Category Archives: Family/Kids

First fight


Today it’s cold and rainy out. It feels like winter for about the third time this year. And winter reminds me of Minnesota. Minnesota reminds me of power ballads. And power ballads remind me of the first fight Chris and I ever had. We were in his old Honda Accord coming back from somewhere (probably Kentucky) and I wanted to listen to power ballads while I drove. He didn’t. And I got mad because he was sleeping, so what did he care anyway?  This is the song that set it all off. Obviously, we got over it and got married anyway. There were no power ballads at our wedding.

Narrowing my focus

I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend, Pilates instructor, jewelry designer, author, cook, musician, painter, illustrator, yogi, barista, cashier, etc., etc., etc,. yada, yada, yada, the list can go on and on. I hold a bajillion different rolls, and, benethe them, sub-rolls (not in the sub-sandwich sense) and even some of those can be broken down into sub-sub-rolls. . For example, as an author, I write:

  • Fiction
    • Short stories
    • Novels
  • Non fiction
    • Health
    • Memoir
    • Self-help
    • Creative
    • Craft
  • Freelance
    • Blogging
    • Business/Corporate Writing
    • Content generation
    • Feature articles
    • Catalog copy
  • Children’s stories

I’m sure if I thought about it longer I could even come up with more.

Unfortunately, I can’t be perfect at all of my rolls. Heck, I probably can’t even perfect one of them. But, I can become darn good at some of them. And I’m realizing that to do that, I need to let some of the others go. So, for now, I’m choosing one to cross off the list. Well, actually, the sub-list. I’m going to back-burner the children’s writing I’ve been working on. It’s been nagging me, not because it wanted to be completed, but because it’s been one of those items on the “to-do” list that never gets crossed off. I’m done moving it from list to list to list. Today, for now, I’m removing it. Along with that, I’m unsubscribing from the children’s-market focused writing and illustrating blogs I’m currently subscribed to. I just don’t have time to digest everything, and I’ve got to make some room.

That’s not to say I’ll never come back to the Children’s world. Heck, I’ve got two kids, so, minimally, I’ll continue creating stories for them. It just means that, for now, my writing muscles are training for a different kind of sport. It’s like putting football on hold to focus on baseball. Just like Bo Jackson, I’ll be back. But even he couldn’t play both sports at the same time.

A Creative Thanksgiving

I woke up this morning, made some stuffing and a turkey.  Then it cooked for three and a half hours.

Thanksgiving Turkey 2011

While it was cooking I got so caught up in the Macy’s Parade and working on wire wrapping that I forgot all about the potatoes, rolls and green beans.  Chris took the kids to the playground while I threw them all together.  While they were cooking, I made this:

The poem is from an amazing prayer book Morning and Evening by Johann Habermann that you can get for free here or here.

We ate a wonderful meal that I thought about taking pictures of only after it was gone.  Everyone laid down for a nap, and I worked on finishing the necklaces I started in the morning.  After a quick trip to Michael’s for an amazing easel, we all ate chex mix and popcorn while watching Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving.

After everyone went to bed, I decided to work on a few more necklaces.  Here’s everything I made today:

Necklaces I made on Thanksgiving Day

They will be in my Etsy shop soon, and available on Cyber Monday!

(I also started a painting tonight, but all I did was paint a canvas black, so I don’t have a picture of that.  I’ll post it when it’s done.  I do love my new easel!)

The kids first hike

We took the kids to Radnor Lake tonight for their first hike.  We did just a short hike- the first half of the Ridge trail down to the Lake trail.

Two lovely deer greeted us as we started the hike.

Lily and Austin each almost slid down the side of the hill a few times, we made them start holding hands and everything got better.

We all made it out safely, including the wood tick that hitched a ride home with Austin.  Can’t wait for the weather to cool off so we can go more often!

Have your cake and eat it too!

It’s Austin’s 2nd birthday today, and we celebrated with a trip to Chick-fil-a and their indoor, air-conditioned play place! I also made cupcakes. The party is Saturday, and we’ll be having chocolate and hot dogs and all kinds of yummy crap, so I wanted someone a bit lighter. Angel food cake is my favorite, so that’s what we had. It was my first attempt at angel food cupcakes though, and I wasn’t prepared for the size! They’re ginormous! The best part: 1/12 of the recipe is a serving. A 140 calorie serving (I know! AMAZING!) I made 12 small cupcakes and 3 huge ones. The kids each ate 1.5 small ones. It was nice to be able to say yes when they asked for seconds!

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