Friday Five - Bad Habits in the Morning

I've developed some habits that I engage in first thing in the morning that I don't like because they bring little value to my life and they don't remain in the morning. They suck up hours of my day.

1.  My morning routine starts with coffee. While I often think I want to give it up entirely, that's not the truth. 

I have reduced how much I drink, though. I used to have four cups of coffee before noon. My cups of coffee means 16 oz each times four. That's a whopping 64 oz. I'm down to two 8 oz. cups. That's reasonable. Less than that, and I feel like a zombie or a sleepwalker. 

I do drink my coffee black like a true sociopath. Cream and sugar make it dessert.

2.  I inherited my mother's joints (not the good kind, puff puff.) I have a bad left knee that will eventually need some doctoring. I get a sharp stabbing pain in my right hip. The joints in my shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, etc, feel hot when I touch them and ache when a storm's on the horizon. Have done for ages and not just because I aged.

When I moved to Florida, I started adding collagen powder to my coffee. I did it for 6 months. Not everything went away, so I went off it for a month. Yeah, I'm back on the powder.

Feeling like a knife is being wedged into your hip joint makes sleeping difficult. A knee tight with fluid makes walking unpleasant. 

I'll let you know if it improves my skin. I didn't pay attention to that before.

EMails, News, Facebook, oh, my.

3.  There's never anything important, urgent, or desperately interesting in my Inbox, so why oh why am I compelled to open the damn thing up? Does it make me think I'm starting work? It is the first step on that path to Wasted Time, a destination I no longer wish to visit.

4.  I admit it. I am addicted to the "What horrible thing is happening now?' syndrome. Knowing it, especially first thing in the morning (or late at night when I can't sleep), is in no way helpful or healthy. I'm striking this activity off my ToDo list

5.  Facebook sucks up hours of my time. I have to figure out a reasonable solution for this behavior. I like it, so I think I'll make it some sort of limited reward. Details to follow.

These last three things will be activities I engage in only AFTER I finish writing for the day. That sounds like a good place to start. 

I did finally delete the blue bird. I consider that a win.

Friday Five - Words of Wisdom from Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh wrote his brother, Theo often. 
You can find many of his letters at the site 
van Gogh's letter: unabridged and annotated.

"I'd like to walk with you there to find out 

whether we look at things the same way."

"In life and in painting too, 

I can easily do without the dear Lord, 

but I can't, suffering as I do, 

do without something greater than myself, 

which is my life, the power to create." 

“What am I in the eyes of most people — 

a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — 

somebody who has no position in society and will never have; 

in short, the lowest of the low. 

All right, then — 

even if that were absolutely true, 

then I should one day like to show 

by my work what such an eccentric, 

such a nobody, has in his heart."

"... find things beautiful as much as you can, 

most people find too little beautiful."

“I also believe that it may happen 
that one succeeds and 
one mustn't begin by despairing; 
even if one loses here and there, 
and even if one sometimes feels a sort of decline, 
the point is nevertheless to revive and 
have courage, even though things don't 
turn out as one first thought.”

*Images are photographs taken at the

Beyond Van Gogh Exhibit

in Jacksonville, FL,

20221113

I am a Techno Wizard

 Look at me with the QR Code skills.

I used these to make some car window decals

for some advertising.

I'll show you when I get them.

Friday Five - How You Doin'?

 

1.   I wrote ten chapters this week, two a day, for a total of  12,500 words. 

I have about ten chapters left, so the first draft of 

The Bastard's Battle should be done by next weekend.

I worked out four days this week. 

Monday and Wednesday were cardio days. 

Tuesday and Thursday were weight days with our trainer at the local YMCA.  

Sore shoulders and cramping feet, but yeah, this is good for me. 

Valerian root helped with the muscle soreness, and 

a tennis ball massaged my feet. 

Build that body strong, baby.

2.   This will be a beanie.

I've been making stuff for St. Jude's Hospital Fund Raiser in April. 

Crocheted items. I love to crochet but not knit. 

Check out my Facebook page for pictures of a basket, tote, and heart garland. 

I will raffle off all of the items I make to people who donate to St. Jude's at my link.

3.   I now have these cool labels I can put on my handmade items.

4.   Wednesday, my grandson and I had lunch on 

the Jacksonville River Walk along the St. John's River. 

We saw ships.

5.   I'm rereading Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

I read it when it first came out in 2000. 

That was twenty-three years ago.

Holy Moly.

I'll let you know how it held up.

You can read previous book reviews over at 

Nessa's Reading Room.

Oh, and I'm tired.

April Fool's and Other Games

~Rabbit, Rabbit~

I participated in the 555 Story Challenge sponsored by Nicole Breit, creator of the Spark Your Story Lab.

The challenge was to write 5 new stories in 5 days on 5 themes as Creative Nonfiction/Memoir. The five themes were Origin Stories, The Emergent Self, The Body, Where the Heart Is, Nature + Spirit. She provided explanations, examples, guidance, and writing exercises to focus images and sensations into the condensed format. If you are interested in checking out the videos for the challenge, you can find the Day 1 Video HERE.

To read my five stories ...