Work in Progress

I have not been posting lately, except for the onslaught of September birthday greetings. Things are just kind of all happening at once around here.

(1) My novel writing stalled out. I realized I had too much material for one book a while back, so I decided to plan for a trilogy. But then I didn't outline books 2 or 3, and lately, I've found all the stuff I should have moved out of book 1 creeping back into book 1. So I am taking time out to outline all three books. In the meantime, the novel 1 second draft ground to a halt. Trying to get back to that.

(2) Wanting to write other stuff besides aforementioned novel, I decided to take an online writing course through a local college. It started September 3rd. I am trying to keep my A-student, decades-of-writing-experience ego out of this, because it's been a LOOOONG time since I was a student, and the main challenge for me in this course is finding the student mindset again. Learning, not teaching, getting assignments done instead of bitching that I don't have the time. And courage, courage to let other people read my writing while it's still raw, and without the very act of making it public change what I write about. These have all been problems in the past for me.

In other words, my goal is just to pass the class, not get an "A." I am hoping writing classes will push me to be more interactive and social with my writing, allowing more feedback and motivation for more small projects unrelated to the Novel that Won't End.

(3) I recently got a new dentist, who insisted on fresh x-rays. So this fun week, I had a root canal on Monday, after which the endodontist said he would not give me a permanent crown until after I had the wisdom tooth next to it (the cracked one) pulled. So this morning, I had that tooth pulled. It was quick and non-eventful, except for the pre-procedure jitters and the--ouch, damn!--local anesthetic injections.

(4) I'm getting really tired of eating soft foods. I've been doing that all week. I think if I see another mashed potato, it will end up on someone's face. Still, pasta and apple sauce and soup's still the food plan for at least another three days.

(5) On Monday--yes, the same day as the root canal--the Phoenix area had a record rain storm, most of which landed squarely in the Tempe/Guadulupe area. In other words, my stomping grounds. I have been putting off a roof recoating for months because it never rains in Arizona. Monday, I had leaks in at least three windows and two roof lines. So now I have a wee-hours appointment next week for the roofers to inspect it and give me an estimate.

Dentist bills. Home maintenance bills. Tuition bills. And the giant Time Suck of Everything. Please to be stopping the world, I want to get off for a day or two? Thnks.Bye.

One of my New Year's resolutions is less a resolution than an experiment. I am going to try to rid myself of one object, thing, trinket, machine, doodad, tchotchke, whatever a day for the next year.

There are not many people who would accuse me of having a cluttered house--I don't think it's cluttered--and yet, I still wonder what it would *feel like* to live in a house that isn't full of what are basically useless distractions. Junk you save thinking it will "have a use someday" that sits there for years serving no purpose whatsoever, practical or aesthetic or entertainment.

The ground rules are pretty simple.

(1) The day's discard can be one object (say, one issue of a magazine), or a group of objects (all issues of that magazine),
(2) It has to go in the recycling or be donated to a charity/or Good Will, unless it's really truly biodegradable junk,
(3) It can't be anything I'm getting rid of simply to replace it with a newer thing that performs the same function.
(4) It can't be anything with a natural short life span, like fruit peels or paper towels.

So today's Thing is

(1) a basket full of silk flowers and plants.

In the immortal words of Bill Murray:

"I'm alive, and so are you...!"

At least for the moment.

I really need to get to those Christmas movies soon. Scrooged is one of my favorites. Who says its dated?! The '80's is vintage now, people. Other faves are Scrooge '51 and of course the Rudolph and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town* puppet-mations.


* Although have you ever noticed how that movie just makes up sh@t about the story behind different Christmas traditions--both pagan and Christian, all of which there is an actual real reason for and some of which is therefore kind of sacrilegious?



Today is the last day of work before vaca. Won't be back until next year. NEED this rest, I am so burnt out right now.


In other news, I am still working on PlotWriMo. And discovering, to my dismay, that my novel draft just completed in Oct does not have a plot. Or, I'm having trouble finding it. I need to cut myself a break, I think. Firstly, I decided back in Oct that the novel is really at least three novels, and secondly, this month I discovered early on that the plot to the draft I wrote is really the plot of book two, not book one.

So there is work to be done, pulling the elements of book one out of the draft and giving them a proper structure.


Speaking of structures, my new living room patio door is being installed. They are having to do it in layers (frame, stucco, drywall/trim, painting) so it's still in progress. I am photo-documenting all the stages and will blog on it later.


Christmas is proceeding apace. Like last year, me and mine are all gathering at my brother's house to watch his son open up everyone's presents. Then we will listen to the Messiah and attempt to assemble aforementioned presents, then we will go to the country club for dinner.

The only diff this year--well, two diffs: The Sculptor is joining us for the morning gift opening portion, as well as the dinner portion (which she did with us last year). Also, The Sculptor and I have been drafted to help my SIL play Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, wrapping all the kids' gifts and assembling a few she wants set up under their tree.


In the past few days, I have been experimenting with my planned cable-free lifestyle, trying out various apps on my Google TV for keeping up with my current shows. You can't watch the latest episodes in some cases the night they air on regular TV, but you can still keep up, so I think this may work. The real challenge will be figuring out how to tell Cox I'm down-sizing to internet-only without them trying to bully me into accepting a simpler cable package.

I set out my New Year's resolutions before NYE this year, but after a week of working on them, I want to scribble down a few first impressions.

( Writing )

( Home improvements )

( Work )

( Weight/health )

That's about the it.

For the first five months of this year, it seemed everything I did, every plan I made, was made with the ultimate goal of making sure that nothing, absolutely nothing, interfered with my Fabulous South-of-the-Border vacation. I manipulated people and projects at work so that when vacation time came, they'd have no reason to say I had to postpone. And that took some doing at times, I tell you. Working overtime. Planning ahead to start projects that hadn't even been assigned to me yet. Badgering the boss to hire more people, even to bring back people I don't like.

I pinched pennies and put off major purchases, I dabbled in story projects while obsessing about trip itinerary details, I had horrible, passing, secret wishes about the needs and emergencies of people in my life and the Sculptor's not becoming too demanding.

And then the vacation happened. And now it's over. Of course, I spent two weeks afterwards recovering physically and pouring through photos. But I finished that Sunday night, and suddenly, I have all this time on my hands.

But not really. I have things I was working on before that I'm not even sure how to get back into. My old novel, which really needs to see the light of day, my new story, which I'm only a couple chapters into. My house, which is always a work in progress.

There are are other things, but those are the three major ones, I suppose. Time to focus.

I decided to use one of these internet services that gives you a list of local (in this case) electricians based on the work you want done (installing a new chandelier). You enter your address and check boxes about what you need to have done, and they give you a short list of recommendations.

I do this, and as I am perusing the results deciding who to contact, my phone rings, and it's one of the guys on the list. Well, on voice mail, anyway. I didn't pick up the phone. It's kinda creepy.

Earlier this year, I bought a chair that felt fine on the showroom floor, but about killed my back after 8+ hours of sitting in it. All La-Z-Boy could do was offer to let me come back and pick out another one, and though it was a little better, again, hours and hours of sitting just added up to aches and pains in all sorts of places.

What it boiled down to was: it *is* possible for a piece of furniture to just be OVER-stuffed. And short of ripping the fabric apart and removing the big hunk of foam inside and getting it trimmed down, I didn't know what to do to fix it (other than return it and be chairless, or sell it and be chairless, or give it away and be chairless). I have been "getting by" for months by fitting a piece of soft cardboard between my back and the cushion. The cardboard pressed down on the cushion back, flattening/leveling it somewhat, and after time it molded to my back so it wasn't quite so stiff. But in the long term, that's a ridiculous solution.

I found a furniture repair place close to my home and finally had the guy in to look at my chair today. It cost a little money, and in the end I found out there was nothing he could do I couldn't do, but I had to observe him at work to know that.

The first thing I learned is the back fabric of the chair is nailed down, so you can detach it without ripping into the fabric itself. Then I learned all that "foam" I've been complaining about is actually this Dacron fluff, which can be pulled out in bits and pieces as big or small as you want. It was just so densely packed in it felt like one big hunk of foam.

So he starts pulling big hunks of fluff out, and shifting the rest of it around and having me sit in the chair and tell him how it feels. I swear that man took out a 13 gallon trash-bag's worth of fluff before I was satisfied.

And even then, I wasn't completely satisfied. I kept having him move the fluff remaining here and there and shifting it around, trying to keep it from bulging in weird places that I knew would make the part of my body resting there cramp up after a while.

Yes, I AM A PRINCESS, and that chair has a BIG PEA.

I asked him to leave the back unstapled/unnailed so I could keep adjusting it until I was satisfied. I'm fairly handy, I'll be able to get it the back fabric back in place when I am finally happy with it.

Every year, it seems, I undertake some major project in my house. In 2008, it was a new kitchen (well, cabinets and countertops and a paint job), last year it was the back patio cover, and this year I am contemplating getting the heat pump (combined AC/heater) replaced. Without consulting any paperwork I have buried in a closet somewhere, I am uncertain how old it is, but the inspector who looked at my house when I moved in indicated it would need to be replaced sometime in the next five years or so.

Now, a new AC is certainly a good investment in these parts, especially if it's one of those EnergyStar-rated ones that's more efficient. And this would be the year to switch, with tax rebates ending in Dec.

So I had a local company give me an estimate. They've been in the Valley since 1955 and are a member of the BBB, so I don't have any worries about the work they might do. And it would be speedy as well. It's just...those things cost a pretty penny.

Which I knew, except it's even more expensive than that. And it's not like the old one isn't functioning well. Just a bit inefficiently. And that just gives me pause.

Have you ever had one of those weekends that turned out to be pretty productive even though you didn't plan for it to be? Which is nice, but exhausting. It started out distractingly enough. Drinks with some colleagues from work to celebrate the birthday of one of my nicer co-workers (hence me actually attending). Also, there was birthday cake earlier in the day. ::Ptui:: We shall speak of it no more! Drinks were supposed to take place on Mill Avenue in Tempe so said colleague could make cat-calls at college boys in celebration of her 49th year, but we ended up in east Mesa. Which meant I was sort of obligated to run a few errands for the mom, who is now in a rehab facility in that area.

Mom flat on her back rehabilitating from hip surgery meant no breakfast with her Saturday morning. So instead, I finished polish-editing the two chapters of my old novel I had wanted to complete by this week and worked on my long-neglected library cabinet doors. Those of you following the saga of my home improvements might recall how I had these classic-looking oak bookshelves custom built by a carpenter two years ago. When he came to install the final shelves, he discovered the cabinet doors he'd cut were too big, and we decided he'd take them back to his workshop, cut them down, and return to install them, along with one remaining piece of crown molding along the top of another bookcase. I made the (in retrospect) mistake of paying him in full that evening, and that was the last I saw of him, despite repeated nagging emails. I did the last of the staining and poly-urethaning of the shelves myself, and then took the measurements for the cabinets and had some doors cut myself at Home Depot. But adding the hinge hardware proved a little challenging for me, because I needed the sorts of hinges that are embedded in the doors themselves, and I just didn't have the tools and know-how to do that at the time. And trying to add that last bit of crown molding was even more challenging, since it needed to be cut at an oblique angle that was not only beyond my tools, but was hard to wrap my spatial orientation brain cells around.

So I sanded down the doors to size, slathered on stain, and just shoved them in place without hardware of any kind (including door pulls) and just lived with them falling out from time to time, and that missing piece of crown molding, for two years. Well, this Spring I was determined to bring that era to an an end. Because now? I Can Haz Dremmel! I dremmeled hinge holes in the doors this weekend and last, stripped and restained the cabinet doors (so they look like real wood!), installed them on the shelves, and polyurethaned them. All that's left now for that is to add the pulls to two of the doors (the other pair c'est fin). Then it's onto the crown molding. When I was installing curtains in my library nook, I accidentally pulled down another piece of molding which also needs to be put back in place.

Saturday afternoon, I finally, FINALLY was able to get my handyman guy over to put my bedroom bifold closet door back on track and re-install the floating shelves in the living room I had accidentally knocked down. Now they are reinforced as well, which is good, because they have been a bit saggy since I moved in there. I swear handyman and handyman, jr. got that bifold door back on its track in ten minutes flat. Which was ::boggling:: because I tried for hours, with a friend helping me, and couldn't get the damn thing back in place.

Which just goes to show you that DIY can only take you so far. Sometimes, you just need to spend a buck and let the experts have at it. They took a little while longer getting the floating shelves back in place, but they were there and gone in less than an hour, which enabled me to segue right into my more relaxing evening plans. Which themselves were only interrupted by repeated phone calls from the mom listing things she needed me to bring with me on Sunday when I came to call.

But, because I am super-woman, I did indeed pay the mom an extended Mother's Day visit in the rehab place Sunday morning, with all her required items in tow. She also wanted to check her email and bank accounts, so I brought my work laptop over for her to use.

Also on Sunday, I managed to find my way back into my new story, which had sort of stalled out at the end of last week.

And now I am tired.