Of Illness and Headaches by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

I’d like to say that Konnie and I never miss a week, but obviously that isn’t the case, last week being the worst example of it.

To start with, Konnie was sick.

Illness happens, and Konnie getting sick is common for her. Let’s face it, she doesn’t live alone, and the members of her family frequently interact with the outside world, which increases her risk of catching something.

I can’t tell you how many times she’s called me all stuffed up and coughing to say she was in no shape to write a post. Life happens. But last week was the worst. For one thing, her timing was horrible.

She called me less than half an hour before our self-imposed deadline to inform me she couldn’t manage her post. She sounded horrible, so I did understand. The problem was that my head was splitting, and I’d just taken pain relievers.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I’m sensitive to that sort of medication and tend to fall asleep after taking them.

This is well known. I can remember more than once making plans with my sister-in-law, then calling on the day of those plans to let her know I just took my headache medicine.

A lot of drugs have warning labels about operating vehicles while under their influence, but, well, the drugs I have to watch out for don’t always have that label. Few people get drowsy taking Tylenol. I pass out with anything stronger.

At least once in the past, Konnie called and I answered, informing her I had just taken Tylenol. She responded by telling me she’d call back in a couple of hours and hung up.

Konnie knows this because I have always been this way, and some years ago, she commented on her youngest being the same way. (This was before I learned I was on the spectrum too.) At the time, we contemplated one of her kids being so much like me, without realizing that what we have in common is the spectrum, as well as DNA.

At any rate, in those conditions, I was in no shape to even think logically, let alone type, so there was no way I could have produced even a short post.

Had she informed me she was ill Tuesday night, it would have been a different story. I didn’t have a headache Tuesday night and had plenty of time to write something. Wednesday morning, I was out of it.

And I really should consider having a character who is that sensitive to pain medications in one of my stories. I do have a character who suffers from migraines, but I don’t show her sensitive to pain meds.

I guess I should also point out that Konnie getting sick happens more than me getting sick. I think the last time I was too sick to post was while I experienced an adverse reaction to a change in my medications; generally, when Konnie can’t post, she’s sick. She lives with too many people to be able to avoid catching something.

I, on the other hand, rarely get sick these days. I interact with the outside world, but not as much as Konnie’s family. I just don’t have as many opportunities to catch something, but I have plenty of things wrong with me to keep me away from the keyboard.

I also have a cat who likes to rest on top of my laptop, which was what kept me away from my keyboard a couple of weeks ago.

Of course, my cat also likes to snuggle with me, which would be the problem, adding to my having trouble getting my post done on time this week; it’s hard to type when you have a cat napping on your chest. And he isn’t exactly a kitten either. He’s six years old and on the large side for a cat, so when he snuggles, I have to stop what I’m doing and pay attention to him until he moves.

I really should have a cat character in one of my stories. I do have dog characters, which is strange since I am very much a cat person. Konnie has way more experience with dogs than I do. Though I don’t recall any pets in any of her stories at all.

And, considering the axiom about writing what we know, I’d say the pet thing should be the other way around. Konnie has way more experience with pets, especially dogs, than I do. You would think she’d have loads of dogs and cats in her stories, but again, she doesn’t.

Though there are exceptions to every rule and writing only what you know is rather limiting, it is better to write what you know intellectually rather than from personal experience.

Anyway, happy writing, everyone!

Of Interuptions and Pets by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Last night I was staring at my screen, trying to decide what to write, when I decided I would think better if I got something to eat. Now, around my place, it isn’t a good idea to leave your laptop sitting open.

Leaving it open will result in a certain someone pictured above walking all over or lying on the keyboard. I learned this the hard way, one too many times, when I returned to a messed-up manuscript because of Patches. The worst time was the one where he managed to step on the enter key several times, dividing a single-syllable word in two and adding about ten pages to my WIP. And that was just the beginning of the mess he made. I long since learned it takes less time to “wake up” my “sleeping” computer than it does to fix the errors he so carelessly added to my open project.

Hence, the reason I closed my laptop as I stepped away, it led me to taking the picture above.

Not a problem, except just minutes before, Konnie had called me for her biweekly reminder of my post deadline. I answered, “I’m working on it, promise.”

Since that was why she was calling, she said goodbye and hung up.

Anyway, I took the above picture and sent it to her, saying, “Well, I was working!”

So now you know the story behind today’s picture.

I might add that one of his favorite resting spots is on top of my laptop. Another one is the footstool in front of my seat on the couch. He particularly likes that spot when I remove the table that can hook over the arm of the couch from the footstool. That is, until I make him move so I can put the table back on the footstool and get up from the couch.

The last time I was working in the living room with my laptop, he actually growled at me about the sixth or seventh time I made him move so I could get up from the couch.

Well, I did keep interrupting his nap, but I did try to tell him he should know better, since I can’t get up with that table in front of me on the couch, and the table is always on the footstool when not in use.

He was majorly not pleased with me for several days after that, so last night, I didn’t try to move him. He could have his nap; I could work later.

I’m not sure Konnie has to deal with problems like that, since she has dogs and only one of them is small enough to be considered in the same size range as a cat. (Please do not ask me how to spell breed of Ivan, Konnie calls him a little yappy dog, because she can’t spell it!)

At any rate, only one other dog in that house could even remotely be considered a lapdog, but I doubt he could get up on Konnie’s bed where her laptop is. That, and I’ve never heard her complain about pets on her keyboard, while I’ve had to fight Patches off while I’m trying to work. And occasionally I have to delay work because of, well, see picture above.

That isn’t the first time I’ve returned to my laptop to find him snoozing, it’s just the first time that it happened when I had a deadline to meet! Though honestly, that isn’t hard since my only deadline is this post every other Wednesday.

I wish I had other deadlines, but the only one I’ve ever managed to stick to is the one for my post every other Wednesday, and let me refer back to the point where I said Konnie called, and I told her I was working instead of saying hello.

Yeah, I make that deadline because of Konnie. I haven’t had anyone enforcing any other deadlines on me, unless you count the annual NANO, but that’s where I get the most experience with fighting Patches for my keyboard.

Of course, the only time Konnie ever came close to doing NANO, she had her entire family fuming at her by the end of November, and Konnie wasn’t officially enrolled; she was just on a major roll.

She still needs to finish editing that story, but it seems like every time she does work on it, she makes major upgrades to the storyline. That epic may take a while for her to polish up.

If you don’t know already, I am talking about her epic sci-fi, which is a fantastic series, even with all the editing it still needs.

Now I haven’t even gotten to the end of writing my sci-fi, and I really need to work on that!

Anyway, happy writing, everyone!

Of Colds and Lethargy by Konnie Enos

Okay, I’m sick. Not horribly sick. I have some congestion but can still breath. I’ve had a cough but it’s mild. I have a headache that seems to be associated with sinus pressure so I’m taking some cold medicine to combat it but it’s nothing I can’t deal with.

Even though the headache is annoying, I think the worst part is the lethargy. That absolutely achy feeling, like walking through water. A feeling that’s deep in your muscles that just makes everything harder to do.

I feel it most when I’m walking around. Trying to get to the kitchen to get some food zaps me of all energy and then I can’t even figure out what I want to eat.

Under normal circumstances I’ll cook something for breakfast. Often eggs, toast and sausage (chicken) and perhaps some sautéed vegetables (often zucchini). Other times I’ll have more of a brunch and heat up some leftovers. I very rarely eat cereal. But the last few days that’s exactly what I’ve been having every morning.

So far my choices have been Cheerios with blueberries, which I can eat at the kitchen table since my daughter isn’t allergic to them. Or granola, which has nuts in it and I have to eat in my bedroom with the door closed. I’ve actually had more granola than Cheerios because it’s far easier, especially when I can get my husband to bring me a bowl, spoon, and milk. We keep the granola in our room since our kids can’t have it due to the nuts.

Of course, now I’ve eaten all the blueberries and the only other berries in the house are strawberries which I’m obviously not eating. My headache is bad enough without that reaction. We have had bananas in the house, but I’ve tried those before with cereal and I didn’t like the flavor, texture combination.

I will be adding blueberries to the next shopping list. I’ll probably have to add granola too. I’ll have to add the oat milk too since I prefer the taste of that on my cereal over regular milk.

Evening meals are even harder because I know I need to eat but have little or no appetite. So, if there isn’t many leftovers, and we didn’t cook something that night, I’m stuck. My suppers have been yogurt and turkey jerky, or a bowl of popcorn if there wasn’t any leftovers to heat up.

Of course, this lethargy also affects my writing. I’m sure my typing speed is down to about 20 words per minute because it’s just too much effort to go any faster than that. Also, my inability to use my brainpower to decide on what to eat also means that I’m unable to figure out what to write.

Wouldn’t you know it. I’ve been attempting to work on one of my stories recently and this week is my turn to write a post. So, I’ll type a sentence then rest my hands, and eyes for a few before I attempt another one. Which of course, makes the whole process that much longer.

I also haven’t been able to read anything either. Okay, that isn’t a new development. I haven’t been doing much reading lately. I’ve got a couple of books that I got partway through and have just never finished. One I’ve read multiple times, but this is the first time I got distracted from finishing it. I’ve also gotten several new books in the last few years that I haven’t even cracked open yet. I’m going to have to work on that since I’ve bought myself some more books recently.

I actually went though Thriftbooks and most of them are books I’ve read in the past and simply wanted a copy of, or to replace one I lost somehow over the years. So, even now, most of the books I own are ones I’ve read before and loved.

Another thing I’ve been attempting to do, which I haven’t had the energy for this week, is more handcrafts. Then again, I’m pretty much out of yarn. I have a couple of projects in mind, but I’ll have to get some more yarn. A trip to Micheal’s is in the works so I can pick up what I’d like.

As for the rest of my family, the most excitement we’ve had this week is finally the getting tub in our hall bathroom functional. We hadn’t been able to get any water to it for years and thought we’d have to pay thousand of dollars for a plumber to come tear down the wall behind it to fix the clogged pipe.

No. We did have to replace a part, but we didn’t have to tear down the wall to get at it. So, now we have two fully functional bathrooms.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

 

Games Part 2 by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Last week, when Konnie mentioned game night with her kids, it made me wish I lived closer to her. Especially when she mentioned the old board games she has, which her kids don’t want to play.

Considering that one of those board games is one I wish I owned, I WANT TO PLAY!

I think I have duplicates of some of her old games, but I know I don’t have Careers, and I sorely wish I did. It’s so old, it’s really hard to come by nowadays. And I pray Konnie still has that game the next time I manage to get down there for a visit.

And I can think of a few games I have that she probably doesn’t have, but it does little good when I live so far away.

I honestly wish I had someone nearby I could play games with.

Anyone willing to come by? I’ve got a whole trunk full of games. Loads of games. The oldest ones I can think of would be Monopoly, Life, and Mouse Trap, but I have quite a few others. I even have one based on Star Trek TNG, and several different trivia games.

And that barely scratches the surface. I have so many games I’ve had to take them out of their boxes and put them in zip lock bags so I could get all of them in the tote I store them in. And it is still overflowing.

I’d get a larger tote, but where would I put it?

You must remember I have several other collections as well, and this isn’t exactly a mansion I live in.

Okay, it is a two-bedroom, but I could easily fill one room with just my books, or my Nativities, or my Barbies. Note I said, “Or,” not, “And.” At present, my Barbies are tucked away in four totes of graduated sizes.

I can say that my Barbie inventory is up to date, which is something I cannot say about my games, books, or Nativities.

At least I have started an inventory on the books, give me a break!

Nativities are going to be hardest to inventory. I honestly think I’m going to have to go through my house and take close-up pictures of each individual one to have an accurate inventory.

Books and games are easy; I just need to list the names.

Barbies are a little harder since I need their names, age group, and family group. But, like I said, that inventory is up to date; my aide helped me do that last week.

And inventorying my games would be a whole lot easier than an inventory of my books, because all my games are in one place, not just about every room, and well, I have started the inventory of my books, so I have to keep going back to figure out which ones I already have so I don’t write them in twice.

The only page that is current in my book inventory is the page listing my Boxcar Children books. When I started the inventory, I only had the first fifteen books; now I have all nineteen, which were actually written by Gertrude Chandler Warner. And that is all the ones I want from that list. The rest of the books drive me nuts because they don’t adhere to the timeline established in the first nineteen books, most particularly the fact that the kids get older with each book.

Okay, yeah, I am a stickler for details, explaining why I hate most of the Harry Potter movies because of how far they deviate from the books. I particularly hate those stupid shrunken heads! They are not in the books!

Enough said on that subject.

Those books are great, I love the detail, I love the storylines. Well, written. I have read and reread them several times apiece. I’d rather reread the whole series than watch any of the movies past the second or third one. And I do have all the movies.

Which reminds me of something else I need an inventory of. At least they are all in one corner of the living room.

It wouldn’t hurt to get an inventory of my CDs and records as well.

Yes, someone with a lot of collections needs lots of inventories. I really should get all those done.

On the writing front, I am still buried in reading. I keep thinking about yet another story I know I have, but haven’t read in a while, and well, so far, I have managed to find the stories I’m thinking about.

Maybe when I finish this most recent one, I’ll start writing again.

Anyway, happy writing, everyone!

Of Family Togetherness and Making Choices by Konnie Enos

I live with my husband and two of our five children. Being all adults, we have drifted into being more like roommates. We live in the same place, but don’t spend much time together, not even for family meals.

Part of the issue is we all eat at different times. For dinner it is usually just me, him, and our daughter. Our son usually wakes up for the day an hour or two later. If he is awake, it isn’t unusual for him to dish up and go back to his room to continue whatever he is doing.

Recently, to counteract this separation, we’ve been attempting to have both family game night and family movie night.

Movie night is sort of easy. Me, my son and daughter discuss our options and choose what the three of us would like to watch. Then we decide on a time when we are all home and awake.

All home is the easy part since we are most often here. We do leave the house, but our schedule is rather routine, just work (husband), doctor’s appointments, shopping, and church. All awake is the big issue because our son is often awake while the rest of us are sleeping. He has to plan several days in advance to switch it up so that he is awake at an appropriate time for everyone else.

For movie night we’ve chosen after church on Sunday but before dinner. Which is early for my son but fits in everyone’s schedule. Picking what to watch is harder. Personally, I’d go older movies, the ones I watched growing up, but I also like some newer things too. And there is always the fact that I love Star Trek and Star Wars. My kids all have different tastes, and my son (the one still living here) does not like Star Wars. My daughter ( also the one still living here) does like Harry Potter but is not the huge fan her big sister is. That and my son and I aren’t really fans, though I will watch them.

All this is to say that there was some discussion before we manage to agree on anything. So far we’ve watched two of the newer versions of Star Trek.

My kids weren’t sure I’d watch them because they are remakes, and I generally hate remakes. They are never as good. But the newer movies are not technically remakes. They are a remake of an old story. The new Star Trek movies are set in an alternate timeline, much like the original series episode Mirror, Mirror. I rather enjoy watching the interactions of the “original” characters in this new timeline.

My kids have now chosen the original Star Trek moving and I think we well be working our way through them in order. I’m not exactly sure what we will move onto when we have finished them all but there are a lot of them, so it’ll take a while.

Though one drawback is that while my husband does watch, he simply cannot follow the story. So far he’s ended up disturbing out enjoyment by asking questions about what is happening in the movie. Last time we ended up pausing the movie and I chewed him out because I could not hear the movie if he was talking.

My children, being neurodiverse, are sound sensitive therefore the volume is keep barely audible for a normal person like me. My husband, who can’t follow it anyway, can barely hear it with his hearing aids on.

One would think game night would be easier, but it isn’t. The biggest issue is that my husband will not generally play games, which presents the issue of what board games are fun with just three people playing. (We do have several two people games, but that leaves out one person.) And that’s not getting into the issue of what we each like to play. That has been a bigger discussion than what to watch.

I want board games, but my kids are opposed the ones I have, as in the type of games I grew up with. Though my daughter’s biggest objection to Monopoly is that it’s time consuming.

Our first attempt was playing a couple of rounds of Clue. My son likes to keep his score card on tech and talked my daughter and I into it. I gave up halfway through the first round and went and found a pencil. Three is barely enough to make Clue fun.

This last time, we settled on Uno, partly because my husband has played that. Wouldn’t you know it, he ghosted us soon as we mentioned playing. (He hid in our bedroom.)

I’m not sure what we’ll do next time, but I’m holding out for Apples to Apples. My husband might be clueless, but he’ll play it.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

 

Of Authors and Reading by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

The other day, I started thinking about a story I knew I had, but couldn’t remember the title, and I wanted to re-read it. About all I could remember was that I had it on my reader, and of course, it was a romance. Really helpful considering the long list of romance novels I have. At least I had it limited to just my reader.

Well, I also had it limited to not Brenda Minton, Linda Goodnight, or LDS romance, which did shorten the list, but still not helpful.

I ended up going through my list of romance novels, scanning each one and opening any I couldn’t remember what they were about to see if they were the one I wanted.

The problem is that I skimmed past the title of “Jenna’s Cowboy” several times because Brenda Minton has a book (a really good book, by the way) about a young lady named Jenna and her own cowboy. Whose title I have clearly forgotten, but I do know the story.

Anyway, about the third or fourth time I skimmed past this title, it dawned on me that my Brenda Minton “Jenna” story was not on my reader, but rather in my bookcase.

That’s right, some of my Brenda Minton books are in hard copy.

So, I finally really looked at the icon for “Jenna’s Cowboy” and lo and behold, the author of this novel is Sharon Gillenwater! And when I open the novel, guess what? It’s the story for which I was searching!

But what really got to me was that I stopped in the middle of reading a novel by Linda Goodnight, which had characters by the name of Ace and Chance, to read Sharon Gillenwater’s novel, which had characters by the name of Ace and Chance.

In other words, I have several stories by several different authors using the same character names, which isn’t a problem, except when I read them really close together.

But it did point out why I started thinking about Gillenwater’s story while I was reading Goodnight’s story.

Their themes are completely different. Their characters are completely different, too, but I kept thinking this is wrong. For some reason, I felt I should be reading the novel about the ex-military cowboy with PTSD rather than the recovering alcoholic trying to make amends.

Like I said, completely different themes. Both really good stories, but I found it hard to concentrate on the recovering alcoholic when I was thinking about the PTSD victim, even though the recovering alcoholic is the second book of a series I have started re-reading.

So, basically, I was into the second book of a series when I stopped to re-read a book by an entirely different author, but with some characters of the same name.

Yeah, very confusing.

But I was right, I did have the PTSD story. And it’s excellent and beautifully written. I have no personal experience of PTSD, but I think Gillenwater represented the facts and the experiences of the problem vividly enough for me to understand its implications for the sufferers.

And frankly, I now need to look up whether she has any other books, maybe even see if “Jenna’s Cowboy” is the first in a series. It reads like it might be. And if so, I have another author I like a lot.

Though I also discovered that I have several books on my reader that I don’t think I’ve actually read because nothing about them sounded familiar, so I’m going to have to go back and read them, but after I finish this Linda Goodnight series, I’m on.

And I’m honestly considering digging out that Brenda Minton series, which includes her character named Jenna, who, by the way, is ex-military in her story too, injured even.

All of which has me thinking about, of all things, those cleaning and organizing gurus who insist that once you’ve read a book, you should get rid of it. That you shouldn’t have all those books “cluttering” your house!

My response is, but what if I want to re-read it? What if it’s a book with information I may need again, you know, like a dictionary, thesaurus, or a self-help, all of which I do have. Or maybe a classic, you know, like Shakespeare Unabridged, which I also have among several other classics, including some Agatha Christy and the first nineteen novels of The Boxcar Children.

Does anyone really expect me to get rid of these wonderful books? My apartment would be pretty bare without all these bookcases. Then again, my bookcases also hold Nativities, but those gurus also say to get rid of or cut down on such collections. I won’t be doing that either.

Anyway, happy writing, everyone!

Of Snacks and Tastebuds by Konnie Enos

I have been trying new foods lately, namely focusing on crackers and chips that are supposed to be healthier. In the process, I found From the Ground Up, a company that makes such things utilizing cauliflower as the base rather than flour. Now, I have been choosing to eat a variety of pizza made with a cauliflower crust for some years now, so I thought I’d try them.

There is also several things I knew before I did.

One, as a plant-based food the likelihood of my daughter being able to have them was slim to none. Nuts and soy are plants after all, and even if they weren’t in them, cross-contamination is also a thing. (Though, after inspecting the label, it would seem this company is more allergy friendly than most.)

Two, my husband would eat them no matter what. Whenever I find a food, especially an expensive one, that is friendly to my dietary restrictions he will also want to consume it. It’s annoying but I don’t complain much because it comes in handy when I find out that the new food is unpalatable to me. He’ll still eat it.

Three, my son will not even attempt to try them from the moment I tell him that they are made from vegetables. Although he has had a piece or two of my cauliflower-based pizza and he knows that’s what its made of. To be fair, he was desperate for food and my already cooked pizza was handy. That and he doesn’t find the taste to be that off-putting.

Knowing he will eat my pizza on occasion and wanting to get him to eat more vegetables because a diet of carbohydrates and protein isn’t healthy, I have offered him a taste of these new snacks. Knowing how he feels about vegetables, I don’t mention the cauliflower until after he has tasted them. He usually doesn’t like them anyway.

Now, the other day I got a new flavor of cauliflower crackers. These happen to look very similar to Cheez It’s. When he saw what they looked like he wanted some. I gave him one to try and to my surprise he liked it. Even more surprising, he took a whole box to his room even after I explained what they were made of.

As he grabbed the box he said, “I can have some, right?”

I, rather astonished, told him I wasn’t going to prevent him from eating vegetables.

Five minutes later he brought the box back.

“What happened? Do you not like them after all?”

He said something about the aftertaste and handed it back to me.

That would have been the end of the subject, but my husband saw the crackers and wanted some while he took off to someplace he needed to go. I was reluctant to let him have the bag I had out and already opened, and I asked him how much he needed.

He said he’d eat about half of what was there. I would have preferred giving him some in another bag but reluctantly let him have them as he was in a hurry to leave. He returned a few hours later with the bag barely touched with the same complaint.

So, I have apparently found a snack food that I do not have to hide from my husband. And yes, we have to hide food from him because he will eat it all, even when it’s the really expensive allergy-free stuff our daughter gets. (We’ve had to chew him out more than once about getting into her food, but now we have him trained to stay out of her cupboard.)

Yes, the taste is very different than Cheez It’s, but I like it. So, I will probably buy more since I don’t have to hide them.

Just to be clear. Yes, I hide food from my husband. His eating foods I can’t have or don’t like is one thing. But consuming the last of the snacks I love and an enjoy is another one altogether. So yes, I have been hiding food from him.

Though so far I have only been able to successfully hide one snack. But it is the most important snack to hide. Chocolate. Namely dark chocolate. My latest find is 70% cocoa Dove dark chocolate squares. Seriously delicious.

The 70% or higher cocoa is healthy, in moderation. The size of each piece is perfect too. Not too small, but also not so large that it is a sugar laden no-no. And just one is the melt in your mouth perfection that can completely satisfy your craving all on it’s own. It takes effort to limit myself to just two a day, they are that good.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.