How is It Thanksgiving Already?

I'm just trying to figure out how we have gotten to Autumn and the Thanksgiving holiday. I swear this year just started. How has this happened? It's not a bad thing, but I cannot figure out where the time has gone.

I'm guessing my two kids have helped in making things fly by. They always keep me busy and on my toes, so the day-in and day-out routines keep the days zipping by.

I'm amazed that my kids are over the halfway point for their next birthdays. I don't remember life moving at such a quick pace until my kids came along. Maybe that is what keeps us young.

We have some baking to get done: pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie as well as cranberry sauce. Yummy!! The kids will help out tomorrow so we can get everything done for the big dinner. It will be really great!

So, here's to enjoying turkey day and all the fixings, family, and friends. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Looking for Work

It is surprising to me that after being home with my kids for a little over four years, thing are still slow in the work-from-home department. I have worked for many different places, but some were invariably better than others. The stress level for one in particular was unbearable so it made sense to quit that one, but picking up the slack has definitely been difficult. I have found a few jobs that are fun to do, but the lack of work is frustrating.

Are there any other people out there doing something from home that actually works? I'm always looking for something new and interesting to keep my financial life afloat because it is really difficult to make it in these poor economic times.

My work currently involves working for publishers designing book interiors and writing articles for Web site. I also have just started selling Avon, which has been a different route for me, but one that I am really finding I enjoy, which is a good thing.

Hopefully with time I'll figure out something that just works the way I need it to. With all these jobs I'm working, it makes no sense to my why I'm not bringing in a decent amount of money. The problem I am seeing is that the jobs are not working together, i.e., one job might have work, but the others do not, etc. It makes things very annoying. So with luck, things will turn around so I can stay afloat a little easier than has been the case. Here's to hoping!!

Away for Awhile, but New Things Always Show Up

So a year has come and gone and still no post from me, but that is just the way of life. The time flies by as you realize another year is almost at a close. Just keeping life afloat as the kids grow up before my very eyes makes for an unbelievable shock. I cannot believe just how big my two little sillies have gotten.

Things just go along and changes are made to adjust to life in general. Writing has seemed like an afterthought and yet just finding something to mull over has been non-existent. Hopefully the fancy will strike me and the muse will come calling. Here's to hoping for something.

Sleep Deprivation . . .

Is part of having kids. With kids, comes no sleep. It's just how it goes and while totally exhausting, it is completely rewarding to see those wonderful two faces everyday. Even though there are just days you want to go a little crazy and scream at the frustration of things that happen and they do happen without fail. I think it is part of being a parent that you also need to figure out how to deal with these situations because it also gives your kids an insight into how to deal with any issues they might come across. It is not an overnight thing, and I have only realized this fairly recently about how my kids see me deal with the problems and situations they throw at me everyday. It is kind of amazing really that you just take care of whatever for them. The other thing to remember is that depending on how much sleep you have gotten the night before is essentially the state you are in the next day. I am pretty much a little more touchy when the sleep has been less than stellar, i.e., under about 6 hours give or take.

It will be nice when both kids sleep through the night, but at least they are both sleeping better (when they are asleep that is). Sometimes getting them to the sleep part can be very complicated and time-consuming, but in the end they have at least gotten more sleep than me, but they need more than I do to have a decent day the next day typically.

Basically, just getting some sleep is very helpful in many ways, but sometimes the sleep is not the amount truly needed to get through the next day gracefully, but you do get through it and my kids just make me smile way too much so it is not all that bad.

Oh My!

Oh my, oh my!
How the time does fly!
Two years have passed
Now at last
I have come back for a post
About what?

Kudos to J. K. Rowling!

Okay, I know everyone else has already written tons on the amazing last book of the Harry Potter series, but I wanted to chime in as well. I have been trying to post on this, but life just gets in the way sometimes. That's just how it goes.

Anyway, since finishing the book about two weeks ago I have been elated, sad, happy, looking forward to re-reading the entire series, and many other feelings as well. I think the most predominate feeling is not believing the series is actually over. I just can't wrap my head around it. It's kind of the feeling you get when you are first married and most definitely having a baby. Things change so much that it's hard to believe at times you are living with another person on your terms without parents and with a baby that this little person affects your life in more ways than you can imagine, but that every moment is incredibly special, even those crazy, long nights of no sleep and endless crying. Granted a book series does not even compare to these life joys, but they are definitely similar; however, on a much lesser scale. I guess I'm just trying to explain my feeling of something that is still new and hard to completely understand and realize that this is reality. I am still not completely used to the whole marriage thing (not in a bad way, just still trying to grasp that this is the wonderful reality, even after six years it still feels amazingly new). A baby is even more fresh, but even after almost seventeen months, it still does not seem real. I can't completely grasp that there will be no more new Harry Potter books. Perhaps it will sink in more after a couple years have gone by and there is no big release date. Perhaps then it will be real.

The wonderful thing will be to share these fabulous books with my daughter (and a second child, when ever my husband and I get to that point). J. K. Rowling has created an incredible world of characters and wondrous things. It has been amazing simply visiting with each book. She has given the literary world something truly special to cherish.

I guess I just wanted to thank J. K. Rowling for adding something fresh and new to fantasy and to bring so many children and adults into a world of fantastic creatures, magic, and truly memorable characters. She has done something very grand in getting so many non-readers to read. She has made children want to read, which in this day and age is sometimes extremely hard to accomplish. Books are so wonderful and important that to not have an experience or at least want to share the joy of turning each page in anticipation of what comes next is upsetting to me.

Being such an avid reader, I am so thrilled that one book series created readers out of so many people. I can't tell you how many people I know who really do not read much of anything have picked up these books to find out what the fuss is all about and they were amazed at what they found.

So, thanks J. K. Rowling for something wonderful that will be treasured always. I can't wait to share these whimsical and compelling books with my children!

Holding onto Harry

So, with the end of Harry Potter looming ahead, I'm finding it hard to believe this wonderful series is almost over. I have no idea how things will end. The last book ended with such dark and foreboding events, it will be amazing to see the outcome. Being an avid fantasy reader for most of my life, I love the magic and witchcraft and otherworldliness of it all. Enjoying the dragons and sword fights and generally mostly medieval aspects of fantasy has been a favorite of mine. It takes you to a place other than your own world and life. It gives you quite an escape from the everyday. So, with Harry Potter on the verge of completion, another fantasty series is over for me.

Two years ago, it was The Dark Tower by Stephen King. That was amazing! That I will definitely re-read at some point in my life. Of course the most important books in my life and probably the ones that made me a fantasy reader are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. That series was completed many years ago. There are many other series as well, but too numerous to mention.

Well, Harry it was a pleasure watching you grow up and seeing the wizard you have become. The funny thing is when The Soceror's Stone came out, I was working at B. Dalton books in the CT Post Mall and did not even look at the books. In fact, nothing was even mentioned about them until The Chamber of Secrets came out about a year later. All of a sudden, these silly children's books were the most popular things to read. Hearing numerous reviews from the tons of customers coming into the bookstore, I apparently needed to read these books. Well, I did and was instantly hooked. What a wonderful world with so many interesting characters and definitely the fact that it was a parallel of our world but the Muggles did not realize witches and wizards were living around them, was truly fantastic! Each book just kept increasing the many magical elements and I also felt grew older and darker as Harry would get older. I thought it was truly amazing the way these books were done. Hence, why I could not put them down.

Not only the books themselves, but the customers were going crazy for the audio books. The voice work of Jim Dale was truly marvelous to hear. They were right and so the books as well as the audio books would need to be purchased.

Harry has come a long way. Hopefully, we don't loose any more great characters to death, but one never knows what will happen. It would be really sad if Harry himself did not make it. But whatever the outcome, the stories will remain some of my favorites. Thankfully, there are seven books to read to keep me satiated somewhat. But, I guess a series can only go on for so long.

Thanks for the wonderful characters and stories J. K. Rowling! It has been quite an adventure!