Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 39

New Year, New Planner

I've started using my new planner this month. This is the first time I've switched planner companies in six or seven years because my other planner was so awesome. Until they went and took too much real estate away from the part of the planner I need the most.

The new planner is bigger than the old one. They did have a smaller size, but I thought I'd like having the extra room to write things down. And I do. I can actually write my Saturday to do list one item per line. On my old planner, I had to write it two items per line.

But the bigger size also presents a problem. I keep the planner on the corner of my pulled out desk drawer. With the smaller size, it was stable to write on it in that location. The new size? Not as stable and I find myself moving it the desktop to write.

My old planner also had these handy dandy pre-printed places to record water, sleep, and vitamins. I had to buy stickers for the new planner, and since I want them in the same location each day, parts of the planner are bulging up and it's difficult to write in it for this reason, too.

Then there's the stickers themselves. The water sticker is made more for coloring in and I prefer to simply draw a line through my water drop. I'm making an X now, so I can see it, but, yeah. The sleep tracker is also meant to record time to bed and time I woke up, not hours and minutes, which is what I prefer because my Fitbit keeps that information for me.

At this point, I'm ambivalent about whether or not I like this planner. There are pluses (the space!) and minuses (not as convenient or awesome without the pre-printed check offs). Right now, I'm kind of hoping that when my old planner company revises for 2023 that they take it back to the way I liked it and that I can return to them.

Characters, Personalities and Secrets

I guess it's time to talk about writing a little, huh? I know it's been a little while.

I'm still working on Wicked Deception, Kyle and Mari's story, and it's been a struggle on several fronts. Kyle, my pot stirrer from Griff's book, isn't acting like this at all in his book.

This has me scratching my head and trying to figure out why. The best guess I have is it's because he's surrounded by nuns and he has a lot of respect for them. But this is a guess because he's not answering me when I ask him.

Normally when this happens, I talk to a friend of the character and get the scoop, but do you think any of his friends will share even a hint with me? Of course not because they're all trained to keep secrets. Grr.

Then there's Marianna who is also determined not to share anything with me. Now her best friend, Zo from Wicked Intention, will talk, but the problem I have here is that Zo hasn't seen Mari in nearly three years and Mari has changed. A lot. The woman Zo is telling me about is not the woman in the book.

So I'm just writing at this point, hoping the characters will reveal what's going on. I'm getting little hints, but not much more than that.

In all honesty, these are not the first characters to do this to me, so while I don't like it, it's not a novelty. When I was writing Ravyn's Flight, Damon kept a great big secret from me and dropped it like a bomb shortly before he shared it with his heroine. This meant there was like zero foreshadowing and this was something I had to go back and add as I revised the story. Did I mention this was probably at the halfway point? Maybe even a little deeper in the book?

There's a reason I talk about torturing the characters because they torture me. Every book has a couple that does something to make my life miserable while I'm trying to write them. This is just the latest example. I'll get to the end with this pair, too. Even if it kills all of us. :-)

Hair Dryer Broken

The other day, I took the filter off the back of my hair dryer to clean it. It's pretty easy to get on and off since there are just a few plastic pieces that twist into (or out of) place. I've done it a hundred times.

This time, when I put it back into place, a piece of plastic came off. Now the filter is hanging. I took it off, looked more closely, and discovered at some point in time, another of the plastic pieces had broken off and the filter is currently held on by one prong thing. (You can sort of see it gaping on the right.)

This hair dryer has to be at least fifteen years old, maybe older than that, so I can't complain about how well the plastic held up. But I didn't want to look for a new hair dryer. I really like this one.

You see, I used to just go to Target and pickup whatever hair dryer they had that didn't seem outrageously priced, but they'd only last a few years at most. So when the previous hair dryer died, I decided I was going to invest in a good one. It had to be cheaper than spending $35 every other year. I don't remember how much research I did, but I ended up with this red and black model. It's lasted forever, well worth the cost at the time.

I really didn't want to buy a new hair dryer now, not when the only thing wrong with this one was the broken filter, but what were the odds I could find a replacement part for a dryer that was at least fifteen years old? I figured slim and none.

I started by going to Amazon and searching for the brand there. Imagine my surprise to see that they're still selling this same hair dryer!

OMG! If they're still selling the dryer, maybe I can find a part.

I did an online search and found a family-owned store in Florida that sells replacement parts for small appliances. They had my filter! Only in red, not black, so it's not going to match exactly, but I can live with it because this dryer is now nearly double the price I paid for it when I bought it. Besides, the red will match with the front of the dryer, so it won't look completely weird.

Once I get the part and I verify that it fits exactly as it should, I'm going to buy another one or two to keep on hand because this dryer is apparently going to last forever and who knows if filters that fit will be available in another fifteen years?

December Weather Drama

After having lived most of my life in Minnesota, December weather drama means only one thing to me--lots and lots and lots of snow. On December 29th in Atlanta, it meant a tornado watch. Gah!

Let me back up a moment. I don't like severe weather. It's always scared the hell out of me, but at my house in Minneapolis, I could escape to the basement where I'd be reasonably safe. Then I moved to Georgia. For the first year and a half, I lived in a condo which (of course) had no basement. Neither of the houses I've lived in down here have had basements either.

But this story starts at the condo. I believe it was spring or early summer when the news showed some extremely strong storms headed my direction. I also learned that in Atlanta most of the tornadoes are "rain wrapped" and frequently come through at night.

I immediately bought a weather radio. My thought was if there was a tornado warning, it would wake me up and I could take shelter...somewhere.

The problem was that despite reading the directions, I was never able to figure out how to get the darn weather radio to actually work. I got used to it just sitting there, but despite moving twice since living in the condo, I kept plugging it in. I thought if nothing else, we could turn it on and find a radio station.

Imagine my surprise when shortly after I went to bed on the night of December 29th, I hear beeping and a voice. I jump out of bed and rush into the family room in time to hear the weather radio announce we were under a tornado watch until 5am.

A tornado watch. At the end of December!

It was warm here for December, but I didn't think it was anywhere close to warm enough to kick up a tornado. Also, when did this weather radio decide to start working? My dad said he didn't touch it and I hadn't touched it in forever, so ????

Anyway, no tornado drama overnight. In fact, I didn't even hear it thunder loudly, just some rumbling off in the distance, and as lightly as I sleep, any storm (or even hard rain) would wake me up.

Then, the next day, the weather radio issues another loud alert. Severe thunderstorm warning. Again, didn't turn out to be that bad. And then it goes off again with a flash flood warning. I was like, I think I liked it better when this thing wasn't working.

The Great Table Hunt

The other day, I remembered that my aunt had a protective cover for her dining room table. I used to think it was silly, but after the damage I inflicted on my table (blogged about here), I thought okay, maybe it wasn't so ridiculous after all.

Pictured is my dining room table in my beloved Minneapolis home. Picture was taken in 2006.

It took a little work, but I found exactly what I wanted online. Hard upper surface and soft under surface. The price was okay. I would prefer it be cheaper, but this was the area I expected it to be in, so yeah.

The instructions about measuring the table were on the site, but it also mentioned that if I had the make and model of my table, that they'd already have the information. Surely, I had this, right?

Did they email receipts in 2006 when I bought the table? Hmm.

I started a search of my email. And yes, I do have email back to 2006. I keep every email that might mean something some day, especially anything related to my writing.

A couple of searches didn't turn up any information. I tried to remember where I'd bought it, but drew a blank, so I couldn't search for the store name. It's also possible that in 2006, email receipts were not a thing yet. I can't recall this either.

That leaves me with one final hope--that I kept the paper receipt.

It's a possibility. My mom was adamant that I hang on to any receipt where the total was high enough to warrant special handling. The table would have fallen into this price range and I think I had some kind of extended agreement on the chairs in case they got marks on them and they wouldn't come out, so I would have needed the receipt for that.

If only I could figure out which credit card I used and where that file is. The hunt continues.

ETA: I can't find a receipt anywhere (so far), but I took a picture of the label on the underside of the table. I also used the Wayback Machine to check out the manufacturer's website and the store I'm (mostly) sure I bought it from. No luck on model name.

Adventures in Healing

Another December story. Also sort of medical related.

I went to see my family doctor. My wrist has been hurting since like July or August. Most of time, it doesn't bother me, but then I'll move it a certain way and get a stab of pain that makes me rethink ever making that motion again.

It was X-Rayed, but as I expected, the bone was fine. So my doctor sent a prescription to my pharmacy for Voltaren gel and gave me a written prescription for a wrist brace to wear at night. This is our first line of attack to get this thing healed up.

So before I even get to my car after my appointment, my phone buzzes to let me know I have a text. The pharmacy wants me to call them. I tried, but their phone tree was ridiculous and not setup to handle someone calling them because of a text. At least the voice tree lady didn't understand what I wanted and I gave up. I checked my app, and the prescription showed in work, ready by noon. Okay, I thought, I must not need to call them. They're working on it.

Around 12:20, I check my app again because they haven't sent me a text that my prescription is ready. According to the app, not only is there nothing ready, it's not even in work any longer. Now I call the pharmacy again. I don't know how I made it past the phone tree, but somehow I got a real person.

The assistant or whatever they're called says something along the lines of, you were texted to call, which irritated me. To make a long story short, insurance rejected it with the note that I should buy over the counter Voltaren. That's right, insurance wants me to buy OTC, so they don't have to pay anything and that gel is expensive.

But it gets better. My doctor told me to take my prescription for the brace to a medical supply place, but didn't tell me the names of any. My insurance company's phone app was no help, so I went online on my laptop to their website and they had a whole slew of companies listed.

With no mention of which medical supplies they carried.

I tried a few websites, but one was for like catheters and things like this and another had wheelchairs and mobility devices. And some had no website at all!

The next day, I called my insurance company. That's right. Me, who hates the phone with the fire of a thousand suns had to make a phone call. I got a super nice lady and she did the checking for me. She found three companies that would mail the item to my house and even made a call to the first one on the list for me.

It went downhill from here.

First person I talked to at this supply company: You need the home division.

Second person I talked to: Oh, you're a new customer? You need to talk to the department that handles onboarding.

Third person: Your insurance doesn't cover any wrist braces.

After getting off that call, I looked at my list of two other companies, said to hell with it, and spent less than $40 at Amazon to get the wrist brace.

Doctors and Nurses are Superheroes

Before Christmas, my dad had a follow-up appointment at his cardiologist's office. I was sitting in the waiting room, watching HGTV and playing on my phone while he was back in whatever room they'd put him in. This has happened dozens and dozens of times, but today was a little different.

The cardiologists' office is right off the building's lobby, and because of COVID, they don't close the door to their offices. Which means it gets loud as people come and go from the building.

And then there was the loudness in the waiting room itself. It made it hard to listen to the show on the television and I was sitting at the very front of the waiting room, pretty much as close to the TV as I could get.

Then there was a noise I hadn't really heard before in the time I'd been sitting there. Then a voice, which sounded elderly and feeble.

There were two ladies checking people in at the desk. "Do you need help?" one of them called. The answer was yes.

What happened next was incredibly impressive.

The two women flew out from behind the desk and rushed out of the office. Nurses and doctors from the cardiologists' office raced out from the back, where they see patients. Another nurse got on the phone and called 9-1-1. Everyone moved with purpose and I guessed that they probably trained for emergencies like this since it is the office for heart doctors.

My dad told me later that his doctor apologized for leaving him waiting, but he'd been one of the staff helping the person in the lobby. He told my dad that the person would be okay. (Just in case you were worrying.)

The ladies returned back to their check-in desk, some of the medical staff returned to the back of the offices, but other medical personnel stayed with whoever was in the lobby.

I couldn't see anything that was going on, not without getting up and walking over to the doorway, and not only would gawking be rude, but there was also the chance I could have gotten in the way of someone returning to the person's side. I'm assuming it was an elderly man and that his wife had been the one who'd called for help, but this is only a guess on my part. Another guess on my part was that he fell. I don't think it was a heart attack from what I saw and heard.

The paramedics and fire truck arrived. I saw them turn in, lights on, but no siren. I heard their radios as they took care of the person. And only after they left with the patient did the rest of the nurses return to their normal jobs. One came back with a pillow. I hadn't seen her go out with it, but someone had thought to bring a pillow for the man.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting in the waiting room, tearing up because it was so easy to imagine that it could have been someone I care about. It also made me grateful that there are men and women who not only knew what to do, but who raced to help. In a world where too many people only care about themselves, it was incredible to see.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, my friends! May 2022 be an oasis of health and well being.

Fun Facts on the Paladin League

My idea is to keep this blog post short. I'm on vacation this week from the day job and my plan is to spend a lot of time writing Wicked Deception.

I thought I'd talk a bit about the Paladin League series in general. Some things that have popped into my head recently.

Has anyone noticed that the titles reflect the villain in the book? Obsession has a villain who is obsessed with revenge. Intention has a bad guy who has bad intentions for the weapons he wants to purchase. Salvation has the antagonist who wants to save his country even if it means doing illegal things. And Deception? Well, you'll have to read it and find out, right? ;-)

I think I blogged about this before--about Zo being a Cancer and Finn being Capricorn. I don't normally use astrological signs for my characters, but I was reading a website with some basic sign information and I was like, yeah, that fits them. Since the characters had already been in my head for ten years, it wasn't like I used the details to "create" them. This was more of a validation of who they are. Both signs like to stay home and they're both intensely loyal to those they love--which is totally Finn and Zo.

Because Zo likes to stay home and is an introvert, I was a little surprised to find out that she was the glue who holds a variety of friendships together. Most notably for the series is the relationship between the heroines of the four books. I've had vignettes show up in my head of Finn and Zo's wedding and the women think of themselves as a group of sisters. Three of them are only children and  Cat is the only girl (and the youngest) in her family.

Last fun(?) fact: I've been having more difficulty than usual focusing on Kyle and Marianna. Part of the issue is Finn and Zo are still in my head. The other part of the problem is who Kyle and Mari are. Kyle was stirring the pot in Griff's story, but he hasn't done any of that yet in his own book. I'm guessing because I'm in his head and so 99% of his life is not stirring the pot. I'm also chalking some of it up to working at the convent. Kyle really is a good Catholic boy and he's on his best behavior. So far.

Mari has also been a problem for me. I know who she was before she went on the run, but I'm still trying to get a handle on who she is now. She actually started changing when she dropped out of her doctorate program to return to Puerto Jardin, but she was enough of who she was before this that I felt comfortable with her. But nearly three years on the run hasn't left much of the lighthearted girl she used to be.

Merry Christmas!

For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas!