Rules are meant to be broken

Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"

On Control and Pain

by Teresa Halfacre

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

The relentless pain defines your life. You’re hedged in by all the things you can’t do. It prods you until you are teetering on the brink of insanity, grasping for anything to hold on to. You sort your life into pain and less pain. At times with great effort you can appear normal. Then you try to laugh, socialize, exercise; function beyond survival. On other days, pain overwhelms you and getting out of bed becomes impossible.

…

Pain is a motivator. It drives some people to drug abuse, or suicide. Others become irritable and lash out at whomever and whatever comes near. Still others trudge on, lives bent under the siege. Pain warps your body; it can no longer be trusted. Pain can change your young body into the stiff husk that only an old grandmother should know.

…

Ben and Jerry’s ice cream holds no appeal. It is strewn with cherries, peanut butter, and cookies, colors swirled together, strands of caramel and fudge. It is like wearing a silk shirt from the 1980’s in brilliant colors of bizarre proportions: not in style. You like things black and white, concrete. Vanilla. Chocolate. Dirt drives you to distraction, but the dog-eared pages of books falling apart from use, they are your friends. Old friends. Written in black ink on white pages, they are.

…

You have found one thing that counters pain’s sway over your sanity—control. Control over anything, anything at all, is vital. You search for things that aren’t left to chance, things that are simply reliable. You feel the need to reorganize your house periodically, clean it thoroughly, order it all. On days you feel especially out of control you pull all of the books off their shelves and alphabetize them. You clutch order to stave off the unpredictable.

…

Yet, one day you decide you are going to get out of bed, and make it too. You decide to do more than read the next escapist fantasy book or organize the closet. You find a part-time job and apply to school. Pain is pitiful, and you must do something to not be pitiful. You choose to live your life, because control is about choosing to live despite the circumstances.

thanksgiving on a boat

For Thanksgiving dinner, Dan, Dad, Jeff and I went on the Arogosy cruise of Elliot Bay in Seattle.

A pic I snapped on the walk to the pier.

The second course:

and we are still docked.

The best pic I could muster out of these men:

october weekends

At WWU

At BTC

In Fairhaven (Bellingham)

My pumpkin

An especially awesome bloom

and new rain boots!!

new 'literary' blog

I'm not sure if it really deserves the title 'literary', but I did start a blog for any of my original writes. It will include humor, candor, opinion, memory and whatever else seems interesting to write about.

Check it out: www.whenwriting.blogspot.com

it's blooming!

proof that I don't kill all plants mom gives me

carefully constructed ramblings

oxymoron: a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms

I am fascinated by oxymorons. While I am generally guided by a desire for the literally correct, somehow I have a deviated admiration for contradictions. I search for oxymorons in the books I read, in the names of products, in peoples' speech. I write with oxymorons, because "two sides to every coin" are still a part of the same coin. Light and darkness are opposites, but one doesn't exist with out the other - how else would they be defined? A person is alive, but dying slowly every second they live. Lemonade tastes both bitter and sweet. Contradictions are a part of everything.

So perhaps, my fascination with the contrary is in fact an embodiment of my desire for the literally correct. It is a paradox.

couple weekends ago

I made chocolate zucchini cake

In the back yard of my parents house

We like the hammock

nightmare snatcher journal

I would love to give these to my nieces, (and get one myself) they are awesome!

Check out other journals designs at this etsy site, The Spiderbite Boutique.

we are in an apartment

I had forgotten the woes of living in an apartment building, and this particular apartment has more than it's share.

The first on my list is that, as far as I can tell, everyone else in the building smokes. Smoking is not allowed inside the apartments, so they smoke out on their decks and patios. Inevitably, when I go to dry my clothes, I have to take someone's clothes out of the dryer. Even the clothes stink of cigarette smoke.

During one of the hottest days this summer, we had the windows wide open and a fan in the next room pulling a draft through our bedroom window. The person living beneath us, stood about 6 feet below our bedroom window on his deck chain smoking with a buddy. We were asleep, since it was 2am, but I woke up gagging as the entire apartment had been fumigated with cigarette smoke.

Courageous with indignation at 2am, I managed to immediately stomp down the stairs and confront the smokers. They were fairly polite, and said they would smoke in the front of the building from then on. It lasted a week. They like to smoke at night.

Second on my list of woes, is that the property manager(s) don't manage well. The first manager who rented the place to us, lied about the apartment. We weren't able to see it before we moved in, so we didn't know the bathroom was basically a closet. She told us there was off street parking, or a parking garage across the street for 35/month, both of which were lies. The current property manager has said she will send out letters about the smoking issue, but that was two weeks and several emails ago, without response. She doesn't even respond to an email asking for the utility bill!

Third, and last that I'll mention, is that all of our neighbors are musicians, which is fine when the violinist is playing, but the pianist isn't very good, and the drummer, is well, a drummer.

I'm impressed if you read this far, you are tenacious.

Good things about the apartment:

1. Within walking distance of the library, restaurants, parks, buses
2. Between both of our schools
3. Sort of cute
4. Cozy, in a sort of cramped way
5. We have a fridge
6. Oven
7. Internet
8. Sink
9. Shower
10. Roof over our head
11. Heat (I think)
    
12. ....
    

we are finally in bham

With the help of a fabulous dad and brother, we managed the grueling move to Bellingham. In the process we downsized from a three bedroom house, to a one bedroom apartment - our living room is stuffed with all our belongings which we now have to sort through and get rid of at least half. With one cupboard in the kitchen we have to find someplace else for all the baking equipment that we have accumulated over the last year. But, we do live in dowtown Bellingham, within walking distance of almost everything we need; our internet likes it up here and has been very cooperative; and we are already loving it here in our new cozy 500 sq ft apartment.

Congrats Laura and Craig!

crepes

A family tradition - crepes filled with avacado, fresh peaches and cream cheese, smothered in peach sauce, with a little nutmeg or cinnamon. (Are you drooling yet..?) When (if) I have a cafe, this is the first thing going on the menu.

Umm...my attempt at food art...

the real deal

courtney's graduation

To WI we went for Courtney's Graduation...

At first I thought it was pretty, but after miles and miles of seeing the same thing I wasn't so thrilled :)

Galleria de Courtney

the cake shed

and with a chocolate fountain... :)

Fairies were running around everywhere

The maypole

chasing bubbles

The favorite balloon

At least half the gifts were towels, fortunately fairly color coordinated

I think people were hinting at something (or just know that she works at the pool)...

Yes, blurry - but it could almost be intentional with the glamor look...