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

Just a day in the life of...

I can't believe it but my baby has just turned one year old. It happened in a blink of an eye. It is harder this time, I think, because I know that this is my last child.
I can't believe that it's been a month since I've posted. We finally got over to my sister-in-law's in Saskatchewan. She's been married for 11 years and this is the first time we've visited. Sad. But we couldn't get away. Really! We owned a tow truck company and my hubby only got two or three days a year off, branding weekend and Christmas day. So there was just no way. But we've been there now and done that and it was good. We also stopped at the hubby's youngest sister's place on the way out. Then on the way home we stopped at his parent's. I have great in-laws. Thank God!
This morning I've been doing watercolors with my 3 year old. She's going through a very girlie faze. She's wearing her tutu and painting.
We've been watching Riptide at night. I didn't really remember it. It's a show from the 80's similar to Magnum PI. I Love watching those old shows. We just finished Moonlighting. The first couple seasons were OK but I found I didn't enjoy them as much once we got further along. They lost something especially when Maddie Hayes got pregnant and went away and then married someone who wasn't David. Then the series finale was kind of a disappointing.
My girlfriend was in Thailand a couple months ago. She brought us all gifts though she didn't need to. But the gifts are beautiful. I got a purse, the hubby got a neat necklace, the 3-year old got a beautiful cotton outfit with elephants on it and the baby got a dress that matches the eldest's outfit. I'll have to do pictures in them 'cause they are so beautiful.
I love my little aspire one computer. It's one of the little ones. I made sure it was charged up the night before our drive when we went on our trip. I was able to work in the truck with it. I've got a goal to get my book In Tow Deep done by my birthday in July. I've got 23,000 words done.

Getting something done

I dropped my daughters off at my mom and dad's about 9. I came home and decided I couldn't write with the house being such a mess so I set my timer for 25 minutes and hustled around cleaning. It actually looks pretty good. So if you are one to lament over housework even 30 minutes can make a big difference.
I finished just in time to make the chat at Long Ridge Writer's Group. It was a really good forum today on description. You have to write the way you interact with the world. Drop the words 'noticed' and 'thought' from your work. You have to write what you are aware of in certain situations. Like if your POV were being chased by a killer you wouldn't write about them noticing the color of the wall or photos. You would be focused on finding an escape route or a weapon. The description of a scene has to match your POV's emotional state or level of concentration. You have to blend description and action.
I took a break for lunch and watched Ellen Degeneres and then rode the exercise bike while watching Steven and Chris. After a shower I hit (figuratively) the computer and wrote for a good two hours (I've gotten 2/3 of chapter 6 done) until the hubby surprised me by coming home early. But I'm pleased with the amount of work I did get done. I guess it was good he came home because I had some technical questions for him (towing). He's always really good about answering all my questions without making me feel stupid or silly.
I went and picked up my girls at 5:30. Nothing makes you feel better. They smile and are just so glad to see you. They just make everything better. But admittedly there are days when they make me want to pull my hair out. Especially now that the youngest is getting around and getting into everything. The oldest takes everything away claiming it's hers. I guess it's tough to go from having it all to having to share. A book I read likened it to if your hubby brought home a new wife and expected you to share everything. That makes it a little easier to understand.

Writing

Since the hubby has been away working I've actually been sitting down for an hour or more (once the girls are in bed) and writing. It feels good. I started chapter 6 last night. Whoo hoo! With any luck I can have this book written by my birthday in July. I mean that is over 4 months away so it should be a workable goal. I've been feeling that old demon on my shoulder saying why should I bother even trying. What's the point? But my point is that I need to have something like this in my life, even if I never make any real serious money or anything. I know that it's years down the road but when my girls leave home in 15 or so years I'm going to need something to fall back on or I'll most likely go mad. And truthfully I really like writing. I like sitting down and getting the words out and getting to know my characters. So here's to writing.

A scare

I got a call from my mom this morning. She has to go back to Red Deer . My hubby and I took her up on Monday in that sh*tty weather. She had a mammogram and this morning they told her to come back up. They'd found something. They originally made the appointment for Friday but she called back and changed it to today. If you know my mother she would have made herself absolutely sick by the time Friday rolled around. She can't handle things like that. She needs to know what's going on. She has to have a biopsy. But the odds are good (85%) that this is nothing other than some calcification (?). Anyways, it's still scary. I want both my parent's to be around for a while. I want my children to know all their grandparents. I lost my paternal grandfather a year before I was even born, my maternal grandfather when I was about 6, and my paternal grandmother when I was 9. My last grandmother is still alive but man can she be a boot sometimes.
I took the girls to their Rhyme Time this morning and then we played at the Parent Link until about 2:30. My eldest is really coming out of her shell. She has always been afflicted by separation anxiety and nervousness around people. Similar to me. People make me nervous. So I'm really glad to see her making progress in this area. It is really debilitating to be scared to walk into a room of people if there isn't someone you know inside. I like familiar.
I'm going to try and get a wee bit of writing done tonight if possible. My hubby is watching TV in the bedroom and can't seem to keep the volume down. I'm trying not to be too bitchy because he is going away tomorrow and won't be back til Sunday. He is going sledding. Even though we are on the verge of being broke. He absolutely loves doing this and he didn't get to go out at all last year thanks to his ankle surgery and working all the time. I can't be the wife who bitches at him for going. He's a hard worker who deserves a break. We'll manage we always do.

Surprise

Surprise! My hubby surprised me when I got home from picking up the girls last night. He drove 5 hours to come home from Medicine Hat. He'll be home all day today and then will probably head back to Vauxhall tomorrow. My eldest was so excited. She's a real daddy's girl. We were supposed to go to Rhyme Time today. But the hubby phoned from town and said we should really not bother. The roads are like a skating rink and he already came across one accident. He was probably thankful because 3 years ago he would have been the one out there in the cold and snow cleaning it up. Well I think I'm going to go find a baking project to do with the 3 year old.