Froot Loop Morning

I'm munching on Froot Loops. I need the sugar. Hubby had to wake up at 5am for an early work meeting, which meant I woke up at 5am. And it doesn't help that I tossed and turned all night, AGAIN.

I handle stress in different ways: headaches, the urge to eat the entire house, and insomnia. Why can't I be like those women who have NO appetite when they're stressed, and they drop weight drastically? It doesn't seem quite fair. Nope. Not me. I blow up like the Goodyear Blimp. Just tie a string to my toe and float me over the football stadium...I've been eating a LOT of carrots lately.

I got most of the basement furniture moved back. Hubby hurt his back hanging sheet rock at his brother's house--so I get to move the furniture back. It's not hard, just tedious. But I folded and re-did the guest room. When I'm stressed, I shop. I went to Target and got a bunch of waverly stuff and re-did the bed and the windows and bought some furniture at Hobby Lobby. I have to say it's looking pretty good. I guess it's because I'm a Taurus. I love decorating and doing things to my house. I'm Queen of the Candlesticks--according to my Hubby.

I am a little stressed. The kids wanted to do SO many sports this summer but we had to narrow it down. So now it's just swimming lessons, soccer, basketball, gymnastics, baseball, and t-ball. --Wait a minute, that doesn't seem very "narrowed down" when I list them like that. Oh well, the kids will stay active, and I'll live in my car. Such is my life during the summer.

Time to run. The kids built "forts" last night and that means they took every sheet and blanket in the house and made a rabbit-warrenish monstrosity that stretched all along the upstairs hallway and into Thing Two's room ( he has the "cool" room apparently for forts--the bunk beds) and now I get to round them all up.

I think I need more Froot Loops.

I'm Baaaaaa-aaaaaack!!!

We took off early Friday morning and drove through the Rockies to Utah, and can I say it was breathtakingly gorgeous? Those mountains are amazing. The drive was about six hours, and the kids watched a movie in back with their wireless headphones while Hubby and I listened to Angels and Demons on cd--our favorite Dan Brown.

We also saw Da Vinci Code in Utah, and I have to admit I liked it. I was against Tom Hanks for Robert Langdon, but he did the role well. My favorite was Paul Bettany as Silas--an underrated actor for sure. I just love him! Although every role he takes he seems to always be showing us all his bare bum. Not exactly getting that one.

So, this is how Hubby's family works: We get to his brother's house, (a modest one-level starter home with three bedrooms) and find out that his parents are on their way, and they have invited his sister to come as well (this is news to his brother and his wife) and then for fun, they invite his OTHER brother and his family to come as well.

So, seventeen people were sharing two bathrooms and three bedrooms for three days--with ample use of blow-up mattresses and lots of annoyed waiting ("she's STILL in the bathroom doing her hair? Let's kill her!") yet surprisingly we all got along on the surface. And we had a few tender moments when we put flowers on the graves of the Grandpas and Grandmas who have passed on. It was really neat.

All the cousins got to see each other, and despite the crowded conditions (it was rainy and freezing one day and I have to admit I got claustrophobia/cabin fever) it was fun. Everyone seemed to have an opinion on what we should do about the Curve Ball and I had to stifle the urge to tell them to mind their own business, but in Hubby's family--it IS their business.

WHEW. So we're home now, and I have a gajillion loads of laundry to do and I'm tired, but it was a good thing we got away for a long weekend. Now it's back to normal, and I'm ready for some normalcy. And having three kids as opposed to nine is JUST right. :-)

Absolutely Appalling...

The word is, today, that Absolute Write, a valuable web source and community for writers, is gone. The reason? Because they posted this list:

Last month, Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware posted WB’s list of the 20 Worst (literary) Agents:
Below is a list of the 20 agents about which Writer Beware has received the greatest number of advisories/complaints during the past several years.
None of these agents has a significant track record of sales to commercial (advance-paying) publishers, and most have virtually no documented and verified sales at all (many sales claimed by these agents turn out to be vanity publishers). All charge clients before a sale is made, whether directly, by charging fees such as reading or administrative fees, or indirectly, for “editing services.”
Writer Beware suggests that writers searching for agents avoid questionable agents, and instead query agents who have actual track records of sales to commercial publishing houses.

THE LIST:

-The Abacus Group Literary Agency
-Allred and Allred Literary Agents (refers clients to “book doctor” Victor West of Pacific Literary Services)
-Capital Literary Agency (formerly American Literary Agents of Washington, Inc.)
-Barbara Bauer Literary Agency*
-Benedict & Associates (also d/b/a B.A. Literary Agency)
-Sherwood Broome, Inc.* Desert Rose Literary Agency
-Arthur Fleming Associates
-Finesse Literary Agency (Karen Carr)
-Brock Gannon Literary Agency
-Harris Literary Agency
-The Literary Agency Group, which includes the following:
-Children’s Literary AgencyChristian Literary AgencyNew York Literary AgencyPoets Literary AgencyThe Screenplay AgencyStylus Literary Agency (formerly ST Literary Agency)Writers Literary & Publishing Services Company (the editing arm of the above-mentioned agencies)
-Martin-McLean Literary Associates
-Mocknick Productions Literary Agency, Inc.
-B.K. Nelson, Inc.
-The Robins Agency (Cris Robins)
-Michele Rooney Literary Agency (also d/b/a Creative Literary Agency and Simply Nonfiction) -Southeast Literary Agency
-Mark Sullivan Associates
-West Coast Literary Associates (also d/b/a California Literary Services)

Be ESPECIALLY wary of the Barbara Bauer Literary Agency.

Road Trip!

This will be my last post until Tuesday--we're jumping in the car and heading to Utah for the Holiday. We're staying with Hubby's brother and his family, and Hubby's parents are driving down too (this is a new devlopment but oh well) and now I'm sure we'll all be sleeping on the floor. Lovely.

OK, American Idol Mini-rant: Taylor Hicks? Puhleeze. He's about as much of a "pop star" as my friend's Auntie Gertie. Seriously. McPhee outclassed him on everything--just because the ladies who loved his prematurely gray hair voted for him in droves doesn't make him a star. This is just a popularity contest, plain and simple. It's not about talent anymore. McPhee should have won. Rant over.

I have a ton to do today to get ready for the trip--and can I just say that the basement carpet ROCKS?? Of course props go to our interior designer, Jody, because I never knew such cool carpet existed, and if it had been left up to me, we might have had scary carpet.
Jody has been with us since the beginning, when we gutted the house. She picked the colors, the carpets, the hardwoods, the granite...while I was stuck back in Wisconsin trying to sell our house. I was against hiring a designer. But looking at the finished product, I'm so glad Hubby did. Well worth the money.

I discovered a used and rare book store! Halfway to Downtown Denver, on Broadway, there is this tiny (and I meen TEENY) hole-in-the-wall book store, with a handwritten sign in the window, and you walk inside and it's like something out of Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter, because it's WAY bigger inside than the building looks outside, and the books are crammed in bookshelves way over my head. And you can barely squeeze between the aisles, they're only a couple of feet wide. In fact, it reminds me of Ollivander's wand shop from the HP movies, only it's books instead of wands. And there's this little old man who runs it by himself, and he confessed to me he has an entire semi-trailer of books he doesn't know what to do with.
And these aren't just junk books. There are lots of old books--leatherbound books, rare books, and I about passed out when I browsed the History section. (he has several, it's sort of unorganized.)
I bought twelve books (we're talking big, glossy and nice ones!) and I only paid $53 for the lot, and he even threw in one on Scottish Ghost Stories for free. What a dear.
I can't wait to go back. There is something neat about that place. :-)

Well, time to get busy. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

Lara

Bad Dweems

Thing Three (who occasionally struggles with saying "R" and "L") came in last night and told me he'd had a "bad dweem," and that his tummy hurt.

I of course was having my own weird dream, that we had this GINORMOUS owl living in my closet, and it would come out at night and try to eat our noses while we slept.

I should have passed on the shrimp last night...

I am VERY tired. And I've been getting stress headaches. I have been getting them for years, but I think the altitude here in Denver is affecting me or something. I've been getting them a few times a week. Hubby is worried, but I keep telling him that they are never in the same place. If I consistently had a headache in the same place, THEN I would worry.

More babysitting of the carpet guys today. And I have to turn in the truck to have some scratches buffed out (we discovered them after we bought it) and they'll probably give me a loaner car that is a bright jellybean green Focus or something. Which is fine, but try and stuff three kids with backpacks and groceries and hockey equipment in it, and you're sunk.

Hubby and I spent all night on the computer because of the Curve Ball again. Ugh. If it's not one thing its another. I wish there was some FINALITY already!!

At least we're going somewhere for the holiday weekend. That will help.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I'm babysitting Carpet guys today. Fun. I was supposed to take Thing Three to the park, but I'm not leaving the house.
We're obliterating the last holdout from our Gutting Of The House--the lovely beige carpet in the basement that looks suspiciously pink under the Reveal lights. Hubby had a field day with that one. It didn't help that we had a pink plaid sofa and matching chairs--in mint condition because I had a "pink" sitting room in Texas six years ago when pink furniture was cool--and now that it's decidedly NOT cool, I have covered it over with "manly" furniture covers. But the carpet still looked pink.
So we're getting it recarpeted in the carpet we put throughout the house. It will look nice.
And Hubby can stop complaining about the pink carpet. (Which I still think in certain lights looks beige.)

I'm trying to eat healthier. Which means I've chewed up about six packs of sugarless gum in the last few hours. One of my friends was drinking something the other day that looked suspiciously like liquid Poo, and I asked her what it was after she gave me a taste and it was actually quite good. It's the Naked Apple Smoothie, and it has Apples, bananas, mango, broccoli, spinach, garlic, wheat grass, etc. in it. But you hardly taste the vegetable part. Supposedly it gives you energy. I sure need that. I wish I could siphon off some of my five-year old's. He has seemingly boundless energy, about EVERYTHING. Ah, to be a kid again.

I got 1500 words out last night on my latest novel idea. I couldn't sleep again so I went downstairs and typed. Hubby didn't even know I was awake, because I think he was so tired from the night before. Of course, now I'm DOUBLY tired, but a diet Cherry Coke fixed that right up.

But I hope I can sleep tonight.

Monday Monday...

I've got that song in my head. A good thing too, because I'm so exhausted I can't do much else! The Curve Ball that has been thrown into my life has officially become a Corkscrew with a big bunch of spit on it, I'm afraid. I tossed and turned all night (as did Hubby) and for some reason my usually comfy pillow afforded me little comfort.

Okay, I've been reading too much Thackeray. Got to talk like I'm in the 21st century! I'm reading Vanity Fair, and it's too much fun.

We're driving to Utah this weekend for a "mini break" and I'm excited. It will be nice to see some family. Especially when they have cute chubby babies on hand so I can get my baby fix. I'm starting to think about babies a lot, but who knows. I love babies. It's just when they turn eight years old I'm done with them. (KIDDING!!!)

Saturday was tiring, but nice. We had swimming lessons then we did the yard (well, Hubby did the yard and I observed) and then we planted more flowers. Then we had Thing Two's birthday party at Brunswick Zone (sensory overload for kids, let me tell you) and after that we saw Over the Hedge, which was very cute. But I think the Bear was a little too menacing. I didn't like him at all. I think young children will find him a bit much.

I think by the end of this week the Curve Ball will have been addressed fully, and we'll know what is going on. Life is funny. That's all I can say about that. More when I can.

Now it's off to the grocery store while I have all three Things in school! It's scary how even grocery shopping is therapeutic for me.

I Love Spring!!

This is my favorite spot on the back porch. I can sit and write on my Alphasmart and watch the kids. These little guys have really exploded lately.

My view from the chair. It's so peaceful here. It's funny, these homes are a good size and we all have tiny yards. But at least the kids can play. Look close---you can see the Bunny Wallows in the lawn! (It needs to be mowed or you would REALLY see them!)

Shuffling

Yes, I'm shuffling around this morning people, because Thing Three woke up sobbing not once, not twice, but THREE lovely times last night. Once at midnight, then at 2am, then at 4:30 am. Of course he can't remember why he was so upset thrice last night. It's all a mystery.

Hence I'm shuffling. I'm dog tired and not looking forward to the onslaught of things to do today. I bring it on myself, of course. I'm a chronic procrastinator. Thing Two's big birthday party is tomorrow, and have I ordered the cake? No. Have I picked out the contents of the goody bags? No. I was supposed to plant flowers this week. I was supposed to get a babysitter so Hubby and I could catch a Saturday night screening of Da Vinci Code (of which the preliminary results are in, and critics are screaming that Tom Hanks has been miscast--to which I can only shake my head and utter DUH!) I wish Harrison Ford was 15 years younger. He would have been perfect. Seriously.

ANYWAY, I have a lot of last-minute running around to do, courtesy of myself. Bad Lara.
However, I did get two pages typed out on my novel idea late last night. I was surprised at how easy it was to write in a modern setting. I usually write Historical fiction, and my heroines wear corsets. This is completely different, and it's liberating.

My kids are officially on "Rabbit Duty" now. Those pesky things are sure brazen. I can stomp and walk right up to them and they just look at me as if to say "Do you mind? I'm trying to have breakfast, here, lady!" and until I act like I'm going to give them a swift kick they stay put. Then they flee, leaving a little wallow that looks like it was shaved clean with an electric razor, full of lovely rabbit turds. The little imps. They have been wreaking havoc in the backyard way worse than the front, and I always chase them into the neighbor's yard. They prefer our backyard because the neighbors on both sides of us have "outside" dogs. So my back yard has become a literal Bunny Sanctuary.

Where's Wallace and Gromit when you need them?

Have a good weekend, all!

Running

I had a good birthday yesterday. Hubby sent flowers, which brightened everything, and my trip to Barnes & Noble was VERY fruitful. I have revisted a story idea set in Scotland, (Not a romance, more of a comedy) and so I loaded up on Traveler's pictorials, etc. Sure, I'm bouncing around with my writing but at least I'm WRITING, you know?

I'm also putting a shout out to my friend Devon. You're in my thoughts and prayers, sweetie!

We have a tech guy coming over in 1/2 an hour to unhook the sound system/tv/etc in the basement before they put the carpet in this afternoon. There are so many cords and machines I don't trust myself to unhook them. He's awesome. Then the carpet people are here, and I'm getting my 30 flats of dry food storage delivered. FUN. Hubby isn't here to help me with them, and I nearly killed myself yesterday and the day before moving two bedrooms and a workout room's worth of furniture out of the way in the basement. But hey, I got a workout!

Time to round up the kids. Lots to do today!

-----------------UPDATE------------------------
The carpet guy called, and he's behind on another job, so he won't be here until Monday! So I don't have to babysit him! Hooray!
I am going to get lost in my set-in-Scotland story, I think. My two heroes, the Boyd Brothers, look like Eric Bana (in Troy) and Gerard Butler in Timeline. *sigh* I love having an imagination! :-)

On My Birthday...

Today is May 17th, and here are some cool facts about this day. (borrowed from MSNBC):

Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. Board of Education decision, which found that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal, and therefore unconstitutional.

On this date:In 1792, the New York Stock Exchange was founded by brokers meeting under a tree located on what is now Wall Street.

In 1875, the first Kentucky Derby was run; the winner was “Aristides.”

In 1906, 100 years ago, opera singer Zinka Milanov was born in Zagreb, Croatia.

In 1938, Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act, providing for a two-ocean navy.

In 1939, Britain’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Quebec on the first visit to Canada by reigning British sovereigns.

In 1940, the Nazis occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War II.

In 1946, President Truman seized control of the nation’s railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.

In 1973, the Senate opened its hearings into the Watergate scandal.

In 1980, rioting that claimed 18 lives erupted in Miami’s Liberty City after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie.

In 1987, 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq and the U.S. called the attack a mistake.)


On a cool note: I also share birthdays with Bill Paxton, and Enya. Go me!

What is going on?

Today has NOT started out well. Thing One has had nightmares three nights in a row, and she always comes and wakes me up so I can tuck her back in and soothe her. (She's eight.) This morning it was at 2am (1:50 to be exact) and I had trouble falling back asleep. I thought the nightmares had made an exit, but she is having a rough time at school and I think it affects her dreams.

So I'm butt tired, and of course I stubbed my foot and tore off all the toenails on my left foot this morning--do you KNOW HOW MUCH THAT HURTS??? Not to mention that my pedicure now looks like a NUB-icure, and it isn't pretty. Not that I care, but I had JUST grown them out from the last time I stubbed my big-a** foot.

Hubby left for Portland this morning on business, he told me to pretend it's not my birthday and we'll celebrate on Saturday. Not that I feel much like celebrating anyway. The Curve Ball is sucking all my energy out, and I don't feel like doing much. Yesterday was BAD. I need to snap out of it and try and be positive. Even though my mother-in-law sent me a giftcard to a store that we don't have here. I guess I'll have to find something online with it.

I hope today gets better. And yes, I know it is up to me whether or not it does. I think I'll make my bed and take a shower after I drop the kids off at school. And maybe a small trip to Barnes and Noble will cure my ills...
;-)

Today Sucks

Thing One was playing with Playdough on Sunday. She decided to be spontaneous:

You can't see the detail on the "girls" but they have eyes and lips and hair and she spent quite a bit of time on them. Man, I love Playdough!

Today is way too busy for my comfort. Zing the kids off to school, an hour later, playgroup, then lunch, then move all the furniture from the basement rooms and squish it all into the tiled bar area so the carpet guy can come and put in the new carpet (the old carpet looks slightly "pink" under the lights and it's been driving Hubby bonkers) and then I get to pick the kids up from school, run home, get Thing One to change into her Gymnastics leotard, run her to church for her activity, pick her up early and zing her to Gymnastics and then spend an hour refereeing between Things Two and Three as they go bonkers with boredom during her HOUR LONG gymnastics session. I can't leave, and no matter what I bring for them to do/play with, they want to go and do "pretend gymnastics" in the parent viewing area and drive me completely batty.

*WHEW* Then it's home to fix dinner and spend the entire night on the computer because of the STRESSFUL CRAP SITUATION that has curve-balled into my life as of late, and it should be very interesting.

Ergo--today sucks. I just hope I make it. I'm sure I will. I just won't enjoy it much.

Back to Monday

Well, Blogger keeps freezing when I try to upload an image, so this will be an image-less post.

Mother's day was calm and wonderful. Now it's back to the manic pace of Monday--but I have lots to do to keep me busy and occupied. Hubby leaves for his business trip Wednesday (my birthday, sigh) but I'm ok with it. I'll have lots more birthdays and I'm not worried about it.

My church talk went exceptionally well on Sunday (well in the sense that I didn't have MAJOR stage fright!) I was surprisingly comfortable up on the pulpit, I guess it's because I just love everyone in my congregation.
I had 25 minutes to fill as the sole speaker, and it made me feel good when I had more than several people tell me afterwards that it was the "best Mother's day talk they'd ever heard." I tried not to focus solely on Mothers, and focused on "Being a little better, trying a little harder" which really applies to everybody. Besides, I'm not exactly the "best" mother in the whole wide world, and I would feel dumb expounding the virtues of Motherhood and how mothers should be, you know?

I am a little frazzled in the sense that I've had a curve ball thrown at me (more later on that when I can) and I'm dealing with it as best I can, but hopefully the writing won't suffer this week. I am happy to report that I took my Alphasmart with me to the kids back-to-back swimming lessons on Saturday morning and I got half a synopsis typed out on my novel idea. It was a very productive morning!
Thing Two did very well during his private lesson on Thursday. His coach was very patient with him, and she very nicely forced him to do some things he didn't want to do, so he could see that they weren't as freaky as he thought they were. He got excited when he realized that going under the water wasn't that bad, and his confidence grew, each time she'd make him do it. I was very proud of him. He's actually excited for his next lesson. Go Thing Two!

Well, time to skedaddle. I stuck the kids up in their rooms after breakfast, and told them not to come out until they were dressed, their beds were made, and their teeth brushed. Tough love, but otherwise they would be running all over the second floor half-naked and giggling and laughing and having pillow/clothes fights. I know them so well.

Onwards and upwards!

Scary...

My eight-year old daughter came into our room this morning at 5am, sobbing, because she'd had a nightmare. So I tucked her back into bed, and she told me that she and her five-year old brother, Thing Three, were playing in the backyard, only instead of a fence, there was thick woods, and they heard a loud crunching noise, and suddenly a huge wolf barreled out of the trees and attacked Thing Three.
She was extremely upset, but I comforted her, telling her it was a good thing it was only a dream.

I got back in bed, and told Hubby about her dream, and he looked at me and said "Really?" And I said yes. And he said "I just dreamed that Thing Three was kidnapped from the backyard."

Needless to say, I'm not letting Thing Three out of my sight today. The fact that they both separately had bad dreams where Thing Three was in danger is just strange. And a little scary.
Hubby went immediately to Thing Three's room and scooped him out of bed and brought him into bed with us.
Right now he's completely oblivious, eating his Honey Nut Cheerios, but I will admit I'm a little bothered.

It could be nothing.

Brrrrrr!

Wow--it's really cold this morning. Another Postum morning.
I was good and worked out this morning, 20 minutes on the bike, 20 on the elliptical. Of course now I'm a perspiring mess and I need to cool down. So I'm blogging.
The kids are downstairs enjoying Thing Two's birthday presents--his favorite is a Transformer from Grandpa and Grandma--I had to delicately lift if from his sleeping arms last night (the little turkey snuck it into his bed after I turned the lights out and left).

I have a busy day today (as usual) but it's a good busy. And Thing Two starts his private swimming lessons today. He is deathly afraid of going under the water, and we need to knock that out of him. So we figured one-on-one would work better than a class of ten. And the private lessons here are relatively cheap, since we're in the district.

Hubby is going to be traveling next week--and I'm looking forward to it for one reason--unlimited night writing time! Woo hoo! I am going to churn out some WORDS next week. Trust me, it's a long time coming. I go through patches where I get caught up in Life, and then I realize that writing is just as much a part of my life as eating and sleeping. I need to write, to keep myself sane.
When I was young, writing in a journal was so cleansing for me, and it helped me vent out all my emotions. As a result, I was healthier.

Last night Hubby told me he'd never begrudge my writing. He said I could "have it all" as long as I plan for Life to go along with it. It surprised me. I always figured he resented the time I spent writing. Well, resented is a harsh word--I felt he didn't understand my need to write. It is pleasant to know that he does, and he supports me. It's not his "thing" but that's OK. As long as I have his support (Heh heh, until the kitchen fills up with dirty dishes, I bet!) that's a good thing.

Okay, philosophical time is over. Got to make some school lunches! And drink about five liters of water...

Quick Post

I have about ten minutes before I get to pick up Thing Three from school--I just watched a friend's kids for two hours and it was actually too cold to play outside. Weird. There was thick frost on the ground and it's only in the forties and sunny--it literally feels like a Fall day right now. I hope our poor little tree that we've been coaxing to bloom in the backyard won't stop now...I think the frost might have stunted its progression.

So instead of playing outside we made cupcakes and frosted them, played with playdough, built castles out of blocks, raced cars, and played Hide and Seek. It's 11am and I'm ready to go to bed already! ;-)

I am no longer stressed and freaked out, I'm mostly "over" things now. Life just throws curveballs now and then, and we have to deal. So I'm dealing. Whatever the outcome, I will deal.

I am mulling a short story in my head. Funny, I've never really written a short story. Mine are all novel length, or poems so bad I'd get overripe vegetables tossed at me if I ever let them see the light of day. But it might be fun to write. After I write my church talk for this Sunday. I am the sole speaker--20 minutes, and I'm supposed to speak on Motherhood.
Wait a minute--I'm a mother. I want to be sitting in my comfortable church pew and watch someone else sweat the pulpit on Mother's day of all days, thank you very much.

OK, done with the attitude. I'd better get working on it. I have four days...

Happy Birthday, Thing Two!

He's seven years old! How exciting! And now I have to run around like crazy! I'll blog later!

Stressed and Freaked

Couldn't blog this morning because I'm dead tired again.
I woke up at three a.m. this morning (something happened last night that stressed/freaked me out and I couldn't get it out of my head) and I went down and played Bejeweled on the computer for an hour. It didn't help. I was still stressed, still freaked, and I didn't want to wake anyone up, so I grabbed a blanket and lay down on the sofa to think.

Of course right when I was about to drift off I heard Hubby's alarm sound. He came down looking for me, worried. I hate insomnia.

I folded and hired a maid service. They just left, and now I have to run errands, so I'm blogging while Thing Three eats his lunch. Oooh, my house is sparkly. I think it's absolutely worth the money!
And tell me something: why is it that two people can clean my house in three hours and it takes me three days?
Maybe because I'm not getting paid by the hour. Or maybe because they do it for a living and they're GOOD at it. (Wait a minute...I do it for a living too (just in my own house) and I'm sure not as good as them. Sheesh.)

I'm not going to get any writing done today, and it sucks. Thing Two's birthday is tomorrow and so I'm wrapping presents, baking a cake and getting ready for the big party on Saturday.

Hubby will be out of town next week, (he leaves the morning of MY birthday!) so I'll get lots of writing done then. I'm itching to work on some of my WIPS. And watch some of the chick flicks he won't watch with me.

Gotta run, lots to do! Hope everyone has a happy day.

The Value of Work

As my three children get older, I wonder about them, and how much they really know how to work. Sure, they have chores, and we make them help with the yardwork on Saturdays when we do it as a family, but outside of that, do they know how to work?

Case in point, when I ask Thing Two to clean his room, he falls to the floor and parodies dying. And he lays there until I tell him to get the heck up and get into his room. Hmmm. Should I be concerned?

Thing One knows how to work, but along with the Sassypants Gene she apparently inherited the Lazy Whiner Gene, where when I ask her to dry the dishes, some days she jumps up and helps and others she whines like a mule and tells me it's "not fair that no one else is helping." Some days she's motivated and works great. Others, well...if she were any lazier she'd slip into a coma.

Hubby grew up in a household where he was expected to clean the house entirely every day before school along with his siblings, and his family had a half-acre garden they labored in every day, and they were forced to work at a very young age.

Let's just say I grew up differently. Not better or worse--just differently. I wasn't expected to work much. It wasn't until I was sixteen, and old enough to get a job, that I learned how to work.

Now I look at my own children, and wonder about them. They are growing up in a generation of Nintento and technology that enables laziness. Scary. There is no question that the work ethic of 20 years ago doesn't exist today. Our grandparents had to work, and hard. I don't want my children growing up as lazy unmotivated slobs. That scares the heck out of me. We are definitely implementing more structure in our home, more so than before.

In happier news, this weekend was fun. Saturday morning we got my Mother's Day/Birthday present (we traded in the red Expedition for a more dignified color--Copper...it's really cool looking, and I finally got TAN interior which is something I've always wanted!) and then we did the yard and played with the kids and saw the movie Hoot (serious cheese factor, but the Jimmy Buffet songs made it worthwhile for Hubby and I) and we relaxed and had fun. We even drove up to Pike's peak in the new car yesterday, but it started storming so bad we were forced to turn back.

No writing this weekend, but then again, I never do. I've still got the new story idea churning in my head, and I invented a race of creatures, and gave them a cool name. Whenever I invent a name, I google it to see if I "got there first." I HATE it when I make up a really cool name, and then google it only to find out that some other writer made it up before me.

Well, time to run! I get to mail out Mother's day presents today and my mom is going to love the.................
....................oops, I nearly spilled the beans!!

Secrets

Thing Two's birthday is next week, on the 10th. We went to Toys R Us to get a present for a different party yesterday, and I found a nifty little machine that you attach to the Gamecube console, so you can play your Gameboy games on the TV with the Gamecube controllers. Super Cool. So, I bought one, and of course I had his five-year old brother with me, who immediately went into joyous apoplexy over it and asked me when he could "play with it."

I explained that this toy was for his brother's birthday, and it was a secret. He wasn't happy at first, because he wanted to play, but after a while he came to accept it.
I should have known there would be trouble when after we dropped Thing Two off at his friend's birthday party, Thing Three announced to Thing One in the backseat of the car that he "knew a secret about Thing Two's birthday but he wasn't telling." I shot him the "I'm-going-to-kill-you-if-you-don't-be-quiet-right-now" look but it was too late. Thing One wanted to know what the secret was. So I let her in on it.

So, last night Hubby and I were watching our DVR'd shows and he says to me, "Oh, by the way, Thing Three told Thing Two about his birthday present, right in front of me last night."
I turned to him and said "WHAT???"
He said: "Oh yeah, he looked at Thing Two and said "I know a secret about your birthday and it's about your Gameboy but I'm not supposed to tell...but it's about your Gameboy."

So much for Secrets. I guess five is still a little too young.

And now we have to start running around to get ready for school. Why is it every morning, as my kids run around (and I run around) I have Mozart's Rondo alla Turka playing in my head?

Hmmmm.

Have a great weekend! Here's a little "late" Easter humor for you:

At LAST!!

This is Thing One's first tied blanket. She finished it this morning, and is very proud of it. It's pretty simple--we bought a piece of fleece and fringed the ends and tied them. Voila! A Blanket! This one is going to a retirement home. Go Thing One!

Now, about my title...
I sat down and wrote last night. I ignored the kids, I ignored the Hubby, and typed out five pages on my story idea. Everyone seemed bewildered, and unsure of what to do with themselves. It was actually pretty humorous.

My herione is plucky and dorky. She has no idea what's in store for her, and frankly, neither do I. I guess that's the fun of it. I'm going to let the story write itself, for once. No outline. It's freaking me out a little, but I take no risks in my real life, why not in my writing? ;-)

I think I need to buy those facial dust masks for when I clean my house now. There is dust EVERYWHERE here! Maybe because there is zero humidity and the dust has nothing to stick to. I vacuum, I dust, I beat carpets outside, I vacuum some more, and two days later, everything is covered in dust again. UGH!! I'm doing away with the bagless vacuum, and switching to bag vacuums again. At least the dust goes into the bag, and not into some chamber I have to empty which ends up spewing half it's contents into the air when I empty it.

I have to run to Toys R Us today--Thing Two has a birthday party to attend and OF COURSE I haven't bought the present yet. Which is doubly embarrassing because I always run into other moms at the toy store who are buying for the same party. Don't laugh, it's happened to me twice now. And I have the sprinkler guy coming and I have to make ten cards for the card swap tonight and I have to unload all the flats of water that have been rattling around in my truck for the last two days because I've been working up the courage to unload them.

Off I go!

Printer Crazy

Okay, now we have ANOTHER printer. The HP Color Laser 2600n. Apparently the Photosmart all-in-one wasn't up to snuff for Hubby's work printouts, so we got the Laser. Can I tell you there is NO COMPARISON in quality? I love the Laser. Yeah, it's a monster, but I love it. And it's perfect for printing out manuscripts. Not that I'm doing much of that lately.

I have decided that I'm being punished or something--and I don't know why. I got the GREATEST YA story idea yesterday, and I spent the entire hour at Thing One's gymnastics lesson scribbling the idea out in a notebook. But do I have time to start it? No. Do I even have the motivation to write it? No again.

Ideas come to me, like lightning bolts oftentimes, and the story is exciting --and I see the movie in my head quite clearly. But can I WRITE the movie? That's the part I can't do. I still feel like I'm being punished, because I have all these great ideas and I don't have what it takes to get them down and get them out there. Adult ADD sucks, BIG TIME.

So last night, I crashed on the sofa in the basement (boy it's comfy) and Hubby didn't wake me up when he went to bed. So I woke up this morning on the sofa. I was that tired. It was all the lugging and lifting and running I did yesterday, getting the other storage room cleared out for the 910 pounds of #10 cans we're getting delivered next week. And I was TIRED.

Today it's cold and rainy, and I'm supposed to meet Thing Three's preschool class at the Denver Zoo. I so don't want to go. UGH. Would I be a bad Mommy if I skipped it? He really wants to go, but it's uncharacteristically cold and wet right now. Maybe if I promise to take him on a sunny day...

Tuesday

Okay, I read the SCARIEST article ever on MSN today. About the "worst case" scenario, if The Bird Flu came to the U.S. You can read the article here. Very frightening. I don't want to even think about it, but sadly, it could become a reality at some point.

I spent all day down in the basement yesterday, organizing and throwing stuff away. Now it's all immaculate, even the three storage rooms. And I'm still dead tired. But I'll take a nap later. I love those little 30 minute naps. They're invigorating. I set my alarm and plunk down on the bed (Thing Three puts his Gameboy on mute and lays next to me and plays it) and a half hour later...voila, I'm feeling much better.

I'm going to Costco today to get our food storage water. According to our food storage plan, we'd need 70 gallons of water for six months. We've already got a bunch, but I'm going to go get the balance. I know that sounds insane, but it really gives me peace of mind. If you're interested in food storage, this great website calculator helps. You put in your number of family members and the time frame you want to stock up for (I think it's three months to a year) and it gives you a report that tells you exactly which basics (and I mean BASICS) you would need to survive on your own. Pretty cool. You can find the food storage calculator here.

Wow, this morning has flown! I need to get the kids off to school. I think I'm going to buy flowers today! :-)

DEAD.

Hubby worked all weekend, until 3am Saturday night, and of course I got dragged into helping him at home. I'm dead. But it was for a good cause, and I got a taste of the craziness he goes through at work.

We got a new wireless printer over the weekend--it's kinda cool. No wires except for a power cord. I'm proud to say I set everything up myself. Hubby was too burned out to do much but watch. Poor guy.

I had exactly THREE people ask me how my writing was going this weekend--and these three people never ask me that. Maybe it's a sign. I'm not going to deny I've been disheartened as of late--I've been avoiding the pen. Weekends are very unproductive for me anyway. The only real time I get to write is when Hubby is traveling and the kids are asleep. Because when I write I disappear into a deep black hole where nothing matters but me and the computer. No one else exists. It's kind of hard to do that with three attention-needy kids!

This week is going to be crazy busy for me. I hope I can just keep my head above the water.