Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

Right. Now that I've finished up the work-from-home projects that have kept me busy for the last month (though there are more on the horizon), I may actually get some other stuff done. So what have I been up to lately (aside from being in the last month of pregnancy, which is a Thing in and of itself)?

Cleaning! There was a lot of cleaning up for the 4th of July Party, and a lot of cleaning after...for values of "a lot" that are less than previous years but significantly more than was getting done without party-motivation. Phil has figured out that he needs to take the lead on some of the to-do-type items, like the planting of the tomatoes. This is how I have tomatoes in pots in the front yard (though they're not really thriving, and I'm not sure why--maybe they just need more time to establish themselves) and two magnificent upside-down tomato plants hanging from the branches of the Russian olive tree in the front yard. They seem to be doing very well, and it looks really neat, so I think next year I will want to festoon all my tree branches with upside-down vegetation.

The 4th of July party was great. I think at peak we had maybe two dozen people, which is about the right amount for our backyard. Four of them biked here, which always makes me happy. I really enjoyed seeing people and being able to hang out and chat without really having to do anything active to make it so. Like go somewhere else, because that's so not happening. And there were many tasty eatables (special notice goes to Moffat's fantastic peach-and-berry pie), and a giant sparkler duel at the end of the night. The freezie-pops were also a good idea, and the Viking bocce ball did well. Phil was the only casualty that I know of. I was a bad hostess a few times because I thought Phil was taking care of things, when in reality he'd crawled away again. Ah well. These things happen.

Things started to die down when it got dark around 9, as predicted, though discoflamingo stuck around and chatted and watched Wire in the Blood with me for a bit longer. I've been meaning to post about that show for a while--I found it on Netflix Instant and I've really been enjoying the heck out of it. It falls under the "eccentric specialist helps police in their investigations" template--if the eccentric specialist specialized in serial killers, the show was grittier and more realistic than Criminal Minds, they were given a DOP/cinematographer far better than a TV show deserves, and the director was exposed to lots of Dario Argento films at an impressionable age. In short, it's pretty fantastic. And it's in the British model where each show is an hour and a half long and good enough to be released as a movie on its own merits.

I've been slowly whittling away at the massive to-do list--I'm down to only having three levels of urgent to-dos. I got a bunch of insurance bills straightened away, figured out who I wanted our pediatrician to be, got myself a physical therapy appointment that may help with the pain I've been having, and wrastled baby carriers (the baby carriers won).

There were other major events. Somewhere in there were two baby showers and a 4th Street Fantasy convention. I passed on CONvergence, though--I may be pregnant and crazy, but not that crazy.

I also may have lost the second job doing senior-sitting. The elderly lady had a bad fall (not while I was present) and wasn't doing well, so they checked her into more advanced care at least for a while, possibly permanently depending on if they think her husband is no longer still capable of taking care of her on a day-to-day basis in their apartment. It is sad for them. Although it was nice having the job as a back-up, the amount of work I've been able to do from home recently has been reassuring to myself and Phil that we will not be totally fiscally screwed now that I'm *only* working from home.

Circus of Brass and Bone Writing Log

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I've been able to get more writing done. Not great amounts by my normal productivity standards, but at least a few hundred words a day. And I've sent a half-dozen stories out that were just lurking menacingly on my hard drive instead of doing anything useful, so that is *also* good. I am feeling better about things, even as I blow past writing deadlines. Well, I did give notice that I'd be doing that!

Most of yesterday was writing. I also got minimum-maintenance cleaning done and I made an easy dinner from the freezer, but that was about it. And in the evening I went ker-flump on the couch and watched a couple of hours of Criminal Minds. I liked the first series (yay, victim who refuses to be victimized!), but the new spin-off definitely has some settling-in to do. Forest Whittaker's always awesome, but the rest of the characters come across as having no personality--well, except for "I killed a pedophile once" guy. So maybe there will be more characterization in future episodes.

Circus of Brass and Bone Writing Log



New words: 1,117
Total words: 55,977
Overused word: through
Gratuitous word: turncoat
Type of scene: Those left behind trying to figure out what the hell's going on
Challenge(s): Figuring out how much explanation is necessary. Go go gadget outsider character!
Which line is it anyways?Of course, even a halfwit would know that the only place to go around here is New York City.
Researched: deer calls
Notes: Yes, this whole new monthly schedule is good for me. I wasn't freaking out yesterday about spending most of the day working on plot instead of writing, and the results were good. And now I'm writing without stress.
Other writingy stuff:
* Posted freewriting and writing log.
* Brainstormed CoBB plotting and outlined next city segment. The outline was a page long. There’s a *lot* going on in this stop--will definitely need to break it into multiple episodes.

Also, I am baking carrot cake cupcakes right now, and they make my house smell delicious!

Dexter is a new Showtime series about a serial killer that preys exclusively on other serial killers. The premise is that he was adopted by a cop who caught him at the killing-small-animals stage and molded him into a "good" serial killer. Now he works for the police as a blood splatter expert and moonlights as a serial killer that preys on his own kind. The first two episodes can be seen for free on the Showtime website.

I love it!

I have a certain weakness for serial killer fiction and movies, I'll confess, and Dexter, in his struggles to imitate humanity and to follow the code his adopted father taught him, is an extremely likeable serial killer.

I don't know if Showtime will continue to put up episodes on their website, but I rather doubt it.... So I'm asking, does anybody get Showtime who would be willing to allow me to use it to watch Dexter in some fashion???