Before I Chicken Out… December 22, 2006

I am going to write a novel during the month of January.  A 50,000 word novel.  In 31 days.

There is a program called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and every November they challenge people to write a novel in 30 days.  I’m taking the concept and holding my own NaNoWriMo in January.  Because I missed it in November and I don’t want to wait until next November.  The point of the exercise is to get the words flowing, get in the habit of writing, and just go for it.  You don’t have to write anything brilliant.  You just have to write.

I love to write and I’ve had an idea for a novel for a while and I’ve decided that THE TIME HAS COME.  So I’m doing it.

Please ask me how it’s going.  If you ask me I’ll have to answer and I don’t want to answer “Not so well.”  So it’ll make me do it.  I’ll also maybe not promising anything post some excerpts if I write anything that approaches readable.  Maybe.

So stay tuned to see how it goes.  I could use the support!

Christmas Time is Here December 14, 2006

Christmas Eve is on a Sunday this year.  Which means that my family will be participating in 4 church services on said Sunday.

My Dad is an Episcopal priest.  When Christmas Eve is on a Sunday, he does two services in the morning for the Sunday of Advent 4, and then does a 5:30pm Family Service complete w/ Christmas Paegent and an 11pm Midnight Mass.  We, the family, are usually involved in all of the services as well, as choir members or acolytes or chalice bearers or something else that wears vestments.  We fondly refer to it as The Henderson Dog and Pony Show. 

In between all of these many church services, we try to eat Christmas dinner, figure out last minute gifts, cook for Christmas breakfast the next day (a big tradition in my family) and take naps so that we will actually be awake for the 11p service.  By the time actual Christmas day rolls around, we are all so exhausted we sleep till 10a.

But then it gets to be Christmas Day.  Christmas Day is quite possibly my favourite day of the year.  Because of what my Dad does for a living, we can’t go anywhere for Christmas (or Easter which usually fell on Spring Break most of my life but that’s another story) so we are always at home.  Sometimes our grandparents would come, or cousins and aunts and uncles, but usually it was just me, my parents and my brothers.  It is a great day.  We’ll usually get up, look at Santa and open stockings, eat breakfast then open presents.  Then we spend the rest of the day in our PJ’s just being together.  We’ll watch movies, read, mess around with our Christmas presents.  Then for dinner we’ll get dressed and go to the Waffle House. 

Christmas is a very sacred day for my family.  It is the one day that I remeber us always being together, all day, with no interruption.  So often, when we went on trips or vacation, someone in the church would get sick, or someone would die and my Dad would have to go home.  But Christmas day was OUR DAY.

I’m going to see my family for Christmas this year, for the first time in two years.  I’m really excited.  I will miss Jamie terribly, but I’m excited to be with my family.  Even if I have to take communion 4 times in one day.

I’m Like a Mother Hen December 4, 2006

My brother Garrett, who is 18, played in the Alabama Independent Schools Association’s All-State Football game this weekend.  Basically, that means that out of all of the football players in the state of Alabama that go to private school, my brother was chosen to play right offensive tackle.  He is THE BEST right offensive tackle in the state.  That goes to private school.

His team (East) won the game and Garrett played every offensive play.  The way it works is that everyone chosen for the teams will play, but how hard you work in practice and how awesome you are determines how much you get to play.  So Garrett-very hard worker, very awesome.

I am so proud of my bro.  He is 11 years younger than me, so we always had a weird kind of relationship.  When he was little, I was yet another authority figure to him.  And he was a very bad kid.  We all thought he was going to end up as a juvenile delinquent, if he lived that long.

But he has grown up into a generous, loyal, strong young man.  Not only physically strong, but strong in spirit as well.  I went down in October to see him play football.  I haven’t gotten to see him play, since I have lived in VA the entire time he’s been in high school.  I was astonished at his leadership, his caring and his ability on the field.  Any time anyone made a great play, Garrett was the first to congratulate him.  And any time someone messed up, Garrett was the first one saying “It’s ok, you’ll get it next time(actually what he said was “It’s aaaight, you’ll git it the next taame” but I don’t know how many of you speak Lower Alabamian).  It was apparent how much the younger kids looked up to him and how much his encouragement meant to them.

Garrett is a killa awesome football player, and a killa awesome person.  I’m proud to know him and even prouder to be his sister.   

And did I mention that he’s being recruited by AUBURN FOOTBALL??  Did I mention that?  Cause he is.  WAR EAGLE, BABY.

Holiday Shindig December 3, 2006

We had a kick off the holidays party last night and there were a lot of people in my house. I’m always nervous about throwing parties b/c what if no body comes??!? But lots of folks did come and they were all standing around the food table and would not sit. I had all the candles lit in the living room, comfy couches, plenty of seating. But no one would leave the dining room which had 4 chairs in it. So everyone stood up and seemed to have a great time.

The food was fabulous, if I do say so myself. Of course, everyone’s favourite were the spinach artichoke crescent rolls-store bought crescent rolls with spinach artichoke dip from the Fresh Market in them. Isn’t that always the way….the easiest is the best? They were killa good, though. We also had cranberry orange spread with ginger snaps, meatballs with cranberry bbq sauce, this torte with sundried tomatoes and pesto, and mini cheesecakes and creme de menthe brownies. About 20 minutes before the party was supposed to start, I cut the brownies and discovered that they had stuck. I salvaged them, but it was not pretty. People ate them anyway.

Two or three people commented on my lack of Baby Jesuses (Jesusi?) in my nativity scenes. In my family, crazy Episcopalians that we are, we don’t put out the Baby Jesus until Christmas, b/c that’s when he was born. Also, none of the wise men are looking at Mary and Joseph, b/c the Wise Men aren’t there yet either. They get there Jan. 6. My mom used to start the Wise Men across the room from the nativity scene and as Epiphany neared, they would get closer and closer. Yes, I know that Jesus was not literally born on Dec. 25, and the Wise Men did not literally come on Jan. 6, but it’s our way of reminding ourselves that we are still in the season of Advent, the season of waiting and anticipation. I like it that way. Plus Christmas seems so much better, and seems to last longer, cause we haven’t been full throttle celebrating it since Halloween.

That’s all for now. More reports on Christmas shenanigans as the kittens discover decorations. OOoooo. Shinny bows and tempting garland. I don’t want to even think about what’s going to happen when the tree goes up.

Dogs and Depression December 3, 2006

I have “Chronic Atypical Depression” (so not only do I have a mental disorder, I have an atypical one. Figures) and I have been having depressive episodes since I was 13. I’m 29 now, and I finally have my depression relatively under control.

I have been reading lately about Psychiatric Service Dogs. I love dogs and the more I read about Psychiatric Service Dogs (PSD) the more fascinated I become with this whole subject. PSDs are trained to help people with severe mental illness get through their day. The dogs can be trained to remind their human to take medicine, wake their human up at a certain time so they don’t sleep to much, recognize when their human going to have a panic/anxiety attack, recognize the onset of a manic phase, provide comfort when their human is crying, the list goes on and on. The dog is a true service dog and goes everywhere with their human. The dog actually senses the chemical changes in their human that indicated a psychotic episode, depressive episode, manic episode, whatever their particular human experiences.

I don’t have a service dog and I don’t belong to any of the organizations (yet), but I can see how one would have been amazing during the times I was so depressed I couldn’t get out of bed. One handler tells the story of how she locked herself in the bathroom, thinking about killing herself, and her dog would not quit scratching at the door, scratched for hours until she let him in. Now, her dog won’t let her shut the bathroom door at all if he’s not in there with her. There is another man who talks about how during a business meeting he began to get really nervous and anxious and was talking all the time and the dog came over and leaned against him to get him to calm down. There are so many people who say that they are able to function as “normal” human beings b/c of their PSDs.

If you’re interested in more info, the best place to start is the Psychiatric Service Dog Society (www.psychdog.com). It’s pretty cool stuff.  Sorry it’s not an actual link, I haven’t figured this all out yet.  I’m new at this, alright!?