Back To School

The kids have gone back to school and now I have time where I can work during the day again, which is super great. It always takes me a little while to slog through all the back-to-school paperwork and for the kids to get back into the whole homework routine, but we are getting there! I am handling registration again for the Minnesota SCBWI Fall Conference (October 12-13, 2013), looks like we are in for another great conference this year! Busy drawing lots of hands playing violins, so that has been fun. My happiest, Save-The-Best-For-Last-News is that I have signed on with the fantastic Teresa Kietlinski at Prospect Agency! Oh, my gosh.... it still doesn't feel real. I feel so fortunate and am excited to work with Teresa and see what the future holds in store! *happy sigh* The picture above is a little snippet from my new postcard. It is almost ready to send out. Hope all is well with you! 

Employee of the Month

Well, it sure was pretty nice to be recognized for my hard work today. Summer is zipping by, can't really believe it is nearly August already. Along with keeping up with the kids, I am happy to report that I finished the new art for my next postcard and have started creating some line art for a series of violin music books. I played the violin very briefly when I was little and have no memory of it, so here's hoping I might remember traces of it on a cellular level... Oh, and I baked that cherry cobbler!

Baking

This is a teensy bit of what I am working on for my next postcard. I hope to someday make buttery croissants from scratch and can't wait to attempt a brioche. My kids are home for summer vacation and we are enjoying our lazy busy days together. I am determined to weed and mulch forgotten flowerbeds and make more art and find time to daydream and play frisbee and read and spend time with friends and fam. And also bake a gorgeous cherry cobbler. Happy Summer!

For the Birds

Are you a night owl or an early bird? I am a bit of a night owl myself...
Looking forward to hearing owls hooting in the night now that summer is nearly upon us. We don't live too far away from a lake, and every once in a while you can hear a loon calling in the early morning.
Could it be possible to be an early bird AND a night owl? Is napping the answer? Lastly, what is the term used for an individual who thrives mid-day: Day Jay? Noon Loon? Present Pheasant?
p.s. Check out my NEW POLL to the left and feel free to vote- thanks!

Unplugged

My whole family unplugged from Monday, 29 April to Friday, 3 May. The kids were surprisingly ok with it. I will honestly admit that I missed tv, I have a few shows that I like to watch, so it has been nice to catch up on them. My youngest had been obsessed with playing a My Little Pony and a Skylanders game on the iPad, so unplugging last week was a good way to get her to realize that she doesn't need to play those games, they are just for fun. We played card games and board games together as a family, the kids played together more, we all read more books, I did some knitting and lots of sketching. It was a very good thing.  For myself, I found out that checking facebook had very much become a part of my morning routine, so it was weird to not go there. I realized that, while I like to post things there, I don't really need to post things, I mostly like to see what everyone else is up to: I love to see all the cute kid pictures, hear about fun book news, stay in touch with friends and family, and the like... Since I work from home, the connections I have made with other kid book folks online have really given me a feeling that I have coworkers again, and places like fb and twitter are where we can hang out together and cheer each other on. Another thing I realized is that all the social media had contributed to that "I feel so busy" feeling. I have become very chill about blogging as of late: I was way into it at first and was really great about posting and visiting other people's blogs. Now, I just post when I can and try to visit other blogs when I can, and try not to worry about it as much. I'm going to try to adopt that same philosophy with everything else. There are only so many hours in the day, and I can only do my best. Here's hoping that my friends and family know that I'm always going to love them and be there to support them in good times and hard times, whether I comment or reply or repin or retweet or hit the "like" button... :)

In other news, I just finished reading The Light Between Oceans: It was very good, I am still feeling the weight of it. Here are some other books that I have read lately that I would heartily recommend: The One and Only Ivan, Wonder, The Three Triceratops Tuff, Maya Was Grumpy, The Night Circus, and The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot!. These are some of the books that I am looking forward to reading next: Bad Girls, The Hunting of the Snark, Iron Hearted Violet, The Quirks, Elvis and the Underdogs, The True Meaning of Smekday, I Capture The Castle, and The Busy, Busy World of Richard Scarry.

hodgepodge

Mailed off my book dummy on Saturday morning. 

That was a really great feeling!

Finished up a really fun project with my 4th grader's class, it is going to be auctioned off to raise money for the school at the end of the month. I am very proud of the kids, they made amazing chickens!

 I won 56 bucks playing bingo!  

Thanks to Sara, I am now addicted to and 

completely caught up on The Big Bang Theory.

Went to sunny Florida two weekends ago for a friend's wedding. It was so fun to catch up with great friends and celebrate Lori and Rusty's new life together.  Plus, I saw a wild iguana, tons of mini lizards, a flock of flying pelicans, swaying palm trees, and was bitten by my first fire ant. 

I hope that all is well with you, thanks for stopping by!

I made this for Joyce