Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 11

Life and Reading/Reading and Life

I feel somewhat responsible for the snow that fell this morning.  I was out of coffee in the house and decided to 'turn that frown upside down!' by using that as an excuse to fetch a fancy latte for me and muffins for my family.  At the coffee shop, I was talking to the barista about the weather (like you do in Minnesota) and I said, "It's raining, but I wish it would snow, instead."  Everyone in the coffee shop looked at me like I'd sprouted a second head.  Thing is, it's only February.  The warm is nice, but it's not natural.  More than that, it's going to break our hearts when it does start snowing again, because March hasn't even started yet!

Here on Sunday evening, I can say I've had a pretty good weekend.  

Mason had the day off on Friday, and so we ended up taking a friend of his Christy out to lunch and Japanese candy shopping at United Noodle.  Then, she came over to ours for a little otaku bonding, aka watching anime on our TV in the basement.  The funniest interaction I overheard was this:

C: Um, so... would you be willing to watch dubbed?
M: Oh. In English. Um, yeah, sure, I guess.
C: A true otaku friend! Someone who prefers sub, who will watch dub with you!

Meanwhile, upstairs, I was thinking: Man, I don't know if I like anyone THAT much.

That same night, I had an invitation to a board gaming night at a friend's house. Shawn and Mason were also invited, but they are true introverts and had filled up on their people quotients.  Mason was pooped from having entertained Christy, and Shawn has been having to deal with Swedes all week (guests to the Minnesota Historical Society, naturally, but Shawn has been required to do those dinner out with work colleagues things that tire her out).  So, I went to the party on my own, which was still a great deal of fun. I played <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cash-N-Guns-Sec... 'n Guns</a>, which was a tremendous amount of fun, and had also brought along a card game called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Go-Pick-P..., which Shawn had bought the family for Solstice, but none of us had figured out the rules.  The nice thing about bringing along a game you haven't played before to a party like that was that someone usually has played it and/or is willing to read through the rules and figure it out with/for you. It was a fairly fun game.  Low-key, I'd say.  Not like getting to point a foam gun at your former martial arts head instructor.  

Saturday was the insanely beautiful day here, and, so of course, I had to work.  It was one of my tiny 3 hour shifts, however, at North Saint Paul.  I really enjoy working there because not only is my shift super-short (3 hours, from noon to three,) but also so is the library.  It's so small that usually by the time someone turns in a book, we can have it back on the shelves within the hour.  There just aren't that many books (or patrons.) Plus, I've done so many shifts for them there that the regular patrons sort of know me and the staff trusts me enough to set me up on the desk or wherever and get their other, backlogged work done.  Which makes me feel useful.  

Today, I just didn't feel like doing much, and I absolutely managed it.  I mean, I did some basic maintenance things like taking out the garbage and doing the dishes, but a lot of they day was spent like a Sunday should be, IMHO: relaxing. I finished a book that is up for the PKD award, (R)evolution by PJ Manney, which I'll have plenty to say about on Tuesday, when my review goes up on BitterEmpire.  (Not a good book, IMHO. Actually, I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been a fail, because there is much fail in this book.)  Last night, I started Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong.  I can no longer remember which award that one was up for, but I had to read it because of the title.  I should probably be reading either of the last two PKD nominees: Brenda Cooper's Edge of Dark or Windswept by Adam Rakunas.  I will say I've hesitated to rush out to get Cooper's book.  I was not overly fond of Creative Fire, the first book in the series that this new one continues.  I just bought Windswept for my Kindle, so we'll see if that one is any good.

I have to say the PKD has been a mixed bag this year.  I liked both Archangel and After the Saucers Landed quite a bit, but the rest have been a really mixed bag (including one serious stinker.)  I feel like last year the quality was consistently much higher.  Out of the 5 books I read (I skipped the short story collection), all of them were at LEAST more than passably entertaining and well written, if not knock-your-socks-off amazing like Memory of Water, Elysium and Book of the Unnamed Midwife.

There are new judges every year, and I did a little research into the two groups (not hard, as their names are published on the PKD awards page.)  Out of the five judges, one was a woman... The previous year, the year with all the books I found fantastic?  THREE out of the five were women (and women I know and respect like Ellen Klages and Laura J. Mixon.)  

Hello, Monday, My Old Fiend

 My car is in the shop. Again.  Although, at least, this time, it was voluntary.  There's been a very annoying squeak going on with it for some time now, and today it changed significantly.  My whole family was very uneasy with the new sound. Personally? I could have let it keep squeaking until it stopped, permanently, but that's not very responsible, (apparently.)  I really, REALLY wanted to wait until Thursday to take it in, because there's no school on Friday for St. Paul and, if the repair was major and they needed to keep working on it for more than a day, that would make things easier all around.  

But... well, life won't always wait for the most convenient times, will it?

Just listening to my litany of symptoms, the mechanic figured that the problem had something to do with the water pump.  That can be expensive, but we've never replaced anything terribly major on this car before.  Maybe the starter coil, once?

I mean, really, if you don't count INCONVENIENCE, this car really hasn't been that bad of an investment.  It is at the shop A LOT, but we often leave with very reasonably priced bills.  So, I can complain, but not too much.  It's still much, much better to keep repairing the car than to go to the supreme hassle of buying a new-to-us one.  

We'll probably never buy a new, new car.  That's just not on the list of things I value.  I want my car to be safe, but I'd rather be mildly inconvenienced from time to time, than to take on the massive expense of monthly car payments.  Honestly, I want my occasional latte WAY more than I want a brand-new car.  Because 'brand-new' is no more a guarantee than anything else, not really.  There are plenty of people who drive a new car off the lot right into a car accident or some other repair expense ON TOP of their monthly bills. So, no thank you.  I'd rather limp along with Steve (our car's name).  He's a good car, for the most part, even if he's starting to jettison rusty bits on the road as I'm driving.  (Shhhh, we don't talk about that.)

But, so that's how my Monday started.  I should probably be grouchier than I am, given that I also ran out of minutes on my cell phone AND had to hoof it to the bus/train in order to get home.  And, yet?  I dunno, it was a pleasant walk this morning.  The sun was shining. The weather is nippy, but not insanely cold (and I was dressed for it).  I wandered up to the Caribou Coffee on Snelling and bought myself a giant mocha, which I got a dollar off of, because I'm a Caribou Perks Member.  I only had to wait three minutes before a bus came lumbering along and it was, surprisingly, not crowded, given that it was just the beginning of rush hour.  I always carry my Go! card, so I didn't have to scrounge up change.  The bus driver was super-friendly and didn't mind my not knowing where to 'beep' the card, and even asked as I was leaving if I knew where to go to catch the train.  So, that was sweet and restored my faith in humanity in a small, but real way.  The train, of course, always makes me feel like I live in a big city, and so I enjoyed that brief ride.  The cats were happy to see me when I got home and immediately settled in to snooze on my lap.

The only continued annoyance is that, for some reason, even though I have the receipt in my in-box, the Tracefone people have yet to credit me my new minutes.  Which... yeah, that's frustrating, because Dave's could call at any minute.  But, when I tried to get them to help me via my landline, I couldn't even get a person... the automated response told me that they were processing a transaction for me and that I should wait fifteen minutes.

Which I guess is fair enough, but I swear it's already been fifteen minutes.

Even so, first world problems, you know?  I'm just not in the mood to get to cranky about any of it, not with the sun being all shiny and my house being warm and friendly.  

We'll see how long it lasts and how much other crap Monday decides to throw at me.  :-)

-----
EDITED TO ADD: Car repair bill?  50 bucks.  I kid you not.

Monday, I take back everything I've ever said about you.  You're inconvenient, but you don't suck.  (Not entirely, anyway.)

Nebula Fraud/Freud

Last night, I had a dream about attending the Nebula Awards in my pajamas.

Oh... Dr. Freud.  I'm not even subtle, am I?

First of all, I am actually going to the Nebula Awards Weekend this year.  It's in in May, in Chicago, (which is close to home), and my friend Naomi went last year because her friend Helene (Wecker, who wrote The Golem & the Jinni) was up for a Nebula.  They both had a such great time, and so Naomi was able to talk me into giving it a try with her again, this year. I thought, "Why not?" 

Apparently, my subconscious thinks I'm not dressed well enough for the whole affair.

I'm sure this has entirely to do with the fact that I haven't been writing much of anything original for such a long time.  I mean, as I say, my subconscious isn't known for its subtly.  I'm sure all this feeling of loser-y was added to by the fact that yesterday, as part of my review of the latest chapter, I went to look to see how long the manga Bleach had been running. It turns out, according to Wikipedia, Bleach was first serialized in August of 2001, which means that Tite Kubo and I started publishing almost exactly the same time.  Archangel Protocol was published by Roc in May of 2001. Kubo-sensei is also almost exactly 10 years YOUNGER than I am, having been born in 1977.  He's, of course, still writing and drawing his creation.  Me?  I'm writing fan fic in his universe.  (I mean, that's not entirely fair to myself. I'm doing other things, but you know how it is when you feel like a loser, right?)

I mean, there's an easy solution, right? And, I have several projects I could and should be working on. In fact, my writers' group has been hounding me to hand out the next chapter of the "Roommate from Hell" novel I started. I guess my brain is telling me that I ought to make some significant progress on those projects so that when people ask me "what are you doing these days?" I can have an answer besides, "Oh, a whole lot of nothing. You?"

I need to get over this, though, because I am really trying to NOT feel like a fraud at either the Nebulas or the Hugos this year (I'm also attending WorldCON).  I really, REALLY want to go and just have a good time. I want to support my friend and hang out and do the dealer's room and all that sort of stuff.  

At least in my dream, I went out and explored the city.  Of course, in my dream, the Nebulas weren't in Chicago, but somewhere in Michigan, instead, but I found this really cool lake-park to wander around in before the ceremony.  It was very visceral. Like it really looked like a real place, but my dream-mind loves to mess with me even when I could just be enjoying a pleasant walk in the park, because this park was kind of flooded, maybe always boggy, but definitely Escher-ish in the way it was difficult to traverse. In other words: treacherous.  

Dreams, huh?

Top 5 Things I Did This Weekend

 1.  Met a Deatheater at Menards.

Technically this happened on Thursday morning, but it's worth mentioning. I went to Menards to buy a quart of paint to finish off the "Pinterest" Project that Shawn and I have been working on (we converted an old, cheap dresser into a bookcase.)  It was wicked cold on Thursday so I bundled up in my usual ultra-winter attire, including the four foot long Gryffindor scarf my penal Keri knitted me. I got to chatting, like extroverts do, with the guy mixing my paint.  It started innocuously enough about why Menards doesn't sell half-gallons and eventually he asked, "So... that scarf?"  I ducked my head a little awkwardly, but nodded, "Gryffindor."  He smiled and pointed to his forearm tattoo: a Deatheater!  I gave him a serious look and said, "You do realize we're mortal enemies."  He smiled and nodded like that was the best thing ever and added, "I'm going to get Mischief Managed' tattooed on my ribcage."  I gave him the thumbs up, "Dude!" and we discussed CONvergence, and, yes, yes, of COURSE, I gave him my business card.

2. Fell in love with a Swedish Schizophrenic.

Shawn found a BBC/Netflix show called "River," and I we binge watched all six episodes in this series over the weekend.  River is the title character of this police procedural and is a Swede, living in London, who.. sees dead people? Maybe, but, more likely is schizophrenic. I can't even begin to tell you how good this show is.  If you like British cop shows, put this one on your list.  It made me cry (and laugh, and sometimes cry-laugh at the same time.)

3. Celebrated Valentine's Day with a Nap.

Best Valentine's Day ever.

4. Finished our First Rag Rug.

Technically, most of this honor goes to Shawn, who has been banging away diligently at the loom, but I do my part every time the loom needs advancing--and, of course, I provide entertainment and company.  But, Shawn used up all the green fabric she had for our first test rug. We have no idea how it's going to look off the loom, but, besides one little glitched thread, it looks damn fine still on it.  Shawn and I are trying to decide what comes next.  A hit and miss?  Another "solid" colored one?  Regardless, it should be fun.  The loom is tremendous and we've been enjoying the heck out of it so far.

5. Managed not to Axe-Murder the Burgeoning Teenager in Our House.

What is it about pre-teens that makes them so damn prickly? Hormones, I know.  It's still a pain in the butt--or rather he is from time to time.  To be fair to Mason, he was mostly quite lovely.  But he's like that girl of the nursery rhyme.  When he's good, he's very, very good, but when he's bad he's OMG what. (I might have paraphrased that a bit.)

Geeks at the Laundromat

Sometime I amaze even myself with my extroversion.

Today, right?  I'm at the laundromat washing some of our rag rugs.  These aren't ones we've finished, but ones that we got over the years from my mother and, before her, my grandmother.  Some have just gotten grungy.  Others, Inky decided to pee on (before he started taking Prozac to solve that issue.)  The laundromat is the one place that has sturdy enough washing machines to handle these heavy rugs.  I can put in four or more at a time.  It costs $4.50 a load, but it's worth it, because these machines have three rinse cycles, too, so ALL that grimy grit actually gets pushed out of the rugs.

Like you do, I brought along my computer and tried to write. To be fair, I didn't just try.  I actually managed it. I added another chapter of UnJust Cause up on Wattpad.*  But, with three rinse cycles, the rugs take a long time. I bought a candy bar... and a guy helped me find a quarter that the machine rejected so forcefully that it skidded onto the floor.  I thanked this stranger and... happened to notice he was reading Ann Leckie.

"Aha!" My mind went into full POUNCE mode, "A science fiction fan!"

So, I asked him how he was enjoying the book. I noted that I'd read both Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword.  He thought the book was okay. I confessed that I found the gendering thing a bit distancing, like I never really connected to the characters because I couldn't imagine them, physically, in my head.  We bonded over this.  He said he'd been recommended the book by Greg at Dreamhaven.  "Ah," I smiled, "So you're one of my people.  Do you go to science fiction conventions?"

He blinked. "I didn't even know there WERE conventions"

Oh, my friend. I have Good News for you.

This reminds me of the fact that Naomi Kritzer and I have long *wished* there was some geek version of a 'chick track' that you could pull out and hand people like this. Seriously, it would say, "Geek! Have you heard the Good News!" and then go on to explain that you don't have to be alone (especially not in this town), Fandom is waiting to welcome you home.  For all that it would mimic a religious track, it would be full of useful geek info, like a list of some of the conventions in town with websites, the bookstores, resources, etc.  

I, of course, ended up telling him that I'm a science fiction writer and gave him my business card. Which reminds me, I have to put more in my wallet.  Because, yes, I actually hand them out CONSTANTLY. (Too bad this only works to boost my local reputation.  When I volunteered for WorldCON programming this year, I got the, 'uh, we're not sure who you are exactly and while you *might* be cool enough to be on paneling, we can't guarantee anything, but go ahead and fill out our survey anyway' version of the programming letter.  Which is fine, actually, because last WorldCON I went to was Chicago, and I suffered a massive attack of impostor syndrome and didn't really have a good time.  This WorldCON, I'm hoping to avoid all that by hanging out with my friends Eleanor and Naomi and generally just being a fan.)

Anyway, I just thought it was both a really funny exchange, and also REALLY TYPICAL of me.

---
*I'm actually starting to think I might be closing in on an ending to this story.  If I do get to an end, I'm probably going to pull down copies of all the chapters and rework the thing into an e-book that I'll self-publish.  Fingers crossed.  It's going to be a lot of work, because a huge section in the middle kind of makes no sense and was entirely ramblely, but it'd be nice to have an e-book out there.  I still occasionally hear from fans of Precinct 13, so that's cool.

Survived Dementors, On to GoodWill

 The Dementors did their best to wear me out on Friday, but I managed to survive, anyway.  Luckily, because the deliveries were late, I actually managed to find some time to compulsively organize juvenile series titles.  (Weirdly, things like this relax me.) Also, the author in me rebels whenever I see all the 39 Clues books all jammed together willy-nilly on a shelf, like it's not important that some of the books are part of the regular series and some are from the Unstoppable series or the Double Cross or the Cahills vs. Vespers... especially when the subtitles are right there on the spine.  THIS IS IMPORTANT, PEOPLE.  Especially, I would think to young readers.  

Anyway, I survived that AND dinner with one of Shawn's brothers.

Mark Friday as a success.

Today, Mason is off at Math Counts. I delivered him at 8:00 am at Washington and they're being bussed off to some college for the competition.

This means Shawn and I had the house to ourselves this morning, so there's been a whole lot of nothing going on, as well as a trip to the Goodwill outlet.  

The Goodwill Outlet is different from other Goodwill shops in that it's just completely unorganized bins of STUFF that people dig through and pay for by the pound. For our loom, we brought home 45 pounds of fabric.  It was an interesting experience.  Shawn had a blast, and was among her people, digging away for bargains.  I hung back a little, since I had no specific goal and watched people.  There was one guy obsessively digging through bins for shoes.  He seemed intent on finding pairs.  He had an entire cart full of shoes, and was super methodical in the way he sorted and dug.  The staff all knew him by name.  My first impression was that he was legit OCD, but then it occurred to me that he might just have a method for hunting down to a science and be searching for shoes for a shelter or some other non-profit organization.  There was another woman who was actually very desperately hunting for clothes for herself/her family, and had a budget that seemed to involve pocket change.  That was very hard to see, but, as Shawn pointed out, the good news is that she did walk away from the super-store with three or four shirts for fifteen cents.  I also saw lots of people hunting through pockets and purses for... extras?  That was fascinating, especially as I watched one woman pull out what was clearly nicotine gum from a purse, consider them, and then toss them aside.  I was fascinated because my first thought was: "Who doesn't clean out their purse before they donate it?" Of course, the answer immediately presented itself: "Dead people."

Still, a very interesting experience.  

Umbridge and the Dementors

 I accidentally agreed to work at the one branch of the Ramsey County Library system that I usually avoid like the plague it is.  In fact, I think my boss is on to me, because she tricked me.  

Her: "Oh, how about 9 to 1 on Friday?"
Me: (unsuspecting) "Oh, yeah, I could do that."
Her: (with a note of triumph in her voice) "Great! It'll be S----."
Me: (silent screaming of rage, 'oh no, not Umbridge and the Dementors!') "Oh... uh... great. I'll... uh, put that down on the calendar...' (more silent cursing.)

So, I don't know what a person does to prepare for Azkaban, but I decided to stop and get two cups of my favorite coffee latte from my favorite coffee store.  I'm hoping that will help me be perky as my soul is slowly sucked out for the next four hours as the boss of that branch cheerfully/not-cheerfully sputters "NO PROBLEM" (subtext: 'YOU F*CKED UP!!!') any time I make some tiny mistake that at any other library would be laughed off and/or gently corrected.  

It's also just... grueling.  The Dementors hate substitutes and so we are given the repetitive and back breaking tasks, things like hand checking books in.  It's the kind of work that makes a person start to think they work at a book factory, not a library.  In the past, they had me doing that one thing for the whole four hours (most branches trust subs enough to let them shelve or work the desk or answer phone to mix things up a bit, so it's not just mind-numbing monotonous work for the entire shift.)

What always amuses me about S----, is that it seems that nearly everyone at the other branches feels the same way about them. When I first started, it was kind of an initiation/are-you-one-of-us-or-a-robot kind of questions:  "A sub, eh?  So... have you been EVERYWHERE....?"  And, I'd say, "Yes, I've been to every branch now."  And, they'd drop their voice and ask, "So... what do you think of S---?"  To which I replied, "Oh, you mean Umbridge and the Dementors?" And then we would laugh and I would have a fast friend for life. Last time I stopped in at Roseville, they lamented that they hadn't seen me in a while and asked if I was getting many hours and when I told them I'd been tricked into working this particular shift they nodded solemnly and said softly, "I swear that's the only way [boss] gets people to work there."

So that's what I have to look forward to today.  Hope y'all are doing better! 

Grumble, grumble, grumble....

 Saint Paul did not close its schools.  So guess who was up at o'f*ck o'clock shoveling the sidewalk and unburying the car?  That's right. THIS GIRL.

I was so irritated by St. Paul that my chiropractor literally pulled me aside to talk to me about my shoulder tension.  I resisted screaming into his face, "BLAME THE ST. PAUL SCHOOL SYSTEM!" Because, okay, yeah, I'm probably unreasonably irritated about having to get up early and shovel, but what made my shoulders that high was having to drive on half-plowed street with my family in the car.  Myself, alone, maybe I wouldn't be so tense.  But, with Shawn AND Mason along?  Yeah, no, that's a lot of responsibility and I really don't want to be responsible for having killed them, a pedestrian, or another driver and/or their family.  Yeah my shoulders were up over my ears. I was lucky they weren't higher.

Now the sun has come out to mock me.

I kind of wish that the skies had dumped an extra fifteen pounds of snow on St. Paul's head so I could self-righteously shout: "HA!"

On the other hand, because I was up and about early, I stopped by Whole Foods and picked something for the crock pot for dinner tonight and made myself a very early lunch (technically brunch? Maybe breakfast with lunch-related food?)

When Shawn was recovering from gallbladder surgery, a friend of ours, George, brought over his guaranteed vegan, all-the-fiber stew, which was basically: garbanzo beans, tomato chunks, and various veggies all simmered together.  It was super simple and he kept apologizing for it not even being a particularly tasty batch, but I LOVED it and now make a version of my own on a regular basis--mostly for myself, because my family is a bunch of unrepentant carnivores.  So somewhere around ten am, I stuffed my face with bean/tomato/potato/mushroom/okra/carrot stew.

Being irritable takes a lot of fuel, apparently.  

The Curse of 2016...

 ...finally got very personal for a lot of SF/F fans.  Tor editor David Hartwell just died.

I didn't know him, not really, though he was the editor of many people I know very well, so I've heard a lot of stories over the years.  

The one thing I knew about Hartwell before I met him was that he liked to wear funky, cool ties. When he was one of the Guests of Honor at Diveriscon in 2011, I pulled out some of my grandfather's ties and wore them.  We talked ties.  He helped me correctly identify the era from which my grandpa's ties came from and I told him that I'd heard that my grandpa and grandma used to go dancing a lot, and I always liked to imagine I was wearing a "dancing" tie (though, in truth, they were probably just grandpa's work ties.) We talked about a museum exhibit of ties that Hartwell had gone to.  Then, I think I was lucky enough to go out to dinner with him and a bunch of other people and we all managed to mostly successfully avoid bringing up some of the touchier subjects in Hartwell's life (such as his wife's involvement in the infamous 'Racefail.')

The only other thing I can say is, what the hell 2016?

Banker's Hours

 Mercury's backwardness* continues to affect my household.

Last night, Mason was hit by a terrible bout of insomnia.  Normally, if he can function at ALL, we send him off to school.  Today?  We decided to let him catch up with his sleep.  The semester is almost over and it's the day after a long weekend. He should be fine to catch up, particularly once he's gotten a decent amount of sleep.  

Consequentially, the whole household was delayed getting out the door.  Normally, this makes me a little cranky, if only because, even without a regular job, it still messes up my routine.  Today, however, I was glad for it, because I've been meaning to get to the bank to finish off a transaction that will FINALLY finish setting up my account on ACX and I can get the whole ball rolling with my voice actor friend, Jack, and the audible versions of my AngeLINK series.  We dawdled.  I bought coffee.  I waited patiently through traffic lights, drove the speed limit....

AND THE DANG BANK ISN'T OPEN UNTIL 9 AM.

Even after all that noodling around, I still ended up having to go home for a half hour before heading back out.  Again, none of this is fatal, but gosh darn it, it's irritating.

On the other hand, yesterday was extremely pleasant.  For any overseas friends reading this, yesterday was what you would call a bank holiday here in the U.S.:  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Schools were closed, as were all federal businesses.  Shawn had the day off work.

Since it was also supposed to be a bazillion degrees below zero (the scientific term), we decided to make the day a game day.  It would have been also a pajama day, but at 8:30 am our doorbell rang.  It was our neighbor, Ruthie, whose car wouldn't start. She needed a jump.  After running upstairs and throwing on some jeans, I pulled the car around and waited while they got it going.  (Ruthie is a nurse and doesn't get holidays like the rest of us and had a shift starting at 9 am.) But, outside of that tiny bit of excitement, we spent the day quietly.  We played two games of Munchkin (we have a lot of sets and we found a fun combo in Apocalypse and Mission Impossible/Spy,) and a seriously cut throat game of Monopoly.  I posted a picture of our game board on Facebook because by the end the board was RED with hotels. Ever since the time I quietly became the slumlord of Mediterranean/Baltic and brought my fellow gamers to their knees with the crushing rent of those awful properties with massive hotels on them, Mason has become obsessed with building on his monopolies. So, it was a fun game.  I actually survived paying $750 in rent. TWICE.

It was a good day, honestly.  I've been doing a lot of stamping, as I call my stamp collecting.  I'm still baffled as to why I find this activity fun.  But, it's very companionable, since Shawn will often sit next to me at the dinning room table, sewing together strips of cloth for the rugs/loom, and we will just hang out, chat, or watch/listen to a show.  She's been watching some British show (some soapy thing, I can't remember the name of it ATM)  that I've been experiencing mostly as an audible book, as it were, since it's too much trouble to try to watch and look through my stamps.  But, that's pleasant, too. Very old-timey, in a way.  Like listening to a radio play.   

Okay, well, it's just turned 9 am.  I should zip off and see if I can get my business sorted at the bank.  See you all later!


*In case you're wondering, as I often do, when will this madness end? The answer is:  Mercury goes direct on the 25th.