Writing Quote Tuesday

Hello blogging friends! I’m starting a new feature this week called “Writing Quote Tuesday.” I like to google quotes from incredible authors pretty frequently, and this is my way of sharing some of my favorites with you.

Today’s quote comes from one of the great novelists of the 20th Century, Elmore Leonard:

 

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.”

 

Words to live by!

Things I Will NOT Do Today

People write “To Do” lists all the time. You know what I think I really need? A NOT-To-Do list. I’m totally into staying positive, but honestly, couldn’t we all use a quick dose of “don’t do that”? Here are ten things that I will absolutely, under no circumstances, do today:

  1. I will not take my husband’s car keys with me to Starbucks, so that once I sit down and get three words into this brilliant blog post he has to call me and ask me to bring him the keys to his only form of transportation for driving our daughter to tae kwon do.
  2. I will not order a decaf salted caramel mocha, no matter how delicious it may be, because I have no time to work out on Saturdays and I can’t afford the calories.
  3. I will not punch in the face any jackass well-meaning stranger who kindly informs me that I shouldn’t be drinking caffeine, even though it’s DECAF for crying out loud, and maybe if I had a little caffeine coursing through my veins I wouldn’t be fantasizing about plucking your toenails out one by one and then serving them up to you in a frosty frappuccino!
  4. I will not misuse a word or use incorrect grammar or punctuation while arguing with an idiot debating someone with whom I disagree on the internet. Because, let’s be honest, nothing is more embarrassing than insisting you are the brilliant authority on some matter and everyone should marvel at your unblemished opinion, and then discovering later that you wrote “there” instead of “they’re.”
  5. I will not walk into any walls or furniture. Let’s just leave it at that.
  6. While preparing for my daughters’ special Halloween play date with their friends, I will not make anything that I’ve seen on Pinterest.
  7. I will not eat any of the spooky eyeball cupcakes that I will inevitably bake for said play date, because I can already see myself screwing up on item number 6.
  8. I will not take my eyes off of my dog if she enters my bathroom. And therefore, my dog will not dig through the contents of my bathroom trash, eating the first item she is able to swallow before I come in and catch her, and then vomit up said (extremely embarrassing) item in front of the guy who comes over to fix the heat pump.
  9. I will not search the house for my phone for thirty minutes before heading up to bed, only to discover that the phone has been in my hand the entire time.
  10. I will not stay up until midnight wondering where it all went wrong.

What are you NOT going to do today?

Adventures in Pinteresting

OK, I am not, technically speaking, Pinteresting. (Is that a word? It really should be.) I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. Actually, no, I have a “that could be useful to me every six months or so”/”Now I remember why I hate this so much” relationship with Pinterest.

A couple years ago, I made these “simple and easy!” snacks for my daughter’s pre-school celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Continue reading