Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Oh yeah~

I'll get this layout figured out sooner or later. There will be tids and bits on here, paintings, maybe some stories or part of, but it's just jumbles and mumbles. Laters!

Oops! It's been a while~

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. What's happened since the last post?

I changed jobs. I left JoAnn Fabrics and accepted a position on Ft. Drum as a Child Youth Program Assistant at a Child Development Center. Stressful job but I love it. I think the main stress comes from all of the regulations we have to follow. I really enjoy the people I work with.

My son, Matthew, married a sweet girl, Ren, in Oct. 2012. That was exciting!
My son, Michael, has been dating (also) a sweet girl, Colette, for 2 years. 

Hubby came back from S. Korea only to go to Africa. He came back from Africa to be sent by his civilian job to Alabama. He was home for 2 weeks but is now working weekly in Vermont. 
I haven't worked on any books in a while. Just no time. I've done a little painting, I'll post either links or pics. I'm going to be teaching a few painting classes soon. That will be fun. 

So, yes, this is a short post but now that we've removed the cobwebs, it will be easier to jump back into the blogging again. 










Wednesday, April 27, 2011

500 word final

Ok, supposedly this is fixed so it wont post everywhere.

Here's the final project for the writing class. We had to submit part of a creative piece, limited to 500 words, of something that is over 500 words or going to be over 500 words. So, you can tell that this piece is continued, yet you're not sure. I chose a creative non-fiction, or a "faction" if you will.

It hasn't been graded yet. She'll probably tear it up, lol, but that's ok. I only missed one on the final! (oh, and the first 320 words were on the blog a week a so or ago so it may seem familiar at first).


The Life Of
John Garrison
 A.K.A. John Johnston, Jeremiah Johnson, and “Liver Eating Johnson”
      Seeking refuge in the woods, away from the horrors of war and his past, Jeremiah knew that life here would be hard but he did not realize the first winter would be this hard. Jeremiah was cold. His feet were wet and frozen, he was afraid to move his toes for fear they would break like ice sickles. His legs were so cold that they were numb, as were his hands and fingers. He had frost on is eyelashes, on his beard and mustache. His jaw was sore from clenching his shivering teeth for so long. His hunger was gnawing a hole through to his backside, his last meal being two days ago. He’d already missed a rabbit, two squirrels and this morning’s fishing didn’t pan out either.  In this time of desperation, he hoped his aim was true. If he missed the porcupine, he would just have to go hungry until tomorrow. The thought of a warm fire was welcoming but the thought of only warm water for supper was not.
     Taking a deep breath, Jeremiah blew into his cupped hands repeatedly, yet silently, to warm them with the hopes of gaining more movement from his fingers. Trying to relax the shivers out of his muscles, he carefully aimed his barrel at the porcupine. Squeezing slowly, a loud bang and a puff of smoke ensued! Did he hit it? Standing up, his cold and creaking muscles and joints seemed louder than walking on dry twigs; he started to walk over to where the porcupine should be laying. So many hopes and prayers were weighing heavily on this moment.

     Wearing his new porcupine hat, Jeremiah set off for the day’s chores. He was beginning to feel adjusted to life in the woods. Today he would gather wood for fire, check his animal traps, and decide where he would plant a garden when spring arrives. With a belly full of porcupine stew, he didn’t notice he was being watched until it was too late. Suddenly, he felt the heat and smelled the stench of the breath the same time the slobber and teeth clamped down upon his arm. The full force of a train knocked him down as a huge, moist, dirty paw hit and pushed his head down into the ground, ripping skin and flesh to the bone. 

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Matt--- when ya get a chance---

So, ya... Matt, when ya get a chance, tell me how to get this thing so it doesn't post on facebook. If anyone there wants to follow my ramblings they can just follow my blog. No one needs to be bothered with the nonsense unless it's something they choose to be bothered with. 


This particular blog will be short. Have to get a drink cuz I'm thirsty and am going to take a nap. Rather tired lately. Long story about that and I'll fill you in after we remove the facebook connection. 


Anyway, off for a nap, then back to homework in a bit. 


Later gators, mmwah!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Ok, time to post....finally.

Not sure why but for some reason these blog entries are suddenly posting on facebook. I'll figure it out and stop it, it will take a minute or two though. 


April 17th and it's snowing. We have about an inch of new snow now. It looks nice and fresh, but I think I missed Spring. It snowed here one time on Mother's Day. I remember when I was about 18 and it snowed in Burney, Ca. on July 4th. Mom and I were sitting on the football field waiting for it to get dark so we could watch the fireworks and lo and behold it started snowing. It didn't last too long but it was enough to cover the blanket.
I've heard there was a summer here that never got above 60 degrees. They called it "The year without a summer". That sounds just peachy.


Mike's still looking for an apartment in Watertown. Damn things are hard to come by unless you want to pay $750 for a one bdrm plus utilities. 


Have to do a lot of painting starting this week. I have a donation of a chair to do then I need to get busy and do paintings to sell. I can't do anymore to "donate" or to give away. I think I'm going to approach an idea: I'm going to put a few paintings on fb, then set a starting price. Then tell people that if they're interested in bidding on them, they can send a silent auction price to me, via fb email. I think that way people can buy the paintings they're interested in, not feel intimidated by others, and I wont feel like I have to offer a painting to any one person at any certain price. Sound good? I think so. What do you think?

A LITTLE BIT OF ME: Creative NON-fiction Under 500 words for class

A LITTLE BIT OF ME: Creative NON-fiction Under 500 words for class: "Haven't blogged in forever but don't have time now so I'm just going to upload the latest Writing class homework. I'll blog this week...hope..."

Creative NON-fiction Under 500 words for class

Haven't blogged in forever but don't have time now so I'm just going to upload the latest Writing class homework. I'll blog this week...hopefully. 

     The Life Of
                                                     John Garrison
                              A.K.A. John Johnston, Jeremiah Johnson, and “Liver Eating Johnson”
       Seeking refuge in the woods, away from the horrors of war and his past, Jeremiah knew that life here would be hard but he didn’t realize the first winter would be this hard. Jeremiah was cold. His feet were wet and frozen, he was afraid to move his toes for fear they would break like ice sickles. His legs were so cold that they were numb, as were his hands and fingers. He had frost on is eyelashes, on his beard and mustache. His jaw was sore from clenching his shivering teeth for so long. His hunger was gnawing a hole through to his backside, his last meal being two days ago. He’d already missed a rabbit, two squirrels and this morning’s fishing  didn’t pan out either.  In this time of desperation, he hoped his aim was true. If he missed the porcupine, he’d just have to go hungry until tomorrow. The thought of a warm fire was welcoming but the thought of only warm water for supper was not.

      Taking a deep breath, Jeremiah blew into his cupped hands repeatedly, yet silently, to warm them with the hopes of gaining more movement from his fingers. Trying to consciously relax the shivers out of his muscles, he carefully aimed his barrel at the porcupine. Squeezing slowly, a loud bang and a puff of smoke ensued! Did he hit it? Standing up, his cold and creaking muscles and joints seemed louder than walking on dry twigs; he started to walk over to where the porcupine should be laying. So many hopes and prayers were weighing heavily on this moment.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Been a while~~

I know, I haven't blogged in a while. Been super busy lately and this will probably be short.


Picked up hubby from Vermont the other day. He had a shitty time trying to get home from S. Korea. It took over 8 days. They changed his flight status at least twice a day, every day that week. Finally home.....it's nice.


UPSTAIRS IS 98% DONE! Just need to have them touch up a few spots of paint and put in the smoke detector. Then we have to move things back into the room. 
It looks awesome. I don't want to put anything in the room because it looks great as is! I'll have to post pictures when I get it all done. 


Ok, gonna go. this is short but that's ok!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Room update 2/28




Update on the bedroom. The walls are finished except for the built in gun cabinet. Soon we'll put the carpet in, the hall door up and the wood and shower in the bathroom.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Upstairs and bathroom updates






Updates on the upstairs bedroom and the new bathroom swivel faucet. Soon they'll have wood in the bathroom and carpet (or whatever we choose for the flooring).



Quickest reply on query letter

Well this is the quickest reply I've received from an agent on a query letter since starting this crap. Oh and I've received this letter from others so I do believe it's their "form" letter.  It took all of 1 hour and 13 minutes for her to reply:


Thank you for thinking of me, but I do not feel that I am a good fit for this.  All my best, Sara 
Sara Crowe
Harvey Klinger Agency




Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Howdy all

Well, I've finished moving the bedroom into the art room.  Took almost 3 days and every bit of energy I could muster. Talk about heavy furniture. After they finish the walls and put the carpet in I'll have to have Mike help me move it back. Things wont slide as easily I'm sure! I do believe I will feel this for quite some time.


Gabe has gas. Enough said.



Saturday, February 19, 2011

New Post

Good Morning to all my wonderful followers~ lol, Matt....

So it seems that I have to clean out my bedroom, move it into the art room, all of it, then they can put the wood on the walls and ceiling. Then have the flooring put in, then move everything back into that room, including the stuff in the art room so they can put the flooring in there. Talk about a real pain in the ass. They haven't finished the bathroom or the closet yet, they haven't put the door up in the hallway or framed in the art room door. I'm sick of it and want it over with.
Don wants to holler at them but it would just make things worse and awkward so I'd rather that not happen. 


On another front, we had two beautiful spring like days. Temperatures were 36 and 48 but the wind was atrocious. It was worse wind than Iowa has and that's saying a lot!! Now the temperature is dropping and is at 20 and the snow is beginning to swirl around and around. I hope we don't get too much. I'm glad though that the snow is finally off of the roof now. We did have a few spots that had a couple of inches left on it but that's ok.


Ann Allswell--- where do we go from here? Any suggestions? I thought maybe the town criers daughter, that's the main storyline actually but a village and dad's always looking for a trouble maker? A coastal town and the daughter drowned? I did start an idea and sent it to Matt but he never gave feedback on that one.....where to go....what to do....hmmmmm


Wonder how Matt's allergies/head cold is doing? sent a text....never got a reply....


Did you know Jack the Ripper was left handed? 


Guess I'll heat a cup of coffee and in about 25 minutes get upstairs and get started on something or another. May have to disassemble the desk and table and get rid of those. If Mike doesn't want the brown desk, I'm going to call Vickie, she takes 99% of everything and uses it for something or another. 


3 weeks and Don will be home. That's pretty cool. 


Well, I've blogged and could probably keep chatting for hours. You know me....yackity yack yack. If you look at my report cards from elementary school, they all say "talks too much" or "would be an A student if she applied herself more instead of spending so much time socializing", etc. Speaking of which, I located two of my elementary school friends on facebook last week..or the week before. Della Kerr and Roberta Stiles. Very cool.  They both look the same. They hang out together too so that was pretty neat. Della's silly, she actually thought we went to high school together for a bit and tried to add me to her high school yearbook on facebook. Nope, just up to 7th grade. Then I went to O'Brien middle school for 8th grade in Sparks, Nevada. Then Burney for high school. Thrilling I know.


Later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Time to post

  It's been a while since the last boring post so it's time to post again. Funny thing is, I almost forgot how to do this.

 Nothing new here, tons of crappy snow and ice build up. I climbed the ladder today and raked snow off of the roof. Everyone else is chipping the ice build up and worrying about ruining their shingles. I decided to put salt on ice in the gutters so I'm hoping that it will melt enough to move things when, or if, the sun comes out.

  Got a very nice rejection letter from Chris Richman at Upstart Crow Literary.

"Thanks so much for thinking of me for HUMPTY DUMPTY'S FALL INTO TROUBLE. After taking a look at the material, I'm sorry to report I'm going to pass on the chance to see more of this project. It's no exaggeration when I say I'm being incredibly picky with the material I take on, and I want to make sure every writer and manuscript I sign is something I'm behind one hundred percent.

As I’m sure you know, opinions vary so much from one person to another. I hope you’ll find an agent who feels strongly about your work and can bring the passion that it deserves. Best of luck to you!"

  Yes, it's a rejection letter but he was polite about it. Others have either bothered not replying at all or just saying, "Sorry, it's not what we're looking for at this time."  So, yeah, this was nice. Could have been better if it was a positive reply of course, but that's ok.  Story needs work anyway. 

    Speaking of which, I should edit it again. Probably should start on Ann Allswell again. What's it gonna be? A village? A coastal area? More rejection fodder?  

Whatever......... 
  

Thursday, February 3, 2011

code NOSHADOW for 20% off order lulu.com! 20% off of Random Stranger!  This book is sweeping the NATION!
Costs $22 at lulu.com, that's including shipping and handling. If you're too cheap or just don't have the money, or would rather blow it on some fattening McDonalds and other crap, then you can get the eBook at Barnes and Noble for $5 and in about 6 weeks Amazon and other fine retailers will carry the paperback at a lower price. Lulu charges the purchaser publishing costs, that's why it's more expensive there.
SO BUY THE BOOK!! You'll love it. Murder, mayhem, trickery, love, etc. He even kills off waitresses....with cool names too.


So, contractor was here for an hour and a half. Maybe he'll come back later. I wish they would finish this stuff. My bathroom closet stuff is on the couch. Everything that was in the walk-in closet is in my room, along with their tools and wood. Can't get anything accomplished because they are constantly walking up and down the stairs into the basement. Very, very annoying. Hope I have enough to pay them. Glad I'm not paying them by the hour or by the day.
Sleeping in the guest bedroom, which also has bathroom stuff and office stuff from the room upstairs in it, is a pain in the butt. Haven't slept in my bed since the end of December.


The weather has been terrible. Tons of snow and very cold. Speaking of cold-- Matthew's sick again. I hope they figure out why he has had so many problems with his respiratory/sinuses this year. It's not good to be that sick all the time. Yesterday and the day before he was sicker than a dog. Now poor Bob and Haley have it. They need to stop kissing each other.


Almost sold a painting yesterday for $800.  Problem was- paintings gone. FRIG FUDGE FUDGE FRILL! Needless to say, it really bummed me out. Found some more companies that buy artwork at good prices, will check them out.


Submitted Humpty to another agent. I know they wont like it. It probably needs to be shorter, funnier, better. Have my Bob doing artwork for it. I'll probably give it another week or so then look into Pubit. Wish Matt would get a chance to finish reading/editing it. I'm going to go over it again. I don't think it's a bad book. I also don't really see how or where I can shorten it. I think I'll get back to Ann Allswell too. Not good at writing so it's more like "who can I fool into paying for my writing?". 


I have to get exercising while I have a chance before the contractor shows up. Then some work around here and get back to Matt's book. He killed off Julie the waitress. He better not have based her on me because he said she had some pretty good forehead wrinkles and I DON'T. So, he better just watch his little self.


Later Gators

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

1st Blog post

People have told me that I need to blog. Why? Probably because I bitch too much or offer too much unwanted and unsolicited advice. So, now I've started a blog. 
Not sure where to go from here though. 


We're supposed to get a bad storm, it's going to cover most of the U.S. Have you ever noticed that anyone over 30 talks about weather when they're not sure what to talk about? Sign of aging I think.


Very annoyed lately with people who are overly sensitive, is that the politically correct term? How about touchy? Whiny? or is that Winey? Who knows? Whatever. The point is you can't say anything, no matter how non-judgmental it is, without someone crying and taking offense. Just the other day I suggested I and someone else should get together and ditch a friend, all said in fun and humor, which was obvious in the thread. However, these other people took it to heart and were offended and, reading between the lines, were totally pissed and full of attitude. Why? Who the fudge knows? Heaven forbid someone make a joke. Nothing was malicious. Nothing was intended to be mean. It was just a comment of "well if they stood you up, we'll get together and stand them up, lol". Now, if they were to read this blog, I guarantee they would get all indignant and say they never took it that way at all. If you had read the thread you would have seen what I saw. Anyway, that's just one example. 


Oh, you wanna hear some total bullshit? Someone took an email I sent and used it in public to try and gather an edge on someone else I know. Thankfully, the people in charge didn't believe it. This same someone changed a few emails from me a few years ago and sent them to a few people saying I said things. Obviously I didn't say these things. All she did was take an email I sent her and before forwarding it, erased my words and inserted what she wanted. Computer 101. 
Why are so many people so mean lately? Are they that unhappy with their lives? We all have crap to deal with, problems, trials and tribulations. Why take our crap out on others? I told a lady in town the other day that her new haircut looked very cute on her and she said, "As opposed to what? My old cut? So, you're saying it didn't look good?" Holy crap. In all actuality, her old cut looked like crap, as does her new cut, but I was trying to be nice. I just said I thought her last hairdo looked nice too and left the store. People wonder why I don't mingle in Harrisville too often. 

On another note, I've mailed out sooo many packages in the last 4 months that I just can't afford to do it anymore. Of course I will send to Don or Matt if there's something I need to send them but unless it's something important, then it will have to wait. I've sent things to California, Washington, Oregon, Iowa, Montana, Syracuse, S. Korea, and a few other places, all totaling about $300, which I can't afford. Granted, most are happy to receive things and I like putting smiles on their faces, but sometimes the thought that counts costs too much, lol.


Well, that's the first post. Take it for what you will. I'm sure if anyone reads it, they'll take it wrong and be all crybaby-ish and complain.