I always like to do something that scares me during my birthday month so this year I'm challenging myself to really and truly keep up a blog. My goal is to publish here at least once a week, maybe more. What, you say? Writing a blog isn't that scary. Uh, yeah, but commitment is and this year has pretty much already scared the shit out of me so I'm taking it a wee bit easier with my birthday month challenge this year.

What happened this year? Pull up a chair and a glass of your favorite beverage and I'll tell you my tale of horror. Due to Florida suddenly becoming a hugely popular place to live, prices have skyrocketed. The rent on my shop went way up so I had to move my business. Not once but twice and let me tell you, I had a lot of crapola after being in one location for ten years. It was heartbreaking, a lot of physical work, and I spent way too much time being pissed off at greedy, asshole landlords but in the end, I ended up at a great place with a fabulous roommate and I'm incredibly happy with work life now. 

Insurance has gone through the roof in Florida and many companies, including our homeowners' insurance, flat-out left our lovely state. Seems it was costing them money to pay for all these hurricane claims. Huh. Property taxes soared like a vulture swooping down for some good ol' Southern road kill. Sooooo, now I have higher bills to pay and, oh yeah, I had to get a new car which is lovely but comes with payments which is a major adjustment after not having a car payment for a long time. All this means lots of money going out. Yep, that's scary.

Writing, publishing, and marketing takes time and money and I don't have a lot of either right now. To put effort and $$$$ into a book that I'm fairly certain won't sell like crazy is disheartening. But. You never know when the Universe is going to surprise you with Random Shit and any of my books could actually sell like crazy, or at least sell a wee bit. I'm a tenacious bitch and even if I only put out one short book this year, that means I haven't given up. If, however, I do absolutely nothing, that's exactly what I'll get back. 

I'd like to say that all is well now and I'm moving along at breakneck speed but that's not true. There are still plenty of challenges in my life and with all the craziness going on these past few years I've shifted course several times. I wish I had more books planned but I don't. I wish I knew exactly what I want to write going forward and have adjusted my wacky schedule to write those awesome books but that's also not true. My writing goal this year is just to publish the second book in my Humorous Haiku series and that book is moving along nicely and should be done soon. Next year...we'll see.

Making a commitment to carve out more time for writing and for sharing more about myself IS scary but I'm moving forward, which is the only way to go. I'll end with a favorite quote. Thanks for reading.

"You fail only if you stop writing."  ~Ray Bradbury

I wanted to do something creative and patriotic for the Memorial Day holiday but I wasn't feeling motivated. I didn't want to do an art project and couldn't think of anything else to get my creative juices flowing. Wait a minute! How about food? That always makes me happy. So, here is my dessert creation. 

I definitely like to eat so I get as much exercise as possible. It's hard to fit exercise into our busy days but I share tips how to do that here. And also tips about quick and easy ways to eat healthy.  Look at all those cute tomatoes!

If I could turn on Smell-O-Rama this video would be perfect. The pine trees smell so good! I was at a writing conference over the weekend and being around a lot of people drains my energy. Hello introverts, you all get it. I like small doses of big groups but then I need a break. I also wrote about money this month and to me it was worth it to splurge and get my own hotel room at the hotel. Now I'll work extra hard at the day job to make up for it but we do what we have to do. 

I made this video without sound because if I let my honey talk, there's no telling what he'll say. We accidentally ended up on a quickie getaway for Valentine's Day. Usually that's an excellent evening to stay home but this year it worked out nicely for us to be at a romantic setting out in public. This ties in with my articles on Medium this month about relationships and spirituality because taking time to be with people and have fun is a big part of maintaining any relationship. And, spending time near the water and taking quiet time for myself is part of my spiritual practice to honor the elements and to respect myself enough to take a break when I need it.

I know, the video is sideways, I need to work on my phone camera skills. Tilt your head to watch it and get a nice neck stretch. Thanks for joining me this month and check out my two articles at Medium about Goals and Beauty and how us Crazy Busy Girls can rock making plans and looking awesome.

We all need to just chill now and then.

I'm over at Medium talking about the mighty cockroach and how we can learn survival skills from them. I found out a lot during my research and they're pretty freaking awesome bugs, you have to admit. ​https://link.medium.com/O5YzBSMTHeb ​

Cool photo by Romi Yusardi on Unsplash

I'd like to blame the time change for my crappy mood because I'll get used to that eventually, but Crappy Mood started before that. Maybe it's the sensory overload and stress from working during a week of roof repair or the aggravation of dealing with a new phone. I had to got to Walmart to get it and Gaaaaaa! The clerk in electronics did his best but made the process way more complicated than it should have been. Maybe it's general burnout or maybe it's a bunch of minor annoyances that've ganged up and bitch-slapped my brain. Something's put me in a lousy mood but I'm doing my best to dig my way out. 

​Rockstarter tip:  Buy something you enjoy when you're down in the dumps. It doesn't have to be expensive and I especially recommend flowers and plants because Mother Nature is awesome at cheering us up.

I'm telling Santa to go home in the video but I guess the old guy needs some sunshine and salt air after a busy December. It's okay, dude, you can stick around.

Rockstarter tip: We all need a break after working really hard so grab down time when you can.