Ahh the Holidays

So in case you haven't noticed, I've been MIA lately from this blog.

Again.

Anyway, I thought I'd just make it official for a second and say I probably won't be posting again until after the new year. I do have some fun projects up my sleeve though, and when they're done you'll be in for some really cool before and after shots. I just need to focus on getting those projects done AND getting everything ready for Christmas.

BTW, I do NOT recommend remodeling your house in the months of November / December. It's just too crazy.

Anyway, I hope you all are reaching your goals, and learning and growing, and staying warm wherever you are! Until then Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I'll see you in 2012!!

Grateful

I don't know how many of you are on facebook, but a lot of my friends are doing a status update every day saying something else they're thankful for in honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow. Ever the procrastinator, I decided to lump mine all together for this blog post. So here we go; 24 things I'm thankful for. In no particular order:

1. My family. Husband, daughter, mom, dad, in-laws, siblings, cousins, the whole kit'n'kaboodle. I love them all and am so grateful to have them in my life. 
2. My cat. He's fuzzy and crazy. 
3. My home
4. A working furnace in this cold weather
5. Chapstick
6. Doctors and ultrasounds and medicine in general. We live in an amazing age. 
7. My computers...yes plural. We currently have more computers than people in this house...
8. My wonderful job. Seriously got my dream job and am so lucky I get to do what I love everyday. Especially since most days I get to do it from home. Woot!
9. My education.
10. My faith and knowledge of our purpose here. 
11. Good books. Feel free to recommend some in the comments. I've hit kind of a dry spell.
12. The internet and the ability to meet and make friends with people I would never otherwise even meet.
13. My freedom. True, America's got problems, but at the end of the day I'm free, and that's an incredible blessing. 
14. Glasses. Otherwise this blog post would be riddled with errors, because I couldn't see what I was typing. 
15. Maternity pants. Genius. 
16. A Home Depot only 3 minutes from my house. I've been there many times in the last week and I'm so glad I don't have to drive farther to get there. Of course, maybe if I did, I would plan better. hmm. 
17. Lists. I love making lists. They help declutter my mind. 
18. Inspiration from others. I love being creative and seeing creativity abound (aka Pinterest and blogs)
19. My hubby's job and insurance. Yay for not having to worry about having this baby. 
20. Travel. I haven't been able to in awhile, but how amazing is it that we can hop on this huge hunk of metal that flies us through the air? I mean, it's pretty crazy if you think about it. 
21. (Which reminds me) My car. I love that I don't have to be trapped in the house all day every day. 
22. My vocabulary. I love words. 
23. My daughter's curly hair. I always wanted curly hair and hers is so beautiful. Thank you genetics. 
24. Good food. And isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about anyway? 

So there you have it, 24 things to be thankful for. I know this time of year gratitude can sound cliche, but I try to say thank you every day of the year. I always try to keep in mind that even though sometimes things are hard, and sometimes I get discouraged, I have it SO GOOD. And most of us do. Isn't that wonderful? 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you have plenty to be thankful for as well! 

Write On Wednesday: Epic Fail

NaNo word count: 10.
Literally. And then I deleted them. So technically...0.

How embarrassing. I think I'm giving up. Unless I pull some magic out of thin air and conjure up some inspiration worth 50k words.

As usual, I'm full of excuses. Pregnancy brain is number 1. I seriously cannot focus or make decisions on anything. If I can't decide what to eat for lunch, how am I supposed to decide what words to put onto the page? My second excuse is the remodel. I should take a picture of my "office" right now. It's literally in ruins. Wires running everywhere, boxes strewn about, paint cans waiting to be opened...it's a disaster. And I am not the type of person who can work in a messy atmosphere. This is why I became an Interior Designer; my environment affects me a LOT.

But I don't feel bad. I really have tried a couple times, and it's not working. That's fine. I'll move on and try again later. Maybe when the whole house is in order I'll be able to make up my own month of marathon writing. But either way, I know I have an idea and I know I'll eventually get it out. No big deal.

But as for this month: NaNo is a NoGo.

How about you guys? Any progress? Finding it easy or hard to come up with the words?

Happy Wednesday!

Interior Thursday: Some Pretty Pictures

I've been lurking around Pinterest a lot lately, and boy is it inspiring! I've been racking my brain for creative design ideas for our office / craft / bedroom / nursery transformations and after just a few searches on Pinterest I have tons of ideas! Just look at these beauties for office organization:

I'm dying for some ghost chairs of my own. One day. 

And look at these gorgeous ideas for an amazing craft space:

Granted, I don't have THAT much room for my scrapbook area, but I just love seeing what other people have done and what works for different spaces. I love feeling inspired, and I'm so excited to add my pictures to these lovelies. 

All sources can be found on my Pinterest Boards. 

Happy Thursday!

November = The Month I Write My Third Novel

So I'm doing it. I'm signed up officially and everything.
NANOWRIMO! This is the first time I've ever done this and I'm nervous / excited.
I've been neglecting all things writing for awhile now, so I'm excited to get back into the creative process with my shiny new idea. Who cares that I still have to edit book 2? That can wait until December. Right? :)

Anyway, just wanted to put that out there. Anyone else NaNo-ing? My user name is KadieK23 if you want to find me on the official website and be my writing buddy!

Meanwhile, how was everyone's Halloween? Mine was way fun. First time I've gone trick-or-treating since I was 13. And this was way cuter.

Anyway, off to work I go. Happy Tuesday!

Interior Thursday: TGFI

As in Thank Goodness For Ikea. My husband and I made the trek down South to our Ikea store (Not complaining. I’m so glad there’s an Ikea within a half hour from here!) and we ended up getting furniture for the many many MANY renovations that are coming up. I’m ecstatic!

Let me just say, the life of an Interior Designer is not an easy one. At least the home decorating life. It’s never over. And even when I think I’m done…I’m so not. But there’s nothing like the arrival of a new baby looming over the horizon to motivate some home improvements. The funny thing about this time is that I’m not simply re-doing a nursery. I’m doing a nursery, a big girl room, a new office, and a new craft area. So I have four spaces floating around in my head all the time. My poor hubby gets so confused. I talk about bedding for this room, pillows for that room, the color palette for the other room and by the time I’m done I just see his head spinning. Luckily, he learned long ago to just trust me.

So the actual ASSEMBLY of all these Ikea pieces won’t be happening for awhile, but just knowing those eleven boxes are sitting here, ready and waiting for me makes me happy.

Here’s a sneak peek of what we got:

That’s just a small sampling. The only problem is the way we’re doing these rooms is a total chain of events, which started with cleaning out the garage. (We had to clean out the garage, to move the stuff from our office closets outside, to move our office into our storage room, to move our daughter into the office, to make room for baby in the nursery…etc.) But I’m confident we’ll get there. We’ve still got four months.

Oh crap.

I’d better get painting.

Can’t wait to show the after pictures! Anyone else have great Ikea finds? Or any projects on the horizon?

Happy Thursday!

Write On Wednesday: To WriMo or Not to WriMo?

So November’s coming up which means the official NaNoWriMo and I cannot decide if I should set this goal for myself or not? I did it in June and my second book came out of it. But it still needs edits and I haven’t had ANY mental energy lately to write much at all. But I do have a shiny new idea.

Here’s a hint:

Molten Lava…muahahahah!

I really enjoyed the experience last time and I think I could do it again…if my body cooperates and lets me get through a day without a nap. We’ll see.

How about you? Who’s planning on participating this time? Shiny new ideas?

Happy Wednesday!

Nesting?

Okay the news is officially out and for all those who were worried about me after my last post, I can share the reason why I've been so TIRED and BLAH:

I've been sooo sickly preggo. But things are looking up now. I'm in the second trimester, feeling more normal, and we just found out we're having baby girl number two! I'm over the moon about this news, and even though I don't HAVE to re-do the nursery, don't fool yourself for one second thinking I'm not going to touch it.

Which brings me to my post:

I am DYING to redecorate! DYING! I have so many wonderful ideas and we actually are in a position to be able to pull some if not all of them off and I'm feeling so antsy about it. The funny thing is, I started designing Eisley's New Room right after we realized we'd have to move her downstairs into our existing office to make room for the new little one. But now, not only do I have ideas for her room, but for our new office, the baby's room, and a new crafting corner / scrapbook area that I'm chomping at the bit to get going.

Let's just say I'm so glad we live close to an IKEA. And for amazing finds on KSL (Our local news station that has amazing classifieds). Cross your fingers for me, I just found an amazing deal I hope it goes through! I've never purchased anything through a classified ad.

So on goes the journey.

My writing has suffered due to this abundance of remodeling lust, but I still have ideas in there. It's just a matter of when I have the time to sit down and bring them to fruition. But isn't that how it is with everything?

Meanwhile, I've been adding a lot of fun ideas to my Pinterest boards for all these spaces, so if you're on Pinterest too, go check me out!

So this mama's back in action. Watch out! And hopefully soon I'll have some more killer before and after shots to share. Happy Saturday night!

Do You Ever Feel Overwhelmed?

I do. Right now. Which is why my blogging has been sporadic at best lately. The sad part is there's no REAL reason for me to feel this way. I just feel like I want to stay in bed and sleep. But I don't. I get up and I work, and write, and blog and play with my girl, and help my hubby with his school work and try to clean the house and plan for the future (which sounds silly, but lately I've been doing a lot of planning).

So I guess there is a lot going on, but I don't feel like it should be THIS overwhelming. But I guess I'm not seventeen anymore. I don't have the energy I used to, and as for MENTAL energy, oh boy, that's scary.

But I just wanted to say thank you to all of you wonderful readers and bloggers and cyber-friends. It makes me smile so big to see your sweet comments and funny stories. Thanks for helping lessen the...overwhelmingness...of my life. (I made up a word just for this occasion).

Hope you're all doing well!

Wahoo!

I cannot believe I just hit 100 followers! I seriously thought this day would never come! Thank you all SO much for stopping by and supporting this little endeavor I was so scared to begin. You're all amazing! I don't even know what to say besides let's keep it going! 

Happy Thursday!  

Write On Wednesday: Seven Random Facts

Okay this is a cheap shot, but I’m using today to announce another award I’ve so graciously been given!

The lovely Kristina Fugate passed this on to me! Thanks Kristina, it means a lot!

To accept this award, I have a few things I need to do:

1.)  Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post. (check)

2.)  Share 7 random things about yourself. (coming up)

3.)  Pass this Award along to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it. (keep reading!)

Okay, so here are seven things about me, that you may or may not already know:

1)  I secretly love teen drama shows. I just finished watching Make It or Break It on Netflix and wish I would’ve joined gymnastics when I was three. I subsequently had a dream that I had to compete with them at the Olympics. When I woke up I was grateful I haven’t been in gymnastics since I was three.

2) I LOVE playing Tennis and don’t do it nearly enough. I was on my high school team all four years and even shared the title of MVP with my doubles partner senior year. We made it to our regional semi-finals. I have a mean backhand. If anyone in the area wants to play, hit me up. We’re running out of nice tennis weather though.

(Yes that’s me in High School, and yes that’s a picture from my yearbook. Sorry so grainy.)

3) I’m an organization junkie. I have more folders on my computer than Sims games on my shelf, and THAT’S saying something. My husband makes fun of how many times I have to click on a folder, then a sub folder, then a sub-sub folder to get to the file I want. But I know where it is, and that’s what matters. I wish I could be as organized with my housework…

4) I collect scrapbook supplies. Occasionally I get the time to use them and actually put together my scrapbooks, but mostly I just love to go to JoAnn’s or some funky little scrapbook boutique and buy out their entire supply of cute ribbon. I have a dedicated desk and four of those Tupperware drawer organizers FULL of scrapbook supplies. It’s an addiction. Too bad I’m only up to Christmas of Eisley’s first year. I’m SO behind.

(A sample page from my daughter’s scrapbook. She was so little!)

5) I have two design styles battling inside me at all times. Part of me LOVES minimal, contemporary, sculptural design. I can envision myself in a NYC penthouse with a $15,000 Italian leather couch and concrete floors and would be perfectly content. Then there’s the part of me that wants a cabin in Montana that’s what I like to call contemporary rustic. I love exposed beams, stacked stone, and warm yellow lights that just make you feel warm. So for my actual house, I’ve settled somewhere in the middle somewhere, and while I like what I’ve got going on, I still wish for those two homes.

6)  I’m not a fan of the zoo. Call me crazy, but for some reason the idea of going out in the hot allergy-ridden air to watch monkeys scratch themselves is not my idea of fun. And I’m just not an animal person in general. I’ve never owned a dog, and about the only pet I can live peacefully with is a cat. Which is why we have one. Leeroy Jethro Jenkins Gibbs. A name that mixes our love of NCIS with the awesomeness that is Leeroy Jenkins. If you haven’t seen the video (and you like to play video games, WoW specifically. Otherwise it won’t be that funny to you), go here. Otherwise, here’s our cute cat.

7) And just in case you never read my interview on Chantele's blog, I’ll repeat the most random thing about me; I’m afraid of those TV’s that hang from the ceiling in most Wal-Marts. I can’t walk under them for fear they’ll choose that exact moment to fall and crush my skull. There you go, a new phobia for you.

(She’s lucky this one is placed over produce).

There you go! Seven random things about me! Hope that wasn’t too painful. Now on to the fifteen blogs that I think are uber-cool. Congrats and pass on the love:

• Cherie Schmidt
• Emily Hendricks Jensen
• Tamara Epps from Empty Thoughts, Rewritten
• Julie Musil
• Michele Ashman Bell
• Michelle Teacress
• Nicole Krell
• Michelle Merrill from Perfecting the Craft
• Ron Smith from Prince Balthazar
• Sarah Eden
• Janine Clayson from Squee
• Sarah McCabe from The Aspiring Subcreator
• Leigh Ann Kopans from The Naptime Novelist
• D.B. Smyth
• Steph Campbell from Under the Olive Tree

Phew! That’s a long list. Now I’m off to inform all these awesome people of their awesomeness. Hope you’re all having a fantastic day!

I Promise I'm Still Alive

Why does it seem like it's been FOREVER since I last posted? It's only been a week, but I feel guilty. Anyway, I just wanted to drop a line and let you all know I'm still here. And I wanted to say a great big HI to all the newcomers from Rachel's campaign! I'm sorry I've been slow, but I promise I will be stopping by all of your blogs soon as well. I'm so excited to have you all here! 

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to put myself back on a schedule. I miss blogging about interior design, and for some reason if I don't make myself, all my posts end up being about writing, or ranting about life. So I think I'm going back to Write On Wednesday, then doing Interior Thursday, and then Rant and Rave Friday. 

There I wrote it down, now I'm accountable. I've had a hard time with that lately. So look for the new schedule next week. 

Wow what a boring housekeeping post. 

To liven it up I will share one more Simming story, because it's hilarious. This time it happened to my brother. (That's right. I got him playing The Sims 3 from my last drama!) So in his own words, here is what happened:

I started a full family (husband, wife, one kid) called the Newhouses. I also made them eco-friendly, which is a huge pain because they get sad whenever only one person uses a car, blah blah blah. And all they did was go to work, go home, clean up, sleep. So, too much like real life.

So I started a pair of sisters, gave them a ton of money and let them play around. One (Kira) is an extrovert, the other (Danica) is a bookworm. They got along fine, so I had them buy half the town (well, just become partners in most of the businesses around town) and worked on getting Danica a friend. She makes a friend, invites her over, and while they're sitting on the couch playing video games her friend DIES. For no good reason that I could figure out. She had a "best friend died" negative mood and breaks down crying every 20 minutes, so I decided to check in on my other family while that blows over.

While they were playing on their own they got pregnant, so I bought them a crib and all the baby stuff and made their house bigger etc. Then their first daughter had a birthday, and on her birthday the mom has to go deliver the baby. So Dad Newhouse takes Mom Newhouse to the hospital right after the daughter blows out her candle on her cake. Then she goes to bed, but one of the party guests hangs out, plays guitar all night long, comes in the house at 3 AM and eats some pizza, stays all the next day, hangs out with the maid, and finally goes home after 48 hours. That was weird. Also, Mom and Dad Newhouse both instantly Wished for a new baby after they brought Baby Newhouse home. Dad Newhouse isn't the best parent (he set the baby on the floor more than once) so I nixed those wishes quickly. I got tired of them again and went back to the sisters.

 When I came back to them Kira has a HUGE "cheater" reputation, and gets yelled at all over town. I don't know how she pulled that off. Danica is in a relationship...with DANICA. A clone of her, with her original haircut (I gave her a new one after her friend died) is dating the current Danica. They were out on a date when I switched to them. And at dinner, where Danica is dating Danica, a THIRD Danica shows up and says hi, then goes and eats dinner. The two Danicas get along really well (surprise!) and are super compatible (surprise!) but they both have Commitment Issues, so...not sure where that's going. I had Kira do all kinds of lifetime goals to buy that lifetime reward that gets rid of a cheater reputation and went to bed.

So...that's all really weird. 

BAHAHAHA! I didn't know they could CLONE themselves! He even sent me a screenshot as proof:

What the heck??  Man that made me laugh so hard. That is one thing I have NEVER had happen to me, and now I'm dying to try to recreate it. 

Anyone else have some funny Sim stories? I feel a series coming on...

Happy Saturday! 

TGIF!

This has been an incredibly long week. Not in the “this-week-has-been-so-awesome-it-feels-like-it-will-never-end” way but in the “tissues-are-piling-up-and-I-can’t-taste-anything-but-cough-drops” way. I am under full attack by a fall cold. Boo.

But that's not going to stop me from ranting (see above) and RAAAVING!

RANT: My daughter decided sleeping through the night is optional this week. Not cool.

RAVE: It didn’t help that I stayed up till midnight one night watching a version of Sense and Sensibility I’ve never seen. I love love LOVE the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet movie, but this one was really good too.

Available here

It’s more of a mini-series so it’s like four really long episodes. So I started it at 8:30 not realizing the commitment I was making, but I couldn’t very well turn it off right before Marianne finds out about Willoughby!

Let me just say, while most of the characters are well-cast I had problems with two of them. First Colonel Brandon, who was fine but no Alan Rickman. Let’s be honest. Oh that voice.

And second was Willoughby himself. Not handsome in my opinion. At least not the dashing-sweep-you-off-your-feet kind of handsome. (Today my current writing device of choice is the HIPHEN apparently. Oh well).

RANT: Seriously, with the laundry! Why doesn’t it ever end???

RAVE: I have more friends joining me on the Sims Social on Facebook. It’s so fun! Anyone else want to join? You can find me on facebook as Kadie Kinney and then we can be friends and our Simselves can visit each other. Woot.

RANT: Cough drops just aren’t good. They’re nasty. And no matter how many times I brush my teeth, the menthol just won’t go away.

RAVE: My critique partner Ruth is awesome. She gave me a great list of edits to do and a comprehensive list of her overall thoughts. I couldn’t ask for a better CP.

And last of all,

RAVE: I get to have breakfast with some wonderful ladies this morning, which is why I’m up so dang early. I’m excited. And this makes me have to change out of yoga pants for the first time this week. This is a good thing.

There you have it. I’m glad my rants are shorter than my raves. That’s good right?

Happy Friday all!

They like me! They really like me!

At least I hope so.

But thanks to Lyla's Blog I’ve been given my very first Blog Award!

Quoting from Lyla’s page about this award “the basic idea is to showcase bloggers with less than 200 followers." When you get the award, you have to keep the love going by giving it to 5 other bloggers who have less than 200 followers.”

I’m so honored and excited that she decided to share this with me and now I get to do the same for some other awesome bloggers!

So here’s my list and new award recipients:

1) Ruth Josse http://babyruthwrites.blogspot.com

2) Tracey J http://traceyjoseph.blogspot.com

3) Brenda Sills http://brendasills.blogspot.com/

4) Mel Fowler http://adventurewrites.blogspot.com/

5) Leigh Ann Kopans http://www.leighannkopans.com/

I just met most of these amazing bloggers from Rachel’s campaign and am so glad I have them on my reader now. They all have some great info and fun ideas.

So there you have it! Monday’s a great day for an award!

Why do I love exclamation marks so much? It’s a disease.

Happy Labor Day!!!!!

Friday Rants and Raves

As most of you have seen, I've kind of obliterated my previous blogging schedule. I felt too pigeon-holed. Like if I wanted to talk about writing it HAD to be on a Wednesday, etc. Then I felt like if I wanted to talk about nothing in general...I couldn't.

Like how I totally did that to myself?

Anyway, so I've been thinking about not having set topics on each day, but just maybe having set days. Who knows? EXCEPT for Fridays. I want Fridays to have the above title; Rants and Raves. And here's how it's going to go:

RANT: My allergies are KILLING me. Hello? It's September! September = Fall. Fall = Allergies disappear. Or not. I hate not being able to breathe unless I take my Zyrtec. Sigh.

RAVE: My little girl helped me grocery shop this week. It was probably the cutest thing ever. Usually I just make her sit in the cart. This time I let her pick out her own yogurt, and shut the freezer doors every time we opened them. That was her favorite part. Every time she'd slam a door she'd say "Allright!" and give me a high five. Best grocery shopping. Ever.

RANT: Laundry. 'Nuff said.

RAVE: This platform campaign from Rachel Harrie's blog has been AMAZING! I can't believe how many wonderful people have stopped by to say hi and how many writers are secret gamers too! I knew I wasn't alone! I can't wait to get to know each and every one of you better!

RANTAVE: I read a book this week called ANGEL BURN by L.A. Weatherly.
Look how cool the cover is:

Anyway, I don't really want to talk about the events of the book, but rather the feelings I had when reading it: 

• The style of writing was pretty cool. It switched between two main characters, but whenever it was the girl character (Willow) she spoke in first person. Whenever it was the boy character (Alex) it was told in third person. I thought that was a really interesting way to differentiate between the mains and give them a distinct voice. I mentally jotted that down. 
• The premise was disturbing at first and it took me awhile to get over it. Basically Angels are infiltrating the Earth and feeding off of humans to survive, causing humans to get sick and die. I had a hard time with this. I started substituting the word "angel" for "demon" which made me feel better. It made me think though, how one word could ruin a book for someone and how careful we need to be. 
• The tension between Willow and Alex was great. I kept waiting for them to finally kiss or SOMETHING. Boy it was built up. But when they finally did, I found it was overdone. Five pages of "I love you so much" gets old. Sorry. 
• THE ENDING! Made me so mad!!! It's like the author wanted a sequel so bad she made them fail their mission (which was supposed to be the climax of the book) and then they ran away with nothing being resolved! All I saw in those last few chapters was "I need a sequel, so we're wrapping this one up whether it works or not." In my opinion, it didn't. 

See what I mean about the Rantave? I half liked it half hated it. But it did teach me a lot about writing. It made me question my MS1 and if I ended it unsatisfactorily because I know I want there to be a sequel. I will definitely be looking more closely at that. 

So that's it. Random things that I want to rant and / or rave about. There will be no formula. You'll just have to bear with me. Any Rants or Raves from you all for this week? 

Happy Friday! 

A Sim Drama - Storytelling at its Finest

Last night I was avoiding revisions playing the Sims as I like to do, and some pretty hilarious drama unfolded ALMOST without my doing. (I mean, they have free will people!) It was so random I decided I needed to share. 

My female Sim had just gotten engaged, to a celebrity nonetheless. She was over the moon excited and couldn't wait to start their perfect life together. I figured she should celebrate so I go ahead and throw her a bachelorette party at the local dance club. Everything's going great, her friends are having a fabulous time, and then the male "dancers" show up (Seriously, so funny that they put that in. They're wearing cop uniforms and everything). Well my sim has had a little too much "Fizzy Nectar" thrown on her and toasted to her, so she ends up getting VERY close with one of these dancers. She did not realize the paparazzi was there photographing her every move. So they catch her cheating on her fiance. Suddenly she has a cheater reputation, and this is where everything starts to go downhill. 

I tried to have her invite her fiance over the next morning and apologize so we could get this wedding back on (I created a gorgeous venue with a waterfall as the background and everything. I wasn't about to let it go to waste). Well he won't hear of it, and flat out denies to see me. So I try to invite him out. No go. Finally I figure she's just got to stake out his house. Luckily she's friends with his parents too. So she convinces them to let her stay the night, in order to be there when he got home. He didn't get home until midnight, which I thought was a little suspicious, but was too concerned with getting their relationship patched up. She tries to apologize and he won't hear it. She tries to calm him down and he only gets angrier. Their relationship is getting worse and worse. I feel TERRIBLE. Finally I have her give up, since she's about to pass out from exhaustion. She goes upstairs to the guest room to fall asleep around 1am. 

Then the craziest thing happened. At 4am I hear an eerie music and see the grim reaper in the room next to my sim. That's right, his dad DIES IN THE VERY NEXT ROOM! And even better, he's a vampire so instead of dropping dead, he turned to ashes right there on the carpet. My sim wakes up and runs next door to witness his death and mourn him, but the grim reaper is not moved by her display and quickly claims his quarry. Not five minutes after he's moved to his grave, the eerie music starts up again. Right down the hall her future-mother-in-law starves to death and disintegrates right in front of her son! What the? So the grim reaper literally walks down the hall and starts his ritual over again.

At this point, I'm staring open-mouthed at the screen. First of all, I didn't know I was about to marry her into a family of VAMPIRES, but I've rarely witnessed death on the Sims (that wasn't intentionally brought to pass...ahem). So after the shock wears off, I figure this could be a blessing in disguise. Maybe now he'll need a shoulder to cry on and will let her back in to his life. No such luck. He's madder than ever, and now he's crying on top of it. 

I've had enough. Thank goodness for the save button I think to myself. I quickly return to the main menu without saving and hope everything will go back to normal. 

When I log back on, sure enough, their relationship is wonderful, his parents are alive and all is well. I figure I'll have her invite him over for a nice dinner and get them married before anything else happened. Surely nothing else could go wrong, Right? Right?

Wrong. 

He shows up and my sim marches directly over to him, and without me being able to stop her, she accuses him of cheating on her. AND HE ADMITS IT! THE JERK HAD BEEN CHEATING ON ME THE WHOLE TIME! Our relationship went into the red instantly, he tells me I have "issues" and leaves. 

And the next want that pops up on her screen is to break up with him.

I don't think that will be a problem. 

Man I love this game. 

I Have A Feeling I Don't Know What I'm Getting Myself Into

So I've seen this all over the web and seems like a really cool thing to get into, so I'm signing up people. That's right, I'm making a commitment! Oh boy, we'll see how this goes. I'm a little scared as I'm still a newbie at all of this; blogging, writing, internet-trolling...(okay, I'm a vet at that...). But how else do you get out there?

Anyway, if you're interested in joining too head on over to Rach's blog here and sign up! There's still time!

And let me take this opportunity to pretend that I haven't been virtually absent from my blog for two weeks. I don't know what happened. :) Let's all pretend that didn't happen together. Deal?

Great.

Alright, that's all for today folks! Happy Saturday!

Write On Wednesday: How Soon is Too Soon?

Remember how I mentioned that I cleaned up my first draft (AGAIN) and finally felt good about it and sent it back out again? I only sent it to two agents, and I got a response from one yesterday that said “Truth be told,though, I'm afraid these pages just didn't draw me in as much as I had hoped.”

Ugh.

So my question is, do I give up on this one? A lot of people say you probably won’t publish your first-ever completed MS. And maybe I’m just too in love with the idea, so I can’t let it go. But maybe it’s time. When they don’t even see a spark of potential in five pages, that’s not a good sign.

It makes me sad. But then I think about that article from Kathryn Stockett about how she just kept revising and editing and changing and writing to tell THIS story and after THREE years and SIXTY rejections she finally got an offer and now has a bestselling book. So then I think that maybe I should stick to it, write the beginning over again, and tell the story I want to tell.

I don’t know if I have that much energy. Plus I have my second MS, and last night I started a new book. A YA Paranormal that I’m SO excited about. So how soon do I give up on MS 1? And how soon do I query MS 2?  They’re completely different genres, so I’m not sure I’d even be querying the same agents. But I don’t know if I’m ready for the gauntlet again.

Any advice?

Meanwhile, I’m loving Mumford & Sons lately. Anyone else?

And P.S. I’m thinking of changing my blogging schedule. Stay tuned.

An Interview and Some Inspiration

Hey everyone! Today I'm being interviewed at the wonderful blog of Chantele Sedgwick! Go check it out HERE! And don't judge me for my favorite book answer. I have good reason! Anyway, I wanted to thank Chantele for having me, it was a lot of fun!

Also, I found this fabulous article yesterday about Kathryn Stockett, you know the author of that bestselling book The Help. She was turned down SIXTY times before she got that ever-elusive "yes" from an agent. Three weeks later her book sold. And we all know how successful it is now (aka I'm dying to go see the movie!) Anyway, head over here to read the full article. I have to say it really inspired me and lit a fire under me after I read it last night. In fact I spent all last night editing and finished the edits on my first MS. This would be draft...5 I believe. So anyway, I feel WAY better about it and even sent it out to two more agents last night, just to get used to the idea again.

So here we go. 15 rejections down, 45 to go? I hope not.

Happy Thursday all!

Write On Wednesday: Fear

I’ve been slacking on my writing posts, and it’s mostly due to the fact that I’ve been slacking on my writing. I have a great list of edits to go through for my first MS and Miss Ruth is doing a bang-up job on giving me feedback for my second MS, but I just can’t bring myself to get to them. I’m not sure why.

Work has been REALLY busy lately, so by the end of the day when I usually write, I just want to chill out and watch the newest disc of Modern Family that has been delivered to me via Netflix. I don’t want to THINK. But that’s not really the reason.

The reason is that I’m afraid.

I have completely stopped querying because now I know what I need to do to fix my book, so I don’t want to send it out anywhere. But that was such a hard couple months of rejection, I’m afraid to finish my edits and get it back out there. Once I put it back out there, I’m opening myself up to hearing more of the word “no”. That is not my favorite word.

Then there’s my second MS. Which I feel really good about, but I’ve given it to a couple people and only the ones who knew the real inspiration behind the story have completely finished it and given me feedback. The two ladies (you know who you are) who are unfamiliar with the story have yet to tell me anything. I feel like I lost them this time. I hope not. I hope they’re just busy. And I hate to give a MS to friends, because then every time you talk to them they feel like they have to defend why they’re not done yet, so then I  just don’t hear from them. Awkward.

But I digress. I guess I’m just trying to be smarter this time and have my MS more polished before I send it out again, but there’s still a twinge at the back of my mind saying “if you never send it out, you’ll never hear no again!” But I won’t ever hear a “yes” either.

Then part of me thinks I’m afraid of what I’d do if I ever heard “yes.” That’s a whole new set of worries. But that’s a post for a different day.

Are any of you afraid to get rejected? Or worse, afraid to succeed?

Interior Tuesday: How to Paint Stripes

I’ve had a couple requests to share how I painted the horizontal stripes in my daughter’s nursery, so I thought I’d share my tips and tricks today! (Say that five times fast). I’m so sorry that I didn’t take pictures throughout the process, that was before my blogging days and I just wanted to get it done! So don’t hesitate to ask a question if anything confuses you!

First of all, I had a very clear vision of what colors I wanted and what width I wanted. We had to buy a couple of paint testers though, to make sure I got the colors exactly right. These testers are great!

I bought several of them and finally settled on the two colors I wanted (FYI the light pink is Glidden Pink Ballet Slipper and the darker pink is Glidden Pink Flamingo). After the wall was stripped of wallpaper…and stripped of more wallpaper…and finally primed over the last layer of wallpaper that had become part of the drywall  (that’s a whole different story), I painted the entire wall with the light pink. Then I had to be patient and wait for it to dry all the way. That was the hardest part…

Here’s the wallpaper that was impossible to remove:

Isn’t it gorgeous? Don’t get me started on the blue carpet either.

Once that dried I measured up from the base of the floor and put a mark every 12”, since this was how wide I wanted my stripes. After I made those marks I used the most incredible tool $15 can buy you; a laser level. THIS laser level to be exact:

It uses a command strip to adhere to the wall so it doesn’t leave any marks. So you stick this baby next to your mark, turn on the laser, make sure it’s level and apply your tape. This part can be tricky because you have to make sure you put the tape on the OUTER edges of the stripe you want to paint. So you can’t just put it above the line or below the line every time. you have to outline the stripe.

Another thing that saved my life was using the right tape. I HIGHLY recommend Frog Tape:

The edges lock so well on this stuff, it’s like magic. I had absolutely NO bleeding under my tape so my lines turned out crisp and clean. There’s also Scotch Blue Tape, but I found this worked a lot better for this particular application.

Once my stripes were taped off, I started painting. And here’s my favorite tool that $3 can buy you, a paint edger:

These are meant for edges of walls and corners, which is why they have wheels, but I found that they just hold on to the paint SO well that I could dip it once and run it along the entire length of the wall, and not have any loss of color. These things are amazing. I used them to paint my dressers, and even my doors. They just give such a nice distribution of paint, and they’re easier to control than a roller when you’re going horizontally.

Once I painted the darker pink using my fabulous edger, I waited for about a half hour before peeling off the tape. I didn’t want to wait for the paint to dry all the way, because then the tape can get stuck to the wall, and it’s REALLY hard to pull off in a nice long strip. So when the paint was a little tacky still, I pulled off my frog tape. THEN I let it dry all the way before moving furniture in or hanging pictures.

And just in case you haven’t seen it enough, here’s the finished product:

The whole thing took less than a couple hours. What took the longest was waiting for the paint to dry. But other than that, it was actually WAY easier than I thought it would be. So there you have it; stripes done right.

Now go stripe your walls! Or ceiling! Or whatever you want! And good luck!

Happy Tuesday!

What’s in a Game?

It occurs to me I’ve spent an enormous amount of time on two of my three creative endeavors on this blog, and almost completely swept the whole “gamer” side of me under the rug.

Shame on me.

Here’s the problem; even though I’ve got it listed as one of the things I love, I’m still afraid to show my true gamer self. Mostly because she looks like this:

…

Right? Pretty Bad-A.

So I’ve been thinking about why I play computer games, WoW specifically, and I thought I would share my reasons with you.

1) The most important reason is because it’s quality time with my hubby. For reals. A lot of people think games are a waste of time, and I’m sure for some people they are. If you don’t enjoy it, it’s a waste of time. But when I get to play with my husband, and we get to spend time solving problems, fighting a common enemy, and laughing together that is never time wasted in my book. It helps that the enemy is pixelated so there’s no real fear there…

2) It’s a lot of fun. Like I’ve said before, I was raised a computer geek (thanks Nate). I played DOS games back in the day and LOVED them. (Discworld, SerfCity, Relentless, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis just to name a few). I just love the problem solving, the story development, and the ability to travel to new places. It’s like a book you can SEE and navigate through. What’s better than that?

3) It gives me something I can control. Sometimes my two-year old is completely unmanageable. Sometimes work gets overwhelming or I get assigned a project out of the blue that I have very little interest in doing (Bri, you know what I’m talking about). And sometimes I feel sick. Like really sick. In August. Which makes me cranky. But when I log on to WoW, I know what I have to do and I can hop on my trusty dragon and go do it. I have money too, which I don’t in real life, so that helps. A new pair of shoes every now and then (even if they’re virtual) is good for a girl’s soul.

4) I’ve met some amazing people. Who I NEVER would’ve met otherwise. As in, why would I ever hang out with a comic-book-store-owner and his wife from Pennsylvania? I probably wouldn’t. But I met them online and it’s amazing how similar we are and how much fun we have together. Ned and Jodie have become some of our closest friends over the years, and we’ve never seen them in real life. But I don’t have to know what they look like to know they’re amazing people. Not to mention a certain priestess who doesn’t play anymore (CANDIS) and her amazingly talented warrior husband who unfortunately passed away in 2009. Which brings me to my next reason:

5) It inspires me. Mostly the people I’ve met inspire me. The afore-mentioned warrior was a great friend of ours and it was really hard when he passed away, even though we never met him face-to-face. And from these experiences, I’ve been able to draw enough inspiration for my recently completed second book. It’s about a teenage girl who tentatively starts playing an online game to be close to her brother who moved away for school, yet she ends up having several life-changing experiences due to the people she meets. Just like I did.

So those are the most important ones I guess. I could do an entirely different post on why I play the Sims…in fact, I probably will later. But I’m trying to not hide my inner geek anymore. Take it or leave it people, this girl plays WoW. And my warrior up there? Level 85. She’s pretty much a big deal.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Friday Faves: Ruth + Writing

This week I couldn’t be more excited to share some thoughts from  Ruth; aka my new best friend (whether she knows it or not!) Ruth and I were each other’s 45th followers on our blogs. I think it was fate. We have since become critique partners, and let me just tell you this girl has a voice! Not to mention she give excellent feedback! I’m so glad I met her!

Now you get to meet her too! Let’s get to it:

FAVORITE DESIGN STYLE:

I'm kind of a no fuss kind of gal so I love this room because it's calm and simple. I need calm and simple in my life. Keep in mind that this is in no way what my house looks like. Right now my style is Thrifty and Trashed. Someday. Some. Day.

FAVORITE BOOK OR AUTHOR:

This changes a lot. I love many, many books. The type of book I read also changes and I go through periods where I read a lot of one thing. Right now, that would be Contemporary YA. One of my recent favorites was The Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han. Loved them!

FAVORITE GAME:

Now this took some thinking. I asked myself, "Do I even play games?" And I said, "Yes. Yes I do". When I have time or can get someone to play with me, I love me some Scrabble. Exciting, I know. I play with my sisters on Facebook and it gets competitive. Also, there was a period in my life when I was addicted to Bejeweled. In college, my roommates and I stayed up all night long playing a game called Scum. Crazy fun.

Thanks Kadie!

Okay I had many a night in college where we were up too late playing Scum. I LOVE that game! I forgot all about it! Now I need to go look up the rules. And I’ve never read that book, so it’s now on my list.

Thanks Ruth! I love learning more about my fellow bloggers.

Happy Friday everyone!

Want to tell everyone YOUR faves? I’d LOVE to have you! E-mail me at kadiekinney@gmail.com

Interior Tuesday: A Room for a Big Girl

I finally got my computer to work with me and luckily salvaged my design board for Eisley’s new room. I’m so excited! You might recognize the rug from the board I did for my book’s MC, but I can’t help that I love it and it’s the perfect starting point for all the color I want to bring into this room.

I can’t wait to see the finished product!

The bedding won’t be that yellow, it’ll be plain white, and the walls I’m still deciding on, but I’m thinking vertical stripes…

And the lattice stencil will be used inside her new toy closet / book nook that I’m working on. I think it’s going to be amazing.

Stay tuned!

Friday Faves: My Writing Bug

It’s that time again, fellow bloggers! It’s FRIDAY! And we have yet another peek into another blogger’s favorite things. This time I have the lovely Chantele Sedgwick with me from My Writing Bug. I stumbled across Chantele’s blog when I started mine and have been an avid follower ever since! I really respect her views and I love that every Thursday she interviews an aspiring author. Her questions are awesome!

Anyway, now on to Chantele!

FAVORITE DESIGN STYLE:

I like a lot of different styles, but I think I like warm contemporary the most. Just soft colors, not too fancy. Calm and inviting. My husband is actually way more into interior design stuff. He worked at a lighting store for a long time and saw so many different designs in houses. He's more of a decorator than I am. :)

FAVORITE BOOK / AUTHOR:

Crap. I always get stuck on this question. I have so many books and authors that I love. I don't think I could pick a favorite. But, since that's the question, I'll say the Harry Potter Series. They are probably the only books that I could read over and over again and still not get sick of them. J.K. Rowling wrote so many amazing characters and they just feel like a part of you when you put the books down. I'll always love them.

FAVORITE GAME:

My favorite computer game would be the Sims games. I'm sure people will be surprised to hear that! lol I don't play that often, since I'm taking care of kids all day and save my nights for writing, but they are fun to play when I have a little time to spare. I also love the game Scattergories. I love trying to think of words that start with the letters you roll. So fun! And Tripoly. My family is crazy when we play that! We are very competitive! lol Sorry, that wasn't just one... ;)

Thanks so much, Kadie!

A girl after my own heart. Seriously, these all could have been MY answers. That room is beautiful,  I LOVE Harry Potter, and I think it goes without saying what my opinion is on The Sims. I love finding fellow gamers where I least expect it!

Thanks so much for sharing Chantele! Don’t forget to check out her blog (linked above) and spread the love!

Happy Friday!

Want to tell us YOUR faves? I’d love to have you! E-mail me at kadiekinney@gmail.com

Monday’s A Day to WIN!

Happy Monday everyone! And can I just say thanks to all those who participated in my giveaway? What an awesome response! You guys rock my socks. But nobody cares about that, what we all want to know is WHO WON??

Well, I’ll tell you!

Oh and all prizes were generated via www.random.org. I just couldn’t figure out how to screenshot the results. Ahem. Anyway here are the winners!

 

Prize 1: West Elm Gift Card goes to:

Dodson Family said...

 

Oh, I forgot that I would want the West Elm giftcard because I need to do some decorating up in here quick! This place needs a makeover!

Congratulations Danielle! All those entries really helped you out! West Elm will be coming your way!

Prize 2: GameStop Gift Card goes to:

Chantele Sedgwick said...

 

You are freaking awesome. It's a tie for me. I'd like the amazon giftcard, since I love books. AND have a book buying problem... And I'd love the gamestop one as well. I need to get my hands on Sims Medieval. :)

YAY Chantele! Get the Sims Medieval NOW! It’s amazing. And they’re coming out with an expansion very soon. Hooray!

Prize 3: Barnes and Noble Gift Card goes to:

Spencer and Erica said...

 

Okay Miss Kadie...I follow you, and I blogged you (is that appropriate?!), and I facebooked you. That's three. I don't have a Twitter account, but if I text my friends does that count??? I really want to win!! And you should want me to win, too. I want the Barnes and Noble gift card and who knows what I will spend it on. Probably children's clearance books, but maybe I will find something for myself. Or save it until your book is on their shelves!!!!

I’m flattered, but your gift card might expire by the time one of my books hits the shelves! But go buy something for yourself Erica, you deserve it!

There you have it folks! Three prizes, three winners! What a way to start the week! And here’s the great thing about all these gift cards; they do e-cards now. So  I will be sending the e-cards to your emails today!

Thanks again for everyone who entered! Tune back in tomorrow for Interior Tuesday. I missed last week, but I won’t do the same tomorrow. I’ll be sharing ideas for my little girl’s new room. She turned TWO yesterday!!! I can’t believe it.

Have a great day!

Friday Faves: The Innocent Flower

Today I have with me the wonderful Michelle Davidson Argyle. I met Michelle through the blogosphere and have been continuously inspired and educated by her amazing blog. It’s been so great getting to know her and I’m so excited to have her here!

So Michelle, what are your faves?

Favorite Design Style

I'd have to say my favorite design trend is the Tuscan look. Maybe this is because I'd really love to live in Italy.

Favorite Book

That's a tossup between The Awakening and The Great Gatsby, but I'd have to choose The Awakening by Kate Chopin if pressed. That book has probably been the number one influence in my writing. Her poetic style and ability to write against the social norms at the time is incredible! It's a novella and doesn't seem to be extremely popular, but it's one I'm always re-reading and studying.

Favorite Game

You know, I'm not a huge fan of games of any kind, but I'd have to say that I do enjoy writing games where you're timed to write specific things based on words or prompts or something. I find those a lot of fun! I infinitely prefer just chatting with people rather than focusing on a game.

(this is my interpretation of a writing game. I don’t know if Michelle really likes it, but it’s WAY fun and makes you use your brain while being timed.)

Thanks, Kadie!

 

Thank YOU Michelle! Everyone be sure to check out her blog (linked above) and keep an eye out for her book being released this September!

I can’t wait to get my copy!

That’s it for now! Now I’m going camping…with my family…overnight. This is a big deal for us. We’re not an outdoorsy family. We’ll see how this goes. Everyone have a great weekend and don’t forget to enter my Giveaway and to tell your friends about it! You have until Sunday night to enter!

Want to be a part of Friday Faves? I’d LOVE to have you! Email me at kadiekinney@gmail.com!

Write On Wednesday: The Critique

This week one of my dearest friends finished my first MS and called me to go over her notes. That’s right people, she had 5 pages of detailed, chapter-by-chapter notes. We were on the phone for 2 hours. It was amazing. So first I want to publicly tell her THANK YOU!

Secondly, I wanted to talk about this process for me. I have not yet had that kind of feedback. I’ve had “I liked it all except this one part” with no real explanation as to why. And I’ve had “It was great! Can’t wait for the next one,” with no suggestions for improvement. While I appreciate every single person who took the time to read my book, I was always hoping for more of a detailed list.

I finally got it and I’ve got to tell you, it feels great. I got five golden pages of things I screwed up! Typos, questions, awkward moments, hard-to-understand passages, EVERYTHING. So I’m finally excited about this book again. We talked through each chapter and I found solutions to the two parts of this book that have been constantly giving me heartburn.

I swear I’m not a glutton for punishment or anything like that, but I found I really enjoyed the critique.

How about you? Do you like hearing what people liked and didn’t like about your book? Do you savor the constructive criticism? Or is that the hardest part?

Also, don’t forget to enter my Giveaway! Three winners will be announced next Monday so check it out, tell your friends, and put your name in the drawing!

Happy Wednesday all!

Monday's a Day to GIVEAWAY!

Okay, I teased about this a little, but I think it’s time to announce a giveaway!
One Week. Three prizes. THREE WINNERS! Wahoo!
Since my blog is about three distinct worlds, I wanted to give away three distinct prizes.

ONE: A $25 gift card to West Elm!

I know what you’re thinking, “What am I going to get for $25 at West Elm?” The answer is, a lot of cute accessories! They have a whole $25 and under section. Here are my favorites:

 

TWO: A $25 Gift Card to GameStop

And while most video games these days are more expensive than I’d like, there are a lot of classics, and even newcomers that I’d like to get my hands on for less than $25!

Okay The Sims 3 Pets is going to be $40 but just look at the trailer here. Um hello, horses!

Ahem. Moving on,

THREE: A $25 Gift Card to Barnes & Noble

And I could easily spend that much dough at Barnes & Noble. Here are just a few of the titles I’m wanting to add to my library, heaven knows there are THOUSANDS more!

That’s it! Pretty exciting huh?

So here’s how to enter:

1 - Become a follower of Three Point Perspective and leave a comment telling me what gift card you’d like, and what you’d use it for (not that it matters, I’m just curious). If you’re already a follower, just leave a comment! Easy peasy!

2 - Earn an extra entry each for:

• Re-blogging and linking back here
• Sharing on Facebook and linking back here
• Tweeting and linking back here

Please tell me in your comment how many entries you’re claiming.
That’s it!

I’d love to make new friends and meet new people, and hey who doesn’t like free stuff? So help me spread the word, and who knows? Maybe you’ll end up $25 richer!

The giveaway will close July 24 at midnight. Winners will be posted next Monday.
Thanks and Good luck!

( Oh and I don’t know if I need to add a disclaimer, but none of these fine retailers know I exist, so they’re not sponsoring me or anything. They’re just some of my favorite places to shop. :) )