I Won!

This afternoon after hours of struggle I topped 50,000 words and won National Novel Writing Month. Hooray! I'm only over by 148 words but I made the goal and I'm so glad. I didn't work out the thorny racial problem that stopped me for a day or two but I think I'm on the way to a solution.

In the morning I made Asian Turkey Meatballs. They don't have any sauce yet; they get drizzled with Hoisin Sauce or Sweet Chili Sauce when it's time to eat them. And I managed to make one extra meatball so that I have seven servings instead of six. Last time the recipe made 20 and I need 3 for a serving so 21 worked.

We've had two sunny days in a row and the temperature has crept over freezing so the driveway and the backyard snow is melting. Hooray! It got all the way up to 45 today so I could have gone out for a short walk but instead I trooped up and down the stairs carrying portions to the freezer and doing loads of laundry (I'm really low on socks).

This afternoon's recipe was Chicken Breasts Pierre. This is one of my favorite recipes and it's so easy to make. Just flour and brown the chicken then mix in some stewed tomatoes and a few spices, simmer, and ta da! Supper!

I almost forgot to draw today but I pulled out my sketchbook and the pens, then surveyed the cover of 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and found these three figures to try my hand at. I think I like them all.

--Barbara

Cooking Up A Storm

It was warmer today, got all the way up to 39 degrees, and I felt the change when I went to the grocery for fruit. But mostly I stayed indoors and cooked. First I made a batch of Curried Chickpeas. They smell so good and they taste good too. Before that I remembered to cook up a batch of brown rice and I remembered that my green-handled scoop dispenses 1/3 cup so I don't have to use a measuring cup.

Once the chickpeas were simmered, portioned out, and in the freezer I carried up the slow cooker to make a new recipe--Crockpot Chicken Chili. This was an easy one and the only slow cooker recipe in this bout. The hardest part of the prep was chopping the onion, the rest was all open cans and dump. At the end I tonged out the three chicken breasts, shredded them with forks, and put the shreds back into the soup. I'm going to use this soup for suppers once my current Investment Cooking portions from the August bout are finished, just for a break.

The Zentangle of the day is another uncomplicated one. I had a hard time figuring out the leafy sprouts around the pinecone looking thing but I managed to get some ink on the paper and made up the vine over the top corner. The vine in the book was way too complicated for my day.

My final recipe of the day was One Pan Mexican Beef & Rice. It's a simple skillet dish made with minute rice and a few other easy to assemble ingredients. So that's three of eight recipes done today. I did better than I thought I would. I'm hoping to accomplish two tomorrow.

Once the cooking was done and the dishes (mostly) washed I came back here to tackle the day's word count. Once again I didn't have a clue where to begin but I jumped in and eventually hit my word goal for the day. Tomorrow is the last day of NaNoWriMo and I will hit fifty thousand words. Many of the words aren't worth the powder to blow them up but they're words, I wrote them, and I'm counting them.

I've gotten on a Gatorade Zero jag since my intestinal bug last week (looking to stay hydrated) but I think that it might be a bad idea. I realized today that my lower legs and ankles are swollen and I checked to see how much sodium is in Gatorade. A lot. Maybe I'd better scale back on the Gatorade. Watermelon chunks have mostly disappeared from the grocery so I'm now eating pineapple chunks. I know that I've bought a lot of fruit from Metro Market because I looked on the app today and bowls of fruit chunks were the first three items it offered me. So predictable. But I love eating it!

--Barbara

Shiver

I got smart and wore a knitted beanie (along with my winter coat, wool socks, and mittens) when I went to the grocery this morning because the thermometer in my car said 16 degrees. Six. Teen. Brr. This was the biggest shopping trip since August and I was pleased that I took my time and didn't get too tired out. Tomorrow I start cooking.

I took a look out at the birdbath this morning and realized that half of the water had been condensed into ice so I had to go out and fill it up so that the heater doesn't quit. It didn't take long for the water that I poured in there to freeze, leaving just the bit around the heater liquid.

Today's zentangle is a different one, not as busy as previous ones, but I like the leafy bits and the shadows on the box shapes.

Man, did I struggle to get to 2k words today. I started before lunch and spent a few hours writing and thinking and writing and thinking. I will confess that the first hundred words today were stream of consciousness instead of story but  I'm just relieved that I managed to hit my word goal.

--Barbara

The Coldest Day

Since March 18 according to the Spectrum weather guy this evening. I took his word for it and didn't go outside but I have to go Investment Cooking shopping so I guess I'm going tomorrow. Ugh.

The Christmas cactus is blooming. Too bad that it's on one of the lowest branches so it's kind of laying on the counter. I scooched it over to the edge so it has room to hang down. I wonder if the bud will bloom or if it'll just hang there until it dries up like they usually do.

I love the way today's Zentangle turned out. These tangles I can draw with ease (I don't know why) so it made it easy for me to make something that looks good.

Then I decided to draw a mermaid. She's a little pudgy looking but I like her tail a lot.

Today was the first day of NaNoWriMo that I didn't have a chunk of an old manuscript to build off of. And I calculated how many words I need to write every day to make the 50k goal. Almost 2K a day. Yikes! I managed today but I worry about what I'll write about tomorrow and the next day and the next day.

I went downstairs and sorted the laundry. There was a lot more of it than I thought there'd be but I shouldn't have been surprised because I'm running out of socks. Naturally I didn't go downstairs until late in the afternoon so I only did one load. I'm saving the other loads for later in the week. I am not a fan.

--Barbara

Not What I Wanted To See

I noticed that it was bright outside when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. You know what that means, right? Snow. We got a little over an inch of wet, heavy snow. I left it, didn't shovel it. I'm hoping that the sun comes out in the next few days and melts it away.

Yesterday I got a text from CS and she was looking for someone to knit with at Zambaldi today. I didn't have any plans so I met her there after noon and we spent a couple hours knitting and sipping and chatting. I had root beer today instead of beer beer. Just wasn't in the mood.

I finished the ribbing brim of the One Skein Beanie and started the body of the hat. I like this yarn. I like the colors and it feels nice.

I ran out of old manuscript today, added a few hundred words (mostly drivel), and made my daily count. Now I have four more days to go and need just under seven thousand words to go. Yikes! That's a lot of words, more than I thought I'd need, so I'd better come up with a few ideas and fast.

Went through the recipe binder and pulled out seven recipes for Investment Cooking. I will confess that I am not really in the mood to spend the next week cooking but it has to be done so I made a shopping list and will go to the store. Maybe tomorrow. If it hadn't snowed I was thinking of getting a family pack of chicken breasts, marinating them, and grilling them so that I could delay cooking for another week or 10 days but it snowed and the grill isn't really usable. Part of me wants to try broiling them instead just to avoid cooking.

--Barbara

Brr

You know, I hadn't really noticed how warm it has been until yesterday when it never got above freezing all day. It didn't get any warmer today and it's supposed to start snowing just a little in about an hour and continue through tomorrow until early afternoon. I am not psychologically ready for snow.

 

Chickadees visited again today and I managed to snap a picture of one that's actually nearly in focus. Yay, me!

 

I turned to the next Zentangles page and dived right in. Those roundish, bulgy shapes are weird but I think that I drew them better this time. I like the little spirals and I really like the long, grassy shapes that are dangling from the bottom of the spirals. 

Last night I wished that I had another knitting project to switch to so I spent some time on Ravelry looking at hat patterns and at the yarns in my stash and came up with a free One Skein Beanie pattern and this lovely Araucania yarn. I bought this yarn to make a shawl out of about 10 years ago and you can see how far I got with that idea so one of the two skeins is turning into a hat. This yarn is lots thicker than sock yarn and the needles are three times the size so progress will be more noticeable.

After lunch and a power nap I got busy and got my NaNoWriMo words written. For supper I finished the leftovers that I brought home from Thanksgiving (sniff!) and the free pie I got from my Edw. Jones broker. I didn't make the pie last as long as I planned to but now the temptation is gone and I can slot the can of Reddi Whip back into the rear of the fridge until the next pie emergency.

--Barbara

Icy

The sun was shining brightly when I got up this morning but it sure wasn't warm outside. At all. All day. I think it might have gotten up to 31 degrees in the "heat" of the day. I know this because I kept checking the temp on my phone and the birdbath never fully thawed. There were a few Chickadees darting around the feeders and this one made a stop at the birdbath. You can see that the birdbath is half frozen. *sigh*

 

The biggest Christmas cactus bud is just about ready to open. The second biggest is lagging behind and a few of the bud nubbins are slightly swelling.

Since I didn't draw at all yesterday I decided to knuckle down and draw Zentangles today. I paged back to Day 4 and tried my hand at the three "new" tangles on that page. I did okay. My Micron 01 pen is running out of ink so it's hard to draw with. I need to dig out a new one.

Then I tackled the Zentangle that incorporates the new tangles and a few older ones. That time I used the Micron 03 pen which makes a slightly thicker line but has a lot more ink. That made it easier to draw with. I sorta like the way it turned out.

I got royally tired of knitting the Summer in Monaco Campfire sock on DPNs this evening so I knitted the sock onto a circular needle for Magic Loop and it started to go a bit better. I hoped that the yarn might make stripes but it isn't and it isn't pooling, just random color which is making it challenging to see what stitch I'm supposed to be knitting. But I'll persist because I'm stubborn. But I also might dig out some other, thicker yarn and knit a hat or something on bigger needles just to give my hands a break.

There are six more days of NaNoWriMo to go, I'm just over 40k words, and I'm going to run out of the old manuscript before the end of the month. I have an inkling of what I'll write to fill in when that runs out. I hope I can manage to hit 50k by the 30th. Fingers crossed, but not too much because it makes it hard to type that way.

--Barbara

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a bright sunny day today in Green Bay, perfect for driving a ways across the state to a perfectly lovely Thanksgiving celebration. All but one of the usual suspects were there and she was only missing due to a migraine. To make the day perfect all around, the local professional football team won its game today (against all odds). I was worried that the influx of all that rich food after a week of abstinence wouldn't be good for me but I've survived in good shape and even managed to ingest a sliver of the best pecan pie that KZ has ever made.

 

 

The onion bread was a big hit. In fact, I managed to palm off the bag of slices that I took with me because one couple must have tried it for the first time and fell in love. Since I have another whole loaf in the freezer it was easy to be magnanimous. I clued them in that it makes great toast too.

I didn't draw today, I don't know why, I had time, but I did write my NaNoWriMo word count before I left for Thanksgiving.

--Barbara

So Much Better

Day 8 is the charm. I knew that viruses take about seven days to run their course and today proves it. I woke up with more energy than I've had for days. And I stayed awake all day. All Day! I haven't stayed awake all day for a full week. Yay!

After lunch I got out the Kitchen Aid mixer and the Breads cookbook and made Onion Turbans. It's what I always take to Thanksgiving and I wasn't sure I'd have the energy or endurance to get the job done this year. But I managed it by taking lots of sit-down breaks and going slow. Here's a peek at them on the second rise. The house smells great.

I thought I'd try my hand at drawing a page of Lionfish. This is not my best effort. The third one from the top isn't bad, the rest are dreadful. Sorry to inflict them on you.

We had a beautiful sunset this evening but I didn't get a picture. Oh well.

I just checked my email and the 15-Minute Checkpoint audio arrived for Better Than Mom's this evening so as soon as I get this blog post posted I'll be going over to ACX and listening to it. This is so exciting.

--Barbara

Slow But Sure

I made it down to Edw. Jones this morning to pick up my annual pumpkin pie and visit with CLM and JN for a few minutes. Then I went to the grocery for a few things. I thought about using a scooter but didn't want to have to drive it out to the car and then back into the building so I grabbed a cart, scanned the items as I shopped, and checked out. And I only forgot one thing--cheese. I admit that I forgot to put it on the list and there was no way I'd remember it otherwise, I was glad to make it through at my snail's pace. I treated myself to a can of Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup for lunch and will make it last for two meals. Yum. It's been years since I've had that.

It was drizzling when I woke up this morning and spit and sputtered most of the day. Nothing too rainy just enough to be annoying until late in the afternoon (well, if you call 4 o'clock late) the sun came peeking out and changed the look of the day.

The Zentangle of the day isn't too bad. The ball-and-stem thingy, called a poke root, that I have trouble drawing didn't turn out badly this time.

I'm still falling asleep at odd times but feel like I'm getting better. At least I'm comfortable eating something other than yogurt and applesauce. I'm going to try my hand at making onion bread tomorrow since I make it in the Kitchen Aid mixer and don't have to stand and knead it by hand. I can't just show up at Thanksgiving empty handed, that would be rude. Maybe I can even stay awake all day!

--Barbara

It's Official

I have the lingering crud that's going around. I saw the PA this afternoon and all I have to do is bundle up to stay warm, take naps, and wait it out. She said that I'm no longer contagious but I'm still falling asleep at odd times. I woke up feeling almost normal this morning but a little activity and I was back to being exhausted. Stupid virus.

There were lots of birds in the backyard this morning. A huge flock of Starlings landed all over the grass, all with their heads down, pecking at whatever they could find. They didn't stay long and, man, was it loud when they all took off at the same time.

The Downy Woodpecker visited and managed to hold its own when the Sparrows tried to share the suet cakes. He would poke his beak at them and drive them away.

I pulled out 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly, or Things With Wings, and I was too lazy or too tired to turn the page so I drew five different beetles. I like them all.

I have managed to keep up with NaNoWriMo while being sick. It takes me longer to get to the word goal but I'm persistent and I'm making it. Ideas are hard to come by but I'm managing. Ten more days.

--Barbara

I Must Be Getting Better

Because I didn't fall asleep every time I sat down today. I called the tele-nurse from my insurance company and she's advised me to call my doc tomorrow just to be safe. I want to feel better. Wah. Still no leaf blowing. Oh, and I took a CoVid test and I don't have that.

I finally managed to take a non-blurry picture of a bird today. This male Sparrow had a find time on the suet cakes. He repelled boarders and other Sparrows wanting to share. He must have taken lessons from the Cardinal.

The two biggest Christmas cactus buds are hanging in there and getting bigger by the day. There are lots of little bud nubbins in other places but they're staying small so I don't hold out much hope for them.

I tackled the second Zentangle today and it turned out better than yesterday's effort. I think I need to dig out one of those paper smudger things and soften the pencil shadows on the edges of the tangles. I'll try that tomorrow.

Had a nice long phone visit with Lala this morning. She read me a story she's working on and we talked about it. Then I told her about the racial roadblock I've run into in NaNoWriMo. It occurred to me the other day that my beloved Iggy is the only native that isn't a subordinate character and I can't figure out how to handle it. Would this bunch of tight-lipped British expats accept him into their circle? I suspect not. Gah!

--Barbara

All My Birds Are Blurry

I took pictures of a Junco and a Chickadee today and they're both blurry. I suspected that the Junco would be blurry but hoped that the Chickadee would be in sharp focus. Nope. But then I don't feel like I'm in sharp focus today either. Although I did get dressed and learned that sitting around for three days feeling sick does nothing for my leg muscles. Got no endurance--again. Of course if I stayed awake for more than an hour I'd move around more. Whatever this is that I have I'm not enjoying it. I don't feel particularly sick anymore, I can eat a few things, but I'm not up to par. I have faith that this will pass. Soon.

Okay, here's the first blurry bird. It's a Junco. When I picked up the camera it wasn't the only one there, it was also in front of the crooks. Uncooperative bird.

Then there's the Chickadee. Blurry again. It landed on the birdbath, I shifted the camera, thought I'd focused, and snapped the picture. Nope. Blurry.

And I managed to execute a Zentangle. It's not a great one, it's the first one in the book, and while it's the simplest one, I didn't do a very good job.

I managed to knit three rounds on the sock this evening. The pattern doesn't really show much considering how variegated the yarn is but I'll keep going. I feel like I'm ready to fall asleep again. Maybe I have sleeping sickness. Nah, probably just some annoying virus that's taking it's own sweet time going away.

Enough whining.

--Barbara

More Lolling

Still not feeling great but I think I'm getting better. I was hungry today. That's a good sign, right? DS dropped off some OTC meds to hopefully speed things along--or slow things down. You get the picture.

The suet pellets were popular today. First this Chickadee and a few of its mates were flitting around the feeders as they do, and this one lit on the suet pellets when I had the camera up and ready.

Then the Sparrows invaded and one of them laid claim to the suet pellets. This isn't a very photogenic pose but he was having a lot of fun.

Between naps I drew. I wasn't in the mood for much concentration so I pulled out 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and drew these. I like the nest but I like the rosebud too.

At Friday Night Knitting I finished the Blue Green Dishcloth. I didn't manage to finish the yarn so I've got the first small leftover ball to use when I gather up enough to knit a whole cloth out of them.

There was still an hour of knitting left so I cast on a sock cuff with the Summer in Monaco yarn in the Campfire pattern so this sock will be the same yarn as the previous one but not the same pattern. There's a lot of this yarn left from knitting one sock so I decided to see if I couldn't use up more. I like the colors.

Sitting on my duff feeling lousy the last few days has done nothing good for my leg muscles. Hopefully I'll feel better enough tomorrow to get dressed and go out with the leaf blower and clear the front yard. I'll try to make that happen.

--Barbara

All I Did Was Loll

Still wasn't feeling great so I spent most of the day dozing in a chair. I did force myself to come back here and write for a little while. Didn't get 1667 words but almost. I just ran out of steam.

Even drawing was a struggle. I managed these two new tangles, kinda, but not my best effort.

Then I tried my hand at another tangle off the cover of the book. It's okay. Better than the last time I tried this one.

The worst part of not feeling well was I had to miss LC's play performance. There was just no way I could go. Dammit. Maybe someone videotaped it.

--Barbara

Not Feeling Great

I expected to wake up feeling warm and better. I didn't. I don't know what kind of crud I have but I'm not enjoying it. I made the mistake of eating lunch for supper and that's making a swift exit. Good old Pepto to the rescue. I hope.

My audiobook producer got the corrections made today and sent them back to me to listen to. Everything was correct so I approved the production, she sent me her invoice, I paid her, and now ACX/Audible takes the next 10 days to do Quality Assurance, and then it will be available for purchase. Wowie!!!!!

The female Cardinal spent some group time on the platform feeder. She's much more agreeable to having other birds on there with her. She didn't pose very nicely but you can kind of see her.

This House Finch male was one of the birds that kept flying over to join her on the feeder. She didn't tolerate him as well as she tolerated the females.

I can't remember if this is Day 20 or 21 of Zentangles. I had a hard time drawing these but then I wasn't feeling great.

 

The Christmas Cactus buds are swelling. There are tiny nubbins of buds on a lot of the leaves but these two are the biggest.

I tried taking a walk today but didn't get far. One of these days I'll catch my breath and be able to go farther than two driveways away from home. I'm trying to drink more water thinking that might help my legs stop cramping. I feel like I'm getting worse instead of better.

--Barbara