frazzled & frumpy

I grew up watching Miss America pageants. I loved the beautiful women with their coiffed hair and fancy evening gowns. they walked the runway so graciously. And, then, at the end, Burt Parks would crown the winner and sing, "There she is, Miss America..."  I just knew that someday, I would be Miss America. So, when I was a senior in high school, at the ripe old age of 17, I entered the Miss Mini-Cassia Pageant. Crown jewel of the southern Idaho pageant circuit.  I went to rehearsals, met the other contestants and worked on my talent. I practiced strutting in my swimsuit and heels, turning just the right way, and speaking clearly when I was introduced. What I should have worked on was filtering. You know, the process where you learn to stop and think about the thought that just burst into your head before you actually let it out of your mouth? Filtering. It happened in the interview. This was one aspect of the pageant that scared me most. Our coordinator had schooled us...

(When I said I would write about my blogging process, I did because it's very different from my fiction process. But, since then, I've wondered about the wisdom in this. Please don't think I'm giving advice or trying to present myself as a professional, or even decent, blogger. You can find much better advice in other places, I'm sure.) Long before I knew what a blog was, I would often have essays rolling around inside my head. I wrote a couple down (my favorite was about my irritable uterus. If I can find it, someday I'll post it.) I'd send them as e-mails to my family, because I had no other way to share them. Then, my sister introduced me to blogging.  Now, I can share my silly insights with anyone who cares to click over. I don't plan my posts ahead of time. This is something I've thought of doing, but I'm not much of a planner.  I LOVE making lists, but rarely follow through with them.  (How's my schedule going? you may ask. Let...

"It's hard to be responsible, adult and sensible all the time. How good it is to have a sister whose heart is as young as your own."- Pam Brown Me (with tongue) and my older sister, Heidi. I've posted about my sisters before.  They are woven into my life's tapestry in such a way that it would destroy  it should I try to take them out. There are many other women in my life whom I consider sisters, who also are entwined in my life.  They give my tapestry color and diversity.  I cherish sisterhood. There is strength in women and more so when those women have a bond.  Men don't have the same connection. Oh, they can be brothers and friends, but I honestly believe that they cannot have the closeness that women do.  We are lucky. Perhaps it's our nurturing nature. Not necessarily our motherhood, because I've felt it, do feel it, with many women who are not mothers.  But, it is something in our capacity to bear children and our tendency to tendernes...