Well, here I am again....and it's been about two months since I posted anything. I'm such a naughty blogger.
My only excuse is that my life moves pretty fast and between one daughter graduating high school and the other having A LOT of issues with anxiety at school, I haven't had much time to do anything else.
I did want to give you a heads up though. I have a friend who's written a book and the music to go with it. He's got a multi-media thing going on and let me tell you--it's phenomenal. I'm not just saying that because he's a friend I've known since high school. He truly is a talented guy. Todd wrote the story of his life and when he met Missy, his wife. Her struggle with cancer is a story you don't want to miss. So if you're looking for a story with a happy ending with it's own background music, this is something you need to check out.
If I've sparked your curiosity already and you want to check out his website before the interview, it's www.toddbillingsley.com You'll be able to sample one of the songs on the DVD he made to go with the book. Todd arranges songs too. This arrangement of 'Ode to Joy' is his and it really sticks with you.
I'm giving Todd the prestigious honor of being the first author that I've ever interviewed on my blog. And not only did he write this and self publish it, but he is giving all the proceeds of the book to his Angel Flight charity.
I'll have more about all of this when I interview him.
I'm so excited! I hope I do this right. ;)
I'll have his interview up in a few weeks. I can't wait for you guys to meet him. He's an awesome person.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Haven't been on here in FOREVER. Decided to say 'Hi' to all my followers and hope you and your blogs are doing well. I've been working on my latest draft of 'Starstruck' and with my two friends Bethany and Angela guiding me, I'm hoping to have it finished, hacked back up and trimmed back down to a sleek, shiny finish by the end of the summer.
My oldest is about to graduate high school and my youngest is about to enter. Which is a whole other set of ..."OMG's"...
Oldest going to college won't be bad. She's staying at home to save money as we only live about 10 minutes away from the university my husband and I both graduated from.
The youngest going into high school is what scares me the most. High school is hard as it is, but when you have autism and then anxiety brought on by having to live in the middle school world every day, it's become so much harder.
If any of you have any suggestions on how to help her transition into high school, please let me know. I'm open to any and every thing. Her anxiety has become so elevated, I've had to put her on medicine and now she's developed Trichotillomania. Which is an obsessive disorder where she pulls her hair, eyebrows, eye lashes and everything else she can out of her head. The habit has gotten so bad, she's pulled most of the hair out of her head underneath the top layer. We cut her hair shorter, so it actually helps hide it a little.
It's so frustrating to see your baby, who already has autism struggles have one more thing to deal with.
My oldest is about to graduate high school and my youngest is about to enter. Which is a whole other set of ..."OMG's"...
Oldest going to college won't be bad. She's staying at home to save money as we only live about 10 minutes away from the university my husband and I both graduated from.
The youngest going into high school is what scares me the most. High school is hard as it is, but when you have autism and then anxiety brought on by having to live in the middle school world every day, it's become so much harder.
If any of you have any suggestions on how to help her transition into high school, please let me know. I'm open to any and every thing. Her anxiety has become so elevated, I've had to put her on medicine and now she's developed Trichotillomania. Which is an obsessive disorder where she pulls her hair, eyebrows, eye lashes and everything else she can out of her head. The habit has gotten so bad, she's pulled most of the hair out of her head underneath the top layer. We cut her hair shorter, so it actually helps hide it a little.
It's so frustrating to see your baby, who already has autism struggles have one more thing to deal with.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
My poor blog only gets the dust knocked off of it every so often because there is SO much going on in my life right now. Time for it always seems to be scant. So I save it for really important things I want everybody to know about.
Check out this book cover! This week I had the privilege to dive into this baby of A.G. Howard's and learn all about the real Wonderland. I've heard about this story for what seems like a few years, but it probably hasn't been that long. Now, finally being able to read it has been way cool. To hold a finished book in my hands that one of my friends has written and gone through the publishing process with is amazing.
This is a YA fantasy, but even if you're not a teen, you'll love it. The story she has crafted is both imaginative and beautiful. I loved it and asked her if she was conjuring up a sequel.
The book's premise centers around the 'Alice in Wonderland' story, where the main character, Alyssa, is supposedly the great-great grandchild of Alice. She's a teenager who, of course, is crushing on a hot guy that she's been friends with for ages. Jeb, named, 'hot guy', is a good friend, but is currently unavailable, but sparks fly between them more than once. Morpheus, who is a dark, mysterious being guides Alyssa to find the path she must take to not only travel to Wonderland, but to fix the mistakes Alice made while she was there. Alyssa has to decode her tasks to ultimately save her mother's sanity. I don't want to give too much away, but all of it is beautifully connected. You'll have to read it to find out. :D
The Wonderland A.G. has created is much darker than the fairy tale you would be used to from Alice. The plot twists and turns just like Alice's adventure in Wonderland does, so just when you think things are one way, she surprises you with another revelation, changing everything again. A. G. does a fantastic job keeping the pages turning, so if fantasy books are your thing, you need to check this one out.
The release date for 'Splintered' is January 1st, 2013.
It's on Amazon right now for pre-order and on Goodreads.
A.G. Howard's blog is at www.authoraghoward.blogspot.com and you can follow her on Twitter at @aghowardwrites
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Blogvel Chapter
Well, I took the summer off from my blog without actually meaning to. Busy summer. Almost finished painting my daughter's bedroom the black and pink of that picture I put on here in May. Wrote the equivalent of a 11 chapters, but I have to figure out where to put it all and if I'm going to use all of it. Various other things as well kept us going. Vacation, daughter's last cheer camp. Dealt with all of that too.
So before I 'left', I told you about a blogvel I was involved with. This is a book that is written by several different writers on their blogs. Everybody gets assigned a chapter. Michelle Simkins at Greenwoman was the master mind of all this. Here is the table of contents for Bloom and everything everybody else has written up to this point. Some of the chapters may be hidden down in their blogs if they post a lot, so you may have to scroll down quite a way before you find some of them, but they're all marked as "Bloom chapter-whatever" so you'll know.
So, here's my contribution.
The shrubs standing in the way of Jessica and Wanda’s progress shook and ruffled as if readying themselves for a fight. Thorny branches swatted at Jessica and Wanda as the spray coated the healthy leaves crinkling them to a dead, ugly brown. Jessica dropped the hose of the canister and held her hands on her ears.
“What’s wrong?” Wanda yelled. This wasn’t a one person job.
“They’re—they’re screaming at me to stop!” Jessica’s eyes squeezed shut and she hunched over in a ball.
“What?” Wanda couldn’t believe what Jessica had just admitted to. She could hear them? This didn’t happen a minute ago. Wanda couldn’t hear anything except the sizzle of the leaves as the chemicals fried the greenery. “Jessica—come on—there’s too many of them! I can’t do this by myself!” Wanda backed away from the approaching shrubs to pump the canister again. “Come on, Jess—I need you!” Wanda surprised herself at how desperate she sounded. Desperation wasn’t normally her style. For some unknown reason, this group of shrubs seemed to be more resilient.
Wanda continued trying to hold the shrubs back as Jessica fought to regain her composure. Her hands pressed against her ears as she continued to scream. The will to live bashed Wanda in the head and she screamed at the shrubs, “Stop it! Leave her alone—you bastards!” The stream of chemicals flowing out of the canister seemed to be lessening. Wanda’s chemical supply was low. She ran back to the Jeep. They’d tossed in two more canisters out of Jane’s Hummer before they left. Wanda raced back and stood next to Jessica with a fresh supply. “Come on, Jess. Kill the suckers!” Wanda yelled hoping to refocus Jessica’s brain.
Jessica shook off the mental attack and picked up the hose again. When she pointed her canister hose toward the shrubs, they shrank back before withering and dying in the middle of the street. The trees seemed to be less intimidated by the spray. Jessica stood up straight and began pumping her own canister again. One of the trees thin green branches twirled through the air and swirled its way around Wanda’s middle causing her canister to fall out of her hands. A scream ripped out of her and echoed off the nearby hills. As Wanda struggled trying to fight against the thin, green rope-branch twining its way around her, Jessica pumped her canister with fierce commitment.
“Come on, Jess—you can do it!” Wanda choked out encouragement. The branch lifted Wanda off her feet and traveled toward the middle of the tree where Wanda was destined to be an afternoon snack. Panic set into her bones as she attempted to fight against the tightening grasp. Like any apex predator, once its prey was caught, the hold simply tightened until the prey gave up.
I don’t want to die. The thought assaulted Wanda out of nowhere. As sour as she could be, down deep she wanted to live a little longer. Jessica flashed a purposeful look at her before she commanded.
“Let her go!” She sprayed the trunk of the trees and their roots causing them to cower away. Blood seeped from underneath Wanda’s arms where the bendy green branch dug into the flesh. Jessica sprayed the trunk of the tree gripping Wanda, but its grip loosened only a little. “They’re dying—just a little more should do it.” Jessica attempted to reassure her.
“Can’t breathe,” Wanda whispered. Her head swam with the lack of oxygen to her brain and her consciousness drifted.
Spraying the contents of the canister for another minute stopped the tree and Wanda tumbled to the ground like a ragdoll. Adrenalin pounded through Jessica’s body. She grabbed Wanda’s arms and dragged her back to the side of the Jeep. Lungs fighting for air, Wanda heaved in and out, trying to breathe normally again. They had to get into town ASAP. Wanda wasn’t in any shape to drive at this point. She could have broken ribs or something.
Jessica wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to lift Wanda into the Jeep, but she needed to try. She needed help.
“Wanda.” Jessica patted Wanda’s cheek a little less than a slap. “Hey, wake up. I need you to get in the jeep. We’ve gotta get to town.” Wanda’s under layers of red curls stuck to her face from the intensity of their recent battle. “Can you stand? I can’t get you in here by myself, come on.” Jessica heard a rustle behind her. Another two trees lumbered their way toward her, threatening another onslaught. Jessica yanked Wanda under her arms and lifted as far as she could. Wanda yelped at the pain from several broken ribs and found her feet again.
“Kill ‘em, Jess! We can’t leave any of them alive!” Wanda’s hoarse words stung through Jessica as she pumped the canister. Her arms dangled off her shoulders like wet noodles and tears streamed down her face wondering if she would have the strength to finish off these two predators. Jessica sprayed the last two trees until the threat ceased.
When Jessica stopped spraying, they shared a silent glance and she helped Wanda into the jeep. Wanda hissed through her teeth when she raised her leg and used the ‘oh crap’ handle to pull her weight onto the bucket seat, but said nothing else. Jessica would have to drive now. Once inside and back on the road, Jessica spoke.
“They told me they’d kill you for me.” Jessica said, staring straight ahead, her voice shaky.
“You want me dead?” Wanda smirked.
“After you sliced me up…yeah. I considered it.” For several minutes, the only sounds in the jeep were the engine and the tires rolling over the road. “They said you were evil and you just wanted me dead.”
Instead of reacting in defense of her personality flaws, Wanda’s scientific curiosity rose at the new circumstance. “You mean you’ve got some kind of mental connection with them? That doesn’t make sense. We bled all of the plant material out of you.” Keeping her body straight and stiff against the seat, Wanda only turned her head toward Jessica while Jessica drove.
“But it was a part of my body. They were a part of me. I was…one of them.” Jessica said, shuddering. “But…”
She white-knuckled the steering wheel and squirmed around in her seat uncomfortable, with being so open and honest with Wanda.
“But—?” Wanda led her to finish.
“When you sorta came to my rescue…it changed my mind. For a split second you were like a ….”
“Spit it out, kid.”
“Like a sister!” Jessica spat the words at Wanda and then and turned her eyes back toward the road. “I thought maybe there might still be some good in you after all. That’s why I picked up the canister and killed them.”
“I’m not sure I’m sister material.” Wanda said, staring at the road. Silence settled between them as Jessica drove toward town.
Coming down the hill toward the first red light, a car was sitting at an awkward angle in the road. The open car door turned Jessica’s stomach and she slowed the Jeep approaching with caution. Wanda turned her head a little and scanned out the window while Jessica kept the Jeep on the road, but more in the middle to maneuver around the awkward angle the car sat in blocking the road. A wide shiny spot in the road registered as a large puddle of blood once the Jeep rolled closer to the scene. Shivers overwhelmed Jessica’s body when she realized the Jeep’s tires would have to roll through the blood to move past the abandoned car.
Looking past two more cars whose drivers had shared the same fate, the street pulsated with groups of people screaming and running as a tree picked up a man trying to fight back with a shotgun. The tree lowered the man into the top of its trunk and bit him in half throwing the bloody stump of his torso and legs to the ground. Jessica slammed on her brakes taking in the scene. She’d never seen anything like it, except in a horror movie. All that stuff was fake. This was real.
Another three men came at the tree with chainsaws and began slicing the branches away, but the tree’s other branches could be used as well. The odds stood overwhelmingly against them. The tree took bites of each of the men as if tasting three different flavors of ice cream and trying to decide which flavor to eat first. The crowd screamed as they watched helplessly. The brave men were soon consumed by the tree leaving the chainsaws lying on the ground with their motors spinning, abandoned on the pavement of Main Street.
Jessica stared at the scene and threw the Jeep into park. She knew between them, they only had a canister and a half of weed killer left. Would it be enough?
“What are we gonna do?” Jessica asked Wanda.
So before I 'left', I told you about a blogvel I was involved with. This is a book that is written by several different writers on their blogs. Everybody gets assigned a chapter. Michelle Simkins at Greenwoman was the master mind of all this. Here is the table of contents for Bloom and everything everybody else has written up to this point. Some of the chapters may be hidden down in their blogs if they post a lot, so you may have to scroll down quite a way before you find some of them, but they're all marked as "Bloom chapter-whatever" so you'll know.
So, here's my contribution.
Bloom-Chapter 12
The shrubs standing in the way of Jessica and Wanda’s progress shook and ruffled as if readying themselves for a fight. Thorny branches swatted at Jessica and Wanda as the spray coated the healthy leaves crinkling them to a dead, ugly brown. Jessica dropped the hose of the canister and held her hands on her ears.
“What’s wrong?” Wanda yelled. This wasn’t a one person job.
“They’re—they’re screaming at me to stop!” Jessica’s eyes squeezed shut and she hunched over in a ball.
“What?” Wanda couldn’t believe what Jessica had just admitted to. She could hear them? This didn’t happen a minute ago. Wanda couldn’t hear anything except the sizzle of the leaves as the chemicals fried the greenery. “Jessica—come on—there’s too many of them! I can’t do this by myself!” Wanda backed away from the approaching shrubs to pump the canister again. “Come on, Jess—I need you!” Wanda surprised herself at how desperate she sounded. Desperation wasn’t normally her style. For some unknown reason, this group of shrubs seemed to be more resilient.
Wanda continued trying to hold the shrubs back as Jessica fought to regain her composure. Her hands pressed against her ears as she continued to scream. The will to live bashed Wanda in the head and she screamed at the shrubs, “Stop it! Leave her alone—you bastards!” The stream of chemicals flowing out of the canister seemed to be lessening. Wanda’s chemical supply was low. She ran back to the Jeep. They’d tossed in two more canisters out of Jane’s Hummer before they left. Wanda raced back and stood next to Jessica with a fresh supply. “Come on, Jess. Kill the suckers!” Wanda yelled hoping to refocus Jessica’s brain.
Jessica shook off the mental attack and picked up the hose again. When she pointed her canister hose toward the shrubs, they shrank back before withering and dying in the middle of the street. The trees seemed to be less intimidated by the spray. Jessica stood up straight and began pumping her own canister again. One of the trees thin green branches twirled through the air and swirled its way around Wanda’s middle causing her canister to fall out of her hands. A scream ripped out of her and echoed off the nearby hills. As Wanda struggled trying to fight against the thin, green rope-branch twining its way around her, Jessica pumped her canister with fierce commitment.
“Come on, Jess—you can do it!” Wanda choked out encouragement. The branch lifted Wanda off her feet and traveled toward the middle of the tree where Wanda was destined to be an afternoon snack. Panic set into her bones as she attempted to fight against the tightening grasp. Like any apex predator, once its prey was caught, the hold simply tightened until the prey gave up.
I don’t want to die. The thought assaulted Wanda out of nowhere. As sour as she could be, down deep she wanted to live a little longer. Jessica flashed a purposeful look at her before she commanded.
“Let her go!” She sprayed the trunk of the trees and their roots causing them to cower away. Blood seeped from underneath Wanda’s arms where the bendy green branch dug into the flesh. Jessica sprayed the trunk of the tree gripping Wanda, but its grip loosened only a little. “They’re dying—just a little more should do it.” Jessica attempted to reassure her.
“Can’t breathe,” Wanda whispered. Her head swam with the lack of oxygen to her brain and her consciousness drifted.
Spraying the contents of the canister for another minute stopped the tree and Wanda tumbled to the ground like a ragdoll. Adrenalin pounded through Jessica’s body. She grabbed Wanda’s arms and dragged her back to the side of the Jeep. Lungs fighting for air, Wanda heaved in and out, trying to breathe normally again. They had to get into town ASAP. Wanda wasn’t in any shape to drive at this point. She could have broken ribs or something.
Jessica wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to lift Wanda into the Jeep, but she needed to try. She needed help.
“Wanda.” Jessica patted Wanda’s cheek a little less than a slap. “Hey, wake up. I need you to get in the jeep. We’ve gotta get to town.” Wanda’s under layers of red curls stuck to her face from the intensity of their recent battle. “Can you stand? I can’t get you in here by myself, come on.” Jessica heard a rustle behind her. Another two trees lumbered their way toward her, threatening another onslaught. Jessica yanked Wanda under her arms and lifted as far as she could. Wanda yelped at the pain from several broken ribs and found her feet again.
“Kill ‘em, Jess! We can’t leave any of them alive!” Wanda’s hoarse words stung through Jessica as she pumped the canister. Her arms dangled off her shoulders like wet noodles and tears streamed down her face wondering if she would have the strength to finish off these two predators. Jessica sprayed the last two trees until the threat ceased.
When Jessica stopped spraying, they shared a silent glance and she helped Wanda into the jeep. Wanda hissed through her teeth when she raised her leg and used the ‘oh crap’ handle to pull her weight onto the bucket seat, but said nothing else. Jessica would have to drive now. Once inside and back on the road, Jessica spoke.
“They told me they’d kill you for me.” Jessica said, staring straight ahead, her voice shaky.
“You want me dead?” Wanda smirked.
“After you sliced me up…yeah. I considered it.” For several minutes, the only sounds in the jeep were the engine and the tires rolling over the road. “They said you were evil and you just wanted me dead.”
Instead of reacting in defense of her personality flaws, Wanda’s scientific curiosity rose at the new circumstance. “You mean you’ve got some kind of mental connection with them? That doesn’t make sense. We bled all of the plant material out of you.” Keeping her body straight and stiff against the seat, Wanda only turned her head toward Jessica while Jessica drove.
“But it was a part of my body. They were a part of me. I was…one of them.” Jessica said, shuddering. “But…”
She white-knuckled the steering wheel and squirmed around in her seat uncomfortable, with being so open and honest with Wanda.
“But—?” Wanda led her to finish.
“When you sorta came to my rescue…it changed my mind. For a split second you were like a ….”
“Spit it out, kid.”
“Like a sister!” Jessica spat the words at Wanda and then and turned her eyes back toward the road. “I thought maybe there might still be some good in you after all. That’s why I picked up the canister and killed them.”
“I’m not sure I’m sister material.” Wanda said, staring at the road. Silence settled between them as Jessica drove toward town.
Coming down the hill toward the first red light, a car was sitting at an awkward angle in the road. The open car door turned Jessica’s stomach and she slowed the Jeep approaching with caution. Wanda turned her head a little and scanned out the window while Jessica kept the Jeep on the road, but more in the middle to maneuver around the awkward angle the car sat in blocking the road. A wide shiny spot in the road registered as a large puddle of blood once the Jeep rolled closer to the scene. Shivers overwhelmed Jessica’s body when she realized the Jeep’s tires would have to roll through the blood to move past the abandoned car.
Looking past two more cars whose drivers had shared the same fate, the street pulsated with groups of people screaming and running as a tree picked up a man trying to fight back with a shotgun. The tree lowered the man into the top of its trunk and bit him in half throwing the bloody stump of his torso and legs to the ground. Jessica slammed on her brakes taking in the scene. She’d never seen anything like it, except in a horror movie. All that stuff was fake. This was real.
Another three men came at the tree with chainsaws and began slicing the branches away, but the tree’s other branches could be used as well. The odds stood overwhelmingly against them. The tree took bites of each of the men as if tasting three different flavors of ice cream and trying to decide which flavor to eat first. The crowd screamed as they watched helplessly. The brave men were soon consumed by the tree leaving the chainsaws lying on the ground with their motors spinning, abandoned on the pavement of Main Street.
Jessica stared at the scene and threw the Jeep into park. She knew between them, they only had a canister and a half of weed killer left. Would it be enough?
“What are we gonna do?” Jessica asked Wanda.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Just a quick Thanks!
I wanted to let you know that Chapter one of 'Bloom' is up on Greenwoman's blog now. It's been up since Monday morning, but I've been busy and haven't been on here, so I'm telling you now. Go and read it. Michelle's done an excellent job of setting up a really interesting plot. Can't wait to see what comes next. She's got pictures up from a weekend getaway on there first, I think if you scroll down, you'll be able to find it.
Also, I check my audience to see who's been looking at my blog and I just want to say...wow....and thank you.
When I started this little blog, I never dreamed I'd have people reading my blog from Australia, Hong Kong, Brazil...the list goes on and on. I can't believe it. I'm wondering if they just happened on it and it was a mistake. That's a lot of mistakes though. So I'll just say
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and I think you people are really nice to take the time to stop and read a few of my words.
Also, I check my audience to see who's been looking at my blog and I just want to say...wow....and thank you.
When I started this little blog, I never dreamed I'd have people reading my blog from Australia, Hong Kong, Brazil...the list goes on and on. I can't believe it. I'm wondering if they just happened on it and it was a mistake. That's a lot of mistakes though. So I'll just say
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and I think you people are really nice to take the time to stop and read a few of my words.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Round Robin Blogvel
It's been a while since I've posted anything on here. Tried to get done with school and then got a spark of an idea with my manuscript, so I've been working on that.
I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be in a 'Round Robin Blogvel'. This is a title my friend Michelle at Greenwoman made up last year when she came up with the idea of having blogging/writer friends to all write a chapter for a story. She wrote the first chapter and each week somebody else took over and wrote the next one. It sounded like a lot of fun, but at the time I was a little too shy to participate in it. I wrote a short story for a blog contest she had. I ended up writing three for three different blog buddies last summer. They turned out better than I ever thought they would.
So this year, when she said that was so much fun, she wanted to do it again, I said I would. I think there are 14 of us, and she'll write the first and last chapter. The chapters will go up every Monday. I'm not scheduled until July, so the story will be well on it's way by the time I get to it. She'll post it on her blog sometime today. As I type this, it's still WAY early in the morning in Oregon, so it will be a little while. I can't wait to see what she's come up with. Her imagination rocks!
I'll make sure to have a link to each chapter on the other writer's blogs, so stay tuned. If you decide to read this remember, there are a lot of different writers with all different styles. It's not a contest to see who can write the best chapter. So don't judge me...lol. I'm sure as far as experience and quality of writing, I'm pretty low on the totem pole. This is to challenge us to start a story and twist and turn it and hopefully keep it interesting. I'll be in and out today running errands, so when her post goes up, I'll let you know. :D
Hope your week is a great one
SP
I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be in a 'Round Robin Blogvel'. This is a title my friend Michelle at Greenwoman made up last year when she came up with the idea of having blogging/writer friends to all write a chapter for a story. She wrote the first chapter and each week somebody else took over and wrote the next one. It sounded like a lot of fun, but at the time I was a little too shy to participate in it. I wrote a short story for a blog contest she had. I ended up writing three for three different blog buddies last summer. They turned out better than I ever thought they would.
So this year, when she said that was so much fun, she wanted to do it again, I said I would. I think there are 14 of us, and she'll write the first and last chapter. The chapters will go up every Monday. I'm not scheduled until July, so the story will be well on it's way by the time I get to it. She'll post it on her blog sometime today. As I type this, it's still WAY early in the morning in Oregon, so it will be a little while. I can't wait to see what she's come up with. Her imagination rocks!
I'll make sure to have a link to each chapter on the other writer's blogs, so stay tuned. If you decide to read this remember, there are a lot of different writers with all different styles. It's not a contest to see who can write the best chapter. So don't judge me...lol. I'm sure as far as experience and quality of writing, I'm pretty low on the totem pole. This is to challenge us to start a story and twist and turn it and hopefully keep it interesting. I'll be in and out today running errands, so when her post goes up, I'll let you know. :D
Hope your week is a great one
SP
Thursday, May 10, 2012
20 something years of doing this.... and the Blue Angels!
So it's been a little while since the A-Z challenge. Since then, I've been trying to get through a birthday...I on the downhill slide toward 50 now, which is a little scary...
Our 22nd anniversary was May 5th. When you reach the 'twenties' in an anniversaries, you start to feel old. Like REALLY old.
I can remember when I first started teaching and veteran teachers would say..."This is my 20-something year to teach" and I'd think....'Wow...they've been at this a long time. They really know what they're doing and they're good at it.' I was in awe of them.
And now, here I am. A member of the elite. I always thought that if anybody made it past twenty years, that they were meant to do the teaching thing. I do know quite a bit about teaching music to elementary kiddos, but you never know everything. There's always a new way to present something. I try to teach different activities to keep my brain fresh. I don't usually teach from a detailed lesson plan because I never teach the same lesson the same way. My brain is creative enough to come up with new ways to do things. Keeps me from getting bored--unless there is a 'best way'...then I go with that.
I've also been married the same number of years I've been teaching. Got married and got a job in the same year. I was lucky. You'd think I'd feel like I really knew what I was doing after teaching AND being married that long. I have come to learn that the teachers I idolized and thought they were so cool, probably felt just like I do now. I know what I'm doing, but you never stop trying to get better and learning something new. I'm naturally curious, so my curiosity has become my ally in my teaching and in my marriage...lol
On another note...we had some excitement today.
The Blue Angels flew over our school this afternoon, which was a perfect day weather-wise. It's really hard to teach when they go 'booming' by. They zoomed past us and over us all afternoon. It's so cool to watch them. They flew so low, it felt like the air was being pierced as they cut through it. My partner teacher and I decided to take our 3rd graders outside for a few minutes to watch them. The pitch was so high when they flew by us, some of the kids had to cover their ears. I think they did it on purpose because a ton of kids were outside waving at them. It was pretty cool for everybody. There's an air show in Smyrna this weekend so they're in town practicing. One of the perks to teaching this close to the Smyrna Airport.
This was them flying over school today. SO COOL! One of our teachers took this...We were as excited as the kids were. ;)
So that's been my excitement these past few weeks. Hope you guys have had great weeks since the challenge.
I need to make a schedule so I can remember to blog. I really liked the challenge of doing the A-Z blog posts. I may come up with something else to keep me motivated to blog more. :)
For now...have a good one. :D
Our 22nd anniversary was May 5th. When you reach the 'twenties' in an anniversaries, you start to feel old. Like REALLY old.
I can remember when I first started teaching and veteran teachers would say..."This is my 20-something year to teach" and I'd think....'Wow...they've been at this a long time. They really know what they're doing and they're good at it.' I was in awe of them.
And now, here I am. A member of the elite. I always thought that if anybody made it past twenty years, that they were meant to do the teaching thing. I do know quite a bit about teaching music to elementary kiddos, but you never know everything. There's always a new way to present something. I try to teach different activities to keep my brain fresh. I don't usually teach from a detailed lesson plan because I never teach the same lesson the same way. My brain is creative enough to come up with new ways to do things. Keeps me from getting bored--unless there is a 'best way'...then I go with that.
I've also been married the same number of years I've been teaching. Got married and got a job in the same year. I was lucky. You'd think I'd feel like I really knew what I was doing after teaching AND being married that long. I have come to learn that the teachers I idolized and thought they were so cool, probably felt just like I do now. I know what I'm doing, but you never stop trying to get better and learning something new. I'm naturally curious, so my curiosity has become my ally in my teaching and in my marriage...lol
On another note...we had some excitement today.
The Blue Angels flew over our school this afternoon, which was a perfect day weather-wise. It's really hard to teach when they go 'booming' by. They zoomed past us and over us all afternoon. It's so cool to watch them. They flew so low, it felt like the air was being pierced as they cut through it. My partner teacher and I decided to take our 3rd graders outside for a few minutes to watch them. The pitch was so high when they flew by us, some of the kids had to cover their ears. I think they did it on purpose because a ton of kids were outside waving at them. It was pretty cool for everybody. There's an air show in Smyrna this weekend so they're in town practicing. One of the perks to teaching this close to the Smyrna Airport.
So that's been my excitement these past few weeks. Hope you guys have had great weeks since the challenge.
I need to make a schedule so I can remember to blog. I really liked the challenge of doing the A-Z blog posts. I may come up with something else to keep me motivated to blog more. :)
For now...have a good one. :D
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