One Stormy Evening

Began a cloudy day with a quick breakfast. I've been craving chocolate, but I had all those strawberries I bought yesterday. I put the two together and made Chocolate-Strawberry Pancakes. Not bad. I should have sliced the strawberries smaller. They were too chunky and didn't cook right. I cheered myself up with some Queen, bopping around to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Killer Queen" as I packed up and headed for work.

Work wasn't busy when I arrived at 11. I actually spent the first half of my shift doing returns. I ran into Jodie in the frozen food department while I was putting away some cold items. First of all, Dad-Bruce is doing much better. Two of his cancerous lumps are down to pin-sizes. The largest is gone all together. He won't need chemotherapy for two months. Second, she warned me about a huge storm that was heading towards our area. We were supposed to get rain, hail, high winds, the works.

Everyone must have heard the news at the same time as Jodie. By 12:30, we had lines out the door. Not only were we supposed to get bad weather, but it's still the beginning of the month. And we're usually busy on Sundays, regardless of what Mother Nature is doing. This is the only day of the week a lot of working people can shop. I got stuck on the register for a while, including taking over for a cashier. Thankfully, it slowed down enough that I was able to spend the last hour and a half or so returning carts. I even showed the ropes of carts and what went where to a new girl.

Hurried out the door as soon as I was done at 3. At this point, it was cloudy, hot, and very humid, but it still hadn't rained. The sun had even tried to come out a few times. It was windy, but nothing horrible. In fact, the wind felt rather nice as I headed home.

Spent the next few hours going over my old writing and finishing a story I started at least five years ago. One story is about a woman at a party who finally meets someone she can relate to. The other is about a family in a hurricane that I wrote for the Helium Network in 2012. Both are based after real-life. I love Dad and Jodie, but as a very shy single introvert, I often feel awkward at their parties. And my family did experience several hurricanes when we lived in Cape May. Dad-Bill still has the photos from Hurricane Gloria, including the ones of him standing in the knee-high flood waters on Beach Avenue and of the mess on the boardwalk, at his and Mom's house in Erma.

Here's some of my original work, both found for now at my writing blog:

Hurricane
The Party

I now have four goals for my writing through early November, when I start doing Christmas stories:

1. Complete at least two of the four Star Wars historical alternative universes I have planned. (If I can get to the novel-length Remember WENN fantasy I was working on last fall, that would be great, too.)

2. Go through unfinished stories and see if there's anything I can finish.

3. Post older stories I've completed at my writing blog, including the ones I wrote for the now-defunct Helium Network in the fall of 2012 when I was stuck at home with that broken ankle.

4. Write more original short stories.

It finally started raining shortly after I got off the computer. I was beginning Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars when I heard the thunder. The rain came down in torrents as I was mixing the batter. I don't think I heard hail, but there was certainly a lot of everything else - rain, wind, pyrotechnics, noise.

Though it began to slow down as I was eating leftover meatloaf muffins with Spring Greens Salad (lettuce, radishes, and blueberries with a homemade red wine vinegar-honey dressing), I honored the weather anyway with One Stormy Night. I found this record at I believe a yard sale years ago, and it's one of the most unique music albums in my collection. A selection of soothing instrumental pieces (most likely written for the album, although the last is "Autumn Leaves") is joined by the sounds of a real stormy weather evening - thunder, rain on the roof, a train tooting in the distance. It's lovely, thoughtful, and soothing, and I really don't listen to this enough.

I put the oatmeal chocolate chip bars in the oven, then finished out the night with more Lego Star Wars. The Darth Maul level that ends Phantom Menace took me a while. I just cannot master those Jedi double jumps! It made chasing Maul across that catwalk a pain. Didn't have much more luck with the car chase through Coruscant that opens Attack of the Clones. I can't control the darn car. (I'm afraid I lack Anakin Skywalker's skills in that department.) Leading Obi-Wan and Arfour through Kamino and to Jango Fett was much easier.

That brings me back up to the Droid Factory level. I bought this new - hopefully, it'll work this time.

A Week From Vacation

I started the day in front of the computer. I wanted to make goals for finding a job and/or starting a business. I didn't get very far. I just couldn't concentrate. I'm not very good at making goals. I know I want to get out of the Acme badly. I just don't know if I want to move to a smaller office, or start my own business. I haven't a clue of what kind of office I could work for or what type of business to start or how. I'm just feeling frustrated and tired.

Calling Mom didn't really help matters. She wasn't in the best mood when I finally got through to her. First of all, she's not happy about having to babysit my sister Anny's son again now that she has a job and he's almost out of school. She and Dad are still broke, too, and Dad in particular has lots of medical bills to pay and no insurance to help them pay it.

Finally gave up on the goal sheet around 10 and went for a walk. It was too nice to be inside all morning, anyway. The scorching heat of the past few days had given way to sunshine, cool breezes, and perfect 70-degree temperatures. I strolled to WaWa to get milk, which I ran out of yesterday. The irises are gone, but the roses are out, and it looks like the tiger lilies are getting ready to make their appearances. Everything is a brilliant shade of green that even Technicolor can't reproduce.

When I got back in, I had a quick leftover lunch while running cartoons, then headed to work. Work was, in the reverse for my usual shift, busy when I got in and dead when I left. I guess everyone went out for their lunch breaks, then went straight home to spend a nice evening with their families. The lunch rush hour was far more congested than the dinner rush hour. It's still the beginning of the month, and there were a lot of annoying people. I wasn't happy that my relief was a bit late, either.

When I finally got out, I hurried home and went straight into a much-needed bath. My knees are sore like heck, and my heel spur has been acting up earlier than usual. The bath didn't do much for my heel, but my knees do feel much better.

I made Rosemary Fish n' Chips with vinegar (a dollar flounder filet cooked in Worcestershire sauce and vinegar with rosemary, salt, and pepper) and a salad of farm market-fresh greens and radishes for dinner while watching the Garfield travel-themed specials. Garfield's not thrilled with Jon's insistence on camping in Garfield In the Rough. The trio go west after they win a pet talent contest in Garfield In Hollywood, but Garfield's desire for a more-polished act may end up cutting Jon out. They go tropical (and sneak in some Jack Benny jokes) in Garfield In Paradise, where they encounter a rather odd tribe of doo-wop worshiping natives.

Garfield wasn't the only cartoon character to encounter trouble in paradise. The Tiny Toons discover that "No Toon Is An Island" when they find a map that leads to buried treasure and learn that jealousy can be uglier than any storm, ghost, or x-creating bird.

Tales Of Anne With An 'E and Other Bits and Pieces

I'm re-reading an old favorite of mine, "Anne of Green Gables." My mom gave me a huge book with the first two volumes and fifth volume of Anne's lengthy adventures, Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne's House Of Dreams, as a child. I never read House Of Dreams as a child because I thought Anne's grown-up adventures would be dull. I found one of the Anne books not contained in mine at the thrift shop a month ago, Anne of the Island. I enjoyed Anne's adventures in college so much, I decided it was time to give Miss Anne (with an "e") Shirley another chance.

I've now lost three pounds on the Weight Watchers. Rose has lost five or more, but she was always more athletic than I am. She plays tennis with her boyfriend and goes for long walks with her puppy. Not having a pet or someone to play sports with (and being lousy at most sports anyway), I'm pretty much on my own with exercise.

Rose and I each decided to set a non-weight related goal this week and see how well we do. I'm going to try to write a short story, just a little couple-paragraphs thing like what I did in February. When I do write it, I'll post it on this blog.

Setting Goals

First of all, I'm cutting back on volunteering. I'll still help at the thrift shop, but for part of the day instead of the whole day. It's not that I don't like it, but I really don't need all the junk I buy there, there are other things I need to do on weeks when I only have one day off, and while I like most of the volunteers, I'd really like to do other things, too.

I really, really want to lose weight, and make sure it stays off this time. I'd like to lose at least 100 of that 240 pounds by the end of next year.

I'd like to, within the next two weeks, finally lose one pound.

Within the next two months, lose ten pounds.

By next fall, go on a job interview at a place that requires a suit and doesn't involve cash registers.

Try to look into other club options - reading, writing, swimming - by the end of the summer.

Try to eat more sugar-free and lower-fat foods. Not just regular foods that come in low-fat and sugar-free options, but foods that are naturally that way.

Read more about health, fitness, yoga, and diets.

I want to find an idea of what I want to look like. That may be easy for other people who know what it's like to be a normal size, but I've been overweight since I was about nine or ten. I have no idea what I'd look like as a thinner adult.