Yes, I'm still here

I know I haven't been posting regularly -- or at all for the past few months. Working nights and sleeping days works well for me, but since I share an internet connection with everyone else in the house (up to 5 of us, depending on who's home), my time on line isn't necessarily my creative time.

To catch y'all up (I presume someone's reading this from time to time):

When I went to work at Wal-Mart last October, I weighed 267 pounds. That's not something I'd admit to anyone besides my doctor, but in just getting off my butt and working 32 hours a week I started losing weight. By the beginning of March I was down to 244, and had stopped losing spontaneously. Inspired by a story on NBC's Today Show -- one of their Joy Fit Club stories -- I logged onto WeightWatchers.com and signed up. I had successfully lost weight (many years ago, before baby #3) with Weight Watchers, and I knew I could do it.

This week I weighed in at 218.

I've lost nearly 50 pounds (total) and have only 80 more to go!

More news:

Jeanie has graduated from NYU and come home for a while; James has finished his freshman year at Subiaco Academy. His quiz bowl team won their regional title, and was featured on our PBS station (AETN) for the state finals in their division. Though James (the only freshman on the team) didn't play, they were all introduced. They took second place -- a very good finish for such a small school. (In Arkansas, private schools "play up" a division in all competitons, so they were playing public schools a level larger than they.)

I just started a new position with Wal-Mart -- I now work in the accounting office 2 days of my 4 day-a-week schedule. It's a raise of 4 pay grades, and I love the work. maybe eventually I'll be able to work more in the office and less on the sales floor.

This weekend is the Arkansas Writers Conference, and I'll be there both days (though I don't know how long I'll be able to stay awake on Friday, coming off working all night). It's also the weekend for the Texas Scottish Festival at UT-Arlington, and Mom and Jeanie are off to spend three days with Men in Kilts.

I recently edited an anthology of horror stories for Spinetinglers. The book will be available 6 June 2008 from http://www.spinetinglers.co.uk/. I hope to edit more stories and books for them as they ramp up their fledgling publishing company.

That's about all for now -- I'll try to post more frequently -- at least keep y'all up on my weight loss. Coming up is my mother's 80th birthday, hubby's birthday, and our anniversary. June is such a busy month!

(Belated) Happy New Year!

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, but the holidays (and working in retail, the holidays start in October) took all my time and energy.

Family

We had a wonderful Yuletide -- not quite all the family (niece Natalie, her husband and son couldn't join us) got together at my sister's home for a couple days of celebrating and way too much food. Now everyone has gone home, back to school, or off to see in-laws, leaving Hubbie and me alone. Don't get any romantic notions -- remember, I work nights and tax season has started, so Hubbie's working a second job until mid-April.

Music Question

While listening to "Music of the Night" (from Phantom of the Opera) on my new MP3 player (thank you, Santa), it occured to me that if one didn't know the story of Phantom, one just might think the song was sung by a Vampire. Any comments?

Paul Potts

I was listening to the CD from the British talent show winner (like American Idol), Paul Potts. He's totally untrained, but a superb tenor -- the first time I heard him sing "Nessum Dorma" I was in tears. He outdoes Michael Crawford on "Music of the Night" with a stronger low register and clearer high notes. I hope to see/hear many more recordings from Potts.

New Years Resolutions

I have two main resolutions this year (no, one of them is not losing weight; that's a given): One, to get my house in shape (clean is the operative word), including remodeling the kitchen; and Two, to get back to writing. Having my own computer again will help that (sharing computers in this family is a lose-lose situation). Now I just have to figure out how to get my old files off a dead computer (power supply input is damaged, and the battery is run down, but the hard drive should be OK). Part of the writing resolution includes blogging more frequently. It would be nice, too, to have some comments from time to time (hint, hint).

Traveling

Wheeeew!

I just drove from home (Central Arkansas) Lake San Marcos (near San Diego), California, with a side trip to the Grand Canyon. Next week is my husband's step-mother's 90th birthday, so we're here to celebrate. Driving all that way by myself (younger son is not old enough to drive yet) was challenging.

I'll have internet access (duh) from time to time, but may not post much until after I get home in mid-August (just in time for school to start in Arkansas).

We plan to do Disneyland on Monday, and later in the week we'll shift our base of operations to Rancho Mirage (Palm Springs area), then home the 13th. Of course, it's loads of fun to drive across the desert in August! Not.

If it ain't Barroque...

We had a wonderful weekend in Rogers with my sister and her family, and my older son. We bar-be-qued on Saturday, and on Sunday attended a concert of my brother-in-law Ken's group, the LakeWood Trio at a church in Bella Vista (this group usually performs in churches since the third member of the trio is an organist). This was Ken's last performance with the group, and it was wonderful. He's retiring as of this week, and he and Laurie are headed for California, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.

Keziah, my niece, was home from her summer internship in Washington DC with the Budget Office (she's a graduate student in Economics), and Willis, my older (married) son, was able to visit with us, too. We missed seeing Leia (my daughter-in-law).

Laurie & Ken live on the shore of Beaver Lake outside Rogers, and it's beautiful this time of year. It was nice to get away for a couple of days, but now it's home to laundry and getting James ready for Boy Scout camp next week.

I've only got 2 weeks now until the deadline to submit stories for the White County Creative Writers Conference. So far I've got nothing appropriate.... I'll have to see what I can come up with.

My daughter the driver

Jeanie passed her driving test — she's a fully licensed driver now. She's on her way back to New York for summer school then her last semester. She'll graduate from NYU in December with a BA in Politics, just in time for all the primary campaigns.

Mother's Day

I hope all of you who are mothers had a wonderful day. I got a phone call from my absent son, and to my total surprise, my husband actually gave me a beautiful yellow rose. I've known the man for nearly 40 years (married almost 33) and he's never given me flowers (except for required corsages). The closest he came was Valentine's 1981 (I was pregnant with our first) and he gave me a glass rose, saying it would have to do for a while. There was also chocolate and cards.

We had a very nice visit with my sister and her husband while also letting Jeanie learn how to drive on interstates for the first time. It was a long 3 hours (190 miles) and I was in as close to fetal position as I could get in the front seat of the car. I drove home. Duh. Actually, she's done very well learning to drive in the last 10 days. Crossing fingers for her road test tomorrow. Unfortunately, I haven't done any writing since she came home. She goes back to New York tomorrow afternoon; I'm hoping I can get back to the Darik stories I've outlined and have a couple of chapters written.

Who is Darik? His mother died after giving birth, and he's been brought up by monks. At the beginning of the story he has just come of age and leaves the monastery, at first serving as a constable in the nearby village. I plan to have him make his way to larger and larger towns and cities, until he finds his destiny. (I know what his destiny is, but I'm not telling yet.) He will have various experiences as the story goes on, some of which will be romantic. The world I've made for him is pre-industrial, but not medieval, with the posibility that there are actual dragons. It's definitely a work-in-progress. I'll keep you posted as it develops.