Real life

Finally finished polishing the most recent Dangerous book. Haven't heard from either of the tasteful editors but I'm not taking it personally. New Concepts has a message up on their website about network problems preventing them from sending outgoing email. Ellora's Cave works on about the same pace as the print publishers--actually they are a print publishers. I tend to think of them as strictly an e-publisher. When in fact, both houses take books to print on a regular basis. The line gets blurrier all the time.

I'd promised myself a week off from writing when I finished Dangerous Rescue and I'm taking it!

So what have I been doing today? Shipped off a beer stein to an ebay winner. People buy the strangest things. One woman's junk is another woman's treasure. I know it's a cliche--but guess what--it's true. Amazing to me, but I've never been a collector. I like stuff, but I'm not fond of antiques and the whole concept of collectibles is lost on me.

I use a handling service for shipping. The lady who runs the place is grouchy and charges a dollar per piece minimum. I go there anyway. For a couple of reasons. First, I don't have to stand in line. I'd rather do about anything other than stand in a line, especially when I want to give the business with the line money. Second, she'd competent and civil even if she's grouchy and I think she has some cause to be in a bad mood. That's my guess anyway. Most people want the same things, appreciation, acceptance, achievement, and affection. When they don't get them they react and it's not always pretty, I try to be extra nice to the ones who obviously aren't having a good time. They need it more.

I've been cooking again. Last weeks dinner for four looks more like dinner for fourteen so I decided it was time to reinvent that menu. Froze the rest of the orzo in individual helping packets, and then got busy converting. The pork roast with the wine sauce is becoming pork con burrito sauce with cheesy polenta, and fresh salsa. Carrot cake for dessert. I'm taking a break from simmering, stirring, and baking while the cakes cool completely.

For some strange reason sometimes I want a summer meal in the middle of winter and sometimes I cook up hearty feasts in August. Dunno why. Fresh salsa sounded so good and I tasted it and it is as good as it sounded. To make it even better, the lovely hot house tomatoes were on sale. I understand why grocery stores have weekly specials--I love to get a bargain.

The forecast is for snow tomorrow. It's only supposed to last one day. I love snow as long as I get to stay home and continue to enjoy all the modern conveniences--like electricity.