And baby makes five!

Happy Wednesday, friends. It's been a long time! Thank you to all who have sent emails and posted comments. I appreciate them so much.

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted, the most notable being the birth of my daughter. She was born on April 3, a few days earlier than expected. Since then, I've been discovering just how difficult it is to go from caring for two kids to caring for three. I'd always heard that it's harder to go from one to two, but that definitely hasn't been my experience. ☺

I'm sorry I haven't posted before now. The baby has been sleeping through the night since she was about a month old, which is indeed a blessing, but the trade-off is that she wants to be held all day. I've gotten next to nothing done for the past ten weeks. But even though my house is a mess and I'm behind on my art and writing and blogging and emailing, I'm happy. I know how fast these months fly by, and I'm doing all I can to truly live in the moment. As the Aerosmith refrain goes, I don't wanna miss a thing. ☺

I don't want to miss anything else in the blogosphere either. My goal is to start writing here as often as I can. It might take me a while to get back to posting several times a week, but I'll make it there eventually. I've missed you all, and I'm eager to start catching up on what you've been doing. I may not be able to visit your blogs daily for a while, but I will soon. In the meantime, please let me know in the comments how you've been. I can't wait to hear!

Well, my "free" time has ended, and I'm off to get the baby now. Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday. ☺

Giving thanks

Image courtesy of Robert Linder,
rgbstock.com

I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all who serve or have served in our military. I'm grateful for all you've done.

Happy Veterans Day!


Wishing you all a wonderful Monday. ☺

Oh, baby!

Happy Monday, friends. It's so good to be back. I can't tell you how much I've missed you all! ☺

I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. Life threw me a couple of curveballs (both good and bad) right after my August vacation, and since then I've been having a hard time getting back into the social media habit. I've been quite the reluctant recluse for the past few months, but I'm so excited to join you all again!

So what's been up with me? Well, if you don't mind, I think I'll leave out the bad. The good, though, is amazing. In August I learned that I'm pregnant! The news was a big (and welcome) surprise! I'm a little more than fifteen weeks along right now, and although I'm very excited, I'm also a little nervous. It's been more than four years since I had my youngest child. Yikes!

Oh, baby!
Image courtesy of Marja Flick-Buijs, rgbstock.com

Today is the first day in months that I haven't felt like crawling back into bed the moment I got up. Pregnancy this time around is very different; it's definitely an adjustment. I have a lot less energy, take a lot of naps, clean only when absolutely necessary, and don't cook nearly as often as I used to. It's all I can do some days just to keep up with the kids. I've also been working on making room for one more person in this tiny house. I see a rummage sale in my future—or lots of trips to Goodwill. ☺

Thank you for all your kind comments, e-mails, and tweets. I hadn't been online much, so I didn't have a chance to read many of them until this past weekend. I'm so grateful for them all—and I'm so happy to be back!


Wishing you all a fantastic Monday. ☺

Giving thanks

Image courtesy of Robert Linder,
rgbstock.com

Happy Memorial Day, friends!

I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all who serve or have served in our military. I am grateful for the sacrifice you and your families make to keep us safe and free.







Wishing my friends here in the United States and those around the world a wonderful Monday. ☺

Big thanks—and Our World Tuesday

Happy Tuesday, friends.

First, I want to thank all of you who blitzed my blog yesterday. It was a wonderful surprise to wake up to—especially on a Monday!—and I'm so grateful for your kind comments. You all made my day! I'm still working on responding to your comments and visiting your blogs. It might take me a few days, but I'll get there. ☺ Again, many thanks to you all!

 

Today is Tuesday, so that means it's time once again for Our World Tuesday, a weekly meme that encourages bloggers to share images of their world. It's a great way to get a glimpse of life through the eyes of others! You can find out more about it here. Even if you don't participate, I encourage you to take a look at the intriguing photos that bloggers from around the world share each week.

* * * * * * * * * *

 

This week I thought I'd share two photos from around my yard:

 

I'm not sure what kind of tree this is, but the flowers are absolutely gorgeous!

 

 

This second photo is of something my children find gorgeous, and they bring me bouquets of them nearly every day.

 

 

Even though my husband, who does the yard work, would disagree, I have to admit that dandelions are kind of pretty—especially against the green grass.

 

 Wishing you all a beautiful Tuesday. ☺

 

 

Z is for (Lora) Zombie

Happy Tuesday!

Well, here we are at the final letter. It's funny how a month can seem to pass so quickly and so slowly at the same time. ☺

Today's video inspiration comes from an artist who's relatively new to me: self-taught Russian artist Lora Zombie. Zombie creates what she calls "grunge art," something that I think is better experienced than explained. The video I'm posting today shows Zombie at work on one of her pieces—a fascinating process. You can see more of Zombie's work at her Web site, found here. Enjoy!



Today also marks the end of National Poetry Month and the Pulitzer Remix, a wonderful project I'm honored to have participated in this month. I've had a great time, and I'm sad to see the project end.

You can find my final haiku here. I am truly grateful for those of you who have supported me by reading and commenting on my work. Poetry is my passion, and your comments have meant so much. Thank you.


Wishing you all a wonderful and relaxing Tuesday. ☺

A great week and a big thank you!

Happy Sunday!

I wanted to thank those of you who have been visiting my blog this week. I've been having a great time with the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. It's such a wonderful opportunity to discover great new blogs and meet new friends. ☺

I also wanted to let you know that my daily haiku is up over at the Pulitzer Remix site. You can find it here. I know I keep saying this, but I truly am grateful to those of you who are reading and commenting on my poems. I'm honored that I was one of the eighty-five poets chosen to participate in this project, and I'm so appreciative of those who take the time to read. Thank you!

Wishing you all a fantastic Sunday! Now I'm off to read some blogs. ☺

The one about the missing blogger

I'm not missing anymore!

I apologize that I haven't been around much lately. Some of you know that I've been going through a rough time in my personal life, and I haven't felt very motivated to write. I'm happy to report, though, that things are much better now—amazingly better! Thank you for your e-mails, thoughts, and prayers. I truly appreciate them. I'm back to blogging now, and I'm excited to catch up with all of you!

And now, because today feels like a Monday to me since both my son and my husband were home yesterday—and also because I just really like this song—here's the Bangles with "Manic Monday." Wishing you all a calm and peaceful day!

Friday fun

First, thanks so much for your good thoughts and prayers. I appreciate them more than you know. Now, for those of us who need a little cheering up today, here's some Friday fun. Enjoy!

funnysigns.net

  

funnysigns.net

funnysigns.net

funnysigns.net

funnysigns.net

Have a great weekend!

Saying thank you isn't enough

I'm finally back!

Image courtesy of sundesigns, rgbstock.com

It was a difficult few weeks, but I'm happy to say that everything turned out much, much better than I could have expected. I don't have enough words for how grateful I am for your comments, thoughts, e-mails, and prayers. It meant so much to know that others cared and were thinking of me, and I know it was that—and faith—that made the situation easier to get through. Thank you so much.

I'm happy to be back on my blog, and I'm looking forward to posting again—it's been a while! However, for a couple of reasons, I'm going to be easing my way back to daily blogging. As some of you probably know, my son will be starting kindergarten in the fall. He'll be attending all day, every day, which of course is something this mom isn't really ready to think about, much less deal with! (I'll probably cry for days.) I had wanted to spend the summer doing fun things with him and his little sister, but several situations and events prevented me from doing as much with them as I would have liked. There's a little over a month left until school starts, so my plan is to spend more time doing things with the kids, which will, sadly, leave me with a little less time for blogging.

I'm also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this month. I'm using it to jump-start my memoir project, which I've put on the back burner for far too long. I'll spend part of the month transcribing interview notes and conducting more interviews (and then transcribing those as well). Once I see what I have to work with, I hope to get a good start on putting it all together. This project has been pretty daunting, but I'm hoping that Camp NaNo will help give me the momentum I need.

So although I may not post every day this month—(or maybe I will; who knows what the weeks will hold?)—I still plan on posting several times a week. I love blogging—it's one of my favorite outlets—and I love connecting with other people through their blogs. I'm looking forward to catching up with all of you!

Regardless of what happens with my posting this month, I'll be back full force once life settles down a little in the fall. Thank you for being patient with me and for everything you did these past several weeks. I appreciate it all more than I can say.

(And it definitely feels good to be writing again!)

First friends

Thanks for the kind (and often entertaining!) comments on Tuesday's post. I enjoyed learning more about you, and as far as I'm concerned, we're all BFF!

Writing that post started me thinking about my first friends, the ones I've known since I was mere moments old. Today I want to introduce them to you.

Here I am with Baby:

I think we're watching TV. Aren't we adorable? ;-)

And here is a younger version of me with my friends Panda Bear and Mouse:

I'm not sure what that look on my face is all about...

I know: I wasn't very creative at naming things back in my childhood years, but I assure you that age has brought wisdom in that respect. My kids' names are not Boy and Girl. I call them He and She. ;-)

Regardless of their uninspired names, Baby, Panda Bear, Mouse, and I have enjoyed a friendship that has lasted all my thirty-something years. They've traveled with me from state to state and house to house, and they're among the possessions I intend to pass down to my children someday.

So tell me, who were your first friends—real or, as in my case, stuffed?

For you ♥

The past couple of days have been a little difficult for me, but you readers have been great and have cheered me up immensely. Today I want to share two videos with you to express my appreciation for your kindness. The first is about true friendship (in this case, a sweet video about tortoise helping tortoise), and the second is a touching and inspiring video about motherhood. I hope you enjoy them!






You all are the absolute best! Thank you for helping me when I was down and for all your advice about preschool graduation and motherhood. ♥

Reflecting on the A to Z

Image courtesy of Kevin Tuck, rgbstock.com

I signed up, I wrote, and I stayed up too late.

I read, I commented, and I followed.

Most importantly, I had a great time!

I signed up for this challenge on a whim. Having never participated in any kind of blogging event before, I really had no idea what to expect. I thought I would have fun, and I looked forward to writing to a theme each day. I hoped I would make new friends and gain a few followers. One thing I didn't anticipate, however, was just how much participating in the challenge would change how I feel about writing.

Although I've been blogging every day for well over a year now, I was beginning to lose my passion. Something wasn't right, and for several months, I fell into a writing slump. I wasn't having fun with it anymore, and I found that I was giving my other projects--a young adult novel, a short story collection, my family history memoir, and my poetry--little to no attention. Writing didn't have the spark it once had.

This challenge changed that, and it's because of the wonderful, creative people I met, people from all fields and with all interests, all sharing one thing--a passion for what they do. And seeing how passionate people are about their interests renewed my interest in and passion for writing. I'm back to working on those projects I had abandoned for so long, and I owe it to the great people I met during the A to Z journey--people like Taylor, Graciewilde, Wendy, Stephanie, Betty, Nikki, Patti, and Fran, just to name only a few.

Sure there were some bumps along the way, like tricky letters, last-minute posts, and too few hours in the day. Also, I do wish I could have spent more time reading each blog. By ignoring my need for sleep, I managed to visit all of them, and although I commented on many of them (and followed others), time and offline obligations didn't afford me the opportunity to really give them all the attention I would have liked.

However, I'm grateful for the bloggers I did meet, and I want to thank all of you who have been reading and commenting. I look forward to hearing from you each day!

And there's no doubt about it: I will be back next year!

Now if you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to reintroduce myself to my family. ;)

Giving thanks

Today's 100 words:

Yesterday was our four-year-old son's first-ever Thanksgiving program. He stood with his class at the front of the gym, arms to his sides, a little nervous or self-conscious, I think, and sang two songs. I snapped pictures while Daddy videotaped, and every time the flash went off, our son would slide his eyes away from the teacher and toward mine.

I can't even begin to describe how incredibly proud I am of my smiling little boy and how hard it is to believe that the baby I brought home from the hospital is already so big.

Since my family and I will be traveling over the holiday, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and extend a huge thank you for reading my blog! I'll be back and posting on Friday or Saturday.

I have the best readers!

I want to thank everyone who commented on yesterday's entry about my lack of offline writing support. Your encouragement means so much to me, and I'm grateful that you took time away from your days to offer me your wisdom and advice. My NaNoWriMo prep is lasting until the last second, as usual, but I want you to know that I'll respond to each comment as soon as I can. Thanks again!

I'm back!

I decided this morning that I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo after all. :)

To all of you who offered encouragement in response to yesterday's post: thank you. I had been feeling pretty dejected about NaNo after I was told by someone close to me that my passion for writing is "stupid," but I felt better--and determined--after I read your encouraging responses. I wrote a response of my own this morning, where I tried to explain the reason that this person's lack of support hurt so much. (You can find my response here.)

What I learned from this experience is that although writing is a solitary activity, it's still necessary for me to feel supported by others and to have a sense that what I'm doing is important. Yes, I can write for me (and I do), but to know that someone is out there encouraging me and cheering me on reminds me that my passion is as important as anyone else's and following my dream is worthwhile.

I don't know how NaNo will go for me this year. I'm hoping that I'll make or exceed the word goal, as I did the two other years I participated. I think that this year my success will likely depend on my ability to find time to write around the distractions of my two very young children, which might prove difficult without family support. No matter what, though, I know that I have friends I can count on when the going gets tough. Thank you!

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who commented on yesterday's post about the pressure I feel as I try to balance my dream of becoming a published writer and my life as a mom. I was feeling pretty low when I wrote that blog entry. I honestly didn't see much point in my continuing to strive for a goal that seems so impossible. Through your encouragement, however, I've seen that it would be wrong for me to give up on my dreams--wrong for both me and my children. (What kind of example would I be setting?) I truly appreciate your comments. I've taken them all to heart and will respond to each of them in the next few days.

Thank you all again.