Archive for previous entries this month
December 1, 2006
Welcome to December
That was actually a few weeks ago. Nothing that nice now.
Kwi is ill tonight and has taken most of our attention. I've barely got 1000 words written. And now I'm going to bed. We'll see how things look in the morning.
I'm tired.
December 2, 2006
Koi at the zoo
It's later than I thought, so I'm just going to write a quick note and post. I'll do the archive tomorrow. And try to remember to update the progress stuff as well, then.
I am on the last pass of Paid in Gold and Blood. Yay! I'll have it done and ready to go out on Monday, I think. We'll see. This book has been a long time in production -- maybe three or four years, total. I like the results.
But that's about it for me tonight. I am tired now and I want some sleep!
December 3, 2006
Burrowing Owl
I finished Paid in Gold and Blood today! Yay! Finally!
So, that's the good news. The bad news is that I can't really tell you about it because the Internet has been down for most of the day. Ah well, the news will keep.
I am getting caught up on things. With Paid out of the way, I have turned my attention to the 2YNY2 book and begun tackling a very difficult section again. I'll get it right yet. And soon.
I wish I could say I have other interesting things to talk about, but it's been too cold here, and I've barely left the warm rooms all day. Besides, I lead a dull life. Really.
December 4, 2006
Can't remember what it is...
Gah. Black... monitor? Basilisk? Something. Anyway, nice picture.
I couldn't get my site uploaded last night, so there it is, below. Nothing much to say.
I have a headache. Bad headache. watched shows to try and get past it, but it really hasn't helped, so I'm probably going to bed. It will be better tomorrow.
December 5, 2006
Scarlet Macaw
I lied. Today is not a better day than yesterday.
Kwi is very ill. If he isn't better by tomorrow, I don't know what we'll do. Russ is going to be away from Thursday to Sunday. I can't get Kwi to eat at all.
This has just not been a good year. And I'm tired of it all.
December 6, 2006
Wings
We lost the sweetest cat in the world today. Kwi was seventeen, and the best cat we'd ever had. It was very hard. But his kidneys had given out, and he was miserable, poor guy.
And I don't have Internet tonight. And Russ leaves for New York in a few hours.
I'm pretty tired of everything right now.
December 7, 2006
Snow and Lights
Russ is in New York.
I'm tired.
I sat around doing a lot of nothing today. This is my second 500 word day in a row. I did work on the 2YNY2 book, but it was mostly rearranging and removing stuff, so I didn't get a word count out of it. But at least it was something.
I intend to go crawl off into bed and sleep for a long time tonight. I just can't do anything else.
December 8, 2006
A shot of the moon
That's a handheld shot from a few days ago. Not bad at all, really. I used to take shots with a Pentax K1000 and a telescope and had less luck than I do with the Sony DSC H1.
I got some work on the 2YNY2 book done today, finally. And I will do more tomorrow. I am determined to finish it. I want it out of my hands.
Beyond that... just another long day. I'm heading to bed soon and hope that I can get more done tomorrow. Russ will be home late Sunday night.
And that's it. I sure wish I had something fun to talk about or something good to report.
December 9, 2006
Testing a new 3d Figure
She looks remarkably real, doesn't she? That's the new Victoria 4 from Daz Studio. She's really nice to work with, too. I bought a great collection that included her, some nice morphs, textures, clothing and hair. I shouldn't have spent the money, but I'm glad I did because she's been wonderfully diverting. I needed this, though I hated to spend the money. Kind of. It came from some of my sales at the HollyShop, so it was good to do something fun with it.
Russ will be home tomorrow night. Good. It's not been a bad few days, all things considered. I've even gotten a huge section of the 2YNY2 book done. I'm going to get it finished soon. If I can just get that one done, I'll feel a great deal of relief and far less stress.
So, time to get back to work, I think. Or at least look over a few things before I go to bed.
December 10, 2006
And Egyptian Scene
Russ should be home pretty soon. I bet he's going to be tired. I know I am!
I have gotten quite a bit of work done on the 2YNY2 book. I'm amazed. I suspect I'll have the book done by the end of the week. Finally. A lot of this comes from accepting that it is going to be less than 90,000 words and no longer fretting over ways to make it longer. The first book was longer because of the things like worldbuilding. There is nothing of that type in the second year.
I also posted for the new 2YN class that starts in 2007. Once I get this book done, I'll no longer have anything really difficult to do for the classes. That's a good reason to get this done.
I have not allowed myself to do any fiction until I get the book done. I think that's what has done the trick this time. It's the only writing I'm doing at the moment, and I keep at it. A couple more days and I'll be done and can go back to Ash and Oak.
I have been playing with the Daz stuff a bit, though. It's a good thing to do when working on stuff like this. I can do a little work, set the picture to render, and go back to writing something for a while. The picture gets done, and generally needs some changes, so I make those, set it to render, and go back to writing. The little breaks help me think through things if I get stuck.
So now I'm going back to work on the next section. I might get a little bit more done before Russ gets here.
December 11, 2006
White-Headed Shelduck
I've been trying to figure out what kind of duck this is for months. I have a lot of pictures of them from the zoo. I finally found it last night.
On my old zoo site.
There are times I think I should just pound my head against the wall and see what else might be lost in there.
I got the contracts out for Vision today. I got a little bit more done on the 2YNY2 book -- only about eight more weeks to cover, so I'm doing well. I will be so glad to be done with it! Almost there!
I did some Daz work, too. I'd be really happy if I didn't have a killer headache tonight. I'm not sure what that's about, but I'm going to head to bed and hope that it's better in the morning.
December 12, 2006
Winter Tree
It's supposed to be up in the 50's tomorrow. Good thing since the heater went out on the car! We'll have at least a couple warm days here this week!
I am down to the last four sections for the 2YNY2 book. Yes, that is a sigh of relief that you hear, though I just realized I need to get something else edited before the 15th, so I might have to do it tomorrow.
While I was working today I copied and cleared most of the pictures off my hard drives. This was long overdue. I'm trying to get things cleaned up before the first of the year. Sort of a 'new beginning' kind of feel, I hope. I need to get a better attitude.
And I think I'll mostly have it once we get past the holidays and once I get done with the 2YNY2 book. It's not that I really dislike either of them, but it's getting hard to enjoy either this year. I kept thinking I was going to put out decorations this year, at least, but I hate doing stuff like that by myself, and Russ just doesn't have the time.
It would be nice to have one end of the year where everything isn't hectic, though. A week or so where we could enjoy the holidays, do fun stuff -- not money fun stuff, just things like putting up decorations and maybe playing some of the old board games we used to play. Stuff like that. Making cookies together. Anything that would make the holidays seem like something shared.
I know we used to do stuff like that. I don't know why it all got to be so difficult! I think we both just got into the habit of having too many other things to do.
But it's late, my computer is acting up, and I think I'm going to crawl off to bed and sleep for a few hours.
December 13, 2006
Flamingo
I am incredibly close to being done with the 2YNY2 book. I'm on a formatting phase right now, and then I need to do checks of a few words (that, just, only, even), but I'll do those tomorrow. I'm also filling in a few little spots I left blank, and I have a final exercise I need to do -- but I don't think I can get to the bookstore to do it, so I'll likely do it from the Barnes and Noble site.
And then, really, done. Oh, not ready to go straight to publication, but close!
You have no idea how happy this makes me.
November 14, 2006
Meerkats
I think I'm virtually done with the 2YNY2 book. I saw some formatting I have to fix still, but I think that's just about it. Really. Done.
You can't imagine how happy this makes me. This book has been hanging over my head for months now, and every time I went to work on it, something bad happened and threw me out of it again. I came to hate the book, even though I knew it was not the books fault.
But there, I'm pretty much done with it.
I don't know exactly how long it will take to go through the last steps, but I know the only work I have left to do is small stuff.
I did it. There were times when I thought this one was going to ruin my perfect record of having everything done by the end of the year.
And now, I'm going to go play with something fun for a little while!
November 15, 2006
Nice Colors!
Two good things from today. (Yes, good things for a change!)
I finished the 2YNY2 book and turned it in. It is out of my hands. I am done with it. DONE!
I took the rest of the day to finish editing the first Sangre Story for the new Zette's Storybook Blog. I got it done and posted as well. And that one was even fun to do! The Collection is called Don't Go Home for the Holidays -- a tale of spies, aliens, and really bad timing. The first story in the collection is And a Partridge in a Pear Tree. There will be several stories posted through the year on holidays. They're really a fun set of stories.
So it was a good day. I accomplished things and actually got things DONE and off of my list. Sure, there are ten other things to take their places, but the ten other things would have shown up anyway. I at least feel as though I have accomplished something.
I'm also almost through reading about reptiles and snakes in the Grzmek's Animal Life Encyclopedia.
So. There. Things done and all is well in the world for a change. Time to upload this and maybe work on something else for a little while!
November 16, 2006
Tree Painting
This is the first year in a long time that I haven't filled up the December pictures with holiday stuff. I just realized that. I will try to get more into the spirit of things.
I got quite a bit of work done today, so I'm happy. The last story of the year is moving along fine. I worked on a picture and it's going well. Made dinner, did a little cleaning, and I'm almost through the section on snakes in the book I'm reading.
All in all, not a bad Saturday.
December 17, 2006
Christmas House
Sunday is almost over. I've gotten writing done and not much else except for picking up the house, which is good at least.
Haven't done any decorating, though I did consider it for a while today. That's as close as I've come so far! I'd love to have a tree this year... just don't know what I'd do with it. The boys (Zaphod and Edmond) would probably enjoy it quite a bit, though.
Which, of course, is why I haven't seriously considered it.
But I do have a little tiny plug in tree around here somewhere that changes colors -- I think it's pretty. I could put it up and take it down each day without much trouble, and not worry about the guys getting to it too much. And maybe put a few odds and ends out around the room, just to make it a little more festive.
We'll see if I get that ambitious. I suspect the most decorating I'm going to do is to put some pictures up here in my journal.
December 18, 2006
Another Holiday House
Long day, little done, but not bad. I worked on a cute holiday picture, got some work done on Oak and Ash, and did some major work to my kitchen. I also suffered from a horrid headache and had to rest for a few hours.
We might have some weather Wednesday. And I might go to the zoo on Thursday. Sounds about as good as it gets to me.
Still no heat in the car though. That could be a problem. But... zoo. Yay! I was starting to worry that I would miss this month.
And now... time to head off to bed and sleep for a few hours. Sounds good to me.
December 19, 2006
Holiday Lights
I have no right to be as tired as I am tonight. Really. I even napped for a while this afternoon... and I'm still very tired tonight.
Things are going pretty well with the writing. I worked on Oak and Ash today. Or Ash and Oak... I think it changes every time I say something about it. The story is moving along fine. No problems there, except that I'm going to run out of story before I run out of days in 2006. I also worked on an outline and a workshop. And a Daz picture which is going very well. I really like it.
So, I guess I'm a bit busy after all.
I also read the last of Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia # 6 -- Reptiles. Really good book. I learned all kinds of new and interesting things. Now I'm on to the first of three volumes on birds. That should be fun.
Might have some weather tonight, though they're no longer calling for snow... so I'd rather it didn't show up at all. Russ has a long ways to drive in the morning, and I don't want it to be icy.
That's it. I'm done for the night.
December 20, 2006
Kind of hard to work this way....
If all goes well, tomorrow I'll be going to the zoo. Yay! So far the weather isn't bad. We haven't had any of the ice or snow. I do expect snow tomorrow, but that's all right. I love going to the zoo in the snow.
And the really good part is that Russ doesn't have to be down to Omaha until about two in the afternoon. This means I can get there about one or so, and not have to stand outside in the cold waiting for them to open. Yay!
And today I got a Christmas present I really didn't expect -- a graphics program I had really wanted but couldn't afford. Russ was able to get it at a great discount because he's teaching at a community college. It arrived today, quite unexpectedly. I've held it in my hands, but I've not opened it yet. I keep telling myself that I'm going to wait until Christmas, but I think I'll be doing good if I make it through tomorrow night. The program is Corel's Painter IX.5. It's wonderful. I've played with a trial version of Painter essentials 3 and loved it... but I never thought I could get the full big program!
It's getting harder to write with that program just sitting there. But I must write. I must finish out my year's work. I can do it.
All of this and the zoo tomorrow. Looks good to me!
December 21, 2006
I went to the zoo!
It was a really good day, too! When I went in about 1 pm, the person at the gate told me only 200 people had been there. That meant having the zoo virtually to myself. (grin)
I didn't get many good pictures, but I had a great time. And now I am so tired all I want to do is crawl off to bed for hours and hours and hours. I did at least get a bit over 1000 words written, though. And I have cake baked and frosted. Just waiting for Russ to show up to have a piece... and then sleep. Really.
Here is another zoo picture... something really odd. This is the back leg of a Mertens' Water Monitor. Is that strange looking or what?
December 22, 2007
Edmond
Well, that sucks. They screwed up on paying Russ and now there won't be any money at all until sometime after Christmas.
So, as you can tell, I'm not in a good mood. I had hoped to do at least a little something Christmasy this year. To get out a bit and buy something... but no.
We'll survive it, and at least it's just a few days. We have some food and even most of the stuff for Christmas dinner, so at least we'll have that. I'm really more annoyed about just feeling broke again when I had given myself permission to be a bit up and cheery about the holiday. Actually looked forward to it, even without a tree or decorations up. I hate decorating by myself and Russ has been way too busy.
Now I'm just looking forward to having it all past. I hate feeling that way. I used to love holidays but it seems that every year has just gotten worse for us.
And now I'm just tired. Maybe I can sleep through the next three or four days.
2007 has to be better than this year.
December 23, 2007
lights at the zoo
I certainly got a lot of work done today! Quite a bit of writing stuff, which I really appreciate. If I can get more, all the better. But nearly everything I was writing is done, I think. I have the outlines left is about all, and that's not much at all.
In fact, it's not enough... but I'm not going to worry about that tonight.
I might make cookies tomorrow. You never know!
But that's it for me tonight. I really don't have much else to say!
December 24, 2006
Happy Holidays!
I am working on a teddy bear story, but it's not quite done yet. I'll try to get it up tomorrow. Russ and I made cookies today! That was actually a lot of fun.
And tomorrow I get my new computer program and all will be fun. (grin)
Hope everyone has a great holiday!
December 25, 2006
The Christmas Tree: An Aristotle Bear Story
As Christmas neared, the citizens of Bear Village prepared for the holiday with their usual zeal and frantic haste. Unlike the real bears of the world, who found lovely warm spots to curl up in and sleep during the winter, the teddy bears all became ever so much more frantic as soon as the first snow fell.
There was always so much to do! Presents to make, cards to send, cookies to bake... and sometimes certain things get forgotten in the rush to get everything else done.
Talia Bear pulled on CanteBeary's jacket as he hurried down the street. He stopped at patted her on her head, smiling. "Can't stop now, Talia. I have so much to do!"
"But the tree in the park isn't decorated! And it's the day before Christmas!"
"Oh, so it isn't! I'm sure there's someone who will come along and help you out. I have to hurry!"
Talia sat back down on the bench by the park and looked forlornly at the big pine tree. It was a pretty tree, all dressed in winter white, but she longed to see the branches glittering with lights, and the birds and squirrels dancing up and down the limbs to see the presents of bread, crackers and cookies the villagers always put out for them.
Bobby Bear and Annie Bear came to sit by her as well, looking equally dejected. "We had no luck at all," Bobby said with a shake of his head. He tugged at his vest and sighed.
"We should go see Aristotle," Talia decided as she stood. The other two jumped up as well. "Aristotle knows what's best for Christmas!"
Aristotle's house stood at the end of Snow Lane. A pretty tree sat in the window, and festive lights and decorations hung everywhere in preparation for the Christmas Eve Party. They found Aristotle on a ladder hanging garlands to frame the front door.
"Mr. Aristotle Bear, sir, can we ask you a question?" Annie Bear said softly.
"Oh! Hello! My yes. What is the problem?"
"It's the park, sir," Bobby said, waving his plump little arm in that direction. "No one has decorated the park tree this year."
"Haven't they? Well, my. I guess everyone has been so busy they haven't gotten to it yet! I'm sure someone will be along soon to string the lights! I'll see what I can do after I'm done here, but I'm a bit busy right now."
"Yes sir," Talia said, and tried not to sigh.
The three young bears left the porch and started walking back toward the park.
"I guess there will be no lights in the park this year. Everyone is just too busy." Bobby kicked at the snow.
"We aren't busy," Annie Bear said. She looked at the park and gave a quick nod. "We can do it ourselves!"
"But we don't have any decorations," Talia said with a shake of her head.
"We can make our own," Annie Bear insisted. "Let's stop by my house and pick up some scraps of wrapping paper."
"Oh, and I have a garland at home we didn't use!" Bobby Bear said, leaping up in the air and kicking snow about in his excitement.
And even Talia nodded now. "Oh, and I have some pieces of ribbon I made into little bows. We can use them and pinecones!"
"Go get what you need!" Annie started down Appleberry Lane toward her home. "I'll meet you at the tree in a few minutes!"
Aristotle strung another garland across the window and then stopped with a shake of his head. He remembered the look on the faces of the three young bears as they left. Why, that couldn't be right, to disappoint them on this of all nights! Did he really need to hang around strand of garland? Of course not!
So down he climbed from the ladder. Boxes of decorations sat around the porch. They'd look much better on the big tree than here!
But how was he going to get them there? If he carried one box at a time it would take him all night. And besides, his guests would be arriving soon....
Aristotle smiled. He went into the house and found a big piece of red construction paper, some ribbon and glue and green glitter.
Dear Guests,
Please bring a box to the park! Cookies, candies and coco!
Aristotle Bear
Aristotle sat the huge sign up by the door. Then he went back in and gathered a box of goodies and headed for the park.
Annie Bear reached up as high as she could and sat the pinecone on the edge of the branch. It wasn't much of a decoration, but it did look pretty. Talia had found some pieces of ribbon, and Bobby Bear even got a whole garland from his home. The three couldn't reach very high, but they strung the ribbon and garland and added more pinecones --
"Well, you're doing a lovely job all on your own!" Aristotle Bear said, startling the three. "I don't think you need much help at all!"
"Oh, but we can't reach very high at all," Talia said. And the tree so needs some decorations up higher, don't you think?"
"Well, let's see what we can do then! Here comes TiBearius with just what we need, too!"
All through the evening bears brought boxes of decorations, and more cookies and candy and coco. Before long, nearly everyone in the village had gathered at the tree. Even the local cats came and helped string the lights high up to the very top of the tree while birds and squirrels hung decorations and tinsel. Everyone had lots to eat and some of the bears sang Christmas Carols while others built snowbears.
Sunset came on Christmas Eve with the tree decorated just in time. As darkness fell the bears all gathered around the tree and Aristotle turned it on!
"Pretty!" Annie Bear cried out, and all the others agreed.
It snowed a little too, but being teddy bears, they didn't mind much at all. In fact, they decided that they would have to have every Christmas Eve party at the park and next year they'd decorate the fences and the benches... and my, it would be more fun than being stuck in a house on Christmas Eve! Why here in the park there was room for everyone and even the birds and bunnies, who didn't visit houses very often, came out to join in the festivities.
And everyone thanked Annie, Talia, and Bobby Bear for reminding them to stop working so hard when they should be having fun!
The End
December 26, 2006
Painting with Painter
The larger version of this (click on the picture) looks pretty neat, really. And I'm just doing some the small things you can do with this program. I've been watching the tutorials and having great fun with those, too -- even though we're still just going through how to set up the screens and such. (grin)
It's a complex program. It's going to be a while before I get the knack of it -- which is good.
So, what else is going on?
How about got up today to a flat tire and had to have the car taken in to be fixed. It didn't cost much, as far as such things go, but more than we had to spare. But it's done and we have a fixed tire and heat in the car again. Which is good, since Russ is heading back to work tomorrow, and the weather looks like it's going to change Thursday or Friday to rain/freezing rain stuff. Not good for someone driving about 65 miles a day one way.
It's done. We'll survive the lack of funds for a while longer. Russ will not be working at the college after the first week of January, though... so it's hard to say what we'll be doing next. There will be one more check from them, though, at the end of the month. And maybe the place Russ applied to the other day will realize he's perfect for the job.
We can hope. It's a job in Omaha. If he got a full time job there, yeah -- we could stand to move down to that area.
So, that's it for tonight. One more disaster today and money we couldn't afford to part with, but hey, we'll manage. As long as we can keep the cats in food, life is good. (grin)
December 27, 2006
Alien Plants
Isn't that an odd picture? It was a lot of fun to do last night.
Today my new program arrived -- the last of the graphics stuff I really wanted. Unfortunately, I can't get it to load in. I think I might have a clue what the problem is, but I need to wait for Russ to get back to give it a try.
And I'm having internet problems, too.
And I'm not getting a lot of writing done, though I've finally started throwing things at the Mirrors2 outline and finally getting something workable out of it. I'm also down to the last couple lines on the new workshop, so that's good.
The problem with loading Paint Shop Pro is driving me nuts, though. Yeah, I know I can live without it for a while longer... but I want it now. That doesn't seem to be too much to ask for, is it?
However, I'm not really shocked that it isn't working. After all, this is still 2006.
December 28, 2006
Foggy Day
I spent all day working on Joey Mousekin's Tale. This is an old story, and one I have wanted to redo for some time. I had to completely rewrite the first 15 pages, but I really like the new version. I think I finally have it right.
But that took most of the day. There's a good side, because I am finally very close to making the one million mark this year. The bad side is that I do have a few other things that need to be finished for Vision.
Ah well. We'll get there. Unfortunately, I have a bit of a cold. I'm fighting it off, though, and believing good things. I'm not sure why I'm thinking such things, since lately it's been proven rather useless, but I still do.
And now I'm going to go play with my fun graphic programs. Yes, we finally got the other one to load last night, and I'm happy little bunny now. Since I spent all day writing, I can go play for a little while before I fall over asleep again!
December 29, 2006
Tiger Face
I am about 450 words short of my million for the year, so I've made that one. I am nearly done with the outline to Mirrors 2 -- everything finally fell into place for it, as I rather suspected it would when I didn't have any other choice but to finish it. Odd how those things happen.
I'm about half way through Joey Mousekin's Tale, and I'm really happy with it, too.
So, here, at the end of the year, it looks as though most of what I want to get done will fall into place. I might still get a couple more submissions off as well. That would be good.
IN the not so good news, I'm having problems with my left knee. It started giving me problems yesterday and it's gotten worse today. I'm ignoring it and playing with graphic programs. Not much else I can do, anyway.
We've had rain most of the day, but there's snow and ice to the west of us, and maybe some snow on Sunday. That would be okay. We don't have anywhere to go, and it would be fun to watch, at least.
So, that's it! I think I'll go play with some pictures for a while!
December 30, 2006
Fox Kit Painting
The car is dead.
I mentioned to Russ that I thought 2006 as our cursed year. He started laughing and said it would be hard to argue with that one.
We're supposed to have three to five inches of snow tomorrow.
And the car is dead.
I'm just going to go pound my head against the wall for a while now....
December 31, 2006
The End
I am posting my last entry for the year. Russ got the car started this afternoon with the help of a friend, but he fears the problem is the alternator, in which case we're in real trouble. Again.
But other than that, and the fact that I don't have the copyedited articles back from Vision (Later -- just started getting them! Yay!), things are pretty good. I'm working on my last submission -- a replacement for a novel that should have gone out months ago, but I never had the money to print and mail it. It's been that kind of year.
But Happy New Year!