A Christmas Scavenger Hunt

This year as self-therapy to learn how to enjoy Christmas, my two oldest daughters helped me set it up so the kids would wake up to something different. Something fun, something more than a pile of presents under a tree. Something that required teamwork, sillies, and a sense of adventure.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas is not normally my favorite time of year. In fact, I tend to try to avoid all holidays, not just ones with a guy in a suit who invades my house. It's not really possible to avoid, what with there being six kids and a husband around who seem to think these things are a big deal.

Writing Groups

Pretend for a moment that you want to be an author. To do that, you need to have written something. And for that thing you've written to get polished and pretty and understandable, it needs to be seen by someone other than you. That way you can fix the things you don't know are broken. One of the ways to do this is to join a writing group where you chop your newly written precious into chapter sized chunks and then submit them for critiques one week at a time.

Fear

Fear is a funny thing. It’s just an emotion. It’s that voice inside our heads, sometimes not even a voice. It’s a whisper. A niggling doubt. But sometimes it is claws twisting our insides into knots until we stop functioning. It can be paralyzing and completely destructive.

Playing with Fire

Today I looked at my manuscript, of which I have all of six chapters left to write to finish, and I couldn't make myself write. There are many other things playing through my mind right now. I want to figure out how to enjoy this upcoming Christmas season, I want to let go of things from childhood that haunt me every year come this time, I want to feel the magic. All kinds of things completely unrelated to a slave girl lost in space.

So, when I sat down at my computer today, I decided I wanted to play with fire. I pulled out my tablet, looked through the pictures my daughter has taken for yearbook, and sorted through some background patterns I downloaded from pareeerica and after a couple of hours messing with various brushes and tools in Photoshop, managed to create this.

Yeah, I won't be quitting my day job any time soon. I'm so out of practice, I don't even know what to say. But I had an itch, so I scratched it. (I'm not even sure why I'm sharing this picture... It's unfinished and un-something.)

Winner!!

 Awwww yeah! I did that right there. I can't even begin to describe my exploding sense of accomplishment. I did it! I set a goal and I actually did it! I wrote 50,000 words in a month.

I wrote through sinus infections and flu and kids being sick, and some major back pain. So, you know, I'm sure that those 50,000 words need LOTS of editing. But the fact that they were there, that my 19 year old daughter came over and wrote with me nearly every morning, and that we accomplished something... I mean, WOW!

I'm not just a stay-at-home mom who has a few Footzone clients. I wrote a sizeable chunk of something. I am on that journey of self-discovery, and I'm enjoying the process. How cool is that???

So here's my wish that whatever journey you're on is just as fabulous. That the downs don't last as long as the ups, and that you finish what you start, whatever it is, so long as you love it! :)

Yep, it's that time of the month.

I know it’s November. And not only should I be giving a NaNo update, but I should be posting about what I’m thankful for. And let me state for the record that there is much for which I am thankful. However, as it happened, Thanksgiving and Black Friday also landed right smack dab on the wrong days of the month for me this year. You know those two emotionally charged days where you're not sure you're going crazy or if you have PMS? Yeah. That made for a fabulous Thanksgiving experience this year, let me tell you.

Sometimes it’s awesome to be female. There are days when my job as a mom is so fantastically awesome, there are no words to describe it. My friends, my family, my experiences, my joys, my kids, my husband, all of these things can combine into a perfect whole once in a while that make life worth it. And then… well… then there are other times where it’s really not so awesome to be female. And by not awesome, I mean NOT awesome.

NaNo Update!

I have spent the last 13 days writing, writing, writing!

In the mornings I work on the prequel to the novel I started back in April. In the evenings, I work on the novel I started back in April. That makes total sense, right? Two books, one month. Wheee!

Writing, NaNoWriMo, Etc

I have been working like mad to finish my novel. It's not done yet. But I'm over halfway done. Starting Thursday, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo - my plan is to work on my current novel in the mornings and work on the prequel in the afternoons. I will only be tracking my word count for the prequel, but I'm pretty sure this will be do-able. It's my first year ever trying, so we'll see what happens.

Bacon and Jabba the Hutt

I leant my camera to a friend to take on a hiking trip. Due to some computer glitches, he left the pics on my camera so I could download them and then transfer them to him.

While looking through the 500+ photo's he took, I couldn't help the thoughts that were popping into my head. I begged and begged for permission to use his pics, and he went ahead and let me. (yay!)

BICHOK!

Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard - (Thank you Howard Taylor for that acronym!) Although today it was Hands On Wacom Tablet.

Let me just say that I am absolutely superfantabulous at over-exposing and under-exposing pictures. Hand me a DSLR and I will manage to mess up the picture. I have a serious talent here, people!

Linkfest for Writing Tips

I have been wrapped up in writing a novel. It's not anything that's going to change lives or become a literary classical staple a hundred years from now. Nope, it's a soft sci-fi action/romance because that's what I enjoy reading best of all. And darnit, I got tired of waiting for another author to write it. My ESP wasn't broadcasting well enough, I guess.

Sisters

 

I'm probably going to regret not watermarking these, but oh well. 

These are my last two baby girls. As different as it's possible to get, and yet the bestest of friends ever. They fight, they laugh, they giggle, they have secret jokes and stories, they want to show each other the cool stuff they've done every day, they wrestle, they scream at each other; in short, they are sisters.

We were at a Girl Scout activity on Saturday, and they had been rolling down a hill and then trying to roll each other back up the hill. When they sat down for a breather, this is what it looked like, and I had to sneak some shots of them sharing secrets and enjoying each others company. 

I can't decide if I like it better in color or Black and White, but I love it all the same. To me, it represents the epitome of sisterhood.

Kid Tips

This is true because my daughter said so. And if she can put on her favorite dress, her matching sunglasses and find a way to be happy even when her sisters or her mom or her dad is grumpy, well, then anything is possible, right?

So doll yourself up, -- especially if you're having a bad day -- find a matching accessory that makes you just feel awesome, and face the world. You know, that project you've been avoiding, or people who make you crazy, or that overwhelming pile of laundry waiting to be folded and put away, and something fabulous will happen.

Guidelines

Teenagers, hormones, dating, and different parenting styles of said teenagers is on my mind right now. I have two teenagers, almost three. And like any mom, I worry for my girls. (I'll worry for my son when he's older, but for now it's my girls and their friends.) Now, I am taking a personal risk here by taking a stand, stating my stand, and sticking by it, but this is how I feel about things: Boys and girls are going to be attracted to each other. It's nature. It's part of life. They were designed that way. It's how the species propagates. And I personally feel when parenting is either too lax or too strict, it can affect how teens react to rules and/or forbiddances.

Happy Birthday!

Uncle

(I don't know who designed this, or I'd give props. It links to the tumblr site)

Books and Opinions

NPR had a fun little thing where they asked readers to vote for their favorite YA books of all time. There were tons of books on the list, but you could only vote for your top ten. I'm happy to report that nine of my top ten made the cut into the Top 100 YA books of "all time", but I must admit that I am a little bit... what's the word... suspicious of the results.

Viewpoints

The way we see ourselves affects how we see the world. When in the depths of depression, it is very hard to find or see anything joyful or bright, while contrastingly, those who are filled with the deepest happiness feel no need to focus on shadows or gloom.

The Budding Years

No fun graphic today, I can't find the humor currently. When I see it tomorrow, I'll come back and edit.

But for now, I would just like to shout out my hoorah's, hugs, and much love for all the mom's out there who give up time, effort, and things on their own wish-lists to provide for the needs of their kids. I know for a fact that I am not the only mom who does this. I remember my mother doing it when I was young and stupid and selfish (and clueless.) And now I find I am doing it myself. Only normally I do it and don't realize I do it. I love my family, and serving them is what I do. I have these children because I love them and want them, therefore it makes no sense to resent them for needing things as they grow.

Writing Prompt Tuesday

I've been listening to Writing Excuses for a while now. Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary may not know it, but they have helped me immensely. That being said, I've taken the last few weeks off from working on my story because I've hit a fear point. And I haven't written anything. I've done a lot of thinking, which I know is still good, but I haven't written. (Do blog posts count?? I'm not sure they do.) But today when I heard the "You're out of excuses, now go write!" I decided to do just that.

Writing Excuses 4.9: Take an absurd 19th century folk belief, treat it as absolute fact, and write a story hinging on that principle. (and I really, really, really hope they don't get mad at me for making a graphic based on their prompts... I should probably ask...)

Reading Trendy Books

This morning while perusing some of my favorite blogs, Ava at Writability had this awesome post about how people today are judging readers for liking "bad" books. She noted that it's sad that we're making people feel ashamed for picking up a book and reading it, just because that book is a current trend. It got me thinking so much, that I felt like I wanted to write a post of my own.

One person's derivative garbage is another person's literary heaven. Just because you don't like something does not mean it's ok to make fun of people who do. Being an art major, I've been trained to see that most everything in life is subjective. Besides, it's just common sense that people are going to like different things.

For instance, I love realist art - art that looks like things really look: Rembrandt, Mucha, Paul Calle, etc. I also have a taste for some abstraction, but not a lot. But there are people out there who LOVE it. I'm not one of them, but I don't make fun of those artists who create it, nor their collectors who buy it. Give me a choice between Mucha and Hoffman, I'll pick Mucha every time. That doesn't mean that the avid collector of Hoffman is bad, or wrong, or an idiot, or a mindless slave to current trends.

Alfons Mucha

Hans Hoffman's "The Gate"

A Peace Treaty of Sorts

I have two different blackberry bushes in my yard. In the front yard is the "I'm going to take over the world with kindness and big juicy berries!" Blackberry bush.

When these berries ripen, they are 1.5 to 2 inches long, bursting with flavor and practically hop right off the vine into my hands. As you can see, there are few, if any, thorns to be seen on the vine or anywhere near the berries. Harvesting from this vine is an absolute pleasure and I look forward to going out there every morning to see what has ripened.

Ah, technology

I have been trying to figure out how to link twitter and blogger and facebook all together. Why post things three times, right? And I only even have a twitter so I can follow some really fantastic writers. Change is not my thing anymore. I used to love it. I would rearrange the furniture, the pictures on the walls, and wish I could knock out walls or re-design the house. And for a long time I was current with technology, even building my own computer piece by piece.

Not so much anymore. Now that I have a gajillion kids and young women to keep track of and Girl Scout troops, well... I just don't have time. In fact, now I get excited when I have time and energy to actually move furniture around, which is rare, now. Maybe once a year if I am lucky. And for a long time, I have avoided getting "connected" in all the ways. I am one of the few without a cool smart phone. I don't like being tied to a phone. I don't mind being tied to a computer, though. I love my computer, don't get me wrong. I just don't like things that take extra thought or extra time, even though they may save me time in the future.

So, with all that whining said, I have finally done it. I sat myself down and decided to try it. To see if I was really too old to figure out current technology, or if I could navigate and figure it out. So this is my test. Was I able to successfully link my Twitter, Facebook, and Blog? Will it post where it's supposed to?

I don't know. We shall see. But I am in the mood to troubleshoot and figure it out. The kids are in bed, my older kids are being awesome and getting ready for sleep, and the house is clean enough for me to not guilt myself about the time spent. So here goes. Will it work?

update: apparently, I have some work to do before the blog will post to facebook or twitter... but twitter posts to both. If only I could figure out how to change the text color in the sidebar. For now, my apologies for the unreadable red. I've hunted through the html and css to try to find the code, but no luck as of yet. I haven't give up, though.

To Make Granola

I am not willing to turn on the oven for much of anything during these super-hot-melt-your-brain days of summer. Except for Granola. I will happily turn crank that baby on and suffer through the 20 degree temperature increase from the convection fans for granola. Anytime. Just so I can eat it.

Fear is a Funny Thing

There are few things in this world more paralyzing than fear. And there are all different kinds of fear that attack us. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of not being good enough, fear of loss, fear of never having enough, fear of dying, fear of pain, fear of being alone, fear of moving forward... the list goes on and on. In fact, each one of those fears has pages and subparagraphs and outlines with squadrons of specialists, lawyers, and therapists to decipher, interpret, and make that fear larger or smaller in comparison to whatever it is you're looking at.

Fear has a foothold in my brain, and I wrestle with it constantly. The more I face it, the weaker it gets, or perhaps the stronger it makes me, I'm not sure. But there are some fears that are primal, deep, that seem to run from the inside of my bones and have absolute control. And today I have to face some of those fears because I have no control to change the situation or affect the outcome.

If You're Happy And You Know It, Levitate!

There are inherently happy people placed here on this planet, and they seem to have a gravitational pull on those around them. When they are happy, instead of getting pulled down by the people around them, they have a lifting affect. So it doesn't seem to matter what part of the "ride" of life they're on, their car seems to glide a little smoother or lift off the rails so the bumps don't quite hit as hard. It's not that the bumps aren't there, they just seem to have an innate ability to adjust their attitude to continue to be able to float along and find the joy in the journey.

It has been said many times that life is a roller-coaster, with dips, turns, twists, and many ups and downs that leave your stomach heaving sometimes and other times fill you bursting with laughter. Whether life is a roller coaster, a merry-go-round, a Ferris Wheel, or a box of chocolates, in the end we get out of it what we put into it. And today I think my challenge is to decide to levitate. It's much more fun to pull people along upwards than to grouch, grumble, and groan about everything that is going wrong.

To Clean A Small Mess Requires A Big Mess

In the process of changing rooms around, I decided to empty all of the toys into the living room and send all of the books to the basement. They will be sorted into keep vs donate/garage sale as I get time. This is my cleaning process: in order to clean up a small mess, I need to make a bigger mess, then sort through everything so I know what's missing pieces, what's broken, and what needs to be cleaned. So, this is what my living room currently looks like with everything from the kids rooms except clothes dumped here for sorting. It is a mess. Not a fun mess for me, but it sure is for the kids.

Apparently this is the wrong way to clean. The right way to clean somehow involves everything having a place and then everything magically finding its way to its place to stay until played with and put back again. As you can see, I have an awful lot of somethings without places, therefore I'm doing it wrong. But the whole living room needs a do-over anyway. That's what started this. Only I can't get to the desks until I get the bedrooms sorted out.

The mess of toys in the front room surrounded by all the clutter. It is a disaster. The room was a disaster to begin with, just look at all that clutter on the desks against the wall. That is what started this project to begin with!

These piles make me twitchy... I cannot wait to get my books in the proper order, and that's not even half of them.

But now after washing down the walls and sweeping and mopping the floors, I have realized that my son's room has a purple wall. Don't shrug and say, "So?" to me. IT'S A PURPLE WALL! And my brain is starting to itch because of it.

Under normal circumstances, this would not be a huge issue. (And for the last year it's been a non-issue because he shared the room with his sister.) However, circumstances at my house are not normal. I'm not normal. You have no idea how hard it was for me to cave and dress a daughter in pink when I first had a girl. After having five daughters who loved loved loved their princess pink, I am so very ready to have a NOT pink room for my only son.

Stuff, Stuff Everywhere... And No One Wants To Clean

While sitting on the couch relaxing yesterday, I looked around and saw my house. The clutter, the need for vacuuming, the accumulated finger and handprints on the walls, the piles of papers, mail, books, and magazines, and the toys. Oh the toys. My son's cars, the My Little Ponies, and a random Barbie brush and Lego placed exactly where bare feet will unknowingly step. My house felt so much like an obstacle course, I had the bright idea that perhaps I should de-clutter and get organized.

Sounded like a great idea at the time, I swear.

According to Pinterest making my over-crowded-with-four-desks-and-a-piano-and-a-fairly-large-bookshelf-that-contains-all-my-art-related-books living room to this beautiful and simplistic space should take less than $5 and 10 minutes. Yeah, right.

credit: Better Homes & Gardens

A Lack of Verbosity

The past few weeks have been quite busy, and now that the holiday is over and the family trip to Zion Nat'l Park is over and the Young Women camp is over I can rest. And so my brain turned off. Sometimes it's nice to just be. I'll admit my house may not be the cleanest right now, but my kids are hugged and fed and I am happy to just sit here and be their momma for now. Words will come later.

There was a forest fire a couple of mountains over, so our little valley was filled with smoke.

Getting Away From It All

I have now learned that heading to a National Park like Zions is not necessarily getting away from anything. I guess on the one hand, I was away from home. And internet and cell service. At least, I was. But on the other hand, instead of being surrounded by friends and family and neighbors, I found myself surrounded by thousands of other people, 90% of them the fit and tan hikers who were there for the millionth time and knew all the paths and did them all in their short-shorts and bikini tops. (I am fairly certain the park rangers who drive the trams really love their jobs.)

All in all it was a good trip, a memory builder. The kids got to spend time with their cousins, Rob got to spend time with his siblings, and I got to take hundreds of pictures of the faces in the mountains. Because we had little kids who were not big fans of the 95+ degree weather or hiking in it, we didn't do long hikes. We went to the Emerald Pools. Which, um, well, I didn't even bother taking a picture of them, they looked like stagnant water. The waterfalls that fed them and the rocks the kids could climb on to stand in the waterfalls was much more interesting and pretty.

Odd story with this picture here. I was trying to capture one of the waterfalls in the distance, but my lens is just the one that came with my camera, so it doesn't have the uber powerfullly super fantastic zoom that the guy standing next to me had. I noticed his camera was the same model as mine, and I also noticed that every time he pushed the button, his camera would take three pictures. So I asked him if he'd set his camera to automatically bracket. (I learned about bracketing in my photography class. It means going up two stops and down two stops from the center area to make sure you get the best exposure. Often what the camera thinks the right exposure is, isn't.) I haven't yet figured out how to set my camera to bracket automatically, and I wondered if he had. I don't think he knew what I was asking him, though. He went off on a very passionate verbal essay on why photographers should always shoot in P mode because the automatic settings were just blech (he seriously gagged and shuddered) And then he'd shoot a series of pictures then look at his camera and tell me what settings he'd used. I thanked him for his advice and went on my way, catching up to my party. I wasn't sure what he'd say or if he'd even hear me if I told him I shot on M mode so I had to make all of my adjustments manually. Or if he'd make gagging noises and shudder again.

The point of my story? That there are all kinds of people in the park that are more than happy to share their expertise on cameras, parenting, families, family size, fitness, and nature. One doesn't go to a National Park to "Get Away." You go to see squirrels and fabulous scenery and spend time with the people you came with in brain meltingly hot weather.

The fire within?

Some days I'm full of piss and vinegar, just raring to go and feeling like I can conquer the world. And other days... not so much. This week, being a birthday week, has been one of those ohmygoshIcan'tgoonanotherday kind of weeks. Today I MADE myself get up and mow the lawn because really, I don't live in a jungle. And as much as I want to be lazy, I'm sure the neighbors will eventually get fed up when the grass gets so tall my house is no longer visible. I thought I'd have enough energy to go back out and weed-whack or clear dead weeds after a short nap. My back muscles and body mutinied quite loudly when I attempted to get up off the couch.

But, I do have lots of other non-aerobic interests. I did go to school and learn a bunch of fun computer programs. So I decided to play around the rest of the day in Photoshop and my kids sat around and watched as I applied layer after layer and made the magic happen. I ran through some basic tutorials to re-familiarize myself with layer options and styles. The original in the tutorial looks much cooler than this one, and when I showed it to my mom, she thought I'd put dancing imps in the flames. Which makes me think that I probably should have; I can see them now that she pointed them out. I may work on that now that I can see it... anyway... While this is not at the professional level I'd like to be at, at least I remembered enough to get this far. Progress!

This is a Photoshop tutorial from PSD Tuts only instead of using pictures of actual fire, I played around with fire brushes.

Growing Old Gracefully???

I have six kids, all of whom LOVE their birthdays and love to have parties and presents and decorations and have fusses made over them. I love my kids, therefore I do my best to give them attention and parties and things. Well, kinda. If I figure I can get away with a cake and a play-date with the grandparents who take them shopping, I totally go for that instead of inviting a thousand neighborhood kids over. The kids will probably never know how difficult it is for me to plan parties, but I do it because I am glad they were born and I am glad they are here.

I have never been one for celebrating birthdays. It is just not my thing. For many years I would lash out or cry when people even dared mention that it was my birthday. I was fine after midnight, but the week prior to and the day of, it was crazy-fest in my head. I'm still not entirely sure why. For a while in my early thirties I actually tried to celebrate my birthday... and that didn't last long. I think it only lasted a couple of years because I'd scared everyone so badly in all the years prior they didn't dare to say anything. To be fair, it's really awkward and hard for me to accept the attention. It triggers some inner panic and makes me want to run and hide. So I can see why the celebrations never really took off. So I'm trying to relax about things, you know?

Not my picture, and even if it doesn't make sense to anyone else, it totally matches how I feel about today.

A Confession

I have an admission of sorts; a guilty pleasure if you will. I love the smell of cigarette smoke. It envelops me in its warm spicy scent, holding just enough hint of sweetness that it makes my nerves tingle all the way to my toes like the gentleness of a first kiss. 

This may seem quite odd to those of you who know me. I have very strong adverse reactions to the smell of coffee (it makes me more nauseated than pregnancy does. And when I was pregnant even the smell of fake coffee made me want to curl in a ball and die.) Most assume that because of my religion or because of whatever other reasons they may assume about me that I would react similarly to cigarettes.

It's All About The Journey

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to go rock climbing with two of my girls, several of their friends, and my nephew. The cliff face we chose to climb was in shadow from the sun after 4pm, and the hike up wasn't terrible. I wouldn't want to do the hike in sandals, like some of the moms did, but that part of the journey was relatively easy.

Life is kind of like that, isn't it? When we start off on our quests, the road is flat or has a gentle upward or downward slope. We don't hit the big bumps or obstacles until we've traveled for a bit. But it's usually the obstacles and the bumps that determine the course of our journey. There's never a straight line from point A to point B.

Believe

Some days I could talk forever. Some days I don't have anything to say. And while there are many many things going on in my household today, I don't have any ideas to string together today into a cohesive essay. So instead I played in Photoshop and InDesign.

I firmly believe that the ideas behind "The Secret" and "Ask And It Is Given" are true because I believe that God is serious when He says that through faith all things are possible. ALL things.

So even when we have bad days, down days, or bad things happen despite all that we have tried to do, giving up is not an option. If we have a dream, and we believe that dream can be realized, it will be. The "how" of things don't matter, what matters is that we believe it.

Magic Happens

Originally I had typed up an essay about fairies and fairy homes. I could resort to talking about how flowers are temporary summer homes for fairies, but the more I looked through the photos I have taken, the more I decided that what I really look for in nature is the opportunity for magic.

Things I learned at CONduit

I am in a listy kind of mood today, so here is my list of fun things I learned this weekend. For those of you who don't know about CONduit, here's their link!

1 - It is never too late to follow your dreams. Well, unless you’re dead. So unless you know a necromancer, if you’re dead it’s probably too late.  BUT as long as you’re still alive and breathing, go chase those dreams!!!

My friend Peggy wore this T-Shirt to the Con, and I was secretly wishing I had one, too. Now I know where to buy one, click the link and go to OffWorldDesigns and show them some love :)  They have the best t-shirts ever.

In Memorium

I would say Happy Memorial Day, but that somehow seems trite. Instead, may we remember those who have served, sacrificed, and given all for their country. Without them, we would not be sitting here in front of our computers chatting, posting, blogging, sharing, liking, and tweeting. I myself have several family members who have served. I was unable to locate pictures of all of them, but it is with heartfelt thanks and appreciation that I express my love for all of those who bravely go abroad and follow orders, even if it is to the death.

Uncle Rudy Owings, My Father Brett Owings, and my grandfather Albert Christman

How To Get Your Children's Attention

My children are awesome. I love them. But communicating with them can be a hit and miss adventure. When I want my kids attention, I can’t seem to get it. I’ll be in a mood to chat and find out what’s going on in their lives, and they resort to one-word answers to make me go way. The conversations end up being very

CONduit!!

Today I am heading off for CONduit 22: Time Lords! I have never been to a Con before, I am excited. My oldest daughter is going as a "Weeping Angel" from Dr. Who and is looking forward to the masquerades and belly dancing shows. My friend's daughter is dressing up as Tony Stark.

Notes From God

My friend and I were lamenting the joys of raising children, and I mentioned to her that I wished that all of our kids came with little notes from God. Most of their issues aren't as obvious until they hit teenager-hood, and by then it's too late to fix what you did wrong when they were babies. She laughed so hard, she said I should make it a graphic and pin it. So, while I had not been thinking at all about blogging today, I decided to share with the world. Just because I love you, Christine. This is for you.

One Plus One is Three??

Some of you know that I’m writing a novel. The fun thing about writing a novel is the asking of questions and then figuring out the answers. What if hand-guns could shoot pulses of sound? What if a person’s skin and eye color were direct reflections of the exact location in which they were born? Can you imagine what all those babies born in hospitals would look like? That could have an impact on a society that cares about exterior color or maybe they’d just adapt and pregnant women would go on an exodus hoping that the eye color would match this sea or that sky. Except maybe it didn’t always work that way and maybe it was the hair that turned blue. Or the skin. All kinds of things could go crazily wrong with this, which is great!

Writing Prompt Tuesday

Hey, two weeks in a row, I'm doing something right.

Again, I did not come up with these prompts myself, if you want to hear the actual episode, check it out at Writing Excuses.com.

I did however try to write for this prompt, but I don't think I actually followed the instructions. (edit: Removed from LiveJournal, pending update to this blog with spot for Writing Prompts.)

Happy Mother's Day!

Writing Prompt Wednesday

Sometimes I need a kick in the pants to jump-start my brain. Today I tried this. (Note, I do not come up with these prompts, the guys over at Writing Excuses podcast do. And they are awesome and helpful and funny, and I highly suggest listening to them!

Click the pic to go to Writing Excuses website for this episode :)

(edit: removed from LiveJournal pending update to this blog.)

I suppose to be fair, I should use prompts from other podcasts, but I really love the Writing Excuses team.

Dollhouses from boxes!

 Making a dollhouse. Now, just for the record, I do not claim to be the craftiest person. And while a perfectionist in some areas, when it comes to stuff the kids are going to destroy, I just don't bother. So, today we spent a few hours making a toy that hopefully will give them a few hours of play time before it's destroyed.