Saturday, July 31, 2010

July 31, 2010


Well, tomatoes, green beans, and errands sort of got in the way of my time management skills this week. I'm one page away from having the rough draft (which honestly should have been done) and I never made it to the bank so I can't get paypal completely set up. Actually since I needed to buy ink while I was out this worked out pretty well - money only goes so far which I'm sure everyone knows.
Looks like I'm camped in the tunnel for the weekend, but that's okay - there is always next week!
(The picture is of a Hummingbird Moth that decided it liked the taste of some of my flowers. I can't remember the name of the flower since we always just call them the kaleidoscope flowers because they remind me and Scott of what you see when you look through one.)

Monday, July 26, 2010

July 26, 2010


This summer is trucking right along in the fast lane with no governor on the speedometer! Chance's birthday went GREAT! I would also like it noted that I was the only one who did not spend any time sprawled on the floor of the roller rink in pain. That being said I would like to add that my body is definitely still saying that it is not quite as young as it used to be and that my time in the chair is not helping at all.(As I'm sure the brownie cake in the picture with Chance is also not helping LOL)
So let's see, this week I will actually meet a longstanding goal by default. On Friday I will officially have enough money to self-publish Clyde if she does not get picked up by the publisher that she is visiting (We are all keeping our fingers crossed that they will love her and want to publish her of course!) My inner clock is in a frenzy because there was a timeline there and I've met it. Waiting until October feels like hitting the "snooze" button on myself and it's still sort of uncomfortable! At least I have plenty of other things to keep me busy.
Since I'm feeling a little bit "at loose ends" I think this week will be a good one for tying up a few hanging projects. I'm planning on finishing up my critiques for the writer's group. I also need to finish getting my paypal account set up and figure out how to get my store tied to my website. I've been working on a picture book version of one of the Dragonpox, so I think I'll wrap up my To Do List by finishing the first draft of that. I think I'm going to use the name "Quillan" in place of Fiddlebug just in case... (fingers crossed on Bart and the Amber Bee Award too!)
I'll see you on Friday to let you know if I have a pretty bow or a tangled knot! I hope your weekend goes well!

Friday, July 23, 2010

July 23, 2010


Ah, Friday! Finally! And yes, I did make it to the end of my list - however, the first idea for video story time is going to require more thought. I'm just not happy with how it turned out, so back to the drawing board. Not the least of the problems is the fact that I want to do it outside which means I melt and the cats want to be involved *laughing*. The newsletters, however, turned out great! Now to figure out how to get people to go in and download them. I think I'm going to drop some copies off at a few of the kid oriented offices around here and see if that helps.
But now for more important things - tomorrow is Chance's birthday! Hard to believe that my "baby" is turning 14! I hear we are going to try to find a place to go roller skating in celebration and he wants a double layer brownie with icing between the layers instead of a traditional cake (makes me get a sugar rush just thinking about it!) So we are on our way to a terrific weekend! I'm leaving you with a baby picture of Chance and I'll post a recent one on Monday - gotta love how quick they grow! I hope yours is great too!

Monday, July 19, 2010

July 19,2010


As promised I've got a picture of the same flowering bush that I posted last week to share with you. Notice the color change! As fall draws nearer, the current pink color will darken to red. I think it's beautiful, and it helps remind me to look at changes in a positive light. After all, the flowers were very pretty when they were white, they are just as pretty now with their pink beginning to show up and they will be pretty later on when the red develops. I think I'd really miss the changes if they decided to just stay one color all year.
Speaking of new and changes, I've got a new list for the week. One of the things on it is something I've been putting off for quite a while now. I'm great at finding "reasons" to wait, but really it all comes down to the same excuse. I hate cameras, and the project is to begin a video story time addition for my website. Thankfully I'll be dressed up as a fairy, so I can pretend it's not me in front of the lens, but I'm still a little nervous about how the whole thing will go. I'm not sure how long the entire book will take me to film, but this week's goal is to get the first section read so I can see if my camera will handle the job. If not, I will have to rethink.
I also want to get newsletters featuring the projects by month from the Sophie's Sneeze page at my website together. My hope is that with school coming, some of the projects might fit in well for the teachers, and also give them some options to choose from if they want me to come read at story time and do a craft. I'm hoping to have back issues available through the site by Friday.
The other thing on my list this week is to get the new pieces that need critiqued from the writer's group printed out and started. They aren't due for a while yet, but it will be a nice distraction from my own projects! We have some very good writer's in the group, and I look forward to reading their work.
So there's what I'm On My Way To this week. Let's see if I can actually be on time with Friday's update for once *laughing*!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

July 17, 2010


After a strangely eventful week, I've finally made it here to update. Nothing really terrible, just sort of aggravating: a couple of new cavities on the boys reported by the dentist, a prescription for an iron supplement from my doctor, an afternoon long 3 county power outage that made me have to spend two days on the typical grocery trip. But now it's Saturday, and I'm happy to report that I got my critiques done in time for writer's group. I also survived the "hot seat" as they critiqued Dragonpox for me. I'm planning on setting this weeks $15.00 back in the hopes that I'll be able to spend it along with next week's when I finish Monday's "To Do List". I can't decide between red mulch and a new fountain critter for the fairy bed, so I figure that if I hold off I'll have enough for both. (Plus I REALLY just don't want to get back in the car any time soon.)
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm leaving you with a picture of a really neat flowering bush I picked up last year. The picture is from about a month ago, and I'll post an updated one on Monday so you can see how it's changed. I'll be back on Monday!

Monday, July 12, 2010

July 12, 2010


I'm sitting here looking at my calendar for this week and wondering how well it's going to work out. On the surface everything looks like it fits together fairly well, but I've been noticing lately that the better it looks on paper the more likely it is to be a problem. Probably just a little pessimism still hanging around from last week - I hope. Just in case the week conspires against me though, I've decided to just stick to the goal of having critiques done for writer's group on Wednesday. Whatever else I can fit in will be great of course, but I really need to make sure I've fulfilled my duties to the writers in the group first. Mundane challenges can keep me busy for the rest of the week, and I'm sure they will do a fine job of it! So, until Friday, you know what I'm On My Way To. I hope you make it to your goals as well!
p.s. I thought I'd share a picture of our little peach tree today. We got it last year and the one peach it had on it fell off before it was ripe. This year we have two and they are hanging on tight. It might not sound like something to cheer about, but I'm proud of the little thing! Plus the tree sort of reminds me of an emu, and I just think it's adorable.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

July 11, 2010


I woke up this beautiful Sunday morning with the feeling that I had forgotten something. As I pondered in the weird combination of pictures and itty bitty small words that passes for English in my brain before the caffeine was added, it hit me. I never did Friday's update here! What can I say, when weeks shift and flex to the degree that last week did, sometimes things slip through the cracks and get lost. I am here now though, and I suppose that's what is going to have to matter.
So the update goes as follows: The important weeds - the ones that were choking out the good mood in my head - are gone. The battle still rages for the flowerbeds, walkway and vegetable garden although I have conquered a large amount of them.
Sketches have begun on the new addition to the blog I have planned. I'm wanting to wait until I have a decent backlog of them to add it in. I may actually wait until September when everyone shifts out of summer mode and might be looking for something a little new.
I also admit that I didn't get to the critiques. That was the plan for yesterday as I accompanied my friend Theresa Flerx on a day trip. We met with Sandy Tritt with Inspiration for Writers who Theresa is having edit her manuscript. I had planned for a block of time where I would need to entertain myself while they discussed Theresa's book, but as it worked out that discussion flowed around lunch and a very enjoyable tour of Parkersburg, so no free time happened. Good thing I have a little time left!
The outcome is that although I made a LOT of forward progress, I don't get any new flowers this week. This has been happening quite a bit lately. I think it might have something to do with summer. Smaller list needed? I hate to downsize my personal expectations. I think I'll just take what comes, accept when I don't quite reach the goal and cheer when I do.
See you tomorrow with what comes next!

Monday, July 5, 2010

July 5, 2010


Sometimes it’s all just about maintenance. Today feels like the beginning of one of those weeks. There are weeds in my flower beds, weeds in my vegetable garden, weeds in the big front walkway, and mental weeds in my head. All of them have me cranky, and my dear and loving family is getting tired of it. Don’t get me wrong, I understand their glares and their silence, I’d glare and avoid me too if it were possible. I just wish that they would see that it is summer out there. The fact that we are all in our respective dungeons trying to catch up with things that should not need caught up with is frustrating and having to cancel fun plans because of schedules that have not been followed makes me angry. I am human after all. Ah but anyway, enough growling and airing of dirty laundry. I let the weeds get out of control and haven’t got the new additions planted yet, so I suppose I’m just as bad.
In keeping with the maintenance theme, I’m On My Way To some back burner typing this week. I’ve got notes that need to become computer files, I’ve got two critiques to double check, and I’ve got some small illustrations for a blog idea to begin… and the weeding of course – both physical and mental. I’ll see you on Friday with a better view (also both physical and mental) to share!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

July 3, 2010


Happy Independence Day weekend to everyone! July 4th is such a great holiday too! Most Americans not only get together with friends and family for cookout food (and who doesn't like cookout food???) but we have parades and fireworks! Our entire nation gets behind the common cause of celebrating the fact that no matter our differences we are one nation and we belong to ourselves! It just doesn't get better than that. Freedom is a powerful thing!
And on a very poorly constructed side note to that thought, I am free of my To Do List for the week, and Clyde the Undead Dust-bunny is free of my hands and travelling to Candlewick Press with my hopes for future celebration of her success. I also have some free time now that I hadn't expected to have - I'm trying to get past the weird feeling of having no self-imposed deadlines hovering over me, which is oddly disconcerting. Don't get me wrong, I've got plenty of back-burner projects hanging around that will fit nicely as goals. I think that I'm going to take a few days to dig in the dirt and slay some weeds though. I also have new flowers to plant before tomorrow's cookout *smile*
I'll see you on Monday with a new destination to work towards, but for now, I wish everyone a happy 4th of July! Hand on heart I am proud to be one individual who is a part of this one indivisible nation named America.