I Miss the Sun

Spring.  It’s not my favorite season, but it’s at least in the top two.  Fall makes me melancholy, as I know winter is coming. It’s right over the horizon. It’s so close I can feel it in the air.  So, because of that, I can’t enjoy the colors or the changing seasons, as the future of snow and ice tarnishes the beauty of autumn. 

This winter was so long I am definitely in the mood for spring.  Here in my neck of the woods, most winters actually hit around the middle of December sometimes we get our first real snow right around Christmas.  Not this year.  We got hit with the first snow the beginning of November and it didn’t let up for a minute.  We still had a dump of snow hit us last week.  So when I say it was a long and hard winter, I’m not joking. 

I am one of those seasonal sad people.  The sun goes away, hidden behind dark and grey clouds for months and months and I get lower and lower and lower until I simply can hardly stand the days.  How do I combat this winter blue mood?  I make (force, by sheer will alone) myself to go outside for a walk when the sun breaks through in its rare moments.  Whether it’s cold as heck or not, I do it.  The feeling of the light, so bright against the white of winter, helps.  I don’t get outside enough though.  There simply are not enough sunny bright days in winter for my liking.  The bright orange yellow orb seems so far away and I begin to think it will never shine warm on my face again, and then…suddenly, there it is.  I trek out into the world ensconced in my boots and my coat, gloves, scarves, and hat and I tromp through the white winter land of snow and ice.  My breath making puffs before me as I walk.  My nose running and my lungs cold I forge onward.   

Now, spring is here and it’s all dark and gloomy and rain and rain and rain.  I know it brings forth flowers and new life, but I really could use a bit of warm sunshine.  I want to bask in the rays as I lay in the bright new and green grasses.  I want to run my hands through the purple field of violets in my back, way back yard.  Come on seasons, give me a break.  I’m dying here.  One more day and hopefully there will be a break in the rain. 

Do you suffer your way through winter?  Do you wait anxiously for the scorching hot, dog days of summer like I do?  I don’t complain about being too hot or sweaty.  Give me the hot warmth of summer over the cold wet and dreary days of fall, winter, and spring any day.  

What's On my Mind - April 21, 2014

Welcome to another week.  What has progressed in my world?

1.  The Kitchen is DONE!  I mean, waahooo done!  Here is the finished product. It’s hard to get a decent photo of a whole room but you get the gist.  All that is left to do is unpack all the bins full of kitchen crap.  I will be going through everything with a fine tooth comb as there is no reason to keep all the items I have.  I have so many pie pans/plates that I could start my own business.  I need to thin out a bit.  If there are items of sentiment, but I don’t use them, I believe they should be stored and not taking up space in my cupboard.  Do I like the end result?  Oh, my goodness, yes!

2.  Easter is over.  I love Easter.  The candy.  The food.  The Toys.  The Eggs.  It’s a reawakening of Spring.  It’s a time of forgiveness.  It’s a new start.  This year, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I usually do.  The kitchen stressed me out.  Family and crowds stress me out and I have a HUGE crowd at the house at Easter.  Twenty Three people to be exact.  I love seeing most of them.  I love sharing the day with them.  However, that doesn’t stop me from freaking out over it all the same.  After all the festivities were over, I needed to lie down. Thankfully, the Easter Bunny brought us the movie, Frozen, so I was able to relax and watch that for a hour or so.  

3.  Spring is here!  I have so much stuff to do outside the list is staggering.  Do I mind it?  No, not really.  I like spring clean up in small portions.  If I had to get it all done in one day, I would hate it.  As I don’t, it’s an enjoyable chore.  The sun shining.  The bunnies hopping about.  Frogs and deer, and fish.  This week, I need to work in the orchard.  Winter just went on and on and I didn’t get out there to trim up the tress.  Since we had a hard frost last week, I believe I can get away with the trim up still without hurting the tress.  I also need to clean out the pond.  I need a good pair of waterproof, snakebite proof gloves though.  Since we have an infestation (meaning 3) snakes that have taken up residence in the waters to eat my fish, I’m a bit hesitant to be shoulder deep in the water clearing out lilies.  They aren’t poisonous, but I still don’t want to get bit.  Esp. from the black water snakes as they have anticoagulant in their bite.  No thanks. 

4.  I made decent headway on my horror story last week.  Yay!  I plan on working more on that one and hopefully getting it finished up in the next few weeks.  At least the first draft anyway.  This novel is taking longer than most of my others, as I keep having to stop and research things.  One was how to properly clean an antique music box. 

Hope you all had a great Easter and you are enjoying the slowly warming Spring.  See you next week!

What's on my Mind - April 14, 2014

What’s on my mind this week?

1.  The date for one.  Today is 4-14-14.  I like dates like this.  Seems like this would be a good day to be born or be married or something.  One of those easy dates to remember. 

2.  My kitchen.  I have refrained from moaning and whining about the trials that have come along with the revamp of my kitchen.  It has been a very long haul, but the end is near.  To begin, we tore out the floor, and the walls down to the studs.  Found that the reason the kitchen was always so cold was due to the fact that there was no insulation in the walls.  At all.  We upgraded the electric, put in insulation, and put up new walls and a new floor base.  We spackled, we sanded and painted, and it was a dusty mess.  Then we began work on the ceiling.  We thought we would be able to go over top of the old ceiling.  We were wrong.  The old was uneven and stupid.  So we had to take out the ceiling to the studs as well.  There was insulation in the attic, however, it was loose insulation and old.  As we pulled down the ceiling, it came raining down upon our heads like snow.  It was not a good day.  Loads of cursing and coughing and sneezing, face masks or not.  We then put in a slat board ceiling with recesses lighting.  It looks gorgeous by the way.  Next up was installing the new cabinets.  Afterward, was the wooden floor, and now we are finishing up the plumbing and the trim.  The counters come on Tuesday and the end is near.  I can’t tell you how much we are all looking forward to having it done.  Eating out every night sounds like it would be fun.  It’s not.  We all forgot how well and healthy we eat at home.  All the grease and processed food has made us all a bit sickly the past month.  So the fact that we will hopefully have a kitchen back by the weekend is reason enough for a party. Which brings me to…

3.  Easter!  I love Easter.  Since the kitchen should be (it has better be) done we will be hosting our annual Easter dinner for family.  I have a new oven this year.  I hope it cooks my turkey like the other…that could be bad.  I have eggs to fill with candy for the egg grab. I have gift cards to purchase for special eggs.  I have a dirty and messy house to sanitize.  I love Easter, but this year looks to be a bit more work than usual.  I can’t wait.

4.  On the writing front, I am plugging away.  Why is my horror novel not finished?  I blame my kitchen.  I haven’t had a spare moment at home in weeks to sit my butt down and write.  Hopefully next week I will be back in full swing and real wordage.  I need too.  My main character is not a happy camper right now for being put on the back burner. 

That’s what’s one my mind.  What is going on in your world?  Anything exciting?

Google and Me

Have you ever googled yourself?  I do now and then just to see what comes up.  What always surprises me is how many different things I apparently do.  Here is a list of professions I have found that Courtney Rene, in some form or another, “does”.

1.                  Writer

2.                  Model

3.                  Attorney

4.                  Chiropractor

5.                  Photographer

6.                  Chef

7.                  Porn Star (sadly)

So will the real Courtney Rene please stand up?  I’m the writer, of course. As if you didn’t know.  I was giggling at the porn star one.  Anyone that knows me in real life, the introvert that I am would be giggling too.  The idea of being naked…on camera, not ever in this lifetime.  Oh, too funny. 

However, a few were interesting.  The idea of a model in fun for me, but the reality not so much.  Now, I’m not liking models to porn stars, at all.  But…have you been inside a Hollister Store lately?  Or Abercrombie?  Or heck, Victoria’s Secret? Naked people all over the place.  No thanks.  Not for me.  Just isn’t.  Not that I have a chance in hell to be one, as I have different shaped eyes, and my ears are lopsided.  I’m just average.  Nothing exciting about me.  I’m okay with that actually, but the modeling world, I’m sure wouldn’t be.

Then you have the Attorney.  There was a time that this idea crossed my mind.  Then I got into the law business (not as an attorney) and realized, no frickin way!  Too much emotion and greed to content with every single day.  Thanks, but no.

Chiropractor is not my thing either.  I don’t like to touch strangers.  I don’t even like to touch people I know sometimes.  Like that one huggy great aunt we all have.  I usually stay about 2 or 3 steps back just to be safe.  I also have people I know, that in order to hold a conversation, have to be touching you in some way.  A hand on my arm or leaning in and laughing on me.  I love my friends all of them, but some of the peripheral people that insist on invading my personal shell bubble, tend to wig me out a bit.  No, chiropractor is not for me.

However, that leaves a chef or a photographer.  I wouldn’t mind either of these.  I do my job either cooking or picture taking and then hand out the results.  No REAL people contact but for the final version.  I love to cook and bake.  I even enjoy taking a decent photo.  I could pull either of these off with the proper schooling.  However, they aren’t me right now.  Maybe in my next life I will give one or the other a try.

There is one version of me that I did not list above.  There is also a male me out there.  Not sure why, but this didn’t really bother me.  I found it interesting.  Poor guy, going around with a girl’s name that used to be a boys name. 

I’m sure there was more out there but those were the first to pop up.  Now the question is:  who are you out there in the cyber world of google?