Nature reserve that was like Jurassic Park, and a few other pics

The Shiawassee! Love the name, and it was beautiful, and empty! No other cars on the whole drive. You can't really see it in the pictures, but there was wildlife EVEYWHERE. That's why it reminded me of Jurassic Park. :p Huge flocks of birds, deer, water fowl, herons, egrets, etc. All over the place. We had a deer run beside us on the road while flocks of birds flew over and it was like none of them were concerned with us. Was pretty cool.

 Looks more like Florida than Michigan. :p (or so I hear)

80's pop star!

All Maggie since Willow is gone. :/ Week and a half though!! But this will be her first birthday I haven't been there for. *sob* And there is going to be hell to pay, for all of us, when she gets back. Tim has let her do/eat anything she wants (she gained a ton of weight in 40 days!!!), she hasn't been sleeping, and no discipline. As forgiving and good as I try to be good about everything, I HATE HATE HATE him for that. >:(

So sorry to end on a grumpy note, but I love you!

Friday I had a very busy day. I made 4 batches of massage bar. Two  jasmine, one winter-berry, and that morning I made a leatheresque man smell and then made a massage bar out of that too. I found a way to make my same recipe for 1/4 of the price. I also got my hair cut super short. Will was in NB so he came back and I went to his house and took care of him. Had a good Sat and really busy Sunday. Saturday I had late lunch at dinner and it was a potluck with the neighborhood. Then once we got out of the club since I had not had dinner I had midnight Pho lol I was a bit droppy so I had a nap. Me and Steve were talking the other day about how we wished we could pay for the home gourmet dinner delivery where you cook the meal. But then we decided it was worth it for us to do it ourselves for date night. So Sunday we went to the store and shopped for a date dinner and the rest of the week. We came back and cooked dinner and watched a movie. Then I conked out. I slept really good last night and woke up early so I'm trying to catch up on social media. Today I go to the dentist for lots of work.

Steve caught this guy :)

And my new Hair cut

Date dinner: Garlic toast, shaved fennel salad, pork loin cooked in apple juice and I made orange cardamom ice cream.

Turns out it was all really easy and cheap and the salad will be a new permanent recipe lol

Before cut lol

Book excerpt because I have no real news!

Ok well, a little real news. Tomorrow or sunday I get to go buy a "happy 40lbs lost" outfit at Cato and I'm really excited! I'm stalling hard on the weight-loss right now, but hopefully that will be some awesome extra motivation.

And now, ahem *hides in embarrassment* Here's book stuff. All of this is first draft and WIP so it's not polished, but I have no one else to share it with. And at some point I'm really really going to need you to critique, and I can't do that if I'm embarrassed and ashamed right??? Lol.

My back cover blurb:
"Unfulfilled divorce’ Julia has just become an accidental voyeur, but now she can’t look away. Her neighbors seem to have the one thing that was missing in her marriage - passion.
When her sexy neighbor on the other side catches her watching and suggests they become friends-with-benefits, Julia is appalled. When Nathan tells her he can give her what the neighbors have, she is tempted. When he finally gives her a taste of the lustful passion she’s always craved - she is lost.
But Julia knows first hand what kills passion, and that’s marriage. So when Nathan starts getting serious, she gets nervous. Can she conquer her fears of a cold marriage bed for a love hotter than she’s ever dreamed?"


And a few tiny excerpts of better-than-usual paragraphs:

"He swallowed past the burning thorns in his throat. “I don’t think you want to come in to use the phone. I’ve got some kind of plague.” She leaned away from him almost comically, not that he could blame her. “Let me go get it. Be right back.”
He shut the door gently, and looked around for his phone. He found it in the pocket of his jeans from yesterday. Dead.
He sighed hard enough for his breath to fog the screen in his hand, and looked back towards the door. He could connect it to the charger, but then she would have to come in to use it. Feeling like the tin man after a year in the rain, he walked back and opened the door wide, hoping some of the stale smell would leak out before she walked in.
“If you don’t mind risking it, you can come in. Phone is dead. Has to stay connected.” Extra words were torture at this point. He stood to the side, allowing her to make the choice as much as hanging on the door for strength."

"Maybe it was the wine. Maybe it was the sweet, hot summer air. Maybe it was a week spent turning over Nathan’s words in her mind. Whatever it was, her steps slowed and changed direction, leading her towards the fence. She had a feeling she knew what she would see when she looked through...and she was right."

---

So, yeah. I'm at like 21k words and still so, so much more to do. I really didn't think "being inspired" would be this hard, but damn, lately the only progress I make is like 5 words at a time! And I've lost lots of time/motivation/creativity to migraines. BUT ANYWAY, going to keep trying until this one is done at least before I decide whether or not I can really attempt to be an author for real.

Anyway, obviously not much going on here, how's things on your side of the country?

Love you, tty soon!

8-17 Went to the Dr.

Went to the Dr. and he is sending me for MRI. Agrees there is a problem but we don't know what it is or how to fix it yet. I'd be relieved almost anyway. If he said more pt will definitely fix it or if he said surgery. I'll even go for a replacement if that is what he says. Work is still not something that is happening or that I even want to do lol but I need to do it. So I'm going to start trying to repair computers again. Guess that is all my little news for now. *huggles

Rock pictures!

Gary's parents never came (maybe this monday again) so I don't have a lot to show, but these are from the rock shop and a probably way more interesting anyways. Zoom in so you can get all the awesomeness!

 First agate I found. Don't know where this rock is, hope it's with the in-laws 

or I will be very sad! Check out the teeny tiny agate in the middle!

 Two crystal clusters, one white calcite, one black something that may or

may not be quartz. Cave formation.

 The mineral in both stones is epidote. The green color doesn't really 

show up good on the large one though.

This is the epidote crystal up close. Still doesn't capture how cool it is!

Being in crystal form is actually pretty stinking rare for epidote.

I got it for $5. :p

 A messy agate and a mostly quartz crystal agate.

 Two raw forms of green calcite. Almost feels like soapstone.

 Ghostly grey obsidian and super shiny mica schist (doesn't really show here).

 Same stones, but schist is shiny and obsidian isn't :p

 Thomsonite. Not the best sample, but cool all the same.

(Google for cool pictures.) Also found a small sample myself!!

 Copper-included agates. Super duper rare, and tiny. I had really hoped to 

find one of my own, but couldn't. Gary bought these for me. :)

Also, google copper agate to blow your mind!

When you come visit, I'll let you play with them. :D

Flight/ Airport info

The nearest airport to is in Saginaw/Freeland, and its called (MBS). It's only a short drive, but tickets look to be about $400 round trip.

You might get a cheaper ticket if you fly in and out of Detroit (DTW), but it's about a 2 1/2 hour drive, part of it through very busy city. So either you'd have to rent a car and drive it, or we'd have to rent a car to pick you up. I'm not sure ours will make it.

Some dates to keep in mind when deciding to come:

Sept 5th, Willow comes home via DTW (money depending, we will rent a car to pick her up).
Sept 8th, Willow starts 3rd grade. (oh.....my......go----arrrrrgh /dies)
Sept 15ish - planned book publish date.
Oct. 4th, Gary's bday

None of these dates mean "don't come that day!", they're just FYI's.

Otherwise, middle of the month is better for us in general because of bills hitting at the beginning and end of the months. Want to make sure we can feed you decently, and you dont end up eating nothing but eggs and hot dogs! Of course you will probably have some money for some of your own food, but still.


So anyways, let me know what you come up with! I'm excited at the possibility of seeing you!

Oh, and is Steve coming??

The old ones I was talking about

At Ali Baba middle east restaurant with Will. It's a candid. I don't remember what was going on but I didn't know he was taking a picture. There are ones where I realized and smiled but I like this one better.

At target with Steve

So glad I got to talk to you and it was a good time. I sure hope things get better for you soon.

This is a bunch of older pics. 

This is homemade bear claws.

This is homemade P-Zone. 

More I fits, I sits.

No glasses selfie. All my best ones are in front of the window.

Driving on the way today to get glasses and I couldn't see the rays Steve was talking about so I took a picture.

Super old pic I just got. Me and Chris with our faces pressed into pegboard at the museum.

Still a couple more pics somewhere to find hehe.

Finally took a food picture for you...

Too bad it's so ugly. :p

Keto egg drop soup! Deeeelicious.
Egg drop soup is normally low carb anyway, except restaurants add flour or cornstarch for thickener. So my soup wasn't thick, or bright yellow, but it was amazing!

Wish I'd taken a pic that looked as good as it tasted hehe.

Rock and scenery pics incoming...as soon as I can get rid of this headache! >.<

haven't heard from you in a bit, did my bragging upset you? :/ I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, only trying to make myself feel better by focusing on something positive that made me happy. Maybe I should have titled it something else. :p

Hugs & love Sis, hope things are better.

Bragging to make myself feel better

because it has really sucked.

Due to our vacation catastrophe, everything has snowballed to the point where rent was late, things are getting shut off, and we had only $40 for groceries and diapers. Maggie has been wetting the bed at night, so sadly a fifth of our food budget had to go towards that. We are literally going to be eating some combination of eggs and hotdogs at every meal. >.< It's made me very upset tonight.

And to top it off, Maggie has been a maniac all day. Literally. Kicking me and laughing as I spank her...! She wrinkled my brand new book by stomping on it.

Speaking of my brand new book! I won it! That's where my bragging comes in. There was a 150 word ghost story contest on a relatively new author's site that I entered and won second place. I was totally shocked, never even expected to place, just did it as a practice exercise.

So I won a signed copy of the author's new book, author "swag", and a 1 hour skype date where I can ask her any questions or ask for any help. The swag was one of those rubber bracelets, a pen, a bookmark, a sticker and a tattoo. My skype meeting is next Friday evening, and I have no idea what I'm going to talk to her about but I'm excited anyways.

As far as the writing goes...I've shelved my elemental story for now. I just can't make it like it is in my head. I'm actually trying my hand at short romance so I can learn more about writing before I tackle it again. Erhm....erotic romance. :p Don't laugh!

I joined a website of self-published and traditional published romance authors for help. I've shared a tiny bit of my work, but actually got a few compliments. Which is like, huge, you have no idea. I'm so convinced I suck at everything so badly that studying won't even help me. But one very prolific author said I had a natural voice, that she liked what she'd seen so far, and to keep it up.

So IF I finish this story, and IF I can do all the stuff involved in self-publishing, you and I are gonna have to have a release day party. :p I have a lot to do yet of course. Finish the story, edit it myself, make a cover, format the ebook myself, make author page on Amazon and set up payment etc. If you're coming to visit in the next couple months I'll wait until you get here, if not, we'll have to do it over the phone or something. Over the phone, with alcohol and deserts or something lol.

So when ARE you coming to see us?!?

I hope it's okay that I bragged a little bit. It's literally the only happy thing I have right now, and you're pretty much the only person who would give a crap.

Love you sis, I hope things are a lot better for you guys than they were a few days ago. /hugs

Lake pics from Steve.

Tractors that dragged us to the lake

Chris and Cosmo

We wanted to go out to the lake and watch the sunset but then it started getting ready to storm.

Thank god Steve had his phone lol

Already getting dark from the storm so the camera overcompensated. Pic is to show the wind. The white waves are really high.

The breakfast I made. Looks pretty but it was a disaster breakfast. Not what I had planned but we either ran out of things or forgot them. So this is shortcake Twinkies and amaretto strawberries. 

I love you, Hugs.

Stress baking or something lol Ham and cheese, onion scones and I made butter free super puffy chocolate chip cookie that I should have taken a pic of lol

But so far Steve says that it is the BEST recipe I've ever made for cc cookie. It has been difficult adapting the size down to make 8 and 8 only. No dozens!!!!

Went to lakehouse in Nb. With Chris and Jenny

Chris and new puppy. Cosmo.

So much rain here the lake rose 30 ft and flooded entire countryside and makes it look like another state.

Funny to me this looks like minecraft. Such straight lines between islands. Only that was a road carved between cliffs lol

Lake is so full they are purposefully flooding more land.

Water is so high it's starting to threaten the wall of the dam.

Guacamole and a drink called Whoohooo!!! In a GIANT glass.

Ribs I made in the oven.

Chris is a lazy puppy daddy.

Jenny looks lazy here but she was just taking a break.

They made smoked chicken, corn, bacon wrapped poppers. OMG smoked corn is good.