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[Carter-Orange]

Oh no Julie, that bedbug situation sounds awful! I'd hate that and like you, would want to bin everything or wash it at the highest temperature possible to get rid of them.  But glad you had a good time apart from that.  And 50% off is great too

[mare]

I'm back!  Sorry I haven't been around much.  I got home Saturday afternoon, spent most of Sunday with a couple friends, and have spent the last two days trying to recover from ten straight days around other people LOL.  It's been nice to sleep in my own bed and spend some quality time cuddling my cats on the couch in front of the TV.

Pigeon Forge was fun overall.  We went to an exotic bird sanctuary called Parrot Mountain, where I got to pet and hold cockatoos and macaws and had a conversation with a cute green parrot that talked!  So cool!  We also went to the Titanic Museum, which I've been wanting to go to for years, and it was great!  It focused mostly on the ship, of course, but there was also a nice little exhibit about the movie, where they had the 11 Oscars on display as well as Rose's sinking dress and lifebelt, autographed by Kate Winslet, and the violin from the movie, autographed by the whole cast.  They also had Madeleine Astor's real lifebelt and a deck chair from the ship, which was really cool.  It took us two tries, but we also did Dollywood.  We first went there on Wednesday, arrived right as it opened, and went on one roller coaster, only to be told there had been a water main break, and they were shutting the park down an hour after it opened.  So we had to leave.  Luckily, we were able to go back on Friday, our last day, and spent the day there.  I rode almost all of the roller coasters and had a really good time.  Those were my three favorite things we did.  We also had plenty of relaxing downtime drinking moonshine on our back porch overlooking the Smoky Mountains.  So pretty!

I survived the week without wanting to kill my sister or any other member of my family, which was good.  The only bad part was finding a dead bedbug in my bed on our second morning there.  I'm generally not afraid of bugs, but after watching too many episodes of "Infested" on Animal Planet back in the day, a bedbug infestation is one of my biggest fears.  So you can imagine my horror at finding this thing and googling a picture of it to confirm my worst fear.  My sister, who booked the cabin, called the company, and they sent an exterminator out to basically confirm that, yes, there was evidence of bedbugs, but they couldn't do much about it while we were staying there because they have to heat the house to like 350 degrees to kill them.  They didn't have another open cabin that we could move to, so they gave us the option to either leave then and get our money back or stay and get a discount.  We didn't have anywhere else to go and weren't going to pack up and drive nine hours home two days into a week-long vacation, so we chose to stay and ended up getting 50% off what we paid for the cabin, which was a lot.  I didn't end up finding any more bedbugs, but my nephew found two live ones in his room over the course of the week, and my sister found one in her room on the last night.  So gross!  We bought a bunch of trash bags and Ziploc bags to bag all our stuff up before we went home - walked out of the grocery store looking like I was preparing to hide a dismembered body LOL.  I washed all my clothes and everything that could be washed twice in hot water and dried it on the highest heat settings.  My shoes are bagged up in my freezer for the next few days.  And everything else that couldn't be washed, heated, or frozen either got pitched or is bagged up in my detached garage for the next ten months, until any bedbugs or eggs should be dead for sure.  This includes my suitcase, Chromebook, and tablet, which doubles as my Kindle.  My Chromebook is 6 years old and probably on its last legs anyway, so I took advantage of Amazon Prime Days and ordered a new one of those so my writing won't be affected, since I do most of that on a Chromebook these days.  But, ugh, so stressful!

And what a chaotic week-and-a-half it's been in American politics!  I had mixed feelings over Biden's announcement, but now that it's sunk in, I'm actually really excited that Kamala will likely be the nominee, and it won't just be a repeat of the 2020 election.  I hope the Biden voters, black voters, Trump-haters, and WOMEN will unite around her!  The next few months are gonna be crazy, but it's exciting to think we'll have another opportunity to vote for the first female president in this country.

I'm glad you had a good time at the music festival, Steph, and glad to see you've been updating, Mare!  I had a good writing day today and feel like I'm finally getting back on track after just writing a little bit each day for the last week or so.  Will most likely update on Saturday.

Okay weird, trying this again. I had an entire post written and when I went to post it, it was gone! I'm glad you had a great time, minus the whole bedbug situation! Yikes!!! I can only imagine how awful that must've been, but at least it wasn't a total infestation. I'm glad they gave you a 50 percent off discount but honestly, they should've given you a full refund just because bed bugs are probably one of the worst things to happen! Kudos for getting along with the sis and the rest of your family. Ten days is a long time to people! I'm a little afraid of what it's going to be like cruising for ten days with a lot of people when I spend most of my life with one person and two animals. What did you do with your cats while you were away? That's been the hardest thing for us. Trying to find a place for them, but they're both extra and need a lot of attention.

I never wanted Biden to run for a second term since he was elected. I really saw him as a one and done guy, so I was disappointed when he refused to leave. In the end, I'm glad he did what was best for everyone. Even though Kamala has a rough road ahead, it's nice to see the base invigorated again. I think she'll get the votes back from all those people who Biden lost along his run. Especially the young voters, black and women. The only thing I'm scared of are those college kids who refuse to vote for anyone responsible for the Gaza thing. I get they're young, but by refusing to vote, they're just handing the country to Trump who is the furthest champion of their cause. He'd probably try to even get Russia involved in taking Gaza out. I see the kids all over my twitter timeline talking about that stuff and it scares me. Otherwise, I think we have a good chance of winning. Even though it's not going to matter because you know he's going to claim he won, and all hell is going to break loose. 

My writing has been going well. Not updating the other story this week and focusing all my attention on the last few chapters of this one. I've been really happy with how well it's been received and the amount of people who have been saying they look forward to Mondays just because that's the day I update. I'll take it. LOL I'm glad you've been writing even while on vacation. It's nice you were able to get a lot done since you've been home.

[RokofAges75]

I was originally going to have a friend come over to feed and check on my cats, but since they're both afraid of people that aren't me, I ended up getting an automatic feeder with a camera from Amazon and using that.  I figured it would be less stressful for them than having a "stranger" come over.  It was perfect because it holds more than a week's worth of food for two cats, can be programmed to dispense food at certain times or on demand, and has motion activation and night vision so I could check on both cats and make sure they were alive and eating.  They already had a water fountain that holds plenty of water.  I hid a key just in case I ended up needing someone to come over, but the feeder and water fountain worked out great.  Let me know if you want a link.  Have you figured out what to do with your pets yet?  Dogs are harder than cats.  My sister and parents boarded their dogs.

I hope the young people will vote for Kamala over Trump.  I feel like she has a better chance of getting their votes than Biden would have.  I agree, not voting at all is not a good solution.

That's awesome that your story has been getting such a good reaction!  I hope you finish strong and are happy with the ending!

[mare]

That sounds like a great solution. Cats are so much easier because they don't mind being alone. Although we realized that ever since he was born, Pugsley has never spent one single night alone. When my sister used to come and visit me, she would bring him with her and then he'd stay with me until she came back down again. We can't leave him alone because he's a diabetic. He needs insulin twice a day, which made things even more problematic. At first we were going to board him at the vet but for the ten days it was even more than the cost of the cruise! And that didn't even factor in Chloe. We ended up finding someone who boards cats and dogs at their house. She knows how to administer insulin and came highly recommended. She was also a lot less expensive. She's going to be taking them both. We're hoping that they don't freak out too much. I'm afraid Chloe might revert back to how she was when we first got her, but again, I'm an anxious person.

I made the mistake of reading comments under a news article about project 2025 this morning. I'm always amazed at either people's total incompetence when it comes to Trump or their complete loyalty. How this country is filled with so many people so willing to take away the rights of people just because they feel uncomfortable, it's terrifying to me.

I'm thinking that this story will hopefully wrap up by 25 chapters and then I can start the second story. I had thought the same thing with chapter 22 but I'm halfway through and nope, not going to happen. LOL

[RokofAges75]

Yes, that is one reason I prefer cats.  I like dogs, too, but I don't see myself ever getting one, at least not while I'm single and working.  They are a lot more work than cats, and I would feel bad leaving a dog home alone all day.  I also wouldn't like having to plan my life around the dog and not having the freedom to travel without always having to figure out what to do with the dog.  I know my cats will be fine alone for a few days.  This is the longest I've ever left them, but they seemed to do fine.  I'm sure they missed me, but I never heard them crying for me on the camera or anything.  I'm glad I have two of them so they at least have each other.  Even though they don't particularly like each other, at least neither of them was alone.

That is crazy that boarding Pugsley at the vet would have cost more than the cruise!!  Makes me wonder how much my sister spent on boarding her three dogs - yikes!  I'm glad you were able to find someone to board them for a more reasonable price.  Being in someone's home sounds better for them than being at the vet anyway.  Hopefully Chloe will do fine.  It may be hard on her to be in a strange place, but I'm sure she'll come around once she gets back home with you and your sister.  It's so hard to leave them, though, knowing they don't understand where you're going or that you'll be back.

It's funny that Vance accuses "childless cat ladies" of not caring about future generations when his party are the ones who don't seem to care about anyone who is different from them.  They only care about future generations when they're still in the womb.  Typical out-of-touch douche.  I hope all the childless cat ladies in the country vote against him and Orange Hitler.  There are a lot of us!

LOL I've definitely been there before with not being able to wrap up a story in the number of chapters I want.  25 is a perfect number if you can end on that, but don't rush it or cut it short just to hit that goal.  I still have no idea how long my current story is going to be, but I could see it hitting 100 chapters.  I'm on Chapter 62 with a lot left in my outline, and I don't even care.  I'm enjoying writing it, and there are at least a few people who seem to be enjoying reading it, so I'm not in any big hurry to wrap it up.

[mare]

The reason it was so expensive at the vet is because they wouldn't allow us to use our own insulin, so they were charging per shot on top of the actual room and board. It was way over $2,000! insane! This person we are supplying her with everything so it's a lot cheaper. I'm hoping Chloe will be okay. I hate the fact they don't understand what's going on but like you said with your cats, maybe as long as she sees Pugsley, she'll know she's okay. Even though they don't really like each other.

I think Vance managed to send a fire through all of us. I see Trump is afraid to debate Kamala. I usually never watch those, but I would if they do end up debating each other. She's going to destroy him!

I'm kind of having a hard time with this current chapter I'm working on. I got halfway through it, but I'm not really pleased with the way it's turning out so I might scrap parts of it and redo. Now that the action element is over, it's hard to get my brain to slow back down to this more dramatic part. Conceivably I might be able to stop it at 24, but not sure.

[RokofAges75]

Ah, that makes more sense... but also makes no sense that the vet wouldn't use your own insulin, which I assume they prescribed?  Sounds like a money grab to me.  Definitely insane!  Hopefully seeing a familiar face with help Chloe.  Maybe she and Pugsley will even bond over this!  I was hoping that would happen with my kitties, but I don't think it did.  They tolerate each other and can be on different parts of the same bed or couch together, but that's as far as it goes.  I wish they would be friends and cuddle together like my previous cats have.

I am here for all the Vance memes!  I ordered a childless cat lady shirt off Amazon and can't wait to wear it!  https://a.co/d/7ojNSkA  I also look forward to seeing Kamala destroy Trump in a debate this fall!  One of my like-minded teacher friends and I already agreed we're gonna have to get together, pop some popcorn, and have a few drinks for that one, even if it is on a school night.

Have you had any luck getting further on your chapter?  I hate when that happens; scrapping and rewriting is the worst, even if it's for the best.  Sometimes wrapping it all up after the action dies down is one of the hardest parts!  I've found myself really struggling to find a good place to finish chapters with my current story.  I just keep writing and writing, and the scene gets longer and longer, and I know I need to wrap it up somehow so I can move on to the next one, but I don't know how.  That's how I keep ending up with chapters that are over 5k words.  I guess it helps to make the story look half as long as it actually is, but it makes me feel less productive because it takes me twice as long to finish a chapter.  I finally finished the one I've been working on since I left for vacation today, which puts me three ahead of the one I posted tonight.  Trying to build my buffer back up before school starts.  This summer has gone by way too fast!

[mare]

Actually, Pugsley uses my insulin. We use the same one and since my dosage is so low, I can easily share with him. At least this way it's covered through insurance. Who knew right? LOL

I love that shirt! I just put it in my cart. It seems like Trump is trying to get out of debating Kamala. I can understand why. He knows she'll mop the floor with him. I'm not looking forward to what's going to happen in this country after he loses and refuses to accept the results again. He's already firing up his base. And did you see that little bit of one of his speeches where he said once they go out and vote this time, they'll never have to do it again? That's horrifying!

I did end up reworking that chapter but once I was able to do that, I ended finishing it off. I'm most likely starting on the next one today and ignoring the other story again. This version reads much better and is a little bit faster moving. Now that the action is over, it is very much like how you said your story is going. It's hard to figure out when to stop and start a new chapter but I worked through it and ended on a nice cliffhanger. Which my readers are finally getting used to. At first, they were like, "This was a great chapter, but you forgot to tell us what happened next." 

I can't believe the summer is almost over! It went by entirely too fast. Even though I'm five years removed from teaching, I still get those anxious butterflies this time of year. I don't think that's ever going to go away. When do you start back? And are you still doing fourth grade? I know some of my teacher friends sometimes request a grade change after teaching one grade for a long time.

One month from tomorrow I will be on a boat! YAY!

[Carter-Orange]

Mare, I can't believe it was going to cost $2,000 at the vets for Pugsley! That's more than my cruise cost.  Glad you found somewhere they can be together and won't cost you a fortune.

Julie, that cat feeder sounds great and also that you could keep an eye on them too. 

It's finally started to feel a bit more summery here, although I'm sure that won't last.  We don't seem to get long spells of hot weather here anymore.

[mare]

Same here. It's only now starting to feel like summer and it's almost August. Although we have had a fair share of humidity. Gotta love global warming.

I've been waiting to see if The Invisible Child would surpass Tumbledown on AO3 as my most successful fic on there and it has officially bypassed Tumbledown by hits, kudos, and comments before it's completion. Tumbledown was finished at 22 so this one has hit beyond those things by chapter 20. I'll be posting 21 today. It seems stupid to be happy about something as dumb as that but considering when I started completely from scratch with zero readers, the fact that it's done as well as it has feels like a minor accomplishment . LOL

[RokofAges75]

Oh wow, that's nice that you and Pugsley can share insulin!  That definitely helps with the cost, having it covered by your insurance.

I did see that Trump clip where he talked about not having to vote again after this election. Horrifying! I don't understand how his supporters can call themselves "Patriots" while going against the Constitution and everything the founding fathers worked to establish.  I just hope we can keep the momentum and excitement on our side.

I'm glad you were able to finish your chapter and that it turned out better the second time around.  Cliffhangers are always a fun way to end!  My current story is not that kind of story that lends itself to cliffhangers, but I left my last chapter off on an ominous note and got a comment that just said, "Aww." LOL

Also, congrats on The Invisible Child surpassing Tumbledown as your most successful fic on AC!  I totally get the sense of accomplishment .  I like to watch my stats, too!  The World Will Be Waiting has worked its way up to my second-best story on AO3 in terms of stats, second only to its predecessor, My Brother's Keeper, which I'm pretty happy about.

I bet it takes awhile for the back to school nightmares to go away!  I had my first one of those back in June but haven't had too many lately.  We start back August 19th (for teachers; the kids start the 21st).  I'm still teaching 4th grade.  I could have switched to 5th or 6th if I wanted to, but I really like my 4th grade team and have no desire to teach older kids, especially not 6th graders.  My school is only grades 4-6, so going down a grade would mean changing schools.  There may come a time where I'm ready for that kind of change, but right now it feels like way too much effort to move classrooms and adjust to a new school, new staff, new curriculum, etc.  I've been able to find a better work-life balance than I used to have because I don't have to reinvent the wheel every year, which is really nice.  And I love 4th graders!  It really is a good in-between age.  Most of them are still sweet and fairly innocent (a lot of still believe in Santa), but they have a good sense of humor and can be taught to work independently.

Whoo-hoo, one month till your cruise!  You can think of me whipping my new 4th graders into shape while you're relaxing on the ship LOL.

I'm jealous of you both in terms of weather!  It's been hot and humid most of the summer here, and it will probably stay that way when school starts, which makes for an unpleasant teaching experience when the air conditioning never seems to cool down my corner of the school effectively enough.

[Carter-Orange]

I wouldn't be able to handle hot and humid weather for long, I prefer it just warm.  We don't have aircon in our houses over here, so as soon as we get hot weather we all start to moan lol

[RokofAges75]

I bet!!  I would not survive the summer without air conditioning!

Funny, I just popped on here because I thought of you, Steph.  I was browsing Reddit before bed and saw a post where a guy posted a picture of what appeared to be insect bites on his leg that hadn't healed for two months.  He was wondering what they were, and the top suggestion was bot flies.  Immediately, my mind went to your story and the bot flies in Jordan Knight's brain and how much fun I had maiming that poor doll LOL.  Good times!

Here is the thread if you're interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellthatsucks/comments/1efiqkb/got_bit_by_something_2_months_ago_and_it_hasnt/  The picture he posted isn't gross.

[mare]

Oh wow, that's nice that you and Pugsley can share insulin!  That definitely helps with the cost, having it covered by your insurance.

I did see that Trump clip where he talked about not having to vote again after this election. Horrifying! I don't understand how his supporters can call themselves "Patriots" while going against the Constitution and everything the founding fathers worked to establish.  I just hope we can keep the momentum and excitement on our side.

I'm glad you were able to finish your chapter and that it turned out better the second time around.  Cliffhangers are always a fun way to end!  My current story is not that kind of story that lends itself to cliffhangers, but I left my last chapter off on an ominous note and got a comment that just said, "Aww." LOL

Also, congrats on The Invisible Child surpassing Tumbledown as your most successful fic on AC!  I totally get the sense of accomplishment .  I like to watch my stats, too!  The World Will Be Waiting has worked its way up to my second-best story on AO3 in terms of stats, second only to its predecessor, My Brother's Keeper, which I'm pretty happy about.

I bet it takes awhile for the back to school nightmares to go away!  I had my first one of those back in June but haven't had too many lately.  We start back August 19th (for teachers; the kids start the 21st).  I'm still teaching 4th grade.  I could have switched to 5th or 6th if I wanted to, but I really like my 4th grade team and have no desire to teach older kids, especially not 6th graders.  My school is only grades 4-6, so going down a grade would mean changing schools.  There may come a time where I'm ready for that kind of change, but right now it feels like way too much effort to move classrooms and adjust to a new school, new staff, new curriculum, etc.  I've been able to find a better work-life balance than I used to have because I don't have to reinvent the wheel every year, which is really nice.  And I love 4th graders!  It really is a good in-between age.  Most of them are still sweet and fairly innocent (a lot of still believe in Santa), but they have a good sense of humor and can be taught to work independently.

Whoo-hoo, one month till your cruise!  You can think of me whipping my new 4th graders into shape while you're relaxing on the ship LOL.

I'm jealous of you both in terms of weather!  It's been hot and humid most of the summer here, and it will probably stay that way when school starts, which makes for an unpleasant teaching experience when the air conditioning never seems to cool down my corner of the school effectively enough.

Vets are a bit like auto mechanics. My sister just took Pugsley to get his rabies shot which he needed for being boarded and she was trying to sell her on so many extra things. It's stressful.

I admit, it'll be nice unplugging from reality for 10 days. I'm tired of getting all worked up over something stupid Trump has said or done every single day. Of course, I'll come back and find out we are in a civil war, but while I'm gone it'll be nice!

I didn't realize you were in a 4-6 school. Yeah, it wouldn't make sense to drop down to a lower grade then. Why go through all that hassle if you enjoy what you're doing. I loved my 4th graders. I think 4 and 6 were my two favorite grades to teach because like you said, they are still very young minded, but at the same time you can have real discussions with them. Same with 6. They aren't quite as obnoxious at 7th and 8th graders. A little kooky but still at the age where they listen and get excited about things. I'm glad you still have at least a couple more weeks to kind of relax. Hopefully the dreams won't come anytime soon!

Awww lol I love that. I ended the next chapter I'm posting on a flatline so I'm sure I'll get a few of those as well. Congrats to you too! Now I'm just wanting to hit the 4,000 hit mark before this story is over. I don't expect any more kudos at this point, but I got 6 more yesterday, which means I think people are just giving me kudos without signing in.

I just got the notification that our cruise documents and luggage tags are ready to print. Yay! Parking is going to cost a small fortune, but still cheaper than having to fly somewhere.

It's humid today and yesterday was blech as well, but for the most part, it's been mid 80's, which isn't too bad.

Steph, I don't know what I'd do without air conditioning either. My music room in one of my schools wasn't air conditioned and it was total hell!

[mare]

Oh no! Not the bot flies!! LOL