Life, Death and NaNoWriMo

Life seems to have been a bit of a slippery slope for me lately. Everything from dealing with my own mood swings to more car troubles. Day by day, I find I have more to do. Reminds me of Mr. Incredible,

"No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit? I feel like the maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for... for ten minutes!"

I've been desperately trying to organize a bit of a space upstairs to help aid in the ability to enjoy doing the things I love best at home. Little by little it's coming along and looking more like the Art/Writing/Papercraft studio I've always dreamed about. Plus, I have a nice place to read and I really love my comfy chair that Jared bought for me when I had Noah. That's been a comforting place lately.

Here's a few book quotes:

“You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.”

Paul Sweeney

“Books open your mind, broaden your mind, and strengthen you as nothing else can”

William Feather


My grandmother Lillian passed away this week. Truly, a remarkable woman. I was told about it on Weds. and that her funeral arrangements were made for Fri. and Sat. After researching about tickets, I just couldn't take away the money it would consume from the family, given our current financial state, to get me to the funeral. It was a tough decision. I hated it. I've had to find my own way to feel closure. I don't deal too well with that considering I still have things I drive my husband and friends batty with because I can't get over it. I don't know how to fix that either.
So, here's what I wrote on facebook:

Things I remember about visiting my Grandma Lillian: warm hello's, treats on the orange rug, singing songs, sloppy joes, coffee table magazine's, perfume filled hugs, memorized poetry and sad goodbye's. I'll really miss my dear sweet Grandma. I'm grateful that she is not in pain anymore and reunited with Grandpa now. I'm unable to attend the funeral this weekend but I'm looking forward to hearing about it.

I'll add here that my sister mentioned Grandma giving us her hard ribbon candy and I remember Werther's or butterscotch hard candies too.

"He(She) who has gone, so we but cherish his(her) memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery {R.I.P. Grandma Lil}


I did it! I did it! I signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and you can see my progress here. If you're doing it, I'd be happy to have you as a writing buddy. To say the least, I pretty much feel like this quote from the movie A Beautiful Mind:

Hansen: So how about it, Nash? You scared?
Nash: Terrified... mortified... petrified... stupefied... by you.

Yet another classic line:

Nash: Classes will dull your mind, destroy the potential for authentic creativity.

I'll be seeking that potential next month. I'd like to wish all who participate this year in NaNo the very best and lots of luck! Whatever comes of it, one thing is sure, it's going to be memorable!

Catching Up

Last month, June, turned out to be interesting for me this year. I'll see if I can recall everything that happened for me personally:

My computer went down again so that explains my long absence from blogs and my cyber life in general. I do have a lot of writing to do to catch up with all of that. I'm going to start on that a little each day or at least that's the way that I'd like to if my computer holds out for it. I won't be able to get a new computer any time soon. I'll just be grateful for any computer time I get at home or at the library. So, it will be sparse for a bit and there are so many challenges I'd love to do so that's hard for me. I'll just have to see how it goes with catching up my regular blogging before I commit to more.

Around the second week of June, I was driving four of my children to go swimming and then CRASH! I totalled our van. It's been difficult but I'm so grateful that we are okay plus the other driver, as far as I'm aware, was alright as well. Both of our cars were towed from the scene and it was scary but we survived. We've been looking for another van but that's not going to happen as fast as I'd like either. Patience....

Also, I did manage to fly to my brother's wedding with Noah at the end of June. Flying isn't easy for me but things went so much better than I anticipated that I'm happy about that. I felt my brother was happy I came. The wedding was very well done and quite beautiful overall!

I cut 10 inches of my hair and donated it to Locks of Love. I don't know if it is necessarily cooler since I can't pull it up as well but it has been fun to have a change with my hair. Judging from the comments I get from people, it looks nice.

Alas, I can't share photo's because I can't seem to upload them onto my computer right now. That isn't working on there or the CD part either. So, I'm enjoying my new camera but I won't be able to share photo's until later.

My Summer Reading is going really well since I've been reading a ton with no computer. I haven't really stuck to my list but I've read a few from my list and added more that I just couldn't put down. Here are some of the titles that I remember I've read so far - The Silenced, A Lion Called Christian, The Hunger Games, Lemon Tart, Still Alice, Pickup Games, Reasonable Doubt(reread), and currently reading Recovering Charles.
Now, I just need to type all of my book reviews in to 5-squared. Honestly, I'm so glad that I've had books to read in spite of everything. It has really helped.

I hope you are having a fun and successful summer!

2009 Looking Forward

A New Year is here again! Here I go pondering about my life and I'm looking forward with some new goals for 2009:

1) I plan on reading 25 books and posting the book reviews on 5-squared. I broke it down to 2 per month with an extra book thrown in one of those months. I plan to attend, as consistently as I'm able, the Classic Lit. book group and Focus book group and these reading selections will help me achieve this goal.

2) I plan on writing one personal story from my life each month and mailing it to my sister, Bonnie. I would like my sister to get to know me better and I'd like to record bits and pieces from my life. I would also like to include writing a poem here and there as well. (10 poems/12 stories)

3) I plan on continuing to make tote bags for people. I would also like to use re-usable tote bags at the grocery store and get in this habit of becoming more eco-friendly.

4) I plan on helping my children learn some basic conversational Spanish, having regular trips to the library with them and scheduled reading time too. Also, I'd like to help them learn their math skills better, esp. multiplication facts, including re-memorizing some myself.

5) I plan on going on a walk every day. I'd like to be ready to participate in the "Light the Night" Walk or the "Walk Now for Autism."

6) I plan on reading the scriptures for the Sunday School lessons for church. Teachings are from the Doctrine and Covenants this year. Our Heritage is suggested to be read along with this, so I'll read this too. I would also like to read these chapters from the Holy Bible in Genesis, Pslams/Proverbs, Job and the Four Gospels.

I'll update and re-evaluate my progress, even if just to myself, from time to time.

When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life.
~Greg Anderson

Timothy T.C. So wrote this great article on setting goals - Check it out!

My Life in Google Image

I saw this on my friend, Becky's blog and I thought it would be fun for me to try.
Ok, So this is what you can do, if you want to...When you are wondering what to post on your blog or, perhaps, completely bored out of your mind and can't sleep at night, after you have checked all your e-mails, checked out your friends' blogs, window shopped at your favorite online stores and still aren't tired.... YOU USE GOOGLE TO FIND IMAGES THAT DESCRIBE WHO YOU ARE . This is what I came up with...

my first name:


my age:


town where I live:


my husband's name:


favorite color:


place I grew up:


favorite place on earth:


my first job:


my first love:










Grandma's first name:



Favorite food:


Pet's name:








Favorite Drink:


What I studied in college:


Somewhere I'd like to go:


I hope this will post alright. If not, I did my best. I always have trouble posting images to blogspot. Oh well, there it is - my life in google images. Perhaps, you've learned something about me or maybe you already knew me. It's fun to see anyway.