Unmasked and Charmed

Trying to get/stay back in the blog posting saddle. So to speak. But I don't have to struggle for a topic today, because I have a couple of things to talk about!

First (because it's the quickest): I had a new release yesterday! My story "What You Are" was included in Torquere Press' Masks Off!, an anthology about masquerades and shapeshifters. (...Look, I don't come up with the combinations, I just write the stories.) I haven't finished reading it yet, but besides me, it's got some of my very favorite TQ authors, so I expect them to be lots of fun. And isn't that cover gorgeous?

My writing blog post about it has a blurb, and I put up an excerpt yesterday on Torquere's livejournal social community.

In addition to being my first real anthology inclusion, this will also be my first print publication! At least, it will be when the print book goes up for sale, which is typically a week or so after the e-book release, thanks to various complications with printing through Amazon, which is what Torquere uses for print books. But at some point in the next few weeks (I think), I should be holding this gorgeous book in my hot little hands! I can't wait! (Yes, you can expect pictures. I have no shame.)

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And now, having taken off my Author hat, it's time to put on the Mom one!

Penny filled up a chore chart a couple of days ago, which means she's earned a reward. In the past, that's meant that I take her to our local Yankee Candle store, where they have not one, but two toy stores for her to waffle over a choice for a half-hour or so and finally settle on something.

Yesterday, she said, "...could we go to Charming Charlie instead?"

So there's one for the memory book: age at which jewelry first wins out over stuffed animals -- about two weeks shy of 9.

For those who might be curious, she picked out a sparkly tiara and a set of three red and gold rings that are about four sizes too big for her. She insisted on wearing the tiara and two of the rings to daycare/camp today; I warned her that if they were lost or damaged, I was not going to buy her new ones. We'll see how that goes.

(But I bought her a Charming Charlie gift card for her birthday like a month ago, so don't worry. She'll get to go back -- and with more than the measly $20 limit I put on her chore chart rewards.)

While she was waffling over her selections, I took Alex next door into JoAnn fabrics so I could price foam -- a friend had mentioned that they would cut foam to fit my couch cushion covers, thus enabling me to restore my crappy couch without having to buy a new one.

Extra firm and thick foam is expensive, though, so it's probably going to run me somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to do that. Don't get me wrong; it's better than buying a whole new sofa (at least, better than a good new sofa), but not as much of a savings as I was hoping for. In any case, it'll have to wait a bit, as it's a higher price than I was hoping and a lower priority than some of the other things I want to do.

On the way home, I mentioned to Alex that when he turns five, he will also be getting a chore chart. He was, to say the least, not happy with this revelation. Not even when Penny tried to cajole him with the notion of stickers and reward toys. Oh, well; he doesn't get a choice. Everyone gets chores to do.

I also broached with Penny the idea of curtains, since it's looking like it'll be prohibitively expensive to fix her blinds. I braced for whining as I explained, but the instant the word "curtains" left my lips, I heard what can only be described as a gasp of delight from the back seat. So apparently Penny's on board with the idea of curtains. (She may be somewhat disappointed when I take her to pick them out, though, as I'm going to insist on heavy white-backed thermal curtains to help keep heat out -- her room is the hottest in the house. Though I'm open to the idea of a double-layer curtain so she can pick something pretty.)

But I'm doing the living room curtains first, as it's driving me crazy not to be able to see out. And even that's going to have to wait a bit, because the mortgage is due first.