Kris Continues to Improve, and… GOALS!!!!!

Posted on Posted in Goals, Kristine Cherry No Comments Tagged with , , ,
Kris Continues to Improve, and… GOALS!!!!!

As of Thursday, Kris was back on solid food.  She celebrated her newfound food freedom with Kraft Deluxe Mac & Cheese for lunch.  The next day, a new recipe:  Taco Bell Enchiritos (Improved) – see Vincent’s review at the bottom.

Kris also drove for the first time since her surgery.  Not that she couldn’t, but getting through the apartment complex’s heavy fire doors is still a problem.  She is not supposed to lift, push or pull anything heavier than five pounds.  In another week, she won’t have that restriction.  She is also working on her website clients and making jewelry again.

But it’s the end of the third quarter, so on to GOALS!!!!!  Some wins, some losses, some change of plans…

2023 GOALS

  1. SECOND STEAMPUNK SCREENPLAY:
    1. Finish editing through it: It stands at 163 pages at the moment.  I’d like to get it down to at least 143 pages, the length of the first screenplay.  DONE
    2. Submit it to my screenplay critique group. IN PROGRESS
    3. Make changes based on the feedback from my screenplay critique group. IN PROGRESS
  2. UPDATE FRIST STEAMPUNK SCREENPLAY BASED ON CHANGES TO FIRST NOVEL: This actually shouldn’t take that long.  I’ll do it while my screenplay critique group goes through my second screenplay.  STILL WORKING ON NOVEL, TRYING TO GET IT TO 80,000 WORDS.
  3. START WRITING SECOND STEAMPUNK NOVEL: This I can do once I finish going through the second screenplay after my critique group reviews it.
    1. Break down screenplay into chapters.
    2. Write Chapter One by 2/19/23 Oops!  I’m behind.  Plan to catch up by end of month.
    3. Write Chapter Two by 3/21/23 Rewrites on first novel taking precedence.
    4. Write Chapter Three by 3/16/23
    5. Write Chapter Four by 4/9/23
    6. Write Chapter Five by 4/23/23
    7. Write Chapter Six by 5/14/23
    8. Write Chapter Seven by 5/28/23
    9. Witte Chapter Eight by 6/11/23
    10. Write Chapter Nine by 6/25/23
    11. Write Chapter Ten by 7/9/23
    12. Write Chapter Eleven by 7/23/23
    13. Write Chapter Twelve by 8/6/23
    14. Write Chapter Thirteen by 8/20/23
    15. Write Chapter Fourteen by 9/3/23
    16. Write Chapter Fifteen by 9/17/23
    17. Write Chapter Sixteen by 10/1/23
    18. Write Chapter Seventeen by 10/15/23
    19. Write Chapter Eighteen by 10/28/23
    20. Write Chapter Nineteen by 11/12/23

To tell the truth, all my writing has been set back for a couple of months.  It started when Kris’ homecare client, Frank, passed away.  He was also a close, long-time friend, so it was upsetting in many ways.  This also meant that Kris was suddenly out of a job – more stress.  And now recently, Kris had her surgery and I’ve been taking care of her.  As they say, “Life is what happens when you’re making plans.”  It is disappointing that I’ve fallen behind on my most important goals, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it.  I will continue on.

  1. SAVE UP FOR A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR FOR MY FIRST NOVEL: I hope it will go better than last year.
  2. SUBMIT MY NOVEL TO A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR: I already have one in mind, but it will depend on the above.
  3. START WRITING MY THIRD STEAMPUNK SCREENPLAY: Actually, I already have the first 36 pages done.
    1. Start on my “String of Pearls” – that’s a whole other blog – and I have covered it.
    2. Put those pearls in an outline.
    3. Start fill out the screenplay.
    4. Finish the first draft. This may sound obvious, but it’s a big deal to actually finish a project, even if it is the first (vomit) draft.
  4. READ BOOKS: Twelve books in a year didn’t work out so well last year.  I only read three.  That also didn’t include keeping up with comic books.  So, let’s try something different.  I have a stack of books on my nightstand that is 17.5” tall.  Let’s try to get it down to 5.5” by the end of the year.  That’s an inch a month.  And that means I’ve got to keep up with any new books and comic books I buy.  And I just ordered two books from Amazon.
    1. End of January, 16.5”: 16.25”
    2. End of February, 15.5”: 14.5”
    3. End of March, 14.5”: 13.5”   Exactly one inch and one month ahead of schedule.
    4. End of April, 13.5”: 14”   Got a lot of reading done, but added one book.  Behind .5”
    5. End of May, 12.5”: 14.375”   Added five comics, didn’t finish the book I’m reading.
    6. End of June, 11.5”: 11.75”  Catching up.
    7. End of July, 10.5”: 10.5” Back on schedule.
    8. End of August, 9.5” 0.25” A bit ahead.
    9. End of September, 8.5”: 7.625”  Still ahead.
    10. End of October, 7.5”:
    11. End of November, 6.5”:
    12. End of December, 5.5”:

This is a goal I have kept up on.

My Third Quarter reading:

  1. READ MY BIBLE: Picking up from where I left off last year, so I’m starting almost three months ahead.
    1. Keeping up with January’s reading:
    2. Keeping up with February’s reading:
    3. Keeping up with March’s reading: Fallen behind, but can catch up by next month.
    4. Keeping up with April’s reading: Okay, didn’t catch up this month.  Still behind.
    5. Keeping up with May’s reading: Still behind.
    6. Keeping up with June’s reading: Still behind.
    7. Keeping up with July’s reading: Still in March’s reading.
    8. Keeping up with August’s reading: Still in March’s reading.
    9. Keeping up with September’s reading: Made some progress, but still in March’s reading.
    10. Keeping up with October’s reading:
    11. Keeping up with November’s reading:
    12. Keeping up with December’s reading:

And another one I haven’t.

  1. TRY TWELVE NEW RECIPES: Last year there were some months I missed, but overall, I tried eighteen new recipes.  So, I’m not going to do them by months, I’m just going to number them out.
    1. First new recipe: 01/14/23 Hashbrown Casserole
    2. Second new recipe: 01/15/23 Ground Beef Vegetable Soup
    3. Third new recipe: 01/15/23 Old Fashioned Cloverleaf Rolls
    4. Fourth new recipe: 1/28/23 Baked Meatball Parmesan
    5. Fifth new recipe: 1/28/23 Crockpot Taco Soup
    6. Sixth new recipe: 1/28/23 Billion Dollar Buttery Biscuits
    7. Seventh new recipe: 2/3/23 Pizza Grilled Cheese
    8. Eighth new recipe: 2/4/23 Mexican Taco Meatloaf
    9. Ninth new recipe: 2/4/23 Chili mac and Cheese
    10. Tenth new recipe: 2/25/23 Hawaiian Grilled Teriyaki Chicken
    11. Eleventh new recipe: 3/5/23 Hearty Crockpot Cowboy Soup
    12. Twelfth new recipe: 3/19/23 Honey BBQ Meatloaf
    13. Thirteenth new recipe: 3/31/23 Oven-Baked Sheet pan Chicken Quesadillas
    14. Fourteenth new recipe: 4/1/23 Crock Pot Cheeseburger Macaroni
    15. Fifteenth new recipe: 5/7/23   Best Burgers Ever.
    16. Sixteenth new recipe: 5/13/23   Cooked Salmon.
    17. Seventeenth new recipe: 5/14/23   Italian Meatloaf.
    18. Eighteenth new recipe: 5/14/23   Crock Pot Mac and Cheese.
    19. Nineteenth new recipe: 5/27/23   Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
    20. Twentieth new recipe: 5:27/23   Cheddar Bay Biscuits
    21. Twenty First new recipe: 5/28/23   Fluffy Pancakes
    22. Twenty Second new recipe: 5/29/23    Bacon and Cheese Quiche  
    23. Twenty Third new recipe: 6/16/23   Sloppy Joe Quesadillas
    24. Twenty Fourth new recipe: 7/1/23   Baked Garlic parmesan Fries
    25. Twenty Fifth new recipe: 7/8/23   Homemade Custard
    26. Twenty Sixth new recipe: 7/16/23   Classic Waffles
    27. Twenty Seventh new recipe: 7/29/23   One Pot Mexican Rice Casserole
    28. Twenty Eighth new recipe: 8/5/23   KFC Original Chicken Secret Recipe
    29. Twenty Ninth new recipe: 8/12/23   Cajun Honey Butter Salmon
    30. Thirtieth new recipe: 8/12/23   Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese
    31. Thirty-First new recipe: 8/19/23   Rotel Tacos
    32. Thirty-Second new recipe: 8/20/23   Loaded Cheesy Pocket Tacos
    33. Thirty-Third new recipe: 8/27/23   Taco Mac and Cheese with Rotel
    34. Thirty-Fourth new recipe: 9/16/23   Slow Cooker Habanero Chili
    35. Thirty-Fifth new recipe: 9/17/23   Chicken Tortilla Roll-Ups
    36. Thirty-Sixth new recipe: 9/17/23   LowCarb Chicken Bacon Ranch Pinwheels
    37. Thirty-Seventh new Recipe: 9/29/23   Taco Bell Enchirito (Improved)

I’m not even going to keep this as a goal next year.  The idea was to get myself to try new foods, which I hadn’t been doing for a couple of years.  But now I just keep seeing things on Facebook that I just have to try.

  1. GET DOWN TO 190 POUNDS: Let’s try that weight loss thing again.  I know I can do it if I stay on top of it.  Using the scale at the warehouse at work, I’m down to 205.  I had been down to 199 in June.   Now I have a home scale, which means I can weight myself au natural – which was frowned upon at work.  This should be more accurate.  Right now, it’s showing that I weigh 202.8 pounds.
    1. Down to 201 by end of January: 199.2 lbs.
    2. Down to 200 by end of February: 201.6 lbs.  Curse you Girl Scout Cookies!
    3. Down to 199 by end of March: 196.8 lbs.  The Girl Scout Cookies are gone.
    4. Down to 198 by end of April: 198.6   Back slid a bit.  A little behind schedule.
    5. Down to 197 by end of May: 197.4   Catching up.
    6. Down to 196 by end of June: 197.4   Went up, went down, ended where I started.
    7. Down to 195 by end of July: 197.4   I seem to be stuck.  Although I was down to 191.4.
    8. Down to 194 by end of August: 195.4  Still behind, but no longer stuck.
    9. Down to 193 by end of September: 192.2  I’m ahead!
    10. Down to 192 by end of October:
    11. Down to 191 by end of November:
    12. Down to 190 by end of December:

I stalled out for three months, but I’m on track again.

  1. MAKE SIX BLOOD DONATIONS: This could be whole blood donations or double reds, which count as two.
    1. First blood donation: JANUARY 21st
    2. Second blood donation: APRIL 1st – no joke!
    3. Third blood donation: MAY 27th
    4. Fourth blood donation: JUNE 29th
    5. Fifth blood donation: SEPTEMBER 23rd
    6. Sixth blood donation:
  2. RUN THE BLOOD DRIVE AT WESTERCON THIS YEAR:  Kris and I have been running the blood drive at Loscon for 32 years.  We also ran three blood drives at Gallifrey, until they got too big and couldn’t afford to give us a panel room for an entire day.  We’ve also done two WorldCons, a Westercon and Phil and Ed’s Excellent Convention.  Now we have an opportunity to run a blood drive at this year’s Westercon in Anaheim in July.
    1. Attend first con committee on January 14th: 1/15/23 DONE
    2. Initiate contact with the American Red Cross in Anaheim: 1/16/23 DONE
    3. Attend second con committee meeting: Drive Ready for Scheduling – The Westercon blood drive is now online on the Red Cross website.
    4. Westercon was canceled due to lack of membership.
  3. UPDATE MY WEBSITE: Actually, my IT Department (Kris) is already working on this.  This includes checking backdoor WordPress thingies, link thingies, background thingies and other technical thingies.  (This is why I need Kris as my IT Department.)  Some background upkeeping.
  4. CREATE AND PRINT BUSINESS CARDS: I want to have them by the August writers conference.

Dennis

 

184th blog completed.

First Steampunk novel:  75241 words.  ß Past 75,000.  Goal:  80,000.

Second Steampunk novel: 783 words.

Second Steampunk screenplay:  157 pages.

First Steampunk screenplay:  Need to update with notes from the novelization.

Third Steampunk screenplay:  38 pages.

“Dennis’ thirty seventh new recipe, Taco Bell Enchirito (Improved) https://topsecretrecipes.com/taco-bell-enchirito-improved-copycat-recipe.html was an amazing success!

The Enchirito has been the favorite Taco Bell menu item of the Cherry household for decades.  However, Taco Bell’s propensity to put it on the menu, then take it off again has been a huge annoyance.  Not anymore, now that they can be made at home.  And using burrito-size tortillas, they are twice as big!

Dennis did find two other copycat recipes for the Enchirito, but no need.  These are an instant winner.  Dennis did make one change to the recipe.  Instead of step 6, he poured a third of the La Victora red chili sauce into a casserole dish, made five Enchiritos, and poured the rest of the sauce over them and topped with cheese.  Then put them in the oven at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes.”  – Vincent Reinhart

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.