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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Just Write Tuesday #2


I will not make up stories
I will not make up stories.
I will not make up stories.

How ridiculous, I thought. People make lots of money making up stories. Just because Mr. Ballsworth doesn’t approve shouldn’t mean that I have to write this 100 times. That’s like twelve sheets of paper. Hasn’t he heard that it’s in to be green. Save the forest. Save the trees. Use less paper.
Something tells me that he won’t care. Besides, how does he know that I’m not a soccer star in the United Kingdom? I could be. Alright, that probably is unlikely.
"Aren’t you done writing yet?" asked Erich Hoffman, my supposed best friend, who was really starting to irrate me.
"No, I’m not done writing. If you could count to one hundred you would probably realize that it takes a while to write that many sentences."
"Well, dude, I know I said I would wait for you, but this is taking way to long. Recess is going to be completely over by the time you finish."
He is great at pointing out the obvious.
"I’m going," he said, "If you get done, you know where I’ll be."
I knew. Under the big oak near the swings and the fastest slide on the playground. He’s probably going to see her and I’m not and that makes me more angry.
After all, Sarah Bodine is the prettiest, smartest and best soccer player in the entire school, or at least the entire fourth grade.
Dang. Why did Mr. Ballsworth have to hear my UK story. This is going to take forever.
With less than five minutes left to my glorious recess, I hand Ballsworth my 14 ½ sheets of paper and he says, "Looks like you won’t be going outside today, William."
He only calls me William when he is seriously annoyed with me. Considering that it is only 11:30 and I’m trapped at South West Intermediate School for another four hours, this is not a promising sign.
"Did you see her?" I asked Erich, while everyone was trying to find a seat and quiet down.
"Oh yeah," he said, "and she asked about you. She seemed very concerned that you weren’t there."
"Really," I said, before realizing how saturated his comment was with sarcasm.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008

This week's BBTB challenge


This week's challenge at BBTB was to use the popcorn box on TBBM. Since the end of the school year is fast approaching I thought it would be prefect for an end of the year gift. I'm going to include a bookmark and a gift card from BORDERS. TFL

JUST WRITE TUESDAY #1

I've been feeling a real urge to get back into writing fiction. Obviously, my newspaper would frown on me submitting it there so I've decided to write something for my blog every Tuesday. Having recently been to a fiction writer's workshop, I feel energized by the process. Of course, when the rejection letters start resurfacing and circling my failing manuscript I will most like need to visit here often and see plenty of positive feedback **hint, hint** As part of the workshop we were given a person/place/thing exercise and I really enjoyed that. This week's story will feature POLICEMAN, GARDEN and a SHOE and I will write for 15 minutes. If you want to suggest a topic that would be super cool...

Eric fastened all the buttons of his uniform and glanced at his reflection in the mirror. All of his hard work was about to pay off. He was just hours away from being officially sworn in as a police officer.

As he walked downstairs he could hear the voices of his wife and his mother coming from the kitchen. "Charlie would have been so proud of him," said his mom, Ellen. "You know how much the police force meant to him. I just wish he could be here to see this."

"I know," said Eric's wife Sonia, "These last four months without Charlie have been hard on us all, but I think they've been exceptionally hard on Eric."

Even though he wanted to join the conversation, Eric couldn't bring himself to leave the foot of the steps and walk the short distance to the kitchen. Too many memories, too much pain. The pain that he saw in his mother's eyes even when she was trying to desperately to conceal it was more than obvious.

Instead of the kitchen, he opted for fresh air and a quick walk through the garden. He touched the creeping tomato vine ever so slightly and though about it's fragility. Here today and gone tomorrow. Such is life, he thought. He recalled his dad saying "When it's your time, it's your time. No matter what." And even though he so wanted to believe that he still felt deep inside that maybe if he had been there, things might have turned out differently.

"Oh there you are," said Sonia, waking him from his memories. "You about ready to go?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just getting a bit of fresh air before we go," said Eric. "Is mom ready?"

"I think so," said Sonia, "She's so proud of you she's practically oozing it. It's nice to see her smile."

"Dad's shoes are going to be hard to fill," said Eric, grabbing his wife's hand and walking to the garage. "But I'm honored to have this opportunity to try."


Charlie Hudson was a man's man. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and fixing things. He felt most at home when he pulled on that blue uniform, fastened all those buttons and secured his weapon for another night's work. Charlie had no way of knowing that today, April 22, would be the last time he would preform his most favorite of rituals.



Monday, April 21, 2008

How to make a little boy happy...


Shave his head! My son has been asking for a summer hair cut for about a week now. I tried to explain that it's not quite summer time in Pennsylvania yet but that doesn't deter him. Every day...




"Can you cut my hair like Joshy's now?"





"When can I have my hair like Joshy's?

"I think I need my hair short."

"When will my hair be shorter?"

"I'm soo sweaty it's 'cause I have too much hair."



Josh is his good buddy and he sports the short look all
year round. I said after preschool today I'll buzz ya if
you want and he did not forget. He even told his teacher
that he was getting his hair cut today.



Do you think he was a little excited? He kept asking me to stop half-way through just so he could see how silly he looked.


Now he can't stop rubbing his head and asking his big sisters if they want to touch it. He had to wear a hat to the bus stop just so he could "surprise" them.

Do you remember when the little things in life, like a new hair cut made you that happy?






Sunday, April 20, 2008

Surprise...surprise!!!


Well, we pulled it off. My dad was completely surprised this weekend when we all showed up for his 60th birthday party. When I say clueless....I mean clueless. This is a picture of him arriving at the resturaunt and being attacked by his many grandchildren. He just came from 18 holes of golf and he was thinking his friend was bringing him there to look at custom golf clubs. He told me later that his heart didn't resume a regular beat for quite sometime. I think about 50+ were in attendance.

BBTB Shoe Challenge






Okay...here it is Sunday at 10:20 and I'm actually going to post my first BBTB challenge. YEAH for me. Ideally, it would be nice to not be posting this just in time for a new challenge, but such is life. I had a busy week but once I saw that shoe cut and realized how cute it would be on a layout for the ALS walk my family and I do every August. I just had to make it. Let me know what you think.
Thursday, April 17, 2008

So Excited To Post These





About a month or so ago, a dear friend of mine asked if I could possible make 8 autograph books for a family trip to Disney World! How fun! I made three for our trip last fall and my kids absolutely loved them. I told her absolutely, I want to do it, just find out what characters everyone wants. Everyone picked something different. How cool is that. Most were made with the Disney carts, except for Darth Vader, I got his pattern from the cricut message board and he is made with various cuts from the paper doll cartridge, including the knight outfit and the nativity head gear. Spiderman is a cut made by cricut butterflies. Check out her blog the link is on the left. The Jack Jack cut is made from a coloring book picture. I had to hand cut all of his pieces, but I think he turned out super cute. I sewed some page protectors around the covers before I put them through the bind it all. This way, when it rains in Disney, and it will rain in Disney, the covers won't get ruined. Let me know what you think. They measure 6x6. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all the kids love them.
Sunday, April 13, 2008

My hubby in his tux




My dh was in our close friend's wedding this weekend. Here is a picture of us at the church. Doesn't he look handsome? I can't remember the last time he had on a tux. It may have actually been our wedding...nearly 12 years ago.




What I worked on this week....


Well I had every intention of taking pictures of the scrapbook I made for friends of ours who were married this weekend, but time constrainst didn't allow for that. It was time to give it away and there was no time for picture taking. It was a 8x8 album and it is now ready for their big day photos. I hope they like it. It was a lot of fun to make. The other project I worked on this week were these cute little announcements. I wanted to take them to church with me today, but those plans also didn't work out. LOL. They are very simple and elegant. The foot stamp is a stampin' up stamp and I printed the cards so they read "Our home has been enlarged by two feet." Inside they have the information. These are for a sister of a friend at church who just moved here. Our church is throwing her a baby shower to welcome her to the area. Unfortunately, I can't attend. Hopefully I'll be able to drop this present off sometime this week, since I didn't make it to church this morning.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

FIELD TRIP

Okay, it's not what you are thinking. I'm not going on a scrapbook weekend with my bug. I'm spending the day with my daughter's 1st grade class. We are going to a museum and to see a Junie B. Jones play. Should be cute. Keep your fingers crossed that I do not have any of the "handful" students in my group. I'll let you in on a little known secret...I'm not a very patient person and I'm going to need everyone listening to me today. No running away and stay with the group. I should practice saying that before we even get there. No running away and stay with the group. What about a recordable pin and then I could save my voice. LOL. My daughter is very excited about it and her excitement is contagious. Seems like I always get picked to chaperon my oldest daughters trips but never hers so she is "bustin' at the seems." I should take this memory and keep it somewhere special. I can pull it out when she is a teenager and doesn't even want me in the same car and say...."Remember those days??" Hope you don't run away today and remember to stay with your group.
Monday, April 7, 2008

Card inspired by a valentine


Sometime ago, February to be exact, my son brought home some valentines and one of them had a snail on it and said "snail mail" so inspired by that idea, I made this card. I used the snail and sign from Walk in My Garden and the the grass from Pooh and Friends. I'm not sure I like the blue background, but it's growing on me. What has inspired you lately?

My Baby Got Glasses


Isn't she cute? My oldest got glasses on Friday. She was so excited all week long. "Did they call about my glasses?" "When are we going to pick up my glasses?" I let her pick them out herself and I think she did a good job. The tech said that she should be allowed to get what she wanted because if she didn't like them she wouldn't wear them. That makes sense. Anyway, dd's are pink Scooby Doo frames and she got a cool SD case. She is very excited about them and couldn't wait to wear them to school today. How long do you think it will take before she says, "Do I have to wear them?"
Friday, April 4, 2008

It's official...my Disney book is now started


I'm excited to post this ! I finally started the Disney book. This LO includes the pictures from the airport. I figured if you're going to start...you might as well start at the beginning. It was the first time my kids got to fly. My oldest actually flew when she was a baby, but, of course, she doesn't remember that. I'm doing a happy dance right now. I've been wanting to start this book since we came back in September.

Just love this picture


Well I'm hoping to get some work done on my Disney scrapbook today and to get me in the mood I'm posting a family picture with Minnie. What a motley crew we are. My son and I have some errands to run this morning and then perhaps this afternoon, admist the laundry, I will attempt to do a few LOs. Keep your fingers crossed. It could happen...probably not. But it could.


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kisatrtle
I'm a 41 year old (gasp) freelance writer, school cafeteria manager, wife and mother. I have three children and one anxious and overweight beagle. I use my blog to make others laugh, to share some cool crafts, to document my lunchlady adventures and to lament about the challenges faced by us all on the journey called life. Thanks for visiting. Please leave some crack...um...I meant some comments.
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