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Good Morning, Everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Saturday was cold, rainy, and windy, but yesterday, for the first time, it felt like spring was coming.  The peepers are out, and that's always a good sign :)

Now it's Monday.  We all have a busy week ahead.  And things have been pretty busy and hectic on this blog for the last couple weeks so I thought to myself, we could probably all use a break!

So, grab a good book and a cup of tea, hot or iced, settle yourself in right here,

and enjoy the day :)

If you really NEED something to do, ponder the upcoming Illustrators Contest which promises to be tons of fun and spread the word to any illustrators you know :)

See you Wednesday for Would You Read It and Straight From The Editor!

Have a marvelous Monday everyone :)

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Pajama Day!  I love the thought.  A day to stay inside, kick back, and coast. A day for breakfast in bed!  Toast, eggs, coffee with cream and strawberries on the side with a good book or magazine to follow!  Aaaahhhhh!!

As much as I love the idea, I rarely do it!  The last Pajama Day I had was when I had the flu three years ago! ha!  I suppose it is because I associate pajamas with the END of the day, with going to sleep. … and personally, I would rather be AWAKE!

Perhaps I will get in my pajamas just before dinner. Perhaps I will make eggs, toast, coffee with cream and strawberries on the side for dinner and cozy up with my good book for the evening.  Yes,  Pajama Night!!

Filed under: Just for fun

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Arkansas was blanketed with snow yesterday, up to 2 feet in NW-Arkansas, and about 6″ (officially) in central Arkansas, although it looks like much more to me.

When you have an unexpected day off, what do you do?

1. Read. I had already bought Paolo Bacigalupi’s book, Shipbreakers, which just won the Printz award for best teen fiction. So, I read it. Great book. It’s a great example of how to start action in media res, and keep the action going. This is a futuristic world, almost a dystopia. But we don’t have a prologue that explains all this, rather the information is given naturally as the story progresses. We don’t know information until we need it.




2. Learn. I also watched some YouTube videos in my on-going self-education about book trailers. I found this video to be an interesting introduction to the book/CD of The Selfish Giant, with musical adaptation by Dan Goeller and great new illustrations (March 1 release date). Maybe I just liked it because I’m snowed it!
   
   
   *|YouTube:we78ycIUYkk|*




3. Observe. Finally, I went walking in the snow, taking pictures. I snapped pictures of birds at my feeder: rufous-sided Towhee, downy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, chickadee, blue jay, cardinal, house sparrows, house wren and more. In other words, I filled the coffers with sights, sounds, smells, textures, temperatures and more, so that when I sit down to write, I’ll have something to draw upon.

Today–I’m back at my computer, even though the world outside glitters and beckons. Because that’s what writers do: we write.

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4 Years

First and foremost, today is Travis's birthday. My oldest little guy is 4 years old today. Seriously...4 years. Just like that. I'm amazed it's already been that long and though it's cliched to say, it's stunning how quickly time passes. We were just at the hospital, feeding the little cone-headed dude. Like it was yesterday.

But alas, we celebrated his time in style. We had a handful of our closest friends and family over on Saturday and just did a simple little party. Considering how exhausted both Laura and I are with the arrival of Jake, it was the best we could do.

I think he had fun, though.

So, it's kind of weird to have a party and then 4 days later, it's your real birthday. Of course, I had to work and Laura is still at home with Big Jake on maternity leave. Travis got to spend the day with my folks in good ol' St. Anthony. They did all sorts of fun crap together:

- Went to the Eagle's Nest (indoor park)
- Made Valentine's Day cookies
- Got to eat lots of French Toast (my mom makes KILLER French Toast, y'all)

While at work, I was struck with the idea that I had to get Travis something else for his birthday. We got him a bunch of stuff for his party on Saturday, but something just didn't sit right, you know? TODAY is his birthday and though he never asked or expected anything, I had to get him a little something else.

When I went looking around, I saw the PERFECT thing.

Let me set it up a little. I'm a big fan of the movie A Christmas Story and I love the part where the dad tricks the kid and says: "Hey, what's that back there?" knowing full well it's the bb gun Ralphie wanted.

I did it at Christmas with Rock Band 2 and I couldn't resist repeating the magic. Wecovertly wrapped the thing (well, Laura did...I suck at wrapping gifts) and we put it where the pile of presents were stacked during his party back on Saturday.

After he came out of the kitchen when he was done eating, he saw the present lying there. I said: "Dude. Did you forget to open a present on Saturday?"

The rest is, as they say, history.

Okay, so the audio is horrible, but it cracks me up. The kid does not fall for my shenanigans. When I tell him it's probably for some other kid, he points out that his name was on the card. When I get all smart-mouth on his and tell him that we can't play with it and we need to keep it in the box, he just sees right through my ruse.

And I wonder why people call him Mini-TKT.

4 Weeks

As if seeing Travis turn 4 wasn't enough, today also marks the 4 week mark for Big Jake. On Valentine's Day, it'll be one whole month.

V Day

Thankfully, Laura and I get to spend some time together on Saturday as my folks are taking both of the boys for the night. We had big plans...

"Let's go see a movie!"

"Yeah, and then we'll go out to dinner!"

"It'll be awesome!"

The reality? We will probably do something uber mellow like go to Boston's, eat and come home and go to sleep. Eh...maybe we'll watch a little 24 and try desperately to get caught up. Might sound sort of lame, but we're looking forward to it like a kid anticipates Christmas morning.

"Let's stay home and get some sleep!"

It'll be awesome.

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