Today I'm sending you to one of my all-time favorite blogs: Cake Wrecks!. It picks me up when I'm down, and usually makes me spit something on the screen (I've finally learned not drink anything when visiting the site). The site features professionally made cakes. Yes, "professionals" did this:
It's not all bad, though. On Sundays, they feature really awesome cakes (it's usually okay to have a beverage during those). Check out the Sunday Sweets. This is one of my favorites, from When Gamers Marry:
Wish I'd thought of this for my wedding cake.
A few weeks ago, Cake Wrecks featured a post that made my daughter laugh so hard, she made me stop scrolling through halfway so she could catch her breath. She still talks about it, always with a snicker. I'll link to it here, but be warned: It involves bodily functions. What else would make a fourth grader laugh so hard?
Instead of the usual picture of my own today, I thought I'd follow Google's lead and celebrate Norman Rockwell's birthday. He's one of my favorite artists, and was probably my first favorite artist. I can't remember a time I wasn't familiar with his work. When I was little, we had a huge coffee table book of Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers (I think this was it). I could barely lift it, but luckily, the book was usually stored in a low place it could be slid out of, so I could lay it open on the floor and get lost in the paintings.
I always especially loved the covers that involved a whole sequence of events, like the gossips or the "Day in the life of..." ones like "A Day in the Life of a Girl."
I almost put that as "the covers that tell a story" but they ALL tell a story, and that's what's so great about Norman Rockwell. We also see ourselves in them, despite the passing of time, changes in technology, or changes in popular culture. The people in his paintings are humans, and we're all still human, whether it's 1920, 1950 or 2010.
These appear to be straight scans of the plates, not cleaned up and cropped for best effect as you would usually see in a book or documentary. They're essentially raw, and that almost makes it seem like you're seeing something completely new. I'll probably waste an evening in the near future browsing these.
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.
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." ;)
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.
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 Rememberedyears 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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
LilGirl has reached that age: she believes in Santa Claus, but is hearing from a lot of her friends that he doesn't exist. She argues loudly with any show on TV that implies that Santa doesn't exist, has debates (mostly with herself) laying out the facts vs. the rumors, and had a very hard time falling asleep on Christmas Eve.
Today, hubby found this video that put her fears to rest. Apparently the daughter of tweeter (and actor) Peter Facinelli set out a spycam to "catch" Santa. Here's the result:
(In the spirit of full disclosure, I had no idea Peter Facinelli was the source of the video until I started writing this post. Hubby sent the video to me and he didn't know either...so, it really doesn't count as anything Twilight-related. Right? Right? People are going to stop believing I'm not a fan...especially after a post that's coming up in the next week or so...)
This is one of my all-time favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas skits. (Warning: It's a bit naughty, so if you're offended by that sort of thing, well, check out Friday's post instead)
I remember spending hours playing with these. I even had the expansion pack. I would definitely play with this set even today, if I still had it. I poked around Ebay and found a set which included the expansion pack, but it ended up going for $220! Um, I think that's too rich for me, even to relive a childhood memory. *sigh*
If you missed it this year, or just want to watch it again, Hulu has posted the entire show (Yes, I'm a Hulu junkie. The intervention is happening soon, I'm sure.)
I'm a bad, bad Jane Austen fan and forgot her birthday. Fortunately, Carolyn Jewel remembered and wrote up a nice post with lots of cool links at Risky Regencies.
This is the other funny thing I saw on TV this past weekend. You all know I'm not a Twilight fan, but if I were, I'd have to be Team Jacob. Taylor Lautner is such a cutie and he was fun to watch on SNL, especially this skit (again, sorry for the ad at the beginning):
I saw a couple interesting things on TV this weekend. Here's the first.
Even though I'm really not into rap music, I get a kick out of Snoop Dogg for some reason, especially when he does stuff like this (sorry for the ad at the beginning):
Check back tomorrow Wednesday for the other fun thing I saw. :)
I remember playing Hamlet the Text Adventure years ago and I was really happy to trip across it again. Nice to see it's still there, text-based and all. I remember the first time I played it, I was somehow killed by Othello...Hmmm, methinks I stumbled into a different play.
From the Versificator site: "Avenge your father's death, defeat your evil uncle, and ascend the throne of Denmark in this long-awaited adaptation of Shakespeare's seminal work. Guest appearances by Macbeth, Richard III, and others." (that explains Othello)
Being snowed in, I should be getting a lot done. [Insert maniacal laughing here] The truth is, I've spent most of my energy trying to excavate my driveway. After several attempts each day, more than a third of it is still buried in a four-foot drift that refuses to be moved by my measly shovel (Santa, I want a snowblower). When I come back in from shoveling, I have no ambition left for anything else but to collapse on the couch and turn to Netflix.
Yesterday, I discovered Lost in Austen had been added to the titles available for streaming. I've had this one in my DVD queue for some time (ironically, it was finally second in line) so I was excited to sit down and watch it at last.
In Lost in Austen, Amanda Price is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, and would generally rather spend her time re-reading the book than living her life. When Elizabeth Bennett turns up in her bathroom, Amanda trades places with Lizzie and proceeds to completely muck up the story. She fails to help Jane and Bingley reveal their love for each other, causing Jane to marry Mr. Collins, and things go downhill from there. Through it all, Amanda tries to make sure that Darcy falls in love with Lizzie, which is difficult when he's never met her.
If you're a fan of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries, you'll probably enjoy this scene as much as I did (heck, if I met Mr. Darcy, I'd probably ask the same favor from him)
If you're unfamiliar with the earlier miniseries, this scene may help clarify Amanda's request (or there's the link if you just want to watch it again...over and over. I won't tell).
As a writer who has often had a character do something unexpected and then gone "Where did THAT come from?" I'm sure Jane Austen would have the same thought if she ever watched this. When a couple characters act particularly, um, un-characteristically, Amanda can't help but comment:
"Hear that sound? Duh-uh-uh-uh! That's Jane Austen spinning in her grave like a cat in a tumble-dryer"
and
"Goodness. Jane Austen would be fairly surprised to find she'd written that!"
The whole show was a fun romp, kind of the ultimate Jane Austen fanfic. I highly recommend it!
Allow me to go a little, okay, a LOT fangirl here...
Before he was Austin Powers, before he was Shrek, Mike Myers was Charlie Mackenzie.So I Married and Axe Murderer is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's up there with The Princess Bride as one of those movies I love so much I can recite them by heart. Or as some people I know would put it (and you know who you are), it's my Galaxy Quest.
Charlie's a poet, and several of my favorite poems ever (or at least ones I recite a lot, to the annoyance of all around me) are in this movie, especially the one that begins "Harriet! Sweet Harriet! Hard-hearted harbinger of haggis." My absolute favorite poem from the movie is in the opening scene, but you'll have to watch in order to hear it - it's better that way.
Multiple viewings have also given me a sort of Axe Murderer Tourettes Syndrome: I will randomly shout "Head! Pants! Now!" or "Two words: therapy" or any of several other quotes at odd moments just because they popped into my head, and it makes life goood. (Yes, I'm strange. Hadn't you figured that out already?)
So, even though Hulutook away Dr. Horrible, it seems they gave me So I Married an Axe Murderer in return, so life can go on. You can watch it here. Go! Do it now! You won't regret it. (sorry, Hulu wouldn't let me imbed it).
I love fudge. I love bacon. But I find it hard to believe that mixing the two can be anything but horrible. Or, it could be one of those things that turns out to be just evil-ly good. Either way, if you make this stuff, don't offer me any. I don't think I could handle it. After all, I already need a little Obi Wan in my head saying "These aren't the snacks you're looking for."
Whew! I made it! I wrote 50,000 words in one month, actually less than that, considering I started a week late, I finished a day early (25 hours, to be exact) and there were a handful of days scattered through the month that I didn't write at all. In total, I wrote 17 days this month.
I signed up for NaNoWriMo once before, and tried it unofficially another time, and I didn't finish either time. I didn't even come close. Finishing, and finishing early on top of it, felt really, really good!
Here are a few things I learned over the last month (in no particular order)
It's good to have a plan.
I'm usually a pantser (someone who discovers the story as she writes, rather than plotting first), but this time I started out with what I called a Fuzzy Synopsis (as opposed to the legendary Dreaded Synopsis) - it was just a vague plan of my story arc and the points I wanted to hit. I kept the file open a lot and it became a place to throw things I saw coming down the road, but that I hadn't gotten to yet.
I also used a calendar. For years, my writers group's "Goals Guru" *lizzie has encouraged us to use a desk calendar to track our writing progress through the year. I've never been good with the paper calendars and usually track it in my Google Calendar instead. NaNoWriMo turned out to be an exception, thanks to a lucky purchase. Months ago, I bought a $1 calendar mouse pad at the craft store. It was a horrible failure as a mouse pad, but it's the perfect size to keep on a little stand between my keyboard and the shelf my laptop sits on. On it, I tracked each day's goals and progress.
I needed a better plan for laundry. I washed the clothes, but very few of them got put away. I've been wearing wrinkled clothes from a basket for three weeks. Hopefully by next November, LilGirl will be well-trained in putting away her own clothes. I won't hold out the same hope for Hubby - that's a battle I gave up on years ago. But we will have a better system in place by then. We won't even talk about the rest of the housework.
It's good to reward yourself. Some nights it was tough to make my word count. On Monday nights I bribed myself to get done early so I could watch Big Bang Theory. Other nights, I told myself that as soon as I was done I could watch the new episode of The Guild. Once or twice, the bribe was a shower. I tried to keep the bribes non-food-based, but I have to admit there were nights the bribe was a piece of dark chocolate.
It's good to reward your family, too. The last couple days of writing were tough on LilGirl. Her reward for letting me finish was getting out the Christmas dollhouse we haven't taken out of the box since we moved into this house four years ago.
Sometimes you have to be your own Jillian Michaels. Sunday, the final day, was the hardest. I knew I had to do 8000 words in two days, which is more than I've ever done in that amount of time. A strong feeling of being overwhelmed started to come over me, but I knew I would kick myself forever if I came so close to finishing and didn't make it. So I broke out the sticky notes and the Sharpie and wrote myself a note that said "Four sets of 2000 words and you're done!" 2000 words is less than I had been doing each night. It was do-able. I promised myself a break between each set and got to work on the first one. It worked. Even though I had another day to finish, once three sets were done and it was only 6:00 pm, I knew I'd finish on Sunday. The last 2000 words were the hardest. My brain was full of all sorts of other things I could be doing, like reorganizing my bookmarks or cleaning my keyboard. I wrote another note, "2000 words to go! WooHoo!" and stuck it to the calendar, then dove in. A couple hours later, I was done. (You can see the sticky notes stuck to the calendar in the picture above)
The rumors that you don't shower much during NaNo is totally true. Sorry to those of you who had to put up with my stinkiness.
The biggest thing I learned:
I can do this! After struggling along with another story for literally years, it was good to set that one aside and come out with a whole new story in under a month. Yes, it needs a lot of editing (boy, does it ever!) but it's light years ahead of the other story for the amount of time I've spent on it. This has extinguished one doubt among many about my future writing career - that I can work to deadline without having to spend years on a single story. I've given myself a deadline for editing and submitting my NaNo story, then I hope I'll be able to return to the other story with renewed vigor and finish it. By next November, I should be ready to jump into another fresh story and do it all over again.
