by Sarah | Apr 15, 2012 | All About Denver, All About Family, All About Me, Crap, The Teenager
[flickr id=”7082358983″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]Twenty years ago it was me. Standing in the kitchen facing up for teenage versions of crimes. For lies.
Tonight in the oddest form of a time warp my mother’s voice transported twenty years into the future and emerged from my own lips.
“I don’t understand why you continue to lie. You always get caught. Don’t you think you should learn by now?”
I never did learn. Not for quite a few years.
I fear my son will hold onto the lies with the same stubbornness. I want so much better for him.
Better than the strange consuming urge I once had to lie. I never did good at rebellion. I feared the consequences of rebellion too much. I feared hurting my mother. To this day I still rarely curse in front of my parents.
My one form of rebellion was lying. It became an urge, a need. Not until it once almost ruined my marriage did I learn to let go.
Like always I hope for better things for my children.
For now my mother’s words and the punishment of removing his distractions and pleasures one by one have to suffice. Lessons need to be learned – but each one is a blow.
Now only 20 years later can I begin to comprehend that my Mom told the truth when she said “This hurts me as much as it hurts you.”
by Sarah | Apr 12, 2012 | All About Denver, All About Family, Crap, The Teenager, WTF?
[flickr id=”5888954984″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]The tween-into-teenage years were a nightmare for me. Labeled as a nerd, unpopular – oh, my I still have nightmares about middle school. Tortured, lost – it battered my low self-esteem into a pulpy puddle of goo.
In high school – once we moved 527 miles away to Indiana – I found friends. I had a group that I became a part of where I belonged and I still talk to some of them today. As an adult I can say that I’m grateful for the internet as it has allowed me to expand my circle of friends. My best friend is someone I met online, and I would never have met my Geek-Girl peeps without the power of this internet world we live in.
I never thought I would be the one saying…
THANK HEAVENS I DIDN’T HAVE THE INTERNET IN MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL.
Because, really. Thank heavens I didn’t.
Now that the teen is on the internet we’re having to create a new set of rules. From “Mom has access to ALL your accounts, and you’d better remember that” to “Don’t post intentionally hurtful things.”
For a while things got ugly. Internet privileges and the iPod have been revoked until proper ‘netiquette’ has been learned.
It’s a process that we are all learning together.
I am very glad I didn’t have to worry about such things at that age. It’s hard enough being a teen without everything happening at the speed of internet.
by Sarah | Apr 11, 2012 | All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly
[flickr id=”6921772250″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]Before he was 2 years old, Erik had 7 surgeries on his eyes. Today he still suffers the effects. Astigmatism in both eyes, weak muscles and near-sightedness. His perscription changes every single year enough to need a perscription.
I got my first glasses in 6th grade. My eyes are too bad, but I’m nearsighted.
Denver was 7. Nearsighted.
Now it’s the girls. In a houseful of 5, not one of us escaped the need for corrective eyewear. [flickr id=”6921772134″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”right”]
Molly is just like her daddy. Astigmatism in both eyes, near-sighted.
Kennedy is (as always) the odd-duck. One eye is practically perfect. The other is a mess. Astigmatism, near-sighted. Her glasses are lop-sided in correction.
I wish the girls had been able to escape this fate – but they look darn cute, don’t they?
by Sarah | Apr 9, 2012 | Writing, writing tips
[flickr id=”6818404384″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]I first started my serious attempt at writing about 5 years ago. I always enjoyed writing, I loved the challenge of it, the escape of it – but never had I thought to try for the harsh, cruel world of publishing.
Five years ago I dove in blind. No one told me how harsh & cruel it was. Nope. I learned that shiznit all on my own.
Today I like to call myself older and wiser. At least I like to pretend I’m wiser. All it ever takes is one conversation with another writer to realize I’m blind to yet another error in my writing.
I look back at my first attempts (or even first drafts) and I cringe. So many times in writing I’m a whore.
An Adverb Whore (oh, that was my longest stint into writer whoring – I had a deep, sick love for the -ly’s). Then I became a Head-Hopping Whore. I tried to fit as many of those POV’s into one chapter as I could. For a brief stint I dabbled in Purply Prose Whoring (so this still slips in once in a while – I write romance a little purple makes it in).
The other day thanks to some DFL (Another post on that soon) I found a new friend, a fellow writer. In general conversation about editing she mentioned having to take out all of the “was” in her novel.
I heard alarm bells. Screeching alarm bells.
Turns out I’m a Whore for a good (or is it bad?) “Was”. In my 90k novel, I started with 1400+ before I began weeding them out. I don’t have a target to drop them to, but I’m reviewing and removing what I can as I go. I’d like to get that number way down.
So what are you a Whore for? What slips its way into your writing without you noticing because you enjoy the company of a familiar error?
I can’t wait to get a clue-in to my next flagrant whore-out. </end sarcasm>
**********
*IGEH = Insert Grammatical Error Here
by Sarah | Apr 3, 2012 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Molly, All of Us, Crap, Random, WTF?
[flickr id=”6179693357″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”] *This morning I met with some wonderful ladies for a mini-conference w/ a talk given by the ever-internet-savvy Heather. It was a good time, I learned a lot, and it woke up something that I’d been thinking about for over a year now. I have two blogs – and for a scatterbrain like myself it wasn’t working. I feel pressured to come up with twice the posts and then I don’t post at all. So I’ve made the decision to somehow combine my writing blog (Sadie’s Storylines) into this one. It’s not a clean mesh by any means – which is what has kept me from doing it for so long – but it’s a necessary one. After all, my photography is here – why can’t my writing?
*I have been super-stressed in recent weeks. Many crazy things have happened health-wise and personal-wise that I’ve been feeling awful overwhelmed. Worst part is a current health-crisis with the hubby (although he’ll not be thrilled that I call it a ‘crisis’). It’s serious and scary and worst part is we still don’t know what’s going on. He’s having a procedure in a couple of days and we’re hoping that brings us answers and resolution in the coming months.
*In the next couple of days we’ll be a house full of eye-correction. There will be a forthcoming blog post w/ the cuteness of my girls in their new glasses.
*The teen has been on the roller coaster ride of teen hormones and girls. This is also inspiring another blog post to be forthcoming.
*Expect some dust as I attend to the first item mentioned on this list – combining my blog. This will require some redesign and some conflicting posts. i’ve already transferred over all of my posts from the writing blog – now I just need to organize and clean this place up a bit (this will likely involve a new look of sorts – but nothing drastically different as i just ordered business cards)
*Just 2.5 weeks until I go to Bloggy Boot Camp. Checking 2 things off my 45X45 (Blog conference & vacay w/ the hubby) in one fell swoop. After failing to get excited about it in the recent chaos, I’m starting to get giggly and eager.
*While there i’m totally going to have a nerd-gasm and go to the Star Trek Exhibit w/ my hubs (thanks Groupon for alerting me to its presence in St. Louis). It’s geek-heaven.
*Gorgeous weather is leading toward lots of line-drying of clothes. Oh how I love this time of year 🙂
*I recently totally reorganized the hubbies DVD’s. Picture proof coming soon – HUGE and refreshing change.
*I got a new (to us) car. I have to say that despite its age – it is hands down the nicest car we have ever owned (and we have owned a LOT of cars in our 10 year marriage). It makes me very happy. More on that coming soon too 🙂
That’s it for now. Just got the call from Wal-Mart – glasses have come in!
