Author Envy

As many of you know, I am a writer. I many not have anything published yet, but I can't deny that I was born to write. When I'm eating I think about writing, when I go anywhere with my kids I look for things to write about, when I watch movies I think about how the scene could have been written better. When I take pictures I think about the captions instead of the photo. I stay up until 2 am frequently just to write. Anytime I find a blog or an article that deals with writing, I HAVE to read it before I can finish whatever it was I was really doing.

Which leads to why I am posting this entry. Yesterday evening I spent some time working on my latest novel and adding a few paragraphs to another novel I had put aside. I also spent time preparing a manuscript to send to the Friend magazine. I was happy in my little writing cocoon until I realized I needed some information to finish my Friend submission. So I went online to find the answer to my question.

And that's when author envy set in.

You know when you have author envy when you find that you have spent 2 hours glaring at all the author interviews you can find online and cursing each witty and remarkably intelligent reply. You know you have author envy when you read book reviews at Amazon.com and mutter under your breath that you wish the idea for that book had hit you over the head. You especially know you have writer envy when you learn that there is an author living in your city and your first thought is to find them at all costs and make them tell you all their writing secrets.

Yes. Yesterday I was guilty of all three.

But in my opinion author envy is a good motivator. So I'm glad when it strikes. Because when it does, it is usually followed by increased creative output and an intense desire to finish all the unfinished manuscripts I have hiding in a computer file. Unfortunately this is also tempered by the fact that another side-effect of author envy for me is to voraciously consume every how-to book on writing that my local library has on the shelf.

Someday I will actually finish something and get it published. Hopefully sooner than later. So the next time you see me, ask me how my writing is coming. I will either have loads to tell you about what I am accomplishing or my own guilt will get my creative juices flowing again.

Yes, sadly, guilt and envy are the two most powerful motivators for me. It's pathetic, isn't it?!

Fieldtrip to the Police Station

Today I took my cub scout group to the Sammamish police station. For those who don't know, I'm the cubmaster.

I also brought along my kids and siblings of other scouts came as well. They showed us around the offices and the lockup area, and they let the kids get inside one of the police vehicles. My kids wouldn't get inside the "jail cell" at all, but the rest of the cub scouts did. The sergeant also let the boys try on his heavy-duty bullet-proof vest (the thing weighed about 45 pounds) and Ammon just about collapsed after wearing it for no more than thirty seconds! Here's a picture of him and the sergeant: If you look closely, you'll see the sergeant is actually holding the vest up for Ammon while we took the picture (Ammon was begging to get it off before we could get the camera out). And just in case you were wondering, that is not my finger in the picture! Another mom was taking pictures while I held a sleeping Grace, and she was unfamiliar with my camera.

Because I wasn't taking pictures, we didn't get any of Ben and Daniel. But Daniel was really excited when they turned on the lights on the police SUV and on the unmarked car next to it. He thought that was really cool. Ben stayed back and watched from a distance, but he was really interested in picking up the vest and trying to carry it (he didn't try it on like Ammon did, though). Elizabeth danced around to her own internal music, as you can see in the following picture--she's in the yellow dress: We all had a great time. And the sergeant sent home armfuls of coloring books, flyers and handouts for each kid, so we now are quadruply prepared to handle any safety issue that comes our way.

Hey Erin, She's Alive!

Every time my sister, Erin, calls me on the phone, she mentions how Grace just isn't a real person to her yet because she has never seen her. Well, she's seen pictures, but Erin swears that until she sees Grace move, Grace just won't be a real person. Then she begs me to take some footage of Grace so she can see for herself that her niece is really alive.

Well, Erin, this is for you.

Change Is Good

I've been tired of staring at spots (from my old blog background) so I went on a search for a new background today. I found the African savannah background (though they called it Jungle and Animals) and I fell in love with it. Maybe it's because I do miss the sun just a tiny bit, and this background shows it in all its glory. But Ben and Daniel both love giraffes, and I'm partial to them myself, so this background seemed to fit. Just remember, if you come to visit us up here on the plateau, it will NOT look like this! But at least I can see the sun everyday now (or every time I check my blog, anyway).

Our School Blog

Since so many of you always ask me what we actually do in our homeschool, I decided it would be easier to bring you along then to try to explain when you ask. So...

...please join us at our official school blog. It may be slim pickins' until September, but we tend to homeschool through the summer anyway, so there's bound to be something to see if you stop by.

Check it out at http://thekidsatschool.blogspot.com/ . There is also a permanent link on the right side of this blog, showing you the title of the most recent post.

Join us soon! And don't forget to bring your own pencil and paper. We never seem to have enough around here.

Three Kids, a Deck, and a Musical Toy

Have you even wondered what kids do while they wait for meals to cook? Today our investigators were able to dig up the real story. We've learned that children teach each other to dance. They even provide their own music. It's true! I'm not making this up. We sent in our undercover photographers to capture this never-before-seen footage.

Here are some still photos taken in addition to our award-winning footage. They tell a tale of mysterious music and fancy footwork.

And there's our story. Tune in next time when we uncover what happens...When Good Kids Find Bad Cheese.

"Rainy Day" Activities

Even though it wasn't raining today, it was cold and overcast. So the kids stayed inside for the most part. And what do you do on rainy days?

Well...

Ammon learned to draw dinosaurs with the help of a book.

Ben and Daniel discovered the world of books on tape/cd.

Elizabeth enjoyed the pictures in her favorite books.

Grace spent the day sleeping in my arms while I read a book, too. It was a good day.

Grace is Innocent (and Cute, Too)

Family members keep telling me to use less words and more pictures. Well, I can't promise the less words (I am a writer, after all) but here are more pictures.

FYI for those who knew and were wondering what has happened, we finally took Grace to a cardiologist yesterday. (For those who didn't know, Grace was born with a heart murmur.) The cardiologist said she has an innocent heart murmur, which means you can hear her blood circulating through her heart, but there is no sign of defective heart valves. So she passed with a clean bill of health and he said she won't need to see a cardiologist again, at least for a heart murmur anyway. It was what we expected to hear, but I thought I'd pass on the final verdict to the rest of you.

Isn't she cute? And healthy, too!

We've Got Another Reader Here!

BREAKING NEWS: Benjamin (he's 6 and finishing up homeschool kindergarten next week) has decided to join the world of readers! He is currently showing us how much he as picked up on his own by reading the first Magic Treehouse book (which is a second grade reading level book) and enjoying it immensely. For months he has been able to pick out a few words here and there, but his reading really exploded this week. Wish I could say it was because of me. I wonder if it had anything to do with turning off the TV.

We are so proud!

The TV's OFF

I have found that there is a direct correlation between the amount of backtalking, fighting, hitting and all-around grumpiness and the amount of TV time my children get. Lately, especially since the birth of Grace, the TV has been on quite a bit around here. And, as you can guess, the negative behavior has been a little more than I can bear, too. So, after talking Greg into it (and waiting until his "Lost" season was over) we have officially turned off the TV for awhile. Every day is now a NO TV day.

It has been a bit of an adjustment for everyone, including Greg and me. Now that it's been off for a few days, the kids don't complain about not being able to watch TV. But they do whine about being bored. A lot. And Greg and I have realized that we actually have to pay attention to our kids now that the TV isn't doing the babysitting. Go figure.

One of the things we have done to replace the TV is Game Time. For example, tonight after dinner the entire family (minus Grace of course) sat down at the table and played Uno. Even Lizzie, who is only 3, played her own hand (with a little help from Greg and me) and she did quite a remarkable job considering she is still learning her colors. We had to help with the numbers, of course. Ammon won the first round and Daniel won the second, and we all just had fun together. Remarkable.

We've also started making things together. Yesterday the kids and I made our own city mural from butcher paper so they could drive the matchbox cars on the roads. That was really fun. Earlier today I got out the felt and we made our own Pizza game. We have pizza dough, red sauce, olives, pineapple, onions, green peppers, pepperoni, Canadian Bacon and shredded cheese all cut out from felt. The kids spent the day making felt pizzas, and I used the time to make a box to keep the game in. They had fun and so did I.

It does take more work on my part (and Greg's), but so far it has been worth it. It's a Two-Steps-Forward-One-Step-Back process in the kid's behavior, but any progress is still progress, and progress is a good thing.

We've decided to leave the TV off for at least two weeks, but secretly I hope it's longer than that. Once everyone is weaned off the TV I'm hoping they'll stick to the TV-free lifestyle. It will help our homeschooling run more smoothly, it will help the kids' relationships with each other, and it will definitely help the behavioral issues we inevitably deal with when the Big Bad TV gets a little too big and bad.

So Good-bye TV. Hello fun.