Valentine's Cards and Crooked Hearts

Not long ago I found a card I made for my father for Valentine's Day when I was about 6 years old. The crooked heart on the cover, the slanty handwriting, the mis-spelled words...some serious work went into this card. I loved reading it.

I think of the cards my boys will make for me through the years and the thought warms me.

My 5 year old Jack with his precise printing and my 3 year old Hudson so proud of his "H's". They put a lot of thought into their art.

There will come a day when the artwork isn't so plentiful. When it doesn't come in on a weekly or even monthly basis. There may come a day when they are too cool to give mom a Valentine's card or (big sigh) it's from a store.

I have to say some 20+ years later (oh all right 30+ years later) it's nice to know the card I made was appreciated.

I want my boys to know that I appreciate their cards, their artwork and their efforts right now. That what they make for me is cherished and loved.

Happy Valentine's Day...love those cards!

Giving Thanks...

November is one of my favorite months of the year. The leaves are at the peak of their gorgeous “fall look”, the weather is chilly but not too cold and the stress of December is still an arm’s length away. But the best part is on that last Thursday of the month when we give thanks and eat a crazy amount of delicious food.

November makes me feel warm and cozy. November is happy.

Maybe November is such a warm and fuzzy month because we give thanks. It’s practically required with a holiday called “Thanksgiving”. We express our gratitude for our health, our children and the food on our table.

We are reminded of all the good things in life.  Thanksgiving forces us to be in the present and think about what’s good now. Not what used to be good or what could be great in the future but focusing on the present. Today.

Research consistently finds that gratitude is good for us.

According to Dr. Robert Emmons, Ph.D., (a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and author of the book Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier) practicing gratitude can actually increase happiness levels by around 25%.

Emmons says, “The most common method we use in our research is to ask people to keep a “Gratitude Journal” where you write something you feel grateful for. Doing so 4 times a week, for as little as 3 weeks, is often enough to create a meaningful difference in one’s level of happiness.”

So if writing in a gratitude journal can make me a happier person. I’m in!

I am grateful for my sweet family, for my friendships and the cute things my boys say. 

So start your gratitude journal this month! Give thanks at dinner. Incorporate gratitude into the bedtime routine. Isn’t that what life is all about? Being present and knowing the present is good.

When I Grow Up I Want To Be...

My 4 1/2 year old son's future profession changes daily, actually hourly. Sometimes even by the minute.

When I grow up I want to be...a construction guy, a farmer, an engineer, captain of a boat, a cowboy, a pilot, a painter and on and on and on.

Last week he was having a great time at Space Camp, where of course he decided he wanted to be an astronaut.

"Momma, I want to be an astronaut," he said.

"Well when you get older you can go to space school where you learn all about being an astronaut," I replied.

"I already am! I'm going to Space Camp!" he said.

How cute is that!

All I want to do is encourage that freedom. I want my boys to know that they can be anything they want to be.

The possibilities are truly endless.

Books! Books! Books!

I have been the worst blogger...ever! I can tell you what I've been doing, I've been reading. Every spare moment (which are few and far between with a 4 and a 2 year old running around) my nose is in a book.

A writer friend told me (bless her) that they say (I'm not exactly sure who 'they' is) writers should read 4 hours everyday. So that's helping me with the guilt just a little (although if I do get in 4 hours a day it's between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 in the A.M.).

I'm still coming up with ideas, I'm still jotting them down but I'm just not elaborating on my thoughts. I'm lost in my little world of reading. I don't know, maybe this is my version of writer's block...or is it a writer's pause?

In any event, I'm hoping all this reading helps my writing in the long run.

Washing Rocks!

Being the mother of boys...is washing a pocketful of rocks in the washing machine. :)

7 Picture Books!

Well, I did it!  I have 7 new stories. Of course, all are in need of some serious love and a LOT of editing and revising but they are out of my head and on paper. Yeah!  My topics are all over the place...a bat, a train engineer, a super-hero, friendship, a mime, a crab fisherman, etc.

I found the process easier and harder than I thought it would be. Easy to come up with the story ideas, hard to finish them.

But I had fun and I'm glad I did it. It was some serious good exercise for my brain. :)

Thanks Paula Yoo (paulayoo.com) for creating this challenge!

National Picture Book Writing Week

NaPiBoWriWee...It's National Picture Book Writing Week! Sort of along the same lines as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November but for Picture Books. Write 7 picture books in 7 days and you win the contest! And by winning I mean you now have 7 completed picture books. Yeah!

As of today, I've completed 1 picture book...6 to go!