I slept in so I am running a bit late. I don’t have enough time to write a post. I will either do one later or just wait until tomorrow.
Cheers!
Month: September 2021
Goals, Meeting Them And Not
I am frustrated with myself. Last night I had a meeting I was supposed to cover. They had a Zoom link like normal so I figured that I would just Zoom it instead of driving there. So I worked on stuff around the house etc until the meeting time. When I discovered the link did not work I tried to get a hold of someone to get the correct link (but at 7pm there was little chance of that anyway). Once that did not work then I sent a quick email to my editor explaining things and tried to get to the meeting as fast as I could (normally a 20 minute drive but of course took about 30 minutes). The long and short of it is I ended up missing the meeting. If I had looked at the link sooner I could’ve gotten a new one or just driven to the meeting. I have missed several meetings this year (for various reasons). I don’t know if this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back or not. I hope not.
What I did do right (mostly) was I got the kitchen nook back. The shelves are all cleaned off (the only things on there are things that need to find homes in cupboards) and that corner of the kitchen is cleaned up. All the stuff that has been stacked in various spots on the floor is gone too. My goal is to get the plants off the table and on to wall shelves or with the other plants that will go on the shelves that I just cleaned off. Those shelves will be in the living room by the sliding glass door. (Confused yet?)
Today’s clean up task is the counter tops. There are several that have things just piled on them and have been left for…. well a long time. I plan to go through everything and just pack stuff away if I am keeping it. Otherwise it will go into the give away pile. I did a bit too much yesterday according to my body so we will see how today goes. I need to go into work to take care of the local stuff. (We carry several sections in the store of locally made products. It ranges from food to clothing and jewelry. Local can be from our area to made in the state of Michigan.) Matt normally does this but he is on vacation for two weeks. I said I would if he’d give me a quick run through. He did so I am going in a bit early so that I can take my time. I think the order is due around 1pm or so. It shouldn’t take me long but I want to give myself a longer time frame since it will be my first attempt. And yes I do have the day off. And yes I am getting paid for my time.
I also need to get the plants back out. I might be able to leave them out tonight. I’m not sure. We have almost summer temps during the day but at night it gets to almost freezing sometimes. And those plants are HEAVY. But I can’t leave them out in the cold. So there it is.
Stella and I played a little while I was typing this. Now she is curled up at the end of the couch. I hear snores and sleeping sighs from in front of the bedroom door from Essie. Oooop, Here she comes. And here comes Stella. I guess I have been on here too long. Must play with the puppies they tell me. Lol. So thanks for reading and all your great comments! I love hearing from you! Stay safe!
What To Do With To Do Lists
And another day off. But that is good. I have gotten a certain momentum going both with my writing and getting things done around here. (Silly Stella has just fallen asleep with her back leg over her head. Ahhh puppies!) So today’s goals are some more work on the novel and to get the shelving unit cleaned off so that I can have a place for my plants over the winter. We are hoping to start using our kitchen nook again and that is where the big indoor plants are currently hanging out. I kept it cleared off for a while but it never got used so I converted it into my indoor plant place. But Chris is going to put in some more key stripping (bless the person that invented that! It makes things so much easier!) on the wall in the kitchen so I can still keep a few plants in there. I am also hoping to have one of my plants be able to stay in it’s hanger since it has done so well. I think it is like my spider plant and when it is happy it flowers. So far I have had two flowers and it has become so full and beautiful since I have had it hanging outside. (Last winter it stayed on the counter and it almost was dead by the time Spring rolled around. I didn’t even know it bloomed until a few weeks ago.)
In my dreams last night I was starting to make a living from my photography. I enjoyed everything I was doing and seemingly clicking away through a vacation on an island. One thing though…. someone held my hand at one part of the dream. By that I mean someone in the waking world. You know how you can tell the difference between what is happening in a dream versus the waking world? (Or maybe that’s just me?) I remember being startled in my dream when the girl took my hand because it felt real. It felt like someone was actually holding my hand. I don’t know a better way to explain it. It was both wild and cool.
I think I have (mostly) figured out how to keep my newest fountain pen working. I think that there was a coating of some kind that needed to be worn off. It writes more consistently now. I do need to pull off the body every once in a while to squeeze the ink tube still. Just not as often. The lines are bolder as well. Oooo, I need to add the dvd on filling the reusable ink tubes for my other fountain pens to today’s to do list. I keep forgetting to do that. I have tried to do it the way the other pens have shown but no joy. I am hoping that this dvd will impart some little thing that I missed.
I look around and I am seeing other things that I need to accomplish. But I am purposely making myself only focus on a few things a day. I don’t want to make a huge list a. because I will get overwhelmed and b.) I will pick and choose and then a lot of stuff won’t get done so I will beat myself up over it. One of the other things I need to decide is whether or not the plants will go back out. It will be decent weather but I know I am going to have to haul the plants back in tonight. Is it worth it? I’m not sure. It will be sunny but as low as the sun has become it won’t be much direct sun for them. And it is taking a long time to warm up out there. So ????
The natives are getting restless. The girls want to play (it is not too bad outside) so I should probably start taking care of that to do list. Thanks for reading and stay safe!
Back To ???
Back to work today. This whole week will be confusing for me. I work all nights this week and am a manger for four out of five days. The bit that will throw me off is that I work tonight then have two days off. Thursday will be the stinker day as I have a doctor’s appointment at 9:20am then I close that night. But there it is. I need to sit and figure out bills on my day off. I have a meeting Tuesday night and then my schedule for the paper starts all over again. Which means that it will be October. 😮
It feels like a lazy day. I need to remember that I have to work today! It was awesome having the time off but now I have to remember to go back to work. Just in that short time it took me to write the above paragraph I had started to plan the rest of the afternoon. So I just set some alarms.
Yesterday when I pulled out my Nikon I decided to mess around some more with the macro lenses as well as some of the filters. I do have to say that I am a bit annoyed that the filters only fit my regular 55mm lens. Slowly I am getting more comfortable with my gear. I’ve had everything almost a year and 5 months. I look at Mom’s Cannon that she gave me and all the adjustments are on the actual lens. It feels like it is a better fine tuning than on my digital. But the flip side of that is that I can’t see anything right away. I have to develop the film to get the results.
There is still cleaning to be done around the house. Even though my father-in-law isn’t coming to live with us anymore it gave us the kick to get the house cleaned up the way we want it. So a lot of stuff is going upstairs in the garage. A lot more stuff is being thrown out. Which is a good thing. We are trying to knock things out in small chunks. I think the next thing we hope to tackle is the shelving unit in the kitchen. Then that will get moved so I can put plants on it over the winter. I also need to clean off the side counter since it is mostly my stuff that has ended up piled there.
Progress is being made on the novel (yay!). My goal is still a page a day. But I will take just working on it every day. That being said I need to get some work on it done before I need to get ready to go to work. Thanks for reading (and commenting!)! Stay safe!
Tending Gardens Inside And Out
Good grief! We have blue jays both at the front and back of the house! I think I might need to invest in another feeder for the front of the house. I am honestly surprised at how busy the feeder has become. There are still leaves on the trees and the weather hasn’t been that bad. I did move my plants back in last night. I am debating about whether or not to put them out again. I hate moving them in and out every day but I don’t want them to freeze out there at night. My pepper plant is blooming again and my tomato plants are trying to.
I got a pleasant surprise when I went into work yesterday (we forgot sugar and beef broth the day before). One of my regular customers cornered me and we chatted for a few minutes. He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out three good sized painted stones. He tells me that I am one of his favorites and he doesn’t give these out to just anyone. And I was an artist so he wanted me to have one. Pick one quick! I had a hard choice. They were a beautifully done. In the end I chose a good sized flat rock. He had used both layers of the face of the rock (what is the difference between a rock and a stone? I need to look this up…). He laughed and said I picked the one that looked like food. And the smaller piece does resemble an artsy croissant but what I saw was a cocoon. I guess I would call this piece “Possibilities.”
What really struck me afterwards was that he called me an artist. I know I stopped and stared for a beat after he said it. I have never considered myself an artist. That seemed to stick with me through my day though. I was more conscious of what I was doing. I did get a 111 word story written (I need to pare it down to 100 words before I can send it in to the contest) and I am writing a page a day on my novel. I am hoping to keep this momentum going.
It is chilly this morning so that will help keep my focused on my writing. i won’t think about doing this or that in the gardens. I hope. I did plant some chamomile seeds in a small glass jar yesterday. I hope they grow! Looking at the clock I really need to get to my novel while all is quiet. Thanks for reading as well as your awesome comments and questions! Stay safe!
Gratitude and Relaxation
The bird feeder has been filled and apparently it is a blue jay restaurant this morning. Three big males have been dominating the scene. Holy cow! There’s like 10 of them out there! I peeked out to see and if they are not at the feeder they are on the ground. Busy place this morning! A bit chillier than yesterday. And wet. Oh my gosh! There’s even a bunny! I just saw a set of small brownish ears pop up.
Well at this time yesterday I was filled with anxiety and crabbiness headed up to the top floor at the hospital with Chris. Everything turned out fine and everyone was extremely nice despite my less than sunny disposition when I got there. Mind you by the time I left I was a chatty Cathy lol. I shared stories as well as tattoos. I stopped in the bathroom just before I left and when I stepped back out there were about 10 people waiting. Word of my Monarch butterfly tattoo got out so everyone came to see. I also got to show off my Supernatural tattoo as well as my dragons on my back. When I left I received a very nice thank you card as well as a mug with a packet of Nestle hot cocoa.
The girls pushed their way out the door when we got home. Lol. Essie wasn’t taking no for an answer and shouldered her way past Chris and the door. Little blessing! We were just as grateful to be home.
We seem to be getting a lot of cardinals this year. There is a very young female at the feeder. Every year brings new and different birds to the yard! Well today’s goal is to get working on my novel. I have done a page almost every other day. I hadn’t noticed that was the pattern until I went to type it in here. But anyway I want to get a bit more done. I pulled out my latest issues of my writing magazines in bed last night and was reading. Several articles fit where I am going in my story so I have added push to keep at it.
That being said I supposed I out to get at it. Thanks for reading and stay safe!
Final Doses
Here we are at 4:30am. I am looking at my day in 15 minute increments. Starting at 4am I had to start taking the prep again. One more dose and I can either go back to bed or sleep out here in the living room. I am hoping for go back to bed.
To tell you how stressed I am (not to mention hungry) I had my first real nightmare in a long time. And it was simple. I was in the dark and there was something in the dark that was going to get me. It was not seen but it was there none the less. Like a disease or not knowing the outcome. I felt bad because Stella was asleep on me with my arm around her like I did with Moose. I was that way in the dream as well but I was still scared. If it had been Moose I think I would have been calmer. Both girls have been keeping an eye on me. I had atleast one dog with me all day. Usually two but if I was alone it wasn’t for very long.
5 more minutes until my next dose. Essie was the one that got up with me. She has since gone back to bed but Stella has been my constant companion for the last two doses. She is behind me on the couch. She was snoozing beside me while I read your blogs. I am so very tired right now. I didn’t take most of my meds last night before bed because I knew that I wouldn’t get much sleep and the meds usually help me sleep among what they do for my back. And this sketchy sleep tonight will be much worse trying to wake from the medicine on top of everything else. The goal is to finish the last dose, let it do it’s thing and head back to bed for a few more hours. And if I do this now then not only will I have something to keep me awake so I can finish the prep but I can sleep a little longer before the procedure. The next alarm is set for 8am. That will give me time to feed the girls and get ready to go. Out the door by 8:30am should get me to the hospital on time.
Ok, that was the last dose. I will wrap this up and add a few photos. Thank you for all the caring comments you have all left. I appreciate it! And as always stay safe!
Random Ins And Outs
The morning has dawned in reverse. I woke up and the sky to the west was brighter than the sky to the east. The eastern sky was covered in thick clouds. Those clouds have since covered everything and it is now a steady rain. We heard a brief rumble of thunder but nothing since. Both the girls have been a bit on edge since.
I got the call this morning. My procedure will be at 9am tomorrow. Which means I won’t get much sleep tonight. Nothing but liquids today. I am getting a headache because I am so hungry. Jello and clear liquids just don’t fill the hole. The early time also means that I have no idea when this will get written tomorrow. I have to be up at 4am to drink the last of the prep.
I brought all my plants in last night. I was going to get just too cold. But now when do I put them back out? Hmmm… I guess they are staying in tonight as well. I looked at the forecast and it doesn’t look good. We have about reached the warmest we will get today and it is still early morning. The flip side of all this is that this cold rain will bring out the colors.
I keep thinking of my friend Linda that I lost last month. Wow. I think it has been a month since we lost her, to the day. A woman came up to the gas window the other day and I had to look twice. She looked so much like Linda. I really miss her. I still have the texts we sent each other. I can’t bring myself to delete them.
I suppose I should wrap this up. I am just dawdling around on here because my anxiety is starting to kick in. And there isn’t anything I can do about it. Not even eat any comfort food. Well here goes… Thanks for reading and stay safe!
Here And Poof!
I just need to get through today…. Sadly that just means the colonoscopy is that much closer but atleast I will be home tomorrow. I have started stocking up on my “food” for this adventure. I got some white tea, Tang (there is a blast from my past!), Gatorade, Jello (I made some last night but I am going to get more and put them in my Halloween molds to cheer me up) and chicken broth.
I am sorry I did not get to everyone’s blog as I had intended this morning. It is way early and I (surprise!) did not give myself enough time. I am sitting here with a Pitbull sitting on the front of my calf. Goofball. She has now moved to the couch.
We pretty much sat and talked for the last hour of work last night. There was no one but us. We are all hoping that we go back to the 8pm close. With tourist season over there is no real reason to stay open til 9pm.
Despite my early out I still don’t want to go in. I am wiped out. But 4 days off start at 2pm… That is going to be my mantra today. Poof! And just like that I have to get ready for work. Thanks for reading and stay safe!
The Last Bits Of Summer
Today is the last day of Summer. Mother Nature seems as sad as I since it has been raining all night and still is. The wind has turned a bit chilly but it has been wonderfully hot and humid the past few days. I’m sure many people find the cooler air a relief. It has brought a hazy, but thickening, blanket of fog.
Last night was the full moon. I was able to get some wild photos only the moon came out from behind the clouds. In a few it looks like daytime! I enjoy the unusualness of some of the night time photos I am able to photograph.
Stella is asleep on the couch with her head on the arm. All you can see is the front of her face. When the wind blows through (I have the window and sliding glass window open) you can see her nose just start sniffing away. Eyes stay shut but that nose is busy! lol Essie is snoozing with her frisbee in front of the bedroom door. She is out cold. Once she starts dreaming everything is going. She seems to like chasing things in her dreams. Probably frisbees or her siblings. Maybe even a rabbit of two.
I got everything done on my list before work yesterday. Yay! I even spent quality time with Calypso. The poor snake doesn’t get near the attention she deserves. I also managed to find a rather large spider hanging out in my shower. Scared the crap out of me! So I scooped her up into a glass jar and set her outside. Even Chris was surprised at her size. The marking on her back were kinda cool. Like one of those stick outlines of a spider. I did take a photo. It might be hard to see her as she blends in beautifully. I need to see if I can find out what kind of spider she is.
And my writing… I did get some journaling done lase night. But things conspired against me when I would try to get working on my novel. But I will keep at it. I don’t have anything that needs to be done this morning so the plan is to work on it after this is posted. I’m not going to have time tonight as I close then I need to be back at work at 6am tomorrow morning. I also need to start watching what I eat. There are certain things I shouldn’t eat before my colonoscopy. I plan to stock up on broth and such so I have food and drink. I think I will be trying out some of the new Gatorade flavors! Maybe I drink some nostalgia and get a container of Tang! Regardless I need to wrap this up so I can get to work on my novel. Thanks for reading and as always stay safe!
Today's Blog 