Working and Holiday Gifts

I really hate working six-day weeks. I worked them when I was younger, even worked two or three jobs at a time when we needed the money. But now I'm older. have less energy, have a bit more in the bank, and really don't need to work extended hours and days. Except that I do ... work them, I mean. On an average day I'm in the shop between 7:00 am and 7:45 am and I leave around 6:15 pm. I'm even in the shop on my day off in the morning to make sure all of the computers turn on properly and that there are no software issues. 

Everybody's week is actually long, it's defined by what
gets packed into it. Mine is starting to be really boring.
Ick! 

Averaging things out, I'd say my average week is about 60 hours in the shop. That doesn't mean I'm just working on business. I surf the net, write a bit in my blog, yesterday I ordered holiday gifts for my BFF Sharon and the Chickie. So it's not all work and no play. But still, it's a lot of hours to spend in a place that I really don't enjoy any more. That sucks. 

I lost interest in GOT fairly early on, but DH
has watched all of the DVD's (we don't get
any of the premium cable channels). The
books were good, but they are past the books
now and into fan-fiction. Hmmmm .... 

We've been open for two Sundays now. I'd rather be home watching the football game than at the store on a day that should be a day with Hubby and football. Oh well, I only have one more Sunday remaining. Today I'll try to pound my order into shape for DVD's and calendars. I need them before too much longer. I'll also have to plan to pick up the next season of Game of Thrones DVD which releases tomorrow, so I'll have to add that to my agenda since DH wants it under our invisible tree. Christmas just can't come soon enough. *SIGH*

When GOT is completed, then I might consider
binge watching it. As it is, given to us in bits
and trickles, I'll bide my time. 

Have a glorious Monday. Looking at the calendar, there are only two weeks to the "Season" remaining and that, at least, makes me VERY happy. Now ... off to the pool after I plug in some pictures. 

Yippie! Oy! and Yawn!

It's my day off - yippee! I'm really looking forward to having the time to take for myself, but I also have errands to do and places to go. My car is dripping oil since I hit a large pot hole in the road a couple of weeks ago, so I need to set up an appointment to get it looked at. But...not today.

Wal-Mart opens down the street from my home at 6:00 am this morning. 

Oy! My local Wal-Mart is opening a new store down the road from us. My DH is very excited about it, but I'm not really a Wally World fan so I can take or leave it. It opens in less than an hour and I think I'll skip going there. I'll leave it up to my DH to visit and tell me how wonderful it all is *sigh*.

I like the series, but can't watch it in long sessions. DH, on the other hand,
would happily watch hours at a time. There's a lot of violence in it, but I
read all of the books and at least know what is coming. 

He bought the set of Game of Thrones Season 3 DVD's last week, but there is an error in disk 6 and it stops the DVD player at that point. We tried it on two different players and had the problem at the same place on both of them. So I'll be off to Target today to exchange it for a different set. While I'm there, I'll pick up a copy of The Hobbit DOS while I'm there (and hopefully remember the other items I have on my shopping list).

He can watch his Game of Thrones, I'l watch The Hobbit - The
Desolation of Smaug. We'll both be happy. 

Yawn - it's always a late night on Tuesdays with both "Face-Off" and "Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge" shows. I'm dragging a bit today, so I'm grateful that I don't have an armload of errands to do. I need to get to the bank, my local restaurant is offering a great text bargain which expires tomorrow so that will be breakfast, and I'm tempted to drive out and take a close look at the Mazda I'm thinking about buying. I have to go to Target (see above) and I have chapters to beta and stories to write. This afternoon I'll be grocery shopping and finally I'll be chatting with Aearwen.

This has been a great show so far. It's only their first season, but it's
based on a Face-off style and it's working well. I like it, even though I
have a totally exhausted Wednesday because I only get five hours of
sleep after watching it. 

I'm absolutely sure that my time will be quite filled, so I'm going to end this here and get my trash and recycling together for today's pick-up. It's going to be 70 F in the Cities today so I'm really looking forward to some warm temps for a change. Have a great Wednesday!

Tax Dragon - Should I Be Running?

So, Tuesday night we have our appointment with our new accountant for our personal tax return. Our previous accountant we had for 20 years, there was a comfort level there that we really liked. Now it's rather like stepping off a short cliff. It won't be life-threatening, but it is going to be more uncomfortable because we won't automatically be talked through the details. I haven't gathered anything together. Anything. I am planning to work on things tomorrow, and I know it won't be enough time. Bad me. But I'm just not in the mood and when I'm not in the mood to do something I can push things to the background extremely well - shove things under the bed in essence.

DH and I started watching Game of Thrones on Saturday. I had already seen so much of it through the trailers, etc, that it seemed like re-watching it in many cases. And of course I've read the books. DH actually has the first book - he bought it several years ago. But he got one chapter into it and put it down. It didn't catch his attention. We didn't get very far in the DVD though. Our Disc 1 had scratches in it that stopped us at Daenerys' wedding. I took the set to B&N on Sunday and exchanged it for a new set. That worked fine when we tried to watch the first disk again on Sunday.

We're still sick, and we're so tired of it. I've been sleeping and sleeping and I'm caught up on sleep, but still exhausted because my body is a wreck. Shame on it! But I'll do what I need to, I'll get my tax info together tomorrow, and I'll keep on keeping on because that's what I do. Have an awesome Monday!

Writing Progress and Woes

My DH normally is not fond of my taking on additional crafts. He admitted the other day, however, that he isn't minding the fact that I am writing now, even though it is taking a great chunk of my time. He said "at least writing is cheap". I fully admit that I have a habit of switching from interest to interest and most of them do cost money, sometimes a fair amount of money, for supplies. At least my writing and my computer work only costs me the money for the computer, and that's been an essential in our individual lives since the mid-1990's - it's just another household appliance.

I've been tied up in my challenge board lately, though, instead of writing about Tolkien-universe subjects. My "Game of Thrones" challenge board is currently running a 20/20 challenge. Twenty drabbles (stories of 100 words - they allow more than 100 but the true definition is 100 words and that's what I stick to) and/or 20 graphics in 20 days. I've been writing drabbles since I find them quite easy to pound out. I think I'll write a total of 10 drabbles and then make graphics for each of them. Piece of cake. I should be finished early-mid next week.

DH and I will attend the Minnesota Mineral Society's annual lapidary show tomorrow. We always enjoy this small show. We buy slabs of rock to play with and look at, we attend lectures if there are interesting ones, often we run into my sister-in-law, oldest nephew and his youngest daughter because he also loves coming out to the show. It's just a fun time looking at pretty things and we've been looking forward to it all week!

So...on this grey Saturday, turning to wonderful fall sunshine, have a beautifully creative day. If you're off work, take a walk through nature for a while. Remind yourself that you are not the only being on the planet and that the other ones - trees, squirrels, crows, etc - deserve respect as well. Happy weekend!

Back to Work Again

I actually printed out the supply lists for my classes next week.  Now I just have to actually read them and pack accordingly.  I should also determine my route so that I can avoid most of the tolls on the Illimois roads - they really suck.  I am looking forward to the trip, though.  Not least of which will be to see my friend Shruti.  I don't have any charms made for charm exchange, and I don't have the time to do any either, so that's the way it goes. 

Yesterday I bought the Blu-Ray extended edition DVD's of Lord of the Rings.  Actually, my DH bought them because he will be writing me a check to pay for them.  EXPENSIVE!!!  But of course, with three hours of addtional "stuff" I had to get them.  Addict?  Moi?  I also noticed that I get digital download rights for a year with this, and I will certainly take advantage of that!  I also bought a couple of light-weight short-sleeved shirts for the shop because I only have a single one that's in wearable condition.  Wearable is highly recommended - LOL.  I also pre-ordered the DVD for Game of Thrones, another thing that DH is paying for.  I still don't know when it will be released, but I'll have it coming to me when it is.  With my Barnes & Noble membership discount and free shipping, the price was great! 

I wanted to get to Barnes & Noble yesterday to buy a copy of Empire.  The current issue has Gandalf and Bilbo on the cover and goes into some detail about the making of the Hobbit movie.  Unfortunately, my time simply didn't allow for the trip.  But I got a lot done yesterday.  I had a 40% off coupon for Dick Blick and ended up buying a bright red irredescent paint for use with air brush.  I have been wanting to do a lacquer-type finish on one of my boxes for more than a year.  So I'll sand one of them down and start playing.  I really enjoyed playing with the airbrush for my Big Bang picture which I will show all of you more towards the end of the month.  I want to play some more with the airbrush and explore some additional possibilities.  Fun! 

Swordspoint and Game of Thrones

As my readers know, I have been reading books by Ellen Kushner.  I read Swordspoint and am now involved in The Privilege of the Sword.  Swordspoint caught me quickly.  It was recommended by several fanfic authors whose opinions I greatly respect, so I purchased it for my Nook and buried my nose in electronic text.  Yesterday morning, I found the perfect musical accompaniment to the story.  It's not that I don't know the music very well, I have listened to this for many years.  But the understated elegance, the pull between the themes, the way that the music just snakes through the measures, it just spoke to me as being perfect for the magnetic attraction and unusual combination of Alec and Richard.  The music is JS Bach's "Air on the G String".  

And Game of Thrones has started broadcasting on HBO.  I don't get the premium channels on my TV, so I'll have to wait to see it until the DVD gets released after the season is over.  The comments I am hearing from friends who are able to see it are generally quite favorable.  The books drove me, and still drive me, a bit crazy.  I'm not sure whether I want to read them again to refresh my memories of the world that Martin is presenting.  I think I would rather watch this for the costumery and to see Sean Bean wearing a sword again.  That, in itself, will be worth the watch.  For those who are fans of the series, Poster Revolution has some wonderful posters available.  So, today's post has been on entertainment.  What are you doing for entertainment this week?