Camp Backlash, and catching up on the Blogfest

Howdy! First of all, I'm relieved to be home. Camp is always fun, but it has its down side. The new definition of "cankles" is "Camp Ankles", if that helps clarify. I twisted my right ankle the first night at camp. That's what I get for going out without a flashlight. Midweek, I had the crazy desire to tweet a photo of just how dark camp is, but it would be silly to tweet a black rectangle.

Just when I thought the right ankle was healing up, I whacked my left ankle with a kayak. That's what I get for trying to load kayaks onto a trailer by myself. Lesson learned.

We (the adults at camp) start out the week with high hopes and a boatload of work to do. We want the campers and PA's (Program Aides, the Girl Scouts equivalent of Camp Counselors) to have the best experience possible. We have the best of intentions, and a boatload of coffee to get us through the week. By Wednesday, we're running on fumes and in need of a break.

Wednesday is also the night that the campers in grades 3-6 get to spend the night. The week-long staff and PA's get the night off, and our replacement shift comes in to cook, run the activities for the overnight, and clean up. We get to chill. Or roast. We had a campfire and made smores.

Thursday morning is when my gasket actually blew out, and I was sent away for therapeutic reasons. I was seriously on the verge of psychosis, and had to get away. Luckily, the camp is very close to some great National Park and State Park facilities. I decided to head over to Cunningham Falls State Park. Either swimming in the lake or hiking to the falls sounded perfect. I chose hiking, since I'd still end up somewhere watery, and could swim later if I felt like it.

I drove over, looked longingly toward the Catoctin Mountain National Park on the other side of the road, and stuck to my guns. I wanted to see waterfalls, darn it. I parked, and had to make another choice. There were two routes to the falls, the cliff trail and the low trail. I chose cliff. It sounded kinda dramatic, no?

I had to stop about two minutes into my climb. Yes, climb. The Cliff Trail lived up to its name. It was steep. I kept going, and was rewarded. The other side of the mountain (read: hill to those of you who think we don't have mountains in the East) was a precipitous winding trail that mountain goats can appreciate. Even with my sprained ankle, I ran the whole way down, leaping from rock to rock. It was AWESOME!

I found the falls, splashed in the creek below, and then hiked off trail up the hill a ways to find a quiet spot to sit and read for a few hours. I was rewarded with this:

Behind my backpack there was a perfect lounge chair carved from rock, in sight of the falls. All I could hear was falling water and birdie twitterings. I sat there for about two hours, and then hiked back out.

The view from my seat in the woods. The falls are around that little hill to the left.

 The best part of this trip, my water shoes no longer smelled like the stinky lake where we kayak at camp. Their stink-free state lasted for about an hour, until I ran the afternoon kayaking sessions. I have to hose them out again. Ick.

Other random weirdness from camp:

1. The theme at camp was "Best of the West." We were supposed to be learning about frontier life and what it was like to be a cowboy. Somehow, a character was invented who took over the camp. The girls created "Bad Bart" or "Black Bart" or "Bad Black Bart" depending on who you asked. He and his gang tried to sneak into camp and steal our gold. Boy, would they be surprised to learn all our "gold" was actually fish tank gravel coated with metallic spray paint. We should have let him have it and been done with it.

We built a wagon, and the camp director painted it. After it rained, she painted it again! And we had horsies!

It was fun chasing Bad Bart all over camp, but we've never had so many skinned knees and twisted ankles .

2. We get silly when we're sleep deprived. One other adult enlightened us as to the definition of "weenus," which is the stretchy skin on your elbow. We spent a good hour thinking of ways to work it into conversation with our husbands when we got home. "Dear, we can see your weenus." "It looks like your weenus is sunburned." "I saw Bad Bart run through camp, his weenus swinging in the breeze." This was all highly entertaining Thursday evening.

3. Thursday night is PA movie night. We took the girls up to the theaters in Gettysburg, and they had their choice of three films. Lulu and I went to see Brave. I was really glad I brought my scarf to use as a blanket. The theater was really cold. I didn't need it to wipe my eyes. Much. Oh, ok. I wept. Sue me.

4. A man who lived nearby brought a kitten to camp. He caught some strays and was trying to find good homes for them. I still have his phone number. The kitten was cute. Should I call him back? Do I need another kitty?

5. I found a tree that had mitten-shaped leaves:

I think that's about it. The highlights of a very long, but immensely fun week. I intended to post this last night, and to interview the next person on the Blogfest list (Gwen Gardner), but I crashed and burned. I slept for 14 hours straight. I'm here again. I'll post new interviews by tomorrow.

I certainly got some reading done at camp, but I didn't do one lick of writing. I even brought the laptop along, but I never even opened it. Not once. I've been rewarded with an idea for a new YA novel. I'm abandoning book 3 of my current series to tackle the wilds of YA. Book 3 isn't as urgent in my brain at the moment, so I'm itching to start something new. And the New Thing has a lot of promise. And it makes me tingly to think about! :)

Thanks, and Ahoy!

Ow, in every sense of the word.

Getting ready for camp week next week, I've been running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything done at home. On top of the pile of other stuff I have to get done, I have to get my yard in shape for the community association. Apparently, Jungle Chic isn't a real thing.

This is my front yard, after filling two yard clippings bags full of vines, overgrown things, and prickly branches. I feel like a pincushion, and I'm still finding thorns embedded in my fingers and arms. It looks better now than it did when I started, but I was too exhausted to take an after picture.

The worst thing I did, though, was accidentally chop through a huge vine of raspberries. I felt like crying. I memorialize the berries here so I'll remember to be more careful tomorrow night when I go out again to try an finish up.

And yes, I have to work at night, because it's too hot to work under the full sun. I'd burn and melt all at the same time. I came in and took the first enjoyable cold shower of the summer.

So I'm completely worn out now. I'm itchy, sore, and scratched up. I'm just going to sit here the rest of the night and watch cooking shows on tv. It's all I have the energy for.

In better news, camp preparations are coming along nicely. I think I can get everything else I need in one quick trip, but I'll have to plan in advance. I keep forgetting things, and I really don't want to multiple trips for things I should have remembered to buy in the first place.

I ordered myself a new life jacket, because I detest the ones the camp provides. I'm also kind of ashamed that as the certified canoe and kayak instructor who has to teach water safety that I never owned a life jacket before. Do as I say, not as I do. Yeah, right. I swim like a fish and can tread water for hours, so I can't imagine a situation where I'd need a life jacket, but it is the smart thing to do...

I'm plowing my way through Running Down the Dragon while I recover in the comfy chair. I've said it before, but I swear, this time it's true. I actually like the story now. I mean, I really like it. I always liked it, of course, since I wrote it. It would be silly to think I wrote a story I didn't like. But writing a novel is an evolving love-hate relationship with your own words. One day you love it, the next you want to burn it. The very next day, you might love it again. Well, today is a Love Day for me and the Dragon. It's always easier to edit when you feel the manuscript love. So on that note, I'll get back to work.

Let's Play a Game, how about, which finger is the band-aid on? Answer: All of them!

Well, well, well. It's been a very interesting couple of days. I was going to start with the most telling moment and make this post all clever and sophisticated by then "flashing back" to all the correspondingly nit-witty moments of the last few days, but I'm all out of clever.

The First Bad Thing: Our living room TV crapped out for no discernible reason. Lulu was watching Spongebob one minute, and nothing the next. We tried for about six hours to figure out what was wrong with it before we finally gave up and brought out Ye Olde TeeVee from Lulu's room, and put the newer, albeit dead, unit on the floor. The 20-year-old tv has a bizarrely blurry picture, but then again, I think I was just used to looking at HD. The 10-year-old, yet dead, tv wasn't HD, but it was more than 10 years younger than the ancient beast we're using until we buy a new one. It's amazing what 10 years of technological advancement means in a TV.

Okay. I was upset about having to shell out a few hundred bucks for a tv this week, but I was getting used to the idea. Then last night Helper Monkey was leaving for work, and came back a minute later. His "Check Engine" light was on, and he wanted to take my truck to work. Fine. I know he needed a tune up, and I even knew why his check engine light was on. I'd been putting off tuning his Jeep for a month or so, but I knew last night I couldn't wait any longer. I'm not fond of mechanic work, but I'm competent. I just don't like to get that greasy. So this morning, I loaded Lulu into the Jeep, and we headed off to the auto parts shop.

Sidebar for a moment here: Tomorrow is Father's Day, just in case y'all forgot. I have to work the baseball game (which inexplicably, I just typed as "basebally game"). We'd been planning to order pizza tonight, and Helper Monkey proclaimed his desire to have a beer with his pizza. I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and get beer while I was out getting auto parts. Helper Monkey was unaware that I'd severely depleted our beer stockpile over the last week or so, and I couldn't have him disappointed on Makeshift Father's Day. We also needed to make a stop at Dairy Queen, because that's how I managed to bribe Lulu into coming out with me.

So we went into the store, bought spark plugs and wires, but I couldn't convince the guy working there that the Jeep did, indeed, require two PCV valves, so I have to go back and finish the job another day. I didn't feel like standing there arguing with him, though, so I took my purchases and headed off for alcohol.

I bought a case of Guinness Black Lager for the Helper Monkey, swung by Dairy Queen (which I keep wanting to spell "Diary Queen"), and we headed home. My hands were full of auto parts and beer, while I trudged toward the garage refrigerator to deposit the bottles. I got the fridge door open, and then the handle on the case ripped and the smashing commenced. I nearly cried. All that Nectar of the Gods, gushing out onto the concrete! Forsooth!

Sad.

Luckily, only two bottles of the 12 smashed. Still. Sad.

Even worse: Trying to rip the box apart to salvage what I could before the entire garage flooded with Guinness, I ripped open my finger on one of the broken bottles. I didn't even realize I was bleeding until I got into the house and couldn't figure out why my hand was still wet.

Oh, and this morning, I cut a different finger on a can I was rinsing out for the recycling. So I have matching gashes on each hand.

Okay, so I came inside to let the engine cool down enough to work on, and we ordered pizza. The pizza was great! Every story needs a little break in the tension, after all. Pizza makes for a great break. STET.

After dinner, I headed out to do the tune-up. It should take about 40 minutes. It SHOULD take about 40 minutes, but I'm a ninny. I got 5 of the 6 plugs and wires replaced, but the last one just WOULD NOT COME OUT!!! I cursed the Chrysler corporation for putting the last spark plug right up against the alternator. What ding dongs.....oh. Right. I have a wrench attachment to go around corners that fixes that problem. Which I only remembered after ten minutes of wrench wrestling, cursing, wailing, and grumpiness.

Still, Chrysler put the battery in the way of replacing the right headlight. You actually have to remove the battery to change the wee tiny light bulb. Ding dongs. So I feel justified in cursing them, even though I had an easier solution to my current problem at hand.

The Jeep runs like a dream now.

I have a picture that I only realized the true magnitude of when I looked at it later. I wanted to send my step-father a picture of the offending spark plug that caused the fault, but the defunct TV is on the floor in the background.

I am the queen of Defunct Things.

When I was done, I was informed I needed to wash up before I was allowed to touch anything. Before I started work, I put a band-aid on my owie finger. Can you guess which finger that was?

Hint: It's the one that looks different.

So that ended up being the Helper Monkey's father's day. He gets a like-new car (with 218,000 miles on it), pizza, beer, and a frazzled, injured wifey. Oddly, it works out for us.

Now I hope the people at the ball game tomorrow night don't think my hands are still dirty when I serve them beer. It's 100% impossible to remove All The Grease in one day.

If only I could write this many words on my WIP today! That would be a true miracle. But seeing as how the Helper Monkey will be up in about 15 minutes, and it's his first day of vacation, I figure I should hang out with him tonight.

#b22k will have to wait

For those unfamiliar with #B22K, this is the creation of Lindsay Smith. She explains it on her blog here.

The idea is that you find time for writing every day. That you make time for writing every day, and set goals. In this case, the goal is 2k words. I started off the challenge with the best of intentions and the worst timing. I keep swearing to get more written every day, and then the fates conspire against me with finger injuries, car maintenance, and smashy beer.

I WILL write more. Dang it. Just not tonight. I need a nap now.

Progress-o-Meter:
Words: 54,145
Pages: 179

Sunburned Feet and the Insidious Blisters (my next band name)

I've had a full day to recover from Girl Scouts Rock the Mall, and all I have left are blisters. The sunburn on the tops of my feet (I changed into flip flops when my shoes started hurting, but forgot to sunscreen my feet) is fading. The bruises on my right hand from repeatedly putting on and taking off a heavy backpack are fading. Just the blisters remain. Unfortunately they are on the BOTTOMS of my feet, right up by my toes. How does this even happen? My feet are so callused I can use them as a pin cushion, but I still manage to get blisters?

Firemen hosing us off to keep us cool. They kept this up for hours. Note: Lincoln Memorial and WWII memorial in background. I love this city.

A closer-in shot:

And me, post-drenching:

And a small (incredibly tiny) part of the crowd:

Frankly, the best part of the whole event was running under the fire hoses. There were two guys at the top of the bucket truck all afternoon, and they delighted in soaking us with a misting hose, and then surprising us with a blast from the cold fire hose set to full blast. Well, probably not full blast, but you know, really strong compared to the misting. I tried to get a shot of their faces, but I couldn't get close enough without soaking my camera, so I wanted to make sure everyone knew I don't think they stopped grinning all afternoon. Thanks, DCFD!

We're also officially part of a Guinness World Record, for largest sing-along. We had over 250,000 people all singing at once. It's probably the only thing I could have managed to do to get into the Guinness Book, since I can't fit a berjillion straws in my mouth, or shoot milk out my eye for distance, or anything else cool like that. Which is probably a good thing.

Anyhoo, I've been hobbling around the house for the last two days, avoiding touching my feet at all for fear they'll explode like two little bombs. That's how they feel, anyway. But things are looking up. I have to put shoes on in a few minutes to drive Lulu to a friend's house for a sleepover. This is both good, and bad, and good again.

Good, because she's going to be away so I'll have a lot of time to write tonight. Bad because putting on shoes sounds like torture. And good, because I promised to take her and her friend out for ice cream. Mainly so I'd have a good enough reason to put shoes on. Ice cream is good enough today.

So, out to ice cream, and de-kid-ification, and then back home to write! Whoo hoo!

I hope it's a good writing night.

Today's Bad Thing in my head: Migraine

Oh, the agony. I overslept the alarm this morning, and that usually only means one thing: I'm not well. Within fifteen minutes of waking up, I knew what was wrong. I had a migraine (and still have it). I get two varieties of migraine, either pure pain or mostly aura. This one was almost entirely aura. The pain goes in and out, but my vision has been wonky all day (seeing spots and lights where there aren't any, things going in and out of focus), I've been sick to my stomach, had ringing in my ears, and I've been generally exhausted. I'd much rather have a straight pain headache. At least I could take some Advil and be done with it.

Even with all this, I still managed to write today, which is amazing. Not a lot, and I'm still at it, but something.

Bright spots to the day (other than the imaginary ones floating inside my eyeballs):

Lulu had a homework assignment for English class that I found particularly interesting. Her class is reading the novel "Homecoming", and one of the questions on the worksheet she was given by the teacher asks for a three sentence synopsis of the entire novel. I found her at the downstairs computer puzzling over what the heck to write. She held up the book so I could see how long it is, and whined, "I have to sum up this huge book in only THREE SENTENCES!"

I laughed, and told her I understood her pain. I explained query writing to her, and gave her some pointers. She found them helpful enough to get the assignment done, at least.

Tomorrow night Helper Monkey and I are finally going to see the Avengers. I'm so excited about this, I can't stand it. Lulu is going to a camping weekend with the girl scouts. Frederick County canceled school Friday because of the G8 summit at Camp David. Apparently they think traffic will be bad enough around the summit that school buses will have a hard time getting kids to and from school in a timely manner. I sincerely hope not, but the roads in that part of the county aren't designed for traffic. It is in the middle of a National Park, after all. Not to mention the fact that the Frederick Airpark is supposed to be so crowded with incoming flights that we've been warned to avoid the area all around the place this weekend, if we can help it. Which I can't, since I live like two miles from it. Harumph...

The Gaithersburg Book Festival is this Saturday, and I'm looking forward to that, as well. I need some new books, and there are a lot of interesting authors speaking and signing books. I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Steve Ulfelder and Jenny Lawson (a.k.a. The Bloggess). I plan to wear a hat with a taxidermied bird on it. She'll appreciate the effort.

White = raspberry, yellow = honeysuckle.  mmmmmmm.

So since I'm so full of win for the next few days, I apologize in advance if this blog slides into the dustheap. I'll do my best, but....yep already too distracted. Please enjoy this photograph of the raspberry bushes and honeysuckle blooms by my back porch. Try to imagine the delicious aroma, and the abundance of berries we'll have in a month or so.

AAAHHH!!! I THINK I'M ON FIRE...

Wait, no. My lighter didn't malfunction in my pocket. I didn't accidentally stab myself in the thigh. I'm not bleeding, and all my clothing is intact. What the hell happened?

A wasp flew up my skirt in the Lowe's parking lot.

Let me say this: IT FREAKING HURTS TO GET STUNG THAT CLOSE TO YOUR LADY BITS.

I can't sit. I've been up and down all afternoon, and I haven't written a single word all day. This is the first time I've been able to sit still for more than a few minutes without feeling like I was being stabbed in the tuchus with a flaming sword.

I reached into the pocket of my skirt to pull out my keys, and the black wasp that flew under my ruffles took offense to the near-smashing he endured. I suppose my black skirt resembled the display of bar-b-cue grills out front of the store, and he mistook me for a mobile wasp home. Why do wasps always nest in grills? We pull about three nests a year out of our grill. Can you tell we don't use it very much?

Luckily, there was another customer in the parking lot who had a first aid kit handy, and she actually had insect sting treatment vials. You crack the vial, and rub the mentholated stuff on the affected area. It helps with pain and swelling, but I had to flash the whole parking lot to apply it. I tried ducking down behind the grills, but the rest of the wasps were laughing at me, I'm sure.

Anyway, that's my excuse for today. I didn't make any new pages because every time I sat down to write, it felt like I'd planted my buttocks on the hot coals inside one of those grills. The Advil, hydrocortisone, and ice packs have combined to reduce the swelling, and I might actually get something done tonight. It remains to be seen, because I'm about to take some benadryl so I'll be able to sleep tonight, and that stuff makes me loopy.

Wish me luck, and don't wear loose black skirts to home improvement stores.

Words: 17,401
Pages: 58

I walked how far?

We walked nearly 10 miles yesterday, if you figure in distances walked inside buildings, museums, gardens, etc. Google maps said it was 8 miles, but we must have walked an additional two between the botanical gardens, wandering around the monuments at the Tidal Basin, and inside the National Gallery of Art. My legs are so stiff today that I'm hobbling around the house. I'll be lucky if I can move at all by tomorrow, after 8 hours working the concession stand tonight. My legs won't straighten all the way, so I suppose we should call it a concession hunch over, rather than stand.

Bad jokes and physical torment aside, we had a great day. My cell phone died around 2 pm, but I took a bunch of pictures before then. I think the battery would have lasted longer if I'd remembered to turn off the Google Plus uploads. It eats battery to upload pictures every time you snap one, and I took 39 before I realized my error.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Union Station, still recovering from last year's earthquake.

We noticed a lot of buildings covered in scaffolding, including the interior of Union Station. There was a net all across the main terminal building to prevent any falling debris from hitting travelers. The National Gallery's East Building was also stripped of a lot of its marble facade so brick work beneath it could be repaired.

The statue atop the Capitol building was caged in scaffolding.

Tulips at the Botanical Gardens

I love tulips. I used to grow them all over my front yard at our old house. I tried planting them for a few years here, but as soon as they bud, the deer come along and eat them. I end up with a field of green sticks. I gave up on tulips in my own garden, so any time I see them thriving like this, I have a fit of jealousy and take a picture.

Lulu adding a wish to the Wish Tree

Yoko Ono installed this Wish Tree in the Hirshhorn Museum's sculpture garden. We all added wishes.

Smithsonian Castle

I love the Castle. It's so incongruous on the National mall, the lone brick building among classical marble and modern architecture. And it has a carousel out front, which I was forced (sort of) to ride. After a minute on a carousel, I always think, "Ok, that's enough. Any time you want to stop now." I don't like going in circles, apparently.

Japanese Stone Pagoda near the FDR Memorial

We went to see the cherry trees, even though they bloomed a few weeks ago. We still took the ranger tour, and learned about the other gifts from Japan around the Tidal Basin, including this stone pagoda.

Best part of my day

Every day, I write a little note on Lucy's napkin in her lunch box. I didn't realize she'd done that on my napkin until I opened my lunch. And yes, I dug tissues out of my bag so I wouldn't have to use this napkin.

I was so mad that my phone died before we got to the rest of the museums, but the main exhibit we wanted to see didn't allow photography anyway. It was a display of 30 silk panels painted in the 1750's in Japan. It was really beautiful, depicting birds, animals, and plants with incredible detail. The exhibit has never traveled outside of Japan, and is rarely even displayed there. Since it's only here for a month, we were really lucky to see it. We also ran out of time to see the National Archives, which made me sad, but I've been there before, and I can go back any time I want. It's not like it's going anywhere.

So I got absolutely no writing done yesterday. I had a berjillion emails to sort through when I got home. I've finally managed to get myself seated in front of the computer today, and I have to leave in about 3 1/2 hours. I did manage to wrangle tomorrow down to a half day of work, but I'm still falling behind. I really have to get back to my regular schedule. At this rate, that won't happen until September! :)

Still, I wouldn't trade yesterday for anything, aching feet and all. Why? When I asked Lulu what her favorite thing about the day was, she replied, "Everything." It doesn't get any better!

Not how I like to wake up.

I was up late last night. I watched TV until I finally fell asleep around 1:30 in the morning. I had a blissful three hours of sleep, or so, when for no apparent reason, my cat went all ninja on my right foot. I guess the lump under the blanket looked particularly menacing, or something. I can't explain cats, but I know for sure his ninja assassin skills are up to snuff. Thank the heavens I managed to get back to sleep for an hour or so.

When I did finally wake up for the day, I put on my little slipper socks. The tile floor in my room is cold, even in summer, so I often put them on before I get out of bed. Today, though, I yelped in pain. The little bugger managed to draw blood, and I have several large gashes in the inside instep of my right foot. Shoes haven't been fun today.

Unfortunately, I've had to wear shoes. I couldn't get away with barefootedness. I had to go to a training meeting for Lulu's chorus and girl scout troop. Both groups are manning a concession stand at the local minor league baseball stadium this season. We're working 81 games. I think I could cry. Luckily, we have about 15 parents who took the training course, and we each only need to work about 10 games. It's a huge lot of work, but it will raise a ton of money, way more than they make from Girl Scout cookies. Anything we can do to help our girls meet their goals, and then exceed them, I'm willing to do. Plus, hey, free baseball games!

I managed to get about 15 pages in book 2 edited today, despite feeling like a headless chicken in a lot of other ways. I got another very encouraging request for pages yesterday, and I've gone into that tailspin of research and paranoia that accompanies submissions. I tend to obsess when an agent expresses an interest in my writing. I guess that's to be expected. We all like validation that something we've done is worthy of further perusal. This kind of thing also comes with a lot of palpitations, nervous twitches, and obsessive email checking. None of these things are particularly healthy. I try to avoid them at all costs, but sometimes I can't help myself.

I still take breaks from editing, and I still check Twitter. When I see the delightful agent who wanted to read more of my story, I feel compelled to see what she has to say, and the obsess over whether it might give me some insight into whether or not she'll like or hate my story. Like I said, not particularly healthy.

So here I am writing this, hoping to avoid checking anything for the next few minutes, at least. After this, I think I'm going to watch something on TV, far from the computer. Maybe I'll leave my cell phone in another room, too.

I'm sure this won't take too long. I'll be all better as soon as I hear back, either way. Granted, I'll be better sooner if I get a positive response than a negative one. Again, human nature.

That three hours of sleep is starting to catch up with me. I think I'll just skip to the tv watching and vegetating right now.

Good night!

On a roll..but unfortunately not with the book.

We finished pressure washing the deck and front porch today. It looks like a new deck! Now we have to get busy staining. There's still so much to do! To think, the huge wrap-around deck was something we liked when we bought this house. What a pain in the patootie it's become. It'll be nice for summer, though.

I wanted to start staining, but the contractor we have pressure-washing the rest of the house saw me and stopped me from doing any more. He was worried all my stain would run when he got it wet in a few minutes. So much for staining! I'll get back to it soon, but I needed a break anyway. I've been outside working for the last seven hours, minus a short break for lunch. I've got a headache from the ridiculous amount of noise two pressure washing machines can make. At least staining will be a quiet activity.

The repetitive motion of all this work is great for thinking, though. I can totally zone out from the physical work and work on plot development. Since I've just started the new book, I really need to focus on what's going on with the story. I'd like to reread what I've already written, but I think I'm sticking to the right track with my distracted musings.

I've got to go get the kid from school, completely grubbified. She'll be humiliated when she sees me, I'm sure. I'm wet from the knees down, covered with muddy spatters, and my hair's completely hat-headified.

I refused to go to bed last night until I had at least 1,000 words for the day, so I actually have an update!

Words: 8,051
Pages: 28

Camping done, back to work...tomorrow

I've been camping for the last 48 hours. I am question-mark shaped now from hauling gear, hiking, and everything else. It's good to be back in the Comfy Chair.

Strange things we've eaten, since we let the girls plan all the meals:

1. Train Wreck Soup: Everyone brought a can of their favorite soup, and we mixed them all together in one pot. Sounds gross, tastes fantastic! Who knew beef stew, chicken noodle, and Italian wedding soup all tasted good mixed together? I swear, it's true.

2. Puppy Chow: No, not dog food. It just looks like dog food. It's rice Chex coated with melted peanut butter and chocolate, then sprinkled with powdered sugar. It's the most evil Chex mix ever. Yum!

3. Little pizzas made on Pillsbury canned biscuit dough. Surprisingly good.

4. Breakfast casserole, made in crock pots. Tater Tots, eggs, cheese, and sausage. YUM!!!

Non strange foods: spaghetti, s'mores , muffins, apples, pigs in blankets, etc.

Smores caveat: The firewood we had was too green to burn, so it took forever to get the fire started, and it smoked so bad we were all weeping and runny-nosed, sitting outside freezing our buttocks off. Eventually we got it going, and had a great time, though.

It was a good weekend, and we all had a lot of fun, but now it's time to get back to work. Yes, indeedy. (mentally standing here, looking around, swinging arms back and forth, feeling kinda lost).

I've got to go back and re-read everything I've written up to this point, because apparently two days in the woods with 6th graders makes your brain melt. First thing when I got home today, I set up the crock pot and put some beef stew together. Well, technically I did that second, after I spilled my soda all over my coat, mittens, and the kitchen floor and had to clean it all up. I still haven't brought in the rest of my gear from the truck. I only brought in the perishable food and the crock pot. Unfortunately, my chocolate stash is still out there, so I guess I really should go dig everything out. The only down side: when I bring in the dirty camp clothes, I have to do laundry.

I really need a good night's sleep, one in which I'm not three inches off the floor in a sleeping bag. I sincerely hope I'm able to get back to work by tomorrow. I think right now I'm going to see what recorded this past week on the tivo, and try to recover from the sodium overdose we suffered this weekend.

Also on the menu for this week: Tim's got the week off work, so we're going to pull all the trumpet vine off the front deck, pressure wash it, and then stain it. Sound like fun? Don't you wish you were me? Cripes.

So now, I'm going to finish watching this ridiculous tv movie with the kid and try to forget all the physical labor in store for the rest of the week.

No update from the last writing updates, so that's all for today.

Drowning in Cookies

So, yesterday was kind of a waste of editing time, but I got a lot of other stuff done. It was Girl Scout Cookie pickup day. There's a shopping mall near my house that went out of business, and all the cookies for our region were delivered there. The deserted parking lot was arranged just for us, with a line of semi-trailers full of cookies, one truck for each variety. We paraded past each, and loaded up.

We ordered more cookies this year than ever before, and we had my truck, the leader's SUV, and another dad's Sprinter van. Now we know, you CAN get 256 cases of cookies in a Sprinter. Yikes!

We hauled them all back to the leader's house to sort. Here's a picture of SOME of those cookies. There were more behind me.

There's just too many to fit in one shot.

After moving all that mountain, I had to hang around and wait for each girl to pick up their order. I figured it would be perfect, sitting out in the garage in a lounge chair working on my edits. HAH!!! Do you know how cold it feels when it's 41 degrees and you're sitting perfectly still? REALLY DAMN COLD!!! So I ended up moving around a lot, going back and forth into the house to thaw out periodically, and eventually giving up and coming home. I am so sore today.

Only adding to my soreness is the fact that I'm a big dummy who fell asleep on the couch last night. Tim sent me to bed when he got up to go to work, but the damage had apparently been done. I am question-mark shaped today. At least I have cookies to cheer me up.

And I had pancakes for dinner last night. That's what Tim and Lulu made, and they saved me the leftovers. I love it when we have breakfast for dinner.

On the down side, I didn't get much editing done, but I realize I'm nearing the end of this round. I think one more read-through ought to do it, and then the betas can have at it.

Words: 97,706
Pages: 312
Edit Page: 251