New hot water bottles arrived! They have cute little sweaters to keep them extra warm. 🤩 Now me and the kids each have our own again.
An unexpected new delight: Michelle Sagara's Shards of Glass. Magic school/dark academia, and no need to have read anything else set in that world first. Loving it!
Fiiiinally got my market list out, and replied to a few long-overdue emails. #Adulting.
Like quite a few folks, my mastodon 1st anniversary was a few weeks ago – some reflections from the ride so far...
Joined just prior to John Mastodon founding & naming the platform after himself, and have learned a lot from the always gracious JM
Appreciate how artists sharing their work plus community/mutual aid are welcome here (there are, of course, some turdslaws about it, h/t @genderlessinsults, so we should all keep encouraging both)
I climbed on the roof and put up Christmas lights! In Minnesota, getting this done before Thanksgiving is a victory, because soon ice and snow will make roof-climbing ... inadvisable.
SFWA weekly Zoom writing dates. Camaraderie + writing productivity = what's not to like?
My kids' Sunday School assignment was making protest signs and doing a peace march along a busy street, and that warmed my Mennonite heart. Very proud of them.
I fixed broken wiring on my desk's fairy lights (I NEED their light and hygge now!). It took 20 minutes and was very fiddly and I really thought I was going to fail, but I did it!
I scheduled a plumber to fix a leak in the basement slop sink.
I tackled editing the written-incredibly-out-of-order, missing bits, important beginning of my WiP's final act. Gotta get it straightened out before errors iterate.
I got my car back!! It's been 1 1/2 weeks, thanks to trouble getting a part for the old rustbucket. Highlights included an epic bus/walk to get my kid's school computer to him yesterday morning.
The unparalleled commentaries of noted giallo horror historian Tim Lucas (If you like horror and you haven't heard a Lucas commentary, treat yo' self!)
IKEA. Tins of Christmas ginger cookies are out! 😍 And their veggie dogs are sooooo goooood.
The feel of wrapping my electric lap blanket around my back and feeling that radiant warmth seeping in.
Made a new hoisin chicken stir-fry recipe using CSA veg. including mibuna greens and jicama (great sub for water chestnut), plus okra (fried) and ALL MY PICKY EATERS LIKED IT. Miraculous.
Wrapped up listening to all the Author Ad Challenge Q&A and bonus videos before they disappeared. Learned some stuff.
Friday! I didn't have to browbeat the kids into doing their homework that evening--I have the whole weekend for that.
I wore my winter coat to the kid's bus stop. So when I also accidentally locked myself out of the house ... I didn't freeze. It was only mildly inconvenient to wait for Phil's rescue with his keys.
Publication! A Halloween-themed quarterly anthology, including my "You Are in the Heart of the Corn Maze."
I went to the school's parent-teacher group and helped plan future things in the face of despair. Adulting! Also, I got to be Idea Person, one of the roles that I'm good at in organizations.
Misty autumn days. The best.
I am very grateful that my little robot vacuum goes and cleans up spilled cat litter so I don't have to!
Finally dropped my car off to have a broken headlight replaced (case broke last winter, though the light still functioned).
Vigorous discussion with spouse over lunch date. Good Internet vs. Bad Internet, differences from Doctorow's Enshittification Hypothesis. (How) can we fix it?
Stayed up till midnight to wrap up an Amazon Ads for Authors series of videos, and learned some new tricks.
We went to a jack o'lantern extravaganza that was SO worth it. Excellent for the season. I have so many photos, you can't imagine.
Getting kiddo to finish her homework just in time.
Sambusas and Somali tea in a little cafe while waiting for my kiddos to finish Sunday school. They were playing a loud livestream of an imam reciting in Arabic, so not sure I'd recommend it as a get-work-done cafe, but the food and tea was really good.
Watched the first episode of the new season of Loki with spouse, and it is AMAZINGLY CHAOTIC. ::chef's kiss::
Free carton of La Croix from my co-op, thanks to their "owners" freebie coupons. In my middle age, I have started actually drinking this stuff. Weirdness. But I love freebies!
Installing freebie curbside storage shelving under my kid's lofted bed, where it fits perfectly.
Took a very short bike trip to get my daughter to her free tennis activity. Not as recovered from Covid as I thought I was. It wiped me out; I slept until almost 11am today. But getting her--and me--on our bikes is still good.
Coffee shop writing and a ✅Pumpkin Spice Lawsuit (their version of a PSL, with actual pumpkin).
Watching Moonlighting (old TV mystery show with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd, now on Hulu) with the kids while folding laundry before bed. I'd never seen it before. Pretty fun show! The kids liked it too: I'm now forbidden from watching it on my own.
Bought a new phone to replace my broken one. Not the model I wanted (too expensive), but it'll do. Pixel 6 Pro, refurb.
Halloween decorating with electric votives + a dozen tiny jack o'lanterns.