Why I Hate The Snow (F words involved)

FUCK! I never should have posted yesterday and now the universe is punishing me!

Would you like to know the next weeks forecast?
Today: Blowing Snow
Monday: Snow Showers
Tuesday: Chance of Snow
Wednesday: Chance of Snow
Thursday: Rain and Snow
Friday: Rain and Snow
Saturday: Rain and Snow

Reason number whatever why I hate the snow: Because snow's a fucking bitch with a sick sense of humor! Gr.

Why I (don't always) Hate The Snow

There are exactly 2 times I like snow. If snow comes in any other forms I curse it with the mouth of the foulest sailor and I despise it with all my heart.

One form of acceptable snow is only possible on one day each year. This is obviously Christmas snow. Despite my issues with Christmas, I still celebrate and even I would rather it be white.

The second form of acceptable snow came today in Salt Lake City and some may say isn't actually snow in the way I seem to be saying, but let me remind you this is my blog and I can say whatever I want. Today it was 60 degrees. The sky was a beautiful blue backdrop, the sun was shining, and the mountains jutted into the air: dark and jagged, dusted with crisp white snow the only place snow stays white. And I was driving: windows down, t-shirt on, radio blasting my favorite way to drive

Now I have to post this so I can shut everything down for Earth Hour! :)

Happy Birthday to Me

So I'm beginning to question my sanity after agreeing to do this 50,000 word writing project in March. My boys turned 10 and 2 this week and today I'm 32! You have no idea how many birthday cakes are being baked in this house this week! But I'm pressing on and it's going well. I'm behind but not too badly.
I thought I shouldn't let my birthday go by without posting - even though there's no way I can actually crank out a meaningful post today! I will tell you though that I have several blogs in me, waiting to get out:

1. The story of Bear and the cream of coconut
2. The story of Bear and the toilet swim.
3. The coconut cream tart escapade (boy am I glad I didn't do those, only helped a little),
and of course
4. Stuff about all the birthdays this month!

So there you have it. Now I have to get my kid to piano lessons and get going on all this birthday cake baking! I'll be back in April!

A Dream So Real

Some of you may know my sister invited me to join her in National Novel Writing Month (four months after the fact) and I agreed to also write a 50,000 word novel by the end of March. It's been an interesting beginning, I'm very optimistic, and only a tiny bit behind so far.

But I've decided a good way to be a little more accountable for my writing is to do as my sister is doing and update my blog daily with a word count of how much I'm writing. Please ask me how it's going, check for updates etc. I need the encouragement.

3/1: goal-1670 actual-1774
3/2: goal-1670 actual-1708
3/3: goal-1670 actual-634
3/4: goal-1670 actual-0
3/5: goal-1670 actual-0
3/6: goal-1670 actual-4226
3/7: goal-1670 actual-1020

week 1: goal-11,690 actual-9362

Busted Stuff

I'm learning as I go. It would be nice if we could learn our life lessons without having to deal with the broken mess we make along the way... but I guess that's how we benefit from all this mess in the first place is when we have to deal with it.

Last week I had a brief and ugly exchange with someone I used to be related to. It wasn't something I'm particularly proud of, even though I still feel I handled things fairly well. Even feeling I had a right to stir the pot I stirred in response to a slight at me, I can admit there are aspects I would have changed. But if that was it, the whole thing would be forgotten by now.

Here's what's still got me chewing my cheek over this: Here we are in this messy life, all jumbled up together, loving and hating each other. So when something goes on between two people, wouldn't it be wonderful if it was just between the two of you? But it never is. Because we're all tied in together, we're all involved in it all. When we say and do things to someone, we say and do them to the other people who make up that portion of the web of our lives. And the things we might not regret saying, we end up regretting anyway. I may have lost another piece of my family this week.

Weight of the World

Being a writer this is a classification I've come to believe comes from within, as opposed to resulting from any job description, having a story inside, trying to free itself onto the paper, wanting with a life of it's own to come out into daylight feels like an obligation. I don't just want to write my stories, I need to write them.

Some stories press harder at the edges of our unconscious, desperate to come to life. I think the biggest stories are the ones that come from our own experiences, our own trials and suffering - the things we know about most intimately from our own past. I think these stories need to be told. As writers, we need to give these stories life, almost like children. It's compelling, cathartic, educational. I have so many stories in my head and heart waiting to get out and of course publication is a future goal, but completion must come first.

A friend of a friend has reached that stage. She's completed her story. I'm sure the journey was healing and illuminating and insightful for her already. But what real writer would want to stop there? Of course as I said, we strive for publication. The true birth of that baby we've nurtured for so long. Her story is intense and compelling - the story of growing up in a home where Mom was only sometimesMom. Sometimes she was someone else entirely. Reading her story, it was clear she had a heavy burden to bear. I've had my own heavy weights to carry in life, my own experiences with a mother who needed us as much as we needed her, my own story bubbling to the surface. So I know that need to bring it to life.

Tiffany is ready to give her story to the world but needs to convince publishers that readers are interested in a story from a regular not-famous girl just like anyone else. So she's posted a little bio and the first two chapters on her blog. Someday I'll be posting my own first chapter on my blog. What an exciting day that will be. I encourage you to go read her story - for your own enjoyment as well as to support another writer striving to finish her project! Go read and leave a comment to show support, post a link on your own blog encouraging others to have a look, and maybe she'll be able to get the whole book out! Finishing a book is a huge accomplishment that a lot of writers yes even unpublished, you can be a writer never reach! When one does hit this huge milestone, we should all rush to support and celebrate that achievement! Yay Tiffany - Congratulations and good luck!

Remember Two Things

FIRST
Last night I was sitting on my bed around 1am eating a Big Fat Steak Taco from Del Taco, dreading the moment I crawled into bed to go to sleep. Alone
It's strange since I slept alone for years in California and it was awesome. I loved it and really wondered if I could share my bed with Anthony when we moved in together. As much as I adore him, there was a moment in the beginning when I wondered if I could make a case for separate beds... But no more. I was not excited about going to bed alone. Probably mostly because I had no choice in the matter. When Anthony used to work Friday nights at Bricks I loved having those few hours in bed all by myself to really sprawl out and take up space. But sitting there on my bed facing the first of probably 4 nights apart, I didn't like the idea much. So I sat at the end of my bed I never sit at the end of my bed - this is just plain strange for me flipping through channels and landed for a minute on the show Going on 17.
Have you seen this show? Or one of it's predecessors? I can't remember what the show was called before but they have to keep changing it because Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar just keep having more babies!!! Well they were planning a float for the Christmas parade in this episode! And whadaya know? They want to do a live nativity! So they start building a little stable frame on a trailer, covering it, placing some bales of hay etc... They're going to tow it with this monstrous rock-band style tour bus they have. Someone gets the bright idea to decorate the bus with huge Happy Birthday Jesus banners and outline it all in Christmas lights! So they do this and at one point as Jim Bob is hooking up all the cords inside the bus, he starts to talk about the new low voltage, low heat LED lights they have this year and how much they spent on all the over 2000 lights, etc, and he said something that really got me thinking... Ready for it?
The Duggar's are going green he boasts as he tells of the lower energy usage of the LEDs etc.
And I'll tell you it blew my mind even before considering the absurdity of that statement as a father trots in and out of his huge tour bus that he uses to haul his family nineteen around in. Because in that moment I thought to myself:

And what is the carbon footprint of a whole person that lives to old age? or of 18 people that live to old age - did I mention Michelle is pregnant again? In fact I don't think I've seen her NOT pregnant in a season unless you count the episodes where she gives birth!

I am not going to make any pronouncements about how many children someone should have. But I am going to say right here for the whole world, that the Duggars are not going green.

SECOND
Because this sounds fun and I don't have enough on my plate already, I think I'll add some requisite crafts to my near future! Comment and get a prize! Just because I love my readers so much. :)
This comes from my pal Sus and I thought I'd see what I get from her and try my hand at a few projects myself.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It’ll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it’s going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

And since a lot of my readers are non-bloggers... the first 5 non-blogger comments will also get something.
Wow. Did I just double my commitment? Oops. :)