queenell50-stuff

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Rollercoaster of Life

Wow! What a ride it’s been! Hello my lovelies, it is I, Ellie.

  I know, you began to wonder if I had been abducted by aliens, or captured by enemy spies, or had run away with a rich sugar daddy to a tropical paradise.

Well, the aliens never showed up, the spies captured some younger person assuming they had more information -the fools, and my sugar daddy has to request his time off like all of…

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A New Season

Much like the weather, our lives tend to run in seasons. We have seasons of growth, where we learn new things, such as our college years, or learning to care for an aging parent.  We have seasons of winter, where things seem dead, cold, brittle. Perhaps just after a breakup, the death of a loved one, or even the death of our dreams. We have seasons of a long hot summer, where things seem to drag…

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MInx - by Maggie Adams

MInx – by Maggie Adams

Minx  Author: Maggie Adams  Release Date: April 30th, 2019  Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romantic Comedy  Cover Designer: Backcover KLPS

A romantic comedy about friendships, flirtations, and the elusive “Fantasm!” Hi! I’m Miranda Blake and this is my story. Well, sort of. It’s more like a twisted fairytale, if you believe in them. Except there’s no beautiful, young princess with perky…

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Captain's Log, Stardate 5.9.19

This year has been nothing like I had planned so far. the past few months have been particularly stressful. I’m not making excuses, not going to give you the whole sad song and dance. I will be perfectly honest here, I’ve been struggling. Struggling to keep my head above water, struggling to get any words down, struggling to keep it together.

My planner vaguely resembles the Captain’s Log on Star…

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I'm a Survivor

I’m a Survivor

Hello!  Is anybody out there?

*tap tap tap*

I want to get off this crazy carousel that my life has been this past month! 

I had plans and goals –  they’ve been tossed out the window.  I’ve had intentions but we know how many roads are paved with those, right?

So, to catch you up to where things are with me:

Have been all but living at the hospital – ICU, waiting room, regular room, and now rehab…

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Week 9: Stress Eating: The Whys and Wherefores

Happy March!

Welcome to week 9 of the MFRW Blog hop. IT’s ironic that this is the topic for the week. I have a lot of opinions about this. You might want to buckle up!

Bad diet protection food concept with a group of greasy fatty fast food falling down like rain and a green umbrella stopping the unhealthy food as a metaphor for poor nutrition and changing eating habits.

I have had a lifetime of bad eating habits, stress eating, overeating, junk food – you name it. I hate to keep throwing the big C card out there,  but, here I go again. Before cancer, I never took care of myself.  Who cared if I ate wrong? Who cared if I self-medicated with food? Seriously,  I knew I ate poorly.  I knew I ate too much and too much of the wrong foods. I was stuck in the cycle:   emotional eating/ fasting/ scarfing down whatever/ fasting/ binging/ emotional eating.

Everything in life was handled with food from as early as I can remember.

Oh you had a bad day? I’ll make you a cake.

You got all A’s? I’ll make a cake, we should celebrate. 

It’s your birthday? Let’s have cake. 

You lied to me? NO cake for you. 

That’s a bit simplified,  but essentially that’s how it was. My mother was an excellent baker. Breads, pies, cakes –  Mom’s tasted better than any bakery near us.  However, I was not a fan of her regular cooking. In a way,  that helped me later on, because I learned to cook for myself and my family.

I developed a sweet tooth early on. In the past, my stress eating was sweets. I have eaten a whole pan of brownies before. Not proud of it,  but there it is.

Today,  I’d give my right arm for a decent sugar-free brownie –  LOL

However, since  I can no longer have sugar, and my cravings for sugar have subsided quite a while ago, . . . my stress eating is more along the snack crackers and chips variety. Keep in mind,  I can’t eat many processed foods so most chips are off the menu. I have found a few that I can have.

Sun Chips, Veggie Chips, Sweet potato chips. wheat thins and triscuits.

At the end of January and part way through February I was waiting to hear the results of a biopsy as to whether or not I had a recurrence of cancer.  It came back benign by the way thank God! For two weeks I stress ate oranges like they were going out of style.  I consumed 3 bags of oyster crackers alone. I ate an entire bag of sun chips in 2 days. OH, I disguised the need for so many crackers with creamy soups but I ate the rest like they were chips.

I felt miserable.  I was stuffed. I  gained back 6 pounds in a matter of weeks. I knew I had to stop, but the stress and fear had a firm grip on me at the time.

The day I got the results, I can not even begin to tell you the relief that flooded over me. I threw out the partial boxes of crackers, the remaining dregs of chips and vowed to get back on my healthy eating plan. I had to face my dietician with these facts as well.

She was like, What happened? She got the entire detailed story.

It just so happened that the next day,  I saw a challenge in a Facebook group and figured – why not!

It was a challenge to drink a green smoothie every day.

I have read about and heard a lot of talk about green smoothies but they are rather off-putting.  You want me to drink spinach? You’ve got to be kidding me.

I had alread given away all of the clothes that are too large for me.  I don’t want them around “in case” I gain weight. NOPE NOPE NOPE

I was bloated, frustrated with myself and at rock bottom. Fine –  I’ll do it. Thinking as I am going into this,  I deserved to be punished.

ingredients of the mango banana smoothie.

Day 1 – I was not enthused to do this.

Mixed berry smoothie

My favorite with the half of a lemon.

Last day of the challenge

Wow! Let me tell you how wrong I was! I tried a couple different variations of the green smoothie, some I liked a couple not so much. Kale is of the devil!

Green Smoothie 1:

3/4 cup fresh spinach

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 banana

3/4cup frozen mango

6 ice cubes and 1 cup water

Green smoothie 2:

3/4 cup combination spinach and kale

1 tbsp chia seeds

3/4 mixed berries

1 banana

1 cup cold water

Green smoothie 3:

3/4 cup spinach

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 banana

frozen mixed fruit ( mango pineapple peach and strawberry)

1/2 lemon

I lost six pounds and I feel more energy.  Even better, I haven’t been sick for two weeks.  That is a record since I began taking cancer meds.

So, even though I was able to put a halt  to the stress eating, I reverted right back to those nasty old habits, proving that old habits are hard to kill and when they are replaced,  they still die a slow painful death.

 What do you stress eat? Do you stress eat? What do you do to NOT stress eat?

Share your thoughts in a comment below! IF you want to hear what other authors have to say about this –  go check them out HERE.

Write on my friends, write on!

Old Habits Die A Slow and Painful Death

Week 9: Stress Eating: The Whys and Wherefores Happy March! Welcome to week 9 of the MFRW Blog hop.

Old Habits Die A Slow and Painful Death Week 9: Stress Eating: The Whys and Wherefores Happy March! Welcome to week 9 of the MFRW Blog hop.

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The Opseti Guard

Welcome to Thantyr

As the southernmost region of Nebeth, Thantyr is known for being the home of the dragon council themselves. The Treaty of Dragons series follows a group called The Opseti Guard through their journey to renew the bonds between dragons and humans alike.

In the first installment to the nine-bookseries, you see not only the fall of the beloved dragon council, but the creation of…

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Music Soothes the Savage. . . #MFRW Writer?

Music Soothes the Savage. . . #MFRW Writer?

Week 8 – MFRW 52-week Blog Challenge  #MFRWAuthor Week 8:  What music, if any, do you prefer to write by? First off, I can’t believe it’s week 8 already, and I have only managed 3 of the previous seven posts. I think I will add in other days of the week some of the previous ones that I have missed. Anyway, Happy Friday and welcome to the MFRW blog challenge post! vector illustration with neon…

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Welcome to Thantyr - Cover Reveal for The Opseti Guard

Welcome to Thantyr – Cover Reveal for The Opseti Guard

Welcome to Thantyr

  Map designed by Ellie Mack

As the southernmost region of Nebeth, Thantyr is known for being the home of the dragon council themselves. The Treaty of Dragons series follows a group called The Opseti Guard through their journey to renew the bonds between dragons and humans alike.

In the first installment to the nine-book series, you see not only the fall of the beloved dragon…

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With Love From London Release

WITH LOVE FROM LONDON Series: Voyages of the Heart, Volume 1 Cover Designer: T.E. Black with T.E. Black Designs Release Date: 2/14/2019

  We would like the thank YOU for joining us on this journey to London. During this cold winter season, we strive to keep you warm with our words. We’ve been waiting for this trip for awhile, and the time is finally here. Now grab your passport, get to the…

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POV- What's Your Pleasure?

POV- What’s Your Pleasure?

Welcome to Week 6 of the MFRW 52-week Blog Challenge. This week’s topic is Point of View: Choices and Preferences.

Wow, is it really week 6 already?

My preference for writing is third person omniscient, from the narrator, or another character’s perspective.  This for me is easier as an observer of the story that plays out in my head like a movie. Most of the time.

Roxy Sings the Blueswas written…

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Research Pitfalls

I got a brilliant new idea. (See video from 2/5/19 post) However,  I don’t really know enough about the subject to write a believable story. I  would be willing to bet that you know what my time has been spent on the past few days, right?

Yep, research. Google can be an amaze-balls tool or a dangerous chasm of unhelpful information that never ends. Have you ever followed the search to those pages…

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Tuesday Teaser of sorts

Tuesday Teaser of sorts

Hello my lovelies!  What’s going on in your neck of the woods?

We have some warmer weather here in the midwest, The expected precipitation will be coming down in the form of rain and not snow – so relieved.

Here’s the brunt of what I wanted to say today.

A slight correction,  it’s Wizard Con not Comicon. I feel that is secondary to…

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Reading, Writing, or Living? #MFRW

Reading, Writing, or Living? #MFRW

This past week,  I think my answer would have to be – *drum roll*

LIVING.

I  admire my friend Vicki’s work ethic.  She is diligent to get her writing time in every day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don’t. My goal is to write for an hour five days a week and spend my weekends with family and taking care of those domestic things.  It is treating writing like a business, a business that I work five days a…

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Time Traveling Author

Hello everyone! Today is the first of a long series. I am going to try my best to participate in the MFRW 52 Week Challenge. Each week they have a prompt on the subject that is predefined, so there is an automatic topic. Not every one of them is something I would have chosen to divulge or share,  but I didn’t make the list. When we get to those, I’ll have to see how I feel about the prompt that…

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Getting Organized

Sometime in January,  I usually share a post on how well I did at hitting my goals in the previous year and my goals for this year. I think maybe I’ll do that Sunday if y’all tune in then. I’ve been thinking a lot about what to blog and since I haven’t done so well at getting them published, I’ve got a backlog of words that are piling up. Multiple ideas, categories, things I’m dealing with,…

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Inclement Health Delays - Break Line

Inclement Health Delays – Break Line

Greetings!

You know how the districts will call off school for the day for inclement weather? Well, I’ve postponed my blog, writing, OK,… my life due to inclement health.

If any of you reading this has had a bout of this year’s flu,  you have my sympathies. I had the flu shot by orders of my oncologist. It wasn’t enough.  A couple family gatherings over the holidays and I picked up the prevailing…