Jen FitzGerald's Blog, page 106

Second Quarter Goal Review

So the second quarter of the year has come and gone and it's time once again to report on how I'm doing toward my goals...

Remember, they're listed on the left there. Let's take them one by one...

1) do more crafts  -- check -- I finished the last two cross stitched Christmas ornaments


I do admit that only because I wanted to start on a new cross stitch project and couldn't justify it without finishing these.

I also did a little fan girl project... the door to 221B Baker Street in miniature. I made one for myself and one for my fellow Benedict Cumberbatch fan girl Janie Crouch.


2) self-publish a book -- in progress actually -- The first very rough draft is finished and waiting for serious revisions. I lack certain skills and have taking class after class trying to hone them. Not making much progress and so I will have to just knuckle down and trust whatever writing skills/instincts I have to pull it off. But it's scary.

3) research degree programs -- haven't thought about this one in a few months, to be honest... I was busy writing the book and then fireworks season happened, so...

4) work on the yards -- between a rainy spring and fireworks season and laziness, I haven't done much. Then the mower broke and so I have a jungle. I think we're going to take a bit of the funds we made from fireworks and pay someone to clean it up nice. Then we can maintain. After we fix the mower and buy a new weed whacker.

5) ramp up the proofreading -- I did great for the first half of the year, not doing so great at the moment. I need to put out a few more feelers out into the universe.

6) clean up/clean out the house -- not much going on there. I was super lazy while DH was away selling fireworks. But I'm ready to get back on the housekeeping wagon.

7) get healthy and well -- haven't invested much time and effort into this lately either, but I can definitely feel the difference. Now that DH is home, life can back to normal in all ways.

8) write 2500 words a week -- that'd be 65,000 words by now and I don't have it. My book is at 30K and the fics I've written equal approximately 18.5K, so that's only 48Kish all total...

9) read 3 million words -- yeah, covered that by February. I'm just over 8 million right now...

10) reach the 120lb. mark -- not doing so hot there -- gained 10 pounds over the last two months, so obviously my eating and exercise habits also need to get back on track

And there you have it... doing good on some, not so good on others. But it's been helpful to review and see what's what so that I can make the proper adjustments.

How about you? How are you doing on your goals for the year?

Back to normal...

We've survived another 4th of July season at the fireworks store and this time without Sonshine. I missed him to be sure, but I miss him all the time anyway. I know DH missed him a lot as he was down at the there store for the whole season without Sonshine's company and general/daily help.

This was Friday June 26--we def could have used Sonshine's help.
It was a strange and frustrating season too since the state of Texas/McLennan county have been working on the highways and byways of Texas--including our section of I-35 and the frontage road right in front of the store. Well, the actual highway work is done, but the frontage road is still a work in progress and has caused a lot of hassle and loss of sales these past few years. Hopefully by next season (Christmas/New Years), this section of the frontage road will also be complete.

And if that weren't enough, of course, there are other fireworks stands and stores in a general vicinity that we compete with. Two are going out of business, so that just leaves a stand...DH is thinking of trying to rent that space himself. We'll see what happens.

On an up note, I was managing the customers and the store for a bit, while DH was managing the parking lot after letting the guy we originally hired go. (That guy just wanted to sit in the shade and listen to his music and play on his phone...)  DH usually orchestrates the inside--getting customers to sales people, keeping the product on the shelves, but I got to take on that role and I didn't do too badly considering my lack of knowledge on what products we had in the storage area to re-stock with.

If we'd had Sonshine, he'd have known. Of course, he'd probably have been relegated to parking lot duty had he been there. :)  If I'd had one more sales person and one "runner," it would have been a little easier, but we made it through the huge rush, usually the four or five hours prior to dusk, without our shelves looking too awful. That's one thing we always try to do--keep the shelves full, so people always know they can find what they want right up until midnight. Fireworks don't go bad unless they get wet, so we store them for the next season.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Happy Fourth of July

Sadly, our flag is becoming offensive to many, though they have no qualms about accepting all that our flag stands for and offers. Our country is being denigrated and made a laughing stock from within and from the top rungs of leadership. It makes me really sad.

I'm waiting and hoping for the day to come soon when the real reason we have the Second Amendment comes into play and America's citizens say no more. It'll be a scary time, but our country needs us.

Now go out and celebrate what's left of our freedom before it's gone.

Sad day...

I have to attend a visitation this evening... Sadly, the father of DD's best friend and room mate (two different people, but brother and sister), died this past Monday. He'd been diagnosed with a brain tumor early last year and had undergone treatment and surgery. It seemed to have done the trick and then, well, it game back and was a bit more aggressive and then there wasn't anything to be done. They had to put him in the hospital last week and sedate him heavily as things were getting bad.

For the first time in my life I really know how other people feel. It'll be six years in November that my own dad died. That it had actually been six years surprised me. I guess I don't count the years that often, but I remember the last days in the hospital with my brothers and sisters and step mom. I remember the decision to take Dad off life support and then the waiting for him to decide it was okay for him to go. I even remember the time of death.

So anyway, while I'd only met the man and his wife once, his children are important to my child and so I shall go and support her and express my heartfelt condolences for their loss. I know it all too well.

Music Monday -- The British Invasion

No, I'm not talking about The Beatles or the Rolling Stones. As you well know by now, I was a teen in the 80s. I think music is an important part of most teenagers' lives no matter what genre they favor. Mom listened mostly to country music, which I still enjoy as previous Music Mondays can attest. But my listening pleasures were also influenced by me peers. In addition to that, I actually lived in the U.K. for about seven months in 1983.


So let's take another little trip down memory lane, British Invasion Style. Today's offering from artists across The Pond are...

Paul Young - Every Time You Go Away



Tracey Ullman - You Broke My Heart in Seventeen Places



UB40 - Red Red Wine



Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On, Eileen


Hope you have a super week.

Summer Sunflower

My sunflower is close to seven feet now and there's one blooming, and several others getting ready to bloom.

Ten days ago...

 Yesterday...


I love summer flowers and I definitely want more.

What about you?

Music Monday

Sorry I'm running late today... usually I think about this post on Sunday, but I just didn't get around to it.

Today, let's talk ABBA! This was a group I was familiar with from elementary age because my mother came from Denmark, and while I was visiting Denmark and grandparents around aged eight or nine, we happened to see ABBA on the TV.

So some fun facts about ABBA--

1) They are the second best selling music group of all time after the Beatles.
2) ABBA was the first group to come from a non-English-speaking country to enjoy consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries.
3)  They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 at the Dome in Brighton, UK, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest and were the most successful group ever to take part in the competition.
4) ABBA is an acronym of the first letters of the band members' first names.
5) The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 15 March 2010.

I have loved their music since that trip to Denmark, even when it wasn't so cool to be an ABBA fan--you know those junior high and high school years. And I love them to this day, although I haven't listened to them in a while.

Probably the most known/popular ABBA song is Dancing Queen.


Two of my faves include...

Lay All Your Love on Me



and Does Your Mother Know



Are you an ABBA fan? What you're favorite song??

Squirrel Post...

Along with not talking about the yard much, I haven't mentioned my backyard babies much either. I was pleased to discover that I in fact have a squirrel nest in one of my trees!


The grass up close to the patio and around the tree is also littered with small divots where they've been digging up their stash of acorns...







A couple of weeks ago, I was treated to this little guy right outside my home office window.





Anyway--have a great weekend!!!

You know what I haven't posted a lot about so far this year...?

My back yard! So what's going on with it these days?? Not much really. We had so much rain through April and May that it was all we could do to keep it mowed. There was no time or effort left over for much else. But June brought heat and things are drying out. I did trim up the azalea bush and weed one of the flower beds, so it's looking rather nice. Now if only the wisteria would bloom. I'll have to do a little research on that. The lemon slice super bells are blooming, though...


Now, my other flower bed was flooded by all the rain and gets regularly trampled on by the dog, so it's a lost cause. There's a flower bed kit at The Home Depot I'm saving up for though. And it'll go in this spot. It'll be raised up a bit and I'll probably invest in some decorative fencing to keep the dog out too.


I found this vinca growing up out of the spaces in the patio.


And I have a sunflower growing in the bird feeder bed...it's taller than me now. I can't wait till it blooms.


Have a great rest of the week!

What a great week!!!

As I announced on Friday, it was my birthday, and I'd been having a good week until then. Well, the week just got better!

The JAG gals and I went out to eat on Friday as per ususal, and I was given birthday cards and presents! They even sang me happy birthday and paid for my dinner. I had such a wonderful time catching up, talking, laughing, and generally bonding with these women.

Friday I shared a group photo from five years ago when we visited the USS Lexington. Here's this year's group photo.

Saturday was another day of fun, just laughing and talking.

Then I found out my super celebrity crush Benedict Cumberbatch's baby was born--so do I share a birthday with the Cumberbaby??? How cool would that be?? (My wedding anniversary is the same day as BC's birthday!)

Sunday, I had lunch with my dear friend Nancy. Our visit was fantastic as usual. Our topics of conversation range far and wide and I love that so much. I also had birthday dinner with DH and DD along with DD's BFF. They ate, but I'd had enough food over the course of the weekend that I was too full to eat. So I just had dessert.

And that was my super fantastic birthday week. I'll be making pupcakes (pumpkin cupcakes) for next week's writers group. :)

Hope you had a great weekend too!