I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was good

Today is our anniversary of 35 years! I would marry Wizard all over again. We’re going out to dinner tonight to celebrate. I just want to say: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY WIZARD!

Youngest son (BLB) came by unannounced on Saturday. Wizard and I had a vague plan to go to the movies, but thought we’d skip it when youngest son showed up. But he strongly encouraged us to go while he stayed with Maggie. (It’d been a tough two week’s finding out bad news, then having it confirmed, about a family member and youngest was helping in a big way.) Wizard and I went to see Bad Mom’s Christmas. We both laughed until we cried! It was exactly what we needed–a relief from life. If you like totally inappropriate humor, I highly recommend the movie.

Maggie is an awesome dog who is a “work in progress.” She’s timid and skittish, and has strongly bonded to me, but it’s taking more time with Wizard and everyone else. I’m taking a wait and see approach. If she and Wizard build a bond, we’ll keep her. If it doesn’t work out that way, we’ll work to find her a fantastic forever home. Since we’re dealing with a family illness, I’m not making any decisions, but rather enjoying the gift of Maggie for the moment.

Wizard, by the way, is working at it with her too. One moment she will be great with him, then she’ll suddenly skittish again. Also, she cries and is anxious when I leave. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out she’s had some trauma, but I won’t let anyone feel sorry for her. The goal is to build her confidence into the best Maggie can be

Also this weekend, I got my book back from my critique partner, Marianne. I LOVE her notes. She put comments in the manuscript, and wrote out 22 points of concerns and suggestions, and then she answered all my questions on going forward.  I’m both grateful and excited. We also talked on the phone for about an hour as I worked out what to keep in the pages and what to toss out. I know it’s not always easy to hear critiques (criticism of your beloved book), but this is why I wait until I’m not only ready to hear it, but actually desperate for direction.

That’s the moral of the story — don’t ask for a critique until you’re truly ready to listen and appreciate the words of wisdom. Marianne put in untold hours and many days worth of work into this critique, and it’s all invaluable to me. But if I hadn’t been ready to hear it, it would all have been wasted time and effort. So here’s my unasked for advice on critiques for writers:

–Find a critique partner you trust and respect.

–Don’t ask until you’re ready, maybe even desperate, for valuable feedback and guidance.

–Be appreciative!  You don’t have to use everything, but it’s a talent and skill to critique pages, and a hell of a lot of work.  Treat that with the respect it deserves.

–Don’t be afraid to ask respectful questions and really listen to the answers.

That was my weekend. How was your weekend?

Happy Friday! Okay here’s my Friday Five:

1. I saw my new doctor and feel good about that. The first hurdle he’s facing is getting my expensive RA medication approved, then we’ll move onto pain management. But I feel so much better having made this change.
2. Maggie is super cute It’s a relief now that she’s sleeping at night in her kennel with no complaining, even if she doesn’t want to go in the kennel. My middle son is helping me work on that, along with a lot of great advice I asked for on FB.
3. I’m hoping my critique partner doesn’t hate the chunk of the book she’s reading. Naturally I always fear the worst, and it’s a pointless waste of time. I’m going to focus on the positive–I can fix problems once I have her feedback!
4. Cancer Really Sucks.
5. There’s a street in our neighborhood I have to avoid when walking Maggie because a enraged Rottweiler loses his mind and tries to get over the fence. He can get his chest and front legs to the top of the fence, and one day, he’ll get over.  I don’t know what is wrong with people getting a powerful breed dog, then just leaving it in the backyard like that. I blame the owners. Don’t get a power breed dog if you’re not going to put in the work, time, money and attention. I have met plenty of well-balance power breed dogs with great owners, including my grandpuppy Jett. He’s probably a pit-boxer mix, well socialized and very friendly. But he has two owners who care about him. Anyway, that’s my rant for the day.

That’s my Friday Five, now it’s your turn! I really hope everyone has a great weekend.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! I’m writing this on Tuesday before the kids start showing up. We don’t get as may as we used to not that the neighborhood is aging out, and a lot of parents choose different Halloween activities than going to door to door these days.

Yesterday I finally sent a big chunk of Savaged Devotion off to my critique partner! First off, a huge shout out to Marianne! She almost always has to save my books. I’m dead serious. I rely on her and owe her a lifetime supply of Starbucks and more. Now we’ll see if she can even get through the pages I sent. I can be a hit or miss writer–either really on my game or off. But I am also a determined writer, and if the book need a shitton of work, I will do it. I’ll whine (and wine!) and complain, but I’ll do it because I love what I do even when it’s hard

Today I go to my new doctor and I’m very happy to be making this step forward in taking control of my health. I’m actually seeing the Physician’s Assistant because that’s who we really like in our family. He treats Wizard and my youngest son (BLB). This isn’t magic, but it is finding the right medical team to work with to get to my best self.

Okay enough of that. Now it’s time for Wednesday Worthy. Here’s our candidate:

So what do you think, is he worthy?

Sorry for missing Friday’s post. It was nine o’clock at night on Thursday when I remembered. Wizard and I were watching a movie, and I couldn’t get myself up off the couch to do it

We found out on Thursday that our grand baby due in March will be a boy! We didn’t care if the baby was a boy or girl, but it’s a lot of fun to find out the sex so we can shop. Special K is planning a “Nursery Assembly Day” in December to begin getting the baby’s room ready. It’s just for fun and to get some free labor, LOL. Not only is my daughter-in-law smart, she’s also sweet enough to include us in everything with this child. Wizard and I are so lucky that our boys chose such great women!

Maggie is doing well. She was a little star over the weekend. First biker witch (my sister) and her biker hubby came over on Thursday. Maggie is very friendly at first, but after a while, she can get a little anxious and stick close to me. We are working on building her confidence little by little. Saturday, Youngest son (BLB) surprised us by coming over and staying most of the day. Then CPA Boy and Special K came over in the late afternoon for dinner and to meet Maggie. She was pretty spoiled and exhausted by the end of the night. We had around three or four nonstop days, so Sunday was kickback for all of us, including Maggie.

Maggie has slept two nights in a row in her kennel with no barking or whining. She doesn’t want to go in, but once I get her in there, she lies down and sleeps. We will see how she does tonight–which when you read this will be last night since I’m writing this Sunday afternoon As Youngest (BLB) pointed out, the difference in just a week’s time between the first time he saw her and Saturday, is significant. Yesterday she was even going out back by herself for a few minutes at a time. It sounds small, but it’s important steps for her.

I’m not talking about writing a lot right now, but I will. Life has been freaking insane this year as many of you know, and now we’re very worried about a family member. He’s still going through testing, and we should learn more this week. Right now it looks pretty damn scary but there’s always hope until there’s not. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it because life doesn’t give us a choice.

One thing I’m happy about this week is that I see my new doctor (GP) on Wednesday. He’ll be overseeing all my care, including my specialists. I’m very hopeful we can sort of my physical problems! My nerve pain isn’t too bad right now with very limited computer time so that’s also helped. The ringing in my ears is up and down with occasional  headaches, although I’m getting better at recognizing and managing them.

So that’s my weekend, how was yours?

Oh man it’s hot here! How can it be the end of October and yet it was 105 here yesterday??

Okay, here’s our Wednesday Worthy candidate:

So what do you think, is he worthy?

I really want off the Life Sucks train. We had a shock this weekend, but it’s not about me, Wizard, the kids or our foster dog, Maggie. Now let’s talk about something fun.

Maggie got presents! Youngest Son and his lovely fiance came over and look at the doggie shirt and two toys Fiance brought Maggie!

It’s hot here right now, so I only had the little shirt on Maggie for a few minutes, but how cute–and true, LOL–is that! And look at the bright, fun toys. Maggie’s still unsure of toys, yet she played with both of these.

And it other amusing news, so Maggie is timid and having some separation anxiety from me. This is all pretty normal for a shelter dog, but Maggie is also starting to really show her intelligence. Sunday morning, Wizard and I both left to do different things, and we left Maggie out of the kennel. We’re doing this slowly as, so far, she hasn’t chewed on the wrong things or done anything destruction. Now really quick I need to mention that in a week I’ve established a pretty clear routine with Maggie. When I’m going to take her for a walk, I put on my old Reeboks. I always wear those same shoes. I pointed out to Wizard that once I put my shoes on, she gets excited and noses her leash that is hanging over the coat closet door handle.

Smart girl.

So Wizard and I headed off to our separate things. I got home first and Maggie showed some stress-panting and clearly had been a bit anxious. This is just something she’s going to need to work through and understand we’re coming back. But I wondered what I’d find in the house. I really wish I’d taken pictures but I didn’t think of it. Here’s what she did.

1. Pulled the leash off the door handle of the closet. ONLY the pink leash that I use on her, not the black slip lead that came from the shelter with her that Wizard uses. I found it laying on the ground.
2. In my bedroom, I found she’d take my old Reeboks out of the closet, through the dressing area and dropped them by the door of the bedroom.

Neither the leash or the shoes were chewed. I can only surmise the Maggie wanted to be with me and knew she’d need her leash and my shoes to do it. I’m just guessing…but it was weird. I couldn’t find anything else moved. Clearly she had some plan.

Today will be a long day at a funeral. I’m just going to keep trying on my book when I can work

So how was your weekend?

It’s like I should have this on repeat–where does the time go? This was another supersonic week! I can’t even keep up this crazy year. Let’s do our Friday Five:

1. Yesterday Wizard was gone, and Maggie and I did a little work. Well one of us worked and one of us did this… 
2. Maggie’s back to complaining for a while when she goes into her kennel for the night. She appears safe and fine, so we’re trying a few different things to help her adjust but otherwise we’re ignoring it and she eventually goes to sleep. Trust me, the dog is very smart, and not above trying to get her way in some things. Overall though she’s a really good girl. I’m taking her on one to two miles walks and she’s just trots along at my side. So far, she hasn’t had any accidents, doesn’t chew on the wrong things and tries hard to please us.
3. I’m going to ask everyone to bear with me. Things are going to get a little worse with me health wise as I switch doctors over the next month and try to get all the meds and specialist changed, then I expect it to get better. But I want you all to know that I’m working on Savaged Devotion and will get back up to speed soon.
4. For a while I wasn’t really reading books due to the distractions of life, plus I was using audio books to drown out the ringing in my ears. But…I started one of Laurann Dohner’s News Species series that I really enjoy and I’m hooked. Oddly enough…that’s helping me streamline my plot on SAVAGED DEVOTION. These two books aren’t anything alike, but reading other people’s work just tends to help me step out of my own way I think
5. This weekend will be low-key I hope. Another family member is ill, so we’re a little concerned about that. Otherwise, we may have a visitor or two to see Maggie and I’ll work as much as I can. Monday will be long as we’re going to a funeral that’s quite a distance away.

Okay that’s my Friday Five, now it’s your turn to share yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!