Town Clean up a Sizzling Success

We did it, and I think we started a small trend in our local community! Last Friday, friends and family gathered at a local park, donning our green shirts, large black bags and a box of rubber gloves. We picked up garbage along the road for about an hour (the small ones were getting tired), made it about a mile, and filled five bags. Two bags actually broke they were so full, and ended up spilling stuff out the bottom. We had to backtrack a bit, but in the end it was a total success. The stretch of road looked perfectly green and healthy; except ofcourse where we had to stop. We made some informal plans to go back out another time and finish the rest, and all went home to shower the stink off.

Yesterday, I took a short detour down the very same road we cleaned up a few days ago, and noticed that the distinctive line were we had stopped cleaning, was no longer there. Other people had gone out to finish the rest of the road after us. I practically jumped out of my seat in delight.

My youngest came up with a name for our garbage picking adventure. She called it "Earth Walk." What a clever name, I thought. This also led me to thinking, that if we're not the only ones that don't mind picking up other people's trash, perhaps a weekly "Earth Walk" wouldn't be such a bad idea. What if we started a walking club of sorts? A group of volunteers that work together to clean up the town, making new friendships and getting some great excercise all the while. What a great idea. I mean, we have Earth Day, and now we have Earth Hour, what about an Earth Walk?

Make Some Noise!

I realize I'm going to have to start jazzing up this blog a bit if I am ever going to get any kind of an audience; the problem is, everytime I sit down to write the most fantastic blog.... *BLEEP * -it all just disapears and here comes my logical, most boring self getting in the way, trying to correct and edit the whole time. How annoying is that?

I have come across some OTHER peoples fantabulous blogs, and certainly have a growing list of ones that I follow. I'm going to have to think really hard (or possibly not think at all), about what I write next..... S'funny, I write my best when I don't think about it.

How do you write?

Happy Earth Day!

In light of Earth Day this year, my family, and a few other families with small children, had planned to go to the local beach to pick up litter, donning green t-shirts with a logo across the front that said "green is good", promoting our cause. I picked up the shirts from our local Value Village (re-purposing right?), and printed out the logo at home on transfer paper.

A fair amount of thought went into this little project, and of course, the weather was not so nice, so we opted not to go today. We rescheduled for Friday instead, when the weather is supposed to be sunny. I guess that it doesn't really matter what day of the week it's done, everyday should be earth day anyway.

I have added a few of my favorite green links to my blog today, and would like to invite you to visit them. Feel free to post your own earth day efforts here as well, I would love to read them!

Happy Earth Day folks...

Insight

My oldest daughter is officially signed up for vocal lessons. When we told her we had found her a very good teacher, she was sitting on on the couch, legs vibrating with a beaming smile on her face. It was like Christmas morning.

You see, I have been telling her for a long while that I would get her involved in singing, dancing and acting. She wants to be the next Hannah Montanna, and at first, I told her that this was not possible, she would not be the next Hannah. But, if you read my last post you would understand, I realized I was being as closed minded as everyone was to me when I was her age. Who am I to predict what she will and won't be in her lifetime?

After reaching the conclusion that I was in no way being a good parent by hindering my daughters interests, I searched for lessons. And we had a discussion. I told her I was wrong, that perhaps she may not be a Hannah, but she certainly could be herself. We talked about realistic expectations, hard work, and having fun.

Most importantly, she has the opportunity to try something she really loves, and I'm not holding her back.

Big Dreams

When I was growing up, I had always dreamt of becoming an actress. Unfortunately, everyone always told me that I needed a real job, so I didn’t even lean slightly in that direction. It wasn’t the glitz and glamour that attracted me to such profession; not wholly anyway. It was what was behind the scenes that captivated me the most. The way a good actor worked so hard to become the character was what held my interest.

Every now and then, a flicker of that yearning desire resurfaces, and subsequently I push it back to where it came from, explaining to it that I am much too old to go chasing after juvenile Hollywood dreams.

Or am I?

Who’s to say I can’t reach for the stars anyway? Imagine not being the one playing the character, but being the one who created the character! How romantic is that? It took me twenty-nine years to discover my passion in life, and there is no way I am going to let go of big dreams now that I have found what I have been looking for.

I have a long way to go, to be considered a professional writer by anyone’s standards. There is an endless amount of things on my list of things to learn, and perhaps in another twenty-nine years from now, you will see my name as a participant in the writing of a script.

Wouldn’t that be grand.

An Introduction

I love my name. Although a very common one, I still think it has a nice ring to it. It's an old name, and my mother always said, a good sturdy name will take you far in life.

In my kindergarten class (I'm not a teacher-I mean when I myself was in kindergarten), there were two Amanda's. My name was chosen to be shortened to Mandy so she could differentiate between us, and that kind of stuck for awhile. Everyone called me Mandy, except for my parents.

I switched high schools mid-career from public to catholic, because I thought I was headed down the wrong path, and changed my name back to Amanda. A new name, for a fresh start. The switch did not work out as planned, but I will save that story for a future blog.

I live in a small military town, the same place I was born, the same place I went to school, and have left here only briefly in my 29 years. It's kind of sad really. But I'm happy. There will be time for travel soon enough.

I have two beautiful girls, still quite young, but getting older quicker than I thought they would. It's true what they say; it does go by fast. This is disheartening to me for two reasons. One, if it keeps flashing by at this rate, they will soon be talking to me about what college or university they want to attend, then gone, and I will be left here in my empty nest wondering what to talk about with my husband over breakfast.

Second, I know that someday soon, I will have to turn my attention to, well-me. I will then have to look in the mirror and ask "where did these wrinkles come from?" But it's inevitable, and I enjoy the time I have with my kids. Both are very individual, with warm hearts and good souls. I pray that I don't wreck them; that they maintain their personalities despite my interference.

I am married to-you probably have guessed it by now-a soldier. This is why I live where I am, and not somewhere else. I met him here, and he lives where they tell him to. He's a hard core infantry man through and through. He's extremely good at his job, and is also a wonderful husband and family man. I guess you would call him perfect, but I am a tad bit biased. Tall, handsome, strong and smart. The man can do anything if he has a manual. It is a very admirable trait to have. And useful. If something breaks he can fix it. I, on the other hand, cannot fix anything. Usually, it's me that has broken what my husband has to repair. Poor guy really had no idea what he was getting into when he married me.

In the past I have asked him what his favourite trait about me was. His response? You talk a lot (he is also a man of few words). I suppose you who are reading this, would also agree. No story of mine is short. New thoughts fill my mind throughout the day, cluttering up my mind and leaving it hard to concentrate. I am hoping that this new blog will not only help me improve my writing skills, but also spring clean my head, so to speak.

There you have it. I am a 29 year old waitress in a small town, with an army husband, two beautiful girls, and an infinite desire to write for a living.

I hope you will join me on my adventure as I become what I've always wanted to be.