Tag: Cats

I can develop my brooding potential.

Sara Mazariegos

Last Saturday, we spent some much-needed time with friends. I had the idea that, since so much stressful stuff was going on, it would be good to have fun with our friends instead of going to see a movie. We went to Spirit Halloween and Barnes & Noble, and got margaritas. It was really nice. Then we played a Lord of the Rings escape room in a box with one of our friends. It’s good to be reminded that, though the world can be awful, we still have people in our lives who care about us and help us feel better.

Luis and I went on a zoo date on the 14th. We mostly looked at the coatis, fennec, and sand cat. We love the small mammals the most. He likes the sand cat because she reminds him of Boo. 😄 She even has a cat tree and multiple beds like a spoiled house cat who doesn’t wish to be petted. I wish I could have a coati. I made noises at them and they came to me. Then we got fancy Middle Eastern food. I had something called Koosa which is a stuffed squash, with rice and vegetables inside. I’d have it again. I love trying new places in the area.

We were originally planning to see Spinal Tap II but I’m not so sure if it’s worth our time, and it also looks like it’s already left our movie theater. It seems to be relying too much on cameos. I know the original had cameos, but not Paul McCartney and Elton John types of cameos. We’ve watched a few mock interviews with Spinal Tap to promote the movie and it just feels… not the same. It’s nice to see them again, but they’re not as funny.

Speaking of something not as fun… We finished watching The Osbournes the other day. The last two episodes are weird and not interesting. I didn’t know it ended with a Dr. Phil episode. We checked out Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour because we wanted to see more Osbourne stuff, and it’s pretty cute. Plus, it’s educational! I like that they like history so much. It’s a lesser-known fact about Ozzy Osbourne that he was a big fan of World War II history. I have no idea why they chose to end their successful reality show in such a boring way when he was certainly not a boring person. None of them are!

For this week’s writing progress report, I’ll be sitting at 78K words by the end of the day. Eking my way towards the happily-ever-after. There’s still a lot of cute stuff happening in the story, and I’m looking forward to finishing it so I can read it and work on making it better (after a break!) One thing that will be interesting is how I’ll go about editing my long-windedness. 😅 I notice it happening while I’m writing, but it’s how the words come out! I talk like it as well, so it’s not like I’m trying to stretch the word count like a college essay cheater. There’s going to be a fair amount of tightening happening when I edit, as well as getting rid of redundant sentences. Knowing the problem is part of the solution.

“Oh, now you’re saying that I’m redundant. That I repeat myself. That I say things over and over.” – Dr. Frasier Crane, Cheers

The Rolling truck Stones thing.

Sara Mazariegos

I see a lot of interesting things on my commute, as one of my followers predicted. A lot of people get off at my Metro stop, so I end up trudging to my office in a Walking Deadesque crowd of sleepy people. There are loose tiles on the sidewalks, so every so often someone will trip a little and cause this sound like a ceramic plate being flipped on a table. That helps keep everyone on their toes. The restaurant downstairs has a cleaner who’s always out hosing down the sidewalk, but he’s careful to point the water away from passersby. I still always worry about getting accidentally sprayed, though.

I think of Belle seeing the same folks every morning. “The same old bread and rolls to sell…” It’s become kind of nice, especially because it’s the calm before the craziness at work. Work’s not even generally that crazy. I’ve been answering many phone calls and chats, though. That’s been a new experience for me, but it’s not super challenging, as long as I answer and I’m polite.

And the commute home is a nice little break for reading. I’m always eager to get home and be with Luis and our cats, but since I have the time, why not enjoy a good book*?

Boo successfully had her surgery yesterday, so I was extra anxious to get home and spend time with her. We received so many generous donations and a grant from a local organization that helps families with pets who have cancer. We were more than covered, and I’m so grateful. 🥲


She’s been so hyper after the anesthesia. Hopefully this evening she’ll be better able to relax, thanks to her pain meds and chill meds. She gets the entire guest room to herself, and Luis has been keeping her in his office with him while he works, set up with a bed and her own chair if she wants it. She’s very spoiled.

In writing news, things are still plugging along at 500 words a day. A big moment is about to happen in my draft, so that’s exciting. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but I wrote the beginning first, since my brain is sequential and writing out of order might just confuse me. Luis is nearly done alpha reading my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel, so soon I will be making edits on that before sending it off to beta readers. I’m liking this whole Stop Pressuring Myself mode of tackling my writing projects. I only hope I won’t get to December and think I could’ve written more.

* Or a bad book, if that’s where I find myself at times.

“Georgie, don’t you ever get tired of just reading about things?”

Sara Mazariegos

I got into work on Monday after a nice, relaxing four-day weekend and my cousin Alex texted to tell me he was able to get Luis and me tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood for when we plan to be there! Fancy!

I also looked at my calendar and decided to take two extra days off the week of Christmas. I would have only worked on Monday and Friday that week, and that’s just silly. Those two plans started out my week with positive vibes.

We had a nice Thanksgiving time. I even managed not to eat too much, and I discovered I no longer hate green beans. Luis is always teasing me about my hatred of vegetables, but it’s not like I never eat them. I’m just picky about the ones I want to eat.

Now we’ve kicked over into Christmastime thoughts. We’re going to host Christmas Eve at our house, for the Guatemalan tradition of opening presents at midnight. It’s going to be cute to see the cats’ reaction to people being in our house with food and wrapping paper. Leo might be all over everyone. We’re not going to set off fireworks, though. That’s illegal in Maryland. Then, the next morning, we go over to my parents’ house for more Christmas festivities. My parents book us a hotel room so we can stay for the night and not have to rush back home late on Christmas. It’s fun how these traditions have kind of just taken shape over the last few years.

Thinking about the holidays is helpful while writing my novel. As it’s inspired by It’s A Wonderful Life, it takes place during the holidays. I reached 60,000 words yesterday, with help from my old draft. I used as much of an old chapter* as I could, tweaking it here and there to make it fit this new draft. I’m a fan of doing that. Maybe I’m a rare breed of writer who actually enjoys revising?

* And it’s an important chapter!

“Oh, why don’t you stop annoying people?”

Sara Mazariegos

First of all, a photo of Boo Radley so you know who she is since I’ve been talking about her so much. This is not a recent photo. She doesn’t want to be seen with her cone on. She’s embarrassed about it. But she’s hanging in there.


On Monday, they removed some of her stitches from her ear and tail. They will see her again in two weeks (with her brother Leo who already had a checkup appointment scheduled) to remove the rest. She hates going to the vet, but the medication that sedates her really helps her relax. (She still swiped at the vet once, to let her know she was done with her.)

Daily writing prompt
If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?
View all responses


I’ve thought about this before, though it’s not sleep I would skip. I love sleeping. If I didn’t need to be at work for eight hours, I’d have more time to write, which would make me happy. I’d mostly write, but I’m sure I’d end up watching Internet videos. I wish I had more balance, so I could work but also write.

Thanksgiving is coming up on Thursday (and Friday if you go to two separate meals like Luis and I do.) People always talk about the awkward conversations or the big arguments that happen on Thanksgiving when families get together. Fortunately for us, we don’t have a lot of family members who disagree with us and pick fights. Our extended families don’t come over for Thanksgiving, which means things aren’t as stressful too. I can’t imagine having everyone in my family over for the holidays. A lot of people like it, I guess, but… No thanks. I’ve rarely done that.

I have vague memories from when I was little of spending Christmas in Tacoma, Washington, with my extended family there. Grandma accidentally bumped the tree, and it almost landed on my head. I know this from stories I’ve been told.

Having the holidays with the family we usually see is nicer and easier, so it doesn’t feel like such a performance. Better to see the extended family at other times, when we can focus more on seeing them and less on making a bunch of food or decorating. Then again, a lot of the time we’ve seen them has been at weddings…

For my writing update, I reached 50,000 Words! 🎉

I enjoyed writing the scene I wrote yesterday. It helped me easily get to this milestone. Hopefully, the rest of the writing will go as well as writing the first portion. It’s currently 56% finished, according to Pacemaker.

After today (overall goal: 52,000 words) I will have a mini break for Thanksgiving and then I’ll jump right back in.

I plan to fill myself with sweet potatoes, as I do every year.

“Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars?”

Sara Mazariegos

Caring for pets is expensive, but worth it in the long run. Boo had her first follow-up appointment on Monday, and it was funny because it was speedy and she was sedated, so she was so calm and sleepy. Her incisions are healing nicely, and she can get her stitches out next Monday.

We probably should’ve been sedating her for appointments the whole time. 😅

Her biopsy results are inconclusive, so we’re going to monitor her for changes and see what happens. We don’t want/need to put her through any unnecessary surgeries if she’s just got inflammation from allergies. She’s already been through a lot. We don’t want to make her miserable. The good news is that the vet didn’t sound concerned. They didn’t find anything bad.

I bit the bullet and ordered a copy of House of Leaves from Bookshop.org so I don’t have to keep returning it to the library, waiting for my hold to come in, and getting it again. It’s too complex of a story. Even if I don’t lose my place, I have to go back and read what was happening to know what was going on where I left off. Luis always recommends these smarty-pants books to me*. I’m excited to own it, so I can stare at the pages for hours like a mega nerd.

If you’re unfamiliar, and you probably are because it’s a very strange book, House of Leaves is written in a very all-over-the-place way. There are footnotes that lead in all kinds of directions, including going back pages instead of forward. Sometimes, they’re vertical, too. It’s easy to get lost in. This is why a slow reader like me can’t just get it from the library and have any hope of reading it in three weeks! I really like it, though. It’s inventive.

My writing is going well. I’m currently resting at a little over 37,000 words – I will write more tonight. I wrote less last night because the vet called. I’m still feeling much better about this draft. I’m getting the story out and then I can go back in and polish it instead of having to rewrite it extensively. I feel like I’ve improved, which is a great feeling. ☺️

I got us tickets to see Wicked this weekend. I’ve never read the book or seen/heard the musical, so I’m excited to see what it’s all about. I’ve seen/heard two of the songs, so that’s the knowledge I have going in. I own the book but it’s on my massive shelf of to-be-read books. Apparently, the book is very different from the musical and a lot of people don’t like it. It’s curious how that happens… How a disliked/controversial book begets an adaptation people love. Gregory Maguire seems happy with it.

I’m sure he’s happy to have found an audience.


* He got me to read Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, and more Alan Moore than just Watchmen.

“Gives me a chance to tell you what I really think of your wife.”

Sara Mazariegos

This year just keeps getting tougher. Our cat Boo went to the vet on Monday for a dental cleaning and a biopsy on a mass that comes and goes on her ear. We found out she has an ear infection, so she was sent home with pain medication (she got lovely stitches on her ear) and ear drops. She was so loopy and lovey, which was cute if concerning. Her new best friend was the animatronic skeleton we got this year for Halloween. She kept sitting on the floor in front of him and gazing up at him, rubbing her face against his feet and licking his pants.

She also spent most of the night growling at our other cat because she was closed in our room for safety and he waited outside the door. He usually sleeps with us on the bed. He’s so confused.

Fun times!

I hope the results from the biopsy are good. I’m hoping it’s just skin allergies we can treat more intensely. We have to take her to the vet again on the next two Mondays to check that she’s improving and see the next options.

As if I don’t have enough to worry about. 😓

I can’t believe it’s almost the holidays. I say that every year, but, every year, they creep up on me. This year has been rough, so I’m ready for a new one. Not that I think the next four years are going to be great… I mostly can hope they might be okay? I hope they can at least be okay.

Writingwise, my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired story is going well. I keep hitting my writing goals for the day, which is more than I could say for the last story I was working on. I think I was ready to think about this one. If all goes well, I’ll be at 30K words by Friday.

My voice is finally back to normal(ish.) I’m still a little coughy, but some of that is because I’m allergic to Fall leaves (I’m pretty sure.) Let’s hope I don’t get sick again like that for a long time. Or never. Never would be better.

Werewolf Seduction, spooky, scary.

Sara Mazariegos

I have a good problem to have. We’re flying this week, and I have three library books. I’m planning on taking the one I’m currently reading that’s a manageable size (House of Leaves is massive so that one can stay home.) I also have another book, A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire, that I’m really looking forward to reading but I’m trying to finish one of the others first. As a slow reader, I didn’t mean to have three books at once! But I’m juggling them as best I can.

So I can’t decide if I should bring the smaller book I’m reading (Bride by Ali Hazelwood) or the werewolf/vampire book. I shouldn’t bring both, because of limited bag space.

As I said, it’s a good problem to have.

The other night, we watched Cat People, which is a spooky movie featuring the song by David Bowie. It was good, not as cheesy as I expected, and it stars a bunch of actors I like. It’s my first real exposure to Annette O’Toole (not like that! Though she is topless in a scene…) There are three actors with connections to Catherine O’Hara in it — Annette O’Toole is married to Michael McKean who’s her frequent co-star in Christopher Guest movies; Ed Begley Jr. is frequently in movies with her as well; and John Heard is her husband in Home Alone. Interesting coincidence.


In writing news, I’m plugging along. I’ve been doing more making it up as I go along than usual, but it’s been enjoyable to write.

The other day, I thought of a good opening line for a different story. It would be nice if my brain could focus on the story at hand, but I’ll write it down for the future.

Speaking of the future, we’re going to Washington State this week for my grandfather’s celebration of life. I bought a black dress for the occasion, but I’ve since been informed that people should wear brighter colors because it’s going to be more like a party than a funeral. I have no idea what to expect; I just hope my family will be nice.

Then I work a week before Luis and I head to Cleveland for our anniversary!

But more on that next week. 😉

#Goals.

Sara Mazariegos

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A cat. I remember my kindergarten had a “circus day” and I was dressed like a little tiger. I was always crawling around, pretending to be animals. I didn’t actually have career aspirations; I simply wished to change species. When I was a little older, I read Animorphs and envied Rachel for getting to be a cat.

In middle school, I had dreams of being in Cats. I religiously watched my VHS copy of the PBS-televised Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, copying the dance moves in my parents’ living room. I was taking ballet, tap, and jazz dance at the time. I thought I was Broadway-bound for sure.

We all know how that turned out.