Keeping the Tradition Alive:

Today, I was really missing my Grandma Peg, and so I bundled up in my Carhartt bib overalls, my super warm coat, hat, gloves and snow boots and I went out back and grabbed our bird feeder that hangs out by the woods off our old trellis archway,  I filled it to the brim with seed, and then walked around the front and hung it in the little tree just outside my office window. 

{My little Tree, with the newly hung feeder}

 I remember so many times sitting there with with her when I lived with her and she'd tell me all about the birds that would frequent her feeder.  The cute little snow birds, the "bully" birds that would run the other birds off....my grandma could talk for hours about her outdoor feathered guests...I want to sit and watch the birds from my window, and remember her...and know that a little piece of her, lives on through me feeding "her" birds....that I'm sure she sends to my little tree.  Luv you Grandma, I miss you, and I'll never forget you, not even when I'm in my 90's like you were.

I can only hope that my act of honoring her in this way makes her smile and say "that's my girl" ...My Grandpa Rollie is already up there proud of me for keeping the "chicken" tradition alive....

how rare it is to have such a feathery-filled-affinity for birds in my heritage not just on one side of the family...but TWO!

Grandma loved her wild birds:

Grandpa - his Award Winning Chickens

And me, I'm in awe with Owls....

...with a coop full of Chickens...

...and a Bird Feeder, awaiting Grandma Peg's little wild birdies to visit.

Yours,

~HeatherLynn~

Home Fires Burning:

This one going out to the one I love....Jerimy...

So my new full time job now that I'm home all day is

the constant cycle of stoking fires.

I have become obsessed with everything related to heat capture.

Let me tell you, the first time you get an electric bill that's nearly $600.00...you too will become a crazy heat and energy stalker.

I have towels rolled up and pressed up against the bottom of my outside doors serving as draft stoppers.  I have covered all the air vents in the ceiling for our summertime central air.

I hung a sheet over our big window in the kitchen that's a bit drafty.

I've measured all the windows in our house....so I can day dream about being able to afford new ones one day.

The Fireplace in the Living room is lit and providing heat.

Our wood burning furnace is filled and blowing out heat....

Meanwhile, I run around the house like a psychotic meter reader, touching each "electric baseboard heater" feeling if they are on, if they are hot or cold.  If they are cold, I'm my own hero!  I've combated the evil forces of the energy suckers once again and came out victorious!

No woman who is NOT receiving a pay check due to being off on Medical Leave can have a $600 electric bill...so I stoke the fires, I dedicate myself to them as if they were my job.

This morning, I packed Jerimy a lunch, and prepared a fruit smoothie for him placed it into a travel mug so he could have a nice healthy breakfast....

This whole June Cleaver

Meets Fire Stoking Frontier's Woman:

Leaves me thinking:

Just Kidding!

It's not SO bad...

Hurry Home "Ward"

Can't wait to see you!

~HeatherLynn~

I know it's February....but seriously....

According to NBC Nightly News, "The ice encasing Niagara Falls, which has drawn in visitors from all over, isn't expected to melt entirely until May."

Ice Formations formed at Niagara Falls

I'm pretty sure "I" won't be thawing out until then either if it doesn't start getting warmer here in Ohio soon!

AND COUNTING......

It's times like these, a girl really has to ask herself...

At least the sun is shining -- how's that for a silver lining?!

Shivering in the Buckeye State,

Looking forward to spring thaw,

~HeatherLynn~

To my Fellow Writers, Artists, Creators and Misfit Poets:

One of my all time favorite Authors....(yes, I do read)...Elizabeth Gilbert shared this on her Facebook page, and I found it so Powerful, and so Worthwhile, that I felt the need to share it with my friends, with perfect strangers who may stop by and find it here...however, and whomever should find themselves here, contemplating on clicking and watching the video below, do not hesitate, I promise you, IF you are a writer, an artist, a pottery maker, a painter, a interior designer, an Architect, a musician, song writer....this is something I highly recommend you watch.

I KNOW I will be watching this over and over as a lifelong reminder of a message I wish to NEVER forget.

Thanks Elizabeth Gilbert for sharing it with me, and thank you Ira Glass for being such an Inspiration to the rest of us!

Luv,

~HeatherLynn~

To the one I love:

Dearest Google,

It is with a joyful heart that I write to you this evening.  You see, I recently scored an amazing find at my local Re-Store...and to my total surprise and delight, it was EXACTLY what I was in need of, and what luck to find that it was 75% OFF the ticket price.

So I walked out of there with a giant white board to do my brain storming on....and a little basket to hold Jerimy's bathroom man stuff (ie:  electric razor, shaving cream) that he likes to keep "handy" and for a whopping grand total cost of $1.60.  Isn't that so thrilling.  To find EXACTLY what you are looking for and pay less than a soda pop to own?

Due to the recent "time off work" to recover from my surgical removal of like 8 inches of my Large Intestine and the seven incisions in my abdomen, I'm supposed to be "taking it easy"...something I truly thought I'd be good at, however I am finding to my shock and amazement, that I'm not nearly as lazy and unproductive as I once thought perhaps I was.  "Recovering" is much harder than I thought...all the laying, and sitting, and sleeping is almost more than I can take.  I find myself staring out the window, day dreaming about the most bizzare thing.  Just yesterday for instance, while contemplating my future state of destitute-ness due to my not receiving a paycheck as I'm off doing all this "recovering"...I began to think up ideas on how I'm going to pay my bills.  First Steve Irwin popped into my head...I have NO IDEA why, #1 considering being Steve Irwin really didn't turn out so well for him, seeing as he is deceased, and #2 I'm in no shape to be wrestling crocodiles or swimming with sting rays.  So then I contemplated my strengths and weaknesses.  My past and present employers always have told me they actually get complimented on my pleasant phone etiquette.  So I began to contemplate ways to make money at talking on the phone....NATURALLY, I thought...Phone Sex Operator.  

I'm imaginative, I have TONS of time on my hands, I have great telephone etiquette, and unlimited minutes on my cell phone plan...BRILLIANT right?!  But then I got to thinking about actually having to say things like..."oooooh yeah, just like that..." and things of that nature and I cringed a bit...

and then considered the customer base and decided to just work on my third novel and stop procrastinating already!

That's where you come in you see Google, my love, my friend, my savior.  As it turned out, once I returned home with my amazing White Dry-Erase Board find, I cleaned it, I polished it and I wrote on it, only to find myself devastated when my "DRY-ERASE" board wouldn't erase.  It was ruined.  It was totally and utterly Dry, and IMPOSSIBLE to erase!  *tears up*...all my joy, all my excitement, shattered and reflecting back at me through the not so shiny finish of my very white, very large, useless investment.  I pouted some and then said to myself..."Heather, m'girl, it's ok, you only spent like a dollar on it...at least you're not out very much", but even my self-pep talk didn't take away the haunting sadness at having been so disappointed by the dry-erase-board-Gods who had stolen my dreams of endless whiteboardness, and repeated dry-erasing.

My friend Anissa was here tonight, I said to her, "Just wait til Jerimy gets home from work, he'll know what to do, he can FIX anything!"  Unfortunately when he got home, he FIXed himself a plate of the Roasted Garlic Alfredo Pasta I had made for supper and said to me "Honey, um, yeah, I don't think I can fix that!" And then proceeded to engross himself in an episode of Spartacus on Netflix.

So I did the only thing left to do, I googled:

Google, I cannot begin to tell you of the comfort and relief as I began to peruse the many WikiHow's, "E-How's" and "YahooAnswers"....I read several theories, and of experiments gone wrong.  Some message boards had contradicting solutions and after much review and speculation, I chose the one that I felt had the best chance of miraculously working.

First I wiped the entire board down with rubbing alcohol, and THEN...I sprayed the whole thing with this magical WD-40 stuff and polished and made sure the entire surface was covered.  I was a little skeptical on how well my markers would write atop of this oily substance, but I have to tell you, it worked like a charm!  My totally and utterly useless hunk of whiteboard-crap was all shiny and useful again.  I immediately went to town brainstorming my 3rd novel's "issues" and holy crap did I come up with some good content and problem solving ideas for my storyline!  You hear that Vivienne Taylor Fans, I actually have "a plan" on how to get you a third novel!  mmmhmmm...yes ..... I......did!  All with a lil help from WD-40, and you Google, What would I do without you.  You're always there for me....if it's crazy random "symptoms" I'm experiencing and I want to be able to speculate the 100's of diseases you say I may have, but totally nearly 100% of the time DON'T have...you're there!  Day or Night.  If it's a cooking emergency and I only have a can of Tuna Fish, a box of Stove Top Stuffing and a jar of Jelly, you help me find a way to make a gourmet meal out of it....or at least help me Mapquest the nearest grocery store so I can buy groceries to which i'm clearly out of if I only have Tuna, Jelly and Stuffing!

In closing, Google, I just wanted you to know, that you're my pal, my buddy, I wholeheartedly trust you to give me all the completely unreliable information on any and every subject and then allow me to make my own decision on which I choose to believe, while disregarding the rest as complete hooey!  Oh, and that time you helped me figure the proper way people "do meth"...for research for my novel....well that was just a learning experience one just cannot put a price on!  I know more about illicit drugs thanks to you Google.  So in a way Google, you help me be the coolest thing in the world....a Writer.  Without you, my 3rd novel would still be held hostage by my head...instead of glimmering at me from a few feet away on my ginormous new one dollar white board, saying to me "write me, write me"....

{You see the size of this thing!!!}

"In this case...Size DOES matter!"

And Now I must get to bed, it's after midnight, and this guy is missing snuggle time with his momma:

{My Georgie}

Recovering in the subzero temperatures of Ohio 

While dry-erase-board-writing like a mad woman...I give thanks...

Yours Truly,

~HeatherLynn~

Oh, happy day!!!

After having surgery, procedure, procedure after procedure....I can tell you, SURVIVING another year is something worth celebrating!

Yeah me, I survived to see my 37th year!

wooooohoooooo

Holy Snakeballs!

Today...while outside...I found the strangest sight for a cold winter day in February. A snake...with no head...laying in the snow.....that's strange right...even for me? smile emoticon. This is Heather Lynn Osting-Author coming to you live from the wild and woodsy bfe-ness of Spencerville Ohio.

Can you Feel it?

I stayed up kind of late last night, in some households three a.m. is late, or coincidentally early I guess too if you think about it.  But saying I stayed up early sounds strange and confusing, even though it really makes perfect sense.

I had my surgery on January 29th, and it's not at all like I had imagined it would go.  Not that anyone can really wrap their brain around the idea that someone is going to cut them open, cut out a section of their large intestine, reattach the healthy sections with tons of tiny little staples, and then call them good as new.  Don't get me wrong, I think the "idea" of surgery is fantastic, how progressive, how revolutionary....but when that surgery is done on you, it feels so strange and you find yourself in your own body feeling very much like the three bears when they come home and are perplexed by the fact that someone had been eating their porridge, someone had slept in their beds....

I have a lot of random visual images that fly into my head at inopportune moments, things like me laying naked on a table with a tube down my throat.  Images of my insides, being outside my body.  I have to tell you, these images mess with my head.

And don't even get me started on what anesthetics did to me.  I cannot for the life of me remember anything about my surgery, the people who visited me, the conversations I had,..it's frightening to think that there was this "me" that I don't know/understand/or recognize that was talking to my family and friends, cracking jokes and eating Popsicles,..this strange me read and posted on my facebook, it made decisions for me and I have lost an entire week of my life, that I'm certain I will never get back....even though there are portions of the week that I clearly am happy to lose, like when I got an infection after surgery, after going home, that made me so deathly ill that I couldn't pick myself up off the bathroom floor and seriously thought I was going to die....Yeah that was fun.....NOT!  Or when I was in the Emergency room waiting area in a wheel chair, barfing into a barf bag uncontrollably only to have to answer 20 questions about NOT being exposed to the EBOLA virus, even though I had only been gone from their for less than 48 hours.  When did I have time to go out and get EBOLA?!  I'm not a control freak, but my friends, it's truly truly scary when you cannot control your body, and your body seemingly turns against you and tries to kill you.

Since my discharge the second time from the hospital, "feeling human" and finding ways to nourish myself mentally and physically has been a main goal.  I have had to find ways to counteract all the graphic flashes of images, a way to repair what entire nights of nightmares of the worst caliber take away from one's mental state.

I bought banana bread, because my mom used to always have it when we were growing up as a special treat.  I rented movies that I've already seen, but knew were those really good "feel good" movies that warm your soul like someone had lit a candle under it.  I cooked Jerimy a meal made WITH LOVE yesterday from scratch.  A recipe that required peeling and dicing, stirring and simmering, a meal so warm and comforting that I was certain that when Jerimy arrived home from work, this meal would be the equivalent of being wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket just out of the dryer.  I love him so much, and he's been working so hard, and I've been someone else, a paler, sicker, weak and projectile vomiting version of myself, he deserves more than a good meal at the end of the day, but we all give what we can when we have to give it, I wish I could give him more, but for now, sustenance is all I can provide.  On a side note, I now know why people on prescribed narcotics are told to "take it easy"....wielding a "peeler", a "knife" and a stove while on them, can prove to be a little more haphazard than people who are not.

Today, I went outside to let my chickens out.  I was excited to see them, they are kind of my friends that live in the back yard. I know a grown ass woman calling a motley crew of 19 dirty multicolored mixed breed chickens her friends seems like an odd statement.....but this is me guys, I'm kinda odd, just this morning, I was thinking about finding someone who could knit them all sweaters to wear, and how colorful the back yard would be to see them all out there in their fuzzy colorful sweaters.  You see what Jerimy has to put up with with me?!  I'm really quite insane sometimes.

Anyway, while going out to let the chickens out of the coop, wearing Jerimy's "mucking boots", a coat so big and warm that I looked like this:

I couldn't help but to smile, something that has NOT came as natural to me as usual.  As I made my way across the crusty snow and ice between my house and theirs, I heard all throughout the woods behind my house, birds chirping.  

Lots of them, and some were really putting some effort into it, they were singing.  They were feeling like I was, warmer than usual, optimistic about the future of the seasons and winter's leave....there was just something in the air out there today.  It was as if Mother nature gave me mouth to mouth resuscitation.  Breathed new life into my soon to be 37 year OLD body....and I cannot tell you how much I needed it.

Winter is leaving us....it's just a matter of time.  Soon we're going to feel the summer sun upon our faces.  We're going to swim in sparkling blue water.  We are going to lay on beach towels, and watch the grass grow and then bitch about having to mow it.  Our flowers are going to pop out of the ground.  The trees are going to wake from hibernation.  I'm going to bury my face in a blanket that dried on the clothes line and smells like heaven on earth.  My Owls will hoot in the backyard, while the little frogs chirp their hearts out and Jeirmy and I sit on our swing and we'll stare at the stars and flickers from the campfire as it makes the old tall trees overhead glow orange and yellow.

THAT....is something worth waiting for!

~HeatherLynn~

THIS JUST IN....

On a cold, blustery, wintry morning in Ohio....I get THIS:

Someone thinks I'm "Awesome"!  How's that for a Monday Morning "pick-me-up"....

I want to send out a special THANK you to Anissa Davis for spreading the good word!  Without word of mouth, and the love and support of readers like her, I'd be nowhere!

Luv to all my devoted readers, who make doing what I do, so very rewarding!

xoxox

~HeatherLynn~

Office Makeover.....So good, I can't tear myself out of my NEW & Improved office space

When We bought our house, THIS is what I had to work with for an office.

It smelled, it was stained, it was a disaster.  Hideous really!

So before we moved in, I painted a nice pale purple-ish color thinking it would be a nice color for an office.  I put all my stuff in there that makes me creative, I THOUGHT it would be perfect.

As it turned out, it wasn't.

I felt LESS motivated to write than ever.

It was a complete disaster, I didn't want to even go in there, let alone spend TIME in there....

Ughhhh!!!!

This was the state of things when I'd decided it was time to make a change...

The pictures hanging from the bookshelf weren't always there btw, those are my character sketches, I like to be able to see all my characters while I write about them.

And so I struck out at another try at making myself an office that I could be proud of....

One that I would WANT to inhabit.

One that would have me enamored by all things writing...

I picked colors, to which EVERY SINGLE PERSON advised me NOT to pick the color that I had in my head that I wanted.

And while others maybe would have caved and conformed to something tamer...

This writer went with her gut, and stuck with my favorite color of blue....

TADA!!!

Welcome to the Office I CAN NOT pull myself out of!

I'm so smitten, If I wasn't already engaged, I'd propose to this room.

I got a new kick@ss desk that makes me feel downright fancy just to sit at, let alone type!!

I'm so happy with all my hard work!

I'm in writer heaven....floating in a sea of sentiment and endless blue...

Don't mind my dog beds....they are portable....

And yes, that is a ROTARY phone you see there on the right!

I'm a sucker for nostalgia!

I'm so happy with all my hard work!

I'm in writer heaven....floating in a sea of sentiment and endless blue...

xoxoxo

~HeatherLynn~

Also, MUST send a big big big THANK YOU out to Patti & Roger Calvert, who "ENABLE" me to aspire to be inspired.

I COULD NOT ask for a better future Mother- & Father-in-Law!

Preparing for the big Lay-up

And I'm not talking about basketball....

So tomorrow I go and meet with the surgeon who's going to be removing my tumor they found in my large intestine earlier this month.  I'm hearing mixed reports as to what my recovery time will be, so in an effort to prepare to spend my time and "pain killers" wisely, I prepare to make good use of this down time, assuming I can stay conscious.

To my future boss in real estate (Krista)....yes I fully intend to study for my State Real Estate Exam....IF my pain killers will allow for any memory retention.  However, you don't need to REMEMBER what you're writing per se when you're a novelist...so why not allow the creative or even hallucinate-ive nature of my recovery aid me in finishing the novel I've been working on for oh so long now.

*ponders what Vicodin might have to offer Vivienne & Jude* 

hmmmm....i wonder....I wonder.

So after surgery, I won't be able to lift heavy things, and I'm going to need to be comfortable, so I stole a recliner from the living room and hauled it down the hallway into my office in an effort to make my office more homey, more "writer-worthy"....

Is this chair oh so totally "writer-ish" or what?!  It reminds me of the old leather bindings of antique books.  Maybe that's just me....I see books in everything.

Ok, so I got the chair....then I got the laptop fired up and put on some tunes.....

FYI - The "A Great Big World" custom I-heart radio station rocks my socks...I just love it.

Well, now there's lovely lyrics and music...the room is starting to feel more inviting....

Next, comes:     Lay out the tools of the trade. (one of my favorite parts of writing...gel pens and highlighters!  Regardless of how much writing I do on my laptop, I always am happier when I have a smooth gliding pen held lovingly between my fingers.  It's comforting...so a pile as pretty as this makes me smile, even before writing a thing, or even picking one up.

Alright, now I need some ambiance:

 Big Blue Chrystal Skull is lit up....

Ok, then I geeked it out with  my glasses....

lol

Sorry, I couldn't help myself, I like my skulls to look like they are about to tell me something really intelligent....and in my head, they always have a really kick ass British accent for some reason....

Candles lit, Lucille Ball watching lovingly from the wall....

There's a snoring dog at my ankles, apparently HE thinks it's perfectly warm and welcoming in here...

I sit down, and start dusting off my manuscript:

To start off the creative process, I first must read what I've written with fresh eyes, and new perspective.

So here is my pile of papers, aka, manuscript, paper-clipped into chapters, and ready to go with me where ever I go, so all those Dr. Office waiting rooms, I'll have reading material.

Under all this dust, there's just got to be some magic....and if not, it's never too late to make some, or write some, right?!

Thanks for joining me for this episode of

"From a writer's Office"

It's been great hanging with you,...

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the big comfy Leather Chair I hijacked.

with a blanket...

maybe a glass of wine....

which pretty much means I'll be sound asleep in about 10-15 minutes!

Please join us next time,

for another EXCITING episode of
"From a writer's office"!

*giggles, snorts*

Geeking out now,

~HeatherLynn~