72 hours without shampoo and all is well. I'm having a hard time believing the changes that I can already see. First, I'd expect to be a greasy mess, but I'm not. I would also expect my hair to be fairly flat by now but it's actually much more wavy and the waves start at the top of my head instead of the middle of my ears. And although I'm wavier, I don't have triangle head. Somehow, I have a lot more wave, but my hair is hanging straighter. Which sounds impossible, but apparently, isn't. Before, my hair would hug my head until it got to about my cheek bones, then it would suddenly triangle out away from my head Rosanna Danna style. Today, not a triangle in sight. Now, if I could only get that one section of bone straight bangs to curl.... And if said bangs would ever grow past the tip of my nose...
Oh, and if anyone is curious, instead of my normal $6+ bottles of Pantene shampoo & conditioner, I'm now using 84 cent Suave Naturals. 84 cents! Apple something scent. If this experiment actually works, I may end up saving enough money to pay someone to dye the 'old age blond' out of my hair.
On a totally different note, I'm sure the kiddo's are excited. Their school books finally arrived today.
I shouldn't say they "finally" arrived though. It makes it sound like we've been waiting and waiting. It's only been 9 days since I placed my order. Which is really not bad. Nine days for what I'm sure is a very busy homeschooling company (Rainbow Resource) to take my order, gather the books, box them, ship them and for the snail mail folks to deliver them to my door step. Not bad, not bad at all.
Have I mentioned how much I like Rainbow Resource? Well, that's a whole other blog. Or more like a blog series. I Love Rainbow Resource. If you are reading this and are new to homeschooling, stop reading immediately and go order yourself a catalog. And if you are some kind of freak of nature long-time homeschooler that doesn't know about Rainbow Resource, well, you should stop reading too. Their catalog is something like 1,500 pages. And yes, that's fifteen hundred. The decimal is not in the wrong place. And in addition to the massive quantity of products they carry, 99 times out of 100, they will have the lowest price. And best of all, when you get your package in the mail, the box will be covered in cute little stickers. Totally homeschooler style. The phone number to order their FREE paper catalog is 888-841-3456, or at least it is as of this writing.
Showing posts with label healthy lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy lifestyle. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A New Adventure
I’m off on a new adventure. A shampoo-free adventure. We’ll see how long it lasts.
A friend from my Monday night knitting group lent me a book, Curly Girl the Handbook. Basically, it’s for anyone with curly hair. Curly hair tends to be much dryer than straight hair. That dryness tends to be one of the main causes of curly hair’s frizz. One of the book’s recommendations is to quit using shampoo. Instead of shampoo, you “wash” with conditioner. A second recommendation is to leave the conditioner in your hair without rinsing it out all the way.
I’ve heard these recommendations before and while my hair dresser (can I even call her my hair dresser if I only visit once a year?) has suggested many times that I leave a normal conditioner, not a “leave in” type but a “real” conditioner, in my hair. She’s also suggested I apply olive oil to my hair. I tried the olive oil trick for quite a while. Some days were better than others. There seems to be a VERY fine line between why bother, and coating your head with so much oil it looks like you’ve bathed in Vaseline. At least that was my experience. Also, while the olive oil did absorb into the hair within about 30 minutes at which point I stopped smelling like an Italian sub sandwich, those 30 minutes were pure torture. All I’d be able to think about was Italian food. My stomach would actually grumble from hunger due to my hair’s smell. Not a good thing.
So, as of this writing, I find myself looking at 56 hours without shampoo and so far, I’m liking what I see. Or at least not hating what I see. I’m not expecting Exxon to build a pumping station on my head anytime soon. Actually, I’m not oily on top at all, in fact, I’m still a bit frizzy. Ok, so maybe I was a bit paranoid about the oil factor & rinsed out the conditioner from the top of my head. But the rest of my hair is.... better. It seems wavier and less frizzy. The waves are starting at the top of my head instead of at ear level. Mostly. One side of my bangs are still rail straight while the rest of my hair waves & curls. The triangle-head thing isn’t happening quite as badly as usual either.
All in all, so far, so good. I would love to hear from others who have gone shampoo free. What were your experiences? Did it really work and turn your frizzy hair into something a super model would envy? Or did you have to call in Exxon to remove the oil spill?
Friday, September 2, 2011
Hurricanes & Yarn
Yeah, I was pretty late to the "let's blog about Hurricane Irene" party, but here it is. My hurricane adventure got posted on my knitting blog because I seem to be doing everything backwards today.
Speaking of doing things backwards... Here's my knitting report. Have you seen the new Wendy Knits Lace book? O. M. G.! I want to knit every single thing in there. From the whole book, there's only one item that I didn't immediately want to start knitting and that's a circular shawl big enough to cover a couch. While I like to knit circular shawls (round and round and round, no icky purl rows typically) I'm not a big fan of wearing them and I don't often find a pattern that I like enough to justify that much yarn. I am however in LOVE with the True Love scarf/stole. I wanted that to be my first project but since it's graded as being an "advanced" level project, I thought I'd cut my teeth on an "intermediate" level shawl first. I ended up skipping dinner so I could cast on the Stacy Shawl. So far, so good! I'm too lazy to get up and find my camera, so here's a bad Photo Booth picture of it.
So, back to knitting. And uh, running. It is September. I'd promised myself that on the first of September, I'd start running again. Today's the second. I better get on with it. I'm having a little trouble getting excited about it. I know that once I lace up my shoes, I'll be itching to go. I also know that I will feel like a million bucks when the run is over. But I also know that I haven't run all summer and I've gained a bunch of weight. It's going to be a painful and depressing slap of reality.
Speaking of doing things backwards... Here's my knitting report. Have you seen the new Wendy Knits Lace book? O. M. G.! I want to knit every single thing in there. From the whole book, there's only one item that I didn't immediately want to start knitting and that's a circular shawl big enough to cover a couch. While I like to knit circular shawls (round and round and round, no icky purl rows typically) I'm not a big fan of wearing them and I don't often find a pattern that I like enough to justify that much yarn. I am however in LOVE with the True Love scarf/stole. I wanted that to be my first project but since it's graded as being an "advanced" level project, I thought I'd cut my teeth on an "intermediate" level shawl first. I ended up skipping dinner so I could cast on the Stacy Shawl. So far, so good! I'm too lazy to get up and find my camera, so here's a bad Photo Booth picture of it.
So, back to knitting. And uh, running. It is September. I'd promised myself that on the first of September, I'd start running again. Today's the second. I better get on with it. I'm having a little trouble getting excited about it. I know that once I lace up my shoes, I'll be itching to go. I also know that I will feel like a million bucks when the run is over. But I also know that I haven't run all summer and I've gained a bunch of weight. It's going to be a painful and depressing slap of reality.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Earthquake Part 2
I apologize - I know everyone is sick of hearing about the East Coast's earthquake. I'm even sick of hearing about it, but I wanted to write down my experience for posterity & rather than handwriting it somewhere, I figured I'd type it here. Plus, talking about it helps me to grasp what happened. Visually, it was so wrong my brain has had a hard time accepting it. I'd also like to say that those aftershocks everyone has been feeling aren't aftershocks. They are my parents turning over in their graves after hearing the words that flew out of my mouth while the house rocked & vibrated. And that is my warning for what's to come. This post won't be exactly G-rated.
I was sitting on the front porch drinking coffee, knitting and enjoying a gorgeous, non-humid day and thinking about the coming fall weather. I heard what sounded like the door from the garage to the house slamming shut. Sounded like Hubby had come home from work, but I knew he hadn't. I wondered if the dogs had knocked something over. I decided when I got to the end of the row in the knitting I'd go check & see what was up.
A minute or so later, I could hear the washing machine going crazy as though it was out of balance. I thought, "Cr*p!," started to get up to go deal with it and realized, I wasn't doing laundry. (A first! LOL) I sat back down and the noise got louder and louder and louder. The entire house had turned into an out of balance washing machine and the sound was amplified by the size of the house.
What the F***?
The front door was violently vibrating, so much so that I could see daylight between the door & the frame. The glass panel was going crazy & I had that instant thought of, "It's going to blow!" Meanwhile, there's a distinct rumble coming up from under the house.
"Sh*t! F***! The house is exploding! The thought ran through my head that at any moment, a giant fireball was going to be blowing out the glass in the front door & I should probably move. I started to get up but was rocked back into my chair. I noticed that while the front door was violently vibrating at a very high rate of speed, the walls were moving in slower waves. My 4 legged deck chair had suddenly turned into a rocking chair and the floor felt like it was falling out from under me.
I had the,"Its an earthquake!" thought and looked up at the porch ceiling which was moving all over the place. But that can't be. Ceilings don't move! And walls don't wave. What the F*** is going on? The house really must be exploding and I need to get away from the door where the fireball is going to come blasting out of at any moment. I got up and lurched down the 3 porch steps, holding on to the railing and still almost falling. "Sh*t! "F***! Piss!" (A particularly fun saying that's reserved for true emergencies.)
I stood out in the yard and felt the ground move. It was like trying to stand up in one of those fun house round tunnel things that spin and move up and down at the same time. It was very disorienting. I was still waiting for the fireball and still repeating, "Sh*t! F***! Holy Cr*P! What the F*** is happening?" over & over again. I could hear one of the neighbors screaming like crazy. I'm still not sure if it was a child's screams or an adult's.
I looked up at the house and .... I can't describe it. It was like if you look at an object then close one eye, then the other. You know how your perspective changes & it looks like the object is moving? Well, that's what the house was doing. One minute, the roof line was straight, the next minute it was at a weird angle & blocking out that little puffy cloud, then it was straight, then tilting away from the cloud.... Meanwhile, the house was leaning in one direction and the porch was tilting the other way. And the walls were pulsating. Like they were taking super deep breathes. My darkest fear has come to life. The washing machine has gone berserk, come to life & taken over my entire house! (Thank you Stephen King for my slight fear of washing machines.)
Meanwhile, the noise continued to get louder & louder and higher & higher pitched. Imagine that out of balance washing machine spinning at about a gazillion rpms and the sound amplified to house size.
Sh*t! F***! What the F*** is happening?"
And then it stopped. Total quiet, total calm. Except for the neighbor who continued to scream for a few more seconds.
I felt a bit nauseous and laughed at myself for being motion sick. It was probably more like shock, but, my tummy did have that icky, "get me off this rocking boat" sensation to it.
I pulled my phone out & started dialing Hubby. I have no idea what I was going to tell him. I still hadn't come to grips with the idea of an earthquake. I was still convinced that something in or under the house had exploded. Honestly, I was still waiting for the fireball. Of course, the phone wouldn't work. No service. All circuits are busy. Great! My house just exploded and all the freaking circuits are busy.
About that time, the idea of an earthquake started sinking in. I decided I had to go into the house & see if there was a fireball or not. Besides, the dogs were in there. The dogs were in the house with the fireball! They were probably scared witless and peeing on the floor. I have to admit though, I was still thinking that when I opened the front door, a gigantic fireball would blow my face off.
I sucked up my courage, opened the door and was greeted by one whimpering dog. Minnie was coming down the stairs whimpering and carrying her "baby" - a very dirty pink teddy bear that used to be Sarah's. Once Minnie claimed it as her own, there was no taking it back. Anyway, Minnie came on down the stairs & promptly heeled, although she has no idea what heeling is. I peeked into the living room and didn't see anything wrong. Unbelievable!
Max came down the steps and joined our search party. We went room to room and saw no damage. We went upstairs and found nothing wrong. Nothing damaged, at least. Just about everything in my son's room was on the floor, but I'm not sure I can blame the earthquake for that. I'm pretty sure his book case & CD rack hadn't been empty previously though. Came back down and checked all the water sources. I just knew there had to be busted pipes somewhere. Nope, all looks good. We went out into the garage and there was one unknown object (some mysterious Man-Thing of Hubby's) laying in the middle of the floor and Hubby's level was still swinging back & forth in a rather wide ark. Other than that, nothing. We went back inside and I noticed that all the cabinet doors were standing wide open. Don't know why I hadn't noticed that the first 2 trips through. I think I'd been too busy looking for fireballs. A few things had tipped over inside the cabinets, but nothing had fallen out. The dish soap & hand soap had fallen into the sink and several things were a lot closer to the edge of counters & ledges than they'd been before, but nothing was on the floor. Freaking amazing!
I went outside & checked to make sure we still had a roof & a fence. Yep, still there. And of course, the leaning dead tree that refuses to fall & scares the life out of me is still leaning. It hasn't changed a bit.
About that time, Hubby pulled into the driveway. I started psycho-babbling to him about the experience & he walked around the house looking for damage. He found one small crack in the foundation but that was all. Inside, the only damage he noticed was a few nail-pops. They'd already been noticeable, but the earthquake had forced the nail heads all the way out of the drywall.
Hubby instantly started trying to call his family to make sure they were okay while I immediately got on Facebook and joined the crowd of quake survivors.
Later, we noticed that the fireplace door had shifted a bit and the gas logs had toppled over. And my brand new can of air freshener had fallen into the toilet. That was the height of our quake damage. The thing that I'm the most amazed by is the things that didn't fall. I hate to publicly admit to it, but there's a pile of precariously stacked books on top of a bookshelf. Normally, if you don't tiptoe through the room, something falls off the pile. Naturally, the earthquake did not disturb a single one of those books. And my yarn pile in the living room.... I have a few (thousand) knitting projects going on and there's a dangerously high pile of yarn on top of a shelf. It too is one of those piles that tends to fall over if you look at it funny, but as the laws of gravity would have it, not a single skein hit the floor. Amazing!
As much as I complain & fuss about my hubby, he sure did build me a good house. Nice and tight without being too tight. Now, let's see how it likes the hurricane that's headed our way.
I was sitting on the front porch drinking coffee, knitting and enjoying a gorgeous, non-humid day and thinking about the coming fall weather. I heard what sounded like the door from the garage to the house slamming shut. Sounded like Hubby had come home from work, but I knew he hadn't. I wondered if the dogs had knocked something over. I decided when I got to the end of the row in the knitting I'd go check & see what was up.
A minute or so later, I could hear the washing machine going crazy as though it was out of balance. I thought, "Cr*p!," started to get up to go deal with it and realized, I wasn't doing laundry. (A first! LOL) I sat back down and the noise got louder and louder and louder. The entire house had turned into an out of balance washing machine and the sound was amplified by the size of the house.
What the F***?
The front door was violently vibrating, so much so that I could see daylight between the door & the frame. The glass panel was going crazy & I had that instant thought of, "It's going to blow!" Meanwhile, there's a distinct rumble coming up from under the house.
"Sh*t! F***! The house is exploding! The thought ran through my head that at any moment, a giant fireball was going to be blowing out the glass in the front door & I should probably move. I started to get up but was rocked back into my chair. I noticed that while the front door was violently vibrating at a very high rate of speed, the walls were moving in slower waves. My 4 legged deck chair had suddenly turned into a rocking chair and the floor felt like it was falling out from under me.
I had the,"Its an earthquake!" thought and looked up at the porch ceiling which was moving all over the place. But that can't be. Ceilings don't move! And walls don't wave. What the F*** is going on? The house really must be exploding and I need to get away from the door where the fireball is going to come blasting out of at any moment. I got up and lurched down the 3 porch steps, holding on to the railing and still almost falling. "Sh*t! "F***! Piss!" (A particularly fun saying that's reserved for true emergencies.)
I stood out in the yard and felt the ground move. It was like trying to stand up in one of those fun house round tunnel things that spin and move up and down at the same time. It was very disorienting. I was still waiting for the fireball and still repeating, "Sh*t! F***! Holy Cr*P! What the F*** is happening?" over & over again. I could hear one of the neighbors screaming like crazy. I'm still not sure if it was a child's screams or an adult's.
I looked up at the house and .... I can't describe it. It was like if you look at an object then close one eye, then the other. You know how your perspective changes & it looks like the object is moving? Well, that's what the house was doing. One minute, the roof line was straight, the next minute it was at a weird angle & blocking out that little puffy cloud, then it was straight, then tilting away from the cloud.... Meanwhile, the house was leaning in one direction and the porch was tilting the other way. And the walls were pulsating. Like they were taking super deep breathes. My darkest fear has come to life. The washing machine has gone berserk, come to life & taken over my entire house! (Thank you Stephen King for my slight fear of washing machines.)
Meanwhile, the noise continued to get louder & louder and higher & higher pitched. Imagine that out of balance washing machine spinning at about a gazillion rpms and the sound amplified to house size.
Sh*t! F***! What the F*** is happening?"
And then it stopped. Total quiet, total calm. Except for the neighbor who continued to scream for a few more seconds.
I felt a bit nauseous and laughed at myself for being motion sick. It was probably more like shock, but, my tummy did have that icky, "get me off this rocking boat" sensation to it.
I pulled my phone out & started dialing Hubby. I have no idea what I was going to tell him. I still hadn't come to grips with the idea of an earthquake. I was still convinced that something in or under the house had exploded. Honestly, I was still waiting for the fireball. Of course, the phone wouldn't work. No service. All circuits are busy. Great! My house just exploded and all the freaking circuits are busy.
About that time, the idea of an earthquake started sinking in. I decided I had to go into the house & see if there was a fireball or not. Besides, the dogs were in there. The dogs were in the house with the fireball! They were probably scared witless and peeing on the floor. I have to admit though, I was still thinking that when I opened the front door, a gigantic fireball would blow my face off.
I sucked up my courage, opened the door and was greeted by one whimpering dog. Minnie was coming down the stairs whimpering and carrying her "baby" - a very dirty pink teddy bear that used to be Sarah's. Once Minnie claimed it as her own, there was no taking it back. Anyway, Minnie came on down the stairs & promptly heeled, although she has no idea what heeling is. I peeked into the living room and didn't see anything wrong. Unbelievable!
Max came down the steps and joined our search party. We went room to room and saw no damage. We went upstairs and found nothing wrong. Nothing damaged, at least. Just about everything in my son's room was on the floor, but I'm not sure I can blame the earthquake for that. I'm pretty sure his book case & CD rack hadn't been empty previously though. Came back down and checked all the water sources. I just knew there had to be busted pipes somewhere. Nope, all looks good. We went out into the garage and there was one unknown object (some mysterious Man-Thing of Hubby's) laying in the middle of the floor and Hubby's level was still swinging back & forth in a rather wide ark. Other than that, nothing. We went back inside and I noticed that all the cabinet doors were standing wide open. Don't know why I hadn't noticed that the first 2 trips through. I think I'd been too busy looking for fireballs. A few things had tipped over inside the cabinets, but nothing had fallen out. The dish soap & hand soap had fallen into the sink and several things were a lot closer to the edge of counters & ledges than they'd been before, but nothing was on the floor. Freaking amazing!
I went outside & checked to make sure we still had a roof & a fence. Yep, still there. And of course, the leaning dead tree that refuses to fall & scares the life out of me is still leaning. It hasn't changed a bit.
About that time, Hubby pulled into the driveway. I started psycho-babbling to him about the experience & he walked around the house looking for damage. He found one small crack in the foundation but that was all. Inside, the only damage he noticed was a few nail-pops. They'd already been noticeable, but the earthquake had forced the nail heads all the way out of the drywall.
Hubby instantly started trying to call his family to make sure they were okay while I immediately got on Facebook and joined the crowd of quake survivors.
Later, we noticed that the fireplace door had shifted a bit and the gas logs had toppled over. And my brand new can of air freshener had fallen into the toilet. That was the height of our quake damage. The thing that I'm the most amazed by is the things that didn't fall. I hate to publicly admit to it, but there's a pile of precariously stacked books on top of a bookshelf. Normally, if you don't tiptoe through the room, something falls off the pile. Naturally, the earthquake did not disturb a single one of those books. And my yarn pile in the living room.... I have a few (thousand) knitting projects going on and there's a dangerously high pile of yarn on top of a shelf. It too is one of those piles that tends to fall over if you look at it funny, but as the laws of gravity would have it, not a single skein hit the floor. Amazing!
As much as I complain & fuss about my hubby, he sure did build me a good house. Nice and tight without being too tight. Now, let's see how it likes the hurricane that's headed our way.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Earthquake!
Phew! That was exciting! We just had an earthquake. A 5.9. In Virginia. I live about 20 miles from the epicenter and about all I can say is, Holy Monsters! You know how your out-of-balance washing machine rocks & shakes? Well, picture your house pretending to be a huge, gigantic out-of-balance washer. Crazy!! I was sitting on the front porch & had to hold on the railing to go down the 3 steps to keep from falling down!
What amazes me, with all that shaking, we had no real damage. The fake gas logs in the fire place aren't in the exact same spot they were, but the gas isn't leaking. The front door shook & waved so much that I could see daylight between the door & the frame, but the glass didn't crack & the lock still works. Things fell off the walls, but nothing broke. The cups & bowls stacked in the cupboard fell over & the cabinet doors all flew open, but nothing fell out or broke. The water in the dog's bowl spilled out and the hand soap fell into the sink. All of my son's CD's are now on the floor. (Won't he be happy about that when he gets home from Grandma's!)
Amazingly, there are no cracks in the walls or windows.
And of course, our dead and dangerously leaning tree out in the yard is still dead & leaning, exactly like it was before.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Hair Wars
Lately, it seems like several people from different areas of my life have been complaining about, bragging about, or simply talking about their hair. And since one of my favorite past-times is complaining about my overly thick, straight in front but curly in the back hair, I've decided to join the fun.
There it is in all of it's witch hair glory. And yes, I am quite aware that I'm really too old to wear it this long. I'm also terribly aware that I desperately need at least the ends trimmed. But if I'm going to bother getting a trim, I'm going to go all out & cut it. Cut it short enough to make a donation to Locks of Love. And if I'm going to cut it, I need to decide how I want it cut. And that takes me back to the need for a grown-up hair do. And I really don't want an age appropriate hair style. Besides, I like being able to wash it, comb it, shake it like a dog and go. I bet an age appropriate hair style will involve at least a blow dryer. And I swore long ago that I'd never go back to using a blow dryer. So, it looks like the witch hair stays. At least for a while longer.
On a totally different note, I felt like quite the naturalist yesterday morning. I was sitting out on the front porch having my morning coffee while the mud-daubers swarmed around me. They are determined to cover our porch light with their mud nests and I'm determined that they won't. I kept hearing a weird buzzing noise behind & beside me and finally realized it was humming birds. I've never seen them visit the plants on the porch before. Meanwhile, there were three lizard/salamander things crawling all over the place & occasionally darting between my feet and a rather large turtle crawling across the yard. I'm just glad the local bear didn't decide to come join the party.
A Southeastern Five Lined Skink, other wise known as a "lizard/salamander thing"
There it is in all of it's witch hair glory. And yes, I am quite aware that I'm really too old to wear it this long. I'm also terribly aware that I desperately need at least the ends trimmed. But if I'm going to bother getting a trim, I'm going to go all out & cut it. Cut it short enough to make a donation to Locks of Love. And if I'm going to cut it, I need to decide how I want it cut. And that takes me back to the need for a grown-up hair do. And I really don't want an age appropriate hair style. Besides, I like being able to wash it, comb it, shake it like a dog and go. I bet an age appropriate hair style will involve at least a blow dryer. And I swore long ago that I'd never go back to using a blow dryer. So, it looks like the witch hair stays. At least for a while longer.
On a totally different note, I felt like quite the naturalist yesterday morning. I was sitting out on the front porch having my morning coffee while the mud-daubers swarmed around me. They are determined to cover our porch light with their mud nests and I'm determined that they won't. I kept hearing a weird buzzing noise behind & beside me and finally realized it was humming birds. I've never seen them visit the plants on the porch before. Meanwhile, there were three lizard/salamander things crawling all over the place & occasionally darting between my feet and a rather large turtle crawling across the yard. I'm just glad the local bear didn't decide to come join the party.
Monday, July 25, 2011
With the Click of a Button...
I'm officially a Novel Writer now. Or at least I will be at 12:01 a.m. on November 1st.
What the Hell have I done? And why do I allow myself to be influenced by my friends? Apparently teen peer pressure is still a concern when you are in your late 40's.
With the click of a "sign up now" button, I have turned myself into an excited, nervous wreck. What did I sign up for, you ask? This:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
November is national writer's month and the great folks at National Novel Writer's Month have an annual challenge/contest. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It's free to sign up and the only prize is the exhilaration of success. It sounds like a blast. It sounds like pure torture. It sounds like being water boarded with champagne. Want to join me? All it takes is the click of a button...
Do you know what's funny? I'm not the least bit concerned about what I'll write about. Well, okay, maybe a teeny tiny bit concerned about that, but really, who cares. I'll be writing 50,000 words in 30 days. It's expected to be total garbage. It's basically a 30 day timed write and timed writes are never expected to be great. What I'm worried about is the timing. I mean, it's happening in November. The time of year when every single waking thought and most of my dreams are centered on Christmas. I get so excited about Christmas that I can think of nothing else for the entire month of November, and frankly, most of October too. Ok, let me be honest. It's July, it's 100+ degrees outside and I'm already starting to get that Christmas tingle. How am I going to write a novel when all I can think about is Christmas? Well, at least I guess I know what my setting will be.
My other concern is Etsy. I just opened a shop on Etsy and although my shelves are completely bare at the moment, I plan to be their number one seller by the end of September. By Christmas, I will be so successful that my husband can retire and I can stop looking for a job. There'll even be that big sailboat I want tied up to our dock. Which means we'll have bought a new house on tidal water. I've got a lot to do between now and Christmas. How in the Hell am I going to write a novel while I'm busily selling my crafts & shopping for houses and sailboats? Oh, and let's not forget how busy I'll be making the items to sell. Sheesh. November is going to be a VERY busy month.
On a totally different note, I don't think I like the word "crafts." In my mind, "crafts" implies pipe cleaners & popsicle sticks. But what's an alternate word? "Art?" I'm not sure what I knit can be considered "art." But then, if I'm going to be top seller & buy that house on tidal water and that big sailboat within five months, I guess I better have a change in attitude. So, I'm officially an artist and a soon to be novelist. Yeah, I could get used to that.
What the Hell have I done? And why do I allow myself to be influenced by my friends? Apparently teen peer pressure is still a concern when you are in your late 40's.
With the click of a "sign up now" button, I have turned myself into an excited, nervous wreck. What did I sign up for, you ask? This:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
November is national writer's month and the great folks at National Novel Writer's Month have an annual challenge/contest. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It's free to sign up and the only prize is the exhilaration of success. It sounds like a blast. It sounds like pure torture. It sounds like being water boarded with champagne. Want to join me? All it takes is the click of a button...
Do you know what's funny? I'm not the least bit concerned about what I'll write about. Well, okay, maybe a teeny tiny bit concerned about that, but really, who cares. I'll be writing 50,000 words in 30 days. It's expected to be total garbage. It's basically a 30 day timed write and timed writes are never expected to be great. What I'm worried about is the timing. I mean, it's happening in November. The time of year when every single waking thought and most of my dreams are centered on Christmas. I get so excited about Christmas that I can think of nothing else for the entire month of November, and frankly, most of October too. Ok, let me be honest. It's July, it's 100+ degrees outside and I'm already starting to get that Christmas tingle. How am I going to write a novel when all I can think about is Christmas? Well, at least I guess I know what my setting will be.
My other concern is Etsy. I just opened a shop on Etsy and although my shelves are completely bare at the moment, I plan to be their number one seller by the end of September. By Christmas, I will be so successful that my husband can retire and I can stop looking for a job. There'll even be that big sailboat I want tied up to our dock. Which means we'll have bought a new house on tidal water. I've got a lot to do between now and Christmas. How in the Hell am I going to write a novel while I'm busily selling my crafts & shopping for houses and sailboats? Oh, and let's not forget how busy I'll be making the items to sell. Sheesh. November is going to be a VERY busy month.
On a totally different note, I don't think I like the word "crafts." In my mind, "crafts" implies pipe cleaners & popsicle sticks. But what's an alternate word? "Art?" I'm not sure what I knit can be considered "art." But then, if I'm going to be top seller & buy that house on tidal water and that big sailboat within five months, I guess I better have a change in attitude. So, I'm officially an artist and a soon to be novelist. Yeah, I could get used to that.
Friday, July 22, 2011
What's in my purse?
I was reading someone else's list of suggested blog topics recently & one of the items was "What's in your purse?" At the time, I thought it was a pretty dumb thing to blog about. I mean, who cares? But ever since, I've had that little nagging voice inside my head asking what is in my purse. It has been a while since I cleaned it out. Actually, I don't think I have cleaned it out since I started using it sometime around mid-May. Ok, this could be rather embarrassing. A while back, I recall counting eight Fiber One bars and even more feminine unmentionables in there at one time.
Ok, let's see what's in there...
Well, gosh. That doesn't look so bad. Well, ok, the tacky vinyl zebra stripe bag is a disaster, but the rest doesn't look so bad. Let's dump it out and see what's down at the bottom.
Phew! No unmentionables fell out. But what did fall out? My wallet, which has so much junk crammed in it it should qualify for it's own blog; the lovely vinyl zebra stripped bag that contains Band-aids, dental floss, a few unmentionables, an eye glass cleaner cloth, a mini flashlight, & a few pony tail holders; 3 pens, phone charger for the car, receipts from Target, BJ's & Verizon, one Fiber One bar, 3 packs of gummy fruit snacks, a calculator, a hair brush, a checkbook for an account that's closed, the camera with hand knitted case, lemon scented anti-bacterial hand goo, a couple of Claritin, a highlighter, an empty mechanical pencil, a bottle full of Tylenol, Ibuprophen, Advil & generic Claritin all mixed together, 2 tubes of hand lotion, chapstick, lipstick, gum, Altoids and thirteen, yes, 13 empty gum wrappers.
That wasn't so bad. Well, 13 empty gum wrappers isn't exactly something to be proud of, but all in all, not so bad. Boring, but not overly embarrassing.
Minnie's sad because she doesn't have a purse.
Ok, let's see what's in there...
Well, gosh. That doesn't look so bad. Well, ok, the tacky vinyl zebra stripe bag is a disaster, but the rest doesn't look so bad. Let's dump it out and see what's down at the bottom.
Phew! No unmentionables fell out. But what did fall out? My wallet, which has so much junk crammed in it it should qualify for it's own blog; the lovely vinyl zebra stripped bag that contains Band-aids, dental floss, a few unmentionables, an eye glass cleaner cloth, a mini flashlight, & a few pony tail holders; 3 pens, phone charger for the car, receipts from Target, BJ's & Verizon, one Fiber One bar, 3 packs of gummy fruit snacks, a calculator, a hair brush, a checkbook for an account that's closed, the camera with hand knitted case, lemon scented anti-bacterial hand goo, a couple of Claritin, a highlighter, an empty mechanical pencil, a bottle full of Tylenol, Ibuprophen, Advil & generic Claritin all mixed together, 2 tubes of hand lotion, chapstick, lipstick, gum, Altoids and thirteen, yes, 13 empty gum wrappers.
That wasn't so bad. Well, 13 empty gum wrappers isn't exactly something to be proud of, but all in all, not so bad. Boring, but not overly embarrassing.
Minnie's sad because she doesn't have a purse.
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