Good night Jo.
Good morning everyone else.
I’ve already had breakfast.
Made the bed
Sitting here, drinking coffee.
Ready to start the day. It will be somewhat busy.
I initially had way too many church activities this week, including an out-of-town church service this past Sunday (an annual event with other churches) and beginning to teach Sunday school for the first time in more than a decade this coming Sunday. (We didn’t really have children’s Sunday school at my last church, because we didn’t have school-age children, and at the church in Nashville I stopped teaching when I was gearing up to take in foster children.)
All three of my Bible studies were scheduled to meet this week (one is every week, for men and women, one every other week for women, and one every month for women–and the monthly one is only meeting till this session and then it’s over), but two have postponed or cancelled. The “last meeting” one was going to end with a Christmas party, but it was the same day as another church party, a bridal shower, so the Bible study party got pushed to next week, which is good. It was too much for one week, but one doesn’t want to miss the last session, and I’ve missed recent meetings of the other two for unavoidable reasons.
My editing schedule continues to be full, though this is usually my downtime. It has now been nonstop projects since last November, except for one two- or three-week break this year (which was welcome); I have work through January at least, and probably into February, and February is when the new year gears up for publishing contacts.
Honestly this is what I assumed freelance would be like when I went into it, or I wouldn’t have had the courage to make the jump, but it has been 16 years in the making. When I see young people (straight out of college with no resume to speak of) talk about just doing freelance work, I tell them don’t even think about it; get some experience (and some savings) first, and then consider it! Or get a job in another field and do freelance on the side. If I hadn’t had a decent savings account when I left my full-time job (more than a year’s pre-tax income after just ten years on the job–and with my ending pay about double what I’d started at just out of college, so we’re definitely talking about more than 10% of my take-home pay), I would never have survived it, and I still wouldn’t have survived it if I hadn’t gotten a very affordable mortgage in Nashville and a Scottish ability to scrimp.
I have no idea whether 2020 will continue to be as productive as 2019 has been, but with debt from the move, it has been a blessing to have it–and also an encouragement, as a lot of this work has come from referrals, in one case at least the third level of referrals (four entities involved, three referring me to yet another party, so the fourth-level contact would never have heard of me if three others hadn’t referred me).
Morning! I love the bench up there. Now when my husband accompanies me on some of my shopping trips he occasionally will take a nap in the car while I am having fun in the shoppes. I don’t believe he would be too comfortable napping on that bench 😊
Janice our entire sermon was based on that Christmas hymn this past Sunday. Thanks for sharing….
We had a lovely time here last evening with our small group. There was a lively discussion on pre, post and a millennium views as referenced in Alcorn”s book “Heaven”. I do not care for the book but that is what we have been going through the past couple of months.
The meal was enjoyed and a couple ladies helped me clean up…that was a true blessing. Now to empty the dishwasher..again!
The bench was outside one of the shops in ‘old town’ San Clemente where my cousins and I rendezvoused for lunch last weekend. When we’d passed it earlier, there was a man sitting on it reading the magazine. 🙂 So it apparently does get used.
It’s been raining throughout the neight and is still coming down lightly this morning. I have a story I’m working on to leave with the editor tomorrow, my last day before staycation, plus some photo assignments to make and copy blocks to write to go with them.
In Nashville, Indiana, there is a sign on one of the buildings referring to day care for husbands (really a bar), about how for just the cost of drinks you can leave him for a few hours and do what you want to do . . .
I love the quilt store that has the skeleton out front and mentions a husband waiting a wee bit too long. We have friends who are snowbirds. He calls from his ‘phone booth’ (his car) when his wife is shopping. Stores are smart to have some benches. The elderly sometimes just need to sit down.
I used to take Elvera to the mall in Spartanburg. She would shop around and I would go to the food court and drink coffee and read. It worked out well. I would occasionally walk the mall for exercise, then return to my perch.
Another morning spent processing, writing captions and copy blocks, attaching photos, making weekend photo assignments.
Word is another reporter is leaving from one of our sister papers. Bad news is that many/most of these people are hardly ever replaced. We just shrink a little bit more.
Mountains are just appearing through the fog as the sun rises.
We need rain here. It hasn’t rained in a few weeks and that is pretty much our source of water for our tanks. The roads are very dusty and rocky when it doesn’t rain. Plus the grass grows so tall, seven feet, that when it doesn’t rain, the folks burn off the grass. So our skies are smoky.
We returned from our college visit. It was really nice, we were very impressed with the staff and had a nice lunch with Liz’s counseling dept. head, who is also the women’ Dean. Very nice lady, gave us lots of good advice.:)
We also met the Dean and talked with him. And of course, the necessary and helpful financial aid guru. 🙂
Also, with some medication, I was able to alleviate the pain to make it thru it all. I don’t like to take stuff, but it seemed to help.
When husband shops, I sit in the car, I always take a book with me. Generally, The Hobbit or the Trilogy. I can read aloud to children wherever I am in the story and they enjoy it.
Hey all. Piano student isn’t able to make it tonight, so I’m popping in here for a brief visit.
There was a conversation a while back about government jobs and the benefits, especially in regards to insurance/health care costs.
Second Arrow’s vet tech job is at our state university system’s pet hospital, so she gets great benefits through there. She told us recently that, while the cost for her uncomplicated pregnancy and birth was over $20,000, her insurance through the state covered all but $400-something of the bill.
My public school teaching years were also part of the same state retirement system, and when I gave birth to both of my first two kids, I didn’t have to pay one penny either time. I did hear later, after I left school teaching, that state employees did have to cover some of their own maternity or other health care costs, but it’s still a much sweeter rate than most insured people have to pay out of pocket.
So will there be a mumsee’s bench installed somewhere?
I’ve been in touch with my medicare ‘agent,’ trying to sort out the Medigap options (F, G, N … ). So confusing and none of it is free. The best coverage, of course, comes at the highest premiums. But it’s still all better than what our company now offers (except for the vision & dental which I still keep through work).
Got a good start on the long story I want to leave for the editors, will push to finish it tomorrow, have several potential phone interviews lined up.
AJ, good to hear the college visit went well and your back pain was under control.
It’s rained most of the day today but has stopped now. Charlie Brown tree is sprouting some new, bright green branch tip growths, so he’s liking the rain. 🙂
We’ll get a bit of a break going forward now, though.
Husband turned sixty five today. He managed without me. But we hope to be home tomorrow. Of course, this means I will have to drive. I hope I do not fall asleep. I don’t drive much.
Chas, I specifically thought of you when I spotted that bench. I remember your posts about sitting outside the stores and being on the laptop while waiting for Elvera. 🙂
Bond is back. Here’s the anticipated first trailer for Bond 25 No Time To Die, featuring a moody Daniel Craig, some stunning visuals (the Italian city of Matera in particular), a first look at Lashana Lynch’s rival Brit agent who is rumored to have taken on the 007 moniker in the film and a souped-up Aston Martin. It’s a fun ride.
____________________________________
What’s funny to me is that my husband is far more a shopper than I am. For groceries, he’d willingly go every day or at least every other day; I don’t want to go more than once a week, and every two weeks is preferable. And he’ll often linger in a store longer than I want to. Now we’ve got it down where I’ll go with him at least once a week, usually twice, but between times if he wants to go just to get bananas and bread or whatever, usually I let him go by himself. Trips for so few items interrupt my day and they don’t seem to need two of us. I go with him sometimes because I know he appreciates it, but it’s better for us if he does some of those trips by himself.
Wandering Views 
Morning all. The day is ending here.
Enjoy your day and be blessed.
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Good night Jo.
Good morning everyone else.
I’ve already had breakfast.
Made the bed
Sitting here, drinking coffee.
Ready to start the day. It will be somewhat busy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good morning from Atlanta. It’s chilly here but will warm up later.
That is such a cute bench for the guys, DJ. Where is that?
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I have two church activities this a.m. and another later today. Have a good day, Wanderers!
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Something to read about the music of Christmas:
http://www.bpnews.net/53991/christmas-hymn-o-come-o-come-emmanuel
LikeLiked by 1 person
I initially had way too many church activities this week, including an out-of-town church service this past Sunday (an annual event with other churches) and beginning to teach Sunday school for the first time in more than a decade this coming Sunday. (We didn’t really have children’s Sunday school at my last church, because we didn’t have school-age children, and at the church in Nashville I stopped teaching when I was gearing up to take in foster children.)
All three of my Bible studies were scheduled to meet this week (one is every week, for men and women, one every other week for women, and one every month for women–and the monthly one is only meeting till this session and then it’s over), but two have postponed or cancelled. The “last meeting” one was going to end with a Christmas party, but it was the same day as another church party, a bridal shower, so the Bible study party got pushed to next week, which is good. It was too much for one week, but one doesn’t want to miss the last session, and I’ve missed recent meetings of the other two for unavoidable reasons.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My editing schedule continues to be full, though this is usually my downtime. It has now been nonstop projects since last November, except for one two- or three-week break this year (which was welcome); I have work through January at least, and probably into February, and February is when the new year gears up for publishing contacts.
Honestly this is what I assumed freelance would be like when I went into it, or I wouldn’t have had the courage to make the jump, but it has been 16 years in the making. When I see young people (straight out of college with no resume to speak of) talk about just doing freelance work, I tell them don’t even think about it; get some experience (and some savings) first, and then consider it! Or get a job in another field and do freelance on the side. If I hadn’t had a decent savings account when I left my full-time job (more than a year’s pre-tax income after just ten years on the job–and with my ending pay about double what I’d started at just out of college, so we’re definitely talking about more than 10% of my take-home pay), I would never have survived it, and I still wouldn’t have survived it if I hadn’t gotten a very affordable mortgage in Nashville and a Scottish ability to scrimp.
I have no idea whether 2020 will continue to be as productive as 2019 has been, but with debt from the move, it has been a blessing to have it–and also an encouragement, as a lot of this work has come from referrals, in one case at least the third level of referrals (four entities involved, three referring me to yet another party, so the fourth-level contact would never have heard of me if three others hadn’t referred me).
LikeLiked by 3 people
Morning! I love the bench up there. Now when my husband accompanies me on some of my shopping trips he occasionally will take a nap in the car while I am having fun in the shoppes. I don’t believe he would be too comfortable napping on that bench 😊
Janice our entire sermon was based on that Christmas hymn this past Sunday. Thanks for sharing….
We had a lovely time here last evening with our small group. There was a lively discussion on pre, post and a millennium views as referenced in Alcorn”s book “Heaven”. I do not care for the book but that is what we have been going through the past couple of months.
The meal was enjoyed and a couple ladies helped me clean up…that was a true blessing. Now to empty the dishwasher..again!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Alcorn’s Heaven was helpful to me and my ladies when we studied the subject several years ago.
Of course I still haven’t got around to reading his book on happiness . . . Waving at me from the shelf now. Hmmm.
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The bench was outside one of the shops in ‘old town’ San Clemente where my cousins and I rendezvoused for lunch last weekend. When we’d passed it earlier, there was a man sitting on it reading the magazine. 🙂 So it apparently does get used.
It’s been raining throughout the neight and is still coming down lightly this morning. I have a story I’m working on to leave with the editor tomorrow, my last day before staycation, plus some photo assignments to make and copy blocks to write to go with them.
LikeLike
In Nashville, Indiana, there is a sign on one of the buildings referring to day care for husbands (really a bar), about how for just the cost of drinks you can leave him for a few hours and do what you want to do . . .
LikeLiked by 1 person
That bench sure plays into gender stereotypes, doesn’t it?
It would work for me!
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Four hours might not be enough time for some women to finish shopping.
Our Walmart has benches inside the store, but they are in awkward places for just sitting and waiting.
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I love the quilt store that has the skeleton out front and mentions a husband waiting a wee bit too long. We have friends who are snowbirds. He calls from his ‘phone booth’ (his car) when his wife is shopping. Stores are smart to have some benches. The elderly sometimes just need to sit down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I used to take Elvera to the mall in Spartanburg. She would shop around and I would go to the food court and drink coffee and read. It worked out well. I would occasionally walk the mall for exercise, then return to my perch.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Another morning spent processing, writing captions and copy blocks, attaching photos, making weekend photo assignments.
Word is another reporter is leaving from one of our sister papers. Bad news is that many/most of these people are hardly ever replaced. We just shrink a little bit more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mountains are just appearing through the fog as the sun rises.
We need rain here. It hasn’t rained in a few weeks and that is pretty much our source of water for our tanks. The roads are very dusty and rocky when it doesn’t rain. Plus the grass grows so tall, seven feet, that when it doesn’t rain, the folks burn off the grass. So our skies are smoky.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We returned from our college visit. It was really nice, we were very impressed with the staff and had a nice lunch with Liz’s counseling dept. head, who is also the women’ Dean. Very nice lady, gave us lots of good advice.:)
We also met the Dean and talked with him. And of course, the necessary and helpful financial aid guru. 🙂
Also, with some medication, I was able to alleviate the pain to make it thru it all. I don’t like to take stuff, but it seemed to help.
LikeLiked by 4 people
When husband shops, I sit in the car, I always take a book with me. Generally, The Hobbit or the Trilogy. I can read aloud to children wherever I am in the story and they enjoy it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
CSU, AJ? Cedarville State University?
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Hey all. Piano student isn’t able to make it tonight, so I’m popping in here for a brief visit.
There was a conversation a while back about government jobs and the benefits, especially in regards to insurance/health care costs.
Second Arrow’s vet tech job is at our state university system’s pet hospital, so she gets great benefits through there. She told us recently that, while the cost for her uncomplicated pregnancy and birth was over $20,000, her insurance through the state covered all but $400-something of the bill.
My public school teaching years were also part of the same state retirement system, and when I gave birth to both of my first two kids, I didn’t have to pay one penny either time. I did hear later, after I left school teaching, that state employees did have to cover some of their own maternity or other health care costs, but it’s still a much sweeter rate than most insured people have to pay out of pocket.
LikeLiked by 3 people
So will there be a mumsee’s bench installed somewhere?
I’ve been in touch with my medicare ‘agent,’ trying to sort out the Medigap options (F, G, N … ). So confusing and none of it is free. The best coverage, of course, comes at the highest premiums. But it’s still all better than what our company now offers (except for the vision & dental which I still keep through work).
Got a good start on the long story I want to leave for the editors, will push to finish it tomorrow, have several potential phone interviews lined up.
AJ, good to hear the college visit went well and your back pain was under control.
It’s rained most of the day today but has stopped now. Charlie Brown tree is sprouting some new, bright green branch tip growths, so he’s liking the rain. 🙂
We’ll get a bit of a break going forward now, though.
But hopefully not a very long one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Husband turned sixty five today. He managed without me. But we hope to be home tomorrow. Of course, this means I will have to drive. I hope I do not fall asleep. I don’t drive much.
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Chas, I specifically thought of you when I spotted that bench. I remember your posts about sitting outside the stores and being on the laptop while waiting for Elvera. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh, the new James Bond film trailer is out.
https://deadline.com/2019/12/james-bond-trailer-no-time-to-die-rami-malek-daniel-craig-1202800232/
____________________________
Bond is back. Here’s the anticipated first trailer for Bond 25 No Time To Die, featuring a moody Daniel Craig, some stunning visuals (the Italian city of Matera in particular), a first look at Lashana Lynch’s rival Brit agent who is rumored to have taken on the 007 moniker in the film and a souped-up Aston Martin. It’s a fun ride.
____________________________________
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What’s funny to me is that my husband is far more a shopper than I am. For groceries, he’d willingly go every day or at least every other day; I don’t want to go more than once a week, and every two weeks is preferable. And he’ll often linger in a store longer than I want to. Now we’ve got it down where I’ll go with him at least once a week, usually twice, but between times if he wants to go just to get bananas and bread or whatever, usually I let him go by himself. Trips for so few items interrupt my day and they don’t seem to need two of us. I go with him sometimes because I know he appreciates it, but it’s better for us if he does some of those trips by himself.
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Michelle,
No. 🙂
Clarks Summit University.
https://www.clarkssummitu.edu/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrdyD8Mid5gIVVOWGCh1cVgkCEAAYASAAEgIStvD_BwE
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DJ,
Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond. 🙂
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He’s good. I like him, too.
My cousin, who’s been a Bond fan a lot longer than I have, though, says Sean Connery is still the 007 gold standard.
OK, so you need a bench of your own, Cheryl.
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Looks great. Is she a senior already????
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Raining!!
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Good night Jo
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