BitterSuites

eBay Sales: Madame Alexander doll, honey dripper, and a KitchenAid bowl shield

Craft Projects completed: 0 – Again, I got several rows on my scarf done

Dead Bulb Watch: 12 Days and Counting

#MilWordy Update: 34,398 words

The puppy advice spammers are back. I much prefer them because occasionally I learn something from the comments.

Today has been a bit slow, but I’m not sure if there’s any reason for that. Got lunch late. That’s about it.

New podcast: The Hidden Djinn — Back in 2002, when I was writing a book with a djinn antagonist, I was scouring the net and the bookstores for information djinns. At that time, they didn’t even have a copy of the Arabian Nights in the shop. This podcast though, this has many stories that I haven’t heard. Probably because I don’t speak or write Arabic or Farsi, so I couldn’t find the stories by myself. This is a long way of saying that I recommend this podcast.

I don’t really have anything else to talk about today. Until tomorrow!

eBay sales: none

Craft projects completed: 0

Dead Bulb Count: 11 Days and counting

#MilWordy Update: 33,039 words

Spent the entire day as though I forgot to do something important. I have no idea what it was and I still don’t. I bounced the thought around with my friend and we think that maybe I was dreaming and didn’t finish whatever I was doing in the dream, so I’ve spent the entire day trying to remember what it was I’m supposed to do.

I spent most of the day attempting to reach zero in my work inbox. Which is to laugh. I’m still at 1500 plus. And it is killing me. Slowly. Through intensive boredom.

Now, we’re group-reading a book. I can’t even. Our discussion points include:

• “They brought chipmunks into the country without quarantine and put them into a cage that’s actually on the ground? So, invasive species into the country and not trying to keep them contained? And how many chipmunks to they now have? They brought in 40, we now have more than 100. And I’m sure they’re burrowing out into the forest now.”
• “Is her plan to kill everyone on the planet? With the water columns?”
• “Is there fic for this book? We need to write anti-fan fiction for it!”
•  “Are there any Batman crossovers? Cuz that is a natural fit.”
• “No, but God said he wouldn’t use a flood again. It would be fire.”
• “This book is going to turn us all into alcoholics.”
• “Misslesl. Got to the bunker. Call the b****.”

So, yeah, this book is a thing. It’s a thing which should not exist. The MC just hung up on the President. And it isn’t as though the MC isn’t like in a firefight or anything. I can’t even. Jesus wept this is bad. No, I won’t tell you the title. It doesn’t deserve it.

eBay sales: 2 necklaces, stuffed dog, pins

craft projects completed: 0 (several rows of knitting)

Dead bulb day count: 10 (on pause because of the weekend)

#Milwordy update: 32,879

My wrist has been screaming at me all day. I don’t know what I did to the poor thing. It feels as though I tried to pick something up that was too heavy and it set off the nerves in my wrist.

I woke up in a blech mood because my joints ached, so I took the day off. Didn’t list a thing. Didn’t write anything more than this blog post. That doesn’t mean I won’t work on something after this, but I really didn’t do anything productive.

I lie — I picked up the eBay room a little bit, looking for one of the necklaces. And we unpacked one of the Halloween boxes and spread things out.

What’s your #Milwordy looking like? Did you finish any of your projects? Inquiring minds want to know.

TTFN

eBay sales: None

Craft Projects completed: 0, although I’m making progress on my scarf and managed a good six rows before my wrist started to ask me what exactly I thought I was doing.

Bulb Day Count: 10 (weekends will not be part of the count)

#Milwordy Update: 31,924 words

The spammers have sadly stopped sending me puppy and gardening advice. They’ve moved on to CBD oil and Audible. Sadly, no, I can tell that your comments have absolutely nothing to do with the post you added them to. It’s just *sloppy*. I’m sure there is a spam comment on my blog, but it was well tailored to pass my immediate sniff test and get past the spam filter on the page, so it deserves its place.

I was perusing the menorahs on eBay and I found this little beauty:

Yes. Yes, that is a goat menorah. It is wonderful. I love it.

No, I’m not Jewish. Neither is my mother. We just love menorahs and sort of collect them.

It also made me think of Scapegoats by Andrew Grell. (Link to purchase is *not* affiliate, but is linked to Golden Fleece Press). It’s about telepathic goats who are trying to make the world a better place by working with specific humans. It’s weird. It’s wonderful. And it has a special place in my heart. Let me repeat: Telepathic goats. At least one of whom sounds like your old Jewish grandpa from New York. I love these goats.

I want the goat menorah. But I don’t want to pay $400 for the goat menorah. (If you do, the picture will link you to eBay. Also *not* affiliate or in any way related to me.)

It’s been the sort of day that goes quickly. We had a zero session for the new D&D campaign we’ll be starting next week. Which also involved discussions of nail polish, massages, and contractors who can’t think beyond 12 hours when we need more time to process them into the system and get all the paperwork filed for them to come into work-sites. So much paperwork. Don’t ask. It will tip off a rant.

I’ve actually managed to paint my nails today with my favorite – Grass Stain from Revlon – which I bought on the Renthead quest for Neiderlander green nails. It’s not exactly the shade of the Neiderlander theatre, but I’ve grown very fond of it. I used to use it as the base for an odd sort of French tip where I’d put a cat’s eye line in the center with black and then do the tips in black as well. Nail art can break your brain a little bit.

Dad got a bee in his bonnet and started cleaning out the planter on the back deck and in the back yard. That means we ran out to get a new grill cover. There are still some broken pots that I need to get off of the deck before the winter. Heck, it would make sense to bring all of the pots into the garage and the gardening section. I am not putting that on my to do list.

Tomorrow, I’m going to focus on more eBay listing. I’m trying to list biggish things. Selling pins is all fine and well, but they take up less than an inch of space. I can put them at the end of my listing list. First focus is Halloween. Then Christmas stuff. Then new in box things. Then dolls. Then purses. Then shoes. Then maybe some glass chickens. People love glass chickens. I do not understand it.

There’s more cookbooks to be listed and I’ve got at least two board games which need to have all of their parts counted before I list them. I can only hope that more people start shopping as we head into the final quarter of the year.

Though shopping does require that people actually can work.

Telework is a thing that needs to happen for more jobs. And yes, I understand that some things can’t be done that way. I have worked retail. But I have also worked in offices where they require me to be there for 8 hours a day when I only have three hours of work. I’m very fond of the project focused workplace. As in — I give you your project. You finish it. I give you the next project. Or maybe I give you three projects which you work concurrently. As you finish them, you get the next one. And seriously, as long as you come in once a week for the staff-meeting/ TEM, I don’t care what time you come in to the office. Or if you prefer to work on Saturday. Or out at a park (assuming non-proprietary information). Just do your job. You are an adult.

Then I remind myself: You were acting manager for three/four months. Your team can’t all do that. Some can be trusted, but others need to be herded. Some people are just lazy. Some people just don’t know how to do things. And some people are just idiots. Which means there needs to be options. If you’re promoted to a certain level, you should be a self-starter and able to have a flexible schedule. If you can’t do that sort of thing, you don’t get promoted to the job with the flexible schedule. Easy in theory. Horrible in practice because people are going to take advantage or play favorites. And it sucks that that is reality. Maybe it’s different in a small company. But once you get to a certain number of people that flexibility gets harder to implement.

Anyway, off to get some words in on one of the bazillion and a half open projects I’ve got going. TTYT.

eBay sales: Doll

Craft Projects completed: 0

#Milwordy Update: 29,535 words

Bulb out: 9 days and counting

So work was work and that’s all there is to stay about that. Not good. Not bad. But work.

I don’t feel like utter crap today either. I’m breathing well and I don’t feel like I’m dragging my ass up from the bottom of a bed either.

I did manage to get Trish’s book named: Seeds of Kindness.

That’s about it. Off to write until my fingers fall off to catch up on the numbers I needed to hit yesterday.