What the Junk?!

Well, at least I'm almost positive!  I am going to do book two of my skating story for NaNoWriMo. (I created the first book in April for CampNaNo) I have announced it at NaNo and I created a cover for the book.  It's going to follow my skating pair as they spend a summer at their exclusive boarding school.  They'll train all summer and maybe have a short vacation.  They are training for the Olympics in the coming winter games.  I have some ideas for their summer and as of now, they are not going to have a very relaxing summer!

I have two scenarios in mind and I have to pick between the two. There is either going to be a serious injury or a stalking case.  The main female character had a bit of a stalker in the first book but he was sent away to get help. He may just get released without her knowledge.  The other scenario is the male skater (her partner on and off the ice) is going to have a serious injury that is going to put their Olympic goals in jeopardy.  I still have a little over two weeks to go so I'll be trying to work out what is going to happen.  I do want them to have some fun over the summer break since they will be staying at the school for the majority and training, training, training!

As of now, the book will be called, "Summer At Meadows Academy."  That is the name of their school.  It may change depending on how the story goes.  I am ready to start now and I am also not even remotely ready to start now! I may do some side writing of other stuff just to get myself in the mood and going.  I have been re-reading a lot of my old fiction stories and they are making me want to write about that duo again, too! I might do that just for fun and to warm up my writing for NaNo! 

It was rainy and bleah again today.  It's supposed to be like this tomorrow to. Boo on that!  I wouldn't mind the rain so much if my roof was in great condition.  With it like it is, it is just frustrating.  

My friend texted after work today and asked if I wanted to go eat and then go a few places. I said, sure!  We ate at a local place in the car and then went to Big Lots.  I was able to get some things I needed and three packs of Softlips.  They had two packs of Peppermint stick flavor and I got three of those!  I got other things I needed.  We also went to Ollies.  I ended up with yet another notebook/journal. :P

I also got some glue and some binder dividers for my Smash Journal.  The journal/notebook is based on Harry Potter. It's leather-like and sort of reddish colored.  It has Stupidfy! on the cover.  Pretty neat.  I didn't need a new notebook, but it was Harry Potter based, so...

Anyway!  I am over halfway through a new zombie book I picked up from Kindle Unlimited.  I have two more on to read later.  This one is pretty good.  It is the first in the series. I'm not sure if I'd continue the series of not.  We'll see.  I'd like to give some of the other ones.a try first.

Welcome to May!  I finished the last book in my trilogy last night.  I am a bit upset by the ending.  It was a good series though.  I started a new book today and I'm a little over halfway through it.  I found it for free to download on Amazon, so I thought I'd give it a go.  It's pretty good.  I am enjoying it.  It's post-apocalyptic just like the trilogy but different.  I love this genre. Sort of ironic with the whole COVID thing, but there you go.  I've loved this genre for a long time.  My favorite book of all time is The Stand after all!

I just hit the 40,000 mark on Camp NaNo. I have now written twice as much as I planned. I think I'm just going to change it to a goal of 50,000. I am surely going to hit it.  Let me do that now. Okay done!  It's now going to be at least 50,000 words!  Go me!

I didn't do a lot today. I've had a nasty headache.  It's one of those that feels like someone is shoving an ice pick in my forehead. Not good!  I hope to sleep it off tonight.  I read the second story in the new Stephen King book.  It was good, too! I'm going to read the third tonight and possibly start on the last.  It's supposed to be book-length and it's a Holy Gibney story, so that will be cool! She was in the Mr. Mecedes trilogy and The Outsider.  She is a good character and it will be fun to see her again.

For now, I'm signing off.  I want to get a few things done before settling in with my Kindle.  I know I have mentioned it before, but I LOVE my Kindle! :)

Yeah, I don't know.  I finished the true crime book I was reading today.  I immediately was looking for something else to read on my Kindle.  You can search the Kindle store on it. You could on my Kindle keyboard but it was a much longer process!  I found a zombie book that looked pretty good for free. It's the first of a series, so I downloaded it.  I have read a little over half of it already! :P

Have I mentioned I love my new Kindle?  I love my new Kindle.  It's so small, even with the case and it fits nicely right into my purse.  I can carry it with me when I can go back in public again! Yay!  If the other books in this series are on Kindle Unlimited, I might just give it a go.  Three free months is a good deal!  I have noticed a lot of times when I find a zombie book that I like that I get the first in a series for free the rest are available to borrow with Kindle unlimited.  

I hit the 30,000 mark in Camp NaNo today!  It's going well.  I sit to write and it's just flowing. It's great. It's fun writing new characters. I love my zombie fiction characters, but these guys are pretty cool too.

In the mail today, I got the oldest Starbucks card in my collection.  It's actually the second one released in the US.  I was so happy to get it for a good price.  My dream card is the first one of course, but I was extremely happy to get this one!

Isn't it nice?  I loved adding this to my collection.   It's in great condition, too! Yay! I am only waiting on one package now and that is the other Kindle case I ordered.  

I haven't added one of these in a while, so!  How I'm using Evernote today:  I am copying the text of each day's Camp NaNo writing into Evernote.  That way I have a backup and I can read over it on my phone.  I find more things I need to fix this way! ;p

So, it is Monday.  Since yesterday felt like Monday all day, it should be Tuesday. lol   I went to the grocery store and picked up a few things I needed to finish out the month.  I got those and headed back home. My car did fine both times, so that is good.  I have some good things to eat, too!

I started a new puzzle today after I got home from the store.  I got a lot more done of it than I planned.  I just kept working on it.  I finally just put it away so I can finish it tomorrow.  I finished my latest read last night and started a new one this evening.  I found it via the library. It's decent so far.  It had good reviews and was compared to some other books I've read so we'll see how it goes.

It has felt like it should be Monday all day.  I don't know why, but it has.  I had to keep reminding myself that it was, in fact, Sunday!  I have my bed linen in the washer.  It would be in the dryer right now, but when I went to get it out, it didn't spin all the water out.  It hasn't done this in ages so I was not expecting it! I sent it to a drain and spin cycle and I'm waiting on that to finish so I can toss it in the dryer.  

I noticed all this when I went to start my pot of water to heat up so I could wash my hair.  I am so glad I got a haircut.  It makes washing my hair so much easier.  Less hair means less shampoo to rinse out!  Also, my hair gets wet enough to use the shampoo.  I am now sitting under the hair bonnet dryer drying my hair.  Feels nice under here!  After I finish up, I am going to relax and decide what I'm going to do for dinner.  I am trying to decide if I want something here or if I want to go get something.  I'm also contemplating going to Starbucks!

I finished my current puzzle today. I never did see the missing corner piece, so I just did a fix.  In the picture I took, it's hard to even tell a piece is missing. In person, it's a bit more obvious but not as bad as if there was nothing in that spot at all. It's the top left corner if you are curious:

Pretty good fix, eh? I thought so!  It's such s pretty puzzle, I hate that it's missing a piece.  I do have a piece that I could put in there but it's dark blue and it's obvious that it doesn't go.  This is a less subtle fix.  I can live with it.  

I am currently reading another zombie book. It's not the best ever, but it's not bad. It's a series and I don't know if I'll look into any of the other books or not.  I am right beyond the half way point so I'll be looking for a new read soon.  I have some on my Kindle that I have never read, so I'll check through there first.  I have books that I found for free on Amazon years ago.  I loaded them to my Kindle and for some reason or the other forgot them.  Some of the ones I've currently read are like this.  The current one included!  I have debated on re-joining Kindle unlimited.  I wish it was included in Amazon Prime.  That would be amazing.  There are some books you can borrow with Prime, but it's just not a lot of stuff I would want to read.  I have been enjoying the first reads each month.  Picking a book from a shortlist of them has been nice and I've found a few I enjoyed.  Those you actually get to keep instead of just borrowing them.

My library has ebooks you can borrow, but a lot of it isn't anything I'm interested in.  If I find a book online that sounds good, I'll check my library's ebook sight and most times they don't have it.  That is frustrating.  I am going to start looking into some new authors and seeing if I can find some to try that I might like.  

By the way, I just wanted to share something before I close.  When I finish a puzzle, I flip them over and tape them together on the back.  This way I can keep the completed puzzle.  Today when I flipped this one, I started taping and then moved my hand the wrong way and let me tell you.  The metal cutting surface on packing tape is SHARP and it will cut you. As many times as I've used packing tape this is the first and only time it's gotten me.  Lesson well learned.  That won't happen again. :P

So I was trying to decide where I was going to use my little table/drawer thingy I got yesterday.  I moved some things around and found the perfect place for it.  It's going to sit beside my desk. I'm using the little drawers to hold pen pal supplies.  Stationery, envelopes, etc.  It's pretty handy and I have the entire top to do something with.  I may put a little basket it on it to hold letters when I get them and then I can put the ones ready to mail in it after I'm done! That would be pretty nifty.  It's a nice little piece of furniture.  This is also going to help in other ways.  I had a footstool beside my desk with a file container on it and some other stuff. I put the file box under my desk where it's out of the way but it's easy to get to when needed.  The footstool will now be free for me to use as needed. Before I had to move the little file box and all the things stacked on it. They are now files away elsewhere. I just have to decide where to store the stool.

I started on a new puzzle today.  It was one of the 12 I got from Dollar Tree.  It's pretty so far and hasn't been too difficult.  A nice change from that crazy berry one! LOL!  It has a lot of sky and I usually do sky first on puzzles, but I decided to be different and do the buildings first.  I got a good deal done on it.  Here it is:

I'll finish it tomorrow. I'm hoping my new debit card will show up tomorrow if so, I might go and pick up a few more groceries and things I need.  I am currently drying my bed linen and my hair! The lines are in the clothes dryer and my hair is under the hair bonnet dryer!  My MacBook Pro is down to 14% battery so I need to charge it pretty soon. I also want to share a picture of the desk area with the new shelf thingy.  I'll do that once my hair is dry and I get my MBP on the charger!  OH! I started the send book in the series last night and it's good!  I didn't read as much as I wanted because I wasn't feeling great last night and wanted to try to go to bed early. I did and I feel quite a bit better today.

OH! I forgot to put the little jack o lantern container in last night's post of the things I got.  I also forgot to mention I found a vintage "Barrel Of Monkeys" at one of the thrift stores.  This was a totally new one for us.  They were marked .99¢ but I got them for .40¢. Yay! They are from 1966. Pretty cool!

It was supposed to rain all day today, but luckily when I got up today there was sunshine.  It did get overcast later, but it never rained.  I live in a river city as I've mentioned before and we had a LOT of flooding here in the city.  There are roads closed and underwater.  I was glad it stopped raining because I had to run to the bank today.  I wanted to get out a few dollars since my friend and I were doing our thrift store run tomorrow.  I probably won't get my new debit card until Monday or later, so I just wrote a check for cash and got $20.  I am sure if I run out of cash, my friend will front me until I can get my debit card and pay him back.

That crazy puzzle is driving me nuts!  I got a lot more done of it today, but I think some of the parts are not done correctly.  The raspberries are the hardest part and I'm working on them.  I finally just gave up for the evening and I thought I'd leave it until tomorrow.  I was just getting frustrating! I might take parts out and do it over.  I know the blueberries are right.  It's just those darn raspberries.

Here is the progress:

I am going to take out the majority of the raspberries tomorrow and start over on that part.  The puzzle wouldn't be so bad if the pieces were cut almost in exactly the same shapes.  Pieces fit where they don't do.  It's frustrating, but I'm determined to finish it!

I got a new wallet in the mail today from eBay. It's a Relic brand. I'm pretty sure they are also a Fossil brand, just the cheaper version of their stuff.  I had a Relic wallet a long time ago that I adored. I wore it just about out.  I looked recently to see if I could find a version of it and did. It's smaller than the one I had, but it's pretty similar.  It's blue and I love it.  Here is the new wallet:

It's a smaller wallet than my usual ones. It's a good size for my smaller purse.  I liked my Pink Fossil wallet, but it's really too tiny.  This is perfect. I can put my most used cards in it and my coupons and other things without it being overstuffed.  I don't like to overstuff my wallets.  This little wallet has a removable wrist strap and a shoulder strap that can be used.  I am not using either, but I have them stored in case I want to use them. The best thing? This is brand new and it still had the tags. I got it for a lot less than the list price. :)

I put a load of clothes in to wash last night and then forgot to move them to the dryer because I got caught up in my current read. I had to make myself stop reading so I could go to bed!  I am sure my clothes would have been okay to just toss in the dryer today, but just to be on the safe side, I rinsed them and spun them and then tossed them in the dryer.  I just need to get those out and put them away. I plan to do that after posting here.  

These Thomas Kincade puzzles are very pretty but they aren't the easiest puzzles ever.  They have such muted colors it's difficult to work them but it's worth it when they are done.  They are pretty enough to frame and display.  I am on the third of the 500 piece ones.  I got a good start on it today.  The last 500 piece one has a lot of patches of brighter colors on it so it should be a little easier to do.  We'll see!  I have to get through this one first. lol

I'm not sure how I'm going to work on the 1000 piece one.  The 500 piece ones just fit with the pieces on the board. I guess I'll have to take out a certain color at a time like I used to do back in the early days of puzzles before I had the whiteboard.  I'm sure it will work.

I finished the true-crime book I was reading last night.  I have another one loaded on my Kindle, but I went to my library's ebook section and found a zombie book that looked good, so I borrowed it.  I think I'm going to read that and then read the second true crime book.  It's so hard to find true crime books to borrow. If I liked stupid romance books, I'd be set, but I prefer true crime, drama, dystopian fiction, and the like.  

So, I went out to get the mail in today and notice it's a bit warmer than it has been. That is good.  The bad thing is it's raining now.  It's supposed to rain hard later. I'll have to check all my containers later.  I wouldn't mind rain if my damn roof didn't leak! 

I finished my puzzle today.  Whoo boy was it intense.  I'm glad I got it done though! It looks pretty cool put together.  Here it is:

Now all my Dollar Tree puzzles are done.  I'll probably do one of the 1000 pieces ones tomorrow or take one of the ones from the variety box I mentioned.  I also have the round one too.  I do have a Dollar Tree puzzle that I've worked already. It was one that fell apart when I tried to flip it.  I will save that one for when I have no 'new' puzzles.  

I only went out once today and that was to make sure my car was going to start.  It did, so I drove around a little while.  I didn't want to tax the battery by starting it up and turning it off.  I was tempted to stop at one place, but I didn't want to turn it off and take the chance it wouldn't turn back on. It's rainy and nasty and I totally didn't want to mess with it.

I finished the book I was reading this afternoon. It was apocalyptic, but not a zombie book.  The character s were great.  It was a good read.  I went looking for a new book to read. I was looking up free zombie books on Amazon and went to 'buy' one. It said I had it, but it wasn't on my Kindle. I checked and then delivered it to my Kindle and it's my next read. I'll start it before bed. I love being able to download free reads!

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but with Amazon Prime, they do have some free books, but I've only found one or two I would be interested in.  BUT they also have a 'first read' thing.  They send you a list of books at the beginning of the month and you can pick one to 'buy' for free.  This past montn, you could choose two.  I have already read one.  It was fiction and it was pretty good. The other is a non-fiction book.  

I needed something that I used to buy at Kmart.  I searched to see what stores around me that sold it.  The only one that showed local? Walmart.  I don't shop at Walmart.  So, what do I do? I ordered it from Amazon!  Fuck you Walmart! LOL  It was a prime item and it is to be delivered on Sunday so I am a happy camper.  Thanks, Amazon!

I finished the puzzle today. It was a little intense at the end there.  It's a pretty puzzle though.  I like it.  Here it is:

It's Columbus Circle in New York. It was a fun puzzle.  I still have a good stock of puzzles in my puzzle box.  I will have to decide what to do next.  I've been working on my current read.  It's my third book of the year so far! I started out so well last year and only ended up reading 19 books.  That was okay since it was 2019! :p  BUT I plan to do better this year.  Since I am on book three on the 10th of January, I'm doing pretty well.  I would love to read about 50 this year.  I have 20 as my goal on Goodreads, but I may up that if my reading continues at this rate. :)

I've had a killer headache all day today.  I started a puzzle, but because of my headache, I didn't get very far.  I've only got the outline done.  I'll get more done tomorrow. Hopefully my head won't hurt tomorrow or at least not as bad. 

I was up until after 4am the last two nights. Why? I was reading the new Stephen King book! lol  I finished it last night and it was excellent!  I'll go back to the other book I put on hold to read it. I don't know if I will do it tonight or not. It depends on how my head feels.  Right now it's hard to just type this post!  I'll share a picture of the small bit of puzzle I've done and I'll see you tomorrow! 

That is how that puzzle is going.  It's missing a lot of pieces. It's very upsetting.  I am still going to try to finish it.  I have all the pieces out on my white board now and I can see that there are several that are missing.  I'm hoping when it's all done that it won't be too bad, but so far, it's quite a lot!  

I meant to get so much stuff done today and I did nothing. I only worked on the puzzle. You can see my progress here:

Again, I did buy it with another old puzzle, so I'm hoping that any missing pieces are in the other box. I also hope the other puzzle is more complete!

Yesterday, I ran to the library and checked out The Simpsons movie and three books. I watched the movie last night and I know I've seen it before, but I remembered NONE of it.  The only thing that sparked a memory was Spider Pig and Bart's "Doodle". lol  After watching it, I kept wondering if I actually HAD seen it before.  I'm still not sure.  It is a twelve year old movie, so there is that.  Who knows, not me!

What a difference a week makes.  Last Friday I was at beautiful Myrtle Beach.  I would probably be typing this blog post out on the balcony.  Sadly, I'm home and posting from my bedroom.  I've seen a lot of it this week since I've been sick.  I'm feeling a LOT better today.  I'm not well yet, and I'm not going to overdo it, but I can tell I'll feel normal again soon.

I finally got those poor clothes out of the dryer from Sunday and started another load of stuff.  I also did something interesting. I adulted. lol . My toilet seat cracked before the beach trip.  It's probably been on that toilet since it was installed many, many years ago.  It was just starting to look worn.  It cracked where I could still use it but I had to be careful!  I have another bathroom that cannot be used so I just swapped out the seats on Sunday for the time being.  I went for a search on Amazon and found a nice seat for less than$18 on Amazon.  The one I had in the other bathroom was plastic and it didn't feel solid to me.  I wanted one like I had so I went looking.  This one was nice and it was a great price so I ordered it.  Prime shipping and it was here today.  I was able to clean the toilet and while I was doing it, I got an alert on my phone.  The seat was delivered. LOL!  Good timing all around.  

I put the new seat on and it's nice. It's sturdy and a lot like my old one, but it's so new and nice looking.  I love it.  Good old Amazon!  I remember when I got that plastic one, it was expensive so I was happy to see this one for so cheap on Amazon!

Okay so I mentioned this in the post that disappeared yesterday before I could posted it.  I mentioned how many puzzles I got at the beach.  How many did I get?  Twenty one!  Fifteen were individual ones and there was that one that had six in it.  All but three were brand new and still sealed and three are vintage.  Hopefully I can start one this weekend.  I'm going to wait until Monday to try to walk again.

One, because I want to make sure I am ready, and two it's supposed to be rainy and bad weather all weekend.  Sounds like a good weekend for coffee, puzzles, and reading!  Speaking of reading, I've gotten back into the book I'm reading.  I'm still not loving it, but it's getting more interesting and I hate to give up on a book.  I hope to get a lot more done on it or finish it this weekend.

Okay, I guess that is good for today.  I am copying this just in case I have another error.  I want this post to show.  I am not typing it up again! LOL!