Monophysitism Monday

monophysitism ~ belief that Christ was primarily divine but in human form

Seriously? I’m sitting here looking out the deck doors and I’m seeing a few flakes of snow drifting down. Snow! I was sure today was April 2, not April 1, so why is Mother Nature playing such a cruel joke?

Okay, now I’m seeing more than just a few flakes, and it’s sticking to the deck (sort of). Go away snow! It’s officially spring and I have proof:

Daphne and Donald are back, and they brought a couple of friends. The picture’s not the greatest quality because I was taking it through the glass of the deck door, but I saw Daphne and Donald Thursday morning - they were near our front door when I went out to get groceries. Friday morning I was awakened by the sound of a duck quaking - specifically Daphne. Man, is she chatty! Almost as chatty as the grandbaby. ;-)

I guess she was just announcing that they were back, because she was only annoying noisy that one morning. Every morning since I’ve wakened up to there being at least one duck in the pool, just not all four at once.

Everybody have a good Easter? To me Easter always meant a new outfit to wear to church, in fact I have pictures of my sisters and I dressed in our Easter finery, complete with hats made by an aunt. There was chocolate, of course, usually those big, hollowed out bunnies or chickens waiting on the breakfast table for us.

I’m not much of a church goer, so these days Easter is more about the extra time off than anything else. And if a three day weekend confuses me, I’m sure you can imagine what a four day weekend does. :-D

Normally I do my grocery shopping on Friday mornings, but this time I had to shop on Thursday. And because the daughter had to shop after work, I got home from babysitting around my regular Friday time. Which made Thursday feel so much like Friday that I woke up on Friday thinking it was Saturday.

So Friday I woke up and had my special Saturday morning breakfast (eggs, bacon, and toast) and sat down in front of the TV to watch Flipping Vegas, my Saturday morning indulgence. Only it wasn’t on. That, of course, is when I realized it was Friday, not Saturday.

So yeah, the weekend was pretty confusing and I didn’t get a fraction of the stuff done I wanted to, but that’s kind of normal for me, isn’t it?

One of these days I’m going to get my act together and then watch out world!

Macrocosm Monday

macrocosm ~ large and complex structure considered as a whole

I’m late!

Or rather, this post is late. You’d think this being a long weekend I would have had plenty of time to get this post written, but you should know by now that’s not the way things work for me. ;-)

Saturday I spent the better part of the morning and part of the afternoon uploading my newest book to the e-publishers (more about that in a bit). I don’t know why I find it so stressful, this is the sixth time I’ve gone through the process and it’s not like I do my own formatting or covers. All I have to do is fill out the forms. Easy peasy, right?

Anyway, after that was done I had that curiously let down feeling you get when you finish a big project. So I decided to reward myself and indulge in a little shopping therapy. So I went to a couple of thrift stories, then the mall, and finally Walmart. And all I managed to come home with was replacement blender so I could start having smoothies for breakfast again. *sigh*

Next I tried on-line shopping and found a fairy tale book I’d been searching for at Abe Books. The way it works is they act as a broker - you purchase the book on their site, then they contact the seller who is supposed to contact you. I’m still waiting to be contacted. Seeing as this is the weekend I’ll try to be patient.

Day two of my long weekend, Sunday, I spent babysitting. The daughter and her hubby needed to go to IKEA to pick up new beds for them and the grandbaby. I can’t say that I’d want to be trapped in a car for an hour each way with an active toddler, nor would I want to have to wrangle said toddler in IKEA. But, by the time I got home again, it was time to start supper.

Anyway, I’d been planning to do a blog post for my writing blog on Sunday - that didn’t get done. And I usually do this post Sunday evening - I could barely keep my eyes open for Rizzoli and Isles, let alone type anything. So that didn’t get done either.

So this morning I had not one but two blog posts to get done, and I started with the one on my writing blog because today is Release Day for my newest book, An Elemental Earth, book 4 of the Ardraci Elementals series.

Help an author out, would you? Brazen Snake Books, read my interview, and enter the contest to win a free print book plus a gift basket. You don’t have to guess the correct flower, any flower will do. Just scroll down and leave a comment and you’re entered.

Thanks, and good luck!

Mucrone Monday

mucrone - stiff sharp point forming an abrupt end

Yes, that's right. Once again Monday has snuck up on me. I tell you, it feels like forever since I wrote last Monday's post.

And once again we're celebrating Labour Day by doing as little as possible. LOL

Labour Day ... the day kids all dread and parents all look forward to. It marks the end of the summer and the beginning of the school year. At least for some kids, that is.

I can't believe the amount of upheaval we've had regarding schools lately!

Enrollment has been dropping off across the board in our town over the past few years, and rather than allow our kids to take advantage of a better education that comes from smaller class sizes, the school board decided, "Hey, let's shut down these smaller, friendlier schools and create one big generic school instead! Never mind that half the kids will have to be bussed to it instead of walking, we can save crap loads of money and give ourselves a raise!"

They did the same thing with the high school too.

Last year our town boasted three high schools, but the powers that be decided to close the beautiful West High School with its charming atmosphere and hardwood floors, the original high school of the town, and amalgamate it with the East High School instead. But first ... they were going to renovate and turn the East High School into a big enough school to accommodate everyone.

Actually, I think the renovations have been going on for a couple of years now. One of my nieces went to the East high school, and most of their classes were done on-line last year, which was not the most brilliant of plans because over half the students are bussed in from outlying farm country where internet reception is spotty at best. Nevertheless, in the spring the town bid a tearful goodbye to CDCI West, as it closed its doors for the last time.

The only problem is, the renovations to the East high school (now known as CCI, Cobourg Collegiate Institute) are not done. At least they sure didn't look done when I drove by it this morning. Supposedly the offices and classrooms are usable, but rumour has it the cafeteria isn't finished and there are wires still hanging from the ceilings. I won't even mention the big, portable chain link fences still cutting off access to most of it. I'm sure I won't be the only one interested in what happens tomorrow.

And while we're on the subject of being at the mercy of builders ... one of my nieces is starting her first year of university this year. Bad enough this sweet, but shy, girl is having to deal with moving from a small town to a big city, but the residence she was supposed to be moving into is not habitable yet. Hundreds of first year students, many of them from out of province, are without the rooms they were promised, as well as the pre-paid meal plans. Hotel accommodations came too late, if at all, and were completely inadequate. You can hear some more about it HERE

So it looks to me like not everyone is celebrating Labour Day this year.