Monday, Monday ....

You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice. ~Steven D. Woodhull

Normally I'd be hooting and hollering about it being Monday. Monday means "back to normal" at my house, and I love my routine. Especially after having two weeks of DH home (ergo absolutely NO routine whatsoever).

But ...

DH was called for jury duty. So, it's not routine here. Granted, he'll be heading out this morning at the same time, but even so ... it's not routine.

I really get stressed out when I don't have a script of sorts to follow. I can deal with it for a while, but then I just get amazingly irritable. I could tell that I hit my wall yesterday. I was Ms. Cranky! Of course, having only about four hours of sleep might have contributed. I also do not do well on very little sleep.

I've been worried about getting up early again starting this week. We "closed" LASR/WC for two weeks (in the past, we've noticed a distinct drop in visits around Christmas, and so don't think it's fair to authors to spotlight or interview them then -- they don't get enough bang for their buck) so I didn't have to get up to load pages onto the site. I've been a lazy slug, laying around until 6:30 or so every morning.

However, my body has apparently taken care of that worry for me. Both yesterday and today I woke up at 3:30 a.m. This morning wasn't bad, since I'd gone to be early last night, but I'm not sure I'm ready for this to become a habit.

In any case, DD is doing school today and DH is leaving the house (even if it's not for his usual number of hours) so I should be feeling moderately settled.

Praise be for Monday!

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You Seek Comfort

You are whimsical and a total free spirit. You enjoy things while they last and try not to get attached. People love that you have a down to earth side to you. You're often the reality check for other's dreams. You are a creature of habit. You relish all of the routines in your life. You work best when you're inspired. You can't just work mindlessly. Your work has to have meaning.

What Does Your Kitchen Say About You?

HAHAHAHAHA... this cracked me up (see the part about relishing routine?). I'm not particularly whimsical, but otherwise this fits to a "T".

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Blown Away!

When snow falls, nature listens. ~Antoinette van Kleeff

I can NOT believe how windy it is! For a solid 36 hours we've had ridiculous winds. Gusts past 50 MPH, steady winds at 20 - 30 MPH. Totally nuts. So, even though the snow is past, I'm still afraid of losing power. Wonder how many trees have gone down? We didn't get anywhere near the snow they predicted. We probably ended up with just under a foot. I'm glad.

We spent the day at home yesterday. Just after noon the sun came out for a bit, so DH cleared the driveway and DD and Dakota went outside to play. DD has pretty much outgrown her snowsuit (WAH!) so that's on the list to buy. They didn't stay out too long, though DD managed to make a pretty decent sled trail. The dog came in first -- she was COLD. Poor puppy has no undercoat, so even though she had on a jacket, she was freezing.

Here she is, thawing out by the fire:



It takes a while to melt, because she gathers snowballs all over herself:



I stayed inside and reorganized my pantry so I could fit a few of my boxed appliances (like my yogurt maker and my grain grinder) and so I could fit the gift my DH made for me. A new MONSTER chopping board!



I helped glue the bits together, but he did the rest including spending most of the day sanding (you can't even begin to imagine the mess in the basement... oy). It's about 15" wide, 20" long and 4" thick! It weighs about 5 lbs. That sucker should last me until I die.

The hubs is off all week so, I'm not sure what's going on today. It's incredibly stressful for me -- I really need routine and schedules (I kept asking him last night: "What are we doing tomorrow?" over and over, to which he replied: "I don't know. Whatever." AHHHHHHH!!!). I suppose it's good for me, but I honestly can't wait until he's back at work and things are back to normal. Unfortunately, he's been called to Jury Duty on January 3rd, so it won't be back to work then, either.

I hope my nerves hold out!

LOL....

Have a great day.

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Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Wonder what I missed?

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Back! And Back To Routine

For pragmatic reasons, I love the routine. I love the structure of it ... I know my life is kind of orderly. I just like that better. - Andrea Martin

I'm still suffering from agility hangover today, so bear with me.

After a crazy weekend -- during which I still managed to maintain my NaNoWriMo word count (yay me!), I'm ready for a quiet Monday.

RE: NaNo -- Maria Zannini said in a comment a couple of days ago, "Maybe a mysterious letter arrives..."

And I thought ... OKAY! Let's do that.

So, a mysterious letter has arrived for Geoff. I don't have a clue what's in it -- guess I'll find out when he opens it (he hasn't yet, his night at the charity auction was stressful and exhausting).

Any thoughts as to what might be in the letter?

And, I'm still working on placing all your objects in the story. I have BIG plans for the stuffed pig coming up. *G*

RE: Agility...

Saturday was interesting and exhausting.

It took place at a different dog's gym and this place does professional AKC agility tournaments. The difference in terms of equipment quality and space was amazing. I love where we are, but our equipment is worn out and much of it it jury-rigged (using water bottles as weights on the chute, for instance).

This place's stuff was incredible. It practically sparkled. It was also AKC regulation -- so the frame was steeper and the jumps were different. Thankfully, Dakota wasn't fazed in the least.

There were about a dozen kids there, ranging in age from 5 y.o. to 16 or so (two of the girls drove themselves, so they had to have been at least 16). The rules for junior handling is kids up to age 19.

There were four groups based on experience. Because my DD hasn't competed professionally, she had to start in the beginner group. This was both good and frustrating.

The good? It was FAR less stressful for her. The frustrating? They pulled all but the simplest of obstacles (we had no chute, no teeter, no dog walk and few tunnels) and the courses were ridiculously short. But DD has to "Q" or qualify at each level in order to advance. The other frustrating thing is that THIS competition didn't count her last junior handler competition scores. Apparently different clubs do things differently.

So now she has TWO binders with check lists to keep track of.

They did well in their runs, though. Dakota did get distracted once -- she was running out of a tunnel at one point and saw the teeter off course, but pretty much right in front of her. She LOVES the teeter. So, of course she had to go and do it... thankfully it didn't disqualify them, and they still finished in the allotted time with only the one fault.

They competed in four different "games" -- she "Q'd" in every one and got first place in her class.

On Sunday, we had the fun match at our dog gym. DD ran three different dogs and did fabulously. The course was challenging and a lot of fun. I videoed everything, though I discovered that my camera's memory card wasn't big enough (it's EIGHT gigabytes!!) and that the battery wasn't good enough for the entire day. I the middle of the second batch of runs, I had to hurry home and grab my laptop, download the videos and charge up the camera. As a result, I missed about eight of the dog's runs (including two of DD's).

Dakota's team came in second and she came in first in her class. Though there was another dog who had the best overall time, she ... how do I put this nicely? ... okay, there isn't a nice way to say "she cheated" so there you go. This is an advanced dog, and the owner didn't have her do closed poles, even though she is more than capable. As a result, she ran down the middle of open poles which cuts off a couple seconds from her score. She only beat Dakota by less than one second, so ... :::shrugs::: . We know who did best. ;-)

I'm still working on getting all the videos posted. I'm not going to put them here -- you can see DD's face too clearly. But -- to all my regular commenters, if you'd like to see them once they're ready, shoot me an email and I'll send you the link.

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Today, DH goes back to work. Only for two days (he's off again for just over a week starting on Wednesday), so it will be back to routine. I'm relieved. I really don't do well when things just .... happen. DH is not the kind of person to do a lot of planning. He's very spontaneous and has a habit of not telling me what's going on until about five minutes before it happens. Drives me wonky.

Ah well, such is life.

How was your weekend?

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You Are Innovative

You're the type of person who is always putting a new spin on things. You are very creative. You sometimes feel like you are a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, but that's okay! You'll build your own square hole. You are cutting edge to the point of being avant-garde. You are extremely inventive. You can't help but be original. You love to experiment and try new things.

The Sandwich Test

Okay ... but mostly, that sandwich just looks yummy. I may have one just like it for lunch today.

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Control

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage - pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically - to say 'no' to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger 'yes' burning inside. The enemy of the 'best' is often the 'good.' ~Stephen Covey

Life's been feeling a bit out of control lately -- like I'm dog paddling like crazy just to keep my head above water. I'm a big fan of routine and to-do lists and what-not, and lately none of that has happened.

I'm sure that's partly because DD is out of school, so we don't have THAT routine. I'm not entirely certain what's contributed to the rest, but I do know that I found a thick layer of dust on my bedroom dressers, and mildew on the rubber lining of my fridge -- two big indicators that I haven't been cleaning house as much as I should (just doing the "top" layer: dishes, laundry, sweeping, mopping and keeping the clutter down).

So... I'm doing FlyLady again. Going to get my calendar organized starting August 1st, have planned a few "fling boogies" and got a new battery for my timer.

That timer is also going to be used three other things: weeding, writing and blog hopping. Every day.

I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday morning during my walk (we walked just over an hour, the dog and I) and she mentioned wanting to walk, but having too much to do. I said she could take fifteen minutes out for a quick walk ... and as I said that, I realized that the same holds true for me and all the things I don't manage to get done during the day (like weeding, writing and blog hopping). Better, the timer really helps keep me focused, so I actually accomplish more in a shorter time.

I'm feeling much more in control, and I like it.

What about you? Are you more routine or spontaneous? What do you do in order to get what you need to get done daily, done? Any hints?

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You See Success in Your Future

Five years from now, you'll be on your way to achieving your goals. You have a plan in place to get everything you've ever dreamed of. Ten years from now, you will have achieved many of your goals. You are driven, motivated, and hardworking. There's no reason you can't reach for the sky.

What Do You Envision For Your Future?

Hope that's right!

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Nothing Ever Goes As Planned

You can avoid having ulcers by adapting to the situation: If you fall in the mud puddle, check your pockets for fish. ~Author Unknown

So... Yesterday didn't quite turn out as planned. At 11:00, my garage door opened (and scared me to death) and in walked DH.

He said he'd been feeling better until he walked into the climate controlled building at work -- he instantly started coughing and getting congested again, so he came home. It's a shame buildings only do recycled air any more and don't have windows you can actually open for some fresh stuff. I think that's what helped DD and I stay healthy. The weather here has been gorgeous during the day, in the mid-70s, so I opened every single window in the house all day, every day. Flush out those germies!!

In any case, it was the first in a long list of things that didn't go as planned, and I am a creature of habit so it made for a very stressful day for me. Ah well, them's the breaks!

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DD and I are trying to think of a name for her new business so I can get it set up online. I've decided NOT to use Etsy (their fees are a little steep for a kid's shop - .20 to list each item and 3.5% commission on every item sold PLUS they unlist your item if it doesn't sell after a certain amount of time and you have to pay the listing fee to put it back up again. On a $2.00 item, this pretty much kills the profit), and am most likely going with an online place called Artfire. I like how it looks (very professional), and the fees are far more reasonable, IMHO. There are NO fees if you only have 12 items listed, and it's a flat fee of $12/mo otherwise). Also, they allow you to link to blogs, twitter, etc., where Etsy does not. AND, you can even sell ad space on your page via Project Wonderful and keep the revenue. I just really think it's a far better deal.

Sorry to go on and on, but you can tell I was really excited to find Artfire when I was so unhappy about Etsy's fees, lol.

Anyway, the point is we're trying to think of a shop name and would love input. It may not end up being ONLY beading -- she's already thinking of other stuff she could create and sell, so we don't want it to say "Beading" or "Beads" or whatever.

She thought of "Imagination Creations" but it doesn't *quite* sound right.

Anyone have any ideas?

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Isn't it amazing how you can pop right out of bed when you're worried about something? The last few mornings, I've had to drag my rear out of bed, but this a.m.? I woke up and realized the cat wasn't bothering me to feed her... all I could picture was the cat lying dead somewhere so I leaped up and started looking.

I found her, locked into a room she'd gone in last night and then fallen asleep. What surprised me most, though, was that she wasn't crying, just sitting patiently at the door until I let her out. She's a VERY vocal cat, so that was just plain odd. Of course, the moment I opened the door, she started giving me the business all the way down to the kitchen until I fed her! *G*

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We whacked down the milkweed yesterday -- the seedpods were starting to open, and I just don't need any more plants there. Unfortunately, there were still some Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars eating, so we relocated them down the street where there was more milkweed growing in the wild. I really love those pillars -- so fuzzy and cute (photo from http://www.richard-seaman.com):



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Anyone have any fun plans for the weekend? Here our plans are sealing the driveway and chopping wood by hand (DH has apparently opted out of getting a wood-splitter).

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Shhh.... Writer At Work

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. ~Carl Sandberg

The dog woke me up very, very early this morning. I've managed to get all of my LASR work done, and still have nearly an hour before anyone else awakens.

So, I hope you'll forgive me when I ditch the blog writing for my fiction writing.

Just a quick meme:



1. What are you up to today? Be specific. We’ve talked about your morning routine before, now walk us through a typical Monday for you after breakfast is over. How do you feel about Mondays? A fresh start to your week? Or do you dread the drudge of getting back to the same old routine?

I love Monday's. DH goes back to work, DD goes to school (well, she's homeschooled, but... she "does" school) and I get my routine back. There isn't any such thing as a typical Monday, though. Today? I'll take the dog for a long walk first thing. I'll probably run to the middle school, because the recycle containers are there today and my recycle bins are full (No curb-side recycling here... it's a pain). DD will do school. We'll break for lunch and another walk. I'll work on the LASR site, and my writing, and probaby do some housework. ::shrugs::

2. Earworms - we all get them from time-to-time. What tune do you have stuck in your head at the moment? How important is music to your life? List some of your favorite songs - and I’m talking about songs that evoke a strong emotion in you; joy, anger, sadness, etc. Do you have one particular song that brings back a certain time period in your life? What is the song and what is the time period?

Didn't have anything in my head until I read this question. I have a couple of songs I CAN NOT stand because they run circles in my head when I hear them. One is "Feliz Navidad", probably because it's the same oh... twenty words... over and over and over.

Last week it was the title song from "Okalahoma". And for your listening enjoyment, here is Hugh Jackman and friends to sing it for you, so you can have an earworm:



3. Who have you needed to say thank you to lately? Who is this person and what did he/she do to prompt a thank you?

Judy, always. And Chris. And Michele. And, most recently, Allie. These are the ladies who help LASR stay on track.

My mom. Just cuz. My DD for her hugs and unconditional love.

I'm sure there are more, but it's early.

4. How many candles will be on your birthday cake this next birthday? What do you think about the age you are now? Are you comfortable with what you’ve accomplished in life so far? Or do you wish you could have achieved more? You’re being granted one birthday wish - what is it?

I'll be 42. It's hard to believe. I still feel 20 in my head. Of COURSE there is more I wish I had achieved. More success writing and earlier. I wish I'd finished college. I wish I'd pursued my acting. I wish I'd .... but the fact is -- wishing won't make it so. I'll just go forward from here instead.

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