Writing | BulgingButtons

January 14, 2017
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Go For It!

It sounds like a good idea, right? Identify your goal and hop to it. Go out there and grab hold of your dreams! That’s the American Way, isn’t it? Is it? I’m not sure.

I’m not sure of a lot of things. Like, for instance, what exactly my “goal” is at this particular point in my life.

I have goals, certainly. I have many of them, some large, some miniscule. So I suppose my question is how do I prioritize them? How do I decide WHICH goal is the “go out there and get it!” goal? Or are there multiples of those? In which case, the new question becomes, how on earth do I go out and conquer all that stuff????

Well, I’m a firm believer in divide and conquer, so there’s that. But then we go back to the prioritizing issue. What to tackle first?

When paying down debt there are two main schools of thought. The first states that you should allocate the majority of your efforts to eliminating the debt with the highest interest rate first, then tackle the next highest and so on. The second one suggests that you go after the smallest debt first, then the next smallest amount and so on, leaving the largest debt for last.

Both methods have their pros and cons, and both methods, if applied faithfully, will get you out of debt eventually. So what’s the right answer? I don’t know, but fortunately getting out of debt is one goal that I achieved several years ago, so I don’t have to worry about it. (By the way, I used the small amount first method, it helped me feel successful and empowered by the process).

Maybe I can use the same method with my goals. Maybe I should start with “baby steps” as Flylady says. Or, as my father used to put it, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” For now I will keep stepping to get my daily fitbit steps, I will keep working at revising my novel, I will keep sharing my writing with you all and my writing partners, and I will keep working to tackle the clutter that’s been invading my home bit by bit. I will also keep being the best teacher, mother, daughter, and partner I can be. That’s not too many goals, is it? Wish me luck, and if you have any advice, I’d love to hear it.

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November 30, 2016
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Doggy Dreams

What do they dream about?

My Lila is asleep at my feet, and every now and then she lets out a long sigh.

Earlier she was making the most adorable sound, one that she only makes when she’s asleep. It’s not a cry or a whine or a woof, but sort of a hybrid of all three of those sounds. Clearly she’s thinking about SOMETHING when she’s doing that, but I’m not sure if it’s something good or bad.

Do dogs have nightmares? Are they afraid in their sleep? Do they see monsters and boogie men and lions and tigers and bears? Do they hear fireworks and thunder? Are they afraid of being abandoned?

Do they dream of hunting? Chasing down a rabbit or a squirrel? Do they dream about running on the beach and splashing in the surf? Or riding in the car with the window down and the wind flopping their ears? Do they dream of curling up on the couch next to their person at the end of the day?

I wish I knew what she dreams of. I hope it’s all good things. I never want that dog to feel fear or loneliness. She’s much too good of a companion for that.

November 29, 2016
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Runaway Roxy

I had the great pleasure of meeting an adorable older gal named Roxy recently. Roxy is a lovely steel grey miniature poodle with a sprinkling of white fur around her mouth, giving her a distinguished look.

The divine Miss Roxy came from our next door neighbors’ yard while we were all out festooning our properties with Christmas lights. I knew she wasn’t their dog, but they had company so I though she belonged to one of their guests. Well, Roxy kept on moving through our yard sniffing this and that and generally ignoring everyone.

A Roxy look-alike

By the time we determined that she didn’t belong to any of us, she was on her way to the next yard. She wasn’t rushing, exactly, but she wasn’t holding still either. We grabbed some of Lila’s treats and tried to coax her, but she was having none of that.

I didn’t want to run up to her, because I was afraid she would bolt, and then she might end up in the street and who knows what could become of her. She had a collar and tag, so we knew she was someone’s pet. At last I caught up to her and was able to scoop her up.

Lucky for me, she was friendly, but I was taking a chance. I was a little leery about getting to her tag, a dog bite is nothing to trifle with, but she allowed me to check it out so I called the number on her tag. No answer. I called the second number, also no answer.

We put her on the leash, where she walked like she owned the block. I figured the best thing to do was start walking back in the direction from where she came. Maybe she would lead me to her home. It was only at that point that I wondered what I would do with her if we didn’t find her home. Gulp.

It turned out that I didn’t need to worry. As soon as we got to the next block, the folks working on the lights on the corner house greeted her with enthusiasm. Between all the in and out while working on the house, they had lost track of little Roxy, and Roxy decided to take herself on an adventure.

I’m glad Roxy’s story had a happy ending. It all goes to prove that my sweetheart is right, given the chance, most dogs will head for the hills, even if they don’t know where the hills are.