No words added today.

So, birthday, version 2. I made ravioli for my friends tonight, and this time, it turned out very well. The problem on Tuesday was that I did not let the pasta dough sit long enough. Next time, I'm making a double batch of dough, one was barely enough to feed four of us, and I had a lot of filling left, which I put in the sauce. we watched The Scarlet Pimpernel, a none-to-faithful film adaptation of a book I love, and sat around talking for hours. I got an awesome book from Punji, Kafka Soup, a Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes, and it was so freaking hilarious. I loved it. *hearts* to Punji!

Word Count: 110,834, Page Count: 187
Words Added: 1,079

I did improve my word output, but I still could have done better. I'm going to have to take the TV out of my room, and have someone hide my modem. I did get closer to plot-ness today. Another page or so.

I feel like I haven't accomplished enough over this vacation. I did everything on my list except clean out the laundry room, but I did not work on my book enough, and I failed to make a case for my phone. I did make a pattern for the back, but that's as far as I got. Two days left. Wish I didn't have to go back to work.

Word Count: 109,755, Page Count: 185
Words Added: 663

Damn me for a lazy slacker. I had truly intended to work on my book, if not all day, for most of it, but no. I had to go to the grocery store, and the laundromat, and then watch my Thursday night shows, and then I went and joined a book-bashing community, and wasted three hours reading the back posts.

I suck.

I ought to be through with this section. At least the angsty part is over, but I want to get back to the plot! I miss the plot...

I'm a little put out with Livejournal tonight. I posted an hour ago about my stalker, but then I was thinking about it, and I never got an email or message in my LJ inbox that someone had friended me. I should be able to do more than just ignore some creepy, socialite-obsessing blogger. I should be able to reject unwanted watchers. I want to know why some silly girl friended me the same day she got her LJ account. I'm not particularly interesting. I don't like people. All I do is post word counts and make remarks on my writing that will seem cryptic until the book is finished and in a readable state. And complain about my life. Which is boring. I know I have never once mentioned Paris Hilton, or any other trashy celebs, since I made my LJ readable by the general public (An admittedly self-serving attempt to garner attention for my books. I'll admit, also, that it is a little attention-whorish of me, but at least I'm not posing in my undies and watching people's blogs without even introducing myself. That's just rude...and vulgar.)

I think I was a Victorian bluestocking spinster in a past life. One of those crazy ones, probably.

I have a non-mutual friend, apparently. Some French chicka, but the only thing in her bio is that she wants to be Paris Hilton's BFF from France. That's got to be a mistake somewhere... She obviously hasn't heard that I hate all celebrities, and the only thing less pathetic than an attention whore is someone who professes to love them while whoring herself out for attention.

Attention ritzier_graze: Please either post a comment here declaring some reason why you are internet stalking me or unfriend me. I don't want any serious future readers to think I would associate myself in any way with someone who would post pictures of themselves in their underwear on their blog, or people who profess love and/or admiration for slutty socialites. My repressed Victorian sensibilities are vomiting with disgust at you as we speak.

Please go away.

Word Count: 109,092, Page Count: 184
Words Added: 517

A lazy day...sat around watching TV all afternoon, cooked some pork chops and ate them with some instant chow mien. Pretty tasty for a throw-together meal. Rented the first DVD of Castle. Pretty good show. Read manga. Worked on my book a very little. I'll work more on it tomorrow. I've got a ton of leftovers, so there'll be no reason to cook, and therefore even less reason to clean. All my laundry is done, and I did all the things on my big fat list except clean out the laundry room. I'll get to that eventually.

Still stuck in Kaeden's angst, but hopefully tomorrow will see the return of the plot... (not holding my breath though)

Word Count: 108,675, Page Count: 183
Words Added: 1,120

And that's more like it, right? Although I'm still not out of the first section of Ch 7. I hadn't expected it to go on this long (five pages so far!) but Kaeden decided to have his breakdown a few sections early. These kids, always going the exact opposite direction I want them. Ah, well.

Happy Birthday to me. I am twenty-nine years old now. I don't feel like someone who's nearing thirty. What is that supposed to feel like, anyway?

I have ten of the tiny cranes in my bottle pendant. It's turning out better than I thought.

Ravioli=epic fail. My dinner plans were ruined, but I managed to salvage the filling as a sauce for some angel hair pasta. I overcooked my birthday cake, too. I think the universe has decided I'm not allowed to have more than one creative outlet at a time, so as long as I'm working on my book, I can't be allowed to cook anything really cool. That's not going to stop me from trying to cook fried pork steaks tomorrow, so be prepared to hear about how I burned my house down or had to have my hands amputated for third degree burns or something.

I got a really pretty sheet set and quilt from my parents and a pretty thermos and a digital meat thermometer from Rae, and my dad washed the dishes for me. A good birthday in spite of my long lost cooking ability, heh~

Word Count: 107,555, Page Count: 181
Words Added: 609

My day started at noon. I got up and ate breakfast, puttered around the house. Added another tiny crane to my necklace, that makes eight. Cleaned my room, vacuumed, went shopping for the ingredients for my birthday dinner. Happy birthday to me, I guess. I had intended to work more on my book, but I kept getting distracted by all the little things I needed to do, like laundry and cleaning the kitchen in preparation to the cooking I'm doing tomorrow. I have not decided what kind of cake I will make for myself yet. A conundrum indeed.

Word Count: 106,946, Page Count: 180
Words Added: 261

The reason for this pathetic count? House, Bones, and tiny paper cranes. Yes, I did say paper cranes. Tiny, tiny cranes.

I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival on Friday. It was fun, I spent an outrageous amount of money on food, and bought two small, hand-blown glass bottle pendants. One was a translucent opalish purple, very pretty and irresistible, and the one I went to Renfest hoping to buy, a plain, clear glass bottle, largish in size, but still small enough to be cute. Interestingly enough, this brings me back to my previous comment, for I am filling it with the aforementioned tiny cranes.

Due to the tininess of the cranes, I have to cut the squares myself. I did look online for pre-cut mini origami squares, but the smallest I could find were one and a sixteenth inch, in assorted solid colors. That is small, but not small enough (or interesting enough) for me, or the tiny glass bottle. I selected from my collection of traditional Japanese print origami paper the thinnest, cheapest brand, which is still pretty and cool, but not terribly impressive on the larger origami, (especially next to the good stuff, the washi chiyogami, which is my favorite, with its gorgeous texture and shiny metallic accents) but it is quite perfect, in its bargain paper thinness, for mini origami. I started with a half inch square of vibrant green chrysanthemum and fog print. It folded well enough, though the biggest challenge in mini origami is cutting the squares straight. Even the smallest inequality throws the whole thing off. The half inch was a little large for the bottle's opening. I had to use the point of the scissors to poke it down into the bottle. I cut the next one seven sixteenths of an inch, and that was also a little large, but not by much. I tried three eighths, but it was too small to fold neatly, though I think with practice, I could get a decent looking crane. I put the somewhat sloppy 3/8 crane in the bottle anyway, the distortion of the glass disguises the imperfections well enough. It did go right in, no poking. I have six right now, in various colors. Though the patterns are too big and the cranes, too small, to tell what they are, the colors are pleasant. I had been divided on whether to make them all white or to use the patterns, but I'm glad I decided to go with patterns. I love the colors, and it makes the bottle so happy.

Unfortunately, the number of tiny cranes one can make in a sitting is fairly tiny itself, and I must go to sleep. Hopefully the rain will go away and my allergy headache will let up, or else the first day of my vacation will be unpleasant...

Just in case you want an idea of the actual tininess of the cranes, here is a pic of the 3/8 crane on a penny.

Word Count: 106,685, Page Count: 180
Words Added: 618

Coming along nicely. I already know what happens through the whole chapter, unlike some of the previous ones, heh~ Big, important stuff, too. We get to meet a very unpleasant person, and delve some more into Iona's mysterious past, and then Kaeden--well, we'll leave a little to mystery. Don't want to give the whole damn plot away on my blog...