Hope

November 4, 2015November 3, 20158 Comments

Invincible (Five album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday I was driving to work when “Keep On Movin'” by 5ive came on the radio. As I’d just read a post by rarasaur that caused this particular song to resonate with me more than it might have otherwise, and I decided it should be my theme song. If not forever, at least for the day.

Don’t know it? The chorus goes like this:

Get on up when you’re down
Baby, take a good look around
I know it’s not much, but it’s okay
Keep on movin’ on anyway

You can find the full lyrics at Google Play. They also have the whole song, which I highly recommend. 🙂

It’s such an uplifting, feel-good kind of song! I was in a good mood all day after hearing it. Between the song and the bright, sunny morning, I was full of hope by the time I reached work. But it didn’t stop there – I felt so much lighter all day long. And when I left for home last night, it was back on the radio again.

I may or may not have sung along as loudly as I could. 🙂

And now it’s your turn – what makes you hopeful? Do you have a personal theme song?

Photo 365 #353

July 26, 2015July 25, 2015Leave a comment

I was out and about running errands yesterday when I saw this guy:

2015-07-25 10.49.56

I just love sunflowers, don’t you? They’re so cheerful!

Photo 365 #228

March 23, 2015Leave a comment

Yesterday was a great day. I hung out with family, I ate great food, I watched Buffy, I wrote. A lot. Well, more than I have been lately, at any rate.

And then last night, after suffering through the UNI defeat vicariously through Seymour, I was rudely awakened about 2:30 a.m. by the crash of thunder. Jagged streaks of lightning ripped apart the sky outside my window as the wind howled in agony. Something clicked and clacked against the window, and I groaned.

2015-03-23 08.11.02

When I awoke this morning, these pretty little pellets were all over the place. School delayed two hours to give the road crews a chance to clear the highways. But I still had to venture out on time this morning, braving the ice-slicked roads to get to work.

Luckily, the road we live on was the worst. Once I hit the east-west road that takes me the majority of the way to work, the roads were much less slick. I’m grateful that we haven’t had more ice this year, and I hope we won’t have any more storms like the one we had last night until it’s warm enough that the rain stays liquid.

Photo 365 #222: Human

March 17, 2015March 16, 20158 Comments

2015-03-03 17.59.19 I love the beauty
Of a warm spring day, but I
Loathe the allergies

That always come with
It. I feel like death warmed o’er,
And I look the same.

‘Tis such a pity
That all I want to do this
Glorious day is

Curl up under
The covers and sleep till I
Feel human again.

Photo 365 #211

March 6, 20152 Comments

It’s another beautiful sunny day out there!

bluesky

I just love that blue sky. And compared to the temps we’ve had lately, it’s downright balmy out there this afternoon!

Happy Friday, everybody! 🙂

Photo 365 #117

December 2, 2014December 3, 2014Leave a comment

Who doesn’t love Christmas cookies? Well, me. At least at the beginning of December, anyway.

My church and my kids’ 4-H club like scheduling their Christmas cookie walks right next to each other. I think last year, they might have been the same weekend, but this year, they’re separated by a week. I’m sure this is completely unintentional, but it makes for a very long day of baking. After all, 27 dozen is a heck of a lot of cookies.

Anyway.

I kind of forgot about the church cookie walk this year, so by the time I found the letter about it, it was too late to just give money and let someone else do the baking. The cookie walk is this Saturday and, since today is the only free day I have between now and then, I decided to get those cookies knocked out bright and early.

Cookie fail.

Mmm, meringue…

Cricket decided he wanted to help…

Photo Friday: Babies!

November 21, 2014November 22, 20142 Comments

frankie Last Sunday, Cricket’s godmother had her first baby, a little boy named for his father and his grandfathers. Yesterday, we stopped by to visit on our way home from the funeral. Baby is too cute, and looks just like his daddy.

I don’t think it’s quite registered with Cricket what this means yet. While we were there, his godmother didn’t hold baby for more than a minute or two, up until a nurse came for baby’s check-up. But Cricket is rather possessive of her, and when he realizes that his room at their house is no longer his but baby’s, and that he’ll have to share his godmother with someone else from now on, I wonder how he’ll take it. I’m expecting a lot of tears, at least until he gets used to baby.

I hope he’ll surprise me. I hope he’ll prove me wrong and be the best godsibling ever.

I had a heck of a time trying to get Seymour to let me have my turn holding the little guy. I miss the days when my boys were that little – they were quiet, and still, and let me snuggle them as much as I wanted. Now they’re too big and/or too intent on moving to let me snuggle them for long, unless they’re sick, as Thumper is. Poor guy stayed home with Daddy today and got lots of good cuddle time.

What do you miss about your children’s baby days?

Photo 365 #101

November 16, 2014November 17, 2014Leave a comment

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?

It’s excerpt time!

November 15, 2014November 21, 20148 Comments

That’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…

It’s all about the people, people!

November 10, 20143 Comments

I just got the most awesome, profound comment from Justine Manzano on my post about connection. Click the link to read the whole thing, because it’s a fantastic comment.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a snippet: