Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show

Yes, Sir.  Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show is back home for the moment. Had a successful swap meet in Decatur, Texas, and a good visit with the kids. Even got to see the college student.  She sacrificed some sleep to meet us near campus for dinner last night before returning to her regular semester madness.

Hubby found some car parts and lantern parts at the swap meet, and I found enough ammo to swim in (well, a slight exaggeration), so I'm very happy.  Here goes the weekly check-in:

The Good Stuff:
- I actually got a short story out to critiquers, and the good news is, I learned the premise is completely wrong before submitting it.  Also, there's no conflict.  Also a good thing to learn before submitting it.  You guys are awesome.
- I tracked on Lose It!, upgraded to the premium coverage to be able to track more things, I read, and I did my Morning Pages every day
- Got the kittens to the vet, and the last one got spayed on Friday.
- I got a lot of walking in over the weekend
- My step-daughter showed me an app on her phone (she uses Android) called Workout Trainer. I found it in the App Store and installed it.  I think it may work better on the iPad, though, so I'm putting it on there.

The Not So Good Stuff:
- I got a strange invoice from the vet in my email on Saturday (their system automatically emails receipts when they process a payment).  There are two (positive) possibilities that could have triggered this, and one is not acceptable to me.  The first is what it says, they gave me a spay job.  They already discounted the others, it's not right for them to just give me this one -- I need to pay them.  The other possibility is one or more kittens got adopted on Saturday and they charged enough of an adoption fee to cover some of my costs and credited my account.  There's a third alternative, but it's not pleasant to consider, so I'm not going to.  I'm puzzled, but I'm sure all my questions will be answered tomorrow when I go out to pick them up.
- I didn't get my bike time this week.
- No PBOTL time this week.
- I didn't have any time this weekend to really ponder the CAT EYES story revision, but I did sneak a few minutes reading about plot on my Kindle app.
- I woke up this morning with a lot of drainage into the back of my throat.  The throat is starting to feel scratchy, and I'm dreading what this is likely to mean for the next week.
- The washer is dead, and the one we have on the back porch is also, for all essential purposes dead, so I'm hauling laundry to the laundromat for the foreseeable future until we find the machine we want.  At least the dryer still works, so I wash it and bring it home to dry.

The Week Ahead:
- That said, I want to get more bike time this week
- I need to come up with a good revision plan for CAT EYES
- I need to pull PBOTL out and resume work on it.
- I need to get some things done around the house
- I'm going to do some preliminary work on the taxes
- Pick up the kittens, assuming they haven't all been adopted.

Brainstorming Again :)

Let's start by stating everyone here is good. Nothing totally unexpected, bad, or incredible happened all week, was pretty boring for the most part. I bought some lightbulbs for my fabric closet, that's probably the epitome of this week's life excitement, other than losing 2 of the 3 lbs I'd gained.

But - isn't there always a but? - I have some book news.

The Agent called Friday to discuss the current state of things with SPORE and he wants to see more ideas for media hysteria (especially deflection and containment), the possible addition of one new character to be the nexus of the media mess, and potential different titles that aren't so cheesy. Oh, have Mindy be more pro-active and go after her hubby. Most everything else was gushing.

I've spent the last couple of days reading about media manipulation, hysteria and hype, and I think I have solid ideas for that and potential additional characters, but I'm having a lot of trouble with a new title. That's pretty normal, though, I think.

Anyway, that's where that is. I'm going to get the ideas to him on Tuesday, I think, and we'll go from there.

That's about it for me. Have a great week, everyone!  {{hugs}}

Premium Lose It!

I'd decided I liked Lose It!, and I'd been debating about upgrading to Premium for the nutrition tracking and step tracking capability (the awesome barcode reader is free).  Then I got the welcome email, and they made the push to upgrade.  What sealed it for me is they do not auto-renew.  They send a reminder email, but if you don't renew, they just drop you back down to Free.  How cool is that?  Sold.  I upgraded to Premium this afternoon (one year costs less than the next three months of WW was going to cost, so I figure it's a good thing to try).

I set up goals for carbs, fats, protein, fiber, sodium, and steps.  My protein and fiber is green, but my carbs and fats are in the red zone (using today's numbers).  No surprise there, but I'm glad to know I'm getting enough protein and fiber. The challenge, then, isn't to increase protein but to decrease fats and carbs (well, duh!).

In an aside, I'm so glad I got the iPhone.  It is such a useful tool.  I'm trying the Moves app.  I was a little concerned about it knowing too much about where I was and what I was doing, but it isn't quite that sensitive.  I've spent most of my time the last couple days sitting in front of the computer, so it's atrocious.  Unfortunately, it can't tell when I'm on the stationary bike, so I don't get a cycling "bubble" for that time.  It still shows up as walking, and registers less time than I was on the bike.  I'm still carrying my pedometer in my pocket, but we'll see if Moves "learns" after I've used it more.

I need to check out Tammy's walking video.

Report

I want to talk about my many accomplishments last week. I want to, but I can't because there were almost none. Well, that happens sometimes. I guess.

Last week:
- Did household chores.
- Babied my back.
- Fought a cold and sore throat.
- Set up the Author of the Month at the store downtown.
- Filed and cleaned desk.

And that's it.

This week:
- Household chores.
- Continue to baby back and to fight this lingering danged cold.
- Start publicity for Author of the Month.
- Work on Murder by the Mile.
- Restart my diet and exercise program. I've been unable to really pursue my fitness goals since freaking October when I hurt my ankle and hip. After that, it's just been one illness or injury after another. But I'm on the uphill slope from all that, I feel, so I'm going to slowly, slowly, slowly begin again. As for the diet ... yeah, I'm eating less sugar and more veggies and better protein, but I could be doing so much better, and I know it. I eat when I'm depressed, and I've used food to drug me over the holiday season. Well, there are worse faults. I guess. Anyway, this week I will start doing better.

I do believe in that old, tired adage about "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." I believe in the power of new starts and getting back up after being knocked down. I refuse to surrender my health and happiness just because the odds and habits are against me. I can beat the odds, and I can make new habit. Yeah, I'm trying to convince me, too. But other people do it. Why not me?

Anyway, that's what's going on in my world. Hope things are going well in yours.

Made it through another week! :)

Mostly this past week has been incredibly good. The one thing I can think of that wasn't, really wasn't bad at all, so I'll start with it. :)

The Bad :^( (see the saaaad face? lol)

I was up 3.2 lbs at weigh in on Thursday. While this usually would have me grumbling, I really can't because 1) I had so much 'good' stuff happening I really didn't worry about points, I just kinda bipped through my week tracking but not really caring about the numbers 2) Doc said not to exercise until Friday (poo!!) and 3) these stupid anti-inflamatories seem to make me both hungry and bloaty plus weight gain is a common side effect. So I'm up, but it's okay. :)

As of tonight, I'm no longer taking the anti-inflamatories. Hey, I lasted a week. On an Rx med. Which is just about a record for me for a non-antibiotic. lol I'll just take some ibuprofen if it starts hurting again. They don't make me bloaty. ;)

The meh :^|

Sewing room is in shambles. Again. Desk is a disaster. Must take care of both. Soon.

The Good :^D

I was the first person selected to serve on the City Council and my path to World Political Domination has BEGUN!! Bwahaha!

Just kidding. I have zero desire to progress beyond this point, but my first meeting went well, I voted on some things, and everyone else on the council seems REALLY nice. Yay!! They also videotape the meetings (boo!!). I really do not like being filmed. It's that craptastic self esteem thing, I think, but it'll be okay. No one supposedly looks at them, anyway, and it's just til the end of this year.

I bought a case of Girl Scout Cookies to send to overseas troops this week. That made me smile. :)

Started a table-topper/wallhanging sized quilt for a friend and it's been LOVELY to sew. We're making a trade and I really think she'll like it when it's done. Heck, I'm making it and really like it. I rarely do appliqué since it's so much more work, but this is simply gorgeous!!  I'll post a pic on FB after she's received it, but I'd put a pic of some of the fabrics up there the other day. :)

Money's good, family's good, health's good, pets are good, pretty much everything is good. :)

Picked up the ActiveLink for WW this week, since I started exercising again. It has an 8 day assessment where it figures out your baseline for activity before starting to nudge you forward. Should be interesting to use. :)

I had two - count 'em, TWO - great dates with my hubby this past week. We actually got a little dressed up for the first one (for us, nice shirts and jeans) and went to the nicest restaurant in the area and ordered an appetizer and everything. Why? Just because. And it was awesome.  And I did not care one bit how many points my coconut chicken salad was. So there! ;)

For the second date, it was because it's Free Pie Wednesday at Village Inn and it was like our Valentine's Day Date. We had a nice supper, just us two, held hands the whole time, and split a piece of pie. Also did not care about the points. We talked a lot about my book and the phone conversation with The Agent's assistant and how she wanted to know if I could type up my ideas because The Agent was SWAMPED. But I'd already typed them, and sent them immediately, and she and I talked a little bit about how I'm totally cool with changes, I'm used to it, and feel free to mix and match from the ideas or suggest anything else. I'm raring to go. She was relived to hear it since a lot of authors aren't as open to modifications. So, yay on all that!

Then Friday she sent me an email to tell me The Agent was mulling over my suggestions. He's leaning toward a couple of the ideas and we had some back and forths (mostly me trying not to squee too much while assuring her I was absolutely delighted) and I'm likely to hear back again on Wednesday. So Yay!!!

One of the selections seems to be very likely while the other is still at least partially in the air, so I'm stating making the corrections for the likely change. I'll make a new file, just in case, but this at least will give me some work to do on SPORE.

Given the rest of my week, I'm delighted to take a 3lb gain. ;)

{{huggs}} and have a great week, everyone!!

Getting Ready

I leave Thursday morning for Huntsville AL en route to Destin FL. Between us, I've looked at the forecast for here next week, and I'm glad I'll be there! The only regret is that Eric will have to tough it out all alone. Well, him and the cats.

Good Stuff:
- Got a little work done on King Or Country. The main points are a little clearer, so hopefully I'll be able to cut the fluff.
- The last of our cabinets came in yesterday. The installer is hoping to get them in Monday. I'm hoping for that, too. It still won't be done until March (yeah, I know, that's only 2 weeks away) because it will be at work stoppage while I'm away, but if the cabinets go in Monday, we might get the last section of counter templated before I go, and I'll schedule the install for when I'm back. Even so, we're looking at quite a bit of change in about 2 months, which is less painful than I expected it to be.
- Did a fair amount of house cleaning in areas that usually don't get much attention.
- Eric's Dad and stepmom have bought airlines tickets to come out here for Eric's graduation in May. This is huge. He and his dad are mending fences, and Eric was disappointed that his dad wasn't here for the last graduation. Now I just have to figure out where to put everyone since my parents are coming, too! It's a good problem to have.
- Started packing for my trip. Yup, I'm excited.
- Printed a bunch of recipes to try so I have no excuse for not cooking. Eric asked me if I wanted to go for breakfast this morning and I said, "Oh, yeah, 'cause we never eat out anymore. How about I make us some omelets?" So I did. I'm cooking dinner tonight, too.

Not So Good Stuff:
- I don't see it in the last couple of updates, but I broke down and bought new jeans. I hope to not wear them too awfully long. Certainly I hope to be back in the smaller size by the time Eric graduates. FWIW, Target has several different cuts of women's jeans now with a big poster about the different fits. It helped a lot, and they're reasonably priced, so I'm not stressing about it.
- One of the Scottish societies we belong to has had a serious drop in membership. A new board was elected a few months ago, and I volunteered to do the newsletter, but getting input has not been easy. It doesn't help that we've basically been combing through the ashes of what's left and salvaging what we can. I'm trying to be patient, but it's a service organization and in the year we've belonged to it, we've done no service. Everyone has talked a big game, but there's been no walking the walk. Our membership is paid through fall, I think, so that's the amount of time they have to get it together as far as I'm concerned.

This Week:
- Pack.
- Prep food for Eric so he eats healthier while I'm away.
- Clean out the car. Maybe get it washed if the weather cooperates.
- Get more house cleaning done.
- FINALLY get the rest of the kitchen put together.

Valentine's Day

I took Mr. L out for dinner on Valentine's Day.  He usually buys dinner for us, so I thought if I did it for a change, that would make it a little special.  Of course, we're in Central TX, so our choices are limited to several varieties of Mexican, Italian (owned by Hispanics, but they make the best pizza in town), and an overpriced "bistro."  I opted for the place that makes the best fajitas in town and gave him the option of choosing any other the others for us if he preferred.  We went for the best fajitas in town.  They gave the ladies roses as we came in, and out waitress remembered Mr. L (she always remembers him but not me...it's okay.  She had the baby since the last time we were in, and the neck tat (Jacob) is still there -- nice enough girl, but why do people do that to themselves?)  Ah well.  On to the week:

The Good Stuff:

• Lady and Tarzan have had their annual exams.  Lady has some problems I don't completely understand (it involves ulcers in the back of her mouth and abdominal discomfort).  She got antibiotics and steroids shots and has a followup visit next month.  I hope that does the trick for her.
• Two of three female kittens are spayed.  The last one (Delta) will be done next week.  For the latest on them, check the blog.
• I rode the bike, read, and did morning pages.
• I made progress on the crepe myrtle trimmings
• I decided to drop my Weight Watchers membership for now.  I'm tracking, but I'm not doing what I need to do to make the program effective for me, so I'm not going to spend money on it.  I've been testing the Lose It! app this week and like it.  I'd like a little more detailed nutritional tracking -- I'm not sure the Premium version ($40 a year) will be much more detailed or not, but it's easy to use.  I signed up for MyFitnessPal this morning but I deleted my account when entering my breakfast turned out to be very unsatisfactory. If you have any apps that allow you to enter information from the bar code on your package, it makes data entry a dream.  No more searching the database for the particular oddity you're eating.  In Lose It!, once you've entered the food (or scanned it in), it's in your My Foods database, and it's easy to locate after that.  They don't have an iPad app, but the iPhone version works fine on the iPad.  I mostly use the iPhone version or the web site.
• I got the bills paid that I was wondering about
• Mr. L did a wonderful job decluttering at the top of the stairs while I was gone.  It looks marvelous.

The Not So Good:

• I haven't dug out PBOTL yet
• I didn't do any additional work on my short story after getting off the train
• I don't know where to start with the FM concerns some users have, but, thankfully, Zette says to take my time and not worry about them for now.
• My membership at OS Training expires next month, so I need to get cracking on getting through the Joomla! classes and decide if I want to renew for six months or a year -- the year is most cost-effective.  For now, I think I'll let is lapse.  I can reactivate at any time.
• Haven't decided about the trip to SA yet
• Not sure I'm reoriented to life, but then, was I ever oriented to begin with?  I don't remember.

The Week Ahead:

• Continue tracking in Lose It!, doing morning pages, riding the bike, and reading
• Find PBOTL and get it out
• Declutter the parlor
• Mow the yard, dig weeds, and continue crepe myrtle maintenance plan.
• We'll be in Dallas next weekend visiting the kids
• Look for ways to get more protein in my diet
• Go to the Friends of the Museum party tonight at the bistro mentioned above

Lose It!

I mentioned in my weekly check in I was going to evaluate my participation in Weight Watchers.  I love the program.  It works when I work it, but I haven't been working it for the last year or so.  It's like paying money for a gym membership and not using it, so I decided to look into alternatives. 

I've been tracking my points since the beginning of the year, but I'm not taking the program seriously.  I think there may be a better use of my $50 per quarter.  As a result of that, I checked my iPhone apps and decided to give Lose It! a try (they have a good website, too).  Their basic services and apps are free.  A Premium membership is $40 a year.

I had just discovered Weight Watcher's barcode scanner, but I hadn't used it yet.  Lose It's barcode scanner is wonderful (I imagine WW's would be, too).  Instead of looking up individual food items, scan the package -- I don't think this works for fresh fruits and veggies, but maybe if you have a bag of apples...  This is where the smart phone app shines, but the site works fine with their look up lists as well.  It's simple and uncluttered. 

Also, they appear to have privacy enabled by default.  I don't remember setting up any privacy when I activated my app on the phone, but when I checked settings on the website, they were locked down pretty tightly.  I can choose to open my information up to the world, but I have to go out of my way to do it.  That's important to me.  At the moment, I don't think they even have my name.  I used my pbbs address, and that's what it's calling me.

You can have friends, and you can choose to post to Facebook and Twitter (I'm sure you've all seen some people's posts), but by default, none of that is enabled.  I mention this, because if anyone decides to use the site or is already using the site and wants to use the friends capability, I'll open it up.

As a result of this finding, I plan to deactivate my WW membership before the renewal period at the end of the month.  From my previous experience, my account remains and I can participate in the forums if I want, but I can't use the tools.  At some later date, if I want to reactivate, WW makes it very easy.  I do appreciate this about them.

I looked at Sparkpeople, but they charge for the app now, and when it was free, it didn't work very well at all.  For now, I'm checking alternatives.  One thing I'm noticing from my Lose It! tracking -- I need to get more protein in my diet.  I think if I spring for the premium membership, I can get more detailed nutrient tracking, something that's available free on the SparkPeople site.

Here I am!

Busy weekend. I seem to be saying that a lot lately. Fortunately it's been a lot of fun stuff.

Good Stuff:
- I saw my bard mentor twice this week--once at a meeting for the St Louis Scottish Games (he's on the board, too), and again yesterday to talk bard stuff. He helped me flesh out my warrior queens. At some point (maybe at the St Louis Games) we're going to do a tag team story telling. I'll do my warrior queens and he'll do the men in their lives. Well, some of the men. We don't have time for all of them.
- Got some house work done. I'm always so glad to have it done. Never so glad to do it.
- Did some work on the embryo, and then decided to put it aside for a few days to work on King Or Country a little bit. Sort of a busman's holiday, plus I think I'm at the point on the embryo that things are going to change when I get to the retreat and start brainstorming with Rachel (Hauck) and Susie May (Warren). Why spend time staring at the blank page when what I come up with is likely to be replaced with something better? The embryo already has a LOT of white-out in it!
- Turned in my paperwork for taxes to my preparer (Eric).
- Printed receipts and stuff for taxes for next year, and they're already filed. I know, it's so efficient! Let's hope that lasts.
- Yesterday Eric met a Yorkshire Terrier he liked. There might be hope yet that I'll eventually get a little dog. We might still have to get a big one (he's thinking Irish Wolfhound) to balance it out, though, and probably not while Chloe is still around.

Not So Good Stuff:
- We're still eating out too much. However, we did discuss some strategies for healthier eating for Lent which will hopefully carry on past Easter. Neither of us has been eating as well as we should. I see a variety of salads in our future.
- Still have plenty of housework to do.
- Our re-ordered cabinets are supposed to get to the store this week. There's no telling how long it will take to have them installed. I wish I could nail down a timeline so I could at least know how done things would be before I go to the retreat, but until they come in there's no way to do that. They don't have a regular delivery day; they just bring stuff when it comes. Unfortunately it's shipped from Chicago. If the warehouse was in St Louis, I'd go pick them up myself.
- I'm having the worst time keeping the timetable for the retreat in my brain. For my own edification, I leave Thursday the 21st, where I'll spend the night in Huntsville AL and have dinner with my writing partner, Suzy. The retreat starts at 5 p.m. on the 22nd and goes until the evening of the 26th. The 27th I'll head back to Huntsville to pester Suzy and come home March 1. Maybe now I can keep it straight. Probably not. For some reason it was easier last year when I flew down.

This Week:
- Do the newsletter for the Scottish society.
- Try not to call Lowe's twice a day to see if my cabinets are in yet.
- Do March Powerpoints for church.
- Start a packing list for the retreat. (I can take more since I'm driving. Not sure that's a good thing.)
- Clean out Eric's car.

This and that

Fought with my back all week. Battle is still going on, but it is better. I just have to be very, very, very careful, and that gets old.

Haven't worked on MBTM as much as I hoped. It hurts to sit in my chair very long. Of course, it hurts to do just about anything. But it is better. No, really, it is. I'm just worn out.

Had writers group meeting Saturday. It went well. They are moving from being a social group that writes to being a writing group that socializes, if you get the difference. I'm excited that more of them are writing between meetings. It's been a lot of work so far, but I'm seeing results, so the effort is worth it.

Thought a lot about Jean this week and her trip home. Glad to hear from her. Glad the trip, while sad, was good. Some families behave badly at funerals. I'm glad hers doesn't.

This week:

-- Baby my back.
-- Household chores as I can.
-- Murder by the Mile.
-- Set up a new display and author of the month at the store downtown.
-- Stay on top of the various blogs.
-- Count my blessings one by one.

I hope y'all have a great week. Talk to you later.

And The Angels Sing

I think you all know my grandmother is no longer in pain.  Her youngest child got there last Saturday morning, and by that evening, grandma was gone.  At peace with her God and the world.  I can't feel bad.  She led a full and complete life, and she wasn't able to do anything she liked to do anymore. She will be missed, but it was wrong to try to keep her in this world at this point in her life.  I'm thankful my family knows how to do a funeral.  I'm thankful for the Gunderson Funeral Home in Middleton, WI.  For as long as I know, they have handled our family's burial needs, and they have always done a wonderful job.  It's important to have someone you can trust at times like this.  If I were in in East Liverpool, Ohio, Dawson Funeral Home would be where I would turn.  Alas, in Central Texas, I have no clue. 

We had scrapbooks, Grandma's paintings, one of her quilts and Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls made by her adorned her casket for the visitation.  Dad built a photo slide show of her life (he does a wonderful job of this).  We asked people to write down their memories of grandma and send them to us, and my dad compiled those and printed them for people to read.

Great Grandchildren were the pall bearers -- all between 11 and 24.  They remained composed through the service and until they discharged their duties loading the casket into the hearse.  The moment they came back inside the church doors, they burst into tears and clung to their family members.  It was an emotional moment for everyone.

I still have my Raggedy Ann doll that Grandma made for me when I was young.  I have the quilt she made for my bed when I was a teenager.  I have several of her wonderful water color paintings.  I have a few other things Grandma gave me through the years.  She was blessed with many creative gifts, and she shared the fruits of her creativity with all who wanted them.

I got some of Mom's crocheted dishrags while I was there this time (she mentioned she had some last time I was there, but I hadn't gotten around to getting them before I left), and I got a microwave potato pocket.  Never seen them before, but you wrap your potatoes in damp paper towels and nuke them inside the pocket. It would also work as a trivet if you needed one.

I'm on the train headed home.  I got about three-quarters of a short story written on the way up for the FM Anthology Collection -- prompt is Cat Eyes.  I'll get ready to resume work on it shortly.  I love the train as a writing retreat. 

The Week Ahead:

• Resume work on PBOTL
• Resume work on crepe myrtle trimmings
• Plan when to go to San Antonio again, because I was supposed to be there this week
• Ride the bike, read, write morning pages (I wrote them every day this week, usually before going to bed)
• Decide if I want to continue with Weight Watchers (it's time to renew my plan) or if I want to take a break from it for a little while while still working with myself on a healthier lifestyle.
• Make sure I scheduled bill payments before I left, because I don't remember.
• Take Lady and Tarzan to vet for their annual exams and shots.
• Reorient myself to life. 

It's been a week. {{huggs}}

Good things, bad things, and this coming Monday looks like it's gonna be a corker.

First, the bad. ;)

Kinda got into a Facebook 'discussion' today with a person who can best be described as unbalanced. A friend posted an article about the posty office mess, and she added a comment expressing frustration over the P.O. pre-funding 75 years worth of retirement, then this unbalanced person went off in a caps-peppered rant about wasting money and politics and I honestly could barely make sense of it all. Now, I'm the first to admit there's a lot of screwy, unsound-financial stuff with the posty office, but seeing as hubby's job keeps us housed and fed, we kinda have some skin in the game. I made a nicely worded comment about small towns and people on social security who need their mail, how small businesses often rely on it, then he comes back telling me I wasn't giving him the proper respect nor keeping my place.

Yup. My. Place. Nor properly respecting a ranting asshat. Oh yes.

In my place.

Does that mean I wasn't properly cowering before he backhanded me upside the head or I wasn't scrambling to bring him his beer and supper the moment he entered the conversation?

I have no idea, but my jaw about hit the floor.

As I type my still polite but much less kind response that included saying I had politely disagreed yet his comments were offensive and misogynist, Bill was right there looking over my shoulder. He was LIVID. There was a little back and forth and the whole thread ran pretty long - unlike some of the other folks in the thread I posted three times total and was consistently polite - but the guy kept ranting and finally wandered off.

It upset me a little (asshats are everywhere and far too many seem to be irate men wanting to keep women under their powerful thumbs), but it upset my husband a LOT. Hours later, he was still cheesed that someone talked to me that way. While I know a hater's gotta hate and some people live to be nasty online, I don't see the merit in it. Even when I'm furious - and God knows that happens - I can remain polite. I don't personally attack people, especially strangers, and never on someone else's feed. It's just rude, ya know? What's up with being rude?!?

Nutters are far too common anymore, but it made me wonder what's happened to polite disagreements. Screaming at people and trying to bully them accomplishes nothing. At best, it makes the screamer side of the argument distrusted and ignored, at most it just makes two sides screaming, neither taking a moment to see the other's point of view. Either way, once the screaming starts - and this guy came out screaming and disjointed - there's no possibility for progress.

That's something to keep in mind as my dice get rolled (probably twice) on Monday.

I don't think that I'm mean, angry, rude or a troublemaker (am I???), yet these folks seem to find me and try to pounce. Maybe since I'm 'nice' they think I'm weak? I dunno. My friend kept apologizing, the guy was a friend of a friend, but I told her not to worry, I'm a big girl and no one's gonna win a typed-debate against a writer. ;)

Okay, the meh.

Surely you've all heard about my stupid foot. I have intermittent pain on the outside at the bone, usually when it's jarred or wrenched, and I went in to have it checked out. Doc thought it was a stress fracture with a ganglion cyst, but the xray was inconclusive, so I had to go in for an MRI, all this while wearing a Boot of DOOM for about a week (said boot sucks, btw). Turns out I have some fluid around the joint. Dunno why, not sure how, but these anti-inflamatories should take care of it. Whee. Meds. I hate taking meds, but I'll be on them for a month. I'm supposed to wear the boot for another week, but I'm not. Can't stand the boot and my foot doesn't hurt. I really need to get back on the exercise horse, tho, because a week off has ruined my habit. Grr!

Got taxes done. We're getting a refund. Also did The Daughter's taxes. She, too, is getting a refund. My calculator is tired and thankful that's over for another year.

We all have colds. Sinusy colds. But we're otherwise great. :)

And, finally, the good!

Most of the good is kinda sprinkled with I'm-not-sure-what-I-think-about-all-this, but here we go.

I heard back from The Agent on Tuesday. His assistant actually emailed me on Monday asking if it was okay to call, but I was out and about and not able to check email until after 5pm NYC time. Anyway, we chatted - briefly - on Tuesday. He loved a lot about the book but had three major areas, and a couple of smaller things, he wanted to see fixed. Two of those things are actually really easy to fix. Have the spores come out of something that's not corn, and not a pod. Easy peasy. My mishandling of the media/spectator circus/hysteria, however, is gonna take quite a lot of work. He wanted to hear back from me in a few days.

I've written up three ideas for each problem (corn, pods, media) and sent an email to his assistant Friday morning (going on the assumption that 'a few days' mean later this week, not 'sometime next week'), but I received no response or call. This is probably because of the weather on the east coast, but it still leaves me sitting and fretting all weekend. So yay, but AAACK!!

(Btw, he compared my work to Stephen King, with it being about regular, relatable people in incredible situations. Rather exciting, that!)

I may be on the city council starting Monday.

There are two people leaving - a retirement and a move - so they're two warm bodies short and our City clerk asked if I'd be willing to do the job. I said yes - I mean, why wouldn't I? I'm a big believer in getting involved - but there are 5 people in the pool, so I guess I have a 2/5 chance? Anyway, the city council meeting is Monday and I'm supposed to be there so if I'm chosen I can get sworn in right away and get to work. I'm assuming the other 4 will be there too, otherwise it'll change my odds. ;)  I'd like to serve, I actually ran for a seat a couple of years ago (came in third of five for two open seats) but with SPORE looming and Bill's job nonsense, I don't know if it's the best time. But when would be? Life is always its own brand of wackydoodle.

Anyway, Monday should be interesting. ;)

Oh! I'm down 25.2 lbs. Woot!

Have a great mid February, everyone!!  {{hugs}}

Getting back into the routine

Sort of. Trying to, anyway.

Good Stuff:
- You've likely seen the kitchen pictures to date. We're still on track to have the re-ordered cabinets arrive the week of the 11th. I'm really hoping they can get them installed and the last piece of counter templated before I leave for the retreat on the 21st. So ready to have this done, although it's been a lot less painful than I thought it would be.
- Made some progress on the book prep. I've started referring to the binder of prep material as my book embryo. It sounds better than fetus. Not sure why. TMI, Stephen? ;-)
- Rendezvous laundry is done. Regular laundry is not, but when does it ever stay done?
- The dusting of snow we were supposed to get this weekend showed up last night after I went to bed. It dusted about 3". Not complaining; we need all the moisture we can get to try to bust the drought. Besides, it's pretty.
- The new dishwasher is so quiet! It's like the pitter patter of rain on the roof, as opposed to the old one, which was more like a 747 taking off in my kitchen.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Lots of housework to do. That never stops, and I never seem to get more efficient. Whatever happened to practice makes perfect? Isn't that supposed to kick in eventually? Do any of you clean on a schedule? Does it work for you?
- I'm losing weight at the rate of 1/3 to 1/2 pound per week. I'm about to pack up the smaller size jeans, buy another pair of the bigger size, and call it a day. I'm still within the healthy BMI range, but I am at the top of the scale. Eric seems to like my muffin top anyway.

Ambivalent Stuff:
- I have to renew my website with Go Daddy in April. I'm not particularly happy with them. I don't find them especially user friendly in terms of building or maintaining. I'm open to suggestions for a new host through which to renew my domain. No idea where to start with this, and I'm completely overwhelmed just thinking about it. Makes me want to go take a nap.

This Week:
- Get the kitchen as finished as I can at this point.
- Give the kitchen floor and bathrooms a good scrub.
- Keep working on the embryo.
- Vacuum. Everywhere.

Gotta believe there's something more

That's the lyric of a song by A Great Big World, my new favorite group. I already posted a video from them. They're upbeat and optimist in their music. Not a lot of groups recording music like that.

Last week, I
- worked on Murder by the Mile,
- went to lunch with a friend,
- picked up another client for my blog service,
- renewed an ad for my blogs,
- babied my back, which is determined to put me into therapy again. I'm just as determined that won't happen.
- did the household chores that I could,
- continued to straighten the house now that the holiday decorations are out in the garage,
- paid bills,
- played with my train,
- and talked to two people who might hire me to publish their books.

This week, I will
- continue to baby my back,
- work on Murder by the Mile,
- do the household chores I can,
- try to make it back the gym, depending on how my back is,
- work on my entries for the writers group anthology for this year,
- work on the family newsletter in a (probably vain) attempt to have its publication be more timely,
- prepare for the writers group meeting on Saturday,
- and generally try to keep my head above water and a smile on my face -- or at least not a frown.

Hope your week goes well!

Chase the Clouds Away

It's been an interesting week.  Kind of topsy turvey. 

The Good Stuff:

• I'm reading, doing my morning pages, riding the bike, and recording my points.
• I got some work done on the crepe myrtles this week
• Grandma's still hanging in there
• Floyd is back home after being neutered.  Delta went into heat, and I figured the other girls would soon follow.  The safest approach seemed to be to get Floyd away from them and neutered.
• I created a flier for the four of them at the vet, and they're going to list them on Craig's List, too.
• Our neighbor's son has his Eagle Scout Court of Honor on March 2.
• We got a little bit of rain this week
• I had fresh off the tree oranges.  Good.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• Staying ready to travel isn't very conducive to accomplishing other things.  It's not that I can't get anything done, I'm just constantly mentally distracted.
• I tried a couple of new recipes and I wasn't wild about either one.
• Hubby went to San Antonio and his truck got broken into with a smash and grab for his suitcase.  It could have been worse, but that meant he spent the week dealing with that.  The truck is fixed and he's replaced the critical things stolen (medication).
• I worked an extended period (for me) on PBOTL one day this week.  That's sort of good stuff, but I only did it the one day.
• I tried locking Rossie in the bedroom with me for a couple nights (as suggested by Tash's foster mommy).  In this case, it didn't seem to help.  I'm pretty sure they'll be coming home with me after getting spayed.  I'll give them the run of the house then (well, with the same access as the other cats have), and Rossie will socialize at her pace or spend a lot of time in hiding. She's a good litter box user, and she knows where the food and water is.  I think she wants to come around, but, mostly, she's choosing not to.  If she's on the rocker, she's willing to be approached, petted, and handled.  If she's not, you're not going to do it.  We have an agreement, when I get the crate ready for bed, she sneaks inside to the carrier while the other kittens are winding around me feet for their food bowl.  She spends time around four feet from me.  As long as I don't reach for her, she'll relax there.  I guess that's just her comfort level at this time.

The Week Ahead:

• Maintain the standard morning pages, bike rides, points tracking, and reading.
• Work on PBOTL
• Remain ready to travel
• If nothing happens between now and then, I'm heading to SA for a week on Thursday.  I have some hedges to cut way back there, and February is the time to do it.
• My truck is due for it's 18,000 mile service, so I'll try to get that done while I'm down there.

A Great Big World - This Is the New Year!

Wish I had found this on New Year's Day, but every day can be a new year. Especially for us!