Category: parenting

Friday wrap up

(*image from Google.)

Well, I have been away. It was why I was not updating this week. I rented a car on Monday with a plan in mind… Yeah, as usual, nothing went as I planned.

The plan was to go to North Carolina and see my brother. Then I would head slightly north to see my eldest son and meet my newest grandson. From there I would go up to the hotel room I rented near my childhood babysitter and my dad.

I got half way to my first stop, running behind… It took over an hour to rent the car due to a bank snafu. My brother is not too far from my best friend. She lives roughly an hour to an hour and a half from him. Now, mind that I had not been able to do the in person meet with her yet. So I kinda figured that I would stay half an hour to an hour with my brother… Yeah… Lol, I think I ended up staying three. I knew that neither my brother nor my son had the space for my daughter and I. I also realized that making it to my motel was not happening that day.

I asked my bestie if I could come meet her. I was not sure yet what I was going to do about sleep. We would cross that bridge when we got there. If nothing else we would crash in the car. Of course she agreed, and insisted that we crash on her couch. (She has a huge couch that easily fit both of us). She fed us and we enjoyed the visit. We stayed there overnight and then I had to force myself to leave when the time came.

The next stop was to my son’s house. I ended up running later there because of rush hour traffic in Raleigh. That was not fun. My daughter was “Dj’ing” and we spent a great deal of time talking. Still traffic made me have to concentrate more on the actual driving.

The rental was really good on gas. So I really only had to fill up three times the whole trip. The gas prices are so much better in North Carolina, and in Virginia as well. Here in West Virginia, gas prices are around two eighty. I think that the highest price I paid was $2.55.

I got to finally meet with my beautiful grandson. He is such a active and happy little man. My son and his family welcomed us with dinner. Both my bestie and my son’s mother-in-law spoiled my daughter, making her feel so special.

We stayed with my son and his family for about three hours. His house is around three hours to the motel… We pulled up to the motel around two thirty in the morning. Check out was eleven, and we couldn’t afford to miss it. So I did a shower, as I felt so gross, and crashed.

The original plan had me staying at the motel three days. The car had to be back by Thursday noon. So I had to be home Wednesday night sometime.

I got to visit my dad, and my childhood babysitter. I enjoyed myself. The downside is that I spent the majority of this week driving, or peopling. I am exhausted. I have poetry challenges to still catch up on. I have done no writing this week really. Nor really any art. Next week I will be posting again on schedule. Monday poetry, Tuesday Tunes, Wordless Wednesday, Thursday Tea Party, and Friday writing. Thank you for being patient with me.

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Time flies

Tuesday I did a “date” with my teenage daughter. This is time for her and I where she is the absolute center of my attention. Don’t get me wrong… She always has my attention. However, as mom, there is a million things that have my attention. Our dates are where dad, house, writing, and other assorted hats that I wear are thrown in the closet for the time we are together. This time we watched some television (her choice of shows) and made bath bombs.

Bath bombs are apparently more her craft than mine. She was brilliant with the crafting. Hers stayed together better, and generally were neater.

Making bath bombs were easy and fun. The recipe we used was:

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cup Epsom salts

1/2 cup citric acid

1/2 cup corn starch

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp mineral oil

1 tsp essential oil

4-6 drops food color

She made some neat variation in the color of the bombs. I only had picked up a very basic mold set as I was unsure whether or not we would enjoy it or not. She wants to continue with crafting them, so I have been eyeballing some other equipment on Amazon.

Y’all would not believe the mess this made. My dining room is covered in a layer of dust.

Black food coloring comes out a dark green.

You really have to put some pressure on the mold to get the bombs to hold together. There is a definite need for patience with this.

I was responsible for the “half ” bombs. One I made split after being set to the side to dry. The bombs need to sit for 48 hours to dry.

Mistakes were made. But isn’t that part of the fun?

The drying rack at the end of the making. All in all the bath bombs were not incredibly expensive to make. Walmart carries many of the supplies cheaply. It was a fun adventure with my girl.

Thursday thud.

I have nothing to offer you today or tomorrow. I am sorry. This week has wiped me out. I have been under the weather for nearly two weeks. Nothing serious… Just generally sick. Then Monday Joe had to get an scope from both sides to see what is going on with his health. My angel has a weird mass in the bone of her left jaw and she was sick last week with the stomach bug that I have been dealing with. She had surgery yesterday to biopsy that mass. All told I am wiped. Add in my grandson being sick and me unable to go see him… And this writer has no words. So please forgive me. Blog will be back Monday, I have another poet spotlight planned.

Wednesday wisdom

Today is a bit of a recovery day. I had a birthday girl, she just turned fifteen, on Monday. Which we spent in the ER because she caught a stomach bug. So I am worn out.

I find myself glad that I have less responsibility right now than usual. I was not chosen to create for the spring issue of Creatives Rising. And the editor apologized because she wanted to include everyone, but so many applied… So she was forced to choose. I think that I will let you in on a secret. I was relieved. The topics offered did not truly speak to me. This time of year is harder for me to create. I end up wanting to hibernate. I force the creation but it is a struggle. So I was grateful to not have been chosen. I applied because I love the E-zine. I will be letting you guys know when it is coming out, I asked the editors to include me in the cover announcement so I could share with you. I have a reserved spot in the summer issue. It works wonderfully for me.

This week Thursday will be a review of my friend Deedra’s young adult novel. I do hope that you will check back here to see that. Next Tuesday I have another guest scheduled.

This week I have to settle down and focus on Serena’s second zombie novel. It is at 13k. Goal is to get it to 60k and to the editor by my birthday (march 13).

Friday, this week, is going to be me posting a dozen poetry prompts. I hope that you will be willing to share your poetry with me.

The mad mouse’s tea party and other announcements.

So… I was wondering…. Are you a subscriber? The newsletter goes out again Friday! If not… Then go here.

Also… Next week I will have a guest blogger as one of my amazing writer friends asked if she could address y’all. Want to read her book? It’s a really awesome read. She has an energy in her writing that is infectious. You can find her book here.

I think that I will be posting her guest spot on Tuesday. Monday I do not know if be posting a blog entry. It is the day I was blessed fifteen years ago with my Angel. If I can get it up and scheduled before Saturday then I will, but if I cannot then it will be missing. This is just a heads up in case I flounder at all of this.

If this first guest goes well I may be seeing if I can find other amazing authors to come on here to chat with you. 😊 Please do go and check out Tish’s book and show her curtesy when she is here.

Thursday Reviews

Complete honesty here…. I never have an easy time with doing reviews. I have read so many books that choosing one to review is a herculean task. Then I feel awkward with tech reviews because most of my writing apps are simple. I use word, evernote, and notebooks for writing (two of which I have already reviewed). I use Canva, and photo studio for cover design (I will review photo studio next week.) And artrage for digital art. Though I have many apps that I use those are the ones I use in creating. I always wonder why anyone would pay any mind to my random game addiction for the week (this week it’s a little game called Slidey and it is adorable), and talk myself out of doing reviews for them. I may try to break myself of that.

There is a story behind the book that I chose for today. I bought it at the school book fair when my daughter was in second grade. It was just barely at her reading level. It was something for us to read together. We alterated reading chapters. The characters were so good that we searched out the rest of the series. The dragon in the sock drawer by Kate Klimo. It is worth the read even for an adult. It is middle grade reading level.