Monday, June 30, 2008

Why?

Why is it that I feel like a Shrieking Shrew when my kids do not listen to me, completely ignore me and then scream and cry when I raise my voice to get their attention?

Why? Why after I take time out of the zillion things I have to do a day and clean up their rooms do they proceed to make an even bigger mess and then claim their friends did it, or their sibling did it and why do they have to clean it up and can't I help?

Why is it when I ask for help in cleaning the house I am greeted with whines and cries and choruses of But MOM! I didn't Make that mess! But when they want something I have to jump to it immediately or I am the worst Mom in the whole world and they never get to do what they want? And this is after I have taken them to the lake, to the pool, to the park, to the library, played games and watched movies or shows etc... with them!

But because I won't let them go to tasty freeze, have a coke, or spend the night at so and so's house I am the Meanest Mom in the whole world and I have made their day the worst day in their life.

So today as I was "shrieking" at my daughter to clean her room (and I mean really clean, not shove everything in a box and a bag and toss it in the corner of the room) and that if it wasn't put where it goes I was going to throw it out, and she cried But MOM! That's not fair! I didn't make this mess, The other girls did it! And I need HELP MOM! YOU have to Help me! I can't do it myself! I found myself digging in my heels and getting decidedly P' Oed!

I growled at her! Literally, I swear I did! I said fine I would trade her one bedroom for all the CRAP I had to do today, ie... Clean the living room, dining room, kitchen, 3 bath rooms, do the laundry, do the dishes, cook dinner, feed the dog, feed the fish, and walk the dog at least 3 times over the next 6 hours!

She was not amused.

So she is currently cleaning, at least I think she is. She better be! I have given her 45 minutes to get it done. I set the timer. I told her whatever is left on the floor is going to be trashed. I am serious too. I will throw it out. I am just so aggravated with her.

What is it with 7 1/2 year olds? Did I breed this kind of behavior? Is this MY fault that she consistantly makes a mess and doesn't pick up after herself? I tell her often enough that she has to put it away when she is done, then she wouldn't have such a mess to clean up. MY room is generally clean, I put MY stuff away when I finish with it, okay, so I don't have doll clothes and beads and markers etc.. to play with, but I do have other things, clothes, books, shoes, etc...

Maybe it is the laundry and dishes that lead her to believe that it is okay to leave things till it's nearly out of control... I fully admit I hate, no really, I HATE doing the dishes and I Loath folding laundry. But I do it. Eventually. And most days without complaining. I suppose the dishes wouldn't be so bad if I had a dishwasher. But I don't. I have gotten better about doing them though. Really I have. No I am not kidding. Okay so I have been buying paperplates and cups so I don't have so many dishes to do. But that doesn't mean I haven't gotten better about doing the dishes that we do use. I tried to get the kids to do their own dishes, that lasted about oh.... 2 weeks at the beginning of summer.

I can't wait till summer is over! Geez. I hate saying that. I LOVE summer! Maybe I just need a vacation without the kids ... problem is the mess that would be waiting for me when I got back!

Maybe I shall just settle for a glass of wine, some Calgon and a good book... at least I will have a free hour of kid free whining! :D

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Oh Boy have I been Slacking!

Well! I know it has been ages and ages since I have blogged! So much is going on in the last couple of months that I am not even sure where to begin!

Okay, so I think I will start with the Writing... well... there hasn't been any. I know. I am in big trouble. Well not really, I mean I don't have a boss to report to on my daily word count, yet anyway. Obviously I did not win the Amazon contest... you would have heard about it if I did! LOL However I am still going to keep working on getting published, but currently I have been feeling overwhelmed with LIFE that I haven't had time to write. I am hoping to get back to it soon, but well, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do EVERYTHING that I wanna do. Yes I do have other things that I wanna do during the day and not all of them are WORK related LOL So here is the lowdown on what else is going on....

Stuff going on with the kids:
Princess is in the High School Musical "Hello Dolly" She is marching in the Parade scene. How did this happen you may ask? Well she went to Drama Camp back in January and auditioned for the show. All of the kids from the Camp get to be in the show, and she is thrilled. It has meant alot of afternoon and Saturday practices at the high school and the show is this month. She can hardly wait.












She is also a girl scout and we sold cookies and delivered them since my last blog. She did really well for her first year selling cookies. 141 boxes I believe.



The Boy is in Cub Scouts and he had his Pinewood Derby which meant building a car. He and his Uncle took care of that. They obviously had a good time! His car did pretty good at the local race, until the back wheel fell off. Still he won an Alternate spot in the District Derby which was this past weekend.










He actually got to race in the Distict Derby, but his car was eliminated in the second race. He wasn't too upset though, he plans to make a faster car for next year!










We also had to get through Spring Break.... Lots of kids in the house and sleep overs and DRAMA!!!!

















I have been doing a lot of volunteer work at the school still, Mostly Mondays and Fridays. I love doing it, makes me feel useful!

Then there is TUPPERWARE! (Speaking of which, it's Children's Month and alot of the children's products are 30-50% off.....)
I am doing really well with it! I have 2 new Recruits and I am looking for more... hint hint... LOL
My personal sales have been really good, #1 or #2 on my Tupperware Team most months in sales.
Since I am trying to earn my way (And the kids way) to Europe to visit my Sis and my BFF, this is a good thing!
And we, my 2 recruits and I, are starting a local Tupperware Bingo Party that will take place twice a month. So that is keeping me pretty busy too, and will keep me even more busy here in the next couple of weeks.

Then there is the Wii.... yeah.... you know I am a video game addict. And I just got another game, actually I have gotten several in the last couple of months... Big Brain Academy for Christmas (love it!) Elebuts (Something like that) which is very addicting, and today I got a Murder Mystery game.... Agatha Christie no less!

And there is Oblivion on the Playstation 3 too that I have been playing... so addicting these games!

OH and I started a couple of new series of books... both are young adult paranormal/sci-fi.
One is the Daughters of the Moon series, it's pretty good and a fairly fast read. The second is The Midnighters... it's a Trilogy and so very good! I have read the first 2 and I cannot wait to get my hands on the third book.
I am still very much looking forward to the release of Faefever by KMM and Laurell K. Hamilton's latest Anita Blake book too.... not much longer I hope for either!

Lets see.... did I leave anything out? Hmmm, oh yeah, the mundane... housecleaning and scrubbing dirt out of the carpets (Hate that almost as much as doing dishes) I still want to paint the house, but only so much money to go around.... need more Tupperware recruits!

OH and How Could I forget my favorite Tuesday and Wednesday evening Activity???? AMERICAN IDOL!!!!
My Favorites are:
David Cook

Photobucket


Michael Johns

Photobucket



Carly Smithson


Photobucket

Jason Castro

Photobucket



However I still think David Archeletta

Photobucket






is going to win.... that is if he starts picking better songs... I don't think he is the MOST talented singer, but I think it is a young male singer's year..... and he is really good and has that Disney appeal that the Tweens go for.

And that is about it for now! Hope to hear from you soon! Love ya!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

It's Been Crazy around here!

Things have been...strange...crazy...INSANE around here. I worked really hard last week on Deception...I was BRUTAL! I swear I was! I took out scenes, recreated old scenes, added new scenes; it was totally exhausting and I am not even half way through yet! Currently up to 74,220 words though! By Saturday I was a mess! I couldn't think, I was brain FRIED! I felt like mush. Then I got a Migrane... you know those pesky head aches that WON"T go away no matter what you do? Yeah, one of those. So I spent Sunday in bed, I watched a sad movie (A Walk to Remember with Mandy Moore - Was sooooo good! I bawled!) read a book and tried to just disapear. The head ache still would not go away. Yes I took Ibprofen. NO it did not help. Anyway The Princess decided she was going to do something to help. Right. She decided I needed medicine, but being 6 she couldn't get the bottle open. Thank goodness, cause she would have made a mess of the children's cough medicine... it's in liquid form of course. She thought I needed some. LOL I told her it was the wrong kind and that I had already taken medicine, but she was determined. So next thing I know she is standing infront of me with the medicine dropper going "Okay MOM, Open up!" This is were I start freaking out- OMG! She got the bottle open! But wait.... whatever is in the dropper is green.... we don't have any liquid medicine that is green.... What the heck???? So I sniff the dropper... yeah I know...EWwww! But still... I sniff it and I smell..... PICKLE JUICE!
Princess is trying to cure my headache with pickle juice! *Shaking my head*
Well needless to say the pickle juice did not go in my mouth cause ewwwww, way too salty! Although as I think back now, maybe I should have tried it, nothing else seemed to work! LOL
Anyway, that was my lovely weekend. Then came Monday. I spent the entire day cleaning, it took forever! Then A Tupperware meeting last night and I didn't get home till nearly 10 pm!
This morning was spent at the school running copies and making Food Chains for the 3rd grade class.
So it doesn't look like I am going to get any writing done today and tomorrow, but I am Hoping to get to it again on Thursday!
On the UPSIDE I do have some good news.... TONIGHT IS AMERICAN IDOL NIGHT! WOO HOO! Can't wait to watch! Although, it's just the first night of Auditions... I like it better when they finally get to the voting, but I will watch the craziness of the auditions too.

I'll write more after I have seen some of the prospects! Catch ya later!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Progress.... gotta love it!

Well, I have been working very hard the past couple of days! As you know I THOUGHT I was nearly finished with Deception, add one or two more scenes, tweak here and there and yeah.... NO. I sent it to Libby, my darling Critique Partner that I love and respect dearly! And she went through it as a good CP does and made notes.... Let me tell you, Libby is awesome finding all the stuff I am doing wrong... But her biggest note had to do with the POV of the entire book. And after going through all of her notes with her, I came to the conclusion that she was totally right! I was telling the story from the wrong view point.

And so for the past two, or is it three... they are all blurring together now...days I have been working diligently to change the POV, but also to cut- heart wrenching for me- scenes from the book and add in new ones that work better. I really think the story is taking on a bigger and better life now... the characters are just more alive than they were before! And I am LOVING IT!

Of course the true test will be what Libby has to say by the time I have revised and revised and revised! LOL

On the plus side, even with the removal of about 10 pages so far, I have increased my word count! I know, totally crazy! Where before I was struggling with it, now that I have switched the way I am seeing things, well things just pop into my head and they just flow so much better! So the current word count is 74,073 words... pretty good considering!

All right, I am off to get some more work done before I have to pick up the children!
Love ya! Good writing vibes to all you writers out there!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Yesterday did not go as planned

Well, I got zero, zilch, nadda done in the writing department yesterday! But I plan to get some done today!

But first I have to do some bragging... LOL Princess is a girl scout... well a Brownie... and this is the first year she is able to sell Girl Scout Cookies. She has been so excited about this! Now for the bragging bit...

Princess took her order form to school. She had talked to her teacher and she had said she would buy a box from each scout. Great. Then she talked to her kindergarten teacher from last year and Of course! She bought a box. Then Princess just started walking up to teachers in the hall and asking and several bought boxes. Then she asked her friend's mom who works in the office and she of course bought some. Then after school she asked the other kindergarten teacher if she would like to buy and she bought two boxes.
I was like wow! She is really into this! She is determined to make her own goal of 200 boxes. (She wants this stuffed dog prize)
So we decided to take the order form to her Grandma, as Grandma had asked us to bring it to her at the mall where she works at Macy's. Great right? Right. But first I had to go to the bank.
while I was depositing money Princess went over to the lady at one of the desks and asked her to buy some cookies and she did, then one of the customers asked, well how much are they this year? ($3.50 in case any of you are interested!) I would like to buy a few. She bought 2 boxes and invited Princess to come to her work on Saturday and sell to her customers!
She is so excited! I am so excited for her! Apparently she has inherited what my family likes to call the "SALES GENE" My dad can sell ice to Eskimos. It has been said I can do the same, but I don't know if that is true. But I think Princess definitely can! Granted Girl Scout cookies practically sell themselves, but she is the one going out there and asking. The Girl is definitely not afraid to approach people. I have had to hold her back, if I let her she would approach everyone in the neighborhood and with times as they are, I don't know how safe that is, so I only let her go to the houses of the neighbors I know.

Okay so enough bragging.

So as for the rest of yesterday, I took the girls to Build a Bear to "Window Shop" then we went to a few other stores before I had to meet the Sis In Law to drop off my niece.
Got home around 5:20, had to do a quick dinner, cause I THOUGHT we had Cub Scouts at 6.
Got dinner done, we ate super quick and rushed out the door, the Boy and I.
Get to the Church for Scouts and find out that no... his meeting is NEXT week. Dang it! I can't go next week, I have a Tupperware meeting at the same time. And I am sorry to say, Tupperware comes first cause that is where I am making money to pay for Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and all the other activities! However, his Den leader said she maybe able to pick him up and take him for me. So he won't miss out. Which would be good. Cause we missed the last meeting because of Tupperware. *Sigh*

By the time I got home I was too tired to write anything. Besides the fact that our power had gone out and now my computer tower is making this insane buzzing noise that I can't get rid off. Right now I have the music turned up loud so it isn't as noticeable. Anyway, I plan to get some writing accomplished today and tomorrow. I'll keep you updated!
Have a great day!

Monday, January 7, 2008

I'm getting there!

Well, I am up to 72,016 words on Deception... so I am getting there! I have added some scenes and I am still adding more, and I still need to go through from the beginning and make sure I have everything flowing and making sense. Probably still going to be the end of the month before I get it finished, but I will get it finished!

I had planned to get some writing done today, and I still have hopes of it for later, but I have to run some errands first, go to the bank, then take Princess to see her grandma at the mall. She is selling Girl Scout Cookies and Grandma said to bring in the order form. Then I have to pick up some Gourmet coffee for the Darling Husband and then I hopefully will be able to drop off the niece to her mom's office, should save her mom a trip to my house cause I am completely out of her way while her office is on my way back from the mall... so we shall see. Anyway, then I have Cub Scouts with The Boy tonight, at least I think we have Cub Scouts tonight. It would help if I had his leader's phone number, which I did at one time but I don't remember what I did with it and so we are just going to go and if they have it great, if not... well better for me LOL Then I get home even sooner!

Tomorrow should be a good day for me to get some more writing done. I have to go into the school in the morning, I promised the 3rd grade teachers that I would finish stapling the month's Social Studies papers and I would run some more copies for them. But after that I will have a nice quiet house for several hours and All kinds of motivation to get some writing done! YAY!

Wednesday should be even better for it. I will have at least 5 hours of peace to write in then! I am so looking forward to it!

Now I had best go, have to make some Tupperware calls before I pick up the kids from school and start on the errands!
Love ya!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

It's a NEW DAY! And the Motivation Continues!

So Yesterday I got a ton of work done on Deception! I am so excited about it! Plus I came up with some new scenes to add that will add to the story and not just be filler! Woo Hoo! Love it when it all comes together! Now today I am going to try and get some more work done on it, if I don't get interrupted too much, but it is going to have to wait for a little while still, I have to run a few errands and make a couple of Tupperware phone calls first. Oh and I have to pull something out for dinner. Yesterday I talked the Darling Husband into ordering Pizza, so can't go that route tonight... gonna have to fix something... probably a cassarole... oh yeah, cheese chicken cassarole, very easy and quick! Sounds Perfect!

So check it out new word count for Deception is 71,702!!!!! Oh I am getting there! YAY! Now I am off to do those errands... Girl Scout Cookies do not sell themselves you know. Princess has to go take the paper to her Grandma who has promised to buy at least 6 boxes. Plus she is going to pass it around at work and see if anybody wants any. Hopefully I can get back in time to get another whole scene written in and perhaps another 1500 words for the day! I know doesn't sound like much, but creating a scene that works and fits takes time, skill, and effort!