Category: The Blog

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Good News Monday

The best news of all:  I’m not sick any more!!!

Well, I do still have a chunky cough (especially when I lay on my left side) but it’s not nearly as bad as it was.  Whew, I’ve never missed so many days of work before.  I’d much rather take a week off for vacation than sick leave, but at least I have the vacation/personal time to cover it!

Other good news:

  • Since Phantom drafting flow has been interrupted, I’m switching gears to revisions.  (I’ll pick Phantom back up in August)  That means…
  • Revisions for Vicki (YOURS TO TAKE) per my editor’s notes.  Due back mid-August (but I’ll do them sooner than later).  If I can finish them this week, I’ll be very happy.
  • First-pass revisions to THE BLOODGATE WARRIOR.  Might need more than one pass (it got pretty rough at the end) but the major work will be handled.
  • Vicki’s release date is tentatively 5/8/2012.
  • Used the sick time last week to begin building a new series for 2012-2013, tentatively Carnivale.  Yes, I know there was a television series with the same name, so I might end up calling it Carnivale of [Something].  I already have the premise for the first three books identified, but it needs some detailed worldbuilding before I can get into the specific characters. 

 

Now that I’m feeling better, I need to manage the exploration/building time for the new idea better — I love world and story building, which can interfere with drafting and revising those other “boring” ideas I’ve already tackled.  New!  Shiny!  So don’t expect a lot of updates on this series until I get Phantom finished.

What good news can you share this week?

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RBW Week 2

Romance Biggest Winner

So I came into the second week not feeling the best if you’ve been reading for the last few days.  That helped push me into a little better numbers than usual.  Unfortunately, I’m now seriously behind on all my exercise goals for the month, but there’s nothing I can do about that.  I can’t walk to the bathroom without getting winded.  I’m certainly not going to be doing Power 90 for a few days!!

All in all, I was able to report a .94% total loss.  Not too shabby.

I can’t report any new healthy recipes I tried since I haven’t had much of an appetite for days.  While sick, one of the best things I had regularly was the Weight Watcher Chocolate Smoothie — made with hot water.  It tasted like hot cocoa and was very soothing on my tummy, plus provided a nice balance of nutrition (counts as a serving of dairy even though I made it with water).  I figured it was better than nibbling on crackers!

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Pneumonia in July

Not as fun as Christmas in July, let me tell you.

I’ve been sick since Wed. night/Thursday last week.  I just got a little bit worse day by day, but I didn’t realize exactly how “bad” I was feeling.  It just sort of snuck up on me, or maybe I just didn’t want to think about it.  I was really slow mentally and physically all day Friday.  My brain was in neutral and I struggled all day at work.  I had to run an errand at lunch and it wiped me out.  I struggled through the rest of the day and didn’t feel at all well Friday night.

Sat. was the worst.  My fever got up to 103.3 F.  I woke up absolutely disgustingly drenched in sweat, so bad we had to strip the bed and wash everything.  Yet within an hour or two, the fever came roaring back.  102+ plus all weekend. 

My back kept hurting.  Mostly my left side.  I couldn’t get comfortable.  Sunday night, I made my way downstairs to call in sick at work, and I was shocked when I could hardly rattle off the voicemail speel I’ve been using for 16 years now.  I didn’t have enough air.

I hoped Monday I was getting a little better because my fever stayed in the 101-102 range and I was actually able to eat dinner with the family (yes, That Man COOKED a delicious BBQ meatball dinner!), but my back was just KILLING me.  And the shortness of breath just got worse and worse.  Monday night when I went downstairs to call in again, I could barely make it back up.  I sat in my chair panting, short, painful gasping breaths that really scared me. 

If I was a smart person, I would have had my husband take me to the ER that night, because I couldn’t sleep.  I was too uncomfortable, coughed too much, and felt like I was panting most of the night.  But with 3 children, it’s hard to justify dragging them up out of bed to wait for hours and hours at the ER with many other sick people.  So I waited to go to our local urgent care this morning as soon as they opened.

He didn’t need xrays to know I had pneumonia.  He just wanted to see how BAD it was.  But he was very worried about me, which scared the hell out of me.  My left side is the worst.  That pain I felt in my back?  Was actually my LUNG hurting.  Standing for the xrays wore me out so badly that I fought to keep from fainting, because I was scared he’d admit me on the spot, and I really didn’t want to go to the hospital.  Once back in the room, I laid down, and immediately rolled over to the floor so I could throw up in the trash can.  Ugh. 

Needless to say, he sent me to the ER for further evaluation.  He really seemed to suspect they’d hospitalize me for a few days.  Luckily, some hefty iv antibiotics and two bags of fluid were enough to convince the ER doctor to let me come home.  WHEW.  However, I have an inhaler and more oral antibiotics to take this week, so hopefully *prays* I am on the mend.

It is just wrong on so many levels to have pneumonia in July, with a crazy heatwave outside.  While I sit here shuddering under a blanket.

I tried coffee for the first time today since Friday and it didn’t taste good yet. 🙁  But hopefully it will taste good again in a few days.

So my apologies for delays in responding to people.  I know I’ve had a few requests for RTCs lately and I’ll try to get them out as soon as possible.  I also have a lovely review for Lady Doctor Wyre to post.  As soon as I muster up the energy…

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Middle Monster’s Plague

Over the 4th of July weekend, Middle missed several outings with her friend because she was sick with fever, cough, and aches/pains.  She had a fever about 3 days, but she’s always been hit “hard” by anything like that.  (Which is why she had 3 minor surgergies before Kindergarten)

I thought we all escaped without getting it, until I started coughing Thursday.  Friday I barely had the energy to climb up and down the stairs to work, but I pushed through the day and got as much done as possible (nowhere near my normal daily production level).  Meanwhile, I kept waking up in the middle of the night with horrible sweats.  I almost thought I was having hot flashes already!  They were horrible.  And oh, the aches.

Of course I couldn’t find the thermometer – one of the monsters ran off with it.  I woke up this morning aching all over again.  I’d been trying to blame it partially on our bed (it needs to be replaced), new pillows I’d just bought, and working out more, so my muscles were just sore.  But this morning, I could hardly stumble into the bathroom because I was shaking so hard, which hurt everything.

That Man called in to work so he could take care of the kids.  Of course I need to do the grocery shopping, so we hardly have any food in the house.  I ate a little bit and felt enough better (with a hefty dose of Motrin) to make it to Target so I could pick up cough drops, yet another thermometer, and several cans of soup.

I almost wish I didn’t know for sure that I have a fever.  Because knowing it’s 101 and still climbing makes me feel worse.  At this rate, I hope I’m better for work Monday morning!

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Website Updates

This weekend I’ll be updating my template and installing a new header made by Book Graphics!  Just in case things go a bit wonky…  I’ll be changing the navigation, etc. so be patient.  Hopefully it’ll be fairly seamless and painless.

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RBW Week 1

The Romance Biggest Winner

Well, today was our first weigh in.  I feel sorry for my team because they’re a little handicapped by having a member who’s already been dieting for six months.  No huge loss for me this week but I did lose *some* (whew, I was up a little yesterday and was really worried).  They need not fear that my little .23% loss will win the grand prize, but hopefully I’ll be consistent and steady!

I completed another Power 90 session today.  Pushups are getting a little easier.  I should have done it yesterday, but a short story clobbered me upside the head yesterday and instead of using my lunch to workout, I wrote instead.  *sheepish*  I’m a little behind on walking so I need to hit a couple of miles tomorrow.

My new recipe try today:  mashed sweet potato with Greek yogurt.  This is a huge step for me because I don’t really *like* sweet potatoes much.  Not even my mom can get me to eat her sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving.  But lately, I’ve been enjoying roasted sweet potatoes, so I decided to try it.  I went savory with chili powder and garlic instead of sugar and cinnamon as the recipe called for, and it was good.  Not yummy, OMG you have to try this, but good.  I’ll try it again.

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Good News Monday

I must admit that I’m decidedly grumpy today.  The scale is up for absolutely no reason.  I didn’t get any writing done all weekend, including Friday.  But I’m not going to sit here and dwell about how empty my cup might be.  Instead, I’ll be glad that…

  • We went to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO Friday for That Man’s birthday and had a blast.  This was Littlest Monster’s first trip and she was incredibly brave, riding several rollercoasters, etc.  The only ride that she didn’t like was the Giant Barn Swing.
  • We walked all over the park on Friday, sweating and getting tons of exercise.
  • I even rode several rides!
  • I managed 2 sessions of Power 90 last week without keeling over.
  • I survived That Man’s birthday without blowing my diet.  I had two bites of his birthday cake and that was plenty (I really don’t like store-bought cakes, which is what he requested, so no hardship there).
  • I’ve managed just over 4500 words on Phantom so far.
  • I started a new short story idea this morning.  My track record for anthology calls sucks, so if this story isn’t a go, you’ll get yet another free read!
  • I updated WordPress on my blog this morning without blowing it up.
  • I joined Google+ this weekend and I actually like it better than Facebook, although I haven’t been out there much yet.
  • I received final files for Golden this weekend, woot!  Any interested reviewers, just let me know what format you’d like!  Formal review queries will be going out this week.
  • I bought this pattern and made a set of slippers yesterday, plus started a new pair.  Still fiddling with the pattern to get the sizes right, but I’d like to make a pair for my SIL’s sister before she heads back to New Jersey.  (They were talking about fond childhood memories this weekend and the ones their Polish mother/grandmother used to make.)

What good news can you share today?

 

 

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RBW Update

So three days into the Romance Biggest Winner…and I’ve exercised three days!  In a row!  I know.  I’m shocked too.  Woot!

I’ve survived two sessions of Power 90 sculpt (level 1).  Yes, I’m definitely sore, but not where I can’t walk up the stairs or anything.  Those pushups KILL me.  Even my stomach (core) is sore.

Yesterday, the monsters commandeered the Wii so I couldn’t do Walk It Out as usual.  So I threw in my old Leslie Sansome Walk Away the Pounds dvd on my laptop.  It’s the 1 and 2 mile version, but I’d never done the 2 mile before.  I thought, hey, what the heck.  I’ve been walking 2 miles on WIO.  Let’s see how bad it is.

Not bad at all.  I definitely broke a sweat but I made it all the way through without keeling over ded. 

Who knows.  At this rate, I might get up the courage to go back to Power 90’s cardio….  (I don’t know.  Those upward and downward dogs kill me every time.)

In the food arena, I made a new recipe tonight (Curried Quinoa with Chicken, about 7 p+ on WW if you’re tracking points).  I admit, it was a little risky.  I personally have not liked curry or quinoa before, but it just sounded good.  That Man is working late tonight, so it was just the monsters and I.  Chickens were on sale and I had two in my big stew pot simmering late afternoon.  I have chicken…  I have broth…  I figured worst case, if they all hated it, at least they could eat the dark-meat chicken before That Man devours it.

Wow, so good.  I absolutely loved it!  Although I did leave out the nutmeg.  That just sounded weird (although I love nutmeg on peaches).  I promise to try the nutmeg next time.  Even better, two of the three monsters loved it and went back for seconds!  Littlest Monster did not like the texture, but she did try it and ate about half.  Hopefully it will grow on her, because it’s definitely a dish I’d like to make again.

While waiting on the chickens to cool so I can pick all the good meat off (and then make a huge batch of broth), I decided to roast some chickpeas (kind of like this recipe only I modified the spices, didn’t use olive oil, and prepared the dried beans first).  I’ve been wanting to try crispy chickpeas for a long time — sounded totally up my alley.  All those yummy spices!  I pulled the pan out of the oven to cool and went downstairs to write a while. 

I came back upstairs…and nearly the entire pan was gone.  Gulp.  I guess the monsters approve of roasted chickpeas.  Who knew?!?

(Where’s my gas mask?!?  Because they just ate THREE CUPS of BEANS….)