Winter is here!

This week has been something! The gal and I have been sick. Not throwing up, stuck-in-bed sick, but close enough to mention being sick. Some kind of weird bug, that's for sure.

That being said, on to the cheery! It's raining today. I love, love crisp, clear, rain weather. In fact, it's driving me absolutely batty to sit in here with the heaters on, all dry and warm. I'll be heading out to the garage after this post to do some much-warranted winter cleaning. Over the summer, it gets so hot in there that things just pile up, get trashy and terrible. I cannot stand a clutter. Won't stand it.

Got to do some fun things this week. Last night, for instance, we went out to dinner with good friends and then walked around shops checking out odd and neat things. I value those times. Although I do have a screaming UTI, I went out, anyhow. I figure, I'm going to be in pain either way, why not have a little fun?

An old "Slaymaker Rustless" padlock arrived a couple days back, and now it's just waiting for me to pick it. Yes, I purchase locks with no keys. Picking is tough. I need as much practice as I can get. Here is a picture of the actual lock:

 

Other than that, I'm still neglecting my story. I'm finding it's really tough to get excited about editing when I edit 40 hours a week for my day job. Still, that is no excuse. I need to get going on this. I do. No famous author neglected his or her stories until they just faded into the woodwork.

The ceiling still leaks like nobody's business, but I'm hoping that whoever installs the new swamp I will buy soon can figure that out. "Say -- say there? When you put that swamp in, fix the roof, eh? Or slather stop-leak tar. Or put your finger in it. Do something so that I don’t have to keep placing bandages on it. I want the leak. Gone. Thanks!"

Always something.

Life is good in November of 2016

Life, as they say, is good.

As many of you know, I went through a horrible, terrible, no-good breakup in late 2015. I won't go into details, and it's entirely possible that nobody was right or wrong; it just ended and that's that.

I moved on, very possibly far too quickly, and am now married and living in the same house. It's difficult. Everyday reminders keep my mind somewhat suspended in time. Moving forward is proving to be a challenge, but not an impossible one.

I no longer work for AutoZone. I miss it, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. I loved that job. That being said, I'm now making more than seven dollars per hour more than I was there, and I don’t have to lift a single car battery or deal with angry customers on a rainy, windshield-wiper-install day. I'm gonna call it a win. Still, that was a fun place to work, sans dipshit management who didn’t care about anything but pinching pennies.

(Credit: The Inquistr)

Over the past year, I've made quite a few purchases via larger paychecks that have really improved life quality: a 55" smart TV, one heck of a fast and nice LG phone, a really sweet Fender amp, a Fisher F5 metal detector, a massive amount of bark for the middle and side yards (sod for the main front yard to come!), a killer Canon printer, organizing tubs (trust me, this is important), new tires for the car, new laptop memory -- the list really does go on and on.

In short, I'm mending but doing well. At this very moment, I'm on break from a kick-ass editing job that I love each day, and my to-do list includes getting a new credit card and taking a shower. I like that. Simple. Nice. To the point. I might even edit fiction a little later.

2017 will be a good year for me.  On that to-do list is: selling off at least three vehicles, holding the biggest yard sale ever, and concentrating on my love of the written word in all its forms. 

Life's good.

I have weeded out toxic individuals and I am consciously treating my good friends better than I did before. Life's little (and big) wakeup calls are necessary. I appreciate them. Most of the time they sting, but we heal. Onward and upward. Moving forward. Idling isn't in my vocabulary.

Like Nike, I'm just doing it.