Life news this week:
- Saturday I kinda dragged my feet getting anything done. It was my nephew's twelfth birthday and I still didn't have all the stuff I needed to send their holiday package, so I sent him a photo of his presents wrapped and he laughed. Then their power went out and stayed out (the big San Francisco blackout!) so it was kinda a crappy birthday for him. I updated some stuff on Negative One's pages and got mad at my loud, inconsiderate neighbors for singing amplified karaoke outside for hours and throwing tons of trash over the fence into my yard. Ughhh. I finally started making cookies for my holiday stuff, starting with a batch of cardamom cookies that Meghan asked for for her holiday gift. (I put them in the freezer.) Kari came over to distract me and we took a nice walk. After she left I did my blogging and worked on my book.
- Sunday I got some laundry started in the morning and threw the neighbors' trash back over their fence. Took out my own trash, sent a Polo to Meg, and lit candles for the last day of Hanukkah. Made some spritz cookies (and got mad that one of my cookie presses got jammed, so I switched to the other one; I fixed it later). So many cookies! I organized another band name poll and made a to-do list for holiday stuff. Submitted a short story. Did some aerobics. Talked to a Tumblr user about Steven Universe merch. Did some voice-over auditions.
- Monday I had to edit a letter, bother people about utilities, and invite teaming partners. Then after work I put away laundry, drew all of Negative One (early, because I was gonna be preparing for having people over Saturday), and made four-way drop cookies--a cookie type that has the same base recipe but different mix-ins (M&Ms, sprinkles, jimmies, and Kisses). I also made my dough for pinwheel cookies (they had to refrigerate) and made meringues with leftover egg whites. Then I washed all the dishes, cleaned the back room of my house, and edited a chapter of my book. Also found out I got on the shortlist of not one but two voice-over projects.
- Tuesday I worked but there was an access outage for part of the shift so I used the time to prepare presents for my sister's package. I had been hoping the final item would get delivered to me in time for me to walk the package to the post office but it didn't come in time. (It did arrive after 5 that day.) I cleaned the bathrooms in my house, removed wax from my menorah for next year, did some aerobics, and sliced and baked my pinwheel cookies from the previously made dough. Unfortunately, then my air conditioner stopped working. Ugh, just in time to go into holiday mode when no one will be available to fix it. Jeaux came over (a day earlier than usual) and took me to Moe's for dinner and then grocery shopping. When we got home he rebuilt my DDR pad with new panels that were my holiday present! It took a while. Then we watched The Elephant (really cool new animation project) and hung out. And I worked on my book.
- Wednesday I was off for Christmas Eve. I relaxed in the morning, then tackled a project I've been meaning to tackle all year: I sanded a decorative pillar I adopted from my mom's house, cleaned it, and painted it. Then left it outside to dry. Then I wrapped presents in between watching episodes of the second season of Fionna and Cake. Then I cleaned the living room and vacuumed. I made cardamom cookies and worked on my party playlist. I stayed up way too late.
- Thursday I was off for Christmas Day. I brought my painted pillar in and rearranged plants in my house to decide what would be on it. Sent a Polo to my sister and then listened to a friend's Christmas carol compilation (which I guest-sang on a few songs!). I listened while cleaning the office. Then I caught a lizard in the air conditioning vent while replacing the filter. Haha. I was nervous about whether someone was going to respond to the air conditioning maintenance request I'd sent, hoping someone would come out to help the next day because I needed to have the air working or everyone was going to come to my place on Saturday and be hot. I called the emergency maintenance line (which is new!) and they actually answered! They said they would get the work order entered and then I got a bunch of weird e-mails responding to the wrong maintenance requests before I finally got one that made sense assigning a vendor. So after dealing with that I did some laundry, did some weight lifting, and made snowball cookies. I also submitted a short story and a query and worked on my comic.
- Friday I had to work. I did reports and processed some timesheet stuff. Then I went on a quest to get my air conditioning fixed because my property management was ignoring me and at this point I'd been without A/C for four days (yes, it is still hot here). I didn't want to face having family and friends over in a hot box with the oven on from cooking our holiday lunch, man. I ended up trying to negotiate with the A/C company and they wouldn't let me hire them directly without the property manager's permission, so I ended up calling my house's homeowner for the very first time. She is the sweetest person and she called the A/C company and bypassed everything and a tech came out and fixed it (temporarily; a part will need to be replaced). Score! Finally I processed Negative One and posted it, sent a Polo to Meg, and made waffle cookies. Jeaux came over with some groceries I needed and brought the table into the living room for me for our lunch. Yay! After he left I set the table with fancy dishes. And I made a breakfast casserole that needs to chill overnight. Then I planned the time schedule for the next day, bought stuff on eBay, did karaoke, and went to bed. I'm glad to say that ALL WEEK my ear behaved fine.
Interviews, Articles, Mentions:
My friend Kirb asked me to sing on a few holiday songs with him and it was adorable and hilarious. He has a whole Christmas album that's like an hour long, and it's mostly him and others singing, but here are codes to jump to the specific songs that I sang with him on:
Health Plan Update:
- Weight stuff: The scale and I were not acquainted (again) this week. No data!
- Nutrition stuff: I only missed my protein goal one day this week! Improvement. Unfortunately, in the next week or so we will probably see that drop off again 'cause I'm eating up leftovers from gatherings. Still taking vitamins, including the new B vitamins.
- Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics or DDR every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Saturday at 10,010 steps, and my high day was Thursday at 14,401 steps.
Books Read:
- Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
- Currently Reading: Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I'm on page 95.
This week's karaoke song is "Time For Me to Fly" by REO Speedwagon.
Stuff drawn:
My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1076: ivy #350: when the answer's always no.
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Hanukkah candles! |
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| Spritz Cookies |
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| Jeaux played a game that was hidden as an Easter Egg in The Elephant |
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| Cardamom cookies |
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| Waffle cookies |
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| Breakfast casserole |
Social media counts:
YouTube subscribers: 5,436 for swankivy (no change), 678 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 753 for swankivy (no change), 3,428 for JulieSondra (lost 7). Facebook: 291 friends for swankivy (no change), 629 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 246 followers for So You Write (no change), 103 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,416 (lost 2). Instagram followers: 294 (lost 1). Threads followers: 81 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 431 (3 new).
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