Confession. I get excited about stuff. Fascinated, actually. And when I get excited about something, I tend to dive in head-first. First, I have to research the idea. Then, of course, I need to buy stuff. Because you always need to buy stuff. Then I need to spend hours experimenting. Then I need to perfect it. Once I perfect it, I can relax. Until I get excited about the next thing.
Why do I bring this up? Because I’ve been SOOO busy spending time doing… stuff!
Here’s the most important thing. Our little Charlie is awesome. We only want to roast the puppy over hot coals about 5 minutes out of the day now. The other 1,435 minutes of the day, he is the sweetest and most adorable puppy that ever lived. And yes, I looked up how many minutes there are in a day. Don’t judge me.
Charlie has learned to come, sit, “request” to go outside (it’s a seriously adorable chuff), drop whatever’s in his mouth (kinda), and heel (sorta). When encountered with a stranger, he has gone from having a level 10 conniption fit to something…slightly less. We’ll go with a solid 8 for now. Though, he finally got his shots and we can take him for his first real walk outside today (wee!). This will desensitize him to people and dogs so much faster, I am sure.
He really is a smart pooch. And, look at how cute he is! I know, I know, he needs a haircut! But the groomers would not take him until after his shots, so we had to wait. (Geez, that reminds me. I need to call them again!) And, before you tell me to do this myself, my answer is NO. I am not putting my shaky hands anywhere near that adorable face with scissors in my hands!
Puppy damage so far? Let’s see. I’ve lost 3 socks (none of them a matched pair, so let’s make that 6 socks), he chewed up the bottom of his carrier, he chewed my iPhone charger (yummy), he destroyed my adorable purple laptop carrier (grr), he ate up the instructions for a light fixture we have yet to install (so that’s gonna be interesting), and countless napkins, paper towels, pieces of tape, and random bits of paper he finds God-knows-where. And bark. He loves bark. He has chewed up the corner of the laminate flooring despite our efforts of spraying bitter anti-chew spray AND hot sauce on it. (Uh, he’s really sorry Mom…)
ANYHOO… Charlie has kept me busy. And tired, thanks to his tiny bladder waking me up twice a night. That’s OK, though, because mine does, too.
What else has kept me occupied? PROJECTS! I found some sweet new artsy things to spend money on! I knew you’d be as thrilled as me.
First, I learned how to acrylic pour. Oh, my gosh, this is seriously so much fun! The best part is, you just kind of slop the paint on whatever surface you want to paint, and then voila! OK, not really. There is more to it than that, but check out these final projects! Serious fun. Plus, you get to paint with a blow dryer, which is totally awesome. (If anyone is interested in watching this done, shoot me a message.)
While I was at it, I figured resin art was so closely related to acrylic pouring that I might as well research that, too. After pounding the bottom of my coin purse REALLY hard (resin is expensive!), I found some resin and cute molds and got started. Did you know that resin is sticky? It’s true! Just ask my fingers that may have accidentally gone gloveless for a few minutes during a project. That was a mistake I’ll never make again. Two days later I was still dealing with sticky fingers. You could also ask my hair how sticky resin is. How I ended up with resin in my hair is completely beyond me. No clue. Probably the same way I ended up with resin on my shirt. And my sock. Oh, well! I will suffer for my art!
Anyway, resin is fun but so much more challenging and unpredictable than the acrylic pour! Most of my projects so far have come out a bit, “meh.” But check these out!
What else? Oh, yeah! So, Covid has done a strangely positive thing for me. It’s been awesome for my pain levels! Before going on, let me say I mean no disrespect to the seriousness of our world’s crisis. I know most people are not fortunate enough to work from home and they are suffering. If this applies to you, you are in my prayers.
That being said, I have been fortunate to be able to work from home. I am grateful for this (not for the virus, for goodness sake, but for the opportunity to work from home). Because I no longer travel, my pain has decreased and I have been able to take on a lot more work hours. I know how lucky I am that this has worked out for me and I am grateful for the work every day.
OH! And finally, I discovered Boom Cards. Seriously, if you are a therapist or a teacher or a homeschooler and you aren’t using Boom Cards, you are totally missing out. This website is amazing! I spent hours making tons of online mini books and flashcards sets for my amazing clients. So, even though I am not with my clients in person, I can still create individualized materials for them. This is awesome because I am a perfectionistic control freak. Just kidding about the control thing, but not about the perfectionist part. Or the freak part.
So, anyway, I found a new addiction! Making Boom Cards is serious fun, but it has been quite a time-sucker. (Don’t regret it.) Want to see my decks? Here they are! https://wow.boomlearning.com/author/lisneyland
What about the novel, you ask? Glad you did! Given my amateur status, I have done research (I know, shocking, right?) and more research about the best way to self-publish. Bottom line, because I have officially given up on going with a publisher, I created more work for myself. I have been editing and re-editing. And editing some more.
I am working on creating a book cover using Canva, but thinking about hiring someone to help with this. Still vacillating.
Lastly, I have researched how to publish my book from beginning to end. I now know how to copyright my work, get an ISBN, format for Kindle, get printed versions of my book, advertise, and promote the book.
My goal is to have the book published by (drumroll, please) the end of January! So, away I go!
