10 Best things about Maui

Rather than give a play-by-play of my vacation (I can do that well enough in person) I thought I would post a short list of my favorite things accompanied by a few photos!  Enjoy!

10 – Crashing surf and blowholes. We saw this one on a drive around West Maui.  It’s a sketchy road and makes the Road to Hana look like a highway!

9 – Seven Sacred Pools.  This freshwater dip was just what we needed after a two-mile 1000 foot climb to the waterfall that feeds them.

8 – Upcountry and Orchids of Olinda.  After this visit I believe even I can grow orchids! (Maybe not.)

7 – Road to Hana. Put it on your bucket list!

6 – Sandy Beaches. I even brought some of the sand home with me.  It’s in my ear canal. (That’s another story!)

5 – Lani Kai Snorkeling.  The captain was fabulous.  When the wind picked up he modified the cruise to find the best snorkeling spots.  The best, however, was his knowledge about humpback whales and the whale of a show that he found for us!

4 – Humpback Whales!  I wish I had some photos.  The competition for a female partner was incredible, as was the mother whale teaching her calf to breach.

3 – Humidity and 85◦. It occurred to me that there is no need to dust in Maui.  That's foreign to this country girl.

2 – Palm Trees!

   And more palm trees!

Did I mention palm trees?

1 – Hanging with my Hubby!

 

Things that didn't make the short list:

Lahaina, Banyan Trees, Hawaiian Shave Ice, Hot Island Glass, Haliimaile Coutry Store, and Ali’IKula Lavender farm, to name a few.

 

My new book is almost here!

Milk Cans and Quilt Blocks will be released later this month!  I am excited about this latest project.  In fact, I can't wait to share it with you so I am including a link to my Etsy shop where you can pre-order copies.  Stop by and check it out! HERE


Back Cover!

Front Cover!

Here's something new!

After determining to try my hand at self-publishing and going through yet another learning experience, this book went live just before midnight on December 31, 2013!  It is available on Kindle for $1.99!  Hard copies should be out in about a week!  Onward and upward!

 

Here is the link!  Gold Pans and Iron Skillets on Kindle.



Ringing in the year!

Ring in the New Year!

 

 

Here is to another year behind us and one of promises ahead!  I’m going to ring in the New Year at home, grateful for all the things with which I have been blessed. I plan to make some changes in the coming year.  They will be subtle, I am sure! I plan to continue to strive to take care of my health, so long as that effort is enjoyable.  After all, I do believe in moderation! I want to better tend to family relationships – just because. I am still defining my spiritual goals, but I am pretty sure they will have something to do with diligence and scripture study. I hope to publish more and sell more, mostly because I want to share what I write and because the best part about being an author is the positive feedback from readers!

Today, I celebrate New Year’s Eve because it marks a special anniversary for me.  I met my husband on New Year’s Eve.  Driven to traverse the Southern Idaho winter wilderness on this day 29 years ago, I met him at a social event – one I swore was never the place I went to meet someone special, rather to commune with friends I already knew.  One of those friends happened to introduce us that evening and it has been an adventure ever since!

Happy New Year to you all!



I did it! Just waiting on the review.

There is always so much to do!  I am grateful for the opportunities I have to pursue worthy goals.  Sometimes the prioritizing is what is difficult.  I have long been self-employed.  This has been a great blessing in my life as it has allowed me the flexibility to stay home and parent, participate in my children’s school activities and life pursuits, and go to lunch whenever my husband invites me.  The things that have been the most appealing about self-employment are the very things that can be the most frustrating.  Flexibility, or in my case, the ability to rearrange my schedule and put off those things that are good or necessary for those things that are better or more satisfying, has often allowed me to overschedule and delay some necessary things – like exercise and toilet cleaning!

Here is the good news!  Today I finished editing the second edition of Gold Pans and Iron Skillets and submitted it for self-publication.  Whew!  This book has proven a learning experience once again.  “Why a second edition?” One might ask. The reasons are plenty.

§  I am out of printed copies of the first edition.

§  I want to try my hand at self-publishing and a book I am familiar with is a good start.

§  I hope to sell more copies of Gold Pans as I build momentum for Milk Cans and Quilt Blocks.

§  I didn’t want to mess up Milk Cans on my first attempt at self-publishing.

§  And finally, the new cover design will be a better companion to the Milk Cans cover.

The best part?  It isn’t 2014 – yet!

I feel almost as good as if I were here!

Writing makes me crazy

Writing is for introverts.  Publishing is for perfectionists.  Marketing is for extroverts.  Either I really do need to have multiple personalities, or this process is going to expand my talents to a degree that not even I can stand myself.

Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but I have determined that the business of writing/publishing/selling is not for wimps.  Writers create in private and then expose their “babies” to the public with an invitation to validate, tear down, or simply ignore their beautiful gift.  Crazy?  Maybe.  How are we going to get rid of all those voices bouncing around inside our heads if we don’t write them down and share them?

The trouble with writing the voices down is that it truly makes room for more voices.  The more I write – the more I think of to write.  When I don’t write, I have fewer voices, but they are nagging and accusatory. 

Something Soothing

I wonder if writing makes me crazy, or if I write because I am crazy?  No … I think I write because I have so many brilliant ideas it would be a crime not to share them.  That’s it!  Writing makes me brilliant.  It’s the publishing and marketing that makes me crazy!

What talents do you have that you feel increase as you exercise them?

Anybody need a pen?

I have previously confessed that I am a hoarder.  I admit it.  I’m not proud of it.  I am working to recover from it!  I would not consider my hoarding habit unhealthy like those who have rooms full of garbage they refuse to throw away.  Nor am I a compulsive shopper (well, maybe) in that I don’t shop every sale and purchase every two dollar T-shirt I run across with the intent to save them for a rainy day.  I just have a difficult time discarding things that may still have some use in them.  Here is a list of examples:

·         Towels and washcloths

·         Squeeze jars of ketchup, mustard, honey, lotion, dishwashing liquid, etc.

·         Running shoes

·         Writing utensils like those in the photo below.

 

 

The disturbing thing about the pens and pencils is, I don’t know where they come from and I seldom use any of them.  I like a good Sharpie once in a while, red pens come in handy for proofreading, and I have very specific preferences for the type of pen I use for handwriting checks, notes, and blog post ideas! Don’t be mistaken and think that the collection in the photo is really not that big. Those are only the pens I have in my kitchen – the ones I have placed in containers.  I have pens in drawers, nightstands, and purses.  I have pens in my lab, office and bathroom.  Pens in the car and pens in coat pockets. Occasionally I find pens in the washer and pens in the dryer.  That’s when I get really mad!

I am not sure from whence they come.  I know that I did not purchase all of them.  Perhaps I am a pen magnet.  Some arrive by way of my husband’s shirt pocket and I am grateful for those that land on the counter rather than in the laundry! Some must hitch a ride home from hotel rooms, doctor’s offices, and seminars.  Many jump into the free tote bags I pick up at race registrations.  Far be it from me to pass up a good pen, or a poor one, or even to discard one that might still contain a good drop of ink!

I’m going to do something rash today.  I am going to throw away some pens.  I will not gather them into like bundles and secure them with rubber bands as I have done in the past.  I promise to toss some without checking to see if they still write.  I am going to free myself from the pen clutter so I don’t have to think about them and store them and clean around them.  At least, that’s what I am going to do with my kitchen pen collection. I would hate to do anything too drastic!  I may need some of those other pens someday!