Oh what a beautiful morning!

Today I am really enjoying the sunshine and blue skies. Princess and I sat on the front step and had lunch together and the smell of the spring air was dizzyingly wonderful. It's a smell I have always loved; heat, earth, growth. True intoxication at it's finest. It has been a day to stop and breathe it all in.

Our health insurance has an online wellness center that has a lot of little classes you can take. Last week they sent me an email reminding me that if I wanted to win a weekend getaway, I'd better get busy and finish my Stress Management Lifestyle Improvement Course pronto. I could use a weekend at a spa, let me tell you, so I've been doing a some here and there the last few days.

I am currently on Phase 2 Step 1, and yesterday it talked about how to assess your personal stress level and take a balanced approach to the everyday stress in your life. Paraphrased (this is what I wrote down and put up on my desk so I can memorize it):

1. Appraise
Does the situation threaten me OR does it provide and opportunity that could turn into something good?

2. Letting Go
Can I let go? Is the situation out of my control OR can I do something about it?

3. Be Rational
Is this a hassle or a HUGE EMERGENCY?

Going through these three steps whenever a person, place or thing begins to cause stress in your life seems like a lot of work, but it also seems as though it might actually help sort the daily wheat from the chaff and make my life easier.

The first instruction was really an interesting thing to me. I am great at reflecting back on something and realizing what a fabulous lesson it was; I am not as good at being grateful for a trial in the middle of it. I think I would like to be and so I am going to work on that. Cultivating flexibility and the talent of seeing a bigger picture and purpose in our mundane struggles makes good sense to me.

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.

An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
~G. K. Chesterton

My First EVER Blog Give Away!

Okay, I am Courtney's number five, so it's all here fault :) Here goes:

The first five people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. HOMEMADE!The item will be my choice made just for you!

Restrictions and Limitations:

1. I have complete creative freedom.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done within the next 6 months.
4. You have no clue what it will be.

It may be personalized note cards. I might bake something. I might not think of anything until 6 months from now...The catch? You must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same to 5 people who comment.

The first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in (and posting their favorite color), will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift from me! Be sure to post a picture of what you get! Anyone past the 5th comment will be entered in a drawing for another item!

The quote below is an interesting one, and depending on how you see the world you can replace the first word with lots of things. I like Divine Providence myself :)

Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast;

in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.

--Ovid

In spring there is a renewal of all things...

Including my determination to keep up with my blog :) So here's an update to get you started. Since December:

**The contest I entered on New Year's eve? I won first place and they've chosen a couple of the other submissions I sent in to publish as well. I am stunned. I am ecstatic. I am grateful. They'll be published in the Fall 2009 issue of Segullah. Segullah also invited me to join their staff as a member of the poetry board.

**I entered another poetry contest, a local one, with word coming about that next month probably. I'm not confident about it, but I loved the idea so much I had to send something in. The winners have their poem engraved on plaques and posted in a "poetry garden" on the grounds of the public library for a year and they and the honorable mentions get the poems places on the city buses!

**I entered ScriptFrenzy and am failing miserably at it so far.

**The kids are growing. The kids are amazing. Princess is getting ready to be popcorn in her spring dance recital. Bear loves to say "I'm a pirate: aarrrggghhh".

**I finally opened an actual eBay store front called 8pizza and am loving how much simpler it is to deal with than the onesie twosie stuff I have done for years! Here is the first of some very nifty promotions I'll have coming up: sign up for my store newsletter (one email every other week and the occasional spotlight email) and get $1 off your purchase! Sign up by going to my store site and finding the Store Newsletter sign up button on the left side half way down. Free local pick up for locals and lots of "best offer" items too--don't be afraid to haggle with me just because you know me!

**My husband is not attending school this quarter and we are stunned at the time we have to hang out as a family. It's cool :)

**Night Writers (the writing group I go to) is producing its first publication; a year book of sorts that will include writing of many genres from the ladies in the group. It will be finished this week, and we are having an publication reception this Saturday evening with readings by the authors, autographed copies of Night Writer's Ink and treats. If you're interested in coming, drop me a line and I'll tell you when and where!

**Facebook has sucked me in and takes up way too much of my time, but it's sure the heck fun.

**I have lots of travel planned for the summer, and I am so excited to get to see some of you! We'll be doing a six-state road trip as a family and the kids and I will be doing some flying on our own too. Raise your hand if you want postcards!

I missed the blog. It's good to be back.

First Submission

I have to share. I actually, really, actually, submitted poetry for publication for the first time since eleventh grade. And eleventh grade was quite awhile back, folks, so rusty doesn't even begin to describe the way I felt about all this yesterday as I got started.

I hemmed, I hawed. I decided against it. I talked myself into it. I put it off until the last, last, possible moment. I harassed friends and family on extremely short notice for opinions and editing advice. I literally forced myself to do this.

Why? I asked myself this as I groaned through my seventh revision in twenty-four hours. As I stared at the computer screen, toggling between fonts, I tried a tactic my mother taught me. I muttered "What's the worst possible thing that could happen if I hit the send button?" My husband replied "We could all blow up." Hmmm. Well, that brought me back down to earth.

I may have shared this before, but there is a solid steel block on my desk that my mom sent me a few years back which has this engraved into it:

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?

This makes me pause on a regular basis and think about whether or not I have the courage to do something that feels hard. Today, I decided that even possibly not failing, was a good enough reason to try. How will my children learn courage if they never see me try hard at something that scares the living wits out of me?

I'm not expecting to win this contest, but I am expecting it to be the first submission of many. After all my hysteria (and if you know me you know I love a good dose of hysteria in my projects), right now I just feel happy. And relieved. And accomplished. You know those writing goals I started out with after the retreat in October? I am actually making progress! How cool is that?

Christmas

We arrived home from our delicious and delightful trip to Connecticut at about 5:30 this morning. It was an amazing and magical adventure (even if Continental airlines has made a permanent enemy out of me) and I can't imagine not going back east much sooner than the six years we waited this time! It will take me awhile to sort it all out and share it, but it really, really was wonderful and the time we spent with my sister-in-law and her husband was priceless.

We're holding off for the big Christmas "moment" until after nap time--partially since my husband is still asleep--but as he'll be home for the next week, we have lots planned, such as:

+Cookie, truffle, and rice krispie treat making, gingerbread village making (thanks Allie)
+Getting into the rhythm of snow-cocoa-snow-cocoa (the outdoor time will come in short spurts since all our snow clothes are currently vacationing in some top secret Continental airlines location)
+Sending the rest of the Christmas cards (once the luggage with them in it arrives)
+Hors D'oeuvres and sparkling cider galore (standard fare here from Christmas to New Years)
+Writing time for me since my husband is home to adore the children--will I submit poetry by the end of the year or won't I . . .

Anyway, you get the picture. It's a happy picture for me! And don't worry, photos (and details of the enmity between me and Continental) will be forthcoming :) Wishing you all a lovely day today and hoping you a fab week of festivities as we celebrate the mountain of December and January holidays!

Hope & Misery Abound

"Victories in life come through our ability to work around and over the obstacles that cross our path. We grow stronger as we climb our own mountains." -- Marvin J. Ashton

Yes, I am still sick. This would be the misery part. I'm on antibiotics though and it's now been three weeks, so I'm hoping it clears itself up this week and leaves me able to breathe in peace!

My husband was out of town Tuesday through Friday last week at a conference for work. I missed him terribly, both because I adore him and because it was horrid trying to deal with the kids alone all week when I felt so rotten.

Tuesday I woke up and got the kids dressed and breakfasted and decided to go lie down for a bit. This was a really stupid idea, and I'm playing the sick card as an excuse for my temporarily feeble decision-making capabilities.

When I got up, refreshed and feeling positive about my ability to handle the week with the kids, I first encountered a strong smell. It was not an unpleasant smell, but if I could smell it through this massive head cold then you know it had some serious power behind it. It smelled like . . . barbecue . . .

I was then confronted with my small son, slathered in something frighteningly thick and brown from fingers to wrists and looking like a little ghost--caked in a white powdery substance from the neck up. Then I saw the living room and I was not well pleased. My delightfully creative children decided to give themselves and the house a . . . spice rub.

The main ingredient was this, which is one of my favorite things to add to chili. This was the brown stuff Bear had on his hands. His head was covered in a mixture of cream of tartar and powdered sugar and dampened for maximum pastiness by organic lemon-thyme cleaning spray. Floors, walls, furniture and accessories, all "rubbed".

I thought about taking photos, but frankly I was too sick to do more than send Princess to her room while I gave Bear a bath and then baby-gated him into the hall while I spent 2 hours cleaning. I did get Princess out for the last half hour and have her help me vacuum and scrub, but most of it was too much of a mess for little hands to be of much use. Everything cleaned up fine except for the ottoman which I think is a lost cause. They used it as a palette and it had the hickory salt, cream of tartar and curry powder ground into it. We're going to smell like a smokehouse for months.

Now for the hope part. October is almost over and I am busy, despite the illness trying to get ready for November which brings the beginning of NaNoWriMo and CU lecture writing, Thanksgiving, my sister's birthday, the holiday selling season on eBay and the start of my own holiday prep list (which promises to be as lengthy and glorious as it always is).

Call me an optimist (or totally unrealistic), but I'm excited about everything I plan to pack into the last couple months of 2008! I love the holidays that are part of this time of year and the busyness that accompanies them, and I have hope that I'll manage to accomplish enough of what I want to be pleased with the effort and the results.

Tomorrow my plans are to pull out the sewing machine and begin work on Princess' Orange-Yellow-Pink Fuzzy Spider Costume and do a lot of laundry and work more on a story called "Worry & Care" that I started two years ago. I've only got a few chapters left I think before it's done and I'd adore having it finished this week. Here is the quote from the first chapter that the title comes from. It sums up my current state of hope.

Faith is not without worry or care--faith is fear that has said a prayer.

–Author Unknown

Miss me?

Wow--8 weeks, that is crazy! I hope to never leave y'all hanging for that long again. Things have been pretty wild here. Currently I'm sick--coughing and hacking sick--and it's been a full week so I'm dreaming it'll be over soon.

Princess' party was spectacular and we had a wonderful time with the family and friends who came (and there were plenty)! The cake turned out very well, although I was sobbing and hyperventilating over it as I decorated the ladybug, and the weather was PERFECT! Thank you to all who came, and I promise that the Thank You notes are coming soon. Tiffany was the absolute lifesaver--she's a new friend that I don't know well, but I give a fair amount of credit to her for offering to help and then showing up and doing whatever needed to be done! On the way home Princess said, "Mom, it was the most stupendous party anyone has ever had!" And that's what I wanted :)

The garden has been ignored for most of the time I haven't been here. Infestations increased and it was way, way too depressing for me to deal with. The potato crop was huge (like, hundreds of potatoes) and every single potato had bugs in inside it. I do have one little pumpkin which was actually turning orange last time I looked and I will take a photo of for you this week.

Mouth healed, it's all good, and gratefully they don't grow back so I NEVER have to have it done again.

I'm writing pretty much every day, though not as many words as I'd hoped. I went last weekend, before the sickness took hold, up to the mountains to a beautiful lake to a real live writer's retreat! I met lots of amazing women, a number of whom had published actual books and learned a lot. I came home totally inspired and with some clear thoughts about directions to take my various writing endeavors. I also joined the writer's association that sponsored the event (I'm in their newly formed online chapter) and can't wait to jump into their conversations and critiques. Here are my plans:

1. I am going to keep writing fan fiction. I've met a lot of great people through reading and posting fan fiction, I still love the characters I am playing with and frankly, it's fun. It also helps me hone my writing skills for my other projects, so it's even useful.

2. I'm going to work on a couple of original fiction pieces. The story I started for NaNoWriMo last year, and the one I am starting in a couple weeks for this year's contest. I may need significant encouragement on these, so please poke me now and again about them, okay? I do want them published eventually (I think), but first I want to actually complete a novel-length work of totally original fiction. Wow. I said it out loud.

3. You've heard me moan about poetry some and I've decided to do something about it. I'm taking down everything I've posted online (so read fast if you want to take a look), investigating previously published markets for that stuff and writing again. I even finished a new poem and a half this week! Official publication is what I want for these babies, at least some of them, so harass me about submissions, please.

In other news, we've started kindergarten for Princess and I'm loving it! I'm officially a home schooling mama now and it's so cool. Insane, but cool.

My husband has started school again and is taking an accounting class twice a week. So far, he's scored the only perfect 100 of the class on his first test and we're all holding together on those nights when he leaves home early and gets home late.

The Bear seems less of a baby each day. He's on another teething jag and he's managed three new ones in the last week and a half. He is now an Eleven Tooth Boy with a reasonable (given my family's propensity for toddler baldness) amount of hair. His sister likes to call it silvery-gold. I just call it mama-melting. He makes me laugh a lot and it's weird because he's almost a carbon copy of me at this age and some days I get this weird deja vu feeling--like I am actually looking at myself.