Sparks and Butterflies Sparks and Butterflies Caffeine from above ~ Coffee from below.... I'd sure like some dull! 
Articles
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
2009-09-16 20:06:00 I could talk about how my school district wants to bus my kid out to another district ’cause they can’t handle him. Too frustrating, raw, and in flux. Could talk about Poe’s continued unemployment. But really? Haven’t you heard that one before? Could talk about certain theories about 2012, Israel peace treaties, 7 horses, and survival… But you’d think I was a true nutcase. Could tell you about how my father drunkdialed me last night. Instead, I’ll tell you this. I’m 34 years old and I’m going to be adopted. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to be legitimate. Back when I was 4, and Jeannette abandoned me, my parents couldn’t adopt me because of a combo of Jeannette saying no, and my mother’s health. All this time, I’ve been legally their great-niece. They (and I) treat me as, and consider me as their daughter. All the good and bad that entails. My children are their grandkids. They are, &ldquo... More About: Stuff , Make
The 10 month interlude has begun
2009-09-04 22:19:00 School has started. This is where I get 10 months of daytime solitude. You know… When Poe gets a job that is. School started two days late due to the Station Fire. The air quality around our little town is much better today – although this morning the smoke smell was still rich. But the sky is blue. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen blue. So far the fire is 150,000+ acres. The perimeter is 50 miles. About the size of Chicago. As of 9am this morning we were at 42% containment. They expect containment by 9/15. It is the largest Los Angeles County or Angeles National Forest fire ever in their histories. It is suspected arson. Homicide charges are also being investigated, due to the two firefighters, Captain Ted Hall and Fire Fighter Specialist Arnie Quinones, who lost their lives. While neither worked here anymore – both of them used to work in our town. So very sad. Despite the good news of higher humidity and the containment percent... More About: Month
Local Media Failed Me in the Station Fire
2009-08-30 18:13:00 For those that know me, a short personal update. We’re OK. My mother is holding her own in terms of the smoke, although it’s really really bad today and this might be the day that takes her to the hospital. We’re out of danger of embers now. We’ll have a massive cleanup of our property to undertake, but not only can we not work outside in these conditions, the fire’s been so unpredictable, I’m hesitating on doing the work until we know it’s out ashes are falling like snow again. I’ll know by 3pm if the school district will start school tomorrow as previously scheduled. Now. This fire is the Station Fire . It started above La Canada on Wednesday, around 3:30pm. That means that we’re into day 5 of this thing. In fact, the kid’s were in their pool on Wednesday, as I wasn’t sure if air quality from the Azuza fire would hamper it for the rest of the week. As we were sitting there a rather large helicopter buzzed u... More About: Media , Local
More information on the Station Fire
2009-08-29 03:56:00 Now I’m starting to be the eyes and ears of friends and family who are living away from our town, and their parents, etc. still live here. Here are photos I took on Thursday. Here are photos I took on Friday (today.) I’m going to hit up the hospital and drive a bit and get some more pictures before the sun goes down. Last I heard at 6pm from the chamber, we’re at 5% contained, and it was getting pretty close to Greenridge, although ground crews are standing by. Evacuations are still voluntary. More About: Information , Fire , Station
Break interupted by flames
2009-08-28 10:00:00 So – I’m on an internet break til the kids start school next week. Except that my area had a fire start yesterday, and now it’s kind of scary. So. Yes, we’re ok. Our home is safe. I’m not sure I can say the same for some friends and parents of friends, but they’re safe for now. It’s called the Station Fire. Anyway – here are some pics. I thought I would get this up now, ’cause we just lost our internet connection (I’m on my wireless laptop card now) and we could also lose power at any moment, we’ve been warned. My home is getting hit hard by ash. And it’s surreal. There’s ash, yes, but most of it is the size of my thumbnail, and a lot of them are leaves. You can see the veins and everything. Anyway – yes, we’re OK. Unless it starts getting windy and embers start to fly, or the the other mountain parallel goes up (that’s the one we’re by) we’re ok. Here are some pict... More About: Break
A Parenting Mistake?
2009-08-20 15:00:00 I have this little nightlight in the bathroom Poe gave me as a little Mother’s Day Gift. It’s a silver sun with a little blue drop crystal over the light. Pretty. Sparkly. Very me – hence the gift. I was cleaning up today, and noticed that the crystal was just sort of there – leaning on the light instead of hanging. I took it, figuring maybe a cat brushed too hard against it and broke the metal groove it hung on. It was sitting on the table and Logan saw it, he said, “I don’t want to be sneaky anymore. I know how that broke. Joseph did it.” In other words, we’ve been on him about being sneaky, and he figured he’d get brownie points by ratting out his brother. I called in Joseph and asked if he knew how it broke. Tears ensue, but he didn’t lie. He wanted to crystal for a necklace. He’s a bit of a horder and collector. Frankly, Logan’s room looks like a monastery room, whereas Joseph’s room look... More About: Parenting
State of Michele
2009-08-19 22:45:00 I really don’t have a lot of time to write in my OWN blog, as I have other commitments, school starting, my business, my father, and home renovations going on. I am hear though. I’m reading your blogs, I’m reading your tweets… I’m just not talking back right now. As for dad… They tried to take out his cancer locally, and they couldn’t. It’s too deep. They are going to put him under general and take out a portion of his arm. They’re trying to work out the OR schedule. I still don’t know what kind of cancer it is… And I think my parents are confused. So, I asked them to have the doctor PRINT it out for me. They don’t seem to care what kind – but I CARE. RESEARCH people! It’s good for you and keeps you from being taken, keeps you informed and involved in your own care rather than the therapy happening TO you. Luckilly they have a pushy daughter, and I will get to the bottom of it. They... More About: State , Michele
Elsewhere
2009-08-14 21:15:00 Quick update on my business elsewhere: Blissfully Domestic: A Word on the Bias You’ll Face Aiming Low: Not a bad mom… Just aiming low Butterviews: Rock of Ages (giveaway ends Sunday) & CookieKids Contest Needed to tell you before I completely forgot. Thanks, and please feel free to move about the cabin.
Quick Shout Out
2009-08-11 18:49:00 I completely thought that I published this – and just saw that it was a draft. I just published (or they just published me?) a post on Aiming Low. Heh. More About: Quick , Shout
Cancer Strikes
2009-08-11 18:45:00 A while ago, my father had a bad fall in his garage. He went to pick something up from the ground, and lost his balance and toppled. My father is a big man. 6′ and a good 250. And yes, he was a linebacker in high school. In trying to break his fall he dislocated his shoulder, cut his arm, and bashed his head. Cat scans and x-rays later, his shoulder was set, his head cleaned up, and his arm bandaged. It was more of a terrible scrap, so it couldn’t be stitched. He healed for the most part. Had to have some physical therapy for his shoulder. His arm healed for the most part. When his arm healed over, it had a bit of a bump. It looked like scar tissue. But then the bump grew. It was almost like the cut underneath was infected, so he played with it, but there was nothing in it. So he left it alone. The bump became larger and larger, and eventually, a middle sort of pitted and scabbed over. It was the size of a half dollar. A circle of scar tissue with a scab... More About: Cancer
House Renovation (or what i’ve been doing instead of writing)
2009-08-11 03:40:00 I’m having a hard time – you can tell. Just look at the tone of the last several months of posts! And I have really nothing to note except for the same. And since nothing has actually happened, I don’t write. And I don’t write. Because I get tired, too, of the same conversation. I realize it’s my journal, but man. A little variety would be great. No, really. I’ve run out of ways to say the same thing. The lack of writing has made me retreat a bit in the other online things of my life too. And in it’s place I’ve been doing some home renovations. Long needed… We’ve lived here 3 years now. Nothing too drastic. We don’t have the skills or money to do it ourselves, and we certainly don’t have the money to hire it out for the bigger stuff. So, we’re just doing what we can paint and such wise. And writing down the things that cost money, so that when our situation does turn around, we can prioriti... More About: House , Writing , Renovation
A Break?
2009-07-30 19:41:00 There’s got to be a break in here somewhere, right? We just found out from Poe’s friend that the grocery store job fell through. The one he’s terribly overqualified for, but he needs a job? Yeah, not hiring. That was sort of our ace in the hole. He could work nights and still look for a job in his actual career. Not gonna happen. Which means we’ve got nothing with 6 weeks to go on unemployment. There is another choice, which we’re fighting against tooth and nail. My closing my business and going to work full time while he stays home and manages the kids. This is not the right choice for us for a whole host of reasons. On the other hand, there’s no money left. And we’ve paid enough ahead to maybe have Cobra through September. And then – nothing. I don’t WANT to close my business. I don’t have a bunch of clients, but the ones I’ve had are very very happy with my work! I can do this!! I’m so frustrated. ... More About: Break
Internet, We Have to Talk
2009-07-27 22:36:00 The Blogathon is over… I’m rested… And I’m ready to talk. I slept on this. Twice. I’m not sure how to word what I want to say, but I’ll make an attempt. Where were you? I couldn’t attend BlogHer this year due to our lack of financial resources. I was bummed about it because I wouldn’t get to see my friends. I was starting to feel really morose about it, and decided to do something good to offset the bad, because that helps my mental state. That’s why I decided to do Blogathon this year. I could do good, and have something to occupy my mind. I wrote about it on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, every social network I have, and emailed everyone I know (except for my husband’s family.) I reached out several times. Supposedly, this is my community. Had all the people that I’m friendly with, worked with, worked for, and are actual friends with given just one dollar each, I would have had a hell of a lot more money to... More About: Internet , Talk
The Last Blogathon Post
2009-07-26 15:01:00 Well, you beautiful people… It’s 6am pacific. Also 6am for me. That means I’m done! I did it! I survived! 24 hours of blogging every half hour. Pledging is still open for 48 hours. Please consider it! Fisher House is such a great cause, and helps military families at their most vulnerable. There were a few touchy moments where I thought I was actually going to have to post about bulldozers. Don’t ask. There is one thing that has really really bothered me. But I am incredibly vulnerable right now and on the verge of tears, because I’m at my physical limits. So I need to sleep on it to see if I really want to hash it out. We’ll see. Thank you for putting up with so many posts from me. And whatever you do, don’t call me. I’ll be sleeping. More About: Post
The weird blankness
2009-07-26 14:31:00 So… for this post? I got nothing. I kept staring and staring at the blank page. Nothing clever. Nothing there. My brain is shutting down. So, I finally decided that IS the post. The final one before the true last 6am one. 1/2 hour to go, and the blankness only came now? I know I had some touchy spots earlier, but that’s pretty darn good. 1/2 hour to go. 30 minutes and I’ll have made it to the end of the race. The house is still quiet. No one’s up yet. God help me if the kids get up before Poe. 30 minutes and I’m home free. I truly do apologize for this post. I just can’t think coherently anymore. 23 1/2 hours of blogging More About: Weird , The Weird
Quotables – Henry David Thoreau
2009-07-26 14:01:00 If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see. -Henry David Thoreau More About: Henry David Thoreau
as i sit
2009-07-26 13:30:00 I sit here thinking. Stayawakestayawakestayawake. One thing I noticed was a lot of blogathoners actually writing about their causes. Commendable. Understandable. And, well, logical. I couldn’t do that. To submerge myself in the stories, and the angst, and the hurt, and the issues, and the pain. We’re blogging for charities after all. If you dig in, there’s a lot of pain to be found. Because I know me, and my mental headspace – especially in the wee wee hours of the night, for me to have done that would have been detrimental to my mental health. Instead I’ve posted odds and ends, weirds and thoughts, randoms and cutes. But you know what? It worked. I’m still here posting away.
Quotables – C. S. Lewis
2009-07-26 12:59:00 I found the original blogger!! Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one. -C. S. Lewis
why i blog
2009-07-26 12:29:00 I don’t promise that I’m coherent at this point. It’s been 21 1/2 hours. 21 1/2 HOURS. HOURS. Spell check is my friend now. I love blogging. For so many reasons. Journaling. I’ve always had a journal. But I hated handwriting, and as soon as I had a computer I started typing. There’s something so soothing to the clickety clackety of the keyboard and my fingers flying and words appearing. Dumping my brain out. Putting my inner thoughts out where they can’t torment me any longer. And then the internet came into being for the common folk, and I was about to express my thoughts out to the vast universe to be read by whomever. Opening myself up to criticism. Yes. But the sheer act of opening myself up is therapeutic in and of itself. Plus, I print my blog annually, and put that year in my hope chest. Even if it disappears from the internet, it’s a legacy for my children. Community. As an introvert who then had children and adult r... More About: Blog
On My Desk
2009-07-26 12:00:00 Right the moment I have on my desk: Laptop (of course) cordless mouse smokes (SHHHHHHHH iknowiknowiknow) dinner dishes glasses coffee the usual desk supplies – in box, out box, pencil and odds holders flip camera digital camera medications phone – and if it rings that’s a baaaad thing right now. notepad What’s on your desk? More About: Desk
Kitty has it right
2009-07-26 11:30:00 OK, no not really. 3 1/2 more hours to go. see more Lolcats and funny pictures More About: Kitty
I made a movie!
2009-07-26 11:01:00 Steven Spielberg I’m not… But I had to do something different, because I was getting too sleepy. More About: Movie , Made
Quotables – Bob Dylan
2009-07-26 10:37:00 What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. -Bob Dylan
Comment and Email
2009-07-26 10:01:00 Guess what? I don’t comment back to people on my blog. I email them. Do I have some great blogging philosophical reason? Nope! I do it because with my comment system mixed with WordPress I can just hit reply in my email and it goes to the commenter. Granted, I don’t reply to every single comment. Sometimes, I simply don’t have the time. I care about each one, because that person took time to do it. But if someone seems to really have resonated with me on something, has a question or a problem to solve, or whatever, I email them back. In fact, I’ve made a lot of my online friendships that way. So please know, that when you don’t see comments from me on my blog – I’m not unresponsive to my readers. I just do it a little less publicly. I like it to be more personal. Once someone comments, I like to take it to a more personal conversation. In addition… I WILL comment publicly if I need to. Not to trolls – they simply... More About: Email , Comment
Quotables – Amber Deckers
2009-07-26 09:32:00 Never regret something that once made you smile. -Amber Deckers
A last plea before I begin
2009-07-24 18:39:00 Blogathon starts tomorrow. 6am tomorrow! While you can still pledge up to 48 hours after the end (I think) I’d love to know what I’m blogging for! Can you find it in your heart to donate just a little? We’re up to $75 going to Fisher House. We can do better than that! Click here to see how you can help make a difference.
Please Resubscribe This Feed
2009-07-23 01:48:00 So – I’ve been fixing stuff around here, and looked at my feed stats. Well… I don’t do it very often. I’m not a big stats person. But I did notice that my subscribers went down. WAY WAY WAY down. I didn’t post anything particularly hate-worthy at the time, so I figured it was a mistake somewhere, somehow. I have fixed it. So, if you would be so kind as to resubscribe at my new, correct feed, I’d REALLY appreciate it. More About: Feed
Juggling
2009-07-21 19:58:00 ** Don’t forget, Blogathon is coming! Please pledge! I’ll be blogging 24 hours a day for Fisher House on Saturday. You can read my post about it here.** I feel like I’m juggling a lot. I have a lot going on in life – online and off, and I just don’t want to drop any balls. Poe might maybe potentially have a job. We’ll see. This is good. I’ve got to get him out of this house. The kids are doing well. They’re taking swimming lessons at the local Y, because they just didn’t want to listen to us when we’re in a pool – too much going on. But now, they’re getting good basics, so I’m happy. Another brief mention on Joseph. We’ve started him on medication. It was a long time coming, and we finally came to the conclusion that the benefits finally seriously outweighed the risks. That’s all I’ll say on that – I don’t feel comfortable mentioning which one here (that’s a ... More About: Juggling
Juggling
2009-07-21 19:58:00 ** Don’t forget, Blogathon is coming! Please pledge! I’ll be blogging 24 hours a day for Fisher House on Saturday. You can read my post about it here.** I feel like I’m juggling a lot. I have a lot going on in life – online and off, and I just don’t want to drop any balls. Poe might maybe potentially have a job. We’ll see. This is good. I’ve got to get him out of this house. The kids are doing well. They’re taking swimming lessons at the local Y, because they just didn’t want to listen to us when we’re in a pool – too much going on. But now, they’re getting good basics, so I’m happy. Another brief mention on Joseph. We’ve started him on medication. It was a long time coming, and we finally came to the conclusion that the benefits finally seriously outweighed the risks. That’s all I’ll say on that – I don’t feel comfortable mentioning which one here (that’s a ... More About: Juggling
Dear AOL, I Am Not a Freak
More articles from this author:2009-07-21 01:27:00 *Note: Some graphic biological information ahead. And another note? I’m ticked and therefore ramble.* Dear AOL, I was reading what passes for your headlines today and saw your article, “Dual-Womb Mother Shocks Doctors.” I had to click. Because I have Uterine Didelphys. Thanks a lot, AOL. You have made me look like a freak. No, I’m not the new mom from the article. I’m one of the thousands (millions?) with this “condition.” It’s a birth defect. And it’s not as uncommon as you may think. Yes, I have two uteruses/uteri. Yes I have two cervices/cervixes. I get to have double the pap smears! Had to have a septum between the cervices removed to end pain for both myself and my husband during “relations.” I also get to have double the hormones, double the blood, double the PMS. (Don’t you want to be in my husband’s shoes now?) I’ve been hospitalized for loss of blood during a normal plain old p... More About: Freak 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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