A mother's ramblings

     I am wondering if TV is as bad as they say. They say no tv at all under two. Well, my daughter loves sesame street. She won't watch anything else. Elmo gets up and dances, she gets up and dances. The "Count" counts, she counts. Abby sings, she babbles along. So how could something that is helping her learn be bad?
     Let me also say that I don't just plop her in front of the tv and say, "watch!". I have toys everywhere and am always playing, reading, and having fun with my girls. I get up and dance with Elmo, help her keep beat, count, and say her ABCs, she is up to G. :)
     So I think TV is all how you use it. If you're using it to babysit your child, something is wrong there, but using it as a way to get exercise on a hot day outside, and using it to sing, dance, and learn can't be bad.
     I think some shows are Superior to others in this way. Obviously Sesame street is a great show, or it wouldn't have lasted 42 years. I watched it when I was a kid, and learned a lot from it from what I remember. Some shows, such as Dora and Blue's Clues are also great for learning, and some aren't. Spongebob isn't exactly learning.
     Most of the time the TV is background noise for us. Unless it's Elmo. I think there is nothing wrong with thirty minutes of educational tv. I know when Caelin was Belle's age, she wasn't allowed to watch TV, because all I had read. With your next kid, you're always a little different. A little less stressed, a little more lenient, and a lot more knowledgeable. Izzy didn't scare me like Cae did. I knew what to do. I can't wait to have more adventures today with my girls!
     Mothering is NOT the most difficult job, as many say. My husband works 50+ hours a week in the hot sun, busting his butt in construction for not enough money. He works harder. However, when he gets home he RELAXES, something this mom never does. I don't stop running around, changing diapers, feeding, cleaning, cooking, playing, teaching or entertaining. It is a lot harder than you think. It is the longest, most demanding job. I work 18 hour days with no pay. However, there is the reward of realizing you're raising smart, amazing girls. Which is priceless. 
     As Caelin talks up a storm and points things out in her books, I realize it's me that taught her that. She is ahead of her age group because I've read to her twice a day everyday of her life, and I continue this with her and Belle now. It's because I talk to her like a regular person, not a baby, that she knows so many words. I am proud of them, and myself, and also their amazing daddy, the rock of the family.
     So a little TV is A OK with this mommy. I think Mommy always knows best.
     Just some ramblings of a full time mom. :)s

Part of my new story

Well I have finished my novel and sent it in, hoping for the best and expecting the worst, like always. While waiting for them to send me either a rejection or acceptance letter, I'm working on my short story, Tiger Story (NOT the actual title, just a working title). It'll be about 100 pages I'm thinking, and I'll try to get that up on a good site for those. Here's a couple pages for you all. :) After I finish this and try to get it up, I'll be working on a vampire love story. So give me thoughts, opinions etc. It's a work in progress and I love constructive criticism! I still have a lot of growing to do on writing.

     The ship tossed and turned, the waves crashing insanely. She tossed back and forth in the ship, her body smacking every wall. Her family cried out for her, her strong dad screaming, tears falling down his bright golden eyes. Alexandria struggled to grab a hold of her father's hands, for once her reassuring him, which was so odd, he was always the comforter of the family.

     Alexandria was tossed around as she struggled to crawl to her father, her long nails digging into the wood of the ship's floor for stability. She slipped, however, and her father's big, rough hand came to grab hers. He pulled as hard as he could, but couldn't hold on for the water made them all slippery.

     “Alex!” He screamed, and she cried out.

     “Daddy!”
     “Hold on baby girl!” He screamed and she held on with two hands as the ship started to tip over.

     The sky was pitch black, all the lights had all gone out and they didn't even have the moon to look at. It was almost impossible to see, but Alexandria could see relatively well, and her father could see almost perfectly. A family trait. Her mother, however was blinded, and Alex and her dad tried to get to her.

     “Mom!” Alex screamed, finally seeing her hanging on to a rail on the ship for dear life, looking frightened. They came to her, hugging her tightly.

     “I love you.” Her mom said to both of them, and they nodded, as Alexandria was about to say it back she was sent careening back over to the end of the ship.

     She hung on to the rails, dangling only inches above the dark, crashing waves of the water. She screamed her parents names, struggling to be heard over the water. Her heart exploded as she realized this may be the last moment of her short life. She quickly started to pray in a hushed whisper.

     “Please Lord, keep them safe.” She whispered, shivering as water crashed on her over and over, soaking her clothes, and there was no warmth to be had.

     Finally the ship tossed her overboard, and she struggled to swim, something nobody but her mother in her family had ever been good at. She felt the water go in her lungs and coughed it up, treading water and trying to get her head above water at least.

     “Mom! Dad!” She screamed, squinting and looking for their forms as the ships sunk.

     The waves kept dragging her under and she swam quickly, struggling to find something to hold onto as she felt herself lose consciousness. She found a board and held onto it, laying on her stomach and struggling to hang on to it as the water tossed it about. The salt water stung her eyes like crazy, but she still managed to scream for her parents until she could no longer shout.

     The waves tossed her and her board around, and she repeatedly coughed up water, the water making her feel full and sick until she made herself throw it up. She wasn't about to have her lungs full so she'd sink. She had to save her parents.

     She took several shaky breaths, leaning up and shivering, every inch of her covered in goosebumps. Her clothes stuck to her, as did her now frozen hair. She sat up on the board, looking for something, anything. In the distance she could see land, just some sand and a palm tree.

     “Land!” She cried softly, and got back on her belly, struggling to swim with the board. The board held her back, however, and she realized that she'd have to swim on her own. She jumped off her only protection, and tried her best to doggie paddle, the only swimming she'd been good at. She hoped her parents had life jackets.

     She kept swimming, pushing even as the waves jostled her and made her cough. She would get there, she had to. She wasn't supposed to die yet.

     When she finally closed in on the land she was out of breath, her whole body cramping. She tried not to think about it, pushing herself further and further until she could see the land finally, see the trees and the rocks and even a fire. She smiled, thinking of the warmth it would bring.

     Then she saw it, a tiger, growling right at her. It was beautiful in a majestic way, clearly a Bengal tiger, a fully grown male. Great, just perfect, either drown or get eaten by a tiger. What sort of bad karma was she having?

     She took a deep breath, and decided a moment of warmth on land was worth a potential mauling. She kept swimming for the land, and when she finally made it she crawled her way toward the fire, the tiger simply sitting there in a defensive crouch, not growling but watching, with amazingly curious golden eyes.

     Alex sighed, crawling toward the fire and laying down. The tiger still made no move. She coughed up salt water, hoping that as long as she left it alone he wouldn't maul her. She took off her clothes quickly, knowing she'd get pneumonia if she didn't. She sighed, putting them on a log by the warmth, then sitting up, rubbing her wet, aching body and sighing at the feeling of her muscles loosening up.

     The tiger growled and she gasped, looking to it. It appeared to be stretching or something, and she gulped.

“It's okay boy, I won't hurt you.” She said soothingly, the her voice was scratchy. The tiger merely whined, and she sighed, coughing up more water. “I love cats. Don't worry.” She said with a smile and he looked away. What an odd day it had been, losing her parents, the ship, almost drowning, and now she was sitting here talking to a very snobby Bengal tiger that could easily kill her.

     And she was sitting by a man made fire. How odd. Maybe there was human life on this Island? Unless the tiger made it. She managed a laugh at that, which made the tiger growl, and she gulped, quieting down and laying on the sand, wiggling her toes for the warmth, her aching body throbbing everywhere, then tingling until it went numb.

     She sighed, smiling. Finally the pain was gone. She would search the Island tomorrow, look for her parents or any people that could help her. She rolled over onto her back, looking at the tiger who was closer and staring at her in wonder.

     She chuckled, sure the salt water had gotten her high or something. “A perv tiger, just my luck.” She said with a giggle and it quickly growled, snarling and showing huge white teeth. She gulped, curling into a fetal position, wishing her body could move. “I-I'm sorry, just a joke.” She managed, feeling like an idiot, and it snarled, stalking away.

     She let out a held breath, shaking her head in confusion. What an odd encounter that had been. She wished she had a camera or something. She quickly fell into a deep slumber, heedless of her nakedness, her only worry her parents.

Cover

Here are some pictures I've made and edited. Which one do you all like better?

So a gothic sort of picture, then a earthy one and finally a red one. These are my ideas for covers so I'd love to hear who likes what!

Exhaustion

Well I have some awesome ideas brewing for my book, gonna edit some things out and change some things. Also, I have been thinking of a sequel, of course I need to finish this first but I am brainstorming! Lots of webs, charts and lists on paper scattered across my desk. I think I just made up with one of my old friends so that is something. Night all! Will hopefully get some writing done tomorrow. I am running off of fumes and coffee at this point. The girls were up at 8, went to bed at 9 then up at 2 so I'm wiped. I will post a chapter up soon!

time

So I find it's pretty hard to find the time to write with my little girl screaming, climbing up me, pulling my shirt off and smacking me. My littlest one however, is playing with toys and being awesome. I always couldn't wait for my first one to roll over, crawl, walk etc. Now with my LO I don't care how long it takes! lol they're so much easier when they're little. But I love Caelin's age too. She's just a sponge! I'll be happy though when she can go play on her own and I don't have to be a jungle gym quite so often. Then again, I'll be sad when I can't be her jungle gym. So I guess I just wish they'd stay little forever! So then they'll never leave m. Just aq mommy's ramblings! Will write sometime soon!

My main characters

So I've read a good exercise to get to know your characters is to interview them! First, I'll tell you a little about my 3 main characters.


Connor- A pirate, dark, tall, handsome, very trouble, unable to show emotions, smart, rugged, doesn't believe in love and thinks it just ruins people.


Catie- A sweet girl who is very smart and talented, abused horribly by her parents, and has one of the roughest lives, but she still manages to break through and still be a genuinely good human, madly obsessed with pirates of course.


Michael- Seemingly perfect doctor, with a slight unknown dark side, handsome, smart, rich of course.


Of course this doesn't really describe them all the way, I don't want to give the whole story away so I can't get too into them. But I can interview them and get to know them better. It's so interesting how characters start to take a life of their own! So next blog should be an interview with Catie, who I'd like to get to know better. Then I'll post an excerpt from my book so you all can get a feel for it. I'm almost done editing it and hopefully it will be out soon! You all will be the first to know. 
For now, I've come up with actors that to me would fit my image in my head of what they look like. So check it out, they're all good looking of course! :) 
Night all, see you tomorrow, and follow me if you like!

Hello!

So I have decided to start a new blog since I have changed so much in the past couple of years. Two babies, losing my daddy, two major moves and an event that tried my 6 year relationship have changed me. I recently tried to be friends with people I had been friends with years ago, and kept hearing how much I'd changed. Most of those friends hadn't changed, and it was pretty depressing that we just weren't on the same page anymore. Sometimes you grow up and others don't, and you want that friendship but it doesn't stick. I'm rambling, like usual. You'll notice that alot. I am a stay at home mommy, and I love it! My girls are a year and a day apart. It's a lot of work! Plus trying to work out an hour a day and cooking, cleaning (which never gets done) and trying to look half way decent every day keeps me very busy. I do write, however, I recently got over a 1 year writer's block! So now I'm editing my book and hopefully going to have it published soon. So follow me if you'd like. :) If you have a book you'd like me to review I'd gladly do it, I love to read as it always gives me new inspiration. I'll let everyone on here know when I am putting my book out!