Comforting

I think one of the neatest things is what we find comfort in. We feel bad, and we want Mom's soup. For me, it was her potato soup. She makes the BESTEST. I've tried to make it myself, but it's just not the same. Gotta have that MOM aspect to it, I suppose.

But it's not just food we find comfort in. Songs do that for me too. Some songs just soothe me. Some wrap themselves around me and simply associate it with what I'm feeling at any given moment. Movies especially. Like a song, they can bring back a memory - how old you were the first time you saw it, what was going on in your life, the feelings it gave you when you saw it, and if those are happy memories, it brings those back to you. Like THE PRINCESS BRIDE, for example. The first time I saw it was in a huge auditorm, my first semester at Harding University in my first week there. I was on this high, I guess. First time away from my family, on my own (although in a "dorm" at a university with strict rules, but still...) It was a happy time, and even now, when I watch it, that good feeling comes back.

I collect quilts. My quilts are a comfort. Some are never used though. My grandmother made a couple of them. One was on my bed growing up - that old "Amish doll" style. I don't use it anymore - it's on a quilt rack - because I don't want it "worn" anymore than I did to it as a child. I don't want it to give out and have to get rid of it. I have two others she made - and when I say made, I mean MADE. When I was little, we'd go out to visit Granny and Papa and Gran had this HUGE rack that suspended from the ceiling that she'd lower to work on it, all hand stitched, from the piecing all the way to the actual quilting, matching the batting and the backing. The talent is awesome. The uniform stitching is a true talent. Another one of my quilts was made from my great-grandmother. Heirloom to the extreme.

But other times, I pick up some up at garage sales. I love the softness of them. I love the idea that someone made such a difficult thing out of a need to express herself. And now it's mine. And it's soft. Not too heavy, not too light. Perfect to wrap up in. Even though it wasn't made specifically for me, it brings me comfort anyway, and I like to think that the original creator knows it goes on, bringing peace and warmth to even a stranger.

Right now, my comfort item is a couch. I LOVE this couch. It's so comfortable, and the memories of it are ... well there are no words for the memories this couch holds for me. We just rearranged the entire living room to accomodate this, making it the center of our living room. The last couple of days have been super bad ones for me, and wrapped in a quilt, watching some of my favorite movies, resting on The Couch has been one of the best things ever.

Now if only had my mother's soup.

Update, Bren! Update!

Bossy people!

I had planned on updating after Nationals and uploading some pics to here at the same time. I don't have the photos yet, thus the delay. I actually DO have lots to share, but I really wanted to add the visuals with it, so those things will have to wait for now. So for an update on Nationals, hold up awhile longer.

In the meantime, I've actually been writing. I finally got the laptop working on all fronts, and now it's back to acting stupid again, so I'm trying to write here on the PC. And now my keyboard is going out, hating the E and J keys and refusing to type them until my fingers finally force it out. J isn't that bad, but the E - well, we use E a LOT, in case you didn't realize that. I used to use a split keyboard, which I LOVE. This one is a regular one. Since it's going out, I thought I'd get a new split one, right? Yeah. $70! I couldn't believe the price difference, and places like Walmart and Target don't even carry them now. So looks like I'm going with the $10 plain one from Walmart. Yeehaw.

School has started up here again. Last year, for those that remember, my plan was to write while they were in school, since my youngest would finally be attending fulltime. I kept anticipating the first day in 2005 and then that day came and went and nothing happened. This year, I refuse to lose that time and so I'm working on what I can do to make it easier.

When I started out, the plan was to write romantic suspense. That got shifted over to romantic comedy as I learned about this thing called "voice". Now I'm shifting again - to be announced later - but taking some real life knowledge and applying it to fiction. Should be interesting to see where that goes. Either way, my plan is to take babysteps. I get overloaded on the "big picture" and freeze up. I have this "all or nothing" mentality and it's making me nuts, along with others close to me who witness it. Just like blogging - I put it off until I could do what I'd planned, rather than ANYTHING - which, of course, is better than nothing. Frustrating to be me.

Yesterday, Syd Vicious, age 6, came up with a song. The words are, "I didn't know who you were when you walked into my door, but in a week you changed my life forevah!"

I stared at her for a moment then asked, "How old ARE you?!"

She grinned. "Sixty-seven."

Why am I telling you this? 1) It's cute and my kids are rockin' cool. (By the way, those wondering about Shan's blog - blogger problem and she's going to be redoing it.) 2) Part of my new writing exercise is to blog SOMETHING daily. So those little things like what one of the kids say may be all I have to share. Gotta get you used to it now.

Because I'm sadistic like that.