Tag Archives: puppy

Two More Stress Reduction Tips

by Jennette,

It has been a challenging week, as far as getting anything done goes. My husband pretty much runs errands or works when I don’t, so I have puppy duty. It’s fun, of course, but makes it tough to get anything done. So right now, I’m taking advantage of naptime to get this update written.

puppy sleeping

In light of the challenges, I’ve come up with a couple of things that help when times are stressful:

  1. Be flexible, and
  2. Have routines.

They seem contradictory but they”re actually not.

We had our family’s Easter dinner this past Sunday, rather than on Easter, a week earlier. My daughter had to work on Easter and had already planned to come home the following weekend, so we just switched it. It also meant I got a few goodies for her basket at half price. 🙂  Being flexible meant everyone was there, we were more relaxed, and we had fun.

Routines help, too. I do certain tasks on certain days, at certain times. For example, I do paperwork–personal bill paying, as well as bookkeeping for my family’s two businesses, on Monday. I set the bills aside in a letter sorter as they come in (email bills go into a specified folder), then deal with them all at once. Much more efficient than doing a little bit at a time, yet is often and regular enough the filing doesn’t pile up.

I haven’t been working out lately, but when I did, I did it right after I got home from work. Keeping to that routine helped ensure that it didn’t get lost in the shuffle of other things to do and forgotten.

ROW80Logo175Now for this week’s ROW80 update.

The good news: I did manage to open the book file and do some writing five times this week to meet my goal. The bad news: I only wrote about a paragraph each time. I started formatting the ebook but did not finish.

I signed up for an online writing workshop to try and kick back into gear there. Spending money on something like that tends to motivate me, so we’ll see how that works. In addition, I’m going to shoot for writing 300 words in the WIP, three times this week. I also want to get the ebook formatted.

What about you–do you have routines for certain tasks that help keep the stress away? Has flexibility helped you lately? Got any more stress reduction tips? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

Can You Have Too Much Cute?

by Jennette,

I did not get much writing done this week. But I think I have a good excuse:

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Her name is Isis. She’s 7-1/2 weeks old, and she came home Thursday. Believe it or not, these pictures do not do her justice! It’s like having a live episode of Too Cute in our house, on continuous loop. The best thing is, our house once again feels like a home, after two months of being dogless. We had to put both of our babies down recently. In December, we learned our younger dog had advanced stage bone cancer. Our other dog was pushing 14 and broke her hip while out walking a couple months later). So our house has felt very empty for the past couple of months.

Now, I’m remembering how much constant supervision puppies this age require! Turn your head for a second, and she’s chewing something she shouldn’t, or pottying (even though we just had her outside). Good thing puppies also sleep a lot, and thank goodness for chew toys, too! Now if only she’d sleep more at night–it’s like having a baby in the house! She actually stayed in her crate for three hours this morning, which is a big improvement over the last two nights. So we’re making progress. My husband and I didn’t get much sleep the first two nights, but last night wasn’t bad.

ROW80Logo175I might’ve gotten a few hundred words written this past week. I did complete the website move, though, and the client was very happy to be able to cancel a hosting plan she no longer needed, and apply the unused money from that to renew her domain name.

Here’s hoping this week will be better. I’m still tired, but it’s not the debilitating level it was before, so maybe my supplements are helping. So my main goals are:

  1. Open the file and write what I can five times this week (I only did it twice this past week)
  2. Format a friend’s ebook (this is one of those barter jobs, and she’s been very patient!)

What about you–is there such a thing as too much cuteness? Have you dealt with any distractions lately? Got any puppy-sitting tips for me? Other pet stories are welcome, too, whether they’re your pets or someone else’s. Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.