Report Card

Last week…

1. I worked my butt off on two editing projects I have to complete before my surgery on Tuesday! I’m almost there. I hope to finish both today!
2. I worked on getting caught up on some administrivia to get ready for my upcoming surgery and recovery.
3. I paused the #100daychallenge. I’ll resume the challenge when I’ve recovered enough to want to sit and paint. I’m hoping that will be mid-April, but I might be dreaming.
4. I went flea-market shopping with the girls. It’s a small thing, but something we all love to do. We like finding our random treasures. I found a white enamel covered box, rectangular, and I have no clue how I’ll use it just yet, but I love enamel, so I had to have it. When I’m recovered, I’ll figure out where it “belongs.”

This next week…

1. I will complete two sets of author’s edits today (I hope). One author still owes me her last pages (You know who you are! LOL)!
2. I have more administrative things to do today and tomorrow morning to “get my affairs in order” before surgery.
3. I need to make sure all my passwords still work on my phone and laptop because I won’t be going near my desktop for a month!
4. I have to pay all the monthly bills tomorrow so that won’t be lingering over my head as I recover.
5. Tuesday is the big day! All my girlie parts, plus a few others, are going bye-bye-bye!

Open Contests

Be sure to check out these posts and enter to win the prizes that are still up for grabs:

1. 1. Gabbi Grey: How I figure out what comes next! (FREE Read + Contest) — Last day to enter! Get your FREE read, plus enter to win another FREE story!
   2. Get your FREE read! WITH HIS ROCK BAND! — This offer ends Tuesday! Pick up your FREE read. This is a limited time offer!
   3. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Welcome Spring! — Win an Amazon gift card!
   4. Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Eliza Potter — Hairdresser, Social Critic, and Myth Buster (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
   5. Word Search: Favorite Book Hero Jobs (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
   6. Tell Me a Story… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
   7. Saturday Puzzle-Contest — Favorite Fast Food — Win an Amazon gift card!

Just a quick note. I’ll go into surgery sometime on Tuesday. I’ll have guests on the blog, but there won’t be daily posts until I feel well enough to sit at my desk, so closing out current contests may lag. Also, I won’t be here to share my guests’ posts. If you can, please share them on your social media to help get out the word for them.  

I have a huge To Do list that I keep trimming because I’m running out of time to do everything I thought I needed to get out of the way before my surgery next Tuesday.

My surgery is scheduled for some time on Tuesday. They’ll call the day before and let me know when. My sister, Elle James, has already volunteered to take me to Little Rock the day before. We’ll hole up in a hotel near the hospital, then she’ll be with me there for the duration of my stay. My lovely daughter will come for the surgery but has to head home afterward because…kids and animals. If all goes well, I’ll be there for two nights, then I’ll be sent home.

She’s having my lift chair moved to the living room while I’m gone because I won’t be able to go up and down stairs for about six weeks. I’ll be “installed” in the living room, which will be annoying for them, but I expect I’ll sleep a lot. I’ll be in the chair because my daughter, who had a hysterectomy years ago, says I won’t be able to comfortably get in and out of bed. She has it all planned out how she’s going to care for me. I hate that I’ll need that kind of help, to and from the bathroom, getting up to walk, etc. I know I’m going to be miserable, and a lot of things will fall by the wayside while I recover. Google says I won’t be able to swim for six weeks, and she just smiles and says I probably won’t feel like it anyway, but I hope to prove her wrong. Full recovery will take about six months.

I’ll be stranded away from my desktop for six weeks. Which means, I’ll be using my laptop, which I don’t love. I’m not sure how that will work. Likely, she’ll have to find some sort of desk/tray thing to place over my chair so I can reach the keys. How soon I’ll be back online is a huge question. I do have some guest authors’ posts to pre-post so this website won’t be completely dead. I’ll ask you all to support them, and me, by sharing their posts online. You won’t mind that, right?

I figure I’ll be back to editing in a couple of weeks—in short spurts. Lots of rest in between. The kids will watch movies with me so I don’t go stir-crazy. I think I’ll like their noise and commotion, the sounds of living, being around me upstairs.

Am I scared? It’s odd. I’m not. I know a million things can go wrong, but hey, I’ve made it this far, and this journey has been surprising. I’ve come farther than I could have hoped at the start last August. I hope I fly through surgery, that I avoid any major infection. The worst I will let myself consider is dealing with the discomfort and pain. I can do that. I already have experienced some of that. I’m feeling positive and making plans for the future. When they put my under, I’ll hold to an image of me floating in my pool with the sunshine beating down on me—my favorite place and activity in the world.

UPDATE: The winner is…Jennifer Beyer!
*~*~*

I strive every day to find happiness. It can be little or big things. Given what I’ve been facing (my cancer journey), it sometimes is hard. But I don’t allow myself to wallow in sadness or negativity. I make a choice every day when I wake up to find happiness.

For me, I find happiness in little, everyday things. I love a good meal. I’ve been on a quest since last August to find pasta recipes that appeal to me so that I can experiment with making them at home. I’m not much of a cook, and I know my daughter doesn’t have time to do it for me, but the search and the process of trying out these recipes has given me joy. Recently, I watched an Italian chef make Cacio e Pepe, so I thought, that looks yummy and easy. Are the ingredients available locally? I couldn’t find the special, fat spaghettoni you need (he said the fatter surface of the noodles makes the sauce cling better), so I ordered a package from Amazon. The special sheep cheese, Pecorino, wasn’t at my local Walmart, so again, I went back on the internet to get it.

When everything arrived, I made it for myself because my daughter and her girls don’t like a wide variety of cheeses and have a strange dislike for goat and sheep cheeses. I toasted the peppercorns on a pan, grated the cheese, saved the pasta water to help the process of making the pasta creamy. The result was…underwhelming. I know it must have been me or substandard ingredients. However, the quest was the point, not the result. It would’ve been nice to have found a new pasta I could love, but hey, I did the thing.

The same goes for my #the100dayproject challenge that I decided to undertake. Every time I gather the day’s supplies to complete a project, I enjoy the process of making those choices. I love sitting in the quiet and putting pen or paint to paper. It’s soothing, and I feel pride when I complete the thing, even if it’s not quite as beautiful as I’d envisioned.

My daughter has a love for scented candles, in particular Bath & Bodyworks candles, and she hits every sale. It’s not just that she likes her home to smell good—she loves the quest to find a lovely candle. She loves the special candleholders and lids and collects those. I have lovely candles all over my desk because she shares her discoveries and finds joy in doing so.

I love, love, love sharing my love of film with the 16-year-old. We have similar taste. Right now, we’re watching True Detective: Night Country, and we’re watching one episode at a time rather than bingeing it because we’re savoring the journey together. We’ll finish before my surgery at the end of the month.

I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the TV shows I loved when I was a kid. Of course, I’ve been on a couple-year journey to watch every Star Trek series. I finished and plan to make another pass through it all this summer, in chronological order, just for the pure pleasure. I’ve been watching The Time Tunnel and Lost in Space.

So, that’s how I deliberately seek happiness. Every day I find it without looking for it, too. Sharing laughter with the family, enjoying the purr in my ear of the cat who likes to drape herself over my shoulder while I watch TV—so many unplanned moments, but I savor them.

So, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what brings you happiness.

Report Card

Last week…

1. I completed one author’s edits! Yay!
2. I’ve continued some light exercises.
3. I’ve been painting every day as part of #the100dayproject—and I’m liking my latest efforts.

This next week…

1. I will have one author’s edits to begin work on. I’d like to get halfway through it.
2. I’ll send out a notice to authors to see who might like to blog on my website, April through June—since I plan to still be here!
3. I’ll return my attention to Ignition, because I really, really want to finish it before April 1st!
4. I have administrative things to do this week to “get my affairs in order” before surgery.
5. I’ll continue working on #the100dayproject.

Update

This month, I’m busy trying to get ready for my surgery that’s happening on April 1st. I have lots of little things to handle before the big day—making sure my daughter knows where my important papers are, making sure she knows who to contact should something go wrong, leaving breadcrumbs for her to find her way through my computer and files. I’ve had this computer for a number of years, and it has little idiosyncrasies that might drive a person who isn’t familiar with it crazy.

I’ve had interesting conversations with the girls—who gets my bedroom, office, and craft room when I’m gone. The 16-year-old has dibs, and she’s said my bedroom will remain the same because she loves all my “junk,” and the office will become her gaming room, AND she won’t let her mom ditch all my craft and art supplies in the art room because she wants to putter in there with all those “treasures.” We laughed about it. And we all talk often about what happens when I’m gone. Getting them used to the idea helps with the grief. We had a long time taking care of grandma, my father, and my mother to get used to the idea of their passing. It helped to talk about a future without them. Yes, their deaths were still devastating, but the sting was somewhat muted because we’d prepared ourselves emotionally. NOT THAT I DON’T FULLY EXPECT TO MAKE IT THROUGH MY SURGERY! I do! Still…

Can I bitch about a little thing and not seem silly? My hair is beginning to grow back in—and my, oh my is it ever gray (well, more silver than gray). And, it’s growing faster at the bottom than the top of my head, which looks very weird. I joke that I look like Ludwig Von Drake. I’ll still be in hats through the summer!

Now that I’m just doing immunotherapy infusions, the chemo-devastation has subsided. My foot neuropathy is still there as is my slightly blurred vision, but I can make it through the day without taking a nap, although I do shut down working in the early afternoon and head to my recliner to watch some TV. I’m still building stamina—which will take another big hit after the 1st.  I’m so not looking forward to the recovery, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure the 16-year-old doesn’t get her mitts on my art supplies just yet. 🙂

Yes, I’ve changed the color of my cancer awareness ribbon. The pretty teal one was only for ovarian—my cancer is more generalized: endometrial/mullerian. Besides, I was bored with the blue.

Anyways, I’ve had an interesting day. My daughter and I traveled this morning to Little Rock to the Cancer Institute there to find out whether they would perform surgery to remove all my affected organs, which might give me a better chance of beating this cancer.

Before we even got there, we had an adventure. We had just taken the three-lane offramp and were stopped in a line of vehicles at the traffic lights when a firetruck and another emergency vehicle arrived with sirens and horns blowing. The cars in the center lane tried to move into our lane to give the big honking trucks room on the far left to get by. The vehicle in the center lane, to our left, began to back up, and my daughter laid on her horn to alert the driver that we were there—which the driver did not hear—and yeah, she hit our SUV. So, with only 45 minutes before my appointment with the surgeon, we had to contact 911 to get a trooper to come take our information before we could drive away.

We could not have been hit by a nicer lady. She took full responsibility, then saw my chemo hat and lack of eyebrows and told me she was a 15-year breast cancer survivor and asked about mine. She’s a nurse, teaching other nurses. The trooper was a very serious looking individual but very efficient. We made it to my appointment on time.

So, now for the news. Yes, I am scheduled for surgery at the beginning of April! They are going to take everything they find that’s affected by cancer—ovaries, uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, omentum, and lymph nodes—plus anything else they discover once they’re in. It’s going to be a huge incision down the middle of my abdomen. Before I was scheduled, I told him the only thing I was concerned about was recovering in time for pool season. During the examination, he told me he was surprised that my uterus was a normal size now and that my cervix looked perfect. Well, of course, I wanted to tell him. I’m the perfect patient. Lots of fight and positivity left in me! My daughter is more worried about how all of this is going to go down. She has to have everything planned. Who’s going to stay with me in the hospital? Do we need another lift-recliner chair for me to sleep in because she’s sure getting in and out of bed will be too hard for me. She has to shop for dresses for me because she says I won’t want to wear anything that’s binding around my waist. And on, and on…

The nurse I saw at the beginning of all my appointments today (surgeon, bloodwork, EKG, X-ray) took my blood pressure after we rushed in fresh from the accident, and she told me she was very surprised my blood pressure was so normal after all the excitement. I told her I don’t worry about things until I know I have a problem. Why flap my wings like an excitable chicken and stress myself out? Right now, everything is wonderful. My latest bloodwork shows that everything’s trending perfectly. I’m in remission and heading into surgery to further attack this insidious disease. I’m here now. 

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary Preston!
*~*~*

I had bloodwork yesterday in preparation for a couple of upcoming appointments. On Thursday, I meet with a surgeon in Little Rock to see whether I am a candidate for having a hysterectomy. Next Monday is another round of immunotherapy infusions. Hopefully, the tests I took yesterday won’t show any backsliding! Only progress—good progress! Cross your fingers; I am!

Let’s play!

I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is a brainstorming game. You roll the dice, and whatever pictures appear face-up are the ones you use to riff off a story.

You can try to include all the cubes in your “story” or choose a few. The story you tell doesn’t have to be long or even any good. They all count!

To make this fun, I’ll offer a prize—a $5 Amazon gift card—good for purchasing one or two stories…
Have fun with this! Don’t overthink! Here’s the roll…

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary McCoy!
*~*~*

January

Work-related:

1. Again, I didn’t write a single word in all of January, but that was the plan—wait until after I recovered from the last of my chemotherapy sessions. Chemo sucked away all my energy and ambition. It wasn’t until well past mid-month that the aftereffects of my last chemo session on December 30th waned. And then I dragged my feet as I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish writing-wise this year.
2. I completed 1 editing project for another author in January.
3. I settled on a theme and sent out the call for submissions for the next Boys Behaving Badly Anthology—Burn!
4. So, yeah, it was a light month of work, but I’m feeling so much better, and my brain is re-engaging!

Health-related:

1. I underwent a PET scan to see how my cancer had reacted to the chemo and got the amazing news that I’m now in remission from my cancer. Further, something I didn’t think would happen because I had far too much cancer everywhere is now within reach. It may be possible to have my girlie parts removed, which would yank out the source of my cancer. Not that it might not be lurking something else, microscopically, but right now the only place where it is detectable is in my uterus. It’s got to go!
2. After that good news, I spent the rest of the month…resting. I can finally get deep, restful sleep, so I’m catching up!

Happiness-related: 

1. My family, all of whom have been astonishingly good to me over the months of my treatment, are now expecting me to pick up some slack. LOL. I’m doing the occasional dishes and keeping my own spaces clean. It makes me feel productive, and I know my dd needs some relief.
2. I’ve been working on organizing my art studio, going from table to table, shelf to shelf, putting things where they belong and clearing working spaces.
3. I painted this month. Not much, but here are a few small pieces I completed:

February

  

For work-related, I plan:

1. To complete Ignition before the end of the month and publish it. I was able to persuade Amazon to give me back my pre-order ability (Yay!), but I’ll wait until I finish the book before I let you know it’s out there. Writing is a little elusive still, which has made me feel a little…not afraid, but hesitant to slap dates on things.
2. To plot stories for the new year for my current series, Montana Bounty Hunters: Yellowstone, MT and We are Dead Horse.
3. To complete 3 editing projects in February.
4. To look at books I already have out that I might bundle together or publish in print. I’ll be assembling another Ultra collection of short stories for publication in March.
5. To begin work on the next We Are Dead Horse book, Built Like Mack. The plan is to release it in March.

For health-related, I plan:

1. To meet with a surgeon at UAMS to discuss the possibility of getting my girlie parts removed. The appointment has been made—it’s happening at the end of this month.
2. To begin again watching what I eat to drop a few more pounds. I’ve rejoined WW. Now, I just need to knuckle under and do the work.
3. To add physical activities to my daily routine so that I can regain some muscle tone. I plan to begin some daily chair yoga exercises and spend some time on the exercise bike.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To get ready for the #100dayproject, which begins on February 23rd. This will be the 5th year I’ve participated in the challenge. I can’t wait! I’ll be going through art books and Pinterest pages, looking for ideas for projects.
2. To clean up my art room, which was a disaster!  While I was feeling like hell, I tossed supplies on table tops rather than storing them properly, eating up my workspace.
3. I have plans to do an online oil pastels class and perhaps make some more collage fodder.
4. To spend time with the family—more movies, meals, and flea market adventures!

Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in February…

Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!