A Look At August

I'm trying to think of what I did in August. It turns out all I did was knit and read. Oh. And I did go to a gathering with hubby's coworkers. Which surprised both me and hubby. But I did hide the whole time. And was completely exhausted after. Perfectly normal.

I finished quite a few knitting projects that were sitting around for ages. Like this purple rain carrie.

And this twice before friday barley hat.

And this confetti speckle asterism.

I also caught up on some reading. I finally read And I Darken by Kiersten White. I've been doing some research for a Vlad novel. Off and on. I'll get to really writing it one day. Anyway. So this book was announced a couple of years ago. A female Vlad. And I knew I had to read it. But first I had to wait forever. Well. It was worth the wait. This book is perfection. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. 

A Look At July

Only a little late this month!

I feel like I've been slowing up a bit on my reading but I'm not worried about it. I'm still reading and that's all that matters. I think I'm even ready to read books that have less than perfect endings. I still hate that one evil book from January, but I feel like I'm in a better place. At least for this. I'm still in a bad place. It's just a different bad place.

I started writing again too. Not much and still only fanfic. The original stuff still doesn't seem to want to be written. The fanfic hasn't exactly been easy either and I'm not sure why. I want to write. I want to go to the RWA conference next summer.

The first anniversary of Dad's passing wasn't what I thought it would be. I have done my grieving, it seems. Not that I don't miss him or anything, but any sadness over my father happens out of the blue or because of certain events (like buying our first house). And I'm okay with that. I won't force a remembrance of him every year on his birthday or the anniversary of his passing.

This gives me some hope for the holidays this year. We'll have to see how that goes.

I've been doing a lot of knitting still. In fact, my goal for August is to not start any new projects and to finish as many WIPs as possible.

I'm still trying to unpack all of my books. Why are there so many books? And no, I've still not adjusted to the house.

I've been watching Downton Abbey. That's been an interesting experience. Quite addicting too.

My life is really not interesting enough for these monthly blog posts. Oh well.

A Look At June

Late again. Hopefully I'll be on time next month.

Well. Terrible things happened in June. And then interesting things happened in Congress. I watched part of both the filibuster and the sit-in. That was interesting. And good. If felt good knowing there are people who are saying enough is enough.

I started reading again. That's a pretty amazing feeling. I've been enjoying it. I've been excited about it. It's been far too long since I've felt that. I've been rereading, and reading some for the first time, Gail Carriger books because she is coming to Book People July 20th and I'm super excited to meet her.

I've been getting a lot of knitting done even if I haven't finished that many projects. Here are pictures of my favorite finished project. Hell, it might be my favorite thing I've knitted ever.

And I think that's all for June.

A Look At May

May was a crazy month and I'm not sure how much of it I can remember for this thing. Obviously this is late. The sad truth is that setting up my office in the new house was not a priority. The little energy I have needed to be used for moving and cleaning. Packing and unpacking. Arranging. And we're not close to done.

I knit some stuff for the house but I still have plenty more to knit. I made a mat for the kitchen and for one of the bathrooms. I need to still make a mat for the other bathroom. Then dish towels and dish cloths and hand towels and hand cloths and a second bath mat for each bathroom.

I didn't do any writing. Not surprising. Even with my computer packed away I could have used my laptop but I did not have the energy. All of my free time has been spent knitting.

I haven't read any books either, though I'm still reading fanfic. I moved on from Sterek to Peter/Chris. But there is less of that to read. And certainly less good stuff to read. And now I've got a bit of a werewolf obsession going. In fact, I have an idea. I'm not sure if I'll put it to use in fanfic or original though.

I don't do well with change. I have trouble staying in hotels because they aren't familiar. They aren't home. Hubby and I were in that apartment for nine years. I'm having so much trouble adjusting to the house. It will be worth it, in the end, but getting there is hard. And June and July are going to be difficult with Father's Day and the year anniversary of my father's passing.



I guess that's it.

A Look At April

I can honestly say that I don't really want to talk about April. There isn't much to say anyway. I did finish some knitting. I even finished some reading. I only wrote once this month. April was not good. Really not good. I've been drowning myself in Sterek fanfic.

Hubby and I are in the process of buying our first house. That's good, at least.

Dad's birthday is May 4th :(

Yeah. That's all. April just sucked.

A Look At March

March. March is all about the rodeo for me. I'm actually surprised I managed to get as much writing done as I did.

Anyway. I've made some nice progress on my Wesley/Riker fics. I wrote 11,418 words this month. As much as I would love to finish the first draft of Forbidden Love this year I don't think that's going to happen. I'd have to write a hell of a lot more than I have been. And we're moving in May so this April and May aren't going to be very productive.

I only finished one knitting project. It was a Broncos scarf for hubby. I have some really awesome knitting projects going though.

I did finish that het historical romance I started in February. I tried some other reading but it just wasn't happening. That evil book in January really messed me up.

On the night of the rodeo finals (I still can't believe I had to miss the finals) we went to Star Trek the Ultimate Voyage. An orchestra played various Star Trek music and clips from various Star Treks played in the background. It was really good and I'm glad we went but I'm still upset about the finals.

The rodeo is fifteen nights long. We went eleven of those nights. We're shooting for all fifteen next year. It was amazing this year. We saw some of the fastest times we've ever seen. We saw some awesome rides. We saw some crazy animals. Hubby and I are convinced that the steers and calves got into the green beer on St. Patrick's Day. The horse of one of the pickup men was kicked by another horse and then the pickup man fell off.

Speaking of pickup men, I'm pretty sure the audience doesn't appreciate them the way they should. The pickup men are the guys that get the cowboys off of the bucking horses. Um, also, as a queer romance writer, this is a lot of fun to watch. Still, they are super important and they deserve more love. I have a picture of them. Not a good one. We didn't have the camera the one night we were moved down to box seats. Oh well. I also don't have good actions shots because we just don't have the equipment for it.

And then there are the bullfighters. I've always had a nice appreciation for the bullfighters. But the guys this year. Two of them were here last year. One of them was new. The new guy danced with the bulls. His moves were smooth. He made it look easy. He made it look like nothing. So these guys do freestyle bullfighting and they are amazing at it. But like above with the pickup men, I love the saving of lives that the bullfighters do. They do some amazing things to keep the bull from stomping all over the cowboy. And sometimes they do everything they can and the cowboy still gets hurt. Anyway. These three guys. Wow.

Hubby and I also did a behind the chutes tour. That was interesting. And fun. We also saw Smokey Robinson one night. And now I've spent this entire blog post talking about the rodeo so I'll just leave you with some pictures now.

Hubby's scarf modeled by Molly.

Smokey Robinson.

Longhorn.

Behind the chutes.

Pickup Men. And the rodeo clown that I can't stand. He's just awful.

The bullfighters.

Star Trek the Ultimate Voyage. 

A Look At February

February was a rough month. Not sure what happened there but I guess it's to be expected. It could have been a lot worse though.

At 8,311 I wrote a couple more thousand words than last month. I've been making steady progress on my Forbidden Love fic which is the huge Wesley/Riker project I'm working on. I've also made some progress on a smaller Wesley/Riker fic. And I'm still enjoying it so that's good.

I didn't read. Well, I started reading a het historical romance near the end of the month but I haven't made much progress on it. I still blame that book I read last month. Ugh.

Went to see Riverdance because hubby likes it. Can't say that I'm much of a fan. Some of the stuff is awesome but overall I'd rather not.

Knitting and yarn were both issues this month. I struggled with some of my knitting and I had some yarn issues. All has been resolved and I did finish some projects. These two are my favorites:

I ended my month with an upset stomach and an awful headache. Today seems to be going better so it's time to get back to my writing :)

And since it's March it is officially Rodeo Month!!! One of the few things these days that I get truly excited for.