How can it have been so long?

I can't believe how long it has been since I have been here.  I missed it so very much. There are things about LJ none of the other sites can quite replace.  I wonder how many of my writer friends are still here after all this time.  How many are published now? How many are still pursuing their dreams?

If you see me.  Say hi.  (((HUGS)))  Hope life has been kind.


what a mess

My little Miss Piggie...who shall remain nameless...left me quite a mess in her bedroom when she moved off to school. Mercy!

FOUR bags of trash out of there (most of it from under the bed). An entire basket of laundry. Afraid to look in the closet, LOL.

BUT... AJ and I did get the floors picked up, the bed frame taken apart and put back together. Blocks under the two supports that need legs and don't have any. The boxspring out to the curb for trash day, then I put the boxspring and mattress from my old set on the frame, and her pillow top mattress on top, so now the bed is tall, but nice and plushy again.

Tomorrow I will make sure the dresser is empty and peek in the closet. Sure gonna miss that girl... but I sure hope she learns how to be neat before she is grown. (shaking head) Wow.

AJ kinda wants to move into that room (although he wants the butterfly appliques off the walls and a good coat of paint) as long as he can still keep his bathroom. Told him I thought we might be able to work that out, but he has to be patient a bit as I have D and the baby moving back in here in December for a month or so before she heads off to school.  After that it is all his.

I will make a 'guest' room of one of the larger bedrooms, and keep the other as mine.  So much for my 'study'... but he is a teenager who has survived a house...and a lifetime... full of all sisters.  He deserves a little space to call his own.  His present room will hold the weight bench, step (for step aerobics), etc.  My study will stay in what was once intended to be the dining room, except my table is bigger than the room, ha.  I like that little room, and I am sure I will like it even more as I get the house organized and straightened around. Close to the kitchen and easily accessible for dog walks.  It works.

Next up...a trip to Goodwill for some autumn weight clothes for the retreat.  A couple of school shirts for Aedin if I can find them.  Also a lamp.  Then a trip to the $ store and to Lowe's where I need some heay duty sand paper for the antique rocking chair I am working on, some wood putty for the deeper gouges, and good paint.  Next week, when I return from writing, I need to stop at the fabric shop and find just the right fabric for the seat cushion.

Meanwhile, off to bed.  Lots of work in the morning, followed by my actual 'work' in the afternoon.  I am excited about that,  Sleep sweet all.  May the sweet sounds of autumn sing you to sleep.


searching for thoughts

Busy days continue.  It is a gorgeous sunny autumn Lowcountry afternoon.  DJ (the 10 mo old) is here beside me on the sofa mostly trying to grab the keyboard, lol.  Tonight, once his mommy comes home, I have to do a marathon grocery shopping.
Food for all of this week, then food to leave while D 'sits' the household (pets, the littles after school, and my youngest son) which has to be easy to cook (she doesn't love cooking the way I do) and can't any of them require an oven (my stove is broken)  which eliminates the usual fall back items like pizza or casseroles. Fill in groceries for Reesie (some of her gluten free stuff she can't get around the college, and some items are just flat cheaper here cause I have a Save a Lot) Plus groceries for my 'camping' writing retreat (most if not all meals on the campfire...which thankfully I am pretty good at).  And finally ingredients so I can make the dogfood to last the next two weeks. Whew.

Ideas for easy, healthy, stovetop meals are solicited... HELP ME! LOL

Also stuck in the conundrum of how to allocate these precious FOUR DAYS of undisturbed writing time!  Do I try to slam through these edits for Khyr?  Do I devote this big chunk of writing hours to getting a new story well underway?  Why isn't thereTWO of me?  Editing.  Editing first. After all, I didn't spend all this time finishing this doorstopper just to stop one step away from completion.

Yep.  There's a plan.

Now... back to grocery lists.
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    DJ making motorboat noises
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strange connections--just rambling

It has been a while.  Actually a very long while.
My mother has died in the interim.  We never expected that.  She just learned to ride a motorcycle.  She was looking forward to more adventures... guess death is the greatest one of all.  I hope she's having fun.

Daughter moved back to Ohio to finish school.  An empty bedroom.  How odd.

Anniversary would have been today.  How long?  Mercy I can't even remember.  I know it still seems like he should be coming home from work any time now.  That I pulled out his favorite winter sweaters to hang in the closet when it was 'officially' autumn and then realized he didn't need them this year.  And yet in a lot of ways his being gone has also become 'normal'.

Can't say I like it.  Always surprises my friends and relations when I say I would like to date and fall in love and get married again.  They think it is better to have the freedom of being single. Guess I am wired differently.  I love my freedom...but I want someone to share it with.

More tomorrow...
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    crickets and tree frogs
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Farewell to Summer

Always a sad time for me...saying farewell to the best part of the year.  Now the long times and cold weather will begin to creep upon us.  SADD seasons... though less so than before when I was up north and winter began at the end of Sept and lasted what seemed like forever.

But in these last glorious days while the memory of summer lingers, I shall celebrate and rejoice in each new day.  Begin to tuck away the things that belong to its golden glory to await its return.

Time to begin a change in my eating as well.  Less hours of daylight means 1) less time to be active outdoors 2) waaaayyy less motivation (let's face it, I am a bear. My natural tendency is to feed my blues and hibernate, LOL)  And since I do not wish to look like a beached whale when the sun returns to my world... I have GOT to fix that. :D

Suggestions for changes?
I know in order for this to be a lifestyle change (I don't really get into 'diets'... I prefer live-ets) I will need to add more vegies and cut some places.  Just need to figure out the ground rules.
Well, something to keep me preoccupied as winter creeps in on me.

Final Friday of August

...and WHERE did this month? this SUMMER go?

Missing it already. Today was a great day.  Lots of time with DeeDee, some planning for her new deck.  Time with the kids this evening; as the shadows grew longer, we grilled burgers in the back yard and celebrated one more lovely day of summer.

Before the craziness of this weekend begins... one final Fantasy Friday for us to enjoy.

the journey of the soul

Another beautiful day...

...and here we are.  Just sitting.
Waiting.
The stupid DHL courier is supposed to deliver dd's transcript today (just as they were supposed to on Thursday and Friday) Both of those days they ignored her delivery instructions (what time to deliver it, knock loudly) and brought it whenever they darn well felt like it. Why then bother to ask for delivery preferences at all?  She said morning... they delivered at 8pm.  She said after 6, they delivered in the morning. Of course, she wasn't here...can't very well be here when she is in class or at work.
So here I sit...all day. And pray, like crazy, dear lord PLEASE let these twits deliver it this morning! No after the registrar is closed... or the banks... but while there is still enough time for her to do the things they prevented her from doing when she was supposed to due to their negligence.
Not sure how Little A will amuse himself today. She has a PS he can watch some DVDs on... and he totally rocks at the HP Quiddich game. Later I will go out and make sure I can see ALL access to the apartment from the playground across the driveway.  If I can, then he can play on the swings for awhile.  And once her roommate gets up, he can play with Feathers, his talking raven toy. Feathers is just a bit too loud for so early in the day.
Personally, I am happy to just sit in the peace and quiet and work on my edits.  Which are going rather swimmingly thus far, although I'm not cutting nearly enough words.  Hopefully I will find some scenes and chapters I can just cut in their entirety to make up for all the ones I have only cut 5 or 10, lol.
Hope your day is lovely.  Outside we have clear blue skies, bright sunshine, and a pleasantly cool 87 on the way today.  I do so love summer...wish it could go on forever.

Super Sunday

Today Little A and I drove to Reesie's new apartment.  He never knew where we were going except to some undesignated 'beach' and so, about an hour and a half into the trip, the inevitable "are we there yet" began.  Fortunately, he doesn't whine, just asks and then resumes what he was amusing himself with for another bit of time.  The drive was lovely, the traffic light, and C had plans to amuse Amy so she will not feel 'neglected' that this was her little brother's trip and not hers.  (her trip will follow shortly)

Now Reesie is out at the apartment playground (rather pathetic, but hey! it is something) swinging and sliding and running around with our boy. I am reveling in real peace and quiet and happily editing.  Life is good.

Freaky, Frazzled, Fantasy Friday

Things have been wild and wacky and woefully over-stressed the past couple of months.  My daughter, her fiance, and their baby moved down here and are living with me until they got jobs (check) and save enough to get their own place (pleeeeease let it be soon!)  Then her 10 yr old moved back here too (long story, court, custody, the usual stupidity that abounds these days when supposed grownups refuse to act on the best interest of the child in favor of 'getting even' for some imagined slight) Now I have three children living here... plus my remaining two...plus two additional adults:  8 people in my little 3 bedroom house. Along with another dog, which brings that total to 4.
Not complaining, mind you.  Glad to have the family all back together.  Glad they escaped the frozen north.  Just in desperate need of quiet..and sanity...and time ALONE (for this oh so introverted soul of mine)
So today was one of THOSE days...not enough time, not enough cars, too many people needing to be too many places ALL at one time. I never got to go to work, spent much of the day babysitting and wrangling who had to be where when and with whom... but I did get the kitchen picked up, the dishes done, supper made, and a dent (albeit small) in the grocery shopping.
<b>But</b>... amid the insanity... a EUREKA! moment. My cell phone is old. Like reaaaly old. And over the past month or so I noticed the volume through the earpiece diminishing to the point I had to put every call on speaker JUST to hear them. Either the speaker's going mute or I'm going deaf :(  This morning I was cleaning it off (little sticky fingerprints, dust from all the gardening/lawn work I do) and as I was wiping off the front I noticed the speaker piece seemed to dip in where I'd wiped it. So I scraped it off and discovered...wow!...there was a small silver piece recessed in the front that had been very smoothly obscured by a compacted filling of black 'dirt' the same color as the phone!
Guess that was why I couldn't hear, huh?
Isn't technology amazing? LOL  :D
Now... on to our Friday Fantasy photo.  I have <i>missed</i> these so much.  I am hard at work on the edits for The Call (Khyr's story) and I have new stories waiting to be written so I am very inspired these days.  Hope you find this inspiring as well.

Fireworks and family

Had the most lovely time last night as Merrill and DeeDee invited me to bring the whole crew over to their house to set off fireworks.  So many wonderful memories of spending the 4th together, it was always one of David's favorite things.  He would go and buy enough fireworks (and always the 'good' stuff too!) for a small town's display and then he and Merrill, and whichever of the children had now reached the 'magical' age of being permitted to light something, would spend a couple of hours entertaining our whole neighborhood with the show.

Merrill kept that tradition alive, and I am sooo thankful for friends who love us so much.  AJ turned 13 last year... this was his year to join the ranks of adults and be allowed to set off some of the fireworks.  He was so happy and excited.  Reesie doesn't leave for Costa Rica till this afternoon, so she was there with us and helped also.  The night was warm, and the skies were clear... just perfect.

DeeDee made a huge bowl of wonderful fruit salad (we made a BIG dent in that)  and we all sat in the front yard grass and enjoyed the fireworks and the laughter.

Today I drive Reesie to Atlanta and watch her wing away to Costa Rica on her great adventure. So happy she has the opportunity to study abroad and experience another culture, a different way of life.  More from our adventure soon.