Size Matters

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Pamela

During the dark months I like to have string of xmas lights in my room. Sometimes I can get away without using the overhead light and it’s cheery.

If you’ve used these lights, you know they are super crappy and don’t last long. The string I had up developed a short and would blink on and off so it was like living in a David Lynch movie.

The store doesn’t sell lights year round so I’ve been keeping an eye out. I didn’t think they would be here in October, but I was poking around the Halloween stuff in case there was something I could use.

The holiday lights are out now.

We went to Bob’s Red Mill this morning, and I picked up another giant bag of flour, even though I still had flour left from my last bag.

I had a lot of trouble moving the last bag around, and obviously, the most logical conclusion was that my aging body isn’t as strong as it used to be. I was also surprised that I hadn’t managed to use it up yet.

I brought home a new giant bag today (the one on the left) and I noticed the problem:

I still don’t have new romance novel news. Unfortunately, there are forces beyond my control causing delays. Trust me, if they were in my control I would be controlling them. I will update the minute I have something to update.

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Pat the Pumpkin

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Pamela

I asked Bob to take some pictures of me to see if I could find something to use for my author photo on pen name’s website.

I already had the giggles from the great mattress flipping incident. When I switch the sheets in the spring and fall, I like to flip the mattress. I can’t do it by myself. Bob and I are good at being married but bad at all other forms of teamwork. We spent about 15 minutes trying to explain to the other the best way to flip it. I think we both had the same idea but completely different ways of communicating.

Back to the photo session – I have a photo that I like where I’m petting one of the neighbor cats. I said I wanted something like that so Bob told me to do the same thing only with the pumpkins. I squatted down next to them and he said, look at the pumpkin. I started laughing and asked if he wanted me to pet it. Hence, this photo.

The only update is that the blurb is up on pen name’s website. No cover or sample chapter yet. We are getting closer. I updated the website, too.

Meanwhile, I used this weekend to catch up on domestic stuff. I partially put the garden to bed and raked up Round 1 of the Apple-pocolypse. I dug what I think is the last of the potatoes. Got another bunch of beets. A nice bowl of roma tomatoes. I collected apples to make applesauce but ran out of steam. I had tons of green beans from Orleans so I cleaned two giant bags and composted some, cooked a batch, and canned dilly beans. My dilly beans came out doodoo. My learning style is to do everything wrong the first time I try it. I’m sure they’ll taste fine but they shriveled and I guess I need to learn how to stuff them in there better. They look like someone started to fill the jars and then got bored and gave up.

I did a bunch of other household things that I’ve been putting off. Next weekend I should be back to book stuff. I’m not going to make any more promises since there are too many things that can come up and derail the schedule.

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Papaya Update

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Pamela

Generally, there are few foods I won’t eat. That’s excluding unconventional or uncommon stuff like offal or bugs.

I hate tuna fish but I would eat it if I was a guest at someone’s house and that was what they offered. I don’t like yellow mustard or tarragon — which are more like flavors than foods. But if I get a sandwich with mustard or something in a restaurant has tarragon, I’ll eat it. I don’t like scallops but that’s because scallops don’t like me. I guess it’s the fat in them (?) but they give me terrible indigestion.

I can’t think of anything else right now.

One food I do not like is papaya. I don’t even like to be in the same room as papaya. I think it smells gross.

When I was a teenager I was in Hawaii with my family and we were on an inter-island flight and I made a terrible face and said: I smell papaya.

We were flying over a papaya orchard.

When I tell people this story they tell me: You were in a plane. You couldn’t possibly smell that.

I could.

Recently it occurred to me that I am a grown-ass woman and that perhaps I like papaya now. I haven’t tried it in decades. Maybe this is a delightful treat that I will regret not eating for so many years.

So while I was at my folks in CA this past weekend I bought a papaya. Even as I peeled it, I made a face. I tried a bite and then made a face like my tongue needed to be scraped and bleached.

Conclusion: I still hate papaya.

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This Isn’t The News You’re Looking For

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Pamela

This is another photo from Missouri. I think in St. Louis near the museum but I’m not sure.

Book is done and to the editor. (This is the new romance. The short story collection is in the void at the moment.)

I know I keep saying this but: for real, by the first weekend in October I should have real news like a cover and a blurb and an overly optimistic release date.

On my way to CA to visit family.

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The Post You’ve Been Waiting For (Final)

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Pamela

Timbers Fan Appreciation Night

Here I am with Vytas who also complimented my earrings and gets a million gold stars. He just joined our team this summer and his full name has about 16 syllables and twice that many vowels. He’s from Lithuania and completely charming. When he arrived he’d never been to the US and every time they did an interview with him he was happily counting off all the things he’d done for the first time since he’d arrived. He is one of my new favorites. The other guy is Wade Hamilton who is the “c” goalkeeper.

Here I am with Zarek Valentin, Darren Mattocks, Fanendo Adi (swoon swoon!) and Taylor Peay. I love all these guys. I wrote Season of Us before Zarek was even on our team. But he used to have a surfer hair thing going and the first time I saw him I said: Zach!

And that concludes my coverage of fan appreciation night.

I had to get yet another crown — the tooth kind. I had the prep two weeks ago and ate half the temporary in less than 24 hours. So for the past two weeks every time I inhaled with my mouth open you had to scrape me off the ceiling because that tooth nubbin was sensitive. I got my tooth installed today and the dentist asked why I didn’t come back to get another one. If I’m going to break them that fast, it didn’t seem worth it. I love my new tooth and eating and drinking hot and cold things without screaming.

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The Post You Have Been Waiting For (part 2)

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Pamela

There’s probably a joke about “the post” in there somewhere but I can’t come up with it right now.

More photos from Timbers Fan Appreciation Night.

Here I am with Amobi Okugo and Nick Besler. Amobi complimented my earrings and gets a million gold stars.

Here’s a picture of me with the MLS Cup. I enjoyed this moment since I doubt I’ll be seeing it again anytime soon. We haven’t won a single away game this season.

If you’re having trouble computing, let me spell it out: the last time we won an away game we won this trophy.

I’ve actually never seen either of these players play. I think this is me with Ben Polk and Gbenga Arokoyo. They both have super cute smiles.

That’s what my seat looks from the field.

I am finalizing my manuscript this month plus I have to get the publicity train in motion so probably posting will about as scanty as usual. But not to worry, I have MORE Timbers fan appreciation night photos to come.

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The Post You All Have Been Waiting For (Part 1)

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Pamela

TIMBERS FAN APPRECIATION NIGHT

Here I am with Diego Valeri (Insert that emoji with the smiley face and heart eyes — can you do that in WP?) and Steven Taylor.

Here I am with Jack Jewsbury and Ben Zemanski who is only half smiling because I’ve had my photo taken with him before.

Here I am a JACK sandwich with Jack Barmby and Jack McInerney (more swooning).

There are tons more photos to come in the next couple of days so as they say in college when you’re in a sorority: get excited for the next few posts.

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Did You Enjoy Olympic Gymnastics?

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Pamela

Yeah, this little pitiful harvest is my tomato crop. There are still tomatoes out there and I might get another handful but this is the best my garden could do. I’m going to need to rethink the garden next year.

Everybody loves gymnastics during the Olympics and then forgets about it until next time.

I am here to make a pitch for NCAA gymnastics. You probably get at least some coverage if you have a decent cable package. My coverage has varied over the years but for the most part I can get SEC and every single team is really good. I also get Pac12 which also has many good teams but for some reason last year Pac12 divided into a bunch of little Pac12 stations which means for TV I generally only get the Oregon State meet.

Not to worry, you can catch a lot of stuff online but in that case you have to watch live and I am not always able to drop everything and watch gymnastics on a Friday afternoon. Or in the case of some of the Pac12 meets, Monday night. I’ve never had any luck getting Big 10. Maybe your cable has it.

NCAA is a different beast from elite (Olympics) and Balance Beam Situation does a good job of explaining why. Here’s my explanation: NCAA is all about the team. They’ll let you individual high scores but the real competition is the team.

NCAA still uses the 10 point scoring system. The routines are shorter and more precise which leads to really tight scoring. Every toe point and landing is critical. In elite the score is divided between difficulty and execution so Simone can have a major mistake and still win a medal.

The other thing fun about NCAA is there is more artistry and originality. And there are so many really great gymnasts. Mark your calendar. The season starts in January.

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A Variety of Updates

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Pamela

I never found the missing gift cards. I completely cleaned my desk at home and my desk at the office. In fact, I keep moving things around in case I missed something the first time. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that someone walked off with them, but it’s more likely that I used them as a quick bookmark or stuck them in with something that I carefully put away. I’m bummed because it’s not like me to be careless with things like that.

I thought the world was moving away from using the phone so much but I kid you not, there have been at least 9 phone calls back and forth to schedule someone to come over and clean our chimney. (Remember when we had squirrels?) They have some sort of internal failure and kept calling us to schedule even after we’d scheduled. They called again today to see if we wanted to have an appointment and I complained about all the calls. They also called to confirm the appointment – which is tomorrow. I’m sure they’ll call to let us know they’re on their way.

Since I’ve been home from vacation I’ve baked two bricks. I don’t know what happened but I have been failing bread baking. I’m going to try again this weekend. I made one pie this summer and it was crust as usual but the pie was yummy – peach, blueberry, blackberry and strawberry. We have a tiny piece left to share tonight and I’m hoping to make another this weekend.

I’m gearing up to start my revisions on romance #2 with the finish date the end of the month. I have one spec fiction story that has been floating out there but I think will finally be coming out soon. I’ll set off fireworks when that happens. I finished a new spec short story that needs a tiny tweak and it’s ready to go out into the world. I have notes on another but didn’t get to it yet. Oh — republishing the collection. Taking longer than I thought. Hopefully by next month.

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Final Kansas City Wrap Up

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Pamela

Let’s wrap this up before summer is over.

We took a bus to Independence to visit the Harry Truman Presidential Library which was phenomenal. I think I’ve confessed before that my U.S. history is weak mostly because I took history in summer school so I could do a special program my senior year where I only went to school half day and I had a job in the afternoon. Summer school history is remedial history. Safe to say I had no trouble passing. I think I was the only student who didn’t go smoke behind the autoshop at the break.

This means my knowledge of presidents is vague and when Bob signed me up for this adventure I didn’t understand what an incredible time period that Truman served in. WWII ending, post WWII and Korean War. This isn’t going to be a history lesson but the library covered Truman from a political and historical perspective as well as his biography. A lot to think about to look back at that time now.

Remember I mentioned we walked around Thomas Hart Benton’s house while we were waiting to get seated at BBQ? He painted the mural at the library. Sorry that’s not the greatest photo.

Bob made sure to point out the replica of the liberty bell at the library. I said: I saw the real liberty bell last year and I wasn’t impressed.

We also went to the Harry Truman historical courtroom. To be honest, we went in there to use the bathroom but then we went into the visitor center and they asked if we were there for the tour and we said yes. The regular tour guide wasn’t there so this other guy took us through and he was great. He had gotten married there and he had some good stories. There was a little art museum in there and I would love to tell you more because the featured artist had an interesting story but Internet Search Tool is failing me and I don’t have all day to write this.

Now that I’m trying to get links, I guess we went to two courthouses? We went to this one, which is called the historical courthouse.

This is what you get when you don’t take notes on vacation, kids.

If you are a history nerd and find yourself in a position to visit Independence, I recommend.

I also recommend taking the bus if you want an authentic experience. Bob and I don’t mind public transportation and this journey kept it real. For the trip home we were waiting to board the bus and the driver helped a clearly intoxicated man in a wheelchair deboard. The man insisted he hadn’t been anywhere near alcohol and the bus driver exits the bus carrying a half empty 40 that he sets down on the sidewalk. I guess I should say half full 40 because a kid that was waiting to board the bus picked it up and put it in his backpack.

The last place we visited before we went to the airport was the American Jazz Museum (of course, if you know Bob) and it was also super interesting. They have so much historical footage of early jazz acts plus lots of information on performers and jazz clubs.

I’ll take notes next time so I have better stories to tell.

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