I can't believe they did that.....

I've reached the 1/3 mark on still untitled sequel to Three of Hearts. Go me!! But my lovely H and h did the one thing that always annoys me as a reader of romance novels. They raced to the nearest bed and did the hippity dippity within moments of meeting. In some cases it works, but as it's something I never did while dating it always bothers me when I read. Different strokes and such. But after 10 days of trying to make them wait, I finally let things go as they wanted it and the story's now moving at a good pace. This is yet another reason I don't outline in very much detail. I inevitably end up with a story that only vaguely resembles the outline I started with.

I'm hoping to reach the 1/2 way point by end of month and should have the story completely finished by mid May. Yay!!!! When it comes to writing I am the turtle. Slow and steady, eventually reaching the finish line.

Happy Friday!
Elena

March Results, Aprils Challenges

Well it's April already. Hard to believe, it was feeling like Spring last week and then Winter came back this weekend and took, hopefully, it's parting shot at us, dumping a good 3-4 inches of snow on the ground. I've got my seeds started inside and hopefully by mid to late May I can move them outside and/or to pots. If I don't kill them that is. April's a steady month not too busy, not slow for me. A's going to be 4 end of the month (how did she get so big so fast?) so I'm full steam ahead on the birthday plans. She's gonna have her first party with friends here at the house.

March was a cub scout crazy month. J participated in his first pine wood derby. He did well placing between 4th and 2nd on the Wolf division runs. He didn't place to be in the pack run but he didn't care. He's already planning his car for next year. He's 2 achievements away from his Wolf patch, so he'll be ready for cross-over in May no problem. Techincally an April event rather than March but last week the boys got to visit one of the cargo plane squadrons. They had a blast getting to explore a C-17 I believe it was. I'm horrible with identifing the planes.

Goal wise, I'm doing alright. Had the head cold from heck the last couple of weeks, my energy is finally returning. For workout and weight, not so good. I gained 3 pounds, I have no idea where since I got a pair of size 10 pants on comfortably. The routine was hit and miss, I caught the cold from baby girl. On the health front, I'm eating regularly and taking the vitamins so yay me! Writing was hit and miss, but it's becoming more of a steady flow instead of starts and stops so I'm happy. Stitching and blogging I failed. Almost done with page one on Temptation didn't touch the Dragon at all. Had to stop and jump to a simple project for an April baby friend. Blogging I posted, what twice in March. I finally came up with a way of remembering I have to blog, by adding it to my count spreadsheet. I keep track of everything else on there why not one more item. Silly I didn't think of it sooner.

April's goals are
1. Find out why I'm gaining instead of losing. I'm starting to question the 'muscle weighs more than fat' thing. Keep it going.
2. I'm gonna start counting calories using a food diary. Maybe that will help with #1
3. Keep on with the 300 words a day. It seems to be working.
4. Finish up April b-day project and get back onto Temptation. I've set Dragon aside for the time being.
5. Blog. Put daily reminders into the Palm and add it to the count spreadsheet. Hopefully I'll remember to get on once a week.

Happy Monday!
Elena

Doesn't it Figure

I got all excited today when I looked in the mail box. Not only had my monthly shipment of comics came in but so had my special order fabric from Silkweavers. I came across this huge project in Stoney Creek Cross Stitch Collection magazine that I knew I wanted to do. The pattern is going to be broken out over 3 years of the magazine. So I had to custom order the fabric for it and I decided it would be fun to get a dyed fabric rather than white.

So after much looking I finally picked their Jobelan fabric in the color Dreamin'. It's a gorgeous light blue with some white swirls through out. Now I did all the figuring for a 28ct piece of fabric with stitching done over 1 thread of fabric. What I got was a 32ct piece of Jobelan fabric in the size I wanted 32x39.

Here's where I can kick myself. I cleaned out my email the other day and deleted the original order confirmation because I had the shipping one. The shipping one doesn't have the order details on it and there was no order slip in the package with the fabric. I don't know if I messed up, and let's face it that's quite possible, since it's happened once before. Or if they did. So now I'm going to have to stitch this project over 1 on 32ct fabric. My poor eyes are going to hate me for this! The fabric isn't big enough for over 2.

*sigh*
Happy Thursday
Elena

Goals

Well it's the middle of March and as we can all see I failed to blog at least once a week. Life hasn't been hectic or anything it's just been steady. We've been staying pretty close to home since gas prices seem determined to hit the $3.50 mark sooner rather than later. The Costco had regular for $3.24 a gallon, these prices are just murder on the budget.

Despite that we did make it downtown for the Fur Rondy's first annual reindeer run. We had fun wandering the little touristy shops, watching the dog mushers cross the finish line, as well as watching the main event. The Iditarod is currently going on as well.


Now onto the goals. February goals.....it was pretty hit and miss on those. #1 was the home routine, which is pretty much in place. There were a few times it didn't happen but stuff happens. I didn't lose any weight though, actually I gained 2 ounces. BUT, I did lose inches all over, so goal met. I talked to a person over at the HAWK and they said it happens this way sometimes, I'm building muscle and lossing fat at the same time. #2 eat regularly, I'm doing good on this one, I managed to eat breakfast the entire month so Yay me! #3 Write at least 5k. Nope didn't happen, I only got about 2k down.
#4 Embroidery, this one I met and you might think the stitching is getting in the way of the writing but its not. I only stitch during my daughter's daily play date. #5 chores, almost got it, so close. #6 Blog yeah as I said earlier failed miserably.

Now March goals...
#1 Workout keep it going, the results are coming slow and steady
#2 Health Again maintain, eat regularly and take that frickin' vitamin
#3 Writing, hell at the rate I'm going I need something I can actually do so this ones going to be write at least 300 words a day.
#4 Stitching, I need to shift my focus to Temptation so let's go with finish pg 1 Temptation and 2 rows on Dragon Knot.
#5 Blog BLOG BLOG BLOG, I gotta remember this thing is here and needs to be updated!

Happy Thursday!
Elena

Wordless Wednesday

Happy New Year!

Wow it's been awhile. Sweating with Sven is long over and I didn't accomplish any of my goals. December hit me with a serious case of writer blahs. Nothing was moving creatively for me. On the family front things were and still are hoping along at a good clip. This is my first winter in an area that actually gets snow so we've been having lots of fun in the snow. I've been told this year has been a mild winter, that is one scary thought.

My son earned his Bobcat patch in Cub Scouts and we've been working hard at completing his Wolf Patch requirements. I'm very proud of him and all the work he has put into Cub Scouts so far.

Now that the new year has begun it's time for the dreaded resolutions. This year I've decided to take a different approach. Rather than make one resolution I spend the year trying to reach I'm going to make monthly goals. I had five goals for January. It was a real learning experience for me. The main thing I learned was I tend to over reach things. And my muse doesn't give one wit about what my goals are.

Jan Goal #1 Exercise. I kept it fairly simple reestablish the workout routine the holidays destroyed and lose 3-5 pounds. Reestablish the workout routine has been somewhat successful. I've got my gym routine down and I only missed a handful of days. The home routine needs some more work. I didn't lose the weight I wanted, but I didn't gain anything either. Not bad but not great either.

Jan Goal #2 Health. Get into the habit of taking a multi vitamin and drink more water. Goal accomplished. I also cut soda almost completely out of my diet.

Jan Goal #3 Writing. Write at least 3,000 words. Doesn't sound like much considering my goal before the blahs was 5,000 words a week. But I thought I would ease my muse back into the routine slowly. I consider this one a sucess. I've got pages of hand written backstory done on my current wip To Have and To Hold and just over 2,600 words of actual story written. I've also got a page and a half of research to finish. I have a solid one hour block for writing established. I'm hoping to get a second hour in probably in the morning next month.

Jan Goal #4 Embroidery projects. My goal was to finish page three of my HAED Dragon Knot Pattern and to complete half of page one of a new project HAED Temptation QS. This goal I failed miserably. I didn't account for the affects the extreme cold spells we've been having had on my hands. My joints have been killing me. I hate having carpal tunnel. I'm not quite to the half way point on page 3 of Dragon Knot, for some reason I thought I was further along than I was.

I did get a decent start on Temptation just not quite to the half way point. The schedule on this one is tighter than the Knot since it's a gift.


Jan Goal #5 is my standard, get a chore routine in place and actually follow it. I hate vaccuming. This one has been hit and miss. The house isn't trashed but it's not spotless either.

My goals for February are along the same lines.
Feb Goal #1: Exercise: Get the home routine down and lose 3lbs at least. At the very least a couple of inches.
Feb Goal #2: Health: Eat at regular intervals. It sounds funny but I sometimes forget to eat. It's hell on the metabolism.
Feb Goal #3: Writing: Write at least 10k. If I make my weekly goal twice over at Eharlequin's ES I'll have this one made.
Feb Goal #4: Embroidery: Temptation 1/2 page 1 done, Dragon Knot 1/2 page 3 done. Gotta keep this goal small until the weather warms up. My hands are already starting to get sore.
Feb Goal #5: Chores: Try again with the routine.
Feb Goal #6: Blog: Remember to blog more than once a month. At least once a week. I'll have to consider doing something like Thursday 13 or Wordless Wednesday to help get me in the right frame of mind.

Happy Thursday
Elena