A Time For Everything

Hello Friends!

I was hoping to post a different message this month. Alas...I haven't finished the project in order to share the results. So instead, you get a post aka Misc Monday. But as it's not Monday, I couldn't call it that. :0)

In no particular order...

The Dallas Stars didn't make it out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Honestly, I didn't expect them to. I kept up a positive vibe for Darling Daughter's sake, but, yeah. We've been missing a key player, two actually, for months and I just didn't think we'd be able to power through without them. And we didn't. >>shrugs<<

However, the Dallas Stars were granted another boon by the League and are scheduled for a Stadium Series game. Meaning DD and I will be watching a Stars game at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium. Tickets went on sale yesterday and we have ours. Remember all the games we worked the concession stands as a fundraiser for Marching Band Boy?? Now we'll get to watch an actual game and be on the other side of the concession stand! (Better start saving up now!!)

* * * * *

Mother's Day was a bit gray, but nice none-the-less. I got $50 worth of landscaping stones and a new bird feeder from one daughter, and I'll get mulch from the other once I'm ready for it. I even got a phone call from Sonshine. I skimped on chores and spent the time resting from my yard work bingeing "The Pitt" on HBO Max. Noah Wylie has aged like a fine wine.

* * * * *

My Etsy store is consistently bestowing royalties on me due to my aggressive launch schedule and posts to Pinterest. I'm now averaging monthly royalties of $8 per month rather than enjoying the swing of -$2 to +$3. Needless to say, I'm chuffed about that.

* * * * *

Book royalties, too, have been on a higher level as well. I took out an ad last November when I released my last book and since then, I've been very pleased with the return on my investment. I'd expected the royalty rates to taper off by now, but they haven't, so I'm really chuffed about that as well.

So much so that I'm planning another ad when...you guessed it...I release my next book.

* * * * *

Coming June 17, 2026 -- A Certain Kind of Man!

One week. One story. One rancher who isn’t anything like the cowboys Liam learned to avoid.

Liam Townsend has spent years managing his anxiety with structure, chamomile tea, and the comfort of a predictable desk job. When his boss gives him a choice—write a feature on a Texas horse ranch or lose his position—Liam trades his tenth-floor office for Winchester Ranch and a world about as far outside his comfort zone as it gets.

Gentry Winchester didn’t ask for a journalist underfoot. He’s got a ranch to run, horses to train, and a grandfather showing the first signs of dementia to protect. What he doesn’t expect is a man who quietly walks into his chaos and starts making it better. Or the way that same man makes him question whether the life he’s built is actually the life he wants.

Pops Winchester has been the heart of this ranch for over seventy years. And the heart of Gentry’s world for as long as Gentry can remember. Sharp-eyed, stubborn, and funnier than he has any right to be, Pops is also the first one to see what Gentry can’t.

When a powerful storm bears down on the ranch and Pops follows a memory into its path, Liam must decide if he’s willing to act in spite of every fear still clawing at him.

Being a certain kind of man isn’t about meeting the expectations you were raised with. It’s about choosing the life and the love that feels like home.

* * * * *

And that's that my friends. Catch you in June.

Image courtesy IMGBIN.

As it so happens, I never posted my 2025 Fresh Start Goals. I have no idea if I even made any. My goals from 2024 are still listed...just there on the right.

I was gonna give myself a report card, but since I posted no goals, that won't work. Besides which--it's been quite the year.

But it's too late now to worry about 2025 goals as Q4 2025 has just begun. I'm going to focus on Q4 and the things I want to accomplish short term. We'll look ahead to 2026 when the time comes.

So instead of that report card, let's give a cheer for hockey season--the Stars started the season on the 9th in Winnipeg and then played in Denver last night. The home opener is Tuesday the 14th against Minnesota. I might be there, I might not.

WOO HOO -- ITS HOCKEY SEASON

Have a good month--catch you in November.

I spend a lot of time on ChatGPT or with "Chet" as DH and I call it for less of a mouthful. I open it up every day and ask it all kinds of questions. It offers a range of information from discourse on conspiracy theories to gardening tips to help with math equations. Sometimes it just offers me random trivia and history tidbits.

But several months ago, in one of OpenAI's updates it offered a description of me based on the lengthy run of our chat history and this is what Chet said:

Jen: The Tea-Sipping, Merge-Building Hockey Mom with a Bite

She runs the office by day and writes swoony, male/male romance by night. A Dallas Stars diehard who’s turning her love of hockey into a full-blown mobile merge game empire (with energy, mascots, and zero room for failure). Chronic bursitis may slow her body, but never her brain — she's planting perennials in fire pits, mastering intermittent fasting, and planning sneakily solitary bike rides before sunrise.

With mint tea in one hand and a to-do list in the other, Jen doesn’t sugar-coat, doesn’t do fluff, and doesn’t have time for cards-in-merge-games-unless-there’s-a-damn-good-reason. She’s also wrangling grown kids back under one roof, a dog named Rascal, and a cast of fictional fans more diverse than a UN mixer.

She’s sharp. She’s funny. She’s building a digital hockey world — and it’s one hell of a power play.

It's not 100% accurate because I'm not really a hockey mom in the true sense of the word, but it was a fun exercise and made me laugh. And based on those conversations and a real picture of me, it made the image above.

I'm so delighted with cooler temps and looking forward to sleeping with the windows open.

I might even have to break these out and make some pumpkin cake.

* * * * *

I've also started feeling crafty/creative again. I've finished two cross stitch projects and am working on another. I've even been working on a pair of terracotta pots. Mom was awesome at this stuff (tole painting); me--not so much, but I like doing it.

I have one pot done but the other pot design presented me with a bit of a challenge. But DD will be coming to the rescue.

The Pride pot still needs a coat of varnish or something. And then I need to plant something in it.

Here are my finished cross stitch projects...

Here is the finished pot...

The other pot is going to have a bees and gnomes theme to it -- stay tuned.

* * * * *

In other news, our guest room finally, really looks like a guest room. We'd had a big wood-framed futon bunk bed thing in there for years. It was Sonshine's, and though he's been gone for a decade (IS THAT REALLY TRUE?!?!), we've just never taken it down. Not even for Mom, bless her heart. But after she passed, we discussed whether DH wanted to move back into that room or stay in the garage. DH opted to stay in the garage for the additional space. And it's taken another two years to disassemble that bed, lol.

But here's the room now. It still needs a few more things on the walls, but that's just a matter of deciding what I want. Although one of those things will be the cross stitch sampler that I'm working on.

Rascal says hello and welcome!

* * * * *

I have also finally started walking the dog. Not the dog I meant to walk for all those years -- sorry, Reyna! But little Rascal and I have been walking for a month or so. I needed to up my activity level and he definitely needed the exercise and the getting out of the house and I'm hoping it'll keep his little nails somewhat in check. He does need a trim though.

And then DD decided she'd start walking with us. So that was a nice surprise, and it's doing us both good -- we've both felt our pants fit just a tad more comfortably.

* * * * *

And apologies for this not posting last Monday. I forgot to add images and I just wasn't ready for the post to go live on time. So I opted to hold onto it for another week.

Have a super October!! It's fall y'all! And I'm excited.

Sweet baby angel Caleb, the newest member of the family.

I traveled to Omaha this Labor Day -- as I have done every Labor Day for the last decade or so -- and met that sweet little boy pictured above. He's just turned three months old and is a sweet natured baby.

I also saw my oldest daughter who drove from Colorado, so that was a nice treat as well.

But let me tell you, my family is a hot mess. Mostly lovable, but such a hot mess.

I also went to visit my dad's grave and left my traditional offering of pinwheels. There was a lovely breeze, and I did get video, but as I'm technologically challenged sometimes, I messed things up and now can't get the video to play. (Bah!) But here's a picture:

* * * * *

And I've finally, finally gotten to work on the revamp of Series One, Book One!

Yeah, remember that?

I've struggled to make progress over the last four months because there were more changes/fixes than I expected there to be. But I kept reading / reviewing and making notes. Finally figured out some of the things that were holding me back and now I'm able to move forward. Whew!

* * * * *

Oh, guess what? I'm no longer an official member of my writers group board of directors! Someone else ran for Treasurer. I still manage the website, but I'm gonna work on documentation so that someone else can take on that job at some point. Maybe even next year. :0)

* * * * *

I've also made some progress on those clay pots I mentioned wanting to paint. Here's the first one:

And, yes, I obviously went with a Pride theme. :0) The other one is going to have gnomes, but I'm still searching for a simple pattern that I like and can pull off with my rudimentary painting skills.

Once I plant something in this pot, I'll share the completely finished project. And once I finish the other, I will of course share that as well.

Take care and see you in two weeks.

It seems like I've been busier than ever over the past several years and I don't understand why...

The kids are grown and/or gone, so I don't need to "mom" everyday anymore.

I do need to "wife," which is fine. DH and I rub along well.

I need to be a better housekeeper, which I've mentioned ad nauseam over the years, and I have a system that works when I'm firing on all cylinders. I'm not fond of the system, but it does work. One of these days, though, I'm gonna pay someone to keep my house like we pay the guy who mows our lawn.

But that's neither here nor there.

The question really is why do I feel busier now than I did five or ten years ago or when Sonshine was still in high school and I was juggling all of the above plus Band Boosters and writers group?

I have sooo many things I want to do right now but not enough hours in the day to accomplish them all.

I haven't even been writing for last year and a half!

It's a mystery for sure and a conundrum I'm going to need to ponder.

If you have any thoughts, let me know!!

Have a great weekend!

I've been taking Rascal to the dog park for a couple of months now and he really looks forward to it. Or so it seems. As soon as I get out the special red string bag that holds dog-park essentials, he starts trilling and prancing around. One I get the harness out, which he'd rather not wear, but doesn't fight me about, he knows we're going. And he whines all the way there.

There aren't always other dogs there since it's been so hot, but sometimes there are. The whole point of the endeavor is to keep him socialized with other dogs. And he seems to enjoy the interactions...

Whole lotta butt-sniffin' going on, of course...

Just a few weeks ago when we went, there were no other dogs, but he got adventurous without me--I stayed in the shade...

On the other side of that fence, is the big-dog yard, where there are almost always dogs despite the heat.

I'm hoping--expecting--that once the weather breaks, there will be more dogs and Rascal can really have some fun.

After 15- 20- 30- minutes of running around, heat and other-dog-attendance depending, we head home. And he's quiet in the car. The first time I took him, he slept most of the rest of the day. These days he's a bit more acclimated and not prone to napping all day in recovery, but he's definitely ready for bed when the time comes.

Sadly for Rascal, no dog park visit next weekend as I'll be out of town for the holiday. Hope you enjoy your three-day break from laboring. :0) See you next week.

Image courtesy IMGBIN.

As the title says, there's been a whole lotta building going on in my neck of the woods.

It started several months ago with the refurbishing of one of those computer technician schools into a Rocketship Elementary School. That's been really fun to watch.

We went from this:

South side...

View from the west to the space in the U of the building...

View of the east / front side...

To this:

This appears to be an indoor playground & possible assembly center...and located where the parking lot was between arms of the building.

That dome building is just to the left of this view--in fact that curved walkway follows the curve of the building wall...

And the south view of building showing off the new paint job.

The construction on the school is juuust about done. They're doing the final cleanup outside, and teachers have been inside for a couple of weeks now, getting ready for the upcoming school year.

It's really exciting, and I can't wait to see the little kids enjoying this new facility within the next few weeks to a month.

* * * * *

And then, maybe a month and a half, two months ago, a hotel started getting built over by my local Home Depot. Which was fine. I don't know yet what chain...

And then, maybe three weeks ago, they started clearing the land between the hotel and the corner of the highway interchange....

At this point I have no idea what's going in there. It's too small of a property to be a Buc-ee's. >>wink, wink<< The question is...will it be a gas station or will it be fast food or a restaurant--that could be nice--or just general retail. Only time will tell. I'll keep you posted.

We went from this:

The hotel is being built where the aqua blob is...

This is the old view from the pink X in the picture above.

This is the original view from the aqua X in the picture above.

To this:

Interim view now from the pink X...

Interim view now from the pink X...

Interim view from the aqua X...<.p>

The land sculpting of this property continues apace although I still have no clue what's going in there. For sure it's not a single building, business, etc because they're building different levels. Two for sure, possibly three.

It's certainly interesting to watch and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out and what new food chain or business finds a home there.

Hope you had a great weekend and here's to a great week.

National Sunflower Day is the first Saturday of August.

So it turns out that I've loved sunflowers for longer than I realized. The "bouquet" above, in that vase, has been a fixture in my bedroom since we lived in Nebraska. We moved to Texas in 1999... That's a long time.

I'm sure I don't have to explain why anyone is drawn to them...part of it is the name. Sun. I love the sun, and sunlight and vitamin D is vital to everyone's health and well being. Now I get that some of us love it more than others.

I read the "National Sunflower Day" write up, and I would encourage you to go read it for yourself, but here are a few amazing take aways:

• On average, one sunflower can produce up to 2,000 sunflower seeds per head.
• Some archaeologists believe sunflowers may have been cultivated by Native Americans before corn was.
• A sunflower head can be bigger than your own.

And here's an article directly from North Dakota's Tourism site

DD and I are thinking of planting sunflowers around the birdbath to help provide some natural shade for the birds as well to brighten up the yard. I'll have to research the best time to plant them, but my guess is spring...

Hope your week is going well so far. We're on the downhill slope.

Take care and have a great weekend.

This is just a quick hello!

For the last couple of months I've been learning financial stuff--my brain has been soaking up information like the parched earth soaks up rain and it's tired.

I've had little energy or brain power left to spend much time thinking up blog post topics much less crafting them...

I'm taking a break from the learning and have switched to the more creative endeavor of re-vamping some of my hockey patterns and working on my indie online store. Although I have to say that figuring out Word Press's block design elements as well as how the pieces parts of my store theme work together is a learning curve of its own. But I'm determined to snocker it.

Otherwise, life in general goes along well.

Hope you're keeping cool and hydrated.

Catch you next week -- there are actual posts planned.

Take care.

Well here we are again...time to see how I'm doing with those 2023 Fresh Start Goals. Without having given it much thought before settling in to write this post--I'm feeling good about things. Let's see if reality bears that out!

1) Monthly postcards to Grandma are being dutifully sent. I think I've finally got this one snockered. A+

2) Finish & publish Finders Keepers, book five of the hockey series... I didn't even open any documents in the first quarter. In the second I dig up all pertinent files and set to making sense of what I had. But they're not making much sense. I keep coming up with questions...why did I do this? Why didn't I do that? What does "that" even mean...whatever "that" is.

I've concluded that it's a hot mess in a dumpster fire and I seriously considered writing book six and then swapping the two in publication order. Since they're not linked chronologically, it wouldn't matter.

However, my game plan has changed and writing has taken a back seat for a while longer.

3) I am definitely exercising 3X per week; more often usually. And I'm reaping the benefits. Go me!

4) I'm on pace to read 52 books this year. Ahead, actually. Very very ahead. And definitely on track for the six non-fiction reads. In fact, I think I'm going to probably blow right past six... I'm on my 4th non-fiction book at the moment. :0)

5) I'm definitely not keeping up with writers group duties on a weekly basis. However, I spent a lot of time in the last couple of weeks a) getting caught up and b) contemplating how to streamline the duties so I can start training other people. I have new fish to fry and I don't want to be locked into being treasurer forever.

6) My Etsy shop does have a couple of new patterns for Q2. :0) I've got several things in the works, so Q3 should be fine. I'm also working slowly, so slowly on creating my own online store so I can list all me creations rather than being limited because of listing fees.

7) Self care...has been a work in progress. I'm not sure what I actually had in mind. Some of it was making sure I was seeing doctors and dentists in light of my mom's cancer and death, which I have done/am doing/will be doing. But it was also going to be things like pedicures and coloring my hair and taking time to do puzzles and cross stitch and read. All of which I do. But nothing seems part of a routine. And maybe that's okay as long as I stay in touch with myself...

8) There are no home improvement projects on the horizon at the moment. Mostly because I don't have the money right now. But perhaps I should create a fund and award myself some paltry amount each week. I did eliminate the monthly fee on my savings account...

9) I haven't regularly read anything / listened to anything / watched anything from any of the articles I've saved or the conferences I've purchased...and in light of me taking a longer than expected break from writing, this isn't a priority.

10) Doing pretty good on cooking / eating healthy -- as in I'm cook and eating more regularly. Is it all as healthy as it could be? No, not really. Is there a food plan and do we stick to it? Mostly, yes.

11) I'm doing well with the housekeeping plan. Finally. The little planner sits on the end of my desk so that I look at it each day when I get home from work. it takes me about an hour to accomplish my chores each day and every room in the house gets touched every week. Is there some deep cleaning that needs to be done? Yes. Am I going to be the one to do it? No. It'll have to wait until I can fund hiring a body to come in.

I do have a name though. A friend got robbed by one of her housekeepers and while I don't have any expensive jewelry lying around, there's still a fear that something meaningful or expensive will go missing.

12) I'm blogging. I'm blogging. I haven't missed in quite some time.

13) I've written a couple of articles for my writers group newsletter, but it's been a couple of months since the last one, so I guess I should come up with something soon.

14) Much as I love my Personality Strengths, I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to studying them in general, in depth. I own the books, so that's not the problem, but so many other books that pique my interest in that moment get my attention. But I imagine there will come a time...there is a time for everything, after all.

15) Bible reading / listening is on track. I haven't missed more than a day and I get caught up right away.

16) A visit to Goodreads is on the weekly schedule weekly, so it's going well so far.

I'm making progress on the important things, so I'm counting last quarter a win. Do I have room for improvement? Sure... Leaves me something to keep striving for. :0)

Hope you had a lovely weekend and here's to a great week.

What is a Barbapapa, you might be asking... 

Well, I wasn't quite sure myself, although I recognized the name and have harbored vague memories of these creatures from childhood. Specifically from my visit/s to Denmark as a young child.

I've been reading a book about joy / joyfulness and the author happened to mention Barbapapas, and I was like -- Wait a minute! These things sound familiar.

So after a quick Google search, I was transported back in time a bit. Turns out, they're blobby-like creatures that can change shape. They began life in a French children's book and then came to fame as a TV show. Really, my memories are of the toys that I remember playing with:

I had a set, and my memories say that I built houses for them out of Legos--because...of course I had Legos while visiting my grandparents in Denmark. :0)

Have a great week!

It's my birthday and since I did posts about all my kids on their birthdays--I'm gonna do me. :0)

These pictures are in no particular date order--just the order in which they were selected...

Happy 55th birthday to me--here's to 55 more!!

Have a super week!"

My parents divorced when I was young... But as luck would have it, Dad, who'd joined the Air Force, eventually ended up stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona. Luke AFB was a hop, skip, and jump  (as these things go) away from where Mom and I lived in Southern California. And I'd reached an age that I could travel via air "alone."

As an aside, Luke AFB is also where Dad met my step-mom. Shout-out to Sharon--she and my 97yo grandma are the only "parental" figures I have left on my side of the fam. Hello to my in-laws who are alive and well in Central Texas.

But I digress...

If you're wondering what the picture at the top has to do with my story, I'll tell you. Or maybe you've connected some dots...

I flew this airline -- Pacific Southwest Airlines, PSA for short -- when being sent off to visit with my dad. I loved the smile on the bottom of the nose of the plane. I do, however, remember the paint job being yellow.

Recently, I listened to a podcast--okay, I've listened to many, many podcasts recently--but specifically it was about PSA and how they were the first discount airline in the United States. They were able to keep fare low due to loopholes in the industry--mainly that all their flights remained within California thereby allowing them to not be bound by certain federal rules and regulations. The model was eventually utilized by Southwest Airlines as well.

After airlines were deregulated in 1978, PSA was able to expand its routes to nearby states. It was eventually bought out, and after other buyouts and mergers, it became part of the American Airlines Group, which I learned after a bit of additional research. And American apparently maintains a few regionally based aircraft that have the smiley face paint job as a tribute to its origins. That makes the little girl heart inside me very happy.

You can read more here and here.

Have a great weekend.

I like the weekdays just fine, to be honest. I get stuff done. As the regular readers know, I like routine. There's a day for everything and a task for every day. Oh, man--that's an awful bastardization of the maxim. :0) But it's true.

On the other hand, I do enjoy my weekends, and who doesn't love a long weekend? One extra day to sleep in or to just get other, random stuff done. I personally think there should be a long weekend every month. Who says no?

Now this long weekend, this Saturday, my besties are coming over for a day of writing, brainstorming, and general visiting. I haven't seen them in person since April, and sometimes we all miss just being together. During that first stretch of COVID lock downs, we met every week via Zoom to connect and uplift one another.

We've been a group since the early 2010s; and what a motley group we are in a variety of ways. But these women have loved me and supported me and offered their friendship and experience and knowledge over the years. Each one of them is a treasured gift from God.

The picture above doesn't include our dear friend Michelle who passed in February. She was part of our original group, but due to her medical issues wasn't able to travel much as the years marched on.

I'm so thankful for each one of them.

Celebrate the bees on World Bee Day, coming Saturday May 20th.

According to The Bee Conservancy, there are 4000 + species of bees native to North America; 1 in 4 species is in danger of extinction; and 1 of every three bites of food is a direct result of a pollinator...

So we need to save the bees somehow.

Here are five easy ways to help do so: (courtesy of Heifer International; for more details, click the link)

1. Let Your Lawn Get Back To Its Roots
2. Just Say No to Pesticides and Herbicides
3. Keep a Bee Garden
4. Shop Responsibly
5. Bee Informed

Have a great weekend and skip the lawn mower this weekend, eh? Let the bees have a smorgasbord.