Right, then -- here's the plan...

When I settle down to a regular schedule of blog posts over on my writing blog I will blog over there on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (The writing blog is the little line in the sidebar of links to the right -- if I put my blog title where it will show up, it types over my header. Haven't solved that glitch yet.)

I will try to blog here on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and possibly Saturdays or Sundays once in a while. We'll see how that works. We'll see if I have that much to say!

I'm spending part of today working out a viable schedule for my work-day, so that I can achieve my writing goals, and my home goals as well. I am going to try for an hour of work at the decluttering/organizing each day. That may be done in segments throughout the day, but it needs to be regular while at the same time not taking over the whole day.

First dilemma -- I want to take down the Christmas tree and other decorations, but the space they're supposed to be stored in the storage room is currently being used as a sorting station for other things. To quote Eloise from the made-for-tv movies (and no doubt, from the books as well) Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime, "Obviously, I need a plan."

This week's plan, then, is

Sunday: to spend a bit of time today taking down the Christmas decorations and putting them back in their boxes so that they are ready to be stored, and so that the living/dining room can go back to a normal appearance. So far, 5:30 p.m., that hasn't happened.

Weekdays: to get the far end of the storage room completely to rights (except for the photos that need to be sorted, but they can at least be corralled) so that the Christmas decorations and tree can be put away.

That is in the midst of working on two writing projects, keeping up with the Facebook Group that I'm co-admin of, working on a new project that just popped up today, starting to do some research on agents...

I'll keep you updated about how I'm doing.

New writing blog launched!

Phew. There were more than a "phew" glitches in getting my new writing blog up and running, but it has now been launched. 

This will remain my personal blog, and as I said in my previous post, I do hope to update this blog more often this year. You'll note I've added subscription capabilities in the sidebar, if anyone is interested in knowing exactly when I've updated!

Also, if you're interested, you may find my new writing blog at this link:  By Word of Beth

And now, on toward whatever exciting tomorrow may hold!

Happy New Year!

2012 -- a bright, shiny new page all ready to be written on. May the year bring you joy, love, laughter, comfort in your tears, and encouragement along the way.


I started the year by having breakfast by candle -- and 'star' -- light.

I hope, in the coming year, to be here more regularly (although my main focus in life will be my writing, and my main focus in blogging will be my new writing blog, as yet still a work in progress). I intend to get the sorting and organizing project finally completed so that it no longer hangs over my head, and so that I finally am able to experience the "Serenity at Home" that was my goal when I started this blog several years ago. I look forward to a year filled with friendship, love, growth (personal and spiritual, but not physical), furthering my career as a writer, and experiencing new things with a spirit of adventure.


In one of A.A. Milne's stories about Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends-and-relations, Pooh asked Piglet what he thought first thing in the morning. I'm going to try to make Piglet's answer my mantra in 2012:

"I wonder what exciting will happen today?"

May 2012 be good to you and yours.

A Pageant that Delights

Just sit back and enjoy! The Christmas story, retold.

Tabletop Book Tree -- Happy Holidays!

After seeing a full size Holiday Book Tree on the internet, I decided I had to make a tabletop version of my own. Despite no experience in structural engineering, I managed the task. It’s not perfect, but, to quote Charlie Brown, “It’s not such a bad little tree…”

Bonus: It gives the little ornament mice that I costumed last year as Addie, Harold and Pippin from The Great American Mousical a place to lean, and it also allows my sweet little Very Fairy Princess-like ballet girlie to be a tree topper. (She has trouble standing alone, so had to be assisted with a book. We all need something to lean on at some points in our lives…) The lights are star-shaped — and stringing lights on a tree is far easier than stringing them on a pile of books, I can tell you right now. Books don’t have branches to hold the lights.

Here’s the finished tree (at J’s suggestion, I also took pictures of the entire process in case I want to do this again sometime.)

And then I took a picture without flash, so you could really see the star-shaped lights (only the lights turned out blurry. I assure you they're star-shaped!):

Guests at the table...

I sometimes find it a bit lonely eating at Mum & Dad's table alone, although you'd think I'd be used to it by now -- it's three years since either of them sat at that table.  (One year since their deaths, three years since they went into nursing homes.)

I tend to distract myself by reading while I'm eating, but that means I hardly notice my food -- definitely not mindful eating, nor conducive to good digestion, methinks.

A friend jokingly suggested a blow-up doll for the chair opposite me -- at least I hope it was a joking suggestion! I've found a better alternative, at least for the coming month.

I'm populating the other end of the table with friends and family -- through the birthday cards and Christmas cards that will be arriving through December. They're joined by a little vignette of a scene -- my Christmas music box (in the shape of a grand piano) and three little stuffed mice that I dressed last year to represent three of the mice in the book The Great American Mousical by Julie Andrews Edwards and Emma Walton Hamilton. Pippin, Harold and Addie (the diva). (Click to enlarge.)

I think they'll all make very nice guests at my table.

Progress progresses...

I have spent some quality time in the Storage Room this week, and have gone through one laundry basket which was heaped with papers, and have done some other sorting and tossing. Some have been filed, some have been archived, some have been shredded. That took quite a bit of time over several days, actually.

I still have a long way to go, but progress has been made (or as I put it in the title, progress has progressed). Here's the proof:

Look closely. I promise you that's better. Want a visible reminder of what that looked like before? Okay, you asked for it...

Obviously, there's still a lot to do, but at least I can see a glimmer of hope that this is do-able. (Note that I've also been busy with life and writing in general, this has not consumed all my time. I'm not allowing this project to consume all my time. It will get done when it gets done.)