Flashback Friday - on a Saturday

I know you've all missed me tremendously this week. It's been one hell of a week - State Board of Education was here on campus this week, I had to give them a 3 minute speech on why they are wrong for taking flagship out of our mission statement, there has been much homework to do, and many meetings to attend. So I'm making this Flashback Friday-Saturday.
1 week ago: I was treading this week. I was also reliving the 80's with the 80's Smash-hits Spotify channel. - Rock the Cashbah, I'm So excited ...
2 weeks ago: I was praying that Joel was okay and still loved me - still am, 4 weeks now without any word from him. :-/
A month ago: (An actual facebook post) - 2 of the greatest things in the world to me right now - 1. Knowing that there's a guy on the other side of the country that can't stop thinking about me :) 2. Knowing that there are professors here that are willing and want to actually help you improve and succeed - ♥ makes me feel motivated and like I do actually belong here!
2 months ago: I had made Joel and I "facebook official" <3
1 Year ago:

Celebrating Mike's last lacrosse game!
Mike and Cora

Sunday Family Funday - My Brother

So I was trying to figure out what to write for Sunday Family Funday from yesterday and this post came to me today while walking home from class.
My brother, Michael, and I never had a bad, horrible relationship. (Although there was that Christmas that he hit me on the head with his new toy guns. And there was that time when Erin and I put him in a dress in order for him to get his beloved blankey back - Uncle Glenn's suggestion.) Just not one that we talked much during. Usually I only heard from him when the family would get together. But I always kept tabs on him on Facebook to make sure that everything was going okay for him.
There was one time when he actually reached out to me and it really touched me. I had just got "dumped" (I always hated that term) by my boyfriend of 5.5 years, of course I am devastated (and eventually would fall into complete depression and alcoholism), but the day or two after it happened, my phone rang and it said "Mike" with a picture of him and our big fat cat, Leo. I answered it, trying to stifle my tears and cries which never ended during the first couple of weeks. "Hey, Kate. Mom told me about what Brandon did to you. I'm really sorry he did that. I know you must be sad. I hope you're doing okay. It'll all be okay." And that was the extent of our conversation. But for my brother, that was the biggest thing I remember him doing up to that point and it meant more to me than anything anyone did for me during that break up.
The next time that he showed an extra, "abnormal" amount of affection for me was when I got my shit together after Brandon and started dating a new guy - Tom. This wasn't reaching out to me, but for me. He went to my mom when he found out who I was dating and told her - "You can't let Kate date Tom. Whatever you do, don't let her." And I think my mom, for the most part, just brushed this off. Although she was always trying to point out things to me that would (she was hoping) set me to break up with him (which I did twice before it ended "for real"), she never mentioned this comment from Mike to me until after she knew Tom and I were broken up for good. This time it was my own "dumping", I was the one that dumped, instead of was dumped upon. But it was still hard - I don't like hurting anyone and I knew how fragile Tom was at that point, whether he wanted to admit it or not. I worried for him, which was the reason why I took him back the first time.
After that it would be another year or two (I forget how long it's been) when I'd have my next "wow" Mike moments. These all happened in reference to his new girlfriend, Hailey. (This information I found out months later when she told me at Thanksgiving last year.) When he brought her to meet us for the first time, he told her that his "sisters" (plural) had to like her, if we didn't then he couldn't date her. This might not seem big to you, but it should. For my brother to include me in this is huge. He's always gotten along way better with Erin, our older sister, so I was expecting him to need her approval, but not mine. This caught me pleasantly off-guard. I love him for including me in that, made me feel appreciated and loved in a minimal relationship. In this same conversation with Hailey, we were randomly talking and somehow I mentioned something about Brandon and she said "oh yeah, Michael warned me about that. He said 'Yeah, we don't talk about that.'" This was so sweet and tender, I almost wish I could have spied on him at that moment. I love him for thinking of me and my feelings - even if it was 2 years later.
The next moment was this last Christmas, when my mom said that he went and did his own Christmas gift shopping and picked out all the gifts for people on his own. I could tell that he really put some thought into mine. To some people it would be basic gifts and no thought at all, but for Mike I think there was a lot of thought in it. This was my first year in Idaho, of course. What he got me: a gift certificate for Barnes & Noble - he knows my love and infatuation for books - and a picture frame that says Home. While I loved the Barnes & Noble gc, I loved the picture frame even more because it showed more thought I think.
This has all come about because of the last "Mike" moment - for now. This morning he sent me a text message and asked me if I could revise his paper, "but the thing is it's due tomorrow morning". This was great. I don't remember him ever asking me to read over any of his papers, even though I always offered. And this wasn't even my mom pushing him to do it. She said he called her and asked for my number. While it added on to my already burdening load of work to do this week. I told him I absolutely would. And did, after class. This was great on so many levels because not only did it show that he actually, at least kind of, cares about his grades now (or at least for this class, and this project), and I think he is finally ready to be done with college, but it also shows that he finally wants my opinion on something school related. He has never acknowledged this before. And it feels great.
I love him like I'd love any brother, even though he's my only brother. I love him to pieces and would do anything to help him. I am also so PROUD of who he's become. He's a gentleman, a great boyfriend (according to Hailey), and a great person in general. He's awesome. and I really hope he reads this and knows how much I love him and wouldn't ask for another brother. I love you, Michael!

Flashback Friday - the Circus

Today's Flashback Friday is a piece that I'm working on for an assignment for Non-Fiction workshop. It's a New York Times Lives piece - look 'em up, some of them are really great. Let me know what you think of my piece.

The Running of the Clowns
My butt was numb from the hard plastic chair; my fingers stuck together from the blue residue left from the cotton candy I inhaled in five minutes. (Mom let us get sweet prizes this time because it was the circus. “We have to!” My sister and I pleaded with her.) I sat on the edge of my seat staring beyond the sea of chairs and into the deep pit below us.
“Punchbug!” Erin yelled out as she smacked my arm.
The yellow Beetle pulled into the pit. My arm still stung from the slug. I watched the clowns spill out from inside the car. Tall ones, short ones, fat ones, skinny ones. A crayon box of colors filled my vision. I wondered when the supply of clowns would stop, if it ever would, but glad that they were down there, far away from me.
One of the clowns began to talk but I was too distracted by his outfit to pay attention to what he was saying. Purple pants, blue shoes – flat as a pancake! – yellow shirt, green suspenders, orange hair and a huge red flower stuck to his shirt. I was jealous of this outfit - he didn’t have Erin telling him that those don’t match at all. I imagined what it would be like to be able to wear all those colors at once. He looked straight at me, I saw a blue tear painted on his face and wondered why he was a crying clown. Everyone turned their smiles to me, laughter engulfed me.
The clown with fake emotions started to climb the stairs, making his way in my direction. My heart started to pound. My hands began to sweat. My breathing quickened as he came closer and closer. Why couldn’t he have stayed down there with the others?
He stopped right next to where Mom was sitting and reached his white gloved hand out toward me. Flight or fight took hold of my five year old mind. I didn’t want him touching me. I jumped up and my little legs started to run. And I raced myself. My small, skinny body fit through the waves of seats easily. No one stood in my way.  I bolted, trying to get as far away as possible.
Mom was jogging behind me, struggling to make it between the rows, calling me back to her. “It’s okay Kate. He’s not going to hurt you!” Her voice echoed in my fleeing mind.
The clown was trailing her. I could hear his giant shoes flapping on the floor. Then another one appeared in front of me. This one’s colors were all mixed up. And no tear on his face (why wasn’t he crying?) instead a small tiny hat perched on top of his head.
I panicked. The only thing that I could do was to squeeze under his arm and run up the aisle. Just when he thought I was running to him, I slipped under the hat-topped clown’s arm (his silk shirt brushed against the top of my head) and ran as fast as I could, as high as I could get. The clown’s steps echoed behind me. Mom behind him, the fear of what I’d do next etched across her face, the crying clown flapping behind her, and others joining the race.
Reaching the top of the aisle, I looked back and saw a trail of colors. The lead clown was just about to reach me when his pancake shoes became too much for him. He started to topple over. I reached out my tiny hand. I loved the smooth, cool feel of the silk as I helped him finish the fall. I wanted that shirt.
Mom jumped out of the line just before the dominoes of clowns started to collapse, all their shoes too big to handle and the rainbow of colors falling down, one on top of each other.
Mom ran up the stairs and lifted me into her arms.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again.” She whispered in my ear as she squeezed my body to hers harder than she ever had before. I didn’t think that she would ever let go, maybe she didn’t want to.
The audience thought it was all part of the circus act. Their laughter reached me and mom, surrounded us, the reunited, hugging couple. Fear, relief and love flooded mom’s face. Comfort, Tears of fear, relief and love filled mine.
I felt a bruise begin to form on my arm, the same spot from earlier, as Mom and I walked back to Erin hand in hand, the blue tear left in my mind.
“I still don’t understand how you can be afraid of clowns with circus in our blood.” Mom whispered to herself.

Welcome to Wednesday

Welcome to Wednesday - MY Life 

Full of stress right now. No money. Stressed from classes - last month of semester so tons of papers due. Haven't heard from Joel in what will be 3 weeks tomorrow - Have no idea what's going on there. Yikes! Still terribly homesick. Taking on probably too much, but trying to make it all work. Trying to relax myself tonight with music. At least no classes tomorrow, so I have all weekend to do homework - like every weekend. 

Monday I register for classes for next semester - Hemingway, A class that includes Charlotte Bronte and Gaskell and James, and Non-Fiction workshop, of course. 

I am completely beat for tonight. So that's all I have. To help make up for the super short post - here's one of my favorite songs/videos/bands - always inspires me to hear this one. 

Dream On - Aerosmith 

<3 Steven Tyler 

Mom would be proud! 

Obsessed with Tuesday - The true story

I'm not sure if I've wrote about this obsession before or not, I forget now and honestly, I'm too tired and lazy to go back and look. So I apologize if this is a repeat obsession.
So today's obsession with telling the true story - of any story. This kind of ties into my thesis, at least I think it will at some point.
I am constantly obsessed with trying to find and tell the true story - how it really happened. This goes for just about anything that I write about. Normally it's not a bad thing, except when it comes to my writing - sometimes I think it holds me back. Like when I was trying to write about Blakelock and Mrs. Adams, I was trying to stick to the facts that are "known" and what really happened, but in doing so, it kept it at a distant, non-emotional level. And now when I look back on this, I can tell that wasn't the right approach because all of this is very personal and emotional to me, and so it was trying to put a false front and no writing should ever do that. I think that your readers deserve better than a fake story. I needed to insert myself in the story and show them why it matters to me.
I think one of the reasons, if not the reason, why I do this in my writing - trying to stick to the fact and "real story" is because I'm a little afraid of everything that I will find out about - myself, my family, friends, past relationships, memories, etc. while I'm writing it. But if I want to be a true writer and successful and really connect with my readers, I need to just let the go and be afraid, but at the same time let go of that part of the control. Let it take me where it wants, instead of trying to control everything - because you can't control EVERYTHING.
Anyways, trying to catch up on past blogs so that's all for tonight. We'll see if I can bust out a Welcome to Wednesday tonight also.

Maddening Young Love Monday - People tell me...

Another Maddening Young Love Monday - another week has gone by without any word from Joel, which worries me more than anything right now.
People tell me: He's military trained, don't worry. I'm sure he's fine, he's probably just super busy. Try not to worry. But I still worry - there are some things that even military training can't protect you against.
People tell me: "Well, you knew he was in the military when you got involved" - as if this is supposed to make things easier? It doesn't make it easier, at all. I don't see the line of reasoning behind this comment at all. How is me knowing that he was in the military when I got into this supposed to make it any easier? In fact, it only makes it harder, more difficult, because I know that the chances of something happening to him are even higher than a "normal" person. At least, if he wasn't in the Air Force, or even if I didn't know he was, I could innocently assume that he's in New Jersey and just super busy with work and life, and my worries would be "normal." Instead, I have no idea where he is right now, I like to assume that he's still in NJ and just super busy, but as it has been over 2 weeks without a single word from him, I have no idea. So now my worries are where is he and I pray to God that he's okay.
People tell me: He's such a jerk for leaving you like this. You need to just move on and forget him. - But what if it wasn't his choice? What if I don't think he's a jerk? What if I don't want to move on? What if I can't forget him?
People tell me: Two weeks is a long time to go without hearing from him (As if I didn't know this already?!) They ask - He still hasn't responded to a single email? That's not good. - Thanks for reminding me. Maybe you should just try to move on. - I don't want to. You need someone who will be there for you every day, when you need him. - Soldiers need someone to love them, too. Especially at times when they can't express their love for others, or even themselves. What would our country be like if the soldiers gave up their fight, like people want me to give up my love for Joel?
People tell me: It's way too early to be feeling the things that I feel for Joel. "You've only known each other, been talking to each other, since January, you can't possibly feel real love this early. You haven't even talked on the phone yet, you don't know what his voice sounds like. You don't know very much about him. How can you be in love already? How can you give him your heart this soon?" - Sometimes things just happen. Sometimes you just fall, and you can't stop it. Sometimes you don't want to stop it. Sometimes you just know, things just click, from the very beginning. Does it matter that we haven't talked on the phone? Does it matter that I don't know what his voice sounds like? No, not really. Yes, it seems weird in a way. Yes, I want to hear him say my name, say I love you. But that doesn't make me love him any less.
I know that all that people say, they're just saying to try to make me feel better. And I appreciate that they care enough to try to make me feel better. But I also know that no matter what they say, it won't change how I feel. It won't change the worry, it won't change the love. It won't stop the tears from falling from worry, nor will it stop the smiles through the tears from thoughts of him. There's only one person that will be able to change anything right now, and that's Joel. I will continue to pray every night that he's okay and that I do hear from him soon. I ask for your prayers for him also, pray to whoever you pray to. And tune in tomorrow for Obsessed with Tuesday.

Sunday Family Fundays - Easter Sunday

Happy Easter ya'll!
So this blog post will revolve around Easter and since Easter is a holiday - and holidays are family days - it still fits under Sunday Family Funday.
 So first off - The Easter Bunny (the one that you "visited" at the mall) was never a big hit with me, much like most things in costumes - Easter Bunny, Santa, Clowns, etc. Mom says that we don't have a picture of me on one of their laps where I wasn't crying. Classic, of course. But if you think about the idea of the Easter bunny, as is presented to kids, it is actually pretty weird and therefore scary. A giant bunny - who you go visit at the mall, but don't actually talk to, just take your picture with him (at least when you visit Santa you tell him what you want for Christmas!) and then he comes to your house and hides eggs all around the house, and your Easter basket. The only good thing about the Easter bunny was that he brought candy every year. But before you got the candy - you had to find your basket and eggs. (Parents torturing their kids is the real tradition.)

Stylin' on Easter Morning

Chowin' down after finding the baskets

After eating breakfast, we got all dressed up in our "Easter Dresses" - when we were real little this outfit usually included a big fancy hat and white gloves. White shoes too, I think. We'd go to Church then after Church everyone made their way to Grandma and Grandpa Cobb's house for the Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Lunch/Dinner. (Our "easter eggs" at grandmas were always the plastic hollow eggs that she'd put candy and coins in- the best kind of eggs!) 

I remember one year, Grandma couldn't remember all the hiding spots of the eggs, that took forever. Another year, a squirrel found the eggs before we could and ate through the plastic and the wrapper and ate all the chocolate inside. That was a memorable Easter. I guess we didn't need any extra chocolate anyways - there was always PLENTY in the Easter basket. 

Showing off our Easter loot at Grandmas

Part of the Gang at Grandmas

Just had a great Skype date with my mom, stepdad, brother, Mike - and his girlfriend, Hailey, sister, Erin - and niece, Cora and the Monell gang - Aunt Lisbeth, Hannah, and Jacob - I'm guessing Uncle Tracy was watching baseball. That was great. I miss them all, but the great thing about technology is now we have skype dates and I can still see and talk to them all. It's like I'm ALMOST there! One day I'll be back there. But yeah, apparently the Easter Bunny has upped his game since we were kids - now he brings things other than just candy and sun glasses! The kids got toys, and Jacob even got "designer duct tape"! Jealous. Although right now, I'd just settle for the candy. 

Anyways, Back to homework for me. Love all the family that are reading this today! 

Come back tomorrow for Maddening Young Love Monday - maybe we'll have something to update on, maybe not. Not sure, today's not over yet!

Silly Saturday - Drunk through Osmosis?

Can you get drunk through Osmosis?
So last night was the Fugue benefit - raising money for our literary journal here at UI. (All you non-UI peeps should subscribe to it.) Anyways the benefit was great. Lots of fun. Great readings! And lots of alcohol - of course. There's always alcohol involved with MFA events.
Anyways, the alcohol was for sale - that's one of the "fundraising" things they did. I didn't drink at all - as I have $5 in my bank account and 1 beer was $4. But I sure felt drunk by the time I got home. Aleks says we got drunk through Osmosis. Because there was so much alcohol in the room, it just went through our skin and we got drunk that way. I'll buy it. Because I definitely felt drunk.
Or maybe it was the brownies - either too many of them, or whoever made them snuck something in them. I had a lot of brownies. Too many. It was probably just an extreme sugar high and high on being around people instead of hiding in my apartment worrying about everything.
I don't know what it was. Still worried about Joel though.  Still nothing from him. Don't know where that boy is. I'm kind of scared.
Anyways. I have nothing else for today. My mind isn't very awake yet. Come back tomorrow for Sunday Family Funday and Easter!

Flashback Friday - Thinking of the Summer

Flashback Friday: Common thing among all these - thinking of the summer to come.
A Week Ago: I was frantically trying to write a 5-6 page literature review without reading the whole articles of many that I had to discuss in the paper. Needless to say, I got it done - 45 minutes late, but still got it in. I realized that the next day it might not have fully answered the question that I had asked in it, but we'll see what my professor thinks.
A Month Ago: I was extremely relieved and celebrating (on my own) that Joel returned home after being deployed for a month. It's always good to hear from him, but especially on that day with that news! (I keep praying that I hear from him soon, again, it's been 2 weeks now.)
6 Months Ago: (This is a new addition to Flashback Friday.) It would have been my first full month in Grad School. I probably was extremely homesick (as I am now) and still not quite sure what Grad school was and what were expected of. I don't think I quite knew where I fit in with everyone yet - as in my writing. I didn't really know what I was doing yet.
1 Year Ago: I was doing research on the Mysterious State of Idaho. Got my first and only acceptance letter, after many rejections, so I was doing research to see what exactly I was getting myself into.
5 Years Ago: I was a Penn Stater. Getting ready for the end of the semester and to go back home. Was trying to figure out what I was going to do that summer after the semester ended. Brandon had an internship at NASA. I was trying to decided whether to stay in State College so I'd be closer to him (in Maryland) or go home.
10 Years Ago: I was still able to enjoy Papa Cobb. This was the year before he passed away. Miss that man. We were no doubt getting ready for the B- Mets Baseball season.

Hopefully next week I'll have something excited to update on for the 1 week ago report. Hoping to hear from Joel today!

Throwback Thursday - Boybands from Middle School

This week's Throwback Thursday is dedicated to all the Music crazes that existed when "we" (as in I) were in middle school. There's a lot of good ones between all the boy bands - oh yeah, it was during boy band madness - and the one hit wonder songs...
So the first place to start would be the boy bands... I remember there were competitions on which one was better than the others... Great times!
1) Backstreet Boys

I'll never break your heart

I believe for most teenage girls at my school - BSB was THE Boy band at the time. Brian (always my favorite), Nick, Howie, AJ, and Kevin. As my friend Zac pointed out - I'm glad we had "that one dude tracing a tear down his face" - we wouldn't have know what emotion to feel if we didn't have him. I'm not sure what made them better than the others, but that was the general census. You didn't go to a boy band concert if it wasn't Backstreet Boys. I guess in this way I was always a rebel - went to a 98 degrees concert for my first concert, ever, I think. And had a NSYNC boardgame...
2) NSYNC

 Tearin' Up My Heart

NSYNC was the second coolest boyband at the time. I always thought that they were better than BSB, but that's part of what made me "uncool" I suppose. And yes as stated earlier - I had the NSYNC board game. It was a backstage pass game, where your goal was to "get the backstage pass" and you either had to collect all the guys in the band or you were one of the guys as your marker - I forget. But yes .. there was a game, I don't think there was a BSB boardgame - so there! Justin, JC, Lance, Joey, and Chris made up this fab. band! They generated many, many screams and fads - the Bye Bye Bye dance! 

3) 98 Degrees 

 I Do, Cherish You

98 Degrees were the third big boy band of my middle school days... There were, apparently, not equal to the other two bands. When I was so excited because my parents got my tickets to their concert, I was laughed at because it was 98 Degrees, and not NSYNC or BSB - SIGH. Middle School is so stuff. Nick, Drew, Justin and Jeff... they were just as hot, just as good at singing, and just as good at choreography. And their videos look way cooler - most of them. But alas, they weren't as cool then.  (Rumor has it they're doing a reunion tour at the end of this year)

4) And of course, we can't talk about boybands without talking about some of the original ones. 

New Kids On the Block - my sisters first concert. 

Boys II Men

All For One

And of course, the original boy band with Boys in it - Jackson 5

Come back tomorrow for Flashback Friday! 

Welcome to ... Life... Wednesday

Welcome to Life...
That's what I'm told. It's all part of life, so get used to it. Why do people think that this is comforting to hear when you're going through grief? It's not. At least not for me. Yes, I know it's been a long time since my Grandfather died - 9 years exactly today  - and yes, I know it's supposed to get better, easier as time goes on. But sometimes it doesn't. There are some people that you can't just forget, you can't just get over. My grandfather was not only my grandpa - Papa Cobb, but he was my dad, my best friend, my inspiration in everything, my drive in life. He was everything to me! So today I will be remembering great times with him.
I remember when he turned 65 - almost exactly a month before he passed away. He told me that was the one goal he had in his adult life - was to make it to 65. Once he made it to that birthday he knew my grandma would be taken care of through Social Security and he'd be able to be truly happy and go on to God's plans after that. That was the most important thing to him.
I love that man. Will always love him. Miss him more than anything and anyone. And I will never get "used" to him not being around.
So Welcome to Life - because people are always going to be leaving - it's part of life, yes. But get used to it - this will never happen.

Kate and Papa Cobb

Papa Cobb 

Football Team with the SparCat Trophy - Trophy in honor of Papa Cobb 

Tune in tomorrow for Throwback Thursday!

Obsessed with Tuesday - Ernest Hemingway

A special April hidy to all my readers tonight!

So today's Obsessed with Tuesday is focused on my obsession/love for Ernest Hemingway - the man and his writing, both.

So Hemingway is my dead, old man crush. I don't know why, because as many people tell me "he hated women." While I think that he did "hate" (hate is such a strong and definitive word) some women, I don't think he hated all women. My reasoning for this is that if he hated all women, as people claim he did, he wouldn't have been able to write these brilliant and moving romances - A Farewell to Arms, the masterpiece - like he did. Now some would not be fans of his writing, so they wouldn't view him writing these successfully novels like I did. But that's beside the point. 

So I first got into Hemingway when I was a Freshman in college. My English professor had us all go around and list our "favorite" author, or a book/author that we were recently reading at the time. At this point I hadn't done much "leisure" reading and couldn't think of anything I had recently read - completely forgetting my favorite book from high school, Catcher in the Rye. I wanted to claim someone that is respectable and "famous" as my "favorite" and the first name that came to my mind was Hemingway, even though I had never read his writing before. His name was one of those names that I SHOULD have read by then. So after I stated that Hemingway was my favorite author, I thought that now I should probably read something of his, just so I know whether I really like him or not. The Sun Also Rises was my first experience of Hemingway and I fell in love immediately. 

Over the years I have grown to love all of his work and have developed this odd passion for him. I talk about him and his writing as if I would talk about a lover at times. I discuss the amount of emotion, passion and just information that he could fit into one small sentence, one small paragraph, one small space. I envy this. I wish I could write like this. Some people view it as minimalistic - I'm not sure if that's the right term for Hemingway. Some think of it as simple. Even though the sentence structure is simple, with subject, object, verb, the writing is not simple at all. I actually view it as more complex as someone like Faulkner because Hemingway crams all of what he is trying to say in a few words, where as someone like Faulkner rambles on for five lines - all in the same sentence, using words, often, that not a lot of people (especially these days) don't know what it means unless they look it up. 

So I'm not sure what it is about Hemingway the man that I love - maybe just the "macho, manly-ness" of him is what I love. I don't know that. But I can go on and on about what it is about his writing that I love, but at the same time, I'm not sure if I'd be able to do it justice. Not sure if I'd be able to explain it enough. 

Why this comes up now is because I was looking at classes that are being offered next semester, getting ready to register, and I noticed that there is finally going to be a class on just Hemingway. I have been waiting for this since the first time I read The Sun Also Rises. I had taken an American Literature course at Penn State (that studied writing at his time) and was shocked, appalled, and amazed that we did not read one thing by Hemingway. I still to this day don't understand how that could happen. But whatever, it did. So now not only will I be able to read Hemingway in class, but it's a whole class devoted to his short fiction - AND it's taught by one of my favorite professors - Ron McFarland, who is awesome. I can't wait! 

Anyways, enough about Hemingway - for now at least. Come back tomorrow for Welcome to... Wednesday! 

Maddening Young Love Monday - because Stormy said so

Maddening Young Love Monday - Just Because Stormy said I still had to write - even though there's not much to update on - Still madly in love ... still waiting to hear from him again... :-/
I just don't think about it anymore. Try not to at least. Try not to worry. Keep reminding myself that he's not like the past guys I've dated and just because it's been a "while" since I've heard from him doesn't mean that he's not interested anymore, that he's cheating, that he's not thinking about me, or whatever... So being patient... Just wish I had even a word from him.
Anyways. That's about it for today - tomorrow is Obsessed with Tuesdays - way more exciting post for tomorrow.
Night ya'll!

Sunday Family Funday - April Fool's Day with Grandma

Well, today is the first of April - that means that it's Dylan and Miri's birthday and April Fool's Day! So I'm going to dedicate this blog to Grandma Cobb, who never failed to miss an April Fool's day.
Sunday Family Funday - April Fool's Day with Grandma Cobb:
When we were in Elementary School (which is formally known as Grammar School - but we didn't learn much grammar, so it's Elementary School) Grandma Cobb was the babysitter. It was convenient because her and Papa lived right down the road - 2 houses down. So before and after school we'd hang out with Grandma. And of course, like all Grandmas, she'd always spoil us with breakfast before and snacks after school. She was always this sweet, loving, caring woman - one of the best people I ever knew - except for April 1st every year. She ALWAYS played April Fool's jokes on us, I think she enjoyed it more than most people. Her favorite jokes (and when I say favorite jokes I mean the ones that she did over and over again) was to replace the sugar with salt and milk with chocolate milk. I think she did those every year and would ALWAYS laugh when we fell for it. By the 4th or 5th grade, I began to catch on and start thinking of jokes to play on her. One year I replaced her coffee with hot chocolate milk when she was out of the room. I thought this was pretty clever. She loved that I got into the April Fool's day spirit. Miss her, but I know she's watching over me every day, today waiting to see if I will get any jokes played on me. (She's probably the reason for the snow on the first day of April - Grandma playing her jokes from heaven. haha)

Grandma Cobb and me <3 

Anyways, Come back tomorrow for Maddening Young Love Monday - and boy am I going mad. haha.