Missed all of last week, didn’t I? Again, things have been running together, and it seems like only yesterday I was prepping for Resurrection April (a WriYe challenge), and here it is rapidly approaching August.

I vaguely remember how insane things were when my Grandfather died. Grandma died so quickly after a few years of Alzheimer’s that there was no time to feel the slow/speedy movement of the minutes, hours and days. Limbo followed their deaths, due to family issues amongst their children. I stayed out of as much of it as I could. There was none of this flurry of sorting, cleaning, back and forth, will stuff, lists and packing – not that I was involved in anyway.

My mother was a packrat. Seriously, if it hadn’t have been for family members tidying for her all the time, she’d have had a prime spot on Hoarders.

Thing is? I’m only there when I can be, the oldest of my younger brothers is there so much more often, the youngest whenever he can. I do feel bad for not being there as much as I should, but between my vehicle saying it was time for a long rest, and fuel costs, and trying to find a vehicle to borrow, I can’t do much more.

Also, for the last month I’ve been fighting with horrible mouth pain, the meds knocking me out quite a bit. At least the diagnosis was pretty simple. Infection, and either infection or stress-induced cramping. You ever have a charlie-horse in your calf or thigh? Think of that, wrapping around the left side of your jaw, over your cheek, nudging your eye socket, and across the top and back of your scalp. It doesn’t release, it doesn’t fade, for two weeks. It never – not once – occurred to me that it could be anything more than remnants of the toothache, and certainly never thought it would be cramp. One muscle relaxer and it let go, just like a good old charlie horse in the calf. I cried for five minutes, I was so relieved.

Long story short, here’s a Scribbles post to make up for last week. Today’s 52 Weeks will be posted later this evening.

We’re still working on Mom’s house. It never seems to end, and when things start to disappear that need to be set aside for somenoe else, or someone’s tossed out something that was meant for someone (either through the will or by list) it gets frustrating. None of us can be there at the same time most weeks, and even when we get those scant few moments, a lot of times we end up lost in reminiscing. It’s hard to get things done like this, and some are more impatient than others.

I’m one of those. See, the faster this thing is settled and over with, the faster I can back away again. BUT, because I’m 20 miles away and usually vehicle-less, I can’t be there as much as I want or need to be.

That adds to the frustration, and I’m on a breaking point already with stress. I have royalties that need to be finished up, I have a house of my own that needs sorting and cleaning so I can bring my stuff home, and I’m also responsible for a lot of the Glas Celli workings. Not to mention, I have other work and freelance stuff that needs to get attended to.

As my brother repeatedly reminds me – “Goosfraba” – which I know was intended to keep me from actually snapping and speaking my mind on certain subjects. Or, I suppose, more to the point – going nuclear and leaving a pile of quivering jelly behind.

I won’t give the jelly the satisfaction, though.

This is a favorite with my girls, though our old recipe calld for sugar rather than honey. Since the Beegirl prefers all things sweetened with honey, this is the way to go!

No Bake Honey Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients

2 c peanut butter, divided
3/4 c butter, softened
3/4 c honey
3/4 c oat bran
4 c graham cracker crumbs
2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Mix 1 1/4 c peanut butter, butter and honey in a large bowl until smooth. Fold in oat bran. Blend graham cracker crumbs and 1/2 c mini chocolate chips. Grease a 9×13 pan, and press this mixture into the bottom, smoothing and evening it out as you go.

Melt remaining peanut butter chocolate chips in the microwave or a double boiler, stirring often. Pay close attention, because chocolate chips will sometimes not melt evenly, and cause weirdness with the topping.

Refrigerate overnight. This should make 5 dozen bars, if you cut them carefully.

For Journalling:

Somewhere I got lost doing my 10 in 10 thingy. So, here is the next one in the list, and hopefully we’ll find the remainder at some point.

Write about 10 restaurants you’d like to visit, but haven’t yet.

For Fiction:

Use “Darkness Settles” as a title, and integrate the line into a story somewhere around 2500 words. If you post it to your website, please stop by and leave a link!

(Courtesy www.diaboliquestrategies.com)

Visual:

Auditory:

Title: Every Sigh, The End.
Author: Jason S. Hornsby
Publisher: Permuted Press
Copyright/Release Date: 2007
Pages: 374

In the next millennium, time will lose all meaning, reality television will take an all too terrifying turn, and the living dead will roam the streets in search of Ross and everyone that is important to him.

As a general rule, I find too much scene-hopping, tense-hopping combined with a blend of fast and slow-moving scenes to be too much.

Every Sigh, The End. is utterly loaded with these issues, and had I been on the receiving end of this one in a slush pile, I likely would have skipped over it. What doesn’t work for any other novel I’ve read works amazingly well for Jason Hornsby’s story of Y2K paranoia. In fact, the fast-paced and sudden changes almost seem like a character, they’re that much a part of the story.

The author takes steps to keep the reader fully immersed in the story, leaving just enough mystery to keep you turning the pages. This is far from just another zombie novel; I’m never entirely sure if the zombies are real, imaginary, actors, or a combination. What frightened me, seriously, was that a scenario the likes of this could happen. Corporate greed and the casual acceptance of not-so-reality reality TV has led us into a gray area of nonchalance, and I believe Mr. Hornsby has pointed this out rather deftly.

“The end of something was all I could relate to. When I entered a room, the need for a new beginning, catastrophic upheaval, slash and burn method, was overwhelming, stifling even. In every new place, at every party or restaurant or video or music store that no one really bought anything in but hung out at nonetheless, all I could see were the faces of people whose lives were made up of perpetual worst days.

Everything needed reorganization; to fall apart and be rebuilt from scratch. All I wanted was the entire world to drown, to choke on the blood of its own sigh. It was late December, 1999, and I’ll tell you everything. It’s just—”

The main character, Ross, is a stumble-bum of a guy, just going through the motions of living life. While the supporting characters are necessary to move the story forward (and back, and way ahead, and back and forward again), Ross stands out. He’s every guy, and he woke up in a nightmare he can’t shake loose. Or did he? I love never knowing for sure, just what is really going on. While the book can be hard to get in to, due to the time and scene-hopping and tense changes, it is well worth the push to get past that.

I have to commend Permuted Press for finding this oddly twisted but absolutely brilliant gem amongst the rubble.

4.5/5

And that’s it for my catch-up… will post more later, and – knock on wood – eventually the routine will settle. Well, as of August 1st, it will, one way or another.

’til next week…
<3 JL