NaBloPoMo - The Conclusion

I definitely made the right decision when I chose NaBloPoMo rather than NaNoWriMo.

Could I have written 1500 words a day that could be considered literature?
Would my family have moved out in the search for food?
Would my fingers be reduced to bleeding stumps?
Would my eyes be bloodshot and out on stalks?

In answer to the above, no, yes, yes, yes.
And would I have a novel that I was proud of? A categorical NO.

Instead I joined in with Britmums NaBloPoMo (or Write a blog post every single day through November whilst trying to gain new readers whilst hanging on to the ones you've got). This required on average 321 words per day taking about 40 minutes to write, 1 awesomely edited photo a day *cough* requiring 30 minutes on Picnik, and add to that time to read other blogs and comment.

The writing was easy (thanks to a couple of timely memes to fill in a couple of gaping holes in my otherwise fun packed blogging calendar) but the hard part for me was giving enough time to other people's posts and giving them the comment love that I wanted to give. My comments became more meagre and uninspiring as the month went on but I did comment whenever I could. I know for those of you who are stat-aholics, a comment is a comment and counts for your rankings, but I am not as sensitive to my stats. Don't get me wrong, I look at my page views, I am disappointed if I don't get any comments, I worry if no one visits my blog and I plug my posts all over twitter and facebook. I write for pleasure, but I also write for recognition and for appreciation. I am a blogger but I am also a person *wibble*, which is why I like to give something back in my comments if I can, it is just an extension of my writing after all.

I could have spent more time on the writing, at times it was just pushed out rather than considered, there wasn't much time to actually do anything to write about either, which has led me to the conclusion that I shouldn't try to write a post a day from now on. Keep it natural and when the writing inspiration hits, I am poised and ready at the keyboard (life permitting, those little people may get in the way on occasion).

You will glad to hear that I am not going to be force feeding you through December, there will be enough of that in the form of mince pies and chocolate (I hope), but what I do feed you will be high quality, refined and heartfelt. At least I'll try ;)

Thank you for sticking with me. Normal service will soon be resumed. By normal I refer you to the last sentence of the previous paragraph. Any other interpretation of the word 'normal' is unintentional.

NaBloPoMo, I bid you goodnight.

*dashes off to think about tomorrow's post*
*hah, I don't need to now, do I?*
*but I may want to, it being December and the run up to Christmas, and all*
*oh poppycock (heavy emphasis on last syllable) where did I hide the advent calendars*
*rummages in cupboard* *drags out sorry looking supermarket advent calendars* *calculates time available to hand craft something more blog worthy*

*head desk*

The Gallery - The Kitchen

I have a dream... that one day I will have a huge kitchen, big enough for a table that fits us all, room enough for a sofa where I can read/blog/snooze and listen to the radio, stable doors to the garden so I can nip out to pick fresh herbs, oh, and is self cleaning.

Until then, I'll make do with my small, dated kitchen/office.

There is just about room for a small person to sit on the counter and assist in the culinary creativity, or just lick a spoon when required. I love that they want to join in but in doing so I have to suspend my 'control freak' nature and try to not panic that the butter hasn't creamed perfectly or that there are still lumps of flour. I don't know how Katie does it on I Can Cook. I would want to leap in and 'help' the little ones. I always wonder whether, if left totally unaided, their food would be edible.

This set of pictures was taken on one of the first occasions I let The Big One loose with the spoon. He loved it. Particularly the tasting parts.

Mummy, can I have a go?

I think we need a smaller bowl.

Taa daa!

Oops. Caught!

Another one. Just to be sure.

I am joining in with Tara at Sticky Fingers who set the theme of Kitchen for this weeks Gallery.

Snap Slappers Week 3

Welcome back to Snap Slappers. Good to see that you haven't seen sense yet and admitted your addictions!

I'm going from strength to strength. So far my record for Picniking is about 4 hours in one session. You know, when you get sucked in, tweaking and adjusting and doodling and then you look up and not only has your tea gone cold but your children have redecorated the sitting room, and there appears to be someone asleep on the sofa.

When I left it, the sofa looked like this:

But 4 hours later, it looks like this:

<a href="http://fivegoblogging.blogspot.com/search/label/snapslappers" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l611/fivegoblogging/snapslappers.jpg" border="0" alt="Five Go Blogging Snap Slappers"></a>

Tattoos

The Princess tiptoed to me and whispered that she wanted a tattoo.
A rose perhaps on her hip?
A Love and Hate across her knuckles?
A dolphin on her ankle?

No a butterfly on her hand.
And a spider on her arm.
And another butterfly on the other arm.
And another butterfly on her other hand.

My artistic abilities have been tested but, the face paints and dodgy brush aside (always blame your tools), I don't think my efforts are too shabby.

Her reciprocal tattoo on my hand however could be interpreted in many ways.

And not to be outdone....

His Wee-ness

Can you tell what it is yet?

Silent Sunday

One picture, no words.
#silentsunday
X

Saturday is Caption Day

We went walking this week (well we go walking every day of every week which you kind of have to do if you own a dog) and as I was setting up a photograph of the Princess my back was turned. When I turned back this is what I found.

What witty-ness is out there this week?

Think up a caption and post it in the comments. Then head over to the Queen of Captions, Mammasaurus, to see the other photos queuing up for your captions.

Walk with me a while...

... along some leaf strewn paths that dazzle with jewel like colours, down a cobbled lane that wrecks your heels, across a river populated with expectant ducks, and past some oddities that catch the eye. Or in other words, our morning walks with Misty Moo.

I took these photos over a couple of mornings which explains the mist suddenly disappearing and Princess's outfit change mid walk (she is not in the habit of taking a change of outfit on our dog walks ordinarily).

Our street is very ordinary so I will spare you the pebble dash semis and start with a little colour, a little leaf action and some rather fetching railings.

And down this cobbled street ...

 ...to the meadows, the river, and the ducks. And I always forget to bring bread for them. I don't think they go hungry though.

Finally a stop off at a couple of local landmarks. Wouldn't stop there for a picnic mind.

Right, who's for a cup of tea?