Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho…It’s Off to Work We Go…

Posted on February 19, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

The convention is over. Resting up after a great supper to drive home tomorrow morning. Very energized after the weekend. Can’t wait to get back to my housecleaning…and (sorry, guys) more importantly, can’t wait to get back to work on some revisions I have in the queue.

Got some great feedback on the chapters of Skellyman that I read this afternoon. Rachel Caine, one of the sweetest writers I know, was extremely helpful and encouraging, which makes me excited to get back to work on it. (And champing at the bit to read her work-in-progress when it is out.)

Then I got added to a panel which included Cherie Priest, the con Guest of Honor. I hadn’t read any of her books before, but I am a third of the way through Four and Twenty Blackbirds, and I am a new fan. It is Southern Gothic and extremely compelling. I’m sure I will get around to her Steampunk trilogy soon now. 🙂

Okay, this post should probably have been on the RieWriter blog, and maybe I will cross-post bits of it, but I felt it fit here too. Besides, I didn’t want to skip a day completely! That wouldn’t be fair. 😉

Cleaning will be fun again when I get home — though I am expecting tomorrow to be dishes and laundry day.

And don’t forget, if you are in need of dice to get started on your own housecleaning spree, send me an email at herestheclean@yahoo.com and we’ll work something out.

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Day 49 (Month 2-18)

Posted on February 18, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

I do so love a good convention. Getting to see old friends, talk about writing, it really primes the pump. Makes me want to buckle down to my other jobs now that the house is beginning to be manageable.

I got this text from Newell last night:

“I sent L_____ about a dozen pictures of the house. I must be feeling pretty good about your cleaning projects to be willing to do that.”

I think that is the highest praise I could get! 😉

This project has really done a lot for my self-esteem, and for that reason alone I highly recommend it. If you want to join the game, what is holding you back? Drop me an email at herestheclean@yahoo.com if you need dice to get started, and we’ll work something out. 😉

Time to get ready for my first panel. I’ll be back.

 

UPDATE ONE: I actually sang some of my songs tonight for the filkers. Filk songs are a breed of folk often encompassing stories or themes from genre fiction (fantasy, science fiction) and film. For example, I sang one of my Hobbit songs, the Firefly song, and my original “Soul of a Harper.”  It was fun. I need to do more of that. 🙂

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Day 48 (Month 2 – 17)

Posted on February 17, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

As warned, I am in Dallas, so can’t clean my house…but I do need to clean my computer. THOUSANDS of unread emails. How do my fellow authors keep up, I wonder? There are always tons coming in on the email lists. And I spend way too much time on Amazon. I get several confirmations a day from them…usually for free Kindle “purchases”.

And then there are the photos. Not as bad on the laptop, because I haven’t synced with this computer in awhile, but I bet there are still multiple copies of some of them.

You definitely don’t want to run out of work space on your primary work computer!

UPDATE ONE: Look! I got new Housecleaning dice!

Yeah, I should have used a flash…but it was late. 🙂

I did finally get all the pictures downloaded into the laptop and off the camera’s card, so that is a major cleaning step — there were over 800 shots on it! That was my project completed for the day.

I’ll post con pictures on Sunday. 🙂

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Off to ConDFW

Posted on February 16, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

So excited to be on the road again. I have been neglecting this blog while concentrating on Here’s the Clean…, but this weekend I will have my writer’s hat on. 🙂

Heading up to Dallas for the first con of the year– ConDFW. I had to miss it last year, and I am so glad that isn’t the case this year.

 

 

Here’s my schedule for the weekend:

 

 

FRIDAY:

 

Panel Room 1 – Warwick
5pm – Where’s My Unicorn? Trends in Fantasy
Panelists: S. Boyd Taylor, Bill Fawcett (M), Brad Sinor, Rie Sheridan Rose, Julia Mandala
With the recent surge of genre mashups, something may have been lost – the pure worlds of fantasy. Where are the worlds of unicorns, mages and no hint of sparkly vampires? Where are the modern versions of Tolkien? Our panelists try to figure out where the genre of Fantasy is going – and whether it needs saving.

 

Panel Room 3 – Canterbury
9pm – Yard Dog Press Road Show
Panelists: Selina Rosen, Ethan Nahte, Julia Mandala, Linda Donahue, Chris Donahue, Lou Antonelli, Melanie Fletcher, Bev Hale, William Ledbetter, Gloria Oliver, K. Hutson, Dusty Rainbolt, Rie Sheridan Rose, Frank Summers, Kathy Turski, Mel White
The fantastic authors of the Yard Dog Press put on their always entertaining Road Show! Make sure not to miss this.

 

 

SATURDAY:


Panel Room 4 – Churchill
11am – This Present Darkness: Trends in Young Adult
Panelists: Rachel Caine, Bev Hale, Ethan Nahte, Rie Sheridan Rose, Frank Summers (M)
Young Adult books have gotten progressively darker in the past couple of years to the point where even the New York Time has noticed. This hasn’t stopped Young Adult from becoming more and more popular – from the dark ending of Harry Potter to the Hunger Games and beyond. Is this healthy for teen readers? Or is this a sign that our world is growing dark? Our YA novelists talk about the health of the genre, and where it is going.

 

Panel Room 4 – Churchill
12pm – The Next Challenger Has Arrived! Heroines in Young Adult
Panelists: Rachel Caine, Frances A. May, Aelle Ables (M), O.M. Grey, Rie Sheridan Rose
The rise of teen heroines is significant these days. From the “Morganville Vampires” and Claire to the “Hunger Games” and Katniss, strong female leads are appearing more and more. Our novelists describe the role YA heroines have to fill and why it is so vitally important they do so.

 

Signings:
4 pm – Lou Antonelli, Rie Sheridan Rose, O.M. Grey

 

 

SUNDAY:


Readings:
12 pm – Rachel Caine, Rie Sheridan Rose

 

Elizabeth Burton and I are going up together this afternoon to be relaxed before the con starts, and coming home Monday morning, so I’ll have some visiting time if you want to drop by the hotel. 😉

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Day 47 (Month 2-16)

Posted on February 16, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

Have to say, even if it means no real time for cleaning today, I am excited about the con this weekend. Last year, my schedule was severely curtailed, and I missed it. I love Dallas, and I am looking forward to a great weekend!

 

UPDATE ONE: Well, I helped Newell clean out the car before he left for work. That’s a little something for the day. 😉

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Day 46 (Month 2-15)

Posted on February 15, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

Have to get some work done today. I am feeling very guilty about not doing more the past few days. Probably all in the Office today, as that way I can also get stuff ready for the convention this weekend. Leaving tomorrow about 1:00 PM, and won’t be back till Monday afternoon. That is a lot of days. Still hope to get some “cleaning” done during that time in Dallas, but it will be in organizing my work computer. Deleting emails, making sure there aren’t duplicated photos, stuff like that.

For today, Newell is home sick, so I may take advantage of the car to run to the grocery store and such, but I will also put in at least three hours in my Office. Lord knows there is plenty to do in there!

UPDATE ONE: Just wanted to let you guys know that I am adding the pictures I promised to yesterday’s post. Then we tackle the Office. Did get the grocery run done in the meantime…

UPDATE TWO: By the time I had done all my errands for today and got my clothes packed, my energy for anything else evaporated. I am SOOOO bummed by my lack of progress lately. And I know that I won’t get much done in the morning before I am picked up to go get our rental car. Will get only computer stuff done before Tuesday. But, at least that cleaning needs to be done too…

It is late to start tonight. And I’ve felt a little dizzy all day long. I give up. Maybe I can at least finish the dishes tonight. That would make me feel less like a failure. 🙂

UPDATE THREE: Did the dishes while I watched Top Chef. Very sad Bev was eliminated again. On the plus side, I sold one of my eBay collectibles! Now I have to figure out how to mail it tomorrow while leaving for the convention….

 

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Day 45 (Month 2-14)

Posted on February 14, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

Okay, I did it again. I played hooky today to spend more of Valentine’s Day with my loving husband. He took me to a lovely lunch at The Oasis, which is our favorite really fancy place to eat. I even had an adult beverage with lunch, that came in a cool hurricane glass I got to bring home.

When we got home, we decided that Firefly’s limp from Friday wasn’t getting better on its own, and took her to the vet. She had a slight fever, and required a shot and several days worth of medication.

By the time we got home again, vegging out to Farscape seemed the best way to spend the evening, so we did, with magnets.

That was pretty much my day. Not one lick of cleaning. I feel a bit bad about that. But I had a nice Valentine’s. I’ll post pictures relevant to the day tomorrow. Right now, it is bedtime.

UPDATE ONE: Some pictures I wanted to share relevant to the day:

It was really foggy heading to Newell’s office —

There’s actually a bridge up there…

 

The Oasis, where we had lunch, is on the lake —

Some of the sandbanks are actually disappearing again, I think…

 

When we got home, I made an apple tree —

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Day 44 — (Month 2-13)

Posted on February 13, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

Back to work today…enough playing around. I feel a teensy bit guilty about not doing any more work this weekend. I had been doing so good… On the other hand, most of the major spaces are in much better shape than they started the year….

Need to feel confident about leaving for the convention on Thursday. Still a lot to get organized for that. And yesterday as we were walking the faire, I got a phonecall to remind me that we have an appointment to get our taxes done tonight. Good thing I’ve been putting the paperwork together in one place as it has come in.

Let’s see what the dice say: They tried to send me out in the rain. I said no. So I got 30 minutes in the Computer Room. I’m going to use that to file some stuff and make sure I have all the tax papers together.

UPDATE ONE: I actually found the paper I was most looking for in my filing, so I count that as a successful half hour. Not that I started right away…did some other business before I filed.

Next roll 1 hour 15 minutes in the Upstairs Hall. May not be that much to do, but I’ll try to go that long.

UPDATE TWO: Okay…I didn’t do anything in the Hall. But instead, I got my eBay listings    up for the collectibles I found in the toy box. I might not get anything for them, but it still took at least as much time as I was supposed to spend in the Hall. Maybe I will get rid of something from the list at least. There were phone calls to be made and arrangements to be made for the convention this weekend too. Sometimes physical cleaning gets sidelined by other essential items. But I will see if I can get more done before bedtime.

 

UPDATE THREE: Bah. No, not getting anything else done today. Crashing headache. I think because the tea I was drinking all day was almost caffeine free. 😛

It didn’t help to get to the H&R Block office for the appointment was was scheduled last year…that they called to confirm yesterday at the faire…that I did confirm this afternoon…and find out that the preparer we were supposed to be scheduled with wasn’t even there tonight, and that they had scheduled us for another branch. Finally, they gave us to someone else, and it went very smoothly…but we didn’t bother to make an appointment for next year.

The good news is that the taxes are done, filed, and refund expected before the end of the month. One less thing to worry about.

So, not much progress on the cleaning today, but I did a lot of peripheral chores. That felt pretty good.

DAILY WRAP UP: 30 minutes in Computer Room.

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I’ll Drink a Toast to You!

Posted on February 12, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

As I warned, today was spent in complete abandonment of housekeeping duties as I went and had a lovely time with my handsome spouse at Sherwood Forest Faire. Despite a bit of an adventure finding the fairgrounds, it was a wondrous day. Let me show you some of it:

 The day started out absolutely gorgeous at my house…

Though it was much colder than I realized it was going to be when we started down the road. In fact, it was about 35 degrees out. For Texas, that’s cold. We decided to forgo garbe today and just go mundane.

As I say, we had a bit of an adventure with the GPS, as Newell had an address plugged in that — as best we can figure — was actually the mail drop and not the physical address, because we were “there” in the middle of Hwy 290. But we found the faire anyway.

We managed to get it sorted out just in time to run in and catch the last two songs of Marc’s first set (remember, we were going to see Marc?) Turns out, he had more shows than he had posted in his newsletter, so it worked out okay.

All wrapped up warm and toasty…

After the show, we had some time till his next set (where he promised Hobbit songs) so we wandered the grounds to keep warm.

      

We saw a bit of a Punch and Judy show…          …and some real foxes.

      

We saw Archimedes…                and Widget…                           and Igor in the Sky Kings show.

     

They had everything from Shakespeare…        …to Belly Dancers.

      

There were lots of fey…

    

And lots of friends.

    

    

We saw the Pirates and the Fairies squaring off for a chess match:

   

And saw a great many acts in passing that we didn’t want to stand still for…it was COLD!

We did go back for Marc’s mostly Don’t Go Drinking With Hobbits show. I must admit, I do love hearing my words sung in public.

   

Marc has CDS!  (See the Hobbit one under the pile?)

It was still really cold.

          

See those white dots? They were sleety snow. So Newell bought a hat.

We had promised to go to the Bedlam Bards 3:30 Bawdy Show, so we did. It was a very fun show.

      

Cedric…                                        The Bedlam Bards                     …Hawke

They had some comely lasses enthralled:

     

The Pirate Captain……                       The Argentinian Beauty…….

(Maybe a bit too enthralled, as alcohol had loosened a few tongues…)

But it was a great show.

All in all it was a great day all round. We left after the show, ready to thaw out our feet — Note to Self: Sandals in February not particularly practical.

Here are a final few images from the day:

      

      

      

I will do a few dishes tonight, so I still have done SOMETHING today and I don’t break my streak…but I really enjoyed the day off.

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Day 42 (Month 2-11)

Posted on February 11, 2012 by RieSheridanRose

So,  it is Saturday, and I have decided to take my loving husband’s advice and not work real hard over the weekend. I’ll still do dishes (which are drying as we speak) and wash laundry (second load of the day in the washer) and stuff like that, but on the weekends, we will do something fun. How’s that?

Today, I’m going to show off what Newell and I were doing downstairs while watching Farscape. We were playing with our magnets. He has mostly Zen Magnets, while I have a set of Bucky Balls, and I got us both some Neo Balls because of the pretty colors.

He made this cool sphere:

The blue really adds something to the mix. 🙂

I am not very good with 3D yet. But I made this for him…

Quite diverting time-wasters. As if I needed something more to waste time with.

But I still feel productive, having done dishes and laundry today. The weekend IS a time to play, after all.

BTW…laundering those handiwipe-type dishclothes…NOT a great idea:

Mostly little strings bound together by hope now. Still, soft and pliable, and I did wash dishes with one of them. Just not going to be good for much longer, and probably cheaper and easier just to replace those when they get dirty.

Out for the day, unless something unusual comes up.

UPDATE ONE: Some more magnet creations for you:

       

Basket of Roses                                                        Fiesta Doily

Blue and Silver creation

Tomorrow we are tentatively shooting for a trip to Sherwood Forest Faire. It’s the last day the inestimable Marc Gunn, my song-writing conspirator, is scheduled to appear that I can possibly go, so I want to try and get to his show. If we make it, tomorrow’s post will probably be Faire pictures and have NOTHING to do with cleaning. Can you handle it?

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