Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Unconscious Mutterings - Week # 374


Week # 374

  1. Bow out ::  
  2. remove oneself from situation
  3. Relationships :: 
  4.   never my forte
  5. Facebook ::  
  6.   sometimes fun, sometimes frightening
  7. Items ::  
  8.   too important to me
  9. Ours ::  
  10.   me and my sissy
  11. Sting ::  
  12.   Lame-o singer
  13. Hangover ::  
  14. I don't drink
  15. Contacts ::  
  16.   eye issues make it impossible for me
  17. Lonely :: 
  18.   Often when I'm around people
  19. Seven days ::  
  20.   seven days of lonely by  I Nine
 

Monday, March 22, 2010

Week # 373 - Unconscious Mutterings


  1. Burrito ::
  2.   Ew. Gross. 
  3. Spike ::
  4.   You were awesome on Buffy and Angel.  I love you.
  5. Tougher ::
  6.   Sometimes I feel like I need to be tougher on the people in my life and stop being such a doormat.
  7. Mock ::
  8.   sometimes it's just fun to do
  9. Slurp ::
  10.   soup
  11. Knock ::
  12.   knock...who's there?
  13. Conference ::
  14.   Boring, boring, boring...
  15. Madness ::
  16.   How I felt after day 3 of the blizzard....
  17. Minds ::
  18.   trying to understand my own mind
  19. Connection ::
  20.   part of the name of where I work

I Heart Monster Giveaway Fun

I Heart Monster is having a big extravaganza of giveaways to celebrate their birthday.  That means lots of chances to win lots and lots of books.



Not only do they have great reviews of books for the avid reader, but chances at free books.  Who can pass that up?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Writing Workshop: Those We Leave Behind



Prompt # 1: 1. Tell me about someone from you past who you lost touch with and who you often think about

My father died when I was eleven years old and I’ve always felt like, in a lot of ways, it was this huge defining moment in my life. Not just for the obvious reasons, but for the way that I managed to insulate myself away from most people. I went from being very outgoing, taking everyone in and trusting, to much more closed off. I’m a hard girl to get to know. I’ll let a person see glimpses and if I really like you, maybe I’ll give you about 75% of who I am, but it’s so hard for me to be 100% open with people. Over the years I’ve become gifted at keeping people at a distance. I’ve got an uncanny knack for losing touch with people, and for no real reason in most cases.

I still remember right before my father died, my mother took me and my sister, separately, to talk with our neighbor-slash-therapist about how we were feeling about our dad dying. I still very clearly remember saying, “What scares me most is losing everyone else in my life.” And I feel like, to a certain degree, that is what happened. Or at least my perception of it, especially when I was younger. I went from feeling like part of a crazy-but-together family with siblings and cousins and lots of friends hanging about, to thinking that I could only count on myself. That other people left and that was just how it was.

And when I read this prompt, I immediately thought about that. And how, when I was eleven it might not have been in my control to try to maintain those relationships, but as an adult, I can try. I just have to get over that fear, and that pretense I keep that it’s better to only count on yourself.


Monday, March 15, 2010

Unconscious Mutterings - Week 372



Week # 372


  1. Children ::
  2. no thank you
  3. Saddlebags ::
  4.   old ladies in muumuus
  5. Restraint ::
  6. something I need to practice more of
  7. Awake ::
  8.   I wish I could wake up and not feel sleepy...I wish I was a morning person...
  9. Blood ::
  10.   vampires, but not ones that are bedazzled in the sun (though I do admit I enjoy the Twilight books).
  11. Shutter ::
  12.    The wind whipped up and knocked the shutter from the window frame.
  13. Posted ::
  14. I manage to get my activity minutes posted for the Biggest Loser Challenge I'm a part of.
  15. Corn cob ::
  16. I have no real thoughts on this.  My mind just went to a place of "huh" and then to "corn on the cob."  Corn on the cob is yummy, but the kernels get stuck in your teeth and the butter drips down your chin, so that's not so cool.
  17. Flagrant :: in need of attention and getting under another's skin
  18. Fart :: smelly

one pictures sums up life...


When I saw this picture on weheartit, my first thought was of how beautiful it is.  My second thought was about how much it makes me think of life.  Not just Mother Earth, but of my own journey.  It could be anyone's story really.  Currently, as you view the photo, you're on level playing ground, the road curves a bit and in the distance you can see that things are going up, you're moving toward something...but with that knowledge comes the fact that at some point, you have to go back down and start back on the road. 

And I love the surrounding trees as well. I picture them like all the people who help/hinder us along the way.  The random stranger who makes a compliment to you on a bad day.  The best friend who always listens to you vent.  The person who cuts you off on the road.  Everyone, good and bad, is right along side you on this path.

I look at this picture and it just reminds me that life is beautiful and scary and full of unexpected curves.  And I'm okay with that.  It's taken me a long time to get to a place where I can say such a thing, but it's true. 

Friday, March 5, 2010

"There's NoBetterDeal" Contest; Enter to Win a 32" TV!

http://nobetterblog.com/contests/nobetterdeal-contest-tv/

That's right.  Go enter to win a 32" tv.

wake naturally or kinda naturally


Would anyone like to buy me a sunrise systems clock?  Apparently, alarm clocks are evil.  Okay, we all know alarm clocks are evil.  Evil beep, beep, beeping in our ears when we were perfectly content in a nice dream involving Brad Pitt and George Clooney fighting to marry you first.  However, they are also bad for our sleep rhythms and such.  And something a sunrise type clock will help rid you of.  Alas, I don't have $ 130.00 bucks, let alone $ 130.00 bucks to use for this thing...and yet, I'm intrigued.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Non-Fiction Five Challenge


A year to read five nonfiction books.  I figure this is a pretty good challenge for me as I love nonfiction books - history, politics, memoirs - and I have the whole year to get them in mid other reads.  Go check it out.

Updated 9/17/10 - completed challenge

The links to all my reviews for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge:

  1. Review of Game Change by John Heilemann
  2. Review of Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
  3. Review of My Fair Lazy by Jen Lancaster
  4. Review of The Big Short by Michael Lewis
  5. Review of I Know I Am, But What Are You by Samantha Bee







Monday, March 1, 2010

Gotta love enviromentally-friendly fashion

Awhile ago I entered a contest at Eco-Chick, one of my go-to green-living blogs, to win a lovely shirt from Excentree.  Not only are the tees so cute, but they're 100% organic and the motto for the store is 1 Garment, 1 Tree, 1 Future.  So not only did I win a free shirt, but I then got to take an access code from the tag and plant a tree.  I decided to plant my little tree in Haiti.

 
soon to be me in my tee
I'm very excited it came today.  Woo-hoo.  It sorta makes my day brighter.  I definitely had a case of the Mondays, work was busy, and on Saturday I somehow managed to do something to my foot, so I have to stay off it for a few days (doctor said no bootcamp).  This and the return of Chuck will make the world right again.  At least for today.