Monday, July 17, 2023

Happy Anniversary to Us!

 

Image courtesy of IMGBIN.

Thirty years ago this week, with my oldest little brother and oldest little sister in tow, DH and I ran off to Elk Point, Union County, SD to get hitched.

Turns out my brother and sister were too young to serve as witnesses so we had to enlist some employees of the courthouse, but all's well that ends well.

All DH's friends and coworkers thought it was a shotgun wedding, but Sonshine didn't come along until a year and half later in December of 1995.

It's been a long windy road. There've been a few rough patches. But we did it....

So here's to us and another thirty years. (And a few more cruises as well. :0)

Have a great week!

 

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Throwback Thursday

 

Image courtesy DepositPhotos.com.

Ideas are a little thin on the ground this month--I've been focused hard on a few projects, so I'm just going to drag you on a trip down Memory Lane. :0)

Here we go...

 

Puck Soup Live Show in Deep Ellum in 2018. 

 

My first cruise December of...2014 I think.

 

Red Rock Canyon ~ October 2017

 

A view of the game from one of my first live games...

 

Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Naomie Harris.

 

221B Con in Atlanta ~ April 2016

 

Visit to Seattle to see Sonshine before deployment ~ September 2015

 

Icicles on the front porch ~ December 2013

 

A stop during my visit to Nashville ~ July 2013

 

Marching Band Program ~ Pyramids Along the Nile ~ Fall 2012

 

Visit to OKC / Moore, OK ~ August 2012

 

BBC Robin Hood Fan Friends Gathering ~ June 2012

 

First visit to the USS Lexington way back in I don't even know. Kids were all at home. Sonshine was in elementary school...

* * * * *

Lots of fun times to remember, but many more to look ahead to. DD and I are planning and working to fund our next Buc-ee's road trip. Tennessee here we come.

Have a great weekend.

 

Monday, July 10, 2023

2023 Goals ~ Second Quarter Review

 

Image courtesy of IMGBIN.

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.

 

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Hidden Figures

 

If you haven't seen this movie--WHY NOT?

I'd been meaning to watch it for forever and just didn't for various and sundry reasons. Then last Saturday, DD and I sat down to watch something and as we were looking for the movie we intended to watch, the card for this movie popped up and I said that first sentence to DD:

"Ive been meaning to watch that and have just never taken the time."

She suggested we watch it instead, which we did and WOW. I was blown away.

What didn't I love about this? Nothing but the racism as befit the period of the movie, but no helping that. Racism was an unfortunate fact of life then as now.

The performances were fabulous.

The three women showcased by the film, Katherine Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle MonĂ¡e), represented a cadre of about thirty to fifty Black women who were labeled "Colored Computers" according to the film. The book featured a fourth human calculator, Christine Darden, but she wasn't featured in the film by name.

The composite character of Al Harrison played by Keven Costner turned out to be a good guy, and John Glenn has always been a class act and Glen Powell did him justice.

Again, if you haven't seen this--what are you waiting for. It's currently streaming on Disney +.

Hope you had a great holiday and I hope you enjoy the upcoming weekend.

Take care!

 

Monday, July 3, 2023

Happy Fourth of July



Usually I just post some sort of Independence Day related pictures, wish you well, and go on my merry way.

Well, this year I decided to add a few fun facts to the mix. :0)

Did you know that...

...July 4th is one of the most patriotic days of the year, but it wasn’t until 1941 that Independence Day was declared a national paid holiday.

...The tablet held by Lady Liberty has July 4, 1776 engraved on it.

...Not one, but two signers of the Declaration of Independence died on the same exact date? Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826.

And some new pics I took on my way to Granbury a couple of weeks ago...



Happy Birthday, America!

Have a great week, friends.