Heartache

Posted on Monday, June 29, 2009
Filed Under 100 Words | Leave a Comment

Sweet-faced baby learning to walk
Toddling, turning dizzy circles
Dancing, clapping soft little hands

Twirling. Whirling.
Again and again.
Watch me.
Widening your circle with each turn.
Mama’s watching, honey.
Be careful.
I reach my hand out to keep you from falling.

Enchanted, perfect, precious child.
Stay the glow in my soul,
Stay the tears in my eyes.
You will fall.
Heartache. Being a parent.
Deep, crushing hearthache.

Summer

Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2009
Filed Under Fiction | 1 Comment

On most days during the summer, Livvie Rose Allen walked the length of the large display case full of costume jewelry that graced the front of Wyman’s Drugstore. Sometimes she walked quickly, dragging her fingers across the front of the case, if she was in a hurry to pick up an order for her mother and didn’t have time to browse. Other times she stopped and looked at her leisure, pressing her sweaty palms and forehead against the cool glass. She was particularly drawn to anything topaz, her birthstone. She even loved the sound of the word topaz. She liked to think her real name was Topaz. Golden and shiny, like her true self.

How to fold a t-shirt…

Posted on Friday, March 27, 2009
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T-shirt fold (cat optional)

Let’s face it. Laundry isn’t fun. But like any chore, there is a sense of accomplishment and renewal once it’s done. Folding was the part I hated the most. Notice I said was. Because now that I use the the Professional T-shirt Fold method I can amuse myself for hours folding t-shirts just like they do in the big fancy department stores. If you want a printable version of the instructions with illustrations, visit marthastewart.com. Hell, I’ll bet there’s even a video of how to fold a t-shirt because, well, isn’t that just something Martha would have on her website? But since my blog is about writing practice and I’m not Martha, here are my written instructions for folding a t-shirt like the salesladies at Bloomingdale’s.

Thank you to my able assistants — my husband for his pinch illustration and my cat Steve Irwin for sticking his big fat face where it doesn’t belong.

Lay the t-shirt on a flat surface, perpendicular to your body, collar facing left, the bottom of the t-shirt on your right.
With your left hand hand, pinch the shoulder seam opposite you halfway between the collar and the sleeve seam.
With your right hand, pinch the t-shirt almost halfway down (chest area) along the same horizontal line as your left hand pinch.
While holding the two points, cross your left hand over your right, bringing the shoulder pinch to the bottom of the shirt. Grab the hem.
Pull the fold by simultaneously uncrossing your hands and lifting up the shirt up off the surface so that it hangs in front of you. The left sleeve will be hanging at the bottom.
Lay the left sleeve back on the work surface (front down) and fold the rest of the shirt over it.

Voila. A perfect square. If you followed my instructions and you comment that your t-shirt came out in a messy knot, maybe I need more writing practice. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll know I’m awesome.

Shamoska.

Begone troublemaker…

Posted on Saturday, March 21, 2009
Filed Under Animals | 2 Comments

Look at you. Lying there in that basket (which wasn’t made for your fat ass by the way) with your eyes closed. Looking all innocent and (fake) asleep with your smashed face and grotesquely oversized paws. Well, guess what, little straight-eared Scottish fold sucka, I have oodles and oodles of yummy, breakable, spillable, stealable stuff sitting on my desk now and you can’t get to any of it. None. Of. It.

Life is good…

Posted on Thursday, March 19, 2009
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Life is good…Well, no, we all know life usually stinks like the dog shit on the bottom of your shoe, but this morning it’s good because I can finally return things to my desk I need for work now that my daughter’s pen-stealing, container-dumping, coffee-spilling, paper-eating, keyboard-sitting, cabinet-opening, self-nursing, magazine-reading, butt-licking, printer-reclining, paper feed-blocking, fur-shedding, sequential-sneezing, booger-spewing cat has moved away.

Good bug or bad bug?

Posted on Monday, January 12, 2009
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In one of my paying jobs I occasionally get to write little introductory blurbs to the scientific information that usually follows so that non-scientists like me can understand the material. Here’s my latest attempt.

Insects and other organisms that harm the landscape are considered pests. Those that promote the health of the landscape are called beneficial organisms. However, in the case of honeybees, beneficial can be a subjective term. Honeybees are widely considered beneficial insects because they pollinate flowers, but their stings can be deadly to humans and animals. For this reason, some people might think of honeybees as pests.

Besides pollinating flowers, beneficial organisms play other important roles in our ecology. They produce food or other useful products (honey), improve the landscape environment (ants and earthworms aerate the soil and reduce compaction), and control pest populations through biological control.

Biological control is the way living organisms protect the balance of nature. Organisms that control the pest populations in the landscape are called natural enemies. There are 4 types of natural enemies:

Competitors compete with pests for food sources.
Predators hunt and kill other organisms for food.
Parasites/parasitoids live on or within pests and eventually kill them.
Pathogens cause disease in their hosts.

Conscience and conscious

Posted on Saturday, January 3, 2009
Filed Under The Right Word | Leave a Comment

I recently read this sentence in major publication: “In all good conscious, I could not vote for…”

Conscience and conscious are two words that have different meanings, but are often misused, probably because they sound alike.

Conscience is a noun (a person, place or thing). Think of it as the part of your mind that guides your sense of right and wrong.

Nancy fell asleep with a clear conscience. She had done the right thing returning the money.

Remember Jiminy Cricket’s advice to Pinocchio on becoming a real boy? “Always let your conscience be your guide.”

Conscious is an adjective. It describes state of awareness.

If you are awake, you are conscious.

If you faint, you are not conscious. You are unconscious.

Aware = conscious

Consciousness is the noun use for conscious. It is the state of being aware.

If you faint, you lose consciousness.

Awareness = consciousness

Although I don’t think of these words as related, you do have to be conscious (have consciousness) to have a conscience, don’t you?

Shemoska!

Additional information:
About.com > Grammar
Keables Guide, University of Hawaii (Kind of a handy little site. A little dated, but simple, clean and has some good common sense tips.)
Roget’s Thesaurus > conscious
Merriam-Webster Online > conscience

No, you cannot use a PedEgg to grate Parmesan cheese

Posted on Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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I love kitchen gadgets, so when I had occasion to be at my local Kohl’s today, I headed for that department. And there I noticed PedEggs displayed alongside the cheese graters. Big red SALE sign.

I was thinking spaghetti and meatballs for supper, but now I’m thinking eww.

Happy Election Day!

World War I… Letters Home

Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008
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This is the first of letters he wrote home in the summer of 1917, as my grandfather headed off to war. He was 17. “D….” must mean Dallas, though he never writes the word. I have edited some passages for clarity. A bright, happy boy went off to war and grew (too early and too harshly) into a man. And decades later, past this June of his youth, the man became my grandfather — not to mention my sun, my moon and my stars. — NL

June 17, 1917
Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Dear Mother,

Well, here I am. Have not been examined or assigned yet, but think that will happen around 7 o’clock tomorrow morning.

When I arrived my clothes were partially soiled. Just took a bath and one of the fellows in my tent gave me a clean shirt and collar and another one gave me a pair of white silk socks. We had a pretty good dinner - chicken, English peas, potatoes, dressing and gravy, also some rice pudding for dessert. I do not find the men to be as generally represented by civilians. Everyone I have met seems to be friendly and not rowdy like some people say they are. A group of men come around to our tent every few minutes and introduce themselves, each one giving a little advice to us as to what branch to join. Have met several boys from D… There is a piano, Victrola and all kinds of amusement here at the Army YMCA.

The sky above us is so thick with airplanes. They look like a flock of birds. The public does not realize to what extent the government has equipped their fighting force. They have some heavy field artillery pieces here. They are 8″-10″-12″ guns. If I pass, I will be here only a short while, then be sent somewhere. No one knows where.

I will not draw any money until I leave here, but I will received payment later for all the time I have spent here.

Have got to get up at 5:30 a.m. every day. I now hold only 55 cents, and when I let you know where to write me, I wish you would ask Hugh [younger brother] to let me have a couple of “Iron Men” until I am paid. Tell Papa that I will write him as soon as I can.

Must stop now. Goodbye and good luck to the family.

Love,
Carroll

If you are interested in reading letters and accounts from other veterans, visit the Veterans History Project from the Library of Congress and also, Dear Home - Letters from WWI.