Week 12: book intro - Rewrite/add on.

         There are books that you run out and buy, and then there are books that you tell yourself “no we are not reading that”. My book was somewhere in between.

            I told myself that to make Garrett love to reading he needs to see his parent read. I love to read now, but I don’t get to do much reading for pleaser during the semester. So each summer I try to find a book series and let my imagination run its course. I remember that I didn’t love reading when I was Garrett’s age, but if you find that one book that you that you just can’t put down it will all change. Garrett has to find his own books that make his mind race with confusion and wonder because the ones that I read at his age, would not interest him.  In addition as a parent I wouldn’t want him to reading those books at the age of ten or twelve for that matter.

            My childhood wasn’t full of long day in front of the TV. We had outdoor games and indoor games and that was it. We had to learn to entertain our selves sometime we could but other times we would just lay around talking about how boring it was. When I was twelve my best friend stayed with my family for a summer, she moved in with all here clothes and she also brought all her books. Books that I had never heard of after I started reading, I knew that my parent would not approve of. Knowing that my parent would find them inappropriate for my age and also for anyone for that matter made them all the more desirable. I started with the first book in the series, Flowers in the attic, by V.C. Andrews. I could remember picking up the book and being horrified that parents could do that. The book opens with a perfect family and the options are endless. After a tragedy, four sibling the main characters in this story get locked in the attic of their grandparent’s home. Given the hope that one day they can come out and meet their Grandfather. The days turn into months then years, but still being locked away in that attic. The story is full of sadness, death, incest, love and perseverance.  It was so easy to get lost in the story, easily making a connection with the main character Cathy. Could that have happened to me? I remember looking at my brothers and think would I ever love them that way? I would shake my head there is no way that could even happen. I would dream about alternate ends and it would always come back to the authors ending as the only one that worked.

            As a young mind I was so happy that I didn’t have think about what came next in my new friend’s world because there were more book to follow, that way I could know what happened to Cathy, Chris and Carrie.  I was able to watch them grow up at the very same time I was growing up.     

Week 14: mini-research; before writing—

           It’s still too early for the sun to fully shine on the front side of the house. I think to myself I wish I would have started this project in the sunny part of the yard. I pull on my gardening gloves and hand Garrett his; we are ready to finish planting the rest of our bulbs and seeds. I pull the bag of potting soil over, I pour in so my planter is about half full. I dig my hands in to start breaking up the soil; my son shows me his great new technique which to me looks like he’s just making a mess.   But I try it anyway, because that’s what good mothers do, and if you put a little though into it works quite well.  

            After a short while we are ready to plant our bleeding heart bulbs, which look more like roots then bulbs.  I always read the directions of how deep and far apart then when it’s time to start planting I do it the way I want anyway. Maybe that’s why half the time what I plant doesn’t grow.  After a few minutes all the bulbs/root are planted.  I carry the planter to its new home on the front deck.

            Now it’s time to work on the flower bed along the side of my driveway, this year we decided that we wanted to make it a little wider than last year.  We drag the rakes, wheelbarrow, one large spade and one very small one. I think back to when my Mom bought that for Garrett when he was about 4, we dig our shovels into the cold earth.  Thank goodness the sun is at our back now because my pants keep slipping and I start feeling the breeze but the shining sun makes it’s all bare able, till I can stand up and tighten my belt. As I start to toss the dirt into the wheelbarrow I see what looks like huge maggots.

            Both Garrett and I stop dead in our tracks, after a few seconds I knew that they weren’t maggots I was pretty sure they where some kind of grub. I have Garrett go get his Dad, and he confirms that they are in fact grubs.  Ok, so how do we get rid of them? With both us having no idea how to get rid of them, I keep plugging away at widening my flower bed.  Every grub I see I tossed into the sun, I figured they wouldn’t like the sun when they usually live under the dirt.  I planted the last of my seed and decided it time to tackle how to get rid of those gross bugs.

            I know that typing into Google “How to kill lawn grubs?” is going to come back with a lot of different possibilities. Milky Spores was the first options I saw within the all natural remedies.  Who gets to name these things and milky spores? How  Milky Spore works is by spreading it over the soil over time and with the normal feeding process of the grubs they will eat the spore then the bacteria will start growing within the grub and it dies. As it decomposes in the dirt it will then release tons of new spores into the ground preventing any new grubs.

            So I started looking into my other options my husband called from Home Depot asking if I wanted him to buy something to kill the grubs. I told him about the Milky Spores I just read about online and then told him to try to find something natural. “But Amy you want to kill them right? Pretty much anything natural isn’t going to really kill it.” For a split second I thought about composting pile and the recycling bins, I had to remind myself that he does it for me not because he believes in it. “Ok, just get whatever you think is best.”  

Week 13: appreciation/depreciation; the review

I love Netflix’s because it brings movies to your screen that you would never end up watching. One evening this past January everyone was to bed and nothing good was on TV. So I logged into my Netflix’s account and I decided to watch a movie I put on my list months ago. The name of the movie was Dogtooth. It was a movie about a family that home schooled the kids and a woman was brought in to cure the son’s libido.

            I don’t even remember what I was thinking when I added this movie to my list, but there I was 10 o’clock on cold Friday evening turning this movie on. I put an extra piece of wood on the fire and take my place on the couch. Click play, when the sub titles started I thought for sure they would stop after the first few scenes but they never did.  I keep waiting for something to happen within the plot but before I knew it a whole bunch of things happened and I didn’t even notice.    

            When I think back to when I read the review of this movie it seemed very innocent, but after the father hired a female  security guard from where he works to have sex with his son for money.  The first scene within the movie is the father blind folding this woman then putting in a tape during the drive he asks her if she likes the music he is playing; I knew at this point this movie was different.  As the movie goes on I see deception on the aliment level and two very messed up parent raising very some disturbed children. The three children have no idea what’s going on in the world around them; they have never seen the TV or read a book that wasn’t already chosen for them. By the end of movie I was shocked and appalled; I wasn’t sure if I wasted the last two hours of my life or if I learned something.

Week 12: book intro

            There are books that you run out and buy, and then there are books that you tell yourself “no we are not reading that”. My book was somewhere in between.

            I told myself that to make Garrett love to reading he needs to see his parent read. I love to read now, but I don’t get to do much reading for pleasure during the semester. So each summer I try to find a book series and let my imagination run its course. I remember that I didn’t love reading when I was Garrett’s age, but if you find that one book that you that you just can’t put down it will all change. Garrett has to find his own books that make his mind race with confusion and wonder because the ones that I read at his age, would not interest him.  In addition as a parent I wouldn’t want him to reading those books at the age of ten or twelve for that matter.

            My childhood wasn’t full of long day in front of the TV. We had outdoor games and indoor games and that was it. We had to learn to entertain our selves sometime we could but other times we would just lay around talking about how boring it was. When I was twelve my best friend stayed with my family for a summer, she moved in with all here clothes and she also brought all her books. Books that I had never heard of after I started reading, I knew that my parent would not approve of. Knowing that my parent would find them inappropriate for my age and also for anyone for that matter made them all the more desirable. I started with the first book in the series, Flowers in the attic, by V.C. Andrews. I could remember picking up the book and being horrified that parents could that. I soon got lost in the story, easily making a connection with the main character Cathy. Could that have happened to me? I would dream about alternate ends and it would always come back to the authors ending as the only one that worked.

            As a young mind I was so happy that I didn’t have think about what came next in my new friend’s world because there were more book to follow, that way I could know what happened to Cathy, Chris and Carrie.  I was able to watch them grow up at the very same time I was growing up.     

Week 11: expertise, authority

How to avoid school work..

            Every weekend rolls around and I tell myself that this will be the weekend I get all my school work done then I’ll work around the house. I wake up bright and early Saturday morning with that plan in mind. I first make coffee and turn my computer on. I lean on the side board will I waiting for the coffee. I look at the sink full of dishes, telling myself I can’t start writing till I have coffee so I might as well load the dish washer one less thing to do this afternoon.  The coffee finishes when I’m about half done, so about 5 minutes later it done. I make my coffee and make my way to my computer. Everyone is still asleep; the house is so quiet and peaceful. I wish I could just sit back and enjoy the silence; this is when I have to refocus on my goal. I need to stop putting this off I have been all week.

            I take my place in front of my computer, darn it I shouldn’t have let it open Facebook.  Well I’ll just think about what I’m going to write while I see how everyone’s morning is going.  So thirty minutes go by, my coffee cup is empty and I’ve gotten nothing done. I turn Facebook off and open Microsoft word. I’m just about to start typing and everyone starts to wake up, my peace and quiet is gone. The TV in the living room gets turned on and I hear blaring “Obtuse, rubber goose, green moose, guava juice, giant snake, birthday cake, large fries, chocolate shake. Odd parents fairly odd parents. It flips your lid when you are a kid with fairly odd parents!” God I hate that song, the writing mojo that I was hoping to fill me in that very moment was long gone.

            My want and need to achieve homework focus has floated away with that obnoxious cartoon jingle. I know I could just put in my ear buds and play some music to drown it out; I opt no. I’ll just work on it tomorrow. That’s right Sunday morning always are productive. I get up from my desk and began my day of yard work, house work and right in the middle of the day little league practice. A day full of everything but school work, and it sure did feel good.

            My alarm goes off at 7am; I know it crazy that I have a Sunday morning alarm. But morning time is that best time to write. Truth is told this morning started off pretty close to the same as yesterday, I just made muffins instead of loading the dishwasher. Then I sit at my desk with fresh out of the oven Blueberry Oatmeal muffin and steaming cup of coffee. This time it happened, I was able to focus and write. During the school year this is my weekend battle; sometimes I lose focus because family is visiting or project start. Then my Sunday morning alarm goes off and I force myself to get it done.