Chit chat

Geez, I've neglected my blog...my writing, even though I'd up to my ears in what I've written the past few weeks. Feel like I'm drowning...then in my advance assessment class we're told if we want to be writers that we must write & do so every day. Right - in between reports for work, papers for school, dictations for Ms. Grace (really- that's no chore at all) & writing away my money to other folks so I can talk, type, drive, eat and sleep. :o) I'm doing a whole lot of writing these days. And Gracie heard somewhere about a dream journal...nice, except she hasn't been able to remember any dreams and doesn't want to be bothered by it as soon as she wakes up.

Well, my house is really clean & my laundry is almost caught up. I did a bit of scrapbooking today or supervising...scaffolding Ms. Gracie's creative streak. Nice. Actually, her pages are great with a shabby chic appeal with heavy emphasis on the shabby. :o) To be quite honest, after a full day of typing yesterday, I was glad for the break when she said "Hey, mom. Let's do something together, k?" Sure - I was thinking Pretty Princess game or reading some books, but she said scrapbooking before I could suggest or guess. Ok - now, mind you...I have a small, yet cozy- cozy, place that really doesn't work well for scrapbooking - you know, get it all out so you can lay it all out and go on with your bad creative self. No, not here. Here you must clean as you go scrap. Bummer...it's time to clean it up before I really even get organized to get anything on the paper. Imagine scrapping on the coffee table -yes, that's us.

Anyway, she wanted to scrap and like I said, anything was a welcome break from the keyboard - baseboards cleaned, cabinets organized, papers sorted...yanno. She with a bit of help from "we" finished two pages and I sorted some of my most pretty-FULL paper.

My brother's coming tonight...I should be in bed already. We leave for vocal rehearsal at 6:50 AM - when it's DARK outside. Geez...like I needed or had time to bake an apple pie tonight. It'll be 11-12 before he even gets in, yet I must bake an apple pie. I don't even know if he likes apple pie - if that tells you anything. He's been driving forever...well, since Lafayette, LA. South for sure. He's made stops at dad's & Tracy, which is really cool. Let's talk about restoration...

Ok - this is going nowhere and I still have writing to do and not facebook writing.

Just to get this out of my head & down in print before I go...

GraceFULL moments since last we chatted~

• Early one AM last week, I was here at the keyboard cranking out a report when I heard from the back of the house "Cocka Doodle Doooooooooooooooo. Cocka Doodle Doooooooooooooo." What in the world?? Checked in on Grace - the girl was still sleeping. I have no idea what she was dreaming but she was announcing a wake up call to somebody or something. :o)
• Gracie's still using her new word "chit chat" whenever she can. Last week, "So, mom, let's chit chat about when you were a kid and the snow was so high & you got stuck in that snowbank." She loves that story and the picture to go with it. We chit chat about volcanoes & the highest mountain and what makes lightening. We chit chat about the songs my mom sang when I was a baby and how Papi kissed her toes when she was tiny. Chit chat about restaurants and kitties and boy kisses and when she gets bracelets on her teeth. Chit chat~
• Fact: children need exposure to a new word in context 11 times before it's added to their lexicon.
• We have moved on from Mrs. Piggle Wiggle to the Snow Queen, our 1st chapter book that's really captured her attention ohne lots of pictures. Illustrated by my favorite Mary Engelbreit, I've had this book forever. So reading it with Grace has been a new experience for both of us. Here's one of my favorite parts:

Then Gerda said her prayers. The cold was so great that she could see her
own breath, which poured from her mouth like smoke. Her breath became
thicker and thicker, and it formed itself into little angels, who grew and grew whenever they touched the earth. All the angels had helmets on their heads, shields and spears in their hands, and their number increased as Gerda prayed. When she had finished her prayer, a whole legion stood around her and struck with their spears at the terrrible snowflakes of the Snow Queen, and shattered them into a thousand pieces. Then the angels stroked little Gerdas' hands and feet until she felt the cold less and could hasten with good courage to the Snow Queen's place.




Well, now the formatting is all messed up and I don't have time to fix it. Another bit of news...I was notified this week that I scored a really BIG scholarship. I'm thankful -yes, I am. :o)
Ok - the pie is out of the oven and it smells really good. The warmth from the oven made me linger there a bit. Gracie made a deal with me...she'd take her medicine without fussing if I'd let her eat a piece of pie dough and help make the pie. It's a deal. :o) Tonight was her 1st time using a knife knife - a semi sharp enough to cut an apple knife. She was so proud. She was so happy she got to eat some pie crust dough. Actually, we had quite a bit left over so she suggested that she make cutouts with our heart & lip cookie cutters to go on top of the pie crust. It's an apple love pie. Can't wait to taste it myself, but I'll wait for my company. :o)
Night all and happy Sunday to you!
Brother called and he's 1.5 hours away. Can I stay awake? Can I get this last paperpiece finished? I don't even know, but that pie sure smells good. :o)