Aeärwen's Corner

Yes, I am still upright, breathing, and ambulatory - contrary to popular notions to the contrary. What's more, I'm actually starting to write again, so I thought it might be a good time to post a heads-up that I'm gonna be a little bit more active. At least for a while.

My Muse is actually getting down to work on IDD again - much to my relief. It's a huge project that is approaching the denoument stage, and I'd like to be able to type The End on that one. As it is, some of the bits I'll be posting I wrote quest a while ago but only posted to the online LOTR writers' workshop Lizard Council. Since they hold no "spoilers" for anything unpublished as yet (like IDD) I've no idea why I didn't give them a wider audience.

As it is, IDD is one of two novel-length LOTR fics I'm still working on in that particular !verse, and the one on which so much else depends. I want it finished in the worst kind of way, believe me! I also realize I need to continue posting my The Pretender unfinished fic as well - readers there have been pretty patient. Time for me to come out from that rock I've been hiding under for a while now.

Part of the reason I've been so quiet is because I'm dealing with an invalided husband, whose health is only now starting to kinda-sorta level off a bit. He's been in and out of hospital more times than I can remember now in the last two to three years, coming close to outright dying the last few times. This is a tall (he was once 6'3") and BIG, strong man who is now bent to 6' and needs a walker to move around. He has a chronic infection as the result of NOT doing what he was supposed to about his diabetes, compounded with an occasional MRSA flare-up. Sciatica has made it impossible for him to drive a car or even get up & down out of chairs easily. For a while, I was desperately worried he was going to lose at least one leg - and he's still fighting that battle (and maybe, in a teenie little way, winning.)

Lesson to be learned there: if you get a diagnosis of diabetes, do NOT ignore it or the advice given. That disease is horrible, if not kept in control from Day 1!!!

Not knowing when and/or if his health would take a sudden nose-dive that would land him in the ICU yet again can be very taxing on a spouse or support person/family. And the current health care/financial end of things here in the US and in our household is far less rosy than it was "back when". Luckily, my own health continues to lumber on without many large hiccoughs. I have my problems, but (knock on wood) I can continue to steer myself clear of needing ANY prescription drug regamines (much to my Dr's chagrin - he very much wants me to take a statin because my cholesterol level is borderline and BP meds because my BP is borderline, only to have me simply say, "no." I refuse to become a client of Big Pharma, tethered to my pharmacist & giving them blood money every month or so.) I'm good with vitamins, Tylenol for pain (with hydrocodone only for when things are SO bad,) and suppliments.

So anyway, that's what I've been up (or down) to, and now you know that you'll be seeing me more often. Don't say I didn't warn you... :D

Well, that's that done for the next year or so...

( Miscellaneous family nattering under the cut for the unenthused. )

( And now a question for my fellow LOTR fanfic writers/readers... )

And that's what's going on in my neck of the woods of late.

With my Hubby once more home from the hospital, I'm really hoping that Life™ can get back to some semblence of "Normal" again.

( Nattering and minor venting under the cut )

On other, happier, fronts, daughter Súl has our turkey ordered (organic, cage-free, etc. etc) and will be responsible for buying organic, non-GMO potatoes for mashing. Her food sensitivities have eased, so she can actually have mashed potatoes and dressing (altho I have to limit the herbs I use in the dressing, and she needs to buy the gluten-free bread that I'll make into croutons) and green peas. We've even figured out how to do gravy, and she's gonna be experimenting a bit before The Big Day so we know it will be tasty.

In case I never really blogged about it, Súl suffers from Hashimoto's Syndrome, Adrenal Fatigue and serious food sensitivities. She's been three years being extra-super-picky about "eating clean" and restricting her foods to only the stuff that her doctor tells her she can eat, and she's slowly getting better - more or less. But having meals together takes a bit more planning, as I try to accommodate her sensitivities while still making the food interesting to two insensitive males.

Anyhoo, part of that accommodation this year means no pumpkin pie. She has redone the fancy sensitivity test, which is why so many things are now "legal" for her again, but a few others have fallen into the "let's lay off this stuff for a year or two and see what happens" category - including both pumpkin itself as well as many of the familiar pumpkin pie spices. As a result, I think our Thanksgiving dessert will be individual chocolate "tarts" she found that are positively decadent. I'm looking forward to the meal, actually, and I'm not so hung up on tradition that I'll be crying to have chocolate mint rather than pumpkin pie.

Especially with Hubby home.

Now, to get - and KEEP - both him and Súl healthy....

Have a great day, folks. I know I will.

Yeah, I'm off to a slow start. Seems that Life™ is fuller this year than last, with more that I need to do between which to sandwich my hours at the keyboard. Still, it is a start - and this time around, I've done research so I know (1) where my story is going; and (2) more or less how I want to get there. No, I haven't got an outline, but I'm doing the first "part" of my novel for this year's NaNo. The novel itself will have two parts, taking place roughly 1000 years apart.

It's fun tho, and the research has been quite a treat. I've looked into what makes a planet habitable, what is known currently about extra-solar planetary systems, done quite a lot of postulating on how my green-skied world would work and how it would differ from the world we all know. I've looked into various forms of housing, heating said domiciles, ethics of space colonization, the problems encountered by other colonial efforts in the past.

On another note entirely, IT RAINED IN CALIFORNIA LAST NIGHT!!!! Or, more precisely, it rained in my little parched corner of California last night. In fact, considering that we only got four inches total rainfall last year, we got fully one half of last year's precipitation last night. Lost power too - o joy and rapture! Better still, it took until mid-morning for the cable and internet to be fully restored. Now THAT'S what I call "winter" weather!!

Believe it or not, I'd be perfectly happy for it to happen again this winter. Often. Our local reservoir lake is down to 40% capacity, and several natural lakes in the area are completely dried up (and are being dredged because of it - taking advantage of the situation.) I've got all my fingers, toes, eyes, knees and other flexible body parts crossed that we do end up with an "El Niño" of sorts - plenty of rain for us means our water issues will ease dramatically.

Anyhoo. More on NaNo tomorrow - providing that all my music obligations won't get completely in the way of producing any word count. Like I said, Life™ itself is a real obstacle this year around.

526 / 50000 words. 1% done!

Ta, folks!

I heard a mockingbird singing in our not-quite-leafed-out walnut tree the other day. Mockingbird song, in this part of the country, is one of the really dependable signs that "spring" has arrived. After all, we don't have snow to start melting (and yes, I do wish that for most of my East-of-here friends!) just plants that start to bloom their little hearts out.

( Miscellaneous Nattering Under the Cut for those not interested )

The last couple of days have definitely proven interesting. I've been to see The Hobbit (and in 3D, after promising myself I'd only try 2D,) learned that my "almost-not-quite-officially-adopted" son from Tennessee is gonna spend a couple of weeks with us over the holidays, and finally finished the application for health insurance required by the ACA.

( All kinds of yattering under the cut )

So... The days ahead seem full and busy, even for folks like me who don't celebrate Christmas at all. I play the piano at Halcyon this Sunday, then Christmas Eve service, and then the next Sunday too. This Sunday, I have my piano/organ duet cohort Nashoma with me, which is a treat (she's 81 now, and has nerve damage that sometimes makes playing quite difficult for her.) I have two (count 'em) fishtanks that need serious maintenance. I have several large meals to plan.

It should keep me out of the bingo parlors, eh?

Happy Holidays, f-list! Have a great time, and stay safe!

No, I haven't done word count since Tuesday. My mind simply doesn't want to be pushed into working in my Phoenix world. Then again, yesterday was completely lost as a result of having far too little sleep the night before. Luckily enough, however, the news from OR was encouraging...

( Update under the cut )

So, with any luck, I'll work on NaNo tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon, I have to take JJ to Santa Maria to apply for a job with a construction firm down there. I also need to leave a message with VTC, the vocational place that's supposed to be working with him on employment issues.

At least I'm not scared to death that I'm gonna lose one of my kids anymore. What is it about my family these days that, at times, suicide seems to be the answer to the troubles? Dealing with my brother's troubles was bad enough. I simply don't have the emotional reserves to do it over and over again for first one and then the other.

Gonna relax tonight and watch the next Netflix Stargate SG-1 DVD.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Yesterday was a no-production day NaNo-wise - and for a good reason. I played for the Theosophical temple service at 10:30 (complete with solo) and then turned around and came right back to the Lodge for the Players meeting/rehearsal at 2 that ran an hour and a half. Wasn't entirely surprised to discover that our Christmas play has been officially cancelled, mostly because one of our HS-aged members has school commitments that have to come first (band and "Robotics" program.) Not living in the community meant that I got word a bit second-handedly (my friend at Saturday coffee sharing the rumor) before I got official word - but I knew it really didn't make that much difference to me. I'm involved in prep work for a number of future musical programs, as well as being slowly dragged into the director's Indy film-making projects.

Then spent about an hour and a half talking to Vanna on the phone.

( Family-related musing under the cut - feel free to skip, as it deals with the fun of being a parent of a transexual child. )

Okay...

The time before my chiropractor's appointment today is so short - thanks to dear hubby of course needing to do the dishes the moment I got to the kitchen, as well as the need to actually eat breakfast before much else - that I won't be able to do my word count for NaNo Day 11 until after noon. On the docket for after that is (1) trying to fix JJ's computer, which suddenly refuses to recognize his user profile log-in; and (2) making supper for the whole family, including Súl and her food sensitivities. We're trying out a hamburger/tomato/veggie soup tonight. She's seeing whether she can have tomatoes from time to time again, and actually eating kidney beans for the first time in a couple of years (thanks to being on a mostly paleo diet regimine.) I'll cook up a small bit of millet for hers, along with the rice that normally goes with the chili soup I fix for the rest of us. These meals, when Súl eats in the main part of the house with us, are a weekly tradition that I dearly love.

So I'm just hoping that today isn't as much of a lost day NaNo-wise as yesterday was. If it is... Well...

Phooey!!

At least I'm ahead of myself a little bit.

Until later.

It looks as if my dear hubby is proud of himself for convincing me to not start writing right away, but rather do dishes with him first. When I came out to the kitchen, it was the first thing he started to do. I give up. Okay... Dishes first, then word count.

( Nattering under the cut )

Today's word count:

16884 / 50000 words. 34% done!

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Gonna be a fairly busy day today, but I've got my word count done for the day.

( NaNo and non-NaNo nattering under the cut )

My word count for the day was:

11963 / 50000 words. 24% done!

Until next time, dear f-list!