Sunday, September 27, 2009

Writers Retreat

I'm going on a writers retreat in about 1 1/2 weeks. I'm as excited about that as I am to go see Wicked this week, I think. I have to make sure that I figure out what writing I want to work on while I'm there (we'll have time for that) because I'm sure I'll be feeling motivated.

I've thought about a few different ideas for books, but nothing is really screaming out to me to be written (except the ideas I've already started), so I'm still pondering. I really want to write a good young adult novel. I don't know if I'm creative enough. And I also worry that people will bash my writing just like they do Stephanie Meyer. If I write more "adult" or "sophisticated" novels, will they still appeal to teens? Will they still be novels that all ages can enjoy? That's what I'm aiming for. Balance.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Fed up

A handful of days ago, Marie noticed a couple fleas on her leg. This was the start of my personal hell. I had noticed the cats scratching themselves a lot around that same time, and I can't say I'd noticed that before, but I figured I was probably just being paranoid.

Anyway, we started out with spray for the house and spray for the cats. And we quickly added flea collars for the cats, which we were quite surprised they didn't even try to get out of. We also quarantined them in Joe's old office... but the fleas were only part of the reason for that. Apparently, one or both of the cats decided to stop using the litter box. Is it related to the fleas? I don't know. But when they're quarantined with their litter box, they both use it.

Saturday, we locked the cats up in the garage and bombed the house (I'd thoroughly vacuumed it on Friday but there were still some). This still hasn't quite taken care of the problem. So, more vacuuming, more spraying, more itching and scratching, more bites on the feet. And now, we're trying other things we've read about. I have a few bowls of soapy water on the ground, which are catching some fleas, but not all of them. I read that putting a candle in the bowl at night will draw the fleas to the light, so we'll try that tonight. And then more vacuuming and spraying every day until I stop itching.

Joe is getting bitten a lot more than I am, and looking at his feet and lower legs, he almost looks like he has chicken pox or something. Poor guy. We're all irritated over here.

Friday, September 11, 2009

I am boring

So, I know I have neglected this blog. That's partly due to a couple things: 1) I now have an online journal, and I get reminders if I haven't written in it for a few days, so I'm more constant in writing there, but I often don't want to put all of what I've written there into a blog or edit it, and 2) really not much exciting is going on in my life.

Also, this isn't a reason why I haven't written, but maybe a reason I feel inclined to write today (although maybe I shouldn't be because of this reason): I am so bummed right now. I'd say I'm depressed, but it's really more of an isolated incident (today) than an ongoing feeling. I've been taking advantage of time I'm not employed to look for jobs while reading books and watching way more TV shows and movies than a person should. But it gets old sometimes. I want to shake up the routine, and I've been trying to do just that as money and my mood will allow.

Marie finally moved in with us, and we love having her here. Hopefully she likes staying here and will continue to do so until she finds a place of her own on her own time frame. She's a great roommate and helps with the dishes (which I absolutely HATE doing, so it's a super bonus!).

And about the same time, I got some pizza sauce on a couch cushion (I'm so naughty for eating pizza in front of the TV, I know). So I took off the cushion cover and threw it in the washing machine as soon as I realized a little upholstery stain remover wasn't doing the job. But when it came out, it was all torn up. So we figured that was our sign it was time to get a new couch. I've wanted one for a LONG time and the condition of our couch seems to continue to get worse and worse... so we got one. It required us to tighten our purse strings, so to speak, but we now have a fluffy, comfy microfiber couch and matching loveseat in our family room. Unfortunately, they are a little bigger than they should be because of the size of the room, but we're going to make it work anyway.

We were supposed to head to an overnight campout with some people from church, but Joe had to work about 14 hours yesterday (and figured he spent about 4 hours in the car), came home with a car that was overheating as he was driving home, and had to work a longer shift today. Even though we haven't gone camping since we've gotten married and I *love* camping, I let him off the hook, saying we could cancel if he wants to. After all, I'm sure he doesn't want to spend an extra couple hours in the car today to get to the campsite just to turn around tomorrow to drive home in the early afternoon. So we have worked out a compromise. We're going camping in our living room! I'm actually pretty excited about this for some dumb reason. But I'm hoping it'll be romantic (as romantic as we ever are, lol) and memorable. And I even bought stuff to make S'mores and roast hot dogs over our fireplace fire (I still have to make sure we can start one, though). Hopefully our cats won't be too annoying tonight!

So, the reason why I'm having a bad day today is job-hunting let-downs. I figure I must be doing something (or everything???) terribly wrong, but I am not sure how to improve or fix what is keeping me from getting interviews or getting noticed, especially when it's regarding jobs I *really* want and *really* feel qualified for. I sat down last week and wrote what I thought was the best cover letter I've ever written, but I haven't gotten a response about that job. Or I'm being told people more qualified are being chosen for interviews (via email form rejection letters) when I just don't understand how I could appear more qualified than I do from my resume. Or I have to go to website after website filling in that particular company's application online (and that is loads of fun, let me tell you) just to never hear from the company again. Or I call a company to follow up on the status of my application and get treated quite poorly. *sigh*

Anyway, I'm trying not to start feeling down right before Joe comes home (whenever that might be) so I can be in better spirits for our "camping trip".