Sale!
It gives me great pleasure to announce that the short story “Night Without Darkness,” collaboratively written by Mark and me, has been accepted into Gears and Levers: A Steampunk Anthology, from Sky Warrior Books.
The ebook will be out soon; print publication date is as of yet undetermined.
Yay!
The Mysteries of the Garden
Weirdly, the weather is lovely, almost warm (well, okay, not freezing), and bright and sunny (well, until the sun went down anyway)–the point being, I went out to work in the garden a little while today. I was going to prune and feed the rose bushes.
But first, I had to trim the dead stuff from the pots on the deck.
Then, I had to trim and prune the lilacs by the side of the house.
Then, more lilac pruning. And more lilac pruning. And more…and, of course, yanking away the dreadful awful horrible vines that have infested the lilacs (and everything else).
Deeper and deeper I went, into the side bed. Pulling, pruning, weeding, yanking vines….ugh those vines!
Until…I found a rose bush I never knew was there!
Yes, that’s how badly overgrown my yard is: I’ve lived here a year and a half, and I discovered a rose bush today. And not a small one either. In fact it’s got long limbs going over into the neighbor’s yard. (The same neighbor my tree dropped on recently…well, her house anyway…she is very long-suffering, that neighbor.)
After two hours, the side bed looked pretty good, the “new” rose bush was pruned, and I had two huge piles of branches and vines. None of the other rose bushes are pruned, and nothing has been fed. Oh well! More tomorrow, maybe, if the weather holds.
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I’m not sure where all that energy came from. I had another bad night’s sleep last night; I seem to be alternating this week, good night-bad night. Which would mean I’m due for a good night tonight. Here’s hoping.
Part of the problem, when I was awake, tossing and turning, at 4am, was the jillions of things rattling around in my brain–things to do, things to figure out, things to take care of. So I’ve spent some time making a comprehensive to-do list–real estate stuff, writing stuff, life stuff. All together in one place. (Everything’s been so scattered!) I hope this will help. It’s a big list… :/
Productivity
Oh I got a lot done today. Though you wouldn’t have known it at noon, when I was barely started…but after that, I rocked!
The biggest thing is I built my realtor website. Wanna see? Here you go.
It’s quite simple, because, well, there’s not a lot to say yet. But it’s a start! And I’ll keep adding to it and making it better.
Oh the other biggest thing I did today was make it possible for my computer to have internet even when there’s no wireless network around. It’s something to do with the iPhone. I don’t understand it, but I could articulate it well enough that the smart people understood what I was asking for and told me it could be done, and how. Stay tuned…it’s all getting set up tomorrow. 
We’ll see.
Also I did a metric ton of yardwork. And went for a swim. And cooked dinner. And finished a freelance job. And watered the orchids. And took a picture of one of the new fish. He’s an algae eater, and also a stick.
I tried to photograph the fancy guppies (they are SO FANCY!) but they won’t stay still long enough for me to capture them. Sorry!
Ooh, it’s not even 10. Maybe I can do a little puzzle before bed…
Back To…
Ugh, so tired. I slept miserably last night, not sure why–it was one of those “who replaced my nice pillow with this bag of rocks?” nights. And when I did sleep, I had angsty dreams.
But, I got up and went to the office anyway, because, well, I must.
And I did a bunch of other things today too, which made the day full and busy, but none of them are interesting enough to share here. Trust me. Though I did learn about Energy Audits, and Home Inspections, and Paperless Open Houses, and copious meeting spaces. (See? I told you.)
I was going to work on my jigsaw puzzle tonight…but I think I may just crawl into bed with a novel and….zzzz…….
In the Wild
Yesterday, Mark and I were in the Fred Meyer grocery store up on Hawthorne, where we spotted this!
Right there on the shelves and everything! And what a gorgeous cover, I love the redesign.
So we went down to Powell’s to see if he could sign some stock, but they didn’t have any. Go figure.
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And now, alas, he has gone home. It was a lovely visit, ending all too soon–but, he does have another novel to finish, and I’ve got loads of work to do here (and in the office). Tomorrow is an office day, probably a long one.
And, hmm. Not much else to report. I was going to take more pictures of new fish, but I didn’t, and now their light is off (I have it on a timer), so, not tonight! Clearly it’s bedtime, if the fishes have already gone to sleep with the fishes.
Bubble
Someone used to complain, when Mark and I got together, that we’d retreat into a “bubble” and never be heard from.
Well, it’s true, I do spend less time at the computer when he’s here. But that’s because we’ve been so busy going out and doing things and seeing people. Not a bubble, really; just spending the time differently.
For example, yesterday we bought some new fish for the aquarium. Including a pair of cichlids. Here’s the male, who barely sat still long enough for me to snap this:
They’re VERY pretty. Unfortunately, they also eat shrimp. Supposedly, just the smallest of the babies; however, all the shrimp are so frightened, it’s hard to spot anyone.
Fortunately, they ALSO eat snails. I’ve seen it: it’s impressive.
We got a few other fish too; I’ll take photos when I can get them to pose nicely.
Then last night we went to dinner with Mark’s cousins, and then the four of us went to hear a friend’s band play. They were great! It was lots of fun, and we were up too late, and therefore getting a late start this morning afternoon.
I’ve already gotten help in the garden, and with some things around the house; more of those to come. This evening: a party at another friend’s house.
And there’s your peek inside the “bubble”.
Life Is Mysterious
So you’ll remember, perhaps, that I bought three personal-trainer sessions at the beginning of the year, because my gym had a sale and, well, it seemed like the time to get back on the health bandwagon.
I had my third session today…and was dismayed to see that I actually gained a pound since we started, rather than losing the three or four pounds that Young Mr. Trainer had anticipated.
So we talked some about diet, and frequency/intensity of exercise; and then he worked me like crazy; and then I went for a little swim after that; and then I came home and ate cookies.
I have NO IDEA why this isn’t working. 
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Further evidence against Beatrice: she spent quite a bit of time lurking at the back of the tank today, where I couldn’t see her, even though she must know how worried I am about losing her. Eventually she got tired of that game and flitted out to the front again. Little devil. I never realized how truly evil she is.
At least her tail is all healed up. (I think Morris was harassing her badly; she would frequently show up with a split or frayed tail.)
Here she is, the vixen, with a bonus juvenile shrimp (can’t really call them babies any more!)
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Tomorrow, for the first time in I can’t even remember how long, I don’t have to set an alarm in the morning!!! The real estate business has turned out to be surprisingly morning-centered, at least as far as meetings and seminars and the like go. This morning I had to get all the way up to the Lloyd Center before 9am. Merciless, I tell you. Merciless.
Well, It Isn’t The Water
I took a sample of the aquarium water in to the fish store today, where they tested it and pronounced it just fine. So, Morris did not perish of bad water.
(And they asked how everyone else in the tank looks, and I said they look fine, but Morris looked fine until he didn’t, so how do I know?)
The aquarium-store lady said maybe Beatrice got tired of being harassed, and whacked him. Actually, she didn’t say it quite like that, but that was the gist of it.
Later I told both Mark and My Dear Miss Q about it, in separate phone calls, and they both said the identical thing: “Beatrice poisoned him!”
So, Beatrice, I’m watching you. Don’t get cocky. Just cause you haven’t gotten hauled in yet doesn’t mean you’re not a suspect.
Everybody Knows.
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I had strange and unpleasant dreams last night, including one where I’d hired an extremely inappropriate person to be my literary agent. Said person began acting as this person does in real life, and I was thinking, What have I done? This isn’t making anything better! Having no agent at all would be better than having this person as my agent!
Then I woke up way too early and went to work.
First Aquarium Death
Morris the Catfish, RIP.
I don’t know what happened–he was fine earlier today–but this evening after feeding time I noticed Beatrice flitting all about, and I realized I hadn’t seen Morris in a while…he was back behind his favorite piece of petrified wood (shown in the picture), and the shrimp had already found him.
So I’ve made with the ceremonial flushing, and there is much sorrow.
Although frankly? He was kind of a bully. In fact, I’d have put long odds on it being Beatrice I would lose. He was always chasing her around the tank, and her tail was always frayed.
Maybe she’ll have an easier time of it now.
Anyway. Sad. It’s not like he was a cuddly pet and sat in my lap or anything, but…I named him. He had very bright eyes, and an attitude. He was supposed to outgrow the tank and have to be given back to the store eventually. He was a living creature, and now he’s gone.
Jumping Through
I’d stopped doing Ashtanga months ago, because my back was hurting; but then I recently started trying to do it again. As I think I mentioned. At first it was hard, it was like I’d never done the practice before. Then it got a little easier, but even when I got more comfortable with it, my body had forgotten how to do jump-throughs.
Frustrating! It had taken me years to learn jump-throughs! They’re such an essential part of Ashtanga.
Oh well. I did the rest of the poses, and thought about how I’d teach myself how to do them again.
This morning I was doing the practice, and had decided not to even try jumping through. I was thinking about something else entirely–nervous about real estate, I think–when I suddenly noticed I was sitting on the floor, my feet out in front of me. Oh, I realized. I just jumped through.
My body had remembered. I just had to stop focusing on it.
Of course the next ten times I tried, I couldn’t do it. I was thinking about it again–overthinking it. But that little breakthrough was enough, that little somatic memory, because eventually I found my way back in, and by the end of the practice, I was jumping through as if I’d never stopped.
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It was a day of other accomplishments too. I broke up a lot of butterfly bush and filled the yard waste bin; then pruned the second bush as much as I could. There are a few branches I can’t reach. I just need to be a couple of inches taller…or, hmm, have someone a couple of inches taller visit me in a few days. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.
And lots of stuff in the house; and freelance work; and aquarium maintenance; and real estate homework; and even some all-important lying-on-the-couch-and-reading. A good Sunday.