Much better :-)

Yesterday I worked out, and today I got worked over. Definitely feeling better.

Steve showed up bearing Trader Joe's treats (chocolate-almond Lacey's cookies and triple ginger snaps -- yummm!), and we spent some time catching up. I was still coughing, but more than ready to play once again.

Damn -- skip one week and Instant Wuss! My right cheek marked with several red dots, just from his hand. But that didn't mean I wanted him to stop, of course. He asked for my preference: Bed or ottoman? I was already fog-brained from the extended warm-up and I didn't answer. "Would you like me to choose for you?" I nodded. He chose the ottoman. I do like it there; I can pile up the pillows and get a nice high butt thrust.

Here I am placing said pillows:

Flattering angle... not! (eye roll)

You know, he's still insisting that he's always right. I said I suppose that we're all allowed at least one delusion in life. He agreed and went on trying to convince me what a good one this delusion was. When just his hand didn't work, he moved on to implements. 

He said that the lexan paddle was his favorite. Oh, really? I suggested that perhaps he should use it on himself, if he likes it that much. "Great idea!" he enthused. "I'll just pretend I'm hitting myself with it! AH! Oh, that feels good! I love that! Want me to hit myself again?" 

Arrgggggghh. 

OK, at least this angle is better. My legs don't look like they're two feet tall. ;-) Five implements, three of them from Cane-iac. 

I did feel like my tolerance was a bit diminished, but that's no doubt due to illness and some residual weakness. I still relished it all, settled into it and grew quieter as the scene neared its conclusion. (That quiet happened sometime after I gave him a ration of noise for constantly saying, "There you go." "There you go." It's like a freaking tic with him. :-Þ)

Later, after some lovely and much-needed aftercare, I asked if he'd take some more pictures. I'm still working on my new book, and I've had to think about what I want to do for the cover. With Late Bloomer, I had Zelle's amazing designing talents. But now she's working full-time plus doing a lot of family caretaking, and there's no way I would prevail upon her for this. I don't really feel like working with someone else, and lord knows I don't know how to design a book cover. So I checked out the Cover Creator function at CreateSpace, where I'm building the book. They have a selection of pre-fab covers that you can customize (not a whole lot, though), add your own pictures, etc. So I thought it would be fun to have a cover photo of me in front of the computer, tearing my hair out or something like that.

Here's the photo I put on the front (the space was small):

And on the inside cover page, where I have more room, I used this:

Then, after double-checking the interior and converting it to a PDF, I sent the files to CreateSpace for their review. If all is good, they'll send me a proof copy. Exciting stuff. :-) The final version ended up being 164 pages after I'd formatted it. That's for a paperback; yeah, I'm still doing a real book. Later, I'll see if Blushing Books or Stormy Night Publications (or both!) are interested in carrying it, and if so, then I'll have an eBook version with them (and they design covers, so perhaps they can do something fun for the Kindle version). Lots of possibilities.

I really needed today. I was feeling rather forlorn with this damned cold; the blog felt stagnant and forgotten; and all I could do was cough and keep yawning to pop my right ear and think about John's upcoming angiogram. (Note to self: do NOT look up medical procedures on the Internet. Really bad idea.) Seeing Steve was, to use the word I did earlier, restorative. 

He told me several times today during the scene that I please him. It's most definitely mutual. Even if he is delusional. ♥