Owner: Writer-Mom URL:http://writer-mom.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:58:02 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: "Random daily surprises in all colors shapes and sizes."
A grab bag of my thoughts, life with four little boys, on being a pastor's wife, on Christianity, on music, on writing and books. You really never know what you are going to get. Site statistics:Click here
Hopeful... 2007-04-14 04:41:00 I am on a mission to get published somewhere. If you are new here you may not know that I am working on a children's novel that I really and truly hope to have published in the next few years. The children's market is incredibly hard to break into no matter what but it's even harder if you are a nobody who has never been published anywhere (self-publishing doesn't count you see) and no one knows you from a paper boy.So my little job right now is to become published somewhere out there in periodical land. I have sent in one submission so far and had it rejected (which I was completely prepared for and spilt no tears over it because I was aiming really high.) This time I am aiming just a wee bit lower but aiming none the less. I sent in a short article to MOMsense magazine; the official magazine of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers).So I guess if they like it I should hear something possibly within the next 12 weeks. Once again I am prepared for rejection but still hopeful. I love Read more:Hopeful
Are we official yet? 2007-04-16 21:48:00 It's hard to believe that we have lived here for four years now and had yet to go to a hockey game. Last week though, we finally experienced our very first live hockey game. Well, my husband had been to one before but he was in the nose-bleed section so it wasn't much better of a view than you can get on our 27" t.v. We had a blast and I think we should be made more official in our residency here because of it.My parents and brothers came into town for a visit and my Dad, ever the one who wants to get a real taste of local culture when he visits a place, insisted (oh twist my arm a little harder would you?) that we all go to a hockey game together. We would have loved to have gotten in on an NHL game since the Flames are now in the playoffs but the tickets were not within our price range and the games didn't fall on nights that would work for our schedules so we decided to go to the local semi-professional game, the Hitmen.My third son who is 3 1/2, lovingly referred to on this
Proud parent of 4 TCWLRIWFEOTDELGTS member! 2007-04-17 22:40:00 The world has officially been turned upside down. Check outside your windows. Pigs are likely flying. Take a gander towards the pastureland. The cows are coming home. Flip through the channels until you land on an Operatic performance. The fat lady is probably singing.Last week when my parents and teenage brothers were in town my kids made a spectacle of themselves at the table by fighting over brussel sprouts. It was no surprise that my 5 year old loved brussel sprouts. He has to be instructed to finish his bread and mashed potatoes if he would like a third helping of brussel sprouts. This has been true since the first day he tried them.His brothers took a little more time growing a taste for the wee lovely cabbages. But last Sunday proved that they have fully joined him in the membership ranks of TCWLRIWFEOTDELGTS or for the acrostically challenged: The Children Who Love to Ravenously Inhale and Will Fight Each Other to The Death to Eat Leafy Green Things Society.As the b Read more:Proud
Oh and this is just because I love you... 2007-04-17 05:25:00 And I know how you have been contemplating the worst, most insipid kind of torture you could possibly wreak upon yourself for 10 minutes and 35 seconds straight and that you were wanting to do just such a thing right. now.Before you click on this, just ask yourself, do I really have 10 minutes and 35 seconds of life that really doesn't need to be lived? How much do I really hate myself? Is life so bad that I would consider clicking play? And if the answer is yes, well... enjoy this wasted time and please get some counselling. Soon. If the answer is no but you still really want to know how desperate to throw 10 minutes and 35 seconds of their lives away some people are, well... you can go ahead and click play too. Just don't say I didn't warn you.Oh and I think I failed to mention that it's incredibly funny and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. That might be another reason to watch it.Nan
Digital Cameras are the best aren't they? 2007-04-17 05:08:00 Remember film cameras? Yes, those things that you had to load and wind and then GET UP and take some where?! Those archaic little cylinders of film that you paid for and then took pictures just hoping that you or the subject weren't blinking in every single one, paying to have them developed, ordering double prints and then finding out that you had accidentally exposed the whole entire roll somehow at some point.Remember those things? You'd never ask your just turned 7 year old to take a picture of you that you planned to show to a couple hundred people. But thank you Lord for the digital age!! Tonight I told my boy that I needed a new picture on my blog. The old one was looking tired and worn out and I got tired of seeing the same freakish look on my face. So I handed the digital camera to the boy, told him to make sure I was straight up and down in it and let him go at it.I think he did a purty darn good job. Lord knows if I had asked him to take a picture of me with a film Read more:Digital
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Wanna know two things that should never mix? 2007-04-20 01:22:00 I'll tell ya.ThisandThis.It's generally not recommended. Ask me how I know.So... any hopeful wet cell phone resurrection stories?Nan Read more:things
And Now Presenting..... 2007-04-19 04:50:00 (...Drumroll please...)The soon to be coveted, the soon to be sought after, the soon to be proudly worn in a sidebar near you, the soon to be awarded... The very prestigious and highly acclaimed...award.Does your blog or a blog that you read religiously deserve this award? After all, it's a MAJOR award folks. It's the real deal. The real Mc Coy. The be all and end all of all blog awards. Should it be yours? Should it be your Aunt Mabel's? Who deserves such an exalted and distinguished award to put proudly in the front window of their blog?Why? Why do you or someone you know deserve the It's a MAJOR award! award?Blog about why you think you deserve such a MAJOR award. Brag on yourself (or Aunt Mabel's blog) a little. If you think your blog really stinks but you still want this award, well, just sound pathetic enough and you might earn it. Tell the world why your blog ought to be adorned with this glorious and illustrious badge of splendor!Or if you are the humble type yo
Shameless brag ALERT!! 2007-04-18 23:54:00 AKA. Where does he get this stuff?!I posted this on my homeschooling message board (WTM) because I figure other classical homeschoolers would probably appreciate it. But I'm still sort of reeling at how cool this is so I'm just gonna post it for the world here too... after all, this is my "refrigerator of pride" since magnets don't stick to my actual snooty refrigerator.My 7 year old is so excited about his history studies of Ancient Rome that he, on his own accord did a project that included a drawing of a one winged Eagle (the Eagle was the symbol of Rome) and a POEM.(okay so the poem part makes me know he's mine...)Rome's Fall by Burke D.Inside the ruins of Europe are the bones of royal leadersbut they were conquered by loyal defeaters.Their lives were put to the grave bypeople that were brave.We don't know their deathbut we know what is left.Evil ones have donewhat made the fall of Rome begun. (okay so the grammar isn't perfect but this is a 7 year old!! I'm in shock that Read more:Shameless
See, this is one of the reasons that she's one of my best friends... 2007-04-18 20:37:00 I am a poet. I don't know if you knew that or not. I have dumped loads of poetry into this blog.Today Corrie, my real life dear friend, at One Gal's Life in the Raw posted this great Mommy poem. I just had to tell you all about it because she cracks me up and explains why she and I get along so well and always have. Great poem Corrie! You've inspired me to reshare mine! :^DTo see any of my own poetry you can click any of these links:I'm the MeanyPoems about JesusDid you Ever?We have Names for People Like You Mr.!Lots of poemsLots more poemsUmm. Even more.Did I mention I used to write a lot of poems? And so did my husband, incidentally.Nan
I love the magazine REAL SIMPLE... 2007-04-18 20:22:00 These three blogs are my internet version of REAL SIMPLE. They are classy. They have great photography. They are well written. They do not overwhelm the senses (sort of the way my extreme content in my sidebars does... yeah... I know about it. You don't think I don't know that I have too much in my sidebars do you?! I'm constantly toying with it so at least it's always changing!) I digress...These three blogs are just the best. Now, I want one of them to create a fashion blog similar to the ones they already have. I'm betting one exists and I just haven't found it.Put these blogs in your favorites! They are personal enough to remind you that you are not actually reading a magazine but they are just really clean and crisp and full of good ideas, good recipes and other goodies.Rare Bird FindsDesign MomandCafe JohnsoniaNan
You DON'T want to miss this!! 2007-04-21 17:05:00 I mentioned Design Mom the other day as your free, more personalized and internet accessible version of REAL SIMPLE magazine. Well, Design Mom, I think one-ups REAL SIMPLE because she does random giveaways. But on May 7-11 she is doing giveaways that are slightly less random. They are planned and announced ahead of time!You don't want to miss this! I was so excited by one of her prizes a few weeks ago that I went to the site she was plugging (My Charmed Life) and begged my husband for a couple of items. So I think I already may know what I'm getting for Mother's Day! Hee hee!Anyways, Design Mom has some of the coolest giveaways out there. And as I mentioned a couple of days ago she just has a great blog. Don't miss the upcoming Mother's Day giveaways!Nan
Please don't participate in this contest!! 2007-04-21 05:38:00 I really don't want you to. I mean, I like you and all... but I REALLY want to win this!!Or check out Philips for all the specs. But please, whatever you do. Don't go sign up for this contest. I need the pool as small as possible in order to increase my odds!(P.S. My husband wanted me to make sure everyone knows that I'm being sarcastic here. You are highly encouraged to go and participate in this contest! I was just being silly of course.... See how much he cares about y'all? He doesn't want the wrong message coming across! What a nice guy.)Nan Read more:Please
Kidism #3,949 2007-04-20 20:50:00 I'm sorry to be blogging my life away today but my second child just said something that had to be recorded before I forgot it and I figured it would give you a kick too.While sitting on the floor back to back with his big brother he said, "Hey, let's play octopus!" He started frantically waving his arms around and then glommed on to his brother's waving arms and said, "Oh no! Our testicles are sticking together!"(I'm still laughing at that one...)Just now I served them up some wonderfully steaming chicken noodle soup, perfect, you must agree, on a cold and snowy day.As he began to sip it he said, "Hey Mom, did you put bra in this?""What??" I replied, quite perplexed.With a very like Duh!! tone in his voice he repeated and clarified, "Chicken bra? Did you put chicken bra in this?"Never a dull moment. Never.Nan
Before I go get lunch for the kids, just let me tell you about this... 2007-04-20 19:34:00 Please tell me, if you looked on your five day forecast in the middle of April and saw this depressing symbol on each and every day:For all five of those days, would you be terribly excited? If you looked out your window this morning to the sight of something very much like this:would you really be excited? Three inches of snow on the ground. On the rooftops. On my just barely starting to green up lawn is what I (oh, and the million other people that live in this fair city) woke up to this morning. I wonder if most of them are as sick of it as I am? Or is it only the jaded transplanted Californians who want to pluck their eyeballs out and throw themselves into the nearest previously frozen and then unfrozen and then re-frozen pond?I have plants arriving at my home for planting in the next ten days folks! It's almost as nutty as putting your sod in in mid-October while it is snowing (yup, did that too.)I am SO sick of SNOW! White is my least favorite color right now. And not bec
I'm in a book. 2007-04-20 18:38:00 Did I tell you all about this? I'm actually in a book. No, that's not me in the lotus position there. My NAME is in this book. My writing is in this book. While it's just a self-published anthology by a group of Bay Area writers, not some sort of widely read book of high esteem, my name is on a page in a book. And I find that to be pretty cool, even if the only people who own it are the people who contributed to it.Last year I wrote a story on my blog that my mother insisted I send to her writing teacher of the local writing group that my mom has enjoyed being a part of for several years. I did and her teacher kindly offered to add my story to the anthology.That's me, Nancy. And down in the left corner. That's my mom, Joan. My mom brought me this copy of the book when she came up to visit last week. I just thought I'd share.And just so you don't have to go hunting for it, here is my little short story that is in the book.Bye Bye BabyhoodHe tried to smile and hold ba
My Charmed Life 2007-04-22 22:57:00 A couple of weeks ago Design Mom hosted one of her random giveaways and the prize was a $50 gift card at My Charmed
Life.Well, I didn't win. While my husband "has a tendency to win things," I am pretty much the losingest loser that ever existed. I can't remember ever winning anything in the way of random draws or contests or competitions. So, no surprise that I didn't win her giveaway. I did however become completely enamored with the company whose product she was giving away. I sat for too long looking at and drooling over the hundreds of charms available for purchase. I went the next step and made a wish list. I quickly followed this up with my request for a Mother's Day present.You see, I've had a charm bracelet for about three years now and up until this point it has had two charms on it. It was looking a wee bit barren.Well, my husband came through sweetly by getting me a couple more charms for my naked bracelet. For Mother's Day. You might be thinking that it's fu
How they found me? 2007-04-22 06:22:00 I know everyone who has a stat counter or site meter account posts these "how they found me" posts now and then and I have done so a few times too. I try not to make a habit of it but sometimes it is just too much to bear. Impossible to keep to myself.How did these people find me? And more importantly, what were they really looking for?"spaceship leather baby booties" Now I must apologize because I obviously am the one with the problem here. When I read this, I automatically thought first of booties. You know. BooTAYS. You know. Tooshies. Or as they are affectionately referred to in our home, Boohineys. Obviously the dear person was probably just looking for a certain pair of Robeez baby booties. But my misaligned synapses went to the automatic question of, "What kind of baby has a leatherized booty? And what does it have to do with space ships?" Yes. I know. I have problems."in my pull-up" - If you are reading and typing and Googling and in your pull-up, you need to be
I have decided to get a second dog. 2007-04-22 00:30:00 I just love blogging. I have decided that I am going to name my next dog, Blog. Blog the dog. Then I can say, "I love my Blog" and it will mean more than just a computer obsession. Then I would write a blog from the perspective of my dog named Blog. The blog would be called Blog the Dog. And when he is having a bad day Blog will start his blog like this, "Hello. My name is Blog. I'm a dog. Today I'm in a fog. Yesterday I tried to eat a log. Today I just feel down. Down in a dreary bog. Signing off ~~ Blog, the Dog." And when he is having a good day his blog will begin this way, "Hello. My name is Blog. I'm a dog. Today I'm as happy as a hoppy frog. A frog who fell into a vat of grog. Today I slept by the fire... well actually it was a Yule log. Signing off ~~ Blog, the Dog."And when he is feeling particularly feisty his blog will begin in this way, "Hello. My name is Blog. I am a dog. Today I had a scrap with a wild hog. Let me just say that if you had a choice b
What is your image of a Pastor's wife? (WARNING: I'm gettin' churchy on ya!) 2007-04-27 22:23:00 Does it look like this?Or what about this?not to be confused with this...Do you have a preconceived notion about what type of individual becomes a pastor's wife? Do you think of the minister's wife as the dear lady who sets her hair regularly, always wears pantyhose and extremely dark red lipstick? Does the pastor's wife of your imagination always have a clean house? Does she routinely host ladies teas? Does she have a fully stocked fancy china cabinet? Are her children always perfectly clean and well behaved at all times? Do they all look like they could be extra's on Barney the Dinosaur? Does her house look like a magazine clipping from Southern Living?Thankfully, we, like any other group of people are a varied bunch! Thankfully we are not all alike! Sadly, many pastors' wives have any number and variety of expectations thrust upon them and those expectations vary from person to person within the same church. Happily I can say that I am at a church where people genuine Read more:Pastor
I'm really a soccer mom now! 2007-04-27 06:46:00 That's right everyone! It's SOCCER season! Perhaps for some of you Texans and Californians, it's been soccer season for a while already. But here in the Frozen North soccer season is just now starting because the fields are (usually) not covered with snow anymore in mid-April. (I'm not holding my breath though.)As of Saturday 3/4 of my children will be fully enrolled in the worldwide association of little soccer champs! (Not really. If there is such an organization I don't think we could afford to join it.)Last year my oldest played on the U6 team. You know what it looks like, right? A giant amoeba following a ball around with an occasional score... and hopefully in the right goal. Still, they were developing enough skills that it did appear to be an actual game.My four year old, last year, played on his U4 team which consisted of seven 3 and 4 year olds poking a ball around in circles while some of them sat down and picked grass and dandelions. My son had a particular af
Categories 2007-04-26 23:49:00 Family MattersLife with BoysLife in the Frozen NorthHomeschool JabberRecipesInternet MeanderingsRamblingShameless PlugsFor Your Funny BoneMemory LaneAwards and ContestsOf or Related to WritingBloggish TalkChristian LifeIn the NewsBook ReviewsMemesMusically SpeakingOf Wifely ImportancePersonal ReflectionsPoetryPolitically SpeakingSweet Internet ToolsHouse & HomeHealth & FitnessMommish TalkI created this post because my blog is still run in the "classic" Blogger template style which means that I cannot display all of my bloggerly categories in a handy sidebar section. This probably makes you happy because my sidebar is something like an encyclopledia anyways. Very wordy. But I do organize my blog post into categories anyways just for my own ease of use. I think by having this post linked in my sidebar for anyone wanting to find posts on certain topics might circumnavigate the problem. Nan Read more:Categories
I still get asked out on dates. A lot. 2007-04-26 18:51:00 That's right. I still have young boys asking me out on dates
. I do look young but c'mon! For heaven's sake, I am married, people! When will kids these days realize that many people these days look younger with every candle they add to their birthday cakes? I mean Christie Brinkly is 52 for Pete's sake! When are the young boys around here going to figure out that they need to start checking ring fingers of the ladies they are asking out? They might not be the young'ns that they appear to be!Yes, I get asked out on dates all the time.By my kids.(Did I have you going for a couple seconds at least?)My second son is always asking me out on dates to a restaurant chain where our family has eaten breakfast a couple of times. He associates all of his memories based on the food eaten at that particular time or place. He recalls nostalgic moments spent with his Grandpa at a 50's style diner near Grandpa's house. Every Sunday on the way home from church he suggests one of several t
Random facts and thoughts that go with them. 2007-04-25 01:33:00 My husband (and hence I, out the corner of my eye) is watching Napolean Dynamite for the fourth time and laughing hysterically. And now I will have "Tina, come get your ham!" and "Build her a cake or something." stuck in my head for at least a week.I just ate the frozen version of a caramel macchiato. Coffee ice cream with caramel sauce and chopped pecans over top. It would only have been better with whipped cream. Mmmm. I highly recommend this.Then I did penance by way of 100 crunches.I'm happy because it's Tuesday, the only day on which I care what is on T.V. Gilmore Girls and House -- both new episodes. I'm a contented woman. Even though every House episode is so predictable I can tell my husband a few minutes in advance of when someone is going to experience a rectal hemhorrage or go into convulsions. Still, I like it anyways.We are the adventurous type. Also known, in some circles, as crazy. Today I booked train tickets from Montana to California for all six of us for Read more:Random
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Downcast souls... 2006-10-17 18:44:00 "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." - Psalm 42:5 "But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,my glory, and the lifter of my head." - Psalm 3:3"Whom have I in heaven but you?And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.My flesh and my heart may fail,but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." - Psalm 73:25-26This morning I have a burden on my heart for my Christian friends who struggle with depression. Depression is a very real thing that can take hold of us, weigh us down and rob us of our joy in Christ. A renowned hymn writer - One of my favorites - of the 18th century struggled with depression as well. His name was William Cowper.Barbara Packer writes, "William Cowper was born in 1731 to a distinguished family. His father, the Rev. John Cowper, was rector of the parish of Great Berkhamstead, Hertforshire; his mother, Ann Donne, who died when William was six, tr
How to take care of your overabundance of books or other stuff. 2006-10-14 07:23:00 Our friend over at Rotundus blogged yesterday about what to do with an overage of books. This made me think of how dearly my husband holds his books and "stuff
."Here was Dave's post:"Is a catch-and-release program for books a good thing to try? Submitted by David on Thu, 2006-10-12 18:33. I tend to buy quite a few books, but I don't really want to expand much beyond the two bookshelves that I purchased since moving out of Alberta. (I suppose that I have another bookshelf kicking around in "my bedroom" back in BC, but I'm not going to count that). Albert Mohler seems to find it difficult to get rid of old books, but I don't think that I'm quite as attached to those that I've previously read. I tend to keep a few, but try to keep the number of kept books down. One question that this leaves is how to keep the number of books in my posession down to a reasonable quantity. Has anyone tested out BookCrossings which works on the premise of leaving free books around with
Hide-A-Bed Squish 2006-10-12 06:00:00 My best friend, April, and I used to have so much fun together. This is the same friend with whom I made an untold number of crank phone calls and the same friend with whom I participated in an open casket funeral for a dead mole that we found in my backyard. If you have read those annals you will know that we were quite the goofy pair.I don't remember exactly how old we were when we first invented the game Hide-A-Bed Squish. I can assure you that I don't know what exactly came through our heads that caused us to start playing hide-a-bed games but at any rate, one morning after a sleep over in which we had spent the night on the hide-a-bed in the living room of my parent's house, we were supposed to be cleaning up our pillows and blankets and closing up the Hide-A-Bed. We apparantly thought it would be great entertainment and quite interesting if one of us would lay cross-ways on the hide-a-bed while the other slowly closed the bed back into a couch.We thought it would be hyst
Did You Ever? 2006-10-11 18:54:00 Did you ever eat a mud pie,make your little brother cry,really try to stick a needle in your eye,or actually hope to die?Did you ever use a paper clip to make a fake retainer,make a hat from a noodle strainer,wish to be a circus seal trainer,or purposefully plug up the toilet drainer?Did you ever on the pavement cook an egg,think it was cool to have a broken leg,teach your dog to shake and beg,or stick on your nose a clothespin peg?Did you ever fake that you were sick,cover your nose so you could privately pick,eat a tube of cherry Chapstick,or turn the t.v. knob (what's that?) just to hear it click?Did you ever make a mask from a grocery bag,force down a vegetable that made you gag,love on a blanket until it was a rag,or cut your own bangs in a scary zig zag?Did you ever do any of these things? Don't lie.Tell the truth as you look me in the eye.Anything embarassing that makes you want to laugh or cry?Really? No? That's funny. Neither did I.COPYRIGHT 2006Property of Nancy D./Write
Covet no more thy neighbor's grass! 2006-10-06 21:05:00 Perhaps you remember that earlier in the Summer I was struggling with the sin of coveting. I was coveting my neighbor's grass
. Now, I don't have to anymore. (though knowing the human heart I'm sure there will be *something* else for me to covet. **sigh**)So now, the moment you all have been waiting for (well, maybe you haven't been waiting but I certainly have been!) After much toil, much back pain, many many hours of backbreaking work, we now have a beautiful yard WITH grass. Next Summer we will spend just a day or two planting trees and shrubs and perennials and we will have a 100% completed yard.We started with a pile of dirt. We began to dig and build in a drainage system so that we could build a sturdy, long lasting retaining wall.Here are two pictures before the retaining wall during the early digging phase (Early July).Here is a (fuzzy) picture after the wall went in plus a bit more dirt that had been moved from other parts of the yard.And here is the yard 90% complete w
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