Month: December 2006

Today I substituted for Kiki’s primary teacher at church. I don’t get asked to substitute in my kid’s classes very often, so I shouldn’t complain. I just depend upon having two hours of away-from-the-kids time during church and I don’t get that if I’m teaching their classes. I grumbled and griped inside my head while I prepared the lesson and during sacrament meeting. The actual experience of teaching the class was really pleasant. There was a group of about 8 girls aged 11 and 12. Because I know my audience, I framed the whole lesson as a discussion. This allowed the girls to talk and express opinions throughout the whole class time. It was fun. As an added bonus I got the 12 year old girls to talk about the Young Women’s program and the fun things they get to do. Kiki is 11 and has been apprehensive about entering the Young Women’s program. It was good for her to hear these good things about it.

After individual classes all the children ages 8-11 were gathered together for Sharing Time which is a group lesson. (The 12-year-olds departed for Young Men/Women.) My responsibility during that time is merely to participate and squelch rowdy behavior. Since I was sitting with 2 11-year-old girls and Link who ditched his class, there wasn’t all that much squelching to do. I was able to have a little contemplative time after all.

I sat there and realized that today was Patches’ last week in Nursery. He is about to become a sunbeam. He loves nursery because it is two hours of toys with brief interruptions for snack, singing, and lesson time. Sunbeams phases out the toys and snacks. It is an important transition into Primary, but it tends to be a rough transition. I’ve talked with Patches about being a Sunbeam. I act all excited about how cool being a Sunbeam is, but I’m not sure that Patches is convinced. The good news is that during sharing times Gleek will be in the same place as Patches. Gleek is a wonderful big sister when she wants to be nice. I may be able to leverage that into better behavior for both kids. I’m so machiavellian.

With the coming of January, most of my kids will be getting new Primary teachers. I don’t know who they are yet. I do know that I’m sad that Link will be leaving behind the teachers he has had this year. They’ve been wonderful for him. I hope the teachers for 2007 are as good. For most of the past year Gleek had two 19-year-old girls as teachers. Gleek loved them, but they were sometimes less than reliable. They were recently replaced by a young married couple. I wonder who Gleek’s teachers will be this next year and whether they’ll be able to handle the exuberance/determination that is Gleek. Kiki gets to keep her teachers. But in 5 months she’ll be 12, so she still has a major transition to undergo.

Edit 1-21-07: Submissions for this project are now closed. An artist has been selected.

I wrote a story for my daughter. Howard and I both agree that it is a strong enough story that we’d like to see it made into a children’s book. I am seeking an artist who is interested in collaborating on the project. I know this may seem strange coming from someone who is married to an artist, but Howard and I have carefully considered everything and he just doesn’t have time to take on this project. It is much more important to all of us that he finish his next Schlock book.

I have already finished the text for this picture book and I intend to make it available for sale through Lulu.com. I don’t expect it to make very much money, but I’m willing to offer the artist a share in any profits. The artist will retain rights to the images just as I will retain rights to the text. The artist would also be part of negotiations should both the text and pictures get picked up by a publisher. With Howard’s books in print we are rapidly acquiring publishing contacts, so having the book picked up by a publisher is very possible. In addition Howard will blog about the book from the front of his site, telling 25,000 people how fantastic the artist is and showcasing some of the illustrations from the book.

The project would require the artist to create 25-30 pictures, including cover art. Characters must be recognizable from picture to picture. Horses will feature prominently in the book, so the ability to draw them is a must. In picture books the text is only half the story, so I’ll be looking for an artist who can expand upon my words in visual form. I am open as to what style the illustrations should use. Some examples of illustrations styles that appeal to me are found in the following books: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Harry Potter books, Where’s My Teddy, I Lost My Bear, Ish, and Tuesday.

If you are an artist interested in this project here are the submission guidelines:

Read the text below and produce 1 or 2 pictures to illustrate the words. (or submit several samples of existing work to demonstrate your style.) Also submit an illustration of a horse. Size these images so that they are no larger than 400 x 400. Attach the pictures to an email and send it to sandratayler at livejournal.com with the subject line: Picture submission. I may email you for larger/higher resolution images, but do not send them to me unasked. The submitted pictures will be considered concept art. The artist would have access to the entire text of the book before drawing completed images. In the text of the message please introduce yourself and briefly tell why you’re a good choice for this project.

I will be accepting submissions until January 20. I will then make a selection and begin contractual negotiations for the completion of the project.

Book Text:
Amy was excited by the whole world. Each morning she sprang out of bed with a head full of thoughts and feet ready to put them into action.

On Monday she climed to the very top of the jungle gym and was jumping up and down to fly like a dragon. The school Yard Duty called to her to come down for heaven’s sake.

Once again I am forced to come to the conclusion that taking a vacation is good for me. It always seems like life is too crazy for me to drop everything and go somewhere, but every time that I do, I come back invigorated. I am full of plans and optimism and energy. Since I’ve come home I have sorted through our books and culled out a few more rejects. I have culled through my closet and made space for the new clothes I got. I have stared at the boys’ closet and spun plans for making cubbyholes on the shelves because it might be easier to keep organized, or maybe just acquire lots of clear plastic tubs with labels on them. I have decided that I will finally break down the empty boxes in the storage room and shove them into the recycle bin before next pick up day. I plan to arrange for a pick up of all the thrift store stuff I want to give away. I stared at the master bathroom and considered painting it this month, or maybe I’ll repaint my office, or the kids’ bathroom, but what really needs paint is the kitchen/livingroom. I repotted four little plants. I dug up some bulbs from my front yard to see if I can convince them to bloom inside for me. I gathered all of these green things together in one space to be my winter garden. I wandered in the yard and made plans that I’ll get out and do yardwork during those inevitable 50 degree days that always tease me in January and February. I spent hours browsing on amazon.com for flower seeds to plant around the grape plants that will be growing this next spring, having them all lined up on my list is like wandering through a blooming garden, sort of. Oh, and I need to finish construction on the grape arbor too. While I was browsing Amazon I went looking for little hair jewels that my friend showed to me, yup they’re there. I’ve planned two possible road trips. One that lasts two weeks and heads east, one that lasts one week and heads northwest. I also calculated cost on those trips. This inspired me to start reading grocery store sales flyers again. I need to stock up on cheap food. I planned breakfast, lunch, and dinner for today. I even pulled stuff out of the freezer so it can thaw.

My brain is abuzz and things are getting done. I wish more of my days could be like this. Which brings me back to the point that I need to schedule more vacations.

When we arrived home yesterday we found our house not quite as we left it. We expected the pile of mail on the counter since we’d left a key with our neighbor and asked her to bring in our mail. We did not expect to find several packages sitting with the mail and several more tucked into the fridge. Fans and friends were very kind to us and sent us extremely thoughtful Christmas gifts. I’m not going to try to list everything because I’ve decided that individual thank you notes are in order. I hope to get the notes mailed this week before I get distracted by other matters.

Once again I am awed and amazed at the generosity and kindness of people. None of the people who sent us packages had to send anything, but they did. Thank you!

The return from California was much more interesting than I had planned for. We delayed our departure for a day because we didn’t want to drive over Donner Pass in a snowstorm. This meant that we planned to leave at 11 am on Thursday rather than 11 am on Wednesday. But then on Wednesday evening Patches announced a dire need for a pot to throw up in. He didn’t actually throw up until more than an hour later when we had company visiting. Deyo and Mctavish were extremely kind. They were so convincing about not minding, that I finished their visit with Patches snuggled into my lap and occasionally depositing into the pot. It was so fun to visit with them, like having new friends and old all wrapped into one happy package.

As the visit wound down to a close Howard and I discussed travel options. Stomach flu usually has an incubation of 12-48 hours. The drive home takes about 12 hours. We figured the sooner we left, the greater likelihood that we could arrive home before anyone else started exhibiting symptoms. So Howard crashed into a nap and I finished packing the car. The kids all got to stay up and watch movies. Around 1am Howard staggered out and we loaded tired kids into the car and left. We had a bucket for Patches, lots of paper towels, and many garbage bags. I’ve mentioned before how Patches is the sweetest sick child I’ve ever seen. He was a real trooper carefully using his bucket as necessary and not missing once.

In short order all four kids were asleep. They continued to sleep for the next 7 hours. I caught some sleep too. Donner pass was clear, but there were some high winds which blew snow over the roads. It was rather eerie to be driving at 4 am on a windy road through a forest with the wind buffeting the van. Powdered snow curled across the road almost like mist and then seemed to reach out and grab the van as we drove past. We learned to watch those swirls and slow down because they indicated strong winds which would throw snow at the entire van. There were a few trucks on the road with us, but for the most part it was just us and the snow and wind and road. I found myself thinking of Caradharas and picturing snow elementals of the mountains objecting to our intrusion into their domain. True to the Caradharas image, the winds stopped pushing at us once we were headed away from the mountain rather than up to the top. The rest of the trip had occasional high winds, but none as poetically interesting as that pre-dawn passage over Donner.

At Lovelock we stopped for gas and I took over driving for three hours. Everyone else slept while I entertained myself by eating snacks and singing along to music. We stopped for breakfast at Elko. Howard and I fully expected the kids to insist on going in to the McDonald’s play place, but one and all they declared that they couldn’t go play there because Patches was sick and we might get other kids sick. Have I mentioned what wonderful, thoughtful children I have? They were kind and considerate of each other during both of our long drives. During the last leg of the trip Howard drove, the kids watched movies, and I took some naps.

In all, it was an excellent road trip with just enough adventure to it that we’ll have stories to tell. It bodes well for our hoped for long road trip next summer. For now we’re all tired and just glad to be back at home.

Today began with a puppet show.  At least it did for me.  For Howard it began with Dungeons and Dragons.  He ran a campaign for the older kids and I took the younger ones to a puppet show.  This particular show was really well done.  The pupeteer had all the kids laughing out loud and interacting with his puppets.  There were at least 40 children there and none of them wandered off because they got bored.  Gleek and Patches chattered about the puppets all the way home.  I was amused at the amusement of the kids.  I’m afraid that Jack and the Beanstalk just doesn’t hold much fascination for me anymore. 

After our return to my parent’s house, I dived head first into the attempt to gather all our belongings into a single location.  I wanted to inventory and figure out what was missing while we still have time to find it.  Tomorrow we’ll be back on the road to go home.  I’ve had a wonderful vacation, but it is time to go home now.  I am both glad and sad about that.  At least this vacation I can arrive back home having done all of the things that I intended to do. So that’s good.

Our stay in Livermore has been extended by a day courtesy of snowy weather over Donner Pass.  I am selfishly glad for the extension.  I’ve been having loads of fun relaxing and visiting.  Howard is having fun too, but he’s starting to feel hemmed in with all the people.   While there isn’t a single person here he doesn’t like, there are just so many of them that his inner introvert is huddling in a little ball and whimpering.  There are 7 children and 9 adults here, and only 9 rooms to be shared by them all.  Unless you count the hallway as a room.  Which I don’t.  I did count the bathrooms because it is possible to hide in one for awhile if you’re willing to risk the ire of all the people who wish to use the facilities.  Fortunately today we have a plan which will get Howard out of the house and to a quiet place where he can paint minis for several hours.  

Some people use the day after Christmas as a huge shopping day.  Around here, we’re all just sleeping or sitting in collapsed heaps.  At least the adults are, the kids have been playing with their new toys.  Mostly the play has been quiet, they seem to be tired too.  I made sure that Patches, Gleek, and Link all went to bed on time last night.  I’d idenified all three as overly cranky yesterday.  Kiki was sneakier.  She took a nintendo DS to bed with her and played with it under the covers.  She is very upsetable today.  Tonight I’m going to claim all the portable game systems and lock them up before bed.

I should probably begin organizing our things so they’re ready to pack back into the car.  But I’m feeling singularly unmotivated to do so.  Maybe I’ll curl up somewhere and play Sudoku instead.

This morning began at 7 am.  Howard and I rolled out of bed to discover my sister and her husband in the kitchen, but nary a child to be seen.  We had fully expected to be pounced awake at 5 am.  Howard started cooking bacon and the kids began to roll out of bed.  They were remarkably patient about waiting for everyone to gather.  We actually sat at the kitchen table talking and laughing while Howard finished cooking the bacon.  Then we ate bacon.  When I was a kid we were always bouncing around in the wee hours of the morning.  My kids are different.  More often than not Howard and I wake them up.  Finally Kiki went and woke up Gleek who was the late sleeper.  Then we all trooped in to look at the morning surprises.  It went really well.  Our big surprise was that We managed to get our hands on a Wii.  I’d given up on the idea of getting a Wii because I’m not willing to stand in line for hours at subfreezing temperatures and we can’t afford to pay the prices they were going for on ebay.  Then last week Amazon had a lottery which allowed people to enter to win the chance to buy one of Amazon’s Wii consoles.  I entered.  I won.  We had the Wii shipped to my parent’s house.   It has seen nonstop use since this morning.  

In an ideal world the kids would have time to savor an opened gift and truly appreciate it before we moved on to the next one.  If we had done that this year the whole crowd of us would still be in one room opening gifts at Midnight, or maybe even New Years Day.  This was one of those years when everyone gets piles of everything that they wanted.  I’ve been glad to watch it after the past two lean Christmases.  I keep telling myself that the abundance of this Christmas is acceptable because we don’t buy new things during most of the rest of the year.  But it is a little dismaying toward the end of the Christmas present opening, when all efforts at turn taking are abandoned and the kids don’t even bother to read the tags before opening the gifts.  Kiki has a little bag she loves and we have no idea who gave it to her.  On the other hand the frenzy didn’t begin until after the kids had all carefully handed out their gifts that they had selected.  At the beginning we divded the presents into piles of things that each person was giving.  Then the person carefully handed a gift to the person whose turn it was to open.  I have a lovely memory of Patches cradling the gift that he was anxiously awaiting the chance to give to Gleek.  He’d picked it out, and wrapped it, and waited for weeks trying very hard not to tell what it was.  Handing over that package and seeing it opened delighted him.  I’m so glad to see my kids enjoying the giving as much as the getting. 

It was also interesting to watch the difference in shopping styles.  Mom and I and my older Sister all carefully planned and conferenced for months to make sure that each child would have a perfect set of gifts.  The gifts are carefully thought out and will be enjoyed for months and years.  My Dad, My oldest brother, and My youngest brother all went shopping on Friday.  They bought piles of stuff, wrapped it and handed it out.  By the end of the present opening all the kids were clamoring to open the presents from my oldest brother because he picked fun toys that they’ve never seen before.  These were toys that could be used right now, while most of my and my mom’s carefully selected gifts need quieter places and times to be enjoyed.  Once again my mom came through with an amazing array of wonderful gifts that my kids are going to enjoy for a long time to come.

The morning surprises have now been dispensed, the presents have all been opened.  Now is the time where the kids play with toys while the adults sneak off to take naps.  Later we’ll have a big Christmas dinner and then the holiday will be over for another year.  Or almost over.  We still have another whole day at Grandma’s house to enjoy.  Then we go home and have vacation time there.  On New Year’s eve will be a Tayler family event with even more gifts.  I’m sad that we’re coming to the end of our vacation.  It has been truly wonderful.

I went to church with my parents this morning.  This is the congregation that I grew up in, so I had several sweet old ladies come up to me with variations on “I knew you when you were this tall.”  It was fun to see familiar face, but they’ve all gotten so much older when I wasn’t looking.  And there are some faces which are conspicuously absent, which makes me sad.  Some people are so vibrant it seems like it should be impossible for them to die.  But they do.  We all do eventually.  Church was also filled with a host of new faces.  I looked around and tried to picture how it would be if I ever came back to live in Livermore.  It would be a strange mix of old and new.  But after 15 years I can’t assume I really know anyone here.  People change so much in that amount of time.

My mother came down sick yesterday, so she wasn’t able to teach Gleek in Primary.  Fortunately my Dad filled in.  She didn’t mind the substitution at all, she probably got away with lots more bouncing around than she would have if my mom had been there.  Patches ran off to nursery happily.  Then at some point he looked around and realized he was in a strange place with strange people.  The nursery leaders brought him to me.  He had tears streaming down his face and he clung to me.  Howard followed us out into the hall.  Then Howard asked Patches if he’d like Daddy to play cars with him.  Patches nodded and the two of them went offto go play cars.  Later Howard was able to come back and rejoin me in Sunday School.

Kiki decided that she didn’t want to be in Primary with her class.  I asked her why and she declared it was because there was a girl in the class who didn’t like her.  The fact that this girl didn’t like her made her feel unloved and lonely.  I pinned her with my Mommy stare and informed her that the opinion of a girl we’ll see maybe once in two years should not matter to her.  I required her to identify opinions which should matter to her.  I further informed her, that if the opinion of this girl does not matter, then the girl has no power to hurt Kiki.  I don’t know if any of my mini lecture stuck.  I never can tell what is going on inside her head during these conversations.  

And then we went home.  Now we’re gearing up for all the Christmas eve events.  It is nice to begin Christmas eve with church.  It gives a nice feel to the day.