Writing and retirement

Maybe I should change this to a retirement blog. I think I like retirement nearly as much as spanking. And with retirement I get to enjoy it all the time. I’ve tried to come up with the best thing about retirement, but there are so many things to choose from. Getting up when I want to is near the top of the list. When I got up to take Mollie’s cat to the vet the other day it was dark! I don’t want to get up in the dark. Since Nick leaves for work before five am I got little understanding or sympathy from him. I also don’t like showering in the dark. When I complained about this to Nick I got a bland look and the suggestion that I turn on the bathroom light. HaHa. He knows what I mean, we have a solar tube in the shower and I love the light that floods in during the day. That’s when I like to shower.

But I guess for me it’s having the time to write is that I love best. I’m still not as disciplined as I’d like to be. I think I’d get a lot more writing done if I’d turn the internet off when I sit down to write. I’m bad to hop over and check FB or the blog or emails. But I do try to get in several hours of writing a day. I’m not sure whether writing is a career, a hobby or a way to waste time. As for a career – well, I’d hate to try and live on what I earn. Although everything I have made has thrilled me and gone way beyond anything I thought I’d make through writing. I should say it’s more than a hobby, maybe I should call it a lifelong passion. I was about twelve when I day dreamed of writing Cassie’s stories.

A way to waste time? Nick said something that made me feel good the other day. We were discussing the possibility of him retiring. He knows how much I like it, but I’m not sure he would. He likes being active. And I told him, “I don’t know if you’d like it as much as I do. I like sitting around doing nothing, but you don’t.” He replied, “I wouldn’t call writing nothing.” Just a simple statement but it made me happy that he felt that way and that he'd said it.

I could see how someone might think otherwise. Have you ever watched someone write? Yes, sometimes I’m pounding the keyboard like it’s on fire. But there is so much of my writing time spent staring into space. What I’m actually doing most of that time is listening. Sometimes I’m sitting with my eyes closed. I know Nick has to think I’m sleeping – but I’m not, I’m watching.  I don’t snatch words from the air. I’ve spent more time in the room with Cassie and friends than I have anyone in real life. For Cassie, especially, I don’t create scenes and dialogue. I watch the scene and listen carefully to what everyone says so I can type it later.

It’s so nice to have my characters do the work for me. This is a little harder for me with Cal and Jenny, but as I get to know them better it’s getting easier. I start out with a skeleton of an idea and hand it to my characters. They fill in the guts as well as the muscles and skin and everything else. Sometimes they even make changes to the skeleton. That’s why I love series, I always want to know what happen next. I have ideas for stand-alone books but knowing me if I ever get around to writing them, I’ll try to turn it into a series. I just can’t create characters to toss them aside at the end of the book.

I’m going to keep writing as long as anyone’s reading. Actually, I’m going to keep writing whether anyone’s reading or not. Be it a career, a hobby or a waste of time it’s an important part of my life and it always will be.

Bits and pieces

Not too much happening to write about so I’ll give you the bits and pieces of our lives. I got to put my grandmother skill to use the other day. Mollie thought it was time to get her little one spayed and because of school she couldn’t get her there at the 8:00 am drop off time. Grandma to the rescue. I went over to Mollie’s and got the baby and took her in. I was surprised at how nervous I was leaving her. I worked for a vet for about eight years. I’ve assisted with many thousand spays and even did two completely on my own – yet I was nervous leaving my grand-cat for the procedure. But she came though beautifully.

Nick’s parents had their seventhly wedding anniversary this past week. Seventy years, it’s hard to imagine. Sadly, they were not together. MIL is not doing well at all. She is in a nursing home now and recently fell again possibly cracking a rib. She is fighting pneumonia and in a lot of pain. We would have taken FIL by on their anniversary but he has a bad cold and it just wasn’t for the best. I’m sure you have all been to nursing homes – both good and bad, MIL is in a good one and unlike many living there, she usually has at least three separate visitors a day. Some poor souls don’t get that many in six months or more. It’s great to have a close family and all are helping, but I really see Nick and one of his sisters going above and beyond.

Several of you asked if Nick read my last post and I’ll answer what I thought I’d answer – Of course not. I’m okay with it, I know the man surely has his hands full these days. But the fact that he doesn’t read will always hurt my feelings just a little. I know for a fact he spends over an hour on the computer as we sit around in the evening. He’ll often read me a little of news stories or jokes off Facebook. How long would it take for him to read my post? I mean I’m only posting a couple of time a week most of the time and usually they’re short. It’s not like he needs to comment or anything. I’m just mildly griping, it’s not a problem. But you’re the people I gripe to. Aren’t you a lucky bunch!

Do you tell on yourself?

When you do something that you know would make your sweet husband mad, do you tell him? I’m just wondering. I did something a while back, or rather didn’t do something. I never told Nick and he never noticed – I’m just wondering if any of you all would have said anything.

It wasn't anything horrible. When I get home from the grocery store I unload most of the groceries and put away what needs to go in the refrigerator. Sometimes I leave the kitty litter or paper towels in the back of the car and don’t bring them in immediately. No big problem. One other thing I often leave would be the pack of soft drinks in the can. Nick would sometimes fuss about this telling me they could freeze and burst. But truly it rarely gets that cold here.

The exception was last winter. It got really, really cold and stayed that way for days. This was right after I retired and I spent those cold days toasting my feet by the fire. Soon enough it warmed up again and I headed out to take care of some errands. I wasn’t far from home when I heard a woosh, followed by a hissing sound.  I had no idea what it was and shrugged it off. About a mile down the road I heard it again and definitely felt it was coming from inside the car. I pulled over at a convenience store and sat listening. As I sat there, I heard it for the third time and felt something cold and wet on my face. That’s when it hit me, literally.

I jumped out and ran to the back of the car and opened the hatch. Two more disfigured can were rolling in the back, the rest remained in the cardboard package. I remembered opening it to get one out several days before, which had allowed others to escape and roll around the car. I grabbed the remaining drinks and tossed then into the nearest trash container. But a red, icy sludge was on everything. Racing back to the house I got the wet/dry vacuum and went to work. It worked well since most of the mess was still in an icy state. The only lasting damage were some red stains on the roof of the car near the back.

So you see, no real harm. But Nick sure would have fussed – and that’s probably all, so I never mentioned it. After all it was my car and I’d cleaned as well as I could. But when I noticed the stains again the other day I got to wondering, what would you all have done? Would you have told on yourselves? Would your loving HOH have been upset with you? Would this have caused a spanking for your carelessness or forgetfulness?

Let me know how you would have handled it.

Oh, and I was wondering one more thing. Does Nick ever read here? LOL, I guess I’ll find that out too.

Nick's Email

We’ve had the ‘un-official’ end of summer. I can’t wear my white pants anymore. Nick is talking about closing the pool for the season. Everyone is back at school but me. I guess the only thing that bothers me about all this is packing away the white pants, they’re very comfortable. I like summer but I always like a good change of season and we do live in a beautiful spot to enjoy fall.

On the TTWD front I got a very interesting email from Nick last week. He wrote:

Utilizing your vast experience in evaluating and grading performance....

Produce a report card on your week's performance.

Include the following performance areas:  

1. Amount and quality of exercise for general health

2. General housekeeping

3. Special projects

4. Progress on weight loss goals

5. Proper bedtime 

6. Other concerns (optional)

               

Remember this is not an institution where breathing is sufficient to get a passing grade.

Your card will be reviewed (probably tomorrow).

The "board of education" will be involved as necessary.

Although I didn’t necessarily think I should be the one doing the grading I went along and sent back the following:

1. Amount and quality of exercise for general health    C-

2. General housekeeping   B+

3. Special projects   A +   Cassie book was accepted (Does this count?)

4. Progress on weight loss goals   D

5. Proper bedtime   C    (goals were not made clear)

6. Other concerns (optional) Specific expectations should be made clear before grading.

As he looked it over later he told me I’d better be glad I’d gotten that book accepted, because otherwise my grades mostly stunk. He reminded me that I’d always told the kids only A’s and B’s were acceptable because I knew they were capable. We discussed the good and bad of the report card and talked about ways to bring up my grades. 

I explained to him that I’d always been a hard grader and that he should be the one grading. It didn’t do me much good and the ‘board of education’ did come into play.

The weather was great Monday morning so I went walking, it easier when the weather cools. So we’ll see. And I have a clarification on a reasonable bedtime. Of course, mostly it’s just nice knowing he’s paying attention. We’ll see how this week goes.

I love Small Changes!

I have another book to tell you about. If you’ve been reading here long you might know that Donna Steele is my favorite non-spanko author. I love her new books, Small Changes.

Here’s the blurb:

Melanie Daniels is back home, reconnecting with friends and taking over the family business. She’s content even if there isn’t that one special person in her life. Then she sees the man of her dreams stalking toward her.

Jonah Sanders and his daughter have been on the run for nearly two years. It’s time to regroup and rest. He doesn’t know what has drawn him to this small town but he’s learned to live by his instincts. So why does the woman next door override his instincts and cause him to think of a life he can’t chance?

I bought it a few day ago and I left a review on Facebook. And let me again take a moment to plug reviews, it’s the most wonderful gift you can give an author. It’s a way to tell them you enjoyed their book. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing people bought your book, but then you are dying to know – what did they think of it? In addition, reviews help entice more people to buy. Ok, off my soapbox. This is the review I left for Small Changes.

You’re gonna like this one! I was caught up in the story from page one. It’s not every day a beautiful little girl show up unaccompanied in your yard. Donna Steele has a way of writing where everything seems normal, but there is an undercurrent. Jonah and Melanie feel it too, but what can they do? It’s not bad, it’s just not normal. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones seeking answers. Are they safe or should Jonah and his daughter get further away – but that would mean leaving Melanie. This is a fast-moving book that will keep you wondering until the last page.

Go read this one right away because I hope to have a new Cassie book for you soon!

*If you happen to also be a reader of PK Corey's Reading Room I'll be putting this same post up over there in a day or so don't feel you have to read it again! HA.