Catching Up

I have been distant from most social media lately, due to, well, let’s see…okay, it seems as though there are too many excuses to take the time to list even a few of them. I’d be here all day, just to write about the excuses as to why I haven’t been writing. *sigh*

My garden has also been severely neglected because of life getting in the way, and it shows. I’m diligently watering everything now in hopes that there is still some vestige of life left in the dried-up sticks that used to be roses, flowers, and vegetables, but there is only a VERY slim chance that they might resurrect. I feel guilty about it, partly because of the money I spent to make the yard look nice, but also because everything had been so, oh, I don’t know, ‘alive’, I guess.

I wrote a couple children stories and am finalizing another for my oldest grandson. Those ones make me smile because I personalize those particular stories with the kids’ and their families’ names, along with some of their likes and dislikes. Every night, one little boy that I wrote a story for, insists that his mother read the story that was written specifically for and about him. I love knowing that someone out there in the world wants what I have written. *warm fuzzies*

And speaking of warm fuzzies and a reason to celebrate, a fictional piece I put together about a pandemic (one I started writing when all the chaos of COVID-19 started raising its ugly head), is going to be published in an anthology, due out in mid-October. The link can be found here: https://owlhollowpress.com/when-the-world-stopped/

I am featured as one of the authors! I am both humbled and blessed by this validation of the gift that God has given me!

My kitchen Corner also suffered, but I think that one of the many excuses I have is a viable one. We are in the midst of a major home remodel and my kitchen has been and still is going through renovation. Sink, countertops, flooring, and new island are in the plans but there is dust and boxes and construction everywhere, which does not inspire me for Cooking Greatness. I’m barely getting along with the basics!

Also, my "Hubbin Lubbin" corner has been untouched, not because I don’t have anything positive or new or inspiring to write about Hubbin, but rather, we, yes, us two, are doing most of the remodel ourselves. Some days we fall into bed, cursing the fates that made us decide to undertake this endeavor. Hubbin broke it down for me when I was at my wits’ end the other day. He had me make a list of all the projects left to do, then prioritized it so that we could take one piece at a time and cross it off. As anyone who has ever undertaken a renovation project well knows, a project can have LOTS of mini elements to it, from removal of the old, the purchase of replacements, to installation, and to clean up. Let any one element catch a snag and it can throw that whole project off by MONTHS! Case in point, ordering the quartz countertops. The day I was supposed to order mine, the gal who was to handle the order came down with COVID. Yeah. Delay. *sigh*

A picture that I’m going to post today has a story behind it. When my husband and I first got together, he gave me a teddy bear dressed like a bumble bee, that had been hidden in a coffee cup. I loved it because I love things like that. Well, he mentioned that he had a military bear, so that inadvertently started a collection of teddy bears when paired with my Bumble Bee Bear. Hubbin began long distance truck driving and when he stopped at a truck stop called “Love’s,” he found the first Love’s Bear. It sported a hoodie that said, “I {heart} California.” I ooh’d and ah’d over it, which started the ball rolling. My son, also a truck driver, carried on the mission when he also began cross-country driving. My son stopped by the house last weekend and placed ones that he had purchased for me, upon my mini-trampoline. It looks like a scout campfire meeting! I feel a need to sing “Kumbaya, My Lord.” My little collection has grown to twenty-two bears! Three of them are not Love’s Bears, but they are loved anyway. 😊

Anyway, today I am taking a moment to make yet another list of projects, trying not to forget the mundaneness that bill paying and adulting bring, and doing some catching up here. I am looking forward to setting aside time for tips and tricks that I’ve learned from all of this, which just may include taking a couple months off and going somewhere else, anywhere else, and letting someone else do the renovations!