The Rants ARE Alive and Mostly Well

Well, is this not the saddest thing ever.  I haven't been here in a year and a half.  Hopefully I can get back more often.

Things have changed, the restaurant that had begun to be more pain than pleasure is now a thing of the past Tennis' Ramble Inn closed its doors for good on May 31st. It was a wild weekend. Too many hours worked, so many customers in mourning. We had a great thirty years. But it was time to end.

Due to that ending, I am temporarily unemployed.  And. I. Love. It. It's been thirty-two years since I've been out of a job, and that was only a month. Yes, I will have to find some form of employment, but not for a little while. I plan on looking in September.

This summer is mine!

It has been only two and half months since I've worked, there was the selling of equipment and gutting of a building to be done before it was all over.

So how have I gone from seventy hour work weeks to too much time on my hands?

The first week was spent luxuriating in sleeping in every morning. Until 5:30 am.

Hey, that was sleeping in, I'd been getting up around 4:00 am for years.  It has stretched to about 6:30 now, with the occaisional 7:00.

The hardest part was figuring out what to do. I had a gagillion plans. Including getting back to writing.  The other blog, Elsetime & Otherwhen has seen a little action. But it took some time to get back in the swing. There are a few new stories on the other blog.  And I've been putting some of my older stories (edited a little) onto WattPad.  I'm even working on completing one of my never ending works in progress.

I had to get a scheduling app, I wanted to get so much done I ended up overwhelming myself and accomplishing nothing. I ended up with Schedule Planner Pro for my Kindle.  It has issues now and then, but suffices for my purposes.

I set aside time each day to write. I schedule my daily "chores", things the husband was doing since I was at work ten to twelve hours a day. Each day is scheduled a "big project", rearranging the living room, harvesting crops from the garden. We pulled the fish tanks out of storage and got them up and running again. I needed to organize the Christmas tree hoarde, So much more to do,

I have been doing more at home cooking. Even baking bread! And the kitchen has been organized better. One thing done on the list,

For the first time since we moved back to the family home, I've had time to pick enough of the wild raspberries to make jam.  The Best Crop of Peas ever has already been picked, shelled, blanched, and frozen. Corn and green beans are coming along. And why would anyone ever plant more than one zucchini? That's all I have, but it's making more than I know what to do with.

That is likely enough Rant for today.  But as things progress, I'll be back.

Or you can find me on twitter @2old2tap
And Pinterest, same handle.
I'm here and there on the internets, See you there.

A Return to the Rants for a Life Update

So here I am, back at the old blog.  It's been almost a year since I've posted here.  I usually spend my words on the sister blog, Elsetime & Otherwhen.  That's where I stretch my creative writing muscles.  Though lately they've been stiff and unmoving.

Doesn't mean I'm totally idle, though.  I have been busy.

The restaurant eats most of my time.  Seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day.  For the last year.  We listed it for sale back in August.  I'm ready to move on.  Just waiting for a buyer now.

So, since the Muse has been silent lately, I've found other things to do to entertain myself.

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My newest adventure is DIY-ing.  I've started making my own chemical free stuff.
Stuff like...laundry soap, shampoo, lotions, sugar scrubs, and shower steamies.  My next experiment will be in making my own soap.
When I started, it was just for fun.  It's also less expensive than the store bought products.  As I learn more about the chemicals and additives in the commercial brands, it is beginning to be a lifestyle choice.

(And it's fun as well.)

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Of course, I still have my ongoing love affair with yarn.  And bowling (a love/hate relationship).  And I'm already starting to get spring fever.  Ready to start sorting seeds and get the gardens going.


In the last month I read several books, which was wonderful.  It had been far too long since I just curled up and read.  Most have been books by my writerly friends.

Eric Storch's "Impenetrable Falsehoods"
Cameron D. Garriepy's  "From the Earth to the Moon"
Lance Burson's "The Ballad of Helene Troy"
"Echoes in Darkness" an anthology featuring many of my writing friends.
"Precipice 13" the second collection from the Write on Edge group, where I post my stories when I can find them.
"Embryo 2" by JA Schneider

Next on the list is Stephanie Ayers' "Til Death Do Us Part"

There are so many more I've read or are on my to read list.  Most of them by indie authors I've met on Twitter or Facebook.
Patricia Lynne, Andrew M. Crusoe, Tui Snyder, Molly Campbell, Shelton Keys Dunning, JM Gull, Rayne Hall....I can't name them all.  But, give the indie authors some support.
Someday I hope to be one of them.

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As to my own writing, I have been slowly working on cleaning up a few stories.  Trying to put something publishable together.
A friend has also been trying to construct a real live web site for me.  Hopefully it'll be up and running in a few months.  I will undoubtedly make her crazy with tweaks and whistles and bells and stuff.  Between her job and mine, the building will be slow and careful.  Fair warning, when it is done, I'll be trumpeting all over the social media.

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That's about it, I think.  You may see me lurking in the corners of Twitter, @2old2tap, or hanging around the Facebook sharing cat pictures.  I have even been know to haunt Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, and even Tumbler every now and then.  Don't hesitate to wave if you see me.

Random Rambles from a Day Off

I should be ashamed.  I haven't posted here since February.  I have been writing.  Sort of.  On my other blog. Elsetime & Otherwhen, where I practice my writing.  Cause I am a writer.  There.  I said it, or wrote it.

Now, from the more mundane world of me.  I was going to do this yesterday, but just didn't get it done.

Yesterday was my day off.  And it was a good one.  I managed to get the kitchen cleaned, again.  Get a roast in the crockpot and write a couple hundred words on a story I'm playing with.  All by noon.  Go Me!!

Then I did a lot of nothing.  Isn't that what days off are for?

Yes.  I thought so.

I have been busy though.  The restaurant takes a lot of my time.  Worrying about the restaurant takes a lot of my time.  Although things have been going a lot better than this time last year.

And the garden is doing well.  Already harvested radishes and peas.  The green beans look good, and the tomatoes are blossoming already.

I canned some peas and froze some.  I've eaten most of the radishes.  I have this awesome recipe for cooking them. 

Just take some radishes, small can be left whole, halve or quarter larger ones, add some green onion, saute in browned butter for a bit.  Then add about a half cup of water, salt and pepper to taste, cover and simmer until fork tender.   MMMMM!

I've also been obsessively been spinning yarn.  I have a drop spindle and apparently way to much time to waste.

Next I want to save for a ridiculously expensive loom so I can weave my yarn into something useful.  I had the opportunity to play with a loom a couple weeks ago.  So much fun!

What else can I babble about?

Hmm.  Oh yes.  Grandchildren. (You knew that was coming, right?)  The grandson is my great love, he's so smart and quite the character besides.  The granddaughter, (yes I love her too) is such a handful!  Very independent and headstrong.  She has to be watched all the time or she's into something.

That's about all the excitement in my world.  How about yours?

I'm Easily Amused

Things that tickled me this past week:

This piece posted on the Red Dress Club by @MamaTrack, here Too funny!

The grandson playing with the extra plastic drain lines that didn't get used for the basement project. He had a riot with his "tunnels".
Hardware store toys are much cheaper than toy store toys.

And of course it's the best revenge when the grandkid is an angel until his mother comes to get him. Then he becomes an accomplished button pusher.
I remember those times.

Watching the granddaughter twist Grampa right around her tiny finger. She must be held by him almost the entire visit.

Making checks on the yard as it gets a bit warmer. I love seeing the buds peeking out.

Finally seeing roots start on the pussy willow cuttings a customer brought me. Probably going to plant them this week.

Watching the tomato seedlings get stronger. Need to get bigger peat pots now.

Visiting with my twitter friends.

What tickled you lately?