My Summer To-Do List

 

Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. I’m back today and I’m excited about this summer. We only have thirty two more days of school left and that fact has me thinking about all the things I want to do during my off time.

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Summer is my favorite season. I love the heat and humidity and those summer nights when the stars are so close you can almost reach out and touch them. So I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to spend my time this summer and what activities I want to spend my time on. So, here’s my list.

 

• I’m working on revisions on a WIP right now that I’m totally geeked about. It’s turning into an incredible story and I can’t wait to finish it. That being said, I’ve got three other stories on the back burner that I want to complete. I don’t know if I’ll get all three done this summer, but we’ll see.

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• I love hiking and I want to spend a lot of time on the trails this summer. I want to go up to Tahquamenon Falls and hike through the area with my hubby and boys. It’ll be a fun adventure for all of us. I also want to explore trails closer to home so we can do some day hikes. I want my kids to unplug as much as they can this summer and get out into nature.

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• I want to take the boys kayaking. I think they’ll love being in the water. I know I do. I enjoy the peace of it.

 

• I want to spend some of my nights sitting on the dock at the cottage and watching the stars.

 

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• I want to spend time reading as much as I can. I love immersing myself in a good story. It relaxes me and there are so many good stories out there.

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• I want to spend time by the bonfire telling stories with my boys and sharing precious moments with them. They’re growing so fast.

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• Exploring new restaurants with my hubby which means more date nights! 😉

 

• Getting together with my Gal Pals. Because where would we be without our friends?

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• Walking by myself. I want to spend more time walking by myself. I’m an INFJ personality type so I crave alone time and walking is a great stress reliever and it’s a great way to work out plotting issues.

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• Binge-watching TV series and movies when I’ve got some down time.

 

I’m sure I’ll fit an amusement park visit in there somewhere with my boys. We seem to go at least once a summer. How about you? What are your plans for the summer?  Any new activities you can recommend for me? Leave a comment! I love hearing from you!

 

Protecting our Kids from Abuse

 

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a nice Easter holiday. I know I did, and it was just what I needed to get back on track with my writing. I’ve been working on my revisions, and I’m excited about the way my story is coming together. But enough about that. I’m back today to talk about a serious subject.  One I feel strongly about, and that subject is protecting our kids from abuse.

Our children are innocents. They don’t have the emotional capacity to deal with a predator when they come across one and let’s face it, most of them look like you or me. Some of them are doctors or priests. (Don’t get me started on the Catholic Church and the abuse they covered up for years.) They’re adults and they know how to manipulate and control their victims. To a child these people look trustworthy and they are everywhere, online, in schools and in our churches. So how can we protect our kids?

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First of all, let’s look at what type of victim predators look for. It’s the same type of victim whether the predator is a pedophile, a human trafficker, or an abuser. The type of child they look for is someone who doesn’t have a strong support system. A loner. A kid who doesn’t have a lot of friends or a strong family unit. They’re looking for a kid who’s emotionally needy. Someone they can ply with compliments and gifts so the kid becomes dependent on them for their self-esteem, and that’s when the abuse starts.

So how do we make sure we don’t raise victims? By being an involved parent. These predators don’t go after the kid whose parent is present watching baseball practice and cheering their youngster on. They don’t go after the kid whose parent is there picking them up from school every day. They go after the ones who don’t have a strong role model. The ones where the parent maybe is dealing with issues of their own, the death of a spouse, a divorce, or a mental illness.

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So how do we protect the kids whose parents are going through a divorce or a sudden death? That’s when we have to look to our community to help out. If you can’t be at the bus stop to pick up your kid, ask a neighbor to watch them to make sure they make it home, or if you can afford it, hire a babysitter. Someone responsible enough to be there for them.

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If there is strong community support, predators can’t get in and our children are safe. Let’s face it. If our kids aren’t safe then we all lose, wouldn’t you agree?

Also, talk to your kids. Teach them to be suspicious of adults, who aren’t in your family, who buy them gifts and seem to give them a lot of attention. Teach them to be their own advocate. Tell them it’s okay for them to tell an adult, “I’m not comfortable with this. Please stop.” And tell them they can yell it if they need to. They won’t be punished for it. Let’s keep our littles safe.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. I feel strongly about this and I wanted to share my thoughts with all of you.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any ideas on ways to protect our kids you’d like to share? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Easter!

 

 

 

Happy Easter, everyone. I hope you enjoy your day, celebrating with friends and family. I’ll be doing that myself so there won’t be a long post today. I’ll be back next Sunday for our regularly scheduled programming! Enjoy your holiday! 🙂

Looking for some Inspiration?

 

Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. I’m back today and I’m sharing with you some inspirational quotes that I use to keep me motivated. I thought it might be nice to share them with all of you in case you were having one of those days where it’s hard to get moving. So without further ado, here they are. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope these inspirational quotes have inspired you to get moving toward your goals. Do you have any quotes you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you, leave a comment with your own inspiration!

Painting Party: A Slice of Life Post

Hello everyone. I’m back today with another Slice of Life Post. A couple of weeks ago, I got together with my painting friends and we went to work painting our various pictures. We gather in my friend, Paulette’s garage and sit down at our easels and try to create our our masterpieces. I’m a messy artist. Just like I’m a messy cook or baker. It’s just the way I do things, but I’m enjoying this creative endeavor even though I have a lot to learn.

It’s such a calming atmosphere as we all concentrate on our work and the scent of paint hangs in the air like a misty cloud over our heads.

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Even though I’m an introvert, I enjoy getting together with people when we are engaging in an activity, like painting, or playing cards, or hiking. I’m not one for idle small talk. I’m more of a seeker of truth. I want to solve the world’s problems and when we get to painting we talk about them and we do come up with solutions. We need to write them down so we can send them off to the powers that be. 🙂

Getting together like this reminds me of the old quilting circles women used to organize in the olden days. We bond and come together, sharing parts of our lives with each other.  This bonding time is important for us relationship minded folk.

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When we get together and paint, it calms me. It’s a way to be creative but get away from my writing for a little bit and learn something new. I like learning. That’s why I like writing so much because there’s a lot of research to do.

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How about you? How do you relax and reconnect with your inner self?

Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you! 🙂

To read other Slice of Life Posts click here.

 

 

You might be a Bad Housewife If…

Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. Spring break is upon us. Finally! I’m looking forward to this break because both boys will be with friends so I’m going to have plenty of writing time. I did get some feedback from my beta reader and she loved the first one hundred pages! Yay me! She’s going to finish it up and let me know how she feels about the rest of it soon.  🙂

But enough about that. Today I’m back and I’m talking about being a bad housewife. I must confess I’d rather be writing than cleaning and sometimes my house reflects that. I also have a hard time throwing things away because every little scrap of paper has some sort of memory attached to it. So I must keep it. You know how it is. 🙂

So I’ve put together a list of Bad Housewife Traits that you may or may not identify with. 😉 I’ve posted the list below.

 

1. You may be a bad housewife if you have a secret room where you stash all your clutter before company arrives.

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2. You may be a bad housewife if you wait until the very last item of clothing is worn before you do the laundry.

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3. You may be a bad housewife if you see a cobweb but leave it because spiders need homes, too.

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4. You may be a bad housewife if you don’t take out the garbage until you can smell it.

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5. You may be a bad housewife if when sweeping the floor you literally sweep the dirt under the rug because you just can’t find the dustpan.

6. You may be a bad housewife if you watch “Hoarders” to feel better about your housekeeping skills.

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7. You may be a bad housewife if your kids can write their names in the dust that has accumulated on your tabletops.

8. You may be a bad housewife if your floors are sticky from spills that haven’t been wiped up.

9. You may be a bad housewife if ants parade across your counter because it’s a smorgasbord of crumbs and other delectable bites. You just don’t have time to wipe them up.

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10. You may be a bad housewife if you haven’t changed the kitty litter in three weeks and it’s so bad, you’re cat won’t even use it.

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If you recognize yourself in any of the comments above. You can get help. There are organizations out there that can give you assistance in decluttering your home and get it spic and span clean. You could even audition for “Hoarders.” 🙂

 

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post today. I hope you got a chuckle out of it. Do you have any Bad Housewife habits you’d like to share? Please do. I’d love to hear from you!