Just A Little Red

Visitors Are Coming!

Posted on March 24, 2015 by DMW

At the end of this week, we’re having houseguests. Normally, it wouldn’t be a big to-do. I mean we’d have the house clean, but it’s always pretty tidy, and for most people we don’t even dust off schedule, because nothing is ever that dirty. But in this instance, we’re making the visit an excuse to get a lot of things done, and do a lot of things for the house that we have wanted to do for awhile. It’s like spring cleaning, and house repairs and other home improvement stuff all rolled into one.

We got the carpets of our two upper levels cleaned (and could be a blog post all by itself), had a comforter mended, are dry cleaning certain blankets/comforters/pillows and cleaning to the Michael standard. That means everything is put away, organized and spotless – even closets and drawers. And when I say put away, I don’t mean stuffed somewhere convenient so it’s out of the way, I mean put in its rightful place. Taking care of our hardwood floors, the windows, vacuuming everything, dusting, and fixing random things also make the list along with doing the animals’ nails, teeth and for our dog – it’s bath time.

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Posted in Family, home, Life, Love, Personal, Relationships | Tagged "child abuse", "house guest", "reaching out", "self image", "self love", "spring cleaning", father, hope, orphan, parents, visitor | Leave a comment

Confessions Of A Bookaholic – Guilty Pleasures Edition #70 – Sweet Valley High #64 – The Ghost Of Tricia Martin

Posted on March 22, 2015 by DMW

I’m not going to lie; there hasn’t been a Sweet Valley High book this bad in awhile. It took me a week to get through, because it was just hard to stomach. Hopefully this post can spare you the pain of reading it yourself. 😛

“The Ghost Of Tricia Martin”

Sweet Valley Scale: 3 out of 5 Twins

Steven Wakefield is stunned, and elated, when he meets Andrea, a girl who looks, sounds and behaves just like Tricia Martin, his first love. Tricia died from leukemia soon after she and Steven fell in love, but now he can almost believe that she has come back to him. Until Andrea appeared, Steven was happily involved with Cara Walker. He still cares about Cara, but every time he’s with Andrea, he’s reminded of how much he loved Tricia. So Steven refuses to choose between the two girls and sees them both in secret, until his indecision leads to a dangerous accident that may take all of his choices away!

Steven Wakefield is a moron. Seriously, that is the takeaway from this book. So anyway, this girl who works at Unique Boutique looks a lot like Tricia Martin – at least at first glance. Elizabeth and Steven Wakefield, and later even Cara Walker, initially thought they were staring at a ghost. But upon closer inspection Andrea has different colored eyes, and just similar features. But Steven never gets past that first glance apparently, because he thinks they could be twins – and he has identical twin sisters!

Tricia is on the left; Andrea is on the right. Am I the only one not seeing a resemblance?

Steven is in major denial. At first he says he is going to go out with Andrea one time, just to prove she’s nothing like Tricia and get over it. But who is this chump fooling? It turns out Andrea talks just like Tricia and has a lot of the same interests that Tricia did, and makes the same observations… she even dresses like Tricia. But again this is all in Steven’s head. Andrea may have a similar style in terms of clothes, but everything else is Steven projecting Tricia onto Andrea. He only takes her to the places Tricia liked, and Andrea is polite. He leads the conversation and only talks about the things Tricia liked or was interested in. The girl he sees in Andrea is his own creation. And he also keeps calling Andrea, “Tricia.” Creepy, and seriously whack.

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Posted in Book Reviews, Books, fiction, Guilty Pleasures, Reviews | Tagged "dead girlfriend", "guily pleasure", "hang gliding", "mistaken identity", "sweet valley high", “living in the past”, activist, book, cheater, cheating, environmentalist, lookalike, memories, relationships, sweet valley | Leave a comment

Brick Through The Windshield: Tan Truck Versus A Petite Redhead

Posted on March 20, 2015 by DMW

Today an SUV tried to run me down. No this isn’t a story or an exaggeration and as soon as it was over (it happened so fast) all I was left feeling was pissed off. Let me back up. I was running some things to the mailbox at a shopping plaza about a mile and a half away. When it’s nice out I don’t mind, it’s good exercise and I like physical activity. Since I can’t drive medically, I have walked my entire life, miles and miles to a single destination. When I’m stressed or need air or want to be alone with my thoughts – I walk just like some people take a drive.

But I’m a good walker; I mean I am always courteous and follow the rules. I’m the person who will refuse to cross the street without a “Walk” signal, even if there aren’t any cars around. I’m not on my phone or doing anything except watching the lights and other vehicles that may not be as courteous as me. On the way home from the mailbox, I was waiting at a light at the biggest intersection I encounter on this route. I was waiting for about two minutes because I got there, right as the previous green light was ending. Had I not been me, I could have just ran across the street then, and let a few cars wait on me, but I’m nicer than that. The walk signal came on (like the actual walk signal, not just a green light) and I start to cross. I’m a good ten steps in when suddenly this tan SUV comes right at me. It actually sped up instead of slowing down, and it was going FAST! This is six seconds into my walk signal, ten steps into my trek across the street. This person didn’t just “not see me” or thought they could make it – I was in the middle of their damn vehicle and had I not jumped (like actually jumped) out of the way, I wouldn’t be writing this right now. Because the driver would be fucked. I would be fucked. I would be done. I’m 100 pounds soaking wet, and I have a brittle bone disease on top of that. Again, we would have been FUCKED.

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Posted in Life, Personal, Thoughts | Tagged "bad driver", "crossing the street", "hitting a pedestrian", "lesson learned", "run over", car accident, karma, redhead, walking | Leave a comment

Confessions Of A Bookaholic Presents: “Never Knowing” by Chevy Stevens

Posted on March 19, 2015 by DMW

“Never Knowing”
by Chevy Stevens (July 5, 2011)

All her life, Sara Gallagher has wondered about her birth parents. As an adopted child with two sisters who were born naturally to her parents, Sara did not have an ideal home life. The question of why she was given up for adoption has always haunted her. Finally, she is ready to take steps and to find closure.

But some questions are better left unanswered.

After months of research, Sara locates her birth mother—only to be met with horror and rejection. Then she discovers the devastating truth: Her mother was the only victim ever to escape a killer who has been hunting women every summer for decades. But Sara soon realizes the only thing worse than finding out about her father is him finding out about her.

What if murder is in your blood?

Never Knowing is a complex and compelling portrayal of one woman’s quest to understand herself, her origins, and her family. That is, if she can survive. .

Well it’s official: Chevy Stevens has done it again! Another top-rate psychological thriller that will make you think, give you gooseflesh and make it positively impossible to put the book down until you finish!

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Posted in Book Reviews, Books, fiction, Reviews | Tagged "birth parents", "book review", "Chevy Stevens", "finding your birth parents", "Never Knowing", "predisposed to violence", "psychological thriller", "reading list", "Serial Killer", abducted, adoption, betrayal, hostage, murder, novel, psychopath, secrets, survivor, temper, therapy, Thriller, victim | Leave a comment

The Problem With Two Spaces, And The Myths Surrounding It (It’s Not An “Old People” Problem)

Posted on March 17, 2015 by DMW

I’m a writer, but writing doesn’t pay the bills, and in order to do that I have my own editing/writing services business. Over the years I have dealt with new writers, established authors, prospective students, students ranging from freshmen to doctoral candidates, and business people in a wide range of fields. And more than you’d think, I have at least one experience in every “group” of clients I have mentioned that share a common trait: They use two spaces after a sentence. And this drives me crazy. It hurts my eyes, and not because I’m a grammar snob (trust me, I’m not) but because seeing all the white space, seriously makes my vision blur.

Breaking news for those not in the loop: Using two spaces after any end punctuation is not cool, in fact it’s a problem. But contrary to a lot of what I hear, both jokingly and serious, it is not an “old people” problem. I have just as many younger people doing it, and they don’t want to stop anymore than the people who have been doing it for decades. I don’t consider myself old (I’m 30), but I was taught to use two spaces, and then I had to break this habit in college. It can be done, and you’ll be so much happier when you do get in the habit of the single space. Not because you’re a grammar snob, but because when it comes to submitting things for class, work, or in hopes of being published the people reading your stuff, grammar snobs or not, are going to care. Here is all you need to know about how this problem came to be and why it is a problem, and how to break the habit (I hope).

MYTH #1: It’s Not One Space, It’s Two

All right, let’s start here. Now, when you are using a computer or word processing software it is one space after ending punctuation, not two. This isn’t a trend! I go crazy when I hear that. A trend changes: what is in style now versus last year, what will be in style later. The one space thing is a change, but it’s here to stay, and while many people still use two spaces, it’s actually been one space for quite awhile.

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