Writing Update

Yay! Six pages :) (okay, a little of the seventh too). I'm going to try to come back and work on it later, maybe I can hit the 10 page mark today. Taffy's learning things about her world she never knew, and that's what's happening on these pages. Tonight I'll be taking notes so I can make sure to keep everything straight! Not that I think it's really confusing, it's just an easy reference guide for me so things stay consistent. I've got things as simple as Taffy's eye color in there so I don't have to search for it in the text, I can just flip to the Taffy section of my notes. My friend Jennifer asked me if I felt like a writer yet. Last week I told her I felt like a typist. Today though, I'm begining to feel just the teensiest bit like a writer. I made it to page 104 and have had fun today. Now, off to see if the kids need help with homework, and of course I need to conjure up something for dinner.

Classical Music and Cows...

That's what's going on at my house right now :) I want to write, I left my ideas on the computer last night so I could pick up and keep going this morning, but I have to hold off. This morning I'm working on an invitaion design for our church ladies group's get together next month. The woman in charge requested cows to go along with what she has planned. So, cows it is, and I've got classical music playing on pandora, I'm hoping to petition the muses because cows aren't all that inspiring to me! Anyway, I need a design that's efficient with both money and conveying the necessary information. When that's finished, then it's back to Taffy and Rafe! Oh, and it looks like a new follower popped up - welcome aboard Kevin, glad to meet you. Now, back to work with myself!

Second Writing Update of the Day

I managed to sneak in another 4 pages tonight :) I realized last week that a lot of the story ideas that I've already started will fit in this world I'm building for this story, so I decided to introduce some of the characters into this story as very minor characters. It's getting late, it's time to let someone else's imagination entertain me now :)

Writing Update

Actually, it's more of a reading update. I finished reading what I have of my draft so far and it's been good for me. I found things that I put in the story previously to kind of set up later chapters, but I'd forgotten about them - now I have notes reminding me :) I was able to straighten out my timeline (I hope) so that it feels right. It's not a time travel story, that timeline needs to be accurate or it's just confusing. I also found out that I have 9 chapters and a prologue :) I didn't type chapter headings in, but I wrote them in on my draft. It's one thing to say 90 pages, but for me, realizing there's 9 chapters already, makes me feel a bigger sense of accomplishment. Don't know why, but it just does. I also learned that I don't hate it and want to stop working on it. It needs more tweaking, but that will come later. So, now I'm armed with knowledge and notes. It's time to start working again :) I love having a laptop. I can take it with me in the car and work while I wait for the kids to get out of school :) But maybe today, I'll just veg with a library book so I can get it back. Haven't decided yet. Oh, I also learned that learning to speak Welsh might be kind of fun.

Today's Writing Check In

After my crazy walk to the library and back I was tired, and my brain didn't want to think too much. I had to choose - read or write for an hour before it was time to get the kids. I compromised, I started reading the beginning of my story, mostly because as I was doing a spelling and grammar check, I read things and said to myself, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that," I figured maybe reading through it wouldn't be a bad idea. :) I started this in January, so it's been a while. On a positive note, I'm on page 90.

A Five Year Old's Logic

"Dad! Make it go faster, and then it will NOT go slow!" This was the observation our five year old shared as he watched Paul throw a ball for Sirius...of course we laughed. Then we congratulated him for such logical thinking.

I'm Such a Wimp

Sirius needed some excercise, and honestly, so do I, so we went for a walk. He really needed it because he was being naughty and getting into everything - too much energy. He shook salad all over the floor and tried to steal my stickles... It's a nice day, epsecially considering it's the middle of August! So I thought...why not walk to the library to drop off my book? Seems simple. The library's not that much farther than the school, and that's only.8 miles away. I checked when I got back, because I was curiuos, the library's 1.77 miles away. We walked 3.54 miles...to drop off one book. And these weren't nice innocent miles...there were hills. I'm toast...told you I was a wimp.

Inspire & Imagine - To Do List Hanging

I needed some way to use the notebook paper I cut for the little 4x6 notebook, so I figured to do list (or shopping list in my case) would work. So, this is a companion for the following notebook. I incorporated the same elements in both projects, although the angels are just a bit different. I attached the ribbon for hanging. Sorry about the strange angle, but the glare from the flash was annoying.

Rub ons from Holy Cow, I embellished them with a gel pen and stickles.

Again, I used my wishblade to cut out the letters and then I stickled them. They show up bluer than they really are, I think they're just reflecting the blue from the flash and the background.

Again, I used a the angel from Coronado Island, as well as a flourish from Inkadinkado. I'm kind of jealous that my friend gets this...I can't make another one like it. I have no idea where I got the paper and I don't know if I can get the same rub on transfers - so this is a one of a kind :)

A close up of the angel, I'm happy with how she turned out...and it started with a great stamp.

All three items together.

Thanks for stopping by!

Inspire & Imagine - Notebook

I used another of my Coronado Island Designs and Stamps to create the front for this notebook I made. I used my bind it all (love that little gadget!) I included a book mark as well. Again, this is for a friend of mine. I used my wishblade to cut out the letters and then I stickled them :D

I used my prismacolor pencils and stickles for the free falling angel, and rubons by Holy Cow, off to the side. I love this stamp....

And, because of a rub ontransfer situation, I decided to decorate the back of the notebook as well. Also used a flourish from Inkadinkado.

Inspire & Imagine - Card

Remember the stamps I couldn't find the foam to mount? Well, thanks to Mary of Serendipity Stamps, I've got foam, and all my newly aquired stamps are mounted and ready to go! Here's a card I made with one of the mermaids I got. The stamp is from Coronado Island Desingns and Stamps, they have a whole collection of mermaids and I need nearly every single one of them! This card is for a friend, and there's some other things for her too, I hope she likes it :) I used my wishblade to cut out the words and then stickled them :) I used my prismacolor pencils for her, and I'm very excited with how it turned out! I love how the stickles enhanced it.

Thinking of You Hummingbird Card

I was cleaning off my camera and realized some work I did a couple weeks ago was still there - oops! I liked how it turned out, so I thought I'd share it here. I made a couple of these. I'm now a Sunday School teacher, and I've got teenagers, and I like them! A couple of them have brothers who are away from home as missionaries, so I thought it would be nice for the class to sign and send a card to them once a month. This was our first card.

This Weekend

I didn't do any writing this weekend, but I did finish a book. I think I was the very first one to read this copy from the library :D I also did a few projects using my new stamps :) I got to get my fingers inky, play with my prismacolor pencils, use modge podge, stickles, rub-ons, paint, and my wishblade. I'll have pictures tomorrow when everything's all dry. I'm tickled with how everything turned out :D It felt good to play with paper.

Yay Home Again Pet Locators!

We called Sirius in this afternoon so we could head to church...he wasn't there. As my kids would say, "not cool!" I hollered for him, we checked a few places around the house, no Sirius. I changed my shoes ready to go dog hunting (as much as I love those 4 inch heels, they don't work well for dog hunting) and the phone rings. I ran for it, but when I answered, no one was there! I did get there in time to see that it was Home Again calling me so I ran to the car, where my cell phone was waiting and ringing. Someone found Sirius - whew! He was on the next street over, jus a few back yards down. Even though he was a naughty dog for jumping the fence (we think that's what he did anyway) they said he was a good dog. Needless to say, I was very relieved, as were the four kidoes in my car. We were able to get him home and still make it to church on time. I am now in love with the microchips and Home Again....

Mmmmm....

Paul and I made home made pretzels tonight, and just got done tasting - yum! The kids will have a surprise in for their lunches tomorrow, they each get half of one (they're pretty big) :) I love doing stuff like that with my him :D

Yay!

I got the cling cushion I needed for my stamps! Mary, from Serendipity Stamps hooked me up. She's about 30 minutes from me, and today I got to visit her. She walked me through how they make the stamps - I loved it! It was so great to see how it all comes together. I got to visit with her for a few minutes and wow! What a great lady! And the drive to see her was wonderful, she's kind of out in the country and it was the perfect day for it. Thank you Mary, it was a pleasure to meet you! (I'm trying to talk Paul into helping me with the scroll saw)

Movies

Tonight we went to see "I Love You Beth Cooper," for our date night. It's billed as a teen flick and it is certainly that ;) However, during the day, while my house was nice and quiet I watched a movie called, "Lost in Austen." For you Pride and Predjudice fans (you know who you are) check this one out. A woman from our time gets stuck in the book, and nothing goes as it's supposed to. For you die hard purists out there...maybe this isn't the one for you. ;)

Oh how frustrating...

I got some really cool stamps that I have been drooling over for some time. I knew when I purchased unmounted the only thing I was getting was the rubber. No wood, no cushion. I was okay with that, because a few years back, I'd purchased some when I bought some other unmounted stamps. Well now, I'm ready to stamp, have some great ideas in mind, the creativity is flowing...and I can't find the cushion I already have. I don't think the chain stores even carry the cushion, so I can't even go out and buy any. :(

Today's Work

So far, I've only managed to get five pages done today, but I did get a late start today. But I think I like it.

Compulsion, by Jennifer Chase

I wanted to leave this review on Amazon, but apparently you have to buy something before you can, so I'm leaving my review here (I know, not as helpful) and it's on goodreads.com as well. 4 stars Where to start? I liked the book, however, I'm not a fan of present tense, it just throws me for some reason, I don't know why. That's not a deficiency of the book, just a personal preference of mine :)That preference aside, it was a good story. There were twists and turns in the plot. Some I saw coming, others I didn't. There were times I was confident in what I thought would happen, only to doubt myself a few pages later. I love to try to figure out who did it, and how an author's going to wrap things up, and when the author surprises me, that's a good thing. For those of you who are fans of true crime shows, I think you'll like this book, I could almost hear the man with the deep voice reading the book, as if it was the narration for one of those shows. I like Emily, alot. It was good to see her motivations, and to see her strength of will and her character, I wish Emily Stone really existed, we could use more people like her.

Did Some More

Yesterday I got 10.5 pages done :D I did most of it during the day while the kids were at school, but did the last 2.5 at midnight. Really wanted to hit 10 pages :) I'm shooting for another 10 pages today, but, we'll see. I just got some new stamps that I'm itching to play with :D

Time to Get to Work

Okay, kids are where they're supposed to be, chores are done, dog seems happily distracted, it's time to write, and it's only 10:43 :D

Today's writing

Today was the first day of school, so I had a quiet house. After running errands this morning, I got to the writing part of my day. I think it's going to take some time to get into a groove and make my mind work instead of wander around a bit, hopefully it won't take too long (fingers crossed!). I managed to get five pages done today and I've been struggling. This part is the hard part for me. Integrating welsh myth with my imagination and coming up with a world that makes a little bit of sense to other people, and doing it in such a way that my character is accepting of it. This is what I've been putting off. I can say, that I wrote until I had a headache, my brain needs a little break, it seems I over worked it a bit asking it to be creative today. I'm in the middle of a scene and now I have more time to visualize it and can pick up tomorrow where I left off today. I have less than an hour before I leave to pick up kids from school, and then the chaos begins!

Research Update

Taffy has a family history now, a very loose one, but it's there. Now I'm just working up her first lesson, and "the talk", no, not that talk, but the one that introduces her to Otherworld.

Goals and Work

All of you probably know I'm a book worm, I think I might be addicted, but shhh, don't tell anyone, because I don't think I want to stop! I enjoy my addiction too much :) Some of you may even know that I got bitten by the writing bug last year. My mom might be remembering that that bug bit me much earlier than that! I guess I went into remission, but it's back now. Unfortunately, with one little one still at home, I couldn't do much. I would get idea after idea. Some of them I've writen down and gotten story starts for them so I didn't loose the feel for the idea, but mostly to get the characters to leave me alone. Well, the beginning of school is coming up, and all four will be going this year, I will actually have some quiet during the day (even if I have to put the pup in his kennel!) so I'm going to go for it. Write a story, that's my goal, and I've already learned that it's work! Luckily, I have a pretty good cheering section. I told my kids I'd mention their names on my dedication page if they did their parts around the house so I didn't have to spend time doing their things. I got some work out of them tonight :) I also have time now, so that's a plus. I have writer friends backing me up. Kathy meets me for dinner or dessert nearly every Tuesday, and we talk about our characters, what they're doing, if they're annoying us or giving us a hard time. We talk about the story progression, any epiphanies we've had for the direction we're going, or just bounce ideas off each other. Then I have friends I've never met in "real life" only on line, both wonderful authors, willing to share their ideas and experiences with me. John Walker and Jennifer Chase, thank you for helping build my confidence so I can start this journey. I linked their names to their sites or blogs, check them out :) So, here's my goal: Complete the story I'm working on by the end of the year. I've managed to work my way to 70 pages since January. I hope to be much more efficient in the next four months! I start writing on Tuesday, the kids' first day back at school. I'm excited, because tonight I started getting some research done for the next phase of the story. The story: It's about a girl named Taffy, and a vamp named Rafe. If you know me, you know there had to be a vamp! You can also expect some pixie and dragon stuff to pop up too. Again, if you know me, that was probably a given. So there, it's out, all 12 of my blog friends know so I have to do it, right? So, wish me luck!! ps - I think all those links work right, if not, it's my fault, not theirs!

Saying Goodbye...It's time to go home

I have been truly blessed to have such wonderful in-laws. As much as I look forward to sleeping in my own bed, I'm always sad to leave. I remember my mom would cry everytime we left either of my grandparent's driveways, and now I understand why. Life is uncertain, and you pray you get to see them again. We only make it back there every other year. The summer we don't, we're visiting my side of the family. So, we'll be back there again in 2011. Here's the girls, three generations of us :) And three generations of the guys. Paul and his parents

Time for silliness!

And the whole crew together

Fun on the Way Home, pt 4 DC Temple Visitor's Center

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...oh wait, wrong story! Okay, a long time ago, 15 years actually, Paul and I were married here. Not the visitor's center, but the temple. Our first date was to see the lights and hear the music the community provided to celebrate Christmas. There's a lot of ground here, and a lot of places to hang lights - it's beautiful. Our second Christmas together we were asked to play Mary & Joseph in the live Nativity - well, it was semi-live, we were live, everything else wasn't, but that's beside the point, it was truely an honor to be asked to participate in something like that, and really, it was an answer to a prayer I didn't know I prayed. That was one of the best, if leanest, Christmases. Each time we go back for a visit, we try to stop there. I try to get pics of us and the kids in some of the places we posed for our wedding pictures. I add these pictures to the back of my wedding album, after all, our wedding was the beginning of our family, and it's been fun to see how it's grown. The reflection pool is one of my favorite places to take pictures. This is inside the Visitor's Center. One of the rooms displayed pictures on loan from Nasa of our universe and many others. It's amazing and a little overwhelming how much is actually out there. We didn't get any pictures of that though.

My son is very close to catching me in height! It's not that it's a hard thing to do, I'm not that tall, but I guess it's pretty fun for him...and Paul. One day Paul looked at us and cooed, "oh, that's so cute! My boy's almost as tall as my wife!" Let's just say, the boys were amused ;)

Here we all are, on a very hot July day. We're almost done, and then we're heading back to the car, where it's cooler!

Fun on the Way Home, pt 3 Alta Station

We're trying to remember where we saw this. Probably West Virginia, but it could have been Kentucky. Anyway, we stopped for a quick look because, really, how often do I pass somewhere that has my name? This appears to be the extent of it. There were no signs pointing to Alta, so we took the pic and got back on the highway.

Fun on the Way Home, pt 2 Valley View Ferry

We thought this would be fun to do, after all, it was free. What would we loose, besides time, if it was no fun? Well, we lost a lot of time for various reasons, but it was still fun. We didn't have the easiest time finding the place. We read about it in a little book about things to do and see in Kentucky, but the directions were minimal. We asked in town and got some very simple sounding directions - even I wouldn't have to write them down. Go down this road until you get to Clay Dr., turn right (that's the only direction you can turn), when that road ends, turn right again, when that road ends, turn right, when that road ends, you're at the ferry. How easy is that? Unfortunately the second road to end didn't technically stop, it apparently (we found out on our way back) may have just changed names. Anyway, we followed the directions. We kept going higher and higher into the back hills of Kentucky. The road got smaller and smaller, the trees taller and taller. Nature was closing in on us. Finally we started to go down hill, where we figured we'd find a ferry, then back up hill. The road did finally end, but not at a ferry, instead, we were in someone's yard, and three barking land protecting dogs came out to meet us. All the back hills Kentucky stereotypes I'd learned in Maryland came flashing through my mind. I didn't want to meet whoever was in the house. Unfortunately, one of the barky dogs was barking at our tail pipe, so we had four kids in the back panicked and yelling for Paul not to back up...unfortunately, that was the way out. So...dogs needed a distraction. I opened a pack of crackers and tossed one out. Two of the dogs (neither of them the one at our tail pipe) ran after the cracker. I tossed another one in their direction so they wouldn't fight. Paul slowly and carefully backed up and we were able to get out of there. The dogs didn't chase us too far once we got away. On the way back down, we tried the two rights that could have been what we were looking for. We finally found the right road, and sure enough there was a ferry at the end of it. Unfortunately, we'd seen signs about the ferry. Not arrows or directions that would have been helpful, just signs that said ferry closed. We figured we'd go take pictures of it since that was the only thing we were out here for anyway. So we did. It was a fun, and beautiful adventure, even if we didn't get a trip across the kentucky river.

The ferry is pulled across by over head cables that are anchored on each side. We don't know for sure why it was closed but we figured the river must be moving faster than normal due to the rain they got the night before.

Christopher got out with me and went around the gate for pictures. He was using the video feature on our other camera. Everyone else was waiting in the van for us.

Pictures and Fun on our Drive Back, Pt. 1

We found this place in Kentucky and stopped for a day of family fun! They had a number of things to do from their main attaction - go carts, but also miniature golf, bumper boats, a water shoot out at a castle, and two huge rooms full of arcade games. We spent about three hours there :) The little kids had to ride with us, the two older ones got to drive themselves. Alta's old enough to drive herself, but she didn't want to, that was fine with me. The rules for having a child ride with you are simple, you had to be old enough - got it, not a problem there. Then you had to be tall enough...um...I only made it by an INCH! As it was, the first car I was in, I needed a booster seat so I could reach everything...fun times. Here is the Alta kart Emma had a blast I think. On our second ride around the track I rode near her. This kid (older than her I'm pretty sure) passed me (no big deal), passed her (again, no big deal) and then proceeded to block the road, he wouldn't let anyone else pass! Em tried and he'd block her. She was really getting a feel for the kart and the track. She figured out where passing would be easiest, and when she got a chance, she muscled her way past him. I was so excited for her. I know it's a strange thing to be excited about, but she could have just gotten upset, but she didn't. She took some time, thought things through, and successfully made her move! Then she didn't let him pass her. She's so cool... I managed to get all of them in one shot, but it was close!

Here's the two oldest. I'd love to do it again!

Finally Home!

Okay, we got home Saturday late afternoon, then exhausted ourselves by trying to put everything back in order, figure out what to eat, throw kids in the shower, and generally make sure everything was ready for Sunday so we could get up early and meet up with my sister and her family 40 minutes away, they had a special day at church so we wanted to be there with them. That's exactly the reason we came home Saturday instead of Sunday. It was a great day :) We took a leisurly trip home, and stopped and played along the way, so there will be pictures coming. First, though, I need to get the kids' registrations filled out for school, drop them off (there's four now, but luckily three of them are in one school!) and go to the store for some much needed food supplies. Oh, and how could I forget the library? I haven't been in so long, I think I'm having withdrawls! I've got stuff to return and something waiting for me - a great welcome home from them ;) Sirius has been super happy to have us home. We greeted him outside, we figured he would have trouble containing his excitement...we were right! It's good to be home, and soon we'll be back into a routine...