Pacific Coast Rest-Stop

[RachelM]

Don't feel bad; 10 years from now you'll be considered old too.

Have you seen the picture of her family? All those Kids?? I give her 5 more years.

Awesome! Actually, they keep me young.

[Shann]

I agree kids do keep you young while simultaneously aging you dramatically!

Congratulations Allison on your EC and to Rachel for entering the challenge again. Check them out here:
Rachel http://www.faithwriters.com/wc-article- ... p?id=47144


Allison.http://www.faithwriters.com/wc-article- ... p?id=47140

[violin4jesus]

That's okay, Pup, I knew you wouldn't miss me.

A busy week but slowed down from what it has been. We went up to the mountains again for a day and a half to breathe some fresh air and hike a bit. Our hike was two hours, and this time we didn't get lost. Of course it helped that there wasn't snow all over the ground. Very refreshing. We stayed in our favorite B&B with a deal from AmazonLocal.

On the way back, I met up with a writer friend who I had never yet met, who also happens to be a cousin to one of my high school friends. We decided that because of the massive expense of the regional writers' conference ($280) we just might organize our own little conference with local talent and encouragement for beginning and intermediate writers, which won't cost an arm and a leg; maybe less than $50 if we can find a church willing to host us. We're calling it SoCal Christian Writers, so if anyone lives down here (LA & Orange County area) and wants a link to the Facebook group, let me know. Deejay, even if you're not on FB I could let you know what we're planning and stuff. I doubt anything will be completely organized until the middle of next year.

The county decided this year that every hospital worker who declines the flu shot has to wear a mask while working, from now until the end of March. So I'm all covered up at work...kinda feels like I'm working in a Muslim country. And since I'm one of the only ones stubborn enough to not give in, I'm feeling quite a bit as if it's a scarlet letter. Nevertheless, my patients haven't complained, and my coworkers are super supportive too. There were three sick calls for our shift on Wednesday; guess who wasn't one of them.

I had hoped to submit for the Challenge, but climbing massive hills on Monday tuckered me out, and I caught up on my sleep instead. I may try this week, depending on if I catch up with my household chores. Working on new batches of kombucha this morning. And ice cream. And prepping for a pumpkin pie. And it'd probably be a good idea to get some lentil soup going in the crock pot, before my celery dies in the fridge.

Okay, off to steep the tea for the kombucha. Night night, or rather, morning.

[Allison]

I agree kids do keep you young while simultaneously aging you dramatically!

Congratulations Allison on your EC and to Rachel for entering the challenge again. Check them out here:
Rachel http://www.faithwriters.com/wc-article- ... p?id=47144


Allison.http://www.faithwriters.com/wc-article- ... p?id=47140

Thanks, Shann! I wasn't expecting this one to do well. It was just pure fun, and I thought it felt a bit disjointed in places. But apparently not.

And congrats to Rachel for entering again!

[JesusPuppy]

::Tips for Leah.. when peeps look at the face mask funny::

Make breathing sound like DarthVader, and ask if they have seen your Droid.

[AnneRene']

Hey Guys.....here I am, here I am, here I am....mes not mia...just been in a whirlwind of running, running and more running. One of my clients had to have another amputation. Pretty heavy around here during the ordeal, but things getting better....s l o w l y. I don't have time to catch up but I will today or tomorrow....BUT, I did notice Leahkins popped in. YEAH!

Here's my witto "happy cat dance".

[RachelM]

Allison- Congratulations on placing so well on your challenge entry! I loved the story.

Leah- You've got guts girl! I admire you for standing your ground.

AnneRene'- Are you a nurse too? I'd love to get to know you better. Would you mind sharing a short bio for my benefit?

[jaybird]

Happy Thanksgiving!


Loved your stories Rachel and Allison!
I thought about entering the next challenge, but no ideas have inspired me.

[Shann]

I agree kids do keep you young while simultaneously aging you dramatically!

Congratulations Allison on your EC and to Rachel for entering the challenge again. Also Rachel placed 6th in her level and was in the top 25 overall! Check them out here:
Rachel http://www.faithwriters.com/wc-article- ... p?id=47144


Allison.http://www.faithwriters.com/wc-article- ... p?id=47140

[Shann]

Glad to see the site popping again. I've missed it. I'm almost done with my kid's book. I'm really afraid to put it out there. I think it'll be hard to hear bad reviews. Of course everyone gets them, but it still makes me nervous. I gave Amy my password and told her if I chicken out she should hit submit. I've put so much of my heart in it even if it's only 32 pages long with a four line verse on each page.

I also want to buy my Sleep Comfort bed. They have a great sale this week. Normally the bed is almost $6,000 but it's on sale for 50% off. It seems ridiculous to spend so much money. I've been saving for about ten years. I had a camper air mattress once and felt the best sleep in a long time but in just a few months it started leaking. I'm also hoping that being able to adjust both sides might get Chris off the couch. He needs a firmer surface. Personally I want to rig a hammock over the bed and put a feather mattress on top. My family thinks my nightmares and sleep walking would make it to dangerous.

I'm making soup for dinner tonight too and had better go add the last ingredients. I'm getting a sore throat though.

[violin4jesus]

Shann, if you've been saving, and the bed is on sale, I'd say buy it!!! My hubby was having major back problems, and they corrected overnight (literally) when we got a new mattress. We got a steal, too - a nearly $2000 mattress for like $700. It is a lot to spend on quality products, but your health is worth it. Ryan also had amazing improvements in his back when we spent the $230 for quality shoes with orthotic insoles. He may not need surgery anymore; that's a huge difference.

I definitely try not to skimp on food and health things - we found an organic turkey last night at one store for approximately the same price as a non-organic Kosher one at another store, so we snatched it up quick. I know a lot of people don't think there's much difference, but trust me, after you eat organic for awhile, you can taste it, and feel it afterwards. We very rarely get sick, so it's worth it to me to spend a little more. But I do look for deals as often as possible, because the costs add up, and you can't extreme coupon on the organic stuff like you can for the cheap processed products.

We'll probably do our own Thanksgiving dinner, and the local theatre has $4 tickets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we're hoping to see Catching Fire that night. For once I don't have to work, and I do work the night before which is the night of holiday pay, so that's super helpful.

What are all y'all's plans for Thanksgiving?

[JesusPuppy]

As it is just a normal day off for me, I will likely sit around watching videos. Caught the 50th anniversary special for Doctor Who. I cheered, I laughed, I cried. They did a great job on it.

Well.. time for a shower, then rest.

[jaybird]

Hope your Thanksgiving will be nice and safe. I'm not sure what we'll be doing as my sis and her husband will be at the in-laws. It's the first Thanksgiving and Christmas I won't experience the meals and goodies. I don't mind much not eating because the last few years at times eating was a burden. I'm thankful for nourishment through the g-tube and good health. I imagine watching football (while in front of my computer and the TV is visible to my left) and maybe the Macy's Parade before the game. And thankful to God.
I love that song "Days of Elijah" - I listened to that today.

Say, behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet's call
Lift your voice, year of Jubilee
Out of Zions hill, salvation comes

[Sparrow]

Hey guys, Happy Thanksgiving! Even though I haven't been around as much, I'm very thankful for all of you. Good to see some of the oldies popping back in again. :-D

Leah, I think we've talked about this before, but why did you decide not to get a flu shot? I haven't had one for many years because I'm scared of the mercury and MSG in them as preservatives. I have had heavy metal poisoning in the past so know my body can't clean mercury out, and I'm allergic to MSG.

However, my local clinic started carrying preservative-free flu shots. The last couple of years I got the flu really badly, and on top of my disease which already has a lot of flu-like symptoms, I felt like I was dying for a couple of weeks. So this year I decided to risk getting a preservative-free one. Other than a sore arm, I don't seem to have had a reaction.

Shann's book is completely done now. She'll probably be taking orders in the next few days. She did the writing and ideas, Rachel drew the pictures, and I put it all together into a book. Quite the Rest Stop effort! I love getting to help writers get published (either through self or traditional publishing) and helping them see their dream come to life.

Pup, I'm bummed I missed seeing the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who. I did play some of the Google games commemorating it, though. I'm sure Andy and I will catch the episode online or stream it later. We're watching X-Files while we wait for the second half of season 7 of Doctor Who to get on Netflix.

Actually, Andy uses Netflix but my family has Amazon Prime. We've been very happy with it and for sure gotten our money's worth! Prime gives free 2-day shipping on tons of Amazon products and they have a huge movie and TV show collection. There are a few things Netflix has that Amazon doesn't, but mostly it's the same and Amazon has a lot of new releases available for only a few dollars to stream much sooner than you can ever get them on Netflix.

Sorry, didn't mean to get all commercialy there, , but it's saved us a ton of money and we had no idea Prime had movies and stuff until after we got a trial for the shipping. Since then we've cancelled our Netflix and are perfectly happy with just Prime.

Sounds like it's been cold for everyone here (except maybe Chrissy). It's been around the 20s at night for the last week. I know that's not cold everywhere, but pretty cold for this time of the year in my area of the rain forest in the Pacific Northwest. We might get a little snow next week. We don't get much, and usually not until further into the winter. I'm not working much this term. Nice not to have to be driving in it.

[Shann]

Have a happy Thanksgiving all. Poor Lyd is feeling homesick. She has classes today but later (well probably around now with time difference) she is making a traditional Thanksgiving for her Irish housemates. This year will be hard cuz both Q and Lyd will be missing from the table. But at least I have a place to go. You can come full Q's place Pup.

Jay you have an amazing attitude! Just watched Parade and now an watching dog show.