Fast and loose

What’s new with me – I’m grooving on a spiritual fast. It’s really been going very well.  I’m on day 6 of a 21 day fast and am very happy.

Why? Good question. I’m tired of being angry all the time, and needed to refocus. I’m tired of being tired all the time and having my clothes not fit. I’m too busy to be unhappy – so a friend suggested the Daniel Fast, and I took a leap of faith, and started it on a whim last Friday Morning.

To sum it up, you give up just about everything except for water, fruits, veggies and whole grains. I’ve made some changes to the rules to suit my life and body, but that’s hardly the point. On a fast, one spends one’s time in reflection, the food is just a conduit for that focus. It’s really nice to be in touch with the Lord that way.

What are my variations? I eat fish every other day. I just know me and I need the protein and essential fatty acids. I’ve given up bread in exchange.  It’s a trade off that works for my body.

I feel focused. I feel happy. I knew I needed something to get me through the Halloween season without feeling ashamed of myself.  It’s doing that. I thought I would try it for 10 days, but the traditional fast is 21 days or 40 days. Now, on day 6 – 21 doesn’t seem like too far of a goal. Really – I feel great! I love any challenge that breaks me out of a rut, or challenges my skills as a cook. (I just made up a vegan avocado cream to top the Veg Chili for to night. Awesome!)

Before you all ask, no, I’m not taking the family along with me on this one. I make food for them that suits them: meats and cereal and sandwiches. I enjoy my (mostly) vegan meals and everyone is great.

By the way – I’m losing about a pound a day. That’s a sweet payoff. Hoping that my pants will loosen up by day 21, because I’m NOT going to buy new fat pants.  Uh-uh. No way. Praise the Lord to that. Amen.

PS – read the article in June’s O magazine on relaxing yourself thin. It helps soooo much.

World Premier Audio!

I know you have been waiting with baited breath for the podcast of the first two episodes of Chenda and the Airship Brofman! WAIT NO MORE!  The adventure awaits at CoalCitySteam.com! Go on, go! I’ll wait!

Enjoy.

Happy Monday

To Do:

• Call a roofer: woke again this morning to the sound of the roof leaking – again.
• Call the doctor: I want to see if we all can get the H1N1 Vaccine today or sometime soon.
• Post office: I need to mail my parents mail to my parents. Long story.
• Gym: see my butt. Also, as Eleanor is out of school today, I think this may be my only opportunity to be kid free.
• Grocery: I need some supplies for the Fall Festival bake sale this weekend.
• Put away my mountain of laundry: before it crushes me to death.

I hate Monday.  I miss my husband all day…

I knew this house would spank me again.

Sigh – it’s the ghost  of the Little Cabin in the Woods coming back one more time to hit me with a toaster.

If you recall – last week the seller’s agent said the house was “unsaleable”.

NOW the agent contacts our rep and says the first bank holding the property has agreed to our offer ONLY if we can close by the end of the month (and if the second mortgage holder agrees to their piddly share.) And are we still interested?

Here are the foreseeable problems:

1. The house next door flooded during the giant rainstorms of a few weeks ago. We’d like to take a look at it, but when we went with our realtor, the lockbox was gone – as was the sign saying it was for sale. Since the seller’s agent is no longer ACTUALLY representing the property, I’m not sure if the place is trashed or not.  I asked to see the house TODAY, but no action. Not much confidence.
2. The way mortgages are so backed up, it’s likely to take 8-12 weeks to get cleared for a loan these days, even when you have extraordinary credit.
3. and then there is that pesky second bank that could hold everything up or perhaps negate the whole thing.  Why should I pay $400 to have the house inspected (again – see the key issue), when the odds are that the whole thing would grind to a halt and come to nothing.

Uh, sure.  We’re still interested, but why hold our breath? If there were another house even close to that location at a reasonable price, I would tell them to go perform an aeronautical anatomical impossibility in a mobile perforated pastry*. However, location, Location, LOCATION. Everything else is negotiable.

Somehow I keep thinking of that joke about the guy in the flood and he’s on the roof claiming that the Lord will save him and he turns away the guy in the canoe and the rowboat and the helicopter and he drowns. He get’s to heaven and says, “Hey God! Why didn’t you save me?”  God says, “I sent two boats and a chopper. What more did you want?”  Has God sent me my own series of watercraft here? Am I just not picking up what He’s laying down?  Or do I just need to be patient and persevere? Hope for the best or run for the hills?

The clothes that make the girls…

I spent the whole morning cleaning out Saralyn’s closets – sorting the piles into Consign – Goodwill and Junk.  I took a whole diaper box of too small clothes to the consignment store, lugged them in, got a gash of a paper cut from the box and found out that they don’t do kids clothes any more. What they did have – balloons out front.  Guess who cried all the way to the next consignment store because she wanted a balloon but couldn’t have one? Sorry, Saralyn… The other store made it feel like giving up a kidney. They said 40 times I was entering a BINDING contract. Whatever. The next stop is Goodwill for these clothes if you don’t take them.  They did. I was happy – now – how much will I get for them? I guess I don’t really care.

It’s seams really unfair that ALL I did today was fold, sort and organize clothes, and MY laundry is still in giant piles on top of my dresser waiting to be put away!  It is nice that all the girls’ clothes now have room to live in their dressers.  But mommy “burnt toasted” herself again. (You know that mommy syndrome – where you make breakfast for everyone, and you get left with the burnt toast? It’s the mommy way…)

Tomorrow is picture day at school – Eleanor got to pick what she wanted to wear this year and she picked her overalls. “My very own favorite,” she says. Now, if I can get her up and moving in the morning in the direction of the shower… that will be a miracle.

Who want’s to see the cover of my book?

I love it!  What do you think?
It will be available soon – VERY soon – In time for ALL your Christmas shopping soon…

To blog is to dawdle…

Do you ever have SO much to do that you sit down and do nothing.  I just parked Sara in front of Curious George (a PBS show I HATE) just so I could NOT start the dishes, deliver my daughters lunch and backpack to her at school (guess what daddy forgot…), go to the gym, to work, to the bank, to the grocery store, finish the quilt for the fall festival, make spats and a raygun holster or work on my second novel.

But, I missed you.  I’ve been cheating on my blog with my other blog. But I want to bring you flowers, and whisper sweet nothings. I want to catch up.

About Chenda – The book is in the hands of a capable and wonderful technical editor – and I hope to have it on Amazon and Kindle by October 20th.  I’ve tweaked it for the last time. It’s a wonderful and strange feeling.  I’m gonna see my book in ACTUAL print – very soon. I am excited.  I know I wrote it an all, but its a really good story. Fun. Funny. I am pleased.

Eleanor is going to school like a trooper 5 days a week now. YEA! She is getting much better at writing her name. She starts with a small uppercase E and then the letters get bigger through the A and then get smaller again. Her name is a mountain. Not bad for a just turned 4-year old. This week’s theme at school was the letter C – she went to school as a cowgirl this week and loved it.

Saralyn is the cuddliest baby ever. I love this girl. Sweet, but messy. Demanding of food CONSTANTLY.  Loves Beauty and the Beast, Elmo, and her baby doll.  Favorite Food: Strawberries. Favorite Song: Abney Park’s “Airship Pirates”. Favorite Parent Manipulation: velociraptor screech.

Our housing situation: Man Alive – we’re still living HERE! To make a very long story short – we lost another one. We are officially back at square one. Which is fine I guess. The good Lord has put us right where we are supposed to be. I keep telling Him that if He wants our efforts to move to fail, then make them fail.  When we find the right move, He will make it happen.  But… What to do? Get the stuff out of storage? Find a new realtor? Give up till January?  It’s hard to say…

Well – the day wears on and I have a LONG list of stuff to do and a big weekend ahead. Catch you later.

I’m looking old and fat, I guess.

Forgive me for feeling a little insulted, and slightly confused. Yesterday, a lady at the church asked me if I was pregnant again.  Oh, geez. Thanks. I know I am looking fat these days, but um, no. Not pregnant.

Then at the gym this morning – a visit fueled in part by the comment of the day before – the nursery attendant there asked me about my GRANDDAUGHTER Saralyn.   That’s right – granddaughter.

Holy Moses. That stings. I’m either a glowing tub of motherhood or a 36-year old grandmother, or both. I need a body wrap and a facial – STAT!

The little things are getting to me.

I’m angry all the time now. Just today I nearly lost my rutabagas on five separate occasions, and it’s making me feel sick.

So – here’s the list, in full snark stereo:

1. If you are going to close the preschool – CALL THE PARENTS.  I don’t care if your policy is county schools closed = the preschool closes also – and saying that “it was in the handbook you got when you registered” is no help.  THAT was handed out back in February!?!? You think that’s good enough? Look – I’m betting someone called the TEACHERS to confirm that they need not show up at school – there’s only 11 kids in the class and two teachers – split the list and make a few calls.  OR AT LEAST RETURN THE CALL I MADE TO YOU MORE THAN AN HOUR BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED!!!! Stoopid teachers. “Take it up with the administrator…” my butt.
2. I get it Eleanor – you wanted to go to school today. You can’t. No matter how much you ask me WHY? you still can’t go. Back off.
3. “You can’t bring that shopping cart in here,” said the guy at the antiques store.  Fine, I’ll take the two year old out and let her run through your shop moving and/or breaking everything she touches.  I should have done that.  What I did was announce, “FINE! I’ll shop elsewhere.” Then I left.
4. If you show a tee shirt on your website that that 3 words on it, and the one you send me has 45 – INCLUDING AN AD FOR YOUR COMPANY – IT’S WRONG!  I don’t want it.  Why would any company do that? Oh, and at least you could send shirts in the COLOR I wanted, right?  I am so not paying for this. I’ll call the 800-number that’s PRINTED ON THE SHIRT and ask for my money back.  Oh, wait, it’s only voice  mail. And it hangs up on me. ACK! PFFT!
5. I’m annoyed with the roof guys I called who acted like they were doing me a favor by SQUEEZING me in.  I will give them one hour to show up for that appointment, then I am moving to the next name on the list. I hate waiting – and can find someone else with which to do business.  Grrrr… Serious face – I’m making it.

I’m tired of being angry all the time. I’m angry that ALL the little things are making me so mad. I’m tired of having to be the one who says NO – Stop – Don’t – Quit – Leave it and NOT! People of the world, stop being STUPID!I’ve had enough. I’m tired of it all, and am not pleasant to be around. I hate the disgraceful state of my house, laundry and personal appearance.  I want to join a circus, but I bet there are little things there, too.

Snort.

Spit.

You know what? This hasn’t been all that bad of a day. It’s really not.  I got some stuff done, so that’s something, right?  Why am I so angry all the time now?

NOT available in Libraries.

After reading this past week’s Entertainment Weekly – specifically Steven King’s column The Pop of King, I was sure that Uncle Stevie was on an old man rant – “Taint no quality in dem moo-vin pitchers no more!”

I argued with my husband about how quality art will find a way to rise, and that people in the digital age will be able to disseminate good literature and film without the ONE thing that a publisher and film companies provide – ready distribution. My thoughts were bolstered by Nathan Bransford’s blog yesterday – where he , a literary agent, debated the need for authors to have publishers in the future.

I was all – take that Steven King. Until, however my library contacted me.  It went something like this:

Library: Despite search attempts via Interlibrary Loan, we are unable to obtain The Glass Coffin, a Reginald Sterling Adventure: scientific romance in Victorian New England (Reeves).

ME: Perhaps you could buy it (and I provided a link to AMAZON).

Library: Attempts were made to purchase this title without success.

ME: Is this a case where the book is only available at Amazon, and you are only allowed to buy from certain vendors?  If so, I will happily purchase the book as a gift to the library if you are willing to catalog it. Is that arrangement possible?

Library: I’m sorry, but the library does not accept donations of individual titles.  The selector who initially handled your request as a potential purchase consideration has indicated that the title is not available from vendors and may have limited availability as it  appears to be a print-on-demand title.  The selector then forwarded your request to me in Interlibrary Loan in an attempt for us to obtain it for you.   Unfortunately, the title is not listed on the Interlibrary Loan database which confirms limited availability. I attempted to obtain  the title via Interlibrary Loan by requesting it from a number of larger library systems but all responded that they did not own the title.
Please telephone me at … if you should have further questions regarding your request.

So – reading between the lines: I can’t get a book from my library unless another library already has it and is willing to share it.  Did I read that right? When I was a reporter, I more than once heard “Is another network covering it? They are? Oh we should be there.”  Sickening.

Perhaps Uncle Stevie is right. Quality is dead. I only requested this book because it was highly recommended – BY SOMEONE WHO READ IT!  I want my library to have it, because I think Steampunk is a great genre. I offer to pay and they still say no.  Libraries are supposed to be the final bastion of intellectual equality, but it seems that it’s more like the Studio 54 – can’t get past the velvet ropes unless you are on the list.

So much for my thoughts about self publishing…

The blogpost where I flutter my arms wildly!

So much better than the first trailer. Enjoy!