My Wacky Life

I've been busy lately.( Knitting )

( America Trip )

( Mother-in-law update )

( Advice please! )

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: exhausted

Well, I've recieved a response from the first publisher. Let me say I knew in advance that they were going to ask for money, but I figured that agents ask for a reading fee, so I would see how much it would be before deciding. However, I must admit I was surprised by the amount they want. Now, I know that publishing books is expensive. There's a reason that books get refused - it's a serious financial investment to publish one. But to ask someone to give you £9K to publish your book? Uh, no. So I have politely declined their offer ("I'm sure you can appreciate with the economy, blah, blah, blah) and will send out my manuscript to another publisher and see what happens.

Funny really. Not every day an author can refuse the publisher.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: amused

Today has been a good day. It started with me sleeping through the night (well, thanks to Night Nurse anyway), lack of cough and sniffles, and knitting club in the morning. I really enjoy getting out and being able to discuss knitting with other people who share the hobby. I imagine Adrian gets rather tired of my chatter!

It was pouring rain when we got down there, but I managed to stay dry for the most part, and what got wet dried fast. I had a lovely few hours knitting and perusing the sale yarn (£1 for a skein, I got a bunch of that!) Then came home and collapsed into bed. I'm still feeling really worn out from this pleurisy.

Had a nice long nap, pottered about with knitting and computer stuff, then Adrian took me out for a lovely Indian at our local restaurant. Gorgeous food, just as I remember, and they were so polite! I had my chair held out for me, and they helped me with my coat on at the end. I felt like royalty!

Relaxed a little tonight, but I've been very sleepy, so I'm going to attempt an early night.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: tired

I'm not doing it this year, unlike most of my friends. :) There are several reasons for this:

1) I've just poured my heart and soul into a novel which I'm currently trying to get published. I'd like to find out what the professional world thinks of that before starting something that's going to be 50,000 words of crap that needs to have more heart and soul poured into it.

2) I have a lot of knitting to get done before my trip at the end of the month. I leave the 23rd of November for America, and I want to have the Christmas presents for my family ready to just take and leave at home for distribution later.

3) I wouldn't have a full month. Pathetic excuse I know, but a valid one.

4) I have to look for work and keep going with my life and really don't have time to take on a project as big as writing that much in a month.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: tired

Today, I am being a domestic goddess. Already, I have a batch of applesauce spice muffins in the oven, have done a load of laundry with another in the washer, and have started the dishes. Now, I'm going to take a break from my frenetic activities and do some knitting, probably followed by putting clothes away. Go me. :)

Life goes on. Most of this week has seen me waking up and not really wanting to do anything, developing headaches throughout the day, and generally feeling rather unwell. I've skipped exercises because I've felt so nasty (mostly headaches and stomachaches) and because I've simply had no energy to do them. I refuse to beat myself up over this, though. Guilt is one thing I don't need. I'm trying to keep my stress levels low, which seems to have helped with sleep. Or maybe that's the exercise. I don't know. But I have been sleeping better. Only time will tell whether that continues.

The milkman delivered, along with the milk, a little pamphlet advertising all the Christmas goodies he will put at our doorstep with just a word from us. Flipping through this, I'm drooling at a lot of the stuff, wishing we had the money to get any of it, and vaguely glad we don't, as it would ruin my "diet", such as it is. Certainly I would allow myself to eat a little each day of shortbread and chocolates and things, but knowing my willpower, I would eat the whole box. I'm thinking of declaring Thanksgiving day and Christmas day off limits to calorie counting. Holidays don't count, surely? :)

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: dryer in the background

Today I spent a good portion of my day knitting. I start this morning when I woke up at 5 - another early morning - and learned a new way of casting on which is a little looser. When I tried yesterday, it was so tight I couldn't actually move the stitches once I had worked them, and it was impossible. The new was wasn't foolproof though, as the stitches still tended to tighten up between the two needles. Yes, I've started knitting in the round, and using a circular needle is a very new experience for me. That's another thing that took me so much time getting this project started. I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing. I actually started it wrong when I did it the other day, because I had no idea what I was doing, and just knitted regularly on the circular needle. I have since corrected my mistake, and have done several rows now. It's looking great! The first row took an age to do though, since stitches were getting really tight, and I had to stop and loosen them up a few times. It was hard going, but I knit quite loosely, so the rest of the project should be fine. I'm a happy Dori. :)

I did get some other things done, although I didn't get the zucchini bread made like I wanted. I washed up all the dishes, cleaned out the crock pot from its marathon yesterday - dinner all day simmering, then applesauce - and... that's it. I slept, did some stretches, and have generally been more tired today than I was yesterday. 1 good day requires a month to recover, it seems.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: recumbent
Current Music: May it Be - Celtic Woman

I have decided to take up knitting again, after ages of piddling around with it and doing a whole lot of nothing. Grandma taught me years ago, but it always put me to sleep pretty quickly after I would start, and I never finished a pattern or project - mostly I think because I would forget where I was. So with all the insomnia I've been suffering lately, I decided to use my knitting as the cure. To my surprise, it didn't put me to sleep, and I piled row after row on top of what I had started. I'm doing a simple knit row then a purl row, and do two at a time to make sure I don't mess up my pattern. It's gotten long enough that I've been able to look at it and envision it as a nightcap I've been wanting to make for over a year now, to keep my head warm in our cold bedroom in the winter. I can tie ribbons around the edges to tie it on my head, and it's just long enough to fit my head, so all I have to do is knit it wide enough to go the length of my head and I'm set. There are some mistakes, but the ribbon can hide most of them, and I don't mind what's left showing, since not many people are going to see it (up close at least).

Been tired and achey today, so I've slept a good deal. I'm going to start a sleep journal to see if I can get to the bottom of why my sleeping patterns change - or at least have something to show a doctor. I missed Ailsa's zoo outing and party tonight because I wasn't feeling up to going, which is really annoying, as I was looking forward to them. I guess that's what's driving me to do something. When your social life is as small as mine, having to miss something because of ill health is not to be bourne.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: tired

Back in 2001, my then-boyfriend and I decided to write a book together. I threw some ideas at him, and he seemed to think they would work, so I went to work, expecting him to pitch in at some point. Some point never happened, so it became my project. Over the next few years, I worked on it pretty much nonstop. I refined my ideas, and my characters, and got a workable storyline - for the most part. Then I got married, and settled down, and the hard part of getting it publication ready never came, what with all the personal problems that happened to me throughout 2004 and the upheaval that continued until 2005. I would pick it up and work on it a bit from time to time, but I was never pleased with it. I think it must have been 2005 I actually sent it off to a few agents to see if I could get represented, but that netted me nothing, so I decided to overhaul it completely before sending it off anymore.

That overhaul was a long time coming. I'm lazy by nature, and for a year was actually doing paid work, so that rather put a crimp on my writing. However, I did go through and decide what needed changing, why it was so stogy and how to fix that, and had it almost done for ages. I never quite had the guts to go and finish it - maybe I was afraid of sending it off into the big wide world again, I'm not sure. Certainly it took a bit on my part to actually sit down and say "yes, I'm doing this now." But I did. Waiting for my visa to return, I've had no way of making money. Reading my last Readers Digest, I realised if I sent in letters and things, I might be able to make a bit, but why stop there? Why not actually finish my writing? Then I saw an advertisement for a publishing company that was looking for manuscripts. They were actually advertising for them! This is most unusual, so I checked out their website, and they seem to be pretty good. You submit your story, they review it, if they like it they'll publish it and will sell it both to bookshops and online. Win, really. That was the catalyst I needed, so I sat down and finished it. I've checked it for continuity and it seems pretty good, so I'm going to send it off as soon as I can get it printed out. Given that my printer doesn't work with Vista, this may take some doing.

This time, I intend to keep submitting the bloody thing until I find a publisher, if this one doesn't work out. I'm finally happy with it.

Current Location: home
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Green into Gold - David Lanz

Today has been one of serious ups and downs.

I wake up. Adrian is getting ready for work, notices I'm up, and says "2 raid leaders, not 3." Another person has left the comm. :(

I go in the other room, turn on the computer, check my email. Mom has gotten us both tickets to the US for Thanksgiving. Win. :)

Over the course of the day, more people leave the comm. It's falling apart at the seams. All because one person wanted to start a raiding guild, got her friend (who's in the comm) to leave and help her, and now they're leaching our best people away, one by one. We've lost some of our best tanks, all the good healers (except me), and left us with a handful of people who actually give a damn and are around every day, a few people who give a damn but can't make it more than once a week, and a bunch of loosers who would never leave because they're so inept they'd never find another comm or raiding guild to let them in. Yeah, not best please, especially since I had decided just yesterday to start raiding again. :(

Errr... the weather was nice? :)

The lights went out and I got to play with candles. :)

The lights went out and Adrian couldn't figure out why. :(

Grocery shopping when broke is never fun. :(

Running out of ups for the day. Maybe it was that ride at Alton Towers that takes you up and drops you.

My shoulder's been killing the last few days. Might have to see the chiro before my end-of-the-month appointment.

Got a prescription filled at the store tonight, and then forgot to pick it up after we were done shopping. I'm such a ditz.

Really can't wait to go home. Want my visa.

Current Location: bs32 0ex

Life seems to be ticking over as normal, waiting for me to get back on. I'm still waiting for my visa to come through, and while I can't think of any reason why they would deny it, is making me antsy waiting for it. Dori the worry-wort. Without it, I can't look for work, so that's on hold too, although there's not much coming through for me to apply for anyway. At this rate, definitely won't be able to afford the trip home for Thanksgiving and my high school reunion, which is annoying to say the least. But, as there is nothing I can do about it, I will just have to deal.

Bristol G&S starts again next week, and this year we're doing Patience. I'll probably go for a part, although I think I'm beyond caring whether I actually get one or not. Other than that, my social life is pretty good. One of Adrian's coworkers got married last weekend, so we got to go to a nice wedding. We're getting down to Bath fairly frequently to spend time with Joe and Alisa and assorted people around their house.

Other than that, it's housework and WoW and sleeping. Nothing really to complain about. :)

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: tired

Not much has happened in the last week. I got my characters back from the hacking on Sunday morning, and consequently spent the day playing. Didn't play much last week, but spent some time on Guitar Hero trying to get my guitar skills up, and catching up on stuff around the house. And on some new tv programs. Just a change, really.

We're getting a camera from the police to try and find out who keeps defacing our car. It's not going to be installed for another week, but hopefully it will net some results.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: calm

So, I had a dream last night where I had a baby, but I wasn't allowed near it, and it was going to be used by these people for evil purposes. Then I woke up, and someone had hacked my WoW account. Everything is gone. I should be able to get it back, but it usually takes some time, and I'm just gutted over the whole situation.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: enraged

I don't normally get involved in politics, but this is so close to home, especially given we plan to move there, that I feel I should make a contribution. ( Cut to save my friends list ) 

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: contemplative

After two days of being unable to stop doing things, and getting the house clean in the process, I can't be bothered to do anything today. Feeling a bit down, really. Tired of being in the house. Tired of the book I'm reading, of the games I'm playing. Finally got everything off the video camera yesterday, and I should/could start splitting the footage down and making short vids of it, but it seems like effort. Apathy, thy name is Dori.

Yesterday, Adrian came home with the bright idea of moving the gate from it's location right outside the garden to the end of the fence which starts the path down to the garden. We did that, then locked it with the bike lock so no one could get through the little cut through. I'm very pleased with that. No one has written on the car today, so we'll see how things go.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: apathetic

House vacuumed. Oven cleaned. Everything tidy. I even tidied up the game area, so the cords weren't everywhere. Man coming to fix my computer today. Hopefully, he can get everything working again the way it should be. I'm tired of it breaking.

Some asshole keeps keying Adrian's car. It first happened over the weekend, either Saturday or Sunday night (we didn't go out Sunday so we don't know) and wasn't just your standard lines down the side, but a rude message, complete with swear words, carved into the bonnet (hood). Neither of us were best pleased. Then Adrian was going to take the car in for an estimate on how much it would cost to get resprayed today, and went out to take it down the shop, and found that someone had come back last night and corrected the spelling! That's all he said, and I didn't want to ask for specifics, but needless to say the happy keyer is still at work. He's calling the police, and with a crime number he can claim it on insurance. Otherwise, it would cost a grand to cover. I am so incredibly pissed off about this it's not funny. My hypothesis is it's someone who keeps cutting through our back garden. There's a little bit of brush land that seperates our garden from the street behind ours, and we've caught kids more than once cutting through there. Our neighbour put up a low gate, mostly to keep her son from going where she didn't want him, but when we can we try to use it to keep people from using our garden as a common walkway. I imagine someone got annoyed about it and decided to express their views on a solid surface.

Whatever the case may be, I'm worried that we'll get the car repained and then they'll just come back and do it again.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: annoyed

When we went to visit Ruth and Malcolm last week, they had the vacuum out - one of the nurses must have been vacuuming before we got there. During the course of the visit, Adrian and I and one of Ruth's friends from bell ringing got put in the kitchen so she could have some privacy. We fell to talking about the vacuum, which is a newer model of the one Adrian has had for years. We then discovered that there is a filter in said vacuum which Adrian has never changed, and I commented that changing it might help it work better. So I've investigated and after much prodding the internets I found where the filter on ours was hiding (and boy, was it hiding) and have cleaned it. It's currently drying, and when it is clean the house will have a Dyson run all over it. I will finally be able to deal with the clumps of dirt, moth wings, spider webs, and randcom bits of dust which have been so resistant to all recent attempts.

I have also got 2 loads of laundry down, the dish drainer soaking in the sink to get some of the muck off it, the sink side scrubbed, and the top of the washer cleaned off. Further plans include a tidy of the house and a scrub of the shower curtain, although that may be too far gone. It only costs a few quid to replace though, so I may pester the hubby to get a new one. :)

Not bad for 9:30 in the morning.

( Wibbly me )

( Wibbly computer )

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: groggy

I've been in a much better mood since my last posting. The depression doesn't hit often anymore, thank God, but when it does, it sure hits hard. I'm even ready to face going to see Ruth tomorrow. Face isn't quite the right word, but it's the closest I can think of with my brain on half power.

Still not sleeping right. I went to bed at 12:30 last night, woke up at 2:30, couldn't get back to sleep. I think I drifted off while Adrian was showering around a quarter to seven. (He's on early shift this week.) Was groggy, headachey, and feeling sick for hours afterwards, although a nap in the early evening helped. Now, if I can sleep through the night, I may get back on track.

Craving chocolate like it's going out of style or something. And pizza. It doesn't help that we keep hearing about specials Pizza Hut is offering, and talking to friends who are having it for dinner. *sigh* The hot chocolate I have is keeping me, just, but damn, do I want a pizza!

Did I mention Adrian got Guitar Hero? He did. It's very loud, and I'm tired of it, since we've been doing it a lot at Ailsa's and now here as well, but he seems to be getting a lot of good out of it, and he needs the stress relief as much as I do, so I don't begrudge him it.

Not done Wii fit in ages. Really can't be arsed. Bad Dori. Apathy has, once again, put paid to my plan to loose weight. Really, that is all. The housework continues as always - more dishes to be washed, clothes to be dried, and things to be kept tidied. Heaven is never having to do another household chore. :)

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: content

I keep forgetting to mention that I have an invite code for a Dreamwidth account. If anyone wants it, please let me know. It's for a free account.

In other news, I've had the interview for the job right around the corner. The people are nice, the work seems ok, and I hope I get it. I should know by early next week.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: tired

( Lessons on a sunburn )

Things have been going pretty well. Even my social life has been interesting, with a weekend (well, a day and a little) away with friends, an evening spent in excellent company at Joe and Ailsa's, talking on Skype every night with people from Denmark and The Netherlands, and a birthday dinner coming up on Friday. My sleep pattern is becoming much more regular, with me sleeping through the night most nights. I have also gained a sleeping hat. It's warm, fuzzy, and purrs when it's awake, and breathes the occasional sigh when it's asleep. It twitches its legs, massaging my head. For ages, I've wanted the cat to sleep with us, and he's not had any of it. Then he discovered my memory foam pillow, or something, and has decided sleeping above Mummy's head is a Good Thing. Oh, I love my cat. :)

I apparently have a job interview, but I haven't recieved details on it yet. A woman called me on Friday right before closing time, and when I told her I was still looking for a job, she said she would email me today with details about the interview. So I'm waiting (not so patiently, I might add) for the email to come through. I could really do with this job, as it's literally right around the corner - closer even than Dalkia is - and pays about the same. I'm desperate to go home in November, both for my 10 year high school reunion and for Thanksgiving. I miss my family. The visa needs paying for, the credit card needs paying off, and we've said we hope to get over to Amsterdam to see friends at some point. Not to mention seeing friends in other parts of the country. So yeah... a job would be a definite good thing. I am getting rather desperate, although my health (back in particular) will prevent me from taking some jobs.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: accomplished

Got some motivation, and have been doing my Wii Fit. As of yesterday it was two weeks, and though I didn't meet my goal, I'm not upset by it. I think I'm past caring whether I loose weight or not, since I do feel like I'm building muscle tone. Getting rid of the flab is the goal, really.

Yesterday, I mopped the kitchen floor, vacuumed the house, and did a fair bit of time on the Fit, so I slept through the night for the first time in ages. Hooray! I really need to sleep tonight as well, so I did 50 minutes in the hopes that it would tire me out enough. Tomorrow, I take a citizenship test which I need to pass to get my next (unlimited stay) visa. Having read the book they wrote for people to study with and made a few flashcards with numbers such as population and key dates, I think I'm ready. Most of it seems to be pretty easy: history and government stuff which I already knew. I guess it helps that I'm a total history buff.

Been practicing my music, and had a really wierd dream last night that I showed up at the first rehearsal only for Liz to tell me that they had cast me as Iolanthe. I was rather incredulous and kept asking her if she was sure (since I've never been cast as anything with a singing part) and then we started rehearsing the show on a stage. Rather wierd, since I knew in the dream we were supposed to be doing Patience, we never rehearse on stage until the day before, and the casting isn't done until a few weeks into rehearsal. Adrian also has been playing music - on his clarinet. He picked it up when we went to Alton, and despite the fact that he hasn't played it for 11 years, is still very good at it, or at least remembers more than I think I would after that long.

Current Location: bs32 0ex
Current Mood: calm