Hello, Monday. Only one more of you before Christmas. I don’t waznt to think about it. I haven’t been this far behind on the holidays since…well…it’s either been awhile or it’s been never. Oh, I’ve pushed things off to the last minute for reasons but I’ve never just thrown up my hands and said, “Uncle!” And yes, I will put down my coffee mug before doing so. I’m not total idiot.

I did stuff last week. It involved peopling. And lots of coffee once I got home. The good news is, the vampire at my doc’s practice was all kinds of awesome. Jake and I went while LG and Toby stayed home. Jake was, of course, a perfect gentlman and enjoyed his pets. Blood draw was quick and painless. My results all came back either good or excellent but for a couple of things. I figure Dr. Y and I will be discussing them tomorrow during my check up.

I’m trying to cook more these days rather than relying on quick, microwave-ready meals. It’s hard being creative and the same ol’ standbys get boring. I tried a Reuben casserole that was pretty tasty–toashed rye bread cubes, Swiss cheese, thin sliced corned beef from the deli, sauerkraut and 1000 Island dressing. I made chili. We had the leftover on tamales–bought not made. I can’t make tamales for love nor money, but many locals can do and sell them. Yay. Spaghetti. Yes. Cold weather food. I made beef stew yesterday, with cornbread. It was good.

I wrote a little. I fiddled a little. I found a chapter title and a song for it. I rearranged some scenes. I feel bad for Ariel. My total heart isn’t in this book and it’s not like any other character is screaming for me to write their book. I’m over 30K words into this one so I’ll keep chugging along. Hopefully, something witll happen that either inspires me or gives me a boot up my arse.

I listened to an anthology of shorts stories and novellas written by Anne Bishop across all of her worlds and some standalones. It’s an adventure. And not for the faint of heart. There are some very dark tales in the colleciton. A little humor. Odd bits and pieces. I would not necessarily recommend it as an introduction to Bishop’s works. I have no clue what I’ll listen to next. I have a Kristen Painter book queued. up and while I love Kristen’s whimsey, I’m not sure the headspace is in the right place. I’ll stare at my wish list and library and find something to occupy me.

Didn’t make soccer this weekend. Too cold for old bones and LG was under the weather. His team won their first game then lost to the #1 team in the league 0-1. Sunday’s game was thankfully canceled because the temps nver got above freezing. Brrrr. We did attend Stormy’s Christmas program at his school. Both dogs accompanied us and they were good. Well, Toby was mostly good. Jake kept a little-bitty entertained so her mom could watch her big brother’s part in the musical. Stormy was in the chorus. It was a cute show. The best part was the littles. They opened the show with some Christmas songs and the highlight was them singing and signing in ASL, “Silent Night.” I wish schools would teach all kids some ASL. Anyway…

I’ve sold FOUR books this month. That’s almost $10.00. Yippee.

And on that note, I need to start laundry and refill coffee. I have to people again this week–doctor tomorrow.