So, this week Thing Two had not one, but not wardrobe issues at school. The first was a wardrobe malfunction. She got a tear in her jeans in a not good spot. I had to leave work, run to my house, grab a pair of jeans, run them up to her school, and go back to work. Today, a very rainy day, she slipped and fell and got all muddy. Once again I had to leave work, run home, find jeans, run them to school, before heading back to work.
I swear that kid is going to be the death of me. I would also swear that she has probably caused 97.8% of my gray hairs. She is lucky she is a wonderful kid and I love her so much, or I might give her up for adoption.
Another irritation. I went for a walk on the waterfront yesterday and I find an obstacle of sidewalk dog poop. I mean, really. Can you not tell your dog is taking a shit on the sidewalk? Yeah, I bet you can, but if you act like you don't see him doing it, you don't have to pick it up, right? Inconsiderate not only to the people walking down the path, but to your dog. You should be ashamed of yourself. If you don't want to tend to your pet's basic needs, you should not have a pet. Bad pet owner.
More irritation: lack of sleep. I can't get past it. I'm taking Melatonin now. It seems to help me fall asleep, but I still wake up early and sometimes (most the time) can't get back to sleep.
Also, having a brilliant book idea while I'm struggling through revisions. sigh. I NEED TO FINISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's driving me nuts. I've given myself a deadline of the end of this month, and I honestly am not sure if I'm going to make it.
More irritation, sore legs. I started a running training class. Why you ask? Because I've always hated running, but I've always wanted to like it. It makes my lungs burn, my legs hurt, and makes me cough for hours. SO, I want to learn. My friend Alexa has been trying to talk my into starting her class, so I did. I had my first lesson on Tuesday. My legs hurt. Don't get me wrong, I know it will be worth it in the long run, but right now I'm in pain. Now here's a bit of luck, I was about a centimeter and a second away from being crapped on by a crow.
Happy Thursday everyone. I'm treating myself to a pedicure and a night out with friends. Tomorrow, vacation!!!!
Here are some tips for keeping distractions at bay while writing.
Children: Go find a place and hole up. If your kids are older, tell them you need an hour of no distractions (you tell them that means unless someone is bleeding to death, etc, STAY AWAY!). For younger kids, hire a babysitter for an hour or two to bust some words out. Another way to get some writing in without the kids nagging, write before they get up in the morning or after they go to bed at night. (this could also apply to your spouse if you have one).
Internet: You know when you're writing, and you just need a few minute break, so you open Facebook and somehow two hours have passed? Close it. Shut it off. Disconnect. That's the only way to be sure you'll stay away from those status updates, Mafia Wars, Farmville and the like.
Phone calls/text messages: Leave your phone in another room or simply turn it off. Now, I'm talking about a cell phone of course, but I don't have a land line anymore. Either way, let the voice mail take it or let your significant other or kids answer in case it's important.
Everything else: Take off for a weekend alone. Let the hubby/wife/grandparents watch the kids for a weekend and get yourself a hotel room in a quiet place. I've done this a few times (planning on doing it again in a couple weeks) and I'm always productive. ALWAYS.
These are just my own ideas of course, you may find other things that work for you. (I haven't quite mastered the whole internet thing yet) Everyone deserves an hour of quiet. Take yours and write.
Oh, and one more thing the dishes, laundry, general cleaning will all be there when you get back.
I'm enjoying my vacation to Scotsdale, AZ. My mom, my girls, and I have been shopping, sunning, swimming, and that's it. (Well I have done a bit of writing too) This was a much needed vacation.
My ARC's are supposed to come out today, so if you requested to be on my list, I hope you get one. (I cannot WAIT to see them)
The Write Hope Auction is still going on to raise money for Japan. They are offering signed books, critiques, and they even have a mystery item up for bid today. Check it out. It's for a good cause.
I think that's all I have for today. Not much to rant and rave about on vacation. Have a good Monday all.
Lately life has been confusing, busy, distressing. Skies in my home town have been gray since September which makes, me tired, and sad. I still haven't really found my balance between my day job, and writing, and blogging, and mothering, and marketing, and networking, etc etc.
The last couple days I melted down to mush.
I am now in Arizona.
My parent's house is gorgeous. It's all marbled and big and open with high ceilings and windows that allow the sun to stream in through every room.
The sun is already warming the ground outside and the pool.
My kids woke up smiling. So did I.
Everyone needs a recharge. You may not be able to go to Arizona, but perhaps you could hole up in a cabin somewhere for the weekend. Or take a trip to a mountain for a day hike. Or sit at the beach and just watch people, and the birds, and the surf. Or stay in your pajamas all day and do something you love whether it's writing, or listening to music, or watching 80's movies.
Take a break. Recharge. Breathe. Your life will be there when you get back.
May as well talk about hotels since this has been a vacation blog week.
I remember from a long time ago, my family traveled to Washington DC. I think I was 8 or 10 at the time. I found a big bug in the bathroom. This is my curse, to find strange big bugs in hotel bathrooms. I don't like bugs. Looking back, I think it might have been a cockroach, but I'm not sure. Then after swimming in the pool there, I got a big black tick in my side. Not fun for a girl who doesn't like bugs.
Strange, after staying in a dump in Texas, my oldest daughter got a tick behind her ear. We kept that one and put it under the microscope. Those things are gross *shudder*. That hotel was gross too, thanks Dad (kidding Dad, well, not about the hotel, but I appreciated the trip).
Same trip (prior paragraph was on the way back from Oklahoma, this one, on the way to) we get off our plane in Texas, we already have a hotel booked. We grab our rental car and start driving and thus begins the torrential downpour. It was raining so hard, we literally couldn't see two feet in front of us. We were driving so slow, not knowing where the car ahead of us was. And forget finding our booked hotel in an unfamiliar city.
Then the clouds parted and we saw god. Okay, kidding, we saw a Holiday Inn sign, so we immediately got off the freeway (I did mention we were on the freeway, right?) Apparently the state of Texas gets that kind of rain only about once a year, and we found it. We were given rooms on the 14th floor. We had no idea the indoor pool was on our floor, oh, wait, that isn't a pool, that's a giant puddle in the middle of our hallway. I'm not a praying person, but I prayed that the 14th floor would not collapse sending us to our deaths that night.
That's probably enough hotel horror stories. I'm sure I could come up with more like the crappy cabin in Grayland where the front door didn't lock, or reserving a room at Edgefield McMenamins for the wrong day and not knowing until getting there (they gave us what's called the "oh shit" room, thank god, or Rusty would never have forgiven me).
You really can't talk about a vacation without talking about the travel itself, right? Whether you're driving, flying, training (training?) there always seems to be some drama.
For instance, on our flight from Orange County to Portland, OR, we were in line to get on the plane, and this older couple that looked like they had just come from the country club comes up to us and says haughtily (yes, I used an adverb, sue me) "We're riding first class, may we get in front of you?"
Okay, number one, they called first class about fifteen minutes prior, if you're not there on time, in my opinion, you miss your privilege of early boarding. So, I was about to give Mr. and Mrs. Howell what for, but Rusty stopped me and said, "Sure, go ahead." >:(
These people wavered back and forth between either just hopping in the now empty first class line or in front of us. Who effin' cares? Just go already.
Now here's the kicker, by coincidence they were doing extra security screening at our gate. This couple finally decides to hop in front of us and guess what. Lovey gets taken aside for the extra screening. Can you say Karma? If we wouldn't have let them cut, it would have been me. And her bastard of a husband left her there and got on the plane without her. Rich people.
I've had other strange flying experiences, like trying to get on an airplane in an ice storm, having our flight canceled, and on the way home having my dad call and tell us he found us another flight. So we turn around and go back. Planes are still delayed. We're in the airport for a good 4 or 5 hours with a 6 month old, who was perfect by the way, and an angry mob from Oakland because our flight to AZ had um, borrowed their flight to Oakland.
You know what really irritates me? Parents who put their kids at one end of the plane and sit at another. On our honeymoon this happened. And it's because their kids are so horrible they don't want to be near them. And these little dears were sitting right behind us. Needless to say, they were obnoxious and our chairs were constantly getting kicked. When the milk flew up between my husband and my seat, we'd had enough. Rusty scared the crap out of them. They were quiet the rest of the flight. It was a while ago, but I think he may have had word with the parents too. I think I try to repress the memory as best I can. Nice romantic honeymoon flight, huh?
There was also the time I was flying from Jackson Hole Wyoming. Small airport = small plane. I don't like to fly first of all, small planes makes it worse second of all, but add a thunder and lightning storm to the mix, and well, it becomes terrifying. The plane literally felt like a pendulum swaying back and forth in the wind. I hadn't prayed for years up to that point, but I'll tell you what, my Catholic upbringing came flooding back, and I said a whole rosary on that flight. I nearly kissed the ground when we landed.
I could go on and on, like the fact that I get motion sickness on trains and cars, but that's not a pretty story. So, I leave you with that. Do you have any bad travel stories?
From my novel Rough Waters, a book loosely based on a cruise I took with my family earlier in the year. It's mostly fiction, some of the reality extremely embellished for entertainment purposes. Of course, some of it is entertaining without embellishment. To me at least. :)
The small crowd broke out in gasps, even me; though I’m sure my gasp had a completely different meaning then theirs.I’m sure theirs were gasps of surprise and enthusiasm, where mine was a gasp of fear and anxiety.A cruise involved my number three and number four greatest fears in the world, drowning and flying.They’re right behind something happening to my kids and spiders.
I sported a fake smile to blend in while my dad passed out vacation itineraries.I read the front page.A seven day cruise to the Mexican Riviera on Carnival Cruise Lines, departing from Long Beach in February.
“What’s the weather going to be like?” I asked hoping to at least rid myself of my Seasonal Affective Disorder for a week; the warm rays of the sun not having poked through the gray for months.
“It should be in the 80’s,” my dad answered.I let out a sigh of relief, albeit a small one.
My dad had given us a sixty-page packet of information about the cruise, being the obsessive, thoroughly organized beast that he is, with dress codes, shore excursions, on board activities, room amenities, and more.It’s overwhelming and I’m better at hearing information than reading it, so I handed the packet over to Sean without more than a glance.He sat and flipped through the pages, nodding his head and grunting from time to time.
Not only did I dread spending any amount of time on a plane or boat, but I also agonized over spending a week in a tightly enclosed cabin with my husband.Maybe agonize is the wrong emotion.Awkward would be more apropos.Just a couple weeks prior, my depression got the best of me and I told Sean I didn’t love him anymore.Though we were working through it, the wound was still fresh for him, and my issues, not entirely resolved.I hoped this trip wouldn’t be too much for us, the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.
I didn’t know what my parents were thinking.Maybe they thought a family cruise would be just what we need to get the home fires burning again.Right.Spending six nights in a cramped cabin with four people, with the rest of the dysfunction in each surrounding cabin would a great antidote for marital problems.
I went to the kitchen and helped myself to a glass of wine.My mother followed me in.“What’s the matter Maura?”
“Nothing.Nothing’s the matter,” I lied, sipping my glass of Malbec and picking through a bowl of mixed nuts trying to find all the cashews.
“Well, you don’t seem too excited about the trip,” she said as if she’s hurt.
“There’s just a lot going on right now, you know, with the new meds, and the counseling, and all.I’m not sure this is the best time for us to start thinking about a trip.”
“Well sure it is.What you need is a little sun, a little romance.Your marriage will be right back on track.”
My mother, she always gives the simplest nonsensical answers to the biggest problems.I remember when in elementary school, I was having continual stomachaches.Any psychologist would tell you that’s a classic cry for help.That kids who are sick all the time are more than likely having problems at school.You know what my mother told me, she told me maybe if I cleaned my room more often, my stomach wouldn’t hurt all the time.Yeah.
“And by the way,” she said, “do you think that you and Sean could bottle up some vodka for us to take.They only let you bring wine on board, you know.”
I come from a long line of winemakers, my great-grandfather, my great-uncles, my uncles, cousins, yet I’m the only one in my immediate family who picked up the hobby.I have all the supplies I need to make and bottle wine, or make anything else look like bottled wine, including, corks, and shrink wraps.
“Yeah, sure, just bring a couple bottles over and we can do it.”
“Thanks hon,” she said, kissing me on the forehead, before heading back into the throng of energized family members.
With my glass of wine in hand, I took a seat back in the living room and waited for the excited murmurs and shuffling of papers to die down, and finally cease.I grabbed my coat, my purse, motioned for Sean that it’s time to go, said, “Thanks for the trip, looking forward to it,” and headed out the door followed by my family.
We kept silent half the way home.Finally, Sean asked, “Are you okay?”
I looked over at him, “Are you okay?With this trip I mean?”
“Sure, I think it will be fun, just what we need.I mean, I don’t think it’s going to work magic for us or anything, but I think we definitely could use the vacation.”
I studied him for a moment, wishing I could feel for him what I used to.He’s good-looking, compassionate, and working hard to save our marriage, but I had built a wall, a seemingly impenetrable one.I didn’t remember building it and I didn’t know how to knock it down.I wish I did.I would’ve liked nothing more than for things to go back to the way they were, when we were happy, and passionate, and deeply in love.
Sorry for the unexpected hiatus, but sometimes life gets in the way of your plans, and it's easier to put things on the back burner than make yourself crazy trying to do it all.
We now bring you back to your regularly scheduled blog.
No, seriously, here is the condensed version of the previous top four, which was cut short at two.
Colors that affect my moods:
#3 Blue. Blue to me brings peace and happiness. It always gives me this serene feeling as if everything is good in the world.
#4 Black. I know black has negative connotations to some, but it's quite the opposite for me. Black is my favorite color. It's my creativity, my life, my love, my clarity. Not to mention it's slimming effect ;)
So, as you can see I've been busy. My husband and I hosted a wedding for his sister. It turned out very nice. I will never host a wedding again. ;)
Then we took a much needed vacation to the ocean, but for some reason, I still feel like I need a vacation. That week we celebrated our 15th anniversary, our country's freedom, and just played and bbq'd, soaked in some rays, and had a good time.
Last weekend some friends came into town and we got together for a day in Seattle and bbq. A writer I had met through the ABNA contest and his family. I was happy to meet them, but it saddened me in a way, knowing that many of these friendships I've made will be nothing more than virtual, although I long for them to be more. More tangible, more three dimensional. For me it's a bit heartbreaking, yet it's worth it, these friendships, they hold great meaning for me.
Okay, that's it. I'll probably just rant and rave for the rest of the week, and get back to the top four next week.
ritation, sore legs. I started a running training class. Why you ask? Because I've always hated running, but I've always wanted to like it. It makes my lungs burn, my legs hurt, and makes me cough for hours. SO, I want to learn. My friend Alexa has been trying to talk my into starting her class, so I did. I had my first lesson on Tuesday. My legs hurt. Don't get me wrong, I know it will be worth it in the long run, but right now I'm in pain.
