Ohhhhh, a Rainy Friday

I love any rainy days, but Fridays... And the girl coming home, and the kitty having done well at his recheck--and graciously allowing me to keep all my digits. (That's him with the beloved--K is no doubt contemplating how best to take out the ceiling.)

Ahhhhhh. A good day.

What a sad thing to be a vet, though, if you love your patients. Our amazing doctor literally saved Kitty's life, and how does Kitty thank him? A multi-syllabic growl the second his hero pushed a hand his way. And then, in case anyone was in any doubt as to his feelings re medical care--he hissed at me (administerer of antibiotics).

Good thing Kitty is such a charmer when he's not destroying all about him with those eye-beams!

About writing--ignore the smooth transition--this has been an excellent month for education. I've been taking an online class with Allison Brennan and Patti Berg that has me second guessing, but in a good way. I'm going to treat myself to re-reading all the lectures tonight. And I belong to a loop called AskanAuthor (I think--can't get into that address when I'm working in this one), and CJ Lyons did the answering this past week. She explained The Hero's Journey and pinch points in a way that finally made me understand them. Even better, I can see how to use them. Amazing. In gratitude, I went to buy her book, Lifelines, but our B&N doesn't have it. I'll have the opportunity to check other stores this weekend, but I may have to order--which means I'll have to order enough to get free shipping. It's a vicious circle!

I love these times when I feel as if I'm actually absorbing, not just listening (reading the lectures, I should say). You can never learn enough!

Must go! Have a great weekend!

Mental about The Mentalist!

Okay, that was pretty cheesy.

I DVRd the Tuesday episode and watched it again last night. I have to say, I've known the "bad guy" each episode within seconds, but I don't even care. Patrick Jane was heartbreaking in the first episode, and I've loved him more with each showing. I love that he doesn't admit why he doesn't have children, and he didn't explain how his wife died, though the confidence might have made the villain more open to him. I love that he can't help making sandcastles. I love that he'll risk everything to catch a bad guy, and that he knows he can't stay home and be alone sometimes. In the first episode when he went home to the bare house and the mattress on the floor, I knew I was hooked for as long as the show runs.

Doesn't hurt that Simon Baker is gor-ge-ous, either!

Anyone else watching? (Just a year or so ago, I hardly ever watched network TV. Suddenly, I'm running that DVR half to death. It started with Top Chef and then So You Think You Can Dance. I'm spiraling!)

Dosing the Cat

This is Kitty. He doesn't like antibiotics.

I'm scared.

Sick Kitty, Not Feeling Too Well Myself

There's a reason I'm not a nurse. The reason is: I'm nuts. And I feel bad for cats or people stuck in my care.

Writing, writing, writing--and getting a few steps ahead! Yay, Karen! Thank you! :-)

Spending too much time on Twitter.

Reading Cozy mysteries in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. Check out The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis! As I'm about to say I truly enjoyed this book and I cannot wait for the next one in the series, I'm also mulling over some recent brushes with book snobbery. I don't really get why people find one sort of book more valuable than another. I have an English degree--I was taught by book-snob professors in classes filled with book-snob student, but I don't love snobbery of any sort. I do love a good read. Back to the diva. The book starts with a bang. It's set in Old Town Alexandria, one of my favorite places on earth, and it's filled with quirky, lovable characters. You can't go wrong!

Back to work!

Monday at Panera

I'm lurking under my headphones trying not to hear the college kids behind me talking about their love lives. I think they want to date each other, but they're both insulting each other's SOs. It's interesting--and also none of my business!

I've been traveling. Had a conference, not far from home, but far enough to stay at the hotel and talk writing to my heart's content. And visit with my excellent editor. And eat too much good stuff. And miss my little family. (How weird is that, only an hour or so away?)

Then my family had a reunion. I love seeing my aunts and uncles and my cousins. And this time, I got to meet the newest baby in the family--totally adorable--despite the handful of hair he grasped. Seriously, how cute can cute really be? That's him!

Then my girl and I got to hang out with our only girl cousin. We chit-chatted and solved most of the world's problems. Turns out we have no expertise with the economy.

And, finally, my nephew, who works on the Dublin, GA newspaper, had an article picked up by the AP. I must link because I'm so proud I could bust! Man--the article's already gone. So--if you're looking, Winston, I tried, and I wish I could have shown you off! ;-)

Back to my own work--unless Winston will maybe take over for me! ;-)

*Update! Found a paper that still had the article. Read and enjoy!

Back, at last!

Our satellite dish had simply tilted out of tolerance. Huh. Naturally, I blamed it on the neighbors who've appropriated our yard to: build a bonfire, periodically store their trampoline, build a fort, build jumps for their ATVs, run a trail for their ATVs.

Most of that has stopped because we don't really take it well, though they still use the trail behind our tree line. The oddest day was when they got upset (families on both sides of us) that we didn't want their fort in our yard. (Picture dragging of boards and metal into our yard via ATV's/sawing/hammering, etc. that is often more acceptably done on land a person owns.) Imagine our arrogance.

So--I was arrogant. I assumed they came over and moved our dish to protest our refusal to house their fort. But they didn't unless they brought tools and hung around a while. I feel a bit mean and ugly about suspecting the worst, but honestly, this will be the second time in our married life that we've had to build a fence to keep neighbors from appropriating our yard. (Okay, it's a three-acre yard, but that just means more fencing to pay for.) Come on, winter! Because these rather annoying kids seem to stay indoors if there's a chill. Wouldn't it be nice if their parents suggested they stay out?

Now this has turned into a whiny post, but I'm actually glad to have access to my blog again. I've missed rambling, and I should delete the whining. However, I'm busy, and I'm not starting over.

Has anyone seen "The Mentalist"? It's my latest TV-fave. I keep the old one (there have only been two episodes, but I'm in luuuuuuuvvv!) until the new one comes on cause I have to watch it again. I see a DVD set in my future! (Shhh! Don't tell the husband. You know the economy's not that good lately, and he doesn't think we should demonstrate confidence that spending money makes money!)

Anyway, I'm taking a class online, and today's lecture is about characterization. I've recognized the bad guy immediately in both episodes, but I cannot look away because they're doing very clever things with characterization for Patrick Jane. He breaks my heart, and yet, I find myself laughing out loud more than once a show. Witness: Hero and sheriff playing intense rock/paper/scissors on this week's epi.

Gotta go. Gotta write. Gotta vacum, cause company's coming! But it's nice to be back!

Note: I have long owed several people books, but I couldn't get into that email address to get snail mail addresses. I'll get the books out next week. Sorry! ;-( (Shamed smiley-non-smiley)