Recipes for Life

I love to bake. It requires measuring, mixing and cooking, using specific ingredients to make it just right. Baking I consider to be different than cooking because you need to follow a recipe a little more closely for items such as pies, cakes, cookies and candies than you do for a roast, green bean casserole or scalloped potatoes. To me, baking means sweets and cooking means real meals.

I'd like to draw an analogy between recipes for life that are baking and cooking related. Things that we should do, such as brush our teeth, shower, eat healthy foods, get rest and exercise are the baking items. The cooking can include watching TV, staying up late, eating those delicious sweets that are baked and sleeping late. Our lives are basically one big cooking show, because we never live our lives strictly by the recipe of what we should do, and it needs to be that way.

The recipe for a happy healthy life includes all of the above.

Is It Alzheimer's?

Am I in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease? Key indicators:

Start a sentence and can't finish it.
Put things away and can't remember where they are.
Cannot remember names - family, friends and acquaintances.
Don't remember words to express what I'm talking about.

This would be described as MCI, or mild cognitive impairment in the textbooks, because I can still perform all the ADLs, Activities of Daily Living, and my language, attention, cognitive function and verbal ability are still okay. I have found some information at www.issueswithalzheimers.com, and there are a whole slew of informative sites from our dear government promoting awareness of the disease.

Of course, it could be that I just have too much on my plate, with two active children and a husband to maintain. Also, the fact that I'm writing and working for about five different clients every week could have something to do with it ...

Giving Thanks

When asked on Sunday by pastor Greg to write down what we are thankful for, I had a writingfest of all the awesome gifts that I have been given by God. These things included my faith, my awesome family, noting prominently my husband and children, my good health and capacity to work, a happy life and other specific topics relating to the above.
Today, however, as I took a walk in the beautiful neighborhood in which I live, taking in my vitamin D in lovely 75 degree weather, I noted something that I had forgotten to be thankful for. My Life.
Almost 19 years ago, I was told that I had a very dangerous, golf ball sized tumor in my brain. It was totally surrounding my carotid artery and my optic nerve. I was young and carefree at the time and admit that it really didn't concern me that much. I was unmarried, had no children and had lived a good life. I didn't need any more than that.
The second thing that I forgot to write down that I was thankful for was prayer. Had my extended family and their friends, and their friends not been praying in earnest for me, I would not have felt the calmness and serenity that came over me as they stuck the first needles into me and wheeled me off into surgery. I seriously never had any lack of confidence or fear that things wouldn't turn out as successfully as they did.
Fast forward to 2010, where my faith in Jesus Christ and his love is stronger than ever. I have not only the supportive family that was there for me in March 1992, but also a family of my own with a husband and two precious daughters. This family would not be here if I hadn't listened to my sister Melanie and her husband's advice to go see a doctor about the little "episode" I had while on the phone with her.
This experience taught me that while we want to concentrate on the small, everyday things that we are thankful for, it is important to also remember the big "WOW" gifts that we take for granted.

Credibility of Stories

How much credibility can we give our children when the come home with outlandish stories of their teachers and other students at school that day? One daughter reported that she saw one of her middle school coaches plucking another coaches eyebrows during the workout session. She said that she had gone to the athletics office to ask a question when she came upon them.
Then there's the story about the two students, girls, who had spent $120 and $107, respectively, on spirit beads. They drained the stash and left no beads to be purchased by other students. My youngest daughter went to buy a string or two at 50 cents each and found that there were no more. When she saw the enormity of the number of beads on one of the girls she asked if she could purchase one and was promptly given a "no."
These are the recent WOW topics that I am pondering.

The Story

The story for my book is in my mind now, at least the structure of it. It's going to be about three to five characters, in a small town with big city access. Each main character's life will be portrayed individually, but with some connections to the other characters.
Other characteristics:
No quotation marks.
Short sentences frequently.
Analogies.
Start is in the past, middle section is in the present, and the end is in the future.
It may be about a secret that a friend (2) of a friend (1) tells a character - 'til death do us part seriousness.
We'll see the ups and downs of the friend 1 and character and stray to the past occasionally. The events that occur will only bring more burden to the bearer of the secret (character). Will the secret be told by character to friend 1? It's a tough web that is very close to being revealed.

Clouds

I've always been enamored with clouds.
An incredible, monster, gorgeous cloud is right outside my window now, with the rumble of thunder threatening rain. Since I've started writing, the sky has turned darker and the wind has picked up and is whistling through the cracks in the deck.
The beauty of clouds is that they are all so different, like people, and always changing, like people. Relationships between family and friends can be compared with clouds. Clouds hanging out beautifully in the sky give peace and great imaginings of foods, plants and animals in the sky. They are getting along perfectly together. Sometimes clouds running into each other and meeting can cause thunder (angry words), lightening (broken relationships), and rain (tears).
Clouds and relationships show that no matter what the day may bring, it is always changing, and can one day be wonderful again.

Classical Music

The violin concertos, piano music and occasional trumbone, saxophone and various other instruments heard in the background at my grandparents home as a child was named "LaDeDa" music. Today though, I describe classical music with other terms. Background music, "happy" music for the particularly upbeat piece, dramatic music and just plain beautiful too.
The station ambiance on which the music is heard is so appropriate for this type of sound. Speaking in hushed tones, the DJ is calm and collected, and sounds as if he is in a padded cell. The ads are even more monotone. The time between advertisements is longer, which is a certain relief from the pop or rock stations that I listen to.
The artists themselves, except for the composer or the occasional soloist are rarely mentioned.
I'd like to wrap it up by just stating that listenting to classical music on a classical music station is calming, non-interruptive and not self promotion by muscial artists. La Dee Da.

Northeast Texas

As I mentioned to my father this afternoon, things in Northeast Texas are different than things in South Central Texas. The dirt, the rocks, the trees and the people. Other items that I noticed include signs, names of towns and venues for eating and buying items. The dress on the people, the color of their skin and the cars that the drive tell me that they are different. The way homes are decorated on the outside with paint, car parts or landscaping tell something else.
The reality of it is that "things" may look different in NETX and SCTX, but we are all Americans, living in the greatest country on earth right now. We must band together to protect the US from further socialistic programs that will only put ourselves in a precarious position, but also harm our children's way of life as they mature.

Walk, Don't Drive

When you want a new perspective on something, try walking instead of driving. Instead of driving through a neighborhood, park the car and walk through it. Instead of looking at a park through a car window, get out and walk.
This morning I took a new walking route and was able to see and feel the difference in the landscape. The hill was steeper than I perceived it, and I could see further across the horizon because I was going at a slower pace. I also got to study the trees, the fence line and the grassy meadows.
Walking is the ideal exercise - for the heart, for the mind and the body.

Writer/Publicist for Hire

That's right, I'm available for hire.

Many of you readers already know this or presume so, that I am a freelance writer and publicist. So here it is, a compact, no frills price list that can be expanded to projects as needed. I can write about anything, from real estate to nanotechnology coatings, with experience from my work in corporate and agency public relations departments to my freelance days of the past dozen years.

News Release - Article written about a new company, product or service or commentary on the business to get the word out to local and/or national audiences.
$85 for interview, research, writing
$35 for sending to local media (4-10 Publications) with message
$35 for sending to targeted national media (4-10 pubs) with message

Magazine/Brochure/Website articles - with minimal research or interview.
$20 - 250 words - about 1/2 page, 1.25" margins, Times Roman, single spaced
$40 - 500 words
$60 - 750 words
$80 - 1000 words
$100 - 1250 words

Facebook/Blogpost - Used to promo different aspects of your business or items/real estate for sale. Can update on a daily/weekly basis with 100 words or less.
$10 per post

Brochure - Standard size, 8 1/2" x 11", two sides, flat, or folded in half or thirds.
$275 for interview, research, writing and layout. Printing costs are additional and will vary, and a fee of $50 will be added for printing cost research and coordination. No commission will be charged on printing costs.

Website Development - This would include a small amount of design when a client has a template, a logo and photos. Research is conducted on competitive sites.
$50 per page with 10 pages for $450 (what a deal!)

Website Editing - Reviewing a current website and editing it to be more word search friendly (called search engine optimization - SEO)
$25 per page with 10 pages for $200
Additional fees in website development and editing could be for photography, logo development, tag line initiation and non-template web design. Joomla is a free website development site that I use so that the client may access and make changes in the future.

Memoirs/Storytelling - For people who wish to tell their life story and have it published, or for those who wish to have a person of an older generation share their narrative for future generations. Uses the Chad Harbour "Legacy of Love" system http://chadharbour.wordpress.com.
$6,000 for personal interviews with approved comprehensive question list, compilation, writing, layout and design and print coordination. Printing costs not included.

I am open to discussing larger, more extensive projects than stated here. To see some of my writing or experience, Google "Alecia Ormsby" and you will have press releases on a variety of topics, articles describing city landscapes and attractions, as well as a few personal activities/accomplishments.

Pass the word, Alecia Ormsby is ready to write.