Writer's Conference

I attended the fall SCBWI-MI writer's conference this last weekend on Mackinac Island.  It was a much needed break from Matt's schedule and the kids.  I love them, but every couple years I need to get away for some peace and quiet with nobody crawling on me.  Mackinac Island was an awesome place for conference and they actually gave us lots of time off this year.  I rented a bike and biked the seven miles around the island and hiked up some of the steep hills.  No cars are allowed on the island so everyone gets around by bike or horse carriage.  The weather was cool, but pleasant, so a couple times I sat in a chair on the lawn by the lake and read a book (so now my forhead and nose are burnt).  We had great classes to go to and yummy dinners.  Halfway through these things, though, I was always get deflated.  I begin to realize that I have almost no inclination to work as hard as it's going to take to become a successful writer.  And when it comes to the promotion and business aspect of the whole thing, I begin to shudder.  I sort of feel like an intruder at these things, but it's still fun.  I sat down to dinner next to a New York Time's best seller and our chapter's co-chair and she said, "Hello, Emily, how are you?"  I wanted to ask her how in the world she knew who I was.  I guess I've been going to these things for four years now.  It's fun to reconnect with my online critique partner and hang out with people you feel like you know but only see once a year or two.  It's a fun community and very friendly.  There's no competition, so arrogance--just good folks trying to help each other.  And now I'm ready to tackle dishes, laundry, errands, and what all.  And maybe even finish the rough draft of my current book.

Quilt Along

I love creating things, but have a problem with sticking with any one thing for too long (except for cooking and baking.  I can't get enough apparently).  I'll get on a crocheting kick, then knitting, then hair bands, then something else.  The result is, I never really get good at any one thing.  The new latest crazy is sewing with the machine that has been banished to the closet for the past two and a half years.  Now that i have a couple easy projects under my belt, I think I want to try quilting.  All the quilts my grandma and mom gave me for my wedding are wearing out--literally.  They're shredded and full of holes.  I'm going to start small, with kid size quilts.  I found two online tutorials that are free.  One goes from now till Christmas at http://www.polkadotchair.com/2011/09/handmade-christmas-quilt-along.html, the other teaches a new block design once a month for a year(see side bar for the BOM button).  Anyone care to join me and share pics of quilts?  I think it would be kind of fun to learn the rest of this year and next year try and get a few people to make some for the church humanitarian aid services.

Tote Chapter Complete

Over Labor Day Weekend, Matt took the older kids camping while I stayed home with Jarom.  I needed some alone time and the weather predicted rain and I just don't camp in the rain anymore.  While Jarom napped and after he went to bed at night, I worked on the next chapter in my sewing book.  And during the first week of school, I finished the chapter (thank you nap time!).  I made a tote bag to hold a baby shower present for Matt's cousin, and I made myself a new church bag with three compartments and three pockets, and I made a soft pencil case to hold all our crayons and markers in the Sunday bag.  Now I can find what I'm looking for faster and my stuff is separate from the kids' stuff, too.

I'm seriously going to have to sit down and plan what I want to do with my alone time.  I've never been home alone with one kid and not been pregnant and in bad need of a nap myself every day.  Jarom sleeps 1 1/2-2 hours every day.  The first week of school I sewed, this week I've been wasting time mostly.  Which is great, too, but I have enough time on my hands each week now to really get something done.  Question is, what do I want to DO?  Write (which I always try to get out of)?  Read?  Sew?  Put together and edit photos?  Exercise?  What do you do with your spare time?

First Day of School

School started for us on September 6th.  Elyse is way stoked about her fifth grade teacher, Mr. Bailey.  She hasn't stopped talking about her awesome new teacher and her aweseome new class since school started.  I'm glad she's so excited, but it's a little exhausting--especially when I'm trying to coax tiny scraps of information out of Paul and Luke about their classes.  Paul started 3rd grade with a teacher I don't know anything about.  So far I've learned that he's made one new friend, who swears that they were born in the same hospital room(?).  I'm pretty sure he wasn't since I was there and I don't remember any other woman pushing next to me.  Luke has all day kindergarten with my most favorite kindergarten teacher ever.  She's been teaching this class for like 29 years and she's seen everything.  I LOVE her.  Luke doesn't seem to be adjusting so great.  He's having trouble turning in assignments and his folder.  He left a poster about himself in his backpack for three days straight until it was completely crumpled and creased.  And then I'm the only mom who forgot to have him hand in his "all about me" bag on time, so he did it a day late.  I guess we're taking a while to get into the school groove again.  I don't know how I'm going to remember everything the coming year.  I feel like my brain is gone.  I swear used to have one, but it's gone.  It's like I've got a sieve on top of my shoulders and it doesn't retain much information.  My phone helps me keep somewhat on track.  I guess I've got to start putting in kid homework in there, too.

 Paul and Luke chose matching outfits the first day of school:  jeans and this year's Deibel Reunion T-shirt

 Luke in his classroom.  1/4 of the class took preschool with him last year and he's even got three other Mormons in his class this year.  He adjusted well.  He didn't even realize I was standing in the room with him, so I kissed him and left.

 Elyse is crazy for pandas.  We saw this shirt on clearance at Target and she went nuts.  There was no question about what she was wearing the first day of school.  It's the only new shirt I bought her.

This pic is totally unrelated to school.  Matt ran his first half marathon this morning.  He wanted to come in under two hours and completed it in 1 hour and 55 min.  I'm so proud of him.  This is our third year supporting the MCVI races downtown.  Luke ran the tot trot, somehow I missed the mile run for Paul and Elyse (I felt really bad), and then we cheered Dad as he crossed the finish line.  This was the inaugural year for the half marathon so Matt got a special medal.  He also won the bobblehead for taking 3rd in his age group (first year so there was only 5 people in his age group, but I think that's still pretty awesome).