Wow, it's been a while since I wrote a blog that wasn't for the various GA staff blogs. Things are still super crazy here, some good and some bad. Unfortunately, I have become pretty lax in keeping up on GA, and I'm afraid that's meant the loss of some close friendships, hopefully they can rebuilt. It sucks, but real life has been about all I've been able to handle for the last year or so. Hopefully that will change and I'll be around more, but I can't promise anything at the moment.

It's been a while since I've written, though I've been re-reading some of my favorite books and it's got my fingers itching to write. I've got so many ideas lately, and just need to actually sit down and try to write. We'll see how that goes. It's been so long since I was even able to get into reading, so I'm thinking that's probably a step in the right direction. Hopefully I'll have something to share soon. I'm crossing my fingers.

Baby J is doing awesome. He's such a smart little boy and he is growing up soooo quickly. He's already 20 months old and is wearing 2T clothes! He's gonna be tall like his daddy. He's going to a daycare a couple times a week, for an hour or two each time to prepare him for starting preschool next year. He absolutely loves it. It's at the recreation center, so I have to stay on site, but it all works out. I work out for a bit, sometimes read for a bit after, and then pick him up. He has a couple little friends there (one is a girl that they chase each other around). He talks some, thought not as much as we thought he would be. He jabbers, but not many real words yet. I don't think it's so much a case of him not being able to, as much as it's a case of he really just doesn't want to. He seems to be able to match shapes and colors, even if he doesn't know what the shapes and colors are called yet. So yeah, he's growing up way too fast!!!!

On another note, I'm back in school. Definitely never thought I would be back in school at 37, but it's going well. I've finished one class, almost finished with another, and then I have my final class for the semester. It's going well, and when I'm all done (should be next spring) I'll have two separate certificates. One will be in Digital Design and the other will be Web Development, which are two areas where I could probably work from home. I've debated whether or not to go for an associates degree, but that still hasn't been decided. I'll already have the computer science elective credits, and would have all the general studies left if I decide to go that route, so we'll see what happens.

It will be good to have some type of certification, especially since there's a pretty good possibility that my husband will get laid off from work in the very near future. Honestly, at this point it might be a blessing, but it's still a bit stressful not knowing what the future will bring. He works in the oil/natural gas field, and things have slowed down way more than they have in the past. He's always made it through previous lay offs, but things are a lot more dire this go around. We'll be okay for a while if it does happen, our biggest worry will be health/dental/prescription insurance. If he does get laid off, we'll still have two months of those, but will have to figure things out after that.

For those who have been here a while, you may remember previous posts (years ago) about my brother being diagnosed with leukemia. He's been in remission for nearly 5 years, but his latest tests showed that may no longer be the case. That's another wait and see thing, as they are planning to do more tests in three months to see if it is the cancer. This isn't entirely unexpected as the medication he was on usually has to be changed after about 5 years (max) and he's nearing that benchmark now. It's still a bit of a shock though.

Let's see. What else has been going on, lol. I left my publisher, Dreamspinner Press, last May after failure to pay royalties. I wasn't owed much, but considering they still haven't paid me three quarters worth of royalties, it seems like I made the right choice. It wasn't so much about the royalties, as they weren't much, but if they declare bankruptcy, I really didn't want my story contracts to be tied up in court for who knows how long.  I've got one of the stories republished, it's on Kindle Unlimited for the first time ever, but the other one needs some work before I put it back up on Amazon.

Last, but not least, I'm seeing a new doctor. I'm still hurting pretty much all the time, and have some other issues. My new doctor suspects that part of the problem is that my Vitamin D is still too low. Basically it's about half where he would like to see it. He had me get all the lab results for the last year so that he can see how deep they tested for various things. I see him again on the 17th and will hopefully find out more. He does think that some of my aches and pains are from adhesions, which would be a result of the three surgeries within a one year period (c-section, gallbladder, and appendix).  Not much to do about that, except for surgery, which would cause more adhesions.

Overall, I'm doing good, just busy. Hope y'all are doing well!!!

Cheers
Renee