Hello my lovelies! It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – scratch that. It certainly was NOT the best of times!
This year has not been a good year for me blogging, but there are other things that make it a good year. I sit and debate for several minutes before I begin a blog post after not blogging for a while. Do I catch you up with everything that is going on? That would take hours and end up being a novel length entry. Do I hit the highlights? Do you care? Do I pretend everything is cool and carry on as if life was just rolling right along?
I think my readers know me well enough to realize that I’m not once for pretenses, and I’m not going to pretend all is well. It’s better than it has been at times. After several false starts, more coffee, I’ve decided to do a year in review- sort of. Grab a cup of joe, or whatever your drink of choice may be and let’s jump right in.
January – started off with a bang! I have 3 drafts in my queue that were never published – DOH! Got a flu shot for the first time in my life and guess what? Yup, got the flu. Isn’t that ironic? I realize that the 2017-2018 flu vaccines were overall ineffective for the strains that we were hit with. Aren’t we the lucky ones???? I fully intended to participate in the #MFRW blog tour again, but after missing it a few times, I gave up. I posted my modified goals for the year, which were:
Stuffitis is a serious issue here. But this year, 2018 – the Year of the Dog, we are going with close to austere existence. Minimalism is my new favorite word.
- Minimize the clutter and stuff.
- Minimize the clothes that no longer fit or suit me.
- Minimize the pantry contents.
- Minimize my schedule.
- Minimize my measurements – making progress on that one!!!!
- Minimize the emotional baggage I’ve been carrying.
- Minimize wasted time.
In fact, I’ve been pondering my word for this year. I’ve seen several of my friends post here or there that their word for the year is. *fill in the blank*. I didn’t have a word. I was looking for something spiritual I think, but yesterday it hit me like a 12-pound bowling ball on a rope –MINIMIZE!
I’m happy to say that I’ve made progress in most of those areas.
We have moved boxes and boxes full of stuff out of our house. Numerous trips to Goodwill and multiple trash bins were filled.
Six large bags of clothing were donated, given to friends, or thrown in the trash. (Because I had things that were basically worn out.)
Not being one to be wasteful, we used what we had and didn’t replace. My pantry now looks more like a normal person’s and not a hoarder afraid the apocalypse is coming.
It is both humbling and freeing to acknowledge that I simply cannot run myself ragged or burn the candle at both ends. Much healthier too.
I lost my tape measure – however, I am down 58 pounds. It was 62, but I had a backlash last month. I am down 3 sizes! For the first time in many years, I was able to shop in the junior miss department!
Part of clearing the emotional baggage is setting firm boundaries. I have set boundaries with some very negative people. I’ve been firm with practicing NO. I’ve been careful to not allow myself to get too tired to where the emotions get out of control.
YEah, still working on time management
I stated that I was not going to talk about the cancer – I haven’t. As a matter of fact, I haven’t talked about much of anything on my blog!
February I started off on a roll, with a few posts about writing, managed a couple #MFRW posts, some food posts about my new eating plan, shared a few recipes, then my life was occupied with driving to and from appointment after appointment. In May, I shared the cover reveal for Tempting Fate anthology, which was released June 1. Then in August, I shared cover reveal and release of The Awakening, with 3 different cover changes. I really wanted to use the one with my neice as the model on the front but Createspace and KDP had other ideas. Ahem, no bitter feelings here though, I ended up with a gorgeous cover so it’s all good. September was a good month – we took our vacation to the beach, and attended Penned Con just one day after being in a multi car accident.
October and November was head down working on my day job, focusing on the online training I was required to take. In November A Flashy & Frosty Christmas Anthology was released! Let me just take a quick review – that is 3 books released in 2018 as opposed to 1 a year since 2015.
Which brings us to December. . .
I was notified Tuesday that my position is being cut along with nearly 20% of the workforce for the company I have been working for. You can imagine my surprise when on December 11, I find out that my last day is December 14. OUCH!
On the one hand, I’ll have more time to write ???!! Which as a reminder – 3 books this year! On the other hand, the one that always gets me in trouble, what am I going to do for income? I have health issues now because of the cancer, and the cancer treatment. I still have a fair amount of fatigue – nothing like it was right after treatment, but it can linger for years. So, Cancer patient, over 50, with health limitations – I was not prepared to lose my job or my purple office. Really, I don’t even mind the purple. Alas, I have one day left to get my stuff out of the office.
*HUGE SIGH* One thing is for sure, I’ll get through it somehow. I mean after all, if cancer didn’t take me out, nor did a semi truck creasing the side of my car, nor a head on collision, . . . this tough ol’bird will survive a reduction in force job cut.
On that note, I have a big surprise both tomorrow (FRiday, December 14, and Saturday December 15) so stay tuned! BTW – it’s good to be back!
Write on my friends, write on!
quotidiandose 
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