Writing Prompt #4

As this is Writing Prompt #4 I am going to use four different writing prompts! Let’s get the show on the road!

 

If and when you become the Supreme Ruler of the World, who will be your top adviser?

Hmmm…. I’m not particularly into politics to be perfectly honest. So, don’t hold any of my answers against me! I would probably have a few advisers to be perfectly honest. I would have my husband Bobby as he is into politics to a certain degree, my brother Chip as he has very strong opinions, is very much into politics and tends to be on the opposite side of the fence as me when it comes to various issues – so through him I could see the other side so to speak. Outside of family I have more limited options of people I would trust out of hand. I would probably find someone who is been extremely successful in business and someone in the political world I have the stomach to deal with. Honestly, I would have to find those people at the time.

 

Fill in the blanks: “I would like to march right up to _____________ and say, ‘____________’. 

Ok, I would like to march right up to “Justin Bieber” and say “Please leave my country, you have done enough damage here already.” And, if I were the Supreme Ruler of the World I could totally make that happen.

On a more serious note, I would like to march right up to “Hayao Miyazaki” and say “I love your work, would you by any chance be willing to have a conversation with me?” What would probably happen in this scenario is I would march right up to “Hayao Miyazaki” and melt into a puddle while bowing excessively chanting “I am not worthy”.

Ok, that definitely wasn’t a serious note, let’s try again.

I would like to march right up to…..

You know, I can’t think of a serious scenario so I am going to move on. XD

 

How do you react when someone compliments you? 

Honestly? I usually react in surprise. Especially if it is not performance based. For instance, at work we do an appreciation jar every Friday where we write on slips of paper who we appreciate and why. Whoever is appreciated the most wins a giftcard, sometimes 2nd & 3rd places as well – depends on how many people tie for the same place! So, this past Friday one of my co-worked walked up to me and complimented my outfit. My reaction was to laugh and ask her if her plan to boost her appreciations would work. It did, she won a gift card. -laughing-

Another time I was complimented at work was by the owner. I was walking across the office to refill my bottle of water when I noticed him coming out of the office and heading right towards me. Since he made eye contact, I tend to keep eye contact I make – unnerves some people I’ve found, I stared back and paused. As he got closer and was keeping eye contact I stopped and blurted “What?” Literally, just the word. He reached out his hand, I automatically took it – keep in mind eye contact is still occurring here, and he said he had heard I had been doing a great job and wanted to thank me for it. I said, “Awesome. Thank you.” then released his hand, got my water and went back to work. Compliments on me are like water on a duck, they just kinda run right off. Half of the time I don’t believe it, another third I wonder what that person wants from me that they are complimenting me and lastly try twisting it to see if the person complimented me was giving me a back slap instead and if there was other meaning attached. I know, I know – I’m weird. It’s in the name! Audrey = Aud = Odd. Haha. :p

 

What is a sure fire way to distract you from the task at hand?

Bringing in something or someone I don’t see often. Also, animals generally do the trick. If someone yells “Oh my god there is a lizard over here!” I am sure to jump up and run over saying “Really? Where?” Same happens if someone visits with a baby or a someone I haven’t seen for sometime, I’ll stop what I’m doing and head over to say hello or croon over the baby – I have been known to walk around an office holding a baby for ten minutes as well. Good thing I work pretty quickly!

Finally some good news

Things are starting to get better. Our lawsuit looks like it is soon on the horizon for wrapping up. Ended up being an uninsured motorist that started the original accident so we were left a little high and dry but it is what it is. We are much healthier now and in much less pain.

Inversion table is doing great things for my husband’s back – hot tub is still not functioning but hopefully we’ll have movement on that before the end of the year. -crossing my fingers-

My knees have almost no pain anymore. I can run, jump and exercise to my heart’s content. So, I am finally starting to lose of the weight I gained back after the accident. My back and neck are much better and neither of us have had to see a Chiropractor 3 times a week to get through the days – very good note.

Hubby is working again and hopefully the union will have a new contract before long and we’ll see what kind of raise they will be getting. Considering AT&T acquired Direct TV and the UVerse guys are going to have to start installing those as well… it had better be something.

I was recently graced with a surprise raise. Very nice and appreciated. Work is going really well for me. I am really enjoying it, we just won an award as the #8 best place to work in our industry – which out of thousands of distributors that’s pretty awesome. Still enjoying all my co-workers even though work has been INSANE. We are really pulling through as a team – it’s awesome. Not many places I’ve worked that has this kind of dynamic.

We are back to gardening – yay! We have some radishes, broccoli, lettuce, chives, brussell sprouts, cherry tomatoes and pineapples in the works. My hubby made a great raised garden table for our pots that is really handy. I’ll upload some pictures once I have some in daylight – so far I only have nighttime pics right after we finished it a few mosquito filled nights back.

I’ll update again soon – a longer post next time! Just not at 11pm at night.

Writing Prompt #3

Onto prompt #3! As per the usual, let’s randomly pick a page and see what options I have to work with:

1. What kinds of recipes do you gravitate towards (e.g., desserts, casseroles, drinks)?
2. Have you ever been attacked by an animal?
3. What would like be like if unicorns and dragons existed?
4. What catches your eye about the architecture of a building?

Well, all of these will be fairly short responses so I am just going to answer them all! XD

What kinds of recipes do you gravitate towards (e.g., desserts, casseroles, drinks)?

I tend to veer towards comfort food. Meat & potatoes, classic meals, etc. We are starting to change how we eat in the house so we have more meat & veggies and less rice, pasta or potatoes. So, when before I might have made grilled chicken, yellow rice and squash we’ll just have the grilled chicken and extra squash. We eat more but its more veggies than anything.

I do like casserole dinners, like Sheppard’s pie, chicken and dumplings, that kind of thing. However, we eat a lot less of it these days.

Have you ever been attacked by an animal?

I’ve never been bitten by an animal I didn’t expect a bite from. What do I mean by that? Well, I raised hamsters through my childhood and I expected them to bite on occasion. They are tiny little creatures dealing with huge beasts that have big floating hands that pick them up. Until you earn the love, plenty of bites. The trick is not to jump.

However, I have been chased by animals I knew I didn’t want to experience being caught by. When I was young I used to ride my bike to my friend’s house and always had to pass a house that had a pair of geese. They were nasty, mean geese that were kept in the backyard via chain-link fence. Should have been solid because I learned pretty quick that geese are territorial. One day the gate was open when my friend and I were riding back to my place. We were chased.

That wasn’t the trickiest chase I’ve been given though. I’ve been chased by an alligator as well, hence the pic above (that wasn’t the gator though). My childhood home was near a canal and we had a tiny little creek running perpendicular to it and there was a small bridge nearby we played under occasionally. An alligator made its way there and made a nest. Of course we didn’t know that until we went down to play and found the nest. Mommy gator found us finding the nest and gave chase. I was the last to see her so I was the slowest to start running, so I got the chase from momma. Did my zig zag like we were taught and made it home – not that she chased me far. I still get a little chill when I hear a gator’s hiss – just brings up the memory.

The gator was trapped later and taken away when she started hunting the neighborhood pets.

What would like be like if unicorns and dragons existed?

I think the world would be a cross between the world in Joust by Mercedes Lackey and The Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.
 

In Joust the world is more magical/medieval while in Dragon Riders of Pern they are roughing it but basically they are humans from Earth who traveled through space to live on a new planet and science is still pretty prevailing. So, I think we would be somewhere in that mix, medieval/nature orientated and some science mixed it. I doubt the iPhone would exist.

I think that both species would be coveted, trained, tamed to a certain extent and coexist with humans. On the same token, they would be hunted and exploited by those more interested in hides, bones, horns, hoofs, organs, etc just like there is today with some of our endangered animals.

If I lived in this kind of world I would probably move more towards being a dragon rider than a unicorn rider.

What catches your eye about the architecture of a building?

When it comes to architecture I really enjoy Victorian structures. I like the peaks, turrets, large bay windows, castle-like presence and the extra intricate detail put into it’s facade. I have a thing for castles so Victorian like structures with stone work pleases me greatly.

Writing Prompt #2

Alright, so we are onto the next prompt. So, flippity, flippity, foo! Ooh. I have three choices here.

1. If you could be the best in the world at something, what would it be?
2. Is our world today a better or worse place than it was when you were a kid?
3. What book or book series did you wish would continue when you were done reading it?

Hmmm… Well, I have to put a LOT more thought into #3 than I can do right now, just getting over a migraine from this morning. Hmmm… I think I am going to go with #2.

Is our world today a better or worse place than it was when you were a kid?

I’m going to look at this two ways, broad spectrum and narrowly at my own little world when I was a kid at three different ages, Five, Eight & Thirteen. Then I’ll go over now a little.

Age 5, 1990

Broad Spectrum  (Bear in mind most of these facts I am just finding – they were not things I was  necessarily aware of as a child.)

In 1990 stuff was happening all over the world, not that different from what is happening now.

Political/Global Activity: US invades Panama, collapse of Soviet Union, German Reunification, Nelson Mandela released from prison after 27 years, Lebanon Hostage Crisis, Iraq invades Kuwait,

Natural Disasters: Burns Day storm in Europe, The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 88 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, Mega Borg Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico,

Gaming Scene: Some popular games released in 1990 were Mad Max, Super Mario World, Metal Gear Solid 2, Wing Commander, Final Fantasy III, Megaman III, Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, Die Hard, Little Nemo: The Dream Master and Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers.

Music Scene: MTV Unplugged aired for the first time, Celine Dion makes a formal debut in the US, “Banned in the USA” released by 2 live crew, “Downtown train” by Rod Stewart and most remembered from my childhood due to my brother – “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice and “U can’t touch this” by M.C. Hammer.

Movie Scene: Some movies that released that year – Home Alone, Total Recall, Pretty Woman, Edward Scissorhands, Ghost, Dances with Wolves, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Die Hard 2, Back to the Future III, Kindergarten Cop, Goodfellas, Tremors, The Hunt for Red October, Bird on a Wire, Arachnophobia, Problem Child & The Rookie.

Famous losses that year: Greta Garbo, Sammy Davis Jr, Jim Henson, Joan Bennett,

Inventions: Digial Optical Processor announced by Bell Labs, Windows 3.0 released,

Notable: JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, first Walmart in California opens, best preserved T-Rex found in South Dakota, Pizza Hut & McDonald’s open in China, First Pokemon game is puts into the works and The International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition completes the first dog sled venture across Antarctica.

Narrowed into my own world

When I was five years old the biggest thing that happened in my life, that I recall, is moving from Delray Beach, FL to Port Saint Lucie, FL. My parents had purchased some land and were having a house built and we moved up on my birthday to live in a rental home nearby to where the house was being built. I vaguely remember the move. I don’t recall the house we lived in down in Delray Beach but I do remember looking down a long hallway to my bright pink, plastic Barbie van and noting to myself not to forget it. Had to have my Barbie van.

We had a dog back then, Charlie, who was a Dalmation. He got sick in Port Saint Lucie and died. I don’t remember much about Charlie but my mother loved him very much. I recall neighborhood kids we were friends with, redheads with a pool. We liked to play in the pool.

I started kindergarten that year and met my best friend. We met on the bus on the first day of school. We had assigned seating and I was assigned to sit beside this bossy brunette named Ashley. Her introduction to me was when she boarded the bus, I got on first, and she stared at me a second then shoved me across the seat into the window  hard enough so my head hit the window and proclaiming that I had to sit by the window. I don’t recall if it was that day or later on but I shoved her back once where she fell into the aisle and we’ve been buddies since. I spent a lot of my childhood, especially the earlier years, with her.

In general I spent much of my early years playing with dolls, Barbies, riding bicycles, playing in the woods and visiting family. Nothing really crazy.

I was five, how many memories do you expect me to have?

Age 8, 1993

Broad Spectrum 

In 1993, not much different from what is happening now.

Political/Global Activity: There were bombings in different locations out around the world – in Bombay India, at the World Trade Center, in London. Bill Clinton became President of the US, China performed first nuclear test, Grey Steel Massacre, Savings and Loan crisis, North American Free Trade Agreement.

Natural Disasters: There were natural disasters, a couple earthquakes – one made a tsunami that hit Japan, a few blizzards in the US – chiefly the Storm of the Century that tracked from South America to Canada, an avalanche and mudslides in Japan.

Gaming Scene: Gaming was evolving, some notable titles that released that year were Mortal Combat II, Sim City 2000, Doom was released for the PC with advanced 3D graphics we giggle over today but were mind blowing then, and Myst which I played when I was older.

Music Scene: In music, Michael Jackson performed at the  Super Bowl XXVII – which was apparently a fantastic show. In the same year he made his first public announcement about the child molestation charges against him. Prince changed his name to a symbol that could not be pronounced so he was then known as the artist formerly known as Prince. Billy Joel released his final album “River of Dreams” before quitting music. MTV Latin America was launched. Snoop Dogg and his bodyguard were charged with murder this year, cleared later. Bobby Brown was arrested in Georgia for simulating the sexual act on stage – definitely a lot of changes in regards to that between then and now! Whitney Houston released “I will always love you”, who doesn’t know that song? Eh, maybe kids younger than me. XD

Movie Scene: In film we had lots of great movies that year, Jurassic Park, Mrs. Doubtfire, Sleepless in Seattle, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, The Fugitive, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, Schindler’s List and Super Mario Brothers which was the very first gaming movie ever released.

Famous losses that year: My namesake Audrey Hepburn passed away that year along with Bill Bixby, Frank Zappa, Helen Hayes, Adelaide Hall, Brandon Lee, River Phoenix and Raymond Burr.

Inventions: The first touch screen mobile phone was invented by Simon. Apparently it was a phone, pager, PDA and fax machine all in one – never heard of that as a kid. Beanie Babies – I remember the craze of those and Windows for workgroups 3.11.

Notable: Magic the Gathering had its first general release, Pogs were big- do you remember Pogs? Not invented in 1993 but it was quite popular in 1993. I still remember my favorite slammer was thick, clear plastic with a cartoon, girly unicorn inside.

Narrowed into my own world

When I was eight the most notable thing that happened was the sinker incident. My father had a custom made sinker created for breaking rocks at the bottom of the ocean when he went fishing. He had just finished lecturing my older brother not to play with it, what it was used for and why it was dangerous. I recall vaguely hearing the argument as I walked out the front door, past the open garage door where he was being lectured to the empty lot beside the house. We had built a fort up in a tree and there was a swing I liked to use. I was just swinging away quietly when my brother came out the side door of the garage, probably minutes after my father finished lecturing, with the handmade sinker attached to a rope in his hands. He stopped in front of me, a little to the right, and asked if I wanted to see something cool. His cool thing was throwing the sinker over the tree limb and letting it wrap around and then unwrap itself. He did it a few times until his last where he stopped and was just gaping at me, white as sheet.

At the time I didn’t know why he was so shocked. I had just been sitting there daydreaming one moment and then the next I had a sudden headache and my brother was gaping at my like a fish. Still oblivious, I got off the swing, told my brother I had a headache and was going inside. I wiped my forehead, thinking I was super sweaty (I do live in Florida and this was summer time) and when I was just in front of the garage door I got a look at my wet hand – it was covered in blood. Like any rational 8 year old I started screaming inarticulately, rooted in the same spot before the garage where I discovered my condition.

I’ll never forget how my mother ripped open the door to the garage from the house, her face tense and ready to deal with warfare if need be when it came to her kids, and how she turned just as white as my brother after he hit me. I was already in full bawling mode when mom’s eyes locked onto me and saw all the red. She was at me in seconds, tucked under her arm like a football, and before I knew it my head was under the garage sink faucet and water was gushing over my face. The hole must have looked ghastly because she took me inside, got a towel on my head and bundled me into the car to go to the hospital.

I remember when we were pulling out of the driveway, I’d stopped crying at this point, turning and looking at the house and wondering if my brother would still be alive when I returned home. While I don’t recall my father’s face when he saw me I do remember him being angry when I left. To this day I don’t remember if my older brother was punished or how – that was never passed onto me and he wasn’t mean to me for awhile after that.

At the hospital it took four hours before my head was stitched up. Why? Because my mom took me to the hospital, I had a gaping hole in my head and she refused to let just anyone stitch up a hole on my face – it had to be a plastic surgeon, someone used to dealing with making surgery look good afterward. I had several stitches and a tiny hole in my skull where the point started pressing. If my brother had been older, he was ten at the time, it probably would have gone through the skull into my brain – its what it was made for, breaking hard substances.

Later on that year I had my first pair of glasses. My vision has been crap since. I have the worst vision in my family, going back several generations, so we know its caused by that accident. I don’t blame my brother really. I tease him from time to time about the incident but I never bring up the fact that I have the worst vision. I think that to this day it is one of the most dominant things my brother regrets in his life. I know he loves me and that’s enough. Now that I’m older I wonder why my father bothered bringing the sinker to my brother’s attention, maybe he caught him playing with it? I have no idea if my father ever kept using that sinker or not.

In general, we still played with dolls, Barbies and in the woods – though we went out much further. My mom had my Dad mount a bell outside on the back porch that she would ring when it was dinner time. In the woods we played games like War or Ashley and I would act like we ran away with our babies from some terrible life and hid to live in the woods all alone. I remember one time I went pretty far away while traversing the woods and I came across a meadow like area. It was just a large opening with the vines covering the ground as if it were grass that I instantly wanted to have a picnic at. I never did find the area again. Some pictures below are like the woods we have down here:

Age 13, 1998

Broad Spectrum 

In 1998, not much is different from what is happening now.

Political/Global Activity: Massacres, breaking story about Clinton with Monica Lewinsky, underground nuclear tests in India, US embassy bombing, 3 massacres by end of February alone, goes on and on.

Natural Disasters: 6.1 & 6.6 earthquakes in Afghanistan, New York State Labor Day derechos, several tornado outbreaks in US alone.

Gaming Scene: Some games that came out in 1998 include Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Half-Life, StarCraft, Metal Gear Solid, Pokemon Red & Blue, Resident Evil 2, Fallout 2, Sonic Adventure, Mario Party, SoulCalibur, Sypro the Drago, Xenogears, Unreal, Need for Speed III. Sega Dreamcast & Game Boy Color were launched in 1998 as well.

Music Scene: Elton John was knighted by the Queen. NSYNC, Eve 6, System of a Down & Britney Spears debuted. Copyright Term Extension Act passed increasing copyrights by 20 years, “Boy is Mine” duet released and tops charts and NOW that’s what I call music releases first in series.

Movie Scene: Some movies released in 1998, Antz, Saving Private Ryan, Godzilla, Mulan, Armageddon, There’s something about Mary, A Bug’s Life, Blade, The Prince of Eygpt, American History X, The Parent Trap, The Truman Show, The Big Lebowski, Deep Impact, Dr. Dolittle, Lethal Weapon 4, City of Angels, Enemy of the State, Great Expectations, Halloween H20, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, The Lion King II, Pleasantville, Pocahontas II, The Replacement Killers, Rush Hour, Stepmom, Velvet Goldmine, The Waterboy, Wild Things, You’ve Got Mail & The X-Files.

Famous losses that year: Frank Sinatra, Gene Raymond, Alan Shepard, Margaret Walker,

Inventions: Windows 98 released. I am sure there is more that was just the biggest for me.

Notable: Largest suspension bridge in the world opened in Japan.

Narrowed into my own world

At thirteen a lot of changes were happening in my world. The year before when I was twelve my grandmother who we were really close to passed away of cancer, my parents were getting a divorce and I was entering teenage-hood with a vengeance. At thirteen, my parents were both dating new people, we were moving to Palm City, FL away from my childhood home and I was just getting into contacts and away from the coke-bottle glasses that tormented me through the years before – because they were getting thicker and thicker every year.

At this age I felt so disengaged. I’d already had a year in a Port Saint Lucie Middle School, NorthPort, and I liked it well enough there. I was gaining a reputation – not really a great one, but that was the only kind of rep to have in St. Lucie county schools. It was a D-F school district back then. I was tough, enough people were finding that out and they already knew about my tough brothers. Boys weren’t interested in me because I was too tough and funny looking in my glasses. I was in a clique of girls where I was the protector and could get most boys to leave my group alone if we wanted it. Back then I acted more like a boy than a girl, I’ve always been a tomboy. Even if I liked a boy, I was mean to him like boys are to girls they like when they are young.

I remember my big crush from 6th grade was Danny. He was a nice boy with long, shoulder length hair (it was the thing then) – straight and thick, with big buck front teeth I thought were endearing at the time. We were semi-friends at the time and my classmates were trying to make me date a popular boy I had zero interest in because my name was Audrey and his was Aubrey. We hated each other with a passion and had no problem having the other know it. Anyways, my crush was Danny and I’d like him until I was thirteen and living in Palm City. In Palm City I found out he actually really didn’t like me, dealt with me so I wouldn’t beat him up and liked big girls with big chests – I was stick thin and I didn’t have breasts until I was thirteen/fourteen, when I was already in Palm City.

Looking back I think it was a great move for us and my mother was doing a good thing when she took us away from Port Saint Lucie. It took us from a rough ‘n tumble gang like atmosphere to the snobby Barbie type atmosphere of Palm City. I remember talking to her a few years back and one of the main reasons she moved us was because my older brother, yes – same from the incident, was getting into too much trouble and she wanted to change his environment. It did help my brother but I can safely say that the move and change in my environment gave me a more positive future, who I likely would have been into who I am today. The drastically different atmospheres allowed me a perspective that I wouldn’t have had if I’d lived in either locale for the entirety of my childhood.

It wasn’t all roses or sh*t in Palm City. It had major challenges for us three hood rats (I say that very lightly, St. Lucie was the hood in our area back then, and in some ways sortive still is, but it was definitely a tame, suburban type of hood environment – I am not even remotely comparing it to like New York, Chicago or other metropolitan areas where hood is more specifically defined) suddenly dropped into rich man territory. My brother’s adapted in their own way, I adapted in mine. I ended up becoming reclusive, quiet and very alone. Ashley was still in Port Saint Lucie (I would never call her a hood rat – but I certainly acted the part back then) and too far for me to visit often and I didn’t make friends for a good while in Palm City.

My mother enrolled me in a summer Basketball camp when we first moved over and I got along better with the boys than the couple girls in the camp. I remember visiting a mansion like home that first year there and being overwhelmed. I think it is probably one of the first time I ever felt there was a class differential in my area. Not that my parents were ever really poor or we couldn’t have anything – we were an average family with average money. We didn’t have a big mansion like house on the river. It ended up being a pool party and the mom let me borrow a swim suit. It was the first day in Palm City where I was recognized as a girl by my teammates and not the boy I acted like. It was our last day of camp.

I enjoyed the basketball camp, I wasn’t a gloomy child, and I did make a short term friend. When I started 7th grade that year I was alone again. I was familiar enough with the school basketball courts (indoor and outside) because of the camp but the rest was a mystery. It was difficult because I was used to making friends by shows of strength and in Palm City that just scared the kids around me and made them avoid me more. I didn’t know what to do. It was late that year when I made my first Palm City friend, Grace.

I met Grace in my Geography class. She sat in front of me and when the teacher would give us free time or study time in class she would simply spin in her chair, prop her arms on my desk, her face in her hands – and stare at me. The first time she did it was I startled, glared and ignored her. This ended up becoming routine – her staring, my ignoring. About a month into this I finally shouted at her “What do you want?” and she just grinned at me and said “Nothing”. The next day she invited me to have lunch with her and her friends. I’m not sure why I accepted but I did and before long I was fully accepted as a part of the group and had a few friends of my own.

In general, I started spending more time in my room and playing on the computer after the move to Palm City. There were no more woods to explore and play in, no friends to go bike riding with, I wasn’t interested in Barbies or dolls anymore so much of my past was no longer applicable at this age. I was bitter about the move for most of this year, I still liked Danny until late in the year and after the move I found out a friend Brian may have liked me – which is when I wished he’d told me so I could have had a boyfriend (which shows how little I actually cared about Danny & Brian).

The biggest new thing in my sphere in 1998 was AOL chat rooms. When I was bored I would peruse chat rooms and eventually found myself in the Role-Playing rooms. Through a large chunk of my teenage years I wrote away playing various characters with lists of friends on AOL and met some life long friends I didn’t know I’d have later on. I actually have a novel in the works about a few of my characters from that time and permission from other characters “Mundanes” to write about them and use their names.

 

Now, to finally answer the question – Is our world today a better or worse place than it was when you were a kid?

I personally think the world is about the same. Politically/warfare wise – we just hype it up more nowadays than we did back then but terrible things happened back then just as much as they happen now. People are just finding more expansive ways to cause misery and destruction – but that comes with evolution and technology. I think the Electronics/Gaming industry is getting better and better every year and more exciting things come all the time out of this progress. With all good things come the bad, like kids playing less often outside – but really, how much outside do we have? In Port Saint Lucie I was outside every day, all the time I was allowed to. In Palm City, it was all houses and streets and businesses – where was I supposed to play? At a park? Let’s be honest – unless you are really young the park all the time just gets boring after a while. If we want kids to play outside there needs to be somewhere to play outside.

 

Final answer:  I think the world is about the same kind of place it was when I was a kid, I just see it differently than I did then.

I am sure I missed a lot of details and things in my quickie synopsis of every year – feel free to let me know if I missed anything big that you remember. 🙂

Writing Prompt #1

So, I picked up this writing prompts book from Barnes & Noble with my birthday gift card. With this I have a plan. I am going to try to do at least one writing prompt a week to get myself back into the groove of writing and perhaps spark some desperately needed inspiration.

There are 300 of these suckers in this book and I’ve decided I am going to choose them randomly, make a post and check it off in the book. When I finish a page, I’ll do something to it, like folding it. Feel free to write along with me in a comment or on your own blog. 🙂

Disclaimer: I’m tired, a little hyper and on a muscle relaxer for my knee & back. So… this may be a rather odd, random post. 😀

ONWARD BOUND!

Drum roll…

“What do you have to do today that you really would rather not do?”

Well, this is super simple.

This morning I woke up very much not wanting to go to work. My husband is on vacation and when he’s home and I have the possibility of hanging out with him instead of work I tend to want to hang out with him rather than make money – not that its very much.

It’s not that I dislike my job – I like it, and the people I work with, it just sucks that I am making less now than I have in the last 1/2 decade. However, I really do like the work I do and the people I work with. It’s a fun workplace and has actually been nominated to win an award as one of the best places to work in the US. Yes, it’s true. I took a survey from the board running it about our workplace.

It would be awesome if we won.

Hmm…

Well as this is Writing Prompt #1 I think we should make it a double whammy! Onto the next prompt!

“What is your favorite holiday, and what do you love about it?”

Ooh…

Well, this is slightly more complicated. When I was young my favorite holiday was Thanksgiving.

Now, I realize this isn’t the standard response from a child, but I had a specific reason for loving this holiday.

When my parents were still together we spent Christmas with my mom’s side of the family, who we saw fairly often, and we spent Thanksgiving with my Dad’s side of the family. I didn’t see my Dad’s side as often simply because they were further away. So, that one time a year I could absolutely see my aunts and uncles, cousins and second cousins, just tons of family I didn’t see regularly and we always had a blast.

Pretty much every year we went to my Aunt’s house. She has a dock on the river, jet ski’s, hot tub, pool table – you name it, she just might have it. Everyone crowded at my Aunt’s house and it was always so fun to be there, even though most of the time I was too young for most of the toys.

As an adult it’s not that I don’t love Thanksgiving anymore, the tradition simply fell apart when I was 12 and my parents split. So, I started seeing my Dad’s side much more infrequently. At that point Thanksgiving just never mustered up the joy and fun that it used to. So, Thanksgiving paled as the years went by.

Now, my favorite holiday is Christmas.

Why do I stereo-typically like Christmas the most now that I’m an adult and I shouldn’t have any commercialism attachments? Well, that also has an explanation. I grew up with my Mom.

(Did I mention I’m a little over tired & hyper?)

Alright, let me explain. My Mom is considered the present lady because she is a great gift giver and she loves giving presents to other people, watching the delight in their faces as they open presents and she manged to get that special “OMG how did you know!?!?” shock and amazement quite often. So, what does this have to do with me? Apparently, I’ve inherited this trait.

I find that as I shop and gift presents for other people I get to play a special kind of puzzle game. Considering the person I am shopping for, like and dislikes, sense of humor, color options, fashion sense, tastes and interests. People are so complex and you can only know so many facets of any person that sometimes it can be quite the challenge to find that particular trinket that will just… light someone up.

So, as weird as it is, I love the challenge of it.

But, there is another, less odd, reason I love Christmas. The older we got the less we saw my Mom’s side of the family as well. But, we still, even now, manage to make Christmas happen. Usually the weekend between Christmas and New Years my Mom’s side will converge into one area of the state for a day just to see each other and play the present game.

The present game is something we do as a group. Every household brings a single, wrapped, unmarked present. All the presents are piled in the center and the game starts. As we play a present is picked up for each person and then passed around until the timer runs out. Or, we will each start with our own present and the game goes with everything running backward and forward, mixing around presents until the timer runs out and you have what you have!

Yes, there is more than one way we play the game and its great fun when we are all together, arguing about the rules of how to play while the newer generation runs around with limitless energy and happy chatter.

So, in my life so far I have loved Thanksgiving & Christmas. The main reason I’ve loved these holidays – my family. Secondary, personal gratification of solving personal puzzles and giving great presents. 🙂

Turning 30, dreading 40

So, I turned 30 back on the 26th and found that I don’t really mind leaving my twenties. I was never wild, really went clubbing or anything that tends to be typical in your twenties. So, I don’t have any issues with this age. 40 though, I think I may have issues with 40.

 

Why do I think I am going to dread turning 40 so much? Well, mainly because of our 5 year plan and the fact that I want kids. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, but, there are some things that my hubby and I have considered that are going to make changes to our 5 year plan simply because what we want to do now and the pace it is going at is making it more of a 10 year plan. And, when I want to have kids after the big move, when I won’t be working, that really puts a kink into the plan – especially since I just turned 30. If we stay as we are now, that means we are looking at trying to have kids when I am 40… see the issue?

We’ve already gone over some ways we can shorten the plan, but I won’t go into that here. I’ll make a post later on my 5 year plan blog detailing some of the changes we feel we must implement and go from there.

For now, I want to talk a little bit about my 30th birthday! Well, so good things happened and some bad things happened. I’m going to blatantly ignore the bad things for now and focus on the good.

Good thing #1

I had a great birthday! Not necessarily the day of my birthday but the weekend before, part of it anyways, and the weekend after. On the 22nd, Friday before, we had an accident (bad thing) and I’m not going to talk about it. Let’s leave it at this – it was bad, the car we still owe $7000 on is likely totalled and we are alive and VERY lucky. I can explain in more detail later but for now let’s leave it at we had to get a lawyer and I’m not really supposed to talk about it right now. 🙂

Anyways, two hours before the accident I booked us all Memorial weekend in Orlando at the Sheraton North Orlando – really nice hotel and a dinner event at Medieval Times (Hubby has never been before).

To shun off depression and celebrate the fact that we managed to live through what could have been a fatal accident, especially for me, we decided that despite how terrible we felt we were going to have the vacation we’d already spent money on and was non-refundable. So, we rented a car and went to Orlando. It was a great weekend despite that aches and pains we both had. We stopped at the Melbourne flea market on the way up, had a great dinner at Medieval Times – the show was much more than when I went as a kid in school. On Sunday we slept for over 12 hours! It was very healing though and we were better for it. That day we went shopping and saw Tommorrowland at a nearby theater – it was pretty good. Had ice cream, went to the bookstore and did some browsing. There was this neat place called “Escape Room” where they will lock you in a room and you have an hour to solve clues to get yourself out. We plan to do it next time we go to Orlando. 🙂 We drove back on Monday and my birthday was Tuesday, the 26th.

I worked on Tuesday and while it was a terrible work day I kept my spirits up and hung out with some co-workers afterward. It was awesome and they really lifted my spirits the rest of the way.

This weekend I got my birthday present from my mom. She sent me a lovely card, Cat trivet (It’s so cute!) and a $300 gift card! Wowza! So, this weekend was a shopping spree!

Here are some of the things I managed to squeeze out of that giftcard – with a little left over paid from our bank account:

Okay, okay. I’ll stop bragging. XD

 

Search for an Auto Litter Box

 

Earlier in the year we decided it was time for a revamp on the litter box scene in the house. So, we decided to look into our options and crunch some numbers to find an automatic litter box.

With the standard litter box we were using a large tub of litter once a month (the one we used is pictured above, its huge). This was with the initial filling at the beginning of the month and smaller more frequent refilling as we scooped over the month. Each tub varied from $15 – $20 depending on where we got it and how many pounds it had (usual wasn’t always in stock). Also, we purchased a box of litter deodorizer every two months or so which is about $8 a box. So, in all we were spending about $260 a year with the standard litter box.

The ScoopFree was my favorite going in. I figured it would be the least expensive overall. The ScoopFree uses crystals, scoops itself and you just change out the cartridge of crystals. The ScoopFree ran about $130.00 up front and the cartridges were around $42.00 for four – least expensive I located at the time. With three cats this fairly small box would have to have a new cartridge at least once a week. So, our yearly cost was roughly $504.

The CatGenie was the most expensive up front. We found it the cheapest on Amazon for roughly $230.00. This box connected to your water and electric to run itself, used plastic pellets for litter, cleaning solution and maintenance solution. The CatGenie came with a box of pellets to fill the box and one cartridge of solution. Research showed that with three cats it would run fairly often but each cartridge worked for about 240 washes. So, with three cats a cartridge should last around two months. The pellets only needed to be replaced as needed. Maintenance cartridges were needed every four months. The average cost of the solution cartridges were about $22, the pellets about $18 and the maintenance cartridges (includes four runs each cartridge) were about $16. So, over the course of a year it would cost roughly $248 + water & electric.

When I crunched the numbers and came up with that I was sure someone lied somewhere and it had to cost more than that a year. Especially since the CatGenie required no work on my part except changing cartridges, adding pellets when needed and fixing it with tech support if something happened. The ScoopFree would be more labor intensive! How was this cheaper?

Just in case, my husband took my research and crunched the numbers himself. CatGenie was still the least expensive of the bunch. It was crazy.

So, we discarded the idea of the ScoopFree and discussed whether we needed to just buckle down and keep things as is, it would be a few years before the extra cost for standard litter covered the initial cost to buy the CatGenie, or purchase the CatGenie.

So, I dabbled a little further into why CatGenie recommended its product. I was surprised to find that regular clay litter, like Tidy Cats or Fresh Step, doesn’t decompose. Essentially, every time I toss a tub full of used litter it would still be at the garbage dump well after my great great grandkids die. That was INSANE to me. Now, I grant that the first place I found this information was on the CatGenie site and it is definitely beneficial to them to peddle the environmental impact regular litter has to gain my clients, but I was shocked to find it wasn’t just a marketing strategy. Its actually true. I’ve listed a few sites I visited below:

http://www.killcatlitter.com/ (sponsored by CatGenie)

http://www.petproductnews.com/web-exclusives/litter-and-the-environment.aspx

http://www.pets.ca/cats/tips/cat-litter-and-the-environment-pet-tip-178/

http://www.greenlivingonline.com/article/bad-kitty-litter-bad

http://www.catchannel.com/care/natural-cat-care/natural-cat-lifestyle/cat-litter-ecology.aspx

 

Static checking out the first cycle of the box.

So, that same month my husband and I purchased the CatGenie.

I’ll write again soon to break down how its been going at the house since February. 🙂

 

2015: A New Year

So, its a new year and I’ve been considering my goals for 2015. If you weren’t aware I have another Blog called the 5 year homesteading plan which is basically about our plan to pay down all our bills, save money and move to Georgia. Once in Georgia we plan to buy acreage, build a house and I will stay home to make us as self-sufficient as possibly. Essentially, it is a five year count down to Homesteading. So, a lot of my goals pertain to that long term goal.

I’ve broken down some of my husband and I’s goals into categories below.

picturesofmoney.org

Financial Goals

Financially speaking we want to long term get rid of our unnecessary bills. I consider unnecessary bill to be any recurring bill we’ve accumulated that was a personal choice and we didn’t have to have it for our daily lives. For instance, a car loan I consider an unnecessary bill.  I do need a car to drive around anywhere I want to go, get to my job, grocery shop, etc. So, why do I consider it unnecessary? Simply because I chose to get a loan on a car instead of buying a maybe less nice car outright. What would I consider a necessary bill? Electricity.

So, our unnecessary debts:

Car Loan
Consolidation Loan
Student Loans
Medical Loan
Water System payment plan
Credit Card #1
Credit Card #2

A few of these loans are fairly high monetarily speaking so I can’t necessary pay many of them all off with a single check. So, our goal for this year is to pay off the Consolidation Loan and the Car Loan. Paying just these two bills will save us around $415.00 a month.

allmedcorp.com

Health Goals

Our goals in regards to health and fitness are simple. We want to start eating smaller portions, more regularly and exercise daily. By the end of the year we are hoping to feel healthier and show some of that effort with a slimming of our waistlines and increase in energy – which will make us feel healthier. Why not a specific goal? Well, we’ve tried that before and I find that it just doesn’t work out. I either stress about it too much or I give up partway through. What I might try once we are better about exercising daily is to set smaller, simple goals monthly.

holykaw.alltop.com

Personal Goal

Now, I do have my own personal goal in mind. Something I very much want to do by the end of the year. What is it? I want to finish one of the novels I have started. I know its a fairly common goal, especially from bloggers, but I have a very specific reason why I want to hit this goal this year.

My grandfather was diagnosed with Acute Meyloa Leukemia in December. He’s been in and out of the hospital for about a year and a half and they were treating him, originally, for a blood disease. When he went into the hospital in late November he had a new symptom, swollen gums. Once that showed the doctors were able to diagnose him properly by the beginning of December.

What does my poor, sick grandfather have to do with my novel? Nothing, not really. The reason I want to finish the novel is purely because I have finally chosen my future pen name. I was on the fence for the last few years as I progressed closer with various novels to the faraway finish line and I couldn’t really come up with anything I liked. Once I visited my grandfather in the hospital I made my decision.

My grandfather has 4 daughters and 2 sons. However, the 2 sons were conceived when he wasn’t married to my step-grandmother so his sons have the last name of my step-grandmother’s ex-husband. (Yes, its a big ole soap opera that I’m not going into at this moment.) Anyhoo, because of this my grandfather’s last name is essentially ending with him. So, the last name of my pen name is going to be Ziska to forever plant our particular branch of the Ziska name with a published work.

What is the entire pen name going to be? Well, right now I am planning on having it as “Gene Ziska”. Why Gene? My grandmother’s middle name was Gene and so is mine. It’s a middle name I never particularly was fond of and have kept it a heavily guarded secret over the years. Why? For one, Gene is the male spelling of Jean and I was a hard core tomboy growing up so it ended up being a little too close to masculine for a personality that was already far less feminine than any other girls I knew. I am female and people forget that often enough as it is. If I didn’t have boobs I’d be a lost cause.

Renovation Update

Just throwing a quick update in regards to the renovations we are doing!

Our 5 year Homesteading plan

So, no pictures of the rooms or staircase yet for you but we finally have a floor and an installer! We ended up not going with Home Depot but a contractor who agreed to install for 0.99sqft as long as he could install the baseboards too, a whole extra $160.00. 😀 We are so stoked! I’ve got a picture of the flooring we got from Lumber Liquidators below.

We are in turbo time now because I have a lot of projects going on and he plans to start installing this weekend! So, still some more things to tweak downstairs before we are ready but it’s much closer now! I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Another project I am working on right now is sewing a Halloween costume for work, we are having a Halloween costume contest and the winner gets $100.00. 🙂 This will be the…

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Loot Crate and ComiCon

I’ve had this post prepped for awhile but I was having issues uploading the photos! Finally got them up so I can finally publish the post! Sorry it’s been so long!

 

So, I was kinda disappointed with last month’s Loot Crate. It was the Galactic theme and I thought it had a lot of promise. Unfortunately there was really nothing in it I liked very much. I don’t even believe we kept anything out of it. From what I recall there was a Hal figure, from Firefly which I have never seen, an Alien figure, a Tribble toy, Pop Rocks, a button… oh and a Han Solo poster of when he was trapped in bronze. So, I sold the Tribble, gave away almost everything else and I am hoping this next box is a winner like the first box, or as promised I will be cancelling my membership. I did promise that if it wasn’t worth it after three months we wouldn’t continue. First box was awesome, second a flop.

This month was much better. The theme for October was Fear. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the T-shirt. It’s black and white cats shaped to form a skull. Very cool and right up my alley. There is a signed #132 The Walking Dead comic, I don’t read it or watch the show so not a huge seller for me. There was a miniature of a weapon from a show/game that I have never heard of. It’s pretty cool looking. There was a candy in the box called “Toxic Waste” that is Black Cherry flavored. Also, the little mag they make detailing all that goes into the box was in 3D and they send cardboard 3D glasses. That was cool, I enjoyed flipping through it even though my glasses were squashed and didn’t sit right on my face. Hmmm… what else… Oh there was a survival book in there which looks like it might be entertaining to flip through as well. I haven’t decided if I am going to continue Loot Crate. I would rate this box was middling as the T-shirt, which I loved the most, was a women’s XL and looks more like a women’s medium and barely squeezes over my chest. (Yes, I pulled that kitty shirt on regardless of the size and even considered going out in public even though it was plastered to my skin.)

Aside from Loot Crate, we did go to a Palm Beach ComiCon. It was my very first convention and we enjoyed it. Got some SAO (Sword Art Online) post cards, 52 in total, and three prints from a local artist – which are all awesome! I’ve got pictures fromt the con and more pictures of the prints below.

 

 

aaaaannnnnndddddd…  the PRINTS:

 

 

 

We met up with some friends too and had a great time running around to all the booths. I’ve decided that next time I go to a ComiCon I am going to try cosplay. I was thinking Totoro or Nausicaa. What do you think?