by Sarah | Jul 19, 2015 | All About Indiana, All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Photography, Redefining Perfect, Snapshot Sunday
We had a heck of a storm system blow through Indiana. While my house suffered with some flooding in our crawl space, I was able to get out and snap a few good pictures of the aftermath.
A walk in the park and some cleanup around the house found me a few good shots that I’m happy with.
Enough shots that this is going to spread out over a couple of weeks, I think.
Storm drain.

She survived the storm a little worse for wear.

Emptying the crawl.

A Troubled Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Emerging Beauty.

Reflections.

And that’s it for this week! More to come next week…considering I get my camera back out 😀
by Sarah | Jul 18, 2015 | All About Me, All of Us, Redefining Perfect
Today is the day.
I’m another year older.
Maybe a little wiser.
Maybe not.
One year from 40.
This past year was pretty amazing.
Disney.
Eagle.
Christmas.
So many books published.
So many books read.
I knocked some things off the bucket list.
My family got closer.
There were some ugly struggles, but overall the majority was pretty amazing.
I’m predicting excellent things for this year too.
Big things.
Small things.
I know I’ll learn knew things.
I’ll learn to let go, and hold tighter.
I’ll hopefully learn more patience.
This next year is the last of my thirties.
And I plan to make it a damn good one.
by Sarah | Jul 17, 2015 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Friday Feels, Redefining Perfect
When I was growing up I wanted nothing more than to be older.
I wished away every year, wanting to be a little older so I could do one thing or another.
So I could stop being a baby.
Nowadays time is flying by way too fast. I blink and half a year is gone. I take a nap and it’s been almost a year since we went to Disney.
I take a deep breath and my baby boy is not just a teenager, but an Eagle Scout destined to graduate in just a heartbeat.
Because a heartbeat is all it’s going to take.
A heartbeat and the girls are teens.
A heartbeat more and they are grown.
I want to put a pin in so many moments.
Hold onto them tight and let them pass slower.
Meanwhile my girls are wishing their lives away as I once did.
“I can’t wait for school to start” – just days after the last day of school.
“I can’t wait until I can drive.”
“I wish I was seventeen.”
“I wish…”
“I wish…”
I wish it would stop.
For just a few minutes.
To let me breathe it in.
To make this one heartbeat last a few minutes longer.
Or a lifetime.

by Sarah | Jul 16, 2015 | All About Denver, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect
For 90% of our visit to Orlando last year, we were blessed beyond belief weather-wise. Despite Orlando’s proclivity for random rain showers, we weren’t rained on once. We took ponchos with us every day, and blessedly never had to use them.
We did, however, have to use our jeans and jackets–but that’s another story for another time.
Our first full day in Orlando was spent at Universal, most of it in the Islands of Adventure. The weather was the most perfect we could have hoped for. Sunny, but not hot or too humid. We were comfortable in shorts and tee’s, hiking through the park didn’t overtax us.
Still, about two hours in, we spotted the first water ride. It was one of the white water rafts, where we knew we’d get…a little wet. Molly was opposed to getting wet, but we convinced her it wouldn’t be so bad…(are we bad to be such liars 😉 )
Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barge was the winner for our first water ride. They offered ponchos, but we scoffed saying ponchos were for chumps. I think my exact words were, “Who goes on a water ride and wears a poncho?”
For a good portion of the ride, our side of the boat escaped the worst of the impact of the water and we thought we were safe–but no one is safe on the barge. By the end we came off dripping.
Soaked.
Right down to the bone.
Of course, when you get off any water ride, Universal has these dryers in place. People dryers.
We stared at them, and down at our soaked clothes, and back at the dryers. We debated for a long time as people were using the set we were considering.
After much debate ad hemming and hawing, we decided to go ahead and use them. Two and three of us at a time, at $5 a pop, we hopped in. Dried off, mostly and went about our business.
Further down the line we came to the flume ride, Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. This one had a HUGE drop that excited Kennedy to no end. Molly and Denver? Not so much…they wanted to beg off the ride, so we let them. Erik and I thought “Well, we just dried off, but surely we can’t get as wet on this ride as we did on the barge.”
Oh were we wrong.
The ride is long, you keep thinking the big drop is coming, but it doesn’t. You get soaked along the way by spraying water, twists and turns, and evil people on the bridge spraying water guns at you. By the time you get to the drop, you know what’s coming. We were sitting near the front so we were way more soaked the some further back.
We got off lamenting the wasted $$ at the drying pods, and totally ignored the pods at the end of this ride and went about our day preferring to let the sun and light breeze dry us.
So needless to say by the time we made it to the Jurassic Park River Adventure we were still damp and figured we couldn’t lose. Once again, Molly and Denver said “Nope” to the flume ride and positioned themselves near the end of the ride to see us emerging.
Wouldn’t you know–when we got off that ride, we were drier than Denver and Molly? Those two buffoons decided it was GREAT fun to stand in the splash zone at the end of the ride and get flat-out doused by every flume that came over the edge.
So, needless to say our first day at the parks was our wettest day (especially since we ended up missing on one particular ride at Disney, which is, as I said, another story for another day).
But it sure was fun.
Waterlogged in Florida isn’t such a bad thing, after all.
by Sarah | Jul 15, 2015 | All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, I'm A Writer, Redefining Perfect, Wordy Wednesday
This piece is actually one I wrote a few years back for a 100 word challenge.
The prompt for this challenge was “Consumed”.
It only seemed natural that I would write about…well, writing.
*~*
When the story creeps deep into your psyche.
When the words flow forth like beer from the tap.
when the characters whisper in your ear, or scream in your head. Demanding to be heard. For you to share the story they have to tell.
When they occupy your every thought. Seep into your dreams. Fill your spare moments with ideas and counterpoints.
That is your drug.
The high of the perfect scene. The funniest line that sent you laughing after it spilled from your keyboard. The tears shed at shared loss or pain.
You are addicted.
You are consumed.
*~*
I’ve been digging through old files and finding things I wrote ages ago. I’m having fun digging these old pieces out, so you’ll probably see a few more pieces in coming months.
by Sarah | Jul 14, 2015 | All About Me, Blogging Life, Redefining Perfect, Top Ten Tuesday
My birthday is coming up.
Actually, my birthday is THIS Saturday. What? Where in heck did this year go?
Last year I had a pretty darn good birthday. Come to think of it, the past few years have been pretty good all around.
This year I know I won’t get everything on my list – I might only get one, but I have a feeling it will still be a good one (with the exception of having to work on my birthday…that sort of sucks).
1. Tattoo #2 – On my 35th birthday I got my first tattoo. I wish this year I could get #2. I have several in mind and it’s all a $ issue as to what comes next and when.
2. Purple Hair – Something else I got a few years back. I had purple streaks in my hair. I want them back something fierce. This may just be one thing I actually get. 🙂
3. Lagoonafire – Yup, this is a Monster High doll. Both my girls have her, but I want her for my personal shelf.
4. Harry Potter Bracelet – A lovely little bracelet I’ve been eying at Amazon. It’s a pretty, and subtle, way to wear my HP love.
5. An Amazon Gift Card – Any size’ll do. Seriously, I’ll take them all.
6. MH Boo York Luna Mothews – What can I say? I’m a sucker for a Monster High doll. Any will do, but this is one I’m totally digging. I love her.
7. Half Price Book Gift Card – This store is my ultimate weakness. Oh my, if I had even more reasons to add to my shelves? Um, yes please.
8. My new 2016 Planner – It takes a few weeks to get in anyway…and I’m already looking forward to getting my new planner for next year. Plum Paper is my favorite. 🙂
9. A New Mattress – I know, it’s stupidly sensible…but mine is old and it hurts my back to sleep in it. I need something much much better.
10. MH Freak du Chic Gooliope Jellington – Last one on the list…but again, she’s so pretty.
And that’s it. I’m pretty simple this year…I can’t even think of an honorable mention unless it’s other Monster High dolls. Books and dolls make me happy. 🙂 Hair would make me thrilled. The Tattoo would make me estatic.