Thankfulness #8

I may miss next week’s thankfulness because I will be out of town. We’ll see what happens.

And now, for a week of thankfulness!

1. This was a hard day, as it was the night when our cat, Muffins, passed away after a massive seizure. I suppose I am grateful that she is no longer suffering.

2. On Tuesday I was grateful for all the warm thoughts on FB. I won’t lie, I didn’t get much done that day except taking the movies back. I am also grateful we have a movie rental place in Red Oak, but I think I have used that before.

3. I was thankful for getting the first coat on the porch trim and columns, despite the cold wind and the millions of little black bugs that kept landing in everything.

4. I was thankful for getting the second coat on the porch trim and the first coat on the outside. The brother had to do the stuff on the extension ladder because I am a chicken and can’t climb up it. The step ladder scares me.

5. On Friday, I was thankful for getting the porch paint finished (except for the railings which hubby is building)

6. I was thankful for finally getting our repurposed coffee table swapped in. It was free and is actually the top of an entertainment center, but since we had scrap wood laying around, the brother made feet for it and filled in the middle that was empty and backless. Not only does everything fit in it muuuuch better, but I am finally rid of the hated glass top that always looks dirty no matter what I do.

I was also happy to get to try the A&W dark chocolate shake. MMmmMMMmm. I want another one.

7. I was thankful for getting some more painting done on the house. This is pretty much the last week we’re going to have for it, so the more we have done, the better.

And that’s all for now.

Have a painted house kinda day!

Jo 🙂

 

 

7 Days of Thankfulness #7

I’m a day of this week because we had a family pet emergency last night. Sadly, at the end our cat Muffins passed away, but that’s another story in itself.

Now for last week’s thankful points:

1. I was thankful for being able to complete the 60 day song challenge! Thanks to Catie Muller tagging me every day, I made all 60 days!

2. I was thankful for being able to do all of Greneth’s Executioner story in one swoop – that has put me ahead a little bit so that I now have stories to publish through the first part of November (Franklin is processing, Greneth will go up for the 24th, and Fallon the first week in November or so) which should give me just enough time to get a fourth done and edited and a fifth started before I need to publish that fourth one. Whoo.  I was also thankful for the Blogophilia prompts that inspired me to make Greneth a Halloween story. I hadn’t planned to do that, so it was awesome.

3. I was thankful for all the fun I had at Wednesday’s Live Write at the Bistro. I co-wrote an outlaw story with Jonathan Harvey. You can check it out on his facebook if you want to.

4. I was grateful to get the front of the porch painted in between rain showers. Hubby put the pieces on, but then it rained the next two days, so I was thrilled to finally have it be dry enough to paint.

5 – I was thankful that the apple dumplings turned out well. My dad loves them – he used to come down to Bolivar every fall to visit and get them at a restaurant there. Needless to say, he hasn’t had one in a few years, so I thought what the heck – can’t be too hard. They turned out really tasty.

6 – Saturday I was thankful to celebrate my mother’s birthday. We got her an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen that only ended up melting a little bit… but it tasted good. I was also grateful that she liked all of her birthday presents.

7. I was thankful that we were finally able to get the pillars up on the porch. Weirdly I don’t have any pictures, but you’ll get some next week because I’ve started painting trim.

And now I’m going to go check out this week’s blogophilia prompts and start a battle plan for tomorrow’s new executioner story. I think it’s Griselda’s turn.

Have a thankful kinda week!

Jo 🙂

7 Days of Thankfulness #6

This week I was thankful for

1. I am thankful for the snapbridge capabilities of my new Nikon, which lets me download photos straight to my phone.It’s made it much easier to post my cat photo of the day on Facebook!

2. When mom had her barium test, I was grateful they did not find any cause for bleeding, however at the same time that means we don’t know where her blood is going still.

3. I was also grateful to get out from under the stress of some formatting I have been working on. It was stressful because it was very, very complicated – far more complicated than I know how to do. I was trying to figure it out, but with working on the house and everything else, it was just too much.

4. I am also thankful for getting our trip schedule ironed out. Hubby and I will be heading to West Virginia at the end of this month, and had planned to leave on a Friday, however he is now working every Friday, so we had to readjust. Our host was very awesome about the change, and I am really looking forward to going.

Random sunset picture

5. Friday I got Hitmonchan, which completed my pokedex – sans regionals (pokemon only available in regions I don’t live in like Japan and Australia, etc.), the Legendaries that have not made it this far yet, the ones that are not released, Mew Two, who is invite only, and Unown – who is super rare (and the tracking map with alerts cost 10$ to access), aka I probably will never be able to fill those slots, meaning my dex is done!

We also enjoyed a nice time at Gene Leahy in Omaha.

6. Saturday I was grateful for what we managed to get done on the front porch. We got it sanded and painted (though I had to putty some spots, so it will need repainted in a few places), got one pillar set, and got the front piece attached. We also learned that we will have to paint the pillars white. Apparently you can’t paint fiberglass pillars with any paint that has a Lightness number between 56 and 0 because it will get too hot and warp. So, that means we’ll have to buy more paint. *sigh*. And since it’s Sherwin Williams, it’s insanely expensive. *double sigh* But better to do it right.

 

7. Sunday I was thankful for a nice time at my cousin Tim’s twelth birthday party. I was also thankful for catching an Entei – the new Legendary Pokemon. While I wouldn’t mind getting another one with better IV, if I don’t I at least have this one, so my pokedex is keeping up.

And now I am going to finish this Western that Dad and I are watching, and go to bed.

Have a great week!

Jo 🙂

7 Days of Thankfulness #5

And here are seven things I was thankful for last week:

1. I was thankful for pumpkins! I love pumpkins, and it is pumpkin season. Though I only got four, they are nice specimens. One year I am going to have 100 for no particular reason except I want to say I once had 100 pumpkins.

2. I was also thankful for getting the floor of the deck painted. The color is interesting. We meant for it to be gray – the swatch was gray – but the final product is a chameleon silver color – at some angles its brown, sometimes it looks white, and sometimes it’s gray. I actually like it quite a bit, but the bro does not.

3. I was thankful for spending the day at Mel’s house. We did a little unplanned day drinking and had a lot of fun.

4. On Thursday what I thought was a hangover mysteriously spread to everyone who was not drinking with me and got worse as the day went, but I was thankful to hubby for letting me whine, even though he was also sick.

5. I am also thankful that I am up to 15 members in my Vampire Challenge – which starts October 1st. If you want to check it out, you can! It’s going to be a LOT of fun!

6. I was grateful that the bro and Uncle Dave had spent time taking up flooring from an old house down the street because, after we took out the old front porch pillars and the banister, the floor was all rotten and needless to say cash flow to replace an entire porch floor was not forthcoming, but as they had already taken up wood flooring, there it was.

7. And finally I was thankful for getting the deck (and the trim on the house that I could reach from the deck) totally painted! I was also thankful that they got the porch built – now we just need to sand the floor, get the banister fixed up, put in the pillars, and paint everything. Huzzah!

Have a thankful week!

Jo 🙂

 

 

7 Days of Thankfulness #4

And here we are – a week’s worth of thankfulness!

1. I was grateful this week that Shaun sent me the info for GuruShots, a fun photo challenge app. They host challenges and you upload pics to it, and vote on other’s photos. Simple, fun, and the different themes could be an inspiration for taking pics if you want (or you can use old ones, which is what I am doing at the moment). If you’re on Guru Shots hit me up – I’m under Joleene Naylor (just using my FB account)

2. I was especially grateful to get the front/side flowerbed plastic put down and mulched. it took 40 garden staples! 40! 😮

3. I was thankful to FINALLY get a 100% IV Pokemon (This is their stats like attack, defense, etc. The higher the stats, the better they are when fighting.) I’ve only been checking IVs or a couple of months, so I may have had one before and tossed it without knowing (you have to use a separate app/site to check the pokemon’s IV).

4. I was also grateful that my rocks turned out so well. I’d be even MORE thankful if I could find some painted by someone else once in awhile!

5. On Friday i was thankful to finally catch Raiku! We did two raids and I caught him at both! This saved on grocery day, so it saved us having to go back to Omaha for a second day this weekend.

6. I was also grateful for getting the spindles for the front porch started and for getting the last of the blue and red painted on the deck (there are little squares that will go at the top that are also red, but they need nailed up still)

7. Sunday I was sick, but I was grateful to Amy Wilson for suggesting the anime Yona of the Dawn. I spent the whole day binge watching all 24 episodes. I need more. More!

jj

7 Days of Thankfulness #3

And we made it to thankfulness #3! Here are the seven things I was thankful for this week:

1. I am thankful to be able to live in the kind of town where someone can put a box of free tomatoes on a park bench labeled “Free. Please Take” without having to worry about someone dumping the box out all over, or throwing them at stuff, or destroying them for the sake of making a mess. I have to say the kids around here are pretty well behaved for modern kids, and it’s  nice change from other places I’ve been. No way you could have done that in Bolivar.
2. I was grateful for the response to my Vampire Challenge – I have 10 members already! Are you interested? Check it out? 
3. Today I am thankful that we found Mustard! he disappeared Sunday night and though we looked, we couldn’t find him. As it rolled around to Wednesday, I was pretty worried. However, he came strolling up to us while we were Pokemoning and he is now safe and sound. 
   

   awwww

   

   isn’t he cute?
4. I am thankful for the awesome package I received from Donna – she is an amazing crafter and she sent me so many amazing goodies! 
   

   All the goodies!

   

   Celebrating Donna’s awesome book!

   

   Lolita side 1

   

   Lolita side 2

   

   book marks front side

   

   book marks back side – the details are crazy!

   

   Executioner Jamie doll

   

   Jamie’s back – he even has his bun!

   

   “plant the seeds of your story and watch the characters grow” – Jorick and Oren (look at the details!)

   

   Etsuko front

   

   look at her back!

   

   Katelina even has white shoes!!

   

   look at the backs of all of them!
5. I am also thankful that Dad’s potassium is starting to drop and his kidney function is up 15%. Woo hoo! If we keep it up, he may soon be back to normal!
   

   weird art at the Shenandoah Clinic

6. I was thankful for some time with hubby out at Viking Lake. he was getting over being sick, so it was low impact, but I took some great photos – I’ll do a separate blog for those tomorrow – but here we are wading at “the beach” (along with some park signs)
   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   and enjoying an ice cream cone from the cafe there.

   

   

   

   

   

   and going over a train

   

   
7. On Sunday I was thankful for a great time with family. My cousin Skye celebrated his twelfth birthday at Two Rivers park in Nebraska. Afterwards we went to see his pet rats and I got to shoot a crossbow which was fun :)(and no one got hurt!)
   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

    

   

   

   

   I also got a chance to play with my new Nikon a bit:

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   And there we go! A week’s worth of thankfulness in one post 🙂

Have a great week!

Jo 🙂

 

7 Days of Thankfulness #2

Made week 2! Here are seven things I was thankful for this last week:

1. Hubby gave me my anniversary present early so I can get used to it before the trip in October because it’s a new Nikon – the D7500, which is not only new but an upgrade from my last one.

It came bundled with an 18-300 lens (which means no more lens swapping – I currently had two lenses, with the biggest being something like 50-200 and the other being like 18-50 [I’d have to look to see the exact numbers and I don’t care enough]), and it has some awesome features. The live view is MUCH improved – my old model was the first one to have live view on it, and it was pretty rough. Also it has Snapbridge, which allows me to send photos straight to my phone, meaning no more trying to take a picture of the view screen to share something to facebook in a hurry. And of course it has a higher ISO (wOOt!) more focal points (super wOOt!) and other upgrades. The functions are similiar to the old one, but buttons are in different places, and it has new functions, too, so it will take some time to learn. I am currently working through the very thick manual, though of course I’ve taken some weird test shots, like Dad at 300 zoom:

2. I was thankful that our fizzy friend Mustard has been all right. There is a chance we will take him to the vet next week and then try introducing him into the household. We’ll have to see.

3. I am grateful to Catie Muller for tagging me in the daily song challenge on Facebook. Without her tags I would never remember to do it, but with them I have reached Day 30 and beyond (it’s a sixty day challenge).

4. I was also thankful that the Mediterranean Chicken and pasta recipe I tried turned out good. It tastes exactly like a Bertolli bag dinner we used to buy (but which has been discontinued).

5. I was super thankful not only that hubby got Friday off unexpectedly, but that Niantic also continued the legendary birds for an extra day (they were supposed to end Thursday). And I’m grateful to the awesome Omaha Pokeon Go players for being willing to hit the raids that allowed me to get the Lugia I was missing, and hubby to get the Articuno he needed.

6. on Saturday i was thankful that we got a lot of pressing yard work done. The brother and I still need to put plastic down and finish up some things, but we’re a lot closer than we were.

7. I was also thankful to get the blue on deck 90% finished on Sunday (what’s left requires a ladder). Now we need to do the red on the bottom of the posts (we’re going to buy rosettes and paint them red for the tops) and then it’s on to the gray.

And that was the seven things I was grateful for last week! Let’s hope this week is just as great!

Have a Lugia kinda week!

Jo 🙂

PS – a bonus shot of my cool eye shadow:

 

7 Days of Thankfulness #1

Since I haven’t kept up, I thought I’d try doing it in seven day chunks. Maybe I can manage that much!

So, here are seven days of thankfulness for August 21 – 27:

1) I was thankful to be able to see the solar eclipse. Though it was only 90-some percent here, that was enough to be very cool. I also enjoyed watching it with Mom.

2) I was thankful for a message I got on FB. I don’t know if i mentioned in here how we had run into the Omaha Pokemoners and that’s how we were able to complete legendary raids (though I have missed Lugia, but can’t be helped.) Anyway, the very awesome Nikki who organizes them dropped me a line – it turns out she has read my books BEFORE ever meeting me. How cool is that?? I had been feeling a bit down about the writing thing (No, not because of that bad review on Lisiantha. I seriously thought it was fun. It’s sale numbers in general) and that really perked me up!

3) I was thankful that my Uncle Dave came over and helped my brother install Mom’s ceiling fan. When the brother tried to put it in, the lights would not work. Turns out it was the house wiring – they did the same weird thing in there that they had done with the back porch light (involving running two black wires to the light switch). uncle Dave caught it and now the fan – and lights – work. Though it has a bit of a squeak to it, if anyone knows how to fix that…

4) I was thankful to get some weeding done – FINALLY! I have spent so much time feeling cruddy with the aftermath of the rash and am finally starting to feel a bit like myself again.

5) I was also thankful that we finally got started on painting the deck!

6) I was thankful to get to see Despicable Me 3 on Saturday. We had planned to go Pokemoning, and had driven to Omaha, when I got sick. It seemed a waste to drive back home and do nothing there, so I needed something low impact until I could start feeling better. This was perfect.

7) I am also thankful to be a co-jacket winner in Blogophilia!

(No, I don’t get a real jacket, but it means we have the most points this week.) If you don’t know from my Blogophilia blogs, it is a cool group where Martien gives participants prompts to use in their blogs. I have been a member since MySpace days (really!) but have not participated a lot. I am also grateful to Jonathan for giving me enough competition to keep me participating :p

And now I need to hit the sack! Have a thankful kinda week!

Jo 🙂

Tags & Such

Yesterday I was grateful for the brother’s help. We made a semi-complicated dinner and made two batches of different cookies at the same time. I couldn’t have done it on my own, that’s for sure!

Today I was thankful for hearing from Teresa. I have been worried about her, and in fact was just thinking about her last night, and she popped up in my PMs today! So here’s hoping she continues to get better.

As far as what I’ve been doing…not much that’s worth sharing. Cooking. Cleaning. I did get some tags made the other day and I guess I should share them just because.

(If you wanna check it out – this one is kinda funy)

(if you wanna check it out – this one is kinda sad)

(if you wanna check it out – this one is twice the length of the other two.)

(If you wanna check it out – this one is seriously modeled off of a Hallmark Christmas special – but with vampires!  WARNING: unlike the others it is pubbed direct through Amazon who half time won;t set it to free but it is ALWAYS free on Smashwords)

(If you wanna check it out – it’s got unrequited love)

And now I need to go work on the TTC page for the week.

Have a happy tag kinda day!

Jo 🙂

 

On the Road Again

On Sunday I was grateful for a safe trip to Bolivar.  We arrived with no major incidents, which is always nice.

The leaving selfie:

St. Joe.

Kansas City

Lunch

Harrisonville 

Carthage

We’re there!

Have a getting there kinda day!

Jo 🙂