Dad, Writing, Sewing, Trust, and Singers

They discovered my father did have a heart attack that was caused by a blood clot, but very little damage was done. He came home the Tuesday after he was admitted to the hospital and he’s doing fine – back to running errands, cutting the grass, exercising…The doctor told him to take two weeks off his job.

I have little else to say that would likely be of much interest to much of anyone. I’ve wanted to get back to writing stories but while I had ideas and inspiration, I had little motivation. But I recalled a story I started last year and never finished and decided to go back to that. I don’t remember enough of the details so I’m skimming what I wrote before I start writing again, but I think I’m over my writing block now.

I sewed a lot last month and some this one – a dress, two bodices, two shirts/chemises, two hats, two pouches. I’m working on a skirt and another bodice now. I should update my costume blog. I have quite a bit to add, but I need to take some pictures of separate items first (I have pictures of me wearing many of them combined, at the Renaissance festival, but I think I want them separate for my blog so I can do separate entries).

I’ve been thinking about trust lately and wondering how to learn to trust people in general and more specifically after bad experiences, and wondering how much I should allow myself to trust them, how much I should open up to them, etc. It’s difficult, because I’ve discovered that good communication is very important and that when you close everyone out, you become hardened, distant, and lonely. But figuring out how much and how to trust people when they could hurt you isn’t easy. My expectations of people have been significantly lowered and I don’t know if it’s unhealthy or not.

I’m not sure I actually meant to write about that. Oh well.

I am so glad Kris Allen won American Idol and not Adam Lambert (any comments defending Lambert will be deleted; you’re entitled to your music tastes and I to mine – post them on your own blog) due to both ethics and talent. I like Kris’s singing much better. Adam has a nice voice when he doesn’t sing so high, but he usually sounds creepy and/or like he’s screeching, and he creeps me out for other reasons.

Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM

[Insert Title Here]

We (Mom, Laura, a friend and I, and possibly some other people) might go to the Renaissance festival next Sunday. If not, on their homeschool day. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been wearing my sword around the house to get used to it, so I hopefully won’t wack anyone with the end. I tried on several belts to see which is most comfortable with it and decided…to use the strap for my old camera case. The historically accurate people would have a heart attack and then excommunicate me, but it’s the only thing I have that’s long enough to wrap around my waist twice, so I prefer it to my cool-looking leather belts and a bruised hip.

We went shopping on Tuesday, and I got a new sewing pattern – Simplicity 6270. I’m going to alter (well, am planning on altering it) like this girl did with a similar pattern to make a sort of overdress/tunic thing. I also found a few shirts, and commented to my younger sister, “Aren’t you proud of me? I actually got something sort of fashionable.” She said something along the lines of, “At least they aren’t big t-shirts with writing-related things on the front.” Good-naturedly; she wasn’t being mean. But I /like/ my Clean Place shirts!

I was going to do Script Frenzy, but I didn’t remember it until close to the end of March, when I was rushing to finish my AAP story. Hence I had little time to prepare, and discovered I needed quite a bit more than that, since I’ve never written a script before. So I might check out a couple of books on screenwriting that someone recommended to me, and then try.

In the meantime, I have plenty of sewing I want to get done before the Ren. faire. I’m making a bodice out of brown microsuede, and if I finish that in time, I might make a chemise and/or hood.

Have an amazing rest of your life!
- WM

Writing, Reading, and Sewing

I’m really sleepy, so this entry might not be as coherent as usual. Last night, I finished the story I was writing for Clean Place’s current “Extra Credit Project”, Adopt-a-Plot. I’m not entirely pleased with the ending, but I like the story overall.

I went to JoAnn on Tuesday and Wal-Mart yesterday and got more fabric at both places. I had a 50% off coupon for JoAnn, so of course I had to use it! I bought 6 yards of dark brown cotton to make a dress. I’ve washed and ironed the fabric, cut the pieces out, and pinned some of them together. I’m not sure how it will turn out, since instead of doing princess seams, I laid some of the pattern pieces next to each other and cut a couple of things out as one piece instead of two. At Wal-Mart, I got some dark blue fabric for a skirt, green with a scroll pattern for a shirt, and some red stuff that reminds me of suede for a tunic. I was just going to get the blue, but the other fabric begged me to take it home.

The weather has been so rainy lately. I like some rain and storms, but I also like to see the sun. I am happy that everything is turning green. I think spring is my favorite season, aside from the humidity. Yesterday, with the sun breaking through the clouds, the light pink petals floating down from the trees, and the green buds everywhere, I was reminded of Narnia.

I’m still reading The Watchers, though not verra frequently. It’s rather odd.

Here’s a picture (it’s my picture of the day. See my Project 365 blog [the link is in the sidebar] for pictures from other days).

Well, that was pretty coherent, I think. Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM

Snapshots and Oats

Instead of doing Summer Novel Writing Month for July’s extra credit project (*weep weep*), we did Snapshots. Each participant created a fictional town somewhere in the real world. They wrote 30 scenes, each one from the point of view of a citizen of that town. No POV could be used twice, and only four characters could be related to each other. The genre had to be historical fiction, contemporary, or futuristic science fiction. Instead of doing the project, I opted to give feedback to two people that did. Neither of the two people assigned to me posted stories for a while, so I was reassigned to one person and kept one who was planning on posting. Then the one who was planning on it dropped out. The other person completed all 30 of her “Snapshots”. She did a good job. I need to feedback six more scenes for people not recieving official feedback to get the t-shirt prize.

[random] I often eat oatmeal for breakfast. I usually put chopped apples, almonds, and cinnamon in it, and today I added dried cranberries to that. I think they’ll be a permanent addition. [/random]

I did make up my own town and start writing unofficial snapshots just for fun. I’m on the ninth. It’s very enjoyable. They’re perfect for my attention span :6: Each scene is around 1,000 words long and has its own main character, conflict, and resolution.

I haven’t been reading very much lately, so I’m still on A Tale of Two Cities.

On August 9, a few Clean Place members from Georgia and one from TN are getting together. One of them I’ve never met before. I’m looking forward to it. I hope I can think of things to say.

I want to see Prince Caspian again.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

Survey

I was looking at my old Xanga blog and saw a survey I filled out a long time ago, so I decided to fill it out again. I have a feeling the type is going to end up too small to read, but I haven’t figured out how to change it on this blog. I’m not interested in playing around with the HTML code right now : oops :

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?  My great-grandmother, sort of.

 

 2.  WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?  A few days ago.

 

 

3.  DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?   Sort of.

 

4.  WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey pastrami

 

5.   DO YOU HAVE KIDS?  No!

 

6.  IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?  If I could get to know me.

 

7.  DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?  Me, use sarcasm? No, never! Ok, I was being sarcastic. Actually, I’m not near as sarcastic as I used to be.

 

8.  DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?  Yes.

 

9.  WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?  Probably

 

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Peanut Butter Bumpers

 

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?  It depends on what shoes I’m wearing.

 

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?  Not especially

 

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?  I don’t have a favorite.

 

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?  Whether they’re a guy or a girl.

 

15. RED OR PINK?   Red

 

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?  That at times I would rather do things my way than God’s.

 

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?  All of the Clean Place members who were at the Moot.

 

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?  I’m not sending it to anyone for them to send back.

 

 19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?   Blue shorts and no shoes.

 

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?  A turkey burger

 

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?  The sound of my laptop running.

 

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Rainbow?

 

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?  The air before it rains

 

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?  Mom

 

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

 

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?  Equestrian

 

27. HAIR COLOR?  Dark blond

 

28. EYE COLOR?  Blue

 

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?  Yes

 

30. FAVORITE FOOD? I don’t have one.

 

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?   Happy endings. At least satisfying endings.

 

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?  Little Women

 

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?   White

 

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?   Spring and Fall.

 

35. HUGS OR KISSES?  Hugs.

 

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?  I don’t know…maybe cheesecake.

 

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?  No one

 

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?  No one

 

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?   Outside Hollywood by Isaac Botkin

 

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?  Nothing. I use my laptop touchpad thing…

 

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? What Not to Wear, which I am going to stop watching because the hosts keep getting tackier.

 

42. FAVORITE SOUND?  Music or thunder

 

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?   Neither

 

44. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?  You mean farthest? Colorado.

 

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?  It depends on what you mean by that.

 

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?  Georgia

 

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?  I’m not expecting any.

 

48.  WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT?  I don’t know.

 

Aside from that, we watched fireworks last night (I got some interesting pictures). Before that, I watched Little Women with my mother and younger sister. The only part that makes me want to cry is watching Jo’s manuscript burn. That would be excruciating to have someone destroy (in my case it would be delete it and empty the recycle bin) your novel.

*cough* Anyways…

 

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM