Writer’s Blog, not Writer’s Block!

How can a mom tell her children she will not see them in Heaven?

My family and friends have a lot of different beliefs – Roman Catholic, Born-Again Christian, Buddhist, Lutheran, Atheist.

You may think it’s the Atheist who tells her kids she will not see them in Heaven. You’d be right in a way. Atheists don’t believe in an afterlife so they wouldn’t be discussing Heaven with their kids. However, the mom I’m thinking of who believes she won’t see her kids in Heaven is a Born-Again Christian. Born-Again Christians believe you need to be Born-Again or you won’t be welcomed into Heaven. (Correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve had a number of BA Christians tell me this.)

So what is worse: telling your child/grandchildren you wont see them in heaven because they don’t believe what you do or telling them we don’t know if there is anything after death?

While a watched pot may eventually boil, a watched e-mail box only gets spam!

Why is it when I send of a query to a big magazine, I sit here and hit the send/receive ten times in the next ten minutes? Do I really think they’re going to respond that quickly? Well, I would hope they would. I hope they love my idea as much as I do. I think it’s a fabulous idea, why doesn’t everyone else?

Maybe they do, maybe the don’t. But sitting here hitting the send/receive won’t help me sell the story. Time to hit the library… they have e-mail access there!

It’s been a tough winter in Wisconsin. Last week was sub-zero temperatures forcing kids to stay home from school (I won’t start on that topic). This week it’s been snow – slippery snow on the roads.

Having grown up in Wisconsin, it’s not a big shock to me. I would have rather stayed home on Tuesday night as the roads were slick, but it was Writer’s Group night and not much will keep me or the other writers in the group from our writer’s group.

My husband said I should call ahead and make sure we were still meeting. I assured him that I would probably be the last one there because I was running late. So he asked me to be safe and not have any wine at the meeting (a group staple).

Half way through the meeting, when the second bottle of wine was opened, I felt a little awkward with my water glass. The words didn’t come as easily to me as they had in our other meetings. I was a bit more insecure in sharing my month’s writing accomplishments than I had expected. No one else was acting any different from other meetings, but I felt a bit off.

It’s not like at every other meeting I’ve gotten sh*t-faced. But that one glass of wine does help lower my guard and loosen my mouth.  I left our meeting feeling a bit uneasy and edgy. Was it just the thought of the icy roads ahead or that I wasn’t feeling as secure in my writing as I had leaving every other writer’s group?

Now I’m pretty sure the only people who are going to read this are in my writer’s group. And I know they’ll understand what I’m talking about and why I’m writing this. The non-writers who read this will just think I’m whining, unless they know a writer intimately. They’d realize that writing things out helps writers work out our issues/problems/idiosyncrasies and keeps us sane.

Here’s to hoping next month our writer’s group meets on a beautiful day with no signs of snow or rain. I’ll be bring a bottle of red.

Wondering where to find kid-friendly restaurants in Milwaukee? Watch for the April Menu Guide in the Milwaukee Magazine. My favorite kid-friendly LOCAL restaurants will be listed!

Here are a few favorite chain restaurants to tide you over:

• Chancery
• Great Wraps (National Avenue in New Berlin near the new library)
• Qdoba
• Red Robin (just tried here this weekend - great burgers and service!!!)
• Applebee’s
• Macaroni Grill (none in the Milwaukee area, but Middeton has one.)

All of these treat kids well and have great food options.

Check out this great tech parenting site. Sharon Miller Cindrich is the author of E-Parenting which comes out in June. She’s got great tips on everything non-techie parents need to know about with techie kids.

http://www.pluggedinparent.com/

Check out the Clipper Magazine in the mail today. Before you toss it in the trash like junk mail, make sure to cut out the Ferch’s Malt Shoppe & Grille coupon for a free pint of Ice Cream with $15 purchas or free french fries with a burger/wrap or salad.

Here’s my review for Ferch’s from Milwaukee Magazine:

Step into the 1950’s at Ferch’s Malt Shoppe (

, Greendale). The kids will love the soda counter and the numerous flavors of fountain drinks. See the awe on their faces as they watch malts, sundaes and specialty ice creams being made. Try the garlic fries, $2.25, and the Harley Burger (1/3 lb. bison burger on an onion bun with the trimmings), $5.15. The Oriental Chicken Salad, $5.50, is a great choice with a crunch thanks to the Chinese noodles and sesame seeds. Traditional malt shop fair including hot dogs and patty melts are available.

Here’s a sci-fi piece I’ve been working on. Usually I’m more of a mystery writer, but this was tugging at me. Let me know what you think. (Influences include Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land.)

Let me know what you think!

The red morning sky didn’t bother Kyliy. It was the blue streak crossing most of the heavens that tormented her.

Hadn’t they learned on their last trip when half of their crew was destroyed?  There was no oxygen, no precious air for them to breath here. Yet they kept coming back. Like the torrents of Neighbs or the infestations of heliers, these blue streak creatures were pests to be gotten rid of.

The faint blue streaks were disappearing into the morning sky, replaced by the internal images of a tortured death of the visitors. Their special encasements did not keep them safe from Kyliy’s atmosphere. The red sky ate their encasements like a helier ate through the young still in their sapers womb, leaving the sapers empty and lifeless.

At least the sapers belonged here. The heliers were native to the planet. Unlike these blue streaks and their illness that had killed Kyliy’s family during their last visit.

The blue streaks would not learn or had learned and were determined. Kyliy wasn’t sure which was worse. They were after some surface that they thought had special power. The only power this surface had was the power to kill them. It killed them in droves.

When they got to close to this surface their eyes would flash open, their hands would clamp shut until they would go to wrack and ruin, much like how Kyliys’ family had died with the blue streaks illness.

The December issue of Metroparent Magazine in Milwaukee will have my article “Kids Eat Free.” (That was the working title; I don’t know what the actual title will be.)

After I submitted the article I’ve found a couple other restaurants that have started giving discounted kids meals. Like I state in the article, the restaurants change their specials all the time so make sure to double check that the special is still ongoing before you order.
  Applebee’s has started kids eat for 99 cents on Wednesdays.
CHICKEN FINGERS* 

CHEESEBURGER* MACARONI & CHEESE 

GRILLED CHICKEN SANDWICH* *Includes your choice of steamed broccoli, celery with ranch dressing, applesauce or fries. 

Bakers Square has also started kids eat free ALL day on Tuesday’s. Here’s there kids menu:  Breakfast
French Toast Sticks
Funny Face Breakfast
Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Lunch & Dinner
Cheesy Macaroni
Chicken Strips
Hamburger or Cheeseburger
Grilled Cheese
Corn Dog Nuggets
Kid’s Pasta
Slow-Roasted Turkey and Mashed Potatoes
Beverages
Soft Drinks (free refills)
Milk
Apple Juice
Hot Chocolate
Desserts
Small Slice of Apple or Cherry Pie
Kid’s Sundae 

Let me know if there are others that I’ve missed. I will post the article on my blog as a PDF when the magazine comes out later this week or early next week.  

Having three kids gets expensive – having any kids gets expensive.

This year we’ve tried something new to curb the “Can I have’s?” The kids have a chore chart with a list of chores they have to do each day (varies by the day) and an extra chores list of things they can do to earn more money. Each chore is worth a whopping 25¢.

This started in February. Each page of the chore chart has their name on it with a place to check off up to $20. After numerous, “Can I have the money off my chart for X?” I told them that when they get to $20 they could buy whatever they wanted. No, we would not be going to the dollar store.

The kids hit $20 and one of the boys said he was going to save his money for a Gameboy. When he found out how much a regular Gameboy was, he wasn’t dissuaded. “OK” he said and kept on working. The other two followed suit. The last day of school they hit the mark for their Gameboys.  We bought them the following Monday and found out on Tuesday that you can’t get most of the accessories in the stores anymore. The woman at Toys R Us was extremely helpful when she explained how Gameboys were on the way out… nice. Then she asked me where I had gotten the kids’ Gameboys. When I told her Walmart, she smiled. “They’ll take them back.” Really? Yup!

So we took the Gameboys back and upgraded to the Gameboy DS Lites that just came out last Saturday. The kids were disappointed that they didn’t buy them completely with their own money – OK that’s a flat out lie. The kids were thrilled that we chipped in money and love the DS Lites.

The chore chart has disappeared for a while. By the end of July the kids should work off the extra money they used to buy the DS Lites and then I’ll bring the chart back. They aren’t missing it right now anyway. They’re too interested in the DS Lites.

It’s really quiet at my house in the morning now as they play DS with their headphones on… J

Wow! It’s been a while since I posted anything. School has been out for over a week, but that’s just an excuse. I ended up taking most of last week off of work to play with the kids aka drive them around to get their Nintendo DS Lites, DS Lite carrying cases and scratch guards, and a game or two. (The kids have chore charts and have been working toward their Gameboy DS since February. They basically paid for the DS Lites with their own money, I wouldn’t have just bought them these for the heck of it.)

After months – and I do mean months – of researching digital camcorders, I’ve finally ordered one. This is the fourth camcorder I’ve “decided” on. I’m not sure if my husband actually likes this one or if he’s just fed up with the search. The first camcorder was too big. The second I just couldn’t see spending the money on new technology (very glad I didn’t the reviews aren’t good on this camcorder). The third I didn’t like the feel of. This one is a little bigger but the reviews are good. I wanted something that would be good in low light and outside. I hope I made the right decision.

So now I sit here, waiting and hitting the refresh button on the UPS tracking page. The camcorder is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. If it hits my local UPS distribution site before five I’m going to see if I can pick it up.

Sorry – had to refresh again. Still in transit. It’s taking a long time for this camcorder to get from one part of the city to another. I feel like I’m stalking the UPS Guy… Tomorrow I’ll be waiting by the door!

There are a number of free things available this summer to keep kids active and learning. We have two libraries available to us - the city library and the county library. Each library has a summer reading program with great prizes available when the kids meet their goals. It’s worth a little arguing about reading instead of playing video games on rainy days to get the free tickets. Last year each of the kids got tickets to six different events. With three kids that adds up! We went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire and only had to purchase the adult tickets. AT $13 a ticket, we saved $36 in tickets. 

The other free event in our area - and with a little searching you can probably find one in your area - is the traveling playground. Our city’s park and rec department has a traveling playground organized/supervised by a couple of college students. The park in our neighborhood has it every Thursday afternoon for two and a half hours. Depending on the age of your child, you can stay with them or you can drop them off and pick them up later. Either way, it’s free and gives the kids something fun and entertaining to do. The college students in charge usually have a couple of games during that time and at least one craft. It’s not exactly educational, but it is great fun and a chance for the kids to socialize with other kids in the large neighborhood. 

There are numerous free concerts in Milwaukee throughout the summer if I feel like trekking the kids downtown for lunch with dad. 

Marcus Cinemas in our area has kids movies for $2.50 Wednesday and Thursdays at 10:00am. Not free, but incredibly cheap to take the kids to the theater. Last year a small popcorn and soda was included. I think this year they’ve included the popcorn. I’ll have to let you know for sure next week after we go! 

If you know of any other free events for kids, please let me know and I’ll post them.