Category Archives: Parenting

Ahh, what a day.  The kids (and I) spent a night in the tent.  It took them a LONG while to fall asleep, at least a couple of hours.  I found myself getting more and more upset with them.  Finally, I basically gave up, and left them to their own devices.  I crawled into the tent at about 10:30 PM, and they were sleeping like little angels.  And then they were awake at the regular time, which basically means they were operating on 2 hours less sleep.  That was not good.

By the end of the day, Ryan was bursting into tears for no reason, and Jared was slurring his words, sounding like a little drunk man.  When I finally got on the plane for Calgary, Ryan was crying almost uncontrollably, and Jared refused to let me out of a hug, telling me not to go.  How can he not want me to go, when all I’ve been doing for the week was yelling at him?  I dunno, and I don’t pretend to know.

I ended up sitting next to Brian on the plane.  I had interviewed with Brian several months ago, and if the family would have been willing to move to Calgary, I’d be gainfully employed.  They didn’t, so I’m a stay at home dad instead.  It was good talking to him, he’s a cool guy.

Gregor (my bro) picked us up at the airport, we had dinner and dropped Brian off at his hotel.

I’m now sitting in my brothers living room and typing in a short blog entry, while him and his wife sleep.  I already miss the boys, even though they have been absolute horrors this week, and I can hardly wait to see them again.  Tomorrow, I’ll buy them gifts and have them ready for my return.

That’s all from Calgary today.  Cya.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
The sixteen rules of fiction http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000906.html is a good read.  While you’re there, read his article on the DaVinci Code, it’s spot on.  Make sure to read some of his follow-up articles as well.

Well, what can I say.  Marnie had a crappy nights sleep ’cause Ryan crawled all over her last night.  I offered to go into the tent… I really did.

After Marnie left for work, and the kids had their breakfast, I decided to take them to The Forks.  It’s a local touristy type spot where two rivers meet.  They have a riverside trail that goes for quite a way, and I thought the boys would really enjoy a walk.  When we got there, I noticed that the water bus was in the process of opening, and I remembered how both boys had been asking so desperately to go for a boat ride… so much for the walk.  We hung around for a while, Jared lost his water bottle, we hunted for it.  Same-o same-o.  When the buses opened up for the day, on we went.  Normally it’s $3 per direction, but our driver told us not to worry about it.  He took us to the farthest point north and back again for one fair.  The boys didn’t have enough fun, so we did it again, this time heading west.  The water in the rivers is pretty disgusting, but the ride was fun.  Ryan’s face was just about ready to bust open with the grin he had on.  Jared took the ride in stride, and showed less raw emotion.  We all had fun.

We got back home in time for lunch and Halldor’s visit.  A good time was had by all.  Halldor ended up spending a couple of hours on his laptop, catching up on work email while he’s on holiday.  He took off just before supper, leaving half a beer unfinished.  Sacrilege, and wasteful.

The family headed to Costco after that, and I got a new laptop bag.  My old bag can’t handle the new 17″ laptop.  I was happy when I bought the laptop (and I still am, really).  I just wish I had gone for a smaller unit.  This thing can be a bear to carry.  Hopefully the new bag will make it easier.  The kids fell asleep on the way home, and we carried them into bed.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
For those that are interested in good Science Fiction, Robert Sawyer is a really good bet.  He’s a fellow Canadian, and has some interesting articles on writing. http://www.sfwriter.com/owindex.htm

Just a quick update for today.

Well, the boys were pretty tired today, and you could see it in the way they pushed things. Still, overall it was a good day. For lunch we went to the park for a picnic, and Jared and Ryan found some kids to play with. By the time we got home, they only had a few minutes to play before we went to pick up the new van.

The new van is a gorgeous blue, and it already came with the tinted windows and roof rack. It’s the exact same kind as we had before, a Toyota Sienna, but this one is a 2006. We’ve only had it a few hours, but boy is it nice being a two vehicle family again. With Marnie using her car for work, the kids and I were pretty much stranded at home or within walking distance. It was okay, but it made things like grocery shopping quite difficult. Marnie took the bus to work some days, but then she was inconvenienced for visiting clients. Well, problem solved and life moves on.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
Lynn Viehl describes her method for starting a novel at http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2005/01/novel-i-imagine.html

Well, with the new van coming, I needed to get my license plates off of the old one.  Of course, since it’s in Brandon (about 2.5 hours away), it turned into a whole day event with the kids.  We left in the morning at about 10:00 AM, and started the long drive.  I loaded up the car with my laptop and GPS, so I had tunes for the whole trip, which was good.  I also put the DVD player in there, so the kids could watch movies for the trip, which makes it a lot easier for all of us.  The DVD kind of broke Jareds punishment for the week, but I didn’t want a trip from hell.

On the way home, we stopped in at Spruce Woods Provincial Park to walk to the Spirit Sands area.  It can’t be called a desert, since it gets 300-500 mm of rain a year, but it sure feels like one.  The day was hot and windy, and after a 1.6 km hike we were in the middle of the sand dunes.  Really cool stuff.  Both boys walked the whole way on their own, a total of 3.2 km, with no complaint.  We all drank lots of water and had an absolute blast.  We finally got home at 9:30 PM, two hours past the boys bedtimes, and we all went to bed happy and exhausted.

Reading
Kushiel’s Avatar (Jacqueline Carey)

Writing
During the entire hike, I made an effort to use words to describe what I saw.  A skill every writer should have.  I talked to myself (in my head) about the way the sand rippled and the way the trees waved in the wind.  I tried different approaches, using plain language and using flowery language.  Thinking of words I rarely used to describe motion, colour and emotion.  All in all fun stuff.  Then Ryan, my 3 year old, looked at the trees, and said “Dad, the trees are dancing!”  Short, descriptive, and accurate.  I stood in awe.

What a glorious day.  The sun was hot and the beach was cool.  I knew it was going to be a stinking hot day, so I piled the boys into Marnie’s car at 8:30 AM, and we drove to Smitty’s for breakfast.  After breakfast we hit the beach and had a blast.  We were outta there by 1:00 PM, before the heat really kicked in, and got slurpies on the way home.  Just a sweet, sweet morning.

This afternoon I enjoyed a beer as the boys had thier slurpies, and after we all played for awhile.  Then I read a book and enjoyed the afternoon.   Just before supper, me and the boys took a stroll by the playground and river.  A quick supper, followed by a bath and a cleanup of their bedrooms before Marnie got home, and all’s well.

Ryan feel asleep on the couch during bedtime snack, so he was easy to put to bed.  Jared stretched things out a bit, but he too eventually slept.  Both boys slept together last night, which essentially means that they woke up every two hours to play for 1/2 hour or so, before falling asleep again.  It made for a long night for me, but a fun one for them.  It also made them bicker a bit near the end of the day, but I expected that, so it wasn’t too bad.

I’m about to watch V for Vendetta. I know I should write instead, but I’m too tired right now anyway.  Tomorrow…

Reading
Kushiel’s Avater (Jaqueline Carey)

Writing
No writing, but I did re-read some of the plot outline for the novel.  It feels good, but maybe a bit thin.  I think I’d be able to get 100,000 words out of what I have, but it may be a stretch.  I think I’ll have to give the antagonist a more active role, which should also increase the conflict and tension throughout.

11:30 AM
This is truly the first time I’ve felt like giving up.  Finding another job and putting the kids back in daycare.  I will title this ‘The week from hell’, although it’s really been almost two weeks.

Ever since the van accident, Marnie and I have been short with the kids (2 weeks, go figure).  This week though, I thought things had gone back to normal.  But, I must have done something that first week to justify this.  The boys just will not listen.  If I repeat myself in a ‘strong and firm’ voice over a half hour period or more, whatever I’m asking about will be ignored.  The boys refuse to do anything until I yell at them, and I’m telling you, after a half hour of being ignored, my yelling is not pleasant.  I’m not sure what got them into this mode, but I sure as hell hope I can figure out how to get them out of it.  ‘Cause I’m done.

Maybe it’s because their pattern is broken.  School has been over for 2 and a bit weeks, and thier usual morning/daily routine has competely disappeared.  Ok, so starting tomorrow, a new routine will be created for them.  Lets see if that will help.

7:30 PM
Well, to say the day ended on a higher note is not saying enough.  I sat down with the boys(again) and had a chat.  This one seemed to take a bit.  We also had a playdate this afternoon.  Fellow writer Mirrielle came for a visit and brought her son.  We chatted about various things including writing and kids, and all three boys played like angels.

Reading
nothing

Writing
This blog, that’s it.

We are thinking of starting a local writing group.  So far there is just the two of us, and we hope to have a third really soon.  Three or four sounds like a good number to me.  We’ll see what develops, and we hope to meet in three weeks.  We’ll send each other some samples of our work, and do a critique on them.  Heck, even the visiting is worth it.

With the visit, and the research I’ve been doing, I once again have a great urge to write.  I lost the urge for a few weeks, when I received some really bad critiques of my latest short.  Normally, bad critiques don’t bother me too much, but for some reason this one did.  Maybe I was too close, and didn’t see its defects.

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2 rejections 0 acceptances