Eating dirt and rocks!

Outside enjoying the hot 101 deg of weather, Seren and Carys played together, while sitting on the grass. Seren turned around to reveal dirt in her hands and dirt in her mouth, calling..."Doggy come here..ummy food".

And Carys looked at me holding rocks in one hand and licking dirt off another rock!

Lol lol.... oh what joy, germs and lovely, lovely dirt!!!

My little darlings xx

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So last year I signed up to do an online creative writing course titled Story Structure. 
I loved it so much that I signed up for two more
And the two other courses :

Essentials of Fiction Writing and Irresistible Fiction.

Here is the link for the site, http://www.creative-writing-now.com.

I have learnt so much from those classes and I wanted to share part of an email that I received a couple of days ago. I get thought provoking emails from them  on how to write an arts and the one I'm going to share today is this,

Start with a character and...

A great main character will hook readers on your story.  If readers care about the character, they will want to keep reading to find out what happens to him or her.

 

Many fiction writers begin with an idea for a character and then use the character to come up with story ideas.  Here are some quotes from writers describing this approach.

"First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!"

- Ray Bradbury

 

"I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose."

- Stephen King

 

"Try to get your characters into interesting trouble. Allow your characters to misbehave. Let them stay out after 11." 

- Charles Baxter

 

"It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.

   - William Faulkner

You can get lots of story ideas by answering these questions about your main character:

 

1) What is something my character desperately wants?  What urgent reason can I give my character to go after this goal RIGHT NOW?  What problems can I put in the character's path to make reaching the goal difficult?  How will the character deal with each problem?

 

2) What is a major weakness in my character?  What situation can I put my character in where this weakness will get him or her into major trouble?  What steps will my character take to try to get out of trouble?  Will my character grow or change in the process?

 

Our online course Bringing Characters to Life shows how to develop characters that feel three-dimensional and real.  If you haven't signed up for this course yet, you might want to check it out. 

 Here's the link:

http://www.creative-writing-now.com/developing-characters.html

What wonderful quotes. I really feel that the characters you write about, do have their own personalities and traits...and yes even annoying nuances LOL. I am ashamed to say I have neglected my Characters of late and I am so itching to write...I am in the middle of a great chapter. I want to find out myself how it will turn out lol. Although at the moment packing to move has taken any spare time I have to write. I need to make time!! And to save my sanity from moving I will write, take out my little frustrations through one of my not so sweet characters lol

I would recommend these courses to anyone who wants to write a book or even a better school/college report. I have not only loved the courses, but I have learned so much. So pick up your pens and paper, or your laptop or PC and get to writing!! But most importantly have fun creating those chock-filled come to life characters.

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Shabby chic makeover.

Decided to revamp my old side table, for our living room. I forgot to take a before picture. My neighbor did a shabby makeover on a coffee table.. And it looked amazing. I loved it. So with many thanks to Heather, ( my next door neighbor) she gave me the paint.


 So using black spray primer and paint from a can, I sprayed one coat in black, then painted one coat, using  Ralph Lauren wall paint. Below are two pictures, before I used steel wool to make it Shabby Chic.

Before

Here is the finished side table!!! I love how it turned out. although my arms got a good workout from all that steel wool action......rubbing  the steel wool, to make it look Shabby Chic.

After

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Picking flowers

Why is it we girls are somehow drawn to flowers...just like we are to chocolate and guys lol...

While outside this afternoon, Seren and Carys were too ...drawn to the flowers and yes they ended up picking some of the daisys we have growing out front.

As I'm writing this...Carys is trying to eat the stem of one of her flowers lol.

What a sweet memory, watching my girls pick flowers and just enjoy being outdoors.

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Look at me mam! I can hold baby Paisley.

Seren was so chuffed with herself yesterday when Jade and baby Paisley came over. Seren wanted to hold Paisley and smiled the whole time.

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Fathers Day

Fathers.

I'm a little late in posting for Fathers Day ! Oops.

But I wanted to share some thoughts and feelings about fathers. I mentioned in an earlier post regarding Mothers Day and said I would share a treasured memory about my dad. So here it goes.

I was always a 'Daddy's Girl' :) And from what my memory recalls is how my dad would always carry me to bed. I have such fond memories of dad and how tanned he always seemed to be :) Dad would tease me and my sisters by saying...oh I come from a line of Arabs!! That's why I have dark skin....lol. I loved my dad, still do and how he still took charge, even when he wasn't able to carry me to bed after his brain hemorrhage at the young age of 41, but when my dad finally came home after nearly 2 1/2 yrs maybe more..fuzzy brain on that detail. By then I was 13 nearly 14 wen dad came home. I was just 11 yrs old when dad had his brain hemorrhage. 

My dad slept with my mam on a pull down bed in our living room, until the lift got installed. Anyway before my dad had his brain hemorrhage we started to watch.. MIAMI VICE!!  The cool 80's show starring Don Johnson. So when my dad was back home, we were watching the latest episode of Miami Vice. Now my dad due to the brain damage, had been left paralyzed on his right side, and his speech was slurred and not coherent. Also it was completely back to baby learning and feeding for him...So my sisters and I all had to chip in and help around the house and with our new little baby sister Kaye. Who by the way came as a surprise. My mam found out she was pregnant, while dad was still in ICU!!!

Back to the story....We were watching Miami Vice and it was getting late..I had school the next day. I began to doze off...kinda like those nodding dogs you see in a back of a car...nod nod nod!!!!!!!!!

My mam called, "Helen." Until she got my attention.
"What mam."
"Your dad wants you, Helen."
"Yes, dad." I looked at dad and he grinned as much as his facial muscles allowed and with his left hand made the gestures of thumbs up at me, and kept pointing at the living room door.

I knew it meant...'GO TO BED!' 
But I wanted to watch Miami Vice.... Sexy, cool Crockett, and not so sexy Tubbs lol...but dad knew me well. I was tired, I needed to sleep.

So I headed off to bed, after giving dad and mam a kiss Goodnight.

My dad even though he didn't have his speech back, he still was my dad, by showing.

Showing can work just as well as telling.. Sometime even better, as our actions can have great effects.

I love my dad and I miss the dad I remember, the one who carried me to bed every night. But he is still there in spirit, just not a fully able bodied dad. I love him still.


                                          
                                       

Now, I also want to thank my Hubby- Jason for being a great DAD to our darling girls, Seren & Carys. They both adore their daddy and he loves to spend time with them.. Even taking them on a soda run from time to time lol.... 

I love Jason, and am proud of how much he has done for us, from a working non stop, to studying to better himself, too soon we will be moving to Madison, Wisconsin for his to get his Masters.. And of course going on dates with me :) :) and yes even washing dishes and changing smelly stinky diapers lol lol....

Thank you for all you are and do for me your. I love you Jason.

I love you Daddy.

Thank you for all you are and do for me your daughter, I love you Daddy.

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The Miracle of life.

How amazing is the ability to give birth to an innocent baby....It is totally amazing!

Today I had the most wonderful experience of witnessing the birth of my 2nd granddaughter being born. Being a mam of 7 ...I  most certainly know the pain of labor. I felt for my daughter Jade, as she felt for the first time, how strong those dang contractions really are !!!

AND BOY DO THEY HURT!!

All I could do was, hold her hand, stroke her hair and rub her back and talk her through breathing through the pain. And for the joy of relief my daughter felt, when she was administered  an epidural for pain relief.

Yet the joy of seeing once my my baby girl, now experiencing  the miracle of having  a baby was overwhelming AND joyous all at the same time. It filled my heart with so much love and happiness for her and her new baby daughter. Truly amazing indeed. I am blessed to be  a mother, a grandmother, sister and a daughter. I am blessed indeed. I also now appreciated Jason's help and supporting loving kind words, and his hand as I held it in a death grip, when we went through my contractions on Seren & Carys....Let me tell you...It's hard being on the other end of the bed and not on it for once.

And I have to give thanks to my Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ for the wonderful gift of life.

Now its time to shower and eat and finally sleep. It was a long night.

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Feriante Family Reunion 2013

FFRU2013 !

Today we spent time with Jason's family- The Feriante Reunion next to the Lagoon in Utah.

Here are the girls having fun with a simple stick !!

                                        LET'S GO FISH MAM!

                   MAM, WHAT DO YOU WANT ....JUST LET ME PLAY !!

                       
                               WHAT UP GUYS!! THIS IS MY STICK!

                                *Seren & Grampa Randy Feriante*

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Our family holiday to Disneyland California !

Well our family holiday was lovely :-) we spent two fun filled days, one day in Disney's California Adventure and one day in Disneyland.

Disney's California adventure park we managed to go on a few rides. The weather at first was overcast, but still warm. Seren was so excited when she saw, Mickey Mouse and started to sing.. The Mickey mouse song.

We had pictures taken with Buzz Lightyear and Jessie from Toy Story. Carys was just in awe...lol we saw the parade and both Carys and Seren loved it and got to see Woody, and all the other toy story characters, amongst many others.

Disneyland was crazyyyyy !!! Busy!!!! AND Hot!!!!!!

We waited in line for finding Nemos ride for over an hour..which the girls didn't like at all. So then we decided to see all the shows in air conditioned areas lol. We watched the Mickey mouse show which had the princess's and then the girls met Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Ariel.

We stayed to watch the fireworks which Seren loved so much...and when Tinkerbell and Dumbo flew over the castle.. She was oh my...Tinkerbell...Dumbo.....

It was a lovely time together as a family. I'm glad Jason took the bull by the horns and booked the hotel...

Carys loves her Minnie and Mickey cuddly toys. Right now she is holding mine and singing and spinning in circles..making herself dizzy.

Seren loves her Minnie and Mickey and Simba. All worth the heat and long queues in line to see our sweet baby girls faces when they saw the Disney characters.

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We nearly at our destination...the candy cane hotel in Anaheim, California. The car journey has been long..the girls have done good..although now they're getting fractious...and went out and some proper food in their tummies...they're not the only ones lol

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Start of our holiday!

So were supposed to be driving to St.George on the start of our first family holiday....lol

Here I am at our local mcdonalds waiting for Jason to get home with the rental car!

He went to pick it up and tgey disnt have any cars for him..so they took him downtown and guess what.....

No cars for him there!!!!  So they had to send someone to go to the airport to get a car for us....so we probably will have a late start to st.george!!! Well at least the kids should fall asleep lol...

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Time for a Holiday.

So finally we are having a family holiday ( vacation in USA English- in Britain we say Holiday)!! Before we head off to Madison Wisconsin for Jason to start his master ( then be student poor for a while- boohoo :(

But before that.....CALIFORNIA here we come !!!!!!!!! Yippee. It's just a few days, gonna visit Jason's brother and take the girls to Disneyland for a day or two :) Can't wait for the girls to see the Disney Characters :)

Also my son Bradley is here with us !! Yippee. It's lovely having him here with us. Today he is working on his Aunt's farm! Ashton gets here soon, roll on end of July :)

Also Jade is due to have here baby girl this month!! June 29th is her date...super excited for that....I'll be Grandma Helen for a second time :)......

So till I post pictures of Hol's ....see ya later sweet potato lol lol

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Update !

So an update about my lower back. Still have to have two more adjustments, this coming week- crack, crack lol..... I have been wearing that super tight wrap, all the time...well almost all the time :) Sleeping in it can be annoying and also when my legs start to go pins'n'needles..or numb-ish lol ....When doing some heavy stuff, I do I wear the wrap, especially yesterday, when I moved and packed boxes. It does really help, at least now I can accomplish the daily mundane tasks.

When I am all done with my chiropractic adjustments, then I have to keep doing glut exercises and have intermittent adjustments, which I will have to do when we move to Madison, Wisconsin in August. That post will come!! Ugh Ugh lol

Till next posting....

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