I’m sure you’re aware of the extreme cold weather with ice, snow, and sleet blanketing much of the country. It includes all of North Texas. Monday was dicey and some school districts closed early. Tuesday and Wednesday the two largest districts closed. Even announcing those closures ahead of time. That’s a bit unusual. Generally, school districts make those decision around 5 am the day of. But conditions were such that there was no reason to wait.
First Sleet on Monday.
As I write this on Wednesday, Thursday is still in question. Freezing rain is forecast for all this afternoon, and the temps aren’t supposed to be above freezing until Friday morning. That means no Mah Jongg on Thursday.
Tuesday sleet.
I know that seems really silly given what all is going on. I’m fortunate to have Bob here and Charley here with me. For others who are alone, the shut down time can get old really fast. And folks need to be with other people. You remember what it was like during the height of Covid. Those months when we were really shut down… Loneliness can be hard to bear, especially on dark, cloudy, cold days. It’s even hard to get Charley outside, and walks have been non-existent. (I missed one day of getting my 10 K and have really had to focus more to get it done.
This is how Charley stays warm. Wrapped up in blankets on top of his sweater.
I’ve shared my journey with Noom over the last several years. I’ve finally let it go. Oh, I’m not going cold turkey by any means. I’ll use my Fitbit app. Actually, I spent the last couple of weeks transitioning to make sure Fitbit would work for me. It does. It will certainly be easier now that I’m just using one app instead of two. Fitbit has a couple of things that I still struggle with, but on the whole it works, and it’s free.
Now, for anyone who would like to lose 10 or more pounds, I strongly recommend you check out Noom. The program has lots of really good info, and the coaches and groups are very helpful. I loved my team. I remember as various people left over the years saying they thought they had internalized enough they didn’t need to stay there anymore. It was a point of celebration. And now I’m gone. Oh, I’ll always record my food, activities, and weight daily because that’s what works for me. Everyone has to find what works for them. Another really cool thing about Noom is they expect you to leave. Not many programs are like that. Thank you, Noom. 🙂
So I probably should’ve saved this for the February Newsletter, but I can’t wait to share. I did something I almost never do: be one of the first to jump on to something new. But I did this time.
Draft 2 Digital, who I use to publish my books, has teamed up with Apple, and Apple will publish an audio book of any of the books I have with D2D. Now this is a digitalized audio book. I gotta admit I thought ick. LOL I’ve listened to my books on the Word app that reads back to you the words you’ve typed. Very mechanical sounding. But I got to listen to the sample of the digital voice, and I liked it. I consider myself a good reader, but I don’t think I sound better than their digitalized woman’s voice. And I don’t have the time, nor the equipment to do it myself. Going through one of the programs where you get to pick your actor can be very expensive.
Now I wish I could hear a sample of her reading my book, but they’re not set up that way. And this is costing me nothing. So what have I got to lose? It will take up to two months for the book to be available, and if I don’t like it, after 6 months I can take it down. I messed up the cover. I misread some of the details, and I thought it said they would use my cover that is there with D2D, so I didn’t upload it again. But now I’m not sure. They may be creating something related to my cover. Guess we’ll have to wait 2 months to see.
https://books2read.com/u/3JXxZK
And of course, they may not choose my book. Can you guess which one I went with? I started to use VERMONT ESCAPE, because it is my first published book. But some of the fine print in the contract made me worry about some of the sex scenes. My books were hotter when I started writing. LOL Anyway, I chose TAINTED, my book set in Red River, New Mexico. So I’ll keep you posted. I hope this works out. I frequently have people tell me they only read audio books. That is not for me, but it sure is for some folks.
https://books2read.com/u/mdlvdd
Marsha R. West, Author 
How exciting about the audiobook! I hope it is everything that you hope for. 🙂 I also know people who only listen to audiobooks. I used to always on the treadmill.
You’ve had some nasty weather. I hope you stay in and stay safe. Sounds pretty dangerous on the roads there.
We went back to the Y today. We were going to go back on Tuesday, but the temps were -18 with a wind chill of -28 or something like that. It was great to get back to exercising. I can tell I gained weight in January by the way my clothes fit. (I haven’t weighed myself.) I had big plans to do yoga and exercise tapes and watch what I ate starting after New Year’s. None of that materialized.
The weather here is horrible, I’m sure related to global warming, and I have a new development. “Winter asthma” because of the cold weather we are having. This was not on my agenda and it better disappear when the weather gets warmer.
Keep up the great writing and all the best to you, Marsha.
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Hey, Susan. Sorry y’all have had such extremes. I don’t know how you every go outside when it gets as cold as where you live. I’ve just gotten my steps in the house. A bit boring to walk my house 10,000 times, but that gets my steps. I missed one day when we watched a movie. No commercials! LOL I am excited about the audio book. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks so much for stopping by. 🙂
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Sounds great. Hope it meets your expectations!🥰
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Hey, Alice. Thanks. Fingers crossed. How have you managed with all the ice? Your trees ok? Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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I have some iced up limbs hanging over a low wire. Keeping my fingers crossed it lifts off tomorrow. I’ve called my yard guy but no answer yet😬
But otherwise okay!
And I forgot to cover up some plants
Miss y’all!
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Yeah, Alice. I bet those plants are gone. Miss you, too. Glad we’re almost through with this mess. At least for this time. 🙂
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