So I finally made myself some iced latte at home — and gave myself an ugly case of insomnia, LOL! I’m a danger to myself sometimes. So now, I’ve decided to leave iced lattes to the professionals because I really prefer sleeping to not sleeping. I have a history of pretty severe insomnia which has improved a lot in the last few years and I’m not willing to let that beast regain control of all my night hours. Oddly I can drink a regular cup of hot coffee around 2 or 3 and it doesn’t bother me, so I clearly made the iced coffee too strong — but again — not willing to trigger that insomnia beast!

And speaking of sleep, the Princess of our Universe, otherwise known as Maggie, no longer sleeps in her kennel. And she has decreed that we have only ourselves to blame. The night she got so sick, she called out and we did not come in a timely manner. Sadly, that is true and we have the mental guilt scars to prove it. We have excuses (surgeries and illness), but none of that changes that she was very sick, in a lot of pain and “trapped.”  What happened is that the next night she went to sleep in there, she was fine until a bit after midnight when she woke up, panicked and was clawing to get out. This time, we responded instantly and immediately let her out. We tried it the next night, and she started panicking about 30 seconds after she went in. That’s a behavior we’ve never seen before. I talked to her vet, and we agreed it doesn’t matter if she sleeps in the kennel, but we do work with giving her treats and fun in the kennel so she’s not panicked again if she has to go in one at the vets or boarding. She also said these kinds of fears or paranoias are not uncommon in older dogs. Maggie now sleeps in her dog bed by us and she’s fine. And since she is a bit older, it’s easier to hear her if she needs us.

What amazes me is how much control this little sweet dog has gained over us and our household!

On the other hand, when the desk was delivered, I had her leashed and on a sit by my side. That’s for safety — a curious dog can get in the way of folks moving heavy furniture and cause serious accidents. She was such a good girl, doing exactly as I asked. So it’s not like all her behavior has deteriorated, it’s just the kennel thing.

So that’s my tired and probably pointless rambling. How’s your Wednesday going?

A good weekend! A family member came through surgery well, and we are so relieved. And the desk and filing cabinet came — we love it! This is exactly what we wanted. We still need a bookshelf but are waiting on that to see precisely what we’ll need space and storage wise. Then we’ll put up all our pictures and office-like things we still have boxed. The best thing for us is that in the past we always had to have our desk facing a wall with out back to the room. Now the desk is facing the room, with the door opening at the right.

We also spent a lot of time and muscle pain (LOL) to go through remaining boxes, and got rid of about 6 full boxes which is a nice dent. Eventually we’ll get it down to a few boxes that we want or need to keep.

And Maggie got three new collars! Wizard insisted I get her another green collar so I got a good one in his preferred color, then I got her two “fun” (as in cheap, LOL) collars; one with bees and one with hearts. So far, she wants to wear her bee collar. Maggie thinks that will make her blend in with the bees on the hill and then the lizards won’t realize she’s there hunting them. Here’s her face when I told her I didn’t think her plot would work:

Then I convinced her to wear her heart collar, but Maggie is a tough negotiated and it cost me two treats and the promise of putting her bee collar on right after I took the picture. It looks like a prison booking photo but I took what I could get!

And yes, if anyone is still wondering, Maggie is in charge of the house

How was your weekend?

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

1. It was raining when I got up this morning! I knew we were supposed to have showers, but that still surprised me. It’s humid and a good day to spend inside doing other stuff.
2. We will be here in this house a year next month! Hard to believe. So far, we don’t have any regrets. We do have some things we wish the housing track had done better, but that’s a pretty normal experience I think. People ask us all the time if we miss the pool, I assume they ask it because we loved that pool so much. Now that I’ve answered that like, a thousand time, here’s how I respond: We cherish the memories of pool parties and family time, but ultimately, we were ready to move into the next phase of our lives. And we are thrilled that old neighbors tell us they hear the new owners out there in the pool all the time. That’s actually a great feeling that another family is enjoying it.
3. And after a year of using a large folding table as a desk, we finally ordered a desk and a filing cabinet. The desk is long, but simple with only three drawers to keep it manageable for us to move (and clean around when I get ambitious). It’s coming today and I’m excited! We are holding off on buying any bookshelves until we decide what we need, and if we can paint the ones we have or not. I’m not at all stressed about that.  And slightly related to this — Wizard and I set a one year in the house deadline to clean out the boxes we never unpacked in two closets. We needed the new desk and filing cabinet to do that since a lot of it is office stuff or books. So the next month or two will be sorting all that out, figuring out what to keep and what to let go of. I just don’t want to keep useless clutter unless it has a purpose or special meaning.
4. My air fryer. Man I debated two years on this thing, but one week into owning it, I love it so far. I’ve made lots of vegetables, some breaded chicken strips and taquitos in there so far. My air fryer is fairly big (6 quarts) and I do have an easy place to store it, and enough counter space to use it when I like. I think it’s one of those things that depends on your cooking style and if you have the space to store it or keep on your counter. I’ll keep you updated as I use it more!
5. We went to see Wizard’s mom on Wednesday and Maggie was so happy! She loves going over there! Wizard and I were pleased as his mom seemed to be doing pretty well. Aging is not easy and she’s had her struggles with some memory issues and other things. But yesterday, she laughed at something and I’d realized I hadn’t heard her laugh like that in months. In a week with some worrisome moments about another loved one, seeing Wizard’s mom more like her old self gave us a huge lift!

So that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

This year, I plan to do some holiday decorating where I can. Halloween is coming, or at least, it’s cluttering up all the stores

It’s a young Maggie bobblehead in a witch hat!

How could I resist buying that?

And here’s my cup that Wizard threatens to steal:

LOL this cup is huge! I usually only fill it half full of coffee, but I love it. (Ignore how I look in this quick selfie).

What’s new with you today?

Blooper Alert: I only just now realized this blog didn’t post. And when I investigated, I saw that I selected August 10th instead of today’s date of August 7th. So yep, I’m late and obviously wasn’t wearing my glasses when I set the date, LOL!! Happy Monday!

I had a pretty nice weekend!

Friday Biker Witch took me to lunch for my birthday and we had a good time. I appreciate having her in my life more than I can ever express. We did a little fun shopping, then we got a cookie and some coffee. Guys, I tried an iced coffee with macadamia milk and I’m so in love. It was better (to me) than the cookie! I am now thinking of buying some macadamia nut milk, but I don’t want to make iced coffee every day, and I would if I had that in the house

Saturday we went to dinner with youngest and his wife. I ordered my favorite chicken while Wizard rolled his eyes. In his opinion, I order chicken too much. Ah well, he survived and we all had a nice evening. Then when we were leaving, we ran into Wizard’s sister, her husband and her adult daughter. That was a bonus to see them!

Sunday, Wizard went racing. His eyes aren’t quite fully back to 100%, but good enough for him to have fun (and to safely drive). If he can’t race, he plans to announce, which he also really enjoys. I stayed home with Maggie, then went out to Marshalls to spend a gift card. I got a few things, including a couple Halloween decorations which I haven’t bought in years. But the thing I’m most excited about is a purple Halloween mug covered in dogs dressed in costumes. Good thing I get up before Wizard or he’d steal my new mug for sure! Full disclosure — it didn’t occur to me to buy him one as I was in line when I saw it and had to have it since it was less than $5.00

So that was my weekend. Now I’d really love to hear about yours!

TGIF! How did Friday get here so fast? Well since we’re here, let’s jump right into sharing five random things about our week.

1. Monday I took Maggie to her vet and put her through some minor testing. Her urinalysis came back with a bit of struvite crystals but no infection or other signs of stones. Yet she’s having weird accidents, so we have her on a “watch” for the moment. The plan is that if she’s still not quite herself in a bit of time, we’ll do an x-ray for a closer look, and if that’s clear, we’ll put her on some low dose meds to help her. This could just be an aging issue, but it’s upsetting Maggie and so we want to be sure she’s okay. I really appreciate her vet and the staff (they are more than just staff, they are true caregivers in the purest sense of the word) for their careful yet conservative approach. And they tell me they love her because she’s so sweet, even when they’re sticking needles in her. That’s my sweet Maggie — when she’s not out mercilessly hunting lizards and trying to get crickets to hop so she can chase them.
2. Maggie is supposed to sit and wait while I answer the door. However some religious women stopped by and Maggie decided she must go out on the porch and wiggle-circle them. I don’t know if it was some kind of religious bonding ceremony or my dog is just nuts. I suspect that latter. For a dog who was scared of everyone, let’s just say that she’s come out of her shell. As for her her breaking command, that is my fault. I wasn’t paying attention as I should have been to stop her. And I let her go out to greet my kids when they come over, so that’s made her think she can.
3. I had a really nice birthday, and thanks to all for the lovely birthday wishes! Wizard and I went to dinner where I had a filet mignon with herb butter and blue cheese topping. I paid for it with some indigestion which I knew would happen from the herb butter, but it was totally worth it! That steak was amazing! I also got an air fryer (I wanted it) for my birthday and I’m looking forward to playing with that.
4. Yesterday in the late afternoon, I tried making granola again, and this time I used some oil and maple syrup. It smells really good but I haven’t tested it yet. Making the granola necessitated a trip to Trader Joes where several checkout people asked me what I was baking from all the dark chocolate and various nuts in my cart. I sheepishly admitted that I’m just stocking up for when I’m inspired to bake, and that I seriously love their dark, non dairy chocolate chips. They were kind and treated me as if I’m normal, LOL!
5. I feel a bit spoiled; today I’m going to lunch with my sister and tomorrow evening we’re going to dinner with Youngest and his beautiful wife. I hardly ever eat out, so three times in a week is pretty amazing.

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope you all have a great weekend!

I listened to a cute romantic comedy audiobook titled, NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT by Annabelle Monaghan. The heroine was a romance channel (think Lifetime or Hallmark) screenwriter and did well enough to take care of her family but not really hit big. Her jerk of a husband leaves her, and she writes her breakout script. Then she falls in love with the famous lead actor in the movie when it’s filmed on her property. Okay that’s all fairly standard stuff and I liked it. What made me laugh was her take on writing romances — there’s a formula and she can make any scenario into a romance with some tweaking. Her new boyfriend gives her a heroine and a career and she turns into a plot in less than a minute. A lot of us who write romances play this game. Wizard and I play it. So this was familiar and amusing to me.

I enjoyed her humorous and straightforward take on it. She was in no way degrading romance because there is a formula. The talent comes in with voice and execution and she had that. What was funny was she accidentally lost her way after her divorce and wrote a darker book without the happy ending. Then she tried to go back to her bread and butter romances, and couldn’t do it. I related to that! I often struggled with staying within the formula of whatever genre I was writing, while my heart was always trying to make the book bigger (for lack of a better word). Nowhere did I feel it more than when I wrote the Once A Marine Series. By the third book, I was busting the seams of that formula, unintentionally creating problems from the publisher. And that was on me, no one else (I am NOT blaming the publisher, they had clear guidelines). I came to admire even more the amazing writers who work exceedingly hard to write book after beautiful book following the formula. Many of them can do it very fast too. Of course, there are those petty jealous types who will call them hacks and other names. They are NOT hacks. What they are is so talented that they can make the same formula for each book interesting and engaging each and every time. That takes real talent and hard work.

Anyhow, this book reminded me of all this in a fun and positive way, making me laugh and nod along. It made me want to sit down and write again, which is a nice feeling. Not something I’m acting on at the moment, but so nice to feel that desire! And to laugh with a character struggling to write within the formula the same way I have struggled.

Right now I’m listening to a Women’s Fiction titled I’LL BE YOU by Janelle Brown that’s holding my interesting but it’s too soon to form an opinion.

What are you reading or listening to?