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Sue Heck and The Middle

the middle's cast

Lately, I have been thinking of Sue Sue Heck (yes, that’s her first and middle name. She’s a character from the tv show The Middle). Part of this may stem from the fact that I guess the Middle is on their Farewell Season which makes me sad. I like this show… every now and then they have a weird episode, like one here a couple weeks ago. They wasted a perfectly good episode with a battle between the Hecks + the rest of the neighborhood and the Glossner’s to get Sue’s Car back. It was almost like a weird scene from the battle scene out of the last Twilight film.

But anyway, I’ve been thinking about Sue Heck a lot. Unfortunately, I relate a lot to this character, which maybe bothers me a little. That may be why I’ve been thinking about her a lot. Wow, that sounds weird I’m thinking about a female character… haha. No, but seriously, I relate to this character a lot.

She’s seen as socially awkward. The older I get, the more I swear I’m getting socially awkward. I was very much a nerd in high school, although I tried to cover it up. She was a nerd. Heck, she even had a friend who they made out to be a gay character. Oddly enough, I was friends with a guy in high school who later in life has gone on to be gay. One difference, we didn’t stay close friends later in high school like she did with Brad and I never kissed that guy I was friends with. (more…)

Writing

Here’s an interesting topic that has been on my brain today… Writing.

Seriously, who thinks about writing? Well, obviously I do. But why? Writing has kind of a negative connotation. I think some of that stems to school when you are required to write papers. Papers on things you don’t want to write about. Required to write X number of words on a topic you may or may not know anything about or care about. But writing is a unique quality.

It is a way to convey a message. When you read a piece of writing, it can make or break what you are trying to say. Heck, think about texts. They are a form of writing. It’s a form of communication. You type something one way and someone takes it another and BAM! you have a fight on your hands. That’s the interesting thing about writing. Some people spend years honing in on that talent and ability. The ability to speak and write. If you read a lot of job descriptions, they want you to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently and that includes having the ability to write.

In a job, you’ll write memos, emails, meeting minutes, notes, etc. In those, you have to be able to convey a message to multiple groups of people. And two words about that are Quickly and Effectively. (more…)

Fearless Fourteen

Janet Evanovich Fearless Fourteen Book Cover

Guys, I’m back at it. This time let’s discuss one of the Stephanie Plum Novels, Fearless Fourteen. Now here is where I should say that I started reading this prior to grad school and then BAM! Grad School hit and I had no time for personal books. I know I’ve been out of Grad School since May 2016, that’s almost 2 years, but I finally got around to reading this… again.

Fearless Fourteen

Personal vendettas, hidden treasure, and a monkey named Carl will send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most explosive adventure yet.
The Crime: Armed robbery to the tune of nine million dollars
Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money, and did the time. His family couldn’t be more proud. He always was the smart one.
The Cousin: Joe Morelli
Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi, and Dom’s sister, Loretta, are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all-American family.
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Just One Day, Just One Year, Just One Night

Just One Trilogy Book Cover

Just before Christmas, I was wandering through Sam’s with my mom, aunt, and Abug. Now if there is one thing I can tell you, Abug LOVES Books. I love that about her. By the way, Tbug loves books too! Score!

Anyway… we were wandering around Sam’s Club and Abug took us over by the books. Since Grad School, I haven’t read a whole lot of books, to be honest. And truthfully I felt like something was missing in my life. At the same time, I read such intense, thinker type books in grad school I wasn’t sure what to read now.

When I was in Grad school one of the classes I had made us think about how we read literature. So you could read a book in your 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s and have a different opinion on it every time. I wish I could remember which professor told us that. It was either Dr. Carlson or Dr. McCallum and I can’t remember. Either way, they taught us that your life experiences help mold your impression on things. So a book you read in high school that you absolutely adored could have a different impression on you once you got into your 40’s. I had a lot of thought-provoking classes like that.

So back to Christmas time. I keep picking up books not knowing if I really want to read them or not. But there was a book that caught my attention. It was a 3 part trilogy all in one book. Score! (more…)

Daylight Savings Time

I’m sitting here being grumpy about Daylight Savings Time. Probably not for the same reason as most people though… My annoyance is from all the people whining and crying and complaining that oh dear, we moved an hour of daylight to the evening. Oh heaven forbid. I get so darn annoyed this time of year. The funny thing is they don’t complain when it’s lighter in the evenings. No, everyone seems to thoroughly enjoy it, but that still doesn’t seem to make them quit complaining.

In the fall when they get that hour of sleep back, well they still moan and groan and complain. Oh no, we don’t have that extra daylight and the evening gets dark so fast. I just want to point out that they are probably the ones who complained in March that they got that extra daylight at the end of the day.

I was told that one time they tried to stay on daylight savings time all year round. That didn’t work. The mornings were way to dark for school age kids. That’s also one complaint that people have when we have daylight savings time kick in. I guess I just get grumpy from all the complaining.

I’m not a morning person. I never have been and that first day sucks… maybe even that first week… but I say… shit happens… move on. I get up and go. I almost avoid Facebook right around then because everyone has an opinion and they are complaining about something. I kind of hate social media most days because of that. I’m glad we all have opinions! I truly am. So now I’m complaining about people complaining. You’re welcome.

I guess I’ll shut up and go enjoy my extra evening light hours. Btw, we don’t technically get more sun during the 24 hour period (other than we are gaining because we’re headed toward the summer solstice), it just shifts :). And while people say that it is an outdated practice… Only 2% of the population are ranchers and farmers… that’s still 3.2 million people affected by that roughly. Just food for thought. Enjoy your Sunday!

#BlogFebruary

We’re at the end of the month. That’s crazy how we’ve gone through 2 month’s of 2018 already. How on Earth has this happened? Seriously. Time, please slow down.

Okay, quick break down…

The Top 5 Blog Posts for February

  1. 2012 – Dry Hands
  2. 2017 – Buncha Crunch Oatmeal Cookies
  3. 2010 – And She Said Yes
  4. 2018 – The Damn Water Tower
  5. 2012 – Josie’s Ristorante Scammon Kansas

Honorable Mention:

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Rock Bottom

I remember being a kid and thinking that being an adult was easy. I just wanted to grow up. There wouldn’t be any spelling tests. No school. No one would tell me when to go to bed or when to wake up. Life was going to be easy, right? And yes, no spelling tests was a big deal. I remember smarting off to my dad that, “Why did I need to learn how to spell? It’s not like I would write a letter to the President of the United States or anything.” So note: I did have to write the president when I was in school. Touché.

Man, why didn’t anyone tell us (us as in every kid who ever thought that) that adulting is hard? Our parents made it look so darn easy. Is that part of the problem? Nah, I won’t blame that. Heck, I’ll say it… Adulting sucks. Maybe I want to go back to school. Not college because that still involves adulting. I’m talking grade school, junior high, and maybe even high school. Although, they have problems of their own. A lot of those kids are worried about going to school on a daily basis. Gosh.

In my 20’s I was very arrogant. I’m pretty sure I knew it then. I definitely know it now. And I’m pretty sure I’m paying for that now. For years I have complained that I apparently “love” eating crow. Must be the taste. I have eaten crow a lot. What does that mean? Well, it means that I would swear I wouldn’t do something and then later it happens. I swore I wouldn’t marry a man who had been married. Check. I swore I wouldn’t marry a man who had a kid. Check. I swore a wouldn’t drive a Mustang that was the body style that came out in 2000. Check. Check, check, check. (more…)

The Answer

I don’t know the answer. I’m not sure anyone knows the answer at this point.

A little over a week ago there was another horrific incident in our country. I find it saddening that our kids are becoming used to these incidents. I remember in grade school we had to have earthquake drills, tornado drills, and fire drills, but we never had active shooter drills. I never experienced anything like that until I went to college. But not for my undergrad degree… this was for my master’s. I started my Masters 8 years after I got my bachelor’s degree.

The minute it happened, people went to pointing blame instead. I’m so tired of the blame. It’s everyone else’s fault, yet no one takes the blame. Do I know who gets the blame… nope. Again, I don’t claim to know the answer.

I’ve been trying to find the right words and they just don’t seem to be coming. So many unanswered questions. Too many what ifs. What if’s lead to more unanswered questions. People were sending their condolences to the families affected because what else can we do? And yet, people were saying it was stupid to pray for the families and the community because it does nothing. Is that part of the problem? (more…)

College Life

 

I’m not sure why the last couple days I’ve been stuck in the past. That’s how it feels anyway. Maybe because College seemed so easy… or maybe it was the phone call from Camille that brought back the memories. My {step}daughter is a Freshman in high school. She’s at the part of her life when grades totally matter. When she’s starting to think about her future. Starting to make plans about going to college (or not, but right now yes).

A lot can change in four years. Right now she has college narrowed down to two choices. One is in state, one is way out of state. But either choice she has plans to live at home (the out of state is with family). If there’s one thing I keep trying to stress to her, promise me she’ll live in the dorms at least 1 year. Bam! Seriously though, you learn a lot from living in the dorms, and that is one way you make those lifetime friends. (more…)

The Damn Water Tower

The other night I was watching a movie with my husband and my mother-in-law. I think it was My Secret Valentine or it could have been Very, Very, Valentine. Either way, it was a Hallmark movie. If you haven’t figured out… Hallmark movies are my absolute favorite. Christmas and non-Christmas alike. There’s always a plot twist right before they have a happy ending and they are always so predictable. Either way though, I like them. They give me that warm tingly feeling.

But while I was sitting there watching the movie, my phone rang. I answered the phone and it was my friend Camille. In college, I always teased and called her Camel Jockey. Sometimes to her face, sometimes not. I was caught off guard a little bit because I haven’t spoken on the phone with her for about 10 years. The last time we spoke on the phone, she had just gotten engaged. I found out via Facebook and was giving her crap to the point she called me.

We chatted for a good almost half hour. We reminisced about good times and bad. A few years ago I was sitting in my Midevil British Literature class when we went to break. During the break, I jumped on Facebook for a minute and saw a very scary message. She said something to the effect of don’t wait until the last minute to tell your best friend how you feel or something like that. I can’t remember the exact words because it’s been almost 3 years now if I remember right. (more…)