No sound to break, no moment clear

2014 is underway, and I'm a little behind where I'd like to be (progress-wise) on Jacaranda; but in my defense, I've been on the road a lot. I spent a week in Florida over the holidays, then turned around and went to Texas for almost that long - in order to attend Space City Con.

Since last I posted, I mean.

Other things that have been distracting me from work ... well, let's call them reasons, rather than excuses. Or then again, let's not. Let's think of the following as "some stuff that's happened lately." Ahem.

Dumbasses who text while driving: My husband was waiting at a stoplight, and some dipshit girl plowed into him. Never even looked up from her phone, never hit the brakes. Plenty of witnesses. Her car was totaled, but our old tank of an SUV looked a little surprised - like if it could talk, it'd ask, "Did someone just touch my butt?" Since then, the husband has been in and out of doctor's offices and physical therapy places, and now he has to go to this girl's court hearing on Friday. I'm not sure exactly (a). why he has to be there, or (b). what all she's been charged with, but she was on probation or something for some kind of fraud charge, so heaven only knows what's in store.

Florida and family: All adventure, all the time. Got to hang with my mom, sister, cousins, niece and nephew, and so forth. Stayed in the very hotel that inspired the novella-in-progress. Macguyvered a broken oven timer alarm with a golf tee. Bought my mom a smartphone and did my best to teach her how to use it. Did not actually kill anyone, and the travel was uneventful - even though I booked through super-discount-airline Allegiant. The service was good, the flight was fine, and for a $99 round-trip ticket to Orlando/Sanford, I've got to recommend it.

Galveston, and Space City: Made it to the convention without incident, and was treated to a VIP tour of the Johnson Space Center, which basically rocked my face off. Met lots of nice people, signed plenty of books, and left many signed books with the awesome folks at The Galveston Bookshop - in case you missed me at the event, but want one anyway. All was well, until it was time to leave.

Coldpocalypse Part One: Then did difficulties abound. Arrived at the airport to find the line for the US Airways counter wrapping all the way around the ticketing hall. To make a long and ridiculous story short, I eventually got my ticket and narrowly made my plane to Charlotte ... where upon landing, I found a voicemail from US Airways telling me my connection had been cancelled, and I needed to call a 1-800 number to get rebooked. To make yet another long and ridiculous story short, I couldn't get a direct flight home guaranteed anytime soon - so I settled for the last seat out to Atlanta, hoping I could make it back to Tennessee before the world froze. My fabulous husband drove down and picked me up, bless him forever.

Coldpocalypse Part Two: Like civilized and ostensibly prepared house-owning adults, when the temperature bottomed out we left our taps running in accordance with tradition. I was all back-patting myself the next day when I got annoyed by this weird noise I kept hearing...and finally indulged my OCD enough to go track it down. Guess who had a busted water pipe under the house! My husband was off at physical therapy (see above) so I was home alone by the time this wondrous revelation did occur. I panicked and called (no shit) about half a dozen plumbers, only to learn how not-special my situation was, and that no one would come out for at least 48 hours. However, the husband got hold of his younger brother (the contractor who did our bathroom). He arrived ASAP, and fixed everything like a champ...but not before I took a stab at turning off the water from the street. The cover was frozen shut, and whilst prying it up, I managed to (somehow) cut the ever-living crap out of my hand because I am an awesome and nimble genius. And I did not successfully turn off the water - partly because I had to spend the next ten minutes cleaning myself up, and making sure I didn't need any stitches. (I didn't. It's fine, just a little gross.) Urgh.

There are pictures. Of the good things - not the cut-up hand or exploded pipe, natch. Click here for NASA pics, family pics, dog and cat pics, and the like. No gross hand stuff. I promise.

Thus far, 2014 has been up and down - though in the new year's defense, some of that stuff listed above happened at the tail end of 2013; and there's been some great stuff to offset it all, though I can't talk about it now. Suffice it to say, I feel like I'm in for a roller coaster - but so far things are leveling out on the side of "thumbs up" or at least "quickly resolved and/or not as bad as things could have been."

I'll take it, you know?

And coming up, I've got word metrics on deck - daily, if I can manage it - except that as mentioned, come Thursday, I'm heading out for Detroit. Other than THAT, I mean. I've got work to do, and I'm going to be a better blogger when it comes to these things...because I find it helpful to hold myself accountable.

Anyway, I think that brings us up to speed.
Stay tuned, y'all.
There's more to come.