How to spot a mermaid

*artwork likely to follow this weekend*

 How to spot a mermaid — the signs to look for

They drink a lot of water. They are rarely ever seen without a glass of water.

They have very dry skin and can require much more moisturizing than regular landfolk 

They are complete romantics. They cry easily at romantic movies, books, etc.

They love animals, and animals are often drawn to them. 

They are creative and passionate by nature. 

No matter the temperature, if they are near a body of water, they have to at least put their feet in 

They can often be found singing 

Mermaids adore jewelry, they love beautiful things and showing them off

They can be very generous and are often protective of their loved ones 

They are dreamers and can appear quiet and distant sometimes, but they are just dreaming

Mermaids are active. They love to dance. They love to play. They love to spin and twirl

Do you have any mermaids in your life? Are YOU a mermaid? 

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You’ve been THUNDERSTRUCK

or…..bring on the cheese, baybee!!

We are working to rebuild our credit. So, in order to do that, we had to apply for (and use) credit cards. This is a big change from how we’ve done everything for the past three years — no credit cards, only a debit card, we only buy what we can afford at the time.

But that doesn’t help us build our credit.

Enter a new BestBuy card.

We went on a mini shopping spree tonight (and it felt…irresponsible, but we know why we have to) and got some new movies and I got some new music.

Live AC/DC! Pat Benatar!  Sixteen Candles! Beauty and the Beast (the tv show with Linda Hamilton). And a three-disc 80s collection, that I was so excited for, only to realize it is all cover, so that is going back.

I LOVE AC/DC. I love Pat Benatar. And no girl of the 80s should live without Sixteen Candles in her movie collection.

You’ve been thunderstuck.

Awww yeah. Guess what I’m listening to tomorrow on the drive into work? If you see a redhead furiously head banging in her car tomorrow, and air drumming, it just might be me!

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Other flying mermaids…

Some other flying mermaids around:

The Flying Mermaid shop

This really cool image by Greg Bridges that I  love

Flying Mermaids writing retreats (neat!)

This flying mermaid print, with my favorite story of a flying mermaid. “I won’t trade my voice for legs.” Lovely and inspiring.

Google is so much fun!

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Just sit

On Monday, my neck started to feel twingey, and I couldn’t turn my head very far. I didn’t go to the gym, but other than that, I didn’t do anything to help my neck.

By yesterday, it was worse. Bad enough that I asked T to drive me to work, because I couldn’t turn my head enough to feel safe driving. I felt completely exhausted, but still insisted I could go to work, even though T tried to convince me otherwise.

The drive to work made everything so much worse, I had to go in and tell my boss I had to go home, I could barely move my head and neck.

I came home and slept, all day. From 9-2 and then again from 5-7:30. And I feel so much better because of it.

And the thing is…I had been wanting and needing a day off from work. Work hasn’t been stressful, but I just really wanted a day to sleep and do nothing. My body listened and insisted on it. If I had tried to work, I am quite convinced I would be feeling worse today.

Do you listen to your body? Do you listen when your body tells you to slow down, or do you try and  ignore it, and push through anyway? There is great healing in just sitting, in doing nothing.  I’m glad I listened.

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Back to school

Around here, most kids, big and little, are heading back to school. So in honor of that, here are some of my school photos.

These are from my birthday scrapbook that my parents made for me. It’s great having these old photos again.

I was always a school nerd. I loved school. I loved buying school supplies. I couldn’t wait to go back to school each year. I was always ready to give an answer to a question. I was friends with my teachers. I hated getting getting bad grades, and for me, a bad grade was lower than A-. Bs were ok….anything else was unacceptable. I hated missing school, even if I was sick. And I certainly wouldn’t cut school, or not do my homework.

I loved English, was interested in science, hated math. I always had to study much harder in math for it to make sense.

I was also a drama geek, and was definitely NOT a popular kid. I was picked on. I didn’t have really good friends. I never felt like I really fit in. In junior high school and high school, I had very short hair, and would often wear crazy, loud mismatched earrings and weird different clothes. I never went to prom, never had a boyfriend, or even a date. I was picked last in gym class.

But I survived.

For everyone going back to school, or those with kidlets going back to school, I hope it’s a good experience. And if it isn’t, just know that you, too, will somehow get through it.

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Craft fair love

I went to the Cary Lazy Daze craft festival yesterday, boiling in the North Carolina heat and sun, but loving all the different vendors we saw. The whole downtown was closed off, with tents all up and down several main streets.

Jewelry, photography, paintings, pottery, everything you could think of.

I walked away with the littlest vase ever, really, it’s no taller than my thumb. I love small things. A gorgeous metal painting of a naked red head (no face) dancing with a scarf. Around her, the words: Celebrate life. Smile often. Read. Travel. Love yourself. Be a student. Grow. Give. Give in. See a sunrise. Breathe. Laugh. Exercise. Slow down. Be happy. Hug a lot. Make each day better than the day before. Needless to say, I completely love her (it is close to bedtime for me now, and it is not well lit in my front room where I am sitting and she is hanging, but I will try to take a pic of her tomorrow). I also picked up some Asian art of different flowers, done in dramatic black, and a little fused glass pendant.

I fell 100% in love with a mermaid. She was a huge stained glass piece, the most elegant, dramatic, stunning mermaid, riding a wave. I couldn’t stop staring at her. But she was $2,800 — more than a little out of my budget. And the artist didn’t even have a website so I can’t share her here. But yes it is possible to lose your heart to stained glass.

One of the most unique photo vendors: Big World Photo  Check out her gallery for a very different perspective!

Some other artists I liked:

LORiOLA for Isabel’s Rose  — She has some very neat beads that she makes.

Photos by Barry — He had some lovely photos that reminded me of Ireland.

Craig Brabson — I really liked his doos that he photographed, and the way he showed the beauty in things rusting. Click on gallery, then click on Doors or Image Gallery to see some of his work.

Delicate Treasures — for more jewelry goodness

There were so many others that I liked, but I either didn’t get cards for them, or they don’t have Websites.

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Hooray books

It is entirely possible, even likely, that I like the act of buying books, almost as much as I like reading them.

I used to be really anal about my books. I would read them in such a way that the binding wouldn’t crease, and I HATED the white lines that made a book look worn. To do this I would read the book with it barely open, and I would certainly never leave it page down to hold my place.

But like all things, that changed. My love of books has never changed, or at least never faded, T will probably insist my love of books continues to get worse (as he had to move many boxes of my books in the four years we have been together). Now my books have a more lived-in feel. But lived-in or still looking like new, books are my friends. I have many books that I can read over and over, and still cry and laugh and still feel suspense. When I was little, I read Charlotte’s Web so many times, the pages started to fall out.

But as much as I love the books I already have, I adore buying new books. I love having stacks of them. I am a fickle book buyer. Yes, I will go back to authors that I like, or topics I am interested in, but I am drawn in by covers. They have to feel right — I prefer matte to glossy. I am drawn by cover art. I love displays. If I don’t like a cover, I most likely won’t pick up a book, unless I am specifically looking for it. If it passes the cover test, then and only then do I read the back, then the reviews, then the author bio, and if it has passed all of those, I will start reading the book where I am standing. This is why I can spend two hours in a book store and not leave one row or section, and could very possibly have only really looked at maybe 10-15 books.

Last night was slightly different, because I was looking for a specific book, Twilight. It failed my cover test (although it passed in reviews, author bio, and back story). But I have heard so many people raving about it, that I wanted to check it out. I am not normally a vampire girl (although I am very much a teen fiction girl. I love young adult books).

But I am so glad I bought it! I started it last night, and even though I am only a few chapters in, I already love it and am completely drawn in. I have already started dreaming about it and couldn’t wait to pick it up again this morning.

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Dear Diary

Some journal doodles and drawings. I have a whole stack of watercolor markers, which have a small marker tip on one end, and the other end acts more like a brush. Also with my journal supplies are gel pens in different colors, and some good black pens. Sometimes you just need color.

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Some really old poetry

 

 

 

From a journal in college — nothing like college angst and English lit to inspire “poetry”

Blue on black on indigo blue

one into the next into the next

patterns I see, patterns in my soul

ghost tree limbs reaching, tearing, cutting my night

the bony arms dancing in the night are calling me.

Do you remember us?

Do you feel our power, do you feel us reaching for you?

Do I answer, heed their call, break free and run wild?

Can they take me away up higher and higher

higher until what is real can’t affect me?

Where will their night rhythms move me —

someplace of shadows ongoing

no lines between shades of grey and defined blackness

a world of no boundaries or limits

I close my eyes, imagining, dreaming, falling

I reach cautiously, going to touch them

But no, they fade away

running off to tap on another’s consciousness

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More from Creative Writing Prompts

Why would a teacher contemplate a change in career?

“Bye! Have a great summer. Remember what I taught you this year!”

Karen stood in the doorway, waving until all the students were safely out of sight, smiling and sending them off to their summer adventures.

When her last student had left, she deflated. It was as though the effort of smiling and so many good wishes drained her of everything she had left. She sank to the ground and just hung her head.

“Remember what I taught you this year. Right. What a joke,” Karen muttered to herself.

She had just finished her first year of teaching and she felt like a colossal failure. She remembered the excitement she felt before the first day of school, the first day in HER classroom. Karen had spent 20 minutes just writing and erasing her name on the chalkboard, until it looked just warm and inviting and creative enough.

She had been so certain that she could not only teach her students about the basics they needed to know, but that she could really reach them. How could she not inspire them to be creative and to open their minds when she was so excited about teaching?

Karen felt like crying from disappointment, frustration and heartbreak. She had dreamed for so long of becoming a teacher. The teachers in her life had made such an impact on her. Her third-grade teacher with red hair halfway down her back who encouraged Karen’s love of books. Her senior year English teacher who made her want to write. The junior year English teacher who was so hard to please, it made her try even harder.

But here it was, the end of her first school year, and Karen felt that she barely even managed to teach her students the basics she was supposed to teach, let alone providing any inspiration.

…….

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