Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

Have I really not made a real diary entry in almost a year? I guess this is how I start most of my updates. Today is Halloween 2022.

Cassius is going as the Hollow Knight from the game, which involves a bodysuit, cape, and mask from Spirit Halloween, and a handmade Needle that he built out of cardboard and various colors of tape. Yay Cardboard Camp skills! We accidentally left it at Grammy’s house in Wisconsin after her annual Halloween birthday party last weekend, but she was able to mail it to us in time. Whew!

Theia is going as Artemis, in a generic “goddess” costume plus a bow and arrow. Both kids are deep into mythology, thanks to the Percy Jackson series and the Greeking Out podcast. And of course I’ve read them various myths and folktales as bedtime stories, since I have a collection of such things.

Last weekend we were in Wisconsin, as I mentioned. Phil went as a Plague Doctor (one of the most popular costumes for a while, I’m guessing) and I had a thrown-together steampunk Mad Hatter kind of getup, because when you already have the fancy Victorian jacket, top hat, and refracting goggles just lying around, you should use them. We helped prep for the party, had a good time, and then turned around and left the next day.

While there, we walked through the Shalom Wildlife Zoo, which is lovely in autumn, and I got some excellent photos of various wildlife. They have baby tiger cubs!

The real excitement there was when Phil’s dad walked out of the bedroom in his tighty-whiteys because he was having a medical incident the night before the party. He’s got Parkinson’s (recently diagnosed) and various blood pressure issues, but it turns out that wasn’t what caused the problem although it means he’s sometimes a bit confused and might not communicate well. Turns out the problem was a kidney stone on the move (ugh). But it was pretty scary for a while, as they called the emergency services and all. The kids were still awake, so they got to have that experience. Fortunately, everything ended well.

...And that’s my time for Monday journaling. Okay, real quick, what else?

Just had parent-teacher conferences. Cassius is doing well in school, mostly As although he doesn’t like having homework every day. Theia scored very low in math. The teacher thinks she wasn’t focused during the test, but she also needs to work on it more.

I’m over 1/4 of the way through my SF novel, Desolation Station.

I’m seeding our yard with Bee Seed as part of the lawns to legumes pollinator project. I’d hoped to do more planting, but I waited too long to get started and all the native plant nurseries have stopped stocking plants. I’m really angry at myself about that.

Phil is finally getting a promotion at work, but they’re managing it in a really annoying roundabout way and he has to justify why he should get a huge raise that won’t even get him up to industry standard and it’s just a pain in the ass right now but it will be great once it goes through.

This weekend I got to go to Alex’s All Hallows party and see the lovely improvements to her house (and finally reclaim my baking pan, LOL), and then our whole family got to go to brunch at Hillary and Doc’s and we got to chat with folks we haven’t seen for ages and the kids loved hanging out with other kids and playing video games. We also did Halloween at Midtown Global Market, I tried the new momo place, we did the scavenger treats thing at Lunds & Byerly’s (worth it!), and trick-or-treated in downtown Edina, which is also always worth it.

I need to figure out how to use Dreamwidth's picture hosting so I can post pictures... Maybe next time (in less than a year! LOL.)

Phil may no longer be feverish, but he's been having severe arthritic pain and swelling in his joints since the fever went away, and it isn't getting better. It's bad enough that he can't do some things and he's being woken up in the middle of the night by the pain when the painkiller wears off. This is Not Good. Husband is broken, and that is unacceptable. Worried Abra is worried. He has a doctor's appointment for tomorrow, where hopefully they will either figure out and treat what's going on or at least give him Flintstones chewable morphine.

Aside from that small detail, it's been a pretty good few days. I got the companion job, I got a lead on a good-paying temp job, and I worked some overtime hours this weekend, so finances are vastly less worrying than they were a couple of weeks ago. I finished the phone info part of the HARP refinance application, and we have the documents to sign and send in. Once that's done, it's just a waiting game.

The in-laws drove up from Wisconsin with a truckload of baby things, including a crib, a high-chair, a changing table, and even more second-hand baby clothes (we already had like six bags in the attic--like I said, they subscribe to the cargo cult theory of new babies). Oh, and a love seat that matches our current couch, inherited from the grandparents when they moved into assisted living.

So on Saturday afternoon, after I worked my overtime hours, they picked me up from work and we drove off to Home Depot, where they bought us an upright deep freeze as a combination Christmas/10-year-anniversary present (yes, it's been that long). They were also introduced to the joys of chain LeeAnn Chin Chinese food (they liked it).



Saturday night, we went to the new Psycho Suzi's, a locally owned, tiki-themed bar and restaurant that just moved into vastly expanded quarters. Now they have a reception area with an indoor waterfall behind it, four theme bars, and a separate floor for the eating area. The indoors roughly quadruples the total space of the old place, including the patio. Outside, tiki torches flame alongside the Mississippi River. They were packed. The bar area is seat-yourself and only has appetizers available, so if you want real food, you have to get on the list and wait for seating in the dining area (which is less interestingly decorated, but does have the full menu, so, you know, trade-offs). The in-laws had a great time, and I think my m-i-l is planning on bringing the ladies of her card club there when they road trip to see the new baby. Apparently this is a tradition among them.

Sunday morning I fed them my fabulous yogurt-blueberry pancakes and we sent them on their way. Then I bussed to the Seward Cafe for birdfigment's birthday brunch. There were hangings-out and tasty foods and then running to catch my bus to Uptown to join my writing group (partway through the meeting, but that's what happens when you do multiple things in a day). I got my mic back after the presentation portion was finished (we do a podcast now!) and delivered variously harsh critiques during the workshop section.

Then I came home and went thud. Well, after selling some CDs to Cheapo, mostly for the shelf space because CDs are selling for $.50 apiece today. Apparently, everybody and their brother is switching to digital and selling the physical, so it's not such a profitable thing to do.

After Phil woke me up by assembling the crib (which is large, sturdy, and roughly the size of couch), I made bean burgers for dinner and then did my hour of writing.

3/8/11, Tuesday, through 3/13/11, Sunday

Circus of Brass and Bone Combined Writing Log

Total


Episode X


New words: 1,019
Total words: 62,814
Overused word: monkey
Gratuitous word: pineapple
Type of scene: How they figure out where to go next.
Challenge(s): Keeping it interesting without getting too zany.
Which line is it anyways?Wind whistled a counterpoint down the alley.
Researched: Elephant feet, "devolve"
Notes: It may be too zany. Or have too much dialog.
Other writingy stuff:
* Shamed by Sherilyn Kennyon’s 8 hrs of writing plus other hours of writingy stuff (the woman only sleeps 4 hrs a day, which is totally NOT an option for me), began the 1-hr of writing no matter what experiment (if I feel totally wasted, Ican work on non-primary writing project).
* Various freewriting warmups.
* MinnSpec critiques.
* Attended MinnSpec writing group meeting--well, at least the crit portion.
* Recorded intro for MinnSpec podcast, episode 3.
* Wrote four pages longhand on Platinadar while traveling to and from work.