Retreat: Day One: Arrival

Here I am! 

I made it here in good time and didn't almost die on the highway this time. I stopped for ice and tea for one of my retreat mates. And I forgot the ice. Of course. But the fridge here makes ice and the ice tastes fine so unless something happens, I'm not going back out. 

I have organized my room, ate some cheese crackers, and changed into my comfy pants. We've had a short session of talking and now everyone is getting stuff done. 

Or trying to. 

I didn't forward work calls and my phone has been going off constantly. It's a crap shoot though. Some days no calls come through. Other days it's reminiscent of being at the switchboard where you're putting people on hold to answer three other lines. Oh well. It is what it is. I only have another hour and a half to deal with it. Oh. And all day tomorrow. If it gets bad, I'll have my boss switch the lines, but I don't expect it to be a problem. 

The view is so beautiful here. I'm currently sitting on a super comfy couch with a built in footrest, facing woods and rolling hills. I have a new document open and I'm ready to begin. 

And that's it for now...

Behave! 

Almost Time!

This time tomorrow I'll be about an hour away from heading to retreat! (I mean, if this blog posts at the time it's supposed to!) 

I have collected my meals and just have to do laundry and pack clothes and my computer. 

I ready to restart this book. I've been writing copious notes and thoughts on how I need it to be and that's been helping my brain get in the right space. Yeah, I could have started it before, but it feels symbolic to begin again on retreat. 

That's all until retreat starts! 

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up

This weather needs to get its act together. Either rain or snow, but if it's going to be snow, then bring it! It looks like it's snowing now though. I have no idea what's going to happen. 

Here we are at Sunday evening again. Okay, it's not quite evening... or is it? 

Anyway... here's the Sunday list:

1. Not getting to sleep in on Saturday since the construction guys started banging things at 6:30. Technically, I guess I got an hour more than normal, but since I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep, I don't think it counts. 

2. Getting our shopping done ahead of the "milk, bread, and eggs" crowd. 

3. Making something new for our Saturday evening plans. Cannoli dip. It turned out really well! 

4. Paint night with friends. It was a blast. That Man even painted and his turned out so good! Mine looks like a baby owl. (We painted owls) His looks like it was supposed to. He's far more artistic than I am. 

5. Sleeping in this morning. It was lovely.

6. Waking up to "breakfast pizza" made by That Man. And coffee. 

7. Retreat in 3.5 days!!

8. Mac and cheese for dinner. We made a meal for folks that had a really hard week and just doubled it so we had dinner too. So technically dinner was made by noon. 

9. Chocolate chip cookies. 

That's all I have...

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Yay! It's Friday!

It's raining here! And it's cold. Not freezing, but cold and damp. It makes me want to take a nap...

Here's my list:

1. Retreat in less than a week. 

2. Pizza for dinner. No cooking! 

3. Texting with K5. 

4. Sleeping in tomorrow. 

5. That Man and I making plans for a solo weekend. 

6. Weekend plans. 

7. The cleaning out of old papers that has occurred in my house. (Still no documents)

That's it...

Behave! 

Stuff & Things

In one week, I will be on retreat! 

I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to the days of solid writing, the companionship of friends, and the peaceful setting. 

Writing has been slow this week. I'm on a mission to find some documents that aren't where they were supposed to be. So far, I have unloaded my house with tons of unneeded papers and things that don't need to be kept. I have a few more places to look -- well, more like go through places again because maybe I missed them? IDK, it's exhausting and satisfying.

Anyway. I'm willing to forgive myself for the lack of words on the page. Besides the above, I'm not super happy with how things are going. It's like I'm missing something. Which I think is my brain keeps going back to how it was originally written and that's not how I want it. Working through that and I will overcome. I'm still very excited for this story. 

What else? Not much. Same old around the homestead. 

And that is all...

Behave!  

Weekend Wrap Up

That Man woke up this morning thinking it was Monday. That's a hateful way to start a Sunday morning! Sunday's are hard enough! 

It's been a decent weekend. The book signing yesterday was a lot of fun. I sold books, which is awesome (and also made me feel like I made the right decision canceling next month's signing). I don't have many left at all. Anyway. I got to see old friends and catch up a bit. K3 & A stopped by, as well as my sister and niece. 

It's sad though thinking that'll be my very last signing for a while. I love that event so much. Last year was the only year I missed and I likely could have done it but had no idea where I'd be with my recovery when the time to make a commitment came. 

We had a nice dinner at home and a chill evening. We even sat outside in the sun for a while. 

Today was errands, laundry, blah blah blah. I did get a decent word count and it's going well, though I'm going to have to tighten things up before I go too much farther. Or I'll wait and do it while doing edits. We'll see. 

And that's all I have. 

Behave! 

Positives...

In an effort to shake off the negativity seemingly all around me, here is my positivity list for today...

1. Being done with taxes. (I do have to write some checks but the main work is done)

2. A warm house. 

3. My dog still hanging in there. Every day she continues to have her spark is precious right now. 

4. The booksigning coming up this weekend. I'm excited and nervous. 

5. The weather is a lot warmer today. 

6. Trying new recipes with That Man and laughing when they don't turn out as good as they looked. Ha! 

7. Spring is coming. 

8. Being excited to write again. 

9. My kids. They're awesome and make me laugh. 

10. That Man. I couldn't ask for better. 

11. Retreat coming up. 

That's good for now. There are many more positives, but my list is likely boring to you. Ha! 

Staying off social media has been a huge help as far as me trying to stay positive. I'm not missing it at all. 

That is all...

Behave!