Back from Vacation

And reporting in late.  I reiterate, three weeks is too long for a vacation, but there was no shorter way to do this trip, and it was magnificent.

The Good Stuff:

- Loved meeting Val and her husband, Jim, in person and seeing their farm.  Brody is huge and such a lover dog.  Moxie and Coonie are so different in personality, it's hard to believe they are sisters, but they were both wonderful kitties.  I even got to see the piglets and chickens that the "kids" are raising.  I loved that the piglets have names like "Ham" and "Bacon."  What a great way to remind yourself that they will be dinner (or breakfast) some day.

- We got a good visit in with my Mom, Dad, and grandmother.  Also celebrated one nephew and brother-in-law's birthday.  My sister and the nephew's twin were at their global competition last weekend (niece and her team placed 17th out of 65 teams -- well done!), so we didn't get to see them.  Saw two more nieces.  Great niece was with her father and others this weekend, so I didn't get to see her.  Had Sunday brunch with Mom, Dad, and two aunts.  Bonus!  Mom and Dad have made good progress getting situated in their new house.

- None of the cats were happy with me when I picked them up.  Natasha was the first to forgive me by climbing onto my shoulder every time I sat down and clinging to me.  Lady abused me with her claws -- a first for her, Tarzan growled (but has since spent a few moments on my lap, so he's warming to me), and Ajax won't have anything to do with me yet.

- Wrote nearly 3,000 words on MAY DAYS while on the train, grabbing time now and then.  Not too bad.


The Not So Good Stuff:

- If you read my Facebook post, you already know we took all the garage door openers to SA while we were on the trip, and I forgot to bring any back with me, so I can't mow the lawn, because both lawn mowers are in the garage, and the third lawn mower that's usually at the store went to SA with me to allow me to do a quick mow before we left on the trip, and hubby didn't load it into my truck before I left, so I figure he decided to use it to be able to mow more quickly down there -- we use a reel-type push mower down there.)

- I'm pretty sure my doctor is going to hassle me about my weight when I go for my semi-annual appointment next week.  Sigh.  Going in for fasting blood work in the morning in preparation for the appointment.

- The town issued a voluntary boil water notice while we were gone, so I'm back to using my stored drinking water until they get their water system problems resolved.  I don't think this is going to go away soon, because this system is old and needs a complete overhaul or replacement to resolve the problems.  That, of course, takes money, and I don't think they've planned for it yet.

The Week Ahead:

It's almost over, but here goes:

- Dig sticker burs and weed eat.
- Get blood drawn for semi-annual doctor appointment next week.
- Get on the recumbent bike and ride

Wendy's week

I'm coming back down now. My mind is clearing a bit and I think I'm getting close to ready to get back to work. Good grief, last week was a long week. We saw 6 houses, 2 churches, the topiary garden and part of Martha's Vineyard. I learned two important lessons on this trip:

1. Take my own pictures. I took a lot of them, but it seemed redundant for Mom and me to take the same picture since we were going to share. Unfortunately, when Mom put the pictures on my thumb drive, all the folders had the same pictures in them--all from the drive through New York and Connecticut. I haven't had the heart to tell her yet.

2. When looking for a hotel, use the Holiday Inn Express phone app and call to make a reservation. Ask for the military discount.

The good news is I had ideas for two more stories while we were there, so I may get three books from one research trip. I'd call that a good value for the money. The other good news is that, despite my best efforts, I only gained three pounds. All the walking we did must have helped because it's tough to eat well with no access to a kitchen. I also have a new favorite tree--the weeping beech. The branch span is up to 85 feet, and the lower branches grow down and root into the ground to better support the tree. Of course, they're too big for my small yard, but maybe someday I'll have the acreage to support one. A copper beech would be cool, too.

This week:
- Write.
- Get back into the routine.
- Weed the garden beds.
- Get in touch with the guy in charge of the rendezvous in Dayton in September to see if there will be a minister camped there. It happens to be just before our 25th anniversary, and we were thinking about renewing our vows there.
- Line up the rest of the volunteers for the Scottish Games.

Tam's Week Twenty One

Only a month away from the halfway point!

The Good Stuff:

• Spore's polished through the end of chapter 5 and is off to my agent. Hope he likes it.
• Finished and polished the 2 page synopsis today. I think. Hopefully. Synopses are HARD, especially when the book isn't done.
• Moving forward again as of tonight.
• Done all right with the vitamins this week. Feel a little better in some ways, but I've had some pretty crappy digestive issues. Some day I'll just have to accept that I can't eat yogurt, no matter how much I enjoy it.
• Pretty sure the kittens are ready to go. They're going through food and using the litter just fine.
• Down a couple of pounds. I have to find a way to truly focus on weight loss because I've been within a couple three pounds of the same weight all this year.
• Finally lost the dang cold! YAY!!
• Took some walks with Bill. He had the dog, I pushed the stroller. That counts as exercise, right?

Not So Good:

• Been kinda cranky and stressy, partly from trying to get Spore out this weekend, partly from my sewing room being such a mess, partly from being digestivey-sick a couple of days mid week. Just can't seem to find my groove, or remember anything.

for Next Week:

• Sew
• Plan
• Write
• Clean

Have a good week, everyone.  {{huggs}}

Wendy's Whirlwind Week

Crazy (in a good way) week. Mom and Aunt Shirley got to my house last Wednesday, and we left Thursday morning for Newport. We got here Friday after 25 hours on the road. (Not really looking forward to the drive back!) Since Saturday, we have toured The Breakers, Marble House, Chateau-Sur-Mer, The Elms (upstairs and downstairs--the Servant's Life Tour was great!), and Rosecliff. Yesterday we saw St. Mary's Church (where JFK and Jackie were married) and Trinity Church to give me an idea of the architecture. We have the Topiary Gardens and Kingscote to do today, and tomorrow we're taking a day trip to Martha's Vineyard. Friday morning we head home and should be back at my house Saturday. Driving has been an adventure. Old cities tend to have a lot of one-way streets, and Newport is no exception. I understand why, but I don't like them, especially when my Tomtom (with Darth Vader's voice) tells me to turn the wrong way on a one-way. It's been a good trip, though, and I think I might finally be ready to do some plotting on book 3. I'll check back in when I get home and settled back in.

Jean's Still on Vacation

We're preparing to board the train. Had a great weekend with Valerie, Jim, Brody, Coonie, and Moxie. Yes, I got to play with a big, galumphy lab and two calico kitties. Love Valerie and Jim's farm. Have almost 1000 words on MAY DAYS. Will be hanging out with my folks next weekend. Hang in there. It looks like you all had pretty good weeks.

I'm still here

Not much to report, really, but here it is.

Still on the low carb diet. Some days I do really well. Some days not as good, but still not bad. I've adapted to this, apparently. 

Still working on the Christian devotion book with my friend. (It has a name now: On Target.)

Still doing a few things for the writers group anthology. We have a book signing June 7, which should be the last thing I help them do with this book.

Still working on Murder by the Mile. Slowly the story is coming together. Plot holes being filled, but dang, it's taking me forever. Also, it's a dark story. Maybe too dark for my cozy audience.

Still fighting depression. Nothing new there. Move along.

Sold copies of Creations 2012. Need to sell one more to break even on the copies I ordered from the group.

Sold several birthday cards. Don't know if that could grow into a real source of income or not.

Sold several copies of Murder by Dewey Decimal and Murder by the Acre (Second Edition) online. I'll have a little royalty check come August. Every bit helps. Been thinking I will do a second edition for MBDD, too. I'd like a new cover. Also, I'll fix a nagging one word error that bothers me every time I read it. And I'll fix the sex of Obsidian, Lisa's cat. No one has ever mentioned those two errors to me, but I notice them, and they vex me.

Went to my niece's graduation Friday. She's amazing, beautiful, charming, and a true brainic. Received  $102,000 dollars in academic scholarship money. She'll need it. She plans to be a doctor. Saw all my nieces and nephew and my siblings and their spouses. Nice visit, but short.

And that's all I have to report.

This coming week:

MBTM.
On Target.
Household chores.
Gym.
Battle the black dog.

Have a great week!

Tam's Week Twenty

Twenty weeks. 2/5 of the way through the year. Hard to believe.

The Good Stuff:

• Managed to get two more chapters of SPORE written. They're rough and clunky, but they're there.
• Halfway through pre-reader notes. It's a bit of a trick juggling and implementing several sets of notes at once.
• Someone has learned how to crawl, and to sit up. Watch out world!
• Added Vitamin E to my daily supplement mix because a friend found it helped ease her menopausal symptoms. I do feel a little more clearheaded.
• Survived the yard sale. We didn't make much, just a couple of bucks, but all the stuff has gone off to Goodwill and potential new homes.
• Kittens are walking around and we've put out kitty litter and food for them. Their mama tried yesterday to bring them a bird, but Laura wouldn't let her in. Mean ol' Laura!
• Tried some new recipes, all were hits, none was particularly healthy. But they were yummy.

Not So Good:

• Starting to feel itchy again. I really don't want to go back on the antihistamine, but I don't want to itch myself bloody, either.
• Have not exercised
• Weight up. Again. 
• I don't think this cold will ever end. 
• Not as far into SPORE as I should be. I'm really getting tired of the beginning.

for Next Week:

• Same as last week. 

Have a good week, everyone.  {{huggs}}

Jean's on Vacation

So it's mostly good stuff. I got about 350 words written on the train. I was goingto write some more the night before we pulled into LA, but hubby realized he didn't have (for some inexplicable reason)Friday's shopping points mapped out, so I helped him get the addresses loaded into his mapping program instead. None of them panned out, but he gets pretty stressed when his maps aren't right. We had a good VIP Experience at Universal Studios. I had a good Backstage Pass Experience as the San Diego Zoo -- hubby had a lousy museum day. I got to pet a bearcat as well as feed and pet a rhino and a kangaroo. Got to see some amazing clouded leopards up close as well as an Arctic Wolf, a Serval, and a Cheetah (and his companion dog Miley). Oh yes, and an amazing hornbill (I think that'swhat she was). San Diego got better for hubby when we toured W.T. Kirkman Lanterns. Some amazing stories there. We're back in LA tonight preparing to board the Coast Starlight to Seattle in the morning to kick off the second leg of our trip. One minor concern was the mild claustrophobia I experienced in the upper bunk on the way here. Hubby has offered to try sleeping up there, but I'm not sure how it will work for him. It's a little shorter than the. Lower bunk, and much firmer. I'm in constant pain when I try to sleep up there, so I'm not sure he will fare any better thani did. I'll try to report in again on Sunday night after I get back from Val's. I'll tell her hello for all of you if you like. (I have my copy of Rainbow's End for her to sign.)

Wendy's Week

Pretty good week, all things considered.

Good stuff:
- Writing went better. Increased my daily average a tiny bit and closed the week at 13,708. I did try for the 292 words to break 14,000, but I just didn't have it in me yesterday.
- Made progress on the plot, so I know more or less what I'll be writing this week.
- Planted tomatoes and peppers outside. I raised them from seeds, so I hope they live. And produce.
- Alex is home for a couple of weeks. He's taking a class in June, and then he'll be back for July and part of August. Vicky's last exam is Tuesday, and I may not see her until then. She's been working a lot and is all but living with her boyfriend. She comes by occasionally on her lunch break, and we go out to dinner on Tuesday nights.
- Went with Eric and Alex to see The Avengers. Really good movie, but the bit after the credits was a disappointment.
- Finally checked out the big farmers market in St Louis. I'm kicking myself for not going sooner. It's very much like the European markets, where you can buy produce, fresh meat, cheese, clothing, shoes, flowers, and sometimes live animals.
- Swam 4 times.
- Did fairly well cutting bread. It didn't take as much thought as I thought it would once I got alternatives into the house.

Not so good stuff:
- Still not doing a great job balancing writing with housework. I've got the writing part of my schedule down. Now I need to work regular cleaning into the mix instead of doing a bit here and there when I'm not doing something else.
- Not as prepared, plot-wise, for the research trip I'm leaving on next week. I had hoped to have the story, at least the big points, sketched out, but I still only have vague ideas. Maybe they'll come when I'm there.

This week (and next week, since I'll be gone):
- Get regular exercise. I don't really think this will be a hardship while I'm away.
- Pack.
- Clean up the house. Again.
- Write as much as possible. I have under 7,000 words to break 50k, but the book won't be done. It might be close.

Tam's weeks eighteen and nineteen

Life is, well, life. :)

The Good Stuff:

• Enjoyed my scheduled sew day
• Down about 2.5 lbs. Ish. It's fluctuating daily, but seems to hover around that point.
• Kittens have eyes and ears open. They're fat, fluffy and gorgeous. Anyone want a kitty? ;)
• Have polished SPORE through chapter five and it's off to pre-readers. I've written and proofread chapter six, but it's not polished. Starting on chapter seven tonight. With luck.
• Been prepping for our community wide yard sale next weekend.
• Scrubbed and rearranged two of the three 'living rooms' downstairs (actually the office room and the TV room, they got switched) The house seems much larger and more open. Less cluttered. I like it!
• Lots of good couple-time with Bill. We're both making a point to get out of the house and do things together, and it's nice. 
• Much quality granddaughter time!

Not So Good:

• Still feel like crap. Tired, listless, achy, kinda melancholy.
• Politics suck. I've pretty much decided to stay off news sites and just ignore the whole thing. I already know who I'm voting for - fwiw, it's neither of the two party choices - so, eh, screw it.
• I spend too much time online. Still. Must cut back more.
• House is a bit of a mess, between prepping for the yard sale and rearranging most of the downstairs, all the extra stuff is kinda piled up in the kitchen and my sewing room. Not liking that much, but I have made some progress.
• Have not exercised at all for almost 2 weeks. No time, no energy.
• I will likely not have anything decent to put in the guild's annual quilt show. I'm simply not sewing anything worth showing.
• SPORE is behind schedule. I find myself far too likely to become distracted by tv/internet/family/sleep than to be able to focus on the book
• Stopped taking my prescription antihistamine/sleep aid because I am tired of feeling tired and dopey all the time.

for Next Week:

• Eat right
• Exercise
• Write
• Not be so blue 

Have a good week, everyone.  {{huggs}}

A quick check in

Hey guys.

Just wanted to let you know that everything's okay, just a lot going on here - none of it very interesting. I'll try to get a real post up this weekend.

{{huggs}}

Cinco de Mayo

No.  I don't do any special celebrations for this "holiday."  I just like the phrase, and since it applies today, I'm using it.

The Good Stuff:
- The lawn is looking much better this year.  It's early yet, but I may have begun watering in time to get a better root system going.  We'll see how it fares while we're gone for a couple of weeks.
- The scraping on the west wall is coming along well.
- Mr Fig is doing well, and I'll get Ms. Peach from our neighbors when we get back from the trip
- We're packed and excited for the trip
- Got more work done on MAY DAYS -- I'll need to do some research on the Empire Builder part of the trip.
- I lost two pounds this week by purposely snacking less.

The Not So Good Stuff:
- My skin still hates me.  I'm wondering if my persistent rash on my hands will clear up while we're on the trip.  I can't tell what is not agreeing with me, but I'm plagued by itchy small welts on my hands -- more left than right (I'm left handed).  I suspect I'm hyper-sensitive to grasses, weeds, similar stuff since my earlier bout.  I mostly hope I'm not becoming allergic to cats.
- No work on PBOTL this week.  There won't be any progress on it until June.

The Week Ahead:
- Next week at this time, we'll be in LA.  We're set for a VIP Tour of Universal Studios on Saturday.
- Concentrate on not snacking during the trip (this should be relatively easy to do, but we'll get plenty to eat on the train -- train food is yummy).
- Looking forward to working on MAY DAYS on the train.  Will be trying to get the last few scenes plotted this week before we go.  It's looking pretty good.

Wendy's Week

Good Stuff:
- Worked on gardening a little bit and helped Eric mow the lawn.
- Raised my rain barrels so I can get my watering can under the spigots easier. I have one full; the other will fill when it rains again.
- Went to see Jeremy Camp and Francesca Battistelli (Christian singers) in concert with a friend. It was fun to hear the songs I hear on the radio live. It would have been better if the people in front of me hadn't felt the need to stand through half the concert. They were taller than me, too.
- Started getting a handle on my eating. I've been eating WAY too much bread, so I'm trying to cut it way back. Luckily my lettuce is ready to start eating, so I can do lettuce wraps.
- Got my air ducts clean. That one was really just a matter of hanging around the house while the guy worked.
- Swam three times. It would have been four if the duct guy had been on time. Maybe next week.
- Drank a lot of water. My kidneys should be squeaky clean by now.
- Wrote 10,927 words.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Only wrote 10,927 words. I know, you're all rolling your eyes, but I feel like this project is stretching itself out and I'm not ever going to get it done. It's been super hard not to compare myself to other writers (yes, pros) who write 5,000+ words a day without breaking a sweat. I need to have this book done and polished so I can pitch it in August, and I feel like I'm slogging through waist deep mud. And no, I don't think this is Katie Murphy's Writer's Event Horizon. I'm not close enough to the end yet.
- The routine I'm getting into isn't helping me keep track of days. I have to remind myself repeatedly what day it is. Appointment alarms on my phone have been essential lately.
- I've washed my hands and can't do a thing with them. Seriously, I'm going to wear out the backspace key.
- I'm still struggling with balance, especially with my self-imposed deadline looming. I have managed to keep up on what is essential. I'm just feeling like everyone else does it so much easier and faster and more efficiently than I do.

This Week:
- Cut myself a little slack.
- Try not to panic if it looks like the draft won't be done before I leave. We'll have three drivers on this trip. If push comes to shove, I can take my earbuds and write in the car. Aunt Shirley loves to drive.
- Swim at least three times. Shoot for four.
- Limit bread to no more than 2 slices a day.

Wendy's week

Hello from sunny San Diego! Well, not so sunny today. We used it up yesterday when we had the wedding, but that's when we needed it. The wedding was outside at noon on a golf course. Yes, I got sunburned, but I didn't get pegged by a golf ball so it's all good. Thanks for your concern. Eric got burned, too. He's a redhead now! Yippee! He acquired a stepmom, two stepsisters and a brother-in-law, two aunts and an uncle, who, by the way, is also a Campbell. Small world. Or clan. Or something. We also got to reconnect with his aunt and uncle, and met an old friend of his dad's. We pretty much spent the whole weekend laughing.

So now we're in the airport, about to go home. I'm tired. I can't even think what I did before we left Thursday. I did write, but not as much as I wanted. I wanted to get my cumulative word count to 21,000. I think I hit around 18,500 but I can't say for sure since my spreadsheet is at home.

Off the top of my head for this week (subject to change):
WRITE
Laundry
WRITE
Swim 3 times
Start research for the research trip

Planned, did, will do

This is what I planned for last week:
- 10-20 pages on On Target.
- Rewrite Chapters 4 & 5 on MBTM.
- Walk at least three days at the gym and try for four. On the days I don't walk, I use my exercise bike, but I get a better workout at the gym.
- Start the May newsletter so maybe it will be on time for once.
- Usual household chores.
- Design bookmarks for Creations 2012.
- Design bookmarks for MBTM.
- Attempt to learn how to use the forums at Holly Lisle's site. I'm so confused there.

 This is what I did of what I planned:
- Usual household chores.

 Yes, that's it. I got nothing else done on my list. It was a bad week for me. I hurt my left ankle -- stretched or micro-torn the ligament, apparently from walking -- and I dealt with that all week. I got an ankle brace Friday morning, and it has really helped. I hope to resume my regular exercise -- scaled down a bit -- on Monday.

Also, the black dog leaped up and took me down. I don't know why. I collapsed into my recliner, watched mindless TV, nursed my ankle, thought black thoughts, and so on. Not particularly productive in any sense. 

Anyway, things are better today. I did deliver most of the anthologies to the writers group Saturday morning and even gave the "lesson." I did okay. I rushed too much, but I wanted it over before I had to hurl myself across the table and strangle a particular member who wants to argue with everyone about everything. The group has been talking about asking him to leave if he can't modify his more unpleasant habits. I don't want that to happen, but I must admit that he really is an obstacle to advancement. My favorite comments from Saturday: "Stephen King is just a fluke. He only had one good book. I don't even think he's writing anymore." And "Rowling is another fluke. She has no talent. She won't do anything after Potter." Those are his opinions, of course, and he's allowed to have them. His problem is that he expects everyone to agree, and when they don't, he wants to convince them of their wrongness. I've never seen anyone so insecure. 

Anyway, there's what I plan for this week:
- 10-20 pages on On Target.
- Rewrite Chapters 4 & 5 on MBTM.
- Walk at least three days at the gym and try for four.
- Publish the May newsletter.
- Usual household chores.
- Design bookmarks for Creations 2012.
- Design bookmarks for MBTM.
- Attempt to learn how to use the forums at Holly Lisle's site. Still confused there.

 So there we are. Wish me luck! And good luck to you, too!

Jean's Update

Wow.  It's already the end of April.  Hubby's counting down the days until the trip.  He's commandeered all my stuff to pack it.  At first, I was offended.  I wanted to pack my own stuff.  Then, I let it go.  He seems to be enjoying the process.  He's like a little kid waiting for Christmas for this trip, and I think it's cute.  He's pulling train videos off the web.  He's searching for rider accounts.  This week, he's tracking arrival times and checking weather.  He has assembled a trip book with all the information on the trip at his fingertips. 

No rain here.  I don't think we'll be seeing it for some time.  Everything is green now, and I'm watering, but it's not likely to last.  I don't think we've had enough April Showers to bring on those May Flowers.

In kind of exciting news, I have a niece (sister's daughter, 10), who will be competing in the global competition for Destination ImagiNation in Knoxville, TN, at the end of May -- her group won for the State of Wisconsin, and I have a nephew (younger brother's son, 17) who will be going to nationals for the Quiz Bowl competition at the end of May in Atlanta.  That one kid in the family earns the right to compete nationally is mind-blowing, but two?  Phenomenal.  And both are academic-type competitions.

As an aside, I don't dislike this new Blogger layout so much as it's mildly annoying.

The Good Stuff:

- Ummmmm. Yeah.  All the yards are mowed.  I got the store property half mowed yesterday, and when I went back to finish it this morning, our neighbor had mowed his yard and finished ours for us.  This is why I don't much mind him driving across our property to get to his wood lot on the other side of ours -- once in a while, he mows for us.  (The guy's wife's grandfather's estate cut our property out of the middle and sold it to us -- he and his wife own the property on either side of us.)
- Yes, hubby got the riding lawn mower fixed in time for me to mow the front yard with it (yay).  It has a sticking choke problem.
- Scraping is going well on the west wall.  We'll be ready to begin sanding soon.  Hubby wants to get a coat of primer on before we leave on the trip.
- Weight came in down a couple of pounds this week, but I'm not pleased with my behavior regarding those efforts
- Mr Fig is doing well, and I may have a line on a Ms Peach tree to keep him company. 
- We attended a presentation at the county museum about a local sub-community by the guy who owned our shop building three people before us (when it was the Oldsmobile dealer).  We talked to him afterward, and I was tickled to hear him say he wanted the building to bring in a Sears and Roebuck store for his wife and daughters to run.  (Think about that, and if you don't have a clue why that might be enticing, I'll try to explain in comments.)
- I got about half the stick pile shredded (well....maybe more like a third of it?)
- Nearly finished with the A-Z Challenge.  It's been kind of fun.

The Not So Good Stuff:

- I guess I'm not sick anymore, but I am nowhere near 100%.  I feel weak, I still have a nagging cough, and my skin still itches here and there.
- No time on the recumbent bike or the Wii, but lots of time huffing around the yard, so I guess it's a wash.  I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it, but the bike and the Wii address cardio and flexibility, which yard work doesn't do quite as well.
- I did not work on PBOTL or MAY DAYS this week.  I'm planning to break it out and work on it, but I haven't yet today, so it doesn't count for this week.  Hubby has lanterns piled on top of PBOTL in preparation for working on his newsletter, so I'm hoping they disappear soon to give me room to wok on it again.
- My right knee is giving me problems.  Still.  Feels like a lateral ligament or maybe just the lateral meniscus.  This symptom was more last week than this, but I couldn't lift my foot to take a step forward to walk.  Very strange feeling when the leg won't work in that way.

The Week Ahead:

- Dentist on Wednesday
- I need to spend some time working on the inside of the house.  Mostly little things, but those are the things that make a big difference when they get knocked out and done.
- I'm not sure what I'll get done on PBOTL this week, but I should be able to get some more plotting done for MAY DAYS.  Looking forward to writing some words for it on the trip.

Tam's Week Seventeen

Still here. Really I am.

The Good Stuff:

• Exercised a little.
• Managed some housework.
• Took a sewing day at the quilt shop (family members had to take time off work that day)
• Down about a pound
• Kittens are cute. And fat. And hiss at me when I pick them up.

Not So Good:

• I feel like crap. Tired, listless, achy, kinda melancholy.
• Weight is a lot higher than it should be.
• I spend too much time online. Still. Even though I cut waaaay back this week.
• Haven't done line edits for Spore's opening. The scenes have been done for a week and they're printed, but I haven't done more than put them on a clipboard and found my red pen.

for Next Week:

• Eat right
• Exercise
• Get revised opening to pre-readers
• Not be so blue 

Have a good week, everyone.  {{huggs}}

Insanity

There are people you can't help. It always takes me some time to realize this. It feels like giving up, but when you give suggestion after suggestion and offer help time after time, but the other person always has some reason  that the suggestions won't work and refuses the help because he/she knows -- KNOWS -- the change won't work ... Eventually even I have to realize that person is a shining example of a particular insanity: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

For some people, venting their displeasure with their way of life is their way of life. They don't want people to point out possibilities. They want confirmation that their failures are unavoidable, that they couldn't do better. Perhaps they do this because then they can believe they're blameless.

One thing I've always done is shoulder my failures. Admittedly, I have taken on burdens that didn't belong to me -- the wisdom to know the difference is something I still struggle with -- but at least I know that my losses are my own work. I don't try to blame my parents or the church or God or my friends or anyone else for my mistakes.

And frankly, I can live with my failures. (Obviously.) I'm surviving, making my way, the government isn't supporting me --although I'm going to work on that soon -- this is my world. For all my problems -- health, financial, spiritual, mental, etc. -- I'm still here. Still working. Still getting out of bed each day.

Perhaps I'm just as insane as the people who choose to wallow in their safe, comfortable mud. But it doesn't feel like I am. It feels like something I can be proud of.

(Forgive the rant. Had an unpleasant and frustrating phone call this morning with someone who would rather complain about his/her marriage than to anything -- and I do mean anything -- to make it better. This complaining has gone on for so long that I have finally realized that the complaining is the point of the call. And don't want to listen to it anymore.)

Wendy's Week

Ooh. New dashboard. Very strange. Decent week this week, if a little surreal. This not working is going to take some getting used to.

Good Stuff:
- My gardening mistakes were easy to fix. We've had quite a lot of rain, and everything seems to be plugging right along.
- Swam 3 times. I think. Yes, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. I was going to swim Thursday, but I had a headache.
- Diet was somewhat better. I lost about half a pound, which is good because I really had to work to ignore the left-over mint Oreos.
- Got the bedroom pretty well dealt with. Anything tempting and pocket-sized has been moved to another room. Keeping honest people honest.
- Wrote 8,917 words. It wouldn't have taken much to get over 10k yesterday, but I sort of lost track of time reading. Any buying new shoes for the wedding next weekend. (My father-in-law's 3rd.)
- Got the van squared away--new bulb in the turn signal, oil change, and two new tires. It's much, much quieter now!
- Dinner Thursday night with friends in the city. We got to see some we don't see very much.

Not So Good Stuff:
- Had to keep reminding myself what day it was.
- Food management was more difficult than usual for some reason. I don't know if it's all the changes or what, but I was more hungry for junk food than I usually am. And my fruit intake is down. I used to eat a bigger variety, but lately all I want it grapes, and I'm going through those like crazy. Not sure what that's all about.
- Spent more time than usual standing in the kitchen, trying to decide what I should be doing. No idea why. It's not like I worked that many hours when I was working. I averaged 5-6 hours a week. I maxed out at 25 because we were only open 20, and if we were busy it took some time to clean up, but I don't think I ever worked more than 12 or 15. So why do I feel like I have all this free time? It's bizarre!

This Week:
- Deal with the guys working on my house. Hopefully that'll be just Monday and Tuesday.
- Write 12,000 words so I don't have to think about it when I go out of town for the wedding. Since all the work on the house is being done upstairs, I have a decent shot at making that.
- Pack for the trip. Remember to pack knitting this time.
- Wipe down bathroom counters and get stuff out of the shower before workers come.

Tam's Week Sixteen

I am unable to escape quirky oddities that never seem to plague other people.

The Good Stuff:

• I cooked fish. Cod, bought from the fish monger at our biggest grocery store. Used a Rachel Ray recipe and it was... edible. Wish I could say it was better.
• Have - I think - finished revisions on the first 4 chapters of SPORE, and have written Chapter 5. It's passed 50 pages, so I am hoping to get these polished chapters to pre readers this coming week.
• Exercised with Richard once
• Had some 'time off' because my daughter had time off from work. I mostly slept and folded laundry.
• Family is all doing good.

Not So Good:

• Still have not sewn. It's becoming distressing. Maybe I can make time tomorrow.
• Our cat, Echo, is pregnant. She was spayed in September. I know the vet spayed her, okay? I'm sure of it because 1) He's been our vet since we moved up here 2) his assistant was there and witnessed the event and 3) there were a couple of complications, mainly a problem with her incision and his inability to remove all of an ovary. Anyway, she got spayed, yet is pregnant. Since we were concerned that the partial ovary released eggs and some tom got sperm into her, she might have had an ectopic pregnancy. So, she had an ultrasound and xrays. There will be 4 or 5 kittens coming soon, and she has everything where it's supposed to be, just like it's supposed to be. So the opinion is that she had a second uterus. Happens sometimes in dogs, pretty rare in cats.
• If Echo has five kittens, that'll put our number of cats at ten, which Bill insists will officially make me a 'crazy cat lady'. Yay!
• Weight is up. Still. Sigh. I'll blame the fish. ;)

for Next Week:

• Get though it without any rushes to Des Moines. 
• No crises.
• No surreal happenings
• Adequate sleep. 

Have a good week, everyone.  {{huggs}}

Road Trip and Stability

Those are two most recent A-Z posts.  The road trip post was extremely brief.  We only went to San Antonio, and we were already there when I posted, so it was no big deal.Just my way of being cute.

The Good Stuff:

- Got the lawn mowed and trimmed in San Antonio
- I got a PBOTL session in this week
- I got a couple of MAY DAYS sessions in this week

The Not So Good:

- A lot
- Still feeling crummy this week.  I guess the good news is I'm not retaining fluid anymore. No, no ugly bathroom issues, thankfully, but my sinuses are draining freely. (I'm probably being way too whiny about this -- it dawned on me that I really haven't been sick for more than four years, so I think I've just forgotten what it's like.)

The Week Ahead:

- Yard work in Central TX
- Must have an appointment to get ID cards now (manning constraints) or show up first thing in the morning to take your chances on getting one.  We'll head out to Randolph on Monday morning bright and early to see how it goes.  If no go, I'll schedule an appointment for May 9th.
- The body shop is not cooperating in getting back with the estimate for the work I need done on the truck, but it's a three day job, so we'll leave the truck with them while we're on the Grand Tour.  Probably because I'm not feeling well, I'm annoyed by the guy not returning my calls with the estimate (if it weren't the best Lincoln dealer in the nation, I wouldn't have such high expectations), but I'm blaming my peevishness to not feeling well lately.
- Hubby wants to get the scraping done on  the west wall, sanding completed, and the first coat of primer applied before we begin the Grand Tour.
- Just a week of feeling peevish.  Maybe next week will be better.

My report

Here's my report for last week, which was a good week overall. The black dog has been nipping at my heels, but so far, so good. I haven't followed the diet as strictly as I should have, but I've done okay. No major slips or gorging on sweets or bread.

What I planned on doing:
- Another 20-30 pages on On Target. Not done.
- Submit, publish, and order Creations 2012 for the writers group. Done.
- Rewrite Chapters 4 & 5 on Murder by the Mile. Not done.
- Walk at least three days at the gym and try for four. Did three.
- Finish and mail April family newsletter. Done.
- Usual household chores. Done.
- Look into cost of bookmarks for Creations 2012. Done.


What I plan on doing:
- 10-20 pages on On Target.
- Rewrite Chapters 4 & 5 on MBTM.
- Walk at least three days at the gym and try for four. On the days I don't walk, I use my exercise bike, but I get a better workout at the gym.
- Start the May newsletter so maybe it will be on time for once.
- Usual household chores.
- Design bookmarks for Creations 2012.
- Design bookmarks for MBTM.
- Attempt to learn how to use the forums at Holly Lisle's site. I'm so confused there.

I don't have have a smart phone so could one of you who do have one if you do, scan in this QR code and tell me if it goes to my Murder by the Acre page on Lulu?

One of the authors I read recommends QR codes. Don't know much about them, and obviously haven't used one before.

Hope your week has gone well. Waiting to hear from you!

Wendy's Week

My mom and aunt left early this morning, so it's time to get down to business and figure out the new normal. For a while, anyway. They've seen to it that I'll get a new routine established in time to interrupt it again. They'll be back in a month, and the 3 of us are going to run off to Newport, RI to do some research. I love research.

Good Stuff:
- Took my aunt to St. Charles. She and mom met my bard mentor and several of our Scottish Society friends, and they all behaved themselves. :-) The one guy who didn't--the drunk with the potty mouth--was someone I hadn't met but was apparently a friend of friends. Yeah, the guy was slurring at 3 p.m.
- My new rain boots kept my feet dry and toasty all day. I even did splash tests. Then the rain left, and the sun came out and I got sunburned in half an hour flat, so I went home burnt and dirty with a stiff back from walking all day in rain boots. All around good day!
- The house was ready when they arrived. Of course, they still found things to clean while I was at work on Friday. Their standards are higher than mine, but they still love me.
- Made some progress on the garden. Mom weeded the back flower bed so I'm a little more shipshape than I was. And yes, I left it unweeded for her. She loves stuff like that.
- I might actually have luck growing tomatoes and peppers from seed this year. I haven't since we've lived here, and I'd just about given up, but I found a website with heirloom seeds this year, so I decided to give it another whirl. They're in my office window, and I'm keeping the door shut when I'm not "in" so the furries don't eat them.
- Speaking of the furries, they were all spoiled by having Grandma here without her dog. They've been sleeping pretty hard this morning!
- The Day Job ended with a bang. My last shift on Friday was the craziest since I've worked there. Because we're selling all our stuff, we invited customers who wanted to shop back to the kitchen when we weren't busy with food. The downside was that I had to be careful when I was dealing with dishes so I didn't splash people as they went by.

Not So Good:
- My diet was atrocious over the weekend. Eric brought donuts home from work on Friday, and Mom brought chocolate chip cookies. Between those and the two varieties of Oreos I bought, we all had way too much sugar.
- I almost drowned my lettuce and broccoli. When I started the seeds, I didn't realize that the pots needed drain holes punched. Who makes plant pots and doesn't punch out the drain holes?
- I'll have to replant my potatoes. I didn't give them enough soil underneath for roots. No idea what I was thinking.
- Only swam once.

This Week:
- Deal with gardening mistakes.
- Swim at least 3 times.
- Cut sugar intake drastically and focus more on veggies. Fruits aren't a problem.
- Clean up clutter spots in bedroom and straighten closet in preparation for the shower install next week.
- Crank up writing. Need to shoot for at least 1500 words a day, every day. I need my first draft done before I leave for Newport so I can:
a) focus on the project I'm researching, and
b) not lose momentum on my current project.
- Day to day stuff with the house, errands, etc. (Note to me: need to get the left front turn signal bulb fixed.)

Flood Tools

I am having a blast playing with a very useful tool.

For MAY DAYS, I'm basing my fictional town on the town I used to live in.  It sits quietly along the Cedar River in Iowa -- until the river floods.  I have three disasters for this book -- an F5 tornado (I lived there in 1968 for that), a 500 year flood (close to it in 2008), and an F3 tornado (to my knowledge, not yet).  This map shows the damage to the town for the various river heights, and the 500 year flood is truly devastating.  For my research, they experienced record flooding (25 ft) in June 2008, and there are some good YouTube videos.  Also, there's a Facebook page for the 1968 tornado with some excellent photos.  I'm getting useful information from a 40th Anniversary spread the local paper did for the tornado.

The IFIS has several other Iowa towns wired up with sensors and can generate maps as well. 

Tam's Week Fifteen

Still living a wackydoodle life.

The Good Stuff:

     
• I finished a new draft of the opening scene for SPORE. Have started making changes to that based upon pre-reader comments.
• To avoid all the distractions around here, Bill moved me and my writing stuff to the basement. It actually worked out well, despite my initial reluctance.
• Have blogged every day of the A to Z Challenge. One was late (due to computer issues) but I'm on track with everyone else's letter prompt.
• Laundry's done, kitchen is - mostly - presentable. Removed some clutter. Desk and sewing room still a mess.
• Back on the vitamins, feeling better already
• Laptop blew its hard drive, but it's all fixed now. Despite being a PITA and losing my current draft of Stain of Corruption (lost about a chapter, ish) this is a good thing because now it's my computer, not my daughter's, it's smoother, faster, and has only my stuff on it. Plus a new hard drive. I'm considering that a win.
• Bill agreed to big lifestyle-diet changes. Which means I need to learn to cook fish. Blech!
• Bill got me a funky peacock lawn ornament that I like gobs!

Not So Good:

• Still have not sewn. At all. I'm getting twitchy. Bad. I pressed some half square triangles, but it's not the same as sewing them.
• Weight jumped five pounds overnight and it's taken me all week to get back to near where I was. I dunno what I ate or did, but my body puffed up and made me achy and sick feeling. I am blaming the Easter ham. I've had trouble with pork for years, and it's only getting worse. So I am, effective as of last weekend, cutting out pork. Sigh. I wish bacon wasn't pork. ;)
• Didn't exercise much because the weather stunk.

for Next Week:

• Complete secondary revisions on SPORE and finish revamp of opening.
• Log my food!
• Sew something. Anything. Arrgh!
• Increase walk route length to 30 min. 

Have a good week, everyone.  {{huggs}}

Did, didn't, will do

Things got done. Things got accomplished. Although ... not the things I was expecting. Well, there you are. I mean, there I am. There we are. Never mind.

What I did:
- Taxes finished and sent. Got a bit of money back from the feds; had to pay a bit to the state. One hand giveth and the other taketh.
- About 20 more pages on On Target, the book I'm helping a friend with.
- Final cover completed for Creations 2012, the anthology. The authors signed their contracts Saturday morning and ordered their copies. I have to upload, publish, and order tomorrow.
- House vacuumed and dusted. Laundry done and put away. More clutter discarded. More old magazines hit the recycling bin.
- Walked three days. Still didn't make four, but working on it.
- Still followed the low carb diet. Had trouble this week with terrible cravings for cake, ice cream, pasta, bread, milk, etc. Held firm, but did treat myself with one scoop of low carb cherry amaretto frozen yogurt a couple of times. Delicious and satisfying.
- Worked on April family newsletter. Not done.
- Took my character up two levels in World of Warcraft. Yeah, I'm counting it as an accomplishment this week.
-  Read a couple of books. Neither of which I liked. Been sampling some Christian fiction and romantic thrillers. Not impressed so far. Wendy is a much better author than the author of the Christian book I read. Wendy needs to be published now.
- Helped a friend move out of his house and plan his budget. (Divorce is imminent.) Sad situation, but maybe they both can find some happiness now and stop tearing each other apart.
- Got hair cut.

What I didn't do:
- Had planned on editing 50 pages for On Target. Didn't do it.
- Had planned on submitting, publishing, and ordering Saturday. Didn't do it.
- Had planned on four days at the gym. Didn't do it.
- Had planned to continue to declutter my bedroom closet. Didn't do it.
- Had planned on publishing and mailing family newsletter. Didn't do it.
- Had planned on rewriting Chapters 4 & 5 on Murder by the Mile. Didn't do it.

What I plan on doing:
- Another 20-30 pages on On Target.
- Submit, publish, and order Creations 2012 for the writers group.
- Rewrite Chapters 4 & 5 on MBTM.
- Walk at least three days at the gym and try for four.
- Finish and mail April family newsletter.
- Usual household chores.
- Look into cost of bookmarks for Creations 2012.

And somewhere in there, I need to get more cards up on my Oakleaf Harbor store and open the birthday section. Serious, I need more hours in the day. Or an assistant. And a maid. And a vacation, too.

The Tax Edition

Sure, I can blame it on the taxes, right?  I feel blah this week.  Yes, we owe.  We paid quarterly, guestimating what we would owe, and we still owe more.  Sigh.  We'll write the checks (to add insult to injury, the first quarterly payment on 2012 taxes is also due on Tuesday) and get everything in mail by Tuesday.  Since I finished 2011 taxes, I reviewed 2010, and yes, I did pay for half the Roth conversion last year, contrary to what the instructions told me to do.  So, after 2011's excitement dies down and we get back from the Grand Tour, I'll traipse into the IRS office in San Antonio and ask them how they want me to handle the error.  I would dearly love them to say, just add a note to next year's taxes saying you inadvertently paid two years early, but I suspect that will just confuse the matter, so I'll probably have to amend the return, get money back, and file 2012's as it should be.  Yes, it's a good problem to have, but still.

The Good Stuff:

- We got a fair amount of work done on the west wall this week.
- I got the lawn watered.
- I got more work done on MAY DAYS.
- I rebuilt a lamp.

The Not So Good Stuff:

- I feel blah.
- I didn't get any work done on PBOTL, but Lady has begun slashing the manuscript, so I had better hop to it.  Pushy, pushy cat.
- I didn't ride the bike or do any Wii work.
- Hubby hasn't looked at the riding mower, and I'm going to need to mow again soon. 
- We have a tree to remove at the store building, and we'd forgotten about it until we drove by on the way to Temple this week.

The Week Ahead:

- Mail packages to Tammy (Wireless Wii Sensor Bar and video cable) and Stephen (info packet on a medication of possible interest)
- Work on PBOTL
- Work on MAY DAYS
- Mow everywhere
- Trim everywhere
- Drive to SA on Wednesday, renew hubby's dependent ID on Thursday, New Braunfels Swap Meet on Friday and Saturday, truck for minor repair at body shop on following Monday (that embarrassing Feb rest area incident)

Oh, if you're looking for the labels in this new clean slate format, they're on the right sidebar.  What a pain.

Catching Up

Good for you guys.  I'm not usually the last one posting for the week, but y'all are on top of things!  High fives all around!

The Good Stuff:

- We got TONS of stuff done in San Antonio with the yard.  More to do, but we marched through the critical stuff and got it done.
- We got ALL the errands done we needed to get done in San Antonio -- we saved them up for Wednesday and marched right through all of them, too.  So exciting that Pinky is thrilled (but a bit overwhelmed) with his "new" iPad.  He's only called me once so far.  I hope that means he's figuring it out and not frustrated with it.
- Got the yard mowed and trimmed in Central TX.
- Only worked on writing one night this week.
- So far, the skin seems to be settling down.
- We got more scraping done on the west wall.

Not So Good Stuff:

- The riding lawn mower is misbehaving -- seems to be in the carburetor.  I'm turning it over to hubby to resolve.
- The scale showed a loss of .2 lbs this week.  I don't delude myself into thinking it was anything I've done.

The Week Ahead:

- Continue working on PBOTL and MAY DAYS (I really like ROAD TRIP -- I'm going to have to save that title for something else; it just doesn't fit this novel).
- I need to ride the bike and put in some time on the Wii this week in addition to any yard work I can get done
- I need to plant the fig tree and get the borrowed drip irrigation set up for it (this is so cool -- a large tote storage container, a small hole drilled in the bottom, and a fish tank air valve inserted in the hole creates a drip irrigation container)
- Scrape more on the west wall
- Finalize taxes, write the check, mail them off, send the first quarterly payment for next year (will actually go out on the 17th)

Tam's Week Fourteen

Crazy busy week. But that's become the norm.

The Good Stuff:

• Notes for Spore from pre-readers showed a good appreciation for the story, less so for my characters and their actions. I have a lot of work to do, but all of the notes have been transcribed to my working manuscript and I've started updates.
• Weight's down one more pound. Not sure how - been eating crappy all week - but it is.
• Walked almost every day this past week, about a mile or so a day, outside.
• House is in a holding pattern. Laundry's washed. Kitchen is presentable. Floors swept. That's about all I can manage right now.

Not So Good:

• Still have not sewn. At all. I'm getting twitchy.
• Daughter is working 50-60 hours a week which means I'm babysitting 50-60 hours a week. Plus her drive time. I am really pooped!
• General achiness. likely because I'd stopped taking vitamins and my diet has deteriorated.

for Next Week:

• Complete initial revisions for SPORE and get it to pre-readers
• Log my food!
• Get back to taking vitamins. 
• Sew something. Anything. Because it's good for me and my psyche.
• Increase walk route length to 30 min. 

Have a good week, everyone.  {{huggs}}

New for the sake of new is dumb

In case you didn't know, Blogger and GMail are changing the way they look this month. Mind you, this isn't for functionality or to offer more options. It's just a cosmetic change that someone is doing because they have to justify their jobs.

We used to get that in the insurance company I worked at. Changes for the sake of changes. Truthfully, insurance hasn't evolved much over the past hundred years. Yes, new sales and service avenues have opened, but the final product is the same.

Likewise, what Blogger and GMail provide hasn't changed much. Just the way we look and interact with it is going to be new. A will be moved to where C was and C moved to where B was and B floated to a new place that nothing else was. It's non-productive to have to adjust to the new settings. But somewhere some designers put this forth in their on-going quest to keep their jobs. "See, we're being productive. Our programs look different." It's the ultimate in busy work.

Not that I object to any change that makes a program work better and easier, but that's not what's happening here.

Okay, why am I talking about this instead of what I did this week? I don't know.

Let's see what I did.

1. Continued to input final corrections on Creations 2012, the local writers group anthology. I'm proud of the design of the book. I think it looks quite professional.
2. Met with a friend about helping publish his book. On Target: God's Word for Our Lives should be out this summer. Maybe by the end of June. I've been working on this book with him since January. I'm ready for it to be born.
3. Household chores, of course.
4. Ate lunch with a friend on Wednesday.
5. Walked three days. Can't seem to make it four.
6. Continued on the low carb diet. Not as successfully as I have been. Was too rushed and had to grab food on the run. Not fast food, but fast choices that aren't as healthy for me.
7. Kept thinking of and fooling around with Murder by the Mile, but no significant progress.
8. Made a few more birthday cards for my portfolio. Oh, that reminds me. I went to a birthday lunch for a friend on Monday. That had nearly slipped my mind.
9. Got my old car started and actually was able to drive it to the car wash and get the dust washed off it. Sure wish I could get it fixed.
10. Worked on a new budgeting plan.

This week:
1. Work on Creations 2012, On Target: God's Word for Our Lives, and Murder by the Mile.
2. Household chores.
3. Walk at least three days and try for four!
4. Continue the low carb diet, and do better about planning meals.
5. Call the On Target author Tuesday and remind him I need a bio ASAP.
6. Lunch Wednesday with a friend.
7. Pay bills.
8. Writers group meeting Saturday morn. We're supposed to sign contracts then. I hope everyone shows up or makes arrangements to get their contracts signed. I so want to order the books that afternoon.
9. Work on my front yard. I got flowers bought and put out in the pots, but need flowers in the flower bed. Haven't decided if I'm going to attempt tomatoes this year or not.
10. Blog on Harbor Street.

That's my report. Signing off. Over and out.