Puppy Paws

My son, the fourteen year old, made lunch for me.

Since January

My blog entries have once again been side tracked. Life gets in the way of writing – writing gets in the way of life. It is a delicate balance. I have actually written quite a few things lately. The newsletter for the dermatologist I work for. Our first quarterly issue will be e-mailed to hundreds of his patients in March. I’ve also been putting bi-weekly posts on his Facebook page, researching various things he is interested in, and doing updates to his web page.  I also wrote a lovely (and very well received) eulogy for my grandmother. She lived to be 105.5 and had a wonderful, full, well loved life. I’ve also been in the throes of polishing, buffing and making beautiful the first chapter of Stars Bright. It has now been submitted to a contest. I don’t really care if I win the contest (though it would be nice), but I’m really hoping for some constructive feedback. I’ve also been gearing up for a pitch session in May and giving my query a going over. This will be my first ever pitch session. Again, it will be a bonus if she requests anything. I’m doing it for the experience and to get my feet firmly on the querying path.

Questions- semi-colon or no semi-colon? The last sentences of the above post I originally wrote:

Again, it will be a bonus if she requests anything; I’m doing it for the experience and to get my feet firmly on the querying path.

Is it better as one long sentence or two?

And just for the fun of it – here’s a picture of my chickens on a snowy day

Happy Writing!

I GET TO WEAR SCRUBS

Terrisa, office manager for Dr. Hinckley, a dermatologist, called last Wednesday afternoon.  “I have one question I forgot to ask you…” She asked, I answered and then she said, “With that we’d like to offer you the job.”

ME – REALLY? I got the job!

Yeah, sure I applied for the job. I knew they liked me at the interview. I also knew that I had NO experience working for anything other than hugs and kisses and eternal joy for the last twenty-four years.  

Do I want to work outside the home? No. I love being home. I want to write and decorate the house and work in the yard. But at this point, though Mr. W says I don’t have too, I feel strongly that I must work. There are strange twists happening in the national economy and we have some added expenses by way of medical and mission with our kids. 

So, I’ll be a part time office assistant. I’ll do the typical medical office assistant stuff with the added l designation of “social media specialist”. Yep, I get to make sure Dr. Hinckley is properly and dynamically connected throughout the internet world.  All the stuff I’ve been learning about building a platform, creating a brand, connecting with an audience to help further my writing career I get to also apply to a medical office. I think it is cool how information and skills (though minor I feel mine are) can translate into an entirely other field. 

Some things I love about this position:

- It is the only job I applied for and I got it like that [snaps fingers]

- It is part time four days a week four hours a day

- It is medical, but most patients aren’t contagious

- It is a friendly harmonious office with no gossip or cattiness

- I get a lanyard and name badge

- I get to wear scrubs with my name embroidered on them

Have any of you gone to work after a long stay at home?

How did you balance all your responsibilities?

What were your greatest challenges and biggest joys?

[here is a link to the doctor's website, no I'm not on it yet, next week I get my hands dirty fixing up the website http://www.hinckleyderm.com/]

EIGHT MONTHS

The last eight months have held a lot of changes for our family:      

                                                        

-In April we found out we were being transferred to Utah from Oregon

-We finished the remolding the master bath of our Oregon house and got it sold in the required three months

-We found a home to buy in Utah

-Moved

-BAM and BLM sold their condo and moved in with us. ALW finished his semester of college and moved in with us. Eight people now live in the house.

-WRW enrolled full time in at high school and NAW enrolled in an online charter school thus putting an abrupt end to our twenty years of home schooling

-A change in Church policy is letting HMW go on a mission now, having just turned 19, instead of at age 21. She leaves for New York January 9^th.

-We have found doctors and are progressing in getting ALW the jaw surgery we have known for ten years he will need to have once he stopped growing.

There has been many twist, turns and challenges, but even among all the chaos there is an overriding feeling of peace with us.  Though we don’t really know why we are to be in Utah and all the different opportunities being here has presented to us we do know it is part of a larger master plan. We feel the hand of Providence guiding us and are grateful for His presence.

What has helped you through big life changes? 

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope, twist and turn, the colored bits tumble about. Stop. The pieces settle into a dazzling image. My life tumbles, the pieces haven’t settled – yet – in this move from a small Oregon town to the megalopolis of Utah. I see the colors and paint them on the once vanilla walls of this home: blue in the kitchen with a stunning red in the pantry, lush mossy green in the family room (which once painted every family member said looked like the color of the outside of our Oregon home), a warm welcoming orangey-yellow in the entrance (Mr. W picked it out, Sherwin-Williams calls it afterglow). I leave the neighborhood and the cars rush and swirl and shift. I peer into the newly placed coop and watch the hens peck and scratch, hear their soft clucks and coos. One piece clicks into place. I work in the kitchen with so many cupboards some are still empty, place dinner on the table. On most nights eight of us gather. We eat, we plan, we laugh. Another bit clicks into place. To the left of the chicken coop, between the apple and peach tree, we deep mulch over the grass. In the spring herbs will be planted and the bee hives placed amongst their sweet blossoms. Click, click, click. One by one the colored bits will stop tumbling.

Words Inadequate

No, I really didn’t drop off the edge of the earth I went to Big Sur.

Sunset Walk on Sauvie Island

Take a break from your busy day and escape to the Pacific Northwest.

Winnie-the-Pooh and Shortcomings

I love Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. He has a big heart, great patience for other’s shortcomings, and is quick with forgiveness. Every person has things they stumble and struggle with. It is our reactions to these quirks, disabilities, or faults that give us a measure of who we are.

Guilty Pleasures

I’ve been revising (and revising) Stars Bright and thinking about the little details that make Sophia (main character) who she is. At one point she confesses to a secret, guilty pleasure which is in juxtaposition to her character.

Learning Curve 10 facts and 3 new words

It’s been an interesting (stressful, scary) week where I’ve been introduced to many new things. 

Generational Choices

When it came time for ALW to start studying a foreign language he chose Italian. For a few days I tried to convince him to study Spanish. Spanish is close to Italian and immensely more practical. He stood firm. See what you get when you give a child a choice!

A few days after our discussion I received a book from my mom about her father’s, father Michael  written by her cousin Tom. Micheal lived in northern Italy. Around 1885 he stowaway on a boat bound for America.

The Week in Pictures

June 19-24 in photos
chickens, peonies, strawberries... oh my!

Little Changes

I’m one of those rare people who actually like to do laundry. I like the sorting into orderly defined piles. I like the swish, swish as the clothes tumble around in the washer. I have a front loader. It is mesmerizing to watch the material, water and soap scramble and tumble around each other. I love the scent of laundry drying so much that my daughter gave me bubble bath called fresh cotton. I even like to iron. This is a good thing because I’ve started washing and ironing all of Mr. W’s dress shirts.

Look to the Possiblities

Recently, several challenges have presented themselves to Mr. W and I. Dealing with all this “stuff” can be daunting. These aren’t issues we are taking lightly, we’ve talked of them, prayed about them, meditated over the course to take and we can’t, at this moment, see a clear way through but I have hope solutions will be reached.

It's been a while, what I've been doing....

I’ve been coming to a deeper understanding of grief. My father, Randy Lee Teach, passed away April 19.

Hawaii Dreaming

“We could easily get a transfer to Honolulu,” my husband said,

Of Gifts, TP and Tires

Gifts, presents, things-actual items wrapped and handed to you either on a special day or for no reason what-so-ever.  We don’t like to talk about gifts, so materialistic, but really who doesn’t like to receive a present?

 A few days ago a friend brought me a funny and useful gift.

Baby Steps

My youngest son is joining the middle school track team. He’s been looking forward to this for years. His older brother, now 20, ran track. His sister is on the high school track team, his 14 year old brother is also on the mid school track team. The youngest has wanted to do field events for years. Discus like his sister, long jump like his oldest brother. He doesn’t want to run but the middle school requires all athletes to run one event.

What Would Sophia Do?

I think about my characters a lot, sometimes more than my children. Today, while helping my almost twelve year old make a banana cream pie for his grandfather, I carefully separated the eggs, yolks in one bowl, whites in another and I thought what would Sophia do?