Hump Day

Another week, another swim meet. My son and I will be heading north tomorrow to attend the PNW Age Group Sectionals. He qualified in two events (100 Back and 200 Back) so that means I will have a hotel room and lots of time to write. I plan to watch him swim then leave him with the team and get work done. I can't wait!

Of course, that means doing loads of laundry and folding today. I can now see the carpet but have at least three more loads I need to wash. I found piles of towels in the kids' bedrooms. I don't know why they can't go straight from swimbags into the laundry hamper. Oh, well... At least I know where they all went.

What are you up to today?

Splish Splash Swim Championshps

My 13 year old son and I drove to Corvallis on Thursday. The Oregon State Swimming Championships started that afternoon and went on until Sunday! We had a great time!

Some ask why the entire family doesn't go. Well, first, school on Friday for the other two. The youngest started Spring Soccer season so had two games this weekend. And finally, I love having the one-on-one time with Finn.

During the meet, he's with his team. I see him swim, but that's about it. Afterwards, I get him all to myself. Meals, hanging out. It's wonderful. This has become our same time next year! We stay at the same hotel, in the same type of room (jacuzzi tub in the living room which he likes to use after a long day of swimming) and we have a routine down.

The biggest change this weekend happened Saturday night. The past two years we've gone to Mass then headed to the pool to cheer on his teammates in Finals. Well, this year, he made finals with a Sectional cut time in the 100 Back. He went into the finals in the 8th position. Someone scratched so he moved up to 7th. During the race he dropped more time so placed 6th! Not bad for a kid who was seeded much lower and not expected to make finals!

He had a great weekend, scoring points for his team in the 100 back and the mile, and swimming personal best times in all six of his individual events. One of the best parts was seeing his team do amazing as well. Last year, they placed 13th with a handful of swimmers. This year the were 3rd in the team competition with a team of 25. Woo-hoo! Way to represent!

Needless to say, a fun weekend. I managed to get a little writing done and a lot of reading! Took advantage of the down time between events. Now to get back on track until we have to do this all over gain in a couple of weeks for Sectionals. We thought he'd just be racing the 200 Back on Sunday, but now he's got the 100 Back on Friday! A good thing I made reservations for the entire time, though I'm thinking he might want hubby to take him so he gets some one-on-one time with him. Guess we'll see!

What did you do this weekend?

Another week!

We've almost survived another week of full-time school. And this week hubby has been gone. But I've been so busy I've hardly noticed I'm alone during the day. Well, alone if I don't count the fur kids. One thing I realized this week is I wish there was a bus to take my oldest to her school and bring her home! Spoiled by the other two already!

One reason for wanting that bus is I started a new story, one I'm writing super fast, and having a blast with! I just can't wait to write and write again. Love when this happens! I'll tell you more about this project soon!

The kids are still loving school. Nothing but smiles. The only tears happened this morning when Rose was making her lunch. Chaos grabbed her sandwich off the counter and ate it. Thankfully, we had another package of ham in the fridge!

On the bummer side of things, my oldest is sidelined from swimming, right as the high school swim schedule gets underway. Her shoulder is still bothering her from her bike accident back in early July. She has an MRI on Monday. Would appreciate healing thoughts and prayers sent Mackenna's way. She's still going to practices and was at the first meet yesterday acting as the swim team manager. Sure hope she doesn't have to stay dry the entire season.

Well, time for me to get to work! Hope you have a wonderful Friday whatever you're doing!

Medals

This weekend my two youngest competed at the State Games of Oregon. Each state runs these. You don't have to belong to a USA swimming team to compete though our team was there. It's a fun meet, limited to two events each day, and everyone gets a T-shirt. They also do something not a lot of other meets do...have an awards ceremony complete with podiums for the top six finishers.

My kiddos did well. Finn placed in three of his four events. Rose placed in all four of hers. Here's pics of them getting medals. Finn placed 2nd and Rose placed 3rd. Very proud of both of them for how they swam this weekend!

Sun and H2O

SHARC at Sunriver

Yesterday was all about water! We spent the morning at SHARC. Fun times. The picture is my son making his way across the pool using ropes and floaty log thingys. It was a little too easy for him so hubby decided to tip the logs to make it harder for him.

Not sure if you can see all the blue sky in the pic, but it was a gorgeous, clear day. Another hot one, too. High nineties.

On the food front, we discovered a great place in the village. The Sunriver Brewhouse. It was being built when we were here last year. We ate lunch there. Great atmosphere and food and customer service. Our meals took a really long time to arrive so the manager gave us our drinks for free as well as 10% off the check.

In the evening we went to the Juniper Swim and Fitness in Bend so the kids could get in a swim practice with Current, a local USA swimming team. The pool is 50m long so it was a great opportunity for them to train given the long course state championships coming up later this month! The coach and team were very welcoming and friendly. Finn met them at another pool this morning at 5:15 am to get in more practice and had in spite of the early hour.

Hope you're having a great day!

Swim Meet

For the second Friday in a row, I'll be at a swim meet. The kids are now in two different age groups which means they don't always swim at the same meets. It gives me more time to wear my swim mom cap!

Not that I sit glued to the races. Lots of down time in between heats to write. Of course the sky is gray and I have a feeling it'll be wet so I'll leave the electronic devices at home and go old school. Pen and paper.

Do you have any plans today?

Yawn...

I must admit this is how I feel this Monday morning. Chalk it up to a busy three days at the swim meet, trying to keep up with what the rest of the family was up to while away then catching up when we arrived home!

The swim meet turned out great for Finn: 5 personal best times (and one disqualification) in individual events. He moved up his seed ranking in all but the DQ event! His two relay teams dropped time, too. We had some nice mother/son bonding time, too!

The girls had a better results at Sunday's dog show than Saturday's. Rose placed 4th in Juniors with Piper, an Australian Shepherd. Mackenna didn't place in Juniors, but showed Grand Finale in Breed and received Winners Bitch and Best Opposite!

Last night, when we were all back together, we had pizza and watched the Oscars! I loved the Les Mis song. I was happy with the results for the big awards, too.

How was your weekend?

Swim mom

Hubby has the girls, cats and dogs this weekend. Me? Finn and I are heading to Corvallis for the Short Course Championships aka State. This is our mother-son weekend. A long one since we're leaving tonight (Thursday) and won't be home until Friday. Three days of swimming for him. Three days of being a swim mom for me.

I'm taking two of my RITA books and my complete manuscript. My revision letter arrived from my editor. Needless to say, I'll have lots to keep me busy in between his six individual events and 2 relays this weekend!

I'll be back on Monday! Until then, I hope you're having a great day!

Double Digits

 We (three kidlets and me) have been away at a swim meet in Newberg, Oregon. Hubby stayed home with the animals.

Today was extra special because our youngest, Rose, turned ten! I can't believe she's hit double-digits. Not my youngest, the baby of the family!

But as she kept reminding me today, she's 10! And proud of it.

She wasn't sure about swimming on her birthday, but it turned out to be a very fun time for her. A couple of her teammates brought her presents which she opened before the meet began.

One of these was a fish swim cap. She wore this during warm-ups. (See pic on right!) It's very cute and she loves it!

After warm-ups, we passed out mini-blueberry muffins to her teammates. Then the announcer told the crowd it was Rose's tenth birthday. An electric guitarist serenaded her with the Happy Birthday song. Then it was race time!

She did well in her events, but the best part for her was when she won her heat in the 50 breast. She received a little toy as a prize.

After her age group was finished, we gave out mini cupcakes to her teammates. Of course, she would have loved to leave then to go home (me, too!) but the two older kids still had to swim.

When we finally arrived home after six tonight, hubby had wrapped all her presents (many he went out to buy since I ran out of time on Friday), cooked her favorite dinner (enchiladas) and had picked up a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for her.

Needless to say, a very nice 10th birthday!

I just wish she was still nine. Ten sounds so much older!!!!!

What did you do this weekend?

High School Swimming

It seems like a kitty is sitting on my keyboard with the amount of writing I got done yesterday, but I realized with the start of school I'm just back to the same-old-same nine months of the year. Sigh...

I attended my first high school swim meet yesterday. I had no idea they charged you to get in. I've been to State, Sectionals, tons of local meets and never had to pay admission, even at the same pool I was at yesterday. I rarely carry cash. I had only change in my purse. Oops! Given I'd driven our team (bus driver mom) they let it slide otherwise I'd have been searching a town I don't know for an ATM machine! Note to self: keep at least a ten dollar bill in wallet during swim season!

It was a relay only meet. Muggy. Hot. Lots of screaming girls. Crowded stands.

I managed to revise about a chapter so was happy about that!

The hardest part of the meet wasn't the hour long drive there and back, but when we arrived home. It was almost nine o'clock and there was still homework to do. I felt so bad for my daughter. She's exhausted this morning. Poor kid.

But I suppose time management is part of her education and maybe laughing and talking the drive up or the entire time at the meet when only swimming three events wasn't the best use of her time. Lesson learned. Like carrying cash!

Hope you have a nice Friday!

Home Sweet Home!

Yesterday I was sitting under a pop-up tent on the side of a hill with a perfect view of the Big Kahuna Swim Meet in Coos Bay. There was one problem, however. A spider had decided to crawl on our blanket.

The two girls, my daughter who is nine and another swimmer who is a year or two older, were not happy. I was asked to "get rid" of the spider. I got it off the blanket and far enough away that I hoped the little spider was smart enough not to return. But I tried to explain that when you're camping (we were) and/or spending lots of time outside (like we were) bugs were part of the deal.

The bugs were easy to deal with for me. But I must admit I was so happy to sleep in my own bed. I didn't wake up once in the middle of the night. I was also nice and warm and comfy!

Even with a blow up mattress in the tent I just couldn't quite get comfortable. And it was so cold. The final night I slept in sweats with a fleece jacket on. I tightened the hood as well as the sleeping bag around my face. Better, but still a little chilly. I might have to rethink my dream of alpine climbing unless I can toughen up a bit!

Camping was fun. I missed out on S'mores due to Whole 30, but I didn't mind so much. The best part of the weekend was the swim team beach party on Saturday evening. It was overcast and misty, but a great time. I laughed so hard watching all the kids (young and old) play this game of tag with partners on the sand.

The swim meet was also good. The temperatures were a lot warmer than anyone expected (the weather forecast proved totally wrong once again) but knowing the Oregon coast, I told my kids to bring two outfits for each day—one for if it's sunny and another if it were cold. Some people didn't even pack shorts and they were definitely needed.

By Saturday night I was campfired and socialed out so retreated into our tent, crawled into my sleeping bag and used my headlamp to write. I've changed the working title for my new story from Best in Show to Bachelor of the Year. I just think it fits better!

What did you do this weekend?

Gone Camping!

I rarely go dark on the blog unless I'm sick or on deadline, but I won't be posting again until Monday. The two younger kidlets have a swim meet on the Oregon Coast so we're going to camp in the park next to the pool and make a mini-vacation out of it.

Our oldest wants nothing to do with camping (or maybe she wants nothing to do with me since we've reached that stage of adolescence) so she's not going. The animals aren't going either, not even Chaos. We have housesitter staying here to make sure all our babies are okay while we're away.

Even though this is a vacation, I plan on writing. I'm bringing my Alphasmart since I doubt they'll be a place to recharge my MacBook Pro. But if I have Internet access, I will put my Alphie aside so I can use this app I found last week on Twitter. Written? Kitten! is totally awesome! Perfect inspiration to get me writing more words and faster.

I did want to share this story from the New York Times about outdoor cats wearing Kitty Cams and what they do when you're not watching. My cats stay indoors all the time, but it's worth a read. I had to smile when I read about cats cheating on their owners. I'd wondered about that!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. I intend to. See you on Monday!

Long Course Championships

see more

This time last year, my son Finn was wearing a cast on his left hand. That meant he couldn't swim at the Long Course Championships aka State. He was pretty bummed because this was the first time he'd qualified to compete.

Fast forward a year. His arm isn't broken, and State begins today. He's thrilled to be competing.

We're heading out early in order to get to Mount Hood Community College for seven o'clock warm-ups. We'll repeat this on Friday, Saturday and Sunday though hubby and I might be splitting who goes where each day. With three kids, it's rare that we can both watch one do something unless the stars align just right or someone offers to take one of the other kidlets to an activity. Not to mention hubby has to work during the week! Me? I'll be taking my alphasmart with me to work on the new book!

What will you be doing today?

Olympic Moms

see more

The girls and I won't make it to church until later tonight. Thank goodness one of the churches around here has a Sunday evening Mass. It really helps when we have stuff going on. The three of us were up at the crack of dawn. Well, five thirty this morning. Mackenna had a dog show with Chaos in Chehalis. Rose had a swim meet, and she had to eat a good breakfast.

Two early mornings have definitely taken their toll on me. I'm ready for a nap. But I had to admit driving to Mount Hood Community College this morning and glancing at Rose covered with her orange fleece blanket and sound asleep made me think of this:



I'd seen snippets of the ad during the US Swim Trials, but had never seen the entire ad until today. Very sweet!

Hope you have a nice Sunday!

Pretty much...

see more

The pic above pretty much sums up the way I feel. You wouldn't think sitting on a bleacher seat for three days would be exhausting, but it really way. Maybe it was being away from home or all the driving or feeling guilty I couldn't also be at Mackenna's dog show or trying to revise my manuscript surrounded by crowds at the pool. Volunteering yesterday just added the the tiredness.

Someone asked in the comment section how my son did at the meet. I'm very proud of him. His 11-12 year old relay team placed in at least two of their events. If I wrote down the time correctly and they didn't DQ, they also did this in a third, but I haven't been able to confirm it yet. That means top 8! Woo-hoo. Individually, he didn't make any finals (top 8), but we weren't expecting him, too. He lowered his times in about half of his races which was the goal of the weekend.

When he wasn't at the pool, we took advantage of our free time. He was completely captivated by the in-room Jacuzzi tub. I think we could have fit his relay time in there! So after each day of swimming he soaked in there with the jets blowing. We saw Star Wars Phantom Menace in 3D on day and went out to eat at the Flat Tail Brewpub one night with a few families from his swim team.

Unfortunately, I forgot to pack my computer power cord so I didn't blog and wasn't able to type in my revisions as I finished each chapter. It made for a very long Sunday night!

At the same time we were in Corvallis, my daughter and dog, Chaos, were in Albany at a dog show. A friend and my parents helped get them to and from the show each day. I was fortunate to be able to see her compete on Sunday! But it was hard not being there the entire time, but this is the biggest swim meet of the year and I needed to be there with Finn. It's weekends like this where I wish I could clone myself!

Hubby held down the fort at home with the youngest and the cats since he needed to work on Friday. He kept sending me pics of the cats. For someone who says he doesn't like them much, he sure takes a lot of photos of them!

Before I go back to sleep sign off, if you live in the Portland Metro Area and love books, be sure to click on this link to get a 30% off coupon at Powell Books. It's good today from 5-9 pm. I found out about this from one of my favorite couponing sites Frugal Living NW!
 
Have a relaxing Tuesday!

State

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

My son is competing at the Short Course Championships this weekend so I'm with him in Corvallis while hubby holds the fort at home. We have a nice room. There's a huge jacuzzi tub in the room. Finn can't wait to try it out.

He's very excited to compete. In July, he was supposed to compete in the Long Course Championships, but broke his arm at a a soccer tournament so couldn't swim. It's been slow for him coming back and he still hasn't hit a couple of times he'd made before, but he still managed to qualify for more individual events than he's allowed to swim. That's enabled him to spread out his swims.

This format is different than last years' championship. They swim preliminary heats in the morning, then finals later. He's going to have to drop significant amounts of time if he wants to make the finals, but no matter how he swims we're proud he qualified and is here competing.

Our morning is starting really early so I'd better get going. I'll be breathing in chlorine fumes and going through a polish read of my continuity revisions in between Finn's heats. What are you up to?

New Cover!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This LOLcat brought back memories of various sporting events when an animal got loose on the field. But I always figured they ran crazily because of fear, not because they had a mission!

Speaking of sports, I received the cover to my soccer book that'll be out in May.

Here's the back cover copy:

The return of her favorite rebel…

Lucy Martin’s dream of marrying her Prince Charming might
have fallen apart, but she’s determined to make her soccer-mad
nephew’s dreams come true. But that means asking her old crush
Ryland James, the legendary bad boy of soccer, to coach her
nephew’s team.

Injured and ordered to polish his tarnished reputation, Ryland’s
looking for distraction. Coaching might be more involvement
than he likes, but with gorgeous Lucy offering cookies as a bribe
he can’t resist! This soccer superstar might have met his perfect
match…if he can convince the once-burnt, twice-wary Lucy to
get back in the game.…


I'm busy typing in revisions. It's coming along and is a stronger story after my editor's feedback. I just need a few more hours to get the final 70 pages inputted. I always end up rewriting more than what's in the revision letter. Once I finish inputting changes, I'll print the manuscript again and do another pass.

I also have to pack. I'm taking my son to his short-course swim championship meet aka "State" even though it's not quite the entire state. The two of us are going on our own as we did last year for Sectionals. It'll be nice to have some mom-son time!

A very long day!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I'm late posting a blog today. I feel like I've gone nine rounds of Rockum Sockum when all I really did was sit at a swim meet. But when you get up at 5ish and are out the door at 6ish and at the pool until 4ish. It makes for a long day. We swung by a different church so we could attend Mass because why not make the day longer while we're at it!

But I'm home now. Huge sigh of relief.

It was a fun day watching the kidlets swim. They dropped some time on a few events. I managed to proof four chapters of my AA's (page proofs) of the soccer/crush book in between their races.

Tonight I'm taking a couple of hours off and watching a Christmas movie about a princess. I can't remember the title, but it looks right up my alley. Not sure a princess would ever visit Hood Hamlet, but who knows where my imagination will take me when it comes time to write the next Christmas Magic story!

Hope you had a nice day! I'm hungry and need to eat dinner!

Swimming

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I never made it back online to blog yesterday or blog hop. I ended up napping for a very long time, then it was all about my son.

His arm hurts. It itches. He can't get comfortable. But it's just not the arm dragging him down. It's not being able to swim.

If all had gone according to plan (i.e. no broken arm), I would be down in Eugene, OR. I'd be sitting under a pop-up tent watching Finn swim the 200 IM or the 200 Free with all the other kids who'd met the Long Course Championship's A qualifying time. (I can't remember the exact stroke, and I don't feel like pulling up the meet info.)

But instead I'm home. I'm watching the clock to make sure we stay on track with his pain medication. We've got a spot for him set up on the couch with pillows to support his arm because the sling gets uncomfortable after awhile.

He's gotten Dairy Queen, Starbucks and Menchies. McDonalds and Little Caesar, too. All this faves in the last two days. But the kid really doesn't care about that. He'd rather be dripping with water that smelled like chlorine, sitting on a hard bleacher next to his teammates and snacking on a Cliff Bar Jr.

This would have been his first Long Course Championships. He was so excited to head to Eugene for the four day state meet. He qualified in 5 individual events (100 Free, 200 Free, 400 Free, 100 Fly & 200 IM) and was put on 2 relay teams. Not bad for a kid who aged up at the end of April and had qualified for everything by the beginning of June (while we were in NY he missed all the later meets.)

So now we're not only have to deal with his pain and discomfort, but teaching him to deal with disappointment. It's a lesson all kids need to learn. He's dealt with it before in soccer a couple of years ago. But it's still hard.

A friend from college, Al, reminded me about the Swimming World Championships happening right now. Last night Finn watched his favorite swimmer Ryan Lochte win. Tonight we'll watch again. But I know Finn would rather be swimming himself rather than watching someone else do it.

Broken

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I wish the only thing broken around here was a lamp. Unfortunately it's my son's arm. I took him to practice at Mount Hood Community College to swim in the 50 m pool they use during the summer long course season. We ended up in the ER at Mount Hood Medical Center. The x-ray showed a break in his left arm.

Today we should be heading to Eugene so he could swim in the Long Course Championships (aka State.) But that's not going to be happening now. On Friday, we see a pediatric orthopedist.

Poor kid.

I've got something I need to do this morning, but I'll fill in the story more later. Prayers for him (both physical and mental healing) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!