Thursday This n That

Well, there goes New York.  And Virginia.  =o(

I expect NYC will turn into the ghost town that Detroit has become, except the refugees won't be fleeing for better suburbs.  They'll be leaving for other states.  I've seen people wondering why people from shithole places move to nice places and want to change them.  That's WHY they're moving into the nice places... to change them into the shithole places they love.  

Here, there was one thing on the ballot - raise the property taxes in a nearby city so they can give it to the fire department.  It passed.  A little while back, they had the same kind of ballot item for my rural FD and it passed, too.  My FD used the money to erect a brand new, beautiful building... right next to the old building, which they then tore down.  There wasn't anything really wrong with the old building, it was just not new.  Whatever may have been wrong with it could've been fixed at a way lower cost and a dormitory could've been added on, again at a way lower cost.  But they didn't have to do that because they can just add to our property taxes instead of finding a way to be fiscally responsible.  That's the way government works these days, I guess.  Well, most people these days, I guess.  

I can't seem to muster the will to do anything these days.  Except maybe vegging out in front of the TV.  I think Bradbury warned about that.  Probably others, too.

I've made 3c so far this month.  Woot.

Finn's wandering around the house meowing.  I feel ya, little dude.

Yesterday, I did Wallyworld.  Everything is so damn expensive.  Freakin' half-dozen donuts is about $4.50.  Yeah, I bought 'em.  Cuz I needed donuts.  Custard filled with chocolate frosting.  Mmm.  I bought 'em with my own damn money, so yeah.

Yes, I am cranky, why do you ask?  I have active bitch fingers to go with my resting bitch face.

On a happier note, we're seeing bucks.  They're chasing the does and sometimes the fawns.  The other day, I happened to look out the window to see a doe run across the neighbor's yard.  Shortly after a fawn went by, trying to catch up.  Then a buck went by.  A few minutes later, another doe, then fawn, then... wait that's the same buck!  A few minutes later, the three of them went by in succession again.  They must've been running in a circle around the neighbor's house.  I got up to tell Hubs about it, so I don't know how long they continued the race.

Okay, it's time to call the mama.  Have as great a day as you can manage out there.  I'll do the same.  B'bye.

What I Did

Despite the risk of jinxing this, I'm going to tell y'all what I did yesterday.

I wrote words.  1558 of them to be exact.  Which puts Duke Noble #3 at just over 3000 words.  It's a start.  No promises.  No judging.  Just write the words.  Every day.

I also exercised.  Not walked... exercised.  5 minutes dancing (which freaked the cats out... like 'eek! hide! mama's having a spastic fit' or something), 4 minutes doing regular exercises, 4 minutes more dancing and then walking around the house to get my heart rate back to normal*.

I told you all I just needed to give myself a good talking to.

Now, I just have to keep it up.  I'm shooting for 1500 words a day but any words will do.  And I'm aiming at ramping up the exercising until I'm back to my old stamina - walk = 1.6 miles 3 or 4 times a week, exercise = 20/10/20 on the days I'm not walking.

No excuses.  I need this for both my mental and my physical health.  Lord knows, I'm not getting any younger.  If I don't want to end up as an old lady sitting in a chair watching the world go by, or drooling on myself in a corner, I have to do something to make that not happen.  This is it.  

Join me, if you're able.  

*Safer than just stopping on the exercise.  You've got to ease your heart up and then ease it back down again.  

Thursday This n That

I'm starting to feel better about life in general, so that's a step in the right direction.  I saw where some person was saying they were terrified and that's kinda sad.  Personally, the thought of another 4 years of the march toward communism scared the shit out of me, so I'm not sure what's scaring them.  The thought of having to take responsibility for themselves and their own lives when the nanny state gets taken away?  :shrug:  

And I'm ready to stop talking about all this.  I want life to return to normal.  I'd like the opportunity go get groceries and not have to choose whether I want meat this time or toilet paper because I can't afford both.  I realize that this probably won't turn around on a dime, but it would be nice to have it sooner rather than later.

The deluge here finally ended.  We got around six and a half inches of rain so far this month.  The lake level jumped up about 5 feet in 24 hours.  The river near here was flowing at 75 cubic feet per second before the rain and jumped to 25000 cubic feet per second and then jumped again to 48000 cfps.  I haven't driven out or walked down to see it yet, and it's starting to come down, so I won't see it at its worst, but gah.  Hubs just showed me a photo someone had taken of the river.  It's full of crap.  This totally harshes my chances at fishing.  Blerg.

The cats let us sleep all night last night.  Progress.  Yay.

I'm reading a Zane Grey right now.  It's interesting.  So far, not my favorite of his, but it's okay.

The bucks are back.  Right now, they're chasing tail all over the woods.  Horny bastards.

I've really been a toad these past couple weeks.  I need to cut that shit out.  It doesn't do my body any good.  It doesn't do my brain any good either.  And let's not even talk about my attitude.  That's in the crapper.  I said I was going to edit every day this month and so far, I did it once.  Yeah, not the most banner of times.  I'd like to say that ends today, but I can't promise anything.

Okay, I think that's about it for me today.  How are things in your world?

Thursday This n That

Why is it that when I do anything super-active, the aftereffects don't fully hit me until the day after the day after?  I felt pretty darn good yesterday after Monday's window washing marathon.  Today?  No so much.  Blerg

Monday's window washing marathon... It all started at 8:30 with the thought that since it was cold I could finally tackle that wasp's nest in the window space with the broken screen.  I was just going to pop out the screen and the storm window and knock that thing out.  I had planned on worrying about the cleaning part later.  Then I didn't.  I went after that window and the next and the... well, you get the point.  5 good-sized windows, 4 with screens and storms.  5 window wells that were full of crap  - leaves and dust and dead bugs, etc.  All of it needing a good cleaning.  Then Hubs caught the same bug I had and he did the parts that can only be reached from outside with a ladder.  (These windows are easily 10-15 feet off the ground.)  We finished about 12:30.  That was just the sunroom.  I still have the rest of the house to do.  Not that day.  Not yesterday either and today ain't lookin' too good.  

I derailed on writing this book.  I think I'm thinking too much.  I need to just sit and write, and when I come to something that takes a lot of thought and/or research, I need to skip it and move on.  Maybe tonight that'll happen.  We'll see.

On the bright side, I'm making headway on the first round edits of the other book.  Yay.

As the election approaches, my mood is taking a shit.  Yesterday, I reminded myself that there is nothing I can do about any of it.  I'll vote, for whatever good that'll do, and what happens after that is out of my power.  I need to focus on the things I can do here in my own life and not let all of THAT get to me.

Well, I think that's about all I've got this morning.  Have a great day.

Thursday This n That

I've been screwing around in my moments of spare time, listening to music on YouTube.  I like doing that because I can load specific songs or just click videos along the side of whatever video I've got queued up.  This morning, I was listening to old Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians songs.  I used to have their tape - Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars.  I'd totally forgotten this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJOAz7zdKKo - cool.

Some of this music thing came up because of one of those FB things where they ask you to list your favorites of some specific thing.  This one was 'list 10 songs that make you think of a particular point in time and take you right back there' and you're not supposed to think too hard about it.  I did mine.  I told Hubs about it, so he shared some of his with me and I searched them on YouTube and we listened together.  Anyway, here are mine:
1) September by Earth, Wind, & Fire
2) Yeah Yeah Yeah by Judson Spence
3) You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC
4) The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics
5) Push it by Salt n Pepa
6) Let's Go Crazy by Prince
7) Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver
8. If You Could Only See by Tonic
9) Chances Are by Johnny Mathis
10) No One is to Blame by Howard Jones
I could've done 20.  Music has always been a central part of my existence.  (Yes, there are a lot of '80s songs in there. What of it?)

Illness is sweeping through the office again.  I will NOT get it this time.  I refuse to.  So there.

The wind storm we had the other night toppled a tree across the road leading out of our neighborhood.  Lucky for me, someone else had to leave for work before I did and they must've had a chainsaw because it was passable when I got to it. And it was gone entirely by the time I came home.  Thank you, whoever you were.

I saw a bunny!  First one of the year.  For some reason, we only see bunnies in the Spring and Summer.  (Not baby bunnies.  There's a reason we only see babies in those seasons. LOL)

Okay, I probably should go get ready for work.  And remember to try and keep a positive attitude today, no matter what shit life throws your way.  =o)

Sunday Update - Week 6

Another week gone by in a flash.  It seems like just yesterday I was posting a Sunday Update for Week 5.  Derp.  

Once again, not much happened.  Worked a full week.  Good days, bad days... gave myself a good talking to and all is well.  I cannot control the world around me.  I can only control my reactions to it and my actions in it.  Why I have to keep reminding myself of this escapes me.

In reading news, I finally did a wrap-up post yesterday.  Only two Books Read.  Also two DNFs.  :shrug:

I made a pizza yesterday.  Full on, with handmade dough and everything.  My arms are sore today, but it was worth it.  Today, I'm doing a BBQ pork roast.  Yummers.

Making pizza was the only thing even approaching activity last week.  Weight: 161.4.  I can't seem to break the 160 barrier and stay there.  :shrug:  That's fine, really.  If I live out the rest of my life hovering around 160, I'll be happy.  I know my body is happier for dropping those 20 pounds.  I just need to increase my activity level so I'm not one big pile of atrophied muscle.

I saw a raccoon on my way to work on Friday.  He crossed the highway a ways in front of me and was happily walking up the embankment on the other side when I passed him.  Good boy, Rocky.  I see too many of your brethren trying to cross roads and failing.

This cold thing has been a devil to get rid of.  I'm still not at 100%.  Neither is Hubs.  I'm probably at 95% but Hubs has only made it to like 80%.  Of course, I had it first, so he has to catch up.  The last lingering part of it is the cough.  Blerg.  I hope none of you get this.  Talking to Mom up in Michigan, she had it the week before I got mine, so it's not a local thing.  It's not fatal.  It's just a pain in the ass.

Yesterday, I ran errands.  I filled up the car - $3.09 a gallon. Twinge.  Hit the Wallyworld to top off the groceries - $146. Not as bad as I'd feared, but I didn't get that much.  2.25 pounds of 90/10 burger - $11+.  Ouch.  Picked up deer feed.  Whole corn is $11 for a 50 pound bag.  Ouch.  Now that I'm working, it's not hitting us as hard as it would've if I wouldn't, but come on, man. Can we please have Trump back now?

And on that note, I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled lives.  Have a great day and an awesome week!  :hugs:  Oh, and feel free to tell me about your week.  =o)

Finding My Zen Place

I started the weekend off in a funk.  Oh, not so much of a funk that I couldn't function (funk-tion... lol), but I was definitely in a funked-up place.  

I talked to Mom on Saturday morning, which always helps.  She's seen and done so much in her life, she always has a wise word or an understanding ear or just finds a way to commiserate.  And, of course, Hubs is always supportive.  But this was something I needed to find a way out of from within myself. To get zen*.

Yesterday morning, Hubs and I went for a walk.  We did the loop, wandering the leaf-covered roads, looking at the lake, and enjoying the quiet of our neighborhood on a Sunday morning.  

After lunch, I did some baking.  Peeling and slicing apples, adding them to cranberries and sugars and cinnamon to make the base.  Cutting together flour and sugars and oats and butter to make the crumbly topping.  Throw it in the oven and 40 minutes later, out pops heaven.  What could be more zen than that?

While it was cooling, Hubs and I went fishing.  It was a gorgeous fall day.  The lake was like glass.  The site was devoid of other people.  Just us and our bobbers, basically feeding the little fishies who were too small to catch but were happily devouring our worms.  Total zen.

By the time we got home, I didn't feel like cooking dinner.  Hubs made himself a bowl of fruits and granola.  I had apple cranberry crisp with ice cream.  (Hubs had that, too, but it was dessert for him. LOL)

Despite the time change, we stayed up and watched our Sunday night shows - Miss Scarlet and the Duke, followed by Magpie Murders.  (I'm pretty sure I figured out the whodunnit on that last one, but I won't say what it is in case anyone else is watching. We'll find out if I'm right next week, I think.)  

This morning, I'm feeling pretty zen.  We'll see if that holds up.  I'm gonna try and make it hold up.   I am centered.  I am calm.  I am wearing my Teflon force field - nothing sticks and nothing penetrates. Ohmmmm.

And if I keep telling myself that, maybe it'll be true. LOL

*I'm probably using that word wrong.  I don't care.  That's how zen I am.  =op 

Thursday This n That

I could've sworn today was Friday.  Bummer.

Long ago, I was a serious Negative Nelly.  And an unpleasant person to be around.  I wasn't happy unless I could find something to bitch about.  One day, way back in college, a co-worker and semi-friend gave me a wake up call.  He told me I'd never get anywhere if I didn't change my attitude.  With way more words and in his pervasive jokester way.  I looked at myself and my life, where I was and where I wanted to be, and l changed my attitude.  Oh, I still get cases of the negatives from time to time... who doesn't?  But I am a way happier person.  Now, there's a negative person in the building where I work.  Not a co-worker, but I see her from time to time and it seems like she's always bitching about something.  I see a bit of my old self in her and I don't like it.  I'm using it, though, to make sure I stay on a more positive track.  

Toxic people... Ugh.  They aren't who the mainstream want you to believe they are.  

Anyway, let's be happy.  Let's be positive.  Spread that shit everywhere.  I think the next time I encounter the negative, I'm going to positive all over it.  Say 'isn't it a BEE YOU TEE FULL day?'.  Or something.  I have to work on my delivery.  

Hubs is driving me to work today so he can take my car in to get the new squeaky brakes replaced by newer not-squeaky brakes.  Warranty work.  Yay.  And thus will end the brakes saga that's been going on for-EVER.  (Okay, so mainly just a lot of this year.  It just feels like forever.  First, the old brakes squealed because they were going bad.  Then the new brakes squeaked because they weren't adjusted right, supposedly.  Now, they just squeak because they were manufactured with a flaw.  Derp.)   Anyway, three cheers for Hubs!  And fingers crossed the mechanics get it right this time.

I don't have to pack a lunch today because the office is buying lunch.  Yay.  I guess it's a kind of thank you for the good job we're doing.  

It's finally cool enough for me to wear all the old work clothes that have been hanging in my closet for ages.  Yesterday, I pulled out a sport jacket (blazer?) that I didn't even remember owning.  Once I brushed the dust off the shoulders, it was quite nice.  Just your basic black blazer.   I also have one in dark blue with burgundy accents.  And a gray one.  And a black one with light nubbies.  And a tan and black one that's done in a very tiny plaid.  Dude, I was all about the blazers 20 years ago.  Thank goodness they're back in fashion.  I'd wear them even if they weren't, though.  They're my style.  But the 20-yr-old in the office assures me they're very cute, so I'm hip.  Or 'gooch', as the kids these days are saying.

Okay, it's 7 o'clock here, which means I should probably get moving in a workerly direction.  Have a great day.  And remember to stay positive!

Sunday Update - Week 17

May Day! May Day! May Day!  No, seriously... it's May Day.  The first day of my favorite month when loads of happy things are anniversarized and a few unpleasant things are remembered.  With Momentous May underway, thus begins a renewed commitment to pull my head out of my ass, shake off this gloom and doom cloud that been hovering over my damn head, and get myself back on track.  New day, new month, new attitude.  Or something.  Don't harsh my buzz, man.

With this in mind, I'm not going to talk about last week at all today.  It's gone.  Ba-bye.  The new year starts today.  Who's with me?  

Back to the Basics of Getting Healthier

Well, I took a hard look at myself in the mirror yesterday and I wasn't thrilled with what I saw.  Literally, not figuratively.  I was getting ready for a shower and like, yuck.

Overall, I like myself.  I'm a good person, I work hard when I work, and I'm kind to small animals and little children.  That's not what I'm talking about.  Stripped naked, I'm not happy with what I see.  And I've got two choices: accept that I am fat and old OR do something about it.  

Okay, there's a third choice which is a mixture of both.  A person needs to find some kind of acceptance of the things they don't like about themselves or they'll never get past it to making those things any better.  So, I'm old and fat AND I'm going to do something about it.  Well, the fat part.  There ain't much I can do about the old part.  I made the decision a long time ago to stick with what I've got rather than try to mask it in some way - my gray hairs were earned, after all, and the thought of surgeries or creams or whathaveyou is unappetizing to me.

So, I'm working on what I can work on - my weight and my activity level.  Which means getting back to the basics for me.  Eat less, exercise more.  Started with dinner last night (because dinner was after my shower and my yuck experience).  

Now, I know me.  I don't do well with denying myself food.  What I do well at is limiting the amounts of food.  For instance, I made fish sticks last night - the bigger, breaded and fried fillet kind.  Yummers.  I usually eat two, on a bun with mayo and cheese.  Side of fries.  Last night, I had one fillet - no bun, no cheese - and fewer fries.  Plus, I made up the difference in 'amount of food' with grapes, so my stomach wouldn't be hounding me all night.

Tonight, I plan to make grilled cheese sandwiches and soup.  When I do the grilled cheese, I will use three slices of cheese - today we have muenster, swiss, and cheddar - because that's how I roll.  And it'll probably be homemade turkey noodle soup.  I'll eat half the sandwich instead of all of it, and I'll portion out a smaller bowl of soup.  Maybe go light on the oyster crackers there, too.  

It's not the freeway to weight loss, but it's a road that'll get me there quicker in the long run than trying to do this the fast way and failing miserably.  At the very least, it'll stop my expansion.

Smaller dishes of ice cream.  Not as many M&Ms in my bowl of fewer mixed nuts than usual.  Six potato chips with lunch rather than twelve.  Since we're out of cake and homemade cookies, those will be flat out for a while. (Until the urge to bake overwhelms me, then smaller portions there, too.)

That's step one.  Step two is to get my body moving in a more calorie-burning fashion.  Sure, I've been pretty active so far this winter, but the things I'm doing aren't necessarily getting the heart pumping and the fat burning.  I haven't taken a single walk this year or put a single mile on the exercise bike.  That's gotta change.  Starting today.  If the snow is gone and the temps are okay, I may walk this afternoon.  If not, I will use the bike.

In four months, I'll be 52.  I'd like to slide into 52 a little lighter and a little more fit.  And that's on me.  One-hundred percent.  

And no need to worry about my self-esteem.  It's fine.  I am what I am.  I'd just prefer there to be less of what I am and for what's there to not kill me any time soon.  And no one is driving this but me.  Hubs loves me and thinks I'm dead sexy whatever weight I am.  (Okay, the photos of me when I was 110 pounds leave him a little cold, but I'll never be that skinny again, so no worries there.)

So yeah, eat less, exercise more.  That's my key to fitness.  Time to put the key into the ignition and fire this puppy up.  ;o)

Thursday This n That

Every time I see a non-book post in a FB book group - like people trying to sell furniture / real estate / clothing /etc. or throwing up videos of all sorts of crap - I get the urge to comment with 'This book sucks.  1-star.'  I haven't done it yet, but the urge is growing stronger.  For now, I just 'Hide All' from the person posting.  

I'm currently grooving on We Don't Know by the Strumbellas.  It's an awesome song...  "We don't know the roads that we're heading down, but we all know if we're lost then we'll find a way."  Deep stuff, man.  And the video cracks me up.  I remember that video game.  LOL

When I was a senior in high school, I spent a lot of time hanging out at the local arcade.  Playland, if I remember right.  It had video games and a go-cart track out back.  It was fun.  Made a lot of friends.  Then I went off to college.  I grew up and changed and it was over.  :shrug:  But I rocked at Tetris, man.  And there was this game where you could be one of four characters - barbarian, dwarf, etc. - and fight D&D type monsters that was cool.  I wish I could remember the name of that one.  Ah, the glory years.  ROFL

Speaking of D&D, I wasted untold hours playing that when I was in college.  I also think spending that much time on that game probably was a contributing factor to both my not getting a degree and to my ever-lowering GPA.  Live and learn, eh?  Shout out to Tim and Matt, though.  They were awesome friends to me and cool players.  Also, nods to Mike, Chris, Otis, Mark, and Mary Jo.  Go, them.  Last I knew, Tim was a teacher, Matt worked for the government doing forensic audits, and Mike owned a bar.  Mark and Mary Jo ended up getting married - I was the maid of honor - and they're still together.  I lost track of Chris and Otis.  (I don't remember Chris' last name and Otis... who was actually Jim, but we called him Otis, has such a normal name I can't find him online.)  We were a hella-good bunch of characters, lemme tell ya.

It's sad that I've lost contact with all the friends I've ever had.  In person friends anyway.  I've got a few internet friends I've known a long time.  :waves:  But like my best friend from high school... Margaret...  I lost touch with her and it makes me sad sometimes.  I don't think if we got together right now, we'd have anything in common anymore.  But man, we were thick as thieves in high school.  And my friends from the computer club in college - Kathy, Curtis, Pat...  Okay, I screwed that one up bigtime... long story.  Along with a bunch of people I only remember by their user handles - Beez, Coastie, Boo.  (I was Razz.)  And those D&D friends... I know where they are and what they're doing because I searched them online, not because I'm in touch with any of them.  Every job I've had, all the places I've lived, and we try to stay in touch but we don't.  Bummer.

Wow, I didn't mean to go down that rabbit hole this morning.  Regrets... I haz them.

On a happier note, I put up my Christmas tree yesterday.  I should snap a pic.  It's about the same as it always is, but this year I got to put on ornaments my mom sent me last year.  They're three little hummingbirds made with real feathers.  So pretty.  She bought them for her own tree, but they're too small, so she sent them to me for my little tree.  I'm not really in a Christmassy mood yet, but I needed to look for my cards and since I already had the boxes open, I figured why not?  Maybe it'll help me get into the holiday spirit.

What's on your this n that list today?  

Crankypants

It's morning and I'm feeling all crankypants, so rather than bore you with my bullshit attitude, here's a nice picture.

It looks tilted because my yard is slanted and he's standing on a slope.

How are you today?  Got anything good to share?  

Thursday This n That

 In case you missed it, I have a new book (Cinder Ugly) up for pre-order right now and a sale going on (Once Upon a Djinn).  

Amazon, in its infinite wisdom, isn't showing pre-orders.  It's been a long time since I did a pre-order, but I'm pretty sure they used to show how many pre-orders I had.  I should have at least one (cuz I pre-ordered it).  

Amazon has also not grouped my A Model Curse books into a series yet.  I have a request in to them.  We'll see if it gets done before CU goes live.  (They used to do this automatically.  At least, they've done it for my other series.  :shrug:)

I'm not sure if it's the 'rona or Halloween or the approaching election, but twice this week I've had people screw up the attachment thing on emails I need.  Once, there was no attachment.  The other time, the attachment was wrong.  From totally different people.  Blerg.

Sometimes I have to remind myself 'you can't know what you don't know' and not feel stupid about things people point out that I didn't know.  (I don't think they meant to make me feel stupid.)  I mean, maybe I should've known.  But I didn't know such a thing even existed, so how could I have known that I didn't know?  Ya know?

I've been feeling kinda low these past couple days.  No big deal.  I only mention it because I woke up this morning with 'High Hopes' stuck in my head.  A positive song out of nowhere.  Part of me is all like 'yay'.  Part of me wants to punch myself in the brain.  It's like facing a cheerful person before you've had enough coffee to deal with all that cheer.

It's raining raining raining here.  The lake's gone up a foot in the past day or so.  Not a problem since the lake was a 'normal level' which means it can go up another 15 feet without causing a major problem.  Still, all this rain is making my yard look like a waterfall and it's really mushy out there.  It's also harshing my ability to take walks.  

I saw the cutest kitten posted on one of the rescue sites I follow and I wanted it in the worst way.  It was killer cute.  Death by cuteness cute.  This is not the time to be taking on a new pet - especially a kitten or a puppy.  I don't have the time or the energy or the patience for a baby animal right now.  And then there's Kira.  The old lady doesn't need that kind of irritation.  She's gotta be... what... 86 or so in cat years?   She takes up a lot of time and energy and patience all on her own.  Throw a new pet into that?  Nope.

And that's enough out of me.  What's up with you?

The Chaos Diaries - 4/14/20

These days, I have Benjamin Franklin running on a loop in my head - 'Those who would give up liberty for a little security deserve neither.'  (Probably not an exact quote, but you get the gist.)  Especially as I watch my old home state run right down the crapper.

Personally, right here, we haven't given up any liberty except what we choose to set aside - like running to the store once a week - and our security is fine.  Other people in MO, with small businesses and jobs and school-aged kids are harder hit.  Some other states?  They're screwed royally.  Unfortunately, I fear the country as a whole may be screwed as well.  We'll see.

I said early on I was more worried about what this virus would do to the economy than what it would do to me.  I haven't changed my mind.  Virus worry is pretty low while economy worry rises daily.

One thing the chaos is doing is showing the true colors of some politicians - in glaring detail so it should be hard to miss it or ignore it.  I mean, hydroxychloroquine is showing awesome results, so banning it for no other reason than that the President said it was a good thing?  People are dying and they're playing politics?  

By the way, just now, I went to Google to learn how to spell hydroxychloroquine and the top three news stories - Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC - were all negative about the drug.  Hmm.  Funny how other non-MSM news outlets are posting good stories about it saving people's lives.  Funnier how those positive stories are not making the top three at Google.  Just something to think about.

In other news, I scrubbed my shower yesterday.  With two people using it now, it needs more attention than it used to.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Today, I'll tackle the rest of the bathroom.  Scrubbing the shower takes a lot out of me.  It's a full surround, so the only way to really get it clean is to wipe it all down with Soft Scrub and then strip down nekkid, turn on the shower, and climb in.  I get the whole thing scrubbed and rinsed, and then I wash myself.  The overhead part really gets those arm muscles working, lemme tell ya.  And now it's sparkly clean.  Yay.

I'm still trying to remember: Nothing matters but what matters.  It is what it is.  Conflict serves no purpose.  Then Hubs tried to put a fork in the dishwasher without rinsing it and I barked at him.  Well, not really a bark.  More like an emphatic nawp.  In my defense, I was doing dishes at the time and he could've just handed it to me.  In his defense, I'm a loon and there was nothing wrong with him trying to be helpful by just dropping the freaking fork in the silverware basket.  I apologized.

Being zen is hard when you're a closet control freak.  I did let Owl unload the dishwasher without standing over her shoulder to make sure she put everything away right.  And I've been letting her cook stuff without hovering.  And I haven't said anything about the amount of water she leaves on the bathroom floor after she showers.  Serenity now.  Ohhhhmmmm.

Not sure what today will bring.  I'm waiting on my paycheck so I can go to the bank and hit the Dollar General for a couple things I forget to buy at Wallyworld.  It's a day late so far.  I expect the USPS is running slow like everything else. 

Speaking of slow, I got an email from Amazon that one of the boxes of catfood I'd ordered shipped yesterday.  We'll see when it gets here.  It'll be another 10 days worth of food.  Which should put us safely into next month before I have to go to Wallyworld again.  By then, hopefully, the peak of this crap will be over and we'll be on the downslope.  :fingers crossed:

Stay safe and stay healthy out there, my friends.  :hugs:

Do It Anyway

I have a new mantra.  Every time I think to myself 'I don't want to do it', I'm going to tell myself 'too damn bad, do it anyway'.

Don't want to wash the dishes.  Too damn bad, do it anyway.
Don't want to backup the computer because it takes so long.  Too damn bad, do it anyway.
Don't want to file the bills.  Too damn bad, do it anyway.
Don't want to take furniture polish to the cabinets.  Too damn bad, do it anyway.

Actually, it's been more like 'too damn bad, get off your lazy ass and do it anyway.'

I got a whole boatload of stuff done on Wednesday that way.  All of the above listed 'don't want to' things were done.  Plus, I dealt with some insurance stuff for the new year, took down the Christmas tree, sorted receipts into 'need for taxes' and 'trash', and cleaned some unnecessary crap off my harddrive.  And when all that was done, I spent some time reading in front of the TV, took a shower and made dinner.

Then I got back to work on edits for Ugly and the Beast.  Lord knows, I didn't want to.  I haven't wanted to for months.  But it needed to be done and I needed to get off my lazy ass and do it.  And frankly, I've been tired of my crap for months, too.  Time to get mean with myself and get serious.  I was too slack in 2019 and the lack of accomplishments shows it.

Thursday wasn't quite the gumption spectacular I'd hoped for, but I did get stuff done and finished the day by writing a new ending for UatB.

New year, new attitude.  No letting myself get away with whining about the things I don't want to do.  And I'm channeling Ben Franklin - don't put off until later what you can do right now.

We'll see if I can keep this up.  So far, so good*.

What are some things you've been putting off?   What's on your to-do list?


*Slight road bump... when you hit the ground running, expect to be sore the next day.  I'm pretty sure it was the cabinets that did it, but I didn't let it stop me on Thursday.  Slow me down a little, but not stop me. 

Thursday This n That

I went fishing yesterday.  It was cold, it was windy, and chances were that the fish wouldn't be biting, but I really needed to blow the gunk out of my pipes.  You know the days - when you feel like throat punching the world and so you yell at the cat.  (Kira doesn't care, but it's still not a good thing to do.)  It worked... it usually does... and I came back in a better mood than when I left.  And HAH, the fish were biting.  I only caught one undersized bass, but I was getting loads of bites.

While I was gone, Hubs was raking leaves.  The guys were working on building the house next door and they waved him over to talk about stuffs.  While they were talking, Hubs learned that the one guy's lady is from Michigan.  He didn't remember the town exactly, but it's about an hour north of Detroit.  And when he was telling me what he thought he might've heard, it sounded like a town pretty near to where I grew up.  Not THAT would be totally 'small world'.  This bears further investigation, because if she actually is from there, it would be total old home week.  And if she isn't, it's still pretty small world if a gal from Michigan moves next door to two other people from Michigan in SW MO.  Know what I mean?

Back to yelling at Kira.  That's the thing about cats versus dogs.  You yell at a dog, and they are totally effected by it.  You yell at a cat and they're all like 'you got a problem, it's your problem not mine'.  If Kira could flip me off, she probably would.  On her way back to bed.

Oh, while I was out at the lake, I saw what I thought was an abandoned goose egg laying amidst the detritus from our last big rain.  And I thought 'wow, something that fragile survived all the wind and the rain and everything', so I picked it up to bring home.  Then I noticed it wasn't an egg at all.  It had spots top and bottom like a seed pod of some sort.  And it was empty.  When I shook it, it rattled.  Upon doing some internet research, I learned it was an Ozark Nest Egg gourd.  They only grow around the Ozarks near rivers and streams.  Cool.

My work email has been down all week.  Something about the provider getting hacked or something.  They're routing as much as we can through alternate addys and they're sending stuff through my private email, but because it's down, they aren't getting what they're supposed to be getting - ie most of the spreadsheets I do.  Blerg.  Hackers should be dipped in honey and staked to an ant hill.  They never think about who they might be hurting when they do their crap.  Little guys like me, that's who.  Little companies like my family's business, that's who.  And even if they go after big companies, that shit rolls downhill to the consumers.  The little guys.  :steam:

I saw a great blue heron yesterday.  Beautiful birds.  Not the prettiest of noises.  Anyway, he honked/grunted at me as he flew by.

Okay, that's about enough out of me.  What's up with you?

HAPPY Mix

I mentioned my HAPPY mix on yesterday's Outside the Box post, so I thought I'd share it here today.  It's comprised of music from CDs or songs I own that I've downloaded to my computer for easy mixing. 

In no particular order (because I put it on shuffle anyway)...

Keep Your Head Up - Andy Grammer
Fine by Me - Andy Grammer
Lunatic - Andy Grammer
Biggest Man in Los Angeles - Andy Grammer
Good to be Alive (Hallelujah) - Andy Grammer
Honey, I'm Good - Andy Grammer
Back Home - Andy Grammer
Masterpiece - Andy Grammer
Red Eye - Andy Grammer
Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen*
Good Time - Carly Rae Jepsen
Brighter Than the Sun - Colbie Callait
Think Good Thoughts - Colbie Callait
This - Darius Rucker
Comeback Song - Darius Rucker
Southern State of Mind - Darius Rucker
Love Will Do That - Darius Rucker
I Don't Care - Darius Rucker (and Brad Paisley)
You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon
Carry On - Fun
Tonight, Tonight - Hot Chelle Rae
I Like It Like That - Hot Chelle Rae
Radio - Hot Chelle Rae
Downtown Girl - Hot Chelle Rae
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) - Kelly Clarkson
Everything - Michael Buble
I've Got the World on a String - Michael Buble
Good Life - One Republic

And that's it for right now.  I have some CDs I haven't loaded yet and a few songs I want to buy that I know I'll add to this, but this'll do me for the time being.

And after building this post Sunday morning and watching the videos I linked to, I was pretty damned happy.  Have fun clicking and listening and watching.  =oD


* The US Olympic Swim Team video of this.

Thursday This n That

Waking up early sucks.  I always get my morning online things done by like 6, and then I feel the need to do stuff, but it's too damn early to do stuff, so I sit here drinking coffee and feeling at a loss.  And there are only so many things I can pin on Pinterest.  But who wants to start cleaning at 6am?  And it's not like I can go for a walk, because it's still dark out.  I could organize files, but meh.  I'd do spreadsheets but those are all done for now.  Gah.  (Yes, this paragraph was written yesterday morning at 6am when I'd already been up for 2 hours.)

So now it's actually Thursday morning.  Woke up at 5 instead of 4, which is the time I actually get up.  And here's this post I never finished...  There still isn't enough coffee in the world for me.  Gah.

Ack, it's August.  I need to get the Kid's birthday card in the mail.  How did I get old enough to have a 26 yr old Kid?  Doesn't seem possible.

So, I was telling an in-person friend of mine that I joined Pinterest.  She was very excited.  Seems like it's her crack.  It is very addictive.

I'm trying putting fiber in Kira's diet to overcome 'constipated kitty'.  So far, it's working.  Walmart brand equivalent to Benefiber.  It's tasteless and odorless, so she doesn't even know it's in her food.  We never imagined we'd ever spend so much time thinking about how much a cat poops. It's an exciting life we lead here at Sanderson Acres.

This morning I saw a shared meme wherein there was a prominent female politician in a very angry photo with the caption 'Hillary 2.0'.  The original person posting it said something about her obnoxious voice.  But in the comments, women were going off on how horrible it is that people focus more on looks for women than they do for men.  I couldn't figure out what the hell they were referring to.  Seems to me that right there and right then, the only people focused on her looks were the women commenting.  Maybe I missed some inside thing from a previous FB post. 

Speaking of obnoxious voices, have you heard O-crazio?  I caught part of a video of some hearing the other day where she was talking.  OMG.  Nails on a chalkboard.  'Put hot wax in my ears so I don't have to listen anymore' horrible.  Maybe that's the secret to her success - people are so distracted by her voice that they can't actually listen to what she's saying.

I'm kind of full of beans this morning - and not the good, java-bearing variety.  Not yet anyway.  It's early.

Wow, I think it stopped raining.  We've been getting totally splooshed this morning.  Must be a break in the precipitation because I know it's not supposed to stop for a while yet.

And on that note, I'll let you go.  Have an awesome day out there wherever you are.

Feeling a Little Bipolar

For the record, I am not actually bipolar.  I'm just crazy.  Ba dump bump.  But seriously, folks.  Lately, I've been swinging from Positive Polly to Negative Nelly like a monkey in the trees.  But not half as much fun, trust me.

Last night, I was ready to write a post thanking you all for your support and then telling you all that I freaking quit.  I was done.  Can't handle this crap for another friggin' day.  Gonna crawl into a hole and pull the dirt in over myself.  Enough already.

I did not write that post.  Instead, I went for a hard-target walk to try and get out of my own head for a minute and gain some perspective.  (Hard-target walk = keeping the same pace regardless of incline.  Did over a mile in 22 minutes.  Hubs was impressed.)

With the muscles in my legs sufficiently burning, and tired enough to sleep like a freakin' lump of dirt, I swung back the other way.  Weeee.  I woke up sufficiently refreshed to not slit my writing wrists.  I'm not promising that I'm refreshed enough to light a fire under my dead ass, but I'm also not done yet. 

Seems like I went through this last week, too.  Which got me to feeling I'm a little bipolar right now.  And thinking you may have noticed it in my recent posts.  I'm up and waving pompoms one minute, down and wallowing in the dirt the next. 

Sorry about that.  But it is life and junk, and I try to be honest here on the blog.  When things suck, I talk about it.  When they don't, I talk about that, too.  Just out here giving one writer's perspective on this stuff.

Anyway, this morning I set up a slew of sales for July, and I'll be looking into some marketing later today.  I'll talk more about that tomorrow on OTB. 

And now, to start the day and get my chores done before I have to call the office.

What are you up to today?  Ever feel a bit bipolar? 

Thursday This n That

It's really hard to maintain a positive attitude when so many things suck.  But I'm still trying.

I have four pages of edit notes left to input in the Early Grave manuscript.  Once that's done, I want to do another read-through to make sure I'm saying what I want to say and describing what needs to be described.  (I'm really bad at remembering to describe stuff.  I can see it all in my head, so there's a part of me that thinks everyone else can, too.  Derp.)  I should have this done by the end of the weekend, so even if Blink of an I comes back, I'll finish this before starting that.

Got my 1099 for Amazon yesterday.  It was about what I thought it would be.

The weather has been cooperating lately, so I've been in the woods.  Hubs and I are really making progress on this project.  The view out our back windows is so much tidier, but still with that woodsy look.  I didn't take 'before' pictures, but I'll try to remember to take 'after' pictures.  You won't know the difference except by the size of the brush piles, but I'll know.

I don't think there's enough coffee on the planet to get me motivated this morning.

There's a part of me that totally forgets I'm almost 48.  That's the part encouraging me to clamber over rocks at the lake and to drag logs through the forest.  It's also the part that runs and hides afterwards when I'm tired and sore.

Speaking of being almost 48, it's my year in the Chinese year thing.  The Year of the Dog!  Ruff, ruff, ruff.  (Which makes me think of the lead-in for the song 'Been Caught Stealing' by Jane's Addiction.)  Being born in the year of the dog means that, yes, I am a bitch.  :gigglesnort:  As you can see, I'm okay with that.  Being a dog means I'm friendly and loyal, and I will bite you if you give me reason to.  ;o)

Okay, that's about enough out or me.  What about you?

One last added thought...  People shouldn't have to wait for someone in authority to tell them whether to do something or not do something, not if they've got a head on their shoulders.  You know, things like 'wear a seatbelt', 'don't burn stuff when it's dry and windy', 'don't drink and drive', 'don't steal stuff', etc.  Seems like common sense to me.