Dear Diary

So much to do, so few spoons

Once again, the family predilection for doing anything else but cleaning has reared its ugly head. I'm going to be off my feet, making sure things are (a) ready for Christmas, (b) ready for my visiting Friendo, (c) going to stay that firkin way at least until Boxing Day.

AND I have the usual run of daily Instant and daily word count [no fears, dear readers, about Christmas happening on a Friday. I will catch up with my word count on the following Saturday. And possibly put in a few paragraphs extra on the Thursday before]. Every day before the big day.

Thursay's going to be pretty busy, in and of itself. Writing as much as I can before the shops open, going out and securing lettuce, mayonnaise, tomatoes, etc for the salad. Thawing the turkey, and the sausages for the stuffing, soaking the cranberries... Prepping everything and anything I can the evening before...

It's going to be a whirlwind.

At least I shall have Friendo to help me out and keep me going. Motivational Friendo is best Friendo for realsies.

I still don't know what I'm doing for sweets, but I suspect it's going to be instant frozen treats, care of Beloved's birthday gift of a frozen treat machine. For which I shall have to lay in as much fruit as I can get my hands on, and perhaps make some juice freezies for potential sorbet.

Lucky I know a place that does bulk juice for cheap.

I still have to bag up the cream I've frozen and set the next batch to freezing, then secure even more cream because people tend to like ice cream more than they like sorbets.

Payday. It's all happening on payday. And so is my Friendo's arrival.

Fun times ahead, dear readers. Fun, fun times.

Very much broke again

(Argh) Christmas gift shopping happened. It's a very cheap year, this year. For limited definitions of "cheap". Beloved secured Mayhem's gift at quite some expense, and since we have an "equal worth" policy going on, Chaos may yet have some catching up to do.

We might not be able to do that, this year. Ah well.

And, as previously noted in this blog, all the adults are getting artisinal herb products in a pretty little gift basket, this year. I feel kind

Still poor

The scratchie didn't win us anything. Boo. I had such plans for that $1K a week, too. It's not fair.

Ah, the wuzgunnas.

I was gonna buy air conditioning for the office. Save up and purchase my cosplay. Hire people to make sure the house is spic and span because I'm absolute pants at it. I was going to have money to spare for wardrobe emergencies, like the kids simultaneously growing out of their shoes. And clothes. I was gonna get a

Well hello!

Just unveiled a Christmas card from the nice dude we pay to mow our lawn. Which included a $5 scratchie with the potential to win us $1K a week for five years.

I haven't scratched it yet. I'm waiting for Beloved to awaken to share the suspense.

I know my luck with scratchies. Never have won anything greater than a free ticket. I came close, once. Only once. And then I confused a 2500 for a third 25000. That's it. That's my

Small progress is still progress

I didn't get everything done that I wanted to do yesterday. I got my daily Instant up. Of course. I got my five hundred words in.

I got some more chicken and I got dinner on.

And I got the floor cleared of the mountain of debris that had built up through collective apathy.

Today... if I'm lucky, I shall clean up the spare room a tad, make it nice for incoming visitors, and attempt to keep the cat out of it.

I have to push myself

I have a routine, now, for exercise. I can make myself do it every day. But setting time apart for the things that need to be done?

WAY more difficult.

I have to exercise. My future career as a writer kind of depends on doing something on a daily basis, whether I'm 'feeling it' or not. I have to apply the same self-enforcement to cleaning. And if I can drag my loving progeny into helping out, that would be brilliant.

Todays goal:

Coming soon...

I've been working on something of an epic Lorefic concerning the earliest days of my favourite automatons. And as soon as I'm done with another round of tech support for MeMum, I'll get right on back to finishing that monster off.

Then I shall think about a better title, chapter divisions, and correcting any extraneous minutia.

After that's done, dear readers, you get a bonus fiction, one chapter a day, until the story is done. With helpful linkages for navigation.

I'll have

Aaaah holidays

There's something about the school holidays that just makes me want to lie in until my back aches. At least I wasn't waylaid by Steamworld Heist, today. Just a solid dollop of The Lazies.

I want to take care of a drift of boxed debris as part of tidying up for Yuletide, but Beloved insists that all boxes going into the big shed must be sealed and labled. I'm thinking of making Beloved to it with my help. It's a cool enough

What has two thumbs and a copy of Steamworld Heist?

::Points both thumbs at self::

Yup. Me!

I got Beloved to help me tweak my 3DS's internet settings. Then I immediately purchased the game I've been waiting for ever since Steam Powered Giraffe and Image and Form games announced the collab they were working on.

...and then I spent a majority of my morning lying in bed and enjoying the heck out of it.

The music is fantastic (of course). The gameplay mechanic takes all the annoying things about shooter games out

Contemplating fixes

I've been working on an SPG lorefic for... well... quite some time. Ever since I posted that free plotbunny a while ago. It's getting immense. As fanfic is wont to do.

It's so immense that when I try to export it to my inbox, it cuts off just as Iris is trying to coax Peter into eating human food. (tiny spoilers)

I'm way past that bit. Way, way, WAY past that bit. I haven't done a word count, yet, but I'm fairly

Achievement Unlocked!

I made it all the way around the walk without needing my puffer this morning!

Alas, however I carry my brolly, it's going to hurt my wrist. Carrying it under my elbow actually hurts more because I have to wrap my arm around it for stability. I may have to make that scabbard, after all.

I'll look very silly, but at least my joints won't ache.

It's humid, this morning, and I'm feeling the heat. Air conditioning would be marvellous, but I

Lovely dawn, this morning

I woke up before it happened, so I got to see most of it.

Chaos' appointment went well enough. Regular appointments on a yearly basis with reports from other experts seem to be the order of the day. Finding said experts to suit my budget [$0] is going to involve a lot of running about.

Occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychiatry... I'm willing to bet that none of those are exactly cheap. Even with health benefits and whatnot.

So many 'Igottas'... I gotta

An ounce of prevention...

Weighs heavily on my wrists, unfortunately. The good old Bunnings Brolly is many things. Hardy, durable, reliable, engineered to last in high wind conditions, it opens with one button, it isn't a struggle to shut...

But it isn't exactly the lightest of things to tote around.

If you ever want a bargain brolly that's going to last you, get the big golf umbrellas at Bunnings. They only cost $10 and they look they'll last a lifetime. The place makes their money back

I learned some things, today

Well, technically in the last 24 hours since I last blogged. In no particular order...

An ounce of prevention is worth squid-all nothing if you don't have it with you
Plovers can defend their territory in family flocks
If you move while they're backing up for another run, you're out of the area much quicker
Asthma is a harsh master
We don't have enough cellophane to wrap all nine gift baskets
When getting bottles from a dollar shop, always buy a spare

Slow Progress

I took the precaution of packing a parasol on my morning walk. Alas, the plovers who perplexed me previously were not present to persist in piercing my pate. Ah well. Better to look a fool than be one.

So far, I have washed all the bottles [one of the larger jars did not make it through the journey home and I must then nip out and snag a replacement]. I have all my stuff lined up and I have a surprisingly large

Menu

A 3744-post collection

So much to do, so few spoons

Very much broke again

Still poor

Well hello!

Small progress is still progress

I have to push myself

Coming soon...

Aaaah holidays

What has two thumbs and a copy of Steamworld Heist?

Contemplating fixes

Achievement Unlocked!

Lovely dawn, this morning

An ounce of prevention...

I learned some things, today

Slow Progress