A winner and a loser.

So, I won NaNoWriMo this year, with the most words I've ever written in a month: 55,162. I wrote right up until midnight, managing to write 100 or so words before validating for the final time. I actually hit 50k on Sunday, the 29th of November, but I couldn't stop for two reasons:

1. My story just wasn't finished. It still isn't, because I, like a lot of Wrimos, took a week off. I plan on getting back to it when I get free time this week. (My free time got cut down a lot because I got a seasonal job at Dollar Tree.) I might do NaNoEdMo, if some of the others in my region would like to participate. If not, I'll edit at my own pace.

2. Writing was war. At the end of October, I entered a word war with the ML of Sudbury, Ontario. We had to write more words than his wrimos during the month of November, which didn't happen. (We were close, only about a half a million words short.) My punishment was to sing a song of Rintaran's choice, for the pleasure of his region. I was allowed to sing with any Wrimos that I could gather.

Well, today was our TGIO (Thank goodness it's over!) party, and it was time to pay our debt. Here it is, for your enjoyment, and our public embarrassment, the Southern Tier Wrimos (all three of us) singing "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles.

(Sorry, the video jacked up during the end, so it's a bit off.)

The singers are Skervin, Irregex (aka the boyfriend), and me.

Lis and I have a day out!

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Lis and I went on an Owl Homes tour.

Since we were broke and trying to kill a lot of time, we toured each home extensively.

We even took pictures to see which homes we looked best in.

These are those pictures.

All of the Owl Homes master bathrooms can accommodate two people at a time.

Three, if two people get in the shower together.

As an added bonus, there are seats in the showers.

Lis really, really had to go to the bathroom in this house.

I decided to take a bath while she was doing her business.

Lis was really tired, touring all those homes, so she decided to take a nap.

After a while, all the houses began to look the same to me.

It also could have been because I was a little tipsy.

Makin' sure those damned kids stay the fuck off my lawn.

Another house, another bathroom.

This bathroom, however, had a fireplace AND wine in it.

We decided this was the house for us.

So, I kicked off my shoes and sat down to read a book.

Lis, on the other hand, took a nap in the chair.

Then, after we decided we couldn't afford our new dream home, we went clothes shopping.

Lis found her perfect dream dress in a second hand store.

We ended the night at Sprague's, where Lis celebrated her birthday.

Too bad Lis's birthday isn't until June.

I want to be just as crazy as my gran when I'm 89.

Monday was my Gran's 89th birthday, so last Friday our little birthday club of old ladies (plus myself and a few others) took her to Red Lobster and the Erie County Fairgrounds Casino. We ended up taking two cars up, the little old ladies, plus Jack, in one car, and the rest of us in the other.

Our waitress' (the blonde in the middle) name was Madonna. I don't think anyone but myself caught it when she introduced herself, because when I used her name later in the meal my cousin, Joe, gave me a very odd questioning look. Madonna was great, and she tolerated my gran's crazy very well. She listened to Gran's short version of who everyone was at the table (and who wasn't, but was related to her). She even ate some of the birthday cake my aunt made. But, as a former waitress, I know that waitresses will pretty much eat anything they can get their hands on.

I missed the picture of Gran blowing our her candles, so we tried to get her to pretend to blow them out for the picture. It took about five minutes (and five people) to convey to her what we wanted her to do, but finally she did. And she did it the way my Gran does anything - over the top.

Gramma never, ever, looks at the damned camera when you're taking a picture. I have a ton of great profile pictures of my Grandmother, though. In this picture, from left to right, is the group: Sally, Gramma Julie, Aunt Jo Ellen, Miss Pat, Gloria, Jack, Me, Joe.

Remember I said we took two cars? I should have also mentioned that our car was leading, because I knew how to get to Red Lobster and, from there, the Fairgrounds. Because I said this, noone thought to bring a GPS. I never said I knew how to get home - I get turned around way too easily. Well, if you followed my Twitter, you already know that we took a very, very scenic route from the Fairgrounds to Rt 219. We got so lost that at one stop sign we asked the other car which way we should go and they said to "flip a coin." Finally, we saw an old man in his driveway and we begged him for directions. Made it to the junction for 219 and then missed our on ramp, causing for yet another illegal U-turn to be made by both vehicles. We all agreed - next time we're bringing Grace and Milo.

Ketchup.

Sorry, have nothing to post about really.  Words don't seem to form correctly in my mind recently. In the meantime, here's a picture of me just before my friends and I were politely asked to remove ourselves from the Dollar Tree.