I worked out this week!

Okay, it’s been a week and I have done some kind of workout everyday. Shocking, I know. I do feel better and suprisingly the scale is saying I am lighter, although my goal of not being out of breath isn’t met yet. But lucky for me neither is the thirty days I gave myself to complete this goal.


I want to add, I’m drinking enough water to fill a swimming pool everyday. Which in turn now I have to scout out bathrooms like never before.


Thanks to a comment from Amber that I took into consideration, whenever I crave sweets, I eat watermelon or grapes. IT WORKS! I don’t like the taste of chocolate that much anymore.


So there is my update on the getting healthy goal. Can’t you just wait to find out what I have planned for this coming week? My body is going to be in shock from soda withdrawals. Yes, I’m going to cut out ALL soda. This should be interesting.

HELP! I hate looking at myself.

I have a confession to make. I loath my self image. It’s horrible and wrong.


This post is going to be hard for me to do because I’m putting it all out on the line to be commented on. Growing up I was always in perfect shape. I should have loved my body then, but did I, NO. Why was this? Honestly, there were a lot of factors to weigh in on the reasons, but we aren’t going to get into it because this isn’t a pity party for Laci. This post is to make a point and set a goal for myself.

My self image has gotten to the point that I’m unhealthy; physically and mentally. Physically because I’m over weight. Mentally because when I see myself I want to break the mirror. Yes, I’ll admit up front I’m bigger now then EVER—even after giving birth. That is huge for me, a 5 foot 1 inch gal.

How did this happen, well I'm an emotional eater. I eat when happy, sad, tired and depressed. Now I know none of you ever do such a thing and I'm the only one. But food is darn good, but I must be strong in this battle. Wow did that sound cheesy or what?

So here is my goal. I WILL get into shape. I’m not talking about a weight goal. I just want to be able to run down my block and not feel like I'm going to keel over two houses down. So the answer, I’ll do some kind of work out everyday for 30 days and see if I feel any better. Seriously, I don’t like feeling this crappy about myself. I want to do this all naturally with no diet pills, drinks, protein bars, or some kind of magical fat dissolving shots. I don’t think that would be healthy, especially for me. It would only masks the problem and wouldn’t teach the life style needed.

I will update my blog at least once a week to tell you how it’s going. If anyone has some tips I’d love them. Comments are on the top of this post.

Wish me luck. I’ll need it.

Way to go DADDY!

I knelt down and rummaged through the leaves, hunting for our daily treats. The deep red fruit begged to be picked. Paisley’s tiny hand reached for the ripened strawberry.

“Howee Hell! The stupid bird ate it.” She stomped her heal and placed hands on hips.

I froze half way in my attempt to grab a handful of strawberries.
“What did you say?”

With her nose crunched, she pointed at the half eaten berry. “The birds ate my strawberry!”

“I see it did, but what did you say before that?”

“I don’t want to say it again.”

“Where did you hear that word from?” I held back a smile because I already knew her answer.

“Daddy. He says ‘Howee Hell' all de time.”

“Well, I think we need to talk to Daddy when he gets home.”

“Yeah, and he’s gunna get his a** kicked huh?”

SAY WHAT???!!!!
Here we go again……

In a Tough Spot?

I can honestly say I look at the glass half full. In a tough situation, I will find a positive. It drives my husband crazy sometimes, (He's a half empty glass person) but I don't want to live my life worrying about stress. I hate that feeling. I love to be happy. I admit sometimes I'll release my claws and have melt downs, but "it cleanses the soul" as my grandma would say.  This video clip is a perfect example of how I make a tight situation into something positive. So in other words, if I was a mouse this would be me.

Fathers Day

I physically had to pull my eyelids down to close them. The glow of my cell phone showed one o’clock in the morning. I didn’t know it was possible to feel your eyelids scratch against the cornea when you were sleep deprived.

The campers next to us carried on with their party. The bass from the music shook our trailer windows. My little four-year-old pulled a pillow over her ears to block out the sound.

“I can’t take it anymore!” I sat up in my sleeping bag. “Earplugs don’t even block out the noise.”

“I know,” said my husband and rubbed my back. “Last night they didn’t shut off the music until four am.”

I flopped myself back down and whimpered.

“Mommy,” cried my little girl. “I can’t sleep.”

“That’s it!” My dad threw his covers off and stomped down the stairs from the fifth wheel’s bedroom. There was no light in the trailer but I swear I saw flames coming from his nostrils. He swung open the door, stuck out his head and all Hell broke loose.

“TURN THAT *Cussing* MUSIC DOWN!” My dad’s voice echoed across Glendale Lake and back.

I held my breath, waiting for the retaliation of the neighboring campers. The old school rap music quieted down.

“What?” confused voices asked back.

“TURN YOUR *cussing* MUSIC DOWN. WE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP.”

“If you don’t like it and don’t want to listen to it go to bed,” a man said back.

I knew that was the wrong thing to say and waited for my dad’s response.

“WE CAN’T. YOUR MUSIC IS KEEPING EVERYONE AWAKE. TURN IT DOWN.”

“It’s not my problem you don’t want to party old man.”

The music’s volume returned to deafening levels.

“I GAVE YOU YOUR CHANCE YOU *cuss* *cussing* *cussers* THE COPS ARE ON THE WAY!”

My dad slammed our door and flipped on the light. I’d never heard a grown man growl before until that moment. He found his cell phone and dialed a number.

“Hello, who is this?” asked me dad. “Warren, this is Lee Lewis………”

The conversation lasted a whole few seconds. My dad works with the county and I guess he knew what to say, how to say it, and who to say it to because twenty minutes later Dad’s cell phone rang.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“The police. They wanted to let me know they have the force together and are on their way here right now.”

He wasn’t lying. All of a sudden bright lights from a dozen cop cars flashed on and surrounded the neighboring camp.

Long story short. We got some sleep. Moral of the story—don’t piss off my dad. Happy Fathers Day everybody.

Cogitate Author Contest

Attention writers! I'm so excited to announce this. The fine people at Cogitate Studios (a major awesome editing company) have asked (and let me) be a part of a writing contest they are holding. Below is all the information you need to know.


 Henry, the former managing editor of Beyond Words (the publisher behind The Secret, The Truth About Beauty, and Elemental Love Styles) and current ghost writer and editor, will be providing feedback and review on a NONFICTION proposal or first 50 pages of a manuscript.




Gretchen, former agent/editorial director for Baker’s Mark Literary Agency (the literary agency behind Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel, Never After, and Comics 101) and current ghost writer and editor, will be providing feedback and review on the first 50 pages or first 5 chapters of a FICTION manuscript project.


By “feedback and review,” we mean that if you win, we will copyedit your proposal or the first 50 pages/5 chapters of your manuscript and give developmental notes and feedback on the work absolutely free. We’ll also give you tips on the overall approach you will want to take when pitching to agents and publishers.


Why are we asking you to fill out a weird questionnaire to win? Because compatibility between a writer and editor is imperative. (Take a look at our blog post on creativity with punctuation and our post on loving the people you work with.) The same principle extends to pitching your work to agents and publishers. Not only that, but you’ll also have to answer questions about your book that every author should know the answer to and you’ll also get to answer some fun and ridiculous questions about yourself—because everyone should know what weapon they would chose in a zombie attack.


Besides, there are perks. In addition to a free copyedit and comments from a pro, just by entering your completed survey:


• You have the chance to win 3 free books from our title list. (One winner will have his/her choice of two from our fiction and nonfiction title lists [as long as it’s already out, of course] and will also receive a collectible issue of The Grove Review that we worked on.)


• You may be pimped on our site even if you don’t win. Awesome answers from the review will be posted and credited on CogitateStudios.com, Cogitate on Facebook, and our respective Twitter feeds, @editorStet and @cogitweeter. We’ll post your twitter or your blog. Heck, we’ll post both if you want.


• You can come back and visit the Cogitate Studios website to see some stats, responses, and analyses of other authors’ entries (i.e., how many people submitted in what genres, average length of manuscript, what commonalities showed up, what stuck out, who would most likely survive a zombie raid, and so on).


What have you got to lose? You will not be entered on any email lists, annoyingly spammed, or sold out for cash. It’s a few minutes out of your day with a lot you may win. Who knows, it might kick-start that book idea that’s been collecting dust in the corner of your brain. Go ahead and try it. We dare you.


The specifics:


• ONE entry per person


• Deadline is this SUNDAY, June 13th, 11:59 pm PDT.


• We’ll choose TWO winners, based on our interests in reading the work, as well as how well your survey answers show compatibility with our editorial style.


• Winners will be announced the following Monday, June 21th on CogitateStudios.com.


• One winner will be picked out of FIRST 50 SURVEYS for the free book prize, and the winner can then chose which titles they want—winning the free books is random and does not affect your chances of winning the manuscript review.


THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED.

Here is another link to Cogitate Studios web page:

Cogitate Studios

Ink: In All Forms Kick-off contest-giveaway!

Seriously guys there is a really cool contest Ink In All Forms is holding. I mean an amazing giveaway! One lucky winner will win 12 (did you catch that? TWELVE) books! All you have to do is click on the link HERE and enter. EASY. SIMPLE as THAT! Now, what are you waiting for?

I'll give you the stars

The sun lowered behind the mountain. A little four year old girl and her dad sat by a camp fire. She pointed her tiny finger up at the night sky.

4 year old: "Daddy what’s that?"

Her dad glanced up then back at his daughter.

Dad: It’s a star.

4 yr. old: Can I have it?

Dad: Yes. It can be your star.

The little girl grinned and looked up at the twinkling star.

Dad: You need to give it a name.

4 yr. old: Paisley’s star!

Why can't I?

Children’s laughter carried in the warm breeze. It wrapped around a young woman who sat on a park bench. A stray piece of hair drifted across her face and she brushed it away so she could continue watching her daughter play on the slide. Two women sat down on the edge of her bench and began to talk.
“I have a surprise I want to tell you,” said one of the women.

“What?” asked the other while she took her baby out of the stroller.

“I’m going to have another baby!”

Both women squealed and hugged each other. They went on about how happy they were for each other and how they both were now going to have an even number of children.

This wasn’t a conversation the young mother enjoyed hearing. She herself had been trying to get pregnant with another child. She stood up and walked over to help her daughter into the swing. As she pushed her child, she pondered why thinking about (let alone talking about) having another child was taboo for her. Two obvious reasons why instantly stood out. She already had three children and she carried a genetic mutation that could pass to her child.

The young mother took a deep breath and blinked back tears. Even if she was blessed with another child, she’d never get the warm congratulations like the other woman. She never had. Each time she had announced she was expecting she’d gotten, “Why did you do that for,” or “Are you crazy? You already have two.”

Even though each pregnancy was a great blessing to her, nobody else felt the same way. Why? Why does it matter to everyone else? It’s not their life, their family.

The pain in her heart grew too large to bear and she let a few tears roll down her check. She asked herself why people can’t be happy for her baby too. It’s not like her and her husband just say, “Okay, let’s do it, lets have a baby.” They really think it out. They plan, weigh their options, the good and the bad. They know what chance they are taking, but it’s their chance to take. Let them be happy with it too. Don’t make them feel guilty for taking their love and creating a life together.


The young mother took a deep breath and hugged her child. She looked back at the celebrating friends and thought..... "If they can be happy about it, why can’t I?"

A Page A Day

From May 15th to June 15th, I've joined a challenge to write AT LEAST a page a day.

This is a great way for me to keep a realistic goal of writing this new manuscript. I do hope to write more than one page a day, but if I don't that's going to be okay. I'll at least wrote one page.

 My work in progress at the moment will hopefully have 250 to 300 pages. I will keep you posted every few days on my progress in hopes to have a cheering section. If I do slack I really want you guys to give me motivation to keep going.

If any of you are interested in joining in this amazing challenge, click HERE to read about all the rules and information.

CHEERS
-Laci

GUESS WHAT

Do you remember me posting about a contest awhile back? Which one? I know I post about many. This was a contest to win a book called The Long Way Home. If you're drawing a blank click here and for the original post. Well, I Won! I finally got around to having enough time to read it and it's good. This goes to show you it never hurts to enter contests.

Do you know what other book is good, well AMAZING!?!?!

SPELLS by Aprilynne Pike. It's book number 2 of the Wings seres. Do you want to know something else that's totally amazing? 

I can't contain myself!

She is coming to Preston on Thursday May 13th! Yes, New York Best Selling Author, Aprilynne Pike, is coming to talk at the high school. Aprilynne's doing this just because I asked her to. And well, because she was passing through too. So go and see her, 8:45 at the good old Preston high. (-oh and shameless plug- bring one of her books and she'll sign it.)

Woohoo for contests! Woohooo for Aprilynne Pike!

An Awesome Neighbor

When we were looking at neighborhoods to build our house, we narrowed it down to three. Country Club Estates had the luxury of living on the back green of the only golf coarse in town and the name just sounded high class. Creamy Hollow Estates had a lot of new families and the location had a great view of the East mountains and valley, and last but not least was Oakwood Estates. It was located directly behind the school, close to town and the neighborhood was populated with growing families. The only draw back, the lots were close together.
With that in mind we sat down and sorted out our options. Each had their pros and cons but something kept pulling us back to Oakwood. Something about it felt right. We made our choice and broke ground on our new home. 5 years later, I couldn’t be happier with our decision.

Yesterday proved yet another reason why we made the right choice. Seth snuck out of the back door and ran off. I didn’t even hear him get out. He figured out the one door that doesn’t have an alarm on it and slowly unlocked, opened, and then closed it without making a sound.

How did I find out he was running wild down the middle of the road? By an awesome neighbor (Nicole Martin)*cough cough* who understands and knows if Seth is alone outside, it’s not alright. This awesome neighbor got in her van and drove down to notify this scatter brained mother (Me) that her son was on the loose. (I was curling my daughter’s hair for her dance recital and like mentioned before, Houdini snuck out.)

While awesome neighbor was telling me about Seth, another amazing neighbor came to let me know he had been caught, tagged and on route back home.

I will be installing an alarm to that door A.S.A. P.!

Yes, I felt very stupid and neglectful as my role of a parent. But awesome neighbor was sincerer and understanding. Thank you Nicole and I’m glad to have you around.

A New Do!

Have you ever felt frumpy, out of style or just plain yuck? Well the last few months that's what I've thought every time I looked in the mirror. Today I solved the problem. I got my hair done!

It's amazing how a new style (little or big) can make you feel refreshed. Mine isn't a huge change. I kept the colors the same but cut it WAY short. Why, because the blonde ends were FRIED. The only way to fix it was to simply whack it off or color it dark and go through an intense conditioning protein rebuild. I don't have the time these days to spend twenty minutes twice a day, every day, applying goop to my hair then rewash it right after. One washing per day is enough for me. So long story short, I chopped them buggers off. (I know great grammar)

Here is a picture of my lifeless hair before:

Front and side view.

Can you see the frizzy ends and how there is breakage all over causing fly aways?

I CAN!

Wait for it. WAIT FOR IT!

And here is my new style.

My favorite part is the little pieces of BLING I added.

They are so sweet! They look like tinsel but can be curled washed and won't melt! It's called Hair Bling or String Bling.

 

Now I just need to wait and see what my husband will think when he gets home from work. Wish me luck.! 

What Would You Say To Your High School Self?

I read this post today on my friends blog, Shooting Stars, who first read about this on Dystel and Goderich Literaray Managment's blog.

Author Sarah Mlynowski came up with a brilliant marketing plan for her new YA novel, Gimme A Call. She asked YA novelists what they would say to their high school selves if they could. Here are some of my favorites:

Dear HS self: There are two reasons you have no girlfriend: 1. no confidence. 2. poor hygiene. #startwithnumbertwo – John Green

Dear HS self: You are NOT FAT. You will be, but you're not now, so enjoy it. – Sara Zarr

Dear HS self: Facebook will be invented. Are you sure you want your friend to take that picture? – Julia DeVillers

As for what I would say to myself:

Dear HS self: You know that so yummy dark gorgeous guy you’re dating? Keep a hold of him! He only gets better with age! (And he will love you after you're covered in stretch marks.)

Now, all of you reading this, what would you say to your high school self?

-Cheers
*Laci*

It's Something Special

I get asked how I can stay so happy and so positive while having two children with disablilites. My first answer is, "Why wouldn't I be happy?"

I know it's not proper to answer a question with a question. Well, don't you want your child to grow up as happy as they could? No matter what kind of personalities they have you plan to make the best life for them. Yes, I admit. It is hard sometimes but isn't being a parent, period, hard?

The best way I can explaine what it's like to be a parent in my situation is with one of my favorite poems.

"Welcome to Holland"

By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987. All rights reserved.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Funny moments at Disneyland

Today two moments from our trip kept sticking out in my mind. First was about my little girl. She wanted cotten candy so bad, but I kind of freak out about getting stiky fingers that constantly go into the mouth when the kids are still going on rides (it's like licking the germs from bunches of other hands...shiver....gag). So after two days of asking we finally baught her some on our way back to our hotel.

This was her reaction!

Yes, I feel the same way about the pink sweet goodness.

The second memory makes me laugh a little more. My family informed me that I have too much energy and they have a hard time keeping up with me. I mean I could have kept going all day at the park, but had to stop because the rest of the group were falling down dead on spot.

Here's the proof.

Really, he was fine. I only let him stay like this for the photo then moved him. But it's no lie. We stopped to get ice cream and less than 10 seconds later, he dropped, was out, zonked!

He wasn't the only one. Paisley couldn't keep up either. Luckily, she waited until we were going back to the hotel.

See, I know how to get my kids to bed on time!

Slideshow of Disneyland Trip 2010

Make a free slideshow

Disney Trip

We are back and the Smiths had a blast! Why is it that life is never the same after Disney? This year we took my little 17-year-old sister with us (it was nice to have one adult per child). The park was almost empty on Sunday makingit possible to get through 90% of Disneyland. Which was a good thing too, because we finished Disney and California Adventure Monday leaving Tuseday and Wednesday for our favorite rides. I mentioned before that it was a good thing almost finishing the whole park Sunday, well it seemed like on Tuesday and Wednesday everyone in America came to Disneyland. It was so full we could barely walk around. (Thank you Disney for giving us those special needs passes so we could go right up the exits and board the rides)

Seth got wiped out halfway through the first day and fell alseep when we took a break for ice cream and fell asleep on the cement steps. NO JOKE there are photos for proof. I got attacked by Goofy, he ran up out of no where and kissed me. Seth huged every Princess and female character (yes, he will grow up to be a ladies man). Dom wouldn't have anything to do with the girls nor characters that could be remotely prissy- AT ALL- notice he is absent from a lot of photos.

Did I mention the lovely weather? Well, it was G-R-E-A-T! Yes, very warm, very nice. Except for Tuesday morning, started out a bit chilly but warmed up later in the day. We all fell so in love with the sun that we forgot it's still winter back here at home in winter-topia Idaho. When we drove through Sardeen Canyon and hit a snow storm, the Smith family cried.

California and Las Vegas really reminded me how much I LOVE summer. And how much I miss it when it's gone.

Oh, and we had a bit of fun with the California Adventure letters to spell out my name.

How I spent my St. Patricks Day

A day of luck? Um, no! St. Patrick’s Day was always a day I looked forward to. Usually I would be showered with luck. All I had to do was wear green. But this year, that stinking leprechaun decided to take a crap on my four leaf clover.

The day started out very well, the kids all were in happy moods and excited to pinch their classmate who forgotten to wear the festive color. Then four o’clock rolled around and my pot of gold turned into a pot of—well you could only guess.

The DVD/CD drive on the computer tower broke. Did I mention I just got out of the shop literally hours before? Well, it had. The fan on our fire place broke, and we found our little treasure at the end of our rainbow in the basement. The main water line to the outside faucet blew! Really, BLEW APPART and shot water, insulation, and sheet rock EVERYWHERE!

Thank you, may I have another Sir-St Patty? (You Lil’ Green Prick!)

Umm, stay tuned for pictures of the waterfall from the basement ceiling. I’ll post them later tomorrow.
Looking on the bright side of this. At least these things happened before our trip we have planned in eight days. It could have been worse and the water line could have broken while we were on vacation and flooded the whole house. So there is my silver lining.

HAPPY FREAKING ST. PATRICKS DAY!

HELLO WRITERS!

Over on my friend's blog Shooting Stars is a GREAT giveaway!