Life begins after 30

There is a meme going around Facebook which, although I am amused by it,  it does not " speak" to my life experiences.

My teenage years & even my 20's basically sucked.  High school & middle school were especially painful for me. Although I met some of my closest friends during my first stink at college, my second decade was not too much better than was my first one.

Some people may wish to relive their youth, but I eagerly anticipate whatever the future holds for me. While I am grateful for the past & all I've learned, I do not desire to relive those years. In a culture that glorifies youth, I choose to look forward to maturing with pride & dignity. At the age of 37, I am in the BEST physical shape that I've ever been! I'm free from the painful dietary restrictions of disordered eating & the correct combinations of medicines  helped me cope with living on the {highly-functioning} autism spectrum.  I'm blessed to be in a relationship with the love of my life. While I will never really consider myself as a Floridian, I'm truly enjoying coastal life

You can keep your youth if you wish to do so. Bring on the future!

Googled Chrome & A blonde Black Widow.

I finally gave in to they hype & installed Google Chrome as my browser. To be honest, the only reason I did so was to use the photo-editing that ONLY is supported by Chrome.

Say WHAT?!

As an aside, here is a photo { taken by Best Dude} of yours truly all dressed for Boo At The Zoo yesterday. yep---I was Marvel's " Black Widow" .

Clearly I did not choose to gamble on " wash-out" hair color---so MY version of the Marvel heroine is a blonde.

I'm a HUGE " Avengers" connoisseur & my two favorite crime-fighting weirdos are Iron Man{Robert Downy Jr just makes  Tony Stark/Iron Man even more *YUMMY* to me & Black Widow.  As a feminist, I can appreciate how BW can kick-ass along with the male Avengers yet retains her femininity.

I usually do not dress for Halloween, but since I volunteered to staff the Relay For Life of Small Beach Town on Saturday I played along as one of my favorite Avengers. 

My autism , coupled with my natural introversion, makes it REALLY hard for me to chat with strangers, especially in a busy setting such as a zoo. But I "toughened up" { OOO-RAH} & challenged myself to spend two full days { Saturday & the Saturday prior} to passing out candy at the Relay booth. Guess what? It was FUN!  My goal is to break into more social situations with more ease. Normally I am all right among people whom I know ---it is finding myself among strangers that makes me want to find a rock under which to hide.

I did well for the 5 hours I was at the zoo. But by the time I arrived home I felt mentally AND physically tired. However, I am glad that I put myself " out there" in the community . It was a lot of fun. As a matter of fact If it were not for Mass this morning I would have gone back to the zoo today.

Anyhow, I do not understand what the hype is surrounding Google Chrome. In as far as I can tell, Chrome looks & operated just like the older version of Google.

That is all for today. Shalom, y'all.

30 Days of Gratitude

I am embarking on a social/ personal experiment. Starting tomorrow, every day I will post to social media ONE thing{ no matter how seemingly small} for which I have gratitude.  In addition to the " Dose of Thankfulness posts, I will do my best to journal my thoughts each day regarding this exercise.

Care to join me? " Friend" me on Facebook .  My public Facebook page is " Tales Of A Coastal Hillbilly" & Its accessible to anyone on Facebook.  I do not give out my real name to strangers online, but if you know me in real life & are not yet a Facebook friend, please feel free to request me.

Anyhow, I know times are tough , but many of us have so much more than we realize---even in today's lousy economy Americans are still at the top of the world economy{ though for how long this will be true is anyone's guess}

November is an ideal time to " count our blessings. Please consider joining me in this online endeavor.

Shalom.

Bullying stops here NOW

I take a stand against bullying.

When I graduated from school 20 years ago, bullies tormented victims either in person, using nasty handwritten notes in lockers,  or via telephone.

Today's bullies have a whole new slew of tools with which to torture victims.

I am grateful that I grew up before the Internet became a huge part of everyday life.

The effects of bullying affect victims throughout our lives.  Although TV's _The Big Bang Theory_ is fictional, the show's main protagonists are all victims of severe bullying & it affects their perception of society.

It is hard to trust people who appear to be kind when one's perceptions have been altered by bullying
Since my tormentors were other girls, I struggle with forming relationships with other women. I never know when someone I meet is being friendly or " catty". My social anxiety is further affected by my slight autism--- I don't understand sarcasm { think  " Sheldon Cooper" of _The Big Bang Theory_} and I am very self-conscious when meeting new people.

Yet my experience with bullying has made me an advocate for those who ARE bullied.  In my opinion, people should be free to be whom they are without fear of retribution from " the cool kids".

That's all.
.

Bwok Bwok.....

Best Dude & I now have chickens!

This girl in the photo is " Queenie". She is a Marin hen & is the " boss" of our flock.

We have 7 others.

Four of them are Cochin hens and one is a half-breed{ whom we call " Cher"}.

 

Queenie & " Hashtag" , our other Marin, are both molting. Yes, "Best Dude named one of our hens " Hashtag".}

 

The eggs that our girls produce are big, brown-shelled eggs. As of now, the girls have been low on their egg-production, but as we are new to chicken-farming we are not too disappointed.

 

 

 

My Reason to Relay

I'm more involved in this year's Relay For Life campaign.  Currently I am working with the Survivor/Caregiver committee.

Pictured below is a photo of my Reason To Relay:

The man on the left was my Pap, my paternal grandfather.  He died in 2001 from his second bout of prostate cancer. The man on the right is my Dad. This photo was taken years ago { before I was born} on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

I miss him everyday. Although I was blessed with having Pap in my life for 23 years: his was the first death that really " hit home" for me.

Cancer takes away so many people each year. This hear I also lost a dear friend to his disease & several people I know in my parish are fighting it now.

The American Cancer Society is leading the course for a cure . Will you help me help find a cure for cancer  so that someday everyone will have " more birthdays"? Thanks.

NaNoWriMo...I'm in!

It is official. I, Sarah Beth, am an official participant of National Novel Writers' Month. The idea is to write {at leas}t 50,000 words during the month of November. there is a web site where you can enter your word count daily and also communicate with " writing buddies" from your geographical area & even around the world.

This year I am focusing on FUN...and not quality. As a matter of fact this year's genre is a Young Adult Paranormal novel about a coming-of-age female vampire.

Yup. I'm writing a vampire novella.

 My heroine, Katharine { or Kat, as she'll be known to my readers} is the anti-Bella Swan.  My heroine is strong, confident & ready to fulfill her destiny. Unlike Bella, Kat embraces the changes that fate has forced upon her.

Naturally, my young heroine will have a love interest, but her object of affection will be her 18th Century British Lit professor. He is a tall, dark and handsome....human.

Stay tuned, as I have not yet worked out the details of that plot line yet!

 Kat knows that pairings between vampires & humans is forbidden---she herself is the result of a young human man falling in love with an impressionable vampire girl. In order to protect her, Kat's parents placed her with a human family who were childhood friends of her father. Kat loves her foster parents very much, but from the tender age of four, she knew she was inherently different..

Here we go......

I've been remiss..and I've literally dealt with shit everywhere.

I've been remiss, but life has kept me busy.

Last weekend I went to Atlanta to see my ADORABLE baby nephew. My brother & SIL had a little open house party to celebrate his arrival , so I saw some of my other relatives who reside in  Atlanta and met some of my siblings' friends.  Naturally I took several GREAT photos of my baby nephew, but I will not post them for the entire World Wide Web to view.

I arrived home on Sunday tired and grouchy. Best Dude had to work, so after I'd " chillaxed" for a bit, I decided to take a nice warm shower .{ This usually sooths much travel-weary muscles} I'd noticed that the shower drain was not removing the water efficiently, but I'd paid no heed to it until AFTER I'd stepped out of the shower. Water was EVERYWHERE and seeping into the bedroom.  Quickly I dispatched some towels in an attempt to control the flow of sewer water into the bedroom. A quick call to Best Dude advised me to monitor the situation & " test " the septic tank by throwing in some clothes in the washing machine.

When I checked on the situation a few minutes later there was a deluge of sewage. A quick look into the spare bathroom confirmed that the backed up septic tank was also emptying into the bathtub.  After I stopped the washing machine I called my parents{ my neighbor whom I would usually call during such a crisis as this was not home that day}

My Dad, THANKS BE TO GOD, came over with his shop-vac & we cleaned up the master bed/bath area as best we could. Every towel we have in the house was used in the cleanup.

In the garage I found Best Dude's industrial fan & carried it into the house to aid in the drying process.

Since we could not use the water, it was an " interesting"{ to say the least} evening at our house.  Best Dude called a sewage company in the morning & we once again have a working septic tank.