Jill Kemerer

Friday, October 10, 2014

Fridays with Jill: New Vlog!

I'm super excited because I bought a new webcam! My old one was acting really funny, and I sure missed vlogging.

This means you have to put up with me and my webcam again. Sounds like a Mercer Mayer book, right? Me and My Webcam. Ha! I'm thinking of sharing a new webisode of "Fridays with Jill" on a regular basis, maybe weekly, maybe monthly. We'll see! :)

Fridays with Jill: October 10, 2014 Video

So what's new with you right now?

Have a great weekend!!

A New Time Waster for Me!

I have an honorary black-belt in wasting time on Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media sites, but yesterday I found a new time waster. Like I need another one, right? Yes, I spent thirty minutes uploading pictures to Flickr Creative Commons.

Photo by Jill Kemerer

I love Flickr Creative Commons because it allows people to use photos as long as they follow the licensing rules. No matter what picture you use, you need to include attribution and a link back. (Attribution usually looks like this: Photo by XYZ. A link back is the URL linking the picture back to the original Flickr page.)

I used to post photos from the Creative Commons on this blog--with attribution and a link back, of course!--but after I added my "Pin It" button, I no longer use photos I have to attribute and link back. Why? Because when someone "pins" a photo from my blog, it shows up on their Pinterest board. If anyone clicks through the pin, they wind up here, at my blog. Yes, the attribution and link back are still here, but neither shows up on Pinterest.

Anyway, I'm still a big fan of Flickr Creative Commons, and since I take a lot of random pictures, I decided to share my photos too. I had fifteen good ones from a recent zoo visit, and I figured someone might want to use a great picture of a lion or a penguin. So I uploaded the batch. And tagged them. And made sure the Creative Commons attribution license was checked. Fun!

Here is my Flickr Creative Commons Stream! And, yes, they can be used by anyone as long as the licensing rules are followed.

On a side note, the fabulous Heidi McCahan interviewed me on her blog as part of the 31 Days blog carnival put on by The Nester! Please stop over (link is HERE) and say "hi"!

Do you take pictures of nature or other things people might enjoy? Have you ever considered letting other people use them for free on a site such as Flickr Creative Commons?

Have a terrific day!!

Need a Little Fall Color in Your Life?

Yesterday I headed to one of my favorite parks to take pictures. The colors are coming out on the trees, and I wanted to catch them before they go full blown yellow and orange.

The weather was muggy and warm, which meant mosquitoes roamed. I'm not a mosquito lover. This actually worked out for my benefit, though, because I walked at a faster pace to avoid them. Exercise is a good thing!

People walked their adorable dogs, moms pushed strollers, and quite a few people rode bikes. I love the sounds of the woods. The leaves swishing and birds chirping are front and center, but if you listen closely, you hear the trickle of a stream and the buzz of little bugs.

This time of year brings different smells too. The fragrance is hard to define. It's a mixture of pollen, decay, and wetness. It's cedar and boxwood and mustard weed. It's heavy. It's fall.

The bathrooms at this park are super cute! They're remodeled to look like stalls in a barn. See?

Here's what you see inside the stall!

Believe it or not, there were still a ton of flowers blossoming. This one has a grasshopper on it, which I find amusing.

My favorite part of the walk? Seeing seven--SEVEN!!--cardinals in one small area! I stood there for ten minutes just watching them. What fun!

Here's one more picture of the beautiful colors. Enjoy!

What does your neighborhood look like in October? I'd love to hear about it!

Have a fantastic weekend!!

How to Get a Lot Done This October

I love the first day of October! I really don't know why. It just makes me happy. :)

I have big plans for October. One thing I've learned over the years? I have to be deliberate with my time. It's way too easy to slip into bad habits. My days get away from me, and at the end of the month I'm scratching my head and wondering why I didn't get anything done. Not this month!

Here's how I'm making the most of October:

1. Write down my business commitments.

Several things are already on my calendar. One of my critique partners sent her novel (yay!) and my other partner will be sending a novella (yay!) mid-month. I also have a guest blog post to put together, and I need to finish and submit a contracted short story. Additionally, the first of the month is when I update my website, so I'll be tackling that today.

2. Identify my main goal--the project that's most important for me to work on.

My main goal isn't listed on the business commitments above. I plotted a new novel this summer, and I want to write a large chunk of the rough draft. I add this to the list.

3. Review the family calendar.

I'm blessed to be able to work from home, but most days I feel as if I have a second job on the night shift due to my children's activities. Weeknights mean cross country and football practice, cooking dinner and homework assistance. On weekends, my daughter has cross country meets, my son has baseball scrimmages and he's taking catechism classes.

Why is it important to keep these activities in mind? It's very, very hard for me to squeeze writing or other business tasks in at night or on weekends. If I don't work on them during the day, they don't get done.

4. Create a plan based on the above.

Critiquing will be a nice change of pace for me, so I'm heading into critique partner #1's work first. I'll also set a few hours aside to finish writing the short story, and I'll put the guest post together. Sometime next week, I'm starting my new novel. I'll also schedule time to revise the short story. When critique partner #2's novella arrives in my in-box, I'll probably start critiquing it and lower my word count for that week. Then, it's writing, writing, writing until the end of the month.

5. Set personal goals.

My personal goals this month are to continue my exercise routine and eat at least one serving of raw vegetables a day.

***

Organizing my month this way allows me to be flexible and gives more weight to my motivation.

You might want to add extra goals such as heading to the pumpkin patch, decorating the house for fall, or trying that new recipe. I hung a fall wreath on the door, so I'm good on decorating, and I'll be purchasing pumpkins from the ginormous cardboard box at Kroger. In the past, we've had lazy Octobers where I can make homemade cinnamon buns and spend a day at an apple orchard, but this is not that October!

I don't mind. I've accepted that each year brings its own challenges. If I can squeeze in an afternoon at a local park to take pictures of the fall colors, I'll be happy!

What do you want to accomplish this month?

Have a fabulous day!!

My Sad Current Reading Habit

My whining about our fall schedule comes as no shock to you since I've been vocal about it in previous posts, but the real casualty? (Besides my needy mini-doxie who could use a lot more attention?) My reading. Yeah, it's in a sad, sad state.

Here's an example. For a few weeks, I've looked forward to reading Rescuing the Texan's Heart by Mindy Obenhaus. One afternoon last week, I had ten minutes before football let out, so I started reading it. A chapter later, I didn't want to quit, but duty called and I had to drive home. The night was particularly jam-packed with homework and such, so I was unable to return to this delightful story.

Cover copyright Harlequin Love Inspired

Two days later, I had another short window of time, so I continued learning about the Texan's heart. And I found I loved it, and the story, and I laughed, and I wanted to just read the whole thing through! But no...once again on mom-taxi duty. And dinner had to be made. Ugh.

My mom came to visit over the weekend, which made me very, very happy. Monday was nuts, but the book kept calling me, so I trotted over to the end table I'd set it on.

It wasn't there!!

I looked all over for this book. Checked my bedroom, closet, purse, even the couch cushions. I had a feeling Sophie attacked the book. She has a distinct dislike for my tiny word search books and has eaten more than one. But hours later my husband told me, "By the way, your book is still in my car," and I mentally rejoiced. I'd left it in his car! Phew! Now I could finish it.

Yeah, no. Nothing is that easy for me right now.

The book I'd left in his car was a non-fiction book I've been reading--which I love too!--not the one by Ms. Obenhaus. Back to square one.

Then it hit me. The dog. Maybe my earlier hunch was right? Could my dog have gotten jealous? Did she somehow know I would rather read the book than play fetch with her?

I knelt down and looked under the couches. Sure enough, the book was wedged under one. Doggie teeth marks were all over the bottom cover. Grr...

I will finish this book!! But not tonight. My to-do list is calling.

I LOVE reading a book in one sitting, but I rarely can do that anymore. Do you have to snatch reading time here and there? Or do you read a book all the way through?

Have a terrific weekend!!

What Says Autumn to You?

It's officially autumn. I'm blessed to live in the Midwest where we have four seasons. Some years it feels like one season (winter), and others we skip a season (spring) but we always, always have fall.

We've had unusually hot Septembers lately, which can trick us into thinking fall won't come. But there's a sure sign it's arriving--cold mornings. I take my little dog out each morning, and I know summer is almost over when I need a sweater and tennis shoes. No more flip-flops for this girl!

The leaves slowly morph from green to red or yellow or orange or even brown. One day everything seems green. The next? It's an explosion of fall colors. I love that!! The only downside is that this color burst lasts roughly 7-10 days. A relentless rain never fails to beat all the pretty leaves to the ground. Then the world becomes dreary and gray.

Things I can't live without in autumn?

- A fire in our fireplace on cold Sundays
- A cozy blanket to wrap up in
- Cinnamon flavored cream for my coffee
- Winter squash
- Apples in my crisper
- Mashed potatoes (and roast beef)
- FOOTBALL!!
- Long walks through the wooded park nearby
- The sun on my face even when it's getting cold
- A pretty fall wreath on my door
- Several bags of Halloween candy to be eaten by yours truly
- The anticipation of the upcoming holidays
- Replacing my light summer quilt with a heavier bedspread

Each season holds a special spot in my heart, and autumn is right up there!!

What says autumn to you?

Have a terrific day!!

When Daily Tasks Annoy You

On Wednesday the alarm went off, and I got a little tiffed.Why must it go off so early?? Every. Single. Day.

But I kicked the covers off and trudged to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and hair, then tossed on stretchy pants and a T-shirt. Somehow I made it through the rest of the morning routine. I dove into project number one on my calendar. Ate lunch. Tackled project number two.

This picture was taken about five years ago when I still made an effort with my appearance every day. P.S. I miss my giant cat, Cookie.

Then the evening routine began with me waiting at school for football to let out. I texted a good friend, asking her if the fact I was wearing velour pants, a tee, and no make-up meant I needed an intervention. I've been really schlumpy lately.

Throughout my entire adult life I've put on makeup and made some effort with my hair each morning. Yes, I work from home, but I refuse to wear yoga pants or sweat pants during the day. Jeans and a sweater or tee were my work uniform until two years ago when my weight started creeping up. My work uniform felt uncomfortably tight. Yoga pants slipped into the daily wardrobe. I wore make-up less often.

I'd descended down the slippery slope of not taking care of myself. My attitude was primed to plummet as well.

Which leads me back to Wednesday. After football/cross country practice, I put on workout pants and headed to the park for a nice long walk. But I wasn't in a good mood. Oh, no. I was irritated.

These are the things that went through my head as I stretched.

I'm tired of the alarm waking me up every morning.
I'm sick of brushing my teeth.
Flossing is really annoying.
I'm tired of eating. Nothing sounds good.
Why does showering take so long?
I'm really over having to go to bed every night.

Did you get that? Yeah, basically I was tired of going to bed, getting up, showering, and eating.

*raises eyes to ceiling*

I don't even know what to say in my defense. It's ridiculous! I'm ridiculous!!

After my walk/run, I went home with a firm goal. I was going to make an effort with myself again. Yes, that means make-up. And firing up the curling iron or straightener, pulling on jeans and a decent shirt, and not complaining about going to bed/waking up/flossing/eating, which, come on, is stupid to complain about anyhow!!

Today my hair is straight and shiny. My outfit isn't embarrassing. My arms even look toned in this shirt. And I'm looking forward to my broccoli-cheese soup for lunch. :)

Have you ever gotten to a mental low point where even simple daily tasks irritated you? How did you get through it?

Enjoy your weekend!