March First - A Watershed Day

A lot of months tiptoe into our lives. We look up at our calendars and realize the sheet facing us is out of date - *yawn*. We shuffle over to the calendar, flip the page to the current month, take a look at the new picture - *yawn*. We hang the calendar back up on the wall, and then ignore it with few exceptions until the next month catches us belatedly changing the page again. But March isn't like that - no...March has teeth.

In like a lion and out like a lamb - but also the
snowiest month in Minnesota.

March begins B2ME - Back to Middle Earth - month. B2ME means some fairly intensive writing for the month, but I'm still working on illustrations and writing, although it will be done, won't be done with the same intensity as previous years. Last year's B2ME was super-intense, resulting in my writing more than sixty stories in the thirty-one days. The year before, the Passport year, resulted in 31 stories written and a fully stamped passport. I didn't participate in 2010, although I read a lot of excellent fic that was posted for the month's prompts and geographical goals. I'm looking forward to participating again, but I'm relieved that this year won't have the over-the-top intensity of last year.

All 31 stamps for my Back to Middle Earth 2011 Passport.
2011 was my first year of participating in this month-long challenge.

I finally had a chance, over the past two days, to catch up on some reading of fanfic - something that I was WAY behind on. Of course I immediately dove into the literary waters of Fiondil because I adore his writing and because I was super behind on his latest story. By the end of yesterday I had brought myself up to date with his current story and finally had the opportunity to read his holiday story. Now to catch up with the second half of Elf Academy II and I'll be back up and running. I really hate falling this far behind, but my own writing has to float to the top of my "to-do" list, then I can concentrate on reading, illustrating, housecleaning and other things that seem to occupy my days. Now if I could just eliminate work from the mix I'd have the time to do more... Dreams...

So pleasant to have my nose in a book again!

We are Popeless, and the Pope didn't even die. The German Shepherd (Pope Benny) has now been whisked away viz helicopter to seclusion. He will not be seen in public again and I'm not having any problem with that. The Cardinals have gathered and a new Pope will be elected, hopefully one with a more progressive viewpoint who can fess up to the problems within the Church and bring it into current times and values - kicking and screaming every step of the way, I'm sure.  In any case, Pope Benny made sure that his name would go down in history as the first Pope to resign in the past 600 years. Talk about job security...

Good-bye to the German Shepherd - Pope Benedict.
Enjoy your retirement.

Happy Friday, enjoy your day. I'll be treating myself and my DH to McDonald's fish sandwiches for dinner tonight (and yes, we love them and it is a treat for us). I hope each of you have an absolutely awesome day and end up your Friday on a high note.