The State Of The Writer

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

I swear I’m going to do a chapter of Witch’s Daughter soon.

Today is not that day. Mostly because I’m sitting here, debating between working, which I badly need to, and going back to bed, which is what I feel like.

I’m very late with finishing the current short novel, and I can’t be late, the schedule for the year won’t allow it. I should have finished it yesterday, I should. Only ten minutes into writing I found myself in the kitchen baking. And I have no idea why.

To explain, baking is what I do when the world becomes too much to deal with. The amount of baking I do has some proportional correspondence to how horrible what I’m dealing with is.

Dan has joked for years that my first week in any house I bake enough — cake, bread, cookies, whatever — to last a month. If the move has been unusually stressful, I will cook enough to fill a decent sized freezer and last us, in eating for six months.

I do not, btw, want to EAT the stuff — though the baking these days is still low carb, because we ill eventually eat it — I just need to bake.

There is no conscious thought, no “I feel bad, I’ll go bake.” No, what happens is that I’ll find myself suddenly in the kitchen and in the middle of a serious baking spree.

In 9/11, when the second plane hit the tower, I suddenly found myself in the kitchen making doughnuts. In fact, when I became aware of what I was doing, there were two dozen made. And then I made more. And more. And more.

So, you know what the level of “I baked all the things” discomfort? Chaos? Upset? normally is.

I have no idea why, having written a few words and being on track to finish the novel yesterday, I suddenly found myself in the kitchen, baking. Without ever thinking about doing it, btw.

Now if I had just gone to the kitchen and baked a loaf of bread, or even a loaf of bread and a tea cake, I’d just have gone “Okay…. I didn’t feel like writing and played hooky.”

Because one of the things with being low carb is that I do every so often (about once a week) bake a loaf of bread and a cake. And periodically, like one evening every two weeks, I make a batch of cookies. This is the stuff I have with my tea in the afternoon, or in the evening with a cup of hot chocolate, if I’ve achieved my writing goals.

But you know…. that’s not what I did. When I was done, I’d made six different types of crackers and three sets of cookies. Why? I don’t know.

I kept thinking “Why am I doing this? I am late on the novel. I have stuff to write.” and then I’d start another recipe.

We’ll eat it. It’s all in large cookie jars. We’ll eat it over time. BUT why?

I have no idea. I wake up with the horrors a lot, and apparently I’m upset enough to bake up a storm.

So– what do I do now?
I’m going to try to finish the novel to go to my betas. That’s why. And I’d going to put up the short story and remaining novel of Kate’s con books with inkstain.

And then I’m going to find a cozy corner, and sit down and make a bible for the shifter series, so I can finish Bowl of Red.

IF i can get myself up instead of sleeping.

So next up are finishing the two shifter books, and then the two next Dyce books, while I edit Darkships for re-release.

In the middle of this there will several short novels to finish. And a bunch of them in the Schrodinger universe. The next one is Winter Prince.

But that’s, of course, supposing I don’t find myself in the kitchen baking enough for an army.

And I still don’t know what caused the bizarre attack of baking. Which worries more than a little.

188 thoughts on “The State Of The Writer”

  1. Just take care of yourself. Bake and sleep enough for your health. Nag, nag , nag.😺

  2. I truly feel you. Creative minds are mysterious apparatuses under the best of circumstances. Subject them to the stress of the Apocalypse and there’s no telling what will happen…

  3. But you know…. that’s not what I did. When I was done, I’d made six different types of crackers and three sets of cookies. Why? I don’t know.

    Your subconscious took your advice about multiple income streams.

    When do the cookies ship?

    1. Not a bad idea. When you have one of these attacks, put the results up for sale here or on Amazon with a blurb here. No reason that we should not benefit from these episodes.

    2. When they told us, “Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies” — we didn’t know they meant it literally…

    3. Careful. I might… bake a cake at you or something.
      (I like baking, I just should NOT eat the results, no matter how much I might like to. I do not, however, have Mystery Baking Incidents.)

  5. Hum, wonder if baking is putting self on autopilot while unconsciously, internally cataloging and organizing the chaos of the world around. Is the world more reasonable when you leave the kitchen?

  6. We’re armpit deep in fresh powder snow here north of Seattle today. This is a joyous reprieve. I love trudging around in the stuff, driving in it, the works.

    With me it’s soap, or creams. Bread to a lesser extent. When things got outrageously bad, right before my mom tried to kill herself, I filled the garage with soap. I didn’t know what I was doing at the time–I do now. It’s survival. My heart is so broken and grieved, I have to make something in order to ease the pain. The theft of the election, the barbarous treatment of a man I love (POTUS Trump), the ridicule of all things beautiful and the elevation of the ugly and profane… it’s too much.

    And it helps a ton to read that someone else feels the same way I do, and reacts in much the same way. I feel like I’m not by myself, which feels great.

    But today, I get snow. Like a foot of it. And an new GoPro Hero I got as a gift.

    I’m going to practice my fishing knots and draw some steelhead lures.

    1. Good for you. I’ve thought about making soap. I knit.
      We’re looking at a potential ice storm Monday. We’ll see.

    2. Hubby’s niece is in Kirkland. She while on leave from Disney started an online Bath Soap & Bath Bombs (facebook DOT com/P2-Studios-100685065195962) or p2-studios.com Her office and creative studio is an older gutted RV Trailer placed in her backyard.

      I’d thought she’d gone back to work but based on a recent post, apparently not. She works at home. But Disney is really not working a lot right now.

      1. It would depend on what your husband’s niece does for Disney. The park in California is still closed, and it’s unknown when it will reopen. There’s a rumor that California Adventure is going to sort of reopen. The attractions will still be closed, but everything else will be open, which will hopefully provide Disney a small revenue stream and get some employees back to work. But if it happens, it won’t be until next month. Right now, Disney’s only internal sources of revenue are DisneyWorld and Disney+.

        1. Niece is a technical translator between IT/computer-people and whatever group is using them. IDK exactly.

          We really haven’t seen her much over the last 32 years. Not since her mom moved them to Seattle area for her job, just as MIL (their grandmother) died. (SIL got the transfer, they moved north. SIL was in process of finding nursing home there to move MIL moved there. We discussed moving MIL to Eugene nursing home; that wasn’t happening regardless. Then MIL passed away.) I visited them in Seattle once, when I was up there for a seminar, before the girls graduated HS, very early ’90s. Didn’t see either girl again until SIL funeral in ’04.

          We saw them a lot when they were in Bend, where all but one sister lived. Then once a month in Portland for almost 3 years, before they moved to Seattle. It is just how his family is with extended family. Hubby doesn’t know his cousins at all. Our son? Knows his cousins very well from my family, as well as MY cousins from both my parents families. Probably not as well as we how grew up, but extended family just is, for my family. To be fair. Son’s cousins, sisters kids, as well as more than few of my cousins, are son’s age, or not that much older (year or two). The cousins my age, had kids son’s age. Youngest cousin on hubby’s family is 12 years older … All of hubby’s siblings are older than three of my Uncles and their wives. Heck, my husband is same age or older than two of my aunts. It isn’t because we are all in one town either, because, when it mattered, we weren’t.

          An aside. So hubby’s parents died before son started school … when we discussed “grandparents”, with someone not family, plural pair, we’d have to clarify: Grandparents and Great-Grandparents (who we lost in ’06).

          Age six weeks. “We’re meeting grandma and grandpa at Herman Lake off 97.” “What? I thought your mom was at the hospital with you!” (sigh) “We’re meeting Great-grandma and Great-grandpa …”

        2. The problem the Mouse(tm) has is that governor nuisance says that you can only go to a theme park within 125 miles of your home. It’s not worth them opening for that. And I’m not happy at all about the Mouse even if they were open because they have jumped the woke shark. Meaning no disrespect to the folks that are employed there.

          1. I’m trying to figure out just who’s in the lead for the West Coast(ish) Most Annoying Governor tournament. I can’t exclude Nevada, but among Inslee, Nuisance, Despicable Kate Brown and *that guy in Nevada*, there’s some stiff competition.

            Our county restaurants are now *allowed* to do indoor dining again. The caveat is that such permission could be revoked with two week’s notice and the staff would get laid off again. If I were a bit naive, I’d wonder if some big chains are paying DKB off to do the shutdowns. As it stands, I now wonder if any of the big chains *aren’t* paying her off. (And if so, could I find out so I could add them to the OK list.)

        1. Especially since she isn’t in contact with her mother’s side of the family. Me on FB.

          IDK what happened, but she and her sister aren’t communicating, since not long after their mother passed away. Which is a shame as their two boys are the same age; now 20 – 21 (?). She is raising her youngest alone (age 9 or 10), since her husband passed away (needing a heart/lung transplant), about 5 years ago. Which I didn’t have a clue about for 2 years afterwards (no notification, at all). She does have family they acquired, including his parents (I think). She’s about 14 or 15 years younger than I am. (Youngest niece on that side was a year old when we were married, 42 years ago. Just not sure how old the oldest two, including her, were. I think 8 or 9.)

            1. That feels sad, but things happen.

              Agree.

              We did try to stay in contact. Hubby’s sister didn’t return or initiate calls, ’90s (before you-know-what-all), after their move to Seattle. Hubby finally gave up. We’re barely in contact with his brother and he lives in Eugene.

              Different example from my family. We moved to Longview, late ’70s. Got a command call from mom, through her parents, that we were to call grandpa’s sister who lived in Longview. I hadn’t seen her for a minimum of 10 years. We followed through. Stayed in regular contact, go visit, until we were transferred out. She eventually ended up living with her daughter in Salem.

              The pandemic has put a stop to this, but mom and her siblings (at least her brother) have taken regular summer trips to meet up with their cousins from Montana. Youngest? Early 70’s.

              My cousins, we’re more in contact via FB followings than direct contact, anymore. Except those that show up the weekend before Memorial Day between Yoncolla and Drain … facebook DOT com/groups/2468663626498786/ (closed group, but you’ll get the idea) or https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Applegate_House_(Yoncalla,_Oregon).jpg and that often includes cousins that I’ve never met before (not first cousins, but …) … (Note. Charles Applegate is Great-Great-Great-Great-Uncle)

              2. WordPress must be getting finicky. Only saw one legit link, so the moderation filter shouldn’t have kicked in. (OTOH, the WP logjam hits a lot.)

                I’ll skip the list, but the lack of communication amongst family is a) not unique, and b) sometimes to be preferred. (I have a little list…) There were family reunions beyond weddings, but things got interesting at times. Haven’t heard of any plans from family in the Midwest.

                Mercifully, there are some decent people in the family, and even a few pockets of normality. Poor folks. 🙂

                1. I know lack of family communication is not unique, now. I mean with minor exceptions hubby’s family wasn’t that much different than my mom’s family. Different in that grandma and grandpa still kept in touch with family for all that they didn’t visit back an forth with those still in Montana. Now those here in Oregon, I knew those cousins (once removed). Dad’s family … well Oregon is the base so … But the die off of communications between siblings after both parents passed away? That was “different”, culturally, for me. Is it happening some with my extended family now? Not so much lack of communication because there is always FB to reach out on. After all I reestablished communications with hubby’s niece.

                  I also know about cutting off family. We cutoff contact with a cousin when she married an on the register child molester. Well she was welcome. Him not so much. He is dead (I don’t know how that was found out). She has never reconnected other than her folks (or younger sister?) know where she’s been residing (HUD housing). Recently found out that she’s had a major stroke, found on welfare check. Whomever knew enough to contact someone in the family. But with pandemic, can’t visit. No one has the authority to talk to anyone who knows anything about what is going on. She’s not in any shape to talk. I guess she’s been or going to be moved to a nursing home, curtsy of the State. She’s 61 or 62.

    3. Masses of powder demand skis. We got 3 inches here.
      I’ve been to Bellingham, which is a nice place. I’ve been told the Eastern side of the sound is even better.

      1. There are two states: the eastern state is a wonderful blend of ranchers, ranches, mountains, prairies, cows, elk, more rivers…. And people who know how to do things. It’s Trump country.

        Where I live is a communist hellhole of breathtaking beauty. The communists have destroyed the western side of the state, though it still looks pretty.

        The communists are moving east and have destroyed the formerly OK towns closest to the mountains, Leavenworth and Wenatchee. The rest of the east is still mostly lovely.

        And it is very dry and hot, so when it snows it’s beautiful, thick powder. The best ski area is on the east side of Mount Rainier.

        1. We were in Ocean Park for a project a few years ago. Nearest town Ilwaco. I don’t care for the Seattle area politics, but I liked Ilwaco. Mind you, any place you can get salmon fresh off the boat that day has something going for it.

          1. I’d live in or near Ilwaco in a minute. There’s a ton of places in the east along the Columbia that provide some fine steelhead and trout fishing. I’m hoping to find a spot like that.

        2. It’s horrible that so many nice areas are being wrecked by an influx of wealthy dimocrats (spell check= Dino Rats). $ = ability to avoid impact of Dim policies on the people.
          Enjoy the wonderful world that G*d has provided.

          Your 2 states example is a reminder of an article long ago about 2 ferry pilots on the Sound. The pilots invited a guest of the opposite sex and brought several quarts of WT. The pilots became too drunk to safely dock the craft so the guest took over and saved the passengers.

          Our world 🙀🙀🦑🦑🙀🙀

          1. Noah was an amateur. 🙂

            The heavens declare the glory of G-d and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Which includes a ton of the whitey sifting down again today like little diamonds of joy.

            1. This!! Problems with the Chaos that SJW’s bring to the world are always counteracted by the wonders that G*D brings to the natural world. Sometimes it is hard for me to switch from the flaws of man to the wonders of the world (and universe) around us, but it is always worth the effort.

              1. The mountains, rivers, forests…. the wildness calls to me (and lot of people, of course).

                I feel close to Jesus and G-d in a way that I don’t experience anywhere else. It’s like medicine, handpicked for me, for all of us.

                1. Locally best experiences are on lakes, beaches , rocks, sand and forests.. Both east and west mountains are sacred places, in summer or winter, for hiking, skiing and, from their summits, viewing the stars, the Milky Way and with binoculars, galaxies deeper in the firmament.

                  No need to feel alone in nature. I feel closer to Jesus and G*d in these places; more at peace. A task for current times is bringing that peace to bear against the chaos and harm the country and world have now. First I need to work on my own mind.

                    2. I think you’ll enjoy it.
                      He talks about becoming a person whose circumstances do not shake his world overmuch. He understand how inner resources can be unassailable. He gives examples of people surviving the camps when you didn’t think they would because they were physically small or sickly. They had or developed the resources to live inside, while the crap on the outside was so bad.

  8. I’m hoping it’s something simple, like Valentine’s is tomorrow. Maybe you can do something nice for Dan…

  9. Well, Mrs. Hoyt, baking has undoubtedly been a rare source of undiluted good feelings in your remarkably eventful life. Therefore, you bake for yourself and your family when stressed and keep baking in search of a few hours of escape from “the horrors.” Genuinely excessive baking would be relentlessly producing enough for a literal small army, and it doesn’t sound as if low-carbohydrate muffins are literally overflowing from your windows onto the lawn. It’s a remarkably normal response to truly abnormal times. Seems simple psychology, ja? O_o

    For myself, it’s not necessary to look further than food for similar comfort. Fried chicken in particular is my own weakness. -_-

    1. “It’s an entirely normal response …”. Yeah, that’s less awkward. Edited in hindsight. -_-

  11. Aaaand they just dropped our forecast temps . . . again. I’m getting tired of horizontal blowing Global Warming™ already, and we’ve got five more days of it. So blame the weather. That’s what I want to do. (I need to go outdoors and clean a fiddly thing with small parts. I can’t go outdoors and clean the fiddly thing until . . . at least a week from today. Grrrr. The Management frowns on using solvents inside the house.)

    1. Up here in Minnesota we might see teens above zero by Wednesday. The only temps in the teens we’ve seen the last several days have had minus signs in front of them. Outdoor mechanical work is on hold until at least mid-March.

    2. If you think its bad now, just imagine what it will be like with only solar panels and wind farms for power, neither of which will work during bad weather like Texas is getting right now.

      1. Believe me, I am very, very glad that I live less than ten miles from a power plant. A large, coal-fired power plant. “Let us now praise fossil fuels . . .”

      2. Or all winter in Montana, where the solar panels will be buried and the windmills will blow away.

        -23F here last night, long way from a record but certainly a poor example of global warming. Do better, people!!

        [Actually… our weird warm spell all of January while Europe got hammered all the way down through Spain… is an ice age weather pattern.]

          2. I don’t need a sunspot chart. I have a black cat with a good case of White Hair Condition, a very reliable indicator. (Caused by a cyclic fungus that inhibits melanin in genetically susceptible individuals of various species, notably dogs, cats, horses, and cattle. Shows up whenever the sunspot cycle bottoms out.)

        2. Krakow, Poland has been very cold the past few weeks. Now it is starting to warm a little (as in from single digits F to upper teens). Hamburg Germany is still in the teens. Yuck. (Yes, those are two of the cities on my phone. Krakow, Hamburg, Vienna . . . why do you ask?)

        3. Could we be getting ‘The Last Centurion’ a couple of years late? What will next winter be like?

  12. At times when I should be meeting a task head on, I sometimes take the path of least resistance and embrace procrastination. I don’t bake or cook. That would be too useful. I get buried in my laptop, or smack buckets of golf balls at the driving range.
    I know I’m running away and hiding, so I don’t even try to fake productivity. In hindsight it’s always frustrating to not, “do what I’m supposed to do when I’m supposed to do it”, but I’m telling myself it’s a habit necessary for balance, stability, and sanity. Now, I feel better already!

    1. Procrastinators Anonymous — next meeting: Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday Soon

      Don’t be late!

  13. Well, I’ve heard of stranger, (and less productive) coping mechanisms.
    Probably a good thing back when the boys were teens, (judging from the mass quantities my boys consume).
    Keep up the good work.

  14. Compulsive cooking carb-rich comestibles is not the worst response to stress, but given you’ve no longer two growing teenage boys underfoot you might wish to explore alternate creative activities, such as knitting, cross=stitch, or writing letters to the governor.

    Okay, in present circumstances that would be combing through magazines to find words you could cut and paste for letters to the governor.

    Meanwhile, we’ve had freezing rain since before dawn, intermittent power glitching and small limbs falling hither and yon – with, to judge by distant sounds, at least one fall of greater limbage. Winter in North Carolina!
    ~

      1. And from Gavin’s Glorious Bear People (so totally a shifter state) Flag “Republic” the latest is the Recall Gavin the Glorious petition folks say they’ve reached the official threshold of 1.5m – and are keeping going as the CAsecstate regularly throws out fistfuls of signatures on any non-aristo-blessed petition.

        1. Despicable Kate Brown (D-mented, OR) avoided the first recall attempt because the petitioners screwed up (the Portlandia GOP rep was on vacation and nobody stepped up to fill in), and thwarted the 2020 attempt by closing down the farmers’ markets and county fairs. Having a Sec State RINO who was perfectly happy to toss petitions also helped her. As it stands, it came within 1% of triggering a votefraud, so DKB’s response was a double down lockdown.

          Unlike Cali, there’s one big gotcha in the recall process. If the governor is recalled, the next person in line (Sec of State now) becomes governor. With less than two years left in the current term, no special election would be held. So we’d trade a crazed leftist for a crazier leftist. Sigh.

          1. Rumor has it Rich Grenell is thinking about running.

            Funniest part of that (aside from ‘What sort of idiot would want to be in charge of this in-progress(ive) train wreck?’) is the news story I saw quoting an “Influential California Republican Consultant” saying how bad that would be because Grenell is an ally of President Trump, and OrangeManBad.

            The funny part is the presumption of the story that any CA Republican Consultant associated with the last two decades total and complete loss of any and all statewide positions of any power should ever be listened to for anything other than doing the opposite.

            1. Even if he runs and wins, Democrats have a veto proof majority in both houses of the legislature and the California legislature is even farther to the left than the Democrats they have had as governor.

              1. Yep. Ahnold though he could put up his smoking tent and make deals with the Dems, with the threat of his Hollywood fame pushing initiatives as his power base. But the initiative he picked failed, so in the end his failed Governorship only accomplished was a new way to give CA Dems power in the “redistricting commission”. There’s video on YT of him giving lectures at SoCal college classes on how giving the enemy of the people party all the power in the state is only fair, due to colored squares:

          2. There’s a good chance the Dem scrum will allow a Republican to rise … hopefully one better than Arnie.

            I hear there is building support for Ric Grenell although I am not sure California is ready for a gay governor.
            ~

            1. A) Reports from yesterday say Ric Grenell isn’t interested right now.
              B) According to sources, they already had one. Four terms worth. (OTOH, he never came out of the closet, but his girlfriends were more protective coloration. Pretty, though.)

  15. I’ve been thinking about trying to make some low carb crackers. I have a couple recipes…maybe I’ll drag them out. We’ve been cleaning today. Ice storm

      1. Rain for us. It’s getting cold enough at night so that portions of our low meadow are turning into an ice rink with weeds sticking out. Daytime, we get mud above the ice layers. I’m resisting using the snowshoes for mud, but I might have to.

        Weatherguessers say we’re getting an atmospheric river for the upcoming storm set. Beats the fat lot of nuthin’ we were getting earlier in the season. So far, the worst ice storm this winter has been an 1/8″ inch

  16. I’ve been going back to bed a lot too. When I am not feeling good, I find myself playing those stupid online games or reading. At least with reading I feel better afterwards.

  17. I know I’m stressed in general because of the ongoing FUBAR that is our press and gov’t, and personally because there is the possibility of finally getting legally disentangled from an ongoing mess.

    (Will I get what I ought to be paid for 1/4 of the property in question? Not a chance. Not even half. Is it worth it to get out of being responsible for any repair/yardwork/other bills the other owners might run up, not to mention never having to speak to them again? I think so.)

    1. Given it sounds like they’re just the sort who would deliberately and maliciously run up bills and stick you with the payments, because it’s FUN, you’re probably money ahead to just accept getting screwed out of a good chunk of your share of the value of the property, just so that you are now only responsible for what debts you personally incur.

      1. This. So much this. Because that is exactly what I’ve been worried about since getting stuck tenants-in-common in the first place. Fine if everybody agreed to sell, but once those two started talking about repairing it….

        The estimates go from $130K up. I will never see that much money in my life.

        So. Yeah.

        1. stuck tenants-in-common

          –
          How does that happen?

          two started talking about repairing it

          –
          BIL’s sister started talking about that on their family home after their mom died. Fix it up and rent it out, not sell. BIL said “fine” buy me out. His sister can afford it, two or three times over. I guess (last I heard) she’s changed her mind. They’ll sell, as of now. Currently waiting until BIL 3rd youngest moves out when her home she is buying closes. None of the grandchildren could afford to buy it for themselves. Property will sell. House probably will be demolished, two homes will go back up, in the million plus range, each. House and property, as is, is probably worth close to 1 mill. Lake Oswego. Grandchildren lived in it to keep it from being empty while BIL’s mother was in elderly care. Kids got a (big/huge) break on rent. House wasn’t empty. Parents had some control.

          1. How it happens is someone thought they’d live forever and died intestate. State law, estate property is divided among the legal heirs, each getting X% interest by way of relation and number of heirs. Whether you want it or not. I don’t advise it, because if you don’t want it you have to hire a lawyer to even give it away.

            I would have loved to give it away. But I was stuck as an unpaid caregiver for about 6 years (because of brothers’ legal shenanigans – ever have someone threaten you with being charged with a felony just for trying to leave?), I have debts.

            …Well. I will hopefully clear the debts. Argh.

            1. We were fortunate (and my situation was nothing like yours; very little malice, but fecklessness galore). When Dad died we were able to persuade my brother to buy my son’s and my share of the family home out of his share of the funds. He ran through the rest of it in less than a year, but now we can’t be held liable for anything that happens to the house.
              What we had was bad enough. You are a strong person to be dealing with your crap as well as you are.

              1. Laws must be different? OTOH there was no question between mom and siblings on what happened to grandparents estate. Guessing there was a Will? Not sure. Shared equally with the children, with grandchildren getting any shares of pre-deceased children (which didn’t happen … could have grandparents were 95, children were 63, 70, and 73, younger two smokers, so …), I think; or that was the understanding. The complication? Mom, the oldest turned over to a retired lawyer friend. Everyone figured bank or county would get the house/property, and all other creditors were USCWOPSOL (up-s-creek-wo-paddle-s-outof-luck). Turns out property value was more than the mortgage (how does 90 year olds, without money or reasonable income, get not-a-reverse mortgage? Don’t ask.) and the county taxes owed. Rest went to funeral expenses, court costs, and lawyer fees (which he soaked the estate as much as court would allow, including minimum allowed to legal executor, that was the only thing other than *personal property the siblings received). Creditor’s got $0.10 / $1 owed (not happy creditors … as in when I answered the calls, at mom and dad home, my response was “Call the lawyer. You have his number. Call again, I will file elderly abuse claim!”

                The weird thing? Mom was threatened with elderly abuse by the county grandparents lived in by insisting they needed assistance!! Given she was also dealing with a sick husband, she backed off. She wasn’t wrong. When everything came tumbling down, the county where they ended up in the hospital said they were going to investigate mom and siblings claims on what the other county pulled. But if they did we never heard anything. OTOH it was very clear no one but grandparents were responsible to their creditors, competent or not.

                * Good thing grandpa’s paintings weren’t worth anything. No valuable antiques. At that you’d be surprised what went to the dump or was burned.

                I’m surprised there is no quit-claim “OH H*** NO Leave me out of this” clause in intestate inheritance.

                We need to get off our assets and get a formal Will ourselves. We are protected for each other in that everything is “in survivor”, and our son is protected as secondary on all big accounts; direct on life insurance. Need the appropriate form for the house. There would be just the vehicles (with loans) left. Oregon has a form #1336 that transfers property ownership on death regardless of Will. Our Will, beyond spousal survival, will be Second Hand Lion quote “The kid gets it all”. Not quite that simple as we need to look into how to keep off state’s sticky hands, but you get the idea. (Cousins are going through this now with a Will and a Trust. OTOH there is a lot of money in that Trust. For me? A lot of popcorn, I won’t see, nor expected to see, a penny, let alone a dime.)

      1. Shows how DUMB they are (or perhaps more accurately, how dumb they think everyone else is) that they thought they could get away with an obvious malicious edit of a video everyone has already seen.

        That’s not even a passable grade of Making Shit Up.

      1. And the reason he gave for it was incoherent. And note that that’s written by Paul Mirengoff, the Power Line writer who most bought into the “Orange Man bad” kool-aid. When even Mirengoff thinks your reasoning makes no sense, you’re really sunk.

      2. I’m loving the blowback from the various state GOP organizations for those senators. I guess that new Anti-Trump third party will have seven new members. It might even get up into the double digits for membership. (I’ll be charitable. Triple digits.)

  19. I envy your baking ability. I can’t bake for love or money. Stews, pastas, casseroles, Tex-Mex, Italian, Southern, campfire stone or professional kitchen, I can do. But baking well eludes me. I do appreciate the efforts of others, however. *grin*

    1. With that resume, let me say I can bake any kind of bread, muffin, cake, or other baked good (given a try or two at the new recipes).

      We may be able to work out a barter situation. Let’s see what the world looks like here in a few months. 🙂

        1. Folks with the ability to preserve food be it canning or vacuum sealing will have an early edge, in that case. *chuckle* Frozen stew lasts longer than you’d think if you prepare and preserve it right. Meal kits are an option, too. Stewed tomatoes last a year or more, ship with pre-measured amounts of bouillon, dried veggies and taters, spices, and cheap cooking wine. Add your own meats, near instant heaven in a bowl.

          Economy of scale brings prices down, so niche shops are going to be more expensive and thus not expand as quickly without high risk of loss. I looked in to it a bit some time back, and to go pro the regs/red tape is ridonkulous. Class III looked to be more doable.

    2. Yep. I can do reasonably tasty soups and veggies and my roasts make strong men cry. But don’t ask me about baking.

    1. I’m a decent baker, although I’ve had some baking disasters. It just works okay, most of the time.

      There are baking anime, of course. Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie and Dream Colored Patissiere are all about fancy French pastry, while Yakitate! (aka Fresh-Baked! Ja-Pan!) is all about bread and pastry.

      Yakitate talks a lot about sun hands vs. moon hands — ie, people with warm hands have a little edge with kneading bread, but people with cold hands do better with biscuits and pastry. Of course, in today’s professional cooking world, everybody is wearing big ol’ gloves….

  21. I get dizzy spells under extreme chronic stress. They started two and a half weeks ago. They’re much better now that some things have been resolved at work.

    Baking sounds like a significantly more useful way to express things.

    1. I am so sorry you suffer from dizziness. It’s awful, and debilitating.

      I’m glad it’s better.

    2. I stop sleeping under chronic stress. Xiden’s election did me in . Finally fought back to normal sleep night before last.

      Try to not think about stress when you approach bedtime. Think of something else. My Mom’s advice, still good.

  22. Impeachment 2.0 ends in acquittal 2.0. I gather one of Trump’s lawyer’s told the Senate he would call Pelosi as a witness if they insisted on having witnesses. They decided to eschew calling witnesses.
    The usual Republican suspects voted to convict.

    1. It would be most inconvenient if Pelosi burst into flames on being sworn in at the witness stand. Harder to replace the witch than to start Impeachment 3.0.

        1. What is the average luminosity of a burning witch? How much btu would such yield? The party of science should approve in principle, given historical comments on their political adversaries.

          1. Ugh, the environmental impact statements alone would discourage further testimony. Can you imagine the Hazmat clean-up required? And the cost of restoration and re-upholstering the Senate chamber? That’s our tax money!

            1. Ya know, if that keeps them from proposing, deliberating, and voting on legislation… might still be worth it.

              Better yet if we could get the idiots out of Teh Swamp and back in their states where they belong, even if it’s the blue-city capitols, at least they are physically closer to the voters, then. Lots easier to drive a few hours on your day off to give the representative in question an earful than to fly into DC.

              And while I’m wishing for impossible things, I want my flying car *right now* and low cost to orbit to boot!

          3. Pelosi is sworn in with hand on Necronomicon. It’s the only way she avoids becoming the Human Torch. And when she says G*d, she means Elder Gods.

      3. If she electrocutes herself on the mic, does it count as a lightning bolt? Inquiring minds want to know.

    2. I note that after the acquittal vote Cocaine Mitch made a speech that will force me to fund his next primary opponent.

      With the list from the House of the R idiots who voted for the illegal immoral unethical bill of impeachment, and the seven who voted for impeachment in the Senate plus Mitch, my list for funding primary opponents is getting longer, but still manageable.

      I would think I am not alone in this list making.

      1. Yep. I get the impression people weren’t paying a lot of attention to the shampeachment. But at least it solidified some lists for future action. And McConnell has unmasked, so there’s that.

      3. I should note that Lindsay Graham changing his vote to voting to allow witnesses, with his side note that the President’s defense team had a list of 300 people they wanted to subpoena to make the President’s case, was masterful 3d chess level work.

        1. Also, by voting to allow witnesses, under Senate rules it gives him the ability to call for a re-vote.
          The other six who voted for witnesses are simply RINOs who so hate Trump that they will help Democrats destroy the USA.

          1. Lindsey Graham turns out to be that guy in the anime who backstabs everybody. But he’s really useful for the five minutes that he’s on your side.

            I think his new nickname is Draco Malfoy-Graham.

    4. Graham was apparently threatening to call 100 witnesses, and already had a pretty good idea of who he was going to call. As he noted, the Senate would be tied up until mid-Summer, were he to do that.

      Yes, he tends to be a lot more bark than bite. He’ll say things for the masses, and then never actually follow through with the actions he claims that he’s going to take. But I think that – since the Dems had already started the proceedings – this was a threat that he fully intended to follow through on.

      1. I was hoping they would do exactly that. Keeping the Senate tied up so they can’t do any more damage, or confirm any more of FICUS’s commie cronies, would help the country.

        1. Apparently the Democratic Party paramilitary is targeting Trump’s attorneys for mob violence:

          https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/feb/13/michael-van-der-veen-trump-impeachment-lawyer-says/

          Yes, they have vandalized his home and spray painted the word “traitor” on it, for providing legal counsel to a defendant in a proceeding. Remember that these same leftists were adamant that “even Al-Qaeda” is entitled to legal representation and the attorney’s representing them should not be demonized because everyone is entitled to legal counsel.

          Funny how all of these things work only one way.

          (hat tip via Insty)

        2. That was my thought. Impeachements all day every day means no stupid destructive bills get passed! and doubtless way cheaper in the long run.

      2. That could have been verrrrry interesting. Consider if he might call Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and other election officials to challenge the “Trump lied about the election being rigged” argument.

        Talk about your “TV Worth Watching!”
        ~

  24. I’m getting over my latest outbreak of addiction to social media, because I can’t be social any other way. Especially not these days when Judge Lynch is on far too many people’s speed-dial to deal with in person or in the real world.

    Dealing with people in the backstage world has been a lot easier-or at least a lot more discrete for my desires. But, not quite as fulling. Or really fulfilling at all, but when your choices are weak soup and no soup…

    I do sympathize and I have had those moments when the only thing that worked for me was to bake cookies, lots and lots of cookies. Or cook in general. Or organize, houseclean, fix things. The only good thing about my last run of social addiction? It’s gotten me over some of my writer’s block and I am writing eight or nine pages a day for practice

    So, if I come over…should I bring my big mixer with me?

        1. Make springerle. It’s not Christmas, but it’s a good time of year for it. If you don’t like anise, make lemon or orange springerle instead. (Heretical, yet tasty. And great with tea.)

          1. I like anise/fennel/licorice… and it seems besides one of my great-grandmothers (“She used anise like regular people use vanilla.”) I’m the only one in the family that does. $HOUSEMATE seems to consider the flavor at least a deterrent if not an outright denaturing agent. Thus the absinthe, sambuca, etc. is all mine. The exception is a thin rinse of Herbsaint for a Sazerac.

  26. “And I still don’t know what caused the bizarre attack of baking. Which worries more than a little.”

    We already know you’re routinely possessed by a muse, so the real question seems to be what demonic baker is shoving your usual muse into the back of the brain.
    ~

      1. The deafening chants from the throng outside oddly faded for the two muses circling each other in the dome.

        Sarah’s writing muse looked disgusted. “You know she’s got stuff to finish, and yet you jump in with this baking crap!”

        Sarah’s baking muse sneered. “If she doesn’t eat she can’t write!”

        “She could never eat all that stuff you made her bake! You just saw an opening when she was thinking about the wip and WHAM! she’s out in the kitchen making twenty-three batches of crackers, for Petes sake!”

        “If you were doing your job those characters wouldn’t let her get up to bake! You’re just not up to her talent level anymore! Admit it! She’s outgrown you!”

        “RAAAAAHHHH!” shouted the writing muse as she launched herself across the dome….

      2. That would require the ability to make them captive.

        Were that possible, many of us would have chained them up for periods of time.

  27. The state of the impeachment: ACQUITTED
    =======
    The Senate voted to acquit former President Trump of inciting the January 6 riot at the Capitol in his second impeachment trial. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats in voting “Guilty” for a majority of 57 votes – but Democrats failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to convict.

    The Republicans who joined with the Democrats were: Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
    =======

    …along with 100% of the Democrats, who of course don’t dare do otherwise, lest they incur the wrath of the DNC (far more scary than mere voters).

    So, there’s the list of GOPs who want to be put out of a job.

    Court is adjourned.

    1. Maybe they can turn impeachment into an annual event. Impeachment Week every February, where the public watches the strange ritual of the Democrats reenact the ritual of pretending to defeat fascism by cursing an effigy of Trump.

      1. I’m good with that, so long as it wastes the Dems time so they can’t pass stupid legislation (since impeachment takes priority).

        1. Legislation; they intend to rule by executive order, agency decrees, judicial fiat and sue and settle. The legislature is intended to be the equivalent of the Soviet Politburo or the Roman Senate under the Caesars.

        2. Their aides can draw up the bills (or take them from lobbyists) and this gives them an excuse to not read them.

          1. Which is why the bill’s sponsors must be forced to read it out loud, in its entirety, before every vote. At least that would reduce the volume of insane laws they could pass.

            Nothing may be included by reference, either. Any mention of ‘Federal statute 1138.87, Section 206, Paragraph 34’ requires that the relevant parts be read out loud before proceeding.

            An end to 5,000 page doorstoppers and ‘you have to pass it to find out what’s in it’!
            ———————————
            Most days, I suspect that we could get a better government by picking 535 people at random. On bad days, I’m certain we’d get a better government by picking 535 people at random from lunatic asylums.

      2. Nope: Continuous sequential impeachment. No other business allowed. They get one month off to pass a budget, but after that, it’s right back to work!

        The Dems have proven an impeachment bill can be passed with no hearings, no evidence, and no justification. Let them reap what they’ve sown.

        Deadlock is not a bug, it’s a feature.

        1. I also look forward to retroactive impeachments if the Repubs are ever back in control. Impeach Biden and Obama. Hell go back and impeach Clinton.

          1. Impeach Warren for the time she served at the CFPB and every Democrat in Congress who ever had an unelected Federal office.

          1. No, that would leave congress free for mischief. It is now their imperative overriding duty to Impeach All The Officeholders, Past or Present!

      3. I suspect that CNN would prefer to do impeachment monthly, since anti trump is their mission. Sucks to be them.

        1. I don’t know if the retroactive impeachment of (spins wheel) Herbert Hoover for allowing the Great Depression to start would be the ratings draw CNN needs…

      4. I’m getting a mental image of a certain pair of hobbits.

        “But what about second impeachment?”
        “I don’t think he knows about second impeachment, Pippen.”

    2. Two of the quislings aren’t running again, two were just re-elected this cycle, and between Collins and Murkowski, there’s more of a chance to flip other seats from the donks than to get rid of either of them. The only question is Rombley, but he’s got four years to go anyway.

      1. Yeah, and Cocaine Mitch just won his, so it’s 6 for him.

        Which undoubtedly fed into his calculus. He could have just STH up. He chose to make that speech.

        He could, however, see a leadership challenge…

  28. Stress is over the top everywhere. Whatever it takes to cope.

    I’m hoping that with the acquittal the Dems will stop acting like Third World Hellhole Tyrants and make themselves useful. Not holding my breath, but at least we didn’t have the traditional “Show trial of the deposed President, followed by the firing squad.”

    1. I’m hoping that with the acquittal the Dems will stop acting like Third World Hellhole Tyrants and make themselves useful.

      1. LOL

      2. There is nothing they can do that would be described as “useful”. Well I suppose a mass suicide pact might qualify, but unlikely to happen.

    3. Given what the House of Reps is already shoving down the pipeline… personally, I wish they’d taken Sen. Graham up on his offer to call 300 witnesses, and kept the impeachment trial running until mid-summer.

  30. Yeah, I saw a headline:

    Senate Acquits Trump In Historic Impeachment Trial

    I couldn’t help seeing ‘Histrionic‘ there. 😛

  31. It was about this impeachment s**tshow. Hope is the cruelest thing. The left just lost a very potent anti free speech weapon. If they can’t find the ‘ringleader’ guilty of insurrection, the cases they are building against their multitude of people ‘guilty’ of being in DC on Jan 6 just got weaker. Do not expect them to like this. You are waiting for the next shoe to be thrown. I mean dropped.

    1. Turns out, personal character does matter for public office.

      A man who will rape a woman is a politician who will have non-consensual relations with the public.

      A woman who cheers when her man rapes another woman is a politician who will cheer when another politician has non-consensual relations with the public.

  33. Just another form of ‘creativity’… Nothing wrong with that, and you CAN eat the results, which is good too! 🙂

  34. “and sit down and make a bible for the shifter series,”

    I have never done a bible like that, but I’m finding now that I have something that I am steadily working on I really need such a thing. Do you have a format you like to use for these things? A while back you asked if anyone was interested in helping by creating them for some of your stories and I thought I would try it for my own stories, and if I didn’t completely suck at it, offer to help. Well…. I sucked at it, I had an idea of what info to put in it, but organizing that info so that it is usable escaped me.

    1. Mine tend to be “lists of relevant stuff” and while by this point, I always start a character list, the other lists tend to reveal their necessity after I’m a quarter into the manuscript and need to go back and draw the list up.

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