Monthly Archives: October 2006

ESTC Update

Total word count, ESTC: 38,527
Total words today: 1,095

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
38,527 / 50,000
(77.1%)

Gods bless HRH for attempting to keep a very unhappy Liam occupied today so that I could get something done. I may have come in below my ideal daily quota, but I’m past this week’s goal, and a lot of today was taken up with mythology research, too.

And now, Scarlet and Blade (who are home from their Thanksgiving weekend trip to see family) are opening a bottle of Kittling Ridge icewine/brandy blend upstairs, and I can hear it calling my name.

More Thanksgiving Goodness

Liam learned a new word today: corn. Some words he picks up so quickly, and applies them with such immediacy that it makes my head spin.

He was a big fan of it, both raw and cooked. It made for a nice, positive part of an otherwise very unhappy day for him, poor kid. Everything seemed to go wrong for him. Even when we couldn’t tell how it had gone wrong, he made sure to let us know he was unhappy about whatever it was. He didn’t want to eat, or drink, or lie down, or snuggle, or play, or read, or anything we suggested. And inevitably, when he decided on something to do, we had to stop him because it was going to either hurt him (and the number of really bad bruises on the left side of his face already point to what a klutz he’s been these past two days) or something else (like the cello, for example, because one does not pull up on the bridge, or hit the instrument with the bow, or attempt to pull the points of the f-holes out with bare hands).

Corn on the cob makes everything happy, though, even if it’s just for a little while. And although I put him down wide awake, he seems to have been content to quietly read his books to Bun-Bun (the toy formerly known as Presto, AKA the Magic Rabbit; Liam calls him Bun-Bun and that’s good enough for us) and fall asleep on his own.

Helping Hands

Liam added three words to my MS today:

Nm n mmmm

Fortunately, he was stopped before he hit a key that had a more negative impact on the file, such as Delete or Insert or some combination of keys that tells the program to Kill It All Irretrievably.

Onward, ever onward.

Happy Thanksgiving

Fall is plaid flannel shirts, golden sunlight, and apples picked off the tree yesterday and handed to you by a farmer.


We are thankful for the beauty and the bounty of food that the earth provides, and for the farmers who bring it to us. We are thankful for the air we breathe, the water we drink, and for the fire that provides light and warmth in various forms.

We are thankful for friends and family (chosen and otherwise), for love and support, for freedom and (relatively good) health.

We are thankful for work, for time to play (even though it seems in very short supply these days), for snuggles and hugs, for cats who purr, for little boys who run and laugh, and for partners who are there to lean on.

And we are thankful for our spirituality, which provides a framework for expressing our feelings about the indefinable.

Thanks, world. You rock.

Random Facts Meme

Once tagged by this entry, the assignment is to write a blog entry of some kind with six random facts about yourself. Then, pick six of your friends and tag them; no tag backs. This explanation should be included.

I don’t do a lot of memes, but when I read a version of this one on Meallanmouse‘s journal a couple of weeks ago I wondered what I’d write if I did it. So when Kino Kid mentioned that she’d be interested in what I’d come up with, since I’ve already done the work, so to speak, I thought that I may as well type it out.

1. I own five copies of Jane Eyre. Every single one of them is different, and I own each of them for a reason.
2. I have very sensitive ears. They itch a lot, which makes me rub them frequently. They get very achy when there’s a cool breeze out, too.
3. I am mildly obsessive about three-second stops at stopsigns. The rest of the world is not. I hate feeling rushed when I’m on the road, especially when what I’m doing is legal and theoretically what everyone else ought to be doing as well.
4. I am very stubborn when it comes to taking medication for just about anything, but once I do, I’m committed to doing it properly.
5. I can’t stand to break a book’s spine, not even crease it by accident. The way around this, I have discovered, is to buy more books secondhand, because they’re generally already broken. Or to read more hardcovers.
6. When one of my favourite books is rereleased with a new cover, I have to fight the impulse to buy it all over again. (Assuming the new illustration is attractive, that is.) This is particularly challenging when the redesign occurs in the middle of a series.

I won’t tag others. But, as Roo said, if you feel inspired, go forth, my lemmings, and share…

Brick Walls

As if the last two weeks have not possibly sucked enough, today HRH woke up extremely ill and incoherent and spent the majority of the day in bed. I myself am remarkably weary of being sick; this cold is dragging on and on. Then this afternoon, when Liam and I reached the doctor’s office for his 15 mos appointment (which had been rescheduled three times already), we discovered that the doctor had been called out moments before on an emergency and the rest of the day’s appointments were cancelled. We rescheduled for next Tuesday, the only time the receptionist could give me.

Next Tuesday is, of course, one of the days I had to add to Liam’s daycare schedule because of the amount of work I have to do. So I lose one work day there. I’ve lost this Friday as a work day as well, as Liam’s grandma is out of town. And I have no idea what’s happening on Monday; I’m assuming Liam’s caregiver is not receiving, what with the statutory holiday and all. That makes for a total loss of three days, which is a week’s worth of work for me.

Is everything in the sky moving backwards or something?

When I went to draw a Tarot card last night, I saw that the last one I’d pulled around ten days ago was the Ten of Swords, the Yes, it really is that bad card. I should have known. But the Ten of Swords, while being not a great card initially, also encompasses the whole ending-is-a-beginning concept. So I’m watching for things to turn around and look up. I drew the Seven of Wands today, which suggests being successful in competently implementing what I want to implement (the specifics of which remain nebulous at the moment, but which generally include getting work done, and done well, and being on top of all the stuff I have to handle, and being not-stressed, and happy again).

So there. Yes. Tired of the bad and the crap and the sick. Ready for better things.