Thanks for the Company!

I'm glad to see Wendy made it back from Florida, and Stephen is enjoying he new-found freedom by picking up a new responsibility (nature abhors a vacuum). Tammy is out there, and I'm sending her hugs.

The trip to San Antonio went well. I got the red oak half of the front yard raked and the leaves and acorns (many of them) bagged and out for the trash -- 12 bags worth. After the rain from a few weeks ago, I drained excess water out of the hot tub. The mail arrived (and it was all ours this time!), including, eventually, the two bills I needed.

I got cash, added more money to the credit on the water bill, and found out my glasses frames are still available. The wonderful Tess ordered them, and she'll put together an estimate for new lenses for me and give me a call to see what I want to go with.

We headed to the ranch last Monday with a load of broken bricks and other fill items to add to our effort to fill the water feature. Mr. L has almost one wheel track across it.

I finished my glass inventory and separated five boxes out for eventual sale. I wrapped up labeling the boxes today, and I'm on to the decluttering task for February: the dining room.

I finally got two books read this week. I got a wi-fi Kindle Paperwhite with Special Offers, just to see if I like it.  For $20, I can kill the Special Offers at any time, but, as other people have assured me, they have zero impact on reading, so I don't mind them. The Paperwhite screen is comfortable for reading. The lighting works well. I'm not fond the monochrome screen for shopping for new books or for perusing my existing library. The integration with Goodreads works pretty well.

No more short story ideas. I'm pleased with the poem I was working on last week, but I was unable to effectively convey the emotion necessary to make it marketable, so it's back on the shelf for now. I did get some work done on Polar Bear on the Loose. 

I'm thinking about dropping my Philosophical Meanderings blog and putting the few regular posts I do there on my main blog.

The Week Ahead:

• Pay last two bills for February on Monday.
• Physical therapy on Tuesday -- I'm interested to see what they will have me do
• Request the referral from my primary care doc to the civilian orthopedist
• See if I can get more time on the recumbent bike.  I could only manage ten minutes today before pain took over.
• We have a mixed bag of rain and cloudy forecast for this week, but I'd like to get more winter yardwork done.
• Choose at least one of the tasks I've been avoiding so far and get it done.

Back with no sunburn

The lack of sunburn almost didn't happen. I got a little sun-kissed Sunday when we were packing up camp, but that was about it.

I got home about 6:30 last night. Today, as usual, I'm tired and moving kind of slow. I don't do anything that requires a lot of effort or concentration for 2-3 days after a trip. It's how I am, and I don't expect it will change. I'm going downtown in a while to meet Eric for dinner. I might have to make a coffee run on the way!

It was a good trip. I got caught up with old friends, took a few classes, told some stories. In fact, our neighbors great-grandkids came over pretty regularly for stories. They especially loved fairy stories, which wasn't so surprising for the 3-year-old girl, but a little odd for the 8-year-old boy. Boys usually prefer monsters and vikings. I did get asked for a banshee story, which was a first. I told them to come find me next year and I'd have one for them. I did get some work done while I was there. The fairy story for BSF took shape, and I'll start writing it later this week, when I can think again.

I think that's about it. If I think of anything else of particular excitement, I'll pop back over and edit this.

You Gotta Have Friends

Can't leave Jean here alone, so thought I would share a bit. Of course, the big news is that I'm no longer the president of the local writers group. The changeover will be talking place this week as I email items to the new president, but mostly it's finished. I had worried about how I would feel after my resignation was official -- and I do have regrets because I enjoyed my time as president -- but the relief and sense of freedom is much stronger. I wish them well, and I remain a member, but their future is their own as is mine.

Really, I'm going to give God the credit for handling this. I was nervous and upset Friday night to the point I only got a couple hours of sleep. Saturday morning I got up and seriously considered sending in a resignation letter and hiding out until the furor died. But I prayed and felt like I should read The 23rd Psalm. Y'all know it, but here it is:

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

I took much comfort from it and carried that feeling to the meeting, which went well other than one person who chose to be hateful rather than kind, but it was a small moment and it didn't touch me. Everyone else said many good things about me and even tried to talk me into staying. It was good for my ego, but I knew I was doing what was best. And I walked out feeling so much better.

I went to lunch with friends, not a celebration as such, but it felt somewhat celebratory. They were happy to see me happier. Then I came home, made some phone calls, texted a few people, worked on a short story, played World of Warcraft, did laundry, cleaned house, ate dinner, watched a movie, and went to bed and slept soundly. A good end to the day.

Today I went to church and am making lunch now. I'm typing this while the microwave hums and the stove cooks.

Here are my plans for this week:
1. Work on "The Convicted." Jean pointed how short the final battle was. Makes sense there would be more. So going to add a page of action.
2. Get the president stuff sent to the new president.
3. Work with another writer on his story. I'm hoping we can Skype him in with Wendy and Jean this week, but of course, depends on everyone's schedule.
4. Housework. I've let it slip. Time to catch up.
5. And the other chores.

Hope you have a great week!

Good Thing I Like to be Alone!

'Cause it's lonely here at Createslate. Everybody is off doing their thing and not hanging out here. But I can talk to myself. It's okay. I like to do that!

Other than some horrendous knee pain, whole leg pain if the truth be told, for a few days this week, the week has gone well. Stephen helped me pull together a cat story for BSF. I found an old poem that has potential, and Gail is working with me on that. The next revision for Polar Bear on the Loose is under way, and I'm confident I'll get the story nailed this time. Geeks, however, is paused. I must do extensive work to get Inuit into shape, and I just can't work on both at once.

I believe the knee pain was brought about by overdoing on the recumbent bike.  Silly me.  Level 2 for ten minutes was no problem, so I thought I'd move up to Level 3 for ten minutes. That didn't work. The next day, the left leg was not working in dramatic and painful ways. I've done some stretching and heat and ice, and it calmed down and returned to its normal pain level. I was able to sort of ride at Level 1 for 20 minutes yesterday. That's the prescription for keeping the knee lubricated and mobile. I added the ten minutes of "cardio" in the middle to work the heart. It does not do my heart good to have my legs in excruciating pain, so I'll work that a little slower.

I found better apps for prayer and meditation.

I started the winter yard work, but then the knee pain overturned those efforts. I didn't look at the Wildlife Management Report or the GIMP class. I did try a couple different smoothies and stuck to my calorie goal all week except for going a little over tonight when I added avocado slices to my sweet potato with dinner. Other than that, I'm back in the zone for now. I finished the glass inventory (including the five more boxes I found today) and evaluated what I want to get rid of. I have about half of those pieces located and separated from the pieces I want to keep. I'm confident I can finish this task before the end of the month.

The Week Ahead:

• Heading to San Antonio to get the mail and get some cash this week.
• Check with my optometrist's office about new frames -- my nose piece bent when I was cleaning my glasses last week, and I'm afraid it may be suffering metal fatigue and be about to break. I'm going to see if I can get a replacement pair. My prescription has changed slightly, so I may consider new lenses, too.
• I need to rake acorns while I'm in San Antonio

I know Wendy's being eaten by bugs in Florida. I hope y'all are doing well. Stephen's probably on Cloud 9 somewhere after the transfer of power at Ada Writers. Tammy, hugs to you.

It's Warm, But I'm Still Cold

Our Arctic Blast is gone for now. We're supposed to have highs in the 50s and 60s this week with overnight lows from the mid-30s to mid-40s.  Overall, nice weather. It just means the house still feels colder than outside even though indoor temperatures range from the high 60s to 70s.

I got the first gas bill after the meter was repaired. Yes, it's working. After over a year of minimum billing, this month was in the low 80s, which seems normal given we were using heat. My conscience rests easy even if my bank account does not.

I can't tell if my weight loss goals are on track or not, but for the last three days, I've finally gotten my eating into some semblance of order. I'm working smoothies for the breakfast and lunch window. I am still fighting the afternoon and late evening snacking bugaboos. I have noticed if I can manage the afternoon snacking, the evening snacking is easier to hold at bay.  I attribute this to two things.  First, I know late evening snacking is related to being tired, so if I just go to bed when I feel munchies, that's a plus, but when I've snacked in the afternoon and blown my calorie count, I'm more inclined to participate in despair thinking in the evening and think, "I've already blown it, what's a little more." We all know this is silliness, but I think it's well known that our mind can convince us of the dumbest things. Let's just say, I feel good about the last three days, and I'll work day-by-day from here.

I decided to increase my recumbent bike riding time from 20 minutes at level one (what I do to keep the knees as loose as possible) to thirty minutes, and I'm increasing the level of effort during the middle ten minutes to get more cardio work done. So far, it's working well.

Polar Bear on the Loose is going to take significant work to get ready for the public, and I'm still not sure I can meet my goal of publishing by August 4. Because of this, I'm pausing work on Geeks for the foreseeable future unless I just want to work on something else for awhile.

My January decluttering goal is right on target.  I've completed my glass inventory. I seem to still be missing a box somewhere. I'll have to check to see what I left at the store. Maybe there's more there. I had a partial inventory, and approximately 25 items did not appear in the boxes I just inventoried and photographed. The next phase is to evaluate what I want to keep and what I want to sell.  I do not need, for instance, three of these:

I don't even like fluted bowls, compotes, etc. Once I determine what I want to sell, I'll need to go through everything and separate the sell items from the keep items. I should be able to finish that by the end of the month. One huge decluttering task will be done (I've been putting it off for at least four years).

Praying and meditating is mostly going well. I was trying the You Version Bible app, but it keeps emailing me even after I've told it not to, which means, I'll probably be deleting my account there soon. I have two Meditation apps. I prefer the Mindfully Me app.  I'm not sure what value I'm getting from meditating. I can clear my mind for ten minutes, but it seems the value eventually comes from the things that enter my mind while I'm trying to keep it clear?  I don't know. I'm using a Prayer Prompter app, but the pre-programmed prayer part doesn't seem very prayer-like, and the part I can customize is kind of clunky.  I'm still looking for tools to enhance my goals in these areas. I hesitate to pay for an app that I don't know if I'll like, and there are a lot of paid apps out there. The free ones  I've found are mediocre.

I've completely blown off the FM site upgrade for now.  Too many other things are occupying my mind. Finances are on track.

The Week Ahead:

• Work on Polar Bear on the Loose
• Finalize "Intelligent Surrender" (or whatever it winds up being called)
• Go though Wildlife Management Report and get it closer to final version
• Continue looking for apps that work better for achieving my prayer and meditation goals
• Determine what glass to sell and begin separating it from that which I want to keep
• Ride the recumbent bike
• While the weather is nice, begin winter yard work
• More smoothies!
• More GIMP class (this class isn't that long; I'm just that slow)

Arctic Week

Our annual week of chilliness has settled into Texas.  We may have a few more, and as long as we avoid the teens, I'm okay with this. It don't care about the teens, but my stupid water pipes in this house seem to have problems, and I'm afraid the next time one of the plastic nightmares freezes and breaks, it won't be in a place we can easily cap off or repair. I have a strong preference for cast iron pipes. Sigh. Only the old plumbing in this house is cast iron, and there isn't very much of that (basically, to the kitchen sink).

Still on track for my goals this week, except for Geeks. I haven't opened that and gotten to work on it yet. I'm still trying to come up with a short story. My main character has had gender reassignment and it experiencing problems from her co-workers (yes, an odd topic; I don't know where it came from). It didn't start out very dark, but it's getting there. We'll see how this goes.

I worked on the GIMP class but haven't finished it yet.  I did get the new cover for Polar Bear on the Loose from my cover designer, and I like it very much.

I didn't do any FM work this week.

I did accomplish the following:

• Ride recumbent bike
• Inventory boxes of glass (four more to go)
• Annual exams and shots for Ajax and Natasha
• Retrieved game camera from ranch, turned off the feeder, and laid some rock in a water feature
• Oh, my God, we have wild hogs in droves. Planning a hog hunt for later this year.
• It looks like the big bucks were harvested in hunting season.  We only had does and a couple young bucks at the feeder this month. And squirrels, raccoons, and an armadillo!
• I got some PLF material downloaded and worked more in Duolingo (did you see you can begin learning Swedish now?).
• Used my Magic Bullet to make some fruit smoothies

The Week Ahead:

• Work on Geeks
• Continue GIMP class
• Continue to ride the recumbent bike and inventory glass
• Work on the Wildlife Management report
• Help Mr. L as needed
• Go Buckeyes! O-H-I-O!
• Work on short story. Try to finalize and get feedback this week.
• Expand smoothie repertoire.
• Work on the troublesome lunch and afternoon snacking problem

Feeling better this week than last.  Absolutely no reason that I can tell, but I'll take it.

All spinny-brained

I'm having a hard time focusing on things lately. I blame the cold. The good news is we might have wind chills ABOVE 0 next week! That was a teaser for the weather on the news the other night.

I have definitive proof now that writing contributes to my mental wellness. I was cranky and grousing yesterday about not being able to get a handle on the end of the short story. Finally, I gathered up my laptop and notes and took them to bed. The change of venue seemed to help and I cranked out the last 1800 words. I feel better today. Still can't keep hold of a thought, but better. I'm glad to have that done and submitted for Second Flight. Now I just have to polish up the poem and I should be done with my submissions. That gets me a poem and two stories, right, Stephen?

I leave Wednesday for Florida, and I hope the break will help me get centered again. I'll be away 12 days, and for the first time, I'll be at the rendezvous for most of set-up as well as break-down. Dad is happy about that. I will be AFK except for short bursts while I'm away. I hope to post pictures to Facebook while I'm there, but my phone will be off most of the time to save the battery since, obviously, I won't be able to charge it without leaving camp.

About the most exciting thing I've dealt with this week is ice inside my windows. I'm still further south than where I grew up in MI, so of course I thought there must be broken seals. Turns out, when air can't circulate around the windows when it's really cold, the condensation freezes. Luckily only my north facing windows were affected, and I thawed them out pretty easily between the space heater in the bedroom and the hair dryer in the living room. We've been ice-free for two days.

If you need anything from me for the rest of the month, let me know before Tuesday. You might be able to catch me Wednesday since I'll be traveling, but don't rely on me for anything after that. And try not to hate me because I'll be warm. :-) See y'all on the flip side.

Oh, Yeah. It's 2015. Whoop.

Four days into the year, and already I'm both elated and bummed. Simultaneously.

One Best Year Ever Bonus was a walk through of Michael Hyatt's Evernote tracking mechanism. Evernote blogged about it, so you can access it for free. I learned a lot about using Evernote that I'd never taken the time to figure out in his brief video.  For instance, COMMAND-SHIFT-T produces a checkbox. And I can link notes to a main note (like an index page) and use the back arrow to return to the index page when I'm done making an update. And he taught us how to save searches to keep them handy. Way cooler for tracking goals than what I had set up in Things. Some of my Things set ups are good.  For instance, I can track my mindful eating efforts, then I can right-click and save that Things entry to my Day One app.

I'm made the "easy" fixes Tammy identified for PBOTL.  I've noted all three of your more major suggestions and am waiting for the rest of Tammy's response and one other before I decide the final path to take for PBOTL.

I've started HTRYN Lesson 1 for GEEKS.

Daily meditation and prayer is on track.  I'm not particularly pleased with the Prayer app I selected, mostly because I'm not sure if I'm using it right.  That's the problem with most apps -- if they aren't clearly intuitive, they can be tough to figure out, because, rarely, is there a user manual.

Looking at my credit card balances this month, it looks like I'll get out of my carry over problem in February instead of March as anticipated, and that warmed my heart. (I prefer to pay my balances in full each month, but sometimes I need to spread things out over a couple of months -- this has been one of those times.) Bills are paid or will be paid Monday after I make the rounds to City Hall and the Tax Office on Monday. Checking account is empty until February now.

I got one stationary bike ride in so far this year. My knee loosened up after the first five minutes.  That's why I need to do this daily. I'll need to head to the shop on week days to ride the bike and inventory glass.

Still trying to come up with short stories for Blackbirds Second Flight. Not feeling excited about short stories right now.

The Week Ahead: 

• Finish GIMP class and work on three cover designs for A-Z books
• GEEKS revision
• Finish Joomla! migration videos
• Begin looking at the book form problem with FM (the book form works fine now, but it doesn't work in Joomla! 3.  I have to solve that before we can migrate).
• Inventory glass, select some to sell, ride recumbent bike
• Natasha and Ajax need their shots on Friday
• Go to ranch and retrieve game camera. Turn off deer feeder. Maybe cut tree off the motorhome.
• Get the rest of the PLF lesson material downloaded
• Continue working in Duolingo. I continue to be amazed that it can understand me on the verbal parts of the lessons. I continue to screw up tenses, plurals, and all other aspects of the Spanish language.  Some things are starting to sink in, though, so I'll keep repeating lessons until it becomes "easy."

Welcome to 2015. I'm grumpy, but I'm also feeling very blessed. Hope all is well with each of you.

Still kicking

Not much to report. My cold's mostly gone, nose and front teeth still tender, really wish I could think well enough to write. Otherwise, meh.

{{hugs}}