Fingernails and Tyger

I've lost another five pounds, which I'm thrilled about, and even better is the difference I've noticed in how my clothes are fitting, how I look in the mirror, AND how I feel physically.  I actually feel taller, is that odd?  Trying to get sufficient sleep every day helps a lot too.  I had an appointment with my doctor, and all my lab results came back fine, except that my thyroid is still messed up, so she boosted my thyroid med by 50%.  It's a relief that I finally know that's why my fingernails look like they do, though I don't know if they'll ever grow like other people's.  

The whole white part on the tip is where my nail comes off the nail bed, but it doesn't hurt.  They've been like that my whole life, but none of the doctors I've ever asked knew what caused it.

I've finished all the books I needed to read for this month's mini-challenge on Goodreads, so I have more time to come up with story ideas for Camp NaNo next month.  Writing the short story that I submitted to the Chicken Soup of the Soul people was so fun that I've decided to keep writing short stories and poems for camp this time instead of working on a novel.

So just for fun, I'm including some pics of my babycat.  His name is Tyger, and I adopted him from a cat adoption agency ten years ago.

That's him as a kitten.  He liked to sit on that yellow chair backwards and watch tennis matches on TV.

Cute little guy, wasn't he?  Not a very clear picture.

Here he is being nosey.

And here's my sweet handsome prince fast asleep in dream land.

Another ten pounds gone!

I'm sitting here at my desk looking at my 30-pound bear.  Yup, yup, NutriSystem does work, guys!  Even with all the meals I've had off-plan for whatever reason, I've lost 30 pounds in just under five months.  Of course I would have lost more if I'd stayed on-plan the whole time, but circumstances of daily life can interfere with that, and overall, I'm very happy with the weight-loss.

As for my writing, I've just finished a short story that I'm hoping to have published soon, and I had so much fun writing it that I've decided to spend July's Camp NaNo writing short stories and poetry rather than a novel.  My beta-readers are absolutely AWESOME, and they do a wonderful job of critiquing my work.  Thank you, ladies!  This month is busy.  I'm jotting down story ideas to get ready for camp, and I'm also working on the therapy project that I was assigned a year and a half ago but never finished.  It will get done this month.

Since I can't read during NaNo months, I'm five books behind my reading schedule for the year, so I'm getting caught up on those books before camp starts again.  So far, I've read 37 books this year, which leaves 63 more to go to reach goal.

On the genealogy front, three more cousins have found me in the past couple of weeks!  Two are from the Puerto Rican side, and one from the Hawaiian side.  One of the ladies from the Puerto Rican side has so much information about siblings, and those families were huge.  It wasn't unusual for them to have 10-16 children, although in those days, some of those children died young, which must have been heartbreaking for their families.  There is still some information from Cuba that I'm having trouble obtaining, but I haven't lost hope.  

Watched an interesting show on TV about El Castillo, a cave in northern Spain with ancient paintings on the walls.  Paintings that might be far older than originally believed by thousands of years.  Paintings that could have been created by neanderthals 40,000 years ago.  It makes me wonder if my ancestors, some of whom were neanderthals, as my DNA results show, lived in that area, which lies in the Basque Country, a region that my later ancestors, the Euskaldunak (Basques), have lived in for thousands of years.  Have my ancestors lived in that area for over 30,000 years?

Books Read May 2013

Blackwell, Lawana

• The Widow of Larkspur Inn 

Fiction.  Heart-warming tale of a widow raising three children on her own.  After she discovers the sad state of affairs that her recently departed husband has left her in, she uproots the London family to the only bit of property she has left, a dilapidated inn in the countryside.  

Brown, Dan

• Inferno 

Fiction.  Fourth in the Robert Langdon series.  This book centers around Dante’s epic poem, “The Divine Comedy”, and Botticelli’s masterpiece, “Dante: The Drawings for The Divine Comedy”.  From the very first page, this fast-paced thriller takes us on a whirlwind tour of the ancient city of Florence and its secret passages and amazing art.

Cates, Bailey

• Brownies and Broomsticks 

Fiction.  First in a paranormal cozy mystery series starring Katie, who leaves Ohio to help her aunt and uncle start a bakery in Savannah, Georgia.  Unfortunately, during their Grand Opening, an irate customer refuses to pay her bill.  The next thing they know, she ends up dead in her car out front.  A witness saw a man walking away from the car who looks very much like Katie’s uncle, Ben.  He soon becomes the only suspect, and the women of the book club must help find the true killer. 

Charles, L.J.

• A Touch of Ice 

Fiction.  First in a series about a therapist with the gift of psychometry and a P.I. best friend.  Everly stumbles across a gorgeous man on the beach and literally falls at his feet.  In doing so, she touches him and suddenly scenes of a dead man flash in her mind.  Who is the dead man and what connection does he have to this hunky guy that Everly is suddenly having a craving for? 

Geary, Debora

• A Modern Witch 

Fiction.  First in the Modern Witch series.  A group of tech-savvy witches reach out via the Internet to bring other witches into their chat room.  A very surprised Lauren, realtor extraordinare, finds herself amongst a group of people convinced they are witches.  How did she find her way into their chat?

James, Aiden

• Deadly Night 

Fiction.  Obviously written from a guy’s point of view.  He seems to think all women, even his “gorgeous” wife are very moody and that he constantly needs to cater to her moods.  He spends a lot of time explaining the motivations for every action or reaction the characters have.  The protagonist is a call center manager by day and a rock musician/ghost hunter by night, though very little of the story actually deals with the ghost hunting experiences.  He talks about setting up their equipment, but barely mentions the ghosts at all.  Several of his friends are murdered, but I guessed who it was halfway through the book.  Not a series I will continue.