TGIF!! Let’s jump right into sharing 5 random things about our week:

1. Writing, well I’m trying! I don’t want to dwell on it, so I’ll just say regaining my creativity is a work in progress
2. So it turns out I have an inner hippie, LOL! My friends, this is what comes of watching YouTube. Anyhow, yesterday, I made tahini (a butter made from pumpkin seeds) and almond butter. I plan to use the tahini in some homemade granola and hummus, and the almond butter as I would any nut butter spread. (FYI, I’m not vegan or a vegetarian by any stretch, I’m just expanding the plant-based nutrition to my diet to support my increased strength training.) To my surprised, my small food processor did the job. Here’s the results of my efforts:
   

   Tahini on the left. fresh roasted almonds in the center and almond butter on the right.

3. Today I’m meeting Biker Witch to hang out and go to Trader Joes, because, yep, we know how to party! Also, I’m looking for more nuts and stuff, and then next week, I’ll be tired of it all. But I’m so thrifty, I’ll find a way to use all that I’ve bought and made. For instance, I bet I could find a way to turn that tahini into a sweet treat
4. It’s taken my over a week to read a thriller, “Orphan X” by Gregg Hurwitz. It’s fast paced with nice twists, I just get distracted, and you know, tinnitus.  I just finished listening to “What Alice Forgot” by Liane Morierty. I liked that one too, I especially liked the premise of waking up after a fall and not remembering anything in the last ten years, including her kids or why she’s divorcing her husband.
5. I’m not sure about this weekend. I may see a kid or grandkid or get into some shenanigan or other.

So that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! Hope all of you have a great weekend!

Maggie appears to have completely bounced back. Here she is on a walk with me (sorry I couldn’t get a better picture–she’s doesn’t like her picture taken)

Animals! Here I thought I raised my kids and my acid churning nights of worry were over. Then Maggie came into our lives, and I got to feel that helpless panic and worry all over again. But you know what? She’s totally worth it! She’s a precious gift who came with an unknown time limit, but her love will make me a better person for as long as I live.

And that makes me think of Bailey Dog.

He was a little dog with a mighty heart and he had a huge impact on all of my family. We are all more loving and compassionate for having this dog in our lives. And though he’s been gone for a while now, his legacy lives on in each of us and the choices we make each and every day.

Now I’d love to hear about the animals that have impacted and or changed your life.

Stunningly sad news about Kobe Bryant, his daughter and all the people in the helicopter with them. My heart breaks for all the families and loved ones. I’m writing this right after I heard, so I’m still just shocked. Since I live in So Cal, Kobe is (gosh, I can’t even say was yet) big news around here.

Okay, moving off this, my weekend was good and bad.

Good was our grandson, Turbo! CPA Boy, Special K and Turbo came over, and for the first time in a while, it was all about Grandpa for Turbo. Wizard was ecstatic and they had a great time together while I made blueberry pancakes.

Then Uncle Youngest (BLB) and his wife crashed the party Youngest brought Turbo another gift, an awesome car set that Turbo loved because Uncle Middle shamelessly spoils his nephew and is quite smug about doing it. This is going to come back and bite him in the backside when he has kids and Uncle CPA Boy spoils them, LOL! Brothers. (Uncle Middle is just as shameless about spoiling Turbo.)

The bad news is Maggie got sick again Saturday and kept throwing up for a couple of hours. Not good. When our Family Vet Tech (Youngest’s wife) got to the house, she looked her over, said she was slightly dehydrated, but if things didn’t get worse I could wait to take her in Monday. Maggie seemed to stopped throwing up and I semi-relaxed. We had a great day, everyone left, I gave Maggie some rice, put her in her bed by our couch and Wizard and I did some stuff.

Then I looked at Maggie.

She’d quietly thrown up. Again. Right by my feet and I didn’t hear her (Bad Mom!). However, she got right up while I cleaned up, then she drank some water, went outside,  came back in…and thing got worse:

The side of her mouth swelled up and it was bad (probably worse than the picture shows). I got Benadryl down her in a spoon full of pumpkin. The other side of her mouth and one eye swelled before the Benadryl finally began working. Thankfully her airways seemed clear and she was breathing fine. It had to be a reaction to something, but we have no idea what might have stung or bit her, what she might have eaten…no clue. Or if it’s related to the vomiting. By the time I put her in her crate to sleep, she was better and I was a wrung out mess.

After a night spent imagining the worst, she looked much improved in the morning. So far, she’s held some rice and dry food down as I’m writing this Sunday afternoon, but I’m taking her in to her vet today if I can get her in. I will feel better getting her checked out.

Sadly, I’ve been planning and wanting to go see Middle son and his wife on Sunday. Our schedules haven’t lined up lately, but we finally got it worked out and I had to cancel Of course Middle Son understood which helped a lot.

Want to guess how much writing I got done? I’m fighting the middle part of the book that is a major turning point. One voice in my head keeps saying just move forward and fix it later, but another voice bellows that I can’t, it’s too emotionally vital to set up the rest of the book. I really need the voices in my head to all get on the same page and work together! Is that so much to ask?

So that’s my long weekend story. How was your weekend?

P.S. Once I know Maggie is okay, she’s going to be in really big trouble for scaring me like this!

TGIF! Every Monday I get up with a fresh new week in front of me, and every Friday I’m like, Hey, where’d the week go? Anyhow, let’s get into sharing five random things about our week:

1. A picture from one of my Thursday morning walks with Maggie.
2. Maggie’s been a little off this week, and yesterday afternoon she only ate half her dinner (unusual) and seemed a little lethargic. I’m going to watch her today and call the vet if she’s sick. I hate it when I can’t put my finger on what’s bothering her, and she can’t tell me.
3. In case you haven’t gotten enough of my super exciting life, here’s a pic of my lunch yesterday. It’s flatbread with some turkey, low-fat string cheese, and a  whole lot of vegetables topped with pineapple salsa. I actually roll this up believe it or not, and then I use a fork for spillover. This is one of my favorite lunches if I have the time to assemble it. What I’m NOT showing is the supposedly healthy, definitely calorie loaded, oatmeal peanut butter bar I ate after that.
4. I’m in a decluttering and organizing frenzy. One of my goals for this year is streamlining my kitchen. I’ve always been a bit of a minimalist in my lifestyle–at least in theory, LOL. But somehow I’ve collected a lot of stuff over the years, and I’ve worn out other stuff. It will take time, but I’ve got a great start now and feel good about that. Although I’m filling up our trash cans and donations bags.
5. Turbo is supposed to come over Saturday for pancakes, but Wizard hasn’t been feeling well this week. We’ll see how he is today–we don’t want to get Turbo sick. FYI, I worry about Wizard as much as I worry about Maggie, but at least Wizard can tell me what hurts and he’s good about going to a doctor if he needs to, which relieves my mind some.

That’s a quick snapshot of my week, now I’d love to hear yours! Have a great weekend!

This is me after I got my motivation/planning stickers:

LOLOL!  Today, I’ll be back at it after I go to the gym

What’s on your agenda today?

So it was an average Saturday. I was at my desk doing the whole Let’s Pretend I’m A Writer gig. Only, you know, I forgot to bring my words to the job Anyhow I’m in my office and Maggie was in her chair, playing the part of Magic Muse Who Forgot Her Magic.

Both Maggie and I totally rock in our parts, by the way. I yell at imaginary characters, and she sighs and sleeps.  We were in the groove. Then Maggie woke and leapt off the chair, bolted into the kitchen and pounced.

It all happened in seconds. I just saw a blur leap off the chair, and turning suddenly, soundlessly aggressive like someone had flipped a switch. I panicked, wondering if she’d lost her mind and was going after Wizard as he was the only other person in the house. I jumped up and then I saw it.

A poor lizard, and two feet away, the lizard’s severed, still moving tail.

UGH.

Maggie had already moved away from the lizard and searching the rest of the kitchen. Once assured the threat was neutralized, she casually walked up to me and sat down. All calm and sweet again.

Freaky! I mean it was so fast, so silent and efficient.

Maggie spotted an invader.

Maggie neutralized the invader.

And life went back to normal for her.

I just…wow. Outside, she’s more playful, having a great time chasing lizards, and usually they escape. But she wasn’t playing inside. She meant business. I wonder if she’d do that with a human intruder? Probably not. Maggie’s naturally submissive to humans. But clearly not with lizards!

Other weekend news: My new pans came and, so far, we’re pretty happy. Gosh my old ones were bad! I swear I take care of my pots and pans, but I do use them a lot.

I decided that if I ordered a set of planner stickers, I’d find my missing words   I’m weirdly excited about the stickers, they are little motivational reminders to myself that I’m moving forward, even if it feels like I’m slogging around in the muck of write-and-cut. But again, that’s not as unproductive as if feels because I’ll use some of those cut scenes later. The stickers are a way to show progress with brightly colored markers. Not sure if that makes sense, but hey, who cares as long as it works!

I stayed close to home this weekend, and I’m enjoying indulging my inner hermit with the quiet life for a while.

That was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF! Okay let’s jump right into sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. Each morning, I’m trying to get up and do 5 to 10 minutes of stretching/strengthening before coffee, and then I write notes in my planner. I’ve only done it for a week, and who knows if I’ll keep it up. But it definitely brightens my mood, almost like a form of meditation. I’m making changes to create a more Can Do Attitude. It’s amazing how a little self-care will help creativity, but it’s not an instant fix.
2. I hate using phrases like “self-care” that are so trendy and annoying, but I couldn’t think of a better one
3. I ordered my pans! I had a few discounts at Kohls and even Wizard was impressed. Not impressed enough to lift the Costco Moratorium though! (That’s a joke between us in case anyone thinks he’s somehow scolding me.)
4. I struggled to write yesterday (and all week), but had a Whoa, this might be the right track moment just before I shut down. I intentionally stopped when I was “hooked” so I can return to it tomorrow with some enthusiasm (attitude!). I also worked on my characters Goal, Motivation, Conflict.  Whenever I am lost writing a book, I go back to what’s driving the characters, and in my view, that’s always Goal, Motivation, Conflict.  The book “GMC: Goal, Motivation, Conflict” by Debra Dixon is on my writer’s shelf. I keep very few physical books anymore, but that’s one I’ve retained.
5. I had my Costco frozen fruit mixed in my oatmeal yesterday morning and it was delicious! It’s so nice to have a bag of whole frozen berries to pull out as needed. The next thing I want to try to make is Zoats — oatmeal with shredded zucchini in it. I don’t know why except I saw it on a video and I figure, why not? LOL!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours!