Debauchery

Such a great word.....Debauchery.

1. Indulgence in sensual pleasures; scandalous activities involving sex, alcohol, or drugs without inhibition.

It started with a glass of finally opened $150 bottle of McCallan that came with a surprising spicy lingering burn. I sipped some fine Scottish whiskey on my weekend. McCallan, McClellands, Glenmorangie and the still elusive Abelour...perhaps on New Years.

My favorite man in the entire world turned forty yesterday. Number #61 and I headed from the dry sagelands to the wet mountains. Rain; sheets of it and dense fog glowing red in taillights started at Manashstash Ridge. I dropped him off with friends and went to the blue house tucked in under the ridge on seventh hill and kissed the birthday boy on the lips and promptly poured myself a glass of that McCallan. I visited for awhile and then had to go deliver some potatoes and change outfits for the dual birthday parties. The party was jolly and it was good to be back.

Made sure he got home safe and sound.

Then a ram and goat butt heads and settled with...

An invitation to breakfast and later the fulfillment of a birthday wish.

This afternoon, huddled under the duvet and tucked into fine thread count sheets, I slumbered only to be awakened by "Honey I'm home, where are you?" She leaps onto the bed with me and we have a sweet catch up beyond last nights hug, then she drags me out of bed to hang with the men and to start sampling the selections of whiskey. The wicked but charming Trish is much more of a fidgeter than I will ever be and with some delight; Nick and I watch her torture Jim. By hiding things. A cooking pot hung on the ceiling in his bedroom. A brush in the freezer, his favorite black lighter on the ledge of a door. She keeps picking up things and moving them. I laugh and watch from the couch and take a picture of her. Finishing the McClellands I pour a shot of the Glenmorangie... hmmm a very different whiskey, sweet and flavorful, perhaps better than the Dalwhinnie one of my all time favorites.


He is burning a copy of my new Christmas CD; Mumford and Sons and then loading all of my CD's into his computer. I prompt him to make sure he loads our favorite Madonna CD. How can you not love a man that likes Madonna?

Alas I must head home to work, returning soon for the end of the year, they call Stan the Taxi Man to move the debauchery to Roslyn and I lock the door behind me as I leave.

Imagination

Imagination I have plenty of that. I really like my scope for the day. It does a good job defining some of my morning to me, because if we don't have wishes and dreams then the world is not filled with color, life and hope.

Today is your day to dream, and dream big, Shannon. Think about what it is that you want most out of life. Aim your arrow at the stars and pull back your bow as far as possible. There is no limit to how far you can go. Your only limitation is your own imagination. Don't worry if your plan doesn't seem to make any rational sense. Worry more about what you want and less about how you are going to get it.

Winding up and down

I have pretty much taken the month off from writing and almost got up to write a blog yesterday from my nap, but then as always told myself I would remember what my subject matter was in my mind and then as always I forgot when I got here this morning.  I had an idea and it has flew the coop, instead what is on my mind are dreams and my growling stomach. My dreams have been quite memorable of late, but this morning on my day off, I woke in the dark not remembering what it was that woke me. As I went to sleep last night my stomach was growling, loudly and this morning it is the same.

Tonight I get to make and eat dinner fresh rather than packing it up and taking it to work. I plan to make Green Onion Pancakes and Mu Shu Pork. The green onion pancakes are rather divine flatbreads and I'm sharing the recipe.

1 1/2 cup of flour
3/4 Cup of water
1 Tbsp of vegetable oil. Plus 3 more for frying
1 Tbsp salt
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions.

Very simple really! Combine flour and water and mix into a dough. Lightly flour a work surface and your hands and pour dough onto counter and knead for five minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for five minutes. Divide the dough into portions and roll out into pancake. Coat the pancake with a bit of oil and sprinkle with salt and green onion. Fold it up and roll it out again, cook in oil till lightly browned on each side. Drain and keep warm in paper towels.

Eat with Chinese food... We will be eating it with Mu Shu Pork and rice.

And as for dreams this week by far the most intimidating was my favorite! I shared it at work and scared the boys on my team. They will not be loaning or borrowing money from me...Now if I could just get them to stop bumming cigarettes.

Number 61 was gambling with Playstation/X-box buying shit online and through applications with his debit card and was arrested for stealing. I slapped him when I found out he was stealing. And he fessed up telling me he had too, to pay his bills. Then suddenly we are sitting in the living room and the Russians come to the house, and they sat down on the couch across from me with #61 in the middle and tell me "He is into us for twelve K." (add in Russian accent) and I knew we would never get rid of them or be able to pay them back, the loan would grow and change as we all know they do with anyone from the mafia. And as my son sat between him and his bodyguard he made this sound...a moan that I can still hear in real life and I decided there was only one solution.

I shot them both through the head and we fed them to the pigs like they did in Deadwood.

I woke up saying that exact line..."And I fed them to the pigs like they did in Deadwood."

Now later in the real day, Mickey Blue Eyes calls me and says "I won Fantasy Football." He is betting and gambling and just won $500.  So in my mind tying this together to make sense....lol. #61 has been in trouble with the law recently, the older son is gambling and of course I have parents calling me all the time at work for their kids purchasing apps without permission (we give refunds though). And #61 and I watched Deadwood together and they did feed the bad guys to the pigs and if I was a criminal I would want to be an assassin. Happy Wednesday!

In review

I love night photo's they make me want to paint. Downtown Ellensburg after dinner with my boys.

Went out and about with my peeps to get our pictures taken with Santa. Santa was naughty and we were nice.

Christmas is just around the corner and Peak Q4 is building slowly this year. I think the after Christmas moments will be the coming of the onslaught of customers.

My baby boy turned 18 this week and many people asked me; "Does that make you sad?"
"No, it makes me excited for him, to start his life and become who he wants to be in it." Is my reply.

But on reflection; bittersweet for all the memories from the beginning of both my children's lives. It does go by so fast on reflection; snippets of moments... that come to you when a memory is triggered. The hope that they will be okay and have happy lives. I love them so and very proud of the men they are becoming.

The end of days

This is a terrific day for you, Shannon, and you will find that there is a great deal of power at your disposal. This is a day of new beginnings. You have the opportunity now to start over and create a solid emotional base from which to work. Rid yourself of negative feelings and self-doubt. Use this day as an opportunity to strike out on new ground and achieve whatever you set your heart on.

My lovely horoscope for the day. Nice!
This morning, is shrouded in fog once again. It has overcome us actually and the sun has lost the battle for the last couple of days. I woke late this morning, having gone to see the movie New Years Eve with Vette. It was pleasantly sweet and we laughed and cried a little. We laughed really hard at the chick in the audience with the delayed hyena cackle and we cried when the previews had Titanic coming back to theaters and that damn song; 'My heart will go' on started playing.
        Ahhh big sigh...
        Vette next to me says in a silent scream ..."Jack. Jack. Jack." and that lightens the moment and we get the silent giggles.

New Years Eve had a big cast and kept surprising us with it and we enjoyed it. I also watched Friends with Benefits recently and liked it enough to watch it twice.

Also this last couple of months brings back memories of where I was last year, something else I have been thinking about. "The Last Frontier." I have no regrets for not being with him and time has been a little kinder in thoughts of him. It is still; about intuition... about someone who was not right for me and I feel bad that it took spending time with each other in person to know it and I feel bad for the way it ended. But the gut feeling of lack of truth, his verbalizing of ex-wife and knowing how much he lied to his wife from experience... it all came down to that and that one word...Truth. I have to have somebody who is truthful, trustworthy and honest and I need to be the same for them. He nor my ex-husband are any of those I have come to realize this year. How can I be truth for them if they are not the same for me... 

The end of the year is about cleaning up the messes you have made in a way. I'm spending this December in reflection and sweeping out the mind closet preparing myself for the New Year. The fog tends to hold everything down at street level so that you have to keep staring at it. I have come to a lot of realizations this year and look forward to breaking new ground.

pondering

I love that word, pondering.

I have taken a week off from writing for many reasons; to step back from characters and the story and to immerse myself in my real life, another reason my hands and wrists ache from typing. The final reason just finalizing a year in my life in my diary. Oh yeah and to get some birthday and Christmas shopping done...damn and to make some stuff and as always to work. Pondering...it all and writing in my diary the best outcome for the New Year over and over in my mind and on paper. Seriously... spending large amounts of time, writing in my diary closing the year and planning the next. Taking all that I have learned about myself this year and focusing on the new year coming.

When I sat aside the book Curador for the week my first thought was man, is that it. Do I have anymore left in me, meaning how could I possibly have another book idea, I'm so brain dead at this point. So I comforted myself with thoughts of finishing all the others and then headed to work. As I'm driving; I'm thinking write your own happy ending and what do you know...an idea for a new book springs forth...Flagstaff Arizona and the title All Roads. Got to work while at work, doing some research and searching on ideas, and thoughts start filtering through... railroad, hotel, the Lowell Observatory, characters, ideas. Had to laugh and shake my head, but started a new file and started sticking the snippets of it in there. 

That is really how it starts, snippets of feelings, characters and a location. I start researching and finding intriguing tidbits of history. Then I feel conversations and write them down quick one liners as fast as I can type to what I think. Then I go back and start adding layers, over and over and over. I also start making a soundtrack of what kind of songs will put me in the mood of the book. First one on this book that came to mind while writing Curador, but was not on its soundtrack. But I cannot seem to get it out of mind for the new book All Roads. Take it Easy by The Eagles.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XByaqHhBFqE&feature=fvst

And then stepping back in Curador because it is by no means finished. I think about the original idea of it and getting some of that into it, because ideas of where I want to go with it are still surfacing. The barrio, childhood and hops. Also thinking about removing a character that has not really voiced itself and others that I have heard.  So yes pondering comes to mind and if I don't write it all down in some format I might lose my mind.

Sometimes

Sometimes you just need to have fun; cute little martini's and girl time. Tonight my mermaid and I went to a holiday party and had some fun and hang time. It was just what I needed and we had so much fun. Drinking, eating and acting immature and then we shopped. Coats...boots... can't live without them.

We caught up on all our trials, tribulations of our lives while cutting loose. One of our favorite moments from the night was her first taste of edamame and a big woot to her husband for some great propositions in his career this week. 

Oh and then I forgot I won a bottle of  Baileys Irish Cream and my mermaid she hauled that thing around in her purse while we shopped.

A good laugh and good company doesn't get much better than that!

Flicking the bean.

Peace and Quiet

I don't have much to say today. Taking a week off from writing books but trying to write in some format, but pretty dry for ideas. The last time I was in Roslyn I went to say goodbye to Jim, as he was leaving for Chile and Nick was in the bar meeting up with him too. And Nick said something to me I have been reflecting on for days. He said, "You look really good. I mean really good, what's different?" Nothing that I could think of, because I have not had a face lift, but suddenly this week it came to me. I'm happy and at peace.

I applied for three jobs yesterday in Seattle, making myself shake my head in surprise. But KDP was hiring and another job looked intriguing. I have stated many times at Amazon that I want to go to the KDP and there suddenly there were two job openings in that department and a cool one at Zoot. What prompted even looking for a change was of course...my horoscope for Sunday.

"Today much of your mental energies, and possibly your physical energy, are likely to be directed toward career matters. You might find yourself re-evaluating your goals and ambitions, Shannon, and possibly considering other possibilities. The desire for additional income might be the catalyst that gets you going, but there's more to it than that. This is definitely a good day to give thought to a number of options. By this time next week, you might have actually made a few decisions."

So I thought what the heck... Mostly I'm ready to make more money methinks, and then the path of life and fate might need a bump to see where I'm supposed to end up. My parents are off in Cali and I have some time alone for the next two weeks. My baby is turning 18 in a matter of days, it's his senior year and I want to go home.

rending

Well after trying to play catch up, I posted at 11:59 PM 49,419 so close but not enough for submitting.
I did learn much about writing and myself in the month of November.
1. That I love to write
2. That I can write every single day
3. That I can write a story in 50K. It is past that now.
4. That I have another one brewing already and that makes 5 or more in the works.
5. That I would love to write for a living.
6. That I can do it.

The lessons were more important than the actual submission, but man did I write my ass off trying to make it. I was bereft when finished because I was lonely suddenly without the characters in my everyday life. I have printed one copy and saved the 50K version as itself.

One of the other amazing things I discovered was how much the original inkling of an idea changed. I keep notes of thoughts; some written on paper and some in my laptop and going back through them I'm surprised at how much the characters, story took on a life of their own. It's funny to go back and read some of the first notes and excerpts. The large amount of scribbled notes and research that goes into some of the thoughts. just plain crazy!

I have stepped back for a couple of days from it and it may change again.