I’ve been trying to write an update but recently the words haven’t formed properly. Today, no matter what, I’m sending this out into the world with a wave and a last hug. Time to move on.
Remember the DIY faucet project I was working on? Well, I didn’t finish the install, which I am really sad about. My daughter’s friend — hey, Noah, thanks again! — did the job for us. I had every intention of working with my youngest to complete the installation but I broke my foot all to pieces and can’t bend it to crouch, can’t sit on it … you know the deal. Noah happened to be in town visiting family and stopped by to help out. The faucet is great, by the way. It’s a hands-free Kohler kitchen faucet (a Costco find) which is way more convenient than I expected.
You might think that, since I am a writer, having a broken foot would be no big deal. After all, I sit all day long and write. But that’s not actually true. I move around every couple hours. I often sit on my feet while I’m writing. Etcetera. Etcetera. Although I’m very disciplined, discomfort makes me lose my focus. And I’m going to whine about it until I can walk without this stupid boot.
In brief, my sweet pittie ran into me with all 50 pounds of her enthusiasm while she had a bad case of the zoomies. My foot did things feet aren’t supposed to do and then swelled to football size. I was on crutches briefly but the orthopedic surgeon gave me a boot instead. He says I probably have a torn plantar plate and some broken bones that aren’t showing on the x-rays yet. I guess purple is a non-standard foot color. Who knew?
I’ll see the doc again in two weeks and we’ll go from there. My children say I’m a terrible patient. They yell at me a lot for doing things when I should be sitting. I’m annoyed because I’m not allowed to do yoga at all. I’m also not supposed to walk much or go up and down stairs much or really anything. I’m lucky it’s not worse and I’m trying to be good so I don’t have any complications. But argh. I hate sitting still with my foot elevated on a pillow.
One of the things I got yelled at for recently is cooking. It’s difficult for me to cook without standing and moving around and all the things I’m not supposed to be doing. Anyway, I made ribs with a salt and pepper dry rub, grilled corn on the cob, grilled marinated zucchini, and a delicious peach bar cookie with peaches from our local farmers market. (Yes, I walked around the farmers market to get the peaches. Don’t tell my kids about that part.)
Our peaches aren’t quite ready and I’m getting nervous because the local squirrel is staking out the tree. It’s going to be a battle to see who gets the peaches first. She’s got a few advantages over us since she can parkour to the upper branches. She can pick peaches as easily as we do. She can reach any peach she wants. And she doesn’t care if they aren’t quite ripe. I’m hoping she’ll let us have a few. There are so many peaches on that darn tree and they’re starting to get that rosy pink color. Watch; in two weeks I’ll be complaining about how she ate all of them.
Moving on … A few months ago, I submitted a picture book to an agent who was doing a special query. I just happened to have something on the topic she was looking for but as happens sometimes, I didn’t hear anything back on my query and I assumed that it didn’t meet her needs. Today, out of the blue, I got an email from her.
Sadly, it was a rejection but the cool part is that she didn’t contact me all these months because she was seriously considering it. Isn’t that fun? She wrote me a really nice email, too. I’m going to put that one right beside the “banal banter” email. Hehe.
I’m doing a bunch of research for a new book. No details, of course, but it’s got a bit of a time-travel theme, at least in my head. We’ll see how it actually works out. I’m having fun with the planning phase but I need to finish up this horror novel first. It’s coming along pretty well, but I am not looking forward to the first read-through. I have a feeling that it’s going to need some tidying up. But I won’t have to start that until mid-September.
Haley has some VERY EXCITING NEWS that I can’t share yet but hoo boy, I hope to be sharing it by the end of the month. It’s hard not to shout from the rooftops but patience is an important skill to learn in this business.
Since I know some of you will ask, here are the recipe links:
Also, if you like music, check out Noah’s latest single. Nowhere Else
