by Sarah | Aug 28, 2012 | 45 before 45, All About Me, Get Fit - Or Kill Myself - Whatever Comes First
[flickr id=”7267389774″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]Some time ago I made a pledge. I signed up for a 5k and determined that I would make it through the c25k program with time to spare. I’m not a runner, but I wanted to get healthy again, in shape.
Then the drought hit.
The insatiable, undying, intense heat.
Every day over 90*, starting in the 70’s.
So blasted hot.
Too hot to run without passing out.
Finally we had a break. Cool mornings.
So for the past 3 weeks I’ve been back at it.
I still can’t sustain a run for a long time and I’m sort of speed-bumping my way through that c25k thing. My muscles are weeping, my body is tired – but I can see that finish line now.
In 25 days come hell or high water – I’ll be running a 5k.
I just hope I come out the other end. 😉
by Sarah | Aug 26, 2012 | Photography, Scavenger Hunt Sunday, Show & Tell
So the kids are back in school. This is excellent save for one thing…
They brought home that horrible “School has started summer is ending” beast of a cold. Molly sick on Monday, me sick the rest of the week…well, my camera got neglected in favor of me sleeping. Sooo…another week of archive draws. Sorry.
All taken w/ Canon Rebel XS.
1. School
Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn. ~Benjamin Franklin
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School is in, leaving the playgrounds barren. (Still one of my favorite shots)
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2. Rule of Thirds
Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond our grasp, but which, if you sit quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
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What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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3. Side Profile
For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it. ~Ivan Panin
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Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart. ~Kahlil Gibran
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4. Small
A small world appears within the Christmas windows.
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Mighty things from small beginnings grow. ~John Dryden
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5. Motion
I lived to write and wrote to live. ~Samuel Rogers
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That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Since I’m addicted to quotes w/ my images I’ve started to link to the Sunday Citar over at Fresh Mommy Blog w/ my photo posts every Sunday. It’s a great way to combine two of my loves 🙂
You can find more pictures over at my flickr account.
Scavenger Hunt Sunday is run by the beautiful Ashley. Head on over to see more Hunters.
by Sarah | Aug 25, 2012 | Books, Changing Tracks, Children of Gaia, Writing
[flickr id=”5585130717″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]In the middle of edits, both for Changing Tracks, which I need to turn in for final edits; and for Masked Hearts, which I need to prepare for submission. I’m also critiquing words for Mary and Fi in my spare time, and even occasionally Jenn (who is crazy-busy with all of her new releases).
This all leads to a ton of editing.
I’m cross-eyed and confused half the time.
I needed an escape and it came in the form of a submission call at a small pub (Das Krakenhaus) for an anthology they’re doing. The small pub is run by an old high school friend of mine, and they are awesome, so I thought I’d take a look. After seeing what they were looking for, I thought the apocalyptic would be perfect as a prequel to another series I’d been thinking about.
Over the next couple of days the idea solidified and I started writing it last night.
I’m uncomfortable and feeling stretched beyond my limits.
1 – it’s SHORT. I’ve written a flash piece (500 words) that got pubbed in Siren’s Call. But I’ve never written anything with significance that would be bigger than that, but shorter than 12k. I’m so verbose this is a challenge.
2 – it’s not romance. While not my soul focus (that flash piece was horror, after all) – romance is mostly what I’ve done, what I do. The closest I’ve come to stepping out of that comfort zone was to write a paranormal rom over a historical western rom. This? It’s a contemporary, destruction of the world type of piece. No romance.
3 – it’s in 1st person POV. Not sure why, just know that it is. To the point that we never know the name of the person who we’re living the story through.
4 – it’s a male POV. While I’ve done male POV before, it always freaks me out.
All of this is good. It’s stretching my limits, stretching my capabilities. That is always good.
It’s giving me a break from the mind-numbing endless edits. That is a huge relief and breath of fresh air.
But it’s slow going. I only have under 12k to learn this guys voice to figure him out and let all of the action happen that should happen. I have very clear and gorgeous pictures in my head about what will happen and those must get on the page in a male’s POV.
So I’m learning as I go, but it’s an uncomfortable stretch. One that will improve as I work – I hope.
by Sarah | Aug 23, 2012 | All About Molly, Autism, Special Needs
[flickr id=”7665948176″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]The new school year began a week ago.
We didn’t get the early meeting with the teacher we’d expected.
We did get a phone call the day before. A 15-30 minute talk with her teacher about Molly and what to expect and where she should sit and what to expect and how she’d been at home (a bit bonkers in anticipation of the change). The call went well, I think we got things across and I liked her over the phone.
Molly has been…
Happy.
Busy (read: a bit ADD).
Talkative (?!!!?).
There hasn’t been (so far) any of the violent out-breaks of last year. No major throwing of fits. There’s a 7 year old’s attitude, but nothing in the extreme ranges.
I don’t know if its having a teacher with a different personality. Or now 2 years experience under her belt. Or what….
But so far so good.
Fingers crossed that it keeps up.
Now if only she hadn’t brought home the cold virus ~achoo~
by Sarah | Aug 21, 2012 | Random
[flickr id=”7809451492″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]When my grandparents were dating, my grampa would bring gramma a gardenia at every date. She’d carefully set it in a bowl of water, wary of touching the petals so they wouldn’t brown, and keep it as long as possible.
We lost grampa over 15 years ago. Gramma – just 2 years ago.
This year on a whim, and a deep prayer, I bought a gardenia bush to plant next to my last ‘whim’ purchase of a Rose of Sharon (that now stands 4 feet tall and blooms like mad).
I bought it to honor my grandparents, and hoped they would help ensure it bloomed.
But the drought came early. Within a week, despite watering it every evening, then every other evening as water bans started to take effect…the leaves browned.
Death took hold.
Or so I thought.
The past two weeks it has begun to rain again. Not enough to totally erase the drought – but enough to turn lawns green again. My Rose of Sharon had never stopped blooming so I never thought to check on my flower bed.
Until the other day I happened to notice some green.
Just a little. Weeds, perhaps.
But no.
I got closer and saw the familiar waxy leaves, small but sprouting. Where dead, brown branches reached into the air – green tips started to appear.
I doubt it will fully heal before the winter comes – but it has survived.
Delicate on the surface.
Resilient. Strong.
Like my grandparents.
Like me.
My husband.
My kids.
My family.
A gardenia.
