August

Work-related:

1. I completed two sets of edits and began work on one other author’s edits.
2. I read several Burn entries.

Health-related:

1. I continued with my immunotherapy. I underwent one Keytruda infusion this month. I also continued taking Lenvima at an every other day dosage due to side effects.
2. I had an appointment with my heart doctor, and all is well. I won’t see him again for a year.
3. I underwent an echocardiogram, with mostly normal results, so no worries there.
4. I underwent a PET scan. In all the places I was most worried about—anything around my abdomen—no growths were found. There was one sub-centimeter dot on a parotid lymph node beside my jaw. Just something to watch for now.

Happiness-related: 

1. I’m visited my sister for a small vacation at the beginning of the month! It was delightful staying with her and catching up!
2. I swam every day the weather cooperated! Unfortunately, rain and cooler weather hit during the last week of the month, and now the pool is too cool for me to swim.
3. I completed my participation in #the100dayproject. Here are a few small pieces I completed in August:

September

 

For work-related, I plan:

1. To finish reading the Burn submissions and announce the lineup for the next anthology in early September!
2. To finish writing Ignition! Again—no excuses! This will complete the Delta Fire series, my erotic firefighter stories. The book will be out by the end of the month!
3. To begin work on Built Like Mack, the next story in my We are Dead Horse series.
4. To complete working on the edits I have for one author and await the arrival of another project coming in September.

For health-related, I plan:

1. To continue to focus on recovery! Rest when I need to, and some light exercise. I have to figure out what, other than housework, I can add to my exercise plan since swim season is over.
2. To endure two immunotherapy sessions this month.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To establish a new exercise regimen now that swim season is past and commit to it!
2. To create more art.

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 September…

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

Pluto Demoted Day!

Science nerd here, so I had to mention this special holiday! This is the day in 2006, when the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto from “planet” status to “dwarf planet” status. I remember my outrage (okay, so maybe it was a bit milder, we’ll say “dismay”) over the change. I was raised knowing there were NINE PLANETS in our solar system—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto! Suddenly, there were just eight, and poor, tiny Pluto was pushed out of the circle of cool kid planets. Due to that change, there are now five officially recognized dwarf planets in our solar system—Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.

Another cool fact about Pluto…? It’s named for the god of the Underworld, and it has five moons of its own with very cool names: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx.

Report Card

Last week…

1. I completed edits for two authors!
2. I continued reading entries for the Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology!
3. I swam every day except for one stormy day!
4. I completed some small paintings.

This next week…

1. I have no manuscripts to edit for other authors at the moment. I am waiting for one to arrive, hopefully this week.
2. I’ll turn my attention back to Ignition and try my best to finish it by the end of the month.
3. I’ll finish reading the Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology entries!
4. I have an echocardiogram scheduled this week.
5. I’ll continue to work on organizing & cleaning up my art room.
6. I’ll swim every day the weather cooperates, although the weather is rapidly cooling! — I might not have many days left to enjoy the pool. 🙁
7. I’ll paint when the mood (or insomnia) hits me.

Open Contests

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

1. Memory Game: Some of My #100Day Faves (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Gabbi Grey: My Gay Cinderella (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win a FREE story!
3. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Just a Girl and a Dragon — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Word Search: Heroic Qualities (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. Sliding Puzzle: Orb Fisher (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. I love Fridays! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
7. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: The Black Moon — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Sandra Pennese!
*~*~*

Especially now that school is back in session!

The kids have had their first full week of school since it started back up. They’ll be ready for a break. Ha-ha. Mama has a chore list a mile long awaiting them. Okay, it’s not that bad, but I have some things I, too, want them to help me with out at the pool. It’s funny to me how eager and joyful they are about getting into the pool at the start of summer, but how quickly they get bored with it. I’m still out there every day, scooping up leaves, watching the chlorine, brushing the surfaces… Yeah, I’ll guilt them into helping sometime this weekend.

But, I know, their lives are just so hard, getting up early, doing homework…interacting with their friends… So hard.

Just wait until they’re juggling part-time jobs, too, like their college-girl older sister who is also on the dance team and an officer in her sorority. She’s had to maintain a high grade point average to hold onto scholarships. Now, that girl has learned how to hustle.

Anyways, I don’t really have anything to talk about. I’ve already finished up one editing gig this morning. I have another to wrap up this evening. Then I intend to take a break and watch some Asian reels—that is, after I hit the pool. The water temperature is already dropping. Give it a couple of weeks, and I’ll be gasping as I force myself to dip my toes in.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether Fridays still mean something to you! And do you have weekend plans?

UPDATE — Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology

I’m running behind schedule, but I’m making progress. I hope to finish reading and making decisions about the stories I’ve received by the end of the month!

Report Card

Last week…

1. I continued working on edits for two authors.
2. I continued reading entries for the Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology!
3. I swam every day, at least once!
4. I had an appointment with my cardiologist, and he said, Everything is going great! Don’t need to see you for another year.
5. I completed #the100dayproject!

This next week…

1. I’ll complete edits of manuscripts for two authors.
2. I’ll continue reading the Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology entries!
3. On Monday, I’ll have my every-three-weeks immunotherapy infusion. Blech.
4. I’ll start rising at O-dark-thirty on Wednesday to help get kids off to school!
5. I’m going to work on organizing & cleaning up my art room.
6. I’ll swim every day the weather cooperates!

Open Contests

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

1. Word Search: Packing for a Trip (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Tell me a story… (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Puzzle-Contest: Sisters, sisters… — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
4. July into August (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
5. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Lazy Dog — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Gabbi Grey: When Visiting Someone Else’s Town (Contest) — Win a FREE book!
7. Flashback: Watch Over Me (Contest — Two Winners!) — Win a FREE book! Two winners!
8. A Memory of Misspent Youth? (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
9. Word Search: Back to School Supplies (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
10. Gabbi Grey: When the unexpected happened… (Contest) — Win a FREE book!
11. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Fantasy — Hero or Villain? — Win an Amazon gift card!

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

July

1. I completed two sets of edits and began work on another author’s edits.
2. I began reading the Burn entries.

Health-related:

1. I underwent two more infusions of Keytruda, this month. I felt fatigued for a couple of days afterward, but no worrisome side effects.
2. I restarted the targeted immunotherapy, Lenvima, but dropped to an every other day dosage due to side effects. I’m tolerating the dosage better than the daily. I’m still fatigued, but not quite as much, and the diarrhea has subsided somewhat.

Happiness-related: 

1. I’m currently visiting my sister for a small vacation!
2. I continued my participation in #the100dayproject. I have just one more piece to finish my commitment. Here are a few small pieces I completed in July:

August

 

For work-related, I plan:

1. To finish reading the Burn submissions and announce the lineup for the next anthology!
2. To finish writing Ignition! Again—no excuses! This will complete the Delta Fire series, my erotic firefighter stories. The book will be out by the end of the month!
3. To begin work on Built Like Mack, the next story in my We are Dead Horse series.
4. To complete working on the edits I have for one author and await the arrival of two other editing projects to start working on.

For health-related, I plan:

1. To continue to focus on recovery! Rest when I need to, and some light exercise—housework and swimming (when the pool pump gets repaired!!!).
2. To endure another immunotherapy session this month.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To spend time what little time we have remaining of the summer break with the family. We have plans for more fun meals, movies, flea market shopping, back-to-school shopping, and lots and lots of swimming.
2. To complete #the100dayproject and create more art.

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 August…

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

UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallans!
*~*~*

I’m visiting my sister at the moment. We arrived yesterday and already we’ve had some great laughs—mostly at my dignity’s expense.

Yes, the trip exhausted me, but I didn’t head straight to a bed to nap; I soldiered on because I didn’t want to miss a thing. My niece and her boys joined Elle, my dd and SIL, a couple of our girls, and I for the afternoon and evening. We went to a pizza joint with retro pinball machines then came back and spent time in the pool together. I provided the entertainment while trying to get my fat a$$ into pool hammock chair. I needed lots of help to get myself balanced. Imagine beached whale/half-drowning, lots of sputtering while we were all dying laughing.

Anyway, I’m ready for another exhausting, happy day.

I’m sharing my favorite photo of my sister and I, playing dress-up when we were kids. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then share a memory from your childhood!

UPDATE: The winner is…Sarah Ulfers!
*~*~*

I didn’t post the puzzle-contest yesterday, so I’m adding it to my weekly Report Card! I have tons of excuses, but they all add up to me being extremely lazy yesterday. I couldn’t be bothered to post. I slept late, swam long, and watched a Chinese reel about a woman who was a goddess and didn’t know it. Perfect day, actually.

Puzzle-Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then let me know what content you enjoy on my blog. What catches your eye? What contests are fun for you? Do you like the puzzles? The visitors? Glimpses of my personal life?

Enjoy today’s puzzle! It’s of the now-11-year-old being her not-so-angelic self when she was little. ~DD

Report Card

Last week…

1. I continued working on edits for two authors.
2. I’ll continued reading entries for the Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology!
3. I had my every-three-week infusion on Monday and was hit hard with fatigue and other unpleasant side effects for the following three days. (I’m feeling better today!)
4. I swam every day, at least once!
5. I didn’t paint a thing. *sigh* And I only have one more piece to complete to finish up #the100dayproject.

This next week…

1. I’ll complete edits of a manuscript for another author and continue working on another author’s story.
2. I’ll continue reading the Burn: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology entries!
3. I’ll get some chores out of the way—laundry, packing—in preparation for my trip to visit my sister this week!
4. I’ll pre-post blogs for the days I’ll be on trip so you have some fun things to read/do while I’m away from my desk!
5. I’ll (hopefully) paint my last piece for #the100dayproject.
6. I’ll swim every day the weather cooperates!

Open Contests

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

1. What are your favorite romance tropes? (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Gabbi Grey: Jane Austen as a Muse for Queer Romances (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win two eBooks and an audio book!
3. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: What are they doing? — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Gabbi Grey: Rucking Yet Again?!?! (Contest) — Win a FREE book!
5. Sliding Puzzle: A visit to the apothecary… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Story Cubes — Tell Me a Story (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
7. Health Update & a Trip News (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
8. Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Jessie Redmon Fauset — Mother of the Harlem Renaissance (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!