Halloween at the Walshes!!

Halloween at the Walshes!

Trick or treats at the Walshes. This morning my youngest said to me. "Mom, remember Halloween?" Isn't that sweet! He went to bed with a belly full of candy and he snuck one this morning too. I of course could not resist dressing Puff up for the occasion. Here he is along with the other characters at my house. Puff is the lizard from Star Wars 3 - Revenge of the Sith. Obi Won rides him when he battles General Grievous. K~

Mind Mapping to clarity

Oops, nice blog I just submitted. I am so key happy that I seem to enter things a little too soon.

This is an example of what they look like.

I am working hard on keeping up with my ideas. I have been logging down topic idea after topic idea. I think the mind map is a great option for generating as well as developing ideas. I have a few going right now. If you have never mind mapped, you need to try it. It works on any topic and issue. I use them often, to clear my head. Being a creative type, my mind can generate ideas so fast that it can be very overwhelming. Not to say all the ideas my mind generates are good ones. They just keep popping up in my head. Mind mapping also allows you not to loose valuable tidbits. Among a lot of unusable information there can be great little nuggets to hold onto. Even if it is just stopping and mind mapping during a journal session. It has helped me clear my head. I tend not to forget ideas either. It helps me spark new memories too. It also can help in the writing process. I consider it a fluid form of an outline. Your main topic (center of mind map) can become your story theme. Your secondary topics your chapters, or paragraphs, and so on. NEAT!!

K~

Ideas everywhere!!

Class Picture Day.....

Today has been a very long day, and it is only noon! It is class photo day at JJ Hill today. David did NOT want his photo take! So in true mom form, I bribed him with a Pokemon Stuffty. Of course, one Pokemon Stuffty turn into 3 at the Walsh home (the 3 kid deal). So before I went off to buy Pokemon Stuffties, oh and groceries, David tells me he wants me in his class photo with him. Can you even imagine that?? "Mame, can you get out of your sweet little sons photo now?" or " Ok old lady, move along." Is that not so sweet of David? Before I left, I gave him my cross necklace, which he wares a lot, and he seemed just fine with that. His hair is so long and unwashed, but that is how he looks most days. I am so thankful my prayer was answered this morning.

Cora is off in her sweet beautiful form. I remember 2 years ago, when she got out of her sick bed, so David would go to school to get his pictures taken. Ahh, the memories.

Sam was so sweet. I saw him in line. He was all ready to get his Class photo done. His first professional photo.

I got the 3 stuffties. $7 a piece (that helps the budget) and oh, also the groceries.

Now I relax for literally 2 minutes until Sam comes home.

K~

Keeping up with keeping up

The crew in the Black Hills..Check out the faces.......

Glad to hear I have readers out there. Apparently I have been slacking. Or, so I have been informed. I really have had quite a full week. I am on the sick path of the winter. I started about 1 month early, so this should be a treat for me. I swear co-pays will eat up any "extra" cash flow one may ever have. But, it's better then paying it all!!

I have been working on several "book" ideas. I put book in "" because, I don't consider myself a writer. I am going to finish illustrating the ECFE book and then that one will be done. I am working on a book about Puff. I thought, again, aimed towards kids. Hopefully fun and educational all at the same time. I have a huge mind map for that going. I secured my dad's field journals for Mexico, and am going to go through those for a general route of our trips. Reading them, may spark my memory and fuel my writing a bit more.

So far most of my animals are settling into the colder weather. I have needed to move several of them around. Puff prefers me to lift him onto the log for heat in the late morning. Otherwise, he just sleeps under a leaf all day. (sounds kind of nice) Pebbles continues to scratch around and explore her world. The snake hides all day and all night. Kind of a hermit. Speaking of Hermits, our hermit crab is still alive. I don't know how he is doing it with out ever eating? Nala is just a beast and she spends most of her waking hours hunting for wild game.

I have been knitting up a storm. I have finished the 4th strip of my afghan and have started the fifth. I am liking this project.

I am so proud of myself, I got all the kids off to school today, WITH their homework finished and in their back pack. Wow!! my job is done here. K~

All attitude!

What an attitude! She's in the right place.
Pebbles is my hatchling box turtle. She is about a year now. She is just a little over 2" long by 2 1/4" wide and super sweet. I feed her baby food squash, beans, banana, and peas. With that, I put in meal worms and her vitamin powder. She also gets grated fresh veggies too. She is exploring my desk now. I am starting to take her out more. I want her to be able to explore. (I need to do that with my other land turtles. They are a bit too large to explore my desk, but if I put them on the kitchen floor, the may fall down the basement steps. You may ask yourself, why doesn't she just block that off... Well don't forget, I have 3 young kids as well. They like to forget about things and then apologize.) Any way, I digress. I have had her since April. She came from Texas. (And boy are her arms tired!!) She is still considered a hatchling. Baby box turtle hatchlings can live mostly under ground for the first 2 years of their lives. Now of course I am calling her a she. When in fact it will be a while until I know for sure she is a she. She may be a he! But I thought Pebbles can be a gender neutral name. She is so beautiful and fun to watch. She too likes to snuggle under a fold in my shirt. She is very light however, and I am afraid that I may forget she is there and stand up. So, I don't do that very often. Only when I am alone and it is quiet. (Ok, I almost NEVER do that!) My water turtles are growing too. LuLu is doing well. He is the little map turtle. Maxwell is CRAZY!! He just can't spend any time alone. Except of course tonight when I decide to write about him. He is all alone on the floating log. Magellan is so tolerant. I can't believe what he puts up with. I tell you if I were him, I would have bitten off one of Maxwell's legs by now!! I have 7 beautiful gold fish, that, were bought for feeder fish. They are getting quite large. I need to get a HUGE filter for this much crowded tank. Luckily it is quite big. Puff??? Where is Puff you ask?? Oh, He is such a sweety and I am going to get him off his log he has been on all day, and we are going to do our snuggle time now. K~

Getting thoughts down......

Coke for breakfast? I am sure that is the deal here. Check out the van. And how about the beauty queens! (It's sick how skinny we are!) This photo alone can spark a good long chapter or 2!!

Wow, winter is setting in. I am starting to nest. I think that it would be a very fun adventure to start an outline and rough draft of my book. Maybe get a visual of what I want it to look like. Of course, I will need it to be visual. I love colors and photos. I love word pictures as well as the real ones. I just need some real quiet time to get a few coherent thoughts down. However, it might turn out interesting if I wrote it under the chaos, that is my life. Topics are a plenty at the Walsh house. I could write about my day to day. But, I think I am going to stick to my traveling adventures. I think they have a rich source of realism and hilarity. I wish, however, I could call my project something other then a book. I really don't consider myself a book writer. Any suggestions??
K~

Book Marks!

Book marks from left to right. The one on the left is my vision of the South Dakota landscape. This was my first one. The next one was just a whimsy of color theory. Some of the colors blend together, some abut after images of themselves (dark magenta and light green, Red and light blue) The third is my Sweden book mark for my dads birthday (which is in June...Oops) He goes to Sweden every year. Each one has taken about a week to do. I enjoy them A LOT!
I have been working on my book marks since my trip to south Dakota. I just finished a book mark for my sister for her birthday next week. I have loved working with color.
My friend Bobbi just mentioned in her blog about needing to work with color. I think it is in some of us. We have a compelling need to mix and match color.
My favorite us of color and texture, is the beautiful results that occur when you put them together. I have done this randomly as in my afghan strip, and measured as in my book mark for my sister. The book mark is a study a piece of artwork. What I do is study the piece and look at the colors involved. Then with a chosen module, mine happens to be strips, you use the color proportion to recreate the piece. If successfully done, as you compare them, they are to look remarkably similar. I REALLY enjoy doing this in almost any medium. Just in case she reads this, I better keep it a secret until next week. I will post the book mark and the art piece then. K~

Puff goes to school!

I took Puff to Davids class today. Of Course......it was snowing out. I bundled him up, got a hot water bottle, a blanket, put him in my coat all bundled and off we went. He was so good. He loved it there. I think he know he was a star!!

I feel very honored. I had a fantastic author contact my blog. Bob Tarte (Enslaved by ducks)! I really love his writting and was so touched by the contact by him. If you want a great read, read his book. I could relate as a multiple pet owner. I think however, that if you have one pet you will relate! I also think if you can't understand how people like myself find themselves with uncountable critters, this is a well written book that explains it well. He makes very true statements. Neat!

K~

Warming up all the little critters

I have spent some time getting all the little critters in my zoo all set up with heat lights. I have brought in all of my plants I hope to keep alive through the winter. Snow for Thursday!!!

And I have had a fish suicide!! My last Beta Lucy ( I know he was a boy) jumped out into the land turtle tank!! So sad. I think that betas are prone to Suicide. I went from 9 to none in the last 2 years.

I have been fooling Puff these last few days. He wants to get out into the regular house and gets so frantic. So, I have kept his night warming light on until about 10 am. He then sleeps soundly. Now, he is awake and ready to get into his Vikings blanket in the TV room for a snooze!! He is such a pumkin!

K~

K~ Reading????

For those of you who like pictures, this LONG blog did not have any, so I put in an illustration of my dads. He's kind of gifted in drawing, wouldn't you say?? It's a bat.

Reading and worrying.

Can you believe that I have been reading ... A lot! Those of you who know me, know I didn't care for reading much, that is, until I found books I enjoyed reading.

Of course, true to my nature, I am worried that maybe I am reading too much drivel. How can I turn a relaxing hobby into a worry. I guess I am gifted. I have finished my 18th book last night. It was very good and had a little of everything in it. I tried to download my book list, but couldn't do it successfully.

I really like the historical fiction books. I like the challenging ones, but, if feel too challenged by them at this point. Too much re-reading. I always find myself saying " Who was that?" "Wow, they must have been important to spend a chapter on them, hmmm, I don't remember them?"

Then I realized, that I need to read lighter books of the same type. Having the constant interruption of kids or dozing off at 1 am, can confuse a fragile mind like mine. I have picked up where I left off (or at least where I put the book mark) and have NO idea what's going on. I have to go back sometimes 10 pages or so. In any case, I have done quite nicely with my reading.

Who said that you can't teach old dogs new tricks. So of these books are 400+ pages!! Oh, and no pictures : ) !

Authors that are light and easy: Bob Tarte (non fiction - Enslaved by ducks), Elizabeth Peters ( some are historical fiction mysteries - Amelia Peabody series), Dorothy Gilman (mysteries), Laura Ingles Wilder (yes "Little house on the Prairie") - those really put into perspective how lazy one can be in any given day. Just check out what Ma gets to do in her "spare time"!

An author that are a medium read: Ellis Peters (historical fiction mysteries)- she writes in a language that is close to the period in which she writes, the 1100's. So if you can get through that and the names at 11 PM, it is relaxing. I do really like her stuff.

Challenging Authors: Elliot Patison (historical fiction mysteries), Very interesting, don't read unless you can devote some time of awake and quite. Lots of hard names, etc. I read the Skull Mantra. Very good. Took me FOREVER!!

Lastly: It appears I only read authors that have the initials EP. I don't know why.

K~

Thinker Cultures

Thinker Cultures

Which of the following Thinker characteristics listed below match individuals you know with cultural roots similar to those discussed above?

Me?? I have always fallen Far Far into the thinker quadrant. Every personality test I take shows me about 80% in this area, with a little teeny part in each other quadrant. I would say most of the following characteristics describe me. If you have never done one of these, try them. They can be interesting, revealing and even sometimes fun. This particular description comes from Tony Alessandra.

careful--methodical and cautious; don't jump into things initially.
precise--need to be accurate, so they check and recheck in their effort to find
the right or best available answer.
proper-- more formal, discreet, and inclined to allow others to be in their own space, expecting the same for themselves.
private--keep thoughts to themselves; do not willingly disclose their own or
others' thoughts and feelings.
reserved--somewhat formal and cool; take time to get to know them--they have few close relationships.
logical--process-oriented seekers of reason.
inventive--like to see things in new or unique ways; often have a unique perspective that includes or addresses both themselves and others.
contemplative--introverted and reflective, they ponder both the "why" and "how" elements in situations.

I'm thinking ... Yeah I will just sit and watch Rick work to put up the tent. I was cross stitching if you can't tell. Go thinkers!! (except... Rick is a thinker too. That issue is for another day.)

Waking up!

Waking up!! I am so glad to those of you who read my blog. I like the comments either on the site or by email. Thanks.

I am busy working on the house. I have been working with the kids and keeping up with their school stuff.

I have decided to post a photo of them. They are just too cute.

C is my sweet, creative, little artist and she keeps me busy with "I want to make this" I need to write that" "I am making decorations for inside my desk as school!"







D has been going to school very well this year. Working with a therapist has worked very well. He has had 2 rough days. It feels like a miracle that I can count the days he has struggled. He is quite the athelet and still has me wrapped tightly around that little finger of his!!!













S is a bundle of joy and energy. He keeps me busy, frustrated and laughing. Yes, he really sleeps like this!


They just melt my heart.

K~