Been having some long days lately. A friend's mother has been in the hospital, and I've been going out there to be with her and her daughter. First, the doctors planned a surgery, then they postponed it, then it was back on, and now it seems off again. She's still in the hospital. I'm going to go out tomorrow again. It's hard to confront mortality for anyone.
And I've been fighting with insomnia again. Can't seem to sleep as much as I need to. Not sure I could sleep as much as I want to. Cats have that ability: to nap at a moment's notice. They find a warm sunbeam and stretch out and they're asleep. I admire cats for that. Although I've seen dogs do it, too.
Not much writing is taking place. I'm going to try to shoehorn some in tomorrow. I need to finish the Justina Grave story and fix its errors, help edit a friend's story, and edit another friend's story. This all has to take place in June so that Blackbirds Third Flight can take to sky in October.
Jean has been using a new organization method: the Bullet Journal. Or some aspects of it. I need to adopt a system that will help keep me on course. I like parts of the Bullet Journal, but it seems a lot of work to keep up. I don't want to spend more time than I have to on that aspect of productivity. But maybe spending the time would pay off in increases. I will look into it. And also, I need to clone a healthier, stronger, younger version of me who can do things while I sleep. Surely one of my mad scientist friends have been working on something I can use.
Anyway, that's what's going on my life. Yours?
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
Counting Down
My list is prepared. I have 15 days until I get my new knee. Yes, I'm excited. I'll be methodically completing preparation items from my list between now and the 14th.
Fluffy is up in the Blackbirds folder. It's not nearly dark enough. I'm certain he needs more work, but I hope length isn't the problem anymore.
Other than that, my life revolves around yard work and litter boxes. Surely that's someone's idea of hell.
Fluffy is up in the Blackbirds folder. It's not nearly dark enough. I'm certain he needs more work, but I hope length isn't the problem anymore.
Other than that, my life revolves around yard work and litter boxes. Surely that's someone's idea of hell.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Prelim cover
So...it looks like this will be a book in October. Woohoo! This is a preliminary cover. I expect changes as more authors join us.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
planted
The garden is in and mostly healthy. I have a a few plants that look sad and puny, but the rest should do well. Looking forward to having a good harvest. Of course, by September I'll be ready to yank them out by the roots. :-)
I got the flowers for the front porch potted, too, and we cleaned out the front flower bed and pruned the bushes and roses, so that's yard work done for a while.
The day job is not without its challenges but overall things are going well. I'll just say I have a coworker who may end up dead in a story sometime soon and leave it at that.
Alex is away for a few days to clear out his college apartment, so it will be quiet around here for a bit, and I won't wake up to a dirty kitchen. There are challenges to him working nights. He usually sleeps until 8 or 9 p.m., cooks food to take to work, and leaves pans soaking on the stove. If the dishwasher is clean, the dishes get piled up on the counters. Sometimes that happens when it's dirty. I'm not a diligent housekeeper, but it's getting old. The only really bad part about him being gone is he took our truck to move stuff. The weather is lovely and we have no sun roof! *sobs*
I heard a story on NPR yesterday about some scientists who are considering genetically modifying the breeds of mosquitoes that carry disease. In North America, there are only two. The plan is to breed a whole crapload of sterile males, enough to make it statistically probable that most females will breed with them and not produce offspring. Essentially, they're talking about driving two species into extinction on purpose. They said those two species won't effect the ecosystem because the predators that eat them will just eat other things. And really, what could go wrong? Oh, the plot bunnies. Good thing, too. I haven't written in days. Walter needs something new to play with.
Oh! Mac update! It was an easy fix. The boot file got corrupted. They reloaded it and I had my computer back two hours after I dropped it off. I have a new favorite Apple dealer, and they're 2 miles from my house. Score!!!!
I got the flowers for the front porch potted, too, and we cleaned out the front flower bed and pruned the bushes and roses, so that's yard work done for a while.
The day job is not without its challenges but overall things are going well. I'll just say I have a coworker who may end up dead in a story sometime soon and leave it at that.
Alex is away for a few days to clear out his college apartment, so it will be quiet around here for a bit, and I won't wake up to a dirty kitchen. There are challenges to him working nights. He usually sleeps until 8 or 9 p.m., cooks food to take to work, and leaves pans soaking on the stove. If the dishwasher is clean, the dishes get piled up on the counters. Sometimes that happens when it's dirty. I'm not a diligent housekeeper, but it's getting old. The only really bad part about him being gone is he took our truck to move stuff. The weather is lovely and we have no sun roof! *sobs*
I heard a story on NPR yesterday about some scientists who are considering genetically modifying the breeds of mosquitoes that carry disease. In North America, there are only two. The plan is to breed a whole crapload of sterile males, enough to make it statistically probable that most females will breed with them and not produce offspring. Essentially, they're talking about driving two species into extinction on purpose. They said those two species won't effect the ecosystem because the predators that eat them will just eat other things. And really, what could go wrong? Oh, the plot bunnies. Good thing, too. I haven't written in days. Walter needs something new to play with.
Oh! Mac update! It was an easy fix. The boot file got corrupted. They reloaded it and I had my computer back two hours after I dropped it off. I have a new favorite Apple dealer, and they're 2 miles from my house. Score!!!!
Monday, May 23, 2016
Mea culpa
My apologies. I got sick and didn't sit down at the computer much the past week. So, no posts. And really, that's my news. Just about all of it.
The sickness involved a change in my blood pressure meds, and it threw me for a loop. I am both dismayed and amazed by how much a little white pill could change my daily routine. Powerful stuff. But it does seem to be working. Slowly and painfully. I lack energy, but that seems to be getting better.
In writing news...not much. We've been attempting to put together another anthology, and that's been on my mind when I wasn't sleeping or...doing sick things. We're not quite as far along as I hoped we'd be at this point, but we're not behind, either. Blackbirds Third Flight should take to the air in early October.
This week, I'm going to finish editing a story for one of our authors, work on Floozy Comes Back, and keep on the chores.
What will you be doing?
The sickness involved a change in my blood pressure meds, and it threw me for a loop. I am both dismayed and amazed by how much a little white pill could change my daily routine. Powerful stuff. But it does seem to be working. Slowly and painfully. I lack energy, but that seems to be getting better.
In writing news...not much. We've been attempting to put together another anthology, and that's been on my mind when I wasn't sleeping or...doing sick things. We're not quite as far along as I hoped we'd be at this point, but we're not behind, either. Blackbirds Third Flight should take to the air in early October.
This week, I'm going to finish editing a story for one of our authors, work on Floozy Comes Back, and keep on the chores.
What will you be doing?
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Miss my iMac
I'm still working on my on-the-cheap laptop. I take the iMac to the repair shop this afternoon. I'm grateful to have the backup computer in a world where most of the population doesn't have internet access, but dang, it complicates things. I finally plugged my ergonomic keyboard into the laptop so typing isn't the issue it was before.
I almost killed my garden over the weekend. I put the baby plants on the back step to harden off since I'll be planting in a couple weeks and forgot about them. I remembered at 3:30 yesterday morning and went right downstairs to bring them in. Everything was wilted and sad. Most of it has recovered nicely after being watered, but it was pitiful there for a while. I suspect the ones that didn't make it wouldn't have anyway, and I don't think I'll have a shortage of tomatoes and peppers in the garden this year. If I do, I have a flower shop and a hardware store in easy walking distance. There are perks to urban living.
My training is coming along. I walked 2 miles the other day on a hiking trail with my friend. If the weather clears today, I'm going to go walk it again. My Memorial Day goal is still in reach even though I've slacked the last couple of days. The weather has turned cool again, and nothing during the weekend went as planned.
Logging my food has been a revelation. I'm not sure why. It's not the first time I've done it. It's shown that some of the things I thought I was doing right were wrong, particularly with regard to eating out. I've started looking at restaurant nutrition sites again and have been surprised by calorie counts. Did you know the fajita veggies at Chili's are 300 calories? I don't know what they're doing to those poor peppers and onions to get the count that high. It's inspired me to eat at home more, that's for sure. Yesterday I couldn't even be bothered to go out for coffee before I went to pick Eric up from the train. If I brew it at home, I know there's nothing hidden that's going to sabotage me, and there aren't any yummy pastries to tempt me. It's paying off. I'm down a couple pounds. More importantly, Eric is starting to pay attention.
The day job is status quo. One of my original coworkers is leaving at the end of this week to start a new full time job. I'm happy for her. My college students start coming back this week so the timing couldn't be better. In a perfect world, we will have enough hours to go around for everyone, and when the college students leave again, it will be time for things to slow down and I won't have to hire anyone. Hey, a girl can dream, right?
That's about it. Nothing exciting, which is fine by me at this point.
I almost killed my garden over the weekend. I put the baby plants on the back step to harden off since I'll be planting in a couple weeks and forgot about them. I remembered at 3:30 yesterday morning and went right downstairs to bring them in. Everything was wilted and sad. Most of it has recovered nicely after being watered, but it was pitiful there for a while. I suspect the ones that didn't make it wouldn't have anyway, and I don't think I'll have a shortage of tomatoes and peppers in the garden this year. If I do, I have a flower shop and a hardware store in easy walking distance. There are perks to urban living.
My training is coming along. I walked 2 miles the other day on a hiking trail with my friend. If the weather clears today, I'm going to go walk it again. My Memorial Day goal is still in reach even though I've slacked the last couple of days. The weather has turned cool again, and nothing during the weekend went as planned.
Logging my food has been a revelation. I'm not sure why. It's not the first time I've done it. It's shown that some of the things I thought I was doing right were wrong, particularly with regard to eating out. I've started looking at restaurant nutrition sites again and have been surprised by calorie counts. Did you know the fajita veggies at Chili's are 300 calories? I don't know what they're doing to those poor peppers and onions to get the count that high. It's inspired me to eat at home more, that's for sure. Yesterday I couldn't even be bothered to go out for coffee before I went to pick Eric up from the train. If I brew it at home, I know there's nothing hidden that's going to sabotage me, and there aren't any yummy pastries to tempt me. It's paying off. I'm down a couple pounds. More importantly, Eric is starting to pay attention.
The day job is status quo. One of my original coworkers is leaving at the end of this week to start a new full time job. I'm happy for her. My college students start coming back this week so the timing couldn't be better. In a perfect world, we will have enough hours to go around for everyone, and when the college students leave again, it will be time for things to slow down and I won't have to hire anyone. Hey, a girl can dream, right?
That's about it. Nothing exciting, which is fine by me at this point.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Life, life, and more life
It's a stressful three days for me this week. Appointments today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Wednesday's appointment is for my semi-annual diabetes, heart, health, kidneys, liver, etc., check up. They take a lot of blood and do a lot of painful poking. Not looking forward to it. It always leaves me exhausted.
But I have nothing planned for Thursday, so I will get to rest. I will need the time to recover. Of course, I won't learn anything while there. We have to wait for results. They will come next week.
Sunday afternoon, we had a good editing session. I felt it went really well, and it certainly fixed all my concerns about the story. I'm looking forward to our readers enjoying "Mage Hunt" by Wendy Blanton in Blackbirds Third Flight. It's a good story to anchor the entire anthology.
We should have several new authors with this book. I'm excited about working with the new authors as well as our growing stable of authors. Very cool.
In my personal writing...must we talk about it? I'm not doing much. Fighting in the swamp of personal concerns and fears. What is that old saying? "When you’re up to your neck in alligators, it’s easy to forget that the initial objective was to drain the swamp" That's how I've been feeling.
Still, I have many blessings. Remembering to concentrate on them...that's the rub.
Tomorrow, I will have one afternoon appointment that shouldn't be stressful other than taking two hours out of my day. Well, maybe less if I'm lucky. I hope to get some things done to make up for the complete loss of Wednesday and some of Thursday. I'm always hopeful that it won't be as rough as the previous times. That could happen. Miracles still do. What's that line from The Lion in Winter? "In a world where carpenters get resurrected, everything is possible." And that's very true.
Anyway, time to post this and head to bed. Have a good week. I'm in your corner. Always. There's enough sun for everyone.
But I have nothing planned for Thursday, so I will get to rest. I will need the time to recover. Of course, I won't learn anything while there. We have to wait for results. They will come next week.
Sunday afternoon, we had a good editing session. I felt it went really well, and it certainly fixed all my concerns about the story. I'm looking forward to our readers enjoying "Mage Hunt" by Wendy Blanton in Blackbirds Third Flight. It's a good story to anchor the entire anthology.
We should have several new authors with this book. I'm excited about working with the new authors as well as our growing stable of authors. Very cool.
In my personal writing...must we talk about it? I'm not doing much. Fighting in the swamp of personal concerns and fears. What is that old saying? "When you’re up to your neck in alligators, it’s easy to forget that the initial objective was to drain the swamp" That's how I've been feeling.
Still, I have many blessings. Remembering to concentrate on them...that's the rub.
Tomorrow, I will have one afternoon appointment that shouldn't be stressful other than taking two hours out of my day. Well, maybe less if I'm lucky. I hope to get some things done to make up for the complete loss of Wednesday and some of Thursday. I'm always hopeful that it won't be as rough as the previous times. That could happen. Miracles still do. What's that line from The Lion in Winter? "In a world where carpenters get resurrected, everything is possible." And that's very true.
Anyway, time to post this and head to bed. Have a good week. I'm in your corner. Always. There's enough sun for everyone.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Coming up for Air
I had days where I planned to work on Malone. Plans did not become action in this case. I carried the task of "Add 5 pages to Fluffy" to this coming week, so we'll see how that goes. I can't see any reason it won't get done; however, Mr. L has not revealed his plans, nor does he do so in advance, because even if he tells me, they inevitably change anyway.
I'll need to get it done this week, because the following week will involve another trip to SA. Mr. L needs to get his stitches removed, and I need to do back yard work in anticipation of not being able to be there for several months to do any work at all. Last year, it wasn't pretty. This year it won't be pretty either, but there are a few things I can do.
I plan to make a quick trip down there the weekend before my surgery to mow the front yard and do a quick trim to have everything as spruced as possible before I abandon it for several months.
We're supposed to have rain all week. We'll see what that materializes as. So far, nothing but sprinkles.
Other than that, I'm making lists in preparation for surgery to get my new knee.
I'll need to get it done this week, because the following week will involve another trip to SA. Mr. L needs to get his stitches removed, and I need to do back yard work in anticipation of not being able to be there for several months to do any work at all. Last year, it wasn't pretty. This year it won't be pretty either, but there are a few things I can do.
I plan to make a quick trip down there the weekend before my surgery to mow the front yard and do a quick trim to have everything as spruced as possible before I abandon it for several months.
We're supposed to have rain all week. We'll see what that materializes as. So far, nothing but sprinkles.
Other than that, I'm making lists in preparation for surgery to get my new knee.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Here
Told y'all that I would be posting regularly, and I didn't want to go back on that. So here I am. Didn't feel my best last week. Hope this week will be better.
We are getting submissions for Blackbirds Third Flight. Pleased with that. Nervous to work with new writers, but as BF expands its reach, we're going to be working with people we don't know. Hope we all have good experiences.
I worked hard on my to-do lists last week. Well, until Wednesday. By that time, I was worn down and basically limped through the rest of the week. Right now, I am actually limping. Hurt my ankle while walking. Sigh.
This week:
-- Continue work on Floozy Comes Back.
-- Continue work on Murder by the Mile.
-- Continue work on Blackbirds Third Flight.
-- Plenty of household chores.
How's your week looking?
We are getting submissions for Blackbirds Third Flight. Pleased with that. Nervous to work with new writers, but as BF expands its reach, we're going to be working with people we don't know. Hope we all have good experiences.
I worked hard on my to-do lists last week. Well, until Wednesday. By that time, I was worn down and basically limped through the rest of the week. Right now, I am actually limping. Hurt my ankle while walking. Sigh.
This week:
-- Continue work on Floozy Comes Back.
-- Continue work on Murder by the Mile.
-- Continue work on Blackbirds Third Flight.
-- Plenty of household chores.
How's your week looking?
Almost vacation-like!
After a couple of busy weeks at work, I've found myself with a very light schedule for this week. It's been slower than I'd like, first because of Spring Break, and then because of the weather. When I did the schedule last week I decided to back off a bit and give myself Tuesday off. Then I forgot one of my coworkers was covering my shift last Friday, so when I sent her home, I gave her this Thursday. This puts me in the odd position of having about 14 hours on the schedule this week, depending on how long I'm there tomorrow to do paperwork. I'm looking forward to having some extra time on my hands and have started my to do list. If my boss asks why I'm not working much this week, I'll tell her that I'm taking advantage of the slow business to get things done at home. Besides, my co-worker who lost her sister needs to make up the time she missed so she can pay her bills. I'm not working to pay bills. I'm working to go back to Scotland. We are on target for August 2017.
We found out recently our church is planning a new church plant, and it's going to be in our area. This will be the second plant our church has done, and we're planning to join the launch team. It won't open before next year, but it's going to be exciting to be part of. The target area is right on the border of Really Great Area and Not So Great Area. I feel like if we learn toward Not So Great, we might be able to make a difference in some lives instead of shuffling church-goers from one place to another.
That's the excitement here. It's raining again, but that should clear out tonight. Hopefully the weather will be nicer this week and we'll get some business. But not so much that I get called in.
We found out recently our church is planning a new church plant, and it's going to be in our area. This will be the second plant our church has done, and we're planning to join the launch team. It won't open before next year, but it's going to be exciting to be part of. The target area is right on the border of Really Great Area and Not So Great Area. I feel like if we learn toward Not So Great, we might be able to make a difference in some lives instead of shuffling church-goers from one place to another.
That's the excitement here. It's raining again, but that should clear out tonight. Hopefully the weather will be nicer this week and we'll get some business. But not so much that I get called in.
A Quiet Day in May
We're starting a new month. Nearly halfway through the year!
We head to San Antonio for a couple doctor appointments for Mr. L this week. He's much better than he had been, but he still has some challenges. I know you know what it's like, Stephen. I do hope his cardiologist believes he's improved enough for me to go ahead with my knee replacement next month. I'd like to do it earlier, but I have a few other things in the timeline that won't make that convenient for me.
We're getting yard work done. I'm getting decluttering done a little at a time. I'm working with the inside cats. No progress with outside cats. Slow progress with writing.
I'm feeling more comfortable with the process of incorporating the Master Keys into my life. I continue to practice. I have an incredible mastermind partner (she lives in Georgia). Sneaky has become an amazing sit partner while I meditate.
I'm learning more about the Young Living oils. The nutritional products are working well for me, and I'm trying them one at a time to learn which ones affect me in a noticeable way. I can definitely attest to a boost from the Master Formula product. I've switched to their fish oil (I'll know if that has a significant impact different from Nature Made or Bayer after my blood work is done in late May/early June).
The important thing I'm learning is it's more important to find a balanced approach and my body will use what it needs and ignore the rest. It's less effective to chase a particular symptom and solution. Even while saying that, certain oils work better in certain situations, and what those products and situations are will vary with the individual. I'm grateful Tea Tree, Clove, Rosemary, and Lavender kept a potential poison ivy outbreak from manifesting. I have The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple, which I intend to begin perusing along with my Desk Reference.
My top outcome for this month is finishing my BTF story(ies). Last month was getting taxes submitted.
We head to San Antonio for a couple doctor appointments for Mr. L this week. He's much better than he had been, but he still has some challenges. I know you know what it's like, Stephen. I do hope his cardiologist believes he's improved enough for me to go ahead with my knee replacement next month. I'd like to do it earlier, but I have a few other things in the timeline that won't make that convenient for me.
We're getting yard work done. I'm getting decluttering done a little at a time. I'm working with the inside cats. No progress with outside cats. Slow progress with writing.
I'm feeling more comfortable with the process of incorporating the Master Keys into my life. I continue to practice. I have an incredible mastermind partner (she lives in Georgia). Sneaky has become an amazing sit partner while I meditate.
I'm learning more about the Young Living oils. The nutritional products are working well for me, and I'm trying them one at a time to learn which ones affect me in a noticeable way. I can definitely attest to a boost from the Master Formula product. I've switched to their fish oil (I'll know if that has a significant impact different from Nature Made or Bayer after my blood work is done in late May/early June).
The important thing I'm learning is it's more important to find a balanced approach and my body will use what it needs and ignore the rest. It's less effective to chase a particular symptom and solution. Even while saying that, certain oils work better in certain situations, and what those products and situations are will vary with the individual. I'm grateful Tea Tree, Clove, Rosemary, and Lavender kept a potential poison ivy outbreak from manifesting. I have The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple, which I intend to begin perusing along with my Desk Reference.
My top outcome for this month is finishing my BTF story(ies). Last month was getting taxes submitted.