Since I already told you the things I miss about my old town, here are a few upgrades in my new town that I didn't have before.
1) My awesome house. I can't say enough good things about my new house compared to my old house. It's bigger, it's brick, it has hardwood floors and a basement with a storm room and a big back yard and a huge attached garage plus a detached garage and a carport. This was exactly the house we described when we first started listing what we wanted. Of course there are a few things we want to add (to finish the work we started in the kitchen, build a fence, add a downstairs bathroom, rearrange and reorganize the princess closet) but overall we're delighted with the house.
2) Being close to my mom. Grama is 10-12 minutes away now, compared to at least 45 minutes before (and that's if there was no traffic). It's so nice to meet for lunch, go back-to-school shopping, drop the kids off when I need babysitting, borrow tools, whatever. My grandparents live right behind my parents' house, so I can see them more too. Oh, and calling them isn't a long-distance call anymore, which saves on my cell phone minutes.
3) Old Hickory Lake. We live very close to the lake. If we walk down our street and keep going through the Rock Castle grounds, we're there. When the house was built back in 1967 you could see the lake from our yard. (If you know where I live, you know that's where my street got its name.) But now the trees are taller and they obscure the view. Last weekend we did something we could never do in Smyrna: we spent part of the afternoon at the beach at Lock 3.
The downside to living near the lake, as I mentioned on Facebook tonight, is that my dog has decided that goose poop is an irresistible delicacy. I was walking her down at the lake earlier tonight while talking to my Paw Paw on the phone. (It's his 85th birthday!!) I kept having to juggle the phone while jerking Lily's leash back because she kept finding particularly succulent turds and scarfing them up. Shudder. This is what my neighborhood looks like on any given day, so it's like a freakin' smorgasbord for my sick pooch.
4) Demo's restaurant is six minutes from my house. Yes, I timed it. We used to drive to Murfreesboro to enjoy Demo's, but now we're practically neighbors. This is Dan's favorite restaurant which is fortunate because it's also pretty cheap. The four of us can go there on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday night when they have special pricing and eat for less than $25. We spend about $20 getting fast food, so this is way better.
5) Many of my other favorite restaurants are within a five to ten minute drive also, just like they were in Smyrna: Chili's, O'Charley's, Cheddar's, Zaxby's, and more. The boys are very excited because there's a Burger King here and we didn't have one in Smyrna. They've also discovered the joys of Subway, thanks to Grama.
6) Kids' Kingdom. We used to have to drive to Murfreesboro to Kids' Castle, but this park is much closer to our house. The boys spent the day there with their Grama today while I was at an in-service at school.
7) Short commute. I drive about five minutes to get to work--three if I'm running late like I was today because I remembered that I had to make a presentation at the in-service. I love how much I'm saving in gas money.
8) The Streets at Indian Lake. This mall is similar to The Avenue in Murfreesboro, but it feels cozier. The best part is the Summer Music Series: every Thursday night during the summer they have live music on the square. Mom and I go just about every week. Dan even went with us a few times. They usually have photographers walking around taking pictures for their website. Here we are a few weeks ago enjoying the show. There's a great grassy square in the center with fountains that the kids can run in, like Aaron did on this night (in the blue trunks) while his brother looks on from the left side of the photo. In this shot, Ryan looks like he's scheming. This takes the place of the fountains at Stonecrest that the boys used to run in.
9) Within a ten minute drive there are THREE ice cream stores that I didn't have close by in Smyrna: Maggie Moo's, Marble Slab, and Baskin Robbins. I know Smyrna has a BR, but it's over by Wal-Mart so I hated going there. Marble Slab is at The Streets, which makes going to hear the music on Thursday nights even better.
10) My new friends. Nothing could replace my Smyrna girls, but I'm slowly making new friends up here, mostly people I work with. Most of the teachers at my school are great and we sometimes socialize outside of school. In Smyrna most of my friends were moms who have kids the same age as my kids. The problem up here is that I taught at the same school my kids attended last year (Aaron will still be there, but Ryan is moving on to middle school). I can't really get too buddy-buddy with the other moms because it could get awkward if I have their children in my class next year. Plus, with me working full-time and being confined to my own class, I don't get to meet the other moms volunteering or going on field trips and things like that.
But, we've been attending church up here for six weeks now. This Sunday is the boys' last time to go to their current classes before they're promoted. After this weekend, Dan and I will try to find a Sunday School we like and hopefully make some friends through that.
I like my neighbors a lot, but most of them are a lot older than we are (parents of people I went to high school with).
I found a new vet for Lily and got her updated on shots Monday. The new folks seem great and they talked to her the way the staff at Premier did, so we liked them. (But we'll still miss Dr. Hatcher and his staff.)
I still have to find a family doctor, but one of the ones on my insurance list is a Tennessee Top Ten doctor for thyroid care, so we may have a winner there. I took Ryan to check out the middle school on Monday and gave him the tour. He says he's ready; I feel like crying just thinking about him wandering the halls of that great big building.
In short, we're settling in and adjusting to life on the north side, even though we still miss our friends.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Things I Miss About Smyrna
Other than the obvious (my friends!!) there are a few things that I really miss about my former town that I don't have up here. I present them to you now, in no particular order other than the random way my brain thinks of things:
1) Smyrna Public Library. Okay, I take that back. This first one isn't random--it's the MAJOR thing I miss the most. The one in Hendersonville...well, how can I say this nicely? It sucks. Just as an example, they only have six, SIX, Suzanne Brockmann books. Total. No mention of the newest one, Hot Pursuit, which will be released on July 28 and features my favorite female character in all of her books, Alyssa Locke. Meanwhile, down in Rutherford County, that title is already on order. ARGH!! If I still lived there, I'd have my name on the reserved list for it. Since I don't, I guess I'll be waiting a while to read it because I can't buy a new release hardcover when I'm on a spending slushie.
When I walked up to the counter at the Smyrna Public Library, it was like going into Cheers because everybody knew my name. Remember that? When Norm walked in and everyone yelled, "Norm!" Same thing, only they'd whisper, "Teble," because, after all, it is still a library. I miss Jimmy and Mel and Stephanie.
2) The Book Rack, my favorite used book store which is right off the square in Murfreesboro. I still have about $70 in credit there. I may have to run down there one Saturday and stock up on books so I can stop re-reading all my old books. Of course, in a couple of weeks I'll be too busy planning lessons and grading papers to have time to read.
3) The Parks. Smyrna Rec Park, Rock Springs Park, the library park (Old Rock School), the Soccer Park, the splash pad at Gregory Mills Park, Hilltop-Rosenwald...you name it, we played there. Hendersonville has a good park too, but we've been too busy to go to Drakes Creek. I really loved Rock Springs Park because it was a mile from my house, so we'd walk the dog there and back. She used to love when it had rained recently because she would jump in the creek and splash around. Now she just tries to pull me into the lake with her.
4) The Hospital track at Stonecrest. Another great walk with the dog. It's a mile from my old house, 9/10 of a mile around the track, and another mile home. Great little 3-mile outdoor exercise with the doggie. Sometimes we'd walk to the vet, get her nails clipped and walk back. Which leads me to numbers 5 and 6...
5) Premier Vet Care. I loved our old vet, Dr. Hatcher. They were SO good to Lily. Kinda like the librarians knowing my name, we'd walk in and all the nurses would say, "Oh look! It's Lily!" They always fit us in for appointments, they were never too busy to answer questions, they loved my dog, and they clipped her nails for free anytime I dropped in. FREE! Up here I have to pay $11-15 each time.
6) Stonecrest Family Physicians. Speaking of the hospital, I miss my former doctor, Christopher Thompson (the one on the back, right of the picture in the link). Even though we had to wait a long time to see him, he was a good doctor. He'd tell it to you straight if you needed to lose weight, lay off the caffeine, lower your cholesterol, or whatever. He wasn't perfect, but he was familiar. I didn't have to repeat my entire medical history to him every time I went in there. He treated our whole family (Dan and I for ten years, the kids for the past four), so he knew us all really well. I don't want to start over up here with someone I don't know.
7) Thurman Francis Arts Academy. Although I enjoy NOT watching the boys suffer through three hours of homework every night, there are certain aspects of the boys' old school that I will miss: the arts curriculum, the music, the dramatic productions, the dance performances, the "insular society" that you get in a magnet school, a select group of teachers. The varying ability levels in the boys' classes this year were so different from what they're used to. It was an adjustment, but they did great last year. I wish they were in the same school K-8 like they would've been at TFAA, but Ryan will go to middle school this year. Ugh. Nine days from now. Mommy is SO not ready for that.
8) Blue Coast Burrito. But we're getting one up here soon, so I can cross that off the list in a few weeks. The new one has the sign up and they're hiring/training staff. It won't be long until I can enjoy a fish taco or peasant plate again.
9) Starbucks. Okay, so there's one in Hendersonville, but it's farther away. It's right smack in the middle of Main Street and I never go that way. I want one near me like I used to have. Isn't there supposed to be a Starbucks on every corner of America by now? I'm pretty sure that was in the Constitution or something. I'll have to look that up.
10) My fenced back yard. Someday we'll put up another fence (see: spending slushie), but for now I have to walk the beast on a leash every time she needs to tinkle. She's not getting enough exercise, which is really not good for labs. They go a little loco when they don't get enough running time. I walk her around the neighborhood, but it's not enough. She needs space to stage her daily "crazy puppy freakouts," where she runs at top speed in circles, smiling gleefully, darting around people and stationary objects in her frenzied attempt to break the sound barrier. Right now she's performing these in the basement rec room and it's just a matter of time before something (or someONE) gets broken.
Okay, enough whining about what I don't have. Sometime soon I'll post some of the positive aspects of my new town and my new house. Right now I'm feeling a bit nostalgic.
And craving a fish taco.
Sigh.
1) Smyrna Public Library. Okay, I take that back. This first one isn't random--it's the MAJOR thing I miss the most. The one in Hendersonville...well, how can I say this nicely? It sucks. Just as an example, they only have six, SIX, Suzanne Brockmann books. Total. No mention of the newest one, Hot Pursuit, which will be released on July 28 and features my favorite female character in all of her books, Alyssa Locke. Meanwhile, down in Rutherford County, that title is already on order. ARGH!! If I still lived there, I'd have my name on the reserved list for it. Since I don't, I guess I'll be waiting a while to read it because I can't buy a new release hardcover when I'm on a spending slushie.
When I walked up to the counter at the Smyrna Public Library, it was like going into Cheers because everybody knew my name. Remember that? When Norm walked in and everyone yelled, "Norm!" Same thing, only they'd whisper, "Teble," because, after all, it is still a library. I miss Jimmy and Mel and Stephanie.
2) The Book Rack, my favorite used book store which is right off the square in Murfreesboro. I still have about $70 in credit there. I may have to run down there one Saturday and stock up on books so I can stop re-reading all my old books. Of course, in a couple of weeks I'll be too busy planning lessons and grading papers to have time to read.
3) The Parks. Smyrna Rec Park, Rock Springs Park, the library park (Old Rock School), the Soccer Park, the splash pad at Gregory Mills Park, Hilltop-Rosenwald...you name it, we played there. Hendersonville has a good park too, but we've been too busy to go to Drakes Creek. I really loved Rock Springs Park because it was a mile from my house, so we'd walk the dog there and back. She used to love when it had rained recently because she would jump in the creek and splash around. Now she just tries to pull me into the lake with her.
4) The Hospital track at Stonecrest. Another great walk with the dog. It's a mile from my old house, 9/10 of a mile around the track, and another mile home. Great little 3-mile outdoor exercise with the doggie. Sometimes we'd walk to the vet, get her nails clipped and walk back. Which leads me to numbers 5 and 6...
5) Premier Vet Care. I loved our old vet, Dr. Hatcher. They were SO good to Lily. Kinda like the librarians knowing my name, we'd walk in and all the nurses would say, "Oh look! It's Lily!" They always fit us in for appointments, they were never too busy to answer questions, they loved my dog, and they clipped her nails for free anytime I dropped in. FREE! Up here I have to pay $11-15 each time.
6) Stonecrest Family Physicians. Speaking of the hospital, I miss my former doctor, Christopher Thompson (the one on the back, right of the picture in the link). Even though we had to wait a long time to see him, he was a good doctor. He'd tell it to you straight if you needed to lose weight, lay off the caffeine, lower your cholesterol, or whatever. He wasn't perfect, but he was familiar. I didn't have to repeat my entire medical history to him every time I went in there. He treated our whole family (Dan and I for ten years, the kids for the past four), so he knew us all really well. I don't want to start over up here with someone I don't know.
7) Thurman Francis Arts Academy. Although I enjoy NOT watching the boys suffer through three hours of homework every night, there are certain aspects of the boys' old school that I will miss: the arts curriculum, the music, the dramatic productions, the dance performances, the "insular society" that you get in a magnet school, a select group of teachers. The varying ability levels in the boys' classes this year were so different from what they're used to. It was an adjustment, but they did great last year. I wish they were in the same school K-8 like they would've been at TFAA, but Ryan will go to middle school this year. Ugh. Nine days from now. Mommy is SO not ready for that.
8) Blue Coast Burrito. But we're getting one up here soon, so I can cross that off the list in a few weeks. The new one has the sign up and they're hiring/training staff. It won't be long until I can enjoy a fish taco or peasant plate again.
9) Starbucks. Okay, so there's one in Hendersonville, but it's farther away. It's right smack in the middle of Main Street and I never go that way. I want one near me like I used to have. Isn't there supposed to be a Starbucks on every corner of America by now? I'm pretty sure that was in the Constitution or something. I'll have to look that up.
10) My fenced back yard. Someday we'll put up another fence (see: spending slushie), but for now I have to walk the beast on a leash every time she needs to tinkle. She's not getting enough exercise, which is really not good for labs. They go a little loco when they don't get enough running time. I walk her around the neighborhood, but it's not enough. She needs space to stage her daily "crazy puppy freakouts," where she runs at top speed in circles, smiling gleefully, darting around people and stationary objects in her frenzied attempt to break the sound barrier. Right now she's performing these in the basement rec room and it's just a matter of time before something (or someONE) gets broken.
Okay, enough whining about what I don't have. Sometime soon I'll post some of the positive aspects of my new town and my new house. Right now I'm feeling a bit nostalgic.
And craving a fish taco.
Sigh.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Got Books?
Some of you might be looking at that column over there on the right and saying to yourself, "What's up with Brewer re-reading all those books?" No? You haven't noticed that I've been re-reading all my old favorites? You don't sit by your computer awaiting the next installment from my ultra-chic and fantabulous life? You're just not that into me? Well, too bad because I'm going to explain anyway.
See, I'm a teacher. And it's summer. Know what that means? No paycheck. For the upcoming '09-'10 school year I'll have twelve-month check distribution, but that wasn't an option this year. So, what did we do? We bought a house and several new things to go in it. We're smart like that.
Ordinarily this would not be a problem but in this particular summer Dan didn't have a paycheck either. Long story short...we're on what my friend Kathleen calls a "spending slushie" until I get my next paycheck in mid-August. It's not quite a spending freeze, but it's darn close. With very little money in the budget for extras, and knowing I just spent money on my new Miche bag (which should be here soon--I'm so excited), I just can't justify spending money on new books. So, I've been reading a bunch of older well-loved titles.
Mom just bought Finger-Licking Fifteen and let me borrow it so that I could read something written this year. What are you reading now? What else have you read this summer?
See, I'm a teacher. And it's summer. Know what that means? No paycheck. For the upcoming '09-'10 school year I'll have twelve-month check distribution, but that wasn't an option this year. So, what did we do? We bought a house and several new things to go in it. We're smart like that.
Ordinarily this would not be a problem but in this particular summer Dan didn't have a paycheck either. Long story short...we're on what my friend Kathleen calls a "spending slushie" until I get my next paycheck in mid-August. It's not quite a spending freeze, but it's darn close. With very little money in the budget for extras, and knowing I just spent money on my new Miche bag (which should be here soon--I'm so excited), I just can't justify spending money on new books. So, I've been reading a bunch of older well-loved titles.
Mom just bought Finger-Licking Fifteen and let me borrow it so that I could read something written this year. What are you reading now? What else have you read this summer?
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
You thought my hair was short before...
Actually my hair used to be really long...until May 4th. I haven't had it cut since then. Until today.
See, when I went to get it cut before I asked for a chin-length bob with a few long, wispy layers around my face and side-swept bangs. I even took pictures with me as an example. The stylist, however, had a different interpretation of a bob haircut. I think she gave me a Jim. I have no idea what that means, and apparently neither did she. I ended up with a crazy shag cut with choppy, chunky, very short layers (we're talking two inches long in places) all over my head. It was, well, weird, but a lot of my friends liked it when I flipped it up in the back so it was okay. Whatever. It's just hair. No big deal. That is, until I got the bill.
See, I spoke with the owner of the salon before I went there and she quoted me a ten dollar price since I was donating the hair to Locks of Love. I paid extra for the blowout because I knew I'd never be able to style that cut without some assistance. My bill was $30 and I tipped $7 (I KNOW I shouldn't have tipped her for a bad cut. I KNOW!! But I'm such a wuss I did it anyway) which brings us to a grand total of $37. The charge on my credit card was $67. Now, I'm a forgiving person, generally speaking. I'll tip after a really bad cut but NO WAY was I paying that much money for it.
So today I finally decided to put on my big girl panties and go back to the salon to straighten this matter out. I was nervous because I hate confrontations. The salon owner looked up the transaction, found the original receipt, and said that they only charged me $37. I showed her my bill. Long story short--after a lot of back and forth, we called the credit card company and they said I had indeed been charged too much by the salon. The owner said that the only way she knew to handle this was to make the original stylist cut my hair again at no charge.
I politely explained to her that I would never let that skanky 'ho near my head again, only I was a little classier about it. By then two other stylists had come over to see what was going on. One of them, a sweet girl named Shannon with big blue eyes and really pretty hair of her own, said, "I'll cut it for her. " When the owner explained to her that she'd be working for no pay, Shannon said, "I'll take one for the team. She was wronged and we need to make it right." Then the two of us sliced and diced the hair cutting ability of the other stylist for the next fifteen minutes while she fingercombed my hair and tsk, tsked about the job the other lady did on me.
We agreed that we the scraggly ends of my hair needed to be cut off so that the bottom could grow out fuller and the layers could catch up to grow into the bob I originally wanted. So now I have a much shorter 'do that my husband says is just like me, short and perky. If I curled it, it would look a little like Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, only blondish. I wish my hair was still long like Amy's. And I wish I had Amy's hot little body. Dang, you could bounce a quarter off that butt.
I'll post pictures when I get really brave. Or a butt like Amy's.
See, when I went to get it cut before I asked for a chin-length bob with a few long, wispy layers around my face and side-swept bangs. I even took pictures with me as an example. The stylist, however, had a different interpretation of a bob haircut. I think she gave me a Jim. I have no idea what that means, and apparently neither did she. I ended up with a crazy shag cut with choppy, chunky, very short layers (we're talking two inches long in places) all over my head. It was, well, weird, but a lot of my friends liked it when I flipped it up in the back so it was okay. Whatever. It's just hair. No big deal. That is, until I got the bill.
See, I spoke with the owner of the salon before I went there and she quoted me a ten dollar price since I was donating the hair to Locks of Love. I paid extra for the blowout because I knew I'd never be able to style that cut without some assistance. My bill was $30 and I tipped $7 (I KNOW I shouldn't have tipped her for a bad cut. I KNOW!! But I'm such a wuss I did it anyway) which brings us to a grand total of $37. The charge on my credit card was $67. Now, I'm a forgiving person, generally speaking. I'll tip after a really bad cut but NO WAY was I paying that much money for it.
So today I finally decided to put on my big girl panties and go back to the salon to straighten this matter out. I was nervous because I hate confrontations. The salon owner looked up the transaction, found the original receipt, and said that they only charged me $37. I showed her my bill. Long story short--after a lot of back and forth, we called the credit card company and they said I had indeed been charged too much by the salon. The owner said that the only way she knew to handle this was to make the original stylist cut my hair again at no charge.
I politely explained to her that I would never let that skanky 'ho near my head again, only I was a little classier about it. By then two other stylists had come over to see what was going on. One of them, a sweet girl named Shannon with big blue eyes and really pretty hair of her own, said, "I'll cut it for her. " When the owner explained to her that she'd be working for no pay, Shannon said, "I'll take one for the team. She was wronged and we need to make it right." Then the two of us sliced and diced the hair cutting ability of the other stylist for the next fifteen minutes while she fingercombed my hair and tsk, tsked about the job the other lady did on me.
We agreed that we the scraggly ends of my hair needed to be cut off so that the bottom could grow out fuller and the layers could catch up to grow into the bob I originally wanted. So now I have a much shorter 'do that my husband says is just like me, short and perky. If I curled it, it would look a little like Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, only blondish. I wish my hair was still long like Amy's. And I wish I had Amy's hot little body. Dang, you could bounce a quarter off that butt.
I'll post pictures when I get really brave. Or a butt like Amy's.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Money, Hematomas, and Treasures
Just in case you were wondering...
(And when I say "f-ing" words in this blog, I'm thinking the really bad one in my head. Sue me.)
- Mom found her money bag this morning. It was with her camera, which she realized was missing yesterday and assumed was gone forever along with her money. YAY!
- Even though my stereotactic biopsy was two flipping weeks ago, I still haven't healed completely. I now have a hard, painful, golf-ball-sized lump in my breast that the surgeon's nurse thinks is a hematoma. I have to wrap myself up in an Ace bandage like a freaking mummy and alternate heat and ice to try to shrink it down. Which is just peachy, because I do so enjoy cutting off the blood and oxygen supply to the middle portion of my body. Feels like a frickin' corset.
(And when I say "f-ing" words in this blog, I'm thinking the really bad one in my head. Sue me.)
- Most of the leftover garage sale treasures were picked up today by a charity. Dad got another truckload of stuff to take to some of the young people who work with him. Now I only have one and a half garages filled with stuff. Some of it is going on Craig's list to be sold and the rest is going to the women's shelter.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Remind me to never do this again
Well the garage sale to end all garage sales finally ended yesterday. Hallelujah amen.
We got rid of a bunch of stuff, even though my carport is STILL full of crap...I mean treasures. Dan and the kids and I did fairly well. We made enough to pay for our lawnmower repair, Dan's repair kit to fix his own garage sale treasure (don't ask--this will have to be its own post), and my new Miche purse (with the Jayma and Pink Zoe shells, which I adore and they're not even here yet).
Mom did not do quite as well, unfortunately. She made quite a bit of money, then promptly put her Ziploc bag of money down somewhere and never saw it again. We've looked through the trash, the cars, both garages, and it's nowhere to be found. Poor Mom.
I'm never, ever having another yard sale again. When you take our proceeds and divide by how many hours of work went into the sale, I think we made about thirteen cents an hour. However, if you consider the fact that I was prepared to chunk all our stuff at the Goodwill donation center and get nothing for it, I guess it was worth it. But, mark my words, we're NEVER doing this again.
At least until next year.
We got rid of a bunch of stuff, even though my carport is STILL full of crap...I mean treasures. Dan and the kids and I did fairly well. We made enough to pay for our lawnmower repair, Dan's repair kit to fix his own garage sale treasure (don't ask--this will have to be its own post), and my new Miche purse (with the Jayma and Pink Zoe shells, which I adore and they're not even here yet).
Mom did not do quite as well, unfortunately. She made quite a bit of money, then promptly put her Ziploc bag of money down somewhere and never saw it again. We've looked through the trash, the cars, both garages, and it's nowhere to be found. Poor Mom.
I'm never, ever having another yard sale again. When you take our proceeds and divide by how many hours of work went into the sale, I think we made about thirteen cents an hour. However, if you consider the fact that I was prepared to chunk all our stuff at the Goodwill donation center and get nothing for it, I guess it was worth it. But, mark my words, we're NEVER doing this again.
At least until next year.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
What's Your Passion?
I told my boss yesterday that I have to take a couple of days off during the first week of school to have surgery and I'm still employed, so life is good. Let's just hope I heal quickly over the weekend, because I do NOT want to take Monday off too. Surgery is scheduled for August 6th, so if you wouldn't mind praying for me, I would GREATLY appreciate it.
I'm a little bummed mixed with relieved this week that I'm not in Washington, D.C. for RWA National Conference. I'm relieved because, with everything else going on around here, there's no way I could've fit that into my schedule. We've spent the last three days setting up my classroom and setting up for this giant yard sale that is taking over my house. And it's supposed to rain tonight and on and off Thursday and Friday, but I'll think about that later.
I'm bummed because I haven't written anything in a while. A Loooong While. I even had to let my RWA membership expire while we get our financial house a little more settled. Recently a friend asked me to critique her first three chapters and wanted me to tell her if she should quit writing. Ugh. Might as well ask me if she should quit breathing. See, if you're a writer, you have to write. It's not an optional thing. If there's a story rolling around in your head, you have to get it out on paper (or computer screen) or you'll go mad. That's where I am right now.
What with selling one house and buying another, moving, going back to teaching full-time, being a mama of two rowdy boys and a rambunctious lab, playing Bejeweled Blitz, living in two different counties, and the general chaos of my life in the last year, I have not had time to write anything more than this blog and lesson plans. I need that outlet to keep me relatively sane. Thus, my current level of crazy.
If there's something you love to do, make time for it. I'm going to try to remember that, too.
I'm a little bummed mixed with relieved this week that I'm not in Washington, D.C. for RWA National Conference. I'm relieved because, with everything else going on around here, there's no way I could've fit that into my schedule. We've spent the last three days setting up my classroom and setting up for this giant yard sale that is taking over my house. And it's supposed to rain tonight and on and off Thursday and Friday, but I'll think about that later.
I'm bummed because I haven't written anything in a while. A Loooong While. I even had to let my RWA membership expire while we get our financial house a little more settled. Recently a friend asked me to critique her first three chapters and wanted me to tell her if she should quit writing. Ugh. Might as well ask me if she should quit breathing. See, if you're a writer, you have to write. It's not an optional thing. If there's a story rolling around in your head, you have to get it out on paper (or computer screen) or you'll go mad. That's where I am right now.
What with selling one house and buying another, moving, going back to teaching full-time, being a mama of two rowdy boys and a rambunctious lab, playing Bejeweled Blitz, living in two different counties, and the general chaos of my life in the last year, I have not had time to write anything more than this blog and lesson plans. I need that outlet to keep me relatively sane. Thus, my current level of crazy.
If there's something you love to do, make time for it. I'm going to try to remember that, too.
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