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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on Today at 08:12:20 PM »
This has been another lack of activity day, mostly because of depression issues leading to unreasonable fatigue and lack of energy, not to mention absence of interest in doing anything besides slumping down on the couch and closing my eyes.

This morning James’s overtime ordeal began.  He’s planning to do both the two early hours and the two late hours for at least three days, which means three 12-hour days.  I wish he’d do one or the other, preferably the early hours, for the whole week instead, but it’s not my choice, and I can still hope he’ll do the early hours on Thursday and Friday, which would give my need for routine what it requires to keep me on an even keel.  Even after all this time, I don’t think he understands how that works, or if he does, he doesn’t care.  I must say that knowing I wouldn't have to deal with snoring or alarms did wonders for my sleep last night, and I even completely slept through James getting up and out.

This morning my silly phone kept making a notification sound with no way I could detect to identify what it was notifying me about for the first several times.  Then I finally caught it fast enough and discovered that it was having issues with my wifi connection.  I had to go in and make sure it was connecting to our home server, which I really should have thought to do right after we got home from the phone store but didn't.  Now it's all set and hopefully will stay that way.

I've found another direction to go with developing character Flora's footgear.  I found a cute and reasonably priced pair of combat style boots decorated with skulls and roses that goes well enough with her skirt and isn’t eye-poppingly bright or crazy busy.  I'm thinking about donating the pair of plain black ankle boots I haven't worn in, like, ever when the new ones arrive so they have a place to live on the entirely full shoe rack. 

The net petticoat arrived today, and it's shorter and less puffy than I'd have liked.  I am planning to lengthen it, but that is going to be more of a project than it would have been before I opened up the hide-a-bed.  I'll need to get into the hope chest, and now instead of just having the TV and a bowl on it, it has the TV, bowl, laptop, keyboard, and mousepad with mouse and TV remote on it.  And the button I need to push in to unlock the lid is partially blocked by the foot of the hide-a-bed.  When exactly I'll tackle moving all that depends in part on how soon I get annoyed with having the skirt and petticoat draped over the back of my desk chair in the living room. 

Oh, and in an entry from the Stupidity File, I accidentally got rid of the email I'd been using to track the package with the Flora top and the little coin stands.  Fortunately I was able to go straight to my orders on Temu and specifically ask to get updates so now the package just has to do something that generates an update.  I know from past experience that if it fails to meet their delivery deadline, they’ll let me know that I have a $5 credit coming.  I still have most of a year to get the whole outfit assembled, so it’s not like a slightly late delivery makes any difference in the grand scheme of thing.

I had to rearrange one of the kitchen cabinets.  James got a bunch of soups of substance for the times when we can’t be bothered to make anything else, but he just shoved them in any old way, making it impossible for me to reach half of them or to tell what we have.  I moved a couple of boxes of stuff we rarely if ever need to get to up to the top shelf, took the soups off the salty crunchy snack shelf, and organized the soups so we can see what’s there, and not all the many cans of chowder are in the front, blocking the other kinds from sight.  I doubt James will notice, but I will when I decide I want soup for lunch.
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on Yesterday at 07:54:01 PM »
I doubt this will be much of an update because Sunday.  I did get good sleep.  It’s amazing what going to bed exhausted and not getting interrupted by either cats or snoring can do.  Still, that doesn’t mean I accomplished much.

This morning we had our next to last dance lesson, and it went well.  It was also fun, and it pulled me out of my depression, though only temporarily.  Dancing can do that for me in a way that few things can.  I wish James actually enjoyed it so he might be interested in finding more chances to do it. 

The bad news is that Melody might soon be looking for a job somewhere else because the warehouse job she’s doing now is killing her feet.  There is an office job where she and James work, but the manager isn’t exactly leaping into action to get her transferred into it.  I know James would miss her, and besides liking her as a person, I’d be sad to see our chance for more dance lessons after the Christmas party go away.

For the next few days James will be going to work early, which means I’ll be sleeping in the new-cat room.  That should mean that I’ll get some good sleep for several nights in a row.  The longer the better as far as I’m concerned.  Maybe that will give me enough energy to get things done, and in turn relieve at least part of the depression for a longer time.  I’m not counting on it, but I can hope.
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on December 02, 2023, 08:53:36 PM »
I don’t know how much of an update this is going to be because I’m so depressed I can barely stand myself.  It’s been one thing after another, including so much of what I see on TV reminding me of one bad choice or another I’ve made.  Sometimes I feel like I haven’t done anything right even though rationally I know that’s not true.

Laundry, which was my sole real responsibility for the day, went all right.  James got home before the time he told me he’d be finishing his work for the day, so he got to wait around for the second load to finish drying and get folded.

Then we went out to the Xfinity store, where we waited for what felt like forever because they were very understaffed.  Long story short, they changed a setting that should not reasonably have anything to do with the problem, but as of when we left there, the phone was working properly.  Neither James nor I is convinced that it’s fixed for real, and in fact we were talking about making bets about how long it would take for the problem to come back.  This is one time I hope we’re both wrong.

I was so frazzled that all I could manage on the story was a little bit of editing.  Then I did some reading instead.  Fortunately everything turned out to be readable, and even mostly enjoyable.

The issue of the Mensa local monthly rag with me as the spotlight was in today’s mail.  To my great disamusement, my name was misspelled in great big letters at the top of the piece.  Also, it looked like none of my edits were made.  That included things like removing a reference to me being a stepmother long after I no longer was and a mention of James liking dancing, which I would never have let stand because it is false.  I don’t know why the writer asked for input, and even commented on it when I sent it, and then disregarded it to the point of restoring incorrectness.  Not very bright from an organization of geniuses.
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on December 01, 2023, 07:41:45 PM »
This is probably going to be a short update because I’m beat.  Last night once I got to sleep, it was good, but I felt like I spent half the night poking James to get him to stop snoring.  For some reason he took forever to start using Facehugger.  After he did, life was much quieter, but by then it was too late for me to get enough sleep.  I suppose I could have napped during the day, but I’m always concerned about disrupting the next night’s sleep.

A lot of today was so dark that I thought about turning on a light, but by the time I finished putting it off, it was lighter outside.  We actually had enough of a clear, almost sunny period that I could probably have taken that walk to Kohl's, but I just couldn't force myself out the door.  I was also greatly demotivated by last night's visit to Temu.  I got on there because I needed another pack of little coin stands, but it insisted on a $10 minimum order, so I looked at other things and found a blouse that I think will be good for my character under construction for about $8.  It became an even better deal after they applied the $5 credit I had from the late delivery of a previous order.

The writing is progressing, though slowly, in spite of the depression, which was crushing again today.  Slow and steady wins the race, right?  I know where it's going, but the characters keep throwing in things I didn't anticipate.  Hopefully they're making the story richer and not just longer.

James will be working tomorrow morning, and he thinks it might be the beginning of the schedule change.  We'll see.  When he gets home from that, we have to go back to the Xfinity Mobile store because my stupid phone is blocking calls again.  I found out the hard way when I happened to notice that I had voicemail from my dentist's office.  When he got home, we did a test, and sure enough it was blocking him too.  I haven't changed anything, so I have no idea what the problem is, but they need to find and fix it.
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on November 30, 2023, 07:28:13 PM »
Here comes a short update for a nothing kind of day.  My sleep, helped out by a bit of adult beverage, was all right, though I woke up with an upset stomach.  Tonight I’m aiming at sleeping all by myself.  We’ll see how that goes.

My depression isn't quite as bad today, though it's definitely still slowing me down.  I managed to do a little bit of writing - just enough to finish the bit of scene I was in the middle of and lead into the next bit, but that's better than a poke in the eye with a rusty fork.  I was planning to do some reading, but somehow the time slipped away, and now I'm no longer in the mood.

I've decided to do my best to set aside any anticipation of a change in schedule for James and just proceed like it's any other time in his working life.  If/when that changes, I'll deal, but in the meantime I'm going to go back to getting on with business as usual.

The rain has started.  Today’s was a bit flaky for a while, but the predicted temperatures will be enough higher to keep that from happening again in the foreseeable future.  I’m hoping to find a long enough break for me to make a quick run to Kohl’s to see if I can find a top that’s appropriate for my character under construction before my 30% off coupon expires.
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on November 29, 2023, 07:30:20 PM »
Last night’s sleep was good again.  Also chemically assisted, which I’d like to be able to stop doing, and sooner rather than later.  I don’t like depending on anything other than myself, but lately I’ve been feeling like I don’t have a choice if I want to have a chance of getting to sleep.  For the record, insomnia sucks.

A big part of the problem is the situation with James’s work.  He did explain to me exactly what's going on, and unfortunately it's out of the control of anyone there.  The first missing piece is client approval to deliver an order that has been complete for several days, without which nothing is going anywhere because of potential trouble getting paid once the materials are out of their hands. 

The second problem is that the client company has not yet activated the SIM cards, without which the phones are just very expensive paperweights.  Interestingly, the client company is the same in both cases, but two different divisions that don't talk to each other are involved.  I have to think that big boss Kermit is pulling his hair out because he does care, and he knows what losing all this time will do to his staff once the issues are resolved.  That is, if they ever are resolved, and the client doesn't just cancel the contract, which hopefully has a hefty penalty for cancellation.

Meanwhile, my depression is kicking my butt, probably because I can't settle back into a routine until I know what his is.  This morning it was so bad that I could barely get out of bed.  Then my willpower failed me completely, and I gave up on going out for my walk.  OK, the weather was discouraging, but I'll probably live to regret the missed opportunity because we're supposed to be getting rain for the next week or more.  I've also mostly failed to do any writing, possibly because what's happening in the story is joyful, and I can't get my head to go there.

The speakers were in today's mail.  They're crap, and I am going to ask James to keep an eye out at work for better speakers of comparable size, but with what I paid for them, it's not worth the bother to return them.  As soon as I have replacements, the current ones can go into the Goodwill donation bag.
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on November 28, 2023, 07:36:40 PM »
I slept well last night, partly because of the half a CBD chocolate and partly because I left James the bed.  He went to bed at 10, and I moved back downstairs to avoid keeping him awake with the TV.  By the time I went to bed at 11, he was snoring too loudly for me to stand a chance, so I stretched out on the new-cat room couch. 

I discovered that I could leave the comforter folded in half in the right direction and be fully covered while having half of it under me to smooth out the place where the two couch cushions meet.  It also meant that I only risked uncovering myself on one side, so I had less shifting of covers than with the smaller blanket.  My sleep ended with Albus under the covers against my side, purring his face off.

James's schedule is still up in the air because of components they don't have and need to get on with the project.  I don't know how he's dealing with it, but it's driving me nuts.  Over the weekend he mentioned that one of the things they were out of was the velcro they use to tie up bundles of cables, and they were down to using twist ties, so I went through our collection of twist ties and sent him to work with the ones I thought might be long and sturdy enough.  That also gave me a chance to straighten out the rest and put them in a ziploc bag instead of having them running around the drawer.  They weren't all appropriate for cable bundles, but another department gave a good home to the ones that wouldn't do.

Our weather has definitely turned to winter.  This morning, when I did my first temperature check, it was -2, and we're only expecting a possible high of 8.  It might get warmer at the end of the week, when we're expecting rain, but still, brrrr.  I went out for my walk anyway, and I picked up two big things of peppermint bark ice cream.  It's a favorite of mine, but it's seasonal, so I wanted to stock up while it was available.  At the rate I eat ice cream, it should last for several months.

I did a bit of editing on the story, and I might do more this evening, but I didn’t add anything new.  I meant to after lunch, but I fell asleep instead.  There’s always a chance that I’ll get inspired after James and I separate this evening.  It’s not likely, but stranger things have happened.  If not, there’s always tomorrow.  No way will I not finish the story now that I’ve made it this far.  It’s just a matter of time.
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on November 27, 2023, 07:46:11 PM »
Last night’s sleep was mostly good.  The funky chocolate assistance worked with helping me get to sleep, though as usual I had some trouble getting back to sleep after my 5am pitstop.  A lot of that was feline related, since as usual the white cats had to do their whole settling down dance.

I waited for an extra hour before I went out for my walk because the temperature hadn’t yet hit 40 at 11, which has been my usual time.  It was still colder than I’m used to when I did go out, but it was sunny with very little wind, so it wasn’t too bad as long as I kept moving.  I stopped into Petco on my way back, but again there weren’t any adoptable cats to visit.

Yesterday evening James went to WinCo for something he was craving, and since he asked if I needed anything, I had him pick up some of my current favorite snack mix.  This morning I made my usual changes – cut off the excess bag and switched to a shorter twist tie – and I was disappointed to find that apparently WinCo has improved the quality of their twist ties.  With the old ones, the paper part that covered the wire came right off, which made them perfect to strip down so I can use the wire as a way to keep my smaller coins upright on their stands.  The new ties don’t clean up as neatly, though they’ll still get the job done.  They’re a definite improvement over the copper wire I used as a first try.

Today’s writing got me closer to the home stretch than I expected.  For the next installment I need to figure out how explicit to get with a sex scene – not very, I’m thinking, probably more sensual than otherwise.  I also need to read back and decide if I have things happening too fast.  It’s what the characters said they wanted to happen, so I’m disinclined to change anything.  I may have to ask for a second opinion as a credibility check.  And then there’s how much of the developing relationship I need to show before going to the happily ever after part.  I do have the end in my head, so it’s all about the rest of how I get there.

Just for fun, I searched on Shein for "crinoline", and to my surprise, I found the net petticoat for my new character in formation.  It cost the equivalent of half an hour of minimum wage work, so it was well worth ordering.  The description didn't include a length, but it's black and looks shortish, and even if it sticks out a bit below the skirt, it will look intentional so all good.
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on November 26, 2023, 08:06:54 PM »
Here comes a nothing update for a typical unproductive Sunday.  My sleep was OK but not terrific, so I started the day not entirely rested.  Hopefully that means I’ll sleep better tonight, particularly if I help it along with half a funky chocolate, which I’m tentatively planning to do.

Our dance lesson went well.  It was all review of our hustle, which we needed, and next week we'll be doing a quick recap of that and then adding to the tiny bit of waltz we learned at our last lesson.  James found out the hard way that wearing his thermal underwear at dancing was a bad idea.  He ended up pretty overheated.  Serves him right for not getting changed first.

I got today’s writing done.  Oddly, I found myself shying away from it, but once I started it went all right.  Tomorrow I get to the part where the active magic kicks in.  If I don’t get stupid about it again, I should have the first draft done by no later than the end of the week.  Hooray for progress!
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The Chamber of Secrets / Re: The Cat Room 2
« Last post by JudithC on November 25, 2023, 08:40:01 PM »
Not much to update about today.  My sleep last night wasn't all that, even though I had the bed to myself.  I had trouble rousing myself at my usual time, but I wasn't really sleeping either.  By the time James was awake enough to sit up out of my way on the couch, I'd washed my hair, filled my pill sorter for the week, put the first load of laundry in the washing machine, put clean sheets on the bed, fed the Cat, and started the coffee.

So far today I’ve failed to do any writing.  Most likely the problem is that I have trouble writing when James is around, and he's been on the couch next to me all day in spite of swearing up and down that he's going to clean up the garage enough to fit the car into it.  We had our first frost last night, and if he doesn't start putting the car away instead of using our outside parking spot, he'll be starting his mornings scraping off frost.  There's a part of me that does want to write, and I'm hoping that part will win before bedtime.

As of right now, we're set for a dance lesson tomorrow, but that can always change.  We're going to have to do a lot of reviewing because of how long it's been since the last time, but that's all right with me.  I've been short of energy, and I won't complain about having a lesson that won't take too much out of me.
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