Back At It Finally

It had been over a year since I have posted here. I feel like I've been gone for over a decade.

The last year has been hectic and then some.

My son graduated high school last spring. He moved in with his dad, did 1 year of college and now decided to just work full-time. He has already gotten a raise in only 2 weeks!!!As of now I'm dealing with the fallout of his father trying to disown him. Yeah for me!
This year my little girl graduated middle school. In the fall my baby girl will begin her chapter of High School. It makes me feel old.

After my son moved out I had to move from a 3 bedroom to a 2 bedroom. Yep, that's right. I live in low income housing and 1 adult and 1 kid only gets a 2 bedroom, which I understand. I had to move on one of the hottest days last August. It about killed me. Now I'm in an apartment 2/3 smaller. I had to downsize a lot. After almost a year, we have finally settled in and I'm somewhat organized.

When my son moved out, quickly, I hadn't had time to adjust the loss of child support so I lost my internet and had to fork over a huge deposit for the 2 bedroom.

This month I finally am caught up and have enough stashed to pay 6 months of bills. That means internet too!!! It has been a long road but I have made it this far and my stress level has lowered.  Well, after yesterday.
Monday, I was to have internet. Well, the UPS driver decided, himself, that I needed to sign for the modem and he had come while I was gone. This, even after I called Friday to verify I didn't need to be here. I called the second I got home, they sent a message to the driver and he was not in the area. That meant I had to pay the neighbor to take me to pick it up. The office is 32 miles from my apartment.

When I got home I had to wait until 8pm. At about 8:30pm I plugged the modem and all that crap in....
It didn't work!
I call the internet company, they would send a tech out in the morning. So after waiting a year and getting my hopes up, I had to wait. These events sent me into a rage episode. I threw a bunch of things and put a whole in the wall AGAIN!
Tuesday morning the tech was here 9 minutes after the 9am-noon arrival time. In 10 minutes he had my internet up and running.
Guess what the problem was...
When they remodeled my apartment they hooked up all the phone jacks up backwards! WTF!!!
Friday he came back and replaced the jack. Hmm... still dropping internet for about a minute ever hours. Internet is still dropping out for a minute every so often which means the tech will be back on Monday to check the outside line.
I am online and getting back into my routine. Yes, I can live without internet in my home but once I was up and running a weight lifted off me. Probably because now my daughter won't complain all the time about not having WiFi.

Another thing that has me ticked a bit. My AC (air conditioner) leaks in the apartment and has since I moved in here last August. They have to replace the wall box it sits in. They ordered it finally two weeks ago. Guess what, it's back-ordered. So, last year I had to deal with it leaking cause I wasn't going to deal with the dry heat when we had it. This year wasps decided to build a lovely nest, so no AC right now. Luckily one of my neighbors let me stay in her apartment even when she's gone.

Working on @GetWordies writathon for CampNaNoWriMo next month. I can't wait to start my project July 1st. It's another project that has been haunting me for months. I'll be post excepts from past WIP (work in progress), Jasper's Mate, soon on my page 'My Writings'.

It's MAY!

It's May and it's going to be a very long month. I have my son's graduation, many more disability appointments, getting my daughter ready for braces and cooking healthier with less money. Then you need to add writing and cleaning.

Today I have begun making all homemade broths for one-pot meals. I am saving over $40 by making my own. I am enjoying getting back to cooking like my great-great aunt did. With my girl wanting more vegetarian meals veggie broth is my largest batch. And thanks to my ex-mother-in-law, I now have a 12 quart stock pot to make it easier. It's what she got me for an early Mother's Day present.

A few recipes I'm making are the following:
Spinach & Artichoke One Pot (my girl's fav)
Chicken, Orzo, & Spinach 
Vegan Pasta
Chicken Lo Mein

I have found that eating healthier is costing me more money when it comes to fresh vegetables. How are we suppose to eat fresh like The First Lady wants when many can't afford it. A head of cauliflower is $3 and carrots are $2 but if I bought frozen it would be half of that here. The prices of onions have been slowly increasing as well as tomatoes, and all fruit.

My son's graduation open house is the 23rd and his graduation is the 24th. I still can't believe he's graduating already. I still think he's my lil' boy but since he has been living with his father (half the time) for 2 months now, he has grown up so much. I didn't want him to live there but it seems to be a good choice.

I am a proud mother of a 17 year old graduating son!

I have completed another CampNaNo in April. With just over 51k of my 50k goal. Of course my OCD kicked in and I have started it over. I have finished WIP-2 (the 1st in series). It'll be going off to a beta reader in the next few weeks. I'm excited yet nervous.

I am also 9 books ahead on my Goodreads reading challenge.  Having read 34 of the 75 I pledged. I re-read Bayou Heat series and Guardians of Eternity series. Now I'm working on Sookie Stackhouse (aka True Blood) re-read.

***Day 13 of CampNaNoWriMo April 2015***

I am making slow progress with my CampNaNoWriMo 2015 project. Several things have come up and distracted me. The main distraction is having to write on my desktop since my laptop died over the weekend.

I am still a day and a half ahead of schedule. Though I wanted to finish by the 25th. I might not be able to.
I thought you might like an excerpt from my #WIP.
Tasmina
Tasmina had been left with Vance while Azmera tossed together a meal. Vance was silent and that had made Tasmina feel comfortable enough to sleep. Her dreams were filled with Amos. He was beating her and telling her he’d kill her given the chance. When she flung out of bed trying to escape her dream, she saw that Elijah had replaced Vance. Why hadn’t his scent calmed her. Vance was new to her wolf but she knew Elijah would never let Amos get her. To the point she was certain about it.
“You are safe little one.”
She crawled back into bed. “Amos?”
“Executed. You do not  have to worry about him. Is he one you were dreaming about?”
Nodding since her tongue was tied from fear that lingered. Swallowing the lump in her throat, “Yes.”
“I must speak of another matter at hand.” She looked to the floor. He fall back mode. “Amos spoke of others coming for you. Stated they were to start with you. Do not fear Council has it safe for you. More warriors are coming. Council thinks it best you stay here. Your scent is all over Sage’s territory, but very little here. If you stay inside none shall know you are here.”
“School?”
Elijah felt the wave of sadness coming from her. “You can still do your school here. You will no longer be allowed to the school until this is settled.”
“Why me? I can’t hurt anyone.” Tears were flowing down her cheeks. She no longer cared if she seemed weak to anyone.
“He called you a traitor.”
“Why? All I did was run from him.”
“You ran to Council. That can be seen as a betrayal to an Alpha. I know you did what you had to. Council feels the same. Zane would not have given you to Sage if not. Can you tell me what Amos did to you?”
“Must I?”
“No, I would like to know at some point.”
“He whipped me for everything. If I walked to slow or too fast. If I ate the wrong way according to him. I was pushed and beat on by everyone, even the females at times.” She was shaking with the memories but continued, “I was forced to…” and she couldn’t continue any longer.
“Forced? Forced to do what?”

She looked to he waist and then to his. “They took you? They forced you when you were so young?” His tone was angered. For the first time Tasmina saw his powers and control over them. He didn’t move but just sat there clenching his fists repeatedly. His power was intense, it was driving he to hide but she sat there waiting for him to ask again and give details. The questions never came. Elijah just sat there at the door in silence.

There I hope you like it!

Have a great day ad keep writing and reading.