And I know what you might be thinking….C.C. is going to write a novel…it would be really novel if she posted on her blog more than once a month.:)

But seriously, we are thinking about trying our hand at “NaNoWriMo” (National Novel Writing Month) as a group effort, and perhaps individually.

Here is her email…

“I want to let all of you know about NaNoWriMo. Everybody’s busy, I know, but this could be the year that you and/or your kids write a novel. November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and hundreds of thousands of adults and kids write novels in November. Yes, complete novels. If you meet your word count, you’re declared a winner — yes, a novelist. It doesn’t matter if it’s really bad or not. If it’s a finished novel, you’re a winner.

Adults have to write 50,000 words (short novel), and children set their own word-count goals. Does it sound like something you want to explore?

Check out these links:

Young Writer’s Program: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/what-is-nanowrimo

General Writer’s Program: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano

Check it out! I’m doing this as part of a class, but it sounds too fun to keep to myself. Most people want to write a novel but can’t get started. This lets you get started — and finished — by giving you deadlines for each day in November. It’s going to be crazy fun! (I haven’t checked out the website for language, so please look at it with your kids.)”

So, how about you?

How about you? Have you ever had the convenience of using a screwdriver at your fingertips or am I the screwycrazy one?

Here are some recent pics of my kids taken by Heidi H. of POSH Photography:

Faith

Paige

Bradley

Benjamin

Michelle

Grace

However, sometimes, we reflect on how much we learned from cancer’s most unexpected visit, and we are thankful. I wrote the following poem in the fall of 2004 when we were doing just that. My poem is a compilation of some of Paige’s quotes. Her hair was growing back, and she was happy to finally have more hair than her two-year-old brother, Bradley! My broken heart had been repaired, and was beating with thankfulness and praise to the LORD, Jesus Christ. My children were all alive and well, outside of a few colds (which, I assured them, were not cancerous).

Journey With Cancer

My daughter was diagnosed with cancer.

She was only a child of eight.

I asked her to share some things that were bad,

And also some things that were great.

She said, “Getting shots was no fun at all!”

I had to agree with her, too.

‘Cause giving her shots was sometimes my job;

A job I did not like to do!

She talked on losing her lunch and dinner,

And the sad day she lost her hair.

But quickly said, “Mom, you know, some of my friends…

Lost their lives on earth…let’s stop there.”

She said she was thankful she has her life.

And for the gifts along the way:

“Cards, candy, games, hats, Make-A-Wish trip,

Videos, pilot for a day!”

“The love from family and friends, doctors,

Nurses, and some I’ve never met!

Learning about cancer, trusting Jesus,

And learning about life and death.”

“What is your most favorite possession?”

I asked her a few months ago.

“Jesus is my favorite possession!

Oh Momma, didn’t you know?”

~CC

"Pilot For A Day"

My children teach me things all the time. I’ll never forget the day I gave Paige the word “possession” for her spelling test, and then asked her what her favorite possession was. Her beautiful response so encouraged me, and I realized that my children have quite a bit to teach me! She was only a child of eight.

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited.

It cannot cripple love.

It cannot shatter hope.

It cannot corrode faith.

It cannot eat away at peace.

It cannot destroy confidence.

It cannot kill friendship.

It cannot shut out memories.

It cannot invade the soul.

It cannot reduce eternal life.

It cannot quench the spirit.

It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

-Anonymous

A few days ago, when I was entering H.E.B., I spied two guys desperately trying to separate their permanently nestled shopping carts. I felt like offering help (and needed a cart), so I asked the big dude if I could lend a hand and assured him by saying, “I  know this little trick.” So, I lifted up both carts (using the handbar, of course; I’m not that strong!) and quickly slammed them down- like a wheelie on a bike. (It sounds like extreme shopping, huh?) Well, they instantly came apart (“Voila! Carte!”). I’m not sure if I made this dude happy to get a basket, or made him feel even more wimpy. He was with his girlfriend or wife. Oh well, I just thought I should share this helpful technique. It may come in handy…

Awhile back, I had asked one of the cart-retrievers how he managed to get the stuck baskets apart. That’s when he shared that trick with me. When I suggested to the cart go-getter that he should post a sign telling the customers how to remove the connected carts, he confidently assured me that there was no real need for that because they always try to keep them separated. So, either the basket-retrievers are not doing their job, or the basket designers did a poor job because there are a basketful of people out there who are constantly finding them stuck (including myself)!

However, I suppose there will not be a sign posted because of lawsuits. With that said, please do not try this if you have any history of back/neck pain.My advice is meant to help you to separate the carts, not your shoulders (“Ow! La Carte!”). Otherwise, you might be forced to choose a entirely different cart…the electronic shopping cart.

You can't just make one!

I mentioned in my last post how I would be making duct tape wallets with my boys. Well, my husband (my biggest boy) requested that I make him one, too! He went on and on about how nice it was…especially about how thin it is. Personally, I would think a fat wallet would be preferred over a thin one:). But…these size matters never really mattered to me-probably because I don’t carry a wallet in my back pocket:).

He asked me for a see-through flap for his driver’s license. So, I sent him on a “plastic hunt” through our house. He was successful! He brought me the packaging lid that stored our thin-sliced cheese. I was hoping the wallet wasn’t too cheesy-looking!

Here are some more pics…

Making the cool duct tape "fabric"!

Completion of the back pocket

Out with the old, in with the new

Let's add some color

A card holder

Two inside side pockets were added on this one!

I think I got carried away with the wallet thing...here is my clear wallet!

I went on you tube and a very helpful boy showed us how to make these wallets…

The best thing about these wallets is that you will always have duct tape handy!

I must admit that I really do love and use duct tape…for more than just household repairs. One time, it came in handy when Paige’s I.V. pump needed to stay in place during the night (or should I say wee hours of the morning). The tape that the doctor gave me ran out, but a little duct tape worked just fine. Our surprised oncologist laughed the next morning, as he just shook his head and said (in his educated-sounding British voice): “I must admit, I have never seen duct tape used in this manner before, but, it does…indeed, work!” He also gave me more tape:)

Another time it came in handy was with Bradley’s broken arm. My advice is that you save your child’s cast, even after it has been removed. At our follow-up appointment, the orthopedist wasn’t able to take x-rays with Bradley’s cast on, so he took the cast off to see if it had healed properly. He told me that Bradley’s arm had not quite healed, but to just keep him (the three-year-old) from running for one week or so. Hello? Keep a two-year-old from running, you say? That’s crazy talk.

So, there I was in a predicament. He took off my son’s cast, yet told him he couldn’t “take off” (run around like he does). Just before the orthopedist took off, I cast a disapproving grimace in his direction, and asked him if I could put duct tape on that old (thankfully waterproof) cast, and put it back on him. He said that would be fine, because he agreed that it still needed some more healing time! Bradley absolutely loved wearing the cast, and didn’t mind that it was duct-taped. Thankfully, it was cooler weather, so his long shirt covered up his cast! So, he wore it for one more week. That piece of duct tape gave me great peace of mind.

I was even able to repair my boys’ toy rifles and swords with a little duct tape. I even remember using duct tape on one of my boys diapers for a few weeks. I bought generic diapers, and half of them did not have Velcro to hold the diaper on (only on one side). So, being the frugal mom that I was, duct tape saved our hides! The duct tape went into the diaper bag, and stayed there for awhile.

Lately, I have heard of all sorts of “quacky” (okay, some of mine probably qualify too) things that you can do with “duck” or “duct tape”. There is even a scholarship contest if you come up with a prom dress made out of duct tape. So, I guess I’m not the only one! My grandfathers and fathers were very influential with their high praises, and creative uses, of duct tape. I guess their opinions really stuck…like duct tape. I still remember how cool I thought duct tape was because you didn’t need scissors to cut it—you could just tear it with your hands!

What are some ways you have used duct tape? I’d love to hear about it. Yes, and the classic nerd in me has used it to temporarily fix my glasses. But shhhh…don’t tell.

Well, I’m off to hopefully make some neat duct tape wallets with the boys!

Faith and I took all of our puzzles out of their respective boxes and emptied them into a gallon baggie. We then cut out the cardboard picture from the puzzle box, and either put it inside of the baggie or we put it on the inner side of the box. We labeled the “puzzle baggie” by name, brief description, total pieces, and size. We also cut out a small picture from the side, just in case someone wanted to look at that for help in solving the puzzle, or in identifying exactly which puzzle it was. We were able to fit 29 puzzles in that box…ah…much more room. Hopefully, this will help lower the incidence of missing puzzle pieces, too!

Enjoy…

http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/index.html