Yes, I did miss my Wed blogging but with good reason. The hubby has been working away since Sat and the job hit a snag so he came home Tues night. He decided to use his first day off in 3 weeks going to the city. Not what I would have chose but to each his own. We had to take the girls because my parents were packing getting ready for a week long vacation. I really, really missed my day off.
I'd all ready been to the city on Monday. I took my suburban which held everybody, my mom, sister and brother plus the girls. The girls were not on their best behavior. They spent a lot of time crying in stores probably why my siblings made themselves scarce, often.
The youngest had a good reason for being grumpy. Sunday she burnt her finger on the lawn mower muffler. I was filling it with gas and couldn't even grab her and before I knew it she touched it. So she has a burn the length of her pointer finger and one in the tip of her middle finger. Even though I know it wasn't my fault and that things happen it still makes you feel awful.
Anyways, we spent Wed in the city as well. Yeah. The hubby needed a new cell phone and also a new carrier as he has been getting a lot of dropped calls. Not great for work. So $350 later he was set up. Yikes! Thank goodness he's been working a lot lately. We got home about 4 then he had to go get the gravel truck for hauling contaminant out of a plant. He'll probably do that the rest of the week.
My poor baby. I really dropped the ball this week. I don't know where my head is. She's been waking in the middle of the night again. I thought it was a faze so I most of the time just let her cry for a few minutes (no more than 5 or 10) and she goes back to sleep. But I was changing her diaper and she was fussing and I got a glimpse of a molar poking through. I should've guessed but I didn't. Feel stupid much? Oh yeah.
I was in my shed the other day. I heard a soft shushing noise and went looking for it. It you can believe it it was a butterfly with a ripped wing. Just raising and lowering its wings trying to escape. If I'd been braver I would've put it out of its misery. But I didn't. I took it out to the garden so it could die somewhere nice instead of the dark shed. Lame, I know. My hubby would just laugh if he read this.
I also discovered a mouse in the house Sunday. Yuck. I came down the hall and there it was scurrying under the dishwasher. So Tues I finally got around to cleaning. I pulled out the stove and cleaned under it. Since the dishwasher is right next to it there is an open space so I put down mouse poison. It's where I know my girls are definitely not going to get into it. The hubby put down traps when he got home. But that mouse keeps eating the peanut butter off of them. I just want it gone. I hate killing creatures but if something comes into my house and is making a mess and crapping all over things it's got to go. Sorry.
That I guess brings me to today. I was planning on spending the day just getting caught up on housework and paying bills etc. Instead I get a call from my mom. They were almost ready to leave and they got a call from neighbors to the east. The cows were on there land. So I took the girls and dropped them off for Mom to watch. Dad and I went over and chased cows in and then proceeded to spend the next 2 1/2 hours fixing fence. These cows of ours have absolutely no respect for fences. I'll be so glad when we can truck them east back to the in laws. I'm not a cow person. I hate seeing them so cute knowing that they're heading to the slaughterhouse someday. I do eat beef but I have trouble looking them in the eye. So I try to avoid them as much as possible. My hubby isn't really a cow person either but we got them given to us so how do you say, "no thanks." In the fall when we sell the money is a big relief because work is usually so slow in the winter.
So I think I'm done. The youngest is having a nap and the oldest is watching Diego. I think I need to sit with a book and a cup of tea.

Busy Busy

Today I'm definitely not getting in as much writing as I would like.
First, I took the girls over to Moms and by the time I walked home again it was about 10:30.
Then, I had to hang out the laundry and clean bathrooms. Stuff has been building up lately so I did some windows, vacuumed and mopped.
I'm also making homemade chicken noodle soup since we had roast chicken for supper last night I'm making it from scratch. Must be feeling ambitious.
I was down another pound this week so that's 19.5 down and 2 to go. Whoo hoo!
I'm reading, Paulo Coelho's The Devil and Miss Prym. I am really getting a lot out of his books lately.
I feel like I'm floating aimlessly when it comes to spiritual matters. After years and years of going to church, I just don't feel that is the best place for me. I've opened my mind to many different possibilities as my parents have. I just want to feel inner peace and contentment.
I had so many ideas for this blog this week. I'll have to start jotting ideas down during the week since my memory is not what it used to be.

Another Wed.

Today is the day I really look forward to. My mom takes my girls and I'm able to do whatever I want. I can write, watch movies, clean house (haha just kidding), work on art or scrapbook or lay in bed and read all day. It my time to regain a bit of myself.
I'm trying to get in the habit of doing this blog on Wednesdays. That way I don't have any distractions. No trying to type with kids hanging off of my legs and screaming. I love my girls but the screaming is really getting to me. The littlest one is coming into her personality and the older one is having a hard time with this. She can't understand why dd#2 screams when she takes something away.
I've been doing something about my weight lately. I'm down 18 pounds with only another 3-5 to go. It actually came off relatively easy once I set my mind to it. It's just good to be back in my clothes and be back in general. No spare tire around the middle. Yeah!
Now I'm trying to decide on writing goals for this week. I've been giving a lot of thought to writing fillers and articles for magazines. I'm kind of sorry I didn't pay more attention to the non fiction side of things with some of the courses I did. I went in focused on fiction and did well with that but I think that non fiction might be what I need to be doing. I know it's awful but I need to make a bit of money to help out. For what I'm qualified for that would mean a minimum wage job, which would be fine. I've done it before. Except now I have two children who need to be looked after and that costs money. So I'd probably be working just to pay for child care. So not a big help.
My hubby is always after me to finish my book. Yes, but to what end. Just because I finish it doesn't mean it will ever be published. I know, there's that bad attitude coming out again. But I feel like I'm just being realistic. And if I do finish it and sell it, it's not going to help us now.
But I guess I should quit lamenting and go get something useful accomplished.
It's my day.

Starting Again...

I know it has been two months at least since I wrote in here. I'm not going to make excuses (well not too many). Summer always seems to be the time when we take a break and let things slide. My writing has been one of the things hardest hit. I had been trying to get my book finished by July 31 but alas, it is still only on chapter 8 or 9.
I am working on a new endeavor, though, writing non-fiction. It was always one of the things I passed up in my courses. I always wanted to further my fiction story writing. Now I wished I'd paid a little more attention to the non-fiction side of things. I need to find a job. My hubby is not sure how work is going to hold up this winter with the oilfield. He's been taking everything and anything, often working away from home.
I'm so thankful for him but I am feeling supremely guilty that I'm not contributing to our household financially. I know I keep the house, watch the girls etc. I know I'm not just a housewife and mother but still... Also, the only things I'm qualified for are minimum wage jobs, there is almost no point going. I can't expect free childcare and free gas.
So I am turning to my writing, the one thing that I have been taking classes and doing since I left high school. Now I just need to submit. Why does that always seem like the hardest step to take? My mind keeps telling me, "what do you know? Nobody's going to want that stuff." According to any instructor I've had I can do it. The last one told me, "it's time to take the training wheels off and go." Or something to that effect.
So today, finally, after much delaying and procrastinating, I'm going to find a place to send at least one short story and see if I can make some headway on writing some fillers.
Start small.

Writing?

Lately I've been having a hard time getting into the groove of writing. It seems the kids haven't been going to bed on time and I'm exhausted by the time I do I time to write. But it's more than that. I've been asking myself, why bother? Where am I going with this? What do I actually want out of my writing? Am I just making myself crazy trying to do this when they say only 1 in 1000 writers actually get published. But I ran across an article on Jenny Crusie's site http://www.jennycrusie.com/for-writers/essays/rats-with-islands-how-to-survive-your-publishing-career/#container. (bare with me I'm new to this adding a link). It was very enlightening. And I think tonight I'm going to go look for my island!

Books & Exercise

I think one of my favoritest things to do is read. I always have one or two (or three) on the go. Maybe I'll start blogging about them at least to keep track of how many I'm actually reading. So today will be the day to start.
#1 My current selection is Jennifer Crusie's Getting Rid of Bradley. It has been a cute and fun read. I like to switch up my genres.
I got a Wii fit last week and have been using it faithfully. Love it. It's been great for my posture and balance. Today I received my Wii active and I think it's going to be great. Maybe some motivation to get these last few baby pounds off. It brings out my competitive spirit.

Better late than never

Wow I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted. Bad bad. Anyways we got through the long weekend though part of me (at the time) was wishing I could've come home. My dd#2 was sick the entire weekend. She's almost 13 months and not walking yet so I either had to hold her or imprison her in the stroller where she slept her days away. She was pukey and it was also coming from the other end so I really didn't want to have her in the baby backpack. Poor thing. I couldn't believe I had to drag out this little washing machine I got from Regal last summer but it was a God send since dd#1 was cruising through all her clothes.
But all in all we had a good time. There was some other kids for dd#1 to play with and she had an absolute blast. Played from the time she got up until she went to bed. Everyone said she was really coming out of her shell. She would actually talk to people instead of growling at them, crossing her arms across her chest and making a real good pouty face. Pretty daunting I think if you didn't know us.
The only major downer was waking up to snow. I guess though long weekend in Alberta what do you expect? But most of us had to be drug out of our private camp ground with the tractor since we didn't want to rut stuff up and ruin our chances of being invited back.
On to other things. My writing has suffered a bit lately. I've been so bagged at night from the frequent waking ups lately. Oh I forgot to mention dd#1 had an awful night. I must of been up with her 5/6 times on Tues night cleaning up her and her bed. I finally had to resort to just laying down a clean bath towel on the wet spots. I had a mountain of laundry to do on Wed. her sheets, comforter. towels and pj's. I can't stand the smell of puke so I also had the Febreeze out to make sure I got the smell out of everything. Yuck!
Oh yes writing. See how easy it is to be distracted by one's children. Eek! Anyways I've been thinking about my book I just haven't done anything in probably a week. I've had a hard enough time keeping up with the journal I've kept since I was 15. Talk about commitment.
Anyways I gotta go and feed my family. And I'll try to be more consistent here. Adios