Almost NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo kicks off on November 1. I don't know who planned it for November - certainly not a busy mom.

I have a couple writing buddies (that I know, in real life and whom I see between two and four times every week) that are participating this year, so the pressure is on to pull it off.

National Novel Writing Month - more information here.

August Shenanigans

I am still working on editing some older blog posts and on my new pages. I'm giving myself another week to work on the blog (and maybe another week after that, if I so choose), but I decided that I can still continue to post.

Moose started speech therapy this month. He really enjoys it. His biggest problem is closing his mouth correctly for "m," "b," and "p" sounds. She suspects that his teeth are a bit big for his mouth. He CAN close it properly (as he says MA-MEEE loud and clear), so it might just be a bit of sheer laziness. Who knows. I do know that he naps like a champ when he gets home from speech.

Bean started karate. Similar to soccer, I don't think there's a lot of natural ability there. He often whines about practicing and has trouble paying attention, but I think all that is pretty age-appropriate. Tonight is his first class lesson, which is earlier in the evening. I'm hoping the earlier time will help a little bit. His private lessons were at 6:30, which is pretty late for him.

Bean has kindergarten testing next Thursday, I guess just to evaluate where he's at. I'm not sure if they mix the kids up or separate the higher- and lower-scoring kids. My school teacher friends tell me it depends on the school, and the school will never admit which way it goes. He starts classes the following Monday, August 23. Thank goodness, there's been A LOT of togetherness this summer!

Moose starts Mother's Day Out on September 1 from 9 a.m. till 1 p.m. twice a week. Can you imagine eight hours a week of NO KIDS. Oh, how blissful. We visited the class last week and liked what we saw. He didn't want to leave.

Both boys got haircuts today (nothing major). We have family pictures scheduled for Saturday morning. It's our fifth wedding anniversary, so we have a sitter for the afternoon and evening. We're going to Painting with a Twist and to dinner (still undecided, we have a free meal at Outback, but we're really craving Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro - it's a tough call, but I'm guessing FREE will win out).

I also submitted a personal essay to a contest. I'm not sure when they announce the winners. I have my eye on two more writing contests by the end of the month. It's good for me.

I'm in the middle of several books, most notably Barbra Ueland's If You Want to Write. I have another on urban gardening (still) and another on Unitarian Universalism (very insightful - I become more and more convinced we're in the right place there). I went to the downtown library branch last week - what a wonderful place. It's not kid-friendly like the one I usually go to, but it feels so smart and urban with all its levels and such.

The boys and I are headed over the church to work on one of the gardens (of course, we don't have medians in the parking lot, we have GARDENS) this afternoon. Will probably come home with a nice selection of tomatoes, peppers, and whatever else is hiding amongst the weeds (we are going there to clean it up, not to pick ... but pick we shall).

My Intention

For about a month now, I've been attending a writers group at my church. At the end of each meeting (most of the time), we set an intention for the week. In the past, my intentions have been to write every day for the week, write fiction every day for a week, etc. This week, however, I was stupid enough to say that I intended to start Julia Cameron's The Artist Way and do morning pages every day. For morning pages, you write three pages first thing in the morning - even if you're just complaining about being tired. My youngest, Moose, gets up at 6 a.m., so I thought I'd get up at 5 a.m. and leisurely write my three pages and get ready for the day before he got up. Of course, he got up at 2:30 a.m. screaming, and it took me 20 minutes of snuggling and back rubbing to get him back to sleep. When the alarm went off at 5 a.m., I told my husband to turn it off.

I got up at 7:30 and hid out in the bathroom writing my pages. My husband wondered why I was in the bathroom for an hour - I'm usually low maintenance in the "get ready" department. I got my morning pages done, though, and I feel accomplished :) One day down, six to go.

The Artist's Way is actually a 12-week commitment, but I'm going in one step at a time. If I manage to get through this week, then I will set my intention to do it again next week and so on.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday marked the big 2-8 for me. Despite being far away from friends (newer and older) and family, it was a wonderful day. I woke up to a house smokey from turkey bacon :) with eggs and toast. We took the boys to the big park and played in the fountain. I chatted with a mom there about things to do around here. We went home for lunch and then opened presents! Of course, I had already opened everything from my mom and my in-laws (hey, it's not my fault it's here before my birthday), but Jonathan and the boys had some wonderful things for me - a new Fossil purse, gift cards to Michaels and Kohls, three pairs of Target flip flops, and a new feather pillow. (I left my old pillow at the hotel and was very sad about it.) Then I took a nap with my new pillow. Later we went to Copelands for dinner, they serve New Orleans-type food, and it was SO good. We came home and did cake and then I headed to a journaling group. The group meets at the church and was very, very good. We did free writing and made goals for next week's meeting. So, so nice to be writing again.

My mom sent me a couple Cricut cartridges - new releases at that! I was very impressed. I didn't inherit my love of crafting from her, but it's nice to know that she pays attention when I rattle on and on about my crafting.

My in-laws sent me True Blood Season 2 (so I got to cancel my order - wahoo!). I watched it all up and am now having Sookie withdrawal. I've read all 10 books and seen both seasons and the new season doesn't start till June ... and we don't have HBO anyway, so I'll be waiting for that DVD season to come out in a year. The horror!

I have read two books recently, The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio and I'll Fly Away. Both great reads.

On my birthday, Bean got a new big kid bike with no training wheels. Mind you, he could barely ride a small bike WITH training wheels, so he's got a lot of practice to do. His little buddies two doors down both ride bikes without training wheels, so he has some peer pressure which should help in this circumstance. Also, I think he's starting to get a little self conscious about being cool. When his friends knocked on the door today and Husband said, "Bean, you want to go play?" he jumped up and said, "Yeah!!!" then he quickly collected himself and said, "I mean, I'll meet you guys outside." What was that all about?

I somehow talked my husband into going into a junk store antique shop today to look for a coffee table. We actually found lots of cool stuff, but nothing suitable for our coffee table. There are lots of antique stores around, so I'm sure we'll find something eventually. There is a trunk at Pier 1 that I like - maybe that'll go on clearance mid-summer or something.

We also ate a somewhat famous Southern diner for lunch called Strawn's. OH SO GOOD! We are quickly understanding why the Southern states are typically the most overweight. Anything that isn't deep fried is smothered in butter and/or lard and/or gravy. Even the kids' pancake platter came with a HUGE dollop of HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM. Amazing.

So, yes, we continue to love Louisiana. The only downside so far is the smelly, yucky-tasting water. All in all, though, it's a small price to pay. Oh, the flipping 8.6 percent sales tax too. Ouch. Oh, and car insurance rates (do you here DAT, Louisiana, learn how to drive!). Still, though, I'll take Louisiana over North Texas any day.

A little of this, a little of that ...

My mom gets here tomorrow. She's not staying nearly long enough. I've told her as much.

We're hoping to do a mini-Christmas Sunday. Italian beef sandwiches and mashed potatoes! Yummy.

I did some research on Moose's I'm-never-going-to-walk-people-so-stop-bringing-it-up issue. He's reached all his physical milestones (aside from weight gain) on the slow side. He was a late roller-over, a late sitter-upper, so he's naturally going to be a late walker. He's also taken to what is called "knee walking." Knee walkers often don't walk till 20+ months. Parents who describe their knee walkers say they're laid back and content kids (just like our sweet Moose) and they just have zero desire to walk (because they can "walk" and hold things, so why bother with the last part of the leg). Now, sometimes low muscle tone is an issue with late walkers (but I'd be SHOCKED if that was an issue with Moose), but for late walkers with healthy muscle tone, PT is pretty useless. They walk when they walk.

So, that's that.

Fair warning, one of my husband's co-workers borrowed my computer and it's giving me some warning when I start it ... so I'm assuming it could go at any time. I knew my poor computer would contract some porn virus. Never, ever let single guys touch your computer. (His call sign is Wax, ladies, do not be wooed. You have been warned.) (He allegedly used it for work purposed - because the Air Force doesn't allow external devices on their own computers - but here we are with some henious warning popping up.)

Also, AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs), what is with you and having conferences in winter in cold places? NYC, Chicago, and now Denver? Do you know how appealing all three of those cities are in the dead of winter. Not. Appealing. At. All. Trust me, I understand how unappealing "the south" is year around, but have you heard of California or Arizona? You know, two states that weren't involved in the Civil War and have very mild winters! Anyway, next year is D.C. in February. I'm not sure that's any better (but I find it more appealing since I know a few people in D.C.).

Bean continues to have green, blue, and yellow days. The green are more frequent than the others, but the kids has yet to have five green days in a row. Whatever. I think we are all ready for winter break.

I started rereading The Catcher in the Rye. Oh, Holden Caulfield, you are a character (literally). The story starts right around this time of year. I just love it. Baby Boy No. 3 ... Caulfield? (Not pregnant. Just throwing names out there.)

Small Gestures

Yesterday I had the rare opportunity to escape to Hobby Lobby in ... wait for it ... DAYLIGHT. Husband is on an early schedule, so I made the most of it and roamed the aisles in peace. But that's not what this post is about.

There's a double-door setup at Hobby Lobby. I walked in and noticed a woman struggling with her cart to get through the first set of doors, so I quickly walked back to the other door and held it open for her. It took about two minutes. She thanked me profusely - seriously, it was like I had paid her bills for a month. She told me that she had just had back surgery and usually had to ask people for help, and she just couldn't believe that I had gone out of my way to be helpful and that I had done my good deed for the day.

As I've mentioned before, we're very polite in the Midwest/Great Lakes area.* Tis not the same around here. It's something I've repeatedly noticed throughout my sentence here.

I should also say that my college (which we'll refer to as Blue U) has serious OCD when it came to opening doors for people. We would wait MINUTES to open the door for people behind us. We would rush to get to the door first to open it for another person. I'm not kidding, no student at Blue U just let a door slam. This behavior was the standard.

Moving on ...

Anyway, since retiring my other blog, I've received emails from multiple people that said the missed my writing and that they love getting such an honest glimpse into motherhood (and stay-at-home motherhood at that) and that ... wait for it ... I make them want children! Wha ha ha ha. Such HUGE compliments. Seriously, you guys, you have NO idea how much that means to me. It means that my writing must be coherent (and possibly entertaining) and that I must make this mom gig not seem ::so:: awful (despite my discussion of poops and snots and noise). Those are all big things to me - my writing, my honesty, my kids.

So, here's what I'm getting at, making a small gesture can make someone's day. Whether it's opening a door or jotting a note, it's well worth doing.

*And now my politeness is wondering why I didn't follow the poor woman to her car and help her unload the cart and then bring the cart back up to the building. Gah!