It's Saturday, so I don't have to work on my novel. Either novel. But I didn't work on the old one yesterday (I waited too long to work on the new one and ran out of time) so I'm theoretically working on the old one today. I'm working my way through it and noting characters' names and who and what they are, what they can do, so that I can reference it later. I need a "bible" like this, because I've already discovered one glaring continuity error. A character who specifically says he has no children later says he does have children, and for him to lie about it wouldn't advance the plot or do anything else except make the reader sit up and say, "Hey, wait a second ..."

I'm also avoiding the house for a little while. What with B away for so long, I'm childrened out, and the kids have guests over today. The guests are no trouble, but there's just a bit of mental pressure there. So I escaped. Mint latte, the chance to goof off on the internet, and maybe I'll get some work done. I'm guessing I have at least 45 minutes until B calls to say dinner's ready.

The orthodontist put elastics in my mouth the other day. They both pull the same direction, instead of opposite, which gave me the weirdest feeling of having my jaw twisted to the side. I'm used to thatnow , but my teeth still ache. Ibuprofen is where it's at for that one. I'm supposed to keep the elastics in all the time, even when I eat, but I can tell that's not going to last. I've broken two of them in two days, trying to eat with them in. I can't even get a spoon into my mouth -- I have to eat from the tippy end. I think I'll do what I did when I was a kid. Take them out to eat, but keep them wrapped around the tip of my little finger so that I won't forget to put them back in.

Come to think of it, I need to pay the orthodontist soon, so that they get their money on time. I need to sort out the checkbook, too -- I have no idea what is and is not in there. Life was simpler when I let B take care of the money. For some reason it's an area where I'm fragile. But I'm hell-bent and determined not to stay dependent on him to deal with the money. Among other things, my family is longer-lived than his; I may someday have no choice.

One of the baristas is busy taking pictures of people here in the coffee shop. Wonder what he's doing? I'd be flattered but annoyed if he took a picture of me. For whatever reason, the mirror is kinder than the camera. These days I generally stand on my right not to be photographed, unless the extended family is getting together to have everybody done. Then I sigh and suck it up.

I kind of hope my extended family doesn't get together any time soon. I definitely want to see my brother and his family, but the rest of the family makes me tired. I saw one group in August, another in September, and right now I don't even want to talk on the phone. I do talk on the phone, because the alternative is internecine war -- the Great Schism of the church had nothing on my family when we go to war.

More cheerful topics. V's tenth birthday is coming up. She's getting her ears pierced, I think. We've found a piercer willing to pierce a child, so we're probably all set up there. Her party won't be until deep into December, because we just don't have a weekend free when the dojo is free, and that's where she wants to have her party. A part of me says, "Hey just invite a friend or two over for a special dinner and be done with it," but I'd lose the argument with B. Sometimes he falls into the trap of wanting his kids to have all the stuff he didn't have when he was a kid. I understand where he's coming from, but I also think that it wouldn't hurt to spend a little less money and use a little more imagination. The wild part to me is that, compared to a lot of kids around here, mine aren't even spoiled ... we have too much money and we live in a place that makes it hard not to spend it. I know, I know, everyone should have such problems. Don't bitch about how hard it is to have money, Zanne.

I can hear the coffee roaster chugging behind me. It sounds like someone playing a bell with brushes. Funny, though -- I can't smell the coffee. As a matter of fact, this place never smells like coffee. Very strange.

I actually have the bare outline of a plot for my novel this year. It's amazing how much easier it is to write it when I know approximately where it's going and the bare bones of how I'm going to get there. Maybe I'll get off the net and work on it, or maybe I'll continue cataloging the other novel. Either way, time to stop goofing off.