Weekend Coffee Share 4/2

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by  Natalie the Explorer. It’s a Tazo Green Tea day again! I may have a coffee morning tomorrow. We all have our preferences! If we were having coffee ☕, I’d need to relax and have a laugh.

This week I’ve been trying to finish a lot of things with my school yearbook, and it has kept me busy, busy. That’s okay; I’ve made some rounds and talked with many more people, students as well, which is kind of fun! I’ve been at an almost frenetic pace, though. Next week we also start a state writing test.

I’m too busy to stop and stress over it, though. My boyfriend and I have also been planning a cruise vacation for June. Exciting! I’m not sure I want to swim with pigs though. I may have to just observe and laugh at my boyfriend’s antics!

Last weekend, we had a little drive to St. Augustine to visit Castillo de San Marco and have a great dinner. I was slightly distracted by the idea of the floating tiki bar though!

They float on by and raise a ruckus…makes me want to swim over, LOL!

The fort has been here for centuries and is interesting to see. The weather was beautiful! It made for a great walk and dinner date.

My sun hat is being put to good use again!

We are expecting rain today. I had been planning to take my car in today but have gotten mixed up in the things I want to get done. Go, go, go! The challenge of my goals is fueling my energy. When I got home yesterday I was soooo tired that I ordered through Door Dash! It was healthy, though.

One must rest to rejuvenate, though. I slept in late and decided my car could wait till next weekend. I am going to dinner with the boyfriend later and we should be hanging out with another couple, as it’s his friend’s birthday. It should be fun, it always is. 🙂

Have a great weekend!

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Weekend Coffee Share. I know, we haven’t talked….

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Ali on wordpress. So, it has been a week. What a week. Please forgive if I am not very focused today. Here’s why:

A middle-aged woman keeps anxiety at bay

Usually. She reduces coffee intake, but not today…

She brings her work home all the time

But lets the air out on Friday night

For a date with the couch, and her feet up

A dog at her feet or closer for a belly rub.

Time for a date tomorrow night

I’ve got to relate to someone, am I right?

Tonight, a glass on the table, Netflix a little loud

Something ridiculously funny, like the IT Crowd.

Thoughts on the back burner, wondering

How her job took over. Pondering

How do I take control of this?

This is my life. There is so much more

that I want to do.

And will I have to tell the children

“The problem is not at all you?”

So I struggle for free time

To survive and keep my mind at peace.

Yet, new requirements, mandates,

Take the time away from me.

Let’s not mention health, which is a hobby and a job.

Or serenity and fun, they seem to have been robbed.

Don’t worry, I’m going to get it back.

Somehow, I will get these cards stacked.

Signed,

I want to focus on the things that make me enthusiastic again.

A teacher in 2020. But also, a middle-aged woman. A mom, a daughter, someone’s friend, an arthritic woman, a writer, a fitness-minded individual, an anxiety sufferer, a survivor, a fighter, one who loves to dance but never does these days, a dog-lover.

Weekend Coffee Share. “Overwhelm.”

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclecti Ali.  I almost did not write one today, having not accomplished anything and having so much to do.  *sigh*  However, I exist in this blogosphere and love keeping contact with my bloggers’ community.  So, in a positive thought moment, I’m dreaming of when I can write some flash fiction again, when I can be a novelist and do my editing, and the day my weekend will be taken up by outdoor festivals, music, and good food, not to mention sunshine and pleasant weather.

It will be in the sixties today; I should not complain.  Though I think our cooler weather, stress, and arthritis have caused pain again in my shoulder and arm.  I am researching anti-inflammatory foods to get with my groceries tomorrow.  Trying to stay healthy and strong, I am still doing my exercises, albeit with lots of icing and occasional heat.  I can do this.  This weekend, there are projects to grade. There is a big assignment for my online class, and I have to complete my lesson plan for next week.  I know what I’m doing, it is just tedious to type up in the format required.  Oh, and I am feeling sort of tired.  A week ago I had a cold, went to pilates on Saturday anyhow, but, sleeping in until 7 a.m.,  I skipped pilates today.  I will compensate with a thirty minute cardio session.  Yes, thirty minutes is a lot for me this week.  I didn’t have time for that at all this week, just fifteen to twenty minutes, so it will feel good to achieve 30. My weight is down to a healthy place (where I’d like to stay), due to the routine of leg/core exercises and shoulder/arm exercises learned from physical therapy.  I invested in resistance bands for home.  I have to remember I am only about one month out of physical therapy, so I suppose this is all new.  I plan to keep this all up, since it can only help arthritis or inflammation, right?

It feels like I’m whining today.  So, my plans: I am going to the Celtic Fest next weekend.  The week after this coming week is Spring Break, so there is a get-together with friends in the works.  The oil change I wanted to get today will happen over Spring Break– no rush.  I planned an online assignment for my students for next week so I won’t have a mountain of papers in addition to the projects handed in.  I also dream of retiring early and run a hippie commune, or learn how to fly above it all.  Maybe I’ll become a bum and live on the beach in a broken down van, reciting poetry for pennies that will buy me bagels for breakfast and tacos for lunch?  My dog would be right there with me.  Hendrix would approve.  These thoughts calm me down when I have so much to do this weekend.  As my background this morning, I’m listening to “Ambient Study Music” on Youtube.  It calms the atmosphere, and this little chat helped me think of a plan of attack.  Keep it light, my friends!

Weekend Coffee Share, Of Holiday Celebrations and Cryptozoology

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Ali. It has been a crazy hectic week, I survived it, and I have added even more dreams to my life bucket list! Pull up a chair and your favorite beverage while I sip a V8 and we talk about surviving work, reaching for goals, and the things we want to do one day!

Seriously, I’ve been grading essays at breakfast and multi-tasking every part of my life this week. It’s nuts! The essays aren’t done. I’ve survived Halloween (and a surprise visit by school admins that involved 90% of my students participating and doing just WHAT THEY SHOULD IN CLASS, HOW PLEASANT!) I  also volunteered at a middle school dance, just for a while. I let some of the girls paint a spider on my hand at the face-painting station. It looked sort of awesome! I didn’t have to work too hard at the dance, but there are always the few kids who want to run around or go piggy back while I chide them sternly to go and dance, envisioning someone hitting their head on that hard floor. We’d like to avoid that… I’ve also been trying to help coordinate some volunteer events for students in the NJHS club, which takes planning, for sure! So, I’m ready to have a weekend where I do fun things for myself with the people I love and enjoy spending time with. Essays will have to wait until Sunday, today I will start with ME.

Did you know there is a Cryptozoology & Paranormal Museum in Littleton, NC? It’s an 8 mile drive for me. I was searching fun Bigfoot sites this morning. No essay grading today! I came across mention of this museum. Having visited a Fan film Star Trek stage a few weeks ago, I want to do more of the same! I can’t bungee jump and don’t have time to plan visits to Europe. A girl’s gotta have something. Geek life it is! I want to be around people who are so enthusiastic about something, either paranormal or historical. (My other choice is the Joan of Arc Society and parade in New Orleans on her birthday, happening every year, January 6th). That, and I want to take some Improv classes. Seriously! “Baby…didn’t want parades just passing by her…” (Thank you, Melissa Manchester)! When will I do all this?   Well, I have summers off and two weeks for Winter Break…

But for this weekend, I have my writing dream going. Undercurrents in Time in audiobook is in final quality assurance stage. The narrator said she “loves this book” and enjoyed reading it. I feel in love with it again as I listened to her narration. It is a dreamy narrative, as it is sci-fi, but focuses a lot on the character and motivations of Tabitha and her need to escape. Hmm, haven’t we all been there? Imagine hanging out with your great niece when she is grown, something you’d never live to see, or learning the future of your troubled brother.

Regrettably, I’ve been so busy and worn down that I haven’t written much fiction on this blog lately.  Maybe I’ll have time with the upcoming holidays.  Here is a link to the last one I wrote, if you just discovered my blog or haven’t seen this one yet (it promises a good dose of ‘weird’: Maverick-Light and Shadow. 

Well, it has pleasant chatting with you here on my front stoop in the rare 60 degree weather in Jacksonville, Fl.  Maybe I got a little sun on my face!  How was your week?  I appreciate you stopping by!

Weekend Coffee Share. Work/Life Balance… Still a Challenge.

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at http://eclecticali.wordpress.com

Grab a cup of whatever pleases you, I know I myself had a good cup of coffee today with milk and honey creamer. After spending the morning alternating between sending parent e-mails, entering grades, and working on my Class Dojo site with 30 min. exercise at one point and a little time working on my authorship, I think the topic of work/life balance is a good one to bring up at this time.  Don’t worry, we can talk about the rest, too!  Pull up a chair and your favorite beverage!

It has been another busy week.  Work, grades, planning new lessons.  Students are more of  a challenge the closer we get to the holidays. (Hence, the parent e-mails this morning).  Thursday consisted of two separate doctor appointments.  No new issues were found, but the doctor, after a discussion of the pain in my shoulder and arm, is sending me for an MRI and x-ray and referring me to physical therapy. The physical therapy is probably a good thing, since this has been bothering me even after going to chiropractic for a year. Don’t get me wrong, visiting a chiropractor has really helped my back and spine. So I’m adding one more appointment and it’s increasing my need for work and life balance. I can do this.

I may have mentioned I was going to be visiting Kingsland, Georgia with my boyfriend in last week’s coffee share. We were there visiting his dad who recently got a new health diagnosis that has been worrying my boyfriend. Well, we had a nice visit, and afterward decided to visit Neutral Zone Studios which, as a friend had told me just that day, was having a Star Trek exhibit where you could visit the set. Evidently they do a lot of fan films there. Well, we hammed it up and had lot of fun. I think we really needed that.  Beam me up!

I have been spending a little bit of time each evening for about a week listening to the narrators chapters for my book, Undercurrents in Time. It will soon be an audiobook, and I am so excited. She is doing a great job, and it’s all going smoothly, except for a little delayed with the ACX audio system. That doesn’t really bother me, because I really can’t listen to more than one chapter per night with everything else going on in my life. So no problem. I also actually enjoying listening to her read the story, and like hearing it again through the narrator’s tone and inflection. I think you all will enjoy it too! I have also sent my manuscript, Malachi to another beta reader. I think that pretty much be done with the story soon, and it will be on to editing and soon, the designing of the book cover, which really gets me excited!

**Today’s coffee share has been written with the aid of Dragon dictation, something I have not used for a while, but I felt like I should give my arm and shoulder a break. So as a result, I have noticed a font change when there shouldn’t have been, and I have had to stop and change some of the words that the dictation misunderstood from my voice. I feel like I might have discussed a few more topics here, but it’s just time to lay back and relax and read a book now. I did a lot of this morning, though. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend and a wonderful week next week.

 

Weekend Coffee Share, 10/05/19. Author, teacher, mom

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, where dreams run rampant and reality competes for equal coverage. The Coffee Share is hosted by Allison at http://eclecticali.wordpress.com and takes place every week. Grab your favorite beverage and join me, I know I sure needed coffee this morning!

My week was busy and packed with meetings as well as at least two nights late at work. We’re getting toward the end of first quarter, testing is happening next week, and I’ve volunteered for a low-paying leadership opportunity at my school, mostly because no one else wanted to do it. I may talk more on this later, but not right now. It’s time for the fun stuff.

No, not the grading I did this morning before getting my hair done, and not the sciatica that robbed me of early morning sleep. 😦 I had an appointment to get author photos today after my hair appointment and lunch. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off after the lost sleep and the resulting eye bags, but I wore real mascara for ththe first time in years, slapped on some extra foundation, and got going

The photographer was a friend I taught with last year. She seems knowledgeable and had lots of ideas for poses. We even did a few casual/fun ones! The author headshots don’t show my jeans, so when they come out, just forget what you know. 🙂 Here’s one of the casual ones (I rather like the shadows) :).

There is more on the author front, such as the release of my novel, Detours in Time in audiobook! I also worked a little on the paperback of From Bedlam to Ben, because my students are asking about my writing. I think that’s a good one for teens with identity crises. I also owe Malachi some editing time sometime soon. I still think I can make an April release!

Speaking of owing someone some quality time, my boyfriend and I are going to an open-mic comedy night, I’m taking my dog to the dog park tomorrow, and my son and I had some conversation at dinner last night. That felt good. He has a new job, is getting more responsibility, and is getting home later as well. Such is life. Enjoy every little moment, and I do.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Someone is begging me for playtime…

Weekend Coffee Share. Oh, the Reality!

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, which shall be very brief. Coffee Shares are hosted by Allison at Eclectic Alli.   The reality for me today  is, my weekend is going to be full of paperwork: studying, grading, and writing an assignment for my gifted curriculum course. In between, I am getting ideas for my work in progress and my author social media. And when ideas come, one must do something with them or they may be lost forever. I suppose that will make my weekend sentence sitting at the computer a little more bearable. I must entertain the ideas. 🙂

At any rate, in the interest of brevity, I just want to tell you what I would be doing if this weekend was actually a time of free time for me. To help you and me imagine this, I’ve posted accompanying images. Some mine, some interner finds. Here goes:

* taking my dog to the dog park. Though I do get to take him to the pet store for his training session today, that’s my one fun adventure, because it’s right back to work afterwards.

 My Bixby.

* having lunch with a friend

* perhaps I’d be visiting a nice ocean spot a little further south. My skin is looking Pasty lately. 😦

 St. Augustine Beach

* taking a weekend yoga class. I’ve never done this, as they start quite early.

* going to see a movie. I’m always behind on the latest movies, and that is why I love Netflix!

No, I haven’t seen Bohemian Rhapsody yet. 😦 (This is not my photo, but I found it online)…  I actually was ready to go one day, but my sciatica was acting up.  Ugh!  The last movie I saw was The Mule, and it was my son’s pick.  Well, I did enjoy it, too.

* going to sing karaoke with my boyfriend. We haven’t done that in a while. But we are planning a getaway for later in the year…

Ah, so I can dream while I work, of a freer time. Have a great week, and keep dreaming, for it is what keeps us sane.

Ten Writer’s Habits I’ve Acquired. Which to Kick, Which to Keep? By Pamela Schloesser Canepa

A post about striking a balance with your newfound writer’s habits. Thanks to Chris Graham at The Story Reading Ape Blog for giving me this opportunity!

https://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2018/06/13/ten-writers-habits-ive-acquired-which-to-kick-which-to-keep-by-pamela-schloesser-canepa/

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

It happened the first time I committed to NANOWRIMO. I became a slightly different person, a more intense version of myself. In looking back at the last two years since becoming a self-published author, I realize how much I’ve changed. Here is a list of ten habits I acquired when I decided to stop writing in isolation and become a published author.

1. Likely the most common habit, I started losing track of the time at night. This is because I was either in writer’s groups on Facebook learning or staying up chasing an idea. When this happens, it means you are catching the spark. Be thankful. It’s not a bad habit. It certainly beats falling asleep in front of a TV show.

2. Getting hooked on a favorite show on Netflix (Hulu, Roky, whatever). Please don’t confuse this with falling asleep in front of the TV. This habit is…

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“I Can Do This!” 2018 Focus

Graphic made at canva.com ~Explanation below~

You may have guessed (or already know) that my keyword for this year is “Energy.”  I have many goals, and I am at a point in my life where I need to make them happen.  I don’t want to wait for a better time.  Even if it takes years to reach a goal, the time to start is now.

My morning mantra will be- “Let me get moving.”  That’s a great start for energy.  Of course, I’ve charted out some things I have to do.  Stretches to get limber and not feel old or sore all day.  I intend that to become like second nature to me.  Then the list goes on.

I’ve done this because I read somewhere that a resolution is nothing without a plan.  This is so true!  Working a full-time job can tire a person out.  Yet, I want to reach for more than a Mon.-Fri. workplace.  I need energy to do that.

I do hope the graphic is visible and easy to read for all.  In a nutshell, it lists what I want to become a regular part of my mindset and my daily routine in an attempt to generate more energy for my goals and to affect the world around me.  I truly believe this works.  I mentioned the morning stretches, because “Let’s get ready to move freely,” is better than “Crap, my back is sore, I HAVE to get up.”   Gratitude, music to help me get going.  Singing in the shower, expressing love to my family, asking God to inspire me to help someone else today.  Complimenting others I work with, using a 5 to 1 positive ratio for my interactions with students.  Then, there’s time to do what I love:  reading daily, a writing routine (not necessarily daily but when I am moved), blogging on my goals/progress or mindset once weekly and adding the flash fiction blog entries once or more weekly, avoiding work e-mail at home, and being thankful for it all.

My discovery of a focus keyword for this year was inspired by an entrepreneur on social media.  Mindset is such an important thing!  Truly, when you must do something physically challenging, they say to find a focal point.  Why can’t it be a word?  If you are interested, this blog post sets my intention to make Energy my focus and explains why this might help me greatly:  A Word for My Intentions