| Sick. Sick. Sick. |
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| 06:38pm 22/01/2006 |
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mood:  sick
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I think I have strep. Blah.
I subbed for the librarian/tech teacher for all of last week and, when I woke up on Friday morning, my throat was completely inflamed and it hasn't gotten better over the last couple of days. I know some of the kids at school had strep (keep your children home when they're sick!), so tomorrow morning, I'll make a doctor's appointment. I'd rather be miserable for the shortest amount of time possible, thanx.
And I took a nap this afternoon and, when I rolled over to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock, I pulled/strained something in my left hip. And it hurts. A lot.
Yes, I'm whining. There's no one here to talk to (it hurts anyway) because Ron's at a rehearsal and I had a dispute with my FiL about a cucumber (yes, we had an argument over a vegetable. no, i don't want to talk about it.). And my throat hurts too much to call someone, hence, my use of the Internet for my pity party.
I'm done now. Thank you for listening.
P.S. I love John Mayer's song Stitched Up off of the new Herbie Hancock CD, Possibilities. And it's all because of this line:
That girl is flawless, and I know I'm not the first one to think that
And since I'm not the first, I sure won't be the last
I'd spend my whole life looking behind my back
I just don't think I'm up to that |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| Milestone |
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| 09:00pm 16/01/2006 |
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mood:  excited
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So, I decided that this year was going to be the year that I started submitting my writing. This is something I've resisted for awhile, mostly out of fear.
Anyway, a friend of mine, Christopher Hopper, has his first book coming out this summer (The White Lion Chronicles: Rise of the Dibor; it's Christian fantasy). Last April, when the band was recording Airborn and Written in the Sand, Chris started challenging me about stepping out more with my writing. It was a really encouraging conversation, but since then we haven't talked much about it.
However, last Monday, we went to the hospital to visit his sister-in-law, Amber (she was in a really bad car accident about a month ago. She improves daily, but we're still praying for a major miracle), and, while we were sitting in the lounge area, Chris asked me about what I was writing currently. So, I told him about Hush Little Baby and he told me about Rise of the Dibor and the second book in the series. It was just a nice chat between friends who share a love of writing.
And then, he asked me to send him the synopsis and first chapter of HLB with the comment that he might pass it up to his editor. I reassured him (and myself) that if he chose not to send it to her that it wouldn't be a big deal.
Anyway, on Friday (the 13th, no less! *snicker*), I sent him what he asked for. Today, I got an email from his editor saying she was intrigued and wanted to see more...
The practical part of me knows that most editors will ask to see more if the writing comes recommended by one of their authors, but it doesn't dampen the sheer joy that I feel at knowing that my writing is out there and being read.
So, there you have it, the first submission and request of my life... :-) |
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Read 7 - Post |
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| Oops |
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| 08:12am 15/12/2005 |
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mood:  awake
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So, it's been a while. I kind of forgot about updating this journal since I've been regularly updating Val Writes which quickly morphed from just being about the writing to being about a whole lot of other stuff too. *shrug*
Anyway, this is just a short "I'm alive!" entry because I'm chaperoning a field trip--the fourth through eith grade is going to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe today. So, I've got to go. |
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Post |
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| Another One Bites the Dust |
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| 06:45pm 07/10/2005 |
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mood:  amused
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Another three actually. I'm cruising right along and striking things off my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days. I determined that if I accomplish 3-4 things each month, I'll get through all my goals. Of course, some months I'll do more than others and some goals take more than one month to accomplish, but the principle still stands.
#94: "Do a dance special at Church of Love" was accomplished last Sunday. The band we travel with (The Christopher Hopper Band) did special music at our church and I danced.
#39: "Set up a wireless network at home" was accomplished yesterday when my step-father came by to work out the bugs preventing my MiL's computer from getting on-line. Ron's computer isn't hooked into the network yet, but that's because his computer has had a myriad issues, so he doesn't want it on the Internet until they isolate the source of the problems.
But the one I'm most proud of is #90: "Make pizza with homemade dough".
I didn't even start making the dough until after Ron got home because we were out of flour and olive oil and I needed him to go to the store for me. I start the yeast and clear off the kitchen table, so I have space to do the kneading and everything. My MiL asks what I'm doing, so I tell her I'm making pizza dough. She says, "You know how to make pizza dough?"
Is that a note of respect I hear in your voice?
"Yes, yes, I do." I answer. I completely ignore the fact that I've never made pizza dough solo or by hand (without a bread machine) in my life. I have a recipe, therefore I know how to make it.
Dough gets kneaded, dough rises, I punch down dough (always my favorite part) and now I have to make the dough into something resembling a circle that will fit on the baking stone. My husband is sitting on the couch in the living room and he keeps telling me to "spin the dough", which of course I have no idea how to do. So, finally I'm a little fed up with his "advice", so I tell him to come in and spin the dough himself. He enters the kitchen, washes his hands, takes my little misshapen lump of dough and comments, "I haven't done this in ten years".
This, my friends, is my first inkling that maybe my plan to show him that it's not as easy as he thinks might backfire. Which it does. Because after a few false starts, he begins to spin the dough like he's been working in a pizza shop for years. Only my husband would have such a random skill tucked away in his back pocket.
Anyway, he made a beautifully shaped crust and we topped it together. He even managed to make a cheese-stuffed crust and we piled it with cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms. It looked gorgeous when it came out. The only thing that marred its perfection was my husband forgot to put flour on the baking stone so it wouldn't stick and I didn't think to mention it. It was delicious anyway; we just had to rely on the metal spatula to get the pizza off the stone.
My MiL tried a piece and liked it too. So, life is good. We had a blast and making pizza together will probably become a regular part of our dinner menus.
Anyway, we're off to the Roost for some line dancing. I'm learning a dance called "Daisy Dukes". *raises eyebrow* It should be interesting. If I had the clothes here, I'd be tempted to get outfitted in Cowgirl regalia just to get another item crossed off my list. :-) But I don't. Ah well. Another day.
And maybe, one day, I'll actually do my German homework, so I can continue to make progress on #22. Sorry, El. Do you still love me? |
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Read 2 - Post |
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| #60: Join ACFW |
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| 02:51pm 26/09/2005 |
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mood:  creative
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And I've crossed yet another thing off my 101 Things in 1001 Days list. So, I've done three things done in a little over a month and I'm in progress on seven other things. Go me. But I digress.
I joined American Christian Fiction Writers a little over a week ago. And, so far, I've been really glad about the investment I made. Some of the basic information I've found in other places online, but there's a lot of information specific to writing in the Christian arena that I hadn't been able to find elsewhere. So, I'm excited. I'm also hoping to find a crit partner/group through the group. We'll see.
I thought I'd have something more interesting to say about this, but I don't really. :-) |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| #47: Go to a City Council Meeting |
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| 09:25pm 06/09/2005 |
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mood:  relaxed
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So, I've just completed my second item on my list of 101 Things to do in 1001 Days.
Tonight, Ron and I went to a City Council meeting. I gave myself a crash course in the workings of our city government last night through the wonder of the Internet (I was up till 3am and needed something to do). It was interesting. The speakers during the "Speak to Council" session wavered between being well-organized and not-so well-organized. Some people just didn't seem to realize that when you only have two minutes to speak, you should get to the point rather than tell some rambling, tangential story. When I participate in one of those "Speak to Council" sessions, I will endeavor to be one of the well-organized speakers. Most of the people who spoke tonight spoke about lead paint and the need for legislation to rid our city of it. It's a very hot issue right now, because we have a lot of children with lead poisoning and no one thinks the government is moving fast enough on the issue.
There were about 50 people attending the "Speak to Council" session, but it thinned out to about five people when the actual Council meeting started. They moved fairly briskly through the legislation. I'm sure that I could find out what's up for public hearing beforehand, so I'm more well-informed about the issues. That'll be my job for next month. It was interesting though and I definitely think we'll attend them regularly. I want to be a citizen who actively participates in their government.
Ron and I met Mayor Johnson as well. We wanted to meet Councilman Stevenson (represents the NW district where we live) as well, but he was in a conversation and then he left before we managed to get over there. Next time. |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| Heads Up |
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| 10:51pm 01/09/2005 |
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mood:  aggravated
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Just so y'all know: Ron's car (fortunately, he had just switched back, so we had our car and not Scott's) got broken into this evening and my cell phone got stolen. We don't have a home phone line and we're going out of town this weekend anyway, so there's no way to get in touch with me by phone right now.
If you would normally call or text, just send me an e-mail message instead. I probably won't have access to a computer this weekend, but we'll be back on Monday.
Love y'all |
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Read 5 - Post |
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| Slow Start |
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| 11:01am 22/08/2005 |
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mood:  content
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I haven't quite woken up yet. What's that word ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) eledhwenlin used? Tapsig. I think her definition of it pretty much sums up this morning so far. So, I did an interesting quiz from my friends list.
( Fear my signature weapon! ) |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| 101 Things in 1001 Days |
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| 06:54pm 21/08/2005 |
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mood:  accomplished
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Ganked from eledhwenlin, and then I went to the source (or what I assume is the source).
I meant to post this yesterday, but I couldn't because it ended up being a very full day. And the numbers are screwed up because I wrote my list first and then organized it, and I refused to re-number. My categories are fairly arbitrary. I'm sure several items could be moved under a different heading.
( Saturday, 20 August 2005 to Saturday 17 May 2008 ) |
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Read 6 - Post |
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| 09:29pm 02/08/2005 |
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mood:  ecstatic
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How did I miss Rent being made into a movie? I'm thrilled that a lot of the original cast are returning to do their roles...
Here's the trailer... |
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Read 2 - Post |
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| I Can Do Anything* |
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| 10:06am 25/07/2005 |
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mood:  busy
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I just got back from jogging. It's going well and my legs don't hate me as much today as they did last week. My butt, however, loves my new bike. It rides smooth and my bottom isn't bruised anymore because it has shocks on it and I don't bounce around anymore.
This week, I'll do the jogging thing three times and I've got to get into a routine with yoga. My back is still very weak and my doctor has been recommending yoga or pilates to strengthen it. I can't deal with pilates, so yoga it is. The goal for this week is 3 sessions of at least 30 minutes each.
I also have a sewing lesson today and a piano lesson. Although, I think I'm going to cancel the piano lesson because we also have a conference at church to go to. I also have to write my 1k for Hush Little Baby and clean the house.
And I didn't get enough sleep yesterday, but the jogging seems to have helped me wake-up. Anyway, this entry was not interesting, but I have to go take a shower and eat breakfast.
*and I have the theme song from Reading Rainbow stuck in my head. I was singing it while biking home from the track. Yes, I got many weird looks. |
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Read 3 - Post |
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| I <3 New Templates |
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| 08:16pm 21/07/2005 |
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mood:  geeky
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I've changed the template for my writing journal over at Blogger. Please go check it out. It's so pretty.
I got the design from Not (That) Ugly and then had to do some tweaking to get the archives and comments to play nice.
My (so small you can barely see them)code geek skills come in handy once again. |
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Read 5 - Post |
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| Writing Journal |
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| 09:04pm 20/07/2005 |
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mood: accomplished
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Just one more quick post before I get off the computer for the night.
It occurred to me that I never mentioned my new writing blog here. I started Val Writes at the beginning of this month, so that I had a place to keep just for the writing. Sometimes I need that, I'm sure y'all understand. And I thought I'd give Blogger another try.
Anyways, drop by and check me out. Leave me a comment. I'm pretty lonely over there. ;-)
P.S. Hush Little Baby is 10,507 words as of tonight! Yay! |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| Etiquette for 2005 |
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| 04:01pm 20/07/2005 |
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mood:  bored
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I agree. Flip-flops aren't the most appropriate thing to wear on your feet when going to meet the President. But, honestly, hate* e-mails? Isn't that going a bit too far? Aren't there more important things for people to concern themselves with?
*They're not exactly hate e-mails. But I'm not sure what else to call them. Perhaps, "e-mails of extreme displeasure"? Does anyone else have a better suggestion? |
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| Things that make you go "Hmm..." Part 2 |
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| 10:08am 20/07/2005 |
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mood: amused
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And now we have a Smurf movie coming out in 2008.
Unlike The Transformers which I am holding out hope for, I have no expectations for the Smurfs to be a decent movie.
Hollywood just needs to stop.
Alternately, they can continue to fully embrace the 80s and come out with a live-action G.I. Joe movie and resurrect Fraggle Rock to make them into a movie.
I would totally support either of those endeavors. But Smurfs? Not so much on my radar. |
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Read 11 - Post |
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| The things you learn while procrastinating.... |
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| 01:34pm 19/07/2005 |
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mood: ecstatic
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Keri has just informed me that it's National Ice Cream Month. In fact, this upcoming Sunday is National Ice Cream Day.
How have I missed this for all these years? I'm going to have to make up for it with some serious celebrating.
Bring on the gallons of icecream and the sundae toppings. (In moderation, of course. I just started an exercise routine this month... ;-) )
And now, I really have to write. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| Word War, Anyone? |
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| 09:04pm 18/07/2005 |
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mood: creative
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I've got an hour before my husband comes home and I still need to get my 1000 words for the day. If you've got some time to spare to write, come join me in Evolution's Chat Room.
:-) |
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Post |
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distressed
impressed