April Challenge

We decided to extend our writing challenge from March. I haven't heard from everybody and would like to know if Becky or Cheryl met their goals and if they would like to continue. If anyone would like to join us in our April challenge, please let me know. There really aren't any rules to it. You set your own challenge of how many words or pages you would like to create this month. You can write a story, poetry, memoirs, your research, whatever you like.

Delia extended her goal to 10,000 words and I'm going to maintain my 20,000 word goal and hopefully meet it this month. For those who didn't complete their goals last month, let me know if you want the same amount and last month's work counts towards April if you like.

Otherwise, everyone let me know what your plan is. And I have to say Congrats to Dawne and Delia who did complete their goals. And the race is on again and I'm positive we will each reach our goals this month!

Men Behaving Badly

Becky and I went out on Saturday night to see our favorite band perform. The band was fantastic as usual, but the crowd left much to be desired. We should have known circumstances would be different, since the crowd consisted of more men than women. I'm not sure if it was due to the bachelor party or not, but either way, I have a message for you men, some of us women really don't care to be hit on and especially since the format you have chosen is honestly, repulsive and disgusting. And because the dance floor is so crowded that women don't run from you screaming because they would lose a prime spot to watch the band, doesn't mean they want you to continue.

Let's start with married guy # 1. Becky and I were dancing to some hip hop during the break, which yes, means I shake my hips and yes, I am still capable of shimmying to the ground. Typical behavior on the dance floor. Becky told me we had an audience, but didn't want me to turn around, so I didn't. Come to find out later, the men from the bachelor party were ogling us, mouths hanging open apparently. Then guy # 1 liked one of my moves and pumped his arm, while shouting "oh yeah!" Thank God, I wasn't a witness to this. It was mortifying to hear about it. He then came and stood next to Becky. I mean literally stood there while we danced. Becky and I have learned long ago about the stalker move. You avoid eye contact at all costs. Later, when the band was performing, he tried this move multiple times with us. And at one point, blatantly caressed part of my anatomy.

As if that wasn't bad enough then there was married guy # 2. He tried to play it suave from the get go. I informed him that his come on actually was insulting. Did that deter him? No! I pointed out his wedding band and mine, which led to him showing me a pic of his kid. If you've ever been to see a band, you know standing in front of the stage, it is way too loud to have a conversation, so I missed half of what he was saying. He asked what it would take to get me to dance with him, which I rebuffed, he told me I was hot, I rebuffed. Come on dude, accept it. He then tried to dance up behind me. I kept trying to side step because it really was crowded. At which point, Becky upon watching all this, grabbed my hand and waved my wedding ring in his face, telling him, she's married. He thought she wanted to dance with him. Later, he came back around and told me I was too fast for him. Somewhere in the middle of this, another woman approached me to tell me to beware the bachelor party. Yea! Really?

Guy # 3 was the final straw. He was slobbering drunk and tried to grind up against my back. At some point as I tried to get away, he managed to spill a huge portion of his drink down my back. He then started grinding up behind Becky. His friends eventually grabbed him off her.

For you losers out there who believe this is acceptable behavior, I have to tell you, get a life. Some of us women actually do go to the bar to listen to the music and dance, not to be hit on. I'm all for flirting and love to flirt, but there is a difference between vulgarity and flirting. And seriously dude, after the first rebuff, back off. If the floor hadn't been so crowded, I would have seriously elbowed the guy hard.

Good Husbands

I spent St. Patty's Day having dinner with Erin, her hubby, and son. It was a nice evening. Baby boy was an adorable flirt and a joy to watch, but what I truly found fascinating was Erin and her hubby's interaction. They move in sync with each other without communication. Don't get me wrong, they were having a full blown conversation but they alterated feeding baby boy and themselves as well as walking him around to check the sites. While walking to the car, they held hands and held baby boy. It once again reiterated why I have such respect for Erin. Her relationship with her hubby is impressive and she's a wonderful mother. Don't they make a cute family?

Then her hubby took baby boy home so Erin and I could have some girl time. We enjoyed the bag pipe performance as well as the bands. It was a nice time out. Though we overheard one of the women stating when did St. Patrick's Day become a whorefest and she was right, there were some interesting outfits on display.

My hubby was phenomenal the past few weeks as well. Last weekend, hubby was kind enough to spend his three day weekend helping me search for a coffee table. Yes, it took three days to locate an expresso finished extension cofee table with an extra shelf. When I asked hubby to attend the chocolate festival with me, he readily agreed. This is shocking since hubby hates traveling, much less visiting a festival. Then he agreed to drive to Pittsburgh to spend a few hours with my dad. I was pretty impressed with his ready agreement. This weekend, hubby went to the Borders close out sale with Becky and I. It was utter chaos in the store with lines that wrapped around multiple times. Hubby was so wonderful and patient though he hates crowds.

Becky and I went out for a fun Girls Night, which led to Men Behaving Badly, which will be my next blog post.

Reissued Challenge

Since it appears several of us involved in the writing challenge feel the need to extend it another month, let's go ahead and reissue our challenge. Let me know what goals you have set for yourself for March/ April. If you finished your March goal or are close and want to gloat, please do. I'm so proud of all of us for jump starting our writing projects. I know for myself, my goal was 20,000 words and I'm at 9,000. I'm proud of this accomplishment since the whole point of this challenge for me was to overcome my writers block, which I've accomplished. So get prepared for another writing challenge.

Almost There ...

I have to begin with a funny story. Benita stopped in the other day and told me that she thought I was a great writer and that she had been enjoying my blog entries. I asked if she meant my personal blog and she responded, "you have a personal blog? I meant the genealogy blog." It cracks me up that I can barely write for my personal projects at the moment, yet I've produced quite a bit for work and that someone enjoys my genealogy entries.

I hope everyone is doing well with their writing challenge. I've heard from a few of you and I'm impressed that you've almost met your goal. Some of us, I won't name names, but will admit, I'm not even close to my goal, have debated extending the challenge. After some thought, I've decided that would be unfair to those who are so close to finishing. So as a compromise, I say let the challenge stand. We know our goals for March and need to work on finishing them then recalculate for a new challenge in April. Those of us who couldn't reach our goal may need to lower our numbers, while those who meet their goal might consider raising the stakes. Another 8 days left! Either way I'm proud of all of our hard work.

People and Their Opinions

On the radio this morning, people were calling in to comment on the fact that the radio personality's fiance went on vacation without him. Now mind you, I am a strongly opinionated individual myself, but I found some people's commentary ridiculous considering they didn't know all the facts. Most people calling in said the relationship was doomed since the couple wasn't taking vacations together and that they wouldn't last long. Hubby and I have been together (dating and all) for nine years and as those of you who read my blog know, I go on many vacations without him.

Are we doomed as a couple? I think not. I love to travel, but hubby does not. Instead of demanding I give up something I love doing, hubby supports my traveling with my friends. He always gets first dibs when I plan a vacation, but as soon as he says he's not interested, I'm off to discover who among my pals would like to see the latest exotic or non-exotic locale.

I personally have a unique situation in my marriage and get tired of hearing the running commentary sometimes. I know many people think hubby and I are insane to live the way we do, but really what choice do we have. Yes, it's not ideal, but we make the best of our circumstances. So before spouting your opinion on other people's relationships, maybe you should take a moment and realize ... to each, his/ her own.

Farscape

We established a long time ago that I'm a nerd and love sci-fi and fantasy shows. Several years ago, my pal Tim shared my interest in this tv genre and we used to discuss all the drama and excitement of our shows together. As you all know, I refuse to spend the money on cable, so either the shows I watched were on network television or in syndication.

Back in my SG1 days, which I watched in syndication, I told Tim how impressive I found two new cast members, Ben Browder and Claudia Black. Tim told me they used to star on a show together called Farscape and that they played one of the most romantic couples in the genre. These were big words coming from a sci-fi/ fantasy fan like Tim. But my response at the time after having seen the show in syndication was I'm not impressed. I mean really, two of the main characters are puppets. Tim loaned me his DVD collection and his insistence that I would enjoy the show. And he was right, I was hooked. The reason Farscape is in my thoughts recently is due to Michelle, another Tim convert, pointing out that Amazon had a special offer for the entire series box set, which we both bought.

So for those of you who have never seen the series, I highly recommend it. Without watching the show in order, it can be rather confusing as I discovered watching it in syndication. One of the first episodes, I saw was Green Eyed Monster and I thought it was terrible, yet I now list it as one of my faves. Watching the show in order, you catch the nuances that are missed otherwise. As for those puppets, there are several instances that they made me cry.

So what is the show about...A human astronaut is sucked into a wormhole and finds himself on the other side of the universe, where he ends up on a ship with escaped prisoners. Even among those he calls friends, he's unsure who his true allies are and that doesn't include the man who blames him for a loved one's death or the creature who hunts him for his wormhole knowledge. The show was abruptly canceled after the fourth season finale had been filmed, which left fans frustrated. Some die-hard fans created a campaign to save the show resulting in a four hour mini-series which wrapped up the series.

So did I agree with Tim's assessment that it has one of the most romantic stories on a sci-fi/fantasy show? Absolutely! I highly recommend this series for sci-fi and romance fans.

Where Are We?

We are midway through our Challenge for March. From brief comments made over the past few weeks, I believe each of us has begun her challenge, but I was curious if we have managed to continue this adventure?

Delia's challenge is to complete 5,000 words.

Becky's challenge is to complete 5,000 words.

Kay's challenge is to complete 10,000 words.

Cheryl's challenge is to complete 5,000 words.

Sarai's challenge is to complete 5,000 words.

Dawne's challenge is to complete 120 pages.

My challenge is to complete 20,000 words.

Dust off that old manuscript, review old story ideas, or pick up a pen and start a new story. Either way, the sense of accomplishment we'll each experience at the end of this challenge is worth the time.

For the record: I'm at 8,000 words.

Hubby Did Good

I have been lusting after this red winter coat all season. Everytime we go to the mall, I try the coat on, knowing due to the fit, I could only wear it with a few outfits and spying the price tag, I truly couldn't justify buying it. Hubby came home on Friday and announced he had visited the mall and my coat was on sale...80% off. I still hesitated. I've been so good at obeying the sign on my door to Not Spend Money! I have three vacations planned for this summer and fall and really need to save the money. I finally caved and agreed to go look at the coat to see if it had pulled threads or missing buttons to justify the reduction in price. Of course upon inspecting the coat and trying it on again, I was convinced I had to buy it. While standing at the register, hubby whipped out the credit card and paid for the coat. He said I had been so good about not spending money and had paid off my car this month, so it was his treat. For those who know how stingy hubby is with money, you know what a big deal it is that he bought me the coat for no reason except to be nice.

Words of Advice

We are now a week into our challenge and I hope everyone is doing well. We will face many obstacles to our goals, most of them stemming from our everyday life which doesn't take a backseat to our challenge and for some of us, these obstacles try to dominate our lives. Some of us have children, spouses, social activities, health related issues, or um, in my case, an injury that will prevent us from spending time on our writing. Don't despair! Take a 15 minute break in the day and sit down to gather your thoughts or type out a few sentences. These incremental steps will lead you to your goal.

As for one of our challengers, Kay has set the bar high. She appeared this week as a guest blogger on Desert Island Keepers/ (to read her entry on the February 28th). Great job, Kay!