A Busy Sunday Catching Up

Good grief. The last two weeks just flew by. How is it the middle of October already? It seems like it was just the 2nd, release day. That was a busy day and week. Then I had visitors for the next week (more on that tomorrow, if I have time). Which means that today was the first day I had to catch up on All the Things. Needless to say, there is still a lot to do (revisions of the second Rider novel are on the agenda for the rest of the evening), but this was what I did today.

Made pesto out of the last of the basil to come out of the garden (a week ago, with the help of pal Ellen). We pulled everything out and put the garden to bed, since the nights are turning frosty, even though the days are still pretty warm.

Pesto-making supplies....it looks like a lot, doesn't it?

All that made three little jars. But still, yum in the freezer.

 Then I Skyped with my friend Kathy (you know, until Skype died on us...I think we broke it talking about politics).

Hi Kathy!

 Then I cleaned the pellet stove, so it was ready to go when things get even colder. Messy job, and tough to do when you can't kneel, but I found a stool that helped. Look how clean!

As a break from that fun, I did some government paperwork for the shop online. (The NYS-45 quarterly form, in case you were wondering. No, I didn't think so.)

No such thing as a day off

Then I used up most of the bumper crop of eggplant (also harvested when we put the garden to bed last week) and made a huge pan of eggplant parm. I guess I know what I'm eating this week...

More yum

 Which I then ate some of, supervised by Magic the Cat.

Hey, I earned that beer!

 Guess who got to be in charge of the remote?

You want to watch WHAT?

Now I have about two hours to spend on revisions before I go to bed. Tomorrow I have an appointment before work at PT and then one after work with an orthopedic specialist, since the knee seems to have stopped improving. I'll try to post some pictures of the week of visitors after I get home, if I'm not too fried.

What did you do this Sunday? And, um, read any good books lately?

Holy Crap It's December!

Seriously...how did it get to be December? Wasn't it just Halloween last week? I am now officially Behind on All The Things.

Well, I'm a little ahead on the Llewellyn book, which is done except for the guest author contributions, and off to my editor for what they call a Vision meeting [which is where they decide A) if it sucks or not and B) then envision how it will end up looking and being marketed--gulp]. But there are all sorts of other writing tasks I should be working on, including follow-up nudges to all the lovely guest authors, and starting to brainstorm the Baba Yaga novella, which is due Jan 15.

But mostly, I am making jewelry to sell at the shop (and maybe put a few pieces up on Etsy, although I'm not sure it is worth the trouble, since I rarely sell anything there). You know--the jewelry I should have FINISHED making weeks ago. Sigh.

On the bright side, we had a reasonably good Black Friday and Small Business Saturday at the shop, and for the moment, it has stopped being Horribly Cold here. And I had a lovely, albeit brief, visit from author pal Nancy Holzner on Sunday, as she passed through town on her way back home from her family's Thanksgiving.

I have a couple of blog posts planned (you know, that I'm also behind on), including one explaining how I came to use the Baba Yaga as a character. Maybe tomorrow, if you're all good.

So, what are you all up to now that it is somehow FREAKING DECEMBER?