July 17, 2024 Summer is going too fast, as usual. It feels like the Sunday afternoon of the summertime. In some ways I feel like I’ve done a lot of nothing. Hubby said he’s surprised it’s going so quick for me and that I seem to be making the most of each summer day. Sometimes it seems like I’m busy all day long, but usually I don’t have much to show for it. My spirit has been high, that says a lot. I got my creative streak back after the last post, but have since lost it again. I just have to stop talking about it, completely. Anytime anyone asks about it and I talk a lot about it (usually in ..read more

Summer is sailing along WAY too swiftly! Last week was okay. We got home from vacation on Tuesday. Since I didn’t write at all during our trip, I wanted to get at least some done before the weekend- but I lost my inspiration. I tired to write, but I had a total block. Shortly after, the negative thoughts crept in and were relentless. It took a bit of will power to remember to shut them down every time. I had no desire to hear how my writing sucks, how I’ll never finish my book, how editing it will be impossible, beta readers are going to hate it, publishers are going to hate it, my family will ..read more

Thursday July 4, 2024 Let’s start first with the ferry ride to the island. And I’ll preface with letting you know that while hubby was getting our tickets, I was watching the enormous waves, and thinking that the boat wouldn’t run because nobody should be in those waves. But, he got back with the tickets. The boat was leaving on schedule. I’ll also let you know that I’ve had a couple terrifying boat incidents within the past 10 years, so now I kind of hate boats. I was terrified and after about 30 minutes the girls on the deck asked me if I needed a barf bag. I told them my stomach is fine, a ..read more

What makes a teacher great? I love this prompt! Many things make a teacher great. These are my top 2: 1- The teacher’s ability to channel his or her inner Steve Irwin, especially teaching a horribly boring topic. You must get your inner self excited about it! You can teach being bored- but kids will pick up on it and will not be interested and also your lesson will probably be dull. 2- The teacher’s ability to connect with the students. She/He must actually care about them- they know if the teacher actually likes them or not. They will do more and be happier working with a teacher who they k ..read more

Saturday, June 29, 2024 This has been a very happy week. I’ve been writing a lot and am still loving the process. I wasn’t sure about much of book 3’s plot (the last, and most important story line, lol)- I had a lot written, but I have two or three major events and I’m not sure which one I’ll go with. And I had a pretty huge hole that will be the ending. I had a breakthrough this week and am so excited to see how this all unfolds. Writing seems to really put me into alignment. All week I’ve felt like I’ve been on my “high flying disk” (as Abraham Hicks would say). I’ve been feeling joy and lov ..read more

Tuesday June 25, 2024 I wanted to first wish my hubby a happy 47th birthday!! I’m happy to celebrate him today Second, that hangover was pretty brutal. I felt the effects on Sunday too. I was mildly thirsty and nauseous for most of the day. I had a mild headache too, and low energy. By Monday I was feeling back to normal completely. I didn’t like that it took so long to feel good again. And I’m going to keep complaining about it to remind myself of the negative consequences of drinking. I’ve thought about drinking a couple of times since Friday. Yesterday, I was outside floating in the pool ..read more

Sunday, June 23, 2024 Today I woke up before 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Now it’s around 5:00 and my pets are fed and I’m enjoying my coffee. Last time I wrote we bough seltzers and I didn’t drink any. We each had one the day after I wrote, which was Thursday. Neither one of us liked them very much. I enjoyed getting a little giggly, and finished the drink but had no desire for a second one. Friday was quite different. We had a “paranormal” tour booked at The Whitney mansion in Detroit for 9:30pm. We had dinner and then planned to sit at the “Ghost” bar for a drink if we had time betwe ..read more

On Saturday, my family celebrated my nephew’s high school graduation at the beach. It was nice, and had a good turnout. I decided beforehand, that I might drink. I told one of my sisters, but not anyone else including my hubby. My sister told me that she’s getting a case of seltzers and that I could have a few. Sometimes I think my mom’s side of the family sees me as super hoity toity now that I don’t drink. Part of deciding to drink, had to do with my image to them. This is so bad, and unhealthy to think, but.. I just kept imagining myself with the same White Claw bottle in my hand all day. F ..read more

For years now, it seems like all my blood work comes back bad. I attributed it to daily drinking for a long time. Then, after my rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis, there was always something off. Last year, my liver values were suddenly high. That was really discouraging, as I had spent the past few years abstaining from alcohol- after years of being a daily drinker with a strong and healthy liver. My doctor never reached out, so I assumed that it wasn’t too bad and attributed it to the methotrexate I had to take. I had a rhuemy visit yesterday. I got the results of my blood work today and am flo ..read more

I drank for a 3rd time since December. For as much as I’ve been dreading writing this, you’d think it was an awful, horrible experience. It wasn’t, actually, it was fine. I truly feel fine about it- I felt fine during and after the evening. The last thing I planned to do that week was drink. My colleagues and I planned a “happy hour,” but I had done happy hours before without worrying or craving a drink- so I wasn’t associating it with drinking. What happened was unfortunate. There was supposed to be several of us going, but when I got there, I found out that there was only two other people- a ..read more