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No Spring Reading Thing…

written by katrina 8 Comments

Hi everyone. I’m sure many of you figured this was the case, but there will be no Spring Reading Thing this year. As you can tell from this blog’s dormant state, I can’t even seem to put together a blog post these days, much less run a reading challenge. It’s a combination of busyness, priorities, distractions, and just life.

I’m not shutting down Callapidder Days at this point, though, and I do hope to return to blogging eventually.

If, however any of YOU are hosting a spring reading challenge, please feel free to post a link in the comments so others can check it out. Thanks!

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Update: Sandra Stiles is planning to host a Spring Reading Thing this year, complete with button, prizes, and the familiar low-stress approach you’ve seen here. So if you’re looking for a challenge to join, hop over to Sandra’s blog for more details: Spring Reading Thing 2013

Posted on March 15, 2013 and Filed Under: Bloggy Stuff 8 Comments

Hey you — what’s-your-name!

written by katrina 17 Comments

I only have two kids.

That’s it. Two. 2.

Not very many, in the grand scheme of things.

I have several friends who have four kids. One of Chad’s brothers just had his fifth child. (Well, technically, the brother’s wife is the one who had the child, but…you know what I mean.)

Chad himself is one of eight kids.

Me? Two.

So please tell me: Why in the world can’t I get my kids’ names straight?

I know my kids’ names. If you sat me down and showed me a picture of each of my sons, I promise I would be able to correctly identify them.

Yet, in the heat of the moment — or even in simple, everyday conversation — I say the wrong name.

All. the. time.

(To be accurate, it’s not all the time. But it’s often enough. As in, multiple times per week.)

I’ll be chatting along, and happen to refer to a child — thinking I’m referring correctly — when all of a sudden, a family member will interrupt.

“You said C. Did you mean L.?”

or

“You said L. Did you mean C.?”

Yes, yes, of course I did.

For the record, there is a 7.5-year gap between my two boys. I had 7.5 years of saying C.’s name before I even had to consider saying another child’s name on a regular basis. But here we are, six years after Child #2, and I can’t seem to get my brain to spit out the right name without deliberate concentration.

Maybe it’s because they’re both boys.

Or maybe it’s because I’m 39 years old and parts of my brain are just giving up on me. Like the part that assigns the correct name to each child.

I don’t know. But I’m wondering if I need to come up with a new strategy.

Some ideas:

  • Tattooing (or maybe just taping) each child’s name to his forehead, so I am always and forever confronted by the correct names, at least when I’m looking at them.
  • Giving up on the name thing all together and just pointing in the correct kid’s general direction when referring to him.
  • Using “hey you” or “what’s-your-name” as a general, all-purpose reference for either kid.

Sigh.

No, I’ll keep trying. I’ll muster up all the concentration I can, drink an extra cup of coffee, make intense eye contact…and hope the names come out right.

Posted on September 18, 2012 and Filed Under: Family, I am insane 17 Comments

A Photo Hunt

written by katrina 8 Comments

The truth is, I’m not exactly the most fun or creative mom. I tend to live my life in comfortable ruts — preferring each day to look an awful lot like the one before. For me, predictable is nice.

Hence, the lack of creativity.

My kids tolerate my boringness pretty well, I have to say. But on those rare occasions when I actually plan a fun activity, something out of the ordinary, well…let’s just say that their response makes it totally worth it. Such was the case recently, when I was overtaken by an unexplainable burst of creativity.

Summer was winding down, school would be starting in a matter of days, and I wanted to give the kids something extra-fun to do one morning. But since our kids have an age gap of 7.5 years, it’s not always easy to come up with an activity that appeals to both of them.

There is one thing, though, that everyone in our family enjoys: taking pictures. C. recently spent some allowance money on a nice camera and L.’s been using an old point-and-shoot we had lying around. So in a moment of inspiration, I knew just what I’d do…plan a Photo Scavenger Hunt.

After the kids went to bed one night, I made a list (attempting to make its difficulty level somewhere between “too easy for a 13-year-old” and “too hard for a 6-year-old”), planned a reward, created a flyer, and prepared for the next morning. When the kids got up, this was waiting for them:

PhotoHunt

I made sure they knew this was not a race, it was a challenge. For both of them. And I didn’t deny the fact that I would enjoy a Starbucks outing just as much as they would — if not more so!

Bottom line: the Photo Hunt was a hit. Both kids took the challenge seriously, really got into it, and did a great job.

They hunted for bumblebees in flowers…
EI2A5632.jpg

Built things out of Legos…
EI2A5639.jpg

And completed their lists in record time.

At which point, we hopped in the car and went to Starbucks, as promised. Fun for all!

It will no doubt be quite a while before I come up with anything quite as exciting and inspired as this scavenger hunt. If we’re lucky, maybe something will occur to me by next summer. We’ll see… In the meantime, I’m hoping the memories of this event tide my kids over!

Posted on September 12, 2012 and Filed Under: Family, Fun, Photography 8 Comments

Blogging Freedom

written by katrina 13 Comments

I’ll be the first to admit that blogging about blogging can be…well, weird. But I’m going to do it anyway. Sorry. Feel free to move along to the next blog in your feed reader. I won’t be offended in the least.

I normally shy away from it (blogging about blogging, that is), but when I’ve taken a prolonged and unanounced blog hiatus, I feel somehow compelled to show up here and apologize for my lack of blogging. Or explain why I haven’t been blogging. Or tell you what I have been doing instead of blogging.

At the same time, when it’s been weeks and weeks since I blogged anything, I wonder if it’s about time to shut down Callapidder Days. (Ugh. Even writing that sounds all melodramatic and ridiculous. Sorry again.) After all, if I can walk away for weeks, maybe I have very little left to say.

Or maybe it’s just that my idea of what blogging is has become overly complex in the 6+ years that I’ve been blogging here. I do admit, when I think about “Being a Blogger,” there are voices in my head that tell me I need to:

  • Blog daily
  • Utilize an editorial calendar
  • Promote my blog on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and everywhere else in the social networking universe
  • Develop my own unique and engaging voice
  • Read and comment on tons of other blogs
  • Say fascinating things on Twitter throughout the day
  • Develop a niche for my blog and make sure my posts support and relate to that niche
  • Attend blogging conferences
  • Create Pinterest boards that are followed by many
  • Follow, read, and comment on all the “big names” in the bloggy world

Just reading that list makes me tired. The truth is: I don’t have the time or mental energy (or, honestly, desire) to be that kind of blogger right now. I just don’t.

So I suppose it’s no wonder that when those voices give me that to-do list every time I think about maintaining my blog…I would rather go read a book or take a nap. Or maybe both.

But there’s another option. I can simplify things. I can throw that list out the window. I can just write. Write what I feel like writing, when I feel like writing it. I can write about every topic under the sun, or nothing in particular at all, and just forget about niches.

I can visit other blogs when I have the time and inclination, but feel free to walk away from the computer whenever I want to. I can say mundane things on Twitter. I can ignore Pinterest and skip blogging conferences.

So there.

Oh, I know that you already knew all that. So mostly, I’m talking to me. I’m giving myself permission to make this blog fit my personality, my schedule, my energy level, and my season of life. Permission to stop reading all the tweets and posts out there about “Being a Great Blogger.”

I’m adopting an attitude of Blogging Freedom and giving up the idea of Blogging Perfection.

Are you rolling your eyes and muttering under your breath about the excessive melodrama and navel-gazing going on here today? If you are, I get that. I’m doing a bit of that myself. So for both our sakes, I’ll try to keep the whole “blogging about blogging” thing to a minimum for a while.

And I’ll hope that processing some of these thoughts “out loud” gives me a fresh appreciation for the whole blogging thing…and that I’ll show up here more often!

Posted on August 7, 2012 and Filed Under: Bloggy Stuff 13 Comments

A quick trip

written by katrina 6 Comments

0973.jpg

This was my view for about 2.5 days last week. We made a quick trip to Barbados (Chad had a business meeting and the rest of us tagged along). The trip was planned months before my injury, and for a while, we didn’t know if I’d be able to go. But the doctor gave me the go-ahead — with the caveat that I should sit still and do nothing while we were there. So we went. Our two travel days were a bit rough — complete with me setting off the airport security alarm, both ways! But the two days there were very nice. The kids spent the mornings at the pool and afternoons playing in the sand and waves. Following doctor’s orders, I did a whole lot of nothing.

It was nice to not have to worry about preparing meals or making beds for a few days. Warmth and the sound of the ocean weren’t bad either!

I plan to give you the whole injury and follow-up story this coming week. I go to the doctor Monday for my third round of x-rays, and for the next conversation about whether or not I will need surgery. I would certainly appreciate prayers for a good report, no needed surgery, and continued healing.

Posted on March 31, 2012 and Filed Under: General Ramblings 6 Comments
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