I WON!!! NaNoWriMo 2009

I just won NaNoWriMo 2009! It was tough this year with Baby Anna showing up on the 7th. I squeaked over the line with 50,552 words at 5:30 am on the 30th. And some major plot holes. And a bunch of minor characters that need names due to me using Write or Die and not being ready with a name when I introduced a character.

I have officially decided that doing NaNo while preparing for a Black Belt Test is much easier than doing NaNo while pregnant (when you’re a grumpy pregnant person like me) or with a newborn. So now you know.

My novel this year is fantasy (same as last year). No romance this year at all (I forbade my characters). I have a magic teleportation to another world, a unicorn (possibly more than one – can we say sequel?) and some mountain trolls. The trolls were from the dares thread.

Dare: Have ten trolls appear in your novel, whatever genre it may be.
BP: The trolls don’t know why they’re there
DBP: You make it make sense
TBP: They become integral to the plot
QBP: The trolls turn out to be enchanted princes and the MC marries them all irrespective of troll/MC gender.

I got triple bonus points. I couldn’t do the quadruple bonus points because of the no romance rule above. I did a few subplots: a backpack that is always with the character and has everything needed for every situation. Also an item that keeps appearing through-out the novel (I used a key). (Dares and subplots are from the NaNo forums.)

Anyway, it was a great November again, but I hope to be a tad more consistent next year. And as there will be no babies and no Black Belt tests next November, I think I’m going to try for 75,000 words at least.

So now the plan is to write some non-fiction in December, and then start revising my novel in January 2010.

I’d like to thank Kevin and the kids, and my parents (Steve and Susan) who inspired me to write because they are now BOTH published writers in several magazines.

And I need a few more exclamation points!!! Because I wasn’t sure I could do it this year!!!! And I did!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

Ruger’s Satin Balls Reloaded

So after increasing the amount I feed Ruger to more than what I feed Ember (~70#) and Tana (~22#) COMBINED he still can’t keep weight on. I’m giving up, and going back to the Satin Balls I tried last year. Hey at least they worked and I could take my dog places without worrying about someone reporting me for animal cruelty.

For a recap, Ruger is a 4 1/2 year old German Shepard from Czech / police bloodlines. He was neutered at about 1 year of age and has always been skinny. A few years ago I switched him to a raw food diet, which didn’t help him gain weight, but did end the loose stool and his nasty, oily skin. Worming him brought no changes, I can’t afford to pay for massive blood tests right now. Two things have put weight on Ruger in his life: first was free-feeding a high-performance or puppy food commercial diet, and second was feeding Satin Balls (or Fat Balls) in addition to his regular (raw) food.

These are the recipes I started with, from Holistic Dog. A google search yields more results. I skipped the cereal and the molasses because of the sugar content.

Just a note, some pages say that satin balls can be a complete diet – I doubt this is true and would consider it a supplement unless shown otherwise. I do recommend a raw diet for dogs and cats. I switched my cat to raw at the age of fifteen, and it made a huge difference in her mobility and strength. She is still going at nineteen!

The recipe:

• 1 dozen eggs
• 10# cheap hamburger (I used 27%)
• 4 oz Knox Gelatin
• 2# oatmeal (not quick oats, about 6-7 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups Canola oil
• pinch of salt
• 8 oz Cream Cheese
• 1/2 small jar Peanut Butter (its fat and I have too much in the cupboards)

Mix everything – use a large bowl. I always end up using my hands. Divide it into freezer bags – some people roll it into torpedos for easy feeding. I put 1 1/2 pounds per bag. Yield was between fourteen and fifteen pounds.

Last time I fed a pound a day, this time I’m going to start with 3/4 pounds a day, and hopefully drop to 1/2 pound to maintain after he gains weight.

Nutritional Data: Just for Fun

I went to Calorie Count at About.com to get nutritional data for a one pound serving. (View the recipe here.)

• Calories: 1,059
• Fat: 534 calories / 59.4g (91% DV for a human)
• Saturated Fat: 16.8g
• Total Carbs: 29g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.6g
• Protein: 99.8g
• Iron: 63% (for a human, not a dog of course)
• Also has Vitamin A and Calcium

It has 132% for a human’s DV of cholesteral and ranks nutrition grade “B”.

I put in what Ruger gets in an “average” week and it comes out to about 1800 calories a day, 76g fat (20g saturated) and 259g protein. There was quite a bit of Vitamin’s A and C, calcium and iron. So about 33% of the calories are from fat in his normal raw diet, versus 50% for the Satin Balls. Interesting.

Hopefully it works.

Chicken Fever

We have 3 new Silver Laced Wyandottes – and they are supposed to be girls. Wyandottes are said to be very cold hardy and lay all winter. We got no eggs all winter, so that will be great next year. My camera ate all my batteries, so here is a link about the breed. They are so cute!!!! I might pick up a few sex links next week, sex links are also supposed to be good, hardy layers. Maybe Spring is here after all

Steps to Upgrading Wordpress

Since I have spent all evening upgrading Wordpress and trying to add my websites to my profile on http://dashboard.wordpress.com, I thought I would offer advise. That advise is: tired kids, a distracted husband and a late hour are NOT good components of a painless update (which updating wordpress normally is).

Pre-reqs:

• You’ll have to google any acronyms you don’t understand, I no longer care for clarity.
• Wordpress.COM has free, hosted blogs. Wordpress.ORG has the software (also free) so that you can host your own blog on your server. They are different, but connected.

Steps:

• Deciding to put my wordpress.com blogs, which I don’t use (because of UI issues) onto one account. This required a brand new account of course.
• Reading the Wordpress FAQ (Great job to them for putting the link right where I needed it).
• Learning that CLI still triumphs GUI for getting the job done (if you don’t know what those are, google them, I’m to tired to explain acronyms). Oh and the issue was that the GUI skipped some files. Super-important ones, not the readme.txt.
• Looking up how to get rid of locks on SVN.
• Telling the kids that yes, Mommy loves you, she is just in a 20+ step process (that must be done correctly and in order) for 4 separate blogs (normally 6, and she can’t lose track of where each is in the process). So Mommy is busy, and she can’t cuddle or play even though she wants too. And that its late, children should be sleeping anyhow.
• Having to checkout new copies of my SVN repository TWICE, because I screwed up and was to tired to fix my errors.
• Glad that the first three blogs didn’t cause as much trouble as the last one.
• Goggling a nice, vague error (which turned into one of the previous support requests).
• Wishing I had a nice adult beverage.
• Wishing a genie would do this for me.

So now I’m trying to decide if I like the new WP dashboard. I like the quickpost anyway. It needs more AJAX – having to click twice to get to my destination is SO 2006.

I’d like to add that the issues were not the fault of wordpress.org (great software), wordpress.com (great service), subversion (my best friend), google (my other best friend), my kids (who are finally asleep) or my cat (who was absent the whole time). And it’s not my fault either. Hmmm, does that make it YOUR fault???

I’m going to pull up YouTube and watch cartoons now.

P.S. Happy Friday the 13th!

Short Prayer to Cure Everything

“Lord please keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth”

– from a friend on Facebook

More Freecycle Goodness

Offer: “Torso Track”

Exercise equipment that requires effort and diligence regularly to work.

Project 365

I have started a new craziness that is actually working out well. Its called Project 365, wherein you take a photo everyday. I’ve been posting mine here, and it’s almost a public diary. Its only been four days and its already very revealing.

My Challenge this Year

I have a problem. I’m an introvert. I’m not shy. I’m not afraid of being in public. But I am horrible at chit-chat and gossip.

– From Business Pundit.

Many people already know that I am trying to get a business degree – mainly for the noble purpose of making money by doing what I love (web development & writing) from my favorite place (my home office). So my challenge this year is to learn to self-promote, network, socialize, etc. One of my challenges. My other one is to switch gears a few times a day, instead of focusing on one thing all day and ignoring the rest of my life.

Quick Upgrades

Well HassleBot keeps hassling me to update, but I’ve been busy. I’ve been …. in class. Amy goeth back to college. Ooooo.

Money

The pastor’s sermon last week was about money. Which is ironic, since I have signed up for classes to get an A.A.S. degree in Business for the purpose of making more money (ideally by running my own business). I already have an A.A., so I had to go through an appeal process to secure federal financial aid. While there, the appeal committee suggested I work toward a B.S. from MSU Billings. (It can be earned online at FVCC). But my aid was approved, regardless of my choice.

I thought it over last weekend, talked to friends and family, and decided to go for the B.S. – a four year degree is worth a LOT more than a two year. Even though I always wanted a degree more glamorous that “General Business”. (I actually plan to return to college when my kids are teens and earn a Masters or Ph.D. in Geology or Communication.)

Flurry

So today, whenever I had a break from class, I ran around like a headless chicken, trying to update my schedule. I have to take Principles of Accounting instead of Vocational Accounting. And Microeconomics. I still have to take Business Software (*yawn*). The online accounting class was full, so I am signed up for the 9:00, and hopefully the instructor will allow me to join the online class (I get to ask the first day).

And I checked into getting workstudy, I don’t know if I have time, but at least its guarenteed income that would work with my soon-to-be crazy schedule.

Good Stuff

I am doing really well so far in my interum class, so I guess the student in me is still alive and functioning. Its been several years since I’ve been in class, afterall.

I am hoping to get into a better routine soon. It just feels like the world is spinning right now, and I’m trying just to keep up. There is so much to do, and so little time. Something is going to have to give, because I need to sleep once in a while.

Ah, Life!

Damn it, damn it, damn it

This is a tough post to write.

This is a picture of our cat, Tigg, about a year ago. She had the most beautiful markings and a nice personality. Friendly, but still independent.

We got her in November, 2005, from a neighbor boy who was selling cookie dough and trying to re-home a kitten. She was intended as an outdoor mouser.

I put her down on the couch next to my boys, ages 4 and 2. She didn’t growl or run away, she snuggled up to them. And purred. And thus became an indoor cat.

Kevin didn’t notice her until the next morning, even after walking right past her after work.

The mouse problem ended the moment Tigg was old enough to catch them.

Last summer, she figured out how to get outside. This didn’t really bother anyone, as she knew to be home by dinner.

Her favorite sleeping spot was the top bunk in the boys’ room.

I would have told anyone she was our healthiest animal. Young, a good diet all her life (unlike the stray we adopted last summer), strong.

I fed the cats Christmas morning – they always come when they hear the food whistle, unless they are outside or stuck in another room.

When I called them for some ham scraps about midday, Tigg was absent (I assumed she was outside).

About 8pm, I found her in the boys’ room, on the floor. Looking sick.

We didn’t know what was wrong. She was having a hard time breathing, it looked like she was trying to throw up. Kevin couldn’t find anything that was choking her though.

She died on Kevin’s lap, about five minutes after I found her. On Christmas day.

We assume she ingested some kind of poison. We will probably never know for sure.

I still can’t believe she is gone. I except her to show up at the door any minute. She was so young, soft, beautiful and healthy.

Goodbye baby. I won’t forget you. I’m sorry, I wish I could have done something.

You were a very good kitty. Snuggle up to Mom and Max for me.

I hate goodbyes.