Isn't this what every Ph.D. student would want?!?  Not that I think it is true.   

 

'Evidence' is the key word for today, Marilyn. Everyone knows that you have a facility for spending your time thinking and analyzing. Today, on the other hand, you are going to be 'seeing' things. They will be clear and it will no longer be necessary to study, ponder and review from every angle. It's a little as if you had just invented a new theory that is confirmed by others throughout the day...

Lazing around to day.  Tried to take a nap twice and it didn't work.... well I did finish the trimming of my bushes, today.  hmmmm  Hope your day is good.  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

Well I got the second editing of Virginia chapter done... Yes!  It is really nice to see two out of three of the edits done.  Stopped off to see Elizabeth and Katya before swimming and got the stuff from Ellen to water their plants, pick up their mail.  Swam really po-opie.  50 second fifties... greehhhhh I had to stop because my ribs were bothering me.  Noelle was guarding.. so I wouldn't drown. 

 

Sunset was interesting... not colorful but dramatic...  Rain clouds coming in... I hope the sky clears for the full moon tomorrow night. 

 

Hope that your day was great.  Love and kisses, Marilyn          

I didn't get started writing today until noon... so I guess I will writing something here tonight.  So I can actually get started earlier tomorrow. 

 

I have a meeting with my Co-chair of my committee Monday to go over what I have so far.  It was good today to make a list for her what I have done and need to do finish.  The list is getting much better... I still need to finish reediting about a quarter of the Virginia chapter... Once my editing of the interviews is done (hopefully I will have my first go round of Ohio by the time I leave on vacation next Thursday)...  Then with a fresh mind I can finish that up when I get back.  The one chapter to edit, one to write from interviews and one to write from scratch... it menas l still have about two months of work to do, but it seems so much closer today. 

 

I am watching Stud-io 60, I am surprised how good it is.  Political (with my lib-eral views) and heart wrenching... and funny all at the same time... hmmmm

 

I grilled chicken tonight, and ate on the deck... it was a beautiful night.  Rain chasted me in... so I took a bath.  I wasn't allowed to swim because of the body work we did last night.  Hope your day is good.  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

 

  

Slept in this morning, after taking out the garbage at 7:00 AM.  At my new house I think I will get a garbarge can... No place to store it here, I don't want it sitting by my front porch and bringing it from the back yard, up the hill is too hard on my body for one little bag.  I usually only have one bag, because I recycle paper, cans, bottles, plastic.  Have to cart it to the recycling center a few block away every couple of weeks, but it seems worth it. My little effort for Mo-ther Nat-ure.   

 

The guy from Uni-ted Va-n Li-nes came at 10:00 this morning to give me an estimate for my move.  Just gotten out of bed when he arrived.. opps I forgot I had a meeting... but I was fully dressed and the bed was made...  it was so nice to be able to sleep in.  He went over everything and will give me a price for them packing vs me packing...

 

I was able to get half way through the editing of my Virginia chapter... second go round.  I don't think it sounded as good as the DC chapter.  Now that I think about it DC had been revised quite a lot as two separate interviews... Where as one interview for Virginia was not edited at all.  I was working with the uncut transcriptions.  So it makes sense that I would need to refine the writing more with that chapter.  Finishing this one interview means that one of the five "new" sections (some are partically or almost wholely written) that I have to complete this summer is done.  Makes me feel as if I am making progress.  I have the gender chapter to finish, the ID professions viewpoint (working from interviews already folded together), setting for the conflict, and the conclusion left to write.  Hmmm I am beginning to feel this is finally doable this summer.

 

When my brain truned off, I folded Ohio's interviews together for the last editing run on revising my interviews.  Right now it is it is 47 pages... hmmm I will probably condense to about 25 to 30 pages....  

 

Hope your day will be good.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

on the sofa with coffee getting ready to edit, edit, edit .  Beautiful day here today, Last night was lovely, the moon and the air warm yet light on the skin... hmmm how do you describ it... Just a beautiful coolish not humid night.   

 

No strange dream last night... 

 

I have stopped by most of my blog friends... only Carole, Lakota Clay and I seem to be updating regularly... hmmmm does that mean we need a life?... or what? I don't know.   Everyone else seems to be busy living.  You would think with my writing all day... I wouldn't want to write more... but I do... hmmmm must be vanity.  The need to share with people far away, and close by.  And the need to document what I am doing... I have been editing my work for almost three weeks... this is getting old... hmmmm That's it! I need to document progress when it seems as if I am creeping along.  Mark the baby steps toward my final goal. 

 

Hope you day is good,  Carole I want you sense of fashion when I grow up.  :) Marilyn 

     

Another productive day.  I was able to work on the Virginia chapter today.  There were a couple of areas that the interview did not cover... so I went into the primary documents from AS-ID.  It was nice to cut and paste from ome section to another.  To fill in the gaps... Tomorrow I will have to see how well they fit together.  Went swimming and then the foot cracker and Chin-ese Med-icine man. 

 

Sarah invited me to join faceb-ook for a second time so I did it.  I will try to not have it affect what I write here.  Hope your day was good.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Sitting on my sofa working.  Just e-mailed a little and had my first cup of coffee.  I am having wierd sort of unsettling dreams.  Think it is me trying to adjust to my new life.  Not really nightmears, but three nights in a row of strange stuff having to do with my soon to be ex-husband (I think I shot him in a dream last night) and talking about my research topic to a professional group.... morphing into teaching my students at the last university I taught at... with students who were very negative and critical of all their instructors... hmmm

 

Hope your day is great.  Love and kisses, Marilyn  

 

  

I repaired my own sink today!!!!  It has been clogged since I put rice down my garbage disposal.  I loosen four rings and took the trap off, with a waste basket to catch the water and garbage, I feared was in there... In ten minutes it was fixed and back together for the second time.  YES!!!  women can do simple plumbing repairs!

 

I worked on my dissertation today got half way through my Virginia chapter....  more progress...  I decided today that I was making enough progress to be able to go on vacation with Luck and Ellen to Ocracoke Island after the forth of July.  I probably will bring my work with me and then work in a couple of mornings if I have to. 

 

Eliabeth called and we did lunch between Char-lies Chinese restaurant and my deck.  Katya was a little active to sit an hour to wait for our lunch so we got take out and ate it on the deck.  It was a great lunch... I was able to get back to writing...  or should I say editing...

 

Elizabeth said that she has finished the first draft of her dissertation.  She needs to re-read it and then give it to her chair... wow that is so great.  Kristin has also made progress in writing her question as part of her proposal.  We are moving forward. 

 

But one last thing... I FIXED MY PLUMBING!   Love and kisses, Marilyn   

We had a great time last night... We had a two phase party.  One with the kids and one for the adults.  Sarah and her childrene and Elizabeth and Katya got on great together after a initial  period of shyness.  As unsual the food was great.  Sarah brought rice and beans, Kristin a cos cos salad, Elizabeth broght her spinach balls... and I grilled chicken, pork, brats, made potato and pasta salad.  I also bought a cut up friut tray watermelon and cut up veggies with dip.... There was too much food as usual.  We watched Madascar with the kids... It was really funny in parts.  Food was great and varied... still have lots left over.

 

The second phase of the party was adults.  Ellen, Luke, Cos and Cara didn't come so it was just women... I made a pitcher of sangrai and Elizabeth, Kristin and I talked about dissertation,  progress, children, divorce and life.  Once Noelle arrived we heated up some more spinach balls, made another pitcher or sangria  and watched Midsummer Nights Dream with Calissa Flockheart...

 

I tucked Noelle into my bed sometime in the middle of that... Eliazbeth went home about 11:00 after going to out to view the fire flies... and Kristin and I watched Big Fish, which I did my best not to snore in the middle of... while I was snoozing.. We trapsed off to bed at about 1:00... all in all it was a really fun not too drunken night.  I was probably most looped, and I only had 31/2 glasses of Sangria... the half is because I spilled some... hmmmm I also  dropped my computer on the floor in the midst of all of this... Kristin and Noelle laughed at me... in my silly state.. But I didn't wake up with much of a headache.  Hmmmmm

 

Photos to follow.  Off to get a couple of hours on my dissertation today.  Carole, I deleted the two horoscope things hopefully my blog will go back to normal.   Love and kisses, Marilyn  

Dare I say Saturday morning again on the sofa with coffee.  Where the heck did the week go?  Oh I know where it went.  I finished revising my DC interviews chapter.  Condensed 40 pages into 22.  All edited by me buffed and polished and on to my editor on Thursday fopr English corrections... In addition, the same day, I mailed my divorce papers to a lawyer in Michigan with a deposit check to finally take care of my old life, so that when I arrive in Savannah I will be totally ready for my new life.  My period sadness is over... well still there, but I cannot let it run my life.  I was unbelievable elated Thursday night.  Sat on the deck watching the sunset on the longest day of the year and wrote poetry.     

 

Woke up at 6:30 this morning after having a dream where I was telling my husband what I really wanted from him, which was acceptance of my flaws... instead of his pointing my flaws out every time we interact.  In the dream I said to him you are not perfect, but I don't continually tell you about his flaws.  You have to understand I was telling him this with my hands on either side of his head, sitting on him gripping his body with my legs... so that he had to listen to what I said.  

 

Then I woke up I could not believe that I came up with that in a dream.  What I want is acceptance of my flaws, because we all have them.  The dream rings so true, but I am not sure that I would have come up with that without going through, so many other things before getting there.  I think that this dream was initiated from his asking me last week "What do you want from me?"  I said nothing, and thought I want a divorce.  This was after he pointed out that I need to see a counselor to understand how my parents screwed me up.  What I want is acceptance that some things will never be perfect and that is what he cannot... I am broken in his mind and need fixing. 

 

For some strange reason I could not get back to sleep... 

 

What is interesting is that this week, I have been talking to an old boyfriend from my sophmore year in high school.  We are trying to get together before I leave for Savannah.  I want to meet his wife and 16 year old daughter.  During a conversation about our past... he said that I was an amazing person at sixteen...  He continued "who, by the way, was drop dead beautiful."  Drop dead beautiful.  He says that forty four years later... It is amazing I did not realize how pretty I was when I was young.  I finally really looked at my pictures with an uncritical eye about ten years ago...   And realized that I was pretty.  Hmmmm  Amazing that my self image is still being revised at my age...  Getting rid of a negative husband will help.  

 

Oh yeah... yesterday I began working on the Virginia interview chapter.  I was able to combine all three interviews into one and then started editing.  I am really excited about this because I think it is going to work.  I have condensed 60 pages into 26... hmmm editing 26 is much better and very doable.  Ha!  I am really happy about my progress this week.  I am sure it will become a struggle again soon... but the winter of my discontent seems to be over, for now.      

 

Hope your day will be good.  We are having a midsummer afternoon and night party today... as ever celebratating our connections... Have you noticed this seems to be a Shakespear inspired blog... ha...  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

 

 

Hmmm gives me something to think about... not untrue... maybe that is why I like being free right now...   I always made business decisions but let my husband make most of the day to day decisions in our marriage, bucause it did not seem important to argue over the little things such as where to go on vacation.  But then I felt dominated... hmmmmm veerrryyy interesting...

 

60,002... views of my blog... thanks to Carole and opps  me (viewing it three times this morning alone)  I am over 60,000 views of this blog... thanks again for stopping by to see how the old broad is doin'.   Marilyn

and back to work.  Happy Midsummers Day!  I love these long days of summer.   

 

Got an email from Terry yesterday, she is the new co chair of my committee... She was so encouraging... I told her I had not gotten as much done on my dissertation as I had hoped and she said... That it is okay.  While I may be frustrated with my progress, I am still making progress and that is what counts.  That is such a different response than my former chair.  Wow!

 

Went to the Chinese Medicine guy last night.  He worked on my feet, neck, hips, and ribs... I hurt some this morning, but I think he really made a difference.  I think that if we perservere we can actually get my ribs to cooperate and stay in place.  My massage threapist has been so busy with my neck and head the last few weeks that the rest of my body has frozen up some again... So I think I will try to go to them both for the last few months and see if we can make more progress before I head off to Savannah and have to find new people to do my body work.  

 

Talked on the phone until late last night.  It was so fun to chat and I was able to fall asleep right away... but it was oh so hard to pull myself out of bed this morning... I am almost done with my first cup of coffee and then I can re-read my wonderful writing and begin editing the next chapter of this puppie...

 

Oh Kristin called yesterday and she has gotten a little dog.  It looks like a minature pointer.  Well she calls it Hemi. 

 

Four more visits and I have toped 60,000 visits to this blog... thanks everyone for stopping by... 

 

Last night when I came out of the house to go swimming, it was a perfectly beautiful summer evening... It had cooled off to about 75 degree and the sky was clear and the air felt wonderful.  Hope your day is great!  Love and kisses, Marilyn  

 

 

I almost finished the interview chapter for DC where I combined two interviews into one... It worked.  It only took... what... three days to finish them.  Wow.  It really feels good to have this revision done.  I will read it over again tomorrow outloud and correct the last three pages, I ran out of steam at about four this afternoon.  I think this is going to work...

 

I also made copies of the stuff I pulled for my client in Michigan yesterday and it is ready to send to them...     

 

Swam and had a nice dinner before watching TV... Hope your day was great!  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

J busted me in the chops last night... well he reminded me oh so gently... that he does blog... just not that frequently.... two three times a month...

 

What I should have said was my face to face friends who still read me regularly... vs my friends that I have met while blogging...

 

 

Sarah who is both a face to face friend and a blogging buddy... sent a list of goofie things to me and I thought it was really funny:  I tried to cut and paste it didn't work... so here is a sampling... 

 

If you think no one cares; try missing a couple of payments.

 

Without sunshine, it is like.... night

 

Light travels faster than sound; that is why some people appear bright to you until you hear them speak.

 

Okay what is the speed of dark?

 

Rememeber half the people you know are below average.

 

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.  

 

Change is inevitable; except in vending machines. 

 

On the other hand; you have different fingers....

 

Inside every older person is a young person wondering what happened?

 

Hope you chuckled... I belly laughed on many of these... Love and kisses, Marilyn

Princess Haiku... talked about her reasons to blog... to capture beauty. 

 

The reason I started blogging to document my life for those people far away...  It was too hard to send out individual emails retyping the same thing over and over... so I told my story of my life here and they could stop by when it was convienent.  But as time progressed it also became a journal of my daily happenings... when you have something so monumental as a 450 page book to write, you need to see progress that you make daily toward that... what? two year task.  I would go crazy if I could not document some progress every week...

 

And then I found when life happened in all it's bad and good parts... I needed to document that too... The struggles we all face... interestingly enough I think that my sharing my pain, loss, and struggles made my blog much more interesting to read.  I never wrote a journal didn't have time or the impetist (sp?) to write one...  Although I did keep a record of my training in swimming, but not about my life, until now. 

 

In addition, or as a bonus... Because I now live alone... This blog has a lot allowed me to process the stuff that has happened in my life to help me make sence of it... Hmmm what more can you ask of a blog.  By pouring my efforts into here... I share them with the nebulous you... out there and I do not feel alone.   But because I don't know who is reading I don't feel I need to edit out the sh*t... it all just flows with a few expections and dashes added to stop random searches of what I say... And I get the bonus of getting comments back that people are paying attention... always nice to know that there are people out there listening to you.  Hope your day is great!  Love and kisses, Marilyn  

For some strange reason over the last few weeks, I have not been looking at the statistics part of my blog... Yesterday I rediscovered it... this week I will have 60,000 visits... hmmmmm wow that is a lot of people visiting.  I still have about 200 hits a week.  I am sure it is mostly the same people catching up with my life... for example I check Carole, Tao, Cee, Fabiola, Sherry, Sarah, and Jenn's blogs every morning... and then Carole, and others who update often again during the day and usually before I go to bed I run through them all again... So that is at least three hits a day for the people I check in with... and I know that they stop by frequently too... Then I have my non blogging friends... such as Elizabeth, and J who also frequently check in... and then the mysterous others... hmmmmm the strangers who come by from other peoples links or from the Be-st of Spa-ces sight where I was featured a year and a half ago... I had over 30,000 hits in that one week and the months after... hmmmm  OOwwwwh those mysterous few....  

 

Thanks for stopping by help yourself to a cup of coffee and we can chat.  Sorry for not cookies watching my girlish form.  Love and kisses, Marilyn  

I am trying to work on Sundays... I take Saturday off... my brain is dead from the week, so I rest it.  I am trying this summer to work six days a week.  Today I started looking through catalogues for my client in Michigan.  Spent about three hours found some nice stuff, but nothing perfect.  Well that is not true I think I found the perfect area rug for the kitchen.  End tables and coffee tables we have some choices, but nothing wow that is it.  Found some lamps to go with the ones I found in Michigan.  

 

Now I am going to try to get started on my dissertation.... Elizabeth emailed me about going for a walk this afternoon to let David watch auto racing in peace for Fathers Day.  So when she calls I am up and out for a while.  Maybe I will be able to work some more after dinner... although my brain already seems bawlky. 

 

Had dinner and a movie with Kristin and Noelle last night.  Noelle hated Pirates last week because of the fake violence... hmmmm last night we saw Black Book... about WWII...  and I had problems with it because although in the movie the violence was fake, it depicted things that really happened.  I have a real problem with humankind's inhumanity to itself.  It was a good movie really well done, but so painful to watch in this day and age when were are still at war and fighting for ridiculas things like oil, power, and religion... But is that not what wars have always been about?  Maybe that is why I am so wistful today... humankind is so screwed up...  

 

Walking with Elizabeth and Katya will help renew me... Love and kisses, Marilyn  

With coffee, of course... Worked on my dissertation yesterday.  Finished the first rewrite of my eight interviews. 

 

When my mind turned off, I went up stair and moved out some more stuff... Now both of the bedrooms seem much larger.  I removed the extra foam mattress I used as a head board in one bedroom and removed one office system from the other.  I will take photos.  

 

I called my realtor, he said that it has been slow this week.  He has only had one client.  He is advertising everywhere and I just need to be patient.  We can do an open house, if I want too. but that usually nets him getting new clients not really selling the house.   I have never sold a house, and I bought mine in one day for the first one... and in two days for the second one ... But I know that I am quick because as an interior designer I know what I want when I see it.  

 

I stopped off to see Elizabeth, Katya, and David.  Didn't get enough time to really talk... but I did get some kisses... While Elizabeth took David to get his car at the garage... looked after Katya.  She tried to show me a dead chipmunch across the street, but it was gone... She got to pet a cat.  Elizabeth we still need to go for a walk and get caught up.    

 

And then Ellen and I did dinner.... We did El Guad.  Luke was getting ready for a fishing trip he was leaving at 4:30 AM this morning so could not do dinner.  I woke up at 4:00 and was thinking about him rolling out of bed... I was happy to roll over and go back to sleep.   

 

Have a great day... it is finally warming up here.  It has been chilly since I got home...  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

 

Ho

 

Hmmmm this seems pretty accurate!

 

 

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