Hell Froze Over

I am not a shoe person. I own about half a dozen pairs, and wear them as little as possible. And heels? Why would anyone want to wear heels?! I am all about comfort and style.

So for me to want boots with 4-inch heels? Have I gone insane? Possibly. But while browsing Amazon for Steampunk fashion, I found these awesome Steampunk Butterfly Boots. And I simply had to have them. I initially shrugged it off. Oh, they look cool, but they’re not for me.

Then I bought a new skirt. Knee length, frilly… and I had the thought “Now I have a skirt to justify those boots.” So when my husband actually offered to buy them for my birthday? I gave in to the insanity.

They arrived yesterday evening:

A Valentine’s Day Quest

My husband took half a day off yesterday. He brought home lunch from Taco Time, then shut me in the bedroom while he prepared his surprise. When I was allowed out, he stood against a wall with a yellow exclamation mark taped to the wall above his head.

 

I accepted the quest. The first part of the chain had me searching the corner room for 15 lost Kisses. I came back to find the exclamation mark replaced with a question mark. I turned in my quest items and got my reward: a heart box of chocolates and little teddy bear to keep in my bag so I’d have him wherever I go.

Alas, now pink cranes had stolen 10 treasures! My objective was to seek out these cranes in their nearby nesting grounds and retrieve the Treasures. My quest reward this time was a wrapped gift: Ray Bradbury’s ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING. I <3 that book. Checked it out from the library a few months ago and was incredibly inspired. Now I can take it off my wish list.

The third and final part of the quest chain was to seek out an object of much good n plenty. Once found, my final reward was another book: CHARACTERS & VIEWPOINT by Orson Scott Card. This book was highly praised at the literary conference a few weeks ago. My husband proved that he listens, and that he supports my writing.

It was a great Valentine’s event, from one gamer geek to another. I love you, dear husband. Thank you for your unconditional love and support.

Birthday Time

My birthday is on Thanksgiving this year. To avoid crowding it in with the holiday, we celebrated early. My mother-in-law took B for Saturday and Sunday, and my husband took me bowling and out to dinner.

I hadn’t been bowling for over eight years. My first game sucked, scoring 76. But by the end of the game, I was getting into the groove again. I was actually winning for a good part of the second game. It came down to the last couple frames. My score was 112, his 120. I had a blast. My hand and arm were sore by the time we were done though. Must get in shape! And it better not be another eight years until I get to go bowling again.

We had the 2 for $20 deal at Chili’s. First time I tried their appetizers. The Texas Cheese Fries are amazing. For entrée, J got the Crispy Chicken Crispers while I had the Quesadilla Explosion Salad. Since we were celebrating my birthday, we also got free dessert. Their brownie sundae had to be the best brownie I’ve ever had at a restaurant. Incredibly moist and uber chocolaty. Yum.

I even got to open my birthday present early. Seasons 1 and 2 of Castle! Castle is easily my favorite TV show right now. So he did good.

Spring “Break”

This last week was an interesting one. B was sick for a week, staying home from school Monday and Tuesday. I didn’t have to worry about missing school the rest of the week, as it was Spring Break. Tomorrow he goes back to school (yay!).

My wrists were also hurting, so I took a break from writing and video games to give them a rest. (Thus the lack of blog updates.)

What did get done was house stuff. And I got a lot of reading done. B did as well. Just prior to Spring Break was parent teacher conference. Since B is doing so well in school (going to start some first grade level work), we bought him an early reader at the book fair. This is the first book that is really meant for his reading level, and he was excited to read it to me. Made it easy to get some reading in even though he was home sick.

B is very demanding when he’s home. Not just because he was sick. Wants Mommy to be involved in everything. I don’t want to know how many board games we played. Or video games on Monday (which probably contributed to the sore wrists).

Before school gets out for the summer, I will want to create some sort of routine, for everyone’s sanity.

Thankfully, B seemed fully well by Easter. Had plenty of energy to play with his new foam dart gun and rocket launcher. Of course, as soon as B gets better, I start to feel sick… One more day of Spring Break to survive.

How was your Easter?

Warm Tidings

Remember the cold times? They are getting better. Friday we had more attic insulation put in. What a difference!

Before: by the time air got to our family room from the furnace, it had lost all its heat. The portable heater would have to be on for an hour on high to go up ten degrees, and once it got to a good temp would drop if put on low. I had to constantly check and put it from low – med – high throughout the day to not waste too much energy but not get too cold.

After: The whole house actually gets warmer with the furnace going. It doesn’t get as cold at night, and warms faster. The portable heater goes on for an hour to boost lower temps in family room, then actually maintains that heat when put on low! Much more efficient heat and energy wise now that all the hot air isn’t escaping through the ceiling.

Still to come: Windows have been scheduled for installation! We’ll be getting the two on December 28. We need to get a quote for a third window (big front one, or our bedroom one), as a wonderful relative (love you!) has offered to help us buy another.

Christmas is almost here! My husband bought stocking stuffers yesterday, and all our presents have been wrapped and delivered. We are ready! Are you? In case I don’t blog again this week, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my blog readers, even the lurkers who don’t comment. Wishing you a wonderful season filled with the best parts for you, whether that be family, friends, or peace and quiet; snow or blue skies.

Tuesday Tally and The Best Blog Award

A little belated, but thank you to Courtney for the beautiful new award:

Here are the rules for the BBA:

1. To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.
2. Pass the award to other bloggers that you recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I don’t always play along with these, but here are some more recently discovered blogs I have been enjoying.

• Tamlyn Leigh’s blog write between the lines.  I met her at the Muse Online Writers Conference, and have been following her blog since.
• Improv Everywhere is a fun group that stages scenes in public places. Much enjoyment to read and watch. I’d heard of them before, but recently discovered their missions page, which is quite a list of their past performances.
• Who is Kai?, a science fiction story by elucian. I haven’t read much yet, but it is so far poetic, deep, symbolic. And I’m not one usually into SciFi.
• Shooting Stars, a blog by some talented and entertaining sisters, Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, who are both newly agented writers.
• Laurelyn Estes over on Romantic Musings, where she blogs about writing speculative fiction romance.

 

I’ve been making some progress on TC these last two weeks. We should be getting insulation before Christmas, and a couple new windows hopefully soon after. So I should be ready for some productivity in a warmer house come the new year.

In the meantime, I’m focusing more on submissions. I may not complete any of my other way out there goals for the year, but I’m so close on my poetry submitting!

 

Goals:

• submit a minimum six poems before Dec 31
• prepare more queries for EotF, to send after Christmas

 

Ten days until Christmas! My favorite things about the season:

The decorated Christmas tree (looking at it, not so much the process), and watching my son's excitement over every little thing: the tree, snow, presents, the countdown. Do you know what he says when asked what he wants for Christmas? “Presents.” So easy to please.

Peace and Gratitude

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the U.S.A. I have so many things to be thankful for. Today is my birthday. My son didn’t have school, and slept badly last night, but is currently taking a rare nap. I already opened the presents my mom brought up (what better way to entertain a 5 year old than open presents??). I had a lovely outing with my mom on Monday. I was thankful to have the one-on-one time. My husband won’t be home for another hour. He will be cooking dinner for me tonight. My father-in-law is doing well post-surgery. It is a good day. I think I will have a piece of cake then do some writing.

Happy holidays everyone!

Mixed Bag of Updates

I survived Halloween. B was a pirate. He didn’t care that he didn’t have a hat, or a fancy costume, just a printed shirt from Walmart. This was B’s first time trick-or-treating. He was happy and excited, and that’s what matters. Plus, he had a pumpkin bucket. Pumpkin = B’s favorite thing about fall.

We went to the school carnival on Thursday, then Saturday went trick-or-treating at the mall. My husband and I wore our long, hooded cloaks.  We had no idea how packed the mall would be, and next year will go at the start instead of an hour in. After shuffling around the mall line for treats, B had a decent amount of candy (at least for him).

I’m guessing we missed some visitors during the hour we were gone. Only got one late group of six or so kids. We have LOTS of extra candybars. Mmm, chocolate.

 

Being a weekday writer (less distractions), today is my official NaNoWriMo start. Went to the site this morning, and it logged me out. :-( After being logged in for a month, I have forgotten my password! None of my usuals work, or some of my not so usual combinations, so did a password reset. But with the huge backlog of site emails, it may be another day until I get mine.

Once B is off to school, I will get started. Armed with chocolate for progress rewards, and Mountain Dew Voltage for the slumps. I have a water bottle for my desk and will break every hour to get house stuff done, snack, and move around.

I have 17 days for my writing (after accounting for weekends and holiday). That means I need about 3,000 words on my working days. I’ll post periodic updates in twitter. Wish me luck!

 

And now to get an unusually reluctant child ready for school.

Soon!

Two days until the move! Our phone/internet provider, and our heating/gas company, both don’t end services on the weekend. So, as this is a long weekend with the holiday, our options were to end services on Friday or Tuesday. We didn’t want to get billed for three days we won’t be here, so they’re getting shut off tomorrow morning. At least we already bought our prepaid cell phone. This is my last day of internet for a while. We’re going to switch to Comcast, so hopefully we can get that set up in the next couple weeks (sooner rather than later).

 

On a good note, at least we will have electricity. They do weekends. Today is big laundry and dishes day, as we won’t have any hot water tomorrow. Not a bad thing, as the day will be busy packing. My husband has already asked for Friday off so we can get everything done with less rushed stress.

 

We’ll have the weekend to settle into our house. It looks so much better than when we bought it. Fresh paint in most rooms. New carpet in the den. A few new doors. So exciting! Looking forward to living there, not just working there.

 

I will miss checking in on my blogging friends. I will blog again when I’m connected. Love you all!

Holiday Update

Christmas was wonderful. We had a nice quiet evening at home Christmas Eve, watched "The Flight Before Christmas" together. In the morning, we made sure to get showered and dressed before having pancakes and bacon. Then we tackled the presents.

 

B loves his new Webkinz Hippo from Santa. We named it JoJo. He also got a slumber pack for sleeping in his tent or at grandma's. It has a sleeping bag, pillow, and flashlight. From his parents, he got a Vtech Kidizoom Camera. After two days and 100 pictures later, the cheap batteries we bought are already dead. So, the camera is hiding until it gets some more quality batteries. Some of his other presents this year were board games. He LOVES games: card games (UNO), video games, board games. Christmas day we played all four new board games, most twice. He got Monopoly Jr., Cooties, Playhouse Disney Memory Match, and later Sesame Street Chutes and Ladders.

 

For probably the first Christmas, I did not get a new book. However, I did get a notebook and journal, and then my mom lent me books, and we got some good deals at the library sale. So I have books to read. Not a problem. Got a nice robe, some movies, and other stuff.

 

We went to visit family late Christmas morning, but the predicted storm came early. We intercepted it, saw how bad the roads were, and turned around. Did our visiting in the afternoon instead, after it cleared up.

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and has a Happy New Year! Love you all!

T.T. and Happy Holidays

EotF Status

total words to date: 97,037

pages: 440

chapters revised: 21/27 (draft 6)

 

T.C. Status

word count: 2,947

 

MiB Status

word count: 791

 

Goals for December

• write a prompted poem for contest - "If Atlas Had a Tantrum..." 
• submit a batch of poems  
• mail off Blazing Princess again 
• get through EotF draft 6

 

My mom stopped by today, so now we have presents circling the entire Christmas tree rather than one little pile. We're having pot roast for Christmas dinner. It will be my first time making it. Hoping it goes well. With the internet and a crock pot I don't imagine it will be too hard.

 

Slow progress on the potty training front. Just haven't had good timing. Doesn't help that B never volunteers the need to go, for either function. Was hoping that a shower (which B hates) after every soiled underwear would help to motivate him, but after three showers yesterday... Today better not be as bad. It would be a lovely Christmas present for him to be potty trained, but I don't think it's happening that fast.

 

As soon as I finish this draft of EotF, I am sending the first chapter to Firebrand Literary Agency. They are having a Query Holiday, and accepting first chapters through January 15. Worth a shot.

One Week to Christmas!

Are you ready?

 

Christmas break also means getting serious with potty training. B will be potty trained before school starts again in January. He seems more ready this time. Hoping it goes well...

 

Shrinking Violets is having a 12 Days of Christmas - Introvert Style. Humorous, and quite applicable. They are also having daily give-aways to go along with it. Lots of fun!

Take pity on the introverts this Christmas

For reference, here is the definition of introvert, and examples of famous ones.

 

In these group happy holidays, remember the Introverts Bill of Rights, particularly #2: Introverts have the right to leave social events "early" as needed.  I enjoy visiting with family, but the more people there are, the faster my energy drains.

 

As of last year, we are no longer going to Christmas Eve festivities. We are starting our small, quiet, family traditions here at home. At least being married to a fellow introvert, we are often on the same wavelength.

 

On an unrelated, writing note, it is much easier removing a secondary character than it is to add one in a later draft. Though I may have believed differently the last time I removed a character... Writing/revising is hard! Don't let anyone tell you different.

Tuesday Tally and random stuff

EotF Status

total words to date: 94,435

pages: 423

chapters revised: 11/27 (draft 6)

 

T.C. Status

word count: 2,947

 

MiB Status

word count: 550

 

Goals for December

• write a prompted poem for contest - "If Atlas Had a Tantrum..." 
• submit a batch of poems  
• mail off Blazing Princess again 
• get through EotF draft 6

 

It's snowing. Very cold, 24 degrees, today. Wishing I was in Phoenix (54 degrees).

 

Recent Distraction: Cake Wrecks

 

Crazy Contest I entered MiB opening into: First Paragraph Challenge

 

Last Book I Read: The Black Tattoo. Was a birthday present from my husband. Enjoyed it a lot.

 

Recent Embarrassment: Wrote the wrong name on an envelope for a Christmas Card. At least the envelope is white, so white-out saves the day... Why did I write the name I did? That is a mystery. I don't even know anyone of the name I wrote. *sigh*

 

Currently behind on: Crits for poetry group.

 

Yesterday's accomplishments: Exercised. Rearranged scenes in two chapters of EotF to move an events timetable by two moons, and adjusting all scenes that got affected. Got B's presents wrapped and under the tree.

 

**Update! Even newer embarrassment: Somehow managed to save this post over my December Tally, rather than simply copying the template. *bangs head on wall*

"New" December Tuesday Tally

Mostly-recovered post after blogging snafu:

 

It's December! Time to decorate for Christmas. Only, I haven't decided where or if to put up the tree this year. Once we get a house, I'm leaving the darn thing put together. I can decorate it with the seasons (hearts for Valentine's, and such) or cover it and leave it in the garage. But I'm tired of pulling it out of the box, building, and reshaping each year. Anyway, tree or not, time for some Christmas music. We're almost done with our Christmas shopping - one card to send, and one present left to order. We're keeping it simple this year.

Breakdown of poetry writing last month. One new poem (anywhere from 3 to 42 lines) every day Nov 1 through Nov 21. Then only one more poem the rest of the month, on the 24. That's 22 poems in one month, which is by far a record for me.

PAD final verdict:
gems: 8
have potential: 8
duds: 6

 

With all the injuries and casualties I've been reading about dealing with Black Friday, I fully agree that It is Time to Outlaw Black Friday. Is trading a guy's life for saving $200 on a TV suddenly a small price to pay? What is it about having something NOW, rather than waiting for a still good but not cutthroat deal, or ordering online? And why wait hours in the cold in the wee hours of the morning for the mayhem? There are so many things wrong with this "tradition". And stores still cater to it, moving their sales earlier and earlier. Open at midnight? Or Thanksgiving itself? Just crazy. I really feel sorry for anyone having to work during these shifts, or be the ones to clean up after. *soapbox speech over*

Birthday Tuesday Tally!

EotF Status

prepped to start draft 6 come Dec

 

T.C. Status

word count: 2,893

 

Poems Written

22/30

 

Goals for November

• Poem a Week - definitely met this 
• submit a batch of poetry weekly - on track 
• mail off Blazing Princess again - delayed again. will have to move to next month 

 

Happy Birthday to me! My mom is coming up to take me to lunch and then Gardner Village. (Followed by a not-so-happy, squeezed in at the last minute, just got a notification yesterday that B needs more immunization shots or can't go to preschool next Mon, visit to the clinic.) Then my husband will be fixing me dinner tonight. Most likely pork chops. Mmm.

 

It's quite interesting that as soon as I gave myself permission to only do one poem a week instead of every day, I wrote one anyway. The only two days I've missed were Saturday and Sunday. I was so involved in creating and launching a new group on Writing.com that writing a new poem didn't even cross my mind. The new group is called Frosted Paths. It's for anyone submitting poetry, that we may support each other through the process and help buffer against the pains of rejection. I made the group because I need it, so figured someone else may benefit as well. I saw a need and filled it. There are so many groups for poetry writing or appreciation, but not the submitting part. Which, for me, is the hard on the psyche part.

 

I got comments on the Zalandar chapters, so on to draft six of EotF. Though with the holidays I'll just mark it up this week and get busy on it in Dec. Hopefully I'll be sending it out sometime early next year.

TT and Life Update

EotF Status

letting it sit before draft 6

 

T.C. Status

word count: 2,893

 

Poems Written

3/30

 

Goals for November

• Poem a Week - doing good so far. already have one finished, and two more in draft stages
• submit a batch of poetry weekly - sending some off today
• mail off Blazing Princess again - need access to a working printer

 

Good thing I started my poem early yesterday. Just before lunch, B was helping me with laundry, and did a not so helpful thing of prematurely slamming the dryer door. Ouchie to three squished fingertips, right hand. No writing or typing for me after that. Fingers no longer throbbing today, merely tender and bruised under the nail. Could be worse. As you can tell, I can type fine, I just avoid using my middle finger on the mouse scroll. Too much pressure.

 

This looks to be an extra busy month. Thursday is Parent Teacher Conference. This weekend my missileer brother is coming down for a week. Don't get to see him much, so I'll be going down a couple different days to visit with mom and him. The reason he's got leave is that my grandma isn't doing well. She had a stroke a while back and is slowly getting worse. Not expecting her to last much longer. Essentially, they told my parents to start planning the funeral. It's sad, but at least we have time to prepare. (Hopefully more time rather than less.)

 

The last week of the month we have my birthday and Thanksgiving. All goals still in place. We'll see how the month goes.

Early Christmas, mistakes, and the future

5,000 Questions... My answers so far...

 

471. What is one interesting fact you know? The twelve days of Christmas technically starts on Christmas Day and ends on January 5th. January 6th is Epiphany, the celebration of the Wise Men bringing gifts. For some it is a tradition to give gifts on all of the twelve days. The 12th day of Christmas, the last day of Christmas, is January 5th.

 

472. Do you talk to yourself? All the time.

Do you talk to your pets? I'm sure I would if I had one.

473. Do you believe that humankind has a future in space (will we live there some day)? We are living in space. We are not outside space. I don't know if we'll survive to explore and live on other planets.

474. Would you rather wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty or more delicate outfits? Comfort is more important that dirt or delicacy. Since I'm not one for delicate outfits for that reason (not as comfy), I'll go with the former.

475. How do you 'live life to the fullest'? Don't let obstacles stop your dreams. Keep striving, be yourself, be happy.

476. Are you sloppy or a neat freak? sloppy

477. Would you rather have a trunk full of nickels or half a trunk full of dimes? half a trunk of dimes. dimes are smaller, so it would be more money with less actual coins to put in the coin machine.

478. What is the worst mistake you've ever made? Basing my self confidence off my relationships. I made plenty of mistakes during the HS/dating/relationships phase. I hurt a lot of people. I was so clueless and selfish.

479. Are you in good health? well, I'm not in bad health

480. Are you patriotic? yes, but not overbearingly so

Hello Autumn

+ school starts next week

- will have to wait for the bus

- allergy season

+/- lots of awesome games coming out (too many to get all at release)

+ days and nights getting cooler

+ pretty fall colors

- lots of wind

- lots of tv interruptions by election updates

+ fall tv season begins, with lots of interesting new and returning series

 

Haven't heard from B's bus driver yet. Last year they didn't call until the day before school started, so not too worried. B will be going four days a week instead of two, which is exciting. He has the same teacher as last year, so that should be really good for him. He already knows his numbers 1-9. I've told him that school starts soon and that he'll get to ride the bus. He jumped up and down in excitement.

 

At the end of October, P will be getting a younger sister and I should be getting a couple months off while their mom takes time off work. Yay! That will also mark the beginning of serious potty training take 2.

 

My birthday is also in autumn. I need to update my wish list.

 

What do you like and dislike about the season?

This week's Highlights

There were some moments this week that really stood out (in a good way).

Tuesday, my husband stopped on his way home from work and bought me a gift. Just because. The bear is so soft! The flowers are a dozen roses: 6 red, 5 pink, and one lavender. My husband likes to pick out his own arrangements, and they are always lovely. :-)

 

Yesterday B and I went to the Eccle's Dinosaur Park with my mom and two of my siblings. It was a lot of fun. B liked dinosaur's before, but now he loves them! He is so cute. We heard a lot of "Dinosaur. Rawr." He was very worn out by the end of the day, and didn't even notice scratching up his knee until we got in the car (which since being pointed out, he is "crippled" when he thinks about it. silly boy). At the gift store we bought him a wooden stegosaurus play set, and we got a promotional DVD about the park that B has watched twice since coming home. My mom gave him some dinosaur books, clothes, and pjs before we left. B has spent a lot of time looking at those books today.

 

Here is B looking at the moving dinosaurs inside the museum. See the cute baby triceratops?

 

After getting home, we turned right around and left to eat out with my husband as an early Father's Day celebration. (B and I won't be going anywhere this weekend now that we're back into potty training.) It was a long day, but a good one. Hopefully we will all survive the potty training this next week.

 

An early Happy Father's Day to all dads out there.