Er...

As the gaffer and I left the grocery store, an elderly woman passed by us. She said, "pardon me, little one" to the gaffer.
The gaffer turned to look at me:
G: why did she say, pardon me one-one?
Me: no, she said, pardon me little one.
G: I'm not that little!
Me: no, you're not, but you're littler than she is
G: (looking at the back of her as she walks away) She has a fat bum!


Cue biting of tongue and trying to keep straight face as I give him the hairy eyeball.

distracted, frustrated, needing direction in a serious way

so now that the first book is off in the universe at the mercy of publishers, agents and God, i have to work on the second one. And the second one is doing well, i guess. but now i'm torn. how to finish it?
do i sell it as adult fiction?
do i re-write and add how God came into the picture? (i think that's a yes)
or do i re-write, adding God, keeping the grit and making it a teen series? would teens read about a growing up older teenager who becomes an adult series? would they even be interested? what if each book didn't have a happy ending until the very end? could i even make it a series? i think i could. but would they want to read every gory detail, every real detail about every single character that the heroine encounters? would it be too abstract?
i'm in serious need of direction because right now i have nothing and i don't know where to take it and if i don't have a direction or goal, i have no ending to look towards and so right now i am not writing.
instead i'm pretending to do ballet practice and i must say, it's going badly.

Shocked, doing my civic duty. Why do people treat firefighters badly?

So I went to the library this morning with the gaffer. As we walked in, I could smell a very strong gas smell. You know the smell when you first fill up your car? That clean gas smell. I walked into the front door and the smell went away. Huh. I collected my books and went to the counter and talked to the librarian. She came out with me and the smell was gone. Huh. She looked at me like I was nuts. Fair enough. I usually smell strange things that no one else smells.
So I let neurotic dog out for a pee while gaffer climbed a huge rock and I could smell it again. I walked over to a dodge charger sitting in the parking lot and when I got two feet away, I could smell it again. I smelled her engine, her trunk...it reeked. So I called Rockstar Hubby, who just happened to be at work. He told me to look underneath and yes, I could see a leak. So he hung up and called the fire department around the corner. They came by. During this time, the lady had yet to return to her car.
Of course I felt ridiculous. I felt like I was making something out of nothing. But RSH comforted me, and the boys didn't mind.
So they came.
And her car was leaking gas. Not entirely unsafe, but if someone dropped a cigarette, the car would catch fire. Should I go inside and get her? Of course, she should know she has a leak.
I found her and apologized profusely for my worry, told her it was nothing to be concerned about, my husband was a firefighter, the men that were there were my friends blah blah. She gave me a rather cold look and said, "I wish you had told me first". I slunk back to my car.
After a few moments of the men talking to her, I drove away quickly. She scowled at me.
Ten minutes later I got a call from RSH.
"Good thing you called", he said. Why?
"They had her start the car to see how bad the leak was, and she was pretty crusty. When she started it, the gas streamed out in a steady leak so they yelled at her to turn off her car quickly. She drove away instead."
What???!!!!
So now the FD have called the police as they had her licence plate number, and the police will probably wait at home for her.
Watch her own a pot plantation or something....

Ha!!!! Crusty cow.

gettin' er done

I can't believe I've been cleaning for almost three hours now. I've actually filled two garbage bags full of garbage, of things that no longer have a place in this house. I actually filed bills, receipts, notices, warranties and our insurance forms. I actually found our will kit. (why haven't we done that yet?)

I threw out old flours, rice and oatmeal. I organized my tupperware.

It's happening.

Domestic goddess...

What's next?

I'm finding myself suddenly at a loss of what to do with myself.

The book is done and gone. I don't 'feel' like working on the other one, even though it could be the one to get published.
I don't feel like painting anything.
Rockstar hubby mentionned focusing on ballet. But I've just started. Should I get passionate about something I'm only doing once a week? Maybe. I'll see after tonight's class. And how passionate can one get if there's no way it would become a profession and if there is nowhere really to practice. RSH offered to build me a wall of mirrors and a barre, but seriously, I can't see myself sharing space with the gunfights and ziplines in the basement. Although it would be interesting to try.

So for today, in all of its coldness, I'm going to work on the garden. Time to rip stuff out and chop things down. I don't know where I'm going to put it all, my bins are already full and I have no trailer.

The gaffer's off to school again today. Thankfully I bought another uniform because I forgot to wash the other one. He'll have a good day.

lazy or busy?

I'm becoming lazy.

Or is it that I'm just too busy?

I don't recall being busy, I don't really see anything 'accomplished', but at the same time I haven't had a chance to read either. Hm..

My tomatoes are pathetic. I have not done any gardening, including watering since we've returned from the cottage at the end of August. But it's been raining. But I've lost my 'want' of tomatoes. I did manage to plant my beans and they are growing well, but I'm not seeing any flowers. The cucumbers are too big. The leeks are mushy (how did they get mushy? how is it I'm buying my leeks to make soup?), my tomatoes are either cracked, moldy or aren't ready yet. My pumpkins are still turning orange. My watermelon disappeared. And I just sit back and look outside and think, "Meh". It must be the cooler weather.
I'm determined to start making my own bread. In the past ten loaves I've purchased, the first 5 were moldy by day two, the others were stale and yesterday's was moist, but half way through the loaf there was a big hole right in the middle. You can't eat sandwiches with a hole in the middle! I'm determined to make my own. But not the super yummy kind of cinnamon and raisin or the tempting rosemary olive. I'm going to find a recipe for whole wheat, flax blah blah. No really. I'll do it. I just have to get to bulk barn.

I want Fall.
I want the cool weather in the morning that gets warmer in the afternoon. I want slow leaves changing and I want ample opportunities to go crunching down the street in my running shoes. I don't want snow until december. I think rockstar hubby doesn't want snow until January so the tree work keeps coming in. And I'm praising God by saying, it keeps coming in.

I've started a ballet class...
it's amazing. It's brilliant. We're all adults and the other girls aren't little sticks. They're normal, like me. And it was fun. And hard. And amazing.

Things getting finished.

The sunroom is finally finished. It looks amazing. I managed to incorporate the two 'styles' of it being a comfy room to sit and read, and one to just eat chips and watch movies. Oh, excuse me, watch CABLE! Rockstar hubby did a brilliant job, even though it took forever. So today I'm supposed to be tidying the house, put things away etc....but I had to get my novel off.
And I did.
I took that jump and I emailed it off.

To find out that one of the interested parties no longer works there. Oh crap.

So I shed my two tears, maybe three, and now back to faith. See what happens.

A fudge. I need to shed another tear. Pardon me. Talk amongst yourselves.

updates are late in coming

So much for blogging everyday.

Tuesday brought us gaffer's first day of JK. He was very excited to go and loved his uniform. When we met the teacher he gave her a hug, removed his hat and sunglasses and blew me a kiss good-bye. Then he proceeded to dance in the middle of the room. I think he'll be fine. No tears on my side. I think I'm more excited that he'll learn things instead of thinking 'my baby's growing up'.

Wednesday brought us B's birthday. She killed chickens and we met her and her hubby for dinner at Thi Fusion for lovely food and lovely wine, followed by lovely clothes shopping. How could I possibly have a bad time?

Thursday was gaffer's second day of school, and he learned 'bonjour, mes amies'. Which I'm thrilled with. Oh, and the letter i and the letter u. Fabulous. I even went for a massage. And it wasn't so great. I don't get it. I laid down, it felt nice, but it didn't feel relaxing. It was just...boring? I think maybe she didn't have magic hands. Although it's not like she did anything wrong...maybe because there were no smelly oils? Hm..

Rockstar hubby has been working like a maniac at trees. Our sunroom is in a holding pattern as we wait for the cement to dry before laying the laminate flooring. I can't wait to have my space back! Oh, and we've broken down and we're getting cable. It's been...hm...actually, we've never had it in our 11 years together. Hm...well, it's coming and it's the cheapest and least channels and that's the way I like it.

Have been procrastinating on cover letter for submitting book. I need to make myself sit down and write it. Tried to bribe B to write it, but she said we needed to write it together, and she's terribly busy being a successful jam/jelly/tea biscuit seller at the Farmer's Market. Perhaps tonight while rsh is at men's ministry meeting.

In other brilliant news: WE GOT OUR FREAKIN' BACKPAY!!! Could it have taken longer? Yes, it's been since 2003 since the last contract and now we get the raise and the backpay and I am soooo happy! We're heading to DR in the spring, and hopefully see our two Compassion Kids and have some seriously needed R and R. And the cloud bed will be paid for. yay!