Life Has Been Rather A Lot.
May 15-23 was the block of time-sensitive, make-it-or-break-it overlapping Appointments, and they are all done now! The “Spring of Constant Disruptions I Have To Wrangle” has now matured into the “Summer Of Bigger Disruptions That Are Out Of My Control,” and somehow that’s less stressful. There is peace in knowing that all I have to do from now on is show up.
I’ll need all the peace I can get, due to Boring Life Things I am not ready to talk about online, so I’m taking it where I can find it. More on that in some later post. Nothing awful, just…not post-ready yet. Today I’d much rather talk about Good & Exciting things.
Right now talented artist & Most Excellent Friend Dex Greenbright is working on a cover for Relics From A Traveling Show (shortname hereby declared to be Traveling Show) and I am really excited about it. (Check out Dex’s social medias for updates.) The wraparound cover image has tons of subtle callouts to the stories inside, and the initial sketches make me so, so, SO HAPPY.
There are going to be official patch/pin/card designs for all the major Rollover power series soon, too. More of Dex’s awesomeness. The designs are pretty much set for water callers, earthmovers, strongmen, & W-series weirdness (I really LOVE that one) and are polishing up patterns for Tees, Pyros, and D-series body-related powers. Which is a lot. (Again, I believe Dex will be doing progress updates on his pages, so…I should get some links, huh. Next post!)
The audio for Weaving In The Ends is showing up on Overdrive (thanks to the amazing & multitalented Shannon Eichorn for that alert) and AudiobooksNow. So you and all your friends & enemies can put in library requests, should you so choose. I’m not seeing it on Audible, Kobo or Google yet, but it also doesn’t officially publish until June 11. I’m still beyond delighted it’s showing anywhere. (IT’S REAL! IT’S REALLY REALLY REAL!)
Meanwhile, in the Distractions Department, things are also as good as can be:
The Empty the Upstairs move-out went fabulously well. We hired the same company who flawlessly managed a complicated, multi-stage moveout/ move-in process back when we bought the house, and they did another fantastic job. Broms Movers. If you ever need something moved and/or moved+stored in Chicagoland, they’re the folks I highly recommend.
Anyway.
The basement flooring shiopment has arrived (whew) and the contractor in charge of the whole Fix Up The Basement project is being super-accommodating about working around the furniture we don’t have space to store on the first floor anymore since the upstairs had to come down.
Fun Fact: we can live mostly-comfortably (at least temporarily) with all three floors-worth of our stuff on a floor and a half, but we can’t cram it all into just one and have enough space to work and recreate and sleep.
Right now I’m on the only accessible seating wearing headphones while Spouseman is doing his nightly Helldiver session on the TV. Pippin is hanging out on an ottoman between us, torn between crawling behind an unplugged TV on the fireplace hearth or trying to climb Mount Pile O’Game Boxes & Couch Bits in front of said hearth.
The rest of the room is pretty much filled with basement contents & upstairs furniture. So is the bedroom where we’re sleeping & the back room. The kitchen is the only place not doing double-duty as storage & living space. Here’s a picture of the room where I usually hang out watching TV while Spouseman does his gaming on the other TV:
It’s funny how spacious things look when you use a wide angle lens. There are two sofas and a queen sized bed & two mattresses behind what’s visible. Among other things. Let me be clear, I am not complaining. We are lucky and thankful for the abundance we have collected into our lives.
Thankfulness doesn’t make living with All The Things jammed together any less awkward.
The thing on the left is a metal pet gate, in case anyone was wondering. It came off my office door and will go up on the doorway where I stood to take this picture. It’ll come in handy to keep Pippin from shredding the tarp door that will get hung between our living space and this dusty enty/exit zone from outside to the stairs at the left there.
Speaking of Pips, he handled the upheaval and stomping and loud voices & laughter of the move like a CHAMP. I am no longer worried about how he’ll cope with the construction upstairs — he clearly takes his cues from Spouseman & me. As long as we aren’t worried, he gets bored listening to things he isn’t allowed to go investigate and goes to sleep instead.
He’s also now tolerated 3 moves of his litter box in 3 months without objection or fussing, which bodes well for eventually traveling with him.
Look at this relaxed baby.
And that’s enough updating for now. More soon!