I return from the 'relative' dead

"Hullo hullo hullo!" to quote Prince Rhun{Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain}.
 Sorry I disappeared without a word, I was rather knocked for a loop by the flu last weekend and didn't feel at all like writing of any sort, plus it was my birthday weekend to boot. So my 'sweet sixteen' really wasn't all that sweet though I was recovered enough to enjoy it from my invalid's chair :) While it wasn't quite what I was expecting, I shall always remember my 16th, all thanks to a little virus :)
 Six days later I'm still awfully tired all the time and a little weak, though I'm getting stronger. But it's really not surprising since I lost nearly six pounds in two days. Wowzer, I think that's a new record! Not a great one, since it completely undid my entire workings for my New Years resolution to gain ten pounds. I hit seven last month making me a whopping 108lbs! *then dramatically* But no more.
 Well, I guess pile on the turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas, wot? Haha!

But enough about me. How fares everyone else in the bloggy world? Still plugging away you NaNos? I confess that mine has barely stirred since the *gulp* 9th. But I did receive two awesome writing journal bookies! A beautiful blue velvet bound one, and a pink tooled leather one that I think I shall keep in my purse/bag-of-many-things to jot down ideas, sketches, etc in when I'm away from home... and peering at observing interesting people from behind a National Geographic. 

 Ooo! I must tell you! I also was given the first series of BBCs Robin Hood! Even though my inner historian screams and writhes at the almost complete inaccuracy of the period, {Greek fire? It's gunpowder you ninnies!! Greek fire is waaaay different! And black powder was invented by the Chinese, not the Saracens..!} I have for the most part accepted it just as a jolly good swashbuckling kind of show, telling my historian to close her eyes for the length of it lest she have a breakdown of sorts. It's not easy, it is my favorite and most studied era after all. And after the last episode she was just muttering to herself things like "Tudor houses...1192...flip-flops...ninja swords..."
*shrugs* Whatever. I'm enjoying it :)
It snowed here, as you can probably tell by all the photos I have up, and Hammie and my little brother are defiantly enjoying the wet white stuff. I am too -- photo ops!! Ugh, these last few weeks everything has just been dying yellows/greys and all the leaves have gone so there was nothing to photograph except indoor stuff and that's no fun.

 Mum and I went into an adorable little shop when we were in town yesterday. It the kind of shop that has antique style boxes, candles, lights, clocks, teapots, and all things delicate and yet cozy. You could spend years in there and not see every little thing. They're all decked out for Christmas, and the moment you open the door the warm scent of ginger bread and cinnamon fills your nose. And now I'm all Christmassy too :) Already I've dug out Enya's Christmas cd and been playing it, waiting for the angels, as it were. I'll leave you now with my favorite one...

-Gwyn

Maybe I'm not meant to NaNo..?

That's the impression I've been getting ever since I started.  I just keep running into road blocks!

This morning I went to do the chores as usual and noticed as I was feeding the horses that Double Stuff was laying down in the shed. It struck me as odd at first as I passed but then figured he was sunning himself since it was a little chilly. I pitched the hay but Double Stuff showed no interest what so ever. That was enough to get me worried. He's always hungry and will eat anything.
 I finished and went over to try and get him up, already suspecting the dreaded colic {You might as well call it horse bane}. I took me a couple shots of pulling and pushing at him before he reluctantly got to his feet. His head drooped and he looked like a little kid who'd eaten too much Halloween candy. It was so sad. He pushed his fuzzy little head against me as if to say I don't feel good. I stayed for a minute to just watch him and see if I was right about colic.
 He was on his feet for about five minutes but kept stepping out uncomfortably. Then his knees buckled and he went to rolling and kicking again.
 Classic signs of colic.
 I ran home and got Da and the colic kit {the stomach tube, milk of mag, buckets, etc...} and played assistant vet for the next hour and a half.
 I will spare you the rather unglamorous details, which I'm sure you'll appreciate if you're reading this while eating :) Suffice it to say that poor Dudders didn't like having a tube up his nose and so milk of magnesium went everywhere {which is why you never wear your good coat to the barn}.
 As far as I know he's doing a little better this evening{8:30} and I think any danger he may have been in is past, but I'll check on him again in an hour or so.
 I haven't written a single word today because of this and music lessons, and unless Double Stuff is completely better by tomorrow, I most likely won't get a chance then either. Not so great for my word count :/

I just got an email from my violin teacher with another performance possibility for this and/or next month. I've tallied up all my music concerts and special deals {like a radio spot. Pretty cool!} and it comes to seven or eight gigs in the next 30 days.

 I'm deciding right here and now that I'm just going to try and finish my novel by the end of the month and just forget about the word count -- I have quite enough to stress over at the moment! Maybe I'll hope back on the word wagon later on, but for now I just want to take one day at a time and not worry about tomorrow, if that's possible. :)

 So say a prayer for my family{and fur-child} and I'll keep you updated on Double Stuff.

-Gwyn

Find a happy place, find a happy place!!

*deeeeep breath*

Well. It's day two of NaNo how is everyone else coping? I myself am off to a rather rocky start. Friday my grandpa had to be taken to the ER, and it turns out he had pneumonia really bad. The doctors were amazed he was doing as well as he was with the amount of fluid in his lungs. He's still at the hospital receiving antibiotics and meds for nerve damage{something he's had for a long time}, so thank heaven he's doing better now. Even a cold at his age is worrying and could go either way, let alone pneumonia.

My writing nook by my bed.

That was all very concerning but what hit my planning/writing hard was on Sunday I woke up feeling positively awful. I didn't even go to church{I hate missing church}. I missed all the Halloween parties too. I guess it's a good thing then that I don't care much for All Hallows Eve.

L-H My pumpkin, My older brother's, and my younger brother's

A horseshoe. For me, a little predictable but me none the less :)

Not because of all the voodoo about how it's supposedly the devil's birthday or whatever {sorry if I'm being insensitive}, but more because I really don't see the point of the whole deal. I mean, what are we celebrating anyway? Cheap latex? Free candy? The basic urge to scare the dickens out of a fellow human being? It's worth a thought. :)

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes...
 Monday I was still feeling peakéd but was able to scrape out about a thousand words by midnight. Today I typed it out and wrote some more, and, as you can see above, reached 2,470. I'm still behind a bit, but I'm not going to worry about it too much because I have two music recitals this week (!!). Violin next Sunday and piano on Friday. I'm slightly apprehensive about both of them.

 The violin recital I'm playing in two separate groups. In the elite group we play Orinoco Flow by Enya, great song but a very difficult arrangement. It must have been a nightmare to compose!
 In piano I'm playing Brahms Lullaby duet with my teacher. I am ashamed to say I haven't practiced -- I hope my teacher isn't reading this *smiles winningly*

Okay this post is just sad so I'm going to stop trying to write with what's left of my fried brain and add some pictures.

-Gwyn

Quick update...

{May I call your attention to my new profile pic? Yes, it is me and Shyanne:)}
Hammie's operation went well. Bill{the vet} said it was a good thing we didn't wait any longer because the ligament was practically gone. O.o Poor baby! I went in Thursday to learn his PT exercizes, and so on. He had to be kept in a kennel for five days to keep him off his leg. That didn't go over well with him, being Corgi/Ausi and all. They said his leg won't be totally healed for about 8 months. That's a very long time for the active guy.
As my absence testifies, I have been extremely busy and still am. Hammie's PT takes up quite a bit of time and my brother and I are very popular this season for playing at churchs'. Too bad this isn't the ideal year for it people! For us anyways. Oh, well. Show must go on and all that.
Remember I mentioned awhile back that I had the flu? It turns out I don't have the flu but worse, there is mold in one of my bedroom walls. Eergh!! I do not need this right now!!
Sunday I was really sick, but couldn't stay home because I had to play 1st violin at two Church services and the Children's Christmas Program. Monday was the second Midnight Mass practice at the Catholic Church. I'm 1st violin there, too. Tonight's another and tomorrow night it's show time! This is the third year we've played at the Catholic's MN Mass. It's like the highlight of our music year; it's the biggest church around; their biggest holiday... so we're very flattered to be asked to play for them every year.{'specially cause we're Lutheran :D} Needless to say though, it's very stressful. There's new music this year, and... Okay I *love* the latin mass and the *beautiful* latin music tunes, but, it is very hard to play! It was originally written for voices alone, which is great!...If you're in the chorus.
With voice you can easily go from a low C to a higher B. But on violin you have to cross two strings. And when you put the C-B in a run O.o
We've got one more practice...<:)

Yesterday hor-frost covered everything in beautiful white spears. Got some awesome photos I'll try and post later on this week. Today we got an almost white-out snowstorm that's hitting most of the US looks like. Fist power out too. Joy.

If I survive tomorrow, I might post...
It's getting dark and I haven't feed my horses yet. So Happy Christmas Eve's eve! If you live some place warm, I envy you. ~Gwyn

In which I cover something without thinking

Well, today I am ill so I searched Ranger's Apprentice FanFic to pass the time. O.o You would not believe what some people come up with. One{female} fan wrote that Will was related to the girl he falls in love with in the books for this reason, and I quote:"You know what this means, girls! He's up for grabs!" O.o Soak my brains in acid for I am totally embarrassed to be female right now! What on earth has the world come to???? I know boys are no better. But seriously! When my Grandmum was 14 she was teaching school in a one room prairie schoolhouse to children ranging from 3 to 18! Could any of today's teens do as much? I really don't think so. No, its seems that to a lot of people responsibility is to take or leave. Along with manners, respect for self and others... God. Aha. That may be where the train left the tracks. Since when did it become okay to take or leave God?
That's like creating a robot and then having it say there's no such thing as a creator. If it decides to believe that you do exist, well then, you should be indebted to it and fill its exspectations{sp} of what a creator should be. This sound wrong to you?
There is a common mistake made in Christianity that is self-sanctification. We might and perhaps often do make it unknowingly when we say "I accepted Jesus" At first glance it doesn't seem wrong, but look closer. When you say "I accepted Jesus" who really has the power? *I* accepted Jesus. Therefore *I* should get to go to heaven, because *I* made that choice. I-I-I-I-I! The focus is taken off Jesus when in fact, "I cannot, by our own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ" How then can we? The Holy Spirit. "...but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel,... sanctified and kept me in the one true faith." So really, you see, we are by nature spiritually blind, dead, and an enemy of God. But through the Holy Spirit are we enlightened.
If we believe that it is because of our choice that we believe in God, our house is built upon the sand. But when we know that we have been called and truly believe He is our Lord, then our house is built upon the Rock.

....That just kind of flowed out of me. In fact, when I began writing this post I was just going to say that I started writing my own fanfic for RA. It's great when you're sick because you have a line to follow and you don't have to think real hard. :) Otherwise I wouldn't bother and be working on my own novel. but I have to really think for that;P I'm sick! i should be able to enjoy the candy of adding on to someone elses work, right? If you'd like to read it just comment{though, you have to have read the 1st book}
Okay, I am starved for reasons I shan't go into other than one word: stomach flu
Remaining cheerful and enlightened ~Gwyn

Good News!

Auntie had treatment today and everything went great!

Thanks for all your prayers!

~Gwyn