31 October 2016

Green With Envy (Or Ridicule)

I just wanted to show you all what arrived in front of our house the other day.



That's right.  My father-in-law was kind enough to deliver a handkerchief-sized bit of grass.  My kids have had loads of fun spraying it with water, as though it might actually grow up to be a lawn.

Every time I drive up to the house, or have occasion to look out the front door, I either roll my eyes or laugh at how ridiculous it looks.  Like we have delusions of having a putting green.  Or we left a green blanket outside on the dirt.  Or I tripped while holding green jello and dumped it there by accident.  Or we have an unruly patch of moss (that is, coincidently, a perfect square).

Now just .45 of an acre more and we'll have a yard!

20 October 2016

Boring vs. Bored




For a blog my sister is starting, she asked me to write something about a day in my life.  And after writing it all down, I realized something.

I am boring.

That got me thinking.  Being boring is not the same thing as being bored. I am rarely bored.  If I have nothing to do, I read.  Problem solved.  Although, to be honest, I usually read when I should be doing something else.

Writing or talking about reading is boring, not only to other people, but also to myself.

However, in my eternal quest to be a better person, I've decided I need to read less, be interested in all the things I used to do before reading pushed them out of my life, spend more time listening to my children talk about playing video games (talk about boring!), and generally try harder not to let my tiredness lull me into doing things that are easy.  Because, as my last post brought home to me, my time on this earth is limited.  I should use it wisely.

But I've tried to give up reading before and I remember walking aimlessly around the house for hours at a time because I was so bored.  I'm fine with being boring, but I really don't want to be bored.

I can't be the only person that struggles with this: What is comfortable versus what is best.

Anyone have good advice about how to stay strong and suck it up and choose the right?  Cause it would seem I need some.

10 October 2016

My Friend

The first time I met Wilhelmina, or Wil, as she prefers to be called, was on a cold day at a beach in Wellington, New Zealand.  She had made cookies for the only friend we had in common: Without a recipe.  Who makes cookies without a recipe?  Only the brilliant.

After that initial meeting, she invited me many times to her home.  We ate dinner with our two families several times.  We had more "sand"wiches than any person should need to consume as we solved the problems of this world while sitting on a beach watching our children frolic in the waves or build their own worlds in the sand.

When I was pregnant with my youngest child, she was the one I wanted to be there with my husband and I during the birth.  Being very pregnant herself, she ran down the hill to the hospital in the middle of the night to be there.

She has mentored and helped more children as their caregiver than I can count, and has been there to relieve the burdens of more friends than she realizes.  Her husband and four daughters love her dearly.  As do I.

She recently lost the fight with four kinds of cancer, and her family can't make ends meet without her.  Please click on the link below and give what you can to help this wonderful woman's husband and children.  The woman I consider a sister.

For Wil

04 October 2016

Surprise!


Isn't that a beautiful cover?  And did you notice the third name down?  That's me.  So, after years of trying to be published again, it's finally happening!

This is a compilation of four novellas, all put together for your reading enjoyment.  The theme of each story is "marriage of convenience".  I don't know about you, but I love those types of stories.  In real life, marriages of convenience probably aren't all that romantic, but in fiction, they're great.

If you're interested in reading these four stories, you'll be able to around March 2017, just in time for Mother's Day (It'd make a great gift.  Not-so-subtle-hint).  Hooray for Mother's Day Anthologies!