Last Day of School

Tatum's third grade class about to become fourth graders







Tatum and one of her best friends, Eleanor









Tatum and Portia in the Pre-K classroom at the party








It's been an incredibly long year this year! Today was the last day of school for Tatum and Portia. I brought cakes into their classes (which combined for a "Last Day of School Party"). I now have a fourth grader and a kindergartener. I'm not looking forward to this summer in particular, only because I'll be in school Monday through Thursday and my poor babies need me. I feel so bad that I won't be able to spend too much time with them. But I'm doing this all for them--going to school so I can support us. I'm finally on my way to what I've been wanting to do for a long time.
I am glad they're out of school for the fact alone that they won't have to be stressed out for a few weeks. It's been a bumpy road the last six and a half months.
Once they're back in school I'll only have six more weeks of my school left and we can be a little more normal. I'll be working while they're in school and that works great for me. I'm looking forward to that. Every day brings me closer. :)

Love My Girls

Showing off gifts from Auntie Leah










In the backyard at the new home








Chilling in the living room at the apartment









Out with their mommy

They ARE Precious

So today there were parent/teacher conferences at my girls' school. I hate that it's only one day that we can do it but that's another story. For reasons untold, besides the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom, I had all three kids with me--9 years old, 5 years old and 2 1/2 years old. That was a challenge in itself. Anyway, I told the kids that after the conferences, I would bring them to Papa Gino's which they totally love. So we walked out of the school at ten minutes to five and it was pitch dark--I hate the time change, I hate winter. But I brought them to PG's, which Stella, who is just 2 1/2, recognized from far away, and it's not like we go there a lot. She's brilliant! ;-) Can she read?? Ha ha.
We were sitting in a booth while we waited and this father walked in with his two girls and one boy, preteens and teens, and I noticed he kept looking over at us. Stella is somewhat of a handful and quite noticeable to other people, as she has an extremely loud indoor voice and a vibrant, powerful personality, along with these facial expressions that remind me of someone who's been around for eighty years, not just two and a half years. So we labored over our breadsticks and pizza (chicken tenders for Po) and the dad who had his tweens and teens walked by with his tray of food and as he walked by our table he looked at me and he told me that my kids are precious. I smiled and thanked him. I have been having a hard time being patient with my kids and we often butt heads when it comes to our interactions, but at the same time I keep thinking, they are not going to be this little forever. I can already see it with my oldest who is QUICKLY approaching her tween years. I think I can kind of brush it off since I still have a baby of sorts, but people everywhere say that these years are the best and I keep forgetting that they really are. So I took a step back tonight when that dad, who was probably ten or fifteen years older than me, told me how wonderful they were, and I smiled at my kids and we started goofing off and the tension that I tend to hold onto when I'm with them kind of dwindled away. I need moments like that to remember how wonderful it is to have these precious little munchkins in my life, no matter how much of a hard time they might give me at times.
So, here's to you, my little ladies...

The Mess

My yarn stash has reproduced by itself and has thrown up all over my living room floor. Well, not all over the living room floor--it's in a neat little pukey pile on the floor on one side of the couch, but in my head it's a complete mess. I hate the clutter in the room and in my head but I have all these ideas of things to make and the crazy, ADD, creative person in me has all these fantastic projects started but nothing finished. On the other hand it's destroying the control-freak in me, slowly and methodically, taking over and making a huge mess. So how do I finish all these projects without losing interest? Maybe I should take some pictures of them and focus on each project. I'm at the point where I need to buy new knitting needles (yes, in the same sizes that I already have) because I have all these projects hanging off the other ones. And it would be a sad waste of money so I won't buy new ones but I am so tempted! The frugal cheapskate in me who wants a new kitchen says no! no! no! and I think she's winning. Thank goodness.
So my projects are as follows: three really cool wool earflap hats for my three cool chicas. One of them is not on needles anymore but still needs the details finished in a yarn that I don't have (surprise surprise) and can't manage to remember to buy when I'm out. It also needs to be lined in fleece which I don't have and don't really know how to do but have no fear, I will figure it out. The second of those three hats is almost finished and is hanging on three double-pointed needles but I can't find the other DPN to finish the last couple of rows. I even have a needle organizer. I should use it. The third of those hats is still a couple of balls of yarn, waiting patiently.
I have a scarf that needs three i-cords and pom-poms attached but I need two of the DPNs (double-pointed needles) that I can't seem to find to finish that too. I have a great olive scarf I'm working on that is gorgeous but it seems to go on forever! I have three other hats that I'm working on for the girls but only two are done and I can't seem to finish the toppers for them.
Then I'm working on crocheting granny squares to use up leftover yarn to make a really funky bag but I lost interest. Thankfully that's just using a crochet hook so that's easily remedied if I need the hook but sadly, I don't like to crochet that much. Not as much fun as knitting. I don't really know off hand what else I have to finish up but I know there are a few--oh, including an adorable pair of booties, only one of which is made. I'm not entirely crazy about making them.
So that's where I am today, and have been for the last couple of weeks.
I will fix this crazy situation so I can have the cleanliness and clutter-free-ness of my living room back.
Now to go take care of those kiddos...

Publishing A Book (Waiting for the Ink...)

Who knew trying to get a book published was a full-time job you don't even get paid for? Thankfully, I was kind of prepared for it. And, thankfully, I "stay-at-home" so in between feeding children, cleaning up after children, telling whining to children to stop whining, telling fighting children to stop fighting, and then feeding children again, I can sit my little patoot down and do some writing and spend some time looking for agents who might be willing to take a look at my work. I log each one that I send my query to but I've only heard back from two and they said they are not interested at this time. Ouch. But that's okay. I was prepared for this. 

I was also prepared for my printer to run out of ink but now I need to order more ink (I'm very impatient and would almost rather go to the store and buy said toner for an arm and a leg) so I can't print anymore until I get more ink. And Staples doesn't take files from a Mac and I haven't gotten a tutorial yet on how to convert my files into a PDF, so here I am waiting. More waiting. 

The reason I need to print it out (double-spaced) is so I can send it to my sister's boyfriend's aunt who has never met me but loves my sister, thus she's rooting for me, and she has connections to all kinds of people who might be able to help me. Thanks, Leah and Linda!

Otherwise, thankfully, agents accept queries, synopses and manuscripts electronically!

So this picture shows what a finished (or somewhat finished because when an editor gets their hands on it, it will look totally different) manuscript looks like. And this is my beloved laptop that accompanied me to Coffee Depot many days so I could spend some uninterrupted time writing. (Yes, that is Justin Timberlake on my wallpaper.)

So I will go back to my friend the Internet and look up yet many more agents. Meanwhile I'm waiting for the ink...

First Day of School

My baby started third grade today!

Martha's Vineyard

We visited the Vineyard last week for the end of our summer vacation. What a great way to say goodbye to summer. Although I've been there before, I usually cram everything on the island into about 24 hours. This time, I had an entire week. It was leisurely and lovely. There were a lot of things I wanted to do that we didn't get a chance to do. It's kind of hard to get everything done with three kids who mostly want to stay at home and watch movies, but still it was nice. I would have liked to see a sunset--after all, it's mostly beach and flat land. And I would have liked to go to the beach more although I worked on my tan in the backyard of the house I stayed in. 

So what did we do? Ma

tt and I were 

able to escape one night and go to Sharkey's C

antina, a Mexican restaurant. We met some 

nice locals there and struck up conversations

. Then we parked our car at the house and 

walked into town, ending t

he night with drinks at a bar. 

Me and Dad and the girls went to the beach one day. Mom and Dad's friends met up with us and spent the day with us. We went to a flea market and also went into Vineyard Haven where mom and her friend had to visit Carly Simon's store called Midnight Garden.

On Friday there were fireworks at night in Oak Bluffs, a big to-do at the end of summer on the Island. I parked myself on the Common for most of the day to secure a spot for that night. That was a pretty amazing display of fireworks and we got front row seats (or blankets). We visited the Farmer's Market in West Tisbury, apparentl

y a huge thing there, sometimes with a celebrity or two but none that I spotted.

And we walked around the shopping areas in Edgartown and Oak Bluffs, consuming lots of burgers, fish & chips, fudge and beer (not necessarily in that order). I rode my 

bike a lot--actually we all did, except for mom and Stella. 

A good time was had by all. Enjoy some pictures.