The Diary of Firefly's Lake

I read a lot of inspiring words on Care 2. They talking about lots of important things, like animal rights, being vegetarian (or vegan), gay rights, and just being true to yourself. (There are a few things that they tend to support, which I disagree with. Particularly abortion-related articles, as I'm very Pro-Life. But usually, I find lots of support and love from their articles.)

Today, I was catching up on the newsletters and found this post, asking people to write a list of their needs and desires. A lot of times, I read articles and appreciate them, but I don't go out and make a list or whatever. This time, I guess I felt that I wanted to. So, here's my list of deepest desires and needs, sort of in a logical order. Probably not surprising in the least.

Find my soulmate, Morgan.
Get engaged.
Become healthier.
Finish Dreaming in Shadow.
Type/edit DiS.
Find a reliable artist that meets my needs.
Self-publish DiS.
Figure out how to market books.
Find my own home (with Morgan).
Get married.
Have a home full of pets and love.
Have a lovely garden.
Meet Audry in person.
Meet Vivi in person.
Be able to spend more time with friends in general.
Finish Miss Masquerade.
Help Morgan with his dreams.
Actually make some money from writing!
Eventually make enough money to really help support us.
Make enough money to donate regularly.
Finally finish Spun of Silver with Mal.
Continue writing and publishing for the rest of my life.
Move people with my writing, and gain some dedicated fans.
Meet Jo Rowling to thank her.
Happily grow old with Morgan.

So, that is my list that I worked on for about 20 minutes. I'm sure there are more things I would love to have in my life, but these are my base desires. At least the ones I feel I can directly influence. So, write your own list if you want! It certainly made me feel good (for now).

I've got Mandy, Joe's friend's dog, here again. Ah, it's so nice to be home alone without actually being alone. And she's just the sweetest dog. I love her so much. Hehe. I've been lucky enough to have two great doggies here this year. I just wish Joe would let me have one of my own.

Taking Mandy out has become a bit of an adventure this time. ^_^; I don't usually go out in the snow for more than 2 minutes. Our walks are much, much shorter than they used to be. My Mom got me an awesome pair of gloves, which helps. But I still go out in shorts and a tank top under my coat. I know, I'm weird. I don't ever wear long sleeves or long pants. I just don't. I get overheated too easily.

Meanwhile, Christmas approaches. I have mixed feelings about Christmas. :/ I actually have the money to get some nice gifts for people this year, which is great! But Christmas, in general, just depresses me. *Sighs* I'm hoping once my Aunt Jan is living around here, she'll find a way to cheer up the holidays, since she loves them so much. So, maybe, this will be the last depressing Christmas? Hard to say.

I don't know if I'm going to do cards this year or not. I bought some. I guess I should really decide, huh?

I've really had to push myself for writing lately. Winter's just a bad time for my writing, it seems. Maybe it's the depressive weight of Christmas? My ideas have still been building well, though. The writing part just isn't coming as easily.

I will say that the Harry Potter fic I'd been reading helped a lot for last week's writing. I finally got the first chapter of my J.T./Liberty fic written, though it still needs some work... and a title. :/ I don't usually write until I have a title. I just got possessed to write it when I did. This week, I'd like to get a chapter of Miss Masquerade done. We'll see how that goes. Some Spun of Silver would be good, too. But that's a lot to ask for out of one wintry week.

Today, I went out to two different farms and saw some alpacas and miniature horses. It was a great little adventure. The alpaca farm was so warm and friendly. It seemed like the whole family was greeting us happily. They had a nice gift shop, and I spent way too much money there. Haha. I don't really regret it, though. Everyone was so welcoming that I was glad to give some support. The little alpaca toys were just so cute. I videoed a mini puppet show for Ethan when I got home. I hope he likes it.

The farm with the miniature horses was a lot busier, but it was nice, too. There was a table with some Amish goods and a miniature horse pulled cart for kids. I wished that Ethan could have been here for it! It was getting kind of windy and lots of the horses were too far off to pet, so we didn't stay as long there.

I was tired all day for some reason. I had to drag myself out of bed this morning. I'm really glad I did, but when I got back I crawled into bed and watched some Project Runway from Netflix for a couple of hours. It's a good lazy show to watch. I felt a little more awake, afterwards.

Last night, I finally started work on the last chapter for Three Days. I only got a page done, but it was flowing pretty well. I'm relieved; hopefully, this is a good sign. I also reached a Dreaming in Shadow milestone: page 75! I should throw a party for 100. Haha.