Writing Conference

While I have attended several writing conferences in the past, I wish I would have taken advantage of this particular conference earlier: Life, the Universe, and Everything (LTUE). LTUE is one of the
cheapest writing conferences I have ever seen, and to beat the normal price, they offer free admission to students. It is a three day conference focusing on all things related to Science Fiction and Fantasy. While all three days are full of information for authors, they also have events for artists, gamers, and film junkies.

LTUE is mostly targeted to those who are pre-published or newer authors. While the guest of honor (Orson Scott Card) and special guests (Brandon Sanderson being among them) all have a lot of published works, there were also panelists who had only published one book. It was great to get a variety of perspectives and meet new people.

I also enjoyed seeing familiar faces such as my ex-roommates Allison Hymas and Sarah E. Seeley, and friend Chad Morris, all whom are authors.

 I attended the following one-hour sessions:
-Agent or No Agent?
-Write What You Don't Know
-Why Economics Matters
-Henchmen Don't Have to Suck
-From Start to Finish: Drafting the Manuscript
-This is Your Life
-Drawing Upon Folklore
-Writing for Boys
-The Best Books for Children and YA
-Lovable Bad Boys
-Writing Children's Books
-Description in Writing

If you do the math, I spent approximately 12 hours at the conference over a three day period. And yet I could have gone to so much more. I think I only went to about a third of the conference, since it started every day at 9am and lasted until 9pm.

Nevertheless, I had a fabulous and enlightening experience, and an increased desire to continue my writing. We'll see if that desire is enough to get me to commit to writing daily. If I learned anything from all of the mothers at the conference, it is that you can make time for writing, even if it's only during your children's nap time. The trick is making it a priority. And I still haven't quite figured out how to do that yet- I've got classes, work, exercise, church, and a summer job hunt all bidding for priority status right now.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Valentines Day

Matt's Carrel. He didn't see it coming. I decorated his carrel the night before while I was at a "writing conference." (I went, so I wasn't lying, but I left early to do his carrel). The small pink book on the table was a photo album so he could take the pictures down and store them.

I sent Matt on a short scavenger hunt throughout the house. He had to figure out the end of each rhyme in order to find where each candy bar/ sweet was. Here are some examples: 

1.     Pool table- sweettart

If you’re good with a stick and feeling cool, 

Go to the table where we play _________

2.     Shelf- starburst

This next one is tricky, don’t second-guess yourself

You’ll find your clue on a bathroom ________

3.     Front room fireplace- big hunk

If you’re feeling cramped and need some space

Go to the front room by the fire__________

4.     Backyard deck- snickers

Is the door locked? You’ll have to check--

Through the kitchen to the backyard _______

7.     Entertainment room TV- u-no

Wanna watch the Olympics? Do you have some time free?

Check out the space around the _______.

Since we were celebrating Korean style, we went out for Shabu-Shabu in Park City. Shabu-Shabu is a a traditional Korean/ Japanese meal where you start out with a portable gas stove and a bowl full of boiling broth (see pictures below). You slowly add raw materials (vegetables, thinly sliced raw meat, and noodles) and they cook in the broth and add flavor. It was a unique experience.

And I made Cherry yum-yum for dessert. The heart is made out of cherry pie filling, which is also found underneath the whipcream/ cream cheese topping. Thanks to Matt's mom for sending me detailed instructions!

Gun O'Clock: Revisited

To understand this blog post, it is important to read this post first.

Although we have received great pleasure from shooting the alarm clock in the morning, there has been one main problem: turning it off. The gun o'clock was designed to be turned off when you actually got up and pressed the button. However, the button is not clearly marked, and so if you don't have the instructions nearby, you wouldn't know how to do it.

The most recent occurrence of these problems is when Matt pulled it out of storage for the first time on Sunday. After many failed attempts to turn it off (Which button is it? I pressed all of them!!) on Monday and Tuesday, I resorted to hiding the clock in another room, buried under a pile of blankets. And yes, I tried taking out the batteries and couldn't get the little screw to come out.

Also, as previously mentioned in my last post, the battery problems usually involve the clock face going blank, leaving the impression that it turned off (or is broken). However, minutes later the numbers will again appear (sometimes with the correct time- as if nothing had happened. Other times the it will reset but creepily remember when the alarm should go off).

While the gun o'clock is a great idea, the past glitches and the problems I had over the weekend have caused me to re-think my perception of the "perfect gift" I thought it was a year ago.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Amateur Artists

Our FHE activity. The theme was "swirl." I am very grateful to Matt for not getting mad at me when I accidentally "swirled" paint over some of his art.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Toenail Art Update!

For all of those who loved this post--here's the last four months of toenail art!

For those who didn't see the post, here is the explanation: I paint my toenails once a month, based on the season or a holiday in which the month resides. I only do this once a month because it usually is fairly elaborate and takes at least an hour to do.

November- my own creation, because I couldn't find any good thanksgiving themed toenail art that I liked.

December- based off of several ideas from pinterest. I think the trees turned out the best.

January- based off of pics from this blog: http://toetats.blogspot.com/

February- Pretty in Pink. Also based on ideas from Pinterest.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Chinese New Year

Things Matt has taught me about Chinese New Year:

1. Korean New Year is on the same day.
2. Each Korean New Year, everyone in Korea gets one year older--automatically. This does not count as your birthday advancement, and therefore Koreans can actually be two years older than they really are, depending on when their birthdays are with relation to Chinese New Year.
3. A typical dish to eat on this day is Tteokguk (rice cake soup), which will ensure that you will age an extra year, and that you will have good luck. 
4. A traditional game to play on this day is Yut Nori which is basically like a board game where you toss a bunch of marked sticks (instead of dice) to move around the board.

As you might have guessed, we celebrated in typical korean fashion, although we did go out for yogurt afterwards:

I've always wanted to celebrate Chinese New Year (or something similar) but up until now I had never found anyone that was super interested in doing the same. So here's to my 1st Chinese/Korean New Year.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Articles of Note

Thanks to Facebook, I've become aware of the following articles, which I think are worth sharing:

Stop the Mommy Wars: Let's Love More and Judge Less
This was a great visual article on the many, many parenting choices and methods there are out there, and that it is important to realize that no matter how many differences there are, there is one major similarity: you are a mother, just like the next woman is.

Why a Grammy Winner Didn't Attend the Awards Ceremony
What I appreciated most was this singer's honesty when she said that "putting herself in an environment that celebrates some of the elements she’s trying to avoid was “risky,” so she decided to stay home, as she is trying to renew her mind “to become the Heavenly Father-centered, completely satisfied with Jesus, and Holy Spirit-led woman” she once was."
I also liked the clarification that, "Though she believes God doesn’t want believers to separate themselves from the rest of the world and to avoid sharing their faith, Mandisa highlighted that it is important for Christians to speak differently so that they “shine” and stand apart from others."


Rhetorically,
Rebekah