(sorry Shell, this letter goes to Santa this time...)
Dear Santa,
I have been a very good girl this year. I even have a list of why I was a good girl this year, just in case you lost your list. I know how busy you can be around this time of year.
*I didn't surrender to road rage more than 3 times this year. Of course part of that could be because I'm rarely on the roads...but we'll just ignore that part of the equation.
*I didn't cuss (too loudly) when I had to park at the far reaches of a parking lot when I had to go shopping. I politely told myself that it was good exercise and that by parking further out, someone else would have a chance at parking closer. Even on those days when it was cold, windy, rainy, snowy, or otherwise miserable.
*I limited the swearing in my novels that I am writing. I think I have a total of 3 swear words out of 4 novels (one novel almost completed, one half done, two others started to get the ideas down). I may have a bit of swearing in the one novel...but that one shouldn't count until next year's good/naughty list since I won't start serious work on that novel until my current one is done with the first draft.
*I didn't eat all the Christmas cookies this year. Of course, I haven't made any this year, but it still counts...right? I do have some cookies I could bake, but I'm not sure they would last until you get here. (we have a cookie monster in the house!).
There is more, honest, I've been a really good girl. Can I please receive something other than Coal this year?
Thanks!
Shell
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Christmas Is Just Around The Corner
Dear Shell,
How did it get to be almost Christmas already? I swear it seems like we just had people over for Thanksgiving last week. Next thing you know, it will be 2009. We don't even have our tree up yet, although we really don't have room for it anymore. The only place would be near the furnace and I really don't feel comfortable with it being that close.
I have not started Christmas shopping yet, except for a small item I found a couple weeks ago that I thought my mom would like. I at least need to get two $10 gifts before Saturday, since we have a family party on Saturday where we do a gift exchange game (its the only gifts we exchange at that party). Maybe J and I will go shopping for gifts for everyone else after the party. I should check with Jenn to see if her and I are exchanging gifts this year or not.
J and I decided that for each other, rather than get gifts, we'll set money aside so we can take a nice week-long trip somewhere in the spring or maybe summer. We're not sure where we will go just yet, but it'll be somewhere where we can just relax, enjoy the scenery, and have fun. I couldn't think of anything I wanted or needed when he asked, so this sounded like a really good idea for us.
There's only one thing that I could think of that I'd like to get, and it's not an item I would ask for for Christmas since it is pretty expensive.
Well I need to get back to writing on my novel instead of my blog. My main characters have just neared the fortress where the evil sorceress is waiting for them. They have an ally on the inside...or do they?
Shell
How did it get to be almost Christmas already? I swear it seems like we just had people over for Thanksgiving last week. Next thing you know, it will be 2009. We don't even have our tree up yet, although we really don't have room for it anymore. The only place would be near the furnace and I really don't feel comfortable with it being that close.
I have not started Christmas shopping yet, except for a small item I found a couple weeks ago that I thought my mom would like. I at least need to get two $10 gifts before Saturday, since we have a family party on Saturday where we do a gift exchange game (its the only gifts we exchange at that party). Maybe J and I will go shopping for gifts for everyone else after the party. I should check with Jenn to see if her and I are exchanging gifts this year or not.
J and I decided that for each other, rather than get gifts, we'll set money aside so we can take a nice week-long trip somewhere in the spring or maybe summer. We're not sure where we will go just yet, but it'll be somewhere where we can just relax, enjoy the scenery, and have fun. I couldn't think of anything I wanted or needed when he asked, so this sounded like a really good idea for us.
There's only one thing that I could think of that I'd like to get, and it's not an item I would ask for for Christmas since it is pretty expensive.
Well I need to get back to writing on my novel instead of my blog. My main characters have just neared the fortress where the evil sorceress is waiting for them. They have an ally on the inside...or do they?
Shell
Friday, December 12, 2008
Where Do All The Socks Go?
Dear Shell,
Time for another writing assignment! This is actually a writing prompt/assignment that I got over a year ago from Writer's Digest, but never worked on it. I found it again yesterday and thought, hm, this one looks fun!
Lost Socks Assignment:
3 weeks ago, a sock was lost in the laundry. 1 week ago, another sock is lost. You hide a micro-camera in a sock then start a load of laundry. Describe what is happening to your socks in 500 words or less.
“Mommy, where do all the lost socks go?” my three-year old asked as he tried to peer into the washer. He stood on the tips of his toes and could barely see inside.
Looking down at his curious face, I decided we would solve this mystery together. “I don’t know sweetie, but you and I are going to figure this out.” Grinning at each other, we snuck into the garage and over to the workbench.
“Daddy’s been working on a new project.” I picked up a small object from the bench. “It’s a very tiny camera, and it’s safe to go in the water. Let’s tie it to a sock and see what happens.”
We carefully attached the tiny camera to the ‘spy sock’ and tossed it into the washer. My son and I settled down to wait, our eyes glued to the monitor that the camera was broadcasting to. Clothes spun around in the swishing water, flashes of blue, green, and purple.
“What is that?” I leaned closer to the monitor to get a better look at the brown lump that swirled past the camera’s view.
“That’s Teddy, Mommy! He wanted to help.” My young son proudly told me.
“You put your teddy bear in the…” my voice trailed off on a sigh. I looked down into his grinning face. “Well, let’s hope that Teddy can help us.”
Thirty minutes passed without anything else unusual happening.
“It looks like the socks are safe in the washer. Shall we try the dryer now?”
“Yes!” he jumped up and down enthusiastically, clapping his tiny hands together.
I quickly transferred the wet clothes, and Teddy, into the dryer and turned it on. We settled in to watch the monitor again.
Ten minutes passed and nothing happened.
Then fifteen minutes passed with nothing.
After twenty minutes I was beginning to suspect that nothing was going to happen, that the disappearing socks would continue to be an unsolved mystery.
“Mommy! Mommy!” my son tugged my hand. “Look!”
Amazed, we watched in complete silence. The back of the washer fell away, opening up onto a miniature world. Two small creatures reached into the tumbling mass of clothes and pulled out a sock. We could see their little mouths chattering excitedly as they held up the blue sock, part of my favorite pair. The back of the washer closed, blocking our view of the little creatures and their miniature world.
My son and I exchanged a long look. “Um, I think maybe, this should be our secret.” I told him.
Keep the pencil sharpened,
Shell
Time for another writing assignment! This is actually a writing prompt/assignment that I got over a year ago from Writer's Digest, but never worked on it. I found it again yesterday and thought, hm, this one looks fun!
Lost Socks Assignment:
3 weeks ago, a sock was lost in the laundry. 1 week ago, another sock is lost. You hide a micro-camera in a sock then start a load of laundry. Describe what is happening to your socks in 500 words or less.
“Mommy, where do all the lost socks go?” my three-year old asked as he tried to peer into the washer. He stood on the tips of his toes and could barely see inside.
Looking down at his curious face, I decided we would solve this mystery together. “I don’t know sweetie, but you and I are going to figure this out.” Grinning at each other, we snuck into the garage and over to the workbench.
“Daddy’s been working on a new project.” I picked up a small object from the bench. “It’s a very tiny camera, and it’s safe to go in the water. Let’s tie it to a sock and see what happens.”
We carefully attached the tiny camera to the ‘spy sock’ and tossed it into the washer. My son and I settled down to wait, our eyes glued to the monitor that the camera was broadcasting to. Clothes spun around in the swishing water, flashes of blue, green, and purple.
“What is that?” I leaned closer to the monitor to get a better look at the brown lump that swirled past the camera’s view.
“That’s Teddy, Mommy! He wanted to help.” My young son proudly told me.
“You put your teddy bear in the…” my voice trailed off on a sigh. I looked down into his grinning face. “Well, let’s hope that Teddy can help us.”
Thirty minutes passed without anything else unusual happening.
“It looks like the socks are safe in the washer. Shall we try the dryer now?”
“Yes!” he jumped up and down enthusiastically, clapping his tiny hands together.
I quickly transferred the wet clothes, and Teddy, into the dryer and turned it on. We settled in to watch the monitor again.
Ten minutes passed and nothing happened.
Then fifteen minutes passed with nothing.
After twenty minutes I was beginning to suspect that nothing was going to happen, that the disappearing socks would continue to be an unsolved mystery.
“Mommy! Mommy!” my son tugged my hand. “Look!”
Amazed, we watched in complete silence. The back of the washer fell away, opening up onto a miniature world. Two small creatures reached into the tumbling mass of clothes and pulled out a sock. We could see their little mouths chattering excitedly as they held up the blue sock, part of my favorite pair. The back of the washer closed, blocking our view of the little creatures and their miniature world.
My son and I exchanged a long look. “Um, I think maybe, this should be our secret.” I told him.
Keep the pencil sharpened,
Shell
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Mother Nature's Cold Creation
Dear Shell,
Snow is a funny creation of Mother Nature. Snow is cold and wet, it soaks through your clothes and into your skin, until your very bones are chilled. Your nose turns red, your fingers turn white with cold. Uncontrollable shivers take over your body. You crawl under a mound of covers and lay there cursing the snow that covers your world outside the front door.
Snow can be very dangerous, especially when it turns into ice. It makes the roads so slick that people cannot keep their cars on the road. They slide into the ditches, or worse into other cars. It can take hours to travel a distance that normally takes a short time. People slip and fall going from their house to their car or vice versa. Snow and ice can be brutal, unforgiving killers.
Then there is the other aspect of this deadly creation. Snow is beautiful. It is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. The world outside the front door is covered in a blanket of sparkling white. The trees are no longer bursting with green life, instead they stand tall and proud in their winter slumber, stark limbs dusted with white. The snow brings a clean smell to the brisk air.
Monday morning, I was out at 4am, shoveling the snow off our driveway. It is not a chore I enjoy, and normally J is the one who handles it. But Monday morning, at 4am, there I was with shovel in hand, pushing the snow off the driveway and into large piles along the side. The air was crisp and clean. The snow reflected the light from the street lamps and seemed to glow around me. It was quiet in the neighborhood; everyone was asleep.
I stopped at one point and just stood in the driveway and looked around at what seemed to me at that one moment in time, to be a magical world covered in sparkling winter fairy dust.
Shell
Snow is a funny creation of Mother Nature. Snow is cold and wet, it soaks through your clothes and into your skin, until your very bones are chilled. Your nose turns red, your fingers turn white with cold. Uncontrollable shivers take over your body. You crawl under a mound of covers and lay there cursing the snow that covers your world outside the front door.
Snow can be very dangerous, especially when it turns into ice. It makes the roads so slick that people cannot keep their cars on the road. They slide into the ditches, or worse into other cars. It can take hours to travel a distance that normally takes a short time. People slip and fall going from their house to their car or vice versa. Snow and ice can be brutal, unforgiving killers.
Then there is the other aspect of this deadly creation. Snow is beautiful. It is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. The world outside the front door is covered in a blanket of sparkling white. The trees are no longer bursting with green life, instead they stand tall and proud in their winter slumber, stark limbs dusted with white. The snow brings a clean smell to the brisk air.
Monday morning, I was out at 4am, shoveling the snow off our driveway. It is not a chore I enjoy, and normally J is the one who handles it. But Monday morning, at 4am, there I was with shovel in hand, pushing the snow off the driveway and into large piles along the side. The air was crisp and clean. The snow reflected the light from the street lamps and seemed to glow around me. It was quiet in the neighborhood; everyone was asleep.
I stopped at one point and just stood in the driveway and looked around at what seemed to me at that one moment in time, to be a magical world covered in sparkling winter fairy dust.
Shell
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)