Kat's Tales

So, finally getting to post another update here. I've been very neglectful of LJ outside of the most recent fic posted, so I'm sorry for that. Between hubby's taking vacation days, grankidlet antics, and other family stuff, playtime has been limited. :P

And sadly, my beloved little Furball has left this world. The entire family was there with him on the final trip to the vet and stayed with him until the end. I was pretty much a wreck for days afterward. It's still hard and I still expect him to be there waiting with toy in mouth and tail wagging at the top of the stairs every time I come home. My emotions are pretty much at odds right now. Part of me wants wants to wait for a very long time before even thinking about another mutt, but the other part is screaming at me--loudly!--to find another mutt to join our family. I suppose we'll have to wait and see which part eventually wins out.

Oh, that's right, I promised an update, didn't I? So I guess this is the part where I own up to the current projects and admit how little I've been doing lately. :P Okay, so without further delay, here are the gruesome stats:

Fandom: Thoughtcrimes
Title: The Silent Twins
Words: 790 words total so far
Progress: Still working on opening scene, though it's almost finished--finally. Background has been set and the action can now begin! Er, almost. *giggles*

So hopefully updates will be more regular again, but I'm not holding my breath. :P

And finally, we leave you with a meme. This was gakked from karri_kln1671.

( My Fantasy Archetype is... )

Have a great Sunday everyone! *hugs*

Okay, so I have abysmally horrid at updating for several months now. Sorry to anyone who was concerned and I promise I will try to do better again. Why the drought? *sigh* Well, lots of stuff going on and that, combined with a total lack of motivation or energy on my part, equalled no posting here for the better part of two months. :P

What's been going on? Well, family stuff is about the same as always--BUSY. Between having the munchkins here every other weekend from Fri-Sun nights and the usual family commitments, I've not had much quiet time, which has meant not a lot of writing has been accomplished lately. I did finally manage a tag for the weekend challenge at sheps_atlantis though--thanks to watching an episode with Karri last night. :D (I watched The Hive after Epiphany last night and that one cooperated far better than the Epiphany idea. Hope you don't mind... *giggles*)

In other news, as those of you on Twitter already know, my poor aging Furball, Boogie, is not doing well. The vet suspects cancer, but due to his advanced age, treatment is not really an option. So he's been having some okay days and a couple of not-so-okay days over the past couple of weeks, but it's becoming increasing obvious that his time among us is drawing to an end. He's been my almost-constant companion for over fifteen years now, so he's going to leave a pretty huge hole in my life--and my heart--when he leaves me.

On other writing fronts, I have a LOT of ideas that I so want to get started on. After a HUGE drought, I'm hoping that getting just shy of 2000 words down last night in right at two hours time is the signal that the floodgates are opening and the words will flow freely again once more. *crossing fingers*

So I hope to be back with daily progress reports again...or at least get back to updating more regularly. I'm also way far behind on reading fic, so I'm also hoping to begin catching up on the backlog of that soon also.

So Happy Friday everyone! :)

I found out this morning that my cousin's son was killed in a car accident in Germany. My cousin is a year younger than I; his son was just finishing his senior year in high school.

I'm just...gutted.

It's been awhile since I've posted anything other than a meme, and I'm feeling kind of guilty about it. So here is a short update on RL issues.

The Good:
--I booked my flight for MediaWest last week. It was cheaper to fly into Lansing than to Detroit--even though the flight has a stop over to change planes in Detroit. Weird. Now if only we would hear something from the hotel! Anyone else out there planning to go?
--It's supposed to snow tonight! Yippee!! We got barely more than a dusting last time. Haven't had any real, measurable snow all winter yet and I'm so ready, LOL.
--I've started watching Robin Hood (the BBC series from the UK). Am halfway through the 13 episodes that my friend sent me. I am so hooked. Um, Steph? Sir Guy is interesting, and I'll even give you good looking, but I'm afraid that Robin has completely stolen my heart. Will still try to catch North & South, though. Am definitely interested in seeing more of RA's work, just not overly enamored with Sir Guy. Er, sorry?? =)
--Am working on more SGA fic. I have a tag for "The Eye" almost finished and am making some progress on the zine fic. And I have a name for both now. Yeah! Have also been doing some writing on YIM, um, well, almost everyday. Am thinking anything this much fun should probably not be legal... :D

The Bad:
--I had a great time with the granddaughters over the weekend, but was seriously pissed at Elise's dad. Their custody agreement provided visitation days for Dad during the week. Now that the little squirt is in school full-time, that's rarely possible. So they've worked things out with him getting her every other weekend. Which is great, but means that there are no court-ordered hours. He's taking full advantage and calling later and later with the return times. Last weekend, I was informed at 4:30 that he was bringing her back at 6:00. Which pretty much meant that I wasn't able to make any plans at all on Sunday.
--When she finally gets here, she quickly informs me that she hasn't had dinner yet. I hadn't made it to the grocery store because Hubs had the car on Sat., so though I had snacks, I didn't have anything for dinner. So we ended up taking her out to a restaurant. I wish I could say that things like this were rare, but two weeks ago, he sent her back without any pajamas. So despite it being cold and rainy and nasty, we had to drag her out and make an emergency run to KMart to pick up something for her to wear. I think next time, I'm going to make whatever plans I may happen to feel like making, and if I'm not back by the time he brings her? Oh well, he can just sit and wait for us. And if he's late for work, well, then maybe next time he'll actually let me know more than an hour and a half ahead of time when he's bringing her back...

The Ugly:
--Hubby was home sick today. His company is instituting bar code scanning and they are moving everything around in preparation. He's worked every Sat for the past month on this as well as extra hours during the week. This past weekend, they got into an area where there were shelves that hadn't been dusted or used in years--literally not in years. The dust was awful and I'm pretty certain that his fever and stuffy head are the result of a sinus infection caused by all that dust. (The goof-balls didn't wear masks. ::rolls eyes::) So I've got him talked into letting me make an appointment for him with the doc in the morning. Now if only the weather will cooperate.
--Speaking of which, we're supposed to get wintry mix first, changing over to snow mid-morning with accumulation of 3-6 inches of snow by nightfall. And while I'd totally *adore* the snow, I can so live without the ice and sleet crap that we're supposed to get over the next few hours...

Okay, enough ranting and rambling from me. Hope you all have a terrific Tuesday!

Have you ever had one of those days were nothing at all goes according to plan? Well, I've just had three of them. In a row. At this point, I'm not at all certain that I really want to find out what monkey wrenches ol' Murphy is going to throw into my day tomorrow either. ::eyerolls::

I didn't get my sandbox time on Sunday due to the unexpectedly early arrival of Elise (granddaughter #2). Ashley (granddaughter #1) was here all weekend, as scheduled. Elise was supposed to get here about an hour after Ash left for her Dad's. Instead, she was here all afternoon, which was great that the two of them got to play (which doesn't happen often)--but it really killed any chance of *my* playtime. Then after Ash left, we headed out for dinner and KMart for a few necessities. By the time I got Elise into pj's, gave her a snack, made her brush teeth, read her a story, and got her to sleep, it was waaaay too late to sandbox. ::pouts::

But don't get me wrong here--I loved having them both visit and really did enjoy my day with them. It's just not what I had planned.

Then today, things were going along fairly well. I got my three loads of laundry finished without even having to wait for a washer or dryer to open up. That NEVER happens! I had been thinking about heating leftovers for dinner about the time Hubs called. Whereas he'd normally be almost home at the time he called, he was just leaving work. And he had eBay packages to mail. By the time they'd get back on this side of the river, all the POs would be closed. So he decides he's going to have the lady he rides with drop him off in the city we used to live in, about 30 mins north of here, where he can use the automated mailing center. Then he's planning to take the bus back here, which wouldn't get him home until around 8pm. At which point *I'd* have to fix him dinner...

My response to this plan? NO. WAY. Even if I only heated up the leftovers, I'd still have to clean up after and I'm not a fan of being stuck in the kitchen until ten at night. Period. He *knows* this. So he eventually agreed that I could just pick him up and we'd eat out. We went to a new place (54th Street Grill) and were both quite pleased with our meals. He had a chicken sandwich and fries, while I had Maui Jim's Chicken Salad--YUM!

So now I'm off to make some progress on the zine fic--I hope!

Can I please just go crawl in a hole somewhere and die now?

This has so not been my week. As if the hacker-mess over the weekend wasn't enough, the fun continued here yesterday. I decided that it was so cold that stew sounded good for dinner. Now I had errands to run in the afternoon, so I decided to use my slow cooker. No biggie, I've done it hundreds of times over the years. So I got up yesterday morning and got to work on chopping veggies and beef. Had almost everything finished and was thinking ahead to getting the dog out and taking a shower, so I could get the errands out of the way and get home before the temperatures dropped too far, as they were predicted to do over the course of the day. Unfortunately, that meant my mind was not on what I was doing. Soooo...guess what I did?

::sigh::

If you guessed slicing my index finger from first to second knuckle on the diagonal, you're right. No stitches, but (a)it still hurt like hell and (b)even with the band-aid, every time I bent my finger the cut pulled open. So if I owe you a reply, it's liable to be a little delayed. :(

(It feels better today, btw, as long as I don't bend it too much. Though typing without bending one of my index fingers has been...interesting. And time-consuming. *g*)

Now comes mistake number two. I figured that I deserved a nice quiet day after the madness of the past week or so, right? So I was very much looking forward to getting up, getting the dog out, then showering, and settling in for breakfast to read email before watching Sunday. (Which had taken most of the previous day and all night to download...grrr.)

I didn't get it. I was awakened by the hammering and banging noises in the boiler room downstairs, but wasn't too upset at that point. (Hey, something was obviously wrong and they were fixing it. And, um, did I ever mention that the boiler room is located directly underneath my bedroom?) So I get up and use the bathroom. Everything is fine, no problems. So I get undressed to take my shower. Climb in and turn the faucet on.

::headdesk::

Nope, nothing happens. Apparently the problem required that they shut off the water to fix it. Fine, but FCOL, could you at least have given some warning first? (Hubs, son, & daughter all got ready and off for work/school with no problems, thank goodness.) So no shower for me and no water to wash the dishes from last night that I left sitting because of my finger. I really lucked out when I first got up, because after finding the shower not working, the toilet didn't work anymore either. So yeah, fun day. They didn't get the water back on until almost 4:30pm.

And Sunday? Gah, talk about feeling totally gutted afterward. The character development bits were great, but man. I keep tearing up just thinking about it.

Anyway, I'm here, though it may take me a bit to answer everyone for another day or two. :)

Wow, it's really been a busy week here. But let's start with the big news.

We finally have a new set of wheels! Not new-new wheels, but new-old wheels. And a payment to shell out every month and a bigger insurance premium, which I'm trying hard not to dwell on for now. ::grins::

I'll try to post pics later, since it was too dark out for that by the time hubs got home from the dealership with it. It's a red 2000 Ford Taurus, and while we'd planned on something a little newer, the price on it was too good to pass up for the condition and mileage. It even has a new windshield, which the dealership replaced at no cost to us. So even though we signed the paperwork on Saturday morning, we had to wait until this evening to take possession since they ended up having to order the new glass.

It was quite an interesting weekend. Hubs took Friday off. He'd stopped by the dealership to look at the car Thurs evening and they let him take it home so he could have a mechanic friend look it over on Friday. Mechanic-friend gave his blessing, so we decided to buy it. The only drawback was the windshield, which was badly cracked in one corner. The big family holiday party was Saturday, so we expected to have to go back Tues to do paperwork. But we needed a car to get to the party, so we ended up stopping at Enterprise and picking up a rental for the weekend. I follow hubby to the dealership (which is a good half-hour away) and they want to start the paperwork that evening. They think they can get it done that night if we run back home and get some paperwork they need. I'm not really thrilled about it, as I still have two kinds of cookies to bake for Saturday's party. So go home and grab the stuff, head back to the dealership still not having had dinner (it's now after 8pm). They get the loan guy in and he gets started. He comes back awhile later and informs us that there isn't anyone at the bank to confirm the interest rate this late and could we come back tomorrow afternoon. Um, no. We have the party which starts at noon. We finally agree to come in around 11am and he promises it won't take but a few minutes.

Now we still haven't eaten dinner and are starving, so we stop for a burger on the way home and make a quick run through the grocery store for a couple of last minute supplies. We get home and put the groceries away and by the time I finally get to start on the cookies, it's almost 10:30pm. ::sigh:: I bake and bake and bake and finally get to bed around 4am. Up at 9am to get ready for party and head to dealership to sign papers. Hubs is late getting back from meeting his buddies for coffee and we don't even leave C'ville until nearly 11. Get to the dealership and get the paperwork done, head back to pick up daughter and both granddaughters. Pack up cookies, people, and kid gear before stopping to grab a pack of 50 wings from Wing's 'N Things and finally head to the party. Had a great time at the party, in spite of running on only 4hrs sleep.

Sunday daughter, granddaughter, and I headed to the mall to spend gift cards. ::grins:: Ash was so tired after the party the day before, but she was so good while we shopped. Her favorite part was our stop in the Libby Lu store. (makeup, dress up clothes, hair accessories, etc. for young girls) Monday was more shopping at KMart and WalMart (at the latter I was again reminded why I avoid like the plague whenever possible...). Tues was running more errands before returning the rental car.

Now I just have to take down the holiday decorations and get them back to the storage unit...

Okay, so today the electrician shows up to try and fix whatever is making the lights flicker in my bedrooms. So what happens? Nothing. Not so much as a teensy-weensy little dimming. ( Read the continuing saga here. )

::sighs::

Now I'm off to find chocolate and see where I can get with The Gates of Annwn before bed.

::does the happy dance::

Went shopping tonight after dinner. Hubs got his Anniversary/Christmas present last night and I got mine tonight.

( And here is what I got! )

To the other customer at Best Buy who had been looking but didn't ask for one until right after I did...erm, sorry, but well, you snooze, you lose. ::grins sheepishly::

::does the happy dance some more::

Today was my day to babysit my granddaughter while my daughter worked.  She's on the 11a-11p shift, so throwing in travel time each way and charting time, I end up watching her for more like fourteen hours--sometimes longer if the ER is busy.