Etch-a-Stetch

I am continuously amazed at the things my nephews think I can accomplish. Yesterday afternoon, William and Ben came over for a while. Ben was playing with his toy cars and William was in a different room. I was watching Sponge Bob Squarepants. He thought his boss Mr. Krabs was a robot, after watching a show on tv the night before about robots. I was laughing at it because it was so predictable, but still funny.

William sat beside me on the couch and handed me the mini etch-a-sketch. "Here Aunt Sherrie. I need you to draw a race car like the little rascals. Draw Spanky driving it and Alfafa on the hood hanging on. Don't forget the trophy. A big one. Make it big."

He sat there, looking at me. I looked at the etch-a-sketch and then back at him. I guess he thought I couldn't understand his "need", so he repeated it.

I said, "Silly, I can't draw all that on here. Get me a pencil and some paper."

He started nodding his head, "yes you can. Do it."

Well, I've never tried to actually draw something on one of them before. I gave it my best shot while he gave directions. "Don't make the wheels square. They're ROUND."

After I turned the knobs a million times in every direction possible. I handed the etch-a-sketch back to William. He said, "WOW...Thanks" and ran off.

I heard him calling to my brother, "Uncle John, Uncle John...look what Aunt Sherrie drew... the little rascals."

Maybe I can accomplish anything when the expectations aren't for perfection. And the requesting party is an expert at the art of imagination.

Call off the Search Party

I'm still alive. Busy but alive.
As usual I have to work today. Dad's out of town, photographing a wedding and I'm stuck here alone. Should be working on some restoration jobs but... it's quiet and I feel like writing.

William passed Kindergarten. According to his teacher, he has improved 80% from where he started. He will always have areas of trouble but for the most part, he'll be able to be in a regular 1st grade class in August. He and I did a little celebration dance yesterday. I'm proud of him.

My only worry for now is teaching him to stand up for himself. He's in an older kids' program at the daycare this summer. They call it the 'afterschool program.' The age group is 6 to 12. The older boys are picking on the little ones. My sister tries to keep an eye on William but she's not around that class much. Friday she caught two older boys pushing him back and forth between them. She intervened. And also William told Ben that he would "kick his butt." Something he picked up from the kids. Lisa gave him a little talk yesterday about this. That if anybody hits or pushes William to tell the teacher. When I get a chance I'll talk to him, but my advice will be different. If he doesn't learn to stand up for himself, he'll be a victim all through school.

William's different. His social skills and communication skills are different, because of autism. He's too special, too intelligent and too golden to be beaten down by cruelty.
Ok, I'm turning off the protective aunt module.

The last few months have been hectic in many ways. I'm taking in enough restoration and copy work to keep me tied down to the computer every day. We don't advertise it. I've developed a good reputation as 'that little girl at tlc who fixes pictures.' Been taking a poll on new clients and how they heard about me. 90% is referral and the rest is through the Yellow Pages or they rode by and saw the studio. I like the 90% being referral. It means I'm making my public happy.

As for romance...well let's just say it's a butterfly, flickering here and there --never landing for long. I kinda like it that way.

And my writing... it manages to survive.

Horrorscope for today

Scorpio's Daily flirt (by Astrology.com)

That sweetie that's chatting you up has something deeply weird going on that you can't see yet. Don't panic -- it might be a flavor of weird that you'll love.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I'm hoping it will be wild cherry with a twist of lime.

TGIF

What a long week!

School's out next week. I hope I have more time for creative ventures then.
Working inside the lines gets very old. I need to take the path less traveled once in a while.

Let's see what's new....

Well, William learned a great insult from someplace. Good enough to get him kicked out of his kindergarten class for the afternoon. "Monkey Butt." No idea where he learned that one. I've got to teach him the concept of 'not-getting-caught.'

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The local property tax office billed me $4.06 for a car I owned, but sold in 2000. The letter was very threatening. And made me laugh. How will I raise that kind of money???? Four bucks isn't hard to raise...it's the six sense... I mean cents that will be tough.

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I'm having an affair with audio books.

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My colors for spring/summer this year are pale pink and sky blue. I've gone Bohemian with skirts and tank tops.

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I don't watch a lot of TV, mainly on Thursday and Sunday nights. HBO has canceled Carnivale--which sucks. Too many unanswered questions. Nip/Tuck 3 doesn't start until Sept. Damn, I miss that show--it's disturbing enough to interest me. Survior is off (no big loss there) and CSI's finale was last night....and man it rocked! I actually bit my nails! On-the-edge-of-your-seat-action! I cried at the end. Nick Stokes just moved to the #2 spot of my CSI cast list. Grissom is #1...sorry Warick...Nick's ability to cry and make me believe it, has outshone the greens of your eyes. But don't worry...you're a strong #3.

Survivor

Just realized I haven't mentioned Survivor in ages.
Yes I watched and I knew Tom was going to win.
Even before the final 4.

My fav this year was Steph. A strong woman who should have went further, but Survivor isn't about strength...its about politics. The night she was voted off, I could tell by her face that she was ready to go. She wasn't fighting it anymore and I found it a delight when Greg got axed at the next tribal.

I also liked Bobby Jon. He was my next fav.

And Ian... jeez...was there ever a wuss on Suvivor? And Katy... she acted shocked that she was 'attacked' during the last tribal. I swear that was the worse performance ever at a final tribal.

It was a good season. The best according to them...maybe so. I'm beginning to tire of it. In fact, I didn't watch any show all the way thru this season. When they did the challenges I flipped it over to watch parts of the old CSI series on the Spike tv channel.

This Thurs is the CSI finale. I love that show. If I had to chose one show to take with me on a deserted island...it was the complete CSI series.

save Toby?

www.savetoby.com


My friend John IMed me the link. We had a long conversation about it.
Personally I won't be giving bucks to save the fuzzy bunny.
You got to hand it to the guy... a brilliant money scheme.

I had a roommate after college who was a Catholic.
They had dinners on Thursdays and once a month it was rabbit stew night.
She would bring left-overs home and on many occasions I watched her savor the flavor.
But I never tried any. I had to laugh at her once because when she found out I grew up on a farm, she gave me the rabbit stew recipe. She said I understood that sometimes you had to eat your pet.

I died laughing. We never ate our pets. We grew tobacco, corn, soybeans...and yes we had cows and hogs. But I never made pets out of them. Cats and dogs were our pets.

Though in through the nineties, my sister had a pet rabbit named Sammy. He was house-broken and a lot of fun to have around.

Still... its only an animal. Maybe I should send him that recipe.

At the Family Reunion

This cracked me up... a cousin at the reunion told her 3-yr-old granddaughter who was talking to me by the dessert table about why there wasn't any candy....that she shouldn't talk to strangers!

Family Reunion

..tomorrow.

I'll try to post some photos if I can. I got rid of spy assassin and now can run the hello program.

We're slowly slowing down...and I hope to get back to writing more.

An article...about ...me

An article in the local paper about ME
Note: I re-typed it for my blog. The assistant editor of ournewspaper featured me in his Wednesday column. I gave a copy of my poetry book to a friend who is a sales rep for the newspaper. She showed it to the editor and the assist editor, Michael called Monday morning and we did a phone interview. He's a nice guy and seemed genuinely impressed with my poetry. He wrote PA was a self-publishing firm...its really POD. Here's the article.

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She's a Poet… and She Knows It.
By M J--Assistant Features editor

During the day, Sherrie Parnell keeps images in the center of the lens as a photographic restoration artist for TLC Photography. Late at night, she trades in her rigid frame for freeform art.

Parnell kicked the closet door off her poetry habit with "A Sip ofSherrie," a book available through Publish America, a Baltimore self-publishing company. The book has more than 70 poems about nature, independent women, love, being single and life.

"It's my creative outlet," said the Lumberton native. "What I do atwork is about staying in the lines, so to speak. So poetry lets meescape, relax and be creative. Every one of these poems is a piece ofme. I guess I've come out of my artistic closet."

Aging wine imitates the process of life in "Merlot Ponders"…

Lost
In shadow purple,
Sitting on a self,
Merlot
Wondered about
age,
As dust
Settled on glass.

Another poem, "The Sentinel," ponders the life of a mighty oaktree. "I have seen that tree on my way to Wilmington many times,"Parnell said, "wondering what it has seen or what happened before thehighway came through. Finally I had to write it down."

Most of the poems are short and filled with imagery. The prose makes reference to magnolias, floating chiffon, splashing puddles, lavender light, secret pathways and distant hills. She is heavily influenced by Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet and diplomat who won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

While there are many romantic offerings, Parnell said her next project, "Saturn and Satin" is "about 99% about love and lost love."The self-taught poet is writing first novel, a process that has reached the editing stage.

Poetry is nothing new for the 42-year-old. She has been jotting down lines for years, dating back to her days as a student at Orrum High School.

"A Sip of Sherrie" is available at www.publishamerica.com.

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