What's up?...

Well, we're still not in the house and now looking at some time next week. Just little things now, but stuff that's needed for that all so important occupancy permit, so we just have to be patient.

On the upside, I now have a kitchen sink!! And our toilets have been installed :) Yay!! Looks like final electrical will be starting tomorrow as plumbing is being finished. In some ways it's just as well, as Sean has a bad cold, so moving right now wouldn't be much fun for him.

Not much else to report other than we finally seem to be having summer here in BC. The cats were fighting for space on the cool bathroom floor when temps in the cabin went really high this afternoon. It's cooled off now, which is nice.

I hope to have pics to post soon.

UPDATE

I have photos posted over at the house blog.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Book for review

Busy, busy, busy...

So much to do, so little time.

Along with stuff for the house, I'm working on an article for the Historical Novel Society magazine. And I've started my Christmas knitting. Plus we've had visitors.

Here's what the front of the house looks like now:


And, we have a first coat of paint on the main floor - below are the front hall and the kitchen:



I'm still percolating my new story. It's frustrating me as well. I can't seem to make all the plot elements tie together. I don't think I've ever had this much of a problem with my plotting - my first three mss came together pretty well by themselves. But this is the second story I've tried out and I just can't seem to get anywhere. I'm really starting to think that I'm missing my critique group meetings even more than I thought. We meet on line, but it's just not the same thing as face to face conversation.

Guess once we're settled I'll have to find a new way to plot and write.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Book for review

Quick update...

No writing to report this week - Sean and I have been spending a lot of time together. We spent Wednesday in Vancouver, where we bought our two ceiling fans, some light fixtures and the range hood. On Friday we ordered our appliances - yay!

Here are a couple of pics from the house. You can see more detailed ones at the house blog:

Over the next two weeks I have to go into storage and start packing up the books I unpacked last November - lots of work, but better to get it done before the day we actually we start moving things out!

Teresa

Currently Reading: Citadel of the Heart by Anita Burgh
Link of the Day:

Second week of September...

That's what we're now looking at for moving in. Not so bad when one considers how often people are more than a month later moving into a new house. But still a little disappointing. However, not much we can do about it. Our complicated ceiling lines mean that the second part of the dry walling process (taping and mudding) are going to take longer than anticipated. The painter is scheduled for the 27 of August, then the cabinets and floors for the first week of September. Finishing (door frames etc) will take place the following week, so hopefully we'll be able to move in on that weekend. Fingers crossed.

Not much else new. I did manage a little writing last week, before the family came for another visit. Sean and I both ended up with a cold (Sean on his birthday, no less) - we're almost over it now. I'll try to get round to other blogs, but we're busy this week. Appliance shopping today, ceiling fan/lighting shopping tomorrow in Vancouver, my library shift on Thursday and the Fibre Arts Festival on Friday.

I finished Birth of Venus yesterday and really, really enjoyed it. My one quibble was that we didn't find out what happened to two of the characters, so I didn't really feel the story was completely over. When not reading romance, I don't need and HEA ending, but I do need a real conclusion. Other than that, it was engrossing with lots of period detail, suspense, romance and complex human emotion born from fully realized characters.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Angels by Marian Keyes

Wishing time away....

This is the post I thought of, then forgot a few weeks ago! And it's even more à propos now, seeing as we're likely not going to be in the house till the first week of September.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I LOVE summer and that the last thing I normally do is wish the season away. But this year I'm doing just that. But part of me is rebelling, reminding me how precious each and every day is. That no matter how much I want our house to be done so we can move in, that there's more to life than that.

It's something we all do, starting as kids when the annual Christmas countdown begins some time in October. We wish away the school year, the winter etc. Forgetting, of course, that most of us are fortunate enough to be leading good lives, ones that should be enjoyed for what they are.

Is this making sense? I hope so. Am I the only one who regrets the days we lose by wishing them away too quickly? Who worries about these things? Who thinks that one day in the not so distant future they'll look back at the time they wanted to pass so quickly and want it back?

In other news

I've been doing some more character work for my ms. But am finding it really hard to concentrated. I did do some free writing which always seems to help and learned about my hero's childhood. But I'm also seriously starting to think of myself as a fraud with this whole writing thing. Others seem to be able to write no matter what is happening in their lives, a lot of it far worse than just waiting for a house to be finished. *sigh* OTOH, my characters keep bugging me to tell their story, so I know I'll start writing sooner or later.

Teresa

Currently Reading: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
Also Currently Reading: Angels by Marian Keyes

Quick update...

Hi everyone :) Hope you're all having a good weekend. Ours has been rather soggy, though the rain seems to have stopped for now and the sun has even peeked through!

Sean's vacation started Friday and continues till next Sunday, so I'll likely be on line a lot less during that time. Especially as we'll be in Vancouver for a couple of days.

I did, however, find a really cool tidbit in The Times of London from January 1, 1794, something I'm going to use in my ms. Research can be so much fun. Of course, if any of you out there know anything about the Temple of Flora in London (near Westminster) during the late 18th Century, please let me know. I don't have access to any of my London books right now and can't find anything about it on the web. Lots about the Temple of Flora at Stourhead, Wiltshire, but not the one in London. *sigh*.

I'll be updating my house blog after I finish here, so if you're curious about the progress, hop on over there.

Have any of you seen The Matador? We watched it last night and thought it was pretty good. LOVED Pierce playing a completely different type of character.

Happy Sunday!

Teresa

Blogged with Flock

Another Thursday update...

Wow - the week just flew. We had a wonderful family weekend and our niece is still here, so we've been hanging with her. Went to see Ratatouille the other night - fun movie!

The house is coming along well now - the roof is more than half done. It's hot and sunny here, at long last, so the roofers are already hard at work this morning.







No writing this week, but I did manage some research reading.

This afternoon I'm off to my second training session at the library. Last Friday's went really well, so I'm looking forward to today as well :) It's fantastic doing that kind of work again, plus I'm finding out lots more about the various collections in the library, including those for kids/teens.

Wish I had something more exciting to report, but really - that's about it. In two weeks Sean starts the first of his vacation weeks (he has another two in August) and my sister will be visiting, which should be lots of fun as we haven't seen the family in over a year, since stopping to see them on our drive out here.

Oh, and our internet connection has been a bit wonky lately, so I'm slower than usual making the blog rounds.

Teresa

Currently Reading: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Our weekend...

Yeah, I know, I'm late on posting this. Not too much exciting either, though we did spend Friday evening over at the site with take out pizza, some potent potables, books, a campfire and the ingredients for smores. The weather was pretty nice, though not as warm as a couple of weeks ago.

A view of the fire pit area from the house:

Sunset from the front door:

Sean reading by the fire - it stayed light enough to do so until past 9:30:

The house at dusk:

Me by the fire around 10:30 - there was still just a teensy bit of light - I love this time of year:

On Saturday the weather had closed in again, so we went into Vancouver to look at bathroom fixtures and find me replacement t-shirts for a couple of the ones Cleo has put holes in (baaaaad kitty). We found the pedestal sink we want, but it wasn't in stock. Oh well - at least now we know what to ask the plumber for.

Sunday we did chores then prepared a Father's Day feast for my f-i-l.

Today I started inputting the handwritten chapters of my contemp ms, the one I worked on during NaNoWriMo last year. I'm going to play with this story too, just to see if switching off helps keep my percolator going.

And now, Cleo (she of the sharp little claws) is whining so I'd best go find out what she wants before she wakes Sean up (he has to be up for work very early tomorrow morning).

Teresa

Weekend bliss...

We spent half the weekend with our camper over at the house site. By noon Saturday we were ensconced:

and after a bit of lunch, we headed out to build our official fire pit. Of course, it took me a while to figure out where to put it and after some input from Sean, we finally picked a nice spot. Fortunately, we have lots of rock over there, so it wasn't too difficult to find the raw materials.

After an hour or so of lifting and rolling, we had everything in place. Sean fetched some smaller stones to line the circle with and I arranged some smaller rocks between cracks to make sure none of the bigger ones would be dislodged. Then we moved our bench/picnic table (it folds and unfolds) and chairs into position. Here's the result:

We can see it from the living room too:

Now it was a warmish day, so we celebrated our hard work with a beer each and some salt and vinegar chips before heading back to the big house to watch the hockey game. The Sens showed what they're made of and came from behind to win the game :) Go Sens Go!!!

With that excitement behind us, we walked "home" and laid match to flame for our inaugural fire:

My in-laws joined us and we chatted, roasted marshmallows and listened to the birds and frogs. After they left, Sean and I stayed out for at least another hour:

This morning I was awake early and decided to document the way the sun moves across the property at this time of year - fortunately it was a perfect morning - warm and sunny.

The fire pit just past 6 am - it's the last place to lose the light in the evening and the first to get it back in the morning:

Here's the house, also just past 6 am:

This shot was taken just a few minutes later:

Sun on the basement stairs:

After all that hard work with the camera *g*, I fetched coffee and a chair before settling into the eating nook in the kitchen:

Talk about bliss - the birdsong was about the only sound I heard as I watched the sun continue its ascent - here's the driveway around 7:25 am:

Around 8:30 I discovered my woodland garden gets far more sun than I'd ever imagined - at least early in the morning at this time of the year:

Soon after that, I walked over to our little cabin to check on the cats and give them some food. As Sean wanted to putter on the site, I had a quiet walk, well, except for my little bear bell ringing in my hand *g*.

By the time I'd satisfied the needs of the beasts and retraced my steps, I found Sean had built a platform for the firewood and stacked it for me:

If you're planning a visit, know that early June in the sun is a good time - by around 10 am the deck will be just perfect to sit and sip coffee, tea or another beverage of your choice:

We puttered some more, then headed home so Sean could play in his regular ball hockey game. Hopefully within a couple of months, we'll be there permanently. But for now, we're enjoying our moments of bliss as our dream slowly takes shape.

Teresa

Framing has started!...

They started framing the house yesterday. Yay! Pics to come soon. I just realized my camera is still in the bag Sean has over at the site.

I worked over there for four hours yesterday, but am staying home today to do more work on my new ms. Lots to figure out. Mostly, can this story work? I sure hope so. My characters are already chattering away to me and to each other, so I'm taking this as a good sign.

It's a marriage of convenience story - one I've never really done before. My first ms included a forced marriage for the heroine (not to the hero), but until now I've never used an MoC plot. It's interesting, that's for sure. Even though, historically, it's entirely within the bounds of reality, it still seems strange to me. And that's where I have to get my head into the late 18th century mindset. That love and marriage don't always go hand in hand. That people married for a variety of reasons - if they were lucky, mutual caring and respect developed and sometimes even blossomed into love.

I'm finding one of the biggest obstacles to my writing these days is my quest for THE PERFECT system for plotting. In the end, I think I have to remember what Yoda said - "Do, or do not. There is no try." Ok, in my case, it's "Do or do not. There is no perfect system. Just PLOT already!!"

Thing is I LOVE systems and software and forms etc, yet I get so caught up in them I forget that the ONLY way to plot a story is to put my butt in a chair, pencil/pen in hand and brainstorm. Or open up the new, nifty (see, I fell for it again) storyboard feature in Writers Project Organizer and enter what comes into my head. Clear my mind and allow things to flow.

Do you find that sometimes you just have to remember that writing really is all about putting words on paper, not reading endless articles on HOW TO PLOT or filling in forms? Please tell me I'm not alone! That I'm not the only writer who falls for all the latest gew gaws and how-to workshops etc.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (almost done - will blog about it soon)

Progress on the house...

We now have a slab as well! And power :) Yay.

Check out the pics over at my Packing and Moving and Building, Oh My blog.

Cat pics:

Cleo LOVES the hole punch.


Chloe enjoying the view.

Teresa

My Easter Weekend...

was a busy one. On Friday, Sean and I were over at the property till just after 4:30. Upon arriving home, we chatted with a visitor while Sean helped his dad with a construction project, then our neighbour came home with beer! As it was about 18º and sunny (sorry, Kelly), we all grabbed one and gabbed for a while before Sean, me and my in-laws headed out for dinner.

Saturday I spent five hours over at the property by myself while Sean did a spring clean and check of our camper. I had a fantastic time - put my MP3 player on and bopped along to the music while dragging branches etc over to the merrily blazing fire (I managed to start it that day without even matches!). Did grocery shopping on the way home, then settled in to watch the Habs/Leafs game. Spent much of the third time muttering about the ref. (pout, pout)

Sunday we went to a pysanky party! A friend of ours is Ukranian and hosts an egg painting party every Easter. Very cool, though I learned it's more like batique on eggs than painting. Lots of people, yummy food (potluck) and I actually managed a half-decent couple of efforts. Funny thing - if you break an egg by mistake you get to chuck it over the back fence (they live out in the country too). Both Sean and I had the satisfaction of watching our cracked eggs hit the trees (we each cracked one). I vaguely remember my Polish grandmother doing eggs as well, somewhere in the deep distant past. Am looking forward to next year. We were there for hours, socializing between sessions at the egg table - good fun.

Monday we cleaned the cabin and did other general chores, before consuming an early Easter dinner. My contribution was a citrus cranberry sauce. After Sean went to bed I started judging contest entries. Also pulled up my contemp story from NaNoWriMo and discovered it actually shows some promise! The first entry I read through has all the earmarks of a beginner writer - hope my comments prove useful.

The regional fire ban for backyard burns goes into effect this weekend, so next week I should be able to dive back into my ms. Until then, I'll be either at the building site or running errands. Cement for the foundation should be poured tomorrow!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!! If the weather's decent this weekend we may take the camper and spend our first night on the property.

Ok - on with the rest of my day. Have to meet Sean at the local building supply store in about an hour to choose a roof tile colour :)

Teresa

PS - Hope those of you with pets haven't been affected by the food recall. I almost fell out of bed this morning when I heard Royal Canin had recalled one of their tinned foods. Thank the Lord, the one we feed Chloe and Cleo wasn't the one - theirs has no gluten in it at all. Still, very scary, especially as I thought the recalls had finished.

Currently Reading: Dark Angels by Karleen Koen
Also Currently Reading: The Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Today's post...

is over on my Building blog... please visit there for the latest photos.

Teresa

Friday at the library...

I did some more work on my wip - basically writing out all the plot changes I've made, reworking some of my forms and managing to come up with some good stuff. Now I have to get it all typed in.

Today I caught up on some bloghopping, then worked on some personal stuff and some business stuff. In the afternoon, between bouts of kidney stone pain, Sean and I managed to visit a local fireplace showroom to get an idea of what styles of woodstoves are available and how much they cost. We saw a couple we really like, which was nice.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get all that work from Friday input. The library is a nice place to work - lots of natural light and a big table on which I can spread out all my papers *g* - much easier to do when I don't have cats plopping themselves down on them to have a nap. The closest I came to an animal at the library was the goose on the other side of the window, sunning itself on the lawn.

From now on I'll be blogging in the evening. I really have to get a handle on how much time I spend on the web vs time spent on my ms.

Teresa

Assorted things...

First, for my visitors from Canada, don't forget to watch THE Documentary at 8:30 EASTERN time this evening on Bravo! Canada.

Second - a couple of pictures:

Kitty Love



We have a hydro pole! A huge step forward - they'll string the actual hydro wire within the next week or so, we believe:



Sean with his chainsaw in front of the truck and hydro pole:



Elvira & Moonbeam - curious llamas - I stopped my car along the driveway when they ran up to see me and snapped this through the open window:




Third - I'm still behind on so many things. A variety of reasons, including a visit to the ER with Sean yesterday when kidney stones attacked him again. On Tuesday I FINALLY found someone who cut my hair the way I like it, yay - but that too ate into writing time. Oh well. Yesterday afternoon I did manage to listen to a couple of good sessions from Atlanta - I'd had only a couple of hours of sleep overnight Tuesday/Wednesday, so was fried after the ER visit then a run to Gibsons for a couple of things. OTOH, I've used my insomnia time lately to think about my story and have come up with some cool things, so that's ok.

One of the Atlanta sessions was Voice and Conflict: Blend Them and Make Ben and Jerry Proud! with Leah Vale - she helped me with a couple of things, including the idea of giving your hero and heroine each a motto representing their GMC which the other will disprove, preferably at the Black Moment. If you have access to the CD/tapes - listen to this workshop.

Fourth - another agent rejection last week.

That's about it.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Dark Angels by Karleen Koen
About to Start Reading: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (no, not THAT Kate Moss - the one with the "e" at the end of her name)
Link of the Day: GAPC - Production Company for Who's Afraid of Happy Endings

Quick Update...

Thanks for all the sympathy and comments over the last few days :-) Much appreciated :-)

My shoulder is still pretty sore. Typing isn't so much the problem, it's using the mouse and I discovered early on that Dragon NS isn't great at taking voice commands for the computer. So I'm still trying to be good and devoting my limited computer time to work associated with my mss. I received a mercifully quick form rejection from the first query I sent out, so am now putting together partials for those agents who allow you to send a query letter + chaps directly to them via a website form. Those should go out Monday or Tuesday.

It's a beautiful day here, so we're walking over to the property in a few minutes to take measurements for the site plan. The driveway is now in and the foundation hole mostly excavated!!! Pics to come soon.

Hope everyone's weekend is going well :-)

Teresa

Currently Reading: One More Time by Claire Cross
Also Currently Reading: The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair
Link of the Day: The Gab Wagon (group blog - lots of fun)

Thanks for the feedback :-)...

and the congrats on my blurb. It was really helpful and supportive!!! Now I just have to send it out *g*. I worked on my letters when I could snatch computer time over the weekend, so there's little left to do. Though this morning I have business-related errands to run. We'll see what transpires this afternoon - it may be tomorrow before the first e-query goes out.

On Friday I managed more proofreading as well. The story is still grabbing me, though I do worry about those scenes that I love so much - are they my darlings that need to be killed? You know what I mean - scenes the WRITER thinks are so great, but in reality, they do little for the ms itself. OTOH, I've asked all the questions I need to for the scenes and they DO serve a purpose, so for now, they're staying. *g*

Yesterday we walked over to our property. It was a PERFECT winter day - sunny, crisp and no wind. Teva came with us and had a whale of a time bounding over logs etc - even through a creek on the way home. I took pics along the way. Our culvert is going in today - yay! And there's more excitement coming this week, but I'm staying quiet for right now, just in case it doesn't pan out due to weather.

Not much else to report from the weekend. We enjoyed Hockey Day in Canada - all the right teams won (ok, the Habs could've won - I'm not too picky when it comes to games between Ottawa and Montreal as I'm a fan of both teams). The Vancouver vs Toronto game was the highlight of the day, though :-)

Ok - on with my day. I'm already showered and sipping coffee. In honour of the New Year I set my alarm a half hour earlier to try to get a better start to the day. It didn't work too well last week, but I think my body is adjusting. Even better this morning, I woke just past six, so had time to snuggle with the kitties before getting up.

Hope your Monday is good :-)

Teresa

Currently Reading: The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair
Currently Knitting: a hat for Sean
Link of the Day: MIT OpenCourseWare - History

Pics from the last few days....

We had a busy, busy weekend - a party Friday night, shopping followed by dinner with friends on Saturday, more shopping on Sunday, then a walk across to our property where we marked out the area that needs to be cleared. In the evening I finished one scarf and put a fringe on it, then started another while watching The Royal and part of Jane Eyre. Turns out Chloe and Cleo are pretty good with my knitting - when I start each evening, they usually try to play a bit, but once I've said NO firmly a few times (ok, more than a few with Cleo), they settle down and pretty much ignore it. Cleo even slept on my lap last night while I worked!

Sean and me at his office Christmas party:

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A tree blown down across our well - victim of one of the recent storms (no damage was done):

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Sean marking a tree to be felled:

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Me feeding the llamas a tree branch:

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The kitties - just waking up from a nap together. Chloe wants her tummy rubbed:



Teresa

Currently Reading: The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick
Currently Knitting: another scarf
Link of the Day: Tamara's description of her experience during the power outage off the coast of WA state late last week