Thursday This n That

Hey, it's still Thursday.  

I actually thought tomorrow was Thursday and I was stopping to set up my post for tomorrow all proud of myself... until I realized that it was already Thursday.  Derp.

Tonight, I was really good and made fish for dinner with a side salad.  About 30 minutes after I ate, I made myself a chicken salad sandwich (on a hot dog bun because that's how I roll, baby) because no way was I going to make it through the night on tilapia and salad.  I am satiated now.  Yay.  On the upside, I don't feel like eating a bowl of ice cream tonight.

I think the eagles have gone, but the exchange is songbirds are arriving and the air is filled with happy.

Another think... I think wrens are building a nest in a work van that hardly anyone ever uses anymore.  I hope it gets driven before the birds lay any eggs.

My neighbor used to leave his mailbox open so he'd know when the mail got delivered.  Wrens decided it would be a perfect place to build a nest and we watched them fly back and forth all day delivering weeds and sticks.  The next day, the neighbor had to clean all that stuff out, which was pretty funny.  Even funnier was that the wrens starting rebuilding almost as soon as his back was turned.  Day after day, they would work on the nest and later, he would take all the material out.  The wrens finally got the hint and left.  The neighbor never did learn to close his mailbox.  One day, a woman moved in with him and she started closing the mailbox. 

I love Amazon.  You can get all sorts of disparate items in one place.  Tonight, I ordered a new bra and a 22-pack of Carnation Instant Breakfast.  I wonder what the person putting that package together is going to think.  ROFL

Carnation Instant Breakfast - chocolate flavored - is perfect in a cup of coffee.  Screw milk.  Dump the packet into the bottom of a large coffee mug and fill it with java.  If you've been here long enough, you may remember it was my beverage of choice years back.  I called it 'Breakfast of Champions'.  I'm going back to drinking it because I don't think I'm getting enough nutrition and by the time lunch rolls around I'm so hungry I could eat my shoes.

By the way, the low-salt diet thing?  Screw that.  I thought I was putting a lot of salt on my food until I actually measured a 1/4 teaspoon of the stuff and dumped it into the palm of my hand.  And thus, I learned that's about how much I put into a pot of water for noodles.  The minuscule amount I shake onto a burger is piddlin'.  And I don't even use straight salt for that.  I use Lowery's which has less sodium than salt anyway.  Piffle.  

I'm hovering around 160 now.  Sometimes a little over, sometimes a little under.  And I'm okay with that.  It's 22 pounds gone since last June.  Hell, it's enough of a weight loss that I needed another new bra, so win-win.

Okay, I think that's enough out of me for one sitting.  What's on your radar today?

Sunday Update - Week 9

 Well, here we are again.  Thanks for continuing to stop by even though I am quite possibly the most boring person on the internet right now.

Let's see what I did last week...

I did our taxes.  I wasn't going to actually submit them until April, but I wanted to do them to get an idea of how much money we were going to have to scrape together this year.  Turned out it was nowhere near what we feared it would be, so we just went ahead and finished them.  

The low-salt diet thing?  I think I went too far, so I'll be slowly adding sodium back into my diet.  No major issues, just a 'huh, how about that' kind of thing.  It's all good, baby.  For the record, you actually do need about 1500 mg of sodium a day at least.  It was an interesting experiment, though.  I was unaware how much sodium is in everyday things - like breakfast cereal, for instance.  Oh holy night, that's a lot of salt and it seems like there's more salt in the sugary cereal than in the non-sugary stuff.  Blerg.

I didn't do hardly anything in the activity realm this past week.  I did a smidgen of cleaning and junk like that.  Now that the weather is getting warmer, I really need to start walking regularly again.  Anyway, weight: 160.2.  I've lost 21.2 pounds since I started working.  And 4 pounds since the start of the year.  I'm up about a pound and a half since the last time I did my weight, but I think that previous low weight was due to the salt thing.  I'm back to retaining some water.  Which is okay.

At work, I have switched almost entirely to coffee and water.  No more sodas.  Okay, maybe a soda every now and then.  And hey, coffee and water are free.  Yay.

In case you wondered why I didn't do a Reading Wrap-Up again this week, I'm still reading the same book I was reading before.  Nothing to see here, folks.

My hyacinths are getting ready to bloom. The lilac is covered with tiny leaves.  Spring is a comin', folks.

And that's about it for me.  What's up in your world?

Sunday Update - Week 8

Eight weeks into the new year.  How 'bout that?  I wouldn't have thought we were past week 5.  The days are just flying by.  Derp.

Things are pretty much the same here.  No writing.  Nothing writerly.  Work.  Home.  Meh.

I didn't finish any books this past week.  I'm still working on that NF about the submarines.  It's pretty interesting, but not a fast read.

I got some activity this week.  I swept the office.  I went for a walk.  I did some minimal lifting.  Weight: 158.8.  

In cooking news, for shits and giggles, I'm trying this new low-sodium thing.  Lord knows, I probably eat way too much sodium as a general rule.  But I do like my snacks.  (Did I tell ya about the nacho cheese pretzels I found? OMG, so yummy.)  So I'm cutting back where I can control the sodium.  Yesterday I made a low-sodium spaghetti sauce.  It's only about 165 mg per serving.  (Yes, that is low.  One freakin' chocolate cupcake from Wallyworld has 310 mg, for pitysakes.)   Anyway, the sauce was okay.  It needed salt.  I added some parm, which helped.  I also made a salt-free vinaigrette which I thought was yummy.   I'm not sure how long the low-salt thing will last, but it's keeping me out of trouble for now.  ;o)

(Before you ask, I didn't mean health trouble.  I meant this is keeping me occupied.)

I was out at the feed store yesterday and they were super busy, so while I waited for my order to be filled, I sat on the loading dock and played with their kitties.  I love the gray one.  She's awesome.  I picked her up and put her on my lap.  She has the softest purr I've heard (or hardly heard) from a cat.  The calico kitty, who's usually standoffish, decided she wanted in on the action and started head-butting me.  So I had both hands going for a while there, petting them both.  Finally, calico had enough and flopped down behind me, pressed up against my back.  Awwww.  KITTIES!

The eagles are still here.  For how much longer, I don't know.  We're still getting a boatload of deer.  Thankfully, things are starting to green up around here, so maybe the deer will start finding alternate food sources.  My daffodils are loaded with leaves.  My hyacinths have buds and are starting to shoot them up.  Looks like all the purple ones survived and none of the pink ones.  Oh, well.  The lilac has leaf buds.  Spring is coming.  Yay.

Other than that, life is pretty bland around here.  How are things in your neck of the woods?

Sunday Update - '22 Week 3

 Hello again.  Let's dispense with the folderol and jump right in.

Last night, I finished the round of editing I've been working on since December 4th.  Out of 47 days, I missed 11.  That's about a 77% working percentage.  Not bad.  I wish I could do that all year.  For the record, people who work M-F only work 71% of the days.  On the other hand, I usually only work a couple hours a day.  Can you imagine if I worked all those days at 8 hours a day.  I'd rule the world.  So, you're welcome.  (Although, if I ruled the world, there'd be a lot less bullshit in it.)

All of my books are now uploaded to D2D.  And all of them are now available at the big distributors - Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo.  Also, they're available through library distributors like BorrowBox and OverDrive.  (All of them are still waiting on Hoopla to accept them.)  I sold a book last night through OverDrive, so I've got that going for me.  Now to add some marketing to the mix and see if I can generate some sales.  

As for other writerly news, I began working on the cover for Untitled Fantasy.  I'm building a dragon out of used lizard parts.  It's painstaking work.  I'm blowing the sucker up to 1000% and trying to do a pixel by pixel thing.  :shrug:  It'll keep me out of trouble, that's for sure.  And I'm liking the overall results.  May have to change lizards, but I'm also learning what works and what doesn't as I go.  It's all good, baby.

On the reading front, I start out the week pretty lame.  Four DNFs in a row.  After that, I managed to finish two books before my Saturday Wrap-up, and I finished another one yesterday afternoon.  It's all good, baby.

In baking news, I made coffee cake.  I used my regular yellow-cake recipe, but I dolloped applesauce all through the middle layer.  So yummy.  I also made a vat of spaghetti sauce, which netted me another 3 meals worth of leftover sauce.  Yay.

Activity... well, it wasn't a good week.  I spent one morning cleaning.  Dusting and vacuuming everything but the office, so about 1300 square feet.  I never did get around to the office.  It's hard to clean in here when Hubs is working and when he's not working, I don't seem to be in a cleaning mood.  :shrug:  It was too cold for much else, but that's a lame excuse.  I can use the damn bike.  Sheesh.

Needless to say, my diet isn't going well.  Being gungho about curbing the food intake is one thing, actually adhering to the plan is other.  And, like always, every time I think about watching what I eat, I'm thinking about food and that makes me want food.  But the results on the scale weren't as bad as I feared.  Weight: 183.6 - so only up a pound and a half since 1/1.  Still, that much in three weeks is not good.  Perhaps I'm just fluffy for winter.  Yeah, yeah, fluffy for winter.  That's the ticket.

Because of the cold, we're seeing a lot of deer in the yard, gulping down corn in copious amounts.  Most of them are hale and hearty.  And super fluffy because they fluff their coats when it's cold to retain body heat.  Unfortunately, one of our does broke something, probably the ankle, on her back right leg.  Poor baby.  There's nothing we can do, and research told me deer can often do well with a broken leg.  It heals, they go on with their lives.  Killing them isn't the answer.  The best advice was leave them alone, because trying to help will only make things worse.  Hubs saw the same doe a couple days later and her foot wasn't curled under like when we'd first seen it, so she was walking on the hoof and not her ankle.  Ouchie.

Tax time approacheth.  I'm waiting on the mail to deliver 1099s.  I already got the notice that Amazon's 1099s are available for download, so if you haven't gotten yours yet, poke somebody.  Or go into the tax area and see if they're there for you, too.  Not that the news on the 1099 is good.  About $145 for the year.  :sadtrombone:

Since I'm taking today off of writing, I should be able to accomplish some other stuff today.  We'll see.  And it's supposed to warm up a little, so maybe I can get out in the woods again.  Stupid snow.  Anyway, I'm trying to be optimistic.  Strange for me, I know, but you gotta start somewhere.

How was your week?  Accomplish anything?  Was it a week off for you?  (Totally cool, because we need time off every know and again.)  

The Journey to Get Healthier

I'm back on the 'trying to get healthier' wagon again.   I'm watching what I eat, getting more active, and trying to shed a few pounds.  Why?  Because I feel better when I'm slimmer.

But not too slim.  This is me in 2002 at 110 pounds and a size 6:

Look at those stick legs and spindly arms.  I could see all my ribs.  My poor boobs were like underinflated balloons.  Gross.  (Note: I did not get that skinny intentionally.  I was working a job I hated where I was on my feet for 8 hours a day with no lunch break, running around a call center, and not eating when I got home because I hated life.  I don't recommend it.)

This is me thirteen years later at 194 pounds:

Umm, yah.  When I'm that heavy, I feel gross.  My joints hurt.  I get winded easily.  The internals get squonky.   And it's just not healthy for me.  Especially considering my crumpled spots.  The ol' legs and hips can't take lifting the extra poundage and dragging it around.  

Right now, I'm at 183.8.  (I weighed myself yesterday morning.)  Still down about 10 pounds from the top, but not nearly as low as I'd gotten a couple years ago.  And I'm feeling it.  So, I need to get back on the wagon and shed those craptastic boomerang pounds at a minimum.  

I know what I need to do.  I need to decrease the amount of food I'm putting in my face and increase the activity.  That's really all anyone needs to do.  It's harder for some than for others, but seriously... decrease the calorie input and increase the calories burned and you will lose weight.

You don't have to starve yourself.  That's just silly.  And it doesn't work in the long run.  You don't have to deprive yourself either.  Eat what you love, but eat less of it.  Instead of a bowl full of ice cream, eat two scoops.  Instead of a bag of M&Ms, eat a handful.  Instead of an entire pizza, eat two slices.  (Start out eating half then switch to two, so you're not shocking the system.)  I knew a gal who could eat a whole pizza for lunch.  She then cut back to half and then wound up eating only two slices.  She lost weight.  How much?  I don't know, but it was a visible change.  Her clothes fit better and she seemed happier.

Also, you don't have to spend your whole day working out.  Do something active every day.  Start small.  Anything that gets the heart pumping and the limbs moving works.  Hell, when Hubs started his walking regime, he would walk back and forth in front of the house (on the flat) until he felt like he was ready to start taking the hills.  Now, he's walking 2.5 miles 3 times a week.  For exercise, not weight loss, but he feels better now that he's doing it.  I couldn't walk a mile when I started out either, but I'm doing it now.  

If you slip up, don't beat yourself silly for it.  Try again the next day.  You'll get there.  Soon, you'll find out two things - Overeating makes you feel gross and so does laying around.  

Oh, there will be pain.  Unused muscles tend to get bitchy when you start using them again.  Take the pain reliever of your choice and get over it.  Your muscles will thank you later.  Don't overdo it either.  Take it slow.  Your body will tell you when it's had enough.  When it starts to gripe, push it for a couple more minutes and then give it a break.  For godsakes, don't hurt yourself trying to get healthier.  That's just silly.

Another thing... You might get impatient to see results.  In this day, everyone wants the quick fix.  Get over that, too.  There is no quick fix.  Realize that every day you're feeling better and getting healthier.  Tell yourself that when you look at your nekkid self in the mirror before you hop in the shower and you're not seeing a naughty body.  Shrug and say "I'm healthier today than I was yesterday and I feel better."  Learn to like the body you see and you'll be more inclined to want to do stuff to keep it going.

I don't want to live forever.  I do want to enjoy the days I have and in order to enjoy those days, I have to feel better. For me, feeling better means being active and slimming down.

On a side note:  Pinterest has got this new rule where you can't talk about losing weight, share your successes, tell people how you did it, post before and after pictures of your journey - in the name of stopping 'body shaming'.  Being the taciturn turd I can sometimes be, I wrote this post.  If reading about my weight loss, etc. makes you feel ashamed of your body, that's on you.  It shouldn't, by the way.  I would hope it would encourage you.  If you are ashamed of your body, do something about it.  Don't hate those people who are doing what you won't do.  And don't be ashamed of your body.  Silly.  If it's working the way it should for you and you feel healthy, be who you are.  If not, do something about it.  Shame is a waste of time and doesn't get you anywhere.

'Nuff said.  This is my journey.  If you want to come along on a journey of your own, more power to you.  Good luck!

Perspective and Weight

For those of you stressing and obsessing about weight loss, here's a thing for you to consider... I weighed myself this morning and discovered I gained three pounds in a week after getting plenty of exercise and eating normally.  Which tells me one thing* - weight fluctuates.  And there really isn't much rhyme or reason to the little fluctuations.

In the past week, I stopped eating nuts - my staple snack.  And chips, too.  (Because we're out of them and the grocery trip isn't scheduled until today.)  I'm also rationing the ice cream to make it last, so I haven't been eating as much of that as I usually do.  Less calories going in, less salt to hold water in my cells... and I still gained weight.  :shrug:  (Yes, I have cake in the house.  I almost always have cake or cookies or something in the house.)

The fourteen pounds I lost in 2018 are staying off.  Which is good.  I feel better without them - with my gimpy legs and other sundry craptastic parts, the lower the weight, the less stress on the joints the better.  

Sure, I'd like to lose another twenty pounds, but hey, I'm 50 years old and I'm lazy, so I don't realistically see that happening.  In an ideal plane, I'd get back down to the 135 I was for years.  (When I was 20 and could eat whatever I wanted and still be a hottie with a naughty body.)  This is not an ideal plane.  If I can maintain at around 180, I'm good with it.  If I can get down to the 172 I was in March when I was totally stressed out - without actually being stressed out - I'll be ecstatic.  

I guess what I'm saying is...

If you're healthy** and happy with the rest of your life, don't let the numbers on the scale harsh your day.  I'm in better shape than I've been for like thirty years, which is especially awesome considering I also weigh like 45 pounds more than I did thirty years ago.  I can lift and carry 50lb bags of corn and I can walk a mile and a half at 3.2 miles an hour without falling apart.  I get my heart rate up and it comes back down like it's supposed to.  That's all a win in my book.

It's all about perspective and what you want out of life.

*Well, two things... my scale cannot be trusted.  ;o)

** As in 'not feeling sick', not the 'health guidelines mandated by the government' that say simply being over the number they've set is unhealthy. Bah and feh.

Starting Up Again is Hard

It's hard getting started and even worse once you stop.

That's pretty much true with anything.  It's hard starting an exercise routine.  It's harder getting back into an exercise routine once you stop.

It's hard enough to get into a writing/editing routine.  Once you stop?  OMG, so hard.

Let's not even think about how difficult it is to start a diet and what happens when you fall off the wagon and start eating all the fat things again.

So, how does one overcome this?

Well, the easy answer is DON'T STOP.  Whatever you're doing, if it's working, don't stop doing it.  But that's the easy answer and we all know the easy answer isn't the most realistic one.  For one reason or another, we all fall apart when it comes to sticking to stuff.

Some people find restarting easier than other people.  Hell, some people make restarting a national sport.  Some of them can even muster the will to stick to doing stuff.  I am not one of those people.  I might be one of the 'national sport' people.  But I keep trying.

Right now, I'm working on getting back into the habits of exercising and editing.  The exercise is going a bit better than the editing.  Both are hard to pick back up again after so long away, though.  Every day, I tell myself I'm going to exercise and edit.  And, most days, I find something else to do. 

I'm not sure what the answer is.  If I had that, I probably wouldn't be in this position.

I think the problem is that when you've stopped for a while, and you go back to whatever it is that needs doing, the whole thing seems insurmountable.  Like climbing a mountain.  It's there and it's huge.  And the longer you stand there looking at it, the huger it becomes.  And you're faced with a choice - take the first step and keep on taking them, or walk away.

Except the mountain will still be there if you walk away.  And you'll still need to get to the top eventually if you want to achieve your goals.

It ain't gonna get any easier. 

So, take the first step.  And keep on taking them.  And if you falter and slip backwards a bit, shrug it off and take another step.

Onward and upward.

Thursday This n That

I went fishing on Tuesday afternoon and despite what all the fishing reports are saying about bass only being deep and only biting on specific lures and junk, I caught a good sized bass, close to the ledges I was fishing from.  On a worm.  Actually, I was reeling in to cast out again and just as I got the worm almost out of the water, the bass attacked.  It was like Jaws.  Out of the depths it rose and BAM!  It was a keeper, but the water's been so warm I didn't think it would taste awesome, so I threw it back.  Only caught that one fish, but it was worth it.

I really need to vacuum.  The dust bunnies are whispering 'Viva la Resistance' in the corners and shadows.  I must put down the uprising before it explodes into anarchy.

Yesterday, I pulled out of the driveway and something was up ahead in the road.  From that distance, I wasn't sure if it was a leafy branch or a dead critter.  As I drove ahead, I was saying 'don't be a dead thing, don't be a dead thing, don't be a dead thing'.  When I got a little closer, it moved.  It was a broad-winged hawk with its back to me, its wings spread over whatever prey it had in its talons.  I had to stop the car before it moved, but it took off, critter gripped tightly beneath it.  Which was really cool until I noticed it had a chipmunk.  And I was all like "Chester!  Nooooo."  But hey, hawk's gotta make a living, too.  And hopefully, it wasn't actually Chester from our yard.  It's hard being a chipmunk in a woods full of predators.

Yep, nature's a bitch sometimes.  Why the hawk couldn't have come over and eaten one of the dozens of rotten gray squirrels in our yard is beyond me.  To borrow a phrase from Chik-Fil-A, 'Eat Mor Skwirrl'.

Gray Squirrel = Furry-tailed rat.  Would you believe Land Pigeon?

I've been thinking of all the things I've given up since we made the dietary changes earlier this year.  Fried chicken.  French fries.  Tater tots.  Hashbrown patties.  McDonald's.  Little Debbie snacks, especially the Nutty Buddies.  Mountain Dew.  Fritos.  Sugar in my coffee.  Doughnuts.  Muffins.  Danishes.  Candybars.  Bratwursts and smoked sausages.  French onion dip.  Sour cream....  I don't really miss all that.  Much.  I'm still holding onto ice cream, pizza (although I buy the little ones now instead of full-sized), and peanut M&Ms.  Except the M&Ms are dark chocolate now.  I still eat chips and crackers, but they're all baked now.  And hamburgers - 93% lean and made at home on the Foreman Grill, so the fat drips away.  Let's not talk about cheese.  I can't give up cheese. Ain't happenin'.  I do try to eat less of it, though.

Okay, that's enough out of me.  What've you got?

Thursday This n That

This this n that is all about my whole getting healthier thing.  Consider yourself warned.

I can make it through the Walmart without weeping over pizza and fried chicken now.

KFC sent us a coupon book.  Dirty bastards.  Hubs kept it on the table for a few days and then finally chucked it so we wouldn't be tempted anymore.  All I can say is thank goodness the KFC is 30 minutes away or I would've fallen for their rotten trick.

When I first started doing the exercise thing, I could easily get to my target heart rate.  Now, I exercise for a half a freakin hour and my heart's all like 'bring it'.  Too bad my legs can't push as hard as that.  Half an hour and my legs are whimpering.

My exercise thing is dance/exercise/dance.  I started out with 5 minutes of each.  Now I'm up to about 10 minutes each.  And about 20 reps on the exercises I'm doing, plus I added some exercises I wasn't doing at first because I couldn't do them.  I use 2 lb weights on the arms and no weight on the legs, because frankly, the legs carry enough weight on their own.  Da dump bump.

As for the diet thing - diet as in what I eat, not a set of guidelines I am forcing myself to strictly stick to - it's going well.  Like I said, I hardly miss the really yummy foods now.  Still eating ice cream, though.  And the occasional Hot Pocket or mini-pizza.  Hubs has cut those out entirely. I'm not that strong.  But we are eating loads of fruits and salads.  Rivers of fish.  Chicken.  93% lean burger and lean cut steak.  And smaller portions.  I'm down about 2 pounds since I bought the new scale and sent myself into a conniption.  (For the record, the 189 I said I was before was actually 197 because my old scale was off by 8 pounds.  So, from whenever that was, I'm down 5 pounds.  Let's not even talk about the dark days when the old scale said 195. :shudder:) 


Anyway, this is my journey.  Not sure if any of the same tactics would work for any of you, but you're welcome to try.  Increase activity, decrease unhealthy foods.  Sounds easy, and it does get easier after a while, but it takes time and commitment.  :shrug:  It's lasted a few months now, so maybe this'll stick.  Lord knows nothing else has.

Sunday Update - Week 13

Hey All.

First off, in honor of the President's proclamation that April is National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention month, Fertile Ground will be priced at 99c for the entire month.

Next, I started reading through Sleeping Ugly to make notes, got wrapped up in the story and didn't make any notes through 11% of the book, started over.

I also have been working on revamping the blurb for FG while I tweak the blurb for Early Grave because I decided I hate FG's blurb.  I rewrote it and then rewrote it again.  And then rewrote it again.  Actually, it was the 6th try that I finally liked and it's up.  (I hope.  I haven't checked this morning.)

Dying Embers will be free for the five days after Early Grave goes live, so if you want to get the three books of the SCIU series for around $4, wait until then.

I haven't been reading again.  I mean, I finished Serpent's Child by DJ Salisbury, and it was coated in awesomesauce.  Then I tried to pick up Lord Jim, but I kept thinking about how I have to get to work on Sleeping Ugly, so I put it down.  Not sure what I'll read next - something I don't have to think about too much, I think.

Oh, yeah, Happy Easter!  Damn near forgot about that.  In fact, I have forgotten about it pretty much.  No cards went out.  No candy was bought.  It's also April Fool's Day, which I don't celebrate at all.  And it's the 14th anniversary of the day I first laid eyes on Hubs.  A good day all around.  In keeping with our better food choices, I'm eschewing ham this year in favor of salmon and shrimp.  :sniffle:  Buh-bye ham.  Totally screwing with the better food choices, I picked up a brownie sampler thing at Walmart.  Soo good.  (because, yes, I have already eaten a goodly portion of it.)

Not much else going on.  It's been raining raining raining here and it's totally anti-motivational.  Can't fish, can't garden, can't walk.  Yuck.

What's up in your world?

Sunday Update - Week 11

I keep having to tell myself that this is, in fact, Sunday.  Some little part of my brain refuses to believe it.  But yeah, it's Sunday and here we are again.

I got some editing done.  Not nearly enough, but some.  I'm about halfway through this round now, and I contacted my editor for an extension because this was supposed to be back in her hands by the 16th.  Derp.  Anyway, I'm trying to get my gumption into gear.  Seriously, I am. 

I've been trying to catch up on some reading, too.  I finished 3 books last week.  DJ Salibury's book Sorcery's Child kicked butt.  Then I read one of Kristen Painter's Nocturne Falls books, Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case which rocked.  Finally, I inhaled a book yesterday that I bought on a whim - by a new to me, underappreciated author (first one of those this year).  Sherlock Holmes and the Cult of Cthulhu was totally enthralling.  Three for three on the good books.  Yay!

I've been playing around with some stuff self-publishing endeavor wise.  You'll learn more about that tomorrow on Outside the Box. 

Fishing finally happened.  Once.  And I caught one fish.  A female spotted bass about 13" long.  Under the limit, but man, was she ever fat n feisty.  Pre-spawn is in gear.  Here's hoping I can get out more this week, but I'm not holding my breath.  I have adulty stuff to do.

Last week, out of the blue, I got contacted by a distant cousin - my great-grandfather's brother's grandson.  He'd read a post I did back in 2012 about my grandparents and decided to touch base.  It's pretty cool.  He's already given me some info and pictures I didn't have.  And I'm returning the favor.  =o)

In the exercising realm, I hit the reset on my goal and I'm back to doing something active every day... Well, almost every day.  I hit 5 out of 7 days last week.  Some of those days I did more than one active thing, so it's all good.  Along the same lines, my diet is getting there.  I managed to get all the way through Walmart without buying ice cream.  I'm slowly weaning myself off Mtn. Dew.  (At home, at least.  I still need it when I drive.  It's a thing.)  We had ocean perch for dinner last night.  It was okay, but I still prefer my fresh caught fish or salmon.  Haven't lost any more weight, but that's okay.  I don't do this to lose weight, I do it to get off my dead ass.

Speaking of which, I should go do something this morning instead of writing blogs and hanging out.  Oh, but before I go, don't forget that Accidental Death is going to be free this week and Natural Causes is going to be on sale for 99c.  If you don't have copies, now would be the time to get them. 

Later days, dudes. 

Sunday Update - Week 10

Ten weeks into 2018.  Hmm.  Those went kinda fast, eh? 

Here's the week that was...

I am a naughty monkey.  I have six days to finish this edit on Early Grave and I'm only through four chapters.  This said, though, I'm past all of my distractions :knock on wood: and can set my ass down for extended stretches of time.  You know, good lord willin' and the crick don't rise. 

I also haven't read much.  This is totally on me.  The book I'm reading is fun and interesting - Sorcery's Child by our own DJ Salisbury.  I'm just dragging on reading the way I am on editing.  Maybe the problem is related.  Anyway, I hope to read more regularly between editing stretches this week.

I got some yard work done this week.  Prepping the beds for the most part.  I ordered a bunch of plants - lilies, columbines, sedums, and an ornamental grass thingie.  I also picked up packs of seeds for daisies, black-eyes susies, and marigolds.  I'm gonna sprinkle those all over the bed under the cedars and hope for the best.  The bed gets good morning and late afternoon sun - just no mid-day sun.  Marigolds and daisies already love it there, but I want more.  My irises look amazing, green leaves shooting up all over their beds.  My hollyhocks are coming up nicely.  Life is good here on Sanderson Acres.

Went into the woods a bit because we had a day where it was still cold enough to keep the ticks and snakes at bay.  Got some more deadfall moved and then walked around on the trails.  Now that warmer weather is approaching I need to find another way to be active.  Maybe I'll convince Hubs to let me mow the lawn from time to time.  I'm also looking at the gazelle machine (because Silver suggested it).  Not sure if I'm ready for the expense right now and they look like something I could easily fall off of - because I'm a clod - but we'll see.

Speaking of being active and other healthy things, I'm doing okay on my resolve to eat healthier.  Walmart had pepperoni pizzas in the discount frozen food bin.  Pizza and a sale?  It really tested my willpower and I won.  As of yesterday, I've lost another pound, putting me at 186.

My turf war with the moles* is ongoing.  Those dirty bastards have expanded beyond a simple condo complex and have created a city, complete with highways and byways.  I bought three spinning flower yard ornaments.  We'll see if they work.  The way it's looking, though, I'll need a sea of those things to get the little buggers out of my yard.

I think that's quite enough out of me.  How was your week?


*Could be voles.  I haven't seen one to identify it exactly.

Thursday This n That

I wish people would stop passing along old news like it's new news.  I saw something this morning about a stabbing at a high school in PA and I was all like OMG, but I didn't see it in the newsfeed, so I had to go googling.  It happened in 2014.  Yeah, not a lot was made of it then - for whatever reasons - but use that as your lead-in.  "This happened in 2014 and no one splashed it all over the place.  Why?"  Or something.  Bleh.

I have started a quest to eat healthier.  I'm going for a low-LDL / high-HDL cholesterol diet - gotta keep the ticker ticking*, doncha know.  To that end, I've been increasing the amounts of certain foods and decreasing others.  I said a tearful goodbye to all my bestie food friends at the Walmart the other day - fried chicken, frozen pizza, donuts... :sniffle:  I switched out regular peanut M&Ms and bought dark chocolate peanut M&Ms.  I added avocados to the menu, as well as more fish, chicken, nuts, and beans.  I bought some ground turkey before I read that regular ground turkey is less healthy than super-lean beef.  :shrug:  Last night's turkey burger with avocado, lettuce, and tomato was pretty tasty, but that was the last of it.  I tried giving up ice cream.  That lasted two days.  I'll just eat less of that.  Anyway, here's hoping for a lifestyle change because otherwise this will be like every other thing I've tried and fail miserably.  Lucky for me, Hubs is on board.  I'm also trying to exercise more.  Umm, yah.  I really need to get a treadmill, but the expense!  Ack. 

On a side note, 72% cacao chocolate is GROSS.  I took one bite of a bar of that stuff and almost lost it.  Tried eating a fingerful of peanut butter with it.  Nope.  Drank some OJ to get the taste out of my mouth. It helped but...  Blech. I need to chop up the rest of that bar and make cookies with it or something. 

I'm not going total healthy.  Let's not be silly.  Just trying some new things.  I'll keep what works for me and discard the rest.  Then when I go for my yearly physical and the doc badgers me for a cholesterol test, I may just let her poke me this year. 

In case you missed it, I hate doctors.  In general.  There are specific ones that are okay.  The one I have isn't too bad.  We came to an understanding - as long as she doesn't irritate me, I'll keep going to her.  Which is good because she's the closest physician who accepts my insurance.  I would really hate to have to change.  Really.

Yeah, I hate change, too.

Somehow or other people are finding Blood Flow this month and buying it.  Not a lot of people, mind you, but the slight uptick sans advertising or a sale is nice.

Okay, that's it for me.  What have you got?


*No news of my impending doom.  It's just that I'm gonna be 48 and I have a genetic history of heart crap.  I'm already 4 years older than my dad was when he had his first heart attacks.  Don't want to push it.  Know what I mean?

The Ever-Widening Ass at Christmas

Since I don't feel like talking about crime or writerly stuff today, I decided to post here. 

I got a Godiva newsletter this morning, and I'm questioning why I ever signed up for it.  Oh yeah, because I went to look for some creme brulee truffles I'd seen in a gift box in a catalog, you know to see if they were available outside the gift box, and when I got to their site, they said to sign up for the newsletter and receive 10% off an order.  So I signed up.  You know, just in case I saw something my willpower couldn't override.  My willpower won.  But now I'm getting these newsletters with the most scrumptious stuff inside and everything is on sale and I...  Argh.  My ever-widening ass so totally does not need Godiva.

I stepped on the scale recently after however many months.  The poundage I had lost is slowly creeping back onto my butt.  So, I started exercising again.  Not hard and not consistently, which is why I'm still growing.  Of course, when the momentum is pushing in one direction it's not necessarily easy to get it stopped and then get it headed in the opposite direction.  That's just simple physics.  Right?

I also still get the Swiss Colony catalogs on a regular basis, but after a totally trashed batch of sea foam ordered both for Mom and for myself, I'm kind of off SC right now. 

Mom's been ordering me stuff from someplace called Stoneberry (I think...).  Last year, we got really nice fleecy shirt/jacket things.  I'm wearing mine now.  This year, she sent us really super soft fleecy blankets.  Fleecy stuff is definitely better for my ass.

She also sent us fudge made by monks in Kentucky.  It's awesome.  Coffee flavored fudge for me and raspberry chocolate fudge for Hubs.  I'm eating it in small pieces, which will help with my butt.  To be fair, I usually send Mom chocolates of some kind and she is also in a position where her ass doesn't need them either.  But, come on... CHOCOLATES!

Thinking about it this morning, I have been exceptionally good about not buying and eating Christmas treats this year.  Usually we have a big bowl of chocolates and several boxes of chocolates on the dining room table.  This year?  Just the fudge.

My problem is not holiday treats.  It's the big bag of M&Ms I keep in the cupboard.  And the several bags of assorted chips/snacks I buy - Bugles, Doritos, Fritos (plain and honey bbq), cheesy pretzel bits...  I fix myself an assortment of those in a bowl, set it next to my chair, and proceed to eat the whole damn bowl. 

And my ass grows ever wider, like the monster in the movie Evolution.  I don't think shampoo will save the day this time.

So, I'm upping my activity level.  And I'm upping my activity because I know I have no will power to decrease the amounts of food I'm eating.  Now that the lake level is going down, I have more places to walk while I fish (well, except for the fact that they closed my park for the season... dirty bastards).
Unfortunately, in the winter, I'm less inclined to want to go fishing.  The fish aren't biting, but the wind is.  Thus, I have started turning on the disco channel and dancing for however many minutes I can manage before I reach my limit.  I managed 10 minutes the first time and 15 the last time.  I was up to 30 minutes when I was doing this regularly, so I've got a little ways to go.  I'll get there.  And an interesting thing about doing this increased activity thing is that when I increase my activity, I'm less inclined to want to sit on my ever-widening ass eating snacks.  Win-win.

So, I weighed myself just now.  188.  Seven pounds down from my high, but also 7 pounds up from my low.  We'll see if I can hold steady over the holidays and then lose some of that in the new year. 

OMG, I think I just made my first resolution for 2018.  :shudder:

My ever-widening ass is already cringing, but I will defeat it.  Maybe.  I guess.  ;o)

Thursday This n That

I have a new idea.  Every time I think about eating when it isn't time to eat, I need to get up and clean something.  We'll see if I implement this today.  Either I'll have an incredibly clean house, or because I hate cleaning so much, I'll stop thinking about eating just to avoid it.  ;o)

Computer glitches irritate the crap out of me, especially when they aren't on my end and I can't do anything about them.  And I need to go figure out Google Chrome because it's giving someone else an error and I need to learn how to explain over the phone how to fix it when I have no experience with Google Chrome.  Why do computer/software companies have to make everything so damn difficult in their quest to make everything 'easy'?  Argh.

Right now, I'm reading a novel by Anne Morrow Lindbergh - Charles Lindbergh's wife.  Yeah, I didn't know she wrote fiction either.  Apparently at least 3 books, because the one I'm reading mentions two others on the cover.  I'm about halfway through this one. So far, it's pretty good.  Well written, definitely.  She really puts me in the character, if you know what I mean.  I hope it all comes together and ends well.  It would suck if this doesn't end well, since she's gotten me kind of attached to the main character.

Thinking about the above, I realized that I like reading unexpected books.  A novel by a famous aviator, a novel by a famous jockey, a mystery by a man known for SF.  And I have a novel by Winston Churchill I keep meaning to read.  By the way, if you haven't read it, Willie the Shoe's (Bill Shoemaker) novel is pretty good.  I don't have it anymore and I don't remember the title, but it shouldn't be hard to find.  Have you ever read a novel by someone you wouldn't have expected to write fiction?  It kinda tickles me.

I need a new keyboard again.  This HP one's letters rubbed off way fast.  And the space bar keeps sticking.  Bleh.  Oh, and I have to pick up a new mouse for Hubs.  His right click button only works intermittently.  Oh well, at least they aren't major purchases.  But still...

What's on your this n that radar today?

Sunday Update - Week 7

And what a week it was. 

I hammered out 12265 words last week, and that included taking yesterday off.  So, averaging 2K on the days I worked actually worked out.  And I had an epiphany on Friday night that continued through to Saturday morning.  To give you a hint, I was singing "This writer's gotta kill someone, before the day is through" ala Eagles while I was out fishing yesterday.  And therein lay the rub.  I was so pooped after fishing I couldn't write last night.  Ah, well, today someone has to die.

Speaking of fishing, I did a lot of that last week, too.  For more info, read the Saturday Fishing Report.  It doesn't include yesterday, though.  Yesterday was an exercise in patience and frustration as the biggest fish I ever almost caught got away and I spent a lot of time trying to get him to bite again.

I finished one book last week.  Granny Hooks a Crook by Julie Seedorf.  Cute book.  Fun read.  (BTW, the Amazon credit I mentioned actually did come through.  Yay.)

I also had a sale last week, complete with advertising.  Let's see.  I spent $40 on ads.  I made $15.  Here's hoping there'll be some residual stuff because I can't afford to run ads that don't at least pay for themselves.

Oh, and I weighed myself last week.  You may remember I used to be all focused on my weight.  And then I stopped worrying about it and resolved to just be more active.  Which meant I stopped weighing myself every goddamn week.  Now, I weigh myself when I feel like it.  Well, I felt like it.  And I felt like I was either going to be heavier or about the same as where I'd backslid to last fall.  Nope.  Down to 181.  That's a 14 lb drop from January of 2016, so yay me.  And I feel great, so even better.  Fishing.  Who knew?

Okay, that's it for me.  What's up with you?

Thursday This n That

I weighed myself yesterday and learned two interesting things.  1) my go-to winter clothes weigh 4lbs.  2) I lost 14 pounds since January 2016.  No dieting.  Just an increase in activity.  It was dance-ercising the first half of last year, if you remember, and then that fell apart right around the time I painted the bathroom.  Then the Kid was here.  Then I was a toad for a little while.  Then I started fishing regularly.  I think the walking up and down the lake and river edges, lugging gear, really did the trick.  Plus, I don't munch while I'm fishing.  Except maybe a snack bar when we're on the boat.

I've been watching Last Man Standing a lot lately.  If you ever see the immigration episode, it slays me.  When she talks about the Gatos de la Playa, and then later he tells her to release the beach kitties... ROFL...  "no back talk or I'll laugh while the cats scratch out your eyes."  LMAO

Yes, I am a strange woman.

Yesterday afternoon, Hubs and I went to the lake with some plastic bags and spent a couple hours picking up trash at one of our favorite fishing spots.  Well, he was mostly picking up trash.  I was pulling fishing line out of the ground.  I had a plastic grocery bag half full of tangled line by the time we were done.  I hate that shit with a burning passion.  Yes, I know it's a necessary function of fishing.  Hooks get snagged and line breaks off.  Lord knows I've had it happen often enough.  Which is part of the reason I pick it up when I see it.  Chances are it's not mine, but maybe someday someone else will pick up my line while they're out, and so on so on.  What I really hate is when someone respools and leaves their old line laying there.  Erg.  Police your trash people.

I smoke like a freakin' fiend when I fish.  And every butt goes in my pocket (once it's out, of course...LOL). The only thing worse than fishing line all over the place is cigarette butts.  Bleh.  And beer cans.  And candy wrappers.  My god, people.  Really?

I was sore and tired as hell by the time we got home, but I still managed to get 1500 words out last night.  Now I'm sore as hell but not too tired.  Because, hey, morning.  And coffee.

Okay, that's it for me.  What's it for you?

Sunday Update - Week 10

Sorry I'm late.  I woke up obscenely early and then went back to bed.  I'm on my first cup of coffee after the second sleep now. 

Well, In Deep Wish is up for pre-order at pretty much everywhere - Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and Apple.  The links are here.  Huge thanks to the people who've already pre-ordered.  You rock.

Wish in One Hand is on sale for 99 cents (or whatever the equivalent would be in your native land).  Also at wherever you buy books.  The links are also there, but at the bottom of the page.  So you can read the first one before the second one arrives on your ereader. 

Right now, I'm taking some time off from writing or editing (can't ever take off from marketing), and just reading other people's books.  I finally inhaled my BFF JB Lynn's latest - The Hitwoman and The Chubby Cherub.  Man, she delivers.  I loved it.  At the moment, I'm about 1/3 of the way through Compulsion by Allison Brennan.  Totally awesome stuff.  Next up will be either an urban fantasy I picked up on a whim or an urban fantasy I've been meaning to read for years. 

THEN I'll get back to work on Up Wish Creek.  It's not due out until August, but I have until the 19th before my May release comes back from A.W.E. and I can't just do nothing.  I don't have the time for lengthy periods of nothing anymore.

On the 'do something active every day' front, day 60 was Friday.  I missed five days out of the 2nd 30 day period, so not bad.  (Like 9 days total out of 60.)  I'm still hanging with this longer than I've hung with anything else, so it's a win.  I was at the doctor on Tuesday for a shot and made them weigh me.  By their scale, there's a 2 lb difference from what my scale said thirty days ago.  2+ but I'm not freaking or anything.  Like I said before, I'm not in this to drop weight, I'm in this to be more active and I'm winning there.  If you want to point to anything for those 2 lbs, though, point to hormones and point to Easter candy.  Robins Eggs are my downfall.  And Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs.  Easter kills me every time.  I have no willpower against those things. 

Spring is sproinging all over the place here in the Ozarks.  My bulbs are all coming up.  My crocuses and my hyacinths are blooming.  My tulips have buds.  My lilac bush has its first little green leaves.  The robins are singing in the trees.  The mourning doves are hoo-hooing all over.  Bitch squirrel is desperately trying to gain access to her preferred nursery - which is to say inside our eaves. The Sanderson Home for Unwed Squirrel Mothers is CLOSED.  Ya know, I wouldn't really care if she was in there except she is not housebroken, and ewww. Plus, she and her brats chew on everything up in there. 

What's up in your world?

Do Something Active Every Day

It's day 36 of my 2016 goal to 'do something active every day'. 

Let me back up a minute.  I don't do resolutions anymore.  They suck and I suck at them.  The last couple years, I made goals.  2014 was the year of not letting outside influences get on my nerves.  2015 was the year I only promised to maintain my sanity. 

So here was 2016 staring me in the face and there was my total sedentary life kicking my ass.  I was a toad.  I was lucky if I did anything active a couple times a week.  Sit here and write.  Go into the living room and sit there in front of the TV, reading.  Every rare once in a while, I would go for a walk or do yard work.  And I was slowly turning into Jabba the Hut. 

Now, something I learned a while back - my broken bits hurt more when I'm lazy.  The joints and muscles seize up for no reason.  I throw my back out doing simple shit - like picking a piece of lint off the floor.  Stupid stuff. 

Two plus two = get up off your ass and do something already.

So, I started thing 'do something active' thing.  Like I said, it's day 36.  Out of the previous 35 days, I did something active on 30 of them.   

What active things am I doing?

Well, for the most part, I'm dancing and exercising.  I turn on the Retro Disco satellite music channel (DirecTV) and boogie for x-number of minutes, then I go into the spare room where I run through a series of exercises for x-minutes, then I go back into the living room and dance until I've reached my minutes goal for the day.  I started out at 5 minutes of each part.  I'm up to 25 minutes total - usually 10 dance, 6-8 exercise, 7-9 dance. Then I walk around the house for a couple minutes to cool down.  When the exercises got too easy, I added reps and/or weights.

I also go for walks around the area.  The loop is about 1.25 miles.  Toward the farm is about 1.5 miles out and back.  Toward the other neighborhood can range anywhere from a mile and a half to three miles depending.  Another active thing I do is yard work.  I also count cleaning the house - especially vacuuming.  (I do not count things like dishes and laundry.)  Yesterday, I did 20 minutes of dance/exercise then I vacuumed the office.

How's it working out for me?  Well, I feel better.  The fat on my stomach isn't touching itself anymore.  (Which was both grody and uncomfortable.)  My twinges and aches are less frequent.  And I don't get winded as easily.  Oh and I lost 5 pounds. I started the year at 195 pounds.  On day 30, I weighed myself again. 190. 

Now, let me make one thing perfectly clear.  I did not do this to lose weight.  I hoped it would be a happy side-benefit, but it wasn't my goal. I did this to feel better.  I did this so climbing the hill out back wouldn't make me breathe like a bellows.  And I did it so I wouldn't hurt so often.  All of which, I'm happy to report, are in the win column.

I also did not 'diet'.  I tried to cut down on the size of my portions, but I'm still eating ice cream and mini-candy bars pretty much every day.  I'm still drinking my Mountain Dew (regular, not diet) and my coffee with sugar.  I just try to eat a smaller bowl of ice cream, fewer little candy bars, and less Dew.  Nobody's touching my coffee.

I don't know if this proves anything for anyone else.  It underscores for me what I already knew - I need to be more active or I feel like crap.

Now, over the years, I have tried all sort of things to lose weight and get back to a less lumpy body.  Nothing worked.  Diets totally suck.  I set them up and then I spend the day thinking about food until I drive myself nuts.  And then I cheat.  And then I give up.  Exercise sucks.  I'd push myself until my muscles hurt the next day and then I'd give up.  This.  This light stuff with minimal pressure is working for me. 

Eat less.  Be more active.  Simple. 

And no kicking myself for 'falling off'.  If I want a big bowl of chocolate ice cream with peanut butter and chocolate sauce, I freakin' eat it and don't guilt about it.  I don't exercise more the next day to make up for it.  I just motor along.  And next time, I might have a smaller bowl of ice cream with less peanut butter.  (Not less chocolate sauce.  I could drink that shit straight.)

And now, it's time to exercise - not because I 'have to' but because I want to.  I feel better when I do, and that's what really counts.  =o)

Hope my little story helps anyone who's in a similar position. Remember, your mileage may vary. 

Christmas is Coming, the Writer's Getting Fat

Yeah, I know it's supposed to be 'goose is getting fat' but let's get real here.  In the past week, the Kid made 4 batches of cookies and I made 3 batches of fudge.  I'm afraid to step on the scale and see what kind of damage all of this is doing.  Add the hazelnut Turtles and the candy canes to my already horrible 'see-food' diet and my ever-widening ass* is going to take over the world.  (Or at least crush Tokyo.)

And what have I been doing to ameliorate the calories?  Umm...  Yeah, we won't go there.  Let's just say my life consists of writing, reading, watching TV, and catering the the cats' every whim.  (Including the strays who have decided my place is the best feline restaurant in town.)

At this point, I'm not really worried about it.  It's December.  I've got stories in my head that want to come out and I'm going with the flow there.  I've also got a TBR pile from hell of stories that want to go into my head.  As for the cats, they're plotting their own version of the French Revolution in case I stop ponying-up with the vittles.  And I watch TV to take a break from everything else. 

Life as usual.

How are things in your world?  Do you see a weight increase during the holidays or do you manage to hold it together?  How? 

*I actually sing the term 'ever-widening ass' using the tune of Poor Wandering One from Pirates of Penzance.  What can I say?  It's a thing.