First off, thank you to everyone who provided feedback on my novel ideas! Not only for your votes, but also, your insightful comments on how I might flesh out some of those concepts. Your suggestions were very helpful, and have given me much food for thought. I feel very motivated to tackle a couple of these projects now!
(Well, not right this second, but someday. Someday soon, I promise!)
This is why I love blogging so much. It feels like we’re all part of one big community, free to share our innermost thoughts and desires without fear of ridicule (though a certain someone does give me shit for loving Spam). We support one another, offering advice when needed, condolences during hard times, and bail money when we’ve made poor life choices. OK, that last part might not be true, but you guys aren’t just readers to me – I consider you friends and value your opinions. Except the anti-Spam ones.
OK, enough of the sappy stuff. Here are the poll results, as of this morning:
Sixty Second Exposure is my personal fave, so I was happy to see so much interest in that one. Gotta admit though, I was surprised that 39 1/2 resonated with so many of you. While it’s an intriguing concept – it makes a great elevator pitch, ha! – I didn’t feel I could do much with the story. But after reading your comments, I realize there are many directions I could go, so this is another one worth pursuing. Your top three are my top three, so thank you again for all the great feedback!
Oh crap, is that Dubuque?!
Tuesday was my first day back in the CheeseGov office in three weeks. Before heading out, I joked that it had been so long since I’d made the commute, I might take the wrong exit and end up in Stoughton or Sun Prairie or Iowa. That didn’t happen, but geez Louise, the weather did its best to throw every obstacle it could find my way. Between the heavy rain, dense fog, and pitch darkness, I could barely see the road on my drive to Madison. The rain finally let up when I reached the Beltline, and the black gave way to gray, so the last seven minutes were smooth sailing, at least.
Remember when rain in January used to be weird? We’ve got more coming this afternoon. Then snow on Saturday. The seasons don’t even know what season it is anymore, sigh.
I might have opted to work from home that day, but I needed to check up on this guy.
There’s only one person on Team MarTar with a green thumb, and it ain’t Mar. But we were kicking it on Willy Street back in November, stopped in a garden shop, and I couldn’t resist picking up this succulent for my desk. (Honestly, I was more into the planter than the plant. I suppose I could have used it as a candy dish or paperclip holder, but that feels like cheating, so a succulent it was!)
My track record with office plants isn’t great. I had one at CenturyCo, but when I brought it home prior to our move, the first words out of Tara’s mouth were, “What did you do to that poor thing?!”
Apparently, what I did was either either overwatered or under-watered the “poor thing.” Whichever one causes droopy, yellow leaves. My bad.
So, I was understandably skittish about trying my luck with a succulent. But Tara assured me they were basically maintenance-free, the only rule of thumb being, do not overwater them. Other than a quick dunk on November 16, I hadn’t watered him since. This wasn’t intentional, but the holidays happened and there was an unexpected WFH day somewhere in the middle. Luckily, he seemed perfectly fine when I checked on him this week. And now he’s freshly watered, so remind me in mid-February to wash, rinse, and repeat, please and thank you.
Tripping over temporary
Someone asked for a picture of the mirror I got Tara for Christmas. Another person requested a picture of the cats. Welp, I’m a people-pleaser who prizes efficiency, so I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.
Vain much, Shirley?!
And no, we are not keeping the mirror on the dining room floor. That was a temporary spot on Christmas morning. And okay, fine, temporary in this case meant nine days. But we finally moved it to the guest room, another “temporary” spot, while Tara decides where to hang it. We have a cardboard box full of vintage store finds – framed prints, wicker baskets, copper molds, a birdhouse – that we “temporarily” stuck in the basement two years ago and are still tripping over, so it’s anyone’s guess when the mirror will find a permanent home.
Anyway. She said cats, plural, so here’s Laverne, who often experiences tunnel vision.
What do you enjoy most about blogging? Do you have any good succulent advice? Does it take you forever to put things away too?
Mark My Words 
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