A little reminder

As a child, the days seemed to be long, summer vacations lasted forever and time drifted slowly from one bip of the clock hand to the next.

What the heck happened?

I pulled up this page to write something and am amazed to see my last entry was in August! I think even Jypsy does better than I do...well, maybe not - her life is much like mine was back when I was, oh, 8 ...and time seemed endless. By the box to the right there, I see the number of blogs I manage to get online slowly decline with each year, but I want to think the ones I'm writing are much better now (ahem).

A lot has happened since August, but most of it is trivial. My two significant achievements during these past months were getting my book on Amazon.com, and then shortly after that, my SECOND book. (Picture buttons bustin' out all over, please.) Sales, sadly, are few and far between. Still. I feel a sense of accomplishment as this is something I've wanted to do, again, since I was a child.

There's also been a birthday, pushing me ever older, but I'm not so fond of the alternative - so bring it on! This might have been my best birthday ever...or at least, again, since I was a child. A little back story: In the last 4 or 5 years I have reconnected with some of the people I graduated with from high school. We are now coming together as adults with a lot of fond memories of each other and find we've turned into pretty darn awesome adults. We get along well; perhaps it's because we're past the point of trying to impress anyone, and we can simply enjoy the company of friends. 5 of these wonderful people came together and treated me to an amazing birthday dinner. We laughed, we talked, we ate wonderful food, we commiserated and we decided we're going to do this more often. I was thrilled to have these people help me celebrate making it another year! So, Marian, Steve, Duchess, Gail and Georgia - thank you so much for making my birthday so wonderful!

Three days later, I was treated to another dinner, which was special for quite a few reasons - the most important one that it was my family. My brother, my sister-in-law and my cousin joined in another celebration of making it another year and still kickin'. Thank you Joey, Brenda and Gary for putting the icing on my 'day'. I received cards from out-of-town friends that touched me and made me laugh - I still have them displayed on my dining room table, but guess Thanksgiving is going to necessitate me putting them away. (Oh, yes, I save cards for years! I re-read them and get the same glow as the first reading.) I received many phone calls, texts and Facebook posts from out-of-town family and friends as well. Thank you all!

I believe I never would have made it this far if it wasn't for the love and support of my family and friends. Another birthday has given me a subtle reminder of just how lucky I really am.

What I did this summer

Hi there folks! I thought I'd steal my staff person's computer and write about what I did this summer.

I...uh...well, let's see. Well, there was...no, I take that back. Oh, I went...well, shoot, the only place I went was to the vet.

Oh, forget it. You know what I did. I slept a lot, whined a lot, went outside a lot (when it wasn't too hot), and then slept some more. I bugged my staff person by waking her up at odd hours of the night (THAT's always fun!) I walked around the house with Mousie in my mouth moaning and groaning because she was ignoring me. Oh, not really, but sometimes she gets on this computer thingy and starts writing...it's HOURS before she deigns to notice me! Okay, that's not true either - it's more like 10 minutes, but what do I know about time? It sure seems like it's hours.

But it was a nice summer - I enjoyed it. As you can tell by this photo mom snapped when I was just waking up from a nice nap out on the back deck.

So, we're now into cooler temps. That must mean pretty soon all those boxes will come down out of the attic and mom will be in a decorating frenzy. I'm excited! There's always some box I can jump on, lay on, sleep on and generally make a nuisance of myself on. And the tree! Maybe I can bring the tree down again with all those things hanging on it that break...good times are a comin' for a cat like me.

Life

As summer's go, it's been quite pleasant here in Texas. We've had the occasional rain up until a week or so ago, and it's August. The temperatures have not gone in the triples and stayed there for weeks at a time. That's very unusual. My roommate/cousin has been cat-sitting for the summer again, so I've had the house to myself, which truthfully has been really nice. Of course, I did try and remove an appendage a few weeks ago due to my own stupidity (Hint - don't hold a half of an avocado in your hand and attempt to stab the seed, which split in half when you originally smacked it, with a very sharp knife to flick it out! It took hours to stop the bleeding and the cut went deep and should probably have had stitches, but it was late so I just wrapped it in bandages and paper towels, put clear wrap around it and taped it. Finally healing and good as new...sorta.) Jypsy has stayed well, although we need to go the vet once a month now to get her checked out. She's been so sweet and loving, sleeping on the bed next to me at night although it's probably because she doesn't have my cousin to harass. I made my probation and got a small raise (very small), but there's supposed to be another on the October 1 paycheck. I got my second book on Amazon.com and received a 5 star rating from someone who bought it and read it. The first book still has a 5 star rating. I'm working on the next one. Life is pretty good for the most part.

Someone mentioned to me recently I need to get out of my comfort zone. I was somewhat taken aback by that - what comfort zone might they be referring to? I haven't been comfortable since getting laid off five years ago, and am only now realizing I might possibly be able to get back into some sort of 'comfort zone' in maybe the next year. Or two. Life has a way of sending you zingers just in case you get to feeling too pleased with yourself. Every time I think things are easing up and there might be just a smidge of money left at the end of the month, I have to do something like, oh, buy new tires. Or get a brake job. Or fix the roof. It's crazy, isn't it? The thing is - I've finally accomplished something I've wanted to do my whole life. Being laid off gave me an opportunity to sit down and type words on a page. Page after page. Until I had a book. Then two books. And another. My greatest accomplishment from losing my job is becoming what I've always wanted to be. A writer.

It's Life. You deal with it or you go crazy. I have a plaque at work someone gave me that says "Gone crazy. Back soon." Which is cute, but since I'm really not so hep on going crazy, I think I'll just do what I can and let the rest slide. It is what it is. I'm still here. I've got a job and a house to live in. I have some of the most amazing friends in the world. My family is beyond belief - they are so cool. I'm still able to make time to write. And most importantly, I've got a cat who makes me laugh every single day and let's me know what's really important. Ya gotta sleep. Ya gotta eat. And ya gotta go out in the back yard and chase birds and squirrels. Life is good!

Is it still Spring? Prolly not

It's gotten warm here, so yeah, I think Spring is over and Summer is here. My staff person lets me out early in the morning for a bit before she goes to work, and then won't let me out after she gets home until waaay later. The sun's almost down and I can ONLY go out while she waters those green things that sometimes bloom. When she first gets home and I whine to go out she just says, "Too hot." I'm a cat! I can take it! Just between you and me though, when she occasionally gets fed up with my frequent requests to go outside and lets me out it is even a little warm for me. And even though I protest when she makes me come back in, and I take my own sweet time walking in the door (you know - so she understands this is not my idea) I'm really kinda glad. When the cool air hits me, and I collapse on the chilly kitchen floor - wow - it's like kitty heaven! I think she's on to me though, 'cos she just laughs.

She's been pretty excited. Apparently she put her first book (which is NOT about me, by the way, and I'm miffed) on something called amazon.com, and it's running for free until midnight tonight. She's already had 82 downloads she sez. I heard her on that talky thing saying she doesn't make any money off it, since it's free, but she's hoping to get some 'expohshure', whatever that is. She said if people like it and recommend it to friends that's good, and maybe it will make people look for her second book (which isn't about ME either! of all the nerve!) and buy it.

Well, I gotta go - I have to start whining again to go out. I know she's only going to tell me "No!", but hey, a cat is nothing if not persistent. I thought I'd leave you with this lovely picture of moi after just coming back in on a hot evening. It's not the kitchen floor, but it's a nice wood floor that's nice and cool too.

What happened to May??

Time is really starting to be on a fast forward. It was just the middle of May, and you turn to your left and it's almost the middle of June. We've been really lucky in Texas - usually the temp hits 100 degrees for the first time in April or early May. We've gotten in the 90's, but no triples yet. I woke up yesterday to a rousing thunderstorm with lightening and torrential rain. Yes! (As I like to say, every drop that falls out of the sky is a drop that doesn't come out of my faucet that I have to pay for.) Today it hit 90 and Friday is finally supposed to hit 100. Well. It was nice while it lasted.

Here's all the news -

Huh. Well, guess Jypsy told you I've been really sick. Some sort of upper respiratory thing going around and wow, did it kick my butt. My doctor wanted to call in a prescription for antibiotics, but I told him to forget that and just get me some cough syrup....and make it the good stuff. Jeez. It was definitely the good stuff. The dosage was a teaspoon every 12 hours. Since I was at home I took a teaspoon, and didn't wake up for about 4 hours (which was actually good for me as I hadn't slept in about 3 days). I started dialing the dosage down until I hit a quarter teaspoon. That seemed to work to keep me from coughing like an emphasemic cigarette smoker and didn't knock me out. It took three weeks, but I think I'm finally well. I finally swam last Friday morning and didn't do too badly - my guess is all the coughing acted like exercise and I now have Ahhnold lungs. Went in this past weekend to do a workout, and today I feel like I got hit by a truck. Everything seems to be sore. Which in a way is a good thing. I guess. (ooh. Ouch!)

I am two and a half months from making my probation. The other admin on our team retired and so it's been a little difficult to keep up, but I'm doing it. It's so much more pleasant w/o my former co-worker around - this is a piece of cake.

This week the roommate/cuz is going out to take care of the cats at the lake. I'm looking forward to having the house to myself and Jypsy for the next three months. I might even be able to get the house clean. What a novel concept :o ! I'm going tomorrow to protest my property taxes and think I've developed a pretty good defense. We'll see. I'm also going to try and get my book onto Amazon this weekend. It's going to involve taking it off the other indie site and getting my 'webmaster' to take it off my web site (funny how Amazon is about being the only seller...) and see if it goes anywhere. Wish I could find an agent in this area to help, but am doing what I can.

Now. If you're a follower of this blog and have kept up with my posts, I have to admit something. I...am not writing 30 minutes a day. I have writers block and sit down to write and just sit and stare at the screen. When I swim I sometimes come up with some good plot lines, but cannot figure out how to get from where I am now to where I want to be. Of course if I really wanted to whine, I'd say, "I've been siiick!" Which I have been. But I was also home a couple of days and sure could have used the time to write. Except for the fact that I was knocked out by the uber cough syrup, of course. Lately I've been doing research to protest my property taxes, which I have to do tomorrow at 4pm.The cat got sick again too (don't worry though, she's fine now). There's been other things that have come up that seemed much more preferable to sitting staring at a screen trying to come up with the next line of a book. Remember Roseann Roseannadanna? That's my life in a nutshell. "...it's always somethin'..."

Ahhh. Spring!

Mom's home sick today and was up most of the night. She's going to call in to work and go back to bed, but she's moping around, coughing, sneezing, and just, well, she's miserable. It gives me a chance to catch all my peeps up though, 'cos she turned this computer thing on and then went to make a cup of tea. I haven't been on here in a while, mainly because it's Spring, and I have such a fun time in the Spring! I mean, what's not to like about it? Number one, it's not hot. That's a real plus right there. Number two, there's fresh, new grass to munch on out in the back yard so I can throw up later and do a 'cleanse'. Number three, even my staff people join me in the back yard in the late afternoons and sit around and drink that wine stuff. I like the back yard, but I love it when my people are out there with me. I like to zoom around sometimes, but mostly I just check everything out to make sure it's exactly how it was the last time I was out there. Which it usually is, but you just never know if something might have moved overnight. Then I sidle over and just barely brush against mom's leg so she knows I'm still there. Sometimes she'll reach down and run her hand along my back. That feels good. Then I'll go check something else out, and rub my face all over it because you can just never claim things too many times! Like a chair leg. Seriously. It's mine. As is the whole chair. I do however, allow my staff to sit in one sometimes.

Yesterday she found my favorite toy! Well, not the exact one, because, really, any will do. There was this little tree branch, see, that she picked up and swished around in front of her, er, MY chair. I crouched down, did my butt wiggle, and POUNCED. But I missed. So I chased it around for a bit and then subdued it. Victorious! Yeah, I know she's the one making it move, but hey, that's one of the best parts of being a cat - we have tunnel vision. We can only see the end of the stick moving, and home in on it as an intruder, or a bug, or a snake - something that must be conquered! It's fun. You should try it sometime!

And then sometimes, I just hop up in one of my chairs and sit with my staff. Or, my personal favorite, take a nap on the deck. Like this:





Oops. Here she comes, gotta scoot....

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

A little over a year ago I flew to Florida to help a really good friend move back to Texas. She had divorced her husband several years before, and with her two grown children off trailblazing their own lives, decided it was time to come 'home'. (I did the same thing about 15 years ago, I came back 'home'.) Home is Texas, and even with all it's warts, bad politics and incredibly hot summers...it's still the best place for a Texan to be. My mother always said a Texan is never happy anywhere but Texas, and darned if she wasn't right!

My friend moved to Amarillo, where she had been offered a job, and we had gone to high school together. It turned out to not be much of a job, especially for a good lawyer like she is. Plus it's Amarillo. First off, and a huge black mark for me...it snows there...a lot. It gets really, really cold during the winter. The wind blows almost all the time, year round. There's a distinct odor when the wind is coming off the stockyards...but mostly, it's Amarillo. So, she's back in Texas which is a good thing, but in case you haven't looked at a map lately, it's just a wee bit big. For either of us to drive to visit the other was a little over 6 hours. To fly was better - only 55 minutes, but I was, and am, broke, so I made three trips up there; two driving, one flying. She's made several down here, and got to fly each time, lucky duck! She also has family over on the Big D side of the 'plex, so she's made more trips than I have. We have another friend, who happens to be the oldest friend I've managed to hang on to from those early days, who prefers to drive and has made several trips to visit. Only it's a lot longer than 6 hours. More like 9.

Low and behold, a job popped up here in the Metroplex where I live. She interviewed for it. Twice. They offered her the job and...well...I got the pleasure of helping her move in last weekend. The three of us 'old' friends, and I can say that because we've known each other forever and we don't really consider ourselves old yet, all feel sort of the same way; we're old enough that we can't afford to not keep our friends close. I'm inordinately pleased she's here. It's a better career fit for her, she's got family and friends and, well, I guess that's it. But it's amazing. And glorious. And I'm just tickled pink.

I've lost several good friends over the past few years, mostly due to the changing dynamics in our friendships, but the friendship with these two friends is the stuff mountains are made of. It's such a nice feeling. I believe in friends almost more than anything else. Certainly more than job security. Even more than the idea that what you buy this week will not be discontinued at the grocery store next month. And much more than the consistency of the weather in Texas.

So an excited welcome to my friend Marian! Huzzah! I'm thrilled you are here and only 20 minutes away. I foresee many, many happy times to be shared. More makeovers at Neiman's. More bbq at Riscky's. More wine. More talks. Yep, I'm a happy camper!

Now Jypsy wants to ease Midnight the cat into your life. But yes, get settled first. Start your job tomorrow. Learn your way around to all the good shopping spots, grocery stores and movie theaters. And invite me over a lot. Hugs!

On the Verge

So, I decide maybe I should go in and check the email I established for my book. There hasn't been much going on lately (read that as no purchases), so it sort of slipped my mind. First I had to remember the password for the account; that caused me a moment or two of panic. I did remember it however, and got in to find over 30 messages! Of course, 30 were spam, but there was one from a woman in Ohio who had purchased and read the book. She truthfully overwhelmed me with praise for the book. We've had a little bit of an email conversation going back and forth, and I found out the book is on the Barnes and Noble book site. She had also written a wonderful review, giving the book 5 out of 5 stars, and in all caps ended with 'HIGHLY RECOMMENDED'. Go ahead, just ask me if I got all tingly!

A couple of nights ago I went in and googled my name and found there are 5 other sites that list the book, including one in the U.K. This is all news to me, but apparently the indie book publishing site I signed up with a year ago has finally gotten the book to some other sites. I want to get the book on the Amazon site as well, so I've printed out the 'Terms and Conditions' for publishing. It's 19 pages of legalese, so I'm going to try and go through it carefully before I click on the 'I Agree' button. I know the book is funny and I know it's got some good drama as well. It's not the next Great American novel by any stretch of the imagination, but everything I've heard so far has been positive. One of my closest friends showed me a post her adult nephew had written on her Facebook page saying he had read about the book on her page, purchased and read it, loved it and is looking forward to the sequel.

Ah, yes. The sequel. It's finished; has been finished for a long time. I've been through it once to edit it, but think I might go through once more. I went through the first one about 4 times, and each time found something that needed to be changed, be it a typo, misspelling or some other inconsistency. I re-read it few weeks ago, and still found mistakes. Guess it's just the nature of the beast. Anyway, I'm hoping to get the second book, finally with a title of 'Space Dude - The Trouble with Travels', online soon.

Otherwise things are moving forward, which, of course, is a good thing. Here's hoping everything is moving forward for you as well. The cat sends you greetings, or would if she was awake. She got me up a little after 6 but it's Saturday after all - weekdays she tries for 4am. She's now sound asleep.

Cheers from here...

Cold, Beds, and Swimming

Well, cat's whiskers! What the heck is wrong with this crazy weather? I mean, I've been going outside and lazing around in the warm sun, rolling in the dirt, chasing bugs and eating fresh, new grass for a couple of weeks now. All of a sudden today turns dark and dreary, the house gets colder, outside is even colder, the dirt patch is cold and there's no rays to even faintly warm my tootsies.

I mean...really.

For all her writings about writing, my staff person has been coming home every day and being a slug. She did get a really good review from someone who read her book and is looking forward to the next one, but she's still only sold a few copies. Of course, if she would write about me, it would be an instantaneous bestseller, doncha think? She's really tired; sometimes she falls asleep for 30 minutes or so before dinner. I wish I could tell her if she didn't get up at 4 something a couple of mornings a week to go to the gym and swim, and instead stay home and SLEEP, she might notice a difference. I'm an expert and know the benefit of numerous naps throughout the day, but I also know she has to buy my kibble. I don't care if she sports a few extra pounds, but for some reason she does. And water? Why on earth would someone want to voluntarily jump in a bunch of water? Ehhh. Whatever.

The guy that lives in the front room bought me a bed about 4 years ago. I disdained it (Target? Reaaaaallllly?). But I jumped up on the table/tin/flat thingy where the bed has been, and well, dang, it was actually quite comfortable, so I've been napping there recently. Of course, you know us cats...we have to keep our staff people guessing. I suppose I'll need to find another place to sleep here soon. . It's so tough being an adorable, 'unpredictable predictable' kitty, ya know?

Sometimes I just sits

A gazillion years ago, when I was in college, I had a poster on my dorm wall I dearly loved. It was a picture of a wooden stool, and at the top it said, "Sometimes I sits and thinks" and under the stool it said, "And sometimes I just sits".

Although I did love that poster, I've discovered I do a lot of just 'sits'. I feel like I'm rapidly approaching a time in my life where I'm going to be forced to slow down, and I know I haven't accomplished even a tiny bit of what I've always wanted to. In my self-reflecting, I see that I have done way too much 'sitting'. I've let a lot of things get away from me; things I wanted to do, but felt I didn't have the time, or most probably the money, to do. I guess I could put part of the blame on my mother as she raised me to always do the right thing,and by that I mean to make sure the things that need to be taken care of are taken care of, but I know it's mostly my fault - I settled for doing what needed to be done, not what I wanted to do. I've worked hard, but not at what is most important to me.

My one huge dream, since I was quite young, was to become a writer. I've finally done that. I've written one book, which is now online (although I've only sold about 12 copies). I have another finished that's half edited, another one started that is all stand-alone stories, and I've just started my fourth one - which looks like it's going to be the hardest one I've done yet. My books aren't very thought provoking by any means; they are simply simple stories of families and friendships and what happens when you look for something you really already have.

I enjoy writing however. It makes me feel good to write. In my search for a job after being laid off and working temp jobs for 5 years, I still found the time to write. Upon finding a job, finally, I threw myself into learning the job, worrying about what I didn't know, dealing with a building full of differing personalities and came home exhausted every day to sit like a log on the sofa watching recorded shows. My weekends have been taken up with doing all the things I 'should' be doing: laundry, cleaning house, running errands I couldn't do during the week...things you don't have to really think about, you just do them. And then your weekend is *pfft* gone.

I've decided I need to do more 'sits and thinks'. Sitting in front of the keyboard, making up new plot lines, inventing new characters and situations. I also need to temper that with 'sits' that are part and parcel of 'sits and thinks'. I need to sit outside on good days and watch Jypsy run around the back yard like a hooligan, leaping at bugs and burrowing her head in piles of leaves. I need to spend more time with good friends and talk and laugh. I need to be there for my friends; dog-sitting, plant-sitting, errand-running, consoling on any myriad of stressful situations that needs a sympathetic ear. Most importantly, I need to spend 30 minutes a day writing. If I only get a couple of pages written, that's two pages more than I had. Hmmm. That sounds really good. I think I'll sits and think about it.