Ain't Broke Yet

Now Playing -  Hold You In My Arms by Ray Lamontagne

Life -

But, as they say, I'm bending.

We moved in here a few months ago, and at the time, we were doing well financially. We'd paid off a few bills and started making headway on our big credit card. But moving was expensive. Apart from a loan for the down payment, we had to buy a mower, home improvement supplies, hook up fees, heating oil, propane, Internet... A little bit of everything. You'd think that moving from one trailer to another wouldn't require that much additional stuff, but for some reason, we kept running into expenses. Of course, a $3000 wisdom teeth bill for Linz didn't help either.

So now we have our credit card back up to where it was, a couple of home improvement store cards with balances, a dental bill and an installment plan for our heating oil and propane. On top of our utilities, car payments and Linz's student loans, which just those tally up to about $700 a month.

And we're making less money. Not a lot less, but Linz's job doesn't pay as well, it's further away and up until recently, I was gassing up more than twice as often thanks to my commute. For the last few months, it's been all we can do to keep above, to catch up on things. I'm hoping that by December, barring any emergencies, we can be caught up on all of our bills and start paying everything down again. But that's if we don't buy anyone Christmas gifts and if Lindsay's car doesn't need snow tires... Crap.

But surprisingly, I think it's worth it. We like our little home on the range, it's getting comfortable. And I love the store I'm in now, Linz's job is finally hitting some equilibrium and even if I never get a promotion, we like this area of Maine so much more than the south. We just need to get caught up and get rid of that stress.

We've been working at it though, we both have Etsy shops now, I have Deeply Dapper, where I sell Sasquatch stickers, Lego portraits and bottled beasties, and Linz has Wire Willow, where she sells her amazing cross-stitches, jewelry and crafts. (And she's got a grand opening sale going this month, coincidentally..) They aren't making us a fortune, but five bucks every now and then lets us eat out once a month or buys me some new work pants at Goodwill. (Because Goodwill is awesome and I ruin pants constantly at work...) Whispering Ferns is still available to buy and both of us should have new novels out by the end of the year. We will get there. Then we just have to start saving to buy a motel! haha


By the way, for those wondering, I am NOT going to be actively participating in NaNoWriMo this month. More about that HERE.

The ROUS FAMILY -   

 

 

 

 

Accursed Bug!

Now Playing -     
Only The Young by Brandon Flowers
 

Life -  

 My life can be summed up by one simple word - SICK. After years of confidently prancing around amongst the sick and infirm customers of Idaho, my carefully cultivated immunity to common bugs has let me down out here in Maine, where there are new, wicked strains. For the last few days I've been suffering from a sore throat, headache, body aches, couch, runny nose, congested sinuses, dizziness, sore ears, even sensitive fingertips, for heck's sake! I'm finally feeling better, thanks to some heavy druggage and a sick day, but man, I was pretty miserable for a couple of days.

Now, I just have to hope my wife doesn't get it... She's not a happy sick person. (And it's her birthday on the sixth, so it would just be mean of the thing to make her sick on her birthday!)

Apart from that, nothing to report.

Writing - 

I lost at NaNoWriMo, but that's okay, I made it to over 35,000 words, that's pretty decent. Now I just have to find time in December to finish!
  

The Last Sentence -  
  Pale was quite happy to find an unbroken jar of pickles in a basement storeroom.
    From - "Mr. Pale Steps Out" (WIP) 

Weighty Matters -   
  My Current Weight -  296
  

The ROUS FAMILY - 

  Sold the last of my lightweight Sasquatch sticker over on Deeply Dapper, hooray! I also started a new feature where I comment on just the covers of the books I'm reading.

My lovely bride talks about why she likes rejection letters

How NaNoWriMo made me a loser. And a winner.

Coming soon - Another LEGO review! 

Reflections On A Northeastern Autumn

Now Playing -  
Ain't No Reason  by Brett Dennen

Life - 

This has been our first Autumn in a state that actually has something close to the actual definition of that season, and it's been intriguing.

Growing up in Idaho, Autumn was a very different season. Things would typically stay hot until late August, with temperatures ranging between 80 and 100 degrees during the day, and dropping to much cooler temperatures, often as low as 50 degrees at night. Then, like magic, sometime in late August, early September, things would cool off. It wasn't as dramatic as overnight, but pretty quick. You'd go from sleeping with your windows open to covering the tomatoes against freezing within the course of a few days. 

This is the closest thing I have to a photo of Pocatello, ID in Autumn. It is not a prime photo taking time.

Then everything froze. One night, instead of hitting around 40, we'd get a night of 25 degrees, the ground would be covered in frost whorls and all of the tree leaves, that had just started thinking about changing colors would be dead, hanging onto the branches with the sparest of grips. Eventually, the winds would pick up and blast those dead, brown leaves to the ground. Then, by Halloween, we'd be planning our costumes around whether or not our winter coats could fit under them.

In Maine, as expected, the foliage was outstanding. This was supposedly a bad year for "Leaf Peeping" as they call it out here, and it was gorgeous. We saw colors in every range, and on every growing plant around. Some were bright orange overnight, while others changed a branch at a time, transforming in leaps and hops. Temperatures stayed temperate and we got a lot more rain than I would have expected.

This was a photo taken from the window of the car, randomly in Maine.

They have a nice mix of things too. In addition to vivid pinks and reds, almost fluorescent yellows and rich, deep browns and oranges, the peeks of pine green added texture and depth. We loved it. We took day trips, just driving along the roads, not headed to the prime Peeping sites, where tourists flock to look at dying trees. We just headed anywhere we felt, and really enjoyed it.

Now, in the middle of November, when Pocatello is seeing snow, it's still Autumn here. It's been raining for a day or two, and the grass is still green in spots. I've worn my coat a few days and my hat a few too, but I've only seen frost a few mornings. For most of my life, I really wondered at the Thanksgiving decorations that I put up on the walls. Corn stalks, pumpkins, gourds... And while I do think it's interesting that nationwide, that's become more of an early fall decor thing, with Christmas being all there is after Nov. 1st, it makes more sense out here, where the leaves aren't already into their deep decomposing stages, the pumpkins outside haven't frozen and split and there isn't a foot of snow on the ground.

So overall, I'd have to give Maine's Autumns pretty high marks. Good on ye, Maine.

ROUS Family Updates!

Check out Neal Kristopher's blog in the next few days for a post about agents and the importance of respecting and cherishing them.



I've also posted a few new reviews,


And coming soon on Deeply Dapper - Chompy, the final photos!

And next time here, the long delayed continuation of my In-Laws vacation to Maine!

Weighty Matters - 
My Current Weight - 297
Progress Thus Far -   
Bah. I think the holidays could be a bad time for this, but I'll keep posting it. If only to force myself to think about it.




  Writing - 


This is my month of NaNoWriMo. Green means a good word day, dark red means a bad one. It's kind of funny how similar the weeks have been. Doing okay though...  I like my story a lot.


 

The Last Sentence - 

Its front hoof kicks feebly once, then nothing.
 

From - "Mr. Pale Steps Out" (WIP)

Fuzzy

Now Playing -  
Tango 'Till They're Sore by Tom Waits

Life - 

I bought some cozy red plaid fuzzy slippers. That is the sole highlight of an otherwise craptastic week. Here's hoping next week goes much, much better. On the bright side, it is very nice being able to walk bravely through puddles of dog drool, rather than dodging around them like a frightened rabbit. (Rabbits have a well-documented fear of dog drool puddles. )

 
Weighty Matters - 
  My Current Weight - 297
Progress Thus Far -  
Bah.

  Writing - 

Another bright spot in my week, actually. Though I am woefully behind the goal of 23,334 words for today, I have written something nearly every day this month, and that is extremely exciting to me. I love the idea that this challenge has gotten me out of my writing funk. There have been more words pounded out on my keyboard in the last 14 days than the 14 months prior. And I'm currently writing about plague carrying, mutant horses and a snub-nosed .38, so it doesn't get much better, does it?

The Last Sentence - 

There were maggots too, wriggling around in orgies of putrescence, dropping to the ground like fat raindrops.
  

From - "Mr. Pale Steps Out" (WIP)

50,000 Words In One Month!

Now Playing -
Sleep  by Meiko




Life - 

Every year they do it. Somehow. Authors worldwide spend thirty days, the month of November, writing a book for National Novel Writing Month. Fifty Thousand Words. That's right around 1,700 a day.

Which isn't too bad when you look at it from a day to day standpoint, but when you suddenly miss a day because you worked a 10 hour shift and drove 70 minutes to and from work and made dinner and by the end of the night you were just too darned tired? Yeah, then you've gotta get in 3,000 words to catch up. 

And November seems like a horrible month to do this, at least for me. I'm dealing with Christmas at home and work, and the weather outside, which means a longer commute and possibly snow shoveling... To say nothing of what a slow typist I am anyway!

But I'm gonna try it this month. Mostly because I have a great idea for a Post Apocalyptic Crime Novel, set in the 50's. And because I'm tired of working on my zombie novel for a little while. So far I haven't done too badly, I'm at just below 15,000 words. Of course, I'm supposed to be at over 18k... So keep an eye on that blue box at the top of my post, that's my real-time ticker of where I'm at.

Anyone else here writing their NaNoWriMo project this month? And how in the world do you do it??

Weighty Matters - 
  My Current Weight -  297
Progress Thus Far -   
Nothing really, again, but I'm telling myself that part of that is that I've started to work my shoulder and arms more aggressively from a muscle building aspect. 



  Writing - 

NANOWRIMOMANIAMO!
 

The Last Sentence - 

If that failed, he'd climb up into that big, ostentatious bed and swallow the mean end of a Remington. 
 

From - " Mr Pale Steps Out " (WIP)