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...

No Accident

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/bfg_jellyfish.aspx?menuitem=14426 The jelly fish we saw yesterday wasn't there by accident. Apparently there's three species of jellies that live there. There's a ton of other critters that live there too. Cool...at least I think so :)