Churning thoughts, KISS theory, and smiles

I’m having trouble staying focussed today so I’m venting out my churning thoughts…

1. I am always inordinately upset when someone I thought I knew turns out to be someone else entirely. If I loved them before, I’m not likely to after I realize they misrepresented themselves. Usually it makes me so mad I almost can’t see straight. That’s when the good witch in me tends to turn a bit dark like toast that’s been left in the toaster too long. Don’t lie to me. If I don’t happen to spot the lie immediately or have resolved to ignore until I get an explanation for it, rest assured I will eventually pay attention to it and this will not be good for you. Should there be a heart involved, I will smash it into pieces and let the hot wind of my fury summarily sweep it away. Ridiculously touchy of me, I know. But I really hate being lied to. Yesterday when I was already moody was especially not a good day to lie.

2. When I started getting crazy with my HGTV architectural design program, it was with two creative goals: design a family friendly nightclub and my dream house. The program allows me to proceed merrily along until I’ve invested a whole lot of time into a project… and then it always crashes. But suddenly I realize I’ve been sabotaging myself all along and I am seriously shaking my head at myself. I may be overloading the program. I am certainly overloading myself. I keep starting out with simple ideas which I continually add to until they get impossibly complex. What do I want in a family friendly nightclub: enough entertainment to keep everyone happy and (for the kids) well behaved as a by-product of that. Kids misbehave when they’re bored or feel ignored. This is not dependent on the club being super fantastically elaborate. No. It’s dependent on what goes on there and how it is presented. Looks like I need to reassess all of my designs on this basis.

What do I want in a dream house? That’s dependent on what I want out of my home. I want room for company, but not a lot of excess room. I want it cozy not cavernous. The kitchen needs to be big if I have to share it with anyone. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does require nice views of the adjoining room and the outdoors, also of the television. I need a highly manageable garden. Must have one, but honestly I’m a lousy gardener. I shouldn’t have to weed all day just to find the things I planted on purpose. The house needs to be open, sunny, and breezy.

I tell myself all that, but I have Jeb leaning over my shoulder saying things like, “a double front entry would be neat. It needs to have a double built-in oven in the kitchen in addition to the regular stove and an island and a bar sink in addition to the regular sink. Bidets would be nice. A hot tub AND a big bathroom are musts….” And I’m just as bad adding dance floors, courtyards, bars, rec rooms, tunnels, waterfalls, libraries, star viewing towers, fireplaces…. I always start simply and end up building a castle. MUST stop that! KISS I must tell myself: Keep It Simple Stupid!

3. Need to reassess some of my manuscripts for the same reason. The characters tend to come to life for me and then I start living in the scenes instead of thinking ahead to where this is supposed to be going to such an extent that I often forget entirely and the story ends up like a snake swallowing its own tale… er… tail and going nowhere.

Sometimes, despite myself, it comes out just right.  I think my muse must be very real in some way, especially when an ending happens that I wasn’t expecting and I’m the one who wrote it!  How else can that be?

4.  There are definitely some other things I need to hurry up and evaluate for much the same reasons.  Just not ready to talk about them yet.

5.  And here are some smilifying pictures that I’ve gotten from facebook and various email forwards…

OMG I remember days like that when my kids were little and devilish.  I mean REALLY devilish!  Where did they get that from?  Don’t you dare ask my mother that question!

Kitty logic.  He’s got a point there though.

Wow that face says “YELP!”

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a daschund!  It can fly, it can fly, it can fly!