It would seem that winter finally decided to grace us with her presence. It had been so warm for so long, I thought it was going to stay that way all season. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the warm to the cold, but there is something to be said for the cold weather and all of what it brings. It isn’t all bad and there are a lot of benefits to the outside being colder than you would like. I am not including snow or ice because there is just no excuse for either of those items to exist. There, I said it.

First, cold weather is a great excuse to stay inside the house and binge watch Netflix or catch up on everything on your DVR. Cozying up on the couch under a warm blanket is always a comforting feeling. When someone calls and wants to make plans, you can tell them it is just too cold outside and it would not be a lie. It is a far better excuse than saying you are sick or making something up that can cause suspicion amongst your peer group. I know it sounds all ominous, but how many times did you tell a little white lie to get out of something, but then forget the lie and get caught? Believe me, it happens more often than you would think.

Another great thing about cold weather outside is being able to build a fire inside. Now, only do this if you have a fireplace. I wouldn’t want to see anyone starting a bonfire in the middle of their living room because building a fire was suggested. A wood burning fireplace is a wonderful thing to have. The smell of a nice fire is something you can only experience during the winter. If you build a fire during the summer, you are either deranged or trying to sweat something out of your system. Either way, it is not something I recommend anyone do. Along with the fire, toasting marshmallows is always a possibility, if you feel so inclined. We spent so much time as children toasting marshmallows over a campfire, but you can do it inside as well. I know some of the mystique is lost when toasting marshmallows and watching one of the Real Housewives of Whatever City is Popular but the tastiness is still there. I don’t recommend setting them on fire this way, though.

Sweaters are one of my favorite things about cold weather. All summer, when sweating my ass off, all I can think about it being cold and wearing a sweater. A sweater doesn’t care if you are fat or skinny. They don’t care if you are muscular. All a sweater cares about is that you wear it and hopefully, remember to wear a shirt underneath it. The downside to a good wool sweater is the itch of no shirt buffer between wool and skin. Another bonus to the sweater is that we can get away with a somewhat ugly pattern knitted into them. Pixelated deer surrounded by metallic gold thread is not something that can easily be worn in any other garment and deemed nice or acceptable. Odd color combinations are the norm, as well. It’s not often that pink, lavender, and sea green can be intermingled like they have always been best friends. Mix that with navy blue, and you have a winning sweater color combination.

So as you can see, there are benefits to cold weather. The summer is not the time for sweaters and fires, so enjoy them while the season lasts. Once spring has sprung, these ideas will have to be packed away for another nine months until that inevitable chill in the air returns.

National Novel Writing Month is a way to “force” yourself to write. The goal is get 50,000 words out of your head and onto paper in the month of November. There is a lot of support from a very large community of other writers, published authors, and all-around cheerleaders.

I passed my Masters defense and am set to graduate in December, so I finally had time to buckle down and write. What better way to stop myself from overthinking things constantly and just do it than participate in NaNoWriMo. This way, my inner editor is not throwing everything out and making me restart all over again. I will admit, my first draft is really rough, as it should be. Once I get through the month and the finishing of the novel, I will go back, rewrite what needs to be rewritten, add and delete at will, and then have a massive fine tooth comb edit of the whole thing. I may end up with no book at all out of this story, but I will have tried. I have been able to stop the constant voice in the back of my head telling me my work is garbage.
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My biggest takeaway from all of this is that if you set your mind to it, you can do anything. I have started many books, and have put them all of their misery too. I have to admit that what is bad to me, is only because I see it that way. It may be genius to someone else.

Writing is happening. I have my Master's defense on Thursday and have to finish one class, but I have the time finally to write, so it is happening. I spend some time each evening typing away on my laptop and the story is coming together. 

Hopefully this time next year, a story will be totally polished and out for the world to see.

I can't believe that it has been 8 months since I last wrote anything. I have had a lot of my plate, yet that is just not a good excuse. I am about to venture into my last semester of my Master's degree and I am stressing out over the thesis and Comprehensive Exams. Once they are over, though, I will graduate and finally be done with school for good....or until I decide I want to do something else.

We got a dog a few months ago and he is quite the handful. He just celebrated his 7 month birthday and we couldn't love him more. The cats are not big fans, but they will live with him. 

The first picture is the day we got Briscoe and the second picture is now. He has grown so much in the last 5 months.

Well I can promise that I will post more often and I am not going to slack off this time.

I haven't been around in a long time because my husband and I decided to buy a house. We went through all of the processes necessary and found a house we loved. We made an offer and the seller accepted....and that is when the adventure began. We found some things that needed to be fixed and then inspector found even more things that needed to be fixed. The back and forth went on and the seller decided to pay for most of it. There was a drainage issue that needed to be fixed since the house is on a sloped lot, that was fixed. There were electrical issues that needed repair, they were fixed. There were other minor issues, they were fixed. Then the big one hit...a big foundation problem that was hidden behind sheet rock. This became a big issue between us, the seller, and then the VA. The inspector wouldn't come and sign off until it was done. Closing was delayed and then finally, WE WERE ABLE TO MAKE THE HOUSE OURS! It was a great day!

Luckily we had a month to move, so we took our time. I wanted to paint just about the entire main floor and that took up most of that month. I bought things over little by little every time I came to the house. We only needed movers for our furniture that we couldn't move ourselves. You would think that would be the end of it, but wait, there's more.

The A/C unit for the main floor had been neglected, so it needed to be fixed three times. The dishwasher wasn't washing dishes, so we needed a new one. When installing it, we found out that our floors were not glued down, so guess what we are doing now? Getting all new floors in the kitchen and all three bathrooms. I have a feeling when one thing is accomplished, another thing needs help. We will eventually get it all the way we want it.

I am just happy we have our own new house and things are better than ever. Now you know where I have been.

Movie theaters have been complaining for years that they are suffering due to the lack of people coming to the theater to see movies. Is it the prices or the ability to watch movies at home? I think it is the fact that people have to interact with some of the worst people you can imagine, while trying to enjoy a film.

My husband and I like going to the movies. We don't go out too often, but when there is a movie we want to see, we go see it. We like going at the earliest showing on a Saturday or Sunday, mainly in order to avoid the worst of the moviegoers who seem to think they can do whatever they want. We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy this past weekend, and while we loved the film (seriously, you should see it), we encountered the worst of people. The funniest part is that there were a few small children in the theater and they weren't a bother at all. 

Some tips on how to stop being a jerk in the theater:

1 - Please just stop playing on your phone when the lights are down. There is nothing more distracting that watching a movie and there is a sudden bright light right next to you that makes you wince. If you have time to go to the movies, you can spare the need to check Facebook, texts, or e-mail for 2 hours. If you can't go that long, watch a movie at home.

2 - Outside food. I don't care if you sneak food into the theater in that gigantic suitcase sized purse of yours, but be considerate of what you bring in. If your food has wrappers or bags that make an ungodly amount of noise, put your shit in a Ziploc bag and bring it in that way. If you are bringing in cans or glass bottles, mind them and don't let them roll and fall down several rows of steps. That sound is almost as distracting as a phone light. We had the pleasure of a woman and two teenage kids sucking down cans of sodas, kicking the cans down the tiers and then rifling through a huge bag while taking 20 minutes to open or eat something in a wrapper made out of the noisiest material possible.

3 - Feet!  A guy a few rows in front of us sat down, proceeded to take off his shoes and socks, and then place his feet up on the seat in front of him. Ummmm....ewwww. Why? I just don't get it. We don't want to see or smell your feet throughout a movie. Putting feet up on the row in front is something that has happened forever at the movie theater, but have some decorum with it. Don't put feet up on a seat right next to someone's head. I love turning my head and seeing the bottom of sneakers right next to my face. Along with feet on seats, stop kicking the seats in front of you. Accidentally doing it on occasion, ok, it happens, but when you keep doing it, you aren't making friends. 

4 - Wearing massive amounts of perfumes, cologne, deodorant, after shave, or whatever is not cool. There wasn't just one person, but two! I felt like I was choking for a good half hour until the scent finally died down. If you are on a date, I am sure your date is being polite, but you are probably slowly killing him/her with your overly scented body being so close. There is a limit on how much is just right and then over the limit to the too much level.

5 - Kids. It's funny, kids in the theater are actually the least annoying thing, most of the time. I worry when I see small children at a Rated R film or at a film where you know something they shouldn't see is going to be going on. Something like a cartoon or G rated movie, they are meant for kids, so they should be there. When the movie is not a kid type of movie, and then they scream or get bored, maybe you should have gotten a sitter or waited to see the movie. I am definitely not qualified to make your parenting decisions for you, but think of the other people in the theater. Bored kids are going to run around, scared children are going to cry, and some children are just going to scream for no reason at all. I love kids, but they don't belong at all movies.

6 - Talking or yelling at the screen. I shouldn't even have to mention this, but it still happens. I don't even need to talk about why this shouldn't be done.

Can you think of any other things that constitute a jerk at the theater? 

Summer isn't actually almost over, but it feels like it. My husband and I are in the process of buying our first house and it is a scary process. Between mortgages and inspectors to negotiations with the seller, it is a constant stress. On top of that, I took on three classes for the summer semester instead of two and it kicked me hard. I just finished this week and love the feeling of having a tiny bit of a summer break. I have a couple of weeks until the new semester begins.

So while we don't officially have the house yet, I keep decorating it in my mind. That is a scary place to be. I have such lofty goals that I know look great to me, but will be a pain to actually accomplish. I even keep thinking of stupid things like that fact that I will need to buy a snow shovel. It is July and I am thinking about snow shovels. I wish I was able to keep the stuff we had int he house in North Carolina instead of having to sell or give it away. It would have been handy to have a power washer and not have to buy a new one. Even a garden hose would have been nice to not have to buy again. Going from a house to an apartment didn't let us keep most of the stuff a homeowner needs but an apartment dweller does not.

I definitely want these lanterns for outside. Instead of traditional votive candles though, I want to put the battery powered LED ones in. I love these and I think putting them on the screened in porch or the back deck would look nice....once I actually get outdoor furniture. They will look a little odd just hanging out on their own. What do you think? I like blue, green, and red. I am just so full of ideas and it is one of those things that I would need a million dollars to make come true. 

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a nice summer. I look forward to getting some writing done and hopefully will be able to accomplish that sometime in the near future (I think I always say that).

I am sure by now you have seen the Kickstarter campaign to bring Reading Rainbow to every child in the country through apps and their classrooms. This is extremely important in order to help children read, even in the landscape of everything digital. I implore you, if you can, to please support this project, even if it is only for $5. You can give up a latte for one day.

Click here to go to the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter page.

True Detective was such as great show. I know it is going to be an anthology type series with a different cast each season. I think we should have some fun and cast season 2 in our own way.

My husband wants Louis C.K. and Russell Brand to be cast. Louis would be a CIA agent and Russell would work for Interpol. They are working on a human trafficking case and in the end Louis dies. That is the basic plot. I can't entirely remember all of the intricate details of this plot.

I think we should go with the A-list route and cast Brad Pitt and George Clooney. It would be a totally serious show with small comedic moments on occasion. Brad could be a 20 year veteran who thinks he has seen it all until this murder is beyond anything he can comprehend. George can be a transfer from a different department and can be assigned to work with Brad. Brad tries to be the boss but George won't have an of it and tensions arise between them. Trying to solve the case becomes more difficult because of it.

Bruce Willis and Jeff Bridges would be a great combo. Hard ass cop and hippie cop. Guess which one is the total jerk of a cop? I bet you can guess easily.

Adrian Brody and Joaquin Phoenix are my favorite combo pick. They are both a bit off beat and can come together well as a dynamic duo. They will both have certain quirks in the way the investigate crimes and sometimes these quirks get in the way of each other but at the end, they work well together and can find a way to deal with their own issues to work each others issues.

What do you all think about a new combo for the next season? Let me know of any other ideas.

I ask myself this question every day. Why am I not writing? I usually have an answer such as work, school, TV, spending time with my husband....but these are not good excuses. I am not saying I am wasting time doing those things, but I am saying that there is time around and in between those things that I am wasting. There was an article in the Huffington Post today about this very thing. Writer's Relief staff wrote the article The Clock's Ticking: Why Aren't You Writing? which addressed the time issue and how to combat it. From the article:

These points are very valuable and can are great ideas in order to make sure writing happens. I plan to use these five points in order to kick myself in the rear and get to writing. I know I am guilty of being distracted by the smallest things, and maybe I can make goals work for me instead of against me for once.