Thursday, November 29, 2012

NaNoWriMo doesn't actually end until midnight tomorrow night, but I will take the time today to let you know that I am not going to be crossing the finish line. I wasn't able to write for a good number of days around Thanksgiving and that pretty much put the nail in the coffin. The momentum was broken and I haven't really been able to recover.
I'm so drained after time with certain company that it literally takes me days to recover.

I'm still going to write when I have the opportunity for the remainder of the challenge, but 20,000 words is a pretty significant gap to make up in a day and a half.

Even still, I don't consider it a complete failure. Last year I barely broke 6,000. This year I got to 30,000, and while that is not 50,000, had I not had the interruption I would have gotten to 50,000 and probably beyond.

Next year I'm not letting anything (or anyone) get in my way. I'm angry at myself for letting anything (or anyone) get in my way this year. Oh, the time we waste...

But hey, 30,000 words ain't too shabby. I'm happy with it, even if that is all I end up with.

Happy Thursday!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

17 years gone in the blink of an eye.

Happy Birthday to the greatest teenager in the world.


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Pinterest quotes. The only way that I can keep up with NaBloPoMo (even though, technically, I already failed).


Friday, November 16, 2012

The Friday Five

What I am thankful for this week:

1. Thanksgiving is only 6 days away. It is truly my favorite meal and I can't wait to stuff my face. 

2. That I am the one cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year. I love making this meal.

3. Neighbors who go out and do things and then tell me about it. Otherwise I never would have known that My Fair Lady was playing at The Arena in DC, and would have missed out on the opportunity to get tickets for The Teenager for her birthday. She loves the movie (it goes everywhere with her), and I can't wait to take her to see the stage production. She has no idea that this is what she is getting, and she is going to be thrilled.

4. That I can buy my kid tickets to the theater for her birthday instead of the new iPod she had asked for and she will actually be happier about getting the tickets.
I know, I brag about her a lot. I'm not sorry about that. She's pretty brag-worthy. Probably the best teenager on earth. Seriously.

5. I had my follow-up appointment from my surgery this week and they definitely got everything out that they wanted out. Yay! Let's hope that is the end of it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

NaNoWriMo is a beast, y'all.

My word count is currently at a little over 26,000 - On track to finish on the 30th. Except my in-laws are coming into town next week for Thanksgiving and I can assure you that I will get no writing done while they are here.
So the next few nights are going to be designated all-nighters during which I will hopefully pull 5,000+ words per session out of my ass like I did last night. I fear that is my only hope of finishing on time.

I wish that I had it in me to do a complete post on this whole process because it really has been a great time and has really gotten me back into the writing process, but I am honestly just too exhausted.

Happy Thursday!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Oops. Yesterday got away from me.
Guess I failed at NaBloPoMo. Good news is... I'm not failing at NaNoWriMo! It's been a game of catch up much of the time, but I'm hanging on!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

It is hard to accept the need for patience when I don't have any.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Happy Friday, y'all!

Last night I slept instead of writing. Which puts me back behind on my NaNoWriMo project. 
Considering I fell asleep on the couch and never heard a thing, including people going to bed, taking trash out, etc..., I obviously needed it. No big. I'll try to make up for it all tonight.

I am also way behind on getting this post done!
It is Friday and, therefore, time to give you my list of gratitude for this week.

1. The fact that my kids sleep in. 

Big Girl Bed!
(did I mention that they grow up too fast?)
I love it most mornings because, while I don't normally sleep in, I appreciate having the quiet time in the morning to have my first cup of coffee and ease into the day.
Mornings like this I appreciate it even more because I didn't have a reason to get up and I don't think I could have if I had wanted to (so afraid I might be getting sick!). So it was awesome that they both slept until almost 9 a.m.
A side note on this: Sometimes it drives me crazy that, at 9 months old, Tobin still wakes up once in the middle of the night. Then I realize that this is probably why he sleeps so late, and if I have my druthers, I'd rather have it this way. I really like having my early mornings to myself (well, and my little extra baby face on the days that she is here).

2. The mute button.
One of man's greatest gifts. I don't know how people can sit and listen to commercials. Seriously, in confounds me. Hahaha!

3. The Teenager's first "real" boyfriend.
Seriously, you guys. I'm so glad that her first "relationship" experience is with someone who is such a sweetheart. They've only been officially dating for three months (in fact, he was surprising her today with a "three month" anniversary surprise - so cute), but they are so hilarious together. They spend time with us and with his family. He is completely comfortable around us, and loves the babies. He doesn't mind that, when they are here, he's pretty much surrounded by toys and toddlers who climb all over him. I'm just glad to see her so happy.

4. The Teenager, herself.
This one just came to me because I got a text from one of her friends asking if she could stay over tonight. The thing is... I took Mikaila's phone away months ago. And I mean months ago. So many months ago that I can't even remember how many months ago it was. Another thing I can't remember? Where I put it.
Most teenagers would throw fits and tear the house down in their teenage rage. Not my kid. Her reaction?  Whatever. We'll find it someday.
She has to reach me through other people's phones, which she does. Always. Other teenagers might use this as an excuse to cop an attitude and conveniently never be able to be reached because "well, you lost my phone!"
Not my kid. Because she is awesome.

5. These eyes:


Thursday, November 8, 2012

Today's post is brought to you by awesome friends.

NaNo Fuel

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Focusing on the positive:

1. BOTH of my "home" states passed gay marriage rights. Go Maryland and Washington!

2. Washington (and Colorado, but I'm focusing on Washington because I have ties there) passed recreational use of marijuana. Yes, I'm okay with this. I think it should be legal everywhere. I know plenty of people who use marijuana who lead functional lives, just like many people who drink are able to lead functional lives. There isn't much difference in my mind.

3. Tobin and Darby have been napping in the same room, finally. Last night he slept in there overnight. He did wake up, but I was able to get him his bottle without Darby even flinching. Yay! You have no idea how exciting this is.

4. I'm doing pretty well at keeping up with NaNoWriMo. I don't get much writing done on the weekends so I have to get the bulk of my word count in on weekdays plus, I lost Monday this week. Overall I feel like I'm doing a good job of making up for the lost time, though, so I'm feeling good about it. My goal this year was not to turn out earth-shattering work, but to just get to 50,000 words. I actually feel as though I'm going to accomplish it this time!

Happy Hump Day, y'all!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Today is the day that we take things into our own hands.

I'm always so glad when this day comes because after tonight, even though people will continue to bitch no matter what happens, it is over.


Facebook is unbearable, Twitter is unbearable, all of the people who talk about what bullies "the other side" are while bullying people who believe in "the other side" are unbearable - and yeah, this means you too, non-Republicans...

I don't care who you vote for - believe it or not there are actually people out here who believe that you are entitled to your opinion, no matter what, not just as long as your opinion doesn't get in the way of mine.
But whatever you do, please, please, please just get out there and vote!

May the best puppet win!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Before I get into my real post I have to take a moment to pat myself on the back. I truly thought that I would have failed at NaBloPoMo by now - yes, 5 days in.

I may not be posting stellar, mind-blowing things, but I have posted! I call that a win (so far).

I'd also like to take a moment to inform you that, if you are reading here, you're going to be helping me work through a lot of shit right now. I apologize in advance, but that is just where I'm at these days. I am in such a weird (but good) place, I feel everything evolving and changing around and within me. I'll try not to get too deep, but I'm definitely in a place of change right now - big change - and the results of that are a lot of over-analysis and deep thoughts.

Okay, on to my actual post:

So, I just got back from a minor surgical procedure. It was nothing big, but I'm feeling a little wiped out from the anesthesia. Thankfully the husband has taken the kids out and about so that I can have some peace (and complete my post for today, and catch up on my NaNoWriMo word count).

Long story short, I've had some abnormal cell activity in my cervix and previous procedures didn't nix the issue so they went in and took a larger area in hopes of getting rid of all the nasty (but NOT cancerous, let me make that clear) cells. I was in and out and, aside from some minor cramping going on, I feel pretty good.

Which brings me to the "deep issue" that this whole experience has brought up in me: Friendships

When do you decide that a friendship is tipping toward toxic? What do you do about that? Especially when the person is not necessarily someone you want to eject from your life, but it has just become taxing carrying on a friendship because of their level of self-centeredness. (and please - we are ALL self-centered, to a point, these days, we live in the "me, me me" era - some people are just worse than others. That goes for being judgmental too, but that is another post entirely)

You read these articles about "toxic friendships" and one things that always comes up is the idea that they trivialize everything going on in your life, but expect you to come running when they have a hangnail. That's kind of where I'm at with this particular situation.

I am totally not the kind of person who needs people to "ooh" and "ahhh" over every little thing that goes on in my life. In fact, I'm the total opposite. I'm happy to let most things go under the radar, probably to a fault. And while this whole situation wasn't that big of a deal, there are some psychological aspects that I've been dealing with. I know that everything is likely to be fine, but that is what they've been telling me at each turn. "We need to do this, don't worry, it usually comes back as nothing." Just to get the call that says, "Well... We're going to have to have you come in for [this procedure], don't worry, it will likely come back as nothing." Repeat.
That wears on you a bit. At least it wore on me, and is actually still wearing on me to a point because here I sit, yet again, waiting for biopsy results that "are likely nothing". I've heard that one before - a few times now.

Basically, over the last couple of months there have been a couple of times that I've just needed to talk this out, just to get my head clear, only to be met with "Yeah, I'm not sure what that is, I've never done it, but its common. So when I was out last night here's all the drama that I had to deal with..." and on and on.

I don't know. I'm kind of over certain kinds of relationships these days. One-sided relationships are at the top of the list. I don't even have any fancy way to wrap this up, and in fact, probably have a lot more to say on this subject, but I'm feeling as though it is time to lay down.

I hope this post isn't too all over the place, ha! I'll be back tomorrow, now it is time to sleep.

Happy Monday, y'all!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

This is going to be the lamest post in the history of lame posts, but I just realized that I haven't blogged yet today and I need to go to bed.

Yep. That's seriously what I have for you today.

#epicfailbutnotreallybecauseitisapostdammitandgoodnight

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Today you are getting a photo post. That's all I have in me, ha!

The teenager and her boyfriend before homecoming:





They grow up way too fast.

Friday, November 2, 2012

In honor of Thanksgiving Month I am going to do a weekly installment of "5 Things I am Thankful For".

The top 5 for this week are:

1. The two friends that I have who own smart phones and who do not keep them in front of their faces the entire time we are out. These two people have made it to the top of my favorite people list because we can actually meet out and 99.9% of the time I don't even see their phones.
The advent of the smart phone has made me want to stop socializing with most people. I don't want to hang out with you while you stare at your phone.

2. You may have heard that there was a hurricane this week. I am thankful that our area went largely unscathed (compared to up north) and my power was back up the next day. There are many who were not so fortunate.

3. Great neighbors who like to get together around the fire pit at night and drink wine. It is always a good time.

4. Neighbors who have children in the Girl Scouts. My cupboard is stocked up with all sorts of Girl Scout cookie goodness.

5. Craigslist. I got an elliptical for $80!

That is it for this Friday! On to NaNoWriMo!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Considering that I haven't blogged in an age, or really written anything at all, I'm curious to know what you think my chances are of completing both NaBloPoMo AND NaNoWriMo this year. Because I am attempting both.

You can laugh, it's okay. I'm laughing too, but I'm determined to give it a go.

I'm off to a good start with NaNoWriMo. The word count goal is 1667 per day. I passed that this morning and I'm still rolling. It's not earth-shattering work, but it is work, and it is getting me back into the groove. NaBloPoMo is probably going to be the more difficult challenge.

So with this brilliant and insightful post, I kick off NaBloPoMo. Let us hope this post is not the gauge by which we will measure the momentum for the rest of the month.

Oh, November, I love to hate you.