On the Road Again!

Yes, we're heading out.  Hitting the rails.  But, first, the week in review:

The Good Stuff:

• Yard work is done.
• The vet had our reservations.
• Bills are paid (and I found a little extra to tack on to my annual donation to my favorite charity)
• Mr. L is so fun to watch while he prepares for our train trip.  He's nearly giddy with excitement.  For two weeks, he's been saying, "This time, X, we'll be X."  He has everything packed and repacked and inventoried. It's the only time he allows himself to relax, because he literally cannot do anything else but ride the train.  No matter what other work he "should" be doing, he can't do it, because he's on the train, so his brain lets him relax.
• Sneaky's food feeder is loaded, the batteries still appear to be in good shape (they're supposed to last a little over a year), and she has fresh water in her water tower.  She should be set for the duration.  Mooch has been hanging around.  I followed him when he leaves, and he appears to go in the direction of the house my mailman indicated he may have belonged to (but that man moved to Temple to an extended care facility a couple of months ago).  I'm not certain is the new residents of the house do anything for him or not.  He cuts through a driveway on my street to appear to go one street over.  I not about to walk through someone's yard to follow a cat, so I'll have to keep an eye in that direction.  If the opportunity presents itself, I'll ask.  While on a short walk last night, I noticed several kitties in yards and on porches.
• Did a little more filing this week.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• I'm still at a loss for what to write while on the train, so maybe it's brainstorming time?
• Since Mr. L left for San Antonio, Ruby has been out and about quite a bit.  I'm beginning to think she doesn't care for Mr. L.  Of course, Rossie avoids me at all costs, and she will only talk to Mr. L. So, I guess we have parity.  Floyd runs from Mr. L about half the time.  Delta seems to like us both.
• My Air only has 15G of free space on it (64G SSD -- I was afraid this would happen).  I may not be able to get it to last until 2015.

The Week Ahead:

• Capture all the cats in the morning and get them dropped off at the vet for their boarding.
• Try to get a little walking in on extended stops on the train.
• Survive my class reunion.  I haven't been to one in twenty-five years (I went to the tenth), but a lot of us have gotten back in touch via Facebook (we have a private page for our class) .  People I barely knew have turned out to be interesting.  One even lives in Universal City (a suburb of San Antonio), and we're going to see each other for the first time in forever at the reunion.  Maybe he and Mr L will find something in common?  Who knows.  I'm sure all will go well.  I get nervous before any outing with people, no matter how much I like them.  (Even you guys, to a certain extent.)
• Enjoy time with Mr. L, riding on the train, and exploring the town I went to high school in.

back from WI

Just popping in for a sec since I have a house full of company and I have to get downstairs shortly to get my part of dinner going. We spent the weekend at the Bristol Renaissance Fairre in Wisconsin. A good time was had by all and we didn't spend as much money as we thought we might. Vicky went with us, sans the boyfriend, so she got good bonding time with the Boys (aka The Uncles), including getting tossed around in the swimming pool last night. I found a bard cup and a stout walking stick. Now all I need is rehearsal time and I'll be ready to tell stories in the nursing homes.

The only fly in the ointment is that I bought a leather vest for Eric yesterday, and USAA thought it was fraud since the company is based in PA. I appreciate their diligence and I can't get mad about it, but it's taken two tries to get my card unblocked. I've had similar things happen before and it has been fraud so it's worth the trouble. At least I don't have to contact all the people who debit my card on a regular basis to change the number. Again.

That's about it from here. I'll get pictures from the ren fairre up on my blog tomorrow. I'm pretty brain fried right now. Looking forward to a good meal and my bed. Have a great week!

I can't possibly be first

Hey everyone.

I'm fine, we're all fine, I hope you're fine too. And that you all enjoyed the Independence holiday.

I've been trying - and mostly failing - to stay offline because so much of the oppressive political power grabbing garbage gets me all upset lately. Oh well, in time this shall pass, or I'll learn to ignore it.

I'm still trying to get an agent for SPORE and maybe Morgan (sent 18 queries this past week) but no nibbles yet. Since I need to work on something, I dragged Dubric out of the trunk today so I can poke his old carcass with a stick.

We're all in the lingering stages of respiratory viruses but improving every day.

Been trying to simplify things, get rid of stuff, and generally clear out the crap, but I'm not doing very well at it.

I'm already tired of this heat. Gah.

I hope you all have a lovely week! {{hugs}}

A Subplot Too Far

I felt much better about Murder by the Mile after I decided that there would be at least one more book. I was trying to wrap all the subplots mentioned and developed in the first two books, and the goal was making the third book clumsy and lumpy. I was trying to shoehorn everything in, and it just didn't work.

Sounds weird, but by removing about 10,000 words and several scenes, I'm back on schedule. Yeah, I know. I wouldn't thought it, either.

This isn't a promise to write the fourth book, but it is an realization that I don't have to wrap everything up. Life doesn't.

Otherwise, not much else to tell you.
- The new anthology from the writing group is on track. It should publish in the middle or end of July. If you'd like a copy, you can get a signed one from me for $12 plus $3 for shipping. Let me know.
- MBTM should go to the proofers on August 1st. I'm aiming for an official publication date of September 1st, but it should be out sooner than that if all goes well.
- Undying: Poems of Fantasy and Science Fiction should go the proofers on September. It's "official" publication date is October 1st, just in time for Halloween. These poems quite dark and unnerving. Or at least my first readers have found them so, and that was my intention.
- Got a lot of chores done. Been using my 20 List again. Has helped a lot.

This week:
- Continue to work on MBTM.
- Enjoy the 4th of July.
- Chores.
- A doctor's checkup for my diabetes.
- Continue the diet and be better at it.
- Swim in my little pool a few times.

Hope you have a great week.

calm before the storm

No literal storms. Just company, but they might as well be family. They've seen my house at its worst. In fact, they've contributed to the worst, so it doesn't really matter if the house isn't perfect.

Good Stuff:
- I lined up two story-telling gigs at nursing homes in mid-July. I'm working for experience right now but told them that may not always be the case. I haven't forgotten the CD, Stephen. I've been pestering Eric to burn it. Tammy and Jean, if you want a copy, you might want to speak up quick!
- I'm just about ready for Danny to get here, and his flight arrives several hours later than I thought it did. He gets in late enough that Eric can come to the airport, too! Bonus!
- Went to a book signing for Tosca Lee and Ted Dekker. They've released Sovereign, the 3rd book in their trilogy. They were super nice and insisted on having their picture taken with everyone. It was so inspiring to meet them. They write Christian fiction like I want to write. If you haven't read their work, you're missing out. I'd recommend starting with Tosca's "Iscariot" and Ted's "Blessed Child."
- The book signing bonus was that I got to have dinner with Vicky beforehand.
- Little Eggs (aka Khan) seems to be adjusting well to his new home, and Jeli hasn't beaten him up as far as I know. He's an 'in your face' kitten, or as The Boyfriend calls it, 'all up in your Kool-Aid.' He apparently picked that up at work. It makes me giggle.
- Fenced yesterday. Some of the bruises have developed, but the outside of my left knee and thigh are still very tender, which is a shame. It's cool enough to wear jeans but they rub against the tender bits. Want to see pictures when they do develop? :-)
- One of my fencing friends is going to the same Ren Faire we're going to next weekend. Hopefully we'll find him and he can meet Vicky and the Boys.
- Kids are doing great. Alex is working and doing research hours at school this summer, and the doctor he's working with may have some influence on getting him into a good PhD program. Vicky got all A's last semester and is thriving in her clinical training. She's at St Louis Children's Hospital for another couple of months, and then hopefully she'll be back at St Louis University Hospital until she graduates. They loved her there and she hopes that and her work ethic will get her a job there. Both kids will be on their own after Christmas. (In theory, anyway!)
- We got the lawn mowed this afternoon, and an hour later it was raining.

Not So Good Stuff:
- I didn't come close to my word count goal. Not that I expected to, but it would have been nice.
- Alex's plans changed and he won't be home until next week, so it's Danny and me all week. Eric is working 10-hour days so he can leave early Friday. I have some stuff lined up to do and I'm hoping Vicky will come hang out since she's on her one-week break from school.
- The military has started shifting things around again, and some contractor positions are moving to other bases. So far we're safe because the base the IT jobs are going don't have the facilities or infrastructure to do what Eric does, but he's expanded his search area East to Chicagoland. Not thrilled about that, but it does have a few advantages. It's all so fluid right now there's nothing to do but pray and wait. The thing that bugs me the most about having to move for the job again is that I figured the next time we move, we'd go someplace we want to go and I'd be excited about it. Whatever the case, I'll keep you posted.
- No positive movement on the weight. I cleared out a bunch of shorts that are too small and put them aside.

Grateful Stuff:
- That we have this safe place to vent. There are things I can talk to y'all about that I don't talk about with local friends or family because I don't want them to freak out and ask me every week about it. If I told my mom there was a possibility that we'd be moving to Chicago, that's exactly what she'd do.
- Temps are supposed to be unseasonably cool for the next couple of weeks. That will make Chad (from WI) much more comfortable.
- Despite that stormy weather and local flash flooding we've had, our house is standing and dry. So is Vicky's.

This Week:
- Hang out with Danny.
- Get ready for the Ren Faire next weekend.

Have a good week, y'all!

Window on the World

Nothing earth-shattering about that title.  Just observing we all have our own little windows on the world, and they are sometimes interesting.

The Good Stuff:

• Rossie has been interacting more with Mr. L (she won't give me the time of day).  At least, that's what he tells me, and I have no reason to doubt him.  The good news on that is their progress from their time in San Antonio has not been wasted.  Don't misunderstand, this cat is still very reclusive, but she seems to like Mr. L and responds pretty well to him.
• Sneaky will come upon to the heat pump duct work when Mr. L calls, but she's not quite ready to let him rub her ears.  I think that will come.  I've seen her out and about in the yard more during the day, and I like seeing her there.  Mr. L acknowledges we have nine cats -- he made sure I was willing to acknowledge it, too.
• I ordered and received a new lower chute for the riding lawn mower this week. I mounted the hardware on it and installed it on the mower this afternoon.  The original one had dropped off a couple of times and caught the edge in the blade, resulting in a hole that directed grass clippings onto my leg as they rose through the chute.  Thankfully, I was able to find the right part on Amazon, and it arrived quickly.
• We met with the ranch foreman for the new owner of the ranch next to us this morning.  They do plan to replace the fence between our property and theirs.  They didn't want anything from us except to be good neighbors and let us know what their plans were. We discussed a few things, but that was pretty much it.  We're happy to hear they are going to run cattle on the land.  To us, that's the best use of the land.  There have been a few people who have wanted to develop the land out there into other things, and that's not something we're anxious to have happen.  Cattle are good.
• Began work on filing paperwork and sorting through some already filed paperwork this week. I sent most of my Amazon receipts to the shredder pile.  
• I have made a conscious effort to snack on more fresh fruit and vegetables this week, but I didn't try the new recipe I was planning to try yet.
• I designed and implemented a form for FM authors to submit their publication information to be included in a listing Zette will design. It seems to be working well.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• I feel as if I've been very unproductive for the last several weeks.
• I had to go back to the dentist for the third time to take new impressions for my crown.  The first time, the lab never got them.  The second time, the lab wasn't happy with them.  We hope the third time is the charm.  I specifically backed up the appointment so I wouldn't be going on vacation with a temporary, and, yes, that's what I'm doing. Luckily, I went in Thursday to get the new impressions done, and when the put the temporary back on, the dentist had to grind it down a little for it to fit right (I guess there must be a little adhesive building up inside the temporary, so it didn't seat the same).  By Thursday night, my tongue had found the sharp spot left on, so I went in first thing Friday morning to get it smoothed out.  This was important, because they are closed next week for vacation, and I'll be gone for the two weeks after that. I know I didn't want to spend three weeks feeling that sharp edge on the temporary crown. (So the good stuff in that, is I won't have to. Another good thing is the dentist is right here in town, so no extra driving to get to him -- unlike my medical doctor who is 40 miles away.)

The Week Ahead:

• See if I can put together something writing-related to do on the train.  I still love the idea of train as writing retreat, and I want the writing time I do on there to be worthwhile
• Double check with the vet to make sure I made the reservations for the cats on the 8th (this will pretty much max out her kennels, so, while I'm pretty sure I did, I want to make darned sure--she can make them all fit, but still.).
• Pay bills before leaving for vacation.
• Continue working on the paperwork reduction actions.  
• Yardwork calls.  Of course.
• Seems like there's something else.  Not sure what.  Oh, well.  Y'all have a great week.

I'm late, but I didn't have a computer. :)

Back from vacation and it was awesome and relaxing and soooo romantic and quiet and just great! I even read almost half of a book (Jodi Picoult's The Storyteller) since we were rained in most of yesterday.

I ate too much VERY yummy food, but I'm okay with that. I'd planned on it, and I'm back on WW tomorrow. :) If I gained, I gained. Totally not a problem.

SPORE.

Um.

The Agent wants the book to be more CDC shutdown military involvement media thriller. I want an intimate story of two people facing bad and scary things. Those two goals aren't really compatible, so we've agreed to let me go out and try to find another agent, but I can, at any time, come right back to them if I want to write more of a Big Blockbuster Event kinda book.

So I spent a day going over my previous queries (from Morgan's full and Spore's partial) and sent a new Spore Only query to three agents and my old editor's boss at Bantam.

One agent responded almost immediately with a request for the whole book, and another, while we were out of town, for a partial.

So that's where that stands.

Otherwise things are pretty much the same. I'm on the last dregs of my cold, but really, stuff here is pretty good.

{{hugs}} all around. I hope everyone has a better week.

Rock 'n' roll

Coming in even later, but here I am. Beat up emotionally and creatively, but still standing.

Murder by the Mile is kicking my butt in ways I never imagined a book could do. I've often thought of  chucking it and writing completely and moving on to something else -- maybe painting. I've always wanted to try painting even though I can't draw a straight line. But this book ... in places ... it's the best writing I've ever done. It's closer than anything I've ever written to realizing what I saw in my head. So I keep slogging on, driving myself through the emotional mud, telling myself each and every freaking day that I don't have to finish the book, don't have to worry about the next chapter or the next page ... all I have to do is to write one page. Just one page a day. Just get 500 or so words on paper. Edit those words. Read them aloud. Search for signs of where the story's going to go next. Try to figure out how to get there.

I try not to think this -- but sometimes I think this book is the make-or-break on my dream. If I can't write this well, if I can't finish it, then it's time to give up. Find another dream. Or not. Just live my life day to day. Find an empty job and work until I die or retire. After all, I worked 18 years at a job that meant only a paycheck. I can do it again.

Just to make my cake poison-sweet, the black dog sits on my shoulder almost daily, sometimes hourly. Everything is a struggle. Getting out of bed, getting dressed, taking my meds ... it's hard these days. I've been through this before. It will get better. The doctor will give me the right pill. I'll wake up one day, and the weight will lessen. The moon and the stars will align. Who knows, but it will get better. That's how it goes.

Anyway, that's what's happening my life these days. Hope things are going well for you.

Last week
- Did chores.
- Received proof of the newest anthology for the writing group. Needs some minor changes, but overall, it looks good.
- Worked on the book.
- Conducted writers group meeting Saturday.
- Swam in my pool twice. The water is almost too warm.
- Watched the birds on my front porch.

This week
- Chores
- Revise cover and enter corrections on anthology.
- Work on MBTM.
- Swim three or four times.
- Watch the birds.
- Eat more salads and veggies.

Have a good week.

Rhythm of the Blues

Coming in a little late.  I had intended to post on Saturday, then Sunday, and now, well, I'm just late, so I'll get 'er done!

The Good Stuff:

• All the cats are back home.  So is Mr. L. Rossie ventured to join Mr. L in bed their first night back, and Lady beat her up. He says he didn't see Rossie last night.  
• After disappearing for two days somewhere in the house, Ruby reappeared last night and spent part of the night wrestling with my feet. She has a hiding place in the house that we can't find. It's as if she teleports, because we can't find her anywhere, and then she's here. I'm thinking there are kitty secret passageways in this house.
• Got the dusting and vacuuming done. Knocked off several long time to do list items I'd been procrastinating on.
• Adjusted the blades on the riding mower yesterday.  They still aren't quite right.
• After being fooled into letting Mr. L rub her ears on Saturday evening, Sneaky has been more circumspect about him since then.  He's working with her.  The ear rub queen will soon figure out he rubs good ear and will fall to his charms.
• While this isn't really good news, I received some insight from a friend this week on why I may be stalling with writing.  If I can't figure it out, it pretty much kills my aspirations of being an effective writer,  but I can figure it out, I should be able to move forward.  I'd been suspecting something similar, but my friend put my thoughts to words and confirmed from personal experience the potential consequences and why it can be an issue. 
• We are packed for Grand Tour 2013 (East).  We have one large bag to check.  We decided to pack a bag within a bag in case we find any goodies we want to bring home on the trip.  We've managed to do that before and had to buy a suitcase.  This time, we're bringing the extra suitcase just in case.  If we don't need it, no big deal. If we do, we're ready. We have two small carry on bags and the electronics (Mr. L's laptop, tablet, and printer and my MacBook Air and iPad).  My CPAP fits inside my carry on, so that means one less bag to lug (but it can also come out if we need more space, because it's medical equipment and doesn't count against carry on).
• Everything arrived for my class reunion "ensemble," so that's ready to go.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• I, too, am ten pounds from my highest weight, and am not particularly pleased with my direction.  Unsurprisingly, this coincides with feeling really crummy physically.
• I have not managed to throw anything out over the last week.  I've rearranged some boxes, but I must get better at actively getting rid of stuff.
• No writing progress unless you count the insight gained above.

The Week Ahead:

• Keep chipping away at stuff to declutter.  The efforts can't completely be equivalent to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
• Yes, I'm doing all the yada, yada stuff.  It, thankfully, has become like making the bed.  I do that everyday and don't report on it here.  I guess that's the good news.  
• Getting the yards ready for us to be on vacation for a couple of weeks.  Mowing, trimming, watering.

quieter

Good Stuff:
- I got some words in. Not enough to make my weekly goal, but some is better than none. It's a starting point.
- The house is reasonably clean.
- I have a new grand kitten. Vicky and Justin were out and about last night when they saw someone throw a bag out a car window. I don't know yet how they realized there was a black kitten in the bag, but they did and rescued him. No more details so far, although there are pictures on Facebook, and I have suggested they name him Bilbo. :-)
- I've discovered matcha--a Japanese green tea powder. It's taken a bit of experimenting to figure out the best way to drink it because it's hard to get it to fully dissolve and tends to leave a green tea sludge in the bottom of the cup. It has caffeine, but it seems to be gentler than coffee or cola. It helps me think a little better without the crash. The best part is that you drink the powdered tea leaves, not just the water, so there's no waiting for it to steep.

Not So Good Stuff:
- I realized yesterday that I tend to munch my afternoons away. My concentration runs away with my energy between 1:30 and 2, so that's when I usually retreat to the kitchen and TV to await dinner and my second wind. If I'm especially productive during that time, I get laundry folded. I'm at a loss as to why my afternoons  are so low tide, so to speak, but I can't remember a time when it hasn't been this way. Since I'm heavier now than I ever have been (outside of pregnancy, and I've only got 10 lbs before I hit the all-time high), it's time to stop wondering why and start figuring out how to fix it. I'm going to visit the nursing homes in town next week to see if I can come tell stories to the residents once a week. Not only will it get me away from the kitchen in the afternoons, it will give me much-needed practice and an excuse to read and research more stories, which will make Jeff happy.

Holy Canoli Stuff:
- The first of the Boys gets here a week from Monday. He's the only one still on active duty and he wants to burn two weeks' leave in our humble abode. It's great that we're a safe haven for our friends, but I'm not going to get anything done between the visit and the prep. The good news is I don't need to be fully prepped before he comes. I can put him to work the first week. :-) Alex will be here, too, so I'll have all kinds of help around. (Note to self: Find out if Alex wants to take him to Emma's one evening. Her parents were impressed that a skinny Chinese guy could put away so much dessert after Thanksgiving dinner.)

This Week:
- Get the guest rooms ready. Alex will be home next weekend.
- Do the usual 'holy crap company is coming' cleaning, menu planning, shopping list making, etc.
- Visit nursing homes.
- Words. Always with the words.

Good tired.

Home again, home again, fiddle dee dee. My grandma used to say that. I don't know why.

Good Stuff:
- The Chicago Games went well. We got out there Friday afternoon, set up, and then went to the hotel for a quick shower before dinner with friends. After dinner we went back out to the Games area and shopped a bit while we waited for Mothergrove to take the stage. Saturday morning it rained, but that cleared out about noon. We had a pretty busy afternoon, all things considered, and had some people who are interested in volunteering. That's great news--we need minions!
- I got to visit with an old friend from band camp yesterday. He came and hung out at the clan tent for a couple hours. It was great to get caught up, but I can't figure out how it is that it's been nearly 30 years since we saw each other when neither of us is old enough for that. Must be a time/space continuum thing.
- Traffic was light on our drive home today. Everything is unloaded.
- My food plan was successful. I packed a tortellini salad for lunch, plus snacks and ice water with lemon slices in quart mason jars. (I froze the jars 1/2 full of water, so they acted as ice packs for the drive.) I even packed a quart of chai for my caffeine fix. FWIW, if you keep chai in a cooler, it's best to drink it a bit at a time. It gave me brain freeze. We only ate fair food once, and that was dinner last night because we didn't feel like driving anywhere for food, and we wanted to listen to Mothergrove again.
- Talked with the people in charge of entertainment and offered my services as a storyteller for next year. If I can make enough to pay for our clan tent registration and some of our travel expenses, I'll be a happy girl.
- I got the house picked up before we left and even managed to vacuum downstairs. It was nice to come home to a neat-ish house.
- The furries are talking to me. Sort of. They'll alternate between being velcro kitties and giving the cold shoulder for a couple days.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Did not get my words in. I think I did about 900 all week. I need to learn to compartmentalize better. I set aside two days to get words in, and ended up doing other things. Presumably I'll get better at it when we get into the habit of going to Games, but right now I obsess over the details way too far in advance. June isn't looking so good.
- Speaking of compartmentalizing, I have 2 weeks before the first of the Boys gets here. Danny is coming in early again, so it's 2 weeks of company for us. Luckily, Alex will be here to help me entertain him while Eric is at work.
- The lawn needs attention again. So does the garden.
- I need to step up the exercise some more. That's another thing that goes by the wayside when I get busy and distracted with other things. Why can I not forget to eat once in a while?

This Week:
- Words. Really. Get the words.
- Laundry/house/lawn, etc.
- Reschedule the haircut I completely forgot about last week.
- Update the Games pack list.
- Try to figure out a systematic approach to learning Scottish history. If I know the history, I can tell the stories. Simple as that. Right? You'd think I'd have figured this out by now, having been a homeschooling mom.

I Can't Get Started

In honor of Barry Manilow coming to San Antonio.  No. I don't know exactly when.  They're giving away tickets and advertising on the radio, but I haven't paid attention to the details.  I do think it's cool that he's taking donations of musical instruments before the concert, and all instruments collected will be donated to the San Antonio public schools.

The Good Stuff:

• Rossie is back in the house. I didn't have to make a trip to SA to help Mr. L.  The two of them worked it out.
• Sneaky's dog house is set up on the side porch.  She's studiously ignoring it.
• Sneaky is much better at interacting without inflicting pain this week.  We had one clawing incident, but we were trying a new approach, and I don't think she was ready for it.  
• I read and tracked. Got one day of riding in.  Switched to the old stationary bike until I can figure out how to lube the recumbent bike. 
• I got a little bit done on the decluttering.
• I pulled the mercuryranch.org Front Page site that was oh, so old and replaced it with a simple WordPress static front page site for now with lantern information on it (about all that was pertinent in the original site). I got the theme customized and added a contact page.
• I researched and installed a couple extensions for FM's back end that will allow people to add to a list of their publications for people to search on.  There are a few glitches to work out yet -- one is some sort of security to limit who can input data (tie it to the site authentication system somehow) and find out how admins can monitor and edit the information as needed.  (This is part of the learning process for me as I work on this backend stuff.)
• Notification of the details of my 35th class reunion came this week (We've known the date for months and have planned Grand Tour 2013 around it), and the attire for the evening is "authentic 70s." Easy. I still wear jeans and T-shirts, but I decided to try to find something more appropriate to the period.  Assuming they fit when they arrive, I ordered some 501 Levis. I also ordered a tie dye T-shirt (and matching socks) from tyedyeeverything.com.  I'll wear Mr. L's high top Converse All-Stars (only one size too big, but I'm not paying $50 for a pair of shoes I'm unlikely to wear again).  I've always wanted a decent quality tie dye shirt, but I didn't have an excuse to buy one.  I won't win any prizes, but I should be comfortable.  Mr. L is going to wear his guayabera, slacks, and cowboy boots.  He seems to be doing a little shopping down in San Antonio this week, so he may be coming up with something else as well.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• I missed one day of Morning Pages this week.  First time this year.  I just didn't get around to doing them, and by the time I realized it, it was after midnight.  
• I feel stuck on the short story again.  I need to write a volatile scene, and I cannot bring myself to do it.
• I'm experiencing more spinning beach balls on this Mac Mini.  I hope it survives until I can replace it in December.
• Apparently, my oldest nephew totaled his car today.  Or, at least, he had an accident bad enough so he can't drive it.  Good news is, he appears to be unhurt, but there's a lot of drama on my Facebook feed this afternoon.

The Week Ahead:

• Usual tracking, reading, morning pages, and riding.  Yada. Yada. Yada.
• Get more decluttering done in the blue room and den.
• Downstairs dusting and vacuuming.
• Short story work.
• Get ready for vacation.  It's coming up fast.  Grand Tour 2013.

Decent week with plenty of sadness.

Today, the big thing is Little Miss going to her dad's for a week (actually 10 days) on his requested vacation week. He gets two per summer and the first starts tomorrow (his usual pick-up day), but Father's Day visitations starts today so she's heading out today. Bill and I will pick her up a week from Tuesday.

I has a sad.

Bill and I are taking a long weekend vacation next weekend to the Maquoketa caves and surrounding area,  Sun-Tues, and are staying in a B&B. REALLY looking forward to the holiday, even tho I'm trying to catch a cold.

No news on SPORE. No sewing. :(

I got a job teaching adult ed writing this fall. Should be interesting!!

Our cat Trouble got hit by a car. She was prone to daredevil stupidity, so sad as it is, we really weren't surprised. No one has mentioned getting a replacement kitty, and I'm okay with that. Usually I'm the first one wanting to fill the void, but we're not - yet at least - looking for another kitty. After she died, I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of her. That made me feel sorry and kind of ashamed.

This coming week, since Little Miss won't be here to 'help' I am going to focus on decluttering and scrubbing floors. Hopefully I can get a lot done. :)

Third

The busy factor peeks this week. Brace yourself.

Good Stuff:
- We spent the weekend in Kansas City, MO, working in the Clan Campbell tent at their Scottish Games. We had a lot of people come in to chat and talk about their great-grandmother, who was a Campbell, and what's this about a feud with Clan Donald? We may have recruited another helper for the MO contingent, but we were too far from our territory to find anyone helpful to us.
- I did not shop much. I only bought a tank top.
- On our way there, we detoured a bit to Arrow Rock, MO, where there is a theater that was originally a Baptist church built in the late 1800's. We found it easily and took a dozen or so pictures, some of which will go up on my blog in a little while.
- Our newest helper complimented the earrings I was wearing yesterday, so I gave them to her. I made them last year and can easily make another pair, and it was a lot of fun to see her face when I took them off and handed them over. I think I'll be doing that more!
- My fencing instructor had another clan tent down the row from us, so I did get to play for a while. Fencing in a temperature-controlled gym with an even floor is a whole different animal from fencing outside in the sun and humidity on a hill wearing a kilt. My endurance is not as good as I thought it was!
- Before all the Games excitement, I did get some words in. Pretty good ones, too, I think, but I fell short of the word count goal.
- The lawn got mowed, for whatever that's worth. It rained again while we were gone.

Not So Good Stuff:
- We ate fair food all weekend, despite what I thought were my best efforts. I'll be stepping up my game for next weekend.
- My bard mentor's son has a post-op infection after having part of his colon removed. They may have to operate again. Prayers for Kiel Campbell would be appreciated.
- I tried to make a big batch of chai tea so I could keep in it the fridge and reheat at will, or pack in a cooler. The first try was merely drinkable. I will be tweaking it this week.
- No writing gets done when we're working Games. I was lucky to have little bits of time to think about the changes I need to make to my fictional church based on our Arrow Rock detour.
- I found out I'm having so much trouble with the story of the Countess of Carrick because, unlike Bodicea and Cartimandua, there is information out there on her. It's just tucked away in obscure places that talk mainly about her son (Robert the Bruce). The ancient queens were easier because all the sources were more or less the same and all pointed back to Tacitus. They were largely a matter of ruling out other sources before I took the little that's recorded and wrote my version of their stories. The Countess will not be so easy. Barding is not as easy as it looks. :-/

This Week:
- Write. I need to do about 5,000 words, and I only have four days. It's not so much that I can't do the words, it's a matter of focusing long enough to get them with all the other stuff I have to do.
- Buy and prep healthy food to take next weekend. Don't over-do it. There will only be two of us, and we only need food for one day.
- Laundry. Lots of laundry. It's not just day-to-day stuff. I need to have clean clothes to pack for next weekend. Also should probably give the kilts a good shake and airing.
- Go through the Games boxes and make sure everything we need is in there.
- Put the new Campbell flag on the pole we bought.
- Leave early Friday morning to get set up in Chicago. We have the Chicago Scots Games Friday night and Saturday. After next weekend, things will slow down a tiny bit. I won't have to dedicate whole weekends to anything for the rest of the month.

Baby, Come Back!

Yes, Rossie has escaped to the garage in the San Antonio house.  Mr. L has spotted her twice in the last twelve hours, so we're hoping she's lonely enough to lure inside.  Mr. L has rigged a string on the screen door, hoping to trap her in the laundry area.  We'll see what happens.

The Good Stuff:

• Got a very little work done on the short story this week
• Tracked, read, morning pages, etc.  -- all done
• Yard work done
• My blood work was pretty good at the doctor.  Glucose is slowly creeping up (107), but cholesterol and blood pressure were all nice and low.  Triglycerides dropped below 200.  The double dose of fish oil seems to be helping.  Doctor seemed to think summer work would help with the weight.  
• Got enough work done in the blue room (back bedroom) to be able to move the spare mattress and box spring from the front bedroom to the blue room and put it on the iron bed frame I set it up there. Whew!  Lots more work to do, but that was one goal met.
• Local grocery store is having a summer "game" kind of like McDonald's Monopoly game.  Prizes range from $100,000 cash to $25 gift cards.  I've managed to get game pieces for a $50 Conoco card and a $25 store card.  I submitted the game pieces for validation on Friday and should have the prizes in one to two months.  I'm one game piece away on several more prizes. We'll see how it goes. I'm surprised (and pleased) to have won the two. 
• Sneaky is getting better socialized.  Progress is slow, but there is progress

The Not So Good Stuff: 

• Mr. L not closing the door between the laundry room and the garage, allowing Rossie to escape when the door between the laundry room and the kitchen popped open frustrates me.  I try to close that door for two reasons -- it acts as an insulator to keep the outside heat in the garage and allows the kitchen to be a little cooler, and if the inner door pops open, we don't lose a cat in the garage or worse.  I've asked him to do it time after time after time, but he usually forgets.  (The screen door has a damaged screen that allows a cat to slip out; otherwise, it wouldn't be a big deal for cats. Apparently, he has now arranged a block on the screen door to mitigate that problem -- after the cat got out.)  One of those, "I told you so moments," but I can't say that. 
• My recumbent bike pedals are squeaking.  I know it needs some lubricant, but all the manual says is use silicone lubricant but doesn't say where or how to apply it.  It's supposed to be one of those sealed things, I think.  Which could be a problem.  Sigh.  I guess further investigation is definitely in order.
• Mr. L has griped continually about the yard work in San Antonio keeping him from doing what he went down there to do.  It's hard for me not to hear this as criticism for me not going down there with him.

The Week Ahead:

• Read, track, ride, morning pages -- usual routine stuff
• Continue blue room and den decluttering
• Work on short story
• Hope Mr. L is able to bring Rossie back into the fold without me having to go down there.
• Bring a dog house back from the store to set up for Sneaky on the porch.  I don't think she'll use it, but I'd like to have it available for her.  I'd rather she spent more time up here than under the house.  She's sleeping on the door mat pretty often, so I'm hopeful.

First

Thought I would be first to post. Have I ever been first to post? Maybe way back, but so long ago I don't remember.

Anyway, this is what I did this week:
- Worked on Murder by the Mile.
- Post News at Three each day on Facebook.
- Worked on the writers' group anthology. This took up hours of time it shouldn't have due to a couple of people who simply don't understand professionalism. Or writing. Or cooperation. Or consideration. Don't let me get started or I'll be raging.
- Housework. Not as much of this as I should have. My house needs vacuuming and dusting. Mopping and laundry. Sigh.
- Errands. Plenty of those.
- Blah.

Next week this is what I plan on doing:
- Work on Murder by the Mile.
- Work on the writers' group anthology. We're on the homeward stretch with it. It should go on sale in July.
- Attend the writers' group meeting tomorrow. Get contracts signed and collect final proofs.
- Housework. Got to catch up on this.
- Errands.
- Less blah.

Not much else to tell you. Hope you have a great week.

Rain, rain, go away...

We've had nearly 6" of rain this week, most of it Friday night. To say we're soggy is a bit of an understatement. Creeks are running very high.

Good Stuff:
- It's not raining today. It looks like it wants to, but so far we're not actively wet.
- We went to the big farmers market in St Louis yesterday, so not only are we stocked on fruits and veggies, I have a spare jar of honey and a dozen free-range eggs, plus we picked up a few things for Vicky and dropped them by her house.
- Jeli (my grandcat) remembers me! She jumped up in my lap and give me a good sniffing over. Vicky said she doesn't do that with other people. Yeah Grammy vibes! (No, I'm not in a hurry to test them on a human subject.) Surprisingly, none of my furries seemed to notice all the white fur on my clothes.
- We joined a local gun club. (Very local--just a mile up the road.) IL is supposed to have a concealed carry law coming on the books soon. (We're the last hold-out, and it wouldn't be happening if a circuit court of appeals hadn't to our state lawmakers that it's unconstitutional not to have one.) I'm pretty comfortable with a rifle, but they don't conceal well, and it will be good for me to get used to firing a handgun. I'm still finding ways to stretch my comfort zone.
- I drew the floor plan for my fictional church. On paper it looks huge. I have to keep reminding myself that the whole thing could fit in our church's sanctuary and gathering area. Maybe now that I have a better handle on the logistics I can start getting more words.
- I figured out part of the problem with the book was my timeline. It was too big, like twice as long as it needed to be. I shifted the end back from Thanksgiving to mid-July instead of coming up with more work that needed to be done. If I knew more about construction methods in general (and in the early 20th century specifically) it might have been easier to add jobs and obstacles, but I'm out of my element as it is. I wouldn't know what I do if it weren't for a retired contractor friend of ours who, thankfully, is getting used to bizarre questions! I scared him when I asked how to start a fire with know and tube wiring. ;-)
- I'm a lot closer to perfecting a gluten-free scone. I did a test batch Friday and they were gone yesterday. It just needs a little more lemon.


Not So Good Stuff:
- I'm unhappy with the way my clothes are starting to fit. The number is fairly steady but higher than I'd like so it's time to get serious again. I really let things slip when we were busy. I'm going to step things up at the gym and see if that does the trick. Not buying more mint chocolate chip ice cream will probably help, too.
- May was awful for writing. I'm glad it's June.
- I have no free Saturdays until mid-July. Good thing I write during the week.
- I'm supposed to have a new story to tell next weekend. Yeeaaahhhhhhh.

This Week:
- Seriously. Write Marjorie already.
- Swab out the freezer and turn it back on.
- Pack for Kansas City.
- Do the usual household stuff. Hopefully it will dry out in time to mow before the next batch of rain comes in. This has been the wierdest year for weather since we've been here.
- Remember to blog tomorrow.

Buried

I done been kilt and buried!

Or at least it's felt that way over the past couple of weeks. I've been up to my neck and a bit beyond with various projects and weather worries. So grateful that we get a break from the severe weather for at least a few days. Storms are supposed to head this way again on Wednesday, but so far, the outlook isn't as scary as it's been.

Here in my town, we've had a lot of hail, high winds, and an incredible amount of rain, but no tornadoes, thank God. It's been the wettest May on record this year. Our three-year drought is broken in a major way. Not that summer couldn't change that, but right now, we're squishy moist.

As for projects, the anthology my writers group is publishing has been quite time consuming. More than last year's ever was. Mostly because of three people who have behaved unprofessionally -- not meeting deadlines, not editing their work, not playing well with others. One of them finally started to work with us, and that's turned out okay. Won't know about the other two until next week's meeting. At this point, I'm not sure I care about correcting their mistakes. Either they turn in proofed copies or they don't. If they were working with a magazine publisher in the "real world," they would have already been dropped. A bad part of me wants their work to be published as is so that people can laugh at them. And that might happen, particularly if they insist that their mistakes are inspired by God or the muse or whatever excuse they tell themselves to excuse their sloppy work. I am tired of arguing for a higher standard. I will say I think God knows how to punctuate a sentence and can correctly use verb tenses. He strikes me as that kind of deity.

I keep getting told that working with people is good for me as a human being. I think I've decided I don't want to get any better as a human being.

The other project is, of course, Murder by the Mile, which is finally -- thank God -- showing real progress. I don't know if I'm going to make my July 30 publication date, but it will come out in August if not in July. The story's a bit of a muddle, but slowly that's working out. This book was started in 2010. Three years is a long enough gestation. Time for it to be born. I will be so very grateful when I hold a copy of it in my hands.

Health -- Not doing as good on controlling my diabetes as I should. Mostly because I haven't walked as I should and haven't eaten as I should. I'm supposed to go back to the doctor this month. Not looking forward to it. Also, my arthritis has been giving me fits. Probably because I've been eating inflammatory foods -- too much sugar, bread, artificial sweeteners, etc. Just last week, I started to put myself back on the straight and narrow. More salads, no sweet drinks, more water, more exercise. I know the drill. Just have to find the backbone to do it.

Blogging -- Haven't been posting on any of my blogs. Been discouraged. Been tired. Mostly been whiny. Didn't have much to say that didn't sound gloomy. Hope that changes this week.

Writers group -- Other than the above mentioned problems, it's been going okay. We lost a dear member who passed away unexpectedly. She was my friend, and although she was 81, she was so lively and smart and seemingly healthy, her death hit us hard. She was one of my favorite people in the group. Maybe that's why I'm so disenchanted with it right now. The anthology, by the way, has some good writing in it. Several strong poems, memoirs, and short stories. That is pleasing.

Black dog -- Sigh. The cur has been chewing on me more than not. That's the way things go sometimes. I'll beat it back soon.

Hope you have a great week. Even when I don't post here, I'm still thinking of and rooting for you.

Cold Stone Creamery is yummy stuff

Bill and I went on an impromptu romantic vacation over the Memorial Day holiday weekend and it was freaking AWESOME. At least for me. Bill helped his dad build a deck during part of it, but we spent gobs of time together and it was soooo great!! The only wrench in the works was the Cold Stone Creamery across the street from the hotel, and we had ice creams there every day.

VERY yummy, and totally worth the not too awful (about 10-12) points.

My weight went up, not because of the ice creams, which I paid for, but because I only exercised once over the four day span, and because I didn't get all of my water in. Otherwise, I did all right. Well, I had a waffle once, and I have wheaty issues, which caused bloating...

But I stuck within points ranges and really did great (even with ice cream!!), other than the water and exercise portion of the plan. I've already lost the couple of pounds and am back to where I was, so that's all good all ready.

Otherwise, things are all right. Still awaiting the next batch of changes from The Agent about SPORE, but I worked on Morgan's Run a little today. The Agent's last set of suggestions kind of got me worrying, so I had a totally new, clean, never-before-seen-the-narrative-or-concept reader take a look at it. He found not only an inaccurate labeling of the MC's musical tastes, but answered a couple of clarifying questions I had, based upon The Agent's previous input. He basically confirmed what the agent said which made me feel GOBS better. Everything's on the same track now, instead of me sitting here wondering what the heck?!?!, if that makes sense. Anyway, it's all good and I'd really like to get back to work. Like now.

I dunno about you guys, but food prices are really jumping here. Meat, especially, has jumped 50-100% since Christmas. Since more and more of our income is going to food (and savings is taking the hit), I have begun looking for a part time job. I have to admit, tho, that my heart isn't in it. Which bugs me. Because I should be delighted to get to work. But I'm not. And the appalling lack of employment opportunities is very disheartening, unless I want to work food service, but I don't think that's a good idea with me being on Weight Watchers and all. I have, tho, applied to work the desk at a couple of hotels, and a couple of clerical type jobs, as well as an admissions clerk at Dr. offices. I haven't had a 'real job' for about ten years, though, so my chances of finding something are surely slim. Spending a decade being a wife, mom, and writer doesn't open many doors in rural Iowa. Unless of course I wanna ask if folks want fries with that. ;)

I've done some sewing. Done some cleaning. Tried to break my internet addiction (with mixed results). Pets are fine, we're all fine, weather is wet... All in all things are okay. Just itching to get to work, either on a book or a job.

Preferably a book. ;)

Health wise, I'm down 36 lbs, blood pressure is down to 120/72, my physician is THRILLED overall with the pound a week weight loss and health changes. I'm exercising 6+ times a week (except when we were on vacation, ha ha) and hitting 100% on my ActiveLink a minimum of 3x a week (5 is more common). I have a huge bag of clothes I need to take to Goodwill and my shoes are getting too big. Hoping I can muddle through the summer with them, though, I don't want to buy shoes that I'll only wear a couple of months, because I think more feet shrinkage is coming. I'll get new tennies this fall and donate my sandals.

The only kink in the health works is my hormone levels. My doc has put me on progesterone to level things out as we coast into menopause. Hoping it'll give some relief to the ITCHING, mood swings, and insomnia. I'm taking them on a trial basis only. See how it works this month, then decide if it's worth pursuing or if the cure is worse than the current symptom mess. I have not had good experiences with hormones in the past, but I either need to cross this menopause threshold and be done with it, or find a better way to cope.

Or I could start drinking. But that's not really an option.

That's pretty much it for me. Have a great week, everyone!!

Just the Two of Us

Just Wendy and Me all lonely here last week while Tammy and Stephen must have been dodging those pesky tornadoes (as far as I know, no tornadoes found you; otherwise, please excuse the flippant remark).  Well, Tammy was on vay-cay-shun.  Yay for Tammy and Bill!  Stephen probably wishes he was lounging in his pool.

The Good Stuff:

• I'm pretty happy.  I tried the print out one paragraph per page approach Zette has recommended, and it got me moving again on the short story.
• I tracked, read, did morning pages, all that stuff.  Yada, yada, yada.
• Got the yard mowed (this will be a recurring theme over the next few months)
• Rode the bike a couple of times -- I need to make the trek to the shop daily, but I'm not quite doing that yet.
• I'm trying several new recipes while Mr. L is in San Antonio.  This morning's breakfast bacon bake was what I feared -- way too many calories for the taste it delivered. 
• Sneaky got her first dose of Revolution today.  I figured since she's letting me handle her, she needs the protection it offers from fleas, ticks, mites, and worms far more than my pampered indoor kitties do. Besides, I forgot to send Ajax and Rossie's doses with Mr. L, so I had one I could spare.
• Got the prep work done for my crown and the appointment for the permanent one to be installed on June 19.
• Got my ultrasound on Tuesday.  A cyst they've been following was hard to find, but the technician finally found it and said it looked like it might be smaller than the original view (and it was small to begin with).  I like that this ultrasound tech doesn't keep everything a secret.  Supposedly my nurse practitioner will be contacting me about it (I'm due for my annual visit with her soon).
• According to Mr. L, Rossie has been an attention hound since they've been down in SA.  We're hoping to see good progress after three weeks, but we suspect once she gets back up here, she'll revert to her old ways.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• I'm making far slower progress on decluttering than I would prefer. 

The Week Ahead:

• Semi-annual visit with doctor on Tuesday, and I am not happy with my lack of progress on a healthy front over the last six months.  Which makes me kind of dread going to talk to him.
• Read, track, ride the bike, do morning pages -- all the routine stuff
• Continue work on the short story.
• Make significant progress decluttering the blue room and the den.
• Knock out a few more of those nagging To Do items on Things that I keep putting off and putting off.

We've Only Just Begun

My nephew and his girlfriend graduated from high school on Friday night, and we were there at his request.  Nice kids.  It's been 35 years since I attended a graduation ceremony.  Despite the pleas for respectful applause, there were still outbursts of celebrated screaming and cheering.  Mr. L maintains those came from the families where there was unlikely to be anyone else ever graduating or from the families where this was the culmination of success for them.  I don't completely disagree.  At least they did avoid air horns and the like (because they'd been warned they would be ejected if that happened).  I noted with interest the differing approaches from the various kids.  Most were a little sheepish and didn't seem to know quite how to approach it.  Some pulled off a solid sophisticated smoothness.  Most were someplace in between.  My nephew and his intended remained serious but pretty relaxed throughout -- conduct we could be proud to observe.  As a side note, why, oh why do people bring kids under five to these things?  I think we were surrounded by screaming babies and toddlers.

The Good Stuff:

• Got the yard mowed
• Tracked (I think I got it all), read, and did morning pages each day.
• As reported elsewhere, jury duty was a non-event.  I got called for a criminal case, but they must have settled or post-poned, because we were credited with serving and released.  I was back in Central Texas by Monday night.
• Rossie seemed to miss us.  She allowed herself to be handled and petted, and she hasn't escaped to one of her hiding places yet tonight.
• There are mountains in Oklahoma.  I got some pretty cool pictures.  I'll get a post put together this week and share a few from the trip.

Not So Good Stuff:

• Yadda, yadda, yadda -- broken record here.

The Week Ahead:

• Track, read, ride bike, morning pages
• Bloodwork and ultrasound on Tuesday
• Crown prep on Wednesday
• Mr. L goes to San Antonio for a couple of weeks on Thursday -- I plan to try to get some serious decluttering done while he's gone.  We've talked about where I should focus.
• Get some blog posts done. 
• Begin decluttering in areas discussed with Mr. L.
• Yard work (we had rain while we were gone, and everything grew!)
• I'm sure there's more. 

Cue the crickets

It's been a blessedly quiet week.

Good Stuff:
- I got to fence yesterday! I only have four tender spots today.
- My fencing teacher's youngest daughter graduated from homeschool yesterday afternoon. She had a Star Wars themed graduation, which was fun. Sadly, the pictures of her in her gown and a Darth Vader helmet didn't come out. Maybe someone else will post some on Facebook.
- We got to have lunch with our friend and Official Photographer, Jenn, yesterday. Always great to see her.
- Alex realized on Thursday that this is Memorial Weekend, so he's crashing here while he hangs out with his girlfriend. :-)
- I got words in, and I plotted ahead to the middle of the book. I also go my timeline straightened out, although that caused another wrinkle I'm going to have to work out with my contractor consultant.
- I think we got the rest of the stuff we need to do Games on our own. For now, at least. I'm told you never really have everything. The next solo Games is in three weeks, near Chicago. In two weeks we'll be assisting in Kansas City.
- I went to the commissary this afternoon and stocked up on veggies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. It's almost summer.
- Eric ordered video editing software, so hopefully I'll have copies of the Warrior Queen DVD this week.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Eric may have an issue with gluten, so I have to adjust my cooking habits again. We've been talking about transitioning to a more Paleo diet anyway so it's not that as big an adjustment as it could be. It may be more of an issue when we're traveling.
- I've taken the care and maintenance of the house over almost entirely now that we have a lawn mower I can start. Grad school is consuming Eric and often when he says he'll do something, he forgets. I have had to talk myself down from resentment a couple of times. This will pass. Six more months and he's done for good. In theory, anyway.
- I had a moving scare. Eric interviewed for a job in VA but he didn't get it. I can't say I'm disappointed. The thought of dropping my life here and moving half-way across the country, away from my kids and further from my parents, was not something I was looking forward to. I won't even get started on the logistics of what to do with our house, with my new kitchen. Not that I dislike VA. There are worse places.
- I'm having a hard time working up the story of Marjorie Bruce. I'm not sure why. I've worked with less information.

This Week:
- More words
- Write Marjorie's story
- Find a home for Games gear. The garage is going to have to be cleaned. Again.
- Clean out the chest freezer.

Slowing down for a bit

We're entering into a period of a few weeks that have some fun things in them, but nothing I need to clean or pack for. That'll be a nice treat!

Good Stuff:
- We did our first Scottish Games as clan commissioner. Jeff (the bard) came from Missouri to help us and brought some books and flags for the clan tent. Other than that, we had everything covered, and most of it was stuff we had around the house. I had flannel tartan that I'd thought would make a good great kilt and it didn't work, so that's table cloth now. I found several books among the research material for King Or Country, and we had tables and camp chairs. All in all, it was a very nice weekend, and I planted seeds for Jeff and I to tell stories next year. Oh, and we got Honored Clan, so next year we get in free, we get to lead the tartan parade (right behind the pipers, of course) and we can bring friends!
- I didn't gain weight over the weekend, despite the scones and shortbread I scarfed yesterday. I wouldn't say it was a vast quantity, but it was more than I usually eat!
- The house is finally quiet. The AC is on. That and the keyboard are all I hear. Eric is down in his office regrouping after a hectic semester.
- Speaking of which, Eric has two weeks off before the summer semester, and he's only taking one class. He wouldn't be taking that one if it was offered sometime other than the summer!
- Since I'd already taken off from church today, we decided to go to our favorite place in the city for brunch. The Eggs Benedict will likely stick until supper.

Not So Good Stuff:
- It's taken no time at all for entropy to strike my house. I'll be putting in some time in the next couple days to put things away and figure out how to store the detritus from yet another hobby in such a way that it's out of the way but accessible.
- Alex was not at all thrilled to be heading back to school today. He's working up there over the summer and is dealing with roommate issues. I thought it would get easier to stand back and let them forge their own way once they reached adulthood, but part of me wanted to tell him to call in sick tomorrow and stay one more day! At least he left with a full belly, and he was stopping at his girlfriend's on the way out to pick up fresh muffins.
- I did not semi-final in the ACFW Genesis contest. However, a historical writer I met in Destin this year did. She's been writing all of about four years. That stung. A lot. I let it get to me for a few days, and now I'm letting it feed my resolve to work harder. The new plan is writing in the morning, and research in the afternoon. I've heard it said fairly often that it's not the good writers that get published, it's the stubborn ones. I have stubborn in spades.

This Week:
- Write in the morning, research in the afternoon.
- Put my house back together.
- Work up a new story to tell at the Kansas City Games in three weeks. (Probably Robert The Bruce's mother, Marjorie.) Also, practice the two newer stories so I can tell them better. Oh, and upload at least part of my Tartan Day performance to either post to the internet or e-mail. I haven't forgotten, Stephen. We just got the DVD back right before my mom left. If push comes to shove, I'll burn a DVD and send it to you.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

There was a song title to go with that album title, right?  Oh, well.  Just a little darkness at the far-reaching edges of my usually sunny disposition this week (this is supposed to make you laugh at the sarcasm.  Go ahead.  I am.).

The Good Stuff:

• I tracked, did Morning Pages, rode the bike, read, and did some yard work.  All the good, basic stuff I want and need to get done.  Yay.
• My dental check up went fine
• Sneaky is back and doing great. We didn't talk yesterday, but I guess she was busy.
• Got a little back end maintenance done at FM

The Not So Good Stuff:

• The deteriorating filling they've been watching for a year or two has reached the point where they want to do a crown.  We're going to do it before the tooth breaks so we can control what happens.  Apparently, if the tooth breaks, and it doesn't do it the right way, they can't fit it for a crown. 
• Despite tracking, I've managed to gain 6 pounds since starting to use LoseIt!.  I think I have something backwards here.
• I'm still avoiding the writing thing.  

The Week Ahead:

• Track, read, morning pages.
• Head back to San Antonio on Sunday in preparation for reporting to jury duty Monday morning.  They sent free bus passes with the summons, and, since I live on a major bus route that runs right downtown, I'm going to use them.
• If I get released by Wednesday afternoon, we'll scamper up to Lawton, OK, on Thursday for my nephew's high school graduation on Friday.  If I don't get released by Wednesday, we'll have to cancel the trip.  Mr L says they usually empanel for M-T-W and W-R-F, so he says I should know by early on Wednesday what the scoop will be for me. (R = Thursday -- that's how they did it on my computerized junior high school class schedule, and I've never forgotten it, but I don't know how prevalent the usage is.)

Have a great week, y'all!

Any Colour You Like

But let's not make it blue today.  Happy Mother's Day.

The Good Stuff:

• I tracked, did Morning Pages, and got some exercise in with the yard work.
• Morning Pages, Stephen, are like journaling.  You're supposed to write three pages first thing in the morning of the first thing that comes into your head, no matter what it is, to clear your mind and jump start you for writing productive stuff.  I do mine the first chance I get during the day -- sometimes as late as just before I go to bed, but I usually get them done sometime in the morning.  You're supposed to write them by hand, but I've been doing mine on the computer for a couple of years now, first via 750words.com and beginning this year in the MacJournal app.
• I had a productive week for yard work in San Antonio.  I got everything done I went down there to do -- lawn mowed, hedged trimmed, trash trees hacked back.  Yard watered when it wasn't raining.  Thankfully, the city made the watering hours 7-11 am and pm, which is much, much better than 3-8am and 8-10pm.  That waking up at 3 am and turning on the soaker hoses was a killer.
• We got at least 2 inches of rain here in Central TX while we were gone.  Praises!
• My mom says she's feeling so much better, and her pulmonologist approves of everything her doctor has been doing for her, so that's a win for her.  
• My dad is penciled in for his back surgery at the end of July, but if they can free up five hours in an operating room before then, they'll take him.  This is in the good stuff, because I'm hoping it will help him feel better -- not because I'm glad he needs surgery.
• I've been getting some good reading time in.

The Not So Good Stuff:

• I didn't get any writing done this week.  And, sadly, I didn't feel too bad about it.
• I'm eating too much.  I picked up some salad and fruit when I got back to Central TX.  

The Week Ahead:

• Dentist Monday morning, then pick up Sneaky from the vet clinic.  I'm going to bring her home and open a can of food before I open the carrier to release her.  If I'm really lucky, she'll hang around for some food, but I sincerely don't expect her to do that.  I expect her to bolt and hide for a little while.  Then we'll see if she'll talk to me or not after she has a chance to forgive me.
• Yard work in Central TX
• Some maintenance work at FM behind the scenes
• Read, track, morning pages, and ride the recumbent bike
• Take stock in my writing and decide what I'm going to do with it.  I think the first thing I need to do is sit down and review Cat Eyes to see what I can do to give this revised version more conflict and do it.  Then I need to also get back to working on PBOTL.  I've taken too much time off from it.

Sneaking away for a minute...

It's been a pretty darn good weekend. The weather yesterday was perfect--just the right amount of sun and breeze. The graduation ceremony, while long, was well done. The speakers were good, although the keynote guy went off on a tangent into left field. 

We ended up with all the parents, Eric's aunt and uncle, and our kids with their significants--14 of us total. I could have planned the logistics a little better. Traffic was awful and stressed me out more than anything else. If I hadn't had to drive it would have been fine. I'm thinking we should have hired a limo for the day. Other than that, it was a good day yesterday, and it was fun to celebrate Eric's accomplishment with a side order of Mother's and Father's Day.

Dad and Linda, and the aunt and uncle left this morning. Eric's dad and step-mom leave tomorrow, and my mom and step-dad are hanging around until Wednesday morning. It's been a lot of fun having everyone together. The cats are a little twitchy with the noise of 14 people talking and catching up, but they'll get over it. The dishwasher has been getting a workout, too.

The most interesting twist is that Eric has to report for Federal Jury Duty tomorrow morning. At least it wasn't last week! That's about it here. I have a couple more days of visiting, followed by a mad rush to prepare for our first Scottish Games as the reps of Clan Campbell in Springfield. A week from tomorrow, I'll clear my calendar and sleep.

There was a party?

I almost posted last night, but it was about 1 am and decided I'd try to sleep instead. So I guess I'm last.

Ah well.

Things are good, I guess. Busy. I'm down about 32 lbs, exercising 6 days a week, so that's all going fine. Haven't written a word since I sent SPORE out 3 weeks ago. I need to find something else to work on, but I currently have nuthin'. Also no word from The Agent. Starting to really doubt that I'd nailed the changes and worry I've screwed them up. It's surely writer angst.

I sewed six 3-block strips into three 6-block hunks yesterday. Oh, I ripped out some darts I'd put in one of my granddaughter's skirts a while back. That's it for sewing.

We lost a big branch from the old maple in back, and a lot of smaller branches from other trees with this most recent snow. Hopefully winter's finally done.

That's about it for me. Have a good week.

Later to the party

Have to agree with Jean's point about Facebook. I have a friend who says she won't be on Facebook because she doesn't want to hear every little detail of her friends' lives. Trust me, these days she wouldn't. She'd only see recipes, photos of cats, inspirational pics, etc. She'd have to really search to find out anything. What Facebook needs is a button to allow you to turn off other users 'Shares' on your page. I would be grateful.

What I did last week in no particular order:
- Published April family newsletter and mailed it.
- Did News at Three each day sort of on time.
- Worked on Red Bird Woman, a book of poetry I'm publishing for a friend.
- Worked on Murder by the Mile, God help me.
- Worked on Undying, ditto.
- Moped the kitchen and bathroom floor with a Swifter mop twice, then did them both with the steam mop. They shone afterwards. I hate to walk on them.
- Worked on the back bedroom so more. It had become a dumping ground again for coats, books, gym equipment, etc. Cleared most of that out and put everything in its proper home.
- Sort of cleaned the tub. I worked hard on it, but it needs more. Looks better, though. Our extremely hard water here makes cleaning even more of a chore.
- Scrubbed the toilet until it gleamed. Yeah, I know, but I got carried away cleaning.
- De-cluttered and cleaned the garage so more. It's much closer to the way I see it in my mind.
- Changed the display of the Many Rivers Harbor books in the downtown store. Made it more Spring-y.
- Filed three months of bills and other items.
- Vacuumed the house, laundry, and other household chores.

This week in no particular order:
- Work on Murder by the Mile. Did I mention God help me?
- Work on Undying. Ditto on the mention.
- Work on Red Bird Woman.
- Prepare agenda, classic poem discussion, and minutes for writers group.
- Conduct writers group meeting Saturday.
- Pay bills and do stinkin' book work so that my stinkin' taxes won't be so stinkin' hard next year.
- News at Three each day.
- Household chores, including a whole house dusting, which will officially end my spring cleaning ... except for two closets, dang it, that I still have to clear out. Man, does it ever end?
- Work on back bedroom and garage some more.
- May family newsletter.
- Upkeep on a couple of clients' blogs.
- Try oh try to get more sleep.
- Stay sane. Or what passes for it in my world.

I hope y'all have a GREAT week.

Late to the Party

Someone has to have made that a song title sometime, haven't they?

I'm in SA getting a lot of yard work done. The weather has been cool and comfortable, so I'm really enjoying that.

I'm tracking, reading, and doing morning pages.

I have a ton of story ideas lurking on the edge of my brain.  I need to coax them out.

Last time I was down here, I got a notice a couple days into my new cellular payment cycle that I'd used half my data allowance (we killed the landline and DSL in SA to save $100 a month). I upped my data to 6G instead of 4G, and I think I'll be fine. I have to see if there are any restrictions in my agreement on the number of times I can increase and decrease my data limits. I don't mind paying the $10 for the extra 2G if I'm using it, but I don't like wasting it.

I'm getting frustrated with my social media sources, and, at the moment, Facebook is the worst. I,m seeing maybe 10% original content in my feed. The rest is recipes, motivational placards, and silly sayings. I know it hurts people's feelings to complain about it, and I'm sometimes guilty of the same thing I'm complaining about.  I also realize these motivational sayings are frequently as much a personal boost solely for the person posting them, and I can sympathize with that.  But. Sigh.

For the week ahead:
-  Track, read, do morning pages
-  More yard work
-  There must be some other things...

A little better

I got a fair amount done, but my list is too vague. Drat!

Good stuff:
- Made progress on the house. Merry Maids comes sometime Tuesday for spring cleaning, so I have a good bit of decluttering to do before they come. I need as many things off horizontal surfaces as possible. Yeah...
- We bought a lawn mower. The new one is gas but has electric start. The bad news is I couldn't get the electric start to work, but the good news is the pull cord was much more girl friendly, so I did the lawn by myself while Eric was at work. Oh, and it's self-propelled, which is nice. Our yard isn't real hilly, but we do have a shallow swail at the back of the lot that I've had to shove the mower up in the past. Not so now.
- 'Attended' a webinar about social networking. The gist is that to build an effective platform, you'll get the most bang for your buck with Twitter, Facebook, and a blog. The presenter uses Hootsuite for Twitter and Facebook and spends 30 minutes a day on those two. (I spend 30 minutes at a time on FB sometimes, and I don't play games!) Blogging has to be done on a regular schedule, so I've designated Monday as my blogging day. I should be able to come up with something to say consistently once a week. It's a place to start. How is it that I'm coming up with places to start on so many things in the last several months?
- Eric and I saw Iron Man 3 yesterday. Go see it! Some people have said 1 & 2 were better, but I think 3 is the best so far. Tony isn't invincible, and Pepper isn't a simpering wimp. I hate it when script writers make the female lead a simpering wimp, but I equally dislike heroines who are too powerful. Think Princess Amidala in Revenge Of The Sith (the 6th movie but Episode 3) and Lara Croft. Equally loath. That'll preach at a writers' conference.
- We bought Father's Day gifts yesterday. Since ALL of our parents will be here next weekend, and it's Mother's Day, I made a command decision to do Mother's and Father's day together. I'll execute the MD plan tomorrow.
- I have a graduation outfit planned.
- Eric's aunt and uncle apparently didn't get or ignored the e-mail he sent out several months ago about graduation. They found out last week and contacted Eric. Long story short, they're coming, too. That gets our group up to 14 and will take a total of 4 airport runs. :-) Good thing the airport is only 45 minutes away in traffic--way better than the 2 1/2 hour drive from Del Rio to San Antonio. It's going to take 3 cars to get us all to graduation. It's going to be memorable, no doubt about that!
- Did I mention the Alex got accepted to grad school at Western IL Univ? That's where he's been going, so it looks like another 2-3 years there before he has to move on for a doctoral program, assuming WIU doesn't add one before then. He also found another house where the rent is a little less, and he'll have a new roommate who will be bringing a cat.

Ambivalent Stuff:
- I finally broke down yesterday when we were shopping for Father's Day and gave Eric the green light for his Bose surround sound system. He's only been drooling over Bose speakers for 25 years. They're sitting in my dining room at the moment and I have my doubts about whether we'll get them installed before the Ingress. It's more likely I'll drag them out to the garage and deal with it after everyone goes home. Eric, of course, is far more excited about it than I am, but I admit a bit of curiosity about future movie watching experiences. I have a mental list of movies I'm going to watch while he's at work. ;-)

Not So Good Stuff:
- Rain. Lots of rain. Close to 4" since Thursday night. It's still raining. At this point I'm just glad it's not snow.
- More rain forecast for next weekend. Graduation is outside and is slated to last about 4 hours.
- Lawn mowing was harder than it needed to be for the maiden voyage. The spark plug wire had come off during shipping and was hiding. Once I found and connected it, the mower started right up, but it's been so wet that the grass has been growing like crazy, and the old mower left clumps of grass on the lawn, so I finally had to attach the bagger just to keep the mower from choking every row. After that it went a little easier, but I am grateful that we didn't wait for a larger corner lot!
- I'm going to have to mow again before the Ingress because Alex won't get home before everyone comes. Looks like that will be Wednesday.

This Week:
- Mow the lawn
- Finish the house
- MD shopping
- Menu planning and grocery shopping
- Try to get some words in there somewhere
- Pick up in-laws Thursday afternoon
- My side arrives on Friday
- Survive the weekend. We haven't had all the parents together since 1987. Since then, my dad is with someone else, Eric's mom died (1999), and my father-in-law is on his third wife. My mom and his dad got along for our wedding only because I threatened bloodshed otherwise, and Eric's mom kept his dad in line. :-) Yeah, it could be a very interesting weekend! Details as soon as I can get them to you!