It's time for the 13th annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale, and this year I've decided to just make my books that feature, or are inspired by, Lilie the Westie and Logan the Cavapoo, part of the sale. So, all four titles - two of which are poetry collections, the other two of which are stories - have been enrolled, and are just 99 cents each throughout July.
The books in question - in
case you don't know - are as follows:
Just click on the titles to go to the page for the book, and grab your copy.
Smashwords makes multiple formats available, and I enable all I can, so there should be a format that works for you, regardless of your prefered method of reading eBooks. In facct, I happen to know that if you can read this post, you can read the books. So, don't delay, grab your discounted eBooks today!
Mummy's been saying for a while I'll be getting one, and - finally - I did. Daddy and Grandad put it together on Wednesday, with Mummy bossing them around telling them where my stuff should go in it.
It's a six foot by two foot vivarium, complete with a 25 watt UV light and a 100 watt heat lamp (the UV lamp can actually take up to 30 watts, and the heat lamp can actually take up to 250 watts, but I only need what I have). My old vivarium was a three foot by one and a half foot one, with a 18 watt UV lamp and a 50 watt heat lamp. The higher wattage is because of the much larger space.
Anyway, here's what my new setup looks like, with me featured in a couple of the photos:
I even got a bigger log tunnel...
And a bigger cave...
Mummy says she'll get me some more things to play in and climb on now that I have lots of space.
I keep thinking this is all a dream, and being surprised to have so much room to myself, but I do love my new vivarium. I especially love my bigger tunnel and cave. It was making me very cross how if I didn't take the entrances just right I couldn't get in and out of my old ones properly, and didn't really have space to dig in properly when I was finally able to get inside of them. These new ones are plenty big enough, even if I grow to the biggest size a Hermann's Tortoise can get to.
The weather has continued to be mostly warm - sometimes hot - and alternating between sun and rain. Sometimes in the same day. Not being a big fan of heat - as you may already know - I've enjoyed the rainy times best, since it tends to be cooler when we're getting the rain.
The dogs - Logan especially - share my feelings. Though I'm sure Mollie is the most grateful for the cooling rain of all of us, what with chinchillas dealing with heat even worse than I do.
~
Sunday was one of the rather hot days with no rain, so in the morning - before it got much above 20 degrees C, which it had already gone above by 10:00am - we took Artemis outside for her to soak up some natural sunlight, since we figured it would do her some good.
We couldn't do it where we lived before, since there was no way to sit outside with her, and even having her in my arms didn't guarantee her safety while we were out there. And then it was much too cold, or too wet, or I had a broken hand and wasn't well... You know how it goes. So this was her first time going outside, other than when she was being transported places, since there were obviously times when she was briefly outside in a box or carrier between exiting or entering various vehicles or buildings. But this was her first time going outside just to go soak up some sun. I think she enjoyed the experience, even if we weren't allowing her to roam as freely as she might have liked, since our yard isn't really tortoise-proof, and anyway the dogs were out there with us. Here's a video and a couple of photos, so you can see her first time out in the yard for yourself:
Kelly - who was obviously behind the camera, since I had Artemis in my arms - also got a couple of photos of the dogs, as well as a video of Logan playing in the yard. So here are those too:
Sorry about the noise in the background. It's the fans for the refrigerator system for the shop around the corner, so you have to just put up with hearing those, since there's nothing we can do about them, and it's next to impossible to get the petkids to do what we want during the quiet parts of the fans' cycles... I mean, we can't even guarantee they'll do what we want when the camera is rolling if we don't worry about that. As it is the heat meant Logan wasn't as playful as usual, so he's not bouncing and chasing things as much as he generally does (I decided to share what we got anyhow though).
*~*~*
We made some more progress with the home organization during
this past week.
~
I really wish I could say we were done with both rooms now,
but there are still a few boxes and bags of things to sort in both the craft
room and computer room.And, when we do
finally get those last few sorted, we still have to deal with the living room
yet.Though I want to get Artemis’
bigger vivarium before I worry too much about that
room. I'm hoping to get that soon.
I know some would say we should have started with the living
room.I mean, it’s the room anyone who
comes to the house is most likely to see.Not that we’re known for having a lot of visitors, even when lockdown
isn’t an issue.But when we moved in all
the boxes and bags of our stuff got deposited in there, and the same thing was
happening when Dad was bringing over the stuff of Nan’s he was giving me, so it
made sense to sort the other rooms first, so we could get the stuff that doesn’t
belong in the living room moved elsewhere, and worry about the living room when
it’s only the stuff we want in there left in there, if you know what I mean.
~
Of course, once we’re done sorting the unpacking, there’s
still the proper organization of books on their respective shelves, since we’re
taking the time to make sure the kinds of books we want on particular shelves
are on the correct shelves, but they’re mostly not being put in any actual
order at this moment in time; we’ve been separating them by subject, and – in the
case of some, especially mine due to catering for Braille books and audiobooks –
format, but that’s it.
We decided early on it would be best to get the boxes
unpacked, and worry about the proper order of books later.Not to mention, I need sighted assistance to
help me go through not only some of my books – since a large number of my
audiobooks aren’t labelled, and asking someone to read a title to me is easier
than playing the first few minutes of every book without a label to see what it’s
called - but also the paperwork I’ve been just putting on shelves as I’ve come
across it from Nan’s stuff.Until now, our
goal has been to get the boxes and bags of things unpacked, and assign spots
for things, and that’s still the case.But
we will, at some point, need to reorganize the books on their shelves properly,
so we can actually find something when we want it. Ideally I’d also like to get all those audiobooks
labelled, but there are a lot of them, so we’ll see.That might get done at an even later point in
the future.
~
The various parts that make up Artemis' bigger vivarium are on the way, so she should have her new setup sorted by the end of June. In theory anyhow. It's all meant to be here by this time next week.
My brother, Wayne, is having her old vivarium, as well as any of her accessories she's outgrown, and I think plans to get another lizard to go in to it (he already has Gizmo the Leopard Gecko, though I don't think it's a Gecko he's getting this time around). To help me out - and since the setup is fairly new, and still in perfect working order - he's buying it off me. It works out he's getting a setup at what is a good discount for him, but the money will help me towards getting Artemis' new stuff. So I got to see Wayne in person for a while yesterday when Dad brought him over to give me the money. Even though he's part of my bubble, it was the first time I'd seen Wayne in person since his birthday, which was back in March.
*~*~*
There's progress on various creative projects too.
~
As you may have noticed - or, maybe you didn't - the collections of the poems I've written over the past couple of years are now published as eBooks and paperbacks. I'm hoping to start the ball rolling on audiobook production some time this week. At the very least I'd like to have them up for audition by this time next week. Hopefully, with the home organization so close to being completed, I'll soon have time to work on the stories I want to write. Or, as is the case with a couple of them, finish writing. I certainly plan on being firmer about carving out my writing time now anyhow. I'd been letting it take a backseat in favour of other stuff, especially since the events of the past year have made writing difficult even when I have made time for it, but I want to make it more of a priority again. I feel like it's time to do so. Although, I have no intention of returning to the days of being able to publish a new title almost every month. I would like to at least have one of these stories in progress either finished and almost ready to publish, or actually published, by the end of the year though.
~
I finished the knitted toy I was making. It's a purple knitted dog, which is being sent to a friend of my Grandma. Grandma knows about it, though the friend in question (whose name is Anne) doesn't. However, I know for a fact that Anne won't see this post, and if my Grandma sees it I know she won't show it to her. So, even though it has yet to reach its destination, here's a photo:
Yes, it does have red eyes and an orange nose. I randomly picked some buttons I was 100% certain were matching ones for eyes, and a slightly different one for the nose, and that just happens to be the colours they were. I'd already atatched them before Kelly told me what colour they were, because I figured it didn't matter, so didn't bother asking him before sewing them on. Anne always loves anything I make that I send to my Grandma, so I thought I'd make her a little something. I know she won't care what colour eyes and nose it has... She's one of those people who are a delight to make things for, since she's someone who you know will just be so grateful you thought of her that nothing else will matter. Her favourite colour is purple though, and her favourite animal is a dog - I know because I asked Grandma - so it had to be a purple dog, regardless of what colour the eyes, nose, and ribbon might be.
~
I had hoped to have finished the crochet scarf in time to post it this week too, but it's not quite done. Maybe I'll have it done in time for next week's post? In fact, there's a very good chance of that, especially since it's my monthly crafternoon session tomorrow, so I might even end up finishing it then.
*~*~*
As you may remember me mentioning last week, I went to one of the nearby hospitals for my blood test last Friday. Well, as it turned out, thankfully, my veins were feeling co-operative again. I'm relieved about this both because it's very unpleasant in general when they have to keep trying to get a working vein, and because the nurse who was doing it this time was one of those who stabs the needle in so firmly it feels more like I'm having a knife plunged in to my arm than a tiny needle. Unpleasant wouldn't have covered what the experience would have been like if she'd had to do that more than once. As it was my arm was very sore afterwards... Still is.
Anyway, I still have Thrombocytopenia (low platelet count). My levels have increased, which is good. But they're still not up to the normal range. The doctor doesn't seem to think anything needs to be done about it though. I just need to be aware that I've got a compramized immune system, so am prone to infections. It also explains why I get cuts and bruises so easily, since apparently that's a symptom.
It's a good thing the freedom of choice to be able to decide for myself whether or not to go places is why I want lockdown to end, rather than being eager to actually mix with a lot of people, isn't it?
~
Speaking of medical stuff: Lilie and Logan are booked in for their anual checkups and jabs at the vet we've been using since we came back to Wales, on Monday June 28th, at 4:15pm and 4:30pm respectively.
Having been published as eBooks near the end of May, "Pawfect Pet Poems" and "Born From Stardust And Other Poems" are now also available as paperbacks. So, here are the details for both titles, along with links to purchase them in either paperback or eBook, plus the links to their Goodreads pages.
***~~~***
A short collection of poems
of various lengths and styles, all with one thing in common: they were written
for - or about - some of the various pets my hubby and I have had.
The poems in this
collection are mainly about chinchillas and dogs, though other types of animals
– in particular degus - sometimes make an appearance too.All poems are captioned with details of the
pets they were written for or about.
If you'd like to add "Pawfect Pet Poems" to your Goodreads to-read shelf, you can find the book's Goodreads page here, where all available formats will be listed.
***~~~***
A selection of poems of various lengths and styles,
exploring a variety of themes and subjects.
Topics explored in the poems that make up this collection
include – but are not limited to – animals and nature, writing and creativity, death
and grief, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.
If you'd like to add "Born From Stardust And Other Poems" to your Goodreads to-read shelf, you can find the book's Goodreads page here, where all available formats will be listed.
***~~~***
Audio versions of both books will become available as soon as they can be arranged.
Just some random updates... Posted in the order they come to me.
~*~*
I've been promising since February to show you the photos of the Ahsoka and Toothless cuddly toys, which Kelly and I brought each other for Valentine's Day (at least, Valentine's Day was our excuse for doing so... We'd have likely done it anyhow). Well, at long last, here they are:
And, speaking of cuddly toys...
When I was out somewhere with my Mam, we saw a Dobby teddy. Well, I had to have it, despite the fact I hesitated a little when I saw the pricetag. It was only when I got it home I learned I actually got a great deal on the price, since it's not just a cuddly Dobby... It's a talking one! He says about half a dozen different phrases. So, now I'm even more glad I got it. Anyway, here's Dobby:
Also, when I was struggling a lot with my reaction from the Covid jab, and really not feeling good, Kelly came home with a cute hedgehog cuddly toy for me. Here it is:
If you can't read it properly, the writing on the heart it's holding says, "Hedge hugs."
*~*~*
Well, I'm officially not having my second jab. I got an appointment, told them I wasn't planning to attend and why, and they cancelled my appointment. After all, I'm still dealing with issues from the first one, in particular headaches. Although, like with my asthma issues, they're now just worse versions of issues I used to have. Except that what used to be slight - and easily ignored - headaches I got during certain situations are now migraines, which aren't so easily ignored.
~
My Mam has had her second jab though, with no issues. And the others - Kelly, Dad, and my brother, Wayne - are due to have those in the next couple of weeks. In fact, Kelly would have had his a few days ago, but we couldn't get him where they wanted him to go for it for the time they wanted him to be there, so his has had to be rescheduled.
~
Today (June 11th) I'll be going to the hospital for a blood test to get my platelet level rechecked. In fact, assuming my veins co-operate today, it should be done by the time this goes live, and it will just be a matter of waiting for the results, which - in theory - I'll get next week.
*~*~*
We've had a lot of quite warm weather. It keeps alternating between sunny and wet, all the time staying relatively warm. I like it better when we're getting the rain, because it tends to be a little cooler during those times. Lilie and Logan - especially Logan - love when we happen to be outside just right for a rain shower. My dogs love water. Though Lilie likes it best when it's done raining and there are puddles she can jump in. Mam's little dog, Izabel, thinks they're crazy... Izi doesn't do wet.
*~*~*
June is a month where we have three birthdays happening within a week. My Grandma (Mam's Mother) celebrated hers on June 7th, Kelly's Mom celebrated hers on June 9th, and my Dad celebrates his on June 13th. Though with Grandma living in Devon, Mom living in Canada, and Dad away with my brother, Carl, in Norwich while his landlords do some work on the house, not much is going on to celebrate any of them from our point of view. Still, happy birthday, Grandma, Mom, and Dad!
*~*~*
I've started doing two different roleplaying games. I've been playing Changeling The Dreaming with Dad and some friends via TeamSpeak for a few weeks now, and recently also started playing Aberrant with Kelly and a different group of friends via Discord. Changeling is essentially fairies (though not the cute garden fairy types) and Aberrant is superheroes. The system I'm playing with Dad and his group will be changing soon though, since we've almost finished the adventure, and are planning on changing systems once we have. There's talk of us playing The One Ring, which is a Lord Of The Rings roleplaying system, but nothing's set in stone yet.
*~*~*
I recently tried a recipe for vegan French toast, which uses plant milk, flour, and nutritional yeast (along with cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt) to make the "eggy" mixture. And it was very good too... Pretty close in taste to how I remember French toast as well, as it happens.
*~*~*
I've made some progress with the knitting and crochet projects I was working on before I shut my hand in the car door. Erm... I mean before I did it the first time. *clears throat*
The knitted toy I'm making for someone is almost finished. I just need to give it eyes and a nose, plus atatch the ribbon I plan to put around its neck. My hope is to do that this weekend, but we'll see how things go. I'll get you a photo when it's done though, before it gets sent off to the person.
The crochet scarf - AKA my first ever crochet project - has had some progress made on it too. I think it's about two thirds done now... Give or take.
~
Once I've finished both of those, I need to knit up some six inch squares for a charity thing I said I'd participate in after I saw it mentioned on the Facebook group for one of the craft boxes I get (the one where I also attend a monthly Zoom crafternoon). We're making squares for a charity that turns them in to blankets for the homeless. I'm going with knitting over crochet because I've had more practice with doing that, so can potentially knit them up quicker, and make more of them than I could if I went with the option of doing crochet instead. I inherited a load of wool among the craft stuff I got from Nan (Dad's Mother) and think it will be a nice way to make use of some of it.
The above photos are a couple of recent photos of Lilie and Logan, just taken because we could earlier this week (they were taken in the early evening of May 31st 2021, if you want to be exact).
~
So... Following the instructions in a post Jeanie directed me to - which you can check out for yourself here, if you want- I was able to figure out how to export my Feedburner subscribers, and attempted to then sign up for Mailchimp to use that for blog post delivery. However, it turns out Mailchimp is very much not screenreader friendly, and after a lot of arguments between it and JAWS, which made me incredibly frustrated (even when Kelly was doing his best to help me figure it out) I got annoyed with it and decided I didn't want to do it any more, so closed the recently created account.
Sorry. I know it would be easier for many of you to have something like that to have my posts delivered to your eMail. And I did try... Really! But it's not happening. I'm not going to continue giving myself something more to get stressed and frustrated over, which is all I was achieving with attempting to set up Mailchimp.
So, you still have the option to sign up via Bloglovin', or follow me on Goodreads if you happen to be on there, both of which allow the option to have my posts delivered to your inbox. If you don't want to do either of those things though, I'm afraid you'll have to either keep an eye out on Twitter or Facebook for me sharing my posts, or check in when you can.
~
On a more cheerful note: May 22nd was mine and Kelly's 18th wedding anniversary.
I'm not sure why he still puts up with me, but he insists he's not sick of me yet. LOL!
We didn't do much to celebrate, but had Chinese food for dinner. That's about it really. We didn't feel like we needed to do anything special. I mean, sure, it's a special date that needs acknowledging, but we do things to show each other we care all the time, regardless of what day it is, so we didn't feel we needed to do anything more for our anniversary.
And though some of the family gave us money - thanks to those who did - mostly people take their lead from us and don't bother with our anniversary, so the only card we got for it was this one from my Grandma:
~
I had it down to just a few things I needed to sort in the craft room. So I was going to do those few things and then show you it all sorted. And then Dad found more craft stuff, so now there's a mess of bags and boxes all over the floor in need of sorting again. But at least having so much of the rest sorted means I have places where I spacifically know most of it will go, and it's just a matter of finding the time and energy to sort them, which would be a lot easier if the weather wasn't so hot, and if I could sleep normal hours. But I'll get it done... Eventually. Stuff usually gets done in the end.
It's the same with the computer room: we were just about done, and then Dad brought over more audiobooks for me, and more gaming books he thought Kelly would like (since Dad seems to be sorting his own stuff while sorting the stuff that was Nan's) so now we have some boxes to sort again, and just need to find the time and energy to deal with them.
Dad also brought over a dressing table I was given years and years ago by his previous neighbour shortly before she died. They'd been looking after it for me, since taking it when I originally moved out was difficult, and - though I did want it - I knew it was being used at theirs, so didn't bother claiming it. Well, now I have it, and it's in my bedroom. I forgot to get you a photo though, sorry.
~
Though the weather has been dry and quite warm for most of the past week or so, we have had some very stormy weather over the past couple of weeks. Enough that it's made our power go out a couple of times. Not just us, but the whole area. Luckily the longest it's gone off for has been about two hours.
Besides things like concerns about the fridge-freezer defrosting, etc, it mostly doesn't bother me when it goes off. But I worry for Artemis when that happens, because of maintaining her temperatures. I do have a heating pad I could activate if needed, but it's a one-use only thing that lasts up to 12 hours, so I'm reluctant to use it until she really needs it. Luckily we haven't gotten to that stage with any of the power cuts we've had, and we've kept her warm enough that it seems to be bothering me more than her.
The heat we've had most of this week has definitely bothered the rest of us more than Artemis, that's for sure. Though I think even she was glad for the rain coming and cooling things down a little Wednesday night, following the mild storm we had that afternoon. The dogs and I definitely were, and were actually very pleased when we went out for our evening trip in to the yaard just right to be caught in a bit of a shower... It was very refreshing, especially after how hot the day had been. That rain kept things cooler for a while, but I think it's meant to start getting quite hot again now. It sure seems to be heading in that direction, and I'm back to sitting by a fan again. Luckily for me, I also happened to find a handheld fan among some of the stuff Dad dropped off for me of Nan's, which I was sorting through during the cooler hours Wednesday evening, so that's an extra fan I can use to try and keep cool. YAY!
Now, in the heat it's Mollie I worry about most, since she's the opposite to Artemis. But she has a couple of fans to herself, her glass water bottle keeps her water cool for a while when we put cold water in it, she's in a good spot to get the breeze from the windows in both the living room and kitchen, has her cooling slab, and seems to be tolerating things well enough. Although, I think she was probably even more relieved than the dogs and I were when the temperatures cooled off for a while. And I know she was glad of the frozen peas I've been offering her sometimes, because she took them so enthusiastically.
Episode 62 of The Merry Writer Podcast went live today, and I'm delighted to tell you I'm in it, having a great time talking about audiobook production with Ari and Rachel. Check it out below.
Don't forget to subscribe to The Merry Writer Podcast wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts. They're all over the place, including - but not limited to - Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, and YouTube.
A selection of poems of various lengths and styles,
exploring a variety of themes and subjects.
Topics explored in the poems that make up this collection
include – but are not limited to – animals and nature, writing and creativity, death
and grief, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yes, I published another poetry collection. In fact, today (May 31st 2021) is its official release date.
As I'm sure you can tell from the title and cover image above, this one is called "Born From Stardust And Other Poems" and is a collection of the various poems I've written since I last published any of my poems that aren't pet related. I've played with a couple of poetry styles, as well as used some of my favourite styles many times again, and the result is a fair sized collection of poems on a variety of different topics, including a few poems I wrote about the pandemic situation throughout the past year.
You can already buy the eBook from Smashwords in all formats they offer, which means there's a format that will work for you, regardless of your prefered method of reading eBooks, whether it's with a Kindle, Nook, your computer, or whatever. In fact, if you can read this post, there's a way you can read the book.
However, if you prefer to buy your eBooks elsewhere, you can grab your copy via other retailers such as Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and a few other places my books get distributed to, including many of the Amazon stores for other countries. To grab your copy, just click on the link for your prefered retailer, or go there and search for it if I haven't listed it here.
For those who aren't keen on eBooks: don't worry! Paperback and audio versions will become available as soon as I can arrange for them. I will, of course, let you know when that happens.
Regardless of your format of choice, if you'd like to add the book to your Goodreads to-read shelf, you can find the book's Goodreads page here, where all available formats will be listed.
Oh, and... Yes, the cover image is an actual NASA image. One of the ones the public is free to use however they want, as long as NASA gets credit for it. So, here's the copyright information for it:
