Tuesday, April 18, 2017

The Business of Being Dean



Presenting the ever-quotable Dean! Enjoy.... :)




"It all right" (patting Andrew's arm)-- "It all right. You listen—I with you."

"Caterpillars are nice. They pet people" (stroking his tummy) "they like people."

"STOP, pants!" (Dean frustrated because his too-short pants wouldn't cover his ankles)

"I had another one in my tummy!" (Dean afflicted with hiccups)

"[Spiderman] hits the bad guys and they fall into the water. He saves people. He eats with people at Grammy and Papa's. He eats bread, and dough—cookie dough—and toast."

"When it" (the moldy onion on the table that Mommy explained wouldn't be good to eat) "gets better, I can eat it. You can eat it. Daddy can eat it. Spiderman can eat it."

"I'm going to go into my hiding place and poop."

"Thank you for the food...thank you for Mommy...thank you for Daddy...thank you for me...thank you for the cup...thank you for the table...um...thank you for the thingy...thank you for Mommy and Daddy...thank you for the something...thank you for this" (patting his cup) "....thank you for the chairs....Amen." (Dean praying)

"BAD Mr. Frumble. Push him in with the cucumbers and cook him." (Dean indignant with a pig who creates mayhem in the grocery store while chasing his runaway hat)

"Good bye, and thank you Dr. Bones!" (another Richard Scarry quote)

(Dean trying to explain to his aunt that yes, he does have a driver's license) "I have license. Look, I have arms coming out [of sleeves]. I have arms to turn [the wheel]."

"You a bad guy. You eat people all up. With toast. And bacon. And eggs. (pause) And potatoes."

"I a bad guy. I pour water on my eggs." (Mommy explains Dean is not a bad guy and he shouldn't pour water on his eggs.) "I not a bad guy. Bad guys pour water on their eggs. I don't pour water on my eggs."

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Sorry! Couldn't think of a good title today. :P


Hey there.

It's been a while since I posted, hasn't it? And to be honest, I'm not sure I'll be posting again anytime soon. Maybe I will—I'd like to think I that I will. But if you know me, you know I have a tendency to aim high and crash low. When I tried to revamp this blog last year, I had grand plans for it. I was going to get involved on all kinds of social media networks—Instagram, Twitter, Bloglovin', etc—and gain a vast army of followers, who would all click on my blog's tasteful, relevant ads and earn me gobs of money.

Didn't work out that way—and serves me right.

For one thing, I didn't put in the work. Oh, I did some research on successful blogging, making money, etc. But the spark fizzled out fast—and once the spark fizzles, the passion dies and the wheels stop turning. It takes more than a solitary spark to achieve success. 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration, people! ;)

In that moment I realized that it wasn't worth it, to me, to do the actual work and research. I can't spend hours every day on the computer networking, reading and commenting on blogs, or writing several posts a week. I have an energetic almost-three-year-old that doesn't sit still and doesn't like competing with the computer for attention (unless he's watching Peter Rabbit). I'm a slow writer and I can't churn out posts in the amount of time I have available to me without sacrificing something more important—my quiet time in the morning, family time in the evening, or time with Dean during the day. I do have time to write—but not enough to fuel the sort of endeavor I was attempting. And anyway, wasn't I resolving this New Year's to spend less time on the computer and more time in the "real world"?

(Not criticizing any hard-core bloggers out there—for me, personally, too much time on the computer saps my energy and concentration and makes me feel like a zombie. That's just me.)

That said, I would like to start blogging again. This time, though, I want to set more realistic expectations for myself. So, I'm not trying to make money here. (If it grows into that, great, but that's no longer my objective.) I'm not going to post three or four times a week—probably only once (twice if I'm feeling cocky). I don't even know what my niche is, or if I'll ever develop one—that'll take care of itself.

At this point, this blog is of no interest to anyone at all except a couple of my immediate family members, one or two friends, and...myself. Mostly myself. :P That's OK. I want to write, and the only way to start writing is to...wait for it...start writing. It's really the practice I need, in order to meet my other writing-related goals. Of course if you want to tag along, I'd be overjoyed to have you. A writer needs an audience, and, of course, friends to chat with along the way.