Sylvia's New Look

For the Solstice I decided to give Sylvia a bit of bling. My darling husband and I went around and found the best stickers for her. They are all Sticko stickers and most of them are really shiny. Doesn't she look great!

In the break room at work.

The pedals are also fairly new. I love the rubber ones, but after going through 2 pairs I've switched to green bear traps. They really grip, but hurt if they hit me.

The one that started it and my favorite monkey.

Back of the front fender.

Shiny blue dragon.

Rear fender tail.

Yellow dragon to the front.

Monkey balancing bananas!

Fish and butterflies on the seat tube.

My favorite butterfly!

I'm hoping to add more later, but for now she is rocking! Thanks to her I can avoid all the holiday crazyness that is mall parking and I'm am super grateful for that. 

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and stay safe out there!

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Have Fun!

I'm so excited!

So far 48 people have gotten the free kindle of my short story! It makes me feel really good that that many people are reading my work. I hope that you like it! Just remember to get it by Christmas Eve, that's when the free promotion ends and it goes back to costing. Also, please let me know what you think!
I really appreciate your support!
In other news, Sylvia is getting stickered up and will be sporting beautiful and shiny stickers! You can never have too much reflectivity. I'll get some shots posted soon. Riding her to work is fantastic, but I sometime wish it was longer. I'm allowed to park her in the break room so she is totally safe.
I am so grateful that I got this job and I really hope to keep it after the holidays. The hours are just what I need to get by and the people are Amazing! Keep your fingers crossed for me please!
Thanks and have fun!

I'm on Kindle!

My story is now on Kindle! It makes me so happy to see it there! Starting tomorrow it will be free in eBook form through Christmas Eve! I'd love for you all to download it and let me know what you think. Now it's back to working on the novel!
Here's the link:

My story on Kindle!

I'm Published!

I finally got my short story published on CreateSpace! Thanks to the generosity of my brother and my in-laws I was able to get it done before the end of the year! I couldn't have done it without them and my wonderful husband! I'm so excited!!!! This is the best Christmas present ever!
It's a short story that is an intro to the world of Whyrde. A medieval world where literally anything is possible.

My first!

Now I'm just waiting for kindle to finish it's review and I'll be published there also! The cover photo is one my dear husband took and it looks great! I'm really happy with how it turned out! Yipee!!!!! It's real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm ordering a copy so I can start my shelf as soon as I get off work! 

This is the best feeling in the entire world. My dream is a reality! This is such a high! 

Thank you all for all the kind words and encouragement! You all rock!

I'm off to do a happy dance!

 

A New Chapter Begins

I was laid off from Helix House yesterday. The timing really sucks and the worst part is that on Monday's conference call everything was normal. It was a real, go get them team, pep talk to push toward the end of the year. Then yesterday afternoon it was "Sorry, we are restructuring and changing things up. All the 1099 employees are gone." As a severance they will be paying us regularly through December. That's nice of them.

I have to admit, I'm pissed about it. I had a feeling something was going to change soon, but it still stunned me when it happened. It was a slap in the face. It's nothing personal, just business; but in reality it is personal. It affects me and all the others in the company very personally.

I don't blame my immediate supervisor. It's not his fault, he was just following orders and I know it hurt him to do it. He was the best boss I could ever hope for and I wish him and the one remaining Tucson employee the best.

The company is just doing what it thinks is best for itself by seriously downsizing, but could their timing suck any harder? They let go of all of Albuquerque, most of Phoenix, and all agents in Tucson. "Happy Holidays! We have to let you go because we are going in a new direction now." Heaven forbid we should be invited along!

 It was a fun job and I met some really great people who I will miss. I made friends that will hopefully last me forever. Sadly, now the family there is gone. I'm worried about my clients and former coworkers. I was asked not to call my clients until after the holiday weekend. That way Helix House can contact them first. I will be calling them on Monday though. I owe them that. 

What's funny is that I just got a part time job at PetSmart to cover the health insurance we signed up for. Now I need another second job for the same reason. At least PetSmart is fun, I've done 2 shifts so far and I love it. All the cute animals and I get to help take care of them! The people there are great and really nice. I'm super excited about it, but now I need to find a full time job. I hope I can find one fast and that I can keep my part time one as well. It's funny how life happens sometimes.
Wish me luck!

I'm thankful I have my family, my friends, and for getting a new experience. I'd never been laid off before.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and that we all eat well!

Have fun!

Cyclovia was fun!

This morning my husband and I went to the GABA bike swap meet and Cyclovia. It was a lot of fun and we had a blast. It felt really good to toodle around on Sylvia. We got there early and a lot of it wasn't open yet on the way out, but on the way back it had really picked up steam.

The route.

It's always nice to not have cars around and it's really special when the sun is kind of shining. (It was a cloudy day. Yay!)

Her first sticker.

My husband got me this cool sticker for Sylvia, now when I look down she's grinning back at me. I think it matches perfectly.

Bike swap meet was crowded.

It was hard to get through the bike swap meet, there were a ton of people. Our bikes made it tricky to navigate, but I'm glad we rode in. You can't impulse buy if you can't carry it home; although I might have been able to strap another bike on my rack and my husbands long tail could have carried one easily.

Sylvia and the party bike.

I'm not sure how it works, but this looked cool.

Fruit smile

One of the volunteers was making fruit smiles and I had to get a pic. It looks like me! I was really grateful they were passing out fruit and granola bars at the end of the route. I forgot breakfast. (Ok, I was just to impatient to leave.) It hit the spot! I also got 2 free bush seedlings and a new bike route map, plus, lots more stickers.

It's cardboard!

There were these neat sculptures made of cardboard. This one reminded me of Davy Jones from Pirates. Then my husband told me what it was. Let's see if you can guess.

It's a walrus!

Not the same statue as the one above. I liked this one too.

A bike plane thing!

The snake bridge

To get to and from downtown you have go through a snake. I love this bridge!

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again. Now it's back to figuring out my cover so I can publish. Wish me luck!

Halloween was Great!

I hope every ones Halloween was fun. I got to go trick or treating with 7 wonderful young people.  My niece and nephews, a couple of their friends and my brother and sister in law. There were 5 adults so everyone was covered. I love trick or treating! 

Then I got to go to Nightfall with the in-laws! That was fun and the comedy act was great! It was a wonderful night and I can't wait for next year. 

I also finished my short story finally and I just need the cover done. Then I will be published!!!! I'm really proud of myself for it! I haven't been posting much because I had to make my deadline. 

I ran 5k in my house today and felt great after. My knee isn't bothering me much lately. I'm grateful for that. I can't wait until I can go for more than a minute in the real world without pain. That will rock!

Sadly when I went to update my phone this morning it killed it so I lost all the pictures on it from last night. On the plus side I had emailed some to my mother-in-law so I still had those. Yes I cried at the loss, but oh well. More storage space. 

Here are a few that were saved. 

They were great!

Spooky house!

Blurry fun

Boy am I glad to have these!

Have fun!

Snails after the rain

When we got to the office yesterday there were hundreds of snails all over the place. Ange and I took tons of them off the pavement and put them back under the plants to save them from being stepped on or run over. Sadly, I accidentally squished a few myself. The tiny ones were really hard to see.

Looking for dry ground

Wall crawler?

The snails were trying to get to high ground after the heavy rains from the night before, but were putting themselves in danger to do it. I don't know why they didn't just climb the bushes instead. They sure were cute though. I was tempted to take some home to put in the garden, but I didn't want to upset the worms I have there. 

A Public Service Type Post

Warning: This post contains information of a personal nature. If you are eating please swallow and put your food down before proceeding. Thanks!


Yesterday I learned of a new kind of pain caused by running. It seems to be common among larger sized persons.At least that's what the internet says. It makes me wonder why I had never heard of it before I experienced it.
 I expected the thigh rub pain, when you have them they rub. I expected the knee pain, it's a given with me. I even expected the ankle pain, it's what happens when you break it in your teens and it isn't set properly. This pain I never expected. This pain is chafing of the butt crack.
I didn't even know it was there until I hopped in the shower and the water hit it. I think I screamed and I know I jumped. That made Princess yell at me. (She wasn't in the shower, she was in the sink.)
Apparently, I've lost enough of padding in my boom boom to make my shorts loose enough for thing to rub together in an insidious way. Then when you least expect it, BAM! Your butt is on fire! This sucks and it now hurts to walk or sit.
It is not a good feeling, knowing I can start a fire with my behind.
Just thought you all should know , that way you can avoid it walking funny like me.

It's been a busy, good week

I finally completed the Comparative Religion class I've been taking and turned in my essay. I was a little worried because it took me so long. It was a go at your own pace online class, but I'm sure there is a limit to how long they would have waited.  For a writer I really have issues turning things in in a timely manner. Well I passed, and in the mail on Thursday was this beautiful certificate! Now I just have to figure out which class to take next.

It's so shiny!

Yesterday was my 10 year anniversary so to celebrate I ordered dinner in. I had it delivered from Brother's Noodles and it was as good as I remembered. They don't usually deliver to my area, nothing but pizza will, but I pulled the sympathy and large tip card and they were more than happy to bring it over. I really loved the Kung Pao chicken, it had just the right amount of heat and the vegis in it were still nice and crisp.

Kung Pao Chicken

The Mongolian beef was a bit bland, so I broke out my squeezie garlic and that really brought it to life. They did get the heat factor spot on though. I'd never had it with bell peppers and it really adds a good dimension to it. What I really want to know though is how they get the rice to be sticky, but not slimy. It's the perfect texture and firmness. Whoever does their cooking is really great!

Mongolian Beef

The rest of the evening was spent watching cheesy Netflix and relaxing. All in all it was a good day.

On the writing front I'm still on schedule to self-publish at the end of this month. I'm so excited! Although it would be nice if the monsters I live with would leave me be for more than 5 minutes. Somebody is always yelling at the door, but the worst are the strange crashing sounds that you go to investigate. There is never anything out of place when you go look. It's weird.

On the running front I'm redoing Zombies, Run 5k week one again next week. My knee is still a bit annoyed, but I think it's coming around. Or maybe it's just giving up the battle. I plan to keep taking it slow though. I kind of like this running and I don't want to not be able to walk.

Have fun!

Restart of Zombies, Run 5 k

I'm restarting my plan to redo Zombies, Run 5k. Outside I'll be doing the 1st week and inside I'll be on whatever week I'm on. Right now it's week 4.  I have these great headphones called Yurbuds my husband got me. They let in ambient noise so I can hear the zombies and what is around me. I got the blue ones.
 Today was the first outside walk/run. I strapped on my water pack and headed out into the sunrise. There may have even been a slight spring in my step. :-0

The sun is just getting up.

It started out great. I went to the bike path because it's safe and I know it. On the way there I saw a pair of ladies doing their morning walk. One had a baseball bat and one had a golf club. They were very friendly and we all said hi. That reminded me I didn't have my stick with me, but nothing happened so it was all good.

I love trains!

I was going strong and enjoyed the first few running intervals. I was feeling cocky and smiling at the people I saw. I even pretended to race a train. It was great! A passing bicyclist said I was looking good, that made my day. I wonder if she knew I could hear her.

Pretty little flowers.

Shortly after the flowers my wonderful knee popped and that sucked. It hurt but I kept going, but there was no more running for today. I just tried to walk faster for those intervals.

Little mushroom.

It's sucked, it popped at the best running segment yet. I was feeling good and warm and floaty. Then bing out it goes. The walk home was slow and a bit painful, but I stayed upright. Thursday I'll try to remember my stick. Otherwise it was a great start to the day.

I was outside moving across the Earth under my own power in the coolish morning air. It was great! I can't wait to do it again, minus the pain.

Great Chinese Food Found!

One of my clients had one of their clients deliver for a meeting we had on Tuesday. It was the best Chinese food I've had in a loooong time! I'm going to take my husband on payday!
It's Brother's Noodles and they just opened. They do deliver, but call them to make sure they go to your place. The food is great!

Simple and concise.

I tried some of everything! 

The fried rice was almost as good as home made and those little pork dumpling things were amazing!

I have no idea what it was called, but the one in the middle was my favorite! 

The beef and broccoli was also great, the broccoli wasn't over cooked at all and the beef had flavor. There was also a really tasty dried tofu noodle dish that I didn't shoot. Everything I tried was really good. I think I've finally found a good Chinese restaurant! Thank you Tom for introducing me!

I can't wait to have some more,  and to share it with my husband. If you live in Tucson or are planning a visit you have to try them. Then let me know what you think!

Did too much yesterday.

Yesterday started out great. Husband and I went for a walk/run in the park. We ended up going almost 3 miles total. My knee felt strong so I did all the 30 second sprints for the workout and the knee lifts. I felt so good and springy. The walking parts were fun too and I saw some cool things.

Pretty little butterfly

Giant mushroom I thought was a bagel.

It's missing a wing, but still has attitude.

I have no idea what kind of bird that is, but it was having a great time playing in the pond then fanning its wings dry.

It was great. Fast forward a few hours and my knee is burning and throbbing a bit. I tried stretching it out, but nothing helped. finally before bed I took some Advil to chill it out. I don't know why it hates outside so much, asphalt is softer than concrete covered with linoleum, but stupid knee doesn't hurt when I run back and forth in my house. Maybe it's because I wear shoes outside.

Anyway I've come up with a plan that will hopefully work. I'll keep going on the new missions inside on most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I'll start over on week one on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. That way I can still hear more of the story and stay engaged, but I'll be also building up outside strength more slowly. 

I've just been loving going outside and I'm not going to give it up, If I can only do 15 seconds at a stretch for another month I can live with that. I hate having to go slow now that I know I can run, I just have to make sure I don't make my knee worse by trying to go to much to soon.

Fun inside today

I got up excited today, I was going to go for a walk/run outside with my fancy new Camelbak Delaney belt. I was seriously lucky to find it in town and in the lovely purple color. I found it at Summit Hut, the same place I found my walking stick. I really should check them first instead of last.  I've used the bag once outside so far and I loved it, no more having to carry a slippery bottle in my hand!
Then I opened my door and was greeted with this.

My street's a river and the rain is finally here.

It was pouring rain and I'm not that confident in my knee to risk it. So I decided to do it inside. Again. I really wanted to go outside! Oh well, this is what GPS sees when I walk in my house.

I was going back and forth.

So far I'm really interested in the story for Zombies, Run 5k! I want to keep going each day, but I stop because I don't want to hurt myself. I'm also doing each mission at least twice to help me get stronger. I think it's working, now if I could just get outside.

Tomorrow I will hopefully get to play outside. On a happier note, the Hurricane Odile never hit us and we have just had cloudy skies for the past 2 days. I love cloudy skies. Maybe after work I can go play at the park if it's not to hot/humid.

Waiting for the storm

I'm working from home today due to the storm warnings about Hurricane Odile causing flash floods. I live in Tucson, the desert. Last Monday was a crazy rain day and this one is supposed to be even worse. So far it's just been drizzling steadily, but I'm not driving in it. What scares me is that the flash flood warning is through tomorrow evening. I've never heard of one so long here.
I went outside for a walk/run in the real world again this morning. I had wanted to do it yesterday, but it was raining yesterday morning. I'm on week 2 of Zombies, Run 5K and I'm loving it. If you join look me up; my screen name is Eibhir. Betty was taken.
For week 2 I get to run for 30 seconds in a row. I did fine in my living room yesterday, but that's about 10' one way then turn around. In the real world after the first 20 seconds my knee was twinging so I went back to walking. I also seem to be faster in my living room than in the real world, I would have figured the turning would slow me down. It was great, I started before the sun was out and as I rounded toward home I saw this pretty little flower.

Pretty purple flower.

I love the photos my new phone takes!

The other day the husband and I rescued some beetle larvae and I thought you might like to see them.  His dad had cut down their tree and they needed a new home. They are cool and dry to the touch. Also a bit squishy feeling and their little legs are very pointy. They were released near a palo verde tree. I hope they like it there.

Palo Verde Beetle Larvae

My aquaponics are still going strong. Well the tomatoes are, all the lettuce was crowded out by them. we put a plastic sheet around them to keep the cooler off. They are big, but no fruit yet.

Tomato plants

They roasted pepper seeds are also doing well. For something that was cooked they seem pretty hardy. If you look closely they even have small flower buds forming. I can't wait to see what kind of peppers they are, they bag just said roasted peppers on it.

Roasted peppers thriving.

I hope you all have a great day and try to stay dry. I want the storm to get here already!

Have Fun!

I'm Back!

Sorry I let life get in the way of blogging again. Summer is always so crazy and I don't even have human kids to blame it on. A ton of things have/are happening, a lot are boring, and some are really awesome.

Boring: I've been working super hard on my novel and a short story. The shorty will be self published by the end of next month on Amazon. After my last rejection I've decided to take matters into my own hands and do it myself. It's exciting for me, but boring to anyone outside my head because watching someone sit and type is blah. I have enjoyed scaring strangers at the store when I get a new idea by whipping out my voice recorder and saying scary things into it. a lot of people move away at that point.
I've been working on cleaning my house, it's not done yet. I don't think it will ever be done. I have decided that pine sol is the best cleaner in the whole world, but it will strip your skin off a bit after 45 min with out gloves. That could be why it works so well. It also get out the cat smell like nobodies business.
Got a new phone that takes better pics in low light than my camera, I hate my new phone for it.

Awesome: It's almost cool enough to go for bike rides again! In a month I'll be back to pedaling like crazy.
I'm finally making progress in learning the ukulele. I've been trying for about 2 years, but I wanted to play notes. I just can't beat into my brain where the notes are on the fret board. I've decided to learn chords instead and can now play 3 songs OK. My animals think I'm funny when I rock out on Polly Wolly Doodle and Hush Little Baby. 21 Songs in 6 Days by Rebecca Bogart and Jenny Peters is my secret weapon. I has however taken me a lot longer than 6 days, but I'm still moving forward.

The most awesome thing of all though. The absolute super excitingest thing in my little universe right now happened last night. A little back story first.
A long time ago I was a runner. I loved running and it was one of my favorite things in the world. Then I got hurt, my knee cap was cracked and there was no more running for Betty. Heck, walking was a pain. So I rode my bike and that was great, but I missed running. Then I hurt my knee again. I'm a dork. I got heavier, walking and biking got harder until I couldn't get my leg over the top tube without lots of pain. I was close to 300 lbs.
In January of this year my husband and I got fitbits. It was incentive for my to try and kick some butt. I lost a little weight and in March we got Sylvia. Thanks to her low step through and comfy ride I lost more and felt better, then summer came. I'm crazy, but not crazy enough to ride in that kind of heat so she sits behind the couch until later this year. I can't wait!
In the mean time I've been walking back and forth in my living room to get my steps in. It was boring, but effective. I started gently jogging in place during commercials and my knee didn't collapse! It felt good even. My ankle hurt though.
Then last week on Sept. 9th my darling husband got me the app Zombies, Run 5k training. It is great! I'm on the first week still, but it has given me back my running. The first workout I ran in place for the intervals. The second I ran back and forth in my living room. Nothing popped or snapped. There was no searing pain or soul crushing throbbing during or after the 15 second sprints. It was rocking!

Then yesterday morning we went outside! My husband and I went to the park for our walk and I ran in the real world for the first time in 3 years! It was the best 15 second sprints ever! I did it and there were no tears! I'm can run again!
It's only 15 seconds and I'm really slow, but dude I'm running!
Here's a screen shot off my Zombies, Run page. I'm so excited!

                                               

It's been up and down, but it's leveling out.

On Saturday May 24th I was an idiot. I also became a great cautionary tale for my nieces and nephews.
It doesn't matter how much of a hurry you're in always let the bacon grease cool before you put it in the jar. I knew this and still went to cap the jar after only 5 minutes. It slipped and I got a face and chest full of hot grease. It hurt a ton and I spent Saturday wrapped around an ice pack. Literally. A picture of my chin taken on last Monday is below. Use it as a warning to your children!
I'm healing nicely and have mostly regrown my skin now. It looks like I may get a faint scar on my forehead and another little one in my cleavage. I've been treating it with Alocane and Cocoa Butter Vaseline. I can't wait for the heat sensitivity to stop.

Ouch!

On Sunday, the day after trying to melt myself, my husband spotted this beautiful sewing desk out on the curb near his parents house. The guy was just getting rid of it and we took it home. It had a bit of water damage and the machine needs engine work, but I'm working on touching up the desk.

1956 Sear and Roebuck Sewing desk

I'm just lightly sanding it and only adding 2 coats of varnish. I want to keep as much character as possible.

I forgot to take picks before I touched up the top.

The Kenmore inside looks great and someone had put a new belt on it, but it needs work due to the stench emitted when it's running. I've carefully packed it in my sewing machines box with all its things until I can have it serviced. It's desk works great for my Singer though. I'm glad I no longer have to store it behind the couch.
Once it's done I'll take even more pics to share.

The old 1956 Kenmore.

That's what I've been busy with. Here's a nice picture of some purple flowers I saw last night to finish the post.

Pretty flowers