When I'm Not Writing

Since I've had this blog for nine months, I figured I was well over-do for a 'getting to know me' post. So, when I'm not writing or blogging, here are some of my favorite activities!

Since we bought our house in March, we've spiffed it up. I love adding details to the house, like this vinyl M over our fireplace (I got it from Wallquotes). If you follow me on Twitter, you might have heard me complaining about how long it took to repaint our deck, it took about twenty hours to get two coats on all those little spindles and another two to power wash it before the work began, but it looks so good now. The previous owners had done nothing to it and the wood was starting to rot, and now you can't tell. Doing DIY home projects is a lot a of work, but the end result is always worth it!

Since we live on one income, I spend several hours a week looking for deals, on sites like Money Saving Mom. I also love looking for recipes on sites like Tasty Kitchen.  It is a lot of work to maximize your grocery savings by planning out your meals for two weeks a time, but I love the thrill of the save.

I love spending time with my three cats. They all came from various shelters. I adopted Charlie (black & white) in 2002, and he's ten years old. He used to live with dogs and drinks out of the toilet and scoots his butt on the floor like a dog. Quincy is nine years old (white & tiger stripes) was abandoned by a woman who moved and left him behind. He lived on the streets during the winter of 2007, until a kind person realized that he was a stray (he still had a collar on) and took him in. When we adopted him, the woman who was fostering him cried, she was so happy that he'd found his forever home. Lastly, Sadie is our little tortoise shell. When we first saw her, we thought she was about eight months old, as she's very small. But she's really four years old. When the volunteer at the SPCA told us she was (then) three and a half, we filled out adoption papers right away. She is a constant joy, full of love and sass. She had been dropped off in a box outside the door, her previous owners couldn't afford her and wanted her to go to the SPCA, since they're a no-kill shelter. The moral of this story? Adopt shelter animals. You're saving a life!

I don't watch much TV these days, but I'm rediscovering my love for Alias, and live for every episode of The Walking Dead. I hope we don't have to wait a whole year for new episodes! I'm also a news junkie and love watching BBC World News & France 24 and other international news stations.

I'm a huge music fan. I used to consider myself an indie-rock fan, but now I just tell myself I like what I like and I have no pretension about it. My favorite albums of the moment are Speak Now by Taylor Swift (such great music for writing YA fiction) & Vampire Weekend's Contra. I'm also rediscovering my love of The Rolling Stones!

I hope now you know a bit more about the woman behind the blog!