Friday, July 31, 2015

American Fun Fact!


Who says you can't learn anything from reading fan fiction? I certainly don't. I've learned and am learning all kinds of things this year, including this...

{Image courtesy of Wikipedia.}

...there are absolutely no professional sports played in the United States on the day before or the day after the Major League Baseball All Star Game!

Have a great weekend!!


Wednesday, July 29, 2015

It's only Wednesday...



Monday, July 27, 2015

I'm at a loss...


Not much going on around here or over the weekend. I did the minimum laundry and grocery shopping, but otherwise lolled around, reading, cross stitching and watching TV with DH. It wasn't a bad weekend, but it wasn't overly exciting and passed far too quickly. :)

How was your weekend?




Friday, July 24, 2015

Is it the weekend already?


This week went by fast. I don't know why or how, but it did (looking back on it).

Not that I'm complaining, of course, because, well--THE WEEKEND.

And not that I have any major plans, but, well--THE WEEKEND!

And to celebrate Friday and, well--THE WEEKEND, here are some good looking men.

 Benedict Cumberbatch with his dad Timothy Carlton at Wimbledon this year.

I don't usually fangirl over Martin Freeman much, but he looked exceptionally hot at the Giffoni Film Festival.

 Mark Gatiss looking exceptionally Bond-ish in a recent video discussing/celebrating 007.

Have a great weekend!


Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Back on the wagon...


Now that all the excitement that May, June and July bring to my life, it's time to get back on the weight loss wagon. I still have my goal of reaching 120lbs., but with all the eating I've done in the past two and a half months, I've gained back about 8lbs. and it's time to lose those eight and then some.

So starting this past Monday, I got back on the treadmill and started counting those calories again. It's been a rough few days because my body's gotten used to less exercise and more calories, so it's griping quite a lot. My goal was to get four days of walking in, but I do listen to my body, and while I pushed through today, I think I'll have to skip tomorrow. My right leg needs a break.

I've also gotten back to my snatches of calisthenics. Whenever I use the rest room, I do a few little things to help stretch out the muscles that I don't use much since I sit on my behind most of the day. I can already feel the difference as I'm much less achy overall than I was just a few short days ago.

Also, more water. I've cut back on the (decaf) tea again and am trying to get back to more water. My body definitely lets me know when I haven't drunk enough.

Here's to weight loss (again)!



Monday, July 20, 2015

Surprise Flowers


About a month ago, I discovered a vinca growing up the cracks of my patio. It was a pleasant surprise amidst the weeds. While I didn't want things growing out of my patio, I didn't want to just rip it out and toss it in the lawn bag.


So I grabbed an empty flower container and I replanted it along with several of the other vinca sprouts I found. It was touch and go for a few days as they adjusted to their new home, but they finally decided it was okay and I have been enjoying their precious blooms every day since!





Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Friday, July 17, 2015

Traveling!!


Aside from traveling within the United States, which I have done (Nebraska for my sister's wedding/Chicago to see Sonshine) and will be doing (Nebraska to see my newest little nephew/Seattle for a Sherlock con/Atlanta for 221B Con), I am planning to travel outside the borders of the US!


We are planning our first vacation in many many years (other than seeing family) and DH wants to go on a cruise. I've never been on one, but it sounds like a grand time, although my first vote was for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. :) DH has no desire to go there, so the cruise it is.

 (Image from WIKIPEDIA)

But imagine days and days of sunshine, reading (lots and lots and lots of reading), and being on the water--well sorta. Also, apparently there also all kinds of amenities like theaters and whatnot to do. So it's something I can definitely get behind.

But first--I need a passport in order to get back into the country, so I've been working on that....

Have a great weekend!


Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Deadlines...


Sometime this past spring, I signed up to write a fic for a fest. The deadline is thirteen days away....

It's almost complete, so it's not that I can't or won't finish. I just have so many other things I want to do floating around in my brain and part of me wishes I hadn't signed up for it to begin with, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I've participated in other exchanges and fests and I always enjoy them, even though I always feel this way when the deadlines are looming.

So I will spend some time every day finishing up and get it submitted by the deadline and then I'll work on the stuff that's really calling me.




Monday, July 13, 2015

Merry Monday...


I'm a bit late on the uptake again, but I was barely on the PC at all this weekend, so the blog was not on my mind at all.

We hired some lawn care folks to come take care of our jungle...as I mentioned, DH was gone and the lawnmower broke. With all the moisture, it grew out of control rather quickly, though I don't think the guys really realized what they were in for. It took them almost 3.5 hours to do front, sides, and back--most of that was spent on the back yard.


But it's done now and it looks 100% better. I spent some time Sunday morning trimming away growth from along the fences and other random areas, as well as clearing out my bird feeder bed which has been terribly neglected of late and was looking rather pathetic.

Aside from that, I watched a lot of TV with hubster, but spent some time enjoying the sunshine with the dog.


Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Friday, July 10, 2015

TGIF


Not much to say today, other than I'm glad it's Friday. Life is almost back to normal, and I'm ready for it to be so.



Hope you have a marvelous weekend!


Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Second Quarter Goal Review


So the second quarter of the year has come and gone and it's time once again to report on how I'm doing toward my goals...

Remember, they're listed on the left there. Let's take them one by one...

1) do more crafts  -- check -- I finished the last two cross stitched Christmas ornaments


I do admit that only because I wanted to start on a new cross stitch project and couldn't justify it without finishing these.

I also did a little fan girl project... the door to 221B Baker Street in miniature. I made one for myself and one for my fellow Benedict Cumberbatch fan girl Janie Crouch.


2) self-publish a book -- in progress actually -- The first very rough draft is finished and waiting for serious revisions. I lack certain skills and have taking class after class trying to hone them. Not making much progress and so I will have to just knuckle down and trust whatever writing skills/instincts I have to pull it off. But it's scary.

3) research degree programs -- haven't thought about this one in a few months, to be honest... I was busy writing the book and then fireworks season happened, so...

4) work on the yards -- between a rainy spring and fireworks season and laziness, I haven't done much. Then the mower broke and so I have a jungle. I think we're going to take a bit of the funds we made from fireworks and pay someone to clean it up nice. Then we can maintain. After we fix the mower and buy a new weed whacker.

5) ramp up the proofreading -- I did great for the first half of the year, not doing so great at the moment. I need to put out a few more feelers out into the universe.

6) clean up/clean out the house -- not much going on there. I was super lazy while DH was away selling fireworks. But I'm ready to get back on the housekeeping wagon.

7) get healthy and well -- haven't invested much time and effort into this lately either, but I can definitely feel the difference. Now that DH is home, life can back to normal in all ways.

8) write 2500 words a week -- that'd be 65,000 words by now and I don't have it. My book is at 30K and the fics I've written equal approximately 18.5K, so that's only 48Kish all total...

9) read 3 million words -- yeah, covered that by February. I'm just over 8 million right now...

10) reach the 120lb. mark -- not doing so hot there -- gained 10 pounds over the last two months, so obviously my eating and exercise habits also need to get back on track

And there you have it... doing good on some, not so good on others. But it's been helpful to review and see what's what so that I can make the proper adjustments.

How about you? How are you doing on your goals for the year?


Monday, July 6, 2015

Back to normal...


We've survived another 4th of July season at the fireworks store and this time without Sonshine. I missed him to be sure, but I miss him all the time anyway. I know DH missed him a lot as he was down at the there store for the whole season without Sonshine's company and general/daily help.

This was Friday June 26--we def could have used Sonshine's help.

It was a strange and frustrating season too since the state of Texas/McLennan county have been working on the highways and byways of Texas--including our section of I-35 and the frontage road right in front of the store. Well, the actual highway work is done, but the frontage road is still a work in progress and has caused a lot of hassle and loss of sales these past few years. Hopefully by next season (Christmas/New Years), this section of the frontage road will also be complete.

And if that weren't enough, of course, there are other fireworks stands and stores in a general vicinity that we compete with. Two are going out of business, so that just leaves a stand...DH is thinking of trying to rent that space himself. We'll see what happens.

On an up note, I was managing the customers and the store for a bit, while DH was managing the parking lot after letting the guy we originally hired go. (That guy just wanted to sit in the shade and listen to his music and play on his phone...)  DH usually orchestrates the inside--getting customers to sales people, keeping the product on the shelves, but I got to take on that role and I didn't do too badly considering my lack of knowledge on what products we had in the storage area to re-stock with.

If we'd had Sonshine, he'd have known. Of course, he'd probably have been relegated to parking lot duty had he been there. :)  If I'd had one more sales person and one "runner," it would have been a little easier, but we made it through the huge rush, usually the four or five hours prior to dusk, without our shelves looking too awful. That's one thing we always try to do--keep the shelves full, so people always know they can find what they want right up until midnight. Fireworks don't go bad unless they get wet, so we store them for the next season.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Happy Fourth of July



Sadly, our flag is becoming offensive to many, though they have no qualms about accepting all that our flag stands for and offers. Our country is being denigrated and made a laughing stock from within and from the top rungs of leadership. It makes me really sad.

I'm waiting and hoping for the day to come soon when the real reason we have the Second Amendment comes into play and America's citizens say no more. It'll be a scary time, but our country needs us.

Now go out and celebrate what's left of our freedom before it's gone.


Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Sad day...


I have to attend a visitation this evening... Sadly, the father of DD's best friend and room mate (two different people, but brother and sister), died this past Monday. He'd been diagnosed with a brain tumor early last year and had undergone treatment and surgery. It seemed to have done the trick and then, well, it game back and was a bit more aggressive and then there wasn't anything to be done. They had to put him in the hospital last week and sedate him heavily as things were getting bad.

For the first time in my life I really know how other people feel. It'll be six years in November that my own dad died. That it had actually been six years surprised me. I guess I don't count the years that often, but I remember the last days in the hospital with my brothers and sisters and step mom. I remember the decision to take Dad off life support and then the waiting for him to decide it was okay for him to go. I even remember the time of death.

So anyway, while I'd only met the man and his wife once, his children are important to my child and so I shall go and support her and express my heartfelt condolences for their loss. I know it all too well.