by Sarah | Oct 31, 2013 | All About Me, Blogging Life, NaBloPoMo
Considering my brain-dead-ness since Denver went into the hospital, I got a part time job, and life in general just blew up with activity…
I knew it was time for drastic measures.
Since BlogHer took over NaBlo it’s a monthly challenge, but I like the old challenge days when it was just November.
Still, I’m doing it. I always find it sparks me back to life and at the very least I have prompts when my own ideas are just not coming thanks to work, or kids, or husband, or home, or writing, or any other source of disruption in my life.
So tomorrow it begins.
I’m diving in again.
It’s been a long year, but NaBloPoMo, here I come again.
by Sarah | Oct 28, 2013 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us
I’m a long time self-admitted geek of the Star Trek variety. I fell in love with Star Trek: TNG when I found it during its 4th season, and have never looked back.
Erik is both a sci-fi Aliens, Predator, Star Trek sort of Geek…and a horror Geek…and a few other Geeks I don’t understand.
Denver found Star Trek with the re-invention of Star Trek. He’s moved on to go back in time (thank you, Netflix) and watch EVERY episode of EVERY incarnation, swiped Erik’s movies to watch EVERY movie. The documentaries and anniversary specials, too. Since then he’s moved onto Battlestar Galactica, tried Dr. Who, and so on…
In the past eight or so months there’s a new sort of Geekling coming up in this house.
The girls are obsessed with all things Avengers.
Not just Avengers, though.
Comics.
They are making comics left and right – the one in this post was one of their first. One page, simple, with the battle of their beloved Avengers.
The obsession has grown so that their coloring books are painted on the front and back covers with comics. They swipe my printer paper and draw panels to fill in their stories. From super hero tales to stories about their cats…they are comic booking it up.
I, admittedly, am slightly clueless about comics. My Geek flag didn’t fly that far, even when I began my X-men addiction. I only have a few of those comics.
So we’ll venture into another realm of geekery.
Now…excuse me while I try to find some art classes for them…and seek out the perfect first comic for them both.
And considering their propensity to tear up anything they own, it will have to be one that it doesn’t matter if it ends up damaged.
by Sarah | Oct 10, 2013 | All About Indiana, All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Giveaway, Indy Geek Girls, The Reluctant Hoosier
I am, without a doubt, a big ol’ fraidy cat.
Growing up (and, admittedly, even today) I can’t watch a scary movie for nothing. I have never, and I mean never-ever-ever, been to a Haunted House before this week.
Then I got an invite to The Children’s Museum’s 50th Anniversary “Time Warp” Haunted House – celebrating 50 years of Haunting the museum.
And I went.
The “50 years of fear” includes the addition of 3-D glasses (which you don’t NEED to enjoy it if 3D’s bother your eyes)…and takes you on a journey through time. You enter through the elevator and the disorientation begins in the tunnel, taking you all the way back to the 1960’s…and the Upside Down Room featured in TCM’s first Haunted Houses. Then it’s onto the 70’s with a creepy basement and then my favorite room of the whole haunted house (see if you can guess what that is from my pictures below). You’ll fly into the 80’s with neon clothes, a horrifying Chucky doll (scared me the mostest) and a pinball room that I’m assured in the scare hours is extra freaky. If you’re a child of the 90’s you’ll be treated to horrific flashbacks of internet dial up tones and “You’ve got mail” while surrounded by cables, wires and reminders of the terrifying reality of Y2k…and the witches take us on a further treat by sending us into the terrifying future 50 years ahead, before finally sending us back to the present.
The Children’s Museum Haunted House is a great treat for any age, especially with the new “Choose Your Scare Options.” Here’s how you can get tickets, choose your scare, then it’s onto the giveaway and pictures!!
General Admission:
$6 @ Marsh Supermarkets
$7 @ the Box Office or Online
XTreme Scream:
$12 @ the Box Office or Online
Light’s On Hours (i.e. Kid and ‘Fraidy-Cat safe):
Wed’s-Sat’s: 10A-3P
Wed’s Oct 16 & 23: 3:30-8:30P
Sun’s: 11A-5P
Halloween: 10A-3P
Frightening Hours:
Thu’s & Fri’s: 3:30-8:30P
Wed, Oct 30: 3:30-8:30P
Sat’s: 3:30-9:30P
Halloween – None
Xtreme Scream (For those looking for an INTENSE psychological scare):
Fridays: 9-11P
Now for the Children’s Museum Giveaway!! I have four, count them, FOUR tickets to giveaway for The Children’s Museum 50th Anniversary Time Warp Haunted House!!
All you have to do to enter is:
1. Leave a comment telling me if you’re a ‘Fraidy-Cat or if you’re braving the Scary Hours (or the XTreme Scream)!!! ~1 entry point
2. Tweet This:
Enter to win 4 tickets to Time Warp: #50YearsofFear Haunted House @TCMIndy from @SadieCass http://bit.ly/1czw45T #Giveaway #Indy
~1 entry Point for the exact copied tweet
3. PIN this post (Pin button above) and leave a comment w/ the link. ~ 1 entry point
The giveaway ends on Monday 10/14 at 9AM. The winner will have 36 hours to get back to me or I’ll choose another winner.
If you want more chances to win (and you know you do) visit the wonderous blogs below:
Hoosier Party Girl
Just Like the Number
Indy With Kids
Now do you want to see some pictures? Because I want to show them! These are not nearly all of the pictures I took, but I wanted to leave you some surprises.
by Sarah | Sep 25, 2013 | All About Kennedy, All About Learning, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Clever Girls, Sponsored
*~*
I’m the proud parent of science geeks. I was one myself.
First was Denver, who wanted to be a scientist for NASA. For years that was his dream, but he’s since moved on…
To wanting to be a doctor. I gotta say, I’m okay with that.
Now Molly is loving science since she started in science last year, and Kennedy is right behind her this year. It’s a common theme in this house – science is a favorite. From photosynthesis, to outer-space, to biology, genetics and beyond…my kids eat it all up.
*~*
Part of the reason I myself enjoy science so much is because I really hate unknowns.
I like facts.
If my kids are sick – I want to know the hows and why’s. I want specifics and details. I want to know the life expectancies, the proper medicines, the risks and complications.
It was the same way when my grandfather got sick.
As painful as facts can be, they help me cope.
*~*
So when my kids come home with light in their eyes talking about what they learned in science today, I’m all over it.
From gross bugs, to meteors, I am happy to encourage their love of science.
Because as much as I love writing and fiction and living in a world of make-believe…
I like science just as much, and sometimes even more. It’s not going to lie to me, it might make me wait for answers, but it gives me answers.
You know, science doesn’t lie – it’s made of facts.
And it makes it that much easier to fight.
*~*
Watch and learn about Nature’s Tiny Miracle: http://clvr.li/18QgDzl
Like Planters on FB
Visit Planters Power of the Peanut
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
by Sarah | Sep 13, 2013 | All About Home, All About Me, All of Us, Holidays
It’s that time of year.
Can you believe it?
102 days until Christmas.
I started some minor Christmas shopping recently.
But what I’m most focused on is what happens right after Thanksgiving for me.
Cookie time!!
Every year at this time I start making my list – the ultimate list of cookies & candies to be made. This year, since I have a job, I’ll have to make more than usual for sharing.
Always on the list, of course, is my Ultimate Christmas Cookie Cutout Recipe. I’ve made those every year for 3+ years, and they are so good, they remain on the list without fail.
I also make poor man’s toffee every year (easy as pie), and some sort of bark (I’ve done Oreo and white chocolate cranberry before).
From there I never know. Depends on what I find on pinterest, or in magazines.
I’ve got all my recipes gathered…but do you have a favorite you can direct me toward? I’m always open to suggestions!
by Sarah | Sep 11, 2013 | All About Me, Story of Me
I posted this last year and the year before at this time. I’m re-posting it. I will always repost it every year at this time…
I know what today is. I know what it means to our country. I remember every detail of 2001 in vivid detail…but since before 2001, this date has been difficult for me, for my family…in 1996 my family’s core was lost, the heart of us…my grandfather…so my post on 9/11 is for him. Oh, and at surface glance I hate this picture of me, but then I see the pure joy on my face dancing with my grandfather and aesthetics be damned, it’s my favorite picture.
It was his birthday. I was young and a very short kid…and he was TALL. I remember watching him put our coats in the closet and staring up, up, up at him and asking, “How tall are you?” With his sparkling eyes and laugh he informed me that he was over 6′. My eyes grew wide, and all I could say was, “But you’re so close to the ceiling! If you have ANY more birthdays you’ll go right through!”
His chair sat by the front door and the minute he sat the race was on – who would get the privilege of sitting on his lap, carrying on as deep a conversation as a child was capable of? Who would get to play with his round pot belly, and listen to his laughter?
He worked for GM and he was proud of it, and so were we.
When I close my eyes I can still smell his pipe and see the pipe carousel on his dresser. I can smell the cigarettes that he and grandma smoked.
I remember that after he retired he would watch soap operas during lunch.
And I remember the weddings – when my cousin and I would trade off and share him for the dance. “Grampa” by the Judds.
I remember his smile.
I remember his belly.
I remember the strength that he always carried in his soul and body.
I remember the pain that shot through my heart at the word…”cancer”. Once it was uttered it was less than a year. 10 months.
I remember the first time I saw him in the hospital-and how I had to run from the room because it made me physically ill to see my big strong grandfather lying in a bed weak and hooked up to tubes.
I remember his fight.
I remember when it was acknowledged in our hearts that the time to fight was over.
I remember how he held on – hours past when we thought we would lose him – because he would not let go until he’d gotten to hear the good-bye of all of his grandchildren, and my brother had been in surgery for his shattered wrist. Half an hour after the final phone call, he was gone.
I remember the sound of the tennis balls scattering across the hallway when my professor’s assistant walked up asking if she knew where I was…and all I could do was run to my car to get home as soon as I could.
From there it’s a blur…a long car ride from NC to NY. The arrangements. The funeral home. The droves of people I didn’t know, but who all knew him, overflowing the room.
The pain has lessened, resorted to a memory. For the most part I remember the love, the good things, the joy. But on this day every year the pain comes back to the forefront.
The pain seems so much stronger now that Grandma has gone to join him. Refreshed and renewed. Now they are together forever, but they will always be here in our hearts.
We love you still, and will always love you, Grampa.
