Jennifer Lyon


Monday, November 2nd, 2020
Weekend Roundup

Happy November!

Let’s kick things off with a snake in the pool. Wizard caught sight of it swimming around. Both of us were surprised it’d survived any length of time since Wizard had just put acid in the pool. Silly snake. He was small, and I kept my freak out small in response :-) Wizard removed the snake to another location and warned him to stay away.

Saturday, I got my copy edits back for SAVAGED DEVOTION, the final book in The Savaged Illusions Trilogy. They were light edits, so I got those done pretty quick. Now I’m doing a final proofread (after two rounds of editing with two different professional editors), and I’m trying to do it slowly enough to catch things that has slipped by us. Then I must send this book to formatting and let it go. This is my last pass, no matter what the perfectionist in my head says :-)

Saturday night was Halloween. It’s Maggie’s favorite night. After the first group of kids, she was so happy, she was deer-hopping. She doesn’t bark, just runs to the door and wiggles all over as if she can’t contain all her joy. If it’s one of the neighbor kids she knows, she’s even more thrilled, and usually manages to get them to pet her and tell her she’s cute. But this, the Year of Covid Misery That Won’t End, we only had three groups of kids, less than ten in total. Maggie was so bummed. Of course, I totally get why parents are being cautious.

I’m writing this blog before we go to dinner with CPA Boy and Special K to the steakhouse so I haven’t found out how Turbo’s Halloween went yet. But I know he had a little party with his cousins, so I’m sure he had a blast.

So how was your Halloween? Are you adjusting to the time change? And did you have a good weekend?

6 comments to “Weekend Roundup”

  1. B.E. Sanderson
    November 2nd, 2020 at 6:47 am · Link

    Ack! I assume it was a harmless snake so Wizard wasn’t in any danger. Personally, I like snakes as long as they aren’t venomous. So yay. Yay also for SD being this close to ready. You’re on the home stretch now! Sorry to hear about your bummer Halloween. Poor Maggie. I hope your dinner went well and that Turbo had an awesome Halloween.

    We only have two kids in the neighborhood and one of them is a baby, so not really a trick-or-treat extravaganza here. Hopefully by next year those kids will move into the house next door and I can give them candy. Don’t get me started on the time change. Other than it, I had a good weekend. Did too much raking, but eh, that happens. Cinder Ugly released today, so I’ve got that going for me.



  2. Silver James
    November 2nd, 2020 at 9:25 am · Link

    What BE said! Most of the neighborhood was still without power on Halloween and we didn’t turn on the porch light but we still had one group come. LG politely sent them away. We didn’t buy candy because who would trick-r-treat a neighborhood with dark house, people staying in hotels, etc.? The dogs are not fond of the doorbell so just as well.

    We’ve been doing some cutting and stacking. LG can get his truck in the driveway but parks on my side (my Highlander has a garage spot) due to the big branch still hanging next to where he normally parks. Supposed to have a crew come tomorrow and/or Wednesday to do the big logs.

    NaNoWriMo started yesterday. I almost met my goal of 3K words a day–hit 2778. If I can maintain the pace, I’ll finish with time to add in scenes from the other books in the series (written by other authors) since mine is the last book this set, plus get it edited and turn in. Yay for no formatting.

    The weather is nice and I’m serenaded by the sound of chainsaws and rumbling power trucks. That’s okay! Most of our part of the neighborhood has power back. One reason this storm was so bad was that the trees still had all their leaves which gave more “area” for the ice to coat and created huge weight on the limbs. Ah well. We met a nice crew from Iowa.

    Not much else going on. Only’s b-day was Friday but we aren’t celebrating until…Wednesday? I haven’t heard back on the particulars. She’s picking time and place. Hey, at least I have b-day cards and $$ for her. ;)

    On that note, I need to finish my internet “rounds” and then get to work. Those darn words refuse to write themselves. Have a great day, everyone! 🥰



  3. Viki S.
    November 2nd, 2020 at 4:02 pm · Link

    What a crazy snake. I wonder if it survived.
    The copy edits got back to you really quick. You’re smart to go over it all slowly and catch anything that got past you before. I’m am so very much looking forward to reading it :).
    Covid has really ruined so much of our fun. My step dad was so bummed out that he didn’t get one trick or treater and he bought all kinds of candy on line to be prepared. He saw a few groups of kids in the area but none came over to their house :(.
    Poor Maggie lost out on her fun too. At least she had a few kiddies.
    I figured the kids were celebrating your anniversary. I remembered that yours and mine are a few days apart ;).
    From the photo it looked like you had a great time and what a lovely dessert plate.

    Middle came over yesterday and we had a great time. He stayed for over 4 hours. I was able to lock him and DIL in to coming for Thanksgiving. My table is huge so 5 of us can easily social distance, talk, and eat :).
    I will be heading out to vote tomorrow. I hope the line isn’t too long. It will be in the 30’s around 9 so a bit chilly.
    OH, we had snow yesterday and last night. Spunk loved watching it fly around. We had 35 mph winds too ;).

    Have a great afternoon.



  4. Jennifer Apodaca
    November 2nd, 2020 at 5:59 pm · Link

    B.E., Congrats on the release of Cinder Ugly! I’ll snag it as soon as I switch to my other computer (I’m on my laptop, which I don’t usually buy stuff on). I finished reading UGLY AND THE BEAST this weekend, it was a fun book.

    Neither Wizard and I know much about snakes, I’m kind of assuming it was some variation of a garter snake, but Wizard used the very long skimmer to move it. Our dinner out was lovely, thank you!

    I can see why raking makes you sore, but it sure feels good to get it done. Hopefully next year you have a nice bunch of kids in your neighborhood like we do. And yeah, a baby doesn’t do much trick or treating, LOL! Soon though :-)

    Hope your soreness eases and you have a great release of CINDER UGLY!



  5. Jennifer Apodaca
    November 2nd, 2020 at 6:05 pm · Link

    Silver, yeah I wouldn’t have expected kids either if I were living in your neighborhood. You guys hot hit pretty hard by that storm from what I saw in the video. I’ve always heard ice storms did a lot of damage. Plus, as you mentioned, all the leaves still on the trees gave the ice more surface.

    With all the cleanup, I’m so impressed you’re doing NaNoWriMo anyway! But then, with your schedule, you’re smart to keep going.

    Happy Birthday to Only, and with all you’re juggling, you di well to have the card and $$$. I hope you guys can have a nice celebration when all your schedule mesh.

    Hope you had another productive writing day!



  6. Jennifer Apodaca
    November 2nd, 2020 at 6:18 pm · Link

    Viki, I don’t know if he survived, he probably wasn’t a big snake. As for the edits, I’m hoping I caught at least most of the mistakes that slipped through.

    I remembered our anniversaries are close too :-) The picture was dark, but that dessert place was amazing. The kids were so sweet to us, and we really enjoyed it.

    Yeah, Covid’s spreading misery. Now I feel bad for your stepdad.

    Don’t you love just hanging out with one of our kids like that? And it’s nice to get the holidays nailed down too. You are better at social distancing with the kids than I am, and that’s very wise. Especially with the colder weather there, among other factors.

    I voted by mail and easily tracked my ballot. But we’ve voted by absentee ballot for years because we traveled and had things going on, so this was the surefire way for us. We feel very comfortable with it.

    So cute to picture Spunk watching the snow!

    I hope you can vote quickly tomorrow.



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