Missed Opportunity

We’ve all got a black book of missed opportunities.
— Jim Broadbent

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
— Thomas Edison

It may be that you've just missed a great opportunity that should have been your turning point towards the direction of greatness. What next? Go into your closet and learn your lessons; opportunity missed may not be regained, but new opportunity can be recreated with the will that have to work harder!
― Israelmore Ayivor

Well, my blogging break is officially over and I have to say it was a bit of a bust. I had expected to use my time to get my writing back on track, but alas, it was not to be. In fact, I was pretty darn busy with other stuff, so much so that I was sorely tempted to take another week. But seriously, I don’t think it would have helped. Maybe later in the summer I’ll take another week.

So what did I do if I wasn’t writing? I went strawberry picking one morning, and had to keep taking breaks because the humidity made me so dizzy I almost passed out. The strawberries were amazing this year, and I picked more than I should have. Rather than freeze them all, I made jam. Specifically, strawberry rhubarb jam and strawberry pineapple jam.

I spent several days working on the granddaughter’s dress for the Father/Daughter Disco Ball. Yeah. It was a bit of a disaster, and I’ll be devoting my Monday blog post to the gruesome details, with pictures. Let’s just say it was pretty disappointing.

And school’s out for the summer, which means we get the pleasure of the granddaughter’s company a couple of days a week. Because of her parents’ schedules, we only get her Wednesdays and Thursdays. She’s eight now, and pretty easy to deal with – playtime/crafts before lunch, swimming after lunch. Of course she’s part mermaid and if she had it her way she’d be in the pool as soon as she gets here and wouldn’t get out again until it was time to leave. LOL

I had lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while, but not as long as it usually runs because I also had the privilege of playing chauffeur, using the father-in-law’s caddie to take the son-in-law and granddaughter to the ball. She wanted to buy some strawberries so we went to a fruit stand (not the one I picked them at) but they were sold out. But they did have something called haskap berries, which we couldn't resist buying. I've never even heard of them before, but I'm still going to figure out how to make jam out of them.

The weather last week was hot and steamy, and sucked the energy right out of me. We were even running the air conditioning upstairs (it’s a separate unit) 24/7. The kittens didn’t like the fact I had the windows all shut, and in retaliation they jumped on the hose that vents the hot air outside on the upstairs unit and so it was blowing hot air instead of cold into the bedrooms, a fact I discovered just as I was going to bed one night.

Okay, of course they aren’t that devious. I’m sure it was an accident. Pretty sure, anyway. LOL

I also did a bunch of little things I’ve been putting off, but no writing. *sigh* Which was whole point of the blogging vacation.

So not only did I not get back on track, I wasn’t even at the right station.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The word to describe last week would have to be – disappointing.

Well, seeing as I pretty much covered last week in the post above, I don’t have a lot to report here, do I?

I think the most disappointing part of last week was how much the weather got to me. Between the smoky haze from the fires still burning up north, the overall record breaking heat, and the humid, overcast skies that never made good on their threat of rain, my energy and motivation were pretty much tanked.

I did manage to keep up with my morning pages, although one day it was more like a mid-morning page, and another morning it was only half a page. The jury is still out on whether or not they’re doing any good. Most days I feel like it’s just a whinier, more extended part of my journal.

Seeing as I wrote no words last week, I’ll use the ones from the week before for my report.

NEW WORDS:
1895+543+385+896=3,719
DOWN 719 – words from last week

I think the numbers pretty much say it all. It looks like I was already on a downward slide as far as producing words went. With everything else I had going on last week, the chances are pretty good I would have missed a blog post or two. Or at least upped my stress over writing them.

Goals For Next Week:
Get my blog posts written and posted on time.

EDITING:
0 hours

Obviously, if I wasn’t writing last week I wasn’t editing, but I did think about it a bit. I’m thinking I should make a list of all the stuff that needs work, but then again, it would be a very long list and it would be both intimidating and depressing.

Goal For Next Week:
Get to work on Elemental Spirit or some other piece that’s collecting dust.

POETRY:
We finally had our poetry group’s business meeting, but one of the members (who arrived late) kept injecting personal anecdotes and pontificating on things that weren’t at issue, so the meeting ran rather long. I finally got fed up and left after two hours.

While I didn’t work on any poetry posts, I did do some research on three new forms, so I suppose that’s better than nothing.

Goal For Next Week:
Pick one of the new poetry forms to share.

CRAFTING:
Still don’t have my baker’s rack set up, but maybe this week.

The stitchery group is officially on hiatus for the summer, but we still meet unofficially at the library every other week. I’m struggling a bit with my sampler, a lot of it has to do with the thickness of the canvass I’m working on.

To make myself feel better about it, I ordered a couple of sampler kits from Amazon so I can try out the fancy stitches on a more appropriate fabric. And while I was at it, I also ordered a trio of butterflies to stitch that have one plain wing and one fancy stitch wing.

I spent considerable time planning and then working on the granddaughter’s dress for the Disco Ball, which as far as I’m concerned was a stupid theme for a fancy dance. Check out my regular blog on Monday for the details.

Goal For Next Week:
Continue on my sampler, check out the kits I got.

WHAT I’M READING:
My Kindle got a good workout while I was on vacation. I finished Justice for Corrie in the Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes series by Susan Stoker. Then I read Wild Side by Mari Carr, HOT Pursuit, HOT Angel, and HOT SEAL, by Lynn Raye Harris. I kinda think there was another Susan Stoker book in there too, but I didn’t write it down and I haven’t put any of them on my Goodreads page yet.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep up the good reading habits.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

To be honest, I don’t want to make too many plans for the week ahead because I think a lot of it will depend on the weather. Yesterday was less humid and more sunny, and we’re not supposed to get rain until about Wednesday, but you just never know. But I do know that if we get the overcast skies again I can’t count on my energy levels.

I’m determined to get some kind of writing done, other than blog posts this week. At one time I had a thought for a series of stories loosely based on the muses, and I had an idea for one that I barely started. So maybe I’ll see if I can interest myself in working on it.

I also want to get working on Elemental Spirit. This is starting to drag out as long as Magical Mayhem, which is ridiculous. I don’t know what my problem is.

Of everything, poetry seems to come easiest to me. It would be nice to get a couple of easier forms done up to have on hand so I can spend a little more time on a more difficult form. And I want to send my own invented form to a specific poetry site (which will remain nameless for now) that would get my form great exposure, if it’s accepted.

My stitchery group is going on a road trip this Tuesday. We’re meeting at a crafting store in another town to spend the day doing needlework. And probably pick up a bunch of supplies we don’t need. LOL

I used to only read on my Kindle when I was riding the stationary bike, but I’ve been reading on it A LOT lately. This week I’d like to try expanding my reading to include tree books again.

I feel like I’m further from the track than ever, but maybe this week I can at least find my way to the station.