What are these?! With pictures.

In my back yard a little while ago, the kids found these large and frightening things:

 

Is this one above some kind of wasp (all three pictures are of the same bug) and the one below a bee (again all pictures are of the same bee thing)? Hubby thinks they’re both bees and that the one below is a black bumble bee (I’d never heard of one before and looked it up . . . it’s possible, I suppose, but the wings look to big for a bumble bee IMO).

 

 

  Here they are together:

 

Strange . . . I’ve never seen them around here before but they freaked us out pretty good. They are BIG (you can see a bit of the chain link fence behind them for reference)! I didn’t want to get too close and don’t have a great zoom lens so sorry if the pictures aren’t the greatest.

Can anyone identify them?

Help on!

Really, September? Really?

I don’t know why September felt the need to arrive so soon. August had barely begun, and then September came in and kicked it aside (September is kind of pushy like that). I’m miffed that it arrived ahead of schedule and brought my impending deadline that much closer. Curse you September!! Couldn’t you have waited another week?

*sigh*

I’m a bit stressed because I worry that, once again, the date I set for being finished with my rewrite will come and go, and I still won’t be finished. I hate missing my goals, and I don’t think the goals have been unrealistic. Unfortunately, whenever I set a goal for a certain date, things conspire against me to ensure I’ll never reach the goal.

Just a few minor things happened this time . . . like my son having an accident and my daughter having a seizure . . . but I should have been able to push through them and write, right?

Yesterday was a great writing day, but still not quite great enough to get my word count where I’d like it to be right now (at 40,000).

My self-imposed deadline is a week from today and I still need another 48,899 words. Yeah, chances are slim, but I’m going to try!

I probably ought to change my goal to be HALFWAY finished by the 11th so I can feel accomplished instead of bummed (because reaching the halfway point would be much more realistic at this point).

But changing my goal would be cheating so I won’t do it. I’ll work as hard and as fast and as much as I can and see where I stand next Saturday.

Okay, now an update on K. She had more blood work done on Wednesday. I got a phone call yesterday saying that everything came back normal. Our doctor referred us to a pediatric neurologist so she has an appointment with him on Oct 5th. She hasn’t had any further seizures, which is a good thing. =)

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Write on.

How did I miss this? and other stuff

While catching up on my friends’ blogs today (I occasionally find time for it), I came across Cindy Pon’s awesome book giveaway. I’m not sure how I missed it, but since it doesn’t end until Sept. 3, I still have time to enter. She has some pretty cool books to give away so check it out!

I’m getting a bit more sleep now. K hasn’t had another seizure and we plan to send her back to school tomorrow even though I’m still nervous. But I can’t keep her home forever and watch her every second (well I could try, but it would drive both of us crazy).

My word count hasn’t improved by much (about 400 words), but I’m hoping this week will be seizure and car accident free so I can get some writing done!

Of course, I’ll be in ceramics class tomorrow and Tuesday (or maybe just tomorrow . . . or maybe just Tuesday) so I probably won’t get much writing done until Wednesday or Thursday (hubby is off Wednesday and he’s distracting so I may not get much done on Wed.) .

I’m still planning on being done by the 11th though so I’ve got to find some time to

Write on!

Thursday Things

Wednesday is over. I ended up leaving hubby to entertain on his own, and I hid away in my room to grab some sleep when the in-laws arrived. *evil grin*

K hasn’t had any further seizures. I called the neurologist’s office (the number the hospital gave us), but I had to leave a message because I guess they weren’t open yet. We’ll see if they call back. I think I might call our personal doctor and see if he has a recommendation for a neurologist too (always good to have choices).

All the kids are home from school again today. Oldest son is having back pain from his accident and it hurts him to sit in the chairs at school (he went for part of the day yesterday before he called me to come get him). We’re going to take him to get checked out.

Last night, K slept in our beg again. She shares a room with our oldest daughter, J, and J didn’t want to be in her room alone. So . . . I ended up sleeping on the futon/couch again while J and K slept in the bed with hubby.

The futon/couch isn’t very comfortable, and sleeping on it two nights in a row makes it even more uncomfortable. But that’s okay, I didn’t sleep much anyway. I’m too stressed out about K. I’ve been through so much with both my girls already, that I’m not sure I can do it again. Even being in the ER on Tuesday almost sent me into a panic attack.

All that kept running through my mind last night were the horrors of the previous troubles with the girls . . . the weeks in the hospital and the surgeries, the breathing machines, having to learn to insert a feeding tube, the way my little K looked all twisted and stiff during the seizure, her incoherence afterward . . . the stuff of nightmares, only I wasn’t asleep.

So, I’m tired today, but I’m pressing forward anyway. I guess I’m just panicking and will hopefully calm down as time goes by (hopefully with no further seizures), but, right now, I’m afraid to leave K alone.

She has an eye doctor appointment today (she’d been complaining of not being able to see the board at school). I thought about cancelling the appointment, but decided to go ahead and get it done. After the appointment, I’m hoping to get some writing done . . . but we’ll see if I can let go of my worries enough to dive into writing.

How are the rest of you doing out there? Hope your Thursday things are more fun than mine. ;-)

Live on.

I Hate Tuesday!

Okay, not all Tuesdays, but yesterday, for sure!

First, son got into a car accident. He turned off the highway onto a dirt pullout and, not being familiar with driving on dirt, couldn’t stop in time and hit a parked truck. No one was injured, though son is sore today. There was some damage, but we had full coverage so we’ll survive. In all honesty, I’m glad the truck was there for him to hit. He couldn’t stop and would have gone over the cliff!

Okay, so as if that wasn’t enough to stress a mother out, second daughter, K, came home from school with a 100.2 degree fever. At about 5:00, she had a massive seizure! We spent most of the night in the hospital while they ran tests, but everything came back normal (including the CAT scan). They have no idea why she seized, but gave us a pediatric neurologist’s number to follow up. They’re just calling it New Onset Seizure.

The doc said it isn’t uncommon for a child to have a seizure and then never have one again, but he also said if she’s susceptible to them, she’s more likely to have another one. The kicker is, we won’t know if she’s susceptible unless she has another one. Honestly, one was terrifying enough! It’s not like I’ve never witnessed a seizure before (I have a friend who has them), but it’s a whole new ballgame when it’s your own child! It’s horrifying!!

So, everyone is home from school today because we’re exhausted after the hospital and car accident excitement. We’re keeping a close eye on K. Other than not remembering what happened just before and just after the seizure, K seems back to normal. She slept in our bed with hubby last night while I “slept” on the futon with oldest daughter who was all freaked out and worried that she’d have a seizure too. *sigh* Hubby and I didn’t sleep well at all for some strange reason.

Yeah, I want to be sleeping right now, but hubby’s dad and sister decided they needed to come down and see K today. I wanted hubby to tell them no, but he won’t because his father has health problems and hardly ever comes to see the kids. So, hubby ran off into town to finish up some work he didn’t get done yesterday, and I’m here waiting for his family to show up.

I hate yesterday’s Tuesday, and I’m beginning to hate today’s Wednesday.

On a happy note (if you can call it that), my copy of Mockingjay should arrive today . . . not that I’ll be able to read it because I’ll either be entertaining family or sleeping away some of my exhaustion.

Whine on!

I Resisted . . . .

. . . and didn’t make the bookmarks, though I was sorely tempted to. I hoped to manage 5,000 words this weekend, but it didn’t happen. I did get a little more writing done after my post on Saturday, but the kids ended up wanting to play games and have some fun . . . so we played games, had fun, and went for ice cream.

My weekend word count ended up looking like this:

And do you see how the computer sticks its tongue out to mock me?

Anyway, I’m still pleased with the progress. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any writing done today because I gave in to another temptation.

Some of you may remember that I went to school full time in the spring. I decided it was too much and wasn’t going back in the fall . . . but I decided I had WAY too much fun in the ceramics classes so I signed up for the fall.

Classes started this morning. I made a vase today. I’m not sure what I’ll make tomorrow. Though this takes time away from my writing, the good news is, I’m not taking the classes for a grade this time so I don’t HAVE to go to class. I signed up for both Monday and Tuesday and figure I’ll be able to make it to one or the other each week, even if I can’t make it to both. The classes go from 8:30 to 2:30, but I can leave earlier if I want (like I did today).

I’m a bad girl, I know, but how can I resist being able to play with mud (cause that’s basically what the clay is)? Especially when I get to make things like this:

Yes, that bowl was from last semester, but I don’t have anything to post from this semester because it just started today.

So, I’m hoping to get some writing done today, but the kids will be home from school in a little while and then it will be time for homework . . . we’ll see what happens.

Create on!

Resistance is Futile . . . or is it?

When I got the mail today, I had a package waiting for me from ChubbyChicoCharms. I’d ordered some charms for making bookmarks (a special order of some letters and some wolf themed). Now I’m trying to resist the temptation to make bookmarks because I really need to be writing.

On the other hand, the kids are home and keep bugging me so I can’t really concentrate on writing . . . maybe I ought to give up and make bookmarks.

But I really need to get some more writing done (though I did accomplish a bit this morning).

Here’s where I stand:

Anyway, I’m not sure what the day will bring. I’ll probably do more writing because I feel guilty and also because I’m at a great scene that should be easy to write.

But if I get stumped . . . then the bookmark making supplies  might come out. =)

Write on!