It's a Wash

I hate doing laundry. I mean, there are a lot of household things that I really kind of enjoy, but laundry isn't one of them. Still, I'm the one who stays home, so it's my responsibility to do Nettl's and my clothes and linens.

Thinking I could get a head start on today, I decided after dinner last night to get the laundry out of the way. It's not like it's a huge job, because I do it every week without fail, resulting in only three average loads: darks, colors, and towels, etc. Sometimes there's another load, but not usually.

I threw the darks into the machine and came into the bedroom to take an after-dinner siesta. But something wasn't right. I wasn't hearing the noises I've gotten used to hearing, so I went to the laundry closet to have a look. Sure enough, the machine was full of water and dirty clothes, and just sitting there doing nothing. I tried to force it through its cycles, but there was no draining, no spinning. Nothing. Nettl and I wrung out everything by hand (Levis—ouch!) and put it in the kitchen sink to drain, then I wrung it out again and ran it through two dryer cycles.

Around noon today I'll be at Ville's for a while, using her machine. Oh, hurt me. Then, on Saturday Nettl and I will be taking our anniversary money (we were going to go out of town for a night) to Sears to get another Kenmore. We're not too broken up over losing our romantic weekend though, because this could have happened when we didn't have the money to plop down on a new machine. We're still planning to go out to dinner, and let's face it, after raising kids together for the past 10 years, we've learned how to create romance in any situation.

I knew the thing was about to die and I nursed it along for almost a year, but let's face it. It's serviced five adults and three teenagers in its lifetime; I think it's due some rest.

Because I'm All Written Out Tonight

Kelly, at Byzantium's Shores, posted a music quiz that I thought I'd lend my hand to. I cut out about half of the questions though, and edited it a bit. You know how most of these quizzes read as if they're written by twelve year-olds. Actually, most of them are, come to think of it. Anyway, here goes...

Fried Green What?

On Friday evening Jacey came over bearing two bottles of Broke Ass Wine, one white (for me) and one red (for her). For a so-called recession table wine it was pretty good, reminding me of a chardonnay. I don't know about the red, because I didn't try it.

The weather was beautiful, probably in the high 70s, so we sat out on the front porch at the bistro table. My sons joined us and we had a great time talking, laughing, and eating chips and salsa. Jacey's always a lot of fun anyway. Typical Gemini...

Ernie Joseph's Site is Live

I spoke on the phone with Ernie earlier this evening. I always love talking with him. He's so interesting and so humble, and he feels things so deeply. He'd sent me his responses to my interview questions, and I needed to go over a couple of them with him. I then told him about the site and gave him the URL. Needless to say, I was pretty nervous until I got an email a few moments ago in which he said he loved the site and was going to send me more stuff for it; pictures and the like.

"This is really great! You blew me away—it's beyond cool.
LLLLOVE You, Sweet Thing!"

Yeah, I just go all gooshy inside when my "Big Bro" says stuff like that. I have another entry I want to make tonight, but I wanted to get this up straight away. Check it out!

Is Your Guitar Your Sex Symbol?

One thing writing this trilogy is doing for me is that it's getting me back in touch with music I haven't listened to in many years, namely the Blues. And it's bringing up a few questions as well. I have a small assignment for you...

One More Tro-lo-lo Till Friday

Just thought I'd get your Thursday off to a good start...

Endings at the Beginning of the Day

I don't know how other writers come up with endings for their books, but I get mine long before I even finish writing the story. Often, the end reveals itself and all I need to do is direct the story toward it. The end of Book One came to me last week, and the end of Book Three night before last. Book Two's end is still out there somewhere, waiting. I never try to devise endings, they just come to me. I suspect this this pretty common...

I'll Never be a Saint

One of the character traits I'll continue to keep battling, regardless of how many lives I live, is indignance, which actually boils down to ego, which in turn boils down to fear. It doesn't matter how I try to combat it, or for how many years, it pops up its nasty little head every time I feel slighted, not taken seriously, scolded, or mocked. Meditation helps for a while, but I'm just not one of those serene types who can spend hours in it in an attempt to keep the real world at bay. I used to think that I could be like those who appear to live in a New Age trance enjoying the vegan lifestyle and somehow being above mere mortals, but I quickly discovered that I didn't want to live like that...

A Last Minute Heads Up

I've only recently come to the realization that my main character, Gordon Hammond, was built on a lifetime of inspiration drawn from my "Big Brother Ernie Joseph", which makes sense because Ernie was the first Rock star I saw perform live, met, and became friends with.

I spent the weekend creating a tribute blog for him. He doesn't know about it yet (I'm waiting for him to get an email interview back to me so that I can post it). If you want to make a great musician and wonderful human being happy, please follow this link and become a Follower!

F*** it Monday

I'm not the kind of person who goes in for all the "I hate Mondays" stuff that I read everywhere on line. I kind of follow the idea that we make our day what it is and Monday is no worse than any other day of the week. But then, I work from home. Which doesn't mean I don't have my frustrations and BS to deal with like anyone else, it just means that I'm no longer part of the commute group...

Justification

I am completely justified and I have NO reason to feel guilty!

There. That feels better.

I confess. I spend a lot of time here on the bed, blogging, writing, designing websites, playing Farmville... But my favorite wingback chair in the living room hurts my back after a while, as does the chair at the dining room table. The sofa is right out, and, well, there's just no place else to go, and no place to hang my hammock...

This is What You Get

So, what do I do every night when I'm up until dawn? Well, these days I'm usually writing, reworking, or editing. Sometimes I read and sometimes I Stumble around the web looking for stuff that you might find interesting or amusing. And because I've spent the past week writing some pretty heavy, emotionally draining stuff, I'm giving you the dreaded bullet list of some of the places I've favorited.

Whatever Happened to the "Renaissance Man"?

I've always identified as a musician, a songwriter, a composer and a performer. Although I always wrote, and always enjoyed doing it, I never took writing as seriously as I did music. I thought of it as a hobby. Sometimes I still think of myself as a temporarily blocked musician, but I'm beginning to check myself on that...

Pale Blue Dot

Spring Outside My Window

An older neighborhood like ours can begin to look pretty dowdy and rundown in late winter when there's no more snow to lend its magic. The century-old trees look like craggy skeletons and the ground, barren and muddy, calls attention to every Sonic cup or PennySaver that the Oklahoma wind blows in...

And I Say This Passionately

There's a current trend in writing that really annoys me. Everywhere you look online, there are sites dedicated to people telling other people how to write. No, wait, strike that. Make that people admonishing other people on how to write...

The Course of Right Action

I used to read the I Ching quite a bit, back when I was in my twenties and didn't yet know how to make important decisions for myself. As I got older I learned that within each of us is a little radio antenna that tells us what we should do in any given situation. Granted, it's not always easy to detect (sometimes it's like working at SETI), but it's there all the same. It used to be called a conscience, but few people seem to know they have one of those anymore...

A Certain Feeling

So many times I go into writing a post unsure that I'll be able to explain something I'm feeling. This is one of those times.

It's a vague feeling that I forget about until I actually feel it and when I do feel it, it's so fleeting that by the time I try to write about it, it's gone...

No Blue Meanies Allowed

Yesterday I was surprised when the postman delivered a package from my lifelong friend, Deni. I was expecting some essential oils she'd made, but I was NOT expecting this awesomely fab teapot cosy that she knitted for me. I was so jazzed!

When we painted our kitchen a light apple green I wasn't so sure I liked the color. Let's face it, I'm more a sage and ivory kitchen person. But when I had Nettl print this out for me, I put it on the wall beside the range, and it occurred to me that the wall color would be the perfect backdrop for a sort of Pepperland kitchen. Not too kitschy, but an understated mod cool. The tea cosy is a perfect fit! And Deni didn't even know my kitchen plans. How cool is that? Jeez. After all these years, I'm back to collecting Beatle stuff...