A Time For Everything

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!

The world is grinding to a halt as the Corona Virus does its thing and yet we must carry on with life as best we are able. It's an interesting contrast.

All major sports seasons and events are or, I imagine, will be canceled or suspended. Conferences of all kinds are also being canceled. I get it. Slow the spread as much as possible so that medical facilities aren't overwhelmed, although it might a little late on that front. I want my hockey teams safe and healthy and I don't want sick people in general, but I'm really bummed the season was canceled.


I'm also nervous about the impacts across the globe, across the nation, and across the various industries; what the ripple effect is going to be.

Unfortunately, the only thing I can do is stay home--which I mostly do--and keep myself and my family out of harm's way.

It's really terrible to learn and to understand how spectacularly the infrastructure of our country has failed us. Yes, there have been people predicting something like this for years, but no one took it seriously enough to act or prepare.

I hate to imagine what the landscape of society will look like by the end of 2020.

Sorry for the downer post, but just posting all my vacation pictures without acknowledging the world-wide crisis would leave the wrong impression.

Anyway, have a safe and educational weekend--meaning, stay tuned to what's going on and take the utmost precautions you can.

I'm thinking about trying the Bullet Journal system for being more organized and more productive. It looks to be the advanced version of my general list making and requires a little more pre-planning and forethought and organization.


That's not a bad thing, but is it going to be more trouble than it's worth? I have one friend who uses a physical journal but has tweaked it to suit her needs and I have another friend who is more electronically minded.

Now I'm all for electronic but there's something to be said for grasping a concept with a physical book, tweaking it to my needs, and then going virtual. Possibly. Depending on my needs and the tweaks--going virtual might be "out of sight, out of mind." And I'm thinking this might also help me get back on track with daily tasks.



I have yet another friend who uses the happy tracker. She has a physical notebook with printed pages, sorted into various categories, and she rewards herself with stickers on the days / for the tasks she completes. I did that for a while and it worked for me as well, so I'm thinking I could combine the concepts.

Which means going virtual might not be the best option because if that journal--whatever form it takes, and right now it's a composition book I had lying around--is not in front of me, reminding me to open it, to read it, to look ahead, to plan, and to reward with stickers, then it might not happen. And that would defeat the whole purpose.

This year has flown past and the beginning of next year is going to be busy, busy, busy, and I feel like I could use some help in staying on top of all the moving parts.

And so here is the beginning of my journal...



I doubt I'll get too artsy with it...some people like to do decorate their journals, and whatever works for them. But for me it's wasted time. I'd rather be reading. :0)

It's an interesting concept and we'll see how it works for me.

Have a great weekend...

I'm still stuck on book seven of the Ten Rigs series. I have no idea why I'm stuck yet again or still-- I haven't decided which it truly is. But as I mentioned last Wednesday, there are plenty of other projects that need my attention and so...

I turned my attention to planning/plotting a new book. There's a possibility of a hockey anthology with some other authors from the conference, so I'm planning the book and writing the book. Even if the anthology itself doesn't come to fruition--I'll still have a new book to publish.

It feels good to be (slightly) more energetic and productive on the writing front.

Of course, this cold front is somewhat of a mood killer, but it's sunny today, so there's that.

The exercising twice a day continues on as well even though I was very bad last Sunday and again yesterday... But I've been holding steady weight-wise. As long as it's not going up, I'm fine for now.

I'm crossing things off my to-do list regularly and not too many new things are getting added, so the load is lightening just a little. WHEW!

So...back to work for me, crossing stuff off. Have a great rest of your week.

So it's Friday. I was AWOL on Wednesday as I'd had teeth pulled Monday and had to work with DH to get our taxes filed on Tuesday and just plum didn't think about a post for Wednesday.

My mouth still hurts a bit, but it's gotten a little better each day. It's definitely better than it was at the end of last week and over the weekend, and I've been able to sleep through the night again. Whew. I need my state-of-mind sleep. I don't function at peak anything without enough sleep.

So physical pain, emotional pain, and lack of sleep did not make for a very happy or healthy Jen.

Tomorrow is writers group meeting, but I'm on the fence about going. Sonshine leaving is still a sensitive topic. Anytime I think about him, my vision blurs, and I'm worried about bursting into tears in front of my friends and fellow writers and I'm really an ugly crier. But I missed last month and I want to see my friends. Decisions, decisions...

But the best news is that it's Friday which means no work for two days except, possibly, yard work...

Have a great weekend.

I can't believe I'm actually saying that. But it was a long hectic weekend and I'm glad it's Monday so I can just be still. Sure I've got work to do, but I sit to work and that suits me just fine right about now.

My weekend line up included: football game on Friday night, errands on Saturday morning, band fundraiser on Saturday afternoon, a trip to the symphony on Saturday night, and a Cowboy stadium event on Sunday.

Not much else to say at this point. I'm sleepy and I've got to get working.

So I'll sign off until Wednesday.

Have a great week.

There is a time for everything. It just sucks when time for more than one thing happens at the same time.

Work things are going on and chewing up a lot of my day. On top of which, band stuff is going on. As I mentioned, three days of band stuff in a row. Sunday will definitely be a time for rest.

But it's Friday and that has to mean something right? Yes! It means the work week is over. *whew*

It also means a football game tonight (four more including tonight's). Thankfully, the game is at our home field so the trip to and from the stadium will take minutes, even though it's not on the same property as the school itself.

Quick Updates...

The weight loss is going well. The next big milestone is to get under the 140lb. mark. I've got 5 to reach it, 6 to actually get under it. It'll be a few weeks.

With all the work crazy, writing is at a halt for the moment. I need to get back at it as I have a self-set deadline of 10.31 to finish book two. I'm not sure I can make it after a few revelations I've had, but if I apply myself, I can get close. It's that apply thing that's going to be a problem.

And I leave you with...


A time for rainbows. Can you see the second one?

This past five days have been awful. A co-located server crashed and all of one of our client's stuff (website, online store, and important access to online case files) was gone. Don't ask me why there was no backup. That's not my department. But I have been in the midst of the chaos, trying to salvage as much information from other sources as possible. I'm sick and tired of this client, I'm frustrated, and I'm ready to move onto other things.

Luckily, the weather has calmed. Things are up and running. Four hundred attorneys can do what they need to do. Now it's time to play catch up and see what else has gone on in my world for last several days. *deep breath*

The real weather is pleasant and though I prefer warmer temps to colder ones, I do wish things would return to normal.

So what's new with you?

There will be no walking today. Why?? Because it's pouring--thundering, lightning, the whole shebang. I'm sort of glad. I added lunges to my repertoire yesterday and the tops of my thighs are griping. Now, had it been sprinkling or not raining at all, I would have gone and endured the workout. But pneumonia and/or a lightning strike is not my idea of a good time.

So what am I doing up at this time of the morning? Well, usually walking or washing dishes but I think I'm going to write.

I was thrown a curve ball on my WIP, which means yet another re-write which I am not happy about. I really was trying to get that story told to the end. And submitted. And earn my PRO status with RWA. (Not for myself, as I could personally care less. But as a long time member of RWA and the current president of my chapter, I really out to have at least one finished manuscript.)

I hope that work today will be slow enough to be able to spend some time writing. There are never guarantees, as evidenced by yesterday, when several hundred defense attorneys and I could no longer access our county's electronic case file system. I won't bore with the whys and hows, but while the county scrambled to solve the problem, I took probably 15 to 20 calls from attorneys and paralegals and assistants over the course of about three hours wanting to know WHY they couldn't get in. And even after that problem was resolved, they kept calling me for various sundry other things. Gack.

And now, I'm going to write. Something.

So I get a call from the kid yesterday, late morning.

"Um, Mom...I can't go back to class until I get this shot..."

Aw, crud. He'd brought home a paper at the end of last year and it disappeared and I forgot all about the shot. Until the phone call.

All right, so off I go to school to pick up Sonshine. After a quick detour to the house to get a book, we go to Care Now. Sign in. Go to Wendy's for a quick bite. Back to Care Now to finish waiting.

"Oh, excuse me, Sonshine's mom? We just ran out of the TDAP vaccination, but the Arlington location has it. I've called ahead and they know you're coming."

Lovely. Back in the car we get and drive for fifteen minutes, wait another thirty, get the shot, wait ten for any bad reactions, wait to pay and then finally drive Sonshine back to school. (What--he had band practice after school--he *had* to go back.)

I finally get back to the office and try to figure out where I left off and what I had left to do. Did I mention that I felt like I was coming down with something...

On the up side, it was a gorgeous day and I got to be out in it rather than stuck in my chilly office. :)

It's shaping up to be a not-so-good day. It's just a feeling and I hope I'm wrong because I'm starting to feel a bit stressed.

Today is day three on my own. It hasn't been too bad, to be honest. I answered a fair share of phone calls yesterday and one of our techs was out yesterday so everything fell to the other. The tech is out again today and we have one client who will be especially cranky to hear that. Hubby is going to have to take care of her issue.

On top of answering phones, I've actually worked most of the day the past two days. I've taken stolen moments to do personal things, but with payday (the 1st) there's extra tasks involved and I now that it is just me, I can't afford to put things off or get behind.

I know you might be thinking, "oh, poor baby actually has to work." And I'm not really complaining, I'm just not used to having that many things to remember to do in a day. It'll get easier each day as I develop a new routine and integrate these new tasks.

In addition to that, I have to work Cowboy's Stadium tomorrow. I'm not really looking forward to that, but that's okay. It's not that I mind doing it--only that it chews up nine hours of a day and by the end I'm completely exhausted and can hardly do much else.

On Sunday I may have to make a whirlwind trip out of town to check out a drug rehab facility for my oldest DD. A seven hour drive one way. So I may really have no weekend. :(