Where in the World is Catherine?

The year is off to a quite a start. In order as I noted them, not in order of importance:

1. New story progressing nicely, as is getting ducks in a row for next Queen of Swords Press title. Next up, scheduling events and such.
2. Speaking of which, new Queen of Swords Press title, Point of Hearts (Astreiant #6) by Melissa Scott is up for preorder! This is the brand new Astreiant novel that we'll be releasing on 3/20!
3. Tune in tomorrow (1/18) around noon for Madame Askew Sips the Tea, featuring me! It will be featured on Madame's YouTube channel in a few days. Always a delight!
4. Starting in on the gigantic pile of grant reviews (26!) I have due next month. Yes, this is a (small) paying gig).
5. My beloved big boy kitty, Shu, got sick around Christmas and has been diagnosed with kitty diabetes. 2 shots a day and we are trying to get him stable. He's still pretty listless and has pronounced neuropathy. But everything else is pretty normal for him and he doesn't seem to be in pain so fingers crossed that he makes a full recovery.
6. Jana is fading. She's had a couple of ministrokes and is now being described as "nonresponsive" with some regularity. Yes, there is a DNR. I'm going to check on her this weekend; the nursing assessment is that it's weeks, not months, before she passes.
7. I'm getting window treatments from Costco. But why, you ask? Because all of the 19 ancient vinyl blinds in the house are broken. Jana attempted to repair them and toward the end, would do things like nail them into the window frame. Many of them have to be custom cut because 100+ year old house with many, many windows. I have tried to deal with it on my own and I just cannot. So Costco has a deal with a company in Wisconsin that comes in and does an assessment and gives you an estimate (more reasonable than you'd think) and that is now complete, so next month I get fake wood blinds that the cats can't break. And an insulating curtain for the always freezing walk-in bedroom closet, which is also the entrance to my attic office. Am excited. At this point, this is about my mental health as much as anything else.
8. A friend is taking me to the symphony tomorrow night to listen to a concert about Nordic folklore and another friend is hosting me for a Russian-style tea at her house on Sunday afternoon.
9. More house projects on tap soon. I'm trying to do everything I can while I'm still working and before prices go nuts.
10. Day job continues to be crappy. Have asked my company to look for another gig because the toxicity is starting to dent me.
11. A reminder to fandom in general that a whole lot of people knew NG to one extent or another. I had dinner with him once and shared a whole bunch of friend and colleague circle overlap with him. I knew he had treated some of his partners poorly and done some crappy things. The horrors in that article were a whole new level, however, and I had no idea it was that BAD. Don’t make assumptions about who knew what when or conversely, hold forth about how you just know he’s innocent because he said so in a blog post. I have friends close to the situation and nothing I’ve seen or heard so far suggests that we’re done with it. This stance will absolutely not age well.
12. And the shit hits the fan on Monday. I'm still stocking up and planning and getting things I will need now. Will it be enough? Almost certainly not. But I will do the best I can and help good folks when and where I can. That said, all those who voted for this shitshow because they wanted to watch others suffer? Gonna eat popcorn and not lift a finger for them.

More coherent posts soon. Maybe, Had 2 migraines this week and had to work anyway so am not at my best.