All posts by NewEngland_Muse

I'm a traditionally and self published author. I write in the genre of children and YA at the moment but working my way up to adults. I'm a sports loving, photo taking gal who loves to sing/dance to my own enjoyment. I love to laugh even at myself. I am also owned by 8 birds and 2 hamsters, and yes they know it. :)
Author, Carpal Tunnel, Writing

A Writer’s Life: Carpal Tunnel

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Since the beginning of January I been busy writing, editing, revising and writing again. It has been crazy. This is great as the creativity has been flowing and work has been done. But with all of that a shoe is bound to drop.

I have had surgery on my left arm a number of years ago, and it helped for a year maybe two. It was for my carpal tunnel syndrome. I been able to combat it from coming back full steam by being careful and applying ointments and heat when needed.

However NaNoWriMo always kills it, always. And now this month has reared its ugly head. My left arm has been hurting all month-long. I have taken a day or two in a row off from actively being online and writing. The minute it slightly feels better I am off and running.

This past week I took three days off and it helped a lot but it did not heal. I dread going to the doctor for this but may not have choice.

Many people have said try the Dragon for PC program. One where you speak into a microphone and it transcribes why you say into words. I have this program and have tried to train it so many times. It will write a few words and then pause. My husband and son tried it once they saw my frustration. They had no problem training it. I tried again to no avail. My husband thinks it is due to my accent and my ability to speak at the speed of light. The machine will pause as if it is saying, What the … is she saying?”

I will give it another shot, perhaps if I slow down a bit it will work for me. It sure beats having another surgery.

Cockatiels, Life, My flock

My flock:BJ and Nye

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Nye and BJ

I am owned by a flock of eight birds. This comes to four cockatiels, one finch, two parakeets and one yellow cheek Amazon.

In the videos are BJ and Nye who are roommates. Even though all my tiels are males, these two show that even men can be divas. They constantly show us their feathers and pose for us to shower accolades on them. BJ is a white face cockatiel and he was born in December of 1998. Nye, a normal grey, is the son of my first bird ever and he was born in 2001.

They are pretty mellow birds for the most part. Being around birds since 1998 has been an experience. Like other pets, these have their own unique and distinct personalities. They will love you forever, and all they ask is for you to love them back.

Kind of like how we are.

Family, History, memories

The connection: My grandfather and son

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Memories. Sometimes they pop up with no fanfare. They come to the front of your mind when it is triggered. My Pepere Gervais, french for grandfather, passed away many years ago. I have great memories of him. His ability to beat anyone in checkers. I mean anyone. It became a game of will as grandchild after grandchild tried to win to no avail. Another memory is of my pepere, mom and I crossing over the border into Canada to watch live professional wrestling. We were all fans and to this day my mom and I carry on watching.

But this past weekend a new memory popped up thanks to my son. His favorite deodorant at the moment is Old Spice, he has worn it for a while now. My grandfather wore Old Spice. As a child I would love to go visit him and go into his room and smell the scent for I loved the smell and I loved my grandfather. It was always great to spend time with him.

So yesterday as I was getting ready to leave the house my son walked by and this memory of me visiting my grandfather popped up. It made me smile. My son gave me some money to pick him up another stick if I stopped by anywheres on the way home. Telling my husband in the truck, he said I have some new deodorant in the closet he can help himself.

And while I told my son afterwards about this, I still got him a new stick. For I love the scent and thanks to him he reminded me of my grandfather. I hope he wears Old Spice for very long time. Even though they never met, they are now connected.