The Land Below: Preview

“What would you say,” he said softly, leaning slightly towards my ear, “if I told you I could show you a slice of the world you've never seen before. Even if just for a few moments.”

The Land Below

The Land Below
2016 NaNoWriMo

Synopsis 

Princess Avelynne has lived a life of lavish royalty on the Isle of Hildegaard, yet despite all of the riches and power, she has always felt more like a prisoner rather than a princess.  What she doesn't know is that hasn't just been a princess forbidden from the outside world for her own safety, she's also been a very powerful weapon kept purposefully suppressed and safely stowed for use at the next rapidly approaching war between the Isles above and the Land Below.  So when she finds herself kidnapped by a ragtag group of rebels and dragged down through the Myst to the Land Below instead of celebrating yet another year of posh and oppressive royal living on her 18th birthday, she is both terrified and exhilarated. For first time in her life she finally gets to be outside and experiences her first tantalizing breath of freedom, that somehow leads to more questions than answers.   

Has her kidnapping been the rescue she's dreamed of her whole life?  Or has she traded one form of imprisonment for another?   Can she trust the handsome smuggler who lied and tricked her in order to kidnap her?  Can she trust the leader of the Rebel plight who is now asking her to kill for the greater good?  Can she trust the odd necromancer who continues to flip flop between pacifist refusal to engage in war and emotionless murder?  Although everyone else seems to have figured it out for her already, she must answer for herself the age old question--Who am I and what is my purpose?--as she tries her best to fight for what is truly right in a world where her mere existence threatens the balance between lies and honesty, peasants and kings, humans and the god-like Atherians, and life and death.  

Preview 

Chapter 1: Captive - To be released 11/1/16
Chapter 2: To be released 11/5/16
Chapter 3: To be released 11/8/16

Update on the Dog Potty Situation

Okay, so.  My last plan didn't work so well.

Why?

Basically because I'm a terrible gardener.  I'm pretty confident that if I'd watered the grass everyday, both to water the grass and to dilute the urine, this would have worked great.  Neglected as it was this lasted for like 2 months (watered every few days...).  Eventually all the grass died, mostly because I slowly stopped watering it.  Poo was hard to pick up out of the grass because it got pretty long, so I think a flatter groundcover would have been smarter (Stepables, anyone?).

I'm moving to Arizona!

So, the plan is to move to Arizona.

Why?

Lots of reasons:
1) My boyfriend just got into a PhD program there
2) Sunshine.  That's an average of 211 days of full-sun sunshine.
3) It's closer to home for me, v
isiting my parents would take a couple hours on a plane (read: NOT 6-7+hrs like now)
4) There are lots of jobs there
5) I could afford to potentially buy a house there
6) Did I mention sunshine?  Think 296 days of at least partially sunny days on average.
7) I could live in a townhouse or house with a yard for Roxy
8) It's not Oregon.
9) Sunshine!!!  It snowed here last week.  It was 85 degrees there.

2013 Workout Plan

So, the new year started off kind of rough for me.  First was sick with some sort of yummy child-borne virus.  Then I had The Dreaded Flu.

I'm healthy again now (knock on wood).  So here's my new plan.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Rebound(20min) Abs	Yoga	Rebound(20min) Abs	Yoga	Rebound(20min) Abs	Run(20min) or Rest	Run(20min) or Rest

The Trampoline

Like most people I imagine, I hate making an effort to work out.  It's cold outside?  I don't want to go out to run, or even walk to my apartment complex's gym.  Yoga?  It's an awful lot of work to get out my yoga mat, unroll it, set up my yoga video on my computer, get my strap and blocks, do a 20 minute workout, then roll up the mat, tie the blocks together with the strap, and put it all away.  Whine, whine, I know it's pathetic.

DIY Dog Potty: Day 1

So there have been numorous so-called "dog potties" invented in the last few years. The better of which are the PetaPotty ($159 for the smallest model), PortchPotty ($225 for the smallest model), and DoggySolutions (starting at $199). All of which are fairly ingenious, very expensive to start, and usually expensive-ish to maintain.