Nine Months Later...

We're still in 2012.  We had a cold front come through last night, so today is a chilly 84 degrees.  Despite my sarcasm, I much prefer that to 100 degrees.  I hope this sticks around for awhile.

The Good Stuff:

• I paused work on PBOTL long enough to design a really wonderful exhibit for Inuit.  I had to design it before I could rewrite the scene, because Inuit is looking over the plans, offering suggestions, and approving the construction.  My sketches won't win any awards, but it helps me see what should be there.  This is just the public exhibit.  The behind the scenes stuff is pretty bland.
• Bike and stretching is doing fine.
• Lost the weight I gained last week.  I'm on a fairly even plateau.  I'm going to need to make some changes if I want to get back in losing mode.
• Hubby moved his music to the shop and is putting it in file cabinets.  That means we have more room in the blue room.  The goal is to clean that room out enough to set up the bed.  This has gotten me kick-started on going through some boxes.  I wish I could say I was ditching stuff right and left, but I'm not.  Alternatively, I conversed with a high school acquaintance about how he has his EBay business set up.  I have a number of items that might move that way, and I could get them out of here.  There's always yard sale, donation, and trash after that.
• We got dog kennel panels moved to the shop.  There are three more in the garage, but they are okay where they are at--for now.
• I jotted down the daily goals for Backward NaNo.  I liked the way that went for me last year.  Usually the excitement of the first few days makes the >3000 word counts easier to do.  Then the declining goal for the rest of the month is motivational.  I didn't make the count every day last year, but I feel as if I got caught up sooner.  Once the daily goal is down, I add the total words month to date needed to be on track on parenthesis.  Once NaNo starts, I'll write the actual total words month to date, which lets me know at a glance where I stand.  I just do it in a notebook.  I suppose I could do a spreadsheet and track results from year to year and do all kinds of analysis.  Yes, that does sound fun to me.
• I replaced my bike headlight, because I thought when the batteries corroded in it they had done too much damage.  I'd cleaned up the contacts, but when I put batteries in, it didn't light.  Hubby put different batteries in, and it worked fine. So, other than the added expense of a new LED headlight, I have two headlights now, which is actually a good thing. 
• I bought my NaNo gear for this year and made my annual donation.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• The DRUDGE report headlines this week were all election-related -- and I'm sure they will be from now until November.  I can't imagine coming up with a NaNo story based on variants of what I'm seeing.  I'll revisit that idea another time, maybe.
• I called DPS -- never got a response from my web query.  My license was returned to them, because they mailed it to Alabama (how did the mailing address not get corrected during the renewal process?).  They will send it out again (hopefully to the San Antonio address), and I should have it in one to two weeks.  Even though I have renewed my license and they have it in the system as renewed, I can be ticketed for driving during this time after the temporary expired and whenever it decides to find me via the mail.  I hope this try goes smoothly, because I'm the primary driver on our October trip.
• Supposedly there is a driver license office here in Central TX.  I may stop in and see if they can issue me a replacement temporary even though they aren't a SA office.
• The third generation iPod is giving me all kinds of troubles.  I wound up wiping and reformatting the drive.  It took forever to get iTunes to recognize it. Now, it's hanging whenever  I plug it in and it tries to sync some podcasts to it.  I'm not sure it's worth this trouble, but I'm trying to figure the problem out.
• I have so much I want to read, and I'm not getting any of it read.  This is a bad year for reading.
• I used the remnants of hubby's marinade mix that I found in the fridge to season a pork roast and tossed the bottle.  Turns out, it was his mixing bottle.  Oops.  (He was not happy.)

The Week Ahead:

• Going to Dallas this weekend to hang with the kids
• Continue work on PBOTL
• Continue trying to figure out what to do for NaNo
• Continue sorting boxes and books
• Research what's happened with EBay since I last listed anything with them.  Consider firing up an EBay shop (or at least beginning to list items) in November.
• Continue stretching and riding the bike -- take the heating pad and my yoga mat (easier to travel with than the bulky fitness mat I use at home) to Dallas and use the motel fitness room for the bike ride.

Digging out

I mostly spent last week digging myself out of the piles of papers and chores that had accumulated during the frentic publishing process over the past two months. I had a break because we're waiting for the proof of On Target: Devotions for Modern Life. The book proof should arrive Tuesday, and everything will start up again.

I've been working on the Many Rivers Harbor website. It's currently hosted free HERE. Eventually, it will move to its own domain. It's a work in progress. If you can drop by, I would appreciate your feedback. I'm especially proud of the Online Bookstores page. I finally got all the spacing and formatting the way I wanted them.

A man contacted me about publishing his autobiography. Haven't made up my mind to do it or not. It would be major money, but also major work. His life is interesting, but the book needs hours and hours and hours of editing. And I think he has inflated expectations of the sales potential of the book. I feel cautious about it, but I'm considering it. The contact will need to be iron-clad, though.

This week, I plan to:
- Deliver book proof to author when it arrives, and it should arrive Tuesday.
- Catch up on chores. Seriously.
- Read above mentioned autobiography and make decision about publishing it.
- Walk at least three times at gym.
- Watch diet better. Have slipped over the last two months.
- Work on Tales of Bethlehem, which will be MRH's next book if I don't accept the autobiography.
- Continue to work on MRH's website. Can you think of things I should add there?
- Publish the September family newsletter.

And that's it. Hope you have a great week!

Wendy's late week

We went to visit the parents in Michigan for the long weekend. It was worth the long drive. I got to see my brother, and he behaved like a grown-up. So did I. ;-) Dad taught Eric to shoot a muzzleloader, which is much more involved than people think.

Good stuff:
- Mom, Eric and I went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival on Saturday. We did some shopping (Eric's Christmas present was the easy one this year), and the added bonus was seeing Tartanic, a bagpipe band we like. We had no idea they were going to be there. We bought some CDs and had them autographed, and I had my picture taken with one of the drummers. You probably saw them on Facebook.
- Talked to my parents about the importance of knowing how to text in case of emergency. They were far more receptive to it than I thought they would be.
- Got a lot of sewing done. The petticoat is finished, and the jacket should be with a few more hours' work. I hope. I didn't get into my sewing basket for the trip because it wasn't done enough.
- I swam and ran a couple of times each.
- Inventoried camp gear to make sure we have enough seats and dishes.
- Coordinated with the scribe for the rendezvous. She's set up our ceremony for public participation/viewing in the tavern tent, which I think is hilarious considering we got married in a Presbyterian church and couldn't have wine at the reception in the church basement. Not that it mattered at the time. I wasn't old enough to drink. It is quite appropriate since we're going Colonial Scottish. The reception is private, thank goodness, because I don't want to feed everyone who comes to the ceremony!

Not So Good Stuff:
- My diet was deplorable while we were away. I don't even want to think about what the number on the scale is going to be tomorrow.
- Dug some larger size shorts out of the Good Will box. This is both good and very bad. At least my procrastination saved me a couple of bucks.
- I'm frustrated enough with Weight Watchers right now to think about quitting for a while. Anyone know anything about starvation mode? I'm in loss mode, and some days I don't eat all of my daily points. I never touch my weekly points, and I almost always have activity points left over. The website was less than forthcoming, but I didn't have a lot of time to wade through it last week. The reason I haven't quit yet is that I feel like I should have some kind of plan in place before I do. No matter what I do, I need to drop another ten or fifteen pounds. I'm pretty sure it's not stress anymore. I'm supplementing B vitamins and feeling calmer.
- The cats are alternately clingy and not talking to me for leaving them over the weekend. They'll really be irritated when I leave them for a week!
- Didn't get much writing related stuff done. Hope to tackle that this week.
- My bard mentor ended up staying home in Kansas City to dog sit for a friend in the hospital. We'll see each other at the end of the month at the Scottish Games, and he's planning to stick around for a few days afterward, so we might be able to connect then. 

This Week:
- Write (obviously)
   --Type in revisions on King Or Country, rework applicable spots
   --Work on the snowflake for the Gilded Age novel (working name is currently Tim)
- Sew (jacket)
- Stain the camp bed frame and get it out of the dining room
- Start getting clothing and gear together
- Start priming the upstairs bathroom. Now that Vicky is in the process of moving out, the Manson Family Bathroom is going to be redecorated. (Note to self: take Before pics)
- Rearrange garage to better store camp gear and other crap. I mean stuff.
- Run/swim at least 4 times.

Time To Celebrate Your Labor

I hope Labor Day works out well for you.  You're obviously all off celebrating -- or that's what I'll believe for now.

The Good Stuff:

• The bike riding got easier this week.  No pain.  Smooth movement.  I guess all the rough edges got worn off.
• More (slow) progress on PBOTL
• Revised the blogging schedule.  Even less aggressive than before, but I think I will like it.  I'll give it two months to make sure.
• Ultrasound reveals only fibroids.  There are five potential actions to take as a result of this.  Two of them I've ruled out.  For now, I'm going to take the "wait and see," because the other two are invasive, and I'm not in the mood for it -- and the problem, at this point, doesn't seem to warrant them.  That just means instead of annual exams, I'll have to go in every six months. 
• Downspouts arrived safe and sound

The Not So Good Stuff:

• Weight went up a little this week.
• The water leak at the store cost us $60 additional dollars on the water bill.  
• A limb broke in San Antonio and broke half the power line at the San Antonio house.  That meant when hubby got there earlier this week for a doctor appointment, he could turn on a few lights, but the refrigerator and the air conditioner were not working.  He called City Public Service, and they had it fixed in about two hours.  He wasn't there long enough to do much with the refrigerator, but he tossed the stuff that had gone bad from the top and allowed the freezer to refreeze.  We threw that out this morning and put a new box of baking soda in the freezer.  Next time we get back to town, we'll have to devote time and effort to doing a thorough cleaning.  The smell isn't too bad, but I definitely want it to go away.
• I renewed my driver license in mid-July and the temporary they gave me until my permanent license would arrive expired yesterday.  The new license hasn't arrived yet.  I contacted the Department of Public Safety yesterday asking them what what happening.  The site says to give them two business days to get back to me.  I'm guessing they had an old mailing address in AL in the system and it went there instead of San Antonio?  We won't be back there until later this month, so even though I've renewed my license, if I drive and have a problem, I'll probably be in hot water.  Not happy about that.

The Week Ahead:

• Continue work on PBOTL
• Continue riding the bike and doing the stretching exercises
• Check the water at the store to make sure it's still not leaking
• Find a way to get the songs off my Third Generation iPod, reformat it for Mac, and get the songs and books back on it.  This is not working as well as it should.  I'm not sure why I care.  Maybe I should just reformat it and deal with it from there.
• Begin collecting Drudge headlines to see if I can make them into something coherent for NaNo
• Find a few more recipes that hubby might eat, get menu planning done for two weeks at a time.  Look for ways to make our regular recipes lower in carbs.  We want to get 14 into the rotation, and we only have about nine at the moment.

It's the last weekend in August, and my life... she is typically wackydoodle.

It's after 1 am Monday as I sit down to type this, and, well, it's been a summer. Hot and dry (except for the couple of rare days where we actually wore jeans and shirts with sleeves and stayed out of the rain) and Iowa has suffered through what is, supposedly, the worst drought in 50 years. I know most everyone has dealt with this year's drought, and I'm not looking for sympathy, only expressing my apprehensions.

Our entire state economy is based upon two things: Farming and Insurance. They're the money machines that everything in our state, directly or indirectly, roll around. Insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield, Coventry, Farm Bureau, Nationwide and others are based here) is taking a beating because so many people are out of work and simply can't afford to pay. Farming is in trouble because of the drought, the corn is shot, the beans not much better, and livestock farmers (cattle, hogs, and poultry) are selling their stock early and cheap because they can't afford to feed them any more. Since speculators are freezing the meat to wait for better market buyers, retail food prices will skyrocket nationwide, which means those who are working will have less money to spend, and round and round we go. Plus the posty office is still its screwed up self, so yay!! Can't you feel the excitement??

All of you are surely aware that while our nation is in the midst of one of the worst financial messes in memory, politicians are flooding our airwaves with negative ads and making proclamations, laws, and speeches that seem to do little more than aggravate already aggravated and worried people. I'm not going to blather endlessly about politics and particulars, I only want to say that 1) I am sick of the nastiness, 2) we as a people and as a nation (and our political 'leaders') should be coming together and looking for common solutions instead of tearing our country apart, and 3) I have decided to get off the two-party train and vote third party. After checking various sources, candidates, and surveys, I'm closest matched with Libertarian and I really like their guy, Gary Johnson a LOT. At least now I can vote FOR something and someone instead of holding my nose and picking something I know I don't like.

In that regard, I am putting my collective money (er, self, because we have no money, ha ha) where my mouth is. This very afternoon I'm protesting with (hopefully) a lot of other people at the Secretary of State's office because they're trying to change the rules and keep third party candidates off the ballot this year. Frankly, they're doing it all over the country, trying to hush anyone who might disagree because, you know, our choices must be limited to just the two they've already picked. Anyway, I am both scared and excited about this. I've never been a protestor before. Might get arrested (chances are slim, but you never know), will most likely get sunburned, and my feet will surely hurt. But, dammit, if I shied away from something I've talked so strongly about these past few months because I'm afraid of handcuffs, sunlight, and sore feet, then I'm a freaking coward. And I'm not a coward. So please, keep me in your kind thoughts this Monday afternoon and hope that justice prevails and third party candidates get to stay on the ballot so that voters can choose from every option, not just the two.

Enough of that crap. ;)

I'm down about 9 lbs this summer (yay) but I haven't exercised at all, other than an occasional walk, for about a month. Why? Because I'm about 3/4 of the way through SPORE. Now don't get all excited just yet. Sean is being a royal PITA and not letting me write his scenes the way they need to be written if he's going to be able to save the kids. He's basically jumping the gun, acting on repressed memories (and his apparent knowledge of the synopsis, ha ha) and not wanting to 'go there'. Tough toodles, Sean, going there is what we do in a tambobook. I don't mind characters doing their own thing, but they still need to serve the story and Sean has not been a good boy.

So, anyway, it's coming along great, but is stalled at the moment while I figure out how to make a problem work for me instead of against me.

I sewed. A little. But it's all gone and out the door (I give everything I sew away).

My charity, Project Night Night got the quarterly ebook proceeds from Amazon. Yay!

I still have not heard anything from those two agents from back in June. I sent out 12 queries a couple of weeks ago to other top-tier agencies. A couple were near instantaneous rejections but several (6) asked for partials of SPORE and/or all of MORGAN'S RUN. Two of those are still out there and four haven't responded at all, so we'll see. If I get one more rejection (putting the declines over 50%) I will send out another batch of ten or so. Bill and I have decided that aggressive querying is the best way to go, and I will continue in this manner until I have an agent, am out of agents to query, or I run out of year. We're going to reassess around Christmas and may, possibly, start sending Morgan to small press publishers. Or self publish. Or I don't know what quite yet. All of the rejections to my partials have been lovely - one exceptionally so - so I'm still hopeful that someone will love my work and pick me up. If not, I'll figure out something. There are always options.

It's now about quarter til two and I have to be 2 hours from here right after lunch. So I'd better get to bed.

Happy writing, everyone and please, this fall, please vote YOUR conscience, YOUR issues, and YOUR beliefs. Research all off the candidates (Constitution, Green, and Libertarian at least since they're actually on most ballots, as well as Democrat and Republican) and see what candidate best matches you and where you stand on the various issues. If we don't take back control of our own government, we'll be stuck with more of the same crap that got us in this mess. {{huggs}}

And I'll let you all know if I get arrested. ;)  Have a great week!

MRH adventures

Well, it's been an interesting past couple of weeks. As you know, I launched my own little publishing company Many Rivers Harbor back in June. MRH's first book came out in August, and the second will be published in September. It's been quite a ... learning ... experience. Overall, it's been positive -- the money's so needed and welcome, and I've never been afraid of work -- but the stress has been ... high. Oh, neither of the authors were terrible or too demanding, but people all have their quirks, and let's be honest, I'm not a great people person. I've used to doing things my way. I have to remind myself that it's their book and, as long as it's not compromising my standards or illegal, I have to let them have the final say. I will get better at this.

As for business, I've had two other people approach me about publishing their books. I don't have anyone lined up for October yet, so the next book will probably be in November. Depends on schedules and how ready either author is to present a finished manuscript. One of them sent his book -- his biography -- to me the other day. I need to read it in depth, but I can already tell it needs a lot of editing. Yes, I know I'm supposed to take the money and run, but I don't want MRH to have that kind of reputation. I want the books to look nice and be readable. I want the authors to be proud of them whether or not the book sells many copies or few.

Here's a bit of detail on last week:
Monday: Worked on finishing the final galley for On Target: Devotions for Modern Life until midnight.
Tuesday: Worked on OTDML until 3 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Wednesday: Made several covers for OTDML. Had lunch with a friend.
Thursday: Met with the author of OTDML for six hours. Transmitted the final galley. Sometime this week or next, the book proof will arrive!
Friday: Did publicity for Secret of the Pack Rat's Nest. My contract with that author is just about finished. I need to turn over files and account info, and then that's it besides a few more mentions on Twitter and Facebook.
Saturday: Attended writers group meeting. Met with author of SPRN briefly. Ran errands around town. Came home and realized my house desperately needed cleaning, and with great force of will, was able to watch a movie instead.
Sunday: Overslept and missed church. :( Cleaned kitchen and living room. Emptied trash. Doing a couple loads of laundry. Trying to catch up on posting.

This week:
- Finish publicity for SPRN. Turn over account either this week or next.
- Start publicity for OTDML.
- Read biography manuscript.
- Clean house!
- Work on Secret Project 1. Not that it's that much of a secret, but it's a book I've thought about for a while. I want to work on it and see what I have.
- Work on Murder by the Mile. Got to finish that. Okay, re-finish it. It's done, but I really really really hate the last chapter.
- Catch up on all my posting.
- Finish August family newsletter. Yeah, it's behind. MRH took all my time.

And that's the overview of this week. Hope things are going well for you!

Oh, here are the covers for Secret of the Pack Rat's Nest and the proof cover for On Target: Devotions for Modern Life. I think they turned out well.

Hugs Wendy

I was soooooo lonely here.   I'm so glad you're here.  Here's how my week went:

The Good Stuff:

• The stretching exercises are working well.  Well, I sense they're helping a little bit.  FYI, I do them first thing in the morning after I get up.  Putting the heating pad under my lower back while I lay on the floor and my feet rest on a chair has an interesting effect.  Let's just say, if you ever have a problem with constipation, try that approach.  The heating pad relaxes more than the lower back muscles.
• Riding the bike.  Oh, my. But for the last two days, the knees and ankles have rotated smoothly, so I guess the rough edges got smoothed off my knees, and they are working better now.  Note to self -- do not stop doing this.  As an aside, the heart rate adjusts quickly.  The first day, it got up to 117, and it's dropped every day since.  Today, I don't think it got above 90.  So, yes, my heart likes to ride the bike.  Must keep heart happy.
• I'm trying a few other things hit and miss to try to get my left knee and right hip looser.
• I have been making reasonable progress on PBOTL this week.  I'm up to page 180 of 320.  I'm checking a few things over, because I wound up combining two scenes and have been having to speed up the timeline.  I had this segment of the book happening way too slowly.
• Got the lawn mower blades replaced on the riding mower this morning.  Also greased and lubed the beast.
• Weight is holding it's own.
• Water leak at the store has been repaired
• Gravel laid at the store and a couple of items moved from the store to the shop and placed where we want them.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• I'm thinking it was a pretty good week, and I'm having trouble coming up with not so good stuff.  I'm kind of happy about that.

The Week Ahead:

• Ultrasound at the VA Tuesday afternoon to try to determine if anything's wrong or if I'm just at that place in menopause where these things happen
• Waiting for word the downspouts have shipped and try to make sure we're here when they arrive
• Make a quick run to San Antonio on Saturday to help friends celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary
• We'll be planning the trip to PA soon.  Some planning has been done, but I imagine once hubby gets his newsletter out the door (he's having an awful week getting that publication put together), he'll begin that in earnest.
• I'll use the PA trip to brainstorm for NaNo.  If any ideas come to me over the next month, I'll try to remember to jot them down.  That, of course, includes the next week.

Wendy's Week(s)

How'd I manage to miss a week? I'll blame it on conference hangover. The most important conference bits are on Facebook, so we'll just let that stand on its own.

Good Stuff:
- The book is finished and printed. The first read-through is nearly complete. Overall it's in better shape than I expected. Doing the chapter summary before the synopsis helped a lot with that.
- Focus is shifting to the rendezvous. I've started daily lists of things to do to get ready for that.
- I may get to meet with my bard mentor this week in a non-Games setting, which will be weird because I've never seen him wearing pants before.
- Story research is about to kick into high gear. The Scottish Games is the weekend after the rendezvous, and I'm telling Bodicea again. I wanted to tell Queen Maeve of Connaught, too, but she is proving to be elusive. Long story.
- I've started running. That's a long story, too. I'm taking it very slowly with interval training, and so far it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. Once I got the knack of breathing it got much easier. At the very least, it's not as scary as I remember it being.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Balancing all the facets of life is still a challenge. It's getting easier to make better use of time. Switching focus is my current trouble area, but multiple important projects is apparently good training. Between editing and rendezvous prep, plus a short trip to MI to see the parents, there's a lot going on around here.
- Alex took the dining room table and chairs to school with him (he's renting a house with 2 guys this year), so we used the open space to put together the rendezvous bed Eric and the Boys made to make sure the dimensions are right and it will hold our combined weight. It will, easily, although we need to get some plywood for added support because the futon is a little mushy with only 2x4 slats. It's a work in progress, and the futon is currently dominating the dining room floor. The cats like it, but it's in my way.

This Week:
- Lots of sewing to do, but first clear the kitchen table because the dining room table is gone.
- Move the futon. Yeah, that'll be fun.
- Stain the pieces of our rendezvous bed.
- Keep the brussels sprouts starts alive. Pick tomatoes again.
- Inventory camp gear.
- Finish the edit.

Into Each Life A Little Rain Must Fall

And ours fell today.  Four-tenths of an inch worth. We're not complaining.  In fact, we wouldn't mind if a little more fell.

The Good Stuff:

- Kind of a mixed bag with the osteopath, but I'm mostly pleased with the outcome of the visit.
- I got good work done on PBOTL this week. 
- Musical televisions is completed.  Sort of.  The returned television has been accepted and refunded by Amazon.  There are complications, but it's mostly the operator. (Not me.  Someone else.  I'm going to leave it at that, because I probably won't be nice if I go into detail.)
- I think I still need a HDMI splitter to get things working more the way I want them to with the setup. I have one picked out on Amazon to try.
- Blog posts are caught up with, but I'm not getting them done a week ahead of time like I'd like.  I'm struggling with the positive one.  I think maybe I need to change it to gratitude or something like that.
- We got some rain today, and it stayed out of the shop.  We ordered new downspouts for the shop this week, and we think that will help. (Shipping was almost as much as the downspouts -- yikes.)  Hubby has a plan.
- I've ridden the recumbent bike twice this week.  Good improvement from time one to time two.
- I got my rear tube replaced on my road bike, so it's roadworthy again.

The Not So Good Stuff:

- I can't believe how painful it was to ride the recumbent bike with no resistance.  It was better today than on Thursday, so maybe he's right about the repetition "grinding" off the rough edges on the knee joints.
- We repaired the water leak at the store, but the repair didn't take, so there's still a leak.  We hate plastic pipe.  We bought another set of parts, and we're ready to do the repair again.  I'm not sure when.  Hubby had said Sunday, but it didn't sound like he was on board for Sunday when he was talking today, so...whenever.  Water is turned off at the meter, and it's ready to do, so maybe sometime this week.  With today's rain, it will likely be muddy there anyway, so a couple of days might be better.

The Week Ahead: 

- Continue stretching exercises and riding the bike.  I'm sure I'll notice a better improvement after about a week.
- Continue work on PBOTL.  I'm posting updates on Holly's "Write A Book With Me" board, and it seems to be helping keep me working.
-

The Osteopath Visit

I met with my osteopath yesterday.  Not unexpectedly, there was no immediate lifting of all pain.  (Darn.)  He did find some alignment problems.  He was able to fix a couple (I heard some things pop, anyway), he was definitely unable to fix a couple more in that one session.  He doesn't do a lot of drawn out "come back and see me once a week" kind of things (thankfully -- that's not what I was looking for).  He did give me a series of exercises to do -- mostly to loosen up my hip cradle.  It's all screwed up.

He did say with the family history of osteoarthritis, there wouldn't be much he could do there.  He also bluntly said in closing, he couldn't do too much until I lost weight, because the extra weight causes me to be out of alignment. 

I begin the exercise session on a heating pad on the floor with my feet up in a chair for fifteen minutes -- a self-traction sort of thing, and I'll tell you, that was uncomfortable. Everything felt like it wanted to spasm.  Then I pull one knee at a time up to my chest and hold it (at some point, maybe I'll be able to reach my chest with it; for now, I'm stretching as far as I can) then release.  I alternate this three times.  Then I repeat with both knees at the same time.

Now, I sit in the chair and lift my foot and lay my ankle across my opposite knee with the leg flat and lean forward.  Of course, I cannot do this, so I do the best I can and hope to get the hip flexors stretched enough at some point to do this a little closer.  I have a rubber strap I use to pull my foot up and hold it in position.  I do this three times on each side.

Then I put my knees together and hold them with my hands while trying to spread them apart for three repetitions.  Next, I place my forearm between the knees -- one elbow on one knee, my hand on the other and hold the knees apart while I try to press them together for three repetitions.

The last exercise is to stand in a doorway and try to press my arms through the doorjamb for three repetitions.  He says I can also do an "Angry Cat' if I want, and I think he mentioned wall climbers, but they dropped out when I was writing down the instructions.  I'll need to look those two up, because I think they're going to help with my shoulders. 

After all that, I ice for fifteen minutes.  I go back in a month for a followup visit.  I hope he can accomplish a couple more manipulations on my neck and hips.  After that, it will probably be up to me to keep up with the exercises and the weight loss.

Oh, yes, I also need to ride the stationary bike for 20 minutes a day at no resistance.  He says the repetitive motion will cause the rough areas on my knees to smooth out and will help them a little.  I think that motion will also help loosen up the muscles and tendons in the leg, even though he didn't mention that.

In an aside, a new pillow I ordered from Amazon came yesterday, and I think it may do the trick. I used it last night, and my neck felt supported and comfortable in both the side and back positions throughout the night.  That's a first.

Different Week, Same Heat

Thank you, Wendy, for that cute card.  Good luck at your conference!

The Good Stuff:
- I got lawns mostly mowed this week
- Watering done and some weeds pulled
- I did get a little more work done on PBOTL.  I'm doing a little back tracking, though, because I realized I had some good material in the original version, and I can weave it in with the revision.
- Kept up with the anti-inflammatory basics.  I haven't been tracking, but I think the basic anti-inflammatory changes have made it easier for me to stay on plan.  I've lost weight this week.
- Hubby finally made it back up here to Central TX, and we unloaded the trailer.  That was nearly 100 five gallon buckets of dirt and rocks.  That was a workout!
- I asked Zette to create an archive folder for me on FM.  Then I moved what appeared to be no-longer-relevant posts out of the FAQ and Where Do I Find? forums to get them cleaned up.  I'm not very active on the front end of FM, but I do enjoy my back end work.
- Things 2 was released this week.  It syncs to Things Cloud.  I was a little leery of it at first, but it works very well.  Wendy, if you've been wondering, it's worth the update.  I find the Daily Review feature a little annoying, but only because I can only defer the task or add it to the to do list.  It doesn't give me the option to check it off right there if it's already done.

The Not So Good Stuff:
- I didn't ride the recumbent bike this week -- I felt I got pretty good exercise with the lawn mowers and the buckets, so I'm not distraught.  I probably could have used the cardio benefits, though.
- I didn't get the store lawn completed mowing, because there's a problem with the mower that I haven't resolved yet.  It may require a trip to the Black and Decker Service Center in Austin.  And it just went out of warranty, too.  Sad face.  It works, but there's a lot of vibration and noise that isn't supposed to come from an electric mower.  I tried replacing the blade.  No change.
- While mowing at the store, I discovered a water leak at the meter box.  I reported it to the city.  Hubby and I went back to check on it on Saturday.  Hubby says, this is coming from our side.  I turned the water off at the meter.  Looks like we'll be doing some digging and water line replacement.  Sigh.  On the bright side, more exercise.
- Hubby told me a few weeks ago that the rear tire on my bicycle was flat.  I thought he meant it just needed air.  No. It's flat.  The stem and the tube became disconnected from one another.  I need a new tube.

The Week Ahead:
- I see the osteopath on Wednesday.  We'll see if anything positive comes out of it.
- I bought a TV from Amazon, decided it wouldn't be the right one, so I received it and arranged to have it shipped back the same day.  UPS should be picking it up on Monday. The replacement I ordered has apparently been shipped.  I learned the HD satellite boxes default to the lowest resolution on the network whenever that lowest resolution TV is turned on, so it behooves us to have the same resolution TV as the best one we have everywhere, which, at the moment, is 1080p, regardless of whether we need that resolution for the desired usage area.  If you have regular resolution anything on a TV, I'll tell you, it's much less finicky than HD. HD is nice but kind of picky. That's a long way of saying I'll still be playing musical TVs around the house this week.
- Eke out a few more pages on PBOTL
- Keep the blog posts working.  I think I might want to do a little tweaking, but I'll do the second month on the original schedule with some adjustments beginning in September.  I use an Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plug-in on both major blogs, but I have one blog blocked from search engines.  The SEO plug-in cannot understand why I would want to do that, and refuses to allow me to tell it not to tell me to unblock search engines.  Yes, I get it defeats the purpose of SEO.  Of course, I'm not listening to much else it's telling me about SEO either, so maybe I should just turn the plug in off.
- Do more evaluation of my on-line stuff and look for weaknesses I'm willing to address in either emails used for the site, usernames, or passwords as a way to address the vulnerabilities revealed this past week.

Wendy's Week

Good Stuff:
- I finished all the writing and marketing for the conference ahead of schedule for once.
- Swam 4 times, walked and weeded once.
- Have started carb avoidance with more success some days that others. Breakfast and lunch seem to be harder because my go-to meals include bread. Substituting fruit seems to help some.
- Went to dinner with friends the other night. We sat outside and visited over dinner and scotch, and I was so thankful that I busted my tail to get everything done. That made the evening more enjoyable--no to do lists looming over me.
- Got my nails done for free! My boss gave us gift certificates our last week, and I saved mine.
- We have a low key Saturday on tap. I'm doing laundry so Eric will have clean clothes while I'm gone (not that he isn't willing to do it, but I'm being extra nice). Later we'll run a couple of errands.
- Finally got the prescription for my contacts right. I might need reading glasses for super close stuff, but the computer screen and my cell phone are finally clear.
- The teachers from the retreat I took in February are going to be at the conference. I'm really looking forward to touching base with them.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Gained more weight. That made my packing a little more difficult. I haven't exactly been packing on the pounds; it's a slow creep. I hope reducing stress and carbs will turn this around.
- All the extra typing the last couple of weeks has aggravated the tendonitis in my arms. Lucky for me I have a really great muscle rub that smells like wintergreen, so it's pain relief and kitty discourager in the same tube.
- I'm getting nervous about pitching. I know it's all going to work out for the best in the end, but I feel very strongly that the market is ripe for my book, and if I blow it, I'm going to be upset, especially after all the work I put into it. I do, however, have instructions from my writing partner to text her when I know what time I'm pitching so she can pray. I know I can't fail, but being human I can't see the whole picture, even if it is representation by someone I won't meet next week.
- I think the body degradation has begun. My left shoulder has been bothering me lately, hitching a little in rotation and such. Coincidentally, that's the shoulder my dad had to have worked on last spring. Are bone spurs hereditary?

This Week:
- Focus on the positive.
- Do my best. I'm certainly well enough prepared.
- Keep a close eye on my diet.
- Wait until Friday, when I'm home, to collapse.

Monday already??!

It is Monday, right? Oh, yes, it is. Thank goodness my online calendar highlights the day.

Good Stuff:
- I'm well on my way to being ready for the conference next week. I've done the one sheet and an additional marketing sheet, the synopsis, and a full chapter summary. Chapter one has been polished. Everything but the chapter summary is off to my writing partner to be looked over.
- Finally remembered to make an appointment to get my nails done before I go.
- Hair is trimmed. Color will be refreshed Friday, sometime after I swim.
- We put up the new tent yesterday and hauled the new camp bed out to make sure we have adequate space. Oh, boy, do we. I hope to post pics on the blog in the next couple of days.
- Eric has been a super trooper. He's been cooking dinner, doing laundry and dishes, and generally picking up what I've ignored so I can write. In fact, he frequently tells me to go back to work. I finally had to explain that I need to take breaks to avoid tendonitis in my arms and eye strain!

 Not So Good Stuff:
- Still adjusting to the contacts. The doc changed the prescription in my left eye, and I'm only wearing the one lens because we couldn't go lower in the right eye. It's great for distance and they feel good, reading isn't an issue, but computer work is still tough. For some reason, my eyes do not want to focus properly. Increasing font size helps. I suspect I will only wear them if I'm not doing heavy duty computer work like I have been the last two weeks. I am only wearing them now so I can try to get my eyes to play nice.
- Weight is creeping up again, and I haven't figured out why. I'm exercising regularly and not exceeding my points. Most of the time I don't even touch the weekly points; I only eat the daily and activity points. I suspect I'm going to have to take a good look at my food logs and see if there is a common food or food group that I eat more of during the weeks I've gained weight because I should not be if I follow the plan. That, of course, will not happen for at least two more weeks.
- Vicky has moved to St Louis with the boyfriend. She is still here on the weekends, for now, until she finds work over there.

This Week:
- Polish Chapters 2 and 3, minimum.
- Pack.
- Check in here early since I fly out Sunday afternoon.
- Nail down pitch and premise.
- Read up on the proposed 2014 referendum for Scottish independence so I can talk about it intelligently as a marketing point.
- Focus on the small projects that need to be done so I don't freak out. Or, in the immortal words of the Queen Mum, keep calm and carry on. That should be my mantra this week!

Have a good week, friends! If you're a glutton for punishment and want to read any of what I've been working on, let me know.

Welcome to August

Yes, it's August.  Good ole hot August.  Here's how last week went:

The Good Stuff:
- I did everything I planned for the week ahead.  I sort of stacked the deck, but I'm especially pleased to have gotten several pages done on PBOTL this week.
- Hubby (I referred to him as Mr. PB on Twitter today), didn't get everything done on the driveway he planned this week, so he asked me to come down to SA for the weekend.  It's an unplanned trip, but the yard needed mowing and watering, so here I am.  The laundry needed folding and the dishes needed washing too.  I guess I'm needed.  Sigh.
- My doctor doesn't believe in the value of osteopathic manipulation, but he told me I could make an appointment if I wanted to.  He also ordered spinal X-rays to make sure I didn't have any structural problems in my spine, and I'm thankful he could not detect any.  I scheduled an appointment with the osteopath in Family Practice.

The Not So Good Stuff:
- I was tired most of the week.
- The fig and peach tree didn't get enough water while we were in SA, so most of the leaves have fallen off the fig.  Hopefully, I got it some water before it was too far gone.  The peach seems to have retained most of it's leaves.

The Week Ahead: 
- Continue working on PBOTL
- Continue watering to keep the grass and trees growing
- Get one session on the recumbent bike this week
- Continue the anti-inflammatory efforts I began (they're still going well, but I'm still doing the easy stuff).

Howdy

Well, tomorrow is my birthday, and I nearly didn't post, figuring I could be lazy. No? Okay.

Good things last week:
- Swam four or five times.
- My roomie's grandson Michael spend Thursday-Saturday with us. He's quite a handful. Smart, funny, and so so so energetic. I was exhausted at the end of each day.
- Attended the writers group meeting Saturday morning.
- Worked on Secret of the Pack Rat's Nest. It's close to being published. I will be excited to have it finished and out there. It should be on sale in August.
- Worked on On Target: Devotions for Modern Life. Did a lot on this. The author met with me both Wednesday and Thursday. He has a proof copy in his hands now. Don't know if we'll met the September publication date or not, but I'm hopeful.
- Speaking of authors, got paid again. Another two bills and a third of another. Woohoo!
- Household chores, etc.

Bad things last week:
- Wanted to argue with a writers group member. He made me so angry that I had to leave the room for a moment.
- Another author wanted me to publish his book for free. Share in the royalties. And the book -- oh oh oh -- is majorly bad. It's Christian thriller, but that's an insult to Christian fiction. The bad guys are: gay, witches, Democrats, climate change scientists, feminists (including women who choose to work outside the home), electric car makers, and, of course, the Masons. The hero is strong-chinned, speaks five languages, shoots expertly so that he only wounds the bad guys, doesn't drink or smoke or swear or have premarital sex. It would almost work as a spoof, but the author truly believes in it. I told him I had to be paid up front, and then, when it looked like he might pay me, I told him that I was a Democrat who believed in climate change, supported civil unions, feminism, electric cars, and had Wiccan friends and Mason family members. He took it fairly well, and I directed him to several companies that will help him. Yes, I need money, but I didn't want that book with the Many Rivers Harbor imprint. It will probably be a best seller. Not.
- Haven't been keeping my diet or exercising as I should. Been too dang hot.

This week:
- Be lazy tomorrow all day!
- Finish the second book proof of SRPN and submit. This will be the last proof!
- Work on On Target.
- Work on Murder by the Mile.
- Swim several times.
- Walk several times.
- Watch the diet better.

Hope y'all have a great week.

Tam finishing up July

Crazy busy as usual, so much to do. Arrgh! We finally got some rain today - it was nice and slow and steady, yay! - and it's amazing what a little moisture can do. Spore is going great - looking at finishing the first draft in August. Least I'd better, I have a beta-read trade w/ a friend scheduled for the first week of september. ;)

Oh. I still haven't sewn. ;)

{{huggs}} Have a lovely week and a fabulous August!

Jean's Late July Week

Heading back to Central Texas tomorrow.  This week has gone pretty well.  Here's the story.

The Good Stuff:
- Maybe one session with PBOTL -- not so good, but not terrible.  I do need to establish more regularity working on this if I want to finish the revision this year.
- Hubby made a trip under the house.  He probably has at least two more to do. 
- We got the lawn mowed, the inner side yard has been hacked into submission. The back yard is weeded.  Grass is growing great.  We've trimmed trees and hacked out a lot of overgrowth.
- We hiked the Fredricksburg swap meet.
- Still getting blog posts done.
- I didn't track points this week, but I feel pretty good about how the week worked out.  I had some good lows on weight, but when everything was said and done, I broke even for the week.  My knees felt remarkably good for most of the week.  So far, I think the anti-inflammatory diet moves I've been making are doing some good.

The Not So Good Stuff:
- No peaches anywhere in Fredricksburg.  Apparently, they were ripe early this year.  Bummer.
- While under the house, hubby discovered that the bathtub drain trap is blown out (the original 1941 packing from when the house was built appears to be gone.  That means he'll have to repair that, too.  If something had to be dropping water under the house, I'm thankful it was the tub instead of the toilet.  No more showers or baths until that's fixed.  We'll be back in Central Texas through most of August, so we'll have it on the slate for when we get back.  Hubby picked up some of the things he needs to make the repair at Home Depot today.

The Week Ahead:
- When I get back to Central TX, I need to set up the first level of scaffolding
- I have a VA appointment on Tuesday, so I'm going to stop at my doctor's office and look into getting a referral to family practice physician there who, according to the clinic's website, performs osteopathic manipulations. I think it will help some of my neck, back, hip, and thumb issues. I'm hoping there might be something he can do for at least one of my knees.
- I plan to do some work on PBOTL this week
- Set hubby's new TV up in the bedroom and make sure the wireless HD system I got to transfer the satellite signal for him works.  If this works, buy two more TVs and one more wireless system and another receiver.
- Drop a few things off at Goodwill on my way out of town

Wendy's Week

Are you cooler today? We are, for right now, at least. By afternoon it will be scorching and the internet will be down again.

Good Stuff:
- Happy birthday to Alex (yesterday) and Eric (tomorrow).
- I'm giving contact lenses another try. I got them yesterday, and so far they feel pretty good. Focusing on small print is an issue, but that's because of my funky prescription. We're giving my brain a week to adjust, and the doc wants a follow up next week to tweak it if necessary.
- I broke 10,000 words this week. I'm thiiiiiiiiiis close to done. I think. The epilogue and the last part of the last scene are done and just need to be tied to the rest. The goal is to get that done this weekend.
- Eric finished is semester from hell. Last week, he was a stressed out mess. Today he's much happier. He's got two weeks off before the next semester starts.
- Did some research on low carb and primitive/paleo diets. The more I read, the more it makes sense to at least give it a try on a short term basis. Completely giving up grains for the rest of my life is too much for me to think about right now.
- Swam 5 days this week.
- Tomorrow my friend is doing my author photos, and then we're going to dinner to celebrate Eric's birthday. We picked the restaurant based on the Scotch list. :-)
- Divided my aloe so Vicky can take one to her new house.

Not So Good Stuff:
- I leave for Oregon two weeks from tomorrow. I'm SO not ready. Yes, I'm working diligently to become ready. The only thing that's kept me from cancelling (besides the airline tickets I already bought) is faith. The bottom line is I'm afraid of not being able to deliver a good finished product and blowing my big chance.
- It's been hot. And dusty. And the rain either dries up before it gets to us, or it goes south. I swear it's like being in south Texas again.
- The internet has been going down every afternoon. It's been hard to do research, and we've had techs out twice in two weeks. I think they've replaced every line between our house and the nearest office, but it still goes down when the temperature breaks 100*, which has been almost every afternoon for the last two weeks. It's getting really old, and I'm burning through the data plan on my phone. I wonder what Charter would do if I billed them for my AT&T overage?
- I think I've made a connection between carbs and sugar. (Besides the obvious.) When I eat a meal with a lot of carbs, particularly pasta or bread, I want a sweet dessert. If I limit the carbs, I don't crave sugar. While I'm glad to have made the connection, doing something about it will be tricky because carbs are a big part of my diet. I'm not sure if it would be better to make small changes over a long period of time, or just go cold turkey and gut it out. I'm leaning toward the small changes because they'll stick better, and I'm not in a health crisis. It's as much about vanity as health at this point. Well, that and avoiding a future health crisis.

This Week:
- Finish King Or Country.
- Start spit polishing the first three chapters.
- Do the pitch sheet.
- Swim at least 3 times. 5 would be better.
- Be aware of carbs. I'm not cutting back drastically until I get back from Oregon. I need to be on top of my game until then. Right now, I'll concentrate on making better choices.
- Figure out what to pack.
- Do something around the house that isn't writing related. Dishes, maybe, or laundry.

Have a good week, y'all!

Wendy's Week. Wow.

I had a mid-week shake-up. I had lunch with my writer friend, Diana Brandmeyer, and we got on the subject of conferences. She isn't going to ACFW this year either, and I told her I'd considered going to the Oregon Christian Writers Conference next month to pitch my story to Chip MacGregor, but it's not ready so I'm skipping that one, too. She strongly encouraged me to go anyway, so when I got home I e-mailed one of the mentors at My Book Therapy who is familiar with the story. (She's also Chip's client.) When I told Eric about it, he said, "Bye." So I registered. I waited two more days to buy the airline tickets because it was so surreal to have decided so quickly to go. To make it even more surreal, I got a check in the mail from my former boss. Apparently she was going through the books and found that I hadn't cashed two paychecks. That check paid most of my air fare. (It would have covered almost all of it if I'd bought them two days before, but oh well.) Needless to say, everything is now taking a back seat to getting the book finished and all the other assorted stuff to get ready. At least it will be cooler in Oregon than it is here. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one seeing God's fingerprints all over this!

That's the biggest thing. Other things are as follows:

- Weight is holding steady, but I put my jeans on this afternoon and they're a little snug. Could be because they were in the dryer a little too long. Yup, that's the story I'll stick with.
- Eric is talking about doing South Beach again, possibly as a transition to Paleo or Primitive.
- Went school supply shopping! I love doing that. Of course, I buy more for myself these days than I do for my kids. Actually, I shopped twice because Eric and I went to buy printer ink yesterday, and I picked up folders for my pitch presentation, too.
- My tomatoes are finally ripening. Of course, I have had ripe cherry tomatoes for a week or two now. These are The Cherry Tomatoes That Will Not Die. Every year they self-seed in abundance. I planted the originals five or six years ago. I can send seeds if y'all want my pseudo-perennial variety. ;-)
- We have had no rain. I think it's been about three weeks. It's looked promising a couple times. Once I even got a dozen drops when I was grilling outside. Luckily I still have plenty of water in my rain barrels. A hundred gallons of water lasts a while when you only have to use a couple gallons a day to water pots.
- This is Eric's last week of The Semester From Hell. Between the Middle East Relations class that challenged what he thought he knew to the HR class with the brand new teacher (it's his very first semester), he's ready for it to be done. So am I.
- Got no sewing done this week. I'm starting to sound like Tammy!

This week:
- Write (hopefully finish)
- Take van to have a trailer hitch installed
- Swim
- Holy cow, Alex's birthday is Friday. Find out if he wants to go out to dinner, or if he's going to celebrate with his girlfriend.
- Visit the eye doctor to see if contacts are a good option for me.
- Finish my petticoat.
- Cut the fabric for my arisaid and see if the remainder is long enough for a great kilt (pleaseohpleaseohplease!!!!!)
- Decide if my kirtch is done or if it needs more flowers embroidered on.

Have a good week, friends!

More Hot!

Why, yes.  It's July, and it's the south.  No. I'm not surprised that it's hot. Actually, we've had good rain one day each of the last two weeks, so I'm feeling truly blessed.

The Good Stuff:
- We've accomplished a ton of work in the back yard this week.  It's looking better and better, even though we still have a lot to do.
- I began using Trello.com this week kind of as a project management tool.  I think it's primary benefit (which I can't use it for) is on-line collaboration for projects.  I use Things for recurring tasks and someday maybe projects as a placeholder and Easy Note for things like grocery lists and similar things. But I was looking for an easy project management piece, and this (maybe because it's new) seems to fit the bill.
- I siphoned the extra water out of the hot tub, but when I opened the lid, I saw a bundle of ball bearings in the lounger.  A glance to the right indicated a rotator jet had popped off.  I rescued the ball bearings and the jet, but I'm not sure what it's going to take to repair that. Eleven years and this is the first true problem we have with it.
- I got the hair cut, the driver license renewed, and the new truck sticker.  The 4 wheel alignment is scheduled for Monday morning.
- I decided Stephen was right and I was just making excuses to not work on PBOTL, so I put myself back on task.  I did a little work this will and will plug away.  I'm bogged down in writing a party right now, and I haven't felt very party-like.  Sigh.
- I was down a couple of pounds this week. I didn't track, but I ate pretty well.

The Not So Good Stuff:
- I think Stephen's Black Dog had puppies and sent one down here. No, it's not quite that bad, but I'm fighting off a nagging bad mood.

The Week Ahead:

- Be ready to help hubby if he's ready to do the under the house task this week.  He's been procrastinating on it forever, and it's the first step in the bathroom renovation that must be done.
- Make sure we get peaches in Fredricksburg this week.
- Hike the swap meet
- Mow lawn and tackle the inner side yard taming. Continue weeding in the back yard. Remove a few more tree limbs.  Maybe remove the drooping limb from the live oak in the front yard.

HOT HOT HOT!

Of course, it's been horribly hot here. In fact, I think it's hot everywhere. There's a good chance we've been sent to Hell for allowing Jersey Shore to be on television. Just a thought.

This week:
- Watched the production process for Secret of the Pack Rat's Nest. I should receive a proof copy Monday. Scheduled publication date: August.
- Worked on On Target. Scheduled publication date: September.
- Worked on Murder by the Mile. Scheduled publication date: October.
- Worked on Tales from Bethlehem. Scheduled publication date: November.
- Ate out a couple of times with friends.
- Swam two times.
- Walked two times.
- Mostly kept my low carb diet. And the scales showed I've lost another 9 pounds since the last time I weighed, which was back in June. So I'm losing about 5-9 pounds a month. This means I only have another year or year and a half before I'm at a healthy weight. Geez. I shouldn't have done that math! :)
- And Saturday -- today -- was a good productive day. I vacuumed the house, cleaned the kitchen, did three loads of laundry, dusted, swam, walked, went to Goodwill where I was hugged by Anna and Debbie, went to Walmart where I was hugged by Mary and Patti, talked on the phone to Wendy and Gail (not at the same time), found a bookcase for a project I'm working on, ate at La Fiesta, now home for evening to write, write, write! What more could anyone ask? :)

Next week:
- Deliver the proof copy to the author. I hope she returns corrections to me so I can upload them next week, also. Then ... publication the first or second week of August! And Many Rivers Harbor will be officially launched.
- Work on On Target.
- Work on Murder by the Mile.
- Work on Tales from Bethlehem.
- Keep up on the household chores.
- My roomie's oldest grandson Michael will be visiting Thursday-Saturday. Not sure how much work I will be getting done during those days, but I'm going to try to keep a schedule.
- Writers group on Saturday. Our assignment is to write a book blurb or bring a book with a blurb that made us want to read the book. I suggested the assignment. Do you have any excellent blurbs that you seen or written? Share!
- Continue to fight the danged black dog.

Hope y'all had a good week and have a great next week!

Still Alive

Everything here is pretty good, other than we're implementing some very extreme measures (specifically Bill is removing the modem cable and taking it to work with him) so that all three of us don't waste spend as much time online. I've cut my online presence to the bone - less likely to be distracted by a nice juicy link if I'm not in any of my hot-spots to begin with - and so far it's working well. SPORE is nearly half done, which is pretty cool. Health is good, family is good, haven't sewn much of anything, pets are fine, all in all things are just fine.

I'm sorry I'm such a ghost, but I am checking email daily and, occasionally, commenting on posts, tweets, etc. My daily online time is limited to just 2 hours right after supper (along with cleaning up after said supper, family time, etc) and a little time late at night, so I'm not good for much interaction or blogging.

Anyway, I'm good and I hope you all are doing well too.

Keep your chin up, Stephen!! {{huggs}}

Good and bad and plans

Last week was filled with both good and bad.

Good included:
- The first book I'm publishing through Many Rivers Harbor was sent to the publisher Friday night. We should have a proof by the first of next week (July 23-25). After that is proofed and resubmitted, the book should be out the first week of August. I hope. The book looks good -- which is my primary responsibility. I really like the cover and the interior design. Whether or not it will sell for her, I have no idea. I will be doing a bit of promotion for her, but she purchased the basic package, which doesn't include a lot of extras. She also paid the other half Friday afternoon. Woohoo for money! I can pay three bills out of that half.
- I published and mailed the July issue of the family newsletter.
- Household chores.
- Ate lunch with a couple of friends.
- Gave the program Saturday morning for the writers group. It was well received. They even applauded, which was embarrassing but gratifying, too.
- Got my new computer almost to the place it needs to be. And found a new card program. Have to convert all the old cards to the new format, which is going to be quite a chore, but at least I will be able to do so.

Bad included:
- Didn't walk at the gym. Not even once. My excuse was that I was really scrambling to meet my deadlines on the first book -- I lost a week due to my computer dying -- and it took a lot of my time, but I could have fit in exercising if I had really tried.
- Black dog is making everything hard.
- Didn't swim, either. Not even once.
- Watched too much TV.
- Drank too many Diet Dr Peppers. I really do believe soda is bad, but I craved the caffeine. Still do.
- The second book I was publishing has stalled. The author can't seem to clear his schedule to work on the proof. He's given me a few changes, but he has more. And this week, he's gone to camp with his church. Just in a holding pattern there
- Third client that I had lined up ... backed out. Didn't want to pay me. He thought that I could maybe work with him on the weekends on his book. He'd take me out to eat a few times as payment. And of course, he'd give me credit in the book. I politely, but firmly turned him down. I may eventually move into a more traditional mode with Many Rivers Harbor, particularly with books I really think will sell, but not right now. I can't afford to do so. Also, I've figured out that it takes about 40 hours to publish a book. I don't have the hours to give away free.
- Gained four pounds. Lord help me.

This week, I plan:
- Finish what I can on the second book.
- Call a couple of people who expressed interest in publishing with Many Rivers Harbor and see if I can get them lined up.
- Work on Murder by the Mile. Right now, I'm cutting things out. I had too much story going on. Relationships, murders, blackmail, embezzlement, a wedding, three funerals, a divorce, a marathon, a city council meeting ... even I was getting lost. I'm losing words, but the book is gaining a better shape. And the reader will be able to follow the story without having to resort to a scorecard.
- Household chores.
- Walk at least three dang times.
- Swim at least three dang times.
- Stop drinking so much Diet Dr Pepper.
- Try to get more rest.
- Watch my diet!
- Figure out some way to get the black dog to let go of my throat.

I hope y'all have a great week.                                                                                                                               

Wendy's Week

Good Stuff:
- Swam 3 times.
- Started plotting the book I was researching in RI, mostly as a Busman's Holiday from the current WIP.
- Remembered to go to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. No cavities!
- Stopped taking my ADD meds, and I haven't noticed a marked difference in my cognitive state. I get distracted a little more easily than I did, but I expected that and am compensating with sticky notes.
- Finally got Eric to go to the farmers' market in St Louis. It's a good two blocks long in a fixed site (since 1779) and open-year around, and it still took me almost 8 years to get him to go with me! We got the best prime rib sliced into steaks for dinner tonight. Of course, Alex is home, so there are no left-overs.
- Took the kids with me to the St. Andrew social (dinner and drinks with friends from a Scottish society). Alex's girlfriend, Emma, ended up tagging along, and my friends didn't scare her. :-) Of course, we've known Emma for years, so I was pretty sure they wouldn't. She and Vicky were in the same confirmation class at church. It's odd that we've been in one place long enough to have developed history.
- Cleaned up my office. I was looking for a specific notebook. Cleaning was more of a by-product since I never found the notebook.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Despite tracking food, exercising, and having points left over at the end of the week, I gained a couple of pounds. I have been sugar bingeing in frustration. Semi-sweet chocolate chips are my new best friend, and that has to stop. Now.
- Apparently, the energy burst that was the catalyst for getting off the ADD meds was a fluke. Energy and concentration have not improved the way I had hoped. I'm trying out a magnesium supplement to see if that helps.

This Week:
- Back off the daggone sugar! Ice cream every day is not a necessity!
- Swim at least 3 times.
- Don't forget to go to lunch with Diana. Ditto Jen's art show.
- Finish wedding petticoat. Figure out what fabric to use for the short gown that will go with it. (Yes, when I get the whole get-up done, I'll put it on and post pics.)
- Work on either of the two books.
- Varnish the camp bed pieces, preferably before it gets back up to 100*.

Jean's Mid-July

Yes!  We got rain on Wednesday.  Enough for flash flooding in San Antonio, but where we live, the grass just grew in gratitude. So I got to mow this morning.  Thankfully, I mowed when we were here for the fourth, or, oh, my, I hate to think how tall it would have been.

The Good Stuff:
- I've trimmed two hedges and mowed the front lawn
- I did a Hangout on G+ for the first time on Thursday while working with Margaret on some changes for FM.  Whew.  Six hours to make several small changes in site usability.
- I got the base sticker for hubby's new truck (but they aren't needed anymore for any of the San Antonio bases).
- My back has mostly unlocked, and I've been able to do most everything I need to do since Tuesday.
- I attended a friend's change of command on Friday (he turned the reigns over to a new guy). He and his daughter celebrated by going to dinner at a local burger place and invited me (his wife is in DC househunting this week).  Haven't seen his daughter since his incoming change of command ceremony two years ago.  Both his daughters are neat people, so it was good to catch up (the older daughter is away at college).
- Blog posts are coming along well.  I prefer the revised schedule to my original one.

The Not So Good Stuff:
- I did a lousy job tracking this week and gained a couple of pounds.
- I hope this back stuff isn't related to something discovered at my annual exam (I have an appointment set up for the end of the month, and I'll be asking if it might be related). If you want more specific info, email me. Stephen, I'll spare you the details. You really aren't interested at this point.
- PBOTL has been haunting me from it's bag on the chair beside me.  I think my problem is I've encountered a philosophical problem with the whole concept as Inuit and her life developed.  There's too much room for animal rights discussion in this book, and I do not believe animals have the same rights as humans.  I don't want to convey that impression (challenging when the bear is attempting to live as a human, I know).  This is a fundamental part of the book, and I must resolve it.  Is the book unfinishable?  Am I taking this whole light-hearted thing too seriously?  I don't have a serious antagonist in the book other than Inuit overcoming her challenges.  Is this an opportunity to provide a serious antagonist?  Do I abandon or figure it out?  Will it change the story too much and take it away from my original idea?  Is that a problem? Not working on it won't solve that, but I can't continue merrily along my way and ignore this either.

The Week Ahead:
- Work through PBOTL issues
- Mow back yard, trim and edge front yard, trim corner hedge, trim patio hedge, weed in back yard
- Service the hot tub
- Haircut, renew driver license, renew truck sticker, take truck in for four-wheel alignment.  I got a sheet at the last service saying it needed it, but the service rep subbing for my sick rep didn't bother to ask me what I wanted them to do about it, so I have to ask mine what it means -- and probably have them do it.  According to the report, it's just outside tolerance--odd for a vehicle with less than 12,000 miles on it.

Tammy, we miss you, but I don't want you to break any rhythm you've just established to update us.

Wendy's Week--getting caught up

Last week was a lot of fun, but thoroughly disruptive. Nothing less than I expected!  It's entirely possible that we may be doing this again in November over Thanksgiving. Last year we had two of the six; this year we may have three. That's becoming a tradition, too.

Good Stuff:
 - I didn't gain as much weight as I usually do, which surprised me since I only swam once. I was a little more aware of what I was eating, but most of the time I ate what I shouldn't have anyway.

 - I got some embroidery done. My kirtch (the Scottish head covering for married women) for my wedding outfit is almost finished.
- The tartan I ordered arrived. I think we'll have enough to do a great kilt and an arisaid (the girl version of the great kilt).
- My dad turned 71, and he spent the day pain-free thanks to the cortisone shot he got in his neck a few days before. He's just about resigned himself to neck surgery to correct another slipped disk and remove bone spurs, but he hasn't decided when to do it, especially now that we're renewing our vows around his potential target date.
- I took my last dose of Strattera this morning. Tomorrow is the first day with no ADD meds for about five years. Should be interesting.
- I did not over-caffeinate with the Boys here, so I don't need to work through those consequences.

Not So Good Stuff:
- I got no writing done.
- It was hotter than usual, so we stayed inside most of the time. In fact, if we were outside, we were between cool places.
- It rained around us, but not on us. My lawn is getting crunchy, and it's not supposed to do that for another month. Luckily my rain barrels were full to overflowing before the heat kicked in so I can still water the garden with rain water. The plants like that better than city water.

This week:
- Write.
- Swim.
- Track my food and try to get my weight back to where it was before I went to Newport.
- Explore new ways to keep the ADOB (Attention Deficit--Ooooh! Butterfly!) at bay. I have noticed an increased tendency to go down rabbit holes as I've weaned off my meds.

Hideous, but good moments

Well, the title sums it up.

The Bad Stuff
- Working with the new computer took most of the week, but I was finally able to actually do some work the past two days. It's been hideous hard to go through this. And dang expensive. Well, not that expensive, but comparatively, it's felt that way. I have so few resources left now.
- Discovered the program I used to create the cards is one that won't work under Windrows 7. And the program is not upgradeable. Apparently a new computer purchased the program's name, and their new version does not read any of the previous versions' projects. All I have left are the proofs from the cards. (I scan the proofs to create encapsulated PDFs, which I upload to Cafepress.com.) And I can create no more proofs. Not with that program. I still have my portfolio, but whatever program I end up using, I will be re-creating them all from scratch.
- Caught a head cold or something. Achy and miserable.
- Ankle swelled for some ungodly reason, and I was unable to walk at the gym.
- Black dog caught me and won't let go.
- A good friend moved away. Of course, we will still talk on the phone, but it won't be the same.
- Blood sugar hasn't been responding as I'd like it to.

The Better Stuff
- Finally did two days of work.
- Got the second galley proof to my micro publishing customer.
- Did exercise in the pool.
- Got most of the programs uploaded onto the new computer, which is faster, particularly when working with Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Premiere.

The Good Stuff
- Paid a bill with money from the micro publishing. Not from my savings. It was a small victory, but it was a victory.
- Had friends over on the Fourth for a cook-out and swim. It was good fun and great conversation and also served a going away party for my friend.
- Work on Murder by the Mile is proceeding.

The Future Stuff
- Continue to work on Murder by the Mile.
- Write a program on Creativity Unbound to give at the next writers group meeting this Saturday.
- Continue to work on the micro publishing projects and contracts.
- Find a new card publishing program that looks like it will survive for a few years.

Hope your week goes well.

Hoping for Rain in July

Yes.  How silly is that?  To be hoping for rain in July. In Texas.  But the forecasters are teasing us with outrageous predictions of up to forty and fifty percent chances of rain.  How can we not be enticed into believing it could happen?

The Good Stuff:

- The younger daughter drove up from Austin to spend yesterday afternoon and this morning with us.  We enjoyed seeing her and spending time together.  Tarzan refused to make an appearance even though we did catch a glimpse of him briefly yesterday evening after we went to bed.  Ajax was jumpy.  Lady and Natasha soaked up the attention younger daughter was thrilled to provide (she lost her last kitty almost a year ago, and she misses kitties).  Natasha was remarkably relaxed and enjoyed her attentions the most.
- Enjoyed Fourth of July celebrations with friends at their annual family (and a few friends) gathering.
- Making good progress on the west wall. Nearly ready to begin priming the wall.
- Still tracking on WW (skipped a couple of days, but am back at it); weight is down a couple of pounds.
- More grass sprigs transplanted and watered.  In our brief time in SA, I managed to get the yard mowed and watered, which probably saved a bit of grass that may not have made it until this week. Grass mowed and watered here in Central TX as well.  Used soaker hoses to shore up some dry spots and watered the garage foundation.
- Step 1 of Anti-inflammatory is embraced. 
- Blog posts are going well.

The Not So Good Stuff:

- Very little work done on PBOTL -- maybe a paragraph or two
- For some inexplicable reason, my lower back is bothering me.  Will these little aches and pains never go away? (I know that answer to that.  I don't like it.)
- Menu planning came out so-so.  More on the fly than I would like.  Still have to work through this week.
- I didn't really determine what my next dietary steps should be.

The Week Ahead:

- I think Step 2 will be making sure to keep snacking on fresh fruits and look for more ways to eat other than red meat.
- Slog a little more on PBOTL -- take it to SA with me.
- Make some time for a serious evaluation of the dietary plan.  I think even the rudimentary changes I've made to date have had a positive effect. I ordered some unsalted mixed nuts, which cost more, but without the salt, it's easier not to overeat.
- Transition back to SA for a couple of weeks and more intense yard work.
- Remember to get driver license renewed on this trip back to SA.

Interesting couple of days

Been an interesting couple of days. And by interesting, I mean gut-wrenching. There's a long story behind this, but basically my desktop computer -- the one I use to edit books and make covers and live my life on -- begin to die. And die hard.

I reloaded drivers and the operating system and took expansion cards out and talked to four different technicians and paid over $235 to do so. But nothing worked. My seven-year-old system was "outdated," my operating system (XP) was "outdated," the computer's motherboard and BIOS couldn't be updated because it was "outdated." All the techs acted amazed that my system was still limping on.

So ... yesterday I went to Staples and a bought a computer. It's pretty basic, but it will run Photoshop Elements and my other graphic programs, and it does have Word and Publisher. I'm back online.

My old system is still sitting on the kitchen table. I'm going to raid it for as many components that function as I can. Then I'm going to try to convert it to a Linux system. I always wanted to try to do that, and I hate losing the old system completely. And it did last long enough for me to move the majority of my data to USB drives and to cloud storage. I'm very attached to that old system -- yes, I know it's a machine, but it served long and well -- so I'm going to try to give it an afterlife.

Anyway, I can finish my book project for Many Rivers Harbor, so that's good. I met with the author Saturday, and she gave me her first set of corrections. I intended to enter them into the proof this weekend. Didn't get that done yet, but will. She was very pleased with the book and with my prelim cover for her book. Going to give her the second proof this week. After that, a book proof. Then the book itself, and I get paid the other half. Woohoo! Seriously.

This coming week, I'm going to:

- Finish the second proof copy of her book and deliver it to her.
- Make another cover. My contract specifies I will design two for her to choose from.
- Have friends over on the Fourth for a little cook out and swim.
- Blog every day on Harbor Street. I've been inspired by Jean, who has one of my heroes practically from the first time we talked.
- Continue to move material onto the new computer.
- Walk three times.
- Continue low carb diet. It's really made a difference in my weight and blood sugar levels.
- Write 250 words a day on Murder by the Mile.
- Continue to do a few things with On Target, but I'm  mostly waiting for him now. It's taking him weeks to proof the book. I don't know why. I hope he's not rewriting it. I'd like to get it finished and off my desk by September.

And that's my plan. Hope you have a great week and are having a great Sunday.

Wendy's Week, the second toasty version

The game is afoot. The Boys arrived yesterday and, as usual, it's like we have been together all along. I treasure friends like that.

Good Stuff:
- Swam 4 times. Came to the conclusion that the days I don't feel like swimming are the ones I need to swim longer than usual.
- Finished the housework about mid-day Friday. That's got to be some kind of record.
- Vicky made chocolate chip cookies Friday afternoon. I didn't get mad at her when the cookie dishes were still on the counter Friday evening when Chad arrived. It's not like he hasn't seen my house at its worst!
- Wrote a little over 4,000 words. I thought, earlier in the week, that it was more, but I was counting part of one day's words twice. Hate when that happens!
- I'm down to a half dose of ADD meds. There have been a few instances of zoning out, mostly when I'm thinking through a scene, but overall I'm not noticing any more lack of focus than I had on a full dose. The zoning out has also occurred during my off-peak times, which makes it less worrisome.
- My friend in CO Springs who had to evacuate during the Waldo Canyon fire found out her home is safe. They had some smoke damage so they're not moved back in, but it's a step in the right direction. She's contacting restoration experts and calling it research.
- Alex is home for a few weeks. Vicky delayed moving in with her boyfriend until next week. In two weeks, Alex and I will begin repainting the upstairs bathroom--the one Vicky painted red. We call it the Manson Family Bathroom.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Oddly, I got nothing. There are things I'm not happy with (potential weight gain this week, the ever present allergies, writing productivity, Vicky moving in with the BF), but I'm aware of them and doing what I can. Going over them yet again will only frustrate us all.
- It's ridiculously hot, as I'm sure it is where you live. Can't do a thing about that except stay inside as much as possible.

This week:
- Enjoy my time with the Boys and my kids. See some movies, hang out, pick on each other.

Hope you all have as good a week as I'm going to.