I've moved my writing (yeah.. well.. there will be soon :D) and writing relating rantings over to Here's My Story. This blog, which was originally meant for writing related stuff just seemed to derail into my own personal thoughts and rantings. It was easier to just start anew with the writing discussion :)
Admittedly there's not much there right now - but I hope you'll consider checking it out. I have high hopes :)

 We are a couple days shy of our one year anniversary here in Cheyenne. We have managed to get completely unpacked and mostly set up in that time - there's more in the garage than we'd like and there's some yard work we want to do when the weather gets better. We've made little additions of our own already - rope lights on the back patio, ceiling fans and lights in the bedroom, dog doors into the garage and house and other little things. We want to plant a vegetable and herb garden in the back and tear up part of the front walkway and put down crushed stones and pathway lights.

The picture above was taken today. Winter is still here and may be for a bit. Not very attractive at the moment either. The picture to the right was taken at the beginning of last autumn (we've moved a couple of planters around since and the bird feeder is in for repair). I very much miss the trees in bloom and the green grass and the garden that grows along the fences. I think Dylan misses the garden too - especially the sunflowers. She seemed to enjoy hiding in them. I need to talk to someone at the local garden center about when is a good time to plant. We never had a house that was suitable for gardening really and with Wyoming's extended winters I'm not entirely sure what the best timing is.

I've actually started writing on my memoir. Journal in book form I've been calling it. I took a go at it yesterday and got 689 words down. Not bad for someone who hasn't been able to get anything out lately :)

It's all about me - apparently. I've decided to write a memoir. Not really for publishing - I don't presume to think the public is that interested in my life. But it's been gnawing at me for months and to the point where I cannot seem to write anything else. I spent weeks outlining another story - even drew out a map for the world - but I cannot write a damn thing for it. This memoir business keeps pulling at me. I'm hoping it'll be therapeutic as well, or at least not damaging. I don't know how to write something like this - how to outline it or what order to go in or anything like that - but I know that it needs to be done and I hope, really hope that once it is I'll be able to actually write something else. It seems silly to be consumed by the idea of a writing project that isn't fiction - or at least someone else's biography. It feels selfish to devote the time and energy to writing about myself and my life. It doesn't surprise me to feel that way - I'm not really into feeling that I'm worth the time and energy of other people - I suppose I shouldn't be worth my own time as well. But in the hopes that it will be helpful - to shut up the voice in my head, to get writing again and to maybe release (or silence) some ghosts - I'd like to actually, finally do it.

 New year! New schedule! New camera! New laptop! School has started! Where the heck have I been? I don't really know. I'm still on track mentally. I'm mostly on track physically - my allergies have chosen mid-winter to flare up and I have no idea why. It's totally new to me, but this is also our first winter in Wyoming, so I suppose anything could happen :p I slammed my thumb in the car door last week and that was a fun adventure in pain and pressure. But I went to the clinic a couple of days afterwards and had them burn a hole through my nail and bleed it out a bit and it has felt very much better since then :D

I did indeed get both a new laptop and a new digital camera. The laptop was built at ibuypower.com and they did an awesome job, I really like what I've got :D The camera is a Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G3 *points to above picture* I am by no means a photographer, but I wouldn't mind being close to one someday. I love taking photos and am thrilled to have a proper camera with which to do it with :)
I have started school - back on the 10th. I was originally taking three classes but dropped English. It was kind of annoying and I didn't need it anyway - I had the credit from my last school which transferred and I just thought I would refresh. I'm left with Interpersonal Communication (actually quite interesting) and Math (never, ever interesting - but necessary.)

I haven't done any writing for some time. I want to and yet I don't sit down to do it. Part of me (a big part, I think) wants to do a memoir but I have a voice in my head that just says that it's silly and unnecessary or even plain stupid. And I mean for me personally, not in general. So I really want to, but keep tell myself not to, for one reason or another. I keep trying to find something else to write about and so far... well, I haven't written anything about anything. I need to figure something out because the desire is there and the not doing it is bothering me.

Today's picture features my favorite mug. It was a gift from my brother-in-law and is perfect for tea and soup. (Today it is tea.) I suppose it would be perfect for coffee too, but it doesn't fit in my Keurig machine and I am just addicted to that damn thing :p Though if I bring a coffee home from Starbucks or Dazbog I often transfer it to this mug :D

Mike comes home today which meant it was animal cleaning day - well most of the animals. The dogs are cleaned by the groomers. (I had a job as a dog bather once and I am very grateful to them, especially for dealing with Dylan!) But the ferret tower, bird cage and gerbil tank all got an overhaul. Mike comes home every eight days (he's gone for four/home for four/rinse/repeat) so it gives me a good cleaning schedule. The gerbils get done every other homecoming because they just don't need it as often :p It also gives me something to do to pass the time while I'm waiting for Mike to actually walk through the door. There's no set schedule for that. One day he got home at ten a.m. (I don't think that will be happening again though) and another he got home around eight p.m. - and he's come home at all times in between. I think some people think I'm a little insane to have eight pets - but when you spend this much time on your own you grow to appreciate the company! I'm a little worried about what starting school in January is going to do to the pet responsibility load but I think it'll be okay. Plus there is a reason they are all in pairs! When I can't be around they've all got a buddy to hang out with. 

I have been beating myself up lately about not writing. I haven't written since the day after I completed NaNoWriMo. I was so proud of myself for managing that and so sure I was going to keep this thing going - but it's been just over a week and... nothing. I want to. I have ideas! I got a moleskin notebook to jot them down and I've actually managed to do just that. But I'm so afraid that I'll write utter crap - or that I won't be able to write anything at all - that I haven't made the attempt. Which is kind of pathetic reasoning. Really it's better to get crap down that I can work out and improve later then to get nothing down at all. I can't really improve on what isn't there. No real editing to be done there. I joined the Absolute Write forums in hopes that it would get my butt in gear. So here's hoping :)

We got snow! This is from a couple of days ago and it's mostly gone now. Mike says he remembers getting snow this early in the year back when we were growing up in Massachusetts - though I do not. All the same it's nice to have some cooler weather and know that it's here to stay. I will for sure be singing a different tune when the wind has our temperatures at forty below - but for now, it's nice :) By the way - that's Dylan in the picture. Weather will not deter the Squirrel Patrol :) After spending about an hour hounding the trees one afternoon (and sometimes walking into them) I got her a tag for her collar that says "Squirrel Patrol" and has an acorn on it. She's earned it :)

I've been having trouble writing. Not getting something down on paper, but even trying. Even sitting down to attempt it. I feel like I've got something in me - like if I were to just sit and write something really cool would come out. But I can't. Really I won't. I'm self-sabotaging like that. I always have been and believe me it's a quality I'd like to ditch. Perhaps I'm afraid that as sure as I am that I've got something good stuck inside it's really going to end up being crap. Not that that is the end of the world - but it's a possible explanation I suppose. In the mean time I've been doing a lot of reading. I finished "Feed" by Mira Grant on Saturday and started "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox" by Maggie O'Farrell yesterday (getting more than halfway through). I walk the dogs, watch the gerbils go about their daily business, run unnecessary errands and find other excuses to not write. I suppose, including blogging :p