April 30th 2007
Scene: Our living room. Scott is playing Final Fantasy XII. I am reading a copy of Canadian Living and deciding which recipes sound most delicious.
Me: Oooh. There’s a recipe here for “Rhubarb red wine mousse with poached rhubarb”. Sounds fancy…
Scott: Poached rhubarb? Is it stolen?
Me: It’s a cooking ter…
Scott: Was the rhubarb HP Critical?
Me: Okay, that’s it. I’m not cooking for you any more.
April 26th 2007
I’ve promised to lend a lot of people books recently. This is to remind myself who is getting what. Also, if I’ve forgotten anything, you should tell me.
Ann –> Dates from Hell, with stoies by Kelley Armstrong and Kim Harrison; Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Arin –> Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Karine –> The Bone Doll’s Twin (and sequels) by Lynn Flewelling; Scott Pilgrim Volume 3 by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Jeff –> Hopeless Savages by Jen Van Meter, Christine Norrie, and Chynna Clugston-Major; Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Julia –> World’s End, Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Janice –> Bitten, Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
April 23rd 2007
Words Today: 324
Carrots: A few
While I’m writing and if it’s flowing, I feel like I could do this every day for my entire life. But when I stop I block, and I feel like I’m no good, that it’s not worth it, and that I’m doing nothing with my life.
At the moment, though, this is a breakthrough as I’ve been staring at a blank screen and trying to get myself to write something, anything for fully 2 weeks now.
Now I have some editing work to do, and then back at it.
April 20th 2007
Karine has showed me how to make quilt designs using scans of fabric in Photoshop! She has taught me the meaning of things like “define pattern” and “mask layer”. I knew these functions would probably exist somewhere, but was at a loss as to how to find them.
And now I’m in even more trouble than usual, as I begin scanning fabric for the purposes of quilt mockups!
I have also just realized that I only posted the uber-cute pictures of Samuel and his quilt over at my quilting LJ. So, without further ado:
and
Everybody say it with me: Awwwwwwwww….
April 18th 2007
Small things that I have been doing that I’m particularly proud of:
1. Housecleaning
The house isn’t perfect, but I’ve been slowly getting it into better and better shape. I’ve started setting up housecleaning routines, times that I do such-and-such a chore, and I’ve been sticking to them with a reasonable margin of error (sometimes I’m a day or so late).
2. Cooking meals
Again, not perfect, but I’ve been doing up a meal plan every week and sticking to it with a reasonable degree of accuracy. I allow for us going out to dinner once a week, which stops us from going out for every single meal all weekend. Also, we’re eating more vegetables because I’m planning for it and making sure we have it in the house.
3. Getting up earlier
This is part one of an ongoing process. First, I get up earlier. Then I start using that extra time for exercising three times a week. The other days I use the extra time for Getting More Stuff Done.
And because progress is good, but because self-satisfied ruts are nasty, I add things I really need to work on:
1. Less Internet time
I spend an inordinate amount of time online and I really have to start limiting myself. Mostly I’m not even doing anything interesting, just random surfing. It’s not productive; it’s work-avoiding and I need to stop.
2. More writing
That’s self-explanatory. (Yet behold, I will explain more) I find it really hard to sit down and actually put words on the screen, even though I have some ideas. I know what it is — I’m terrified of it. Also, convinced I’ll never do anything worthwhile (which so far has been true, as you never do anything worthwhile with your writing if you don’t actually, er, write.)
This includes the blog too. Chances are if I’m not writing, I’m not writing here either. The blog can become a way to avoid “real” writing, but when I slow down here, it generally means I’ve slowed down elsewhere.
3. Less procrastinating
This is actually one of the things I’m getting better at, which is why the house is getting cleaner and cleaner — I’m actually getting up and vacuuming, rather than just thinking “I should vacuum”. However, there’s lots of room for improvement, and I’ve put off a lot of things lately that need to be done, just because thinking about them stresses me out (and this is tied up in the writing, too). They stress me outt less once I’ve done them, which I know, but doesn’t help with that initial step, unfortunately.
April 16th 2007
1. Read Stephen King books unless the following conditions are met:
- The lights are on
- It is broad daylight
- Scott is home
- Scott is in the room
- Scott is holding my hand
You know what’s saddest about this?
Creepy bits I’ve read so far: 0
But the implied bits about the impending creepy bits are quite nicely creepy in and of themselves and are making me worry about the rest of the book.
(The Shining, in case you’re wondering. Yes, I have seen the movie.)
April 13th 2007
If I want the the kittens to crawl into my lap, the thing I must do is ignore them completely. Often when they jump up on my desk and meow at me, I respond by patting them and trying to entice them into my lap. This never ever works.
Instead, I must put on my headphones, pay very close attention to whatever it is I am doing, and pretend the cats don’t exist at all. That way, it is guaranteed that the offended cat will worm its way into my lap and begin to purr.
Tybalt has just done this, squirming his considerable bulk into my lap while I’m writing, settling his paws on my arm, and starting to purr.
When this happens, if I want the cat to stay, I must under no circumstances actually pat it. I must instead give only judicious scratches behind the ears and along the chin. This keeps the cat purring, but does not make it so excited that it must get up and walk around to walk off the sheer joy (Miho is particularly bad for this).
And then I must also not pay attention to whatever I was ignoring the cat for — book, quilt, computer, what have you. I must also not move too much, for fear of dislodging the cat. I must give my whole self over to the business of careful snuggling.
If I manage all of this, I will be rewarded with five to ten minutes of delightful, mindnumbingly cute, purry cat.
It’s an art form, really.
April 12th 2007
Does anyone out there know offhand which type of tree it is that appears to bleed when it’s cut? Basically the sap is red.
I’m sure I’ve read about this a dozen times but I can’t find a reliable reference online (I keep finding the same attribute credited to different trees).
April 10th 2007
I’d like this borderline-migrainey headache that I’ve had for a week now to go away. Please. If you’d be so kind.
I can control it with advil; it’s not bad enough to requrie my “KILL THE MIGRAINE! KILL IT! KILL IT!” meds. However, it is damned annoying. So I’d like it to leave now.
Yes, this means you.
Goodbye.
Bye now.
Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
April 10th 2007
For those of you who like Kelley Armstrong and don’t own any of her books, or for those of you who have simply had me wave the books at you and yell “ZOMG! So Good! Read!”, I thought I’d put out the word:
Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic, her “witch” books, are both available for $6.99 now. I saw them when I was in Indigo on the weekend, and they had what looked like a hundred copies of each (I kept finding stacks of them tucked away in convenient corners). The only drawback, of course, being the yellow circle boasting “Now only $6.99!” marring the cover.