Monday, March 29, 2010

Hello all.

We had a busy weekend, and it seems like we are going to have a busy week as well.

Tonight we have t-ball practice (which has been cancelled twice because of weather), and tomorrow we have 2 games.

I also have 2 Parent/Teacher conferences tomorrow night. So it is going to be interesting to juggle the kids and games, but I think we'll manage.

Then we have a short week, as the kids are out of school on Friday. We will be headed to Mom's house for Easter Weekend, and hopefully the weather will be decent so they can have fun.

But mostly we're just trying to mentally prepare for the onslaught of T-Ball season. It will be interesting to see how the boys play this year. And how the parents handle the tense games. My view is they are little kids and are supposed to be having fun, win or lose. And we've been on both sides of that equation. Their first season, they didn't win a single game, but they had fun.

The next couple of seasons, they've played better and won lots of games, and they also had fun.

But the parents got a LITTLE intense. Myself included. So this year I am determined to stay neutral, no matter what happens. (And all you people who KNOW me, stop laughing!) Trust me, compared to some parents on both sides of a game, I am the picture of calm and serenity.

I'll keep you updated on how the season is going, since it will be taking over our lives as of today.

Have a great week.

Later.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Well, I'm not sure what I want to write about this morning. The boys are off to school and Hubby is off to work. The Princess is being quite patient (so far) and watching cartoons.

I am working on critiquing a manuscript for a friend. Things are relatively calm at the moment, and I gotta say, it's a little unnerving.

I've gotten so used to the screaming, running, fighting, and general chaos in our house that when a peaceful moment descends I find myself scrambling to figure out what to do with myself.

Totally random thought just popped into my head: I absolutely love Netflix. I got to watch "Julie & Julia" last night, and it was very cute. The night before I watched "Lost in Austen" which is about a young woman in London who is completely in love with the book Pride and Prejudice. So when fictional character Elizabeth Bennett appears in her bathroom and sends the girl through a door into the world of Pride and Prejudice, she royally messes up the course of the entire novel.

I have been able to catch-up on a ton of movies I haven't had the time, money, or energy to see in a movie theater or to rent from a store. It's just nice to have a movie mailed to me, or to be able to watch them on my computer.

And that's it. Random thoughts are over. I've gotta get back to editing. Have a great rest of your week.

Later.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Good morning, everyone.

I hope your weekend was wonderful and your Monday is off to a good start.

My Monday is off to a fabulous start. THE TWINS ARE IN SCHOOL TODAY!!!

Spring Break is over!!!

The boys had a fantastic time with Mimi and Papa Max at the start of the break, there were a few questionable days in the middle of the week when I didn't know if we were all going to survive, and the last several days at Grandma Linda's house were terrific!

Grandma has a new puppy, Molly, and the kids just love her! The puppy chased them, they got to chase the puppy, she licked their hands, faces, and toes, and they all had a great time running wild in Grandma's newly fenced-in backyard.

Until the freak blizzard blew in. But of course, my children weren't about to let something as trivial as 50mph winds and stinging snow stop them from frolicking outside. They tromped in and out with the dog, burying themselves in drifts and having an all-around great time.

Before the snow they also got to visit with family, play at the park, visit their uncle at the fire station, and played until they all dropped from exhaustion.

Mommy included.

So that was our week. And now I'm off to catch-up on housework.

Have a great week.

Later.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Hello.

Hope you're all surviving your week. I don't know if I'm going to make it through mine. Having all three kids home is a true test of a mother's will not to commit violence against her children.

It's the fighting that's making me crazy. One of the boys starts arguing with the other. The screaming starts. Then the toddler gets involved just because she can. Someone hits someone else. The screaming gets louder. The scratching/biting/pinching comes into play (this is usually from the toddler as well, she's learning early to fight dirty).

Now everyone is screaming for me to do something, so I tell them they are all getting a spanking.

A split-second of stunned silence greets me before the next wave of shouting starts.

"That's not fair."

"He started it."

"She bit me/hit me/scratched me/pinched me." Pick any combination of the four.

"Spank him, not me. It was his fault."

Wah, wah, wah.

To quote Bill Cosby, "I don't care who started it. I'm a parent. I don't care about justice, I just want QUIET!"

So I get them all distracted with a TV show, or a game, or a toy, or a book. Whatever it takes to bring peace back into the equation. And it usually works for 10-15 minutes, until the next fight erupts and we start the cycle all over again.

This has been the last two days. We are headed to Mom's house tomorrow, and I hope the crazy will be somewhat diminished by Grandma's calming, soothing presence. It seemed to work while they were at Mimi's house over the weekend. So maybe it will work with Grandma, too.

Hope the rest of your week goes well.

Later.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Hi everyone.

It is a gray, dreary Monday morning here. Spring Break started about 3:45pm last Friday, and the boys went to Tulsa to spend a few days with Mimi and Papa Max.

YAY!!!!!!

Hubby and I certainly appreciate the peace and quiet, and from what I understand, they are having a fantastic time. It appears we may have two junior golfers on our hands.

The Princess has been . . . challenging . . . but despite her best efforts to control Mommy and Daddy's every move, we've managed to get quite a bit of work done this weekend. And a lot of that work was due to my brother and Mom coming over to give us a hand with a few things like fixing electrical outlets, a broken fluorescent light fixture, and replacing a closet door that somehow managed to get a hole in it.

We never managed to get to the touch-up painting this weekend, but hopefully over the next few weeks our spring cleaning/home revitalization project will be completed.

And that's how our weekend went. I'll be picking up the twins later this afternoon, and in a few days we'll be off to visit Grandma Linda.

Hope you all have a great week.

Later.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Okay, I'm going on a rant today.

Shocking, I know. I NEVER rant about anything, ever. *coughs into hand and averts eyes*

SO anyway . . . as I was saying, I know this really doesn't have a whole lot to do with anything unless you happen to live in Oklahoma, which I do.

What is the deal with all these earthquakes lately?! Yes, I realize the strongest one has been like 4.0000000001 or something like that, but come on! This is Oklahoma, not California (waving to Jan and Nancy, hoping they aren't making plans to strangle me the next time they see me).

WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE EARTHQUAKES HERE!!!

We get tornadoes. We get blizzards & ice storms. We get floods. We get brush fires. We get dust storms. We even had a hurricane, for goodness sake! Okay, so technically it was the reminants of a tropical depression that came up from the Gulf of Mexico, whirled through Texas, and decided to camp out of over Oklahoma, but still! You say potato, I say hurricane.

Now we get earthquakes.

I know they say weather is ever changing in Oklahoma, but good grief. This is carrying it a bit far, don'tcha think?

And what's next? A volcano gonna pop up out of a wheat field or something?!

BOO!!! HISS!!! NO!!! No more potential natural disasters for our state, thank you very much. We'll just take what we've already been soooo generously given, and some other state can keep the rest. I'm fine with that.

So now my ridiculous rant is over. Please have a lovely, natural disaster-free weekend and enjoy yourselves.

Later.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Hello, all.

After months of rewrites, edits, and let's face it, procrastination on my part, I am FINALLY ready to submit my manuscript to Steeple Hill.

YAY!!!

With the help of my critique partner, Lacy, I finished up the synopsis this morning. The manuscript and query letter are done. I just need to find the courage to put everything in the mail.

So for the rest of the day I'm going to channel the Little Engine That Could . . . "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can . . ."

Of course, nothing moves quickly in publishing so it will be a LONG while before I hear anything back, and even then it might only be a form rejection letter. Or it could be a request for the full manuscript. There's really no way to know for sure.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that I hear good news.

Hope the rest of your week goes well.

Later.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Good morning, everyone.

Well, I did not make it to Tulsa on Saturday. My ride and I were discussing her new mommy status and her reluctance to leave her baby for so long, not to mention the incredible amount of cleaning we each had to do in our own homes, respectively, so in the end we just met up for lunch and stayed home.

But we did take the twins to their first t-ball practice of the spring season, and they are very excited to be playing again. And the coach is excited to be playing again, too. He's already making plans for practices and tournaments and game strategies, etc. As long as it keeps the kids occupied, I'm happy.

Then we headed for Mom's house and had a fun day hanging out. The kids were exhausted all the way home, and today the boys are off to school and the Princess is lost in the world of Nickelodeon and playing with her toys.

And I'm going to be tackling house work again, in addition to book stuff.

So that's about it for us. Nothing major or exciting happening at the moment. Hope you all have a fantastic week.

Later.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Hello everyone.

Sorry I'm late. I keep saying that a lot, but I just haven't been focused lately. The laundry thing is really getting to me. I mean seriously, are people coming over to my house in the middle of the night and dropping off all their extra clothes?

When I say there are PILES of laundry around my house, it's not an exaggeration. Clean and dirty piles everywhere, in EVERY SINGLE ROOM OF THE HOUSE! It seems like the more I wash and dry and fold, the more piles pop up in their place.

But really, who wants to read about my laundry every week? Nobody.

So we have a busy weekend planned. What else is new?

I may be headed to a writer's meeting in Tulsa on Saturday, the twins have t-ball practice, and then we are off to my mom's house to spend the night.

And I have lots to do before then, so I'm off. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Later.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Hello all.

Sorry there was no post on Monday. I kept thinking about it, and then I'd forget again. Mostly because I was up to my eyeballs in dirty laundry, courtesy of the Princess who caught some sort of stomach bug and has been puking every night since last Friday.

And it only happens AT NIGHT!!!

What's up with that?

She's fine during the day, playing and carrying on. Then it's time for bed. Again, she's doing fine. Falls asleep. Wakes up after a couple of hours with a burst of coughing and whoosh!

Puke City.

Thank goodness last night it was only the blanket and sheet. It didn't actually soak through to the mattress like a few nights ago.

But to say I'm ready for this little virus to go away would be an understatement. I'm very happy there has been no fever or any other symptoms with this illness, but the throwing up is getting very old.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a fantastic week. I'm off to switch the laundry yet again.

Later.