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Kettlebell Day
I’m a creature of habit to the nth degree. For example, every single day of my life, I eat the same thing for breakfast. Every. Single. Day. For dinner, I shake things up a bit by eating one of three meals. So, it’s fair to say that I don’t like change. I find comfort in the familiar. Except when it comes to kettlebell day. What’s kettlebell day, you ask? Well, not only do I eat the same things daily, I also do the same exercises. One day is elliptical day, and the other is kettlebell day. I hate kettlebell day. I’ve been doing it for about two years now and…
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Porch Time
Back in August 2011, my father was diagnosed with an aggressive form of terminal cancer. “How long?” is one of the first questions, if not the first question, people normally ask when diagnosed with a terminal disease, and it was one of our first questions. The life expectancy they gave him was broad; I believe they said six months to several years. I was in denial, wanting to believe the chemo would help, and he’d be with us at least a few more years; treatment had come a long way since my mom had died more than thirty years earlier. He ended up passing about two months after his diagnosis,…
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The Hardest Thing
When I was a kid, we had a beautiful black, Persian cat named Miss Puss. She had big, yellow eyes and was a sweet-natured kitty. Like many animals do, she had picked her person, and her person was my mom. Every so often, she’d gift my mom with dead animals. Although my mom found these tokens disgusting, she knew they were gifts and never scolded Miss Puss. When my mom passed away, Miss Puss came with my sister and me to live at my dad’s house, which was in the same neighborhood, just a few minutes walking distance away. Once in a while, Miss Puss would disappear. The first time…
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The What-wases
2019 has been the year for trying new things. I am a creature of habit; structure is my security blanket, so when changes come along, I resist with all of my might. Because of my book, I’ve had to open my arms to change, and although that’s been tough, it’s also forced me to get out into the world and do things I would have never done before. Travel is one of those things. I don’t like to travel. I’m not a crazy cat or dog lady, but I do miss my little friends when I’m away; I’d be willing to bet that they miss me, too. Plus, I…
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Killing My Precious
This one is about writing. Well, my writing, that is. I try to give little tips on Instagram, and most of the tips I share are ones I learned from articles or books by other authors. Some things I have learned along the way from experience, but those are more regarding edits and after I finish the first draft. Today I was thinking (I do that sometimes), and I remembered one of the early struggles I had when I started writing. Luckily, I also remember what I did to fix it, so I will share it with you. While my current book is the only one I’ve finished, I started…
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What Will it Take?
With the ALA conference, work, and everything else that has kept me busy lately, I have had little time to write. Today, I really felt the need to sit down and write about an issue that’s been weighing heavily on my mind… the missing toddler, baby Noah. My local friends will know exactly what I’m talking about, but some of you may not. Noah went missing almost a week ago. The news issued missing child posts for him, and many people have commented saying that they believe his mother had something to do with his disappearance. There are several reasons people immediately suspected her: In 2010, his mother spent several…
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Will the Real Dad Please Stand Up?
Some of you already know the story, but for those who don’t . . . In October 2013, two years after my father passed away, I found out that the man who I’d always called, “Dad” was not my biological father. My biological father was a man who my dad had been close friends with for many years; in fact, our families lived in the same neighborhood and spent a great deal of time at each other’s homes. Apparently, my dad could not father children, so he and my mom had adopted my older brother and sister before I came along. They always told me I was a miracle . . . that they thought they could not conceive,…
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Not the Most Friendly of Beasts
Someone I dealt with last week reminded me of a scene in the first Harry Potter movie. If you’re not familiar with Harry Potter, here’s a quick background: Harry Potter is an orphan who finds out he is a wizard. The gentle half-giant/half wizard, Hagrid, not only informs Harry of his lineage but also serves as his escort to the wizard school, Hogwarts. Harry has a list of required school supplies, all of which may be obtained in the magical shopping area, Diagon Alley, magically hidden behind a pub in London. As Hagrid takes Harry on a tour through the alley, he points out all the marvelous shops, explaining what…
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The Pretty Little Redhead
Have you ever met someone and found that you cannot stop thinking about that person? That’s the predicament I’m in right now. I’ll be doing something, and my thoughts keep turning to her. After more than a week of her being a squatter in my headspace, I think I’ve finally figured out why she’s always on my mind. But let me give you some backstory before I continue. When I wrote my book, picking out character names came quickly—especially my main character’s name, Erin—I named her after someone on one of my favorite television shows. When I first “met” the show Erin, she got on my nerves. She was not…
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Walk the Walk
This is what my face looked like almost 50 years ago at my first birthday party. From the looks of things, I wasn’t too impressed with the festivities. When I was old enough to look at pictures and ask questions, my mom informed me that I was wailing like a banshee because some inconsiderate (probably the coochie-coochie-coo type) neighbor lady absolutely insisted on waking me up to give me my birthday present. I obviously did not appreciate being woken up from my peaceful slumber and to this day, if someone wakes me up, that’s the reaction they will get. I hope there was something spectacular inside that white tissue paper…
