Journal: Week 2

9. I’ve been good about actions matching words so far this year (it’s early!) except of course I have already messed up on my exercise goals. But I’m still persevering. Every day is a new chance to feel better.

10. One thing I learned about myself last year is that I’m still good at breaking bad habits, just like way back when, as long as I listen to myself and no one else.

11. I’ve overcome the challenge of dumping Facebook when most people are still on it, didn’t believe I could give it up, and keep making excuses for the executives’ bad behavior.

12. A need I can meet? I assume this would be my own… I was having trouble carving out enough time to write, but I gave up TV and movies and now I have the time. (I will watch the last season of Game of Thrones though.)

13. Recently I had dinner at Vegan Nirvana in Huntington Beach. I’m not the hugest fan of fake meat/fish, though this restaurant does a super job at making theirs especially tasty. I had a big salad and it was good. I would have preferred more veggies/nuts and no fake chicken, but that’s not how they roll. I did get lots of steaming hot water for my tea, so yayyy! 😀

14. Rory (my NorCal daughter and son in law’s doggie) made me proud ~ she just graduated from her second puppy school class! Go Rory!

15. A good idea… hmm, not sure if I’ve had any good ideas yet this year, but fear not! My blogfans will be the first to know if one arrives at ye olde brain station. 🚂

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Dream Path [fiction 340]

In the dream, she is young again, a small girl of perhaps 10 years of age. She is loved and guarded, never left alone, but one night she sneaks out during her mother’s birthday party and gets lost in the forest. It’s much different in the dark with only the moon and stars providing light. She trips over roots and steadies herself on the trees, which loom so much larger now.

Wolves howl and owls scream. She does not fear them however: they would not dare to touch her, a protected princess of the land! Her father owns everything. If not for her family, the developers would tear down the forest. Her grandfather has said this many times. Then she hears a slither near her feet and is not certain the snakes are aware of her status like the smarter wolves and owls.

She runs from the sound, following the moon back to the house, but soon finds herself in a strange part of the woods. It is light in the night ~ how can this be? She realizes the air is alive with golden birds and butterflies, reflecting light from a shimmering stream. Magic! The girl feels happy and free. She begins to follow the stream, her worries melting as she walks along. Growing thirsty, she drinks from the stream and feels full and energized. She could go on like this forever and leave everything behind.

But… something, something holds her back. Something pulls at her hand, something sharp. It bites! Her eyes fill with tears. One of the serpents has followed her to the magical place? Noooo…

“Nurse, she’s pulled her IV out.”

“No problem. I’ll fix it in a jiffy.”

“Mom? Hey, Mom! You’re awake. How are you feeling? Liana and Nicky came to see you today. Say hi to Grandma, you guys. She can hear you. She’s awake now.”

“Hi, Gwamma.”

“Gamma!”

She tries to shut out the voices and return to the magical forest of golden butterflies, but it is too late now. Maybe after lunch.

~*~

Thank you to Laura for the photo challenge.

Art schmart [SOSC]

Art reminds me of an OKCupid question that went “How important is Art in your life?” You had to choose very or somewhat or not at all and then rate your answer as highly important, moderately important, or not important so they could match you with your soul mate. All my soul mates would have to put Garfunkel? in the comments to snark at OKC’s capitalization of the word Art. I suppose if my potential dream man really wanted to be clever he could come up with a more obscure Art like that game show host wozzname… not gonna google cuz it’s against Linda’s rules.

I know we’re supposed to talk about the art that’s on our walls, or in a museum, which could be same same if we live in a museum but probably no one does (sad), but the first thing that sprang to mind was the OKC thing and this is stream of consciousness Saturday. I have a very eclectic mix of art on my walls, and some people might balk at even calling it art. I’m not putting quotes around words when I meta them because that irritates me, just so you know. I am aware of the rules; I simply prefer not to follow them.

Okay walls, here we go. Scattered around my apartment are needlepoint pictures created by yours truly and framed beautifully and expensively back when I had a husband paying my bills. They are of various motifs, southwestern, floral, etc. These were all from kits, except one, the first few Hebrew words of the Shema, which I designed myself. But that’s not all.

I also have a picture of a dragon and a kitty, which are outline-etched in rainbow colors on black and very striking. A print from the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art titled “Far Eastern Cat.” This cool picture of jaguar eyes over my bed. This ultra awesome piece of art my daughter bought for me in Costa Rica that’s a jaguar painted on leaves under glass.

Over my sofa I have a cheap large painting/print of three abstract flowers I grabbed at Bed&Bath when I was married because it has all my fave colors but later decided it symbolized the girls and me against the world.

In the bathroom I have a couple fantasy fairy mermaids, one tending to a dragon baby newly hatching from an egg. And another needlepoint, this one of little seabirds and pretty shells in the sand and surf.

The jaguar from Costa Rica is in the kitchen slash dining area along with another floral needlepoint and a silly poster of a candy bar, but also there are two actual very small paintings from Paris that my ex MIL (RIP) gave us and I took just because.

I used to have a couple Van Gogh posters in my old apartment, but they got messed up when I moved. I love his work. I love art, painting, sculpture, glasswork, all of it. I love to be around the energy of people who create things. That reminds me: I need to put up the little wave painting I did at my daughter’s house.

Yes, if you’re wondering, I am running out of wall space. 😂

There were a couple men who put Garfunkel? in the comments to the Art question on OKC, but I never found my soul mate.

My Own Worlds (200 words)

My father was never lost; he just took the scenic routes. This infuriated my mother, who had created plans and made motel reservations. She would read the road map while Dad meandered along a new route in a strange state until she got a headache. Eventually, he’d get to where we were supposed to be, accompanied by a lot of shouting, his good mood disappeared and all of us starving. Luckily, we never had to sleep in the car.

In the meantime, I tuned my parents out by curling up in the back seat with books, immersing myself in new worlds with new characters. I let the scenery whoosh by my window unobserved. I wanted to escape into my mind, into a fantasy land where people weren’t screaming over maps and whether we were lost.

I was lost in a kaleidoscope of fiction. Sometimes the newly spun world was a doggie story and later they became mysteries. In my teen years, I got hooked on romance novels. Eventually, I began to wonder if I could create my own worlds of words, spin my own colorful tales for others to lose themselves in. It all began during those stressful driving “vacations.”

~*~

50-Word Thursday (sets of 50)

Three Things Challenge

Journal: Week 1

(Thanks to Nova)

1. I’m most looking forward to making progress on my novel.

2. Three goals for this month: edit everything I wrote on my novel in November, exercise daily, blog daily.

3. Today is quiet and productive; wish I had Diet Coke.

4. Looking forward to seeing my grandbaby again soon.

5. I don’t want to forget how much fun I had over the holidays when my whole little family was together.

6. This year I’ll be going up to NorCal at least twice.

7. My top three priorities are: work, health, writing.

8. Places I have visited so far this year would be… home and work! Target and the gas station. Costco for an eye exam and to order new glasses and sunglasses. Oh, and the restaurant that didn’t have hot tea. 🙄

Fandango Made Me Do It

I thought I was gonna get away with just one post today because it was that long FTS thingie, but now Fandango accused me of saying his prompts aren’t fun, which I did not! If he still believes I did, I’ll issue a politician’s apology: please forgive me if you feel offended.

Now that I’ve bothered to begin more jabberish, I may as well shovel in the rest of the prompts. I hope you’ll all show me the proper amount of gratitude for that.

You may have noticed I’m spelling post the normal way. Getting bored with lolcat. It’s been a while. The dogs bark, and the circus moves on. (Look it up.) I don’t like to get too predictable, too trapped into a pattern of behavior. That stifles creativity.

As part of my recovery, my reclaiming of my time and my own goals, I have not been Ms. Hospitality. I can’t be. In order to do all my paying work, take care of my health, and focus on my writing, I’ve had to cut back dramatically on entertainment. I no longer go to movies or meetups. I don’t date or chat on FB. I don’t watch the newest stuff on Prime and Netflix. I accept very few social invites and issue even fewer. Etc.

I do, however, blog and tweet, since I find both of these communities conducive to writing. I was going to join a book club, but that didn’t work out, which is probably for the best. I do try to read a few books per month, except for November when I NaNo. Because family is everything, they get priority… but luckily they’re mostly too busy for me!

FPQ8: Last First Time

Fandango has posed another one of his provocative questions:

“When was the last time you did something for the very first time? What was it that you did?”

In June of 2018, I became a grandma for the very first time… and so far it’s the last time I’ve grandma’d, but it’s only been 7 months. ❤️

Now, technically I didn’t do anything but wait, but that’s something. Plus I nagged a lot, partially planned the baby shower, and generally made a nuisance of myself. 😂

For the record, I enjoy being a grandma and would be happy to grandma again, in the near or far future, whenever the opp presents itself. 👍🏻

2018 Wrap Party

This was an interesting year.

I gave up both Facebook and dating sites early in the year. Spent 2017 depressed about both, ostensibly for different reasons but ultimately the same ~ I had devoted a huge amount of time to the pursuit of long-distance friendships and local relationships via both those venues and the end result was similar: meh.*

What’s that BS about how you get out what you put in? Yeah right.

Anyway, I decided to splurge on myself by reclaiming my time and emotional energy, and this was a great gift. I’ve been so much happier and more productive since. In April, I released a poetry book that I finally had time to finish… and yesterday I just released another one. I hope you’ll check them out: All She Wrote (April book) and Monochrome (December book).

In June, it was my absolute joy to welcome my new baby granddaughter to the world. She brings total love and sweetness to my life, and I’m thankful for all the wonderful family time I’ve had this year.

At some point during 2018, a WordPress prompt site closed up shop. Zillions of us who love to natter on about nothing had the big sads. A handful of bloggers stepped up and created their own prompts, which was very cool of them… but then a weird thing happened. Instead of popping over to the site, grabbing the prompt, and writing to our same audience, we began to actually interact with these new prompters and their followers. We started to play more writing games and follow each other and turn into a supportive creative community of awesome!

In October, I was lucky to be able to take a week off from work to help my daughter in NorCal. Also, I got to bond with her new puppy. Last week I had an amazing time with both my daughters, their hubbies, and the baby. Family rocks!

On Thanksgiving, I had a super fun time with friends at the LA Zoo, and yesterday we went up to Simi to visit the Reagan Library. I hope to visit more museums and local points of interest in 2019. Though I was into movies for a while, I find lately I’m feeling rather indifferent toward them.

I have tons of books to read! Not literally, since most are on my Kindle. And now it’s time to begin integrating the mess I wrote on Ghosted during NaNoWriMo with my main novel document. Oh fun. After that, I have to write “the ending,” by which I mean the last third of the book.

And to wrap up the wrap, for the past 7 years, I’m beyond lucky and grateful and thankful that I get to share my life with this amazing lil dude. ❤️🐱❤️

*I treasure my friendships that transcend FB. Not talking about you great folks.

30-Day Song Challenge: The End

Day 28: an artist whose voice I love. Geez, that narrows it down! How about a singer I love, but from whom I haven’t poasted anything before? Sounds like a plan… and a great way to end the last three days of the challenge as well.

A friend introduced me to the music of Rosanne Cash some years back and I just love her voice. It’s so pure and beautiful, yet at the same time full of emotional resonance.

Day 29: a song from my childhood. My dad had the Doors album and I remember liking “People Are Strange.” This song is meaningful to me on another level because as a child I was “the stranger” so often, since my parents moved so much and I switched schools so frequently. This was difficult for a sensitive introvert, but it toughened me up too. I had to learn, as an adult, to have empathy for the bullied, since I myself had to deal with bullying sans help. (Fab video, peeps!)

Day 30: a song that reminds me of myself. Well, never let it be said that I don’t go for the obvious! 😀

This was super fun! Thanks to everyone who played along ~ really enjoyed checking out your song choices. 🎶💕

Ask someone else… [SOCS]

Canola oil was en vogue for a while; now it’s bad. I forgot why it was bad so I looked it up… GMO blah de blah. That’s allowed cuz I checked before I began writing, did not break my SOC to google. My darling daughter gave me “canola” when I asked for a prompt… of course she couldn’t have given me something good like butterfly 🦋 or cupcake 🧁.

Anyway back to canola. So, I switched from olive to canola then to coconut 🥥 cuz that was the thing but now the nutritionists are freaking out about coconut again like they do once a decade or so… I remember giving up granola bars for a while in the 1970s cuz they said one more tsp of coconut oil was surely going to give me a stroke. Never really went back to granola in a major way though cuz even after the coconut freakout died down the dentists were all shrieking that granola was worse than candy so might as well just eat a Snickers and it’s cheaper besides.

Not that I eat much candy 🍫 these days either. I blogged about how I broke my Snickers habit and when I ate one months later it didn’t even taste that good anymore. Maybe I’ve finally developed an adult palate? Nah! Still love mac&cheese. Still love c00kies.

Just to clarify… of course I still have olive oil for things that aren’t desserts, should I ever make any. You peeps will be the first to know, rest assured. Who else would I tell? But I don’t cook much… it’s expensive and wasteful to cook for one person unless you are okay with eating one dish for a week.

Btw, my friend Cathy and I made c00kies last weekend with half real butter and half coconut oil and not only were the c00kies incredibly delicious but we ate lots and did not die. We will obviously, someday, but probably not from c00kies. Not that that’s a bad way to go. Mmm c00kies…

Next time pics!

~*~

SOCS prompt from Linda