A Light Through the Darkness

Sorry for that last entry - yesterday was a bad day. Today, I'm moving forward again - I have only 1 week to get stuff ready for Birka (eek!) and only 2 weeks to get ready for Mexico (double eek!)! So no time for the blues.

I'm also feeling better physically today - yesterday was a bad Crohn's day as well, which didn't help matters. I went home early, cleaned a bit, then gave up and played WoW.

Today, I'm going to see if himself wants to go out to dinner and then go see Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Then it's home to clean more and get ready for Writer's Group tomorrow. I'm making Alton Brown's Baked Mac and Cheese. Mmmm. I even got panko breadcrumbs for the top. And I have pie shells - I might make a pie. Or a quiche. Oh, I have cranberries! I'm thinking cranberry muffins...

Himself hasn't texted me back. Hrmph. Maybe I'll see if Donna wants to go...

Ramping up to the climax on Seasons. Finally. 14 chapters to go, and I think they'll go fast, if I can ever grab more than 10 minutes to write. *snarl* I need more time!

Luckily Friday is an off day for me (Remicade treatment) and I'll be blowing out at least four chapters if I have my druthers.

To do today -

1. Finish F451 paper
2. Make hot dog sushi lunch for tomorrow
3. Figure out dinner for tomorrow
4. 1 load of laundry

Oh, and put halters on cats again. Gotta get them used to it.

Hope y'all are having a good day!

Edited to add: Paper done. 5 pages. Tayla LOVED the yard. Sebastian - not so much. Bear didn't even make it outside. No hot dog sushi, but maybe for Friday. Got the important laundry done. Bed now.

Because I am up early (gods help me) and want to get a bunch done today (hah!), I am posting a to-do list. As I am still in the grip of the sinus infection from hell, we'll see how much actually gets done.

Mike is coming over to write later, so I will be writing. That is a good thing.

To-Do:

1. Write 2k today.
2. Use up some of the damn eggs I still have from the wedding.
3. 2 loads of laundry, or we're going to work naked tomorrow.
4. Balance checkbook.
5. Make onigri for the week.
6. Post results from contest.
7. Post results from Livers for Boobies (and podcast!).
8. I'm sure there's something else.

I'll update during the day. Now, it's time for breakfast.

Well, the lock on my driver's side door decided not to work today - I had to unlock the other side, and work the lock for several minutes before I could get in. But I got in! And I made it to the gym only a little late.

Arms today. OMG, my arms are wussy. Seriously. I'm sore, in ways my legs weren't. And tomorrow, I start my full routine.

So, I'm doing 45 minutes, 3 times a week. I start with 10-20 minutes of cardio, then either 20 minutes of lower and abs or uppers and abs, then another 10-20 minutes of cardio. I will die for the first two weeks, I'm predicting.

But I will persevere! I shall!

Tomorrow is also Dick and Tanya's party. Mmm. Can't wait.

Sunday is laundry, writing, dishes, cooking, writing and taxes. Bleah. But I have the 18th off! Yay!

More later.

Making myself a list, because I KNOW I'll forget something.

- write up court reports for Birka and send them out, along with Yule court reports (because apparently I sucked lots during December and forgot)
- post Yule Lost and Found to the Stonemarche list (yes, I suck, I completely forgot I had this)
- 750 more words on the Seasons outline
- Stop at Shaws for groceries
- Planet Fitness with argus7hills tonight

Bleah. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it is.

Went to Cape Cod - forgot the Patriots played at home at 1 pm and got stuck in traffic for a bit (stupid people - don't you know the best way to watch the game is at home? Then you can actually HEAR the plays!), but it was a niceish day and I didn't mind too much.

Saw Nana and Aunt Anna and Uncle Stephan - Nana beat me 2 games to 1 in Scrabble (honestly, Goddess? Please let my mind be that sharp at 91!!!) and gave me a gorgeous pair of real opal earrings (yes, I get my love of opals from her, apparently). Anna also brought out some AWESOME pictures of Mom when she was little - oh, caitlindancer, she looked EXACTLY like you when she was a baby. EXACTLY. There is NO way you were adopted, sorry. :p

Speaking of Mom and Dad, they are now loose in Ireland. I apologize to all you out there in advance - they can be a bit of a natural force when they get going. Luckily, they should only be there for about 10 days, and then they'll come home (we hope. They tend to do things impulsively - I MIGHT get a call that says "Sell the house and pack up the cats - we're staying!" Then I'll really have to get my passport.)

Oh, and one more thing. I had to buy new jeans today. I was bumming - the scale wasn't kind this morning. Then I went to the store - and walked out with jeans a size SMALLER than I was wearing when I went in! Good day!

And I stopped at Whole Foods in Bellingham. Thank god I don't live closer to that place - I'd be broke. But wow!

Bed soon. Just need to catch up on my flist and WW.

My friend Donna, irysangel and I went to the Red Arrow Diner, which is a NH Landmark. It's a 24-hr diner that has some of the best food ever (we did get cheese fries. We resisted the deep fried sourdough french toast with bacon, though). We talked writing and novels and characters and stuff for about 3 hours, and then Donna and irysangel went back to Nashua, and I went to WalMart in Concord.

I got the cutest little Bissel vacuum - it works on hardwood floors AND carpets, is bagless and is SO light. I did most of the stairs and the living room today. YAY! A vacuum that works!!!

This morning, Evil Jocelyn met me at the Dartmouth DOC House, which is where we're holding Baronial Yule this year. It's a pirate theme this year (shocking, I know, since I'm running it and all) and I think we're going to have a BLAST. Then we went to lunch at Lou's (whole wheat grilled English muffins, topped with sliced tomato, steamed asparagus, two eggs over easy and melted fontina cheese, with fruit salad on the side) and then, once we were full, we went over to the King Arthur Flour Bakery Store and Outlet to browse. Um. Deadly. I got a tea strainer that just sits in your tea cup (so cool!), a gluten-free cookie mix, a gluten-free gingerbread mix and a bag of almond bark. Not bad, really.

I'm going to make the cookies and gingerbread tomorrow and bring them in for our team meeting, to see what people think. Jocelyn and I talked about a bunch of stuff to do for Yule, and one of the things I want to do is cookie decorating. lysystrata, are food colorings okay? Can I just use the little tubes from the regular grocery store, or do I need to get special ones? Thanks in advance!

Jocelyn talked about maybe doing a pirate castle out of gingerbread - I'm thinking that would be cool for the kids to decorate - maybe they could trade it for Father Christmas? Hmm, ideas!

There's a super hill for sledding too - I hope we have snow. I'd love to see the final battle for Father Christmas be a snowball fight.

Tomorrow, I'm going to print out Belladonna Dreams and start working on revisions. It's eating my brain - I can't help it.

Now back to beading.

I didn't finish the timeline (again), but I did get a crit done for DII, and I got the letter of Marque for the Scorned Lady typed up so I can give it to Poppy at Harper's. And I've snuggled Bear.

So now I'm off to bed. I'm going to aim to be up at 10:30 am, so I can finally get my living room clean (because it looks like a laundromat vomited up into it) and start on the laundry in my bedroom. And dinner tomorrow is easy, since the meat is already done. Just need to make veggies and stuffing.

Oh, and I need to call the eye doctor. MUST remember to call the eye doctor.

And write. And clean. And belly-dance.

It never ends, do it?

No accident, no nothing - not even really sliding, which was amazing. Now I'm home, I've got a list of stuff to do tonight and most importantly - everyone I care about up here is home as well. Yay! Now we can enjoy the storm.

To Do Tonight:

- WRITE!!! Write as much as possible on Dreams.
- Book airline ticket and car rental for May despite my own stupidity, this is now done. And hopefully I'll learn someday the difference between 7 AM and 7 PM.
- I'm sure there's something else, but damned if I can remember it...

Off to look at flights..

I slept late, after leaving the Baron's birthday party early with a queasy tummy, and then had to run out to jackoutofthebox's house to deliver presents and get my keys that I'd left at the Yule event yesterday. *sigh* The munchkins loved their gifts, and we adored our's too - a gift cert to the Outback (yay!) and a cool book on patterning. We got them a gift cert to Barnes & Noble - a sure-fire gift for a Scadian. ;)

Then it was home, to make homemade fudge for work gifts. Of course, making fudge when you can't eat any of it (I'm starting my prep for my scope on Tuesday) is not the brightest idea, but I needed to start it.

This is the BEST fudge evah, btw. I got the recipe from enchantedonyx, and I love it. SO easy.

Onyx's Miracle Fudge
-Melt one bag of chocolate chips in the microwave.
-Mix in one can of frosting.
-Let harden.

Even caitlindancer, who makes fudge the old-fashioned way, says it's awesome. I'm mixing in some cool stuff this year - just made a batch of white chocolate fudge with toffee bits mixed in. Yum!

Now to write, and then to bed. I'm working days tomorrow (bleah).