13 Mixed Feelings, a Thanksgiving List
I’m thankful. Really, I am. But you know, everything seems to come with a grain of salt.
1. It’s pretty outside. More on that in a bit.
2. I finished writing the rough draft of Crazy Love. Yay! It’s a little short. Well, it depends on how you look at it. It’s 7,109 words short for NaNo, but it’s just about right for Wild Rose Press. It’ll grow as I revise, which means a quick shifting of gears for me, but that’s doable. That’s right, my rough drafts grow in revision, probably because they tend to be heavy on the dialogue and lack details.
3. Some of you all have stuck with me this month when my blogging sucked. I broke my well-over-1,000-consecutive-posts run, having skipped both Saturday and Sunday. I’m bailing on Friday, too. That’s right, I’m totally skipping both Fiction Friday 55 and Suzie’s House in favor of hanging out with my family. Saturday I’ll post what I’d planned to do last Saturday but didn’t get around to. Hopefully I’ll be up to speed by Sunday. All month long I’ve been reduced to vising the blogs of only those who have commented on mine when they comment. The results have not been pretty.
4. My carpel tunnel isn’t bothering me nearly as much this year as it did last year. I’ve discovered a secret. Besides wearing my wrist brace consistently and making sure my keyboard is lined up just right, I need to relax. The more lightly I type, the better. Strangely, it turns out that typing gently also lets me type faster.
5. The turkey thawed in time this year. I bought it on Saturday. This was quite the adventure. The store had advertisements in their fliers and on their web site for 49 cent per pound birds. Problem was finding them in the store. They had about twenty different verities of turkey, most of them in the $1.50 per pound range. At one point I even walked out of the store intending to head to a different one with the same special, but decided to give it one more go. This time I flagged down an employee. The birds for the special were in a bin that was wedged between others, unlabeled in any way, and the labels on the birds themselves were close, but not an exact match to the flier.
6. I’ve made great progress on my latest quilt. It isn’t quite as far along as I’d hoped, but it’s still in great shape.
7. I have family coming to visit. They are coming just short of 500 miles to hang out with us through the long weekend. They will be bringing the dinner rolls and pecan pie. I’ll be cooking everything else because we aren’t sure they’ll get here in time because:
8. It snowed. A lot. They are calling it a blizzard. They closed a 200 mile section of the interstate because of it. It’s pretty, but it’s bitter cold. Last night when I was out driving (no, I’m not insane, why do you ask?) I watched the store signs that give you things like the latest price of milk and time of day display 7 degrees, then 5 degrees, then 2 degrees over the course of half an hour. Brrrrrr.
9. My furnace is working. It wasn’t in September. It’s this 30 year old clunker of a beast that barely chugged it’s way through a mild winter last year. I had to call in a repairman in September to fix it. $170. They did a quick tune up while they were at it and gave me forms for a rebate from the local power company. Got $75 back! I am so very glad I don’t have to compete with everyone else in town who is having furnace problems. The repair vans are out in force.
10. I read Trevor’s Song by Susan Helene Gottfried. I don’t generally like tearjerkers, but this one had me alternating between laughing and crying and the ending was great, so I forgive her. Thumbs up on this one. I’m going to teaser the heck out of it ind December.
11. The Girl says she’s thankful that I am such an understanding mother. I’m not sure why she’s trying to butter me up. Might have something to do with the grades I haven’t seen yet.
12. The Boy says he’s thankful he doesn’t have a monkey. Long story.
13. He’s also thankful we have a lot of houseplants. I have no idea why, and he couldn’t clarify when I asked.
Edited 11/25/10 2:39pm to add photo and correct order.
What’s Cooking?
What are you having for Thanksgiving dinner?
I’m having turkey with two kinds of stuffing, candied yams, mash potatoes, rolls, pecan pie, Waldorf salad, and cranberry sauce. In fact, I’m busy making it right now.
Fwd: POOF and the light goes off
An 86-year-old man goes for a physical. All of his test results come back normal.
The doctor says, ” Gary everything looks great. How are you doing mentally and emotionally? Are you at peace with God?”
Gary replies, “God and I are tight.
He knows I have poor eyesight, so he’s fixed it so when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, *poof* the light goes on. When I’m done, *poof* the light goes off.”
“Wow, that’s incredible,” the doctor says.
A little later in the day, the doctor calls Gary ‘s wife.
“Marianne, he says, Gary is doing fine but I had to call you because I’m in awe of his relationship with God. Is it true that he gets up during the night and *poof * the light goes on in the bathroom, and when he’s done, *poof* the light goes off?”
“OH MY GOD!” Marianne exclaims.
“He’s peeing in the refrigerator again!!!!”
Suzie’s House 190: Fahrenheit Inspiration
Ben read a chapter or two, then put Fahrenheit 450 down and stared into space.
“I want to write something like that,” he muttered. “Only not like that.” He stared some more. “I want to write something that good.”
He pulled his spiral notebook close. It was already open to a blank page.
Let it Rain
Tired of cowering, timid, in the corner
waiting for a better time
to brave the elements.
A better time
never seems to come.
Tired of watching others laugh and dance
rain or shine.
No more will I search the skies and grab umbrellas
before stepping out.
I’m going to live either way, might as well
get wet.
The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Flash Fiction 55 is hosted by the G-man, a host with the most.
13 Songs for Crazy Love
13 songs I have listened to while writing Crazy Love, my NaNoWriMo book. Crazy Love is about Miranda and Vin from Suzie’s House.
1.
Intermission
I was hoping to have some more history posts from Mr. Al for you now, but he decided to write a novel for National Novel Writing Month, too. He’s got his research books piled up and his legal pad ready, but we’re going to extend his intermission until December. Sigh.
TTMT: Bird
See it? See the bird?
Right there in the middle. Here, a closer look, on the bottom right.
It was fishing like a duck, but it’s got some weird non-duck like feathers out the back of the head thing going on. What kind is that? Any idea?
Fwd: Aircraft Crashes into Four Buildings
Brace yourself before looking at the image below. A pilot at low level has no control over his aircraft. It narrowly misses a crowd gathered for the airshow and slams into four buildings. One can only imagine the horror of the occupants inside those buildings.
Gives new meaning to the phrase “oh s—t!”
Reasons to Stay
The Whisperer came on the last day of her life.
Too much left to do?
Grand kids to fuss over, friends to mourn, kids to warn?
Too bad. Time is up. It never ends anyway.
Monkey Man hosts the 160 Character Challenge. See what you can write in 160 characters or less, spaces included.
Itchy
Jill: Gin! Get off the couch. You’re shedding.
Jack: *scratch, scratch* Why do I itch so much? Must be the cat. Yeah. The cat….
Today’s theme is itch
This one will make much more sense if you read the man eating couch episode from last week.
Previously in Jack and Jill: It’s Aliiiiiive!
The rules for Photohunt can be found here.
Be sure to visit the home page.
Suzie’s House 189: Good Reading
“I’m going to be a writer no matter what you say.” Ben picked up a book, looked at the lurid cover, then dropped it like a lit firecracker.
“Twenty years from now will you blame me for becoming a writer?”
“No. I won’t credit you either.”
Only You
Another totally random picture. 
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“Really? Because it’s hard for me. I have to crack myself open when we kiss so that I will really be there for you. Only you understand me. Only you are worth doing this with. The rest of the world would only hurt me. Only you really listen.”
“Huh? I missed that. Kidding! Ouch.”
The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Flash Fiction 55 is hosted by the G-man, a host with the most.
