Towards the end of the school year, there was a buzz going around the hallways. One would think it was the much anticipated end of the school year, the prospects of going to the beach every day, or just the fact there will no longer be twenty-six students ages 3-7 hanging all over you for ten whole weeks but no, it was something different.
It started off as whispers. Teachers gathering in the hallways and whispering about something and then dispersing if anyone got close. Then the question on everyone's lips was pose to me.
"Have you read it?"
Me just being me, at first thought I had missed an important email from the district or a newspaper article. "Read, what?" I so innocently asked.
Right after the eye roll, "Fifty Shades."
"Oh that book, I haven't had the time." In my head I'm thinking, who has time? I'm on deadlines to finish my own book!"
"OMG! You really have to read it. I can't put it down."
"When you're finished. Tell me about what you liked about it." Always doing research as a writer, I mean the woman did make millions off of these books.
I still haven't read any of the books for the exact same reasons as before but I have been getting different feedback about it. I do commend the woman. She is making money hand over fist. She is also help brining erotica out of the proverbial closet which only benefits us who write in the genre. It's becoming more mainstream.
Here is my problem. I want to scream at them and write it on facebook, "If you liked that book, READ MY BOOK!" I unfortunately can't. I write under a pen name but I want to. I really want to.
Do you ever find yourself wanting to scream at people who are talking this book and tell them to read yours or am I alone?
Peace out,
MRD
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Decluttering
I have been a super bad blogger but know I am officially on vacation and going to get myself on a schedule for writing and blogging.
Since now I have officially switched between two jobs, its time for a de-cluttering of everything. So we are starting with the house. Hopefully by the end of the week, we will be getting a big ass dumpster and we can start cleaning out the house, basement, and patio.
When we moved into our house, we did it in a hurry. We were renting a beautiful colonial right on the parade route. My husband's boss at the time owned it and had his offices out of the first floor, so when he went home, we had the second and third floor to ourselves. It was wonderful, even though it was haunted. I loved the place. Then one night, he came to the door and told us with the housing market the way it was (high at the time), and the way we decorated the inside and outside, he'd be a fool if he didn't put it on the market. He sold it to a NY couple within 3 days. So it was a mad dash to move! In fact, because he was turning the house back into a one family, if we could move within two weeks, we didn't have to pay rent. So off we went... We didn't have anywhere else to go, so we moved in with the hubby's mom. Very annoying at the time but it turned out to be a good thing for the husband. Within a month of moving in, she caught the flu and never fully recovered. She was a woman who was always up doing things and then it seemed over night to slow down to an almost stop. Within two months of that, she'd been diagnosed with Leukemia, then passed away within three weeks. Apparently, the "blood doctor" she had been seeing because of the abnormal cells had been begging her for years to get a bone marrow test but because she was healthy she never bothered to do it.
So what we basically did for my husband's sanity is throw everything of hers down into the basement, so we are two people living in an extremely small house filled with the stuff of four people (let's not forget his father's stuff is also down there). It is time to clean out. I have put my foot down. So let the vacation of cleaning and writing beginning!!!
Peace out,
MRD
Since now I have officially switched between two jobs, its time for a de-cluttering of everything. So we are starting with the house. Hopefully by the end of the week, we will be getting a big ass dumpster and we can start cleaning out the house, basement, and patio.
When we moved into our house, we did it in a hurry. We were renting a beautiful colonial right on the parade route. My husband's boss at the time owned it and had his offices out of the first floor, so when he went home, we had the second and third floor to ourselves. It was wonderful, even though it was haunted. I loved the place. Then one night, he came to the door and told us with the housing market the way it was (high at the time), and the way we decorated the inside and outside, he'd be a fool if he didn't put it on the market. He sold it to a NY couple within 3 days. So it was a mad dash to move! In fact, because he was turning the house back into a one family, if we could move within two weeks, we didn't have to pay rent. So off we went... We didn't have anywhere else to go, so we moved in with the hubby's mom. Very annoying at the time but it turned out to be a good thing for the husband. Within a month of moving in, she caught the flu and never fully recovered. She was a woman who was always up doing things and then it seemed over night to slow down to an almost stop. Within two months of that, she'd been diagnosed with Leukemia, then passed away within three weeks. Apparently, the "blood doctor" she had been seeing because of the abnormal cells had been begging her for years to get a bone marrow test but because she was healthy she never bothered to do it.
So what we basically did for my husband's sanity is throw everything of hers down into the basement, so we are two people living in an extremely small house filled with the stuff of four people (let's not forget his father's stuff is also down there). It is time to clean out. I have put my foot down. So let the vacation of cleaning and writing beginning!!!
Peace out,
MRD
Monday, June 18, 2012
What for today?
On Friday, I blogged about how I've been "allowed" to work my contractual hours but not with the colleagues that I've been working with for nine year. It was deemed that it would not be "worthwhile" for me. So what was more worthwhile on Friday was counting papers and books in a basement room all by myself for 5 hours. (Insert sarcasm here) This was sooooo much more worthwhile!!!!
I can just imagine what today is going to bring.
Peace out,
MRD
I can just imagine what today is going to bring.
Peace out,
MRD
Friday, June 15, 2012
Missing
I have been missing lately. My blog has been greatly neglected and I apologize for it. This have been going on at work that have totally consumed me lately and when things go wrong I end up turning into myself. So putting myself out in a blog was not high on my priorities.
The school year ended yesterday, normally it would have been a time for celebration. This year, I'm moving to a new job. I work a week with my colleagues. We'd laugh, work, and plan for the next year. Last year, we actually bet on if one of our very small coworkers could fit in a sterlite storage box and she did. I was looking forward to going to AAD in New Orleans with my husband.This year is different though.
The new ELL supervisor, who was a former coach turned principal, turned ELL supervisor decided to try and take away my summer week and reallocate that money to a new coach recently hired. She decided that contracts could be broken and she was going to play with my money. Her biggest mistake was taking my quietness and shyness as weakness. What she didn't realize is that I have fought for everything I've gotten in life. I'm a fighter. I learned from the best. My father passed away when I was nine leaving my mother with four children between the ages of 9 through 4. We lived on Social Security and only on SS until my brother went to high school. We didn't have a lot growing up but I never remember doing without. The only way we were able to do this is because my mother is a strong person. She made those small checks stretch. She was able to send both my sister and I to an all girl Catholic high school. It was important to her that we became strong woman. I look at the tuition for this school now and I get nauseous. It's close to twelve thousand a year now, so I'm sure back in the day it was comparable. We got scholarships but it didn't cover everything. Don't know how she did it. All four of us were sent to college and were required to live at least one year on our own. We needed to know what it was like to be alone in life. I remember my sister cried and begged to come home every day that first year. My mother didn't allow it. Did it make her a stronger person? I think so.
I didn't accept what this new supervisor was trying to do. My husband is disabled and doesn't work. You are not going to try to take a week of pay away from me without me doing nothing about it. For the first time in fourteen years of working for my district. I called the union. Without being able to rely on that money, in case it didn't work in my favor, I had to cancel AAD. It broke my heart. My husband was looking forward to this trip very much. It just made my resolve with the district stronger. Needless to say, she couldn't take these days away from me. Although she is not allowing me to work with the other coacher because I'm only a "teacher" now. So she has more worthwhile work for me to do. We'll see what it is! As long as I'm not moving stock boxes I'm good. She doesn't realize I can shovel shit with a smile on my face as long as you're paying me my daily rate.
The summer job with Brown University also didn't happen this year. In this economy, not a lot of people have $75,000 to spend on getting a masters degree in education. This, I totally understood!
Despite it all, I have a new goal. Starting next Friday when I am totally done with work for the summer, I am going to try and write 5 thousand words a day. I have a deadline for the beginning of August for my current book and I need to make it. I refuse not to!
Sorry about my long rant but I feel you needed an explanation of my absence. But I'm back and fighting to go!!!
Peace out,
MRD
The school year ended yesterday, normally it would have been a time for celebration. This year, I'm moving to a new job. I work a week with my colleagues. We'd laugh, work, and plan for the next year. Last year, we actually bet on if one of our very small coworkers could fit in a sterlite storage box and she did. I was looking forward to going to AAD in New Orleans with my husband.This year is different though.
The new ELL supervisor, who was a former coach turned principal, turned ELL supervisor decided to try and take away my summer week and reallocate that money to a new coach recently hired. She decided that contracts could be broken and she was going to play with my money. Her biggest mistake was taking my quietness and shyness as weakness. What she didn't realize is that I have fought for everything I've gotten in life. I'm a fighter. I learned from the best. My father passed away when I was nine leaving my mother with four children between the ages of 9 through 4. We lived on Social Security and only on SS until my brother went to high school. We didn't have a lot growing up but I never remember doing without. The only way we were able to do this is because my mother is a strong person. She made those small checks stretch. She was able to send both my sister and I to an all girl Catholic high school. It was important to her that we became strong woman. I look at the tuition for this school now and I get nauseous. It's close to twelve thousand a year now, so I'm sure back in the day it was comparable. We got scholarships but it didn't cover everything. Don't know how she did it. All four of us were sent to college and were required to live at least one year on our own. We needed to know what it was like to be alone in life. I remember my sister cried and begged to come home every day that first year. My mother didn't allow it. Did it make her a stronger person? I think so.
I didn't accept what this new supervisor was trying to do. My husband is disabled and doesn't work. You are not going to try to take a week of pay away from me without me doing nothing about it. For the first time in fourteen years of working for my district. I called the union. Without being able to rely on that money, in case it didn't work in my favor, I had to cancel AAD. It broke my heart. My husband was looking forward to this trip very much. It just made my resolve with the district stronger. Needless to say, she couldn't take these days away from me. Although she is not allowing me to work with the other coacher because I'm only a "teacher" now. So she has more worthwhile work for me to do. We'll see what it is! As long as I'm not moving stock boxes I'm good. She doesn't realize I can shovel shit with a smile on my face as long as you're paying me my daily rate.
The summer job with Brown University also didn't happen this year. In this economy, not a lot of people have $75,000 to spend on getting a masters degree in education. This, I totally understood!
Despite it all, I have a new goal. Starting next Friday when I am totally done with work for the summer, I am going to try and write 5 thousand words a day. I have a deadline for the beginning of August for my current book and I need to make it. I refuse not to!
Sorry about my long rant but I feel you needed an explanation of my absence. But I'm back and fighting to go!!!
Peace out,
MRD
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Am I missing something?
All over facebook, people are posting, "Going for a mani/pedi", "a much needed mani/pedi". Ok, I have never had one in my life, and what would I have to do to post "going for a much needed mani/pedi"? Am I missing something. Is it a woman's right of passage to be going for these treatments at least once every two weeks? I don't know! I've made it forty-two years without getting one but is it me? Again, I don't know.
Should I start going? Are they really a big deal? I'm not thrilled about someone touching my feet. I'm extremely ticklish and barely allow my husband to touch them and we've been married for seventeen years. Now I'm expected to pay someone to touch them. Something about that doesn't jive with me. So basically, I've been polling people if they go for these services. The overwhelming answer is that I should go at least a few times per summer because my toes are exposed to the world in sandals. Are people really going to notice my toes? I can honestly tell you, I really don't notice someone's toes in shoes. I really don't!
Should I go and do it for my brother's wedding? The event is just over a month away. I can't tell specifics but OH HOW I WANT TO! The stories that are happening are classic!!! If I was every going to do it, I would do it for the wedding. Soon, I'm going to have to go dress shopping. My brother has asked me not to wear my usual black to his wedding, so I'm really going to have to stretch myself. The solace I feel right now is that my sister also hasn't gotten a dress yet. My SIL has and guess what color? LOL!!!
Peace out,
MRD
Should I start going? Are they really a big deal? I'm not thrilled about someone touching my feet. I'm extremely ticklish and barely allow my husband to touch them and we've been married for seventeen years. Now I'm expected to pay someone to touch them. Something about that doesn't jive with me. So basically, I've been polling people if they go for these services. The overwhelming answer is that I should go at least a few times per summer because my toes are exposed to the world in sandals. Are people really going to notice my toes? I can honestly tell you, I really don't notice someone's toes in shoes. I really don't!
Should I go and do it for my brother's wedding? The event is just over a month away. I can't tell specifics but OH HOW I WANT TO! The stories that are happening are classic!!! If I was every going to do it, I would do it for the wedding. Soon, I'm going to have to go dress shopping. My brother has asked me not to wear my usual black to his wedding, so I'm really going to have to stretch myself. The solace I feel right now is that my sister also hasn't gotten a dress yet. My SIL has and guess what color? LOL!!!
Peace out,
MRD
Monday, June 4, 2012
Where did the heat go?
I woke up this morning and it was COLD! Now that my body has acclimated itself to upper 60's when I get up, this morning at 50 degrees was jarring. I want the heat back. You will never hear me complain about being too hot. I love the heat but I seriously hate being cold. The weather this week doesn't look too promising through.
I am wicked happy with my writing this weekend. The muse is back in force but I am a super slow writer. What doesn't help matters is that I write out everything on legal paper before I type it on the computer. I know, I know, It would take a lot less time if I just typed it one time but when I sit at the computer to do that, I am automatically blocked and what I write is crap.
So because of the muse, I did nothing but write all weekend. There was no date night on Friday night, and no last meeting or RIRW. I made these decisions purposely because with my flighty muse, I have to write before she disappears again.
Congrats to Miss RI who became the first Rhode Islander to become Miss USA!!!
Peace out,
MRD
I am wicked happy with my writing this weekend. The muse is back in force but I am a super slow writer. What doesn't help matters is that I write out everything on legal paper before I type it on the computer. I know, I know, It would take a lot less time if I just typed it one time but when I sit at the computer to do that, I am automatically blocked and what I write is crap.
So because of the muse, I did nothing but write all weekend. There was no date night on Friday night, and no last meeting or RIRW. I made these decisions purposely because with my flighty muse, I have to write before she disappears again.
Congrats to Miss RI who became the first Rhode Islander to become Miss USA!!!
Peace out,
MRD
Friday, June 1, 2012
I vow
This weekend, I vow to get my writing life organized. Sometimes, it's extremely hard to keep up with all the blog hops, promos, loop chats... You get the picture. I honestly feel if I had some type of system for the organization of that part of my life, the writing part would get easier.
I used to be able to keep it all in my head. My head is failing me with some of these facts lately. Then I switch to putting everything in my phone. This was a big massive fail. You have to look at your calendar to know what you wrote in it. Of course, I could set an alarm for two days before an event but then I still wouldn't remember until the alarm went off. There's got to be a better system.
A few years ago, I became very friendly with an educational consultant who worked for my school district. It was an extreme good stroke of luck that she and her husband at the time bought a house in the next town, which I could run to, if I had any inclination to run (nope). They were from New York, so she would fill her house with people and we would have philosophical conversations about education and drink a lot of wine. For a brief moment in time, I felt like one of those people in a movie where the NY people meet in someone ultra classy apartment and had deep conversations about wine. What really impressed me about Ginny was her home office. It wasn't big. It wasn't classy, like the rest of her house. It had a very simple desk and many, many books but on one wall was nirvana. Her husband had converted one entire wall into a calendar. So she could see, very up close and visual, all the things that were due during the month. I coveted that wall. I think that's what I need. So this weekend, I'm going to ask the hubby to blow off the dust on the old tool belts, strap it on, and make me a wall calendar!
Ginny and her husband have since moved back to New York. There are so many things I miss about them. I especially miss the fact that I never took a picture of her wall calendar. Maybe, I'll ask her on facebook to send me a picture.
Maybe then my writing life can get organized! One can always hope...
Oh and by the way, in honor of Snow White and the Huntsman being released today, I proclaim tonight an official date night! I can't wait! There really is something about the guy who plays the Huntsman (Thor) that gets all my systems running on overdrive. He might actually be the first blond that I've been attracted to in my whole entire life!!
Peace out,
MRD
I used to be able to keep it all in my head. My head is failing me with some of these facts lately. Then I switch to putting everything in my phone. This was a big massive fail. You have to look at your calendar to know what you wrote in it. Of course, I could set an alarm for two days before an event but then I still wouldn't remember until the alarm went off. There's got to be a better system.
A few years ago, I became very friendly with an educational consultant who worked for my school district. It was an extreme good stroke of luck that she and her husband at the time bought a house in the next town, which I could run to, if I had any inclination to run (nope). They were from New York, so she would fill her house with people and we would have philosophical conversations about education and drink a lot of wine. For a brief moment in time, I felt like one of those people in a movie where the NY people meet in someone ultra classy apartment and had deep conversations about wine. What really impressed me about Ginny was her home office. It wasn't big. It wasn't classy, like the rest of her house. It had a very simple desk and many, many books but on one wall was nirvana. Her husband had converted one entire wall into a calendar. So she could see, very up close and visual, all the things that were due during the month. I coveted that wall. I think that's what I need. So this weekend, I'm going to ask the hubby to blow off the dust on the old tool belts, strap it on, and make me a wall calendar!
Ginny and her husband have since moved back to New York. There are so many things I miss about them. I especially miss the fact that I never took a picture of her wall calendar. Maybe, I'll ask her on facebook to send me a picture.
Maybe then my writing life can get organized! One can always hope...
Oh and by the way, in honor of Snow White and the Huntsman being released today, I proclaim tonight an official date night! I can't wait! There really is something about the guy who plays the Huntsman (Thor) that gets all my systems running on overdrive. He might actually be the first blond that I've been attracted to in my whole entire life!!
Peace out,
MRD
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