Bits And Pieces

I figured while we're waiting for smoke from the Vatican, I'd catch you up on various things in my life. I'm on call, in case the cardinals decide to go out of their comfort zone and name me pope so I have plenty of time (probably a millenuium or two) to kill.

Shiny New TV Set: I treated myself to a shiny new TV set for the den. It came this morning, and in fact, I have it on right now, since I'm on smoke alert. The only way there was room enough for the shiny new cable box is to put the shiny new TV set on top of it. Let's hope Scooter never discovers this.

Insomnia: I've cut down substantially on my sleeping pill use. I've discovered if I turn off the computer, read something not particularly fascinating for about 20 minutes, go to bed, breathe deeply saying, "Sleep, Sleep" in my mind, I fall asleep pretty fast, just as long as Scooter is resting next to me. I don't know what will happen when the weather warms up, and Scooter returns to sleeping on the living room sofa, Maybe I'll buy a stuffed cat, wrap it in a heating pad, and see if that will fool me.

Scooter: Last week, for reasons best known to him, Scooter thought 4 AM was the ideal play time. He attempted to convince me by knocking over a little glass bowl I'd bought in Paris in 1984. Sadly for him, the sound of breakage didn't convince me. Sadly for me, the sound of breakage was because the bowl broke. The stuffed cat with the heating pad is looking better and better.

My Career: I was kept busy last week, being Author Of The Week over at Bookiesfan. I also wrote a guest blog for one place and wrote about my high school library for another, and answered emails and the suchlike. Oh, and I did the "first pages" which used to be called galley proofs for The Shade Of The Moon, looking for typos. I caught one mistake I'd made. I had Alex say something to Jon early on in the  book, and then I had Jon remembering that Mom had said it to him. The galleys took two full days of intense concentration, and the high point was cleaning up that Alex/Jon/Mom business. A writer's life is not always glamorous.

The Shade Of The Moon Inscription: Despite all your assistance, I remain undecided. I don't know if I want to use Fight For Your Future, even though Jon actually does say something like that. Capital F is not one of my better letters (as opposed to small y, which I write fabulously, which is why I selected Always Have Hope for Life As We Knew It inscriptions), and Fight For Your Future sounds a little weird and presuptuous on my part, especially if I'm signing copies to grownups, who've probably done as much fighting for their futures as they care to. So I'm still open to suggestions.

What I'm Currently Reading: Mother Finds A Body by Gypsy Rose Lee, as part of my This Book Has Been On My Bookshelves For Decades And It's About Time I Read It program. The book I just finished reading, The World War II Combat Film by Jeanine Basinger fell into the same program, but the book I read before that, Catherine Howard by David Loades was brand new.

My Thyroid Or Lack Thereof: The good news is I don't miss it. I'm also cautiously optimistic the scar won't be particularly glaring (I'll know better when I work up the courage to change the bandages and see for myself).The bad news is some of the weight I'd lost is returning to its natural habitat. I went online this morning to read about weight gain following thyroidectomies and learned the only way to prevent it is to give up eating every single food I like. Instead, I'm looking into a thyroid transplant.

My Mother: She remains in good health, but she says being old is hard. Her willingness to listen to my babbling ("Should I get a new outfit to wear to IRA and ALA?" "And then Scooter broke my bowl...") is close to saintly.

Hey, maybe those cardinals should name her pope!