(I really wish I could credit the author, but am not sure who wrote it. Can anyone help me out so I can add a name to this?)

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In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. 

The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”
The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment.”

He was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled.

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind.  We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.  Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. 
Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.  We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. 
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. 
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.  And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Today’s quote comes from Douglas Adams…

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by.

I live in Oregon, in a very small town about 45 minutes from the coast. Last week our town got such a tremendous amount of rain several streets flooded.

Here’s a shot of the street behind ours. This is the street the Corbett kids ride the bus on to get to school…

FYI: Our house fared very well, but our backyard did not. We ended up with a “pond” of about six inches deep by about twenty feet wide at the back fence. Thankfully it stayed away from the house and has now receded. But it’s a nasty, muddy mess back there.  

It flooded so much so that my twins’ attended a grand total of ONE day of school last week due to cancellations.

Monday: No school (MLK Day)

Tuesday: Cancelled due to flooding

Wednesday: School operating as normal (But much to my twins’ dismay, they had to have indoor recess due to heavy rain. They informed me, in a very disgruntled fashion, that, “Indoor recess is BORING!”)

Thursday: Emergency closure after only two hours.

(Parents, let me stress how important it is to make sure the school has the CORRECT phone numbers of where to reach you, and your kids know what to do if they are sent home early. The Corbett kids had no trouble, but it was mayhem for others.)

Friday: Cancelled due to flooding

So, that’s how my week went. How was yours? And, how do you deal with unexpected events interrupting your writing schedule?

Why did the fish cross the road? To spawn on the other side!

Today’s quotes are from Vince Lombardi…

But, did you know there’s an equally important writing mantra called, “As you know, Bob.”? 

CLICK HERE for literary agent Courtney Miller-Callihan’s explanation of this phrase.

She gave me a Versatile Blogger award! How cool is that?

But, there’s a catch to getting this award.

*shoves acceptance speech up shirt sleeve and looks embarrassed for being all greedy with the award before I earned it*

I have to tell you seven random things about me first…

And, here’s more rules

1. Thank the person who nominated you 
2.  Share 7 random things about you 
3.  Share the love with your favorite bloggers 
4.  Put up the Versatile Blogger Award picture on your blog

So, without further ado, here are seven random things about me!

1. Fifteen years ago my mom and I survived a car accident. A “head-on collision while going seventy-five miles an hour on the freeway” kind of car accident. It was 12:30 at night and the other driver fell asleep, crossed the freeway median, and plowed right into us. My mom is an amazingly tough lady…she had to have bone taken from her hip and put into her neck to fuse two of her neck bones together. Left a brutal scar, but the point is, she made it through.  The takeaway of this story…wear your seatbelt!

2. My high school sport…swimming. I started swimming competitively when I was 9, went to Junior Olympics when I was 13, and lettered my freshman, sophomore, and junior year. (I had to quit my senior year, but that’s another story)

3. I am a mother to twins who were born four weeks premature. They were the “poster children” for the local chapter of our hometown’s March of Dimes organization when they were three months old.

4. My favorite flower is a daisy.

5. My computer chair has a seriously annoying squeak that I cannot fix. Or, maybe I’ve just learned to love the noise because I don’t try to fix it anymore.

6. My husband and I waited to, well…you know, until we were married. Yep, true story!

7. I’m a chronic abuser of exclamation points, ellipsis, and smiley faces. They’re all over my blog…and my emails. I can’t help myself .

And, now for seven bloggers I want to pass this award on to…

1. Florence Fois

2. Artemis Grey

3. Margo Kelly

4. PK Hrezo

5. Winona Cross

6. All the Wordbitches (Please, tell me you know their blog. Visit!)

7. Teralyn Pilgrim

And, if you’re reading this blog I’m betting you’re a writer, and if you’re a writer, you need to know this…

25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing…Right F*&king Now.

Click on it, learn it, live it.

And finally, since brutal honesty seems to be the theme of today’s post…have you ever wondered what readers think of your blog? No, what they REALLY think of your blog?

Click HERE to find out.

Hubby and I have a bet going to see who can lose more weight.

Deadline is April 1st.

If I win, I’m going to a writing conference. If hubby wins, he buys some dumba$$ videogame system he’s been nagging me about for the last two years. 

Oh, it’s on now!

Please blog readers, keep me inspired so I can go to a writer’s conference! Also, any suggestions on which one I should go to WHEN I WIN?!!

(Ok, really I’m being a bit lazy, and am suffering from poor “returning to the blog with a fantastic post” planning, and our house is still in disarray, and we’ve still got cookies/fudge/everythingtastybutstilltotallybadforyou lying around the house that I need to actively avoid, and the tv has really great stuff on, and the treadmill looks way too dusty, and I need to rework my last chapter, and bunches of other stuff that needs my attention )

Join me here again on Friday for another round of writing quotes, and then I hope to see you again the following Tuesday, January 10th. My blog won an award, but part of the deal is I have to give out seven facts about myself. Now I’m off to do some deep thinking. And I should probably do a quick update on all the awesome that happened on my blogging break…

Ok, I’ll stop now with this final thought of thanks to everyone out there who has supported this blog with visits, subscriptions, and comments. (I loves me some comments) I really do appreciate each and every one of you! 

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,300 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.