Category: Best of the Bunch

My Goings On in February: My dad had a stroke at the very end of the month. For more than 24 hours he was pretty much incomprehensible—he had both receptive and expressive aphasia, meaning he couldn’t understand everything that was being said to him and his responses usually made no sense (sometimes he would substitute a random word for one he meant and sometimes his responses were just complete gibberish). It was very scary!! Then, he very suddenly made an almost-complete recovery (at the very time that the tech, worship and leadership teams at my church were praying for him—coincidence?). The doctors say the aphasia might have been caused by his high blood pressure rather than the stroke itself, which is interesting because I couldn’t find any information about high blood pressure itself causing aphasia. At any rate, he’s doing much better now. The only lasting effects seem to be a loss… Read more »

My Goings On in September: My family ended up in the ER twice this month. Once for my husband to get eight stitches in his finger, and once because my daughter got in a car accident. Since I already went into detail about the incidents (including a pic of the car!) in two Sunday Posts, I won’t elaborate here—you can click on the links if you want to see what happened. Here’s an update, though: Scott’s finger is healing up nicely. Jade has been feeling really nauseated a lot of the time (due to a concussion, we believe), so she’s been pretty miserable. We actually almost had another trip to the ER last night because she felt like the small amount of food that she ate hadn’t gone down her throat and it made her feel sick as well as extremely uncomfortable, to the point where she was getting hysterical. On… Read more »

My Goings On in August: I made a few changes on the blog. (In case you didn’t notice.) I asked your advice (in the comments and in the form of a poll) and ended up deciding to go for it. I was nervous about the change, but as many of you pointed out, it doesn’t have to be permanent if I decide I preferred the old look. But, I don’t think I’m going to regret it. My little fox girl is just a little bit more “me” now.  🙂 I went on vacation with my family to LA and then stuck around for the SCBWI LA Conference. We went to Universal Studios! We’ve been there before (the one in Florida), but the kids weren’t really old enough to remember it well. My youngest listened to the Harry Potter Series in the past year, so he was especially excited to see… Read more »

My Goings On in June: I paused a lot of my regularly scheduled reading near the beginning of this month to read more LGBTQ+ books for Pride Month. Even though I didn’t get reviews up for most of them yet, I was pretty successful at that. I ended up reading 8 LGBTQ+ books in June (and 5 non). Considering I didn’t make the decision until June 6th and I’d already read three books at that point, I don’t think that’s too bad. I finished my first pass on that new editing project. I continued volunteering at Bernie’s Book Bank. I signed up for their 50-Hour Club, which basically means you pledge to volunteer at least 50 hours in a year. I’m really enjoying it, so I don’t think it will be an issue. Things I watched:  I continued watching Game of Thrones, I’m still on season 5. I’ve been watching… Read more »

  My Goings On in May: I went to the SCBWI Marvelous Midwest writing conference! I learned a lot and found some great inspiration. One of these days I’ll manage to post a recap. I attended an online class on verse novels taught by Cordelia Jensen. I started a new editing project, a book called Momoire by Alyssa DeRose. School finished up, so the kids are all now home for the summer. That means track season is done for Danielle, but she’s back to club swimming for the summer (she’s not so sure about it now that she’s taken so much time off–she’s definitely got a lot of catching up to do). My mom and I started volunteering at Bernie’s Book Bank, which has been a great experience! Things I watched:  My family got Lego Movie 2 from the library. It was really cute and we all enjoyed it! (Though… Read more »

  My Goings On in April: We went to lots of track meets (my middle daughter is in track). I volunteered at Bernie’s Book Bank with my mom and packed books for kids. I planned a trip to LA in August. We’ll be going on a family vacation and then I’ll be sticking around a few extra days for an SCBWI conference. A perfect blend of business and pleasure! Things I watched:  I rented A Star Is Born and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. I liked them both but didn’t love them (which inspired me to write post that will go up in a couple of weeks). I continued watching Umbrella Academy with my mom. With all the buzz around Game of Thrones, I started watching it again. (I had stopped near the beginning of season three for some unknown reason). I love getting to watch the whole series almost straight through!… Read more »

  My Goings On in March: My kids were on spring break. We didn’t go anywhere or anything (which I’m regretting now that I’m starting to look at our summer schedule–I should have taken advantage of the time they all had off). We went to a VR place, which was really interesting. I mostly let my kids do it, but I did spend 5 minutes or so as a clerk in a virtual reality convenience store, and it was great fun! I went to lots of track meets and my three writer’s group meetings (two groups, three meetings). Things I watched:  I went to see Captain Marvel at the theater (very rare for me). My husband and I both really enjoyed it, even though superhero movies aren’t our favorite. I started watching Umbrella Academy with my mom. Really liking it, but we kind of stopped watching for no apparent reason…. Read more »