tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-225814152024-03-07T22:02:21.124-05:00Intermittently...These are the musings of a life in process. Boldly going.Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-16445465776001590182016-06-08T14:38:00.000-05:002016-06-09T17:31:47.192-05:00Things That Only I Can DoI'll have you know that my position in this household is assured. I have job security. I am made aware of this regularly. Because there are things that only I can do in this house. I have hypothesized this formulated upon the following postulates:<br />
<ol>
<li>I am the only one who does them.</li>
<li>My darling husband looks at me blankly when I mention them. </li>
<li>He actually tells me that he's waiting on me to do them. </li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8CDDh9SgZRhN9oRUpCG5tqk2jW4iNkhWhLxZSHu2bPZcwmLR5prhQGhoBfDAagYsMnMkqUm7WZ2s-6-naAsmqnUxr-X3R-ty0L9PfAYbHXtljoJhUlE_m5CpjYpCWK1sC83ow/s1600/IMG_20160606_144515899_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8CDDh9SgZRhN9oRUpCG5tqk2jW4iNkhWhLxZSHu2bPZcwmLR5prhQGhoBfDAagYsMnMkqUm7WZ2s-6-naAsmqnUxr-X3R-ty0L9PfAYbHXtljoJhUlE_m5CpjYpCWK1sC83ow/s320/IMG_20160606_144515899_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ignore bad handwriting. And water spots on my bathroom sink.<br />
And terrible photography.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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But in all fairness, there are things that only he can do, too. Not because I'm incapable of doing them, necessarily, although that is the case regarding things that my current level of education/knowledge doesn't cover.<br />
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Like automobile repairs. I could probably learn how to do that stuff, but it's not my thing, and it <i><b>is </b></i>his thing. Sometimes it's because I'm forbidden to do them, on pain of stink eye.<br />
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For instance:<br />
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<ul>
<li>I am not allowed to take out the trash. I'm capable of this, and if it needs to be done, occasionally I'll do it just to get it done. But, and here's the really wonderful thing about my darling husband, I'm not allowed to. So I get the "that's <i style="text-decoration: underline;">my</i> job" speech, while he gives me the stink eye, and takes the garbage can out of my hand and empties it. He actually prefers that I tell him that a trash can needs to be emptied, rather than emptying it myself. Isn't he a dream boat? </li>
<li>I'm not allowed to mow the lawn. Or run the weedeater. Not because I can't do those activities. When I was single, I did them. Because they're in his domain. Not my problem. He doesn't want me doing those tasks. He doesn't even want me thinking about them. His domain. I am allowed to help with weeding, plant watering, etc., and occasionally, we'll do outdoor, lawn, or garden projects together. But he runs the yard. </li>
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Getting back to the origin of this post, however, my job security as a housewife is not in question. (Not that it was ever going to be, anyway.) This is why.</div>
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<li>Only I can purchase toilet paper. Way back in the day, when I was single, I got hooked on soft,<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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three-ply toilet paper. I always preferred the extra-cushy stuff, but when I became an Amway IBO, I started using the brand they carried, and it was three-ply, pillowy softness. It came to my door on a regular basis, and I got in the habit of knowing it was there, not having to think about buying it. When we got married, I quickly got my new husband hooked on it, too. He didn't even know there was such a thing as three-ply, until I introduced him to it. Poor thing. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHyCkQ9euE2YusdaAyUAffDEzvdrR4cORwh13gfYMpyANR-3P1A4vf7vWLsV2s11VDM1JRCTwn-0f5Y5u0kMN3mKHn7eAdMA2TBmArm4qSgj0pRXLVnQq5wjSpM_8qdgDPuo69/s1600/IMG_20160606_144123807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHyCkQ9euE2YusdaAyUAffDEzvdrR4cORwh13gfYMpyANR-3P1A4vf7vWLsV2s11VDM1JRCTwn-0f5Y5u0kMN3mKHn7eAdMA2TBmArm4qSgj0pRXLVnQq5wjSpM_8qdgDPuo69/s320/IMG_20160606_144123807.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new TP holder that my darling husband installed for me.<br />
It pivots on a hinge instead of doing the squeezy bar thing.<br />
I love it. </td></tr>
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But then, Amway stopped carrying the paper products that I had become reliant upon. I found myself venturing into aisles of the store I hadn't traversed in years and wondering what was most similar to what we were accustomed to using. Through lots of trial and error, I finally found the toilet paper (and paper towels, napkins, etc.) that we are now using. Ordinarily, because he's still working full-time and I'm not, I do the shopping, but occasionally he will go with me. This week, that happened. He watched me, mystified, as I rooted around in the toilet paper aisle, finally coming up with a case that matched our preference of brand, type, and roll-size (mega-rolls don't fit on all our TP dispensers), and was budget-friendlier (because of the case size). I looked up and realized that if I was ever in a coma, he would be clueless about how to provide for the needs of his tushy. Clearly I need to educate this man. </li>
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<li>Only I can make doctor appointments. My darling husband tells me that the moment we were wed, his brain dumped all of the information and ability it had to locate new medical service providers, therefore, if I don't find him a doctor, he won't have one. We moved to Kansas from South Carolina almost a year and a half ago. We're due for checkups, dental cleanings, glasses prescription adjustments, etc. He claims complete ignorance (while calling it "delegation") of what to do to find these professionals. So, I'm finally getting around to doing that. We're still in a standoff over who makes the appointments, which I will explain. </li>
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<li>I, as you may know, occupy the far, hermit-end of the introvert spectrum. Talking on the phone is anathema, unless there is a really good reason to do so. Also, the really good reason must be on my end. Answering calls from numbers I don't recognize is the technological equivalent of picking up a hitchhiker. Now that I'm no longer required to answer by an employer, it's never gonna happen. Also, I keep my voicemail full, so that I don't have to worry about ever getting new messages and having to deal with them. I carry a smart phone. I text. I use it to google stuff so I don't have to actually converse with anyone. There are apps for all kinds of things. It is a phone call prevention device in my hand. I'm available via multiple routes on my phone that don't involve talking to anyone. YAY for technology! I need to find us doctors who allow appointment scheduling via website, app, or text. Hmmmm... Surely doctors do that now. Right?</li>
<li>He, as you may not know, will go to an appointment, if I make it. But he will not go out of his way to subject his body to regular maintenance. When we got married, I made appointments for him to have a medical checkup, an optometry appointment, and all of his dental care/prevention/and repair. He hadn't gotten around to these things for some time. I found the doctor. I found the optometrist. I found the dentist. I made the appointments. He went. The thing is that he has the schedule of meetings for his work, and I don't, so I'm going to use that as a reason for him to make his own phone calls. So there. </li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DDx2TmouWhUZzz0DHDpFSKVmhEV42Of8uWByp298mEvwI8lmrGvRtamqhnGvzSfxaMtmdsVfWqIl6VfJG3Noe1xxQgK0idbLUxaiRt7pqC9MUW9I0f6gUY0LWtxUmtpp8_1E/s1600/IMG_20150526_195950319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DDx2TmouWhUZzz0DHDpFSKVmhEV42Of8uWByp298mEvwI8lmrGvRtamqhnGvzSfxaMtmdsVfWqIl6VfJG3Noe1xxQgK0idbLUxaiRt7pqC9MUW9I0f6gUY0LWtxUmtpp8_1E/s400/IMG_20150526_195950319.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Of course, he takes excellent care<br />
of the yard.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I could continue about all of the activities that I prefer to do myself, like laundry (which is my favorite chore), and all the things that I like to do but aren't strictly necessary (insert art/craft of choice here), but you get the gist. There are, of course, all the necessary evils that we toss back and forth, along with applicable guilt-monkeys, like washing dishes, and the tasks that we each accept as assigned to one or the other, without having strong feelings about either way, and the tasks that we share, in the interest of mutual benefit. But some things are mine to do. Mine, and mine alone. Because only I can do them. </div>
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Co-dependence is really working out for me.</div>
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Much love,</div>
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LL~</div>
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P. S. Of course, my darling husband is an adult, and he is perfectly capable of all of the tasks that are necessary for his life and maintaining a household. He did them for years before I was ever around. He just chooses to allow me to add value to his life. I don't mean to give the impression that he is a bumbling fool without his obnoxious wife keeping him going. He's amazing, talented, capable, generous, and kind. But he lets me think that I'm helping, and that makes me feel good. :)</div>
Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-84692655432110932952016-06-06T13:08:00.000-05:002016-06-06T13:08:21.486-05:00Word of the Week: EXULANSISFortunately, it is the week (-ish) after one of my writers' conferences, since that type of thing rarely translates to the individuals who were not in attendance. That makes this word pretty perfect for where I am right now. I'm trying to crawl out of my recovery fog. It's time to try to be on top of silly little things like paying bills, answering emails, making doctor appointments, cleaning up my sewing disaster, etc. All those little demands that are placed upon us by life. You know what I mean. In the mean time, people keep asking questions like "how was your conference?" and "did you have a nice vacation?" -- but then their eyes glaze over when I attempt to give a real answer. Heh heh.<br />
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Much love,<br />
LL~<br />
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This week's word is: EXULANSIS</div>
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Used in a sentence: Ellen looked around the dinner table at the polite, yet blank faces, and exulansis took over. </div>
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<img height="387" src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-04/27/10/enhanced/webdr11/original-26622-1430145650-4.png" width="640" />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-68501412907247689842016-04-02T21:16:00.000-05:002016-04-02T21:16:32.739-05:00Word of the Week: DEFENESTRATIONWelcome to the Word of the Week.<br />
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I hope that this particular word isn't required for you this week. I've had days that required this action and its accompanying, lovely word. I know for some of you the provocation is generally technological in nature. The definition I'm using for this is a formal humorous one, and it is not limited to people-- this action can be done to any manner of item.<br />
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May your tech behave itself for you this week.<br />
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Blessings,<br />
LL~<br />
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This week's word is: DEFENESTRATION<br />
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Used in a sentence: Susie's defenestration of Dave was brief, and he laughed when he landed in the pile of leaves she had prepared to cushion the ground-floor fall.<br />
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<img alt="32 Of The Most Beautiful Words In The English Language---This reminds me of history class and nothing else. What a cool word though.: " src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ae/40/f0/ae40f069dfadf4dd038051b0a1e2e19f.jpg" />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-14054473610423123012016-03-22T17:23:00.000-05:002016-04-02T22:10:05.334-05:00Word of the Week: CLINOMANIAHi, again. I hope you are having an excellent week.<br />
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This one is sort of related to the last one, in my mind. When the weather is brumous, it could cause this. </div>
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I keep imagining these little story vignettes when I do the sentences. Maybe I'll use these as writing prompts from time to time. </div>
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Blessings on your blankets, </div>
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LL~</div>
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This week's word is: CLINOMANIA</div>
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Used in a sentence:"It's so brumous out, that my clinomania is acting up, and I don't think I'll make it to work, today," she said, hoping that her boss wouldn't care enough to check into the alibi.</div>
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Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-79115993835198668782016-02-11T17:03:00.000-05:002016-02-11T17:03:52.115-05:00Word of the Week: BRUMOUSThe thought occurs that I could do this alphabetically, so here I go.<br />
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Last week's word was apothegm. Did you use it in conversation or writing? Did you have occasion to?</div>
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This one needed to get used before the groundhog - foreshortened winter escapes us. I love winter. For many reasons, not the least of which is the opportunity to use words like this one. :)</div>
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Warmth and blessings, </div>
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LL~</div>
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This week's word is: BRUMOUS</div>
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Used in a Sentence: The brumous day seeped through my coat and turned my thoughts to home, warm drinks, a cozy fire, and my stack of waiting books. </div>
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Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-13392935263997400442016-02-05T20:55:00.000-05:002016-02-05T21:08:03.863-05:00Word of the Week: APOTHEGMRecently, my aunt asked me to provide her with a new word, its definition, and to use it in a sentence. This was instigated by a phone call that my husband and I shared with her and her husband, in which I used a word in a context with which they were unfamiliar. I thought it would be fun, so I agreed. Might as well put all those words to use, eh?<br />
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Ideally, I'm sending this to her by email on a weekly basis, and apparently, she sends it on to others, as well. She has an extensive email community, and email Bible study ministry, so that's a bit daunting to me, that it's getting put out there. Heh heh. The thought occurred to me that if I was going to do this, I might as well post the word to my blog, as well, so here goes nothing.<br />
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Please enjoy this word of the week, and I'll try to post these regularly. As I do, I'll add them to my series list (see tabs above).<br />
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Blessings,<br />
LL~<br />
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This week's word is: APOTHEGM<br />
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Used in a sentence: "I grew weary of the speech, which seemed to just be one apothegm after another, with no discernible purpose."<br />
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<br />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-86449037096241247902015-09-01T13:00:00.000-05:002015-09-01T13:00:01.579-05:00Creative VenturesAs I mentioned yesterday, I have been in creative mode, since we've moved into the new house. Sometimes, I've even allowed that urge to take precedence over getting things unpacked, organized, put away, etc. Should I be chagrined about that?<br />
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Surprisingly (to me, anyway), much of this creativity has come out in paint. I've never been much of a painter, but it seems to be something I do these days. Part of the problem is that I can see what I want something to look like, but I don't have the technique down to get that out of my head and onto whatever it is I'm painting.<br />
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Now, I have not been exclusively paint-bound, but it has accounted for the majority of what I've done, lately. I've painted concrete, canvas, fabric, and paper. I'll show you a few of the things. Please pardon the cell-phone pictures. I don't have a good lighting/photography setup in the new house, yet. None of it is great, but there are some bits and pieces that I'm pretty proud of. It'll take some time for me to be proficient enough to do this well, though. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ARVYo7DjNC0BanxTZptlx1IutKAuahbZ7zRqM74csIPmuKhh0WeCmPcYnvJyUKRJMnfExXnLfCI-ihwil3Gk4D6HdVRozVwCHBXmT9_aX7I-fbcEhKvEfuROS0K34q698TKH/s1600/IMG_20150723_111915603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ARVYo7DjNC0BanxTZptlx1IutKAuahbZ7zRqM74csIPmuKhh0WeCmPcYnvJyUKRJMnfExXnLfCI-ihwil3Gk4D6HdVRozVwCHBXmT9_aX7I-fbcEhKvEfuROS0K34q698TKH/s200/IMG_20150723_111915603.jpg" width="200" /></a>The first two projects were before we moved into the new house. My mom needed her paper towel holder repaired and repainted, which I did, though I didn't take a picture of it. And my aunt was getting rid of a concrete garden frog that she no longer wanted.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQis9wjCsgojC1iXor4Evc-Tp_pTPnlMsHThasi0BD8ohjLzxscFsA_W2E8fgJ3Dzc0JRI7Jt0coHhUBLvBPZ4mZYOZytNRqsSdjkhI8yid8Oawl_20xSY3cuCHiPDnB_d8W7n/s1600/IMG_20150723_111933418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQis9wjCsgojC1iXor4Evc-Tp_pTPnlMsHThasi0BD8ohjLzxscFsA_W2E8fgJ3Dzc0JRI7Jt0coHhUBLvBPZ4mZYOZytNRqsSdjkhI8yid8Oawl_20xSY3cuCHiPDnB_d8W7n/s200/IMG_20150723_111933418.jpg" width="200" /></a>I took him off her hands, and took him home. He was just bare concrete, and I didn't take any before or during pictures. Wish I had, now. I had originally used some yellow paint that couldn't stand up to the elements, and it washed off the first time he got wet. I have since redone his belly (much better) with the proper type of paint, and he's clear coated and everything. He lives on my front porch and greets visitors with his big grin.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKTBku6R8FLpuR46HmWh98Q7pBxJLybERpQzychotn5SMhNbBud4mjme9avZ139AU5bbXc-04MCVnH0Q4lI3cZU0L7WACKJZ_dIJIoeXp6DbEsv7Cypa8nXtiGZ_MbwVTGqZW/s1600/IMG_20150723_111941163.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKTBku6R8FLpuR46HmWh98Q7pBxJLybERpQzychotn5SMhNbBud4mjme9avZ139AU5bbXc-04MCVnH0Q4lI3cZU0L7WACKJZ_dIJIoeXp6DbEsv7Cypa8nXtiGZ_MbwVTGqZW/s200/IMG_20150723_111941163.jpg" width="180" /></a><br />
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I was surprised to be invited to join a friend of mine at her painting class, on 6/30. When I got there, I found out that it was watercolor painting, which, elementary school aside, I've not done. I didn't have any supplies with me, or for that matter at all. Except paint brushes. I have tons of cheap paint brushes that I've bought over the years for various craft projects. At the class, my friend handed me some supplies, pointed me toward a stack of "inspiration" pictures, and told me to get started. That was <i>very </i>humorous to me, since I had no clue what I was doing. But, I did as I was told, and wound up with something that, while not great, I'm not too ashamed of.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55_Vk5xaeL64kGZeDBZEMgdGIfliMelsdywHqHlFcwhjB7ety5Rh519Xd5ZVbgiqOPV_UVBU_J-Zo6HZ7KkUPSyY70etca2nToT46HluOrwyzfRbEpwQ_pkApHgn7llWHaWaO/s1600/IMG_20150707_135855264.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55_Vk5xaeL64kGZeDBZEMgdGIfliMelsdywHqHlFcwhjB7ety5Rh519Xd5ZVbgiqOPV_UVBU_J-Zo6HZ7KkUPSyY70etca2nToT46HluOrwyzfRbEpwQ_pkApHgn7llWHaWaO/s320/IMG_20150707_135855264.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think someone said these are plumeria. Is that right?<br />
Not too lousy for a first attempt at a new medium<br />
without any instruction, eh?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm continuing to attend the painting group with my friend, and I'm working on quite a few other things at home, too.<br />
<br />
Since my handsome husband and I are both nerds, I have been trying to figure out how to add elements of the nerdtastic to our home decor. Our lovely new abode is a 105-year-old stately old lady of a home. I truly want to do her justice, and therefore I am feeling somewhat torn between keeping everything true to her era origins and the reality of the fact that houses change to accommodate the years. Fortunately for me (and her), she feels like the sort of house that morphs into what her family needs her to be. She's not <u style="font-style: italic;">SO</u> Victorian that it seems impudent to do anything non-Victorian. She's not fancy, but she is stately.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBRr3nKT1oiqtbRYs77wwaN9kkuzmdDvg4IdctVtyWVfLlkM3bnc57eBMTaboFnRjT_TqpT5W-Pz_VsXt4qXgrMNgQDa0pnlGzKADex6lVpf-D8oIxyJ3d1pnmj-3Ltf9_1A1R/s1600/IMG_20150831_144850464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBRr3nKT1oiqtbRYs77wwaN9kkuzmdDvg4IdctVtyWVfLlkM3bnc57eBMTaboFnRjT_TqpT5W-Pz_VsXt4qXgrMNgQDa0pnlGzKADex6lVpf-D8oIxyJ3d1pnmj-3Ltf9_1A1R/s320/IMG_20150831_144850464.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another watercolor attempt. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Due to the alterations to our budget, both by my layoff and by virtue of the move, I am doing my best to not purchase decor for our house. That leaves me three options. The first is to not decorate, leaving holes for things I can purchase as I budget accordingly. The second is to make do with what I have and pretend that it's fine. The third is to make, preferably with supplies I already have, anything I need to use as decor. Truthfully, I'm doing all three. There are things that I'm leaving holes for, until I have them made or bought. I am making do with what I have (read as "no new furniture or shopping sprees"), though not pretending that it's fine. And I am creating. Oh, so much creating. :)<br />
<br />
One of the things I've done lately was to paint a few nerdy items to add to our decor. Still to come on the nerd-front are some needlepoint/embroidery pieces, which feel era-appropriate to me, while still making space for my inner geekdom. Smile.<br />
<br />
I have long planned to do a post about fandoms and creativity and how that intersects with faith, specifically Christianity and the Judeo-Christian God. Hold tight on that. I will get to it. It might go on <a href="http://choosingholiness.blogspot.com/">Choosing Holiness</a> instead of here, but I will write it. I am writing it. It's just not finished yet.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fS8QVshrc1ra7u0Il3C7yW1v7vurDvpM_C_2rVzQiCpYyJir5swjtXSHj6cHZqCCyg4FOb3ZWJO-4t2NVH9M4tbzVr3JHoQ9ePuD9K8fjvFXGyaKhRevGQ5ciuWtFBJ__5Ja/s1600/IMG_20150723_112510253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fS8QVshrc1ra7u0Il3C7yW1v7vurDvpM_C_2rVzQiCpYyJir5swjtXSHj6cHZqCCyg4FOb3ZWJO-4t2NVH9M4tbzVr3JHoQ9ePuD9K8fjvFXGyaKhRevGQ5ciuWtFBJ__5Ja/s200/IMG_20150723_112510253.jpg" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My nod to the TARDIS. Attempted <br />
watercolor on canvas. Not great.<br />
Not horrible. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Anyhoo, we are participants in multiple fandoms, as well as being Christians. Some of them are Firefly/Serenity, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Discworld (me), Star Wars (my husband), Stargate, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, Narnia, Sherlock, etc. So, it's only natural that some of these things creep into our surroundings. They make us smile (and cry and scream and sigh and laugh and stuff...), and they point us back to our infinitely creative God in their own ways.<br />
<br />
I have started several projects, not pictured here, and have planned several others in great detail. But these two I did before I learned enough about watercolor to know that I couldn't do them. Well, at least not the way that I went about them. Heh heh. Funny how things get done when you don't know that they can't be done. Now, admittedly, there are things that I could have done to make them turn out better, had I some of the technique information that is now at my disposal, but for creating out of sheer ignorance, I'm not too upset. I will probably either do some more work on or entirely redo the TARDIS picture at some point in the near future. I wasn't thrilled about how the sky under the clouds turned out, and that's one of those technique things that might turn out better if I knew what I was doing.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl7TDVc42u4eU_uoqkNnF8AxYpT9iUYCi2ztWogUddJOaIW9aSqr_xcgVJ5FHNw3U1-lEIVhyphenhyphenCfE_kygq84p8nnUnDml6dmpIVsar9PPcoZjU5k9RYp7aZWCXyEXUD07ZhLOTw/s1600/IMG_20150723_112532607.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl7TDVc42u4eU_uoqkNnF8AxYpT9iUYCi2ztWogUddJOaIW9aSqr_xcgVJ5FHNw3U1-lEIVhyphenhyphenCfE_kygq84p8nnUnDml6dmpIVsar9PPcoZjU5k9RYp7aZWCXyEXUD07ZhLOTw/s320/IMG_20150723_112532607.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>
This little dragon is from the Discworld series (by Sir Terry Pratchett). His name is Errol, and his original artist is <a href="http://www.paulkidby.net/">Paul Kidby</a>, who is the official artist for Sir Terry's work. My apologies to Mr. Kidby, but I love his artwork and this is one of those "sincerest form of flattery" things. I'm pleased with how this one turned out. Kidby has done some really great Discworld art, and there are many pieces that I'd like to use for practice in developing this skill set. Now all I need to do is some sort of protective clear coat to prevent Errol from being damaged.<br />
<br />
I'll prepare some other posts for some of the other projects I've been doing. Right now, my Pinterest boards are burgeoning with ideas for various things, for my home, to develop talents and skills, and to figure out how to make some additional income. (More on the income topic is coming soon, too. See? I told you my brain is bristling with blog post plans...)<br />
<br />
<br />
Much love,<br />
LL~<br />
<br />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-87728209542381796852015-08-31T14:38:00.002-05:002015-08-31T14:38:51.071-05:00Update on Life, August 2015My intention was to write and publish this post before I went to <a href="http://www.realmmakers.com/home.html">Realm Makers</a> at the beginning of the month, but clearly that didn't happen. Failing that, I planned to do a post about some of my creative pursuits. Yup. That didn't happen either.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz7KQTTCvojV5WvahhlSHeRzAgZ5NzqgCJPtJKCcf4Ghvyo8ZlmiQLGsqN0QXhwO1FeRonni9s-2fb7uiZH1UKE81MAcm1DfVRdM-djc2-ydxGBp8RVxTZQc9vgDwxR0rxLI59/s1600/387640_10150574547974878_427211275_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz7KQTTCvojV5WvahhlSHeRzAgZ5NzqgCJPtJKCcf4Ghvyo8ZlmiQLGsqN0QXhwO1FeRonni9s-2fb7uiZH1UKE81MAcm1DfVRdM-djc2-ydxGBp8RVxTZQc9vgDwxR0rxLI59/s320/387640_10150574547974878_427211275_n.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how I feel about being free.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here's the update: I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Yaaaahoooohooohoohoo!<br />
<br />
Let me esplain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up. (Name that movie. :D )<br />
<br />
Have you ever felt that you're so busy doing what you "ought" to do that you don't ever do what you should be doing? For the last decade or so, that feeling has gotten bigger, stronger, and hairier. I have been doing what I ought to do-- working a good job, and all that entails-- that I didn't feel like I was able to adequately do all that I should be doing.<br />
<br />
One of the hallmarks of that is the fact that this blog even exists. Even though I don't spend much time writing blog posts, the fact that it is out there, that I <i>can </i>write, makes me feel like there is an outlet for my drive to write. I feel guilty for not posting all the things that rattle around in my head, begging for their own posts.<br />
<br />
My job was important for my little niche in that work world, and I did it with excellence (if not always with as much kindness as I should). I worked hard. I worked a lot of hours. I did what was necessary, and without fanfare or appreciation for the most part. I had days that really were awful, but for the most part, I could look at my work and know that I had done it to the absolute best of my ability.<br />
<br />
For the last year of my job, I worked in excess of 60 hours, every week. <a href="http://satinpatriot.blogspot.com/2014/09/things-i-keep-learning.html">It was hard.</a> I had weeks that my hours gusted into the eighties. It burned me out. I was fried and frazzled.<br />
<br />
Nearly a year ago, I discovered, to my great relief, that my job was going away, and I was to be laid off. It was exactly what I needed, at exactly the right time. It has taken me most of the intervening time to heal up from the demands of that position, and particularly that last year. I am <u>almost</u> to the point that I feel human again, whole, able.<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong. I became very good at what I did. There were things about it that I enjoyed, and I learned new skill sets that I will always be able to call on. I consider it a valuable phase of my life, and I am blessed to have had that job. I will always have a fondness for many of the people with whom I was privileged to work, and I hope that they feel the same about me, to some degree.<br />
<br />
But, it was a season that is over. And I'm thankful, now, to have had the experience. I'm also very thankful that it is no longer my current season of life.<br />
<br />
Since my job ended, I burned off my several months of leave and severance, we sold our home in South Carolina, we moved to Kansas and bought a beautiful old home (see my last post) that I am starting to expand into, and I am learning to be a housewife. While that has always, always been my dream, it did not feel like it would be a possibility for me, for a long time. I'll write another post on that acclimatization process. :)<br />
<br />
While settling into this new season of life, I am picking up various creative activities. I feel as though I am full-- nearly bursting-- with creative drive. I'm painting, crafting, sewing, designing, writing, editing, and planning in ways that I have stifled for the better part of a decade. I feel like I am finally able to do some of the things that I *<i>should* </i>be doing-- not just what I "ought" to do.<br />
<br />
Welcome to the next season of this life of mine! I am loving this, so far, and I can't wait to share some of the things that are pouring out of me. :)<br />
<br />
Blessings,<br />
LL~<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-60459234150993896422015-05-04T13:54:00.004-05:002015-05-04T13:56:29.883-05:00New Home!There's a <i><u>really </u></i>good reason it's been so long since I posted. I promise. We recently completed a cross-country move! This is our new house. Isn't she pretty?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJuEA-3kRS0DLGPNdtI1EUo0V6Lx5tLoHLp75uKg1UZJF46b4dL3VZ1DcX_gaUWDnmyv815NVC37PO9E1AXIKWrGJQrXkLomucIYvKGD0Qmhx0oDc4-5ty8CAAnojc5dGOwHup/s1600/701+Cherokee.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="539" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJuEA-3kRS0DLGPNdtI1EUo0V6Lx5tLoHLp75uKg1UZJF46b4dL3VZ1DcX_gaUWDnmyv815NVC37PO9E1AXIKWrGJQrXkLomucIYvKGD0Qmhx0oDc4-5ty8CAAnojc5dGOwHup/s640/701+Cherokee.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The New Home, stay tuned for her new name!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well, I say completed, but that's a little tongue-in-cheek. Our stuff is now at this beautiful old home. It's in there. It's not organized and settled yet, but it's in there.<br />
<br />
In August, we put our home in Greenville, SC on the market, it sold and we moved to Kansas in December. We stayed with my parents until we were able to find, purchase, and close on this lovely home (name announcement coming). In April, we closed, about two months after we had a signed contract, and now we are settling in.<br />
<br />
As you might suspect, anything that is over a century old needs some TLC, despite the fact that this particular house is really in great shape. We've done a few minor projects, so far, but mostly just to make our lives easier. We have bigger projects to come, and I will be creating DIY posts for some of them.<br />
<br />
The first big organizational project on my list is our home library, which is around 500 books. When we boxed up our old house, I began cataloging them with an app on my phone and tablet, and now I'm working on an organization system to keep track of them all. I can't wait to get it finished and share it here!<br />
<br />
One of the (minor) difficulties in our new home is the lack of shelf space, and the lack of wall space for the shelves we brought with us. Thus, <a href="http://satinpatriot.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-clean-home-part-2.html">the "big" bookshelf</a>, is in our upstairs bedroom (that being one of two spaces in the house that it would fit), and the two smaller ones are downstairs. At some future, unknown point, I hope to build-in some lovely, era-appropriate shelves in some way that will provide an unbroken organizational structure for the collection. Today is not the day, however.<br />
<br />
Wish me luck as I figure this out (without the luxury of having the office stuff un-boxed and organized) and haul books up- and down-stairs as appropriate.<br />
<br />
I'll say one thing for my gorgeous new two-story house... It's a good workout! (Actually, I have lots of wonderful things to say about it, but that's the only one you're getting for now.)<br />
<br />
Blessings,<br />
LL~Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-80456224714296208952014-09-08T15:27:00.000-05:002014-09-08T15:27:18.185-05:00Things I Keep LearningYou know those things that you learn, and every time you learn them you think, "I already knew that"? Today, I had a reminder of a couple of those things, so I thought I'd put my thoughts down here.<br />
<br />
My current job is doing data analysis and internal audit. My title might be Program Controls Manager, but it should just be "Resident Bad Guy." A major chunk of my job is figuring out what was done incorrectly, who did it, fixing it, and educating the culprit. I'm the one who calls or emails you to tell you what you did wrong, why it was wrong, and what you need to do to make it right. Fun, eh?<br />
<br />
I learned some time back that the nicer you are about it, the less likely it is that they'll get it right the next time. "Oh, she fixed it for me before, so it's no big deal." Wrong. My communication has, by necessity, become very to-the-point. The more you embroider flowers on it, the less punch it packs. This brings us to lesson one:<br />
<br />
<b>1) No one wants to take responsibility for himself. </b><br />
<br />
You might think that perfectly capable adults would grasp simple concepts like:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>If you don't put in your time, you won't get paid. </li>
<li>If you do the exact opposite of what you're instructed to do, you're going to get in trouble.</li>
<li>When someone's doing something to help you out, even though it's not their problem, don't be a jerk to them.</li>
<li>If you falsify data, you will get fired. </li>
</ul>
<br />
I'll stop there, though I could keep going. If you thought that, you'd be wrong. The average perfectly capable adult (based on my control group of just under 500 of them) does not have any desire to take responsibility for things they know that they must do.<br />
<br />
<b>2) No one wants to get caught, when they do something wrong. </b><br />
<br />
It's uncomfortable, to do something wrong and have someone call you on it. It's unpleasant to be told for the 4th time in a row that you don't have the authority to do what you've just done, and this is your final warning. It's unpleasant to face the consequences of that action, whether it's just a conversation, a disciplinary action, losing the job, or something more eternal. No one wants to be the one in the hot seat.<br />
<br />
<b>3) Because of the first two points, most people have an immediate, knee-jerk reaction of blaming the person who caught them. </b><br />
<br />
This has been the story since the Garden of Eden. When we get caught, we immediately blame someone else, and often it's the person who's calling us out for our wrongdoing. It's so much easier to throw the spotlight <strike>at</strike> on someone else than it is to admit we've done wrong, seek to make it right, and not do it again. It's kind of a built-in default to make it personal-- "well you're just a jerk"-- because then maybe the thing we've gotten caught doing (again!) doesn't look quite so bad. If the other person is somehow to blame, then maybe I can get away without paying the price.<br />
<br />
Friends, this reaction may be the most "natural" thing in the world, but that does not make it right. You see, there's no amount of blame-shifting or name-calling that can right a wrong. All that does is breed ill-will, and it puts you (or should I say, <i>me</i>) even more in the wrong.<br />
<br />
This is one of the ways that my job reminds me of Calvary. I don't like being disliked, but to be honest, it's kind of my job. I don't want people to think badly of me, but it's not possible to hold the standard if people feel they have the freedom to do whatever they please, without repercussion or consequence. I don't <i>want </i>people to think of me as the bad guy, not want to take my calls, groan when they get my emails, etc., but it happens, and to be honest, I don't really mind. It's all part of the job.<br />
<br />
Earlier today, when calling someone (for the 4th time in as many months) on a situation they knew better than to replicate, the person turned on me and started calling me names, shouting about how abrasive and what a jerk I am, until I finally hung up (because taking abuse is not part of my job description). It's times like that when my sin is fully before me. I remember how many times I've turned defensive and spat nasty things at the person who called me out. It's times like that when I remember that it took me murdering God to make my sin right. It's times like that when I'm so thankful that He loved me enough to not only take my venom, but also to take it away.<br />
<br />
I don't always get it right. I know that. My current work schedule is averaging 60+ hours each week (my current record is 85 hrs/wk), and we're doing some other things, in our personal sphere that result in perpetual exhaustion. It's <i>easy </i>to react badly, especially when you're tired, overworked, and under- appreciated. I'm sure there are times I am abrasive. I'm sure there are times that people <i>think </i>I am a jerk, even when I'm just being straightforward. I haven't had a lot of spare time to sugar-coat stuff in the last few months. It's not an excuse. I should do better. I know that. I do my best to apologize when I realize I've been harsh.<br />
<br />
I'm not Jesus, and as much as I yearn to be like Him, I don't generally stick the landing. Some days, He makes it clear that I don't have a right to get indignant with others who abuse me for doing my job. His voice speaks into my heart, "Remember the abuse I took? Remember the cross?" It may be my job to find the problems and deal with the trouble-makers, and they may react badly. But, it's no surprise to Jesus. Our Holy God decided that it wasn't enough for there to be punishment for sin, but that there must be a cure for it. So He came and stepped into the mess, waded through our filth, took it all on Him, and carried it instead.<br />
<br />
I'm so glad that He reminds me of His grace, His mercy, His redemption. It makes it easier, sometimes, to be the Resident Bad Guy.<br />
<br />
Blessings,<br />
LL~Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-63148299269545538452014-04-29T11:46:00.002-05:002014-04-29T11:46:36.231-05:00A Whole New World, Addendum: Business CardsHere's another new one. In preparing for an upcoming writers' conference (my first), I found out that industry standards for writers are different than every other line of work I've ever been in, and this includes business cards.<br />
<br />
Everything I've ever learned about business cards has always involved the admonition to never put your picture on a business card, often accompanied by the statement, "Only realtors do that." (I still don't understand why realtors do it, either. Can anyone explain that to me?)<br />
<br />
In the corporate world, to have your picture on business documentation (including business cards and letterhead) is a serious infraction. It's illegal to consider someone's appearance as part of the hiring practice in many industries, and corporate lawyers frown on things that might incur an EEOC investigation or lawsuit. Most HR departments in those industries have strict policies that specify that any resume or c.v. submitted with a photograph gets automatically destroyed and removed from consideration. Apparently writing falls outside of the general practice guidelines I've been taught to observe.<br />
<br />
I'm trying really hard not to cringe as I attempt to design my new business card with my picture on it. My muscles are revolting against me, tightness is locking down on my spine, attempting to paralyze my fingers' attempts at adding the picture. Yikes.<br />
<br />
Blessings,<br />
LL~Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-20281616392957291652014-04-28T18:39:00.000-05:002014-04-28T18:39:13.668-05:00A Whole New WorldGenerally, I consider myself to be fairly savvy when it comes to corporate or business-oriented things. I've worked in enough different organizations and jobs to have a somewhat passable knowledge of how things function in the world, these days. I had no idea, whatsoever, what I was in for when I started to attempt to penetrate the writing/publishing world, however. Apparently, I've been lulled into a false sense of technological security by my activities on the front end of tech development, and I am as lost as a goose in a hailstorm (to use one of my daddy's sayings) trying to backtrack my way to where things make sense. It's like trying to revert to Windows 95, when you're used to using 7.<br />
<br />
I'm beginning to learn-- and let me just interrupt myself here; this may not be ALL of the writing/publishing realm-- perhaps it's just where I've found myself for now... back to the sentence at hand-- I'm beginning to learn that everything seems to be done by email. Not that I don't spend 40-80 hours each week dealing with email in my full-time job, but this is a different reality of email altogether. This harks back to the mid-to-late-1990s version of email, when the internet was largely unregulated and it was a wild, wild west of <span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">courier new</span> text and badly realized html. It's a whole group of people sending emails in a huge moving ball of communication, rolling over one another and shooting off on seemingly random tangents.<br />
<br />
Not that all this is necessarily bad. It's probably good for me to see how spoiled I have been. It's just hard to backtrack a couple of decades, technologically speaking. Frankly, it's a bit overwhelming. It makes me wonder how that transition actually worked its way through those awkward years until the technology became user-friendly enough to not cause you to go blind. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In Courier New. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">[br][br/]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If I never see a non-html email in courier new with all the html tags built into it (random question marks, anyone?), I?ll be completely fine with that.&nsbp Except that I know I [i] will [/i], each time I try to decipher one of the mystifyingly old-school eloops (really?) or attempt to scan through a course archive. &nsbp? </span><br />
<br />
They're not bad, though, deep down. It's good for people to connect and be a part of things. It's good for the courses to be available online. I am truly astonished, though, that some of the more user-friendly tools that are widely available, and free, are just going unused by these groups. In an age of simple blogs with comments sections, forums with user-privileges, and other fonts besides the brain scrambling <span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">courier new</span> (and associated random unrealized html coding), one would think that those things would be hugely beneficial for organizations with memberships in the thousands. Maybe, one of these days, they'll upgrade to the Aughts and start using forums instead of emails. It almost makes me nostalgic for Windows 2001. :)<br />
<br />
Blessings,<br />
LL~<br />
<br />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-46633249845544808672014-03-31T10:17:00.001-05:002014-03-31T10:17:35.722-05:00Sticker Shock<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyHQtLZATIIuTXcQPnwjDcMTyUKtZpqG6PoPFUVLxV_WvZNAGU2JxHQY7jSFwPj0wx-pMcwA0eUdI7Pf9js-HMEPt7XBXNF43HdxZ__WsLDf5pHWxTHZW5UD_nnDkuZQ_mIk_/s1600/large-book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyHQtLZATIIuTXcQPnwjDcMTyUKtZpqG6PoPFUVLxV_WvZNAGU2JxHQY7jSFwPj0wx-pMcwA0eUdI7Pf9js-HMEPt7XBXNF43HdxZ__WsLDf5pHWxTHZW5UD_nnDkuZQ_mIk_/s1600/large-book.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thefutureofink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/large-book.jpg">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As you may know, I'm in the process of rewriting the manuscript of my first book and writing the second book. Both of those will be parts of a larger series.<br />
<br />
Last night, I was reading on a blog that belongs to a literary agent company and got sticker shock. One of the blog posts by one of the agents gave the numbers for word counts of varying types of books. So, naturally, I copied and pasted my novel into a single document (instead of the individual chapters that it is in while I'm working on it) and checked the total.<br />
<br />
Now, I have been <i>very </i>aware that what I have in the first draft is the skeleton of the novel. In the second draft, I've been adding to the story, rewriting scenes that don't work, and fleshing things out. I'm aware that my descriptive passages are pretty scant, and that my dialogues are few. Most of the book is the bare bones of action that get us from the start to the end, and it's getting beefed up. Slowly, but surely.<br />
<br />
Turns out, I have a little over half a book.<br />
<br />
Even knowing that I'm adding muscle to the bones, I'm still in shock. I didn't think I was quite <i>that </i>short (roughly 35,000 words short) of having a viable novel. It's a bit disheartening.<br />
<br />
It's not as though I can't write another 35K words. In fact, I knew the story was going to be longer after this rewrite. I haven't even gotten to the part that needs the most added to it. And, I'm still planning to write multiple books in this series, so that's not much in the broader scheme of things. It's not as though I won't write more. I'm not going to just give up and say, "Well, I'm pooched," and just forget the whole thing. That would be silly. But it is a little discouraging to know that I'm that far from being marketable.<br />
<br />
So, now I get to take that new-found knowledge and put it to use. I'm treading that line between "just sit and write and don't worry about all that other stuff" and "study the requirements so that you know how to tailor what you're doing to the market for it." Wish me sanity!<br />
<br />
In shock,<br />
LL~Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-70572457402934185802014-03-18T13:15:00.001-05:002014-03-18T13:15:06.802-05:00Writing Exercises: Declutter<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJxwalH4Y1WzxScUH1mtO3M7zV8L0TUtgnylYXcQBbbSoVlySiGIu4UPfDaZLO8PO1DaSIz_Cr9LrXlu9sVib2T2fQUogZgebp7r_VXQjPuwAlqaqwCpzdqug3zPbv1DLYbfG/s1600/rewrite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJxwalH4Y1WzxScUH1mtO3M7zV8L0TUtgnylYXcQBbbSoVlySiGIu4UPfDaZLO8PO1DaSIz_Cr9LrXlu9sVib2T2fQUogZgebp7r_VXQjPuwAlqaqwCpzdqug3zPbv1DLYbfG/s1600/rewrite.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unknown Source</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm skipping ahead to the eleventh writing exercise, because that's where I am with the actual work, right now. I will probably go back and do some of the exercises that I have skipped, as they become relevant, just in case you were wondering what happened to all the stuff on the list in between my posts.<br />
<br />
Today is about decluttering, and that's part of the rewriting process that I'm in with my first draft manuscript. I have temporarily set aside my second book's development, in favor of rewriting the book that has all its bones in place.<br />
<br />
Rewriting/decluttering is quite an interesting process. For me, it's not entirely about eliminating unnecessary fluff (as the exercise post would suggest), though there is some of that. For me, it's more taking the bones of the story and filling them out. I'm going through and identifying the questions that the current manuscript leaves unanswered. I'm finding loose threads and deciding if the thread goes or gets more fully woven into the book.<br />
<br />
The biggest decluttering moment for me was deciding what the key component is of the story, and it was one of those "aha!" moments when I remembered that the story I was writing is God's story. It changed the impetus of the whole book for me and released me to make changes. I have been cutting things that I was very pleased with (at least writing-wise) because they don't work with the overall theme. It's very freeing.<br />
<br />
I've decided to take one story line at a time and address each individually and entirely before moving on to the next story line. I found that there were questions leftover in each story, and the theory is that completing each story individually will most likely help me to end up with a coherent book. I'm down to the last chapter or so of the story line I was working on yesterday, and that feels pretty good. Yesterday, after a hardcore workday, I spent nearly as many hours rewriting as I had in my full-time job, and managed to work through draft 2 of five chapters. Let me tell you, I was fried, but in a good way, when it came to bedtime. My brain is still sizzling.<br />
<br />
My estimate for the book is that draft 3 will go out to my test readers for review. The second draft should be pretty good, but the third draft should have all but the minutest of details addressed. My current intuition is that I'll be comfortable receiving feedback on that version. I'm hopeful that only copyediting will be needed at that point, and I'll be able to move on to publishing and focusing on book 2 (and the rest of the series).<br />
<br />
Making progress,<br />
LL~<br />
<br />
{This writing exercise is the eleventh from "<a href="http://goinswriter.com/great-writers/">15 Habits of Great Writers</a>," which I came across on Pinterest.}Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-492331615223496332014-03-17T11:27:00.001-05:002014-03-17T11:27:50.783-05:00Writing Psychosis<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">No, I am not intending
to make light of any mental health issue. It's just that I think sometimes we
all feel a bit crazy for one reason or another, and right now mine seems to be
tied to my writing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I told my mother and my
best girl friend in the last few days that I'm feeling a bit schizophrenic. My
brain is so occupied with the writing exercises, backstory writing and
development, rewriting of the first book, story line development for the second
and later books in the series, etc, that I feel like I'm having a hard time
keeping on task with anything. Especially things that are unrelated to writing.
How can I possibly expect to work through a spreadsheet analysis in a coherent
and rational manner while the creative part of my brain is going full-tilt to
develop names, ideas, and prose??<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I'm guessing that this
is some glimmer of what it's going to continue to be like, as long as I create.
I feel this way when I'm working on sewing or crafting, too, especially where
those activities intersect with the practical, everyday mundanities. This
reminds me of the quote from Terence Blacker I came across on Pinterest, last
night. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUlJuua8dt7lmN0bjtp82QGVt6bopsChTozT9e5Xc9Lo_H8SPYU7cn8EfGSJElageue3sZa9FzAYp6LXQEGV4SujhMW8I69S9VszwiVUmNy-ZWrg7DLcqs6EjGadSOIDPjHOG/s1600/writing+for+a+living.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUlJuua8dt7lmN0bjtp82QGVt6bopsChTozT9e5Xc9Lo_H8SPYU7cn8EfGSJElageue3sZa9FzAYp6LXQEGV4SujhMW8I69S9VszwiVUmNy-ZWrg7DLcqs6EjGadSOIDPjHOG/s1600/writing+for+a+living.jpg" height="257" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://writers-write-creative-blog.posthaven.com/quotable-terence-blacker">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div align="center">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As much as I'd love to
be a full-time housewife, if I have to do something else, it would be
oh-so-nice for that something else to be writing, rather than corporate
spreadsheet work. :) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Forgive my mad
ramblings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">LL~<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-20435330529609157992014-03-10T13:48:00.002-05:002014-03-10T13:54:07.245-05:00Writing Exercises: Build<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdsohuMMNvBGGDbLb-koUO3EwGfJch4UpuBjccn52K1-049x-ysDs2R3xbWxMRh3dYoDXzPrGwpzhwa41q6fwVJ4Bsq_nVYVRdLhoCRURNM6_dGviNViMD1hXjI9uKYf0uRCv1/s1600/BUILD-LLC-framing-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdsohuMMNvBGGDbLb-koUO3EwGfJch4UpuBjccn52K1-049x-ysDs2R3xbWxMRh3dYoDXzPrGwpzhwa41q6fwVJ4Bsq_nVYVRdLhoCRURNM6_dGviNViMD1hXjI9uKYf0uRCv1/s1600/BUILD-LLC-framing-02.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unknown Source</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My darling husband and I recently attended the premiere of a short film that was created to use as a conversational tool in the pro-life advocacy world. One of the things that struck me about the film was that the creators put in the work to build it to completion. It takes a lot of effort to create a film. It took a lot of people, a lot of time, and a lot of effort.<br />
<br />
God often inspires us to do things, but what we do with the inspiration, at least in my case, is somewhat lacking. How many things has God given my brain and I let them sit until they're lost into the recesses of my memory? How many stories have I not written? How many gestures have I not made? How many gifts have I not given? Sadly, too many.<br />
<br />
Well, I'm working on following through with my books. I haven't done a lot of the rewriting, for one thing because the uninterrupted time I have tends to go to my job. I am thinking about taking a few days off and just working on that.<br />
<br />
I have, however, been writing. I've been writing back-story and descriptions. I've been writing things that may not end up in any of the books, that may not be seen by anyone by me, but that help me think in an amount of detail that, I believe, will help me create richer images in the books. Perhaps the story of the First Dark Queen's curse won't ever be shared. Perhaps no one cares about the geography of the continent(s) where the stories take place. It helps me, though.<br />
<br />
I have taken some of my thoughts and created a map, which helps me mentally place how things need to happen. I'm not much of an artist, but it helps me visualize the story line. It also has broadened the possibilities to me, and I have begun a list of potential story lines I can pursue in future books. I'm building, however slowly, the foundation that I can use to build a series.<br />
<br />
Yay, me.<br />
<br />
Blessings,<br />
LL~<br />
<br />
{This writing exercise is the eighth from "<a href="http://goinswriter.com/great-writers/">15 Habits of Great Writers</a>," which I came across on Pinterest.}Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-16008023796953063132014-03-07T10:58:00.003-05:002014-03-10T13:55:19.334-05:00Writing Exercises: PracticeOr "practise" for those who hold with British English. :)<br />
<br />
Specifically, the challenge for today is to "practice in public."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul style="border: 0px; font-family: Lora; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 25px 30px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pitch a magazine you want to write for.</strong> Follow some of the templates in <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">You Are a Writer</em>. This <a href="http://goinswriter.com/getting-published-magazine/" style="color: #dd3333; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Getting Published in Magazines">article</a> might help, too.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="border: 0px; font-family: Lora; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 25px 30px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ask a friend (or stranger) to guest post on his/her blog.</strong> <a href="http://goinswriter.com/guest-posting/" style="color: #dd3333; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Guest Posting">Here’s</a> another useful post.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="border: 0px; font-family: Lora; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 25px 30px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Publish something on your blog you’ve never shared with anyone.</strong> Take a risk (we’ll be doing more of this soon).</li>
</ul>
<ul style="border: 0px; font-family: Lora; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 25px 30px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Submit that book proposal.</strong> Don’t “work on it.” Finish it. Send it off. And say a little prayer.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Well, I don't want to write for magazines. I don't know that I have anything to guest post about, and my books aren't ready for me to submit proposals, so blog it is!<br />
<br />
Technically, I've already done this, since I basically announced on here that I'm a writer and that I have written the first draft of my first book. The thing is, I'm fairly certain that I don't have a blog following, so announcements in empty rooms (and equivalents thereof) don't mean much.<br />
<br />
To be honest, blogging sometimes feels somewhat egotistical. Sometimes I feel that sitting down to type out a post is basically saying, "I'm <i>so very</i> important that you should know how <i>wonderfully </i>important I am, too! Look at me! Look at me!" And then, being the introvert/hermit that I am, I cringe and don't post anything. haha. So to write this post about my books is not comfortable for me. It is, however, practice.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs_9rlrfXeX0VnbQo3IJvM65IguK8mdrDnSXW08WXH5vAI_iiR6ZmhzPXzUGrGgOMrBoP0uUJaThPIF7ZDKWgJ9OyJ5EUuZD0IN7DA8CdNdGFUJMiLF21E1DzFxQsV85s-8is8/s1600/Practice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs_9rlrfXeX0VnbQo3IJvM65IguK8mdrDnSXW08WXH5vAI_iiR6ZmhzPXzUGrGgOMrBoP0uUJaThPIF7ZDKWgJ9OyJ5EUuZD0IN7DA8CdNdGFUJMiLF21E1DzFxQsV85s-8is8/s1600/Practice.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unknown Source</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are times that words well up in me, and I simply have to write them down. There are times that I have had the words, failed to write them, and then regretted it. I didn't want the story in my first book to be one of those things. I had thought of a piece of the story line (though I think "was inspired with" might be more accurate), and I actually followed through and started typing it out. It was actually pretty good, so I told my parents about it. They each wanted me to read it to them, and then they each encouraged me to keep writing. In a fairly short amount of time, I had 21 chapters and a decent story.<br />
<br />
I recently visited my parents, and they had me read the entire book to them. On the trip, I began the second book. One of the beautiful things about reading what you've written out loud is that you find out where the flow is broken, where the ideas don't work properly, and where you need more or less explanation, so that process helped me see that the book would need a rewrite. I began the rewrite yesterday.<br />
<br />
In the rewriting process, I'm not scrapping anything and completely starting over. I'm actually building more detail and fleshing out what I didn't realize was bare bone until I read it aloud.<br />
<br />
I had already had a list in my book journal of questions that had gone unanswered, of ideas I'd like to develop, of story lines that didn't come into play, etc., so now I'm adding to that list.<br />
<br />
There are several story lines that I know are percolating that were either tangential to the stories in the first book, or didn't come into it at all. Those are books yet to be written. There are questions that I could have answered in the first book, but never quite got around to answering, so now I'm looking for places to pull those answers in-- and this feels, to me, like working a snagged, loose thread back into the garment where it's supposed to be.<br />
<br />
Toward the end of writing the first draft, I got so caught up in the momentum of the unfolding events that I failed entirely to explain what was happening, even though I could see it clearly in my head, so now I'm going back and writing those scenarios more carefully.<br />
<br />
There's an entire running metaphor that I pulled out of the first draft, because it wasn't working, but didn't entirely eliminate from everywhere it was mentioned, so now I get to deal with that. Do I rework it and put it back in? Do I erase all mention of it (which is where I'm leaning) and not even try to explain it? It's a conundrum, surely.<br />
<br />
The biggest problem I have at this point is the fact that I don't yet know the names of the books or the series. I'm not saying that they don't have names. I'm certain they do. It's just that they haven't introduced themselves to me properly, so we're carrying on these deep conversations, getting to know each other intimately, but we're both kind of referring to each other as "you" and "um" instead of by name.<br />
<br />
Anyway, this is more information than I've shared with anyone about my writing process and my first book(s), so if there's anyone reading this, welcome to my world!<br />
<br />
Blessings,<br />
LL~<br />
<br />
{This writing exercise is the fourth from "<a href="http://goinswriter.com/great-writers/">15 Habits of Great Writers</a>," which I came across on Pinterest.}Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-28539665716185261912014-03-07T10:10:00.001-05:002014-03-07T11:00:26.893-05:00Writing Exercises: InitiateAlright, so I'll be honest. The challenge for yesterday was to get up 2 hours early and write, but I don't function as well in the mornings, and I didn't do that. I'm not likely to, to be completely frank. Well, at least not unless that's the only way.<br />
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I did, however, actually do some writing. I started the rewrite on the first book, and I hand-wrote in my book journal some of the backstory (8 pages worth) for the books. I also initiated a conversation with my husband about some plans which include the possibility of publishing, so there's that.<br />
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Since the key point about getting up early was to "make room" to write, I think I'll stick with making room during the part of the day that I'm mentally functional. Now, where will it fit today?<br />
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Blessings,<br />
LL~<br />
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<br />
<span style="background-color: #f4dbf4; color: #3b2255; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">{This writing exercise is the third from "</span><a href="http://goinswriter.com/great-writers/" style="background-color: #f4dbf4; color: #228888; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-decoration: none;">15 Habits of Great Writers</a><span style="background-color: #f4dbf4; color: #3b2255; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">," which I came across on Pinterest.}</span>Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-21704975901140814882014-02-26T13:48:00.000-05:002014-02-26T13:48:04.074-05:00Writing Exercises: DeclareI am a writer.<br />
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This is not a shocking statement to find on a blog, but it's one that I have been reticent to make. It's not, at this point, my <i>job </i>to write. At this point, my job is where I spend 40+ hrs/week and get a paycheck, and that involves little writing. What writing I do in my job is either email content or policy/procedure documentation or clarification.<br />
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The thing about that is even though it is not my job to write, I take the writing I do for my job very seriously. I edit for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and content. I read and edit for fluidity, and with an intent to make things as easily comprehensible as possible. I write policy like a writer, and I read it with a critical reader's eye. So even in my job, where I don't get paid to write, I'm still a writer.<br />
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I have two blogs, to which I seldom post. That sentence is one of the main reasons for my reticence about calling myself a writer. Because I don't post often, much less every day. I post what I want to post, when I want to post it, and I don't have a substantial following, if any. Oh, I often INTEND to post, but I rarely follow through on that intention. I am not disciplined in my writing, and that frustrates me, even though I have the tools and ability to change that.<br />
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It's like being fat. Everyone knows that to cease (or keep from) being fat you have to eat properly and exercise, finding the right balance of both for your individual body. Discipline is self-driven when it comes to the things we want for ourselves. In adult life, few things are disciplined by external forces, and for me, both my weight and my writing are where they are because of a lack of self-discipline.<br />
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Yet, I still say, I am a writer. I have written the entire first draft of my first novel and have started on my second novel. I have multiple thoughts about the rewrite that is coming to the first book, but again, the lack of discipline in this area is what keeps that from materializing. My parents, both great readers, have both enthused about my book, but I tend to chalk their opinions up to parental pride, rather than actual excellence in my writing. I do a disservice to both them and me, though, when I do that. My book is good. It's not as good as it will be, but it's a good start.<br />
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There are a thousand and three things (at least) that I should be doing right now, as my housekeeping (or lack thereof) will attest, but I sit here, completing a writing exercise. Because it's important to me. Because it's important to ME. I want to be a disciplined writer. I want my writing to outlive me. I want to reach people through the words that God has given me. I want my words to pour out of my heart which is filled with praise for the Creator who fashioned me to bear His image, so that others will see Him and know Him, and to do that, I must write. I must write whether or not it's convenient, because I need to develop the discipline.<br />
<br />
I am a writer.<br />
<br />
LL~<br />
<br />
{This writing exercise is the first from "<a href="http://goinswriter.com/great-writers/">15 Habits of Great Writers</a>," which I came across on Pinterest.}Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-72066854897207416922014-01-21T20:35:00.001-05:002014-01-21T20:35:16.390-05:00Brooding Lookers...Surely it's not just me, but I would dearly love to see these two in something together. Could someone please make that happen? See who could out-brood the other? BBC? Anyone?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCkSvnj7-dFlbeyW-DYZ9Li2RioVjcD0YhUEsFpGvoUtdaDHjGPiQXDDeMeH4QG1JPBYLr-nFr4Sl7y85hnXqlwq9IgP12pKvQB57nYnGs4DbolHhLM8b0rE2Xxij2p2GPkjU/s1600/richard+armitage.jpg" height="320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="214" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Armitage</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1QkMBkNELWkXw9dnIywEY7Evp5gwD75MgQKlZ6mcpCwA02TfUxQh9dua3MsNdU8SL_jiUqiMmgGoVZ1iR4CL9WRKxlNewxoA7nWWStG6KqG2SzxiIfLiyKb77Bz4N4jbJZQJn/s1600/Timothy-Omundson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1QkMBkNELWkXw9dnIywEY7Evp5gwD75MgQKlZ6mcpCwA02TfUxQh9dua3MsNdU8SL_jiUqiMmgGoVZ1iR4CL9WRKxlNewxoA7nWWStG6KqG2SzxiIfLiyKb77Bz4N4jbJZQJn/s1600/Timothy-Omundson.jpg" height="320" width="166" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Timothy Omundson</td></tr>
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<br />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-76920799916439347842013-10-24T13:35:00.003-05:002013-10-24T13:39:02.569-05:00Sewing with Lovey: Baby Stuff! My dear friend, <a href="http://fulltimewife.blogspot.com/">The Full Time Wife</a>, gave birth last week, and I was so excited for the arrival of her baby that I went a little crazy making fun baby stuff. I pulled some tutorials (via Pinterest), made alterations as I felt like making them, and wound up with a box of stuff. Time will tell how useful it will all be, and I'm hoping she'll tell me so that if/when the time comes for me to have babies, I'll have the benefit of her experience. :)<br />
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I thought I'd share some of what I worked on. Any thoughts on the usefulness of these items, moms & dads out there? Any suggestions to make the next go-round even better?<br />
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I made her this nursing shawl:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlKFZ41rknZYIhklUbjRYRsjQcxsG0Bi5lFD2l7AAr3sOW2C_P1DP9bs0xpvwhdKppLhjCu0OAAhCPwZPj-gQYo3j8QF55Z0vcG2kdh5ym7noaZQ4RIPK2tGOzrkUkewd0Iep/s1600/7ed837d69cb3a49ac4b2ae5a155cbe34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlKFZ41rknZYIhklUbjRYRsjQcxsG0Bi5lFD2l7AAr3sOW2C_P1DP9bs0xpvwhdKppLhjCu0OAAhCPwZPj-gQYo3j8QF55Z0vcG2kdh5ym7noaZQ4RIPK2tGOzrkUkewd0Iep/s320/7ed837d69cb3a49ac4b2ae5a155cbe34.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <a href="http://www.thecoterieblog.com/2012/05/dyi-modern-nursing-shawl-sew-one-line.html">thecoterieblog.com</a> via Pinterest.</td></tr>
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It's essentially one cut and one seam. So very easy, and looks like it would be perfect. The idea of having a nursing shawl you can wear as part of an outfit, or put on just for nursing that doesn't scream to everyone in the vicinity, "HEY! MY BOOB IS OUT OVER HERE!" :) I used a light-weight black knit, extremely similar to what's pictured. I tried it on, and was even more impressed with the simplicity of it at that point.<br />
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Using <a href="http://thecraftingchicks.com/2010/07/minky-baby-blanket.html">this tutorial</a> (from thecraftingchicks.com-- they also have a simplified version) for the blanket, and <a href="http://www.coletterie.com/tutorials-tips-tricks/tutorial-how-to-make-bias-tape">this tutorial</a> (from www.coletterie.com) for the bias tape edging, I made this blanket:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeyjaDv5Fk2blAkDv1wMHiAWld3n8bzZyby0RY-Ds_2bwkrd65seEm0NrGLh6O-YwZHNYEHmsWOVmXmVxuu6XrBWtKK8-7SITjRqkAfbYA2iCxuG5Om11Z9vvpNs-KlX5V5Bt/s1600/IMG_20130909_142714_637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeyjaDv5Fk2blAkDv1wMHiAWld3n8bzZyby0RY-Ds_2bwkrd65seEm0NrGLh6O-YwZHNYEHmsWOVmXmVxuu6XrBWtKK8-7SITjRqkAfbYA2iCxuG5Om11Z9vvpNs-KlX5V5Bt/s640/IMG_20130909_142714_637.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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I had never used minky before, had never machine-quilted before, and had never made my own bias tape, before, so lots of fun learning for me on this one! I was really pleased at how it turned out, especially considering all the technique new-ness. Besides, the imperfections prove it was home-made with love. :)<br />
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I also used <a href="http://tutorialadventures.blogspot.com/2011/09/tutorial-how-to-make-your-own-labels.html">this tutorial</a> (from tutorialadventures.blogspot.com), and created my own tag, which I put on the blanket, too. Yay.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggRkHHfPBhyphenhyphen4o6RePeAoIVNinq6Wnc8B38_2-8mdlHV_bcFL1Pgcaqw3y4_UBnUjFjEcgmUt5DY_ooaG74q-KLsYe3h8tn0ffvlgDJMPrlfwNJx5RLPgR-aMqBQB_-KHNYt8a-/s1600/IMG_20130909_142629_571.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggRkHHfPBhyphenhyphen4o6RePeAoIVNinq6Wnc8B38_2-8mdlHV_bcFL1Pgcaqw3y4_UBnUjFjEcgmUt5DY_ooaG74q-KLsYe3h8tn0ffvlgDJMPrlfwNJx5RLPgR-aMqBQB_-KHNYt8a-/s320/IMG_20130909_142629_571.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I used a combination of <a href="http://walkingwithdancers.blogspot.com/2011/05/homemade-contoured-nursing-pads.html">this tutorial</a> (from walkingwithdancers.blogspot.com) and <a href="http://diymaternity.com/accessories/how-to-make-nursing-pads-with-free-pattern/">this tutorial</a> (from diymaternity.com) to make washable, contoured nursing pads. I think I ended up sending her 10 pairs. I thought these were kind of fun to make. It's easy to churn out a batch of these with very little fuss. I used a variety of types of fabric including fleece, knit, cotton, and flannel for the pretty side, and a variety of thicknesses/layers on the absorbent side, cut from a 10-pack of cloth diapers I bought at Walmart. My darling husband is going to have to wait until I get another package of them to start using them as cleaning, waxing (car and boat), and outdoor sweat/work cloths. Sorry, love.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-sJFwZtYnyfHFvAaxsC5s2FeYIWzKc5DzUD_ZWP_ZDOLDUWUON8fjCxiTMEHn67vf68tVWTcpwX8s3Pcig67dGje13bQP5eBf_Q6ihZX5WyZW7nKBtsInJK4Tc5BQpUHYXCa/s1600/IMG_20131015_110747_060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-sJFwZtYnyfHFvAaxsC5s2FeYIWzKc5DzUD_ZWP_ZDOLDUWUON8fjCxiTMEHn67vf68tVWTcpwX8s3Pcig67dGje13bQP5eBf_Q6ihZX5WyZW7nKBtsInJK4Tc5BQpUHYXCa/s320/IMG_20131015_110747_060.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think the fleece monkeys are my favorite. :) </td></tr>
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Using <a href="http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2010/01/perhaps-easiest-burp-cloth-tutorial.html">this tutorial</a> (from diaryofaquilter.com), and <a href="http://www.thehomesihavemade.com/2012/02/5-things-i-didnt-need-to-make-for-baby.html#_a5y_p=869632">this feedback</a> about modified burp cloths (from thehomesihavemade.com - she said that adding a strip of fabric down the absorbent middle of the cloth diaper inhibited the absorption and made them essentially useless), I made a batch of burp cloths from another ten-pack of cloth diapers. Since the complaint about absorption made sense to me, I tried to keep the embellishments off the center section, so that they'd still be useful, but also let me play with them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0gJ23ATVoazVs8pUuozPKY9Piv_DtvZzwmkP0gXxPsCs0ep-XEj0FMAUEBP46CCKDiyH0RjuInvcE54kUUDKAK5itjkkyqk7V3toU9NuGux1GXl0Imawd9UnofYDXruDGAaS/s1600/IMG_20130909_142937_477.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0gJ23ATVoazVs8pUuozPKY9Piv_DtvZzwmkP0gXxPsCs0ep-XEj0FMAUEBP46CCKDiyH0RjuInvcE54kUUDKAK5itjkkyqk7V3toU9NuGux1GXl0Imawd9UnofYDXruDGAaS/s320/IMG_20130909_142937_477.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gray & pink flower fabric on the left is what I used to<br />make the bias tape for the blanket.</td></tr>
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I had come across <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/101857185/latchy-catchy-in-baby-pink-chevron?ref=exp_listing">this</a> "Latchy Catchy," which is listed in the <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/latchycatchy?ref=l2-shopheader-name">latchycatchy Etsy shop</a>, and apparently has patents pending. Basically a strip that you put on the edge of a door, wrapped around both door knobs to keep the door from slamming and waking up the baby. Seems like a good idea, so I'm not really surprised about the patenting. I guessed at how to make it (since I didn't have a tutorial to go by, for this proprietary design), and wound up with this.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5nQkgJOYfBpp1k-H49Iw49yGkkJsQLbwse7kX95f4thAdH_90eRJVFmZVlnvAwZvSiN_Vrfi8RIEIfDXylKS1_5vsKh0ot_fx30AndghBmFZuY2B0gVk4clYSV5k5PgOUB6h/s1600/IMG_20131015_110820_610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5nQkgJOYfBpp1k-H49Iw49yGkkJsQLbwse7kX95f4thAdH_90eRJVFmZVlnvAwZvSiN_Vrfi8RIEIfDXylKS1_5vsKh0ot_fx30AndghBmFZuY2B0gVk4clYSV5k5PgOUB6h/s320/IMG_20131015_110820_610.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Definitely not perfect, but I was pleased. I did the same little bird in the center, front and back. I did check, and the encased elastic stretches far enough to go around both door knobs. I had to fiddle a bit with the inside of the middle part to make sure it was sturdy enough to hold the latch back and not just be an exercise in futility. A little iron-on fabric strengthener, and an extra layer made it work.<br />
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I thought <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/54910668/mammary-minders-nursing-reminder-choose">this </a>was a similarly excellent idea (Mammary Minders from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/dazzlebyd?ref=l2-shopheader-name">dazzlebyd Etsy shop</a>). Basically, a magnetic ribbon to put on your bra to remind you which side you need to nurse next.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR7Tje07h3hddinvBhZl57HKMsAbQoZyT2fGV90hTnng05FyoIpfXeTRCIng01nexsaE0F3lROnteS0LbRawU6HnwfM7vJbwOd9QRh4CzIU0yvjUAQ9glloNHIv35nblPxWvNU/s1600/IMG_20131015_110809_369.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR7Tje07h3hddinvBhZl57HKMsAbQoZyT2fGV90hTnng05FyoIpfXeTRCIng01nexsaE0F3lROnteS0LbRawU6HnwfM7vJbwOd9QRh4CzIU0yvjUAQ9glloNHIv35nblPxWvNU/s400/IMG_20131015_110809_369.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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I learned quite a bit while making these, and the third attempt (one on the right with sequins) was definitely the best. The most obvious thing that I should have figured out before I goofed up the first one I finished (on left, cream-colored) and ruined a couple other attempts is that super-strong magnets are lots of fun to try to sew around with a solid steel sewing machine. Heh heh... The 2nd and 3rd, I left the pockets unsewn on one edge of the inside and added the magnets after I was done sewing. I still think I can do better, but I'm not horrified by the finished product on these. I will definitely make another attempt on another day to perfect this. I really liked the idea.<br />
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I still have a batch of fun things I'm making or wanting to make to send her, but we will see if/when time permits.<br />
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Please let me know if you have any thoughts or insights about these. What are your favorite homemade baby/maternity items?<br />
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Much love,<br />
LL~<br />
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P.S. All of the tutorials listed above were found via Pinterest, but as Jessica Hill said on <a href="http://crafterminds.com/2011/11/miss-manners-pinterest-style/">this post</a>, Pinterest isn't responsible for all the work that went into the tutorials-- the original creators/authors/bloggers are, and I want to give credit where credit is due. Pinterest has made them much more accessible to me, though, so yay for it, too! And yay for babies!<br />
<br />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-35186302205875510122013-10-24T11:34:00.001-05:002014-03-10T13:57:17.857-05:00GigglesSo, I know that whoever made this *meant* shampoo... But every time I read this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpe4Qh1ny_EaJQQjmomnkpQvZ-_WiRbOPafhtl-96yoNSK3uEOPxVAJgCJXbNu6rs5k2QT415JwQdJb3WSkrdo2Z6ocXTm31NFrAjmEStF_oFwa1YQGC4F3pFa0JPWD4MGk3pe/s1600/38efae2d8af9fd0bb0f90cb4e04f2c1f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpe4Qh1ny_EaJQQjmomnkpQvZ-_WiRbOPafhtl-96yoNSK3uEOPxVAJgCJXbNu6rs5k2QT415JwQdJb3WSkrdo2Z6ocXTm31NFrAjmEStF_oFwa1YQGC4F3pFa0JPWD4MGk3pe/s320/38efae2d8af9fd0bb0f90cb4e04f2c1f.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think of this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif0018x6YJwhhcQEeaJ5a3sHYqc5Y71080E6tY7dC_x-fuDcbDQ1V3vbWia_1iutXqc_QGKszfi2YA7cbQFL2HB6ucrji4-ewDvckFjOsGFGhWW-xquKncAhWCJ_2Q2csyLCph/s1600/Shamu+directions.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif0018x6YJwhhcQEeaJ5a3sHYqc5Y71080E6tY7dC_x-fuDcbDQ1V3vbWia_1iutXqc_QGKszfi2YA7cbQFL2HB6ucrji4-ewDvckFjOsGFGhWW-xquKncAhWCJ_2Q2csyLCph/s320/Shamu+directions.JPG" height="236" width="320" /></a></div>
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Much love,<br />
LL~<br />
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<br />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-3698829111749163902013-08-13T12:05:00.003-05:002013-08-13T12:05:44.713-05:00Have you ever...?Have you ever had one of those days when you feel a little chubby, potentially because you'd gained back some of the weight you'd worked so hard to lose (twice), and you get on pinterest and get sucked into some pin about how to do makeup which takes you to a series of videos by some professional make-up artist like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Jaclynhill1?feature=watch">Jaclyn Hill</a> or <a href="http://www.maskcara.com/maskcara/">MaskCara</a>, which you proceed to watch, all the while getting deluded into thinking that what they're doing looks super-easy and you could do that to your face if you really wanted to, so you go into the bathroom and start slathering stuff on like they showed, except you don't have the same products so you start using whatever looks vaguely the same color whether or not it's actually what you're supposed to use, nevermind the fact that some of it is samples that are the better part of a decade old (hey, it's never been used-- it's probably fine) but you figure it's ok because one of them said at some point on one of the videos, in reference to something else entirely, that there weren't any rules and you thought she meant that applied to you but it really applied to someone who has a fair bit more make-up sense than you have, so you dab a bit of this and line a bit of that and swipe a touch of the other while blending with a pinch of some stuff and you think that you're doing the smokey eye look just like she did, and you put just <br />
a little of the purple eyeshadow on your lips to tie the look together the way you'd heard someone else did it, and you look up at your reflection, with all of your newly learned highlighting and contouring knowledge and you think that it's odd that people don't generally ask you why you look like the bride of Frankenstein and then it dawns on you that it's probably because this isn't how you do your make-up when you go out in public because no one really wants to wind up with smokey cheeks and lips and chalky,sallow skin with stripes on her nose, but by that point you're so tired of make-up and all that goes with it that you just take a dry washcloth and swipe at the whole strange mess until most of it comes off, and then you go and fall exhausted into your computer chair and blog about it?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjfCxRq1-Yn5XBB2qEGbeKeevIzl8tyAsWYfVcvzii4HNHcMMaoHP1kmIFV4H0eOCvbcJFNPsvi_24oAVHGyDfr3Zyb5EN9rih96e293DQ7SmiiynSeYPlSsFbaA2bsg6hz6ZS/s1600/Nailed+it.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjfCxRq1-Yn5XBB2qEGbeKeevIzl8tyAsWYfVcvzii4HNHcMMaoHP1kmIFV4H0eOCvbcJFNPsvi_24oAVHGyDfr3Zyb5EN9rih96e293DQ7SmiiynSeYPlSsFbaA2bsg6hz6ZS/s640/Nailed+it.jpg" width="417" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Found <a href="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6e/11/7a/6e117af8f9b0c7f44c36d022f4000f0c.jpg">here</a>. Not that that really helps at all...</td></tr>
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No? Just me, then? Hmmmm...<br />
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Please know that I am not, in any way, mocking the two ladies mentioned above. I have tremendous respect for their abilities and the passion they have about what they do. I am, however, not even attempting to hide the fact that I'm mocking all the rest of us who think that we can become experts at something they do professionally, simply by watching a few videos of them doing it.<br />
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I did give half a thought to doing mock-up videos of the same type thing only without the expertise. It could be something really useful like, "How to look like you half-way care about your appearance without having to actually expend the energy or money it takes to really care" or "Doing your date face with whatever happens to be lying around nearby" or something like that. Then I remembered that I don't do video, so I wrote this instead.<br />
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Happy Tuesday!<br />
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Much love,<br />
LL~Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-89832761281589291172013-08-05T10:53:00.001-05:002013-08-05T10:53:48.629-05:00My Clean Home: Part 2<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5BghlTmQaAc5AJagXVqDUDln7TI60JyfJyxUa0eyXCRaj1sOwJbQLGxzx4yEPS3ygf4u34k730JQkY270D-tdtwKA71Hm31fXKd6cs-BegasTRvf9WymZBqbT5riCXJRIcIX2/s1600/f00bea76d046dc1f619a98ba3f5b1996.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5BghlTmQaAc5AJagXVqDUDln7TI60JyfJyxUa0eyXCRaj1sOwJbQLGxzx4yEPS3ygf4u34k730JQkY270D-tdtwKA71Hm31fXKd6cs-BegasTRvf9WymZBqbT5riCXJRIcIX2/s400/f00bea76d046dc1f619a98ba3f5b1996.jpg" width="266" /></a>If there's anyone out there who still peeks in on me from time to time, I apologize for my absence. It's been a complex year. Both I and my darling husband have spent some time being sick and in recovery--amounting to the bulk of this calendar year, surprisingly enough. We're still working on home remodeling projects, and between those things and the full-time job stuff, time seems to get away. Forgive me? Love me anyway?<br />
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Does this cute picture of a sloth help?<br />
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Recently, my "spare" time has been occupied by a lot of organizing/reorganizing projects. I'm down to one big one, and a couple closets. I got to thinking about it, over the last couple of months, and decided that I needed to make some headway. This is partially due to the fact that I'm feeling better than I had been. It's also partially due to the fact that while taking sick time (much more than I had envisioned), lots of things went undone in my home. That's depressing. It's hard, when you feel unwell, to even know where to start, after things have gone downhill.<br />
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Additionally, I've noticed a trend in my family. In a recent conversation with my <a href="http://satinpatriot.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-best-friends-mumsy.html">Mumsy</a>, we were talking about how we always do things to stage a house when we're getting ready to sell it, or the way we try to get things all organized to pack up when we move. In a family of semi-nomads who move every couple of years whether we need/want to or not, the next move is something that starts coming up (at least in our minds, if not in conversation) after we've lived somewhere longer than a year. Anyhoo, the tendency I noticed is that we tend to get things done so that it's the way we want them to be, right before we move. Then everything's a disaster at the new place, or situated to "make do" until we get to those projects-- usually right before we move out. Why do we do this?<br />
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My brother's family is the black-sheep of the nomads in two respects. 1) They don't move every couple of years. They only move if it's necessary. 2) When they move in, they move everything directly into its forever home in the new house, eliminating anything that doesn't have a home, and never "making do" (I think this is because they don't know if/when they will ever move again, and they don't save stuff they can't use in this house, just in case it might work in the next one). If they decide to do a project, they just do it. Weird. I know. :)<br />
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So, based on the above, I thought that maybe I should do some of the pre-move work so that we can live in this house the way we would like to... Visionary! Here's the thing. We've always known that we're not going to live in Greenville forever. We have said, all along, since beginning our relationship, that we'd probably spend a few years in this house, then move closer to the Midwest and our extended families. We're coming up on our two year anniversary, so in theory, that move is creeping our direction. Sometimes it feels like it's rapidly approaching. Sometimes not. Either way, shouldn't our house function the way we live? Shouldn't we enjoy our home? Even if it's only for another year or so?<br />
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I got to thinking about all this and started looking around with different eyes. If I were staging this place to show prospective buyers, what would I change? How would I incorporate the elements that don't appear to fit so that we could actually live here while being prepared for short-notice showing? What's different about the way we live and the way our home functions?<br />
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I have to learn to take pictures as I'm working through these processes. Sorry, but I don't have many pictures for this.<br />
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I started with the living room, because it's an easy one. We actually spend quite a bit of time in there, and aside from life stuff, it doesn't get particularly messy. Some big thoughts for the living room:<br />
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<li>We don't own a television, so that (and its accompanying paraphernalia) is not the focal point, and is rather conspicuously absent to those who expect to see a huge screen gaping at them.</li>
<li>We have a fireplace that opens on two sides. Not back and front. Front and side. It's incredibly awkward to decorate around. It's also flush with the floor and doesn't have a mantle. </li>
<li>Our furniture is a conglomeration of stuff we've collected over the years, and most of it has at least one story. </li>
<li>The room is an L shape, with a long, thin main portion and a weird little skinny, short lip (with the 2-sided fireplace on the corner). </li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA7YhxHLrqqXqjmn3JoTvX26Hqx3G3JhhRBSAWhldmSqN2J4WuysZED0QJRQCy94Rk-aPNsSnw4PPcsNYoZIcqG52ZaGe621scXJ2SbKHTfbkFMZMsKs5n26ih5Eh9peMspEtp/s1600/IMG_20130618_010514_282.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA7YhxHLrqqXqjmn3JoTvX26Hqx3G3JhhRBSAWhldmSqN2J4WuysZED0QJRQCy94Rk-aPNsSnw4PPcsNYoZIcqG52ZaGe621scXJ2SbKHTfbkFMZMsKs5n26ih5Eh9peMspEtp/s400/IMG_20130618_010514_282.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please forgive the grainy phone picture. Nearly finished re-org of shelves.</td></tr>
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I have two <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/09064/">IKEA Expedit</a> bookshelves, <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00208646/#/60208648">5x5</a> and <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40047675/#/80071319">4x4</a> (also a matching <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50103086/#/10103088">2x4</a> that currently lives in the kitchen), side by side on the main wall. I suppose they could move, but it'd be a pain, so I decided to plan around them. I started with the bookshelves and pulled everything that wasn't a book off them, just as a starting point. Then I went through the house collecting books that didn't have a home (and some that did).<br />
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Since I'm a reader and I acquire books like a freshly washed windshield collects splatters during lovebug season in Florida, there tend to be books in every room of my home, stashed in boxes/on furniture/in closets, and randomly dropped here and there near every comfortable surface I might use for reading. I tend to be in the middle of multiple books at once, so many of them have bookmarks, (gasp!) folded page corners, or an ink pen keeping my spot. Unfortunately, I'll get sucked into another one, and I don't always finish all I've started-- especially if I misplace them or start researching a new topic.<br />
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All that to say, I found a ton of books that didn't live on the living room shelves. This caused a spontaneous reorganization of the living room shelves. I have two methods to my madness when it comes to shelves. 1) I want books organized in some way so that I can find them when I want them. My memory is not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory">eidetic</a>, but pretty sharp, so I do tend to want to look things up later for exact reference. 2) I want the shelves to be visually pleasing. With the square boxes, I have 41 individual spaces to organize, with the overall larger squares of 25 and 16 spaces, respectively. That gives me lots of options. Yay, for my inner nerd. :)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5TXiX12Koog1jnPWkfMsXLF896g_gRxVe_l4Z-J5b5zP2Si5bNp4mfgArNqS_W5GGLbKdm8rek4b6hMTzmepgFmqPoFt99xqLDQH7poqPoB0H0YnSHDT2aPWJzWF9Ln3SfKM/s1600/da2820909bcd278e73108464543b7eee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5TXiX12Koog1jnPWkfMsXLF896g_gRxVe_l4Z-J5b5zP2Si5bNp4mfgArNqS_W5GGLbKdm8rek4b6hMTzmepgFmqPoFt99xqLDQH7poqPoB0H0YnSHDT2aPWJzWF9Ln3SfKM/s200/da2820909bcd278e73108464543b7eee.jpg" width="200" /></a>All the books that hadn't previously lived on the shelves got shuffled into what was there, things got reorganized to accommodate the influx, and we wound up with books filling every cube but three. When I lived in Florida, I had the 5x5 in the living room, and had books in every other cube (13 cubes) in a checkerboard pattern. I had attempted the same thing, here, but wound up filling more cubes initially. When I pulled pretty much everything into the living room, this time, I started to realize the volume of our collection. Considering the office and the master bedroom have their own bookshelves and collections, the quantity in the living room becomes fairly impressive, even to me. I'll do another post with more detail on the bookshelves another day. </div>
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Since the shelves are now mostly filled with books, the ephemera (candles, decorative items, etc) ended up in the guest room, temporarily, until I can decide how to redistribute or store. I like what <a href="http://www.thenester.com/">The Nester</a> says about <a href="http://www.thenester.com/category/shop-the-house">"shopping" your house</a>, occasionally. I just don't tend to do it. Cutting down on clutter is giving me a better idea of what I really want the decor to be, though, so I'm not really sure how much of what has been removed will return, or at what point. We'll see.<br />
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More pictures, and the continuation of the living room on another day. Since this post has been sitting here waiting for me to finish it for more than a week, I'm going to stop here. :)<br />
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Much love,<br />
LL~</div>
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<br />Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22581415.post-77680086760069135862013-07-31T09:59:00.001-05:002013-07-31T09:59:31.974-05:00A Promise Kept: Robertson McQuilkin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBB7STPPS4MMIXBlJCu8oLSvYF-SNb8zl9FybebAfkKI0ar3bjmqCnVvDco2-b2H7erlvzJKjQ6FOj26F0hRQDsMZ9KPYIfQmE0wQNo5bx9fq-45-cQYYmndsMaM0Lr93dape1/s1600/A-Promise-Kept-600x356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBB7STPPS4MMIXBlJCu8oLSvYF-SNb8zl9FybebAfkKI0ar3bjmqCnVvDco2-b2H7erlvzJKjQ6FOj26F0hRQDsMZ9KPYIfQmE0wQNo5bx9fq-45-cQYYmndsMaM0Lr93dape1/s320/A-Promise-Kept-600x356.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I listened to the<a href="http://www.familylife.com/audio/series/recommended-series/a-promise-kept"> interviews with Robertson McQuilkin</a> on <a href="http://www.familylife.com/">familylife.com</a>, the website of Family Life Today. If you don't know his story, he was a college president who walked away from his career to care for his wife when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 55.<br />
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There were several points in the interviews (4 sessions-- see link above) where the interviewers were asking difficult questions about how hard things had been, and he just kept responding that he hadn't viewed the circumstances like that. I was thinking, "Why are you trying to make his story something that it isn't?" but the truth is that I'd be asking those questions, too.<br />
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What a beautiful story. Beautiful man who loves God and loves his wife. Does the heart good. If you have the time to listen, I recommend it. He also wrote his story in the book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Promise-Kept-Robertson-McQuilkin/dp/0842350993">A Promise Kept</a>"-- which is on my "to read" list.<br />
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Much love,<br />
LL~Loveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00034084399442955650noreply@blogger.com0