This whine brought to you by....

mozzarella!

ROFL!  I crack myself up.  (Get it?  Whine and cheese?)  Okay, so maybe it's not that funny.

I'm sick.  Alana brought home a tummy bug that has my stomach rebelling against everything I put in it.  Over the last three days, that amounts to 2 cups apple juice, 27 Saltines, 3 cups of tea, and 2 packets of Cream of Wheat.  On the upside, I've lost three pounds.  Though really, this is not the weight loss plan I'd recommend.

*sigh*  So I'm whiny and bored.  And I really can't be too far from a toilet at any given time.  Not to mention that I don't really want to wear pants.

I'm stuck at home.  Now, there are a dozen things I *could* be doing around here.  It's the end of the first week of school and my house surely shows it.  The laundry is scary, the papers have exploded, and no one is quite sure what's for dinner.

But I'm sick.  And I don't have the energy to care.  Except maybe about dinner (Tristan, what are you making for dinner?).

Thank heaven's the kids are old enough to mostly manage on their own.  And Bruce is trying to be helpful.  And there's always tomorrow or next week when I'm feeling better.  We'll live.

So, instead of playing more stupid Facebook games (anyone wanna be my neighbor on ChefVille?), I thought I'd FINALLY update around here.  There are about a dozen posts I've been meaning to write.  Though I'm sure I've forgotten half of them.

Sit back and enjoy!

On Writing

I entered the Iron Pen competition again this year (I did it in 2010), with a poem and a fictional story.  Essentially, it's a speed-writing contest.  You're given a "visual" writing prompt (a picture) and you have to come up with your submission based on that photo. 

The writing was a BLAST!  I had so much fun with the story and waiting to see where it would take me next.  I have to say, though, at first I was stumped.  The photo was not particularly inspiring.  Then I started brain-storming a bit.  First I was going to write a murder mystery, but I quickly shelved that plan.  Too many questions to answer in too few words (there's a 4000 word limit).  For a murder mystery, you have to have a victim, who has a life that led to his/her death.  You have to have a reason for the crime (I suppose it could be random, but where's the fun in that?!).  You have to have a murderer, and a connection between the two.  And it can't be obvious or the story's no fun.  Way too complicated for this contest. 

So the new story was born, out of the old one.  I thought it was really good.  And it was a crazy, wild ride, writing and seeing where the story went.  It truly had a mind of its own.  I did find myself doing a bunch of internet research, and I'd have LOVED to do more in-depth research using historical documents and the like, but at midnight on a Friday night, well, that's not possible.  I pored over maps, after rounding them up from 3 different vehicles.  I went back to National Parks brochures saved in my scrapbooking piles. 

And the story was born.

And it was good.  My neighbor did some proofing for me, since it's nearly impossible for me to do that when I was so close to it....I knew what I meant to say, so I wound up reading that on the page, whether or not those words were actually ON the page!  LOL!

Neighbor loved the story and added some crucial comments; questions left unanswered, that sort of thing. 

I turned it in. 

And I didn't win.

Disappointing, for sure.  But it wasn't about the destination.  The journey was very important for me.  I haven't been writing much in recent years.  The contest was a challenge I *almost* bailed out of at the last minute.  Simply completing the story was a victory.

And yet.

Dh thinks that the judges were looking for something specific.  The contest is in conjunction with a local arts festival, and there is a bit of an environmental leaning to it.  Dh he asked me who my audience was.  When I answered that it was your garden-variety historical fiction buff (just like myself), he pointed out that perhaps I should remember the judges. 

Which brings up something very interesting.  Do I write the story that is emerging, or do I write something I think will win?  Obviously, I chose the latter.  I was hoping that a good story would trump the (admittedly assumed) bias of the judges. 

Of course, there's always the possibility that mine was one of a number of good entries.   Perhaps it made a short list, but a few typos and at least one run-on sentence tanked me.  All things being equal, I suppose those things could've done me in.  I'm hoping that the winning entries are posted online (the author would need to give permission for that and some don't) so I can see what won.  I'm sure I can be objective....right?

It's also possible that it's not as good as I think it is.

Naaaaah!

Changes.....

There are changes afoot at my house this spring. I've been offered, and have accepted, a long-term subbing position teaching 3rd grade for a teacher who is having a baby this week. I'll start after Spring Break, April 2nd to be exact, and I'll teach at least until Memorial Day. The teacher is planning to be back for the last week of school, but we'll see what motherhood brings for her.

Apparently, the teacher had one long-term sub lined up, but she cancelled. The next sub needed at least 10 days off over the next 8 weeks, which the principal felt was simply too much instability and upheaval for the kids, so she called me and asked if I was interested. With a bit of trepidation, I said yes. The teacher and I have talked quite a bit this week and she has great confidence in me. I'm not as confident, but I'll do my best, and I can wing it with the best of them. There will be field trips and end-of-year testing in there, which will give me a bit of a break, so we'll see how it all goes.

I'll be at Alana's elementary school, and while I've never taught in this particular class, I have worked with the special ed kids from her class when I subbed special ed a few weeks ago.

I'm a little worried about the home front, honestly. Our family is structured around my being at home, or mostly at home. The older kids are quite used to mom picking them up from school every afternoon, and Alana has really never known me to be anything other than a SAHM. But, this is a great opportunity, and I can do a service for this teacher who needs someone she can count on to take "her kids." I understand and appreciate that sentiment. I'm fortunate to have a supportive husband whose job is somewhat flexible. He's already scheduled to take Alana to a couple of her orthodontist appointments that are during school hours and can't be rescheduled.

I think the hardest part will be not having any alone time, or at least not having as much as I'm used to. As it is now, if I need a break, I simply choose not to work on a given day. And much of my free time has just flown out the window. But, really, it's only for 8-9 weeks. I'll live and appreciate summer all the more, I think.

On a more practical level, how in the world do I get the laundry and grocery shopping done?! I'm going to have to go shopping on Saturday or Sunday, and I have to tell you, the thought of the grocery store on Saturday gives me hives! I may just turn into one of those crazy people who haunts the halls of Walmart at 2:00 in the morning! LOL!

A bit of catching up....

It's been a while, hasn't it? Seems I'm saying that often on this blog....but oh well.

Since I last posted, let's see.....

*Thanksgiving: My parents came. The visit was tolerable. I don't really remember anything that stands out as obnoxious or otherwise a problem, though I'm sure my mom managed to annoy me a time or two. It is, after all, one of the things she does.

That weekend, my laptop imploded. So we bought me a new one, that's probably too big for my britches, but there it is, and I'm really enjoying it. However, we got it home and I tried to load things from my external hard drive. And it had imploded as well. Including all of my scrapbooking projects. With less than 3 weeks to go before I needed to have the Grandma books uploaded for Christmas.

Yeah. Exactly.

The technical geeks at PC Laptops were able to recover all my data from the old laptop, but the external was another matter. They tried, but they were only able to recover about 2/3 of the pages, and nothing after that in that folder, so I lost several years worth of work and a number of projects. On the upside, I was able to get those recovered pages into another book and I did eventually finish them and get them uploaded.....3 days late. So they won't arrive until next week. *sigh*

And MIL has been bleating about wanting pictures of the kids, but that's a rather amusing story I'll have to post later. This is supposed to be a brief catch-up.


*Then there was the car accident.

On the freeway.

During rush hour.

Yeah. That.

See, I was trying to change lanes, so I was looking over my shoulder at traffic in the next lane when traffic in my lane slowed waaaaay down. I hit the brakes and swerved, but it wasn't enough and I rear-ended the car in front of me.

Oops.

Yes, we were wearing our seat belts. And yes, we're fine. I had a bruise from the seat belt for about a week, but it's all good. Really, it is.

So, the van had to be towed and I got a ticket (my birthday money from my parents nearly covered that....thanks mom!) and it cost over $6000 and two weeks to fix the van. In the end, I'm grateful for insurance and that the van wasn't totaled. We don't own it yet, and the payment from the insurance wouldn't have been enough to buy something else outright. But as it turned out, I was worried for nothing and it all worked out in the end.

*The next day, one of my children came to me with some difficult news. Said child is really struggling, and while normally I'd say more than that, in the interest of maintaining that child's privacy, I'm not going to say much more. The child is now in counseling and seems to be making some progress. Prayers are appreciated, as always.

*The day after that, I got a call from Murray Police. At first, I wondered what Murray had to do with my accident, which was handled by the Highway Patrol with a ticket issued from South Salt Lake.

But it wasn't that. It seems my camera, the one that was stolen back in March, had turned up. In Taylorsville.

In a homicide investigation.

I couldn't make this up if I tried!

I got my camera back, after visiting the Unified Police Department's evidence storage building. See, Taylorsville PD contracts with them (they're essentially the sheriff's office). The detective needed my permission to look at the photos on the camera, just dotting i's and all of that, so that the "search" of the camera was legal. Apparently there were photos on the camera that pertained to his case, so he kept the SD card. He did tell me he'd give it back after he copied the pictures to his computer, but so far, I haven't heard anything and I don't care.

With my camera, there were dozens of other electronics, including several GPSs. Unfortunately, one of them wasn't Bruce's, but it still might turn up. We'll see. The sad thing is that none of the serial numbers on any of the multitude of electronics came up in the system except my camera. There were iPods, GPSs, cameras, and more, and NONE of them came up. So, my friends, record your serial numbers, and REPORT them if they're stolen. You never know what might happen.

(And, in case you're not paying attention, that's *5* law enforcement agencies in just 4 days).

And we're not even to the 10th of December!

Submitted

and I'm so nervous! What if they hate my work? Other people are reading my story and my poem and that scares me senseless!

See, I'm pretty thin-skinned about this right now, so that's part of it, but let's be realistic.....If they hate it, I'll NEVER KNOW. I just won't win the competition. I'll never see any critiques or comments, never know if they hate my main character.

Side note/thought: Since I wrote in first person, maybe that's why I'm so nervous? The story is mine, and it's about ME. Not really, of course, being set in a mining town many many years ago, but still....I put a lot of me and mine into it.

In spite of all of this churning, I'm really proud of myself for doing it. I took a HUGE leap and I liked it! LOL!

Writing again

and it feels REALLY good! I've never done much fiction writing, so this is a stretch for me. I'm glad, however, that I did NOT enter the non-fiction category as the photo cue would've thrown me for a loop.

It started to throw me for a loop in the fiction category too, but I think I've got a pretty good story going. We'll see what I think of it in the morning.

It was fun to let it ruminate for a bit, and then the writing bug got ahold of me and that was that. I started with scrawlings in a notebook....setting, time, charactors, and so forth. But what could be the problem my charactors have to overcome? And how? And how do I flesh it out in just 4000 words?!

My WIP is decent, I think, though it feels a bit cheesy. Perhaps that's the constraints of the time and word count? There's so much more I'd like to do with it! Now it needs a title. Ugh!

I'm officially nuts!

I'm entering a 24-hour writing contest tomorrow. You enter in any of three categories (fiction, non-fiction, and/or poetry). Then they give you a visual writing prompt (as in, show you a picture). The entry is due back 24 hours later.

I'm debating which category to write in. I think fiction will be flooded, but I haven't really produced any poety since the kids came along. Non-fiction would probably have the fewest entries, but what if I know nothing about the picture? I'd have to do a bunch of research in my 24 hour period and that time has other obligations in it.

Hmmmm......

I'll keep you posted!

25 Random Things About Me

This is all the rage around Facebook, so I thought I'd post it here too.

1. I've been tagged for this by at least 4 people, and probably more. I must be popular, right?
2. My dad is a retired professor of Veterinary Medicine and a vet.
3. My sister is my best friend.
4. I LOVE to read fantasy novels, particularly Mercedes Lackey.
5. I actually love all kinds of books, except gory murder mysteries and overly fluffy stuff.
6. I'm a third generation teacher.
7. My youngest child was a surprise to everyone but God, and I'm so glad I have her!
8. She's named after Bruce and I. His middle name is Alan and mine is Louise, so she's Alana Louise, pronounced a-LAY-na.
9. Our African Senegal (medium-sized parrot) landed in our backyard one September day a few years ago.
10. I caught him, fed him, and placed the "found" ad, but no one claimed him, so here he lives. And he hates me!
11. I'm so addicted to scrapbooking that I became a "dealer" (Creative Memories) to support my "habit!"
12. I have a hard time with digital stuff like pictures and music. If I can't touch it, is it real?
13. I record a bunch of shows and then watch them on my laptop while scrapping, sewing, or cleaning.
14. NCIS is my favorite show.
15. Tony Hillerman's death last fall made me very very sad (He was a writer of mysteries set on the Navajo reservation).
16. I spent a month in France as an exchange student the summer after I graduated from high school.
17. I've mostly forgotten how to speak French.
18. I'm a bleeding-heart, tree-hugging liberal.
19. My biggest pet peeve is GOSSIP! And I define gossip to be anything spoken about someone that you wouldn't say to their face, true or not.
20. I would love to write a book someday, or maybe publish some poems, but I struggle to find the time to put pen to paper.
21. I also struggle to believe that anyone would want to hear what I have to say.
22. I never planned to be a SAHM, but now I wouldn't change it for the world.
23. I miss teaching, though.
24. I found out in December just how many people love and care for me and my family. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring from friends near and far when Tristan was in the hospital.
25. I'm still in awe of that.