Hitting a Writing Milestone

So far in my "writing career" I haven't gotten very far. I love to write. I make up stories here and there and usually quit writing the story because I get discouraged. But last night I hit the 39K word count. I am less than 1000 words away from hitting 40,000 words, which is roughly half a book. And not just a story that has a bunch of words, but words that I am pretty darn proud of.

I got some feedback on my first page and it just got me excited to write again. I just wish my excitement lasted longer periods of time. I've got to figure out a way to keep the momentum going. I feel like I have a better idea of what needs to be improved. I know a couple scenes that I am definitely am going to have to completely re-do, a few that I'll need to improve the quality of writing on, and I have some ideas to give the novel more quality about it.

Besides writing, I am also working on losing weight. In a year's time I have lost 27 pounds. Sadly, I still have about 25-30 more pounds to go, but now I know I can do it.

Also, having a few little kids around the house with school out makes it a little less scheduled around here. Oh, and not to mention that I am trying my hand at gardening.

So a little about gardening: I grew up in a house with 1/2 acre. We had a huge garden. Pretty much any vegetable or fruit you can think of that grows around here -- we grew it. I helped planting, picking weeds, and harvesting. So you would think I would have this green thumb. Nope.

I don't like bugs, I don't like sitting on the ground pulling weeds, and I forget to water my plants. My kids love the idea of gardening and I do also to an extent. So, we are attempting to grow: 1 corn stalk, 2 tomato plants, 1 strawberry plant, 2 pumpkin plants, and 1 watermelon plant. Last year my attempt at carrots and 3 tomato plants yielded 9 small tomatos and no carrots. Basically anything I can harvest will probably be an improvement this year. Maybe someday I will get this gardening stuff all figured out.

UPDATE: I hit 40K. 40,365 to be exact. WAHOO!!!

It Comes and Goes

So my writing itch comes and goes. I wrote 15,000 words last month. I've barely touched my manuscript this month. I just need to make myself personal goals for writing more often.

Julie Coulter Bellon, a LDS author and also mother of 8 children started a new blog. She has something called First Page Friday. I decided to be bold and sent in the first page of one of my manuscripts. It's one that I put on the back burner, but still REALLY want to write. My creativity for it is worn out though. I've thought about taking the basic idea of it and completely re-writing it. I'd still use a bunch of the scenes and ideas that really seem to work. But some of it just doesn't flow right.

As for my personal life, I'm a little excited and a little not excited for school to be out. I have a routine down when my son is at school. When the baby (although she really is a toddler now, but I still think of her as my baby) goes down for a nap, I have one child home. She can stay somewhat quiet by herself. But with 2 kids home, they can make SO much noise. I will have to think of some good nap-time quiet activites for them to do.

Oh, and it's May 16th, and I am drinking hot chocolate and thinking about putting my housecoat on. My house is 64 degrees (had a window open and a fan blowing). I'm not ready for full on heat summer, but would like 70's degree Spring to stay.

Keeping Your Blog Up

I was browsing some blogs that I like to read and was thinking "how come they don't update with a new blog?" Then I come over here and check mine, and I haven't written anything for over a month. Oops.

Nothing all that new to update on though. The baby is getting bigger and cuter by the day. She can almost sit up by herself and is starting to get up on her hands and knees. No crawling quite yet, although she does scoot herself forward if she is just out of reach of an item. Which is another thing she does. She grabs anything she sees on the floor.

It's cute to see their little personalities coming through. She is 6 months old and already has likes and dislikes. She loves balloons, keyboards, and stroller walks. She dislikes baths and pool water. I'm hoping she'll like baths more when she can sit and doesn't feel as unstable as when I just have to lay her down and hold her.

Oh! One major change. I got my new front door finally installed. I love it. We went from an old white painted door to a new wood (just sealed, no stain). Such a nice door.

Ok, well baby is asleep. I better do something productive while she is sleeping.

"The Best Things in Life are not Things!"

(A quote I got from a Don Aslett book that I love.)

I'm once again dealing with the organization problem. I'm not a hoarder and I wouldn't even consider myself a packrat. The problem I have right now is that we have sold our RV, which has house a lot of our stuff since we had the fire. Some of it has been cleaned out, but there is still a decent amount of stuff in there.

It has to be cleared out by Thursday, which means my house is now cluttered and messy from all the boxes scattered.

I've been giving a lot of thought to my stuff. I'm sick of it, I don't want it, but I have been having a hard time getting rid of it. My latest thought about it is this: I want to have a yard sale, but I don't want to deal with one. I want to make money from the stuff I have, yet I just want it gone. Let's say I was WAY lucky and got $1000 for the things I'm getting rid of. I don't care. Holding on to this stuff just drives me crazy. I can't really focus on the things that are important to me with all this stuff. If I really wanted to, I could make $1000. But not with all this stuff. It just weighs you down.

I absolutely love Don Aslett's books. I would recommend his books to anyone (unless you are the perfect homemaker with the perfect clean home). Even if you don't have a clutter problem, he has a book all about getting help from the kids and husband. His books about cleaning/clutter are to me like the Book of Mormon is to the gospel. The man is my hero.

My goal this year is to be clutter free by the end of the year. I don't want stuff. The things that are important to me: my family, my health, my wanting to write novels, the church, friends. My wants in my life are: I want a bigger home. I want more room, but not more stuff. I want to wake up everyday feeling refreshed, not worn out knowing that I have clutter to deal with.

I have some pictures of my house the way it is now. I am not posting them yet. But I love before and afters. Maybe I will post them when the after part is achieved.

Okay, now if the rain will ever slow down I will take 2 of my DI boxes out to my car.

Life is busy

I have been getting long gaps of time between posts lately. Of course, there is a lot on my plate right now. Three little kids (one a baby), remodeling house, springtime outdoor chores, planning a camping trip, organizing stuff, etc. Doesn't like a lot of time to think.

I have however been thinking about writing again. Of course, thinking isn't doing, but it's a start. I actually thought of ways to better my novel that has been in the works for over a year. I know there will be a time in my life that I will make the time for writing. It just isn't top priority to me right now.

I have been reading blogs written by other writers. I enjoy reading about others successes in the writing business. There are lots of books I am excited to read someday on my list. A few of them:

Agent in Old Lace by Tristi Pinkston. Tristi is on my facebook friends, and although I have never met her in person, I have enjoyed getting to know her somewhat online. She's only about 2 hours away from me. Maybe someday our paths will cross.

My Fairy Grandmother by Aubrey Mace. I read her Spare Change novel and really liked it. (It also won a Whitney Award for Best Novel.) It was her first published novel, so she's off to a good start. :)

English Trifle by Josi Kilpack. I've enjoyed the few books of her's I've read. I also read Lemon Tart and liked it. I'm sure this one will be just as good.

Another author I have really enjoyed is Robert Farrell Smith (Not the nicest layout format on a website, but it shows his books.) Anyway, he is a funny guy. I love his books. I've read his newer ones and some of his older ones. I had to check some out from the library, but they are worth the read.

Okay, well enough of the blogging. Time to actually go do something productive like cleaning .... :(

Baby Blessing

We blessed our newest little one yesterday. Afterwards, we had friends and family come over to our "small" home for a lunch. My home is around 1200 sq foot, 1 bathroom. There were 19 adults and 15 kids. Wow! I really didn't think that many would fit in my house. It was a lot of fun though.

She has been almost sleeping through the night since she was around 3 weeks. She'd sleep from 9 to 4 a lot. But here and there wake up an extra time. Last night she slept form 9 to 5:30. I can live with that. I don't like mornings or being up that early. But it's better than being up at 11:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00. I was hoping the new baby would sleep through the night around 7 weeks, because my other daughter slept through the night at 7 weeks. I don't know how I got so lucky to have it actually be true.

Now I just need a few more days of the whole night sleeping, and I may have the energy to do most everything I want to do... unless of course the baby decides otherwise. :)

Life's Getting Crazy

I haven't written on here much, because life is getting more busy for me right now. I had a new baby on Jan 9th. I'm starting to get adjusted (as much as one can) to the sleepless nights. I'm a zombie for a few hours in the morning, and then my body wakes up the rest of the way after that.

I'm also feeling good enough now, that I am starting to clean and organize the house again. We are still working on remodeling the back bedroom. For now, my son and daughter are in one bedroom, and the baby is in our room. The back bedroom just needs muddding, painting, carpet, and trim. We knocked down the plaster walls, updated the electrical, put in new updated windows, and put up new walls. Well, I didn't, I was 8-9 months pregnant when the project was started.

I've decided I like a simple clean home. You may not know it by looking at some of the piles in our house. But I am going through everything and trying to objectively look at stuff and decide if I really want or need it. The DI has been getting stuff from me weekly, and I feel good getting rid of stuff.

Breast Cancer Awareness

It's interesting how some things don't really mean as much to you, until it hits someone you know.

There is a woman in my ward that has Breast Cancer. When they found it 18 months ago, it was stage 4, Inflammatory Breast Cancer. I just got back from the fundraiser that the was citywide for her. (Our city is about 3000.... small place).

A little about her. She just turned 30. She's actually a little bit younger than I am. She has 5 kids. Her oldest is around 12 and her youngest is 2 1/2.

The main park is across the street from my house, so my son wanted to know why there were so many people over there. We went outside to check out the 1 mile / 5 K run. He wanted to run so bad. There I am 7 months pregnant, but we went on the 1 mile walk. He ran a good chunk of the time. He was probably about a block ahead of me at one point. I know a lot of the people walking (nice thing about small towns), so I wasn't worried about him. But then he fell and cried walking all the way back to me. Poor kid. Then they had an auction afterwards. It was pretty fun. I wish I needed a new leather overstuffed chair, because it went for $300. A nice vacuumm went for $50. I did donate some money though, so I didn't feel too bad for not bidding on stuff.

A travel agency donated a 5 night trip, park hopper passes, and free airline to go to Disneyland for their family. I can tell there was quite a bit of money raised for her. I'm sure it's exciting for the family to have that much help financially and lifting their burden some. And the trip I'm sure will be fun for all. But I'm sure it's bittersweet too. She definately had a good fight so far, and I hope that without too much pain she can stay around as long as she can.

Her favorite saying is "Every day is a gift, that's why it is called the present."

Her is a link to her blog http://amberchase.weebly.com/index.html . I'm really glad that I know Amber and am glad that they were able to have this fundraiser.

There's No Place Like Home

We're home! Finally!

When I find my camera cord, I will try and post some pictures of our home. Because of the fire and having to remodel the front room, we decided to just remodel the whole house. Well, the whole house except the bathroom and one bedroom. But we are planning on doing those two rooms now that we are back home.

Our house was initially built in 1911. It was 2 rooms. There have been two additions since then. When we bought the home, it was pretty ugly, but it was a good price and a home. It reeked of the 60-70's. The kitchen had orange, green, brown, yellow mixed thin carpeting. The cabinets were custom made probably in the 70's, and weren't all that great. The windows were randomly placed and all sorts of sizes. The carpet was worn and ugly. The only thing we had money to do when we bought it was to paint and re-carpet the baby's room.

Because of the fire we finally had a reason to remodel the house. We took the insurance money and did a lot of the work ourselves to be able to spread the money further over the house. We did have some money saved up too, and that helped. We were also in process of remodeling when we had the fire, so a lot of materials were bought, we just didn't have much time with 2 kids running around the house.

We still need to do a little of the finish work. Put up blinds, go pick up our new front door, put doorknobs on a few of the doors, etc. But it is so nice to be home.

We still need to do something to the outside. We need to decide to re-stucco or to do siding. So the inside looks really nice, and the outside looks like we are the poorest, most rednecked people ever. (We have our old toilet sitting in the driveway, waiting to be put in the truck so we can haul some stuff off to the dump.)

Now we just need to remodel the last bedroom. Which REALLY needs to be done by the end of the year, because ..... I'm pregnant. This will be child #3. Baby is due Jan 13th.

Anyway, so now I'm back to hopefully posting more often, and reading all the blogs I used to read often. Which is another reason I'm glad to be home. My parents still have dial-up. And my husband and I use the internet often, play games on the internet, get information on the internet, etc on the internet. I really missed high speed internet.

Anyway, long post again... Thanks for everyone that posted. Things are going great.

Where there's smoke, there's fire!

Okay, so I dont' really know if there was any fire. We never actually saw flames, but we did have the fire department at our house over the holidays.

On Dec 28th we were remodeling our home. We had the kids go to Grandmas so that when we knocked the plaster down in the back room. the kids wouldn't be breathing in the dust. We were using our wood burning stove (we had used it the day before too). As my brother and brother in law left after helping us with remodeling, they both joked "hey, your house is on fire". We saw a small amount of smoke coming from above the light fixture on the porch. We all actually thought it was just a reaction. The front room was probably 70-80 degrees with the fireplace going. So we thought because it was so cold outside, that maybe the warm and cold was making it smoke, steam, sweat, something like that.

Well, my husband gets back home from the store and I show him the smoke. It was getting worse and he looked outside. The chimney area was starting to turn brownish. We stood in the front room and then heard a crumbling in the wall. So my husband grabbed the cordless phone, I grabbed some documents from the next room, my coat and my camera. All were grabbable on the way out the door.

We called the fire department and first the police came. They had just come from another fire call, but it was a false alarm. No real problem. They looked at our house and said "yes, there is a problem". The firemen came and cut a hole in our roof, cut a hole in our front room ceiling and bedroom ceiling. Then they started axing into the outside wall. That is when I saw a TON of smoke coming out. That wall between the fireplace and the outside was burnt. Some of the wood was completely gone. We never saw actual flames, but it may have gotten so hot that is smolder burnt the wood.

One of our friends grew up in that house and said he had gotten that wood burning stove MUCH hotter than we had it. So it wasn't an issue of the heat, but something just went wrong. We wonder if maybe the birds that have moved into the roof area dropped some nest pieces down the chimney or if the Box Elder bugs went down. Who knows?

Anyway, we have been staying at my parents home. My youngest has no idea what's really happening. Just that we are at Grandma and Grandpas and she is having a blast. My 3 1/2 year old wants to go home. We showed him the house and he kept asking his Dad to fix it.

Things will be okay. It's just stuff. It will be a pain in the butt to figure all this out. But at least I have my family. (WRITTEN JAN 2nd)

UPDATE:

We are in process of cleaning the house. We decided to do the work ourselves even though it will be a lot of work. Today we had: My husband and I, my father-in-law, brother-in-law, his friend, our home teacher, relief society president, her husband helping out. We actually got quite a bit of stuff packed. We are going to go ahead with our remodeling jobs that we had planned, since stuff is in disarray anyway.

We are tired, but actually quite optimistic. This gives us an oppertunity (spelling??) to go through all our stuff. I've thrown out some stuff and it's really giving me an idea of what I want to keep and what I don't want to keep. I am going to take pictures of the place during the different stages, so maybe someday I will post the goings on.

I haven't been able to really catch up on the blog reading. We are staying with my parents, and they have dial-up. !!!!! :( Anyway, Just wanted to let anyone who might read my blog see what's up.

By the way Tristi, I keep trying to check one of your books out from the library, but it is always checked out when I go. That's a good sign for you I guess.

Clutter On, In, and Around Us

I have been doing some major cleaning. I have sent stuff to the Desert Industries, I have thrown away stuff, I have given away stuff. I've always been somewhat of a clutter-er. Is that even a word? I watched an Oprah show about this hoarder.

While I am nowhere near that messy, I do have my piles of stuff that I have no idea what to do with or where to put it. Show like that inspire me to clean out what I need to do.

My two favorite Clutter/Organizing people are Don Aslett and Peter Walsh.

Don Aslett has written tons of books about Clutter, Packrats, how to clean your home effectively, even one about how to get the rest of the family (husbands, kids) to help around the house. His books have a lot of suggestions and ideas from people, so there are lots of good ideas.

Peter Walsh is on TLC's Clean Sweep. It is such a good show. I haven't read any of his books.

One of my favorite lines from Don Aslett's book: "Weekend Makeover"

The Triangle of Too Much

1) Mental and Emotional Stress (clutter in us)
2) Overweight worries and concerns (clutter on us)
3) Our stuff: all the things and possesions of all kinds we have (clutter around us)

"Too much" causes much of the "too busy" in life, so in reality we have only one giant in the battle of life to fight and defeat -- too much."

So whether you are a hoarder, a little messy, or your closets and junk drawers are a mess, these books/shows are so inspirational to get moving and clean out junk. I would very much recommend Don Aslett's books. Amazon has some books that you can read a few pages of, to see if you like the style.

I've decided that I have to get rid of stuff that I don't love, don't want, don't use, don't need. I'll have less stress, less stuff to take care of and clean, an easier time cleaning, and more time for the things that I love - like my family, my writing, my crafts, my piano.

I've done a little here and there in the past, but this week, I have decided enough is enough. I may not get it all cleaned right away, but progress is progress.

So, have a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that is celebrating it. Hopefully after this week, my posts will be flooded with writing themes.

Five Things Meme

This is my first tag I've gotten from blogging, so it's pretty neat. Thanks Tristi.

Five Things Found in My Room:

I am chosing my front room.

1) I have my new digital piano. It is my Christmas present, but I got it early. A friend needed to sell it and I wanted it. So we both made out well in the deal. I haven't had daily access to a piano for over 7 years and I've played the piano since I was little. So it is really exciting to finally be able to practice and play the piano whenever I want. The best thing about the piano is that it has a volume knob. The kids can play on it without driving me crazy. It is also one of those weighted keys that feel and sound just like a real piano. Best Present Ever.

2) My grandmother's sewing machine stand with sewing machine. Her sewing machine is actually inside the stand. It's one of those cool old ones that are black and sleek looking. It works, but it is rather loud. I preferred a newer one to sew with. I haven't actually sewn anything on it yet. It's tough to find time to sew with little ones around. I mostly will use it for craft projects, not making clothes. I can sew clothes, but don't enjoy it that much.

3)A wood burning stove. It's the type that isn't in the wall. It was fun to use it the first year we lived here, but then kids started coming, and I worry that they will touch it or trip and fall near it. Because there is a stove on that side of the room, there is also a rock wall on that side. I love the rock wall, and want one in my new house (whenever the new house happens).

4) Our entertainment stand. We got this from a friend for a good deal. (Notice we get lots of used stuff from friends. We've got some real good friends.) Anyway, it is solid wood, no particle board at all. It's tall, and has doors that shut, so you can hide the TV when you don't want to see it. It also has all the DVD, video games, VHS, etc up at the top. Our son used to put crackers in the slots, but now cannot reach them anymore. This will save us lots of money, because we won't have to replace stuff as much.

5) My two wonderful children. I say that, because I've just come from church, and am feeling uplifted still. But they really are good kids. They drive me crazy sometimes, but what 3 and 1 year old don't?

Five Things I've Always Wanted to Do:


1) Travel outside the U.S. I have been to Canada (BC area). But I would like to go to another continent.

2) Sing really well. I can sing okay. I'm not tone-deaf. But I wish I hadn't been so fearful of learning how to sing when I was little.

3) Be in a movie. I think it would be fun to have a small (VERY small) part in a movie. Maybe just be part of a family having a picnic in the park and the scene shows it for a second or two. Nothing huge, no speaking, but be able to say "I was in a movie."

4) Serve a mission. I hope that I will be able to go on a mission with my husband someday in the future.

5) Learn Web programming/design. I know some basic html, but I would love to be able to have my own website and be able to design it. I will make sure to have one with I am a published author. Or maybe before if I can find a website name I want.


Five Things Found in My Bag:

1) 2 Diapers (just in case for my 3 and 1 year old.. I don't carry a diaper bag around since I don't have a baby, but my kids are still little and in diapers.)

2) A Checkbook

3) Lotion

4) A toy car

5) Lots of receipts



Five Things Found in My Wallet:

1) A gift card to Meier and Frank that I have had for 7 years. I just haven't gone and used it. There is no expiration, so I haven't had an urgency to go and use it.

2) Change

3) No Cash

4) Health insurance cards

5) Papa Murphy's coupon card

Five Things I'm Currently Into:

1) Making cards.

2) Blogging.

3) Taking short walks (by myself - when I can). It's a good time to get away from the kids and house, while getting some exercise too.

4) I like to read books to fall asleep. Sometimes my mind in going a mile a minute, and focusing it to one thing helps me wind down.

5) Ribbon. I've never been that fond of ribbon. But ever since I've started making cards, I have been buying ribbon like crazy. I need to slow down.

Little Break

I haven't been writing too much since my last post. I've been trying to catch up on the house and getting myself taken care of. I did get about another 250 words, so that's another page. It may be slow, but as long as it's progressing I'm happy.

Now if I could only get my 3 1/2 year old to take a nap, I could lay down and rest.

Oh, but on a happy note - my cholesterol has lowered! It was 228, and now it's 188. I was a little doubtful that I had lowered it, but I guess losing that weight and moving around more really did make a difference.

Blog Action Day

So, Monday was Blog Action Day. I didn't know that until yesterday, but I thought I would say a little something about it on my blog anyway.

The topic is environment.

In the past, I haven't been so concerned about the Environment. I did some stuff, but not anything that great.

I live in a rural area, so I'd have to do some traveling to do recycling. I'd have to say it's more what I don't do than what I do.

For instance, I rarely drink soda. So I don't have many cans to need to recycle. But I have family that does drink soda, and do keep the cans to recycle.

I also don't get the newspaper. I read the news online or watch the news on TV. So I don't need to recycle the newspaper. But if I ever do get the newspaper again, I'm planning on recycling it. My parents have a garden, and keep their newspaper for the planting season. Lay some of it down between rows of corn, and put some mulch on it, and you don't have to worry about weeds.

We also have a wood burning stove, that I will put papers in to burn. Usually it's just old bills or documents that we don't need to keep anymore, but that I don't want to put in the trash. So it saves some landfills of extra papers.

One other thing that I saw on a morning show once, was someone saying that even if everyone decided to not take a receipt from the gas station, that it would saves tons of paper. I forget the amount, but it adds up in time. I thought about it, and realized that even if I do get a receipt, I don't do anything with it. So I no longer take a receipt from the gas pump or ATM machines. If I want to know my bank balance, I can go online and check it out.

True, one person isn't going to change the world, but one person doing even the smallest thing can add up to lots of change.