Unearthing Conflict

On Mother’s Day weekend I got to take time off. Not jsut from work, but from the family as well. I took off all my hats, leaving only that of daughter and writer on, and whizzed away into the Poconos.

It was awesome.

Mountain Spreings Lake Resort, PA - cabin no. 24, already reserved for next year!

My mom and I stayed in a lovely Cabin, with a dock. Hiked about a forest on well maintained trails to view lots of waterfalls. Took a guided horseback ride on a wooded trail. And generally relaxed and bounced writing ideas off each other.

It’s funny how different we are. She’s writing children’s books, and collecting family stories. I’m working on a fantasy with elements of steam punk. Yet we helped each other out quite a bit. Like contemplating over what would happen if my crystal powered undead managed to infect a fish. The thought of flopping fish that desired human flesh and needed to get to the capitol city incited a plethora of giggles. On a more serious note, we discussed a way to tie in all her family stories, via one over arching thread, and just how that thread would lead to the breaking of the curse.

Importantly for me, I figured out just how I want Unearthing Magic to begin. Thanks to the cabin wall and sticky notes, I whittled down my opening scenes and played with character motivations and conflicts. 

Plotting on the Cabin Wall

Lori was my hardest character. She’s passive-aggressive and prefers to she avoids conflict.

Case in Point: After Ara died, Lori knew she ought to go home to her birth mother, but she doesn’t want to. So rather than asking her parents if she can stay, or asking Mart to do so for her, she just stays and says nothing.  – But then I realized, this is her conflict.  – Because she’s passive, if her birth parents call her to move back home, she’ll do so to try and avoid her mother’s volcanic temper, even though she wants to stay with Mart. And until Lori finds herself pulled into the troubles of the larger world, she’s always going to be fearful that she’ll be called back across the road to stay.

Goes to show that even passive people can have conflict, even when they’d rather avoid it – and the avoidance of conflict can also make that conflict bigger.



Final outline of Chapters 1-3

I’m quite happy with how this revision is turning out. So far I’ve got the first three Chapters plotted out, each with four viewpoints. as you can see in the diagram below. I didn’t want to wait too long introducing each character, but Travis and Angela got the whole first Chapter to themselves. After all the ball starts rolling downhill with Travis’s last assassination attempt, that leads to his kidnapping and it’s not until after that kidnapping that Herbert and Lori enter the picture.

Yes, I’m quite happy with where my first three chapters are going. And when I have them set, I’ll work on the next bunch – however many that may be.

 

Bushkill Falls - if your ever in PA near Wilks-Barre Scraton - check it out - a very well maintained private park with fourteen (yes 14) waterfalls, and a look out, we didn't make it too because we'd already walked around for thre hours. :}

:} Cathryn Leigh

I Hate Ranting But...

I’m feeling overwhelmed. There I admitted it. But I don’t know if it’s the time of year, or the point I’m at in my menstrual cycle (and right now we’re in the post stage, though I suppose you could call it pre-pre-pre stage) *sigh*

So what is making me feel overwhelmed?

Well the first thing that comes to mind is that – my boss is leaving. An opportunity came knocking and she’s taken it. This brings up many thoughts and questions in my mind:Am I doing the wrong thing by not looking/keeping my eyes peeled? Is my loyalty to the company that hires me an out dated thing? – It does seem old fashioned, but like a guy who is courteous and respectful to a woman, it doesn’t go out of style... right?

• I’m feeling a little betrayed that she’s leaving, but it’s not like she can say, why don’t you come with me.
• I’m feeling overwhelmed by the responsibilities I’m going to be taking over. Like sending out meeting minutes from management Review and making sure all the executive managers approve it.
• I’m worried I won’t make it. I’ll fail and the company will crumble.

Yes that last one is a bit of an exaggeration, but for 6 to 8 weeks I will be a department of 1, because my other coworker, who deals with a lot of the daily stuff, will be on Maternity leave. While she says she’s coming back, I have to prepare for the possibility that she might not. You never know... and suddenly I find myself thankful for the shortness of Maternity leave. If I lived and worked in the UK I could be a department for six months!

Wow did that make my mind boggle and put things in a little perspective.

 

So beyond that little stressing development I’ve piled onto my life:

• POD Formatting for hire - I’ve a contract with MWiDP, thanks to Anne R Allen and her worry about getting How to be a Writer in the E-Age out in time for her conference (my paperback just arrived *grins*). So along with formatting the 10 to 15 books mark’s got me listed for I’m also helping someone else with hers. (She’s even paid me.)
• Keeping up with spending time working on writing every day, be it word count or planning or world building. This is part of my retirement plan folks. I have to keep marching forward, so that when I’m ready I can start putting books out there one after another.
• Teaching Sunday school about every other week. So far I plan the morning before... I’d like to give it more fore though, but I never seem to.
• Making Halloween Costumes (I have a drafted post on that, that I’ve not gotten up) potentially in the next two weeks, ready for an event my kids will be going to.
• Keeping up with this blog. I’ve been horrible at it since I hit the one year mark in June. Kind of like my Diaries... only better, because those never had the weekly punctualness for a whole year.
• Making sure I read, not just books to my kids (but how can I not read “STAND BACK!” cried the Elephant “I”M GOING TO SNEEZE!” – okay I haven’t read it yet, but the title was too awesome not to pick up for 50 cents from the Library book sale.) but also books related to the genres I write in.
• And all the while not ignoring the kids, hubby, dog and visitors (the In-laws are in town right now), part of which means making sure there is food in the house (totally failing at that right now) and doing laundry (failed that two weekends ago, but caught up last weekend)

Yeah – if anyone ever tells  you, or you think to yourself, I can’t wait till I’m out of school I’ll have more time – think again.  Eventually we all have to get out of the house and live on our own. With age comes responsibility, until you get so old you need someone to care for you, then you just sleep a lot.

Responsibility is just a weight on your shoulder and right now it’s making me grimace more than smile. Maybe once I have those costumes done....

 

} Cathryn Leigh is sorry this is more of a rant than anything else. She hates to rant, to anyone, even herself, which means she probably bottles up way to many thing for her own good. So she thanks you for reading. {

Strong Inspirations

Inspiration strikes in odd places. Today mine came from by Sierra Godfrey’s blog post on Woman’s History Month. She asked that we think about women in our lives and be thankful for them.

I’m going to be thankful for the strong women, who aren’t necessarily in my life, but they’ve influenced it beyond a doubt. I’m not talking fictional people, or authors.  Charley R. already posted what amounts to my Ode to Anne McCaffrey *grin* these are the women whose genes I have running in my system.

These are the women of my previous generations that have inspired my character to be the women they are. And they all funneled through my mother and into me. I’m sure my dad’s side of the family had its share, seeing as my Abuela was a Missionary down in South America. I just happen to know my mom’s family a bit better.

My Mom:

• It might have taken her a bit to get through the divorce and find a proper mate, but she did it. More than that she took up the back breaking work of cleaning houses to put food on the table and clothing on my back.
• She never gave up her dream of graduating college either. She beat me to it too. She walked down the aisle to get her Bachelors the week before I did.
• She’s my real life Cinderella, with a closet of ball gown to prove that finding your Frog Prince isn’t always that easy. (What? My step-father happens to be a French Swamp Yankee, and they both love my analogy).

My Grandmother (mother’s side):

• Oh Nellie, where to begin with her? Anyone who has read my collaborative story, Faerie Bound, on Protagonize, will know Haddie. Haddie pretty much is my grandmother. She was vocal in town hall in her day, she raised six boys with my mom’s help and raised hell with anyone who might cross her.
• Case in point – She became a Court Advocate for abused women, taking up a position in the court that served the town she raised her boys in. Sometimes the abusers would try to approach her desk (located in a hallway mind you) to harass ‘their woman’. Well the moment my grandmother caught their eye they’d be all ‘yes ma’am’ no ma’am’ ‘I’ll just be going now Mrs. B.’
• In fact I could give you all sorts of anecdotes about her. Some good some bad. Maybe on another day.

My great-grandmother, (mother’s, mother’s side):

• I actually got to know her as the little old lady who made yummy donuts and collected bells.
• She sang in the choir and held faith fast, despite an abusive husband.
• She stayed independent in her own home, up until the last few years.
• As I love telling people, she camped out with the girl scouts until she was 76 at which point she declared sleeping on the ground wasn’t good for her back.

My great-grandmother (mother’s father’s side):

• I’ve only heard stories about her, but she sounds pretty amazing.
• For one she was a trolley car conductor in Maine. We’re talking turn of the last century people (1920s/30s)! That’s a pretty amazing job for a woman to have back then.
• When she separated from her husband, whom she never divorced, she bought the house across the street from his and cleaned houses to support herself and her boys and a couple nieces and nephews.

How can I not write strong female protagonists when these women are in my blood? What about you, is there someone, or a group of someones who have influenced you?

:} Cathryn Leigh

A Bull in the China

Now Mythbusters actually busted the whole bull in a china shop but that’s not stopping me. No Sir-ee...

Actually this topic came up via one of the other blogs I visit, Sierra Godfrey’s  and she proposed a wedding china blog fest, since lots of people made comments about their china when she remarked she’d seen hers on TV. Crazy I know, but it meant I didn’t have to think of a topic today.

I don’t know where our wedding china is right now, but I assure it’s safely packed away in the boxes it came in. But thanks to the internet, here’s a picture of it: Noritake’s Silver Palace pattern in platinum.  We’ve used our two place setting (two more than I thought we’d get) once; seriously.

It was Thanksgiving for two at the new Mullen household out in California. We’d used all of our vacation time for the wedding, none of our parents could come out and visit up, but that didn’t stop me from making a nice meal. We had Cornish Game Hens, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and green beans amandine. It’s my apparently my go to fancy family meal as that’s what we had for our intimate Christmas dinner this past December (well as intimate as you can be when your kids are 34 and 6).

Anyway, I didn’t even want to put formal china on the list, but my fiancé (now hubby of course) insisted. He also insisted we get married in a real church and have a real wedding, when I would have been fine with a ceremony in the woods and a BBQ reception. He’s got an old fashioned streak, bless the man, and a goofy romantic one two *heart*. Sorry, where was I? Right I didn’t want formal china. I knew no one on my side of the family would buy it for us and I was used to using the everyday stuff for every, single, day.

Amazingly we did get two sets, from his Aunt, but that was it. So we had our romantic thanksgiving for two and then, well we haven’t used it since. It got packed up and moved twice. I’m not even sure I know where it is in the boxes that still haven’t been unpack. Not that it matters. I’m not using fine china for holidays until the kids get older. Then we’ll have to unpack one of the sets we’ve inherited from his grandparents.

Till then we’ve got our Pfaltzgraff, Rio dishes (place setting for twelve) that serve us well.

:} Cathryn Leigh

Oh and in other news...

I received my sighed copy of “Walter’s Purple Heart” by Catherine Ryan Hyde, which I’ll be reading this month (woot)

And that current first chapter of Sarah’s Phoenix is up on Saffina Desforge’s blog!

Reading to Memory Lane

Today I think I’ll talk a little bit about what I’ve been reading. I’ve been doing very well with that goal actually, and I think I could read more than one novel a month, but I think it’s best, for the time being, to stick to that rate. I’d hate to kick up my addiction and lose all my time to it. Still having the Kindle is nice. I can get a little bit of reading done anywhere, like when waiting for the hubby to pick me up from work. But I am digressing.

The novel I read this month was A Storm Hits Valparaiso by David Gaughran. It is an epic tale of South America’s struggle for freedom as told from seven perspectives. He starts with a barmaid in Valparaiso and then takes us back and forth across the Atlantic. It was fun trying to figure out who would cross paths with who. Sometimes the moment was brief and other times the paths became interwove. It ends, full circle, with the barmaid, returned to Valparaiso. War, no matter what kind, changes everything and David captures that well in this book.

Now, I bought this book because I’d found David Gaughran’s blog in my gathering of places to find information about publishing a book. In addition, South America fascinates me. My father was born in Paraguay to missionary parents and he first came to USA when he was 15. So, despite the fact he carries a very American name, he’s Hispanic. My step-mother is from Columbia. I don’t know of anyone with a bigger family. She has nine older siblings and how many nieces nephews who have kids too I don’t know, but they all seem to keep in touch.

Memorial to Simon Bolivia
in Santa Marta Colombia

I was very fortunate, in that, when I was 16, I got to visit both countries. We went to a family reunion of sort for my step-mom for New Years. Quite the change from the cold New England climate I came from. We even spent a day at Simon Bolivia’s memorial. Then that summer we returned, this time to go to Paraguay and visit my Abuela y Abuelo who’d returned to where my dad grew up to visit the church they’d founded. We even skipped over to Brazil to see the Iguassu falls.

Iguassu Falls, from the Brazilian Side

I could probably write a post or two just about those trips, complete with the pictures I took. At least I know I have pictures of Paraguay; there's one of the falls that rivals the professional ones. Of course I’d have to find the photographs first, and if I couldn't find them I'd have to ask my step-mother if I could borrow hers, at least until I got them all scanned. Those were the days before before digital cameras. At least, before affordable personal digital cameras were available.  

:} Cathryn Leigh

A Saucy Holiday

Inspired by some Holiday Cheer over at We Wanted to be Writers, I decided to share one of my holiday recipes. I promise you’ll be able to understand it the whole way through as there are absolutely no bottles of alcohol involved. :}

Now get ready and gather up; 2 cups (or 8 ounces) of Roe berries, 1 cup of sugar, 1 orange, and ground cloves, oh and make sure you have water on hand, you’ll need that too. If you can’t find Roe berries in your grocery store don’t fret.

Roeberries are Cranberries, harvested from the Family Bogs on Cape Cod. My great grandpa Roe called them barrels of Gold and I never make my sauce without them. They just taste better than Ocean Spray and it’s like thumbing your nose at the company that put the independent growers out of business until this whole organic thing came about.

So, now that you know the importance of where your berries come from let’s sort them. Don’t worry it’s easy. Ripe berries bounce. (They float too, but water picked berries are only good for juice because they spoil too quickly.) Now, unless you want your berries all over the room I suggest bouncing them in a pot with high walls. You’d be surprised at the bounce the ripe ones have. If they go splat (yick), toss them out the window! Let nature compost them.

Once your berries are sorted, add them, the sugar, and 1 cup of water to a nice 6 quart pot. The more room above the water line, the better, unless you love having sticky red sauce splattered about the room. Who knows, it could be the next rage in Christmas decoration. You only want the tiniest amount of cloves, it’s a strong spice, I’d say no more than 1/8 teaspoon or it will over power the cranberries.

Now, we’ll get the pot set over high heat on the stove to get it boiling while we mutilate the orange.  What you want to do is slice it in half so you can scoop out the yummy sections (without any skin) to plop into the pot. Just treat the orange as if you were eating grapefruit, only feed it to the sauce, which ought to be boil at this point.

It’s time to turn down the heat, set the time and relax. But don’t relax too much you’ll want to stir the pot every now and again. The timer should be set for about 20 minutes. You know the sauce is done when the berries are all popped (listen, you can hear them) and the sauce is a nice gravy consistency.

And Voila! You now have about 2 and a half cups of Cranberry Sauce for a feast. It’s yummy, it’s easy, so who are you going to serve it too?

:} Cathryn Leigh

It’s NaNovel Update Number 4!

Well we’re heading down that long slippery slope to the end, it’s Day 23 of NaNoWriMo!

First, we have the Statistics:

Total Word count:  56,607

Total Page Count:  192

Total Time Spent:  42.50 hours

Average Words per minute:  21

Average Pages per hour:  4

Second, we have the Write-Ins:

Well this week, rather than the family or work getting in the way of my Writing-In, it was my own health. Yes the, since you’re doing NaNo and got a flu shot (okay that may or may not be a factor in this), you’re going to get sick has hit me. Last year it was a twenty-four hour bug and no real biggie. This year – Pneumonia – yes that lovely chest infection took me by storm Sunday night and on Monday night went to the doctors, was prescribed three medications and told to stay home until 11/24 (Thanksgiving Day). Well Phooey. *pout*

Lastly, we have my notes

I’ve finally introduced my last main character. I know it seems a little late in the book to do so, but this puppy won’t be done when it’s done. It’ll be more like a purposeful To Be Continued... If I write the thing right, Rachael and her ‘crew’ may become my serialized fiction novellas. She seems to like that idea, and so does the rest of the cast.

Now on to our excerpt for the week. This one comes from something I wrote today. Michael’s memory block that has kept his Nueri half from his Human half separate has been removed. Poor guy is two in one. Makes for an interesting write. On second thought we’re going to make it two. Rachael wants to brag about her kids. :}

Rachael clicked off the communication unit. Michael was not going to be happy about this, if her and Traverse’s son had survived. What a wacked out family she had. More whack out than her own family had been when she was growing up. At least all but her had been normal humans. Now she was married to a Nueri, had a Nueri daughter, had an affair with a Pirate and born an aborted baby who’d been sold to the cyborg program. No she definitely didn’t put that past Traverse’s father to have done so.

On the plus side, she smiled, her kids had balls. One was leading a revolution that she thoroughly supported and the other had given the UCPA a big F* you by tracking down his parents. No child, donated to the cyborg program was ever allowed to know where they came from. They were supposed to grow up in their own family loyal to the scientist that raised them. She highly suspected that half those scientist hadn’t any clue on how to raise a child. Then again neither did she. Probably better for both her kids to have been raised by someone else. Though who knew, maybe she’d have figured it out before she completely messed up. Still, Rachael reeled her thoughts in, they weren’t namby pamby kids. They grabed their destiny by the balls and shook it. That was reason enough for her to be proud of them, even if she’d never had a hand in raising them.

Now that the glowing mother has had her turn; let’s peek at Michael’s duplicity, despite the fact he is asking me not to.

Michael slept in the blissful silence of darkness until a gentle shake woke him.

“How’s the head?’ Rachael’s voice tickled his ear.

“Still horrid,” Michael groaned as he rolled to one side. His head still pounded, though not quite as bad as before. He could use a serious neck massage though.

“Here,” she handed him a pill and some water, “take this; Mom’s cure for migraines. We’ve got to lift off in four hours or we’ll be late.”

“Late for what?” Michael asked as he sat up to take the medication.

“Rendezvous with the good Senator to pick up my wayward son.”

“Who?” Michael was still puzzled. His memory was seriously foggy.

“I’ll explain more once we’re on board. The surgery’s probably taken a bit out of you. Medications still wearing off and such.”

Rachael helped him into a ships suit after carefully taking all the IVs and sensors off his body.

“You know for a hospital supposed to be the best, that was a little archaic.” She shook her head and then took his hand. “How’s the head now?”

“Better actually,” Michael felt surprised.

“Probably should have taken out the IV first, who knows what they were doping you up with.” She laughed slightly. “Good thing I know who to make friends with, I think they wanted to keep you for studying.”

“I think I’ve had a life time worth or more of  being studied,” Michael stated harshly.

“I know love,” Rachael embraced him with a kiss. She pulled back into his eyes. “I know,” she whispered.

Her eyes spoke of memories and times gone by, of the things they’d done and didn’t. He saw images of his own past reflected in them, testing, drugging, torture, and he nearly collapsed.

“S---t,” the swear came to her lips as easy as love, “Come on let’s get you to the ship before that temporary block totally dissolves.” She straightened him up and brushed him off. “Come on and follow my lead.”

The halls were quite and Rachael walked through them with confidence. Michael followed trying to imitate the bravado she seemed to ooze, probably not making as much of a go at it given his head still felt like shit. S---t? Since when did she start swearing?

Since you let me out, a little voice responded.

Who are you? his mind wanted to know.

Your other self, the one that’s been blocked from you.

Michael shook his head trying to jumble his thoughts back into one. He wasn’t two people. He was one person, who happened to have the annoying problem of being Nueri.

But it’s not a problem, that little voice came back, it’s a boon.

“How the...” Michael clamped his mouth shut as Rachael looked back at him. He internalized the dialog again as they exited the hospital. How the hell is it a boon?

If you weren’t Nueri you would never have met her, never have had a child, and Transium would drive you crazy.

I killed my wife and child! Michael felt like he was exploding.

Elizabeth is there before you, can’t you see her, she’s leading you to safety.

“Ah, right on time,” Rachael interrupted his internal dialog.

They were a good distance away from the hospital now and had been walking down the street arm in arm, Michael wasn’t sure when that happened. But, as they got to the next corner a car pulled up and stopped. Rachael opened the door and pulled Michael in with her. Neither voice said anything in his head as the car pulled away.

And what about you, my readers, how are you doing? And how are your NaNovels going?

:} Cathryn Leigh {:

The Power of Dreams

Dreams and the waking conscious are powerful things. How many times do we wake up with a strong idea rattling around our head? Or perhaps, you suddenly bolt upright because yesterday’s problem now has a solution. Yet, even when they aren’t giving out story ideas or solving problems they can be entertaining and sometime frightening. Dreams also give us insight into ourselves.

When I was younger, around the time of my parents’ divorce, I had a reoccurring dream. It never happened the same way twice but it was always the same thing.

I would be at a place waiting for my mother to pick me up and take me home. I’d wait for a bit and then shed arrive. Sometimes she’d get out and talk to the person whose house I was at. Sometimes she’d just say something through the open car window. But, every time she would drive off without me. I would be left there, standing where I was crying.

Even retelling the dream makes me misty eyed. I’m still afraid of being abandoned or forgotten, just not so much that I continue to have that dream.

Another dream form my youth, about the same time frame I think, is the one in which I died; yes, died. It’s a bit convoluted and hard to describe, but I’ll try.

It starts off at night in an abandon bus yard. The yellow school buses are all park, silent for the night. There is a jacket lying on the ground and, being cold, I pick it up. No sooner do I put it on then all the bus headlights flick on like monsters opening their eyes. I run and manage to make it inside the house. I’m not quite sure what happens inside the house, but there are more people and I think ghosts that chase me. Then it’s morning and I go for a walk with my dog. We head just into the woods where I’ve dug out a fort. Climbing inside we curl up for a nap, oblivious to the construction equipment nearby. We get bulldozed over and die. Now a spirit, I wander about until I come across this amusement park. I can still clearly see it in my mind, but describing it is a completely different story. Take the Titanic, cut it in half and set it on land, slightly buried into the ground. Now paint it pink, hot pink. Add zip lines from the decks to the ground in multiple places, and then populate it with arcade games, bowling allies and kids. Yeah, something like that. So, as a spirit, I float up to one of the decks and meander about. Then I take possession of a girl. I have no idea who, but I’m alive again I guess.

Looking back I can say, my dog’s death had to do with the fact we had to put her down eventually. But the Bright Pink ship, and there is now way I knew this when I had the dream, but the Bright Pink ship was related to my mom’s first boyfriend after the divorce. The man hated the color pink. The brighter and more fluorescent the more he hated it. He also happens to be the only person I hate.

So this turned out to have nothing to do with my original thought. But hopefully you were at least entertained by my dreams. Because what started this dream blog idea was my waking up early in the morning two days ago thinking about St. Malroy’s Forever and the fact that I might get to be a beta reader, and what kind of valuable feedback I might be able to give, being an American adult over 30.

:} Cathryn Leigh

Feeding the Family

One of the big time sinks I do is cooking for the family. Okay it’s not a time sink, but it’s a tough job. I have to provide delicious and nutritious meals that satisfy my husband’s need for variety. When you consider that the kids are 3 and 5 it’s a tall order to make something that everyone loves.

Thankfully my mother-in-law gave me a subscription to Everyday with Rachael Ray. Normally I take out that weekly menu and use it one week of the month. That usually works for about a week and a half because her recipes feed four plus and my kids barely eat ½ a recipe together! (I know that’s going to change when the teen years hit, especially for my son.) But, in her September of 2011 issue, she had an article, twenty dinners, One Day.

The premise sounds good. You make five base, long time cook, dishes in one day and portion them up to freeze. Then you pull out what you need, the night before or morning of, the day that you make the dish. The dishes have other, quicker cooking, ingredients to add variety to the meals; salad one day, then tacos, then a quiche.

Well I’ve finally gotten to testing that premise. Yesterday I spent all Day (okay technically half a day) working on those five main dishes. I started sometime around 1 pm and didn’t finish until 10 pm. Mind you I had a brief rest for dinner (plain old mac-n-cheese, a quick go to for tired nights). But, I got it all done!

Eighteen cups of pulled pork, twelve cups of tomato sauce, eight cups of roasted peppers and onions, eight cups of roasted squash, seven and a half cups of pulled chicken and fourteen cups of rice pilaf.

That was yesterday, and let me tell you all that cooking tired me out. I was exhausted. But you know what? So far, in my one night’s experience it’s paid off. Got home around 6:30 pm and dinner was ready before 7 pm! (Normally on nights like that it’s a lot closer to 8 pm, good old bedtime, before we eat.)

Holy cow I hope that’s the trend for the rest of the month. I like having time to play with the kids after dinner. We even managed include sight words as part of their game. Fiona knows them, mostly (we didn’t do the greatest job at continuing education at home, me especially) but Brendan is just starting.

So if the rest of those twenty meals goes as well as tonight. I’ll sacrifice another day. In fact, I’ll make it two days; Pork, Sauce and veggies on day one and chicken and pilaf on day two.

I know my followers don’t have to cook for themselves yet, but hey, now you know you’ll get feed well when you come to visit. *grin*

From One Tizzy to the Next

After a week of being a ‘single’ mom, I have the company of my husband once more. This means that childcare has become, once more, a shared duty. I have to admit that I take my hats off to all the real single mothers out there. My mom was one from the time I was 7 or 8. Thankfully, she only had me and I was as good as they come (at least, that’s what she tells me...). It’s hard taking care of two kids alone. But, I’d rather not dwell on such matters. I’ve got other things to do, more story to write, and a costume to get done.

Yes, I’m still in the re-writing phase of my plot gone wild. Okay perhaps not wild, but I am thankful I have managed to get out and walk a little bit this week. It’s just what the doctor ordered for getting through that block I’ve had. I haven’t written anything based upon my thoughts yet. I don’t really like the way the thoughts are going, but what will be will be.

As to my costume, (should I take photos as I go along?) it hasn’t gotten much past the buy additional fabric and cut out the patterns. I’m a bit stuck on how I want to attach the wings. You see I have the dress; my mother gave it to me from some lavender and lace place. I love the tie-dye purple skirt, and the tie-dye purple lace sleeves, but the bodice is stretch velveteen, not the best of basses for wings. So, I either strap them on over the bodice, thus probably ruining the look slightly, or take the dress apart a bit and strengthen the bodice to better hold the wings. Yet even if I do that, how do I attach the wings in a secure manner, but also allow them to be taken out so the dress can be washed.

Velcro is one solution, and I think I might have some that will do the job, but these are not simple lightweight Fairy wings, but Dragon wings! (Are you also now thinking that yes I should get some picture up?) Well the wing membranes will be made of very lightweight fabric, which I’m also using for the under skirt. However, I’m adding in some wire wrapped balsa wood supports. The idea is to make a wing that can be opened by pulling on string at the back.

Added to this quandary, and probably the main proponent of it is: how removable do I want the wings? Obviously this is for Halloween, but I might just be wearing it to my mom’s big 60 birthday costume dance. If I do that, then easily removable wings would be good. After all I wouldn’t want to ruin my wing before I’ve had a chance to wear them a few time. If I’m just going to be wearing them for Halloween, perhaps not so removable is better...

No, because I’m thinking they may not be all that easy to sit in a car with. *sigh*

So apparently if it’s not my story that’s got me in a tizzy, it’s my sewing project, and if it’s not that, it’s probably my kids. And now, as I continue to sketch out ideas for attaching my wings, I bide you ado.

:} Cathryn Leigh

Family, Whine and Cheese

“Next time you whine I expect you to serve it properly!”

At least so says my Mother-in-law to my son. I can’t blame her. Brendan is stuck in that wonderful whining phase. Just about every request he makes is in that petulant whining tone that drive parents crazy. The only thing that tops it off more is the crying at every little thing that doesn’t go his way.

The pasta falls off his plate as he mixes it with catsup vigorously. “Whaaaa”

The cherry on his ice cream Sunday falls down the side. “Whaaa”

The PJs I pull out for him to put on aren’t the one he wanted. “Whaaaa.”

I think you get the idea. We’re working on getting him to use his words. He’s got plenty of them. He uses them with Fiona enough, or when he’s stalling bedtime by telling you about his day. Fiona did the same thing when she was his age. Thankfully, she grew out of the phase right before he went into it. Unfortunately, there was barely a pause from one going out until the other went in.

However, before you get the utterly wrong idea about our kids, they are great. As I said, Fiona’s grown out of the whining. She’ll still burst into tears when she doesn’t get her way, or if she thinks you’re mad, or misunderstood her. That would be a trait inherited from me, at least, the being sensitive to criticism.

Brendan is just frustrated that daycare hasn’t moved him up to the next class yet. He’s definitely ready, though he won’t be four until October. My suspicion is that his attitude will drastically improve once he’s in the new class and learning new things. Last year, when he was ready to move up but hadn’t yet, his good behavior took a dive at daycare. So at least this time he’s not taking it out on his friends, but on us at home.
That’s the way it is for parents isn’t it? Everyone tells us how well behaved our children are and all the awesome things they can do. Then my husband and I look at each other and wonder, “Are they talking about the same kids we know and love?” I do have to say they can be very well behaved (like right now cooperating in using what used to be my computer). Having them twenty-two months apart was a huge stress in the beginning, but they do play so well together, most of the time.

Still I can’t wait until they can serve me whine properly; in twenty years. And how will I expect my whine? Why with cheese, crackers, fruit and chocolate of course!

:} Cathryn Leigh
(Can you believe I managed to write that in 30 minutes while the kids were still up?)
Preposterous! *grin*

A Return to Routine

Well here it is Tuesday night time for another Blog entry. Not really sure what to write. I’m currently steeling back into a normal routine after having nearly two weeks of house guests. Boy that put a strain on my sanity. It was rough playing hostess for our 2nd annual Blow up Carroll County party, but the party goers seemed to make do.

No we don’t actually blow up Carroll County, but we do light off a bunch of ground based fireworks. Well the boys do. I just sit back with the kids and watch. My husband and his father made a trip into Pennsylvania to go to the firework warehouse. They got a really cool one called the Star Spangled Banner (I think). Anyway it was wicked worthy of being the finale (even though it wasn’t).

Amazingly enough I also managed to get in some edit time. My mother-in-law and I went off to Panara Bread to sip drinks and just not be around the kids and hubbies and, especially in her case, her mother. My husband’s Nana just moved in with his parents and so his mother has yet to fully adjust to having a third person living her house. I can totally understand where she is coming from.

Other than that it’s been fairly tame around here. I have a tap dance lesson tomorrow that I’m excited about. I never got a chance to practice, like I wanted to, but I’ve been running through parts of it mentally. We just don’t have a good floor for tapping. *pout*

And the kids, they are growing like weeds. Fiona (age 5.5) is now 47.25 inches (1.5 inches more than in March of this year. Brendan (age 3.5) is 42.75 inches (2.5 inches more than in March!). Yes, someday I will again be the shortest person in my family.

And so ends my rambling for the evening. *grin* Time to join in another teen role play and meet more people on Protagonize. *giggles*

:} Cathryn Leigh