I've decided to start blogging again, sort of a, if you fall off a horse, jump back on, sort of thing.  And I've decided I'll probably write about an eclectic assortment of things.  That's sort of the way I roll.  I tried to name this blog with things that I'm partial too, but there are so many more and varied things that interest me, so this will probably turn out to be a smattering.  That's me, eclectic. :)   So here goes.

Something I'm so excited about right now is that I'm getting back into writing.  I have a completed picture book and another that I'm working on.  And a book or a series that I've been mulling over in my mind.  I don't mean this as boasting in any way!  I just am saying, be happy with me.  I've had the picture book and the book/series on my mind for many years, I just didn't know how to put it together, and now feels like the time.  I'm looking into how to get an agent, and it's fun and exciting.  And it takes at least a year to write a book, I'm reading from the experts, so that's what I'm expecting with the book/series.  And I feel up for that.  Which is a blessing.  I'm also reading that writing, publishing and all that goes with it is hard, a hassle...a journey, so I think to myself, why not take it?  Why not?  Especially when the writing bit makes me so happy.  :)

Also, I planted my seeds, for my starts for my garden mid March, and they make me happy!
I may have planted them too early.  I do that, I get so excited.  I have tomato plants that are eight inches high, in three inch pots.  And I can't plant until after Mother's Day, and maybe a week after that because Mother's Day is early this year, because of the cold evening temperatures where I live.  Oh no.  But seedlings make me happy.  And flowers.  I love Spring.  I love all the renewal and rebirth.  Beautiful.

I had a funny experience the other day.  I had to go have an MRI, and my Dr. called it in to this radiology center.  It was fancy.  All they did there was radiology.  I was kinda confused.  I asked them what hospital they were affiliated with.  They answered me, a little bit snootily, that they were not affiliated with any hospital.  So I asked them if they cost more than a hospital.  They said no, but I wondered...they had real oil paintings on the walls.  I approve of real oil paintings.  On any walls.  They had these headphones they put over my ears so I could hear music.  My choice of music.  It was lovely, in between the bang, bang, banging of the machine.  But when they lay me back on the table, under their fancy machine, their ceiling tiles looked just like hospital ceiling tiles. ;)  Reminded me I was still a patient, fanciness or not.  And I still felt a little like a slab of meat.

Laying under that massive machine, my mind turned to technology.  Duh.  Thank goodness for technology, truly.  I think we are blessed to have it.  But sometimes I wonder, is the technology for us to run, or are we run by the technology? ;)

Shakespeare-Julius Ceaser

I haven't written for so long because I have been so busy with Grandbabies!  I just got a new one this last week. And I've been making gifts for my babies. Mostly crochet. I found the cutest pattern for baby flip-flops!  Maybe I'll write about those projects at a later date.

I just found this Shakespeare that I thought was cool.

Here's a little Shakespeare to brighten your day and send some wisdom your way. 

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shadows and in miseries;

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

"Tis never offered twice; seize the hour

When fortune smiles, and duty points the way;

Nor shrink aside to 'scape the specter fear,

Nor pause, though pleasure beacon from her bower;

But bravely bear thee onward to the goal ."

    (Julius Caesar, Sc. 4, act. 3.)

I will attempt to translate it.

When the flood of the tide leads to fortune you should take it. Or else your life will be full of miseries and shadows. 

The flood of fortune is never offered twice, so if you shrink back in fear or pause even for pleasure, you loose fortune. 

I like that there is a difference between pleasure and fortune.  Pleasure may turn you from fortune and fortune will take you to your ventures and away from shadows and miseries (plural) all your . 

Grandson Day

My son-in-law was gone on a long assignment and my daughter was getting frazzled.  Grandpa and I decided to take our sweet, smart, most advanced, and most beautiful, not to mention plump, Grandson to the store with us.  A caveat here, my Grand-Babies, all of them are equally the sweetest, smartest, most advanced and talented, not to mention the cutest children on the planet.  Just had to get that out there in case any of my other children read this. But back to the story.  Having had children of my own, I knew we had to leave prepared.  I shoved several small suckers in my purse. His Mom got the sippy cup ready and added mini cookies to my stash.

We headed out to the grocery store.  We gave him a drink before we got him out of the car.  He was doing fine.  We took him into the store.  My husband wiped down the bars at the front of the cart.  We never had that when our kids were young, and they survived.  But I was glad they were handy for my Grandson,  He looked around at all the colors and people and lights.  When we hit the bakery I asked for a cookie.  It's not my first time at the rodeo.  I knew that if you asked you could get a cookie for a child.  The cookie was a little crumbly, so as it broke apart I put my hand under it to catch the pieces.  When I started feeding them to him my husband freaked a little, if truth be told, and said you didn't pick those up from the floor!  Of course not!  I wouldn't feed my Grandson something off a dirty supermarket floor.  What kind of a Grandma does he think I am?  When we passed the balls he thought they were neat, but it was Grandma who had to have one for him!  We gave him his purple ball--his choice, and he only had a little trouble when we had to take it from him to pay for it.  But otherwise he was delightful all through the store.

The next stop was the hardware store.  Another drink.  Another wipe down of the cart.  He loved the lights, and ceiling  fans.  When we were looking for  closet rods, my grandson started singing 'horsey-horsey', so I joined in.  There were not many people in the closet rod isle at the time.  So I sang 'horsey-horsey on your way, we've been together for many a day. . .'  It's our song, my grandson's and mine.  He just looked up into my face and smiled.  Grand-Babies are the best!!!  When I'd finished he started it again.  So I sang it again.  Soon my husband was finished with the closet rod stuff and we were rolling through the store.  With my grandson looking into my face and restarting the song, what was I to do?  I just sang it and sang it, all through the store.  Songs and grandsons are better that treats.  At least for Grandmas!     

Good News

I registered for the writing conference I want to go to in May.  Hooray!!!  I wanted to go to the Friday and Saturday, but the Saturday session is full.  A little disappointment and sadness here.  Sniff.  However, I am on the waiting list for Saturday, so I am still hopeful!  Ooo a whole day, and maybe two, of classes about plot and revision and query letters, cliff hangers, and voice!  It makes me shiver with excitement.  My children would say it makes them shiver for a whole different reason, and they tell me so. But, you know, their technology and Math makes me shiver for a whole different reason too.  Yuk!  It takes diversity to make a whole world, and I'm grateful about that.  (And I'm going to a writer's conference and writing, and making new friends, and learning the ins to publishing. . .!  Hooray!!!  Life is good.)

Beautiful Day!

I think having my goal be one happy event is a good one because I could write on, and on, and on, not knowing where to begin and end.  I wouldn't get any thing else done, though I'd be happy.  However, you knew there had to be a however-hahaha, however, I have to write today about a happy day, instead of a happy event.  My birthday.  Because my family made it wonderful.  You don't think about the numbers when you're feeling so loved.  My day began at 11:45pm the night before when my husband wished me happy birthday.  On my birthday, my actual birthday, my oldest daughter called me.  Sadly she lives far from me, so she called me, and all her children sang to me, individually, that I looked like a monkey and I smelled like one too.  SO endearing.  Ha ha.  Then my daughter had me open my present while she was on the phone.  She gave me a book, which I love almost more than anything.  But the greatest thing about it is that she said, "I love this book, and I thought you would too.  I thought you could read it and we could talk about it".  The BEST!

My son arrived at noon to take me to lunch.  He and his wife have decided that the best present, if you are close, is to take your parent, alone, out to lunch.  They do this on Mother's Day and Father's Day as well.  It is wonderful to have some time all to my self to be with my son!

Meanwhile my youngest was home working all day cleaning the house and cooking my favorite meal and a birthday cake.  Then my son and his family came to dinner and we just sat around talking, and reading stories, and, kissing Grand-Babies.  The BEST.  We had one mishap when two of my grandsons, 6 wks apart and under 2, were chasing each other and in their glee wound up crashing into each other, face to face.  The older one laughed, the younger one cried, and there was much consoling all around.

My husband did not forget me either.  I'm going to a writer's conference in May and I and SOOOOO excited.  And there's something coming in the mail.  And he did the dishes.  What more could I ask for?

Oh, and my friends and family sent love and birthday wishes on Facebook, so I guess technology is ok. . . sometimes

March Resolution

I've made a resolution.  Yes, I realize it is the middle of March, but I believe in resolutions at any time of year. You realize you want to do something better, and presto you can make a resolution.  Don't wait till January.  I also believe in tweaking your January resolution even at the end of January or February.  Shocking!  I know.  I'm that kind of girl.

But I digress.  I was feeling my life wasn't going the way I wanted it to, and with the help of a friend, voila a resolution in March.

I feel stuck so in order to get unstuck I am going to do several things.  I will share:

My friend Michelle Davidson Argyle said she watched a talk on Ted talk on Youtube by Shawn Anchor (to give credit where credit is due!).  Shawn said "the lens through which we view the world shapes our reality, and if we change our formula for happiness and success we can change our reality and therefore better control our work productivity."  It's such a great talk.  I recommend it.

He says this is a way to change the formula of 'if I work harder I will be more successful, then I'll be happier to if I'm happier, then I'll work harder and be more successful.

Here are the nuts and bolts:

You do these things for 21 days in a row and it retrains your brain to be happier.

• 3 Gratitudes - Identify gratitude for three new things.
• Journaling - write about one positive experience.
• Exercising - teach the brain that behavior matters.
• Meditation - learn to focus on a single task.  Reverse the ADD that our society creates by all the tasks!
• Conscious Acts of Kindness - Write one positive email of praise or thanks to someone in our social network.

So here's my twist to make it mine.  Yes, I believe in twisting things to make them more personal.

3 gratitudes is great.  I also want to write them down in my journal.

Journaling, now we get to what I want to do here--I will journal in my blog!  Hooray more Books.  Sparkley Baubles, beads, and glittery things.  Grandkids are ALWAYS positive experiences.  And Good Black Earth--I made my garden plot plans yesterday.  We were going to go out and enrich the soil today, but we found snow on all the beds when we got up.  I like snow.  And as long as it doesn't fall on new plants or flowering trees.  So today is good.  My son-in-law the farmer told me 'dirt' as I called it is 'soil'.  I learn so much from him.  Really!  I've never thought about what goes into to getting my food, and how many grueling man hours it takes .  So interesting.

Exercising - Yoga!  And long brisk walks. 

Meditation - YES!

Camilla Kimball, wife of Pres. Spencer W. Kimball of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, said-never let an opportunity for kindness pass you by.  I love that an have always made that my motto. So, conscious acts of kindness, yes.

I think I would spend 21 days on other kinds of goals, so why not one that will help turn my mind to happiness? March Resolution!  (Now you're going to watch and judge me if I don't write every day. I've set myself up for failure!  No, I'm not going to look at it that way. I'm going to rejoice in what I do do toward my goal.)

This Years Nests

This Years Nests

I have come back to my blog, after my Long Winter's Nap. I look back from here to there and wonder what I missed that I wanted to blog about. But as one of my favorite sayings from Man of LaManche (which stands to reason that Man of Lamonche is One of my favorite movies) Don Quiote says "In last year's nests there are no birds this year." I love that! Don't look back—turn around and look forward is for me!
So with all things new again, I have changed the name of my blog to something less angry sounding. I don't know what got into me, I must have been Just in the Mood when I named it!
That's what I told my kids when they'd push me to the end of my patience. It was a warning and a joke. I still say it, as referenced above. I must have had a serious fight with something electronical when I started my blog!
I noticed yesterday,as a creative person, that my mind goes in a circular pattern and not a straight line. So as I was trying to set something up to use on my computer I had to keep going back to the beginning, and searching for the small print, and sometimes having to enter and reenter my username and password. Unless I am really,really patient with a machine, program or app, I can get Just in the Mood in no time flat!
But I think Just in th Mood with machines is not really who I am. "In last years nests there are no birds this year". Who I am is a book lover; a jewlery maker, learner; a full hearted Grandchild lover; and a practicing gardening, flower, tree planter and nature lover!
So I have changed my blog name to better represent me. Looking forward is for me.