Me poor mum's ill again :-(

A few week's back me mum was ill and went in to hospital.  The procedure went well but whatever it was seems to have grown back and she's ill again  :-(

If you pray, please send out a prayer for Ann that she recovers quickly and that the doctors hands are guided to wherever they need to go again.

If you don't pray, that's totally OK, please just keep me mum in your thoughts?  Please?

Love you mum! I'll be thinking of and praying for you!

That's a relief!

I played Pet Rescue Saga on Facebook a few days ago and tried to use my secondary account to pay a couple of times.  It was rejected the second time so I thought I'd gone overdrawn.

I've just checked my balance online and I'm comfortably in credit... nowhere near overdrawn so I don't know why it was rejected!

I'm in credit with my primary account too so I've just got to not spend anything else and I can comfortably move another £100 into each of my savings accounts too!

There is definitely a Higher Power out there looking after me!

Another one from Facebook

I'm in tears now, but...

... I've just emailed a dental phobia place about having my teeth sorted out - I just hope it doesn't cost a small fortune!

I'm seriously considering asking to have all my teeth taken out and just having a full set of dentures instead.  Yep, totally serious.

Dentists

I've had a phobia of dentists since early childhood.

I've got 1 tooth that needs to be filled and another one that needs to be taken out but I'm too petrified to see even the nervous patient dentist and I dread to think how much it will cost that I just can't afford right now!

Hopefully I'll go down there and ask them to refer me to the hospital to have it done under a GA 'cos there is no way I could cope with it otherwise! 

For M from me via Facebook

Had me hair cut short yesterday, and...

... it's going to be a rough 8 days for me because today and 6th October is when I lost my twins 19 years ago and I'm infertile so we can't have any children any more either.

I had me hair cut into a short bob yesterday though which I love the look of!

Mitzi is definitely a fan of...

... her monthly Bark Beats boxes!

At £15 each they aren't cheap but she knows it's for her as soon as I let her sniff the bag the box comes in and she follows me until I open the bag and box and let her have a sniff!

She got 2 doggy croissants and I broke a bit off one of them to see if she liked it and it was the best thing since last months box!

Steve's got the rest of the croissants in his set of draws along with last months treats but Mitzi is definitely a fan even though this was only her second month - Bark Beats definitely know dogs!

This post is number...

... 1234 so my OCD is happy right now!  Yay!

Such a clever little girl!

Our little girl has got a cardboard "toy box" in the hall with all her toys in it.

She wanted to play so Steve asked Mitzi to bring Miss Piggy in to play with from her toy box.

She went out and came back in so Steve asked her to bring Mr Squeaky Chicken instead.

She came back in again so me an' 'im thought she couldn't reach her toys so I went out to help her.

I walked around the corner and she'd got both of them out of the box and the chicken's legs were crossed with her toy pigs legs.

I certainly haven't taught her to do that and I'm pretty sure Steve hasn't either... she did it all by her clever little self!  Mitzi is one clever little puppy doodle doggy!

Paganism

I'm a Pagan.

I've never made any secret of that to anyone that has asked.

I've just seen this on Facebook and wanted to share it on my blog... not to cause offence to anyone, just to set a few things straight is all  :-)

Mitzi is such a good girl!

I've just de-gunked Mitzi's eyes and she kept her eyes open with my finger so close to her eyes to get the gunk out that I was almost touching her tear duct thing in the corner of her eyes without moving or flinching, and as a reward I offered her 2 treats, but she had to work for those too... she sat and waited for 30 seconds for the second treat... such a spectacular little girl!

That's another 750 words written

Going to try and finish the Toni tween trilogy by the end of October, ready for NaNo on 1st November when I'm hoping to triple the required word count by the end of November (120k instead of 40k) which means I need to write 4k words a day to get it finished... luckily both the Toni and the NaNo novel are all planned out, I just need to find a less distracting start to the writing day is all.

Another 7 times this morning

Just got back from walking the pup and I would have been happy with 5 times up and down the street, but Mitzi wanted to keep walking so we did another 2 times then we came in.

I also think that Mitzi only needs half as much food as the vet has prescribed because she only eats half of what I put down for her every morning!

This is what I want when I die

I know it's not a nice subject to read about on a Saturday afternoon, but I've just had a read of this and it's definitely what I want when I'm gone.  I realise that it'll prolly be expensive but I love the idea of helping wildlife even when I'm dead!

That's the birthday gifts bought for the rest of the year now, so...

... I've only got Yule gifts to get for my mum, husband, Chris, Melanie and Katie now.  I've already got a Yule gift for my little nephew!

Impressive stuff IMO!

I've written 31k words since 8 September to yesterday which is only 17 days... impressive stuff or wot!  Couldn't have done it without the SCBWI BI members though!  It's not free to join but just these last 17 days has been so worth it!

Quick edit of the first draft

The combination of numbers and words in Speckles' Diary was annoying me last night, so I've just edited the first draft and made it more... what's the word... samey?  The word begins with an s, I just can't think of what it is now!  lol

Walked Mitzi up and down the road again this morning, but...

... I lost count of the number of times we went up and down so I followed her lead and came home when she was ready instead of the number of times we walked.  She didn't know she was born, bless her!  We walked for just under half an hour and my legs are killing me now! lol

Just finished Speckles' Diary and I'm now in tears

Just over 51k words written and it's finished how I wanted it to finish so now I've just got to get out of Speckles' head in October, write 120k in November for NaNo then start editing and start work on my other WIP during 2016!

I now have Windows 10!

Thankfully it's saved all my settings and stuff and it looks a lot like 7 other than the task bar is about half the width so it can fit more icons on it, I've just had to change the date setting 'cos it was showing the American format but other than that it's brilliant!

Another OCD number

This is post 1221 which is an OCD number for me.

Next up is 1234, so that's only 13 more posts!  Yay!

That's a relief!

Just got back from the assessment and it went really well.  The assessor said she didn't see any reason that I won't be accepted for the Blue Badge which was a relief and there weren't any steps to go up or down which is what I was dreading most but it took my FIL a good half an hour to get to me because of the traffic and I was sat down for all of five minutes before I was called in.

The assessor was really understanding about everything I told her and she walked me out to my FILs car because she could already see how difficult walking was for me.

She was wonderful to me and will get a five star rating from me if I'm asked!

Just over 48k written now, so I'm on track for finishing tomorrow!

I'm very nearly finished writing the first draft of the novel I'm writing... just under 2k to write tomorrow and that's it until November.  I've had a bath today and still managed to write the 2k words and I've got an assessment tomorrow morning then write the final 2k and it's done!

Dodging the showers on Mitzi's walk this morning!

Me and the pup got wet on our walk this morning so we did it in 2 parts again.  We walked up and down the street 7 times eventually though!

That's today's writing done then

Just finished writing today's 2k words to take the current word count to a huge 46,052 so far.  So close now!  The end is in sight a week sooner than I was thinking too!

That's the domains cancelled then :-(

I've just cancelled the domains that were going to cost me £400 but I've still got 2 domains for my 2 rare illnesses but they don't come up for renewal until April 2016.  I would have loved to have kept the domains but I'm not using them so why keep paying for them?  *sad sigh*

Very nearly £400!!

I've ordered 5 premium levels 2 years ago and it's time for their renewal at the beginning of October... costing almost £400!!!

If I cancel them now I won't be charged for them but I still want them though!  What I think I'll do is cancel them and try ordering them again at the beginning of next year and hope that no-one else has bought them by then!

That's Steve's birthday pressie ordered

Just ordered Steve's birthday gift which will be here around about 1 October.

I hope he likes it!

Yay! I'm so close to finishing it now!

I've now written a total of 44,025 words in my Dogs Trust novel so in less than 6,000 words I'll have finished the book and get ready for clearing my head in October, ready for November's NaNo when I'm planning on writing 4k a day to make 120k by the end of November but it's already planned out and I don't have online communities to worry about any more so I can just concentrate on clearing my mind for my NaNo novel throughout October and write it in November.

I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed writing but the last couple of week's have re-awakened my muse and I've got the time and space I need to just concentrate on that now... it's been literally years since I could last do that!

I'm planning on writing at least 2 novels a year starting in 2016 as well as picture books and early readers too.

10 times this morning!

Took the pup on an extra long walk this morning... a huge 10 times up and down the street instead of the usual 5!  Not only that, but she ran around after Mr Chicken after that and she hasn't been to sleep since we got back either!  She's on the back of the sofa watching the rugby again now!

That's me pills taken as well, so...

... I'll just read the forums now while I wait for them to kick in.

Just over 42k words written now

Just finished today's 2k words so I'm going to take me pills, read the forums and head to bed now.  I definitely prefer writing first thing in the morning... I'm more creative, wordy and motivated then and it gives me a couple of hours to do what I want to before heading to bed!

392 words to write now then that's it until tomorrow.

The writing has gone really well today so I'm going to finish the writing in the next hour or so then take me pills at 4pm, head to bed at 6pm and see what time I wake up tomorrow!  I was asleep by 7pm yesterday and awake at 7.30am this morning, so I will, in theory, be awake at 6.30am tomorrow so I'll take the pup for an early morning walk then come home and start writing before 7.30am ready to have a shower when I've finished the writing in readiness for getting my hair cut on Monday.

If that works out, it's what I'll do every day 'cos I find it easier to write either first thing in the morning or last thing at night.

890 words left to write today

I've written 41110 words on 198 pages so far, so I've got 890 words to make it to 42k words today then 4 days left to write 50k words before the end of September... wish me luck!

It's a beautiful, crisp morning out there

Just taken the pup for her walk and it's a crisp day out there with just a hint of fog at each end of the street.  I came home feeling just right instead of hot like I usually do then I was hit by a column of heat as soon as I opened the front door!  Thank you Steve!  :-/

40k written now, 10k to go

Aiming for 50,000 words which means that by the end of next week I'll have finished my novel, had my hair cut and have been for the Blue Badge assessment.  Then in 2 weeks I can start getting out of Speckles' head and into my NaNo headspace ready for 1 November!

740 words left to write

Poor pup was choking on her walk this morning! :-(

We went on our normal up and down the road, but Mitzi was coughing and choking and panting hard on the second trip up, poor girl!  We stood still while she caught her breath and stopped choking but it made me worry about her so much!

Steve reckons it was because she was pulling like normal, but what if it was more than that?  What if there is something wrong with her health?  :-(

38k words written now!

Still on track with writing my Dogs Trust novel but I'm wiped out so I'm heading to bed now... I seem to write better in afternoons and evenings so hopefully I'll be able to write the daily 2k on Wednesday after the assessment and we're having our hair cut on Monday evening so hopefully I'll have written the 2k by the time my FIL comes to pick us up but it's no great shakes if I haven't!

12 days to go and it'll be finished! Yay!

Haven't even started on today's writing yet, but if I keep writing 2k a day, I'll write the last word in 12 days time... 13 if I don't write on the day I go for the Blue Badge assessment so I'll definitely be finished before the end of September then I'll get ready for writing 4k a day for NaNo!  This year has gone so quickly, it only feels like last week that I was writing my last NaNo novel!

36k written now

I've spent most of this afternoon researching toothache in dogs with only the remedy of using ice to numb the tooth and gum but without the knowledge I needed which is what happens when a dog goes to the vet for toothache?  I've sort of skirted around it for now but I need to find out what happens before tomorrow morning otherwise I'll be hit by writer's block again  :-(

1,200 posts! Yay!

This is post number 1,200 which is an OCD number for me.  Next up is 1,234 and stuff.  My OCD is happy though, so I don't care!

880 words left to write then that's it for the day!

Didn't get to bed until gone 10pm last night but was up before 8am this morning so I really am going to have an early night tonight!

I'll hopefully be in bed by 6pm!

Yeah, right, like that's going to happen in reality!

7 times again this morning

Just walked the pup up and down the street 7 times again and I'm totally wiped out now!

34k written now, so it's bed time again

I'm wiped out so I'm heading to bed and I won't get up until I'm ready to tomorrow!

2,902 words written so far today!

I'm aiming to write at least 2k but I would prefer closer to 4k every day between now and the end of September in preparation for NaNo this year when I'm hoping to write 120k ish words now that I don't have online communities to worry about!  That's 4k every day for 30 days and I've got an appointment with the council about getting a Blue Badge in 8 days time and I prolly won't feel up to writing after that so I've got to find a spare 2k to cover that too... I'm hoping today is that day!

I need to write 2k a day to be finished by the end of September

I'm aiming for 60k words by the end of September and I've already written 30k so I'm on track to write the final word on 30th September... yay!

Exactly 30k written, so I'm officially...

... half way and we're not even half way through September yet!

Our pup trusts me more than I trust myself!

I've just de-clogged Mitzi's eyes and she trusted me to get that close to her eyes without question or flintching!  I can't even do that to my own eyes so our pup is one truly spectacularly trusting little girl!

As a reward she had a Dentastick and waited like I'd asked for a good 20 or more seconds without even trying to take it off me and I only had to say it once to her as well.

Mitzi-moo, you are an awesome puppy dog!

For M from me via Facebook

7 times again this morning!

Just got back from taking Mitzi for her morning walk and we went up and down the street 7 times again!  My knees were complaining after 5 but she wanted to do 2 more so we did... can't really deny her that!  It's 140 yards every day, no matter what the weather is like so it ain't bad!

Ginger beer is wonderful!

I came home from seeing Chris and Hannah less than an hour ago, feeling really nauseous because of what I'd eaten.

I opened a can of ginger beer while my machine was booted up.

Less than an hour later and I'm fine again!

Ginger beer is wonderful for nausea!

Pizza Hut's mac 'n' cheese is yummy but...

...it's got milk in it so I can't have it without feeling sick.  Steve's just said the same happens with Domino's macaroni cheese so maybe it's a particularly potent cheese or something that makes my stomach go "what are you doing, woman?!"  I haven't thrown up yet, just feel sick and Pizza Hut don't do ginger beer so I had to wait until I got home before opening a can  :-|

One word over 28k and...

... it's only lunchtime!  I'm meeting Chris at just gone 2pm and I've got a Blue Badge assessment on 23rd September so I'm gonna try and write an extra 2k after I get back home to cover that day as well.

Wish me luck!

7 times this morning!

I would have been happy with 5 times up and down the street but the pup carried on walking an extra twice, bless her furry little teddy bear paws!

26,060 written now

I'm meeting up with Chris tomorrow so won't be able to write as much tomorrow, but 2,060 ain't bad going for 8 hours of writing that started off painfully slowly!

Last night's maths *was* wrong! Thought so!

I'm at 24k words right now, I prolly won't be able to write tomorrow so I'll be half way through it on Tuesday with 30k words then I'll write another 2k on every day next week which takes it up to 8k words written 8+30= 38k, right so far?  Then another 20k words in the next 10 days takes it up to 58k, yeah?  Then I've only got 2k to write before the end of September!

I need help with my basic maths... can you help me please?

It's just simple adding and taking away that I want to be sure of:

There are 30 days in September.

I'm aiming for 60,000 words by the end of the month.

I want to see a friend at least once before the end of the month.

I'm planning to write 2,000 words a day.

So, here's the maths:

Up until this time yesterday (10th for easy maths) I'd written 22,000 words.
In 10 days I'll have written another 22,000 words
Then add another 10 days and another 22,000 words

That's 66,000 words, right so far?

Now take off 6,000 for the 3 weeks I meet up with the friend.

That's 60,000 words by the end of September and I've seen my friend 3 times, right?

I hope so!  lol

24k now

Just written another 2k of the Dogs Trust novel and I'm up to 24,000 words in it now... yay!

It's a gorgeous day out there!

It's lovely and warm and sunny out there this morning!  I'll be wearing a t-shirt instead of a tunic when I have a bath later on... gotta write two thousand words first though! lol

22k words written now

I've written exactly 2k words today which makes the current word count a nice, round, 22k so my OCD is happy, the oldest puppy has just left home to study for the next 6 years and the middle human puppy has got his first job in a nursery school until Christmas, then he starts his NVQ in January.  It's all go!  lol

Ewww!

Mitzi poo'd in the airlock by the bathroom door yesterday and yours truly slipped on it.  Yuckerama!  I cleared it up before going to bed then came down this morning and walked the pup.  Within a couple of minutes of coming home she was at the back door wanting to be let out.  She produced one of the hugest poo's I've ever seen!  She's only a small dog so don't know where she stores it all!  lol

This too! Also from Facebook

This is me to a tee - from Facebook

Congratulations Your Majesty!

63 years and 7 months makes our Queen the longest reigning monarch ever in the UK.

Apparently she will overtake Queen Victoria at 5.30pm tonight 'cos that's what time she became Queen on 9th February 1952!

Huge congratulations to Queen Elizabeth II - long may you continue to reign!

Exactly 18k words in the Dogs Trust manuscript, so...

... I'm just going to check the forums I'm with then head to bed!  Nite nite orl!

400 words to go for the day

Just another 400 words to go before I head to bed... gotta take me pills first though!

960 words to go today then I can close Word, have me tea and head to bed!

I'm aiming to write at least 2k words a day starting tomorrow which will mean I reach the 60k on 29th September, have a couple of days off then aim to finish my Toni trilogy before November then write the 120k novel for NaNo and have a relaxing month off during December, ready to start again in January!

I've got to write the sequel to the Paige and Scott early reader too!  lol

16,300 words so far... I'm going to try and write 2k words every day...

...and if I can do that, it'll mean that I'll have finished it by the end of September so that I can work on Toni's final book in the trilogy then!

If you know of a small child who likes being read to, try...

... Lost My Name and get them a truly unique, personalised gift... it takes less than a week from ordering it to having it in your hands and it's so worth it!  What is even better is that if you use the link at the start of this post, they'll give you 15% off your first book!

It's only early September, but...

My first Yule gift for little H has just arrived and it's great!

Just need to get gifts for Steve, the in-laws, Chris, Melanie, Hannah and of course me mum now and I've got 3 months to get it done in!  Not going to get anything for me brother or M though - they don't deserve it!

Oooh! Yummy!

I bought a tub of black seedless grapes with yesterday's shopping and I've just cracked them open... they are almost as yummy as chocolate and healthier too!  Nice and sweet without being overpoweringly sweet!

Yumsk!

I also bought 2 multipacks of mineral water instead of 2 individual bottles so I've got 12 bottles of mineral water as well as the usual Dr Pepper and Cherryade to get through this week!  lol  I'm not going to go nuts with my drinking this week, I just won't get so much fizzy stuff until I'm at least three quarters of the way through the water and I've finished the fizzy stuff! lol

Apparently Mitzi did the Terrier pose all by herself this morning,...

... after we got back from her walk, bless her little tiny furry paws!  Then she barked at the people on the roof over the road and I've got to remember to phone the council about a bin being left blocking the pavement too!

All go today!

Petition about dog breeders

This petition will hopefully bring in new requirements for dog breeders - if you care about dogs and puppies, read and sign if you agree!  Please?

16,090 now and that's it for today... more tomorrow though!

Edited a couple of words, thanks to SCBWI and written just over 1k today so I'm going to leave it there until tomorrow now  :-)

How to care for introverts - from Facebook

I is an introvert and this is a good way to care for me!

16,076 right now

I'm aiming for 17k before bed time then I'll aim to write at least 1k every day after that - wish me luck and inspiration!

15,677 written so far

Only 45k left to write before I'm happy with the word count!  lol

Apparently, it's a beautiful warm day out there today

Steve's carer has just arrived and said it's a beautiful, warm day out there so I might take the pup for another walk when she's gone... it definitely looks sunny so hopefully it's warmed up a bit by now unlike first thing when it was a touch chilly out there!  The pup is fast asleep atm so I'll work on the Dogs Trust novel for a while and then take Mitzi out again later if she wants to go out again.

Started off the day at 13,511 and finishing with a word count of 15,022 which ain't so bad!

Written 1,511 since I took the pup out for her walk this morning and I'm just over a quarter of the way to finishing it.  I'm aiming at 60k words and Speckles is almost 6 years old so it ain't so bad.

Going to take me pills and head to bed now though ready for being creative again tomorrow.

Nite nite!

14,602 now... yay!

Almost a quarter written and Speckles is only 5 years old atm... I already know how I'll finish it, I just hope I don't break too many young hearts!

14,222 words now and I'm trying to research stuff about vets atm

Been writing 1,200ish words this morning and I'm sorta stuck now because Speckle's Diary needs input from someone who works in a vet's so that I can put in a bit more info about the eldest human puppy's vet job that pays minimum wage and she does things that no-one else wants to do.

A couple of member's of SCBWI have said they know of 2 people so I've sent one of them a Facebook PM because she's a SCBWI member too and I'm waiting to hear about how to contact the other one 'cos she's not a SCBWI member.  If either of them can help me, I'll give them the eldest human puppy's mentor's name as a thank you!

Both sets of drawers are being used now... thankfully!

Steve filled up a black bin bag with his rubbish, put his set of drawers in the space and filled them up.  Just gotta keep using them now!

Both my new watches came with the post too and they have both got a clip thing in the dial so they aren't using up battery power until I'm ready to use them!  Yay!

That's everything delivered now... just waiting for Mitzi's toy box at the end of September now!

Wrote more of the Dogs Trust novel yesterday...

... so I'm now at 13,511 words and I'm going to write more today.  I'm aiming for a word count of about 60k words but if the story wants to finish before or after that then that's fine too  :-)

Oops!

I've just spent money from my secondary account on Pet Rescue Saga because I thought I was using my primary account.  Oops!

There will be another £150 going in to the secondary account in just over a week, I just wish I'd known before I spent the money is all.

No big deal, it's just frustrating is all  :-(

The 2 sets of drawers I got from Amazon have just arrived

I bought a set of drawers for me and 'im for in here so that we could keep our stuff tidy and they've arrived but Steve said I should have just bought 1 at a time so that we could get rid of the empty box before battling with a second one!  lol  He's right of course!  lol

51 words away from 13k in the Dogs Trust novel I'm writing

Written just under 2k words today before stopping so that I can eat me tea that Steve's just ordered in.

Again.

*sigh*

Wish me luck!

I've now sent all my completed manuscripts and the first 4 chapters of the Toni trilogy to an agent.  They are the only agent I'm sending to until I get rejected from SCBWIs UV16!

Wish me luck that either Plum Literary or an agent who reads my Undiscovered Voices submission takes me on!

Gonna work on my MS's now though, if I can wake my muse up!  lol

The replacement jewellery box that I ordered yesterday...

... has just turned up and it's so worth the extra tenner!  It's solid, deep and long so I'll be able to put all my jewellery into it to keep it safe when I have a bath or shower instead of leaving it all on top of my laptop!

This company is going to be getting a great review from me!

Arsenuts!

Back in November 2011 I stupidly overwrote a picture book manuscript with a different one so I had 3 copies of one picture book and none of the other one!  :-(

I'm just glad that it was a picture book, not a novel or even an early reader!  lol

Yule shopping has, officially, just started!

Just bought my nephew his very first Yule gift from Aunt Amanda and Uncle Steve.

It's only the first week of September and Yule isn't until December, but I couldn't resist!  This is why I love starting my gift buying early... you can find something perfect for the recipient without being worried about buying it all at once.

Just gotta buy for me mum, Steve, Chris, Hannah, Melanie and the in-laws now and I've still got 3 months to do it in!

Gotta love being organised!

The multivitamin spray is gross tasting but so worth it!

It tastes really yucky but is incredibly fast working so hopefully I'll get used to the taste soon.  The taste only sticks around for a couple of minutes, but I start seeing things in HD within seconds so it's worth those minutes of grossness to have the benefits of a full dose of vitamins almost immediately is worth it... just gotta remember that!

Steve's about to force me to listen to...

...Squeeze's new album that arrived yesterday.  Oh joy.

Apparently, Steve needs to contact "the office" to arrange for...

...someone to come out to keep on top of the kitchen stuff.  It only needs to be a couple of times a month, but it means that I'll be able to get the things I want for the kitchen which will hopefully inspire me and 'im to cook more at home instead of relying on take-away's like we do atm.

We'll need to find somewhere to keep Steve's rollator first though!  lol

6 readers of my vitamin post yesterday!!!

I've just spotted a huge six readers read my post about the delivery of the vitamin sprays yesterday!  I think that's, like, the most readers of my blog ever!!!

Thank you all so so much!  It means a lot that you all read the post!  :-D