Deviant Dispatches

July has been rough. I won't be sad to see it go. Nothing terribly big has made me feel this way; it's been the little things, one after the other. At times like this, I'm incredibly grateful for Spousal Unit, and to have the ongoing project of my novel to work on. Knowing that at least one part of my day will be the same has been very helpful and reassuring. On days when I'm upset or discouraged, I've started saying to myself, "Let it be fuel for the fire, but let it be the right fire." I accept whatever I'm feeling and put it to work for me, using that energy toward my plan to become a self-sustaining author. Then I don't waste time endlessly grinding my gears and getting nowhere. (Or I waste less time, anyway.) Which leads me to the update. I've finished reading the whole thing, beginning to end, and taking notes. I wrote down the facts that I included about each individual character, each city, the storyline as a whole, the timeline, ...

Sing-alongs have been happening at the Wisconsin capitol building since Governor Walker's disbanding of unions in 2011. For more than 700 consecutive weekdays, their purpose has been to gather in the rotunda, sing peaceful songs of protest, and gather strength from each other. Walker apparently felt threatened by this and all of the demonstrations in the capitol, as he outlawed gatherings of 20 or more that did not have a permit--then replaced Madison's police chief, who wasn't enforcing the law, with his personal bodyguard. This week, arrests have begun. This excellent article talks about the author's 80- and 85-year-old parents, who were arrested at the sing-along, where 22 people were in attendance. The next day, instead of the numbers decreasing, they went up - 29 citations were issued, and ( as WPR put it ) the remaining protesters sang louder. I understand the point of needing a permit for a public gathering. But the capitol has always been a place for ...

Remember that letter I wrote to Governor Walker ? Well, I actually sent it to him, and I received a reply, too. It was something along the lines of, "Thanks for taking an interest in government. You should keep doing that, even though I really don't care what you think and am never, ever, ever going to actually read what you send me. After all, I'm just here to turn Wisconsin into the northernmost Southern state." That might be an exaggeration. But it was definitely a form letter that is sent out to anyone and everyone who sends him letters. I realize he can't reply personally to everyone, but he could at least have that form letter tailored to certain issues. Yesterday, I got a letter from Senator Jon Erpenbach . Sure, this may also have been a form letter, but it was a form letter tailored to the issue of mandated ultrasounds and the bitch slap Planned Parenthood received. I haven't followed senators or representatives that closely in the past ...

Here's another shot I recently took of the sunset that wasn't pointed at the west. These clouds are in the east, spreading out like they're going to envelop the entire sky in radiance. Later this week, I should have another update on the novel for you. I'm nearing the end of my read through and getting ready to make the changes - to improve the whole of it yet again. I really hope someone besides me will enjoy this in the end.

On Saturday night, the moon was nearing full, in clear view, and beautifully bright from our porch. But I noticed something strange as I came back inside and looked out the window at it: There were suddenly seven moons in the sky. This picture is completely unaltered. This is how the sky looked through the double panes of the window, pulled open to let fresh air in. The moon reflected in the panes somehow; they even changed positions when I did. Having seven moons might completely destroy the Earth as we know it, but man, it would be beautiful in the meantime.

Today's a good day for cat pictures, so that's what you're getting. Beware: the first one is a demon cat.

This has been one hell of a week, and it's only Thursday. On Sunday night, I got very little sleep. Monday morning, I learned that come September, I will be forced to work five extra hours a week for no extra pay, right after we had this extravagant remodeling done, when we were told there would be no pay cuts. (I hate being salaried, I hate sliminess, and I hate, hate, hate technical truths.) Monday afternoon, I either caught a cold or had a sudden onset of allergies that is still around now. Tuesday was fairly mediocre, but on Wednesday, a coworker backed into my car and left a "dent" the size of both of my hands, spread out. He's covering everything, but this is already an obnoxious headache - plus the car is still new to us, since we've only had it for one year. All of these things could be worse, of course. There are no layoffs happening, I don't have a flesh-eating virus, and my car wasn't hit hard enough to fall over the embankment and roll in...

Last night sucked. I woke up at least five times, including at 5:30, when I just drifted in and out of sleep for the rest of my sleepytime. The cats (and by the cats I mean Titania - I always mean Titania) ate the remaining plant we brought from New Mexico down to a nub. Yesterday came with a fair amount of suckage, and today's weather forecast is Sauna of Death. So today, we all get to look a fuzzy things in teapots. Source Source  Source  Source  Source    Source Source  Source

I recently added more music to my happy music playlist and discovered something amazing: a lot of songs from the '60s and '70s era are really happy. Okay. Maybe it's not that amazing. But they're songs I hadn't given too much thought before - such as My Girl. I've been going through a weird kind of slump lately - instead of just feeling depressed, I've been way too crabby for no good reason. This has resulted in the same kind of scenario as depression by itself does: I decide to stay away from people for their own good (though Spousal Unit's been the only one to suffer my ire; thanks for putting up with me, love). I've been doing my best to combat that by hanging out with people anyway; the feeling fades for a while, but then returns. So I've been making an effort to turn off the news and turn on the happy music more often. It doesn't solve the problem, but it does give me a dose of happy, for however brief a time. I Feel Good - Ja...

About eight months ago, before Spousal Unit and I had moved into the Batcave, my friend Stephanie had me try her vegetarian meatballs. They melted in my mouth and were incredibly meat-like - I was amazed and requested the recipe at once. Then I promptly lost it in the move before I had a chance to make them. Last week, while doing some cleaning, I finally came across the recipe again. Hurrah! Meatballs! (Yes, I could have asked her for the recipe again, but I kept forgetting about it. Like I do.) My first batch turned out wonderfully except for two things. First, I skimped a little on the breadcrumbs (either that, or I added the right amount and the problem was that the eggs were the size of Texas - each). I ended up with meat-saucers instead. Tasty  meat-saucers. Which just makes me think of Space Meat . Second, just before removing these from the oven, I turned on a burner for tea. But after I'd set these on the stove and they'd begun to cool, they starte...

Sometimes, we look so studiously toward the sun for bright colors and an astounding display of nature that we forget to look at the clouds all around. They are often the most beautiful parts of the sunset, the clouds at our backs, splayed with lily orange to the East. Today, look for beauty in strange places. That tree you drive past every day - doesn't it have the most amazing bend in one branch? When was the last time you noticed the flower pots downtown? Keep an eye out for a shade of green that makes you dreamy-eyed, or a parent and child having the most fun of their lives. Let that be your anchor for today.

On Saturday, I was an excellent shopper - an unusual occurrence. I found the watermelon mint iced tea I've been wanting, despite the fact that it wasn't with the other teas. I found a nice cushion for our wicker patio chairs, which are coming unraveled; the cushion was on clearance because one of the ties was broken. (I'm not planning to use the ties, but if that changes, I can sew, yo.) After that, I decided on a whim to hunt for a garage sale. Being a Saturday in July, it didn't take me long to find one. The people were incredibly nice, and I immediately found a gorgeous piece that I liked: a white entertainment stand, with double-decker drawers that pull out. The lady commented on how much she liked my outfit (a skirt, tank top, and shawl), which was very sweet of her. I paid and went home without it, planning to return on Sunday because Spousal Unit was off with the bigger car. Later in the evening as I was going for a walk, a truck randomly pulled up besi...

It's one of those days already. I had yesterday off, have to work today, and am looking forward to the weekend already. I was randomly awake and couldn't sleep for an hour last night. And it doesn't help that last night, Spousal Unit did the thing where he sneakily kept refilling my wine when I wasn't looking, thereby making me drink an entire bottle by myself.  I usually have only one glass. Per week. Food does not seem like the best thing in the world this morning, nor am I very smiley at that guy. Needless to say, today is going to feel very long indeed. So here are some fluffy clouds and a sunset for you to enjoy. Have an awesome weekend.

Last weekend, I finally didn't have to go anywhere. It was glorious to not sit in the car for hours, waiting to arrive at some distant destination. It meant I got to clean the house a little and have time for fun things like art. I discovered a pile of old fortunes that I'd kept in my wallet. There were nine that were clearly happy and positive, so I decided to arrange and frame them. I have an old dictionary for art purposes, so I tore out the page with the definition for fortune and applied a layer of green watercolor paint. After it dried, I used double-sided tape to attach the fortunes, drew on it with marker, and mounted the whole thing on a piece of cardstock. I love how it turned out. (Click to enlarge and read the fortunes!) Continuing that trend, I painted several more dictionary pages with watercolors and cut them into squares after drying. I folded each to look like this little guy, again using double-sided tape to hold it all together. After t...

I love salads. For those of you who may not know, this is a new development. Last year - our first CSA - I was over  the leafy greens by box number 3. Salads were boring and obnoxious to assemble for so little reward - healthy, but not worth it. I'd rather have had a bowl full of lima beans. (That's totally an exaggeration. I will never want a bowl full of lima beans.) I think the reason I disliked salads so much last year was the cleaning process. The great thing about fresh veggies all summer long is that they're picked in the field mere hours before arriving at your door, chosen lovingly by a farmer who is battling things like flash flooding and windstorms - and therefore, dirt and sand. But I wasn't used to using more than a dash of water to clean leaves, and I didn't really have the means to do it well. Don't get me wrong. I love that my food comes to me with a little dirt on it. It speaks to the freshness, to the recent close contact with the earth...