California Heat Wave, Fancy Dinner and Writing

 There is a heat wave coming through. It's going to be as hot out here as it usually is in Arizona. I'm not excited by that. 

I went to eat at Lemon Zest with Darlene and Mr. M. It was so fun. I told them I would walk because it's not far from my place, but as I was walking, they must have seen me because they swung by and picked me up. I wore a pretty dress not thinking I'd be sweating in it. The fabric was wet with my sweat. It was 97 degrees. Still not as bad as Arizona heat though.

Rose and Matt got a dog!! It's so beautiful. They invited me over to play with it so I'm thinking I need to get a box of treats to bring to the puppy. It's only six months old and they are naming it Jones. Such a cute name for such a cute animal.

Darlene wants to come over for coffee. I warned her that our place is a mess. Truthfully, I'd rather be writing than cleaning and I think that frustrates the sisters, because they're like, "you need to be cleaning too." Hey, the dishes and laundry get done... picking things up off the floor and dusting... yeah. 

Mozart has been slowing down a lot. We got him a topper for his cereal and that gave him a little life. His zoomies are so bloody sweet! 

Our vacation is coming and we haven't finished booking tours or planning it. I want to go to the art district at many of these locations. There's only one town that doesn't seem to have an art district, but it has a lavender garden. 

Writing Update:

So I'm working on the werewolf story which I went back to reread and it's not bad. I should probably slow down on the drinks while I'm writing, but other than that, the bones are good.

I am also working on that story that's so outside my realm. Again, I never write sad stories so I don't know how this one will blow over. I finally figured out the title for it. I asked two people and they both liked the concept of the name. I will explain the reason for the name when I start to post the story. 

Still deciding if I need a new alias for my stories. Part of me says, "Hey, just post it under the name you got" but another part isn't so sure. Writer problems.... right? 

Moving Slowly, Murder Party the Movie and Writing

I really haven't been out of the house for a week due to my issue with walking on my broken toe. Fun. It's so swollen. I wonder if I broke the metatarsal phalangeal joint. Wearing shoes is uncomfortable. I made the mistake of walking a puzzle down to the community library box, which is down the street, and that was a painful little journey.

I've been watching horror movies. I'll still watch it if the acting is bad but the script is interesting. I love stories. 

I just watched a 2007 horror movie called "Murder Party" that was freaking hilarious and the characters were  interesting. I really liked how the story unfolded. It's about this guy who finds an invitation to a party and decides to go. It's very artsy and probably commentary on the art world. 

Art is subjective. Artists.... yeah. 

I'm an artist, so I'm probably pretty strange too. I talk for hours on characters. I listen to people's lives and say things like "what an interesting story" which I now know is not how to comment on people's lives. Good thing I'm not a therapist. 

Writing Update:

I am working on a dark story with fantasy elements that touches on a real issue. I'm hoping to finish it in 7 chapters. It'll be pretty small, but I haven't decided yet how dark I'm going to make it. No matter how bleak my stories get, I usually finish them with a happy ending, but this is going to be pretty dark even for me. 

Does my lead character find happiness only to end up dead at the end of the story? I've never written a major character death before. 

 

Zombie Dreams, Manic Superhero Lover and Writing

 I had this very vivid and weird dream that started out nicely at a restaurant and ended with zombies that came over from the zoo. I told my mom about it and her takeaway...

mom: "You have no business at a restaurant with no prices on the menu."

me: "But it was a nice restaurant!" 

mom: "And how did that work out?"

me: "It was a LOT of money."

mom: "You never go to a restaurant that doesn't have prices."

Seriously though, in my dream, the bill for three people was about $$$. That's what it's going to cost for Emory and me to go to Temecula Valley for a few days with the wine tour and the hotel. I should really bring my bathing suit. I love sitting in the hot tub. 

I asked Sue if she had any small travel containers that I could put my hair cream in. I got this really great cream for curly hair and I've been really impressed with the curls lately. She showed up with a bag of stuff. If we were playing Dungeons and Dragons, she'd be a wizard because she always has what you need. 

Anyways, she brought over the little containers that I asked for and she also had eye masks in the baggy and a few new hair products. 

I broke my little toe on some weights. I've been limping around the house because it hurts to put pressure on my foot. How the heck does Daredevil do this with broken ribs? My little broken toe has put me out of commission and it's black and purple. I'm afraid it's going to fall off while I'm sleeping. It throbs just doing nothing.

I'm watching Peacemaker again. Emory's comment, "Didn't you JUST watch it?" Yep... A few weeks ago, but now I'm starting it over again. I freaking love everything about this show. The script is great. The actors really nail the characters. I'm in love with the show. I'm even thinking about learning how to do the opening dance. Don't be surprised if I actually show up one day trying it out. 

I'm also really really really fighting the desire to watch Daredevil AGAIN! For the 100th time. 

And.... I'm seconds away from putting on Agents of SHIELD. What is getting into me? It's like I'm going crazy for superhero stories.

Writing:

Not working on anything I should be working on:

Working on a Dom/sub story with my two favorite characters: Story is untitled and the problem is, I have 7 stories all listed as Dom/sub, so I can't remember them apart until I open the file and say, "Oh, yeah, this isn't the one I want to work on yet." I should really start naming these stories. 

Maybe I should start working on the stories people are waiting for? I have two that are currently still unfinished and I think the few followers I have are still waiting ever so patiently. 

Holy Grail, Not a Wasp Whisperer and Writing

Monty Python and the Holy Grail says it all:

King: "I am your king."

Peasant Woman: "Well, I didn't vote for you."

Well said Peasant Woman!! I didn't vote for this "king" either, so why are we folding? I never thought we'd be here, but here we are. I'm not folding, but I'm getting exhausted fighting. I'm also tired with the news. I can't stand hearing that disgusting "man" speak for even a second. 

I didn't realize I had a different text notification for every person when a text comes through... But why did I choose a horn? The first text that came through for my sister-in-law scared the goosebumps out of me! I have a guitar for Emory. It's pretty cool. I always know he sent me a text.

The wasps that came back are bloody huge! Yesterday I felt pretty invincible walking among them with no issues. Today, I saw the wasps lingering on the screen door and thought, "holy crap, I'm not getting near the door until it flies away." I went to the office again and they said they would remove them here shortly. The nest is still fairly small, but man, I wouldn't want those things landing on me or getting pissed with Mozart. 

Sue was kid wrangling for two weeks so she's ready for a break. She had a slight cough when she called, so I'm worried she's going to get sick before we volunteer with her organization. 

We're volunteering to hand out back to school items to foster children and their parents. This should be fun. I guess it DOES get hot out here so I've been warned that I need to have the neck wraps that keep you cool and to drink lots of water. The event is huge from what I hear, so I'm going to wear shorts and maybe a little makeup because I'm going to meet Sue's friends. Got to look good so I don't embarrass her. 

I watched a video on older women dressing how they want and believe me, some of it was so outlandishly me!! One woman said she started in her 40's so I guess I could start too. I don't know if I'd be really in dresses the way most of these women were. I would be more boho. I like boho dresses and the flowing pants. I should take a few photos of what I already own to show you all. Wouldn't that be fun? 😂

Writing Update:

Working on a small project that barely has 150 words on it. I love building and building, then going and ripping it to shreds, deleting and rebuilding. 

Worked a little on an older project. C: Chapter 13 editing it. I'm on page 3, but it's a lot of cleaning up, so does that count? 

Coyotes Run Wild, Building a New Commune and Writing

Sue just called to tell me that there are coyotes at the bottom of their hill that have formed a home pretty much in their backyard. The household babysits Mozart for us and we babysit their pets so this is a really good warning not to just let any of the animals run around the huge property. 

I've been training for long distance walking because when we go to Colorado, there is going to be a great deal of hiking/biking and other touristy things. I still get tired after a couple miles. I don't know if that's normal. 

I'm practicing my Spanish while watching horror movies in Spanish. I'm still not sure if I'm learning Spain Spanish or Latin America Spanish. I know Crazy Cousin Nik explained it to me, but I'm not there in my studies to know the difference yet. The commune speaks Latin American Spanish and that's what they want me to focus on, but I think my lessons are Spain Spanish given that it's the flag that I see on Duolingo. 

I'm so proud of myself. I can speak in super simple sentences, but I keep dropping the "el, la, los", which I don't know why. Crazy Cousin Nik says that people will still be able to understand me, but I want to be fluent. I don't want to say, "I need telephone number" I want to say, "I need the telephone number." Please tell me I can get to that level! 

The people that I want to build a commune with are talking about finding a property out here in America if it gets too hard to travel out of America. We'd be pretty isolated from the world and I can't disagree on that. I'd like to rescue a few animals and just let nature be as wild as possible around us. It would be nice to be isolated from everything that's happening. They are really big about rescues too, so we'd probably have a few dogs for sure. 

I'm looking at old churches like Ann Rice did. I'm also looking at abandoned schools. It would be so cool to actually have a full house of people just traveling through. I don't know if that would put us all in danger having strangers come through, but it would be nice to build a community.

Ann found these super cool, super huge wall decorations. There are two in the set and they are going for $1,000, but this guy beat her to it. I told her I would love to have them. She said Darlene said the same thing. 😂

Isn't this awesome! I can imagine the conversations that would come from it. 

Writing Update:

Untitled Werewolf: Writing it from two POVs. I was wondering if it should only be from one POV. I honestly don't know if I can switch POVs in the story the way some authors can, so I'm just doing it this way to get the lay of the land and see what comes.

E.W. I'm working on editing chapter 2 now. It's been so long since I've worked on this book, I need to remind myself what was happening and I need to get a feel for the characters again. I love what I have so far.