Happy New Year!!
I want to start by wishing everyone a very very Happy New Year, and to thank you for your support, friendship, and time. I am very grateful.
I'm not a fan of the New Year's Resolution, as I think if I'm going to resolve something or promise something, it really doesn't matter what day of the year it is. *laughs* But I am hoping that this new year will be good for everyone, and there are a few things that seem to be coming together for me in the coming year, and I shall do my best to make them work out.
I love Will Brezsny's Freewill Astrology as a way to get me out of a funk when I'm in one, but this week's was particularly worth a double-take for me:
The citizens of Iceland love literature, but many are not content to simply read. One out of every ten Icelanders writes and publishes a book at sometime in his or her life. I know it's unrealistic, but I would love to see at least one in ten of all my Libra readers do the same in 2014. I think you're ready to make a big statement -- to express yourself in a more complete and dramatic way than ever before. If you're not ready to write a book, I hope you will attempt an equivalent accomplishment.
Yeah.
I get the hint, Universe. Thank you. A chapter of Twin Souls went to beta today, and I think I see exactly what has to go into the last two chapters and a postlude. I'm going to catch Archive Of Our Own up on the latest chapters in the series. I've got David's initial romance book actually tied in to a major plot point for Misfit Toys, so it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out before I get into the technically intriguing all-science story that I really want to do with that universe and team.
I also sold another two paintings to people that wanted them for Christmas presents for their family, and it still amazes me that people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for my work. Not so amazed that I can't ask those prices, but still.... after selling more than a dozen paintings in three months, I can't duck when someone calls me a professional artist anymore. I just have to paint more of them.
Jet's growing so quickly, and we're having a lot of fun getting through all the Fairy Tail episodes before going back to the new One Piece episodes of this year. I'm also starting to watch all of Naruto from the beginning. It's interesting to pick all that up and see the personalities in those stories and how some of the dynamics are the same across series even with very different people. I have always loved the team dynamics of Naruto, and seeing it played straight and loud in Fairy Tail has been very interesting for me. It's not nearly as a strong thing in Bleach, so it's interesting to see it everywhere else.
Santa brought the whole family the Pandemic board game, and we're having a blast with that and the teamwork that has to be done to get it to work. It's amazingly fun for us, and the dynamics are really teaching Jet a lot about what cooperation can do.
We're also still rebuilding houses. All three of us worked on wiring yesterday, and now I understand why and how pigtails work for trying outlets to the main house circuit and why they're necessary. Also found out about the six foot rule for where outlets and boxes go and am getting gradually more handy with a dyke. Much earlier in the week I used .24 charges with Kristi in her concrete-walled crawl space, shooting nails into the concrete to hang insulation (and subsequently itched for a week after). I also am getting mildly better at tape and mud as we can't avoid that after hanging sheet rock. I'm also wearing my breath filters all the time, no matter what jokes someone says, as my lung capacity has grown a little with exercise, and I'm not going to lose it to dust again.
I do note that many of the house owners do their best to feed us when we work for them. I've had sandwiches, pizza, coffee, chocolate bars, banana bread, and lots and lots of bottled water offered to me, and I've been very gratefully accepting it all as them giving what they can give for what we can do.
I love the construction work, I'll admit. It's not so much rebuilding a thing, a property, it's rebuilding someone's life, letting them be at home again instead of just in a house that's barebones "safe". The money from insurance and FEMA's enough to muck everything out and tear out all the soaked insulation and wallboard, but it's nearly never enough to get the walls back or to replace the appliances with new ones. So we do the walls, the floors, and the paint and finishing work so that it looks like a home again instead of just two-by-four framing. I like seeing it all come together, and the Ready-Walker home's basement looks amazing now that it's almost all done but for the tiling in the shower. *laughs* They're doing that today. Nice to finish something for the New Year, too.
The bee venom shots have been working amazingly well, and I'm now taking two bees' worth of stings in one arm at a time, and finding that my body's reaction is going way down from before. I just itch a little that evening and the next day. No big swelling and no blisters and none of the overreactions my body was having during the build-up. So I'm really amazingly happy with having done the series, for all that it's been expensive. I also rendered all the beeswax down and got nearly at quart more honey from it. The honey's been heat treated because I put it all in boiling water to render the wax, but it's still pretty tasty and sweet and I've been using it with just a little of the wax to make lip balm. There's a lot that can be done with pure bees wax, but I'm just happy I managed to *get* it at all.
I do want to thank everyone who sent me a Christmas card, and especially incandescens for her gifts of Earl Gray, Hob Nobs, and Jelly Babies. Jet's running around giving them away to people saying that they're the Doctor's candy. *laughs* It's fun. Thank you!!
I'm not a fan of the New Year's Resolution, as I think if I'm going to resolve something or promise something, it really doesn't matter what day of the year it is. *laughs* But I am hoping that this new year will be good for everyone, and there are a few things that seem to be coming together for me in the coming year, and I shall do my best to make them work out.
I love Will Brezsny's Freewill Astrology as a way to get me out of a funk when I'm in one, but this week's was particularly worth a double-take for me:
The citizens of Iceland love literature, but many are not content to simply read. One out of every ten Icelanders writes and publishes a book at sometime in his or her life. I know it's unrealistic, but I would love to see at least one in ten of all my Libra readers do the same in 2014. I think you're ready to make a big statement -- to express yourself in a more complete and dramatic way than ever before. If you're not ready to write a book, I hope you will attempt an equivalent accomplishment.
Yeah.
I get the hint, Universe. Thank you. A chapter of Twin Souls went to beta today, and I think I see exactly what has to go into the last two chapters and a postlude. I'm going to catch Archive Of Our Own up on the latest chapters in the series. I've got David's initial romance book actually tied in to a major plot point for Misfit Toys, so it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out before I get into the technically intriguing all-science story that I really want to do with that universe and team.
I also sold another two paintings to people that wanted them for Christmas presents for their family, and it still amazes me that people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for my work. Not so amazed that I can't ask those prices, but still.... after selling more than a dozen paintings in three months, I can't duck when someone calls me a professional artist anymore. I just have to paint more of them.
Jet's growing so quickly, and we're having a lot of fun getting through all the Fairy Tail episodes before going back to the new One Piece episodes of this year. I'm also starting to watch all of Naruto from the beginning. It's interesting to pick all that up and see the personalities in those stories and how some of the dynamics are the same across series even with very different people. I have always loved the team dynamics of Naruto, and seeing it played straight and loud in Fairy Tail has been very interesting for me. It's not nearly as a strong thing in Bleach, so it's interesting to see it everywhere else.
Santa brought the whole family the Pandemic board game, and we're having a blast with that and the teamwork that has to be done to get it to work. It's amazingly fun for us, and the dynamics are really teaching Jet a lot about what cooperation can do.
We're also still rebuilding houses. All three of us worked on wiring yesterday, and now I understand why and how pigtails work for trying outlets to the main house circuit and why they're necessary. Also found out about the six foot rule for where outlets and boxes go and am getting gradually more handy with a dyke. Much earlier in the week I used .24 charges with Kristi in her concrete-walled crawl space, shooting nails into the concrete to hang insulation (and subsequently itched for a week after). I also am getting mildly better at tape and mud as we can't avoid that after hanging sheet rock. I'm also wearing my breath filters all the time, no matter what jokes someone says, as my lung capacity has grown a little with exercise, and I'm not going to lose it to dust again.
I do note that many of the house owners do their best to feed us when we work for them. I've had sandwiches, pizza, coffee, chocolate bars, banana bread, and lots and lots of bottled water offered to me, and I've been very gratefully accepting it all as them giving what they can give for what we can do.
I love the construction work, I'll admit. It's not so much rebuilding a thing, a property, it's rebuilding someone's life, letting them be at home again instead of just in a house that's barebones "safe". The money from insurance and FEMA's enough to muck everything out and tear out all the soaked insulation and wallboard, but it's nearly never enough to get the walls back or to replace the appliances with new ones. So we do the walls, the floors, and the paint and finishing work so that it looks like a home again instead of just two-by-four framing. I like seeing it all come together, and the Ready-Walker home's basement looks amazing now that it's almost all done but for the tiling in the shower. *laughs* They're doing that today. Nice to finish something for the New Year, too.
The bee venom shots have been working amazingly well, and I'm now taking two bees' worth of stings in one arm at a time, and finding that my body's reaction is going way down from before. I just itch a little that evening and the next day. No big swelling and no blisters and none of the overreactions my body was having during the build-up. So I'm really amazingly happy with having done the series, for all that it's been expensive. I also rendered all the beeswax down and got nearly at quart more honey from it. The honey's been heat treated because I put it all in boiling water to render the wax, but it's still pretty tasty and sweet and I've been using it with just a little of the wax to make lip balm. There's a lot that can be done with pure bees wax, but I'm just happy I managed to *get* it at all.
I do want to thank everyone who sent me a Christmas card, and especially incandescens for her gifts of Earl Gray, Hob Nobs, and Jelly Babies. Jet's running around giving them away to people saying that they're the Doctor's candy. *laughs* It's fun. Thank you!!