Countdown to my Birthday!

That's right Stalkers, I have exactly 5 days until my birthday and I'll be the big...dare I say it?  

3-0

It was scary just typing it.  And yet not so much. Mostly because I don't feel like I'm almost 30.  I feel like I'm still a kid who just gets to do grown up things now.  Of course the fact that I have my own kids kind of puts things into perspective.  Especially when one of them jumps on me in the morning to wake me up.

Where they find their energy I'll never know.  But someone should find out and bottle that shit.  That's all I'm saying.  

Anyhoo..back to the birthday.  

I don't have anything in particular planned.  My kids will be in school so I'll get to have a day of resting and relaxing.  And going to see the new Captain America movie, unless something else captures my eye.

But most importantly I get to celebrate another year of being alive.  Another year of fighting obstacles and coming up victorious.

And for those of you who have been with me since the start of this blog, you can attest to the ups and downs that I have had.  The highs and lows that sometimes seem almost insurmountable and yet I have come out of it stronger and wiser.

So today I am going to smile, finish my homework lol...and keep in mind that my worse day is shadowed by someone else's and that no matter what the sun will come out.

Thanks to everyone for reading.  Later

-TheOnlineStalker

Breathing Ch. 05

The picture above corresponds with the chapter.  As all of you know the story Breathing is a bit of a change from what I'm used to writing.  It's dark and daring.  It's sad and emotional.  It's...not what I usually write.  And for that reason alone it can be a bit draining.  

The character Sonya is a small part of me that I never let anyone see before.  She's scared and alone.  Loved and yet afraid to love back.  And in the last chapter you see her open up a little bit and let a little of the pain drift away.

Well this chapter will be just as draining for some as the last, but I promise that the sun is about to start peeking through the clouds after this.  

So without further hesitation I give you Breathing.

Hello, I'm Back Again.

I can just see the rolling eyes in my head right now.  "Of course you're back..again.  But for how long?"  

And I can completely understand why you would think that.  I come and then I go....I come back and then I leave again.  I'm the definition of spastic when it comes to posting.  And the only thing I can tell you is..life happened.  But that's not an excuse either.  I can still post even if it's not a giant post.  At least to let you know that I'm still alive and that I have not forgotten about all of you.  Well the ones of you who have stayed with me this long.  

Did I mention how awesome I think you guys are?  I didn't?  

Well you all flippin' rock! 

To catch all of you up here is what has been happening with me for the past year and a half.  

I discharged from the Army in November of 2012 for good this time.  And while I had a lot of amazing experiences with the military I found that I was needed at home with my children.  And so I finished out my contract and moved to good ole Texas.  

For about 6 months I looked for a job and gathered paperwork for school and then finally I started school in June of last year, 2013.  I've been in classes ever since.  My main goal has been to finish school for this past year and so I've taken classes during the Summer, Fall, and now the Spring semester will be finishing up soon.  Yay to that.  

But....

I start classes again in the Summer.  Talk about exhausting right.  But lately I've been feeling this urge to write and share my thoughts and then finally it clicked.  "I have a blogger account.  Why don't I just post here?"  And ta-da!  Here I am.

Just the other day I started working on Chapter 5 of Breathing.  A lot of people have emailed me inquiring when I would be finished and of course I felt horrible because to me it had only been a few months since I submitted.  However, when I checked I saw that it had been well over a year.  

A freaking year?!!

Where does the time go?  

Well no more!  

I won't promise to have stories up every week or even every month, but I will try my best to post something here to let you all know what to expect.  And if all goes well I will have a new update for Breathing by the weekend.  I want to make it a longer chapter to compensate for all the time I've had between each post.

So on that note...um...hi.  lol.

And I will see you back here again this week.  

Thanks again to all of my followers.  You are the reason I want to finish my stories.  What started off being voices of imaginary people in my head has turned into real people living life on paper.  And I never imagined anyone would actually want to read it.

So...thanks.

-OnlineStalker

Update!

Hi my Stalkees,

Or the ones who haven't abandoned me lol.  I know that I vowed to post more often and I really mean it.  But then as always life came up and smacked me in the face.  Apparently she didn't like me very much.  I've spent the better part of winter trying to fix an financial error that would have had me paying back the military over $11,000 dollars. 

So from December until just last week, I have been on the phone every other day calling between two agencies to fix this discrepancy.  And of course they were quick to hold my last paycheck and tell me I owe them money, but when it came to fixing it all I kept getting was call back to your last place of employment.  Or we don't do that, they do.

Sigh

To say that this has been an exhausting past couple of months would be an understatement.  But now that it is all finished and I no longer have to worry about it, I can once again focus on my writing.  Which brings me to the next issue at hand.

Breathing

No not the act of breathing, but the story that I started.  I logged into my Literotica account and found that several of my followers on that site had written comments on how they were waiting for the next chapter.  How my characters had resonated with them and had struck a chord in them that for awhile I wasn't sure I could do.  But from the moment Sonya came to me, I knew this was a story that had to be written.  No matter how much pain fueled it.  The journey will be worth it in the end I'm sure.

The second is Beautiful Stranger

And so to all of you who are wondering I have not abandon ed this story either.  My goal is to have something done within the next two weeks that I can post for you all.  It's been such a drawn out project that I don't want to be one of those writers who starts a story and then just stops.

I can guarantee that I have not grown bored of it.  And as cliche as it continues to sound, life truly did put these stories at a standstill. 

So with that being said, I hope that the remaining followers who check in read this and see that I am slowly working on getting you the next chapters.  Just bear with me and feel free to comment, email, or ask any questions you need to. 

Thanks for all of your support

-TheOnlineStalker

The Thursday Vent

Hi my Stalkees,

It's been quite awhile since I have posted a Thursday post.  Or any frequent post for that matter.  It's a wonder some of you are even still following me.  I have been inconsistent and kind of a flake.  This of course has not been my intention.  Life truly did get in the way and then it ran me over with a train.

But now a year and some change later, I find that my life is a bit more clear.  I can see through the fog that had surrounded me and life doesn't seem so bleak. 

A lot of you have been asking about the stories that I have started but never seem to finish.  And this is not fair of me to keep you hanging on by a thread.  And so this year will be a year of first for me.  One being that I vow to finish all the open stories that I have.  In order to do that I will need to buckle down and spend a few hours a day writing, even if it's only a few sentences. 

This will be no small feat as I have several stories open.  The two most popular being Beautiful Stranger and Love Me Now.

I would try to put myself on a deadline right now but this is as far as I've gotten in 2013. 

Once I do have a schedule I will try my hardest to keep that schedule. 

My strategy is to get a few chapters written before posting so that I can have something to fall back on in the event my Muse leaves me or I have those off days so many of us writers have.  It will also guarantee that my followers, all of you awesome people aren't left waiting for months on end only to get no results.

And so this is me keeping my New Years Resolution to be more active on my blog and to finish what I have started in the year 2013.

Here's hoping I don't break it like so many people do.

-TheOnlineStalker

Happy New Year - 2013

Hi all my Stalkees,

I want to start this post off by saying Happy New Year!

I know that I haven't been on much lately, but as much as a cliche as this will sound..life got in the way.  I'm not going to bore you with the details of how my life spiraled out of control only to rocket back up out of the abyss that was my life.

I have tried as much as I could to make this blog a success and for awhile I lost my passion and interest in it, because I thought, "Who really reads this?"

Today, I got an email asking me about a story that I had posted awhile back called Love Me Now.  This person asked me if I had published it so that she could buy it.

Reading that email was like winning the lottery.

It also reaffirmed my dedication to this blog and getting everything back on track.  And so to all of you who have been following me, I am making this my New Years Resolution.

I am going to publish a book this year.  I will finish what I started and I will try my hardest to make this the best blog I can for all of you.

Thank you all for your support and love. 

-theonlinestalker

Merry Christmas

Last night before the girls went to bed, they wrote a note for Santa and left him one of their toys under the tree.  We put out a key to let Santa in the house because we don't have a chimney and we wanted to make sure he'd be able to get in.  And then they went to bed without a fight and slept.

This morning when I woke them to tell them Santa had been here, they jumped out of bed and ran into the living room.  When they looked under the tree they found a letter from Santa and the key he used.  The letter said:

To Alex and Ariana,

Thank you for letting me in.  The key you left was very helpful as well as the toys you left under the tree.  They will make some little boy or girl very happy.  I hope you like the presents.

Love, 
Santa  

P.S. Thanks for the cookies and milk

This then caused them to run over to the table where they saw a plate with crumbs and a half eaten cookie.  The glass of milk was completely gone.

Best Christmas Ever! 

 

 

Breathing Ch. 04

Finally!

After posting and reposting and trying to fix errors..here it is.  The next chapter of Breathing.  I hope you enjoy it.

Breathing Ch. 04 

Please Don't Kill Me

Hi everyone! (squints eyes as she covers her head)

Oh...no one attacked me with day old bread or pelted me with tomatoes.  That's always a good sign.  Of course the day isn't over yet.  As you all know it has been quite some time since I have posted on my blog, but due to some personal issues that could not be avoided.  But we don't want to delve into my unsavory summer.  No! We want to know what is going on with my stories.  And to say that I have been a bit of a procrastinator would be an understatement.  

But...

I have been working on two of the stories that I know are very dear to you.  One of them being chapter 4 of Breathing and the other being Chapter 8 of Beautiful Stranger.  

For a lot you Beautiful Stranger is much more important to Breathing.  And I will spending quite a bit of time this week writing chapter 8, editing, typing more, re-editing..and then finally posting it.  As I go along I will be posting what I'd like to call Mid-week Quickies.  

Each week I will choose a fairy tale and put a spin on it Stalker style.  I've never attempted something like this before, but I have seen on several of the blogs that I follow that giving readers something while they wait for the much anticipated chapter slows down the amount of threats you receive.  And also bodily harm for delaying the next chapter after keeping them in suspense for so long.

This week was supposed to be the debut of Breathing Ch. 4, but I am putting it off one more week so that I can make it longer and also start working on Chapter 5 to lower my wait time.  

My normal posts will resume on Monday with my Manic Monday post and carry on from their.   

For those of you who have stuck by me through all of my writer's block, moving to a different state, family issues, and Muse miscommunication....I just wanted to let you know that you are the reason I continue to write and push myself to make each chapter better than the last.  

Thank you for your support.

-theonlinestalker

The Thursday Vent

I’m back!

I know some of you are probably saying, “You never told me you were leaving!”  And you would be correct – so hello my Stalkees.  I tweeted the main reason for my absence a couple weeks ago on Twitter.  For those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter, my absence was due to the FLU.  I was surprised that you could get the flu so late.  So I Googled it and I found out that flu season is actually from October to May.

Go figure that I would get the flue the LAST month of flu season.  My kids kept trying to talk to me while I was half out of my mind with a fever and body aches.  Why is it that children want to be around you more when you feel like crap?  And of course they didn’t get sick.  They’re like super heroes or something.  Able to shield themselves against the common respiratory infection and Dr. FLU!

So my first weekend was filled with medicine, fever, sweating, and aches.  And being in the military, if you don’t have a fever but have flu like symptoms they just give you some Motrin and send you on your way.  And so that was what happened.  I went to work that Monday with the flu and a slight fever. 

Fun right?

So half way through last week I spent washing and packing clothes for my kids.  Because guess what all my lovely readers, I had to take them to Indiana to see their dad.  By myself.  From Colorado.

I priced plane tickets and found that it would cost me almost a thousand dollars after buying plane tickets there for three people and then back for me.  Plus the cost of a rental car and a hotel.  So instead I opted to fly.

Mapquest says that a trip to Indiana is 15 hours.  Mapquest—you lied to me! 

Driving across the great state of Kansas with a 7 year old and a 5 year old is challenging.  Especially when the 5 year old had to pee ever 50 miles or so.  Not to mention that once we got half way through Kansas to stop at a rest area they issued a tornado watch for the state of Kansas.  Not for a certain town in Kansas.  No!  It said tornado watch for Eastern Kansas!

This is when my daughter points up to the sky and says “Hey mom those clouds look weird.”

See the pictures below to see what she meant.  It was almost as if they were falling from the sky, reaching for us.  It was both amazing to see and scary knowing that one of those falling clouds could easily become a tornado before our very eyes.  And so we got back on the road.

As soon as the car was back on Interstate 70 a flash of lightning lit the quickly darkening sky.  Followed by several more and then the sky opened up and began to pelt rain onto us.  It got so bad that I eventually had to pull over at a rest area to wait it out and pray that we were not near a tornado since the weather was so bad.

Finally we got to their dad’s house and everything was going fine until I had to leave on Memorial Day to come back so I could go to work the next day.  Going through St. Louis was pure torture since the speed limit was 60 miles per hour and cops were pulling people over left and right for speeding.  And so it took me almost an hour to get out of the city.

I was making pretty good time since I didn’t have the kids with me.  I got a few hours from Colorado and had to pull over.  After a few hours of rest I was back on the road and finally in Colorado after going through construction and more 60 mile per hour traffic. 

But…

Once I got to the town I needed that would lead me to home I took the wrong road and ended up driving the wrong direction for 45 minutes.  45 minutes wasted until I realized I should be going west…not east.

And so I turned around and went back to the small town I had just left and began my travel towards the actual city I needed.  I made it by 7:20 and then realized I had to go to work and be there by 9.

So I went home to shower and change and go to work.  Where I had to stay all day.

Needless to say that I crashed as soon as I got home.  And today is the first day I’ve had to write anything at all. 

So thank you all for sticking around with me.  And I’ll try my best to keep you all better informed.

I hope to have a chapter up for you on Saturday.

*fingers crossed*

If not feel free to comment or send me emails.  Motivation is welcome all the time!

Later all!

-TheOnlineStalker

The Thursday Vent

Hi my Stalkees,

This weeks Thursday Vent is a culmination of the week so far.  As you all know, I have been having issues with my daughter's school and of course my apartments ant infestation.  Well this week was no better.  My daughter has been getting bullied and I spent three days talking to principal, assistant principal, and briefly to her teacher.  Tomorrow is parent teacher conference.

I called my mom to ask if she could find out what time the conference would be.  Just in case we had certain times to come.  Do you know what she told her?

"Well, she doesn't have to come."

First of all..What?!?!?

What does she mean I don't have to come.  It's a parent/teacher conference for a reason.  Add on the fact that my daughter has been getting harassed by two of her students...why would I not come?

What parent knowing all of this would say.."You know what.  I don't need to ask the teacher about my child's behavior and get her input."  Or try to get their input.

So first thing tomorrow morning I will be going to my daughter's school.

As far as the ant issue goes.  The Code Enforcement officer came out yesterday and saw all of the items NOT fixed.  He went back to the office and talked to them again.  And will be calling me tomorrow.

But now I have to add broken air conditioner to the list.  My AC hasn't worked in 3 days.  I went to the office today and they told me maybe it's a tripped switch.  And to try looking in the breaker box to figure it out.

I opened the breaker box and then closed it.  I'm not messing up anything for them to tell me I broke it.

And to make things even better, my mom came in to ask for the code enforcement officers number.  Apparently our neighbors are having some of the same issues.  So cross your fingers that we finally get this fixed.  If not I'll be back next week with more to say.

But until then.  Stalk ya later.  *wink*

Bullying - What's Your School's Policy?

Does your child's school have a policy on bullying?  And if so do you know what it is?

I ask these two very important questions because my child is on the receiving end of bullying.  Two weeks ago it was brought to my attention by my daughter that she was being picked on by two little boys in her class.  She is in the first grade and both students are in her classroom.  My daughter is mild mannered in nature and doesn't like to get anyone in trouble, but in turn she felt as if her telling would get her in trouble as well.

The only reason we found out was because after school I told her to change out of her school uniform and she hesitated.  When I asked her why, she said that she had bruises.  I lifted her shirt and sure enough she had scratches and bruises on her back and shoulder.  Once I got her to calm down she told me that there were two boys who had been bothering her at school.  And when she told them she didn't want to play anymore they drug her by the legs across a graveled playground.

So as any concerned parent would do, I went to her school.  As I walked to the front desk to explain the situation, the women at the front desk told me that I would have to talk to the Guidance Counselor.  After being given directions I took my daughter to bring the matter up.  It felt as if I was giving a police report.

She asked the children's names, class room, and about the incident in question.  My daughter told her what she had told me and we were informed that it would be brought up to the principal.

"What's the policy for bullying?" I asked.

To which I got the response, "There is no tolerance for bullying."

I asked what was the policy for teachers when a child mentioned such a thing and was told that the teacher should have mentioned it to the front office.  This was never done.

And then today as I was getting ready for work my mom came home after taking my daughter to school for me.  Her first words were, "You need to go to the school and talk to them.  Alex told one of the boys head butt her."

And so once again I made the trek back to my daughter's school.  This time I spoke to the principal and explained what had been told to me.  And once again I asked, "What's the policy for bullying in the school?"

And once again I was told that they had a no tolerance policy.

Hours passed as the day went by and I decided to pick my daughter up from school.  I normally don't since I'm at work when she gets out, but I of course felt that this was too important for me to have my mom pick her up.

As I walked to my daughter's class, I was asked by the Assistant Principal to talk along with my daughter's teacher.  There they asked my daughter to explain what she had told them.  The headbutting incident may or may not have been an accident.  But the dragging across the playground had happened and there was no denying that.

Apparently what had happened was that my daughter did in fact tell a teacher.  One of the recess ones they have monitoring the playground.  The boy in question was given a consequence which was being put on the wall.  According to the teacher she felt that was adequate punishment and did not inform any of the other teachers or the front office.

When asked how many times she had told the teacher my daughter replied, "3 or more times."

And still no one was told of these incidents.  So again I asked, "What is the policy for bullying?"

And again I was given the generic answer of there was a no tolerance policy for bullying.

In all the time that I have asked, I have not yet been told what that policy is.  They have mentioned talking to the boy and calling his parents now.  So I asked and what about notifying the parents that this is going on.  What is your policy on this.  To which she asked, "So no one from the school notified you?"

The answer to that is no.  This Sunday was Mother's Day and my daughter pretended to be sick so she didn't have to go to school this week.  No child should ever have to be afraid to attend school.  And if anyone knew my daughter they would see how unlike her it is.  She would rather go to school with the flu than miss a day.

And so parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles--I ask what is the policy for bullying at your child's school.

Don't let the ones who proclaim to make this a safe environment for your most precious gift stonewall you on the issue.

I can firmly tell you that my child will not be attending this school next year.  And for any parents who may stumble upon this issue make sure your answers are satisfactory and not just smoke and mirror to satisfy you temporarily.

Stop Bullying now...before it's too late.

-TheOnlineStalker

Manic Monday

Hi my Stalkees,

Today's Monday wasn't as Manic as the ones before.  In fact It was the perfect picture of semi calm.  I started the day off by taking pictures of the work that my apartment complex never fixed.  And on Wednesday I'll be giving the Code Enforcement officer a call.  I gave them more than the allotted time to get in here and fix it all but they sent in a maintenance man who for all I know only had half information or instructions to only fix one problem.

I then went to work where I did nothing.  Literally. 

I'll be getting out of the military in a very short time.  I have completed one term and even reenlisted so I feel it is time for me to get out and stay home with my family.  The girls are getting older and need a stable presence in their life.  It's a decision that didn't come lightly or easily.

However, a lot of the people I work for still treat individuals getting out of the military as if we are the gum on the bottom of their shoe.

"You could just finish the rest of your time."

"What are you going to do when you get out?  Work at McDonald's?"

These are actual questions that have been asked by higher ranked individuals.  First of all "finish the rest of my time?"

It sounds like a prison sentence when put that way.  And when working under individuals who make your life miserable it feels like prison too.

As for the work at McDonald's comment a female at work got from her boss all I could say was "Wow!"

He thinks so little of her that he believes she'll get out the military and what?  Become one of those women who uses the system instead of getting her education and a better job.

The only good thing that came out of today was that my daughter got her new glasses and then we went to the park to play.

But what can you expect on a Manic Monday?

Christians Say Bad Words

This was too awesome for me not to post tonight. 

I normally take my mom to work at night.  So I loaded the kids in the car and off we went.  My mom works at a Wal-mart that isn't that far from us.  a good 10 to 15 minute drive through downtown.  As we're on our way I tell my mom how I talked to my friend about how the lady sideswiped us in her car.  And my mom asks me what did she say.

So I try to whisper as low as I can.  "Stupid Bitch."

But seeing as my daughter has bionic hearing, she says, "Oooo.  That's a bad word mom."

"You weren't supposed to hear that."

And afterwords I start to mess with her about who said a bad word to which she says "You" and I say "You who?"

To say this is fun entertainment for me is an understatement.  But as so many say..It's the little things in life.

After about five minutes of going back and forward with her she says, "Oh my God."

"Oooo...you blasphemed," I tell her.

"No I didn't.  I'm not a Christian."

"What?"

"I didn't say a bad word."

I laugh and take the bait.  "What do bad words have to do with Christians?"

And without missing a beat she says, "Because, Christians say bad words."

I can't make this kind of stuff up. 

So I tell her, "But I'm not a Christian.  I'm Wiccan."

Tell me ladies and gents why my daughter starts to argue with me and tells me I have to be a Christian because I said  bad word earlier.

And my mom doesn't make it any better because she says a curse word right after that to which my daughter says, "Grandma you're really a Christian.  Mom you're sorta a Christian but Grandma is really one."

"You're other Grandma's a Christian," my mom says.

"No she's not.  She doesn't say bad words."

So now my daughter thinks that all Christians say bad words and no matter how much I tried to convince her that they don't--she's just not believing it.