Today was my day off so I stayed at home and sucked back some cold medicine. I napped a lot, too. Surprise! Just didn't do much, but I did write a WHOLE LOT tonight, and that makes me feel good. There's nothing like reading back what you've written and finding yourself nodding and smiling and realizing, "This is pretty good!"
The only problem is as it gets bigger, it's harder to deal with as a whole, if that makes any sense. It's like dealing with a loose mass and little sections keep trying to escape and you have to pull them back in.
But it's late and I'm gonna go to bed! Sleep when you're whiny and sick never hurts!
Sarah
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Day 57- Whine
I'm sick and I'm whiny. Not a winning combination! Just got myself a nice cold. I left work early and took some liquid cold medicine and passed out for a few hours. Had some ramen noodles and lots to drink. My animals are happy I'm home but aren't particularly good at nursing me back to health! At least I've got a day off tomorrow!
I hear it's gonna be COLD tomorrow, so keep warm!
Sarah
I hear it's gonna be COLD tomorrow, so keep warm!
Sarah
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Day 56- How NOT to be a Badass
It's a lesson it took me a lifetime to learn, and I think it's time to share it with you!
Alright kids, this is a picture of me in 5th grade.
Good stuff. But! We have to be brutally honest here, LOTR is a bit geeky. It's beautiful and epic and moving and impressive and wonderful but... just a tad geeky. Especially when you get to the level I was at. Wanna know another secret? I didn't give a shit now or then! I AM A GEEK.
Back in 5th grade, I got the best report card of my life- straight A pluses, across the board. I don't know if you remember them, but we used to get Weekly Reader magazines in school, which had a few articles and a quiz on the back. Well we got one about LOTR and I was so involved drooling over it that I got a "C" on the quiz. When the class found out, they gasped, and I was humiliated. But I still have that magazine.
6th grade itself was not pleasant for me, but it's when I began to develop my personal style. I got my first pair of bondage pants and got a BLACK Good Charlotte t-shirt that I wore with pride even though some guy friends thought Good Charlotte was "pansy punk." They were kinda right, especially considering the music I got into later but I'll tell you something else. Good Charlotte's songs are damn catchy! I was actually talking to a very old friend of mine recently and we agreed we were no longer ashamed to admit it. The songs were good and we LIKED them. We still do!
And again, we're back to dorky.
In 7th grade some guy friends asked if I would join their band as bass player. I was terrified to go that first night because I'd never hung out with just a bunch of guys before but it. Was. Awesome. I stayed bass player in that band, Asunder, and then we went through a lineup change and became Dead End Philosophy.
We had several different jamming locations and had the police called on us more than once. We always warmed up playing the first five tracks of "Ashes of the Wake."
Pretty badass, right? WRONG, MY FRIEND. I'll tell you the most painful secret of all. When I headbang too much I get dizzy and fall over. Yes, it's happened, and no, I don't want to talk about it.
So here I am, years later. I have crazy-colored hair which some might think is nerdy for a 27 year old, but I loooooooooooooove it. I say things like "pardon" and "oh, bother," which can't be considered cool. I still keep up with Elvish but additionally learned some Dothraki from Game of Thrones.
I am similar to Daenerys, the Mother of Dragons but I'm the Mother of Cats. I have three black cats and I love them to the point of being a dorky cat lady. And I've got an idiot for a dog that I adore.
So learn from my mistakes. Or, better yet, be AS DORKY as you want to be. Be what makes you happy.
Okay?
Excellent.
Sarah
Alright kids, this is a picture of me in 5th grade.
I was rockin' my red-rimmed eyeglasses, "natural" hair, and a super cool jean overshirt. Pre-braces, guys. Right around this time was when I fell in deeply, passionately in love with Lord of the Rings. I kept copies of the trilogy within arm distance and taught myself to speak Elvish. This was right around the time the first and second films were released and... I'll tell you a secret. I was too embarrassed to admit it but I had a huuuuuuuuuge crush on Legolas, played by Orlando Bloom. Pretty much me and every other girl who watched the films. Although! One of my classmates loved Viggo Mortensen, so there you go. I didn't mind the fact that Orlando was a good 15 years my senior. That long blonde hair? Sigh.
One of my best birthdays ever was in 6th grade. Because that was THE RELEASE DATE for The Return of the King so for my birthday night we went and watched it. Front row, center seats.
Good stuff. But! We have to be brutally honest here, LOTR is a bit geeky. It's beautiful and epic and moving and impressive and wonderful but... just a tad geeky. Especially when you get to the level I was at. Wanna know another secret? I didn't give a shit now or then! I AM A GEEK.
Back in 5th grade, I got the best report card of my life- straight A pluses, across the board. I don't know if you remember them, but we used to get Weekly Reader magazines in school, which had a few articles and a quiz on the back. Well we got one about LOTR and I was so involved drooling over it that I got a "C" on the quiz. When the class found out, they gasped, and I was humiliated. But I still have that magazine.
6th grade itself was not pleasant for me, but it's when I began to develop my personal style. I got my first pair of bondage pants and got a BLACK Good Charlotte t-shirt that I wore with pride even though some guy friends thought Good Charlotte was "pansy punk." They were kinda right, especially considering the music I got into later but I'll tell you something else. Good Charlotte's songs are damn catchy! I was actually talking to a very old friend of mine recently and we agreed we were no longer ashamed to admit it. The songs were good and we LIKED them. We still do!
And again, we're back to dorky.
In 7th grade some guy friends asked if I would join their band as bass player. I was terrified to go that first night because I'd never hung out with just a bunch of guys before but it. Was. Awesome. I stayed bass player in that band, Asunder, and then we went through a lineup change and became Dead End Philosophy.
We had several different jamming locations and had the police called on us more than once. We always warmed up playing the first five tracks of "Ashes of the Wake."
Pretty badass, right? WRONG, MY FRIEND. I'll tell you the most painful secret of all. When I headbang too much I get dizzy and fall over. Yes, it's happened, and no, I don't want to talk about it.
So here I am, years later. I have crazy-colored hair which some might think is nerdy for a 27 year old, but I loooooooooooooove it. I say things like "pardon" and "oh, bother," which can't be considered cool. I still keep up with Elvish but additionally learned some Dothraki from Game of Thrones.
I am similar to Daenerys, the Mother of Dragons but I'm the Mother of Cats. I have three black cats and I love them to the point of being a dorky cat lady. And I've got an idiot for a dog that I adore.
So learn from my mistakes. Or, better yet, be AS DORKY as you want to be. Be what makes you happy.
Okay?
Excellent.
Sarah
Monday, February 4, 2019
Day 55- QUICK
I was getting ready for bed when I remembered I didn't blog today. Well, hell.
We all made it through another Monday! Lots of bookwork today. I had Chinese for dinner. I've been calling Shelly "Sheldon the Conqueror" and he's proud. Most Superbowl talk I heard today was about the commercials.
Aaaaaand BLOG!
Better next time.
Sarah
We all made it through another Monday! Lots of bookwork today. I had Chinese for dinner. I've been calling Shelly "Sheldon the Conqueror" and he's proud. Most Superbowl talk I heard today was about the commercials.
Aaaaaand BLOG!
Better next time.
Sarah
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Day 54- Sarah on Sports
Today was the Super Bowl! Patriots vs. the Rams. My dad has been a Rams fan for a very long time and his allegiance and loyalty passed on to me.
Can I be honest with you? I watched the whole Super Bowl tonight, the first time I'v watched an entire game in quite some time. Mostly I just like the Super Bowl commercials because... here goes: I don't understand football. For years and today as well, patient family members walk me through the intricacies of the game but I just. Don't. Get. It. The lines and rules and lingo. All I understand is "TOUCHDOWN!!"
I talked to my mom last night because I took a massive fall outside and she wanted to check on me. I told her my plans to watch the Super Bowl and try to understand it and she laughed.
"You know there are a ton of 5 year old boys who understand it perfectly?" she teased.
But no, it just doesn't stick. Now, I have never played football in my life, and maybe if I had I'd get it more. But here are some sports I HAVE played... and still don't necessarily understand.
BASKETBALL. Okay. When I was very young, I fell in love with the movie "Space Jam" and therefore idolized Michael Jordan. I am not kidding when I say I wanted to BE Michael Jordan. Not "I wanna be like Mike!" No. I wanted to BE him. Which is ironic because now as a grown woman I am Michael Jordan's COMPLETE physical opposite.
So I spent quite a few hours outside "shooting hoops" in the driveway. "Shooting hoops" in my case meant chucking the basketball AT the backboard and chasing it when it bounced away. But I felt badass doing it.
A few years later I joined a local organization for kids of all ages. I was poor at best. Dribbling wasn't my thing, or passing. Or rebounding. Or "shooting hoops." Once, though, I got my shot at the bigs.
We were at the beginning of a new quarter and I got to start from the half-court line. Picturing Mr. Jordan I dribbled a couple times, listening to the crowd, feeling invincible. I looked at all my teammates gaping at my stillness. And then! I stepped over the line. Nope. Lost the ball.
I didn't play long after that.
SOCCER. I was on a soccer league one summer and all the details were lost on me. My plan was to follow all the other kids, at the back of the pack. Just blend in and don't mess up that way. But shit! Once or twice some fool passed me the ball. For a split second, I panicked. Then I kicked it in any direction I could. Like this scene from Superbad:
PING PONG. We got a ping pong table at our house one year. What I remember most is chasing down the balls, which rolled under desks and couches where the cob webs and spiders live. Forrest Gump makes ping pong look easy and effortless but I swung at the balls like they were a tiny bludger from Harry Potter's Quidditch.
BASEBALL. I have never played actual baseball, though I've been to many games. I DID play Wiffle-ball with my family in my Grandparent's back yard, and that was fun. However, I preferred sitting in the kid's fort with a ladder and a slide and commentate on the game at hand, as obnoxiously as I could.
KICKBALL. Oh, sweet Jesus. I HATED kickball. I dreaded the days we played in it school. I certainly can't catch, and I was even bad at kicking. The ball shot out in odd directions! And my classmates all hated me because when I WAS in control of the ball I didn't know where to kick it.
Ahhh, shut up.
MARCHING BAND. Band's a sport, right? And we WORK on our formations. I remember mid-school band, out in the road practicing for hours to be ready for the Homecoming parade. And you know what? I wasn't that bad!
Maybe I DO have a sporty side.
Yeah. Right.
Sarah
Can I be honest with you? I watched the whole Super Bowl tonight, the first time I'v watched an entire game in quite some time. Mostly I just like the Super Bowl commercials because... here goes: I don't understand football. For years and today as well, patient family members walk me through the intricacies of the game but I just. Don't. Get. It. The lines and rules and lingo. All I understand is "TOUCHDOWN!!"
I talked to my mom last night because I took a massive fall outside and she wanted to check on me. I told her my plans to watch the Super Bowl and try to understand it and she laughed.
"You know there are a ton of 5 year old boys who understand it perfectly?" she teased.
But no, it just doesn't stick. Now, I have never played football in my life, and maybe if I had I'd get it more. But here are some sports I HAVE played... and still don't necessarily understand.
BASKETBALL. Okay. When I was very young, I fell in love with the movie "Space Jam" and therefore idolized Michael Jordan. I am not kidding when I say I wanted to BE Michael Jordan. Not "I wanna be like Mike!" No. I wanted to BE him. Which is ironic because now as a grown woman I am Michael Jordan's COMPLETE physical opposite.
So I spent quite a few hours outside "shooting hoops" in the driveway. "Shooting hoops" in my case meant chucking the basketball AT the backboard and chasing it when it bounced away. But I felt badass doing it.
A few years later I joined a local organization for kids of all ages. I was poor at best. Dribbling wasn't my thing, or passing. Or rebounding. Or "shooting hoops." Once, though, I got my shot at the bigs.
We were at the beginning of a new quarter and I got to start from the half-court line. Picturing Mr. Jordan I dribbled a couple times, listening to the crowd, feeling invincible. I looked at all my teammates gaping at my stillness. And then! I stepped over the line. Nope. Lost the ball.
I didn't play long after that.
SOCCER. I was on a soccer league one summer and all the details were lost on me. My plan was to follow all the other kids, at the back of the pack. Just blend in and don't mess up that way. But shit! Once or twice some fool passed me the ball. For a split second, I panicked. Then I kicked it in any direction I could. Like this scene from Superbad:
PING PONG. We got a ping pong table at our house one year. What I remember most is chasing down the balls, which rolled under desks and couches where the cob webs and spiders live. Forrest Gump makes ping pong look easy and effortless but I swung at the balls like they were a tiny bludger from Harry Potter's Quidditch.
BASEBALL. I have never played actual baseball, though I've been to many games. I DID play Wiffle-ball with my family in my Grandparent's back yard, and that was fun. However, I preferred sitting in the kid's fort with a ladder and a slide and commentate on the game at hand, as obnoxiously as I could.
KICKBALL. Oh, sweet Jesus. I HATED kickball. I dreaded the days we played in it school. I certainly can't catch, and I was even bad at kicking. The ball shot out in odd directions! And my classmates all hated me because when I WAS in control of the ball I didn't know where to kick it.
Ahhh, shut up.
MARCHING BAND. Band's a sport, right? And we WORK on our formations. I remember mid-school band, out in the road practicing for hours to be ready for the Homecoming parade. And you know what? I wasn't that bad!
Maybe I DO have a sporty side.
Yeah. Right.
Sarah
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Day 53- Thoughts of a Hardware Geek
As you may/possibly/probably know by now, I work at ACE Hardware! It's not a glamorous job, nor a particularly clean one. There's grease and gasoline and paint and mud. But today I was looking around... I looked deeper. And I found something surprising- beauty in the every day work environment!
When you pull out a brand new chain saw chain from it's box, it shimmers and shines a little bit in the light, untouched by dirty hands or greasy machines. It reminds me of taking a silvery chain out of a box at the jewelers, catching the light, like liquid starlight.
In the back of we have rolls of copper tubing that looks like someone melted thousands of dollars worth of pennies, and formed them into a mesmerizing, shiny coil, just waiting to be unrolled and stretched across space and time, once currency now something entirely different.
Upfront we have hundreds of paint chips from different companies, a mesh of regular and jewel tones, effortlessly evolving from one shade to another.
In the back behind the parts counter, there are endless dusty boxes and bags of parts for chain saws, mowers, pressure washers, you name it. It reminds me of the Department of Mysteries from Harry Potter, with the towering shelves on all sides, full of parts from tiny to huge. The containers are dirty but nestled away are the parts themselves, still shiny and unused.
The pottery aisle is packed with containers, basins, bowls, and buckets of every hue and every size you can imagine. They are all crammed together, waiting to be picked and ready to hold plants and flowers.
Even being out in the Shop has a surprising charm. The walls are covered with pegboards full of tools and Stihl calendars. There's always music playing, and it feeds the chaos. If you're fortunate, you might even see a beautiful little cat named Lucky. She owns the whole shop!
I wonder... maybe I spend a little too much time there.
Sarah
When you pull out a brand new chain saw chain from it's box, it shimmers and shines a little bit in the light, untouched by dirty hands or greasy machines. It reminds me of taking a silvery chain out of a box at the jewelers, catching the light, like liquid starlight.
In the back of we have rolls of copper tubing that looks like someone melted thousands of dollars worth of pennies, and formed them into a mesmerizing, shiny coil, just waiting to be unrolled and stretched across space and time, once currency now something entirely different.
Upfront we have hundreds of paint chips from different companies, a mesh of regular and jewel tones, effortlessly evolving from one shade to another.
In the back behind the parts counter, there are endless dusty boxes and bags of parts for chain saws, mowers, pressure washers, you name it. It reminds me of the Department of Mysteries from Harry Potter, with the towering shelves on all sides, full of parts from tiny to huge. The containers are dirty but nestled away are the parts themselves, still shiny and unused.
The pottery aisle is packed with containers, basins, bowls, and buckets of every hue and every size you can imagine. They are all crammed together, waiting to be picked and ready to hold plants and flowers.
Even being out in the Shop has a surprising charm. The walls are covered with pegboards full of tools and Stihl calendars. There's always music playing, and it feeds the chaos. If you're fortunate, you might even see a beautiful little cat named Lucky. She owns the whole shop!
I wonder... maybe I spend a little too much time there.
Sarah
Friday, February 1, 2019
Day 52- Tumble
This morning I fell down a couple of stairs outside. And it hurt!
There are two sets of concrete steps in my back yard- the first and longer set goes from my back door down to the ground level. The second is a set of two steps that descend from the ground level down to the yard level. THANKFULLY I didn't fall down the big steps because I would have cracked my head a good one!
It all happened so fast I don't really remember all of it. Approaching the bottom stairs, I was going to put Mose in his pen while I went to work. At the same time a neighbor was throwing his trash in the alley dumpster, and Mose hurtled across the yard to bark at the intruder of privacy.
That's when it happened. I don't know if I tripped or misstepped but suddenly my feet were slipping out from under me and I was hurtling down past the stairs and towards the cement walkway. WHAM. I felt it in my right shoulder first, the concrete slamming my upper arm. My glasses went flying! My left knee shot out, trying to steady my body and it scraped across the pavement. My air was knocked right out of me and I had to lie there for a minute, my hip aching.
"Are you okay??" the neighbor called.
I wanted to yell back, "You weren't supposed to see that!" but I just gave a weak, "Yeah."
I tried pushing myself up into a kneeling position and my arm trembled under the weight. My hair was full of tiny twigs and my pants were a muddy mess. It took a good few minutes to find my glasses, since I couldn't see, but thankfully they were unharmed.
But the worst part of it all? Mose didn't even notice!
Tonight I'm achey all over, and I've been taking Advil which helps a bit. I think I'll be a sore, whiny mess tomorrow...
Sarah
There are two sets of concrete steps in my back yard- the first and longer set goes from my back door down to the ground level. The second is a set of two steps that descend from the ground level down to the yard level. THANKFULLY I didn't fall down the big steps because I would have cracked my head a good one!
It all happened so fast I don't really remember all of it. Approaching the bottom stairs, I was going to put Mose in his pen while I went to work. At the same time a neighbor was throwing his trash in the alley dumpster, and Mose hurtled across the yard to bark at the intruder of privacy.
That's when it happened. I don't know if I tripped or misstepped but suddenly my feet were slipping out from under me and I was hurtling down past the stairs and towards the cement walkway. WHAM. I felt it in my right shoulder first, the concrete slamming my upper arm. My glasses went flying! My left knee shot out, trying to steady my body and it scraped across the pavement. My air was knocked right out of me and I had to lie there for a minute, my hip aching.
"Are you okay??" the neighbor called.
I wanted to yell back, "You weren't supposed to see that!" but I just gave a weak, "Yeah."
I tried pushing myself up into a kneeling position and my arm trembled under the weight. My hair was full of tiny twigs and my pants were a muddy mess. It took a good few minutes to find my glasses, since I couldn't see, but thankfully they were unharmed.
But the worst part of it all? Mose didn't even notice!
Tonight I'm achey all over, and I've been taking Advil which helps a bit. I think I'll be a sore, whiny mess tomorrow...
Sarah
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