A Work in Progress

I learn something from my dog every day. Every day. There are usually a few lessons that rotate through my life, lessons I'm still learning, so every time I see one of these "lessons" in action, right in front of me, I realize how far I need to go to grow in my wisdom to be a better person; a dog-wise person. The biggest lesson my dog has taught me is gratitude. Yep. Gratitude. My dog is the happiest person I know.  I realize my dog is not actually a human being, but she is such a part of my family and is so crucial to teaching me things (things that I just don't seem to want to learn), that I've deemed her human. So she is the happiest and smartest person I know.  Back to gratitude... she exudes this daily.  Great book. Get it here! She's thankful to wake up to see me. Every day. She's thankful when I come home from wherever I was. Every day. She is thankful for food (most of the time...but especially if beef is involved.) Every day. She is so thankful t

My husband and I have this running joke that if we played a drinking game for the first -- and only the first-- five minutes of any news segment, anywhere in America, we'd be under the table in two. Why? Because this drinking game is based on the repeated use of the word "impact." It's okay if you can hate me now. Because after this post, you will notice this word EVERYWHERE and how overused it is. I get it. The word is impactful. It makes a point. Pulls a punch. But ... it's beyond this, my friends. It's overwhelmingly beyond this now. I also understand that each decade has it's colloquial and trendy words. Totally understand that. I can dig that, yo. But, there's an all-out assault on this word. And most of the time, it's used incorrectly. Do you know what the word impact means? Per Merriam-Webster, it means 1.   a.: to fix firmly by or as if my packing or wedging   b.: to press together 2.   a.: to have a direct effect or i

Life is full of seasons, even in sunny northern California. Which is remarkable. Maybe we don't get all that cold here in Sacramento, but some mornings are below freezing and I know for a fact we'll have days this summer hovering close to 110 degrees. But, life is full of emotional and spiritual seasons, too. Change, growth, loss, newfound passions, love, or jobs.  All of this is -- and will be -- a part of our lives, whether we like it or not and whether we admit it or not. The latest season of mine has felt difficult, for lack of better wording. Maybe the hardest it's been since I had a my first born, over seventeen years ago.  Back then, I felt alone and was dealing with a huge responsibility that I knew nothing about -- raising a child! Today, there's me pursuing writing, which is always a constant struggle ( Am I good enough?) There's me wondering how I let go of my son who will be graduating high school next year. ( I don't want to let go. )

I came across a quote written by J.R.R. Tolkien the other day. He said: "You can only come to the morning  through the shadows." Now, I've read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy a few decades ago. So, I don't recall who said these words (they may not even be from a work, but spoken by himself, though I think not) but they ring true. Similar to "it's always darkest before the dawn" and "...though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil" (Psalm 23), they essentially say the same thing. Tolkien's phrase caught my attention because of the word "shadows." These are the things we think we see, or presuppose, or assume, or pretend are there, or any innumerable things we can substitute for the words shadows. Shadows imply something that is there, but the very thing is unclear. Do we see what we actually think we see? After going to bed thinking about these words, and how they apply to u

There's a much-adhered bit of writing advice that most writers are told, whether it's from a teacher, mentor, critique partner or book. It's this: To write well, you must read. And it's true. It's like studying art work if you paint or sculpt Or watching dramas or theater if you're an actor. You have to study the craft in which you create. As Stephen King said in his perfect book On Writing , " If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that” (147)." Yep. Also, I think I need to add that one needs to write in order to be a great writer. I know. How obvious, right? But, it's not to some. I know "writers" who only write the book they are working on, but nothing else. They don't write short stories, articles, poems, not even a blog. They don't do any writing other than the latest book they're working on. And edit it. Over and over. Day in and day out. Wher

Every single time I tell myself I'm going to write at my blog more.  And every single time I don't. Regardless, my sis reminded me that I had a blog, and I realized I hadn't said hello for three months; for 90 days; for roughly 2160 hours! A lot transpires in three months. And an exceptional amount has transpired in the last few days. Here's a small rundown. It's Fall! Glorious glory. Better weather, perfect season for the most perfect layered clothing, best time of year. When my neighborhood looks like this, how can I not love it more? The trees look like this: We look up and see more of this! We drink more of this (Well, I drink the coffee any time of year, but I'm not sweating while drinking it hot now. So hey!) A very unforgettable election and voting process just occurred. My dog's face ↓ pretty much depicts how I feel. About both candidates. Note the blue and red in the blanket.

I would try to list all the things we did with the kids this summer to keep them and us busy alongside work and everything else, but instead, I'm just going to show you last week.  Had to get a Rivercats game in. Our local AAA team is pretty amazing. And even if our season has been less than stellar, we won that night. So there you go. It wouldn't be summer without a trip to the optometrist, right? My eyes are slightly worse in the first time of EVER. (I turned 40 recently, that was definitely a summer event ... that I don't want to talk about. You understand). But, my wonderful father is said optometrist, so it's always a fun visit. Thanks Dad! We usually squeeze in a trip to IKEA. Random trivia: We bought this exact table and chairs 10 years ago as a "temporary" fix for the dinette until husband made a better one. Here's a couple other trivia things to note: 1. We paid $120 ten years ago. Woah. Infl

You know, for being a writer, I sure don't blog a lot. I mean, I'm a failure when it comes to this. I started my blogs because, let's face it, what's a writer (or who's a writer, really) without one? It's like the necessary notebooks, books, journals, pens, computers, PCs -- on at the same time while on my phone as well, but that's another story for another time -- that a writer needs and wants that co-exists nicely with the incessant dialogue or scene setting that goes on in a writer's mind. It's perpetual. It's never-ending. And it's lovely. And I have kids. Kids can kind of take every living ounce of strength and will-power out of me, so that I don't want to write. At all. Like, at all all. Like ever again. Okay, not true. That part just isn't true. But, their constant energy and living their schedules, warrants an IV caffeine drip into my right arm. So it's ironic and very lackadaisical of me to not be writing he

It's been said that life goes by faster with every year that passes. This is undeniably true. School has been out for my boys for two months, and yet, I can't understand how they're starting school again in three weeks. A parental phenomenon is what it is. And this humorous, albeit ridiculous, door knob sign that my eldest son made, is a phenomenon all its own.  I shouldn't have had to ask, but I did ... the blindness will happen if I don't knock on his door and make sure he isn't naked before I walk in. Oh, good heavens. This summer, it's good to see him using his words and writing. And per usual, it's good to see his humor is still intact. Have a great weekend friends. Oh, and a little article about my Etsy start-up five years ago just posted a few days ago on this sweet blog I'm a part of, called Society Letters. ◄ -HJS

My oldest son just graduated from middle school. Which means, naturally that I have a high-schooler now.  Really amazing to see how fast time flies and how much my little boy has turned into a man. Because I'm his mom, I get to tell you how handsome he is. Isn't he? Okay. Speaking of boys, just had another article printed on Mamalode and it has to do with boys! My boys. Which is perfect timing. Go here ◄ to read it. And this time? Mamalode editors left every word in tact, the way I originally wrote it. The article is titled, Better with Boys. Graduating son? Original non-edited and printed writing?  Perfect way to end the week. Have a wonderful weekend friends.

Well hey! Just wanted to say a quick hello. I'm still here. No excuses for not blogging. However, I'm going to give you excuses anyway. Just went here for Winter Break with my boys. Their first trip to Hawaii. Spent a lot of time looking up at this while lounging on the beach or at the pool.  Spent an equal amount of time trying to get them to let me take pics of them. Took a ridiculous amount of fun selfies with my oldest. (Very cherish-able.) Came home to celebrate this boy's birthday (again). Proceeded to eat all of this by myself. Took this girl for many runs, even though I was the one that needed to run. Now, I'm doing (still) a lot of this. But wishing I was doing this. I'm getting back into the writing groove guys. I promise. Hope to share some of it in the near future. Aloha...