Wily Weekend Recollections

I'm having a hard time remembering last Friday. I think we went to see my mom at some point, as evidenced by this picture:



Perhaps I was in a mental lull after a whole week of having kids home for vacation. Or maybe I was writing for NaNoWriMo. I was definitely writing for the Inkaholics 007 group that evening because I was so into it that I completely forgot about Midnight Muse. I texted the girls and asked them if we could reconvene Saturday night. Thankfully, they could!

Saturday morning, we ran some errands, then I met with the Inkaholics group in the afternoon. SUCH fun times! I can't believe we only have two sessions left. It goes by so fast.

Afterwards, I dropped off my Ink stuff at home, got my laptop, and came right back to Panera to get some writing done for NaNo. I wrote ALL night, meeting Charity there, then moving to Village Inn, where we wrote some more with Legolas. I even wrote when I got back home, waaay into the wee hours. Total word count for that day was 7,431.

Sunday, we missed church in the morning. :o( (Surprise-surprise. When the human alarm clock stays up until 4:00 a.m. writing, that will happen.) We made it a family afternoon though, and went to have lunch at Subway. The kids were pretty exhausted in general, and honestly, they were probably getting tired of each other after all those days on vacation.



I went to Panera to write some more, and Angel joined me. We had a nice time writing and chatting. That evening is a bit of a blur, but I'm fairly certain there was some writing in there somewhere. Even though I've posted excerpts on my creative blog, I'll post a bonus one here because NaNoWrimo was a big part of what I was doing this month.

It did not take long for him to realize that his reasoning was just plain silly. He could not just sit by and watch her cry all night. He had to either find out what was wrong and fix it, find out what was wrong and deal with the fact that he could not fix it, or never find out what was wrong and curl up into a ball and die.

Whole Lotta Busy Continues

Saturday, the Inkaholics 7 writers group met for session 3. So far, the story is super interesting, and the characters are rather phenomenal if I may be so bold as to say so.



After getting back, Heath had to leave immediately for his class graduation. He was gone for pretty much the rest of the evening. I got the kids in bed and did a LOT of writing. (Thanks, Midget!)

Sunday, Heath had a lot of work to do before the new term began, so I decided to take the kids up to the Denver Museum. We still have a membership there, and we must make sure we use it! Besides, the kids love that place. If we lived closer to it, we would probably be there at least two times a month.







We all came home very exhausted but happy. Everyone went to bed at a decent time, and I got some more writing done, getting completely caught up on my NaNo novel--which I am LOVING. It's a really neat story, and I can't believe I can pull off writing two stories at once. (The other being the Inkaholics 7 book.) It's unheard of for me to do this. Guess there's a first time for everything.

Parting Shot
Okay, yes, it is a little disturbing, but I find these plasticized human bodies quite fascinating and beautiful.

Crazy Busy Weekend: Part 1

Friday, the kids had the day off of school for Veteran's Day. Of course, Heath and I still had work to do. He went into the office while I took the kids with me to the church to do some printing. They ran around for awhile, but finally settled down to watch a movie on my iPod.



We got lunch at my mom's store afterward. The kids ate pretty heartily and helped clean up after some customers afterward. Julie's probably going to have a bit of a summer job if she wants it next year.




That evening, I had a scheduled write-in for the young writers doing NaNoWriMo again. This one was costume-themed and held at Starbucks. We had the same girls that came last time, as well as my young friend Angel. They all had a fun time and totally decimated the contents of the candy bucket.




Continuing my evening of socializing, I met Legolas and Puella at Old Chicago. We chatted for awhile, then decided that we absolutely must see a movie that Puella had recently watched with her mom, a 1951 film called Three Guys Named Mike. It was so adorable! I love old movies.



We parted ways after the movie, and though I had high hopes of doing some writing, I was totally wiped out. No writing for me...

Parting Shot
One of the girls from the NaNo write-ins has the most awesome decorations for her laptop. :o)

Hangin' with Awesome People

One thing about doing NaNoWriMo is that writing time turns into "MUST WRITE NOVEL" time. Thus, the blog falling by the wayside. However, I'm having a moment of procrastination, so I might as well get some blogging done. Anyway, it'll be a great warm up, and I'll get get to talk to you. :o)



Friday was a pretty relaxed day. Just me and Everest all day. After Heath got back, I went to the church to get the bulletins and such printed. It was nice to get some time alone actually.

Saturday was hugely fun. My 7th Collaborative Young Writers Group started that afternoon, and afterwards, I hosted a write-in for the teen writers doing NaNoWriMo in the area.

Julie helped me put together the NaNoWriMo poster that I received in a packet from the Office of Letters and Light to help motivate the teen writers in the region. It looks so amazing! Such a lot of fun.




My dear daughter has been working hard on her own NaNo novel, trying to reach the goal of 800 words through NaNo's Young Writers Program. I thought it was a pretty low goal, but we went for it anyway. As it turned out, she reached her goal on Saturday--just five days into November! She's still going strong and has surpassed 1,000 words as of Sunday. Wahoo!



The first session of the CWG was fantastic. We had three new kids and three old timers. One other will be joining us next time. All the newbies seemed to really enjoy the group. It was a wonderful success!




An hour later, we set up the tables for the NaNo write-in. One of the gals from the CWG stayed, and four other girls from the NaNo forums arrived to write together. It was a fun, albeit only somewhat productive, time. But it was great to meet some more local writers and get to know them a bit better.



Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. Though I must admit that it wasn't nearly as stressful as I thought it was going to be. It was honestly a lot more fun than stress. Win!

Best laid plans...averted

Wednesday morning, I was determined to take an actual sick day. After Heath took the kids to school, I had some breakfast and coffee and set my mind on taking a nap before I had pick up Everest. Then I started thinking about how much the bathrooms really need to be disinfected after my being sick. And how the trash needed to be taken out. And the dishes put away. Soon, I had my mind set on doing chores all day even if I had to cough through them all.

Then I got the call. "This is Everest's preschool. He's okay, but we have you down as bringing snack today."

Aaagh. I wrote it on the calendar wrong apparently. Thankfully, we already had the stuff, so I just packed it up, got dressed, and headed to the school. By the time I got there at 9:15, I figured I might as well stay because I would just have to turn around and come back in an hour anyway.

This proved to be a fabulous idea! Everest was thrilled beyond belief that I was there, and I was able to help the teachers with organizing folders for parent-teacher conferences. It was neat to see Everest in his element. And since he brought the snack, he got to be the class helper by cleaning the tables, setting up snack, picking the song to sing, etc. It was fun!





We decided to go visit my mom at her store for lunch after school. On the way, we passed by this power plant or relay station. We've passed by it many times before, but this time Everest asked me to take a picture. He calls it a "wire castle," which I thought was a very good observation.



Everest helped my mom with some of the cooking. She made chicken wings (Everest's fave), cheese wontons, and Thai noodle soup (for me). Everything was so delicious! I'm so lucky to access to such great Thai cuisine.



When we got home, I had high hopes of taking a nap with Everest. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the mood to nap at all, so I ended up just being extremely drowsy while laying down with him to sleep. Eventually, I had him play in his room while I laid in my room to rest for 40 minutes. Then it was time to get Julie.

Once she was home and had finished her homework, I tried to rest again while the kids watched a movie downstairs. I think I may have dozed for 15 minutes before I realized I really needed to get started on dinner.

My original plan was to make grilled chicken salads, but all of our lettuce froze in the fridge. :-P So much for that. Plan B was to make use of the cabbage I'd purchased on the last grocery shopping trip. I ended up making a sort of twist on a traditional Russian/German immigrant dish. It's basically ground beef, cabbage, and some other veggies, cooked up, then encased in a bread exterior. I used crescent rolls that I pinched together for the bread dough. They were absolutely delicious if I may say so myself.



The kids played in the back for a bit while we got the kitchen cleaned up. Then it was time for showers and bedtime. Heath fell asleep with Everest while Julie took her shower. She had written me a poem while Everest was showering, and I was supposed to write one back. I didn't take a picture of my poem, but I did get hers. :o)




We played some iPod games for awhile before she finally went to her own bed. I got a long shower for myself, and have been answering emails, IMing, and trying to get this blog written. Now it's time for bed because this is the last chance I'll have to get some extra sleep today. I'm taking it!

Here Goes the Weekend

Friday marked the beginning of our super busy weekend. After having to drive Julie to school because we missed the bus, we had to drive back with Everest for our parent-teacher conference. (Yes, they are must even in preschool apparently!)



Everest busied himself on the class computer while Heath and I talked to his teacher. The final score was basically that he's doing well and improving as time goes on. There were a handful of things she encouraged us to work on at home--all of which we know we should be doing. So that's an extra kick in the pants to get going there.

When we got back, Everest and I worked on his letters and played some games together on the computer. Heath took him to the rock climbing gym so I could get some work time in. I finished the brochure I needed to do around the time Julie got home from school. Then it was time to print and start prepping for my tutoring appointment.

Meanwhile, the Inkaholics V book, Undead Sparkles, arrived from FedEx! I was so excited to see them. I'm sure the three young writers I will see tomorrow will be equally thrilled. :o)

Heath fed the kids while I was on Skype in the bedroom, and directly afterward, Julie and I headed out to an event that has been long-awaited: Secret Keeper Girl Live! It's a fun presentation for moms and tween daughters about dressing modesty and seeing ourselves as God sees us--His beautiful princesses with whom He is enthralled.





We had a really fun night. They are very interactive in their presentation. All the young girls were screaming their heads off and having a grand time. Julie was actually a little more reserved in the midst of the chaos, but she couldn't stop talking about how wonderful it was on the way home.

After dropping off Julie and saying goodnight, I went to meet with my Muse girls, Puella and Legolas, at Old Chicago. We chatted until about midnight, and everyone got tired. I've got some writing yet to do this evening, while Heath cleans out his closet a bit.

Tomorrow, we've got more stuff going on, but I shall share about that then!

Parting Shot
We're getting a lot of good use out of Julie's bento box from Silvereagle. Turns out, it's perfect for school lunches. Thanks again, Silver!

Back on track

Wednesday has been a good day overall. I was productive with my morning work time and make it to the gym after picking up Everest from school. Great workout.

I've been trying to make it to the gym three times a week for eight weeks--my usual short-term goal. But last week I missed one and decided to restart this week with a new weigh-in. Apparently I have lost 10 lbs in the last month! Or the scale was improperly calibrated. XD Either way, it was kind of cool to see that it was less. My clothes are fitting better. Win!

After the gym, we went by my mom's store for lunch and to talk about some menu changes she wanted me to make. Everest enjoyed seeing his Nana of course.



We came home and rested a bit before walking up to the bus stop for Julie. She got her homework done, and they chilled out together while I got dinner organized. I'd put the fixings for beef vegetable stew in the slow cooker this morning, and it was coming along very nicely indeed. We also had cinnamon rolls for dessert. Nom nom.

Heath took Julie out to go rock climbing (though it was super crowded, so they ended up just wandering around downtown). I put Everest to bed around 6:00, and he was asleep within 10 minutes. Poor guy. He stayed up too late last night, then had to get up early for school. No nap because of our afternoon activities. He was definitely due for an early bedtime night.

Tonight, I've been poking away at this very short post while IMing with Midget and Legossi. Legossi will be in town for the book tour she's doing with her dad to promote their new books. Precisely Terminated is her very first published novel. I got my copy last week, and so far, it really is quite a fantastic read. I'm enjoying it immensely. (As much as you can enjoy a dystopian world where somebody dies in every chapter. LOL Actually, it's incredibly well done.) And as you might guess, she's one of the girls I met through CleanPlace. I am so proud of her accomplishment in getting her first novel published!

Now I think I'll get those changes done to my mom's menu, then curl up with Legossi's novel. Heath has some work to do tonight after he gets back with Julie, but afterwards, we're on to do something together. Not sure what, but I'll be ready.

Boring Monday

Monday, honestly, had quite a dearth of happenings. XD I got the kids off to school, then came back to work until it was time to get Everest. I picked him up, and we went straight to the church because I had an afternoon all-staff meeting.



Back at home, Everest and I tried to rest, though he would not nap for anything. We got Julie, she did her homework, and I made dinner. I tried to get a little creative by wrapping baked chicken and an apple slice with a croissant triangle, then topping with a triangle of cheddar cheese. Served with alphabet veggie soup, it was a lovely dinner together as a family.



Heath got the kids down to bed, and I went to the gym for a fantastic workout. One of these days, I'll get that weight loss vlog recorded. I'm planning on doing vlogs for this that are less than 60 seconds long. That should both make it faster/easier for me to make, plus it'll be faster for anyone watching. :o)

I got an incredible idea for a story when I was at the gym. When I got home, I hopped on the laptop to write everything down I could remember. Can't wait to get going on this story! I also had an interesting idea for distribution. Check out my Creative Blog for a sneak peek. :o)

That's it for tonight, folks! Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more exciting...

Hyper Active Week

A week ago on Sunday, we had a neat family date at City Rock, an indoor climbing gym located downtown. Everest had been itching to try out his new rock climbing shoes and harness, and I've been wanting to learn to belay so I can work towards climbing with Heath someday. And Julie is always up for climbing things. It was such a fun family outing!




(Click this if you can't see the slideshow above.)



It was also my first time really climbing on a rock climbing wall and definitely a first time for being in a harness, roped up. It was pretty cool! If I can get my physical fitness level up, I would definitely be interested in continuing this.

A week ago on Monday, my summer session collaborative writers group began with the Inkaholics III group. We had four participants that day--two of the boys were the same as the last group (Inkaholics II), one was the friend of one of the first boys, and the last was a girl whose mother got my name from Bridget.

It was a fun time, and we came up with a very unique plot. It's a crossover genre (contemporary-fantasy with some sci-fi elements) about a panda, a doctor, and a stuntman in a quarantined area during a time of plague.

This group is going to meet twice a week for three weeks as opposed to meeting once a week for six consecutive weeks. The pace is pretty fast, but it's fun!

Last week on Tuesday, I had my usual meetings and worked. A typical boring day. The only thing different was that I took the kids to a new park in the later afternoon. They had a lot of energy to expel, and outside is really the best place to do that.






Last Wednesday evening, my weekly young writers critique group kicked off. We only had four participants, and we got off on a shaky first foot, but in the end, I think everyone had a good time. One of the members is the third boy from the Inkaholics II group, plus his sister. Then we also have Jerri (from Inkaholics I) and a young girl whose mother got my name from Legolas' mom. So exciting!

After group, I met Puella at Starbucks to chat for a couple hours, which was absolutely lovely. We even walked over to King Soopers for a snack. That's one thing I do love about summer (and the things I love about summer are very few)--the warmer nights when walking is a viable option.

Thursday, I took the kids to M & A's house for the morning and met with the Inkaholics III group for our second session. We had two new members join that day. (Actually one was only supposed to be visiting, but she liked it so much that she decided to come back for the rest of the workshop. Score!)




It was a great meeting, and the kids had a fabulous playdate with their friends. Later that afternoon, we went to yet another park because the weather was just perfect for it.