The Weather Outside is Frightful!

It's been SO cold lately. I've found myself wanting to stay hunkered down in the house until the thermometer says at least 40 degrees! When did I become such a baby about cold weather? Maybe it's because we haven't had a break from the frigid temps in quite some time. Oh well, it is January after all.

My brother came to visit yesterday. I'm so glad he came. We had such a nice time with him. He patiently put together puzzles with Allison and played Wii with everyone too. We went on a mini treasure hunt around town. Robby wanted to find a postcard with our town's name on it as well as a key chain with the town name on it. Not easy to do in our obscure neck of the woods. We did it though. That's a thing about obscure little towns - they are immensely proud of their heritage and therefore postcards with historical sites on them are findable. The key chain was a bit trickier, but a trip into the town hall produced a glow in the dark key chain with the town emergency numbers on it. It was so good to see him and spend time catching up. I hope he comes down again soon :)

Katie will be 13 next month. How did that happen?! My little girl is almost as tall as me and wears a bigger shoe than I do. I'm enjoying this age with her. It's been fun to take her and her friends to the mall for manicures and shopping. I get such a chuckle out of how I get left standing outside the fitting room looking like a coat rack, holding purses, clothes and shopping bags. She's a good bargain shopper and understands what TOO EXPENSIVE means!

Shop Talk: I got the final three chapters of my course manual in the mail yesterday. YIKES! I will definitely have my work cut out for me. I will also have at least two more manuscripts ready to submit for publication by the time I'm done. I'm finding that I enjoy writing non-fiction. There is no end to the topics you could write about! My next NF piece is going to be about Ghana. Our family's sponsor child lives in Ghana and I'd like to find out more about it. I'm not sure what angle I'll be taking yet - that's the tricky part - finding an angle that appeals to children and is fun but still informative. It's nothing like writing an essay for Social Studies class, that's for sure. I've also sketched a VERY rough draft for a potential picture book. I'm not sure where that will take me as picture books are EXTREMELY difficult to get published. Many authors choose to self publish their books but that is expensive and getting your book the attention it deserves from the major book markets is tough. I love learning about all this stuff but it is overwhelming.

Happy Weekend!

Ending with Scripture:

Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Psalm 106:1

Let's Catch Up

Not very much to catch up on really. After two more Monday snow days in January and a 1/2 day and a holiday it seems that the girls are due for an uninterrupted stretch of school. Hopefully next week they'll get a full week in. It's not that I don't enjoy having them home but I don't really see the point of all of this time off. Think about it, if they'd eliminate all of those foolish days off, except for a couple of school vacations in December and March, they'd get out for the year in MAY! And the consistency would be good for everyone. Teachers must lose so much momentum when the schedule gets interrupted. On the up side, on those days off my girls have been enjoying their time together. They've been playing so well with each other. I'm so thankful for that. My heart's desire is for my children to love each other and be friends. Last week after dinner, they all went upstairs. After a little while I went to check on them and Katie had them all set up in their bathroom getting pedicures! How cute!! Becky and Allison were having a blast! And Katie was enjoying it too. It was great!

As I said last January, I'm not much for resolutions but I did make one. Just one. I've resolved to cook dinner every night. Eating out is a thing of the past. Now don't get me wrong; OCCASIONAL eating out may happen if we are out somewhere far from home at mealtime. But as a general rule dinner will be at home. Think of the money we will save! Our previous routine had us eating out ALL weekend, lunch and dinner! YIKES! I've been doing really well. And on the weekends, I cook and Ed cleans up so that's a great incentive!

Ed and I are completely hooked, once again, on The Biggest Loser! So good. LOST premieres next Thursday people! Mark it on your calendar! American Idol will get better...

Shop Talk: I'm currently on assignment 7 of my writing course. The course has steadily gotten more challenging. As I poke around at different writing for children websites I'm amazed at how many accomplished authors have graduated from the same course I'm taking now! That gives me hope! So much of what I've read is about how difficult it is to get published. But there are many, many success stories out there that I haven't let it discourage me. I'm certainly not banking on my first article being accepted by the magazine I submitted to. But perseverance is key and I will try again. I've learned SO much through the process of preparing a manuscript package. I know I made some beginner mistakes and it really bums me out that those mistakes could land me in the slush pile even if the article is good. But, next time I won't make those same mistakes! I also submitted a short story to a writing contest. There were specific guidelines regarding length, readership age, and subject. It was tough. It had to be about a holiday, geared to four year olds, and only 125 words long. I chose Groundhog Day as my holiday. I was very happy with the piece as I sent it off in the mail. Then I got a writer's newsletter in my e-mail and after reading it I realized I had once again made some STUPID mistakes. Frustrating! Again, hopefully those mistakes will be overlooked by some kind hearted soul who clearly identifies me as a newbie and gives me a break! Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be how it works. On the plus side, if my story is turned down I can send it out to a different publication, only next time I'd know how to avoid mistakes! It's definitely a learning process; one that you have to go through. Reading about how to do things teaches me a lot. DOING the things I read about helps me more!

You may have noticed the ending of my last post. I've decided to incorporate scripture verses at the end of the Blog entries. I saw this on another blog I read and love and it has inspired me to do it also! I hope they will bless you as you read them.

Ending with Scripture:

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name. Psalm 100:4

A New Year, A New Name

As you see, I've changed the name of the Blog to The Slush Pile. A slush pile is the heap of manuscripts editors have to go through; a mumble jumble mess, no rhyme or reason, just a pile. I thought the title was an appropriate description of what this Blog tends to be - it could also describe the contents of my brain at times!

I think I will be trying to give the Blog a little more focus. Since writing has become a large part of my life lately, I will be blogging about that a bit more of the focus will go there.

That said, I need to get the girlies ready for bed. I'll try to get a better post out there tomorrow.

Ending with Scripture:

1 Chronicles 15:8 Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!

So....what?

So, where have I been? Quite honestly I've been contemplating giving up the Blog. Then I started to think of maybe giving my blog some sort of direction like some sort of theme or something. I haven't come to any conclusions really. I guess you'll have to check back and see if I decide on something.

Good News: My brother is coming to visit! He hasn't been out here yet and I'm so excited that he's coming. YAY!

Frustrating News: I have not heard from the magazine I submitted my article to yet. It's so difficult to wait.

Bad News: The creepy crud found Becky. She was sick Friday night and then ran a fever all day Saturday. Hopefully my valiant attempts to de-germ the house will prove effective in keeping the rest of us healthy!

I know this is a rather pathetic post but I have to get Becky to swimming lessons. More to come...