Monthly Archives: May 2010

At least the blankets are clean

Posted on by Sherri
6

Like the lovable fool he is, my husband promised the children he would sleep with them in the tents in the back yard. And like the good mom/idiot I am, I agreed to sleep there, too. Actually, I agreed because the hubs said he didn’t expect me to. I said, “Why not?” and he replied, “Because I know you.” So that was one thing, I had something to prove. Another thing was that I knew he would let the kids drag their blankets in the dirt, meaning mucho laundry-o for me tomorrow.

While I did save the blankets from being dragged on the ground, whatever it was I felt I needed to prove has not been proved. The way I was oriented in the tent left me about two inches shy of being able to stretch out. My old roll-up mattress was only slightly less hard and lumpy than the ground. My joints protest on the average night, but this was an exercise in torture. Also, there was a bug.

Now, I’ve been camping before. The sleeping arrangements were never my favorite aspect, but I always pulled through okay. However, since the last time I went camping I somehow became middle-aged (might have something to do with all those years passing) and a middle-aged body on the ground is quite a different one than a younger body on the ground. I came in a little after 3 a.m. and haven’t been able to sleep from the aching hips and shoulders. It’s now 5 a.m.

Wonder how the hubs is doing out there. Probably sleeping like a damn baby.

All of nature beckons, but I remain steadfast

Posted on by Sherri
5

I’ve started the final edit of BVA. Thanks to everyone who helped out: Allie, Ian, Dane, Vanessa, and Tony. Working toward a deadline of Monday or Tuesday, and then off to the agent. I was hoping to send it out this week, before the famous screeching halt to which the publishing industry grinds after Memorial Day. (Good luck deciphering that sentence.) Obviously, that didn’t happen.

It’s a Herculean effort to stay in this chair, despite the deadline. The kids are home for the summer, for one. For another, the weather’s beautiful. And lastly, right outside my tree is a mulberry tree loaded with fruit, which means birds, birds, birds. Woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, robins, and lots of others I don’t know. And just now a tiny hummingbird hovered right in front of my window screen and chirped as if to say, “Whaddya doing in there, ya dumb human?” There’s been more birds in my yard this year than ever before, but I’m afraid the neighborhood dog ran off all the bluebirds, because I haven’t seen any since she killed all the fledglings.

So, yeah. It’s difficult to sit in here when all of nature is inviting me outside.

The new theme

Posted on by Sherri
5

Found out there’s a difference between a theme and a template in WordPress. I’d always thought the words were used interchangeably, but not so: template refers to the layout of the website, and theme refers to the look of it. I have a terrible time finding a theme I like with a layout I like. This purple theme is beautiful, but I want two sidebars, one on either side. I’ve always liked that layout best. I wish I had better graphic design skills, and I’d make my own theme.

To help me decide what color my site should be, I’ve asked a question of my kids and their father: What color do you associate with me? I got purple, pink, yellow and black. Hmmm.

Blogging

Posted on by Sherri
4

I find myself wanting to do bullets for every post. With easy separation of my different topics, I don’t have to put too much thought into those pesky segues, or too much work into cohesion. The separation is the key; I’m not married to the bullets. When I saw how Darcknyt separated his topics by bold headers for several posts, I thought that might work better for me, too.

Then I thought I could just separate the topics into their own blog posts like a normal person, but since my blog is a snapshot of my mood at any given time, I find it nearly impossible to write posts for the future. So far I’ve used blogging as a way of impressing my personality onto the Internet, quite unintentionally. I don’t see it as a place to showcase my stories or to write persuasive posts, and I don’t treat the posts like magazine articles the way some do. That’s probably why I don’t draw a lot of readers.

I think I’ll try separating my topics into new posts. I’m experimenting, right? So maybe you’ll get three or four posts this week instead of the usual point-five.