A Day to Myself

My mother-in-law is taking my youngest for a fun day today so I am going to work some more.  I have more phone calls to make to follow up with people and will start on those as soon as I finish this post.  Then I go ou to lunch with a friend so that will be fun and a nice break.

I got another profile interview done yesterday, actually last night.  We met at Cups Coffeehouse in Brandon and chatted for about an hour about her mental health journey.  It was a girl I knew from church so it was easy to do.  I knew some of her story already but not all of it.  So it was a good interview and I think it will work for my editor.

I’ve felt really good the past few days.  I really think working and being positive is making a difference.  We will see what happens later on once school starts and I am home all the time by myself.  At least school will start for me soon and I’ll have that interaction.

WEll. off to make a few phone calls.  Hope everyone has a good Wednesday.  Thanks for reading!

 

Slow Start

SO I have had a slower start to today than yesterday.  I slept in a bit and then took my youngest to the allergy doctor which has kind of put me behind on stuff.  But I will catch up before the day is out, I think. I have to finish laundry and get Bob’s laundry done but I don’t think it will be a problem.

I am trying to wake up this morning still.  I am yawning all over the place.  But we will see how today goes.  Another week and the kids start school.  At least my youngest does. I’m still not sure when my middle one will be free of her co-op job–she says she is moving directly to Starkville and not stopping here so I am not involved in that shift.  She says she will be home to visit before classes start but I’m not sure exactly when that will be,

I need to stop and eat lunch in a bit.  Then just get back to work. I like working again. I need to send off my tax papers so they can get me into their system.  I have a meeting later this week with Jo to talk shop about the mental health in Mississippi for my roadmap article.  We will see what happens with everyone else I am trying to get calls from.  Thanks so much for reading and believing in the work I am trying to do.

 

Working

SO I held my first-face-to-face interview with someone for my new stories.  I think she’s going to be a good one.  I have it all written down and now just need to arrange and write it up for publication.  We will see how it goes.

Saw Candy this morning for breakfast.  We had a good talk about stuff going on.  I’ll see her tomorrow to when she comes by, but I just wanted to get together with her for fun and have a good time talking.  So that was a nice way to start off the day..

I am so sleepy now that I am back at the house.   But I need to keep moving to do everything that needs to be done.  I’ll do laundry really quick and while that is running, I will make more phone calls.  See what else I can dig up.

Our youngest has been with her grandparents all weekend–my parents are supposed to bring her back today.  We have had a good time whlie she was gone–we went to the MS History Museum and enjoyed that.  TOok us about four hours to go through everything so that was most of Saturday afternoon. We really enjoyed all the exhibits and everything that was set up in there.  They kind of had to chase us out–we were still there really close to closing time.

Guess I will run and get everything moving.  WIsh me well putting everything together,

 

 

Phone Calls

So far I’ve made a pile of phone calls and found the last honest person in mental health in Ackerman, of all places.  She’s the only one that didn’t put me off or start crawfishing when answering direct questions.  So that was refreshing.  So now I wait for the other eleventy-seven people I have called to return my messages.

I am awake this morning and not sleepy, which feels amazing.  I’ll do more research while waiting for answers to phone inquiries, so that will be interesting.  I have thought of more penetrating questions to ask for the other people I have called so that will be a better use of my time.  We will see what happens.

Today is the last day of band camp so that is good.  She finishes up at noon and then has a parent showcase at five so we can watch what they have learned so far of the show.  It’s not a lot–like the marching to one song. But it’s a start and we will see how it goes.  Then she has a week and a half before school starts.  High school.  So amazing that we have come this far.  Very soon she will be out going to university.  She has certainly come a long way.

Hope everyone is set up to have a good weekend.  We will have the house to ourselves–our youngest goes to see her grandparents for a while this weekend, until Monday afternoon.  Last chance for a visit before school starts.   We will try to behave as best we can while she is gone. 🙂

 

 

Dentist

So I only had ONE cavity, but where it was and the other fillings in the same tooth necessitated a crown placement.  So that is where I have been all day.  I am trying to figure out what I can get for lunch that will be nice and soft on that tooth.  Don’t know just yet.

So that was my morning.  I need to start making more phone calls about my stories.  I haven’t heard from the first round so I will start in again.  I like the idea of being productive today.

Hopefully I can get my mouth working enough to call people.  We will see how it goes.  Otherwise, I am feeling good today.  Awake and peppy so far.  I like this feeling.  I just need to use the energy while I have it.  Hope everyone is having a good week and has good pans for the weekend.

 

More Good News!

I just had my “Rollerskating Over Forty” piece  accepted by an online magazine called the Covey Club!  It’ll be published in the fall and I will get PAID, too!  So that was nice news to wake up to in my inbox.  She said she’ll edit it and send me the changes, then I will accept them and they’ll schedule publication.  I knew it was long but am glad she saw the heart and spirit in it and it was unusual enough to get her attention.

It’s also my first “national” byline–she’s a New York editor who used to work for various national women’s magazines before she founded this outfit.  SO maybe there will be some good exposure in this one as well as payment.  That would be nice.

In other news, I already have an interview lined up with someone for the MCIR job so that is nice to go ahead and be working on that.  I need to line up others and am waiting on NAMI to call me back with some information.  Hopefully they will call at some point today.

I am going to go get myself a smartphone today.  Bob and the kids have been after me to do it for a while, and since I no longer have a good car navigator, then I am getting one for Google Maps to help me travel around and not have to be so confused about directions.   I am about to run out and catch the store as it opens.

Hope everyone is having a good week so far.  I know I am!  🙂  Thanks for being here to celenbrate the good with me as it happens.

 

Meeting

I found out some details on what I will be doing, reporting for the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting.  I am to work up stories that they ask me to do on a freelance basis, with better pay than I’ve ever received for individual stories, on mental health. I have four initial stories I’m going to do, one of which is the personal column they already have–the others on other patients in varying situations in Mississippi and another on available helps for families and patients in Mississippi.

She is already talking about a second phase of stories depending on funding to do more, but I think this is going to work for now. I am still really excited about where this work can go and help people.

SO we will see how this works out. It’s not a long term project right now because they did not get that grant.  But I will do my best on these stories and see where they lead.

Gotta run pick up my daughter from band camp.  Hope everyone has a good day!

Reporting Already

I haven’t had my meeting yet with MCIR, the group I’ll be writing for, and they already love my work.  The editor asked me to do a column on my mental health journey, and I decided to focus on my first hospitalization and summarize from there.  She absolutely loved it when I sent it to her.  SO I think this bodes well for everything.

So we will see tomorrow how things turn out at the meeting.  I am so excited about this opportunity.  Doing this will also help me with my thesis project, the memoir, because I will be doing some facts-and-figures research which I can then apply to the memoir to make it more informative then just my story. So we will see how this goes.

I am awake this morning, but just barely.  I need to start laundry soon so I will get going on that. Our sink in the kitchen is leaking, so I need to wait on the plumber this afternoon to come fix it or at least check it out and see what to do.  WE also need our fence redone and the garage door checked out–it is sticking when we try to lower it.  So that’s all got to be managed.

And I have been feeling really good lately, I think I’m more awake because I’ve been drinking sweet tea instead of Cokes through the day.  I may just have to start buying sweet tea at the grocery store and  drink it in the mornings to stay awake.  We will see how it goes.  Hope everyone is having a good Monday so far.

 

Good News!

Good news!  I have a meeting set up for next Tuesday with the managing editor of the group I’ve been in talks with about the mental health stories I came up with that needed reporting on.  So it does look like they worked out the financing somehow and we will see what the plan is then.

So I hope to make an announcement nest week as to who I’ll be working for and what exactly I’ll be doing.

Band camp is still moving along–they break for the weekend and start full days on Monday, then do that for a week. THen they have off until school starts on August 7.  I have all the paperwork turned in, but we have high school orientation on August 1 and band pictures that same afternoon. So Thursday of that off week will be busy.

Then I start school on August 22. I’m not sure when my middle one starts back to State–we work that out later in the summer.  But she’s going back to the same apartment and roommate she had before so we are not too worried about that.

SO all in all, the world is looking up today. I am so glad that I may have a job lined up.  I need work right now, no matter how small it is.  Finish these two semesters of one class each and  then start thesis next fall and get cranking on my magnum opus! 🙂

 

Back to Possibility

Well, the group still wants me to write for them and is trying to work out alternate financing for me.  SO we are back in the land of possibility on that job.  It feels nice to be wanted–I’ll say that much. So back to waiting.

I’m having a potluck dinner party tomorrow so I need to be getting things ready.  Cleaning up the house and what not.  I’ve picked out the music–three Beethoven CD’s and two Henry Mancini’s.   That sounds like a good combination as background for good conversation.

Speaking of music, I bought two new Sandra Boynton CD’s. One came in yesterday and the other is supposed to arrive today.  They sound so, so cute.  The one I got yesterday features a lot of rock/pop acts, and the other one is supposed to be dance music.  So I am in suspense about that.  I look forward to hearing it this afternoon

I keep trying to stop the Cokes, but I am so sleepy all day long without them on this medication. I’m certainly not manic any more.  Now I’m just exhausted without doing anything very much.

I run my youngest back and forth to the high school for band camp,  I need to look up a piece of paperwork and turn it in to the school for registration finalization,  SO I better go do that.

Hope everyone has a good day today and is on the way to a good weekend.