Sandra Tayler's Blog, page 154

Allowance, Chores, and Ice Cream

It began with Ned and his yo-yo show assembly. The kids came home from school amazed and filled with longing to purchase yo-yos. Patch was the only child who had enough money, but Gleek and Link conferenced with him. They hammered out an agreement which got yo-yos for everyone. This worked by Patch paying out most of the money. I was happy that they were cooperating, but to insure that older siblings were not taking advantage of their tender-hearted younger brother, I made a careful...

On my steps today

Sometimes it does not take much to make the day feel happy.

Mirrored from onecobble.com.

Rambling Observations on a Sunday Afternoon

We had developed a pattern. On Sunday afternoons the kids would all dash home from church and run straight for the video games and spend the rest of the day glued to them. Despite the fact that they collectively spent five or more hours playing, there were always shouts of "But I didn't get a turn!" when the time came to turn the games off. I realized that I did not particularly like the pattern that developed and so I mentioned it to the kids. They agreed that there were better things...

Sometimes babysitting does not go well

Every other Friday I attend a women writer's group in Salt Lake. It is a social event, not a business one. No one brings writing samples, there are no critiques. In fact many of us have never read each other's writing. Instead we talk together, rejoicing over triumphs, commiserating over difficult things. We are very well suited to sympathize since we all write, we're all women, and we share a social context. I love attending this group. The women in it have become good friends.

You...

A Note to My Subconscious

Dear Subconscious,

I'm writing to let you know that I'm nominating the dream you provided last night for the Nightmare of the Year award in the category "Public Speaking Nightmare." I was particularly impressed with the way you skipped all the cliched lack of clothing and disorganization and went straight for accidentally disappointing other people. The most dramatic moment was when I was in the middle of interviewing a celebrity in front of an audience and I turned to see the other four...

Day rearranged by water

True friendship is calling 8 AM to ask for help with the unexpected flood underneath a laminate floor and knowing that the person you call will not mind. Instead of being a focused day, it ended up being a social one. Our friend came over, helped us remove a plank, and spent hours visiting. I also spent time visiting with neighbor friends and friends who don't happen to be neighbors.

The discovery of the flooding (new washing machine will arrive on Friday) knocked the day off course and i...

"Immigrant" is recommended

It has been brought to my attention that my short story "Immigrant" in the Ages of Wonder anthology made Tangent Online's Recommended Reading List. This makes me very happy.

Mirrored from onecobble.com.

Working, chasing squirrels, and sitting in the sun

Thus far it has been a week of lists, emails, contracts, layout adjustments, essays, homework, and chores. I've been running on high energy and getting lots of stuff done. It is fun to start the day with a long list of tasks and to check them off by mid-afternoon. It is also tiring. Days like these tend to run long and so I end up short on sleep.

Today this meant that my brain fizzled out by 1 pm and I lay down for a nap. Unfortunately, fizzled out is not at all the same as relaxed. I ...

Homes and Places

The discussion of Place in Native American culture was brief, a mere footnote to an undergraduate lecture on Native American Arts. But I was fascinated by the concept that some locations are more than a set of coordinates or a landscape. Some locations have a spirit to them which makes them sacred, or the opposite. These locations become places. Many different belief systems incorporate similar ideas. Catholic churches have hallowed ground where the sinful are not allowed to be buried. ...

Reading Aloud to the Kids

Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain are fun to read aloud. The characters are distinct and the character descriptions suggest different voices I can be using. It is fun when I've done a voice enough that it falls into place automatically when the character has dialog. Alexander is pretty good for this since the characters have distinct speech patterns. Pratchett is also good. One of my very favorite books to read aloud is Larger Than Life Lara by Dandi Mackall. The first person...