Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week (really!), and it may or may not have been written recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

4-23-2012

to California

with you! Hug that baby boy

for me. wrapped in love

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Thoughtful Reading on Writing

Whether you’ve published zero books or ninety-seven, here is a great inside look at someone’s life after the book is done. I haven’t read Emily’s book yet, but it’s on my list.

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Moments for Mamas

I am so guilty of comparing myself to everyone else. I want my kids to be the smartest, strongest, toughest, blah, blah, blah. And I want to be the best mama in the whole wide world. It’s all a matter of pride, and when I can’t measure up I am defeated right into believing, “Why bother!” Well, because my children want me as their mother, and your children want you.

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And For the Kids

My competitive streak (see above) finds me easily addicted to competitive games, but at least this one keeps my mind thinking.

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What do you do to love on people too far away for your arms to hold?

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week (really!), and it may or may not have been written recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page. 

3-14-2012

decluttering stuff,

abandoning memories:

guilt-free opposites

__________

Thoughtful Reading on Writing

Jon Acuff writes about how fear keeps us from finding our writing voices. I find myself giving into this every time I think, “It’s late. I’ll write tomorrow.” Unfortunately, tomorrow never comes. Be intentional about finding your voice, even if for only fifteen minutes at a time.

Moments for Mamas

Some seasons of life are a bit more difficult than others, but so often we don’t realize how much others want to help us if we would only tell them how. Glennon recounts how her sister and husband found the perfect daily gift for her sanity and joy. What do you need at this season in your life? Who can you ask?

And For the Kids

Oh, Boy! I could play on this site about cardboard projects and projects made of cardboard for the rest of the year. Well, except for the fact that every time I get a box I fill it with stuff and send it to the thrift store.

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Decluttering can be ridiculously emotional. The pictured items lived on my dresser for years telling me stories. Then they lived in boxes for years. Determined to stop living out of boxes, I’m making some gut-wrenching decisions. What have you decluttered lately?

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week (really!), and it may or may not have been written recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

3-8-2012

my daughter’s birthday

flower: will you still bloom when

her birthday arrives?

__________

Thoughtful Reading on Writing

It’s always interesting to see a possible future, and every time I think, “I can get back to writing when they’re older,” this is the possible future I’m hoping for. But! I don’t want to wait thirty years. I seek the gift of the present.

Moments for Mamas

I pray often that my children will have hearts that wish to glorify God. I also struggle because I want a three-step plan that will make them behave as they ought. The three-step plan doesn’t truly exist, but God never calls us to idleness. Janae shares five actions to share God with your children. I most need reminding of number one!

And For the Kids

Have you ever seen those flashlights that you shake up to make them work? They look like awesome fun, but I found something even better: science you can use with glow in the dark Mountain Dew! On a side note: No, it is not “wasting” if you pour the Mountain Dew you don’t need down the sink drain. Seriously, you don’t need that stuff on your teeth or in your belly.

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Note: The Amazon flashlight link is an affiliate link. You are welcome to Support My Brainstorms by clicking on that link and buying anything you want from Amazon. Thanks!

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 We breathe in Spring as my oldest daughter’s birthday swoops in. What happens each year that marks the approach of your birthday?

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week (really!), and it may or may not have been written recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

11-11&12-2011

Mama, wait on me!

I want to come outside too

I have my shoes on

Thoughtful Reading on Writing

Some beautiful ladies I know, Steph and Anne, keep me accountable to weekly blogging and writing goals with our Mastermind Group phone calls. Get started making your own goals by visiting Jamie Raintree’s thoughts on setting weekly writing goals on her post at Routines for Writers.

Moments for Mamas

In the blogging world, where everything is sprinkled with fairy dust and magic, the pressure to be superwoman can be more intense than when the mother-in-law schedules a visit.* Join me in thanking one cool mom, Steph from The Cheapskate Cook, as she admits that supermom doesn’t even exist on the menu of life.

*I am not referring to my mom-in-love. We get along great, and she already knows most of my faults.

And For the Kids

Once again, I can’t say if this is more fun for the kids or the adults (like me!), but you gotta try stumping this Genie! Pick a person, real or imaginary, and answer the questions Akinator asks you about that person. Out of me and my three oldest children, only Stellaluna was able to stump the genie. She introduced Akinator to Camille from Alfred the Hedgehog on Qubo.

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I hate to let the kids outside the front door if they’re still in their jammies. (What would the neighbors think!) Unfortunately, that has caused us to miss being outside on some beautiful days. Honestly, I doubt the neighbors are really paying attention. What do your kids get out the door wearing?

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week (really!), and it may or may not have been written recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

3-5-2012

my precious nephew

this is just the beginning

of my hugs for you

__________

Thoughtful Reading on Writing

Thinking about self-publishing your projects? I am! After all, that’s what I do here with each post. For bigger projects though, all that’s involved from editing to promoting can be a bit intimidating. But! You have options that include help from an agent even while self-publishing.

Moments for Mamas

Whether you’re a home birther yourself or the very idea scares you to death (me!), this birth story from Connie at Smockity Frocks reflects the intense beauty of every birth. (Don’t worry, Connie always keeps things pretty G-rated.)

Also, for not only moms but all women, Elizabeth from The Writer Revived celebrates the many changes of life that reflect back from the mirror.

And For the Kids

(And adults can love this too!) Are you a C. S. Lewis fan? Enjoy this complete audio collection of the Chronicles of Narnia. My children and I have been listening to The Magician’s Nephew, my favorite of the series.

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My newest nephew won’t often be near enough for me to wrap my arms around him because his daddy is serving our country as a marine and his mama is standing by her man every step of the way. What do you do to love on those far away?

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week (really!), and it may or may not have been written recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

2-27-2012

welcome to our cave!

a place to read and pretend

and invite our friends

Thoughtful Reading on Writing

How about thoughtful viewing this time instead? Erin Casey at My Writers’ Connection shares a video about 29 Ways to Stay Creative. I’m working on quite a few of these especially number 29! What do you do to stay creative?

Moments for Mamas

I’m what I would call a “natural born leader.” You might call me bossy. Sometimes though, I find myself giving instructions a little too often to my children. So I’ve been consciously greeting them kindly as my first words in the morning, instead of “What are you doing?” Janae from I Can Teach My Child makes things even simpler than that with her post Smile!

And For the Kids

Get ready to dance while you learn the books of the Bible with the Go Fish Guys in Bible Book Bop. If you like that video, check out their others available on YouTube.

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What kind of hideouts do your kids make? Or do you remember making? I remember as a kid trying to build many things including trying to make bricks from mud to build a hut. (We even added lemons from my aunt’s lemon tree to the mud so our hut would smell good!) I still find myself creating quiet places to hide so I understand my children’s need to do the same.

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week (really!), and it may or may not have been written recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

2-13-2012

 made it for Brother

he can’t build this by himself

Then: Destruction Team!

__________

Thoughtful Reading on Writing

If you had to choose a word for the year, what would it be? I’m trying to finish a few things. Stephanie Shackelford of Routines for Writers finds herself focusing on discovery. What about you?

Moments for Mamas

Do you ever feel tapped out? Drink up from the unquenchable well!

And For the Kids

Rhea the Memphis Redhead shared an awesome site comparing the size of things from the smallest particles to the known universe. If you’re studying the metric system this site will teach you more than a dozen worksheets about converting centimeters to kilometers. Warning to parents: The scale of the universe site features a commercial while loading that may or may not be G-rated.

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Have you experienced the blessing recently of witnessing a giving heart between children?

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week (really!), and it may or may not have been written recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

2-2-2012

Mr. Groundhog? What

was your prediction? Oh, wait.

Never mind. Thanks though!

__________

Thoughtful Reading on Writing

Can you turn down a book deal without regrets? Yes, it is possible. Amy tells all! Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, and Part Six

Moments for Mamas

Enjoy giving yourself a break. How often do you go to the store with your precious babies and hear, “They grow up fast. Enjoy every moment!” On comes the guilt trip. You were just counting down the minutes until bedtime!

And For the Kids

Okay, maybe this is for the kids at heart. I have to share this site with classic Nintendo games that I used to play before they started the 3-D stuff that makes me dizzy. Go check it out, and share some memories.

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Has spring sprung in your neck of the woods? Or are you predicting a surprise blizzard?

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week whenever I manage it, and it may or may not have been written the previous week recently. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play. 

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

10-28-2011

gift from lifetime friend

flood of memories I pass

down to my children

__________

Hi! How have you been? I’ve been doing well. I know my blogging has been sporadic at best, but my writing has not been! According to 750words.com, I’ve written over 12,000 words so far in November. Much of it has been rambling thoughts and nonsense, but it’s writing, that stuff that keeps me sane. I really think I might be starting to figure out that question I’ve been wrestling with: “How exactly do I homeschool, write, and keep a reasonably clean home on a daily basis?”

How do you keep up with different parts of your life without living on a seesaw?

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Thoughtful Reading on Writing

Three Dozen Ways to Get Unstuck - Some of these sound fun enough to build a date night around. Hey, Honey! Are you reading my blog?

Moments for Mamas

Big Responsibility in a Tiny Package - This writing mama really has her priorities in order. Warning! Kissable baby feet on the other side of that link!

Embracing the Blessing - Great thoughts here on “higher” education and motherhood. I received plenty of criticism (most of it imagined) after finishing college and then immediately becoming a SAHM. I love what Kathleen quotes from a former professor about becoming fully human.

And For the Kids

My Name is Stegosaurus - Learn this song and sing it five hundred times while an adult in your life drives you places.*

*Not that I ever did anything like that! My brother, cousins, and I had around fourteen songs that we alternated through during a car (station wagon, giant van, whatever) ride. It was a playlist!

Even though life ain’t easy sometimes, I still want to celebrate every day! So I’ve challenged myself to take photos of my blessings and write haiku for each photo. Some days, I succeed, and other days I collapse into bed without recording any blessings for the day. Each day I resolve to try again.

Mayhaps you’re a wanna-be scrapbooker like me? Join me in this simple and hopefully daily way to record your life. Share your haiku and photographs on your blog and post the link in the comments. I’ll swing by to read of your blessings! If you tweet about this haiku project, please use #Blessings365 in your tweet. I’ll share one of my haiku each week, and it may or may not have been written the previous week. You can share as many as you want as often as you want to participate in this project. I’m keeping it loose with the rules so we all have room to play.

If you would like to read more about my blessings, visit the Characters of My Life area of my About Page.

October 15, 2011

apple tree blossoms

in October . . . I can hope

for new beginnings

I always start new projects in September near my birthday. What inspires you to try something new?

__________

Thoughtful Reading on Writing

101 of the Best Fiction Writing Tips

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four

Moments for Mamas

Finding Time for Projects

• Life in a Shoe
• Raising Olives
• Smockity Frocks
• The Common Room