Summer + Kidlet home = More $$ spent

We picked up the kidlet on Saturday morning after an awful weather-related Friday night. The drive was actually uneventful since we left after the storms behind as we headed north. The roads were clear, but this was the first time in YEARS that you could actually see some of the rivers from the roadway.

Yes, they were that flooded.

I think we might be out of our two-year drought, but I haven't seen the actual rainfall totals to know if this were true.

She had fun at the KU swim camp, made many new friends from Illinois, Nebraska and Kansas, and she wants to return next year . . .  even though the camp worked them hard.

With the kidlet home this week before going to Girl Scout camp next week--this camp is much, much closer to home--I started to look at the schedule.

*GASP!*

I will be using up gasoline like it was $1.00 a gallon, not $3.75!

Today will be relatively quiet with various jaunts to shop for items (stuff for camp, Sam's Club, Wal MartFather's Day, etc) that we will need in the coming week. I'll be driving within a radius of four miles, so if I plan it right I can do those errands without wasting too much gas.

Tomorrow is another topic though:

AM swim--McClure park--12 miles
to Weight Watchers, with a stop at home to drop the kidlet off--14 miles
to home for a shower--2 miles
to my mom's house, picking up Panda Express along the way--8 miles
to uniform shop to pick up mended/pressed school uniform skirts -- 5 miles
to hair cut (kidlet will probably convince me to head across the road to the mall)-- 3 miles
to home -- 4 miles
to PM swim -- 6 miles

Looking at the list, it doesn't look like much, but when you add traffic, roadwork on the expressways, and stoplights. OH, and I'm sure I've forgotten a stop or three along the way.  It will just eat up the day. Every day this week will look a little different, but just multiply it by the miles and I'll be filling my gas tank up every couple of days.

And I thought paying for the various camps was expensive!

Last summer had entailed about the same amount of driving, but I had forgotten that fact during the ensuing school year. I know this isn't much driving for some people, but I don't like to drive, which makes it a lot of driving.

And it isn't just the driving. It's the shopping for clothes--not clothes for me, mind you, but the kid. And I HATE the mall and shopping.

Plus she has two requests this summer:

• Having her eyebrows plucked -- I agree for her having them professionally done, since I've seen the results of many people over-plucking their own eyebrows. Her brows just need a little TLC with the shaping
• waxing her legs--She does have furry legs. In fact, she started shaving them with an electric razor when she was 9. I asked her if she knew what happened when you are waxed as her only experience with this was by watching America's Funniest Home Videos. Her response, "It rips the skin off." My response, "Yes, but the pain comes from ripping each and every hair out by the root." This comment didn't phase her.

My little baby is growing up!

Later, Peeps! I better get my walk in before I start the grind today!

A Change of Pace

Today is the last day of school for my kidlet.

--And my lazy life will not be mine any longer.

We have a few camps scheduled. The big one is Girl Scout camp where she will be gone overnight for five nights. Now, this is the kidlet who tends to get a little homesick when she spends the night at a friend's house, so this is a BIG DEAL. GS camp is her idea, so I think she'll do well . . . at least after the first night when the girls will be so exhausted they won't have time to get homesick.

Most of the other camps vary between 1-3 hours a few days a week: basketball camp, swimming camp and zoo camp. There are a few free weeks over the summer along with one surprise vacation.*shh*

There are a few free weeks throughout the summer allowing time for movies, reading, swimming in the pool, playing with friends, and working on 5th grade curriculum in preparation for school next year.

Summers also are a logistical nightmare. Trying to schedule playdates with her friends is nuts. My kidlet has various camps she attends, well, so do other kids and those don't necessarily coincide with our schedule, plus many of them stay with their grandparents for a couple weeks out of the summer. The kidlets grandparents live in town. *Drat!* I can't farm her out!

With the kidlet standing over my shoulder, I know I won't be able to get much writing done. And I managed to waste all of May . . . well, waste is a harsh word. I did a lot of work on FAERIE and it simply mentally exhausted me. I had intended to read over FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS and A MAZE OF MONSTER MIX-UPS (Halloween short story AND prequel to TROLL), but simply didn't have the energy. Both those stories need to be up by the end of September, at least MONSTER does, TROLL can wait until the end of October.

I have a lot of work on both those stories, but I think I've broken my addiction to Farmville and that should help with my focus. :-)

Maybe I'll actually get up early and start writing again. Hmm . . . I like that idea.

Later, Peeps!

Summer Fun!

I knew when Rachel got out of school I could say good-bye to any writing time other than little short spurts.

I hate it when I'm right. Sometimes it is better to be pessimistic and pleasantly surprised than too optimistic and disappointed.

This week I did manage to edit the same eleven pages that I edited last week. I deepened the scene a little, caught a couple of present tense boo-boos, caught an incorrect plural pronoun (they instead of we, since I changed point of view to first person). But it's slow progress. I hope once I progress into the story that it will speed up a little--but I have my doubts. See--there's that pessimistic side of me again.

The first couple of chapters are always the toughest: setting the stage, getting into the character without adding backstory that doesn't add to the story, plus I have to rewrite the first two chapters in a different POV. I had written the first two chapters in the mother's POV, while it can be done for a middle grade book, it really isn't acceptable since the story is about the kid and you are trying to get kids of the same age to relate. Bryn, the mom, is also privvy to certain circumstances that Rhee wouldn't be aware of--financial issues. Her emotions about the death of her husband are very different from the way an eleven year old would think about the death of her father.

So during the first two weeks of summer vacation, we did doctor's appointments, hair appointments (got mine cut yesterday and it's too cute--I NEED to update my photo!), dentist appointments. I planted three flats of impatiens, a flat of verbena, two hanging baskets, four pots for the front porch, swam and played in the pool, helped Rachel with her third grade workbook, etc.

Next week I will get down to the business of editing MOGG. Rachel is at an all day soccer camp so once I dump her off at Tulsa University, the day is mine until I have to fight traffic to pick her up. Until then, I'll plod along with my edits, tweak a query letter to send to Query Shark blog, and get my life tidied up for my writing stint next week.

Oh, and I need to start thinking about a plot for book #2 in my middle grade series.

Write on!

Schedules

This was the first week out of school for my kiddo. We had one eye appointment. One rescheduled hair cut appointment (see results from previous blog). One visit to the zoo. One visit to the aquarium. One visit to the library to sign up for the summer reading program. One friend over to swim and who ultimately spent the night. R's friend is one of the 'quiet' ones, so I actually like having her around. When some of R's other friends hang out, the noise tends to escalate. . . and escalate or the bickering starts. Grrr! Anyhoo, this kid is pretty good to have around. She's one of the middle of five children, so she likes being only one of two kids, I think.

Needless to say, I'm not getting very much rewriting done on my story. I've reworked (changed from mom's POV to child's POV and added emotion) only eleven pages of MOGG. Uh, only 123 more to go! I really would like to get a little farther along than this. But it is what it is and THAT is summer vacation. *sigh* I'll get there. Next week should be a little more organized. I think it is the newness of no school that has the kiddo all freaky-deaky.

Today is another complete write off for the writing stuff. I might get to sit down, but I don't anticipate getting much done. When we take R's friend home I'll be picking up my BIL and his two kiddos from the tire store. They're all coming over to swim. Maybe I can get some gardening done while the play in the frigid pool. No, the new electronic board didn't fix the heater.

I may not be writing, but I HAVE been reading. I finished Smoke in Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz, Last Vampire Standing by Nancy Haddock, and middle grade book The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan.

Maybe this afternoon I can,

Write on!

First 'Official' Day of Summer!

Today is the first official day of summer as Friday was the kiddo's last day of school and weekends don't count. So, of course, I wake up at four frickin' thirty in the morning, finally gave up on going back to sleep at around five-fifteen. True, I'm an early riser but six o'clock is my normal time. This was just too nuts.

Rachel has an eye appointment this morning, but so far we don't have anything else scheduled. I promised to take her to the zoo afterwards. We have a nice zoo, but it's a two hour jaunt, if that, not including drive time. I want to stop by our Air and Space Museum to check out their summer programs for kids since it's close to the zoo--one stop shopping my fave.

I did enroll her in two summer camps. She has a two week break before she starts the first one, which is a week long soccer camp at TU (Tulsa University) that features the University's soccer coaches and players teaching these kids. She did half-days last year and loved it. I'll let you know after they run her butt off during the all day camp this year whether or not she loves it.

Two weeks off and then zoo camp called Meet the Predators. Tulsa Zoo also changed their half-day camps to full day ones, which makes it easier on the parents, plus they are offering before and after camp care for the parents who need it. Last year, I took my computer and parked myself at one of the picnic tables with a handy dandy plug and wrote. It was nice overlooking the lake while I wrote about demons and evil critters.

I did look into another camp this year, it's at Phibrook Art Museum. They had a variety of topics, but the classes were half-day for two weeks and over $250--OUCH! And that was for members! The hassle and money factor might be more than the educational worth.

And during Rachel's free time when she's not at camp: dollar or free summer movies, the zoo or aquarium (both with season passes), swim lessons (we have a pool at home), 3rd grade curriculum exercises, summer reading program through the library, and I bought her a book and supplies on how to draw dragons :-). And, of course, inviting friends or her cousins over for an overnight or just a day in the pool.

I don't see us taking a big vacation this year, though we will do some weekend jaunts to Silver Dollar City and Branson. And Rach expressed an interest in fishing, so we might have to get out on the lake to hook some sunfish.

Some where in there I'll have to find time to edit my gnome story.

Write on!