Just like Mommy

Today's 100 words:

There are days when I don't like how much power being a mom holds. When I see my kids mimicking me--especially the parts of me that I'm not proud of--it's like a spotlight shining down, showing me just how imperfect I am. I suppose that realization is a good one, as it highlights the areas I need to change, but it's heartbreaking as well because I don't want my kids to use my actions as an example. I have a short temper, and sometimes I have a hard time holding it back. I don't want them to be like me.

Wish lists

Today's 100 words:

The kids worked on their letters to Santa yesterday, dictating their wish lists to me. They're still little, so they needed encouragement about what to say, but it was fun to hear what their two- and four-year-old minds came up with!

I remember when my mom would ask my sister and me to write our letters. She would sit us down with the JCPenney Big Book, and we would thumb through it, excitedly adding toys to our lists. I remember one year when I just had to have a giant teddy bear and another when my most-desired gift was a woodburning set. Santa delivered both times.

M*A*S*H

Today's 100 words:

 

I remember watching the last episode of M*A*S*H with my dad, he in his favorite green armchair and I on the floor with my back pressed up against the couch. It's one of those snapshot moments I can remember from my childhood, small vignettes of things I did or said, the ones that for whatever reason have stuck with me all these years. I remember asking my mom once what M*A*S*H stood for, and when she told me--Mobile Army Surgical Hospital--I said it over and over again for weeks, like a chant or an incantation.

The busy season

Today's 100 words:

 

Christmas is only two weeks away, and I haven't done much to get ready. The kids and I picked up a few presents for daddy, but that's been the extent of my preparation. Today after church we'll buy our tree, and then hopefully this week I'll find the time to buy more gifts and decorate. There's just so much to do, and I get stressed thinking about it. Every year I vow that the next year I'll be more organized and shop early and not have to stay up all night on Christmas Eve, yet every year is the same.

Feeling creative!

I hope I don't jinx myself by putting this in black and white, but the last three or four days have been some of my most productive writing days ever. After last month's NaNo marathon, I decided to focus my writing efforts on poetry rather than prose, and that decision really seems to have had a positive effect on my creativity. Aside from an occasional poem or two, it's been years since I've put all of my attention on poetry. Most importantly, I'm having fun--the muse is giving me her undivided attention, and all is well in my writing world.

How has your writing been going lately? What projects are you working on?

Snow!

Today's 100 words:

It's snowing today, the first real snow we've had so far this season. I remember how excited I used to get as a kid when I saw those white flakes falling from the sky and covering the ground. I would immediately think of snowmen and snowball fights and snow forts, and my sister and I would beg our mom to let us go out and play, then spend the proverbial forty-five minutes donning snow pants and coats and hats and boots and mittens before venturing into the snow, only to come in fifteen minutes later with cries of "I'm too cold."

Writing highs, writing lows

Today's 100 words:

It's sad that writing highs don't seem to last very long, at least for me. That poem I wrote two nights ago? I loved it for about a day, but now I see its many faults. I don't think it's bad to be critical about one's own work--on the contrary, I think it's a good thing--but still it is discouraging when Lady Doubt (as I call her) steps up and whispers in my ear, eager to give her unwanted opinion: You can't write. This is terrible. Why would anyone want to read this? But despite it all, I keep writing.