Month: November 2014

Photo 365 #104: Moment

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Life is but a series of moments.  Each day I find myself recording moments for posterity, though sometimes my recordings are strictly internal (which means they usually disappear within 24 hours, as my memory is terrible).  Still, those little moments are what make life worth living, are they not?

“Peek-a-boo!”
“Raaaaaar!”

These two images are from the first night we spent in our new house.  We had no furniture, other than a collapsible picnic table and an air mattress.  What we did have were great friends and happy kids, and we made a boatload of memories that night.  We’ve made more memories in our new house in the year since these pictures were taken, and the thought of all the memories we’ve yet to make thrills me to pieces.

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Revised!

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I finally got around to revising my first page, as posted here for Michelle Hauck’s first page critique blog hop.  It’s taken a lot of time, a lot of thought, and a lot of quiet to get something figured out, but I think it’s good.  It’s longer, but less wordy, and hopefully, more showy and less telly.  Either way, it wouldn’t be what it is without your input, so thank you very much!

I’ve posted the revision at the top of the original post (clearly marked so you know what’s what), and would love some comments on the revision as well.  Because, you know, we writers are nothing if not insecure.  But on the off chance that you don’t feel like digging back through ten days of blog posts, I’ve also posted it for your reading pleasure below.

***

“Please, your Highness, have mercy.  I beg you.”

“I would very much like to, sir,” Prince Vegin said.

Photo 365 #103: Architecture

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I’m lucky to work in a town full of wonderful old Victorian houses.  There are two of them within a couple of blocks of my office, and they’re just gorgeous (there might actually be a couple others), despite the massive hailstorm that hit the area five years ago.  But I’m not at work today, so I can’t take a picture of either of them decked out in their snowy glory.

I have a few pictures of a beautiful church I saw this summer, but I was shooting on the fly and most of the pictures came out either blurry or crooked.  Then I thought of all the pictures I have of our house, both our old one and our new one, but they’re really nothing special (the pictures, that is, not the houses).  Straight-on shots of one, a few different angles on the other as we were painting it this summer, but nothing great.   Still, they got me thinking…

Photo 365 #102: A pop of color

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Over the summer, we had a potted impatien out in front of our office.  It was a lovely thing, and when the temps turned colder, we brought it inside.  But sitting just inside the door as it was proved detrimental to its health, and it withered.

One of my coworkers brought it inside and set it near the window in our coat room.  She’s got a much greener thumb than I have, and decided to try nursing it back to health.

winterbloom

Last week, we noticed a bloom.  A couple days later, there was another one.  This morning, I counted four or five, and those are just on the side of the plant I can see – the side facing the window appears to have a few more blooms on it.

Now that we’ve got a bit of snow on the ground, it’s a treat to see something so bright and different amid the white.

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #101

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We had our first significant snowfall this weekend, and as a result, we didn’t go anywhere for most of the weekend (the lone exception being a trip to the store this morning for some milk).  I was quite happy to stay inside because it was brutally cold outside (though it wasn’t a whole lot better inside), and yesterday the roads were quite slick.

Miss Tadpole is concentrating awfully hard. 🙂
That blur just above the blue robot is his head flying off. 🙂

Instead, we stayed inside and played with the newfangled Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots that Bubbles got last year for Christmas.  It was certainly an entertaining way to spend the afternoon, and the boys loved watching Bubbles and Miss Tadpole pop each other’s heads off. 🙂

How did you spend your weekend?

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #100

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Last night was Miracle on Main, my hometown’s annual Christmas kickoff.  Among other activities, they had a whole room set aside for Santa to see visitors:

santa

Thumper didn’t say a whole lot, but that was okay, because Cricket did all the talking for him. 🙂  It was quite possibly the most adorable Santa encounter I’ve ever witnessed (at least with my kids).

Do your kids like going to see Santa?  Or do they scream in terror at the sight of him?

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

It’s excerpt time!

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Fifth WatcherThat’s right, today’s the day where you get a sneak peak at The Fifth Watcher, Book One of Melissa Barker-Simpson’s Worlds Apart series.  But how did this story come to be?  Well, let’s hear it from the author herself:

I wrote the Fifth Watcher during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) last year. It’s taken a while to get it ready for publication, but there are a few reasons for that. The novel was originally written in third person perspective, and during the first edit I decided to change it to first – not an easy task!

The premise for the story came to me following a discussion with my sister about alternate realities. I saw the protagonist of this tale clearly in my mind and Audrey Montgomery was born. I didn’t give much thought to the  name, it’s who she is. My grandmother’s name is Audrey too, and though both are strong, formidable women, I didn’t base the character on her.

As I like to do…

Photo Friday: Pride

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One team.  One dream.

That’s what you’d see if you drove past my neighbors’ house.  They – and many other people in our area – have a sign in their yard with those words scrawled in blue and silver marker.  And for all the Rebel fans out there, that dream is only one game away from becoming reality.

I don’t normally get worked up about sports, but when it comes to my home school district, well, that’s different.  I’ve spent the last twelve years bouncing between the two (big) towns in our school district.  I grew up in one, I moved to the other.  Moved back to my hometown, then moved back to my adopted hometown.  I am a proud Rebel.

Our football team made the state playoffs this year.  We played the first two playoff games at home and won big, then traveled last week for the quarterfinals, where we won again.  Today we played at the UNI Dome in the semi-finals and won.  The team we played today?  We beat them 43-0 back in September.  The win today wasn’t nearly as big, but it was a win, and we haven’t been to the finals in ten years.

Stand up! Be proud! Say your name! Out loud! WE ARE THE REBELS!

Stand up! Be proud! Say your name! Out loud! WE ARE THE REBELS!

Prior to that, it had been decades since we were in the finals.  Our school district as it is now didn’t even exist then.

So to say I’m proud of our boys in blue today is something of an understatement.  I am beyond thrilled that we’re in the finals.  I’m already praying for another win, because one of the teams we may face is undefeated (we’re not).  Go big blue!

The picture above is from last night’s pep rally (sadly, I couldn’t go to today’s game, though Seymour took the kids, who I’m sure are ecstatic).  I think the caption says all that needs saying. 😀

Okay, I lied.  I’m going to leave you with the lyrics to our school song, because it’s going to be running through my head all day now.  And if I can find a link to a clip of our band playing it, I’ll share that, too.

School Song by Gerald Ramsey

We are the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Rebels,
As proud as we can be!
Gladbrook-Reinbeck Rebels,
Fighting for victory!
Fight!  Fight!  Fight!
Win that mighty battle,
That is our Rebel cry,
It’s on to fight!
Win!
Victory’s ours,
As we lift that banner high!

Go Rebels!

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Cover reveal: The Fifth Watcher!

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image for websiteOne of the best things about participating in blogging events is all the awesome people you meet.  I met fellow author Melissa Barker-Simpson back in April during the Blogging 101 challenge, and have enjoyed getting to know her a bit.  Melissa fills her days with language and words so she doesn’t get lost among the clouds. She is an interpreter by day, and a pen-wielding conjurer by night. Of course the only thing she conjures belong between the pages of a book, but it doesn’t make them any less compelling.

Her most important job, as far as she sees it, is being a mother to two impish teenagers. They keep her feet firmly on the ground, are a huge source of joy (despite the rampant emotions) and allow her to live out her fantasy of being a musketeer!

She spends her time living between different communities, one of them being the (mostly) online writing community and giving back the magic that has touched her life.

Melissa runs a series of blogs, has a thing for collaboration, and enjoys to support others as often as possible.  She’s got a new book coming out soon, and you know me – I love to help an author out.  So it’s with great pleasure and much excitement that I present to you the cover for Melissa’s latest book, The Fifth Watcher, Book One in her Worlds Apart series!

Behold, the pretty, pretty cover …behind the cut!