I am Whole...

An affirmation we've begun using as part of my Master Keys class, "I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and happy" came in handy this week. In addition to the exercise Stephen suggested helps with sciatic pain, this affirmation got my mind off the pain long enough for me to get some sleep.

I got the blood work done, cats to the vet, donated blankets to the vet (woo hoo! now I get new blankets!), got my packages in the mail, got caught up on laundry.

Thank you Stephen and Wendy for your comments on Rhonda's story. With your feedback, we'll get her to be someone people want to read about yet.

Christmas cards are addressed and ready to be put into the mail. Holiday "shopping" is done.

The Week Ahead:

• I have my semi-annual doctor visit this Friday. I'm going to ask about the sciatic pain -- perhaps an x-ray to make sure I don't have an undiagnosed back problem? I'll discuss the pros and cons of another steroid injection in my knee as well as ask for the necessary orthopedic referral to get the process started for the right knee replacement.
• Mr. L has an appointment with his cardiologist on Monday. I'm going to drive him down on Monday and bring him back on Tuesday. We'll take Rossie and Sapphire with us and leave the rest of the kitties here on towers. We're hoping to have a plan of action for what Mr. L can expect.
• In the middle of those two, I'm going to work around the house and yard a little bit at a time to begin to make some headway. We've been so distracted since the end of August, and it shows.

More Limbo

Hanging in there. The weather improved. I got a little yard work done this week. I used the bagger on the mower to pick up leaves. I got the edging and gutter sweeping done. Front hedges are trimmed. I began working on the back yard yesterday and trimmed the fig tree back to a reasonable size. Our rose bush is blooming again. I'm always amazed that it does this in December.

The week ahead:

• I have to head back to Central Texas for a couple of days to get blood work done, pay the water bills, pick up mail, take half the cats in for their annual exams and shots, and do the laundry that has accumulated up there during Mr. L's weekend visits.
• Mr. L plans to demand some answers for what his status is this week. If he gets satisfactory ones, we'll make the next step for how to proceed.
• I'll continue to write, thanks to Stephen's suggestion, I think I've found a way to make Rhonda and her family more likable. I'm reworking the final scene as well as adding some 70s description in to give better setting. 
• I want to add revision to my daily writing process, but my project is in Central Texas, so I need to pick it up.
• I'm really enjoying my Master Keys course. I was thrilled when we had to form a Mastermind, because I already had one here, but I wound up making a new one anyway with a fellow class member, because we're talking about course material, and I thought it would be better to work with someone already in the course. More masterminds is better, in my opinion.

Have a great week. 

Panera is Saving My Data

I increased my dataplan to 12G per month (saving $20 per month in the process), and yet, I'm still in a data crunch. I suspect it's because I had to hook the laptop up to do something, and my 20+ tabs in Firefox sucked up a bunch of data. This is why I don't use the laptop much when I'm on mobile data.

Mr. L is still in limbo about when they will do his procedure. We've had rainy weather here in San Antonio, so the yard work I had planned has been on hold. Both Mr. L and I tend to feel the last three months have been wasted while waiting for this medical issue to resolve. Of course, that's not entirely true. He's been plugging away at things a little at a time, and I have too.


In general, things are good. Lord knows, they could be much worse. We have much to be thankful for, and that extends well beyond the material world. In the three things that matter, we have no complaints:

Health: We both have the hope of improved health, and many do not have that.

Wealth: We have no debt, and we can generally do whatever we want.

Love: We have one another, and we both have a few good friends. When I pray for people in family and my extended relationships, it takes a long, long time.

The Week Ahead:

• Rake and bag leaves (assuming they dry out)
• Trim front hedge
• Edge
• Write 20 minutes per day
• Work with Sapphire

Amazing to think we're rolling into December this week. I did some reflection, and, focusing on the good things, it's been a good year.

Chillin' in San Antonio

Mr. L is feeling pretty good and is getting tired of being in medical limbo. His doctor said three to four weeks, so I'm still feeling patient about the whole situation.  Weather has taken on a welcome and distinct fall flavor here in Texas.

Now that Mr. L has gotten his medical team on board with the testing requirement for the medication he's been asked to take, I feel more confident that we're moving in the right direction.

The cats are enjoying their time here in San Antonio. I'm investigating my Essential Oils starter kit. I really like the Ningxia Red drink. The cats seem to like the Thieves oil when I diffuse it. I'm going to get some Peace and Calming to try with them. I like the scent.

Mr. L ordered a new Toshiba laptop. He's also looking for a new desktop but hasn't found that yet. It's easier than trying wipe his old machines and install Windows 10 on them.

I'm having printer troubles with my ten year old color laser printer.  The one in San Antonio is working okay, but is very slow. The one in Central Texas is not printing correctly, printing in invisible ink (an option I'd love to figure out how to turn off), and it's not printing colors correctly. It has all new cartridges and a new drum. When I get back up there, I'm going to try several calibration cycles to see if that will fix the problem. If not, I may be looking for a new printer.

My WiFi router will handle up to ten connections, and I think I'm exceeding that. So far, I don't have more than ten devices on simultaneously, so I think I'm okay.

The Week Ahead:

• Pull up old soaker hoses in side yard and put out for trash
• Mow backyard
• Trim front hedges
• Trim side bushes
• Snuggle Sapphire daily
• Continue with homework for course -- it's all coming together

Why, Of Course, I'm Still Here

I got overwhelmed by the non-stop travel of October, and the radical change in plans for November set me back a little, but I'm getting adjusted. After spending an unanticipated week in San Antonio last week, we returned to Central Texas to regroup and prepare to be in San Antonio for the next month. I'm looking forward to getting yard work and house work done and maybe a little relaxation.

The MasterKey program has been overwhelming, but in a good way. I worried about traveling and October, but I adapted just fine to that -- probably because I was mentally prepared. The unexpected (but not completely unanticipated) change in plans for November set me back a little, but I'm recovering. In the past, I have not adjusted quickly to unplanned for change. I'm learning how to do that effectively.

I have my knee follow-up tomorrow afternoon. Other than that, I've been doing laundry, paying bills, doing homework, assembling a cat tower (they use it!), and other sundry items around here. We'll take all the kitties with us Tuesday. Mr. L feels well enough to drive, so we won't be trailering my truck (unless something changes between now and Tuesday), and I have been gathering things I wanted to have with me in SA for the next several weeks.

While in Wisconsin, I joined with my Mom as a Young Living Essential Oils distributor. I haven't had time to test out the oils in my starter kit yet, but it will be coming with me to San Antonio, and I plan to begin boning up. This is something I've always been curious about, and I was pleased to learn the purity of Young Living's oils is respected. My mom has had amazing results for a few trouble areas for her. She also learned of a less desirable effect when my dad had a disturbing response to her diffusing too much of a certain oil for too long a time. I took it as a reminder that these things are powerful and one must be cautious until they know how any particular oil interacts personally. Care must also be taken if someone new comes into your home who isn't accustomed to using oils. 

The Week Ahead:

• Catch up on blogging -- with limited access, I took a couple of weeks off
• 6 month knee follow up. I expect this to be very routine
• Continue snuggling Rossie and Sapphire. I'm pleased that after snuggling with me for at least ten minutes tonight, Rossie has spent three hours curled up in the upper "room" of the new cat tower. 
• Begin learning what essential oils can do.
• Get caught up with a few of the Master Key class assignments I've fallen behind on (creating my Movie Poster!)
• Write
• Heading off to bed now. Y'all have a great week now, ya' hear?

Sempre Gumby

Always flexible. It's a good thing to be when you're being pulled in different directions. I'm starting to feel like maybe I can pull off the new normal. I just have to figure out what it is. It seems like it keeps getting interrupted.

I'm developing new routines and my work schedule is holding so far. It's going to change a little next week. I've had to cut hours so I'm going down to three days a week. It's going to hit my paycheck, but it's the case for all of us. The kids seem to understand. I haven't had any howls of protest. Maybe they're all planning to quit right before Christmas. Who knows? It seems like it's about time for crap to hit the fan again, but my feelings won't be hurt if I'm wrong.

I'm hoping, with an extra day off, to start getting some shorts on Kindle. I haven't done anything except decide it needs to be done. I haven't even decided which story to use. I just know I need to get some stuff out there, and banging out some material when I'm working less seems like the logical thing to do. I'm already having visions of steaming mugs off coffee in my garret with snow falling on the big blue spruce outside my window.

It's been really lovely here the last few days--sunny, low 70's, clear blue skies. I had customers at work yesterday--more than the half dozen that usually constitutes a good day shift. There were enough to interrupt me on and off all day. It was great!

I'm heading north this weekend to see my mom. It will be a quick trip. She said something about going over family pictures because they won't make sense without context. All I can figure is they're all from six generations back, and she's giving me way too much credit that I'm going to remember! I'll figure out a way. Maybe text pictures with the info to myself or something. I'll stop to drop some boxes off at my grandma's on the way. She's decided it's time to move to a place where she can get a higher level of care. I think she's been isolating herself in her apartment. She doesn't even leave to get her mail or the newspaper anymore--her neighbors bring them to her.

That's about all we have for excitement. Hope I didn't wear you out. I'm pretty tired. Hope y'all are having a good week.

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Lull in the Storm

We're home for a couple of days before heading the San Antonio in the morning. Cats are happy to be home. Mr. L is still struggling. We hope he feels better after Monday. He took it easy today. I can hear him coughing upstairs as I type.

Assuming all goes well on Monday, we head back here on Wednesday or Thursday, and I climb on the train for Wisconsin on Friday to spend a week with Mom and Dad. I'm looking forward to spending time with them, but I'm also looking forward to getting home and getting into my routine. I suspect changes to my routine over the next few months. I anticipate more trips to San Antonio for Mr. L, and I anticipate needing to drive him. It's an adjustment, requiring us to coordinate schedules more closely.

The Week Ahead:

• Cats and Mr. L to San Antonio. Rossie and Sapphire did well last time we took them to San Antonio. This time, since we're only there for a few days, I'm going to experiment with giving everyone the run of the house. Everyone loves the garden window, so I want everyone to get a chance to use it. Lady loves the back yard. Time out there is in order.
• Truck in for service and troubleshooting the problem that requires us to be in 4x4 all the time (my research indicates it's a solenoid). I would have preferred not to have to drive the entire trip to and from PA in 4x4, but it worked.
• Mr. L's procedure (pray all goes well)
• Schedule next week's blog posts.
• Get laundry, packing, and cats set up for me to be gone done
• Catch the train

Second Month

We've officially been in the Cozy Wee Bungalow for two months. It feels like it's been a lot longer. The main floor has pretty much taken shape. I have some tweaking to do. Ditto our bedroom. My office and the basement are still works in progress. We decided to move the twin beds out of my office (hallelujah!) to the basement. We have enough people coming for Thanksgiving that someone is going to have to sleep down there, and they'll be more comfortable off the floor. We're also putting the rug we had in the living room at the apartment down there, and the electric fireplace got stuck down there for some unknown reason, so hopefully it will be reasonably comfy. The mattresses and box springs have been moved down, but the frames have not. All the stuff that was piled on the beds is in the middle of the floor, so it's back to being a disaster area again. I think I can get it reasonably straightened out this weekend. I'll have more than enough space for a couple of air mattresses in my office for whoever is staying the shortest amount of time. Call me selfish, but I'd rather not share any longer than necessary!

Work is going all right. I've got us on as set a schedule as I can get, which makes everyone feel more secure. I'm getting a little tired of being bored. Days are pretty slow, and the weather hasn't helped much. It won't be for months.  I haven't had any votes on my costume in the last couple of days. So far, I'm going to be a hippie. We have two more weeks of voting, at least in theory. If I keep getting crude write-ins, I'm calling it good. It's gone well enough at this point I can call it a minor success.

Things seem to be settling down, for the most part. I've started adding things back in that I'd stopped doing over the summer because I didn't have time. Writing is coming in fits and starts, but at least it's coming. I'm happy with the quality if not the quantity. Routines are starting to develop. Wednesday is laundry day and so forth. Pretty soon I'll have to start raking leaves. (Note to self: Buy a rake. And a shovel.) Oh, and the van isn't running right. Need to find a local mechanic.

For now, though, I think I might go curl up in bed with my book.

Genuinely Looking Up

We're in Harrisburg, PA, ensconced in our motel. Mr. L is resting comfortably. I think he needs the sleep after this non-stop motion of the last week and a half. Last month, I posted I was contemplating participating in the Master Key Mastermind Alliance. After definitely deciding not to do it, I changed my mind and dived in with both feet. I'm glad I did. If you want to follow my journey, I'm blogging about it here.

I wanted to do it, but I knew it would be a challenge while we were on the trip. It has been a challenge, but it's been totally doable.

The Personality Color Code assessment was interesting. I tested as a Blue, and that means I'm motivated by Intimacy, and it described Blues as "Do-Gooders." Both those terms hold some negative connotations to me, but I realize they aren't really negative. As I read more about this, the designation feels comfortable for me. After a few weeks' contemplation, I paid the extra money for the more detailed analysis of my survey results. While I thought my secondary colors were evenly balanced between Red and White, it turns out White was just a little more dominant than Red, meaning my secondary motivation is Peace (as opposed to Power for Red). Of course, I have characteristics of all four colors (we all do). At first, I was distressed that Mr. L appears to be a strong Red (my guess, I don't think he'd never do one of those surveys), and Reds and Blues tend to have lots of conflicts (because we're coming at the same thing from completely different directions). On the other hand, I'm seeing ways to bridge the areas that concern me, so I'm feeling less hopeless than I was when I first read the examples. (So far, the course isn't much about what "Color" we are, but I find these things fascinating. If you don't, don't worry about it.)

The really cool thing was identifying my Personal Pivotal Needs and meshing those with my Definite Major Purpose. When I needed to answer some questions for Holly's Mastermind participation, and everything aligned, I was ecstatic! The good news for you guys is I'm writing, revising, and publishing short stories each month for ten out of twelve months beginning in November and writing, revising, and publishing a novel at least every two years. (Small eek, but I know it's doable.)

I'm seeing small differences in my attitude and approach, that I believe will become big positive changes over the next few months. (I struggled with several small things that seemed to be conspiring to bring out the negativity over the last week, and I wasn't always successful, but I've seen so many examples of positive changes where I need them. I am encouraged.)

The Week Ahead:

• Pack for the trip home
• Drive safely
• Keep up with my "homework"
• Help Mr. L wherever I can
• Schedule blog posts
• Have a great week

numb

Ever have stuff to say, but it's too overwhelming to find the right words? I'm just back from the church retreat, and like last year, I'm this odd combination of refreshed and tired and overstimulated and over-caffeinated and a little raw. The speakers were really good. Maybe a little too good. It's easier when they spout the same old scripture and verse that just rolls over you and you can move on to the arts and crafts portion. Our church is not like that. They like to dig, convict when necessary, and hug a lot. The hugging is nice.

I had two main take-aways. Yesterday, the founder of a homeless ministry spoke on Genesis 28: 10-18, which is Jacob's dream at Bethel about the stairway to heaven. She said we are the stairways that the angels go up and down, and therefore, everyplace we stand is holy ground. To me, that is amazing and wonderful and terrifying. If I'm a stairway to heaven, I think I must have a couple loose steps!

The second was this morning when a different speaker was talking about how, in her teen years, moving around a lot for her dad's job, she kept people at arms' length to keep from getting hurt, and all her relationships were superficial. I realized I've been doing that. Not intentionally, but because I feel like if I really go deep with someone, all I'm going to do is whine about how my house isn't done and the kids at work are squirrelly and how I left for a church retreat, and when I came home two days later, the house was almost exactly as I'd left it and we have family coming in 6 weeks for Thanksgiving. So, yeah. Need to work on making friendships more meaningful. Just not today. I can't do people anymore today. At this point I just need someone to tell me 6 weeks is more than enough time to finish putting the house together.

Prep and Go

I got everything done on the list last week except for the Kawasaki dealer. I forgot they are closed on Monday. I'll deal with that after we get back. The steroid shot in the right knee really helped. Ahhhh.

As much as I personally don't care for this annual Pennsylvania trip, I have realized this week that I don't want Mr. L to decide we're not going to do it either, because that would mean his health has deteriorated to the point where he can't do it, and I don't want that.

The Week Ahead:

• Schedule blog posts
• Ensure we're as packed as we're going to be for the trip
• Be prepared for a tired, cranky, achy, lashing out Mr. L as he stresses about getting off on the trip
• Drive safely on the trip, relax, and go with the flow

Crunch Time

The next few weeks feel as if they are going to be somewhat stressful. I'm sure they'll shake out just fine, but I do need to do some prioritization.

We saved a ton of money at the swap meet in Decatur on Friday (neither of us saw anything we wanted to buy). We had a pleasant dinner with a friend on Thursday night. The younger daughter did not show, and the grandkids were otherwise occupied. We had a good time with older daughter and her husband.

My right knee is killing me. I'm seeing my surgeon on Monday for a followup for my hand. I hope he'll make good on his promise of giving me a steroid injection in my right knee to help tide me over. Then I hope it works.

Rossie and Sapphire did well in San Antonio. They had the run of the house. Both of them took refuge under the rocking chair, but they also spent a lot of time in the garden window. Sapphire adjusted to the change of venue within 24 hours, so she's getting better at adapting to change. She's still hiding from us, but she's a good-natured kitten otherwise. She has less patience for being held.

The Week Ahead:

• Retrieve Rossie and Sapphire from boarding -- don't forget to get cat food
• Hand follow up and hopefully steroid shot for right knee
• Kawasaki dealer to order a part and get estimates for tires, mounting, balancing, and other sundry items needed to get the bike back on the road
• Pick up prescriptions at Fort Hood
• Finalize details for Wednesday's closing
• Get a haircut
• Do scheduled blogs
• Trip preparation

I'm so glad you're getting settled into the new house, Wendy.

Taking shape

We have another week of reorganizing, unpacking, and general chaos settling behind us. I'm able to pay more attention to every day life matters again--dishes, laundry, cooking--without it being an undertaking. I'm starting to learn where things are. We still have a few boxes, but most of them are unpacked and in the basement. It's about time. We've been here a month.

A couple days ago I was sitting on my bed folding laundry. The windows were open and cicadas were chirping (buzzing? Whatever that noise is.), and I realized this house feels more like home than anyplace has in a long time. Maybe ever. I almost didn't look at it. I saw the listing on realtor.com and thought it was just another flip where the people came in, ripped out the character and soul, and modernized everything. And they did, sort of. As far as I know, the only things original are the stained glass and block glass windows in the living room, and the hard wood floors on the main floor. When the other offer fell through, Eric walked this house without me and brought me back the next day, and I realized they hadn't ripped out the soul after all. The day we closed, the sellers sent us the before pictures. This house needed to be gutted and redone. Someone had paneled or wallpapered every wall. The only bathroom was the one on the main floor and it was a train wreck. Maybe this house feels like home because it's happy to be pretty again! That hasn't stopped the weeds from growing in the back yard, though.

Work seems to be settling down a little. The newbies are getting more confident and asking for more hours. I'm not without personnel issues, of course, but I finally got it through my head that it's not up to me to fix everything. It's actually better for them if I make them find coverage for the shifts they can't work. I'm not obligated to give everyone the shifts or number of hours they want to work. I do my best, of course, but I don't feel guilty anymore.

I get to spend the day with family tomorrow. It's my grandma's 99th birthday. It's not the Official Party because my aunts are out of town, but Dad decided we needed to mark the day, so I'll drive up after church. It's only 3 hours, and I've been meaning to day trip up there since we moved to Chicago. I hope my cousins come, too. It's been too long since we were all together. I think it was my great-uncle's funeral.

That's pretty much it here. I think we're finally through crisis mode, just in time to go back to St. Louis for the Games next weekend, on our anniversary, no less.  It's nice to be able to breathe again.

Contemplation

Someone I know via Forward Motion, so you may know her too, participated in a program last year called the Master Key Mastermind Alliance. She blogged about it periodically, and I casually followed along. The new class is opening soon for 2015, and she's posting about it. If you want to find out more, check out her page here. It's launching in the typical three video format, and I can see a lot of the home based business influence, but the gist of the program is, you can't do many of the things you want to do in life until you get your head right.

The talk of living the dream and trips and money and all that doesn't do a thing for me. Frankly, I have all that. I'm not unhappy about it, but I'm not going to invest my time and effort into trying to get that when I have it. Other people? I totally get that they don't have it, and that's part of their dream -- and it's a good dream. But me? I'm still not right in the head. You can laugh about that. I'm not terribly wrong in the head, but I have things I want to do better in my life, and I realize my subconscious is sabotaging me achieving those goals. The opportunity to figure that out motivates me to look further into this program. I still have reservations, but I'm evaluating it. One intriguing aspect is the up front cost is $1. Everyone invited into the program receives a "pay-it-forward" scholarship from (I guess) someone who has been through the program before.

It seems to be based upon Napolean Hill's Think and Grow Rich and Charles Hannel's The Master Key System. Are either of you familiar with this? Do you find it remotely intriguing? Not just for the reasons I find it intriguing but as a way to help achieve the dreams you have?

On to the other stuff for the week. Sapphire is a healthy and happy kitten. She's out more. She's playing well. She is meeting and greeting the other cats. She's not scared of Lady or Daphne, but she's not stupidly allowing herself to be beat up by them either. Daphne seems as if she may be afraid of Sapphire, which it amusing, because Daphne has never been afraid of anything before now. Best of all, Rossie is playing with Sapphire, and that's encouraging to see.

Thanks for your brainstorming ideas the other night. I'm going to spend a few days this week looking for ways to incorporate them into Granite Hill stories.

The Week Ahead:

• Take Mr. L to SA and back
• Head to Dallas for the weekend
• Take a friend to dinner Thursday night
• Spend some time with the kids (hopefully younger daughter will come up from Austin on Saturday)
• Swap meet on Friday and maybe Saturday
• Cats will spend a lot of time on towers this week. 
• Rossie and Sapphire come to SA with us, then spend the weekend at the resort.

It's unlikely to be a productive week writing-wise, but family-wise, I hope it's good.

False starts

I keep starting this post. Each time the direction seemed wrong. Didn't seem to be what I needed to say. Deleted each false start. So I'm simply sharing my struggle and inability to know what to write. It feels like there's something profound to say, but the words are wandering around the huge warehouse of my mind, hiding behind stacks of nouns and pallets of verbs.

I wrote this several days back on my blog:

Somewhere inside me ... sometimes I feel that there is something inside me that wants out. It's fighting for freedom. It's trying to claw its way into the light. It's tearing away vast chucks of me, and I'm bleeding everywhere. Whatever it is, it's frantic. It's gasping for breath. It wants to leap into the sky, but it's held back, wings crippled, head forced down. It's fighting for that glimpse of blue, that vastness which lies beyond what we're allowed to see. 

It still feels true.

Speaking of my blog, 51313 Harbor Street, I caught it up. It now has a post for every day since July 1. My goal is to post once day for a year. Or at least have a post for each day for a year. Not sure why. But it's a goal, you know.

Otherwise, this week was a week of doctors and tests. No results yet. Hoped to get them today, but probably won't until Monday or Tuesday. Hoping for the best. Or at least better. I would love to be taking fewer meds.

What else?

Hope to start Murder by the Mile again soon. Been picking at the plot, trying to see where it went wrong. I have some thoughts about how to change it to accommodate a better story. I hope they bear fruit.

This coming week:
- Chores.
- Blogging.
- Editing a friend's story.
- Writing.

Hope you had a productive week, and hope the upcoming one is good for us all.

easier than expected

We got back to the Cozy Wee Bungalow yesterday afternoon with a trailer full of antique furniture from downstate. I think we almost have everything I care about out of that house. All the family pieces are here and for the most part are being pressed into service. The sideboard built by one of Eric's ancestors is extra kitchen cupboard space. The cabinet that used to be my apothecary is a pantry. The dresser made by my great-somebody-or-other is in the dining room and will act as a sideboard, mostly because it's so old we're afraid to try to get it up the stairs, and I can use the storage downstairs. The whole house is a hot mess. The cats are getting neurotic. But every box I toss down the basement stairs gets me a step closer to the new normal.

This has been an odd summer. Except for Scotland, there is nothing we did I'm in a hurry to repeat. Even Scotland we will do differently the next time we go. At this point, I'm keeping my head above water by trying to work as few hours as I can possibly get away with and finding homes for all the stuff out in the open. I did dishes this afternoon and you can't tell a difference because my counters are covered with things that need a home. It doesn't help that the top 2 shelves in all my upper cabinets are too high for me to reach, so they need to house things I don't need much.

It is coming together, though. Slowly. I did write a little short story last week, more for therapy than anything. It's under 2,000 words and might not ever see the light of day again. I hope, in the next week or two, to have things under control enough to start working on the dragon story again. I have to dig out my notes. I'm not sure where they are. That's the story of my life this summer.

On the plus side, I saw Vicky, Erik, and my friend/adopted little sister, Jenn, on Saturday. Jenn, Eric and I loaded almost the whole trailer before Vicky and Erik got there, but the kids moved some of Vicky's stuff to storage. We had to tidy and leave the house before noon for a showing, so we took a two-hour lunch break at Chick-Fil-A. Alex was supposed to come, but he tweaked his back at the gym, and he had papers to grade along with his own homework. Oh, he's graduating a semester early--this December. The school doesn't have the funds to pay him next semester in his GA program, so they jiggled his course requirements so he can graduate. That means he has 3 months to figure out the next step instead of 9. He's applying for PhD programs and looking at the job market. The way they've been jerking him around the past couple of months, I don't see WIU getting any alumni funds out of him. Ever.

Work has been a trial by fire since my vacation ended. At the worst point I was down to 5 staff members, including myself, but that's when they started letting me hire my own people. I got us up to 10, and one of my openers quit last week. It's not a great loss. He saved me the trouble of firing him when I get the newbies trained enough. Thankfully I'm (so far) only working 4 days this week so I can maybe get my house under control. I have more managerial duties now, which suits me, and am waiting for the formal promotion and pay raise. I have to keep reminding myself we've only been open 4 months. It feels like years.

So that's what's going on here. Now that we're done moving stuff, at least for a while, the weather should break and fall can commence. Hope everything is going well in your little worlds.

Not Much

I didn't do much around the house, but I did putter at a few things. I mowed the lawn. I didn't see any sticker burs to speak of. My spring time Preen applications may be making a difference. Or it's just been too dry for sticker burs to prosper this year.

Bills are paid. As you know, the dark kitten came home with me, and we named her today (finally). After considering Misha, Zora, and Zelda with not much enthusiasm from Mr. L, he suggested Sapphire. Or Star (which sounds too much like Tar, which is what we call Tarzan). We'll call her Sapphire, perhaps shortening it to Saff or Fire, but her formal name will be Black Star Sapphire. I found Natasha's ophthalmic drops and applied them. She's not squinting. She also found a way to get up in the window with Rossie this afternoon.

In related news, we've long sensed that Rossie doesn't like her name, so we're experimenting with calling her Rosie.

I didn't unload trailers. I did neither the pool nor the bike. I did a little more work on the Granite Hill series. I'm trying to figure out how to make it mystery or suspense.

The Week Ahead:

• Tarzan needs his shot on Tuesday, and I may take Sapphire with me for an exam (but her eye looks better, and she's more active, so maybe not)
• I have a hangout to attend on Friday
• Stuff to take care of around the house
• Work on Granite Hill
• Help Mr. L as needed

I Can Breathe Again

Yes, my post titles have been passive aggressive hints that it's been lonely in here all by myself. Finally! Wendy posted and cleared a few of the strangling cobwebs away.

The heat pump saga appears to be resolved. We have the vents balanced enough so the front of the house to back of the house temperature difference appears to be two degrees. We'll keep working on that. The drain is clear, but still needs to be moved to it's final location (we haven't been here, and I think the guys are still swamped, so it's not a big deal. If you ask me, it can wait until the attic is no longer 100 degrees -- but maybe before the outside temperature is uncomfortable.

I enjoyed the swap meet. I think Mr. L did, too. We didn't make as much money as last year, but we paid for our spaces and split the remainder between us. We earned enough to pay for next year's spaces, too, so that's not bad. More importantly, stuff we didn't need any more found a new home.  Surprisingly, two old cell phones went for $2, and my 3G MiFi sold for $3. The dog house found a new home for $20. The guy that runs the detail shop behind our shop gave Mr. L a new lawn mower blade and a Holley carb. Both sold, so we'll be able to give him some money.

The dark kitten is available for adoption. When I dropped Rossie off for the weekend, she was huddled in a cardboard box house they'd made for her. I asked them to open the space between her and Rossie's cages. If the two can form a bond, and she doesn't get adopted by the time we get back from Hershey, I'll bring her home.  I'll talk to Dr. Val on Monday. Maybe I'll do it before then, but Dr. Val rightly thinks we have too many cats, so we'll see.

I did not dig sticker burs or mow the lawn last week. I did some watering. I did my pool work at the motel. I rode the bike for 30 minutes at level 2, so that's getting better. I'm experiencing some periodic sharp pains in my new knee. It feels like nerves regenerating. The right knee is giving me problems at night, and I've put a compression sleeve on for the last two nights. That has helped some.

Once I figure out the channels that work on the Roku, it works pretty well. Some channels are easier to work with than others. Getting things set up is time consuming and tedious. Once it's done, I think I'll be able to forget the pain.

Got some feedback on Granite Hill and a good explanation for why it's a character sketch instead of a story as well as why my format won't work for this idea. I am so slow to learn this stuff. It's frustrating. But the feedback should be helpful for helping me plan the series. I'll keep working on it.

Mr. L has to make a trip to San Antonio this week. I don't think I'll have to go with him. I hope to get some stuff done here. 

The Week Ahead:

• Unload trailers
• Pool and bike
• Do some stuff around the house
• Pay bills
• Work on Granite Hill

Where is...

My wise hubby has banished me to my upstairs garret with a piece of cake, a cup of decaf, and orders to write something, so here I am. I can't find anything. I'm tired, work drama keeps flaring up, and I only have half a weekend this week. I'm supremely grateful to have that. Until one of the gals stepped up, I was going to be working every day. It's getting old, but the shop would fold if I left. I'm the only person consistently dependable. There has been progress, though. I got the green light to start interviewing people, and I've hired three newbies since Saturday. Hopefully they'll be at least as good as I think they're going to be and I can get my life back.

It feels like so long ago that we got back from Scotland, which was every bit as beautiful and magical as I thought it would be. It was like being in a postcard for 10 days. The Edinburgh Tattoo exceeded out expectations and made the trip (and dealing with the thousands of people who attended) worthwhile. Apparently, they have different groups every year. This year they had the USAF Drill Team and the Citadel (our Citadel, from South Carolina--remember Shannon Faulkner?) Marching Band. The Citadel had bagpipes in their group and played Rocky Top, which caused me to fan girl all over Eric. He was confused because he doesn't listen to bluegrass and had no idea what the song was! There was a moment our first morning there when I was looking out our B&B window at Loch Leven when all the stress of the previous months disappeared. I felt it leave. Best vacation ever. Scotland is never coming off the bucket list.

I think we're all moved into the Cozy Wee Bungalow. I need to make one more trip through the apartment to make sure Eric didn't miss anything. He's done a large portion of the grunt work on this move. I was working (of course) when the movers got our stuff to the house, so I missed the headboard drama. The 5' solid wood headboard we've had for over 10 years would NOT come up the stairs. That scuttled our room plan. Instead of bedrooms upstairs and offices downstairs, we have one on each floor. Our (now) old bed will become a guest bed. We bought a new bed with a low headboard for our bedroom, and we'll put the mattress set on the bed downstairs. For the first time, I have a slanted ceiling office. It's rather charming if I do say so myself. When I get the boxes unpacked we'll have to Skype so I can show you around. It's going to be a while, though. The furries are settling right in. Ryan is still unsure about the steps going to the second floor because they're hardwood, but everyone is running up and down the carpet-runnered basement stairs. They love the windows and the new smells that come through them.

So now it's past 9 on my Friday/Saturday night, but I still have to be up early. No rest for the weary. I'm heading for bed. Hopefully a day off and some retail therapy will do the trick.

Strangled by the Cobwebs

The heat pump install went well, except when they hooked up our thermostat, it quit working right, so I'm going to have to have them come back and check it, then we may need to have them use their non-programmable thermostat, which would be quite the bummer.

We're getting ready to head to Giddings to set up at the swap meet next weekend. If all we took was what we loaded onto the trailer today (plus the tables we forgot to load first, which we'll fix later in the week), we'd be fine, but we want to load bulky stuff on the 16' trailer as well. Rossie will be boarding with Dr. Valeri and the rest of the cats will be partying at the house.

The dark gray kitten is at the clinic recovering from an illness, then she'll be available for adoption. Walter has had his annual exam and shots and is back outside. Junior is too jumpy to get near after all the trapping and stuffing into carriers, but we'll continue to work with him.

I have the Roku3 installed and am learning it's quirks. It's a royal pain to add a channel. Once the channel is added (enter a code on a website or enter an email address and maybe a password, and finally, if it's a channel we access via DirecTV, I have to log in there and get validated). I haven't mentioned this to Mr. L yet, because I want to see if it's useful (maybe he could use it on a garage TV, for instance, because I think the WiFi reaches out there). At this point, he'd have thrown it across the room. With force. There are a lot of things to choose from. The Amazon Prime stuff works well. I've started watching 18 To Life on TubiTV. I guess it's a sitcom about two 18 year-olds who decided to get married as a result of a truth or dare game. (on the Best of British channel) I guess the lesson is, if you want to have TV a la carte, there's some hassle that goes with it.

I continue to work on Granite Hill. I like the possibilities this series holds.

The Week Ahead:

• Get thermostat problem resolved
• Pool and bike
• Granite Hill
• Dig sticker burs
• Mow Lawn
• Swap meet preparation and set up

Whistling Into the Wind

And I can't whistle.

Been an interesting week. I may have backslid a little, because I only went to the pool once (electing to take care of the air conditioning problem on Monday instead of going to the pool) and rode the bike once. Mostly, I'm feeling okay. The front AC unit for upstairs is dead (compressor locked up), moving our priority for the new system up to Tuesday - Friday for the install. Mr. L found a working window air unit at the shop (one of three units he found there -- not bad) and installed it in the front bedroom window on Friday morning. It works.

I did a little watering for the yard and no mowing. The yard looks a little ragged, but it's too dry and crispy to really mow it. We're keeping the St. Augustine, the baby pecan tree, the peach tree, and the fig tree watered. Everything else fends for itself. Earlier in the week, the pears were not ripe enough to pick. I'll have to check them again.

Rossie is moving about the parlor more while I'm working. Unless I turn to look at her in a way that causes my chair to creak, then she scampers back to behind the cage.  She runs out to greet Ajax when we let him in the room -- and has tried to play with him. She and Lady have coexisted for several hours in the room together. She seems ready for interaction with other cats, so my goal now is to have other cats in the room to give them time to interact peacefully. Rossie is not running from Lady like she was before, which means Lady has no interest in chasing.

We had a set back with the outside cats when Mr. L tried to stuff Junior in a carrier, but they're still coming around. I picked Walter up today, and he didn't like that much either. We'll keep working with them. The dark gray kitten scoffs at my trap. I put an entire can of Fancy Feast on newspaper in it yesterday afternoon and by the time I shut the trap down before bed last night, someone had eaten it all without tripping the trap. I put more in today. Tomorrow night I put my shingle in again, so when the perpetrator steps in to eat the food, he or she will trip the trap. I anticipate a kitty in the trap tomorrow night, but we'll see. I could be foiled again.

Doc is happy with my hand. He confirmed I'm not doing my knee until April and offered an injection to tide me over if necessary. The new knee is getting tired of doing all the work.

After doing some research and discussing it with Stephen, I sprang for a Roku3 box, which should arrive on Tuesday.

The Week Ahead:

• Pool and bike work
• Yard work
• Keep up with blog posts
• More work on Granite Hill
• AC installation

Talking to Myself

Wendy is prowling the hills and dales of Scotland, Tammy is basking in hubby smooches and other such hardships of life, and Stephen is chasing mosquitoes, so I imagine I'm blabbering to myself. That's okay. I do that anyway.

I got two pool visits in, and it really helps. I got two bike rides in, and I had to go to level 2 to get the proper resistance for both knees. Prior to surgery, I'd only been able to use level 1.

I didn't mow this week. Everything's so dry, I don't want to bother the grass. We have watered the St Augustine to keep it healthy. Same for a baby pecan tree we're encouraging, Ms. Peach, and Mr. Fig.

We ordered, received, and installed the missing parts for our "new" lawn tractor. They were all cosmetic, but it's nice to have it complete.

I've been working on Granite Hill series preparation. One huge "success" for the week was nailing done the scope of Book 1 and working on identifying series themes.

Rossie is making incremental progress. That time she spent so much time in my arms was a fluke -- I think she was more afraid to get down with Sneaky in the room than she was to stay with me. The real successes we've seen is she sits up to be petted by us when we approach her, and she's eagerly wanting to come out of the cage when we open it for her to have time in the parlor. Today, I insisted upon petting her before letting her out, and she agreed.

I'm trying to let her out when I'm working on the computer. I've noticed her moving around the room more when she doesn't think I'm watching. If we have Tarzan or Ajax in the room, she will eagerly approach them and ask for attention. Unfortunately, after cursory sniffs, they generally ignore her. It's so sad to see this poor cat begging for attention. I know it can't compare to the pain a parent must feel when their child has social troubles, but it seems like a similar situation on a smaller scale. Rossie does appear to be learning to be a cat again, and that is encouraging.

The three primary outside cats are a hoot. Junior is very vocal in the morning about wanting his Fancy Feast. Sneaky makes sure she's on the porch waiting for her share, and Walter is always on the ductwork peeking around the brick porch supports when we appear at the side porch steps in the morning with three cans of Fancy Feast. I've managed to coax Walter off the ductwork and to eat from the dish between my feet as I sit on the edge of the side porch steps. He seems to welcome petting as much as the Fancy Feast. He still needs to learn to keep his claws in when trying to interact with us, though. Mr. L has been able to pet Junior with both hands but only while he's chowing down on Fancy Feast. Walter will come to be petted even after the food is gone. Sneaky will attack them both, given the chance, so it's fair to say she's the Alpha Cat out there.

We attended the foreclosure auction for the property we're interested in. We were relieved that only us and the guy who was foreclosing on the property showed up. He bid the exact amount on the loan to regain control and title of the property. Since he was the lender, he didn't have to have cash. The trustee is going to take care of ensuring the paperwork is done to return legal ownership to him and she's going to ensure there's a clear title on the property. Once that is done, she's going to draw up papers to sell the property to us. It's a cash sale, so the owner will know he's done with the property, and we'll become landlords and have a fenced place to store the motor home and several trailers (currently stored at the ranch). We know and like the man who owns the detail shop and vehicle inspection station operating from the building on the property, and we want his business there.  He's relieved, because once he found out about the foreclosure, he didn't know if someone was going to come in and tell him to get out. 

Friday, two of three A/C units popped breakers. The upstairs unit appeared to be working when the breakers were reset, but it wasn't doing any heat exchange, so we've shut it down. Unfortunately, it's the unit that services the front bedrooms, so we've been sleeping in rooms that are in the high 80s temperature wise, cooling overnight to 80 degrees by morning. The new heat pump is supposed to be installed beginning on Monday, but they've delayed installation twice before due to their backlog of work. I'll be heading over bright and early Monday morning to make sure we're on their schedule this week -- either for the install or to take a look at the old unit to see if it can be revived (they've jury-rigged an over-temp switch on the unit that I suspect tripped when the breakers blew, and it may need to be reset). Thankfully, the downstairs unit resumed proper function when I reset the breakers. I took that opportunity to change all the filters as well (they were due).

I bought train tickets and made rental car reservations to visit my folks in Wisconsin for the last week of October. I want to begin spending a couple of weeks a year with them, maybe helping out with stuff around the house, and definitely just hanging out and doing stuff with them.

The Week Ahead:

• Pick pears (not ripe yet as of Sunday night)
• Yard work
• Keep up with blog posts
• Work on Granite Hill
• Follow up for hand surgery
• Eye appointment at VA
• Pool and bike work
• Hope the A/C install begins this week. If not, they need to come fix the old unit.

Wendy, I know your trip has been incredible. Looking for a safe trip home and getting the move completed. Tambo, you are wracking up the miles with SPORE promotion. Awesome job. Stephen thanks for your thoughts on that story I was looking at for someone else.  Have a wonderful week.

Country Song Played Backwards

You know the old saying about a country song played backwards? You get the girl, the dog, and your truck back? That's kind of how this week went. You may recall my brand new iMac wouldn't wake from sleep. I reinstalled the original memory in preparation for taking it to San Antonio for the Apple Store to work on it, but once I did that, I couldn't replicate the wake from sleep problem. I left the iMac in Central Texas. When we returned from San Antonio, I reinstalled the memory upgrade I bought, and the iMac is working fine.

Last week, my Logitech Bluetooth keyboard quit pairing with my iPad and iPhone. It wouldn't pair with my iMac either, but it was acting like a key was stuck, but I couldn't find any stuck keys. I let it sit for a few days, and it worked today. The keyboard case doubles as a stand for the iPad or iPhone. The support folds inside the case. I think I put the keyboard in backwards, so the support was resting against the keys. That pressure may have resulted in several keys sticking. Since I hadn't used the keyboard for several months, it took awhile for the keys to let loose once the pressure had been removed. At least, that's my theory. The good news is, the keyboard is fine.

We finished front yard work and watering in San Antonio. We're watering and preparing to mow here in Central Texas.

We're continuing to work with Sneaky, Junior, Rossie, and Walter. We've seen improvements with all of them. Incremental things, but noticeable. Sneaky is playing less hard to get. Junior is approaching us more readily. Rossie allows us to approach her outside the cage, she's attempting to interact with a Ajax and Tarzan, she sat in the middle of the room and groomed herself for a couple minutes today before returning to her favorite place behind the cage, and she leans toward us when we reach to pet her. Walter made an appearance on the ductwork this morning and wanted his Fancy Feast. After he finished eating, he hung around, probably wanting more, but during that time I was able to brush the top of his head. I don't know how to say this, but if Walter were a human, he'd be a studly movie star, and I'd be swooning at his feet. He's that gorgeous of a cat.

In writing news, I regretfully have decided to place Polar Bear on the Loose on the back burner for now. I've been completely unproductive on it for four months, and I think I've identified part of the problem. It's become too much like an extreme animal rights person is writing the story, and that's not me, and I don't want anyone to think it is. It's an ethical matter for now, and until I wrap my mind around it, I'm not going to make any progress. What I am going to do is begin planning the Granite Hill series.

The Week Ahead:

• Begin gathering items for the Giddings Swap Meet at the end of the month. Ensure everything is priced.
• Get two pool sessions in for knee therapy
• Attend the auction for the property we're interested in.
• Mow and water
• Keep up with blog posts
• Spend at least an hour per day on Granite Hill planning (track with TimeSheeter)
• Plan up to eight more short stories
• Continue working with the cats.
• Begin riding recumbent bike at least two days a week

Out

We are all packed. It only took me 5 tries and one suitcase more than I wanted to get it the way I wanted. All the details are ironed out. I have a few more chores to do to get the apartment ready for the cat nanny. It both simplifies and complicates things to have a live-in house sitter, but I'm grateful to have found her.

The house closing was almost anti-climatic after all the drama of the last month. It's the first time the sellers were in the room with us and physically handed the keys over. The guy who did the work is a contractor, so we'll contact him later when we're ready to build a deck. We're also trying to figure out how and where to build an outdoor cat enclosure. The furries have gotten used to being able to go out on the balcony, so I'd like to get them some outside time without losing them. The chain link fence isn't going to keep them contained, and I'm not sure the city allows privacy fences.

We moved 3 loads of stuff to the house. I did 2 by myself. It goes way faster with 2 people. We met the next-door neighbors on one side of us last night. They have 3 little kids (grade school/pre-school age). I'm pretty sure the family on the other side has kids about the same age, so I might get a little grandma training. :-) The movers come for the furniture and a few boxes on the 15th. (We get back around noon the 11th.) I think they will make things way easier and will be worth the extra expense. The good part about having moved some stuff on my own already is I have the route more or less down. We took 2 cars out there Thursday night so we could leave the van in the garage, and Eric took a wrong turn, which almost never happens, so I got to the house a few minutes before he did. It kinda made my day.

Things are finally coming together. Right now, today, the drama has all be worth it. Thanks for putting up with my anxiety.

Mobile Check-In

My last physical therapy session turned out to be Tuesday. I finished with an extension of zero and a flexion of 110. I should gain a little more over the next year. I won't be doing child's pose in yoga anytime soon, but I can do most things I need to do. My flexibility has always been pretty sucky, and it still is. But the left knee doesn't hurt, and the right knee even improved a little as I went through therapy.

My three stitches came out on Thursday. The hand feels pretty good. I wasn't supposed to lift more than five pounds. I can't pour from a full one gallon container. It will take a while to get strength back. My incision was nicely closed. Until today. I trimmed bushes, and I think I used too much pressure with the loppers, and it has separated a little tonight. My doc did such a nice job, and I may have messed up his work a little if this doesn't close back up nicely.

Rossie has chosen to spend most of her outside the cage time each day in the garden window.  She's been a joy to watch in there, because she's so relaxed. We pet her, and she purrs. She and Lady have avoided each other, but Rossie has walked away, and when Rossie has been running, Lady just watches her. So far, so good.

Lady is off the Prozac, and has been demanding attention. She's been carrying things around again. She has been pretty good with the other cats. Nothing to cause me concern in her behavior so far. I didn't like the zombified state she was in, so I'm glad this is working better.

We found a lawn tractor for the store and Jeep wheels for my brother at the swap meet this weekend. My scooter worked well, so my knees never got sore. The battery held up, and I hauled parts to the truck several times to give it a workout. Mr. L bought six wheels, so it took six trips to the truck, but that gave the battery the workout it needed to get an idea how it will hold up at Hershey.

Doing yard work and watering here. That's the agenda for the week.

Saturday can't come fast enough

It's not only because I'm excited to finally get to Scotland. I am. I've already started packing. But more importantly, my phone will go to airplane mode when I get to O'Hare, and it's not coming off until we get back. Frankly, my phone may stay off entirely if the storage on my iPad holds out for picture taking. I'm going to have more than a week when work can't get a hold of me. That is going to be heaven. I'm only friends on Facebook with one person from work, and she's a manager I don't see in person anymore. She's about the last person who pesters me!

I will be posting pictures on Facebook, and I'll pop into Hangouts when I have wifi and/or data coverage. I'm not sure I'll be able to text. Right now I'm not worried about it. I'll figure it out later. It's on my To Do list.

We will, in theory, close on the house Tuesday. It's been a very strange process. The whole thing is in underwriting at the bank, and we should hear from them tomorrow about the time and place for closing and if we have to bring any money. Yes, we may have less than 24 hours notice. Luckily, I've talked with my manager. If I need to adjust my hours on Tuesday, I can work whenever or not at all. That's my short day, and they only have me on the schedule so I can work with people they think have potential.

My food safety class was everything I thought it would be and more. Ten minute breaks lasted half an hour. After our hour (and ten minute) lunch break, we spend 45 minutes filling out a form and ascertaining whether all 40-some of us needed the state license as well as the city. We started testing twenty minutes late, and it was 6 p.m. when I get out. Some of the questions on the test were poorly thought out. This was my favorite:

Jose has used a meat slicer to cut roast beef being for 6 hours straight. After 4 hours, the roast beef is set aside, the slicer taken apart, and the parts are cleaned and sanitized. (They're supposed to be after 4 hours of continuous use, but they just said he sliced for 6 straight hours.) After the parts are sanitized, the machine is put back together and slicing resumes. What mistake was made?

I don't remember two of the answers. They were stupid. The other two were:
- Time and temperature abuse because the beef was set aside. (And out for 6 hours while it was being sliced. Where do you even get a piece of roast beef big enough that it takes that long to cut it? Or is the slicer that slow?)
- Cross contamination with the sanitizing solution. (It was cleaned and sanitized. Nothing was said about being allowed to air dry.)

*sigh* I went with the cross contamination. It's going to be 2 weeks before I find out the results of my test. Today, I don't care as long as I don't have to test again until my certificate expires in 5 years.

At this point, I'm over everything. I have a list and 6 days to do it. Nothing left to do except hunker down and plow through.

Living in the inbetweens

It's a weird time in my life. I feel like I'm living in between times in my life. Finished with that, but not starting that, either. If that makes sense; if not, well, that's the best I can manage in terms of explanation right now.

It's an uncomfortable way to live, of course. The margins of life are always a poor fit for most of us. We have to scramble back and forth, up and down, with a good dose of sideways. And since we don't fit, we never end up being satisfied with where we land.

Anyway, enough of the wandering. This week, I plan on:
- publishing the family newsletter,
- posting on my blogs,
- keeping up on my household chores,
- one medical appointment,
- lunch with a friend,
- haircut,
- and some other odds and ends.

That's my plan. We'll see what works out. Hope you have a productive, contented week.

Ramping up

As if there wasn't enough going on, Dad and Linda came to see the apartment before we leave it. He called me Wednesday, they showed up Saturday, and left Sunday. I'm really glad. They're fun to hang out with, and it wasn't that big of a deal to make the bed and move boxes out of the way, but oy vey, I need another thing! Here it is, in no particular order.

Houses:
No movement on the old one. The realtor organized what I hope will be the final wave of sprucing up.

On the new house, we're down to the VA appraiser. We did the occupancy paperwork Friday, which seems like something you'd do at closing, but I guess they do it early because you have to go to the courthouse to do that paperwork. We got a packet of info from the city clerk about trash days and parking permits and such, so that made it worth the trip. We already know more about living in Berwyn than our building manager told us when we moved in. We are on track to close the 28th, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

Scotland:
We found a cat sitter! She's the friend of a friend, and the tabbies came to check her out as soon as she walked in the door. Tess pretended to sleep. She played with Chloe and Ryan, and ignored Tess until Tess was ready. She's going to be a good fit.

We have our itinerary and it's been distributed to some of the family members with a few more to go so they can track us down in case of emergency. I'm actively collecting the fiddly bits we'll need (power converters, luggage tags, etc), and probably this week I'll start putting aside wardrobe pieces. We're as ready to go as we can be right now.

Writing:
Not much, under the circumstances, but I'm digging deeper into Peter and Marsali's motives, fears, and needs so I can make sure I have the plot down. It's mostly so I can figure out what research I still need to do so I know what to look for in Inverness.

Work:
Oh my gosh, so much drama. We've been really slow this summer, so management decided to re-do the schedule and cut hours to minimize losses. The manager in charge of that sent me the schedule about noon yesterday, and we divided up the staff. She would contact some and I would contact some. Long story short, the boyfriend/girlfriend duo decided to quit with no notice (she didn't give a reason; he said it was partly that the new schedule doesn't work for him, and partly because he has a personal matter that needs his attention. We suspect he's knocked her up.). Then one of the other shift leaders, who is leaving for college next month, decided it wasn't worth his time to only work 14 hours a week and put in his notice. The irony is we were going to take three people off the schedule and have them on call for a while, but only one is a person who quit. Plus we have one more girl leaving for college mid-August, so within a month, my best closers will all be gone. I'm going to be working a couple of closing shifts a week, and I'm going to have to get the girls who are left to step up their game so we can promote more shift leaders. At least we didn't have to put anyone on stand-by! New schedule starts today, and it will work for a few weeks at least, but it means I have to make sure everyone covering for me can still cover for me. Working with teens is exciting!

I think that's about it, barring any more unexpected family visits. This week we need to concentrate on packing boxes and getting the logistics of moving set up. We're hiring movers to do furniture and some of the books this time. It should go much faster than the last couple of moves. Hope y'all are having a nice, relaxing week. Relax a little for me, would ya?

Back On Track...I Guess

Everything went well with my hand on Thursday. Now that her deck is back, Sneaky is back to hanging around. Junior is letting us touch him now. Rossie is doing as well as can be expected, but we're not sure what we can expect for her. She's a sweet cat but so reserved.

Last Sunday's ranch trip was a comedy of errors. We got nothing done except deer corn in the feeder and the SD card swapped out of the camera. Why? Numerous reasons, but mostly because the nephew of the people we lease the hayfield to cannot figure out how to properly lock the gate, and he locked us out. The man is not a kid (close to my age), but he's far from the sharpest crayon in the box. After a couple trips back and forth, Mr. L cut the chain, then we had to wait for our folks to get back from church to get the key to their lock so we could finish setting everything up so the locks were far enough away so the only way to lock it is to another chain link.

I got one pool workout in on Monday, but Wednesday's workout was scrapped to help Mr. L with the trailer at the ranch. That went well, except we forgot to bring water with us, so we were zapped. Flat fender Jeep trailer and motor home seats are now in the shop. Still no tree work completed. Neither of us have the stamina to get the right amount of work in for that task.

Tree limb and brush drop off was successful yesterday. We mated some keys and locks and identified a few keys for the scrap heap. I guess that's decluttering. Sort of.

This week, we're looking into the Texas Foreclosure Auction process.

The Week Ahead:

• Physical therapy twice
• Stitches out on Thursday
• Thursday will be a busy day
• Back to watering, since the rain has stayed away
• Fredricksburg swap meet. Test out the electric scooter in preparation for Hershey
• Probably some other stuff I'm too tired to think about.

Next...

There's another reunion in the bag. This one was different because Chad was only with us a few days, and he brought his girlfriend and her daughter. They stayed in a hotel, which made my life a lot easier. Actually, it was pretty darn easy all around. Between work and that submission deadline, I was swamped, so Eric did most of the prep work. He even handled all the picking up and dropping off. I went with them to the train station to drop Vicky off, but I didn't see O'Hare at all, which was a real treat.

Having the kid around was, well, it was all right, but I'd like it better if she came back again in ten years or so. She's the only child of divorced parents and acts like it. She thought Vicky was the coolest person ever, which was fine for Vicky for the first three hours or so. After a full day of sight-seeing, she declared the kid birth control. At one point, the kid was fake punching Vicky, and I could see Vicky's BS tolerance plummeting, so I got the kid's attention and said, in my best mom voice, "Let's get something straight. That's my baby." The defiance in her eyes turned to terror in about a nanosecond, and she started the "I didn't do anything" litany, all of which got her mom's attention. It was great! She did listen to all the adults better after that.

So now I'm transitioning again. We hope to close on the house the week of the 26th, and we leave the 1st for Scotland. "Pack" is the watchword for the rest of the month. I also have to find a cat sitter. I've heard our usual sitters will have someone come and stay the night, so that is my back-up plan. I'll call and confirm tomorrow. Ideally, though, I'd like to have someone I trust stay here, or at least come and hang out for several hours a day. Limited human contact for ten days will have my furries neurotic. Boarding them is my worst case scenario. The last time we had to board the girls, it was near impossible to get them in a carrier a year later to move them to the house in Mascoutah. They were completely freaked out about being caged, and I can't have that this time. Not when we have to be out of the apartment by August 31.

I hope to get some writing done. I haven't written this month, and I can feel it. June was amazing--my best writing months in, I dunno, years, probably. I'm not sure I want to dig up the old spreadsheets to check stats. I think I'm going to work on the dragon story again ad try to get that whipped into shape before we go. Or I could review King Or Country and see if I can get the plot(s) for that solidified so I know what to look for in terms of research while we're in Scotland. Our stateside trip coordinator, who is a writer and married to a Scotsman, tells me there are a couple used book stores in Inverness I Must Not Miss. There's a reason I'm mildly obsessive about packing light for this trip!

I'm sure there's more. My brain has been all swirly with details for weeks. Anxiety levels have spiked enough lately I looked up acupressure points and have started drinking Tulsi tea. It's bad enough I have over-caffeinated myself on my second cup of coffee a few times, and that hasn't happened in 20+ years.

Oh! There was a little excitement with the job. I got a $1.00 raise with my promotion a couple of weeks ago, and I just got another raise, courtesy of the City of Chicago. A new city ordinance is raising the minimum wage to $13 by 2017 (I think), so my pay popped up another $1.25. Who knew you could make $11/hour stirring fro yo? So there's another reason to commute to this store instead of inquiring about transferring to the franchise near the house. The house is outside city limits.

So this week, I'm packing and writing. I welcome comments and opinions about what project I should work on immediately. Y'all have a good week!

Worried About Sneaky

We've been home since Wednesday and still no sign of Sneaky. Normally, she would have appeared by now, so I'm concerned. I love that little cat, and I hate to think something might have happened to her. I'm inclined to think she has two families, and when we're not here, she goes somewhere else to hang out.

Junior and Walter have both been seen regularly since we've been back. We haven't seen Boomer for a couple of weeks now. It could mean he's only coming out at night, or it could mean something more sinister. I don't have a game camera set up, so we could be missing him.

Rossie and everyone else is doing well. Keeping Rossie in the big crate, letting her out in the parlor for a couple of hours per day seems to be working well for her and the other cats. She is responding to attention but not seeking it out.

Today was a test of my stamina. I trimmed crape myrtles, dragged branches into a pile, helped Mr. L finish setting up his scaffolding (the third level), mowed the lawn with the riding mower, and changed out the battery on the older 24V electric mower. I rested and iced after the branches and scaffolding, but resting was enough after the other stuff.

Yesterday, I did a one hour pool workout but recovered fairly quickly from that.

Glaring Upheaval in live. I've done some reading. I've kept up on my blogging. I'm still studiously avoiding writing.

The Week Ahead:

• Trip to the ranch on Sunday to load the flat fender trailer onto the 16ft trailer, cut up a tree, fill the deer feeder, check the game camera for proper operation. Avoid getting poison ivy!
• Get two pool workouts in. Plan is for Monday and Wednesday. I'm doing really deep squats in the pool, and I think it's helping with my getting off lower seat heights.
• PT on Tuesday
• Knee followup on Wednesday afternoon
• Hand surgery on Thursday
• Take it easy for a week after that

Hitting July Running (Right.)

Had a lovely Independence Day with friends. For whatever reason, most of their kids had other plans, so it was us old folks chatting for the day. It made it easier to keep track of who we were talking to (we only see most of these people once a year, and this is the only experience we have with some of them).

San Antonio was a busy trip, but I held up pretty well. Drove on Friday. Mr. L started his chili and let it cook on high overnight. He turned it to low in the morning. This batch was especially hot but tasty. That's our contribution to the party which also had brisket, baked beans, a veggie tray, fruit tray, 7-layer dip, mixed veggies, a to-die-for sausage dip, and a cake for dessert.

Sunday was for yard work. In three sessions, I got the front yard mowed. Nothing else.

Monday, I dropped my truck off at the glass place for the windshield replacement, then we ran errands. (Mr. L's term for shopping -- that man will put women to shame for shopping. If you've seen guys hanging out while they endure a shopping trip with their wives, you've seen me tagging along with Mr. L as he does "errands.")

Tuesday, I dropped my truck off to get new tires and have it serviced. Mr. L was supposed to have a doctor appointment, but but they called and canceled because he didn't have lab work done (he was ready to do it that day if they wanted, but they never tell him what they want), so he go lab work done, and the appointment was rescheduled for August. After I picked up my truck, we headed to Devine (south of San Antonio) to hang out with a friend of Mr. L's, so he could talk metal lathes.

Last week, I had my VA evaluation appointment and a couple of PT appointments. I couldn't find any deer corn, but I set the game camera up anyway (I hope I remembered to turn it on). Mr. L got the trailer in an awkward place, so we wound up tugging until we could move it to where he could hook it up to the truck again and position it. By the time we got that done, we were too tired to do anything else, so we'll head back out there this week to do what we planned to do. I'll check the game camera then to make sure it's working. The pond is full.

The Week Ahead:

• Physical therapy on Thursday
• Friday, I'm going to head to the hotel pool to do my water therapy. I have an album on the phone that has a runtime of exactly 60 minutes. I got a splash resistant Bluetooth headset, so I can listen to music. When the song changes, I'll change exercises. I'm going to try to get three sessions in before I have my hand surgery next week.
• Pick a cover photo for Glaring Upheaval
• Check text for accuracy in Glaring Upheaval

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Man, I'm tired. I allowed myself a half hour nap after church and could have slept longer, but I'm glad I didn't. I'll be heading to bed early.

I'm going to pull the trigger on the short story submission tomorrow. Thanks for all the help. The story is stronger now, and I've done enough research that it shouldn't be too hard to expand the world into a longer book.

The house inspection went well. We should be getting the report any time, but the inspector was really trying to find things. It's all pretty minor stuff. I'm mostly doing mental furniture placement while we wait for the VA appraiser. That's the big obstacle right now to getting out of dodge. Can't come too soon for me. Fireworks season has begun here. Every stinking night, but so far none from the roof. Oh, and our car got keyed Friday night. Some jackass walked into the carport and ran their key down the whole drivers side. We filed a police report, but I don't expect anything will happen. I think my stepdad will be able to fix it, so I'm not worried.

The games begin Thursday. Looks like I have to get someone to cover a couple hours of my shift on Thursday so I can make the first airport run. Eric has done a lot of the prep work so we're in good shape. He has found it's easier to just do the work than deal with freaked out Wendy. Works for me!

As far as decluttering, we took a big box of miscellaneous crap, an old TV, and 2 trash bags of clothing to Salvation Army yesterday. There's more to do, but that will do for now.

I think there might be a correlation between sugar intake and my allergies. Yesterday I binged on sugar and caffeine, and I didn't take my allergy pill because I didn't feel like I needed one. Today I woke up with one eye irritated and tearing, and it cleared up pretty quickly after I took a pill. It might be coincidence, but I can use a reason to avoid sugar to see if there is a connection.

I think that's about it for now. Hope y'all have a good week.

Back To Work Soon

Yes, I think I'm nearly to the point where I won't be able to use this knee as an excuse not to work. I still have to pace myself, but stamina is returning. I got a little of everything done on my list for this week: medical records mailed, annual exam at VA (plus an additional appointment, quickly given, to get something wart-like cryogenically removed from my arm), physical therapy (two solid sessions), pre-op consult (scheduled for July 16), three weed whacker batteries of weed whacking done, but very little housework.

My VA nurse practitioner cautioned me about getting the carpal tunnel release done. Her nurse's husband had it done, but still had problems. The nurse practitioner advised to wait longer, because often the results aren't so good from this procedure. My doc is confident I'll see good results, and my physical therapist said it's important to get it done before I experience muscle loss, because that won't come back. I like my VA practitioner, but in this instance, based upon results I've been getting from them so far, I trust my orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist in this matter.

Our town is having a tree limb and brush drop off day on July 18th, so I'm going to see what I can get trimmed and gathered in time to participate in this event -- it's rare for the city to do this, and I want to take advantage of it.

In clutter release, four empty boxes have left the house. Three toner cartridges have made their way into the UPS truck for recycling.  I boxed up the coffee maker in preparation for putting it in a yard sale this summer (It's still on the ktichen counter, though -- I need to find a staging area for this stuff).

I'm identifying little tasks that need to be done in the overall housework realm. Unfortunately, it took me most of the week to bring the broom and dustpan into the downstairs bathroom to sweep it. I'll get back into the swing of things soon. I'm not a great housekeeper, but I can be a lot better than I've been able to be since the surgery.

The Week Ahead:

• Evaluation appointment with a VA contractor on Monday, and there may be more appointments related to this at some later date
• Physical therapy X2
• Set up the deer camera and fill the deer feeder
• Maybe we'll finally cut up the tree that's been sitting on the motor home for a couple of years
• Bring the flat fender Jeep trailer back from the ranch and stow in the shop.
• Head to San Antonio to celebrate the 4th with friends.
• Yardwork
• Housework

Looking up

We've had interesting developments here. We have a signed agreement on our offer to buy the house in Berwyn. I'm leaving work a little early on Friday to go out there for the inspection, although I'll be surprised if they find anything. It's a recent flip, and the city is very strict on code enforcement, or so our realtor tells us. We're hoping for a quick close, ideally mid-July. We'll still have to pay August rent, but that's fine. We won't have to make a mortgage payment until September. It's going to save us a lot of money, which is crazy. We're going into debt to get out of debt.

Still no movement on the downstate house, but with the breathing room we'll be getting, we're a little less concerned. We'll see how the market looks in September or so before we decide to renew the listing for another 6 months or take it off the market and try to rent for 18 months. That'll put us back to April, and hopefully the market will have picked up, plus we'll have another 18 mortgage payments covered by rent and our break-even point will be lower. It's not the ideal situation, but if we find a good rental agent like we had in VA, it'll be fine.

The Chicago Games went well yesterday. It's been wet, so the area was a little muddy, but we talked to a lot of people and the weather cooperated. It didn't storm until we were home this time, even after we stopped for dinner along the way.

Work has been interesting. I'm doing more managerial duties, but I don't have the title or the pay yet. I'm supposed to be training with one of the other managers for a couple hours tomorrow morning. Honestly, I don't know what else they could have me do. I'm already doing inventory and ordering, scheduling, and bank runs for change. The kids already call me when something goes wrong or someone doesn't show up. I'm already reminding them of what to do and what to wear. (We have a couple of girls who think it's fine to show up in white short shorts as long as they have the t-shirt and visor.) I already meet once a week with the district manager. And they've gotten me the info to take the Chicago food sanitation course, which I'll be reimbursed for once I pass. I guess I'll find out tomorrow what else I need to be doing to get to the next level because, frankly, I'm getting to the point that they're not paying me enough to put up with this crap. I'm my own worst enemy, of course. One of the girls called me this afternoon to make sure we don't have a repeat of a situation last week, and I told her we wouldn't, but if it did happen again she could call me and I'd come in. But I vent to poor Eric when they call and pester me, or when I have to cover a shift because someone didn't call in sick in time to get someone to cover for them. Working with teens is so much fun.

Writing has been going better. Blogging has not. I really need to get a handle on that.

I think that's about it. The latte I drank at 5 p.m. seems to have just worn off. Maybe tomorrow won't stink after all!

I Can See Normal on the Horizon

While I can see normal on the horizon, I'm also experiencing momentary despair that the knee will ever be "normal." I know this is silliness. It will, and it will be in a few months, but right now, in these moments, every now and then, I'm tired of it. I know this will pass.

It's the busy season for routine medical appointments. With physical therapy on top of the appointments, I have some long days running around in Temple. Last week was with my primary care doctor. Thankfully, anticipated prescription problems did not materialize at Fort Hood, but nearly everyone in the waiting room was speaking some language other than English. Do you know how strange this is in an American military hospital? This week, I see my primary nurse practitioner at the VA where the women's health exams will take place. I'll update her on my knee and my next steps I'm taking to alleviate my carpal tunnel symptoms -- a visit to my orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday to discuss surgery. Other than issuing me braces for my various ailments, the VA has been useless to me for anything other than Women's Health (the primary reason I see them). I'm so thankful I have other health care available to me. On the 29th, I see a VA contractor doctor for my increased disability evaluation.

If surgery is indicated for my carpal tunnel (and I think it is), I'll schedule that for mid-July. I should just be finishing PT for my knee, so I can begin it for my hand.  Interestingly enough, my PT place seems to do pre-employment physical fitness tests for employers that need it (the jail being one). That sounds like a good way to supplement income.

We got the birdbath installed in the side yard this week. I got the lawn mowed. I still need to do trimming. I'm barely keeping ahead of yard work, and I'm not doing well on housework. Stephen, I spoke too soon about being thankful I didn't have to pound laundry on rocks. A couple nights ago, while we were working on a jigsaw puzzle at the kitchen table, Mr. L looked down, and water was oozing across the floor. The washer was leaking somehow. We think at the drain pump, but we haven't verified it yet. I guess we're in the market for another washer again (we bought this one used from our former neighbor in San Antonio two years ago). Will Mr. L find the time and energy to move the 220 outlet and the dryer vent to the other side of the laundry room so we can buy the new stacked unit we prefer? We'll see. Until he figures it out, I'm hauling dirty clothes to the laundromat at the end of the street for washing and bringing them back here for drying.

Quin is published. I think I haven't done a blog post for it yet, so I should do that. Thank you, Stephen, for your help with the cover image as well as reminding me how much revision we did from my electronic copy to the final version in BFF -- and for sending those copies for my use.

I have the Glaring Upheaval and Malone's Way file assembled. I'll need to select cover art, and do a quality check.  I plan to release that next month.  I've kept up with my blogging schedule. Stamina is seeping back in. Despite this, I'm still not getting much creative work done.

So far, Rossie is responding positively to the us putting her in the cage. We hope she feels safe in there, and her behavior so far indicates she does. Or she is beginning to feel safe. Either way, we feel hopeful for the first time in a long while with regard to her. Will this work, and how long will it take? We have no idea.

The Week Ahead:

• Mail surgical medical records to VA
• Annual exam at VA
• Physical therapy X2
• Pre-op consult with orthopedic surgeon
• Do some yard work
• Do some housework

Y'all have a great week and hang in there.

Glimpses of Productivity

Thanks to Stephen's no too gentle prodding, I read through the Amazon KDP terms of service and accepted them.  Then I looked through some stock photos. I created a book for Quin. I found the same photo I'd liked for Quin on colourbox on my stock photo site that gives me a photo a month, so I downloaded that photo and created a cover. It's not ideal, but it's a start. Ideally, I'd make the background transparent or find a way to make the photo a little smaller on the cover so the "an" of Jean isn't obscured by the mannequin's foot. Other niggling things like that, but I have a cover. Maybe the fonts aren't right. Maybe the colors aren't right, but I have a cover. Then I played with the document file. I added the front matter, added the three poems from BFF at the end, and added a bio.

Wendy observed the indentations were too large. I agreed. I made the indent smaller in the file. No change in .mobi. I removed the indentations, and .mobi had no indentations. I added three spaces where every indentation should be. That sort of works, better on some e-readers than others from what I could tell. I'm nearly ready to move to the pricing page, but I'm letting it cool for a while first.

I'm looking for cover images for Glaring Upheaval/Malone's Way. Nothing really grabs me yet, but I'm also looking with an eye for title, subtitle, and name placement visibility. Now that I've seen the cover wizard in action, I see what some of the limitations are and am trying to work with them.

I've kept up with my blog posts. I drafted an opening scene to a post-apocalyptic story. Writing-wise, this is the most productive I've been for a couple of months.

I troubleshot the iMac wake from sleep problem yesterday. After I exhausted all the cures I found on the internet to no avail, I called Apple Tech support. They exhausted everything they had (not much more than what I'd already tried), and the next step is to lug it into the Apple Store next time I'm in San Antonio. At least I have a trouble ticket on it with everything we've done so far, so we shouldn't have to backtrack much. The interim solution is to never let it go to sleep, which works well. I make a point to turn it off if I won't be using it for a while.

Mr. L is on his way back from San Antonio, where he had a productive week, repairing siding, a window sill, painting, and fixing two water leaks. Probably a few other things he's not mentioned which are likely to be impressive, because he does stuff like that.

I got the tree down for a very reasonable price, mowed at the store, tried to trap cats, trapping all the wrong ones (and letting one I sort of wanted to trap escape when I foolishly tried to transfer him to a carrier -- just take him to the vet in the trap; I should know that by now). We probably have some things to do to prepare for the upstairs AC tear out and install next week.  We're looking forward to having a new system installed and hoping it will be more reliable and efficient.

I have physical therapy for a few more weeks and several medical appointments, routine, but important, as well as the evaluation appointment for the VA to determine not only my temporary 100% disability but my request for an increased rating for my right knee (I didn't specifically ask for that, but they interpreted it that way, and I'm fine with that). I know the knees are not 0% disability, but they may still see it that way. A replacement with no complications, according to the chart, is an automatic 30%. I don't want it rated any more than that, because that means I'm having serious problems with the implant, and I do not want that. Thankfully, I don't think I'm having problems with the implant, so I imagine after one year, the temporary 100% will revert to a permanent 30%.

I still need to try to trap Boomer -- he needs medical attention. Junior is in the good to trap category, because he needs to be evaluated for health, neutered if healthy, and vaccinated. He probably needs treatment for parasites as well.

I cannot believe Walter walked into the trap yesterday afternoon and caught himself. Then he cussed me out but good for a couple minutes while I was holding the trap open for him before deigning to walk out and go under the house. He cussed so loudly, Boomer came to the steps to investigate. Not long after, I'd rebaited the trap, and Boomer looked inside but chose not to go in. Nobody even approached the trap this morning.

I've been trying to walk in the mornings and am slowly increasing my time. My knee "clunked" in a disconcerting way (I felt a vibration all the way up my body). I've since learned if I pick my foot up just a little more when I walk, the clunk does not happen. This leads me to believe it's a gait thing, and if I'm clunking, I'm not walking properly. I'm going to run that theory by the physical therapist on Tuesday, but it seems sensible. The new knee walks fine, but my old knee complains at the 8-10 minute mark. That's going to be a problem until I get it replaced.

The Week Ahead:

• Upstairs heat pump installation
• Primary care doctor appointment
• Physical therapy re-eval
• Mowing and yard work
• Walk
• Attempt to capture Boomer and get him in for medical attention
• Publish Quin to Amazon
• Gain traction on other writing projects

Climbing The Health Ladder or Ways To Go Crazy

It's been a rough, rough, rough past few days. We changed my diabetes meds, and I'm going through a drastic "adjustment period," as the doctor so nicely put it. That's because, of course, he's not going through it.

Just to add to the general stress of it all, my insurance company -- the one I was so proud of for insuring me for the first time in my life -- denied my new drug. It's so frustrating. The rotten thing is working, I'm enduring this danged adjustment period, and they won't pay. No explanation for why they won't pay. They just won't pay. I'm appealing the decision. And I have enough samples for a couple of weeks. I certainly can't afford it if they don't pay for it. So I might be doing the whole danged adjustment over with a new drug.

No writing for the past two weeks. That is also annoying, but I can't seem to find the concentration necessary to hold a story in my head. Part of the adjustment, apparently, and it will get better, they say, and soon I will be writing again, I hope. Yeah, a lot of commas in that sentence. Want to make something of it?

Okay, I'm a bit grumpy, too.

But I am doing To-Do lists again and getting things done. Not as much as I once did, but it's getting better. I'm hoping that in a couple of months I will rev up enough to make people jealous again. Or at least keep up with them.

This week:
- Household chores.
- Family newsletter.
- WRITE!

Have a great week, whether you want to or not!

Six Week Post-Op Blues

Yes. I'm whining. Everything hurts. I'm sure it's ergonomics and compensation while I try to minimize weakness in my leg. Trying to figure out what it will take to get past this lower back and both legs pain.

The iMac is set up. I'll add things as I need them now.  Dropbox is still synchronizing. And I don't seem to be able to wake it up from sleep. Does it just turn itself off? Do I have a setting wrong? I'll explore more.

I got my haircut. Therapy, despite my lower back troubles, is going well. My follow up with the doctor went great. My last granddaughter graduated from high school today with her cosmetology license as well, so she's thrilled. Not sure what she has lined up. Vacuuming did NOT happen. I guess it's too early for that.

The Week Ahead:

• Rest to see if this back will ease up
• Walk -- some of it behind a lawn mower at the store unless Mr. L has time to load the riding mower into a trailer and take me over there tomorrow so I can "get 'er done."
• Physical therapy; schedule my 12 week follow up with my surgeon -- forgot to do it Friday before I left
• Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting.  Good night.

Catching myself coming and going

I don't know where this week has gone. It's a little disconcerting.

I had a meeting with my district manager on Wednesday. Their plan is to get me trained for Assistant Manager this month, and move me to Store Manager at some point after that. They're not very specific with timelines. One of the new tasks is to take over scheduling. It's currently being done by a guy at the home office, and he doesn't know who is good at what. He had a train wreck for tomorrow night (one weak closer with an opener who's never closed), but I fixed it with the DM's blessing. I have to have a schedule for the week of June 15 ready to go for approval this Wednesday, and rumor has it I'm going to have one of the other managers back in the store to train me that week. It's great to have a challenge again.

I'm pulling the post-apoc short together. I haven't started writing yet, but I have a good feel for the plot, stakes, and characters. I'm building in conflict already. I have an retired Navy MD and an eccentric herbalist in the same compound. The main character, a former Corpsman (Corpswoman?) lost an arm in combat and has PTSD, and one of the other characters is a guy she dated several times before she deployed. They Skyped and e-mailed while she was in country, and after her accident she cut off contact with him as well as most of her Navy friends. So she won't be happy to see him. I hope it comes together quickly. I've put a lot of work into it so far.

We've pretty much decided we're going to move out of here when our lease is up in mid-September. I'm not sure yet if we're going north or west. Both options have public transit options for both of us. I can't say I'm happy about it, but the city has made the building management do several stupid "improvements" to bring the building up to "code." I don't know why they've been allowed to have tenants in here for so many years with it not up to code, unless they're new codes. They've virtually made one of our parking spots inaccessible by making the spots next to us handicapped and painting the yellow lines in our front spot. (I guess they never notice the handicapped plates on our car. The one parked in the carport now.) Then they moved the garage door from the outside to the middle and placed a curb in front of the door--just in our spot--to prevent parking on the lines, thereby chopping out another foot of parking space. The Impala barely fits in there. The van won't. That was three weeks ago. Building management has no idea what to do about it. There is a lot I like about living here, but the burbs are looking really good right now.

So that's what I've been up to. This week is more or less the same except I'm driving up to Mom's for a couple days on Friday. The timing is good since my hours are supposed to increase a bit.

This week:
- Finish the schedule.
- Start writing the story and figure out the title. "Luci In The Sky With Demons" isn't going to work after all. I guess I'm saving that for another time.
- Get going on the guest room.
- Make a Salvation Army run. (They call it Salvo here.)
- Fight like crazy to not get overwhelmed.