Emma Weylin

Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Whoosh , and the year is almost over. It seems like 2009 just started and now we’re almost to Christmas. Where does the time go? I still need to get my Christmas shopping done.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my mother’s house. She is slowly learning that some family traditions don’t need to be upheld if no one really enjoys doing them anymore, and that creating, new, well-loved traditions are the way to go. We are slowly getting there, but it’s a slow and painful process, though she seems to be happier the more time that passes. I can’t wait to see what new and wonderful things the family will be doing on holidays in years to come.

Anyway, I think I am going to get a jump on the New Year’s resolutions and all that fun jazz.

1. I will have a clean house. I am the worst housekeeper in the world, but now that I know why my family and I have such issues with it, I know I will be able to fix the problem. Who knew people with Dyslexia had a difficult time containing clutter? Anyway, that is on the top of my list, obviously, because it’s number one.

2. I will get a list of knit and crochet projects I want to do this year and plan them out so I can get them done when I want to, like for holidays and birthdays. It will happen, I swear it. (So maybe this one should be considered better time management?)

3. I will get Phoebe reading at grade level by the time she starts 3rd grade.

4. I will get less irritated with Willow when she just wants to babble at me because she loves to talk.

5. I will fully write, edit and submit a novel by the end of 2010. No if, ands, or buts about it.

I think that’s a pretty good list for this coming year.

Of course this all comes when I am on the injured list. Really, it was the dumbest thing in the world. I went to my writer’s group (Hi Time, Hi Bill) on the 20th and I fell in the parking lot, now, before anyone tells me I should sue them, I tripped over my own two feet like a big old clumsy idiot. I landed on hard on my knees and sprained my ankle badly. I’ve been in a splint (they call it an air cast) for the last week, and I expect to be in it for the next five because I can’t seem to make myself behave and not walk on it. I do have crutches, but they get in the way and make my armpits hurt. That’s probably too much information for some, but it’s the truth. But I will get this started and I will make it all work this coming year. It’s time for me to finish growing up and become an adult. I will take the rest of the year to make my cleaning game plan, and then get it started.

I have a one shot novel in mind for the one I need to submit this year, so, hopefully, I will be able to get that all done. No, scratch that, not hopefully, I will get it done. It needs to be done, and I need to do it so that I am bring some money into this house.
I discovered how Phoebe learns, and she’s been reading little books to me for the last few weeks, so that’s well underway.

I think I need to set aside Willow babble time every day so that she had undecided mommy time to just say whatever strange and bizarre things she needs to say. I think it will be good for both of us and I think for both of them, I will start either a computer or a written diary everyday that we write together so that I know we are keeping up good communications.

As for my craft projects, well, I think that’s part of my creative outlet along with writing, so I really need to get the time management thing underway so that I am getting everything done that I want/need to get done, like house cleaning.

I know I can do this, and I will do it. I just have to do it as obsessively as I can write a first draft novel.
Sorry, no pictures today, and I think that’s all I have to say, anyway, I hope everyone had a happy turkey day, and I’ll try to update more with this thing next year.

Yesterday we went up to Butler for the county fair and Y108 Freedom Fest. Headlining for the country music fest was Keith Anderson. We, however, were there for Terry Lee Spencer and his band. My father is their keyboard player. It was cool to see my 50+ dad up there on stage playing with a band I would actually listen to on my own.


Now on to my review of the band. (note: my father is in this band, but to be fair, I am only going to look at the lead singer and the band as a whole and if I would listen to them or not.)




Terry had a wonderful, fun and energetic stage presence. The cover songs they played were good. They didn’t always match the original song, but I had a good time while listening to them. (I don’t like listening to cover music, because usually the band gets it all wrong from what I think it should sound like, but Terry and his band did wonderfully!)
Terry had a few songs that were his own original works, and this is where things can get a little sticky. Writing a song is just like writing any other kind of thing, be it a novel, short story or what have you, when someone says they need something, it can rip your guts out. The beats and music to his songs were great, and the story part of the songs were there, but, (and this is where I cringe because I know how hard this kind of criticism can hit,) he needs to work on his phrasing and make the songs run just a little smoother. I enjoyed listening to them, but I did listen with my critical, writing ear. If I were to give him any advice, it would to get himself a good rhyming dictionary and a good thesaurus. Terry and his band have a fantastic sound and I think he will go far in the country music world. His original songs need just a tiny bit of tweaking to make them truly stand out. In short, he needs to work on his writing, because the writing is what makes or breaks anything from Block Buster Movies all the way down to high school poetry. Terry Lee Spencer has talent, and I am interested to see how he progresses in the music industry.




Now on to the day’s activities with my family.




We woke at the God-awful how of 10:00AM, The humanity of it all! Yes, we all know that I am not a morning person unless it’s because I am still awake from the day before. All four of us were showered, dressed and ready to go by 11:30. It’s got to be some kind of record to have a family of four out the door in only an hour and half. The kids started asking “are we there yet” about twenty minutes into the hour long drive. So, needless to say, it was a long forty minutes. We got there and since it was about to start raining, we didn’t have to wait in line for anything. We went to see the livestock first. The kids thought the pigs, sheep and goats were really cool, especially the goats with their rectangle pupils. After that, it started to rain and the ponchos came out. We traveled around the fair before we finally met my Mother and got our tickets to get into the area with the music. Then we got some food, and looked at some more of the exhibits. We got to see ‘That bird guy.” And we got to see cougars, a bear and two timber wolves up close and personal (with a cage as a barrier.) After that we got the kids and the husband their ride all day passes for the carnival rides, because the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. I went with my mother into the music area while the hubby took the girls on a few rides. We watched the Terry Lee Spencer band perform, hung out backstage while they put the equipment away, and then it was time for the kids to whirlwind us around the fair for a barrage of greasy food and sugar loaded food, carnal rides (With me as the coat rack) and loud noise, pulse the petting zoo and stopping in a few of the tents to get a souvenir for everyone. Soon it was dinner time for more grease, and then it was back out into the carnival where they girls got to have a pony ride thanks to Papa. By this time, my seven month pregnant sister was ready to take her two-year-old home, so she and her family left. The hubby and I took the girls on some more rides, and we played some carnival games, winning a plush white tiger, a plush cobra snake and two tee-shirts for the girls. I was ready for nap, so we headed back over to the music area for the feature band, Keith Anderson. It was nice and relaxing to just sit there for about an hour and half while the girls ran in circles to keep themselves awake. When the music was done, we took the kids on two more rides and then hiked back to the car. Bugs was sleeping before we hit the highway, and Pink managed to stay awake until we pulled into the driveway. Once inside, we got the pets fed and Piggy medicated before everyone just passed out. We were all in bed by 1AM and didn’t wake until about 11:00 the next morning. It was a great family day, and the big bonus was the husband decided stay home Sunday, and if we are lucky, we’ll get him home again tomorrow along with a trip the zoo. Hopefully, I will have more adventures to report tomorrow.

Things have been really busy. Pink finished her first year of home-school – and passed! Pink and Bugs have both been enrolled for another year, which meant doctors appointments and all that fun stuff.
I got another year older, and so did the husband, and we’ve been married for one more year as well. Zeke’s hematoma on his ear is a thing of the past. And the Summer “Clean” project had begun. I have to restart my stop smoking effort, and I’ve been crocheting like mad.
This last week has been the real killer, though. Piggy, Pink’s cat, had to be rushed to the kitty ER last Sunday because his bladder had swelled shut. He’s been sick for a week and refuses to eat his cat food, so I’ve been hand feeding him baby food. He gets a little better everyday, but I still worry that he’s not okay. It will be a good day when he’s finally our Piggy again. Anyway, that’s the current update and I will be posting pictures of all my yarn projects soon.

It’s not like I really keep track of the good things he does for me, but today he was especially wonderful. I am a smoker, and in trying to quite, I have been looking at my behavioral patterns. It’s an amazing thing. If I am typing I don’t smoke, and if I have some kind of craft in my hands, I don’t smoke. Since I can’t bring my keyboard with me everywhere, my dear Hubby thought it would be a good idea for me to have some kind of yarn project with me. Be it crochet or knitting. For the house I can do my large knitting loom or machine projects, but on car trips or general days out, he thought it would be good for me to be able to take a ball of yarn and whatever tool I’d need to keep my hands and my mind busy so I don’t reach for that smoke. What makes him so wonderful about that? He bought me a stash of cool stuff today. I got a full set of crochet hooks, except the really tiny once, but they are on my list of things to get. I got a fully set of circular knitting needles and a fully set of double pointed needles (except the really small ones, 0, 00, and 000) He also got me another set of Knifty Knitter looms in another brand (My small clips to make the short loom even shorter fit on them!), since my children somehow managed to break a few of my looms. I still don’t know what they were doing to them. I also got a hairpin lace loom and two jumbo knitting needles (size 35) for my broom stick lace projects. Then of course I needed new yarn to play with all my new toys. All in all, I made out a like a bandit today, and it’s all because the hubby loves me so much. He got major bonus points today. It really is too bad I don’t keep track, or he’d be ahead of the game.

Today we did the summer shopping. I think my kids have gone mental. They literally ran circles around me and my husband in the stores we went to. I realize they need to get outside to play more, but wow, I mean really, wow. And then were we were going for the dinner was an argument and then they weren’t happy with what they picked. It’s one of those I am darned if I do and darned if I don’t situations. I hate being in them, but at least the shopping is done, and I don’t have to worry about it again until school season. I would like to try to get a chapter done tonight. It’s been a few days since I’ve done any serious writing, and I need to at least get this short story I am working on, of course it all depends on if I get phone calls or not while I am trying to write. We’ll see what happens.