Category: Reading

Books, Creativity, Dogs, dreams, Emotions, family, Learning, Life, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Bits and Bobs

1972italy

It has been snowing for a few hours now. Bah humbug. I have been reading more blogs this morning than normal (since I finally have my weekend off) and now my coffee is cold. Lol. We slept in til almost 8:30am. I spent a few minutes lounging in bed loving on the girls. I dreamt about Moose last night. I won some kind of coin operated game and got three balls for him to play with. He was a happy boy. The girls were there too.

I finally got photos of the knives I got Chris. I’ll share them on this post. I also got a refund for my shipping from Amazon since the one knife was late. I thought that was a pretty decent thing to do. It showed up the next day and the delay probably wasn’t their fault but I appreciate the gesture.

My one article is set to go live on March 1st. I still have my interview and two reviews to do. I think the interview will be a cut and paste from our exchanges. I started reading the short story collection that she helped put together. It’s very good abut I’m sure it’s not for everyone. In fact I think most of the people I know would put it down in short order. Just because it is very graphic. It deals with body horror. I am enjoying it because it is something new for me. Like I said the writing is very good.

I need to make sure we are out the door and headed to Pearl’s by 3:30pm today. I am rather excited. This will be the second time we’ve eaten out since this whole thing started last year. Speaking of which… I had to check to see if the restaurant that Mom and I went to for her birthday would be open. Looks like we are good to go. We just need to make a reservation.

I have been monkeying with my camera to no avail. I am trying to get the frame rate slowed enough that you can see the snow falling. Right now with both the Nikon and my phone if I take a photo when it is raining or snowing you don’t see the rain or the snow. And the photos I got this morning would’ve been beautiful if I could’ve frozen the snowfall (pardon the pun). Oh ho! It looks as if the sun is trying to come out!

Well geez. Essie is all up in my business! I got up to take a few photos (with both the Nikon and the phone) and she heard the shutter clicks and thought I was done in here for now. So I guess I’d better stop here so I can add the various photos and thus go spend time with her. Lol. Thanks for reading! Thanks for caring! Stay safe!

Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Friends, Life, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, the World, Thinking, Writing

Pinball Mind

1972italy

I feel like I am on an island chronicling my stay. Lol. Day 6 of 6. The end is in sight! I close tonight then I have the next two days off. I am so tired though… I will get sleep tonight. I will not binge watch CSI. Lol. I do have a new short story collection that got released today. It dropped on my Kindle this morning so I made sure that it downloaded.

Sweet…. I forgot (with everything I had going on this week) that I had a meeting next Tuesday. Thus I had not handed in a note for my schedule next week. But I just sent a text to the store manager and he has taken care of it. It still feels weird to have my job take care of me.

I find that I am feeling better now that I am journaling again as well as doing this. So I guess I need to keep it up. I had a good talk with Mom last night. We took some trips down memory lane. She was really pleasant. Not that she isn’t normally but she was very positive and good energies. It was good conversation.

I am sorry this is a rambling piece. I am just so ready for a day off that my mind is all over the place. I got the plants watered this morning before I did this. My orange plant and my avocados are doing really well too. I got both of the orchids watered. One takes four ice cubes in her pot and the smaller one gets soaked in water for 15 minutes.

I worry about friends and family in Texas. They currently have Michigan weather and they are not at all equipped for it. Not even the transplants. It will be a wild ride for everyone this winter it seems.

I’ve not done much with the camera this week. I have taken some photos of the girls and my plants with my phone. I will probably share those instead of repeating some of my outdoor shots. Since I have all the focus of a bee on a windscreen I am gonna wrap this up. Stay safe and thanks for reading!

Books, Creativity, Emotions, Gardening, Life, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

From Inside the Clouds

1972italy

The sun really struggled to come out for a while this morning. But it got swallowed up by grey clouds filled with snow. I did get some photos before she disappeared. I feel much the same way. I felt good, mentally, when we got up. Now… like I am lost in the cold snow filled clouds. The snowflakes are steadily getting bigger and falling faster. Makes me wonder how much snow we will get. One of the smaller woodpeckers has hunkered down in the middle of the trunks and gone to sleep. (For those of you that didn’t know the maples that I have the bird feeder in is actually a group of four trees grown up together. I don’t know the logic behind it as the person that did it was supposedly a “Master Gardener” with a degree but there it is.)

I am partly looking forward to work because it will get me out of my head but at the same time I will have to be social. I don’t really want to talk to anyone. Speaking of my head I can’t seem to get rid of this headache either. Might be the weather. The snow is coming in from the West so we’ll probably get a lot. The bird feeder has gotten very busy all the sudden. I think I will try to fill it when I am done writing this.

Today is the first day of a seven… no six day stretch. But I am not working any really long shifts and I don’t have to be to work any earlier than 9am on any given day. I’m grateful. That will make things easier. I don’t have any meetings this week. Just one the following week. I do need to get my head straight and get my article and two reviews written. Maybe I will try today. I have rough drafts done so all I need to do is fluff them up a bit. We’ll see. I couldn’t focus much yesterday so I read a lot until everyone got up then I pretty much lost myself in CSI. When bedtime rolled around I read some more.

I will add the photos I took this morning and get this posted. Then I need to try to do some stuff around here. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

The plants are my orange tree I grew from seed, my Christmas cactus, my two avocado plants and my mini orchid that is still blooming.
Animals, Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Learning, Life, Love, Photography, Reading, retail, Thinking, Writing

Being an Example

1972italy

I have been doing so much this week that I have just set myself an alarm to make sure that I am not late for work. Essie is upset with me too. I just stepped out of my office to do something and she came running up to get love and play. Then she kind of looked at me. I told her I still had to do this and write my article. She looked at me one more time then went back to the couch and laid down. I was two hours late coming home last night because someone called in. I figured it was easier for me to stay than for them to find someone to work a few hours. Don’t laugh but I had Chris tell the girls that I would be home late. I know they can read the clocks and know what time to look for me.

Now I don’t know which way is up. I have another long day today which is going to be longer now that I see work has done a 10% off your grocery order today. We will probably be busy. But I have tomorrow off. And tomorrow I HAVE to write the book review and article for my online editor. I blew it off Wednesday to talk to Dad. Too many writing projects due at once. If I can get them written early then I can use the rest of the day to play with the girls and spend time with Chris.

I don’t have any meetings next week but (depending on how I am scheduled) I will be working straight through til next weekend. Wednesday is our anniversary (30 years if you can believe it!) but we are going to celebrate next weekend. The schedule will be out either today or tomorrow. I also need to spend some time on my classes. The frustrating thing is that the problems I am having with my photography will be addressed in my classwork. The same for my writing (oh and I do need to make more of an effort for my novel, it thinks that I don’t love it anymore). Sigh.

Next week should be easier even if I am working. I can pace myself to get writing done in the morning and late at night before bed. Classwork I can do after work when I work mornings. I just need to stay focused. On that note I do need to write the article for the paper and get that sent in. Thanks for reading and stay safe! And thank you for all the wonderful comments!

Animals, Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, family, Learning, Life, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Free Time

1972italy

Aahhhh…. Sleep! Essie let me sleep until almost 8am. My only plans today are to write the final drafts of 2 articles and a book review then get them submitted. I have to remember to get yesterday’s meeting written up. I am so happy with having a day off I am worried I will forget both that and tonight’s meeting. I have an alarm set for tonight’s meeting.

It looks as thought the sun might stay out this morning. I tried to get some of the beautiful colors in the sky with the sun rise. I find it interesting that I can get more of the color using my phone’s camera than I can with the Nikon. The colors looked very blah or nonexistent. (Hint: if I watch another of my class videos I might find out what to do to fix this. Sigh.) But the sun is trying to peek out.

This post is taking longer than normal. Apparently the girls really missed me. I get one or both of them in here demanding attention every few minutes. I threw Essie’s frisbee outside for her. Stella as even up in my lap giving me kisses and hugs. Both got good scratches and belly rubs before I got out of bed this morning. Did I mention that is it good to be home?

I am looking around my office as I type this and my eyes fall on my Stephen King shelf (he actually has two, one for my hardbacks and one for my paperbacks). It has been awhile since I read (or reread) his work. But I need to finish reading my review book (I may be dragging my feet on that one because the stories are short enough for me to read on my 15 minute breaks at work and as I’m falling asleep at night). Buuuuuut that hasn’t stopped me before. Lol. Maybe I’ll pull out one of his novels later.

I feel as though I’ve shared nothing constructive. What do you like to do in your free time? Is there anything that you find relaxing or comforting that you would recommend? Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section! Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Books, Creativity, Life, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, Thinking, Writing

Staring Out the Window

1972italy

It’s a steady snow this morning. Still very cold with the wind chill. I sat down and figured out the writing projects that I have lined up. That would be 8. That includes the three articles I am writing for the paper. I am actually pretty impressed. They are not hard projects but they do require me to sit down and actually compose. I heard from the potential interviewee that she is interested in doing the interview so I will need to start pulling questions together. Which I just did. Lol. I no sooner typed that then I had some going through my head. I just have to keep track of the piece of paper.

I got some of the first book review done yesterday. There is still more that I need to add to it. I may work on that before work. I need to do some work on the novel. With everything going on it has gotten pushed to the side. Even if it is just a page of work. I had everything set up to work on character outlines a few days ago but never started. Maybe that will be today’s goal.

I am also trying to relax some. I know this might be the last time for a few days. The house is silent. I can hear the huge woodpecker outside pecking at the suet. I should probably go out at one point and make sure everything is filled up. I have been trying to keep an eye on it from the window. I am also fighting myself not to get up and get my camera. Lol. I need to anyway to download some photos but I will probably be in here clicking away instead of doing this.

I’m still not sure how everything seems to be happening this week. I have no idea when I am going to get my training for work scheduled. I have to be to work at 6am tomorrow so I planned to ask Tim what was available. Tuesday morning would be best since I have a 9am meeting that I have to drive to in Elk Rapids which is where I would be doing my training. I could do it after the meeting. However I have to work at 11am. So that means the meeting had better not last two hours or I’m going to be late! If I’m lucky the meeting will get out at 10am. Regardless I will be dressing for work just incase.

I supposed I have done enough noodling on the page for now. Time to tackle a project. Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Animals, anxiety, Creativity, Emotions, family, Learning, Life, Love, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, Tattoos, the World, Thinking, Writing

Going a Little Cray Cray

1972italy

I am experiencing one of those weeks where you have so much going on that you really have to take things day by day because you really aren’t sure what day it is thus what you have to do that day. This upcoming week is going to be beyond crazy. Three meetings (Monday night, Tuesday morning and Wednesday night), one article and one book review due, I have to set up training for work (we are getting a whole new system) and all that on top of my work schedule (I’ve never been trained for some of the stuff I am doing at work this week and I am going to be on my own so it will be interesting). This doesn’t include any class work, exercising or working on the novel.

I got Moose’s tattoo yesterday and I am beyond happy with it! No this did not hurt and even when it was done it just felt like a sunburn. Now I can’t even feel it. The piece is not only true to life in the way it looks but also the size. I guess my tattoo artist was surprised that I showed up yesterday. All his other appointments had cancelled due to weather. I told him a) the tattoo meant too much for me to not do it and b) I only lived down the street so I could’ve walked if needed.

I didn’t go to bed until late late last night and my brain had me up at 7:30am. I had all this great stuff I was going to talk about and share but it is all gone like wisps in the wind. My damn “n” button has something wrong with it. Half the time you push it and you have to push it again or go back and put it in because the key didn’t register the pressure. Grrr….

I did get some amazing photos (there goes that stupid “n” key) yesterday. I had to force myself to put my camera down so I wouldn’t be late for my appointment. Lol. Which reminds me I need to watch the next class on my photography course. And my writing one too. But I need to one thing at a time. (Sorry, I just paused there to get pictures of a new type of bird at the feeder.) The problem is I only have a little bit of time to get things done so I am trying to cram. And there is so much to do my days off don’t feel like days off. Just a day that I can cram more stuff that I have to do into. Sigh. How did my days get so full all the sudden?

I should wrap this up so I can share the photos with you all. I am pretty pleased with some of them! Thanks for reading and your support! Stay safe!

Animals, anxiety, Books, Creativity, Dogs, dreams, Emotions, Exercise, family, Guitar, Learning, Life, Love, Motorcycles, Nature, Photography, Reading, Thinking, Writing

So Many Choices aka Where Do I Start

1972italy

This morning we slept in. Mostly. I was wide awake at 4:30am for no reason. But within a few minutes Stella had darted off the bed so I followed suit. Just in time to get her outside to throw up. But I got myself back to sleep by 5:30am the the girls wanted to get up just before 8am. Funny thing is I stayed up past 10pm last night despite being wiped out doing reading and research.

Have you ever had so much around you that you wanted to do and/or learn that you didn’t know where to start? That is very much me right now. I have two novels that I am writing and researching (the werewolf story seems to be getting the most attention right now), I got three more classes that I want to do (learning guitar, creative writing and creative nonfiction) as well as the photography class. Let’s not forget the photography class that I’m already doing and the new magazines that I got in the mail the other day. Oh and the abundance of potential photographs that seem to be jumping out at me. Then I also need to keep the girls and I active which means exercise routine for me and lost of chasing, tea kettle and toy throwing for them. And let’s not forget my all important family time. When did my life get so complicated? Lol.

This morning I took a bit longer in reading other writer’s blogs. I am making an effort to try to make more comments on blogs (I know that I like to hear from my readers so it’s only fair). And there were a lot that I was drawn to comment on. Keep up the good work everyone!

Nuts. Hang on. I’m out of coffee.

Ok, I’m back. I also had to give Essie a belly rub. Anyway, there is just so much to do! I’m not even sure where to start. I have the research that is ongoing for the werewolf novel as well as my resources from my personal library to help write it (the current reference I am using is Robert J. Ray’s The Weekend Novelist. I figure if I can just work on it my two days off a week (I am fully aware that I am going to probably doing something related to the novel every day because that’s just me) this book will give me help in staying focused. I hope. I have the article that I need to research and write today. I need to do my exercises. Dad wants to chat. I need to call Mom to see how her date went the other day (the first one in almost 30 years… I am very proud of her, it took a lot for her to go out). I need to watch atleast one more class in my photography course. I have narrowed down my tire search for my Subie but I keep forgetting to call around locally. And everyone is closed today. I also need to get the motorcycle hooked up to the trickle charger (it has been bitterly cold lately so I have put it off). And apparently I need to see to the bird feeder. The chickadees are getting very vocal when they see me. On that note dear friends I suppose that I should wrap this up. I have a few good photos I will share with you (oh and I need to get some more photos uploaded onto my online shop). Thanks for reading and as always stay safe!

Ed. Note: This is my 800th blog! Yay!

Animals, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Exercise, family, Learning, Life, Motorcycles, Nature, Photography, Reading, retail, Thinking, Writing

Sleep, But Not Enough

1972italy

I am sorry this is so late. I had an alarm set for 7am but I just couldn’t do it. I have been so tired in the mornings regardless of when I go to bed. This morning it was just overwhelming. I got up before my alarm and just turned it off. I close tonight and have to be back at work at 6am tomorrow so I’ll need to get a bunch of pictures taken before work. Right now it is snowing hard.

I did get a lot done yesterday. I did my exercise routine, mailed out my car payment, played a little with the girls before work, got my article submitted, did research on tires for the Subie. Then after work I watched one of my videos for class, read the next chapter in the accompanying book, showered, played some more with the girls, worked on my novel, read more research for same novel and did some journaling.

Yesterday I took pictures mostly with my phone. I couldn’t get the lighting right with the camera and the pictures of the girls the phone was right there. If I’d gotten up to get the camera the moment would’ve been lost. So the photos I plan to share today are all from the camera on my phone.

As I reread my post am I doing too much? I don’t know. Maybe I need to find a happy medium. I think my original plan was to watch my videos for class on non exercise days since I am supposed to do that every other day. But I wanted to make sure that I kept up with both. I am trying to make sure that I don’t become too lazy. I know if I give myself free rein then I will end up getting nothing done.

Chris got me a trickle charger for the motorcycle. This keeps just enough juice going in the battery so that I can leave it in the bike instead of pulling it out for the winter. I need to get that installed. It has been bitterly cold out so I have been putting it off. Saturday I will have the whole day so I think that would be a good time to do it. I also need to take back bottles and cans. Well bottles. And I may do that today. If I load up Angus when I go start him to warm him up I can open the back and then load him up. If I leave a few minutes early then I can roll them in and get my money before work. Everything is beginning to build up in the corner we keep bottles and cans (we couldn’t return them for months and now it is just a habit of not returning them). So I think that will be the plan.

I am going to wrap this up. Again I am sorry for this being so late. I know I missed a lot of my early morning readers today. On the plus side I definitely won’t tomorrow! Thanks for reading and stay safe!

I put in some of Moose because I miss him. ❤️🐾💔
Animals, anxiety, Creativity, Dogs, dreams, Emotions, Exercise, family, Life, Nature, Reading, Thinking, Writing

Dropping the Ball

1972italy

The sun is out so hopefully that is a good sign for the day. I spent a lot of yesterday and most of last night anxious about Mom and her girls coming over today. I didn’t sleep well despite my best efforts. And when I did sleep it was with weird dreams. The closer I get to them arriving (not til 2pm so I get a while to build up a good freak out) the more I worry. I hope that me worrying is a sign that things will go well. I would rather freak out for mothing.

I got nothing done yesterday. No writing. No reading. No exercising. I played a lot with the girls and spent the evening after work with the family. I need to atleast get my workout done today. I did find out that a friend at work’s mom is a writer. She and I chat once in a while when she comes in to shop. We both love the same horror icons too. But she does her own vlog (video blog) and a book that she edited is being released soon. I am super excited for her! If I can figure out how to get the link here I will share it (my laptop is not connected to social media so I need to do it with my phone).

Today seems to be loaded with anxieties for me. My mind is just dredging up all kinds of worries right now all the sudden.

The little birds are comfortable enough with me now that when I got to fill the feeder they just hop to a branch to be out of the way. I could reach out and touch them if I wanted to. I always talk to them to tell them what I am doing. Especially if I am getting the scolding chirps. Lol.

I will add a few photos and put this out. I’m sorry it’s not more. My heart just isn’t in it today. Too busy freaking out. Thanks for reading and stay safe!