Short Break

Life seems to be getting in the way at the moment. I need to take a short break and deal with a few issues. I promise, I'll be back soon.

New Week, New Plans

Well, this is the first week I'm not planning to go down the mountain twice. I know I didn't last week either but last week my planning involved what to do after a funeral and what to serve for luncheon. This week without the chaos of planning and cleaning, I'm trying to take things a little easier. I've tidied my desk area, so I can hopefully study. And I spent yesterday napping and resting with Music Man who had a touch of the flu. I was kind of hoping he'd still be sick this morning so he could stay home with me again, but sadly he felt better and went to work.

I still have the Grouchy Old Man home during the day. He and Miss Goofy are sanding this morning. I'm kind of glad I'm hiding in my bedroom. However, everyone loved what we're doing to the kitchen and agreed it will look wonderful when we get it done.

I think for this week, I'm going to try and take things a little slowly, spend some time with Miss Goofy and Grouchy and make sure they're doing okay. Otherwise, back to the books and of course prepping for the holidays.

Have a great week and go LIVE!

Heavy Heart, Happy Memories

It's with a heavy heart that I say Grandma passed away on Friday morning. I'm glad I got to see her on Thursday and I'm glad I had told Miss Goofy that she needed to wait to see Grandma until she looked like she was feeling better. She needs to remember Grandma happy and alive, just as I do. 

The funeral is planned for Saturday morning and I'm hoping to speak at it. Sadly this is not the first time I've done this and with any luck it won't be the last. I still have a lot of living to do.

So in trying to think of what to say at the funeral I've been thinking about Grandma and the influence she had on me. All the wonderful times we had. All the laughter and happiness. She was a feisty woman and I hope people will think I inherited some of that.

From my grandmother I learned: 1) life is too short to take it seriously, 2) always tell your loved ones you love them, 3) family is the most important thing in your life, 4) no matter how serious a situation, laughter makes it easier to deal with, 5) history and travel go together and are important, and finally 6) bad grammar will drive you nuts if you let it. ;)

She wasn't perfect but she loved me and was proud of me. The only thing I wish she could have seen was me getting a college degree. However, I will work hard and even though she won't be there in person, I know she'll be there in spirit.

I love you, Grandma. Rest in Peace.

Have a great week and remember, life is short, go live yours!

A Day Late But I Had a Good Reason

I know, I was supposed to update yesterday. I may have to change my posting schedule for this blog to Tuesdays for a while.

I do have a good reason for my update being late. I was at the hospital yesterday with Grandma. My uncle needed to run home, shower, change clothes and generally, get out of the hospital for a few minutes.  It was kind of cool to spend several hours with Grandma and my sister though.

Grandma slept most of the time, she still hurts some when they turn her onto her side and it breaks my heart to hear her saying "Ow, ow, ow". But she's a tough lady and getting through it.

This last week it's been a challenge to get stuff done but I'm hoping by restarting a daily list of activities I can keep better track of things and stuff like house-cleaning, food prep and general hygiene won't fall by the way side.

I'm still looking forward to going to my writing thing in November. And I'm looking forward to having a bit of time to write. Not sure when that will happen, but I'm sure it will eventually.

Today is day 1 for the government shutdown, which means the grouchy old man will be home, probably around lunchtime, for an indefinite period of time. Yet another reason for a daily activity list. I hope this doesn't last too long, not only is bad for my dad financially and emotionally, cause let's face it, it's a pretty helpless feeling he's going through, but it's also bad for the economy and business. Okay, political rant done.

So, today is just a casual day to get caught up on everything that has gone undone the last few days and weeks. Mostly stuff like vacuuming, dusting and I have a ton of laundry to do today.

I'm going to see Grandma again on Thursday and will update if anything dramatic happens.

Have a great week and go live!

My Week in a Blur

That title really pretty much expresses the past week. A whole lot of nothing has gone on.

My grandma is still in the hospital. She was doing better but has regressed a bit. They're not sure what's happening but she's having trouble swallowing. Today they're putting a feeding tube in so, yeah, kind of time for prayers and positive thoughts. I'm going to see her tomorrow.

This morning I have Music Man working from home. Mainly cause his phone has been ringing off the hook since 6:45 this morning when the first crisis hit. It's pretty much been nonstop since then.

Not sure what else to talk about today. It just seems to be one of those days where lots is happening but nothing is happening. So I think I'll end my update here for now. If something happens later, I'll update again.

Have a great week and go live!

What A Week!

So, it's been a crazy week. Last Monday I was prepared for our water to go off (again) but they pushed it back till Tuesday. It was off for most of Tuesday. That was annoying.

Wednesday, Grandma went to the ER. She's been in pain for weeks and finally my uncle was told to take her to the ER. Probably the wisest choice her doctor could make. The hospital here in my mountain town sent her to city to be looked at by a team of doctors. The hospital they sent her to is one of the best in the nation. They're working to figure out what is wrong and how to fix it. Though her color is getting better and her spirits are improving.

Thursday I had to be in the city for a test for school, (I passed, yay me!) so I went by in the afternoon to visit with Grandma. I'm pretty proud of that pass since previously I would have fallen apart and not been able to do anything knowing Grandma was in the hospital. The fact that I went ahead and not only took the test but passed tells me how much better I am doing.

Friday was one of those days I don't really remember. I think it went fine. I think the water was off again.

Saturday Music Man changed the serpentine belt and oil in the car. It's running much better now. Poor car. It's run so well for so long. Then we went and did the grocery shopping I needed to get done.

Sunday we goofed off and relaxed most of the day. Then we discovered yet again the water was off. This game has gotten old. When the water finally came on last night, it was full of dirt and mud. I so love this game. Oh wait, no I don't.

So for today, I'm prepared for the water to go off again, I'm sure there's a problem somewhere they need to fix. I'm hoping to hear a definitive answer on what's wrong with Grandma. And I'm starting a new class for school This one will be a little bit of everything and will include another certification. Oh that's the other thing about Saturday. CompTIA posted my certification. So now, you can go to the website and verify that I'm certified in Project +. Kind of cool.

Off to study and possibly clean my desk. It's a mess.

Have a great week and go live your life!

Holy Crap It's An On Time Update!

As I write this I'm listening to Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me" so please keep in mind this post should be read while grooving.

So, let's start with the most recent happenings and go backward. Maybe I can reconstruct it in my mind then.

I went over and stayed with Grandma for about an hour and half while grocery shopping was accomplished by my uncle and cousin. She was fairly cheerful and even smiled at me. She's hurting a lot right now and hopefully the doctor will have some answers this week.

Saturday, we rested. And by rested I mean took a really long nap.

Friday we didn't have water after about 10:30. Nearly 13 hours later, it was back on. Seriously, if anyone knows how to handle this stuff for a trailer park, message me and I'll contact you for more info.

Thursday. What happened on Thursday? Hmm, oh, right I spent Wednesday and Thursday anticipating the water going off for three hours cause that's the day and times the notices gave. Never went off. 10:30 Friday morning it's off. No notice for Friday, and when I called at 3 in the afternoon the manager told me an hour or an hour and a half. Last time I checked 11 at night was 8 hours later.

Wednesday I decided to start walking in anticipation of the Night of Writing Dangerously. So, I'm feeling pretty good about that decision. I took the weekend off in hopes of letting my body heal a bit. Seemed to work, I feel pretty good today after my walk. I didn't walk as far as I did on Friday but I got out and did it.

I don't really remember before Wednesday so I'll just stop there.

Coming up this week, I have my first certification test. No I'm not ready as of today but I plan to be by Thursday morning at 10.

I plan to walk everyday this week and I even plan to add in yoga and squats. Oh yeah, I'm tired of being well, fat.

And I'm hoping this week's weigh-in will include a weight loss instead of a gain.

Have a great week and I'll blog more on Wednesday on my Schooling blog.

Updates on Mondays...Yeah Right

This is still a more frequent post than you're used to, right?

So, what's new in my neck of the woods?

Well, Grandma is still having knee issues. Hopefully we'll hear an update soon and will know how to proceed. Love that woman to pieces, but getting her to drink enough water is a battle!

Let's see what else? Oh, thanks to some incredible donations, I have achieved my fundraising goal and have submitted my RSVP for the Night of Writing Dangerously. I'm super excited to be doing this and am very much looking forward to November. I definitely need to start planning out a story to work on in November cause now that I've won NaNoWriMo once, I'll be damned if I don't keep doing it.

Had a lovely spur of the moment weekend away with Music Man. It was heavenly. We spent a lot of time snuggled up and chatting. We even managed to get a 3 hour nap in. It was awesome.

Oh, I know the other big news. We started to remodel our kitchen. We took out a wall and it's really opened the room. Now the living, former dining and kitchen are all airy and open. I'm looking forward to getting it done. I'll have to post pictures next week.

Well, I think that's all the news for now. Keep Grandma in your thoughts and prayers.

Have a great week!

My Life Since Friday

Okay, so on Friday, I decided I would stay updating this blog, and two others, one for weight loss and for school. This morning, I actually remembered I needed to update this blog. Yay for me!

Not a lot has really happened since Friday but I've decided that I will start telling the story of my 27 month journey through temporary insanity. Otherwise known as: The Time I Lost My Mind and Moved To Oklahoma. Not today though. I'll start that story next week. This week, I wanted to update on what I'm planning to write in future updates. Try saying that three times fast. Okay, not really it was way more of a challenge in my brain to write that sentence than to say it out loud.

Changing the subject now.

July 20th, my sister and her husband came through my mountain town on their way to Vegas. We decided to meet up and have breakfast at Denny's. It was about 6:30 when Music Man and I picked up my grandma and took her with us. The Grumpy Old Man, (aka technically my stepfather, but I've called him Dad for years) and Miss Goofy had gone ahead of us and gotten a table for the seven of us. We were all pretty excited.

Shortly before 7, Sissy (in some adorable shoes, by the way) and her hubby, insert clever nickname here, arrived. We ate and chatted all of us excited to get to see each other as it had been quite a while since Sissy had been able to see Grandma and The Grumpy Old Man. Grandma laughed a lot and was quite happy to see everyone. Sissy giggled with me, Grandma and Miss Goofy. Fun was had by all.

That got us thinking though and we made a decision and vow to start having Grandma over for breakfast on weekends. Just a fun way to have her over so she gets out of the house for a bit and we get to check on her and see how she's doing. She's come over 2 weekends now. The first weekend after Sissy's visit we were busy and didn't have a chance to have her over. Weekend before last, Miss Goofy and I spent all day Saturday cooking and weren't up to making breakfast on Sunday. So twice we've had her over and plan to have her over this weekend too. I'll try to remember to take some pictures.

I love the fact that she's just five or six houses down from me. She takes a walk nearly everyday and at least once a week, she walks up to my house just to check in and say hi. I love that she's close enough to do that. It makes my heart so happy. She is a treasure and one I don't think I properly appreciated until I was 1400 miles away. I missed her greatly and I'm extremely thankful I'm back home where I can spend time with her.

I know there's lots more news but this post is getting a bit long and I frankly, I have schoolwork to do.

More updates next week, including The Time I Lost My Mind and Moved To Oklahoma, part 1.

NaNoWriMo and My Story

I had a lot happen in my childhood. Don't worry this isn't a crying session, this is a post about healing.

After my dad passed away, I was terrified. Who was going to protect me from the world? My strong Daddy was gone and I was left all alone. Okay, I had my mom, who was incredibly strong. And my sister, who I love dearly cause she's always supporting me. And my grandparents, who have always loved me unconditionally. So there were a lot of people who would protect me. At nearly 13 I couldn't really see that though.

I started having problems with school attendance in 2nd grade. Not a story I'm going to get into here, but it did start way before my dad passed, with time it only got worse.

At 13, I remember my mom driving me to school and parking. I remember taking a deep breath and getting out of the car. I remember walking to the front of the car and not being able to force myself to cross the street to go to school. I remember feeling panicked and like if I didn't go back home, something awful would happen. I remember being so afraid to leave the house, I couldn't walk out the door.

It's gotten worse over the years. I try so hard to get out and do things. Some days it's easy and like nothing bad ever happened. Some days though, it's like just stepping outside to check to see if it's hot is more than I can handle. I don't know why this happens or when it's going to, I just know some days, I can't go anywhere.

The more time I have to prepare for an event, the worse I get. That's why I'm sharing this now.

NaNoWriMo takes place in November. NaNoWriMo is an acronym for National Novel Writing Month. You spend the month of November writing a novel or 50,000 words. It's something I'd wanted to participate in for several years. Last November I did. Not only did I participate, I was a winner. I wrote more than 50,000 words in the month of November. It was hard work. It required a lot of time and thought. It was one of the most rewarding moments of my life when I hit the 50,000 word mark.

Recently, I got an email inviting me to participate in a fundraising event for the non-profit that puts on NaNoWriMo. All the money raised from this event goes to The Office of Letters and Light, the parent non-profit that does NaNoWriMo. This is a great non-profit that helps bring writing programs to schools and to adults. It's making a huge difference in my life as it has in many other people's lives.

I'm raising $350 so that I can go in November to San Francisco for a six hour writing event. Last year there were over 200 people who went. There are panels with published authors and publishers. There's food and drinks. There's raffle prizes. But most of all there's people. Lots of people. It's a wonderful networking opportunity but again, lots of people.

I'm terrified. I can do this, I know I can. But it's going to take a lot of strength to go to this event. I have a good support system and am very blessed. Yet still terrified.

This is the link to donate if you have the ability: Send Micki to The City.

If you can't donate money, but want to encourage me, go ahead and leave me a message in the comments.

Thanks for all the support!