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.