STRATFORD is Published!!

     I try not to think about how long it takes me to write a book. I've been known to take four months, and I wrote one in 28 days as well. It just depends on what happens, how life decides to play out, and what's being thrown at me in terms of decision-making, working, living, shopping, sleeping, and, you know, all the other stuff that goes into being an adult. I'd rather be writing; believe me!

    Well, "Stratford" is done! It has been published and will be available on Amazon HERE  for sale in exactly one week. I ordered 10 copies and had them printed before their press date so I could get them in time to send off to the people whose names appear in the book; seven of my co-workers who allowed me to use their names, personalities, and likenesses to make up characters who they will no doubt be able to relate to.  

    I'm even going to send a copy to the woman (I won't say her name) who I modeled the disgusting and pig-headed court clerk in my book after. She is the court clerk of Stratford, and I don't know if she's having an affair with her relatives or not (like the character in the book does) and I don't know if she's slightly obese with thinning hair and an off-putting odor, but I will let her know in a very direct way that I didn't appreciate the way she handled the VERY erroneous case against me.

    In the book, I call her Mary Pigley; we'll stick with that. The real-life person in that position absolutely refused to listen to me, and she refused to help me when I told her the truth about what took place 17 years before; how I was railroaded in that small town and forced to pay over $700 for something that would normally have been a $100 fine IF IF IF I had done what I was accused of doing. 

    She is either in on the schemes or heartless, uncaring, rude, and inhumane...IN MY OPINION. She refused to help me; she refused to hear my plea. She refused to lift a finger to assist me when I was being lied about, and I was being compelled to pay fees on a matter that never should have been. I had the LEGAL right not to pay it; but she refused to assist. Therefore, the woman lost her right to stay out of my novel.

    I think we all know what a creative license is.  I have one. I have every available endorsement for it as well. I am a card-carrying creative licensed author, and that pseudo excuse for a clerk has been forever memorialized in my new book. It's the least I can do to send her a copy. No worries, I say at least twice in the Disclaimer, as well as the Author's Notes, that the book is fiction. I can't imagine anyone seriously thinking she's going to throw herself off a bridge to avoid going to jail.

    I like this book. I like all of my books, but I liked writing this one, thinking about that woman reading it, and chuckling to herself while trying to maintain a semblance of being angry at me for getting the last laugh.  Yes, I had to pay a monstrous fee for something I didn't do, but in the end, that's only money. She'll be asked over and over again how her father is, if she really killed her cousin, if she's been trying to lose a few pounds, and if she finished the 8th grade or not. 

    Mean? Me? No, it's not mean, just creative. If I were mean, I'd never pay a bit of attention to her. I'd be indifferent. No...I'm not mean. I'm reasonably resourceful and use what I know to create realistic characters in fictitious books. To see other books I've written to go to: judestringfellow.com 

Photo Credit: commons.wikimedia.org

First Snow and More.

    Oklahoma saw its first snow of the 2025 season, and it wasn't too bad. It wasn't the amount of snow that fell just above us into Kansas and over to our east. It was weird when I looked at the weather map; it was as if God drew a line around Oklahoma's borders and sent the white stuff on its merry way but only gave us a little dusting. I think officially we ended up with 1.2 inches or something like that, where my friends in Kentucky received 10 inches of snow! Crazy! 

    We have four dogs, and only one of them, Ginger, had seen snow before. Kiah and Rose were born in February and March, but no doubt they spent their first several weeks indoors. Kiba was born in July, and this was his first time experiencing it. Let me say, for a six-pound (mostly) Chihuahua, he was not that brave. The snow engulfed his belly and all the parts attached to it. He is not a fan.

    Other than that, we're all just sort of sitting around waiting for January 20th to roll around so we can have our president back in office. That last statement may offend, but it's my opinion, and this is my blog. I'm not here to be polite or even cordial; I am here to express myself, and I do it from my heart in a very genuine manner. I am a Trumper!  He would probably not be my friend, but he's a good leader; I can't say otherwise. 

    Another fun fact about the last ten days or so is that I've been sugar-free, or virtually sugar-free, for 10 solid days and now 11 if you count today. I've been able to steer clear of anything that has added sugar or is simply made with sugar, to begin with. The only "cheat" I think I had was when I ate a canned biscuit because I had them in the fridge and didn't want to waste them.  There are 2 grams of sugar, and 1 of those is added during the process. So, if that's my only drawback, I should be OK.

    It's not hard to do a sugar-free lifestyle once you determine that sugar is a drug, and like any other abusive substance, it's not worth putting into your body. How many of us would say oh, there's only X amount of cocaine in that biscuit, so I'll be OK...right? I know the two chemicals are different, of course, but you see my point. I won't allow my body to fall back into the addiction. I feel so much better already, and it really has only been 10 days.

    One of the things that I found that I can do now is move my shoulders better; my arms stretch and move better. I'm still feeling stiffness in my knees and my right upper hip, but I'm hoping that the inflammation will leave soon, and those will also be better; it could also be the weather. I'm happy to report that Laura is taking care of any extra candy, ice cream, cake, cookies, or chocolate we have in the house, but she stated to me that once it's gone, she'll likely not replace it. She seems to think that starting this lifestyle earlier than I did is a good thing -- she's right.

    Today is a reading day. I'm reading through "Stratford" to see if I can find mistakes. I'll read it all through today and tomorrow and send it up for actual publication. It will be available on January 22 (Amazon), and they're charging $18, but I'll also add the EPUB, and it will be ready (Kindle Edition) in about 3 weeks. It should be $3.99. Such a deal. The only other thing I can talk about today is my experience at Sam's Club. 

    I am a member of Sam's Club rather than Costco because Sam's is 1 mile from my house.  I buy my dog food, my dog and cat treats, toilet paper, water, and breakfast sandwiches there. Today, I also picked up 10 days/nights worth of chicken, ham, burger meat, lasagna, and such...and eggs.  Kroger's delivery service said they were out of eggs! Crazy enough. I paid $7 for 18 eggs, which is a little high, but I'll be fine.  The toilet paper was the champion buy of the day. It's normally $22.97 for 45 rolls, but today they had it for $21.97 -- what? True. That makes each roll just at .50 a roll or so. (I'm not doing the math) CRAZY.

    The dog treats caught me off guard as well. They packed them in two-packs, and for $16, I got 4 pounds of Beggin' strips. That is amazing! My dogs weren't complaining, either. I think I can bring my dog to Sam's if I want to. She would like that, but she's not fully trained to behave herself in public. Maybe someday...I can always bring the "big boy" Kiba, the full 6-pounder!! He fits nicely in the little sling bag thing I bought Laura so she can carry him about.

    OK, well, that's about it for me -- I really didn't have too much to say, but thought I'll put it all into one blog. Did I tell you I have a new grandson? I'll have to go back and see if I blogged about him or not. I hope I did. He's amazing. He's nearly 2 months old now; Gramma needs to hug him and his sister. I would love to see all four of my grandkids together; that would be wonderful. Maybe this year, that can happen!!

Photo Credit: dawn.com 

First Day to Start The Grange.

     I woke up this morning around 3:15 a.m. with a headache behind my left eye. I was thinking about being upset about it when I realized it was just the normal reaction to someone who has given up an addiction; for me, it was sugar.  I wrote just yesterday that I wasn't going to bore you with all the details of the day-to-day changes, but I also stated I hadn't had any ill effects since giving up sugar on January 1.

    Well, I'm keeping my promise. I'm not going to go into it other than to say it happened, but it was gone soon enough. I prayed about it first, then took a hot shower and drank copious amounts of strong coffee and then tea. It may or may not have helped to drink the beverages, but maybe the prayers worked because it didn't last long at all. YEA!

    Today was supposed to be a reading day. I am expecting the book "Stratford" to be delivered by mail, only to find out its been switched to being delivered by UPS - big difference. I won't get it until Tuesday. They claim over and over again that they can't find my house - which is literally on a corner of two very average and well-driven streets. You can't get much easier than that; but here I am without a physical book to read to make corrections, so I've decided to do a bit of recon for the new book. 

    The new book is titled "The Grange". It takes place in the present time and is centered in and around the actual cemetery by that name in Edinburgh, Scotland. I thought about making the book about a cemetery closer to Glasglow, but I've been to The Grange and I liked it. I haven't been to the cemeteries outside of Edinburgh, to be honest. I passed by one or two, but didn't take the time to walk them. I need to. I love finding old graves, reading their stones, looking at how their loved ones honored them, and just thinking about the people who once carried the name that the stones now bear.

    There is literally a Wikipedia page for the cemetery. I'll link it HERE to see who is buried in the cemetery.  I am going to read this entire page today and tomorrow and choose a few names to mention in the book.  I won't say anything derogatory about the real people buried there; there will be a few I degrade in the book, but they will be fictional. There are real murder victims in the cemetery, and they will be mentioned of course, as my main character Rachelle Tia Bigelow ("Elle" and/or "L.T." ) is a 3x great granddaughter of one of the murderers. 

    Elle received her B.S. in Biology from Penn State, and now she's attending the University of Edinburgh for a Masters in Forensics. She wants to research, not practice. She writes articles and dives into the lives of the dead. She's hoping to clear her relative's name but fears she may only find more murders the deeper she digs. This is going to be a fun book to write.  I'm just now realizing how much fun it really will be. I may change my style to only writing about creepy facts, but I know I won't. (she laughs)

    What's hilarious is that I can write about it, and I can read about it, but seeing creepy or scary things bothers me. I have nightmares. I can't even watch the Passion of Christ! I know how it ends! I just can't force myself to think about the suffering He did for me; it riddles me with sorrow to do so. I think there's a word for those of us who can read and write about gore but not stomach it when it's presented. I know people will say "squeamish," but it's more than that; it actually affects my inner soul when I see it. I'm the person you've heard about that covers their eyes during a surgery scene on television.

    My main character's leading friend is an Abercromby, not an Abercrombie - but the two names are related. He's a wealthy young man in his own right but also an heir to many generations of folks with the same name. He believes he can also help Elle find more money for herself, considering her name is old and very established in the United Kingdom. She has very little interest in becoming rich; he's using his money to undermine the stability of his family, believing they stood on too many to gain their wealth. In other words, he's a rich brat.

    The book will be written over the course of a couple of months. I'm going to take my time with it. I've got the cover set already, so the book will need to remain the same basic size as all the others. You can find it on my website and Amazon once it's finished, but go ahead and look at my book website to read other blogs and learn more about this crazy woman who thinks blogging is still a thing!

Photo Credit: grangeassociation.org

Day 3 No Added Sugar.

     I promise I'm not going to bore you with keeping up with the daily differences in my head, heart, and body now that I've given up added sugar. In fact, I'm not going to talk about it much unless and until I see a real change in the way my clothes fit.

    Since I refuse to weigh myself, I'll never know exactly how much weight I've lost. I'm around the 200 mark, but I'd be devastated if I got on the scale only to see that it was more. So, because I don't like feeling bad, I won't step on a scale unless it's one that tells me how much weight I would weigh if on the Moon. I like that scale. I even like the European scales because I can take a higher or lower number - before I do the conversions. 

    I'll weigh myself AFTER I know I weigh somewhere in the 170 mark, and then I'll start there and say I've lost this much, plus whatever I was before. I'll even cap it at 200 so I don't hate myself, and that way, I'll still be able to impress my brain and live within my skin all at the same time.  It's a thing -- I like myself, I just don't particularly like the body I'm living in. I do have to keep it for a while to come yet, but when Jesus decides to take us up...yeah, that!

    OK, so it's been three whole days that I've gone without added sugar, and truly, I could say it's been three days without any real sugar at all other than natural sugars from fruits and such. I've been a label reader to the max, and even going so far as to give my kid all my candies, snacks, and junk foods. I told her she can eat it or throw it out, I was not going to judge her either way. I just don't want it staring at me.  I've been telling myself that it's poison; this way, I can be in the same room with it, and nothing happens. My hand does not reach for it. This is a win.

    I read a lot of articles about what changes your body goes through during the first stages of the fast or, in my case, the new lifestyle I've chosen.  There hasn't been anything negative whatsoever in terms of physical withdrawal headaches, fatigue, or foggy thinking. I've not noticed any real difference at all. I'm not thinner yet. I'm not more mobile. My son has asked me twice if my joints hurt less; honestly, they hurt the same. It's only been three days! If better-feeling joints are something I have to look forward to, I can certainly give up the donuts!

    Let's see, for me, it has been morning snacks that have added sugar, candy throughout the day, chips, or the wrong type of juice. If it doesn't say 100% juice I'm not drinking it, and I still check the label for how many sugars are in it. It must be under 5g, or I'm not doing it again. I'll eat an orange. Instead of grabbing a granola bar with 13g of sugar, I can grab a 1/2 handful of almonds or dried goji berries. I'm a tea drinker during the day, so I drink another cup of hot tea and add lemon or lime to it. I'm good!

    I own three pairs of sweatpants that I bought when I weighed 160 pounds a few years back. I bought them, and I wore them for over two years; I kept the weight off for a while. From March 2023 to right up to the end of 2024, I gained it back; not all of it, but enough. I tell myself that when I can wear those sweatpants again, I'll know I'm around the 160 mark. I want those sweatpants to become my "fat" sweatpants, the ones I wear when I'm heavy -- this means I'll need to lose another 10-20 pounds once I hit that goal.

    I don't follow actors, but if you noticed the weight loss of one or the other of them and you go online and see what they did, most of them say they gave up added sugar - alcohol counts as added sugar.  You'd be surprised what you consume and later find out just how bad it was for you -- for me. I had my daily dose of Turkish delights; they're gone. I had a Tootsie pop in the evening; no more. I'd grab a half-hand full of M&Ms now and again -- I've substituted those for unsalted almonds.

    My creamer had sugar in it! I had the Coffee Mate original flavored, nothing fancy -- sugar!  I use half and half now. If I can do it, I hope you can do it if you want to. It's not easy, but if you're the one who buys the stuff and you're in charge of whether or not it comes to your home, pantry, or freezer, you can say no. You just have to want to, and I really do want to. Like I said, if having better feeling joints was the only reason to do it -- I'd do it.

    I will keep you posted, but not on a weekly basis. You'd get tired of listening to me go on and on about it anyway -- I know I wouldn't want to listen to me either. 

Photo Credit: CandyMafia.com  

2025 Resolution -- ( I Didn't Know I Had One )

  My son came over for a Christmas holiday visit, and we exchanged presents; normal, right? Of course, it is. I offered him a cup of coffee and handed him the creamer because I know he likes creamer - again, normal. This time, however, he said no; he was pretty sure my Coffee-Mate original flavored creamer had high fructose corn syrup as its sweetener, and I told him I had no idea. I didn't know. I hadn't thought about it until that moment. It wasn't sweet, so it didn't matter much. (Oh, well, you guessed it, I was wrong.)

    He pointed out that where he has a lactose intolerance, and he knew the creamer was non-dairy, he had chosen to go full-on no-HFCS as well; no high fructose corn syrup added...to anything. That's when he started telling me just how much of it I was eating on a daily basis, and probably have been eating it on a daily basis for a very long time. He was 100% correct, and I was genuinely impressed by his knowledge of the matter. He's a smart guy, but I had never heard him go on about the severity of the side effects of HFCS before -- for that matter, I hadn't heard anyone really go into too much detail about it.

    I knew "too much sugar" was bad. I knew that Americans consume "too much sugar," and I also knew that fake sugars were bad. I use monk fruit for my sweeteners for that reason, but I had NO IDEA how many products I put into my body have higher doses of high fructose corn syrup. It's crazy!! Do you know how to look at a label to determine the ingredients? Well, when you read the label the first ingredient listed is the one that has the highest percentage in that product. Look where the high fructose corn syrup lives on most labels.

    Tomorrow (in about 30 minutes) is the start of a new year. It will be 2025, and I'm starting a new trend in my life, not your life or anyone else's life, but in my life. I'm going to give up as much high fructose corn syrup as much as I possibly can, and where that will likely kill me when it comes to chocolate, I'll see what I can do to survive -- I think it's a good decision, and yes, one I should have (and could have) made years ago. We'll see if it has any effect on my weight or my overall health, and I'll see if I feel less inflamed or achy in my joints. I'm told that by giving it up, I will feel better -- we'll see.

    No more cereal other than oatmeal; yes, I can have honey and real fruit. I'll give up the type of bread I eat now; I can buy the ones that don't have HFCS in them. I can actually do without bread far easier than I can go without chocolate -- it's going to be tough, I'm not going to lie, but it is something I can do. It is something I know I have to try.  Oh, and apparently, bacon is bad for you too, but for another reason altogether! Geez!  I'd say, "Wish me luck," but luck is for the Irish! I'm not going to claim that; not now, not ever.

    Slainte Mhath!

Photo Credit: Pinterest.com 

    

My Take on Diddy. (MY Opinion)

     I don't have a big time connection to all that is happening with and surrounding the infamous Sean "Diddy" Combs, but there is a thread, thin as it may be, that connects my experience(s) with him and others in the music industry. It's a thicker thread for my daughter, but because I'm her mother, I am thereby connected as well. (again, it's not very strong, and for that, I thank God.)

    Back in 2008 or 2009, I couldn't remember exactly when my kid was singing and seeking means to go public with her talents. We lived in a certain small town in the Sooner State, but it had an actual recording studio for being as small as it was. I stopped in one day to inquire what it would take to have them either record or listen to her; I was willing to pay the hourly rate for an hour or two, and the producers in charge had me bring my daughter to the studio so they could have a listen.

    We were filming yet another interview/show with our famous dog Faith, so I convinced the producers to let us use the studio for Laura, and we could include them and their studio in the international interview as well. Everyone was excited -- the recording went VERY well, too. A few days after the interview, and before it aired, another producer from Los Angeles called and wanted to fly down and meet with us regarding Laura's talent. It can't be that easy, right?

    Let me back up and say that before we had entered the studio, Laura had sung publically, she had been on television shows; she had done live performances, she was on Oprah with Faith; she had toured with OzzFest in 2007, she had even been on a Japanese variety show, where she sang a little, and was being "courted" by a couple of interested parties, but since no one was from America who had designs on how to help her, I turned their offers down.

    Turns out the man who was coming to see Laura was connected with and possibly involved with the making of other stars, one of which was up and coming if not barely known, who, as it turns out, is now extremely twisted up in the whole Diddy party thing and for that reason, I'm not going to say her name. You've heard it a million times.

    The man was on his way to meet us, packed and ready to go I'm told, when he was suddenly shot in the head inside his Los Angeles home; no, I'm not kidding. I'm not making that up; that is what we were told, and since we had no intention of getting too involved with an industry that had just proven how cut-throat it could be - yeah, my daughter never got the "break," she definitely deserved. HOWEVER, knowing now what I know about the girl he chose to promote over for my kid, yeah...no! You can keep the money, we don't need it. We have Jesus.

    The recording studio in our town all but shut the doors to us after that, claiming they had never seen anyone harmed over a newcomer before, and they didn't want us even using their names or the studio in that yet-to-be-aired interview. We called the producers of that show, told them what happened, they verified it, and then decided we'd reshoot the entire show, this time not focusing on Laura's talent. 

    At the time, I remember my daughter's disappointment. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, she deserved better -- all these things were running through my head -- fast forward some 15 or 16 years later -- and again, I thank God EVERY DAY that she didn't get too mixed up with those people. They had so many issues, so many liars, so much drama, and when you look back now on all the bits and pieces coming out about these musicians, artists, athletes, actors, and so forth who are literally in bed with Diddy and Jay Z and all the other moguls who run the industry -- yeah, again...NO.

    It's a mess, but not one we didn't see. The day the man (I won't give his name) died my young daughter, who hadn't had too many experiences, turned to me and said that some of the people she met on tour with Ozfest had told her about what happened to those who get too close to the fire. Now we see it - I think of  Aaron Carter, Craig Mack, Whitney Houston, and others who just happened to die before their time, and it always seemed suspicious. Kate Spade, Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain, all of them -- I never believed any of them died by their own hand -- Jeffery Epstein!

   It's all coming out, isn't it?  Well, let me say this -- we saw it coming back in 2006 when our dog Faith refused to let Oprah touch her. She loved the Osbournes!  Dogs know....they just know.  I truly hope Oprah is found out for who she is. I hope Combs and Carter are found out for who they are. I hope it all comes out in the wash, and every last one of those who harmed kids will be wrung out and hung out to dry.  I don't want any of them to go to Hell, but they can sure stay in prison for the rest of their natural lives; that won't be long enough for some.

Photo Credit: doggieoutpost.com 

Oprah tried to get Faith to come to her, the dog refused.

My Bad! Raise the Hand!

 My current employment requires that I call and email folks who have damaged or potentially damaged utility lines above ground and underground. You would be surprised (or maybe you would not be) by how many folks will say they weren't there at that time, you can't prove they were there, and so on. Often times, we have witness statements, and there are times when we have written admittances from employees of the company we are calling - those brave enough to raise their hand and say "it was me, I snagged the line". The problem is that most people don't raise their hands when they make a mistake.

    I've always been one of those who not only admit I make mistakes, but if it is truly my fault, and I have either harmed someone or made things difficult for someone, I will raise my hand - every time. You don't have to worry about me being embarrassed; I know we all make mistakes. I will be embarrassed, 9 times out of 10, but I also recognize and realize that we are all just humans, and we can't always help or control the outcomes.

    Here is yet ONE MORE example of me raising my hand (laughing while I'm doing it) to say, "Hey, that was me; it was my bad 100%."  I sent off my book "Stratford" to Ingram Spark so they could format it into their book printing press and then prepare it for me to approve.  In doing so, I first download the book from my files on my computer. I format it, give it all the right page layout criteria, and so forth, and then I save it to a PDF file so that it can be uploaded on their end.   Well, something did not go the way I intended.

    When the book came back to me yesterday, after only 2 days in the workshop at Ingram Spark (that's really fast), I looked at the file to be approved and just about had the proverbial cow. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The pages were all about 3 inches off, meaning they started three inches down the page from where they should have been, and of course, that meant that the pages would pick back up on the next page, but they were 3 inches off -- it was UGLY!!

    My first thought was to blame someone at Ingram Spark. How could they be so inept as to misalign the book to the templates? Didn't they have experience? I know I've sent up 14 or 15 books with them; I know I know what I'm doing. That's what I told myself. I decided to be less arrogant and more introspective. I decided I could have been mistaken, even though, I told myself, it wasn't likely. 

    Well...there it was. MY FILE WAS OFF. I opened it on my desktop, and yep...it was me. Somehow, someway, and no, I don't know how I had saved the file with it being off -- I couldn't begin to tell you how that happened, but it was on my end, not their end, and yes, I made the whole silent apology. I didn't need to make an actual apology since I hadn't accused anyone of anything - except in my head.

    It didn't take long to correct, but correcting it allowed me to add a "word" by my friend Lorna Pratt, who forgot to give me a word for this particular book. There you go, two problems solved and one happy author. YEA! I'm OK with being a dork, I've been one for many decades, but I do hope to resolve the part of me that automatically blames someone else - even if only in my head. I'm grateful that I hadn't sent off an email accusing someone of something. In the past, I would have - maybe old age is teaching me things. Geez, it's about dang time!

Photo Credit: IngramSpark.com 

I Am Such a DORK! (The Slow-Juicer Saga)

     I watch advertisements and think I need things when I don't really, and one of those things was a slower juicer. About 10 years ago, I bought a really good juicer, and I used it all the time. I'm going to start that practice back up again. I had stopped for a long while because I mostly juice carrots, and I get REALLY good carrot juice at Sam's for next to nothing. It's a week's supply for $4.92 -- c'mon, you can't hardly juice the actual carrots for that -- or can you? (can I?)

    Kroger grocery has had 2-pound bags of carrots on sale for literally .19 a bag for at least a month. If I juice the entire bag of carrots, it's enough for 3 servings, so if I bought 3 bags a week even, that would be literally under $1.00 after tax. Wow. Anyway, that's another story worth bringing to the forefront. I need to juice my veggies and fruits, and when I do, I add things like psyllium husk, hyaluronic acid, and a few other supplements that I have in liquid or powder form to get the digestion in shape as well as trigger the GLP and GLP-1 hormones to lose weight.

    You've seen the injections you can get online or through your doctors that help with losing weight. I'm not giving myself shots. I'm not a diabetic, and I don't have experience poking needles into my body, so I'm not doing that. I'll do liquid drops, solid pills, or powder, but yeah, not gonna do the jabs! Nope!  I'll find another way.

    The best way for me is to drink a juice of solid vegetables and fruits daily, so that's the go-to. I've done it in the past and felt really good, so it's time to bring it back. That was my thought process over this past week when I decided to buy a slow juicer, one that is smaller than my older machine and one that has an auger versus the spinning diamond cut razor sharp cone thing that my old model uses. The older model is fantastic, but it's big, bulky, takes up space, and I just wanted something new.

    I bought one, I won't say which one, but APPARENTLY, I didn't really look at it when I saw it online. When it arrived the next day by Amazon, it was FAR too narrow for my liking. I would have to cut up every last piece of fruit before loading it. MAYBE a stem of celery could fit through the "mouth" to be augered. No, thank you. It was repacked and sent back. I will tell you that it wasn't repacked as nicely as it came. I'm not one to repack anything; don't expect me to learn how to do that. Not happening.

    Amazon is GREAT, and they had an option to deliver one on the SAME day, so I took that option. I ordered a bigger machine, it was a bit more expensive, but worth it for me, if I was going to have room to put all my veggies and fruit through the mouth. Well, it came to the house, I opened it, and yes, I drug it out of the box - destroying any hope of ever putting it back into the box the same as it had been sent.  The machine was good -- very good indeed -- until it wasn't.

    When I took all the pieces out of the box, set them to the side, and looked at them, I had a bear of a time placing the top part onto the machine or auger part - there was even a little red dot on the side to line up with the other red dot for proper placement. I'm not kidding, I couldn't get it to go into place. If I was fighting with it from the get-go, it was somewhat repackaged and sent right back to where it came from. I will NOT be inconvenienced by a machine that I bought to be less inconvenienced.

    The UPS store is very used to seeing me. I order and return quite a lot of things if they don't meet my satisfaction once I've seen it, held it, tried to use it, or in some cases, I even use it, but if it's not going to work out - it goes back! I love Amazon. I will likely never stray again -- sorry, it's becoming a hardened fact in my life.

    While online shopping for groceries is my go-to now as well, online shopping for 90% of whatever it is that I need is what I do now. I drive my car less than 2x a week, and I may go less than 2 miles when I do. This fact upsets my Progressive Accident-Free app on my phone; I drive so little that it kicks me out of the app at least once a month. I want the discount, so I keep adding myself to it.  If I'm not driving, I'm not apt to be in an accident, so they have to include me in their discount! 

    Anyway, the juicer thing happened. They were both sent back today, and I pulled out the big honkin' monster that I have for juicing and made myself a nice apple, cucumber, and celery juice with all the fixings -- I'm so healthy (she giggles). Thank God because He's the one who made the vegetables and fruits to begin with -- He also made the supplements.   When I think about it, and I do, I remember being and feeling so much better when I gave up the carbs, took in more veggies, ate more nuts and fruit, and drank copious amounts of lemon or lime water -- it's time to get back to it.

Photo Credit: Pinterest.com 

Stratford is IN THE CAN!!

 My 16th book, "STRATFORD" (the 5th installment of the Nick Posh books), is written, formatted, and proofed (but will be proofed again), and it has been sent up to Ingram Spark to be printed.  It is the scariest thing to send a book up because I'm never sure if I checked all the boxes or if I did everything that has to be done. If not, I'll find out and set myself back several days because I didn't take the time to be sure all the little boxes were checked off!

    I'm over here breathing again because it's done. I don't have to wonder if I've left anything undone. I don't necessarily like the way I ended it, but I also didn't have space to do more. All the books I write are about the same size and work well for readers. They'd be a burden to carry around and conceal if they were thicker.  I stay around the 360-380 page range, and I usually choose the 5x8 size for print. I have one or two books that are 6x9, but I really don't like that size. I like the 5x8 so much more.

    As I've said before, I didn't plan on writing "Stratford." It came out of necessity and out of being upset about what the actual city of Stratford has personally put me through. I decided to change the name of the court clerk just in case she got a wild hair and sued me. Her real name is NOT Mary Pigley, but no one will have any difficulty figuring out who she is. She wasn't even there 17 years ago when I was stopped illegally by their cop and manhandled the way I was. He even threatened to tow my car and put me in jail for something I didn't do, which is his legacy of shame.

    Why the court clerk decided to be such a witch to me when I am 100% innocent of all allegations is beyond me, but perhaps she is jaded, or maybe...just maybe, she's on the take like the one in my book is...could it be? Hummmmmmmm...I wonder. Whatever it is, I have decided to keep the name Stratford because I have that lovely 1st Amendment Right to fall back on, but I did decide to be kind to the PIGLEY in the courthouse; the one by another name is very similar if you go and look.

    The book will be available online at Amazon and other outlets around the middle of January, and the EPUB or Kindle will be about 3 weeks later. I'll get my printed copy in 2 weeks and run through it again to see if I need to make changes. If I do, I will; if not, it goes on sale on January 22 for around $18.00 a book. The Kindle edition will be around $4.  I like the Kindle editions; I do. I think once I've read a book, I won't actually read it again - and it's not as easy for someone to share, either. 

    I'm actually glad this one is done. I wasn't all that motivated to finish it, and now I can start the new book - the creepy drama that takes place in a cemetery in Edinburgh. Woot!

    

Merry Christmas - And I Really Do Mean That.

     Something that I remember from the time I was growing up is that Santa Claus was real, and my dad was pretty close to him; they were good friends.  Santa relied on my dad to help him unload some of the presents he had in his sleigh, and then my dad would store them in his workshop. Since Santa's workshop was where a lot of things were actually made, and my dad was a trim carpenter (as well as Western Union's Regional Manager for Electronic Circuits), Daddy was often called up to the North Pole to fix things or just to make sure the elves were using the woodworking tools correctly. I know this because my dad told me so.

    Growing up in the 60s and 70s was a good time to experience life without all the electronic distractions we have today. At 10 or 11, I wanted a bike, not something that would cost $$$$ and force my parents to go into their savings to buy for me. I wanted simple things, and that may very well be because my parents told me the only things I could put on my Christmas wish list were, in fact, simple things. We never really put much of an emphasis on the price of a gift - it really was the thought that counted.

    After adulthood, things changed a lot for me. Grandparents passed, older aunts and uncles passed, and even a few of my cousins passed, and they were really close to my age. We stopped going the extra distance to visit folks, and after I had my own children, I basically stopped visiting the extended family altogether, just as they had stopped visiting me. Times change, people get busy, and there are other excuses. 

    Now, because I'm really super old, and I have had a few more experiences, I flat out CHOOSE not to visit those who have the same lineage as I have. There's not a single reason to do so; even some of my intimate family have made decisions and choices that I either disapprove of or disagree with. I have to now choose whether to put up with them for a while, in a sense "look the other way" for the sake of gathering, or I can do what I have chosen to do, and that's to let them know I love them - but I'm not compromising myself or my dignity for friend or foe; or in some cases, as I said, family.

    Nothing would make me happier than to think and believe that everyone and everything would somehow be mended and every difference between everyone would just simply disappear, but that's not the truth. I can't lie to myself, and I won't lie to anyone else about it. I may choose not to talk about it, but I will not pretend that all is right when it certainly is not.  The best thing I can do for the ones I love, and of course, for myself, is to let God have the situation - to lean NOT to my own understanding, but in all ways, let God handle the details. (He's welcome to the entire mess, actually.)

    Traditions are great; they really are, but they are not always feasible, and they are not always practical.  I'm not going to get dressed or drive an hour to have lunch with someone (or more than one) that I wouldn't bother to flip off on any other day. I'm not going to buy expensive gifts to fit in, and I'm not going to throw money out the door gifting someone who will likely either regift my gift (as has been the case) or just let it gather dust. One of my family members told me that a gift card would fit best in her stocking - but of course, only if it was maxed out to the limit of what it could hold. Nope.

    Joking about love, gifts, and the actual reason for our celebration of this particular holiday will not set well with me; it never has. If I don't eat a big fussy dinner on this day but prefer to heat up a day-old lasagna with some fresh garlic toast on the side, you can bet I'll be thankful for it. I'll wish Jesus a Happy Birthday, and I'll breathe so much better knowing I saved time, effort, money, and my heart from breaking over and over again. For my life, I can't stop hoping those people will be different the next time I see them; they never are.

    If I had one, my Christmas wish would be for peace - true and unbridled peace for every living person and being and for those who have passed. Just restful, uninterrupted peace. If that's what you find in your stocking, I pray you'll reach into your soul and thank the ONE who provided it for you. You need only to turn to the 2nd chapter of Luke to read all about it. There is a reason we say "Merry Christmas," and it is not to spend what we don't have or lie to the people we see. It's to remember, and always remember, that He is and will always be the true gift.  

    MERRY CHRISTMAS...and I really do mean that.

Photo Credit: Pinterest.com