Random stuff

Denzel was robbed at the Oscars!   Loved "Flight"-- that man Mr. Washington is da bomb. 


The world is CRAZY!!!!!!!   I've been told a few times that things in some of  my stories aren't believable, but if you look at the news all kinds of UNBELIEVABLE stuff happens.  Life is so much stranger than fiction. WHY WHY WHY do people  hurt children?


Beyonce is so overrated.  I can't believe Oprah and The First Lady have fallen for it.

I've been reading and I have a "real" job and a new grandchild/daughter

Let's start with the new granddaughter.

Absolutely adorable.


Then I have a full-time job that I love most of the times.  I didn't opt out in the time allotted so now I have a 401k and I've got insurance.

Don't let the GOP fool you-- health insurance is a necessity and could easily be paid for if people had a living wage and not a minimum one.  Executives and CEOs could take a pay cut or not so many bonuses so the people doing the grunt work could survive.  but I've digressed---


Mostly I've been spending my free time reading.  I've got old literary journals, some of them no longer around, like Bananafish and Other Voices, and I refuse to take these journals into another year unread.  Some are old--

How old?

In one story a woman goes to a phone booth to make a call -- that's how old they are.  I've also bee reading some short story collections and the stories in the Harpers magazines that just keep stacking up.

Brand spanking new year

Tabula rasa is my favorite thing to say this time of year.  Clean slate in latin.

A whole new page.  I will get back to this blog -- just really working on some writing projects I would like to see completed before 2014 gets here.

In the meantime, I hope you write wonderful things on that new page of yours!

Just in case

It was truly an adventure.

eventually. . .

I'll get back to this blog.  Concentrating on the writing and getting things done before the world ends next week or the year ends --whichever.

It's over!

Really, Mitt.  It is.

Goodbye.

You know what tomorrow is, right?

If this does not go a certain way, there's going to be A LOT of GOP/Tea baggers with exploding heads. Kinda like Dave Chapelle skit with the black KKK guy. Kinda like that in sooooo many ways. Remember to duck and carry towels.

Bob's wench for the weekend

Helped a friend at a Renaissance Faire. Lots of fun. Peasant shirt, corset (how the heck did women breathe?) and the whole shebang. Next week I've got an acting gig in a training film. A new experience!

NY relatives

Talked to my aunt this morning and they are okay, considering. Glad:)

Sweetness personified

What a train wreck the GOP is

(continues eating popcorn)

So crazy drunk on all the water-- I love this lake whatever the time of day

Catch-up

I broke my wrist back in mid-June. Just got the cast off weeks ago and now I'm getting my fingers to work again. Stuff to share but using my limited computer usage to getting stories typed up as I could only work with paper and pen. But that was okay because I took more time with my work. Broke my wrist and got a lot more writing done. Go figure.

The other night I stood in the Atlantic Ocean

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in New England

:)

a matter of days. . . .

Goodbye New Mexico. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

Let's make that 28-ISH days and counting

I have to be at my job (and it is only for the summer) by June 10th at the latest, May 28 at the earliest. Some things cropping up but I will not be deterred. I've been dreaming loons, pine trees and coastal life.

The last time I read in NY. Can't wait to go there again.

28 days and counting

Running around, running around. Saying goodbye, returning things. I'm so last minute but at least I'm predictable. An eye appt. Closing up the bear business in NM -paying the taxes. Reading and returning the library books. Get my hair cut again. Grandchildren to hug. The list is not endless, though, and everything I cross off gets me thismuchcloser to New England:)

The path (or arc) from broken to not-broken is painful but possible -- and worth walking. Or crawling. The beauty outweighs the pain. --Charles Martin

my days are numbered and all of a sudden everything is happening fast

Ive got to decide when I'm leaving. My new employer pays transportation so I don't have to worry about that. I have to go to Nashville and pick up some things I left. I have a list of things to do and people to see. . . I have to reserve the ABF truck by tomorrow or the quoted price disappears and that was pre-gas gouging prices. yikes! still I will be on the Northeast coast before I know it! That makes me happy. So very very very!!!

A job in New England

Got it. Yay! Last week of May, it begins. Yay! Yay! Yay!

The Holstee Manifesto

so cool-- click on it for better viewing

I hope this isn't bad of me, but. . .

there's a house I want to rent once I get to the east coast that's been available for awhile and I keep hoping it'll stay vacant a bit longer 'cause I really could see myself living there.

Boo-hoo! Nobody wants to play with me:(

My daughter turned me onto this game called "Scramble," which is like "Scrabble" but you can scramble the letters to make more words. Hence, the name. Several people have resigned after one round 'cause well, I'm ruthless when it comes to word games (though apparently there are words I don't know.) You can play on Facebook and my addictive need to find people to compete with almost makes me want to reopen a Facebook account. Almost.

I'm thisclose to a job

Two phone interviews today with two of the places I've sent resumes to. Like them both for different reasons. They both are doing background checks. I will probably have a job in New England by next week.

This close. . . hopefully

I will have a phone interview tomorrow or Tuesday. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully the job will pan out. It won't start til summer and it's not in the place I will eventually end up but it's in New England. . . and if I could just get somewhere in the ball park. . .

Applying for jobs in New England. One looks promising. I hope, I hope, I hope.

The IRS says it's working on getting e-filed returns back in 10 days or less! Excellent. Today I'm filing and am earmarking funds for a ONE-WAY TICKET. Eastbound.

I have found two places in New England that I love. One is a house and one is a HUGE apartment. But alas, I'm in New Mexico. I have been busy returning things and clearing energy so I can be like that alien in Independence Day -- "Release me." Come on, now. On the other side, though, still here I've run into people that I did need to see before I left. But still come on, now. It's time for me to hightail it outta here.

We will hold a place for you

So in Sept, when I was trying to figure out how to get to Vermont, I called and asked if I could push the residency back. They said yes. In October, I asked the same thing and they pushed it back again. Because financial issues were partly to blame for that, they increased my artist grant and gave me a 6-month payment plan to pay the balance. Then when the probate issues interrupted stuff, I was ready to forfeit the residency and called to tell them that but I was told I didn't have to lose it.

I have a year to reschedule. Yay!

Happy tabula rasa!

Another year!

They fly by fast when you're heading toward senior citizenship, heh heh.

I may end up walking

Trying to figure out how to get to Vermont. Arrggghhh. I hate that I procrastinate about the most important thing!

Waited too long-- what to do?

A plane to Nashville and then a bus to Vermont?

A plane to NY and then a train to Vermont? [No checked luggage so a limit to the carryons and that would mean I would have to repack(!) and leave the big luggage behind.

A bus to Vermont. Four days? Uhm, can you say Febreeze?

please oh please oh please

Texas secede now.

Mr. Perry, pretend you are Jefferson Davis and govern your own country.

A note from the Studio Center

How are you getting here?

They have a shuttle service which picks people up at the bus station or the airport, both in Burlington. I haven't quite decided if I'm taking the bus, which would be long, but I need to go to Nashville to pick up some things I left behind and also some books about the writing craft my daughter got me when Borders was going out of business.

What I really want is to spend some time in Burlington before I'm picked up.

I gotta decide fast.

well, duh

I've been going on and on about the number of books I want to take to Vermont in less than 3 weeks (!!!!!!!!) and it finally dawned on me that the problem was not the number of books, but the size of the luggage!

Bigger=more space=all the books I want to take.

Quote for 8-22-2011

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.

~Terri Guillemets

late blooms

Because I was busy doing stuff that really didn't concern me earlier this year, I got behind on things I wanted to do, like creating my sunflower jungles. Planted the seeds late and wasn't sure if they'd blossom before I left this house, but they have and they are and damn, it's so beautiful.

dream job 2

I did not get the temp job at Barnes and Noble but I did get one at a craft store, remodeling it. I've done remodeling before. Graveyard and you do a bit here and a bit there.

The bookstore job would have been a better choice 'cause I'm finding things that I don't need to put on my plate. No, I do not need to consider jewelry making. I do not need any more books on quilting, crocheting or knitting. What you need to do Gwendolyn is use the ones you have to learn to quilt, crochet and knit.

And NO you don't need more fabric or yarn or even bear fur!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

get a post office box

people to say goodbye to and repacking those luggages! Am having such a difficult time choosing what books to take. The clock is ticking so that should be an incentive to decide, decide!

Quote for 8-19-2011

Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings.


- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

well

looks like my life in Las Cruces, NM is just about a done deal

I have packed and packed

and I still have 13 shelves of books to get into boxes! Stuff goes back into storage later this week until later this year when I get resettled in the Northeast.

I just want time to hurry, hurry.

And then not. . .

I gotta repack the luggage again

Still trying to take waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many books.

It's a beautiful cottage but. . .

Looking at houses 'cause I will need a place once I leave the Vermont Studio Center. A house on craigslist that's in the country -- from the outdoor photos, it appears pretty secluded. The hardwood floors throughout are gorgeous and the ad says the place is "safe" but I'm thinking "no" 'cause the house is on Elm Street. . .

I am certified

perhaps a bit certifiable, but in this case I am done with my training and am now able to teach online classes at the community college. Yay!

a dream come true

I may have a temporary job at a new Barnes & Noble. The bookchain took over the university bookstore some years ago and they have built this gloriously huge new store and they're hiring. I've got a little bit of time before I leave so I filled out an application to do some temporary work and when I called to check on it, the woman on the phone said she'd transfer me to the manager hiring who happened to have the exact name of a guy I know who worked for Barnes & Noble in the mall who'd previously worked at Waldenbooks anf for whom I'd review and promote books for their monthly discussion group.

Turns out he was one in the same.

Oh, yes I worked the "you know me" angle. Talked to him today and it is seems possible. Employees get a 35% discount on books.

I have always wanted to work at a bookstore. I applied at B Dalton's once but that didn't happen. I worked at the library but it's not the same; 'cause you can have 150 overdue library books in your dorm but eventually you're gonna have to return them;-)

I'm getting my hair cut today

I am considered a black woman with "good hair." As a child I had really long hair. I've let my hair grow and I've cut it short-- once shaved to the scalp in the back-- over the years. Extensions and weaves, though there is nothing like your natural hair.

I'm off now to get a hair cut 'cause my hair is long enough to be cut in the style I want.

it rained again last night and I was way happy

it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay humid now and my happiness, uhm, not so much

FINALLY!

Thunder is rumbling and light flashes through the semi-open blinds. It's time to go dance in the rain.

Packed redux

The kitchen is cleared of the cows, roosters, pigs and occasional chickens. Turtle collection in boxes ( that I got from Barnes & Noble and that was no easy feat. Only a few bears were ever out because I've got six buckets of bear stuff and there was just no room even though the house is huge. Next house they will have a room of their own.

repacked

I want to take more writing/creative stuff than the designated luggage will allow so I've chosen a larger one. The Center people are going to be like "Look, we didn't say you could move in!"
:-)

Am undecided about the clothes to take but I've pulled my cardigans and light sweaters. Jeans and skirts. I tell myself I can buy clothes when I get there and I can and probably will 'cause I want to take books. As many as I can.

Quote for 7-12-2011

When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.

Viktor E. Frankl

so behind

on stuff I was hoping to complete. Have spent time on things that were not my own and now I'm seeing the time and energy it's cost me.

damn

PODS does not

pick up from where I'm at nor does it deliver to where I'm going.

I was thinking about U-Haul -- when I was trying to move years ago, I thought I might drive a truck cross country -- but not interested in that now. I think they have a similar program like PODS. Gonna have to check that out. Otherwise it's ABF.

Pass the Orville Redin-- what's his name

Everything my father had was passed to my mother which is now to be passed to their children and the craziness is about to begin, if you know what I mean.

I need boxes

for the books. Not an easy task- copying places appear to recycle their boxes almost immediately.

The hardest thing is not moving the books, but the bookshelves. Maybe I shouldn't have bought them all before reaching my final destination.

Yesterday was the day my mother was born

it was also the day she died.



Peace and rest.

what to do with myself now

that is the question

emancipation just around the corner!

last of the kids are graduated.

Gave my thirty day notice earlier.

But before I did, my youngest son told me that after May I didn't have to cook for him anymore.

I told him he didn't have to fire me, I was already quitting-- Ha!

This is how you operate the washer.

Don't forget to clean up the kitchen after yourselves.

Pay your cell phone bill on time or it'll get shut off.

Just some friendly reminders from "Mom"

alas, the problem is not with his math skills

it's his literacy and comprehension skills.

The Bible clearly states that nobody but God himself knows when the end is coming. There's a scripture that compares it to "a thief in the night."

Thieves don't tell you what time they'll be arriving.

What he needs to do is not to worry about the date but to be ready for that day.

somewhere it is not yet 6 o'clock

there is still time
for it
to all
end.

kudos for Kara

and wild applause

went to hear my daughter's "final" in her choir class.

Wow!

Quote for 5/10/2011

Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.


--Lillian Dickson

My grades are turned in

Yay!

I am unemployed and can get back to my writing. TODAY!

another cute grandson

Quote for 5-7-2011

Who is Barack Obama? Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth. Many of you know that I got my name, Barack, from my father. What you may not know is Barack is actually Swahili for 'That One.' And I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn't think I'd ever run for president. If I had to name my greatest strength, I guess it would be my humility. Greatest weakness, it's possible that I'm a little too awesome.

--Barack Obama at the Al Smith Dinner

And the man's got swagga

Videos on Youtube-- so funny-- his walk up to and away from the podium.

hahahahaha

Lady Gaga's got nothing on the President

sat there and laughed at Meyer's bin Laden joke.




Never play Texas Hold 'em with Mr. Obama

and. . .

hug a tree today.

Quote for 4-22-2011

Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.

-- unknow

a nudge

The card was addressed to the tenant before or current resident who would be me. A postcard from PODS-- the moving and storage place.

Yep, it's time to start thinking about packing it all up again.

the person before us

spent $81 at the gas pump.

damn.

My grandson Marley