Bummed

Song of the day: “Don’t worry be happy” by Bobby Mcferrin…again. Not necessarily a bad thing, but some diversity wouldn’t be bad. Hah.

Saturday market’s first up, after a carpload of laundry that had somehow ended up on the lines. Hah.
Not a good day for a flea market. Folks were very “focused”, had no time for chats, which is bad for a gal like me who wants to get her kicks from some nice talks at least, if at all possible. But alas. At least the woman we share the stand with was in good spirits…and like me, she likes to set up a little different every day, which is of course the fun part of set up time. Hah.
What followed was the waiting, of course, and yes, there were a few minor chats and a remarkable interest in my tie dyes. Ain’t that cute? Sold four items. Yay!
But anyway, as planned mom and little brother arrived after noon, so big brother and I could split and head for the hospital to visit with tenant.

We could only sit with her for a short while, half an hour at most, considering we had two hours in total before the end of the market, so we had to cut it short, which she didn’t like all that much, I tell ya. Not to be helped, however. We were lucky to make it there at all.

Came home about 20 minutes late, finding mom and little brother already busy with the packing. We took that over, and waved them off so we could finish with the majority of the products. Made our way home where we quickly had to partly unpack so we could head out again and pick up some things in the village. Had to toss out a load of garbage at the same time, at which point we found this tiny little kitten in the mess. It was four weeks at most, and something had mangled it, leaving it with this gash in it’s ribs. Poor thing was mewling like mad, and stumbled toward me with paws that could barely sustain its skinny frame. It didn’t take a vet to figure out that there really wasn’t anything to do for it, so the best we could do was have it put out of his misery. Always makes me sad, stuff like that.

That done, it was time to cook supper, after which it was time to load up once more. It’s endless, ain’t it? Hah. Managed to do some writing at the end of the day, but not a lot. Was pretty much running on fumes by then, but did have a few nice chats online and worked on my pictures before heading to bed.

Sunday started early with baking patties to have folks try out on the Funny Beach Marbella market. We left on time for a change, partly because big brother and grandpa pitch in to get the wagon hooked and everything checked. Tried to doze a bit on the way there, but couldn’t really drop off…good thing, all things considered, seeing as otherwise I wouldn’t have seen the poster hanging all over the place announcing the upcoming concert of Bryan Adams. Yay. Was soooooo going there.

Set up took almost three hours for some peculiar reason, and once we had that done, it was time for me to head for the hospital to see how tenant was doing. She was a little down, which wasn’t unexpected since she was transferred to a new room without a roommate this time round. She loves keeping track of roommates when she’s at hospitals, so now she was bored out of her mind.

Once I came back at the market, I managed to eat a big burger and then quickly went to the restaurant where I got my usual table to write some. Managed to get two pages on the proverbial paper, and then it was time to call it a day and go back to relieve cousin Ed for a bit. Discovered where to get tickets for the concert while she went for a quick swim. Then it was my turn for a swim. Actually swam a mile, or something, which was awesome, despite the current that threatened to drag me closer to Marbella. Gawd, it’s been a while, and it was wonderful.

Once back things were still incredibly quiet, only sold a minimum of items, at which point there were suddenly the ladies we’d seen earlier came to fetch three packages of my burgers, and wanted two dog beds to boot. Then two girls from Liverpool came to chat, and they loved everything we had, and we really had to stop trying to talk them into buying more after one bought several bracelets and one of mom’s purses. They had some great tips for sending abroad. Gawd, I loved the accent of the one who was this petite little woman, with bright magenta hair that was partly braided to her skull. There were tattoos all over the place, and she claimed to have spent the previous evening getting snoggered, and was well on her way of getting there again, if it were up to her. (It was) The thing is, her voice totally reminded me of Patsy from "Absolutely Fabulous", which was…well, fabulous. Hah.
But anyway, in that last hour we sold another tie dye and jewelry, meaning that we had a lot less to pack when it was finally time to pack up for the day. Took us forever, of course. Didn’t drive off until seven, meaning that by the time we got home we’d been at it for 13 hours. Sigh. Not bad, though. The folks who made the expensive order two weeks ago came to pick the stuff up and paid without a hassle, so this was possibly the most profitable day we’ve had so far. Not the best day, mind you, but the most profitable one, most definitely. Hah. This was the last market during the day, instead the next one will be on a Saturday evening (the 13th, in fact) lasting only 'till midnight. :-) Luckily that will be solely crafts, so it'll mean less packing for us.

Once at home, big brother had supper waiting for us, so since my foot was effin’ killing we did that before unloading the car form the day’s “adventure”. After which big brother and I headed out again for a quick pick up of a donation, and to see if El Corte Inglés was still open so I could buy a ticket. It wasn’t, and I couldn’t, but no matter, the donation was a good one, so it was worth it going out. Didn’t get home until after ten, darn it.

Did some reading of the book, chatted a bit, posted a picture on the picture blog, and discovered the disaster. The concert tickets are waaaaaaay more than I can afford (seriously, that’s three dog vaccinations, for crying out loud) meaning that I have been somewhat bummed ever since. Seriously, I’ve been waiting for this grand event since 2005 (with the disastrous scam that robbed fans of their money all over the place), but what happens, it goes above my friggin’ budget, for crying out loud. Seriously, 30 bucks I could have scrounged together, but this…this is just too bad. *sobs* Finally I just went to bed for a much needed night of sleep. *sigh*

Woke on time, this morning. Strangely enough I was dreaming of finding a two year old toddler at the garbage. Was a cute little girl with pig tails and quite a mouth on her. Hah. Was momentarily confused by the time I woke up and figured that the person she reminded me of was me at that age. *shakes head* Wonky, I tell ya.

There were the normal chores such a laundry, followed by cutting bread because the dogs had somehow managed to get to the day’s food supply. Sneaky sneaks, the lot of them. Grrr.
While I went up to help Sally get ready for her doctor’s appointment, big brother fed the dogs, after which I could eat breakfast and start writing at the same time. Did manage to squeeze out Knight’s ear (like yesterday evening) but I’m worried that it’ll only get worse. Vet visit later in the day.

Caregiver went to hospital today, to see if she could tenant home, but she couldn’t. She had to stay at least another day. Luckily, she didn’t appear to mind.

Big brother and I had to get some groceries after lunch of Smacks with milk, and then came home to prepare a really late lunch of my patties on bread with lettuce, tomato, cheese and a load of sauces. Asked Sally if she wanted to eat, but she said she didn’t. Decided to let it go and try again later. Were preparing the lot of them when she came marching past with her stroller, claiming she was going to go to the Chinese bazaar to buy one thing or other. Rather than wage a whole battle trying to convince her, I continued making our lunch, and asked big brother to keep an eye on her. She hit our steep incline, at which point big brother asked if she was really going to climb it, at which point she said “yes, of course I am!”
Big brother remained silent, watched her go several steps, at which point she stopped and asked, “you think it’s too steep?”
“Yeah,” he answered, at which point she said, “okay” turned around and headed back to her cabin.

She’d just settled in her room, at which time lunch was ready and I went there to ask if she was hungry yet. She was, and cheerily joined us at the outside table for a quick lunch. That done big brother and I headed out again, this time to the vet with Knight II, and to get a load of old veggies at the veggie center in the village.

The vet wasn’t displeased with Knight’s ear, and said she wasn’t going stitch him again…thankfully. It is just so nice to see him without a cone, for crying out loud. She did the same thing I did with his ear, and told me she’d look at him again tomorrow morning when she will be coming over to vaccinate the dogs.

Got home after getting a small load of veggies from the center, did some writing, and then got down to blogging for the day…meaning I’m done now. I’m outta here. Hah

Pic update

Song of the day: “Grenade” by Bruno Mars. Embarrassingly I am still a sucker for romantic songs. Hah.

So another weekend over and done with, right? Lots has happened, and just because of that I’m going to do a bit of a picture blog to boot.
I got several folks to pose for me, and since a couple of them have their own sites, I figure I do some networking and help them out by posting their links right here for y’all to see.

First Lynn, who organizes the market. So pretty, but terribly shy. Like me she prefers to be behind the camera, rather than in front of it. First she only wanted to be on it with cousin Ed, but then I explained that I really wanted a portrait, at which points she got all self conscious. So we laughed some, talked a bit, and then, in a moment of relaxation I shot this one.

It shows off her splendid smile, eh? If I ever get her to pose properly, I’m going to do her more justice, though.

Then there is this lady, who I’d really would have liked to make a portrait off, but when I explained what I wanted, she was adamant that I couldn’t do a facial shot, only of her with her products, and her cause.
So hereby…

And the link to her cause. http://mujeresenlasveredas.blogspot.com.es/ Apparently it is some sort of effort by (mostly) women who head on up in the mountains to open up old paths for hikers, and re-educate them about the flora and fauna of the area, and letting folks find pleasure in walking the paths that folks walked for necessity in the past. Sounds like fun, and if I actually had time for such things, I’d probably join up occasionally. Hah.

Then there is Monty Monteros who sings Spanish flamencos, some pop and basically entertains the folks at Funny beach, always ready with this big grin. Here’s a pic.

He didn’t mind posing at all. Makes all too clear why his chosen profession is performing, right? Being able to pose without a prob is an excellent talent then. Hah.
And his link is. http://www.montymontero.com so if you’re in need of an entertainer at a party, or some such in the Marbella area, he’s the one you have to contact.

Alright, enough advertising. I picked several of the portraits of the market for the Photoblog, but some will do splendid over here. So here we go.

The stand:

One of our fellow stand holders, who was kind enough to pose for me. Maria Carmen

So kind always, and talking a mile a minute, whether I understand her or not. Hah. I took a rather great pic of her mum, who’s in her nineties, nearly completely blind, but proud as a fiddle that she’s allowed to go along to the market. She really enjoys it, and gotall aflutter when I asked her to pose. She’ll be going up on the photoblog, so you’ll see soon.

Also this cutie, the kid of a young couple who were nice enough to let me take a pic or two. She was smiling soooooo sweetly.

Market wise the day was a bust. The only thing that saved our earnings was an order for three yoga mats at the end of the day, which need to be delivered two weeks from yesterday…which is fine. We’ll be there anyway. If I understood it right, the guy wanted them for the loft playroom he has for his grandchildren, which they are perfect for, naturally. Hah.

Did get some writing done, and some reading. Had planned on a dip, but didn’t go for it since it turned out that the weather was turning. Twice during the course of the day, a strange fog came rolling in from the sea. A Stephen King moment waiting to happen, I tell ya. Hah. Had some nice chats, and the day passed fast as you please. Was friggin’ starving at the end, an oftentimes occurrence these past few days…which reminds me that I should still mention Saturday.

I slept terribly. I mean it. I was out like a light, woke up at five and then was unable to fall back to sleep. Grrrr. Added to that, when I came up it turned out that grandpa was sick and wasn’t able to do any of the preparations he usually does. Like bake pancakes. Meaning no breakfast, and what’s worse, I had not time to make anything for lunch either. Meaning I was starving twice in a row. *sigh* (Poor Sammie)

I also had shots of the other the market but it’s getting late so I’m not going to put them up. Let’s just say I took some really nice shots, a few of which were these. LOL
The rest I’m keeping for the photo blog. *winks*

Our neighbors.

Very well…had low sales there, which is partly due to the fact that the weather was just too nice for people to bother with the market when the sea was only a few hundred yards away. *sigh* Didn’t mean that I didn’t have some nice chats with folks, or that mom and little brother turned up with the money purse I forgot in the mess of the morning.

Afterward we did have to do a pick up, and then, once home, there was the potato veggie salad to put together…which wasn’t half as nice as big brother’s mac & cheese that was waiting for us when we got home after seven in the afternoon yesterday. Hah.

A bit of good news for today was that tenant finally agreed to let me help her onto the toilet. Yep. The first time in months, which is one step on the way back to recovery, at least. Went really well, meaning that I can actually help her more if she keeps it up, freeing some of caregiver’s time now that Sally needs so much help…Sally being terribly confused still, mixing up locations from the past, events, not to mention things that haven’t actually happened at all, just in her head. It is rather disturbing. If she gets any worse, we’re going to have to make sure that the gates are locked, or else she might head out thinking she needs to be somewhere. A scary thought, what with the busy road up there.

Today was a busy one, once more. You know, right, the chores, the dogs (had to take Sitabah back to the vet, and Tadaika too, who had a swollen toe, which we feared was broken). Knight II’s ear is on the mend, but he’s making a pest of himself by constantly trying to get rid of his cone collar, the sneaky eejit. He was bleeding somewhat fierce yesterday. Definite plusses of the day would be that I managed to wrap my teeth around a small piece of meat (good Sammie) and practiced my Spanish.

Well, this is it for me today. Time to start getting ready for bed.

Confusion

Song of the day: “Wild Rose” by Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave. Strangely dramatic song. Also not the most comfortable since it is rather depressing. I ended up singing “Things” by Nancy and Dean, just to get rid of it.

Right, the past couple of days have been hectic as usual, and because it is already late, I totally don’t feel like sharing. *sigh* Gotta do it, though, promised to keep the blog as accurate as possible, and frequent, come hell or high water…well, okay, if either of those last two happen, I am not going to blog. Hah.

Well, let’s see if we can keep this remotely short, alright? There were of course the usual chores. The ever pleasant laundry, feeding the dogs, doing some cleaning (yes, I did some in my cabin, yay!) and cooking. Nothing too fancy, mind you, but today there was a rather nice veggie mix to go with the burgers I made last Friday (90 of ‘m at least). It was perfectly edible.

Made a kiwi cheesecake, but it didn’t work out well. I did something wrong with the amount of gelatin. Such a pity. I bet it would have done well at the market…well, maybe not.

Writing wise I managed a total of six pages, I suppose. Both yesterday while at the market, and Saturday morning. The story is processing well. I also took the time to read some of it yesterday afternoon, so I could better remember what I’d already described. The flow is going well, and it reads very different from romance, which is good.

At the moment we are spending the evenings doing some proof reading for ATOL, which we want to send out one of these days. It is going well, I must say. Hardly any errors in the structure, only a few typos so far, so I’m very pleased. Also, the tone is still there, the flow pleasant and fun. We’ve been laughing quite a bit while going through the first forty pages or so.

Had to pick some stuff up, and while at the market I visited with Sally. She’s getting more and more confused, not to mention angry for everything not going the way she wants them to. I had to talk to her a long time before she realized that the things she thought were true weren’t. It was rather sad, really, in particular since the hospital is still not happy with her blood thinness, meaning that she can’t come home yet.

Getting way too little sleep. If I make it through six hours per night it’s a lot, and it ain’t good for me. I really need to find a way to change something about that. It won’t do. Oh, I managed some leather branding the other day, a Scarab that worked out rather well, but the picture didn’t do it justice, I fear.



The market was, profit wise, a bust. Barely sold enough to break even. A very strange audience today. Not at all the usual market folks that tend to come by. Added to that the weather wasn’t all that nice. In fact, there were a lot of clouds, and I was very happy about the fact that I had a sweater with me. Regretfully, the white blouse I was wearing got really dirty with a dark smear on the top, meaning I had to change into to tie dye mid-day. It didn’t look bad on me, so it was no big disaster, I just liked my blouse better.

Loading took quite a bit of time, meaning we were late getting home. Then of course we still had to unload (first eating, though, because I was friggin’ starving), get grandpa and big brother up to date on the day (talked with a nice Irish fella) who was on his way to Brazil with his German Shepherd.

Did manage some more proofreading after we got home, and then passed out during the night. Today, we opted not to do any computer work in the morning, meaning I wanted to work on the kitchen today. Got quite a bit of tiling done, again, yay. Most of the higher horizontal levels where the kitchen cupboards will be. Won’t be seeing much of them in the future, but it will be vastly cleanable. Hah. While cousin Ed and I worked on that (tenant kept us company) big brother did some masonry on the corner of the kitchen, and then took to looking at the future counters.

Big brother talked me out of the green cupboards, by the way. Instead we’re going for real wood again, to really get the “rustico” atmosphere going. I wasn’t too particular about it anyway, so if we can make this work that’s fine with me too. Just as long as it is easy to clean. With a little luck I’ll be able to cook in there next week, or the week thereafter.

Took most of the day, after which the whole cooking thing happened. Loved the garlic burgers. Hah. Oh, and Alexander II got "snipped" today poor darling. No choice there, what with so many of the females in heat. Waited too long, in fact.

Well that’s gotta be it for now. I’m ready for bed…almost.

Running late

Song of the day…I’m not sure. There were too many this weekend to just settle on one.

It was a busy weekend, and now it is late, so I’m going to have to do this fast.

First off, I'm a little worried about Knight II. The lump on his chest is still there, darn it.

Saturday market didn’t go bad. Had the booth set up in about an hour and a half, which meant that the waiting game started almost immediately. Hah. Stuff almost went wrong when we arrived a little late, and there was this guy standing there, acting if he had the right to be there. I immediately dug out my phone to check things out, but before I finished dialing he was off to his car, mumbling like a lunatic. Hah. Sold more than just the expenses for a change, and did have a nice chat with a Finnish woman and a woman from Canada. They were nice and one of them actually bought something, so that was a double treat. I also sold a tie dye shirt, which was very nice. She actually said she’d come by again to see if I have new stuff.

Started loading at two, and drove straight to our donation address afterward, hoping it would fit on top of the market stuff. It did, just barely, but it took time. When we finally did get home it was late, and I still had to get started on making the pumpkin chutney, yogurt sauce and of course the two mango cheesecakes. Yep, decided to make one for the market, and since making two mangos doesn’t take any longer than just one, I figured, what the hell.

Did manage some edits on Saturday. A good thing, considering Sunday was a bust in regards to edits. Didn’t get any done, but did manage to write two pages of my “Gun” story. That was of course after getting up at the crack of dawn, baking 12 burgers and driving to Funny Beach where we got to set up the stand once more. Good thing I like to set up a lot, because now I get to do it twice a week…did get a rather nice compliment the other day that I “dressed up” the stand so nicely. Almost like a cute little store. Hah. Good to see that it at least gets appreciated.

Made my first real profit with my patties, cheesecake and sauces. Came away with some odd ten bucks after the expenses were taken off. Yay. I loved those expression on some folks’ faces when they tried for the first time, and ended up totally surprised. There were plenty of responses that went like “Wow. That is REALLY nice” or “Very good, and there’s no tofu in this?”
Sold about a dozen of ‘m. Along with seven pieces of pie, and a bottle of sauce. Yay! One dude even bought some of everything. Hah. Nice.

Were done setting up within a couple of hours, at which time I took over the stand for about half an hour so Cousin Ed could take a quick dip in the sea. We’ve been trying to for the past few weeks, but what with everything going on we just didn’t get to it. But anyway, once she had her swim, it was time for me to get into the car and go to the hospital to visit Sally. She’s not doing well, I think. More so mentally than physically. She’s doing stuff that had me a tad shocked when she told me, and I don’t shock easily. It made me a little ditzy afterward. Heck, I even forgot my water bottle once I left.

Once I got back I stuffed my face with some crackers and cheese, and then headed into the restaurant where they were nice enough to let me have a table (despite it being busy) so I could write for an hour and a half. That went rather well. Character development is coming along nicely, as is the plot. I actually had to laugh several times while writing.

But anyway, once done with my writing, it was another hour before it was time to start packing up for the day. Didn’t finish with that until well after six (my friggin’ just about ready to be chopped off) and arriving at home around seven. Then there was the whole unloading bit, shoveling food down our throats and then sitting down for some relaxation finally. Did have some nice chats (regardless that the other participant is nicely nutters) before finally dropping into bed and passing out for the night.

Which reminds me. I was totally miffed this morning when I woke up from the alarm right when my dream was starting to get interesting. It was a continuation on my “Gun” story, and I was just about to kiss this Brad Pitt-ish dude when the friggin’ alarm went off. Could have had a bit more of that, thank you very much.

Did manage a ten page edit. Both big brother and I are pretty pleased with how things are turning out so far. The new scenes seem to match nicely, while still keeping the tone of the story intact, which is all one can really ask for, right?

Then, of course, we had to head into the yard, where I yanked weeds, planted some herbs and big brother watered. It took us about an hour, at which point it was time to have some lunch. I took my dose of meat, thank you very much. (Good Sammie) And we did a bit of Spanish when Cousin Ed, Grandpa and Tenant came home from the hospital. Tenant had an appointment for her kidneys, and grandpa visited with Sally, so that went all really fast.

Lunch eaten, big brother and I headed out for a pickup. Since we were out anyway, we went past several stores to look at prices for cameras. I’m playing with the idea of getting a digital one. I’ve been leaning toward it for a while, and who knows, I might actually try to get a job with it, here and there. We’ll see.

Well, once we got home it was almost nine, so I quickly cooked dinner and then tried to get to work. Regretfully I got a mail which took way too much of my time, so once again we didn’t get to edits. Darn it, we’ll never make that deadline now. I hope that that publisher won’t mind C.H. being late.

Well, it is almost two in the morning. I need to get some sleep, in particular since I am a little tipsy (had a nice white semidulce). If I don’t I might say something stupid.

4 in one

Song of the day: “Coconut” by Larry Nilsson. Awesome song, right.

Now how on earth am I going to get four friggin’ days into a single blog, for crying out loud. I’m just going to have to hit the highlights and leave it at that, what do you think?

Well, like I mentioned the last time, there was the whole tie dye session. Yep. Treated about fifteen items of clothing, which improved on our slowly dwindling selection somewhat at least. Had some really nice specimens this time round…and I ended up seriously sunburned for my efforts. Added to that we spent at least an hour in the yard, taking out a field of broccoli because disaster struck the evening before.

Did I mention that before, or did I forget? Well, whatever the case, the tap of the basin didn’t close, meaning we lost our entire supply during the night. Aaaaargh. You should have heard big brother swear a blue streak. I didn’t know what was wrong, of course, so I pretty much ignored it until he came up to tell me. I did my own swearing then. Hah. But anyway, due to that we headed out into the yard the next morning to yank out anything that was excess in the garden. Got a nice big batch of broccoli plants that we’ve steadily been mixing through the dog food ever since.

Also, since the whole thing with the pie for middle sister’s birthday went wrong (I’d given it to mom to give it to her, only to have the dogs eat it, grrr) I decided to make her a top. I’d planned one for her, but when she came up I of course let her look through the lot to pick one herself…I found it tremendously funny that she picked the one I’d done with her in mind. Another one I gave to little sister, there was this tiny little hole in the side that made it impossible for me to sell it. I think she liked it, so it was an excellent solution.

There was a session of making patties, which took me a couple of hours. Again the three basic flavors, beans, chickpeas and lentils. Had about ninety of them, which explains for the time, doesn’t it? Got the packing down pat now, though. Works too, since those of last week unwrapped perfectly when I used them for supper the other day.
Though I made a small error salt-wise they didn’t do bad at the market this Sunday. Sold ten patties again, paying for the expenses, and had several requests for my sauces. Am going to have to think of something for that. This was the first time that I only took a little along, and yet there were three or four people who wanted the sauce with the patties.

Sent Saving Nina out queries to a couple of publishers. We needed a break from the editing before we start on the last round, so we decided to start on a last round of sending it out. Gawd, sometimes I think about what it would be like, to have a publisher, or whatever, interested for real and then being able to resume working on the series, because let’s face it, not only are the four wips just begging for attention, there are two more stories in the series somewhere in the back burner of my mind demanding for a voice. *sigh* If only, if only.
Sent out another package this very morning. Can’t know what the answer will be until you ask, so you have to ask.

Bad thing that happened was that Ollie, tenant’s dog somehow ended up outside when I got there with my dogs, and he got grabbed pretty bad. The disadvantage of him being tiny and my big ones, Knight, Sitabah and pesky little Dax is that whenever I got one off, the others would pounce enthusiastically. Ended up with Knight held by the scruff of his neck, Sitabah kicked aside with the flat of my foot, and Cousin Ed scooping Ollie up before they ripped him apart. Phew. Stuff like that gets your adrenaline flowing for sure. Luckily he didn’t have any major holes or tears, so all is relatively well.
Didn’t need to do the Saturday market this week, and considering Cousin Ed and big brother loaded the car for Sunday while I was making the patties, was able to focus properly on my task of the evening.

Sunday market day started a little on the late side for us. Not because we got up late, or anything, nope, it was because the preparation of the taster patties took longer than expected. Luckily we’ve got the unloading down pat these days, meaning we were set up proper at 11. Had quite a bit of takers for the taster patties, chatted with folks, but didn’t have time to write because in the middle of the day we got a call from home telling us that Sally had a massive infection on her leg and that big brother was driving her to the hospital. That meant that Cousin Ed had to leave to help her out at the ER while big brother joined me, and later helped me pack up for the day…I burnt even more skin there, seeing as I was wearing a sleeveless, and stood in the full sunshine most of the day. It was wonderful. There was a cool breeze from the sea, so my day was swell.

Luckily, Sally didn’t need to be admitted. Instead they did tests, took photos and allowed her to go home at the end of the day…more or less by the time big brother and I went home and started unloading. Since big brother offered to do the cooking, I was able to take a couple of minutes in my room to put up my feet. That was so nice. Seriously, the blood was pounding for several minutes, and then slowly subsided. Such a relief that.

Four nights in a row now, I have not slept enough, nor well, in the case of Saturday onto Sunday. Hardly slept a wink that night, in fact, which didn’t do me well by the time we got back. Was friggin’ ass tired at the end of the day.

Grandpa finished grouting the pool, and filled it up yesterday. Now if only the mornings start being a little less nippy, I might actually get around to taking a dip, for crying out loud. It would be so nice to wake up like that again.

There were the normal chores of course. Laundry, cleaning, feeding the dogs. Nothing all that fascinating, as you know. Heck, at the moment I can’t even complain about edits, since we’re not doing one at the moment. Don’t you just hate that limbo time between two edits. They pass way slow.

Cooking was all about rice and red beets today. Worked out well too. I love beets baked in cheese. It’s the best way to eat the darn things.

Practiced a little with tenant. Not much, though, considering she is complaining about exhaustion. Lots of folks don’t seem to understand that doing less only makes things worse. If you chip away at your abilities bit by bit for long periods of time, you’re going to end up with less ability. That is fact.

Had to take Sonia to the vet again. She’s doing poorly. She’s bloaty, losing gas, and is once again constantly going through her hind legs. The vet is not entirely sure about the cause. At least not without a battery of tests. Instead she suggested an anti inflammatory, which seems to do it’s thing a little tonight. Pool Sonia.

Then tonight when we got back from a small donation, we unloaded, at which point big brother closed the door and had Dax scream at the top of hi lungs. Poor darling. Once again he lost a small strip of his ear. *sigh*

Gawd, I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. Looks like my bad four days caught up with me.
And here I had wanted do some Spanish tonight. Grrr. Gotta go.

Home again

Song of the day: …I am too sleepy, I can’t remember.

It’s been a friggin’ busy weekend and I, for one, am more than happy it is over.

The good news first. Today we went to hospital (were only ten minutes late. Had to feed the friggin’ dogs, ya know) to visit with grandpa. Just in case, I took him some bread and pumpkin chutney, and we sat there for several hours, waiting endlessly for the doctor who was said to be out and would come at some time up until 3 in the afternoon. Aargh. She did finally arrive after one and informed us that depending on the blood test result she was expecting any minute, he could go home today (going home regardless, but with which medication was the cincher) with three prescriptions. Read his file, and on the overall he is ridiculously healthy. Which is a good thing, or else this little mishap might have ended very differently. In fact, the file said that for his age he is in extraordinary good health. Hah. Go figure. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The doctor:
Were able to follow most of what she said, but then we started talking and we started doubting again, so I went in pursuit…only to find she had disappeared in a matter of thirty seconds. Grrr. Found the interpreter instead, to whom I explained my confusion and she sorted it all out, and told me that we could take him home today. Yay. Since the procedure of being tossed out on yer ear at the hospital takes a while, we left him to get dressed and start to gather his things while we went to the supermarket for some groceries.
We were back within an hour, but clearly the leprechauns had been busy because his paperwork had already been taken care of (did you hear that universal gasp of shock. Paperwork on time, at a state hospital? *shakes head) and he could leave at any time. Yay.
While big brother stayed with him to gather the last few things, I went looking for someone in charge to check if there was anything else necessary, and found the doctor who said we could go, just as soon as I made an appointment at the main information desk for two months from now.
First I got to the wrong desk, where the interpreter from earlier was at as well (thankfully) and they sent me to the right spot. Took about five minutes, at which time grandpa and big brother had fetched the car and came driving up. Were home at four thirty because we had to stop underway for a small donation (almost had to cancel, but we made it) at which time I was more than ready for a nap.

First I had to eat something, though, which I was not appreciative of, but it had to be done. Meat. Grrr. Didn’t manage the whole slab, but since it was slightly bigger than usual anyway that didn’t matter all that much. The nap got cancelled because Empera really wasn’t doing well, so we had to go take her to the vet. It wasn’t good. The vet looked her over, explained her confusion about Empies muscle atrophy and overall skinniness and explained that there was really very little that she could do without doing a whole battery of tests that would cost and arm and a leg. There was some discussion, but in the end we had to make the dreaded decision once more. *sigh* Empera. German shepherd: seven years old. Crazy as a loon. And member of the pack. Never a good feeling to lose one, but it will happen again. *double sigh*

Once we got home I crawled into bed and passed out for about an hour and a half. Had thought that big brother would wake me after an hour, or so, but he didn’t so I got an extra half hour. Yay. Strange dreams. Most of them involved the hospital.

Which brings us to yesterday, doesn’t it? In a rather roundabout way. Had to get up a little early to bake some patties for tasters. Were a little later than usual, and when we got there it was so busy with folks setting up that we had to wait some more before we could start ourselves. No sense in getting annoyed like some folks. This particular market doesn’t get into full swing until after noon anyway.
But anyway, we got set up, and once done I left Cousin Ed to it so I could go visit grandpa at the hospital, only five minutes away. Had to park about a mile off, which I wouldn’t mind so much if the friggin’ foot hadn’t been so bothersome. Arrived at his room sore as heck, but got to sit for a bit, so it didn’t matter. We talked some, him having a hard time of it again, which appears to be the norm at the hospital. I guess it is the long night that makes it harder. He kept his spirits up, though.

Stayed for about an hour, then hurried back to the market to eat a piece of bread with a pattie and lettuce on it, and rushed on through to the restaurant so I could do some writing. Managed to do three pages in the next hour and a half, at which time I quit and returned to our stand. Had some nice chats with folks. There were quite a few who wanted to try it out, and we sold about ten burgers through the course of the day…along with some other stuff that at least covered the expenses.
The nasty bit of news is that we got robbed. Yep, so a-hole stole one of the smaller dog beds. Grrr. We didn’t notice it for real until at the end of the day. I do remember vaguely that I wondered if Cousin Ed maybe sold it before I got back from the hospital, but then it slipped my mind again. Darn it. Luckily we did sell a similar one, later on, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

Got home, unloaded the car and trailer, had some food (big brother made mac & cheese) and took care of my messages, and then spent the last hour of the evening cutting bread for the dogs. Gawd, it’s not until someone’s out of the picture that you realize how much help those things said person does to take off the pressure. We were really scrambling this week.

Luckily mom and the sibs decided to take over the Saturday market, because we might not have been able to make that otherwise. Instead we took Sally and tenant to the hospital to visit with grandpa. A trip both ladies seemed to enjoy, if for no other reason than to repay him for visiting with them when their roles were reversed. All three had fun, I think, so it was a successful afternoon.

Once we got home I started making rice pie (turns out I mixed up dates. Middle sister’s birthday was on the 17th, while I remembered the 19th, darn it. So I was two days late with the pie) and a pumpkin chutney. Took me some odd three hours to make the birthday pie and the one for the market (only got rid of two pieces, by the way, despite the fact that it was tasty as heck). Luckily I did, without realizing it, give her lemon pie on her birthday. Hah.

Well after that there was the car to upload, which we didn’t finish with until dusk. Due to the weather we had to leave it to the last possible moment. There were clouds all over and it seemed as if it might rain. It didn’t…though today we did have some.

Practiced some Spanish, though not as much as I should have. Do have to say that I spoke quite a bit of Spanish this weekend. At the market, at the hospital. Ever since I’m doing these lessons I admit to having several occasions where I think like: Hey, I can say this sentence. I know how to say this! So the lessons are paying off. Hah.

Well, that’s it. Time for me to hit the sheets for some serious horizontal time until 6 and a half hours from now when Sally needs to go to the health center for a blood test. Since caregiver has to take tenant to the hospital in town for her kidney research, I’ll have to go along instead. *sigh* And that while I was planning on sleeping in, darn it!

A success

Song of the day: "Think Twice" by Celene Dion. Wow. Never had that one as an earworm before. Hah.

So, I am working on a foreign computer now (big brother's, mind you) because mine was giving me a heart attack by claiming that there was something wrong with my battery and that it could die on me any minute. *gasp* It's only a year and a half old, so I'm hoping that this will still be within the warranty, and if not...well, I'll probably have to get a new battery at some point. Grrr. I can't stand the idea of being without my little writing pal, darn it.
Ah well, I'll just have to make due for now, won't I?

So, let's get to the weekend, or more accurately the market. Like planned, I got up half an hour earlier than usual (my dogs had a small collision with Cousin Ed's) and then got to work on making and baking the patties that were going to be the tasters for the unsuspecting passersby. And boy were there plenty. The patties were a hit with the hippies, of course. Healthy, ecological, tasteful, and made with both lentils and chickpeas, that pretty much was a given. Older English folks were weary, and like "hamburgers without meat, ugh") while the younger ones were either horrified at the thought of eating anything home made at a Spanish market, or fascinated. Much to my surprise most of the Spanish' first response was, 'no meat, oh, tofu right?' and then, when hearing that it was with legumbras (palsies) there was suddenly lots of interest. No one had ever heard of it, in fact, and most folks really liked it. Only two were a little 'so-so', and since we ended up selling 24 patties it wasn't bad at all. In fact, I made a nice profit. The pie had quite a bit of interest as well, sold four pieces, covering my expenses, and handed a few pieces out for free rather than having to haul the thing back home. I liked the responses on the overall, seeing as this experiment was partly to find out if folks would like the taste, should I decide to explore this in the future. Another success was my pumpkin chutney sauce, which several folks wanted to buy (hadn't prepared for that). Heck the same went for the yogurt sauce. On the overall I think that most folks liked the chickpea patties best. I am thinking of trying out my white bean pattie recipe there too, see how that one works, and in the end maybe even the lupine patties. We'll see.

There were quite a few funny moments. Like when the spoiled English girl came and demanded of her parents to have Disney's Cinderella music box we had on display. Then, while her parents were otherwise occupied, she came back to check if we were holding it back for her, and I talked her into trying the chickpea burger. You should have seen her face. Seriously, there was pruning involved. I think she was expecting something sweet because she kept it between her teeth like some sort of poisonous animal. Hah. I held up a napkin so she could get rid of it, and watched her dash off with a chuckle.

There was the English fella who looked fascinated, but admitted being nervous about trying it, so he didn't. Had to laugh about that, too. I get it, of course, everywhere folks warn not to eat from stands like ours from fear of Hep, or whatever, but still, the "I want to but I don't dare" expressions are hilarious.

Tenant's family, smartly spending the last few hours of their time in Spain at the beach came by as well. Funny Beach Marbella is definitely a good spot to have a bit of family fun, and from the look of them they liked it.
Since I had Knight II (he wasn't doing so well. Lost one or two of his stitches, meaning another trip to the vet) with me, Cousin Ed was the only one who went for a swim with them. Next week I'm going to do a dip as well, maybe swimming a mile, or so...might as well get some exercise done, right.

Sold two of my tie dyes, too, along with one of mom's purses and some second hand stuff. So, all in all, not a bad day, despite the fact that we didn't finish loading until seven and weren't home until a quarter to eight. Yikes. That was a long day, but since at the last possible moment we sold three more packets of burgers, it was well worth it. Hah.
Once at home, we unloaded, ate some of the food big brother made and I ended up reading another chapter in the paper edit, yay! Going well that way, dude. Wish all the edits went like that.

Right, well, yesterday dealt with Saturday was...well busy as usual. Woke up pretty much wrecked due to the Knight. He kept crawling on top of me. I think he was making up for the five days at the hospital, for crying out loud.
The normal chores got done, of course. Some Spanish, too, and tenant's family came for their second to last visit, meaning that this was the last time to show them the kitchen in progress, and the yard...or at least the parts of it that they hadn't seen yet. Hah.

Loaded up the wagon, as usual, got everything in right before we had to go out and get a donation from town, which kept us away from home for more than four hours. Took a while to load, you know, despite the fact that it wasn't all that much. It was just a lot of sorting, and, naturally, lots of stuff that's better to toss than try to sell. Folks just don't like to pay for something that is broken, meaning that about seventy percent of stuff that we get donated ends up at the garbage regardless or is used by ourselves until it is really unusable. What we can save can pay for more dog stuff, right? Luckily we don't need much for ourselves. Basic food, as in, nothing precooked, is healthier anyway.

Which reminds me, when my kitchen is done (are you noticing that I am totally obsessing about this? Hah) I will be making my infamous vegetable bread again. Really dudes and dudedettes, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Finished yesterday by editing the first chapter, thank you very much, and then passed out for the night.

Which brings us to today, doesn't it? Nothing really fascinating, actually. Grandpa was nice enough to haul my future kitchen tiles down to my terrace already. This way, I'll be able to start just as soon as I've got a minute.
For me, the day involved driving most of the time. First there was Knight's visit to the vet, and her being too busy, so I had to come back later on. She suggested that if I couldn't today, I could come back tomorrow or the day after, but I rather have it over and done with, so I told her I'd be there.

Then I had to drop of my computer, which took forever. Got to hang out at the gadget store for quite a bit and drooled over Kindles and iPads, and whatnots...in particular this wonderful camera that literally made my eyes cross with the whopping price of 497 euros. Yikes! So not taking up that old hobby again, unless I get a really, really nice present from my imaginary sugar daddy. Hah.

But anyway, picked up another small donation. Nothing suited for the market, but you can't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Then, after unloading the few groceries we did at home, it was back out again for me to visit the vet's and have Knight treated.
My turn didn't come until 45 minutes later, but I spent my time chatting with this nice English lady and her daughter with a German Shepherd and three puppies. And then, after Knight was stitched up and we waited for him to wake up I talked with the vet's temp assistant. A nice Spanish fella who graduated from vet school nine months ago, whose girlfriend is English and whose interests lean toward anesthetics. This is the first intern I actually like. Very friendly, and doesn't make me uncomfortable at all, which doesn't happen often. A nice fella. I hope he sticks around, even if he is still wet behind the ears. Heck, the fact that Knight didn't even growl at him (which he always does when it concerns new men approaching him) ones says a lot. I don't think that's ever happened before.

Well anyway, I stopped at the pharmacy afterward to pick up the antibiotics for Empera and Kollosus, and decided to drive back through the woods, rather than risk sleepiness over the normal road. Hard to get sleepy when you're bouncing all over the road, hah.

The doggies are looking at me pitifully. It's time for bed, and I'm more than ready to go there. Hah.

Fun part

Song of the day: “Somebody I used to know” by Gotye. Still an awesome song. Had it in my head yesterday at the market, while today I had some of Ellie Goulding’s “Explosions”, which is absolutely beautiful. You should look it up on youtube one of these days.

Right. The weekend is over and we’re back to the grind on Monday…well, grind, you know what I mean, right? Let’s start with Saturday and see where we end up from there, shall we?
Saturday morning I was basically running behind on everything. I woke a little late due to the evening before. We had to wait until the suggested painkiller worked for Sally, because if it didn’t, we would have to call for an ambulance after all. Since it started working in about 40 minutes, we luckily weren’t forced to do any such thing. Instead we went to our respective beds around three in the morning, most of us more than a little disgruntled at the alarm at nine in the morning. Grrr.

There were the usual chores, of course, laundry over my morning coffee, followed by preparing and dividing the dog food for our boisterous pack. Seriously, when we feed them in the mornings they act as if they haven’t seen a single bite of food in more than a week, spoiled lot. Seriously, if it were up to them, we’d have to feed them three times a day, and have them look like barrels on paws, for crying out loud. Even now, with one meal a day, some of them look like hippos.
The Labs, Chaos and Tadaika definitely need to be hauled away from the food before they suck it all up like the proverbial vacuum cleaners. *sigh* Silly dogs. Hah.

Focusing on the edit was rather difficult due to the short night, but we managed a few pages. Same went for last night for that matter. I was seriously running on fumes and my foot…yikes. Stupid thing was of absolutely no use last night…or more accurately, it felt as if I’d been walking on glass most of the day…which I hadn’t, thank you very much.

But anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself, I was still telling of Saturday, right? Where was I?
Hmmm. After breakfast and the daily session on the computer, we headed on out into the yard for harvests as well as weeding. Boy, are those weeds growing fast. Some of the friggin’ Malva is up to my neck, and the grass…well, I’m not even going to be talking about that. Let’s just say that it’s probably going to take us all summer just to get all those weeds toned down.

There was lunch (managed some meat again, Saturday and today, so “there’s a good Sammie”. Still hard to eat the darn stuff. *sigh* Will it ever get easier, you suppose?) having a short chat with tenant and Sally and then…well, we had to go out for a small donation, from which we didn’t get back until after seven. Then of course we had to clean up the Land Rover and load her up for Sunday’s market, which took forever too. What followed was cooking supper, desert of fresh strawberries mixed with milk, preparing lunch for the next day, and then finally, around nine, sitting the heck down behind the computer again. Hah.

Was reasonably on time getting to bed, so my night was consistent of 6 and a half hours when the alarm went off and I had to get ready to go to market with cousin Ed. I wasn’t stressed, so I could shower, get dressed, eat some breakfast (despite that there was no coffee), gather food for the day, water, and drive the car out and hook up the trailer.
We were only fifteen minutes late leaving and were setting up shop. Took about two hours, as usual to get it all done, but it looked good.
Not a bad day, despite the fact that the place was incredibly busy with partiers. There had been a first communion, so basically the place was rented out for the afternoon (and not with market patrons, mind you). Heck, I even couldn’t sit at my usual table, and the coffee table I found, I was sent away from, to make room for the paying customers. *sigh* I felt almost disappointed.
But no matter, sales were good for the day. We sold a couple of mom’s dog beds, had some nice chats with German folks, Scottish (they came back a last time before going home. Hi, Susan! In case you drop by here), Dutch, and of course Spanish folks. The latter mostly involved other stand holders. Actually chatted with a few of them.
New stand holders were eco-farmers, which was fun. Looked very nice like that, across from all our colorful stuff. Nice folks, too.
Fun moment of the day was definitely a couple of English girls who faltered at our stand, and called a really pouty, “Can’t we buy anything” to which mommy very abruptly answered that no, they couldn’t. So sad, I could see the tears already forming and whispered, “Get to that green basket and pick a small toy. You can have it.” Of course, first came the miniature little pony, which wasn’t really small, so I brought thumb and index finger together and said, “smaller” which had the girl dig in again, and come up with a little puppet that was small enough. I nodded, watched her blush and smile and then dash after her mom, who called back a heartfelt thank you. Then, of course, the little girl’s younger sister realized what had happened, and was throwing a full-blown tantrum, refusing to go to the car. I had to gesture her back four times before she got it, and came hobbling back to dig into the basket for her present. She was all smiles, and her mommy all grateful as she walked along meek as a little lamb. Had to laugh a lot after that. Those basket with toys are so mean, kids are just drawn to it like a magnet. Hah.

Oh, nice thing is, I have permission to try out my patties over there. Not as ready-made but frozen with pieces for those who want to taste first. How exciting, right? Now I can test them out on impartial folks.

Loading up was another two, and around seven in the evening we were home, unloading once more. Big brother had prepared supper, so that was taken care of, which was a relief. Did some edits, unwinded, and went to bed at last.

Didn’t sleep all that bad, but my foot was a problem this morning. I really can’t figure out how that works, but the insoles, the customized ones and the prefabs don’t work. I’ve decided to stop caring, because let’s face it, that’s just exhausting.

Today. Well, there was the usual chores, of course. Edits in the morning and evening, and working out in the old horse paddock to get the beams for the future kitchen out, measure everything and decide for once and for all whether we’re going to put roof windows in…we’re not. There just aren’t enough hours in the days for that, so we’ve opted for a closed rood. Not that it matters, considering three sides of the place will be open during the summer. It should be enough.
That decided on, figuring it all out will be a lot easier.

Had to go to my doctor’s appointment, which had good news. No more puss, so I don’t have to be back. Yay! I felt like celebrating. Then we had to pick up a few groceries. Cousin Ed’s birthday’s tomorrow, and I’m making pastries…got to work on that the moment we got home. I think it worked out, but we’ll have to see tomorrow. That done, it was time to cook supper, for us as well as for tenant, who was happy with her veggie mash, thankfully.

And that will have to do. The remainder of the evening was spent with the usual edit, and now it is already one in the morning. I need sleep.

Too few hours

Song of the day: “Some nights” by Fun. Good song. Impressive, strong, and well…fun.

First of, a bit of good news. I got my Publisher’s Weekly review, which I will post tomorrow, or the day after, because I haven’t completely figured out when I’m allowed to. I could probably post it today, but since I’m not sure, I’ll wait a bit. I gotta say: He/she liked it! At least that is what I got reading the review. It was clear that the reviewer really read through it, hit all the highlights, and seemed to appreciate them. There were a few points that he/she criticized but for most any criticism he/she then added a redeeming quality that negated said criticism. So I was reading it and went “criticism, this and that, followed by that and more” getting depressed, only to pep up from some rather wonderful compliments. And that went up and down, time and again. I was not good company during that reading session, then did a weird sigh kinda thing, hopped up and paced around like an idiot for a bit, and then spent the remainder of the afternoon talking about it. Hah. I’ll stop talking about it now, because you’re going to read it yourself soon enough.

I do know that I can totally use this review in future query letters to publishers, and agents. Gotta love something good that you can put in those letters. It’s gotta mean something, that’s a fact. Gawd, I wish I could post it today, just to show off, you know…ah well. Next time.

What happened otherwise. Well, this morning I had a rather wonderful kick boxing session of a solid fifteen minutes. Yeah, I know, who’s got time for a workout, but I just had to. I really really needed to blow of some steam, kick some butt and…well, just get my blood pumping a little. Went through the whole session at top speed, so that worked really well.

There was a session in the yard, of course. Gathered about four pounds of broccoli, which I’m really going to have to prepare for supper one of these days…soon anyway.
Also sawed down a tree, which had to be processed. Didn’t completely get to finish that, but it’s out of the way at least.

Tenant is being a tad difficult again, making a racket about drinking, (as usual) but the nurse who comes by every two days or so, said she was doing a little (very little) better, so maybe she’s sneaking in an extra bit here and there without us noticing. She does seem a little clearer, and she did enjoy the pies I made, so at least she enjoyed that part of her birthday.

Did some good editing, considering the writing has been over and done with since Saturday. Yep. Everything that had to be added to Chicago Hope is there, and now all we need is to edit it…three or four times!

Sally is not doing well. We’re looking to have her check out by a doctor, rather than take her to hospital. At the moment she is signed in at some sort of charity organization which had promised to come by to check out how she was doing, but since she’s been waiting for more than three weeks now, we’re looking into different options. At the moment she is constantly dizzy and can function really badly.

Was at the pharmacy the other day, and finally caved and got myself a couple of heels especially designed for people with Plantars Faciitis. Have been wearing them for two days now, and I gotta say that it doesn’t feel bad. Even yesterday. I wasn’t even ready to chop the darn thing off at the end of it.

In case you’re wondering, yesterday was market day, of course. Despite the fact that we decided to cover all our bases by loading part of the load into the trailer, we had the spot t the beginning of the plot, meaning that we could basically unload and set up at the same spot, instead of spending more than two hours unloading, and two and a half hours loading. Much better, in particular since we have way to much stuff to be hauling it all back and forth. *sigh*
As usual, during market day, I spent two to three hours in the restaurant (apparently the table I occupy is already being called my table, hah) working on reading through the new material and adding a page to another manuscript when I couldn’t find any holes in Chicago Hope that needed to be filled. Sure, the edit is going to take at least another month, if not more, but at least this part is done. Yay.
But anyway, market-wise it didn’t go all that bad. We sold more than expenses, at least, and there appeared to be an increase in folks coming out there.
Had a rather wonderful chat with three people from Scotland. They thought it incredibly warm, while I was standing there feeling the chill. *sigh* Turns out that at the moment they’re lucky with forty degrees in the North of Scotland, never mind eighties. In the summer their top temps are 60s for crying out loud. But anyway, we talked a nice long time. They thought I was from the UK, which is a nice compliment, all things considered. They even bought a doll, because she collected them, and spent he free time sewing clothes and making hair for the old dolls they try to buy at all markets. They were very friendly, which is always great. I gotta say that I like that part about market days. You get to meet the most varied type of people.

Once we got home, the car had to be unloaded, of course, and then it was time to eat (though as usual I wasn’t really hungry. Never am after a day like that. The hunger sets in later) which was good, because big brother had made white endive with rice on the side.

The dogs were nicely bonkers, too, seeing as we were gone so long. But then, I spent the majority of the evening taking off ticks (seriously, an anti-tick bath. Soon!) which they absolutely love. Some of them will actually come sit beside me to have me take the darn parasites off.

Empera is showing some improvement. Not much, mind you, but at least enough for us to have to keep her locked up or else she might damage herself by walking around to wildly. Silly dog is flopping all over the place.

I had planned on eating meat today, but I just didn’t manage to make time. After we came from the yard, the time had gotten away from us, forcing me to rush through a shower (I was sweaty as heck) stuff my face with an apple pancake that grandpa made for me, and then had to go to the doctor’s to have my head checked. Still puss stuff coming out, so he’s caved and is putting me on antibiotics, darn it. I’m giving it five days. If it hasn’t stopped pussing by then, this old carcass better start doing it solo, because that’ll be all she wrote for my cooperation. Grrr.
Did friggin’ hurt again. The doc really puts strength into squeezing the skin out, damn. Nothing as bad as that first time, however, thankfully.

Did some Spanish, which isn’t enough yet by far, considering I haven’t even done half my homework yet. Where are the friggin’ hours going, darn it?

What else? I don’t have a clue. Considering it is already past one in the morning, I really have to get to bed. It’s been a long friggin’ day.

Oh. My. Gawd!!!

Song of the day: “Who makes you feel,” by Dido. Strange song, but nice regardless.

I’m late, and I don’t feel well, and I want to go to bed sometime around midnight at least. *sigh*

Let’s start with the bad stuff…well, bad stuff for me anyway. For the past three days, more or less, the little lump that was left after my cyst removal a couple of months ago, had turned mushy, making my head hurt rather fiercely. So I asked cousin Ed to make me an appointment, which was this afternoon. So I got there when I had to be, had to wait for about five minutes and then was led into the surgeon’s room where I proceeded to tell him the problem. So, he bustled around checked out the problem by touching it (ouch), and promptly told me that it was inflamed and that I was to lie down on the table. Once there, face down once more, he proceeded to…*swallows* well…squeeze the puss OUT!
Oh. My. Gawd!!!
Seriously, in my time I have had sprained ligaments, been bitten numerous times in numerous places, have had cuts big and small, had an odd 25 percent of my body burnt to the point of 3rd degree burns, fell off a roof, scraped practically every part of my body at some point, and gawd knows what else, but never, has anything ever hurt as much as that guy pushing and squeezing the puss out. Cross-eyed just doesn’t cover it. (I even did the woosy leg lift lying there, for crying out loud.)
And then, when I thought the dude was finally done, he filled a needle-less syringe with iodine, or some such, and sprayed it into the wound. Gawd! Everything turned white for a moment as an ice-pick went straight into my skull (that’s what it felt like, anyway), and then my vision became blissfully numb for but a moment. Then of course he did some more squeezing, spraying, (was permanently crosseyed by then, with my nails dug into my palms) before he finally slapping this massive band-aid on the back of my head and told me he was done. Got up, feeling just a tad wobbly and woozy.
Apparently it is unusual for an infection to happen after the removal of a cyst, but not unheard of. I now have to come back on Wednesday, at which point he’s going to have to decide about the darn thing. If the infection isn’t gone, he’ll have to cut again and stitch it up. I’m telling you this, if that happens, I’m going to ask for local anesthetics. Jeez!
I managed to listen to his instructions, walk to the reception, and deal with the insurance while compartmentalizing the event in my head…as in, “don’t think about it. Don’t. Think. About. It!”…and got my next appointment written down. I just barely managed to cross the square in front of the clinic and reach the car where big brother waited. I yanked open the door, saw his expectant face and said in a rather wobbly voice: “I wanna go home.” I climbed in and slammed the door.
“That bad, huh?” he countered, starting the engine.
I gave a tight nod, “Nothing ever hurt that bad before,” and promptly started crying.
Told you, I shouldn’t have thought about it. But, gawd! That crying jag just had to get out.
Walked around with this oddly surreal headache the rest of the day, and had this really fun slab of white on the back of my head that is going to be a biatch to remove from my hair later on.
The only two plusses I have discovered from the entire ordeal is that the guy didn’t prescribe antibiotics, which I hate (must be the old school attitude) and for about an hour afterward my foot didn’t hurt at all. See, there’s an up side to everything, even disasters. *snort*

Well, that fun part shared, let’s get to the normal stuff, shall we. No sense in crying over past events.

Yesterday was market day, of course (slept badly, so I wasn’t in the best of moods). All went the way it usually goes, except that my hurting head (ya know, prior to the procedure) made writing rather hard. Did do two pages or so, though, and have passed the 20K mark as of early this morning. Yay. Writing-wise it has actually been going well enough. Have added 6K so far, and am about halfway through the book. Since the editor only suggested revisions in the beginning and middle. Adding atmosphere is going well. I have seen way too many movies of the era, and I have, of course, been getting lost in Wikipedia again. *sigh*

Had some seriously funny moments at the market, by the way. There was this younger couple with two kids and an uncle, I think, who came looking for a dog bed. While parent were debating the type of dog bed, the kids (two boys under five) dug into our baskets with toys and proceeded to go through it for the next hour or two. At a certain point they came to me, and the oldest started explaining that he really didn’t like money, and that he found payment such a bother, and that it just took so much time, and if he could just have the little transformer toy. I couldn’t help, I had to laugh, and said, “Wow. That’s a new one.” At which point he looked at me oddly, as if he didn’t understand the problem, so I squatted in front of him, met him eye to eye and when he asked if he could have the toy, I said: “Hmmm. What’s in it for me, then?” He seemed a little startled, then gave a tiny little smile, and decided to give me a quick hug. I had to laugh so bad I just barely managed to tell him that he could have the toy and watched him run back to his parents before I started laughing and told Cousin Ed what had happened. Gawd, those kids were the highlight of our day because our spot was (unexpectedly) in the back of the place, meaning that, because we hadn’t counted on that, we had to haul every single item all the way to the back. Unloading took us two hours, while loading up took us two and a half. Seriously, we didn’t leave the market until six thirty.

Have been dreaming of the ’20s a lot lately, which is a good thing considering I’m working on Chicago Hope. It’s really helped me get into the atmosphere of the story, and the story, since that is also the way I started on the story some odd seven, or eight years ago…or was it ten? Well, anyway, the beginning was based on a dream, so it’s only fitting that the end result will be based on that as well. Hah.

Washed the car, at last. It was covered in mud and dirt, so it was really necessary. Can you imagine what a sight we’d be if we arrive at market with red splashes all over the white Land Rover? Seriously, most folks there have shiny cars to begin with…not that I’m ashamed or anything, it is just that we’re noticeable enough as it is. No sense adding to that.

Then there was the preparing of market stuff, which took most of the day. Stock had to be aired out, prices decided on, and 2nd hand clothes sorted. Then everything had to be packed into bags again, and set aside while big brother and I did a quick donation trip to town, and arrived back home after six. Loading up took about an hour and a half, meaning that I was seriously pooped when we were finally done for the day and decided to chow down on French fries rather than bother cooking.

Today I did cook (big brother made mac&cheese yesterday) preparing mashed potatoes, a cabbage and beet salad, and fried, creamed broccoli. It all went down well after three days of making due.

Managed a bit of Spanish today. Not enough, but some at least. Busy, busy days, right? Well…what else.
Tenant is still not drinking right, and the male nurse who is coming over twice a week now to check her tubes, is warning gravely that if she doesn’t do better, she’s going to be in serious pain and will have to return to hospital. Not that this makes her drink any better, but what the hey. Eating wise it is going well enough, and through that we are at least sneaking in an extra two cups of liquid, but it’s hard, terribly hard to watch somebody wreck themselves that way. *sigh*

Well, I better get to bed. My doggies have been rather lonely the past couple of days, and they really need some attention.

Soap opera

Song of the day: “Explosions” by Ellie Goulding. Gorgeous song, only discovered it recently on Gibraltar Radio, so I’ve really been enjoying listening to it. Very impressive, despite her oddly light voice.

First the sad news. We had to make the dreaded decision again. Rammi, our Rottie mix, whom we got at a local market in ‘97/’98 as a 5 week old puppy. She was so adorable, way back when. Like a little bear, with a matte fur that looked, and was incredibly soft to the touch. So beautiful, so sweet. They had taken her from her mom too early, of course, and she could barely eat when we got her, but she learned fast, the sweetheart.
Rammi was a dog with very little trouble through the long course of her life. Once, when she was about eight weeks old, Yogi, one of our old dogs who hated puppies bit her in the face, which had her end up at the vet, screaming at the top of her lungs. But despite the small deformity she was left with she was an uncomplicated dog. Her only other meetings with the vet were an unwanted pregnancy that left her spaded, and a ripped out tooth, just last year or so. Other than that, Rammi went through life as an incredibly happy dog, and I intend to remember her as such.
The cancer which bothered her, a rapidly growing lump on her left side had tripled in size in the past two months, and since this particular kind was just too fast to operate on (and due to her advanced age) we postponed it to the moment she was starting to be bothered by it…which was the day before yesterday, much to our regret.

So, that awful part out of the way, let’s get back to Saturday. Better get my diary so I won’t mess things up.

There were the normal chores, naturally. Laundry, feeding the dogs and all that jazz.
Not a lot of writing on Saturday, mostly due to the fact that we’re focusing on the query letters we want to start sending out this spring. Three done manuscripts need letters, synopsis and “spotless” three first chapters. It takes time, effort, and repetition. It always does. I am now dreaming catchy phrases, tight paragraphs and descriptions that describe three different books. Gawd, it drives me bonkers sometimes. I actually have to be careful while reading the texts out loud, seeing as my head will just sum up something that was from the first, second, or third round of the letter. *sigh*

We’ve been taking turns going to the hospital, so on Saturday mom faced the hassles of hospital, leaving Sunday to Cousin Ed and me. We had to be near there anyway for market, might as well connect it. Tenant hadn’t improved much, and due to the weekend nothing was being done until Monday.

Had to load up the Land Rover, of course. And we had to make a couple of extra sawhorses because I’m getting sick and tired of constantly having to borrow tables from the market organizer. Also made another foldable top, which is wider than the ones we already have so we can properly display the dog beds. Made some selections since we didn’t want to take the full load.
The day was way too short, I tell ya.

Sunday.
Actually managed to get up on time, and rushed to get myself some coffee. *sigh* Nothing like trying to wake up on a dark, cold morning, eh?
Started the morning baking our own food, and prepare some stuff for tenant. Left on the planned time, then a few minutes out discovered that we forgot the money pouch. *double sigh*

Got set up on market, and soon discovered a strange sort of tension in the place. Turned out that a couple that works there were having relationship trouble, which was (embarrassingly enough) fascinating to watch. Heated arguments, then friends and family trying to negotiate their way through the rough patch. It was like watching a soap opera. Seriously, I’m definitely rooting that all will be well again. There’s kids involved after all.

But okay, it wasn’t all spying and listening (hard not to, really, but I did try) in the middle of the day I retreated to the restaurant to work on the V.L. manuscript, which is one of the three we want to sent out this spring. Am adding a couple of scenes, because I’m not happy with the word count. Had to read through many of the other scenes while I tried to find suitable spots for extra scenes, and I have to admit that I liked what I read. The previous times I read V.L. it was to write and edit it. This was the first time when I could just read the scenes, and they were good…which is always a pleasant discovery to make. Hah.

No roofie this time (phew) though I got myself a little nervous, to the point that I was starting to feel uncomfortable. That was when I had to talk to my paranoid self firmly, rather than get a panic attack, and managed to get myself under control. Not a lot of sales…though I did sell some of my tie dye, yay. But we did get the expenses plus out. Did have some nice chats with other stand holders, a Belgian couple that bought the two tie dyes, and some of the staff at the restaurant. A nice day all in all.

Packing went well enough, despite the fact that most of the heavy stuff had to go on top because of outside parking at the hospital. Arrived there after seven, and found tenant in a new room, claiming that she had just been fed. Apparently she is still not willing to do most of that herself. She was still a bit vague, and complained of belly pain, but all we could do was tell her to be patient and wait for the next day when she was supposed to get a x-ray of her belly. Left her dozing.

Didn’t get home until after dark, and I’ll admit to running on fumes by then. Luckily big brother had already cooked, meaning that we could gather our food and do some computer work before heading to bed. Could barely finish my food, though. Bed was way more tempting.

This morning there was no writing, again, partly due to the whole Rammi debacle, and having Knight II’s ear checked. The latter was doing fine, and I won’t have to bring him back until Friday or Saturday, which was a relief at least. He was on model behavior while we said our goodbyes to Rammi.

Did work on the letters, and packages that we’re going to be sending out. Thankfully. Then, of course, we had to head on out to pick up some donations, and a few groceries.

Got a new job coming up, involving installing a tank-less water heater. Went past several stores in the past week, only to end up at our usual construction company, who had a good one with a nice discount. Will be installing it at the end of the week, probably, depending on the weather and whether the machine will arrive when promised. Then of course, big brother and I will be diving into the manual to see what else we’ll be needing to install it. The rest of the day…seeing as the traveling is quite a distance, and a half day is just not practical that way…will be spent working in the yard, trimming trees and such. Yay.

Well, that’s about it. Time to get ready for bed. I’m running on fumes again.

Roofied, man.

Song of the day: “I got a feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. A tad boring to have stuck in your head.

Right. Where to start? Can I just say, for the record, that the past couple of days were downright, well, taxing. First let me just say it, because I can still hardly believe it, okay, here goes: I…Got…Roofied!!! There. I’ve said it. Roofied. Now, I don’t know what I got, could have been something that was called differently, but let’s just say I was pretty out of it.

So how did it happen…well, I think I’ll have to go back all the way to Saturday, because it was of that that I had no clue that something was wrong, until I was almost flat on my face at the market.

Saturday was my procedure at the clinic, and can I just say for one moment that the surgeon made true the old saying that surgeons are butchers…He, in this case, in behavior and appearance. I’m sorry, but that’s how it came across. He was brusque, he and his meaty assistant ushering me toward the table where I was to lie down flat on my stomach so they could get cracking. First came the injections…the needle too weak, or my skin too tough (take your pick) making it two “wrong” shots before he got it right. Ouch. He made some attempts at conversation, but his English was worse than my Spanish and his bedside manner in shoving my head this way and that, nose pressed painfully into the table, nothing to write home about. Finally I asked if I could take out the padding in the middle of the “bed” allowing me to stick out my nose at least. Crikey, that felt weird. First there was the cutting bit, I think they used both scalpel and scissors on the darn cyst. Then there was the clamps that kept the skin open, metal clanking onto my skull, I tell ya, followed by stitches that literally lifted my head off the table. Jeez. I know that they work under the presumption of it being painless due to the injection, but seriously, use some common sense. It’s only skin, not plastic. Stuff bruises under abuse, for crying out loud.
But anyway, they were done in less than fifteen minutes, and I was told to get up and head for the reception area to arrange for another appointment two weeks later, so I could hear what the test results of the cyst were. Cue in the small bottle with liquid and a gross piece of skin floating in it. I promptly got nauseous.
I took a picture for the blog, arranged for the new appointment and headed out to where big brother (he drove me there) was waiting for me. We talked a moment, and everything around me got a little “spinny” if ya know what I mean. So, I decided, what the heck, I’m going back in to ask if that was normal.
Other customers were gathered around the desk, and I gesticulated over the head of a pregnant lady that I would like to speak to the doctor. The receptionist looked at me funny and said that the doc would be busy for a few minutes and asked me what I wanted to ask. So yeah, I made the universal gesture of spinning my finger in the air and saying I wasn’t feeling too well. The woman promptly jumped to her feet and basically pushed me into a little side room.
Before I knew it, she had me flat on a table, with this little stool propped under my legs. Weird to feel like the room is spinning, and yet not seeing it, right?
A minute later the doctor came bustling in, asking some questions about breakfast, and whether I lost a lot of weight, and then telling me that it was perfectly normal…would have been nice if he had told me that before hand. *snort*

But anyway, after a minute or two I had enough of it, got up…which had the receptionist rush forward from fear that I’d pass out on her, or something (she was nice, though, very caring) which I didn’t. I can be a tough hombre when I put my mind to it, thank you very much.

So once outside, big brother was waiting for me once more, and we walked back to the car, where I told him of the grand fun of what had happened inside. *sigh*

Once we got home, I got the regale folks inside with my story as well, at which point it was time to head on down into the yard for some relaxing time watering plantsies. Nothing centers you quite as well as watering plants, I tell you.

That done, I headed to the kitchen and did some experimenting with my omelet recipe. If I’m going to join in on the competition, I better not have made my last omelet seventeen years ago. *sigh* Let’s just say I’m not the biggest egg fan…but it worked out well, and my volunteers enjoyed it. *phew* Big relief that.

Big brother and I headed for town to get some groceries.
Next, since I wasn’t worth all that much anyway, I cooked supper (veggies and potatoes with a wonderful herbal sauce) and a potato salad for Sunday market day. Wasn’t in the mood to do anything more complicated than that, so since big brother and I had to head to town anyway, I figured we might as well get some French bread to go with the salad.

Tried to take a nap while Cousin Ed, Grandpa and Big Brother loaded the car for the market, but my phone woke me up, reminding me why I’d promised myself not to keep my phone with me during naps, since I didn’t manage to drop off afterward.
Knight II was oddly subdued during the day, and by the time I had done some writing for the day, I found him in my room with a 104.9 fever and an ear that was swollen triple its size…and that while it had been slowly getting better. He was in a lot of pain, so I decided not to wait for morning, and headed straight for the vet who decided to immediately operate. We could come pick him up in the morning.

It was strange to sleep without Knight II’s bones ramming into my spine, and whenever I woke (which was often) I remembered why he wasn’t there.
Despite the lack of sleep, I wasn’t doing bad the next morning. My head hurt a little, but the ibuprofen had done its job during the night, allowing me to go through the morning rituals to be done on time for our departure.

The trip toward the market went without effort, only for us to arrive to somewhat horrid winds. Seriously, we spent about two hours trying to set up, but everything kept blowing away, until we decided to just put most of everything on the ground, rather than risk flying missiles. *sigh*
At twelve, as agreed, I headed to the restaurant early and got to writing. Didn’t go bad either. With three cups of coffee (a short interruption when Cousin Ed called me to come look at a great Dane that was visiting. Gawd, he was gorgeous. I had to hug him) I managed to write nine solid pages. I had some seriously weird thoughts during the session, a slight discomfort even, and at some point, after having been gone from my table, I thought it hadn’t been smart to leave my stuff unattended. (Boy did that turn out to be true!) Once done, I cleaned up my mess, packed up the computer and went to out to see if there were sales. Nope. Only fifty cents on something teeny. We chortled about it a little, seeing as it was no big surprise, considering there were hardly any people around. We were just about to start packing up a little early, when the first wave hit me. The world spin, and I had to sit down fast or else lose it. At the time I considered two possible options for the cause. Either something with my head, or I hadn’t eaten enough. I took some cookies and tried again. Still dizzy, nauseous and my head hurt like the dickens. And it gradually got worse to, an odd giddiness coming over me, even as my outer extremities became colder and colder. Nausea got so bad I headed for the bathroom to vomit. Not much, but something got out, and I felt marginally better. I did have this odd sensation, almost like being drunk, you know, which was even weirder.
We decided that it would be smarter for cousin Ed to drive home, and I just barely made it without hurling again. Seriously, I have never felt that awful in my life. It came in waves, ya know. First a few stabs in my head, then a dizzy spell, followed by nausea, only to end in some serious shivers that had me literally fall in bed once I got home.
Knight II was there waiting for me, since big brother picked him up that morning. (The friggin’ dog had already taking off his bandages, and broke the first part of his cone. He deliberately starts walking into walls, I tell ya.
But anyway. I wrapped myself around him and pulled the blankets over both of us trying to stay warm. It didn’t work, my toes and fingers were the worst and those weird waves of shivers…or rib cramps kept keeping me awake…along with those coffees, seriously, there was so much caffeine in my body, I was crawling the walls underneath the numbing sensation of whatever the heck was bothering me.

I came to the carport in an attempt to warm myself on the stove, only to hear that right after we got home something turned out to be wrong with tenant. Neither Big brother or Grandpa had noticed anything peculiar during the day, her sudden sickness was way sudden. She was in her chair with her eyes closed, moving back and forth as if in trance, and didn’t respond to anything anyone said.
I didn’t get a lot of it, seeing as I was pretty out of it too, but I did manage to go up there after caregiver phoned for a doctor, and at his insistence an ambulance. First fear with stroke folks is another one, so they weren’t taking any risks.
By that time I was starting to get pretty bad, the “waves” of symptoms coming faster and stronger, in such a way that mom, who’d come up to check on tenant, and keep her company until the ambulance arrived, decided to ship me off to the doctor’s office in the village.
We arrived there shortly, with me draped over the back seat, wondering how the heck I was going to make it up to the door, elevator and then the office. Seriously, my ribs were starting to hurt from the shivers, and that dizziness made the world tilt under my feet. Of course I did make it, and I slouched in a seat there, pale, my hair a mess, and sagged out like a recalcitrant teenager. We talked a bit, he took my blood pressure, checked for fever (both fine) to which he concluded a stomach flu, most likely. Rooooooight!!! Jeez. Spare me from doctors. I’ve had the flu, and this wasn’t it.
Anyway, he prescribed me some anti nausea medication, and told me to pack up warm, crawl under my blankets and prepare for several days of being sick. *sigh*

We went home, where I ate some soup with crackers, and after an hour or so, started to feel marginally better. The wave of the sequence was still happening, but at a slower pace, which was a relief.

It was about two hours after our return that my strange thought at the restaurant popped up in my mind. That is when a suspicion started to niggle. My symptoms, the impression of the flu…I’d heard it before, and most of it had to do with date rape drugs (did some research on that a while ago for a book). And yep, I found several sites that basically described all my symptoms, except for exhaustion…which I dismissed in reference to those potent three coffees that still buzzed through my system with a vengeance, despite me feeling incredibly tired and tipsy.
Talked with the doctor, who didn’t like being countered by a different theory, but even he had to admit that however improbable, it did fit. The conversation got finished on us seeing whether or not I was worse or better in the morning.

I slept through most of the night…after lying awake ‘till ‘bout three in the morning. The moment I felt the caffeine high disappear from my system, I was off into dream-land I tell ya, and didn’t wake until nine thirty this morning. *sigh*

Though there were still some of the symptoms, I was feeling remarkably better and went through the motions of the morning with little trouble. After dog food I even did a short kick boxing session . The way I figure GHB is a depressant, so pumping in some adrenaline couldn’t do much wrong. Felt even better after that. Yay.

Tenant will be staying at the hospital for a bit. They haven’t figured out what happened yet, but at least it wasn’t another stroke. She asked if we could contact her family for her, which I did, of course. We had planned to, but it is better to do it when she asks.

Watered the plants again, (sun was remarkably warm) this afternoon, then worked in the kitchen on a second omelet experience, which was different, but nice regardless. Around four in the afternoon, after I prepared soup for supper, I was basically feeling like myself again, which made heading out to pick up a donation in town a lot less of an effort.
After having loaded up the car, big brother and I headed for the village where we had an appointment for Knight II’s ear checkup. Poor darling is filled with stitches and a collar he absolutely hates.
The Vet said not to mind the lack of bandage. As long as he’s not oozing all over the place it’s okay that he isn’t covered up. We tried at her place, but within one minute he had the bandage of anyway, the stupid twat! I’m to watch him, but otherwise just leave it alone…took two spare cones, because I’ll be surprised if this one makes it another day.

Had soup. Did some more writing to add to the few I did this morning, but ended up working on a letter we’ve been putting together for sending to publishers in the near future. Didn’t have much time, there was this blog to write after all.

So what you think of that, eh? Roofied? Me? Weird. Absolutely friggin’ weird.
Well. I’m off to bed.