HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We have some candy to give out, but no clue if we will have any kids come to the door or not. We’ll see!

The weekend came and went as scheduled Saturday we didn’t go see Turbo because his dad had a mild cold that has worked its way through their family. I normally wouldn’t care, but I’ve recently adjust some meds to better protect my stomach, and don’t want to add any burdens to my immune system for a little while. So far, the adjustment has been easier than I expected.

Sunday we went to Biker Witch’s for awhile. Wizard and Youngest installed two fans with no trouble. Youngest daughter-in-law came too and she’s always fun. Maggie had a great time. So the text conversation the week prior with my sister went like this:

Biker Witch to me: “Hey are you coming with Wizard?

Me thinking my sister misses me. “Sure, I’ll come.

Biker Witch. “Are you brining Maggie?

Me growing suspicious. “I hadn’t thought about it, but I can if you want me to.”

“Bring her, we really want to see her.”

Me. “Um okay.” Thinking I’m sure you really want to see me too. You know, I’m your beloved baby sister! I’m sure my sister was thinking that but probably was too lazy to type it out on a text, right?

Then the night before Biker Witch texted. “Don’t forget to bring Maggie’s treats.”

Sigh, never mind. My sister only loves me for my dog. Who, by the way, thinks Biker Witch and Biker Hubby are awesome and she loves going there. So Maggie had a great weekend! But I’m fine, I mean my sister probably still loves me

This week we’re working on gathering and researching contractors to begin the process of getting quotes for the back and side yard. I’m preparing myself for a wicked case of Sticker Shock, which we all know is usually followed by the dream-killer known as Reality Check. It’s all good though. If we can’t afford one thing, we’ll do something else. There’s no rush.

So how was your weekend?

TGIF! Let’s get right into sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. It’s been a quiet week that has involved a lot of me standing around waiting until Wizard needs me to help with his building the cabinets. It’s been, um, a much longer and challenging than anticipated. You know how it goes, everything that can go wrong does, but Wizard has adjusted the plan the best he can and will make it work. Overall, a quiet week isn’t a bad thing. Last week was almost too hard.
2. We spent an hour or so measuring and drawing out the back yard so we can plan and start getting quotes. It’s a small slightly awkward space, so we want to make the best use of space while keeping it low maintenance. I think we have a good start in knowing what we want. The front is desert landscape, and something we want to change, but it may have to wait. We drew up some ideas and will begin talking to contractors in another week or two.
3. I need to get estimates on the #2 in order to move forward inside the house. I’m trying to be patient but it’s starting to bug me. We aren’t even hanging pictures until I decided where I want our existing wall art and where I think we can afford new pieces. But I need to buy two chairs and some console tables, and that all circles back to budget which requires an idea what the outside retaining walls and landscape is going to cost.  LOLOL. All that said, at least we’re moved in and mostly settled, so these are not real problems by an stretch! We both love this house.
4. I want to bake but I know I should wait until I have a clearer treatment plan (probably late next week). However…I might give in and do something today for fun and I just won’t eat it. Turbo did want some chocolate cookies, but I need to talk to his parents and see what they think about that since Monday is Halloween and there’s probably a lot of junk around — including the Halloween bag I’m taking him.
5. This weekend, we hope to go see Turbo on Saturday, then we’re going by Biker Witch’s on Sunday so Wizard and Youngest Son can install a couple ceiling fans (they volunteered to do it cause they wanted too). I’m just tagging along to see my sister It doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but it’ll fill up the weekend.

See? It was a quiet, boring week. Oh I forgot to mention I started reading RESCUE MOON by Silver James and I’m enjoying it. So far what I love the most is the fast pacing that keeps me turning pages! So that’s my five plus a bonus on what I’m reading, now I’d love to hear yours. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The low fodmat diet is very restrictive, but yesterday I felt like a genius.

A couple days ago I made what was supposed to be a one serving size of quinoa. Right now, I can’t eat that much at once (it was a large service in my opinion), so I put half in the fridge. That night we had some roast beef and corn, so I added leftover corn. The next day I shredded the remaining beef for taco. I put a very small amount of leftover shredded beef. The following day we went grocery shopping and I had a little leftover raw zuccini. I add that to my bowl, heated it for a bit in the microwave, added low sodium soy sauce and I had a lunch bowl! All low fodmat! It didn’t taste bad either.

I felt like I’d won the lottery, LOLOL!

Sometimes it’s the little things in life. I know this diet is temporary, and it has help some of my stomach issues. I’ve also learned something interesting: I thought not being able to eat bread would be the hardest.

Nope, it’s not eating pears and apples and broccoli that bugs me the most. I’m finding out I can eat grapes though, and that’s surprising. I’ve actively avoided them thinking they were part of the problem.

It’s good to learn new things about ourselves! Now what I’d love to learn is when I’ll have the time, energy and drive to write again   Sadly I don’t think this diet has the answer to that question.

How about you? Have you learned anything new about yourself recently?

It was a beautiful weekend weather-wise! Saturday was cloudy and sunny, with a chance of rain that never happened here. Sunday was mostly sunshine with clouds and about 70 degrees. The best weather ever!

Here’s a pic from Maggie and I hiking up the dirt road behind our house.

Horses! I actually know very little about horses. They were grazing when we walked by and walked a bit closer to see or smell us. Maggie and I didn’t stay too long, I don’t want to stress them. As I said, I don’t really know enough to read their body language and be able to judge if we were bothering them or they were simply curious. This is the second time Maggie has seen them. The first time she was very curious and mildly concerned. This time, she looked and then kept going. It’s good exposure for her.

On Saturday, Wizard and I were finishing breakfast when youngest called and asked if Wizard needed his help. He came over a few hours to help cut out more wood. Wizard was happy, and so was Maggie Fun fact about Maggie, I’ve had her out in the garage with us a couple times while Wizard used the table saw and circular saw. They don’t bother her at all. But the cellphones make her anxious. The dog is, well let’s just call it quirky.

Sunday I ran over to youngest’s for a while to see him, his wife and Phoebe. Very fun! Phoebe is hilarious, when I slow down petting her and talk to her mom and dad, she groans or sits up and puts her face in mine to remind me of my duty as a doggy grandma.

Did I show you guys my daughter-in-law’s housewarming gift?

She’s a witch for Halloween! She cackles and talks, and I love her! My daughter-in-law brought it over the day we were moving in, which is why there are stacked empty boxes and a huge bag of trash behind her in the shot. Now she’s outside entertaining everyone who comes to the door. One of the delivery guys even asked to take a picture of her, LOL!

In case you’re wondering, the witch cackling and talking only made Maggie curious enough to check her out but not anxious. She just hates cellphones. We’re pretty sure she’s in witness protection, it’s the only logical explanation of why she hates cellphones and refuses to have her picture taken.

Let’s see, otherwise it was just a weekend filled with normal weekend stuff. There’s so much to do, and definitely not enough budget for everything, but it’s all good because we’re in the house and don’t have to worry about all the things that got us here! Being busy now feels like we’re living our lives not waiting around for the next phase of life to begin.

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF! I am sooo glad it’s Friday. So lets dive right into our five. I’ll start

1. Our couches came a day late due to a snafu, but they waived the “set up” fee which is nice of them so we’re happy. They are big and dark but we really like them so far.
2. We also got the blinds which is a relief. We are happy with all but one, which has an issue that hadn’t occurred to us. We agreed to two blinds on one rail since the window is so big. What we didn’t think about was that there’d be cords in the center where the blinds meet. We are probably just going to live with it. Especially since we can leave a space between the couch and window wall to access the cord easily. But we wish that the issue had been pointed out to us. It’s a small thing, I know. Otherwise we are loving having window coverings!
3. I went to the dentist Wednesday and it was a newish dentist there. I’m on the fence about this one and it’s hard when you really like every other person there. I’m thinking we’ll wait and see.
4. I got the two scopes done Thursdays. The prep was brutal, but I thought I was okay when we left the house to go to the surgery center. I made it there, got in the back to be prepped for the procedures when nausea hit. It was not fun for anyone, but the team of people there were utterly amazing and helped me so much. For as miserable as I was, they made it as easy as possible from start to finish. And the good news is that I think we got some really good information, with more information coming. One issue is a couple small ulcers on my stomach, but they are “surface” so not deep and I’m sure we can manage those. The other one is something I was born with and might be TMI for some people, LOL. Given the way I’ve been feeling for a while now, I see all this as helpful news. I don’t expect instant solutions, just a path to managing it.
5. We are having more freeway shut downs for repairs and improvements in our area so we’ll be staying close to home again. We have plenty to do so that’s fine. And since I can’t see Turbo (my grandson),  I am hoping to drop by Youngest’s if they are around and play with Phoebe (one of my granddog).

So that’s my rather quick five, now I’d love to hear yours! I feel better as I’m writing this Thursday night, but I’m a bit sore (fully expected) and ready to sit on the new couch and do nothing but pet Maggie for an hour. I hope all of you have a fun and safe weekend!

The audiobook I’m listening too had a major curveball that was interesting. The female murder victim turned out to be transgender which very few people knew. That twist came during the trial, and could provide the missing motive to why her boyfriend could have murdered her in the book’s plot. That’s all fine and didn’t bother me.

What does bug me is when the character exposition turned into blatant lecturing. I’m not even sensitive on these topics. If I don’t like something, I just move onto something else. There’s plenty of choices out there. But this twist worked for me in this story since it upped the stakes, and the author had laid down some clues that suddenly made sense. But I got jerked hard out of the story by the blatant lecturing in the murder victims exposition (the timeline switches between the present and the past, and that parts skillfully done). It makes me sad. Sometimes as authors, we forget the story itself is powerful enough, and we are actually weaking the power of the story when we insert our own voice, beliefs and or agendas. Let the characters tell their story and trust their story is enough.

Then step off and let readers choose if they want to go along for the story’s ride or not. Some will, some won’t. That’s how it works. And that’s how it should work in my view. Readers get to choose what they want to read. But if we write a powerful enough story without that lecturing, maybe we will give our characters a chance to add something to the conversation of life, and give readers an opportunity to see something from another point of view. It’s happened to me many times.

For sure, the method in this book doesn’t work for me. It seriously irritates me.

I’m finishing the story because I’m still hooked by the story question of did the well like, nice guy high school hocky star kill his girlfriend or not? Plus the author is developing interesting characters and her writing is engaging except for this one thing that slips through in the exposition/lecturing.

A couple decades ago, I was reading a fiction and was too far in when I realized it involved showing the opposite side of something I believed. By then I was hooked and devoured the entire book. There was no lecturing. Rather, this was a powerful story that helped me see that issue in a broader way. I don’t remember the title, but I’ve remembered the story and the two main characters for more than two decades.  That’s pretty danged impressive. That fictional book had an impact on my views and has stayed with me for a very long time. It didn’t necessarily change my opinion but it’s helped me understand how the issue affects all people, not just me.

That’s powerful. And yet not once did the author disguised as the character lecture. She was living her life in the timeline of that book, and I was experiencing it with her. For those few hours, it felt like I had a friend who lived a different life than mine, and I was learning from her without even realizing it.

That is the power of story! Let’s keep our author voice’s out of it and let the characters’ voices do their job!

Happy Wednesday!

It was a good but busy weekend.

Saturday, youngest came over, and he and Wizard rented a truck to bring home wood for Wizard to build a workbench, cabinets and pegboard to hang tools. Hopefully they got all the bigger pieces. While they were gone, I finally had a little time just to clean and do a few things. Once they came home, Youngest hung out for a while. Then Wizard and I headed out to an outlet furniture stores we’d discovered. It was another longish drive, but we finally found couches! We’d spent enough time, energy and gas ($$) to know it was probably the best deal we were going to get. The hardest thing for me is balancing what I love with what is practical. My practical (and cheap!) side won out. It almost always does, LOL. But I think we’ll be happy. Once we have those, I just need two smaller chairs to get all the seating we’d like to have in the great room, but those should be easier (and less expensive!) to find.

Saturday it rained! We had quite a downpour for about twenty minutes. And a lot of heavier drizzle on and off. We can use every drop!

Sunday Wizard finally was able to go racing and I had a quiet, productive and very much appreciated day at home. Most of it was boring to talk about stuff like yoga, vacuuming, ordering “we’ve moved” cards and going to pick them up, and other assorted things. Then I debated between working on my pantry since I got some storage containers and going for an afternoon walk with Maggie. I chose the walk. Sunday was cooler and overcast, while the rest of the week is going to get hot again so we took advantage of the cloudy day and explored. That was fun and good for both of us! Maggie’s sleeping now after quite a long walk on dirt and mud trails.

‘This afternoon, our blinds are supposed to be installed. That is going to be nice! We have been using sheets that we hold back with chip bag clips during the day. I’m sure the neighbors will miss our class once boring blinds are installed

How was your weekend?