A Prince with a Plot

While I play catch-up I've been brainstorming book ideas, trying to think of what I'm going to write next. I sort of feel like the LOLcat to the left, but forget the tuna. I want my prince to show up with a fully formed plot complete with internal and external conflicts with him.

I've been taking it easy, picking a couple items off my To Do list each day, and going to bed early (at least early for me.) It feels weird, because around ten o'clock last night I thought, "Time to start working."

I didn't.

Well, hubby wouldn't let me. He told me to go to sleep.

So I did.

Hope you have a great Tuesday!

Proposal off!

I emailed my proposal to my agent around midnight. I love this story. I feel the same way about it as I did all the other Hood Hamlet ideas, but it's a touch bittersweet since this will wrap up the mountain rescue series. I always knew Paulson's story would be the last one.

Though even though this is the final book, it's not quite writing itself as I'd hoped! I had the wonderful idea yesterday to rewrite Chapter 3. Okay, not just rewrite, but start over. I didn't like what I'd had. Not the best idea given it needed to be sent later that night. Oh, well...

It's off.

Now I can work on the rest of the story and get the house ready for Christmas. The kids didn't want to do anything without me. Which is odd because they decorated for Halloween and Easter without me. Guess Christmas is different. Tonight, we're making a gingerbread house, too!

It's time for some puppy pics.

 Cato is really growing. He's getting better with the potty training, but still not quite there. We've moved him from the X-pen to crate training, too. Lots of barking and sleepless nights. This is the longest we've had a puppy. I'm waiting for it to get easier!

But Cato really is a cutie!

Rose dressed up the puppy in a costume. He didn't seem to mind too much unlike the cats who act like the end of the world has arrived and they will kill you. Yeah, dogs and cats are very different.

I love the picture to the left of grandma Chaos and her grandson Cato. The two don't always get along that well, but they're doing pretty good. Chaos will keep the pup in line and she's oh-so-patient with the nibbling and climbing all over her.

On my To Do list for today:

1) Post office visit
2) School with kids
3) Vet visit
4) Decorating house

What do you have going on?

Soon...

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Love this LOLcat! Not only does it remind me of a couple of my cats, but "soon" has been the operative word earlier this week. (Second to "creepy/creeper" which 14 year old girls seem to use so much I couldn't keep track of the number of times during the drive to Astoria and back on Tuesday.)

Soon, my revisions will be done. I'm finally back writing after Elizabeth's death on Sunday. It's going slow, but I really don't have much of a choice due to deadlines.

Soon, I'll finish the latest newsletter for the Norwegian Elkhound groups. (Sooner than the other stuff!)

Soon, I'll see Snow White and the Huntsman. (That will be my treat for turning in revisions.)

Soon, I'll figure out what book to write next.

Soon, hubby and I will make a carpeted ramp so Spirit has an easier time getting on and off our bed. She's 15 now and can no longer jump up there. She uses her nails to climb instead, and she seems a little hesitant to get down, too.

Soon, summer vacation will start. Yesterday was the last day of real classes, but we will probably go until the end of the month to make sure everything is done. But math and spelling with a little writing once in a while will continue throughout the summer.

Soon, the sun will come out.

I'm hoping this last one happens sooner rather than later!

Anything "soon" in your life?

Always something!

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I wish this photo described my life at the moment. Everything in their place (or close enough.) But it's not even close.

Okay, that's not exactly true. The writing is going well. The good news is my editor approved my proposal revisions! With the book due in a little over a month, you can imagine my sigh of relief. I've been writing the story, but kept wondering if I'd have to go back. She only asked for two minor changes that I did last night! Now to get more words on the page. Fair put me behind a bit.

On the home front is where it's crazy. Our house is scary messy. I worked for an hour last night just to see if I could see a difference. I couldn't. At least the clothes are clean. Now to get them folded.

If you read the comments from yesterday's blog, you'd know I got a call from the doctor's office yesterday morning. They asked me to bring Mackenna in for another X-ray. I don't remember if I mentioned Mackenna hurt her foot. She's had many sprains due to dancing, but she said this felt different. The pain was not only in her ankle but shooting up to her toe. I took her in on Sunday to a local urgent care. They did a couple of x-rays and said it was a sprain. The doctor said she could go to the Fair that day, but should do RICE after that. She was told to wrap it, too, and see if that helped.

Now we're waiting to hear if this new x-ray showed anything. Given we haven't heard, I'm hoping that means there was nothing there. I'll call later this morning if I don't hear from them.

My To Do list is getting crazy again. Not just the house, either. I still have stuff to send out from the contests and order curriculum for the kidlets. For some reason my new MacBook Pro doesn't like Amazon or Paypal or anything else where I'm required to order something. It's making life very difficult.

But this is pretty typical after a busy week so I shouldn't stress out. All I can say is Fair Week is insane. I'm thinking a vacation far, far away during Fair Week next year would be a very good thing! At least for me!

That's about it. How about you?

Spring Cleaning

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I'm kinda wishing it was still Sunday. I never got around to blogging, but that's only one of a couple things that didn't get done.

While I worked on the new proposal, hubby and kidlets whipped half of the downstairs into shape. I should have taken before and after pics. It was that striking. With all the deadlines and stuff going on around here since last March, the house hasn't been a priority. The bare minimum has been done. Mainly that's all I could manage.

The family started at the front door and worked from there. The foyer had become the catchall for things as we walked into the door: everything from sports gear to bags of stuff needing to be donated.

My office, to the right of the foyer, was so messy you had to step around books (lots and lots of foreign translations) and craft stuff some left over from last spring when I helped out with a girls' group. The ones who used the room the most were Rocket, the cat, to sun himself and Chaos, the dog, to see if we were home or watch the kidlets play out front. Now it's clean, dusted, awesome! I'm so psyched to have it back! Okay, the reality is much of the stuff in there has now been packed up and moved to the garage, but with people coming over for Easter I have no complaints.

Next was the hallway. The little decorator table had been full of stuff. All of it's now gone, including the table. Flat surfaces are a magnet for me so the less places I have to lay stuff the less clutter I'll have.

And finally the dining room. We only use it for holidays or if we have people over. I hate to admit it but all my Christmas linens were piled on a chair in there yesterday. I'd washed and folded them, but couldn't find the plastic bin where they went. But hubby took care of all of that and a lot more. When I went downstairs, I noticed the two leaves had been put into the table! All set for Sunday's Easter meal!!!

That's the front half of our downstairs. The guest bathroom is part of that, but that's one room we've managed to keep clean. You just can't let bathrooms go especially when you have a 10 year old boy using them! The kitchen, eating area and great room are what's left. But those aren't as messy since we actually use those rooms not store stuff in them!

I'm now not so panicked about the house. A little more work each day will have the downstairs sparkling come Easter Sunday! The kids will be in charge of the playroom upstairs. My goal now is to finish the first three chapters this week (before Holy Thursday Mass, if possible) and then work on the synopsis next Monday. That would give me Tuesday to proof everything. Fingers crossed!

How is your week shaping up?

Friday

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I'm not heading to Mordor, but I feel like I'm on a quest. It hit me around five o'clock this morning that next week is Holy Week. I'm hosting Easter this year, and except for some decluttering on Sunday, I've done nothing to get ready. My proposal is due two days after Easter, too.

Better get busy...

Have a wonderful Friday!

Boxes and trees

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After Yoda trying to contort himself into the small box yesterday, we put out a few more boxes. He seems to prefer smaller sized ones so I went through all my Amazon boxes and found a couple. This morning he was inside one of them.

The fact I have so many boxes around is kinda scary in itself. Right now our foyer is full of boxes. My son used them in a Phineas & Ferb skit about Aztec Ruins. There's still all the ones from the Christmas presents. I haven't had time to break them down.

Of course, our tree is still up. Yep. We aren't turning the lights on, but it's there. I hardly notice it anymore. We managed to get lights off the house and other things put away after Epiphany and then I got sick. Nothing else has gotten done.

The Vatican keeps their decorations up until Candlemas on February 2nd so I keep telling myself it's okay we still have times. And the proposal did get off. Though there's now the rest of the book to write.

Rocket, our fat cat, is happy. He's claimed the tree as his personal sleeping abode. Much better than sleeping on our dining room table! Too bad I can't get him interested in sleeping in a box.

Today I'm going to finish up the page proofs and write a few pages on the manuscript. And I might see about bringing in the Christmas boxes so we can start taking the decorations off the tree. I really want that off the To Do list!

A To Do Weekend

My Advent cleaning and Christmas preparations start today. Later than usual, but that's because of the deadlines I had last month. We try to get things up by the first Sunday in Advent, but that didn't happen this year or last. Pretty much, nothing really got done in November except writing. So today is my catch up on the To Do list day.

I had a couple of days mid-month in between turning in the complete and getting the revisions so I could clean a little then, folding laundry and restocking the pantry and fridge. But that wasn't nearly enough now that I've had another couple of weeks doing nothing. When hubby shops, he only buys what's needed for whatever meal we're going to eat. Not sure if that's a guy thing or his thing, but it's been like that for 15 1/2 years of marriage. I don't think it's going to change.

We did manage to get the chocolate Advent calendars for the kidlets so at least I haven't been a total failure at things around here.

I also cleaned out my closet again. I've found the first time I can't get rid of everything, but I'm not as attached the second time. (A lot like revising, actually.) If something didn't fit, it went into a bag. I need to lose weight (I've lost five pounds already), but most of the smaller stuff was a few years old anyway. No reason to keep it cluttering the space. If I get to my goal weight, I can buy stuff that fits and is more in style.

So that's my plan for today, what's yours?

Party

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It's been crazy around here. I almost feel as if there's a party, but I'm working it, not a guest.

The two oldest kidlets had their play last night. It was so funny. All the kids did great.

My eight year old nephew is staying with us for a few days and we're having fun with him.

I'm still working on my To Do list. I really want the majority of the craft stuff done for next week done this weekend so I don't have to worry about it during the week. I want to get the house in tip-top shape then.

Hope you're having a nice Friday!

Well...

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The tree is still up. I managed to get the laundry folded, but that was it. I forgot until looking at my calendar that I'd scheduled appointments for the kidlets on Monday. Of course, I would do that. First day after deadline. Holiday. Perfect time. Except for still haven't my Christmas tree up!

I'm hoping today I can get it down. Or at least start removing the decorations!

My kitties don't like that deadline time is over. They don't understand why I'm no longer upstairs with them all the time. Not much I can do about that, but they did love the bed covered with folded clothes yesterday. Lots of nap space between the stacks of clothing!

We'll I'd better get busy. The Christmas tree is waiting!

Hope you have a great day!

Free

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This reminds me of Yoda sleeping on my computer speakers. It sure doesn't look comfortable, but he's content!

The revisions are finished and off. Now I can finally get my Christmas tree and decorations down. Yes, they are still up. We usually take everything down after Epiphany or the Sunday after it, but not this year with the revisions due. At least hubby got the lights outside put away so we wouldn't annoy the neighbors!

I'm tired, but feel good. I like how the book came out. I just wish my To Do list hadn't doubled over since Christmastime!

What's been going on in your life?