Vacation!

I'm on vacation! (/happydance) No day job for me until January 4th! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

As if that weren't awesome enough, I ordered my proof copy of the print edition of Scent and Shadow, and it shipped yesterday. SQUEE! Is it here yet? Is it here yet? How about now?

While I wait (trying to remember to breathe) for the mail, The Husband and I are going to go see the new Sherlock Holmes movie, and we're going to go shopping for a new refrigerator (yeay!), and we're going to do our favorite holiday activity - getting hot drinks at the mall and walking around slowly, not buying anything and just enjoying the schadenfreude. Happy holidays, folks!

Holidays Are Different From Vacations

I don't know if I really take vacations much. (This includes weekends.) I know there are a lot of writers out there who write lots and lots every day. I'm not one of those. I have been, for a few months at a time. But in general, no.

And yet, my weekends and vacation days tend to fill very quickly. Sure, I squeeze in time for formatting, research, cover design, and even a little writing. But a lot of my time gets taken up with caring for our animals, doing dishes and laundry, and other sundry chores.

Not to complain, exactly: everyone is like this, really. But I know lots of people who are happy to do nothing on a vacation day. I actually have to schedule myself to not do things. If I'm at home, I feel like I should be doing something productive. There are always so many little projects in the back of my mind. I would love to declutter the house at some point, for instance. I've been wanting to do that for ages. But I also don't want to do it in little chunks. Therefore, it keeps getting pushed out until I can find a nice big block of time to do it in. (Like that's going to happen.)

And Facebook! Good gods. We had a day this last long weekend where we left town and deliberately stayed disconnected. I kept wanting to make a status post. Or check my email. What the hell? I did not used to be like this. I shudder to think how twitchy I'm going to be when I finally break down and get a smartphone. I might actually tweet more than once a week.

I know no one drives me to do this to myself but me, but ugh. When else am I going to to all this stuff? If I don't do it, who will? (If not me, who? If not now, when?) And yet, when the heck am I going to relax? I just got back from Photoshop class (print covers are mostly done now, just need to do the spine) after a full day of dayjob, did the Monday chores, and still feel like I'm not getting enough done today.

Anyone have some valium I can borrow? And a Quith worker to do my chores for me?

Happy Labor Day!

Posting a little early this week. I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I ransomed The Husband back from Vegas (cost: gasoline and a couple hours of driving) and got a computer virus. Good thing they happened in that order, as The Husband is the technologically-savvy person in this household. All I can say is I LOVE CrashPlan. :)

Do you have a backup plan? Huh, do ya, punk?

I did not get nearly as much work done on the novel this holiday weekend as I would have liked, but I'm making progress. Speaking of which, I need to get back to the grind before The Husband gets back from his guy night.

Happy Fourth of July! (Now With Vuvuzelas)

It's just after 10:30pm on our first July 4th with The Bulldog. Poor boy. It's so easy to forget just how messed up this dog was when we first got him. I mean, wind was new to him. Wind. He was three and a half years old, and he'd never had wind in his floppy ears.

He's still a little sound sensitive, but he's made huge progress. Normally he alert-barks when he hears a new noise, and then we go see, and he's fine after that.

Fireworks, apparently, are a bridge too far. Trust me, a 90lb American bulldog can make a lot of noise when he feels like it, and loud noises are definitely on his short list. And then there's the freaking vuvuzela. I mean, really, whose bright idea was it to give the tween neighbor kid a vuvuzela? In the middle of town, at night, when I have to work tomorrow?

I love fireworks. I love the Fourth. But for the love of apple pie, stop with the noise making at 10:30p. That's not so much to ask, is it? Assemblage 23 is apparently just not thumpy enough to disguise all the firecrackers. And A23 (among other bands) has gotten the Bulldog through several weeks of road construction outside our house.

At least he doesn't do this during thunderstorms...

Image: Chris Sharp / FreeDigitalPhotos.net