It's Sunday Update time! The posts my oldest daughter loves so much. Lol. She told me that last night, and I had to remind her that mommy uses adult language on the blog. She said, “Yes, I know.” :) Lol. All right, moving on.
This was another week of disruptions due to the school schedule. Monday was Columbus Day, a holiday I still don't understand why we celebrate. In Japan, Monday was also a national holiday, but it was Sports And Fitness Day, a holiday I can totally get behind. I'd rather celebrate that. Anyway, the kids had a half day on Monday, so we had lunch together at home and then went grocery shopping. I tried to get as much done at home beforehand, including a walk in the park, and I think I accomplished that.
Tuesday, the kids had a full day of school so I really got to work. I did two walking and working sessions at my treadmill desk for almost 4 miles. Then we picked up veggies from the CSA and my oldest had a Girl Scout meeting in the evening.
Wednesday, the kids had off for Yom Kippur. We waited until the cleaning ladies showed up then we went to Costco. I only shop at Costco 3 times per year (sometimes 4) so by the time we made it to the checkout, our cart was overflowing. The kids each got some new books and a new robe, and we stocked up on everything we were running out of.
Thursday, I went to the gym and took care of other work stuff before and after. Friday, I walked 5.5 miles between the two trips to school and the sessions at the treadmill desk.
Yesterday, Saturday, I went for a walk in the morning and in the afternoon we went apple picking. Apple picking wasn't as great as I thought it would be, due to a winding drive that made me nauseous and an almost car accident because I didn't understand how the intersection worked at the orchard (one side has a blinking red light and the others have a regular light). But we did make it home in one piece and with two bushels on apples! This afternoon I plan to make a batch of apple sauce for oatmeal and to peel and freeze other apples for apple crisps!
In work news, I launched SECRET KEEPING SAKURA, the last short story in the Kami No Sekai series, bundled all the Kami No Sekai stories in an omnibus, and then gave them away to my newsletter. If you want the omnibus, you can subscribe to my newsletter and get that too! I find it very surprising that I give it away to my newsletter list, yet only about 1/3 of the people on my list downloaded it. I also mentioned in my newsletter that I would rather give them away because most people buy the short stories on Amazon and then return them. And then someone went and did just that! They're probably not on my list, but there's information inside SECRET KEEPING SAKURA that they can get the whole series for free via my newsletter. Sigh. Anyway, the joys of being a published author, right?
In writing news, I have picked up steam on Daydreamer 3 and I'm now over 62,000 words! I can feel I'm near the end and life is getting really complicated for Mei. I'm doing mean things to her in this book, but it will definitely have a happy ending and she'll go into the rest of the series confident and ready to conquer the world. This is her real “trial by fire” book, the turning point for the whole series. I can't wait to be done with it!
What else happened this week?
It's leggings season again! I'm not that happy about this due to the fact that it's cold outside and I already miss summer. But I do love my leggings.
Costco had these adorable crochet kits!
I'm helping to teach my daughter how to play flute. Here she is with my pink ABS plastic flute. It has a good sound, but her metal flute came in on Friday.
We went out for ice cream on Friday after school and while we were sitting outside eating it, a fox crossed the street right in front of us! It was a beautiful red fox. I was so happy to see it.
This New Yorker cover spoke to me. Lol.
And I voted by mail! We'll be gone on Election Day so I wanted to vote by absentee ballot. I'm glad that I've already made my pick and now I can COMPLETELY ignore all politics. I'm so done with the election in the U.S. DONE.
This week on the blog: another Japan post and that's all I'm promising. I really need to get Daydreamer 3 done, and so I'm going to concentrate on that. I have a deadline, so I have to meet it!
Have a great week everyone!
That’s funny your daughter told you she liked these posts. Sounds like a lot of free and half days off school this week for your kids.That’s nice you still got some things done.
Yay for apple picking! Too bad about the almost accident on the way there though. I made apple sauce last week I think, here we call it Appelmoes. You heat apples with some water, sugar and cinnamon and let it boil for a bit and then mash it. Mine had a bit of a weird color due to the amount of cinnamon i added, but I put it in puff pastries and it tasted great! We still have some apples at house, so I might make some more this week or maybe apple crumble.
That’s a shame only 1/3 of the people downloaded on your newsletter downloaded it. I assume not all of them opened the e-mail? So that explains part of it already. Or maybe they aren’t interested? I know I joined some author list and forgot to download the freebies or wasn’t interested in those books.
I already feel bad for Mei because you’re being mean to her again and putting her through a lot, but I am glad it will have a happy ending. I am really looking forward to the third daydreamer book!
I like being able to wear my warmer clothes, they are so comfy. Those crochet kits look a lot of fun! Oh and that ice cream looks yummy and yay for spotting that fox! I know how much you love foxes, so it must’ve been great to see one. I don’t even live in the US and I am done with the elections already, social media is filled with it nowadays. Have a great week!
I love being mean to my characters! Lol. I love to put them through hell and watch them come out the other side strong. It’s one of my favorite parts of writing. But yes, this particular book is especially hard on her, and I’m a few chapters away from giving her a HEA. I can’t wait for that!
I really loved seeing that fox! It was absolutely beautiful. A really perfect specimen. I wish I could have taken a photo. My kids saw it first in the park before it crossed the road. They have such eagle-eyes!
I’m probably going to make another batch of applesauce and then cut up apples to freeze for crisps. Then the rest we can just eat!
You sure were busy this past week. Glad to hear how far you are on Daydreamer 3. Love that series. Have a great week!
I’m getting there! Still more writing to do… today, in fact! I’ll get to that in about an hour. :)
Sports and Fitness Day sounds like an awesome holiday! We should definitely have that.
Wait, people buy short stories and then return them? That sucks for authors :-/
I’m glad your book is going well! I’ve always loved that quote about putting your character in a tree and then throwing rocks at them lol.
I also just sent in my mail-in ballot! Yay voting :-D Lol have a great week!
Yep. Someone last month went through all my short stories, bought and returned them. *shrugs shoulders* Happens to all my books, actually. And since my sales are pretty low, I can usually watch them work their way through a whole series, buying and returning.
I’m so glad I’m done with voting, though looking at all the vitriol online is still really hard to stomach. I can’t wait for the election to be over. Less than a month now.
I’m obviously behind on your blog, so I’m doing a bit of binge reading here. :-) I had to laugh at your comment about your daughter reading your Sunday Posts because some of the kids in my blogging class want to check out my blog and I keep kind of wincing and saying, “No, really, don’t follow me there.” I’m guessing some of the conservative Christian parents in my homeschool co-op wouldn’t approve of all the books I review! (My intention was to be more active on my Best Kids’ Reads blog to use that as an example for them, but it’s so hard to keep up with everything and adding one more blog to the list has made it impossible!)
Comments are closed.