It’s dribble time!

January 7, 2017January 7, 20172 Comments

Cricket started basketball camp today. I’ve been to countless soccer, t-ball, and football practices, and at least that many swimming lessons and soccer, t-ball, football, and basketball games with Miss Tadpole and Bubbles. Basketball camp is a new one, though.

Gotta love it when they ask at the last possible moment. Cricket brought me the sign-up form at 8:00 a.m. this morning; camp started at 9:00 a.m. It’s fifteen minutes from our house to the school, and I was still in bed.

Apparently he’s been getting tips from the older two – Bubbles had me help him with a homework assignment the other night and waited till 9:30 p.m. the night before it was due to get me what I needed to help.

Kids. 😀

Do your kids participate in any extracurriculars?

Another stressed-out Christmas carol

December 23, 20162 Comments

So last year about this time, I was doing the Writing 101 challenge and the prompt was fallacy. I wrote a stressed-out-Mom version of “Jingle Bells,” which pretty accurately reflected my state of mind for the duration of the holiday season last year.

Actually, it’s a pretty accurate reflection of my state of mind right now, too.

In a fit of inspiration this morning, I heard the words to another stressed-out-Mom carol, and the following was born:

It’s the Most Burdensome Time of the Year

It’s the most burdensome time of the year!
With the holiday shopping
And temperatures dropping, we’re living in fear,
It’s the most burdensome time of the year.

It’s the stress-stressfullest season of all.
With the social engagements and concert arrangements
I just want to bawl!
It’s the stress-stressfullest season of all…

Oh, the kitchen is smokin’
And my budget’s broken,
I think I’m becoming a loon.
Will the pipes keep on freezing,
The kids keep on sneezing,
Or will they be throwing up soon?

It’s the most burdensome time of the year!
The noise is astonishing,
With carols admonishing be of good cheer,
It’s the most burdensome time of the year!

Oh, the kitchen is smokin’
And my budget’s broken,
I think I’m becoming a loon.
Will the pipes keep on freezing,
The kids keep on sneezing,
Or will they be throwing up soon?

It’s the most burdensome time of the year!
The noise is astonishing,
With carols admonishing be of good cheer,
It’s the most burdensome time,
Yes, the most burdensome time,
Oh, the most burdensome time
Of the year!

I had quite a lot of fun with this, and I know several others who like to put their own take on Christmas carols around this time of year. I’m thinking about making it an annual tradition!

What about you – are you ready for Christmas? What have you got planned?

Things I like

November 5, 20165 Comments

I’m feeling a little less than inspired today, so here are some of my favorite things:

Fall leaves.
Crisp autumn nights cheering on my team.
Old cartoons.
Happy kitties.
Books I can get lost in.
Visits from old friends.
The sound of the corn dryers near my childhood home.
Office supply stores.
Silly puns.
Bad jokes.

If you made a list of some of your favorite things, what would be on it?

Photo Friday

November 4, 2016November 5, 20162 Comments

I meant to post this yesterday as a Throwback Thursday post…but I forgot.

Oops.

Oh, well! My forgetfulness worked out this time, because now I’m not scrambling for ideas on what to post today! And Photo Friday can make a brief return!

See? It’s all good! 😀

Wow, that’s phrase I haven’t used since the ’90s…

Speaking of that glorious decade of my misspent youth, today’s photo gallery features a collaborative story a friend and I wrote for Spanish class once upon a time. She did the drawing, I did the writing, and we both had a ton of fun in the process. I was actually thinking about this story (and a couple of others) a couple weeks ago as I sat at school conferences. Miss Tadpole now has my high school Spanish teacher, who told her that I used to write stories in Spanish.

Ah, the good ol’ days, when I was slightly more confident in my language skills… 😀

I ran across this the other night as I was digging through a scrapbook and praying I could find my original ACT scores. They never turned up, but this gem did, along with some other hilarious reminders of my high school days (YM covers and Tiger Beat centerfolds and “Got milk?” ads, oh my!).

My photo skills were somewhat lacking with these, so I captioned each lovely character sketch with the story.

: Dos Amores

: Había una vez, había dos muchachas, Razaana y Iula. Ellas eran amigas. El padre de Iula era Thor. Razaana era una criada de Odin. Razaana y Iula tenían diez y seis años.

: El amor de Razaana era el hijo de Loki, y se llamaba Skeld. Skeld era rubio. Odin no estaba contento con Razaana, porque Odin y Loki eran enimigos. El amor de Iula era el hijo de Hygliak, y se llamaba Buliwyf. Buliwyf era rubio, también.

: Vivían en un pueblo pequeño, Silverton. Hacía siempre sol. El año era 917 A.D. Un día, Razaana estaba andando en la selva cuando ella vió Skeld. Ella corrió a Skeld.

: Skeld tomó Razaana en sus brazos, y después de un abrazo rápido, ellos fugaron. Mientras, Iula y Buliwyf iban a Thor a pedir su bendición. Ellos querían casarse. Thor daba su permiso, y Iula besó Thor en la mejilla. El Fin.

Happy Friday, folks!

Beginnings

October 13, 2016October 13, 2016Leave a comment

brain Excuse me, but I’d like to engage in a bit of a brain dump. Here, then, are some things that have inspired me, made me laugh, or just sort of poured out onto the virtual page in the last week or so.

Please to enjoy.

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” -Lennon-McCartney

“You trace your lineage back centuries, back to the Puritans of ancient New England, but we can trace it further.”
I’ve been feeling the sci-fi vibe lately, and this struck me as perfect for an aliens-invade-America kind of story. Don’t ask me why. 🙂

“It’s easy to quit on a relationship when the going gets tough; it’s much, much harder to react with grace for those who’ve committed such a grievous offense against one who is supposed to love, honor, and cherish you till death do you part. Forgiveness is not always easy.”
This was in reaction to an open letter to Hillary Clinton. I’m not a fan, but aren’t we tired of hearing about her marital problems by now? (For the record, I’m even less of a Trump fan, and no, I don’t know who I’m going to vote for yet. Trolls be warned: I tolerate no mean-spiritedness here and I’ll disable comments if I have to (but I really don’t want to, because this post is not about politics).)

Everyone thought the world would end in a great, fiery bang. My grandmother thought so, my mother thought so, even I thought so. But we were wrong. The end of the world was anything but.
This came to me this afternoon. This has the makings of a funtastic story. This is all you’re getting on it for now. 😉 😀

Also? I don’t know about you, but now I have “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” stuck in my head on an endless loop.

And finally, here’s a bit of cuteness from my not-so-little Cricket:

Someday I’m gonna name my kid Aaron Furzy because that’s a beautiful name. And if my wife wants to make it something else, then she can do that. -Cricket

How about you – what’s inspired you lately?

Ten things

September 8, 2016September 8, 20162 Comments

With Labor Day now but a memory, I feel it’s time to kick my blog back into high gear. And by high gear, I mean posting more than once a month.

Because, you know, I’m a writerly type. And writerly types write.

Right?

Right.

Okay, then. It’s been a while! I’m still trying to make my head stop spinning after the whirlwind that was my summer, which I truly can’t believe is over already. It’s true what they say – the older you get, the faster time passes. And with that in mind, here are some of the ways I spent my time this summer:

Camping. A lot. Camping includes, but is not limited to, swimming, tubing, hiking, fishing, playing cards, roasting marshmallows, grilling, and touring maize mazes, nature centers, petting zoos, and museums.
Not writing. I’m finally starting to feel the ideas…

Experiment: Hone your eye!

March 27, 2016March 31, 20162 Comments

We had an Easter egg hunt today, and the boys had a lot of fun:

They didn’t quite reach their quota of 15 eggs apiece, but they didn’t seem to care. They were eggcited enough about running around outside with their cousins. How was your Easter?

Christmastime is here…

December 13, 2015Leave a comment

…Happiness and cheer,
Fun for all
That children call
Their favorite time of year…

It’s beginning to look a bit more like Christmas round these parts:

Someone said she was NOT going to sit on Santa’s lap. Guess how well that worked out. 🙂

Cricket adores his new train set.

A pretty tree for a pretty courthouse. 🙂

“Santa, you’re kinda scary, but you gave me a dolly, so I don’t know what to think now.”

If you look closely to the left of the moose, you’ll see a little reindeer mailing a letter to Santa…

I love all the musical ornaments.

Every auditorium should have a tuba tree with an eighth note on top. 😉

I do so love this wreath. 🙂

Nativity central.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches!

The courthouse is always pretty, but it’s even prettier at Christmas.

What would the North Pole be without Santa Claus and snowmen?

Best. Jingle bell. Ever.

Advent calendar, take two. This is the one I grew up doing with my parents, and now I’m sharing it with my kids. 🙂

Finally got our tree up!

Mistletoe anyone?

Cricket wanted to put all the decorations on the piano. 🙂

One happy Thumper bunny. 🙂

Time to sing about ugly Christmas sweaters!

Looks like Donner’s lying down on the job… 🙂

But it’s been warmish and rainy here the last two days. Last night while we were decorating our tree, we had a thunderstorm. That made it feel rather more like Christmas in July.

The kids had their annual 4-H cookie walk yesterday morning and then went Christmas shopping at a local church. We listened to Christmas music all day, decorated last night, and watched Home Alone 2 after the boys went to bed. It was a little bittersweet, though – we always decorate as a family, and this year Seymour wasn’t home to help out. Miss Tadpole took it pretty hard, and I agree – it’s just not the same without him.

Still, I’m feeling pretty cheery after all that Christmasy fun yesterday, and I’m looking forward to working on Christmas cards this afternoon. 🙂

Have you decorated yet? Do you go all out, or do you keep it to a few treasured things? What kind of Christmas traditions do you have in your family?

A gift for Santa

December 6, 2015December 7, 2015Leave a comment

These have got to be the cutest (and most delicious) wedding favors ever:

Have you shared a Coke with anyone lately?

I’m versatile – again!

December 3, 2015December 1, 20156 Comments

Once again, Mama Monkey from the Monkey’s Jungle has nominated me for an award. And since I’m short on bloggy inspiration at the moment, this seemed like a great time to share the fun. 🙂

the-versatile-blogger-award

This time, it’s the Versatile Blogger Award! I received this one the first time a few years back, so today I’ve got some new tidbits to share. But first, ze rules:

Thank the person who gave you this award.
Include a link to their blog.
Next, select 15 blogs that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
Nominate those bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Seven things you may or may not have known about me:

I am a recent convert to the Cult of the Egg Nog Worshippers. While I don’t go as gaga for it as my kids do, I’ve at last decided that it’s pretty okay.
I love to play Balderdash. I don’t think I’ve ever won a game, but I sure do have fun with it. And it’s a great way to generate story ideas. 😉
Charlie Brown Christmas stamps make me happy. Using them to mail bills, though? Not so much. For that I need my…