Crunch Time - six days

Ok, it’s crunch-time. The wedding we are hosting at our house is next Saturday already. I knew when we started planning this six weeks ago that the time would fly. I just thought that there would maybe be more hours in the day this last month and a half and that going out of town for fun three times in the last month wouldn’t have any bearing on our to-do list.  

So, here I am today, posting that wedding to-do list, with my usual green-highlight as complete and well, the rest has to get done by the wedding. It just has to and it will.

Sometime this week (or last):

-           Hem the bride’s dress

-           Wash windows – dining room, kitchen, laundry, living room

-           Buy decorations

-           Make signs for road so people can find our house

-           Put names on the mailbox which is really the card-box

-           Make up bed in guest room (as we will have overnight guests)

-           Wash bathroom rugs

-           Clean out frig

On Friday:

-           Make potato salad

-           Make macaroni salad

-           Vacuum thru house

-           Clean bathrooms

On Saturday:

-           Boss everyone around as they set everything up

-           Boss everyone around the rest of the day, because somebody has to make sure this comes off without a hitch

Of course, this is only my list. Hubby’s is just as long. Don’t know what we were thinking, but talking to the bride again yesterday, well, I wish I could do more to help her out.

I’ll try to post a quick update Wednesday. And the final tally next Sunday. With pictures!

The fake flowers I bought yesterday for $2. I already had the glass bottles. Cheap table decorations and more importantly, took minutes to put together. 

still with this cold

Well, last Sunday, I complained about the cold which I had for about three days prior to that. I blamed that virus on a lot of my lack of accomplishment. Can I use that excuse yet again? Coz I still have that cold hanging around, still coughing and blowing stuff out of my nose which I think was brought back on a lunar module. Argh. It’s got about two days left, then I don’t know what, coz I refuse to go on antibiotics. I know, I need to get my homeopathic or essential oils people all over this to cure me. But, really? This has gone on long enough. It’s time to just be done all on its own. I don’t know what has happened to my immune system. I never get sick. I mean NEVER. And this is my second cold in a year.  

In addition to all of that, Hubby and I went camping this past week. How much fun was that, do you suppose? Went through a half a box of Puffs. I worked on some stuff a few evenings in the camper, but in general, spent most of my time going argghh.

Ok, enough of that. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is goal at least worked on, red lettering is goal not even attempted.

A. WRITING

1. Finish another edit of my novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.” Got through chapter 20, so I’m getting there.   

2. Continue tweaking my book proposal / query, as needed for each literary agent I intend to contact next. Nadda.   

3. Write nine chapters on my next novel, which I am giving the working title of “New Old Spies.”  Nadda again.

4. Write two inspirational pieces for the page-a-day calendar at my work.  Nadda.   

5. Write two posts per week for my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. I only posted one, but I didn’t have internet all week at the campground, so I think that’s a good excuse.    

B. REACHING

1. Send proposals / queries to the next agents on my list.  Not yet. But I actually did spend some time yesterday researching agents. 

2. Submit the two inspirational pieces to my work calendar. Not yet.  

3. Promote myself or a piece of my writing (whether it be promoting one of my books, submitting a piece somewhere, saying something brilliant about my writing on my social media, etc.) once a week. The publisher of my novel, “Where the Sky Meets the Sky”, is offering it as a 99 cent e-book for the month of July, so I posted that on all my social media, for the second week in a row.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible. Yes.

2. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”. Yes.

3. Read five other people’s blog posts per week. Wow, I am sorry, I don’t think I read any. That is really bad of me.

4. Finish reading three books. I read “A Boy from Bustina” and am still plowing my way through “Emma” by Jane Austen.      

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Increase my water intake, averaging 60 ounces per day. With this cold, I have been drinking a lot..

b. Lose five pounds and three inches around my waist. Do I even have to make a note of this each week, coz it’s gonna be depressing.  

c. Exercise four mornings a week and three evenings a week. I think I did two mornings and two evenings.  

2. Home fires

a. Scan 100 of my mom’s pictures. None yet.

b. Wash all of my house’s windows.   Washed my bedroom windows. Really wanted to work on that yesterday, but it was so dreary out.    

c. Do a major cleaning of one of my closets. Not yet.   

d. Host my brother-in-law’s wedding at my house on August 4.   

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Write the Policy and Procedure manual. Not yet.

b. Host two merchandise sales. Not yet, but have one on August 4.

c. Do a thorough inventory of our current merchandise. Yes, yeah, finally!

d. Apply for grants. Not yet.

e. Raise enough money ($5,000) to start the first segment of the community center. What am I thinking with this goal???

This week and next, I somehow have to find the time to start getting my house and yard in shape for the wedding in two weeks. Oh, and also hem both my dress and the bride’s. What am I thinking? No wonder I have this cold from hell! Can you say, Chris, just take a break for once! That’s what last week, camping, was for, remember? Sure. Right. 

Here we are, heading off to go camping. 

Off to a slow start

Oh, boy, here I am, posting very late in the evening, at least for me. It’s bedtime, for pete’s sake.

I didn’t get much done this week. Thursday morning, Hubby and I headed to Lifest, the Christian music festival we’ve been going to every year. I also woke up that morning with a cold. I had hoped to get some stuff done on my laptop after we got back to the hotel each night, but I was so beat. As the picture shows, I was beat in between performers too. No worries, though, this cold has only got a few days left to have control of my head and my chest, and then I will get back at it.

Green highlight is goal accomplished (right! Like that happened this week), yellow highlight is goal at least worked on, red lettering is goal not even attempted.

A. WRITING

1. Finish another edit of my novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.” Got through chapter 9, so a decent start.   

2. Continue tweaking my book proposal / query, as needed for each literary agent I intend to contact next. Nadda.   

3. Write nine chapters on my next novel, which I am giving the working title of “New Old Spies.”  Nadda again.

4. Write two inspirational pieces for the page-a-day calendar at my work.  Hmm? Should I say it again? Nadda.   

5. Write two posts per week for my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. Hmm? I only posted one.   

B. REACHING

1. Send proposals / queries to the next agents on my list.  Not yet.

2. Submit the two inspirational pieces to my work calendar. Not yet.  

3. Promote myself or a piece of my writing (whether it be promoting one of my books, submitting a piece somewhere, saying something brilliant about my writing on my social media, etc.) once a week. Oh, boy, finally some green. The publisher of my novel, “Where the Sky Meets the Sky”, is offering it as an e-book for the month of July, so I posted that on all my social media.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible. Yes.

2. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”. Yes.

3. Read five other people’s blog posts per week. Read two.    

4. Finish reading three books. I finished reading “A Boy from Bustina”, the amazing true story of a Holocaust survivor, and started reading “Emma” by Jane Austen, of all things.      

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Increase my water intake, averaging 60 ounces per day. With this cold, I have been drinking non-stop.

b. Lose five pounds and three inches around my waist. Do I even have to make a note of this each week, coz it’s gonna be depressing.  

c. Exercise four mornings a week and three evenings a week. Hmm? I think it was three mornings and two evenings.  

2. Home fires

a. Scan 100 of my mom’s pictures. None yet.

b. Wash all of my house’s windows.   Washed my bedroom windows.   

c. Do a major cleaning of one of my closets. Not yet.   

d. Host my brother-in-law’s wedding at my house on August 4.   

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Write the Policy and Procedure manual. Not yet.

b. Host two merchandise sales. Not yet, but have one on August 4 (you may notice that is the day of the wedding at my house, I know, what am I thinking? Well, we do have other board members, you know, and I gotta let some of this go.)

c. Do a thorough inventory of our current merchandise. Not yet.

d. Apply for grants. Not yet.

e. Raise enough money ($5,000) to start the first segment of the community center. What am I thinking with this goal???

Hope you are all off to a better start to this Round than I am. Enjoy the summer weather, wherever you are.

Joining the Round Late

I believe we are a week into Round 3 of A Round of Words in 80 Days. I lose track pretty easily. I pretty much just try to post every Sunday what I have worked on in the last week and what I hope to accomplish in the coming week. At the beginning of the last Round, I started keeping track of my goals for the full three months instead of week by week. It worked well in some ways, and not so well in others. I guess that is the story of life.

In any event, I am going to try using that process again this time, sticking with many of the same goals, as I need to be getting the same stuff done around here. So without further ado, here are my goals for July, August and September.

A. WRITING

1. Finish another edit of my novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.” 

2. Continue tweaking my book proposal / query, as needed for each literary agent I intend to contact next.    

3. Write nine chapters on my next novel, which I am giving the working title of “New Old Spies.”  

4. Write two inspirational pieces for the page-a-day calendar at my work.     

5. Write two posts per week for my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

 

B. REACHING

1. Send proposals / queries to the next agents on my list.  

2. Submit the two inspirational pieces to my work calendar.  

3. Promote myself or a piece of my writing (whether it be promoting one of my books, submitting a piece somewhere, saying something brilliant about my writing on my social media, etc.) once a week.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible.

2. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”.

3. Read five other people’s blog posts per week.   

4. Finish reading three books. 

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Increase my water intake, averaging 60 ounces per day.

b. Lose five pounds and three inches around my waist. 
c. Exercise four mornings a week and three evenings a week.

2. Home fires

a. Scan 100 of my mom’s pictures.

b. Wash all of my house’s windows. 
c. Do a major cleaning of one of my closets.  

d. Host my brother-in-law’s wedding at my house on August 4.   

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Write the Policy and Procedure manual.

b. Host two merchandise sales.  

c. Do a thorough inventory of our current merchandise.

d. Apply for grants.

e. Raise enough money ($5,000) to start the first segment of the community center.

I have a lot coming up in the next three months. I didn’t mention that I also have a writers conference in September. Am looking forward to that and hoping it allows me lots of time to write and offers me some good tips as well as inspiration.

I did paint my bathroom walls yesterday and washed my bedroom windows, so I have a jump on at least a few things. I have a lot to do around the house before that wedding in August, luckily Hubby has more to do and the time to do it.

My backyard, where we plan on having the wedding. This was taken four years ago, on August 3, so about the same time the wedding will be. I wish the flowers would be in bloom, but it's still pretty back there. Praying for decent weather.