ready but not quite

This is one of the projects I have been up to lately. I finished my manuscript for my book several months ago. I've been working on for around 2 years. I finally got the courage to try and send out query letters to publishers. I have the query letter written, the synopsis written and the self addressed stamped envelopes ready. Yet, they still sit on my kitchen counter. WHY? I ran out of money to buy stamps. As soon as October 1st comes around, I'll buy stamps and send out my letters.
Completed manuscript, all 83 pages.

Three query letters - ready to go, they just need stamps!

Blogging Break

I'm taking a blogging break. Except for my weaving blog, Inkle and Weave, I'm not writing much right now.

Instead, I'm working on many other projects around and about the house.

See you later, alligator.

Rio Street

Our street that we must travel on everyday to leave the neighborhood floods badly when there is a rain storm.

Poor city planning!

We have nicknamed our street Rio Hatter. Hatter isn't the real name of the street, but I do my best to keep some things private and of course, Rio is Spanish for 'river' (Spanish is, I think, the official language of this city, even though it is in America).

Last Friday, Rio Hatter flooded many cars, including several city trucks that came to help those cars that were stuck in the flooded street. This evening, as I headed out for an alone trip to the grocery store for milk, Hubby and I noticed all the lightning in the area. "Watch out for Rio Hatter," he warned me.

It rained in town while I was out, but thankfully it didn't rain on Hatter Dr, yet. I was able to get out, get milk, and return home on a dry street. I'm home.... NOW it can rain!

simple joys

Through my children, I see the world in a different light. My small children are exploring the world, discovering how it works and how they themselves work in the world. I watch them learn to jump. I watch them search through the rocks in the yard. I watch them feel water as it rushes over their hands while the bath tub fills up. I'm reminded how much there is to learn.

I am tickled by the simple joys they seem to find. Things that I don't think about at all, but are there in the world to be explored and enjoyed.

This afternoon, I pulled the couch away from the wall so I could vacuum under it. The two small children who are at home found this to be a delightful change (the moved couch, not the fact that I was cleaning behind it). They giggled as they ran laps around the couch. Tickled by the experience. Moving the couch is nothing in my life and means work to me, but they thought it the funnest thing they had done all day.

It doesn't rain here very often, but when it does my children run out into it. They love to feel the cold water splash on their arms and faces. They put on their swimsuits and run up and down the sidewalk. How wonderful to be free to run like that, feeling the rain, and laughing.

My oldest daughter had a shirt with green sequins on the front. One afternoon, she found if she stood in front of the glass door, the light would hit her shirt and send green sparkles all over the wall and ceiling. She danced and danced in the light. My youngest son would jump along the walls and try to catch the sparkles in his hand. My one year old would stand there and look at the green lights moving along the side of the wall. She was enchanted by it.

Simple joys that I have forgotten about and are re-discovering through my children. Now it is time for the joy of the nap.

Birthday Fun

My birthday was on Friday. It was a lovely day for me. I went to Albuquerque and Santa Fe for the weekend. It took the combined work of many people to make the weekend nice.

First there is my Hubby for letting me go away for two nights to hang with some great friends.

Second there is "Miss H", a lady friend from church. She babysat my two youngest kids during the day so I could leave by 11:00 am for ALB.

Third there is "Miss S" a neighbor and another friend from church. She made sure my two elementary age kids got off the bus and home safely.

Then, there is Hubby again who took the responsibility of caring for all the kids while I was away. The older kids helped and I'm glad they did.

To make my son's weekend a little more fun, "Miss R" let him go to her house Friday night and roast marshmallows over the stove.

Last of all were my two good friends from Virginia who traveled so close to my home (for a business conference) on my birthday weekend and invited me to come and spend the weekend with them. We had fun talking, shopping for turquoise jewelry, eating great Mexican food, and walking all over the historic district.

scarf

Check out my weaving blog - Inkle and Weave for some pictures of my first real weaving project. It's a scarf and I love the way it turned out.

More from Jaws of Steel

It is almost impossible to find a pencil with an eraser in this house. Of course, if the kids would put the pencils away when they were done with them instead of leaving them out for Peanut to find, we wouldn't have that problem.
Jaws of Steel hard a work.