bidding you adieu until the new year

 Okay, life really got in the way towards the end of the previous week, and I never was able to get it back together. First, Hubby and I went out and bought a new camping trailer. Weren’t really planning on it, but have been talking about it, and we found the right one, and were like – let’s just do this. Then there was another crisis which I can’t share. It’s all all right now, for now, and that’s all I can say right now (I seem to have used a limited vocabulary there).

 With all that being said, goals – and posting here – went by the road side. Which is why I didn’t post anything last Sunday. I put it in my head to post on Wednesday instead, but obviously that never happened.

 Here's what I did accomplish during the last two weeks. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

 A. Writing

1. My novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words. Wrote 1,359 words and one chapter.

b. Do an hour of research. Yes, there is always something to read up on about the Civil War.

            2. Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes, a couple.    

b. Write three posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. Yes, three per week.  

B. Reaching – Nothing. Oh, I did sell two more books from the promo I started a few weeks ago.   

C. Reading

1.  Read blog posts by four other people. Probably.

2. Read up to chapter eight in Revelation in the Bible. Yes, to chapter 15.

3. Finish reading “Everything to Lose”.  Yes.

D. Remaining

            1. The sweatshirt throw.

a. Put the backing on #2. Nope, sewing on the backing is the tricky part and I think I need to practice on something else.

b. Start sewing together #3. Yes.  

2. Post two more items for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Nope, but I did sell one of the items already listed.

3. Family tree, work on it one evening. Wow, nope.

4. Call our contractor about the projects we want to have done on the house. Nope.

I have been thinking a lot about these goals over the past week. I think with the holidays coming up so quickly, I’m going to bid you all adieu or more like, jusqu'à plus tard (I was surprised to find a sprinkle of French in my family tree).  I hope to be back after the first of the year with new energy and tenacity.

See you then and in the meantime, have a safe and happy Holiday season.

Early Christmas present to Hubby and me. Too bad it will be storage now until spring! 

Moving Onward

  I hope you and your family had a safe and healthy Thanksgiving. It was just me and Hubby, and the dog and three cats of course. We planned on having movie day, but making our simple meal and other things around here took up more time than anticipated, so we only watched one movie, “Love Actually.” It was really good and I can’t believe we had never seen it before.

Anyway, here’s how this week’s goals turned out. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

A. Writing

1. My novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words. I wrote 1,817 words, parts of two chapters.

b. Do an hour of research. At least an hour, probably more. I stumbled (via the internet) on the northern most confederate gravesite right here in my own state and totally went down the rabbit hole of its entire history. I definitely need to work it into my story.

            2. Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes.

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.  Yes, three.  

B. Reaching

            1. I’m going to do a Christmas promo this year for all my books.

a. Send out an email on it to my subscribers. Yes. Sold one book via it.

C. Reading

1.  Read blog posts by four other people. Yes, I think so.

2. Read two books in the Bible, 2^nd and 3^rd John. Yes, read the book of Jude too.  

3. Read half of “Everything to Lose”.  Up to 52%.

D. Remaining

            1. The sweatshirt throw.

a. Cut out more squares. Yes, cut out as many as I’m going to until I sew the ones I have.

b. Start putting the next one together. Yes, laid out two of them and sewed one together. Putting the back on is the tricky part, so I’m putting that off.  

2. Post two more items for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Posted four total.

3. Family tree, work on it one evening. Yes, I think I kept it to one evening.  

Since this past week was deer hunting season and my mom practically beat it into us as kids to not go near the woods during gun season, I haven’t taken a walk in my woods for nine days. I’m looking forward to getting back out there in the morning, even if it means getting up earlier. I need my fresh air.

Other than that, I don’t think there’s much going on this week. My boss is off tomorrow, so hopefully work will go well for at least that one day this week. Checking the obituaries on-line, I see we have lost a boatload of patients over the last few days. So very sad. Not sure how many were COVID related as most of them were quite old, so it could be anything. Still, so very sad, considering none of them will be having funerals.

Well, there you have it. What about the coming week? I’m going to try to keep moving onward.

A. Writing

1. My novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words. I really need to step this up. It appears to be the only goal I am really lagging on.

b. Do an hour of research.

            2. Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. 

b. Write three posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

B. Reaching – I have no ideas for this week, but hopefully I come up with something!  

C. Reading

1.  Read blog posts by four other people.

2. Read up to chapter eight in Revelation in the Bible. If you’ve never read it, it is somewhat of a bear to get through, all that imagery and cryptic writing. It’s slow reading for me.   

3. Finish reading “Everything to Lose”. 

D. Remaining

            1. The sweatshirt throw.

                        a. Put the backing on #2.

b. Start sewing together #3. (I have a total of eight in mind, by the way. I’ve already told myself that they will not get finished by Christmas.)

2. Post two more items for sale on Facebook Marketplace. (I may only have two more things I want to sell there.)

3. Family tree, work on it one evening. And only one evening, as it is so easy to get sucked in to it.

4. Call our contractor about the projects we want to have done on the house. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before. Since we finally have enough money in the bank to put into the house, we’ve decided it’s time to redo the kitchen, along with two other small projects. We’ve been talking about it and looking up ideas on-line and my head is already spinning in anticipation of all the decisions to make. If anyone wants to swoop in and pick everything out for us (within our budget), I would be fine with that.

Hope you have a good week. December starts in two days, which is my official start of the Christmas season. Keep in touch with your loved ones especially this time of year in these difficult times. Chris

Hubby and I eating our Thanksgiving dinner. 

Throw #2. Family history and story in this one. 

Anyone want an adorable Precious Moments teapot? 

Our cupboard doors are only one of the problems in our kitchen. 

Finally in a good place

 Finally, I feel like I had a good week. And I’m not talking about my goals here, though they look pretty good. I mean that I feel like I was in a good place most of the week. Yes, three more of the patients I know from the clinic passed away; only one I know of for sure had COVID. Yes, we have another staff member out sick with it. Yes, I worked a couple long days, but I also had two shorter days. Home by 5:30 one night!!! Oh, and two co-workers turned in their notices. 

I don’t know. In spite of all of that, I somehow felt this week like I was coming out from under the fog. Of course, then I woke up at 3:30 this morning with tremendous pain in my right shoulder and upper back. It had been coming on for a few days, but his morning it was completely out of whack. But I was able to stretch it out with some yoga. And I took a nap this afternoon – always a good thing.  

Here’s how this week’s goals turned out. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

           A.    Writing

1. My novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words. Wrote 2,013 words and 1 ½ chapters. Getting closer to the goal.

b. Do an hour of research. Yes, definitely.

            2. Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes.  

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. Yes.

B. Reaching

      1. I’m going to do a Christmas promo this year for all my books.

a. Write a blog post about it. Yes. Have had quite a few responses, and two sales so far.

                  b. Send out an email on it to my prescribers. Nope.

C. Reading

1.  Read blog posts by four other people. Yes.  

            2. Read a book in the Bible. Yes, I read two, actually, 2 Peter and 1 John.

            3. Start a new novel. I started reading “And Then There Were None”, by Agatha Christie, as I want to get in another classic before the end of the year, but it didn’t take me long to realize that I’d never be able to focus on it enough to know who done it. Instead I started “Everything We Lose” by Annette Oppenlander. It’s a teen/young adult Civil War novel, so will be a quick read, but hopefully, maybe also help me with my WIP.

D. Remaining

      1. The sweatshirt throw.

a. Wash a dozen more sweatshirts. Yes, I have them all washed, over seventy of them!

b. Cut out more squares. Cut out twelve squares.

c. Extra – I also bought four more pieces of fabric for backing them. I ordered them on-line and picked them up curbside. So much better than standing around the store waiting for a clerk to cut them for me.

           2. Post two more items for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Only posted one item.

           3. Family tree, work on it one evening. Yes. I can’t believe my husband has ancestors who lived in the Colonies in the 1600s, that his seventh great-grandfather sailed here from England in 1670 at the age of ten! I’m completely flabbergasted.

And here we are for the upcoming week. With an extra day for Thanksgiving, which isn’t going to entail the usual stressful housecleaning and cooking for over a dozen. Hubby and I are planning a day of movie-watching in between our turkey feasting.

A. Writing

1. My novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words.

b. Do an hour of research.

            2. Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. 

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

B. Reaching

            1. I’m going to do a Christmas promo this year for all my books.

                        a. Send out an email on it to my prescribers.

C. Reading

1.  Read blog posts by four other people.

2. Read two books in the Bible, 2^nd and 3^rd John.  

3. Read half of “Everything to Lose”.  

D. Remaining

            1. The sweatshirt throw.

                        a. Cut out more squares.

b. Start putting the next one together.

2. Post two more items for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

3. Family tree, work on it one evening. And only one evening, as it is so easy to get sucked in to it.

Hope you and your family have a good Thanksgiving. Though it will be different for most of us, be safe and stay healthy.  Chris

Speaking of the Family Tree, Hubby on the right with his dad and two brothers. 

So nice to pick up this fleece curbside. Except they were all supposed to be the same size and this is what I got. It was all on sale, though, and the convenience of the whole thing made up for this glitch. 

Piles of Mom-in-law's sweatshirts. This would be just over half of them. Yikes!

Adorable set of Precious Moments dishes for sale, if anyone is interested. 

Trying to Move Forward with my Goals

COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on my life. On Wednesday, I had contact with three people at work who came back positive. It shouldn’t be a big deal; well, it is and it isn’t. I’m not afraid of catching it and ending up in the hospital on a vent or anything like. I just don’t want to have to think about it.

How much time would I have to be off work? What if Hubby gets it from me? What if I get it from him, as he was also in close contact with someone last week who tested positive. I know that I am singing to the choir, but – I want the pandemic to go away!

In the meantime, life goes on and I need to get a grip, maybe try focusing on my goals.

Here’s how this week went. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Write a blog post about it. Nope, there’s just too much else to blog about!

b. Email a woman who asked me for more information on it. Done. And actually, she just emailed me back and would like me to mail her a copy. Yeah.     

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words. Wrote one chapter for 1,561 words. Seems that I can only sneak in one chapter a week. Argh. That’s not much.

b. Do an hour of research. Once again, I can’t say it was an hour, but it seems as I am writing along, I always end up having to stop to look something up.  

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes. Wrote three entries actually and blogged about it on Friday. Obviously, it has been on my mind.  

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. Yes.

c. Research markets to submit to. A little bit.

4) Other stuff.

a. The sweatshirt throw.

i. Wash the backing and sew it together.  Yes. Didn’t turn out as I  would have liked, but that’s why I made a practice one. I’m calling this first one Primrose, after Katniss Everdeen’s little sister, when she talks about her duck tails hanging out. I have duck tails on this throw.

ii. Cut out more squares for the next one. Yes.

b. Start posting some of our stuff for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Posted the set of Russian legends plates and sold them in a day!

I’ve been looking at these goals, and my life, and thinking that it’s time to move forward on this list. I’m going to return to my writing, reaching, reading, remaining template, in an attempt to be more productive and diverse. And hopefully organized.

A.    Writing

1. My novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words.

b. Do an hour of research.

            2. Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. 

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

B. Reaching

      1. I’m going to do a Christmas promo this year for all my books.

                  a. Write a blog post about it.

                  b. Send out an email on it to my prescribers.

C. Reading

1.  Read blog posts by four other people.

           2. Read a book in the Bible. Three years ago, I started reading through the Bible, for the second time. My goal was to finish it in two years, and here I am, with four books left to read. Would like to get it done by the end of the year, but once I get to that final book, Revelations? That’s a tough one to absorb. I’ll try to work on it a little bit more and see how far I get.

           3. Start a new novel. I just finished “I’ll Watch the Moon” by Ann Tatlock. I liked it a lot. I have a long list of other books to read, just have to pick one.

D. Remaining

      1. The sweatshirt throw.

                  a. Wash a dozen more sweatshirts.

b. Cut out more squares. This is going to be much more time-consuming than anticipated, as I have to wash all of the sweatshirts first. I still have forty-some waiting for that first step. I think I will cut the arms off prior to throwing them in the wash, so I can wash more at one time (my washing machine has a spin cycle problem, so I can only run small loads). Plus, I think I should get them all done and laid out so I know which patterns will go together. I do overthink everything!

           2. Post two more items for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

           3. Family tree. Work on that one evening. I started back on it this weekend, working on my husband’s family. Finding some interesting stuff there.  

Hope you are doing well and rocking your goals. Stay safe and stay healthy.  Chris 

(And my apologies again that the formatting on this isn't consistent. Stupid blogger! Not sure how much more of this I can take!) 

The finished first sweatshirt throw, made with some of my mother-in-law's oldest sweatshirts,
as I'll need practice on this. 

The ducktail in the corner. Not supposed to be there. 

Next set of items to try to sell. Aren't they cute? Not in my house, though. 

I wish I knew . . .

I wish I knew where this past week went to. Once again, it’s Sunday evening, and I’m looking at my list of goals, going – what happened here?

Work, Monday through Thursday, was the usual load of stress and then I had a long list of chores to do around the house on Friday. Saturday morning, my daughter and I jumped in the car and drove down to see my son. We had a great visit, and I just got back home a couple hours ago. 

And, yes, I am still struggling with the time change thing, feeling like I need to get ready for bed by seven o’clock. It’s a real struggle.

So in addition to that, here’s what I got done from my list. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Write a blog post about it, as I haven’t done that in quite some time. Nope.   

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words. Wrote 2,953 words and two chapters. So close.

b. Do an hour of research. I did some, but honestly, it wasn’t an hour.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes.  

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. No, only                     two. Somehow, in my determination to avoid the election all week, I               wrote a post Tuesday night and totally forgot to post it. Yikes.  

c. Research markets to submit to. Hmm? I don’t think so.  

4) Other stuff.

a. Work in the yard.  Done. Friday, Hubby finished the last of the leaves, and I crawled up on the roof and blew out the gutters with the leaf blower. It was very satisfying, but my upper back and shoulders are still killing me.

b. The sweatshirt throw.

i. Start sewing squares together. Got the whole front together.

ii. Buy the backing for it. Yup.

As I often believe on Sunday night, I don’t think I have anything extra going on this week. I just need to buckle down and focus on this list of things to do, instead of being all willy-nilly all week.  

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Write a blog post about it.

b. E-mail a woman who asked me for more information on it.    

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words.

b. Do an hour of research. 

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. 

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

c. Research markets to submit to.

4) Other stuff.

a. The sweatshirt throw.

i. Wash the backing and sew it together.  

ii. Cut out more squares for the next one.

                        b. Start posting some of our stuff for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

Hope you are doing well and rocking your goals. Stay safe and stay healthy.  Chris 

(Oh, and I still am struggling with the stupid changes made to blogger. Just thought I'd mention that again.)

 

Time Change Blues

I always spend this Sunday in November, the one where we turn our clocks back an hour for some invalid reason (I know the reason, but it no longer seems applicable), waiting to go back to bed. I slept well last night, until the dog woke me at 3:30. His usual time to get up is 4:30, so I knew this was coming, but every year I hope I have it wrong and he will sleep until 5:30. I hate this day more every year.

So, here I am, finally getting around to writing this, at five pm and it is pitch black outside. Only six months of this. Oh, boy.

Here’s what little I did get done this past week. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Promote it somehow. Nope, but I may at least have an idea for next week.

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words. Only wrote 2,111 words, but I did do some research one night. I need to add that goal for next week.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes, wrote two entries for a total of 1,018 words. The entire chronicle is up to 36,739 words!

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.               Yes.

4) Other stuff.

a. Work in the yard.

i) finish raking the yard. No, because – are you kidding me? – we still have snow on the ground. I think I give up.

ii) finish prepping my garden for winter. No, same as                 above.

b. Start the sweatshirt throw from my mother-in-law’s sweatshirts. Yes.  I washed and cut eight of them into squares.   

Next weekend, my daughter and I hope to run down to see my son. Those things are so important, especially right now. We’re getting a hotel room, and hopefully the weather is nice enough to do things outside, because otherwise, we will hole up in the room and just visit, I guess.

Here’s what I plan to get done in addition to the family visit.

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Write a blog post about it, as I haven’t done that in quite             some time.   

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words.

b. Do an hour of research.  

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. 

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

c. Research markets to submit to.

4) Other stuff.

a. Work in the yard. I’m leaving this here, but really leaving it up to Hubby to get done.

b. The sweatshirt throw.

i. Start sewing squares together.

ii. Buy the backing for it.

As usual, lately, that doesn’t sound like much of a list. Wish me luck with it. And hoping you are doing well with your lists of things to do. Oh, and best wishes to everyone tackling NaNoWriMo.

Stay safe and stay healthy.  Chris 

Only about half the sweatshirts we salvaged from Hubby's mom's house.

The first stack cut into squares. 

not a rock star

 I knew I wasn’t going to be a rock star this past week, but I really thought I would be able to get something done. But alas, I didn’t accomplish much. Yes, we still had a lot going on with my mother-in-law’s estate, but really? The only thing that I truly had no control over is that it was snowy much of the week and never got much above freezing, so we couldn’t get anything done in the yard.

Here’s what little I did get done. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Promote it somehow. Nope, pretty sure I did not.

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words. Wrote 1,577 words. I have got to pick up the pace!

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Nope, which is a shame as there is so much to say about it right now.

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.                  Yup.

c. Write a poem, because it is poetry month and I haven’t written any in a long time, and any time I go to a funeral, I come home with thoughts of poems to write in my head. Nope, are you kidding?

4) Other stuff.

a. Work in the yard.

i) finishing raking the yard. Kinda hard to do in the                   snow.

ii) finishing prepping my garden for winter. Again,                    snow.

b. Finishing working at my MIL’s house. Yes, we did as much as we could and called it quits.  

I don’t have any excuses for the upcoming week. I am still exhausted from the last two weeks, but I will start getting caught up on sleep a little every day (I hope). And right now the forecast is for half-way decent weather later in the week, so we better get that yard work done.

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Promote it somehow.  

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,700 words.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles.  

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

4) Other stuff.

a. Work in the yard.

i) finish raking the yard.  

ii) finish prepping my garden for winter.

b. In addition to lots of other collections, my MIL collected sweatshirts. I brought over fifty of them home with me. I decided to make them into throws, but I need to first wash them all, so I want to wash and prep the first batch. Sounds easy enough, right?   

Looks like baby steps, but that is good enough for now. 

Stay safe and stay healthy.  Chris

(Oh, and if anyone running the show down at Blogger reads this, I still hate the changes you made. I do not want double spacing between my bullet points, but you don't seem to care what I want.)

Hubby and I, at the lake in his home town, the last decent weather day we had