Fall Planner Revamp and Desk Setup

October 9, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Thanks to Amazon Prime Big Deals, I now have a real desk headed my way in the extremely near future. This means I have a concentrated amount of time to take apart the makeshift bookcase I made from two wooden crates and an end table from Housemate’s old house. That table and a couple of other things need to go into storage because the desk is coming. I have been using a “foldable desk” which Housemate measured while I was asleep a few days ago (Real Life Romance Hero was present, so I assume he was aware of this) and it’s about half the size of the desk that is on the way. This is going to bring a lot of changes.

First of all, I will have twice the room I am used to having. Think of the current setup as typing with elbows flush with ribcage, with intermittent cat between me and keyboard, New desk will have space for a box/bed/space that will be for Storm (we will see if she agrees) and three entire drawers, the lowest of which is suited for hanging files. I have a lamp/pen holder/phone storage thingamaboo all ready to go. The big question there, is what pens do I put in it?

Secondly, pertinent to the image above, we have the revamped planner lineup. Here i s a fun fact about Housemate: she likes the mystery boxes/grab bags Michaels sometimes does. There were a few in our local Michaels this past weekend, and it happened to be a buy one, get two free deal. So, we got three. Inside, there were two Happy Planners, both dashboard layout. One dated, one not. I will be destashing or giving away the undated one, but the dated one has replaced the horizontal blank boxes A5 rings I had been using, but not reaching for much at all this month. For those who are new here, I do have a visual impairment, and blank pages are not my friends. Nice, dark lines, however, are my favorite. I will share the layout and a sample spread later.

I like having my planner shelf coordinated. I like the pink, the gold, the black and white. This is probably not the final form of the shelf, but it is what works for now. After the long hot summer, fall is here and my superpowers have returned. I have tentatively mapped out my writing schedule for the near future, and I’m excited about it. This includes first steps into indie publishing and some exciting new things for MelvaandAnna.com.

Also, we have reached a true sign of autumn. We have put Koolio on his winter break. He will be wintering in Housemate’s closet, along with his bestie, Oscillating Fan. The heat is not on yet, but we have freshly laundered blankets, plural, and Storm is always up for a good cuddle. We have reached the time of year when I run on tea (vanilla chai today, out of my Jolly Roger mug) and if this weekend isn’t The Weekend for foliage photography, it will be the next one. I finished reading a vintage historical romance last night, which means I now get to pick out another. Daryl Dixon: The Book of Carol is off to an excellent start.

I like the way all this is going.

Typing With Wet Paws: Camp NaNo Progress Edition

April 22, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We are three weeks into this version of Camp NaNo, and Mama Anna is happy to report she is doing pretty well on it this round. Not quite at goal, but close enough to call it good, and, most importantly she is having mostly a good time doing it. Here are a few reasons why:

She is writing by hand
She is writing in only one book (so far; more on that later)
She prepares each page beforehand, with washi borders on the top and bottom of each page.
She planned in non-writing days, for when she is being domestic warrior queen
This draft doesn’t have to be perfect, or readable to anybody else. It’s only her shoveling sand into her sandbox. She wanted me to say that it is her sandbox, not mine, because we have very different sandboxes. Nobody wants to play in my sandbox.

Mama Anna wanted me to say more about the mostly writing in one notebook thing. If you have ever met Mama Anna, or read even one of her blogs, you know she has a thing for stationery, including notebooks. Normally, she likes to set up a designated notebook before she starts, but this time, she grabbed a random notebook that was full of stops and starts, with paper that was just okay (she got this before she knew about GSM) because she wanted to get the ideas down, and, well, she kept going. Now, there are only five two-page spreads left. As her purr-sonal assistant, I am fairly certain she is going to fill those before the end of Camp, and that means she will start another one, where she can do the post-camp work. After she lets it sit for a while, to sort itself out.

Part of the reason she wanted to do Camp for this session was to prove to herself that she can still do it, and what do you know, she can. There’s some confidence that comes with that. She doesn’t know if she is going to do the other Camp this summer (though maybe yes, because this approach is actually fun, and fun is important) but she does know that going back to the WIPs that have been on pause (not paws, though my paws are on pretty much everything she owns) isn’t quite as scary anymore. Maybe she will even take some aspects of this experiment into those works.

Whatever she does, be assured I will be heavily involved in it, and probably sitting heavily on it because I am that determined to be an integral part of the process.

How’s your April going?

Everyday Carry, Spring 2024 and Camp NaNo Progress

April 16, 2024April 16, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Welp, it’s spring. I have the window open as I write this. My ensemble for the day is a sleeveless shift dress with an unzipped oversized hoodie over it. My home office is an absolute mess because of spring cleaning. Next week means a trip to the storage unit, to put away things we aren’t using a at the moment and get out some things we’d stashed for the winter. A couple of days ago I (finally) set up an actual bookcase to hold the vintage historical romance novels that are te focus of my current reading. I have a lot to say about the whole vintage romance thing, but that is another topic for another day.

Today is the day to share my everyday carry. It all fits in this pouch, which lives in my purse and can go out on its own.

The main pocket holds a traveler’s notebook with three inserts (agenda and two notebooks) and the zip compartment looks like this:

I am currently going with a green theme for spring. We’ll see if I want to make a change at the start of the new month. The flowered notebook has perforated pages, which makes it double as a notepad or come in handy when somebody needs a piece of paper out in the wild. There is an additional zip pocket in the back, which holds a selection of Crayola SuperTips in pastel colors.

Skinny washi tapes are from Tim Holtz. The two blue items are a correction tape runner and adhesive runner, and the tin with my favorite Golden Girl (Dorothy Zbornak is an integral part of my final form) holds ephemera, including tea tags, stickers, washi samples and miscellaneous things that catch my fancy. There is also a growing collection of enamel and pinback pins, not pictured, as I am still moving them around.

It’s not perfect (what is?) but it feels right for right now, as does this entry staying pretty much as it says on the tin (of the title, not the actual tin.) Camp NaNo is going pretty well at the halfway point. Not perfect but doing its job. Not at goal, but close enough. What I set out to do was to prove to myself that yes, I can (still) do it. So far, so good. Here, we see the puzzler in her natural habitat, dogpaddling in a sea of unset gelatin, grabbing onto floating ideas as they bob past on fickle currents, and…I like it.

I don’t know all of the story yet. Most of the characters have placeholder names. the stately home where most of the story takes place is still under construction in more ways than one but that’s fine . At this stage of the game I am shoveling sand into my sandbox with all the enthusiasm and precision of a toddler on her first day at the beach.

Dressing Gown Days

December 21, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Yes, I am American, and I call them dressing gowns. Real Life Romance Hero calls them “enchanted robes of comfort.” His is a lovely smokey grey. Mine is burgundy or oxblood, depending on my whim. They are both fuzzy and warm and perfect for today. We are both having rest days, which for me means I finally get to sneak a blog in for this week. I’ve missed blogging and plan to be more regular in the coming year. Our tree is green this year, with white lights and minimal ornaments, because the rose gold tree is inaccessible at the moment, and I Had To Have A Tree. Worked out pretty well.

My most-played Christmas song this year is “Fairy Tale of New York,” in several different versions, including one all in Gaelic. Yeah, there is some kind of story brewing. I am more than okay with that. .;ppppppppppppppppp (that last bit is from Storm, even though she will get her own blog post tomorrow. She has to be in on everything. Only fair, as it *is* her home.) b She is in the mood today to remind me that this is a dressing gown day, and that means I have things on my list like “read,” and “watch TV” and “do journal things.” I am trying to tell her that blogging is like journaling, but I don’t think she’s accepting my argument. Ah well.

Housemate purchased this year’s tree at her place of employment, and far overbought both lights and ornaments, which are both tiny and glass, but this is fine for a couple of reasons:

there are no such things as too many ornaments; if we aren’t using them now, we will be using them later, perhaps when we have a house and multiple trees.
Storm can’t get to the tree anyway. If she could, she would have by now.
It goes really well with the fun family stories we already have, like the time I blindly picked out a far too tall for our apartment tree because it was dark and raining and it ended up being Christmas trees, plural, as Real Life Romance Hero sawed it in half and gave the other half to our neighbor.

For those keeping track from last year, that brings our tree count to five. We have the green tree above, the rose gold tree in storage, my pink bottle brush tree, and my pink ceramic tree. Tree number five, I am calling our foster tree, as we are holding onto it for a friend in transit.

I love last year’s A5 rings so much, I am keeping the same setup, only changing the pages for this year’s

The current planner lineup for 2024 is approaching its final form and looks quite different than what I had expected. That seems to be a theme around here these days. I am even going out of town for what is shaping up to be an annual trip to the two coolest places in CT, namely The Book Barn and my friends, Mary and Brian’s house. Obviously, The Book Barn is the number two coolest place. Yes, it has a seemingly endless array of books to buy, but my friends are there only some of the time but they are in their home every day, so that makes it the #1 coolest place. Plus there is a dog.

This year’s Book Barn jaunt is going to be different, because I will be using either crutches or walker (looks like a torn meniscus but healing well) and that will be an adventure. I acquired a backpack to make toting stuff easier, but Storm seems to think I brought home a(nother) cat bed. She is in love with it, to the point of abandoning Real Life Romance Hero feeding her to settle on it. She has priorities. Everything is a cat bed if the cat is comfy enough.

No real point to this post other than the above, which is exactly what one needs on a dressing gown day. How is your day going?

Typing With Wet Paws: Adventures in Leatherwork Edition

October 13, 2023October 13, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Tails Up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I have been very active this week. Always one hundred percent chance of Storm activity around here. Today, for instance, I sat on Mama Anna’s phone and tail-dialed Papa at work.

That’s not the only spicy thing I have done this week. Of course there is the daily help with making the bed and weekly changing of the sheets, but the superpowers are back, so I have to sep up my game as well. If you have been around here any length of time, you know how much Mama Anna loves her notebooks and planners. I love them, too, mostly lying on the bed. Open, closed, doesn’t matter. She has it, I am on it.

Usually, that is okay. Then there was this time. Mama Anna was feeling productive, and gave both of her leather traveler’s notebook covers a leather treatment. She even gave the B6 size, Christine (the name came on the notebook, so that is the notebook’s name and I will be calling her that) two treatments, because Christine was looking kind of dry. Christine had been taking a rest, but Mama Anna wants to get her back into use, and thus sprucing up is in order.

Well. The thing that they don’t mention on the bottle of the leather treatment stuff is that it smells really good. I mean really, really good. Tantalizing. Tempting. Irresistible. So irresistible, in fact, that I did not resist. Mama Anna had put the two notebooks on the bed just for a minute while she got the box that had inserts that fit Christine out of where she keeps it, and I, well, I had a moment. If you want to make Mama Anna’s head spin around super super fast, do the pricky pricky pricky thing with kitty claws on just-treated-twice leather. Uh huh. Mama Anna was Not Pleased. Apparently this kind of notebook is something called “expensive.”

One would think that Mama Anna would be happy that I took an interest in one of her hobbies, and tried my hand, well, paws, at it myself. She was not. She was also not too mad, because A) I am a cat, B) she is the one who left the notebook on the bed and turned away, and C) I am cute. There is also D) this really does make the cover more one of a kind and gives Mama Anna a reason to say she needs another cover in this size, and her birthday is coming in a couple of weeks, so there is really not a lot of harm done. I no longer get to be alone with leather goods, but that is a small price to pay.

What do you think of my adventures in leatherwork? What should I try next?

Typing With Wet Paws: Adoptiversary Edition

October 6, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This is a special edition, because it is my adoptiversary. Well, actually, it was yesterday, October fifth, but yesterday was also Mama Anna’s talking people vet session, and the first pictures of me with these guys were taken the day after, because everybody wanted to give me some time to get used to my new family

Possibly first crunchies with forever family

I have had three mamas, and that is the final number. My cat mom was my biological mom. I don’t remember a lot about her, but she was gorgeous (I assume she looks like me) and ran one heck of a milk bar. When I was big enough to set out on my first adventure, I went to my first human mom, Mama D, who took the best, best, best care of me until it was time for me to come to my forever family. I still love my first two mamas and I think about them a lot, always fondly.

As you might be able to see from the picture above, I wasn’t done growing yet when I met these guys, because I am bigger and longer and grownup now. These guys never got to see me as a tiny jelly bean or a li’l potato, as I came to them in my long teen stage. Now I am a big long, which is my final form.

Please note that Mama Anna was kind enough to match the cover of one of her journals to the color of half of my nose. Yes, she has another one like it in black, to match the other half of my nose. I will accept this tribute. My bond with Mama Anna and her writing has been there from the very start. One of the very first times I came out of my adventure cave, she had a journal out on the bed, and was working with an India ink pen. I wanted to play with the pen. She said I should not, because the ink might stain my white paws. Well. She had not noticed the black spot I have on one of my front paw toes before then and thought that she had stained my fur. She felt awful until she realized it was original equipment.

Ever since then, we have only grown closer. I have made new human friends/aunts and uncles both online and in purr-son. If Mama Anna wants to have a video chat with anybody, I must be part of it. That is not negotiable. I don’t make the rules. Oh wait, I am a cat. I totally do.

Mama Anna wanted to remind me that one of my main reasons I get to blog once a week is that I am to be her PR kitty. That means I have to talk about her writing. She’ll admit it hasn’t been great as of late, which is one of the reasons she is seeing the talking vet. The talking vet helped her give herself a couple of assignments. First, she needs to finish reading the novel she is currently reading, which is Lisbon, by Valerie Sherwood. She loves that book and has read it only once, so it is like a new book, but one she knows she will like.

Another goal is for Mama Anna to write one of her own blogs once a week for the rest of October. It doesn’t matter the topic, so be prepared for some babbling. Some of you like that, so you’ll be in for a treat. The rest of you, maybe ask her some questions so she can maybe use those to help figure out a topic. My Aunt Mary already asked Mama Anna to blog about Lisbon, so she will probably do that at some point.

The other other goal is related to NaNoWriMo and even Preptober. Mama Anna would like to participate in those, but she’s not sure exactly how, so the idea they came up with was this:

Pick a notebook
Fill it by the end of November
That’s it.

What she fills the notebook with doesn’t matter as much as just filling it. Probably extra points for making it be about historical romance. Mama Anna plans on getting together with Aunt Melva for an in person worldbuilding session soon, about the small town they are creating for their new contemporary series. This new notebook, which she will probably introduce you to later, will be saved for stuff about historical romance and maybe fantasy romance that reads like historical.

Will I try to steal her pens that she writes with in that? Yes. Will I sit on the open pages and the closed cover? Yes. Is she fully aware that if the notebook has a leather or faux leather cover, that I will do the pricky-pricky-pricky things with my murder mittens to the cover? Yes. Might she try to foil me by putting a cover over that cover? Almost certainly. Will that stop either one of us? Probably not, but there is only one way to find out.

How was your week?

2024 Planning Already?

July 26, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Yes, already. We in the planning/journaling world do not take this kind of thing lightly, especially when stationery items seem to bloom all on their own in back-to-school displays. July is the midway mark on the calendar, after all, as evidenced by Christmas in July anything. Add to that the fact that it is July (duh) and I am, as the ancient Greeks say, “bad at summer,” which means a lot of summer days spent inside with my beloved journal stuff, and we arrive at interesting places. It’s kind of like that low hanging fruit thing, but with stationery.

l have already locked down two planners. The A6 traveler’s notebook I carry in my purse is definitely staying. I will be buying my monthly 2024 insert from Yellow Paper House, probably in pink The weekly calendar, I can make by myself in any A6 notebook, of which I have plenty. I can make my own horizontal layout, maybe throw in a quadrant or dashboard if I’m feeling frisky. I have the leather cover from Chic Sparrow already; love that, so that stays. I have a standard Bic four color pen in the attached pen loop for now but I think I want to upgrade. I have been wanting to use my fountain pens more, especially my favorite Writer’s Blood ink (dark red, very appropriate) I already have a couple of pens I might like to put there, so the only pen cost would be ink refills.

The other locked in planner thingy is my writing planner. That’s going to be my A5 pink Carpe Diem six ring binder. What goes inside it is still under consideration. I may keep the same Agenda 52 dividers, as the monthly calendar does not begin on the back of the divider, which I absolutely love. Then again, I may make my own, because I have a lot of cardstock that could make awesome dividers, and several different options for tabs. We will see what transpires. The actual inserts, I will either buy from Agenda 52, horizontal spread, or print my own,

Then I will add my own flair – vellum, acetate, assorted decorative items, and definitely pink sticky notes. After that, sections for active projects, with timetables, outline, etc. If the planner is prety and feels like me, I am more likely to use it. Not t hat it is the thing that makes me do what I do, but it does make it pretty and fun.

I am not at all sure what I will be using for the household catchall planner, but most likely it will either be me redating an existing planner that I already own, or maybe grab a super pretty planner that I won’t need to decorate much and can keep functional. Right now I have my morning and evening brain dump/mental health check in stuff in two separate disc bound planners. I would like to streamline that, and it may all end up in a good old-fashioned bullet journal. I like the idea of having all of that in one place. Not sure if I want to keep all of my trackers in such a thing, but I do know that each project I work on in the coming year gets its own notebook where everything lives, and No Where Else, because that way, we do not lose entire manuscripts when the publisher needs them in four weeks, Anna.

Since I am now a few days into the new regimen with updated pharmaceuticals and lifestyle changes, I like looking forward. I have books to write, both with Melva and on my own, and maybe even more beyond that. I feel like making media content and planning it out before I actually hit the publish button, or even boot the computer.

So, that’s this week. It’s hot, it’s humid. I’m in front of a fan, in a fetching white t-shirt dress, staying nicely hydrated, and doing quite well with the reading, which is a very nice new development. A little Bertrice Small, a little Maeve Binchy, a little YA. Seems to be working. What are you reading, or planning, or planning on reading?

New Phone, Who’s This?

June 29, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

I got a new phone earlier this week. I don’t think I’ve had a phone for, ummm, well, years now. Too many emergency phone calls interrupted by emergency phone calls, all culminating with me reacting to a phone call from a friend by screaming, throwing the phone straight up in the air and running out of the room. That is not an exaggeration. I have a witness. Anyway, that was the exact moment that I decided I didn’t want to have a phone anymore, and so I did not. Computers were fine and are fine. E-readers and later, tablets, were and are fine. Phones, not so much, because reasons. Fast forward to the way this family started June, and okay, yes, phones are back on the menu, mostly as tablet junior, and texting over phone calls.

Not going to lie, June was a wild ride: Real Life Romance Hero’s accident and recovery, me getting shingles up and down both arms right after he got released (all better now, no scarring even) and the hand brace he picked up for me the day of the accident (this man has his priorities) as well as the family dynamics things that go on when the status quo shifts as much as it did. Thankfulluy, we seem to be on a more even keel.

I have always loved “Closing Time,” by Semisonic and when I saw it used in a Facebook post by a top tier favorite author, I knew I wanted to use it as my first quote in my first Archer and Olive journal. Forget the perfection of paralysis, because enough of that. Which means start throwing stuff on the pages. This works well for things beyond journaling. One of the things that I did on zero energy and low mobility days was to watch lots and lots of YouTube. Ditto IG reels on days when attention span was a thing of a moment. Gives a gal ideas, that does. Maybe I could start making some of my own.

BookTube is always a wonderful source of entertainment, and I have noticed an interesting lack of people talking about the historical romances that I love best, both to read and write, and well, I can talk about that. I can talk at length about stationery and planning/journaling, about the TV shows I have watched, am watching, or am following by recap because I think the streaming services are breeding. I can talk about a lot of things, really, and I do like a few “lifestyle” vloggers, not the kind showing off name brand thus and so, but the “okay, today we’re doing a thing I was going to do anyway, and you get to hang out with me” kind. I could probably do that.

Melva and I have agreed that it is about high time to make use of the website that we actually own and could turn it into a decent resource for both of our readers. (Bonus points if you caught the double ententrde; it was intentional. As a joke.) This means new content: gulp: and of course, as here, consistent content. Which of course means that I get to justify one of the spare planners waiting to be called to duty as a content planner.

Jury is still out on whether I want to do anything with my Sims doings, but this feels like enough for one day’s blog. I want some down time before I help Storm figure out her blog for the week.

Monthly Reset and The Delicate Question

May 29, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Hey there, hi there, ho there, Neighborinos. What does it say when my cat has her intro down pat while I’m still trying stuff out? Trick question; doesn’t matter. What does matter is the planning and the writing, not always in that order.

Ever since I stumbled upon the idea of a weekly and monthly reset (not yet up to the point of a yearly reset, but it will come) I slid straight into it like a custom-made shoe. Then again, maybe I have, since this is the first year in a long time that I have been in a wire bound planner. Well, one of my planners, I am also in a traveler’s notebook for my everyday carry (EDC) setup, and no worries about my disc bound stuff; that’s moved over to other duties. Plus ring binders, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I like the fresh start of a new month or week, even day, as the thirst for a morning routine (initiated by abovementioned cat, so “feed cat” is the first thing on that list) rises fast and urgent. What are we doing right now? This concerns everybody’s schedules Our household is three adult humans and one calico cat. The humans all have their own household duties and areas of expertise. Meal planning, for instance, is shared between myself and Real-Life Romance Hero, because I am the planner, and he is the foodie. Housemate is in charge of getting the groceries, while I make the list. She’s happy to eat pretty much anything, and since we live in a city, “delivery” counts as a food group.

This weekend, Housemate and I will hie ourselves off to another region for the pursuit of art and craft supplies, hopefully with some in person face time with friends who live there. Sorry, burglars, RLRH will be home, and Storm has a sitter who will be stopping by as needed. Knowing that my daily journal/planner stuff is all in one tote, ready to go to a different room, outside, or on the road, knocks a lot of uncertainty out of the picture, and I like that,

That seems like a good place to pop over to “the delicate question.” If you are a gentle reader, do not Google it Seriously, seriously, do not Google it. Also do not click on the link above, because it will tell you. If, however, you are like the kind of historical romance writer who has a stuffed Plague Doctor, baby raven, and multiple plush bats, once won a Blackbeard’s flag t-shirt from The History Channel’s once upon a time pirate trivia contest, and counts among her prized possessions a transcript of the trial of Anne Bonney (and Mary Read and Calico Jack Rackham) then you may also want to watch the video that got my mind spinning. Again, gentle readers, this is not for you.

For me, though, it’s aha. Yes. Going to tuck this one right into the notebook for the pirate trilogy. Not only the bones (hah) of the um, thing, but avenues of research, some ideas on how this might fill a plot hole (eh, more of a divot, really) and noticing only halfway through a personal calzone that I am one hundred percent not bothered by this rabbit hole (I must note that I am listening to a video essay on Yellowjackets while writing this, so the rabbit mention makes me hmmmm.) This includes jotting down names of people I know on the interwebs and IRL who might have access to umm… :shifty eyes: special information, and a reminder to self that Beau Crusoe, by Carla Kelly, is extremely affordable on Kindle, and long overdue for a reread. Well, gentle readers might prefer a different Kelly book.

What are you up to this week?

Typing With Wet Paws: Mama Anna’s Day Recap Edition

May 19, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Last Sunday was a holiday that is not always easy for Mama Anna. It is easier now because, well, me, but she still prefers to spend the day at home. Cuddling me, of course.

We thought some about my first humom, Mama D, and hope she is doing well. She did a great job with me when I was a baby, and I hope she can be a cat mom again. She is a great one. We thought about my cat mom, too. I don’t remember her as much, but she made me. She had to be awesome.

Mama Anna is definitely awesome, because she takes great care of me, as do Papa and Aunt Linda. I take care of Mama Anna, too, especially when I have to tell her when to go to bed. She has a hard time remembering when that is. Maybe noticing is a better way to put it. Anyway, it generally ends with me herding her to bed and then sitting on her. She knows well enough to not disturb a resting cat.

The day before Mama’s Day, Mama Anna went to the park with Aunt Nicole. Mama Anna hoped to see baby ducks, but they didn’t see any while they were there. Maybe next time. Mama Anna did get to take some park pictures while they were there. This one above is her favorite. There was a festival, but Mama Anna and Aunt Nicole didn’t really see a lot of it. They listened to a band play, and they talked some, then went out to a diner with Aunt Linda, for belated Aunt Linda’s birthday and kind of non-traditional Mama’s Day stuff.

Mama Anna got the mystery notebook she ordered from Archer and Olive, and she is very happy with what she got. She got this one. They call it “Latte Love”, but Mama Anna says the cup on the front of hers is actually a teacup because she likes tea better and it is her notebook, so she has the final say.

All of the colored pencils she got in the same package are pink, which is one hundred percent okay with her. She has some ideas about how she wants to use that book, but there is no telling until she actually gets to it. I will let her do that, because it will give her a topic for her blog. This is supposed to be hers, after all. She’ll get to that. It’s been a while. She is planning on moving the day for her blog from Thursday, which is obviouslynot working, to Tuesday, which is a much better day for that sort of thing.

With all of that out of the way, let’s go bac to Aunt Liinda for a minute. Many people may not know this, but Aunt Linda is very brave. This week, she saved me from bees. Or she saved bees from me. I’m not sure. Anyway, some of those stinkers got in through the very top of the window, between the screen and the room. Specifically, the windowsill, which is the best sunbathing spot in the entire apartment. I won’t go into details, but she saw what was very likely to happen and she sprang into action by closing the window and kept it that way until, well, corpses everywhere.

(Mama Anna here. A moment of clarification. Storm’s Aunt Linda uses the word, “bee,” to describe any flying insect that stings, but I checked the windowsill, which is still closed, and the uh, remains, do appear to be black and yellow striped. Also, there are only two of them,)

Eh, whatever, I said what I said. Mama Anna is perfectly free to express her own thoughts on her own blog, if, you know, she makes any entries, Mama Anna.

Back to me. I joined Mama Anna in watching a British show, Utopia, which we both liked. Mama Anna liked it a lot, mostly because of things like the plot and the characters and the acting and writing, but for me, it was all about the colors. In this show, the whole thing is shot in CYM, which means Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, instead of RGB, which means Red, Green, Blue. Mama Anna picked up on that kind of stuff early on, like right away, because her papa was a professional art person, both the fun kind and the commercial kind, so she knew that kind of stuff form when she was a people kitten. We are both looking for something else to watch now. It’s a team sport, the team being her and me. I told her she can use this time to read, and she reminded me who does and does not have thumbs in this family. Yeah, kind of touchy there.

Anyway, what’s up with you this week?

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

Notebooks