Buy Undying at Lulu.com!
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Undying On Sale Now!
Undying by Stephen B. Bagley and Gail Henderson is on sale now at Lulu.com! Save 20 percent off the cover price through Wednesday, Oct. 21, using Coupon Code: OCTFLASH20
Buy Undying at Lulu.com!
Buy Undying at Lulu.com!
Saturday, October 17, 2015
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:
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
Thursday, October 15, 2015
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.
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.
Friday, October 9, 2015
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:
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
Sunday, October 4, 2015
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.
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.