50,014!!!!!!!!!!!

I did it!! I really did it!!


50,014 words!


25,000 of those words in 4 days!


I'm dog tired. I think I'll take a nap. I'll celebrate tonight.

Have good weekend everyone.

zzzzzzz

Gonna Be Really Busy

Well, Thanksgiving is but a weight-gaining memory, and I'm suffering the usual post-holiday depression. I had so much fun with my family here; I was sad to see them go.

So was Cosette. My goodness but this is a needy puppy! She misses all the love and adoration she got from three extra people in the house, and now she's stuck with me. She pushes the laptop off my lap so that she can crawl into it. Of course, I love this and acquiesce to her request. She likes to crawl up on her target, put a front paw on each shoulder, then just lick the person into submission. The harder you laugh, the more it eggs her on.

But she has settled in very well and we are really enjoying her. So much so that she is already spoiled rotten. The breeder emailed to ask how everything was going and say that she had a friend in Omaha who was coming down to Arkansas and could bring her if it wasn't working out. I told her that she couldn't have my dog! She really is a good match for us.

So, I haven't been posting because I've been so busy with cooking, shopping, eating, playing, and all that good stuff over the last week or so.

And I probably won't be posting the rest of this week because my fingers are flying towards the 50,000 word count for the the NaNoWriMo project. I'm pretty close, sort of. Close enough that I owe it to myself to give it my best.

Words for NaNoWriMo so far: 30,006

Anyway, I'm off to get a little further along on that. I've been so focused on it that my friend R emailed Al and asked her if I was OK because she had emailed me a couple of times and not heard from me. Oops. Guess I better take a break and email her something.

Have a great week. Next week I'll return to WWC, I swear!

Until then, here are a few more pictures of Cosette:

She loves to look outside


Al is already trying to indoctrinate her into the scotch thing.


She really wanted to play Yahtzee. Or at least try to eat the dice.


How does she sleep like that?


She loved playing with her Uncle Jay


She was ready for Thanksgiving dinner.


Tired puppy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Sorry I haven't been around. My family is keeping very busy, and I'm loving every minute of it!

Cosette has settled in beautifully. It's like she was meant to be here. If I can stop taking pictures long enough to actually download them, I'll share some.

But right now, I can't stop yawning. Better get some sleep so I can get up and watch the Macy's parade. I love that.

Oh, by the way, it snowed here today! It didn't stick to the roads, but we got a good covering everywhere else. It was wonderful. I sat in a comfy chair knitting a shawl, with my family around me talking and laughing, and the snow gently falling outside. Really wonderful

Meet Cosette

We have a new dog!!



I've been waiting all week to tell you, but we wanted to surprise the family. And they were so surprised to see her that it was worth it. As many of you know, we were devastated when our darling Daily passed away last summer from congestive heart failure. I was beginning to wonder if we would ever get another dog, but I guess it was time.

Anyway, her name is Cosette and she is a 3-year-old Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen or PBGV, the same breed our Daily was. They are originally from France, hence the name. We didn't name her but I told Al that if we got one as a puppy, I'd name her Cosette. If you've ever seen or read Les Miserable, you'll be familiar with the name. Luckily, she's one of the few characters still living in the end.



So, here's the story. The breeder we got Daily from was also devastated when Daily passed because she thought she was too young. So, she told us she would give us a puppy, but we told her that we'd love another adult, too, so just let us know.

Well, I got an email from her that said "Dog." She didn't have puppies yet, but she had this 3-year-old, spayed, house-trained PBGV. The couple who had her decided to be missionaries and didn't think it was fair to keep putting her in kennels. And here's where it starts to sound like an episode of the Ellen Degeneres show. The couple gave her to their dog groomer instead of giving her back to the breeder, as it said in the contract. This breeder, C, is very particular about who gets her dogs. Anyway, the groomer couldn't keep her, so she gave her to someone, who gave her to a rescue group. Well, C is on the rescue group list. You can imagine how she felt when she saw her dog needed to be rescued! She called the original couple who went and got Cosette and brought her to C, who promptly email us.

Al was ready to go that weekend to get her.

She has settled in beautifully and she is very loving and cuddly. She's fine in the house by herself and she's very happy with the doggie door and the backyard. She keeps us entertained, that's for sure. Here are few more pictures for ya.

On the ride home. I don't like letting dogs do this, so we let her just long enough to take the photo.


She's already taken over the couch.


Actually, she's taken over everything.

Guess What

CK PEIK E BKC JZO.



Hint: K=E

Let's Play a Game

Ever play Cryptograms?

Each letter in an original sentence has been replaced by another letter, creating a coded message. Word position, spaces and punctuation remain the same, and a letter in the code always represents the same letter. For instance, if K in the code represents A, K is always A.

So, you look at the statement and use clues, such as the same two letter next to each other (probably LL or TT) or a word alone (probably A or I), to figure out the replaced letters to break the code and read the message. For instance, a hint for the example below is K=A and E=S.

RLCE CE KQ FPKUXJF.

The answer is: This is an example.

Tune in tomorrow for the message

WWC--Red and Architecture

I knew that I wouldn't be around much during the holidays. But I couldn't let the Weekly Word Challenge go by without joining in the fun!

So, brought to your by the tremendous Tink, I give you the *sound of horns*



There aren't that many trees in Nebraska, but our little corner has a few pretty red ones in the fall.



I just thought this was intriguing and thought it might fit with architecture. At the Kvam Family Farm, the dad was going to throw the screens and stools away, but his daughter saw it as art and she staged them. Pretty cool, huh?



I'm just so excited that Thanksgiving is coming up. My mom and my brother are coming, plus our good friend J, who really is more like family, so I just tell people that my family is coming up for Thanksgiving.

Jay and I have already started making plans of where we should take J to show her the highlights of Omaha. There really is a lot to do. Really!

I'm still working on NaNoWriMo and am trying to finish up a project before the fam gets here on Saturday. So, I'll be in and out this week.

NaNoWriMo word count so far: 17,400. Yeah, I'm a little behind.

Gotta Take Care of Some Things

I have to do this every now and then. Once again, I am swamped with too many things to do and not enough time in the day to do them. I don't know how I ever got anything done when I was working full time. So, I'm not going to be around for awhile.

I'll still be checking in on your blogs, but trying to write 50,000 words in a month is cutting into my post writing. Plus, I have a little project going that I can't tell you about yet. I will, as soon as I can, but it's still in the works.

Plus, I've been putting off the vacuuming and I really need to do that. I tried putting it off so that Al would do it, but he didn't take the bait.

So, I'll be lurking around the edges, peeking in and dropping in every now and then.

NaNoWriMo count: 10,850

Just Dropping Off the WWC

It was another nice Fall weekend here in lovely east Nebraska. So lovely that I am soooo busy with all the things that I should be doing but aren't because I'm too busy enjoying myself, which I think is the best excuse of all.

So, I'm dropping off my WWC pictures, the WWC brought to you by the wonderful Tink, by the way. Then, I'm off to slay some dragons, solve the world hunger problem and create a national medical care program that actually works. Because if I can get all my personal stuff done, I might as well tackle the easy stuff.



The words this week are Old and Blue, plus a Halloween bonus. And here we go!

Old. I love this old water pump at a farm we visited. It was the old-way they got their water.



Blue. When we dog-sat Phoebe for our friends, she was blue and spent the first few hours of their departure waiting for them to return.



Then we gave her a treat, and she was OK.

Bonus pic--Halloween. This is the perfect Halloween tree. Al told me what it was, but I don't remember. Yes, those are giant thorns on that tree!






I may not be around a whole lot in the next few weeks while I prepare for Thanksgiving, write my 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, pop a lot of aspirin as I get used to going to the gym again, and get in some holiday baking. I'll be checking in on your blogs, but I may not comment as often or post on my own very often. But it's not that I'm not thinking about all of you. (Was that correct or did I just negate a sincere statement with a double-negative?)

And speaking of NaNoWriMo, word count so far: 8,000 words.

Halloween Hangover

Another Halloween is but a memory. A memory and a tummy ache from way too many Smarties. Those little powdery, sugary candy disks are just irresistible--it's the only time of year I get them. I tried to out-psyche myself and bought some dark chocolate M&Ms so that I wouldn't steal from the treat bowl, but I'm weak.

We had lots of trick-or-treaters this year, many more than last year. I actually ran out of candy. I had to save one more package of Smarties before they were all gone. The youngest was about 3 or 4, I'd guess. I'm not very good at guessing, but he looked about the same age as my friend's 3 year old, so I'm going with that. He was a dinosaur and having a blast. That's such a cute age. They get more excited with each house they go to when the realize what is going on. He jumped off my front porch and marched down the sidewalk saying, "Trick or Treat!"

We had the usual ages of 5 to 10, and they were everything from princesses to witches to super heros to Thomas the Tank Engine. But what was really cool were their bags! No pillow cases for these guys--their bags matched their costumes. That must have cost a pretty penny. And some of the bags were these cool quilted figures, so you put the candy in a witch's head or something like that. I was most impressed.

One of these little beggars came as the Grim Reaper. In the lowest voice he could muster he said, "Trick or Treat." I had a flashback to the Halloween party my folks had when I was a little kid, when someone came as the Grim Reaper. It scared the pee out of me--almost literally. That costume has given me the shivers ever since, even when it's on a 10-year-old.

Of course, we got the older kids, too. They were the ones with the pillow cases. We had a group of 12 to 13 year olds. I love that age. This is probably their last big night at costumes and trick-or-treating for the fun of Halloween. Next year, they'll be too cool, so they'll just walk around in packs, wearing all black, and wanting candy even though they aren't wearing costumes. We had a group like that come to the door, too. I told them they were my scariest group yet.

In that group of 13-year-olds, one of them was wearing a King from Burger King mask and I told him that was really scary. He pulled his mask up and said, "Really?" He seemed quite pleased. I said, "Yeah. Haven't you seen those commercials? They're disturbing." Well, they do scare me. They are so disturbing, I couldn't even find one on YouTube to show you what I mean. But you can go here to get an idea.

By 8:30, we blew the candles out of the jack-o-lanterns and turned out the lights. It's always a little sad for me. I love seeing all the kids in their costumes and hearing them say thank you and even a "Happy Halloween" every now and then. Of course, I'm also worried that now it is dark around my house and those black-clad teenagers that I was a smart-ass to might come back and smash my pumpkins.

Not only is today the end of Halloween, it is the beginning of November and National Novel Writing Month, which I did sign up for. I have a folder on my desktop ready for my 50,000 words, I have a place in the house that I think will be ideal for writing, I have the story in mind, and I have a pot of coffee brewing. I've thought about it a lot and I've come to one conclusion.

I am out of my fricken' mind.

But I'm going to try it anyway.