You've Got The Power!

This week was a grab bag of good, bad, and exceptional days. Monday through Thursday were your ordinary good days. Emily made it through her home school lessons with little drama or whining. I accomplished my usual household duties like dishes, vacuuming, and grocery shopping with relative ease. And we attended our first Cook Book Club since it broke for summer. And by the way, Emily's Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars were delicious, especially since she used homemade cookie dough instead of pre-packaged.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I made some divine applesauce from apples a friend at Cook Book Club gave me!

But Friday, Friday was one of THOSE days. You know, the kind where everything that can go wrong will. I started the morning off by assigning Emily her work for the day and then set off to a car appointment I'd set up weeks before only to discover that through a series of mistakes (none of which were mine) my appointment had been canceled. No biggie, I simply rescheduled, but on the way there I noticed my low air pressure tire light had come on.

So I drove the thirty minutes back to my home town, scooted myself over to the tire shop, and had them remove the nail I'd run over. Now normally this wouldn't be a big deal either, however, this is the fourth item I've run over in three years, and I just bought these tires this spring. I swear I'm a metal road hazard magnet.

And the fun didn't end there. I took myself and my car with the newly patched tire home to finish baking the Scotchies I wanted to take to friends the next day. It was then that the dreaded sound filled my ears__ the sound of water splashing in the kitchen cabinet underneath my sink. Yep, you guessed it. My garbage disposal was leaking water through the motor and all over the inside of my cabinet. Needless to say, bedtime came early that night.

But the beauty of having one of those kinds of days is that I've got the power. The power to keep going. The power to think about how many more days were good compared to bad. And the power to look ahead to to a new day and what it might hold. That day was Saturday, and I was headed to the SCBWI Ohio North Conference.

Disappointment faded as the conference turned into a most exceptional day! I ran into some friends like authors Michelle Houts and Lisa Amstutz (be sure to check out both of their great websites). I received an amazing critique from the fabulous duo of Gloria Adams and Jean Daigneau who do a two for one deal. How can you beat two perspectives on a manuscript for the price of one! And I learned quite a bit at the sessions I attended.

I also managed to spend a little time with Debbie Ohi for the second time this year (squee). Not to mention I bought a copy of Where Are My Books which she autographed with a little image of me. That alone would have made this book special, but the story and illustrations are FANTASTIC! Like me, Spencer loved books. So much so, that he was devastated when his books began to vanish. To avoid any spoilers I'm not going to tell you who took his books or how Spencer resolved the problem. I will simply say, "RUN don't walk to your nearest book store and grab a copy of your own."

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Meeting Friends At The Library__ Sort Of__ Part Two

Last week I wrote a piece about finding books at the library written or illustrated by friends. I also shared my friend Dandi's good news. On that same trip to the library, I saw the name Ohi on the spines of two books.  At first I thought it might be works by my friend, Debbie Ohi, the illustrator who  delights me with her daily doodle drawings. She is also the illustrator who is illustrating the new covers for the soon to be re-released Judy Bloom books.

The books I pulled off of the shelf, however, were written and illustrated by her sister, Ruth Ohi. It's not often that you find two such talented people in the same family, so I grabbed The Couch Was A Castle and Chicken, Pig, Cow and added them to my stack.

The Couch Was A Castle is an adorable book that reminded me of my very own living room couch that so often turns into a fort. You just have to love the imagination of a child who creates fantastic dreams from an ordinary every day item. Be it a castle, a leaky boat, or a dark cave, a couch can be an incredible thing. Ruth's book is also an incredible thing with adorable illustrations and incredibly cute characters.

Chicken, Pig, Cow was also a fantastic book. I loved the characters, I loved the illustrations, I loved the drooly dog that solved the barn door problem. I loved the fact that cow passed out when the drooly dog cuddle up to him, but claimed he had made a new friend when he woke up. A very fun book for children four to eight.

Not only do I find being an author incredibly fun, but I find exploring the works of my friends to be incredibly fun and rewarding as well.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.