Writing Update

I had another good day, even with the kids home with *another* snowday. I added 4583 new words today. Was going to go for 5k, but sleep wins out for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Conversation between my boys

Christopher's singing Michael Jackson songs while they hang Carter's clothes so they can be put away. "I don't know how Michael Jackson died," I hear my little guy say, his voice was sad. "His doctor killed him," Christopher said matter of factly. "Why?" "Overdose." That was the extent of their conversation about MJ's death, now Christopher's singing away again and hanging of the clothes has commenced.

Yesterday's Writing Update

I had a total of 5522 new words when I finished writing yesterday, 13 or 14 new pages I think. I don't know that I've ever had a day that big...but I'm going to try again today! Especially now that I know the basement is a really great escape for it when the kids are home. I'd like to have this draft finished in March, and then jump back to playing with Claimed and get that polished. Then maybe I'll do research for a different series, then come back to polishing up Chased. You can catch a few random lines from Chased on twitter. Okay, now to get the kids to school, get myself ready, then onto writing :) Have a great day, thanks for stopping by!

Writing Update

I've added over 2k words so far, and I think I might sneak up stairs (or down) to add some more. It's just so hard to hear the voices in my head when Kim Possible is on in the background. I'm not the type of writer who can have back ground music, so background kids or tv is out of the question. Although, I can get by with chanting monks. My favorite background noise, though, it white noise, like the washer and dryer going. Writing has actually encouraged some laundry days here. Thanks for stopping by!

Update on Reading From Yesterday

It picked up shortly after pg 105 and was really hard to put down last night. I was up until almost 2am reading this morning... Have a great day!

A Card

This is another image from

Coronado Island designs

I've read a few books now dealing with angels which was probably the biggest reason I got this one.

Of course, I used my prismacolor pencils and stickles.

It's for someone who just lost a friend to cancer, I'm pretty sure she likes angels too.

Thanks for stopping by.

While I'm waiting

I had to uninstal AVG and now I'm reinstalling it, and while I wait I figured I'd read or upload a pic. But then it occurred to me, that I'm having a hard time getting through the beginning of this book I'm trying to read. It's the latest from the Ghostwalker series by Christine Feehan. I like her, I've read all of her Dark series books as well as her Ghostwalker and Leopard people books. I have a complaint about this one though. I know. I'm an aspiring writer, she's a very established one, who am I to criticize? Anyway, here's my one complaint so far; I'm on page 105, and they're still in the same location they were in on page one. They characters have gotten reaquainted, a couple bad guys have been taken out, (that was towards the beginning) and they've talked, and had a quick flash back, and done lots and lots of internal dialoguing. I need them to move on. I don't know if something about the writing has changed or if it's me, but the last book in the Dark series felt off too, like it hadn't been polished as much as the other ones. I don't know. These are just my musings. I'm going to jump back in and read and hope they get out of the chick's warehouse soon.

Working Today

but not on writing :) I have a project to do for a friend of mine. It's a memorial framed layout for her husband's birthday gift. It's of his brother, so that's on the agenda for today. I also have a card to post and then send out. All of that will be after I get the kids to school (one down, three to go) and then get myself cleaned up :) Hopefully I can get back to writing tomorrow. Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by.

Carter's Valentine Mailbox - Lightning McQueen

A few years back I made the three older kids each a mailbox to use for the Valentine party at school. Carter wasn't in school yet, so I didn't worry about it. The kids informed me last week that it was time he had one as well, so I spent some time at the beginning of the week working on his. He's always loved cars, and when the Disney movie Cars came out he was in heaven. That was quite a few years back and he still loves the movie and characters. It wasn't a surprise when he requested a Lightning McQueen mailbox. It was a lot of fun to do, and it actually turned out better than I thought it would. I love it when that happens. It's not perfect, and I spent way too much time on it. It's for a kindergartner, I hope it lasts longer than it took to make it! This is the back (I always forget the pics load backwards or something and I'm in too much of a hurry to redo them. Sorry.) You can see the wheels, the bolt, and his number from this angle too. All of the elements that went into making this were flat when I started. Mod podge is a wonderful thing for projects like this. I created the shape with chipboard, then covered with paper, and embellished away. Obviously, this is the front. I was pretty happy with the way his eyeballs turned out :) Love that white paint pen! I colored the lightning and the bolt with my prismas, the numbers got a little more color treatment with a red marker so they stood out a little more. I used my wishblade to design and cut out his features and decorations.

Carter with his new mailbox. He gets to use it today.

My little goofball. Gotta love'em.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hangin' at the Courtyard and Writing...in the Chicago Area

Most of you probably know, but my brother and sister joined the Navy back to back. Their boot camp experiences overlapped by nine days. My sister's graduation was in December and my baby brother's graduation was this morning. There were too many of us here today, so I'm waiting in my room at the hotel for them to finish up and give us a call. Depending on the amount of time I have today, I might be able to get a little bit of writing in. I added about a 1k words last night I think. Anyway, here's a pic of where I'm working today. I've got a great view of the snow covered courtyard! I wish one of them could have graduated in mild weather so I could do more than look at the courtyard though! But still, it's nice and relaxing to look out over it. I also overload myself with books when I travel. I never know what I'll be in the mood to read, or how much time I'll have so I'm overly prepared. This time I brought the book Finding the Lost, by Shannon K. Butcher with me. I've been waiting about a month on the library waiting list, and I only have 100 pages or so left. Here's the book with the courtyard behind it. And another view, don't you love the cover? I do! I especially love this book because the main character's name is Paul :) Almost feels like I brought my husband along!

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Ready for Some Great News?

Not surprisingly, most of our focus the last few days has been Emma. She continues to do splendidly and is back at school today. However, this post is not really about her. Even when life is hectic, it doesn't stop, things keep happening, good and bad keep on coming. We got a letter Friday from the school district informing us that Alta (8) has been accepted into our district's gifted program. This is the same program the older two are in, and she's very excited to be able to join them. We're excited for her, she might even be able to begin this year instead of waiting for next year, if so, she will be our first one involved at a second grade level, which she is also very excited about. Just thought I'd share the exciting news, thanks for stopping by!

Hey Kimmy!

Welcome aboard! it was great to see your picture this morning! Hope you guys are doing well!

Em Update

She's still doing really well. They told us that short term memory, agitation, and sleepiness may be lingering factors we have to deal with until she's healed, and that can take a couple of weeks to a couple of months. Her head bothered her Thursday after we got home, but she hasn't complained about it since then. I haven't seen any memory issues, or at least not glaring ones, and no agitation. She has said she's tired, but it's not overwhelmingly so - nothing alarming. Actually, not noticable, I only know because she told me. She goes back to school tomorrow. She's happy about that! We're so relieved and pleased with how well she's recovering. Thank you to all those who've been thinking of us, praying for us, and asking about us. We really appreciate it!

Home With Our Girl Now

Been home for a couple hours, got to nap for an hour, and now we're getting ready to go to a school program for our other daughter. Em's doing very well. She's got Friday and the weekend to take it easy and then heads back to school with only a few limitations. Glad this is over. It will be good to sleep in my bed tonight instead of next to her worrying at every movement.

ER Update

It's 5:19 am and she's awake. She's acting like herself, and the nurses are trying to get a movie to play for her. She wants to watch Hoodwinked. We've been talking about what she remembers and I've been feeling in the blanks. The last moments she remembers are before the ambulance arrived. But she's having some fuzzy memories of last night. Breaks my heart to hear her say she thought she was going to die. I told her I was scared too, but she was really brave. She's hungry, but can't have anything to eat or drink yet, and her head hurts, which they've given her medicine for. She's slowly noticing things like tubes, IV's, wires, and a hospital gown. She's very much herself, and relief seems like such a puny word for what I feel, but given the amount of sleep I'm running on, it's the best I can do. Thanks for all your prayers, we appreciate them very much.

ER Visit - Scared

I'm sitting at the parent computer here in Children's Mercy Hospital. It's 1:01 am. Our 10 year old fell tonight while we were at a laser tag birthday party and hit her head on the concrete floor. We didn't know about it until we got home. I have no problem admitting I was scared when she couldn't answer simple questions, when she complained that her eyes weren't working right, or when she was pale and sick to her stomach, but it went beyond merely scared when we asked her to get in the car and she walked into the front door. She stood there, coat askew. When I asked if she was okay she said, "Huh," in a loud voice. I called her name and she replied, "What?" and murmured that she couldn't see. My little one couldn't see, couldn't hear. I was beyond scared. We got her into the car, which was not easy considering her condition, and drove around the corner to our friends' house. These are friends we know from church, and Paul and Tim gave Emma a blessing of healing. Our plan to stop there worked out well for us, because she had gone down hill so fast I no longer felt comfortable taking her to the hospital ourselves. We borrowed our friends' phone and called 911. She was completely disoriented, sick, confused, and unsteady; nothing we would have noticed or been able to do anything about in the car. She was wheeled from the ambulance, through the ER doors of Children's Mercy, and into an exam room. She was then hooked up to machines, and her vitals taken. Once they had all the info they needed she was immediately taken for a ct, which was read quickly. She's been admitted for overnight observation. She's sleeping in her room now, this is the longest she's gone without getting sick. Her ct scan is clear, there was no bleeding in the brain which is what they were most concerned about. Diagnosis is concussion. She should go home sometime tomorrow. I cannot leave this post without expressing my deepest gratitude to the staff here that has taken such good care of us. To the EMT's who came when I was terrified and took my little girl to the hospital. They've all done such a fantastic job at not only taking care of her, but of calming me so I can be more useful to her. But most of all, my most sincere gratitude and thanks goes to God, for hearing and answering my prayers. For bringing me peace. For watching over my little girl.

More Mermaid Cards

As you may know, I've been sending mermaid cards to my brother at boot camp. He's in the Navy, and in my round about way, I think mermaid cards are perfect for sailors. Can you call him a sailor if he's going to be working on a sub? Dunno. Anyway, I used my prismacolor pencils on all of them, as well as stickles for their bling. I used my wishblade to cut out frames and anchors and words. The mermaids are from Coronado Island Designs and the ship's wheel (I don't know what they're called) is from there as well. The anchor is from Jen Adkins, a designer at paperthreads.com. I think that's all.

Thanks for stopping by!