A Time For Everything

I've been debating audio books, but the cost has been prohibitive until recently. Apparently Kindle Direct Publishing offered an AI audio narration beta program. One of my writer peeps tried it out on a stand-alone title. She just did it, so she doesn't have any results to share at the moment.

I too have one audio book title in play via Apple only, published March 2023, and after some research, it doesn't look like I've sold a single "copy" of that audio book. Is that mostly because it was available via Apple only and that's not a platform conducive to audio book sales?

The question becomes...do I pursue audio anyway if I can distribute through all the major audio platforms (such as Audible)? At the moment, my cost would be $0, so that seems like a no brainer, doesn't it?

On the other hand it's a lot of work for a questionable outcome and I've got to re-do the first series first, so I think I'm going to have to pass for now and hope that costs won't be prohibitive later.

* * * * *

Regal Princess / Princess Cruise Line

Image courtesy Wikipedia.

Next year, I'll be cruising once again. In celebration of my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary, they (the in-laws), along with one sister-in-law and her hubster, and DH and I will be cruising the Western Caribbean. I've been wanting to go on another cruise since the last one (right before the covid shutdowns!), and now I've got one booked. I'm excited about being on the boat but I'm very much not looking forward to the long lines / long wait to actually board. I have a plan though--I saved the walker I bought for my mom for just this purpose. :0)

* * * * *

Let's do a quick check-in on my goals...but you know what? It doesn't look like my goals for 2023 were updated to 2024's goals. Huh. I had to go dig up the post. But onward:

• I'm still reading.
• I haven't gotten to pay off any cards because my inheritance is still waiting some information from a CPA.
• I have not lost any pounds.
• I'm still using Hinge Health and am doing yoga, alternating days.
• Healthier eating has been a challenge.
• I've not spent any time in a manuscript on a weekly basis.
• No housekeeping routine as of yet because of a shake-up at work, but my guest room is shaping up.
• Grandma has been sent her letters.
• I had a slow start to the reading, but I'm now in reading mode, so catching up.
• And I'm working on cross stitch patterns for my online store/s.

Not where I want to be in the Health & Wellness category, but I'm doing okay everywhere else.

* * * * *

Stanley Cup -- Here We Come!!

I might have mentioned a time or two that my Dallas Stars have been a popular pick to win the-hardest- trophy-in-sports-to-win amongst the hockey writers that I read and pod-casters that I listen to since the beginning of the season. (It takes 16 wins to win the Stanley Cup, but could take as many as 28 games to accomplish.) Anyway...

The Stars were the first team to clinch a playoff berth, as they say, and now, DD and I are the proud owners of tickets to the second home game of round one, dates yet to be determined.

And that, dear readers, is that. Hope you're all well.

Catch you in a couple of weeks.

...into the future...

...or...

Life Returns to Normal

The road trip is in the rear view mirror.

My friend's visit came to an end.

Life returned to normal.

And now I have things I want to accomplish.

My desire to finish books has returned. It didn't come back in a rush because you long-time followers know that I wasn't sure it would come back at all or that I even cared if it did. But it has. The feeling have been simmering for a while and broke into a boil more recently, but being excited about my books and about writing and telling stories feels good.

My first project is a re-vamp of the first series, including new covers and some Amazon A+ Content graphics, for which I got an amazing deal from my cover artist.

The books were originally written in some weird second person, present tense which is prevalent in fan fiction but *not* in commercial fiction.

Why I did that, I have no idea, but I've been meaning to edit all those books into proper third person, past tense for years, but doing that until recently has been a tedious chore. The advent of AI platforms means I can make AI do the hard work. I still have to edit and tweak what it gets wrong (dialogue), but that's a much easier and less time-consuming endeavor.

I also want to finish book seven, which has been sitting un-done and un-touched for too many years, so I've been re-reading and percolating those heroes and that story, as well as brainstorm a plot and character ideas for books Eight and Nine. :0) I'm ambitious, aren't I?

* * * * *

Just a quick shout-out to my friend's visit because I haven't done that yet...

My friend Angela is a fellow writer and a fellow hockey fan, and we agreed that it would be fun to attend a hockey game together and, long story short, we made it happen.

She flew into Dallas to see her team play my team in my team's barn. Now, her team isn't so good right now and we both knew the chances of the Stars beating the Coyotes were high--which they did--but it was more about the experience. Surprisingly, she wasn't the only Coyotes fan in the crowd. We spotted a handful of them.

And we had fun, both visiting in general and watching hockey. Well, I enjoyed it. I shouldn't speak for her. ;0) She also got to meet a shared online friend that she'd never met before, so that was cool for her as well.

Here we are, post game:

* * * * *

So Q2 starts today, and I've been ruminating on what specific goals I want to work towards and accomplish over the course of the next three months. I also needed to update my Vision Board to keep those tasks / goals front and center.

So here are the things I'm working toward this quarter: a new cross stitch pattern for the online store; planting a Chinese wisteria in the bird feeder bed to a) provide shade for the birds / bird feeder and b) provide food for bees; read two non-fiction books (about money probably); get my eating habits back on track; and lose at least 5 pounds. I also want to finalize the converted text of the first two books I mentioned above.

* * * * *

I've also spent some time out in the yard -- HELLO SPRING -- cleaning out the squirrel buffet area of the yard. I churned up the old mulch and pulled the weeds. The weeds I tossed, but I relocated the funky mulch and dirt to a large low spot in my lawn (see that dark patch in the upper right edge of the image).

I also took down and tossed that white bench hanging off the tree at the top of the image. It was falling apart. I like it a lot, though, so I looked for another and happened to find them on sale at Hobby Lobby where I just so happened to have a gift card. I bought two since it was basically a two-for-one deal.

I'll buy some fresh mulch in a week or two, I'm thinking red this year for a pop of color, and fill in all the spaces around the rocks and fill up the bordered space to help my tree retain any moisture come the heat of summer.

* * * * *

And some good news--the Brown Eyed Girl and her soul mate *and* Sonshine are coming to visit. Sadly, not at the same time, but I'm not complaining. The Brown Eyed Girl will be in town over Mother's Day, and Sonshine will visit for my birthday. So YAY!

And that's about all I have to say for now.

Take care and see you in a couple of weeks.

This is my first picture ever of Buc-ee. I was introduced to the beaver at the Madisonville (TX) store by my dear friend Michelle. I don’t think either of us expected things to turn out this way—me dragging DD all over the southern United States to visit every Buc-ee’s there is. :0) But I think she’d get a kick out it.

Any who, day one (Saturday) was mostly about travel. But we planned a visit to the Memphis Zoo to get some physical exertion after seven hours in the car. And the Memphis Zoo is awesome. So if you’re ever in Memphis and have the time, visit their zoo.

DD and I had an awesome experience with a lion... We got to hear the lion roar! And it was just the most amazing thing to watch him and to hear him as it echoed and vibrated in the air. It was just more incredible than I can really describe.

Check this out...same critter, two different perspectives:

On Sunday, we hit the first of two Buc-ee's locations with lunch with a friend sandwiched between beaver sightings. We also traversed the bottom section of the Appalachian Mountains which was both a surprise and very beautiful. We weren't on roads with any kind of steep drops, but they were very windy and very narrow and so just a little anxiety inducing.

This doesn't do the scenery justice, but here you go...

We also got to experience Atlanta traffic at rush hour and, yowza, it was more harrowing than cutting across the Appalachians!

We passed the Olympic Torch Tower which was actually not the official Olympic Torch Cauldron from the 1996 Olympics.

Monday was our trip to the World of Coca Cola Museum, lunch with another friend, and two more Buc-ee's visits.

The museum was fun and we got to taste all kinds of Coke products from around the world. I took some pictures, but am just sharing this:

Tuesday was another looong travel day with a stint through Dallas traffic at rush hour to cap it off. But we had fun and made it home in one piece--obviously.

Now to turn my attention to my friend's visit. She arrives tomorrow and *we're going to hockey game together!* Her team is on town playing my team, so that should be a lot of fun.

I'm very excited. :0)

Take care and catch you in a couple of weeks.

Your regularly scheduled blog post will return next week. DD and I are visiting new beaver dens…

Have you seen Hamilton? The Broadway production now showing on Disney+...

DD loves the production, and I've gotten suckered into watching a few scenes now and then, but had never sat and watched the whole thing start to finish.

Until a couple of weeks ago. I'd been reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill again and in one chapter he discusses the Stock Market crash of 1929 and its cause, so I did a Google search on that, and then somewhere in conjunction with this mini research jaunt, I read that, while we learn how important Thomas Jefferson is in our history, Alexander Hamilton played a crucial albeit more background role in the forming of our nation. Which led me to sitting and watching Hamilton from start to finish.

And isn't Lin-Manuel Miranda amazing too? He wrote the book, wrote the score, and played Hamilton himself in the original production!

And then, wouldn't you know, DD learned that Hamilton is coming to Dallas and will be performed at the Winspear Opera House--guess who's going? :0) We have tickets and a parking pass. Now, sadly, Lin-Manuel Miranda is not performing in this particular production, but it ought to be a fantastic watch anyway.

* * * * *

Back to Doing...

Last post I reported that the to-doing had tapered off, and so it had. BUT! I've been really working hard to get back to getting things done despite the changes in my schedule and routine.

I also have motivation--a friend of mine is coming to visit and she's a pretty meticulous housekeeper. And while I can't get the whole house to a level of clean that's I'd prefer, there are some rooms (guest room, anyone?) that I can definitely make nice. 

So I am doing again while trying to build up strength and stamina.

* * * * *

The bursitis I experienced last year seems to be a thing of the past, thank goodness. The Hinge Health physical therapy regimen has worked wonders and I'm super pleased with its efficacy. If you have Blue Cross Blue Shield, I highly recommend it. There are several areas (hips only being one) to choose from.

I've also added yoga back to the mix. I alternate my Hinge Health routine with the yoga and the yoga has added a new level of challenge. And it feels good.

The next thing to conquer is the bad eating habits we've fallen into once again.

* * * * *

And after four and a half years, I've finally seen my dear friend N in person once again. We met for lunch this past Saturday, and it was so lovely so sit and chat and catch up.

So good to see you, N!!

* * * * *

Started reading The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel and it's super interesting. He talks not about psychology mumbo jumbo, but about what drives people to make the decisions they do about money. He's divided it up into twenty items / chapter, and there are a couple of them where I felt like he was speaking directly to me... *Jen makes notes to not forget those points.*

As I said, very a interesting read and I highly recommend it.

* * * * *

And that's all I have for this edition. Have a super week.

Catch you later!

Last summer, I'd planned / hoped to have DD and my March Buc-ee's Road Trip fully funded by December 31st 2023. Well, that didn't happen, buuut...it will be fully funded* by the time we hit the road. And I'm not counting any of the money from Mom's house. I've also got a line item in the personal budget to fund next year's trip starting in March.

* I won't have 100% of the money in hand, but once I finish a proofing job, I will. It's just that I probably won't finish the job and get paid until after our trip.

And not only is there a line item for our Buc-ee's Road Trips, there's also one for my annual road trip to visit my family. I'm excited to stop going into debt while taking these trips.

* * * * *

I watched this a couple of weeks ago and I highly recommend it. It's a bit sad and a bit bittersweet and hit a little too close to home, but it's really, really cute just the same.

The tag line is "It's never too late to chase a dream." It spoke to me...does it speak to you?

Anyway, the main character, Martha, became a cheerleader as a senior in high school but had to immediately drop out to care her mom who'd gotten sick. Fifty years later, she herself gets a cancer diagnosis. She decides to forgo chemo and move to a retirement community as she never married and doesn't have children.

One of the rules of the community is that you have to join a club, but there are no clubs of interest so she's encouraged to start her own. She ends up starting a cheerleading club with seven other senior women. They encounter a variety of obstacles but eventually overcome, and the journey is a lot of fun and amazing.

If you check it out, let me know what you think.

* * * * *

Remember all the to-doing I was doing and going to do? Well, less of that is happening now. We implemented some changes at the office, so I'm working till five these days. It took a few days to adjust, but now I'm handling the extended hours pretty well, but yoga and cooking and cleaning lost their time slots, so now I've got re-think things. I'm not keen on shifting all the cleaning to the weekends, but I may not have a choice.

I did start to do yoga on the non-Hinge Health days (for the hips/bursitis) and that seems to be working well. It's not the every-day yoga practice I was going for, but it's a good compromise. And to be honest, I was having issues remembering to yoga on the weekend afternoons when we're all home and hanging out. And even if I remembered, it would have been weird to put whatever we were in the middle of on hold so I could do yoga for twenty minutes. :0)

* * * * *

And last but not least--I got my car back! It was in the shop for 2.5 weeks getting fixed. Did I mention I got rear-ended right before Christmas? Well, I did, and now it's fixed and it's soooo nice to be back in my own vehicle.

Hope you're well. Back in a couple of weeks. Take care.

Doin' pretty good at this point... :0) And I'll tell you why at the end. But misc updates in the meantime:

Most of the country was besieged by various levels of UGLY COLD weather when the last post came out on January 15th, but we survived. I read that 80% of the country had temperatures below zero degrees that day. WOW!

DD and I had started a Harry Potter re-watch right before the end of the year as Peacock was showing the extended versions of the films. We got through the first days of the nasty freezing weather by finishing up our HP fest. DH even joined us each evening.

Speaking of Harry Potter...last weekend (the 20th/21st) I took the official sorting hat quiz and was officially sorted into Hufflepuff House. DD and I are House mates... :0)

* * * * *

So the "year of doing" started off pretty good...

I began a couple of 30-day challenges to help me stay motivated. One challenge is to do yoga every day and the other is to do (or start, for longer tasks) one of those to-do list items I've been meaning to get around to. I've only missed two days of yoga (both Saturdays) but, sadlyy, I've missed too many days of to-do items thanks to the weather.

If my stride gets thrown off too soon, I struggle to get back to it. Having to hunker down because of the cold pushed me off track, so I'm trying to get back on it. I did, however, get one thing done...

The junk drawer next to the back door has been cleaned out, and inexpensive shallow baskets have been purchased to keep the remaining items tidy. I have no before picture because that drawer was nasty.

On a side note... Several months ago I bought some contact paper to cover the ramen boxes I save to use as organizers.

Although now that I'm thinking about it...buying the inexpensive baskets at Dollar Tree is cheaper than the contact paper and I get more of them for the price of the contact paper that only covers three boxes... Hmm... I was gonna use up the remaining contact paper but it's not sticking well to the one box I covered, so into the trash it went. I'll just go straight for the Dollar Tree baskets next time I need to sort and organize anything.

* * * * *

On a random note--I've discovered the ease / convenience of depositing checks via my cell phone. In the last six months, my bank, which is centrally located between the office and the house, did away with one of its ATMs. Now, that branch gets a decent amount of traffic, especially around paydays, so you can imagine one ATM with tons of traffic. And, occasionally, it's just plain out of order. The next closest branch isn't far, but it's definitely out of the way so it's very inconvenient.

A week or so ago, when the ATM was out of order again and I just didn't want to drive to the other branch, I tried out the mobile deposit and -- easy as pie -- I'm a convert!!

* * * * *

Last but NOT least and the reason I'm feeling pretty good is that my mom's house has finally sold. I'm so relieved that the house and the property will have someone to take care of it and find pleasure in its beauty.

The selling price is way below the original sales price, but between Oregon state property tax invoices and one very thorough appraisal, I've come to the conclusion that we were asking too much. The final sales price was a couple grand below what the state said it was worth, so I'm going to count my blessings and wish the buyer well and happy trails.

And that's all for now folks... Have a super couple of weeks.

N--looking forward to seeing you!!

Image courtesy of IMGBIN.

That's not to say 2023 wasn't productive because it was. I read sooo many books** and learned a lot of things. Mostly about finances: where I want to be and how to get there.

** Official book count (of books that I read) according to Goodreads was 55, but I probably read three or four of them twice. I even listened to the audio version of a couple of titles on top of reading the book. Also unaccounted for is all the fan fiction and hockey articles I read and podcasts (hockey or history) that I listened to. That's A LOT of input.

I've determined that I need to re-read some of those books, but there are several books I've never read awaiting their turn. So re-read immediately or go for the new info first...

Okay...started reading a here-to-fore as unread-by-me book:  Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. :)

* * * * *

So...jury duty...I ended up being excused. They'd apparently gotten enough jurors for whatever case they were fixin' to prosecute, so I've done my duty for 2024 / 2025 according to my very last minute email.

* * * * *

2023: The Year of Abundance

Last year was supposed to be the year of abundance... And in many ways it was: family, love, time, productivity, and healing. But not in as many other ways as I'd hoped (financials, to be specific), but I'll take what I learned from all that reading and keep on moving forward.

2024: The Year of Doing

As you've probably gleaned from most of last year's posts, I'm on a mission to get out of debt and put money away for retirement.

That means that there will be little money left for anything other than debt-reduction. What I will have available is time and energy, so I'm going to turn my attention to doing the things around the house / yard that need doing.

Housekeeping, as you also know, has been an ongoing challenge for me, so that's part of the equation, but what I'm really talking about here are things like cleaning out the sheds, hauling off the yard debris we've gathered over the years from fallen trees and/or branches, clearing out the back corners of the yard behind the sheds. Etc, etc, etc... I've started the list, but there's plenty to get done.

* * * * *

So the moment you've all been waiting for! (lol)

Here are they...

Drum roll please...

My Fresh Start Goals for 2024

So back in October, when I gave my 3rd quarter report, I mentioned that the 2024 goals might look & feel different, and so they shall... I thought I'd mentioned that they'd be divvied up into categories, but I can't find that in a post, but it seemed the way to go.

• Finances
• Keep reading...
• Reduce debt / pay off a credit card or two.
• Health & Wellness
• Lose ten pounds
• Continue to utilize the Hinge Health app
• Get into a yoga routine
• Start eating healthier again
• Writing
• Spend time in the manuscript one a week.
• Housekeeping / Home Improvement
• Implement a housekeeping routine
• Carry out various home improvement tasks
• Miscellaneous
• Monthly missives to Grandma
• Read 57 books in 2024
• Increase my cross stitch pattern offerings

As listed, these aren't specific or measurable, but I do have a MS Word doc with all the details mapped out. Go me!

* * * * *

And last but certainly not least, in December, I lost another dear friend...

Goodbye dear Regina. You were a kind, gentle soul, and I know you're living your best life in heaven.

Taken in Granbury, June 2023. Regina is up front in the left corner.

Taken at Lake Conroe, June 2019. Regina is second from left, in the pink shirt.

* * * * *

Take care, dear friends.

Chat with you soon.

Well, here we are again looking ahead at another year and another chance to make positive changes in our lives and further progress toward our goals.

In the meantime, Christmas and New Years Eve were both spent in traditional fashion.

Christmas Eve with DH's family enjoying good food and good company.

New Years Eve was spent selling fireworks and ringing in the new year with some very dear friends. I also met a new friend...two of our faithful fireworks friends recently had a baby.

* * * * * *

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow?? My civic duty! For the first time in a suuuuper looong time, I've been summonsed for jury duty. Not sure how it's gonna go, but I guess I'll find out. I'll let you know in the next post.

* * * * * *

And looky--DD and I spent a lazy Christmas day working on our gingerbread row houses. It's not exactly like the picture, but that's okay. I really enjoyed spending time with DD and working on this together.

I was tempted to see what, if anything, Target had on clearance. :0) Alas, I have plenty of other projects I should get back to.

* * * * * *

Christmas Day was lovely. Santa and the fam were good to me. And we FaceTimed with the Brown-Eyed Girl and her soul mate to open gifts.

There was really no one "best" gift, but I was the recipient of this:

I've been hoping for this bad boy for a couple years now and now it's finally mine. I can't wait to buy some of those "plump-when-you-cook-em" franks and see how well they turn out. Thanks, Mimi!!

* * * * * *

And I'm going to sneak in a quick and dirty 4th quarter goals report....as per my 3rd quarter report, no grades again, and just an update (the full list is to the right):

1. letters and postcards to Grandma in Denmark still going out regularly
2. didn't finish the book; didn't even think about the book
3. my Hinge Health routine has been back in place
4. far surpassed the reading challenge goal
5. writers group duties happen when they happen :0)
6. no new patterns to Etsy shop except for customer requests
7. not much self care going on except the Hinge Health
8. no home improvement projects completed
9. no writer education happened
10. ate like crap--looking at you 2024 to make those changes
    
11. housekeeping was hit or miss, but looking forward to 2024
12. we're still blogging every other week; it's working for me
13. no articles for my writers group
14. didn't study the Personality Strengths
15. got through the whole Bible, with only a couple of missed days (which were made up immediately)
16. no more Goodreads habit

My Fresh Start Goals for 2024 will be along in two weeks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here's to a great 2024 for one and all.