-
visits and gardens and things, oh my!
Our friend Kate came up from Cork to do family things, but we got to keep her overnight because we’re lucky. :) I obliged her to get her 10,000 steps for the year in a *second time* this year, the poor darling: we went hither and yon and to the Botanic Gardens for a picnic (and ended up on the evening news! if only for a moment or two! :) I’d download that and make a clip of just the bit with us except I can’t figure out how. Is anybody else smart enough to?) and hung out in our garden and generally had a really lovely time, at the end of which we were all totally exhausted. :)
Let’s see. Oh! I got a form letter a couple of days ago letting me know that I have not advanced to the next stage of the Arthur Guinness Projects grant awards thing, so, well, no climate change trilogy. Not right now, anyway.
Okay, several hours ago when I started this post I thought I had more to say, but having come back to it I can’t think what, so I’m going to go make some more jam now.
-
Guinness grant
I thought I’d said, but maybe I didn’t!
I closed out the Arthur Guinness Projects popularity vote contest with 2976 votes. The leader had just under 4500, and I’m pretty clearly in the top 10%. I think I might have been #6 overall.
So now we wait. :) The judges will be announcing their decisions sometime in September, but I don’t know when exactly. Someone hypothesized it would be the 26th, which is the Guinness-invented holiday Arthur’s Day, and having had that hypothesis suggested to me, it’s OBVIOUSLY what *I* would do, but I’ve no idea what they’ll do. :)
Anyway, I’m certainly in with a chance, and it’ll be exciting to see what happens! Fingers crossed! :)
-
whee
at 10:30am i had eaten, bathed, played some x-box games, watched a bit of tv, moved 9 boxes of baby clothes downstairs, unburied the wardrobe in the front bedroom (but in doing so, buried the computer desk), emptied two boxes, and fallen on the stairs wrenching my shoulder and thumb badly in catching myself.
the good news is i’ve moved on from being frustrated at ted for all the
useless shitImportant Stuff he owns to being frustrated with myself for all theuseless shitImportant Stuff i own. at least *his* stuff goes nicely onto shelves, but i’ve got art supplies i haven’t used in years, figurines we have no room for at all, a sewing machine and a box of sewing fabric i’ve never used, barbells, clothes i’m too fat for, the list goes on and on.by noon, i’d emptied another couple boxes, until i was left staring at the two pairs of calf-high boots i rarely wear and trying to decide if it’s even worth keeping them, nevermind the various other shoes i either obviously should never have purchased or have replaced with something more useable, and gave up in depression.
then the landlord showed up before I got the door to the dining room, where we’ve recarpeted, closed. now he’s seen the new carpet, which i’d been going to say, several months down the line “hey, we’re thinking of recarpeting, want to go halvsies on it?” and hand over the old receipt with the date blurred out. that won’t work now.
vote for The Last Days of Ancient Sunlight here. aiming for 1150 votes today.
eta: The landlord has been here nearly all day, cleaning out what proved to be a really astounding amount of ivy from behind the shed, putting new spindles onto the upstairs bannister railing so Young Indiana could no longer fit himself through the gaping hole there, and fixing (we hope) the leaking roof in the kitchen
A plumber has also come and gone and come again, trying to fix the leaky faucet (tap) in the tub (bath; apparently I was not speaking Hibernian English when I explained the problem a few days ago :)).
We have watched a horrifying amount of TV, trying to keep out of the way, and I have further reduced my inbox from about 150 to about 35, nearly all of which are work-related. I guess that’s something.
-
a useful item :)
*bemused* You know what really useful item I have here? A signed, limited edition, *still shrink-wrapped* leatherbound edition of the Starblaze Donning #Elfquest GN #3. 30 years old!
I also have a not-shrinkwrapped copy of it and of #4, and 2 copies each of the softbound editions, and as usually happens when I notice these things, it’s hard to convince myself I shouldn’t go hunt down 1, 2, and the omnibus edition I saw once when I was about 12 and did not have the $150 for (of course) and have regretted not asking for ever since… :)
I’m reading (I’ve said this before, but) a book called GETTING THINGS DONE, which is highlighting how good I am at getting things done. It has ways to improve my system, although for me the idea of a physical inbox is impractical because I would never be able to keep small hands out of it. I’d like to have some kind of … I don’t know. Wetware. :) I’m never on the same system very long right now and Google calendar has underwhelmed me, as a rule. But it’s an interesting book and probably even more useful for people who don’t start out as generally organized as I am.
Here’s today’s plug for The Last Days of Ancient Sunlight. :)
And here are some absolutely beautiful 19th century photographs of the American west.
-
AGP Party :)
If Swan River Press & I get Arthur Guinness Projects grants we’ll have a joint celebration party to celebrate. You’re all invited. :) Vote for us!
