We're Movin' on Up!

To the East side. With a deluxe apartment in the sky-y-y!

We found out this past Thursday that our landlord finally sold our humble abode. (Seriously humble. So humble, we're wondering why someone even bought it!) This revelation is good and bad. It is good because we wouldn't mind living in a nicer place with things like level floors, fewer slugs, and most of all, doors! This is bad because we don't want to pay the rent it typically takes to have level floors, fewer slugs, and doors.

Anyway, I took off work on Friday and we looked at a billion apartments. Finally, late in the day when all hope was lost, we found one that we both fell in love with, which says a lot about this apartment community because we were both dreading apartment dwelling.

Saturday, we put a deposit down and tomorrow we sign the lease and get our keys! We'll be moving stuff all week, but the big moving day is Thursday. I'll send out the new address to everyone soon.

Meanwhile...school starts tomorrow as does one of the courses I'm taking.

Bring it on!

Six Days!

Well, six days to go until school begins. Where am I? Well, I'm almost solidly through chapter 4 of a 9 chapter book I'm editing/ghost writing for a friend. I've got about 300 more pages left in book five of Harry Potter. I haven't yet begun working on my syllabus for my two sections of Advanced Composition, but I know what I'm doing. I've got 5 good poems ready to go into workshop for the fall. I've got all of the books I need for my Form and Theory of Short Fiction class checked out from the library. And, I've worked out what my schedule will look like with the 3 W's: work, working out, and writing. I'm feeling on top of things as long as I continue to work hard this week.

Lazy Days of Summer

Well, I guess that you can surmise that my desk job that sat me in front of the computer for four hours a day has ended, hence, the lackadaisical keeping up with the blog. This is much harder to do from home for some reason. Maybe because there are 500 other things that need my attention here and at work, well, there was very little.

So, there's one more week left until school begins. I am looking forward to getting into the grind again. On the order for this semester are the following: teaching two sections of Advanced Composition for, what feels like, the hundredth time; taking a poetry workshop and a form and theory of the short story. I'm looking forward to both.

In addition to this, I'll be working part-time for Thea at the flower shop; maintaining a regular workout schedule; writing and sending off work to literary magazines; reading lit mags to keep up on what's being published; maintaining my wifehoodness; and being an active-as-possible member at Vintage; and, of course, blogging.


Monday was my last day at the Quality Writing Center. Monday was also the first day of summer, technically, for those in summer school. No classes. So, I took down and installed 33 computers in our department. This was a hefty job, and I didn't think, nor did my boss think, that I was going to be able to get through them all in one day. About halfway through, I thought to myself, I don't think I'm going to make it. But, then, I found it. Internet Radio! My second wind! 80's alternative! You play the Cure, Adam Ant, Siouxie and the Banshees, Oingo Boingo, Pseudo Echo, the Go Go's and I can work til I drop! So, maybe you're like me. Maybe you have a hard time getting things done because you run out of steam. Maybe you grew up in the 80's and have a special place in your heart for TRUE alternative music. If so, I have two words to help get you through your work day: Live 365. (Okay, one word and a number.)

On Wednesday, hubby and I took a day retreat to Branson, MO. We hit the road in the morning and headed to White Water water park. They've got about five or six different water slides, a wave pool (which I think at one point was contaminated by a child--at any rate I saw lifeguards diving to the bottom of the pool with gloves on), and a lazy river. We had a blast. We quickly found our two favorite water slides and repeatedly knocked small children out of the way and stole inner tubes to get to the top of the line. Not really, but, we should have. White Water also has a really creative kids water park that hubby and I will definitely take our children to once we produce them.This weekend, our buddy Ash is coming up for a canoe trip. We're finally breaking in the canoe! Right now the rivers are low, but we're hoping we get more rain today so we can hit the Mulberry tomorrow morning. Otherwise, wherever we go, we'll be dragging our boats along as they hit bottom, which is no fun. Today, we're taking our friend Luke to lunch before he leaves us to return to Mizzou for another year of college.

All We Need Is A Miracle!

Those of you who are prayin' folk, please, please, please, pray for our church, Vintage. We have been looking for a new building for awhile now and currently meet in a punk-rock music hall and before that, a mall movie theater. Well, our search has now been given a deadline. The music hall we meet in is closing its doors permanently, and very soon. While we certainly have an established church, we now just need a building to meet in. So, please pray if you pray, wish if you wish, keep us in your thoughts...Thanks.

Babies, Babies, and More Babies!

Simmer, simmer! I promise you that it will not be via blog that you find out we're pregnant. Unless of course I don't talk to you too often, then, well... (Please don't misread here. I assure you I am not pregnant.)

Meet Annabel. Curly-headed, blue-eyed bundle of energy! Knows exactly how to push her sisters buttons. I chased her around the house naked trying to get her swimsuit on, which only consisted of a swimming diaper, so really, that's a little sad that I had such trouble with it.

Their parents, Tandi and Johnathon, were spending the day moving into a new house. So, hubby and I asked if we could play parents for the afternoon. The girls and I started our day lounging in the baby pool. We three sat around staring at each other until I discovered that both ladies loved being lifted high and then body slammed, mockingly, into the water. I also taught Elizabeth, the 5 year old, how to squirt her sister by cupping her hands together with a little bit of water in between her palms and then squeezing them together--something hubby taught me. Afterall, what are friends for but to teach your children to terrorize each other?

Then, we all came inside, had some snacks, and made a pallet of blankets on the floor so we could watch Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. We treated them to the original version with the creepy, Gene Wilder. Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker! Another favor, no doubt, to the parents.

After several attempts at a nap, and two hours later, we decided that perhaps the girls needed to spend more energy. So, we took a short walk to Walker Park where there is a lovely sand pit and jungle gym, in the sun. In the hot, hot sun. We let them play for about 10 minutes then we began to worry that we were going to give them a heat stroke. So, we packed up and carried the kids back to the house. I now know what my hips are for and hubby, poor, poor hubby now knows the true burn of upper body pain.

After we replenished them with much water, Tandi called to tell me I could bring them home. While I enjoyed every minute of my time with Lizzy and Annabel, this experience really helped hubby and I figure out a few of things.

1.) You cannot raise kids and drive a two-door Honda Civic. (And, I love my car so this is a real dilemma!)

2.) At most, we can probably manage 1 child until that child is old enough to take care of the basics (dressing, bathing, not killing themselves with everyday household objects, helping to take care of another child, etc.) and then we'll adopt one more child.

3.) Cats and children don't always get along.

4.) Hotdog bits will end up in the strangest of places.

5.) Remote controls go to their dying place when children are around. (Tandi, by any chance was there a remote in the diaper bag?)

Keeper of the Melon

Free Men and Games

Last week, we invited a couple of the Freeman boys over to play games. The Freemans are a family we know from church and me and hubby often show up on their doorstep to be fed like strays. Thankfully, they are a giving family! Those of you who attended our wedding met Madelyn Freeman, our lovely flower girl.

Anyway, last Wednesday, Luke and Joel came over to eat Thai food and play Thurn and Taxis, a game about postal routes. Believe it or not, it's a lot more fun than it sounds, as most strategy games based losely on history.

It was my first time to play Thurn and Taxis and I think a good time was had by all, especially me because I won. Yep. I did. I beat hubby by 1 point. Now that's a good game!

In other news, hubby is starting a book club in the fall and we have our first meeting Sunday after church. He has put together a darn good list that hosts a plethera of attributes such as cultural diversity, social commentary, thought provoking genres, and sheer literary genius. The only thing it lacks? Poetry. But, I do understand that that is another club all on its own (where the people are typically much grumpier.)

Fodder

For the past couple of weeks, I've been taking the advice of a friend and getting up at 6am to write before going to work. The alarm goes off. I groggily kick the covers off my legs, and get up from where my hubby lies still in his sleep. I stretch noiselessly, stumble to the kitchen, and brew myself a small pot of coffee, French pressed— a gift from the wedding registry! Then, I trip over a cat or two and plop myself in front of the computer for the next hour and 15 minutes. I'd like to get more writing in, but I don't think I can stand to get up any earlier.

Most of the days, I’ve got something brewing. And, by something brewing, I mean, I take a poem I’ve already written and re-write it. When the page is blank, this method of getting started works like jumper cables—pumping a lifeless battery full of purpose.

Other mornings, I have to deal with the blank page. That was this morning. Needless to say, this morning I had an extra cup of coffee, and spent a lot of time reading other writers to get going (they can act like jumper cables too—I realized that I was heading down a healthier path as a writer when reading good poems inspired me instead of depressed me.) Then, every once in awhile when something stirred in my cob-webbed head, I would write it down—or type it in since I use the computer for composing. By 7am, I had a page. Albeit, the page was skeletal--only half thoughts, some pretty language, and some duds filled the space.

By the time I got to the second page, my next poem idea decided to show itself. Writing is a strange beast. If I sit down to write with an idea, almost always the poem is horrible, trite, and forced. But, if I sit down and just listen, and wait, and wait, and drink lots of caffeine, and wait, and remember to pray, and wait, the sounds turn into words and the words turn into sentences and the sentences turn into ideas and then, a poem is born.


Not that I would tell many people in my writing program this, but I have taken a sabbatical for the past year. I’ve had more pressing and important things to think about, namely becoming a Christian and a wife. And out of this experience, I’ve realized that writing is not the center of my life any more. It’s not the only thing I have going for me.

However, with this nugget of wisdom realized, something interesting has happened to my relationship with writing. I can’t help but take in how good it feels later in the evening when I think about writing and why I haven’t done it, the time of day where I begin to let that stampede of guilt run me over, and I remember, wait! I did it. I did it this morning. I got up, brewed some French pressed, and wrote, and yes, it might have been lousy writing, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is I feel like I’m doing what I should be doing. I’m letting this small part of my life play its part. I’m letting one gift I’ve been given thrive.

And, while writing does not consume the whole of my life, nor even define who I am, it is certainly something I should be doing based on the contentment I feel when I’m doing it and after I’ve done it. This is the time of my life when I should really embrace this gift. This is the time I’ve been given to sit down and think through this writing stuff, how it fits in my life, how to develop some good habits, and to make some dedicated, literary friends. This is a time in my life where I don’t have to get up with kids or really worry about work and how awesome is that? This is a time in my life where getting up to stare at a blank page at 6am is a beautiful thing, and yet encouragingly, not the only thing.