doctor. who?

You guys.

I have found a new love.

And its name is Doctor Who.

Seriously though. How long have I been out of the loop? I've been hearing bits and snatches about this British television series for years. (Though none of it really made sense. A flying police box? A Dalek? A sonic screwdriver?) I'll be the first to admit that I learned most of my basic Doctor Who knowledge from Troy and Abed's description of "Inspector Spacetime" in Community.

I'll also admit that I wasn't blown away by the first few episodes. But there are so many awesome Whovians in the YA community, that I decided to keep going. And I'm so glad I did.

Doctor Who is a storyteller's ultimate dream. You can choose any time and any setting. (Though I must say those aliens attack London an awful lot.) You can feature characters of any personality or race. Even the doctor changes personalities at times. Every single episode really does get your imagination going!

And, it's heartbreaking. But in a good, aching way. If that makes sense.

So if you haven't watched it--do. It's on Netflix Instant, so you have no excuse.

My puppy is--well-- not a puppy anymore. At least in body. Raiden is now a 55 lb adolescent. All beast and tooth and claw. His adult coat is coming in, which is wonderfully glossy and smooth. It's pretty cool to see how fast he's growing.

He's so happy after eviscerating his chew toy cow.

The home improvements have been few, but colorful. A new pillow here, a new curtain there. We actually bought our first laundry machine (I feel like such a real adult). It wouldn't fit all the way in our closet space, so we had to yank out the door to make it fit. I feel like the curtain adds a little more pizzaz anyway.

And now it is past my bedtime, so I bid you all a very good night.

color and gloom

 Can you believe it's December already? Me neither! Time is ghosting by. As it always does.

Winter has always been my least favorite of the seasons. So dead and colorless. But I'm preparing by putting even more splashes of brightness around my house. We've joined the "paint-your-door-a-pretty-eye-catching-color" trend. I'm quite pleased with the shade of teal hubby and I settled on. 

Woodpecker is very happy with the shade of his door.

Also, one of my good friends just sent me a wonderfully bright paper-bird cutout from China. An artist cut this design out of tissue paper (which blows my mind). But I think they look really lovely against the yellow paper and orange frame.

Also: baker's twine and parcel paper. Who knew such simple items make for such fun gift-wrapping? The snowflakes are perhaps a bit more elaborate. I blame Pinterest. 

And while we're on the subject of crafty things: aren't these pinecone Christmas trees the cutest? I made them with my preschoolers today. All it takes is pinecones, spraypaint and pom-poms. And its super easy for little ones (as long as they're careful not to poke themselves.)

I've been hard at work on the sequel. It's very slowly (might I emphasize the very and the slowly) coming together into something that resembles a story. (Yay!) I'm definitely resigning myself to the fact that I am indeed a pantser. And not a plotter.

I tried to plot. I really did. But the characters were not cooperating.

Typical.

I got this in the mail a few days ago:

*this is supposed to be my scary face...

It's the anthology I was telling you about a few weeks ago! The one with my short story in it!

Here's a quick teaser of said short story:

I'm sorry that I've now ruined Gushers for you forever. Probably KFC too.

Want more anyway? You can get it here (electronic or actual book-style).

in which i tell you what to do with that turkey carcass

Turkey day is almost here! It's one of my favorite parts of the year, the cusp of the holidays, when the air is crisp and the food is rich and I get to hang out with my family (I love them, I'm weird like that!). Also, I get a little break from the preschool, which is nice, and wedding season is pretty much over, which is even nicer! So I can focus purely on sequel writing.

It's been tough going so far, but I think I'm finally reaching a place in the manuscript where the story is starting to tie together and ends that looked loose are now beginning to twine (only took about 32,000+ words). We'll see if this feeling of general goodness lasts. Probably not. But I'll take it when I can.

On the house front I finally finished painting the daybed! Yay! It sits in the same room that the husband and I use for our office, so it's a little bit tempting to take a nap on.

It pretty much ended up the way I envisioned it: bright colors and a lovely, hand-crafted kantha quilt I found on Etsy (the most magical of websites). In addition to housing guests and taking naps, the bed has become a nice little reading nook for me.

As you can see I'm currently devouring Laini Taylor's Days of Blood and Starlight (ie trying not to cry whenever I read a sentence that is beautifully impossible. She has lot of those). It's one of those books that takes me back to the feeling I got when I was reading during childhood. There's something about them that draws me in. Makes me hungry for more, more, more. I've found that as I've grown older and become a more critical reader that books like these now seem rare. So when I find one that makes me turn pages long past my (admittedly early) bedtime, I must rejoice and shout it aloud to the world.

Well done, Laini.

Anyway, I also wanted to share with you guys a recipe for Turkey Soup!! Which is a great (and delicious) way to use every last remnant of that turkey carcass. My mom's been making it ever since I was a wee thing, and I've carried the tradition on into my own house.


Delicious Turkey Soup:

turkey bones                            2 ribs celery, chopped

                                                       

4 qt. water                             1 c. rice (not cooked)

1 c. butter                             2 t. salt

1 c. flour                                      1/2 t. pepper

2 chopped onions                2 c. half n half OR 1 large can evaporated milk

3-4 carrots, sliced

Cook turkey in water using large pot, simmer for 1 hr. covered.  Pick meat off bones.  Measure broth and add water as needed to make 3 qt.  Heat butter in large  pot; add flour and cook over med heat to make light to med. colored roux, stirring often. Stir in veggies and cook another 10 min over med heat.  Slowly add broth (I use a whisk so it isn't lumpy);  add turkey, rice, salt & pepper;  bring to boil, cover and simmer for 20 min.  Add milk and cook till heated through.

Also, note to self, when you decide to leave the leftover turkey meat outside for the stray cats to eat, you will wake up and find this in your yard instead.

Should've thought that one through.

the busyness of life

Fall is busy.

Which makes Ryan a terrible blogger. The busyness also addles her brain a bit, which is why she's now referring to herself in the third person. Alas.

Which I will now stop doing because it requires too much brain power for my addled brain.

Because I'm insane and I really want to take big and expensive trips all around the world, I have not one, but two other jobs I maintain aside from writing big, fat books. I also try to have a semblance of a social life. And settle in to my new house. So when revisions roll around combined with all of these other things, I have a minor panic attack and then sacrifice my blog posts as a result. So I'm sorry. You have fallen victim to my insane schedule.

BUT I'm starting to see the light at the end of the revision tunnel, which is always a good thing. (Generally it means I have about a week or two left in the process.) 

To destress I've been painting furniture. It helps. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the paint fumes. Or the very bright colors. 

The colors go into my grand scheme to give my new house pops of cheer and bright. (Yay!)

I also had a friend show up today to help me paint:

He meandered into my yard and helped by bounding around, wagging his tail and looking generally cute until his actual owners arrived and took him away. I have a feeling I'll see him again, since I've seen this particular pup roaming the streets of our neighborhood before. He must be a jailbreaker.

Other than paint I've been on the road a bit, going to weddings as both a photographer and a guest. While in Richmond I stopped here:

And bought a book just because I loved its cover. A good enough reason, right?

I've also been enjoying the colors of fall. Leaves. All things pumpkin. Cool air. I LOVE this time of year.

What has everyone else been up to? Is fall just as busy for you guys?

a house, a home

Hello!

I'm back!

Where have I been you might ask? Well, nowhere too exotic (sadly). But husband and I have embarked on a new adventure known as home-owning! That's right. I am a grown-up with a house of my very own now.

It's funny, because we weren't really planning on buying a house, but this place kind of fell into our laps, and it's hard to say no to a cute, white bungalow built in the 1960s. (At least, it is for me!) It's the perfect size for the two of us, with a huge fenced in yard for our future dog. And a nice sunny office for both of us to share. It has amazing hardwood floors and it even has one of those telephone shelves in the hallway.

Okay, I'm done bragging.

This entire week was pretty much dedicated to getting the bungalow in working order (aka "nesting"). When we first arrived the walls were this color:

Now many of you might have a different opinion. But for me: brown = bleh. I love bright, happy colors. And this did not fit the bill. For the longest time I was contemplating painting all of my walls bright and vibrant colors, but Laini Taylor's blog posts about her decor convinced me that pure white is the way to go. With a lot of colorful pieces of furniture and accessories to pop all over the place.

So we painted.

And painted.

And painted.

I never really registered how exhausting painting it. After three days it begins to sink in! But in the end it was all worth it:

(This is the one part of my house that is in a presentable state. But note the white walls. And white curtains. I have big plans for the bricks and painting them bright colors.)

The woman who lived here before us grew roses. I'm not the most green-thumbed individual, so I decided to relish the beautiful flowers while they lasted. In my Pinterest inspired beer bottle glasses that my husband is too afraid to drink out of (not that I blame him, I still haven't sanded down the edges).

Also, I found this in my driveway a few mornings ago. Should I be worried? Signs of an impending zombie apocalypse?

On that note. I should be blogging a bit more regularly now that most of my earthly possessions are no longer in boxes and my kitchen is functional.