Backfire

I introduced Abby to the concept of a sticker chart yesterday. Given she adores stickers, I thought it would be a good plan to help us smooth out some of the rough patches of our day. It worked pretty well with the face washing and tooth brushing. But one of the items is going all day without her paci, and it's such a habit for her that she kept popping them in her mouth. At one point Dan said, "Honey, you've got a paci in your mouth--take it out so you can get your sticker tonight!" She looked at him, thought a moment, then said, "I don't want the sticker."

Ah well. At least the kid's got boundaries.

Teetering on the edge...

...and trying not to fall off the face of the earth. I certainly fell of the face of the blogosphere, though, didn't I! I've been desperately trying to keep all the plates spinning, and this one just didn't make it. My apologies. I have two book deadlines in March, have been sorting and organizing and decluttering in preparation for a relocation that could happen at any time, and two kids who require more mommy-time every day, it seems. I just haven't had the energy to blog on top of it.

My latest newsletter will be releasing on Friday, and if you aren't yet a subscriber, I encourage you to sign up, because I'll be announcing a big contest that you don't want to miss!

Also, if you're a Facebooker (and who isn't these days?) I hope you'll look for my fan page and "become a fan." There is a discussion board there where I've posted a few questions, and I'd love to read your opinions!

So long, farewell...

Today is our last full day in Colorado. The bags are as packed as they can be for still having 20 hours left in the hotel, and somehow, though I still don't know how, I managed to fit it all in the bags we came with, despite a productive trip to the REI flagship store in Denver for me and the Castle Rock Outlet Mall for Abby. It's about 60 degrees outside right now, and windy, which is perfect to help dry the clothes Penny Jane spilled Dan's Coke on and that I washed with shampoo in the bathroom sink. Though the open window keeps rattling the bedroom door where Penny Jane is sleeping--her second nap actually inside the hotel this whole vacation. (The other one was this morning, and all the other naps were in the car. Poor kid. Though I think the trip has helped her transition to one nap a day! Woot!)

We really love it here. Really love it. It's hard to go. But I'm eager for my own bed (this one sucks) and for Abby to go back to her own bed (she is a tornado when she sleeps, I swear) and for play dates with our friends.

But as the sun sets (or the moon rises, as the photo from our hotel room shows) on our trip, our minds are awhirl with possibilities for our future here. Can't wait to come back...

Look what we woke up to...

Good idea, bad execution

Yet another example of overreaching government is now threatening to put thousands of crafters, artisans, WAHMs (and WAHDs), and small business owners out of work. Because of all the recent toy recalls due to lead contamination, a law was passed that goes into effect next month requiring the testing of ANY child-related article--toys, clothes, etc.--for lead. Sounds great, until you realize that this law applies to consignment and second-hand stores and folks like the ones I feature in my newsletter every other month. From what I understand, some changes have already been introduced in Congress which will modify the law as it applies to consignment shops and the like, but independent toymakers are still being left out in the cold. Please contact your representatives and senators and ask them to support changes to the law that will protect these folks. A sample letter can be found here, and more information can be found here.

Please vote!

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/health_freedom

Today is the last day to vote for the priorities you think Obama should have when he gets into office. Go to this site, sign up, confirm your account through the email they send you, and then PLEASE vote for health freedom!!! We need 1200 votes to move into the next round. I just cast vote #512.

The issue of socialization

Dan and I decided long ago our girls would be homeschooled. I'm active on a few parenting boards where a number of other moms homeschool, and I get loads of great ideas and tips from them. Once in a while someone will post a vent about the issue of socialization. We homeschooling moms and dads don't have any concerns about socialization, but it often seems that everyone else in the world gets concerned about it when you tell them you're homeschooling. "But how will your children be socialized if they're not in school?" they ask. Well, someone posted this today and honestly, I wish I could print it on little business cards and hand it out to people who question our children's socialization when we mention homeschooling.

Public School Socialization

"When my wife and I mention we are strongly considering home
schooling our children, we are without fail asked, 'But what about
socialization? ' Fortunately, we found a way our kids can receive
the same socialization that government schools provide.

"On Mondays and Wednesdays, I will personally corner my son in the
bathroom, give him a wedgie and take his lunch money. On Tuesdays
and Thursdays, my wife will make sure to tease our children for not
being in the 'in' crowd, taking special care to poke fun at any
physical abnormalities. Fridays will be 'Fad and Peer Pressure
Day.' We will all compete to see who has the coolest toys, the most
expensive clothes, and the loudest, fastest, and most dangerous car.

"Every day, my wife and I will adhere to a routine of cursing and
swearing in the hall and mentioning our weekend exploits with
alcohol and immorality. And we have asked (our kids) to report us
to the authorities in the event we mention faith, religion, or try
to bring up morals and values."

From the Kolbe Little Home Journal, Fall 2005

Why

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Merry Christmas!!!! Happy Birthday Jesus!

More from the portfolio

Found some more great Abby photos on the Photo Booth program today:


For those of you familiar with the series by Beverly Cleary--doesn't she totally look like Ramona Quimby here?



The other day at Target Abby said she wanted to get Penny Jane a teddy bear for Christmas. It took her ten minutes to choose from 5 different types of bears. The poor child has my decision-making ability. Anyway, this was her final choice.

A couple weeks ago Abby wanted to do a little portrait session with PJ and me. She set up the computer on the ottoman next to the couch and would run back and forth, pushing the button to take the picture and then racing back to get in the frame. Here are some of the good ones:

Done and done!

What do you get when you put 112,185 words in just the right order over 236 pages? MY COMPLETED FOURTH NOVEL!

*insert Snoopy dance here*

BOO-YA

Awwwww yeah! Fifty-thousand words completed--I have won my first NaNoWriMo! I told Dan less than 48 hours ago that I was giving up because I only had 41,000 words and didn't think there was any way I'd find the time to get 9,000 more by tonight. But something happens--I haven't yet ruled out divine intervention--and voila, here I am staring at a word count of 50,024. This puts me about 2/3 of the way done with the book and right at the spot where the action really picks up. I can hardly believe it, but I might actually finish this thing by the end of the year as planned.

The plot thickens

Wow.

http://polarik.blogtownhall.com/

Your thoughts?

Slinking into the cave

Got my edits today for Reinventing Rachel. Lots to do by Jan 10 when it's due. Lots. And between a 3-day Thanksgiving trip, a 4-day pre-Christmas trip, a newsletter to write, Abby's 3rd b-day to plan and execute, Guilt to finish writing, and the Colorado trip to take on January 6, I'm not entirely sure how it's going to get done. It *will* get done, I know, the way is just not at all clear at the moment. So I'm going to disappear for a while to make sure I get everything done without neglecting my family.

Just realizing I don't think I've mentioned the whole Colorado thing yet, so here's the official announcement: we're moving! Sometime next year, not sure exactly when, but we'll be out there Jan. 6-20 to house hunt and check out the areas we're looking to move to.

So anyway, unless something really amazing happens that simply demands to be blogged about, I'll probably be absent until the New Year at the earliest. Happy holidays to all, and to all lots of stuffing on Thursday and gallons of egg nog until Christmas. Enjoy!

Ruby Slippers

I promised Jonalyn a couple months back that I would blog this week about her new book Ruby Slippers--How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home, and then I forgot to set a reminder email for myself. Doh! So I snarfed down the book in four days, and honestly, this is not a four-days book. Well, maybe it is if you read uninterrupted and have plenty of time to digest what you've read, but with two kids, a book to write, and a presentation to prepare, I barely had time to consider where to put the book when I was done for the day so I'd be able to find it again, much less journal through the awesome "soul care" questions at the end of each chapter and discuss what I was reading with Dan. So, a note to those who decide to pick up this selection for their own perusal: don't shortchange yourself by trying to squeeze it in here and there. Make sure you've got some time to really think over what you're reading.

Jonalyn's goal with Ruby Slippers is to examine what true femininity is, beyond the roles we shove ourselves into like Cindarella's step-sisters trying to cram their feet into a shoe that wasn't meant for them. Does it always require pastels and makeup, a husband and children, domestic skills and a penchant for scrapbooking? Can a woman be fully feminine if she prefers mountain biking to a manicure? And if God is male, then are women really made in his image?

I've never been much concerned with discussions on femininity and spirituality as they relate to each other. But reading this book gave me some really interesting things to think about, things I'd never considered about what it means to be a Christian woman. I am impressed as well with her credentials--you don't see many female apologists out there.

I'm going to read this book again, and actually do the questions at the end this time. :) I hope you'll check it out, whether you're male or female, and leave a comment about what you think. If nothing else, this book is sure to generate some very interesting conversations!

Abby's portfolio

My Mac laptop has a program called Photo Booth. It's a photo program for the integrated webcam, and it allows you to add all these fun (and sometimes creepy) effects to your photos. Abby loves it, and somehow, in the last couple months, she has learned how to locate it in the dock, launch it, take photos AND add the effects. Keep in mind I not only NEVER showed her how to do ANY of this, but I never even showed her how you use the track pad or select button. Is this stuff programmed into the next generation's DNA or something? Anyway, she hops up to my computer all the time to take pictures, but it's always when I'm putting Penny Jane down for her nap. I've never looked through the photos she's taken until tonight, and I was cracking up and thinking, "I've GOT to post these." So, for your enjoyment, here are just a few self-portraits from Miss Abigail.

Woot!

Just hit fifty thousand words on the manuscript! No clue how long it's going to be once it's done, but I'd guess that's just under halfway. NaNoWriMo is my new best friend.

NaNoWriMo!

Say it real quick and it's a fun nonsense word, but break it down and it's short for National Novel Writing Month. Though now, in its tenth year, it's an international event, so it really should be InNoWriMo. Though it's not nearly as fun to say.

So what the heck is it? It's an opportunity for all those folks who've ever said, "I've always wanted to write a novel" to actually get off their patooties and DO it already by setting a one-month goal of 50,000 words. You pledge solidarity with thousands of other writers all over the world and say, "Yes! I will sit my butt down and write at least 1,667 words every single day in November!" (Yes, I know there's some contradiction there between getting off one's behind then sitting it down again to write. Work with me, alright?) Then you sign up at nanowrimo.org, join a home region so you can contribute to your area's word count, and start writing. After you've procrastinated a little bit by setting up your profile and checking out the forums, that is. I'm such a sucker for forums. Then you can grab a fun little widget like the one on the right that will broadcast to the entire world just how well you're doing on your novel.

I had about 30,000 words when I first read about NaNoWriMo. How I've been a writer this long and never heard of this phenomenon, I don't know. But I read about it on someone's blog on November 1 and thought, "Now that is a cool idea! And if I did that, I'd have my novel nearly done!" And it dawned on me that this would be a great accountability took to keep me from becoming completely depressed over how far behind I was on my writing. And let me tell you, counting words is SO MUCH LESS STRESSFUL than counting scenes. I'm so glad I found this out now and not at the end of the book when I was comatose from panic.

So today marked the end of the first week of this year's NaNoWriMo, but if you want to jump in I don't think anyone would mind. If nothing else, keep it in mind for next year and start working on your outline now. Heck, if you spent eleven months on your snowflake, you'd have the Next Great American (or wherever you are) Novel all ready to go by next November!

And to those who are participating this year, I'm alisonstrobel over at nanowrimo.org--make me a writing buddy if you want. Good luck on your novels!

Deep breath.

This is my Father's world
Oh let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet

This is my Father's world
The battle is not done
Jesus who died shall be satisfied
And earth and heav'n be one

--My Father's World, Maltbie Babcock, 1901

You put your right brain in, you take your right brain out, you put your right brain in, and you shake it all about

I feel like I have scrambled eggs for brains these days. There is SO MUCH GOING ON. And one of the things that gets neglected is my blog. So, sorry the posts are so few and far between. Maybe when things slow down (which would be....when?) I'll be better about posting more regularly.

Updates in a nutshell:
- Finished chapter 8 today. Started rereading a phenomenal writing book that I'd forgotten all about and ended up completely revamping my main character and rewriting all her scenes. I'll be talking more about that book, and offering a copy for free, in my next newsletter in December. If you don't yet receive my newsletter, please sign up in the box on the right.

- I have a fan page now on Facebook. There are some discussions there that I'd love to see more comments on. Swing by and check it out!

- I was the literature/poetry judge for a local school's "Reflections" contest last week. Talka bout full-circle: I remember entering the Reflections contest when *I* was in elementary school. This year's theme was "Wow." That's it, just "Wow." Talk about open to interpretation. There were 30 entries altogether, the majority from a 6th grade class whose teacher made it mandatory. I was actually quite impressed by some of the poetry. But sitting on the living room floor trying to keep a very mobile Penny Jane from harm and a very active Abby occupied while I "graded" papers made me SO GLAD I'm not teaching anymore. I had flashbacks to my teaching days and they scared me.

-Funny Abby story: My sister-in-law Amber played "I Spy" with her when she was here last week, and Abby asked me to play it with her the other day. When it was my turn to guess she said "I spy with my eye something brown with pink." So I'm looking all over the place thinking, "Wow, she really has a good eye, she's found something in this room that has brown and pink?!" And as I'm looking, trying to find something to guess, she holds up a toy and says, "Is it this?" I say no, then she picks up something else and says, "Is it this?" And I asked, "Abby, do you know what has brown with pink on it in this room?" She says, "No." "Well, what object were you trying to make me guess?" *blank stare like I'm speaking Turkish* "Um, Abby, you need to pick an object in the room and tell me one of the colors on it." (Keep in mind she had guessed three time before it was my turn, so it's not like she'd never played.) Abby says, "Okay!" then looks around for a moment and says, "I spy with my eye a picture on the wall with Greena and Par on it." Of which there is only one. Needless to say I figured out that round pretty quickly.

Oh yeah, one more funny Abby, mostly to remind me in twenty years: We were packing up one of her toys with lots of little pieces, and when we were done I handed her the case and said, "Go put this in the drawer." She said, "No, I don't want to." I reminded her that part of playing with our toys is putting them away when we're done, and if we don't clean them up properly then we can't play with them anymore. To which she huffs, stands up, grabs the case, and says, "Mama, you're frustrating" before stomping off to the drawers. I didn't even bother trying to hide my laughter.

Shauna Niequist in San Diego this Friday!

For all you locals--Shauna Niequist, author of Cold Tangerines, is going to be doing a luncheon signing at the Berean Bookstore in San Diego this Friday at 12:30. I'm so mad I can't go! :( But if you can, you definitely should--Shauna's a wonderful woman, and I loved Cold Tangerines!