A Day Late and a Dollar Short...

Donny and Marie Osmond used to sing a song called "A Day Late and a Dollar Short".
I've always empathized with the songwriter.
I've been trying to keep my mind occupied because I took Annie's death hard.
I know some people will say "She was just a dog; get over it!", but she was my baby girl for 20 years, and I miss her.  I've been feeling guilty for putting her down even though the vet told me it was the kind thing to do.  I didn't want her to suffer, but I didn't want to make that decision either.  I was hoping she would go peacefully in her sleep, but that didn't happen.
Anyway, I have a lot to keep me busy. I have my little independent publishing company, and the website Magic & Make-Believe press to keep up.
I have the big job of learning how to market, and the bigger job (to me) of trying to promote myself and my book.. I'm very shy and while I'm good with words...usually...I do better in writing than I do in person because I don't feel anxious while writing.  I'm alone in my house, sitting on my couch with my laptop propped on my knees, with music from the 70's and 80's playing in the background, courtesy of  Jango .
My big fluffy baby boy, Mac (a 6 year old black standard poodle), is sitting on the couch next to me, looking out the window, hoping that someone will walk by so he can bark. My other little guy, Ben (a white toy poodle) is bringing mouthfuls of dog kibble into the living room so he can eat in front of the TV.
I'm drinking  hot chocolate, and I'm wrapped in a comforter.  I'm...comforted.  Comfortable.
I've been working on a story for the local paper, too, and while the writing portion is easy, the extracting of information from government types is painful.
Despite all of this, I decided to look into writing contests, and discovered I've missed the deadline (by days) of all of the ones I would have liked to take part in.
I also noticed...again, that many writing contests are expensive.  One contest that I haven't missed the deadline for sounds good, but they want $75.00 to enter, plus $50.00 extra for each category that you choose to list your book in.  My gosh, that's a lot of money for a contest. I can't afford that.
So, I'm a day late (or more) for some contests, and a dollar short (or more) for others.
I should go dig out my old album and listen to that song, lol.