I am pitiful.

It’s hot in here, but I need to hotsync my Dana and see about my wordcount for today.

However, my office has only two plugs. And they are taken by the computer collection (three plugs in one) and my little desk fan.

So I unplugged my sewing machine and the lamp on the other desk from the extension cord that stretches across the floor, and plugged in my Dana plug and the fan so I could hotsync and be cool at the same time.

Pitiful.

I got down to 65% humidity today. That’s a record! And it was 80 up here for the most part of the day; not too shabby at all.

Today I made bread in the bread machine (I should say tonight, since I just took it out.) It’s my experiment pizza bread–everything that goes on pizza in one bread. With fresh herbs, except for the garlic.

I think I put too much garlic in it, but we’ll see. It also has basil, lemon basil, rosemary, and chives in it, as well as olive oil, mozarella cheese, and spaghetti sauce, since I don’t have enough ripe tomatoes yet. (I have cherries, but not that many yet.) It’s cooling at the moment. I might eat a piece tonight.

And the wordcount is… 104,848. Wow! I got more written than I thought. And I cut some, too, today. I will get to 105k tonight, I think, because it’s still early enough to write some more, and also because I’m in the middle of a good part.

103,590 at the moment, and I’m in the thick of things, too. Malachi is not a happy camper. I am rather liking the new stuff.

I am also rather tired, for some reason. I may go to bed soon and finish the chapter/s tomorrow.

I made vegetable chili (kind of) tonight for supper in the crock pot I got for free at the auction last week. I had to find out if it worked, after all, and since I was cleaning, I figured why not?

It was very good. I put in some lemongrass this time, and it worked very well with the basil, thyme, lemon basil, and a bit of sage that I added to the mix. Yum! And there’s enough left for a couple of days’ worth of lunches, too. Very flavorful.

The only thing I didn’t get to make was bread; I thought about it too late. I might make some in the bread machine tomorrow. We’ll see.

At the moment, it’s 80 degrees in here with 74% humidity. Yes, it took that long to get the humidity down. I’m thinking that I won’t open the windows tonight.

I’m cleaning today, and since the humidity in the house was at 80%, I decided to turn on the air even though it’s not all that hot outside. (It’s very, very humid, though.)

So now I’m seeing if I’ll blow a fuse by running all the air conditioners, some fans, the washer and the dryer, and a crock pot. Oh, and the computer is on as well, a radio, and some lights. So far so good. The electricity in this house surprises me sometimes.

So far, I’m almost done with the entry room, which was the worst room, really. The kitchen will be next. The dishes are also done thanks to Bekah, and I’ve cleaned off the countertop and put Mabel’s rugs and blankets into the washer to hang out on the line when they’re done. I’ve also started sweeping the floor.

This morning, I worked on BtH/HD for about 3 hours, and got up to page 360 (out of 512 at the moment) in the slight revision/addition. I’m getting to the part where Things Change, so that’s good. I’m not sure if I’ll get it done by the end of the weekend, but I’m going to aim for the end of this week. I have stuff to start, two dolls to finish, and lots of other things to do, including write TSS and SYWTBAV. If I get both of those books finished by the end of the year, I’ll be pleased.

I am waiting to pick beans until tomorrow, or even Monday, I think, because there weren’t that many ready out there yesterday, and I’d really like to get enough to put more up again. I gave away the last batch. But I did pick three zucchini yesterday, and I saw lots of baby cucumbers, too. Which will be nice!

So far, the entirety of Binding the Hunt and Heart’s Desire is 101,155 words.

Binding the Hunt itself is 44, 273 words, which does achieve novel, albeit short one.

Heart’s Desire is over 55k–I just did the wordcount and forgot the wordcount in the next breath. *sigh* Long day. And I’m not done with it yet–I think it will be at least 65-70k.

So in truth, I can split them without much trouble at all. Binding the Hunt ends with Josiah’s disappearance, and Heart’s Desire starts eight or ten years later (that’s something I have to fix in a quick revision, there.)

Cool.

We ate supper at Mom and Dad’s tonight. While I was there, I picked up the latest What on Earth catalog. On the back cover, I saw something I just have to buy (the t-shirt) (eventually.) I mean, it’s perfect! Although this rarely ever happens. In fact, there is only one character (ever) that I actually modeled off a real live person. Okay, maybe two. But that’s it.

The other funny thing I saw (and this does bother me a bit–just the connotations and the various news stories of collectors (as in animal hoarding) out there) was the Crazy Cat Lady action figure.

We haven’t had to use the air conditioning all week (yet), but it’s supposed to be 90 today, so we’ll see how the house feels when I get home from work. The nice thing has been the drop in humidity, because it can be 87 and not feel like it at all. It’s a bit more humid today, though.

Last night, while making Pamesan Zucchini for supper, I went to shake out the parmesan cheese and nothing happened. So, like everyone else does, I smacked the bottom a couple of times and shook it really good. Still nothing. I turned it upside down and hit it again, still nothing.

Around that time, Pooh decided to puke on the floor. I was in the process of telling Mabel not to go near it when I hit it again–on the stove–and then felt cool, gritty stuff gush all over my toes, the floor, the stove, and everywhere else.

The bottom of the cardboard can came off. About 8 oz. of parmesan cheese was in drifts on the floor, in piles on the stove knobs, in every crevice…

Argh!

I didn’t hit it that hard. Not any harder than I’ve ever hit any other container of parmesan cheese. I don’t think I’ll buy the cardboard cans anymore!

So I had to clean that up… sheesh.

I picked three zucchini last night, too. I think I’m up over 3 dozen now. At least it feels that way!

Why do I even resist?

So I got this idea today. It will mean a bit of rewriting and some adding on in the beginning, since this seems to be ending up as a bunch of connected stories about the Wild Hunt. But the cool thing is that it makes perfect sense. To me, at least.

I think it’s a bit scary what my subconsious comes up with sometimes!

However, I think what I really need is a title for the whole, since it’s really a collection of novellettes, really, that all connect together. And they all will have names, but I’m not sure the entire title should be Heart’s Desire. It fits, but if fits the one story better.

But what to call it? I hate titles. Unless they appear right away, I suck at titles. I mean, after all, Blood of the Innocents was once Absolutely Nothing.

So. Short of calling it Hunt Stories, which is boring, I’m stumped. Any suggestions?

We canned 15 pints of beans yesterday, with a bit leftover for supper. Whew! And of course I’m probably going to be picking them again–today. I noticed they were ready to pick again yesterday while I was picking seven more zucchini.

Ok, garden, I’m not complaining. Obviously I have good dirt.

I didn’t finish HD over the weekend, but it’s progressing quite nicely towards the end. At the moment, at least, the body count stands at 1 for the entire book. I think that’s some sort of a record!

Mom, Dad, and I went to an auction today. It wasn’t very well publicized–there were maybe 40 people there, tops, but they didn’t even get past 30 on the numbers.

It was one of those auctions that you feel compelled to bid because the stuff is going so cheap that you almost feel embarrassed bidding that low. Or winning a bid that low. There was one dealer present that we knew of, and of course he ended up getting the good stuff furniture-wise (well, not all of it–he was actually outbid once, but not by me) but we managed to fill up *cough* Dad’s old van, Dad’s new van, and my car. Yes, really. Three vehicles.

The most expensive thing I bought was a not-old curved front china cabinet for $45. Since my other china cabinet is full, this one now houses my dragonware collection and some other stuff. Which is nice. I also bought a “Whitney” cedar chest for $15–it looks like it is brand new on the inside.

My favorite thing, however, was the typewriter desk for $25. I have never seen one like it. Okay, I have now, since I found one on ebay, but it is really cool. And since I have a plethora of typewriters, it will be a nice way to display one. I just have to figure out where it’s going to go, because I’m kind of out of room.

The rest of the stuff were cheap-o purchases, anywhere from a box full of mostly new towels for $8 (which is the price of one towel) to one of those spinny composters for a whole $1. Oh, and also one of those plastic garden workcarts/potting tables for $1. I couldn’t believe it!

I had to buy a whole table worth of stuff to get another one of my velvet bedspreads for the craft show, as well as a box full of blankets (that ended up being wool blankets, a really nice heavy flannel blanket, and some oddments of other stuff)–also for $1. Well, really it was free, because a guy bought the old blender that was on my table for $1, which was fine with me.

I got a box of cookbooks for $1, a bunch of crafting leather and assorted leather stuff for $1 (I have to go through the pile and see what’s really there; I may sell some of it if it’s worth it) and 2 ironstone pitchers for $1 too. I got a big box full of cigar boxes for $2–someone bid against me on that–and a huge cast iron ladle for $4. A cute teapot for $4, a trash can for $1, a folding drying rack for $5, and I liberated some cast iron stuff and some glassware from Mom and Dad’s boxlots as well. It was a haul.

Dad got some nice stuff too, like a really old Monopoly game, a nice stained glass window that would have gone for a lot more at any other auction, loads of depression glass, bunches of other glassware, a clock or two or three or four, a big wooden ship’s wheel type thingy, some cast iron stuff, and lots more that I can’t remember, since there was just so much stuff.

And then, after they dropped all my stuff off, they ended up with a vanload of gingerbread from the porch that my neighbor had just dismantled.

Whew!

Obviously, we didn’t get the beans canned today. However, I did get my part of the mowing done, so I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Which is good. I can cross that off my list. Although the honey locust that cracked after the wind the other week did a number on my index finger when I went to toss it in the brush pile in the back, and I didn’t get the zucchini picked. Argh!

Pics!

1. Single zinnias–I really like this color. These were almost dead when I planted them.
2. Ethan’s baby watermelon!
3. I am keeping an eye on this tomato
4. Cucumber #2 and my first ripe tomato! Which has been eaten, of course.
5. My sunflowers are starting to bloom. They will be all different colors, in front of the garden.

I picked 9 1/2 pounds of green beans tonight. Two varieties–Top Crop and Provider. Obviously they are good varieties! This is only 2/3 of the double row of beans, since the rest are cranberry beans.

That was almost a half a bushel! Wow.

It was hot, of course, but cooler, only 85. And the breeze was nice. And I even got sprinkled on a bit there at the end.