Yoo Hoo, writing momies!

I just came across a writing contest--but you have to be willing to 'fess up to a dumb mom moment.

Gee, just one?

So, if you're interested, check out the link here.

I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

And here's a one time good deal--for the first three people who ask, I'll give your story a read-through/edit before you submit it to the contest.

Christa's having a difficult time falling to sleep the last couple of nights.

Tears. Fears.

She spent some time at a friend's house a few days ago and saw a "scary'" movie. Doesn't know what the movie was--says it had an alien in it--some kind of monster made out of sticks. I don't watch alien movies. I don't know.

Here's my frustration:

Christa is six years old. She was over my friend's house because I was out of town and my friend was watching her until Rob got off work.

I don't think a six-year-old is able to monitor movies. I don't think a six-year-old should have to monitor movies. That's what moms and dads are for.

And--when a young child is over visiting or playing at my house, I only put in movies that they are comfortable with--even if these movies are "young" for the other kids in my house.

Is that reasonable?

A close friend is turning 40 this weekend. Her birthday wish? To celebrate with some special girlfriends--and I got invited for the fun! So, tomorrow morning I'm up at at 'em at O-dark-30, as the military says (translate: EARLY)  and off to the airport for a fast trip out of town.

We're going to celebrate as only girlfriends can--soaking in a jacuzzi and getting massages and painting our toenails and--yum!--enjoying a chocolate fountain! But the part I'm looking forward to is when we get a chance to speak a blessing over my precious friend.

Maybe turning 40 gave her an extra dose of boldness, but she spoke up and told us she wants all God wants for her this coming year--and wants us to pray for her.

Wow. To be part of that is a privilege that doesn't happen often.

So, since I'll be traveling, I'm saying what I'm grateful for a day early:

I'm grateful for the blessing of girlfriends--for the laughter they bring, for they support they provide, for how they make me a better woman, for all they teach me about life, love, and the pursuit of so much more than happiness.

May your day be anchored in gratefulness.

It's been an Extreme Writing Day.

I'm working on a humorous essay--about a disastrous dental appointment, no less. Having a few chuckles as I polish it before submitting it to a contest.

Then I turn my editor's eye to an personal essay and find myself stopping to put my head down on my keyboard and cry.

Ah. The wonderful writing life.

There's a saying that I'll paraphrase (because I don't want to take the time to look up): If there are no tears in the writer, there are no tears in the reader.

I think that's true. If, as a writer, I am not willing to be honest about my struggles, my fears, my heartaches--then my readers will not connect with what I write on a heart-level. And then they will probably think, "Why am I bothering to read what she's writing?"

So that's what today has been like for me. Laughter and tears.

I just joined two new Minti groups. One is Tips on Getting Pregnant--although I assure you, I am not trying to get pregnant. To be maybe-too-honest, because of post-pregnancy complications with Christa, I can't get pregnant. But because I am immersed in the whole late-in-life motherhood trend, I am sympathetic to women's struggles with infertility. I interviewed a number of these women for my book BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING (Revell,Summer2007.)

I also joined the Inventions are the Mother group--after staring at the thumbs up/thumbs down icon for weeks and weeks and weeks. I figured I had nothing to offer this group.I haven't invented anything to make mothering easier. The only thing I've developed in my 23 years of mothering is a finer sense of humor.

Truthfully, the best thing I've done as a mom is to find other moms I respect, watch what they do--and then do it. Sure, I may tweak their parenting technique a bit to work for my children. But, if I see another mom (or dad) raising good kids, then why re-invent the parenting wheel?

I sat in my rocking chair--the one I got when I was pregnant with my first child, twenty-three years ago now--and savored the early morning quiet along with my cup of tea. Today I am grateful for:

• the zingy aroma of mint tea that helps me wake up and start getting my day in order
• a day that isn't overflowing with things to do--how rare are days like today!
• the time? Well after midnight. The sound? The front door opening and then my 18-year-old daughter making her way upstairs, past my bedroom and into her own. I call out, "I love you, Cookie." "Love you too, Mom." I'm especially grateful for that.

And now for something for Foto Friday:

I blogged about Christa losing her first tooth over at Mommy Musings.

Ta Da!

Reality is setting in.

Of course, that doesn't mean I have to whine about it.

Lots to do.

The question is: Which do I do first?

Clean house? Write an article? (And then the question would be which one?) Edit a writing comrade's article? Blog? Take a nap? Go shopping? (I don't think so!)

I think the first thing I do is take a deep breath and realize I won't get it all done by the time the sun sets on today. Then after a few sets of breathe in, breathe out, I'll make a nice adult choice--pick one--and do it. It's not a right or wrong dilemma here. Pick one. Do it. Move on to the next thing.

Okay.

I feel better now.

Thanks for listening.

That's the title from my Mommy Musings blog over at my web site www.mommycomelately. Just another in a long line of lessons I've learned thanks to my children.

Sometimes that's how I think motherhood has changed me the most: Raising four children has taken all my preconceived ideas and got-it-all-figured-out-ideas and turned them inside, outside, upside down. Sometimes I think I should re-title my blog Musings from My Tired Mommy Mind.

It's got a certain ring to it, doesn't it?

It's Monday--and I don't have the blahs!

I carried my gratefulness from Friday right through the weekend into today.

I am finally, finally, finally feeling like myself again--after my dental disaster, too many medications to mention, and three nights of insomnia.

Most days, I grumble at the laundry and the dirty dishes in the sink and the pile of mail waiting to be sorted--and most of it thrown in the trash or shredded. Most days I bemoan having to do so much stuff.

Today I am thankful for all of it.

Somebody remind me of all this over-abundant thankfulness the next time my blog gets a little whiney.

I am a writer.

By profession, it is what I do.

By passion, it is who I am.

When I write, I love the choosing of words and the sounds of sentences and the rhythms of paragraphs.

I love to rewrite. To get it right.

Typos make me crazy.

Which is why I read and re-read my articles and cringe when I find a missing word or a misspelled word--especially after the blasted article is published!!-- and then I go and correct it and read it again.

I'm not obssessive...although I do realize it's almost 4 AM here and I should be asleep...everybody else probably is...

And, really, I don't do this with anybody else's stuff...

well, I've gotta' go re-read this a few times before I post it...

Life's been, shall we say, interesting--if you like root canals and medication and the like. I blogged about it over at my Mommy Musings blog.

My husband calls me his dental queen because I have so many crowns. Corny, I know. But each marriage has its own humor. I like to joke that our wedding vows should have been amended to read: to love, honor, cherish, and pay my dental bills ...

Getting back to normal, which means it's Friday and it's snowing here like is has for the past four or five Fridays. I need to check the Weather Channel for the actual stat on that.

Fridays are my days to be grateful (which I did over at Mommy Musings.) But just in case you didn't hit that hot link, I am grateful for:

1. Medication--that I can get it when I need it and that it works!
2. A husband who helps out so I can rest and recover.
3. My two older daughters who can drive their little sister to school when mom is out of commission

May your day be anchored in gratefulness.

I sent back my galleys to my publisher.

Galleys are the first proof of a to-be-published book. My book on late-in-life motherhood will be published this summer.

The proofs arrived December 3rd and the publisher wanted them back on January 4th. Sure. Why not? It was only the holiday season.

But you do what you gotta do...and when you are writng a book you do what your editor asks you to do.

I read the galley page by page, correcting typos, mispellings, facts.

I'll get another chance to read through the book before it goes to print. This time I'll sit down with my writer's group and go through it page by page.

it's all a part of the writing life.

Not too glamorous.

365 days.

2007 stretches ahead of me like so many to-be-filled calendar pages.

I don't do New Year's Resolutions. If you want to know why, check out my Minti column No More New Year's Resolutions.

Last year, I focused on the word gratitude. This year, I am focusing on the word simplify.

I let life get way-too busy. Way-too complicated. Way-too cluttered. My goal is to keep it simpler, make it simpler for 2007.

That said, I still intend to be intentionally grateful because it was so good for my heart and my outlook to see all I had to be thankful for.

Running the risk of sounding corny, I am thankful that Tracey introduced me to Minti. This is a fun, thought-provoking, well-run parenting community. I'm looking forward to becoming even more involved in 2007--and to making new friends.