Friday, January 3rd, 2020
Friday Five
It’s the 2020 edition of Friday Five! Let’s do it!
- We had a nice New Year’s Eve dinner. We also opened a bottle of good wine, and after half a glass, I had an allergy attack. It probably was a coincidence as it was late afternoon which is when my allergies can flare up. Or it could have been something in the wine that triggered it
Either way, I’m avoiding the remainder of that particular wine. Wizard is enjoying it while feeling vaguely guilty 
- I went to the gym Monday, worked out on the elliptical for a couple of miles and some light weights. My side was fine, so today I did a little more. It took about three hours for my side to ache. Honestly I thought my body and I had a deal that we would not act our age in 2020?
- After years and years of resisting, Wizard and I finally bought a Costco membership yesterday. This is our “test” year to see if we shop there enough to make it worth it. It was fun just walking around Costco warehouse yesterday–I could lose six months of my life in there!
- I’m going to have to buy a new set of pots and pans. It’s not cheap, but I cook a fair amount and use them. I have a new set sitting in my online shopping cart but can’t make myself actually buy them yet.
- I found a dermatologist on YouTube that I’ve been following lately. My skin has changing over the last year or two, and I’m reacting to products I’ve never had issues with in the past. Her advice is helping me deal with that. Her suggestions are easy, practical and helping me identify common irritants in skin care products that I hadn’t even realized could be a problem. I guess it’s pretty common to develop sensitivity to certain ingredients with prolonged use. The products she suggests are usually Target/Walmart prices which is a total win for me too.
Today we are seeing Wizard’s brother who is visiting from out of state. Saturday we’re babysitting Turbo. 2o20 did not get the memo about slowing life down a little. Anyway, that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! Have a great weekend!
January 3rd, 2020 at 7:59 am · Link
Ack! Wine should only bring pleasure, not allergy attacks. Bad wine. Wizard shouldn’t feel guilty – he’s killing the rest of it for you. Yay for making it back to the gym! Boo for stupid side aches. Good luck with the Costco membership! Ugh, good pots and pans are not cheap, good luck with that, too. And yay for finding a fix for skin issues!
1) My ‘new year, new attitude’ thing has been going pretty good for me so far. Of course, it’s only two full days into it. :fingers crossed:
2) Speaking of which, I actually worked on editing two nights in a row. It helps when every time I think ‘I don’t wanna’ I follow it with ‘too bad, do it anyway’.
3) I have an irresistible urge to reorganize my book shelves. Well, just the SF and the crime. The crime shelf is too small and has slopped over onto the SF shelf which is bigger, so I think I’ll swap them around. Don’t wanna move all those books… too bad. ;o)
4) My weight loss game plan for 2020 starts as soon as I finish eating all the stuffs (chips, ice cream, etc.) Then I will exercise some will power and not buy more stuffs. Since I do all the grocery shopping, it shouldn’t be too hard… well, except for not buying ice cream. That’ll be hard. I do love my ice creams.
5) You know, I never expected to be around long enough to see 2020. Then again, I said the same thing in 2000 and here we are 20 years later. I’ll probably say it again in 2040. ;o)
Happy New Year, Jenn and all the witches! May this year be your best yet. :hugs:
January 3rd, 2020 at 9:51 am · Link
What B.E. said! And Happy New Year!
Five things…random or not. 😂
1. I got my cover for my Feb. release. The branding across the mini series is great and I like my cover in particular. Now I have to find 3 teaser lines and photos for backgrounds. Brain wants to implode.
2. I fried 20 pounds of bacon yesterday, with 4 pounds of sausage patties to fry today for tomorrow’s pancake breakfast. I think I gained two pounds inhaling all the bacon smell!
3. New Year’s Day was quiet, and quite a bit like any other day. I don’t have a problem with that.
4. I have to empty out the dogs’ pool today. The City water department is sending cameras down all the sewer mains and the manhole for the main in our area is in the backyard, with the dog pool sitting on top. *adds to To-Do list*
5. In between my fruitless searches of stock photo sites, I’ve been trying to organize my upcoming projects. I have several: the next Nightrider MC book, the next Penumbra Papers book, the next Moonstruck conpendium book, the next Red Dirt book–all of which need to get done and/or started. I also need to get another Hard Target book in the works and I keep getting scenes of the Moonstruck Mafia books when doing flash fiction challenges.
Priorities. And inspiration, I guess.
First, though, sausage, grocery store, and teaser images! Then maybe new words as LG is going out with his high school crew (amazing they’ve remained tight all these years!) for dinner and a brew tonight. Me time! Yayayay!
Happy Weekend, y’all!
January 3rd, 2020 at 4:22 pm · Link
1. Wow! That’s awful having a reaction to the wine. I feel awful for you. Glad everything else was good.
2. Nice to hear that you are pretty much healed. Boy, it is rather nasty of our bodies to keep informing us that we aren’t teenagers anymore – how dare they!
3. Costco is great if you buy tons of stuff or need to buy gas. Youngest has a membership because his truck has a huge tank.
4. Good pots and pans are a MUST. Are they less expensive at Kohl’s or Bed Bath and Beyond? I got my last set from Kohl’s and saved a ton with my 30% off and other rewards.
5. Now you have to hook the rest of us up with this YouTube derm. As we get older our skin changes in really strange ways.
1a. Still have cold (or whatever it is). It’s much better . The cough is now wet and less frequent and I’m not totally exhausted.
2a. Did my pork roast for New Year’s and with being sick is screwed it up. When I went to adjust the oven temperature, instead of 375F I set the oven at 175F. Didn’t notice for 45 minutes. Needless to say it was not done when the rest of the meal was. We ate the sides and the pork by itself. It was still delicious.
3a. Bought a peppermint frozen pie from Walmart for $4. So good :). That was the one win on New Years.
4a. Tomorrow the Christmas stuff comes down.
5a. Decided I’m going to learn how to borrow e-books from the library. There are so many novellas I’d like to read but don’t want to spend a ton of money on them and the library doesn’t carry to book form. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy Turbo :)!
January 3rd, 2020 at 7:01 pm · Link
B.E., I told Wizard the same thing about the wine, LOL. A lot of my root issues is based in my meds which lower my immune system, but it keeps me able to walk and function, for which I am very grateful. I’ll take allergies over crippled joints any day!
1) Two days of the “new attitude new you” is a good start!
2) Too bad, do it anyway is a good motto!
3) Books are heavy and hard to move. But it’ll be so nice once it’s done!
4) Ice cream is pretty hard to resist. I buy kinds that don’t interest me for Wizard. But I’m not worrying about my eating until next week. I’ve just been focusing on exercise for now.
5) We want you to be around in 2040 and Beyond!!
Happy New Year and have a great weekend!
January 3rd, 2020 at 7:09 pm · Link
Silver thanks and Happy New Year to you too!
1) Yay for the cover! Teasers and marketing stuff is a chore, but once you have it done, it’ll be mighty useful!
And hope the city doesn’t find any structural issues in the water lines by you. Although finding it now is better than a massive leak or sink hole later.
2) Wowzers, you’ve been on a serious pork fry!! The vets (it’s for the veterans right?) will appreciate it for their pancake breakfast!
3) New Years is just a day around here too. We just do a special dinner the night before because we love eating, LOL!
4) Hope you remembered to empty the dog’s water dish
5) I got heart palpitations just reading that list. Is that all for this year? If it is, more power to you for jumping in and doing it!!! Hope you can find inspiration and motivation!
Hope you enjoyed the Me-Time! I got some of that today too since I was doing sneezing and watery eyes this morning and sent Wizard to see his brother by himself. Have a great weekend!
January 3rd, 2020 at 7:19 pm · Link
Viki, I have Calphalon pans and like them. I’ve priced them out and the best set/price is Amazon. Kohls is roughly the same after the 30% off, but I don’t have that discount right now. So…we’ll see. I’ve been looking around to make sure there’s not another set I want more in the same price range.
Here’s Dr. Dray’s FB page https://www.facebook.com/DrDrayzDay/ She’s also a vegan, which I find interesting to learn about and possibly expand some of my food choices, but it’s not my personal choice as a total lifestyle.
Ok, now for you:
1) Wow, that sounds like it may be a flu bug or a super bad cold. Try to keep taking it easy, lots of fluids and rest if possible so you don’t relapse.
2) I hate when that happens to me in cooking. I’ve accidently turn off the oven once or twice and not realized it for a while too. But it sounds like everyone took it all in stride and you enjoyed dinner out of order
3) Yum the pie sounds good! I seldom buy desserts (just because I like to bake) but i’d definitely try that.
4) Taking Christmas stuff down is less fun that putting them up. Wizard did a lot of it this year while I was gone doing errands. That was a nice surprise!
5) Great idea to borrow e-books from the library. I think Silver does that. I should do that too.
I hope you get some extra rest this weekend and kick the end of that virus!