A Room of My Own

Virginia Woolf wrote that women fiction writers needed an independent income and a room of their own to work properly and become famous.  When Angie got married I converted her bedroom to a room of my own.  Still working on that independent income.

Desk and Storage Space

I can close up the mess in an instant.  The armoire was originally purchased for storage in a condo we rented when we moved to Nashville.  The room had no closet and I got tired of seeing Jim’s office stuff scattered all over.  By the way, he has a room of his own.

The Tangible Muses

Hawaiian pool boy and Sherlock Holmes.  What more could a writer want?

 

Hemingway had a six-toed cat whose descendants populate Key West.  I have three cats with normal feet who will never have descendants.  This is Charlie.

 

 

 

Barbara empties my wastebasket and taps my elbow – frequently.  The trunk on the left came from Marshall’s.  It holds “stuff” I need for quick reference.  Otherwise, everything would be on the floor. for Oliver’s amusement.  He loves to tear paper.

 

Oliver, my third cat, prefers sleeping on the bed.  He is easily confused with Charlie.  Occasionally I have to see them together to tell them apart.

Book Wall

Jim built and hung (hanged?) these boxes.  Still have room to add more boxes if necessary.  They make organizing books easy.

I like college-ruled marble composition books for everyday writing.  Office Depot puts them on sale for 99 cents in late July, early August, and in January.

I’m considering moving out the bed and putting in a large table because I manage to spread papers everywhere.  Stay tuned.

Blizzard of January 10, 2011

Big snow storm predicted for tomorrow throughout North Alabama and Middle Tennessee.  Accumulations for our area are all over the weather map – 1″ according one source and up to 15″ according to another.

As I scrolled through my Facebook page the comments by friends and friends of friends struck me as quite funny.  They reminded me of a skit a radio station did in Charlotte, NC when I was a teenager.  “An ameba was spotted east of Charlotte on Highway 74.”  Listeners that had a clue called the station and reported other ameba sightings and the reports were broadcast.  Otherwise there was a minor panic in town and the station apologized the next day.

The blizzard may or may not occur.  However, the comments on Facebook are worth reading.  The identities of the posters are omitted to protect their privacy.

Starting to feel very hopeful.  Come on phone, bring me some happy news.

One woman’s hopeful is another woman’s despair!  I was just getting in the “yay! kids are back in school” groove and getting my house tidied from the Christmas break.

Our school is already canceled for tomorrow and the first snowflake has not even fallen

I don’t want a snow day.

Alabama is now closed for the winter.  See y’all on Tuesday at the latest.

Just got the call – Lauderdale County Schools closed tomorrow…. And not a snowflake in the sky yet.  LOL!  I TOLD you that’s how it would go down!

Jersey schools called at 6PM to say that there would be a half day of school on Friday, then called again at 5 am to cancel…… once again wish we were in Alabama…

Gov. Riley declares State of Emergency in Alabama www.waff.com

Florence Walmart is out of milk.  Shocking, I know.

Wilson Dam is closed

Snowing now in B’ham and Hamilton–moving our way. The hospitals are asking staff to come in early and to bring clothes for 3 days plus bedrolls.

Was scheduled to go to work at 5:30, but is very glad to hunker down for the evening because of the snow and ice.

Snow is reported to hit Franklin around midnight. Franklin Streets crews will be in before the snow begins to fall to load salt trucks and hit the primary and secondary streets throughout the night. Up to 5 inches is expected by Williamson County Emergency Management.

Waiting to get stuck at work because of the snowpocolypse….

 

 

 

Free Book!

When it comes to books, I’m a sucker for a catchy title or the word, “Free.” This morning I went through my blog subscriptions in Google Reader and found a freebie at www.createwritenow.com.

The book is “We Are All Writers: How to Use Your Journal to Cure Writer’s Block Now,” by Mari L. McCarthy. It’s in PDF format and downloadable. Ms. McCarthy walks the reader through five exercises in ten pages. Each exercise has more powerful results than the one before it.

The nice thing about the book is that it has applications beyond overcoming writer’s block. Journaling is good for one’s mental health, which can improve physical health. If you think you might want to journal but don’t know where to start, check out the website.  And for Pete’s sake, get the free book!

The Woodpecker Who Wouldn’t Peck Wood

We have a fairly large deck at our cabin in Canada.  When a certain friend was still able to go to the cabin for Neanderthal Week (what else can you call it when three middle-aged men spend a week in the woods?), he dragged three dead branches of varying lengths and shapes out of the woods and attached them to the deck rails.  Voila!  Free bird feeder poles.

One pole holds a hummingbird feeder, and the other two hold feeders filled with sunflower seeds and a sock filled with thistle.

A mixed up hairy woodpecker visited them all and decided he really needed a sugar fix.  Somehow he managed to hold on to the perch and suck down nectar.

Occasionally he goes to the feeder with the sunflower seeds.  He pulls out seeds and throws them on the ground for the chipmunks.

The surprising thing is that he often perched on our wooden “poles” and showed no interest in engaging in normal woodpecker behavior.  The only time we heard a woodpecker noise was when a pileated one checked our utility pole for bugs.

Medical School – Part 1

At the tender age of xx-something, the chances of my being accepted into medical school anywhere are nonexistent.  Even if I got in, my brain has minimal retention and, what’s stamina?  So I’m doing the next best thing – becoming a doctor through the internet, where all information is accurate and current.   If I forget something, I can look it up at my leisure.

The precipitating event is my recent adventure as an inmate at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.  VMC is a world-class institution and I can’t say enough good things about the quality of care given.  Meals – well, that’s another story.

The reason for my “incarceration” was a low platelet count.  Low, as in only one-fifth of the necessary minimum.  The condition is known as thrombocytopenia.  If it comes from an unknown cause, then it’s called idiopathic thrombocytopenia.  Idiopathic is another word for “clueless,” as in – I have a daughter who is idiopathic about sports, but she is photogenic.  I, on the other hand, am not photogenic, but am un-idiopathic about sports.

My reason for entering Internet Medical College (IMC) at the University of Google is to become a better medical consumer.  Learning why neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils are significant helps me do that.  What I’ve learned so far is that neutrophils and platelets are important.  So I have neutropenia and thrombocytopenia – two penia.  Oh!   The jokes I could make about that!

If you don’t have enough platelets, your doctor calls you on a Saturday morning and says, “Get thee to the ER or your head might explode.”  Okay, I added the part about the exploding head, but he did say that if the platelets drop any lower, then spontaneous bleeding was possible.  If it happened in my head, I would have a very bad day.  At that time, my platelet count was even lower than the one-fifth of minimum.  I learned that putting blood in a test tube with sodium citrate as a medium raises your platelet count.  It sounds like cheating on a blood test.

So I spent most of the day in the ER with groups of people coming by, asking questions, and saying, “Mmmm.”  When doctors say, “Mmmm,” it means they’re idiopaths because my answers to their questions were wrong as a diagnostic tool.  Since VMC is a teaching institution, the residents (who, by the way, do have adult supervision) have to work harder at developing a diagnosis.  When they finally admit to being completely stumped, they declare idiopathy and tag out to another department.  In my case, that’s hematology.  Stay tuned for the next class at IMC.

Pay Attention!

Not all cities have access to Groupon, a discount system for restaurants and other attractions.  Nashville does and I signed up to have offers delivered to my e-mail inbox.  One day last month the offer was for yogurt – I assumed the frozen variety, so I bought two series of five each.  They were a little pricey ($25 for five) so I figured it must be extra good.

Imagine my surprise when I found out I just purchased ten yoga classes.  Not a bad thing, mind you, but a far cry from a cool and refreshing dessert.  Basic yoga – how hard can that be?  Yoga is a civilized exercise system.  The most important thing, as it is with any activity, is to have a cute outfit.  Outfit and mat purchased, I showed up for the first class last week.

Soothing music played in the background as our instructor introduced us to poses.  No jumping, running in place, or flapping arms.  No sweat.  Ha!  You could have refilled the Dead Sea seven times with what poured off me in that hour.

Being a vehement anti-exercise person for many years, my center of gravity shifted.  Whatever part is in the air wants to come down.  So there I was, hands and feet on the mat, butt in the air, and she said, “Lift your right leg.”  I learned that not only is gravity not my friend, but I’m also asymmetrical.  Balancing on three appendages is physically impossible.  Gently lowering myself to the floor can’t happen either.  The earth’s gravitational pull is too strong.  Had my mat not been extra thick, I would have cracked three ribs.

Second class was last night and I learned that yoga class is like church.  You have to get there early to find a spot on the back row.  Did I mention that I’m by far the oldest person in the class?  Young, trim bodies and me.  Oy ve.  Only eight to go!

No Regrets

Miss Carpenter, my ninth grade biology teacher, once said to our class, “Be careful what you wish for.  You may get it.”  Last week I wished to wake up to a sunny day and have the sunshine remain throughout the day.  Today I got my wish.  Hey, Miss Carpenter!  I’m not sorry!

After the great flood of May 2, 2010, we’ve had lots of cloudy days with high humidity.  And there has been even more rain, although not the 18 inches we got in early May.  Sunshine at 7 am consistently turned to overcast by ten o’clock.  Add high humidity, and you have an unpleasant May and early June.

Not today.  Sunshine early lasted all day.  Now it’s after 5 pm (CDT) and no clouds are in sight.  A breeze, low humidity, and birds singing in the woods make sitting on the patio a pleasure.  I also don’t regret not being eaten by mosquitoes.  It’s a great day in the neighborhood!