I’ve been keeping myself busy outside of working on the Belfire and client edits/design.

I’ve got a fairly good outline for the Imbolc chapbook, Captain Milo’s Adventures are taking shape quite nicely (even though I still don’t have an illustrator…), I’ve been doing needlework patterns and Carrie has joined me working on rat-stuff all for Etsy – and there’s some photo-manipulations I’ve been working on for ‘fine-art’ prints, also for Etsy. Rhiannon and I have both been working on book trailers, and she’s got a client booked for early 2012.

Of course, I’m always neck-deep in something New Bedlam related as well, this time it being edits and formats for the Town Archives Vol.1 release, hopefully in mid-December.

Since the girls and I are uber-short on cash for the holidays, I’ve been working out ways to get creative for gift-giving at Yule with the chosen-family (and Christmas presents for the absent-family). There’s some awesome things coming in from Etsy for my god-daughter and her little brother, As soon as I can get a pattern printed, there is a majorly – super – AWESOME – gift on it’s way for my sister-in-law.

Of course there will be baking and the like as well, mostly because I can do that, and work at the same time.

Despite everything, despite having to scratch for every little thing (losing almost half your monthly income in one fell swoop really teaches a fast lesson in budgetary economics) there are moments every day that we’re all really rather happy. On the other hand, we’re all pretty low at given times during the day as well; the darkness that keeps infringing on our light is hard to fight against most days. Not being able to talk about it fully with anyone makes it even more difficult, but… eventually I’ll get it pushed down into a ball, tucked in a lock-box in that slowly dying heart of mine. I’m working on it – it’s only been two years, so give me a mo, would ya?

Still, the ups are starting to overcome the downs again, so things are, perhaps, finally leveling out. I’m knocking on wood, because the last time I said that, our little world collapsed. *knockknock* (and check to make sure Milo hasn’t done something to himself again…)

I think it helps when we have live-in clowns at our disposal. See over the summer, the girls and I picked up three baby rats. The personalities these ones have are just spectacular – far more friendly and playful than the last batch, and certainly more well-behaved than the pet-store rescue.

Dax (she wasn’t the one I reserved with the breeder so I don’t have a pic, and I love her to bits – if I’d noticed her in the listings, I would have chosen her anyway…LOL; she’s a black rat with so much white that she’s only got two black spots – one on her cheek and the other on her back*) is SUCH a troublemaker, and the oddest rat we’ve ever had. She spends most of her time on her back, even when she’s awake. She hangs off the top of the cage, or leans backwards from one level to the other. Odd. Definitely odd.

She’ll play full speed non-stop for fifteen minutes, then in mid-bounce, just fall asleep. For example, last night I put a hanging-ball toy in their cage after cleaning it. I could hear them playing with it all the way on the other side of the house, and when I checked on them, they’d pulled it down completely. Knowing them as I do, I know it was Dax who pulled it down – and she was sleeping, on her back, one of the balls clutched in her little hands like a toddler with a banky. She was happy enough, too; her little jaws were just giving all they had, bruxing like crazy, making her eyes bug out a bit, despite being closed.

First time I’ve seen her boggle, I think. I’ve seen her popcorn and I’ve heard her giggle, but this was all-out boggling.

Hex (the blue hooded dumbo) is very angry with me. Not only did I dare clean their cage and put material down on the floor, I put new stuff in it, AND – horror of horrors – I re-arranged their old stuff. As I passed the cage earlier, I saw they’d pretty much put things back to where they were, and she was still giving me the stink-eye as only a dumbo can. I imagine next time I put my hand in the cage, I’ll get a warning nip, but I deserve it. I did, after all, purposely mess things up… tee hee.

Six is a blue hooded top-eared rat. She’s a little more timid than the other two, but is also the one more likely to play (as long as we leave her on her turf to do it). She’s much more laid back about things as well, taking things in stride… well, at least until I flipped their honey orange box over. I got chattered at for that. I suppose it’ll eventually get on its side again, with only one of the little holes for them to get in and out of.

While the cage was being cleaned and set up, they were in the rat ball. Yes, all three of them. There is nothing like watching two rats working together to go one way, while the other struggles hard (and strangely wins) to get going the other.

Naturally Dax fell asleep and the other two just rolled around with her flopping one side to the other. I’m sure I could hear her giggling, too. o_O Odd duck for a rat.

* We know she’s a black rat with a large white mark rather than the other way around because of the color of the white fur. It’s not like an albino or PEW rat, it’s more like a darker rat’s white markings.