Hi! My day job is a CMA in the Precertificiation Department (I work with insurance companies). I'm a mom to two young men. I've been married to the same man for 34 years. I have a lot to say about nothing. Lucky you.
I took this video outside our backdoor the other day. It has snowed a few times where I live. Thankfully, it hasn’t stuck around and melted off 24-hours later, my favorite snow. But I took this video because this was a Sunday. It was cozy, quiet and just peaceful. And I don’t know about you, but I think we all need a little peace in our lives right now.
But that got me to thinking – do I even like winter? I know when you ask people what their favorite season is, most people will say Summer or Fall and I can’t disagree. Fall is BY FAR my favorite season but I would have to say, Winter is a close second. I like snow, if I don’t have to drive in it. And I really wish ice wasn’t part of the winter equation, but I like winter overall because it’s cold, I actually enjoy the cold. I like wearing layers and feeling cozy. I feel alive. I enjoy breathing the almost painful crispness of frigid air. I feel rejuvenated and awake. I feel more alert.
There is something so relaxing and peaceful sitting in front of a fire. I LIVE for days where I can snuggle under a warm blanket and do nothing but stare into a fire and/or read. It is balm for my soul.
I love walking outside when it’s snowing. Snow transforms the world, covers ugly flaws and blankets everything around us in silence. It’s almost as if someone turned a knob on the world and muted reality for a short time. Snow is magical. Billions of tiny snow crystals wink and sparkle under street lights and turn everything a soft gray and blue. Beautiful ice crystals vie for attention on windows and struggle to encase us in an alternate universe.
I’ve always said I would rather live in the mountains than at the beach. There is something about a winter wonderland that softens my sharp edges. I relax. I smile. I breathe.
I really enjoy winter.
As long as I don’t have to drive in it.
What say you? What are your thoughts about winter?
This has been a week, hasn’t it? I had so much more to talk about but alas, I think listening to me for one hour is way too long as it is, I wouldn’t dream of pushing my luck any further. I had a hard time articulating my thoughts about the censorship that is happening – it’s unbelievable to me that America has reached this point. Is this the beginning of the end for our Constitution? Book review is “Burden of Truth” by Robin James. Listen to the end for some interesting story ideas. Talk to you next week!
It’s no secret that I love short stories. I like reading them and writing them. I like writing them because they are quick and relatively easy for me. I also lose interest in my story after about 5,000 words and am ready to move on to something else.
So when I saw this online class on Brandon Sanderson’s channel, I couldn’t resist posting it here for those that may be interested in writing short stories. I learned a lot from this class, I hope you do, too.
If you want to do the exercise in the comment section, feel free!
Class cliffnotes:
These elements help you determine where a story/stops and the kind of conflict your characters face.
MICE
Milieu begins when your character enters a new space and ends when your character exits the space. Conflict is the middle that stops your character from reaching his/her goal. The moment the goal has been reached is the moment the story ends.
Inquiry stories are driven by questions. It begins with the question a character has and ends when the question has been answered.
Character stories are driven by angst. Simplest form, story begins when they are unhappy with themselves and end when they are happy. But really these stories begin with an identity shift, a shift in how the character self-defines and they end when the character’s self-definition solidifies, when they have a new understanding of self – Example: coming-of-age stories, romances.
Event stories are driven by action. These begin when the status quo, or the sense of normal, is disrupted and they’re restored when there’s a new status quo. External threat.
Character event – internal conflict.
Event event – external conflict.
Milieu formula: <m> <i> </i> </m>
Start with milieu, incident, close incident, close milieu.
Wizard of Oz is a perfect example:
<c> character – Kansas girl
<e> event Tornado
<m>milieu Welcome to Oz
<i>inquiry Get back home
</i> close inquiry Go back home
</m> close milieu Dorothy leaves Oz
</e> close event Arrives back in Kansas
</c> close character Kansas girl didn’t need to look any further than my own backyard.
Honesty, this breakdown really helped me formulate the story structure in my head and I think it will prove really helpful in future stories.
What a week, right? In a lot of ways, I feel like this actress in the above video – I keep circling back to the same place but I’m lost every time I get there. Nothing makes sense and yet, it all seems familiar.
I had no idea what was happening on Wednesday. I was at work and (thankfully) immersed and focused on clinic. It wasn’t until Kevin text me that I had an inkling of what was happening.
Huge crowds in Washington DC. Trump making speech.
Protestors storm the capital – people have been shot.
At first, I was like, “cool! People showed up! I wonder if that will help at all.”
And then, “crap. People storming the capital will NOT help at all.”
After clinic was over, I started trolling (reliable) news sources. It looked bad but I reserved judgement.
When I came home, I watched (trusted) commentaries and I. GOT. FIRED. UP.
I sat down and pounded out a heated blog post. I got my frustrations off my chest and I felt satisfied with my words. I scheduled it to post the next day. I went to bed.
I got up the next morning and deleted my post.
It was too heated. It was too biased. And I didn’t want to be a typical Democrat and run off my emotions. I needed to take a minute to breathe and look at the BIG picture. Remember? I challenge myself to remain balance and look at all sides of an issue. It’s not always easy, but I think we all need to challenge ourselves to approach difficult times this way.
And now, here we are several days later and honestly, I think the violence at the capital is the least of our concerns at this point in time.
It’s official, Biden/Harris will be in the White House for the next four years. Georgia elected their Democrat candidates (whether that was a fair election or not remains to be seen – isn’t it sad that we will continue to question the validity of elections from this point on? Even if the Republicans win, we’ll ask ourselves – was it fair??) and now we have a one-party rule. The Democrats are in power and there is NO telling what kind of damage they will inflict the next four years (hopefully two years if we can get more Republican candidates into the House or Senate). They have the power to pass anything. A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G. Whose going to stop them?
NOBODY.
This fact alone makes me very uncomfortable. And a little scared, to be honest. Take notice, readers, who knows what our country will look like by 2024.
The attack on the capital was not cool. I don’t support it. Violence is never the answer. But I understand it. People were worked up into a frenzy these past two months. We had Trump yelling from the rooftops that the election was a fraud and he actually won. We had Sidney Powell yelling from the rooftops that “she was going to bring on the Kracken.” We had Rudy Guiliano touting his legal team and they were building evidence and were confident they could turn this around. These people gave us hope. They made us believe, though not easy, we had one last chance to turn this nightmare around.
And then … crickets. Nothing. All of the hoopla just sort of died down. Still. I was hopeful. Maybe they were keeping their cards close to their chest, I thought. They didn’t want to show their hand too soon. I could understand that. I was thankful they were doing that. I was hopeful they had an ace up their sleeve. And who knows, maybe they did? But when the courts came back and told them they didn’t have standing and then the Supreme Court refused to hear their case, I knew it was over. I just didn’t see how Trump would pull it off. Still. I had a bit of hope. He’s always managed to get things done in the past. Surely he would pull this off? And he continued to give people hope. He refused to concede. He made it seem like we had a chance at the January 6th Electoral Count. He encouraged people to show up to help support him. And he led people to believe if they would just show up in support on January 6th, we could turn this around.
Now maybe Trump didn’t come right out and say this, but he certainly implied it – I don’t think he ever flat out denied it. But it was enough to spur people into action and they showed up. By the thousands. Which was cool – it showed that people still cared what happened to our country and were worried a Democrat monopoly would ruin our country. But as is often the case when you have thousands of people show up to an event and emotions are running high and they are frustrated and tired of being ignored and/or labeled every time they express concerns or dare to ask a question, you have chaos.
Who knows what sparked the deluge on the capital. Emotions were running so high it wouldn’t have taken much to light that powder keg to begin with. It was a desperate attempt to try and take back control over something they didn’t have any control over for a very long time. Was it right? No. Of course not. But it was human.
And let’s be honest. The woman who got shot trying to climb into a window with a backpack on … it was the only thing that COULD happen. In the moment, in the middle of sheer chaos, those security guys had no idea what her intention was. They had no idea what was in the backpack. They did their jobs, they protected the capital. It was sad it turned out that way, but you can’t act aggressive in situations like that and not expect consequences.
When that happened, I knew it was over for Trump. And indeed, he has had people jumping ship ever since that incident. People are distancing themselves from him because they don’t want to go down with him. Trump is now toxic, politically speaking. It’s sad, but again, I understand the emotion behind it.
Did I think Trump wanted that to happen? Of course not. Do I think Trump encouraged people to show up and act like fools? No. But I think his rhetoric had that unintentional effect.
Biden had the perfect, PERFECT, opportunity to practice what he has been preaching from the beginning of his campaign – unity. Let’s all come together. That situation was the perfect backdrop – everyone agreed it was unacceptable. No one defended the attack on the capital. But Biden/Harris didn’t do that because they do what every Democrat is pre-programmed to do – they took advantage of the crisis and turned it political. Not only did they turn it political, but they further twisted that screw into the narrative to try and blame racial divide. If this is not positive proof that the Biden/Harris administration has NO DESIRE to bring people together, I honestly don’t know what further proof you need.
This is just a TASTE of the divisiveness heading our way. I hope you have a firm hold of something because it’s going to be a bumpy and ugly ride.
It absolutely sickened me the way Biden and Harris handled that situation. They were almost gleeful that they were able to use this as yet another hit on the wedge between sides. They want it their way, or no way. There is no compromise.
Which leads me to the issue I feel is the most serious – the way the social platforms are treating this. Facebook / Twitter have banned President Trump’s account. Facebook has been going through and deleting conservative groups consisting of a million people. These platforms are systematically “purging” any and all opinions that do not support their agenda. And remember the Section 230 hearing that I broke down for you? It’s been voted down. Approving Section 230 would have made Facebook and Twitter publishers, meaning they would not be able to censor people on their platform – they would, under law, have to allow dissenting viewpoints. But since it was not approved, they are not publishers, they remain private companies and they can do what they please. Which, to be fair, is right. They are private companies. People do not have to use them, but what are the alternatives? Facebook and Twitter have been successful in squashing every competitor. Their latest attempt has been to try and de-platform Parler, a site that is similar to Twitter. Apple Play Store and Google Play Store have already removed the ability to download the Parler app onto your phone. Their rationale? They don’t want to promote hate speech. They believe these platforms are what instigated and coordinated the attack on the capital. The real reason? They don’t want to give people a platform in which they dare to express opinions different than their own. They want to make it difficult for conservatives to have a place where they can voice their thoughts and opinions.
It’s 1984 come to life. It’s what Communist China does to their people. They are allowed to use tightly controlled programs that their government manages so they can ensure their message, and no opposing thoughts or opinions, gets to the people. It gives me goosebumps to think we’re heading in the same direction. And do you think Biden/Harris will stop it? NO. They want to do MORE. They don’t think we’ve done ENOUGH censoring.
And it’s all fine and dandy to agree with this censorship when you agree with what is being pushed, how are you going to feel when YOU’RE censored? How would you feel right now if the conservatives were doing this to you and your opinions were left out to dry? I’m betting you wouldn’t be so supportive at that point. Who’s to say it won’t happen to you? What are you going to do? What can you do? Any and all people who might be able to help have already been silenced.
Was Trump annoying with his messages? Yes. Was he less than tactful at times and a bit of a bully? Unquestionably. Did he deserve to be censored? No. Our freedoms of speech are being seriously attacked here and if we don’t fight this it will disappear.
Even if you’re NOT a conservative, would you want that? Remember. As long as you are agreeing with the agenda and going along with the plan, you’re fine to speak up. What happens if you disagree? What happens when you’re no longer allowed to voice your concerns? What happens when your questions are twisted and distorted and you’re called a racist for simply ASKING A DAMN QUESTION?
*takes a breath*
Whew. I need to calm down. I’m getting heated again. But what is happening right now? SHOCKS AND SADDENS ME. And scares me, quite frankly.
I deleted my Twitter account today. My Facebook account has been deleted for quite some time. And not using those platforms does not bother me, they are free platforms free to do what they want. I figure as long as you’re using their product you have to play by their rules. Don’t like them apples? Them dump the basket. But the fact that they are a monopoly and SO big and virtually untouchable, that scares me. What’s the alterative? Right now, we don’t have one.
But then again, why does it really matter? We have certainly survived without these social platforms before, we shall survive without them again. We have the media to …
Oh wait.
We DON’T have the media. The big names, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, FOX are just as bad as Facebook and Twitter. In fact, they are worse. Because they cherry pick news stories. They take things out of context and twist them into something that resembles THEIR truth. And people buy it, hook, line and sinker. They bend over and cough. They open their mouths and say, “spoon feed me more of your truth please because it hurts my brain too much to resist your crap.”
*sigh*
This is madness, people. Absolute madness. Where do we go from here? What’s next? I think President Trump has given us a hint:
This was posted on the POTUS Twitter account that Obama set up and will transfer to Biden. I think it’s still active, who knows. But the fact that Trump eludes to something coming gives me hope.
Look. This whole situation goes way beyond Trump. In fact, it’s not even about Trump anymore, it’s about Freedom of Speech. There are some people out there that think Trump should run in 2024. I disagree. I think he needs to be done with politics. I’m confident he will never win the presidency again. And if he ran, that would just prevent another Republican candidate of having any chance at all.
No. I think he should stay out of politics. What I think he should do is build a company, a network, a social media platform, that will give Facebook and Twitter a serious run for their money. I think he should build a platform where conservatives can voice their opinion and have a place to express their freedoms of speech. I think that is the only way we’re going to squelch this gross abuse of power from Facebook and Twitter. Trump has the money, he has the brains, and he has the business sense to get it done. And it would give him the ultimate revenge against these companies that tried to muzzle him, and his followers. I have no idea what he has up his sleeve, but I really hope this idea is on the table for him.
So now what? What do we do now? We stay alert and pay attention to what is going on around us. We take a stand and we do NOT allow anyone to silence us. We have gotten to a point where we can’t even ask questions. If you think the Democrats will be satisfied now that Trump is out of office? Think again friends. With Trump gone, who’s left? Conservatives. Us, the people who dare disagree with their radical agendas.
If this sounds dramatic it’s because it is. We’re reached that point. There are no more obstacles. The Democrats have nothing standing in their way. They can do whatever they want because they have complete control.
You asked for it. Here we go. Whatever happens? Is on the people who voted for Biden/Harris. Be careful what you wish for.
Since we started with something funny, let’s end on something funny. I’ve been a fan of JP’s for a while now. Enjoy.
Well, you asked for it and ready or not, here it is! Kevin and I promoted our podcast to video! (Actually, no one asked for it but this has now become our hobby so … you’re welcome! LOL) Let me just tell you .. Kevin was a reluctant participate at first but now that we’ve been doing this for several weeks, he’s way more into the recording part of our podcast than I am. And I don’t even do most of the work! I just show up and talk.
He purchased a license to Filmora 9 editing software and he’s been loving it! He learns something a little each time he uses it and now that we’ve been doing this for a bit, he’s getting really good at it.
I confess. I haven’t watched these all the way through. It’s not because I don’t support Kevin and all of his hard work putting these together (he spends HOURS lining up the audio with the video as we record on the microphone and record them on the camera) but because I can’t stand to watch myself. I’ll watch them back eventually but right now? It’s too soon.
Please be patient as we (and by we I mean Kevin) works through camera issues. He’s getting better and better and he learns a little more each time. He is playing around with transitions and I think he taught himself how to insert pictures/graphs.
Our channel is Right From Us on YouTube. I know at some point he’s going to make an account on Rumble simply because we can’t trust YouTube to eventually find us and censor us as we’re right leaning and obviously critical of radical left wing agendas. I’ll link that account when that happens.
Anyway. I hope you enjoy two mature (ahem) people shoot the breeze about today’s politics. We are working on making our podcast more lighthearted and fun as we don’t want it to just become a bitch fest. And we’re also working really hard to challenge ourselves to think objectively and present ALL sides to an issue, not just OUR side.
Most of the books I read were four stars, a few three stars and I think I gave one two stars.
I don’t give books five stars very often – there has to be a good twist, something that takes me by surprise or I just loved the characters for me to rate it five stars.
If you’re looking for something to read in 2020, I can recommend the below books. These are all on Kindle Unlimited if you’re a member. If you’re not, I HIGHLY recommend joining, if you have a Kindle, of course. I’m a huge e-book reader. I haven’t bought a real book in … wow, several years, in fact. I simply don’t have the room for them. And quite honestly, I absolutely love my Kindle – I can’t imagine my life without it.
(Looks like some of these are no longer on Kindle Unlimited. Bummer).
These are too small to see, but you can tell that the majority of books I read were four star books. I probably could have rated a few of them five stars but I felt I was a little harsher in my ratings this year. I think my expectations were higher since I had over 30 five-star books in 2019 and only 20 five-star books this year.
The four two-star books are: Everything My Mother Taught Me, Daughters of the Lake, Virgin River #1, Scorned, which might surprise some people but the reason I didn’t like Scorned is because a scorned woman had very little to do with the story so I felt deceived by the title cover and the title. You can see my stats in more detail here, if you’re interested.
My 2021 reading goal is 55. I lowered the number because I plan on devoting more of my time to writing this year. Again, you can always see what I’m currently reading in the Goodreads widget in the sidebar.
From left to right: Me, our medical secretary, our doctor, our nurse, our physician’s assistant.
We’ve been a team now for … nearly four years (?). We are a close-knit group and I’m very blessed to be a part of this group. It’s so rare to find people that you genuinely like, let alone want to stick around for that long together. We all recognize how blessed we are to have one another and we don’t take advantage of that. We celebrate our birthdays, medical secretary, nurses, physician assistant and medical assistant weeks together. We all know our roles on our team and we work well together. We just click.
I figure I have about ten more years before I retire. That will closely coincide with my doctor’s plans as well. He’s younger than me but being a surgeon is hard on your body so doctors typically retire younger than the rest of us mortals.
I know him pretty well and he has come to trust me. I’m very loyal to my doctor because he had my back when I was dealing with his nightmare nurse. And I stuck it out. I put up with her for two years and it got so bad it started affecting my physically and I ended up in the ER with what I thought was a heart attack. Thank God it was only anxiety. Something I never had before in my life before that nightmare on legs waltzed into my life. (And she was a legit nightmare – she was one of those people who loved being called a nurse but didn’t really want to be A nurse. Don’t get me started). And when I say loyal, I mean, he chose me over his nurse. I will forever feel grateful for that. I don’t know that anyone has ever really stuck up for me like that.
Telemedicine has been super hard on all of us. It’s completely reshaped who we are as medical professionals and in how we approach our processes. And Dr. M has seen how it has affected us, his team, and he wanted to show his appreciation by taking us out for Christmas.
Last Wednesday, we had a short clinic and after clinic, we all went to an Asian-inspired sandwich shop. We were all a little nervous to eat there because we didn’t understand half of what was on the menu but it was fun to try something different. I played it safe and stuck to good ole chicken but DAYUM, the chicken I had was delicious! It was heavy on the breading but it melted in my mouth and was so good!
He bought all of us presents. He gave me a foot massager. It’s not one of those with water but you stick your feet into the machine and it massages your feet. I haven’t tried it yet, but with my plans on getting back to walking, I’m looking forward to using it.
After our gift opening, we headed to the Escape Room. We checked in and Dr. M was kind enough to reserve the room so we wouldn’t have to worry about sharing it with strangers. He knew we would have much more fun if it was just the five of us. The name of our mystery to solve was “Missing Musician.”
Your mentor, and one of the world’s premier musicians, has gone missing.On the precipice of releasing his masterpiece that would put his name with the great musicians of the past.He’s always been a bit of a strange fellow, to have that kind of talent requires some level of insanity.Over the past few months he’s become paranoid and reclusive and now he’s vanished with the only clue being a letter directing you to his study.
You decide to investigate but once in his study the door has shut and locked behind you.Was there foul play involved or has he simply run off to never be heard from again?It’s up to you to find out what happened to him and figure out how to get out of his study.
After going over the rules, they locked us in the room and we had one hour to try and figure out how to get out. There was a sofa, a cabinet with a box inside, pictures on the walls, something in the wall we had to open, sort of like a safe, a piano, and a bookcase. There was also a suitcase with three locks on it. The piano bench also had a lock. The piano cover had a lock on it and there were a few keypads around the room. In essence, we had to figure out codes and combinations to open the locks and punch into keypads. There was a large, flat screen TV on the wall and it all started with a short video explaining what happened to give us some context. If, after about ten minutes, we didn’t discover and solve the first puzzle, a clue would appear on the TV. We did not discover the first puzzle but we were able to figure it out after the clue was given. It all started with a cassette case in a box on the bookcase. On that cassette tape was the order in which we would find clues. That was hugely helpful but it was still very challenging.
I’ll be honest, we had a lot of clues. At one point, we found a key that opened a drawer in the wall which had another key and a flashlight/black light. We used that key to open another door which started a disco ball thingie on the coffee table turning and loud music to play. It also threw the room into a black light setting which allowed us to use the flashlight to illuminate clues on the walls. (I neglected to mention there was graffiti on the walls). After unlocking the padlock on the piano bench, we pulled out a series of music sheets that we then had to use on the piano to unlock another puzzle. It’s all very complicated and hard to explain, especially since the whole experience was a bit of a frenzied blur, but suffice it to say, I did little more than offer ideas now and again leaving it up to our nurse and physician’s assistant to solve the harder stuff.
Oh. There was one part where we had to place an aux cord into a power board using the clues we gleaned from the black light clues on the wall but for whatever reason it wouldn’t work. We KNEW we had it right but nothing happened. After about five minutes, one of the Escape Room workers popped his head in to see what was happening and he said they had had a power surge the night before and the board wasn’t working. Obviously, he gave us the next clue so we could move on and gave us extra time which was greatly appreciated.
The next to last clue was trying to figure out some hieroglyphics on some sheet music and once we figured it out, one of the pictures on the wall dropped scaring the beejeebus out of all us. All of us girls actually screamed and it was pretty funny. That was our jump scare, I suppose.
The last step was a series of levers that we had to either lift up or down, depending on the clues that we had and that gave us the combination to put into the keypad to unlock the door.
WE WON! We had six minutes to spare though to be fair, if we hadn’t been given extra time because of the malfunction it would have been SUPER close. But damn, it was fun. I think Dr. M had a lot of fun, too.
After we took our picture, we all got back into Dr. M’s truck (yes, he drove us all – how nice!) and headed back to the hospital. The day wasn’t quite over so me, our medical secretary and our nurse all went back inside to finish the day.
That is an odd feeling – to go out, have loads of fun and then immediately go back to work. lol
Anyway. I think it would be fun to do something like that with the family. Maybe I can talk them into doing something like that, we’ll see.
It was a great Christmas gift and we were able to forget, just for a time, the COVID nightmare for a little while. Though we all wore our masks the whole time so we couldn’t completely forget about it.
Write From Karen 