Progress Report

This was a long week. Workwise. Familywise. And emotionally. Most of which it doesn't feel like my place to share. I had a hellacious day Wednesday. Day job was busy. Side gig was busy and had issues that required a redo. Thursday was much the same without the redo. BLAH. I finally caught up Friday with the day job so hopefully this next week will be more manageable.

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I haven't done a concentrated walk. It's still a goal though so I'm leaving it up here. However, I have started tracking the days I at least met my step goal per my pedometer and that was a wonderful 5 of 7 days this week.

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 7 of 7 days. I failed to read a non-fiction book in February so my goal is to read/listen to two this month. I actually started one yesterday and have another I need to transfer from my email to my ereader. It's been forever since I had an epub book I had to charge and restart my poor Nook! 

    4) Work Writing -- 3 of 7 days. This was a major miss week due aforementioned long week.

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days. I ended up writing a page of my frustrations out Wednesday but that was expected. I struggled to come up with 3 things I was grateful for Wednesday and Thursday but did manage it.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 3 of 7 days. I get three in pretty easily most days but that final one it hard if I don't get it drunk before I get home from work. (I mean, who wants to be up multiple times a night? LOL)

I'm feeling the financial pinch since the first payday in March is always small due to the short pay period at the end of February. Definitely tightening the belt. Hopefully, the other contributors to the monthly expenses step up to the plate. 

Weekly Progress

 For a short week it sure felt long. I took last Friday off which gave me a nice four-day weekend. I got quite a bit done on my current writing project. The goal is to get that bad boy done and edited by summer. I'm not putting a specific date on it but am aiming for June, I would be happy with July though.

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I haven't done a concentrated walk. It's still a goal though so I'm leaving it up here. Per my pedometer, I'm averaging 1.5 miles of walking per day which I'm happy about.  

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 4 of 7 days. I've failed so far this month to read a non-fiction book - Sigh. 

    4) Work Writing -- 5 of 7 days. I began to process of moving my WIP back into Scrivener. It's a bit easier to move scenes around when you need to. 

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days. No real surprises this week during my review. I fought some stress headaches though. 

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 2 of 7 days. I get three in pretty easily most days but that final one it hard if I don't get it drunk before I get home from work. (I mean, who wants to be up multiple times a night? LOL)

I can't believe we're moving into March already. This year is just flying by.

Weekly Progress Times Two

 Well, oops. Superbowl and all that.

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days - both weeks.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I haven't done a concentrated walk. It's still a goal though so I'm leaving it up here. Per my pedometer, I'm averaging 1.5 miles of walking per day which I'm happy about.  

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 6 of 7 days - both weeks. I've failed so far this month to read a non-fiction book - Sigh. 

    4) Work Writing -- 6 of 7 days - for last week. 7 of 7 days for this week. I've actually been trying to get my WIP plotted to my satisfaction this weekend. 

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days - both weeks. No surprises this week during by review for either week. Though I was hard pressed to find 3 one day this week due to some work related drama that was resolved the following day.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 3 of 7 - both weeks. Which seems wrong so I may have forgotten to record this accurately.

I've started the whole take care of medical stuff I've been putting off. I had my doctor's appointment with my primary care doctor this week. I was even able to get my labs done that day. Cologuard arrived in the mail yesterday so that will be taken care of this week. I have a mammogram scheduled - joy :snicker: and I have my dermatology appointment scheduled. Definite progress on that front. Go me.

I need to find a short non-fiction book for the little over a week I have left in the month!

Short and sweet today :)

Weekly Progress

I felt tired most of this last week and I'm not sure why. We wrapped up January and moved into February and it's a bit mindboggling how fast the year is going. I did complete my non-fiction book for January. I listened to Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose though I also have the paperback version as well. This is definitely one of those books I suspect I'll gain more each time I read/listen to it. I recommend it if you want to learn more about deep reading whether or not your goal is to be a better writer. I still need to decide on my non-fiction book for February. 

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I haven't done a concentrated walk. It's still a goal though so I'm leaving it up here. Per my pedometer, I'm averaging 1.5 miles of walking per day which I'm happy about.  

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 6 of 7 days, including wrapping up my non-fiction book for the month as noted above. 

    4) Work Writing -- 5 of 7 days, including some editing for Joely. Run, don't walk, and pick up One Cut Deeper by Joely Sue Burkhart and fall in love with Charlie and Ranay.

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days -- No real surprises this week.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 4 of 7 -- The calendar reminder is definitely helping. I'm also tracking this on my pedometer. 

My plan was to do another no book buy month for February but I already kicked that to the curb. I'll have to come up with another thing to apply to February for my no-spend goals for the year. 

I decided to take my trip. It's a bit scary because I really can't afford it and continue with my plan to be debt free by May/June of next year. However, yesterday, I bought my flight and ticket to LLS M5 and reserved the hotel in Savannah. I plan to take advantage of this trip to visit friends in Miami and, maybe, Fort Mill. This trip will tick the box of going somewhere I've never been before - Savannah. Joely and Molly will be at LLS as attending authors so it will be a blast no matter how it shakes down.

Weekly Progress

 As discovered last week, Sunday makes more sense so on we go.

Moulin Rouge was everything it was billed to be. We had a fantastic time.

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I actually got this in once this week. It wasn't all at once but I got outside for about 20 minutes yesterday. I also pulled out my pedometer and got that set up again yesterday. I managed to hit about 63% of my step goal.  

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 7 of 7 days, including 3 more chapters on my non-fiction book for this month. I have three chapters left which is about two hours of listening. 

    4) Work Writing -- 2 of 7 days. I missed Wednesday due to the show and Thursday was spent catching up on side gig work because of the show.

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days -- The biggest thing that came through in my review is that I created cleaning focuses for each weekend day and have been feeling productive in that area this week.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 4 of 7 -- The calendar reminder is definitely helping. I'm also tracking this on my pedometer. 

I broke my no book buying. Sigh. There was a flash sale. It was only 99 cents but my streak is broken. I will likely attempt this again for February. I have a bunch of books on Audible just waiting for me to find the time to listen plus a number of Kindle books I can read.

The other reason is I'm planning a trip. I won't commit until I know what's happening with the next season at the Smith Center (preview coming February 6th) but I'm getting my ducks in a row. On one hand, I really shouldn't do the trip because that won't help me get debt free in 18 months. On the other hand, it ticks off the box of taking a vacation somewhere I've never been before. I need to live. I can't keep putting things off without feeling like I'm drowning. The trip will also give me the opportunity to connect with someone I haven't seen since I lived in Florida along with some people I met during a business trip a few years ago in South Carolina. Like I said, just getting my ducks in a row right now.

Oops - A Day Late - Weekly Progress

Well I have egg on my face...if I ate eggs anyway. I was in bed, doing my gratitude journaling when I realized I'd forgotten to do this little task. But, all things considered, Sunday is probably a better day for it anyway. 

I spent a bit of time yesterday getting my budget/cash flow worksheet set up for the year. I really like this system and you use it in Google Docs so you have it anywhere:  True Money Saver. I highly recommend it. Just my own laziness that I didn't do this on the 1st of the year like usual. But hey, I was de-Christmas-ing the house on the 1st.

I also spent a bit of time yesterday finetuning the habits etc. I'm tracking in the spreadsheet I downloaded from Emily Excels previously mentioned. I've broken the list into Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night groups along with a Review group. 

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- HA HA HA, that'd be a big ol' no this week (I'm keeping it on here because I REALLY, REALLY need to get back into this habit).

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 7 of 7 days, including 2 more chapters on my non-fiction book for this month. I need to get on the ball with this though because the next two chapters are LONG.

    4) Work Writing -- 7 of 7 days.

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days -- I didn't really do a review last night but it was a pretty basic week with no surprises.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 4 of 7 -- I did quite a bit better this week. I made a calendar reminder for myself to drink 24 ozs four times a day which really helped keep me on track.

I've held to my no book buying though I was really tempted to break it yesterday when I learned of a flash sale by one of my go-to authors. I haven't got around to the other books in that series yet and in the end, that is what stayed my hand.

I'm looking forward to the Moulin Rouge Musical this Wednesday. Even though it is sometimes challenging to find someone to go to the Smith Center with me, I love having season tickets to the Broadway series. We get a preview for the 23-24 season on February 6th. 

Weekly Progress

Week Two is almost a wrap.

Fun event this last week was seeing To Kill a Mockingbird at the Smith Center with Ian. Normally, I'll read the program before the show starts but Ian and I were talking/catching up. I spent the entire first act recognizing the voice of the actor portraying Atticus Finch but not placing it. (My seats are good but without binoculars, you'd be hard pressed to see individual faces. Since focusing on faces via binoculars means missing other aspects of what's happening on stage, I no longer even take them to shows.) Of course the minute the lights went up for intermission I was looking up Atticus...it was none other than Richard Thomas! Another I recognized was Jeff Still! Yeah, a bit of a fan girl moment.

Habits I'm tracking:

1) Morning Affirmations -- 6 of 7 days 

2) 20 Minutes Walking -- HA HA HA, that'd be a big ol' no this week

3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 3 of 7 days

I created a quick and dirty Google Docs sheet to track my reading. Nothing fancy, just title, series/book number, author, month completed, and format (ie: paper, ebook, audio book, etc.). I used to keep a much more detailed list back when I barrowed from the library more and paper was my default format. With Kindle, I can just drop completed books into a collection and call it good. As of today, I've read nine books this year and did a beta read for Joely. 

4) Work Writing -- 4 of 7 days, I completed my read through of my current WIP and added 1k new words...Yay!

5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 6 of 7 days (haven't done tonight's yet) - I'll do my weekly review of the journal I'm keeping for this tonight

6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 1 of 7, which isn't to say I don't drink water daily I just didn't meet my daily goal of 4

I had two items I wanted to complete this week 1) scan and shred papers on desk - done, and 2) schedule doctor's appointment with primary care doctor - done.

I've been successful in not buying any books this month. Though I admit to adding some to my wish list.

Today has been insanely productive on the cleaning front and I was able to tick off a lot of items from my to-do list. I'm pleasantly tired.

Weekly Progress

 Well, that's one week almost wrapped.

I'll start by saying I downloaded a spreadsheet from emilyexcels.com to help track my progress. It's a pretty simple spreadsheet I have in Google Docs and I probably could have recreated it but why. 

Habits I'm tracking:

1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days

2) 20 Minutes Walking -- HA HA HA, that'd be a big ol' no this week

3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 7 of 7 days, including 2 chapters on my non-fiction book for this month

4) Work Writing -- 3 of 7 days

5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 6 of 7 days (haven't done tonight's yet) - I'll do my weekly review of the journal I'm keeping for this tonight

6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 1 of 7, which isn't to say I don't drink water daily I just didn't meet my daily goal of 4

I have what I need to schedule my primary care doctor appointment - step one of my mole removal goal.

I successfully did not buy any new books this week as part of my January no spend month.

For a short work week, it was a crazy one. I'm feeling pretty positive about my progress so far.

Hello 2023

I'm going to dust this ol' blog off so I can have some accountability, even if no one reads it, I'm at least putting it out in the world.

Here we are at the end of another year. Resolutions. Goals. Intentions. However you want to label it, we all seem to attempt it. I'm no different. I've been in a kind of limbo since 2020 and COVID and I really need to get back on the horse so to speak.

There are a number of areas I want to focus on this year. So, in no particular order:

1) I intend to read/listen to12 non-fiction books this year. I already have the first one queued up on Audible. I figure one book a month is very doable

2) I intend to be more active. Pre-COVID I was walking 2 miles a day. With my kid taxi schedule I won't be able to attempt that for a bit. To start, I am committing to walking outside for 20 minutes a day as soon as I get home from work. 

3) I want to have a more positive attitude. I'm committing to 5 minutes of affirmations each morning as soon as I wake up (instead of scrolling through emails or social media) and naming 3 things I'm grateful for each night before bed. I plan to keep a notebook to track my feelings and progress.

4) I've been putting off getting a mole removed. I will schedule an appointment with my primary care doctor so I can get that referral. Hopefully, I can have this resolved by summer. (I would also like to get in to the dentist -- funds permitting -- for a full cleaning/filling type appointment by the end of the year.)

5) I will finish my photo organization and back-up project by summer. It's one of those things that is easily derailed by other things.

6) I intend to reduce my debt by at least half (excluding my car loan that I'm starting over with but that's a story for another day, or not) by the end of the year. I will schedule no spend months like no buying books in January. Using the snowball method, I should be able to be debt free in 18 months (excluding my car loan). 

7) I want to take a real vacation. Not that visiting family isn't great or a priority, but I want to go somewhere I've never been before. If I can't make this work for 2023 due to funds (see that whole debt thing above) I want to at least have something planned for 2024 and saving toward it.

8) I want to work on my writing more. As Joely Sue Burkhart said, it could be a good side income. That means working my craft and actually completing something! I have a project I've been working on and my goal is to have it drafted, and hopefully edited, by July. (Dare I link this to Joely?!)

9) I will finish my scan and shred project by the end of the year. No. More. Paper. Like the photo project above, this is easily derailed by other things.

10) I always seem to lose some of my PTO at work. I will schedule mental health days and take at least one day off every other month for no reason other than me time.

Well, look at that...I ended up with a Top 10 List.

Okay, for the accountability aspect of this whole thing, I will post my results weekly. Since this is publishing on a Saturday, I'll stick with that. 

On the off chance someone reads this, what are your intentions for 2023? 

Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is an amazing year for all of us.

X is for Xibalba

Xibalba according to Wikipedia is:

In Maya mythology, Xibalba (pronounced /ʃɨˈbɒlbə/), roughly translated as "place of fear", is the name of the underworld, ruled by Maya Death Gods and their helpers. In Yucatec, it was known as Metnal. In the 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a cave in the vicinity of Cobán, Guatemala. According to some of the K'iche' Maya presently living in the vicinity, the area is still associated with death. Cave systems in nearby Belize have also been referred to as the entrance to Xibalba.

We experienced a level of Xibalba the other night.

We have the smoke detectors from hell wired into our house. Or they are possessed by some Xibalba native.

I want to do bodily harm to whoever wired our smoke detectors.

A little back story. These things are uber sensitive. Good thing, mostly. They go off whenever I clean the oven, annoying but I can live with it. I'd rather having working smoke detectors. They go off whenever I need to cook above 375 in the oven. Extremely annoying, but again, I'd rather having working smoke detectors.

And it's not just us. We hear neighbors' smoke detectors going off all the time, too.

So, on the night in question, the smoke detector went off around 12:30 in the morning. Hubby and I jerk wake, he does a walk through to make sure it's a false alarm, and he shuts it off. End of story? Not a chance. The darn things went off again. Three more times in that first hour (after which we closed all the windows thinking maybe it was dust coming in with the breeze setting it off) then every 30 to 45 minutes till 6 am. Needless to say, hubby and I wore toothpicks in our eyes all day.

Did you know it's a good idea to blow air (like the compressed air you use on computers) into your smoke detectors when you change the batteries (y'all know when you Spring Forward and Fall Back)?

Here's the scary.

It's a little like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Our first response is no longer, "OMG we need to get out of the house."

Here's the terrifying.

The boys slept through it all! Not a single one woke up, got out of bed, or groggily said, "What up with the alarms last night?"

There have been studies about kids not waking up to smoke detectors. We even tested the boys when we lived in Oregon. But this was truly terrifying because it went on so long. And it was loud! Every smoke detector upstairs going off at once. Not a moan or groan from the boys.



I can't tag this one Blog Fun even though it fits the challenge, it's just too serious.

W is for Woodworking

My father-in-law is an amazing woodworker.

Just take a look at some of the gifts he's made for us over the years...

A cutting board too beautiful to use as a cutting board!

A toy car, made for Ian one Christmas.

And how about this adorable recipe card holder?

Is my father-in-law the bomb or what?

V is for Vacation

As in, I NEED ONE!

LOL

The boys were on Spring Break last week but we stayed close to home and they ended up being bored out of their minds.  Picture your worse kid related nightmare, times 4, throw in a dose of Grinchy "NOISE, NOISE, NOISE, NOISE," and it all equals last week.

It was nicely rapped up with an Easter party at Mark's boss' house Sunday night.

We're in the home stretch of this A to Z challenge and it's been fun. 

T is for Trampoline

R is for Rabbit

Because B for Bunny, D for Decorating, E for Easter, and H for Hopping Down the Bunny Trail are past.  So, here's some of our Easter decorations featuring Rabbits.

(That table cloth didn't even last 24 hours before one of the boys spilled on it, LOL, good thing it's washable!)

Q is for Quiet

A rare quiet morning!

P is for Pets

Bear is the cautious one.

Cal has no such worries.

The Great Guinea Pig Escape!

O is for Orange Blossoms

Our dwarf orange tree has flowers!  I'm really hoping we get some fruit this year...and that the boys don't pick all the budding oranges before they can mature!

N is for Nom de Plume

My alter ego was born this month. 

I agonized over whether or not to create a pen name.  I got amazing advice from Joely Sue Burkhart, Maria Zannini, and Kait Nolan, friends and mentors. I polled my family and Jewels, played a lengthy game of Pros and Cons, and in the end the need to keep the family separate from the writer won out.

I introduce to you Raelyn Barclay:

Blog
MySpace
Facebook
Twitter

I’m a long way from publishing that first story. However, donning Raelyn Barclay has made me serious about this writing dream, feeling my writing has become a career instead of a hobby.

L is for Ladle Rat Rotten Hut

Once long ago, in a country far away, a young man sat in a hospital bed recovering from open heart surgery. His crazy, fun-loving sister sent him a piece of paper upon which there were no capital letters nor punctuation nor spaces. He puzzled those letters till his puzzler was sore. By the time the letters meant words and the words made sense as a story, that young man had memorized the thing! And thus became a tradition at every family gathering for that young man to tell the tale of Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.

Wants pawn term, dare worsted ladle gull hoe lift wetter murder inner ladle cordage, honor itch offer lodge dock florist. Disk ladle gull orphan worry ladle cluck wetter putty ladle rat hut, an fur disk raisin pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.

Wan moaning, Rat Rotten Hut's murder colder inset, "Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, heresy ladle basking winsome burden barter an shirker cockles. Tick disk ladle basking tutor cordage offer groin-murder hoe lifts honor udder site offer florist. Shaker lake! Dun stopper laundry wrote! An yonder nor sorghum-stenches, dun stopper torque wet strainers!"

"Hoe-cake, murder," resplendent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, an tickle ladle basking an stuttered oft. Honor wrote tutor cordage offer groin-murder, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut mitten anomalous woof. "Wail, wail, wail!" set disk wicket woof, "Evanescent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut! Wares are putty ladle gull goring wizard ladle basking?"

"Armor goring tumor groin-murder's," reprisal ladle gull. "Grammar's seeking bet. Armor ticking arson burden barter an shirker cockles."

"O hoe! Heifer blessing woke," setter wicket woof, butter taught tomb shelf, "Oil tickle shirt court tutor cordage offer groin-murder. Oil ketchup wetter letter, an den - O bore!"

Soda wicket woof tucker shirt court, an whinney retched a cordage offer groin-murder, picked inner widow, an sore debtor pore oil worming worse lion inner bet. Inner flesh, disk abdominal woof lipped honor bet an at a rope. Den knee poled honor groin-murder's nut cup an gnat-gun, any curdled dope inner bet.

Inner ladle wile, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut a raft attar cordage, an ranker dough belle. "Comb ink, sweat hard," setter wicket woof, disgracing is verse. Ladle Rat Rotten Hut entity bet rum an stud buyer groin-murder's bet.

"O Grammar!" crater ladle gull, "Wood bag icer gut! A nervous sausage bag ice!"

"Battered lucky chew whiff, doling," whiskered disk ratchet woof, wetter wicket small.

"O Grammar, water bag noise! A nervous sore suture anomolous prognosis!"

"Battered small your whiff," insert a woof, ants mouse worse waddling.

"O Grammar, water bag mousy gut! A nervous sore suture bag mouse!"

Daze worry on-forger-nut gulls lest warts. Oil offer sodden, thoroughing offer carvers an sprinkling otter bet, disk curl and bloat-thursday woof ceased pore Ladle Rat Rotten Hut an garbled erupt.

Mural: Yonder nor sorghum stenches shut ladle gulls stopper torque wet strainers.

That young man grew up to be my uncle and while he has passed the torch to my nephew the tale of Ladle Rat Rotten Hut will always be his.

H is for Hookie...as in I'm playing Hookie Today!