I Made Soup and I Still Like Barbie

I used to be able to get writing jobs fairly easily. I was hooked up with a big network of moms and I'd just pitch things to them. Later I was hooked up to a big blog network and I just sort of spread myself around pretty well, making a little more, a little more, a little more ... and then it was gone. I've applied for 3 jobs in the last few months and no one wants me anymore. They all say they are looking for a different tone, etc. I can write in a different voice or style, but when I really think about it, I know I want to be me when I write, not some face-less writer who really isn't telling you anything. So many places don't tell you anything anymore. Have you noticed that?  Just a bunch of words strung together in a pretty fashion with no new idea or no real content. Very odd, that is. I want to learn something new either about myself or the subject or the writer. I want to connect. Is that wrong? I thought that was the whole purpose behind blogging in the first place.

In other news, I made some Chicken Soup for my sick husband  last night and it very well might be the best Chicken Soup of my life. It's all downhill from here folks, I've hit the Chicken Soup Peak. ;)  I am going to write it out and get it up at an old food blog that I started forever ago and am pretty sure I'd like to give another go. I love to cook.

I'm going to use my camera every day. Every ding dong day. I used to be that way. I got this yesterday. Tree Moss. It's pretty stuff. Robin and I used to use it in our Barbie houses when we were kids. We were Barbie-girls. I've never understood Barbie-hate. I guess it's because I realized that she was pretend and I did not want to look like her. I missed the whole Barbie ruined my self-esteem boat.  I simply thought she was fun.

Here's the moss....

This came from the bottom of the Christmas tree my husband cut down for me. Sarah and I were watching a movie, he opens the door and shoves this 12 foot tree in the door. It's now about  4 or 5 feet shorter, still not decorated, but it sure is pretty. I missed trees like this when I lived in Chico. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow.

New Blog

Hello. After writing this morning, I decided to add a new blog that I am calling Finding Daily Balance... If  you would like to check it out and work on finding balance with me, you can do so here...

Finding Daily Balance

I will still be writing here.

Thanks!

Monday Sucks Sometimes

I woke up feeling all excited about the bliss, but then real life hit and I got off track. Some days suck. Really suck. Today was one of them.

I basically hid out in my room, getting my work done, writing, sending out a request for new products to review, which helped a lot. I took a few pictures of a new body spray that arrived - they sent it with little shells, the box had all these stickers saying it was from France all over it. I used the shells in a few shots and at least ended up with one photo for my 365 project. Not a great photo, but at least I'm getting back on track.

Now it's the end of the day, I have my run in, I'm watching The Bachelorette long distance with my sister and I made it through one more day. Tomorrow will be better.  I can't get where I'm going all in one day.

We Made an Art Pact

My friend, Cheir Burbach, who is currently in the midst of a virtual book tour for her book, 21 Simple Things You Can Do To Help Someone With Diabetes, and I were talking today and we've made an art pact. We have given ourselves one week to do a painting. She paints with acrylics and I paint with watercolors, but neither of us has painted anything in a long time. 

I thought that by doing something creative, but not writing related, it might jump-start the whole creative process. My girl, Bay, reminded me the other day about how much I enjoyed drawing. She said something about my paintings (completed YEARS ago) and I've had the urge to get my pencils out and doodle ever since.

Not working for b5 has really opened up my ability to brainstorm new ideas. I don't feel so bogged down because of a daily deadline and because of this new freedom, I feel able to write more, come up with more ideas. Except for the days when I'm fighting with my teenager. On those days, I have no ideas, no energy, no anything good. Stress is not good for any sort of creative process. 

I've been looking through my Flickr photos to get an idea of what I might like to paint. So far I have these photos in mind. If you have a chance to look and you feel any sort of inclination to push me in the direction of one or the other, please let me know which one you like best in the comments. I put this one up last night, a purple iris,  or maybe a pansy, or maybe I should try something like water on a leaf?

And if you get the chance, I've reworked my beauty blog Girl Looks Swell blog and I plan to write there regularly now.

Feels like Monday, but It's Tuesday

Good morning from me and Max, who is above. I caught him when his bus arrived today. He didn't love it, but he was very patient.

I'm up way too late. I was looking at a Facebook friend's music - she shared some Dave Matthews Band - and Bay and I started looking things up. Next thing you know I'm shopping at iTunes. I got a mixture - a little DMB, 3 Jill Scott, 2 Lady Antebellum, a Taylor Swift, a Gary Allan, 2 Miranda Lamberts, and a Shania Twain.

The Shania Twain is that song that goes something like, "Am I dreamin', or stupid, I think I been hit by cupid, no one needs to know right now." I love that song and it was on Twister last weekend. You only hear it for a few seconds, but it's a great song. "I want bells to ring, a choir needs to sing, .... I tell ya someday, someway, or somehow, but I'm gonna keep it a secret now..."

I left this bit on my FB friend's post from the song, The Space Between, by the Dave Matthews Band;

Look at us spinning off in
The madness of a roller coaster
You know you went off like a devil
In a church in the middle of a crowded room
All we can do, my love
Is hope we don't take this ship down

I've done that - I've gone off like the devil in a church. I showed a bit of devil this morning when my daughter did not announce that her friend was in the house and I was caught walking down the hallway in my panties and tank top. I wasn't happy. Then, I put pjs on and slide across the kitchen in a puddle of water. I was ka-rank-EE.

When I took creative writing, way back when, I used to listen to DMB as I wrote. I enjoy the way Dave writes his lyrics and I wrote a lot of poetry back then. I wanted to create something similar to the lyrics, but never really got there. I do better with poetry when I take advantage of a certain type of pacing for humor. I think it's a cop-out when I do that, but it's what I do. It's easier to make someone laugh sometimes, then to share something real and raw.

One time, I wrote a poem that was straight from the heart, absolutely how I felt and the way I felt was hurt and pissed. It was one of the first of my poems that I sold (haven't tried to get any published in years) and I was very excited, so I wrote to the ex that inspired it. I was not very computer savvy back then and I accidentally copied or forwarded it to his work email. I was mortified, because it was email that his boss saw for some reason. What a maroon.

There are days when I screw up and I drive myself crazy with the idiocy of my actions, but sometimes I throw my hands up, I shrug, and I move on. There's no fixing some situations. In the words of DMB, I "took (that) ship down..." Wasn't no way to save that one.

Hope this one makes sense. I've reread it, but my brain is tired.

My 200th Post!

This is my 200th post.

I started this blog last.....April, I believe. My goal was to write something every day and I've fallen a bit short of that goal, but I still feel good about what I've accomplished.

I've got another new opportunity coming up and I can't talk about it yet, but I will when it happens or at least when I'm offered a contract. Things change so quickly - it feels like the internet is this fluid thing with no borders that brings everyone closer together somehow.

In other news.... apparently I have picked up a new teenager, at least for a little while. Bay's boyfriend is going to be staying with us. He's a nice kid and it sounds like he and his mom need a break, and since my daughter loves him, he's got a place here with us. I can't leave a young boy with nowhere to go. He told Bay that no one wants him. I don't want anyone to feel that way. We'll figure out a way to fit him in around here.

As you might be able to tell by my writing, I'm exhausted. I'm going to watch the end of the Lost reruns and go to bed. I wish you a wonderful day/evening. Thank you very much for reading me.