The sourdough starter has only gone 10 days between use/feeding, but this past week it went 12 days. I was afraid it wouldn't respond to feeding after such a long time, but it was happy to be fed and puffed up my little loaves without needing extra yeast. (It's hard to tell the scale, but these are small loaves from a pan that has four spaces for dough. That's my newly fed starter in the back, in the two jars.)
There was a lot of laundry after our trip to Florence. We had to unload the trailer and back it into its driveway. I still had vegetables in the fridge that needed to be used, so I made a stew, my Austrian cabbage and pasta casserole and some burritos (because I had Spanish rice in the freezer, so it was easy).
Then I called Apple and the technical support person spent nearly an hour on the phone with access to my screen before deciding there was no way she could help and I would have to contact Microsoft.
On the Microsoft website, I dug around until I found a link to a chat function. I got in the queue for chat, and in a little while I was "chatting" with a technical support person. He decided he need to call me. (They don't just put their phone number out there, but it's 425/635-2970). We did the screen-sharing thing, too, and he was very patient. Three hours later, though, he asked me if I had an earlier version of the document. I was a little ashamed not to have told him this sooner, but I did, and I could open and edit it. I also admitted that I had the pdf I had sent to my son-in-law, along with the notes on the changes I'd made. He told me I would need to go back to that version and redo the corrections. I thanked him profusely and we hung up. I hate to think how long his queue was by then.
Here's what I think happened. I seemed to remember that there was an update to the software after I finished that revision. I don't know how these things work, but I suspect the update chucked out the latest version of the draft. (They want to update again, but I'm not falling for it.)
Charlie is proofreading the new version and our daughter-in-law plans to compare the new version with the pdf.
At that point, I felt I could safely sign up for a month of InDesign, which is what I have to use for the cover. I needed to upload the template for the cover to InDesign, but I needed to know its size. Last time, I just used the template for the Mariah cover and replaced the front, back and spine sections. This time, though, the book is 10 pages longer. I needed a new template and had to find out the exact size. To do that, I needed to open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader. There is supposed to be a free version, but I couldn't find it. I did, however, find a free trial of the Pro version, so I went with that.
My next problem occurred immediately. The software wouldn't load. After a couple of hours of exasperation, I looked for a way to contact Adobe. (I'm afraid I will have a bad reputation with all the tech people if they talk to each other.) I was able to get someone to help me download the software, so I thought I was good. I put in the template, got the measurements and transferred those numbers to InDesign. However, my pdfs of the front, back and spine would only now open in Acrobat Reader, and I couldn't figure out how to move them to InDesign. I went back to my original Pages versions of the parts to the cover and tried to create new pdfs, but they would only open in Reader. The rest of what I did is sort of a blur, but I did manage to get the parts of the cover moved and placed in InDesign. I do remember a lot of writhing and gnashing of teeth. Here's what I ended up with. I hope it will be OK.
I have decided to look for someone who can do the cover for me next time. Perhaps it won't be too expensive to get someone who uses this program all the time and can just slap the parts on the template and be done. I'm hoping to have the book go to Book Baby this week.
I have decided that if there is a hell and I'm not judged to have been a good person, I will find myself with an editing job where the document won't open, software that won't download, a layout with sections that won't fit and will be doomed for all time to have that job to do. My little cubicle will be right next to Sisyphus, who will have been there much longer. Maybe he will be happy to trade places with me for a little while.
Meanwhile, in my spare moments, I took the loom waste off the loom and tied the pieces of Seabreeze together. Then I CO for a dish cloth. There will be little shaggy bits, but I've decided that's a design feature. I may trim them a bit.
I did get to open some mail, which is not my favorite thing to do. I received this nice letter from my credit union. They are reducing the APR by 4% on all grocery and gas purchases from August 1st to December 31st. I always pay off my credit card in full before it's due, but I'm sure many families are not able to do that, and it's nice to know they will get a little break.
On Sunday I cleaned up my workroom, sort of. I will be needing the space for the next story.
We took a walk on Saturday, because it wasn't too hot. I think the mileage was off a bit. I think I forgot to turn it off after I got home.
After I finished scheduling this blog post, we had a shooting in Bend. We were not involved, other than being close enough to hear the shots outdoors and to know what it was. Charlie was out working in the garden in the early evening and heard it. He came in an told me it sounded like a burst of AR-15 followed by several pistol shots. I won't lay out what happened in one of our local grocery stores, but you can read about it here.
If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.
Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.
What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover (some progress made) and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).
What's on my loom: Nothing. I folded it up as much as I could to make more room in the living room. The loom waste is on the floor. I'm still deciding how I want to warp it for placemats.
What's on my sewing machine: Ready for back of T-shirt quilt.
What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress..
What's in The Doll's Storybook: August 26, 2022, "Camping on Wheels."
What's in The Doll's Storybook: August 26, 2022, "Camping on Wheels."
What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Come a Little Closer by Rachel Abbott.
What's in my wine glass: Gozar red, from Yolo County, California.
What's my tip of the week: Getting the seeds out of those little peppers isn't easy, but it's easier if you cut them lengthwise, then grab whatever is left of the stem and pull it down toward the inside of the pepper. Of course, if you want those cute little circles, this won't work for you.
Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.
Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.
If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less.
Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.
<a class="blsdk-follow" href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/highfiber-7365001" target="_blank" data-blsdk-type="button" data-blsdk-counter="false">Follow</a><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))</script>
<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/7365001/?claim=kkvctsdtf4n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
No comments:
Post a Comment