Wilsonworld

A bug is born..and now she is SIX!

I thought you would never be born.
We had tried and tried, but it just seemed like Munch was meant to be an only child..
And then we found out you were on your way.
You were supposed to be born on the 11th of November..but you had other ideas...
But then you were finally here.
After an emerg. c-section we finally got to meet you..
and the day after you were born you held your first court.

The days flew by, and in times of great sorrow, you were our ray of sunshine.
You were a happy child, and a quick learner.
You spoke in full sentences before you were one, and were walking running at 9 months.

You were always there with a smile and a question..or just a big hug

You were able to brighten our days, with your cheery disposition, and you were the one i always had to watch. I couldn't take my eyes off you for a minute. You were full of wonder and awe at everything and needed your questions answered RIGHT NOW MAMA!

But at somepoint, when i wasn't looking, you grew up.
It is so true what they say about children growing up in a blink of an eye

You started school, and thrived on the knowledge that you were a big girl now!

But it is hard to watch you grow, because with every new thing you do, it takes you one step away from me.

Down a path that i cannot follow you on.
I have found my path, and all i can do is hope that your Daddy and i are teaching you the right things to help you find the right road when you come to your path.

You have the heart of an angel, the eyes of an artist and the laugh of a child.
You love your cat, your big brother,and your stuffed Dennis-donkey.
You are everything i dreamed and hoped you would be...

and today you are 6.

Happy Birthday Bug.

I love you more than a mouse loves cheese,
I love you more than flowers need bees
I love you more than you love Dennis
i love you more than Daddy loves peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches***

And that's a WHOLE LOT!

****THIS LITTLE SPEECH IS PART OF OUR NIGHTLY BEDTIME RITUAL******

There are some days when it seems like the harder you work the more there is to do.
Two days until Bug's 6th birthday, 4 until Nano ends, and i am no closer to being ready for either of these days.
Saturday we spent the day glasses shopping for both kids. Munch broke his, and his prescription changed so he got to pick out new "cool" frames. Bug is getting her first pair. She had been having trouble seing "little words", and after some questions, we realized that she was haing trouble reading small print. This was confirmed by the eye doc.
So later this week, both kids will be sporting new eyes.

The weather this weekend was INCREDIBLE! and did we take advantage of this to do yard work?
Nope...but we did manage to clean out 3 bedrooms and rearrange the furniture.

Parent teacher interviews are this week, report cards are being sent home tomorrow.

We still have to deal with a cake, find a birthday present..and then do it all again on Saturday, the day of her "friend" birthday party..a gymnastics one at that.

I need to find a time machine.
Just a few extra hours for each day. If we can send a man to the moon, you would think we could find a way for Mom's to get done all of the things they have to do....

If you need me I'll be folding laundry, cooking, cleaning, stuffing party bags, baking a cake,
hiding in my room.....

Another day without words

No Nano-ing for me today. I cleaned my office instead.
And i went and saw a friends pretty new toy.
Except it broke.

So tomorrow i'll go see her new-new toy.

Things i should have done today....

• laundry
• 2000 words on THE NOVEL
• dishes
• did i mention laundry?
• Christmas Cards
• sort through the mountain of clothes that the kids have outgrown...to pass them forward

Things i accomplished on my list....

NONE

Yep, a pretty productive day i think.
Maybe today will be better....
Or not.

What were you supposed to do today?

Just keep writing, just keep writing...

Yes, i am channeling Dori fish from NEMO.
(thanks to one of the members on one of the writing boards i belong to)

It has become my little chant as i work away on the novel that will never end.....or should i say will never make its way to the end. See, i wrote the ending a week or so ago, and wrote several scenes at the same time, and now i am trying to get my characters to make their way to the intended scenes. but they don't want to go there.
THEY would rather lay around eating bon-bons and watch old movies..OH WAIT!...that is me!

At any rate, suffice to say that this novel is big piece of burning bunk. But it is almost 30 thousand words and i can't stop now. I can see the finish line, albeit still about 20 thousand words away, and it is calling my name.

I have a main character and her lover, who are acting like school kids, who have been "outed" by a sleezy photgrapher (thanks AGK) and a husband who is thousands of miles away, trying to come home to see if he has anything to come home to. Oh and he has committed his own indiscretion on a plane..as he was trying to figure out what he was going to do he had a fellow passenger make him an offer he couldn't refuse.

SO now, I need to get them all together. And have them solve their problems. and everyone is to live happily ever after. At least that is how i ended it. but that isn't how it seems to be turning out.

Damn characters...can't they just stick to the storyline?

My head hurts.
And i am beginning to dislike Katharine (my main character)

Time to call it a day.

Munch was home sick today, and Bug was complaining tonight that it wasn't fair hat he didn't have to eat the dinner i had made, he got to have soup.

She doesn't like soup.

But she wanted it because Munch was having it.

I don't understand them.

And they aren't even teenagers yet.

the clock is running and time is flying by

Yes, its been a week since my last post. But you see i am really far behind in this novel thing and i am trying so very hard to finish what i started. Did you know that there are people who are already done?
Yes i am serious!
THIS gal is done.
SO is this gal.

I have also had other things to occupy my time, like work, and christmas lights and going out for an evening of culture.

I am lucky that i have friends who share the same interests as i do, as well as some friends that do not. I am also lucky that one of my friends has a husband with whom i share a similar taste in music. SO when he found himself with an extra ticket to the opera, guess who got to go!

So Saturday night, instead of watching Hockey Night in Canada, i went here...to see this.

It was fantastic! I had forgotten how much i enjoy seeing opera performed live, instead of just listening to it on my cds.

Today it was back to the grind of the novel. It really isn't flowing the way i want it too. Actually its crap, but since i am going for quantity not quality, i guess its going ok. I am not where i should be, but i do think i will finish.

I hope i will.

This morning we worked on party plans for Bug's 6th birthday party which is coming up fast.
I can't believe she is going to be six already!

She is concerned that i am spending too much time working on the book and has no problem coming in and telling me so....her way of letting me know that family time is more important.

SO i did what any mother would do....I let her help me write a bit of the book..and now there is a little piece of her in it too. That and the main charcter who reads a childrens' book to her son entitled Meow Meow the kitten.

Maybe next year for NaNoWriMo i'll just do children's books.
And get my children to write them for me.

HA HA HA look i am already thinking of next year....that is a good sign isn't it?
Does it matter that this one is finished yet and i am already plotting for next year?

Think i need more coffee...and maybe a nap...

30 thousand here i come!

5281
Yes, you read that correctly.
5281.

That is what i have pounded out on this little book of mine in the last 24 hours.
That and i have still found the time to go to a birthday party, plan a birthday party, interact with family and have a life.

5281.

I am not completely back on track, but i am close, so as a reward, i am going to treat myself do a little Nano research at the show.

Back later with a review of "Stranger than fiction"

Grey skies

I knew, before i looked outside that it was going to be grey and dreary.
It always is on this day.
November 11th.
On this day, around the world, in one way or another, people everywhere are in some way showing their thanks and respect for those that paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Remembrance Day.
"The Remembering Day" as my children called it when they were small (or smaller in Bug's case).
In our house, it is the day that i will watch Papa walk out the door, with his head hung a little lower, and his shoulders seemingly more weighed down than normal.
If i remind him to take an umbrella, he'll snap at me...
"I don't need protection on a day like this"
If i mention that it might clear up and be sunny, he'll look at me with a sad sullen look and say.."No, not today it won't."
There are two days out of the year that i know before turning on any weather man, exactly what the weather will be like.
November 11th and November 13th.
Both "remembering days" in our house.
Today we remember all of those who served in war all over the world.
Today we remember those who did not return to their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters.
Today we remember those who are responsible for me being here.
Today we remember the men and women (yes, as i had to explain to Bug the other day,, women fight in wars too) who left their families and jobs and lives, many who did not return to fight oppression in the evils of war.
And on this day..it rains.
A dreary day, one that fits the mood.
A stark realization last night that this years Silver Cross mothers...are my age.
Growing up, the mothers at the cenotaph were always older, grey haired women, who looked the part of a mother who lost their child in war.
But this year, these mothers are young vibrant women.
Mothers the same age as me.
Who have lost their children to war.
I cannot begin to imagine.
I don't want to imagine.
I try to feel their pain.
I can't.
But the realization of the shift in the generations is clear to me.

Yesterday Papa came with me to the school to watch Bug read in the Remembrance ceremony.
He looked around and asked, why am i the only vet here? I gently reminded him that vets are getting older (not meaning any disrespect) and that it is increasingly difficult for many to attend services like this.
But i can...he said.
But you are one of the lucky ones, i gently replied.
You have your health.

When did the children get to be so young, looking at Bug's class of 5,6 and some 7 year olds.
Or is it that i have gotten to be THAT old? he said, realization creeping into his voice.

As we watched the presentation, the pictures were dark and dreary, the music sombre.
And i realized that we have been going about it all wrong.
it is not a time for misery and sadness.
It should be a time of light and celebration.
A time to give thanks.

But as he gets ready to walk out the door today, the weather had other ideas.
It is cold, damp and raining.
Dismal and grey.

Like his heart
as he knows that this year he may be one of the only ones left meeting under the tree.
His group grows smaller every year.

It may grow smaller, but the great-fullness that we feel is undiminished.

And rain and clouds cannot take away the fact that we are able to gather and give thanks.

And remember.

Thanks Papa.

Where i prove that homework is hazardous to your health...

Why is it that i can't have a child who will just do the required homework, without having to do something "really neat" to jazz it up?
Munch had a small project to do, part of which was to make a wanted poster featuring a character from SHREK 2. The poster was done, and it looked pretty good. But apparently not GOOD ENOUGH!

"Mom, could you just singe the edges, like in old wanted posters...you know, like, with fire?"

So know you know why, at 4:30am, before my first cup of coffee, i was standing in the kitchen with a lighter, burning my child's homework. And had it been that simple, well i guess i wouldn't be writing about it....

The first corner went OK, but it didn't seem to be burning as well as i remembered my projects going...so i blew on it.

Yep, ADDED OXYGEN to a flame.

Did i mention i hadn't had my first cuppa coffee.

Did i also mention that i was wearing a house coat with really long droopy arms?

One guess as to where the burning embers ended up.

Glad i have smoke detectors in my house!

I went on to burn the other corners, and i was finished, but could still smell something burning...smelt like ....burning wool or something....Boy its getting warm in here....

Yep..i set my housecoat on fire.
At 4:30 in the morning.
"Fixing" my son's project.

The project was fine, and the housecoat also survived, although one arm is a little darker than the other.

Remind me again why i keep telling the kids that homework is GOOD for you?

There's a reason why i don't do things before my first, second, tenth cuppa coffee.
Its a safety thing.

No new word counts to add to NANOWRIMO, but i have been working....i have 4 days off and i am going to set this keyboard on fire! (but without the housecoat this time.....)

Yes Mark, it's all about the word count!

SO I guess Mark had it right when he left a comment on my last post about it being about the word count. After a really good start on the first day, i slowed down to a crawl, and actually lost a day. For some reason i forgot all about Friday. Saturday morning i sat down to work at "the Ceiling" and i thought it was the 3rd. As in NOT THE 4th (which it actually was). I was pleased with my word count, until I realized that i was still a whole day behind.
Which meant that today, i had to buckle down.
And i did.
Just under 9500 words!
WOO WOO!
(and i will still add a few more before the night is done)

Agk had asked for a challenge for her Nano offering, and i gave her one.
In return, she gave me this.
So, since my main character is the campaign manager for the incumbant mayor, it isn't going to be a problem to work in a photographer capturing something bad on film. Nope not too hard at all.

If you are a reader of Wilsonworld, and are doing Nano this year, drop me a line and let me know so i can add you to my writing buddies list. I have this person, this person and this person already on the list, but would love to add a few more (you know to help give me more distractions as i try to figure out what the heck my character is up to.)

Its funny how you have something in mind when you start typing, and yet suddenly the character decides that that is NOT the way they want things to go. Really i swear they have a mind of their own!

I had a really nice visit yesterday with two lovely young women.
I really envy these girls, who have their whole lives ahead of them, full of choices and decisions.
Yes, i will protect them and guard them like they were my own, but the truth is that none of us can make their decisions for them. We can guide them and help them find their options, but in the end it is their lives, and they get to make the choices.
What a wonderful/scary/exciting time,and i am glad that i get to share in it.
We are very lucky here at Wilsonworld to be part of a village.
It takes a village to raise a child, and we have a wonderful group of people that our children can turn to, and visa versa.
The girls are part of that village.

When they are older, and of on their own, i hope that they find friendship and guidance like i have.
It makes things so much easier....and a lot more fun!

And then we can have pie in their house
I'll bring the Key Lime.

Happy Birthday to the Oldest daughter there.
You truly are a unique, special individual, with a kind heart, and soul full of love to give.
You happen to be darn cute too!
You have your Father's love of facts, and your Mother's passion for language
and i cannot believe that the same little girl who used to wave at me from her wagon on Fireworks night is now all grown up.
May you find the happiness that you so richly deserve
and may each day be filled with wonder and laughter, good friends and of course all the books you can read!

All that matters is the candy!

Here is my good witch! Bug decided she didn't want a wig, or scary make-up. She wanted to use her powers for good and turn everyone into fluffy bunnies.
After all is said and done, i guess it didn't matter that the costumes came from the store. All that mattered (at least to her) was the TWO huge overflowing bags of candy that she came home with. Never underestimate the power of cuteness!

Defender of the Queen, loyal Knight of Wilsonworld, Munch had the best-time-ever! He went out with a group of friends, without either of us this year (it didn't matter that there was a parent with them, it mattered that it WASN"T one of his!) Just another reminder that he is growing up right before my eyes, and i have to be careful not to blink, or i will miss something important!

And just to show you that the kids aren't the only ones to get in on the action...here is how ihanded out candy to the kids this year. I love to dress up and sit on the porch..and this year was joined by a neighbour who brought a bottle of wine to help us keep warm. It was a little chilly, but it really was a perfect night for the kiddies!

So it is November 1st, and that means NaNoWriMo! Yes i am joining the thousands of others in the insanity..and you can track my progress up there in the upper right hand corner.....Will I make it to 50,000 words? I like to think i can, but i do know that i will never really know unless i try.
So keep an eye on the word count..watch it grow ( i hope!)