When Days Blend

Normally this is a slow time for our work. Last year we were lucky if we made it 6 hours a night. This year has not been slow. Mr. Janney and I have been working 40+ hours since...I really don't know how long it's been. Since before the holidays even.

I'm not complaining, the paychecks enabled us to be generous at Christmas and to go on a trip over the week we had off between Christmas and New Years. But it does get tiresome. Especially when they have you work both days of the weekend. That 12 day stretch causes the days to blend into together, especially when there are 12 hours shifts mixed in there.

I'm Batman....AND Robin
I'm special like that! Lol

What I have complained about to hubby, has been the frustration I've faced when it comes to writing. Both blogging and my novel. I'll have all sorts of great ideas at work, during transit, but when I get home...well, we're hungry, we're tired, there's always something to do - laundry, dishes, etc. and all too often all I want to do after is just sit in my recliner and veg. I don't get on my laptop to play Clash of Clans, and both hubby and I are huge clashers! We love to war, but we've only just recently started putting ourselves back into war.

By vegging, I mean I'm either reading - In Death or Star Trek novels, or watching tv...usually Law and Order SVU or Criminal Minds or NCIS. I have caught some original CSI episodes recently! Miss those shows so much! If there's nothing 'good' on, which isn't unusual at  midnight, I'll go to On Demand and watch a movie. The last one I watched was Cloud Atlas. I mean, you can't really go wrong with Tom Hanks - and the more the merrier (Polar Express!!). I'd read enough about it before hand that it wasn't too hard to follow, though I know I still missed tons. I mean hey, I was tired and was competing with Mr. Janney's music.

We had to order some things off Amazon recently, and for whatever reason it ended up being two orders. The first order I was a bit short for the free shipping, so I threw in a few books I've been wanting (Star Trek #71 Crossroad and Immortal In Death). No big deal, right? But then Mr. Janney wanted something else, so naturally I had to throw in a few more books right? I got what I thought was the sequel to a book I already, but alas --- I accidentally ordered book 3 of the Elvenbane series instead!! I can't read book 3 without reading book 2 first, at least to refresh my memory because it's been YEARS since I read it. Long story there, same with the other book I ordered - The Dragonbone Chair. I won't tell it today, but will think about sharing it later this year. After I've gotten back on track with the blogs and shared my adventure over our winter break. I have to get that written and posted soon -- I mean, it's February already for crying out loud!

Wish me luck this year! There's more to tell, but it's bedtime.

Busy Busy Busy

Visitors at a picnic Mr Janney and I had.

I've been so busy recently, I've fallen behind in all my blogs! Read about the most recent events here at Broads of a Feather. I apparently meant to do a Mother's Day post, but all that was there was the title...Lord only knows what I intended to write before I got distracted by something!

Mr. Janney is recovering from his surgery ok, though I worry that he's trying to push himself too hard.  We are in severe financial ruin at the moment, he won't be going back to work for another 2 months at the least.  None of the doctors I've seen will release me back to full duty full time and even at $14/hr one cannot live on 20 hours a week...and none of them will do surgery on me either!  Nor will they just write me out, which would be financially difficult as well but at least I'd be able to draw Short Term Disability and have my job held for a year.  They want me to lose weight (which I don't argue) but they don't want me walking for exercise but it's ok to keep working at a job that keeps me on my feet?  I don't get it.

I have not gotten much writing done recently.  Not since the scribbling since Mr. Janney's surgery in fact.  Between napping, running errands, rearranging the computer room...there's either been little time for myself, or I'm too tired to even open the computer up.  I'm hoping the exhaustion thing will be a thing of the past since my thyroid is now adjusted and 'almost over-active' as my primary doctor said...and the fact that I've discovered that iced coffee gives me a bigger jolt than hot coffee!

Scenes like this help fight depression.

I've also started taking St. John's Wort again to help take the edge off of the depression I've been dealing with.  I can't afford another prescription, I can't even afford my current ones - which is why I haven't had my second blood sugar medicine in a couple of months!  And right now much of it is circumstantial anyway.  Between the constant pain, my husband's pain, constant money woes...why wouldn't I be depressed?

I just wish it didn't take away my desire to read and write.  That's probably the worst thing about depression.  There's just no desire for any of it.  I've been trying to read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson for weeks now, and even though it is far more pure fantasy than anything I've read in a while that wasn't Wheel of Time which makes it slower reading for me, I'm still hooked and I want to know how everything turns out!  So often though I'll pick the book up and read for just a few minutes then put it down.  It takes so much less energy to play Clash of Clans on my obsolete smartphone or Pet Rescue Saga - although that one tends to tick me off and then I switch to Bejeweled Blitz.

Flowers at the pond we were at yesterday, shortly after a rain shower.

Well, I have to get back to laundry. Hope everyone is having a good weekend, even if it is rainy like it is here!

MRI's and Country Music

Nothing to do with the post, just some pretty flowers from early fall...

I was at the hospital 4 hours Monday, just trying to get an MRI done on my foot.  Although I arrived a few minutes late, I had no doubts about it being a short wait.  It usually is and there was only one other person waiting with me.

But I was told I needed blood work since I hadn't had any done in the past three months.  Ugh.  I had nowhere else I needed to be so I told them I would be fine waiting for them to get in contact with my doctor so he could order the needed test.  Which wasn't working out because apparently the office was closed on this particular Monday (I've had appointments there before on Monday afternoons, so I didn't think anything of it).  So they ended up calling my general doctor and getting the order from her - but it still took almost 2 hours for all this to happen.

But, it did end up happening and I think I spent close to another hour in the machine.  I don't know if this is usual in all facilities, but here we are given headphones and asked what our music preference is.  Now, despite the title of my series, I like a lot of different music styles.  On my iTunes list, I have country songs side by side with rock, pop, and 'Christian' songs.  Alan Jackson, Newsboys, Bryan Adams, James Blunt and The Rolling Stones peacefully coexist.  I decided a few years ago to listen to whatever I liked, whether it was considered 'godly' by the Church or not.  I have learned a lot by listening to...shall we say...more colorful music.

That truly is a subject for another time.  Because in this instance, I chose to listen to Country music.  And right off the bat the first two were on my favorites list (I have a long list of "favorites").  God Gave Me You by Dave Barnes and We Owned the Night by Lady Antebellum.  I was like..."Yeah, here we go..."  Of course, I had to listen to songs that rubbed me the wrong way.  After all, it wasn't like being in the car and flipping the radio channels whenever the song irritated or bored me.  And even still. they helped distract me from the pain of trying to lay still for so long in a cold room on a slab that made my achy breaky back ache.

"You called me...to take a picture???" Yes, I petted her for her trouble!

I've got my iTunes playing now, trying to dispel the gloom of the day.  The sky is cloudy and unsure of whether it wants to rain or not.  Every so often I'll flip to the other screen and add songs to the "up next" list (Alan Jackson is playing at the moment and Mumford & Sons is up next).  It's just me and the dog trying not to think too much on Carol's latest blog over at Broads of a Feather and the ghostly dreams I had this morning...well, the dog isn't too worried about that.  Jaclyn's more concerned about any cats that might be walking by outside.

But the gloom makes for a good writing and reading day.  While I'm waiting for my paperback proof to arrive in the mail, I'm glancing through my free-write of my third novel to see how much of it I can still use (a good bit, but some will need to be changed) and reading The White Princess by Philippa Gregory.  I'm liking it so far, even though it's written in 1st person perspective, which is not my favorite.

I hope everyone is having a good enough week, with time to read, and staying warm as the seasons change.



2014 - Fading as the fall colors

Reading and Funks

I've been in such a funk recently.  Not even sure how to describe it really.  Some of it surely is my health, my foot not healing properly and my sugar being out of whack.

One thing that has resulted from this has been my reading jag...I can't read enough!  I finally finished reading The Shadow Rising.  I say 'finally' because I took a break twice when other books stole my attention - I've also read Shadow Rising a few times, so I knew it wasn't going anywhere.  What is also amazing about this, is both books were written in the First Person Perspective.  I tend to avoid those kind of books, they're just not my cup of tea.

BUT  I am so glad I read them.

At the moment, it's FREE on Kindle!

The first one was Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes.  It's the first in the Rose Gardner Mystery series and I love Rose!  She's believably naive, tired of being abused by her mother and starts living her own life at the worst possible time...when her mother is murdered in their home shortly after they argued.

A suspect right off the bat, Rose continues to spread her wings.  From getting her hair cut to trying to wear heals for the first time, this girl is up for anything new.  Including the cute guy living next door.

I won't go into a lot of details.  Some of the plot points are obvious to the reader, but not to naive Rose.  It's alternately amusing and frustrating to watch her discover all the connections to the murder, and the calamity that follows.  And the comedy!  I don't think I've ever had a mystery amuse me so much in my life!

Seriously, I put everything to the side while I tried to get to the end of this book. Because Swank is good at doling out a bread crumb trail to what's really going on!  You can connect this dot and that dot...but there's this gap in the middle that you're just not sure about!

I tried going back to Shadow Rising after this, but made the same mistake and tried doubling up my reading again.

Also available on Kindle

I believe in supporting my fellow Indie Authors. I'll share blog posts, share links, etc.  But sometimes I hop all over the place in my reading and fail to actually read their work.  I have several of C.P. Stringham's books on my Kindle, and this is actually the second one of her books I've read.

Like All The Rest is a tale of a marriage in trouble and at first it seems like the protagonist is the only one aware of it.

There were several times I had to put the book down because of the emotions is triggered.  Like Natalie, I struggle with infertility.  I'm two years older than this fictional character, but it struck hard.

It's also well written in that there were several times I wanted to reach in and smack Natalie because she was being a bonehead!  But it's so very realistic, because we all make assumptions without hearing the other half of the story and since we've already made up our minds about what the 'truth' is we don't even want to hear it.

Another thing I liked, is that this story was similar to the first in that both women were in the process of discovering themselves.  For Rose, it was for the first time.  For Natalie, it was more of a reinvention.  We got to see more than just the romance issues of the women's life, but the other parts as well.  Their jobs, their friends, their families.

I haven't started the second book in either series yet, because as usual I've gotten sidetracked.  I have to get the second Rose Gardner book before I can read it and that won't be this paycheck.  I do have the second Ellis Spring novel, but I wanted to get Shadow Rising done and out of the way first.  I can pick that series up anytime and any spot in it without breaking stride.  But then I found a new In Death book at the library and had to check it out so I'm working on that one now.

All this reading kind of put me off schedule with proofing my own book - and my blogging! - so I'm gonna have to take a break here soon and get back to that.  Reading other's work always makes me more critical of my own.  Can it begin to live up to and match these fine ladies' work?  I don't know, but it doesn't stop me from trying!

Until next time, read a good book and tell us about it!

2014 ~ so many books, so little time...