Not Waving But Remodeling . . .
Jul102008
No, I’m here, I’m here. With absolutely nothing of interest to say. Which of course will not stop me.
I’m still in remodeling hell, except it’s going really well. I’m waiting until all the current projects are finished before starting anything new because I think I’m out of money. Hot tip: Remodeling is expensive. I’m loving my KraftMaid cabinets which were reasonable for cabinets and really well made, and the blue quartz countertops were on sale so that helps, but do they make replacement windows out of gold? Jeez.
Krissie and Lani and Lani’s two little girls came to stay last week and we did nothing. Well, we ate and watched movies and went to the Aquarium and filled two pools with water and played with the dogs and went to Steak N Shake (now the official restaurant of Dogs and Goddesses) and had Deep Thoughts, but basically, we did nothing. No, wait, I lie, Krissie hied herself to her bedroom and wrote most afternoons. But then, she’s a Goddess. Lani and I just vegged.
The new heating and cooling system is going in which means there are guys in my house from dawn to dusk. Very polite guys, stamping around the upstairs. Meanwhile, the patio’s going in which means there are guys stamping around my back yard. And the kitchen is almost finished which means there are guys stamping around my second floor. I’m getting nothing done, but the house is starting to look nice and the kitchen is now the kitchen I’ve always wanted, which is a not a cherry-cabinet-granite-counter-top-chef’s-stove kitchen But it does have a microwave and LaZBoys and a big screen TV and my Betty Boop and shelves for all the art deco china I still have left over from Fast Women so it’s my perfect kitchen. Or it will be when it’s done. It’s comfy. It does not, however, have a snuggle couch.
And no, I have not seen Callie yet. Things intervened, but I will be heading that way shortly, stopping along the way to visit a pal so that the trip’s an easy drive.
Meanwhile Bob’s in NY at Thrillerfest, looking for collaborators to replace me. He’s found a likely candidate, so I am settling back with my popcorn to see how that works out. Go harass him on his blog for more info so that he can yell at me for mentioning it. As he once said, nobody would have to torture me to get information, they could just hand me a Diet Coke and say, “What’s new?” and I’d tell all.
I can’t remember what Phin’s middle name was. I don’t even know if he had one. That was YEARS ago. I don’t even know what Emme’s middle name is and I’m writing her now.
What would I change about Bet Me. Hmmmm. Maybe make David and Cynthie more human. I don’t know, it’s hard to do Monday morning quarter-backing on a book because it kind of becomes its own thing. As for Elvis, he’s a magic cat. He can be whatever he wants.
And I must get over to Evil Editor and at least do a mea culpa. Thanks for posting my incoherent cry of shame, Tal.
What else is new? I got dog diapers for the dogs since they have totally blown any housetraining they might once have had (Lucy’s old, Wolfie’s threatened by the new kids and keeps marking his territory, Milton never was trained, and Veronica’s confused). So far it’s working for the boys, but the girls’ keep falling off. Shame, too: they came with little skirts with bows. Lucy looked appalled but they looked just right on Veronica before she stripped them off. I do not have high hopes about this, but I’m desperate.
That’s probably TMI. Well, that’s Argh for you. I shall return posthaste with a real post not written in haste, but I didn’t want to let this go too long. You guys get too creative when you’re left to your own devices. I do kind of like answering the questions, though. VERY easy blog post.
And now off to prime the bookcases in the kitchen. Someday this will be done. Some day far far away from now . . .
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39 Comments to 'Not Waving But Remodeling . . .'
On July 10, 2008 at 9:50 pm G and T said...
Oh, thank God.
On July 10, 2008 at 10:17 pm talpianna said...
Tortoiseshell toms ARE magic. According to them.
On July 10, 2008 at 10:29 pm sharon w. said...
And, here we were having visions of you kissing eensy granddaughter toes, and the Ohio river you live next to might of crept up and taken you, and your four legged crew.
Glad your personal birdhouse is continuing to evolve, and soon, very soon, it will be…. (I had to back to some of your earlier years, it’s just too hard to go cold turkey without your blog.) We missed you.
On July 10, 2008 at 11:30 pm Slave Driver said...
The neighbors across the street decided, after storing their new appliances in their garage for 2 years, to finally remodel their kitchen. First, they moved everything in their old kitchen into the garage and set it all up so they could still have a kitchen while the old one is undergoing its face-lift. So now, if they feel the urge to eat al fresco…poof!
“Hit the garage door opener honey, I’d like a little breeze with dinner.”
Plus they can watch all the free-range children playing
in the street so it’s like dinner and a show!
On July 10, 2008 at 11:50 pm DownUnderGal said...
Oh yes indeed, thank god!
I do miss your absolutely-nothing-of-interest-to-say blogs. They’re so damn interesting. Throw in Phinn and Bet Me and Callie and I’m hooked.
7 more sleeps until I hit California. Am I excited? Like a kid on Xmas Eve! Are you coming to national, Jenny?
On July 11, 2008 at 5:46 am Inge Cherry pi said...
Any chance that you will continue with Rose More? Or, at least, use the characters in another book?
On July 11, 2008 at 8:10 am Mary Stella said...
Replace you? That isn’t possible.
Jenny, I have KraftMaid cabinets and quartz countertops in my kitchen and love them! Color me twisted but every time I cook in there the counters make me happy. I’m now beginning to remodel a bathroom and already know that I want a quartz counter for the vanity. It will go nicely with the pebble floor.
I couldn’t have so many remodeling projects going at one time. I’d lose my mind. It’s difficult enough for me to decide between the different models of tubs and toilets. Choices were much more simple when people cut a hole in a piece of wood on a bench in an outhouse.
Sympathy on confused dogs. I fostered two lab-beagle puppies last week for a few days after our local shelter raided a puppy mill. My 15 month old spaniels were not happy to share Mommy’s attention with tiny interlopers. Now Pyxi is back to her quest of seeing how many hard cover books she can pull out of the bookcase when I’m not looking. I’ve already moved all the ones from the bottom shelf, but she’s persistent. She trashed SEP’s Natural Born Charmer the other night, much to my dismay. I love that book! Hopefully, my distraction training will work in the long run.
On July 11, 2008 at 8:42 am robena grant said...
Glad everything is well with you and you’re busy finishing the remodeling projects, you must have done the whole house. Grin.
Sooooo, Bob is trading you in for two twenty-nine year olds, huh? It’s never gonna work. He’d need at least four, and two of them would have to have brains. Unless of course he’s twisted Lisa Scottoline’s arm? Now that would be interesting. I told you once that I met her and she has a humor like yours. Maybe you should put down the popcorn and get on up to NYC and mudwrestle the gal. Hey, why am I assuming it’s a woman? Could be an old guy with bow legs and arthritic fingers who needs a writing partner.
On July 11, 2008 at 9:00 am McB said...
I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to nibble on baby toes, but the refurb sounds fabulous. And think how much fun it will be when it’s all done.
On another note, did you catch the season premier of Burn Notice last night?
On July 11, 2008 at 9:37 am Jenyfer Matthews said...
Funny you should mention the china from Fast Women - I just ordered most of your backlist and am reading Fast Women now - and not getting much else done as a result.
Glad to hear everything is going smoothly with the remodeling - the new kitchen sounds wonderful!
On July 11, 2008 at 9:38 am Nancy said...
So is Bob really replacing you or just looking for an additional collaborator? Since obviously you guys aren’t monogamous collaborators
On July 11, 2008 at 10:08 am Jenny said...
No, no, that was just a jab at Bob who used to complain I was cheating on him whenever I collaborated with anybody else. We’re doing Wild Ride and I’m really excited about it. And he’s found a very different collaborator who will bring different things to the table. Which is really the point of collaborating, go someplace new, stretch yourself and your stories.
And I missed Burn Notice because my satellite disk isn’t up until Monday. So I’m going to watch it on the net tonight because today I have all kinds of plumbers et. al. here. Also I have writing that needs to be done by Monday.
Not coming to National. I know, I’m dropping off the publishing map and nobody will remember me this time next year. But I’m working and I’m happy and life is good. Plus there’s that blood thing that’s supposed to keep me from flying long distances (but I’m SO glad I flew to Australia and NZ anyway, it was worth the risk, just the best time ever), and I just spent every cent I had and could borrow on making my house a place I actually want to be so . . . I’m stayin’ home.
On July 11, 2008 at 10:12 am Moonlissa said...
I sympathize on the house training. Every time I think I have mine trained I learn that, no it is really just me who is trained to take her out several times a day. Walking into the kitchen to find a puddle is not my favorite thing in the world. She will go on paper, but I really don’t want to live with newspaper on the floor for the rest of her life!
On July 11, 2008 at 10:57 am Rox said...
Tortoiseshell Toms are not only magic, they’re sterile.
On July 11, 2008 at 3:49 pm Office Wench Cherry said...
You have bookcases in your kitchen? Sigh. Did you not once say that you bought the ugliest house you’d ever seen on the most beautiful piece of land or have I confused you with someone else?
My sympathies on the dog situation. My dog is a fear pee-er or at least he pretends to be. My husband has a really deep voice and if he so much as raises it at the dog he pees. *eye roll* Yeah, because he lives in such an abusive environment. Then when I’m good and mad at him (like if he gets in the garbage) he looks up at me with these big sad eyes. “I love you,” he says, “I was the saddest little dog in the world until you rescued me. Don’t you love me???”
My mom raised dogs my entire life and that quit working on me about three decades ago but it works on my husband. Sucker.
On July 11, 2008 at 4:21 pm Melissa Blue said...
Jenny, most of your readers would rather have you ALIVE, WRITING (that includes the blawg) than hobnobbing at National’s. The high point is I’ll never make an idiot of myself in front of you.
Win-Win.
Off to tell Bob to stop cheating…
On July 11, 2008 at 5:41 pm Jenny said...
No, no, don’t tell Bob to stop talking about collabing with others. He needs variety in his life.
And the bookcases are new. As is the kitchen. The old kitchen was a galley kitchen with tiny, tiny windows and ugly ugly cabinets. I FIXED it.
Melissa, I’ll meet you some day and you’ll be so disappointed at how average and dumpy I am that you will have no problem tossing me aside.
The dog diapers seem to be working. At least so far today they are although Veronica shucks hers off like Gypsy Rose Lee every chance she gets.
On July 11, 2008 at 5:51 pm ArkansasCyndi said...
Glad to see you back posting. Even your “about nothing” posts are more fun than “some others” serious, angst-ridden, heart-wrenching stories of whatever.
I like that you are collaborating with different people. I think it brings out different sides of your personality - not that I’m saying your schizo or anything!
You can’t put out books fast enough for me.
Sorry about Nationals. I’m not going either this year. Too much $$, too much going on in my life, etc. I know the Cherries are going to miss you.
Waiting for kitchen pictures!
PS - GORGEOUS granddaughter.
On July 11, 2008 at 6:13 pm DownUnderGal said...
Oh well - it won’t be the same but yeah to whoever said we’d rather have you writing.
6 more sleeps…..
On July 11, 2008 at 6:36 pm roben said...
Melissa, don’t believe her. Jenny is neither dumpy not ordinary. We’ll miss you at Nationals, Jenny, but maybe next year, and hopefully you’ll be signing your new book at the Lit Signing.
Hey DUG, did you sign up for the Cherry get-together? If not, go over to the Forums, can’t remember the category, it’s somewhere near the top.
On July 11, 2008 at 6:56 pm Mel said...
Darn, DownUnderGal has less sleeps to go than me. I’m at 14.
Your kitchen sounds great, Jenny and the dogs will re-adjust (poor babies), probably just as well you aren’t going to leave them and decamp to SF.
As for Bob, well, I hope it’s another gal he’s collaborating with…I somehow get visions of pistol attacks at dawn if it all goes pear-shaped with another guy lol
And now, off to play with my new iPhone (they finally gave us poor aussies the 3g version after we all drooled over the first version for a year..of course none of the telcos have come to the party with unlimited data like you get over there but it’s still shiny and gorgeous and fab to use)
On July 11, 2008 at 7:04 pm Jenifer said...
Do your girl dog diapers fit all the way over the rear end, with a hole for the tail? We used those when our female golden retriever became a paraplegic and could no longer control her bladder. But then, maybe she didn’t pull them off because she couldn’t feel them?
Now we’ve got male-dog-diapers for an old golden with bladder cancer. I think he’s embarrassed when he’s wearing it, but he hasn’t pulled it off.
It’s amazing how stuff like this can make it so much easier to live with pets!
On July 11, 2008 at 8:59 pm Melissa Blue said...
Roben, I didn’t believe her. I realize some people can’t see their own Goddess within. Well, a snarky Goddess. I don’t think I could look up to a Stepford Goddess. Those kind just don’t have the same punch.
And Bob collaborting with someone else just seems strange. It’s not like he was living a sheltered life collaborting with Jenny. His blood pressure might be low now, but that’s neither here or there.
On July 11, 2008 at 9:34 pm talpianna said...
I know the toms are sterile. I’ve been reading Cats Are Not Peas: A Calico History of Genetics.
For people who are jonesing for remodeling infodump, get hold of Tribute, the new Nora Roberts. The heroine is rehabbing her grandmother’s old farmhouse and trying to solve the mystery of her grandmother’s death; she was a famous movie star.
This recommendation excludes Jenny, for fear she’ll suddenly decide she’d rather have Cilla’s counters than her own and, despairing, fling herself from the top of my molehill.
Cilla has a faucet over her stove for filling large pots to boil things like spaghetti. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I haven’t.
Oh and a great Art Deco bathroom with a steam shower.
On July 11, 2008 at 10:11 pm Lisa St. James said...
I attended the Craft Fest part of ThrillerFest and took one of Bob’s classes. He was fabulous and I heard nothing but wonderful things about you
I can’t wait to start reading the books you’ve collaborated on already.
On July 12, 2008 at 1:45 am DownUnderGal said...
Hey Mel I remember when Jenny had her new toy in Sydney last year and it’s taken all this time to get to our shores…sheesh!
Hey Roben, I just realised - I’ll be seeing you too in SF. Yay!!! I’ll trundle on over to the forums but I haven’t been there in ages. I think I may have had my status revoked. Have been a bad cherry!
On July 12, 2008 at 12:51 pm Sheri said...
Ooo–I’m not going to Nationals per se but I am going to the Cherry Gathering. I might even get a room and stay over so I don’t have to worry about driving back to the valley in the wee hours of the morning. I was hoping you would be there Jenny but I understand the $$$ issues–remodeling is so damn expensive and I totally envy your new kitchen. My kitchen is sort of like a galley also–straight and narrow with no counter space and very little storage. My neighbor who doesn’t even cook just recently did her kitchen over in gorgeous cherry cabinets and granite conter tops with Tiffany-style drop lights over the bar… Yeah, I have definite kitchen envy!! If I had the money there is so much I would do to this house. Never mind that we have replaced all of the flooring, windows, a/c and heater, pool pump, and roof since we have been here, but that is all just surface stuff. I desperately want to rip out the wall between the kitchen and living room and open up the space and have a REAL kitchen, but alas I have not the funds to accomplish such a drastic remodel…
So I will just have to live vicariously through yours, I guess until I win that big lottery I keep saying I am going to play some day! LOL!!
On July 12, 2008 at 3:13 pm Jill said...
Severe case of kitchen envy here. A Lazy Boy in the kitchen ? Sigh. My kitchen is also a galley. But that’s ok because I don’t cook much. I’d rather curl up in the Lazy Boy and read.
tal, I am reading Tribute. It does not give me any desire to ‘do it myself’.
On July 12, 2008 at 7:14 pm Mary Stella said...
I’m going to National for the first time in several years. While I always love hearing you speak, Jenny, I absolutely understand that your need to stay home to write and remodel.
On July 12, 2008 at 8:52 pm Barbara Martin said...
Jenny, why would you have a snuggle couch in the kitchen?
On July 12, 2008 at 9:22 pm Brandy said...
I met you ONCE and it’s one of my best memories ever. Of course my entire family had to shove me up to meet you, but that’s me. *G* So, you are not dumpy, you’re interesting and lively and sweet. Never boring. Never dunpy. Glad to hear the home remodel is going well! (As well as can be expected with men stomping around everywhere. *G*)
On July 12, 2008 at 9:41 pm talpianna said...
Are we going to have a party here again for those who aren’t going to National? Remember what fun we had last time, with the Barry Manilow CDs and the moles setting fire to the carpet?
On July 13, 2008 at 1:21 pm Slave Driver said...
Lisa St. James wrote “I attended the Craft Fest part of ThrillerFest and took one of Bob’s classes.”
You know the first thing I thought when I read this was “I took one of Bob’s classes in Jackson, but we didn’t do any crafts? WTF kind of crafts does Bob do? Macrame?”
Then I realized you were speaking of the craft of writing.
But now you have me wondering…
On July 13, 2008 at 1:25 pm Jenny said...
Sure you can have a party here. I’ll try to remember to put up a party post the first day of Nationals (Wednesday is the booksigning, right?) and they you can all do whatever you want in the comments as long as you don’t hurt anybody.
Barbara, the snuggle couch is a joke from a couple of years ago when Bob and I were brainstorming Agnes on the first He Wrote She Wrote blog. We were talking about what Shane could do to help Agnes, and he gets her an air conditioner and was going to fix her TV and then mount it in the kitchen and then Bob added a snuggle couch. And silence fell over the blog at the thought of Bob typing “snuggle” let alone “snuggle couch.” Instead of, say, tac nuke.
Brandy, was that in Columbia, SC? Because I remember that, too.
On July 13, 2008 at 3:01 pm McB said...
Tal, there’s always a party going on at the B&G. It’s not the same without the moles, though.
On July 13, 2008 at 5:12 pm Brandy said...
Yes Ma’am, that was in Columbia, SC. It was an absolute honor to meet you. *G*
On July 13, 2008 at 8:08 pm Jenny said...
It was an absolute honor to be in Columbia. That’s one of the nicest towns I’ve ever been in and the conference was so beautifully run. And of course, I got to meet Brandy as her family shoved her toward me. A win all around.
On July 13, 2008 at 10:16 pm talpianna said...
Tal, there’s always a party going on at the B&G. It’s not the same without the moles, though.
Is that a GOOD thing or a BAD thing?
On July 13, 2008 at 11:05 pm Emlyn said...
Missed you. Will never, EVER have a kitchen to die for because am too lazy, but is fun to hear about yours. And I love Not Waving But Drowning; it’s one of my favorite poems.