June Resolution Update

Welcome to June! In Arizona June means triple digit temperatures, excessive heat warnings,and generally high pressure. The humidity is still low enough to be comfortable, and this year the hurricane season hasn't really ramped up yet (though it has started), so my back is loving the weather and I'm starting to feel a lot better. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, what's the connection between hurricane season and weather in an inland state like Arizona? Pacific hurricanes, and some Gulf ones that strike Mexico, pour humidity into Arizona, so they do affect our weather. More importantly to me on a personal level, the arthritis in my back is so well developed that I'm affected by strong hurricanes up to a thousand miles from Phoenix, as well as really strong winter storms clear up in northern Idaho. So a quiet start to hurricane season means less pain for me, more energy, and a lot more productivity.

My resolutions for this year are to:

• Graduate from college.
• Write a new manuscript, something I haven't had time to do since I started college.
• Take a vacation someplace out of Arizona.
• Hug my daughter every day.
• Learn how to make book trailers and post them to YouTube.

How am I doing?

I graduated! May 11 was the commencement ceremony, and I'd show off my pictures of my cap and gown with the yellow Phi Theta Kappa stole and tassel and the blue cord of highest distinction, except that those pictures all show my face, and I have a thing about putting my face on the Internet. May 15 I got an email from the college saying they'd checked my grades (all A's!), and all of my requirements were met, and my degree was posted. I can now put the letters AGS after my name. They also said they'd be mailing the paper diplomas out "starting in the first week of June", so I expect to get it soon so I can frame it and hang it on the wall of my office.

The new-manuscript writing is still scheduled for November, but I've been toying with the idea of also doing Camp NaNoWriMo in August. If a plot idea strikes me. Or a character starts bugging me. Right now the only characters bugging me are in things in editing stages. The Moms Place is still on schedule to be published by the end of June, and I'm also working on The Siege of Kwennjurat, hoping to get it finished and published sometime this fall.

We're getting excited about the trip to southern California at the end of this month and sneaking into the first part of July. (If my resolution blog post is a little late or early next month, it's because I'm crossing off resolutions.)

The daily hugging is doing wonders for relationships and attitudes.

And the book trailer project has been officially put off until next year. I have too many other things going on right now to work on that.

In other news, Anne has a new desk in her office, and we're working on reclaiming the room from the boxes and boxes of "to-be-filed" stuff. Filing has become my summer project, and I'm making good progress on it. I'm still working on the manually striped socks, and have got the first one past the heel, and am working toward the toe. I'm only making slow progress on the socks because I'm pretty tired out every evening. The being tired is from working hard to get myself to the point where I can walk around Disneyland without slowing Anne and Jenna down. Although I will be taking my walker to Disneyland with me, for a while I thought I'd be taking my wheelchair. Friday I was set out from the house to do errands. (I had to go to the bank, the library, the Wal-Mart supercenter for computer parts, Barnes & Noble, the hair salon, and the Wal-Mart neighborhood store for milk on the way home.) The best part of my day is that I didn't use my chair or my walker, and, for the first time in I don't remember how long, I was able to complete all my errands before running out of energy and giving up halfway through. I know that sounds pretty pathetic, but for me it was a major triumph. In May I read 30 books with a total of 4441 pages.

~Marie