Month: September 2014

How did I spend my weekend?

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Why, engrossed in the latest Banned Underground novel to hit my phone, naturally.  Suffering, as I was, from a complete lack of motivation and a nasty headache to boot, I settled down yesterday afternoon and read the whole of Have Frog, Will Travel in the space of an afternoon.

What’s it about?  Glad you asked!  From Goodreads:

Go Fridge-diving at Grizelda’s in Have Frog, Will Travel

A traditional witch’s cottage is a wondrous, if sometimes impractical, thing. But not in the eyes of the County Council Building Regulations Inspectorate. And when the Council Inspector condemns her home after a chance encounter with the Fridge, Grizelda (off-white witch and leading proponent of the people/frog spell) is forced into a quest for a competent builder to make the necessary alterations.

But such things are not always easy to find, and as for a suitable plumber, well, you could throw money down the drain. Or the frog pond, as it might be… Just who is going to turn out to be Another Brick In The Wall?

And because Amazon’s blurb differs slightly, here’s that one:

Photo 365 #37

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Our bunnies, Oreo and Midnight (one guess what they look like) got new homes today.  Now they have their own room to hop about and curl up and eat and drink and just be.

But today’s post isn’t really about the bunnies.

kitties.jpg

We took the boys out to see the bunnies once they were all settled and Thumper got distracted by the kitties roaming the yard.  He feels compelled to pick up the cats every time he sees them, and if he has to chase them in order to pick them up?  So much the better, in his opinion.

He loves his kitties. 🙂

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Privatized

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That’s right, I’ve privatized the majority of my poetry posts.  I’m working on a follow-up to Tuesday Daydreams, and in preparation, I’ve made private all the posts that will be featured in my second collection.  Formatting with two little monkeys climbing on me is proving a challenge, and I’m having issues with a couple other things, but I hope to have it available soon.

I’ll keep you posted!

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo Friday: Birthdays!

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Today, Bubbles turns eleven.  How in the world is it possible that my beautiful baby boy is suddenly eleven?

Startin' 'em off young FTW.

Startin’ ’em off young FTW.

Since this is his weekend at his dad’s, we had his birthday supper last night: Spaghetti with meat sauce and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (and the Heath bits leftover from Tuesday night’s Pampered Chef party).  After he opened his presents, we cleaned up and put the boys to bed before settling in for an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.  It was a good night, and I hope his day and night today will be just as fun.

I love you, Bubbles. ❤

Do you have any family traditions surrounding birthdays?  If so, share ’em below, and don’t forget to stop by Charnele’s blog and check out her birthday pictures – you won’t regret it!

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #35

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flags.jpg

I was 17 when the twin towers fell.  It was one of the scariest days of my life, and I was nearly 1100 miles away from Ground Zero.

I watched the events unfold that day on the news.  I saw the first plane hit just before I left for school, and I spent the rest of the day watching the news – no one seemed able to turn it off.  Everyone was in a panic.

Propaganda abounded in the days that followed – I still have a few things that circulated after the attacks.  “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” is still a favorite song, and every time I hear it, I’m reminded of the days and weeks after September 11, 2001, when patriotism was at a high point and all my friends wanted to enlist to kick Osama where it counted.

But these stickers also hail from that era, as do the ones beneath them.  And every last one depicts a peace sign, whether it’s one like in this picture or a frog holding up two fingers.  I was afraid the attacks on New York would hurtle us headlong into a war the likes of which hadn’t been seen in sixty years.  I feared my home would be the next target.  I feared a lot of things, but I also prayed for peace.

Even at 17, I knew that not all Muslims are the same, just as not all Jews are the same, not all Christians are the same, not all Hindus are the same.  Extremists and terrorists exist in all cultures, all religions, and we shouldn’t judge the majority of a culture by the acts of the minority.  I hoped that my country would emerge from the ashes of that day stronger and more resilient.

Tonight, after supper was cleaned up and Bubbles had opened his birthday gifts…

Photo 365 #34

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Our annual family photo book arrived today, a day earlier than I’d expected.  So to celebrate, here’s a picture from said album:

Cricket riding Daddy around the room proved easier to capture than a nice picture of everyone in front of the Christmas tree.

Cricket riding Daddy around the room proved easier to capture than a nice picture of everyone in front of the Christmas tree.

I use Blurb to create these books each year, and the quality is fantastic.  (This is in no way a promotional post; I’m just really happy with the quality of their products.)  I ordered the first one for our first wedding anniversary as a way to document the first year of our marriage; I wish I’d captioned those pictures, but I didn’t really get into the different layout designs and caption options until the following year.  I looked through the 2013 book this afternoon after it arrived and was surprised by how much I’d forgotten about the events of last year, and how much the kids had changed.

Every time we take a picture that comes out particularly hilarious now, we tell the kids it’s going in the book.  Of course, with Miss Tadpole the reigning Queen of the Funny Face and Cricket and Thumper hamming it up at every opportunity, that means I have my work cut out for me when it comes to choosing which pictures make the cut and which ones don’t.  Still, it’s a lot of fun making these books, and the kids love looking through them year after year.

Do you do anything like this in your family?

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #32

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If there’s one thing I love, it’s writing.  Of course, I also love music.  Put the two together and I’m a happy girl. 🙂

notes

What’s that?  That’s my pretty new necklace from our trip to Northeast Iowa over the long weekend and a brand new short story, inspired by today’s prompt on The Daily Post.  I’ll post it just as soon as it’s finished.

But for now?  Back to work.  While the thunder lasts. 🙂

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.