Catching Up: Birthday 2016

Okay, so despite my new year’s resolution to write more in my blog and journal, I’ve only written eighteen blog entries and no handwritten journal entries. Not only that, I haven’t even finished the report on my goals annual review 2016, which I started on August 1. I must improve.


So today, I am “Catching Up” on entries, starting with my birthday this year. Jack Black and I both turned twenty-eight for the twentieth time (I stopped counting at 28 because it was my Golden Birthday). Brian, the World’s Greatest Husband (WGH) was out of town that weekend because his group of friends from Wausau (where they all graduated high school) went camping that weekend. Brian was concerned about how I would feel without him, and I told him I would be okay. After all, I’m only in my late forties – not like it’s a hallmark birthday or anything. Besides, one member of the group just died young (cancer), so I felt Brian needed to be with his friends that weekend.


I didn’t realize how much I would miss my husband. I had a list of things to do (as usual), and Friday, August 26, started off well with me dealing with the person who came to do the furnace tune-up, as well as me assembling a small storage unit that we bought for the kitchen. Unfortunately that night I couldn’t sleep without the WGH in bed with me (and the dogs). I tried reading, watching TV, etc. Nothing worked. Saturday I was so exhausted that I stayed in bed dozing on and off. Mercifully, Brian kept texting me to tell me that he missed me too, and that he loves me.


Brian even texted me shortly after midnight on Sunday, August 28, proper, to wish me a happy birthday. That was very nice. I also received a couple dozen e-mails and Facebook messages, even one from my Father-in-Law. Awesome! I felt very, very loved.


Mekhi's bio-mom made me a special angel food cake (my favorite) that she dropped off that day - it said "momma" on it in those candy letters. We didn't eat the whole thing, so I  took it to work along with the cinnamon rolls I made from my mother's recipe.

Neither I nor Brian bought me a gift, but this past weekend we went to visit my wonderful in-laws, and they gave me a belated birthday card (and an early card for Brian, whose birthday is later this month), with some money in it. This weekend, I’m going to add to my Munchkin collection.


Money has been even tighter than usual, so Brian and I waited until the next pay period to go out for my birthday: Samba Brazilian Grill, which was so worth the $100 tab, but they don’t do doggie bags (it’s a buffet). 


Pog ma thoin!
-Lori


“Hug too much. Smile too much. And, when you can, love.” – Neil Gaiman

Castle Curley Update

Near the end of 2015, I created a list called the “Castle Curley Home Organization and Improvements List”, hoping that in lieu of improvements that the WGH and I cannot afford, at least organizing the house would make it functional and save us resources of money and time in that we could find what we need instead of having to buy new stuff, we could eat at home rather than going out most nights, and we wouldn’t have to spend our weekends and other days off cleaning house. I hoped that we could have this organization done with minimal costs by the end of the year.


Reality loves to laugh at any plans I make.


While Brian and I move faster than the glacial pace of state government, it’s not by much. We already modified the plans to state that the first floor will be done by the end of the year, with the second floor done in 2017, the (finished) attic in 2018, and the (unfinished, so storage only) basement in 2019.


We really hoped to renovate the house, and I’ve been waiting for the last eleven years since we moved into this 1902 Victorian home to either win the lottery, write a best seller, and/or receive a significant raise at work. At the rate all three of these are going, they are in order of likelihood of happening. If I’d been smart, we would have started this organization project back in 2005; then I could have spent more time working on creativity (novel and crafts, specifically) and Delazan Enterprises, my home business.


We did make an effort on the house organization over the Memorial Day (MD) weekend, despite the fact that we spent almost all of Friday in bed (sleeping, felt wonderful). Mekhi did forge a path from the door to his bed in his bedroom, but not the big cleanout that I hoped he and Brian would do that day. I really can’t complain about the mess in my ten-year-old’s bedroom considering it matches the cleanliness – or lack thereof – of my bedroom at that same age; my adult bedroom isn’t much cleaner.


The biggest project completed MD weekend was the assembly of the hutch we bought at Ikea (pronounced ɪˈkeːˈa) earlier in the year. Actually it’s a secretary with a matching cabinet on top, but it’s far more functional than the pub table and chairs that it replaced in our kitchen. The table was a clutter magnet, and I hate barstool height chairs. Brian and I only snipped at each other a few times in the process, both losing our tempers at least once each. After about four hours (felt like forty), we have a beautiful hutch that I already started organizing with snacks for Mekhi, treats for the critters, and my two favorite cookbooks. The handled baskets that I purchased (and started using in the freezer and refrigerator) help this endeavor, plus providing storage for the unused baskets to get them off the counter.


We didn’t remove the ugly and stained brown carpet from the study MD weekend, but we did go to see Captain America: Civil War for some positive mental health and to keep up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Brian said the movie followed the comic book reasonably well; I loved the unexpected, yet very pleasant surprises the movie’s plot made. Fight scenes (which I usually find very boring) were good, too.


This coming weekend, we have no RPG; just Mekhi’s karate lesson, Janet’s memorial to attend and a few errands to run. The following weekend will be our annual Independence Day Party, so Brian and I will be cleaning and organizing. Wednesday night we hauled our seldom-used treadmill to the curb, and we don’t have anything else super-heavy that needs to be moved from the study before we take out the carpet. A lot of stuff in there will be thrown out.


I also hope we finish organizing the kitchen this weekend. Of the eleven drawers, three will continue their current uses (silverware, linens, and hand-held appliances), and I’ve gone through one of the junk drawers and now store the pot lids in there since our new stove doesn’t have as much storage as the older one. Although, now we have room next to the stove for a small organizer that we’ve purchased and hope to assemble this weekend, in which we plan to store more items that used to be on or in the stove, as well as large utensils that are in a carousel on the counter (that Brian hates because it takes up so much counter space). We also need to set up a drinking fountain for all the critters and a special timed/measured feeding dish for the dogs.


After living in this house for eleven years, I finally looked into the huge cupboard high up in the half-bath just off the kitchen. Basically it was empty, so now we store for seldom-used items for entertaining (like the football-shaped chip and dip bowl). Some of the “stuff” in the drawers may find their way into that cupboard or into the basement for other long-term storage.


I’ll let you know how what progress we make over the weekend, but understand that our plan for this evening is to go to bed not long after arriving home.


Pog ma thoin!
-Lori


“Every time I make a plan, God laughs at me.” – Jason Isaacs

What can I do today to achieve my goals?

Past Achievements and Fumbles

In 1997, I didn’t like where I was in terms of goals and life achievements, so I returned to college part-time to finish my BA (which I finally completed in 2000), and I started keeping a journal to track my dreams and goals. Every August I have the annual review when I re-read the journals of the past year because August is my birth month and the month in which I started keeping a journal. Every five years I re-read all the journals since the beginning. Obviously this quinquennial won’t occur again until next year (2017).

 

2012 was a banner year for me because it was the 25 year anniversary since I graduated high school, and fifteen years since I started keeping a journal. Of course, the latter is far more important to me than the former. I said my goodbyes to my hideous high school classmates at graduation and haven’t been back since. The funny thing was no one stepped up to plan our 25th reunion, so I’m not the only one who feels that way about my high school. The weekend of my 20th high school reunion, I wrote down the list of three conditions that must be met if I were to consider attending a high school reunion:

1. I weigh 150#, or at least less than 185#.
2. Delazan Enterprises is so successful that I can quit my day job.
3. I have at least one bestselling novel published.

Present Reality

None of these conditions were achieved by 2012, and as I mentioned in the prior paragraph, it didn’t matter due to no reunion. However, as I wrote in my previous blog entry, I still have these same goals, even if they need to be updated for reality’s sake. I was hoping to have this List of Three Priorities completed by my Silver Anniversary, which occurs in this summer:

1. Hirapis
2. DE, crafts especially
3. Weight loss (permanent) – Eating for Life plan (Not a temporary “diet”)

Again, I doubt that these will be achieved between now and our party planned for July 9 (anniversary proper is July 13, but that’s a Wednesday), so I need to do a different take on and have a different attitude about my New Year’s Resolutions/Goals. I already listed my priorities in the previous blog entry; now I have to chop them up into little manageable parts with reasonable deadlines and realistic ideas of outcomes. So here are the short-term goals for my priorities:

Before our Mithril Party (July 9, 2016)

1. Have shared guardianship of Prince Mekhi figured out
2. Lose enough weight that I can wear my Tatooine Sunset dress at the party
3. The current draft of Hirapis completed and under review by my friend in publishing
4. Obviously all the planning and prep work for the party should be done
5. At least the main floor of the house organized

If I don’t have the Hirapis draft done by the party, then I want to have it done by my birthday on August 28, 2016, (yes, I have to be specific about the year). If I do have the draft done, then I want to complete some crafts (especially candles and Christmas crafts) and/or update my personal websites before my birthday. My deadline for having the whole house organized is December 31, 2016.

 

Before I Earn my Red Hat

The next hallmark in my life will be my fiftieth birthday on August 28, 2019. Brian, the World’s Greatest Husband, gets a pass on my birthday (and most holidays, except the Mithril this summer) until I turn fifty because I don’t feel the need for something special every year. That would be exhausting. Unless there’s a Packer preseason game (unlikely on a Wednesday), I want a big party with fondue, flambé, apples, and the local chapter of the Red Hat Society. I’ve met them already, and they’re a hoot!

 

However, before Jack Black and I hit the big 5-0, I want to come close to achieving that list of three in case someone does finally plan a high school reunion (it won’t be me):

1. Weight: I’d like the first number on the scale to be a 1, even if the other two numbers are 99. Or, if the first number is a two, much closer to 200 than 300. At the very least, I don’t want the first number to be a 3.
2. I do not know whether or not my Hirapis series will be bestselling (while it would be nice to have the success of Jo Rowling, I’ll settle for the success of Meg Cabot), I do know that the books won’t be selling at all if I don’t get them written and published. Therefore, I change this goal to be a published author.
3. Delazan Enterprises: with the advent of sites that sell homemade crafts, I don’t have to worry about lugging and selling my wares at craft fairs. No, what I need to do is finally make something to sell. I have a lot of craft supplies at home, and before I buy any more supplies, I need to finish the crafts on my to do list first.

Pog ma thoin!

-Lori

“Creative spirits are truly ageless.” – SARK

 

Which Blog? I’ve Lost Count

Okay, so this year I’m trying out Blogger because I didn’t like WordPress. Prior to that I was on Dreamwidth, and my first blog was on LiveJournal. Oh, and I also had a blog on Society of SARK, while that lasted. Because I am so bad at math (I buy lottery tickets), I’ll let you figure out how many blogs I’ve had (oh, and this is one of three blogs I have on Blogger).


Last year I wrote only twenty journal entries, all but one (which was typed) posted on WordPress. That is the fewest entries I wrote even including the first year I started writing in a (handwritten, which I still do but didn’t in 2015) journal – 1997 – and I began on August first of that year, so only five months of journaling. This year, I hope to do better.


Which segues quite nicely into my traditional first entry for the year: New Year’s Resolutions. I actually refer to these as the Infinite Master To Do List (IMTDL), and I’ve been making them for over twenty years. I just looked at the original list from 1996, and it has some similarities to the current list; however, the original list was only two pages and one column; the 2016 version is two columns and almost ten pages, thus the “Infinite” moniker. Rather like the lists my Mother-in-Law (more on her later) and my Mother (RIP), respectively, gave me for my wedding twenty-five years ago (again, more later).


The 2016 list in brief:
1. Family
I no longer am Catholic, so my family always is my highest priority (rather than faith, as the Catholics are taught to believe). My family simply is defined as my husband, Brian (aka the World’s Greatest Husband or WGH); our son-by-love Mekhi (more on him in this entry from my WordPress blog); our three cats Harry, Widget, and Gleep; and our two dogs Nibbler and Nina.


2. Health
Just before the new year, I tipped the home scale at 343# – the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve been battling my weight since I was ten years old, when I probably should have been more concerned about my crush on Mark Hamill than about my weight, but that’s the society in which we live. The WGH and I have tried many diets over the years, and none of them worked permanently. However, at the beginning of the year, I read an article written about preventing childhood obesity, but had the best – and simplest – weight loss advice I ever heard: Eat more slowly and stop eating when you’re no longer hungry. This concurs with the book The Rules of “Normal” Eating by Karen Koenig, LCSW M.Ed., given to me by a registered dietitian who helped me lose more than eighty pounds (since gained back and more). Utilizing this advice, I already lost eleven pounds according to the same scale.


Now if we could just use the exercise games we bought for our PS3…


3. Finances
Both the WGH and I work for the State of Wisconsin, and because of the current political situation here, our income (which wasn’t that much to begin with anyway) has actually decreased in recent years. We have a long list of things we want to do and trips we’d like to take, so I suggested to the WGH that we sell some of the extraneous “stuff” we have to afford said list. We may not make much money, but anything is better than nothing.


4. Creativity
When I was about eleven years old, I learned that I have a gift for writing, thus I wanted to become a published author. Thirty-five years later, I still want to achieve this dream. I created a world called Hirapis as the setting for my fictional series, and I even have a first draft that I completed in 2013; however, I need to write a better draft and give it to a friend of mine, who is an agent and editor.


I also have a series of websites that unfortunately have not been updated in five years. Plus I love to craft: making candles, beaded jewelry, and crochet. After I complete the next draft of Hirapis, I’d like to craft again.


5. To Do List
Yes, I know the IMTDL is almost ten pages, and that’s outrageous; but it’s broken down into manageable, and even monthly, steps, which is the key to achieving anything.

6. Events
This particular goal involves events that I attend (with or without the WGH), and events that are scheduled at our home. The former includes visiting my wonderful in-laws (I must be one of the few women on the planet who says, “Honey, let’s go visit your parents this weekend.”), trying to meet my Best Friend Betsy RN MSN for dinner and a bookstore, going to summer festivals, going to gaming conventions, etc.


Home events include the D&D RPG that I’ve been running since 2010, which is in its final adventure (in fact, the second half of the final adventure); Curley Con, my husband’s annual birthday party; and maybe another gaming day because we cannot afford to attend Gen Con this year because of our Silver Wedding Anniversary (or because we’re geeks: Mithril Anniversary Party).


That’s right: I’ve been married to the World’s Greatest Husband for nearly 25 years, and we want a big party. Normally we have an Independence Day Party, that really is a potluck with fireworks at our house. However, I’d like something catered, with cake and maybe a tent in our big back yard. I may rent the Forester Hall, the community center next door to our house, in case of inclement weather. More in later entries…


7. House
We call our home “Castle Curley” because a man’s home is his castle (a woman’s, too). Brian is king; I am queen; and the cats, dogs, and Mekhi all are princes and princesses. The House Goal, however, deals with the physical house and not the home. It’s a Victorian house built in 1902, and we bought it in 2005, becoming the third owner of the property in its more than a century of existence, and it had a good price because the place needs work.


As Brian put it to his father, “When we bought the house, we had certain expectations that our income would go up.” This was said last summer when we had to ask the Bank of Dad for a loan to repair the roofs over the garage and the full bath on the second floor. Not a good situation.


So, realizing that an expensive renovation is out of the budget for the foreseeable future, I had a more realistic idea: organization. If we could organize the house, then maybe I could utilize my weekends and vacations for something other than housework. The WGH approved the idea, but we’ve only done a few things: cleared the kitchen food cupboards; put together a bench for the front porch that can be used to store deliveries; and bought some bins for sorting, as well as some hooks for closet and key organization. We mainly need to assemble a storage bench we bought for a “landing strip,” a place to put down items when we enter the house instead of piling them on the dining room table.


Now if I could just get Brian and Mekhi to form the habit of putting things away as they use them…

8. Delazan Enterprises (if)
I have a very little home-based business called Delazan Enterprises (DE), named after one of my great-grandfathers because I (correctly) figured the URL would be easy to register. I write, make crafts, and do indexing. The “if” is because DE is on a backburner (for another year) until I finish the next draft of Hirapis.


My Highest Priorities for 2016
1. Guardianship of Mekhi
No, we don’t plan on usurping custody of Mekhi from his biological mother, Lisa; I’d never come between a child and mother like that. But when Mekhi had a medical emergency earlier this month when I took him to karate class, I freaked. I didn’t have the authority to take him to the ER, so I drove him back to Lisa. She needs to do the paperwork that would allow us to have guardianship authority when she is unavailable, but without stepping on her rights as Mom #1 (I’m Mom #2). Plus, if the unthinkable happened to Lisa, we’d take Mekhi instead of his deadbeat bio-dad.


Each of the following are described in more detail above:
2. Weight Loss
3. Hirapis
4. Mithril Anniversary Party
5. Home Organization


Hopefully I’ll do better about posting updates in 2016, but don’t hold your breath.


Pog ma thoin! (Kiss my “bum” in Irish Gaelic)
-Lori


“Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” - LAC