Home Sweet Home

Here's some recent photos from Palm Springs and some flash nonfiction.

Open air airport in Palm Springs. This would NEVER work in SC. They would have to rename Columbia 'Hell' because the airport could be HIA. Hottest, stickiest place I've ever lived. No sweet ocean breezes like FL has, either.

The Palm Springs airport had four pieces by Dale Chihuly. I was telling the other people in our group that he's like a pirate because he lost an eye and wears and eyepatch, and Nathan said something silly that I meant to remember and write down, but I can't now. Too bad for you. It was funny.

This tram took us up the San Jacinto mountain range- up to 8,200 ft elevation. The tram floor rotates as you go up the mountain, so the handrail that you see here stayed stationary. There were eighty people packed in there, and the elderly couple next to me kept taking tiny steps with the rail towards me, compressing everyone standing to their right. I asked them to walk back to the big empty spot that they'd left. They were back in thirty seconds.

Here's my Jojo sleeping in Isaac's batting gloves the day before we left town.

Nathan in front of Babe's Barbeque. We were nervous, since what could folks in CA know about ribs, but it was good. Some of the other folks with us were really annoyed that, once again, they had no idea what sweet tea was and they had Pepsi instead of Coke. When you drink water, you just don't have these issues!

I read in the writer's handbook that you have to eat sushi, so I had some salmon and veggie rolls. It was okay. I have a hard time believing a person could crave sushi, but I probably should stop sampling it when available before I get used to it. I already crave enough foods. Like the yummy creme brulee we had. My brother in law, Brian, raided the dessert table for us twice. See below!

Brian, our hero!

Back on the mountain. In the desert it was 50-80', up on the mountain the high was 45. The snow was 2-3 feet deep in places.

Nathan with a fauxhawk.

Nathan with the raccoon. He tried to get me to be in this picture. I was afraid of silly that day, so I didn't. But all the pictures of me are boring. So next time I'll let go a little;)

We always get asked how the kids are and the sad truth is they hardly miss us. They got to go to McDonalds and PLAY ON THE PLAYGROUND, which hardly ever happens. If we eat fast food, usually we're on a long trip and skip the playground so we can get there already. In fact, they're lucky if we stop to let them pee. So  playground is clearly out of the question. This past trip I took Jojo into the bathroom while Nathan did the drive through (the other kids had gone potty at the gas station.) and Jonas played on the playground for two minutes while the order was finished, then Nathan pulled up, we got in and drove. We had three older kids who were very jealous, even though Jojo got his pants wet on the slide. I hope it was rain;)

Have a great week!

Can't get enough?

Swing Swing Swing

We got a new camera! I'm a day late for my Sunday post, but maybe this is cute enough that you'll forgive my tardiness?

We're really excited about the weather turning nice again. Happy Spring, everyone!



Can't get enough?

Scorpione Bloode Fire'e

Nathan wants me to make this blog a little more interesting, and figures that renaming it 'Scorpione Bloode Fire'e' is a good start.

I miss these curls on my Jojo. New pictures next week, I promise.

On the way home from church today we stopped at a light behind a motorcycle and Nathan started singing a brand new song. Here're the lyrics-

Motorcycle, Motorcycle

I can crush you with my big car.

Which he didn't do. But then we passed another motorcycle, and the two motorcycles gave each other the 'hey, you're cool just like me on a motorcycle' waves. Which led to us trying to get all of the SUVs we saw to wave back at us, but nobody did until we were in the neighborhood and then we got a 'hey, you live in the neighborhood wave'. (The 'hey we live in the same neighborhood wave' is a Southern requirement, for those of you who live in other, less sociable parts of the country. *wink*)

And a song that Nathan made up just now, on account of his shoulder really really hurting.

I wish I had a wife that loved me
and would make ice packs
and put them all over my body

And last thing- If you are ever in charge of transporting a dead whale, cover it with a tarp. We watched a few minutes of a show today where a whale exploded onto a busy city street as it was being driven through town. (Couldn't they tke the truck route?) The grossest part was there was a moped in the street, just standing there in a huge pile of whale entrails and congealed blood. I really want to know what that person has to say, but he wasn't on the show. They had boring scientists talk about how the whale had probably been hit by a ship and the damaged tissue created pressure blahblahblah. What did the guy on the moped think? I want to know!

And another new song from Nathan-

I used to be a mother
but now I am an author
so I love my computer

I think he gets me;) Out to play with the kids on the trampoline. I'm trying to post a few pictures and some little story every Sunday, not necessarily related. See you next week!
Can't get enough?

Umm, Happy Birthday, isn't it?

Jonas turned three yesterday, but I thought the date was Jan 11th until about 5 pm, and so I wasn't telling him he turned three all day or singing happy birthday to him at odd times or anything to make it a special day. Then we realized that there was a fam-demic stomach virus in our midst, and so we didn't even eat cupcakes or blow out candles. Lousy birthday for him.


But now their ages are easy to remember again- 9,7,5,3.

I'm not a good birthday mom. I want to be, but not as much as other things, apparently.

With the fam-demic, Eli was the worst, so I pulled the toddler bed mattress into our room and looked around for a place to set it up. Unfortunately, we'd cleaned up our living room/play room and a lot of stuff got dumped in our bedroom. So I was blocked by a big pile of empty boxes, some boxes of kids'school mementos that I have no idea what I'll ever do with, a basket of laundry, a basket just of unmatched sock, an assortment of socks on the floor that had been flung from the sock basket and never returned, some books, lesson manuals, etc. I promised to work on cleaning it up today, but blog first! Right? I mean, don't tell, okay? This is our little secret.

I'm ready to be organized. And that means throwing stuff away. And that means taking the time to sort through things. Which I like having done, but not the doing.

And I'm ready to lose weight. I've done well before on "The Eat to Live Diet" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman and think it's the best choice for health, too. A pound of raw (lots of leafy green) and a pound of cooked veggies and a cup of beans, plus some flaxseed, and 4-5 pieces of fruit a day. Trust me, you don't get hungry eating like that.

These aren't exactly resolutions, because I make resolution type decisions on roughly a monthly basis. Yes, I get off-track that easily. But anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New year, and can you believe it is 2010? Let me check that date in my planner. Now where did I put it again? It was right here a second ago...
Can't get enough?

Catching up...

A few pictures from out Thanksgiving trip to Stone Mountain, GA

followed by some of our favorite parts of this trip.

They have hand-tossed rolls at the restaurant in the park. Our table only dropped one. Sooo yummy.

I swear Emma is my daughter, not my sister Cindi's.

Jonas loves his ketchup.

Jonas and Daddy. Note the weapon.

My sister and me.

My mom and Bill- one of my favorite pictures of them.

Isaac wearing Daddy's sunglasses.

My favorite memory of this trip is me beating everyone at Chinese checkers on Thanksgiving night in 40' weather at a partially enclosed campground rec area. It would have been Cindi's favorite memory except she lost. (Yeah, we're competitive like that.)

My mom her friend Marie had set up a very nice campsite right on the lake and it was gorgeous. But the wind came right across the water and we were freezing on Thanksgiving day. But we used our cars to make a windblock and then ate huddled beside it. Our kids were coughing, so Nathan and I didn't camp with the rest of the clan. (The hotel was warm. So nice.)

The activities at Stone Mountain itself were fun- a train ride, a glass blowing studio, The Polar Express 4-D movie, and an interactive computer graphics show where the goat talks and responds to members of the audience. There's also a giant 'barn' with slides and rope bridges and it is a great place to play hide and seek. There's a small Christmas parade that is mostly annoying because you can't move for twenty minutes until it goes by. And the Snow Fairy flies over the mainstreet and says a poem and it starts to snow. Then she flies away. Jonas spent days saying, "Snow Fairy fly away, right?" He had a funny moment when we were waiting to take the cable car up to the top of the mountain when he grabbed a tall stranger (in jeans and a dark jacket just like Daddy) on the upper thigh and walked right through his legs. The guy was a little startled, but laughed, which was a nice reaction.

Emma and Isaac's favorite part was when we walked (ran?) down the mountain. Eli liked the cable car, riding bikes, and the playground.

Nathan went on a long bike ride, and since he's at work and I can't ask him, I'm going to guess that was his favorite part- although he enjoyed the walk down the mountain, too. My sister Cindi- not so much in her slippery boots.

Definately worth a trip and the cold brought us closer together as a family. *wink*  
Can't get enough?

Why doesn't this feel the way it's supposed to?

I've been kindof down about writing lately. Revisions are never going to end, this chapter stinks, my ending needs so much work that I should start over with it.

In "Virginia Woolf Writing Workshop", a line is taken from one of her letters that you must slay the 'house angel' to write. You know, the one that takes care of everyone. That your writing time must be inviolable. I've tried to do that to some extent, but I am the mother. Mother of four. Me. Hubby is helpful, but usually homework is done, dinner is done and I'm washing dishes when he gets home. I have been struggling with balance and setting aside time to write, time to clean (but who wants to do laundry? Not me). Truth be told, I hate housekeeping. Hate it.

I was going to blog a bit about that this morning, but first I checked my email.

There was an email from the lit magazine I'd submitted to months ago. I'd stopped thinking about it even on a weekly basis, so I didn't expect to care much. And then it was a rejection. I cried. Who wouldn't? Then I called up Nathan and read it to him.

And he said, "But that's good isn't it? You're doing good."

Here's the personalized line: "This is a facinating/interesting and unique piece with good writing; well done, Kelly."


So it's been a half-hour, and instead of feeling depressed and wondering if I can do this, I feel hope. I don't know how much was the effort that was made to personalize the email and encourage me, or my husband's support, but I feel reassured that I can write. I don't know why that's still something I wonder, but it is.

I think (just guessing here) that validation is the best part of being published. Money couldn't hurt as part of that validation- enough to justify the hours I've spent with my computer would be nice. But writing is so personal. I think the reason that the baby metaphor works is that feeling of "love my baby/story, love me."

So somebody loved my baby enough to hold it and smile. That feels good. That means that someone out there will be the right match for my stories. I hope.
Can't get enough?

Apple on ground close to tree...

Isaac is definately my son. He read Harry Potter 2 today. All of it. The neat part was I let him stay up to finish it, and he leaned over the rail at 9:30 and called down to us in the living room that he was done. He pumped his fist in the air and had a huge grin. I'm looking for the next book that will do that for me. Any suggestions? Nathan keeps trying to tell him that Harry dies in the next book, but Isaac is onto us.

Is everybody ready for New Moon? Nathan and I are gathering with all my church friends for our second annual Twilight Saga movie viewing tomorrow night. Are other churches besides Mormons having (unofficial) vampire parties? Last year, I had not read even the first book and had to get the young women to fill me in before we left. One of whom had read Twilight THIRTEEN times. Could be twice that by now.

Today while driving to school, I passed a mom walking to pick up her kids in a 'Team Cullen' shirt. I've seen one-fish-two-fish shirts and our library is currently selling "Where the Wild Things Are" shirts, but I don't remember that happening for any other NYT Bestsellers. Thinking. Still thinking. Nope. I can't think of any. Although Harry Potter was very well represented on Halloween around here, but I didn't see any Twilight vampires.

I just want to say that Nathan read all four books. He hasn't read The Lord of the Rings, but he's read Twilight. And my little sister, Cleo ISABELLA (age 12) has a poster of Edward on her ceiling and is sure she's going to marry him. And she wants us to call her Bella, 'cause that's her middle name. Isaac saw an add for New Moon and was like "ooh, Mom, there's that book." Pervasive, isn't it?
Can't get enough?