Diana's Writing Blog

I did the entry looking back at 2008. This one is about looking forward to 2009. It’s resolution time and I’ve got a few more than last year.WritingWrite a novel and/or 50,000 words each month (same as last year since I didn’t quite make my goal)Fill u…

So, I meant for my next post to be my New Year’s Resolutions, but whatev. My parents and bro are coming up for New Year’s tomorrow, and I’m way excited. I thought I had the 31st off, at least that’s what Janelle at work told me, but I don’t, so I will be “sick” tomorrow. It’s not like I don’t have enough hours, I just didn’t apply for it ahead of time.

So, tomorrow I’ll be cleaning and grocery shopping, since I punked out Monday and tonight on grocery shopping. Stupid friggin’ weather. It’s soooo cold and windy and snowy. Only three more months of this….

In other news, my trouble-making dog has a droopy tail. She can’t really wag it–well she can, but she doesn’t want to. I, of course, Googled her symptoms immediately. She might have some terrible tumor or something, but most likely she has “Cold Tail Syndrome” which I guess can happen if she gets too cold (can’t be that, cause I made her wear her sweater!) or hurts her back end (slipping on the ice twice yesterday, mayhaps?). Anyway, basically, she sprained her tail and it should fix itself in a few days. Until then she will be an incredibly mopey sad sack.

In happier news, I got back home Sunday afternoon and not only did my toilet flush, but the shower and both faucets emitted both hot and cold water. I’m still moving out as soon as I can.

So, I meant for my next post to be my New Year’s Resolutions, but whatev. My parents and bro are coming up for New Year’s tomorrow, and I’m way excited. I thought I had the 31st off, at least that’s what Janelle at work told me, but I don’t, so I will be “sick” tomorrow. It’s not like I don’t have enough hours, I just didn’t apply for it ahead of time.

So, tomorrow I’ll be cleaning and grocery shopping, since I punked out Monday and tonight on grocery shopping. Stupid friggin’ weather. It’s soooo cold and windy and snowy. Only three more months of this….

In other news, my trouble-making dog has a droopy tail. She can’t really wag it–well she can, but she doesn’t want to. I, of course, Googled her symptoms immediately. She might have some terrible tumor or something, but most likely she has “Cold Tail Syndrome” which I guess can happen if she gets too cold (can’t be that, cause I made her wear her sweater!) or hurts her back end (slipping on the ice twice yesterday, mayhaps?). Anyway, basically, she sprained her tail and it should fix itself in a few days. Until then she will be an incredibly mopey sad sack.

In happier news, I got back home Sunday afternoon and not only did my toilet flush, but the shower and both faucets emitted both hot and cold water. I’m still moving out as soon as I can.

My New Year’s Resolutions for this year were to post more frequently in my LJ and to write a novel every month. I think I’ve done pretty good on both counts. I was aiming for 12 novels. I ended up writing 4: The Unicorn Prince, Haven, Healer, and The Goddess of Willowbrook (NaNo WriMo). Word count wise, that’s a total of 266,117 words. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Also, I won NaNo WriMo for the first time this year.

Other noteworthy events of 2008 include:

• buying a new (well, “previously owned”) car,
• having a crazed gunman hide in the woods by my parent’s house,
• going to LA for my cousin’s wedding,
• being a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding (and having a slight waxing accident during preparation)
• and participating in probably the most important election in the last 100 years.

So far, it’s shaping up to be a pretty depressing holiday season. We had two days of below zero weather (without windchill, which dropped it another 10 degrees). As a result, the pipes in my building froze Wednesday. BUT only the ones that deliver water to my toilet and hot water to my shower. If I want to do dishes or take a cold shower, I’m fine. Warm shower: no go. Called my landlord and for once he got on it the very next day. The water to my shower got unfroze, but the one to my toilet is still not working. He thinks he may have been trying to thaw the wrong pipe all this time. Oh, and they’re plastic (?!) so the old standby of thawing them with a blowtorch is out.

On top of that, last weekend, I blew another fuse trying to air pop popcorn and run the microwave at the same time. So I had to go out in the dark to the treacherous unlit stairwell around back and balance on my makeshift step ladder and aim my puny flashlight at the fuse box. BUT it’s not one with flippy switches or anything made, you know, in the last 40 years. No, this thing has two screw-in fuses, a bunch of exposed wires, and a lever that you throw to engage or disengage the current. Looks a lot like this except without the rubber on the lever. Oh, and it sparks when you move the lever. So, that’s something I want to play with while balancing precariously in the dark.

I’m so over this place. I know I said this back in the great spider onslaught of ’08 and again when I had to clean up a big insulation mess and then when it took a month to get him out to put a new cover on my light. But this time I mean it! I’m buying a house this summer, so help me God! And it’ll have a dishwasher and a washer and dryer and a yard for the Gyp and a parking space that no one will park a snowmobile diagonally across.

To further contribute to my holiday cheer, my boss in NJ called today to let me know that he was resigning as of Jan. 1. So, that’s pretty depressing. He’s a nice guy and he always checked in with me and made sure I had stuff to do. Plus, I think I really impressed him with my performance this year, and now he won’t even be the one doing my performance review in May. No raise for me. We’re all kinda bummed here today.

On the up side, I’m headed home to Wisconsin tomorrow night, and I won’t have to go back to work until Dec. 29th. Yay, vacation! I’ll get to see my sister and brother and hopefully Teresa and Brenda, as well. And I’ll get presents.

So far, it’s shaping up to be a pretty depressing holiday season. We had two days of below zero weather (without windchill, which dropped it another 10 degrees). As a result, the pipes in my building froze Wednesday. BUT only the ones that deliver water to my toilet and hot water to my shower. If I want to do dishes or take a cold shower, I’m fine. Warm shower: no go. Called my landlord and for once he got on it the very next day. The water to my shower got unfroze, but the one to my toilet is still not working. He thinks he may have been trying to thaw the wrong pipe all this time. Oh, and they’re plastic (?!) so the old standby of thawing them with a blowtorch is out.

On top of that, last weekend, I blew another fuse trying to air pop popcorn and run the microwave at the same time. So I had to go out in the dark to the treacherous unlit stairwell around back and balance on my makeshift step ladder and aim my puny flashlight at the fuse box. BUT it’s not one with flippy switches or anything made, you know, in the last 40 years. No, this thing has two screw-in fuses, a bunch of exposed wires, and a lever that you throw to engage or disengage the current. Looks a lot like this except without the rubber on the lever. Oh, and it sparks when you move the lever. So, that’s something I want to play with while balancing precariously in the dark.

I’m so over this place. I know I said this back in the great spider onslaught of ’08 and again when I had to clean up a big insulation mess and then when it took a month to get him out to put a new cover on my light. But this time I mean it! I’m buying a house this summer, so help me God! And it’ll have a dishwasher and a washer and dryer and a yard for the Gyp and a parking space that no one will park a snowmobile diagonally across.

To further contribute to my holiday cheer, my boss in NJ called today to let me know that he was resigning as of Jan. 1. So, that’s pretty depressing. He’s a nice guy and he always checked in with me and made sure I had stuff to do. Plus, I think I really impressed him with my performance this year, and now he won’t even be the one doing my performance review in May. No raise for me. We’re all kinda bummed here today.

On the up side, I’m headed home to Wisconsin tomorrow night, and I won’t have to go back to work until Dec. 29th. Yay, vacation! I’ll get to see my sister and brother and hopefully Teresa and Brenda, as well. And I’ll get presents.