Photo 365 #2

August 9, 201426 Comments

I’m so creative with my post title today, aren’t I?

Anyway, I decided last weekend when I found one of my mom’s old embroidery hoops that I should take up embroidery again. My grandma gave me an embroidery kit once for Christmas when I was a kid and, though I started one of the samplers, I never finished.

No, I didn’t do this, but maybe someday…

I bought some embroidery floss and a fat square the other day when Miss Tadpole and I went to pick out the fabric for her home ec. project. I don’t have a pattern yet, but I was thinking something in a fleur de lis would be pretty. Of course, since I bought green and red floss, maybe I should stick with a holly and berry theme? That would be pretty too.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Photo 365 #1

August 8, 2014January 12, 201516 Comments

Inspired by my good friend Mara, I’ve decided to undertake a new project. I’m going to post a photo a day for a year. I hope my skills continue to develop. Also, it’ll be fun.

Right?

Right. 🙂

So, without further ado, here’s a picture I took as I was leaving work tonight. It’s a perfect depiction of how I felt all day, of struggling to shine on despite the haze, and I love the way it turned out.

I hope you like it, and I hope you stick around and see where my camera and I end up. Happy Friday!

Photo Friday: Lunch

August 8, 2014August 22, 20147 Comments

Today’s theme is lunch. I had leftover pizza from Pizza Hut, and failed to take a picture of it, but I didn’t figure anyone really wanted to see two soggy slices of pepperoni pizza, anyway.

Instead, here’s a pretty picture of what I spent the rest of my lunch break doing:

Revisions. *sigh*

I relish my lunch breaks at work because I get a whole hour to myself, uninterrupted, to write or read or sleep. Because I tend to lose myself in whatever story I find myself occupied with (whether it’s mine or someone else’s), I have an alarm set on my phone so that I’m not late getting back to the daily grind. It’s not a fool-proof system – my alarm fails on occasion – but it generally works.

Don’t forget to stop by Charnele’s blog and see what she did for lunch today! Have a great weekend, everybody! 🙂

When I’m nervous…

August 7, 2014August 6, 201420 Comments

darcy My fabulous friend Charnele tagged me last week to share a little about some of my nervous tics. I don’t think I have a whole lot of nervous habits, but there are a few that spring immediately to mind:

I clam up. I’m shy by nature and have a hard time initiating conversations with people I don’t know well (and occasionally with those I do know well).
I fidget. I play with my hands, my wedding ring, or my hair. I adjust my clothes. I cross my arms. You get the picture.
I chew my cheeks or lips. I do this instead of clenching my jaw, but sometimes that happens, too.
Hot flashes…I have them. I have them even when I’m not nervous, but they seem to hit especially hard when I’m nervous about something.
I sweat. It’s an extension of the hot flashes, but one I’m rather self-conscious about.

What about you? Do you do anything in particular when you’re nervous?

Freeze!

August 6, 201411 Comments

*yawn*

*blink blink*

*chugs two gallons of strong coffee*

Wow! Well, that’s a little better. After yesterday, I’m exhausted. It seems like every time I have a day or two off of work, I need a day or two to recover. Vacation can be exhausting, but this summer, I haven’t been able to go on vacation, and it’s been equally exhausting.

IMG_20140805_150429 Yesterday I froze corn, something I’ve only attempted as an adult once up to now. It was bad. I found my grandma’s recipe, then promptly misread it, and the results were terrible. But we received a boatload of fresh sweet corn over the weekend and had to do something with it, so yesterday I tracked down my grandma’s recipe again, determined to have better results this time.

I’m happy to say I got what I wanted. I’m even happier to say that I’m done freezing corn (for a while, anyway).

I posted a few shots of my progress on Instagram throughout the day yesterday, but it was after 11:00 p.m. last night before we were finally finished – it would have been much later without the help of my wonderful family. When I was a kid, my mom’s family always used to freeze corn together – we shucked and cut the corn outside (this keeps the mess down, and I really wish I’d done the same thing yesterday), then cooked it inside. It was always a big day – Grandpa always had a truckload of corn to freeze. One of my favorite corn-freezing stories involved my great-grandma. I have no idea if I was present at the time this particular incident occurred (she died when I was four), but I get a kick out of the story regardless. Anyway, it was corn-freezing day…

It’s cover reveal time!

August 5, 2014August 4, 20142 Comments

One of the great things about being a writer is the community. There are so many other fabulous writers out there who will cheer you on, help you out, and even lift you up when you’re feeling down. Contests and conversations abound, and I’ve met more awesome authors through the few contests I’ve entered than I could have imagined possible even a few short years ago. One of them is the lovely Maria Ann Green, whose book In the Rearview, is coming soon to a bookshelf near you. And today, I’m happy to help spread the word by sharing the cover for this intriguing new book.

The blurb:

When Meagan’s secret is found out, and she realizes there is no way to outrun her habit of cutting, she tries to work through it, and her depression, before she cuts too deep, making a mistake that can never be undone.

Meagan’s problems aren’t like every other adolescent’s no matter how much she wishes they could be. Hers are worse. They’ve pulled her down into the depths of a depression that is anything but normal. She begins her pattern of self-harm as her depression threatens to drown her. She starts with one cut that leads to the next, and the next. After starting, it’s apparent that there’s no stopping, and Meagan spirals into a dark and cruel world she doesn’t understand. Meagan cuts to feel better, but that comfort doesn’t last long enough, and soon life is worse than it ever was before.

While learning to quit cutting Meagan faces life-altering obstacles and grows up in the process. IN THE REARVIEW is a story of pain, loss, confusion, and hope told through Meagan’s poems, journal entries, and a splash of narrative.

About Maria:

Maria Green currently lives in Minnesota, despite its bitter winters, with her husband. She graduated with a degree in Psychology and a minor in English. When she isn’t writing, Maria loves to read with a cup of strong coffee or a glass of sweet wine, craft, and spend time with her family. This is her first published novel.

You can find out more about Maria by visiting her blog. Stay tuned for more news in the coming weeks, and check out Maria’s cover reveal post for some more interesting tidbits about the author!

Photo Friday: Outside Interests

August 1, 2014August 22, 20143 Comments

Today’s Photo Friday theme is all about the great outdoors. If you keep tabs on my Instagram widget in the sidebar on the right, you’ll see that I take lots and lots of pictures of flowers. Like, seriously, a ton. I may not be able to grow flowers worth a hoot, but I sure can take nice pictures of them.