Day off

I don't have to go to work today. I took a vacation day to add to this long Memorial Day weekend which stretches it out to a wonderfully consecutive four days. Splendid. I'm finishing my first cup of coffee after staying in bed much longer than usual and listening to the rain spatter outside. The school bus came and went, the garbage truck is roaring on the other side of the neighborhood, starting and stopping as it works it way through the streets collecting the cast-offs from everyone's holiday. And I get to sit and watch it all from my upstairs window, sipping my coffee and not being bothered by the time and where I need to be this morning. Because I don't need to be anywhere except where I am right now. Or anywhere else I want to be. Days off are especially fine when you've already had a few before the actual day.

I am up to nine reviews on my short story, The Photo, on the writing.com site. I'm at a solid 4 stars out of 5 with two of most recent reviewers giving me a 4 1/2 stars. I am very encouraged. I guess spending all that time reading up, researching, and trying to learn more about what exactly this craft is all about helped quite a bit. Recognizing the amount of work that needs to be done after a story is finished can be daunting to make a few simple ideas become real. That is where the work really begins; after the story is written. But it is also the most rewarding if you are up to the challenge and the work. It took me a while to bemoan the amount of work it would actually take, but once I realized my writing wouldn't get any better without doing it I figured I might as well get started. As it turns out, it isn't so bad. It isn't bad at all and I will spend some time doing more of it today while the house is quiet and the rain spatters down.

Since I'm off and I don't have to go to work today.
TT

Three reviews

I just finished responding to the three commenters from the writing.com site about my short story, The Photo, I posted there yesterday. Now that the three site members rated my story, it is sitting at a four out of five 'stars'. Not bad and I got some good corrective feedback which is the only reason I put anything on the site in the first place. It's only for someone else to read the blame stories and let me know...hey! this is working, this needs work on grammar, this plot sucks or I believed the story until...

The first reviewer had very good things to say about the story and I was given a 3.5 stars but she didn't like the abrupt ending. Hmmm, I had a feeling about that. I have a tendency to write very good vignettes or create a story picture without making it full-fledged. I was outed on that, so I went back yesterday afternoon and used her suggestion to give a little more of an ending to make it more complete. I didn't change the use of all the 'maybe' in the first paragraph that she didn't like. That was intentional and comments from the third reviewer, that gave me 4 star rating, thought the entire piece was right on point and liked the 'maybe' in the first paragraph. She was only able to find two grammatical errors which is a whoo-hoo for me because it is something I've been trying so hard to improve upon. Now, the middle reviewer gave me a 4 star rating also, so he must have liked the piece, but I didn't get much from his comments. He basically gave me a synopsis of my own story. I mean, I wrote it so I know what it's about. I was looking for a little more of his opinion which, I could then discard without a second thought which is what I basically did with his synopsis of my own story. Whatya gonna do?

I got some readers, I got some feedback. I experimented with the suggestion of lengthening the story and reposted. The longer version might not work as well as the original or it might be better. I look at it as great practice and it's something I can use going forward on new stuff I write. That's all I wanted to accomplish with this old piece anyway!
TT

 The Photo (clicking this link will take you to view the new, longer version-approx 1100 word count).

The Photo - edited

I had some time to kill this morning and after boring myself with a few websites I turned my attention to my own document files. I found this piece I last touched on 8/8/12 and thought I might do some editing. I've crossed out unnecessary words, added present tense, and eliminated the word 'She' that started almost every sentence in the second paragraph and the word 'had' that drags down every sentence.

I understand this is a boring post but I couldn't resist showing all my red markings and cross-outs. This is an old piece and I probably should be writing on my new, but what the heck. I  posted it to writing.com in hopes of suggestions in order to learn more. It can't hurt.
Here is the link of the edited short on the site:
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1992819-The-Photo

And below is the reworked piece prior to my posting on the writing site.

A young woman decides to take on the mundane task of sorting through a box of old photographs.  It was only supposed to help her pass the time on a lonely evening but finding one particular photo has memories of an old friend the past flooding back to her.

The Photo

At the time that particular moment, she couldn’t have told you what made her go into her closet and take down that old box.  Maybe it was the accumulation of quiet evenings spent all alone.  Maybe she was looking for something that could fill that particular the end of the day without expending any energy.  Maybe she thought it was a good way to try to escape from the permeating melancholy that had invaded her life recently by the moving out of her ex live-in boyfriend.

She didn't have more than a sigh left as far as feelings for that relationship.  It was over and done, she thought, as she hefted the box up, and carried it out of the closet, and set it on her old worktable in the extra room.  She stood over it and opened the flaps.  She reached Reaching in, she and drew out a handful of snapshots. and She held them in her hand as she settled while settling down into the chair she kept at the table.  She was already l Looking at the picture on the top, she movinged it to her other hand and putting it down as she did the same with the next photo and the next.  She placed each down on the table after she scanned it. Soon there was a small pile of photos on the table.

It had been ages since she had gone went through these old photographs.  They were thrown into the box with no rhyme or reason.  There was no order to the chaotic assortment and as she finished looking through one handful, she would reach in and get another mix of pictures.  There she was at 4 years old in this one and then another when she was 15 and older.  Her mother had shoved the box in her arms when she moved away from home.  She had Mom insisted she take them with her.

She had progressed through a good measure of pictures and had them randomly stacked them on the table.  She went in to get another handful and had to stop and stopped to stare at the one that appeared on the top.  There were two people in the picture and she was one of them.  She grinned as she realized she was 18 in the picture.  She knew that immediately.  

She saw the simple county fair and remembered how she had spent the day riding the Ferris wheel and eating cotton candy with her best friend, Gail.  They had planned it together for what they thought of as a childish escape for the now grown two young women.  They had gone went through the fairgrounds trying their luck at stuffed animals and alternating being silly and girlish, to serious and sophisticated when any good-looking boy happened along within their sight.  

They had become  became such close friends and were inseparable from the time they had met freshman year of high school.  They shared all their secrets and talked for hours on the phone in the evenings even though they would spend the entire day at school together.  It had been was that way with them the entire time.  It had was always been easy, and fun, and simple.

She kept thinking of Gail as she stared down at herself in the picture.  It was so long ago yet at that moment it didn't seem so.  She wondered what might be going on with Gail now after so long a time.  She knew she would need to find her old friend and see if they couldn't talk and catch up.  They had been were such good friends.  They had done did everything with each other.

She decided at that moment she would make that call and talk to Gail again.  She knew it had been a long time but as close as they had been she knew they needed to re-connect.  Somehow, something had made her take that box down at this particular time and find that snapshot.

She sat at her worktable and smiled as she stared at the picture. There she was, all of 18 and grinning from ear to ear alongside some boy she didn't even remember that she had met that day. Her only memories now were of the fun and easy times she had spent with her best friend, Gail, who wasn't even in the picture.

Gail had just happened to have brought bring along her camera and had taken take that photo so long ago. 

TT

That was fast

It's Monday morning, already? That was a whirlwind weekend! A very nice, productive, enjoyable, and I still have a clean house, kind of weekend. That counts for something, you know, when I can still start out the week with a clean slate and a clean house, with clean laundry, kitchen...

Only looking to what the week will allow and then looking for the extra long weekend. I took an extra vacation day after the Memorial Day holiday next Monday so I will have a four-day weekend. Like I said, looking to it.
TT

Whew! Good things

It's Saturday morning and I just got back from the store. I replenished all my cookie ingredients to ensure everything was fresh. Start with the best and end up with great! I've checked my inventory of tins and I am short one pail. I'll need to scrounge a shop today in hopes of finding one more. I don't have time to put in an order so I will figure out the packaging for that 4 dozen pail in case I need to replace it with something else.

While I am out, I will stop by the office supply to make sure I have printer cartridges and labels. I feel like all cylinders are sparking and the gears are smoothly grinding into place. It's amazing how I can go into 'I know what I need to do' mode so very quickly. After I have all my tools, I will start with sanitizing the kitchen. This works well for today since we are having a few of Jay's magician friends over tonight. You would think the added agenda would throw some kinks into the works but Jay has organized that so well in advance there isn't much concern on that front. We've prepped everything that could be done in advance and there is only a limited amount of items that need to be done today.  Then we can relax when guests start arriving.

Whew! Good things. I guess I'll execute this order completely and then make some decisions about the website going forward. Now that I've exhausted my stock of packaging I can give some real thought to my re-order. I can spend time re-designing my labels and then the actual work of re-modeling my site. That will need to include new text, different pictures, and updated information. Right now, I should probably hit those shops so I have everything I need to complete this 12 dozen cookie order.

I'll work in a run today, too.  Watch me.
TT

Fire up the oven

A couple of weeks ago, Dante asked me how my cookie business was going. There wasn't anything to tell since I haven't spent any time updating, upgrading or even thinking about my cookie website. I have put the cookies on a back burner or should I say, let the oven cool on that topic.  I haven't given it a thought since last year and there hasn't been any activity on that front so I pretty much took the time off from pursuing it.

That changed this morning when I got an order for 12 dozen cookies. There is nothing that puts me back into gear than someone reaching out and asking me to do something that has only hovered in the recesses of my mind.  I've got some work cut out for me. It isn't the task of filling this order. That is a simple thing. And I could leave it at that because that one order is enough to pay from my website for a year plus profit.

But I need to give this business some dedicated time. I've put it off long enough and if I only get a few things updated, upgraded, and taken care of, I will be so much more ahead of the game. I have an official logo I need to incorporate into labels and my branding. I need to spend some time getting things into shape.

A couple of weeks ago thoughts of letting things slide a little longer seemed okay. An unexpected order for cookies suddenly has me excited just thinking of all the things I need to do again.
Who knew cookies could be so motivating?
TT

Off the hook

I was determined to do better with my health and fitness. Don't get me wrong. There was nothing really wrong with either of those two things except last year I pretty much got the idea in my head I had taken a hiatus from the AMOUNT of healthy things I had done previously. All last year I had become a slacker and a slob. I had been so stubborn I let my gym membership lapse because I only enjoyed running outdoors yet I found a million and one reasons why I couldn't. Then add the end of regular exercise to the lazy, casual snacking for only the sake of snacking and in a year I had put on about 10 pounds.  Whoof!

I took a good two weeks vacation at the end of last year when I mixed up holidays with vacation days. The day after Christmas I joined the gym AND I signed up for eight sessions with a personal trainer. I got my head on straight and I was going to do the work. I had a food journal app online and on my phone and I would track every morsel I put into my mouth. I hit the gym and had to build up everything I had started to let slip away as far as my endurance. The trainer wanted me to do more weight training. Of course! Ding, ding, ding!!! What did I think trainers would do? Help me run? Not a chance. I went to all sessions but I did not really enjoy them. I haven't done a lick of weight training since that ended.

But I have kept running. I did 3 official 5K's the first quarter of this year and came home with a 1st and 2nd place medal in two for my age category. That was encouraging and although the weight factor moved very slowly I stayed with it with daily hops onto the scale. I always checked my weight first thing in the morning, every morning and tracked on my handy food journal application. It's amazing how that number could gauge my mood for the day. At least that was until the other day. The scale went blank. I picked it up, turned it over and popped open the small opening on the back. I replaced the 9 volt battery it contained with a new, fresh 9 volt battery and put it back together. When the scale was situated on the floor again, I climbed up with my feet aligned perfectly on top of it and waited as the digital lights flashed and moved as it should. I stood still and waited patiently for the magic number that would determine my self-flagellation for the rest of the day to appear. And then it did. I stood there, slightly bent forward at the waist and peered down at the red number.  It showed 0.0.

I stared a little longer before I straighten up and realized I had done what I set out to do. I lost all of it! There was no more to lose and I was free to go. I have played around with my food journal a little after that, but only half-heartedly without entering an entire day on any occasion recently. I've had some good runs that felt great and I put on some clothes the other day that fit excellently. Before the scale let me know I was off the hook I dropped last year's weight gain. I think I reached a good spot.  I mean, maybe it is broken but the scale doesn't lie, right?
TT

Quickly

I've lost count of the days (again). Thought it was Tuesday. Nope. Wednesday is already over and I'm rushing around trying to use up the last bits of it. I happened upstairs because I needed to (finally) take care of the small hem alterations for a couple of pairs of Selma's slacks. I finished them and need to go downstairs and give them a pressing but instead I turned around and sat down at my laptop.

I haven't been up here in a couple of days (I think). I know I haven't had time in the mornings and then I get going doing everything else and it seems the weekends have been jammed packed and I'm hoping I'll manage a bit of time this weekend. It would be nice since it's already just around the corner with it being Thursday tomorrow...not Tuesday or Wednesday. Got to get these slacks pressed.
TT

Birthday Burger

Dante turned 29 years old on Saturday and celebrated together on Sunday afternoon. As per our rule from day one...he called the menu. The rule is that if it is your birthday, you get to have whatever you want to eat that day. Dante wanted giant hamburgers with homemade fries and coffee ice cream.  That's a pretty easy menu.  No, that's an extremely easy menu. So how do you vamp up a simple menu like burgers?  I made it about the toppings and let them build it any way they liked.

This doesn't show the choices of cheese or the toasted kaiser buns but you get the picture.

And then, and then, of course, there was the completed burger....

Not a bad choice.  A pretty great meal.  Happy Birthday!

TT

Many reasons

There is a link that I will remember to click and watch every so often.

Every Runner has a Reason

TT

5/3

It's Saturday, but more importantly, it's Dante's birthday. My youngest son is 29 today. I have a few things to do since he will be coming over tomorrow to celebrate, but at the moment I am sipping my coffee, finishing up a little bookkeeping, and waiting for the temps to hover a few degrees higher so I am get in a run. Then it will be time to clean up and head out.

Maybe I shouldn't be waiting around and just jump in and do it now. Yeah...sounds like a plan. I don't want to find myself at the end of the day and not have everything in order. Gotta run!
TT

May

And then came May!

Blindsided, out of the blue, from nowhere...and yet it has a great feel to it. I'm ready for a new month even if it crept up and I'm sitting here shaking my head asking, it's already May? Yes, it is, every year at about this time. What're going to do?

Move right into it. Get into the feel and motion and all those marvelous moments.
TT