As seems to be the pattern this season, storms came at bedtime and raged while we slept. Couldn’t have been too bad, because the kids slept all the way through, except for one bad dream, unrelated to the storm. I’d packed the “tornado bag” and put it in the cellar, then had to go out first thing this morning and get it because Little Bubba had put his school shoes in it. As long as I have the tornado bag packed, I expect everything to be okay. A twister will only hit us if we’re not prepared, because that’s the way life goes.

Gosh, it’s hard to believe how long I’ve been letting the blog sit unchecked. Checking stats is unnecessary because they’re always the same. Hits: 30–60. Top searches: fatherless; boost wi-fi; ass. Lots of spam typed in Cyrillic and Hebrew. Blah, blah, blah.

I guess since it’s been a while since my last post I haven’t mentioned the newest development in my life: I’ve applied for a job as an editor with a small e-publisher. The pub is Eternal Press, the ones who publish my friend Tabitha Shay (mentioned in this post, which still gets a lot of perv search hits, even after I cut the Vanessa Hutchens link). I feel really good about this editing direction, and a small-but-established publisher like Eternal Press would be a great place to learn about the job.

So far I’ve been asked to write a letter of intent and take a test. I learned this morning that I did well and can move on to the next stage, which is editing a sample chapter. If I do that well enough, we’ll move on to a full-length work.

I won’t make much money with this gig; editors get royalties just like the authors, so it’ll be a while before I see any money at all, though it will accrue over time and projects. The time required is very reasonable, so even if I got a real job I could continue editing. I’m looking at this as an education. A broadening of my horizons. A way to put my talents to use.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Kreestee pointed out yesterday that I was a little over 1,000 hits away from 30k, and today I see I’m a little under a thousand away. What should I do to to celebrate that auspicious occasion? If a contest were the event, what would be the prize? Any interest in a kiriban? A giveaway? A signed picture (snicker)? I have at least a week, probably two, to come up with something.

Yesterday the city turned off the water yet again. They’re always working on the lines without any notice. Sometimes the water will be off all day, but usually it’s back on in time to cook dinner. It occurred to me maybe I didn’t pay the bill, but no, I remembered standing at the city hall counter, the week before, writing the check. Once DH got home we bitched about the water always going off, and why wasn’t it back on yet.

After we scrambled to get dinner, wondering the whole time what was going on with the city that would take so long, DH looked away from American Idol and said, “You went down there last week to make arrangements to pay Monday. Did you pay it?” Oh yeah. The thing I remembered signing down at City Hall wasn’t a check but an IOU. Oopsie. I was there when they opened the door this morning at 8 a.m. and paid the entire amount, including this month’s bill and the reconnect fee. Gah!

The dumbest thing is how many times I forgot about this stupid bill. I got it, put it in the bill place, and forgot about it. When I remembered, I wrote the check and put it aside so DH could drop it on his way to work the next day, but the check disappeared. I thought he’d taken it and he didn’t know he was supposed to. Then we got a cut-off notice, so I went down there to make payment arrangements after pay-day, THEN DIDN’T PAY!

So after I got past my shame and embarrassment I started looking for easy and free bill tracking options, because if I’m honest I have to say I forget to pay certain bills all the time. Cable and water are the two most frequent. Don’t know why. I used to be a bill-paying powerhouse, but the past year or two I’ve definitely fallen off. The first step is admitting you have a problem.

And what was that I heard just now? A bubbling sound? And there’s a City truck, leaving my yard. Yay! Water!!! God, I have a lot of dishes to do…

Random thought: does anybody else have a crush on the “FreeCreditReport.com” commercial guys?

The 1 hand + 1 finger typing is getting easier. I miss being able to watch the screen while I’m typing because watching the keyboard reminds me I’m putting my thought down, rather than just watching them flow onto the screen automatically. It’s distracting. Plus my hand gets tired easily. It seems to have reached a healing plateau, maybe because I started using it before it was ready. I think now that I did crack a bone, maybe two so I’m keeping it braced. Forcing myself to give it the time it needs, no matter how cranky DH gets for having to do the things I normally do, like cantaloupe chopping and opening jars and doing dishes. Actually, he’s been pretty good about it, and the kids have, too. they’ve been doing most of the dishes, so I bought Abby a pretty pink sponge to fit her small hands.

It’s only partly because of the hand that I haven’t been online much. I’m having one of those shifts in consciousness that comes every so often where I reassess my interests. The kids are old enough, the marriage is stable enough, and I have no worries at the moment. Oh, I have plenty of things I could worry about, like having no health insurance, but I’m tired of worrying about those things. I’ve got it pretty good here in my little corner of the world. Maybe it’s the bad economic stories I keep seeing on the news, or maybe it’s because I have a decent car, but for some reason I don’t feel as poor as I did a couple of months ago. It’s a nice feeling.

Ready to find a way to make some money, get in shape, make a difference in other people’s lives. I’d like to do all those things in one activity. I’m trying not to worry about the financial aspect, instead trusting that enough money will be there if I find my calling. So what do I enjoy doing? Where do my natural talents lie? What are my limitations? Those are important questions I need to answer, and I may explore that in the next post.