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Tuesday, November 1st • 9:06PM

Taking a break. I'll still comment.

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Numbers Tuesday, June 28th • 12:28PM

Some goals for my 46th year:

Walking: 750 miles logged. (There will very likely be more than that, but that is the official number I plan to log.) 2.5 Sunday, 2 Monday. I'll be lucky to get any in today or tomorrow, so there will need to be at least one big chunk this week. I may do an early 7 mile bit on Friday. When I was 28 or so, I did an EASY 4 - 7 miles per day. I want to get back to that. Bipedality is an important part of humanness.

Words - writing: 200,000. I am not sure how best to log this. Certainly it is doable. But tracking is the tougher thing. What to include?

Words - playing: I'm having a ball boggling again. The cobra dragon site does seem to have an updated TWL, but I'm a Collins girl, ya know? I didn't know a four in last week's Collins Underground session, and that was dismaying (and embarrassing). I will lock in fours through sixes this 46th year.

Finances: Those dollars, they are numbers. I won't share them. However, I will share my goal. There is a credit card with my name on it, literally. We have used it for necessary things during our big financial months this year. This 46th year, I aim to cut that in half with my own hands. I don't know if that's reasonable, but it is my aim!

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Jumbled update Tuesday, June 7th • 11:04AM

I still haven't figured out where I'm going with blogging. Having said that:

We've been really busy!

We bought the townhouse we've been renting. Let me tell you, I was very worried about negotiating a price in this market -- with friends. Yes, it's a great time to buy. It's a terrible time to sell. I didn't want these negotiations to turn out badly, and they did not. I am pretty sure that everyone left closing satisfied that everyone else at the table did the best that they could.

My stepdaughter got married. It was very very beautiful and nice and good. We brought the dogs on the trip, because we haven't yet found a good boarding situation. They were okay. We did not bring the dogs to the wedding.

Speaking of dogs, we brought Em's childhood cat home to live with us. She's been at Greg's and she was doing fine, but the older she gets, the less mobility she has and the more accidents she has, and we all felt like she'd do better in a small space. Since Em has the basement set up as a studio apartment, it seemed ideal. So far so good. I love that cat. Her name is Maggie. Yes, that brings our animal total to four.

We are getting the backyard fenced in. This will disappoint the herd of deer, but sometimes someone has to be disappointed.

Our first Collins Underground session is on June 19 at noon. We will have snacks. Right now we have two confirmed, plus us, and we could host up to four more easily. Cheat sheets are allowed for twos and threes, within reason.

We finished watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I enjoyed this show very much! We begin Firefly this week. I have not seen it at all. How far behind am I?

And writing. Everything is more important than everything else, somehow and somewhere. Right now, this is my important thing. Please, universe, hound me less. I'm trying some tricks to keep the baying at bay. I have a session at the library scheduled tomorrow morning. The universe will likely send children with balloons and rhinoceroses to knock over my peaceful table.

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a moment Monday, April 25th • 10:11AM

It's been one year since we lost Zelda. It's a weird thing, noting the passing of a puppy. She was hardly with us at all, it now feels like, and yet she was so loved, so amazing. When we visited Glo last week, we went out past the pastures to where we had buried her. We stood in the blue, shirt-sleeve air. Since Zelda's burial, Glo's beloved Pippin has also died, and his place is next to hers. Zelda's place is between horse Com and Pippin. It's a nice place, a lot of brambles. While I stood there, I could feel -- could actually feel -- the cold rain and the mud clods in my fingers and the hugs of my nephews. It was a replay and over in a second. That's what a place can do for you.

What a luxury, land to put our dogs in.

While I'm typing this, puppy Simon and puppy Annie "play" at my feet. Ferocious teeth and silly postures and occasionally my desk shakes enough that I have to grab my coffee cup. They need all my attention at the moment, or at least most of it.

They're not our children, not at all. We have human children. But they are with us and they need things from us and they give to us. I came down to the kitchen at the late hour of 9:06 this morning. Annie made it clear that I should sit on the floor, and she crawled into my lap and then defended my lap against Simon's attempts at king of the hill. It was very nice.

We have Curie's and Zelda's collars on one of the (many) bookshelves. Beloveds.

And we have these knuckleheads pulling on a 50 cent yellow squeak toy as though it is the only squeak toy ever made.

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Tuesday, April 5th • 9:41AM

I'm thinking about how to move forward blog/platform-wise.

I'm not happy with LJ. But more importantly I'm not happy with the way I blog on LJ. So I'm doing some thinkin' about how to do things.

[Cue hold music.]

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week streak Sunday, April 3rd • 8:59PM

We bought SEEDS.

That's the best time of year, along with feasting days, lake days, blizzard days, tournament days, and reading all day days. We'll wait to start them until the 17th, for silly schedule reasons, but we're ready.

I finished a good project and now have infinity minus one projects left.

We're heavily political now. We fight injustice and lies. We have more time than money, so that's what we are giving. I like it that way. Money is fine, too. I wouldn't mind more of that some day. But this is no lie: we have everything we need, including challenging projects.

Also, we're playing games, and I'm in a heavy win streak. I have more time for studying these days, for one thing, which does matter as we transition fully to the larger word list. I always draw like a fiendish fiend. You know, neither of us wants to lose. We are as competitive as two people can be. The streaks are interesting and make us remember to keep close off the board. Those of you who are also in relationships with folks who are close in skill level, I'm sure, know how it is. We love playing each other -- as long as we win.

And that's really how things are. We, I, he, us, this thing we build out of two ornery people.

1 comment(s) | Leave one

trainwreck Friday, March 25th • 10:12PM

Sometimes our kitchen games are amazing and top-notch.

Not tonight: I missed my opening seven, an easy one. He played his out in two in the wrong order. In response, I played a phony to go out. He did not challenge.

In between, we played terribly.

4 comment(s) | Leave one

Life updates Monday, March 21st • 1:37PM

I feel good. I could leave it at that and it would be perfectly accurate, but alas, I will write a bit more.

1. Today is back to real work. This includes all the things that go along with a writer's work -- weeding, scribbling, looking at cobwebs, following insane internet trails, and writing. It also includes three manuscripts that I've promised to give feedback on, and I will do that!

2. I'm not shy around scrabble people.

3. My bathroom is beautiful.

4. We finally and officially have no lawyers. (Don't hassle me! I can get one!)

5. SPRING. Spring is great. Achoo.

6. I visit my puppy soon.

1 comment(s) | Leave one

Tuesday, March 15th • 7:50PM

Eh, a tournament. One would think I'd be feeling at least a little jazzed about it by now. Mostly I feel unprepared, unmotivated, and unwilling. Someone send ambition brownies.

If it weren't a small division and if Collins weren't important, I'd definitely have canceled.

Meanwhile, the news is just so ... MUCH. There's so much news and so much un-news, and how do I know what is true in the vast twitter-storm of sense and nonsense out there? Who's to know? And yet I have to keep trying to know -- everything. All the news, all the facts, all the words.

Wurgh. I took an early bath and I might take another, just because it helps to put your fingers in your ears and close your eyes and be out of it all for a few minutes.

6 comment(s) | Leave one

Monday, March 7th • 3:55PM

Obviously, it was great to see Gloria this weekend, and it was amazing to finally meet Annie the puppy. Wine and cheese and windburned faces and crab cappellini, all of those were perfect.

But I loved the swimming pool. It wasn't fancy. The bathing suit wasn't fancy at all -- we found cheap suits at a wal-mart because of course none of us had planned to swim. The hot tub was the real goal. You know, a few gals, hanging around in a hot tub. But I was kind of wimpy about how hot it was, and the second night I went into the pool itself. Just being in the water, hearing the teeny waves hitting the wall, feeling the weird jets that are nothing like a lake -- I dog paddled around quietly and felt like I was an eight-year-old at the YMCA wishing the clock wasn't ticking down and that our session wasn't about to end.

2 comment(s) | Leave one

10 earlier

	Tuesday, November 1st • 9:06PM

Taking a break. I'll still comment.
Leave one

Numbers	Tuesday, June 28th • 12:28PM

Some goals for my 46th year: Walking: 750 miles logged. (There will very likely be more than that, but that is the official number I plan to log.) 2.5 Sunday, 2 Monday. I'll be lucky to get any in today or tomorrow, so there will need to be at least one big chunk this week. I may do an early 7 mile bit on Friday. When I was 28 or so, I did an EASY 4 - 7 miles per day. I want to get back to that. Bipedality is an important part of humanness. Words - writing: 200,000. I am not sure how best to log this. Certainly it is doable. But tracking is the tougher thing. What to include? Words - playing: I'm having a ball boggling again. The cobra dragon site does seem to have an updated TWL, but I'm a Collins girl, ya know? I didn't know a four in last week's Collins Underground session, and that was dismaying (and embarrassing). I will lock in fours through sixes this 46th year. Finances: Those dollars, they are numbers. I won't share them. However, I will share my goal. There is a credit card with my name on it, literally. We have used it for necessary things during our big financial months this year. This 46th year, I aim to cut that in half with my own hands. I don't know if that's reasonable, but it is my aim!
7 comment(s) \| Leave one

Jumbled update	Tuesday, June 7th • 11:04AM

I still haven't figured out where I'm going with blogging. Having said that: We've been really busy! We bought the townhouse we've been renting. Let me tell you, I was very worried about negotiating a price in this market -- with friends. Yes, it's a great time to buy. It's a terrible time to sell. I didn't want these negotiations to turn out badly, and they did not. I am pretty sure that everyone left closing satisfied that everyone else at the table did the best that they could. My stepdaughter got married. It was very very beautiful and nice and good. We brought the dogs on the trip, because we haven't yet found a good boarding situation. They were okay. We did not bring the dogs to the wedding. Speaking of dogs, we brought Em's childhood cat home to live with us. She's been at Greg's and she was doing fine, but the older she gets, the less mobility she has and the more accidents she has, and we all felt like she'd do better in a small space. Since Em has the basement set up as a studio apartment, it seemed ideal. So far so good. I love that cat. Her name is Maggie. Yes, that brings our animal total to four. We are getting the backyard fenced in. This will disappoint the herd of deer, but sometimes someone has to be disappointed. Our first Collins Underground session is on June 19 at noon. We will have snacks. Right now we have two confirmed, plus us, and we could host up to four more easily. Cheat sheets are allowed for twos and threes, within reason. We finished watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I enjoyed this show very much! We begin Firefly this week. I have not seen it at all. How far behind am I? And writing. Everything is more important than everything else, somehow and somewhere. Right now, this is my important thing. Please, universe, hound me less. I'm trying some tricks to keep the baying at bay. I have a session at the library scheduled tomorrow morning. The universe will likely send children with balloons and rhinoceroses to knock over my peaceful table.
1 comment(s) \| Leave one

a moment	Monday, April 25th • 10:11AM

It's been one year since we lost Zelda. It's a weird thing, noting the passing of a puppy. She was hardly with us at all, it now feels like, and yet she was so loved, so amazing. When we visited Glo last week, we went out past the pastures to where we had buried her. We stood in the blue, shirt-sleeve air. Since Zelda's burial, Glo's beloved Pippin has also died, and his place is next to hers. Zelda's place is between horse Com and Pippin. It's a nice place, a lot of brambles. While I stood there, I could feel -- could actually feel -- the cold rain and the mud clods in my fingers and the hugs of my nephews. It was a replay and over in a second. That's what a place can do for you. What a luxury, land to put our dogs in. While I'm typing this, puppy Simon and puppy Annie "play" at my feet. Ferocious teeth and silly postures and occasionally my desk shakes enough that I have to grab my coffee cup. They need all my attention at the moment, or at least most of it. They're not our children, not at all. We have human children. But they are with us and they need things from us and they give to us. I came down to the kitchen at the late hour of 9:06 this morning. Annie made it clear that I should sit on the floor, and she crawled into my lap and then defended my lap against Simon's attempts at king of the hill. It was very nice. We have Curie's and Zelda's collars on one of the (many) bookshelves. Beloveds. And we have these knuckleheads pulling on a 50 cent yellow squeak toy as though it is the only squeak toy ever made.
Leave one

	Tuesday, April 5th • 9:41AM

I'm thinking about how to move forward blog/platform-wise. I'm not happy with LJ. But more importantly I'm not happy with the way I blog on LJ. So I'm doing some thinkin' about how to do things. [Cue hold music.]
8 comment(s) \| Leave one

week streak	Sunday, April 3rd • 8:59PM

We bought SEEDS. That's the best time of year, along with feasting days, lake days, blizzard days, tournament days, and reading all day days. We'll wait to start them until the 17th, for silly schedule reasons, but we're ready. I finished a good project and now have infinity minus one projects left. We're heavily political now. We fight injustice and lies. We have more time than money, so that's what we are giving. I like it that way. Money is fine, too. I wouldn't mind more of that some day. But this is no lie: we have everything we need, including challenging projects. Also, we're playing games, and I'm in a heavy win streak. I have more time for studying these days, for one thing, which does matter as we transition fully to the larger word list. I always draw like a fiendish fiend. You know, neither of us wants to lose. We are as competitive as two people can be. The streaks are interesting and make us remember to keep close off the board. Those of you who are also in relationships with folks who are close in skill level, I'm sure, know how it is. We love playing each other -- as long as we win. And that's really how things are. We, I, he, us, this thing we build out of two ornery people.
1 comment(s) \| Leave one

trainwreck	Friday, March 25th • 10:12PM

Sometimes our kitchen games are amazing and top-notch. Not tonight: I missed my opening seven, an easy one. He played his out in two in the wrong order. In response, I played a phony to go out. He did not challenge. In between, we played terribly.
4 comment(s) \| Leave one

Life updates	Monday, March 21st • 1:37PM

I feel good. I could leave it at that and it would be perfectly accurate, but alas, I will write a bit more. 1. Today is back to real work. This includes all the things that go along with a writer's work -- weeding, scribbling, looking at cobwebs, following insane internet trails, and writing. It also includes three manuscripts that I've promised to give feedback on, and I will do that! 2. I'm not shy around scrabble people. 3. My bathroom is beautiful. 4. We finally and officially have no lawyers. (Don't hassle me! I can get one!) 5. SPRING. Spring is great. Achoo. 6. I visit my puppy soon.
1 comment(s) \| Leave one

	Tuesday, March 15th • 7:50PM

Eh, a tournament. One would think I'd be feeling at least a little jazzed about it by now. Mostly I feel unprepared, unmotivated, and unwilling. Someone send ambition brownies. If it weren't a small division and if Collins weren't important, I'd definitely have canceled. Meanwhile, the news is just so ... MUCH. There's so much news and so much un-news, and how do I know what is true in the vast twitter-storm of sense and nonsense out there? Who's to know? And yet I have to keep trying to know -- everything. All the news, all the facts, all the words. Wurgh. I took an early bath and I might take another, just because it helps to put your fingers in your ears and close your eyes and be out of it all for a few minutes.
6 comment(s) \| Leave one

	Monday, March 7th • 3:55PM

Obviously, it was great to see Gloria this weekend, and it was amazing to finally meet Annie the puppy. Wine and cheese and windburned faces and crab cappellini, all of those were perfect. But I loved the swimming pool. It wasn't fancy. The bathing suit wasn't fancy at all -- we found cheap suits at a wal-mart because of course none of us had planned to swim. The hot tub was the real goal. You know, a few gals, hanging around in a hot tub. But I was kind of wimpy about how hot it was, and the second night I went into the pool itself. Just being in the water, hearing the teeny waves hitting the wall, feeling the weird jets that are nothing like a lake -- I dog paddled around quietly and felt like I was an eight-year-old at the YMCA wishing the clock wasn't ticking down and that our session wasn't about to end.
2 comment(s) \| Leave one

Beyond Memorization