New Shoes

Well it's that time I guess. I really don't want to. Although, hindsight being 20/20, I should have done it years ago.

What am I talking about? Shoes. My wonderful black Puma shoes, to be exact. I have had these shoes since the 6th grade, when my mom bought them for me at some high-end mall in Seattle for $60. They are amazing shoes. The most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. But today, it finally happened. I realized that my poor old shoes are headed for the trash bin. I love those shoes, and I have yet to find another pair that feels as comfortable as those. This morning was Simon's first agility training day, and at 10:00 we were out on the field. I quickly realized that the grass was still wet with dew, and that my shoes are falling apart. By the time I walked across the field ONCE, my shoes and socks were soaked. I looked down to discover that my poor Puma's sole was coming off on the side, and I have a hole near the toe. The fabric is unstiching, the shoelace holes are stretched, and even all of the suede that used to be there, has been completely rubbed off, leaving a very smooth and partially shiny, surface.

Now, I do have other shoes I could wear. Of the shoes that ARE NOT high heels, I have three pairs. Two are converse, and the other is Puma. Now, these new Pumas, I got off of Ebay, oh about two years ago. Brand new, never been worn, amazing, and for like, $20. I wore them a couple of time, but they just aren't as comfortable as my other ones. Plus, the new pair is brown while my old ones are black. Other than that, they are the exact same shoe. I just...don't like the new ones. I have a hard time letting go of things that are dear to me, and in this instance, my black Puma's are important, thus throwing them away is difficult. I don't know what would help me more, but I just don't want to get rid of them yet. Plus, I HATE shopping. Shopping for anything sucks. Wait, I take that back. I like to shop for other people. Christmas, birthdays, that sort of thing. But shopping, especially for clothes or shoes, for myself, I just loathe. I can never find pants that fit right, either they are too small around the waist and long enough, or fit right around the waist but are too short. I apparently have a very common shoe size, because whenever I walk into Payless, or some other shoe store, they are almost always sold out of whatever shoe I want in the size I need. Quite annoying. So don't tell me to just go out and buy another pair of black puma's, because I will just smack you silly. ^_^ And I mean that with all the love in the world. :D

Waiting...

Only two days until NaNo.

O_O

I'm starting to get the heeby-jeebies. As much as I've tried, my Inner Editor keeps screaming questions at me, and the closer we get to starting this thing, the louder they become.

Can you really do this? Why are you setting your self up for failure? Nobody else believes you can do it, so why are you?


Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. {Damn, now I want to watch The King and I} 


I know I can do this. I need to do this. But all of these doubts keep wearing me down, like the constant waves on a rock, my resolve and confidence are slowly wearing down, and I haven't even started November yet. I'm worried that I won't be able to manage all the things that have come up this next month.

Have you ever noticed that? When you have nothing to do, and want to do anything, nobody is doing anything cool. But when you have a bunch of stuff to do, and don't want to add anything more to your plate, everyone is hassling you for a bit of your time. Starting tomorrow, and through the whole month of November, I have agility training with Simon. November 1st is my brother-in-laws birthday, so we're having a party for that; I have auditions for the Playwrights Festival, AND NaNo starts. I know I don't have to audition, but I really want to. I'm excited to act, even though I'm fairly confident that I won't get a part. But hey, even if I don't, I can...oh. Right. They won't need sound I don't think for these...*Sigh* Well, I guess it will just be one less thing I have to juggle, right? I would love to get a part, but my track record for getting them is slim. I auditioned for Midnight, but didn't get one there either. Although I'm totally ok with that, because I got to work with awesome crew members and get to be the reason why people screamed and jumped, I do miss being on stage. *Shrug*

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, with Christmas following right on it's heels, I guess I'm feeling the stress. This will be the first holidays without Nanny, my grandmother, around. She died in June, and while I've accepted it now, things are still tough and raw, making everybody on edge. Nobody wants to do anything, but nobody wants to do nothing. I guess I'm just in one of those hopeless moods. I feel like I have a bunch of energy, and I want to go out and do something and get plans going in motion, but I can't get things put together so it works smoothly.

I guess this is one of those times that I'm not so good at. Waiting.

Slacking

Boy have I been slacking!

There are plenty of things that I should be doing, but haven't really been doing any of them. Posting here, is one. Although for most of my internet chores, with all of the cloud cover, we haven't been able to connect for longer than a few short minutes, which makes getting things done difficult. But now, Lissy is in bed, Princess Bride is playing on my ITunes, and I have a somewhat clear mind.

After days of fretting, my costume came. The way you are supposed to wear it makes me feel like it's going to fall down and turn me into a Janet Jackson imitator, but wearing it the way I want to makes it too tight around my arms. So taking Chris's pocket knife, I took out about an inch of elastic. That makes it MUCH better. So I tried it on, zipped it up, and guess what happened? The zipper split. Needless to say, I freaked out. I thought that my costume was ruined, and I don't have anything else that even remotely could work for a Cinderella theme. Still wearing it, I went down to Chris in the living room trying really hard not to cry. I turned around and said that the zipper was broken, and I asked if he could fix it. He took a look, unzipped it, then tried to rezip it. It held, until I bent down to fix the skirts. Then it split again. This time, I did cry a little. I was so frustrated that I had worked so hard to make this silly dress fit my small frame, and I had no other zippers to replace it with. As I ranted and raved over how much I hated the stupid cheap plastic zipper, Chris tried it again, and bent the teeth with his pliers. So far, it's been working, but I think once I change into it for Halloween, I'm going to have Chris do a little stitching job so it stays put.

Lissy's Cinderella dress, however, is perfect now. Thanks to Mom. She sewed it to make it fit perfectly for her, so that Lissy isn't tripping over the hem and falling on her face. Now all I have to find are some tights for her. Not quite sure where to find little girl tights though.

Lissy's New Bed & More Matilda!

I'm so excited! Felicity now has her own toddler bed! Courtesy of her dear cousins, Zayden and his mom Gio. She adores this little bed. We brought it home, set it up, made the bed, even laid bunny on it for good measure. She followed me into the room, then stopped. She looked at the bed, looked at Chris and I, and we told her it was her new Big Girl bed.Boy did she go wild! She crawled on it, jumped, grabbed bunny, snuggled...it was great.

It is so much fun to watch her play on her new bed!


When we got the bed set up, we all went down stairs for dinner and a movie. Our movie choice of the night? Matilda. :D I borrowed it from my mom, and I'm sure it will see many many uses before it's returned to her. As we were watching, I realized that the name of Miss Honey's doll is Lissy-Doll. HA! I swear that I didn't remember that when we nick named Felicity, Lissy. I always thought the name was Lucy-Doll! Oh the things you learn when you pay attention. So now, I've taken a shine to calling her my little Lissy Doll.

She's so photogenic...Love it! ^_^

Pancakes in the Oven

At the amazing suggestion from Jenni, I decided today's topic will be about pancakes. Specifically, pancakes made in the oven. It was a brilliant idea, but I will admit, the execution was not very well thought out.

Alright, so before you all stop reading this, I shall explain. Jenni was our (my brothers and mine) babysitter. I actually can't recall how old we were, but that's beside the point. Suffice it to say that Colin and I fought worse than cats and dogs. More like rabid cats and dogs. Oh the trauma we put our poor Jenni through. I'm actually surprised she has two sons of her own! I would have thought babysitting us horrid little children would have made her swear off all mothering, but, thankfully for Shane, Rylend and Connor, she didn't.

Anyway. When I was young, Matilda was my all time, hands down, favorite movie. Still kind of is, actually. Jenni would be forced to rewind and rewatch that movie for me dozens of times at least. Over and over and over again. {Random thought: Hey Jenni, you can probably recite that movie line for line, huh?} It's an amazing movie. Anyway, there is one scene in the first 1/4 of the movie where Matilda is left home alone on purpose. Her mom goes shopping or something, her dad to work, and her older brother to school. So, she decides to make her own breakfast. (The movie narrator says that she learned to take care of herself from the beginning) She makes pancakes. Well, she takes a big bowl, adds some flour, eggs, and water. Mixes it all up, and cooks them.

Well, since Matilda was my idol, I wanted to do the same thing. I thought I was surprise Jenni by making breakfast for her and Colin. So I did it exactly the way Matilda did. Though I used the oven. I burned those pancakes into little hockey pucks, and (if I remember right) managed to set the fire alarms off and scare the bajesus out of poor Jenni.

I really wish those pancakes would have turned out. Would have been interesting to see what they tasted like. But I don't have Matilda's powers....wouldn't that be cool though? To basically be telekinetic? That's what Matilda is. She is able to do things with her mind, like lift a pitcher of water off a table, close curtains, slam doors...etc. I LOVE the scene where she scares the heck out of Ms. Trunchbull! "This is Magnus. Give my little bumblebee back her house. And her money. If you don't I will get you. I will get you like you got me. That is a promise!"

HA! I still remember that after all these years...Dang. Now I have to go borrow the movie from my mom...

That'll teach me...dang.

Oh boy. Lissy's ears have closed.

We got her ears pierced when she was about 5 months old. Her older cousin Rylee has her ears pierced, and while it is absolutely adorable, I didn't want to invite teasing. (I.E. "I have my ears pierced.") I was too much of a chicken to get it done when she was three months old, mainly because I am terrified of needles. They send me into a severe panic attack, and watching the nurses give Lissy her shots? Oh boy, I was sure I was going to seriously maim some poor nurse.

I didn't get my ears done until I was twelve, and even then it took three tries. The first time, I didn't even make it to the building. The next time, I made it in, but not to the chair. The third time, I got in the chair, and I had my cousin with me and he held my hands while the ladies stabbed me. They were very good, one on each side so I couldn't chicken out after the first one was done. I don't think I cried after getting them done, but I know I did as I was sitting in the chair waiting for them to do it. I'm surprised I didn't shake myself out of the chair, or get an earring in my cheek.

I really didn't want that experience for Lissy. So while Chris was at work, I went to our appointment at Christy's Salon here in town. When you first walk in there, you see a small reception desk with a wall behind it. The wall comes into roughly half of the room, and if you go to the left of the wall past it, directly to your right, there is a HUGE mirror that goes pretty much the length of the room. Now, Lissy has always loves mirrors. Still does, in fact. So while we were waiting for the lady to get all prepped, we stared at ourselves in the mirror, and Mommy made funny faces to make her laugh.

Finally, it was time for the first earring. There was only one lady doing it, so I was a little nervous. That would mean two different shots of pain for my little girl. Once her ears were marked, the earrings I picked out were loaded into the gun, and BAM! Squeal! Lissy screeched, and I tried not to cry. Immedietly I took her over to a different screened off area to look into one of the other mirrors, and she stopped screaming and just stared at the new Mommy and the odd, red-faced baby that Mommy was holding. After a couple of minutes, the lady was ready again, so we shot the other earring into her ear, and Bam and screech! More crying and screaming, and the lady who had done it was very apologetic, but there really was no way to avoid the pain, which I reluctantly accepted. I moved Lissy to yet another mirror and the crying stopped. After another moment, we came out and everything was right in the world again. The lady gave us some gel to keep her ears clean and sanitary, and we left.

Now, about six months ago, my cousin, Rylee's mom, told me that it was alright to leave the earrings out. In fact, Rylee hadn't had earrings in for several months and they hadn't closed. So, since Lissy was at the stage where she was fiddling with them and pulling them out, I thought that sounded great. Well. Not true! I just tried to put earrings in her ears, and the back of her ears are shut. I really don't want to just force the earrings through, and I really don't want to have them re-pierced...Any idea's anyone?

Another 1667 words...Mainly devoted to Jacque :D

Alright, now I'm using the Write or Die thing. Thanks Jenni! XD It is rather interesting, just a really large white space on my screen...all well. I would really like to order a hat that Jenni made, but unfortunately I can't afford the twenty bucks to buy one. All of our next paycheck goes to paying bills. That's it. Not even food. Nadda. *Shrug* That's the way it goes I guess! I sorta wish that we had more money, but that just lead to getting stuff that would end up being useless or sitting on a shelf for ages collecting dust...

Speaking of dust, for some reason, Lissy is very good at collecting it. On her face. I swear, I don't know where she get's so sticky, but she manages it somehow! Ah, the powers of toddlers. I can't believe that we have only a couple of months before she turns two. Only ninety three days, actually. Crazy. It's really weird to see her grow and change, and then look at the pictures of when she was just a few days old, weeks, months, and so on. And...now, she is stealing my cup of milk. Ack! Text message! Oh, just from mom :D Bringing me more flowers! Yay! I love flowers. Really any kind will do, I'm not even sure I would be able to choose which flower is my favorite. Sunflowers maybe? Roses?

Anyway, I was actually going to try and stay on topic today. So much for that! Let's see, my topic will be...books. That'll work.

I got my copy of the ninth Rangers Apprentice book like two weeks ago, but haven't read it yet. The tenth one is released in April next year I believe, and it's been so long since I've read the other eight, that I want to re-read them all to get caught up. I remember most of it, but I don't want to jump into a book and be like "uh...what just happened?" That's always annoying. Plus, the ninth one is mainly about Halt this time around, who is my absolute FAVORITE, and I don't want to miss anything. So I'll just wait until the next one is released, and while I'm waiting for it to be shipped to me, I will read the others. They're pretty short (ooh, I should word count them!) so I can easily read one in a day. It helps that I'm a really fast reader.

The book I'm currently reading is "Head in the Clouds". It's a chick book (not those gross ones!) kind of like a romantic comedy in a book. So far it's pretty good, started right off with drama, haha. I can't remember the author, but I read her debut novel called "Tailor Made Bride" which I was very impressed with and really enjoyed, so I'm hoping that this one will be equally good.

As for other books, I haven't had much time to read recently. I've been busy with Lissy and motherhood, and I'd much rather spend time with her than with fictional characters, but don't let my NaNovel peeps hear that! I'm mostly a reader of fantasy stuff. Magic, dragons, knights in shining armor, that sort of thing.

Dang this is really hard to do. I'm not quite sure I like this Write or Die, it's hard to just keep writing with that feeling of pressure on me, and being able to see both my time limit and my word count right there in my face makes it harder for me I think. Meh, to each his own, I guess. I don't think I could do this for an entire month. But I suppose being forced to write is a good thing when you have a word quota to reach everyday no matter what. If you haven't noticed, I'm going for another 1667 words. I'm at 638, which makes me feel good, but also a little annoyed. I still have a thousand more words, and I have gone off topic again! Man, I am really bad at staying on topic when I ramble. I suppose that can be a good thing when you are writing a novel. Keeps your characters on their fictional toes.

I really wish I could find other people here in Friday Harbor who are doing this NaNo thing. I'd really like to get together and have writing sessions, to be able to compare notes and get some of that friendly competition going. But thankfully the internet is a wonderful thing, and I will be meeting with Jenni Tuesday nights for writing check-ins, and hopefully I will be able to do that regularly with Jacquelynn too. Jacque, or Lynniebear as I call her, lives in Australia, and she's been my best friend for about six years now I think. She's great :D Despite the horrendous time difference, we still manage to chat daily, and I love it. I think I would get really lonely if I didn't have her to talk to, which has happened before. It does suck having her live so gosh darn far away though, we can't grab coffee or go to lunch at a restaurant...but we can brag about each of us is eating. What I'm always surprised about is the difference in food items. I expected there to be different slang (which sometimes I still find hysterical...dramallama...ha...), but I had no idea that our foods varied so much. I honestly can't recall some of the food things down there, but Jacque has never had a s'more, and hadn't even heard of them. Same thing goes for biscuits, cookies, and muffins. It all means something different to them, and even though we both speak English, (And write it very well, I must say) there have been those mis communications. Weird, huh?

Ah my screen turned red! That was odd. Still another 600 words or so. What else can I rant about? Well, I may as well just stick to my previous topic. Lynniebear <3

I wonder how much this will annoy her? That I'm writing about her. Ha, all well. That's what you get for leaving me! For a gym class!!! [insert evil grin and laugh] Hmm...maybe I should post too...We have lots of rp (role-play) stories together, and she is by FAR my favorite person to write with. We know each other so well, it's usually really easy to create a world and story, and work with each other to make it great. Each of the vastly different stories we have are incredible to me, just because they are so diverse but there is a common flow to them that is all our own. Believe me, I've tried writing with other people. Even some other really talented people. Most of them horrific though (two steps from being chat speak...*shiver*) but there was never that flow that I feel when reading our stuff. It's such great fun, and it never feels like an obligation to me. There are those times when my creativitiy sucks and I can't think of anything, then I feel like crap for not being able to provide decent posts...but she is always able to take something from my post, no matter how short or filled with crap it is, and be able to give me something to work with. Amazing when partnerships run that smoothly.

She truly is my best friend, and I wouldn't trade her for anything. I do wish she lived closer...Hell, if it were possible, I'd move closer to her! I wouldn't mind living in Aussie land :D Well...except for the spiders. And bugs. And sharks...Ok, maybe it would be best if she moved here XD Less things that can kill or maim you. Actually, I don't think there is anything that can kill you on this island. Except for stupidity. Sad how much of that has spread lately. *Shrug*

Damn! I still need another 360 words! One more paragraph. Roughly. Let's see...Cinderella! Very very random. But hey, it's what Chris and Lissy are watching right now, and I just caught her name being called by the step sisters. It also happens to be what Lissy and I will be for Halloween. I think I mentioned that in a previous post. Speaking of our costumes, they should be here tomorrow! Woo! I'm so excited. And a little worried. I ordered a small, because the sizing chart said a small was a dress size 4-6, so I'm guessing it will be on the bigger side, but I'm barely a four. They had to take in my wedding dress, and that was a four to begin with. Meh, maybe having a kid has widened my hips. I know it stole my boobs! I really wish a good photography person lived up here *cough*Jenni*cough cough* so Lissy and I could get some Halloween pictures in, but I may just have to settle with Chris taking them. I really want to go out somewhere, like to the Mausolium {DURING THE DAY!} and have the pictures taken there, some candid ones as well as posed. That would be nice.

Ohh! only 161 words left! Ok, I think I will finish with being totally excited for this weekend!!! Chris said that we can go pick our pumpkins on Saturday! It's at my Aunt's house, Connie and Guard Sundstrom. They have a pumpkin patch at their farm where they sell pumpkins at this time of year, and other stuff that they grow the rest of the year. It's so much fun to go out and find those awesome pumpkins, and I can't wait to watch Lissy wobble around and find her first pumpkin. Well, her REAL first pumpkin I picked out and carved a baby bottle on xD She was like, 8 months old, give me a break! XD Woo! Almost done! But I am so very excited for that, I'm going to put new batteries in my camera, and make sure the card is completely empty for it. I'm planning on taking lots of pictures!

And now I'm almost...ok maybe maybe maybe almost....almost.... DONE!!!

This is what 1667 words look like

Alrighty, you guys get a bonus post today! As the title suggests, in this post, there are exactly 1,667 words. That is how many words I will have to write, minimum, in order to finish my goal of reaching 50k words in thirty days. It sounds a lot easier when you just have to write roughly two thousand words, sorta. Taking the advice of my loving friend Jenni, I went out and bought Chris Baty’s book, “No Plot? No Problem!” and there are some great tips. I was really surprised to read that great classic books like “Of Mice and Men” are roughly 50,000 words. It was a really short book when I read it in English class in High School, so just that in itself help to bolster my confidence in the project.

That little paragraph up there? 134 words. Oh boy. Maybe I shouldn’t have looked! All well. My project for this week, and actually, up until Halloween, is to get my house all spooked up! I don’t have a bunch of money to spend on it, but I really want to get into the spirit of the season. If asked, I’m not sure I could tell you why I love this time of year so much, but I really do. I’m so excited that Lissy is getting to the age where she’s excited for it, even if she doesn’t like getting all dolled up. I’ve got one string of orange lights, which I am going to attempt to pin up around our glass door, I made some “blood” and wrote “Happy Halloween” there too…even drew a bloody scythe :D Now all I need is some cobwebs! The fake kind, though. I hate spiders. [shiver]

But in order to get my place spooky, I’ve gotta get it cleaned up. Seemed odd, I know, but hey, it’s hard to be in the spirit of the season when you’re stepping on Cherrio’s from yesterday mornings breakfast. Oh, and I never thought I’d meet a dog who wasn’t a vacuum cleaner, but it looks like my poor little pup isn’t one. Which is sad. He will lick your plate, but isn’t a fan of Cherrio’s or other such kiddie food. Unfortunately for him, he does fancy chocolate…Tried to eat the chocolate frosting off of Lissy’s crackers. I shudder to think what would have happened if he had gotten it. Not good.

Wow that was a weird bird walk. 407 words. At least I’m getting into the swing of just jabbering. I think at the end of November, I’m going to need to be admitted into a CA rehab group. Coffee-holics Anonymous.  But I can totally see where being hyped up on caffeine would help you get your word count in! Right now I’ve got a partially empty Cola, an empty bag of cheddar cheese pretzel sandwhiches, and a bag of chocolate covered raspberry sticks which Lissy is smearing all over my awesome white sweatpants…what a adorable toddler! I guess I just don’t have enough other gooey stuff on me. But it is so cute to have her walk up with food. She’ll bring you something, usually uneaten (which is amazing, given most toddlers habits), put it in your hand and tell you all about it and watch you until you eat it. Then once you do, she will break out this huge grin and laugh, then run off to grab you more. It’s absolutely adorable and I love it. Even when she brings me not so yummy things. At least with that stuff you can generally convince her to feed it to Simon. I don’t think he appreciates having food shoved into his mouth very much though.

While on the subject of how positively adorable my little Diva is, Chris and I have noticed that she really is turning into a girly girl. Now, I’m not a big girly girl, but I do wear a little make-up and things other than sweatpants. When I’m in the bathroom getting ready to face the world, she’s usually in there with me, sitting in the sink putting on her own imaginary make-up and brushing her teeth. Sometimes, Chris or I will catch her staring at herself in our full length mirror in our bedroom. It’s really cute. She’ll make faces, and sometimes will ‘poof’ up her hair like Mommy does. It’s so cute to watch this little girl copy my habits, so far anyway. I’ve been really good with not swearing so hopefully she doesn’t pick up any of that…which she probably will, but hey, it’s how she learns. And if she happens to use it in front of Chris’s parents…They just might have a complete meltdown. Might grant me a moment of silence ;)

Veering sharply to the left to avoid that subject…my sugar has been stolen. By tiny little hands. And I’m pretty sure Lissy was the one to do it. How do I know? Let’s call it Mommy intuition. The chocolate all over her face helps though. And there it is: the innocent ‘I love you mommy’ smile. Cue the melting. It really is hard to stay mad at this little child, about anything. We have purple permanent marker all over my Pistachio Green wall from our little artist, and even then it’s hard to look at the pouty apologetic face and be upset. She knows when she’s done something wrong, and tell you she’s sorry and that she loves you. I’ve even had her put herself in time-out. How incredible is that? She’s not even two yet. We of course, have our off days, but those are few and far between, usually occurring when nap-time has been moved or altered horribly. She’s even really interested in what I’m doing right now. She loves watching movies with me on the computer, and will most of the time sit still and quiet. We have this little game on the internet that is great fun. It’s just a little orange square and whenever you hit a letter key on the keyboard, it makes a sound. Some of them sound like rain, one like clapping, it’s a lot of fun. It’s called the cray machine, or something like that. Look into it if your interested :D

Woo! We have now broken 1,000 words! Wow, this is actually a lot longer than I thought it would be, but timing myself, and while I have Lissy running around smearing chocolate everywhere, this has taken me about half an hour. Maybe while she’s sleeping, which is roughly two hours, I could take care of two or three days worth of writing…That would be awesome. Would probably really help when weeks two and three come around with all of that demoralizing stuff, ha.

You know what is really hard to do? Continue to type while somebody is rolling the mouse wheel…Anyway. Oh gross, a sneeze to the face. Ah, the wonders of motherhood. Or fatherhood, for that matter. It is now five after three…meaning I have at least another two hours before Chris comes home from work. Sad. And what’s even more sad, is we don’t have any movies for tonight! We rented I think five movies yesterday, and Chris took them back today when he went back to work after lunch. We got: Just Wright, 9, How to Train Your Dragon, Sunshine Cleaning, Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure, and Letters to Juliet. They were all great movies, Dragon we had seen before a few times in theaters, (Toothless is EXACTLY like my cat…) but I was rather disappointed with Sunshine Cleaning and 9. The others were amazing though. Letter’s to Juliet was incredible, a true love story. I would recommend it.

Do you have any movies you really enjoy? I’m always looking for good time killers :D 1301 words!

Wow, I really still have three hundred words left? I’m typing this in Word Processor, to keep track of the words, and to see how many pages it is, and so far I’m about a page and a half.  Incredible. Dang, now I’m at a loss for what to say. This would be easier if it were my book, then I could just make up random scenes and all that. But this is rather one sided.

Ok, random thought. Is there a serving size on Vicks Vapor Rub? I mean, not like for eating, but how much you should use at one time? It doesn’t say on the bottle, and the only reason why I have this thought is because Lissy is congested and coughing. I’ve been using Vicks Baby before she goes to bed, but it never really says how much to rub on their chest, neck and back. Just an interesting thought. I think that stuff smells great though. I’m pretty sure I could smell the jar all day long. That’s probably not very healthy, huh?

Ok, two hundred words left to go.

I miss my crew! From Midnight. It’s only been over for a couple of days and I already miss them all. I have such a great time working on productions in the theater, and the people are awesome people. It’s hard to go from being out of the house 4 evenings a week to not going anywhere at all. I really wish that Jack could have been there for our final night, it was a great show. Sheila got to see her stove explode and the headlights on stage…it was great. I’ll really miss getting to see people jump, and know that my sound is what made them jump. Kind of a power trip, but hey, it was pretty cool. To see Rachel just bloom on stage was a real treat. She wouldn’t have anybody know it, but this was her first play here on the island, and unless she told you, you probably wouldn’t have noticed it. She and John were great together, and Ken and her were very fluid in their dialogue.

My last five words!

DONE!

Twelve days left!

Yikes! The closer we get to starting this next month, the more nervous I become. I'm pretty confidant in myself and my story, but there is always that Inner Editor that is out to get me. Even writing this blog that nobody reads can be tough for me. I'm a huge perfectionist, and if you know who Mark Gunger is and his Flag Page, I am waaay in Perfect Country, with a side of Control Country. 169 and 139, respectively. On top of that, I'm balanced Hard/Soft with 60 and 60. Amazing.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go Google "Flag Page Test". That will tell you alll about it.

Anyway. I'm really excited and sort of terrified by this upcoming project. I'm sure it will all be fine, but still...I wish I had a little bit more support.

All Hallows Eve

Popularly known as Halloween.

What are you doing for it? Chris, Lissy and I are going to go out trick or treating, while leaving a bowl of candy on our front porch for the neighborhood kids. Lissy and I are matching Cinderella's, while Chris is going to be our Prince Charming/Knight In Shining Armor. Cute huh? Lissy also has this Build-A-Bear Workshop black cat that is also dressed as Cinderella. It's pretty adorable, she loves it.

I'm mainly just rambling right now. I really don't feel like writing anything, but I have to get into the habit of writing a lot if I'm going to make it through November with my sanity somewhat still intact. Right now I would gladly take a Tylenol PM and go back to bed. I'm so tired and emotionally drained, and I really don't know why. The play is over, my nights are free (which feels really weird), and I really miss everyone. Back to being a hermit! I'm kind of excited to get a working car again, but that will be a while yet I think. I'd really like to take Simon (our dog) to the Park or Beach or something before the weather turns nasty. Like today was gorgeous. Cold, but nice. It would have been a great day to go somewhere, but there is no way in hell I'm going to walk across town and back again so Simon can be alone at the park.

Felicity didn't take her usual nap today, so she was kind of cranky, and finally fell asleep in my arms as we watched Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie on Hulu.com. Too awesome for words. But I know that come bedtime...Yikes. I don't even want to go there.

Taking a step back

Holy smokes has it been a crazy week. I've experienced many different emotions in a very short period of time and I'm not even sure where to begin. I'm really doing alright, my dad came out of his surgery just fine, and is doing well. The rest of the family, however, not so much.

To make this as short and comprehensible as possible, the only reason my parents aren't divorced right now is because neither one can afford the attorney and court fees, and neither can afford to buy each other out of the house. Why would they be divorcing? Well, for the last five years, my dad has carried on an affair that my mom has just tried to sweep under the rug. Why the sudden change of heart? My dad decided to bring his whore mistress to the hospital. Yeah. Oh, and he told the rest of us not to come. Yeah. Oh, and she told the nurses that she was family. Yeah. So now there is this huge blowout, I was put in crazy positions that I never want to be in again, and honestly, I don't care one fig.

Sometime Tuesday afternoon, I snapped. For the better. I stopped caring about all of this and realized, Hell it's not my problem! If he would rather be with that thing than with his real family, fine. I'm not the one who loses out on great moments and memories. I've had this stress burdened on my since I was sixteen, and it's my fault. I kept that burden, because I was the one to announce his affair to my mom. Awesome huh? I felt like all this trouble was because I told mom about it, but now, I know that while my telling her forced some of it about, it's not my fault that he decided to cheat.

Anyway. Just thought to let you know that I'm fine, the situation sucks, but is ok, and I am back! Hooray!

Bonus Post: Sad News

Alrighty then. My dad is having his heart surgery tomorrow (Monday) morning at 11am. He checks into the hospital tomorrow at 9, and the surgery is scheduled until 2pm. Chris and I are going up to Bellingham to St. Josephs Hospital, on the 8 boat. We will be staying the night there, which means no blog post tomorrow. Hopefully we will be back Tuesday evening.

I honestly can't write anymore than that. I'm already a half-dissolved puddle.

Nyah! >.<"

Why. Why did I go?

I know why. [sigh] You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, huh? Well, I went to church this morning. I don't claim to be Christian, or Athiest, or anything. I simply am. I don't know if there is one god or many gods. I do know that there is something else out there, and that there is no way this world we live in was created by chance. But I go to church for my mom. I've been forced to attend church ever since I was little, and I've never really cared for it. I'm not a huge fan of people that call themselves Christians, especially pastoral people. I just hate to watch the same people who worship their god on Sunday, claim to be devout and swear that they are good people, go out in the middle of the week, and curse, beat their kids or spouses, carry on with affairs...You know where I'm going with this. But I go for my mom. She wants us to have the appearance of a normal family, and thinks we should all go, and is somewhat desperate for my brother and I to believe in god. My brother is sixteen. And that's all I have to say.

I'm twenty now, and am typically a people watcher by nature, so I see a lot of what goes on when people think nobody is watching. I'm not claiming to be perfect, or that I do anything right, not by a long shot. What really eats at me is that these people DO. They claim no faults, say they are never angry because good Christians aren't, and then turn right around and scream and swear while steam billows from their ears. In my short life, I've seen and gone through a lot, most of it not very nice. While I'm not going to recite my life story on this little blog, I am going to rant some more.

Today's sermon was about Love. Love is never angry because love is patient. Loving people are never angry, except for righteous anger (which was not defined today). Loving people are not proud. Loving people are modest. Loving people are concerned about everybody else, and what everybody else thinks of them.

Seriously? Re-read that last sentence. I'm not just spewing words here. This is what the pastor actually said. Ok, so going off of those few comments there, I have realized that I am incapable of being loving. Because I don't care one whit about what other people think. Modesty? Goodness. Taking into account what I was wearing today: jeans, boots, a tank top with a sweater, and a coat...How do you get more modest without having a sheet over your head? This pastor said, "Loving Christians are modest. They don't wear things that make the gaze wander to places that should be covered up." Are you kidding? Ok ladies! Get out your sheets! I don't care how modestly dressed a woman is. If she has boobs, and there is a man present, I guarantee you that that guy will move his eyes to her chest at least once. I'm not saying that's a horrible thing. It's natural. And he went on to say that talking about what happens behind closed doors with ones spouse is a bad thing, because it makes the listener feel squeamish, unclean, and embarrassed. Are you kidding me? I understand some people don't like sex, or being sexual, but wasn't sex something that god created? I'm pretty sure I remember being told that sex is a holy thing when done in the confines on a marriage. That's it's the greatest thing god created for us. So if it really is all that...why would it make a fellow "Christian" squeamish? Unless you're talking about S&M and bondage, and all of that stuff. Then I can see that's moving towards the TMI side.

[sigh] I'm just sick and tired of hearing all of these contradictions, and watching all of these hypocritical people. For once, I would like to hear a pastor be real.

Ha! Almost forgot to post!

Well it's nearing on midnight, and I'm dead tired. I've had a rather busy evening, though it was a lot of fun. I'll save most of the details for tomorrow before I head off for the 2:00pm showing of "Midnight", but I promise it will be worth it!

The main reason I'm doing this, is not so I have this huge group of people that read my stuff, but to get myself in the habit of writing at least something everyday. I'm reading this book by Chris Baty, the guy who started NaNoWriMo, and by his calculations, you should write 1,667 words a day. For a good typist, that should take about an hour and a half. That's if you write non-stop though. I'm not too shabby at typing, (I even spell most things right the first time!) but I think I'd be hard pressed to write constantly for even an hour. I have about 2.5 hours when Lissy is asleep, and I'm plotting to make that my 'writing time'. Now, I'm no where near writing 1,667 words here, but it's more forcing me to make a habit of just typing my thoughts out, no matter how scatter brained those thoughts may be! Which is basically the point of NaNoWriMo. To write a wonderfully horrible first draft. There are some great quotes, even in just the introduction, and even you aren't planning on attempted a novel in thirty days, I do recommend you read it. Here are my favorites thus far:

"Your intuition knows what it wants to write, so get out of the way!"

"The single best thing you can do to improve your writing is to write. Copiously."

And an amazing quote from Ernest Hemingway: "The first draft of anything is shit."

Great Performance!

Woo! Tonight was probably the best audience we have ever ever had for "I'll Be Back Before Midnight"! There was lots of gasping and screeching, and a whole lot of laughter! It was great. I'm always so excited to hear the responses from them at different points in the show. With most plays I have done, the responses are all pretty easy. People laugh at the same places every time. But not with this show. It's awesome. Some nights the audience will laugh at one joke, but another night they won't. Sometimes they will laugh at the body, other times shriek and gasp (like they did tonight).

I can't believe I ever stopped doing theater. I love it so much. I've met so many wonderful people, and I'm so thankful I had those experiences. Soon, I will be getting some pictures up here for you all to see, and I may even put up some pictures from "My Fair Lady", the first "adult" play I did, this past spring.

Oh boy, I'm tired tonight! And I have another long day tomorrow. The fashion show is tomorrow, and it's...going to be interesting. I still don't know what dogs I'll be modeling! Not good...

Oh the world we live in...

Today I caught up on my reading of a favorite blog of mine, Single Dad Laughing. He's a great writer, and he is consistently funny, which he gets major props for. He wrote an article the other day about his experiences with bullying. Now, those of you who know me, know my story, so I don't need to repeat it here. I read his story and was heartbroken at the connection we share. I was never called fat and lardo as he was, quite the opposite, but the fact that other students, even his other teachers did not do anything struck a chord.

So here is my question. How can you watch a child emotionally beaten, and not do anything? I hated my bullies. Hated them so badly that I didn't want to go to school, and I constantly fantasized about beating them to such a bloody pulp that even our janitor would have a hard time cleaning it. I know that's not very kind of me, but what the heck. I have gotten into a lot of fights in my twenty years, but nearly all of those fights were to protect someone else, never myself. I don't mean to sound self righteous or anything, merely stating a fact. I dealt with the crud I got in school alone. I attempted to ignore all of the name calling and teasing. Because it was just directed at me. Before I even hit middle school I was confidant in my complete lack of worth as a human being. But even a young girl, with no self esteem, no self love, stood up when my friends or family were picked on.

So why don't teachers? They see it. They know that they see it. And yet, they ignore it. Why? Do they chalk it up to 'kids being kids'? I don't know. Parents seem to be the same way. "My child is perfect. They can't possibly be a bully." Riiight.

Probably my favorite, if not proudest, moment for myself in middle school was about a month after my cousins car accident. Any of you islanders reading this will probably know what I'm talking about. Let me just say, before I continue, that I am proud and honored to have her as my cousin, and nothing will change that. Not your stupid almost-smart insults, not your crappy little t-shirts, NOTHING. That said, my cousin was in a car accident that left one person dead. She was the driver, and thus was charged with vehicular manslaughter, and sentenced to three years in a womans correctional facility. It was before this sentencing that one of my personal moments happened. I was at school, in my 6th period drama class. My teacher, although I still adore him to this day, wanted to make a statement about the case and why you should never even be in the same room with people who have been drinking. He met my eyes before he continued, and I nodded, thinking nothing would come of his talking. He was one of the few people who knew me well enough to know my family. So he talked for maybe thirty seconds before this kid chimed in "My mom was at the restaurant where they were, and she heard them talking about how they were going to go and get him." I saw red immediately. This kid, who had been in my class from kindergarten up, was not the brightest bulb in the pack, and his statement solidified my idea of him. My teacher tried to shut him up, but the girl I was sitting next to agreed with him, and made up some other wonderful lie about what a horrible person my cousin was. I stood up and left the room, trying to control myself. I slammed the door and it had been shut for about a second before my teacher came out apologizing profusely. I told him that I forgave him because I said it was ok for him to talk. But THEM, and I pointed inside, better never talk to me again. My teacher went back inside, and returned with both kids. I shouted. Loudly. I screamed, "Neither of you have a brain in your head! My cousin wasn't at that restaurant! So how could your mother have heard her?" Both kids looked shocked when I said it was my cousin. The girl at least had enough sense to be embarrassed and apologize. The boy went on. I honestly don't remember what I said, but I do remember he slammed my family again. I lost it. With my teacher standing right next to me, I gave the boy a punch right to his face. Slightly to the right of his nose. It felt wonderful. He went backwards, and flipped over the metal railing, and into the bushes. My teacher told me that wasn't very nice. Then whispered, "But he deserved it." The girl stood wide eyed, laughed nervously and said, "Remind me never to piss you off again." We were great friends after that, and the boy? He took pains to avoid me everyday.

Now, I'm not proud to admit that I didn't have enough control to not punch him. But I will not apologize for standing up for my family against idiot liars, or for relishing the sight of his black eye. Since that day, I've had other run ins with equally stupid people, and some are even more stupid than that.

I don't know why adults can't step in to stop these things. I don't know why we wait until it's too late to address the issues. What I do know, is that things get better. There will always be very stupid people out there, but there are a few good ones too. Like Dan: Single Dad Laughing.

Odd Days

For the first time in a while, I have been completely unmotivated to do anything. Perhaps it was knowing that there is so much stuff to get done, and not wanting to do any of it.

I guess I will start off with the basics. So Chris, Felicity and I live in a two story, two bedroom house that's small, but nice. We only have carpet upstairs, and that fake wood flooring downstairs. I love the way wood floors look, but oh my goodness do I hate them! Not only are they impossible to keep clean without sweeping every twenty minutes, but they're always so darn cold! Anyway, that's not what this ranting post is about. Along with us, we share this roost with a dog, and four cats. Yeah that's a lot, but (and don't tell Simon this) I'm a cat person, and couldn't live happily without my kitties...So since bringing them all here, we've religiously medicated them for fleas/ticks/yadda yadda. Kitties are on the topical, while Simon is on Comfortis, the pill thing. What my vet didn't tell me about Comfortis, is that it doesn't stop the fleas from jumping on him, or laying eggs. They only die when they bite him. Oh boy. We live next door to a very nice dog, and he and Simon play all the time, but they don't treat fleas on their dog. Awesome. So Simon plays, gets fleas, comes home, and they jump off. I have picked several out of my bed, one from Lissy's bed, and one from her hair. That last one was my final straw.

I couldn't give Simon a flea bath because he just got fixed like, a week ago, and I'm pretty sure that's not long enough. But I dipped the cats (And I have some nice scratches to prove it...My feral cat is well...feral.) and shoved them outside today. I bombed the house. Flea bombed, that is. I took all the bedding off of the beds, opened up all the dressers, covered and shut off my computer...I mean I went all out. My dad came and picked Lissy and I up and took us to my Mom's, where since she has a laundry/diaper business, she has a HUGE washing machine. So we stuffed in all of our bedding, blasted it with strong cleaners, and waited until we could go home. Chris came home for lunch and opened up all the windows, and even turned the fan on to get a good breeze going downstairs. Thankfully, the way our house is set up, our bedroom windows and Lissy's windows are facing straight at each other, and that makes a delightful cross breeze. After another two hours, Dad took Lissy and I up to my mother-in-laws place where she watched Lissy while I went home and cleaned the house from top to bottom.

Now, I am a perfectionist, but I really don't enjoying cleaning. Organizing, yes, but not cleaning. But I did it. I vacuumed everything. Windexed everything. 409'ed everything. Now, to put this in perspective, we have one of those vacuums with the clear canister, so you can see how full it is. I usually vacuum the upstairs two, to three times a week, and I sweep downstairs everyday. Sometimes twice a day. After I came home, I cleaned out the canister and began upstairs. I had gotten a bag of this "Flea Busters" from my next door neighbor across the fence who runs a Dog Grooming/Spa business. For this stuff, you vacuum, sprinkle it around, sweep it down into the carpet, then vacuum up the excess. So that's where I started. I vacuumed. I had just done this, maybe two days ago. After going through my bedroom, the hallway and Lissy's room, the canister was half full. Let me repeat that. Half full. It was disgusting. So I emptied it out and carried out the last two steps, putting it on the floors, and on the beds. After that, I made the beds and moved downstairs, all the while blasting upbeat music.

Side note: I have to have music. I live on music. There is no way I can clean anything without it. Dunno why, but it takes my mind off of how long it's taking something to get done, and everything seems to go by much faster.

After I was done with the whole thing, I was exhausted. I grabbed a soda from the fridge and chugged. I didn't sit down though. I was afraid if I did, I wouldn't get up, and I still had to fetch my boyo from Mel next door, take a shower, and get ready for tonights pick up rehearsal. So I went to get Simon, chatted a bit with Mel and Dana, then came back home. I fed the critters, then went upstairs to figure out what I was going to wear tonight. I certainly didn't want to go wearing the sweatpants I had been wearing while cleaning. I chucked those into the laundry basket, chose jeans and a black and gray striped t-shirt, went into the bathroom and flipped the heat on all the way up to "90". Having the windows open most of the day made the house VERY cold. I don't like being cold. I don't like it one bit. Can't stand it. I've already got bad circulation in my feet and hands, so when I get cold, my poor fingers and toes go all numb and freezy. So I stood in the shower for longer than I probably should have, but boy did that hot water feel good!

I got out, dried off, put on just basic make-up, and got dressed. Then was scared to death by Simon's bark a foot behind me. Chris was home with Lissy. It was about six o'clock, and I was supposed to be at rehearsal at six thirty, so I grabbed my socks and boots, put those on while Chris made dinner, ate, and somehow still managed to be ten minutes late. Thank goodness Ellen, dear sweet Ellen, didn't notice. Or, at least, she didn't berate me! I did a quick sound check, then was stunned when I noticed somebody had tampered with my cues! I had four new cues. I berated Steve into coming down off the cat walk to explain, and he of course gave me grief about it. He's a great guy :D

He told me that this was what Merritt wanted to walk down to. I guess it's a promo thing for a concert that the theater is putting on after the running of "Midnight" is over. So meh. No biggie.

The pick up started, things went well. Only a few lines were missed, but they were done very well and nobody missed a beat. Very amazing. And I even put the tabs down! Ya hear that Jack?! I didn't screw up!

Costumes and All Hallows Eve

Alright, I admit it. I ADORE All Hallows Eve. Not Halloween, mind you. There is a difference. Anyway, I won't turn this into a lecture about the difference. If you're interested, look it up.

This post is actually about my costume shopping. Online, of course. Since I live on this little bitty rock in the middle of nowhere...It's incredibly difficult to actually get to a Wall*Mart or Costco to buy costumes, so I spend my time drooling over the amazingly awesome costumes online that cost 200 big ones or more. Chris and I, since having Lissy, have wanted to do a "family" costume thing. Last year, Lissy was a very cute pink bunny, I was Pocahontas, and Chris just had a shirt that said "This IS my costume. Get over it." This year, he has actually agreed to wear a real costume. *GASP*

I wish this blog thing had a "vote" option, so I could have you vote on our two options. One, be a royal family. Chris being the King, me the Queen and Lissy the princess. Our second option (which Chris likes a whole lot better) is to be a Viking family. Chris being a viking warrior (He said he'd even wear the helmet!) me a Viking goddess and Lissy a cute little barbarian girl! Either way, we will probably have to make our own costumes, so it doesn't really matter. I have the means to create either :D But I do appreciate input from whatever you think is better!

What to say today

Have you ever had one of those days when you look around, thankful for what you have, but at the same time, having your heart wish for something else? Maybe it's just me. I'm so thankful for Felicity, and Chris, our beautiful house, and my awesome garden and neighbors. But there have been times, like today, where I just feel like going out to conquer the next step, to acquire whatever it is that we need or want. I'm not saying that I'm greedy for material things, although I will admit sometimes I am. Today, it was more of a goal rather than something you can buy. Today, what I wanted the most, was to make Felicity laugh.

Seems a rather easy goal. Especially when you know her. She's just like her namesake: Happy. Always has been. She was an easy baby, is a pretty easy toddler too. But today, it seemed like nothing was right. She was cranky when Daddy left for work, she was upset when Mommy had to pee...She screeched bloody murder at the puppy for not bringing back the toy she had thrown for him. I thought I was going to pull my hair out. She didn't want any food, she didn't need a diaper change...I wasn't quite sure what the matter was. Finally, I decided we'd go for a walk. Actually, a ride. Remember my other post of my very, very bad idea? Yes, I did it again. Although this time it went much smoother. I even brought the puppy along. We only almost crashed once! It was an experience. Simon, our eight month old pure-breed Australian shepherd (who looks like a border collie), took to the ride right away. Normally, he barks like mad at passing bikes. But once I got Lissy into her trailer, I leashed up Simon and decided it might be safer to just hold onto the leash, instead of tyeing him to the bike or myself. So off we went. Simon thought it was a blast! He did so well, he only tried to go in front of the bike once, and that was to go see another dog who was running free on the road, but he stopped doing that once I nearly ran him over. From then on, he jogged happily alongside. Our near crash was right before the turn onto Terrace Drive, where my mom and brother live. We were about a hundred feet from the turn, and we had picked up some pretty good speed, so Simon was doing that slow run. He hadn't gotten this much exercise in a while, so I decided to push it. I peddled faster until he was at a full run, and that's the moment that a huge dump truck chose to whiz by going at least 40 (In a 25 zone) only a few feet from us. I could have reached out and touched the side of that stupid truck. Not only did it scare the bajeezus out of me, but out of both Simon and Lissy. Lissy screamed, Simon dodged sideways, ripping the handlebars almost clean out. We all went into the grass, and I was immensely grateful that there was no ditch for a few feet. I slammed my feet down onto the road, Simon's leash had already gone under the front wheel. I fought the speed and Simon's pulling to slow us down, and stopped just before crashing into the guard rail. After a moment of kissing the ground and making sure Lissy and Simon were alright, we slowly made our way down my moms driveway to fetch her sewing machine.

I'm attempting to make curtains...Yeah. I can sew, I can quilt. Never done curtains before, but hey, I figure all I really need to do is some edging work. *Shrug* It shall be a learning process.

Oh! I suppose, since this blog is SUPPOSED to be about my NaNovel...I have finally come up with some names for people and countries. Before everyone get's their panties in a bunch, I'm not actually writing anything, just naming. I'm aloud to brainstorm, dream, and outline to my hearts content, ya know! So here is what I have come up with, please PLEASE comment and let me know what you think. Or if you have any names that you think would work well. I'm always in need of names! :D



Tentative names:
Hero - Elkan
Assassin - Rorik
Princess - Katrianna
Bad King - King Rolmond
Evil Advisor - Ivan
Evil King - Gundtar
Country A - Palonia
Country B - Istanon
Country C - Jalone
Country D - Umbromia
Country E - Essington

Wonderful Moments

As I sit here, I'm enjoying the incredibly loud screeching laughter that is coming out of my daughter. She has such a cute giggle, and it's being used in full force at this moment. What is bringing on all this laughter and happy energy? Daddy is playing with her. She's toting around her dessert, a Twizzler, being chased by Daddy up and down the hallways, back and forth between her bedroom and ours. She's so happy and hyper, it's amazing. It's moments like these, when you see her bright blue eyes just light up with love and amusement, that really outshine any naughty moments she may have had before.

As a stay at home mom, I get the pleasure, and sometimes the difficult duty, to be with Lissy 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, while Chris goes off to work for 5 of those days, and 8-9 hours a day. It's hard having all of these great moments and try to recount them to Chris when he gets home, but it's not the same. And when he does get home, she's usually very happy to see him, but then right after dinner, she's off to bed. So on our weekends, when Daddy doesn't have to go to work, we really try and do things together, and this morning I had to leave early and go help out a friend with a project we're working on. But I came back to a happy Baby and Daddy.

She's smiling, giggling, and screeching with pleasure as Daddy crouches down in Monster Pose and stomps after her, snatching her up and blowing raspberries on her tummy. It's so adorable, and I love little things like that. I love being able to watch the bond between father and daughter...It's little moments like that, that make me believe we could survive with two kids. *wishful sigh*

What a bad idea.

Chris and I got one of those tow-behind trailers for bikes. You know, the ones where you can stick your kid in? Yep. Got it from a nice guy who was selling it here on the island for $100. Brand new, never been opened. I couldn't wait to get it hooked up and take Felicity for a ride! But that was before I remembered: Hey, my bikes tires are flat!

So we went over to my moms and pumped up the tires, and thankfully, they held air! We brought the bike back home yesterday and got it all hitched up. This morning, Chris and I wanted to clean, but as much as Felicity's efforts were adorable to watch, they actually made more of a mess than anything. I could see that Chris was getting frustrated, and Felicity had no idea why.

Scooping her up, I put on her shoes and her brand new winter coat that Nanna got for her at Costco, we went out the door to go get the missing ingredients that I needed in order to make this cake for tonights party to farewell our wonderful guest director, Jack Phillips.

I plopped her into the trailer, buckled her in, covered her up with her blankie, handed her Bunny, closed the front part (which she did NOT like one little bit) and started off. To make sure that the brakes on my bike worked after so many years of disuse, we did a quick back and forth on the driveway. Everything worked fine, I got the hang of how the trailer felt being pulled along behind, and off we went. I already knew I was going to have to push the bike up the hill towards town, so it didn't bug me as I huffed up the slope. I had been walking nearly every day with Lissy in the stroller up that hill, so I figured I was in pretty good shape. Boy oh boy...

Anyway, we finally crested the hill after what seemed like an age, I mounted the bike, and we zoomed off, the little orange flag streaming and flapping along. And let me tell you, when we started going fast down some of the short little dives, she LOVED it. I could hear little squeals of glee from behind me. So cute!

We were headed to Kings and made it there in no time flat. We met up with Nanna there, and Lissy just flew at her. She sure does love her Nanna! I had called mom before we left to tell her we were going to stop by and to ask her the difference between Cake Flour and Bread Flour. Who knew there were so many different kinds of flour?? Annoying, actually. So mom showed us where everything on my list was, and soon we were headed back out the door. I put Lissy back into the trailer, gave her her treat (she gets a treat every time she doesn't throw a tantrum in the store) and buckled her in. Once she was settled, I arranged our groceries around her. Thankfully, it was only a few items. After everything was  in place, we headed out.

Going to the store was easy. Coming back...well now that was hell. Since we had come mostly downhill the whole way, now we had to go back UP hill. Boy let me tell you. Even the tiny inclines felt like they were straight up to my poor legs and arms. I never knew it could be so much hell fun to pull 40 pounds behind you uphill! I was dying by the time we made it to a somewhat flat stretch. I complimented myself on my wonderful forethought as I drank heavily from the bottle of water I got at the store. I knew from my track days not to drink a lot of water while exercising, and I had to really restrain myself from guzzling down the whole thing.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it back to our hill. I wearily got back onto the bike at the encouraging giggles from the trailer, and we zoomed down the hill. Dang it felt good to have some cool wind hit me! We blasted down the driveway and right to our front porch, where I basically just toppled off the bike. I crumpled to the stairs as Lissy called, "Mama! Mammmaaa!" to try and make me let her out.

I couldn't move. My legs felt like Jell-O that somebody was shaking for the fun of it, my arms felt like they had been thrown around like two limp noodles. I leaned forward, nearly losing my balance and landing on my face, and released Lissy from the trailer. She flew out of it, went up the steps, and into the house, leaving the door wide open. I was grateful for that. I put the groceries back into the bag and went into the house, shutting the door with my butt. I plopped the stuff on the counters that Chris had cleaned, and sank into the couch.

That was my wonderful bike experience. I think I'll do it again tomorrow...

.::Briar Pho::.

What have I done?

No, really. What have I done? I just finished signing up as part of the NaNoWriMo, which is short for National Novel Writing Month, that takes place every year from November first, to the thirtieth. The goal of this is to write a single novel, consisting of at least 50,000 words in those thirty days. Now, you are probably thinking the same thing I was when I was first introduced to it. "Right. Write a whole novel in a month? You've got to me kidding me." Well, unfortunately for me, I'm not kidding you. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I think a big part of it is being able to prove to myself that I can. It's not about 'winning'. In fact, there's not even a real prize to be had at the end of this hellish month. Other than the ability to brag that you are able to write an entire novel in a month.

Growing up, my parents worked a lot, and more often than not, their work schedules overlapped, which then required my brother and I to be looked after. That nightmarish wonderful opportunity fell to several, but mostly to Jenni. You know who you are *wink*. Poor Jenni. After babysitting my brother and I for, oh I don't know how many years, I'm surprised she has the ability to function, let alone raise two kids, a husband, and some how find the time to do this NaNoWriMo AND sleep! So another big part of my wanting to do this is to be like her. She'll probably never know it, but I really admired her. When of course, I wasn't hating her for not letting me attack my little brother, or cook pancakes in the oven like Matilda.

So here is my pledge: I pledge to stick this thing out, write the damnable 50k words, post about my wonderful abilities of procrastination here, and anything else pops into my oh-so-popable mind.

Speaking of 'popping'....Here is my synopsis of what will eventually become my NaNovel:

"Elkan is a Ranger. One of the elite spies and guardsmen of not just the royal family, but of the entire country. He has been in service to the current King Rolmond for close to a decade and is one of the King’s most trusted confidants. But Elkan holds a secret that puts his life on the line. And, if revealed, could cause something that Elkan never wishes to see happen: a civil war.

Katrianna is the daughter to the King. First born, and rightful heir to the throne. Kat, as she is affectionately known as by the servants, is not what you would call a proper Princess. She harbors dreams of becoming a knight. Every day she watches with envy as the Rangers go out to physically protect the country that she loves and will someday rule.

Whispered rumors of the dangers of lurking shadows are growing. There is discontent in the country, and blame is being pointed at the King. These two worlds must find a way to connect in order to protect not only themselves but of the kingdom they have been sworn to protect. But how can one catch a cloud and pin it down?"

How amazing is that?! ...Yeah, I didn't think so either. ;D

.::BriarPho::.        *cough cough* BTW. That <-- is my username at nanowrimo.org. In case you're interested.