I'm posting in case someone clicks on a comment I've left as I've surfed all over the blogger universe this weekend. Hi! *wave*
I've been away. I've written for Bellaonline.com for the past six months, and I've been arranging and rearranging my "creative space"(sewing room). I've now renamed that space as my "studio", however the sewing machine and ironing board are still residing there. Studio sounded quite serious, and when I call it that, then open the door and see it... it makes me laugh.
Last month, a lovely editor of a magazine critiqued an article I wrote. It was an offer she made to everyone in the class last summer... deadline was December 24th. I had NOTHING to write about until December 20th. It was mailed overnight on the 23rd. She wrote such lovely things and was helpful in some editing tips - I was high-fiving myself all the way home from the post office.
I'm submitting the finished article next week.
Today, I stopped by twitter and realized people HAVE been tweeting, even though I've not been reading them. Actually, life goes so quickly at Twitter that I can't keep up.... you could get married, conceive a child and send the kid to preschool and I'll have missed all that. I'll have stopped by the day you discovered that Claussen pickles "rock".
What I learned on Twitter today is: Bookish Dad is reading 100 books this year. I've joined the madness. He agreed to read the first title recommended in each comment. I offered up "One For The Money" by Janet Evanovich. Others were going for classics and literary works. I thought he deserved a little brain vacation, so I provided one.
I'm currently reading:
Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald
The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
First Things First by Stephen Covey - this doesn't count because I've read it already.
I'm NOT promising to read suggested books for two reasons. First, I haven't written here for so long.. I'm not sure anyone will read this. Second - If someone DOES stop by, I don't want to risk reading something awful. If you stop by and you have a really good book to recommend, I'll check it out. No promises, though.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Monday, January 3, 2011
Happy New Year!
The Bright Shiny Red Purse
A couple months ago, I attended a conference where a beautiful, bright, shiny red purse became a highlight of the day. My friend and I were similarly captivated by it's beauty and it's bling. I looked in every department store and mall boutique at ourincredibly trendy functional mall. Nada! Not red enough, not shiny enough, not enough silvery rings and buckles. I just Googled Red Shiny Purse. Found one for over $3,000, but it still isn't quite right. The most I've ever spent on a purse - $21.00 at Target last year. I felt scandalous. Of course, I really like that purse. I've bought many less expensive purses that I've endured until they were destroyed enough that I could justify purchasing another.
NaNoWriMo
This means National Novel Writing Month. It takes place in November. Winners complete a novel of 50,000 words. The goal, as I interpret it for myself, is not to complete a publish-worthy piece of work by the month's end. The goal, as I intend to apply it, is to try to keep challenging my imagination and move the story forward for 50,000 words.
November is a terrible month for a woman to write a novel. I'm busy in November. I'm shopping, cooking, planning to cook, cleaning, planning to clean, putting away my lawn furniture and my garden hose (I procrastinate over some of the little things). Sooo... I began AnNoWriMo - Annie's Novel Writing Month. This takes place every January. Planning for this event began a couple weeks ago. By "planning", I mean that two weeks ago I decided January would be a better month for this event and if it's an event I might actually do it instead of reading about writing, planning to write, thinking about writing, putting on music that makes me feel all artistically soulful, watching funny videos on YouTube about NaNoWriMo, planning to decorate my writing space, believing that I will pour out words of immensely talented prose if my desk is a pretty color. So this morning, I began AnNoWriMo. I couldn't start over the weekend because my man was home.
I began this morning and completed 1378 words. Woo Hoo! I was tired, so I left my heroine in the midst of a vandalized living room and stopped by here to finish my last cup of coffee before taking the dogs out. *wave*
Anyone know of a way to add a Word Count button to my Microsoft Works toolbar? I don't own Word.
New Years
I'm making a list of a few New Year Goals.
I will read 26 books this year.
I will make a new recipe every week... that man of mine needs to eat on a daily basis - I don't know why but70% of the time sometimes this still surprises me about 20 minutes before he's scheduled to walk through the front door. Ooops
I will do Yoga & cardiovascular exercise a minimum of 3 times a week until I love it and then I will do it more often... I think.
I will finish decorating my bedroom and stop using the only dresser without a mirror as a TV & DVD player stand, and get real night stands instead of those 2 nesting tables. (In order to be nesting tables, it is required that they be different sizes... it's bad... really bad... and I have nowhere to hide the stack of books that I want to read, except under and around my smaller nesting table. It's a pile, actually, with an alarm clock in there somewhere and a book I don't really care about being used as a coaster for my iced tea. Yikes!)
Ok, the coffee is gone, I need to put wood on the fire and my dogs are crossing their legs. C-ya!
A couple months ago, I attended a conference where a beautiful, bright, shiny red purse became a highlight of the day. My friend and I were similarly captivated by it's beauty and it's bling. I looked in every department store and mall boutique at our
NaNoWriMo
This means National Novel Writing Month. It takes place in November. Winners complete a novel of 50,000 words. The goal, as I interpret it for myself, is not to complete a publish-worthy piece of work by the month's end. The goal, as I intend to apply it, is to try to keep challenging my imagination and move the story forward for 50,000 words.
November is a terrible month for a woman to write a novel. I'm busy in November. I'm shopping, cooking, planning to cook, cleaning, planning to clean, putting away my lawn furniture and my garden hose (I procrastinate over some of the little things). Sooo... I began AnNoWriMo - Annie's Novel Writing Month. This takes place every January. Planning for this event began a couple weeks ago. By "planning", I mean that two weeks ago I decided January would be a better month for this event and if it's an event I might actually do it instead of reading about writing, planning to write, thinking about writing, putting on music that makes me feel all artistically soulful, watching funny videos on YouTube about NaNoWriMo, planning to decorate my writing space, believing that I will pour out words of immensely talented prose if my desk is a pretty color. So this morning, I began AnNoWriMo. I couldn't start over the weekend because my man was home.
I began this morning and completed 1378 words. Woo Hoo! I was tired, so I left my heroine in the midst of a vandalized living room and stopped by here to finish my last cup of coffee before taking the dogs out. *wave*
Anyone know of a way to add a Word Count button to my Microsoft Works toolbar? I don't own Word.
New Years
I'm making a list of a few New Year Goals.
I will read 26 books this year.
I will make a new recipe every week... that man of mine needs to eat on a daily basis - I don't know why but
I will do Yoga & cardiovascular exercise a minimum of 3 times a week until I love it and then I will do it more often... I think.
I will finish decorating my bedroom and stop using the only dresser without a mirror as a TV & DVD player stand, and get real night stands instead of those 2 nesting tables. (In order to be nesting tables, it is required that they be different sizes... it's bad... really bad... and I have nowhere to hide the stack of books that I want to read, except under and around my smaller nesting table. It's a pile, actually, with an alarm clock in there somewhere and a book I don't really care about being used as a coaster for my iced tea. Yikes!)
Ok, the coffee is gone, I need to put wood on the fire and my dogs are crossing their legs. C-ya!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
My Telephone is Plotting Against My Sanity
16 months ago, we had a power surge that took out our computers, the motion sensitive light at the garage, our telephones and the satellite dish receiver. Our neighbor lost his television and electric meter - he was closer to the impact point where a 65 foot tree fell onto power lines, crossing two major lines.
The electric company was not to blame because it wasn't rooted within their "right of way". The property owner is the state of Pennsylvania and we all know responsibility has been removed from all dictionaries used by everyone with a position of power in the state or federal government. Local government dictionaries still contain the word, but the responsibility always seems to be that of an unknown individual without an actual working telephone. This person never picks up his or her messages.
My homeowner's policy doesn't cover electronics. So, we purchased 2 new computers, new phone system, and Dish Network sent us a new receiver. Around this point in time, everyone who called me on a Verizon cell phone started to experience an echo of everything they said. I called the phone company... my cordless phone or "something else in the house" was at fault, they said. I've replaced, unplugged, and done a variety of other home remedies in order to make it stop. People became angry with me because this echo annoyed them and I hadn't fixed it yet. Well, it's a Verizon problem. I still get treated impatiently though... as though it's MY fault their phones echo.
Four weeks ago, we had heavy rains and storms. Suddenly, my husband and daughter get weird delays when calling me. The phone doesn't ring right away. They get put into voice mail limbo where they are told that my voice mail isn't set up. Our conversations became like those on CNN with foreign correspondents - a delay after every sentence, then confusing simultaneous stutters as we try to figure out whose turn it is. Quite annoying... and AGAIN... they are mad at ME.
Since yesterday, every time I call someone, my phone has a really weird background sound - as though I'm in a metal warehouse with no sound absorption at all. Today I called a friend and she couldn't hear me at all.
This morning I replaced the last piece of electronic equipment that we still had since the "surge of '09" - the router / modem. No improvement whatsoever - but 3 hours spent reconfiguring everything in the universe so that World of Warcraft would work again.
I called the phone company repair service today. Perfect. Clear, normal, perfect.
The repairman called me this afternoon... perfect reception. A miracle happened and he could find no problem whatsoever.
10 minutes later, my daughter called and I was back on foreign assignment. It's driving me mad... or is it my FAMILY!! Are they in it together? Is this some sort of horrifying conspiracy?
The electric company was not to blame because it wasn't rooted within their "right of way". The property owner is the state of Pennsylvania and we all know responsibility has been removed from all dictionaries used by everyone with a position of power in the state or federal government. Local government dictionaries still contain the word, but the responsibility always seems to be that of an unknown individual without an actual working telephone. This person never picks up his or her messages.
My homeowner's policy doesn't cover electronics. So, we purchased 2 new computers, new phone system, and Dish Network sent us a new receiver. Around this point in time, everyone who called me on a Verizon cell phone started to experience an echo of everything they said. I called the phone company... my cordless phone or "something else in the house" was at fault, they said. I've replaced, unplugged, and done a variety of other home remedies in order to make it stop. People became angry with me because this echo annoyed them and I hadn't fixed it yet. Well, it's a Verizon problem. I still get treated impatiently though... as though it's MY fault their phones echo.
Four weeks ago, we had heavy rains and storms. Suddenly, my husband and daughter get weird delays when calling me. The phone doesn't ring right away. They get put into voice mail limbo where they are told that my voice mail isn't set up. Our conversations became like those on CNN with foreign correspondents - a delay after every sentence, then confusing simultaneous stutters as we try to figure out whose turn it is. Quite annoying... and AGAIN... they are mad at ME.
Since yesterday, every time I call someone, my phone has a really weird background sound - as though I'm in a metal warehouse with no sound absorption at all. Today I called a friend and she couldn't hear me at all.
This morning I replaced the last piece of electronic equipment that we still had since the "surge of '09" - the router / modem. No improvement whatsoever - but 3 hours spent reconfiguring everything in the universe so that World of Warcraft would work again.
I called the phone company repair service today. Perfect. Clear, normal, perfect.
The repairman called me this afternoon... perfect reception. A miracle happened and he could find no problem whatsoever.
10 minutes later, my daughter called and I was back on foreign assignment. It's driving me mad... or is it my FAMILY!! Are they in it together? Is this some sort of horrifying conspiracy?
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