Frozen's Olaf... and Joy

I bought the three foot high Olaf stuffed character which is now sitting in my office, and I have to say I smile every time I look up and see him.

Disney's gives us great side characters with which to love. Gus, the mouse, from Cinderella. Mushu, the tiny dragon, from Mulan. Archimedes, the owl, in Sword in the Stone. Timon and Pumbaa, the meercat and warthog, from The Lion King. Stitch, the alien, from Lilo and Sitch. Dory, the fish, from Finding Nemo. Runt and Abby, the pig and mallard, from Chciken Little. Mater, the tow-truck, from Cars. Baymax, the inflatable robot, from Big Hero 6.

And then there are the other brilliant makers of feature animated movies who gave us the Minions from Despicable Me. And Donkey from Shrek. Scrat, the long nosed acorn seeking wee-beastie, in Ice Age. Elliot, the deer, from Open Season.

These are just a few that I love, and I do love them all. They all make me smile. A lot. But I'm putting it out there... I really love Olaf, the snowman, from Frozen.  He is just freakin adorable on every level, and I never get tired of looking up and seeing his silly grin and big eyes looking back at me. Makes me smile every time. Every. Single. Time!

He's like a Viennese polka by Johann Strauss II. Doesn't matter what mood I'm in, these are sure cures to bring me joy and paste a stupid grin on my face.

What does it for ya'll?
 

Knee surgery

So, I'm still pretty UP from getting a book out.... finally. And I appreciate so much everyone who wished me well and/or bought a copy. THANKS

Remember how I had the knee surgery in early December to fix my torn meniscus? I'm still gimpy and in pain all the time, so we're taking the next step. Knee surgery for a partial knee replacement (unless they find something really freaky when they go in and have to do a full replacement). I'll be happy if it fixes the problem though.

So, I have surgery in a few brief weeks - three days in the hospital and then laid up for a month for sure. After that we'll see how gimpy or active I am. So my goal is, once I'm not doped up on pain meds, to be uber productive with my writing. Send the mojo, ya'll!!

Also, should have the next short out about the same time. I'll try to keep up the blog too though there may be a week of nothing - we'll see.

Anywho - that's today's update.
Have a great day and week :)

Petra Cor's first book is now available on Amazon

YAY!!!!!

It took me forever to get here, but it's official. A Mate for the Minotaur by Petra Cor (my pen name for this genre) is finally available on Amazon. It's a short beast-erotic-romance and only 99 cents.

For everyone who was encouraging and had faith in me - THANKS!

Fingers crossed now for some sales :)

Can Cleaning Give You a Cold?

All my forward progress on my office has come to a grinding halt this week as I've spent the last five days sleeping and laying around movie-binging while I felt like death with a cold. I feel human today but still tired. My nose looks like I should be leading Santa's sleigh.

I'm really close on the office and made another dent in the remaining bookshelf in the living room. The tidying project is improving things around here. I'm more motivated to work and feeling good about life - until the cold, I mean. Actually maybe my body is purging toxins as I purge the toxins weighing me down around the house. Body and home getting all simpatico. It's a theory...

So, more when I feel all the way human again. Hope everyone else is doing well in the meantime.

Me, My Office and the Tidying Up book

This story starts with my writing partner and bff, D, who recommended I read this book by Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I read it and have to say even though there are a few things that may not apply or work with an American lifestyle (because it was written by and for those living in Japan), the underlying premise is absolutely life-changing.

So, I've been decluttering and organizing according to that premise - Only keep what brings you joy (and/or use regularly for the practical minded). If you set that as your baseline, it's actually easier and liberating to rid your home of stuff that is just taking up space. I cleared out probably 40% of the clothes in my closet and drawers, 70% of the shoes taking up space, and 30-40% of the books on one massive bookshelf (I still have another bookshelf to go), but wow!  I feel like the weights are lifting off my back and when I look at what I did keep, it's all stuff I love and that brings me joy.

As I'm progressing through the process, I started working the same life-changing magic in my office where I'm supposed to be working/writing. But my brain was as cluttered and messy as my office which was in utter chaos. My office felt like a visual representation of my brain. It's no wonder I wasn't getting anything done.

This week has been all about cleaning up and clearing out my office - making it a joyous place for me to work and be productive surrounded by the things that enhance my productivity. Having now cleared out my filing cabinet and boxes and bags of stuff (we're talking SO much paper for recycling or shredding), there is now room for me to just put stuff away immediately so I keep it clutter free. What a concept! It shouldn't be such a concept, but for me it really was - sometimes, I'm just so bad parting with stuff. Not quite hoarder, but not a foreign concept either. Now, everything has to pass the joy/love measuring stick or it doesn't even come in the house. That's that. And I LOVE IT. :)

Now that you know all of that, you have some idea why I've been a slacker with my blog. But, we'll get this train back on the tracks. Have a great weekend!!

Introducing Petra Cor

I’ve been finishing my mythic creature short stories that will be published under a pen name of Petra Cor. Why use a pen name? So, those style of stories (which are creature/human erotic romance) are not confused with my regular romance that will be under my own name. Obviously , I wouldn’t be blogging about it if I were worried about people knowing that Petra Cor is a pen name I use. Like Nora Roberts writing her Eve Dallas futuristic cop stories under the name of J.D. Robb. We all know they are both Nora Roberts, but the genres are different enough that she probably wanted to avoid confusion for her readers.

Readers can be really loyal beasties and we fear change, so if you write something different than what we’re expecting, we may come at you with pitchforks  and fire reminiscent of the mobs going after Frankenstein’s monster (or maybe that’s just me).  So looking at it from the reader’s perspective, I am using a pen name.  Coming from the writer side, it makes little difference to me.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that coming in the near future will be some Petra Cor (aka me) shorts. Yay! I’m excited that I’m finally being productive and will finally have something published to show for it.

Depression is a terrible thing that robs one of all motivation even for the things that one loves.  So, when one (aka me) finally starts feeling better and finally finds a little motivation and finally is being productive and finally feels as though the cloud smothering your brain has dissipated, then one has to celebrate. So here I am talking about myself in some weird 3^rd person fashion celebrating with you that I’m feeling more human every day. Yay and YAY!!

I’ll let ya’ll know when something is officially out and available for sell. And thank you to everyone who was encouraging or supportive in any way (past, present or future).

Part 2: I Survived the Road Trip

Day 5
We headed toward Las Vegas to visit friends but weren't in a hurry so, we stopped in Holbrook, AZ to check out the WigWam Motel.  The minute we stopped there I knew deep down in my bones that this place had to be at least part of the inspiration for Disney's Cars movie. Seriously! Sitting in front of the hotel was an old tow-truck ... totally 'Mater'.. see what I'm talking about?  Each wigwam was a hotel room and in front of each was a vintage car. It was cool. Didn't stay there - maybe next time. We did stay in Holbrook though. They aren't far from a Petrified Forest, so there were loads of rock shops and such. We got some cool things there. And I got to relax and rest before another day of driving.

Day 6
We headed toward Las Vegas again. On the way, we stopped at the Meteor Crater. It was a little

pricey to enter, but it was worth it. This is fascinating. We watched a short movie on the crater and looked through the museum. We skipped the free tour because it would take an hour, but we walked out and took loads of pictures of it. It's huge! You can see my guy there for some kind of reference. It's a mile across in diameter. At the top edge on the far left of this pic, the first little piece that juts up is actually the size of a house. Huge crater. Any way we were glad we went.

Continuing on, we had, HAD to stop when we saw a sign for The Roadkill Cafe. It's in a little town off the Old Route 66 called Seligman. It was a cute town and we drove up and down a couple times just to see the Americana. The menu was priceless. We both had No-Brake Steak (aka Chicken-fried Steak). I'll add the menu at the bottom in a larger size in case you're interested. The food was good, the waitstaff friendly and on top of things and the ambiance charming.

We got to Vegas and hung out with our friends that night. Got to meet their new baby, Jax. What a cutie-pie. And any of you who know me well know I'm not much into kids, especially babies, but Jax stole my heart. :)

Day 7
Remember the tight calve and swollen leg I mentioned (I hope) from day one?  Well it was still tight and sore and my whole right leg was so swollen up. My left was only a little swollen, but my right looked like I had elephantitus or something.  So, my guy insists I call and make an appointment with my doctor to check it. It's Friday... we have to be home by 4:00pm cuz my guy has a mission critical class he has to be at by six... I know the earliest appointment will be on Monday... and it's already been like this for six days and 3000 miles... but I acquiesce because he's worried (I'm a little worried too - cuz of the blood clot back in December). I call and make an appointment for Monday- as expected - and get busy packing to head home. Ten minutes later they call me back and say I should go to the ER and have an ultrasound on that leg. They say go now, do not leave Las Vegas, do not pass Go or collect $200. I say I will go to the ER. But I think to myself... we don't have time for this here... my guy needs to get back to SLC for said critical class... it's already been this way for a week and I haven't died yet, so what's another 420 miles? So, we get on the road, get home, unload the car in record time, and thirty minutes later my guy heads off to a shower before his class and I head straight to the ER.

They were a little concerned at the ER too cuz my right leg was a full inch and a half bigger than my left. Ultrasound is done. No blood clot - yay! So crisis averted. I know some of ya'll are out there shaking your heads sadly at me and you have every right. It was probably dumb to ignore what could have been a blood clot for a week, but since I didn't die or actually have a blood clot, I'm gonna say  -- No Worries :)

Road trip successfully accomplished, no blood was spilled, no people were heaved out of car at breakneck speeds, no fights occurred, no blood clot was formed and no one died (me or by me). So good job, Clancy!

And now for the promised menu.... so funny!