What I'm streaming August

*As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix StreamTeam. I am being compensated for sharing about Netflix with you, but all stories shared are true and all thoughts and opinions are my own!

When I was a kid, I watched the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit with a couple of cousins. We all LOVED the movie! In fact, that year for Christmas, I was given a Roger Rabbit ornament that I had until a few years ago, when it finally broke.

Needless to say, I was head over heels in love with that crazy rabbit.

Also, I kind of felt pretty brave in getting to the end of the movie. The ending can be a bit, well, scary. I mean, it's not that scary, but when you are 9 years old, it feels a bit, scary. But I managed to make it to the end and not only survive watching it, but liking it.

So, you can imagine how happy I was when the husband came home from work last week and told me that he learned Netflix was now streaming the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And I was even more thrilled when he said we should sit down as a family Saturday night and watch it.


Saturday, we picked the two youngest kids up from camp. A pretty awesome camp - Camp Kesem - a not-for-profit camp for kids who have a parent who had/has cancer. It is a great week for the kids to get away and just have fun and yet, a safe space to share how cancer has impacted them. This is our second year sending the kids to camp. And since it was our second year, we knew they would come home totally hyped up as they told us every. single. thing. that happened at camp and they would eventually crash out of pure exhaustion. So Saturday night was the PERFECT night to watch a movie in our house.

We all gathered around the tv, turned on netflix and started streaming the movie. Everyone was hooked. Even the 14 year old watched most of the movie with us, which felt really nice. We laughed, we gasped, we followed along with the story. I, having not seen the movie in a really long time, forgot just how, um, curvy Jessica was drawn. I never, as a kid, understood the scene where she plays pat-a-cake (neither did 2/3rds of my kids!). And despite watching it with adult eyes, I loved every minute. Even the part where my 8 year old (who isn't much younger than I was when I watched it the first time) leaned over, squeezed my hand, and whispered "This movie is really good, but a little bit scary," and I squeezed his hand back because I knew exactly what he meant.

It was a wonderful Saturday night, and a perfect wrap up to the kids week away. For me, it was a good way to have them close to me for a few hours after missing them so much all week too! I love sharing with the kids the shows and movies I watched, the books I read, the games I played as a kid. They don't always like what I liked at their age, but Roger Rabbit definitely hit the mark for all of us!

Writing Tour Update

First, forgive me, as I'm a bit late to share this with you!

When I participated in the Blog Tour a few weeks ago, I tagged two fellow bloggers that I love: Angie and Carol Anne. I told you when they answered the questions, that I would share with you!

So here I am, finally remembering to do so!

Carol Anne wrote about it here.
Angie wrote about it here.

I hope you'll take a few minutes to go learn some things about them. I loved reading their posts and learning more about how they write and create.

On another note, I now have in my possession, things that both these amazing ladies created. When I was in chemo, Angie sent me this lovely piece of embroidery. I can't tell you how much it cheered me up and just made me feel so good inside. I was lucky that a lot of people wrapped their arms around me and often sent little notes, cards, books, scarves, gifts to me. And this is one of the lovely items I received. Before we moved, it was in our living room, so I could see it every day! We haven't found a home for it in the new house, but I'm working on it. I snagged a wall and talked to the husband about filling it with all sorts of lovely things that inspire me (as I can see it from my sewing/craft area).

Another thing that will be going on that wall is this lovely cardinal photograph. Carol Anne took this picture and sent me a copy. As I said before, I love her photography and I'm SO excited that I will have one of her gorgeous photographs hanging on my wall. As a bonus, cardinals are extra special to me, so I couldn't ask for a better photograph to put on my wall. It just arrived at the end of last week, so I need to get it framed so I can get it hung!

This connection that I have to both of these woman, who I've never met in person, is real and is deep and I'm so grateful for it. This is the beauty of blogging, of being on twitter, of social media for me - it's the connections I've made with other people. They are priceless. Sometimes things are so different, and yet, there is always something there to connect us. Sometimes there are a lot of things there to connect us and we can joke that we must have been separated at birth! Sometimes I like to joke that my computer is really important to me because all my friends live in it, and while they all don't, a good number of them do. I've got some pretty amazing people in my life because of the internet!

A wee bit of crocheting

While knitting will always be number one in my heart, I do sometimes like to take a break and get some crocheting done. I especially like to do some crochet for baby blankets, and so I whipped this lovely blanket up a few months ago.

This blanket was especially important for me to make. I can't say why here, but I can say this: all the stars aligned and the making of this blanket was perfect. And will always feel a bit special to me.

Even though this blanket is going to a little girl, I wanted to make it gender neutral, in case that little girl gets some siblings someday and mom will want to wrap the next baby up. Also, I looked at the gift registry and saw the bedding they picked had a lot of brown in it. It was both, but the first reason sounds so much more romantic, right?

Anyway, this blanket whipped up pretty quickly. I added one more repeat of the pattern so it would be a bit bigger. (I do that a lot because I want these blanket to last for longer than the newborn phase). It was an easy pattern to follow and nice to make. I did misread the pattern at first so I had to restart it once, but thankfully I figured it out pretty quickly!

I love this blanket. Here are the details:

• Pattern name: Peter (you need a ravelry account to view it. Which, if you knit or crochet you should have. And it's free, so win-win!). 
• Yarn used: Caron simply soft ... I think 4, I didn't pay attention
• Hook: H
• Modifications: added one more repeat of the pattern to the width of the blanket

Overall, I'm really pleased with how this blanket turned out! 

And They're Off

The entrance

A few weeks ago, the kids and I were invited to Arlington Park.

Having lived in the Chicago suburbs for essentially my whole life, I always knew Arlington existed, but I had never been! The kids had been with my husband before, but I had never been. So when invited, I decided we would go. Which, turns out, was a fabulous decision!

Mister Man watching a race

First a little history. We have family ties to the racetrack. My husband's great grandfather was the head electrician there for over 20 years. His grandmother has stories about being there as a child. She also worked there as a young adult. We have tables in our shed that came from the racetrack. They were given to my husband's grandfather, after as a firefighter he helped fight a fire there.

Hanging out at the table

All of this to say, that there are some strong family ties to the track. And while the family talks about the track on a fairly regular basis, I had yet to actually go there. So it was kind of exciting to be going there for the first time! 

Pre-race Parade

Fridays, the admission price is discounted, and you are allowed to bring your own food in. We did bet a little, but of course, that isn't required. I could have spent 5 hours there, with the two kids, for $12 whole dollars (assuming I brought my own food and didn't place a bet). Definitely, a fun time in my price range!

We found a great little table to hang out at between races. It was close to where they do the pre-race parade. Which was nice because we'd walk over, see the horses, place our bets (a whole 2 dollars on each race. I'm telling you, I'm a big spender!), then go walk by the finish line to see the race. For one race, we went up to the grandstands to see the race. Mister Man liked being up there the best, but the rest of us preferred to be down by the finish.

The horses are gorgeous! If I say they are positively majestic, will that sound too cliche? Well, even if it does, they were majestic. Miss M was also very thrilled to see quite a few female jockeys. Okay, okay, me too!

The start of the race is fun to watch. As they get all the hoses into the gates. Once that last horse is in though, bam, that race starts without hardly a pause! The first few races started at a point very close to were we could stand. The rest started at other spots (because the races are different lengths and some are on the dirt and some on the turf).

But let's be honest. The real excitement is at the end. You can get pretty close to the finish line too. For almost every race, we were down there as close to front and center as you can get. I should specify here, this is for the races on the dirt. The races on the turf were on the inside track, and we didn't have the ability to cross the dirt track to get there!

View from the grandstand

Some of the races were REALLY close. Some weren't. In one race, one horse was disqualified (or something. I'm not going to lie, I didn't really hear what happened) other than at the end of the race 3 horses were first, second, third and 5 minutes later, a different horse was third place.

There were lots of people in derby hats. Some people dressed up. We went in very casually dressed. Which was fine too. I wanted to get a derby hat - some of them are so pretty - but couldn't find one I liked and could afford. I did try a bunch on though and that was fun!

All in all, we had a great afternoon at the racetrack. I'm anxious to get out there again at least once more this racing season (maybe twice if it's in the cards!)

As a side note, while we were at the track, I shot all my photographs in manual. I still don't have down 100%, but I am pretty proud of how a few of my pictures turned out!  

I'm just a person

Here's the thing: I'm just a person.

Just like you. I have good days and bad days. Days in which I think I rock and days in which I wish I could crawl into a hole for a while. I try to be nice. Sometimes I fail. Some days I'm ready to face the world head on, and others I'd like to just lay in bed, reading a good book. Some times my smile just can't get any bigger, and sometimes I'm crying so hard that I'm on the verge of hyper-ventilating. Sometimes I'm so happy. Other times I feel the weight of sadness on my shoulders so deep I'm afraid it's going to push me into the earth and I'll never be able to climb out. I have good days. I have bad days. I mostly have somewhere in the middle days. Moments I doubt everything I've ever done as a parent and other moments I have confirmation that I must have done something right. Sometimes I'm healthy. And sometimes I'm not.

I'm just a person.

And yet, some times I feel like I'm supposed to be this warrior, this hero, someone you can look up to. I'm supposed to stay positive. I'm supposed to tell you that cancer was a gift. Somehow, after going through cancer, I'm supposed to come out stronger and bigger and brighter and more amazing than I ever was before cancer.

This is the cancer narrative I face almost daily. Did you cry as you were being wheeled in for your mastectomy? Oh, you should have danced! It would have gone viral on you-tube and facebook! And everyone would just be so amazed at your positive, up-beat attitude. (Never mind the fact that I couldn't have danced once I was wheeled into the OR if I wanted to because of how things were set up). {side note: I'm not saying dancing is wrong. If it makes you happy, than it is right. But someone not dancing, while not as video-worthy, is no less right or better}.

Recently, Amy Robach (whom I wish nothing but good things for and am not trying to single out per say, she just provides the most recent example of what I'm talking about) gave an interview. She says

There are nearly 2 million breast cancer survivors in this country, and we are thriving, excelling, living. Yes, it is a hellish journey through surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and drug therapy. But you will emerge a better person. I promise. You are stronger than you think, and you will find your inner warrior. Your family and friends will marvel at your strength, and they will weep with you on those days when you just don't want to get out of bed. It gets easier, and after this, there's nothing you can't do! (emphasis mine)

 Hear that breast cancer survivors: there is NOTHING, not a single damn thing, you can't do.

Well, except I can't lift over 5 pounds (which I mostly follow). I can't be outside for long in heat and humidity. I can't manage to stay healthy for very long. If the humidity is bad, I can't walk very well because my joints get inflamed and angry and don't want to move. I can't wear underwire bras anymore. Sometimes if I lay the wrong way, the pressure of the implants makes it hard for me to breathe. I can't feel touch on my chest (pressure, yes, but a light touch, you could do it and I'd never know unless I looked down and watched).

Oh, I know, I know what you are thinking ... Brandie, what she said, it's metaphorical, it's not literal. Stop being so darn literal!

Well guess what, there's a lot of things I can't do, metaphorically either. Sometimes I can't relax. I panic, positive the cancer must be back. Sometimes I can't shake the depression that I have. I just can't. I want to be happy. And carefree. But I can't. No matter how I try.

Here's the thing, when I had surgery, and chemotherapy, and radiation, and more surgery, and implants put in, it wasn't like I was Peter Parker getting bit by a radioactive spider - despite having undergone radiation therapy. No where during any of my treatment or therapies was I given a superhero cape "And now, Brandie, we your doctors, doth bestow on you, this cape. This cape will make you fearless and stronger. You will emerge better than you ever were before cancer. Wear it wisely though, for with great power comes great responsibility. You must always smile. You must now be ten times more interesting than you were before. After all, this is a mighty gift, bestowed upon the chosen few who have cells that grow in the wrong way. You are blessed among woman and will now live your life on a pedestal, where you must proclaim that all other blessed woman are blessed like you!"

Oh wait. That only happens in movies, in tv shows, and during interviews where people like to sugar coat cancer, especially breast cancer. As if it is this wonderful gift wrapped ever so carefully in a big pink bow and, hey, some days will be hard, but pshaw, most won't be and YOU'RE SO STRONG NOW IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER!

Look, it would be great if this were true. But I am not the same person I was before cancer. Some things are better, some are worse, and some are just different. I am grateful to be alive, but I am still incredibly angry at what I had to endure, what my family had to endure. I've got a lot of anger that I'm still dealing with lingering side effects, that may continue to linger, forever. I'm sad when these side effects cause me to have to not do something.

There were days when I was able to dig deeper and find strength I never thought I had, but mostly, I just got through it a minute at a time. Sometimes, a second at a time. I put one foot in front of the other, they way we all do when we are walking through something that is taxing, hard, or difficult. We aren't consciously being strong, or brave - no, we are just doing the best we can with what we have. And sometimes that means staying in bed all day. 

Not to mention, none of this considers the women who are living with stage iv breast cancer. Or women who are in constant pain because of all the surgeries and treatment. Or the women who lose friends, family, and other people they thought they could count on because the cancer scared them away, or changed everything. Or the women who lost jobs because they just couldn't be well enough to get to work. The women who lose their children in custody battles, because they are not considered healthy enough by the courts to be a parent anymore. What about all the friends I had to say good-bye to because their breast cancer took their lives? What about them? What about the women who are struggling with depression, anxiety, PTSD, who have heart problems, lymphedema, get secondary cancers from treatment.

What about them?

40,000 woman die each year in this country from breast cancer. 400 men die each year.

Their voices deserve to be heard. Their lives deserved to be talked about, shared, looked at. They may not get the happily-ever after ending that will land them on commercials for some places that treat cancer. Their stories are not pretty. They are not always strong. There are plenty of things they can't do.

Is it sometimes hard to hear about it? Yep. Imagine what is to live with it. To feel your story isn't being shared because it isn't deemed good enough, happy enough, perfect enough.

I have tried to not be shy about sharing the darker moments, the harder moments, the struggles. And I have been surrounded by some great people who give me the space and the time to do this. Occasionally, and never from someone who I'm that close too, will try to put me in my place. Occasionally I'll meet someone who tries to tell me that not-so-great parts don't matter because I should just be happy I'm alive. Someone, practically a stranger, once asked, straight faced, "Is breast cancer that bad, or are you just playing it up for sympathy?"

Yeah. Just let that sink in for a minute. For real. Can you imagine asking anyone with almost any other illness that question?

But are you really surprised someone could think that? No, I mean, really? Because, if all we hear is the pretty, pink, wonderful, cancer-changed-my-life message, guess what we are left thinking: well it can't be that bad.

Well it can be. Let's start talking about it all of it - the good, the bad, the in the middle.

Because women who have breast cancer, are just that: women. We are not superheroes. We don't get capes with our cancer. We get through the day one moment at a time. Side effects linger. Some days are better than others. Some days are worse than others. We are happy to be here, still alive. But we are also dealing with everything that comes along on this ride. We are mourning the loss of a part of our body.  We are happy. We are sad. We are angry. We wonder why us. We wonder, why not us? What makes us so special that we got this disease? And what makes us so special that we think we shouldn't have gotten this disease.

We are, after all, just people. And that's how we want to be treated. As people. 

Or I should say, I am after all, just a person. And that's how I want to be treated. As a person. Not a survivor who is now capable of doing all things. I'm just a person.

State Fair Adventures

us at 3ish am

Last Saturday, at 3 am, Miss M and I woke up and drove down to our state fair.

Yes, this was crazy. No, I don't regret it. Yes, I would do it again.

You see, Miss M is in 4H and a few weeks ago we had our county fair. She did pretty fabulously in the county fair this year and was chosen to be one of the delegates our county sent down to state fair.

Miss M with her shirt!

We thought we would head down Friday, but alas, all the hotels were booked (or had a two night minimum) and so I thought maybe we wouldn't get to go. But, she worked so hard, and this was quite an honor, so we talked over some ideas and figured out how to make it work.

So at 3am, we woke up. We had packed the car the night before, and since there isn't much else to do that early in the morning, we got on the road to head to Springfield, IL.

It's pretty quiet on the roads at that time. And so we ended up talking while driving, which was nice! I told her "take advantage of this! It's just you and I and that doesn't happen very often!"

Hello Pres. Lincoln!

We arrived at the fairgrounds a bit after 7. I attempted to nap (wait, is it called a nap if it happens that early? lol!), and we headed out.

She had to be at the 4H building around 9, and we ended up getting their early (which was great since there was a line). Since we were one of the first ones there, we checked in early, she got judged early and we had the rest of the morning to walk around.

her sewing

She showed in the Clothing & Textiles division - and did level 1 (the first level). I'm going to have a total mom moment here: I am SO proud of her! She sewed her shirt and worked really hard on it. For the side edges, she even did a french seam to make it look nicer. I was there to talk to her, to guide her (with words only) if she needed me. I stayed close as she ironed and sewed (just in case), but that girl did such a good job. Her shirt looks great! I don't think I could have done that 11. Um, actually, I didn't figure out how to do that until I was out of school!

Learning to use a drop spindle

After lunch, we were able to pick her project up, get the judges comments and see if she placed. She didn't, but it was a great experience and it's an honor just to be there (which I know sounds like a cliche thing to say, but I mean it!)

After that we walked around the fair some more. We spent some time with some other families from our club (who were also there to show a project!). And we had a lovely day.

moo!

About 3pm, we both looked at each other and declared that our feet hurt! That it was time to get going, though she wanted to do one more thing: milk a cow. So we did and we got back on the road.

She slept most of the way home, which didn't surprise me in the least bit. I was a bit jealous of her while she was sleeping! Though, we did have a plan to stop if I needed to catch a catnap. And if I felt I needed a lot of sleep, we planned to just stop at a hotel. Neither was necessary, but I think if we had stayed at the fair much longer it might have been.

We rolled up back at our house a bit after 7. Both tired, but both glad we went, and both wanting to go back next year!

Beyond this, I will say, 4H has been a great and wonderful thing for her. It was kind of dumb luck that we decided to join 3 years ago, but I'm so happy we did. She's learned so much, and had a lot of fun doing it. She's been able to show projects at the county fair, and now the state fair. She's learned some really good skills, created things she is proud of, made some friends, and has done some service projects.

I love 4H. She loves 4H and we are both eager to start the next club year!
 

Why I Can't be Organized

I am not a very organized person.

I forget things. Often. I lose things. Often.

I frequently do things last minute.

It's not on purpose. I swear. And I don't enjoy those moments of panic, where I'm frantically trying to find something or finish something or when I have to say "hey, I can't finish this on time!"

So last week, I decided I was going to get organized.

I pulled out a notebook, a pen, got myself an app (pen/paper and apps can be used together).

I sat down and wrote all the things I needed to do on a regular basis. I wrote down all the things I wanted to do on a regular basis. {yes, things I wanted to do - like time to read or knit or other things. because I love myself enough to know that I need some time to just be on a regular basis, and if putting it on the to do list is how I get it, then so be it}. I wrote down some long term projects that I had going on. Things that would need a lot of little sessions to finish. I wrote down all the occasional must do's (i.e. cleaning that only needed to happen once a month). And then I made a list of all the one-time things I had looming on my list of things to do.

Basically I made a lot of lists! Several pages of several columns of lists

I looked this over and thought about the average week and tried to figure out the best day to do certain tasks. Weekly tasks were added first. Long term projects added to the days weekly tasks weren't taking up every spot. Occasional tasks added to the most empty day of the week. And then I figured every day I would try to knock off 1-3 things from the one-time to-do list.

Are you following all of this? It sounds complicated. It wasn't. I just had to spread tasks around over 7 days.

Then I pulled the app out. I'm using any.do right now and I'm happy with it so far. But I added a folder for each day of the week, and then I put my tasks in under each day.

I looked it all over and added in a few more things where I could. I started a folder for my one daughter who struggles to organize like me because with any.do you can share lists with people. Win-win. I can share a list and not have to nag. (okay, we're still working on this, but I see a bit of progress).

And let me tell you, I was feeling all puffed up and proud of myself. I was crossing things off the list. I was all "yeah. I rock."

For about 36 hours.

Then. Then I left the house to run errands on my list. So I could cross them off.

Except I did something not on my list. I lost my cell phone. And I panicked. I panicked like I've never panicked before. I walked around the store I was in when I lost it for 90 minutes.

Then I gave up. Admitted it was gone. Moved on. Without my to-do list. Without my phone. Feeling like I was Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I came home, defeated, but ready to keep moving. I'd just consult the paper version.

That's about the time I stepped on a nail in the garage. Oh yeah. That was fun. And by fun I mean a lot of pain.

Then I got a migraine. Or probably a bad stress headache.

And boom. Just like that. Organization gone. Out the window. Forgotten about.

Okay, not entirely. I'm trying to keep up with it. I've got my replacement phone, I've got my notebook and pen. But life is rarely like an average week. So I'm trying to do the best I can. And forgive myself when things are left not crossed off at the end of the day.

A bit o' knitting

Pine Forest Baby Blanket

These days, it seems like all I knit are baby blankets and shawls. Mostly because I have been pretty much knitting blankets and shawls.

Thankfully, I love knitting these two things. And since it seems like everyone I know is having baby this year, there are lots of blankets that need to be made.

One blanket I knit was for a little girl who will be arriving in October. This precious baby will be her parent's first baby, which is a pretty special time for everyone. Every baby is special - I know, and I don't mean to imply something else - but a first baby is different because there's so much you just don't know yet!

Close-up of the stitches

Anyway, I decided to make the Pine Forest Baby Blanket (side note: you must be a member of ravelry to see this. And if you knit or crochet, I highly recommend you join, especially since it's free. And no, no one is paying me or comping me or anything to me to say this!)

I knit it up in Caron Simply Soft. I use this yarn often, which some of you have picked up on. It's soft, it's pretty, I've found it holds up well, and most importantly to me to give to parents-to-be, it's machine washable. Because who has time to hand wash and air dry a baby blanket with a sweet new baby in the house? Well, I certainly didn't.

I also knit it with a size 9 needle (one up from what the pattern recommends) and I added extra stitches to make it longer. I cast on 144 stitches and was really happy with it. I don't know how many rows I did, I just went until the yarn almost ran out (4 skeins) and when it looked big enough, but not too big.

I'm happy with how it turned out, though I'm not sure my pictures do the blanket justice.

My son holding it up for me!

The fun thing about this blanket is that I knit it EVERYWHERE. Mostly because the shower was coming up and I was running out of time. But this blanket was worked on at the pool, at the library, at softball games (both professional and when my daughters played), at lacrosse practice, in the car (not while I was driving, in case you think I'm that crazy!)

I'd like to think that as that blanket traveled around with me, that someday the baby who uses it will get to travel often, but yet not too far from home. That she might get to do a lot of fun things, have great times, and create some memories with her family and friends! I don't know if it's silly to think this way, but it is how I think and it makes me smile. Well, knitting in general makes me happy, so thinking good thoughts is just a bonus!

A blog tour

Today I'm doing something a tiny bit different.

A few weeks ago, AnneMarie (of Chemobrain Fog) reached out to me to see if I'd be interested in writing about how I write.

Well, initially I was hesitant. I didn't really think I had much to say about my writing, but it was AnneMarie asking and I knew there had to be more to the story. So, I replied "um, I would"

You see, when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, AnneMarie was one of the first people who reached out to me. She reached out on twitter, where she figuratively held my hand, listened as I vented, worked out the what if's, and became a shoulder to cry on. I can not even adequately put into words just how much she was there for me.

So, when AnneMarie asked, I said yes. Because I knew she would have done the same for me.

So. Here I am today. Participating in this blog tour. Or chain. Call it what you will, but I agree with AnneMarie that chain doesn't feel like the right fit, so a tour I shall call it. On this tour, each blogger answers the same four questions and then passes the torch (metaphorically) to a couple of other bloggers, with the hopes that my readers will go read some new blogs and maybe make a few new friends!

And now, on with the Q&A session:

What am I working on now?

So, um, yeah. Aside from this blog not much. Sometimes I sit down and wonder "do I have a book in me?" Someone once asked me this question and I didn't know how to answer then. I still don't know. Some days I think I absolutely have a book in me. Most days I think, um, maybe a small pamphlet. And the rest of the days I think not at all.

Someday I hope to actually figure it out. Until then, I will continue to write on this blog as life and time allows. If some more writing opportunities come up, and they feel like a good fit, I would consider jumping on them.

How does my writing differ from others of its genre?

My writing is different, I believe, because this isn't a niche blog. I write about pretty much anything and everything. This blog started as way to document the things I had made ... so often the items I hand make are given as gifts, but I wanted to have some record of them. When I started this blog (which was not my first or second one) I didn't even think of myself as a writer at all. I imagined it would be a lot of pictures with a little writing. But I quickly began writing more - more descriptions about the pictures, then I started to post when I didn't have pictures. It still took my a long time to think of myself as a writer. In fact, it was just this calendar year that I said for the first time, when asked what I do, that I write. And what do I write about? Well, everything!

I don't consider my writing scholarly, or researched. It is more of what I think blogging was born out of: web log. Yes, the word blog comes from web log, a log of things on line, that was shortened to blog. This is my log, of how I'm feeling on any given day, of what I'm making on any given day, what I've cooked, what I've read, what I'm watching on tv, where we've been, where I want to go, etc, etc.


More on the side of diary, without being a here's-my-deepest-darkest-secret-diary, but just what's going on at that moment.

Why do I write what I do?

Um, mostly, I write what I write because I can. Does that make sense?

It's kind of however the spirit moves me when I sit down. When AnneMarie first asked me to write about my writing process, I told her I would (as I said above) but added "But my writing process isn't so much a process as throwing up words."

It's what I consider a pretty accurate description of what I do. There are all these thoughts bouncing around in my head, and I come here to get them out. As a said about, this is my log. Some days it's wordy and moving. Some days it's "I ate today. The end."

How does my writing process work?

Can I say, see above, because if so, guys, see the above answer.

In that vein, and because this is not academic work, I do not usually proofread my work. Most days I forget to spell check it.

It's probably something that drives people reading this crazy. Occasionally, someone will point out when I've made a typo that makes it hard to understand what I'm trying to say. I am immensely grateful for this! I know I should proofread, but on the same vein of thinking of this a a log, a dairy, etc, I wouldn't spell check my diary, so I don't think to do it here.

That said, and kind of a side note, I LOVE (and I mean REALLY love) to proofread other people's work. I'm really good at it. I used to love that part of writing for academic purposes. Actually, I loved all the parts of writing a research paper. I've often said that I could handle doing research for other people. Especially if I got to use note cards. A lot of them. Arranged just perfectly. But, I digress ...

I'm okay with being really relaxed on here. It's me. This is my space. My home so to speak. And while you are here, you should feel free to take your shoes off, kick your feet off, and relax with me!


And with that, the Q&A session is over.

Now, I get to introduce you to some bloggers you might not have read before. This was hard because I know a LOT of bloggers. How do I just pick a couple? I'd highlight them all, but, I'm guessing you don't have a million hours to spend reading this!

First I'd like to introduce you to Carol Anne. Carol Anne and I first met on twitter. Then I read her blog. Then we became friends on facebook. We've never met in person. I've never been able to give her hug - though I hope someday I can. Carol Anne is an amazing friend ... always there, always kind, always so caring. She's given me a lots of awesome advice and been a great person to vent to.

Carol Anne also is a phenomenal photographer. I LOVE looking at her pictures. (Go, and look at this awesome frozen bubble picture she took) And she has such a wonderful way of writing. You should go and check her out!

The second person I'd like you to meet is Angie. Angie and I also became friends over twitter. {side note: I do have friends outside of twitter, but I'm so grateful for twitter's ability to connect me with so many wonderful people}. Angie writes so beautifully. She writes openly and honestly about life - the struggles and the moments that just make you smile. She shares poetry and photographs. And, as cheesy as it is to say it, she shares a piece of her heart.

And of course, don't forget AnneMarie, who I mentioned up above and tapped me to be a part of this whole thing. She did this tour last week, and you can find her responses here. Carol Anne and Angie will play along next week, and if I can remember, I'll link you to them!