Category Archives: Life

Here We Go Again…

If you’ve followed me for any time there are a couple of things you may know about me:

  • First, I’m a writer. I write under the pen name Isabella Norse.
  • Second, I participate in the annual madness known as National Novel Writing Month where I attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days ( or less).

I debated not participating this year but decided on Oct 31st to go ahead and go for it.

I’m a pantser which means I don’t outline, I write by “the seat of my pants” . I’ve always been this way. Even in high school when I had papers to write and teachers expected outlines, I was baffled. How was I supposed to know what I was going to write until I wrote it? The outlines that I had to turn in in advance of the finished paper were complete works of fiction.🤷‍♀️When I start a story I know who my main characters are, how the story begins and ends and random bits in the middle; the rest comes to me as I write. I’m pantsing a little more than usual this year because at this point my heroine doesn’t have a name, LOL. I’m also writing in a different genre this year. In years past I’ve been focusing on my sweet paranormal romance series. I decided I need a change so this year I’m going to be working on an urban fantasy with a middle-aged heroine. (Why should the twenty-somethings always get to save the world?) Since I always have to have a title when I begin a story this one is called Menopause and Mayhem. I even used Canva to create a book cover to use on the NaNo site. I’m looking forward to just having fun this month, even if I don’t reach the 50K goal.

Wish me luck!

“You’re doing it backwards.”

I am right-handed. No big surprise there since it’s estimated that 90% of the population is right-handed. However, I am somewhat ambidextrous and there are many random things that I do left-handed. I don’t really pay attention to what those things are until something or someone calls my attention to it. The first time I remember this happening was when I began working my first part-time job at a fast food restaurant in my teens. Let’s face it, wrapping a sandwich in a paper wrapper isn’t rocket science. My trainer showed me the correct wrapping procedure and had me emulate him. He then cocked his head at me and furrowed his brow. “Do that again,” he instructed. I did it again. “You’re doing it backwards,” was his determination. Backwards? How could I possibly be wrapping a sandwich backwards? After some experimentation, we realized that I was wrapping them left-handed as opposed to his right-handed method.

Random things I do left-handed:

  • Wrapping sandwiches
  • Dealing cards
  • Counting money
  • Opening screw-top bottles and jars and pop-tab cans
  • Opening doors
  • Weeding
  • Counting weevil larvae

Wait, counting weevil larvae? Yes, dear reader, you read that correctly.

Weevil larvae. Not for the faint of heart.

Since my new part-time job involves working for an entomologist, bugs are always a possibility. Currently, once a week, I hand-count a few thousand weevil larvae. (Exciting, right?) About halfway through the process the mild arthritis in my left shoulder reminds me that counting is something I do left-handed. Kenn would tell me to just switch to counting right-handed, but that wouldn’t work. Trying to count larvae (or anything actually) right-handed would just take longer and result in many dropped weevils. I’ll just be taking ibuprofen on weevil counting days, LOL.

So, are you right or left-handed? Are you ambidextrous?

‘Tis the Season. Not.

I. Love. Christmas. It is by far my favorite holiday. While I detest shopping for myself, I love shopping for the perfect gifts/stocking stuffers for my family members. That said, I am not mentally prepared to be bombarded with Christmas decorations as soon as I enter a store. (I’m looking at you, Walmart.) Where’s the Halloween? Where’s the Thanksgiving? *squints* Oh, yeah. They’re wedged into that corner over there. (Insert biggest of eye rolls)

Image courtesy of depositphotos.com

And don’t even get me started on Christmas music. Once again, I love Christmas music. My Christmas CDs come out the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas music in October just makes me angry, LOL. At least I’ve managed to avoid the cinnamon brooms that come out this time of year; they give me a terrible headache.

Even though I’m anti-Christmas-decorations-in-October, there’s a part of me that’s starting to get a little panicky about the fact that I haven’t started shopping for stocking stuffers yet. I’ve even got two new family members to shop for. (Note to self: buy Christmas stockings for the twins.) True, the twins will only be 10.5 months old at Christmas so they won’t care, but it matters to me!

What’s your biggest holiday pet peeve?

The Great Drawer Dilemma

Owning a travel trailer comes with all of the joys and pains that go along with traditional home ownership. However, unlike a traditional home, the travel trailer bounces around which puts unique stresses on everything. One of the things that drove our decision to purchase our Micro Lite 21FBRS was the amount of storage – especially in the kitchen. In addition to two small drawers for utensils and such, there are two deep drawers perfect for holding pots and pans and other larger miscellany. However, those large drawers have been problematic from the beginning.

Opening a drawer in your traditional home is simple, you place your hand on the drawer knob and pull. Easy peasy. Opening a drawer in a travel trailer requires a bit of a tug; that extra bit of tension is required in order to (usually) keep the drawers from bouncing open when on the road. Early into our travels with Serenity (our 21FBRS) I kept finding pieces of “stuff” in the bottom drawer. Obviously, something was malfunctioning, but what? The what became clearer when the top drawer got harder and harder to open. It turned out that the drawer slide on the top drawer was failing and that where the random pieces were coming from. Kenn replaced the drawer slide and we thought that was that. Wrong.

During one of our last trips, I was getting ready to cook supper but I couldn’t get the bottom drawer open. Without the pots and pans in that drawer, no cooking transpires. I assumed something in the drawer had shifted, preventing it from opening. Wrong again.

It turned out that the bottom of the drawer had collapsed. We had to remove the top drawer in order to empty the bottom drawer and then wrestle it out of the cabinet. In order to save weight, many drawers and such in travel trailers and rvs are made from thin wood veneers; while these materials are lighter, they aren’t always sturdy. Kenn has already replaced the “floor” of the closet next to our fridge because it broke during my month-long stay in SC earlier this year.

Rather than tack the chintzy bottom of the drawer back in place, Kenn decided to just rebuild the entire drawer out of plywood. Once that was done he decided to go ahead and rebuild the other drawer as well instead of waiting for it to fail at some future date. While the new and improved drawers should last for years to come they have created issues of their own. Due to the increased weight of the drawers, new slides were required along with some sort of mechanism to keep the drawers closed while traveling.

The first device Kenn purchased to secure the drawers didn’t work out, but we had a weekend trip planned. As a temporary alternative he installed some childproof/cat proof latches of the same type we use on our kitchen cabinets in The Cabin. (Our kids are grown, but Nyx, our black cat, is fixated on the kitchen cabinets and refuses to leave them alone.) However, the latches were not strong enough to contain the drawers. Fortunately, we always stop a few miles from the house to attach the weight distribution hitch so we discovered the problem with the latches early on. Cue the arguing.

If you want to stress test your marriage, or if you just like stress, buy a travel trailer! I’m convinced that getting a camper backed into a site has led to the demise of more than one marriage. Kenn and I don’t argue much, but when we do it’s more than likely going to deal with navigation or something to do with the travel trailer. When we discovered that the existing latches weren’t going to keep the drawers secured, my recommendation was to just remove the drawers, leaving the contents in place, and put them in the bed of the truck. Kenn wanted to use bungee cords to secure the drawers to the faucet. This was a big NOPE from me. One of the first thing we did after buying Serenity was to replace the default kitchen faucet with a nice gooseneck faucet with a pull-down sprayer. I didn’t want to get several miles down the road only to find that not only were the drawers not secure but that we also had to replace the faucet. Basically, I wanted to err on the side of caution. After several rounds of both of us repeating ourselves, Kenn emptied the drawer contents into a container and then stored the container and the drawers in the bed of the truck. This in turn was followed by several uncomfortable hours of little to no communication. You’d think after thirty-six years of marriage, we would have learned how to argue. Not so much.

A permanent solution for securing the drawers is still in the works. Kenn has some industrial strength magnets on order so we’ll find out how well those work on our next trip. Once the drawer issue is resolved we need to figure out why the oven door insists on being cattywampus and why the stove burners keep falling off.

How do you keep disagreements from turning into arguments/pouting?

A Redhead State of Mind

I am a redhead. I have always loved having red hair; it’s part of what makes me unique. Not only is red hair the rarest hair color, but my combination of red hair and blue eyes is the rarest hair/eye color combination. Now, I am aware that I am aging and that my hair color is fading. I like to say I’m “going blonde”. Most redheads don’t go straight from red hair to gray/white; we go through a blonde phase in between.

Even though I know my hair color is fading, I still think of myself as a redhead. However, a couple of recent interactions have made me wonder. At work, one of my coworkers was going to show me how to do something new and I asked her to give me a minute to grab my shirt and sun hat. (Being fair-skinned usually goes along with red hair. In addition to wearing sunscreen, I also wear a long-sleeved shirt and a big sun hat when spending time outside.) As we walked out of the building, the coworker glanced at me and then my hair and then said, “You have… red hair, right?” I chuckled and told her that yes, I do even though it is fading. We then began a discussion of some of the unique traits that tend to accompany red hair.

Several days later, I went to my appointment to get my employee ID. (I’ve been working for a little over two months, but better late than never I guess.) I had my photo taken and a lot of my data was transferred from my drivers license. The technician verified a few things such as eye color. When she got to my hair color she looked at me, then squinted at me and asked, “What color is your hair?” When I said “Red” she said “Really?” Once again I explained that yes, my hair color is getting lighter and will eventually become blonde. She said that she really didn’t see the red so my hair color will be listed as blonde on my ID.🤷‍♀️🙄

So, dear readers, I am now asking you: what color is my hair?

Large Headed Ladies

I think the time has come for a new song in the vein of Queen’s classic, Fat Bottomed Girls. The new song should be titled Large Headed Ladies and I volunteer to star in the music video. I look in the mirror and I see a normal, average human being. However, looks can be deceiving and I’m apparently a living chibi or Funko Pop. (Both are characters with large heads.) I generally don’t wear hats for the simple reason that most don’t fit. One size fits all? Ha! Not hardly. Between a large head and extremely thick hair, most “one size” hats just perch precariously on top of my head.

During our visit to Wall Drug, we found a western wear store that sold hats that came in (gasp!) actual sizes. Since that day, I have been the proud owner of a genuine Stetson cowboy hat.

Yee haw!

When I started my part-time job, I needed a sun hat. It took two attempts to find the one pictured in the linked post. I bought the first hat based on a Facebook ad with reviews which mentioned the hat fitting larger heads. Ha! It was so small I gave it to my nine year old grandson. Fortunately, the next hat was a success. Not only does it fit, but the vivid orange makes me easy to find when I’m working out in the orchards.

The most recent hurdle has been trying to find a bicycle helmet. Several months ago, Kenn purchased collapsible bikes for us to take with us when we camp. Sadly, we have yet to use them. We decided a few weeks ago to remedy that situation but that meant finding helmets. Of course it was a cinch for Kenn but for me, not so much. I carefully measured my head and made sure to purchase an appropriately sized helmet. Guess what? It didn’t fit. 🤦‍♀️ So, it was back to the drawing board. Thank goodness for LtMacDaddy and his amazing Amazon review. I purchased the same helmet and he is correct; the helmet also fits my fat head!

Success!

It’s a shame that adults don’t get to wear sparkly multi-colored helmets like kids do. (I’d wear a unicorn helmet in a heartbeat.) While the red is nice, it’s boring. I may apply a coat of my Lisa Frank nail polish to give it a little sparkle. Another downside to owning a red and black helmet as a resident of the state of Georgia is that it will be assumed to have been chosen in support of the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Spoiler alert: it was not and I am not a Bulldogs (or any other team) fan.

So, are you a member of the Large Head Club? If not, what is it like to be able to purchase hats off the rack (so to speak)?

Saying Goodbye

I haven’t posted for the past couple of weeks because honestly, the past couple of weeks have sucked. We lost two family members. One had been in hospice care for several weeks so it was only a matter of time. The other was more traumatic; you never expect to say goodbye to someone younger.

Image courtesy of DepositPhotos.com

Kenn’s family is quite different from mine. I grew up next door to my maternal grandmother who was one of eight kids. Aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, and cousins galore were a big part of my life. The first time Kenn mentioned cousins, I was shocked. I had known him for years and he had never mentioned them before. I didn’t even know that his mom had three sisters.

Two of Kenn’s aunts lived up north and I never met them. I didn’t meet the remaining sister until after the death of Kenn’s father. The family was gathered at Kenn’s parents’ apartment and his aunt and uncle came to offer their condolences and Kenn introduced me. His aunt said “Oh Linda, it’s so nice to meet you. We’re so glad to have you in our family.” And she meant it. Y’all, I almost cried. At this point, I had been a part of Kenn’s family for nine years and no one had ever welcomed me. My in-laws didn’t like me and I spent my time walking on eggshells whenever I had to be around them. The fact that this woman I had never met before saw me as worthy of love and acceptance blew my mind. I hid those words in my heart for years.

I longed to tell Aunt Ellen how much her words meant to me but was hesitant to do so. I firmly believed that if I thanked her and it got back to my mother-in-law, it would just give her something else to hold against me. (I was already guilty of the heinous crimes of hanging pictures too high on our walls and having the wrong people in the background of the photos I took.🙄) My mother-in-law passed away five years ago so, when we learned that Aunt Ellen had cancer and had been placed in hospice care, I knew time was running out. With Chick-Fil-A in hand, we went and had a lovely visit. I told her how much her words meant to me and she said “I was just being sincere.” I told her that I knew she was and that made it even more special. That was the last time we saw her. It was a good day when she was still herself. Her condition deteriorated quickly over the next few weeks and she left this world on August 18th.

The second loss was my oldest niece. Ami was only 48. Not only was she my niece, but since she was only eleven years younger than me, in many ways she was like a younger sister. We shared a love of cats, books, reading, writing, color, and all things sparkly. We had actually grown closer over the last few years. When my Daddy’s health began failing in late 2015 it was hard on both of us. We began sharing memes (usually animal related) on Facebook to keep our spirits up. Six years later, we’re still doing it. At least we were. Ami had a severe peanut allergy and over the years she’s had a to make a few trips to the ER. All of those trips have ended with her returning home – except the last one. This last hospitalization resulted in her being placed on a ventilator and then an ECMO (heart/lung machine) before her wife made the difficult decision to end life support. When we got to the hospital on August 16th, Ami was non-responsive. They say that the hearing is the last thing to go so I hope that she knew we were there. But, I know that she knew that we loved her. I had hoped to visit she and her wife later this year and maybe even visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando together. (Ami had been, I hadn’t.) Now, that will never happen. I began missing her regular memes while she was hospitalized and now I have to content myself with seeing the ones from the past when they show up in my Facebook memories.

So, dear readers, hug your loved ones while you have them and tell them all of the things you need to say for you never know when that opportunity may slip away. (I promise, my next post won’t be so gloomy.)

Dante. Was. Wrong.

According to Dante’s Inferno, there are nine levels of hell. I’m here to tell you that Dante was wrong; there are actually ten levels. The tenth level is August in the state of Georgia. True, here in the South we don’t have four seasons, we have two-ish. But August… August is special.

Image from ifunny.com

August is the month in which we need gills. We open the door and step outside only to hit a wall of air so thick it’s hard to breath. And no, you never get used to it. I’ve lived in Georgia my entire life, which is rapidly approaching sixty (!) years and August always sucks. It’s easy to check the temperature and think “Hey, it’s only 79F this morning!” However, when the humidity level is over 90%, even 79 degrees is miserable. When the humidity level is high, sweat doesn’t even have its normal cooling effect because it doesn’t evaporate. Now that my part-time job has me working outside most days, I wear a long-sleeved shirt to help prevent sunburn. (The shirt is in addition to sunscreen. Fair skin is no joke.) Yes, the shirt is light-weight and a wicking material. It doesn’t matter. Wearing long-sleeves in the summer is the pits. When I get home at the end of the day, every stitch of clothing is soaking wet.

Kenn has a new coworker this summer. He asked her a couple of months ago if she was prepared for a Georgia summer. She responded “Oh, yeah. I’m from Washington state. It gets hot there too.” Little did she know… By July, I think she was beginning to re-think her life choices. “OMG! Is it always like this in the summer?” To which the answer is a cheery “Yes, but its just getting started. Just wait until August.” A dry heat really is different. (Cue Hudson from Aliens.)

If you need me, I’ll be over here counting the days until September when the weather begins to change and the hope of cooler temperatures keeps me going.

What is your least favorite season and why?

Cutting the (Keurig) Cord

Recycling is important to me as is reducing my plastic footprint. One of the areas that I’ve had the biggest struggle with is my Keurig. I loved my morning cup of chai latte but I couldn’t continue justifying the continuing daily use of multiple non-recyclable k-cups. So, I did the only thing I could do – I went cold turkey.

Image courtesty of depositphotos.com

I switched to a powdered chocolate chai latte mix and heated water in the microwave. I didn’t enjoy the mix as much as I did the Cafe Express brand k-cup mix I was using, but that turned out to be a moot point because it irritated my acid reflux which made it a no-go. I also tried a couple of different teas with the same result – my acid reflux wasn’t happy. However, I do enjoy a warm cuppa something in the morning to help me wake up. So, what to do? Well, it turns out that I just went back to having a cup of coffee. Years ago, I started having problems with coffee giving me indigestion so I made the switch to my beloved (and still mourned) chai latte. I used the Keurig for my morning fix while Kenn continued using the coffee maker. As the years have passed, we’ve changed brands of coffee and what we’re using now doesn’t give me indigestion. (Yay!) Now we just have to find a travel-friendly coffee maker to replace the Keurig in the travel trailer.

One thing has helped make the transition easier. I always used a travel mug for my chai latte but now that I’ve gone back to coffee I use a regular coffee mug. This means that I now get to use the mug my youngest son’s girlfriend gave me last Christmas; she knows how much I love John Hancock from the Fallout 4 video game. Now I get to spend every morning with him!🥰

Ghoul of Goodneighbor image by Crystal Fae on Redbubble.com

So, any recommendations for a travel-friendly coffee maker? Or acid reflux-friendly teas, etc.?

Chipmunk vs. Squirrel

It doesn’t matter if you live in the city, the ‘burbs, or the country – squirrels are everywhere. You can’t swing a cat without hitting a squirrel, sometimes literally since one of their favorite pastimes seems to be running into the road and then losing their furry little minds. I do my darndest to never harm a living creature, but squirrels make it difficult. Kenn affectionately refers to me as the Squirrel Bellower for my tendency to yell at both the squirrels who are in the road unable to make a decision as to how to proceed and the ones beside the road trying to decide whether or not they should go for it.

As suicidal as Southern squirrels tend to be, we decided during last year’s road trip that Northeastern squirrels were even worse; they like to dart in front of you at the absolute last second. We even saw a few running across the interstate. At some point during our trip Kenn made a statement along the lines of “I prefer chipmunks over squirrels.”

Image created in Canva

Of course a statement like that begs the question of why the preference for chipmunks over squirrels.

. Per Kenn, “When a chipmunk makes a decision, it commits; there’s no running into the middle of the road and being overwhelmed by indecision. Nope, the chipmunk just goes for it.” Since then I’ve paid attention on the rare instances a chipmunk crosses the road in front of me. It seems that he is correct. Chipmunks just go for it and race across the road with no hesitation. But, for the record, I yell at chipmunks too – just in case.😉

Are there any other Squirrel Bellowers out there?