Costumes 2011: Complete!

The sewing is finished!  Here is Joci's costume... a little different from the picture but still cute.  I only hope she deigns to keep the hat on, or else the effect won't be as good.  We'll see.  That floppiness at the top is supposed to be a hat (the pink thing inside is a bandanna... her head needs all the warmth it can get).

So all I have left to do is get them some shirts to wear underneath and see if a friend has some fake plastic swords I can borrow!  I'm excited!

2011 Goal #2: Submit something for publication - Complete!

Well, as virtually all of you saw on facebook, I reached 2/3 of my goals for the year when I submitted a short story entitled "Faerie's Child" to Daily Science Fiction yesterday afternoon.  I haven't heard back from them yet, but I should within three weeks.

I'm planning on a rejection because, as I've said before, rejections are what happen.  If I get one, I'm going to print it and hang it on my wall to motivate myself to do better.  As the title character said on Castle this past Monday, "Rejection isn't failure; giving up is failure," or something like that.  It was a timely episode for me.

I'm so paranoid I just checked my email to make sure I hadn't gotten rejected while writing this blog.  Being a writer is going to be bad for my nerves.

And I can't remember if I've said this on my blog or not, but I've decided that if I can't get published professionally after a few years of trying, I'll self-publish.  That way all you people who feel bad for me can buy my stories for pity dollars which I will use to buy myself a pity Pepsi every now and then. : )

"The lies we live will always be confessed in the stories that we tell."

Orson Scott Card said that.  It both speaks to me and disturbs me.

Weight Loss Derailed

Ok, I was looking at some old pictures of Will and I on facebook today.  Look at this:

That's us in the summer of 2006, five years ago.  Now (oh, man, I really don't want to do this...) look at this:

This is us at Christmas in 2010.  There's one where you can see us a lot better, but I just can't handle putting it up.  I know they say that weight gain is a sign of a happy relationship, but this is ridiculous.  I have lost a few pounds since this picture was taken, but I am not going to reach my goal of losing a pound per week (52 pounds) this year.   You really can't tell with Will, but he's matched my weight gain almost pound for pound, it's just harder to see.  Probably because he's a guy and six feet tall.

Anyway, I'm tired of this.  I'm tired of feeling like a frumpy mom.  I'm tired of using my kids as a facebook profile picture because the ones of me are heinous.  I'm tired of being afraid of running into people I haven't seen since college.  I want to feel good about myself again.  I've let myself go since being in Utah (gained back about half the weight I lost at the beginning of the year).  It's time to recommit myself.

I recently bought a scale.  I think being able to see myself gaining or losing weight will be exactly what I need. I wish we'd bought one sooner, then I wouldn't be starting behind... again.

There are twelve weeks left in the year.  I would like to lose fifteen pounds by the end of it.  This goal scares me, but if I can accomplish it, I will have lost a total of twenty pounds in 2011.  That's not horrible.  I would like Will to participate, but I haven't asked him yet.

I will attempt to accomplish this goal by controlling how much I eat and incorporating exercise into my routine.  The exercise is going to be hard, because our place is small and my kids are underfoot.  Not to mention I'm already trying to balance writing, housekeeping, sewing, cooking, and actually being mentally present with my daughters on a regular basis.  Oh, and spending time with Will (ha ha, love you).  Anyway, if people who do all of the above plus work can make time to be healthy, so can I.  

Right?

Winner!

Ok, not exactly.  But I wanted to post that I entered my first-ever writing challenge on one of the two writing forums I frequent.  Thirteen people entered; many of them have been writing for years.  One or two are published.  The contest was to take the "trigger" and write the first 13 lines of a potential novel.  The trigger this time was the noir/hardboiled detective genre.

Guess what?  I got SECOND PLACE!  The only person who beat me is one I know has been published.  I just wanted to put up a little "yay me!" post, because I'm proud of myself.  It's nice to have a little validation... like maybe this goal of being a writer isn't completely crazy.  Maybe someday I really will be published!

We'll find out soon enough.  Within the next few days, I'll be submitting a short story to an online magazine.  I'm planning on it being rejected, because that's what happens.  But maybe it won't sting as much as it would have.

: D

Rewrite.

I'm going to let my story rest for a while, then I'm going to write it over.

Yes.  I'm going to rewrite the whole thing.  Why?  It's not working.  It's not... enough.  This story means a lot to me, and I'm not good enough to write it yet.  The manuscript has a  thousand little snarls that I can't untangle.  Not plot problems, just... oh, I don't even know how to explain it.  It's not right yet.

I care about this story, and I don't want to put it out there until it's as good as I can possibly make it.  I think this is the way to do it.

In the meantime, I'm going to revisit my first attempt at a novel.  I still think the story could be a good one, and I have a few random ideas that will make it better.  I'm not giving up my goal to submit something for publication in 2011, either.  I have a flash fiction piece (a VERY short story) in the works, and I know where I want to send it.  I will submit it by the end of the year.  I'm also toying with the idea of starting a new novel, so I feel like I'm moving forward instead of backward.  I hesitate to do this is because I don't want to feel like I'm starting, starting, starting, and never finishing.  At the same time, something fresh might renew my writing spirit.  I do have a few intriguing ideas I'd like to hammer out.  We'll see.

Costumes 2011: One down.

Here's a picture of Chaela's completed costume!  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, though I wish I'd had enough of the stripped fabric to do the whole shirt.  Oh, well.  I like it anyway.  I made a shirt, two skirts, a bandanna/head scarf thing, and a shawl for tying around the waist.  Love it.

Next up: a break.  Then Joci's.

Time to make the costumes!

If you've followed my blog for more than a year, you might know that Halloween is important to me, and the most important part is the costumes.  Not mine, my kids.

Here is a look back at the costumes I've done for the girls since Chaela's first Halloween:

2008: Medieval Princess

She went trick or treating to one house.  She didn't wear the veil.

2009: Fairy

My camera had a smudge on the lens, but you get it.  To be honest, it's my least favorite to date.

2010: "Scary" Witch and Black Cat

My ultimate favorite so far (though I'm hoping to outdo myself this year).  I wish I had a better picture.

Mostly rode in the wagon.  It was freezing last year.  There's a tail, too, you just can't see it.  I liked this, but it ended up a little too small and I kept having to pull it apart and add more fabric.

Coming Halloween 2011

Pirates!

Once again, I'm designing the girls' costumes, using patterns for select parts and inspiration.  Luckily I have a ton of fabric left over from other projects, so I'm pretty sure the only thing I'll need to buy is trim (lace and fringe).

Here are the designs and fabric (the colors don't really go in the drawings, but I only had  crayons, so bear with me):

Chaela:

Joci:

Oh, yeah!  More on these as they develop.

Dear Mom,

I'm going to take a spoon and eat all that raspberry freezer jam you left.  In fact, I may mix it with Nutella and eat nothing else for a week.  If I send you the empty container, will you send me more jam?

Your daughter,
Caitlyn

P.S. Don't forget about my offer to become rich and build you a little cottage with an enormous garden somewhere on my estate.

P.P.S. Or I guess when you get home from CO maybe you could email me the recipe, if you have time.

Love you mom!

:)

Joci's Words

Well it's been a while since I've posted an update on Joci.  At 16 months, she's in that stage where she is constantly changing, and it has a lot to do with language.

New words:

bayey!! - "Bath" (always said with at least two exclamation points, usually while trying to strip)
yah - "Yes"
Buu - "Blue's Clues" (or "I want to watch TV," it could be either)
Bye + wave - "Bye" or "I want to leave."

And possibly : Chuh - "Chaela," but that one isn't consistent, so I'm not positive.

Ok, there aren't many of those.  But though she isn't saying much, she is understanding a lot.  Here are some words/phrases that Joci knows:

Are you hungry?
Eat
Nap (or ni-night)
Bath (obviously)
Pickle
Fruit snack
Bread
Get dressed
Shoe
Blue (as in Blue's Clues)
Wait a minute
Stop
Toy
No
Go outside
Swing
Book

There are others, including family member's names, but this list is good enough.  In addition to verbal things, Joci is picking up unspoken language, like shaking her head no, pointing, waving, giving kisses, and giving hugs.

One phrase she doesn't seem to get is "come here," which can be frustrating when she's running away from me butt naked and dripping wet.  Oh, well.  In time.