Coffee, Tobacco and Caffeine - The Big Three

This week I'm extremely thankful that I gave up my use of tobacco almost 20 years ago. My nutrition program has ordered a "holiday" from all alcohol, tobacco and caffeine products beginning yesterday and I know some people will have a really hard time doing that. For people who signed on thinking this was a diet program, they might be in a world of hurt starting this week. 

The big three - Alcohol, Tobacco and Caffeine. These 
three substances are all highly addictive and extremely 
difficult to abandon. 

Of course, there's no "WildFit Police" hovering over us making sure we abstain and follow program. This isn't a cult where they gather everyone into a single room and rant and rave for hours until people are totally brainwashed. No poisoned Kool-aid here. The three items - tobacco, liquor and coffee/tea are the Big Three - the substances that get into us and under our skin, and they feature large multi-barbed hooks. Why abandon the Big Three? We're supposed to be learning how to listen to our bodies and help our bodies flourish. Part of listening is paying attention to these three also, even though they aren't actually food items. They can, and do, affect nutrition. 

Smoke, of course, has a distinctive odor. I always 
wondered why the Fellowship didn't get attached at 
the crossroads in Moria since Gandalf saw fit to 
light up his pipe at the junction while he thought 
about where to do. Then again ... the many times 
Aragorn and Gandalf stopped for a smoke, let alone 
the hobbits, the orcs would have been all over 
them, drawn by the scent. 

I quit tobacco when I had a surgical procedure that would keep me in the hospital for three days, on pain killers for one of those days. I had been trying on and off for more than a decade, to put the cigarettes down and not pick them up again. DH had quit years earlier - just put his pack into his desk drawer and never took them out again. My father quit his pipe smoking the same way - just put it down and never picked it up again. I wasn't that strong (nor was my mother who smoked even into her Alzheimer's years). I tried and failed and tried once again. 

When I was raised, most adults smoked. My aunt Vera 
never smoked, but almost every other adult in my life 
was attached to tobacco products. It's a hard addiction 
to just shelve for a period of time, and I'm quite sure 
not everyone will be able to simply put them aside. 

I figured an opportunity like my surgery wouldn't come around twice in my life and I had to take advantage of it. So I had one last cigarette while being driven to the hospital, and didn't touch it again. The drugs they had me on for the first 24 hours helped the initial withdrawal, and I just left it behind me when I returned home 72 hours later. 

I'm sure we've all had days like this. Fortunately, 
I haven't had many of them. 

So, to get back to what turned into today's topic - I'm eternally grateful I had the opportunity to put tobacco out of my life in 2002. I left coffee behind me when we shut down for Covid last year, so that's been more than a year, and I drink alcohol rarely - I enjoy it in my tea sometimes, and I like our Margaritas on the patio in the summers. Still - the big three have lost a lot of their power over me. Time to focus and celebrate and get the rest of my life into my own control once again. On that note, I'm out of here. Have a wonderful day - be well, stay safe and please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

How Can It Be Monday Once Again?!?

I call this time of the year 'schizophrenic' because our weather can range from snow one day to 60 F temps the next. But as this craziness works its way into April, the show piles are beginning to melt, the bare branches of the trees are beginning to look more fuzzy and fuller, and the first green blades of grass are peeking from the fields of brown left by melted snow pack. Those who enjoy winter sports are moving them indoors - the outside ice rinks are beginning to melt down, the ski slope 'resorts' are only operating with manufactured snow to augment the remaining snow pack, and the cross country skiers are simply out of luck. Me? I can live with it. As long as we don't get a really fast thaw, we won't flood and if we can dodge that bullet, my spring will be perfect. The end of March through end of April are dangerous times for my home, so I'm crossing my fingers and toes and enjoying the fact that I can wear jackets other than down.

This lovely picture is ice melt ponds in the Arctic Sea, but this is happening on
a much smaller scale at every frozen lake in my state. Given that we have more
than 10,000 of those lakes, there's a lot of melting going on. 

That said, we'll still have snow for at least another week or two. It probably won't stick, but it will be enough to make traffic a headache. It will melt soon, but melting snow and ice refreezes overnight. This is the season for slipping on the ice and the injuries that come with that. Since I have osteoporosis, I try to be a bit cautious about ice as I'm walking to and fro.

I'm thinking perhaps some ice traction like these or like Yak Tracks
might be the way to go while we're in our freeze/melt cycle. 

I need a new travel coffee mug. I purchased my mug in January 2001 at Caribou Coffee because I wanted a cranberry colored travel mug to match my new PT Cruiser. I still own my Cruiser and I still use my coffee mug every work day. I used to have an acquaintance who sat nearby at our old Caribou hangout (before they remodeled) who also had one of these mugs, but he lost his. To the best of my knowledge, I have the oldest travel mug in continuous use in my immediate group of friends and acquaintances. But it leaks. Just sometimes and not predictably, but it can be very inconvenient if it drips onto a clean blouse before my work day begins. Caribou emailed me a picture of a new mug they will offer starting tomorrow. It's green, and it looks as though the bottom will be the right size for my cupholders. If so, I might consider it. But then again, a little leak vs saying goodbye to an old and faithful friend? I'll probably end up dreaming but not taking action.

My cup holders in my car are rather narrow. I've been caught
before by purchasing a new mug that didn't fit properly. If I
decide to buy a new one, I'll have to check that out carefully. 

For my friends who know how much I enjoy the writing of TJ Klune and how fantastic I found his relationship with Eric Arvin, another wonderful author, I have an update. Eric underwent emergency surgery in December to remove a cavernous hemangioma from his brain stem. He's doing well and TJ has hardly left his side. The artist, Paul Richmond, painted a great cover piece for Dreamspinner Press's anthology "Grand Adventures" and he gave the painting to Eric and TJ. With Dreamspinner's permission, he is selling prints of the artwork through their website, with 100% of the proceeds going to these two young and talented authors. If you enjoy reading their work, or like the artwork of Paul Richmond, you might want to consider purchasing a print for yourself or as a gift. Just follow the link. They are only available through April 30th.

And finally, for this Monday and last day of March, I wish only the best for you and yours today and through the month to come. March came in like a lion with snow, cold, freezing winds. It promised a fantastic lineup of authors and artists for B2MeM. It more than fulfilled that promise by presenting excellent stories and wonderful artwork throughout the month, accompanied by much milder temperatures by the end of the month. Lent is more than half-over, and Ostara has come and gone for another year. It was an eventful month. End it with a bang and get yourself ready for a new month starting tomorrow.

Weather is weather, you gotta love it! 

Happy Monday - Happy March 31st!

The Tax Man Commeth

Although personal income taxes aren't due for another month, corporate taxes are due on March 15th (pushed to the 17th because the 15th is a Saturday). I have to go on an insane amount of errands taking me all over the city from south to north before I open the shop today. What a mess. and I blame it all on taxes.

I wake up long before the sun rises, but I like my early, quiet time. 

Usually when I wake at my insane time of 3:15 am (yes - I do know that's ridiculously early) I have my mental schedule pretty nailed for the morning. It usually runs something like breakfast or coffee followed by opening the store with maybe a small in-between trip to the post office when they open, then back to the shop. Easy, peasy.

I usually walk to the drive-up tubes because I can't get turned into the
proper direction on the road outside the bank if I drive through. The traffic
is too heavy at this time of the day. But if I part in their little lot and walk up,
I can get to a stoplight easily to continue on my quest/errands. 

Sometimes I push one more thing into the schedule like a trip to the bank (30 minutes south of the shop) or the Chiropractor (30 minutes east) or my accountant (15 minutes north). Today is wonky and icky and crazy!

I love my local Caribou Coffee. I have several in easy reach, but
go to one slightly out of my way because I like the people who work
there so much. 

Today I will leave at my usual 6:00 am - 6:15 am and relax at my local coffee shop with my coffee and oatmeal until 7:15 or so. Then I will head south to the bank. From here, it will be 45 minutes to get there. Drop off the deposit - can't pay my tax bill if I don't deposit - then head back to the shop. I should be there around 8:00 am or so.

Traffic issues will totally mess with me! 

I'll turn on the equipment, drop off my laptop and get it turned on, and get things generally ready for the day. But I'll leave again - this time for the accountant's office. They don't open until 8:30 am and it will take me 20 minutes or so to get there.

Today is just intense - money going in just to go right back out *sigh*. 

I'll drop off their check and all of the signed forms I need to leave with them so they can file the taxes, then swing by the post office to mail notification to the Secretary of State with another check, and finally get back to the shop by 9:30 am - almost in time to open.

SHEESH!

If I run into any traffic issues or other things - I'm totally SCREWED! Good Friday to everyone...

Accomplishments and...and...

So I had to work on my Wednesday. That eliminated any possibility of doing my normal chores so Tuesday night I washed two loads of clothing (washed and dried one, rinsed and dried the second at 4 am the next morning) and Wednesday night I repeated the process for the linens - towels and sheets. I just finished pulling the final load out of the dryer. Ummmmm...warm and clean towels on a cold morning is a wonderful perk to a messed-up schedule.

There's something so fresh about clean, dry laundry.

Windows did an overnight update that screwed up my screen gadgets. Suddenly I don't have my screen clock and temperature mini-screen as well as my CPU usage graph. I'm NOT happy. I'll have to restart the computer and see if they come back after I'm finished with this blog.

I really don't like Windows updates *sigh*

The Minneapolis Home and Garden Show begins today. The concept of indoor garden displays, remodeling ideas and general color and warmth really appeals to DH and me, so we'll be going on Sunday. I was able to score a serious reduction in ticket cost through an online deal so I'm saving more than 60% on admission which will more than pay for my parking fees. I'll have to remember to bring a notebook to take notes about what we like and don't like.

DH said if we hadn't already had tickets to the Home and
Garden Show, he'd go to the Conservatory. We really need
a reminder that growing things and warm temperatures exist! 

I keep looking ahead to my retirement (which will happen at some point - I'm quite determined) and what I want to do. I want to write, work on my art, and travel and I want to do the larger travel while I'm still healthy enough to enjoy the trip. That means it will be my one-time opportunity to get to Europe and see lots of fabulous places, hopefully meeting up with some equally fabulous people and friends. One minute DH is planning an itinerary, the next he's not going anywhere. It will be interesting to see what will actually happen once we actually are able to plan seriously in a few years.

One nice way to travel through Europe might be on a river cruise. Since we
want to go to Florence, Venice, Vienna, Prague, Paris and other places, (or
at least I want to travel there - LOL) taking the river might be a really comfortable
way to travel from place to place. 

Despite the lack of my screen temperature icon, I know it's still frigid outdoors. But coffee is calling my name and I'm looking forward to my morning coffee and oatmeal. It might be a boring breakfast to some of you, but I absolutely love settling down with my computer, writing or reading, and having a nice, warm breakfast. I hope you have a totally fabulous Thursday.

Photo Blog Today - Princesses

Wednesdays are normally my day off, but Chickie is wandering Arizona on vacation this week and I have to work today. So, no time to shop or do errands, no time to bake chicken breasts for dinner, and no time to do laundry or talk with Aearwen. I still have to get my trash and recycling to the curb this morning, I have a load of laundry in the dryer right now, and I have to get my blog post completed. I think I need a break today, so I'll do a photo blog for all of us to enjoy today.

Princess Merida is much more my idea of a perfect princess. Determined,
athletic, and confident, she's a character with dimension and more
than just a political position. 

I was raised to be a princess. As an only child and spoiled (thank goodness my parents didn't have a lot of money so I couldn't be TOO spoiled), I was still considered to be the princess of the family. Silly, really. Who wants to be a princess? Too much work looking good and not enough challenge in daily life. Here are some princesses to look at with one at the end who is a bit closer to my ideal.

Since 1937, Disney has shaped the visual image of what a Princess
should look like and act like. No minority races existed in
Disney princesses until 1995's Pocahontas. 

Disney has shaped our ideas of what a princess should be like since the days when I was a small child. It's impossible to have matured as a female over the past 60+ years and not have Disney princess ideals thrown at you from every side.

Princess Aurora was the princess I grew up with. She was placed before
me as my ideal. I fell short in every area, except my eyes were vivid blue. But
my hair was dirty blonde and I didn't have the fancy clothes or good singing voice. 

I was already grown by the time Princess Ariel came on the scene. I haven't seen
the movie nor do I want to. The thing that drives me crazy about Princess Ariel is
how her hair seems to respond to gravity even though she's living in the ocean.
What's up with that? 

Princess Jasmine was a bit more pro-active, although not up to Princess Merida's
standards (above), but at least princesses were able to work for their own
improvement and have some adventures without just waiting for their prince to come
and rescue them. 

But if I were to be a princess, I'd rather be this warrior. She's
Princess Elencia of Crimea and she's bad-ass. Yeah - this is
much more my type of princess. 

Now to bundle up and grit my teeth while going out into -10 F degree temps (-20 F with wind chill). I think I really need my coffee today. FRIGID! I hope your day is warmer and that you are always promoting the princess or prince within you.

Stuff and Such

To start, on-demand came through and DH and I watched Sherlock, S3,E1 last night - The Empty Hearse. It was good. I liked it. Actually both of us liked it. I really like Mary - she's a perfect foil, and I loved who Molly ended up with - very funny. No spoilers here, just a recommendation to see it if you haven't. It's not the strongest episode they've ever had (an "off switch"? Really?) But, it was entertaining and it was fun to see Freeman and Cumberbatch in their familiar roles once again. All in all, it was lots of fun. I look forward to the rest of the episodes and I'm sure I'll buy the DVD when it becomes available.

Sherlock, Mary and John. I really like Mary - she's absolutely perfect
for this dynamic and she's a strong character in her own right. 

I am almost finished with my LOTR Community story and I have a good start on my B2MeM story, but for some reason my drabble for TW isn't jumping out at me. Hopefully something will come to me at the shop today, but right now I'm spinning my wheels on what should have been an easy prompt.

Sugar is the prompt this week for the drabble, and all I can
think of is that insipid song "A Spoonful of Sugar Makes
the Medicine Go Down" from Mary Poppins. That's NOT working
in with the rest of the prompts for this series. I have to make
something work out! 

We're back into the deep freeze today, so I'm bundling up and I am already planning my day because scheduling today is necessary. I have a dental checkup this morning, so that means a late meal *sigh* and no coffee *SIGH*. I'm totally non-functional in the morning without my coffee so this is serious! They always put this gunk on my teeth at the dentist to help convince cavities to leave me alone and find an easier target, but I can't drink anything hot for four hours after it is applied. ACK! I'll have to buy fancy coffee from the coffee shop next door once I can have a hot beverage, and I really don't like their coffee very much. It is an extreme sacrifice - all for the sake of clean teeth and keeping my own for as long as I possibly can (which so far seems to be working, so I really shouldn't complain).

How much caffeine is in your coffee? Check the chart to find out. 

I've been reading through Dan Brown's "Inferno" on my NookColor. I know that lots of people don't like him as an author, but lots of people obviously do because he's madly successful. I have always enjoyed his style of writing. I usually listen to him on audio, but the e-book was offered on special for a very good price so I bought it. I'm liking it. It's the usual fun mix of plot interwoven with history and art that make his books really live for me. I keep wishing I had a second screen open to reference a visual on so many of the places and the pieces of art he is describing. His books are like getting a wonderful tour of different places in Italy. "Inferno" gives the reader great background and art for both Florence and Venice - it's hard to beat that!

The top of St Mark's Cathedral in Venice features a statue of
St Mark atop the winged lion with his paw on an open
book and a blue background with gold stars. The winged
lion is the symbol of Venice and you'll find it all over the islands.

So, as I go out into the cold, I'll be looking forward to a day during which I might be able to get some more writing done, some times when I'll certainly read some more, and a span of time during which I'll be going crazy until I can have some coffee. What's your day going to be like? Surely you can have your tea or coffee sooner that I'll be able to? Happy Tuesday!

Wednesday Was So Fine...Now For A Good Thursday

Wednesday turned out to be hectic, I was off my rhythm and the errands kept multiplying, but I did get a lot done. I'm hoping that things will go smoothly today, that we'll make money at the shop (making money while helping our customers find the perfect craft component is our goal, after all), that we'll have a nice mix of returning customers and new people discovering us for the first time, and that I'll get some email responses from some queries I sent out yesterday in my in-box tonight.

I was a bit off my rhythm yesterday, having to run back and
forth several times. I wasn't as balanced as this lovely
young goat, that's for sure!

Yesterday started out happy. I went to my new coffeeshop location and my friend Ben was behind the counter. Call me happy. Although there were many baristas at the old location who I enjoyed talking to, Ben and I had started flying outside the boundaries of the "medium dark roast with classic oatmeal" road. We actually talked about vacation trips and I've recommended books to him in the past. He's a sweet young man and a very competent manager, so it was a great start to my day.

Look at these lovely patterns in the coffee foam. I am always amazed by
the artistry of some baristas. But since I get a black, brewed coffee, I
can only look at these from afar.

Heading over to the shop to get a new product out onto the sales floor before the day started, I worked for a couple of hours, then left for the post office. After dropping off my mail orders I was driving out of the lot and noticed some very nice HON office chairs next to the dumpsters out back. Checking to make sure that their pneumatic systems still worked, I flipped the seats down in my car and put two in to bring to the shop. I was hopeful that they could replace some other chairs we've been using that are falling apart. Unfortunately they won't work as well as I had hoped, but I have another place where they will fit in quite well, so free chairs - all good.

The chairs I got were similar to this one. I need
to see if I can remove the arms. If so, they will be
functional. If not, they should have stayed in the trash.

Continuing on my way, it was close to opening time at the comic shop and I wanted to see if any issues had been set aside for me. Yippee - two were waiting under my name. The Fall Comic Con is set for Saturday, but I have to work so we'll have to skip it. At least we made it to the Spring Con which goes through the weekend. On the way out of the parking lot I had to stop and admire the Lotus car parked at the end of the row. Such a beauty. I've seen it in the area once before, but anytime I see a great and rare car like this, I just drool. Me want! LOL.

The Lotus I saw was very similar to this one. Beautifully blue with the
top off because the day was sunny (hopefully it was protected when the rains
hit later in the evening). It's a real beauty. The driver was dressed
all in black, but his shoes had a strips of matching blue around their soles.
A totally SWEET ride!

Onward to the art supply store to pick up some gesso - a 40% off coupon is a wonderful thing. Then on to the grocer for lots of fruit and other edibles. Home, I started writing and editing, then when cleaning a few things to get ready to polish jewelry for the shop I realized I needed some things from Target. *sigh* So off again and over to Target where I exercised considerable restraint getting only the two things I needed. In and out in 15 minutes.

I refused to even take a cart, probably one of the
reasons why I only bought the dish detergent and
paper towels that I needed. Shopping carts are
dangerous!

Back home I polished some of the items in my Ionic Electrostatic polisher - works so well, I just love it. Then Aearwen phoned and we chatted about writing and life for an hour while I cleaned grapes and got dinner into the oven. Thank goodness for speaker phone options on my cell phone. I would be lost without the ability to still get things done when talking to my sister of the heart across the country.

I use a mid-size model of ionic cleaner for some of my
sterling silver products. It's one of the few cleaning options
that is actually safe for turquoise stones, so it speeds us
up a lot when we have a store of stuff to polish. I'll try to
get some polished every day now until Thanksgiving.

Did I get as much done as I wanted? No. I wanted to begin re-reading my NaNoWriMo novel from 2012 to get my head back into that universe before NaNo starts next month. I still need to do that. I'd like to print out what I already have written and I also want to switch my software over to Scrivener from WriteWay. I have Emails out to discover the best ways to effect such a transfer, although I suspect it won't be as easy as I want. Oh well...

Aearwen says that her lemon tree bears year-round and that
the huge fruits are almost sweet, not as tart as I'm used to. It
must be nice to live in such a mild climate.

Here's to a good Thursday for all of you!