Sad Song Blogfest

I'm always late for Blogfests!  I sign up and sometimes it just slips my mind.

Better late than never and this was too much fun to pass up!

Spunk On A Stick is hosting the Sad Songs Blogfest.  Be sure to stop by and check out some of the other entries!


Goodbye My Friend by Linda Ronstadt
I lost my best friend my freshman year of college.  I sang this at her funeral and I'm really not sure how I held it together long enough to get through it. 



Breathe Me by Sia
Eva has been gone for two years now.  This song is still painful.  To show what a beautiful person she was, I'm including her video.  Eva had a double lung transplant because cystic fibrosis took her original pair.  I met her on Live Journal, where I have many CF friends.  Everyone who met her loved her - it was impossible not to.  Two years into her new lungs, she went into rejection.  This world lost her beautiful soul on March 27, 2010.  She is so, so very missed.  So, for Eva - love love love.



Cat's in the Cradle - Harry Chapin
This song always gets me (The Hubster too, believe it or not!)



From a Distance by Bette Midler
The Divine Miss M has a few to choose from, but this one gets me.


The Dance by Garth Brooks
I'm not a big fan of country (sorry!), but this song has always tugged at my heart.
(My apologies for the video but it was the only one that I could find with the original song instead of a cover)



And because I'm into even numbers...


My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion
Oh how I loathed Titanic.  I didn't think much about this song until my dear, sweet grandma was in hospice after her three year battle with ovarian cancer.  There was a teenager who was losing his battle to cancer in the room next door.  This song played almost 24/7.  His friends and girlfriend wanted to be sure that he knew he would not be forgotten when he left this world.  It tore all of our hearts to pieces.  The lyrics were fitting for my grandparents who were in their 51st year of their marriage, having married at 19.  I still think of that teen and of my grandparents every time I hear this song.



There you have it - six sad songs.  And I actually cried my way through this.  Wow.  Well, I'm off to visit others and you should too!

Any of these songs make your list?

Don't forget to check back in here on Monday and enter my REMARKABLE contest! I'll be giving away a hardcover of Lizzie K. Foley's REMARKABLE plus a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble. Enough to make the start of any week nice and bright! Details on Monday.

FUN Friday

TGIF - Let's have some FUN!!!

Did everyone see Hunger Games? 

Imagine being greeted with this:

Remember when you were a kid and you could fall asleep anywhere?

Dogs are so cool.  Really just THE coolest.  When is the last time your husband/wife greeted you like this when you got home?

For all you writers out there.

Super excited for the weekend - especially because I have NO plans (beyond a good Spring Cleaning).  Sometimes no plans are the BEST plans.

What about you - any big weekend plans?

Don't forget to check back in here on Monday and enter my REMARKABLE contest!  I'll be giving away a hardcover of Lizzie K. Foley's REMARKABLE plus a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble.  Enough to make the start of any week nice and bright! Details on Monday.

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!

My Wednesday Wishes for the week:

1)  Stamina - Such a little thing.  I'm still sick but my body is battling this well.  I'm knocking it out of the park.  Well, out of my lungs.  Tonight is Boot Camp.  The first class of the Spring.  Am I nuts for wanting to go?  Probably.  I have to go.  I promise to take it easy.  I won't push myself.  I just want the stamina to get through the hour.  I give my word that I will do a modified version.  Scouts honor!

2)  More Space in the Bathroom - Poor Hubster.  Of the six drawers we have, he's down to half of one.  I can't help it.  I'm a Sephora addict who hates counter clutter.  What I need are drawers like the Perkins's tent in Harry Potter - it looks like a normal bathroom drawer from the outside, but when you open it - tons o' room.  I could organize them by products and then give The Hubster back at least a full drawer or two!  I won't be greedy and ask for them in every room of the house. Just the bathroom would be a BIG help.

3)  A motorhome rental place that is open on weekends - It doesn't sound like much, but it's been next to impossible to find.  You see, two years in a row I've camped in style in my dad's motorcoach.  Now, it's a bit more than we need for just The Hubster, the Lilster and me.  But we do need something.  Renting it in SoCal and driving it to Northeast Oregon is just not happening.  Way too expensive for three weeks.  However, I am Lily is done tent camping up there.  She prefers the comfort of a cozy bed off the ground safe inside a motorhome.  What kind of mom wouldn't give her that luxury?  I mean, I'm already asking her to spend a week in the dirt with no running water but the river.  The least I can do is rent a motorhome for her.  If I can just find a place that is open on Saturdays in Oregon and doesn't want $2,000 for a week of renting.  Heck, at this point I'd even be willing to shell over the two grand.  Almost.  As long as I can pick up and drop off on a Saturday!  Who would have thought such a simple thing would be so hard?  Ah, but it is.  It is.  So Wednesday work your magic!!

What about you - what are your wishes for our magical little Wednesday cat?

Be sure to check in next Monday because I'm kicking off a really cool giveaway to celebrate the release of Lizzie K. Foley's Remarkable!  You could win yourself a free copy plus a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble to buy even more books!!!!  Good, good stuff all the way around!

The Persistence of Ants

We've been battling the ants for almost a year now. We beat them back and they disappear for a short while, but they always seem to return. One on the kitchen counter. One in the bathroom. One in the den. One on the living room couch. Annoying little buggers. If they find so much as a crumb (and Lily can leave them in places you wouldn't think), all their friends come marching in behind them to retrieve it bit by bit.


With the pets, we won't use poison. My dad swears poison doesn't work anyway. We have tried every home remedy recommended but NOTHING works. In fact, we've found they're actually drawn to a few. For instance, our ants love garlic. And peppermint. Nothing seems to stop them. They find their way around everything else from cayenne pepper to cinnamon to turmeric.

At night, I try not to envision the giant ant mound underneath the house. I just know that it's there. I'm only half surprised that they haven't carried off one of the cats. Yet.

As I was battling them again this afternoon, it struck me.  When it comes to writing, we need to be like these stubborn little ants. In our writing. On our journey toward publishing. We should be like these stinkers.

One or two of us venturing bravely forward, finding the prize and bringing it back to others. We have to bring back little morsels of encouragement to keep the others going. We have to be persistent. Find our around the baby powder, slog through the vaseline and cross over the chalk lines. If we are anything like these ants, we will succeed!

At the moment, soapy water is working (thanks Drew!). But we have to be as determined to get rid of the ants as they are to get into this house. The fact that we've been battling them for almost a year now shows how tenacious they are.

If we can just be that dogged in our determination, how far will that take us?

FUN Friday

TGIF - The weekend is here!

Let's have some FUN!

This kid is so amazing and adorable!
 

 And it's on to HUNGER GAMES!
 

 Speaking of adorable - did you see Jennifer Lawrence on David Letterman? It's impossible not to like her.

How excited am I?!?! I have tickets for the 5:45pm showing and my bestie, Mel, is going with me. Mel who doesn't even READ! She can read, she's just one of those people that doesn't like to. Can. You. Imagine. I can't. But that's okay because she's the most amazing person ever so it totally makes up for it. ;-) Love love love her. I mean, you know you have a real friend when they agree to go see a YA movie with you that they NOTHING about.

And while we're on the topic of besties - You all must hop over to Julie's blog. Just discovered her this week and we're already best friends. Because she's amazing too. Her Agent Story will have you in stitches. So don't read it if you're at work. It wouldn't do to lose your job for laughing hysterically at your desk. Be sure to follow her too.

I've got another virus that went straight to my lungs so I have the feeling that my weekend is going to be spent taking it easy (boo!). But sitting in dark theater watching a movie is taking it easy so I might see Hunger Games more than once. Sometimes I do that. After a decade without anything more than the sniffles, I seem to be making up for it these past six months. Cra-azy!

What about you - any big weekend plans?

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!

My Wednesday Wishes for the week:

1)  No Hiatus - When I worked in television, I loved my two months off.  It was so nice to be able to catch up with friends, travel to see family.  I cherished that time.  Now that I'm not in the industry anymore, I understand why my own family used to whine to me about no episodes until the Fall.  I'm starting to get it now.  Two of my fave shows - The Walking Dead and...ahem, I won't mention the other one but Monday night A was revealed (don't judge me!) - are done for the season.  No new episodes until Fall.  I'm trying to focus on what I have to look forward to (True Blood).  Can anyone suggest some shows on DVD?  I'll have to content myself with those and hope the months fly by!

2)  Laundry Elf - If I could just have him do the laundry, I promise that I wouldn't make him do anything else.  A lot of it is my own fault.  I have animals and my cats shed like crazy.  I have friends that tend to stop by without announcing that they are coming.  So my furniture stays covered - this way when the doorbell rings, I can shout "Just a minute!" while I race around and pull the covers off.  Fresh furniture shed-free!  But the covers have to be washed twice a week.  Okay, they don't have to be.  I want them to be.  I like fresh covers to sit on.  Luckily, Lily doesn't shed.  But Wednesday and Pip, both short hair cats, can get up and it looks like they are still there!  Since cats are my worst allergy, I have to stay on top of it.  Just washing covers is three loads of laundry.  Add that to my other laundry (bed stuff, guest bed stuff, clothes) and I do a lot of laundry.  I start out all gung-ho like I did this morning, but I guarantee I'll forget about the last two loads tonight (I rarely remember) so there will be wrinkled clothes in the dryer and soggy clothes in the washer.  Oh - and I hate folding.  It's sooooooo boring.  Could there be anything more boring on earth than folding laundry?  I don't think so.  So Laundry Elf to do that laundry AND fold it all in the same day!

3)  Sweet & Sara Marshmallows - I have been searching high and low for a vegan marshmallow that comes close to real ones for my baking and snaking needs.  So far, no luck.  BUT a few people have told me that they swear by Sweet & Sara Marshmallows.  My Whole Foods carries them and can't seem to keep them on the shelf so that's a great sign!  But, did I mention that they can't keep them on the shelf?  Yeah.  Bummer.  It seems the more you can't find something, the more you want it!  I'm craving them something bad (maybe it's a good thing they are out of stock!).  I'm rubbing Wednesday's cat tree before I head out this morning.  Wednesday should be a lucky day, right?

What about you - what are your wishes for our magical cat?

You Are What You Write?

I opened my pantry over the weekend and almost died. Cans and boxes spilled over onto me. There isn't any room in the cupboards for more food at the moment. If you peek under the bed and in the cupboards in the laundry room, you will find water. And more water. And even more water.

What happened to me? Sure, I am a SoCal native. I was raised to be prepared. I've been living with the threat/promise of The Big One hitting us since I surfed out of my mother's womb those many years ago.  But lately I've been...more prepared.

I'm not a prepper. Prepper's would laugh at my paltry supplies. If something happens, I can feed us for right around a month if we're eating three meals a day. Actually, Preppers wouldn't laugh, they would worry for me.  If you've watched the show on NatGeo, you would know that they can feed a ton of people for YEARS.  I have to fight it every time I'm in the grocery store and see that beans or quinoa are one sale. That $1 for a can that can feed us for two days when combined with quinoa or pasta really calls out to me.

In my own defense, we are vegetarians (I'm actually vegan). We don't like tofu so beans are a big staple of our diet. As is quinoa. And anyone who has had to rinse their quinoa knows what a pain in the tush it is. Pre-washed quinoa flies off the shelf at my local store (probably because only one company does it) so I tend to stock up when it's on sale and the shelf is full. I came home with ten boxes just last week. To add to the five that I still had. Each box gives me 12 meals when combined with beans and things from the garden.

But I digress... How did I get this way?

I wrote a Dystopian.

It wasn't just my own writing that did this. When you write, you read. There are so many Dystopians out there so I devoured every one that I could get my hands on. The book series that I really blame for this, though, is The Last Survivors series by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Now, I know that an asteroid is not going to hit the moon and knock it closer to Earth (knock on wood), but the series rocked me. I read it in a weekend. Three books. One weekend. Forever changed. I blame the lack of sleep I received in reading that series as contributing.

The end of the world is with me a lot these days.  I wasn't one who bought into the Mayan calendar or 2012 being the end of the world (knock on wood).  I still don't.  But reading and writing this genre, it has seeped out of the pages and into my home just a bit. 

What about you - does your writing creep out of the pages with tendrils, lodging itself anywhere around your household?

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!

My Wednesday Wishes for the week:

1)  Magic Desk - I had to run out to Staples this afternoon because we're out of pens.  Not just my favorites, but all of them.  See that little grey cat up there?  She's a pen hoarder.  When I vacuum under the furniture, I will frequently find a plethora of them.  She doesn't just bat them under furniture, though.  She'll hide them in her tree, in the closets, wherever her latest "spot" is.  Suffice it to say, I couldn't find a single one and I wasn't about to move the couch and clean the lint off one.  If I had a magic desk - each drawer assigned a different task - Wednesday and I would both be happy!  We would never run out of pens, post-its, highlighters, paper, printer cartridges, checks, paper clips, binder clips...the list would be endless!  So, Magic Desk please!

2)  Another day like yesterday - The weather was PERFECT.  It was 66 degrees out and sunny.  I whine a lot (A LOT) about springing forward because I really hate to lose that hour, but what a difference it makes when the weather cooperates and The Hubster gets off work early.  We did the BEST hike with Lily and her boyfriend Bubba.  Lily RAN.  RAN.  She does not run when it's hot out.  She won't be able to do this hike (or any hike) by May.  It was so perfect.  Lots of hills, great cardio workout, the good kind of sore at the end of the day.  I want at least one day a week like this for the next two months! 

3)  A Penguin - Okay, I know that I can't have one in real life, but I've been addicted to the Penguin cam at Sea World.  Yesterday, they were lined up for a fish.  Actually LINED up.  And one of the Emperor Penguins kept leaning to the side to peek around the others as if to say "What's the hold up here?"  So adorable.  I love watching them pop out of the water and turn around and dive right back in too. 



What about you - what are your wishes for our magical cat?

FUN Friday

The weekend is here!  I'm limping into it...so thankful to see Friday roll around this week.  What about you?

I'm throwing a wrench in my usual Fridays.  Instead of videos, we're going to do pictures today.  These have made me giggle over the past few months.

But I'm starting with my mom...because she's amazing.  The woman isn't just the best Mom ever, she's now the most amazing Grandma ever.  And at 62, she got her first TATTOO!  I don't even have ink.  My brothers don't have ink!  Our mom?  Has ink. 

I just think it's hilarious that she gets her first 'tat' and it's religious. 

My goal is to have a little something for everyone below. 



And I leave you with my personal favorite -

I'm super excited for John Carter tomorrow night with the Hubster! 

What about you - any big weekend plans?

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!

My Wednesday Wishes for the week:

1)  Magic Crisper - It's not that I don't love going to the Farmer's Market on Saturdays.  It's just that I never seem to get everything that I'm going to need.  I've taken to finding new recipes mid-week. Very inconvenient when the closest market doesn't always have the freshest produce and is often out of organic produce.  If I had a magic crisper, I'd never have to worry about it again!  When I decide on Tuesday (okay, not quite mid-week) that I'd like to try Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango  I could simply stand in front of the fridge, picture mangos, scallions and cilantro in my head, and say the magic phrase (Klaato barada n...nectar...necktie...definitely an 'n' word...) - and there they would be!  Fresh off some organic small family farm in Oregon.

2)  Home - We've had a saga going on for a few months now.  We came back from Thanksgiving to a notice that the owner of the property we rent was in pre-foreclosure.  There are two houses and an apartment on this lot that he owns.  The Hubster spoke with him, spoke with the front neighbor, and spoke with his Dad who is well versed in all things.  Suffice it to say, we were told that this was a negotiating tactic.  The Hubster's Dad said, "But they won't deal with rental properties."  Turns out he was right.  This property goes up for auction March 9th.  The owner claims he Fed Exed a check to the bank for xx,xxx amount of dollars to bring his loan current.  I'm hoping that he's right because The Hubster has chosen to pay our full rent for the month and put his faith in this man.  If he was wrong to do so, we're...well, we're not in a good situation.  The bright side is that we have the money to move.  We even have the money to buy if we have to, though I'm fighting it tooth and nail because I do not want to set down roots in Los Angeles.  I.  Do.  Not.  (Now ask how many years I've been living here saying that very thing?  About a decade now.)  But renting with a "pit bull type dog", even one with all of Lily's qualifications (CGC, Certified Therapy Dog -- and a portfolio that includes letters from neighbors, friends, trainer, vets, pet sitters, and all sorts of amazing pictures of her in action with at risk teens as well as snuggled up with nieces, nephews, cats, dog friends, etc.) can be next to impossible on only a few weeks notice so we might not have a choice.  It would really, really, really be nice if we didn't have to move at all.  I like this little house.  It's perfect for a few more years until we're ready to buy a home where we want to live the rest of our lives (not here!).  And, honestly, moving cats is a pain in a#%.  You have no idea unless you've experienced the lovely.  So please Wednesday, for your own sake as well as ours - let the bank get that mortgage check.

3)  A Home for Laughy - This high energy girl just stole my heart with this picture.

She's reaching through the cage at anyone who will pass by - she's that desperate for human contact.  Still a pup at 12 months, she'll need an active home and I'm wishing so hard for her that she gets one.  She deserves it!  Watch her run zoomies here:

She deserves a home.  They all do, but this week my wish is for her.  She's got her first strike against her being black.  Second strike being a year old.  Third strike being labeled a pit.  Wednesday will work some magic, though, and help a family educate themselves on the breed as they look past the black coat (very superstitious people when it comes to black animals!) so she gets a loving, forever home!

What about you - what are your wishes for our magical cat?

How Do You Manage Your Time?

A few weeks ago, a friend posted an article from the Wall Street Journal titled Are You As Busy As You Think? I laughed. Of course I am! I work two part-time jobs, I'm writing, I'm in two Crit Groups, I have two blogs, I'm in charge of updating articles for our website and I'm a wife (think shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning daily). I am beyond busy. Never enough time in a day. Ever. How many Wednesday Wishes have I used for things that would allow me more time?

You can read the article here.

I spent the week keeping track of my hours like the writer did.

Color me embarrassed.

I can't believe how much time I wasted.

Now, in my own defense - there are afternoons when I get home from teaching and I'm running low on sleep from the night before and I just can't use my brain. I need to decompress with my lunch and Pretty Little Liars. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that the decompression was dragging into the late afternoon. Sure, I'd throw some laundry in and make a homecooked meal from scratch, but then I would go back to decompressing - television on, Facebook up. When bedtime rolled around, I would be stressed out! So that must mean that I was working hard, right?

Wrong.

I was stressed out because so many hours had gone by where I could have accomplished something. And the laundry would be in the dryer - I'd realize that as I was getting ready for bed, which would keep me up for another hour ironing and hanging and folding. I'd go to bed later than I wanted, wake up tired and start the same process over again.

Not this week. This past week was different. I was to maximize my time this week! I attended a Humane Education conference at the end of the week and I even utilized our breaks to my advantage - writing blog posts, answering Paws email.

In the time that it took me to write this post, I've made this recipe - Banana & Peanut Butter Flaxseed Cookies (I added the nondairy chocolate chips). Time to go reward myself with one fresh out of the oven.

What about you - would you say that you make the best use of your time?