So much for piccies...

I haven't had a chance to do any editing since I last posted, but wanted to post a little something anyway. I've taken a few pics of the inch or so of snow we got last night, and those have been added to the folder of pictures to edit.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to edit them soon.

I finished the scarf I've been working on. This morning, I started a pair of handwarmers to match them. I've also begun a scarf to match Jeff's handwarmers. We discovered last night that we may both need scarves for the nightly walks with Nikita. At least when it's cold and windy. I had my new one, and it kept my face comfortably warm. Jeff didn't have one, and his face was very cold. He's not usually one to wear scarves, but he was wishing for one last night. ;)

Chelsey wants to learn how to knit / crochet. I'm so excited! :D I gave her the Knitting and Crochet for Dummies book I had. It can teach her the basics, but I told her if she has problems, I can help her out. I also gave her some yarn, and let her borrow a pair of knitting needles.

There are two 10K Days for Writers coming up soon. I plan to participate in at least one of them...probably the one on the 19th. I'll either work on an Immortal Watchdogs story or come up with something new. I can't wait! :D

Our new washing machine is awesome! I so love not having to go to the laundromat. :)

My new coffeemaker is awesome, too. Right now, I'm drinking a cup of Sumatra coffee brewed using the aroma button. Thanks, Mom! :)

Today, I'm working on the screenplay edit...and, of course, the two new knitting projects. ;)

What's everyone else doing today?

Lois

Happy January 5th!

Happy 11th Day of Christmas!!! :D (The 12 Days of Christmas go from Christmas until January 6.)

It's been a long time since I've posted a "real" post, I know. I just haven't been up to much that's noteworthy. But here's the lowdown, anyway:

1. I've been practicing my knitting. I've learned how to cable, but it doesn't always come out as it should. I need to get a lot more practice in before I'll be "experienced," but I can do a simple cable without too much trouble. I'm currently working on a scarf that will have a little bit of (simple) cabling in it. It looks great, so far. :)

Knit Sample - Click to view larger

2. I've begun the first (quick) edit of my screenplay. I got rid of a scene, and I'm thinking of changing most of the flashbacks to just mentions. My hero's background and connection to the antagonist will be revealed, but only in a few short sentences. I need to scale back this screenplay by at least 30 pages, so there are things that will definitely have to go.

3. I've got a folder full of photos I need to edit. I hope to have them all edited by this weekend so I can post them.

4. Our Christmas and New Year's celebrations were good. We went to the kids' apartment both times and had fun, then had quiet evenings at home afterward. (And I have to say that Eric makes a mean mocha. It was so good I couldn't stop at a small cup. I had to have two-and-a-half mugs full. As a result, I couldn't get to sleep until after midnight on New Year's! :P)

5. I finally undecorated the Christmas tree yesterday. Jeff took it down last night and cleaned up the pine needles. Now I can babysit Josiah in there where it's more child proofed. :)

6. Jeff ordered a new washing machine...the Samsung I've been wanting! :D It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but the store hasn't called us about it. Jeff may end up calling them after work if they don't call me by then. We did some laundry on Monday night with the hope that it would be our last night at the laundromat.

7. We bought several new fish and frogs from PetCo. We bought a neon tetra, a black neon tetra, a Chinese algae eater, two fancy guppies (both with blue on them) and two dwarf African frogs. So far, the neon and the guppies have died. :( The rest seem to be doing well, but we've frozen the three that died and we'll return them within thirty days. We're just waiting to see how the rest will do. I'm sure the frogs will survive. They seem really hardy. I'm more concerned with the black neon and the Chinese algae eater. The nice thing about having the algae eater is that he's really making headway on the algae in the aquarium. We had a ton, and he's cleaning it up nicely. :) I sure hope he survives!

8. I've ordered a subscription to Script Magazine and am eagerly awaiting my first issue. I also ordered a single issue of Knit Scene. I can't wait for that one, either. It looks like it has some great patterns in it. The one that caught my eye was a cardigan...a really nice green cardigan with deep pockets! :)

9. My mom's still here and doing well. She's heading back at the end of January. I don't think she's looking forward to going back to the land of snow (we don't have any here, but there's a bit of it back east), but I'm sure she'll be happy to be home. :)

10. I gave my desktop PC to Eric and Chelsey. They can do whatever they want with it. I don't want desktop PCs anymore. I'd rather stick with laptops. I'm hoping we'll get another laptop at some point. We'll see. I saw that Virgin Mobile has unlimited wireless, and it is unlimited--unless you watch lots of movies and TV online, which I don't--and I'm hoping we'll get that soon. We shall see...

11. The kids gave us a ham that Eric got as a bonus from work. They don't like ham. Well, I fixed it last night, and we gave the bone to Nikita. We left some meat on it, and she loved it! She hasn't actually finished it, but when she has it, she won't let anyone near it! :P She has a beef knuckle bone that we bought at Walmart, but she likes the ham bone much better.

12. We're going shopping tonight. We've got to pick up my mom's meds, plus a few other things. It's a very small list, thankfully, so we won't be going overboard. Good thing, too, since our bank account balance is lower than it's ever been! :/

13. I've got three or four seedlings I need to plant, too. One is a Wandering Jew. I'm not sure what the others are. I guess we'll find out! :P I "mowed" my grass yesterday, too--my grass in a planter. It was getting tall, so I had to trim it down. :)

And that's pretty much everything that's going on here. I haven't been posting because I haven't really had much to say, but hopefully, this weekend I'll post those pictures I mentioned.

I hope 2011 is kind to you all and that it's your best year ever!

Lois

What's On the Agenda for Today?

Today will be an "off" day. The kids and I are going to Walmart for a few groceries, and we have to stop at the ATM first so I can take out some cash. They'll be getting an oil change while I'm shopping.

I'm watching Chance Pe Dance, starring Shahid Kapoor. He's so great in this! :D He's one of those actors who's equally great at comedy and drama.

I'm planning on doing some writing and editing later, if I feel up to it after being out this morning. We shall see...

Have a great day!

Lois

Another Somewhat Off Day

Today's another so-so day for me. It's cloudy here, and I'm sure that has a little bit to do with it, but that's not all there is to it.

I plan to work on my screenplay in a little while. I'll also work on editing one of my short stories. And I want to do a little writing from a prompt.

Jeff and I played Apples To Apples with Eric and Chelsey last night. It was fun, but I wasn't in the greatest mood when we played. I was feeling pretty moody all day, and I'm rarely like that. I'm not quite as bad today, but who knows how things will turn out?

I have jury duty on Monday. In the beginning, they divided us into two groups. I've been in Group One, and we've been meeting at the Division One courtroom. Monday, they're calling for Groups One and Two to meet at the Division two courtroom. We're doing our grocery shopping tonight, so this will give us a chance to find where I have to go before Monday morning.

Incidentally, my jury duty coincides with Eric and Chelsey's dental appointments. The funny thing here is that Jeff will be watching Josiah. So far, he's managed to get by without having to change any diapers. He may very well have to change them on Monday, since there's no telling when jury duty will end. ;)

I'm hoping to watch Mukhbiir again later. I haven't watched it in a while, and I'm eager to see Sammir Dattani, Sunil Shetty, and Om Puri in action again. :)

Have a great day!

Lois

A Day for Me

I'm late because I got distracted. I decided to upload all my important writing stuff to my Box.net account so I won't lose it if something should happen to my laptop...and my flash drive...and my DVDs. :P Just needed another place to store my writing. Now, if I can just remember to upload my files whenever I update them, I'll be doing good. ;)

I jotted down some notes for a new story idea I have in mind. I'm not writing it yet. I'm just jotting down notes. I don't plan on writing anything until I finish the screenplay, and whatever I write then will be shorter stories. I need to edit some of the short stories I've already written before I even think of writing any more novels.

I've been feeling really restless and depressed lately. I think I've been putting too much pressure on myself. That combined with other things has really gotten to me.

I'm still unsure of what to do with the dog. Jeff and I talked briefly this morning about putting a fence around part of the back yard where we can let Niki roam free. I don't know if anything will come of it, but we'll see...eventually.

I miss Chloe. :(

I miss my studio. :(

I'm really loving my Atif Aslam CD, and wish Prince: It's Showtime was already out on DVD, but that won't happen for a while. ;)

Anyway, I'd better go. The day's half over and I haven't really done anything yet. I'm using it as a day to just do what I want to do...whether or not it involves writing.

Have a great day!

Lois

I'm Making Today A Planning/ Writing Day

As you can see, I ended up not having to go in for jury duty today. ;) The next date is this coming Monday, the 19th.

Yesterday was an okay day. Not great, but not bad, either. It started out great with the phone call from Milli. After that, I just got really tired. But I caught up online, and that was good. :)

Today, I plan to work on my screenplay for about two hours. I'll also work on editing two of my short stories. But before I start on those, I need to start working on a plan for becoming a certified Course Presenter.

Jeff and I watched Lost Colony last night. It wasn't an awesome movie, but it was good, and entertaining...and it starred Adrian Paul (always a plus, in my book). I've liked him ever since War of the Worlds (the series) and Highlander: The Series. I wish he'd take on more roles like the one of Duncan McLeod. He was great in that role.

Hope your Thursday is a good one!

Lois

It's Showtime!

Awesome article about Vivek Oberoi slipping into a theater to see what the turnout was like for his Prince: It's Showtime film. I especially love the last part, where he talks about his "little angels" in Vrindavan (and the picture of him at the top is cute, too). :) Prince is already showing in theaters here, but those theaters are too far away from our location. I want to go to Kansas City to see it. It would be an awesome early birthday gift. Anyone want to suggest it to Jeff? ;)

I sure hope I don't have a long wait for it to come out on DVD. :(

 

Jeff was sick all day yesterday, but he didn't seem to have a fever. Weird. He's back to work today, though. As far as I know, no one else seems to be sick. He was sick for close to 24 hours.

I did a one-pass edit on my journal-style short story yesterday afternoon. I'm hoping to do another pass today. I've got to get my editing and revision book out of the studio so I can read up on what to look for before I jump on that.

I have one feedback to write this morning, then that's it until I resume training. I'll probably do that on Wednesday or Thursday, unless I don't have jury duty tomorrow.

I've ordered something for our anniversary. Eric and Chelsey know what it is. I'm sure Jeff has some idea, but I haven't told him what it is. It's a surprise. :)

I'd better go get to work on that feedback. Once that's done, I can work on my screenplay, then the short story.

Have an awesome day!

Lois

Looks Like We're Keeping Her!

I took Sweety (tentative name...I still need to get input from the kids) for a walk this morning. She loved it so much, she didn't want to come back in. It did me some good, too. I got some much needed exercise. :)

Everyone here is excited about her. Jeff and Eric want her to be an outside dog. I want her to be an inside dog. She's small enough that she could be, as long as we give her plenty of exercise. I can tell that she can be pretty lively. Once we have a vet check her out, we can start introducing Sweety and Chloe to each other. For now, we have a gate at the front end of the hallway and Chloe, so far, has stayed behind it. I can't wait until I can have Sweety back in the studio with me. I picture her and Chloe all snuggled together on the love seat. I know that may never happen, as it's too soon to tell whether or not they'll get along, but we'll see how things turn out eventually.

I don't have feedback to write this morning, so I'll probably edit the writing I did on Friday and Saturday.

It's nice and sunny today, and the snow is already gone. It's supposed to get up to 53° today. Tomorrow will be even nicer: mostly sunny with a high of 71°! :D

Well, I've got to finish posting, then take a shower and start the laundry. Then I can start editing.

What are the rest of you up to?

Have an awesome day!

Lois

Hello! It's Nice To Meet You.

Well, today's the big day...Jury Duty. *blech* That is, unless the light snow we're getting causes them to postpone it. I've already called once, but the message is still saying that it's on as scheduled. I'll call again in a few minutes.

I started my new villain's second character journal entry last night. I plan to finish it today. He's sounding more and more like a "good guy," but I'm going to keep at it. Somewhere along the way, he's bound to change. ;)

I also filled out his character sheet. I'm taking both documents with me in case I have some extra time while I'm waiting for Chelsey and Eric to pick me up afterward.

I also edited all the entries for both villains so far, and I printed out the edited copies. Now I just need to copy and paste them into the compilation file. I'm glad I did this sooner, rather than later, or it would have been a huge job! :P

We went for groceries yesterday. Chelsey went with us so we could use her discount card (Wal-mart). She didn't think we could use it, but figured that if she was there, it would be alright. Turns out we can use it because I'm directly related to him and living in the same household. :) We saved enough to cover the taxes on everything, so it worked out great...especially when you consider that taxes here can reach almost 10%, which is about what we saved.

Well, I need to hurry up on here. I still need to check my Friends Page and the Writing Forum before I get off here.

Have a marvelous Monday! :D

Lois

I Was Busy Yesterday

I managed to write not one, but two character journal entries. I started back at the beginning with Hassun's entry, then continued it with Abooksigun's entry (which, in my opinion, is the best one so far). The next two entries will be for Hassun and Abooksigun too, and they'll pick up from where I left off and end around the time when they meet the Apache, Kangee. This is all backstory. As I've said, most of the story will take place in the present.

I also made a few new graphics to go along with their characters over at Native Heroes.

I never got around to editing Xander Greywolf's novel yesterday. I plan to work on that some today, then I'll write the new character journal entries.

I still have a lot of other things I need to do (decorate the tree, work on the Christmas cards, etc.), so I need to keep those in mind.

I hope you're having a good week, so far. Have an awesome day!

Lois

Small Steps Are Good Steps When You're Heading In the Right Direction:

Note: The photo to the left is of my mother's father, Robert O'Dell Williams, taken in June, 1963.

I'm not working on my own writing today. I'm working on editing a friend's short story, instead.

I'm excited today. It's a small thing, really, but it's helped me get over the "blah" feelings I was experiencing yesterday. I got an e-mail newsletter from a geneology Web site and it had a link for "Maine Marriage Records." Well, on a whim, I decided to do a search for my grandma and grandpa on my dad's side of the family. I found them! :D From there, I did a death record search for my grandma and found that, too!

See, my dad told me that we have Northeastern Indian heritage from his mother's side of the family...this is in addition to the Cherokee from my mother's father's side of the family. My cousin is working on that side of the family tree, so I'm thinking of trying to trace my dad's side of the family tree. I have a couple of aunts and a great aunt I'd like to contact about it first. If they can give me some information, that would help me in my research. I'm really looking forward to the hunt!

And this could give me some good writing material, too! :D

Well, I'd better get to work on the edit.

Have a great afternoon!

Lois