Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Lots of Stuff to Keep Me Busy

2012. Well, not a good year for my family. This past week has been another tough one, but all I can really do is hope that the crap will quit falling on us and hope for better things moving forward.

Camping planned for this weekend up in the Nordegg area, so I'm excited for that. Headed up to the same spot we were in this spring:

The campsite at dawn.

I'm also starting Knit Club back up (our facebook group icon is a skull. Can't go wrong with that, am I right?) after a season's hiatus—last winter was just too hectic. Like I said, hoping for better things. I gotta run to Michaels and pick up some supplies, as the six-hour round trip drive to Nordegg should net me some time to do a dry run of the sweater I'm teaching the girls as our first month's lesson.

Bulky. Simple. A good first project to start the season with.

We're meeting every Sunday, and between planning projects, picking up supplies, and fitting in some actual knit time, that should keep me pretty busy through the winter.

I've also got to get started planning the 7th Annual Darlington Derby I host every Christmas in Ontario. Right now I'm working on painting a set of Jenga blocks gold, to make a trophy for the Jenga Master to win every year. It's gonna be epic.

The starting point...

And of course, I'm still writing. Right now I'm mucking around with a re-write of Speechless, the YA Fantasy I started last fall. It needs a lot of work. I won't get all the way through it before I need to start planning for NaNoWriMo, which I'm participating in for the first time this year. Very excited.

Anyway, that's my update rant. Anyone else got big plans for the fall / winter season?

S.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Day Tripping

My ten-day staycation is winding down, sadly. Back to work on Tuesday.

Today though, was a bit of a surprise. Slept in, which is odd. But when I did manage to roll my ass out of bed, me and Idiot#1 decided just to grab a backpack, some Tim's, and head into the mountains. We actually drove up the Trunk Road into Ghost River country, instead of into the heart of the Rockies, but it was a great trip nonetheless. Picked out a couple of camping spots for this fall.

Mountain Bound.

Idiot#1 taking some pics.



The Thrilling Adventure of Rocks.



Some creek up that way.



Same creek. Colour.



Truck. It got muddy.



Mud splats in the mirror may appear closer than they are.



Mud!



Mud on my iPhone!



Idiot#1, taking pics again. His camera is better than mine, fyi.



Ghost River. I think.



My feet. In case you were wondering what they looked like.



Back to the highway.



And damn, back to oil country & cow town.




I'm hoping to get some writing in tonight, but don't expect much. Taking it easy. Plus, I've decided to go back to work on a YA Fantasy I started last year, and give my Contemp. Fantasy a bit of breather. I think I need some space from it. The YA needs a lot of brain-stew-time and some serious re-plotting / re-organizing, so it seems like the right kind of project to take a break with.

I'm also thinking of NaNo'ing this November, so I'm hoping for some time tonight to see if I can work that into the schedule. It'll be the first time I've given that a shot. Might be fun.

That's all for now,
S.