Lottery Winner!

A few days ago three ladies won a million dollars on a Power Ball ticket. My husband and I (who were extremely jealous) got talking about what we would do with the money if we had won. Thankfully we both had the similar ideas, but then it came down to the question; would we share it with family or friends? This is where we found out we are true soul mates. We had almost exactly the same answer. Although this was only a dream for us, it did get me thinking. What if? Would I really share or not share? Well, I'm asking you. What would you do?

Sex and Sexy Scenes In YA Books

Hey all you writers out there, I found a great post from a blog I follow The YA-5 called "Sex and Sexy Scenes In YA :Let's Look At It A Different Way" I think you might want to read. It's about sex in young adult books. It's always a big topic at conferences I go to.

This article has some good points and explanations. I agree that when you write a scene it needs to fit. Also, it needs to have meaning to the plot. It's always hard to decide if you are going to add sexual content to your story. For me, it's a hard choice because I write young adult, but young adult (to me) isn't children. Young adult is, in my eyes, 15 and older. Now 15 is still young, but we do need to face and understand that 50% of teenagers (sometimes more) are sexually active in some way.  Now I'm not saying "yeah, go ahead and let your teens read steamy romance novels."  What I am saying is if sex is put into literature that teens will read it needs to be done properly and tastefully. Now that's enough of my soap box. Enjoy reading the post. 

Tooth Fairy! Where are you?

The Tooth Fairy seems to miss our house-a lot. My son lost a tooth two days ago and that stinking fairy skipped him over. This tragedy seems to happen almost every time someone in our house looses a tooth. But, come on now, give this fairy a break. She just can’t get herself up in time lately.

I got tired of hearing the kid’s disappointment in the mornings when the tooth would still be under the pillow and no money in its place. We made a designated spot that we now put the teeth in waiting, on the kitchen counter. No missing it now.

This Tooth Fairy failed again. This morning I woke up to my 4-year-old-daughter wailing that the Tooth Fairy (she has named her Tinker Bell-go figure) didn’t come. After consoling the upset child, she just knew that our cat had scared the Tooth Fairy away and that’s why she didn’t come. She also came up with a plan and made a sign of a cat locked in the garage and a map of where the tooth will be waiting. Wow, I’d hate to think what she is going to do when it's her tooth.

Now please lets all pray that this Tooth Fairy can wake her very exhausted behind up and get this job done. TONIGHT!

Moved To Tears

The other day my husband and I were walking through a store that was displaying art. I know, what a date. An art gallery, but hey it’s free and gave us time to talk. Now I need to back up a tiny bit. As some of you may know, lately I’ve been going through some tough times emotionally with this pregnancy and my oldest son. Although I’ve shed a lot of tears, I’ve grown too. (Not only in my waist but spiritually as well.)


My husband and I had moved passed the paintings and came to the still art section. This tiny 4x5 picture caught my attention. I pointed at it and cried. My husband clueless to what I was doing, put his arm around me and asked what was wrong.

“That picture. It’s so personal to me. I’ve felt that so many times.”

By this time, my husband saw the picture I was referring to and understood. It was of a woman weeping against a rock and Jesus comforting her. Not like a full on bear hug, but a gentle touch, letting her know He understands and is hurting along with her.

I wiped my eyes and got the heck out of that section. I didn’t want anyone to see me crying. But the image left a permanent mark with me. As someone who works in the art genera, I hope my work has an impact on someone like this picture did. Even if it’s just one single person.

Here's the picture that moved me to tears.

I need some help?

I posted this essay a while back, but now have changed it. The reason being, I might enter it into a contest. This contest is for woman of my religious background and life style. Why I'm posting it again, I want feed back. Like; does it need to be longer, more in depth, more personal, you aren't relating, connecting, or caring who this is about. Or if I totally went the wrong way with it and need to start over. Any who, take a read and leave a comment on the link above this post.

I Still See You

A tall brown haired boy flips on the kitchen light. I follow him to the counter and pour him a bowl of cereal. I give my son his breakfast and kiss the top of his head. It’s five o’clock in the morning and I can’t help but smirk at how even the sun gets to sleep in. Yet, I’m up and starting my day.

My little boy snarffs down his Fruit Loops, bounces across the room, humming a deep monotone, and flapping his hands together with out a care in the world. His name is Seth and he has two disabilities; Autism and Fragile X Syndrome. You never know when the symptoms of either trial he lives with will strike. Some days are good and he seems happy and calm. With the good comes the bad and on those days it can be challenging to see his real sweet spirit inside.

Seth puts in his favorite DVD of Harry Potter. While waiting for the player to load, our family dog enters the room and licks Seth’s face. I love the sound of the giggle Seth lets out because it’s a contagious chuckle that grows into belly jumping laugh.

Suddenly, Seth remembers the movie but something is wrong. The DVD isn’t playing. He tries restarting it, but it just won’t work. Seth’s face wrinkles and big tears roll down his cheeks. He turns to me and utters one word from his very small vocabulary.

“Help.”

I open the tray and out slides the disc. I pick it up and find it covered in sticky finger prints. After cleaning it off, my heart sinks. A crack ran all the way across the center of the DVD. Clean or sticky, it will never play. I return to Seth to break the bad news.

“Seth, I’m sorry but this can’t play anymore.” I hold up the disc. “Look at this right here. See, it’s broke.”

He doesn’t understand and cries again, this time flopping down on the couch. I turn around to go back into the kitchen. Seth see his shoes on the floor next to him and grabs them.

The next thing I know something hits the back of my head. I snatch the shoe from Seth’s hand. After a few minutes, my arms are bloody from trying to calm him down. I say a silent prayer and ask for some help. Not for myself, but help for my son to give him some kind of comfort and the ability to calm down. I open my eyes and something shinny catches my attention from under the couch. Reaching with my fingertips, I pull out another copy of the movie.

Puzzled how it got there and where it come from, I put it into the player. The movie starts with out any problems.

Seth immediately calms down and realizes what he has done to his mother. His eyes fill with sorrowful tears. Seth tenderly blows on the scratches, digs, and bite marks that cover my arms.

The movie’s theme music plays in the background as his big green eyes, still filled with tears, look back at me. Kissing my cheek, he says, “Sorry,” and wraps his arms around me.

“Seth, I love you too.”

As his mother, I know that even on the hard days when the Autism takes over, my little boy is still behind those green eyes struggling to understand his frustrations. So in these moments when he looks at me, I let him know I can still see him.

How else would I mean?

This morning I found my son playing with play dough in his bedroom. This is a no-no at my house. The kids know (well should know by how many times I've told them) that play dough is meant for the kitchen ONLY. This is how the conversation went.

Me: "Get this play dough in it's container and down stairs now. Or, I'm going to kick your butt!"

7 year old: Looks up at me with a blank stare.

Me: "Hurry up! I'm not kidding!"

7 year old: "You mean literally?"

Really?!?! How else would I mean. Well, I guess they've caught on to my empty threats.

Listen

Our SUV turned the corner by my father-in-law's shop a few blocks away from our house. I spotted his camper, aka Minnie Winnie, parked out front. An overwhelming feeling deep in my chest told me to slow down. I hesitated on doing so because I knew my autistic son has an obsession with the camper. Seth feels like he’s driving a bus. When we go camping he spends hours upon hours playing in the front seat.

This feeling grew stronger as we passed the front of the shop. I wasn’t speeding but the intensity of the prompting was overwhelming. Seth freaked out and pointed at the Minnie Winnie screaming, “Stop! Stop!”

I slowed our speed to a crawl knowing it would only irate Seth. Leaving him to think I might stop and when I didn’t things could turn very ugly. With our wheels moving only 10 MPH the unthinkable happened. Seth threw open his door and jumped out.

Did you know at 10 miles an hour you can skid your tires when you slam on the brakes? I found out you can. I bailed out after him and found him running back to the shop, headed right for the Minnie Winnie.

A cuss word slipped out of my innocent mouth as I slide back behind the wheel, flipped a u-turn, and pulled into the shop. Seth on the other hand was in total bliss. He had his camper and not a scratch on him.

My father-in law witnessed the show and was shaking at about the same tempo as myself. I swear, this kid is going to put me into pre-term labor. It makes me sick to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t listened to that feeling and slowed down.

Kids School Projects?

Ever notice when your kids have school projects you end up doing them? Yep, we just had one of those. My autistic son didn’t really have to do it, but he wanted to. I‘m a sucker for letting him do whatever the other kids his age are doing, (meaning; scouts, sports, and school stuff. I’m not that cool of a mom).
This project was his fourth grade Idaho History point project. Out of a list of like 100 things to do, he wanted to make a log cabin out of pretzel sticks. YAY, just what I wanted to do. *insert sarcasm* But, we did it! I cut out the frame with cardboard and Seth glued the sticks on like siding. After 2 hours we were finished, well all but the roof.

I’m kinda a perfectionist when it comes to crafty things, hence why there are an absence of them in my home. I wanted to have a roof look “realistic”. So a bright idea popped in my head. BEEF JERKY! The big wide sheets of it. It worked and looked awesome.

With the roof on, we got to looking at it. There was a big gap all the way around where the ceiling meets the walls. Seth (this is the part where he takes after me) grabbed some cotton balls and put over it, like snow. So we put the cotton around the cabins bottom too. Seth even made a pretzel deer to stand out side the cabin. See, he’s my son.

All in all, it was a good project, but I’m so glad the school system likes to make the parents work too. That said, the next project he wants to do is make a real wooden pioneer bench. YE-AH…. Dad, you get to help with that one.

New Parent Freakouts

Today I got really baord and watched the TLC network and laughed. On the show “Bringing Home Baby” a couple of new parents entered the journey of having their first child. The new parents seemed eager to be a good mommy and daddy and said they were “looking forward to sitting around the house and just looking at the baby." Well, the baby had other plans. She cried every waking minute. She pooped all the time and this is where it got interesting. The mother changed a diaper and freaked out. “It is runny and black! Oh my gosh, she is sick!” I need to tell you right here, the mother is a physician. A PHYSICIAN! You’d think she might know that a newborns poo is tar like. A few more hours go by and she is still freaking out. Her husband is trying his best to consul her that their new baby isn’t sick. The dad gets an idea and calls a Dula to come help them. Turns out the baby was fine. The reason for all the crying, Mom wasn’t feeding the baby long enough and the messy diaper was normal.

I laughed because the mom was a physician. That probably won’t help her get a lot of business. I understand that everything is new when you have a baby, but I agree that when you have your first baby you should have some kind of parenting class behind you. I did on my first and it saved me so much stress.
But I admit I was still in the dark on a lot of things. I still am. What are some of your first time baby freak outs?

Leave Your Stamp.

Holy Moly! I've been getting A LOT of blog visits from out of my area. It's fun to see all the little red dots grow into bigger blobs as more visit, but it got me thinking. You all know where I'm at, but where are you visiting from? On the comment link above leave just what state or country you are viewing the blog from. If you want to add how you found this blog that would be fun too. Thanks all for playing along.

XOXO,
Laci

WriteOnCon

Hello all you writers out there. The last two days have been full of knowledge and the best part is there is still one more day! What is it you ask? Well, you inquisitive reader you. There is a huge writers conference going on NOW and it's FREE! WriteOnCon has been full of "workshops" and live chats from big and important people in the publishing biz. There is still one more day to attend so click over now. Oh, and don't feel bad about missing anything. The lovely promoters have done a great job at archiving everything so it's a simple click away and your brain can be filled with knowledge you won't want to miss.

Here is the link. WriteOnCon

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

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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!

Office Box Giveaway

An amazing give away is going on over at Cami Checketts blog. Click HERE to check it out!

My way Home

The television didn’t stay on a channel longer than four seconds as my husband surfed through the 400 stations of satellite entertainment. Out of frustration, he stopped on a show I was particularly fond of.

“There’s nothing on,” he said and tossed me the remote. I tucked the remote under my leg and finished folding laundry into piles.

A few towels later, a phrase that always made me laugh, played from the movie; “….smashing in the face of a piñata that resembles Summer Wheatley, is a disgrace to the whole Gem State…..” (I snorted, because sadly, I’ve actually heard a teacher say this before).

Our nine year old ran down the stairs and joined in on the final scenes of our hometown movie. (I think he is a bigger fan than me.) The final scene played and Seth popped up off the couch and pointed at the screen.
“Home! My home,” he said.

My husband and I laughed, because yes, in the background of the movie was our house. And, the scene was filmed at the elementary school next to us. I thought it was pretty cool that an autistic boy recognized his way home even from a silly movie.

Click here to see the scene Seth recognized his home.

To All You Writers!

All you writers out there. The blog Guide to Literary Agants is having another contest. Click on over for a chance to win and good luck to all who enter!

I Can Still See You

A tall brown haired boy flipped on the kitchen light. His mother followed him to the counter and poured him a bowl of cereal. She gave her son his breakfast and kissed the top of his head. It’s five o’clock in the morning and she couldn’t help smirk at how even the sun got to sleep in. Yet, she's up and starting her day.
The little boy snarffed down his Fruit Loops, bounced across the room, humming, and flapping his hands together with out a care in the world. His name is Seth and he has two disabilities; Autism and Fragile X Syndrome.

Seth put in his favorite DVD of Harry Potter. While waiting for the player to load, the family dog entered the room and licked Seth’s face. His mother loved the sound of the giggle Seth let out because it wasn't any giggle, but a contagious belly jumping laugh.

Suddenly, he remembered the movie but something is wrong. The DVD wasn’t playing. He tried restarting it, but it just wouldn’t work. Seth’s face wrinkled up and big tears rolled down his cheeks. He turned to his mom and uttered one word from his very small vocabulary.

“Help.”

His mom opened the tray and out slid the disc. She picked it up and found it covered in sticky finger prints. After cleaning it off, her heart sank. A crack ran all the way across the center of the DVD. Clean or sticky, it would never play. Mom returned to Seth to break the bad news.

“Seth, I’m sorry but this can’t play anymore.” His mom held up the disc. “Look at this right here. See, it’s broke.”

He didn’t understand and cried again, this time flopping down on the couch. Mom turned around to go back into the kitchen. Seth saw his shoes on the floor next to him and grabbed them.

The next thing his mom knew, something hit the back of her head. She grabbed the shoe from Seth’s hand. After a few minutes, her arms are bloody from trying to calm him down. Something shinny caught the mom’s attention from under the couch. She pulled out another copy of the movie.

Puzzled of how it even got there and where it had come from, she put it into the player. The movie started with out any problems.

Seth immediately calmed down and realized what he had done to his mother. His eyes filled with tears. Seth tenderly blew on the scratches, dig marks, and bites that covered his mom’s arms.

The movie’s theme music started to play as his big green eyes, still filled with tears, looked back at his mom. Kissing her cheek, he said, “Sorry,” and wrapped his arms around her.

“Seth, I love you too.”

This mother knows that even on the hard days when the Autism takes over, her little boy is still behind those green eyes struggling to understand his frustrations. So in those moments when he looks at her, she lets him know she can still see him.

I'm so sneaky!

My life just got a tiny bit nicer easier. I'm all about making things fair. My husband baught a new truck, well, it's not NEW NEW but new to us. To pay it off we sold his old Chevy, and that was a sad day for Seth. He cried as the guy backed out of our driveway after purchasing The Big Green Hulk (that's the name Dom gave it awhile ago). Meanwhile, I've been saving up for a laptop but the stash never seems to gain a high dollar amount. Plus, we have a nice desktop that already does everything pretty much perfectly and did iI mention fast? But having to share the computer with everyone gets kinda old, fast.

So, I am pretty good at a few things. One being, giving someone a guilt trip in such a sneaky way, you don't know what hit you until your giving in and commiting to something you would have never thought possible. Don't worry, this can only be pulled off about 3 times a year, and it's always on my husband.

That being said, guess who got a new laptop!?!

HAPPY DANCE!

So prepare yourself, you might get to see this mug talking to you via vlog post. Unless you think it might cause nightmares. If that's case I'll hold off on the webcam.  

Win the book The Long Way Home

Winning something is always good. In these cold winter months, I love to read a novel a week. When these said novels are new and pre-released, I get really excitted to start them. This book (The Long Way Home) isn't a pre-release but it's new. So, if you want a chance to win a copy click here to enter the contest.

Lucky Agent Contest on Guide to Literary Agents

Click here  to join in a writing contest.

How I Got My Kids To Take a Nap

"Give that back, "screamed my 6 year old, Dominic. "It's my turn for the Playstation."

"Mom, Seth's be mean," added Paisley. "He gunna scratch Dom, I know it."

"Seth, please share," I said, after getting pulled out of a great ZEN with my writing. I mean I was on a roll.

A scream of bloody murder pulled me down stairs to find out the paddle had magically bounced out of Seth's hands and landed on Dominic's head.

After calming down Dom and talking to Seth about not hitting for the 10,000 time, I came up with an plan.

"Why don't you guys go outside and play in the snow. You haven't made me a snowman this year anyway and our yard is looking pretty lonely."

You'd thought I gave them a whole new life to look forward to. Snowsuites, boots, hats, and gloves flew on faster than the clothes of a teenage boy who was about to be caught with his girlfriend.

Out the door they went and rolled snow quicker than I'd ever seen before. Two hours flew by like they were only minutes and the kids came back in wiped out. They lumbered to the sofa and I picked up the trail of clothing that would have put Hanzel and Gretal to shame. I can't believe how much moister a snowsuite can hold.

These are the days I'm thankful for living in an area that will provide weather that will wear out my children. Now, enjoy the snowman my kids made. Paisley thought up the hat.

All you writers out there!

There is a fun contest going on over at literary agent Kathleen Ortiz blog (Never a Page Turner) this week. Go check it out. Whats up for grabs? A very deep query critique! Click on her name to shoot on over.

Teen Pregancy

Tonight I watched the T.V. special The Pregnancy Pack. The idea of wanting to have a baby as a teenager is puzzling. Why would you want to do that? I have the right to ask that question, because I had a baby at the young age of 17. So, when all my friends were getting ready for their senior year Homecoming Week of high school, I was delivering a baby. Now my pregnancy wasn’t planned by all means, and I weighed all my choices after finding out there was a baby on the way. (After the rounds of tears). But do teenagers really have an idea of what raising a child means? I had an idea, but the real answer is, NO. It is SO HARD! It’s not like playing house with your dollies.


Now, I wouldn’t ever change the choice I made. I kept my baby, but I also had a guy that loved me and wanted to start our lives together right then. Sadly that isn’t the case in all situations and most of these girls think it is. My situation had an extra strain though. After I had my baby, he was diagnosed with a genetic mutation and therefore would be disabled for life. Now, isn’t that a blow to the heart? I’m so grateful I had the support of my husband to get through that.

That same year I got pregnant, there were 5 other girls along with me. (No, none of us made a pack. It was all coincidence… I PROMISE!) Not all of them ended with this fairytale out come of happily ever after and that’s the reality of teen pregnancy. I really hope the teenagers are seriously thinking about what comes with a baby. Let me mention a just few things; crying all night, nasty diapers, pucking….A LOT of pew-ook-ing, ear infections, more crying, always needing more money to get things, and lets not forget about the sleepless nights. So if you’re not ready for that then wait. Although I’m happy with the choice I made, it’s not for everyone. Like I said before, I would NEVER change my choice. My son has made me a better person and of course I kinda love the lil’ bugger.

XOXOXO,

Laci

My new favorite movie!

I saw this in 3-D, so if you have the choice--SEE IT! I can't begin to tell you how amazing this show is! Wonderfully done.

Everything about it felt REAL I would forget I was watching a movie, There were times that my heart was pounding so hard I couldn't swallow. My husband got us drinks and popcorn to munch on and when the lights came back on, we looked down and noticed we hadn't touched them. We were that into the show. I was happy to find out there is going to be a part two! So, now I can't wait.

NEW BOOKS

I've got some really good reads for you all! My husband made a mistake and took me to a book store.

Book description:  FALLENThere's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

Book description:   HUSH, HUSH
For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.


With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

Book description:   BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
There were no surprises in Gatlin County.

We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.
In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything


There were so many more I wanted and am going back to get next week! Yes, I'm going to go broke on books.

PLUM, PLUM, PLUM STRUCK!

A client introduced me to my new obsession on Saturday. Stephanie Plum. As you can see there are 13 books, plus one for ever holiday that aren’t shown here. I’m half way done with the series. I spend half the time laughing out loud at some of the situations Stephanie gets herself into. So, if you don’t hear from me for a while, this is why. Sorry, but if you read them you’ll understand and be able to forgive me.

Happy reading!

My little 3 year old had her first dance performance. The teacher asked that the girls wear Christmas colors and left it at that. I'm so lucky, because I have a "princess" for a daughter. She wanted to wear a tutu. Well, Princess doesn't own a Christmas color tutu. I asked the other mothers what they were going to dress their daughters in, most said sweats.

*Now, I have to admit when I was little my mother put me in dance pants for my Christmas dance program, but I remember seeing the pretty skirts on the girls performing a scene from the Nutcracker. I longed to look like one of them and wanted to hide in my white t-shirt and pants.*
So, the resourceful (and prideful) motherly traits in me thought up an idea and quick.

“I’ll make her a tutu!”

Later that night I told (bragged really) my boss at how cute my daughter was going to look. Her client had two granddaughters in the same class and asked if I’d make one for each of them too.

 “Sure why not.”

 (That way my daughter wouldn’t look out of place being the only one)

The next morning, I took the tutu’s to dance practice and gave them to the two girls. NOT A GOOD IDEA! Groups of mothers loved them. Some how I agreed to make more. How many more you ask?

12 more….. In two days.

*Yes I have a stamp on my forehead that reads,”SUCKER. DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO SAY NO”.

I thought about what had happened and realized only 4 girls wouldn’t have a tutu. (I’m tender hearted) I made them some too, all the way until 3 AM!

The day of the performance arrived and I brought the tutus, passed them out and met a big surprise. Each mother had donated $5 toward the tutus. Cha-ching!

Worth every second of sleeplessness, because the tiny pre-school dancers looked like little peppermint patties out there.

So cute.