy to fit in, but it’s gotta be done.

Did finally get some decent pants. I was down to one whole one that I was basically wearing 24/7, et voila, I stumbled on a bunch of 2nd hand ones that used to belong to northern European people. Boy was I relieved that they fit beautifully, and that now I actually have choices again as to what I want to wear on any given day. I even got one of those neat camouflage pants, for crying out loud, and it cost no more than a few bucks. I’m psyched! No narrow trousers that make my legs look like cones, no flubby waistbands, but designs that actually flatter my body shape. Couldn’t have gotten better if I’d had them tailor made, thank you very much. Yay.
Got a nice sweater and a couple of good flannel shirts with it, too, which do really well in our dry wintery weather.

Downside of the past couple of weeks, besides the problems with the dogs, and the endless cleaning going on at home, is that my foot’s playing up again. It has as much to do with my state of mind as the fact that I haven’t been eating well again, lately. I should be eating way more veggies, and less carbs, but ya gotta have time to make them to eat them, dontcha. Well. At least I made up for that today. Made lentil patties and a veggie stir fry that is going to hit all the necessary nutritional levels, so all should be well.

Well, that’s going to have to be it for today’s update. I finished reading a book and I need to review that. You’re going to laugh yourself silly when you read it, I tell ya. Until then…ta da.

He/She...

Song of the day: “Rapper’s delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. Such an entertaining song.

So yeah, it is that time of the week again…well, two days late anyway, but it’s been busy and we got hit in the face by town hall once more. I don’t know what bug crept up those people’s behinds but seriously, they have issues. Now they aren’t satisfied that we broke everything down, nope. Added to that we have to remove the remnants of everything that we rushed to break down. Like some things, such as furniture we are trying to preserve under tarps and such are not allowed. Have you ever heard such nonsense? That you can’t have stuff stored under a tarp on your friggin’ own property. Those cabins we were forced to break down we have them stored as well so we can try to sell them. Need to be gone. Worse yet, they are also claiming that you can’t split up your fenced yard into different sections, which just boggles the mind. Whoever started this shaite on my family will have a lot of misery on his/her conscience if this goes a lot further. We have troubled dogs. Dogs that were mistreated when we first got them, and which do not go well with others without the protection of fences between them. If it is true (I’m meeting with someone who might know of a way to help us) and we are forced to take the fences away, we will have no other choice but to put several of our lovelies down for no other reason than that we would be unable to find other homes for them. I mean, we took them because they couldn’t be placed elsewhere, for crying out loud. If this comes to pass, it will be on that person, and his/her karma to carry, I tell you.
It is astonishing the lengths to which some town hall folk go.

I do admit that all this hassle, all this sadness and stress, make hard to maintain your cool and a positive attitude toward life, but I tell you this. I will do what I can, give it 110 percent for as long as I can to give these animals a good life and if I then fail I will look at it as something that was inevitable, like a disease. Out of my hands. That is the only way that I can live with it, I tell you.
And ones these wonderful animals are gone, and they have led the best life possible, with love and health and happiness, I will leave and start over some place far away from here. Nothing except those dogs keep me here now, not the wonderful people I met over the years, not this piece of land that holds nothing of me anymore. And I can have peace with that, I think. What remains is time, as much as I can give them.

Though Tenant is slowly getting used to her new place, and actually loves the new house where she can sit in front of the window, close to the radiator and with the TV at her feet, Sally isn’t doing well at all. Cousin Ed says that every week she is a little less Sally. Her entire body appears to be shrinking, while her head is still terribly swollen. She lies in bed all day now, staring at the ceiling with eyes that don’t see much of anything anymore. The only thing she still does is sing with her visitors when they come by. A sad thing that.

Which is all terribly depressing isn’t it? Well, that is not me, I refuse to accept depression, so let’s move on, and think of the positive things happening.

Writing. We have about 100 pages to go in the edit, and less than a week before we have to enter in the competition. We might not make it on the dot, but after we entered we are allowed to alter our submission for a few more days at least, so it should be manageable. Funny, isn’t it, that stuff always goes haywire while you are working with a deadline. Let’s just hope that we make this one.

Haven’t heard anything yet from “Chicago Hope” which is still at the publisher’s. I am not yet worried, seeing as they warn that it could take up to 8 weeks until you hear something. We’re about four weeks into it now. Keep those fingers crossed.

Cooking. Well, experimenting-wise there is very little to mention, seeing as there is even less time now than before, but I’ve been consistently eating healthy at least, if a tad rushed. Lots of cauliflower, broccoli, which is so wonderfully easy to prepare with a handful of dried herbs.

Dog food has been difficult this past week. The deal we have with some of the local rehab centers for their leftovers means that the amounts depend on what is left for them. At the moment it is very little, so we’ve been forced to substitute a few meals with dry food. Nothing wrong with that, but I rather have them eat fresh made food. Way more healthy. But one does what one can, right?

Had another dog at the vet. Little Sammie, Tenant's dog (both Sammie and Julia will be traveling toward their owner on the 22nd, which will be a relief)had an infection in the flap of his ear, making the darn swollen terribly and him absolutely miserable. Luckily it was not a "broken" ear, which would have been a costly venture, and just a matter of bursting the swelling which was all puss. Poor thing is on antibiotics now, but otherwise not doing badly. Phew. How he got it, is a mystery, but I suspect it has to do with his tendency to roam. There are these grasses and weeds that tend to get stunk in his fur. Both he and Julia definitely need a shaving before they leave.

The weather has been iffy at best. Beautifully warm and sunny one day. Sunny windy and icy the next. And then miserable, cold and rainy the other. There seems to be no thought nor rhyme to it. Right now it is rather splendid. I am outside on the terrace in front of what used to be my cabin, the sun is shining, there is very little wind and my dogs are lying around me. Better than that, it doesn’t get, does it?

Writing. Well, personally I’m looking forward to being done with this edit. It means that we won’t have a deadline anymore, and if we miss a session due to being unable to keep our eyes open, we won’t need to beat ourselves up about it. Instead, every spare minute that is found can be used to work on “Earth Drawn” (sci-fi) or “Gun!” which is totally an action flick, and for the first time in a long, long while 1st person narrative. There will be lots of humor in it (think Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang), which is definitely something I could use right now. Whichever I decide on, it will be fun to write again. To just like my mind wander, go with the flow, and practice a little escape-ism. As to which one…we’ll see.

Well, there still is a lot to do today. I’ve got a meeting in a few hours, let’s hope it will be helpful in some way. I would like to make a nice potroast for supper, which will take a minute to prepare, and which I will have to fit in at some point during the day. I’ve got to pick up little sister from work, then later tonight after my appointment I’ve got to pick up big brother, so all in all I will be lucky to have some energy left by the end of the day to do some edits. Hah.

Gotta go. I’ve got to admit that writing this blog did a good job of calming me down a little. Funny how writing does that, doesn’t it?