Ramblings of a SAHM

Friday, October 31, 2003

HALLOWEEN!!! Way too much candy at the house now but everyone had a great time. Especially since the weather cooperated for once, 70 degrees and clear skies.

Kyle was a devil, Zach Harry Potter, Kelly a Teddy Bear, Emily the Tooth Fairy, Ally an Angel.

Katie at 9:11 PM

Thursday, October 30, 2003

I love Thursdays, it's Survivor night! It's one of the two TV shows I watch (the other being Angel on WB). Only 7 more hours! hehe

Usual busy day here: made breakfast, changed a light bulb, took out the trash, 4 loads of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, paid some bills, made lunch, swept the kitchen floor, went through some of the twin's old clothes, pulled out fabric to make my sister's quilt. Later we're going to bake Halloween cookies. I should go work outside now, there's leaves to rake up. We don't have any trees in the front yard but the neighbor does and their leaves blow into our yard. grrr... Maybe I'll convince the kids it's a game, like Tom Sawyer. haha

Quote of the Day: "One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your imagination." -Sam Levenson

Katie at 1:07 PM

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Quote of the Day: "Home is where you can say anything you like cause nobody listens to you anyway." -Author Unknown

Katie at 3:39 PM

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

I'm not suppose to be sitting here typing this. There's too much to do to goof off at the computer right now. But I really need to eat lunch (grilled turkey and tomato sandwich) so here I am. hehe

NaNoWriMo starts in 3 days. I'm starting to get nervous, 50,000 words in 26 days is a lot. I say 26 days because we will be out of town for Thanksgiving (and the weekend). Therefore I have to finish on Nov 26th to send it in and be verified. I'm more worried about not having the time to sit down and type rather than getting writer's block or stuck on the plot. Kyle's trying to potty train himself which means lots of hopping up and down from the computer chair and breaking my train of thought. Plus the usual nuttiness of life: diaper changes, shuttling kids back and forth from school, housework, and keeping the kids fed. Ugh. I'm doing a great job of psyching myself out, huh?

Well, back to the real world then. I need to fold and put away 3 loads of laundry, change and wash all the sheets (and then make beds), get Play-Doh out for the kids (a rainy day activity, it's raining!), and a bunch of other weird items on my to do list. *deep breath* Bedtime is only 8 hours away. hahaha

Quote of the Day: "Parents are not interested in justice; they are interested in quiet." -Bill Cosby

Katie at 12:12 PM

Monday, October 27, 2003

I will scrapbook today if it kills me! And it just might considering the way the kids have been acting. Kyle at the scrapbook store earlier: "Mom?" "What, Kyle?" "Mom?" "What, Kyle?" "Mom?" *&^#&*!# "What, Kyle?" I think I should change my name.

But now they are all in bed. *happy sigh of relief* 8pm bedtime is a wonderful thing.

Katie at 8:13 PM

Sunday, October 26, 2003

I could rant about daylight saving time but the kids for once actually slept in that "extra hour" so I'm not complaining. For those of you who don't know me that well, I grew up in Indiana where they don't follow this madness. It would confuse the cows you know. I still don't like the system, you have the same amount of daylight no matter what hours you call it. Plus I'd rather have the sun set later than rise earlier which is what happens during the winter. And the whole "losing and gaining hours" really bugs me. Where do they go? Is the government stealing our hours for some top secret time travel project? It's just weird.

Yesterday was a fun but exhausting day. We finally went to the pumpkin patch (complete with hayride) with the skies threatening rain the whole time. It didn't rain though. *shrugs* Then we went to the local school's Halloween carnival. I had finished up the costumes Friday night so the kids were thrilled to wear them early. The carnival is one of those things that is fun for kids and not adults. Shelling out $.25 to $.50 per game (but you had to buy the tickets first) and then they won annoying things like kazoos and whistles. And sticky lollipops. We didn't do the costume walk again this year, it's too crowded plus I don't think they give out prizes so what's the point? haha Although we have figured out that the best time to be at the carnival (in the old gym) is during the hour long costume parade (in the new gym). An hour is all I can stand anyway.

Today we're off to see my brother-in-law at college. He's only been there a month so I don't feel too bad that we haven't been there yet. (well maybe just a little) It should be interesting, if nothing else, my 5 rugrats running around will be a good birth control reminder for the college students. hehe

Quote of the Day: "If I didn't have writing, I'd be running down the street hurling grenades." -Paul Fussell

Katie at 7:56 AM

Friday, October 24, 2003

Here's a little piece I wrote awhile back. The question is popping up again *wink* so here's my answer.

"How Do You Do It?"

Here, in a five hundred words or less, I will describe just how I do it. It being taking care of 5 children that are 5 years apart in age.

"You do what you gotta do."

Huh? That's it, you say? Well, yeah.

I could overcomplicate it and tell you things like "I get up in the morning and pour cereal and milk in bowls and tell them to get dressed and tie their shoes and brush their hair." How do you change a diaper? There that's how I do it. Imagine doing it twice, there you go, that's how you handle two kids in diapers. Or at one point in my life, 3 in diapers. Repeat once more and chide myself that I should have bought stock in P&G years ago. Not so difficult really. Or at dinner, I dish five plates instead of the average two. Some days I think I deserve a nifty lunch lady hair net.

Well now you are disappointed. I'm not that great amazing superwoman you thought I was. Well it is kinda tricky figuring out how to squeeze five car seats and boosters into a mini-van (which are not as kid friendly as advertised but that's another rant). Or why the best fruit bowls come in packages of 4. So I buy two packages and then I have 3 leftover and how do you split that between 5 hungry kids. Math was never my strong suit so don't bother explaining multiplication to me again. Besides where the heck am I going to store 20 fruit bowls?

Here's another favorite answer to that question. "I'm insane." That one usually causes people to take a step back and smile like "Don't make any quick movements and maybe she won't notice us." But you know, any mom is insane by the very nature of being a mom. Trying to determine what turned your toddler's poop bright purple is not something normal sane people think about on a daily basis.

Sometimes I just shrug and say "I don't know." Cause I really don't. It's like asking how someone breathes. I'm being figurative there, I was a biology major in college, you don't need to go into specifics again, thanks. I get up in the morning and do what needs to be done to keep the kids feed, clean, alive, and not screaming so loud that my eardrums break. Some days it's one series of messes and mistakes after another. Other days I tuck them all into bed and no one has colored on the wall or poked another's eyes out and I think, this isn't so bad after all. Course as soon as I think that, someone wakes up and mumbles, "my tummy hurts" before puking Spaghettio's all over me and their dry clean only comforter.

So in summary (cause I like summaries just in case you missed something) "you do what you gotta do", "I'm insane", and "I don't know." Take your pick and whatever you do, don't bother replying. Cause I'm already ignoring you to tell one of the kids to quit picking their nose while I fish a Barbie doll shoe out of the baby's mouth and mentally calculating how many minutes until bedtime.

In Memory of my Grandma who taught me that you never have to grow up. I love you and miss you every day.

Katie at 9:43 AM

Thursday, October 23, 2003

< sarcasm > It's been a fun morning. Everyone should go shopping with a 2 year old. < /sarcasm> *sigh* Kyle's too big for the cart (plus I usually put Kelly in the seat) but he's too tempermental to walk on his own. Like he wants to crawl under the clothing racks and examine the little rocks in the pavement in the parking lot (in the middle of the lane to boot). We went to the drycleaners, Target, Michael's, Costco, and Hobby Lobby this morning. I had to carry him kicking and screaming out of Hobby Lobby. Joy.

But I did buy the perfect shade of purple for Em's tooth fairy costume. Finishing it is on the top of my to do list today. Plus 3 loads of laundry. I think I deserve an easy afternoon after shopping with the demon 2 year old. haha

Katie at 1:53 PM

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

< rant > I hate paper!!! Which is rather ironic since it is my favorite spurge when it comes to scrapbook shopping. But I hate paper! I swear the house is spitting it out from the walls. There are newspapers, receipts, coloring books, bills, junk mail, coupons, homework, take out menu's, forms to fill out, and kids' drawings everywhere! My biggest annoyance at the moment is the kids and their scissors and crayon wrappers. There are dozens of tiny little pieces of cut up paper and discarded crayon wrappers all over the place. Plus Zach's kindergarten class must go through a small forest every week. I kid you not, he brings home at least 5 sheets of paper every day. I originally planned to keep it all in a folder for his scrapbook. Ha! The folder was full two weeks into school. Same goes for the twins 3 days a week plus most of their stuff is duplicated. I need to go through the 2 foot pile to pitch some and save some. But my inner procrastinator causes me to whine about it instead. hehe < /rant >

Quote of the Day: "I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten - happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another." -Brenda Ueland

Katie at 1:31 PM

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Quote of the day: "Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper." -Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Katie at 6:37 PM

Monday, October 20, 2003

Life with little kids is like Cheerios in your shoes. It's the normal everyday things with a weird little twist to them. Apart Cheerios and shoes are mundane and fine, together they are just strange and annoying.

I'm not quite awake yet. Having "Greg Gone" induced insomnia coupled with the girls waking me up in the middle of the night. Em lost her blanket and Ally thought there were monsters under the bed. So they turned on the light to look for both and therefore woke up Kelly. I found the blanket under the bed but no monsters. It took me half an hour to calm Kelly down. *yawn* Can someone just hook me up to an IV of Mountain Dew?

I need to go play Cinderella minus the shoe and prince. Laundry, scrubbing the floors, taking out the trash, making lunch, avoiding evil step-sisters. Oh scratch the last one, don't have any of those. I think I'm getting the raw end of the deal here, at least a pretty new pair of shoes would be nice. The prince is in Minneapolis. Or Milwaukee? He's somewhere with clean sheets every night, food served at the proper temperature and no poopy diapers. *yawn*

Katie at 10:09 AM

Sunday, October 19, 2003

Today was suppose to be PJ day. For those of you not familiar with the concept, it's a day where you um, stay in your PJ's. hehe We don't have them very often anymore since the kids have started school. But my mother in law invited us for dinner and I still haven't out grown that college habit of doing anything for free food (join the "Latin for Chinese Speaking Red Headed Twins" club? Free pizza at the meeting? Sure!). So we will get dressed and go out instead of being lazy and laying around the house in our jammies. Not that the kids ever really lay around. "Boy defined: Natures answer to that false belief that there is no such thing as perpetual motion." -Author Unknown These are also the kids that whine when I wake them up at 8am to get ready for school and then they wake me up at 7:00 this morning. Huh? I don't get it either.

12 days til NaNoWriMo begins! I have a great opening paragraph for my novel (Kierana's book 2), I can't wait to write it. I'm still plodding along with book 1. I had hopes of finishing it before starting 2 but unless a freakish amount of inspiration is delivered to my front door and the kids turn into statues for the next two weeks, it ain't happening. I'm kinda stuck in book 3, I need to wait until I write a couple of plot events in book 2 before continuing book 3. I'd rather let the events unfold as they want to instead of trying to squish them into how they will appear in the flashback in book 3. Course there will probably be some rewriting of book 3 after I write book 2 so I'm not sure why I'm saving myself the hassle over this plot idea. Maybe it comes back to procrastination. Doesn't everything?

This excerpt is from chapter something in Kierana book 1 (catchy title, I know). I haven't bothered to break it up into chapters yet. Kinda long but I find it amusing. Again could probably use some grammar help and editing but oh well...

Crawling through yet another dark, dank tunnel, Kierana was questioning Minolan's claim that ridding the village of skavens would be an easy task. She found out that the rat creatures like underground tunnels and had created an entire network of them between the village buildings. Ducking her head under another tree root, she grumpily thought, maybe it was easy for Minolan. He was too tall to travel through the tunnels. Thedoff, Quetear, Caiden and Kierana had been given the task of flushing out the skavens since they were the smallest of the group.

"Swords ready," Caiden said for the hundredth time since they had entered the tunnels an hour ago. Quetear carried a torch while the rest had been doing most of the fighting. Kierana had felt uneasy about killing the first skaven, they looked oddly human wearing their stolen jewels and clothing on their furry little bodies. But after one had tried to steal her dagger from her boot, she felt a little more vengeful.

"How many more do you think there are?" she asked as they rounded a corner.

"Hard to tell, we'll need to cover all of the tunnels. I guess we're two thirds through the village."

Kierana stifled a groan. Only Thedoff seemed comfortable in the dirt passages. She bet if Caiden hadn't warned them to keep their talking to a minimum, the dwarf would be explaining the structural faults of dirt walls and suggesting better tunnel building techniques...

"I think I see light up ahead," Quetear said hopefully.

Sure enough they were steadily rising towards the surface instead of traveling deeper underground. They exited the tunnel into a man made cellar. Caiden found a ladder leaning against the wall. Climbing it, he pushed open the trap door. "Come on up, we're in someone's house."

The group scrambled up the ladder, first Kierana, then Thedoff with some help from Quetear. They seemed to be in an abandoned kitchen of a bar. Kierana blinked several times trying to adjust to the bright daylight streaming in through the grimy window panes. Dust and cobwebs covered piles of dishes and mugs and the air smelled of stale beer.

"I'll report back to Lord Gitter. You guys check for more tunnels," Caiden ordered. He quickly found a door leading out of building and disappeared outside.

"I'll go look in the cellar again," offered Thedoff. He half climbed fell back down the ladder. "I'm okay!" he called after Quetear and Kierana heard a thud. "Q, come down with the torch!" Quetear shrugged at Kierana and climbed back down, leaving her alone.

"I'll check here, I suppose," she said to no one in particular. She felt filthy and rubbed at the dirt on her arms, only causing it to streak down her skin. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to pull out the sticky cobwebs. Along the wall she noticed a collection of discarded clothing, she picked through it until she found a small hat. Quickly braiding her tresses, she tucked her hair up in the hat. If they had to do more tunnel hunting, at least her hair wouldn't get caught in the little roots that stuck out from the walls.

Unsure exactly what to do, Kierana wandered through a doorway to another dusty room. She picked up a rag and began wiping skaven blood off her sword. They must have killed ten of the creatures and ran another twenty down the tunnels to where Jalask, Minolan, Butu and Lord Gitter were waiting. They had also come across a couple of large spaces filled with stolen loot, silver candlesticks, gold watches, and other trinkets. Caiden had made notes of the rooms on the hasty map he had been drawing along the way so the townspeople could find their possessions again.

She heard floor boards creak behind her and turned expectantly to see Quetear or Thedoff. Instead a large mess of rags was flying at her with a broomstick over its head. Taken completely off guard, Kierana was hit hard on the head with the broomstick and dropped her sword. The woman under the rags began screaming at her. "Git out of me house, ya dirty boy! Don't ya dare steal my thangs! I got ya, I did!" Each accusation was punctuated with another swing of the broom. Kierana put up her hands to defend herself and tried to back away.

"I'm not a boy! I'm with Lord Gitter to get rid of the skavens. They must have been stealing from you!" Kierana tried to explain. She gasped for air as the old hag hit her squarely in the chest with the broom handle.

"Ya lie! Ya dirty boy!"

Kierana tried to control her anger as she avoided the woman's swings. "I am not a boy!" she repeated loudly, stepping back out of reach.

"Miss Phelps!" called a man from the doorway. Kierana glanced over her shoulder to see a well dressed man enter the room with Lord Gitter and the other warriors behind him. Miss Phelps took Kierana's distraction as a chance to hit her solidly over the head with her broom again. Kierana sunk to the ground, little white stars clouding her vision.

"Miss Phelps, stop! It's okay, we're here to help."

"I got da thief!" she said triumphantly. She stood guard over Kierana with the broom threatening to swat her again if she moved. Kierana groaned, her head smarting and the stars still dancing in and out of her sight.

"The mayor and I will handle it from here, Miss Phelps," Lord Gitter said.

Kierana felt a small surge of magic flow through the room. Miss Phelps dropped her broom and stepped away from Kierana. The woman looked at them all with a confused expression on her face but continued mumbling, "I got da thief, I did!"

"We cannot thank you enough, Lord Gitter," the mayor gushed to Lord Gitter. "Please accept this as a token of our gratitude." Lord Gitter nodded and accepted a sack of jingling coins. "I can't imagine what we would have done if you hadn't come to our rescue."

Miss Phelps stumbled up to the mayor, grasping the man's fine coat, "I got da thief, I did!" She pointed to Kierana. Lord Gitter made a small motion with his hand and Minolan and Jalask came around him to Kierana. The warriors helped her to her feet, practically picking up the little wood elf. Quetear picked up her discarded sword.

"Lord Gitter's men will take care of him, err her now," assured the mayor. He grimaced as he gently pried the woman's dirty hands from his clothing.

"I got da thief, I did!" she said again proudly as the mayor forcefully steered the crazed woman out the door away from the warriors.

When the door closed behind the humans, Minolan and Jalask burst out laughing. "Ow," Kierana moaned at their noisy outburst. Her head was throbbing, she just wanted to curl up in a tree and go to sleep.

"I'm sorry, Kier," Minolan said between chuckles. "But that was too funny."

Kierana glanced up and caught even Lord Gitter smiling. She hurt too much to even glare at them, instead she let her bruised head drop again. With Minolan's and Jalasks's strong arms under hers, she let them carry her weight, her feet barely touching the ground.

"Who knew a broomstick was such a forceful weapon?" asked Quetear as he opened the door for them, her sword tucked into his belt.

"You'll have to do a lesson on it, Jalask," Kierana grumbled as they helped her walk out into the street. Kierana winced as her comment sent the lot of them howling in laughter again.

Katie at 12:23 PM

Saturday, October 18, 2003

Zach's Harry Potter is finished! Well except for the tie and Gryffindor crest. I don't know exactly how I'm making those. The robe is done at least. Kyle's devil hood and tail are almost finished, I need to do the stuffing and hand sewing part (my least favorite). Oh and I need to exchange his red sweatsuit for a black one. The twins' wings, ew, those are worrying me. I need 19 gauge wire for those and I haven't found any at 3 craft stores. Home Depot is my next try. I can't believe I'm almost done nearly 2 weeks before Halloween, I'm usually such a last minute type person. I guess this means I'll be able to start and finish my next quilt that much sooner. Yippee!

Katie at 6:15 PM

Friday, October 17, 2003

I finished the Teddy Bear costume for Kelly! I could go on for pages about how excited I am that it came out so perfectly! She loves being all fuzzy but I might have a problem with the hat/hood, she likes to pull it off. Hmmm... I also finished Ally's Angel robe, Greg bought her a feathery halo, I might recover it with gold lame that I used on her costume. I'm a little nervous about making the wings. Tomorrow I'll buy the pattern for Zach's Harry Potter robe, I think it'll go together quickly. I won a purple leotard off eBay for Emily (Tooth Fairy). I have to wait until I get that so I can match the purples for her skirt. I'm still deciding how to do Kyle's devil horns. Greg suggested a hood and cape. We'll see what I can find that matches the red sweatsuit I already bought.

That's about it for today. I almost feel like scrapbooking again, woohoo! A couple more Halloween costumes and I'm sure I'll be ready to hang up the sewing machine and get back to paper, scissors, and glue!

Quote of the day: "Sometimes I go into my own little world...but that's ok, they know me there." -Joel Hodgson

Katie at 7:37 PM

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Oops, I knew there was something I forgot to do yesterday. It's crunch time with the Halloween costumes, I have 5 to do in less than two weeks. They have to be finished a couple of days before Halloween due to parties and what not. All of them are at least started, just in various stages of completion. Not much else exciting going on here. As if there ever is...

Quote of the Day: "A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Katie at 12:16 PM

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Typical day here, scrubbed crayon off the table and did some laundry. If you would like to see a picture of my lovely family, scroll down to the very bottom of this page. I like the black and white version, the original white shirts/khaki pants on white background version looks weird to me. But the whole crazy photo session wasn't my idea in the first place so...

Quote of the day: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is." -Albert Einstein

Katie at 1:45 PM

Monday, October 13, 2003

Nothing, I've got nothing today. Sorry. There's the amusing story of the twins and their friend "Lizzard" (okay not so funny since Lizzard's, I mean Lizzie's mom was not too thrilled) or the hilarious tale of the van acting weird (again maybe not so cute since I'm stuck at home until we figure out the problem). So here's a quote and I'm done for the day.

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a crib house whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alley ways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." -James Davis Nicoll

Katie at 4:42 PM

Sunday, October 12, 2003

Procrastinators Unite! Oh, well, maybe we can do that later. hehe

I need to get everyone ready to go to dinner at the in-law's. I won in the in-law lottery, for the most part they are great people. They have their quirks but doesn't everyone? Plus I'm sure it'll take forever to get out of town due to the crazy festival being held here (see yesterday's post/rant). And we need to swing by the store, we're out of trash bags and tomorrow is trash day. Really it's not the great tragedies of life that will get you, it's the dumb mundane things that ultimately drive you nuts.

I'm trying to clean up a couple of stories to let a friend read. I wish I had a pocket editor or something. It's so hard to critique your own work. I think my sister would be good at it but she's "too busy" with grad school and Kitty (who used to be my cat!). :b She also has the only printed copies of both my novels in progress. Back to the inner editor, I know I need to chop up my sentences. I like run-ons a lot if you haven't already noticed. hehe I'll just have to add a big huge flaming warning that these are WORKS IN PROGRESS! Anything that sucks really isn't my fault cause it hasn't been "edited." haha

Found the bit I meant to post yesterday from my novel. There's about 140+ Word pages to the Kierana trilogy at the moment so things can get lost...

A few hours later, gnomes move at a terribly slow pace, they reached the alcove that the Council had deemed the gnomes' new home. If the troll problem was solved in a timely manner, they would be free to return to their old village. Until then, this place would be their home. Of course the gnomes complained about everything: the creek was too far away, it was too shady, it was too sunny, the ground was too flat, the trees were too tall. Kierana rolled her eyes and resisted commenting on the terrible lack of trolls at this location.

Katie at 12:38 PM

Saturday, October 11, 2003

Um, the world is really weird at 5am. Just thought you should know in case you like to sleep until well after the sun comes up (like me). I'm thinking the kids are going to be really grumpy after lunch because of this. By the way, we drove dh to the airport for his 6:30am flight, we don't normally get up at odd hours for the hell of it.

I plan to hide in the house all day. Cause we live in this really tiny town (2500 people, 3 stoplights and a flasher, haha) and the Chamber of Commerce has this really stupid festival planned that will bring 250,000 people into town over the weekend. I'm serious, 100 times as many people, it's been well documented over the last few festivals. A couple of years we went out of town for this weekend, that seems to be the best plan and what most natives do. I'm literally stuck here this year. Cause it takes half an hour to get in and out of town if we were to leave. Compared to the 30 seconds it usually takes to drive the half mile to get out of town, that's a big deal. Plus it's another half an hour to drive to get any where in the first place, an hour driving just to do something is not worth it. *grumble, grumble*

I'm trying to find a good passage to post from my Kierana Wood Elf novels. I won't be putting too much of it here, it seems that posting more than 3 chapters of a novel online is considered a "first publishing." Not that I have grander illusions that I'll ever be published. But just in case, I want my money's worth from my work cause companies pay a hell of a lot less for "second" publishing rights. Hey, I have a scrapbooking/quilting/sewing habit to support, you ain't getting it for free. haha

Here, this is from Chapter 19 of the 3rd book (last year's NaNo, I'm writing book 2 this year, it's all backwards, don't ask):

"You do know that most women ask for their clothing back first." Chandler sat on his bed, err Kierana's bed and watched her sort through her returned belongings.

"I'm not most women," she answered while examining her sword for damage. Satisfied with its condition, she replaced its leather sheath and strapped it to her naked thigh.

Katie at 7:54 AM

Friday, October 10, 2003

Ugh, there's too much going on in my head to blog today. Halloween costumes, cleaning the kitchen, dh's trade show, the village festival, I need a shower, kids' hair cuts, need to go to Hobby Lobby, laundry, NaNoWriMo, gum on my new shirt (thanks Zach, grr...), eBay, paying bills, scrapbooking, and more. I need to go make a "To Do" list to get all of this clutter out of my head and on to paper. Plus it's so gorgeous outside, I'd really rather be at the nearby state forest. Which adds more things to my list: decorate for Halloween and take pictures of the beautiful fall colors. Ugh, there's not enough hours in the day!

Quote of the Day: Chapter 1 The day the world fell down, but got up and then fell and then said, "oh hell with it." -NaNoWriMo Poster

Katie at 1:02 PM

Thursday, October 09, 2003

Today is "house blessing" day. I'm putting it off. If you aren't familar with the term check out the Fly Lady at www.flylady.net The emails are too much but the principles are good. Basically if you do a little every day, cleaning is not so overwhelming. With 5 kids, it's still overwhelming but I can make my house look decent with an hour of straight cleaning. Clutter is not an issue here, I'm so anti-packrat that my dh complains I throw too much stuff away.

I'm dying to write, dang NaNoWriMo is still days away. Which is good because those pesky Halloween costumes still haven't made themselves yet. Why I can't be one of those moms who buys costumes from the store is beyond me. It's one of those dumb traditions I've made for myself (like jars of homemade jam as Christmas gifts) . Everyone loves it so I can't quit now. Don't get me wrong, I love making the costumes and the kids like it too, I just don't like the pressure of having to make them. Make sense? No? It doesn't to me either. *shrugs*

Hmm, do I feel like a quote of the day? Sure, why not?

Quote of the day: "Heaven doesn't want me, hell's afraid I'll take over." -Unknown

Katie at 11:07 AM

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

I wish I knew how to type in stuffed up nose language. So just imagine this post read that way: "Ah haf uh snuffed up dose." It sucks. I don't want to think. I want to sleep. Course I can't sleep because the 5 children aren't sleeping. It's rotten how that works. Plus I can't take any medicine because they all make me sleepy, even the non-drowsy ones. Which bring me back to the 5 children that aren't sleeping. 6 hours and 15 minutes to bedtime. Not that I'm counting. *yawn* *sneeze* *sniffle*

Quote of the day: If your kids are giving you a headache, follow the directions on the aspirin bottle, especially the part that says "keep away from children." –Susan Savannah

Katie at 1:27 PM

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

I think I've finally decided on my 2003 NaNoWriMo novel. My original idea (and my first idea last year as well) was a historical romance set during the Civil War in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. The woman lead would be a rich daughter of a Cincinnati business man (probably in pork since it was the Porkapolis) who helps slaves into Ohio along the Underground Railroad. The man would be a Confederate solider whose troops are in the area to stop runaway slaves. But he's actually a Union solider acting as a spy. So why am I not doing this? Too much freakin' research involved. I know a basic overview of the history but to be a decent novel, I'd need to work in more details. It still might be written eventually but I don't think I could bang out 50,000 words in one month on the subject and do it any kind of justice.

Instead I'm writing book 2 of my Kierana Woodelf fantasy trilogy (series?). Last year's NaNo was book 3, it's still not to 50,000 yet (47,000, I think) but it's about half finished. Book 1 is about 1/4 finished if you are curious. I do this all very backwards, I know. The great thing is that I already have all my characters well formed. And through flashbacks and memories of sub-plots in book 3, I have most of book 2 outlined. I have no title for any of these by the way, I absolutely hate thinking of titles. I'll probably have my sister Erin read them and title them if I ever do try to publish. Now I just have to wait until November to start writing. Which will be tough, I love these characters (they are the type that live in your head and you love visiting them). In the time being, I'll probably draw a good map of the fantasy world. I'll post it if I ever make a good draft.

In other news, I finished Kelly's lady bug jacket. I'll post pictures later. Next up on the sewing table are 5 Halloween costumes. Greg wants his jean quilt next but he keeps upping the size he wants which means I need more jeans first. So that's all from me today, I need to get back to my laundry. :)

Katie at 1:16 PM

Monday, October 06, 2003

My scrapbooking muse has left the country. How annoying. I wonder if I can bribe her back with the promise of lots of chocolate. (Mountain Dew works for my writing muse). Anyway in the time being I'm buying some Club Scrap paper. It's the yummiest paper out there. Sorry to anyone who likes to buy my eBay paper piecings, I think I might be missing in action for the month of October. And then NaNoWriMo is November. And Christmas in December. I'll get back to you in January. Maybe.

Other than that, I'm feeling better. If anyone is curious, I had a headache, fever, sore throat thing yesterday. Just sick enough to make normal life annoying, not sick enough to lay in bed all day. And Moms don't get sick days, that's in the fine print. I missed it when I signed up.

Katie at 12:02 PM

Sunday, October 05, 2003

Sick... But moms don't get sick days.

Quote for the day: "There are only two things a child will share willingly: communicable diseases and his mother's age." -Unknown

Katie at 1:53 PM

Saturday, October 04, 2003

My goal is to update this once a day. We'll see how well that works into my cluttered life. When November rolls around I plan to update my word count for NaNoWriMo and include a quick excerpt from whatever I've written that day. Which will hopefully be extremely witty and cause 10 editors to beat down my door to publish my great work. Since it is October, you're stuck with my weird nonsense until then. And you'll probably still be stuck with it after that, consider yourself warned.

If you have followed a link from my signature at an About.com or Delphi forum, welcome! I dabble in signature making with Adobe Photoshop. I have to give Elisabethan's website credit for the nifty brush. Interesting girl... And that's all I'll say about that. I also like to play with html, I'll be customizing this site as time goes on, the blue will probably stay since that's my favorite color.

Um, a quick note about life today. I'm procrastinating (very well too, haha), I'm suppose to be sewing a fleece jacket for Kelly. It'll be cute when I finish, I'll post a picture. And I'm suppose to be making lunch for the kids. Zach's not here so I'm not getting a reminder every 2 minutes that it's after 12 so it's easy to put off. Plus there's laundry to fold and the kitchen floor needs mopping. Course I have a trick laundry basket that is never empty no matter how many loads I wash and a clean kitchen floor attracts spills like bears to honey. *sigh* So back to my boring little exsistence...

Quote to ponder today: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." -Albert Einstein

Katie at 12:12 PM

Friday, October 03, 2003

Hi! Okay here's the extremely dorky intro post. I hate these things. But you've got to have one so here I go: I'm a stay at home mom of 5 kids, Zach (6 years old), Emily and Ally (4 1/2 year old identical twin girls), Kyle (2 years), and Kelly (10 months). DH (dear husband) is Greg. Geez, I've typed those lines so many times I could do it in my sleep.

I'm starting this blog for my 2003 NaNoWriMo novel (go sign up for the insanity!). Plus whatever other random musings I think I should add. Besides trying to write a novel (and being published someday!) I also like to scrapbook, fold laundry, sew, quilt, and sleep.

Katie at 11:03 PM

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