16. May 2012 by admin.

There are days that I look around and wonder what the heck I did all day. There are clothes waiting to be washed, still more waiting to be folded and put away. There are dishes that need washing, sweeping to be done, editing that needs to be looked at. Emails are piled up, as well as bills and other correspondence that I have not looked at yet, and don’t even get me started on the rest of the stuff that needs doing. It seems there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done…but then I think other people do it, maybe I’m doing something wrong; so I decided to chronicle what I do on a random day, and here it is:

I was up late the night before, so when I woke up, I dragged myself out after a few hours of sleep, took my meds and vitamins. I sat at the computer contemplating life while checking emails in 4 out of the 8 email boxes. I answered the necessary ones and deleted the rest. While I was at the computer, I checked on the sales  for a book that I’m currently promoting, then promoted it more to all my social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Linkedin, etc.

I then gave a disdainful look at the nearly 10 loads of laundry that are clean but not folded, wishing that they would fold themselves. I swept the office, then responded to query letters I received. Some I said yes, and others I said no. I checked in with my editor and looked at a new book I’m supposed to start editing, plus the one after that. While my brain was in business mode, I checked out other ways to try to make my business more visible without going completely broke, and believe I have found a few. I then forwarded queries and talked to a very capable and wonderful helper (thank you Michelle!) about things that I need to look into and tried to get up to speed with her. I checked the numbers again (and again), and received the edits back on a book I’m currently in the process of editing, then contacted the artist to see about changes we were thinking of for the book we are working on.

Somewhere in between that and my regular 40 hour per week job, I spent a bit of time with my husband and son. I am so very happy to work from home because, during my breaks and lunch, I folded clothes and continued strategizing ways of making my business successful. I worked some extra hours, which is not altogether unusual, and when I got off work, I helped my husband with his college homework, and took the garbage. In the end, I had 2 loads of laundry that showed any efforts toward organization and a puzzled look on my face as to where my day went…

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4. September 2011 by admin.

I wonder a lot what I would be if I was a superhero. What would my superhero power be? I also wonder what I would I (because that’s the most important piece of information). If I had my choice, I would have to choose either super speed, super intelligence, or the ability to only sleep about an hour a day and be totally refreshed. If I had to choose one, I would choose the latter of them all. I can’t imagine the amount of work I would be able to get done, but I bet it would be a lot. With the business, the two jobs and the baby boy, it’s sometimes hard to find a moment to breathe, let alone sleep, but if I didn’t have to… If I could, I would do all three. The only problems I could see with the former two would be that I would get bored after a while if I had super speed and the ability to get everything done at an amazing pace. Plus, I would still have to wait the required amount of hours at both jobs, no matter if I was super fast at it or not. Then there’s super intelligence. That would be an ability that would have to be hidden for fear that I would be turned into a lab rat and studied. If I was superfast, people may think I’m on drugs, even if I didn’t sleep, but being super smart indicates that I haven’t fried those brain cells. Also, with the jobs I currently have, I think I would go out of my mind if I was any more intelligent than I already am.

Now, the what to wear: I sometimes wonder at the costumes that superheroes get into, and how they do so in such quick time. Corsets, for one thing, usually have about a million different hooks in them. and unless you have extremely nimble fingers along with that super speed, it would be rather difficult. Plus, I would think it’d be rather difficult to move, let alone breathe in that. Don’t even get me started on Spandex…

Ah well, I guess I’ll just have to happily settle on being my own kind of super hero: Me. That’s a superhero with no special powers except that of unfailing optimism and a one track mind when need be.

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7. August 2011 by admin.

I love technology, but sometimes it doesn’t like me. I was going to blog about the progress of the business, how excited I was to see where it’s going now that we’ve become affiliated with Mitchell-Morris publishing. I was going to talk about how much, no matter how stressful the start, I’m going to enjoy the ride, but after I spene nearly an hour trying to get into my blog, all I could think was “Screw it, I have other things to do”. Then I got more frustrated because this is what I do for a living (in another life I call the real world). I fix stuff, I troubleshoot. I took computer programming when I was 16, I know my way around a computer, and yet, lately, I’ve begun to doubt my abilities, starting with not getting a tecchie job that should have been a piece of cake for me, a shoe in. The frustration built. Finally, I decided to walk away from the computer. I was going to call my “it” girl, the 9th wonder of the world, my “I can’t do this without your help” kind of woman who is brilliant and usually available I walked into the room where my phone was located, and started griping to my husband. He listened briefly, offered a suggestion, and the answer hit me. It was such a simple solution that I was completely blinded by its simplicity. When I tried it, I was on in less than a minute, which leads me to think I have a love/hate relationship with technology and it reciprocates. You’re my “it” girl, C and I thank you for your help!

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18. April 2011 by admin.

When I got my wedding ring, I was between a size 12 and 14, the smallest I’ve ever been and when I put it on, it was too loose to wear. Now, for purposes of work, I don’t wear it. It stays around my neck, but every once in a while, I try it on because it’s an odd measure of how I’m doing with the getting healthy and losing the excess. It’s been tight for about 3 years, maybe a bit more.

The other day, I looked down at my fingers and saw something I hadn’t seen in around that amount of time. My fingers were smaller again. It’s an odd thing to measure progress by, but more significant by the inches on my waist or the amount of weight I’ve lost. I found myself tightening my shoes because they were too loose as well. That makes me happier than dropping a clothing size if that makes any sense.

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27. August 2010 by admin.

Yep, I’m trying again. Either I’m a glutton for punishment, or I’m determined. I like to think the latter. This time, however, I’m keeping my exercise routine without much fanfare. I’ve been working on it since the beginning of August and I’m not seeing any progress shape-wise. However, I will continue with it because I’m feeling a difference in my energy level and my attitude. I’m really starting to enjoy being awake more and having the energy to do things again. I’m hoping to stick with this one, and I think I will because I’m not in it for the way I’m going to look in the end. I just like the way I feel.

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27. August 2010 by admin.

and I’m thinking about life-changing events. It almost makes a person wistful when we look back on what got us where we are today. Now, I know if I changed any of the events in my life, I would not be where I am now, which means I would not change them for the world. Heck, if I knew ahead of time what had to happen to get here, I would have signed up for this road. In my opinion, I am a successful woman who has a lot to be thankful for. However, if I had a choice to change things and still end up where I am, I would. I don’t know if that would do anything, if that would change my experiences, and, in turn, change my outcome, but there some things that I have done in the past that I shake my head and laugh at. Maybe, there is a parallel world out there (or several millions, in fact) that explore all the options of each decision I have ever made. That’s absolutely mind boggling to think about, though. One little change anywhere along the road could change the outcome, and if each person on the planet had a parallel dimension open up every time he or she made a decision, the multi-verse would be an exponentially expanding place that would probably rip the fabric of space and time. Uh oh, geek speak. I thought I had cured that. Ah well, once a geek, always a geek.
There are some mistakes, however,  (thankfully, none so overwhelming that they couldn’t be fixed), that I would like to have changed. Heck, there are some that I’m still paying for (literally). All-in-all though, if I was taken back in time with the knowledge I now have and was told that I could make all the changes I wanted, but that the outcome would be completely different, I could honestly tell whoever it was to “bring it on”, I’ll take what’s coming because I know there’s something awesome at the end.

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19. February 2010 by admin.

A whole lotta soreness and covered in sweat. My on-again-off-again relationship with the gym continues. I went to the gym today and two days ago. I decided to work out on the inclined trainer, which is torture to the fullest. Twenty-five minutes of working out on that machine equates to pushing a total of 40 tons — yes, I said 40 tons, 80,000 pounds. My legs didn’t want to work for the rest of the day and I wobbled to work. Funny thing is, it said I only burned 156 Calories. Oh well, I was covered in sweat and gasping for air when I was done, so I guess it worked the way it was supposed to. I went back today — eventually, I will conquer that machine — and pushed another 31 tons. The entire time I was doing that, though, I was thinking how good ice cream would be afterward. Not the best thought in the world, but I still was able to get my time in, so I guess that’s all that matters.

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29. January 2010 by admin.

Okay, so after a long hiatus, and a good long look in the mirror, I have finally gotten back to the gym. Oh boy is it kicking my butt as well. It’s so much harder to lose weight than it is to gain it. I did ten minutes on a stair stepper yesterday and I was gasping for air. My heart rate was up over 170. I figured it out today though, and set the target rate to 160 bpm. I was able to go for longer without dying and feeling dizzy and stuff. I also did more anaerobic exercises today and I feel more alert and better. I finally got my new shoes as well, and let me say, it definitely makes a difference. Stay tuned!

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26. December 2009 by admin.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, whichever you choose. I haven’t updated in a while. I also haven’t run in a while, and it’s beginning to show. It’s absolutely amazing how difficult it is to lose weight but so very easy to gain weight. One would think that if I am eating less than the 2000 recommended calories and am moderately active, I would lose weight. Of course, this is not the case simply because your body gets used to it and either believes it is starving so it stores whatever you eat as fat, or it just refuses to cooperate. On a plus note, since I have started running, I have now shaved 5 and a half minutes off my running mile. I still, however am not able to run a mile fully yet. I still stop and walk sometimes. I have been away from the gym for a week or two, I don’t remember which, but when I tried to put on a dress that was starting to fit well again today, I had to choose a different one because it was too tight for comfort. This is very disheartening and I need to keep telling myself that I am running for a goal, not a dress size. I do want to be more healthy and enjoy more energy, there are just some times when I wish th rest of the benefits would come through as well.

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4. December 2009 by admin.

I haven’t written or run in a while. I was down with a lovely cold that my son gave me. The last run I went on, I shaved a minute and a half off total time and felt really good about that. I have also changed jobs so I have more time during the day to run as well. Hopefully I will be running tomorrow. I didn’t today because I’m not totally over the cold. I still have not lost any weight or even any inches, but I keep reminding myself that that is not my original goal.

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