Laura's Home!! YEA!! (That was exhausting)

     If you know me, you know I'm sort of a helicopter mom when the kids go down and need medical attention; it's almost as if they become toddlers again, and it's up to me to protect them and make sure the doctors and nurses take them seriously when they say they need help. It's 100% unnecessary, I know -- I do know. Please, don't tell me how horrible I am; I can only imagine. However, I will say that I was told today by two different nurses that I wasn't nearly as bad as some other moms! That made me feel better - I guess.

    Laura came into my office in the mid-afternoon yesterday, probably around 1:30, and she told me she needed to go to the E.R. Okay, we went. I dropped her off because I had food coming from Kroger, and I had a bed being delivered from Sam's, so I just dropped her off and went back home to make sure nothing was stolen - not such a helicopter mom at that moment; more like a drop-you-off-see-ya-later kind of mom. Not my finest hour, but this blog is about Laura, not me.

    She did such a GREAT job - she overcame so many hurdles that have stopped her for so very long. She was confident, yet nervous, but steadily improving at being both independent and standing up for what she believed she needed. She was able to do all the talking, answered all the questions, and then, when they told her they were going to take out her gallbladder, she didn't really flinch. She sighed, thought it through, and knew it was the best thing for her health.

    After that moment, and before they took her to the room where she would spend the night, she conducted extensive research. She watched YouTube videos on gallbladder functions, their purpose, the reasons they may need to be removed, and she also read about the surgeries. We both learned a great deal. She was really into looking through the sites and figuring out what she needed to do for herself afterwards. We're both hoping it will cure most of her gut and digestive issues!

    Today, around 7:10, I got up, got ready, went to the hospital, and waited for her to be prepped for surgery. When they took her down for the surgery, she was wheeled out of her room in a bed, not a chair - that was different. They took her down into the tombs where they do surgeries, and they told her what to expect. She did the countdown, and boom...she was gone! The surgery took 48 minutes, and after about another hour, she was brought back to the room where she had rested before. 

    The surgery was at 9:10, and she was back in the room by 9:50. She was back in the room around 11:30, and I left her at 11:50 to pick up her prescription from CVS, let the dogs out, and receive my new bed - it was able to be pushed back, thankfully.  Just as they delivered it, she was told she needed meds and needed to rest another 2 or 3 hours so the doctors could see if the meds were working. She complied, and when I arrived back, she had her food and had been up a couple of times to use the bathroom. Way to go, Laura!

    She was released around 2:45 p.m. and home by 2:50 -- yes, we live that close to the hospital. We even passed another hospital before arriving at the one she prefers to go to. When I brought her home, her dogs were overjoyed to see her - they had truly missed her while she was away, even though it was only for about 25 hours. Gone is gone in their minds. She was given a really big tail-wagging welcome. The cats had barely noticed but seemed to accept her presence. 

    Right now, at 4:30 p.m., she's resting, I'm finally resting, the dogs are resting. You just don't rest well when your kids are in the hospital or not feeling well. It's hard to get the mind and heart settled if they're not in the right place and all their functions are working as they should. She's been examining her little tiny incisions with amazement; it's awesome what they can do these days. 

    Her doctor was a tall, athletic woman about Laura's age. She and her husband are both general surgeons, performing at least one gallbladder surgery a day each. Laura was just a number, but they treated her so very well. Integris deserves a huge thank you and a giant 5-star review. Every nurse, every P.A., every doctor, every worker was just fantastic. It wasn't the "Big Baptist" hospital, but what we call "Deaconess" (the old Deaconess Hospital that was acquired by Integris two years ago — it still remains Deaconess in our minds).

    GREAT people, and very good service. We highly recommend. Thank you, EVERYONE, who prayed and cared for her. We appreciate that for sure. 

Photo Credit: Integris.com 

Laura's Surgery Tomorrow! (It's OK she told me I could blog about it)

 What you never want to do around Laura is make a plan. You just live your life, breathing, inhaling, exhaling, thinking to yourself, "I wonder if I can make a plan today" but as soon as you do, she challenges your thought process and does something outlandish like becoming anxious or dehydrated, or both. When she's walking through my office door asking if I'm on the phone or watching a YouTube video because she thinks she may need to go to the Emergency Room, I am so very glad I didn't actually make any real plans! 

    Yep, it's true. She did it again, only this time, I was so very prepared! Last night, my friend Jeannie came over and we watched a Bee Gees special. When the narrator got around to discussing how Maurice (pronounced "Morris") died, I told Jeannie that I think maybe Laura should be checked for gut issues, since she has been battling a lot of gastrointestinal problems lately. Over the past two or three years, anyway.

    Well, low and behold, who should walk into my room today saying she thinks she needs to go to the emergency room, but my daughter -- who, I said, "OK, but I'm asking them to check your gut for a twisted bowel or something because this has gone on for too long." She didn't argue with me, and that's what we did. She went in and got hooked up to the standard IV that they use when they see her coming - and then she asked them to do a test on her gut -- they did!!

    They gave her a CT (cat) scan - her very first ever. She has zero cats in her gut, but she did have an issue with her gallbladder. They ordered an ultrasound, and when the technician came to perform it, she allowed me to look at the monitor. I took photos, and we discussed them at length. I really learned a great deal! I had NO clue how the gallbladder can affect literally everything going on with a person's stress, anxiety, digestion, gastromedical stuff, and it's just too involved for too many reasons! You should read up on those things -- they are simply amazing.

    Well, turns out, the woman has to have hers removed, and she's going to do that first thing in the morning, because it was just about suppertime and the doctors were already released unless there is an emergency. She's OK, she can do it tomorrow. She could have waited until next week, but they advised her that it was best to do it now, since it wasn't inflamed, but was on the cusp. She was in discomfort, not pain. She had gone in with dehydration, and her two nurses, a P.A. and a doctor, told her the same thing(s) basically - they all think that after the gallbladder is removed, MOST if not all of her health issues related to dehydration and cramping should go away! WOW! That is really really good news for Laura.

    When I had my gallbladder issue I thought I was having a freaking heart attack! It was ONE big fat stone that blocked everything. They couldn't get it, and they ended up cutting my belly open (7-9" ) and dragging the organ out. That won't happen to Laura. She'll have the simple three-point surgery that 99.9999% of the people have. Did you know that 700,000 of these surgeries are performed in America every year? That's a lot!! It's 900,000 in Europe and 56,000 in the UK. We checked.

   She's a little scared, of course; she hasn't had a real surgery. She's had tooth surgery, but not body surgery. She's up for it, and she's nervous, but in a good way. She has two male nurses tonight who both watch anime, so she's got good company with her. I left her at 7:30 p.m., and she's going to bed at 10, after she and the nurses review over 1,000 fun facts about things I know nothing about. I'm so happy she'll be healed soon. This has been a real pain and a real problem for just too long. It's like chasing vapor or smoke, you can't ever grab it! 

    The E.R. nurse, also a man, told her she could eat well until midnight, then she was to stop eating and drinking water. I went to Chick-fil-A and got her a #1 with a Sprite. As soon as she ate it, the hospital nurse on her floor brought her a bowl of broth, telling her she could only drink broth until midnight. OOPS! But it was okay, the doctor waived it, saying she would be fine. They're more concerned when surgery is scheduled within 6 hours of the last time you ate.  She was literally eating her last bite when that happened. I had to laugh.

    There is ONE funny thing about this - on her chart, or in her history, it says I am or have been abusive to her verbally. I guess someone didn't realize how she and I talk, get along, and act with each other. She laughed. They asked her if she felt safe around me, but I wasn't in the room when they asked. She said she laughed and then realized they were being serious.  I think she told them she was fine, but I would have milked that for a while, I think.

     Well, I'll blog again after she's had the surgery, comes home, and is resting. She'd love your prayers, and if you read this years later, she'd still appreciate your prayers. I know I do.  She's texting me constantly now about what this or that nurse thought. I bet she'll end up being their favorite patient, and she'll end up with two new buddies!  Woo!! 

Not Laura's gallbladder - Photo Credit: VeryWellHealth.com

Bob is ALIVE!!

 I know you were just as worried as we were - Bob was not coming out of that hide, and to be honest with you, I truly believed he'd crawled up into it and was dead - couldn't get out, starved and died. I expected to start smelling him, but that never happened. Then, one day, about three days after he climbed into an impossibly tight spot inside a resin hide, Laura found a piece of fresh poop in his enclosure!!  That was a sign of life!!

    You can't know how excited we got when we saw the poop. Yes, it's true; we did the dance right there! Thankful that he was alive, she put more crickets into his enclosure, hoping he'd hear them and come out. He decided to wait until night time to do so, but in the morning, there were no crickets, and yes, another poop! Woo! The dance was done once more.

    About  3:00 p.m. for no reason whatsoever, Bob decided to exit his hide - ha! Got him! Once he popped his head and shoulder out of it, Laura slowly opened the enclosure lid, drawing it back so she could reach into the tank. She held the hide at a tilt so he couldn't crawl back up it. Shaking the hide a little and gently pulling him behind his arms, she dragged his little Leopard gecko body out, and we threw away that particular hide.  NO MORE DANGEROUS SCARY HIDES for us.

    Bob is in a 20-gallon tank with two open and airy dark hides, long vines to climb on, a nice basking rock, and a big round drinking bowl he can sit on and drink if he wants to. His hide is covered in foliage; he also has Spanish moss to hide in. The gecko should really be happy as a clam —if that's possible. He should be thankful and grateful that he has two women who love him to bits and want him to be as comfortable and spoiled as a gecko can possibly be in captivity.

    I have four lizards: a gecko, a Beardie, a Schneider's skink, and a Blue-Tongue skink. The larger lizards are safely hidden when they want to be, but they come out to bask and stare at me. Aodhan, the Bearded Dragon, is my coworker. She'll come out the entire day and stare at me, tilting her head, thinking I'm the strangest of all creatures she's ever seen. She hasn't let me pick her up yet, but we have long conversations, and I do pet her a lot.

    Avalon, the Schneider skink, will come out once or twice a day, and sit on my head or do the human treadmill routine as I hold her, switching hands as she runs. She enjoys that. Cion, the Blue-Tongued skink, wishes me dead, but I don't allow her desires to upset me in the least. I tell her every day how pretty she is, and I pet her tail when she's hiding, constantly hissing at me. When I leave, she wonders where I went. Strange thing.

    Bob...the gecko, is so aloof right now. He was either abused at his first home, or maybe he never had a home, and just doesn't realize how people act -- he's in the learning phase. He doesn't understand that we talk to lizards, cats, dogs, walls, chairs, anything really -- we talk. He's not a fan of the sunlight, that's for sure, so after dark, I come in and talk with him just before going to bed -- maybe some day he'll figure out that we're only here to love him. He's about 4 months old now, but when he gets older, he'll be more comfortable - hopefully.

This is what he will look like as an adult. 

Photo Credit: UrbanZoo.com 

Bob - Maybe Not.

 So, a week ago, I wrote to express my excitement about having another Leopard gecko. He's ordinary in color, with nothing particularly fancy, but he was adopted because he was injured and couldn't be sold. We brought him home and gave him a really nice tank to live in, complete with a few hides, branches, and rocks to climb on. For a lizard, he really should have been happy -- we don't know.

    We don't know because we can't find him. We never, and I mean never, leave enclosures open, so unless he's Houdini reincarnated (which I doubt), we have no idea what's going on in our lizard world.  Bob is gone.  He's not in the enclosure. We took a little cat scooper and sifted through the substrate to be sure, and he's not there. He's not under the water dish, he's not up under anything-unless, and this would be really weird-unless he's inside UP INSIDE this hide that has a little base that has a small hole.

    We can't stick tongs in it, it's that small of a hole, and he's actually bigger than that hole -- so if he's in there, it would be some kind of crazy.  We can't break it open, it's resin. We can't melt it, he'd be hurt. We have put crickets in the enclosure and have turned the resin hide on its side. Maybe he'll try to eat the cricket? We've turned off his light and covered up the tank to make him think it's night time -- Bob is just not there.

    We called the PetSmart we got him from to ask if there's anything else we can do. You can't vibrate him out with a vibration plate; it could hurt him. We haven't tried smoking him out yet - but I don't smoke and I don't vape, so where would I get smoke? I may have to find someone. The reptile experts agreed that what we're doing is all we can do, and you can bet that once we know he's not in that hide, we will dispose of it.  If he has passed, I'll be sad.

    I wanted the reptile expert at PetSmart to know that we didn't do it on purpose; in fact, the little hide was purchased there, and it stated it was safe for geckos — apparently, it may not be.  We are praying and hoping Bob is OK. He's a good boy. I think the only reason I'm blogging about it is to let people know it can happen, and it can't always be avoided. We do our best, but some things are out of our control -- we would never have put him in harm's way intentionally - I'm OK praying for him because I know God is great. He cares about lizards, too.

    If he doesn't come out from the hide, there is literally NO place else he could be. Other animals can't get to him; the enclosures have safety catches on the doors and tops. It's the strangest, weirdest, and most unique thing to ever happen to us as far as lizards are concerned, and we've had a lot of lizards. I read where they can go off to die if they feel that they are weak or sickly. I wonder if he was like that before we got him, and he just found a good place to say goodbye. 

    Well, I will pray for him - and I know it may sound silly to some, but I KNOW he will be in Heaven if he goes away for good. It would be foolish of someone to try to tell me otherwise. 

A New Bob. (Leopard Gecko)

     So, if you know me, you know that from time to time, my daughter Laura, who is my roommate, will be called by a certain pet store when they have a lizard they can't sell because it has an issue that keeps it from being sold. I'll give you an example; they called a few weeks back because a bearded dragon was in a fight with another one and lost part of its tail. She was called. We took the lizard.  Then, they called again, saying they had a gecko, a crested gecko - sadly, he had a terrible issue and only lasted a few weeks. He, too, however, was taken by Laura.

    I love lizards too, and currently have three, but I'm about to sell my blue-tongued skink because, like some of the others, she isn't very friendly. I want all of my pets, including lizards, dogs, cats, and horses, to be pleasant. I want to interact with them, and if I can't, I will find them good new homes.  I always go that extra mile to be sure they are given to good good homes.

    I had a Leopard Gecko named Bob about 2 years ago, and try as I could, the guy didn't like me. He got along with Laura, but he just didn't like me -- he found a good home. Laura laughed at me because my lizard preferred her - well, there you go, now she's finding out that her dogs would rather sleep in my really cool bed than with her! Ha! Back at ya!! (Except, it is really hard to sleep with 4 dogs, I'm not gonna lie.)

    Yesterday, Laura received the call again -- the pet store had called her and said, 'Okay, we have another Leopard Gecko, and he's yours if you want him.' He's a boy, you can tell, because he has a really fat head and tail to match. Apparently, he's been aggressive toward others in the tank, but you can't keep them with others -- and he's older. Well, she wasn't all that interested, but I decided to take him. He's not been aggressive with me -- not yet. He's been rather chill, actually - and guess what, they have another Beardie for Laura in two weeks after he heals from a bit of tail surgery today. He had tail-rot and yeah, that's not good - so he had surgery to remove that part and he'll heal up and go into permanent rehab with Laura and her...growing family of reptiles.

    I suppose I have four now, but the Blue Tongue will be living elsewhere soon, probably. If not, I'll keep her, but I really like holding them and talking to them, and she's just not into that. She's not into Laura either, so it may be that she goes away and we keep her enclosure for the next thing to come along because there will always be another - they happen. We don't mind fostering, and we don't mind rehabbing. I prefer to keep them, but even I know when to call it quits and find a good home for something that will be less stressed or at peace. 

    I'm not going to say that the dogs, cats, and our activities could be stressful, but having a huge fuzzy face staring at you all day could be nerve-wracking, depending on your idea of stress...and one skink may find the dogs interesting while the others find them frightening. The dogs seem to get a kick out of watching them!  

    The new guy was named Bob after the old one. I just like the name. It's a good Leopard Gecko name...Bob. I mean, it's for Robert the Bruce, but still, it's just Bob. Long live the king!

Bob

 

I Hate Tornadoes.

     If you live anywhere near where I live, which is central Oklahoma, you'll find yourself ducking and dodging those twirling, twisting tornadoes every year about this time. We have had several good scares this year, but thankfully, and I mean THANKFULLY, they have not been devastating. We are so very blessed.  I know it's God's choice to bring His power, and I am just so thankful that He has chosen to keep them in the air most of the time.

    Today, just about an hour ago, I was off work and had just finished my after-work workout - a quick 15-to 20-minute session on the treadmill - when the sirens went off. The phones notified us about 15 seconds before the sirens, and we were still able to take our time to turn on Channel 9 to see what David Payne and his crew were doing.  They've got this down to a science - so slick. 

    They have little charts, graphics, you name it, and by the time we're in the 4th grade here in Oklahoma, we know exactly what a mesocyclone is.  We're over here reading the colored patterns on the television as if we're trained and ready to jump in our trucks to chase something -- then again, most of us don't do that, only the really crazy people do.  Most of us sit in our dens with our bike helmets in hand, the closet doors open, and we have one shoe on and the other waiting for Payne to say the thing is right over our heads.

    Then, when we do finally get inside the tightest closet in our house, secured with clothes, blankets, and nothing that can harm us, we turn on our solar-powered radios to 96 FM and listen to David Payne (live, of course) so we know what to expect. There are times when the lights go out, and the radio is all we have - no colored pixeled patterns to stare at, we just have to pretend we see them. When he says the thing is tightening and gaining momentum, we start talking to God about His choices and ask Him really nicely to keep that thing in the air!

    We start thinking about those we love, and what they're doing; whether or not they're home and safe. We text them all of course, warning them that there's activity. They text back and say they're watching too; most watch Channel 9, but there are some that watch others too -- hopefully, we're all getting the same information.  The tornadoes we had today, plural, were all in a straight fixed line from the top of Texas all the way through to Kansas, and they went all the way from the western borders of Oklahoma to the eastern borders before they were finished. Sometimes the funnels came down, but for the most part they remained up in the clouds.

    The one that was half a mile from my son's family was big and fat, lowering, and really threatening. I'll post a pic from the news...just too scary.  I am too thankful, so overly grateful to have trusted God to keep us safe and away from danger. This was Kiah's 2nd or 3rd trip to the closet. She's not a big fan. Ginger knows the drill - she's almost 13.  She's a natural at it. As soon as I start making the closet ready - she just puts herself into it. Gotta love a smart dog.

Photo Credit: I took it, but it was on News9 KWTV 

Dehydration -- and All the Fun That Goes With it.

 I'm not really telling the world anything that it didn't already know about Laura when I say she suffers from having severe dehydration more than the rest of us. It isn't chronic, happening sporadically, which isn't often at all. When it does happen, though, there isn't much of anything I can do for her other than to drive her to the emergency room as soon as she tells me it's too far gone and she doesn't feel as if she can come back from it.

    Recently, the last time, maybe a year ago, she waited too long, and we really had a go of it at the E.R. with her needing three full bottles of saline and other meds given to her through the IV shunt, to help with nausea, dizziness, and anxiety. The anxiety that gets triggered, she'll tell you, is the worst part of it. She doesn't feel that anyone is after her, but that her own system is shutting down and turning off. That's the scary part.

    Today, I'm over her minding my own business, as I do. I'm writing in the new book, reading emails, and watching my YouTube buddies do their thing when Laura enters my office, stating she's about to pass out. Okay, maybe I should stop what I'm doing. I stop.  It wasn't too bad this time; we got her to the E.R. and they got her in really quickly. She was hooked up and on her way to feeling better in less than 30 minutes, but she did have to go through a bottle of saline and the meds before she was able to think clearly enough to say she needed to pee.

    Oh, good, peeing is a great sign! They took samples of her blood, of course, and ran those, asking her a thousand questions and then turning their attention to me, thinking maybe I could shed more light.  Laura kept answering "no" to everything, and the medical personnel thought maybe she was saying this because I was in the room. Nope.  Laura, like me, doesn't drink alcohol. She doesn't smoke, do drugs, smoke pot, nothing exciting - she even gets over 8 hours of sleep every night. Her problem is maintaining fluid intake when she loses it in other parts of her body.

    When you or I have a bout of stomach issues, a little distress in the bowels, we can take an over-the-counter med and drink an extra Gatorade. Laura slumps over and dies. It's never pretty, and she constantly thinks she can beat it - always goes a little longer than she should before complaining. Not this time! Woot!! She listened to her body, and bam! She was in and out of that E.R. in less than 2.5 hours, and let me tell you, she KNOWS not to make herself wait if or when it happens again. Two and a half hours is significantly better than staying overnight or having to go through bottle after bottle of replenishing liquid.  Yea Laura!

    There is one absolutely hilarious side story. I didn't shower this morning, but I usually do. I didn't see the need so I didn't. When I took my daughter to the E.R. I was suddenly keenly aware that she wasn't the one STINKING to high heaven in the car; it was me. All the hormones in my body decided to scramble around and be smelt due to my own love and admiration for my little girl - I become this hulk-type helicopter mom when she goes into her throws. I didn't turn green or anything but buddy, I smelled and everyone knew it. I had to laugh. It was funny, and I was told it was normal...yeah, OK, that's worse. I'd rather be anything but normal.

    OK, so we came home, and get this, it was still early enough for me to write another chapter in my book. Guess what happens in Chapter 14 of "Cask"! That's right, Laura Ashton, a good neighbor of Ama Posh, ends up being hospitalized with severe hyponatremia and dehydration! She survives, of course, and is thankful to her good friends for their assistance. I thought it humanized the book a little, and it makes the thing seem more realistic. Thank you, Laura.  I may end up giving her a little something-something if the book sells a million copies, especially if people say they loved the character.

Thank you for your prayers. She and I both appreciate them. 

Photo Credit: OldFoolRn.com 

Getting Back in Shape - Treadmill.

 The right treadmill for you depends on a myriad of factors, but price should be only a minor factor, not a determining one. We all have things we really want, and if we want them badly enough, we'll find a way to make it happen. I used to have students who smoked but couldn't afford rent. OK, well, $10 a day for 30 days is $300, which would put a dent in that rent. Choices, priorities...we have them.

    So, last summer, when we moved from our apartment to our house, I wasn't thinking clearly, and I devastated both my hips and my knees by deciding (choice) to move much of what I owned on my own. Yes, Laura helped. Yes, I asked my son Jonathan to help, and he brought his nephew. They did the big stuff, but I did a tremendous amount of moving, shifting, lifting, pushing, pulling, and more, and in the end, my old body was wrecked!

    The summer and spring before that, I had walked anywhere from 3-5 miles a day, lifted weights, and gone to the gym across the street. I was fit, in shape, pretty happy about life, and not thinking that in a year I'd be both overweight and unable to physically move due to my knees and hips screaming at me when I tried. Now, today, about 11 months after the move, I'm finally to the point that I can make myself do a little more with the assistance of time, pain reliever, and prayer.

    I bought a row machine, but I quickly put it back in its box and shipped it off within 24 hours of it arriving on my porch. Nope, not going to even attempt that sort of nonsense. I didn't factor into the equation that I would need to get close to six inches off the ground to do the exercise. I can sit on a mat and stretch, but I struggle to balance on a seat, constantly pushing and pulling myself back and forth. I can, however, walk.

    Deciding to invest in a high-quality machine, rather than just any machine, I conducted thorough research and allowed Google's AI to assist in my decision-making process. I asked Google what the top at-home treadmills would cost and which ones had the better customer reviews. We settled on a Norditrac (I don't remember the model number) for around $700. Trust me, when I tell you, that's not a bad price for a good machine that will withstand the weight, the time, and the mission, and not fall apart within the first few weeks of use.

    This one has handrails and a display rack, so I can put my cell up and watch a show or YouTube videos while I'm working out..I say "working out", but really, I'm just walking. I am not pushing it yet. I can maintain an average pace for about 10 minutes.  I'm watching Tony Broonford walk through Edinburgh while I walk. Soon, I'll move up to watching Zach and Annie's 30-minute videos before being able to watch my pastor's 1-hour and 3-minute videos of Bible Study!  Who knew the Superior Word would end up being a life goal?

    After my first walk of the day, a 10-minute stroll with Tony, I wanted to stop by St. Giles and rest. There was no way I was going to be able to hike up the hill to see the Tattoo at the castle, nope. I could have and would have stopped off at the great church and just sat down to breathe. I'll be OK. My heart was racing; I was even stumbling a little while walking from the den to the kitchen to catch my breath. I have a long way to go, but I will get there.

    It will take a minute -- a minute at a time. One foot in front of the other, and one workout session before I rest and do it again. I think I can do three a day now, and then work myself into a pattern of a 10-minute morning walk, a 30-minute afternoon, and a 15-minute evening walk.  At the pace I walk, I should be able to complete a mile in about 28 minutes, allowing me to get in two miles a day. When I get better and healthier, I'll walk (briskly) three miles.

    For now, I'm moving, getting my hips loosened and my knees warmed up. I feel drained and exhausted, but in a good way. I'm drinking water, I'm pushing myself, and soon I'll see the difference in the way my clothes fit. That will be the beginning of the new me. I'll smile more, I'm sure. For now, I'm going to sit, rest, write, and think about the next walking session.

Photo Credit: Amazon.com 

Row Row Row ! Chapter 9 is done!! ("Cask")

     I've written Chapter 9, so I'm 18,000 words or so into the new book, and things are going swimmingly -- rowingly -- but that's another story. I bought a rowing machine this past week, thinking I would use it while watching my shows.  I also just bought a treadmill, and I know I'll use it when I watch my shows, but the row machine, sadly, was quickly disassembled and placed back into its box. The UPS people will swing by and pick it up sometime tomorrow. Nope... not doing it. I'll tell you why.

    Rowing is a great way to exercise, and shame on me for thinking I could buy a less-than-stellar piece of workout equipment and it would actually work. I'm just really happy Amazon has a 30-day return policy. I didn't need 30 days, more like 30 seconds once it was assembled (Thank you, Laura) and set up in my office. I literally nearly tripped over it, it's so low to the ground, but once I got my body down that low, I was unable to knot myself up and position myself in the seat properly. The way it was designed, I would have had to pull it back, hold it in place, sit down, and put my feet into the little flat pedals.

    There was another way, of course. Since the seat slid forward, I could, if I could, squeeze myself into a ball, straddling the thing, with my knees in my face, then put my feet into the pedals so I could push myself back into the right position to begin the first "row" which wasn't even a row, it was a pully sort of thing.  There were supposed to be resistance "dials" you could use to make it seem tougher to pull, but no, it really didn't do anything for me, except maybe annoy me - does that count?  It was discarded immediately, undone, boxed, and now awaits its final ride back to where it came from.

    Laura hasn't put the treadmill together just yet, but she will today, and then I'll use it after she does. I'll let her work out the kinks first. I want to use it every day for at least 3 miles a day - I can put on a 42-43 minute episode of Law & Order or Perry Mason and walk, just casually walking while solving a crime. I may tune into Charlie and listen to a good sermon while strolling through the Highlands in my mind -- always Scotland, it could be the streets of Melrose, I'm not that picky.

    Anyway, I stayed home today and used 8 hours of my paid time off to write. I do love the options I have with this job. I worked from home again, of course, and I wrote three more chapters of the book "Cask", which I think is my 19th book. I can say that and be telling the truth. I wrote three more chapters, and it's just about to get into the nitty and the gritty - it's always the first several chapters that set a book up before setting the characters loose to tell their stories. Nick, Eoghan, Ralph, and even Daniel Ramsey are just about to embark on a very intricate crime plot that will (or could) shock the world to its core!

    I won't get to the shocking part for another chapter or two. Right now, they're reviewing the documents, eating well, and getting to know each other a little better in ways that will solidify their bond forever. A good book - already a good one. I like it. Tomorrow and Sunday will be fun. I'll add at least five and possibly six new chapters. Woot! I'll keep you posted, I'm sure. Right now, they're in New York, enjoying the after-holiday hustle and bustle of Wall Street, and taking in the sheer beauty of Central Park.  Nick has been there before, but this is Eoghan's first time. He and Ramsey didn't have a chance to go when he first arrived.  

    OK, gotta run, remember, if you think you're too old and fat to get on the ground to row the fat off your body, you should probably listen to yourself. There's no shame in realizing that you're not bendable; not the way you used to be anyway.

Photo Credit:  Amazon.com 

CASK - It Has Begun

 "Cask" has begun. In fact, I have written 12,000 words, which is the finish of Chapter 6. I have been really having a lot of fun using the AI on this one. I'll tell it what I want to say, and read what it spits out. It doesn't usually spit out what I want to write, so I have to tweak it and give it more suggestions. I give it the full details of the chapter and then ask it to write it so that I sound good. I literally said, "Make me sound good, will ya?" and then it writes back something like, "Writer sighs a heavy sigh, realizing the weight of the world is on their shoulders to make the author appear better than she is," and that makes me laugh.

    I pay a monthly subscription to this AI to write with it and bounce ideas off it. I have what I want to say; it just cleans up my diction and punctuation. It tells me something I didn't think of, and I can choose to put it into the mix or not. I do sometimes, and I don't sometimes. Sometimes it makes me think of something completely off the topic, and I explore that angle for a while. I like the method. It's fun.

    If anyone thinks you can ask the AI to write the book, you don't know AI very well. You could do that, but it wouldn't come out the way you wanted. It would just come out the way it came out - so yeah, it could functionally write the book, but it wouldn't be YOUR book - and if you know me, you know I don't like to share - so I take suggestions and dress them up or down, use ideas, redirect it, and then see what happens. 

    This book is the 6th book in the Nick Posh thriller series, and takes place in Oklahoma, Chicago, New York, Cincinnati, Glen Cove, Long Island, Edinburgh, and a bit in Glasgow. We'll hit the wharfs on those docks, I'm sure. We have to trace down some German grenades -- they come out of Germany, and no, I won't be going there, since they're shipped first to Glasgow and Leith to be packed into the Scottish whisky casks. It's already fun, but the first 10 chapters of any of my books are the chapters I need to gear up, explain the nitty gritty, and get the characters lined up to set them free.

    Right now, Eoghan's been given devastating news. He's handling it, making permanent decisions, and choosing to stay in Oklahoma for the foreseeable future. Posh is getting more and more family grounded, and it's becoming harder to be away from the ones he loves, but he also realizes that he's not alone in the fight for justice - he's a part of something bigger and needs to be present wherever that may take him. He's not always happy about it, but he's fighting crime and doing his best to rid the world of such an ugly element. 

    When I think about it, I like Posh a lot. I like him more than I do Dick Tracy because to me, Dick Tracy is relatively flat. He doesn't travel much, and he's always in the nick of time - Nick Posh makes mistakes and sometimes, as we'll see in this book, making mistakes can cost lives. Oops! I can't say more -- that's for later in the book!

Photo Credit: Me ( I used Canva.com)