Tuesday, August 31, 2010

One Minute Writer prompt- Family

"Write about someone you know/knew who was not related to you, but was like a family member."
That's the prompt from One Minute Writer today.


Family. Like Family

Martha was like family to me. I met her when I was 11. My mother and step-father split up and it was April vacation. It snowed. We moved from a nice house in the country to a “project”. I didn’t call it a project then, but that’s what it was. A housing development on the outskirts of town for people with no money. Martha and her family lived a few doors away. There were 3 boys under the age of 5, Martha, and her husband Bob. Sometimes they ate french fries for dinner. I babysat the boys. My brother wasn’t even 2 yet, and Martha’s middle son was the same age.

Years go by. Now I’m 15. I can’t live with my mother anymore, and my father has just beaten me up. I turn to Martha. Myself and another friend of mine take refuge in her attic. In exchange for babysitting and some rent money her family puts a roof over my head.

Martha has found religion. I find it too, and carry my bottle of holy water around with me at high school. We go to church together and I babysit the kids on the weekends. My friend is too busy with her boyfriend so eventually I end up doing her turns too.

I write letters to Martha and I send them to “My mother, my sister, my friend”.

She’s still out there somewhere. She’s divorced and remarried, and a grandmother too.
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More on Burning Man 2010

http://www.ustream.tv/burningman

Thursday, August 26, 2010

It's not too late to go to Burning Man!!

Burning Man starts on Monday, August 30th this year. Oh how I would love to be there.


http://www.burningman.com/

A few thousand people on bikes filterImage via Wikipedia
Burning Man 2008Image by foxgrrl via Flickr

Burning Man 2008Image by foxgrrl via Flickr
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skipping over an Elizabeth Berg book

Range of Motion: A NovelI was going to read "Range of Motion" by Elizabeth Berg next. I have it already checked out of the library. However I started reading it this morning and right away I was thinking "Hmm... this could be a real waste of time".  I skipped over to Amazon and read some of the reviews this afternoon, and even the the favorable ones were not that favorable. Elizabeth Berg is a good author but this is not one of her best books. So I think it's going in the "book return" slot today. I've got other books waiting to be read.
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Monday, August 23, 2010

Home again.. sort of

Well of course the bathroom work took longer than we anticipated. The hotel told us if we stayed until Saturday morning we'd get a weekly rate which would be cheaper than if we left on Friday morning, so we stayed until Saturday. This allowed the kid to sleep late on Saturday morning.

When we got home Saturday morning the child did not want to cooperate with us so ultimately I wasn't much help in getting things done. We finally had to call a friend for help, much to my frustration. We got the toilet in, but then the tub surround work was in the way so the bathroom wasn't really usable for most of the day. I ended up taking the kid to the lake for lunch and then after the surround was done and the silicone was stinking up the house, we went up to the Heath Fair.

The fair was fun, and we got to see my dad. Also got to hear some tunes by the Lonesome Brothers, support the local school, and some other vendors. Yummy apples from one of the local orchards too.

On Sunday we realized the toilet was leaking so off to Home Depot in Hadley for a new potty. Stopped at Target for some accessories, like a new shower curtain and rugs, and a mirror. Hurray!
HOUSTON - SEPTEMBER 11:  Customers wait in lin...Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Late Sunday night Aaron finally got the tub and shower functional and we all took our first showers this morning. It's nice to have a solid floor in there. It's the first time since we've lived in the house that we've had a solid floor under the tub and in the bathroom.
 One Roll LUAU Flamingo 2-Ply Toilet Paper



We've still got some cosmetic stuff to do and some cleaning, but it's all functional at least. :-)
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

the two writing books

I seem to have a couple of free minutes so I will tell you that one of the books that I quickly read through was
"Writing toward home : tales and lessons to find your way" by Georgia Heard. The other book was "Breathing in, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer's Notebook" by Ralph Fletcher. I got them both from a local library.
 

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Just a quick update

I did read 2 books over the past week, but I read them quickly and I'm not going to bother to post about them here. They were both books about writing.
HALLATROW, UNITED KINGDOM - DECEMBER 12:  Seco...Image by Getty Images via @daylife

On the home front we tore out our bathtub on Friday, and my husband spent the weekend tearing the bathroom apart. Meanwhile we checked into the local Econolodge and the child and I enjoyed the pool and pretended to be tourists somewhat. We also rented hubby a nice new truck for the weekend, a beautiful Chevy Silverado with only 4000 miles on it. Home Depot we love you! Tax-free weekends we love you too.

CHICAGO - FEBRUARY 24:  Shopping carts sit out...Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Unfortunately the bathroom wasn't put back together again by Monday morning. We
checked out of the hotel, returned the truck (so sad to see it go), and I sent the kid off to school and the husband off to his day job. After a visit to the house to confirm that it really wasn't safe for a 4-year old I fired up the old hotel list and found the cheapest deal I could for us. This time it's the Red Roof Inn.


As we did over the weekend, hubby will mostly be at the house (so don't even think about breaking in) while daughter and I are mostly at the hotel. Having only 1 vehicle now though means we'll be more creative in our juggling. Hoping we get home by Friday night, maybe sooner.

I do have a list of fairs and old home days to keep Abby busy on Saturday if need be.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

"Love" by Toni Morrison

I checked out "Love" by Toni Morrison from our university library a while ago. It seems to get pretty good reviews. Within the last few days I finally picked it up and started to read it. At first I didn't understand what I was reading. Something about a woman's legs. Then I got into a little more and finally decided that I just didn't care. I wasn't bonding with these characters and I felt like I was mostly wasting my time. So I put the book down and brought it back. Most people like this book. Seems like only a very few on Amazon don't like it. I guess I'm in the don't like it pile. I'll pick up something else out of my book pile soon.
We're All Normal And We Want Our Freedom: Trib...Image via Wikipedia
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Monday, August 9, 2010

It's been 7 years

Today is our wedding anniversary. 7 years ago in Look Park with a Justice of Peace and some close family and friends we said our vows. A night at the Lachis Hotel in Brattleboro, VT followed, and then we went back to work for a week before leaving on our honeymoon to drive to Nevada, visit Vegas, Reno, and Burning Man. Seems like it wasn't so long ago. Happy anniversary honey, even if you probably won't see this.

I love you.
The event is named after its Saturday night ri...Image via Wikipedia
Burningman 0041Image via Wikipedia



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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

2 more books by Elizabeth Berg

Just finished reading two more books by Elizabeth Berg. "Art of Mending" and "We are all Welcome Here" sat in my backpack for weeks, and then as the due date for returning them to the library neared, I sped through them in a few days. Both good books, and I really feel like I am identifying with something that is going to help me with my own writing. It's not direct, but it's coming. My novel is going to be a slow process, but she is definitely giving me some inspiration.



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