Not all snow is created equal. The nine inches we got yesterday afternoon was light and powdery. It was almost fun to shovel that stuff. Today’s five inches were much heavier. Not so fun. Shoveling snow is hard work, but there is a calm about it that I like. The snow absorbs sound making the whole world feel hushed. After last night’s shoveling Howard and I goofed off a little.
We call this one Sad Cartoonist In Snow.
*Happy dances*
I got an email today from the artist who did the illustrations in my picture book. She let me know that she really enjoyed doing the project and hopes that I will consider her for any projects I have in the future.
I feel a hundred pounds lighter. I’d been worried that the artist was disappointed with the sales I’d managed (or failed to manage) for the book. I do not ever want her to regret the work she put into the project. I have two more picture book projects in mind, but I didn’t dare ask her if she was interested because I didn’t know if she was happy with the performance of the existing book.
It looks like I might get to do another picture book after all. This means I no longer feel like the first project is failing because the “poor” sales are no longer a barricade between me and additional projects that I want to do.
*Happy dance*
Happy news in picture book land Read More »
I have a weekly accounting day. On that day I take care of whatever tasks have collected in the intervening week. On the first accounting day of each month there are some monthly accounting tasks that have to be taken care of. Every third month there are quarterly reports and tasks to do as well. There are also yearly reports and tax filings. Today I got to do all of the above. I printed 1099 and 1096 forms, printed w-3 and w-2 forms, prepped a monthly federal tax deposit, filed a quarterly unemployment insurance report, filed two quarterly withholding reports, filed a yearly withholding report, filed a quarterly sales tax report, and created a paycheck. By 1 pm I had it all done. I felt really accomplished. Then I walked upstairs and realized that although the accounting was done, the mommying had just begun.
This afternoon featured:
dishes left over from Sunday dinner
7 inches of snowfall
4 trips out in the car during the snow accumulation
numerous fishtailing and skidding events
ice frozen to the windshield wipers thus rendering them useless
a stuffed kitten beauty shop which included water and enormous glops of hair gel
confiscation and washing of the stuffed kittens
A relaxing conversation to catch up with my backyard neighbor, which was (naturally) interrupted by an outbreak of multiple crises
tears over a math assignment
tears over bestfriend who moved away two years ago
a phone call to bestfriend to tell him about Christmas
beef stew and dumplings for dinner because for once I planned ahead and made good use of leftovers.
coming up next is Family Home Evening and bedtime
Yup. Things are back to normal.
The New Year’s Party was far more disruptive to the bedtime schedule than I expected. We’re now 4 bedtimes later and the kids are still having trouble going to sleep on time. Prior to the night of staying up until 1 am they had been waking up before 8 am. Afterward they all want to sleep in until 9 or later with an accompanying delay on going to sleep. I’m fairly certain that the disruption would have been resolved more quickly if I had dragged them out of bed on schedule during the past four days, but I didn’t really want to get up early either. Oh well. School starts tomorrow and that will forcibly revert all of us into being early risers. This does not put me off having parties at the house, but I’ll be sure to go through the hassle of enforcing a bedtime on the kids at a more reasonable hour. And I’ll be more diligent about getting people back on schedule.
I am going to enjoy teaching my new primary class. They’re all 4 which means I’m allowed to hand out snacks and lessons are very simple. We cover about lesson points about three times each during the course of 45 minutes. In between the lesson points, the kids eat, do a craft, and play. It is much more relaxed than my last class where I worked hard to get 10 year olds to comprehend a more substantive lesson. Unfortunately being in the large group sharing time at the same hour as Patch meant that he attached himself to me like a little barnacle. I’m still trying to decide if that is a problem and if it is, how I’m going to go about addressing it. Also this year Gleek moved up into the older sharing time group. This means that instead of having her fidgets camouflaged by dozens of younger fidgeters, she now sticks out. She also has a new teacher, who I think will be great for her, but we now need to figure out a new set of expectations and then figure out how to help Gleek to comply. She ended up fleeing the meeting to come and find me. I’m still trying to figure out the shape of the challenge and I’m trying to figure out how I want to handle it. Fortunately there is fantastic group of teachers who are willing to help, I just need to figure out what shape the help needs to take. I’m too tired to solve it today. More thought is required.
New Year Adjustments Read More »
One of Gleek’s Christmas presents was a friendship bracelet kit. Yesterday we pulled it out and I spent a couple of hours sitting with her and teaching her how to make these knotted bracelets. I made them frequently when I was in high school and it was pleasant to find that the skill lingers in my fingers and memory. I also discovered joy just in the process of making something. I’ve found similar enjoyment from crochet, cross stitch, painting, drawing, and sewing. There is something innately satisfying about creating something that did not exist before I organized the components.
My love of crafting things has one major stumbling block. I dislike clutter. Because of this I have a hard time allowing myself to make things unless I know exactly what I will do with the object once it is done. I don’t want to spend hours enjoying the process of making something only to have the item relegated to garbage immediately thereafter. I can only hang so many things on my walls. We only need so many crocheted doll blankets. I only have so much room to store stuff. I rarely make crafts even though I enjoy the making, because I rarely have a use for the crafts after they are done. Making bracelets with Gleek was allowable because it fell under the “time spent with daughter” category rather than “useless craft” category. Interestingly this Crafts Must Be Useful edict only applies to things that I make. I’m quite happy to let the kids make piles of crafts that get thrown out because I understand that the process of creation is rewarding and valuable. I’m happy to support other adults in hobbies and crafts for the same reasons. It is only my stuff that has to pass scrutiny for usefulness.
I pondered all this as I tied knot after knot on the bracelets while Gleek chattered to me about which bracelet was intended for whom. I realized that I have the same usefulness filter on my writing. If I don’t have an intended home for a particular writing project, it does not get written. I always write for a particular magazine, or for a contest, or for a child, or for my blog. There is always a place for that piece of writing to go. I think this is why my blog has been so instrumental in restarting my life as a writer. It gave me a reason to put forth the creative energy. Why writing must pass the test of usefulness is a mystery to me. It is not as if the stories are creating clutter in my house. It is also interesting to note that if a story is not accepted to its intended home, I’m perfectly content to just let it exist.
Now I am tempted to spend time creating simply for creation’s sake, to prove that I am capable of doing so. Or perhaps the goal would be to teach myself how to do it. But I’m not sure that the usefulness filter is a problem. It certainly saves my house from piles of clutter. I find plenty of creative outlets that pass the usefulness filter, so I am not stunting my creative growth. In the end I suspect that this is just part of who I am and how I live my life.
I started to write a post about my goals for the new year, but then I realized that the goals are really just my to do list and possibly boring. Also I realized that some of my goals make public some aspects of my life that I don’t usually share with the entire internet. Faced with creating a truncated list for public consumption I decided I’d just put the list in my paper planner rather than my online journal. It will probably be more useful there anyway.
Today I continued the purge of unused items. I gave our bedroom the same treatment as the rest of the house and cleared out a bunch of stuff. It feels good to have space instead of clutter. It felt even better to load all the stuff into the van and take it to the thrift store. I love looking at a bag of things and knowing that I’m never going to have to pick them up again. Now I just need to tackle my office.
The kids have been playing together really well during this holiday break. I’ve really enjoyed watching them spend hours just being together. By posting that, I have probably jinxed it and they will spend the remaining two days of holiday in one long squabble. I’m actually kind of expecting that. For some reason everyone gets on the nerves of everyone else the last day or two of a school break. I suspect it has to do with the imminent return of school. It would be nice to be proved wrong, but I expect Sunday to be cranky. Then Monday will come and the schedule will settle back over us and I’ll breathe a sigh of relief.
Kiki and Howard are off to a role playing game this evening. Kiki considers the invitation to play as the best Christmas present ever. I’m glad to see her so happy. I’m even more glad to have her so willing to help around the house cheerfully. She is at an age where she needs some focus for her days. We are just geeky enough as parents to believe that a regular roleplaying session is a good focus.
The second day of a brand new year. Not much to report. Read More »
To all outward appearances bedtime has been quiet. There were stories and then the three younger kids all stayed in their beds. More or less. There were long spans of quiet interspersed only occasionally with whispers or quiet singing or the resounding thumps of a child trying to sneak out of bed. The scene appears quiet. This does not change the fact that 90 minutes after I tucked them into bed, knowing that they are all in dire need of sleep, they were still awake. Add to that the fact that Kiki and I can not watch Dr. Who until we’re sure it will not wake up a younger child or cause them to get out of bed and tantrum because they can’t watch too. Add to that the fact that I’m running on only five hours of sleep and I know I need to get up on time in the morning to begin reasserting the normal schedule, so I need to get to bed on time. This means time is running out for me to watch anything at all. All of this leads me to grouch at the kids and bark ridiculous orders like “Go to sleep!” as if the kids could choose to comply rather than having to lay still in the dark and wait for sleep to come to them. The fault is not theirs. Staying up until 1 am then sleeping until 9 has tweaked their biorhythms. I can’t expect to fix that in a single day.
It has been a good day. It really has. None of the tantrums and conflicts I expected showed up. I’m just tired and I can’t be off duty until they are sleeping.
Bedtime at the end of recovery day. Read More »
Today is a day of recovery after a night of revelry. We had about 18 people in our house for more than five hours. Games were played. Food was eaten. Laughter was shared. The party broke up late because we were all having too much fun talking. We need to not wait until New Years to do this again. It was fun. One of the best things for me was how well behaved all of the kids were. I got to enjoy spending time with adults rather than feeling split because the kids upstairs needed me at the same time guests needed attention. I did have to run upstairs frequently, but it was never a problem. All the guests got along well and I think everyone had a great time. A big help in all of this is that the majority of the guests are already good friends with the same interests. We could all laugh at the same jokes.
Kiki joined the party right with the adults. Link sometimes did party stuff and sometimes went upstairs with the other kids. He particularly liked getting to play Rock Band with the grown ups. Gleek and Patch had a party of their own in Gleek’s room. I set up an inflatable mattress across from Gleek’s desk and they watched movies while eating treats. We made them all eat a good dinner before the guests arrived, so there was a complete lack of sugar crashes. Sometimes the kids came down to join the larger party, but mostly they were content upstairs. Just after midnight I came up to make them turn the movies off. They were all asleep within minutes, too tired to even argue about who had the most space on the mattress.
Today is for recovery. There really is not much party clean up. Most of the detritus was swept into the trash very quickly. And the house is still clean and organized. It feels really good to be starting the new year with a clean house. I let all the kids sleep in. They’re still short on sleep, so I’m monitoring closely. I’ve been feeding them at regular intervals and encouraging low-conflict activities like watching movies. It would be good to get them out and moving this afternoon. Mostly we’re just taking today slow and bedtime will be early. Tomorrow begins the process of reasserting a normal schedule so we’re ready for school to start on Monday.
I think that one of the best signs of a good party is that everyone leaves saying “We should do this again soon.” It is an especially good sign if the hosts agree. Howard and I want to throw parties like this one again. It was a fun time.
After the party is over Read More »
The true friend is one who’ll help you clean your bathroom and not think any less of you after it is done. I’m so glad to have such a friend. I get to start the new year with a clean house. This makes me very happy. I’ve also hauled out bags full of trash, rearranged some furniture, and accumulated a big pile to donate to a thrift store. It makes our home feel more spacious. I like it. Particularly since we’re entering the indoor months.
January starts tomorrow. I get a shiny new year. I should probably set some goals. I already have a mental outline for most of what I intend to accomplish, but it would be a good idea to write it down. The actual recording may not happen until after the kids head back to school though. Even with a clean house, I’m still short on pondering space.
Clean house for the new year Read More »
The problem with cleaning my house is that when I get really close to one thing so I can wash it, I can see 10 more things that need washing. This is how I can spend 90 minutes working as hard as I can, cross half a dozen things off the list, and still end up with a list that is twice as long as it was when I started. The revised list includes such items as “repaint the whole house” and “buy new furniture.” Then I start fretting over the money I don’t have to spend on those projects. This is why I don’t clean as often as I should. Of course the not cleaning as often as I should is part of why I’m in this mess in the first place. Whee.
Today also brought the realization that I’m just not going to be able to get around to responding to comments made on my LJ for the last week or more. I’m also not going to get around to making comments to other people’s entries. Nor am I going to be an active forum participant on my writer’s forum. I believe this is the fault of having all the kids home all day long. It may also be due to the large events I’ve had to prepare for. Whatever the reason, I have decided not to feel bad about it. Things will settle down again next week.
Thoughts while sitting still for a minute in the middle of a busy cleaning day Read More »
