International Panic Day is a “mock” holiday meant to give people a day to intentionally de-stress.
I’m all for that! Well, I’m all for another odd holiday and all for destressing! How ’bout you?
I thought making a list of ways I like to destress would be fun…
🐈 Pet a pet
📻 Listen to music
☕ Drink a cup of tea
😮💨 Breathe
🧘♀️ Meditate
🏊♀️ Swim!
👭 Spend time with friends
🚶♀️ Go for a walk
👩⚕️ See a therapist
🏝️ Get away from it all!
The last two aren’t things I generally do, but I was struggling to get to 10! I also managed to fit in a puzzle for you all since so many of you enjoy them!
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then add to my list of 10 or tell me which items on my list you use!
June 17, 1965: On this day in history, Bob Dylan recorded…
You either love him or hate him. And sometimes, you’re not even aware you love him.
My SIL says his voice scrapes like nails on a chalkboard. My daughter, who is a singer herself and hyper-critical of many current artists, adores Bob Dylan for being real and raw. I’ve loved him since he first appeared on the music scene in the sixties. Yes, I’m that old. Along with the Beatles and the Stones, whom I’ve loved forever, there was Bob Dylan, whose music I played when my dad brought me home a guitar from one of his many trips to Asia during the Vietnam War. “Blowin’ in the Wind” was one of the first things I learned to play. I loved music and poetry, and Dylan’s work was both.
There are songs you probably don’t even know are his. “All Along the Watchtower” will forever be associated with Jimi Hendrix, but Dylan wrote it. If you loved the movie Hope Floats, you remember that gorgeous love song, “Make You Feel My Love” that Garth Brooks sang. Adele covered that song more recently. Yup, Bob Dylan wrote it. You’ve heard Eric Clapton’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” right? Again, Bob Dylan wrote it. That’s just a slice of great covers of his great songs.
But everyone’s heard Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” Can you imagine the 1960s without it?
Anyway, I have Dylan’s greatest hits I pull out every now and then when I’m feeling nostalgic. My favorites include these titles which I had to snip and slaughter to fit into the puzzle. Hope you enjoy it. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you’re a Dylan fan and which song you love the most!
My faves are in the puzzle in no particular order…
Like a Rolling Stone
Blowin’ in the Wind
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) (This one’s so cool, like Folk-Rap!)
I’m sipping coffee and listening to the Stones’ “Mothers Little Helper.” Here goes…
It’s been a while, but my daughter and I hit the local flea market! Had to snap the flea market mascot, Catrick Swayze. He’s the barely domesticated, loves to nip, and gripes with every meow. You can see his meanness in his face, can’t you? My kind of cat.
And here’s my haul…
Not so impressive, I know. The microwave candy is for the girls, not me. Blech. My daughter found the pineapple for me. We’ve been looking for a solution to hold my coffee K-cups in the art room—and voilà! She also found the pretty tin. I collect them and have dreams of cutting them up into pretty shapes to make jewelry with them. She winces when she spots a pretty tin because she can picture the carnage. The cardboard box beside everything…? Someone bought up a bunch of those Amazon mystery boxes and offered them individually. We bought one! It’s so much fun to get them home, open them, and see whether you have treasure or dreck. We had a mixed box. Bento boxes. Christmas decorations. Pillow covers. Finger chopsticks. Maybe 70 small Christmas-themed notebooks. And six decibels-measuring devices…? (I will have to figure out how to unload those!) Yeah, treasure and dreck. But so much fun unboxing.
Report Card
Last week…
I worked on two editing jobs for other authors; I should finish one of them today.
I resolved my issues with the Kindle platform, and all four books in the Delta Fire series, which is the follow-on to the Delta Heat series, are loaded and ready for pre-order, including the last book in the series, which has not previously been published, Ignition. I’ll share all the covers this week—they are so hot!
I am working on editing the Secret Identities short stories for the anthology.
The biggest bummer of the week is that our pool is still “un-swimmable” for now. We were having fits, dumping tons of chemicals and never getting the water perfectly crystal clear, so we decided to replace the sand. When my SIL replaced it and put the filter back together, it leaked. We replaced seals and a collar on the filter, then when we got everything put back together, we had another leak on the Polaris hose. We got a part in yesterday, so I’m crossing my fingers that’s the problem. It will be a few days before the pool is clear enough to swim in. My dd says there’s another snake in there, but it’s too cloudy to fish the critter out. *sigh*
Okay, so maybe that’s not the biggest bummer. I went to the doctor at the VA this week, and she says I’m diabetic now. Barely, but she’s putting me on meds. I have got to drop some pounds!
This next week…
I will work on two editing projects for other authors, finishing two, I hope!
I’ll continue editing stories in the Secret Identities anthology. Plus, I’ll work with the authors to organize a promo schedule.
I have a lung and bone density test coming up, so we’ll have another trip to the big city.
I will finish creating small art daily for #The100DayProject. I’m almost there!
The pool situation will be settled this week!!!!!
I’m adding one more goal to get a plan in place to tackle the weight. I’m going to research what foods I can eat and those I can avoid, and then create a meal plan. Realistic exercise goals will be set, too. I tend to have better success when I follow a plan…
Do you sometimes wake up with a goal you can’t shake?
I watched a trailer for a movie yesterday and got so excited about it that I messaged the link to my daughter for her to watch. She never replied. So, I take that as she’s not excited about the idea. But how can she not be?! A giant shark in the Seine, IN PARIS?! It’s going to be epic!
Okay, so it’s not as over-the-top as the Sharknado movies (has there ever been anything as gonzo?!), but I can see the possibility of a fun movie night. When the Sharknado films came out every summer for all those years, we made the releases a big event. We’d binge-watch the preceding movies and hunker down with finger-foods and popcorn, our attention glued to the screen. They weren’t meant to be great art, and they weren’t, but oh what fun they were. I have the same reverence for The Meg movies. I just love shark movies and Shark Week. Summer isn’t summer without watching some new shark-disaster movie.
So, this morning, I awoke determined to watch the new movie tonight. I’m pretty sure I can talk the 15-year-old and the 10-year-old into watching with me. We’ll get a huge tub of popcorn and dim the lights. Under Paris will be watched!
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you love shark movies like I do. Have you watched Jaws, the Sharknado movies…Shark Tale?
P.S. While I was searching for an image for Under Paris, I found another shark movie I have to put on the list! It’s Shark Lake with Dolph Lundgren! It sounds perfectly awful, which means it’s right up my alley. 🙂
Yes, it’s another weird holiday! And such a fun one!
First, raise your hands! How many people here own a sewing machine? Do you own more than one?
We have…three?…in the house. One I purchased. One my daughter brought when she moved in. Another I inherited or was given. It’s been so many years, I don’t remember!
Now, tell me, when was the last time you used yours?
I used mine last when my dd challenged me to make some handkerchiefs for men. We had an idea we would make them using material with superhero patterns then give them away to the cops my SIL works with. We made two. If you can imagine it, we had to look up a YouTube video to remember how to thread the machine! It’s sad because I made clothes with mine back in the day.
So, why do people celebrate the sewing machine? It was an agent of change. No longer did women have to spend long hours to make their family’s clothing or mend their husband’s sleeves. They had an efficient way to take care of that task, which gave them more leisure time—to do what? Maybe dream of doing things outside the home… Yes, a sewing machine can be considered an agent of women’s empowerment! Do you see my Rosie the Riveter arm flex?
It’s Friday. It’s a holiday. Now, I’ll have to figure out how to celebrate. No, I’m not pulling a sewing machine out of a closet. 🙂
Answer the questions I posed above for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
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I’ll be out of pocket today. I have a doctor’s appointment in Little Rock and will be away from my desk. I posted this early, so you’d have something to play with while I’m gone. Hope you enjoy it!
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me what he’s hunting. I always enjoy what you come up with!
No excitement around here. We’re awaiting a part for the pool to see if it will fix our filter problem. Then we have to go back into wait mode while the pool clears to a sparkling blue. The summer will be half over before I get to do my daily swims! In the meantime, the only excitement we’ve had is the news that a dollar store is going out of business. With 75% off sales, my daughter is going into hoarding mode, buying up enough shampoo, deodorant, and pet food and treats, to keep us going for a year or two—no exaggeration. She heard rumors of a 90% off sale coming next Monday, so you know she’ll be scraping what’s left off the shelves to bring home. She’s also said she plans to be parked in front of the store when the doors open. They have AC. Good for her! She does love a good sale, and the 10-year-old has the fever, too. She came away with an astonishing amount of Squishmallows and hair products.
But back to the contest…
As a way to solve my book-hoarding problem and make room in my bookshelves, I’m continuing my Clear My Bookshelf Giveaway! I have a ton of my books, collected over my 20 years of publishing. So, rather than consign them to the burn barrel I thought maybe a bunch of giveaways would be fun. As the first couple of giveaways seemed to garner a lot of interest, I’m happy to offer more opportunities for readers to win a signed copy of one of my old books! Check to see who the last winner was! It may have been you!
So, for a chance to win a randomly chosen by me (I might say, do you want a western, an erotic novel, or a paranormal?) book, which I will of course sign and fill with a bookmark and a postcard, painted by me, tell me whether you love to shop a good sale!
