From the monthly archives:

January 2010

The Art of Mangling Clichés

January 26, 2010 Writing

I’ve never met a cliché that I haven’t mangled in some way or other.
The other day I was thinking to myself, “Hey, wait a minute. There is a cliché that I know inside out. That I would never, not in a million years, mangle. A dollar for your thoughts. Hah!”
It took me a few hours [...]

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Writing Inspirations

January 25, 2010 Writing

It doesn’t often happen to me, but yesterday I woke up feeling rather glum. Whenever that happens, I find that the best antidote is to focus on being open to inspiration.
Often, too, the inspiration that comes tells me a lot about something important I’ve been forgetting, which is often at the root of why I’m [...]

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Odds and Ends

January 22, 2010 Random Stuff

It’s been quite a week – I’ve finished a couple of deadlines, spent Wednesday morning getting a test done (no worries, all is well), Wednesday night feeling pleasantly drowsy, pampered and well-fed, (oh, and I spent Tuesday night very hungry since my test required an all-liquid diet the day before), and today I finally managed [...]

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The Courage to Change

January 21, 2010 Life

Recently my husband made a decision that seemed very practical to me; practical, and in my opinion, long overdue.
As a martial arts instructor, his passion has always been in teaching people to be the best that they can be, and so he’s never cared about the number of people he’s training, only about how well [...]

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A Matter of Voice

January 19, 2010 Life

We get a lot of telemarketing calls, and often, this is how the ensuing conversation goes:
Me: Hello.
Caller: Hello. Is your mom or dad at home?
Me: No.
Caller: Okay. I’ll call back later.
I’m usually grinning when I hang up the phone. A three second conversation with a telemarketer and I didn’t even have to lie!
You see, ever [...]

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[TSS] A Little Bit Holds Happy

January 17, 2010 Books and Reading

These past six months or so, I’ve really been getting a lot of use out of my library card. Ever since I signed up for Library Elf, that wonderful service that sends out reminder emails about books coming due or overdue, I’ve even managed to keep my library fines down to a minimum (you don’t [...]

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Living with Teens

January 15, 2010 Life

It’s a weird sort of phenomenon. I co-exist comfortably, easily and happily with our two teenagers in this lovely household of ours. My husband also co-exists with our two teenagers in this lovely household, just not always as comfortably or as easily as I do (although he swears up and down that he is quite [...]

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Winners!

January 14, 2010 Books and Reading

Here are the winners of my December Giftaway!
Top commentators
The draw was actually from 25 names, as several people were tied for the number 20 spot. The top commentators in December were:

Jemi Fraser
rhapsodyinbooks
Steve Kubien
Dorte H
Cat Woods
Kathy
Margot
Memory
Barbara
bunnyb
Ladytink_534
Audrey/brizmus
Beth F
Jackie (Farm Lane Books)
Janel
Rebecca
Aarti
Alessandra
Cara Powers
Cass
Michelle
Molly
Nicole
Petunia
Cathryn

And the winner is:

Number 2 on the top commentators list is [...]

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The Bath vs. Shower Debate

January 13, 2010 Life

I love baths.
Back when my older two were much, much younger and I was in a far less egalitarian marriage than I’m in now, the bath was my sanctuary. It was the only time and place in an otherwise hectic day when I could lock out the outside world, and sink deep into scented [...]

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Welcoming Change

January 12, 2010 Life

Happy new year, everyone! I know, I know – it’s nearly the middle of the month, and you might all be feeling the new year is already feeling a bit old. But since I’ve been so busy, I haven’t really had a chance to do “the new year thing” – and I figure I can [...]

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