Missing In Action

I couldn’t even tell you the last time I posted–Talk Like a Pirate Day? Wow! That was half a month ago! I had every intention of posting for Mama Kat’s but it has been a crazy two weeks.

DH has shipped out. In order to get ready for that he had his annual FFD (Fit For Duty) and some of those results made it necessary he see a GP. He also had to go to the eye doctor to get new glasses made, as well as myself and the children. I’ve subbed for the first time this year–because I finally feel able. We had Back to School nights and first interim report cards. Scouts and soccer are in full swing and I’m so thankful DH was home for most of the soccer season–only 1 game left for each child and then play-offs. I had a big scrapbooking event one Saturday–again, so thankful DH was still home to do soccer that day! And the next day we went back to “the old home church” to celebrate their groundbreaking for a long-overdue and much-needed classroom and fellowship hall expansion.

On the day DH left I had both children out of school for their annual physicals and T1’s dermatology appointment. My mother-in-law joined us for lunch in between appointments and DH surprised her by joining us on his way to the airport.

It was such a long, hard day. I don’t really cry when he leaves any more but as I held him, I couldn’t help it. He truly has been my rock this summer. He took the brunt of caring for Cassie when I just couldn’t face the day-to-day care. He helped me make the decision to put her to sleep when the time was right. He helped me ease the children’s grief, and he eased mine. He put up with me when the mystery pain caused me to be so irritable. He helped distract the children when I needed rest. He went with me to all my appointments and we are now so close to an answer (Oct. 6th I should have test results back confirming what the rheumatoidologist suspects). I guess I felt a little fear of doing things without him again.

And the house without him or Cassie is just so quiet. I guess he felt the same way on the days I substituted. Even sitting here in my office, I miss him sitting at his desk just 10 feet away. I miss Cassie both out in the family room or even here on the floor beside me where she lay for most of the summer, too tired and too ill to make the trip out of the room too often.  For such a quiet dog, she made a lot of noise.

But other than that day that DH left I seem to be okay. I guess because I am taking control of the stress in my life–I’ve turned down sub jobs, I say “No”, and I don’t see my E.o.t.T. as torture but as a reward and something I want to do for me. As I said, with a possible diagnosis (and treatment) I am so hopeful that this mystery illness will be illuminated and I can start to feel better all the time (and get off these temporary steroids). I am keeping a regular scrapbooking schedule and my customers are getting excited again too. And I’m taking it one day at a time, one project at a time. Yes, I’ve failed my One Month again but when I can tackle something like the pantry in the morning before I go to training and two other small projects later in the day, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.

I really have some interesting topics to post on… pineapples, Frankensteins, reading selections and setting limits on my children, cupcakes and gratitude, etc. And of course I’d like to do a Mama Kat’s post this week.

My One Month Goal for October will be to sign up for the online writing fiction course that I promised myself I would start. It starts on October 30th. I won’t wimp out–I can do this. I have to do this.

In all of this I can see God’s hand. The timing of everything so that I have not had to face so much alone is truly His timing. He has blessed me so much with DH. These extra two weeks were a surprise to me but it gave me time to get that much stronger, to be on my two feet. Again, God’s blessing. The time will fly and DH will be home before I know it. God is good.

Writing Workshop: Bucket List or To Do List?

Image via Wikimedia Commons

3.) Create a bucket list of 50 things you want to do this summer (with or without the kids!) Not sure if this really is a Bucket List or part To Do List. And some of these I certainly want to do more than once. DH’s Honey Do List is vastly different and he’s not going to have fun at all this summer. “This isn’t vacation. I just change bosses.”

1. Stay in my pjs for an entire day.
2. Eat breakfast for dinner.
3. See Cassie run one more time.
4. Go to Carl’s Ice Cream.
5. Walk on the river islands.
6. See Harry Potter 7 Part 2.
7. Go to Sakura for a fabulous meal.
8. Camp out in our backyard.
9. Sleep in.
10. Buy spaghetti squash and attempt to make lasagna in a bowl with it.
11. Go to VBS Super Saturday with the whole family.
12. Have a water gun fight.
13. Play Crypt Keeper.
14. Play Clue the Video Game.
15. Read all the Wizard of Oz books.
16. Catch up on Sanctuary.
17. Go to the LEGO store.
18. Take an afternoon nap next to Cassie on the floor of my office.
19. Sign up for a writing course.
20. Lose 5 pounds.
21. Go to Six Flags.
22. Finish my Disney Album.
23. Finish my Scotland Album.
24. Take an evening walk with the family.
25. Scan all of T1’s elementary schoolwork into the computer.
26. Bike the Canal.
27. Donate blood.
28. Help T1 earn her Bronze award by working in a food bank with her.
29. Find dust masks that don’t make me feel like I’m inhaling stinky feet.
30. Buy school supplies.
31. Make my children do school work on days they are not at camp.
32. Play in the rain.
33. Watch a sunset.
34. Make S’mores.
35. Get a pedicure.
36. Clean off my sewing table so I can use it again.
37. Play with sparklers.
38. Rearrange the furniture in our bedroom.
39. Take T2 to the dentist to get a tooth extracted.
40. Synch my calendars—on my pocket PC, my Outlook, and my phone.
41. Play on the swings.
42. See Captain America.
43. Have my picture taken with a cartoon character.
44. Stargaze.
45. Record T2 singing her “Booty Shorts” song so that I can play it for her children.
46. Tell the children every day how proud I am of them.
47. Tell the children every day that I love them.
48. Tell DH that I love him more every day.
49. Thank God for all the blessings in my life. Give God the Glory.
50. Tell Cassie that I will never forget her.

Writing Prompts:
1.) List 10 things you wish you could say to strangers who share unsolicited advice about your parenting skills.
2.) Write a poem inspired by a picture you took last week. Share both!
3.) Create a bucket list of 50 things you want to do this summer (with or without the kids!)
4.) A country you would like to visit.
5.) What is something you could stand to learn from your significant other?

Bonus Vlog Option!
Sometimes it’s hard to put yourself out there on video, but it’s a fun and different option for a post and a great way for your readers to get to know you better. The problem is many of us don’t know what to vlog about…this bonus prompt option will give you the inspiration you need to create a short video for your blog. Now to drum up the courage…

6.) Getting kids dressed? Cooking dinner? Bed time? Create a video that describes the most difficult part of the day for you.

If you want to know more about Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop, click on that trophy over there…

Writer’s Workshop: Annual Girls’ Weekend

1.) Girls Night Out! Describe the last time you got to hang out with your friends? What stops you from doing this more often? I wrote this just days after the event but my desire to stay anonymous kept me from posting it–I even sent it to one of the participants to guest post on her blog but couldn’t bring myself to say “post it.” Now, I’m feeling bold. This doesn’t really answer “why” we don’t get together more often, but that is such a simple answer: we just don’t have the time.

I watched as one by one they would put down their pens or scissors and sigh. It was time to go; time to begin the arduous task of packing up. Most would have a sense of accomplishment and a sense of relief that they were going home with less than what they started.

But I could see the wistfulness as they’d share another laugh or exchange some quip with the woman across from them as they placed scraps into the trashcan. It had to end. It couldn’t last forever.

Every woman in attendance had at one time or another during the weekend declared defiantly that it was “her weekend, her time without the children or husband; she could sleep in or read a magazine without interruption.” Ironically, every woman also took phone calls and texts from home—or even made the call herself to check in. I guess that sense of freedom only went so far.

As rolling carts and photo boxes were organized and closed up, each woman would murmur “We need to do this more often.” Even the hotel staff wants us to come back in six months instead of just annually. Tired, yet rested, and relaxed from the stress-free weekend, each hugged me good-bye and dragged their feet to the door, not wanting the weekend to end.

I’ve been hosting the annual weekend for eight years now and I have to say this was probably the most relaxed and the most enjoyable in recent memory. It probably had much to do with the fact I didn’t plan or prepare for the weekend prior to a week before the event. It was so non-frills and no pressure that I almost felt guilty charging a fee—almost, after all I still had the facilities costs to cover.

While I’m sure it is totally bad for business, I believe this last-minute attitude contributed to a feeling of being just one of the attendees. There wasn’t a feeling that I was the consultant and I was providing a service. The fact of the matter is they were not expecting any service. I did not join them when they went on a food run not out of obligation that I needed to stay in case a customer needed me—I stayed because 1., I just wasn’t hungry, and 2., I just wanted to stay and work on my own stuff.

This feeling of being one of the crowd started Friday afternoon. Maybe waiting until the time I wanted to leave to load the car and get a shower is the key. I felt no rush to be there well in advance of the others. And when I did get there, my trusty sidekick was just checking in and I had a set of hands to help me unload. But I didn’t set up and I didn’t put out order forms and catalogs. I just closed the conference room doors and waited in a hotel room.

Everyone else arrived just before our reservation time. Together we all loaded up and headed out to West Main restaurant. And I was waiting for one extra friend who although she wasn’t scrapbooking with us (but I will get her to put all her 365 photos in a digital book!) to make the night complete. We hadn’t seen each other in probably 18 ½ years. We have known each other since the 6^th grade.

And there we all were, gathered around the table in the upper room at West Main, all remembering even what we had ordered the year before and salivating for this year’s choices. (BTW, their fried green tomatoes are better than the ones we had at Paula Deen’s Lady and Sons. I’m just sayin’, ya’ll.) Classmates, troop leaders, older sisters, younger sisters, moms’ club refugees, fellow Pisces celebrating another year … embarrassing the youthful waiter who kept walking in at all the wrong moments.

“Did you know a donkey can see all four feet simultaneously?” And that was one of the more tame comments.

Our non-scrapbooking friend will forever be part of the group; forever part of the stories that come out of our annual weekend. Not only was it just as if there hadn’t been 18 years, our crazy group welcomes any who can hang and keep up.

I’ve been home almost two days and the car still isn’t unpacked. Maybe it’s my way of trying to keep the weekend from ending. Reality, however, creeps back in and I know what all the ladies know: savor those precious 48 hours as it’s not likely to happen more than once a year. Oh, but what memories!

Writing Prompts:
1.) Girls Night Out! Describe the last time you got to hang out with your friends? What stops you from doing this more often?
2.) If Social Media died tomorrow, describe another hobby you might get into.
3.) Share a Summer Camp memory.
4.) We’re too old to be getting in trouble…aren’t we? Write about a time you were scolded…as an adult.
5.) Barefoot and hormonal…describe an incident that upset you when you were pregnant, but now looking back makes you laugh.

Bonus Vlog Option!
Sometimes it’s hard to put yourself out there on video, but it’s a fun and different option for a post and a great way for your readers to get to know you better. The problem is many of us don’t know what to vlog about…this bonus prompt option will give you the inspiration you need to create a short video for your blog. Now to drum up the courage…

6.) On Monday I posted a vlog that revealed what companies really want from mom bloggers. Create a video where you share your opinion on monetizing blogs. You are free to talk about whatever this topic inspires in you, but here are some sample questions: Are you willing to work with brands? Is it “selling out”? Can a blogger over do it? Do you have tips to share? A memorable experience working with a brand? etc.

Writer’s Workshop: It’s too Quiet. Where’s the Sharpie?

2. What did they get into now? DH read these and we both said at the same time “Sharpie Marker!” so I knew I had to answer #2.

T1 was 17 months old, able to walk and climb and was pretty verbal too. It was half an hour before her bedtime. I wanted to get laundry done so I asked DH to watch her. “Sure. No problem.” Our family room in that house was L shaped, but oriented like the Greek letter Gamma (upside down and backwards L) and DH’s desk was in the short part while the TV and the couch were hidden on the long part.

Half an hour. I believe we didn’t have cable at the time so she was probably watching a video. DH was on the computer.

I came down the stairs which were next to DH’s desk and I rounded the corner to get T1 and I gasped. “NO! Weren’t you watching her?!” (I was probably not as nice at the time, and in fact I remember being more than a bit perturbed.)

“What?”

“Look!”

“But she was so quiet!”

And we caught her just as she was about to start on her face. The bottom of her sippy cup was colored in. Both hands were black. Her thighs had streaks and her onesie was ruined. Even parts of the old couch were marked. And she never once made a sound.

We were fairly certain sharpie markers were nontoxic but we bathed her any way to scrub as much of the ink off as we could. The rest would have to fade away.

Sadly this was not the last time this would occur. Probably about a year later she got washable markers out during nap time and colored her white bed, walls, and body. T2 would later get those same markers and color the hallway. At least they were washable this time.

Writing Prompts:
1.) Lesson learned!
2.) What did they get into now? Describe a time your toddler got into something they shouldn’t have.
3.) Describe a time when someone was proud of you.
4.) Write a poem about something you are looking forward to.
5.) Watcha’ cookin? Share a recipe.

If you want more information about Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop, click on that trophy over there…

Scrapbooking Note:
While this page is very plain, I had a purpose. I gave two and half year old T1 a marker and told her to scribble on the page. We then traced her hand on the page to show how big she now was. This page is actually opposite a really pretty page with some of the prettiest pictures I ever took of T1. If you notice, I left room to journal–I always leave out the journaling. Wait. I just journaled here!