Gloomy day inertia

Overnight the weather turned cold. This morning, when I opened one eye about 6:30, it was headed toward sunny. By 9:00 a.m. it was dark as night, and I went around switching on lights for cheer, cancelled church plans, and settled down for an inside day. By evening, it's been a long day, and I would have welcomed company, distraction, whatever. (That does not include the dog peeing on the rug when I turned my back for a minute!)
There's something about a gloomy day that gives you a sense of inertia. This morning I thought I didn't have the energy to do anything except sit and read a book. I did actually get things done today--small household chores, some cooking, some computer work. And yes, I read and napped. Part of my inertia comes from not having a project and being uncertain about starting revisions on my second novel until I hear from the publisher. I think I'll take the plunge and begin on it anyway. I have several things on hold--the chili manuscript is at the publisher waiting for a verdict, I can't start making real marketing efforts for my mystery until I get the cover (and it isn't smart to start too early and run out of steam before the pub date but my plans are already made), and there's that second novel. When I face it, it's always easier to start reading someone else's novel.
I did fix myself a good meal tonight. Central Market sells ground lamb patties with mint and feta in them--absolutely delicious. I made four sliders out of one patty, and only ate one of the four. I suppose if you don't have Central Market, you could mix that up yourself--my mint is already profuse. I grilled some eggplant, just brushing it with a mix of olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and dried basil (my basil is on the porch waiting to be put into its summer pot--today wasn't a day for porch gardening). I made a corn, black bean, hearts of palm salad and threw in a little green cabbage, seasoned it with lime and olive oil, salt and pepper. When I plated it, I added some hummus. A really good meal, and the lamb will make great leftovers.
Tonight it is still gloomy although we've had no rain beyond a good soaking this morning. But it's cold--about 50. I dug out a sweatshirt. May isn't supposed to be this cold. High of 54 toimorrow. I have cancelled an appointment to get Scooby his summer haircut.
I feel like signing myself Judy, the recluse, but since I had such a lovely evening last night, with lots of friends and new people I met, I guess that doesn't fit. Back to that mystery I'm reading.

A truly self-indulgent day

Sometimes retirees think every day will be like this, but I would wither from inertia if that was so. But I thoroughly enjoyed today, from waking up late with the thought that there's nothing I absolutely had to do today to tonight when Jacob fell asleep of his own accord, TV still on. I hadn't read to him, gotten him to the potty, any of those things. Somehow I struggled his pants off him and put on a night-time diaper. Have you ever tried that upside down on a sleeping child who refused to turn over? Good trick, if I do say so.
This morning I changed and washed the sheets, watered the porch plants, did my yoga, fiddled with email and Facebook--still working on raising my internet profile. Took me all morning. There are days--too many--when I'm hard-put to fit in exercise. How can that be?
Early lunch, early nap. Jamie had said he was leaving Frisco "noonish" for Fort Worth. I knew he wouldn't make it by 1, so about 1:30 I took a nap, woke with a start when something made me realize I didn't pay my quarterly taxes in September! Jamie, on the other hand, never showed up, finally called about 8:15. He was on his way to "the Fort" for his 20th h.s.reunion, which started at 7 p.m. Ah, Jamie.
Jacob arrived about four, and we sat outside for a long time, though I refused to let him off the porch because he had stripped down to his underwear. He played with his toys, I read and generally enjoyed the pleasant day. Jacob voluntarily got dressed, because he wanted to go outside again. We had a picnic on the porch--grilled cheese sandwiches on plastic plates, and I finally lured him inside with the promise of ice cream. Since I don't have the kind of backyard he can play in, I'm paranoid about watching him when we're in the front and will not leave him alone for a minute. A grandma pal of mine and I recently discussed the sense of responsibility you feel when watching grandchildren, so different from when we raised our own kids. Lesson we were working on tonight: when  you spill something you clean it up; you do NOT say to your grandmother, "I want you to do it."
He'd had a full day, including a soccer game, with no nap and the "body rest" he took when he first got here didn't do the trick. So now he's peacefully asleep, and I'm going to bed early too.

And the heat goes on . . . .

104 yesterday, the same or higher today, 104 again tomorrow for the first day of school. It's brutal, and it was a good day to stay inside, which I did only venturing out to water plants and take care of Scooby, who spent most of the day inside. After proofing that history of the osteopathic college online, I gave myself a vacation and spent much of yesterday reading a novel. Tonight I am closing in on the end of it. Today I also read the Sisters in Crime Summit Report on digital publishing--a team visited Amazon, Google, Smashwords, and Apple iBookstore. Each has a different niche and approach, but these are energetic, enthusiastic people, not just techies but people who love books, and they are changing the way we will all read, write and publish. It's a question of keeping up with the rapidly changing technology, and I already feel behind. Resolve: to straighten out the issue of rights to the fiction I published in the '90s and see about reversion of rights where necessary. I am anxious to get them in e-book form.
Last week when I mentioned to Jordan I had a long empty weekend coming up, she said, "Let's get Jay and Susan to come for an early happy hour Sunday." So I invited them for five o'clock. Then Jordan announced that Christian had arranged for a bunch of their friends to meet at Mama's Pizza tonight and did we want to come. We old folks (and believe me Jay and Susan are twenty to twenty-five years younger than me) declined. I fixed  us an antipasto platter--deviled eggs,  the sardine spread on baguettes, hearts of palm, cherub tomatoes, finger sandwiches of that cheese with sundried tomatoes, and tiny bits of ham rolled around cream cheese. Left out the hummus, because there was no room for it on the plate. To me, that's a great way to eat a Sunday supper. We had a lively time--they brought a spike melon that you cut in half and then suck out the ingredients, spitting out the seeds. I passed on that, very intimidating. But we had fun and are ready to face the week.
Actually it's supposed to cool off by Wednesday. We can always hope. I'm afraid Scooby is spoiled by his long aftrnoon naps in his bed.

More grandkis, food--and only a bit of writing

Jordan and I had a delightful time in Frisco with Jamie and his family--and Jacob was so loved on, he was exhausted. Both girls were delighted to see him. Edie kept giving him kisses and rubbing his head and cuddling close to him while they watched Spiderman (amazing technical effects--I'd seen the beginning but never that spectacular ending!). But Maddie was the little mother--Jamie told her this morning she was the cousin that all the others would think was like an aunt. At the moment she was busily cleaning a sippie cup and putting chocolate milk in it--a rare treat for Jacob. She's a natural born nurturer and really keyed in to Jacob's every need. When Jordan left the breakfast table to go get him dressed, she found Maddie had already dressed him and taken him to the potty again. He was so besotted with Maddie that any time she asked him if he wanted to potty, he did. Steak dinner, good company, a delightful time. I sat in a chair in the rec room last night with a book, but I kept staring at those three children huddled together. Maddie looked at me once and said, "What?" and I just said "I think you're all pretty wonderful." I am truly blessed with family.
Another lazy day--we were home by noon, and I unpacked my suitcase (it's amazing what it takes to be away even for one night), fed my neglected animals, ate some lunch, caught up on emails, and had a good two-hour nap. We lost an hour last night, of course, and I really didn't sleep well but still managed to doze until 7:45, which was 8:45 by this morning. I plan to go to bed early tonight and tomorrow, no one else will be in my office, so---shhh!--I don't plan to break my neck to get there at 8 a.m.
A food note: yesterday while waiting for Jordan to pick me up for the trip, I watched the food channel, and there were Paula Deen and a guest slathering butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon on dough and rolling it up to make breakfast rolls which they then iced (the icing to too much icing on the cake to my mind). I wanted to say, "Come on, Paula, stop acting like that was just invented--I've done it since I was a child." That's how my mom made coffee cakes, Christmas cakes, and pecan rolls, and if I weren't so lazy about rolling out the dough, I'd still be doing it. My kids clamor for home-made rolls, with Grandmother's recipe, at holidays, but it's a lot of work. Mom had what she called "Everlasting Dough" because you didn't have to bake it all at once--you could keep it in the fridge, though it did tend to rise out of its container. I don't know what kind of dough Paula was using, but you can't beat Everlasting Rolls. The recipe, with all its variations, is in my forthcoming cookbook. (A shameless plug!)
I've been reading a lot this weekend--a proposal for a novel, for one. The author sent the whole thing in some time ago, I sent it back with rewrite suggestions, and he sent back the first 50 pages. I was hooked and asked for the remainder, but he has a capitalization disease--capitalizes every other word, and my red pen itched, but I don't make marks on preliminary copy that will go to readers and the board. I sort of think I'll attach a note to the manuscript's trail for whoever edits. That worries me a bit--it's like I want to control every project (whoever edits will no doubt be perfectly capable of fixing those capitals) and I realize someday I have to retire and let go. It can't always be done my way. More's the pity!
I've also been reading an advances of a mystery. Patricia Batta posted on the Sisters in Crime listserv and asked if anyone would be willing to read galleys. I guess I was thinking in terms of proofs, because I thought she wanted a proof reader. Turns out it was a bound advance galley, and she wanted a blurb. That threw me, because I have no published mystery credits, so who am I to blurb a book? I read it, at first thinking how I would have done this and that, but her plotting is really good and I soon got caught up in the story. So tonight I sent off a blurb. I recommend you look for Why Did You Die in the Park soon at your local bookstore or on the Web. Now if I can only do as well. The book is, by the way, proof that you don't always have to hit the big New York publishers--this will come from Lillimar Publishing in Traverse City, Michigan.