Sunday Blues

It doesn't help that I'm feeling absolutely crappy. I had a mild cold two weeks ago, and thought I dodged the bullet, but no, Mother Nature had something even nastier in store for me.

Luckily, my FIL is feeling well enough today for Tess to be over there, so I have the house and the day to myself. E's off playing the last of his outdoor tennis (yes, he's NUTS) and I'll hook up with him for dinner at his folks (after which he will play MORE tennis; alas, it's the indoor league that he runs). Our Sunday tradition.

E and I have a silly habit of teasing each other about his "mistresses" ("did you really go play tennis AGAIN tonight? What's her name? Huh?!") and now my secret (NaNo) lover. I took off for knitting on Tuesday without...ahem...my knitting. Suspicions abounded (Tess was the one who noticed I forgot my knitting, she pointed it out to me FIRST THING the next morning). And so the teasing began in earnest on Wednesday, although E was a bit less enthusiastic about it than I usually am about his (tennis) mistress.

I realized I was up north, writing away while mom yakked at me, and in front of E and Dad, and no one asked me what I was working on. Well, Mom did once, and I just said I was writing, and left it at that. I didn't want a bunch of questions about NaNo, my plot (or significant LACK THEREOF), setting, characters, etc., so I didn't offer much info. Would anybody, especially a mom, let someone get away with, "I'm working on a novel" ? I wouldn't.

This morning was the first time E asked me about my novel. Mainly because I went to write again Friday night (I got ahead by 900+ words), and AGAIN yesterday afternoon (DayQuil gives you a nice buzz, but I still barely clunked out 887 words), both times at the B&N on Washtenaw. Seems a lot of NaNoers are students, either at UofM or EMU, and that B&N is on convenient bus lines for both universities.

Overall, though, I have finally hit the 20,000 words mark, so I'm happy. I won't give myself the day off today, but I may go upstairs and write on my laptop from the couch. It's too cold and dreary down here in the lower level, where our computer is, although I type MUCH faster on our home computer.

Typing in a bookstore is dangerous to my wallet. I found a quilting book I'd really like, but I held off until I got home so that I could use an Amazon gift certificate I have. Of course, when I looked up the book I like, the author had a similar book with MORE quick patterns, so I completely used up my $25 Amazon g.c., and then some. At least the g.c. is not sitting on my desk as it has been for weeks, taunting me.

Now all I need is a decent sewing machine. Must consult Consumer Reports (E LOVES doing that), and various other sewers/quilters. Mom has a Viking ("more machine than I need," she reports), another good friend of ours has a Pfaff. I've heard bad things about Singer, so maybe that HearthSong beginner's machine isn't for me (does anyone else get that catalog, and find a million things they, as an adult, would love to play with?!). I could pass the Singer on to Tess, though, once I figure out sewing on it.

Oh! I completely forgot about the Pewabic Pottery show at our neighbor's church yesterday. I wanted to go last year but missed it. This year I had to drag Tess along (3 1/2 y.o. + pottery tiles = certain disaster), so it was a short visit, but I picked up some lovely new tiles. When I'm done writing for NaNo, I've got to go figure out where to install them. I'll post more about that in the next entry.