Jen FitzGerald's Blog, page 27

USS Alabama & USS Drum

While in Alabama, DD and I spent a couple of hours tromping around two decommissioned naval vessels from World War II -- the battleship USS Alabama and the submarine USS Drum.

Here are some cool pictures for a quick view, but if you're interested in perusing all 180+ images, follow this link!

Have a great weekend!

Whirlwind Road Trip

Well, we did it...

DD and me went on our whirlwind road trip to Alabama to visit the two Buc-cee's locations there.

On the way home, we also stopped at a Buc-cee's on the very outskirts of the Metroplex that we just hadn't had a chance to get to.

Pictures or it didn't happen right??

Beach Express location just east of Mobile.

Leeds location just east of Birmingham.

The Terrell location didn't have the city name on the sign, but here's a pic of the store... You're just going to have to trust me. :0)

While we were in Mobile, we did visit the USS Alabama and the USS Drum. Pictures will be along on Friday.

Hope you're having a great week. Catch you Friday.

Activate Reading Mode

Since the whole cookie book incident--I'm calling it that because the whole thing has really rankled me--I haven't felt much like writing or editing. The Dallas Stars schedule is not helping matters.

Regardless of my excuses, I really need to get to work. Instead...

I'm reading. A lot. Also--sleeping. See the aforementioned hockey schedule... I know, I know. I don't have to watch or go to hockey games. But I paid for the tickets, so I sorta do have to go, unless they get sold.

I probably won't get much work done between now and Tuesday since DD and I are going on a road trip this weekend. Once I'm back, it's back to work.

Back to a lot of things.

While I have been cooking healthy meals for dinner for DH, I'm otherwise eating a lot of stuff I shouldn't a not exercising much.

So...better eating habits, better exercise habits, better writerly habits.

Sometimes, though, you need a mental health break.

Hope you're having a great week.

Happy International Women's Day

to all the women who are pioneers in the movement for gender equality.

My mom was one of those women, in a sense. She was a single mom from the time I was two. I don't know all the challenges she had to face in being a woman on her own with a small child, but she stood on her own two feet, did what she needed to do,

Thanks, Mom! I love you. Hope you're having a super day.

It's barely mid-day as I write this, but it's already bee...

It's barely mid-day as I write this, but it's already been a day, and I'm ready for it to be Friday at 5pm right now.

I could use a bubble bath and a drink and I don't say either of those things often. :0)

We've probably had in combination two dozen phone calls or emails for service calls this morning. Usually we're sitting at six to ten by this point in the day... Yeesh.

On top of that, my writers group is having some issues, so as "leadership" and for other reasons, I'm on call to help sort through that.

So that's my day.

And last night the Stars lost yet again. So it appears that this season is just going to be a wash due to injuries to key players and the very condensed schedule. They actually played well last night, but the other team's goalie and his goalposts kept us off the scoresheet. 😕

Hope your week is going better than mine! Take care and catch you on Friday.

Monday Morning Blues...

😑

I have them but not really because it's Monday. More because it's gloomy and raining, because my Dallas Stars have lost nine out of their last eleven games, and because there are some changes going on at work.

In Texas, all rain is good, even if several inches of snow melted into the coffers. But it's been cloudy for days and I'm ready for a bit of sunshine.

The outcome of sport shouldn't really have an effect and I know this, but it still stinks.

The changes at work aren't bad, but the transition is nerve wracking for me. (Also remembering that "change" is one of my words for the year. :0))

* * * * *

I spent a lot of writing time this weekend revising the cookie book for re-submission. My goal is to have them done and the new chapter one sent in by Thursday mid-morning. Theoretically, I could send chapter one in now, but I want to make sure I have the thread of resulting tweaks as close to complete as possible as well--just in case she requests the whole immediately.

KETO meals are going well. We've tried a couple new recipes and I have chicken-stuffed cabbage enchiladas on the menu for this week.

The dog got walked Sunday. I completely forgot on Saturday. It's easier to remember on Sunday because she gets bathed on Sunday afternoons, so the walk is the last thing she does to get stinky before we hop in the shower.

As you can see, there's not much going on...just the usual. Two weeks from now I'll be on my way back from a little jaunt to Alabama...

Yep, DD and I are making our run to the Buc-cee's just east of Mobile. I've been saving up my trips.

Hope you had a good weekend. Catch you on Wednesday.

Squirrell!

My darling DD caught sight of these in Dollar Tree the other day and brought them home to me. They definitely brightened my day as well as my week, which didn't start off great. It's ending on a better note, thanks goodness, but I'm glad it's the weekend. (They're salt & pepper shakers, if you couldn't tell.)

I heard back from the online publisher to whom I submitted "the cookie book" I mentioned a few weeks ago. It wasn't a request for the full, so that really bummed me out. I'd had my own doubts about the opening chapter, which was all that I was allowed to submit for the query, but I wanted to get it off my plate and didn't listen to my gut. So while I'm not surprised or devastated at this point, it did sting a little on Monday.

The editor did invite me to revise and re-submit, giving me until the end of next week to get it back to her for possible inclusion in this year's anthology. So guess what I'll be working on this weekend and into next week? There's not a whole lot of work to do so I should be able to get the alterations done and a new query sent...

Anyway, hope you're well and have a great weekend.

National Pink Shirt Day

So today is Pink Shirt Day... the national day to stand against bullying. It's always the last Wednesday of February each year, so the actual date will shift from year to year.

Back in 2007, a couple of young men in high school witnessed the bullying of another student at their school for no other reason than that he was wearing a pink shirt. I'm assuming it was a "he" even though it wasn't specified since no one would ever bully a girl for wearing pink.

These two young men were apparently able to get the vast majority of their fellow students (of the whole school)  to wear a pink shirt the following day in protest of the previous day's incident...

And Pink Day was winked into existence!

* * * * *

In other news... I actually have some other news...

Guess who took the dog for a walk this past weekend?? Yep, me.

Guess who walked started walking to the post office again? Yep, me.

Guess who's cooking more than once a week? Yep, me again.

Hope you're having a great week. Catch you on Friday.

Sidney Crosby Day

 

My boy Sidney Crosby played in his 1000th hockey game this past Saturday. The tributes made by his teammates and friends were touching.

The mayor of Pittsburgh deemed Saturday, February 20, 2021 Sidney Crosby Day in his honor. Sidney was the savior of hockey in Pittsburgh especially, but some could argue for the league as a whole as well.

He was the Number 1 Draft Pick back in 2005 and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins who were in possession of the number one pick.

He's had an amazing career earning himself not only multiple, multiple individual awards, but three Stanley Cups, two Olympic golds, and a gold medal at the World Cup of Hockey and World Juniors.

Here's to many more...

God is Amazing...

Texas does not get a lot of ice, snow, or below freezing temperatures as a general rule. We certainly don't get any one of those things or more than a day or two and rarely if ever piled on top of one another. But here we are...

Despite the layer cake of weather phenomena...we still have the birds and the squirrels.

 

Most creatures down here are acclimated to what we do get, but what was amazing to see was that critters like the birds and the squirrels must have the ability to withstand this kind of weather written in their DNA. They may not have to utilize those strands very often in their lifetime--but when they need them, they work. :0)

Our standard cadre of squirrels has shown up every day. Our usual number is six, but we've seen up to eight. They come and eat until mid-to-late afternoon and then off they go to burrow into their nests for the night. I can see several nests in the surrounding treetops.

The birds, too, have shown up. Even some species we don't normally see in our yard...the grackles.

Anyhow, we survived weather-pocalypse and, by this afternoon/evening, our temps will rise above freezing and remain there for the foreseeable future.

Have a great warmer weekend. Take care now.