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Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana |
Bugger me all to hades and back - my Mac laptop took a dive last night. Just flat out stopped working. Now I am posting this on the one I use at church. So soon I have to go back home and try to restart that bloody thing. I keep my entire life on that computer, crap! I have to recreate a lot of files now. Not to mention see about buying a new machine. And with no car, I'm not going to Billings until Friday this week. A friend is taking me to my last post-op appointment. Perhaps I can pop in somewhere and get a new one. I hate complications. I hate problems. |
Here it is Thanksgiving - and I have all my blogging this month over at Andre's Banana Bar. Check out my posting on my Banana Bar Blog. Last entry is here: "Number 22" ![]() NaNoWriMo is having a hard time right now. Anyone keeping up with their mess? I was at first, but quickly got bogged down with minutiae. I'll check the blogging again after today. They were to reinstate the forums again tomorrow I believe. |
The OctoPrep Challenge is now a wrap. About 42 - I think I counted correctly - writers finished within the time limits to complete the challenge. I pray they all now are working hard on their novels for NaNoWriMo. Currently I'm blogging daily for Andre and friends.
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Someone asked for an update on my surgery. Well, it's been a bit busy here with OctoPrep and all. But I am still here. Surgery on my knee took less than 1/2 hour. The surgeon said he was amazed that I didn't complain more about pain. Seems the meniscus was in worse shape than expected. But the repair was done, and I recovered just fine in the recovery area. A nurse stood by me the entire time as I was given Fentanyl for pain. She watched my blood pressure and heart rate. I always run low in those two metrics, and Fentanyl is a dangerous but effective pain killer. Once everyone was satisfied with my post-op stats, they released me. I walked out on my own, well, that is with the arm of a nurse. We stayed overnight in Billings, as hubby had an early AM appointment. The night was uneventful, no real horrible pain. In fact, there has never been any really bad pain. It hurts less than before. A good sign! I've already done physical therapy and am scheduled for many more times there. I have restarted my walking around town. So far, about 1/2 mile with no pain. That's good, since walking really adds to my mental health. I've missed being able to walk without pain. There has been drama about an event in our town, the Christmas Stroll. Vendors can purchase spaces to hawk their wares. There are only 5 places that will take vendors. I am the treasurer for the Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event. A lady who was to coordinate the vendors suddenly backed out when I wouldn't budge on slipping her vendor forms in ahead of others. She'd been holding on to them for 2 weeks then suddenly wants me to insert them in the queue. I refused, telling her she'd have to get the entire Chamber to okay that decision. Then I would abide by whatever they chose. She chose to quit that responsibility. Ah, drama. I've also been helping with OctoPrep. I'm the head cheerleader. We're down one person in that 'department', so things are a bit busier than last year. But writers are getting into position to finish soon. |
I woke to a cloudy wet day here in Roundup. The weather has definitely changed to late fall. Snow will be right around the corner. It is already snowing in the mountains west of us. Today in the OctoPrep discussion forum Gift Points are flying around! I decided to give a little incentive to those who post on that forum, and give others a reason to pop in and add their 'two cents' to discussions. Too many have dropped out so far due to not paying attention to the time limits. I did get a definite call from the surgery center about my surgery next week. The tentative time to check in at the outpatient center is noon. Egads. That means we probably won't get back home until 9 PM or so. Long day. And I have to be NPO from midnight before. Okay, NPO means 'nil per os" - Latin term. (Translated: Nil=nothing per=through os=orifice - in this case, mouth) How many were lucky enough to have Latin in high school or college? You do know the Romance languages, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Italian have their bases in Latin? The language of Rome. Medical terms are often in Latin. I took had two years of Latin in high school. Declensions, ick. But it served me well when I took my medical assisting course. Knowledge is a beautiful thing. Never stop learning. As a writer, you never know where that knowledge will take you. Where it will pop up in your work. Here's a fun link: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/latin-terms-and-abbreviations |
Mercy sakes - people are just dropping out of OctoPrep this year. So far 10 writers have missed that 72 hour deadline. Well darn. I hate to see that. Life seems busy here in Roundup. The museum had 2 assessors visit the other day. They were checking our structures and our exhibits. So now we need to put their recommendations into practice. Umm, well, when you have a treasurer who has had her position for 45 years. Yes, you read that correctly, it's a bit difficult at times. Also my church is having nightly seminars about the book of Daniel from the Bible. Interesting, although for most of us it is a refresher course. I love the story of Daniel and his friends. I cannot imagine getting plucked from your country, your family and friends, and deposited in another country. Then being told you have to learn the culture, the language and become advisors to the King. Babylon at that time in history was a world power. Yes, I know China was also powerful as well. But Babylon was over the top in power and wealth. You can still see part of the Ishtar Gate in Berlin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon Now I am off to a museum meeting to hear about the final report from the assessors. Should be interesting. |
It looks like I am finally going to get this knee of mine repaired. Thank goodness. October 19th is the day of the surgery. It will be outpatient. Then I am expecting a recuperation of a few weeks. It's not a knee replacement, just an internal repair. But the strange thing about this - it is the 7th incident of a knee problem in our church. I told everyone we should lobby for a group rate. OctoPrep is right around the corner. I note on that group page that quite a few have signed up already. Hurrah! The cheerleaders are getting their pom-poms dusted off, rehearsing their routines, and getting ready to throw some GiftPoints and Merit Badges your way. I'll be able to keep track of everyone from my couch and chair. No walking around for a time it seems. We have a museum fundraiser this Saturday - our last day open. For the first time, we're having an end-of-season ice cream social. Another lady and I are new members of the board of directors. We're sort of the rebels with new ideas and all. The 'old guard' shudders when we ask for approval of our items. But we're doing this. And of course, it's supposed to rain. So wish us luck. We want this be a yearly event. Enjoy the last gasps of September before OctoPrep everyone! |
The change of season is in full swing here. We're having the Equinox storms right now. Every year about this time our motel owner in Gardiner would mention this. Spring and Fall when the Equinox happens, there would be storms around the time of the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes. Sure enough, storms happened usually around those dates. Right now we're getting rain. Unusual for us. We don't get much rain here. It's welcome, as you can imagine. On another note, it's almost time for OctoPrep. Time to start thinking of your project. I thought of doing one, but too much on my plate this year. Knee surgery, doings at church, a retreat for SE Montana coming up, my charity fundraiser starting. Again, I have to 'just' be the cheerleader. Help people over the hump. Give them the incentive to finish the marathon. Enjoy fall. Soon we'll have snow. It snowed in the mountains already. Beartooth Pass is closed. But it's at 10,000 feet, so... |
Well hello there!! Have you signed up for OctoPrep yet? If not, and you are considering doing NaNoWriMo, perhaps you might want to give the October prepping fun a go. You did know that WDC.com does a whole month of prepping for the Novel Writing Month contest in November, right? Well, if you didn't, we do! Lots of challenges to get your novel headed in the right direction. I am the head cheerleader. With my team of Phyllis, Robert and Kim, we will try to keep you motivated. We'll try to keep everyone within that 72 hour window. Because there are rules. Of course there are. Total chaos would ensue and we would all be flung off into space if no rules were in place. Hmm, sounds like a plot for a novel.... Check it out here:
We hope to read you soon! Queen NormaJean - cheering you on! |