Through the Cookies and Onward!
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a
Girl Scout leader and have been for the past 9 years. That's what happens when you are a hyper-volunteer and you have two daughters. Anyone even tangentially associated with Girl Scouts knows that no year is complete without the requisite
Girl Scout cookie sale! The cookies and I have a love-hate relationship. I love them, they love me, and they apparently love my thighs. Point being, cookie time comes right after the holidays in my neck of the woods. January is a tough time to drum up cookie orders, since most people made New Year's resolutions (not goals, like mine) and vowed never to eat another cookie. The cookie sale is a wonderful thing, in that it finances trips and things the girls want to do. But the whole slogging around in the cold, rain and sleet makes it unattractive to the 12 - 14 year-olds. And us moms, too!
Happily, the initial orders were due today. Ours have been turned in, so it's onward to larger adventures, like making progress on my latest book. I have wrestled with three different versions of the book I want to write for one of the ladies in Cross Springs, Connie Burns. Connie is the best friend of Linda in
Kick Start and also of Katie in
Cross Talk. Those who have read both books are clamoring for Connie's story. The problem is, Connie is quite complex. I have to make sure the story shows the depth of her character and gives her an opportunity to grow and change. I think I know how the story needs to pan out, but it's still in the "marination" stage. Katie's book took a while to marinate, but the payoff was definitely worth it. I am confident the payoff for Connie's book will be worth the effort, as well.
I'm off to poke through the marinade and see how things are turning out. Meanwhile, be nice to the Girls Scouts in your area and order some cookies!
Labels: Girl Scout cookies, Life, Marination, new books
That Was a Goal, Not a Resolution
In the interest of preserving my status as an anti-resolutionary, I must point out that I merely had a
goal of joining the dingy gym this year. Not a resolution. Just so we're straight about that.
In any case, I went on Jan. 2 to check out the gym. Turned out it was not dingy at all. That was merely my writer's imagination getting away from me yet again. The gym is
Anytime Fitness and it's wonderful. They only have equipment I would actually use, no classes, and a dearth of beautiful young things. That last point is especially attractive to those of us hanging on to remnants of our once-youthful selves. They also have tanning beds, but I will never use those because I think they are an invitation to
skin cancer. Because it was January, they happened to be running the no-enrollment-fee discount. Of course, I joined right away.
Since then, I have been to said gym 4 times and on another day walked 4 miles with my dear friend and new
Mills & Boon author Deb Marlow. I get up before 5 am and head right out. There are surprisingly few people at the gym at 5 am. There aren't that many when I leave at 6 am, either. The most deserted time so far has been Sunday morning, 7 am. There was no one when I arrived and no one when I left. I cranked the iPod and sang like a drunk monkey. I'm relatively certain the security cameras are video only, no audio. If they have audio, they may get rid of it after that. Whew! I'm getting addicted to working out, just like I did the only other time I went to the gym on a regular basis. But that was in the 80s, I was in college, and I used my sister's membership to go to low-impact aerobics classes. Man.
Anyway, back to my no tanning rant. When I popped over to the Skin Cancer Foundation website, they had a suggestion for a New Year's resolution: no tanning. They said: "The
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the
World Health Organization (WHO), has unequivocally linked sunbed tanning among young people to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer." Need any more evidence? I hope neither you nor any of your friends have to suffer or die because of tanning. Be pale, all the cool kids are!
I work with some people who sport the year-round tan and look like shoe leather. Some smoke, too, I guess to make sure the cancer card doesn't miss them. Anyone else know someone just begging for cancer?
Labels: gym, Life, resolutions, skin cancer
New Year, New Goals
Happy New Year! I am, as friends will tell you, an anti-resolutionary from way back. I firmly believe Jan. 1 is the worst of times to make resolutions. It's the beginning of winter, for Pete's sake! A time when things are dormant and it's dark at five o'clock. A time when I, personally, feel I need to go to sleep as soon as I get home.
Nevertheless, I hosted a New Year's Eve party last night for dear friends and even stayed up until well after midnight. In years past, New Year's Eve was a family affair and we spent it toasting marshmallows in the fireplace and eating s'mores. We often fell asleep long before midnight and exchanged sleepy New Year's greetings as we hauled children up the stairs and fell into bed, exhausted. But last year, my friend Suse and I decided we were tired of never having plans for New Year's Eve. We lamented never getting invitations to parties. Then we figured out no one we knew
had parties, so we decided to throw one. We did. All very last minute and we had one friend show up.
This year, I sent invitations to quite a few folks and had a better turn-out. My wonderful and talented friend
Liz Bemis flew down from Ohio and several more local types showed up as well. Friends from
Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and also from my
Alpha group at church. At least one good friend was struck by cooties and stayed home with a fever. Another was stuck in Pennsylvania because she had been sick over Christmas and her trip was delayed (so her homecoming was as well). I'm sure others intended to come but once it got dark, they decided to simply stay home. Which I probably would have done had the party not been at my house!
Although I am anti-resolutionary, the festivities and discussion of other people's goals made me want to at least set some goals of my own. Oddly for me, I find myself compelled to join a gym. Not an expensive, snazzy one with fancy equipment and personal trainers, but a slightly dingy one just up the street from my house. I haven't even visited there, but it is open 24 hours a day and always seems deserted. It seems perfect for someone who hates working out and would rather do it in complete isolation. I figure if I go early in the morning, there will probably be one half-asleep attendant and maybe a couple of senior citizens and that's about it. I can put my
iPod on and ignore them as I exercise.
Of course, the downside to exercising is that I'll feel like I can eat more since I'm working out, when in actuality I need to work out and eat less. The mind is a terrible, tricky thing. I'm going to go check out the seemingly grungy gym and see how proud they are of their memberships. Maybe if I take it slowly and only commit to a month or three, I can trick myself into getting in shape this year.
Anyone else set baby-sized goals for this year, or even adult-sized ones?
Labels: Life, new year's eve, new year's resolution
