Baby Socks

Kids grow fast. I mean, until they're two they'll outgrow their entire wardrobe every few months. That's a lot of clothes organizing for those of us who are, shall I say, organizationally challenged. I barely keep up. Side note: we're planning one more child (I'm a little crazy. Fine. A lot crazy) and part of what I'm excited about is getting rid of all the stored boy/girl clothes when we find out what gender it is.

All this brings me to baby socks. No matter what, there are always a few stray items that don't make it into the "bin" when I move one size out and one size in. And, inevitably, I find stray baby socks in random places. Then they get returned to the laundry. And I wash them. But I don't put them away, because they don't belong anymore, so they get put on a dresser, or left in the basket, to be washed again...you can see where I'm going with this.

The other day, I made a decision. No more baby socks. When I find a random little guy, guess what? I'm throwing it away. I can replace socks. They aren't expensive. Heck, last baby can have ALL NEW socks for all I care. It isn't worth it.

But it got me thinking. About writing (hang in with me here). Sometimes it is too easy to hang onto something that just doesn't belong anymore. A great description. A perfect scene. Even a character. But, the truth is, you don't need it. It's just getting recycled through the wash, over and over. And you know what? (I'll speak for myself here) my writing isn't so brilliant that I couldn't reproduce, probably better, any bit of description or scene I might delete and later want. But more likely, when I've cleaned out and shed the unwanted bits I find there's room for new thoughts and ideas, which make more sense and work better with how the story has evolved.

That's my first resolution this year guys.  No more baby socks. What's yours?

A Christmas Gift for You

There are lots of reasons I love Christmas (see below post) but most of all I love hanging out with my amazing family. Really, I've got one of those families where, if I were to write about it, people would criticize me for making it all too pretty. But, really, we're just ridiculously attractive people who love each other a lot.

Just kidding. The truth is, I had an amazing childhood, and I hope I can do as right by my kids as my parents did for me. And I love the holidays, because it reminds me how blessed I am, and how wonderful my life is and has always been.

We watched a lot of musicals growing up. (I know what you're thinking: nice segue. Yup. I'm a writer folks.). It takes a few bars of White Christmas or just a glimpse of Judy Garland to take me back to my youth. So, in honor of my wonderful family at Christmas time, I'm posting a couple songs from my favorite musicals. 

Merry Christmas to all of you! May 2011 bring joy and peace.

(PS, as a Christmas present I'm sure exclusively for me, Netflix just put Meet Me in St. Louis on their instant stream. I know)

To Note:

1. I am a little kid. Perhaps my matronly 31-year-old body fooled you into thinking I'm an adult? HaHA! Jokes on YOU! (or, erm, me?) I predict I'll have as hard a time sleeping Christmas Eve as the kiddos. I'm excited to give them their presents. Excited for the magic. Excited to yank out the hidden gifts. And especially excited for the nook my husband-of-wonder has stashed for me. thankyouthankyouthankyou.
2. I maybe am letting my 17-month-old daughter watch tv often enough that she will be all cranky, and then she'll put her little face close to mine and say, "show?" I feel this is a parenting fail, but I really love I can distract her for twenty minutes...argh! Winter is hard. Speaking of, it is snowing beautifully right now. That light steady, fluffy kind. I hope it stays for Christmas, but the weather report is a bit of a downer on that front.
3. I am totally using the Santa threat on my 4-year-old twins. As in, the other day I told them they were on the naughty list and they'd better shape up or it would be a lump of coal for them. They have NO IDEA what coal even IS, but they've been a bit better. I feel no guilt about this. 
4. I got Christmas card printed about three weeks ago, but only the first batch has gone out. I did go get stamps, but the addressing has not commenced again. 
5. I have one big Christmas project left. Other than that, it is just cleaning and a little wrapping
6. I really love Christmas. I'll just say it again

This was supposed to be five random things, al la Sarah Dessen's blog. But...I added one more. 

And to Wash that Bad Taste Away...

Okay, so my last post may have left you with a bad taste in your mouth (if you watched the commercial, that is). I know. I'm sorry. So sorry, in fact, I'm going to give you this video:



There. Don't you feel better?

Creepy

I'm not a big fan of commercials for fine jewelry. In fact, post awesome DeBeers shadow commercials (do you remember those? With the violins?) I feel that jewelry commercials are pretty much the lowest common denominator. I'd rather see a local businessman dressed up in an animal costume. Really. Also, and unrelated, why is it jewelry commercials and coffee commercials all have the same feel? Over-emotional, rather sappy, insipid and pointless?? Except, usually coffee commercials are a little better.

On to my point. Kay is the biggest villain when it comes to evil advertising among fine jewelers. Just as I wrote that I remembered some of the heinous "he went to Jared" commercials and shuddered. They are ONE of the biggest villains in evil fine jewelry advertising.

Last year, I saw the commercial below. Note how, at the beginning, there's an overdrawn sense of suspense. The first time you view this commercial it is possible, in the first few seconds, to be entertained. You figure there's a punchline here somewhere, and with all the over-the-top creepy camp it had better be good.

No punchline. These people are taking themselves W-A-Y too seriously. This commercial is supposed to be romantic, I think. But, creepy stalker boyfriend is NOT romantic, despite popular misconceptions.

Bottom line: be careful how you execute. Romantic getaway in the mountains, storm raging outside while two people cuddle together sounds like a good premise for a romance novel jewelry commercial. But this commercial is more horror movie crossed with date rape PSA.

Breathe

So, I was just watching a Spiriva commercial, which is an inhalation-type of medication for COPD. The earnest-looking actor in the commercial told us, "COPD doesn't just make breathing harder, it makes a lot of other things harder too."

Um, yeah. Because, you know, BREATHING is important to most things. In fact, I can't think of anything that breathing isn't an integral part of. Except, well, dying.

So, yeah, commercial fail. I'm not going to post it because the rest of the commercial is incredibly boring.

But the whole thing made me think. When we're trying to craft the perfect sentence, the perfect pitch (the perfect query letter) how easy is it to make some claim that is a well, duh moment. After all, if you've got COPD you KNOW how difficult normal tasks are with it. The commercial didn't have to spell it out. So who were they talking to?

Audience. Its important. Don't forget who you're talking to.