101 Things to Do in a Blizzard Part 2 of 4

Okay it's that time again. A little diversion from the white stuff falling from the sky.

26. Create an igloo in the back yard. Have your kids camp out in it to experience antarctic life. For educational purposes of course.

27. Turn the igloo into an ice hotel and charge admission.

28. Re-engineer the shop vac to act as a snow blower.

29. Pile up all the furniture to the ceiling, throughout the house to support the roof from caving in.

30. Grow facial hair.

31. Renew your NRA membership, clean your guns you may need to protect your home at night from crazy looters (or vampires) when the power goes out. Just saying.

32. Carve a maze and throw your dog out into it. It may just go to the bathroom while trying to find its way back.

33. Pay your kids to give you a massage.

34. Complete a month's worth of homework for your online class. If you're that bored.

35. Pull out the old analog CRT TV and rabbit ears that you have stashed in the attic. Because the snow has covered the Dish.

36. Run a marathon on the treadmill.

37. Create an skating rink out of your driveway. Put the the bread bags on your feet and skate away.

38. Crochet yourself a Snuggie with matching booties.

39. Paint scary faces on the inside of your light shades. Because a young mind is a terrible thing not to screw with.

40. Plot your garden on paper and dream of spring.

41. Stare at the florescent light in the kitchen, for an hour a day, to beat Seasonal Affective Disorder.

42. Invent your own language.

43. Defrost your freezer while you put your food out in the snow.

44. Raid the freezer for those thin mints you bought last year. They should still be good. *Disclaimer make sure you don't grab the 20yr. piece of wedding cake you forgot to eat on your first anniversary. :)

45. Check your house for paranormal activity. I'm sure you'll find some cold spots. And possibly EVPs (if the cat is in heat).

46. Read War and Peace out loud.

47. Open all the undesirable can goods in the back of your pantry and throw them in a pot to make goulash. (Don't be too dishearten if no one eats it. There was a reason you never open the cans in the first place, but at least you tried.)

48. Brush the cat's teeth.

49. Use a blow torch to the melt the snow on your roof.

50. Create a Bomb fire. *Result from doing #49

Enjoy. :)

101 Things to Do in a Blizzard – Part 1 of 4

What I did during Snowmeggedon 2010(or would have done, had I thought of it at the time):

Please take into account that I was holed up in my house for a week straight due to a blizzard (two of them actually, back to back), with hubby, 4 year old daughter and infant son.

1. Dye your hair a fun color, one you’ve never tried before. (I dyed mine burgundy. My husband might tell you its purple, but it’s burgundy.)
2. Make your own slurpees or sno cones out of the new fallen snow. No lemon flavor please.
3. Take an axe to that ugly chair of your husband’s from his college days and throw it on top of the fire wood pile. “Sorry babe, we’ve got to keep the family warm.”
4. Drain your wine collection, one glass at a time.
5. Finger paint the kids bathroom walls. (you’ll have better results if you do this after #4).
6. Blog
7. Update your website
8. Write a murder mystery using an icicle as the murder weapon (it’s the perfect weapon as it melts to ice). Also casting every member of your family can be a very cathartic resolution to the cabin fever blues. NOT TO BE REINACTED, STORY FODDER ONLY. :)
9. Watch Seasons 1 and 3 of Roswell. Skip Season 2, it sucked
10. Watch past seasons of LOST. And still not get it.
11. Challenge your neighbor to a peeing contest in the 55 mph winds. (I swear my husband is a neanderthal) *Disclaimer on this one. Make sure your peeing with the wind not against it.
12. Alphabetize your refrigerator magnets.
13. Annoy all of your facebook friends with blow by blow updates of the snow. “Yep, it’s still white guys.”
14. During the second blizzard watch “The Shining” and reminse about the first blizzard.
15. Paint the toy poodle’s nails a nice shade of red. (Why? Because I can.)
16. Make a SciFi home video.
17. Drag the kiddie pool up from the basement and hold a luau in your dining room.
18. Set up camp in your living room. Roast marshmellows in the fireplace for smores and tell ghost stories.
19. Set up a podcast.
20. Write an iphone application.(A few bones for us geek types)
21. Set up another Twitter account so that you can have a legitimate conversation with yourself.
22. Refine your Bucket List. Because if you make it out of this blizzard alive, you’re going to want to get started on that list right away.
23. Write letters to your children in case you get lost in the 8 foot snowdrifts while shoveling.
24. Play all 13 levels of the Disney Princess game for the Wii with the four year old. Not once but four times. That’s 54 levels of a kiddie game. 54.
25. Take up ice carving using Instructional videos on You Tube.

Tell me what you did? Also, let me know if you got any suggestions to add to the list.

More snow is on its way so be prepared and I’ll be sure not to delay on further ideas.

The Cluttered House

I’ve always professed to be domestically challenged but the truth is that I could be domestically proficient if I so chose. I use choice in a loose manner here because if you are an artist, in whatever form that takes, your need to express it takes on more of a necessity (like breathing) rather than something you just like to do.

The problem is that no matter how you slice the pie there is only 24 hours in a day.

The breakdown for this working mom with small children who is finds art essential to their survival:

For this working mom the largest slice goes to work. This includes getting ready for work, getting the kids ready and off to daycare, the commute and work itself. Then the second shift starts, feeding and bathing the kids trying to spend a little play time with them before putting them to bed. After which are the dishes, the animals and the minimal house work to keep you out of complete filth. Finally, it’s time that you may have all to yourself. Which which I try to keep to an hour but always ends up being longer. That leaves about 4 ½ hours for sleep with the caveat that with an infant you are lucky if you able to get that much.

The weekend dynamic changes but with small children a majority of the work hours shift into the family obligations and a few more get shifted into the house (like laundry), but personal time pretty much remains the same.

At first spending all my free time on the house made me depressed and resentful of my family. But then when I stole a little time for myself the shame set in, embarrassed when anyone showed up unexpectedly. It was a horrible catch twenty two.

What about family help? Well as most know keeping after them to help ate up just as must time, if not more, as doing it yourself. Not really a trade off and more of a time suck than a time save and the added stress didn’t solve anything.

Miserable I had to have a talk with myself and I came to the conclusion that I only opinion that mattered was my own and my family’s.

So the next time you walk into a cluttered house where the coats aren't hung up, the table is loaded with mail and school papers and there is an obstacle course of toys, be kind. An artist guised as a working mother probably lives there.

Da Count - My Sister Rocks!

There couldn't be two people who are more different yet the same. Two peas in a pod and my soulmate throughout time. The first person I call and the person who just gets me.
She has always been my cheerleader even for some of my lamest ideas (And believe me I've had some real hum dingers). Most recently she was been taking my toddler for weekends so that I could write, which is only one of the thousands of reasons I appreciate her. Believe me when I say there are way too many to possibly list them all.

The bottom line is that she has always given me more then she has ever received from me, which humbles this big sis. Therefore she is very overdue for a Da Count nod.

People Watch - Happy Guy

There is a stretch of road where, everyday, I see this runner on my commute home. He's a sixty-ish year old whose skin is shrunk wrapped to his bones and runs with his arms flailing and generally in a Speedo.

I can say one thing for him, he's got dedication (or he's insane, the jury is still out on that) being that he is out running rain or shine. But what gets me the most is the look of sheer agony on his face, which led me to nickname him, "Happy Guy".

Go Happy Guy.

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Quirk, Flaw or Imagined Secret:

Da Count - My 2 Feet

I'm standing on my own two feet (which is a good thing because if I were standing on your feet that might hurt).

I've realized lately that my feet are probably the most unappreciated part of my body. They are down there at the end of my legs. They get me around. They've been shoved in all kinds of shoes, blistered, swollen and gotten cold. So this week I'm putting a shout out for the feet, I want them to feel a little more appreciated.

Not that I won't ever shove them into a pair of back breaking heels again out of vanity, but I'm giving them a little more TLC these days. I'm putting them up more often. Slipping them into sinfully soft slippers whenever I can. Had a pedicure which goes without saying, with summer sandal season coming and all. And I opt to wear my beloved gray laceless Converse sneakers, all the time now. (Which probably are deserving of their own count. I love these shoes.) Ah, comfort.

Hmm.....might start a movement.



LOL. Enjoy your week and love the feet you're in.

Character Creation on #writechat

#writechat is a forum on Twitter that occurs every Sunday from 3-6pm EST, where writers get together to chat about the processes of writing. A question is posed to start the discussions but the chat can go anywhere.
April 26, 2009 I actually stopped by because I saw that the topic was character creation. My favorite.

WritingSpirit Today's opening question for #writechat comes from @LiberalViewer1: Character creation? How to do it? Techniques, etc?

My top 5 favorite tweets on the topic were:

1. Lgraysewell@WritingSpirit I usually make up backgrounds for people on public transportation then develop into characters #writechat

2. Lgraysewell #writechat. Also make up characters based on contents of a person's grocery cart. Very fun and a good imagination prompt.

3. PennyAsh #writechat Another thing, give your character a flaw. Or two. Perfect people are boring.

4. marynelson1 Character creation starter = what does s/he need/want more than anything? Then how s/he gets it (his/her way). #writechat

5. marynelson1I used the "Snowflake Method" one year during NaNoWriMo. Very helpful. http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php #writechat


If you are on Twitter and want to attend this forum or search past entries, go to search.twitter.com and put #writechat in the search box.