We're back to "we'll see"

Song of the day: ...well I've forgotten. That means that I, presently, don't have a song in my head. Yay.

First off, the bad news: Gada, sweet little...well, big Gada, didn't want to get up this morning, and when she did, she stood there, swaying in my living room, looking pale and miserable. Unlike normal days when she would be bouncing around me while I'm fixing dog food. It was sad, but I promised myself I wouldn't let her suffer unduly, and decided to take her to the vet without further ado...I should have done it earlier, since she's often vomiting, but...well, you know.

Anyway, the doc took one look at me, then Gada, and knew what time it was. It was over in just a few minutes, she didn't suffer, she stood in my arms, and then as she slipped away, I (bawling my eyes out a bit) slowly lowered her to the table. Such a sweet dog. It reminded me of how we got her. The vet had refused to put her and a labrador retriever down. Previous owners were having a baby, and didn't want their dogs anymore. So the vet asked if we wanted them, and we did. So basically, Gada had some odd seven years more than her previous owners had planned, and she was a darling.
But anyway, I don't want to wallow in misery over this. Gada had a good life and that is all that matters. Other stuff happened, and I better get to it. Were very busy yesterday, not so much with anything at hope, but...well, busy.

Yesterday. I woke up with a massive headache, originating from the back of my head where the stitches are. Bet you I rolled onto it way too much. Considering I woke up several times, that was definitely the case. Knight's ear has a gazillion stitches in it, and he's very insecure because of it, poor fella. Keeps rubbing against me, stretching out until he's basically on top of me. You'd think he was a friggin' Chihuahua.

Did the whole omelet experiment yesterday. One with herbs, cheese and onion, one with herbs, cheese peppers, one with Parmesan, nopales and tomatoes, one with peppers, onion and beer (to see how it would fluff it up) and one with mushrooms and cheese. Made five of them, all different, all experimental, including the two I did earlier. We all played guinea pig taking bite after bite of each different kind. Had very different results. Had two wins on the nopales, two on the mushroom, two for the peppers, and everyone, except big brother liked the onion, cheese mix. So I went for the latter, combined with some pepper.

After the experiment, big brother and I went to my terrace where we worked on putting together the window for my kitchen, yay. It'll look grand, I tell ya. Afterward we had to head out to get some stuff, and then came home to...well, no supper due to the whole egg experiment. I was still nauseous four hours later, I tell ya.

Only managed a few pages of the rewrite, my head still not feeling entirely right. Am now about halfway through, and am trying to split up my attention between the rewrite and working on letters we are going to be sending out later this winter, in the beginning of spring at the latest. The A.T.O.L. letter is working out well. And we ran through the V.L. letter as well. So much to do, so little time.

So this morning, I woke with a wooden head again. Seriously, my head feels like it is going to fall off if I moved just a fraction too much…so I didn’t move it all that much while going through the motions of the morning chores.
Then, while feeding the dogs, I suddenly noticed that Gada wasn’t bouncing around me. After some looking around, and calling her, I found her standing in the center of my living room looking downright pale, so that’s when I decided…you know.

Not the best day to have this happen, right, but it couldn’t be helped or postponed, so it was done, and grandpa was kind enough to dig a grave for her while we were gone today. No writing today, for the simple reason that there wasn’t time. We had to leave at one so we could visit tenant, prior to driving on to Gibraltar for the contest.

She wasn’t doing bad, on the overall. We found her sitting in a chair to which she said the nurses had carried her. Somehow she’s convinced herself that she now has to start all over, which is ridiculous, of course. We talked for a bit, gave her a couple of books to read, and then helped her to her feet, just to show her that she could indeed still stand. She was weak, but did manage to walk to the bed, just like I told her. Settled her there, seeing as she didn’t feel like lunch, and then said our goodbyes after an hour or so.

And off we were, on to Gibraltar, hoping that we wouldn’t get lost. We didn’t. In fact, I drove right in a single try, and we arrived on site about an hour early. Hah. Went to the restaurant, introduced myself, looked around, and then went out again to fill the remaining hour. I gotta admit, I almost chickened out. I mean seriously, it’s a lot of effort, lots of time (not that I mind either, it is just that I have very little of the latter, hah) and for a moment I wondered if it was worth pitching myself against all those other contestants, only to end up disappointed. Then I thought, what the heck, what’s the worst that can happen? (Well, technically, one of the judges could drop dead, or something) I could lose, but that’s about it. That would just mean that my taste is not theirs, which is not exactly news to me. Hah.

So I went back (after we had some pizza at the PizzaHut. I’ve been dreaming of that since the last time some odd fourteen years ago), set up where I was told to set up, and while chatting with the judges, and listening to the other contestant cooking with me, I made my omelet. It was a close thing. Luckily the lady with me was done faster, meaning that they were tasting her creation for a while, allowing me a few extra precious minutes to finish. Almost didn’t make it, since the heater wasn’t the same as at home, and since the pan was smaller, but I did do it within the time, and placed it on their table in time.

It appears they liked it, in particular the herbs I used, as well as the structure, so we’ll see. Apparently I’m going to hear whether I made it on Friday. Hah. What do you think? Should I be looking forward to more consumption of precious time, or should I hope that I don’t get through this round, so I won’t need to travel to Gibraltar again? Hmmm. Let’s just go back to: We’ll see, eh?

But, be that as it may, we were back on our way out of Gibraltar within fifteen minutes, only to end up in a two hour line at the border. *sigh* Luckily big brother had his computer with him, allowing me to write half this blog while we waited endlessly. The trip took just a little under two hours, bringing us home at nine thirty, yay. Mean’s we’ve been gone for more than eight hours, for crying out loud. Yikes. But I admit that the plus of this day was that I had no time to think of Gada, which is a good thing in my book.

Well, that’s about it then. Time, almost, for some serious zzzzzs on my part. Signing off.

It's official

Song of the day: “Beneath your beautiful” by Labrinth and Emeli Sandé again. Beautiful song, so I don’t particularly mind.

Well, let’s do this and see if my brain works any better than the last time. I can tell ya that stuff went different than planned, but what the heck, plans are there to be changed, or some such.

I do remember that on Saturday morning I woke about fifteen minutes before the alarm went off, which to me is a great way to start the day. I dislike waking up with the alarm, so my mood was a lot better in that regard. What followed were the usual chores, naturally. Ya know, the good stuff such as laundry and feeding the dogs. Hah. I know, boring, right? Okay, moving on.

Mom’s and the sibs’ van arrived, and they’re very excited. So it’s a little dented, seriously used, but it doesn’t matter, it will get them where they’re going…I hope. Besides, nothing wrong being proud of your own achievements.

Ha fully planned to work on the kitchen a bit, but then Cousin Ed asked me to help sorting through some of the stuff for the market, and then load, so we didn’t get to it, darn it. Had everything up and ready by the time Big Brother and I had to leave for the rehab center donation of food…also got a nice batch of fabrics for the dog beds, and some jewelry that we could sell on the market if we wanted to.

Once back home there was supper to cook, and more checking to do of the package for the ABNA thing. And then turned in early seeing as we’d have to get up at 6:30 to go to market. That was the plan anyway. Strangely enough, both Big brother and I woke basically at 5:45, without knowing why, and just got up at that time. It was very strange, I wouldn’t be able to explain why I woke, anyway. But I did, and thus it was looking to be a long day. Went through the mornig ritual of market morning, and had just started preparing lunch with peanutbutter and honey when the northern wind and rain started. Boy was it cold suddenly, and within the hour the market was cancelled, our wagon unloaded leaving us free for other plans.

I decided to pack up tenant and take her to the Coin market to have her visit mom and the sibs, while I roamed the market in search for bargains. Got some nice dishes for my kitchen. Along with a handful of books (2 Lisa Gardner, 1 Val McDermitt, yay) before I stumbled upon the price: A brand new chainsaw of a 16” blade with a 52 cc motor that should do the trick for as far as I’m concerned. That’s when the negotiations started.

He started out at a hundred, and when down to ninety while I was on the phone with big brother so he could look up the brand and see what the price for it was. I was sorely tempted, I tell ya, actually considered it, but discovered that I only had two tens and three twenties. I apologized for taking up the guy’s time and was already on my way looking for a different one when he called me back and asked how much I had then? I showed him the bills along with my last coins (four bucks) and we had a deal. Hah.

My wanderings took about two hours before I returned to the stand and hauled tenant up to the restrooms before we headed back home…still in the freezing cold, but downright sunny. Almost a shame that our own market didn’t happen, because sun-wise it was a beaut.

Once at home, big brother got to play a little with the new chainsaw. It went through the almond wood like a hot knife through butter, so that’s a success…it is still up in the air what the quality is like, but since the last time we went for brand name, and ended up cheated with the large bills, we were willing to take the risk. *sigh*

Got myself a beautiful lamp for my kitchen. A metal rod with four chalices (looking like flowers) as the lamps. It will look gorgeous, I tell ya.

Worked a little on the kitchen, pouring the concrete of the last step, and then by the end of the afternoon went out to get another donation. Basically small household items that will help in the future.

When we got home, we were forced to tow the “new” van out of the yard. Poor thing can’t get up the steep incline, for crying out loud. Luckily, it was no trouble for the Land Rover to pull it out, but it does pose a problem for the future. By then it was time to cook dinner, a wonderful veggie mix with rice that got eaten while we went through the package a last time before going to bed.

Which leads us to the disaster of this morning.
You won’t believe this but the alarm I’d intended to set an hour and a half before we needed to send the package was still silent (both of them) when Cousin Ed phoned me awake at 5:30, half an hour before our deadline. Yikes! Turns out I’d set the alarm an hour later than planned, somehow mixing up the five with the four…on both alarms, for crying out loud. Aaaargh!
So I called big brother awake, and rushed through the morning rituals while big brother made coffee and came up by the time I had the computer up and running.

For the next few hours we worked over the admission forms, the uploads, the checks and the double checks, no matter that I am convinced that we missed an error or two that I won’t be able to catch even if I live to be a thousand.

I am now officially a contestant for the grand prize. I want to worry, I want to panic, but since that won’t make a friggin’ difference, and will only make life less pleasant, I’ve decided to just go for “We’ll see”, and leave it at that. No different than having the book out to publishers in the end, now is it? Nope. I’m going to see if I can just hide it somewhere in the back of my mind

What else. Well, the normal chores o course, followed by a rather wonderful session with my kitchen where we added considerably to the natural rock wall on the outside. Slow but steady, appears the motto with this particular project. We’ll get there, someday…I hope.

Had lunch of whole slab of beef, which was hard to eat, but which I managed without puking in anyone’s lap. Hah.
Had to go out again, twice in fact since mom was too tired to pick up Muma (little sister’s black lab) who had a small growth on his hip, and needed to have it removed.
On the way there, there was a massive police thing going on. Everyone was stopped and checked out, but the fist one just waved me through.

When I was led in, the lab lazily wagged his tail at me, and refused to get up. So, rather than wait for the assistant to come help, (didn’t actually know why she asked me to wait a moment) I carried him out to the car, and went back inside to check if he needed anything by way of medication. They were a bit startled I’d carried him outside without help, seeing as he’s close to eighty pounds, but let’s face it compared to Knight II and the Chaos, that’s peanuts. Hah.

But where was I? Right. Medication. Nope. Clean bill of health, which is why I said my goodbyes and went home…only to be stopped by the coppers again. Regretfully these two couldn’t do English, because the younger one was prime (if I may be so blunt without appearing crude? *sigh*) and I would have liked to ask what was up with the seven cop cars around the roundabout, stopping everyone who passed.
We did share some laughter, seeing as I interpreted his hand sign as “slow down” rather than “roll down the window”. *snort*
Laughing he said that it was much easier to talk with the window out of the way, and started asking me the pertinent questions. Where do you live, and where to come from. Since I am well able to lay it on thick that my Spanish is sloppy at best, I was sent on my way within less than a minute. Hah.

And thus we have reached the now. We had fondue as supper, (big brother’s making) and then went to work on the computers. We still haven’t figured out what to do next. We’ll have to see about that one then, too, won’t we?

Well, that’s all she wrote, folks. Time for sleep. Seeya.

Back to work

Song of the day: Hmmm. Some Sinatra Christmas song, I think. I can’t remember the title now, darn it. It was going through my friggin’ head the entire morning, driving me absolutely bonkers. *sigh*

Not a lot going on, thankfully. Had another much-needed nap yesterday, which was a very deliberate decision on my part in light of tomorrow. Yep. Weather permitting, big brother and I will be heading out to Liane’s again, to finish up the terrace. It’ll be cold, it will be windy, but since the predictions are declaring a worsening in the weather conditions for the next ten days, it is our last chance to finish.

So, for that reason I had a solid nap, and decided not to mind oversleeping this morning because sleep, after all, is the best thing for the immune system. Still, it made me way behind on schedule, which always annoys me. Hah.

But anyway, yesterday involved walking the visiting dogs in the morning, piles and piles of laundry, and heading into the yard for a bit to check the cabbage plants. There is some leaf damage, and I found some caterpillars, so that means I’m going to have to go down there more often to save the poor plants from being eaten alive. It was rather wonderful being down there, out of the wind and in the full sunshine. Heck, I ended up taking off both my sweaters and walked around in a double T for a bit. It was bliss, I tell ya.

Also to the opportunity to put Carla on the table and shave off all the clusters of dirty hair. Since we were at it anyway, we cleaned his ears, and Labhana’s too, and Chaos’, who all have a persisting infection going there.

I have (semi) decided to join Amazon’s ABNA competition. Now isn’t that exciting? Sure, I’m not the biggest fan of competitions, but what the heck. Ya gotta take a chance sometimes, and I did promise that if Spain was allowed to join, I would do it, so there you go. I’ve gotta. Now if y’all are willing, I would really appreciate it if you gave me a vote or two when the time is right. Once I figure out how that is done, I’ll be sure to put up a link where you can help, if you are so inclined.

It’s going to be quite a bit of work, admittedly. Big brother and I discussed it, and we’re going to go through the manuscript one last time, to apply some of the changes suggested by that official critique I got last month. All other projects will be momentarily suspended, since we only have ‘till January 14th to get it all done.

There was dog food to cut, twice actually. Can’t always just leave that to cousin Ed and Grandpa, ya know. Gotta pull my fair share in that department. Fed the dogs on my own, since big brother was otherwise occupied.

Did some cooking, which was also necessary. Beets with potatoes, which went down extremely well if you want to know. At it again this afternoon, because grandpa has the flu too, and didn’t feel like making pancakes. Hah.

Sally came back from hospital the other day. She’s oddly subdued lately. I think the chemo and then the bout with the bacteria is really hacking into her, and there is little I can do for her. If I try to talk with her, she’s insistent that everything is fine, and though I can see that she isn’t, there is little more I can do than accept her words. The fact that she is withdrawing to her cabin almost constantly, staring blankly ahead, is another thing that we’ll just have to accept for now.

Spent a part of today installing TV in her cabin, so she can have some entertainment while she’s cloistered in there. Personally I would go bonkers being inside all the time like that.

Another part of today, you know, after I overslept by at least an hour, darn it, was spent unloading the wagon of market stuff, and then reloading with sand for tomorrow. Took a while. Digging sand to load up almost always does, but with that and the cement bags we tossed on top, we’re basically ready for tomorrow.

Also made an appointment for Liane’s Land Rover at our garage. She would like to have it serviced and after sending her the prices, she preferred to have it done before she returns home.
Got an appointment for Friday, so that should work out just fine.

Knight II is doing well now, eating properly, cheerful as heck, and wanting to play a lot. New playing thing for him is chewing on my wrist, apparently, which I should work on, because boy does that hurt if he gets too excited.

Well, it is pretty darn cold at the moment. Doesn’t help that the stove is as good as off, because it’s the end of the day. Bed time is rapidly approaching and I’m happy for it. Did manage to do some writing in-between the editing for the competition. Have passed the 100 page mark yesterday, so, yay!

That’s it for me. I’m sure I forgot something important that happened these past couple of days, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it is. Hah.

Very disappointing.

Okay, I got way too little sleep this night. Due to the fact that my Internet connection was completely on the fritz with the fierce windstorm raging down the mountain, it took me ages to get messages and chats out, until very late in the night. It drove me crazy that every time I wrote something down, the connection would be gone again and I’d have to go through the tedious procedure of restarting the program and linking online once more.

Because of that I was unable to get to bed until ‘round six in the morning, and when I did finally get into bed, I lay awake ‘till dawn, pretty much gnashing my teeth in annoyance. I just couldn’t find the right position, it seemed, and then I got itches in all sorts of places, which of course helped keeping me solidly awake well after the sun rose working very hard to keep my eyes open with light falling right in my face.

Added to this fact, I wake up four hours later, with not a single fiber in my body, willing to go back to sleep, and adrenaline pumping for some unfathomable reason that I just can’t figure out. So I get up, figuring that since I can’t sleep anyway, I might as well get out of bed and start on the day. Heck, I might actually get some work done.

First thing I do, upon arriving at the house, is put on the coffee. Today I’m definitely going to be fueled by caffeine, which makes me edgy as hell after I finish the usual morning chores and then set up the computer to do a quick scan of the messages.
Breakfast makes me nauseous, and this particular feeling stays with me throughout the day, the way it usually does when I get too little sleep.

However, I’ve got four volunteers for a read and review of the “W.I. Investigations” so I spend some time sending those out, before having some fun on the net while I wait for big brother to finish his own responsibilities (they last incredibly long today, for some reason) so we can get to the dreaded editing. It is always an exciting feeling to know that people are going to read my book, and that doesn’t change on a day such as this.

At long last we get to it…needing to pause half an hour into the chore when we help mom with her revalidation exercises…and then get hit by the frustrating news that the last vampire story we sent to the publisher was denied. NOT A GOOD DAY!
The first one we haven’t got a response to yet, but apparently the second one didn’t entirely fit the format they were looking for, or some such.
It was a nice enough letter, giving some feedback at least, so it doesn’t bother us too much, though it is disappointing, of course.

So, with the afternoon rapidly advancing, we try editing again, at which time the sibs arrive, sending the dogs into their usual flurry of motion and noise, completely preventing us from focusing on the task at hand. Aaargh!

We only manage a few pages during this time, finally deciding to quit for a few hours, to see to the dogs’ needs, feeding them and then starting on our own dinner.
I’m in the mood for something light and easy, so I settle on pasta with a fresh tomato sauce that is rapidly prepared and filling at the very least.

After dinner I take the time to do some quick cleaning in the kitchen, and then hang today’s batch of laundry after taking yesterday’s down for folding.
That done, this week’s episode of “House” and “The Mentalist” are on, and for the next couple of hours we enjoy the stories of these two very different characters.

By the time the two shows draw to an end, both big brother and I settle behind our computers again, resuming the editing, and managing a few more pages until it is time to retire for the evening. Where does a day go? I wonder sometimes. Time, as they, is certainly relative.

With big brother’s promise to sign me up for the Amazon competition I head for my cabin, the dogs in tow, and feed them when my house-phone shrills, just when I’m about to settle down with a book that I intend to read just for the fun of it.

As it turns out, I can’t enter the competition after all, since for some reason–I can’t imagine what–Spain residents are not allowed to compete.
WTF?
That certainly takes me aback for a minute, wondering why the heck not, when so many other countries are allowed to enter. What’s wrong with Spain? And what is wrong with this day?

It’s baffling, and though once again disappointing, I do finally resign in the matter. In the end it really doesn’t change all that much, except for the fact that we won’t be forced to work on a rather tight deadline before submission. It is a pity, however.

Well, tomorrow promises to be another busy day. Lots of editing (different book) to be done, school to go to, and probably a lot of other things that are bound to drive me bonkers.

I really aught to get some sleep fast.