Past Ramblings

I've done a bit of writing over the years - mostly stories set in the worlds of whatever games I happen to be playing, but more often lately, some generic whims of fancy have made their way into words. I figured this would be a good place to share some of them, so every once in a while, don't be surprised to see one of them in a post here.

To get that started, here is something I wrote a few years ago.

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The Garden Party

The music was provided by birds up in the trees
While the snowdrops and crocuses danced upon the breeze
Soon the jonquils showed up in gowns of golden color
Brightly colored tulips very closely followed
Little Lady Rosebud also made a show
Along with regal Iris, clothed in indigo
And me, I watched the party - such a wond’rous thing
For all the flowers turned out to welcome back the Spring.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

It's 11:30 on Christmas Eve night and you've just left out house to go leave presents for more children. It was so good to see you again last night after all these years! It's a shame you didn't arrive a little bit earlier, though. Rhianwen stayed up 3 hours past her bedtime in hopes of seeing you. She finally gave up and decided that she would have to leave the milk and cookies for you. We'd just gotten her to bed and she'd just drifted off to sleep when we heard your sleigh land on the roof. I hope you liked the cookies. We had 3 of them, but decided that Rhianwen really should try one to make sure they were good enough to leave out for you.

Thank you for the wonderful presents you left for Rhianwen. I know that she will love the little table and chairs you brought her. Since I was already in the kitchen washing dishes, it really wasn't a big deal to was every single piece of the 40 piece tea set you brought for her, either. And I know my husband didn't mind helping you assemble the little play kitchen as I washed the plastic dishes. Looking over all the toys now - all set up to greet Rhianwen when she wakes up - I think the three of us make a pretty good team!

As you know, this is Rhianwen's third Christmas, but it's the first one that she really understood what was going on. She's been so excited about it - not just getting presents, but listening to holiday music, seeing all the pretty lights on the houses, and giving presents. She'd been so excited the past few days since we showed her the present for the cats - she was very very careful to keep it a secret from them. You should have seen her face light up when we finally let her give the cats thier treats and catnip!

So... everything is shaping up to be a wonderful Christmas.

Thank you!

Lost in Translation

Every once in a while Rhianwen does something just so cute and funny that it has to be shared. Get used to it - I like talking about my kid.

So the other night she was really tired and was getting goofy. She ended up running around in a small little circle, giggling, while my husband and I were trying to eat dinner. After we finished, I got up to get her room ready to put her to bed and my husband was going to entertain her some. Now... he's of the firm belief that if you want to get a kid to bed without a fuss, you should wear them out. I try to explain that it just winds her up more, but he won't listen and so he decided to encourage her to run around some more. "Spin in a circle, Rhianwen" I hear him tell her.

Well... she thought he told her to spit in a circle because obediant child that she is, she waved her hand in a circle and started spitting.

An Example of Differing Points of View

My husband and I have a daughter who is 2 and a half now. She is the light of our lives and blend of joy and challenge. It took many years of heartbreak and frustration before we had her, and then when she was born she spent her first week in Intensive Care because her lungs weren't quite fully developed. But we always wanted to have lots of kids, so we've decided to try again.

I have a hormone imbalance which makes getting pregnant difficult. So, I'm about to start on fertility drugs in hopes they will help. I was on the drugs 6 months before I got pregnant the first time, and in that 6 months there was a lot of stress and disappointment. Still, I'm up for the challenge.

I call the process Baby Quest.


My husband, while just as eager to have more kids, looks at things a little differently. He calls the process Boinkathon.

"Clutter" is NOT a 4-letter word!

So I'm going through one of my episodes where I feel a need to rearrange everything in the house. It started with the livingroom and trying to make room for our Christmas tree. From there I moved to the kitchen in hopes of opening up more room to walk and make it easier to serve meals, get drinks, etc. And as I was moving all sorts of items and furniture it struck me just how much STUFF we have. That right away got me thinking about my mom and all the self-help books she gets from the library on how to cut clutter.

Now, I'm not saying people should live as slobs... but what is wrong with clutter? There is a difference between a cluttered house and one that is messy. My mom is always talking about trying to reduce clutter and how she is going to have a yard sale to get rid of some stuff. Then when she has the yardsale, she puts out things like the hurricane lamps she collected for years. Angel figurines and crystal bells - also parts of her collections over the years - end up with little price stickers on them and sitting on a table. I understand her desire to have a neat house - and more storage space - but in a way it is almost heartbreaking to see the stuff that used to bring her joy being sacrificed because the "experts" say to get rid of anything you haven't used in the past 6 months.

On our mantle is a small collection of rocks, stick, and dried flowers. There really is no rhyme or reason to these items - they are just little things that caught my daughter's eye as she was walking outside and she just HAD to bring it in the house. These items serve no purpose other than to take up space. They aren't pretty. They aren't useful. But I wouldn't get rid of them for the world because of the memories attached to them.

I like my clutter. It is comfortable and cozy. It holds memories and brings a smile to my lips. I think I'll keep it a while longer.

Woman of Many Names

OK - so I caved in to social trends and have set up a blog. All the cool kids are doing it, after all. I'd actually done stuff like this before - keeping an online journal - before I ever heard the term blog. So, I figured I'd try it again and this time I may actually tell my friends where they can read my ramblings!

So that got me thinking about my Internet friends and how they would know me. Aralena is my most recent identity - the name of a character I play in Star Wars Galaxies. Depending on how long I've known someone and what names I used then, people may know me better as a bardess named Illaria or her vampiress sister named Illestra. Or perhaps they know me as Alyra - a kind little healer suffering under a necromancer's curse. Maybe they know me as Jerydien - a cleric in service to her church. Or perhaps they think of me more as Fuhzzy - a rougish little assassine who somehow manages to keep a sunny, child-like disposition. All of these characters from games and stories are a part of me - one aspect of who I am, expanded and built upon.

So as you read you will likely catch glimpses of these various characters - and see how they all come together to make up the housewife and mother known as Kelly.