Alphabetical Thankful List

A: animals, my pets
B: my DH, whose name begins with B

C: citalopram
D: dogs, who make me laugh
E: energy, to clean off my desk
F: family and friends
G: girly stuff, like dolls and makeup
H: health, we are all healthy
I: imagination!
J: my DD, whose name begins with J
K: kitchen, because when I clean, I feel better
L: love, without it, I am nothing
M: mess, because when I clean I feel like I've accomplished something
N: noise, because I learn to appreciate silence
O: online, because that seems to be the only way I can communicate these days
P: pools, for being able to go swimming this summer
Q: queen, because I am queen of my domain ;)
R: riding bikes
S: strength, to never quit
T: time, because there is enough to do all the things I want to do
U: unconditional love
V: variety
W: wellness, if not wholeness
X: eXtravagance
Y: yellow, because it is bright and sunny
Z: zero wants or needs

Tempis Fugit

What a way to start November: unmotivated, with a cold, and DH having to have surgery to remove his gallbladder next week. Sigh. Oh, wait: is it really November already!? Hard to believe, isn’t it?

At least I have the majority of my Xmas shopping done. I’m not going overboard like last year. DD is getting one big present and some smaller presents and that is it. No guilt from Walmart ads on tv or elsewhere to tell me I don’t love my family enough without buying this, that, or the other. DH & I agreed not to go overboard on one another, either.

I hate being sick with a cold. DD had a cold a couple of weeks ago; actually, it was more like the flu. Then DH got a cold after we took him to the ER last Monday for his gallbladder. He has stones the size of marbles inside. So it will be removed Nov. 7. When it rains, it pours.

Let’s see. Five gratitudes for today:

1. Going to see “The Bee Movie” this weekend with DD.
2. trick-or-treating last night with DD as Snow White
3. self-help books like “What Happy People Know” and “What Happy Women Know,” both by Dan Baker
4. cuddling with the dog
5. my dolls
6. and a bonus: how could I forget: starting Nanowrimo and actually making the word count goal, and also making this blog entry.

I’m so interesting, aren’t I?

If you like to shop on Ebay, check out my items. I have a few art glass pieces and have more stuff to add at some point in time. If you want to get some cheap books, check out my stuff on half.com.

I did hardly any preparing for Nanowrimo this year. I just felt so totally unmotivated. Last year, I wrote every day in October to prepare, starting out at 25 words and adding 25 each day, but this year, ALL writing seems to have fallen by the wayside. I have no excuse, other than sheer laziness. Somehow my paper journal no longer interested me, so I kind of quit journaling in there. Maybe the Creative Well needed to be refilled.

I almost didn’t sit down tonight to write for Nano, either. I am so exhausted from this cold. But I knew that if I didn’t TRY to sit down and write tonight, even without much of a story idea, I wouldn’t write for Nano at all this year, and I don’t want to give up that easily—before I even started! One of my goals for this year’s Nano is to complete it without being on the Emotional Express. It seems that I can only complete Nano if I’m in depths of despair. This year, I am not in the depths of despair, so I want to tough it out with sheer dogged determinedness rather than using it to escape my emotions.

Ugh. I keep obsessively checking my word count. In MS Word, I have written only six pages. SIX! Yet, 1667 seems to be a somewhat insurmountable goal—or at least it did earlier, when I had only managed to type out 200+ words. But I know I can do it. I won Nano in 2004 and again in 2006, and I know I can win this year, too. I just have to put my mind to it and make it a priority.

I have to concentrate on my STRENGTHS and not my weaknesses. I have to appreciate each moment and live in each moment instead of in the past or in the future. And I guess this is it for tonight because the dog is whining to go out! More tomorrow.