Pool Open for Season!

We opened our pool today.  Well, at least we pulled off the tarp and connected the pump back up.  We also put in a new saltwater system which required us dumping 125 pounds of salt in it.  I measured the water temp; it read 68 degrees. Brrrr...

Doesn't it make you wanna jump right in?!? ;)

Poor aphids and tadpoles.  They didn't know a salt bath was coming.

A Writer Writes

[The title of this blog comes from "Throw Mama from the Train", one of my all time favorite movies.  It has been an ongoing joke between my husband and I that "A writer writes" has been the theme of my life for the last three years, and that everything I have learned about writing, came from this movie.]

How it all began:

When I was a little girl in grade school, I had always wanted to write a book someday.  The desire had stayed with me, but not as strong in my teenage years and twenties.  In my early thirties, the desire came back.  But at that point in my life, I was pregnant with my fourth child and my other three children were 4 and under.  I felt I was in no position to just sit around writing.  In August 2008, my youngest was 20 months old.  He was a little more self sufficient, so it was then that I began to write my book.

My writing was inspired by one of my favorite authors, Janet Evanovich.  I had a problem with her stories though.  She would throw in some intimate situations and a few choice words throughout her books.  I personally felt that those kinds of things ruined the story, and it could be told just as well without it. 

What my book was about, I really didn't know.  But I kept on writing.  The entire time I asked myself, "If I was a reader, what would I like to see happen next?"

As I wrote, I found my style and figured out a plot.  I enjoyed writing and wrote a little here and there for about a year. 

Then we went on vacation to the OBX.  That vaycay gave Matt and I the desire to move.  So after much prayer, we got our house ready to sell and we sold it.  We were, what our kids called, 'homeless' for two months.  We eventually moved to a hotel to be with my husband.  Lived there for six weeks.  Bought a house.  All this to say, the writing was on hold.

We moved into our home in Alabama.  The book was buried deep within a box.  I was too exhausted from the whirlwind of life to continue writing.

The writing bug struck me again in mid 2011.  It had been a year and a half since I had even thought about the book, let alone looked at it.  I pulled it out of storage and had to read the book from the beginning and make notes.  I was ready to continue my writing.  Then my computer crashed.  (I had the book backed up before the crash.)  I got my computer fixed thanks to a friend.  When I went to put the book back on the computer, it didn't open properly and I lost some of the writing.  Other parts of the writing turned into strange numeric codes.  I was bummed.  Out of pure frustration, I put the book back out of my mind.

A couple weeks before Christmas, I decided to pull the book back up and read it, just so I could take notes.  Through reading it, my frustration had died down, and I felt compelled to write again.  My mind was flooded with new ideas, and I spent much of my free time writing.  (free time = after kids go to bed, before husband comes home from work and sometimes in the middle of the night)

 In December 2011, a couple days before Christmas, I finished it. =)

I had originally written it, just for my own satisfaction of writing a book.  My husband works with a former editor (who used to work for the publishing company Janet Evanovich wrote with), and suggested that I try to get it published.  At first I thought, nah.  It wasn't written to get published, it was written for me.  But after some persuading by my sweet hubs to have the editor at least look at the first few chapters, I gave in.

I gave Matt's editor friend four chapters on March 15th.  As of yesterday, I hadn't heard from him.  I assumed from the lack of contact, that he didn't like it but wasn't sure how to tell my husband since they work together.

This morning, Matt got a call from him.  And...

He liked it!!  So much so, that he wants to read more!  (We told him no offense, but we want a lawyer to get it copywrited first before we send more chapters)  But the point is, the ex-editor for Janet Evanovich liked my book!!!  I can't tell you how excited I am about that!

I had no idea when I had first started writing, that it would get to this point.  And maybe it will never get published.  But, I have completed my goal of writing a novel.  So, I am happy about that.

Where we are now:

I'm doing some self-editing.  I eventually want to have it professionally edited though.  We're looking into different avenues of getting it copywrited.   I know that writing it alone is a copywrite.  But I want to make sure that if someone tries to claim it as their own, I have more than a "I wrote it first" to back me up.  Then it's time to send it off to a publisher and get an ISBN from the Library of Congress.

One suggestion was that I e-publish it for e-readers.  That thought actively rattles around in my brain.  I personally would like to have a hard copy (that hasn't been printed off my computer). 

And who knows, maybe someday in the future, you just may be holding onto or downloading a book from someone you know.  =)

 My friends and family have been so supportive and I thank them for that.  Many times I just wanted to hit the delete button, but I was encouraged to keep on going.  If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be writing this blog post.

But I am satisfied that in whatever the outcome, I reached my goal.  I wrote a book.

Helping Out

Have you ever had the moment, where your house was a disaster and you had unexpected company??

I had that moment last weekend.

I had been painting for 3 days.  I had not been keeping up with the house like I regularly do.  In fact, I ignored housework all together.  I was determined to finish painting everything I had promised the kids I'd paint.

After three days, my house (the whole house) looked like a tornado had dropped down inside it and took its fury out on it - minus the hail.  

A neighbor friend had heard that I painted Tinkerbell on Cs wall, and she brought her (adult) daughter over to see it.

What could I do?  Upon entering the door, it was obvious that the house had not seen Fantastik, a vacuum or Pledge for days.

I was very embarrassed and took them upstairs to Cs room.  I didn't realize when I was painting, but I was literally stepping on clothes, toys, paper, etc as I painted.  Her blankets & sheets on her bed were balled up and thrown about.  Her room was the worst of them all!  My friend and company entered Cs room and made a comment on Tink, but I could tell they were surveying the damage from what must have been an F-5.

Even after leaving that room, they still wanted to see all the other projects that we had done.  That meant taking them all over the house showing them our little renovations and whatnot.  I thought, why not?  They've already seen the worst of it.

I was just plain embarrassed.

Why is it that when I stop cleaning, the house falls apart?

But that embarrassment and question lit a fire under me.

It was time for a change in this house.  

Time for some long awaited help with a never ending battle.

I made up "Daily Help Charts".

We started on Thursday this week.

Every child has 5 chores to do a week.  On Sundays, everyone has off.  The kids are expected to do all of their chores or there are consequences.  As an extra on Saturdays, all bedrooms have to be cleaned.  That's putting all toys away (where they belong), clearing off their dressers, dusting dressers & windowsills and vacuuming their floors.  There is pay (or an allowance) for doing ALL chores.  Missing one chore they get half pay.  Missing two or more chores, the kids owe us 50 cents per missed chore.  This keeps the incentive to keep on going even if they miss a chore during the week.

The kids have asked for a pet.  I told them if they want a pet they have to faithfully do their chores for a month or two to show me responsibility.  They cannot have a pet if they are not showing responsibility.  And then the responsibility to chores has to continue or we will donate the pet to someone who will care for it.

We just started this yesterday, but I cannot tell you how nice it is to have those tasks done and not have to do them yourself.  This morning C unloaded the dishwasher and Gv dusted all the chair rails, windowsills, shoebench, etc.  Yesterday K vacuumed the living room carpet, Gv gathered all the garbage & Gt cleaned the bathroom sinks.  

It's so nice to finally have help with the never ending chore of running a house.

It's good for them and great for me!

Why has it taken me so long to do this?

I honestly can't answer that...Or maybe I can...Laziness on my part.

Not in work, but in enforcing my children to help contribute to the household.

I  finally have help.  And it feels good!

Visit from Grandparents

I have been dealing with an allergic reaction lately, so this blog post is a little late coming.

Matt's parents came to visit us from February 18th  to the 24th.  We had a good time catching up, and the kids loved being spoiled by "Grandpa Donut" and Grandma.

Gv batted his long lashes and somehow got his grandma to agree to play MarioKart with him.

Opening a gift from Grandpa & Grandma

He got a remote control race car.

K opening up his gift

A remote control John Deere tractor

Gv opening his gift...

Another remote control John Deere tractor.

C's gift came in the mail a few days later...

She got the entire set of the Cul de Sac Kids series.

Before you see the next few pictures, please know that the kids are ONLY allowed to do this activity with an adult supervising them at all times.

Courtney loved shooting the target with the BB gun.  She's pretty good at it too!

After Gt got the hang of it, he did pretty well.

He even hit the 'target'.

We love having family and friends come down to visit us!  So feel free to anytime you are coming through the area or even if you feel like taking a special trip!