It’s time to step up, or step down.

Mediocrity should not be your life’s goal. Just getting by is kind of like failing. Because you’ve gotten away with it before, or someone else has, doesn’t mean that the game isn’t changing – or worse, about to change. Don’t get caught behind the ball on this one.

Step up, or step down.

If you don’t see it coming, pretend someone just handed you a greeting card where the only message is, “Things are going to change.” That’s just a fact of life. Why not change before the change slaps you in the face and proves how unprepared you are? The worst case scenario is that you change with everyone else. The best case is that the people who matter notice your effort and reward you for it.

Oh, come on. It’s not even an option.

Step Up.

Photo Credit

I heard about Happy Cow Day belatedly as well. It was May 5th, and we were driving to a Cub Scout event. The conversation went (somewhat hilariously) like this.

Husband: So, yesterday we celebrated Happy Cow Day.

Me: Cow day?

Husband: No, Happy Cow Day. Bunny, why do we love cows? What do they give us?

Dot the Official Happy Cow Day Spokescat

Bunny (my daughter): Meat, milk, love, and more cows!

Me: *dies laughing*

Happy Cow Day is now an official Iveys Jr holiday. Next year I believe I will plan ahead and buy a cake with cow spots. Our cat is already of the black and white variety, and she can be our Official Happy Cow Day mascot. Yes, she is a cat and not a cow. But she’s got the weight and colors covered, and really, is two letter’s difference really worth fussing over?

That’s all I’ve got. And yes, these 234 words are going toward my daily writing count! (If I could be bothered to count anymore, that is.)

Cow Portrait Photo Credit

When I was in 9th grade (maybe 10th), I got myself a notebook. I sat down with my best friend Christina on the steps outside the Seminary’s chapel with a pencil in hand, and we started writing.

I’m not sure how her story went, but mine took off. I wrote during Biology, I rushed to other classes and wrote in the minute or two I had before the bell rang, and I probably wrote in every

available second I could eke out.

It wasn’t very good. I shamelessly used my friends and family as characters. I even used the Seminary grounds we lived on as fodder. I think I killed off one person relatively early, but the rest went on an epic road trip from Missouri to Indiana, and further on. In the end, of course, my character ended up getting married in a double wedding, and the other bride and I had typically garish, late-80′s prom dresses as gowns.

But I wrote it quickly. There was always time to write just a couple more words, even if I didn’t finish the sentence. The thing that sticks with me the most is how much my writing hand hurt during those frantic sessions.

Since then, I haven’t picked up a notebook to write more than a few pages of dialog, or maybe just the start of something to see if I like it. I generally end up taking a break from the notebook, forgetting it somewhere, and have just enough time to convince myself that the story stinks, that I’d rather be writing something else, or that typing would be faster.

We’ve had a rough April around here. I won’t get into the who’s and how’s and why’s, but I haven’t done a lot of writing. There simply hasn’t been time. I’ve been too busy managing crises, worrying, stressing, and just trying to hold myself together long enough to get to the next day. I started both Camp NaNoWriMo and the A to Z Challenge in April, and while I did make my best e

ffort at both, life was simply too important. I had to set the writing aside and focus on the things that were demanding immediate attention.

My characters, fortunately, understood.

But the last two days of April and the first few days of May were looking brighter. I had gone to Target to pick up some storage and organizational supplies, and of course when I walked past the office supply section, I couldn’t help but look over the notebooks.

There was a cute Hello Kitty notebook with glitter on the cover. My daughter just finished up her Hello Kitty notebook, so I stuck that one in the cart for her. And since I thought perhaps my son’s doodle notebook for school was getting a little full, I found a very nice Angry Birds (but not too angry) notebook for him to slide in the cart next to Kitty. And then me. I was leaning towards the glitter-covered one, but that would have blown the other two out of the water. I didn’t want to start a fight over who got which notebook that left me with Angry Birds, so I went with the tried and true Mead college-ruled. (In red. Of course.)

And when Monday, April 29th hit, I thought, why not? And started writing. 33 pages (and six different pen inks) later, I’m still writing. I’m still eking out little spots in my day to write a sentence, or half of one. I’ve averaged about six and a half pages a day, which is exciting for me.

I’ve stopped keeping track of words. That’s for NaNoWriMo (which I love and adore). Right now, I just want to see where this story takes me.

It started with some flowers given to me to brighten my day.

I do. Now.

And did you know that if it’s not, then there will be miles and miles of galvanized piping (that likes to spring leaks, by the way) leading half the length of a 76′ long home, and then back again to the furnace and summer/winter hookup?

I do, and it’s just a giant cock up (why yes, I have been watching a lot of Gordon Ramsey lately, thank you!).

Finally, did you know that is entirely manageable to live without water in the entire house, turning it on occasionally for flushing and drinks and dishes?

Well, it’s a pain in the butt, but it is manageable. Even with two kids.

So in the start of April we had the furnace company come out and give everything a good shake-down. It was all in tip-top shape, but to my surprise, there was a bit of a leak going on. We dealt with it for the weekend until it filled a giant trash can in a day.

Then we called the plumber. He had to tear down some paneling on the walls and on the ceiling, but he found the hole. He tried to be as gentle as he could, but more damage was done as he tried to get things to a joint. When all was said and done, we had a nice bill, some new blue piping, and homework for the summer to tear down all the paneling and ceiling tiles in the basement so when we’re ready to have everything seriously looked at, they can see what the heck they’re doing.

A week later, I’m taking a Sunday shower. And the shower doesn’t shut off. Like, the shower head stops pouring out water, but the spigot is now still spewing water (and as a bonus, it’s all hot). Since we’d had the plumber out exactly a week earlier and gotten the warranty, it was a regular charge for a weekend visit. The problem…well, who the heck knows, but we ended up with a new faucet and temperature control in the front end, and a hot and cold water shutoff valve on the back end.

I am quite excited about that water shutoff, by the way. So when it’s time to redo the shower, which has more problems than those that have already been addressed, we don’t have to shut off the water to the entire house! WHEE!

So my April has been heavy on the plumbers and furnacemen. But, on the bright side (and it’s quite important to do that, by the way) I have new pipes, new water fixtures, and a functional and clean furnace. I dearly hope I can make it through the summer without another visit from any of them.

I’m not giving up my Camp story, though. I’ve got the thing plotted out for a bit, and I still really like the idea of giving every hour of her day in the dress a chapter. I’ll just have to putz along on the weekends, or maybe this week will clear up and I can catch up.

Is everything okay? That’s hard to say. But I hope it will be soon. Thanks for stopping by, folks. Sorry to the A to Z “delegation” trying to visit 10 blogs every day had to waste a click on this one.

It was perfect. It was THE DAY. The day when all of Cyan’s dreams were going to come true, the day when everything she always wanted would be at her fingertips.

Her boyfriend had invited her out. And not the usual “wanna see a movie?” crap that he usually pulled, but dinner at a restaurant that required a reservation.

Call-ahead seating was just like a reservation, right?

It was fate telling her that all her hopes and dreams had been right, Cyan thought to herself. She’d known he would propose, and when she’d seen that gown, she knew she would be able to wear it soon.

In a somewhat backwards progression, Cyan had purchased her wedding gown six months before, without an engagement ring on her finger. But she’d dreamed about her wedding for what felt like centuries (and were actually at least decades). And she took any excuse to go wedding dress shopping. Coworkers, friends, and when she had stumbled upon that sample sale…

She found her dress that day. She couldn’t tell the woman at the register when her big day was, and she ignored the skeptical consultant who walked by her room, but it was THE DRESS.

And now that Brad was going to propose, her dress would be ready the very next day.

If that wasn’t fate, what was?

“Hey, Cyan.”

She spun at the sound of her True Love’s voice. “Hi!”

Her voice startled them both, coming out in a high-pitched squeal. Cyan cleared her throat.

“Sorry. Hey, sweetie,” she tried again, standing up to kiss Brad on the cheek.

“Were you waiting long?”

Cyan shook her head. “Just got here.”

Twenty minutes ago. But what was time when you were in love?

Her cheeks pinked all on their own in excitement of what she knew was to come.

Brad just smiled. “Good. Well, shall we?” He turned to the hostess station and gave his name. Cyan reached forward and pulled his hand into hers, twisting her fingers between his in what she hoped was carefree and not too desperate.

They were seated in a cozy corner booth that somehow faced the entire restaurant and yet afforded complete privacy. Cyan squeezed in first, and Brad followed her, sitting close when they finally both found the perfect position.

“So how was your day?”

Cyan smiled. “Fine. Yours?”

“It was good.” Brad didn’t look up from the menu.

She forced herself to look back at her own. So much for meaningful conversation. Well, she could deal with banter for now. The good stuff would come later.

Or maybe it would come now, she thought nervously as she stared at a picture of delicious-looking food that she suddenly had no appetite for. Maybe he would ask after they ordered.

Unless he asked after dessert! She should order something light in either case so she could eat quickly and not have too much weighing her down when he actually asked her. It wouldn’t do to get sick all over her new fiance.

“Well, I think I’m going to have the Cowhand burger,” Brad said, snapping shut the menu.

“I probably could have ordered for both of us,” she thought aloud without thinking. “Your food would have been ready when you arrived.”

Brad looked disappointed. “Oh, you should have thought of that twenty minutes ago. That would have been perfect.”

Cyan’s gaze snapped up to Brad’s eyes, but he was looking over the drinks menu, and she couldn’t tell if he was serious.

She shook it off. Of course he wasn’t serious. She just couldn’t always tell when he was joking, that was all. They would have the rest of their lives to figure each other out.

She couldn’t stop the smile creeping across her face.

“What are you going to have?”

Ah, focus. Food. “The never ending bowl of chicken, broccoli and rice, I think.”

“You know you never end up finishing that, right?”

“I know, but it’s so good.”

Brad shrugged. “Well, don’t forget to order your own milk. You always end up begging on mine when you finally remember it’s too spicy for whatever fruity drink you end up ordering.”

“Right.” Whatever. It was spicy, but so good.

The waitress came and took their order, and Cyan followed Brad’s lead. No champagne. Since he ordered his usual beer, she got her usual flavored martini. They sat in relative silence while he checked his email and they waited for their drinks to arrive.

She finally couldn’t wait any longer. “So what’s up?”

“Nothing,” he replied, his eyes on one of the many televisions in the restaurant.

“We don’t usually go out, is all,” Cyan pressed. “I really like it. We should do it more often.”

“Yeah,” he replied.

Was it her imagination, or did he look nervous?

“Actually, Cyan, I did ask you out for a reason.”

She tried not to look like she knew what was happening.

“Yes?”

“We’ve been together a long time now,” he said, his attention finally on her.

She couldn’t keep her hands folded in front of her any longer. She reached to clasp his cool hands in her own warm ones. “We have. A few years now, I think.”

Three years, six months, two weeks…well, she was excited but she wasn’t obsessive.

(…three days and five hours…)

“Right. Three years.”

She nearly couldn’t hold back her elation. He remembered! It was about to happen!

“And that’s why I think we need to take a break.”

Cyan watched her world shrink to the way Brad’s mouth moved as he said…something. She actually had no idea what he was saying.

She wondered instead if anyone was watching her heart break right now. Would they sweep them into the trash at the end of the night, or pick them up now while the mess was fresh.

He was still holding her hands, even though her grip had completely fallen away. There was a buzz in her ears, and after a few moments it cleared up to be his voice, asking if she was okay.

Was she okay? Was he an idiot?

“Yeah, you know, a break is a great idea,” Cyan heard herself saying. She removed her hand from his and took a sip of her drink.

She didn’t notice if she spilled, or if her hands shook as she raised it to her lips.

“Really?”

She saw the surprise flash across her boyfriend’s face, followed by a shaky smile.

“Yeah,” she answered, taking another sip.

Her drink was gone. What had happened to it? Cyan held up her glass and motioned their server for a refill.

“Yeah, you know, a break is good. So we both know we have our heads on straight, right?”

“Exactly,” Brad agreed. He heaved an enormous sigh. “Cyan, you are the best. I know that’s why I fell in love with you.”

Her refill arrived. She took another sip before the drink even hit the table, and forced a smile. Was it good enough?

Good enough for Brad. He smiled and went back to his phone and his email.

Cyan ordered another drink.

———————–

Daily Word Count: 1183
Total Word Count: 1183

This blog is participating in both Camp NaNoWriMo and the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

The new laptop needs to be able to play movies via iTunes, let me write, and let me self-publish (with InDesign and Publisher, maybe Illustrator). I really don’t know what I need, except that it needs to be more than what I have now (2GB of memory and 80GB of hard drive).

With the Dell I can get a 15″ laptop that has 8GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive, which is much more than my current situation on all counts. But with an HP I can get a 15″ laptop with 16GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive for less than $1400. This is appealing, and about the same as I would spend on the above-mentioned Dell.

Then there’s Apple. My office computer will sometime soon be an Apple machine. I hold no delusions that the office will pay for my laptop, so I would have to fork over the funds myself, and boy, they’re not cheap. I could go with the 13″ MacBook and get the 8GB of memory and 1TB hard drive for the same price as both of the above. A smaller screen, but A) it’s an Apple, and B) it’s nearly the same price. Not the Retina Display, of course. $$$

All I need to do is wait to see what the office machine will be like. I don’t have an Apple right now, and I don’t have any experience working with them, so who knows what I’d really need.

But as I said before…well, you know.

Movie Review – Olympus Has Fallen

Oh by the way. I don’t really know what I’m doing. I would have much rather embedded a video (with slides and stuff), but I don’t have the time/patience to figure that out at 1:17 a.m. 1:43 a.m. on Easter morning.

Happy Easter, by the way!

It’s funny how hard things are like that. Things you know you ought to do but are having a difficult time starting. Like writing.

I also found the walking partner I’ve been looking for since I moved to this town. He’s nearly old enough to not give up on me because he’s whining about being too tired/his legs hurt/are we done yet? I may wake him Tuesday morning and see if he wants to split a banana and go for a trip around the block (or five-ten).

Kind of like writing, it’s more fun when there’s someone to share it with.

It’s been a while since you had one from me!

Two…

I’ve always loved the marshmallow-y, sugar-coated confection known as Peeps. So much so that my parents were somehow irresistibly drawn to the area where Peeps are made, and my husband and I just had to join them.

For the peeps.

Three…

I’m getting ready for the kids to have a day off school, my son to have a birthday, Easter, and another day off school, so I’m swamped. I’ve managed to get my taxes in this week, which is awesome, but that’s about it. So enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Photo Credit Joe Plocki