And June is Done

Here is the list of goals I hoped to achieve by June 30:

Writing:

1)     Publish my Covid Chronicles in paperback form. Done.

2)      Publish “Holding All the Aces”, the memoir about my sister. Done.

            3)   Get back to work on my next novel, working title of “New, Old Spies.” Read through it and I wrote maybe 300 words.

Reaching:

1)     Promote all three of my latest works, “Prior to Now”, “Chris Coping with the Covid-19 Crisis” and “Holding All the Aces” twice a week.  Okay, it was only once a week.

2)     Prep for and promote the vendor sale on July 3. Started to.

3)     Research other vendor sales. Nope.

4)     Sew eight book bags to sell at my book sales. Yes.   

Reading:

1)     Read two books. Yes. One was horrible and one was pretty good.

2)     Read and study four chapters in the Book of Acts for my Thursday Bible study group. Only one because we only had Bible study one week.

Retiring:

1)     Clean the camper and get it ready for camping. Pretty much got it done. Just need to start packing the nonperishables and wash the outside.     

2)     Research my trip to Cambodia in the fall. Been working on it.

3)     Sign up for that expensive health insurance. Done, and because I can’t get my MRI until next week, I have to pay for another whole month of it. Argh.

Ranching:

1)     Thoroughly clean one room in the house. Who was I kidding? I can barely vacuum the kitchen floor, much less deep-clean anything! I did clean my desk in my office and cleaned out one of the book cases. So a start.

2)     Plant some flowers in the yard. Done. Hubs and I also planted some tomato plants and he has been diligently watering them for me.

            That’s not too bad, considering I still spent a lot of my time laying on the couch on a heating pad, an ice pack, or the TENS unit because my back is still awful. As you may have noticed above, I do have an MRI scheduled for next week. Not that it is going to help at all. Having worked in health care for 35 years, I’ve noticed that the majority of MRIs come back saying something like, “the patient is a mess but there is nothing that can be done to fix it.” Or they send you to a specialist to fix it, and six months and several thousand dollars later you aren’t any better.

            I will somehow muddle through. I’ve been trying really hard to be optimistic and just deal with the back and keep doing as much as I can.

            Anyway, what’s up for July?

Writing:

1)     Write 4,000 words on my next novel. I need to keep that goal if I plan on finishing the rough draft by the time I leave for Cambodia in mid-September.

2)     Edit the latest devotional that I started writing. Oh, I should have added that as a bonus goal above. I compiled forty-plus devotions from my other blog, all of which deal with how a person (me!) gets through pain. Still no title for it.

Reaching:

            1)   Promote one of my latest works, “Prior to Now”, “Chris Coping with the Covid- 19 Crisis” and “Holding All the Aces” once a week.

            2)  Attend vendor sale on July 3.

            3)  Research other vendor sales.  

Reading:

            1)  Read two books.

            2)  Read and study four chapters in the Book of Acts for my Thursday Bible study group.

Retiring:

            1)  Go camping one week.     

            2)  Research my trip to Cambodia in the fall once a week.

            3)  Secure cheaper health insurance by the end of July, assuming I won’t have to stay on the expensive insurance, because now my back is a pre-existing condition.

Ranching:

            1)  Thoroughly clean one room in the house.

            2)  Complete a sewing project. I was thinking about sewing a pair of pants to take to Cambodia; we’ll see.  

            3)  Work on my family tree once a week.

    Well, that should keep me busy. Just praying that my back gets better or at least that the MRI gives me some answers.

 Have a good month and happy Independence Day. Chris