A Time For Everything

For some that means the horrendous year of COVID has passed. Of course, we've still got a ways to go until the return of many normals or the cementing of new normals. By mid-year, vaccines should be available to all who want one. Hopefully, businesses will be reopening and the economies of cities, large and small, across the country will grow and thrive once more.

For the FitzGeralds in general, that means the slowness of the holidays has come and gone, and plans for the business can once again be ratcheted up and set into motion.

For me specifically, it means a fresh start on the accomplishment of my personal goals. Some goals will be recycled from previous years, some will be new, some will be variations on a theme.

Last week, I revisited my goals from 2020 and rated my efforts in achieving each one. I didn't do nearly as well as I hoped. Part of the problem, I think, was that I didn't set actual plans in place to accomplish the individual goals. I also plan to institute rewards. Because who doesn't like to be rewarded?

I'll have my list of goals along with my strategy for accomplishing each one and hopefully the reward soon. I was hoping for Friday, but action plans require a little more thought a time.

The new year also means hockey. The season start in a couple of weeks and if I can be in attendance, I will be.

Have a great first week of the new year. And remember...

Finally.

I went back to the number one tool in my writers toolbox and started reading. Again. Maybe for the dozenth time. Maybe the twentieth.

But things finally began crystallize in terms of one character's plot arc. I actually started with the latter half of the book and am now back at the beginning honing the beginning beats / scenes.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning's writing.

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The county in which I live put a mask ordinance into effect starting today, Friday, at 6PM and running through 6AM Monday August 3rd.

*

Another wave of reckoning may be coming for the hockey world as a whole. Allegations of hazing, bullying and abuse are being reported at a startling rate and not just by adults, but by peers. A class action law suit has been filed.

If you're a parent or a grandparent of a child in any type of organized sports, keep a very keen eye on your child and the other children and the parents and the adults who have care over your children while they're playing.

It's heartbreaking to read these accounts.

On that happy note, have a good weekend.

*sigh*

The reason posts have been hit or miss lately is because life has been rather routine for the last six weeks or so... I'm not going anywhere, I'm not doing anything that warrants excitement or a blog post.

Now that the shine has worn off the pandemic and the shelter-in-place orders, I'm ready for the world to get back to normal.

I listened to a series of videos last week that painted a vastly different picture of the pandemic than the media has hyped for the last couple of months. Just so you understand, I'm not blaming Trump and I have never blamed Trump. He did what the experts told him to do. And he never got credit up front for banning travel from China when he did. The media and others poo-poo'd the decision in the beginning, but then never gave him credit when everyone decided it was a good thing to have done.

Anyway...

I don't mind my routines, but as I said, they don't make for interesting blog posts, so let's revisit the image archives once again...

Blast from the past! I have no idea how long it was that I weighed 145 lbs. But I've come a long way baby.

Supposedly the best fried chicken in Memphis. DH and I stopped here on our way to Nashville many moons ago. It was pretty good chicken.

Yeah, it was pretty cold...at some point in the past. Thank goodness it's no longer that cold.

Have a great week!

Last Friday, I mentioned accomplishing some stuff. Of the three things I mentioned, only one was worked on last week as it should have been--the book; one was half-assed--the weight loss; and one wasn't even gotten to--the garage.

I just wasn't feeling it. Until yesterday. I finally started sorting through some boxes. I loaded up my car with as much stuff as I could fit without playing Tetris and jamming the cargo area full front to back, top to bottom. Of course, I'll have to unload it all tomorrow morning when I get to work, but that's fine.

Unfortunately, my trip to the donation station was originally postponed because of rain, and now it's on hold indefinitely until the world is allowed to open again. But all the stuff will be ready to go when it does.

As for the weight loss, I did get up and exercise every day but one, because I was up late (re-)watching a hockey game. I do build in those off days for the mornings after hockey game attendance or hockey game watching from home, so it wasn't as if I was cheating. In fact, I lost all those built-in off-days because hockey's been canceled.

On the other hand, I've been comfort / stress-eating more carbs than I need to, so I haven't lost anything, but I haven't gained anything either. But! Starting yesterday, I'm back to wearing the Fitbit, which tracks all my steps and exercise and food / water consumption. I'm hoping that by having to log my food and see the daily numbers, I'll be less inclined to eat the things I shouldn't. *fingers crossed* I'll see some improvement this week.

And last but not least--the writing. After exercising each morning, I plop my heinie in my chair, put on the headphones and Harry Potter soundtrack, and write. Since hockey's been canceled and I have no off-days, except the one I mentioned earlier, I've been making progress every day. Yesterday morning, I even knuckled down to sort out the actual timeline as well as some wonky plot issues. My romance beats are lined up and ready to go.

I've been working on this thing since mid-January and it's just about done and is very over word count. It's very rough and needs some heavy handed edits, but I'm ready for it!

While going through boxes left by my Brown Eyed Girl that she slated for donation--I came across this...

Why, yes, that's a tiara. While I wouldn't have bought one for myself, I'm not turning one down that's there for the re-appropriation. Where would I wear it, you ask. Well, I wore it on Sunday during my ZOOM session with some of my writers group friends. They loved it. I might even wear it to the first meeting back. :0)

And one last thing--the trip to WalMart this morning was not bad. There still wasn't any toilet paper, although they'd had some. I saw a woman with a package in her cart. Unfortunately, there was none left by the time I reached the appropriate aisle. But the cereal aisle was fully stocked and there was bottled water and plenty of bread. The lunch meat and meat displays weren't full, but they weren't barren either. I have hope that next week will be even better.

Take care and have a great week.

My monthly writers meeting has gone virtual. Our speaker for this month will be speaking to us via Zoom. Bars and restaurants in Tarrant County are going to be shut down at some point today, so the decision is definitely out of my hands now, but we'd already made the decision so that we weren't scrambling super last minute to put plan B into motion. I'm really going to miss seeing my friends this month though. These women are my people.

My thoughts about what's going on due to COVID-19 have spanned the gamut all week as I read this article and that article and the other article. I've finally come to the conclusion, however, that a) while all these closures are tragic and spell hardships for a great many people, they're necessary; b) social distancing is unfortunately necessary primarily / especially to manage the impact on our health care system; and c) many people want to blame the government and / or the media for various things going on such as panic buying, but I honestly don't know how things could have gone any different. People are still gonna over-react, people are still going to make decisions based on fear and not facts, people are still going to get their news *not* from appropriate sources.

We're a mere three months out from the first confirmed case in China. Were we supposed to shut down everything mid-January when we didn't know much? Sure, that would have been better. And what exactly caused people to think toilet paper was the can't-live-without item?

I really don't know.

But for good and for ill the world has been forced to hunker down and so we shall. We all have a chance to reconnect with our families, we can catch up on reading and crafts, television, and maybe get some spring cleaning done.

My plans include getting the garage cleaned out and getting my two books written and some other writing/publishing related stuff that I need to decide upon and write down.

Anyway...I was on a cruise to the Western Caribbean two weeks ago. That seems so long ago at this point, but I promised pictures. Our first stop was New Orleans, though, and I shared a few pictures the other day. Here are a few more from DH and my morning trek through the residential portion of the French Quarter. I have a love of architecture and I fell in love with the area. If I had money to spare, I would buy property in the French Quarter and try to infuse the area with small businesses and small living spaces...

Someday.

Here are just a few of my favorites:






There were so many building for sale and / or boarded over. It made my heart hurt.

But if you want to see the rest of my random photos, here's the link.

Take care and be safe!