Castle in the Clouds

Okay, no snippet this week. However, I did put a link in my sidebar to the first four chapters of my WIP. If you're interested, give it a quick read!

I'm in shock. My brother and sister-in-law are going to have a girl. They have three boys already, so we really figured the odds were against them conceiving a girl. Last week my sister-in-law had an ultrasound that even said the little bun in the oven was going to be a boy. Yet, today her ultrasound tech said she was 100% positive it was a girl. Kel and company are out shopping right now to celebrate this bit of special news. I'm so happy. I even got teary-eyed during the phone call!

I am trying to get through my Witches and Witch Hunt assigned reading on Aliester Crowley, but it's slow going. I'm about halfway through the book. Unfortunately, I need to be able to write the book analysis this weekend in order to meet the fast approaching deadline. I love to read and I normally read very fast, but reading with an analytical eye rather than for pleasure does tend to slow me down. I'm also trying to get through my assigned reading for my Travellers in the Middle East class. The book is pretty good and I've been surprised by some of the developments. Always a good thing. I need to start working on my final paper for that class, though, too. Yeesh. Oh, yeah, and the WIP. How's that going, you ask? Not very fast. I'm up to 87K and I'm hoping the last 25-35K will write itself. I didn't even open it last night though thanks to Aliester Crowley, aka "The Beast 666". That guy had issues... What else? Well, we have confirmation that w...

I really think we should get more long weekends. They're wonderful and refreshing and relaxing. Friday the family and I went over to visit with my brother and his family. While the guys hung out in the garage fixing the axle on a trailer, my sister-in-law and I chatted in the house about this and that. She's about halfway through her pregnancy for what we believe will be their fourth boy - she's already had one ultrasound that provided a glimpse of male genitalia. A little bit later my other brother and his family showed up. I feel bad because we didn't stay and visit very long after they arrived. Not that I think either of my sisters-in-law cared. They were exhausted, too. All three of us had been up early to take advantage of the Black Friday sales - I went solo this year, which was not nearly as enjoyable as going with a partner or two. In any event, we only stayed at my brother's house that night until about 8 p.m. Yesterday we got a sitter so the adults could h...

What a spread. And this was only half of it. On the other side of the room we had all the hot stuff - turkey, candied yams, potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, gravy and biscuits. Since we only had 6 adults and 4 kids, we had lots of leftovers. Of course the guys all watched football. Unfortunately, it seemed most everyone at the party had a cold, which meant there wasn't the ususal family gathering energy present in the house. Lots of sniffling, sneezing, and chills to go around, though, if you're feeling left out. I'm sure I could send some germs your way. Just drop me a note. Heck, I won't even charge ya! LOL The only other thing of interest today was that we happened to wake up to the first real snowfall of the year. The boys couldn't wait to get outside and have at it. You can imagine how bummed they were mom wouldn't let them outside until I was sure the hunters would be in from the woods. They played outside for about forty-five minutes or s...

Okay, so I have about five steady visitors. Please weigh in on this little survey if you would please. The WIP is a romance. The characters meet in Chapter One and are together the next nine out of ten chapters in some way or another. Then they get split up. They're apart for almost 10 chapters, each getting about equal POV time on the page. My question is this: As a romance reader how long does it take you to get irritated that the hero and heroine aren't sharing the same scene? I know I've read books where I've gotten impatient for the relationship dynamics to become the main focus again. My fear is that the readers will lose faith in the relationship between the characters. Now, I've tried figuring out if there's a way to cut out some of the separated chapters, but I don't see a way to do it and still keep the story coherent. I'm pretty sure the next chapter will see the hero and heroine reunited. The relationship will have a chance to develop...

Well, I took my oldest son to the Occupational Therapist for the evaluation Ann Arbor recommended in their original report back in May. We're a little behind the ball on this one. Pretty much everyone who read the report back in May missed that particular line in the 9-page report we received from the neuropsych division. I guess we were a little distracted by the ADHD diagnosis and the school-related recommendations made to accommodate his needs. I thought the OT eval would take 45 minutes. It took closer to two hours. I thought I'd be sitting in a waiting room reading Snow. I ended up observing the evaluation. I thought I'd be back into work before 10 a.m. I got in around 12:30. While I'm not really qualified to make any judgements about the evaluation, I think he did really well. He didn't seem to display any of the processing speed concerns the learning disability testing had showed. However, the therapist did ask me if anyone had made any recommendation...

Do you ever hear a song and it makes you think of someone? Of course you have. Well, this morning I was listening to my iPod and Rascal Flatts' Stand came on. This song always makes me think of my dad and my sister. Fate has a way of kicking them both in the teeth. They've both been through a lot and while I know they would rather not have been forced to live through the hand God has dealt them, I admire their ability to stand up and keep going. While they may not recognize it, each of them has incredible inner strength. So whenever I hear this song, I think of them. I think of my dad. I think of my sister. And I admire their ability to stand. ~~~~ You feel like a candle in a hurricane Just like a picture with a broken frame Alone and helpless Like you've lost your fight But you’ll be alright You’ll be alright Cause when push comes to shove You taste what you're made of You might bend, till you break Cause its all you can take On your knees you look up Decide you’v...

So it looks like I'm going to need to petition my graduation requirements. Hopefully I'll get the answer I want. :-)

For once I'm home because I'm the one feeling like crap. I've got a Dr. Appt in 20 minutes. Should blow dry my hair but I just want to go to sleep.

I'm so close to graduation. Two more classes. That's all I need. Of course they need to be 300 or higher, so this does limit me somewhat. Even more limiting is the need for one of these 300 level courses to have a Natural Science designation attached to it. I contacted the BAS advisor today and am waiting for his response to an advising question I submitted. I'm hoping I can take a course that doesn't normally have a natural science designation assigned to it. The department secretary told me that he, as the program director, has the power to tell the Registrar's to accept the course toward my graduation requirements. I'm hoping he'll agree. If he doesn't agree, it means I've got one more semester to go. It'll put off graduation until August, but that's really not a big deal either. I don't plan on starting grad school until Fall. So now it's a waiting game to find out if I'm done in May or August.

My brother often tells me to "mind your bidness ", which is his not-quite-so-endearing way of telling me to "butt out". As the big sister I find this a very difficult thing to do, especially when I see someone I love hurting. Biting my tongue is hard. SO HARD. Seriously, sometimes I think it might be less painful to amputate an appendage. Well, maybe just a small digit. I'd hate to lose an arm or a leg... The bottom line is I do try to keep my mouth shut because I don't want to make anyone mad. I don't want to hurt their feelings. I don't want to make them uncomfortable. I just want to protect. I want to comfort. I want to give hope and encouragement. And the occasional smack upside the head or kick in the ass, whichever would be more appropriate. Sometimes, though, I know silence is appropriate. Doesn't mean I'm always able to follow my better instincts. Sometimes I just can't seem to help myself!

This was a busy one. I had several errands to run on Saturday. First on the list, though, was moving my two boys into the same bedroom. It took about 2 1/5 hours to clean the rooms, move the furniture, and get things organized. The boys' room is very cramped now. Luckily, we didn't have to move a bed in, though, because the boys have had bunk beds since they were old enough to get out of their toddler beds. However, the room now houses 1 computer desk & chair, a bunk bed, 2 dressers, 1 bookshelf, and 2 toy boxes. After getting the room rearranged, I jumped in the shower and got ready to go to my mom's piano recital. She's been taking lessons for about a year. She did pretty good. I heard a few mistakes, but I thought she recovered well. She didn't share the same opinion. She said it was horrible. I also had to stop and pick up a birthday present for a birthday party my oldest had been invited to attend. On the way to that party, I had to stop and pick up...

That's really all I wanted to say. Will post snippet in a few.

I have a few blogs I visit religiously. They're my daily dose of humor. If you havent' checked out Amalah , you should. My sister would probably understand why I didn't think it was any big deal to mention cleaning toilets on my blog if she read this blog. Although, I must admit Amalah would probably get a laugh while I fall flat. Of course, there's more to Amalah than humor , but it's definitely a key element in her posts. The other daily dose of humor comes from Hobo Teacher . Need a chuckle? Go! Check him out . Makes you ever so grateful you're not a K12 teacher.

Well, I ended up completing half of my weekend goals. The paper is written, the laundry looks good, and my sister and I spent Saturday evening scrapbooking with a 6-pack of Mike's. I got 7 pages done; she got 8. The show-off. I already had one page done when she got to my place, so I should have finished one up. Ah, well. She's just a faster scrapper than I am. I didn't get a single word written on the WIP, which bums me out. I'm hoping to make up lost ground today. This should be possible since I'm home instead of at work where I belong. My oldest didn't last but a couple hours at school today. He called my office complaining that his stomach hurt. Oh, joy. At least the stomach cramps haven't produced anything messy that I've needed to clean up. Now let's hope I haven't just cursed myself. What else? I added a new link to my sidebar. Look under Friends & Family, if you're curious. I think that's about it. Maybe I'll p...

It's sad when housework becomes the distraction that saves you from your homework. I've got a whole two pages completed. That leaves 3 more to go, at the very least. The really odd thing is I know my argument and where I'm going with what I have..I just don't feel like dove-tailing a bunch of relevant quotes together. This means I have done the dishes and washed/dried/folded several loads of laundry in an effort to avoid getting the most important thing on my list done. Brilliant.

There are a few things I must do this weekend. In order of priority: 1) Write 5-6 page paper for my Witches and Witch Hunt class. 2) Write at least 5K on story. 3) Join my sister for a night of adult R&R - not sure where we'll go or what we'll do. Money is tight all around. 4) Start re-arranging the boys' bedrooms. My dad is definitely moving in, which means my oldest is losing his bedroom for a few months. The good thing here is Dad won't be alone Christmas morning...and I'm pretty excited about having him there. 5) Clean boys' toilet. Eww. Gross. But they can't be trusted to do the job well enough on their own. I've tried. 6) Laundry. Luckily, some of these things will take mere minutes. The only one I'm really worried about consuming my weekend is item #1. I always underestimate how much time I'll need to pull a coherent argument together.

It's rare that I remember my dreams. If I do, it's usually because they were so bizarre they actually managed to wake me up out of a sound sleep. Take for instance the time I dreamed about a vampire on the run from her Master (yes, there's a short story to go with this one) or the time I dreamed about an entire family of witches who could travel through space and time. I'm sure I have other less fantastical dreams. I'm sure I dream about my husband and kids and our daily lives. I just don't tend to remember those dreams. Our life is pretty mundane - I'm not complaining - so I imagine there's just not enough drama in those dreams to pull me into semi-consciousness. Well, last night I had a dream about my sister. I won't go into detail, but let's just say my sister would have liked the way this particular dream ended. It definitely had a HEA ending for her current situation. Now we just need to hope I'm psychic!