Castle in the Clouds

  Gage & Me That's it.  Another baseball season has come and gone.  The boys ended the summer on a high note when they took home third place trophies from this weekend's tournament.   Can't tell you how proud I am of every single one of them.

I'm afraid I'm losing my mind, friends.  The problem?  I'm beginning to second guess my grammar choices.  Not just occasionally, either.  Oh no, I'm second guessing myself daily.  I know the rules.  I do!  Yet, I find myself making stupid mistakes that irritate and embarrass me to no end. Moments like these make me wonder just how prepared I am to teach others how to properly use the English language.  I blame it on the Master's degree.  I'm so paranoid of making a mistake in my chosen field that I'm over-thinking things.   

The Artist's Way - Going to need to write my three pages tonight while the munchkin is at baseball practice because I was too busy chattering away at my husband to sit still and let the words come.  The kids - We have two weeks of practice and one baseball tournament left of the season.  Then we start football.   School - I should probably start keeping an eye out for back-to-school supplies and clothes. On a more personal note, I'm signed up for a creative writing course and waitlisted for another class on learning how to teach at the college level (the exact course title escapes me and I'm too lazy to go look it up).   Writing - Hopefully I'll have something to report on that as my journey through The Artist's Way continues.   Reading - Last night I stopped by the library on my way home from the youngest child's football camp to pick up a copy of A Discovery of Witches .  I started it last night and am already hooked.  Movies - We did, in fact, make i

I know it's only Day 3, but, as they say, so far so good.  I've been able to keep up with my morning pages.  The first two days I managed to write them on my way into work.  Today, I used a moment of downtime during the proctoring session I'm overseeing to get the words on the page. I still need to do my artist's date and complete at least two of the exercises set out for me this week.  I figure I'll read week 2's intro on Sunday, so that gives me most of the weekend to complete these three tasks. Obstacles to overcome: Friday:  First baseball game of my son's 10U tournament Saturday:  Morning baseball game, help at the concession stand, afternoon baseball game, Harry Potter movie date with my boys and my youngest sister, possibly stop by friends' house for fireworks. Sunday:  Morning baseball game, help at the concession stand, afternoon baseball game. I suppose somewhere in all that craziness I'll have to make time for things like la

I read through the introduction and most of the Tools chapter last night.  Because Ms. Cameron emphasized the importance of starting on the Morning Pages as soon as possible, I decided to start them today. First, I must admit I am not a morning person.  As I told my journal, I don't wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  I'm more sluggish than sprightly, if you will.  However, I really am determined to give this creativity program 100% effort, so I grabbed my journal on the way to the car.  With my husband behind the driver's wheel, I was able to write my three pages. Only I didn't write three pages.  I wrote two. I discovered that at some point in the past I had jotted down notes from a writer's conference - there were scribblings about books to read, synopsis tips and tricks, and even some general writing advice.  This discovery hampered this morning's effort to write three pages. I didn't want to tear out those little gems, so I decided to simply st

This was a first, but hopefully not a last. My sisters, niece, and I had a Girls Night Out this last Saturday. What made this particular outing unique was that it included my niece, who is only 8 years old. (Or is she 9 now? I should know this, right?) This meant our Girls Night Out was alcohol-free. Instead of drinking and dancing, which is usually what happens when us girls get together, we were singing and dancing without the benefit of any alcohol-enhanced rhythm.  Just to be clear, though, the lack of adult beverages didn't lessen the pleasure of the event. Sugarland put on a great show. The stage looked amazing and rather steampunky. These pictures, taken with my sister's cell phone, don't really do the set any justice.  As the title of tour - The Incredible Machine - suggests, it incorporated gears, keys, and other bits and pieces of machinery.  In fact, I wish our pavilion seats would have been closer to the stage so we could have gotten a better look.  B

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks My rating: 4 of 5 stars It's been awhile since I've truly enjoyed a vampire romance like I enjoyed this one. The humorous situation that brings the heroine and hero into contact was the perfect hook. The characters were likable and, more importantly because it will be the thing that makes me seek out the next book, they were memorable and fun. In short, if you're a fan of vampire romance, you should read this book. View all my reviews