Santa's putting an office in my stocking this year!

I'm so excited! My husband and I have been sharing the den and it's been getting cramped! Now that I've been getting serious about writing for children the office has been a disaster; Paper everywhere, things getting mixed up, clutter etc. The room isn't big enough for the two of us. We've decided to turn our guest room into an office. MY office! It will still have a bed for guests, but most of the time it will be office space.

So Good-by old guest furniture!! Buh-bye!!!!!

"Hello" even OLDER furniture. (these two pieces are items that I kept from my childhood bedroom)

And I'm going to fill the room with all the colors that I love! In addition to some of my childhood things I'll have things from my kids; the things they have made and will make. And I'll put up pictures and all kinds of other things that inspire my creativity and help me to connect back to childhood.

more pictures to come as updates are made . . . . .

Artsy Schmartsy Priorities: The Promise Necklace

Recently my six year old daughter was excited about the arrival of a weekend visitor. She prepared for our guest by planning a special necklace making project for them to do together. My daughter was jumping out of her skin with anticipation.
The visitor came, the weekend passed and our guest went home without making a necklace and my daughter was heartbroken.
So, I told her I would make a necklace with her.
The day passed and I was about to leave for work early that evening when my daughter reminded me about my promise to make a necklace. I decided to take that extra 10 minutes to make the necklace instead of having the extra time to set up at work. I couldn't break her heart too.
It was well worth it. You would have thought I had taken her to Disney World by how excited she was and quite frankly, it ended up being the best part of my day.
I made a necklace for her and she made a necklace for me.
I hung the necklace that she made for me in my car as a reminder of how important it is
to keep our promises to each other
and how important it is to take time to do things with the people we love.

I hope my children will look back on today
And see a mother who had time to play.
Dusting and scrubbing can wait 'till tomorrow
For babies grow fast we learn to our sorrow.
Cleaning and cooking won't go away
But children grow bigger day after day
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep
I'll play with my children 'cause children don't keep.
anon poem adapted by me

Cluck Kent and Lois Path

This time of year brings back memories of the writing experience that first cultivated the "love of writing" in me.

I was in 5th grade and in white chalk (this was the day of black boards) the teacher wrote:

Write a story starting with this sentence "One day I was face to face with a musket . . . "

I wish I had the foresight to keep that piece, but I didn't. I do, however, remember a little bit of how it goes.


One day I was face to face with a musket . . .

I went on to tell the story of a young and strong turkey named Cluck Kent. World famous Bawkporter Lois Path found herself looking down the barrel of a musket. Cluck Kent sensed trouble was afoot and our hero dashed into the nearest hollow log to emerge none-other than Super Hero extrodinaire SUPER TURKEY!!!!!!!! Super Turkey was able to get the musket away from the hunter and saved the day. THE END


I had so much fun writing the story, and the teacher and my parents gushed over my paper and Voila! The seeds of "writing-joy" were planted.


Thanks Super Turkey and Mrs. Whatsyourname for my my 5th grade Thanksgiving writing assignment.

Book Review: Holes

Wow! I loved this book! I expected it to be good since it is a Newberry winner and they made a movie out of it. But I must admit, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I never saw the movie or heard much about it so the whole story was new to me. It's a great book all around. It's funny, easy to read yet interesting. I love the way Louis Sachar laced so many elements of the story together and tied them all up. Almost everything he included ended up being crucial somehow.

This is a great book to read for those who don't have much time for reading. The Chapters are short and easy to digest. My reading time was cut short this month, but I was able to knock out a chapter by chapter while waiting in the school pick up lines for the kids, and even while waiting in line for my coffee at Starbucks!

There's no excuse to not read this one!

Eye candy for aratsy schmartsy people. Check out Mr. November!

So, I turn my calendar to November, (all Monet if you couldn't guess) and much to my delight, November's picture is my FAVORITE Monet of all times. I get to look at it all month! :0)

I love Monet in general (is there anyone who doesn't?) But out of them all, this is the one that most makes me feel like I'm there. I can feel the breeze and hear the ocean in the distance. I enjoy the sultry whisper of the leaves stirring in the wind; the sun warms my skin as I escape the energy of the city below.

~sigh~ I hope I can see this in person some day.

The countdown to Halloween is over: How I tortured my toddler

No more picture of dogs in costumes.

I'm not the responsible party for dressing up the dogs in my earlier posts. I am , however, responsible for torturing my child and dressing her up like a chicken.
She was not happy with me. But what could I do? They had the costume on sale for $5 at The Children's Place. How could I resist?

The only time she let us keep her hat on was while she ate some yogurt. Otherwise, she pulled it off and screamed if we tried to put it on her head.

ahhhh. . . . the memories parents make for their young--
Priceless.