Happy New Year!

My baby is refusing to be born.  She's due on Monday, in her defense, but my daughter was born at 37 weeks so I already feel 3 weeks overdue.  I've tried all the self-inducing tricks, I ate two full pineapples, I'm taking walks constantly, I drink raspberry tea leaf all day, the doc did some membrane stripping on Monday (ouch), tried sex, I even pumped for 15 minutes today….nothin.  And when I say nothing, I mean barely any contractions and no other signs that this little girl wants to be anywhere but inside her warm and cozy uterus.  She needs to get moving soon or she's going to miss the visitors that drove all the way from PA to meet her.

I was swamped with jewelry orders last month, along with busy things going on at work and preparations for the holidays and this baby's arrival.  I've still been editing, but I didn't meet my goal of finishing this round of edits before the new year.  I got close, only 100 pages left, give or take a few, but I'm at the area of the book that needed the most improvement.  Some days I'll read the book and think 'this is exactly what I hoped it'd be' and other days I feel like it's awful.  It'll get done.  Right now I just feel like I'm in limbo…I keep expecting to go into labor, and when I don't, I over think how many things can go wrong, or how bad it's going to hurt, or how much sleep I'm not going to get in the next 6 months (wishful thinking).  Then my mind finds some peace and confidence for a minute or two, then she still doesn't come and it all starts again.  I wonder what stage I'll be at when I actually go into labor. If I ever go into labor.

Did I mention we call her Peanut Butter?  As goofy as it sounds, I'll probably start calling the two of them PB & J once she's here.

Today we took J and grandparents to the park.

Now I'm going to get ready to go grocery shopping and walk around a track (maybe hop a bit) to try and coax PB out while the husband goes to the gym.

I can't wait to be able to get real exercise again.  I miss going for runs (ones where my legs don't feel like they're carrying 50 lb weights) and feeling active.  I'm so sluggish and off balance.  

Ughh….any day now, please.

Weekends are the best.

Our friend from Louisiana is visiting us this weekend.  He's one of the three people that read my manuscript for feedback.  He's also the only of the three who isn't related to me, so I really valued his opinion.  Knowing he was coming to visit, I kept telling my husband that I was really worried he'd get drunk and tell me he hated my book.  After reading it, he told me he really enjoyed it and gave me really positive feedback, along with good suggestions.  So knowing he's also the type of guy who is very complimentary and gentleman like, I obviously always wondered if he was just trying to be nice and when the truth would come out.  So last night...after dinner at an amazing German restaurant called Haus Murphy's where my husband and our friend each drank two ENOURMOUS beers

(I'm pregnant, so I'm the designated driver, of course...we couldn't have our toddler drive, duh)

I worried that this would be the time our friend would start telling me the truth about the book.  It did come up...and he brought it up...but the conversation was actually extremely favorable.  He asked what I'm doing with it, so I told him some of the changes I've made and the editing I'm still doing, then he proceeded to tell me what he liked about it the best (after saying 'I like all of it, but this is what I liked the best...').  So even his drunken uninhibited opinion is positive.  Hurray!  And that seriously makes me very happy and reinforces the confidence I've built already in regards to the manuscript. 
I have been lazy about the second round of editing.  I did get done doing the written edits on the manuscript, and now I'm onto the second round of actually writing the changes into the manuscript on Scrivener.  I've fallen behind though, and if I want to finish it before the end of the year, I need to have a bit more discipline.

Otherwise...I've had a fun few days of getting my Christmas gifts really early..one is a Gardenmaster Nesco Dehydrator and the other is a Basis B1 watch.  I'm loving both gifts a lot.  Already dehydrated a batch of strawberries, apples, and bananas and I've been burning around 2700 calories or more per day (I'm pregnant, and trying to stay active), and my heart rate is usually in the 90s (also gonna say that's from the pregnancy).

And just now, I made a batch of no bake cookies. 

I'm going to dehydrate another batch of stuff soon (more apples...they're awesome...zucchini and green beans). 

My domestic streak is in full force...nesting again?  Also, the husband and friend are at the Cardinals game right now so I'm enjoying some mostly alone time (little girl just got up from her nap though, so now it's time to feed her a delicious cookie).

Wish weekends could last longer...just an extra day or so.

Happy Halloween

So I've still been editing. I wanted to try and get this first phase of it done by the end of today, but I'm still about 20 pages from reaching that goal...not bad, all things considered. And I'm REALLY feeling good about the manuscript. I had a good 50 or so pages there where I was cringing with every other paragraph, but the last 30 have been my favorite so far...and they give me that kind of hope and optimism that if I polish up the other rough spots, I'll have something I can really be proud of.

After I finish this round of editing and writing it up in the actual manuscript, I will start querying again. I don't think I'll edit it again at that point until I get an agent (I guess 'unless' is a more appropriate word, but I want to stay positive).

While I'm querying, I'm going to come up with a realistic timeline and outline of my next book (not the sequel to this one, unfortunately, but the next idea I have...since it's something I'm really excited to try and write). If I end up getting this current manuscript represented AND sold (oh my god...the amount of happiness that'd give me could probably inspire world peace), I'd go back to writing the sequels to this series. So if I want to remain optimistic, I should really aim to start this next project at the same time I start querying for agents again. I know from past experience that I absolutely need to write at least 5 days per week if I want to write the thing from start to finish, but I will have a new baby, so I don't know how realistic that will be. I just have to remember that I wrote this current manuscript while I was still in school, moving across the country, and selling our house in PA. I'll probably wait until the baby is born to start the project, even if I do get done editing this beforehand (that's unlikely though).

So to reiterate, before the end of this unlucky year I hope to finish polishing up this current manuscript...gotta stick to a schedule, but I think it's an achievable goal. Then let's hope 2014 is my lucky year. Any year without a '13' in it is okay in my book.


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Trying to get back into it...

I'm really having trouble juggling my responsibilities with the amount of time I have (it feels like none). I'm in my third trimester, I'm uncomfortable and tired and excited to have this baby. We got her room together, which is exciting. J got a real toddler bed and her old bed was converted back to a crib. I washed a huge load of clothes from when J was an infant (this little girl, we'll call her A, will have enough to wear a new outfit everyday for a month with just that load of laundry). I washed the cover to my 'Brest Friend' pillow (awesome way to breastfeed a baby...just wait, you're going to hear a TON of stuff about breastfeeding soon...when I breastfed J for 14 months it was sort of an obsession for me, I'm kind of a crazy person when it comes to whether someone should breastfeed if they are able to).

Anyway...I got a little sidetracked...the reason I'm writing today (finally) is because I'm trying to make myself accountable (again) and I really want to finish editing the manuscript before the end of 2013. I hate the number 13...so it's only appropriate that I get this cleaned up and have a fresh start with it in 2014. I'm also due to have A on 1/6/14 so I know I really won't have any time to do this part of it after she's here. So one of the things I'd like to be able to focus on after she's here is working again on the query letter and getting it out to agents.

I also started using a new app to edit the pdf version of my full manuscript (after I make my notes, I'll move over to my light Asus laptop so I can work side by side with the pdf in Scrivener....Scrivener, if you could release an app for your program in the next couple of weeks, I'd be SOO grateful). The new app I'm using is Notability...which is AWESOME. My all time favorite app to date. You can add photos, pdfs, AUDIO notes, handwritten notes etc. AND it syncs between iPhone and iPad AUTOMATICALLY....it's incredible. Below is a note I made about the schedule I'd like to follow in order to get this manuscript edited and finished up.

We'll see how I do!




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Disneyland Day One

We got out to Anaheim today around 4:30 and decided (last minute) to make the trek over to Disney today instead of just losing the third day we got with our three day pass (thank you military discount...we got a great price on two three day passes...our girl was free because she doesn't turn three until Monday...hurray!).

The walk around the park was okay, but Disneyland was closed and we were stuck sharing the only open park (California Adventure) with everyone who was in Disneyland. It was packed, but we still had an okay time. Our kid only freaked out in one line, so we took her out of it and she was good (for the most part) for the rest of the time there. Don't get me wrong, we were only in the park for about two hours, so that's not really saying much, but we got a small taste of what's to come. I'm SOOOO glad I brought our stroller. Husband didn't want to, but after thinking about it and researching it, I put my foot down and we were both happy to have it. There's a LOT of walking...not even in the park, but the distance between the parking lot to the actual park is substantial. She'd have never made it.

So ... so far so good. Wish us luck for a full day.






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Location:Garden Grove Blvd,Garden Grove,United States

Lots of Jewelry

I'm feeling confident about all the jewelry I've had to make and have ready before the end of this week. I got my first experience with the white bronze clay from Hadar. I was, at first, most nervous about the process it would take from powder to clay (which is something I have to do by adding filtered water until I have a consistency I like). I was super impressed with how easy the clay was to work with, but I wasn't super impressed with out it dried. There were a couple of cracks in the dried form, but the stability of the finished piece was still satisfactory. I will have to keep experimenting with it to see why it did that to me (it isn't something I've seen other people experience yet...and I've read every blog I could find on the stuff). One of the consistent issues I saw people have didn't happen until after they fired their pieces. Apparently getting the clay to sinter properly is the biggest problem. Luckily, I didn't actually start using the stuff until almost 2 years after Hadar first introduced it, so I benefited from every other user's trial and error and got the firing right on the first try (I was SO worried about this after reading everyone's horror stories). I just followed the instructions provided by Hadar (raised the temperature slightly from the suggested 1275 to 1290, since the consistent issues I read about involved the pieces not sintering, rather than overfiring). And, like I said, my pieces turned out great. I fired 4 keychains shaped in the dog tag style:






After finishing those, I made my 6 silver charms. One of which is a custom order. The customer wanted footprints on both the front and back of a charm and I gladly accepted the order (I made a front and back charm about 8 months ago, the front was a butterfly and the back was the fingerprint of a little girl--that charm turned out great). So the way I did it was:

Made one side (footprints and the initial of the owner of those feet), let that side dry, realized I could have just made the other side at the same time, so I made the second side (separately) and let that dry as well. When they were both dry and sanded down, I used some silver paste on the insides of each piece and sort of glued them together that way. I then let that dry again and sanded it even more...fired the joined pieces in my kiln so they'd become one silver piece and this is how it turned out:

Side One:


Side Two:



And it's like a little silver medallion, which I love. I am totally doing this for myself after baby girl #2 is born. I CAN'T wait for all the jewelry I can finally make after she's born...I'm saving a lot of things because I want to make sure I'm done having babies before I make them. Like my book charm:








Okay...that's enough jewelry talk for one day.

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Fall Days...I'm missing out

We've been here in Phoenix for a month shy of a year and this is the only time I'm really wishing I were in PA.  I miss Fall...I LOVE Fall.  Like LOVE.  I know we'll get cooler weather soon, but it just isn't the same.  It's making me really look forward to the trip I'm taking back to PA in a couple of weeks.  Fall will be in full force then.  Maybe I should laminate a couple of colorful leaves to bring back and hang on the walls of my house in the desert.

We're watching the Steelers game, which is probably what's triggering this strong desire for Fall weather.  It also inspired me to get a head start on some of the insane amount of jewelry I have to make today.  I used to knit or crochet through entire seasons of football, but since I started the jewelry shop I haven't picked up a piece of yarn, which I'm okay with...I'm much better at making jewelry than I am at making blankets.  Plus, I like seeing results in days rather than weeks or months.  So I made a few of the stamps I need from images of fingerprints and footprints and they're all ready now to be pressed into clay.  I have 6 necklaces to make today and 4 keychains.  That's a lot.  It's just going to be the metal clay part, I'll sand them and fire them over the next couple of days, then make the chains and such on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.  We're driving to California Thursday afternoon, so I have to have all of these orders ready by then, otherwise I'd be able to spread it out a little longer.  With the trip this week, followed almost immediately by my trip to PA, I'm going to be really rushed on orders...Eh, it's worth it...I'll get time to relax with my family, least I can do is work extra hard while I'm here, and I'll make sure to do it after the little girl goes to bed, so I won't miss family time here either.

Speaking of her, gotta go get lunch ready.