First a Little ‘Ode to Joy’ ~ Muppet Style

I love the Muppets! Those old guys always did crack me up.

Self Discovery

I have been on this road to understanding a little more about myself and what I want out of this life of mine. I realize I am a thinker. Oh, and I feel a lot more than I wish, but ultimately I think way too much for anyone’s good. This makes me question just about everything and feel inadequate most days.

Just recently I was thinking about how so many people I am friends, acquaintances, in contact with that speak more than one language. Many of them speak at least two, but possibly even more. I speak one. I started learning French when I was in elementary school [somewhere between 8 & 10 I believe]. My mom pulled out some French language records. Oh, yes. These were vinyl, scratchy, and lift the needle to replay records. I still know how to say ‘What is your name?’ and ‘My name is’ but that is about the extent of my French.

I can say rabbit poop, thunder, chicken’s butt, and give me a hug in Czech

In high school I took 2 years of Spanish. I begged and pleaded with my mother to let me take French, then German, anything but Spanish. Today I can count ~ to about 50, say the alphabet ~ no rolling r’s though, and say one very intimate phrase that was taught to me by a very young Cuban co-worker years ago. Now, it’s not like that. I was dating a Cuban man and this co-worker thought it would be nice if I could say something to him in his native tongue. I even wrote a very short poem in Spanish. Oh, and I finally learned how to say smartass in Spanish. This one comes in handy often.

I can say rabbit poop, thunder, chicken’s butt, and give me a hug in Czech [part of my heritage on my mother's side]. All quite useful, don’t ya think? I can say I love you in English, Spanish, German, & French. Not sure how far any of that will get me either.

I am in awe. Truly I am. Just so everyone knows, no matter how poorly you speak English, you probably speak it far better than I speak your native language. Always remember this when you feel a bit inadequate in your ability. Because you should not feel that way.

NaNoWriMo & Other Things

It didn’t take any self discovery to know I tend to stray off topic often and without apology. It’s all just one of my more endearing qualities, or so I like to think.

I did learn I can write 50,000 words in 30 days. Wow! It feels really good, too. I have a lot of rewriting and editing to do, but I have something I can work with. But that is not even the best part. The best part is I learned something through all of that writing. I can write. Really. It is not all crap. Some of it most definitely is, but not all of it. I did pull some in with my dream sequence and all of your comments really inspire me to keep at it.

I also learned that I have a lot of emotion tucked away deep down inside. I enjoyed releasing bits and pieces of that emotion through my characters and within my writing. I am learning more and more about myself and even if I am never published I will gain so much from my continued writing. It is a great gift indeed.

Epiphanies & Happiness

These things never come quickly or with few words, at least not with me. In an effort to spare you a book of a post I am breaking this out into several parts.

Your turn

Now before you go, I would love to hear all about your own self discovery. Through this great big journey we call life we are bound to hit upon a few things ~ some good, some bad. Sometimes they arrive after much thought and contemplation. Other times they sneak up on us without warning or invitation.  A shameless plea for comments I know, but I welcome links to your posts as well. How’s that for sharing some bloggy love?!

Self Discovery, Epiphanies, & Happiness ~ Part 1 is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

We had a lot of fun. The girls and I hit the freebies at CVS on Thursday. I did not have to worry about getting their early since my parents live in such a small town. Everything was in stock. Then we ate lots of turkey and mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies. And of course my mom had pie. There was apple pie [with and without raisins] and pumpkin pie. My aunt made cookies shaped like turkeys and there were brownies.

On Friday the girls and I were at the mall a little after 4 am. We stopped in JCPenney first and collected our free snow globes. My mom collects these. Then we drove over to Target and waited. Just before 5 am we went to get in line only to find it was wrapped around and behind the building. Needless to say, we left.

We drove back to the mall and got food. Then we hit Sears, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and a few others. We did not make too many purchases. I did get stopped by one of the Dead Sea people and tried to leave without buying anything. All I can say is these sales people are good. I took the girls to get hair cuts then we walked over to the people selling hair straighteners. Amanda wanted them to re-straighten her hair. We left with three straighteners and various hair stuffs. These things are amazing! We left after that.

We made one last stop at Publix for some Black Cherry soda ~ the best around ~ and this is always a must for any Florida trip. I tried to take a nap when we returned, but my parents had other plans. We headed out to a working farm and orange grove. I have to say, these oranges were so good. Fresh picked and oh so tasty. We brought back six small boxes of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and lemons. I also got some orange blossom honey ~ farm fresh.

Mom made a ham dinner for us on Friday and there was leftover pie and a Carvel ice cream cake for dessert. I think we can all live for a few weeks on all the food we ate on our trip.

We left Saturday around 11 am and arrived back in Virginia around 9:30 pm. Sunday we were greeted by our chickens and today I have to go by the vet and pick up Ivy. I really miss her. Amanda and I took Megan back to Radford yesterday and hit more traffic on I-81 then we did on any of the roads coming back from Florida the day before.

Today I am working on finishing up NaNoWriMo [2400 words to go as of this posting] and will be a bit MIA for the next three weeks as I finish up my final college class ~ which is going to kick my ass ~ and get ready for the holidays.

Well, so much for my super quick update. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, ate lots of turkey, and enjoyed the company of friends and family be it close to home or far away.

Image courtesy of fmsparis.

Super Quick Update is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

So, yeah. Today I went shopping with Amanda. I would post her picture, but we have this deal ~ I don’t post pictures of her and she doesn’t post those really unflattering pictures of me ~ no problem. I have been wanting a new Scrabble game because I love Scrabble and my board is some 30 years old and I think it’s missing some pieces. It was off to Target for the $20 Deluxe Edition with the carry case & a free Scrabble card game to boot! I cannot wait for Christmas!

Class of 2009

I started my final college class towards my Bachelors in Accounting. YAY! I need to find out everything that is required of me, but I should be an official college graduate in December. My final class is Government & Institutional Accounting. Next order of business, find a job to help pay off all of those student loans that will come a callin’ in six months.

NaNo Novel Update

I have cracked the 35,000 word barrier and am getting some positive feedback over on my writing blog for those few excerpts I have bravely shared. I have lost a bit of my direction, but am okay with that. I will figure it all out and work on the editing and reworking after November has ended and my college studies have completed.

On another writing front, I will be picking up 3 shoe boxes of love letters and pictures when I visit my parents over Thanksgiving. The letters are correspondence from my grandparents while they were courting [isn't that a phrase that should be revived?] and when my grandfather went off to fight in WWII. I am really excited about this. I really am a romantic old sap at heart.

Which Came First The Chicken Or The Egg?

In March we decided to get some chickens. We started with 24. We had 7 roosters and 17 hens. These were mostly Rhode Island Reds, some Bantams, and four were Leghorns. This summer we lost one of the leghorns when she was hit by a truck. After that we debated what to do with the 7 roosters, which were really worrying the hens with their constant, uh, desires. We decided to cull them down to 2 roosters. Not as bad as you would think, but not something I would want to do again if at all possible. That left us with 2 roosters and 16 hens. Then, this past week we lost 3 more hens ~ 2 of the leghorns & I think a bantam. We think a hawk got them.

Our purpose for the chickens is to get eggs, for us to eat and to sell. Lately we have been getting 8 – 9 eggs a day. Today we got one that had no shell and no yolk. It was also quite small. This is the second egg we’ve found this size, the first with no shell.

In Case You Haven’t Seen It

I originally found this posted over at The Succulent Wife’s Favorite Things. This commercial has had me and my family laughing all weekend:

Shopping ~ Graduating ~ Writing ~ Chickens & Eggs [shells are optional] ~ & Finally, A Little 'Clean' Humor is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Join in the fun and share your own Small Talk Six post. You can answer this with a list of 6 words, 6 phrases, 6 sentences, 6 paragraphs, 6 photos, 6 videos, etc . . .

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This week’s topic:

6 things you are most thankful for this year

I cannot help but participate in a post about being thankful. No matter how bad things may be, no matter my lack of employment and dwindling savings, life it pretty damn [that's right, I said it!] good! Damnit!

1. My kids. I have some of the greatest kids in the world. I know everyone says this, but I don’t know what I did to deserve such great kids. I was a rotten child ~ sorry mom & dad.
2. My parents. No matter what I do they are always there. Sure, they let me know when they do not approve, but they love me anyway. I still don’t feel worthy when they tell me how proud they are of me. Me? Proud? I’m trying to listen and believe. My mom is never wrong!
3. Our continued health. My mom is doing quite well with her chemotherapy and we’re hopeful she has many, many more years ahead of her. Megan, Amanda, & I have all caught colds this year, but not H1N1 {knock on wood}, so it could be worse.
4. Graduation! That is right. I am graduating THIS YEAR not next! December 19th is my last day of class and I will be receiving my BA in Accounting. Woo Hoo!
5. My writing. I am participating in NaNoWriMo this year. My book is based on many of the feelings I keep buried inside. Thanks to Heather and her wonderful insights on my recent excerpt I have had a breakthrough even I didn’t realize I was having. Of course this may mean I will need to see a therapist when I am done, but that could be a really good thing for me!
6. Dwayne [DH]. He has taught me so much about myself and family, self-worth and people. I don’t always do what he suggests, but I am learning ~ the hard way, of course.

I have never felt happier than I do right now. I’m not worried because I know something good is waiting just beyond the horizon.

What about you? What are you thankful for this year?

Small Talk Six ~ Thanksgiving Edition is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

For everyone struggling through NaNoWriMo

I bought Janet Evanovich’s book How I Write a few months back. I picked it up last night to peruse and found this very NaNo appropriate quote:

Don’t fall into the trap of rewriting chapter one until it’s perfect. And don’t discard everything you write halfway through because you’re sure it sucks. Writing stuff that sucks is part of the learning process!

- Janet Evanovich, How I Write

See, we all write crap. We are supposed to write crap. I feel so much better. I really am a writer! Who’d a thought?!

And now a poem written just for you, from Moi

May your words always find you
May your writing be swift
May your characters be lively
And with a little bit of kick

May your fingers be nimble
As you type night and day
May your story be wondrous
Carrying your readers away

May your thesaurus prove true
With words fantastic to read
May your dictionary prevail
Providing words that you need

May you sit back and relax
When December 1 rolls around
Accomplished and rewarded
Your 50,000 words written down

And when it’s all over
A joyous smile will creep
You did it, you won
Now it’s time to sleep!

And Now For A Little NaNoWriMo Inspiration is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Let’s start with yesterday in the shower. Now, get your mind out of the gutter. Sigh. I woke up at 10 am and thought, ‘Wonderful!’ Then I remembered I had some Walgreens RR [register rewards] expiring. Then I thought, maybe they expired later in the week. By this point I was already in the shower and the RR’s were in the Jeep. I push them out of my mind since they will have to wait.

So, there I am in the shower and I start thinking these great conversations for my story, you know, my NaNoWriMo story? And I’m like ‘STOP!’ Yeah, really, I did that ~ out loud even! Sheesh! Man, that’s a lot of exclamation points right there let me tell you. Anyway, I stop and go back to washing my hair ~ it takes forever to wash my hair, seriously.

Here I am washing, washing, washing and the thoughts start again. CRAP! My voice recorder is also in the Jeep. Not that it’s waterproof, but that is beside the point. Yeah, want to know what I do next? Well, you have to buy the book. Okay, I don’t have a book. And I will never have a book if I don’t stop having my great thoughts while in the shower where I CANNOT WRITE THEM DOWN.

I start singing

In the shower! Like that is not a cliche. It gets better. I start singing, “stop this, stop thinking right now, you cannot write here, lalala lalalalalala”. Now, put that to the tune of Hava Nagila and you have me in the shower! For those of you who do not know this lovely Hebrew folk song here is an awesome version of it thanks to judaza75:

And if that were not enough

The shower talking escalated to me [out loud] saying over and over again, ‘you will not think, you will not think’. You get the picture. It was a shame really. I was having some really great thoughts, too. At least I think I was. Since I could not remember much of anything AFTER the shower. I have thoughts while driving down the road, but I have started using my voice recorder for those. YAY!

After the shower [and getting dressed] I check the RR’s and they were expiring. Now I debate the cost of driving an hour to use them up versus letting them expire. I almost had myself convinced to just ‘screw it’ and let them expire when I remembered two of them were $7 each. I re-checked and I had $19. I could not in good conscience let them expire, so I dragged myself out of the house.

I bought 3- 9 roll packs of toilet paper [we were out and Dwayne really didn't like my substituting napkins], 1- 8 roll pack of paper towels, and 2- 64 oz bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice. There was a $1 off Walgreens coupon for the Ocean Spray, but it beeped and the cashier couldn’t figure it out and there were two very nice people behind me with only a few items each. I told her to let it go and it cost me a little over $3 instead of the $1 and change I expected to pay, but still not bad. I purposely did not roll any of the RR’s. The good news ~ Walgreens is coming to town! I may even apply for a job there.

Speaking of jobs…

I received an email from Monster jobs this morning. Kemp Group is looking to fill a bunch of accounting positions. Well, I could use a job, since savings is dwindling. I thought I would send my updated resume [which includes no dates beyond the past 10 years] and a new and improved, specially written for them cover letter. Yes, I did it. Not as poignant as the one I posted here, but not your typical cover letter either.

Dear Hiring Manager:

Monster Jobs alerted me to the opportunities you have available and I feel I meet the qualifications for a Staff Accountant position. I have over 15 years experience in bookkeeping and accounting and will complete my Bachelors in Accounting in January 2010.

I am looking for a position that will offer more than just a job, and something I can be proud of at the end of the day. I have been out of work for a year now yet that does not mean I am desperate. Life is too short to be unhappy and far too much of life is spent in the workplace. I am a hard and dedicated worker and I expect the same of any organization with which I work.

If you are interested in getting know me better, then I look forward to meeting with you to discuss how I will be an asset to your company. I appreciate your taking the time out of your busy day to give my application due consideration.

Sincerely,

Anne Bender

I will let you know if I get a call. Not that I’m holding my breath or anything.

**UPDATE**

No, no phone call or email, but I had Dwayne [DH] read the letter. He said ‘out of your busy day’ sounds sarcastic. Well, that was truly not my intent. I sincerely meant to acknowledge the busy nature of one’s working environment. I will omit that for future cover letters.

Will the real Anne please stand up is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

A Wordle is a nifty little contraption that takes words from your site and creates a little snapshot of those words. Also, you can enter random words and create a wordle. See, no blog necessary. Hmm, unless you want to post it. Well, then I suppose you could save it to photobucket or flickr or something like that. But now I am off topic.

My Blog’s Wordle:

Let’s see what I was saying this past week, shall we? ~ little thoughts ~ {Oh, My!} ~ write things ~ {One can hope they are not my little thoughts.}

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

My Writing Blog’s Wordle:

Is it just me or does that kind of look like a shoe print?

NaNoWriMo!!! ~ WRITING WRITING WRITING ~ Hopefully they are ‘just words’ and not ‘just words’. Oh, and you can watch my progress throughout the month with the nifty widget located at the top right of the page.

You should try this out. Just head over to Last Shreds of Sanity and find out how. Then be sure to link up your Wordle. I cannot wait to see it!

Weekend Wordles – 'Just Writing Words' or is it 'Writing Just Words' ? is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

There is a little singing and a little dancing going on in my head write now [yes, I really wrote write, when I obviously meant right]. There is a bit of ladidadida and tralalalala flying between bouts of writing and coffee swilling and Dr. Oz watching. Oh, yeah you heard me correctly!!! Dr. Oz is the bomb!

Okay, this post is being interrupted by a random text message sent from Amanda [no school today since it is Election Day and she is at the movies watching Saw 6]. Yeah, I know she’s only 16, but she thinks horror movies are cool. Not me. I saw Nightmare on Elm Street when I was 14 and had nightmares for 6 months. I went on to see all of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and had many, many dreams of Freddy coming after me. Usually he was someone I knew who would turn into Freddy. {shudders} It was not fun. Anywho, I distracted my own post and my own interruption!!! Wow! That can’t be normal. LOL

Amanda: Holy Omg that movie is intense cant take it anymore

ME: Lol

Amanda: Its not funny

ME: Sorry [laughing while I type, of course]

Amanda: Lolz its ok

Guess she found her Freddy. Lol Hey, I am not one of those overprotective parents, okay? She needs to find these things out on her own. I already know I don’t like scary movies. Besides, those Saw movies scare me just from the commercials.

Now back to my original post ramblings. I am really enjoying this NaNoWriMo thing. It is just what the writing faerie ordered! So far I am at 5,371 words [5,001 is recommended by the end of day 3] and I am not done writing for the day. My goal for today is 6,253, or 2,000 more than yesterday’s final word count. So, I am taking a few mini-breaks. I check out a few blogs, leave some comments, write a post full of gibberishness [poetic license]. I love this writing stuff!

Random thought:

Is it just me or is the I-Hop commercial with the two nutcrackers just that funny? I laugh every time I see it.

Want to follow my progress?

I will be updating more thoroughly over on my writing blog. This keeps me accountable! And if you want to be my writing buddy that would be *awesomely-wonderful-terrific*!

Nananananananana Nananananananana Wri Mo !!!!! is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Oh, and what is up with me waking up at 6:45 AM??? I don’t do mornings. I was up until at least 1:30 in the morning. See, I could have set all those clocks right.

So, I’m lying there asleep when I remember ~ Holy CRAP! ~ that I forgot to put the footnote citation on my homework that I turned in last night. The homework that was due yesterday. The homework that I will most certainly lose points on for that very reason. No, it was not the naked dream. I really did forget and woke up with that knowledge. Guess I will send the teacher a note of apology and my citation and beg forgiveness for my evil ways. Hmm, maybe that was a bit much.

I think I will make breakfast for the family. Dwayne likes it when I cook for him. The way to that man’s heart is truly through his stomach. Too bad he hooked up with such a picky eater. What was he thinking? Mmm, farm fresh eggs [for them, not me], farm fresh bacon [I love bacon!], biscuits [from a can], maybe some waffles for me [frozen, do I look like someone who makes homemade waffles?].

I’m off to change those deceptively evil clocks, make food for my lovely family, and prepare for a day of utter madness as I try to crank out 1600+ words that hopefully are not completely useless drivel. A girl can dream, can’t she?

What Time Is It? is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Here are my thoughts on the subject:

• Most of what I write is crap anyway, but maybe, just maybe if I write a bunch of stuff and let my stream of consciousness flow I will find something so amazing, so wondrous that it will be usable in an actual novel, short story, book of something or other. In other words, diamonds were not always pretty and shiny.
• I ~ Me ~ personally need the added motivation. Maybe you do too. I wrote my first story when I was 4 or 5 [not sure it was even legible] yet I have barely written anything in the 30+ years since. It is time I stopped saying and starting doing, er, writing.
• The goal isn’t 50,000 words and an award, but the satisfaction of knowing I have it in me. Because, if I do not, then I need to buckle down and find that dreaded accounting position and work my degree to its fullest and give up this pipe dream of mine.

NaNoWriMo is an organization formed to encourage writers and writing. They are not-for-profit and even offer a similar program for young writers [age 12 and younger] YWPNaNoWriMo.

You write your novel on your computer using your choice of word processing programs. You manually keep track of your progress by editing your Novel Info. Between November 25 – 30 you can upload your writing for word count verification. If you are concerned about the security of your hard work, then feel free to scramble your writing. Your work is kept long enough to verify its word count, then it is permanently deleted from the system.

Does this really work?

NaNoWriMo has grown quite a bit since 1999 when it had all of 21 participants. Last year 119,301 participated and 21,683 attained their goal of a minimum of 50,000 words. Oh, and quite a few novels have come from this process. So, yes, it can work.

This is an international program and you may write in the language of your choice [see above reference to scrambling your work]. Those who copy and paste from other sources just to meet the 50,000 word count are cheating themselves and no one else and have way too much free time on their hands.

Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.

~NaNoWriMo FAQs

Partnering up to write your novel is not in keeping with the rules, but there is something for you. In April there is a Script Frenzy event encouraging you to write a 100-page stage or screenplay. Yes, this is all done in 30-days, too!

Have any other questions? Check out the NaNo FAQ page.

I will be updating my progress over on my writing blog. This keeps me accountable! And if you want to be my writing buddy that would be *awesomely-wonderful-terrific*!

More NaNoWriMo Preparation is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010