Utah
April 26, 2009
- Lily learned that a doggy says "roof roof", a cat says "meow" or "moo," and a Lily says "I love Daddy,"
- Elsie chased Andrew, Spencer, and me all around the soccer field until she was tired,
- Timmy went down the water slide more than any other kid in the family at the Lion's pool,
- Abby helped Lily sleep through Lily's toughest night,
- Katie cried the night before we left for home,
- Gina decided that she wants Rummy cube and Sorry! for her birthday, and
- I found time to write a bit more of my book every non Sunday through our vacation.
Hair and stuff
April 19, 2009
- Lily's hair looked so curly in the back that Gina called it an afro,
- Elsie announced to me excitedly that she and Timmy and Ammon had started a boy's club and she was the club guardian,
- Gina started expressing concern that Timmy's hair was turning into a mullet,
- Abby expressed joy at having the longest hair in the family,
- Kate was told how cute her hair cut was,
- Gina complained that her hair was getting pulled more than usual now that it's getting longer, and
- I realized that curls are forming in my side burns.
What are we going to do with a 4-year-old?
April 12, 2009
Pictures:
1. My birthday.
2. I don't like most cakes, so we had home made orange sherbet.
3. Elsie's infamous Lady-in-Pink,
4. Elsie turning 4
5. Lily had a tough time during Elsie's birthday celebration . . .
6. Until Elsie let her sit in Elsie's new elephant chair.
7. The next morning Abby was reading to Timmy and Elsie. Katie came later.
- Lily put on Elsie's black boots so she could go play out in the mud, snow, and water,
- Elsie turned 4,
- Timmy made it more difficult to have him put away the dishes than to do it ourselves–the strategy partially worked,
- Abby missed her first soccer game due to unexpected snow,
- Kate got upset when I beat her in a Wii cow race (which means that she expected to win . . .),
- Gina cooked another ham, and
- The Kindle 2 that I got for my birthday arrived.
We need short stories.
April 9, 2009
When: By June 1st. The first issue of There and Then is planned to come out on Wednesday, July 1st. Since we'll want a month to get ready, we would like to have 5 short stories selected before June 1st.
What qualifies: The story may be fiction, but the setting has a researched "there" and a researched "then." We're looking for stories with lengths between 2000 and 6000 words. This is not fantasy or alternative history but an exploration and celebration of the richness of actual history.
Rating: G or PG only.
Stay tuned for information on judging criteria.
Staying here for the summer
April 6, 2009
I mentioned not long ago that I applied for seed funding to form a historical fiction magazine. After applying, I worked over the numbers and looked at what it would take to start the magazine and saw how small the market is likely to be and realized that funding wasn’t really appropriate: rather than come up with a plan to create an ambitious company, I had come up with a very interesting side-line. The net result is that if we had been funded we would have had to do something much more ambitious and risky. Further, accepting funding might have jeopardized my degree and would have forced our family to make an inorganic jump and take some unnecessary risk.
If funding would have been a negative thing, then why am I so glad I applied? Mostly I’m glad for two reasons. One is that the questions that I had to answer in the application helped me think clearly about what I wanted to do and helped me form an interesting and valuable plan. The second is that while I was uncertain about my acceptance I thought about what it would mean to give up the next year to build a company and I realized how great our life is right here and right now and how much there is to do. In other words, because I had the chance to contemplate giving up our current situation I also had the chance to recognize what a great time we are having right here and right now.
Here we go.
- Andrew entertained us all by singing and playing the guitar, read to us in German, and got the kids interested in ping pong,
- Mom made her first Mii and played the Wii for her first time (and started to get a bit competitive),
- Lily walked for a large portion of our hike at Bandelier National Monument refusing to be held,
- Elsie called herself the Lady-in-pink, a super villain, and declaired Andrew and me to be her henchmen,
- Timmy came to join every ping pong game that happened when he was around,
- Abby came up with a savings plan for her mission and college,
- Kate made a goal to learn to use the ten-key efficiently,
- Gina made so much good food for Mom and Andrew's visit and my birthday that I may be full until Saturday, and
- I had what might be my best birthday ever.
