Aug 22, 2012 |
It’s been a great week around here. Mary tells me that all my housecleaning was actually the result of a virus, for which chocolate is the cure. Well, now I know for next time. The cleaning having been already done, I guess all I can do is indulge in chocolate now as a preventative measure for later.
I’ve truly stuck to this week’s Theme to Write It Out! There’s a direct correlation between me keeping a journal and how much other writing I accomplish. I like being able to note each night what I’ve worked on, and make a list for the next day.
I bought a box at the local craft store yesterday. It matches my house decor. I intend to use it to hold the many scraps of notes and whatnots I collect as a writer. Paper, magazine clippings, drawings. Those little bits and pieces I need to reference but have no other place to keep them in. Apparently, it also makes a great cat pillow.
Tuesday I mailed out my first ever short story submission, as well as emailed an inspirational essay. I’ve entered contests before, but these are my first ready-to-go, researched, unsolicited manuscripts. Ever. And I finally got the nerve up to send out two in one day.
I know. Exciting, right?!
I’ve a job interview next week (postponed from last week). I also took a typing test for the local school district. Can you believe their requirement is only 30 wpm? Of course, that’s because the position I’m applying for is classified as “Substitute Clerical”. Apparently, I did much better than the others because my score was the only one to merit exclamations and a shout-out from the test proctor. “Molly! You can TYPE!” *Insert happy face here*
Well, that’s Life at Bedford Manor this week. Time for you to link up and share your world!
On a personal note, I want to thank everyone who links up. You’ve all been diligent about adding the blog badge to your posts, and that has helped streamline and direct traffic back to these posts. So thank you very much for not making me require backlinks. Y’all rock!
You can also click the bottom link “Get The Code Here…” to add to your blog and the list will appear with your submitted posts as well. I encourage you to do so, so that all our readers can have the benefit of all our posts! And you can add more posts through your link and every post will show on every list. Nifty, huh? I think so!
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
What’s the Word?” Wednesdays is a link-up that allows other bloggers and readers to share whatever they want to talk about. Think of it as a virtual coffee date with some great friends. What’s going on in your world? Tell us all about it!
A few things to remember:
- Each week’s link-up is valid from Wednesday through the following Tuesday. So if you link a post today, you can still come back and link another post tomorrow! In fact, you can link up as many posts as you want.
- If you add a link, please put the badge on your post as well.
- Each week has a new link-up. Please make sure you grab the correct Badge Code.
- Be sure to check out what others are posting, and even leave a few comments.
- You can now show your “likes” by voting for your favorite links.
So, c’mon. Join the conversation. After all, a great coffee date is one where everyone gets to chat, dontcha think?
Aug 15, 2012 |
Hope, Returned.
Two weeks ago, Melanie Crutchfield challenged bloggers to post about Hope and link it to her Hope Relay 2012. As promised, she followed up with her own Closing Ceremony, honoring the many different definitions, views, and routes we each have to achieving hope. You can read her compilation, along with links to all contributors, here.
At the time, my offering was just being okay with what is. Sometimes, there’s hope in the unchanging. Sometimes, it’s okay to just be okay. Melanie inspired me to really reach forward. To create and keep creating that which goes beyond myself. To hope for something more.
And I do. I’ve tried to lose faith. I’ve wanted to give up, to not get back up again. I’ve wanted to pull the blankets up and the blinds down and stay in the darkness.
It’s impossible.
I’m tethered to hope as my life is tethered to breathing. I can not exist without it. And because of it, I’m learning to take each day as it comes. The little upsets. The big turns. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Hope is a beautiful word. And it’s my Word of the Week. What’s yours?
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
What’s the Word?” Wednesdays is a link-up that allows other bloggers and readers to share whatever they want to talk about.
Think of it as a virtual coffee date with some great friends.
What’s going on in your world? Tell us all about it!
A few things to remember:
- Each week’s link-up is valid from Wednesday through the following Tuesday. So if you link a post today, you can still come back and link another post tomorrow! In fact, you can link up as many posts as you want.
- If you add a link, please put the badge on your post as well.
- Each week has a new link-up. Please make sure you grab the correct Badge Code.
- Be sure to check out what others are posting, and even leave a few comments.
- You can now show your “likes” by voting for your favorite links.
So, c’mon. Join the conversation. After all, a great coffee date is one where everyone gets to chat, dontcha think?
Aug 8, 2012 |
I’ve been so busy the last few days, I almost forgot to write a blog post! Ever had a season like that? Everything keeps you so very busy that other things slip by? I’m glad that’s usually just for a season.
Dot’s on vacation with her aunt, uncle and cousin. They’re taking her camping. And not just camping. Ground camping. Complete with tent and sleeping bags. No RV-ing it for this trip! I can’t wait for her to come home and tell me all about it.
I’m taking advantage of her absence and getting things done around the house that have been on my To Do List for far too long. Something that wasn’t on my list but made a difference is that I bleached the floors in three of the rooms. That’s right: I used pure bleach to mop the tiles, and oh! what a difference! I didn’t think my floors were all that dirty; I just wanted to give them a better-than-usual cleaning. I can’t believe the Before-and-After. I can’t wait to do another room or two tomorrow.
My goals for this week are to have the house deep-cleaned before Dot returns home, to have my next assignment submitted to Institute of Children’s Literature, and write another chapter in our Fantasy Series. I also want to add to my Apples booklet. And let’s not forget the Safe and Sassy Party I’m hosting on Saturday.
The biggest project I have going on right now is making the commercial for Kickstarter. I call it a commercial, because that’s basically what it is: What I’m offering, and why I want pledges. My friend Wendy is helping me [read: recording, editing, and producing]. She’s amazing. We met earlier today to discuss ideas, and she came up with some great ideas. She also asked some great questions. I told her my basic ideas, and together we came up with the Commercial plot. I honestly can’t wait to have it up and running.
And that’s what I’ve been doing, and will continue to do. So as I now sit back with my cup of coffee, it’s your turn to tell what’s going with you. C’mon… you know you want to.
Here’s some topic ideas:
Read any good books lately?
Are you watching the Olmpics?
What new fall TV show are you most looking forward to?
What’s the weather where you’re at?
If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
“What’s the Word?” Wednesdays is a link-up that allows other bloggers and readers to share whatever they want to talk about.
Think of it as a virtual coffee date with some great friends.
What’s going on in your world? Tell us all about it!
A few things to remember:
- Each week’s link-up is valid from Wednesday through the following Tuesday. So if you link a post today, you can still come back and link another post tomorrow! In fact, you can link up as many posts as you want.
- If you add a link, please put the badge on your post as well.
- Each week has a new link-up. Please make sure you grab the correct Badge Code.
- Be sure to check out what others are posting, and even leave a few comments.
- You can now show your “likes” by voting for your favorite links.
So, c’mon. Join the conversation. After all, a great coffee date is one where everyone gets to chat, dontcha think?
Aug 1, 2012 |
Not only is it Wednesday again, it’s a new month! There is so much going on, I’ve actually had to write out my To Do List instead of keeping it in my head. I actually like keeping busy like this. I love having a To Do List that gets crossed off. It makes me feel productive.
Dot’s getting her driver’s license. She and her best friend are starting colleges. I’ve been playing with the idea of re-enrolling for one or two classes myself and finally finishing up my degree.
I got a burr up my saddle this morning and woke up before the sunrise (literally!) and after a few minutes of peaceful reading, I began deep cleaning the house section by section, room by room. I started a new trick: since Dot was still asleep when I was working, for every chore I needed her to complete I wrote a Stickee Note and stuck it to the door of the room. When she finished a particular task, the note went in the garbage. Of course, we only conquered one entire room together. Then she cleaned her bedroom as I went off to “work”.
“Work” today consisted of meeting with a friend and helping her start a Facebook page for her new business. You’ll read more on that in the next few days, and of course I’ll have links for you to follow. She, in turn, took me to lunch at a local taco place which gave me material for another trekaroo review.
Tonight I organized my Unemployment Folder. It’s where I keep every slip of paper they send me, copies of claim forms, and my notebook that tracks every single job application and resume I’ve turned in since July 11, 2011. Every. Single. One. At first I was overwhelmed and saddened by the amount of paperwork involved. Week after week after week of claim forms and rejection slips. A constant moment of what life is compared to what it was. And suddenly in the middle of reorganizing everything, I was overwhelmed with joy. And peace. Because I’ve made it over a year on unemployment and in that time, I’ve written and published my Cookbook, reinstated at Institute of Children’s Literature, entered contests, and developed more than a passing passion for writing. I’ve been honing my skills, and that’s never a waste of time.
So while tonight began with trepidation, it ends in celebration. And the funny thing is, this post has fashioned itself after the future. For Hope. And while that wasn’t intentional, it works. Jenn at …so this is love… invited me to participate in
“As we celebrate the Olympics, Melanie Crutchfield had the fabulous idea to pass the torch of “Hope” around the blogging community. The idea being that she has asked some fabulous folks to write about Hope, and then we ask some more fabulous folks to write about Hope and before you know it, Hope is spreading around the blogging community! Melanie is going to compile all of the posts she can at the end of the Olympics and host her own version of the closing ceremonies.“
And I thought I’d write something profoundly thoughtful and thought-provoking. But sometimes, it’s just being able to say, in the moment, that this is okay. That maybe, this is As Good As It Gets. And I have to be okay with that.
And I am. Because even if this is as good as it gets… as long as it doesn’t get any worse, I’m more than okay.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
“What’s the Word?” Wednesdays is a link-up that allows other bloggers and readers to share whatever they want to talk about.
Think of it as a virtual coffee date with some great friends.
What’s going on in your world? Tell us all about it!
A few things to remember:
- Each week’s link-up is valid from Wednesday through the following Tuesday. So if you link a post today, you can still come back and link another post tomorrow! In fact, you can link up as many posts as you want.
- If you add a link, please put the badge on your post as well.
- Each week has a new link-up. Please make sure you grab the correct Badge Code.
- Be sure to check out what others are posting, and even leave a few comments.
- You can now show your “likes” by voting for your favorite links.
So, c’mon. Join the conversation. After all, a great coffee date is one where everyone gets to chat, dontcha think?
Jul 25, 2012 |
I had Jury Duty today. At least, I was summoned. I tried to talk my way out of it but because I had inadvertently failed to show up last month, I was definitely on the books for this month with a “Failure to Appear” notice. By the time the groups were selected, I was actually looking forward to it.
I’ve sort of always wanted to serve on a jury. Maybe I watched too much “Law & Order” in the past. Maybe I’ve read too many detective books. I’m the kind of person that likes to get behind the scenes and really figure things out. I watch Director’s commentaries every chance I get. I like seeing what makes things tick. I’d love to be a part of the discovery process during a trial… as long as the trial was something like a traffic accident or simple robbery. I can’t stomach anything where people get hurt or maimed. Especially children.
During the waiting period, I struck up a conversation with a nice woman. We discovered we had a lot in common and exchanged contact information. And then my group was dismissed: The parties settled just before jury selection started.
I was at once relieved and disappointed. I’ve recently set up a routine at home. I’ve gotten into the swing of cleaning, cooking, writing, and weeding. I have a pattern. Jury would have convoluted that fine calendaring. And yet… being on a jury would have been a remarkable experience.
Ah, well. I’ll just have to wait another year until they call me back.
In the meantime, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about justice and the horrific crimes being reported from around the world. And I have a lot to say about it all. So stay tuned. Because Frankly, My Dear…
I DO GIVE A DAMN!
“What’s the Word?” Wednesdays is a link-up that allows other bloggers and readers to share whatever they want to talk about. Think of it as a virtual coffee date with some great friends. What’s going on in your world? Tell us all about it!
A few things to remember:
- Each week’s link-up is valid from Wednesday through the following Tuesday. So if you link a post today, you can still come back and link another post tomorrow! In fact, you can link up as many posts as you want.
- If you add a link, please put the badge on your post as well.
- Each week has a new link-up. Please make sure you grab the correct Badge Code.
- Be sure to check out what others are posting, and even leave a few comments.
- You can now show your “likes” by voting for your favorite links.
So, c’mon. Join the conversation. After all, a great coffee date is one where everyone gets to chat, dontcha think?
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
