Watch For Falling Blood Sugar

The first days of a new diet....ahhh the shakes, the weariness, overwhelming fatigue....I know it well.

I am a firm believer in going really hard for the first few days. This technique works for me because it gets me off of the 'sugar roller coaster' and makes the subsequent days seem sooo easy. Great theory, but as my shaky hands type this post, I am starting to question my method.

But that's always the way it goes...you start to feel yucky and start thinking, 'maybe I'm going at this the wrong way..." But is that the voice of reason or the voice of your sugar-craving brain & belly speaking to you? I know from experience that it is the latter, so I'm staying the coarse.

Pray for me....I have a birthday dinner to attend for my mom tonight and one of the guests is cake. Another is ice cream. Yikeys.

Holy Mattress-mony

So, Mr. L & I have been 'going steady' for awhile now. I am very happy with him, and am proud to report that we have reached a new level of commitment that is more serious than any other relationship I have ever been in.

Curious? I thought so. Let me explain...

I have serious back issues, like feel-like-an-eighty-year-old-pass-the-Ben-Gay type issues. These problems are seriously exacerbated by sleeping on a hard bed, and I define hard as anything more firm than a marshmallow. When I do sleep on a firm mattress, I always wake up with major pain issues.

When I go visit Mr. L in Birmingham for the weekend, he offers me his bed with what I shall call a 'supportive' mattress. The only other option is sleeping on his futon, and that ain't happenin'. (Not in a million years....I am seriously anti-futon, but I'll get in to that on a later post.....I know you're on the edge of your seat waiting for that one....)

Sooooo, having gotten to the point in our relationship where I foresee spending many glorious weekends with Mr. L in Birmingham, I decided that I had to do something about the mattress situation. After all, it's no fun to have an entire weekend where you constantly ask your boyfriend to re-apply Icy Hot patches on your back, now is it? And besides, who wants a girlfriend that smells menthol-y like your grandparents?

So, anyways, I talked to Mr. L about buying a memory foam mattress topper for his bed and I took the plunge and made the purchase. We are now bound by mattress-mony. That's serious commitment, my friend....those things are not cheap!

It's kind of romantic, don't you think? I mean, I am leaving a piece of me in Birmingham and giving the gift of a restful night's sleep all in one fell swoop. Now, that's love.

The Story That Was Short

The year was 2008. This was the year that I discovered free pod casts on itunes. It was a good thing.

A couple of my favorite pod casts are the New Yorker Fiction pod cast and Public Radio International's Selected Shorts. I've always been a fan of the short story (and even the occasional author of one or two), but my love of them was rekindled after listening to the amazing stories read aloud over my car stereo.

It's funny, when you hear these stories read aloud, you think to yourself, "I could have written that!" I had all of these ideas floating around in my head and started to fancy myself a great writer....before I had even committed a word to paper (or my laptop, but whatever). I would be driving down the road and construct these fabulous sentences, the words flowing like champagne at a wedding.

I was wrong (and I apologize to all of the amazing authors out there that I offended by assuming that their craft was easy), but I didn't know how wrong I was just yet.

So, when I heard about a short story writing contest held by Public Radio International, I was jazzed. Before even glancing at the story requirements, I constructed this amazing story in my head. Then, after weaving this great tale, I decided to read the rules of the competition.

Here's the deal (with my thoughts in quotes behind them): 1) it has to be a story with an element of surprise...."hhhmmm, that shouldn't be too hard," 2) it has to be in 12-pt font and double spaced....."done," 3) it can only be THREE PAGES...."Three pages! Who can tell a great story....the story of epic emotion that draws a reader in and add a surprise twist in three freakin' pages?!?"

After I read the rules, I had to pitch my story idea because it was way too long and, admittedly, kind of boring. So, then I tackled the element of surprise. I wracked my brains for days trying to come up with a plot line that was not trite or super-predictable. That was HARD! After figuring out what my twist would be, I then had the challenge of condensing the idea so it would fit coherently on 3 double-spaced pages.

I realised, after spending a ton of time on this project, that this would be a challenge for any writer, not to mention a rusty, non-published amateur. I played with the idea of not writing a story....it just seemed too hard.

Thank goodness the fighter in me decided that giving up was not an option. After discussing a couple of ideas with Mr. L (thanks!), I found my story and wrote it over the weekend. I have to say, I'm proud of my accomplishment. It may not be a masterpiece or a contest winner, but I took the challenge and delivered.

I look forward to posting the story on my blog after March 6th (which is the entry date). I hope you will enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it.....and citizens of Birmingham, Alabama BEWARE! It's based on a true story about one of your own.

For all of you out there that read this post and think, "writing a compelling three page story with a non-predictable twist is easy, I don't know what the heck she's talking about," I have three words for you......JUST TRY IT, then we'll talk.

Oh No! Mr. Blog!

Letter to my dear long-lost blog:

Dearest,

Please forgive me for forgetting all about you! There you were: freshly born, full of possibilities, ready to see the world, and horrible me forgot all about you. You poor thing. Okay, let me pick you up, dry you off, and love on you again. Forgive me, dear blog, and accept my promise that this will never, ever happen to you again.

Humbly yours,
Your rejuvenated creator, Capable Girl

New Beginnings

Oh, this is going to be a good blog! This is not a mommy blog (because I am not a mom), a project blog (I have no major projects at the moment), a blog that tries to sell you something (as I have nothing for sale), or a let-me-show-the-world-how-intellectual-I-am-blog (as I don't have the desire to prove anything to anyone). This is just a day in the life of a single, crafty, capable, Christian girl (woman really) who is trying to make her way in this world. I love to write and I love to share, so blogging seemed a good fit. We'll see....