It’s all inside

After doing countless loads of laundry, doing the Costo run (I hate when we run out of soda and bottled water. That shit is hea-vy!) and the regular grocery store, I took a three hour nap on the couch with the television on turned to the news.  It was so hot outside, I didn’t dare go to the pool or spend any more time outdoors than possible.  The situation in Iran is both tragic and inspiring.  Everyone deserves freedom.

Then pop – a breakthrough.  It started with this post by a wonderful author (who also has a sassy haircut that I love).  There was much debate on this post on a writers forum I frequent.  I’M A DISCOURAGED WRITER!  Why would I call myself that? Well, let’s see.

1. I read the word of other published authors and while I love most of what I read, I can’t help but feel that their work is no better than mine.

2. Nothing happens fast enough and sometimes not at all. I play by the established rules, I query, I wait, I get requests for full and partials only to get a rejection or worse, no response after the request. The no response from agents after they request extra work really chaps my ass, by the way. It’s just rude.  I actually sent a top agent a rejection email after a ‘no response’.

3. The whole business is hard and unforgiving and it’s made me hard and unforgiving.

It’s time to let go all of the aspects of writing that I can’t control and focus on what I can control. It’s really time to get my butt in the chair and write the best book I can.

B2’s cell phone was busted. I mean really busted with a cracked display and a useless charger. B1 showed her how to charge it from her computer, but even then she got no more than one bar, so it was time for a new phone.

All four Bs and I have one carrier that has been recently purchased by another carrier. So after driving to the store I usually go to and finding it closed down, I drove to the “V” store to get B2 a new phone.  Her contract wasn’t up yet, but mine was and I’m famous for getting one kid a new phone on another kid’s contract.  It’s usually my contract because I’m old and don’t have to have the latest and greatest gadgets.

Well, instead of just getting B2 a new phone, I had to get everyone a new phone because I actually had to switch carriers.  Sure Bs were all happy. B1 even came up to the store to pick out his phone. B4, B3 and I all got the BOGO special, but since I only purchased three, I only got one free. So after buying five new cell phones, protective covers because I refuse to purchase their scam insurance, two memory cards, touch screen covers and two car chargers, I walked out with four little bags and a receipt for $600.51. OUCH! Well, I do get $240.00 back in rebates which I’ve already mailed in and my bill will be about $50.00 less per month and we have more shared minutes.  I’ll save money overall, but still – OUCH!

It’s funny how the kids can pick up a new cell phone and just take off using it. It took me a little longer. But my new one has an awesome flip-up keyboard to text and a rubber cover because I tend to drop mine alot. Hopefully, it will just bounce and not break into a million little bits.

I have to take B2 back to get her ankle checked next week. Her boot is falling apart in places so she took it upon herself to get out the hot glue gun and put it back together. Gotta give her an A for ingenuity. B4’s 6th grade workbooks came from B & N on Friday so I’ve got to put his schedule together tomorrow. He has to read WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS and do a project over the summer. But since he decided to be lazy and bring home a bunch of Ds and Cs for Q4 grades, he has to do homework this summer in math and reading comprehension. I’m toying with paying B3 to help tutor him and check his work, but that could get ugly because she can be a tyrant when empowered.

B1 is on a camping trip at a local swim club. I did actually verify that he wasn’t telling me a lie just to stay out all night (hey, I was sixteen once!) and that there would be adult chaperones there. I don’t think he’s sitting around a campfire singing kumbaya, but I’m confident he’s not getting shitfaced on whiskey lifted from a parent’s liquor cabinet either.  I did check my stock, just in case.

B2 and I did do a little shopping today. She finally found some shorts with legs in them. See, most stores have shorts for juniors, but they stop at the crotch and I refuse to buy them.  Who is designing such clothes for teen girls and worse, what parent is allowing their girls to wear such revealing clothes? Maybe I’m getting old and prudish, but I don’t like it.

Hubby and B3 are in Greensboro at a softball tournament. She had two games on Friday (won both), two games today (lost the first one, won the second one) and her first game tomorrow is at 9 am.

Well, it’s late 12:39 am (that’s what I get for taking a three-hour nap), so I’d better get. Goodnight!

2009 is the year that I . . .

FALL APART! I’m serious.  Since March, it’s been one big medical bill.  I won’t go into details, but I’m also not going to the doctor unless I’m two breaths away from death.

Currently, I either have tendonitis or carpal tunnel in my left arm. I’m leaning more towards the tendonitis more because of the swelling in my wrist. The pain starts there and goes all the way to my shoulder. I know it’s from working on the computer all day, but heck a gal’s gotta pay the bills. And with over a 10% unemployment rate in the country where I live, a gal’s lucky to be employed.

I’ve been taking breaks from the keyboard, gently stretching my wrist muscle and taking alot of motrin. Hopefully, it will heal.  Now I have full-blown cold to go with it.  I had no idea a human body could produce pounds and pounds of snot and phlegm on a daily basis. Now I do. No one at the office will come near me and I’ve handed out anti-bacterial wipes to those poor folks who get too close. I can’t stay out of work – my kids are home for the summer. What rest is that?

To add to my medical dilemma, B1 needs his wisdom teeth removed, B2 will be getting a dental implant, B3 will be getting her braces and Congress continues to fuck (yeah, I meant that) around with our healthcare. Geez-lu-freakin-weez! 

Couple that with my worry about tough financial situations impacting a few friends and colleagues, brought on by no fault of their own.  The sickly state of the economy hit me last week when I found out someone I know still hasn’t found a job and has had to sell their furniture for cash. Forget staying in their house; the bank is short-selling it just to get it off their books. And there’s still no buyers. I’ve since learned about others and it just makes me sick. There’s little I can do to help. I’m socking every penny I can spare into savings, because you just don’t know what’s going to happen.

Between the tax hike the federal government must do to negate all that damned unnecessary stimulus spending (that’s not helping a damned bit) and now the state of North Carolina going after my wallet, there’s not going to be much left.  

Whoops, I just sneezed. Gotta run!

Monkey Wrenches

I live with five monkey wrenches. I plan to do one thing, circumstances make me need to do something else. Take Wednesday for example. I’d planned to take B4 for his football physical, come home, cook some dinner, walk for an hour and then write. Simple things that are attainable.

B4’s physical went fine, as did dinner and I even threw in a load of laundry. I changed into my walking shorts and ask B3 if she wanted to go with me. She said, “sure, but you need to come and check on B2.  I think she’s hurt.”

Thinking it’s just a small injury, I take my time going downstairs (2 flights) and walk outside to find B2 lying on the trampoline. Her ankle is already turning blue and swelling. Ouch. Off to the emergency room we go and three hours later she’s the proud owner of a broken ankle and shiny aluminum crutches.

Snipet of dialogue I got from this incident:

“What took you so long?” B2 asked, crying and stretched out on the trampoline.

“I’m sorry,” I replied. 

“They wouldn’t come and get you,” B2 said, talking about B4, B1 and B3.  “They said I was faking.”

“Well, you are the drama-queen,” B3 fired back.

There’s got to be somewhere I can use this!

Funny, they don’t put casts on in the emergency room anymore. The doctor refers you to an orthopedic doctor. However, this doctor referred me to a doctor in uptown Charlotte when the same facility  has an office in the same hospital as the emergency room. Dude, I’m not stupid. And I hate parking garages.

Thursday, she went to the orthopedic doctor and he gave her a boot instead of a cast.  How convenient is that?  He also said that there was no damage to the growth plate so no surgery will be needed. WHAT? SURGERY? For a stinkin’ ankle.  Okay, I’m certain there’s something to this whole growth plate phenomena, but I think there’s alot of unnecessary surgery on kids because of it too. It’s a money maker for the medical industry. Let me prove it. Has anyone over the age of 35 ever broken a bone when they were a kid? If so, did any doctor your mom or dad took you too talk about a growth plate? And when said doctor set and casted your broken bone did it not grow correctly? Yep. Thought so.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t have paid for B2’s surgery if she needed one, but I’d have certainly got a second opinion.

School is almost over.  Come on June 10th! B3’s 6th grade class went white water rafting here yesterday. She said they had a lot of fun. It looks like a blast.

I’ve had an epiphany with my new project.  I’ve been struggling with the first person POV and did a little exercise writing a couple of pages in third person. Whoa! I’m going to rewrite the entire piece. It won’t be too hard because I’m less than 7k into the book.

I’ve also toyed around with an old YA fantasy piece, rewrote some it and deleted a few sections. The problem with it is that there’s no drugs, alcohol, blood (well, maybe a tinsy bit), almost sex or teen angst. It might work as a MG piece. It just might.

Well, the aqua-chi machine says I have only four minutes left, I have to do some laundry and get to Costco to buy a large chocolate cake.  B3 is having a pool party today. Her weeklong celebration of her birthday is almost over.

Random Musings

An out-of-town trip took most of my weekend. Hubby and B3 stayed behind for a softball tournament, while I drove B1, B2 and B4 back to my hometown for my nephew’s (N2) high school graduation.  I got to drive the Suburban. It’s the bigger automobile and I had the most kids.

N2 is doing great and the whole family is very proud of him. His mom had a nice party after the ceremony and it was relaxing. Sometimes I miss the slower pace of a small town.

My five-year-old niece (I only have one) followed me and B2 to the bathroom at the school . . . and proceeded to get locked in the stall. We kept coaxing her, telling her to twist the latch harder but she was just too tiny, or so we thought.

B2 climbed over the partition and into the stall with my niece. Now, it’s right after graduation and there is a line of moms, sisters and grandmas. B2 couldn’t get the door unlatched either. It was HYSTERICAL! I was laughing so hard I was crying. In the end, B2 climbed back over the partition and my niece scooted under the door. It is definitely one for the memory banks!

Now that Lost and The Biggest Loser is over, I’m not watching television. I tune into the local news in the morning just to get the weather and the traffic but that’s it. It’s liberating.

I incorporated some yoga this morning in addition to my weights and while doing the “pretzel leg lunge” I pulled my hamstring in my left leg. I felt the “ping” and then fell flat. The pain was excruciating and it bothered me all day long.  I walked two miles this evening just to see if I could work it out. It feels better now, but I really dread tomorrow morning.  Now that the weather is warmer, it’s off the treadmill and outside for me.

I started reading ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. B1 had to read it for school and it looks pretty good. I’ll let you know.

Tonight, it’s all about the red pen . . . and my WIP.

Happy Birthday B3

Today B3 turns twelve!

We’re starting “her” day at Dunkin’ Donuts and then she’s off to school.  She’s also talked her softball coach into having practice at his house, so she and her teammates can swim afterwards.

I worked on stuff for the day job until 10 pm last night.  Not Happy.  I’ll post more later, but right now, I’ve got to get moving.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Excess and Indulgence

Despite the crappy weather (3 days of off-and-on rain), it was a relatively good holiday weekend.  I finished HP and HBP this weekend, so now I’m already for the movie!

Hubby and I took B3 and B4 to a party Sunday, while B2 spent the night with a friend.  I knew ICE HOUSE had more alcohol that regular beer, but that didn’t stop me from drinking about four of them.  Today it is back on the diet!

I didn’t send the kids to school yesterday and B1 got back from the beach around 5:45 pm – just in time for dinner.

He was a little more tan and in bad need of a haircut. I’m normally not one to complain about hair (I leave that for hubby), but when B1’s hair grows out, it gets super-curly.  That’s why he always wears it short. B4 on the other hand, would let it grow down to his waist, if there wasn’t a school rule prohibiting such “mops” on boys.  I usually don’t cut his hair unless I get a note from school.  The whining is just unbearable and when he was a baby, he’d clear out the local barber shop when I’d take him.  That resulted in his first “buzz” cut when he was about three-years-old.

B3 gets her new softball bat today and is so excited. It’s the little things, I suppose.  The end-cap came off of her old one, so it got trashed.  She was “growing” out of it anyway so I suppose the timing was good.  I could only find the bat she really wanted used on EBAY for $500.00 – NOT HAPPENING. So she ended up with the “brand new” version of the same bat style for $300.00. Who would buy a freakin’ used bat for $500.00? They rarely last longer than three years anyway.

I didn’ t do any of the planned revisions on my WIP. Hubby left this morning for Atlanta, so I figured I’d have every evening all week to get it done.  We’re supposed to have the same crappy weather until Friday, so it’s not like there will be much else going on. 

And I must ask, am I the only one who finds the new song by the Black-Eyed Peas annoying as hell? I know, I know . . .  where is the love, right?

Memorial Day Thank You

 My humble thanks goes out to all of those brave individuals who fought and sometimes died so I could have the freedom to live how I chose.

May we never take these freedoms for granted, may we always stand up to tyranny and may we champion oppressed people, both domestic and foreign.

God bless our soldiers, our veterans and all of those who’ve sacrified.

The weather has been horrible for this holiday weekend – raining off and on all day long.  Actually, the kids had school today to make up for a snow day, but I didn’t send mine.  It’s a holiday darn it.

Today it’s all about cleaning up after a busy Saturday and Sunday.  Hubby finally got the grill fixed, so I’ll marinade some chicken for dinner.  I also have to get a website uploaded and I plan to work on my WIP. 

I hope everyone has a great day.

Bad Habits

New Project 2 is the first work I’ve done in 1st person and after reviewing a few pages last night, I’ve found I’ve used “I” way too much.  Now, I cleaned up my tense issue early on, but when I write, I overuse “I”. Heck, see what I mean.  Thank heaven for the “find” feature in word. 

I must be the only one who found THE ALCHEMIST to be a painful read. It was a good story but the writers use of “telling” and not “showing” took away from the tale. It was almost as if I was reading the script from a narrative on King David on the History Channel. Documentary boring. But I suppose that’s why there are so many different kinds of books available.

It’s been so long since I read HP and the HBP, that I need to re-read it to get ready for the movie. I saw the movie preview on television and hubby asked, “what happens in this one?” Heck I couldn’t remember.

Either the day job is calming down or I have a bad case of the Idontgiveadamns.  It is a long weekend and the pool is open. B1 is going to the beach with a friend, B2 is going to Carowinds tomorrow with a friend, B3 is spending tonight with a friend and B4 will probably have a few friends over. But as for me, the laundry is caught up, the house is clean and the lawn is hubby’s job. 

Have a great Memorial Day holiday everyone.

Effin’ Day Job

Okay, the company I work for decided it would be a great idea to integrate another division into the one I work for. Needless to say, as a cost savings measure, they refuse to integrate any additional people. 

Everyone wants everyone done NOW and EFFICIENTLY and ERROR-FREE,  but few actually step up and help.  It’s up to a few dedicated employees (like me) to make sure all aspects of this integration run as smoothly as possible, while trying not to be bitter about it.  Nevermind that no one is getting a raise this year due to the unstable economy. Unstable economy, my ass.  Our sales are on track. And to make things worse, it seems that every employee who has a teenager got said teenager a job there, except for me, even though I inquired as to summer employment for B1 back in February. There are a few other issues too. Bitter? HELL YES I’M BITTER!

My part-time job has turned into 50+ hours per week and though I’d like to say I’m shocked at the recent developments,  I’m not a bit surprised because I’ve worked in the corporate world for way too long.

For the past month this damn job as been running my life. I’m on the freakin’ computer until at least 7 pm and I haven’t written a word in two weeks. IT STOPS NOW.

Well, to be honest, it ended earlier today.  In a meeting I found out that all the work I did one Saturday and part of a Monday has to be re-done because “they” decided that the process wouldn’t work the way “they” initially said it would.  Without one word, I gathered my shit and left the meeting. Needless to say, the company is getting a temporary employee out of the warehouse to cancel what I did and re-key it the way “they” want it. How’s that for a start?

Happy Mother’s Day

And we deserve it!  In honor of all the teachers who helped to make Mother’s Day a little more special for moms, here is the poem B4 (boy- age 10) penned for me.

Mommy Poem

My mom is so cool

She also really rules

She’s really, really funny

And as cute as a bunny

 

She’s also so smart

And she’s all in my heart

She’s does stuff with generosity

And she always loves me

 

She’s really awesome

Like a cute little possum

She’s really nice

And she doesn’t have lice.