Oh my Lord!!

I was kidding. I really was!

(Just in case this doesn’t stick around, The Secret of Redemption is currently #1 and Budget Cuts is currently #2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Okay, now all I have to look forward to is for someone from a large NY publisher to call me and offer me a largish advance for Heart’s Desire, Fire and Water, and Scarecrows, the first three books in the Beth-Hill series.

(I know that’s not going to happen, so I’m safe this time.)

*jaw drops* My lord. (Sorry, Lord. I’m just that flabbergasted, and “Shit!” just doesn’t cut it.)

**UPDATE**

And Nine Lives and Three Wishes is also #1!!!!!!!

Found it!

Way back on December 30th, I posted that I was looking for a certain few things that had been Lost in Storage since I moved. One was my leather hat, which was later found. One was my dragon plate, which now hangs in the Green Room. The third was my favorite tin whistle, an antique in its own right, which had not been seen for at least two years. Once upon a time, its place was in my purse and it was with me almost all the time. When I got a purse that wouldn’t fit it, I put it somewhere safe, and we all know what happens then.

In truth, I was hoping that I wouldn’t discover that my ex had taken it out of spite. Although I doubt he knew how much it meant to me, I wouldn’t have put it past him, especially in those Last Days.

Well, I can rest easy now. I found it today in a box it shouldn’t have been in. It’s now sitting on my desk. Luckily, my Healthy Back Bag is large enough to house it, so it will be with me again.

So that means everything is present and accounted for*. I even found my roll of linen cord today, so I can’t even complain about that.

*Everything, that is, except for the things I’ve been missing for years. Like my collection of Victorian buttons, worth a mint, which I put “somewhere safe” and never saw again. Who knows? One day they might yet turn up…

It rained most of yesterday and the rain turned into snow last night. Now we have a nice pile of white again instead of depressing mud and yuck. And it’s not very cold outside! Yay!! (Today might be a good day to build a snowman with Ethan, I’m thinking.)

Let’s see. Yesterday, Bekah and I worked on the Green Room, which meant picking up stuff, moving stuff, and putting stuff-to-be-gone-through-later back into boxes. (I’m happy to say there were only two of those.) We swept the floor, put the rugs back down, and while the room isn’t finished, it’s looking a lot better.

The blue rug in the living room is a magnet for cat hair, however. Ugh.

At the moment, my current though for storing my fabric stash is to use the oak chest of drawers I got from Goodwill. It’s not here yet (rain and snow don’t work well on veneered wood) but I’m trying to rearrange everything to make room for it. Maybe tomorrow.

I still have lots of books to go through. And I’m going to need another bookcase in my hallway for fiction books. If I rearrange the yarn stash like I think I’ll rearrange it, then I will free up the taller white bookcase for books. But we’ll see. There’s still the other white bookcase downstairs to use as well. I keep forgetting about that one.

It’s hard to knit with cats. Friday night I decided to watch a movie and start Jessica’s scarf. Mischa decided he was going to steal my ball of yarn, and proceeded to carry it around and through every piece of furniture in the two connecting rooms. He almost had it all unravelled before I rescued it.

Still #1, #4, and #5! This has to be a record. I know it’s a record for me.

Last night I had a dream that I had four cats, which I do. Only, for some reason, I was convinced that I had another cat as well, one I hadn’t seen in a couple of days and kept forgetting about. So I counted heads, because I knew I only had four cats, and came up with four. But when I saw them individually, I thought there were five.

It was one of those dreams that have no ending, and get more and more confusing as they go on. Before I woke up, I think I had convinced myself that I did, indeed, own only four cats.

I only had two cats in bed with me last night. I didn’t even realize Mischa was there until I turned over early this morning and found him cuddled up almost underneath my down comforter. I didn’t even feel him jump on the bed.

Chloe spent the night on top of my very small chest of drawers.

Last night, I taught Mabel how to sit. Now, if I raise up my hand (like I have a treat in my hand) and say sit, she sits and licks her lips for a treat. I don’t always give her one, just because I don’t want her to expect one every time she sits. But she had it down pat in less than five minutes, and would sit every time I raised my hand even if I didn’t want her to. It was cute. Now we have to work on ‘off’ and ‘down.’ (Oh, and ‘no shoes.’) She does bark at the cats still, but they tease her too, so the fault is not all hers.

I wrote a bit last night as well while waiting for Bekah to get home so we could switch our cars in the driveway. Scarecrows is shaping up quite differently this time around. It’s darker in some ways. And it definitely takes place before The Secret of Redemption. I thought it took place after TSOR, but the events in SCR will lead up to TSOR (at least in Malachi’s POV.)

Last night when I got home, I saw that Chloe had knocked down my seeds from the top of the window (they had been there without incident for over a month.) They fell on one of my African Violets, squished half the leaves, and spilled dirt and seeds all over the floor. Thankfully, I was able to save most of the seeds. (Some of them were in the process of sprouting, so I’m hoping they’ll still grow.) I put the seeds in a heavier planter, so hopefully that will work for now. Argh.

I left the African Violet in the bathtub overnight, and this morning before I washed my hair, I took it out and set it somewhere. I don’t remember taking it upstairs or where I left it (it was a hectic morning) so hopefully it will still be intact by the time I get home.

And there’s something wrong with my boiler. *sigh* I’m getting sick and tired of having to switch it on all the time. And now, it looks like we’re manually turning it on every time. ARGH. Hopefully the heating guy will be able to come and fix it today. Since it’s supposed to get down to 7 tonight and all…

I had three cats in bed with me last night. It was quite nice until I turned over and we all had to redistribute ourselves.

Everyone’s settling in. Chloe actually comes into the kitchen in the mornings now, and she was in the kitchen last night too. Everyone else still stays well clear of Mabel, but they don’t flee quite as fast when she forgets herself and barks at them. (She doesn’t do it often, and I think she wants to play.)

Mischa is warming up to be a very loving cat, although he doesn’t seem to purr. (At least not that I’ve heard.) He will actively solicit petting now, though, which is a big improvement.

I have seen two stray cats outside. One looks like a grown-up version of Chloe with more gray and less white, and the other is gray and white. I have no idea where they came from or where they go, but they run away if I approach. (Not that I need or want any more cats. I don’t have room left in my bed anyway.) I’m pretty sure the gray and white one is a male, and I think he sprayed on the piles of carpet on my front porch. Joy.

Pooh has had two accidents (pee only) on the bathroom floor. Not sure why, other than perhaps something (Mabel) scared him or else, again, someone was in the litter box, but I don’t think that was the case. Either way, he peed in it just fine this morning. So I will monitor that particular situation closely. (At least it’s the bathroom floor and easily wiped up.)

The Secret of Redemption is still #1. And Budget Cuts briefly rose to #5 before dropping down to #6 again. Um. I was kidding when I said the next thing I had to wish for was both #1 and #2… Really, I was!

And I am pleased to report that Nine Lives and Three Wishes is #10 on the YA bestseller list! Amazing!

I think this is hilarious too. The first three bestselling books? I must be doing something right…

A review! (And a good one, at that.)

And please direct your browsers to Pieces of String too Short to Save, which will be my archive for snippets, cuts, and old stories. I will update my links later.

Bekah and I arranged the living room this weekend and put down one set of rugs. Now someone can watch a movie and watch Ethan at the same time, since he has one corner of the living room for his own.

Eventually (and maybe sooner than later) I will buy a loveseat to put in the living room. I’m not getting a couch because frankly, there’s not enough room. As it is, the loveseat will be sitting out in the middle of the room (it looks okay in my head, though) so we can watch movies or TV.

Oh, and we still have cable hookup here. The cable company hasn’t shut off service yet. I doubt I’ll watch it, but it sure does help with reception.

Yesterday, Bekah was rearranging Ethan’s room and she got the bright idea to cut the tag off the beanbag we got him from Target. Well, she wasn’t quite watching what she was doing, and she cut a big slit through the fabric. The beanbag is filled with these static-y little styrofoam balls that are now all over the entire upstairs because one of the cats jumped on the beanbag last night. (My money’s on Chloe.)

And I just swept the stairs. *sigh*

I folded my quilt collection last night and put it on the chest we’re using as a coffee table. Of course that’s now the cats’ favorite place to nap, so I put an old wool quilt that I don’t really care about on top, just in case someone coughs up a hairball or whatever. (This is also a preventative for Ethan not to climb on the chest and fall through the window.)

I stayed home from work this morning because I was so tired last night that I barely made it to bed before falling asleep. This morning, I woke up stuffed up and aching, but I feel a bit better now. I believe the aching part has something to do with lugging eight boxes of books, a nightstand, three bags, and a jewelry box from my car into the house in 20 degree weather (and in fifteen minutes flat) last night. Ouch.

Anyway, so that means most of my books are now here, which is good. I’m going to probably need two or three more bookcases (one for paperbacks, two for hardbacks) but they can be purchased as they become available.

And I really need to start organizing my office. I’m not avoiding it, since there’s a lot of other stuff that needs to be done around the house, but it’s getting to the point where I really need to do something.

I have a confession to make.

My Dad reads this blog, so if I want to keep anything secret, I can’t post it here. However, they’re going to find out sooner or later, and I’m beginning to become afraid that I will slip up or they will find out accidentally. So…

For weeks now, I’ve been haunting Petfinder.com, reading about the animals offered for adoption and wishing I had enough room for all of them. (Okay, maybe not all of them, but some of them.) One of my unwritten New Year’s Resolutions this year was to adopt an animal, preferably another cat, since one more mouth to feed isn’t really all that much. Another resolution is to volunteer at a shelter, something I am looking into.

Last Friday, I came this close to stopping by a local shelter and adopting a cat I’ve had my eye on ever since I first saw his face.

See, I used to have a cat named Punkin who was my sweetheart. I had him from kittenhood to adulthood, until I got married and moved. He stayed behind at my parents’ house.

I fully intended to convince my ex to allow me to bring him with me, but before I could do that, he contracted pneumonia. Mom took him to the vet, and he did okay for a little while, but then had a setback and died. (Part of this setback was the vet’s fault, btw.)

I didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Tib is Punkin in disguise, of course. A tribute to a friend. When I write about Tib, I remember Punkin and have to smile. I have some pictures of him when he was a baby that are just too cute for words.

I didn’t get to the shelter last Friday, partly because I wanted to devote most of my attention over the weekend to Mabel’s arrival. But when her arrival didn’t really make a giant impact on the other cats’ lives (other than ‘forcing’ them to vanish for a couple of days before they got over their initial fear), I decided that since everyone was in transition anyway, it was probably a good time to bring home my adoptee if I still wanted to do it.

On Tuesday, I decided to stop by after work and meet him for the first time. He was just as cute as he looked in the shelter’s pictures, shy and not really trusting, but sweet nonetheless. And even though it was a no-kill shelter and he wasn’t in any real danger, I couldn’t leave him there.

So, I brought Mischa home.

He is my ghost cat, but warming up fast. Last night, he spent the night sleeping on the rug beside my bed. (He’s not quite ready to sleep with me yet.) He lets me pet him, doesn’t meow, and I await the day I hear him purr for the first time.

His most endearing trait is how he sticks the tip of his tongue out almost all the time and for no apparent reason.

His eyes are almost the same color of his fur, which is a bit disconcerting. But he’s a sweetheart, and he’s home.

Surprisingly enough, I have had no protests from anyone, even Zoey. I think that after Mabel, they were just relieved that I hadn’t brought home another dog.

So, Mom and Dad, sorry. I can’t keep him a secret any longer. But I promise that unless there are circumstances beyond my control, four cats and one dog (and let’s not forget Hildy) are enough for me.

*faints*

Cross one off on the 100 things to do before I die:

56. See a book of mine #1 on a bestseller list

And Budget Cuts is #9!

I think there’s 5 inches of snow on the ground at the moment. It took me an hour and a half to get home from work today. We’ll see about going in tomorrow–I don’t relish the idea of leaving the house before the salt trucks and scrapers arrive.

Mabel, on the other hand, loves the snow. She was running through the snow and scooping it up and eating it. I told her she was weird, but she didn’t listen. And she’s so short-legged that she sinks. It’s rather funny to watch.

The snow is rather pretty. It’s not good packing snow, though, so no snowmen in my yard until it melts a bit. Although we’re supposed to get 8-10 inches more on Saturday. Yikes. This might be an interesting weekend.