We are finally home from our ten days in Disney and with my parents. I’m excited to announce that this blog will be transferring from a written word blog into a photography blog as well. When I was in the Air Force, I worked in the “marketing” department– aka Visual Information. Basically, I QCed all the photographic products going in and out of Cannon and Minot AFBs. I really miss that type of work, and have decided to go back into it. I’m finally getting a decent camera, similar to the ones I worked with when I was active duty, and I’m going back to school as well. I wanted to find employment here in Florida, but it just isn’t in the cards anymore. The next two years, Shane will be a squadron commander. The only employment other than retail is government contracts, and unfortunately, due to his role as a commander, I cannot get a job with any government contractors. Next fall, I’m enrolling in a few classes to upgrade my skills– I will be taking several creative writing courses to both poetry and prose, digital photography, graphic arts, journalism, and some marketing and management courses. I’m also considering getting my microsoft certifications, but I don’t really want to go back into the computer programming business. I’m purchasing a Canon EOS Rebel 60-D from a friend of mine next week. I’m really excited about this new adventure, if I don’t get a job, or anything from it, it will be just worth doing something that I enjoy doing.
Month: March 2014
Rule Number 1:
Do not mess with an autism mommy. Rule number two: Do not mess with an autism mommy who just drove 7 1/2 hours through tornadoes to get home with her two kiddos after a spring break at Disney where said kiddo with autism had a fever the last two days.
Today someone broke rules one and two, and she was told in no uncertain terms that handicapped placards are for ALL people with handicaps, not just feeble minded old farts, who mess with autism mommies. If she was going to be crabby about it, she can take her crabby, old, wrinkly ass back up north where she came from. Otherwise, SHUT THE HELL UP! And to prove that I needed that spot, my darling son took off in the parking lot while she was reaming me with terms of endearment (like Sweetie), and I was chasing him down to put shoes on him.
What is it with Military Spouses?
I’m active on military spouse websites. I have even written for, and have articles published on various publications. One theme I have noticed is the “tough” military spouses telling those that are not so “tough” to stop being wimps, if you can’t cut you and your spouse better “rethink” his employment, and other descriptors such as– whiners, entitled, wimps, and even implying that there is a certain criteria that makes you a REAL military spouse. The same spouse who say things are the first to call others’ names are the first to complain that they are not included in unit activities. I so want to say, do you detect a TREND?!? It’s not that others are entitled, wearing their rank, or excluding you because you are a such and such wife. It’s because, in general, you are unpleasant to be around. If you are the spouses whispering in the laundry about the woman who doesn’t drive herself around, because she’s afraid of getting a driver’s license in a foreign country. If you are the spouse who quickly asserts that the only reason you are not included in military spouse clubs is because the spouse club is full of rank wearing witches. If you are the spouse who constantly finds herself writing wimp, entitled, suck it up, or whiner on Facebook sites, perhaps, you should look in the mirror as to why you are excluded. It is not others that are being exclusive it’s you…
Lent Day #10
I was prepared to post this wonderful post highlighting all the fashion finds I received from Stitch Fix and the couple of pieces I bought at White House | Black Market, but alas, the box from FedEx has disappeared into oblivion. So instead you get this boring blog, with no pictures. Today is my birthday. I ran 3.8 miles, because that’s how old I am. So maybe next week, if my Fix ever comes, I will model some new clothing.
Lent Days #9 and 10
This weekend is a busy one. Of course, the obvious I will be turning 38 this year (where did all the time go?). Not so obvious– there is a race, there is a conference on children with autism and puberty, there is a baseball game, there is religious ed, there is church, there is running, and there is no time for anything else. Yesterday we went out for my birthday on a surprise date. We went to a concert, out to eat, and to Walmart, because what date is not complete without visiting the local Walmart. We would have gone to Publix, but we discovered the bygone era of a 24-hour grocery store are now gone. The only place open for 24-hours is either Walmart, or CVS pharmacy. We also realized that Walmart is BUSY after 10:00 PM.
So that sums up my weekend– busy and a date that involved going to Walmart…
Lent Days #7 and 8
The rough couple of days have continued and ended at the same time. Yesterday I ventured to breakfast with the ladies at “Another Broken Egg” in Destin, then went shopping and picked up new bras, underwear, and “business casual” clothing. I have been out of the workforce for nearly 13 years, and the dress for command school is business casual. The pieces I picked up should be easy to transfer into working wardrobe, plus I can wear them when I go to “business lunches” at Shane’s work. I also got my First Communion and Change of Command dress. I discovered a new store I absolutely love, but absolutely cannot afford to love called “White House | Black Market.”
Today is started at 3:40 AM, when my dogs decided that sleep was over-rated, and ended with Ryan up at 4:30 AM. It’s going to be a tired day. I got no sleep, or very little sleep. Going to try to run, maybe write a bit. I haven’t had much time to write due to all the appointments and life happening the last few days. Hoping to get back into it before Spring Break comes. I would ideally like the story done, and the second novel started before the kids get out for summer. My time writing in the summer will be fleeting.
Lent Day #7
Sadly, I lost my motivation yesterday. I’m suffering from a deplorable lack of motivation. I did manage to gut Ryan’s room, and do the majority of the laundry. Trying again today.
Lent Day #6
I suffer from a deplorable lack of self confidence. One thing that I find really ironic is that I’m spending a lot of time and energy on a book that will likely NEVER be published. The odds are not in my favor with this one. Generally, fan fiction is never published in book format, due to copyright issues, and I have taken liberty to walk all over well-established cannon from other authors, and only am using shadow of characters that originally existed in the original plot line. The main characters of the fan part of the fiction are only secondary characters in this book. The settings have been grossly changed. The only twist is at the end, what you suspect will be completely revealed. And the laughable thing is that I cannot publish it mass market. I suppose I could send it to the publishing company that works in books in this particular genre, but it will likely not get published other than on geek websites. The nice thing is even though it won’t be published (aka another free work), it will get exposed. Since I won’t attempt to publish, and I will be doing the bulk of the editing on my own, it should be interesting how this turns out. By the way, I’m on page 85.
Lent Day 5
I am sick today. It’s called running over 50 miles the last three weeks at an extremely hard pace and my body hating me for it. So we are enjoying a relaxing day after church today. I feel run down and ready for bed, it’s only 5. I decided to do some self-marketing. I’m 75 pages into this thing, and I figure that it’s time to make a public Facebook Page. And update progress on the novel there. I have three more novels rocking around in my little head. I think all I needed was the confidence to sit down and write down the story. To understand the history of it, this story has been in my head since I was 5 years old. In 33 years, I never had the courage, or the time, or the self confidence to sit down and write this story. Now that I do, I feel I opened up a facet of ideas. For a long time, my writing ideas have been little drips filling up a cup slowly. Now that I have gotten a good start and am probably 1/3 of the way through the entire story, more and more ideas are coming out.
So look for more on my Facebook page :)… Just a sneak peak at what’s to come:
Novel #1: Fan fiction (probably will NOT be published first)
Novel #2: Adventure Thriller called “26.2.” Yes it’s about running a marathon. Tag line is “Qualify or Die”
Book #3: A Memoir: “Rules of Engagement: My Life As a Military Spouse with a Spectrum Disorder”
Novel 4/Screenplay1: Fictional work based off of Rules of Engagement, untitled, but Comedic Look at being a military spouse during a deployment. Extreme Murphy’s Law.
Look for the first book to be published in 2015/2016.
Lent Day #4
My writing did not suffer from the golf tournament yesterday, because I was able to sit down for around an hour and write between the vet and the golf tournament. I think the golf tournament was a resounding success. I know that a bunch of people bought raffle tickets and there were some teams that signed up day of the tournament. It was fun. I had a blast and learned a few things about golfing. Namely, that if I had some formal education in the sport, I actually could MAYBE be good at it. I have decided that since the kids are in school, and I’m not training for anything, that it might be fun to go over the Eglin Golf Club hit a few drives on the driving range. It’s relatively inexpensive, and usually the pro is there to help with form.
As far as writing goes, I’m nearing page 40! My first milestone is page 40. The next milestone is page 75. Then page 100. I would like to think I will get to 100 before next week.
Jodi's Going 180 