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.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Enjoy this little Shaun the Sheep Halloween clip.





Watch out for goblins and things that go bump in the night.

WWC--Inspire and Create

The Weekly Words Challenge, brought to you by the terrific Tink.

These words are getting tougher. But here it goes!

Inspire: I get inspired by yarn--the colors, the texture, the feel of it.



Create: Once inspired, something can be created. These are prayer shawls made by ladies in our group.



In other news, I'm thinking of following in Susan's shoes and participating in NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. Write a 50,000 word novel in November? Hmmmmm. Intriguing, and yet completely undoable! That's over 1,600 words a day! But what the hell. I'm looking for a challenge.

But right now, I have Halloween candy to buy. Yeah, nothing like waiting till the last minute.

Fall Weekends Rock (Lots of Photos)

I love love love Fall. And I love love love Fall weekends. There's always something going on, and I'm living in a place that has cool Fall temperatures.

This weekend we visited a farm we buy food from through the Nebraska Co-op, and we had good friends over to carve pumpkins with us.

Kvam Family Farm is about an hour and half drive away, down a dirt road, amid other farms. It's a comfy setting of a few barns, a few cows, a few chickens, and a lot of cats. They think it's important that you know the farmer you buy from, so they held an "Open Farm Day" on Saturday.



This farm isn't that old, and the Kvams haven't come from a farming family--they've learned it all on the job, so to speak. They decided to live a healthier life, so they wanted to produce their own foods without preservatives and so forth. This didn't go over well with their pre-teen daughters, but they seem to enjoy the farm. Now older teens, they are polite, knowledgeable and well spoken as they gave us a tour of the farm.

We toured the different barns,

pet the calf, who decided I was tasty, so she kept licking me,




while the other cows were being milked,


scratched the dog's ears,


escaped being pecked by the chickens and gathered eggs,




and gave up trying to count all the cats.




The turkeys started out being penned up, but they grew tired of that, preferring their free roaming ways.




We also learned how to make vinegar cheese and keifer (a sour, yogurt-like milk drink made from raw milk) and just enjoyed hanging out with the family. I'm fascinated with artisan cheese makers, so I probably wore out my welcome asking questions about the milk and cheese. They aren't cheese makers, she's learning though.

We also carved pumpkins this weekend. I love carving pumpkins, and when you can do it with a group of friends, it's even more fun. Our friends and their two daughters came over for a lunch of red beans and rice and cornbread and an afternoon of cleaning out pumpkin guts.

This was dessert. It's a very rich and thick fudge-like cake. If you would like the recipe, I can email it to you. It takes a little work, but it's worth it.



Outlining the face


This is a precariously hanging bat


Finished products


So, how was your weekend?

Is It Friday Already?

Where did this week go? One minute I’m posting the word challenge photos, the next it’s Friday and I haven’t posted a damn thing. October is always busy, but this October seems to be overwhelmingly so. I could use a couple of more hours each day.

In less than a week, I’ve learned how to do needle turn appliqué, finished a prayer shawl and started another one, packaged up 6 shawls from other members of the group for giving out, had an MS check up where we decided to put me on yet another medication, met with a financial advisor, made a quick trip to the grocery store and forgot stuff so I’ll have to go again, picked up a sack load of food from the farmer’s co-op, and I still have a couple of more things to do.

But I got to mark a lot of stuff off my To Do list and that felt pretty good.

The meeting with the financial advisor wore me out., going through all our paperwork to give him an accurate picture of where we are was exhausting. We decided that since Al may retire from the AF in a few years, we might want to go over what we’ve done so far and see what else we should be doing. It’s still pretty early in this process, and it takes all my brain cells to follow what this man is saying. I’m the stereotypical girl/wife who glazes over with talk of investment plans. Al just laughs at me because I can’t seem to understand the difference between the IRAs and the mutual funds. To me they’re just a place we put money that we can use later—like a savings account with better interest.

This meeting was a little upsetting, though, when talk turned to long term health care and life insurance. It seems that my diagnosis of mild MS won’t be much of a hindrance if I want more life insurance, but it’s going to be difficult to impossible to get long term health care insurance. We had an opportunity years ago to get signed up through the AF, but we didn’t do it. You just don’t think about things like the costs of disability when you’re in your mid-30s.

And part of me still feels I’m too young to be worrying about and talking about retirement. I guess I’m just not good at long-term planning. I’m a great daydreamer of what I’d like, but I’m not very good at the actual planning and execution of that plan. Plus, Al and I need to improve our conversation skills so that we can talk about what we want. Al seems to respond to whatever is happening at the moment; for example, we’ve been doing repairs to the house and there always seems to be something else to do, so Al doesn’t want to own a house anymore. He likes the idea of a condo or townhouse or something. This was quite a shock to me when he blurted it out over a pint at the pub, considering that for the last few years I’ve talked about having a small house and some land out in the country. Then there’s the “what to do after the AF issue.” Al takes on his Eeyore voice and says “well, I’ll have to work.” But I’ve talked about how I thought we should teach and take the summers to go to Scotland, or maybe I’ll want to open my own shop or a small coffee shop and he could work for me. Or I could get a dream job and he could follow me around for a while. That would be brilliant!

Luckily, we seem to balance out. If he got out of the AF, I’m the one who says, “We can go anywhere!” He’s the one who says, “I can easily move into a contract job and we’d have pretty much the same security we have now.” And I think, “then we can vacation any where!” Maybe not anywhere, but we could make a trip every now and then to my beloved Highlands and his beloved whisky distilleries.

Until then, there’s still laundry to do, groceries to buy, meals to cook, errands to run, and bills to pay. You know, that regular life stuff that never goes away. Maybe I should add housekeeper, cook, and personal assistant to my dream list?

Have a great weekend, y’all.

WWC

Two weeks in a row! I'm on a roll!

The WWC is brought to us today by the tantalizing Tink! The words were disguise and reflection.

Yeah, typical reflection pic, but I like it. That's Devil's Tower in my rear view mirror.



For disguise, here are some pictures of some costumed Pugs. We went to Pug-oween at the Park, a fundraiser for the Pug Rescue.

There was an iPug



Hugh Heffner



and of course, his playboy bunny.



Did you play?

Weekend-Wrap Up

I had been looking forward to this weekend for weeks. With my good friend and quilting buddy, M, I attended a needlework retreat at a local state park 4-H camp. I don't do embroidery like so many of these talented ladies, but I do cross-stitch and had a project I've wanted to work on for years.

I love retreats. They are exactly what they sound like--to get away for every day things and relax and concentrate on something else. And I like camping and not worrying about make-up and hair and knowing that the only decision I have to make is what I want to do next (read, knit, write, sleep, hike).

This retreat was really wonderful. The ladies were so inviting and made me feel welcome even though I was no where near on their level. They do some of the most beautiful needlework, using a pattern just as a suggestion, deciding what kind of embroidery stitches would look best. I only know how to make the X of a cross-stitch, so that's what I do. But even though some people may look down on cross-stitching as a baser needlework, these ladies were encouraging and made me feel like part of the group. In so many group situations, I usually feel like an outsider, but I didn't this time and it was great.

The 4-H camp was in a beautiful setting, tucked away and tree-covered.



The rooms were a little stark, but I wouldn't be doing much in there except sleeping.



We brought our own linens and a flashlight, since it is a dark walk from the lodge center to the cabins.



Usually at retreats, there are workshops on new techniques and sometimes even a massage therapist and yoga sessions--anything to encourage relaxation and fun. But this was purely a work retreat. No frills, except meals were provided. My husband couldn't quite wrap his head around what I'd be doing, so I told him we'd get up, work on our projects and chat, eat breakfast, go back to stitching, eat lunch, take a walk maybe, continue stitching and chatting, eat dinner, and stitch into the wee hours. Then get up the next day and start all over again! It's heaven! But he got his own little heaven--he rode his motorcycle, hung out at the motorcycle shops, and went to Beertopia to buy some Belgium beers that we haven't tried before. So we both had a good weekend. Here are some more pictures

In the lodge


Ladies busy stitching


Charlie came for a visit


My project. Yes, that's a sheep. One down, 11 to go.


Time for lunch


Don't forget WWC tomorrow! The words are Disguise and Reflection.