Category: Reading

Animals, anxiety, Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Gardening, Life, Love, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, the World, Thinking, Travel, Writing

Weather or Not

1972italy

It has begun. If we get all the snow we are supposed to you may or may not see a post for tomorrow. We are supposed to get upwards of a foot (30cm) in the next 24 hours. I expect our deliveries at work will be off atleast a day. The only reason we would close is lack of staff. We’ll see what happens. We have been running a skeleton crew anyway.

Stella is still in bed. I find that interesting since she was trying to get me up at 7am. Archie is asleep behind me on the love seat. He enjoys the snow. I think he is the only one of us that does. He’ll play for hours out there running around and exploring. I am thinking about setting up a play area for him. Stella as well but mostly him because he will entertain himself by running and jumping and just nosing around. Stella is more of an interactive player. She wants someone to play with her.

Not much got done yesterday. Dishes, Stella’s nails got trimmed, toys got picked up. I have been reading Joe Hill’s The Fireman the past two days. I got it from Mom and have been waiting to read it since I ha some many other books going. So far so good. It’s from 2016 and has a pandemic. Normally I am not a fan of these kinds of stories. I don’t like “The Walking Dead” either. But this one caught my attention and I am enjoying it so far. It’s also the author’s favorite book that he has written.

I am continually looking out the windows watching the snow come down. I am just grateful I don’t have to drive all the way into Traverse anymore. Several people from work (including the owner) are coming back from vacation and flying in tomorrow. I wonder how many people will have delayed flights. And there goes a plow truck.

I supposed I will get this posted and start getting ready for work. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Aging, Animals, anxiety, Books, Creativity, Dogs, dreams, Emotions, family, Friends, Gardening, Learning, Life, Love, Medical, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Cruising

1972italy

Parts of my back have flared up, badly. The muscle beneath aches and the skin feels like it is burning off. Good times! The temps have dropped (again) and we got enough snow over night to turn everything white (again). The wind is really blowing as well. What’s creepy is that the trees will be bent sideways with the wind, the next time you look all is immobile. Not a breeze to be felt.

Not much got done yesterday. I used it as a day of rest. I did water the plants. They are doing very well. My agave plant now has seven babies crammed into her pot. I need to repot all of them. But I am nt sure where I would put them right now. So I leave them in and hope for the best. If I can get my greenhouse put up this Spring that will open up more room for over the Winter. I have a few ideas I am exploring since it will be starting as a very basic greenhouse. Chris has put forward some very good suggestions as well. I am very excited about the whole thing.

I don’t know what will get done if my back doesn’t stop. I will atleast get the basics done, dishes and laundry. Last night just before bed I had a bad anxiety flare up. I manage to get things calmed down enough to fall asleep. Barely.

Some cool news though! My friend and I are going to the one day writer’s conference again this Spring! I went through and picked out what I wanted to attend. Some of them are the lesser of two evils. There are several sessions to choose from that do not interest me in the least. But I am paying for them and maybe if I learn about something else I can use it to fuel my own creative endeavors.

The second cool thing is that I won a contest on my horror app. It is called “Slasher” and is dedicated to everything in the horror genre. It is Facebook for horror fans. What is awesome about it is that everyone just becomes good friends. Nobody is pegged as weird or creepy because they like horror. We just share things we love and support each other. I have been on it from the start and it is awesome to watch it grow and flourish! Anywho, I entered a random contest on there the other day and I got a message that I won! Giggity! Other fun things we do on there have been a Secret Santa (the person that runs this incorporates various holidays so we’ve done it for other holidays besides Christmas), random give aways by both the app creator (who stays very involved in the group) and other app users…. It’s just a fun place to hang out. We dry each other’s tears and encourage as best we can. (Several people have finally been able to leave abusive relationships while others have fund people that understand what they are going through with their depression… did I mention a lot of friendships have been made on here?)

I guess I ought to get this posted. I might curl up with a book. I finished Kane Hodder’s autobiography yesterday so I can pick up something new off my shelves. I do have a few new titles that I haven’t started yet. Or I can get one of my writing books out and delve into that. Maybe one of each? Anyway, thanks for reading and stay safe!

Aging, Animals, anxiety, Books, Cooking/Baking, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Food, Gardening, Learning, Life, Love, Medical, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Looking For a Way

1972italy

Yesterday did not go exactly as planned. There were a few blips but all in all a good day. My concern is with Mom. She told us via text not to come over because her arthritis was acting up and she was crabby. Ok, we can do that. So we went out to dinner and got a few groceries for today (I’m making ravioli from scratch) and came home. Around 10pm she starts sending me text messages asking where we are and if we are ok. This morning I got several phone messages asking if we were ok. I sent numerous text messages to her last night saying that we were fine and at home. I don’t know if she did not get them??? I don’t know what to do. Dad is the same way. He never seems to “receive” me text messages or emails. If I try calling either of them I get put to voicemail more often than not. They freak out and think that I am not making an effort to keep in touch but I am. I just don’t know anymore.

I did not sleep well at all last night. I tried. This morning everything hurts and my anxiety is through the roof. So now I need to try to talk myself off the ledge. Chris’s gift seems to be on the move finally. It is in Wisconsin. I ordered him another gift off his Amazon list yesterday. It should be here Tuesday. I believe that is the same day he can go get his desktop for his man cave. I am excited to see his new gaming desk come together.

I got two sweet books that I wanted. The first one is called “Ocean” and it is like a guidebook to everything regarding the ocean. Not in depth on any one topic but enough to keep you safe. It’s hard to explain. But if you love the ocean I highly recommend it. It has the basics on sailing, surfing, survival, fishing, science, scuba and snorkeling….. The full title is “The Ocean The Ultimate Handbook of Nautical Knowledge” and it is written by Chris Dixon and Jeremy K. Spencer. The second book I got was “Supernatural The Men of Letters Bestiary, The Winchester Family Edition.” Now I have a version of this that is smaller that I received in one of my Supernatural boxes. I took it off my wish list but apparently Amazon put it back on. Regardless, I am excited to have it. I need to find a space to house my growing Supernatural books.

I purchased an extension cord yesterday as well. I plan to hook my scarecrow back up in the garage today. It was comforting to come home to him every day. For the past few months he has been in a heap on the garage floor. Time to resurrect him!

I am going to wrap this up and get it posted. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, anxiety, Automotive, Creativity, Dogs, dreams, Emotions, family, Friends, Gardening, Learning, Life, Love, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Feeling a Little Lost

1972italy

I am at a loss this morning. Spring needs to come sooner rather than later. I would atleast be able to work in the yard. This morning it is raining and dark. Going into dusk dark. Everything is turning blah for me. There is no flavor to anything. No color to anything.

I still haven’t heard when I can get my car in to be looked at. I just sent another message to my mechanic to remind him. I know he had atleast 10 cars to get through before he could fit me in. I have no idea the repairs needed for each but he sounded like it would be last week some time. I don’t think he forgot but I feel better knowing that I have reached out. Not knowing what is wrong I am not comfortable driving my car any further than to and from work. My neighbor wanted me to drive her to the store for some groceries yesterday. I wasn’t comfortable doing that. I just don’t want to drive more than necessary. I told her maybe today if she didn’t find anyone. I was hoping to hear from my mechanic.

I found a perfect gift for Chris but it turns out that it is downstate. So it is back to the drawing board. I think Stella is feeling sore from rough housing with Archie all the time. I am trying to keep an eye on them and intervene when he starts getting to rough. It’s not that he is being mean, it’s just that he is so much bigger than her now and doesn’t realize how strong he is when he is rough housing. I want to work on training with him. I do for a little bit then drop the ball. And Archie does want to learn. He is very smart.

I tried to work on my novel yesterday. I wonder if I am just over complicating my story. That what seems to be evolving as my story line just needs to be broken down into other stories or other books. After that depressing revelation I ended up getting Stella and Archie enrolled in a free pet finder program. I will try again today to sort my novel out. I think that I am just not following my original story. I had ideas that made sense and added to the story but now the research is just a procrastination tool. The problem is that the story line enhancements I am really interested in. So I keep going back to them instead of finishing the original story. Both stories are good enough to be told, I am just getting lost in the details.

I ought to get this posted. No new photos so I’ll recycle some old ones. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Aging, Animals, anxiety, Books, Creativity, Dogs, dreams, Emotions, family, Food, Friends, Gardening, Learning, Life, Love, Medical, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, Thinking, Writing

And We Wait

1972italy

It was one of the hardest things to do to leave Archie at the vet’s office this morning. I keep telling myself he will be ok but the way January is…. I just don’t trust it. So I am biding my time until 2:30pm when I can go get him. I took the earliest possible time. Stella has wadded herself up behind me on the love seat. I don’t knw how she managed to get the blanket so tight around herself. She is sound asleep.

I was worried about icy roads on the way in this morning. We, thankfully, had no issues. But I will probably leave early to go get him because I miss him and am worried. Everyone has been very understanding of my craziness lately. I am forever grateful. A coworker got me a bouquet of tulips that I wanted. I loved the colors but I decided against getting them because I needed the money for Archie. While I was busy dealing with a cooler that had gone down he got them for me. I did my best not to cry. It was a near thing.

I think I will make Chris breakfast if he wants this morning (or rather this afternoon). He’s not feeling well and I need to make sure I take care of him. He made us dinner last night even though he didn’t feel good. And he has had the patience of a saint this past month while I have tried to deal with all this crap going on. He needs to be taken care of too.

A bunch of friends from work are checking on me. Bless them. I am going to try writing today. I haven’t really done anything with my novel. Not even looked at my research materials. I also need to see about pulling that interview together. At the very least I want to print her responses to my questions. That way I have a paper trail.

I spent a bit messaging with my cousins last night. We have our own private chat outside of the normal family one. I don’t feel the need to include everyone in our conversations. But both are coping since their Mom’s death. My one cousin is quietly going through her Mom’s stuff trying to simultaneously clean out her Mom’s stuff and pack up to move. But all in all they are moving forward. It is hard to believe it has been two weeks already. One week since the funeral.

I guess I will wrap this up and try to keep myself distracted. I will try to include a photo of the tulips I got. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, anxiety, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Gardening, Learning, Life, Love, Medical, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, Thinking, Writing

Finding Forward

1972italy

I stare at the flashing cursor and listen to the crows out front. I still need to water my plants. Trash also needs to get wheeled out to the road. Archie is enthusiastically chewing a bone. Stella is asleep on her back behind me, in a nest of blankets. The skies are dark. The snow is pretty much gone with the exception of a small pile here and there in the front yard. More rain is in the forecast.

I am feeling very blah at the moment. Tomorrow is the two year anniversary since I lost Moose. I did talk with my Uncle yesterday afternoon. It was a short conversation as he was at work but we exchanged a lot of information. I think he does want to reconnect with us but I am sure that Mom will not make the effort. So I guess it falls to me to be liaison. She does want to know things as she peppered me with questions. Atleast there is that.

I honestly didn’t do much other than watch tv yesterday. I worked on my novel a little after I got my blog posted. I was reading through one of my writing magazines and a few of the articles struck a note in the novel for me. So that was good.

I feel as though I should’ve gotten that dirt the other day on the way home. My violet is not a happy plant. But I am happy to say that my pineapple is doing well. It has been in dirt for a week or so now. I am very excited! So that gives me my banana tree, orange tree and pineapple that I am growing from scratch. Well, my pepper plants too since I started them from seed.

I am not looking forward to work but all I will do here is curl up on the couch and watch tv. I need to go in to work. I told myself that if I still felt bad tomorrow I would consider calling in. I just have too much to do today to call in. And since Thursday is an early shift I probably will not call in then either. We’ll see.

I guess I ought to wrap this up. I need to atleast water my plants before I go. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, anxiety, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Gardening, Learning, Life, Love, Medical, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Travel, Writing

A Bit of Blah

1972italy

Today is going to be a hard day. My whole neck hurts due to the fact that I had to come out to the living room and sleep sitting up in the love seat around 6:30am. I got to 5:30am in bed before I had to try to sleep sitting up. If I didn’t my throat would get a tickle and I would start coughing. My throat is sore and swollen. Sometimes it is hard to swallow. It’s like it is swelling shut sometimes. So I am trying to drink hot liquids. That helps.

Laundry got started yesterday. With Chris’s help I now only have one load to go. So once this is posted I will fold what is in the dryer and rung the last load through. I will stop for meat for the pups on the way home from the vet’s with Archie. I might stop for dirt. I have several plants that need to be repotted. But if I’m not going to do it I won’t pick the dirt up. I have no place to keep it unless I use it. (Even then I have too many potted plants in the house, lol.)

There isn’t much else to tell. I am extremely sore and tired. I would read but I would probably fall asleep. I will have to find something to keep myself occupied for a bit before we have to leave. It has been dark and dreary here. Not much in the way of things being photogenic. So I have been recycling older photos from years past. I hope you have an amazing day! Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Aging, Animals, anxiety, Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Friends, Gardening, Life, Love, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, Travel, Writing

Adding a Little More

1972italy

What craziness…. All that snow we got last week? All but gone. There are patches of snow here and there but nothing significant. We are slated for more rain and the wind has gotten pretty strong too.

I just want this work week over. Today is when I do my inventory. One of my beer deliveries won’t come until Saturday so I am grateful for that. I have no idea how long my count will take. I am hoping it doesn’t get too crazy up front while I am in back trying to get things counted.

Yesterday I found out two of my customers have died. One was a widower that had just lost her husband this Summer. The other, and this is the one that hurts the most, was a young farmer. He was in several times a week and always chit chatted. Such a sweetheart. He was killed in a head on collision Monday.

After the chaos of work I drove to Tractor Supply to get kibble for Archie. I also got a bunch of toys and two gardening books for me. All the toys went over well. The pups played with each other and separately with the various toys. Hopefully they keep the pups busy while Chris sleeps.

I guess I should wrap this up and get today’s madness started. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, anxiety, Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Gardening, Learning, Life, Love, Medical, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, Thinking, Writing

The Craziness of It All

1972italy

The temps are on an upward trend. There is even rain in the forecast. Which means that there is going to be a lot of melted snow. The weather has been so weird! Archie just loves it. The only weather he doesn’t like to be out in is rain. But if I go out with him I can usually coax him out. Stella wants none of it. She will go running around playing with her brother in most weather though. For that I am grateful.

Yesterday was a bit underwhelming. My neck issue has turned into a migraine issue. It is a little better today. I am hoping that the heat from my shower will not make things worse. I need to take my shower before work because it is just going to be too crazy to do it before tomorrow night. I am going in at 11am instead of my usual 12:30am. It will make for a long day but I need to start my inventory prep as best as I can.

I did get work on my novel done. It is mostly back story. Oh and I ordered a few research books. I know nothing about the people of Norway so I got a map and a few books to research them. Part of the novel I think is going to take place there. As I tried to write I had more questions than I had answers.

Oh boy… I just got an email asking if I had a meeting last night. I think they forgot that I quit. Aaaaand I am an idiot. It is still December. BUT they did not have a meeting this month so I am covered. Times like this I am so glad that I quit. There is too much going on. It is hard to keep all the balls in the air. My editor was very nice and sent me back a very nice email thanking me for the past four years. Wow. Four years.

Nuts. I just looked at the clock. I need to get into the shower if I am going to have enough time before work. I also need to water my plants and check the bird feeder. That will probably need to be filled as well. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, Books, Cooking/Baking, Creativity, Dogs, dreams, Emotions, family, Food, Friends, Holiday, Life, Love, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, Thinking, Travel, Writing

Getting Closer

1972italy

The temperature drop is on the way. Yay. I was supposed to go shopping with the Girls on Friday but I might have to bail. I am going to have to get up at 4am to do my liquor order since we are closed on Sunday for Christmas. I need get in touch and tell them. That will be a bummer because a. I wanted to spend time with them and b. I have a few more bits that I want to get.

Archie is restless this morning. He let me sleep in (it seems that Stella has taken to sleeping on the love seat the past two nights) til almost 9am. We went to bed at a decent hour. I think that helped.

We had a Christmas miracle! Dad actually called to talk. Acted like nothing had ever happened. He calmly said that he was staying in his apartment and was looking for a nurse to stop by a few days a week. While I was glad to hear from him I was still a bit frustrated. I think we chatted for about 4 hours.

I did spend a good portion of my day on my novel. I am trying to make headway with my main character. Chris said home because he got sick on breakfast. For once my constitution was stronger than his. I didn’t have any issues. We had the same thing to eat. It tasted good but unfortunately something in it wasn’t.

Today will be more work on the novel and at the very least watering the plants. I also need to do a little baking. I have to have a dish to pass for tomorrow. I am thinking of going the easy route and just doing biscuits or something. I haven’t decided.

I guess I am done. Chris has gotten up early and now the dogs are getting too loud. Thanks for reading and stay safe.