Thursday, January 28, 2010

Get going!

A friend sent this to me yesterday:


Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning
the devil says,  "OH CRAP, SHE'S UP"!








Thanks, Sharee! It's just the sort of kick in the pants I needed this week.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Must focus...Focus! Ooh, shiny!


Some days I think I should just rename this blog (and maybe my life) Distracte-bunny. I'm having one of those weeks. I blame January.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Anybody else tired of winter?


Anybody else tired of winter?, originally uploaded by mdesive.

I can't wait for it all to melt!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

We've all done it...



A simple typo here or there can make for an embarrassing situation at the time, but (hopefully) a good laugh later on. Put your drinks down (I don't want to be responsible for wet keyboards and monitors) and head over to Grammar Girl's Facebook page where readers are sharing their own whoppers.


Monday, January 18, 2010

Back from Bootcamp







Delilah gives April some feedback


I attended the Heartland Writers Group's annual retreat this weekend. This year, we invited Elle James and Delilah Devlin of Rose's Colored Glasses  to come up and put us through Plotting Bootcamp to help us plot our next books. I learned a lot and I 'm ready to write my pirate story when I'm done editing my NaNoWriMo Robin Hood story. I'm excited!

I would tell more about what happened this weekend, but "What happens at retreat, stays at retreat." ;)


Elle James and Delilah Devlin


Saturday, January 16, 2010

If Lie to Me met CSI: Miami



Reality Check

As a fan of Lie to Me who regularly snarks about David Caruso when hubby watches CSI: Miami, I had to post this cartoon. It's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I first saw it, or I'd have had to clean off my monitor.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Miep Gies Remembered

I was thinking last night about how fourth grade just might kill me. LilGirl has piles of homework every night. It makes nights when we have other activities pretty stressful. We try to keep her bedtime at 8:30, but last night she didn't make it to bed until almost 10:00. Once she was tucked in, I gnashed my teeth, pulled my hair, moped a bit and checked Twitter. One of the first things that caught my eye was a retweet of this:



That sliced right through my "unbearable" evening. I read Miep Gies' book Anne Frank Remembered years and years ago (in high school, maybe?). It was a powerful book for me, maybe more powerful than The Diary of a Young Girl. I remember more of Miep's book than Anne's. It helped me understand just how much was going on in an attempt to keep the Frank family and the others safe. 


One of the biggest things I remember from the book was how scarce food was as the war went on. I remember that Miep mentioned that for years afterward, she felt guilty throwing out moldy bread, and I think of that every time I have to throw out the green remains of a loaf. 

So, yes, fourth grade will mostly likely not kill me. LilGirl and I may just get through it without tearing each other's eyes out. And we've got much less to contend with than others have, even today. Sometimes I just need a little nudge to remember that.

Rest in Peace, Miep. You've earned it.

(Photo via Telegraph.co.uk)

Monday, January 11, 2010

An example of how little boys never really grow up

I'd forgotten Cobra Commander ever wore a hood. In fact, I think I had put most of my G.I. Joe knowledge in deep archival storage until I saw the movie. Hubby didn't, and was as excited as a little kid on Christmas when we went to see it, which is probably how most guys in our generation felt.

And here we have grown men debating mask vs. hood:
"But the hood being broken out meant Cobra Commander was getting serious. It was more regal, more majestic, more befitting of his world domination plans. It meant he was planning something big in his Springfield headquarters."
It made me smile. Little boys and their toys...that they never really grow out of.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Cat called to jury duty

Sad & hilarious all at once. I love the "reason" they marked for having him disqualified.

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Wow! I aced it!

The Cable Connector Quiz



Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

I have to say I'm surprised I did this well (one or two I wasn't totally sure about). I guess working at Radio Shack in high school paid off. :)

How well can you do?

The decade according to 9-year-olds

I came across this earlier this week (via ITART) and, having a 9-year-old myself, I found it very interesting:


The decade according to 9-year-olds from allison louie-garcia on Vimeo.

Friday, January 08, 2010

Friday Fun: Neil Gaiman's Statuesque

Here's a neat little movie directed by Neil Gaiman, starring Bill Nighy and Amanda Palmer.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Wed Pic: Not Snow!

It's snowing...again. School called a snow day...again. I'm not going to post a Wednesday picture of snow...again. So here's something a lot more green to warm your bones.


Tuesday, January 05, 2010

A post of great intelli...Velociraptor? Where?

I had a different blog post planned today, but I'm feeling like a big slacker, so here ya go:

How long could you survive chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor?
Created by Oatmeal

Monday, January 04, 2010

The occasional flash

Every now and then, I have a moment of brilliance, and, even more rarely, I act on it. I always struggle to come up with a few succinct New Year's resolutions. Every year, I start a list and it gets pretty long pretty fast. It becomes more of a list of "Things to get done" rather than ways to improve myself. I mentioned the other night that I even started a blog post about my goals and resolutions, but left it unpublished because it had fallen into the usual trap.

However, Friday morning, I found an interesting reminder in my e-mail. Several months ago - I don't remember exactly when - I had a flash of insight. I knew what my New Year's resolution should be. It was simple, to the point, and exactly what I needed to do most for myself:


Put on my own oxygen mask FIRST



(The point of the resolution could be another blog post in itself, but I'l leave that for another day.)

I knew that I would never remember this resolution by year's end. Amazingly, I had a second flash and set a reminder in my Google Calendar. My resolution has popped up in my e-mail every morning this year (and apparently I've set it to remind me every day for the rest of the year - we'll see how long it takes before I say "I get it already!" and shut off the reminder). Sometimes I'm really impressed with myself for having a little foresight - most days I feel I'm seriously lacking in that - and I just wanted to share.