January | 2011 | TheRealSharon's Blog

{January 31, 2011} Taxes and staying organized…a contradiction?

One of the disadvantages of being a grownup!

Finally got mine AND my husband’s W2 forms in today so a majority of today was getting taxes done. Ugh! Doing taxes is so not fun! Luckily, me and my husband are not rich (Yes, I know, doesn’t make sense, huh?) so we actually get some money back and don’t have to pay anything.

Getting them done this year wasn’t too bad, I guess. Other than some yelling in frustration by my husband, it went relatively smoothly. Thankfully, his mom and dad helped my husband over the phone with issues he had and he got it done on turbo tax’s website. So….crisis averted. Taxes done for another year and boy, am I ever relieved!

One thing I realized in getting things together to do taxes is that I am unbelievably lacking in the organization of papers. I just put them all beside me in this little gift bag or on my nightstand amidst a bunch of magazines and some books. However, this results in me having to go through a million papers to find the ones I want. Therefore, I have decided I need to see about getting some kind of a box(maybe even make one of my own) and get some file folders and labels. Then I can sort out all bills and important documents and have them readily available to save time. While I’m at it, I could probably do with some more storage boxes, drawers and whatnot as well. I admit it, I am a clutter whore. If that’s not a word, then it IS now, because I have just made it my own!

My dad is a pack rat. My family can attest to this. Every time I would clean up when I lived at home, my dad would go through our trash and take out anything he thought was still good. It was nothing unusual for me to walk through the house and see stuff on cabinets that I threw away and have a deja vu face. In the beginning, it made me go crazy. Sometimes I literally felt like I had lost my marbles and was not actually throwing away the items like I originally thought I had. Then I realized I DID in fact, throw them away, and NO, they were not growing legs and crawling out of the trash by themselves to play tricks on me. It was just my pack rat dad who never wanted to throw anything away. Unfortunately, now every time I start to throw something away, I have to fight with myself. Is this still any good? Could I use this for something else? It’s extremely annoying and I seriously do not want to end up on Hoarders!

Ok, my apartment is NOT that bad. I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. I just have too many things and lack good organizational skills for the things I do need and actually use. I know that there’s no way I will wake up tomorrow and be a totally different me, it’s just not happening, but I do want to start small and try to get a little in order at a time. Meanwhile, any tips or suggestions from any one reading this would be so greatly appreciated. Seriously…

~Sighs~ Taxes and organizing…my life has become so boring….

{January 30, 2011} Life on a Bumper

My fav.!

I’m fresh out of philosophical ideas at the moment so I went searching for comedy. What I found was a lot of funny sayings on bumper stickers and I just thought I would share some of my favorites that I found all over the internet.

My husband needs to follow this advice!

Heck yeah!

HAHAHAHA!

Madness takes its toll–please have exact change ready.

I have PMS and a handgun. ANY QUESTIONS?

I may be fat, but you are ugly and I can lose weight.

Admit it....

: I agree!

Officer, will this sticker saying Support Law Enforcement stop you from giving me a ticket?

DO NOT WASH: This vehicle is undergoing a scientific dirt test

When I married Mr. Right, I didn’t know his first name was “ALWAYS”

Road Rage Next 10 miles

I’ve got a perfect body but it’s in the trunk and beginning to smell

This definitely wasn’t one of my 3 wishes.

Politics is like the “PBS”…without the “P”.

Wife and Dog Missing, Reward for Dog

I wish I had some extra money to buy a few of these bumper stickers. They have so many funny ones you can buy.

For anyone who was interested in the answer to the riddle from Friday, the answer was MARRIAGE.

I hope people have been enjoying my blog. Any ideas, suggestions,advice and/or criticism is welcome! Just leave me a comment on my posts.

Sorry for the spacing of the images in this post, I am still learning how to visually do things on WordPress.

{January 29, 2011} The tech I can’t live without brought me the one I can’t lose

Let’s see….The piece of technology that I couldn’t live without? Could it be anymore obvious? The computer! Without it, I would be unable to do this blog or communicate with friends and family all over the place practically anytime I want. I can honestly say that yes, I am addicted to the computer.

I’m not ashamed of it either. There are many things in life that probably would not have happened if I had never had a computer or access to one. In fact, I could easily write pages upon pages of what I have learned through having access to a computer. The most major life changing result of having a computer came through a social networking website called Myspace. I almost feel guilty that I betrayed it and left it officially for Facebook.

You see, for those of you who don’t already know, Myspace is responsible for bringing my husband into my life. I didn’t search for a guy on Myspace and in point of fact, I was actually seeing an ex at the time that I first saw him. You see, I was at a low point in my life and had just decided to let an ex who I had dated on and off again many times in the past, have one more chance. The same day, I got online to check my Myspace and I had a message for this guy. In the note, he told me he had found my page, thought I was cute and seemed nice, wanted to see if we could hang out sometime.

*Just a side note here: I do not endorse people meeting random guys or girls off of the computer because it CAN be dangerous. Just because I got lucky doesn’t mean that you will*

Anyways, his picture looked cute, his page showed we had common interests and he seemed sweet so I messaged him back. Later that day, we exchanged phone numbers online and talked on the phone for hours. He KNEW I was seeing my ex so I told him we could be friends basically. At the same time, I had an inner conflict going because this ex had broke my heart more times than I should have dealt with but in the past, I had loved him strongly, so I was giving him a chance. The problem was, my heart had had enough. It no longer could scrounge up anywhere near the same kind of affection I once held for this guy. He finally felt true love for me for the first time in years yet it was too late. You can’t force yourself to have feelings you just don’t have anymore and the new guy from Myspace gave me tingles. When I talked to him, my face was this big glow of happiness. I did the giddy little girl giggles and felt all warm inside. I started crushing hard on this new guy so I couldn’t help but want to meet him.

We met at the mall the very next day and from the moment I set eyes on him, my smile just wouldn’t fade. As we walked through the mall, I KNEW at that moment this was going to be my new man. When he looked at me, I actually felt that he thought I really WAS beautiful and cute and special and my heart couldn’t deny that this was stronger than any kindergarten crush.

I met his parents that same night and he asked me to be his girl and I wouldn’t say yes yet. I had business to deal with. I had to go home and call my ex and tell him that one day after I agreed to date him again, it was already over. It hurt him and I hated hurting people. I cried, not because I had feelings for him still, but because I hated having to hurt him now that I knew he actually did care for me. BUT I did. I let him go and I accepted Chad(the new guy) into my life. Six months later, he asked me to be his wife and I gladly accepted. We got married on the same day he proposed BUT a year later. July 19th, 2009.

I had many relationships end bad even when the guy supposedly loved me and wanted to be with me forever so I wanted to make sure this was right. That’s why we had the long engagement. It’s now been a little over a year and a half since our wedding day and I have no regrets. I am thankful for social networking sites for bringing my husband into my life. I won’t say there hasn’t been struggles but it’s all worth it.

Me and Chad, a couple months before he proposed

Our wedding day 🙂

{January 28, 2011} It begins with a thought and ends with a riddle

A few days ago, I started carrying around a “Thought” book where I could keep track of all my thoughts, ideas and dreams I wanted to use for my blog. Well, it never ceases to amaze me how whenever you are actually prepared for something, you almost never NEED it. Before I started using it, I was getting a million ideas a second and never remembering them by the time I could get them on paper or computer. Of course now that I am fully prepared should a thought arise, all of them seem to have scurried away like a mouse and hid somewhere.

That’s fine because I am still going to keep it with me and I am sure the thoughts can’t stay away forever. Whenever they decide to return, I will be ready this time.

I’m ending this blog with a riddle….If you figure out the answer, you can guess it in the comments section.

Riddle:

I am enjoyed by some, despised by others, and some abuse me. I am a sacrament, a gift. I am never-ending, yet at times some break me. What am I?

Here’s a hint: The answer will be something I do a blog on in the future! 🙂

{January 27, 2011} My Ode to Music

Me with my first true love 🙂

Me and Music go way back. We are like long lost siblings that mesh together so well. I can’t remember a time when music wasn’t a part of my life. As soon as I was old enough to control a TV remote, I found MTV and music videos. Everywhere I heard music, I couldn’t help but be intrigued and have a huge smile on my face. I have just always loved music and music has always been there for me.

I remember holidays as a child when I would grab a stool, set it in front on the TV, stand up on it and sing out for everyone to hear. Looking back, I am sure it annoyed the men who wanted to watch their football games but I didn’t care. Music was something I loved and singing was my way of sharing music with others. If I was in the car, I was pretending to be a radio DJ AND doing my own made up songs as well. If I was in the grocery store, I was in the cart banging on the front like a piano and singing out for the whole store to hear. I still have old fashioned cassette tapes where I recorded myself being a DJ, singing and announcing songs that I taped from the radio.

As I grew up, I kept more to myself and didn’t sing out in public all the time. I mean, people tend to look at you like you should be in a mental hospital if you do. Honestly though, my confidence in sharing my love of music through singing dropped as I got older as well. It’s funny how when you’re a kid you just don’t care so much what people think. As you age though, you learn that people are judgmental and you tend to become so yourself. So I don’t sing all the time around everyone anymore but my love for music is still there.

There was a dance song when I was younger that was called, “I’ve got the power”. There’s a line in it that says “Music is my life”. I’ve always related to that line. I don’t know where I would be right now if it wasn’t for music. Music has gotten me through some of the worst moments in my life. It has lifted me up when I was down, became a proverbial shoulder for me to cry on. It has made me laugh, allowed me to express myself in a way that nothing else ever has. Sometimes I feel like all the answers to life’s problems can be found in lyrics.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. ~Victor Hugo

When words leave off, music begins. ~Heinrich Heine

The discovery of song and the creation of musical instruments both owed their origin to a human impulse which lies much deeper than conscious intention: the need for rhythm in life… the need is a deep one, transcending thought, and disregarded at our peril. ~Richard Baker

A Musical Joke now?

A tourist is sightseeing in a European city. She comes upon the tomb of Beethoven, and begins reading the commerative plaque, only to be distracted by a low scratching noise, as if something was rubbing against a piece of paper.

She collars a passing native and asks what the scratching sound is.

The local person replies, “Oh, that is Beethoven. He’s decomposing.”

{January 26, 2011} Into each life, some rain must fall

Ever since my post on Monday, this quote has been stuck in my head. Stuck on repeat like an old fashioned record that got hung up on the needle. All it did was rain all day on Monday and somewhere in the middle of me thinking about how you have to deal with Monday to get to the weekend and the rain to get to the rainbow, I just had this quote pop in my head. I finally wrote it in my new Thought book last night and I decided I would look it up online and find out where did this quote originate from?

I found out it has been used several times but the place I think it probably originated from first was a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called “The Rainy Day”.

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

What a beautiful poem! I know there’s a lot of depressing words used in it, but the verse “Behind the clouds is the sun still shining” is such an inspirational verse to me.

“Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall”…Such beauty found in such truth. In the midst of all your struggles and hardships in life, you must remember that you’re never alone. To go through difficult times is a common thing, shared by people the whole world over. No one is spared from it. I know there are sometimes where you look at others and their life seems so wonderful, they seem to have it all and nothing bad ever seems to happen to them. I don’t believe that is true, though. Some people are better at hiding the pain and the struggles behind closed doors and the outward exterior looks so beautiful and intriguing and you start to turn green with envy. It’s important to remember that old phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover” at that moment. Just as a boring cover may hide an incredibly wonderful treasure inside, so must we realize that the most beautiful cover in the world can hide the ugliest, most horrible tales we have ever known.

Into my life and into your life, some rain must fall; sometimes your life can feel like it’s holding so much rain that you will drown in it. Sometimes you may actually feel like you have already drowned and you’re trying to swim back to the top and break through to the surface. I can relate. I’ve been there before and I’m sure I will again, we all have been there or will one day. Sometimes the rain seems like it will never stop, that this journey is endless but it helps to remember, at least for me, that others have been where you’ve been.

Another quote comes to my mind now and I’m not sure where it originated but it correlates well with this post. “To reach the top of the hill, you have to have made it through the valley”. You can’t skip over the tough stuff and go right to the good. Even if you could, would it be worth it, really? I know at times, I am tempted to say, yes, it would be worth it. The hardships make the good times so much sweeter, though. If life was just great and marvelous 24/7, wouldn’t we take advantage of it? Wouldn’t we forget to be thankful for the good and rejoice over it?

Maybe, just maybe there IS a purpose for everything that happens in our lives. Maybe we are meant to face the rain so that we are better able to appreciate the sun that shines through afterwards.

I have a lot of friends and family that are going through a lot right now and in their lives, more rain is falling than I feel like they deserve in their life but I want them to remember to keep a look out for the sun. The sun is coming to brighten up your cold and dreary days and you are not alone.

My friends and family are MY rainbow after the storm

P.S. A friend of my mother-in-law’s has a son that recently fell down some stairs and he is in really bad shape. He has a wife and 3 kids that love him and from what I have read through posts on Facebook, he is doing good sometimes and then bad again. A friend created a group on Facebook for him and his mother to get more people all over to pray for him and his family but they will also be leaving it open to pray for others as well. I am going add a link on my post for this group and if you believe in praying at all, I hope that you will be led to join this group and add yourself to the many others who are praying for them. I do not know them personally but I feel for them and their family and I would love to help out by spreading the word to bring more prayers for them.

Prayers for Tom & Tammy.

{January 25, 2011} Thoughts on Writing

I’ve decided to start a special “journal” for me called “My thoughts book”. The idea came from many different places, such as my friend Allison and people on WordPress, and I am now going to try to put the suggestions to some use. I’m going to keep a notebook with me at all times(or attempt to) and use it to put thoughts, ideas and dreams in it. Thoughts I have during the day that I think I would like to put in my blog, ideas to do with my blog and in my life and Dreams that I have and want to remember.

I always seem to catch myself during the day thinking “Oh, this would be good to put in my blog” and then by the time I actually DO my blog, I never remember it or at least don’t remember it enough to do it any justice. Therefore, I believe this may help me in my quest to write better posts and maybe work on my organization skills as well.

“Anyone can become a writer. The trick is staying a writer.” ~Harlan Ellison

THAT quote is so true. I have been told before that I should consider writing a book because I’m good at writing. Honestly, I believe maybe 1 out of 100 posts I do are actually any good. Most of the time my mind is such a chaotic mess that once the thoughts hit my fingers and are transferred to here, they sound so amateur to me. I do like to write but I suffer from a fear that I seriously lack the dedication it takes to become a genuinely good writer. I KNOW that if I could embrace my inner love for writing then I could find some dedication but even then, I feel like I could maybe be good but I don’t know if I could ever be great. I suppose it’s a self esteem problem of sorts.

“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, as those who move easiest have learned to dance.” ~Alexander Pope

Reading the quotes from some of these incredibly great authors leads me to believe that I’m not the only one who came to the realization that writing is not something that you’re just going to sit down and ALWAYS be great at. I guess even the best have to work at it and delete, rewrite,delete, rewrite. It may surprise my friends to know that I erase and redo my blog posts ALL the time because I never feel they are good enough. Must I always second guess myself? I swear that I am NOT a perfectionist, at least not in other things in my life. It’s just when it comes to writing, even if no one may even read it, I want it to be done right or not at all.

“Start early and work hard. A writer’s apprenticeship usually involves writing a million words (which are then discarded) before he’s almost ready to begin. That takes a while.” ~David Eddings

Thanks Mr. David Eddings, which I must admit I have no idea who you are. This quote and all the others came at the right time. The Daily Post was completely in sync with me today. I don’t know how it knew about my inner turmoil with writing lately but somehow it knew and it really helps me to see that what I struggle with is the same as what every writer seems to.

When I started this writing every day challenge, I had no idea that it would effect me this way. I wanted help with my procrastination and I wanted to prove to myself that I can challenge myself to do something really hard for me to do and actually DO it. Now, though, I feel like also by blogging every day I’m also forcing myself to use my brain again more than I have since I was in college AND also turning my “like” for writing into more of a “love” relationship. At times I admit, it is more of a “love/hate” one but nevertheless, it’s inspiring me to write more and I hope it will also help my writing get better through practice.

For all you writers out there, do me a favor and comment if you read this. I want to know what are your opinions on writing? Do you find it difficult at times? Does the difficulty make it worth it more when you are successful? And if you have read any of my other posts, answer honestly, Do you think I have the ability to get better and actually hone my skills into becoming a writer?

{January 24, 2011} Is it Monday again?

Do we really need Mondays? I mean it’s obvious no one likes them and I know I sound like a broken record here because I mentioned last Monday about people hating Mondays but why exactly do we?

Well, that’s a stupid question, I suppose because of course the reason is because you have this weekend where most of us get to rest and relax and take sort of a break and then Monday is the start of a new week of school or work, etc. It reminds you there is a whole other week before you get a weekend again. Even when Monday is on a holiday, there’s still that dreaded “It’s a Monday” feeling.

But is Monday really so bad, in retrospect?

Outside the window of this room that I am typing in, rain is falling to the ground. I can hear it hit against the window and the sound is soothing to me, almost hypnotizing me, lulling me to sleep. Rain is a lot like Mondays though. It might not have as many haters but it still resembles Mondays to me. After the rain is gone, there will be a rainbow. After Monday is gone, you’re one day closer to the weekend. After everything in life that you don’t look forward to or you dread, there comes a time of happiness, of something you DO look forward to.

So next time you wake up and ask yourself, “Is it Monday again?”, remind yourself that even though it’s the start of another long week, you got to push through that week to get to the end of it just like you push through all the other struggles in your life and once you make it through, it’ll be worth it in the end.

{January 23, 2011} Back home

Well, I am back home…and even though I did have a blog post yesterday, it felt very strange to not get on a computer and physically do one yesterday. I actually missed getting on here and doing a blog which shocks me because before this challenge started I enjoyed doing blogs but I never MISSED doing a blog post. I almost felt like I was breaking my promise because I didn’t physically log in to a computer and do one yesterday cause it was already pre done for me….like I was betraying my blog…for shame!

Anyways, now I am back home and again, it’s bittersweet. I missed my husband but not as much as I thought I would. Is that wrong to say? I mean, he was still in my mind and in my thoughts but I was worried I would be really down without him but it wasn’t too bad. I AM happy to see him again though BUT as always when I have to say bye to family, I miss my family and I miss Austin. I was born and raised there until I was almost 12 years old and no matter how long I live here in Lufkin, Austin will always feel like my home.

I had a lot of fun…other than having my foot stepped on by some random person at Gattitown…and my little toe hurts and is starting to turn a little purple. OUCH! It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t had flip flops on and the person had an actual shoe. I honestly do not know what shoe or if the person was male or female because I didn’t even turn around and look. I could just tell it was probably a tennis shoe or something of that nature by the feel of it and I screamed OWW and 5 seconds later heard an “I’m sorry” but I was trying not to say a bad word and just walked off. I was NOT a happy camper though….

I watched a few movies with family yesterday, all were totally different. We watched Patch Adams, which I thought I had seen years ago but I guess not cause nothing looked familiar to me. It was a cute movie….then last night we watched The Last Exorcism(which was STUPID and so glad I didn’t waste even a dollar renting it!) and I love you, man(which I had seen before and it’s hilarious). I think it was during Patch Adams that my 16 yr. old niece said she couldn’t remember how old I was cause she had stopped counting, to which I replied,”Thanks, way to make me feel older!” So I asked her how old did she think I was and she said she doesn’t know, maybe 24! And I was happy with that answer, I told her she can keep thinking I am 24, I would LOVE to say I am 3 years younger than what I am! Although there were some bad memories from 24, I think, so maybe 25 would be better cause I got married that year.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that I have had 31 views on my blog so far today which is huge for me because the most I had gotten before then was 20. Apparently someone out there is reading my blog and I hope I am not letting them down. I HOPE my blogs are not boring and at least a little interesting but even so, I have fallen in love with doing my blog and I am shocked at that but also thrilled that I have grown so used to blogging every day this soon into my challenge. It sort of inspires me to think about coming up with other challenges for myself in other aspects of my life. If doing this blog for awhile gets me so hooked than maybe challenging myself in other ways will grow on me as well and help get my life to feel more satisfied all around.

I like what the daily post asked today for their idea to inspire you. They asked “What’s your favorite sound?” Mine is the sound of a baby laughing. It is the most wonderful, heart warming sound ever to me. Of course, I love babies in general anyways. I can not wait to hear my own babies laughing one day and their little coos and gibberish they speak. It’s just the cutest thing ever!

And now that I have officially driven you crazy with my own “gibberish” of sorts, I am off to catch up on my DVRed shows I missed!

Family=LOVE

{January 22, 2011} Oldie but Goodie

Here’s an old poem I wrote back in 2007…I really like this poem and would love to hear what everyone thinks about it!

Love and Heartbreak

Exhilaration, Complication,
Tragedy in exile,
Humiliation,
Obessed creation,
Followed by a smile.

A panicked feeling,
Temptation reeling,
Harpoon hooked on a jagged heart.
Corrosive heartbreak,
Battle of souls to take,
A powerful mixture of minds.

A staircase collision,
Broken heart in remission,
Footsteps trodding over
that trample and mold,
Rebuilding the temple
of a soul’s inner being,
Preparing the way for
silver to change to gold.

*So glad to say this poem no longer fits me…Married over a year and a half to my husband Chad…I love you!*

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