Day 25 - Submitted

Well, my short story is submitted, for better or for worse. I have a few days before I can post it up, but I'm pretty certain it was not my finest work. I feel like it had a problem with pacing, but also there is no character development. I guess there wouldn't be in a tale of a woman running from her own "ghosts" honestly. 

I only had one reader this time, as my other beta readers were very busy not reading stories for silly competitions. I guess that's why I feel pretty worried about the story this time. I don't really have much in the way of feedback. My hubby said he didn't have a problem with the pacing, explained he thought the ramped up elements were really good, and thought it was enjoyable. I'm not holding my breath for top 5 this time. I wish I had a bit more confidence about it.

On the note of yesterday's post, I went to the doc today to get some antibiotic eye drops for my conjunctivitis. My vision is super blurry today, so I've been useless pretty much. Hubby and a friend are outside building a temporary dog fence and I feel bad I can't help. My face already feels burnt after being out there for 30min overseeing operations.

Decided to come in in the air con. Cuz it's super hot out there. I go out momentarily to refill their water bottles and test the security of the fence. 

They're doing an amazing job. Can't wait to pick up my little girl next weekend. :)

Day 24 - Change of Mind

Sooo I woke up this morning with conjunctivitis. Turns out it's another side effect of Accutane. So I'm going to stop taking it for a week and then go back down to every other day again. It's not worth it to just bring it forward. I'm still not a fan of this stuff. Ughhh...

Nearly changed our minds about the puppy too. We nearly took both puppies. haha But the glory of the internet stopped us. After an hour of research, I decided against it. It shouldn't have taken that long, as all 20 hits on google for "2 puppies instead of 1" said "Don't do it" or "What were you thinking?"

It is a beautiful idea. Get two puppies so neither are lonely. But the cons really outweighed the pros. Pack mentality, twice the cost, twice the poo and separate training/playtime sessions. That's just a bit too much for us. 

Soooo we're getting her on Friday. I am so excited. 

Now if only I could get rid of this conjuctivitis, I'd be super duper happy. haha (certainly don't enjoy getting illnesses during my vacation time. hah)

Day 23 - Damn

Well, damn. I thought I had clicked publish on my post yesterday, but it seems I clicked only save. So now it looks like I missed a day when I really really didn't.

So after years of begging and 2 and a half months of nagging, I am finally getting a puppy. I did a fair bit of research about the type of dog that would be perfect for me. Turns out there were a lot, but I decided on a mutt: American Bulldog cross Staffordshire Terrier. 

We're meeting the last of the litter tonight, and choosing which one we like better. I'm really quite excited about it, so I naturally didn't get much sleep (not to mention the previous article issues still plaguing me). We can't take her until next Friday, because we're going away for a few days next week, but I have a few days off after giving me that extra time to get her trained a bit.

One of the main reasons we've delayed getting a dog is our fences. We went through the big QLD Floods back in 2011 and our fences are a bit rotten, as they were wooden. So  we decided a big dog would not be a good choice. A medium sized dog would probably be a better option, as we aren't big fans of little dogs (except Pugs, cuz who can hate a Pug!).

So we looked for staffies, bulldogs, kelpies and border collies.

Our old PT had a litter of puppies from her purebred American Bulldog and Staffy, and they seemed perfect to me. I thought for sure she'd have sold them by now, as they were all so beautiful, but two days ago she posted that two girls were still for sale. One with black patches on both eyes and the other white with black patches on her ear and bum. Hubby decided he wanted the former, and a quick phone call to her later, she's decided to bring both over so we can see for ourselves which we prefer. I honestly think it's because whichever puppy is left is going to another friend of hers, and I bet they want the same one we do. 

We have a tall fence, but our gate is actually quite short. So we're setting up a temporary fence to block her getting out and then buying the parts for a real gate in the near future. This weekend will be spent setting up the temporary one and then going out on Australia Day to our mini holiday. We'll collect whichever one we choose tonight on Friday afternoon after we return.

Now I'll be a mother of three, with my two cats, cuz hubby and I can't have children. So this'll be the closest I'll ever come. ^_^

Day 22 - Accutane

I finished my first draft yesterday, so today the chopping and polishing begins. I wish I was more dedicated to it this morning, but instead I'm just exhausted. Thursdays always seem to be the most tiresome day. Only two more days, but you're already thinking about the sleep in you can have on Saturday. For me, though, mine is from waking up so much last night.

I have the tiniest of hayfever symptoms. I've been sneezing for about a week now, naturally then having to blow my nose. So breathing is a little hard of a night. Relieved for a few minutes but then I wake up.

Normally this tiny issue doesn't really give me any problems sleeping, but I'm on a daily dose of Accutane. So it is much worse.

I've been on Accutane for a year now. I was supposed to be slowly raising the dosage. I started on 20mg every other day, then at 3 months, I was meant to be on 20mg every day, and then at 6 months, I was meant to be at 40mg a day.

I got to the 3 month mark and moved up to daily. I was super sick to my stomach for weeks. It wasn't until a month had passed that I realised it must have been from the meds. I did some research on the internet (yeah... bad idea) and found it was a common complaint. So I stopped the med altogether for a couple of weeks. When I started to feel better, I went back to an every other day routine.

When I went back to my dermatologist, he acknowledged my need to move back down to this and agreed it was the right course of action. My normal blood work for it came back fine, though, and he said that if I wanted to go back to daily, I could. I was not sold on the matter, so I just spent the first year doing every other day (when I remembered at all).

The new year came, and I decided it was time to try daily doses again. So I have been doing it since the start of the month. I immediately had the chapped lips that comes with a dose this size. Dry skin came next, so I moisturise daily. As long as I do, I have no issues. I started getting dry eyes last week, so I have to keep tear drops around.

But this week I started having issues with these allergies. My nose has gone dry now too. It is very unpleasant. They are cracked and painful inside the nostrils, and bloody. It only occured to me last night after the second wake that it was from the Accutane. I looked up the information leaflet for the drug and found that with a certainty dry nose is one of the side effects. Oh goodie!

Hopefully the dry nose won't be so bad when my allergies go away, cuz another 1 1/2 - 2 years of this will kill me. 

I did feel a bit sick to my stomach yesterday, but I'm going to just assume that was from my IBS. Fingers crossed it is! I'll keep going until my 3 monthly visit and have my liver tested while I'm actually on this dosage. If it has changed in the slightest, I'm going back to every other day. 

This stuff is so very toxic, but I really hope I can finish the course so I don't have to worry about acne ever again. 

Day 21 - Distracted

This week has been one big distraction. I haven't completed my short story, and I am starting to think I need to overhaul the whole thing. My days are so long, and I have so many things that I need to do during the day.

Yesterday, my excuse was being distracted by my healthy lifestyle. The 12 week challenge is fast approaching, and I need to make sure I'm ready for that. So instead of writing last night, I did that in between watching Scorpion. 

Today, I got up early so I could work on something for my boss. He's asked me to make up a sign, and admittedly it's been a month since he asked me. I couldn't get Photoshop to load for ages, and then when I finally did, it didn't recognise the font I wanted to use. All around annoyance. So I have caught a later train in hopes to have this completed. It wouldn't have been up to my standards anyway, but all that time wasted. Not to mention catching a train that will only get me to work on time to start working. So I won't have time to make my breakfast and tea and bcaa drink. hah First world problems...

So the goal now is to have the first draft done today, and then I'll be working on polishing it. Wooooo... No more getting distracted. >.>

Day 20 - Water is life

This morning, I woke up with a headache. I'm not using it as an excuse to not write, and that's one step closer to making this a daily habit. On top of that is that yesterday I did not want to work out, but I did it anyway. Won't say I went hard, because I didn't, but I burned 300 calories I otherwise wouldn't have.

Something that I haven't managed to make a habit yet, though, is drinking water. And that would explain the headache. Dehydration is a nasty business, and with the humidity yesterday, I should have probably had 3 litres. Instead, I scraped by with 1lt or so.

So that brings me to my subject today. The importance of water, or Water is Life, for those Dune fans out there. ;)

Many people discount the necessity of water, and that is what hinders progress in diets and healthy living. Now doctors will tell you to drink at least 2-3 litres of water a day, and this is true. But you can use tea and supplements for this. I have 600mL of water with a BCAA every day. Breaking the monotony can be important. If you are working out or sweating through the day, that number should go closer to 3lt minimum. This will also depend on your weight and size. I'm smallish, so I can get away with 3lt during days that I sweat a lot, but my husband would need 4 to thrive.

Water is necessary for digestion and absorption of food. If you drink a glass of water an hour before your meal, you will eat less food, thus lowering your calorie-intake. Certain times of the day this is a struggle. Especially in the morning, when it is important to kickstart your metabolism, but you also have to remember you have likely not had anything to drink for 10-12 hours. So it is important to have. If doing a workout first thing in the morning, a protein shake with water before you start will actually help give you energy and give you the hydration you need. 

Water will also help to regulate temperature, blood circulation and oxygen through your body. All of these elements are essentially water-based. The water in your body keeps your temperature down by make us our own refrigerator. Your body sweat works as a natural air conditioner. 

The most undervalued part thing is that drinking water helps with fat metabolism. When you drink more water, you burn fat more often. This is due to the liver and kidneys. Your liver is actually meant to remove all the crap in your body, but when you do not drink enough water, your kidneys aren't able to do what they need to. The liver takes over the functions of the kidney to assist, and thus cannot do its own functions. Drinking more water means that the kidneys can do their job, and therefore the liver can as well.

So drink more water! Then you might not wake up with headaches. >_>

Day 19 - Routine

I got on the train today and straight away brought out my ipad. My thoughts going towards the story that I should be writing. But as soon as I opened up my tablet, I pressed the blogger app. That means this has become routine. That's a good thing!

I read a really great quote the other day that writers should not wait for inspiration to start writing. Instead it should just be habit - a part of your day. Granted this weekend I did not write for long. My Friday and Saturday posts were short and insignificant, but I still did them. 

I'm halfway through my short story at this point. My mind could not focus at all yesterday, and I struggled. The story is solid and not the problem. I was the problem. So today's goal is to get another 500 words written, if not more. And because of that, this post will not be long. I thought I'd use this time to write the title and synopsis.

For the first time in forever, I have a story title all ready to go: The Road to Redemption.

Synopsis: Eva is running from something, on an indirect course to Mexico. The road trip has been long and uneventful, but now something else has found her along the way. Will they help her reach redemption or deliver revenge?

And that only took me 10 attempts to get right. Eh... not quite right yet. I'll keep polishing it.