Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 2

This is a Good Book Thursday: The What the Hell Edition

So far this week, I’ve:
• spent the night in the hospital because of asthma
• where my laptop fell off the bed and broke
• which led me to buy a new laptop and try to install Word on it while Microsoft fought me tooth and nail and refused to let me have what I bought
• which means I haven’t been able to work all week which is making me nuts
• while Patricia Gaffney schlepped my stuff all over town and Bob told me to relax and take a nap
• which I couldn’t do because this is the week we finish the website
• plus the medical Zooms and appointments
• also my house is a nightmare so I’ve been working on that for health reasons
• and then there’s Johnny who is not amused I disappeared for over a day
• and I missed doing Working Wednesday because of no computer
• even though the new one got here today.
• and also I read some Dorothy Sayers and a book about house decluttering that Krissie told me about.

Is this one of those “Mercury is in fucked” things I’ve heard about? Because obviously reading the previous post’s comments are evidence that something’s going on. As if the American government wasn’t enough of a clue.

It’s been a week. What did you read?

Happiness is A Good Friend Who Takes Care of Your Dog

Welp, here I am writing to you from the ER again. No, it wasn’t a heart attack this time, damn asthma again. And I was doing everything right, too. Anyway, once I was out of the ambulance and back in an ugly hospital gown, I said, “Look, I can’t spend the night, I have a dog.” And the emergency room doc didn’t threaten me with death, he said, “Don’t you have family or friends who can get your dog?” And I said, “Well, I can call Pat, but she’s out a lot. And Cathy is forty-five minutes away. Also I’m asking these people to take care of my rescue dog who still isn’t sure about this new home thing.” And he said, “Call Pat,” and I did, and she went into my nightmare of a house and snagged my laptop and iPad and charging cord and brought them to me in the hospital and then took Johnny home with her. And I will owe her FOREVER. (If she couldn’t do it, Cathy, I’d have called you, but she’s only two blocks away. I went with what’s easy and close. Story of my life.)

So happiness is a friend who says, “Of course,” without hesitation. when you ask her for a HUGE favor, a friend like Patricia Gaffney, the saint. (And like Cathy Maxwell who would have driven that forty-five minutes. Damn, I’m a lucky woman.)

What made you happy this week?

Argh Author: Opal Mason’s Ice Planet Octogenarians Book 2: Squoot’s Squeeze

Our own Jeanne Estridge, writing as Opal Mason, has released the second book in her Ice Planet Octogenarians quartet of sci-fi romcoms.

Squoot’s Squeeze

“Ice Planet Barbarians Meets Golden Girls!”

Have you heard the one about the four old hens that crash land on a desolate ice planet, only to discover that the inhabitants can turn them back into spring chickens?

Now one of the aliens is offering to cut me in on that deal. Squoot is the shortest guy in the tribe but, at six foot, he still towers over me. And even with four thumbs and giant antlers, he’s one cutie-patootie. I’m on board with getting younger, but Squoot insists that Harmonance, the mystical force that rules this planet, has chosen me as his forever mate.

After thirty years in the Marines and another twenty running my local USO, I’ve had a bellyful of guys bossing me around.

This is no joke: I may only be four-foot-ten, but this gal will never be anyone’s little woman.

Available in print and ebook

Amazon link

Visit Jeanne at www.jeanneestridge.com

This is a Good Book Thursday: The Down to the Wire Edition

The book I’ve been reading most recently is Arresting Anna (yes, we know, awful title) because we are to the point now that we know what has to be fixed to finish it. And I like it. I have no idea if it’s any good or not, I never do at this point, but I’m cheered that we’re this close.

What cheered you up when you read it this week?

Working Wednesday: The Scathingly Brilliant Idea Edition

I’m in the middle of digging out this hellhole of a house–the house is fine but I am a truly terrible housekeeper–and I was trying to figure out whether to put my office in the half of the living room near the kitchen or in the half near the windows, when it hit me.

What if the office wasn’t in the living room?

The living room is where I talk to people, or it was before it descended into madness. The small bedroom is where I live and write and do business and sleep, leaving the big bedroom for guests and yarn and fabric. But I’d rather write in my bedroom even if you’re not supposed to write in bed 24/7. It’s where I write. Therefore, my office stuff should be there, too.

I mean, that’s just brilliant. (Hey, I take my wins where I can get them.)

And then I looked at the logistics, and the bedroom was too small to take a bed AND my writing table. That I love but never write on. Which led me to Scathingly Brilliant Idea #2.

Move back into the big bedroom. I don’t mind yarn and fabric staring at me. And there’s room in there (I think) for the writing table, too. Possibly room for printers and papers and notebooks. I think it’ll all fit.

God, I’m smart.

Of course the amount of work this is going to take is horrendous, but I can do it. Slowly. Very slowly.

What brilliant ideas did you have at work today?

Hey, UMF is in Audio

The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes is out in audio now. Thought you’d want to know.
Yes, I know it originally came out in 2007. Audio takes time. Jeez.
(Is this too pushy? Then, never mind.)

Happiness is Finding Things

I’ve been clearing out my clothes–I have decades of clothes–and I found a dress I’d forgotten I’d had, and it’s a great dress, so it’s like free new clothes. I was going through my shoe organizer and found the bunny slippers I’d forgotten I had, and they’re darling. I was clearing out my kitchen cabinets and found the ramekins I’d bought decades ago for pudding, and they’re really beautiful. I mean, I am not the kind of person that thinks cleaning is happiness, but this part I like.

What made you happy this week?

This is a Good Book Thursday: Gaffney and Maxwell

I’ve been doing rereads, which are boring to read about, so I’ll just say you should read Patricia Gaffney and Cathy Maxwell. I’m having lunch with Gaffney today and Maxwell is driving in to eat with me tomorrow, and these are two of the friends I really cherish, in part because they write such good books. You should read them.

So what did you read this week?

Working Wednesday: I’m Tired

Did you ever get to that place in your life where you look around at the work you have to do and think, “I can’t?”

To be clear, this is not about writing; it’s about my house, my medical stuff, my transportation, my financial management, my freaking laundry. All of it is doable, I’m not in trouble, there’s just so much of it. A lot of it just has to get done once–I did my taxes!–and a lot of it just has to be figured out once, but the problem is, there’s a lot of it now, all at once. Everything all at once. So that’s my insight on working this week. I’m against it but I’m gonna do it.

What are you working on?

Happiness is Popsicles

I am currently consumed by consuming popsicles (yes, they’re sugar-free). There are two different 3-flavor varieties at my supermarket, and I’m scarfing down both at a rapid rate. Once the temperature drops, I’ll go back to sugar-free hot chocolate, but for right now, it’s frozen flavored ice 24/7.

What’s making you happy this week?